Sunday, December 31, 2017

God With Us


Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Last Sunday, our church joined every Christian church in the world with the celebration of Christmas Eve. With the Christmas stories from the Gospels in the Bible, and the Nativity scenes decorating the front lawns and home interiors, one might think that the focus of Christmas is primarily on the Christ child’s birth.

Luke 2:10-12 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

They tend to focus on verse 12, when the real focus is on verses 10 and 11. Almighty God (who is Spirit) sent God incarnate (God with skin on) to redeem that which was lost to sin and death. Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God in the flesh was among His people. Pastor Kyle explains that confidence grows naturally when we see and know who is with us in life, when we know that someone is willing to help us and be with us (behind us, beside us or out in front of us). The main message of Christmas is that God is with us. How different would you think and live if you truly knew that? 

Colossians 1:13-15 “For he (Jesus)  has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “incarnation” as: The act of assuming flesh, or of taking a human body and the nature of man. Jesus is the incarnation of God for us. Jesus experienced, felt and knows us, because He was one of us. That is tangible to us because the invisible God became a touchable God and was with us. Jesus had to come in the flesh as God’s plan of Salvation for all sinners had to be paid. Only a sinless “lamb without blemish” (Jesus) could pay the price and defeat death because death cannot hold the sinless. Christ came that Christmas to be born, later die for our sins, then rise again that Believer might be raised with Him and spend eternity not in Hell, but in the kingdom of Heaven with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

People do not worship a baby; they worship God incarnate and praise the name of the Lord. Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth and good will towards man. Christmas is powerful because Jesus’ church gathers for the glory of God in “God with us: through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. This is Christmas. The incarnation happens in the most unlikely places, through unlikely people. The promise of Christmas is that “Jesus is with us” and is in our born again heart. When you feel out-of-place, know that God is your home. The reality is that God came for us and is with you and I always. Rejoice!


In Christ, Brian

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