Immanuel: God with YOU.

Introduction

Christmas is just around the corner! This can be an incredibly strange time of the year in many different ways. Some people become extremely excited and embrace every moment they can when it comes to Christmas. (Caleb is one of those people who had his Christmas lights up this year in about September I think…) But it can also be an incredibly hard time for some as they grieve for many different reasons. Some of you might be having your first Christmas without a particular loved one, or have family overseas and feel lonely.

Whatever situation you may find yourself in today Church family, I am here to encourage you with a simple and yet profound truth today… The fact that no matter what situation you may find yourself in this Christmas, there is always hope because God is with you… Immanuel.

Deaf Grandfather Illustration

I read a funny story recently of an elderly grandfather who started to go quite deaf. (Don’t worry, I’m not talking about anyone in this room… and even if I was, you wouldn’t know because you wouldn’t be able to hear me right now.) Because he was getting quite deaf, he thought he would go and buy some hearing aids to help his situation. Two weeks later, he stopped back into the shop where he had bought them and told the manager that he could now pick up conversation quite easily, even in the next room. The manager responded, “Your relatives must be so happy to know that you can hear much better now!” The man chuckled and said, “Oh, I haven’t told them yet, I have just been sitting around listening - and you know what? I’ve changed my will TWICE!”

Some of us, when we hear the phrase ‘God is with you’ we fall into a couple of traps… One of these traps is that He is like this dear old grandfather who is constantly listening and watching us, but changing his ‘will’ toward us when we screw up (to use the illustration of the story). We think that if we have somewhat said, done or thought the wrong thing, then God is just ready to cut us off completely. This is far from the truth. God’s presence with us shows us that He is so involved in our lives and always gracious and kind… Leading us to repentance and life eternal! However, the other trap we can fall into when we hear that God is with us is this idea… “Well, if God is always with me, then it doesn’t really matter how I live my life because he said He wouldn’t leave me or forsake me anyway.” This also could not be further from the truth. Let me ask you a challenging question… To allude back to the illustration of the grandfather… If you knew that God was in the ‘next room’ of your life… always with you and guiding you in EVERY ASPECT of your day… How would you act, talk, or think differently? Because you see, many of us forget His presence in ALL AREAS of our lives. We know He is here with us when we read the bible… or when we come to gatherings like this… But do you remember that He is with you in the garden during the weekends… Or in tough decisions you have to make about finances… or in unknown seasons where you don’t know what’s next… or in the hospital bed when healing hasn’t yet come… Friends… He is no less with you there than He is HERE. Because the Bible talks about not only the OUTWARD presence of God, but the INWARD presence of God. And this is something that I will allude to later on…

But for now… Let’s look at 3 areas in the Bible that show God is with YOU this Christmas, and always. Such a simple and yet profound truth to realise… GOD IS WITH YOU.

I want us to explore that Truth through

1) The Promise of His Presence

2) The Fulfillment of His Presence in Christ

3) The Assurance of His Presence

PRAY

1. The Promise of His Presence

Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

The importance of a Story

What many people fail to remember is that everybody lives out of a story. Your very life is a story that has been formed over many years of living out of a particular narrative. Your upbringing, ethnicity, habits, relationships and community are all just some of the things that form the story of your life over time. Each and every day, your life is being written by the decisions you make, the words you speak, and the actions you take. To live out of a story is one of the most essential parts of human life.

Now the story of Israel was no different. God is speaking a prophecy into the STORY of Israel here in this passage and the story is very very bleak to say the least…

There were wars and rumours of wars going on that were just unbearable for Israel and Judah. So much so that there was a fear of the jewish race being wiped out altogether. It was an incredibly dark time of uncertainty… And the interesting thing is… It is in the midst of this dark and uncertain time of Israel’s history that God speaks the prophecy that we just read about pointing to the birth of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Now, why is that so important? Why does that even matter? Well it shows us the very heart of God.

Promise in the midst of pain

You know, it is very easy to believe a promise when things are going well in your life. But it is a lot harder to believe a promise in your deepest and darkest moments. But the wonderful thing about God is that he does not reserve his promises just for the good times in life when things are going smoothly. His promises remain true even when you cannot seem to see any good whatsoever in a situation. The promise about Jesus’ birth came at a time in history when Israel were suffering… And God chose to speak INTO that suffering with a promise of THEE most precious and life changing gift that was to come.

Now, although we are on the other side of this prophecy and we know Jesus was born to take away our sins and give us complete freedom, WE STILL FACE SUFFERING. Yes, if you are a Christian, you are free from the power and the penalty of sin in your life, and you no longer face the condemnation that comes with sin… But that does not make you exempt from trials in this world. Jesus made an incredible promise that not a lot of people like to talk about in pentecostal circles… He says in John 16:33

John 16:33 (NIV) “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

So what does this verse teach us? Jesus is not some sort of optimist who tells you in the midst of your trials, “Come on. GET UP AND GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!” And He is not some sort of pessimist who says… “Well, buckle up for the trials in life and if you get through it, then one day you will have a reward in heaven…” NO. He says that even though you do have trouble in this world… You can TAKE HEART because Jesus has already overcome the world and He is Immanuel… God with us and in us by His Spirit.

Dream about my Grandma

You know I remember when I was 14 years old and my Grandma got very sick all of a sudden a died in the hospital from cancer. It was very quick, within a few weeks of being told she had cancer, she passed away. I hadn’t faced death much as a 14 year old and it was one of the first experiences I had where a loved one had passed away. I just remember that I was shattered. I tried praying for her to be healed (Even though I didn’t have a relationship with God, I wasn’t actually a professed Christian yet). Then I remember a couple of nights after she had passed away, I had a dream. In my dream, I remember seeing my grandma healed and whole and looking at me with the biggest smile on her face and saying something along the lines of… “It’s all okay now Daniel.” In that moment, I remember waking up and realising that God did answer my prayer and He did ultimately heal my Grandma for all eternity. Now, I believe that the Lord gave me that dream to show me hope in the midst of one of my darkest moments as a 14 year old, who hadn’t even fully comitted his life to Jesus yet. He spoke to me as a young teenager in the midst of my trial and pain.

Friends, God is teaching us something through this promise of Jesus spoken all those years ago by the prophet Isaiah. He’s showing us that He enters into our pain and hardship instead of avoiding it. 2 Cor 1:3-4

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

He comforts us within our troubles and that leads me into the second point where we focus on…

2. The Fulfillment of His Presence in Christ

Matthew 1:21–23 (NIV)

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

It could be very easy to pull this apart in some sort of theological way… Us preachers like to do that simetimes. There is a temptation to dig so deep into a passage that you miss or forget the miracle that is on the surface. Here we read that the Author of all life, through whom everything came into being, fulfilled this prophecy and stepped into the story. He stepped into your story. John gives us a divine insight into all of this…

John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word of God (Eternal) became the flesh of man (mortal). You cannot even begin to compare that statement to anything… but if I was to try… that would be like you becoming a slug because you love slugs. I mean you think about it… We are made from the dust of the ground, we have all these failures and faults and yet God decided that He loved us so much that He would become one of us to ultimately set us free.

Eliana’s 6 week Ultrasound

I remember when we found out that we were pregnant with Eliana, our first child. We didn’t really know what to do but we got told to go for an ultrasound to check everything was working fine. We didn’t know how far along we were, so they were checking the date of our baby etc. Anyway, I remember asking all these questions to the lady and she was saying how the heart was fully beating and the organs are beggining to grow. Her limbs were forming and her nervous sytstem was beginning and I was just gobsmacked at how much was happening at that moment and the miracle of life. Then I asked her how far along we were and she said… “Oh about 6 weeks. Your baby is about the size of a grain of rice right now.” This was Eliana at that scan… (The only photo I could find sorry!)

Now, you know what is a crazy thought about how much God loves you… God didn’t just become a fully grown infant… The Son of God became that small for you… He didn’t just skip the pregnancy phase you know! He went through it all just like us! How do you even begin to wrap your head around that?! That God would be willing to go THAT FAR in order to save you.

Well you know what? If God was willing to become that small for you, than you must have a pretty big place in His heart.

C.S. Lewis

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”

Do not forget the wonder of that this Christmas.

3. The Assurance of His Presence

Romans 8:38–39 (NIV)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Many of us have heard this passage over and over again and we cling to it… AS WE SHOULD! It is so powerful isn’t it? NOTHING ELSE IN ALL CREATION can separate us from the love of God! What a treasure! What a piece of gold in Scripture! That you can be assured, because Christ came into a dark and broken world as a vulnerable baby in a dirty stable and an uncomfortable manger, that He’s not gonna leave you alone. If God loved you THAT MUCH THEN and sent His son into the world knowing all the fears and brokenness that you would have in the future, then why would He not love you that much NOW?

But what I want to challenge you with something this morning that not many people see in this passage we just read… What does Paul say before listing off the different things that could never separate us from God’s love? He says… “I AM CONVINCED.” The Greek word here for convinced can also mean “Persuaded.” Who persuaded Paul to know this? NONE OTHER THAN GOD HIMSELF. The Holy Spirit convinced him of this! Are you persuaded yourself? Has God convinced you of this wonderful truth that nothing can separate you from His love? In other words, do you live a daily walk with God that is so relational and so deep that each day you are reminded in different ways of His love for you? Are you convinced of this truth? Or do you just hope that it’s true?

Meeting with God across the table

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to meet with God each morning across the table because I felt Him lead me to do this. This is to focus my attention on Him and Him alone. He’s been ministering to my soul in beautiful and somewhat hard and challenging ways. However, the story about why I felt Him lead me to do this was because one day a couple of months ago, I was sitting outside on our deck with our kids listening to music in the background. I had this thought pop into my mind that maybe I should meet each morning with the Lord across the table with no other distractions. As I was thinking about this, a song came on in the background. Now, the album cover of this song is a man sitting at a cafe table with Jesus sitting directly across from him. As I realised this, a tui flew straight past my head and landed on a tree brach about 2 metres away from my head. Now, you have to understand that God speaks to me often through Tui’s… For me, it’s a sign of His presence and confirmation. And ever since that moment, I started to meet with the Lord across the table each morning that I was able to.

Now, why do I tell this story, well… This is only 1 thing God did for me that persuaded me of His love and involvement in my life. It convinced me right then and there that God loved me and desired to be with me every single day. That’s just one of many ways He has convinced me over the years. I don’t just read or hear about how God loves me or just hear someone else tell me their testimony about how God is with them… GOD HIMSELF has persuaded and convinced me of this truth. And I’m not special by any means! God shows no favouritism!

So, are YOU convinced?! Have you allowed God to convince and persuade you every single day to believe that He is Immanuel? God with YOU? God loving and caring for you? Are you persuaded? If not, ask Him to show you because I guarantee He will show up in some way for you. You may have to wait a little bit, and it may not be on your terms, but He will convince you of this Truth, I’m sure of it.

Ending:

I’ve spoken a lot about the promise, truth and certainty that God is with us. But maybe some of you aren’t yet convinced and you may well have distanced yourselves from HIM. Although the Lord Jesus is always with us, do you know what else He tells us in His Word? He says in Revelation 3:20…

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

A knock is an invitation…

Halloween growing up

I remember growing up and our family would put a sign on the door during halloween saying “No lollies here sorry”. But still, some kids would ring the door bell and knock at the door repeatedly to try and get some lollies whilst they were out ‘trick or treating’. Now, as soon as our family would hear the door bell, I remember we would turn off the lights, turn the TV down, and hide. (I don’t know why we hid because they couldn’t see us anyway. But we did). We did this until we could see that they had gone and then the coast was clear and we carried on as normal. I wonder if some of you hear the Lord knocking at the door of your heart this Christmas, even right now… and your instant reaction is to HIDE and DISTANCE YOURSELF FROM HIM like my family used to at halloween. If that’s you, I have some incredibly encouraging news for you… He hasn’t stopped knocking. He is still knocking, He is still there and He is still with you… But you gotta open that door.

(Possibly Holman Hunt picture of Christ knocking with the handle on the inside of the door??)

That verse says that when you hear the voice of Christ and open the door to Him, you will experience His presence in a new and wonderful way… You just have to stop hiding and open the door of your heart to Jesus. What’s stopping you? Deal to that by opening the door so Christ can dwell in your heart today as He came to dwell as Immanuel all those years ago.

Summary

Christmas shows us how to understand God’s Promise and commitment toward us in the midst of dark times and hardship. It also reveals that God will act upon his promise toward us no matter what. And that we can be assured and utterly convinced that He won’t leave us abandoned… He pursues us.

Recognising Christ as our Immanuel in Christmas reshapes our understanding of God. And it also reshapes our understanding of life’s challenges and hardships because we are reminded of God’s presence and guidance even in the midst of whatever we may face.

We all have to respond… John Stott talks about 3 things that everybody who ever met Jesus did…

1. They were terrified and ran away or they told him to go away

2. They hated Him so much they tried to kill Him or stone him or throw him off a cliff.

3. They worshipped Him and gave Him everything.

What will your response be now that you know God is with us?

PRAY

The old Hymn and Christmas Carol ‘O little town of Bethlehem is sung a lot around the world at this time of the year. I want to read the last verse of this Hymn to you because I find it incredibly profound after all we have spoken about…

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in,

Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Immanuel.

Immanuel: God with YOU.

Summary: Immanuel signifies not just the promise of God’s presence, but also His active role in guiding and caring for His people during times of distress and uncertainty. This theme invites believers to recognize God's involvement in their lives, emphasizing His desire to cultivate intimacy and trust through shared experiences.

Application: This sermon can encourage Christians to seek God's presence actively in their lives and to acknowledge His guidance in every situation. It serves as a reminder that they can rely on God’s strength and wisdom while navigating life's challenges and decisions.

Teaching: This message teaches that recognizing Immanuel in our lives transforms our understanding of personal struggles and victories, encouraging believers to view every circumstance through the lens of God’s nearness and provision.

How this passage could point to Christ: Immanuel beautifully connects to the narrative of the Gospel, illustrating how Christ incarnates God's promise of presence and leads to salvation. The New Testament reaffirms that through Jesus, God dwelled among us, establishing a new covenant where believers are promised the Holy Spirit as their guide and comforter.

Big Idea: Understanding Immanuel reshapes how we face life’s challenges, reminding us that God’s presence and guidance are our sources of hope and strength, which encourage us to approach every moment with faith and assurance.

Recommended Study: In your study, consider examining the etymology and theological implications of 'Immanuel' throughout Scripture. Use Logos to explore the terms used in different biblical contexts, comparing Old Testament prophecies with New Testament fulfillments. Look for scholarly resources that discuss the historical context of God's promises and how they manifest in Jesus, adding depth to your understanding of God's overarching narrative.

Possible Quotes: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” - C.S Lewis.