I(am)mmanuel

Merry Christmas…BIG week…If we place the importance of Christmas on just gathering together with loved one, if you remove that element…what do you really have left???

Loved ones gathered…are there loved ones you wont be able to gather with this year??

Christmas looks different for some of us this year…(loved ones passed on, geographically apart, maybe a difficult relationship separates you.)

It can almost feel like, if there isn’t loved ones to be around, why even celebrate??

(My mom lost her parents the last 2 years)

The absence of a person can steal the joy from this time of year…

“If your not with me (If we aren't together)…than whats the point?”

Not just this Christmas season…In life in general…If Im alone…if your not with me…whats the point?

If thats you today… As we open up God’s word this morning…there is a truth that will kick start your heart

As we see the NEED for “presence” in our lives…

We will see God fulfilling that need…

Read Exodus 33.

While Moses was on Sinai, the people built the idol…

They needed the presence in their life…So they built an idol

God angry with them…Wants to destroy them…BUT Moses intercedes

The Lord says I wont destroy you…Im going to send you away from here…Im still sending you to the promised land (milk and honey)

BUT IM NOT GOING WITH YOU…

BUT Moses comes back again…he mediates just as he did last chapter…

Through his intercession…we are going to see…

The (4) needs of Gods people in Exodus 33:

To talk with Him (Exodus 33:7-11)

Tent of meeting

This is a prayer…intercession…Moses speaking to God like a friend

How can He plead with the Lord if he cant speak to Him???

To walk with Him (Exodus 33:12-13)

“Show me your ways, that I may know you”

Walk with God…to know His ways and how He walks…walk like our Father

How He reacts…How He steps…

To be led by Him (Exodus 33:14-17)

If Gods not going…Moses doesn't want to go at all… V15

“If your not leading us…how are we different from everyone else on earth?”

Without you Lord we are nothing…

“We belong to you…we want to be led by you!”

To see Him (Exodus 33:18-23)

“Please show me your glory”

We want to see God and His glory…

When you put all of this together:

God’s people need God’s presence.

“Presence” Definition:

1. A being in company near or before the face of another. To Approach face to face or nearness of a great personage.

WE NEED THE PRESENCE OF YOU LORD!!!

THE PROMISE LAND IS NOTHING IF GOD ISN’T WITH HIS PEOPLE…

Without His guidance, without His provision, without His presence they are lost…(they couldn't make it 40 days without His presence)

The absence of God’s presents causes mourning…

For some of us…that us in life right now…a yearning for presence…but we place the wrong thing in that gap…

We place people (relationships) we place jobs…we place Idols

WE NEED GOD TO FILL THAT GAP OF PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES!!!

APPLICATION: DO YOU NEED GOD? DO YOU NEED HIS PRESENCE?

If your answer is no…ask yourselves this…if everything in the world was stripped from you now…what would be the meaning???

God’s people need His presence…

ARE WE GOING TO GET HIS PRESENCE??? (we are sinful)

THANK YOU LORD!! HE IS FAITHFUL…HE PROVIDES…HE TELLS MANKIND IN…

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Immanuel= God with us.

JESUS IS GOD WITH US!

READ JOHN 1:1-18.

Jesus is God (Jn 1:1-13)

Word was with God in the beginning, The word was God, He made all things…

God said His name I AM…Jesus says my name is I AM

In the Christmas story…

Wise men fell down and worshipped Jesus

God is amongst us (Jn 1:14-18)

Dwelt among us

Jesus talked and walked and led and showed His glory!!!

1 John 1:1-4 ESV TEXT (READ)

There may be people who aren't with you today…

Your life might not look like what you thought it would…the people in it…the things in it…

BUT IT DOESNT MATTER!!!

BECAUSE Jesus Christ has come!!! Born of a virgin…He came and dwelt with man…

And He died for our sin…rose again…ascended into heaven…

GAVE US THE HOLY SPIRIT…and now He dwells inside of us!!!

YOU ARE NEVER ALONE!!!!

GOD DWELLS INSIDE OF YOU CHURCH!!!

EVERYTHING ELSE COULD BE STRIPPED AWAY…ALL YOU NEED IS GODS PRESENCE AND YOU HAVE IT!!!

PRAY!!!!