Yes and Amen: Presence

One Promise to Cover them all

Intro:

2 Corinthians 1:20

“20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

Yes IN CHRIST, and the AMEN is spoken by us to give HIM GLORY…..

Message Intro:

If God offered you ONE PROMISE today…. Which one would you ask for?

Healing - the God who HEALS

Provision - The God who PROVIDES

Restored Relationship -

Freedom

Direction

Peace

How often do we unintentionally miss the major things in scripture….. even as we study this idea on promises

When God introduced himself throughout scripture He rarely began with ability, or even the idea of FIXING

Instead he almost always began with this simple promise….

I WILL BE WITH YOU!

God’s presence is not a reward for the faithful, It is the promise that makes faith POSSIBLE

1.) God’s Presence has always been the greatest PROMISE

I know this sounds simple, but it is often the simple things that change our life!

Think about Genesis…. We almost always describe the perfection of the garden based on the environment…. The rivers, fruit… but ultimately…. It was paradise because God walked with Adam and EVE

Genesis 3:8

“8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Sins greatest consequence wasn’t death, wasn’t disease… it was SEPERATION

Then the entire Bible becomes ONE PROMISE of ONE GOD who is PRESENT

Exodus: Israel wants freedom, God wants relationship

-Ex 33 God offers to send an angel… authority and power, Moses prays

Exodus 33:15

“15 Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

Moses began to understand that the PROMISE LAND without the PROMISE MAKER was no promise at all!!!

the promise wasn’t the dirt, it was the one who formed the dirt

All of HIS PROMISES are yes IN CHRIST…. It’s not about the promises, its about HIM BEING PRESENT

2.) His presence turns ordinary into extraordinary

We walk through the incredible characters in the bible… and we remember what they did, but there is a single promise that each of their story has… That we have too

Abraham

Genesis 26:24

“24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.’”

-Abraham becomes the father of nations, not because of who he was…. But because who was with HIM

Moses

Exodus 3:11–12

“11 But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12 And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’”

What I love about this…. Is God doesn’t answer who Moses is… he answers with HIS PRESENCE… so often we are waiting on God to remind us WHO WE ARE and we are MISSING THE ANSWER is IN HIM

he didn’t answer HIS INSECURITY… because his INSECURITY created Dependence

Joshua

Joshua takes over for Moses with an impossible task and JERICHO is waiting…. God doesn’t say you got this, doesn’t say YOU ARE ENOUGH….

Instead…

Joshua 1:9

“9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’”

The promise wasn’t the strength and the courage… the promise was HIS PRESENCE…the strength and the courage was HIS AMEN>….

Gideon

Weak, afraid… literally hiding…. What is God’s promise…. That THE LORD IS WITH YOU

Jeremiah

I’m too young

God responds…. Don’t be afraid I am WITH YOU

Mary

The LORD IS WITH YOU

God has never looked for qualified people…. He looks for available people

And God doesn’t PROMISE to qualify you….. HE PROMISES TO BE WITH YOU

In fact sometimes we pray for the qualifications, so we don’t need HIM as much…..

3.) Jesus is the PROMISE

All of the promises are yes in CHRIST…. When Jesus was announced

Matthew 1:23

“23 ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”

Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise to be present… Jesus was the flesh to the promise God has been making for all of time, but it doesn’t stop there

Jesus takes it ONE STEP FURTHER

John 14:16–17

“16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

We now have the promised HOLY SPIRIT… God’s continual presence…. Not a visitation, habitation

It’s the greatest promise available to us….

Let me break out the progression of this promise to you

In the Garden… God walked with Humanity

In the Tabernacle- God dwelt among humanity

In the Temple - God dwelt in ONE sacred place

JESUS- God walked beside humanity

Pentecost - God dwells inside HIS PEOPLE

**The cross removed the barrier, the spirit removed the distance!!!!!

So Here is the promise that I have been building to all morning

Heb 13 says it like this…. I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU

Isaiah 41 says it like this…. FEAR not I AM WITH YOU

Psalm 23 says Even though…. YOU ARE WITH ME

Matthew 28 …. I am with you ALWAYS

Romans 8 …. NOTHING can separate us

God didn’t promise to make it all better… he promised to be present in it all

God’s not Fix it Felix… HE IS FAITHFUL…. And HE IS PRESENT

And all of HIS PROMISES are YES IN CHRIST….

Which means.. the starting plays is saying YES TO CHRIST.

Salvation: