God WITH us - part 2
God With Us • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsThis part of the series will focus on the concept of God dwelling with us. As anyone can imagine, throughout scripture the term "with" is used hundreds and hundreds of times. It's in this little word that we can so easily overlook that we see one of the most amazing mysteries of the gospel drive down deeply into our daily life. The infinite, omniscient, all-powerful creator of the galaxies has chosen to pull right up along side of you and me as we go about our day to day lives. This is an incredible truth that we'll be learning in this message and as we do, it should change the way we live and breath.
Notes
Transcript
God WITH us
God WITH us
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
present
What does it mean when someone says they are “with you”?
is it that they agree with you?
literally beside you? together physically...
for you?
faithful to you?
moving in the same direction as...
possessing; having
this little preposition can mean many different things...
What if I said that I am angry..... with you, or excited…with you, or disappointed...with you??
i each of these cases I’m obviously still using “with” but it leads to very very different outcomes.
Just because the Bible says that God is WITH us, doesn’t mean we can place on that statement the meaning that we like most.
some people in history have used this statement to justify horrible wrongs to humanity.
A movie I recently watched (Gangs of New York) included a scene where three warring tribes who each had a Christ-centered faith were shown praying to Jesus before a large gang fight. The scene was powerful becasue is showed each leader of each tribe praying to Jesus for success in battle and favor for their own families....in the very next scene, the same men who were praying to Jesus for their individual blessing are killing and stealing from one another the very thing each of them were praying to the same Jesus for.
When the BIble talks about God being WITH us it is not meaning that whatever we want we get or that whatever we want is also what God wants for us. what it does mean is that God is willing and able to be present with us in this life. If we understand who GOD is then this should change how everything once we realize He is WITH us.
Lately Moriah (my 11 year old daughter) has been asking me a lot of questions about driving while we are together in the care. She typically sits in the front passenger seat and will ask a question like “whats that button on the steering wheel for?” or “why is it ok for you to go so much faster than the signs say we should go?” or “Why doesn’t mom ever get pulled over by the police Dad?” now these are all great questions, some I handle better than others, I’m not going to address them individually because honestly I just need to be a better driver but I want you to imagine yourself there with us in the car as the conversation is happening and rather than calmly asking her questions from the passenger seat Moriah decided to reach over and just start hitting buttons on the steering wheel then after that grabbed a hold of the wheel itself and at 11 years old just decided that it was time to begin calling the shots. throwing the car into a different gear and jamming the gas pedal to the floor we take off without warning down the road. I’m still with her, but it’s not safe or what I would have intended for our time together to produce…which in the case of the story would be a nice safe drive home.
remember that God is with you when you feel like taking control!
remember that God is with you when you feel like your life is out of control
remember that God is with you when you feel alone
remember God is with you when you feel connected in relationships
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Discussion Questions:
When do you expect to feel most like taking control this week?
How would it change the way you will respond in that moment if you believed God was with you there?
When do you expect to feel alone in the coming week?
How would it change the way you think about that moment or what you do in that moment if you believed that God is there with you?
When will you be hanging out with your closest friends this week?
How would it change what you feel or do with them if you believed God was there with you?
What did you learn about God today?
What did you learn about yourself today?
what