God With US

Intro

Matthew 1:23

views of God

Hinduism

Most Hindus worship one Being of ultimate oneness (Brahman) through infinite representations of gods and goddesses. These various deities become incarnate within idols, temples, gurus, rivers, animals, etc.

Hinduism lets a person choose how to work toward spiritual perfection. There are three possible ways to end this cycle of karma: 1. Be lovingly devoted to any of the Hindu deities; 2. Grow in knowledge through meditation of Brahman (oneness)...to realize that circumstances in life are not real, that selfhood is an illusion and only Brahman is real; 3. Be dedicated to various religious ceremonies and rites.

New Age Spirituality

New Age Spirituality promotes the development of the person's own power or divinity. When referring to deity, a follower of this type of spirituality is not talking about a transcendent, personal God who created the universe, but is referring to a higher consciousness within themselves. A person pursuing spiritual development would see themselves as deity, the cosmos, the universe. In fact, everything that the person sees, hears, feels or imagines is to be considered divine.

Anything negative a person experiences (failures, sadness, anger, selfishness, hurt) is considered an illusion. Believing themselves to be completely sovereign over their life, nothing about their life is wrong, negative or painful. Eventually a person develops spiritually to the degree that there is no objective, external reality. A person, becoming a god, creates their own reality.

Buddhism

Buddhists do not worship any gods or God. People outside of Buddhism often think that Buddhists worship the Buddha. However, the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) never claimed to be divine, but rather he is viewed by Buddhists as having attained what they are also striving to attain, which is spiritual enlightenment and, with it, freedom from the continuous cycle of life and death.

Buddhists follow a list of religious principles and adhere to personal restraint, fasting and very dedicated meditation. When a Buddhist meditates it is not the same as praying or focusing on a god, it is more of a self-discipline. Through practiced meditation a person may reach Nirvana -- "the blowing out" of the flame of desire.

Islam

Muslims believe there is the one almighty God, named Allah, who is infinitely superior to and transcendent from humankind. Allah is viewed as the creator of the universe and the source of all good and all evil. Everything that happens is Allah's will. He is a powerful and strict judge, who will be merciful toward followers depending on the sufficiency of their life's good works and religious devotion. A follower's relationship with Allah is as a servant to Allah.

For many people, Islam matches their expectations about religion and deity. Islam teaches that there is one supreme deity, who is worshiped through good deeds and disciplined religious rituals. After death a person is rewarded or punished according to their religious devotion. Muslims believe that giving up one’s life for Allah is a sure way of entering Paradise.

Christianity

We believe in a triune God. This means that YAHWEH is one God in three persons. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. They are all separate and yet all the same God. I could spend hours trying to explain this aspect of God, but i would rather focus on the biggest difference between Christianity and all other religions. Immanuel. God with us.

Who is God?

Aseity

Basically it means God doesn’t need us.

marriage

God wants us, but doesn’t need us.

Eternal

Good

Gracious

Holy

Immutable

just

omniscient

omnipresent

omnipotent

to name just a few

Who are we?

needy

transient/ created

sinful

cruel

unholy

unjust

limited in our knowledge, power, and by time and space.

What must God do because of who man is?

Wrath

Hell

Justice

our sin has created a debt that must be paid. that debt is death.

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

Because the God of the universe chose to step out of Heaven and into the muck and mire of a sinful world in the most humble way possible. He was born to a teenage girl, in a tiny little town of Bethlehem. Not only that he came into the world in a stable, which is basically a barn, surrounded by animals. not to mention that his birth wasn’t heralded to the kings, politicians, and religious leaders, but rather a bunch of guys who society looked down upon. God with us.

Look at the people that Jesus surrounded himself with. it wasnt the rich or super religious. as a matter of fact it was fishermen, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the fighters, the thieves, the traitors, the zelots, the lepors, the cripples, the blind, deaf, and dumb. he found those that knew they were sinners, and loved them. God with us.

You know, this year especially, many people look around at all that is going on in the world and lose faith in God. they as questions like “if God is a good God, why does he allow COVID, or bad leaders, or fraud, or murder, or theft, or racism, or the objectification of women and children. how can you say that God is so good, when there is so much evil and bad in the world?” To that i say you have the wrong question. you should be asking, why would a good and holy God ever leave the perfection of heaven and come to live in a world like this? I mean you do know he has angels that their only job is to sing his praises without ceasing. he chose to leave the comforts of heaven, of being without hunger or pain, without sickness or death, without sorrow and suffering to join us here, why would he do that? why would the God of the universe willingly choose this? why would he call himself Immanuel? Because someone has to pay our debt.

as the band comes back up, Remember at the beginning when i said that God doesn’t need us, but he wants us. The only way he could get us, was to pay the price. We have a sin debt that can only be paid for in blood. ours or his. not only did God leave heaven and join us in this extremely messed up world, but he lived a perfect life while here. He then went to the cross and suffered the entire weight of his own wrath to pay the sin debt we racked up. He then rose from the dead, defeating sin and death so that we can have life and have it to abundance. That abundant life comes from the Holy Spirit living within us. Truly, God with us, and within us. To receive that abundant life scripture says to repent and believe. to say to God, i dont want to be a sinner any more. i dont want to want those things, i want you, and i believe that Jesus is God, and that he came to earth and lived a perfect life, and died on the cross in my place suffering a punishment that was meant for me. I believe that he rose from the dead and that because of his death, and resurrection i can live the rest of this life and all of eternity in relationship with him. if you want to receive the greatest Christmas gift known to man this morning, we would love to pray with you. So why do we celebrate Christmas? because God is with us.