God is With You

SR

Matthew 28:16

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Covenant with You

Gen 6:18: Noah

17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

Gen 9:8

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Gen 17: Abraham

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham,[c] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

God chose Noah and Abraham and blessed them. With Noah he restarted creation and promised he wouldn’t flood the earth again. With Abraham he chose a race of people to be his treasured possession. Later in Gen 18 Abraham receives three visitors and waits on them. They say that he and Sarah will have a son in their old age. I’m sure for that elderly couple, that child—he laughs—in honor of Sarah’s reaction was a constant reminder of the covenant God made and God’s constant presence with them. Throughout scripture, we read God returning to his covenant, reminding people of his faithfulness to it. Even when people weren’t faithful to it.

Ezek 16: His Adulterous People

59 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. 62 So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. 63 Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

God is with us because he has promised to be with us. His promises are of blessing and prosperity. He wants us to have peace. But his blessing and his choosing isn’t for our wealth and comfort, it’s for us to pass that blessing and prosperity on to others. When he chose Israel in Exodus 19, he named them as a Kingdom of Priests, a Holy Nation. Priests are chosen and set apart to serve others. He wanted Israel to be a light to the nations and through them he would show his glory in bringing the Messiah.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like God is with us. Sometimes we break our promises to him, but as we saw in Ezek, even though that’s the case with people, it’s not with God. He never forgets and is always steadfastly standing by upholding his side of the bargain.

When we’re on a high because life seems to be going so well. We’re healthy and feeling good. We got a new job or a promotion at work. Relationships are good, and then God is with us.

When we’re at a low, because life is a drag and everything is frustrating and people stink and are mean, and work stinks, and my health isn’t what it used to be, and then God is with us.

When we’re on a mountain and in the valley, then God is with us. When we’re healthy and when we’re sick, then God is with us. His presence with us is not dependent on our circumstances but on his covenant promises.

Rescue You

We just had the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and we have the beautiful flags up at Pepperdine. Lots of shows right now about 9/11 and some of the ties to terrorism, etc. Bunch of people in the towers filing down the stairs of the WTC because the elevators were broken, and then when people got to a certain floor they started running into the rescue workers . . .

I’ve been rescued. I was caught in a riptide and the lifeguard came and pulled me out.

We ought to view God like that too.

Exod 18:10

“Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians.

Jer 1

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,     before you were born I set you apart;     I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Bible also states God will “break the yoke of oppression” (Isa 58:6; Jer 28:2) “deliver us” (Ps 56:13; 71: 23)

He has promised to intervene on our behalf, swoop down to rescue, save, deliver. He will not abandon us. When we were lost in sin he reached down to us. Also, even as we are trying to live a faithful life we will make many mistakes but his blood still covers us. He rescues us every day with his new promises and his mercy.

His “rescuing” wasn’t a onetime event in our baptism, but he continually is saving and rescuing and covering us. He is with us.

Give You His Commands

Deut 4

39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

Deut 5

29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! 30 “Go, tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

Vs. 105

Your word is a lamp for my feet and light on my path.

Remember words spoken to you by your grandparents or parents or a good friend? Their wisdom, their insight, their advice is with you as you recall their words. Part of them lives on in you and with you through what they told you. As we think about what they said, we remember them fondly, we tell stories to our children and our friends about them. We can see their faces, and hear their tone of voice.

I can remember my dad holding his keys and telling me as a young driver to “jingle my keys” before I close my car door so I don’t lock myself out.

I can remember a mentor at work telling me that being a manager is about two things: people and budgets

A work colleague telling me that you have to give people the tools to do their job.

I remember the man who lent out his truck to us as college kids and told us the key was in the ashtray which is the reason I own a truck to this day.

We are the product of so many people’s words. Words of encouragement and advice, wisdom and support.

If we can recall other people’s words of wisdom to us, that is just a small glimpse into the reality that Jesus himself who promised to be with us always is the Word of God, that is his name. “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.”

Every time the devil brought up a new temptation to Jesus in the desert, he thwarted him with quoting and living according to God’s word. God’s power residing in his word was with Jesus to stay true and faithful.

God is with us through his word and our obedience to it.

Be Present With You

Genesis 28

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it[c] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[d] 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Judges 6: Gideon

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites.”

RISE Groups for Freshmen to teach resilience. Resilient people have a sense that God is with them and is watching over them. They also have an “eternal time frame.” Often young people have catastrophic thinking. When something isn’t going right for them, there’s an “everything is going wrong and my life is over” type of mentality. One thing older, more experienced folks have to offer the younger people in our lives is a “this too shall pass” attitude.

Great advice. When we’ve failed we remember that failure is temporary and will pass. When we succeed, we remember success also is temporary and will pass. Poverty? Riches? Temporary. Just as the one who built the pyramid is buried within the stone, so also the pyramid itself will succumb to the sands of time.

But even though our life’s situations will pass, there is one that that will never pass, and that is God’s presence with us: through his promises, his deliverance, his commands, and his presence.