Emmanuel, God Is With Us Series

Matt 1:22-23 Immanuel, God is with us!

Jesus has many titles and names assigned to Him.

Each brings out a different facet of his beauty, majesty and grace,

And gives us insight into His redemptive work

His name Jesus means Saviour. The angel said in Matthew 1...you will call his name Jesus for for he will save his people from their sins.

He is also called The door...The way...Bread of life...Light of the world....Living water...Good shepherd...

In Isa 9:6 he us called wonderful counsellor, the mighty God.....

In Rev he is alpha and omega.....the Faithful and true witness

In John1 he is The Word of God

But the name Immanuel is Profound as well. It’s means God is with us.

In a way it encapsulates all other titles

He will be with us.

Whatever else he is he will be to us because he is with us.

It is profound because it prefigured his sinless life. That Jesus would be God with us. He would have to be Holy, pure and righteous.

It spoke of his resurrection...ascension...outpouring of the Holy Spirit...

In all these things he would be with us

He said it is better that I go..so he could come to dwell in us by his spirit, and in that sense, truly fulfil his name, Emmanuel.

Emmanuel

Speaks of three important things:

1. Help....

When the Holy Spirit comes...he will lead you, guide you, empower you

Another Paraclete.....Helper

When God promises to be with us, it is not as an observer, but as helper!

In fact by promising his presence, he promise strength, encouragement, power, success, and victory over your enemies.

For Example, Joshua 1:5...no one will be able to stand up against you...as I was with Moses so shall I be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Chinese have some names we find unusual, as they must find our names as well.

But I remember many years ago hearing about a Chinese brother called Lo.

He had been going through a really bad time and was thinking of giving up.

Then he heard someone quote Jesus words from Matthew 28:18-19

And Lo I am with you always...

He found that quite encouraging because he took it to be a personal word to him.

And so must we!

Put your name in there!

Matthew 28:18-20

They were going to take land too

They were going to face many challenges and difficulties

But HE PROMISED HIS PRESENCE. And that’s enough!

Heb 13:5-6

God said: never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. SO we say with confidence: The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me.

God is with us to HELP us, not simply to make us feel good.

Having a knowledge and faith and trust in his presence will sustain you.

Fear kept the Israelites out of the promise

Fear will stop you from having ...doing...what God wants

Being convinced of his presence to help will remove fear.

Context...v5 keep yourselves free from love of money, be content with what you have.

That is, don’t let your life revolve around the things of this world.

Don’t put your hope and trust and confidence in material things and possessions, but put your trust in God who promises never to leave you.

2) Hope

His presence gives us hope.

God being with us does not mean that we won’t face tests and trials, but he does promise to be with us ... to help us

And this assurance gives us hope.

Because he is with us, we can have hope in seemingly hopeless situations.

Listen to Psalm 3. David rejoices in the fact of the presence of God.

Remember, he can turn any situation around

Wedding at Cana....feeding of 5000....calming a storm at sea

He is the one who can came into chaos and commanded order. Right at the beginning. He reveals his power. He can come into your chaos and bring order and beauty.

He came to darkness and commanded light.

He is the one with us...the Lion of the tribe of Judah....the Ancient of Days...the Anointed one

We don’t have to be afraid...or full of despair...as we face the future.

He says to you, as I was with Moses.....so shall I be with you

David rejoices in this In the Psalms

In Ps 27..the Lord is my light...whom shall I fear

Ps 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, and ever present help in the time of trouble.

V2 therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea

3 though its waters roar and foam

    and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy place where the Most High dwells.