Names Of Jesus: Emmanuel - God With Us. Series

Some notes and thoughts on a Christmas Series about the names of Jesus.

Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, (7) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (9) Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, (11) and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Title: God With Us

Theme:

Text: Matthew 1:18-23

Illustration: I have been singing a song all week long. The song was written by Anothony Showalter.

This Sung historically was sung as a Refrain. The ladies would Sing: Leaning, Leaning, safe and secure from all alarm. While the Basses/ males would add Leaning(On Jesus) Leaning(on Jesus). Then together: (Safe and Secure from all alarm).

It is sung in 4/4 time, in the Key of A flat

The Tennessee Music Company(Church of God)/Pathway Press published the Church Hymnal( As we know it as the Red Back Hymnal) and really is what made it famous. We sang it in shape notes in the Church of God for those who know what that means...

Then in the 1970's Then Dr. Clay Evans and The Famous Fellowship missionary Baptist church Chicago broadcast made it once again go around the African/Black American church with their incredible version of the song.

Other Notes

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms is a hymn published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha Hoffman. It is most commonly played on the scale of A-flat major.

Showalter was a presbyterian minister who had written over 130 hymn books. He was know in his day as a hymn writer. He wrote other songs like:

Showalter said that he received letters from two of his former pupils saying that their wives had died. When writing letters of consolation, Showalter was inspired by the phrase in the Book of Deuteronomy 33:27, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms".[1]

Versions

It has been performed and recorded by such artists as Roy Clark, Iris DeMent, Mahalia Jackson, George Jones, Twila Paris, Selah and Norbert Susemihl.

Alan Jackson included it in his 2006 live gospel album Precious Memories.

Me without you uses the lyrics from the 3rd stanza and part of the 2nd in their song Watermelon Ascot from their Pale Horses album.

The Carter Family performed the hymn during their time on Mexican Radio Stations in the late 1930s and early 1940s. One version can be found on YouTube.

Brian Fallon included it in his 2021 studio album Night Divine.

In popular culture

The song has been used in several movies, including The Human Comedy (1943), Native Son (1950), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Phase IV (1974), Wild Bill (1995), Next of Kin (1989), True Grit (2010) (of which it forms about a quarter of the score[3]) and First Reformed (2017).

In television, it was used in the Dollhouse season one episode "True Believer".[4] It was also used in the House of Cards episode "Chapter 42" (season 4, episode 3), in the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Pattern Seventeen" (season 16, episode 9), in Justified (season 4, episode 5, "Kin") and in The Simpsons episode "The Yellow Badge of Cowardge" (season 25, episode 22).[5] It was also sung in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, "Mountain Wedding", during the wedding scene.

It was also used in a Guinness beer commercial titled "Empty Chair" which was produced by Human Worldwide Inc. and in a 2014 Sainsbury's ad regarding the World War I "Christmas Truce" of 1914.[6]

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_on_the_Everlasting_Arms

Note: After overloading the congregation with information on the song (I never told them the name). I said, “Maybe it is better if I let our music minister and team play the song. “ Then they played Leaning on the Everlasting arms.

After this I read from:

Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

In the Old Testament we see a distant God who is sometimes hard to understand. The only way we could understand Him is for Him to walk among us. It was one thing to read about Him and hear His voice but quite another to have Him come and be “God with Us”.