Emmanuel, God with us
Text: Matt. 1:18-25
Opening….
1. Read God came near, Max Lucado- Attached paper #1
2. We get passionate and misty eyed that Jesus was born in a stable / manger
John got all misty eyed and passionate that God became a man….
A. God had now become… breakable
Touchable- And the Word was made flesh…. And our hands have handled, the Word of Life. John 1
Vulnerable- Crucify Him!
Breakable- this is my body which is broken for you
He who had been spirit – now became flesh
He who was larger than the universal, became an embryo
And he who had sustained the worlds with his word, was now dependant upon a poor teenage girl.
For thirty years, he would feel everything you feel.
He would come to know life’s greatest joys, its deepest sorrows.
And while he was completely divine, he was also just a man
- God came near by Max Lucado.
B.. God had now become… one of us.
1. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same Heb. 2:14
2. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15, KJV)
a. Touched with the feelings- 4834, [sumpatheo /soom•path•eh•o/] Literally, to enter into with
He has sympathy, not empathy for us- he does not feel for us…. But with us.
God before, could feel sorry for us… but not sorry with us.
b. He feels with us, the daily frustrations we feel
Death of is step dad, Joseph
Lazareth, his close friend
Folks misunderstanding him
Not believing him
Hating him
The feelings of his own family being frustrated with him.
c. He has truly felt and lived it all.
