Movie Illustration: The Nativity and Bethel God is with us!
Series: Find Joy in the Journey in 2019
Thesis of series: Joy needs to be experienced in the journey of life! But Joy, like any other attitude, can come and go. It is not guaranteed simply because we are born again believers. We must put ourselves in the places where experiencing joy is a possibility.
Scripture: Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Sermon 15: Find Joy in the Journey through God’s Promises (Christmas Eve)
Thesis: Joy is found in believing the Promises of God especially the epic 5: 1. God is with Us! 2. God is in Us! 3. God is for Us! 4. God loves Us! 5. God’s light guides Us!
Scripture Text:
2 Peter 1:3-4 (The CEV - The Promise)
3 We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. 4 God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.
Question: What do we need to know this Christmas Eve about finding joy in the journey through the promises of God? Especially the promises connected with Christmas and the baby in the manger!
Christmas brought 5 incredible promises to us from God the Father, Jesus the Son and The Holy Spirit!
The 5 Promises:
1. God is with Us – Jesus came as a testimony to God’s love and to the fact that God keeps His promises! When you look at Jesus as a baby, child, teen or adult you see the face of God. He God was willing to come be with us in this world filled with evil to bring us great joy and peace!
a. Isaiah 7:14: …Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.”
b. Isaiah 9:2-7: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
i. The promise of God being with us is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Tonight we listened to the Nativity story from Scripture and sang songs reflecting back on this marvelous majestic event in history.
1. Matthew 1:23 tells us Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise of God coming to us and literally being with us “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us.”
c. Max Lucado states this about our celebration of this event about 2,019 years ago:
i. “This is the Christmas moment that shaped all the others to follow. On a starlit night in the company of sheep, cattle, and a bewildered Joseph, Mary’s eyes fell upon the face of her just-born son. She was bone weary, surely. In pain, likely. Ready to place her head on the straw and sleep the rest of the night away, probably. But first Mary had to see this face. His face. To wipe the moisture from his mouth and feel the shape of his chin. To be the first to whisper, “So this is what God looks like.”
1. Lucado, Max (2016-09-12T23:58:59). Because of Bethlehem (with Bonus Content) . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
2. Could you imagine that moment for Mary? Looking into the face of God – He was with us in the world now – God in the flesh! Who would have thought that The God would come to this world as a baby?
ii. Joseph – Mary – the animals in the stable all get to see the face of God as He fulfilled the 700 year old prophecy of His promised coming from Isaiah – He came was conceived by the Holy Spirit through Mary into this world to be with us – wow – Mary knew He was born through her being a virgin. Amazing - what must have been going through her heart and mind in this marvelous moment!
1. Jesus is that child – Immanuel “God with us” He comes to this earth and the first to look on his face are a few people and a few animals! Wow to see the face of God – what an honor!
a. Steve states, “The promise is that God is with us, in real life. Joseph bore the shame of his fiancé getting pregnant. Mary screamed in labor. Jesus was poor and the manger was surrounded by sheep and cow manure. It was raw. It was real. It was a lot like our lives. The Christmas Promise is that God is with us, right where we are.”
i. And here Jesus is – God in the flesh laying in her arms – I always think of this moment and the song “Mary did you Know!”
1. God comes to experience what we experience - the barns of life – the hardships of life – He knows what it’s like to go through hardship – rejection – pain – turmoil – He lived it!
2. Wow – He is with us – He gets us!
2. If you recall from the OT Moses was not allowed to see the face of God on Mt Sinai when He was getting the 10 commandments and the Levitical law!
a. See Exodus 33:20: “But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
i. He could only look at His back as He passed by – because if he looked at Him he would die.
ii. But a couple of 1,000 years later there is God in the form of a baby and people are looking into his face.
1. Joseph
2. Animals
3. Mary
4. The Shepherds
b. Lucado states: “Jesus entered our world not like a human but as a human.”
i. Lucado, Max (2016-09-12T23:58:59). Because of Bethlehem (with Bonus Content) . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
3. Lucado notes the following:
a. “People have always wondered about the image of God. Societies have speculated. Tribes have cogitated. And we’ve reached a variety of conclusions. God has been depicted as a golden calf and a violent wind and an angry volcano. He wears wings, breathes fire, eats infants, and demands penance. We’ve fancied God as ferocious, magical, fickle, and maniacal. A god to be avoided, dreaded, and appeased. But never in mankind’s wildest imaginings did we consider that God would enter the world as an infant.”
i. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 NKJV).
ii. “God became flesh. Jesus entered our world not like a human but as a human. He endured puberty, pimples, hot weather, and cranky neighbors. God became human down to his very toes.”
1. Lucado, Max (2016-09-12T23:58:59). Because of Bethlehem (with Bonus Content) . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
b. Max continues: “[Jesus] radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Heb. 1:3 NLT). Jesus himself stated, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). “Anyone who has seen me weep has seen the Father weep.” “Anyone who has seen me laugh has seen the Father laugh.” “Anyone who has seen me determined has seen the Father determined.” Would you like to see God? Take a look at Jesus.
i. Lucado, Max (2016-09-12T23:58:59). Because of Bethlehem (with Bonus Content) . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
d. So, I think the epic promise of Christmas is – “God is with us!”
i. I want you to personalize this promise:
1. God’s promise is that He will always be with you and me!
2. Yes, even today in Chicago – God is with us – He is here for all who seek Him out and want to experience Him.
3. Yes, that means you on this Christmas eve!
a. In the Old testament they did not get what we get today – the ability to come into Gods presence – Did you hear what I just said, ”The ability to be in God’s presence!” Wow that should make you sing Joy to the world!
i. DO you understand that! To experience Him personally and intimately! It is a gift – a blessing – it’s not a right but a privilege.
1. That should make you sing “Hark The Herald angels sing!”
ii. Jesus was called Immanuel stating clearly the meaning “God with us!” this is why we sang tonight Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel! Did you hear that – do you see why we sing it and why it was written?
T.S. – God is with us – Christmas reveals this truth and Christmas also set in motion our second epic promise and that is God will live in us if we allow Him too!
2. “God in Us”
a. Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise to be with us now in this world filled with evil but there is more promises – I think deeper promises – more personal promises which come from Jesus.
i. Yes, Jesus is God in the flesh and He makes a greater promise to us which is to send to us the Holy Spirit to be in us - yes “God in Us.” God wants to dwell inside of you not just be beside you! Did you hear that promise?
1. Wow what an amazing fulfilled promise by Jesus He came and He made the promise that he would not leave us orphans but send the Holy Spirit to live in us – to be apart of our everyday lives – to empower us to live a joy filled life. To help us in the journey of life.
b. Jesus fulfilled the promise of God with us but also made the 2nd epic promise which takes the first promise to another level and that is God within us - he tells us how this will happen if and when we receive the Holy Spirit.
i. Is He living in you today – have you experienced this?
ii. Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit: John 14: 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you… 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
1. Jesus said here is another of God’s promises for you – He God would live in us – He is here for us on the inside and the outside – really any believer who needs strength to endure the journey of life and power to overcome in this journey of life can Have the Holy Spirit live inside him or her– Then Jesus and God fulfilled this promise and delivered to us the Holy Spirit.
a. See Acts 2 – what a gift – what a divine precious gift from God to you and I.
2. The promise of the Holy Spirit came from the Promised Child born of a virgin - Jesus!
a. So, Christmas brings us the promise of Jesus and Jesus brings us the promise of the Holy Spirit to live in us – not just beside us but in us.
b. Do you understand the enormity of this, promise from Jesus? Do you understand how this is a great privilege?
iii. Application: We find Joy in the journey through the promise of “God with Us! And “God in Us”
1. He is not just beside us but living in us if we allow Him too!
a. The promised Holy Spirit of Jesus came to empower us to persevere in this journey of life filled with evil and His power enables us to be overcomers in this journey of life.
2. The Holy Spirit is another fulfilled promise from God for you – it’s another amazing gift to be accepted – opened and used. It’s God living in you! Are you hearing this?
a. This is why we sing Joy to The World people!
3. Do you hear what I hear from Scripture – Do you see what I see?
a. It’s Christmas and we’re talking about the Christmas Promises – God with us and God in Us – Jesus knew we would need help with perseverance and joy in the journey of life. So, he promised and sent us the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
b. Wow – that’s incredible!
T.S.: The Promises of ”God with us and God in us” should cause us to sing “Oh Come Let us Adore Him!” – embracing these two promises should bring us joy and cheer and the power to see Christmas as a blessing and not a burden. It should compel us to sing “What child is this and “Away in the manger with joy!” Their is a third promise I want to mention today it’s the promise of “ God is for us!”
3. God is for Us
a. The promised Holy Spirit living in us reminds us every day God is for us – not against us – He lives in us as the fulfilled promise of Jesus to lead us, guide us, gift us and direct us into truth, to lead us into the abundant life and to give us the power to overcome anything in this journey of life that will come against us!
i. Yes, He lives in us and reminds us God is for us – he will protect us from sin, from evil, from, demons and other bad stuff if we follow and obey His Word and way.
1. Thought to ponder: Jesus the fulfillment of God’s Promise of “God with Us” them promised God does not just want to be with us – He wants to be in us Jesus said I am sending you the Holy Spirit - why so God could dwell in you! “God wants to go further with you than just being with us – He wants to live in us – be in us. Yes “God is in us!” If you want Him to be! All you have to do is open your heart and invite Him in – really – you want the greatest gift of all time – ask for it right now on Christmas eve – invite him to come live in you to fill you with His Holy Spirit! Then you know He is for you and nothing will be able to stop you!
ii. When he comes to live in us – guess what it proves God is for us! The Holy Spirit reminds over and over God is for us!
1. Romans 8:31-39: 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
iii. Application of Promise 3: If God be for us, who can be against us?
1. I would like everyone to walk out of here this Christmas after they listen to this message and be aware of one thing: That God is for you. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
a. He proved He was for us by sending Jesus – the child born of a Virgin!
b. He proved he would not leave us as orphans in a wicked evil world so He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us!
i. Quote: “God is for you! He is on your side! He loves you from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. He will never leave you nor will he ever forsake you. He knows you intimately yet he still believes in you.”
ii. Quote: “God is for us, because first of all, His Word declares it, and I have experienced it first hand, and I know that even if you don’t realize it now, you can look back and realize it.”
1. Point 3 and 4 quoted from https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/if-god-be-for-us-john-chisham-sermon-on-peace-99415
T.S. – We need to embrace the promise that God is for us because the devil and others will tell He is not for you but against you – But He is for us because He showed us how much He is for us through His love – which is our next epic promise God loves us!
4. God loves Us!
a. Why? Because God is love its His nature – it’s who He is!
b. John 3:16
i. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
1. Love came to save us and that Love was born in a manger – Mary had to endure the shame game for getting pregnant – Joseph had to deal with – then their was census and a long donkey ride cross country for 80 miles – really – this is how the Son of God was to be born. To top it off there is no room in the inn so you get the barn with the animals and this is where God is born and reveals His face – I would have done it different – Love comes to us like this – yes it did!
ii. Lucado states:
1. “Who was Jesus? God saves. What did Jesus come to do? God saves. God saves. Jesus was not just godly, godlike, God hungry, God focused, or God worshipping. He was God. Not merely a servant of God, instrument of God, or friend of God, but Jesus was God. God saves, not God empathizes, cares, listens, helps, assists, or applauds. God saves. Specifically “he will save his people from their sins” (v. 21).
a. Lucado, Max (2016-09-12T23:58:59). Because of Bethlehem (with Bonus Content) . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
c. God is Love: How does God Define Love? The following from https://www.allaboutgod.com/god-is-love.htm
i. The Bible tells us that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). But how can we even begin to understand that truth? There are many passages in the Bible that give us God's definition of love. The most well known verse is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
1. Quote: So one way God defines love is in the act of giving. However, what God gave (or should we say, "who" God gave) was not a mere gift-wrapped present; God sacrificed His only Son so that we, who put our faith in His Son, will not spend eternity separated from Him. This is an amazing love, because we are the ones who choose to reject God, yet it's God who mends the separation through His intense personal sacrifice, and all we have to do is accept His gift.
2. Quote: Another great verse about God's love is found in Romans 5:8, "But God gave his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you; " nor does He say, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me." In fact, in Romans 5:8, we find just the opposite.
a. Quote: ”God wants us to know that His love is unconditional, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still unlovable sinners. We didn't have to get clean, and we didn't have to make any promises to God before we could experience His love. His love for us has always existed, and because of that, He did all the giving and sacrificing long before we were even aware that we needed His love.”
T.S. – God love us is a promise for you and I that should cause us to sing tonight to God for His great present and gift to us Jesus – himself – his love is unconditional and personal and we need to embrace it. God’s love is a promise for us as well as God is our light in the journey of life through the dark passages of life.
5. God is our light and that means He is our light in the journey of life even through the darkness.
a. God is light – What does that mean? The following from https://www.compellingtruth.org/God-is-light.html
i. The phrase "God is light" appears in 1 John 1:5, where the apostle John is explaining that the message we have from Jesus Christ is that God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all.
1. Light is the nature and character of God.
2. He is not a light or a kind of light; He is light itself.
3. All light comes from Him. At the beginning of time, He created the light to dispel the darkness and chaos that was over all the earth (Genesis 1:1–5).
4. Then He created the lights in the sky, the sun, moon, and stars (Genesis 1:14–16).
5. As light itself and the source of light, He had only to speak and light came into being.
ii. Darkness represents everything that is anti-God:
1. The wicked (Proverbs 2:13)
2. Judgment (Exodus 10:21)
3. Death (Psalm 88:12).
a. The light that is God is the opposite of the darkness that is evil. The light of God is His holiness, righteousness, and goodness, which is in contrast to the darkness of evil and sin.
b. Light is part of the essence of God. He is completely, unreservedly, absolutely holy, with no sin, no taint of iniquity, and no hint of injustice.
iii. In the Old Testament light is regularly associated:
1. With God and His word (Psalm 119:105)
2. With Salvation (Isaiah 9:2)
3. With goodness (Genesis 1:4)
4. With truth (Psalm 43:3)
5. With His commandments (Proverbs 6:23)
6. With life (Psalm 56:13).
a. In Psalm 27:1 David declares God to be his light and salvation. God was the light that guided and led David through dark and difficult times of persecution. Darkness is the emblem of distress, trouble, perplexity, and sorrow. Light is the opposite of these. God furnished David with such light that he was filled with confidence and his fears were dispelled.
iv. The New Testament picks up these themes describing the holiness of God in different ways.
1. God "dwells in unapproachable light" (1 Timothy 6:16)
2. He is the "Father of lights" (James 1:17).
3. John's statement "God is light" is a regular theme in his writings, especially as it relates to Jesus Christ. God's Light is revealed in Christ, whose light of love shines into lives darkened by sin (1 John 1:5–7). Jesus declares that He is the "light of the world" (John 8:12; 9:5).
4. John describes Jesus, the incarnate Word, as coming into the world to be the "light of men" and "the true light which gives light to everyone" (John 1:1–9).
5. Jesus came as the light of the world, breaking the power of the darkness of sin by His shed blood and death on the cross.
v. Isaiah 9:2: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
b. Application: This is why we are doing a Candle ceremony tonight.
i. As I light my candle from the piano this candle burning represents the light of Jesus Christ and when we partake of that light – when I lite my candle it is to dispel the darkness in this world but - we have to do this together – together we are brighter than if we are separated - we are less bright apart from each other and this makes a difference in the darkness.
ii. So tonight let’s pass the light of Jesus around tonight and watch this room be lit up as we honor Jesus – but remember we need to pass the light of Jesus onto, others and we should do this daily in this dark world. People need to see His light so they can be free.
c. Sing: Silent night
Close with Merry Christmas and prayer!
