Title: The Benefits Of Presence Not Presents
Text: Matt 1:18-23
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Introduction:
An American Express survey about Christmas gifts found that the fruitcake was chosen most often (31%) from a list of "worst" holiday gifts. It even finished ahead of "no gift at all." When asked how to dispose of a bad gift, 30% would hide it in the closet, 21% would return it, and 19% would give it away. This suggests that the Christmas fruitcake might get recycled as a gift for the host of New Year’s party.
What not to Buy Your Wife: Although the only person a man usually shops for is his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one. Many a man has felt extreme frigid temperatures for a long period based on a poor present decision. As a veteran of these wars, I’m still not sure what to buy my wife, but I’ll pass on what not to buy her:
1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.
2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. "Do I look like a size 16?" she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: "I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!"
3. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any brownie points.
4. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.
5. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.
6. And, guys, do not fall into the traditional trap of buying her frilly underwear. Your idea of the kind your wife should wear and what she actually wears are light years apart.
7. Finally, don’t spend too much. "How do you think we’re going to afford that?" she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, "Is that all I’m worth?"
- This morning if you haven’t gotten your Christmas shopping done, you have exactly 5 days left before it all ends for another year.
- How many love to go shopping alone? If you have a wife like mine, you have no choice but to shop alone.
- My wife is the worst wanting to know her gifts before Christmas.
- She will look for receipts, check banking records, go online and see what I have spent and what store, and of coarse snoop around the house and ask questions.
- Now that we have kids, she will do everything in her power to get it out of our kids.
- So I have to be careful where I put things, and nothing can come home to the house until Christmas Eve.
- You say why so late to bring over the gifts?
- Well my wife has been known to open the gifts when they have already been wrapped only to rewrap them as if nothing has ever happened.
- Trying to keep the secret of what I bought my wife for Christmas can be challenging but I love it.
- It’s tradition and it’s exciting to see if I can keep it from her until Christmas day, which I haven’t done yet.
Transition:
- Exciting as giving gifts and trying to keep the secret from your loved ones is, there is something far more greater then presents.
- It is Presence, God’s Presence in our lives.
- I want to read for you again verse 23 and focus on the words that say, God With Us.
- It’s not only the Christmas season that God is with us, but all year round, 24 7.
- Just as there are benefits to receiving presents, there are benefits to receiving and living in God’s Presence.
- I want to share with you some benefits of God’s Presence to the Christian this Christmas season.
Point 1: God’s Presence Comforts Us
Exodus 33:12-14 says, “Then Moses said to the Lord, "See, you have been saying to me, ’Bring this people up,’1 but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ’I know you by name,2 and also you have found favor in my sight.’ And now, if I have found favor in your sight, show me3 your way, that I may know you, that I may continue to find5 favor in your sight. And see6 that this nation is your people. And he said, "My presence1 will go with you,2 and I will give you rest."
- I like this true story about Nick Anderson that I read, let me read it to you:
When times are tough and things just aren’t going your way, there’s nothing like a hug. Someone putting an arm around you and telling you, “Hey, everything’s going to be all right. You’re okay.”
And there’s nobody better at that than your mom. Just ask Nick Anderson. The Orlando Magic guard missed four free throws in the waning seconds of his team’s NBA Finals game against Houston and the team went on to lose a game it otherwise might have won. Later Houston guard Clyde Drexler blew past Anderson for a lay-up late in overtime. Nick Anderson had a very bad game.
Understandably, when he got home Anderson was down in the dumps. “My mom put her arm around me,” Anderson later said, “and told me, ‘You’ve got nothing to put your head down about. You’ve pulled your team through many other times.”
- When you know that God is with you, His presence will give you that source of comfort you need.
- The scripture says, He will give you rest while in the wilderness, which implies peace of mind and security knowing that God is with you.
- Hard times comes to all of us, but God is like Nick Anderson’s mother who encourages us with words from the Bible or a song in our heart.
- Remember Paul and Silas, they were preaching the good news and were thrown in jail.
- God gave them a song, and they started singing and the jail in which they were in started to shake.
- God’s presence will always comfort us in our times of struggles, learn to depend on Him.
- Learn to sing to Him, Learn to read and declare the promises that are found in His Word to us, they will be our source of comfort, when we find ourselves in jail.
Point 2: God’s Presence Guides Us
Matt 2:7-12 says, “Then Herod1 privately summoned the wise men and determined from them when the star had appeared. 2:8 He2 sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well." 2:9 After listening to the king they left, and once again3 the star they saw when it rose4 led them until it stopped above the place where the child was. 2:10 When they saw the star they shouted joyfully.5 2:11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down6 and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense,7 and myrrh.8 2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,9 they went back by another route to their own country.”
- If we were privately summoned by our Prime Minister about a certain miracle that had happened in the church and he sounded excited, polite, nice and kind why would we not believe what he had to say?
- These wise men, had no reason to believe that Herod was just being nice, and I believe the wise men were going to tell the King where Jesus was.
- God knew this also, and warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. Why would God warn them in a dream not to go back?
- Because the wise men were going back to tell all to the King.
- I am sure this dream God had given them was confusing, but one thing is for sure is that it was clear and to the point.
- My point is that God guides us in life.
- Sometimes what God says can be confusing, but we know that what God has said was from Him and so we follow His leading
- I believe when we trust in Him fully, He will never steer us wrong, we can trust Him with all things and not be afraid.
- Let me further describe what I mean about God’s guidance with this story:
An old sailor repeatedly got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass and urged him to use it. The next time he went out in his boat, he followed their advice and took the compass with him. But as usual he became hopelessly confused and was unable to find land. Finally he was rescued by his friends.
Disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, “Why didn’t you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!” The sailor responded, “I didn’t dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast.”
That old sailor was so certain he knew which way was north that he stubbornly tired to force his own personal persuasion on his compass. Unable to do so, he tossed it aside as worthless and failed to benefit from the guidance it offered.
- God offers us guidance in all things, to run this church, to run our homes, to run our finances, to direct our families.
- We can receive when at times we don’t understand, or we can toss it aside and eventually get lost. The choice is ours.
Point 3: God’s Presence Gives Us Joy
Psalm 16:11 says, “You lead me in the path of life; I experience absolute joy in your presence you always give me sheer delight.”
As a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: “It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians—and I am one of them.”
- What is true joy? It is when you come to the realization through teaching, worship, fellowship and experiencing God in your personal way that you have overcome the world.
- It’s realizing your name is written in the Lambs Book Of Life.
- It’s realizing that God is for you and not against you.
- It’s realizing that God will never leave you nor forsake you.
- It’s realizing that God has chosen you to be conformed into His image.
- It’s realizing that God has a plan for you.
- It’s realizing that this world has nothing to offer and God has all the answer.
- It’s realizing that only God can truly fulfill your life in every possible way.
- It can’t come through church membership, or wearing a nice suit.
- It doesn’t come by doing good things. It starts by having a relationship with God and understanding why He came to this earth.
- We realize those things when we are being taught God’s Word and we hear and live it, when we have fellowship and see other believers blessed and rejoice with them.
- It’s when we bear our hearts before God in worship and we sacrifice to connect with Him even when we don’t feel like it.
- When we realize those things and experience them everyday, there will automatically be a joy that passes all understanding.
- That illustration was from Moody Bible Institute and the writer counted it to be an honor to be a Christian.
- I am not hear to convince the world that Christ is the answer, I am hear to declare it.
- I can only declare what I have experienced, and it doesn’t come any other way.
Point 4: God’s Presence Is Great And Mighty
Eze 38:17-23 says, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days that I would bring you against them? On that day, when Gog invades the land of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. I will call for a sword to attack7 him on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Nahum 1:5 says, “The mountains tremble before him,1the hills convulse; the earth is laid waste before him, the world and all its inhabitants are laid waste.”
- Make no mistake God is in control of this world and your life.
- The only thing that God is not in control is our decision to serve Him.
- We chose either to reject or serve Him
- But make no mistake God will not be mocked, God will always reign and be in complete control.
- God’s presence has not left this world, and I believe God is very grieved in the condition of the human heart in how we have fallen.
- Refer to the Prophecy information
- I believe we are in for some hard times, but I also believe the greatest days for the church are now.
- I believe the coming of Lord will appear in my lifetime and it will be a greatest event the world has ever witnessed.
Conclusion:
- This is a call to worship the one true God this Christmas season.
- We can rely on God, trust Him and have confidence that He will do what He set out to do not just in this world, but in your personal life.
- God’s presence is here this morning to minister to you. Do you need comfort, guidance, joy, to feel His presence again. Do you need to see God’s power in operation for you life?
- Reach out to Him, put Him first in all things, pray and read His Word so that you can learn from Him and begin to change.
- We need to always remember that God’s name is Immanuel, which means God With Us.
- Today God is with you.
Lets Pray!!!
