GOD WITH US

SEREIS TITLE: A REASON TO CELEBRATE

INTRODUCTION:
- Magandang umaga sa ating lahat!
- 20 days nalang po Christmas na!
- Ano nga bang reason natin to celebrate the season?
- Ito po anG serye natin ngayong Pasko, “A REASON TO CELEBRATE.”

- Christmas is a season many look forward to.

- For the next four weeks, we will look at God’s promised Messiah in the
book of Isaiah and how Jesus came and fulfilled this promise so that we can
celebrate the light and life He brings in the midst of our own challenges and
doubts.
- We hope this series will produce inextinguishable hope and joy in our
hearts knowing that Christ is with us.

OUTCOME-BASED OBJECTIVE:
At the end of this series, our prayer is that the church community will
develop a deeper appreciation of the meaning and significance of the birth
and person of Jesus, in relation to Isaiah’s prophecies, which will help us
celebrate the season more meaningfully and shape us spiritually and
communally.

HOW TO EXPLAIN THE TITLE:

- Our experiences with loss, grief, frustration and hopelessness can diminish
our excitement for this season.
- But for us who know Christ, we can look back in our lives, recount how
faithful God is to us, and live with hope.

TEXT: Isaiah 7:10-16 ESV The Sign of Immanuel

10 
Again the  LORD  spoke to Ahaz:  11  “Ask  a sign of the  LORD  you God; let it be
deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”  12  But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will
not put the  LORD  to the test.”  13  And he  said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is
it too little for you to weary men, that you  weary my God also?  14  Therefore
the  Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the  virgin shall conceive and
bear a son, and shall call his name  Immanuel 15  He shall eat  curds and honey
when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.  16  For before the
boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two
kings you dread will be  deserted.

PRAYER:
CONNECT:
Question: Why do we celebrate Christmas?
- Kinalakihan natin
- Nakaugalian na natin
- It’s a tradition
- This has been passed on to us.
- Dahil Kristiyano tayo (some Christians do not celebrate Christmas)

Reasons Not to Celebrate Christmas?

- Cliche - same, old, boring story/holiday. It gets too familiar
- Apathy - It doesn't seem all too important.
- Pressure.

A Reason to Celebrate: God with Us (Read Matthew 21-23)

What does God being with us mean?
- Sin has separated us from God and God promised redemption (Isaiah 7:14)
- God has come to live with us.
- God gives an ultimate assurance of salvation.

CONTEXT:
- The name Immanuel appears in the Bible three times, twice in the Old
Testament book of Isaiah (7:14 and 8:8), and once in the Gospel of Matthew
(1:23).
- Seven hundred (700) years after King Ahaz, a virgin from Nazareth named
Mary was engaged to Joseph.
- Under na ito ng Roman rule.
- In the text that we’ve read, before they were married, an angel visited
Joseph to confirm that Mary had conceived a child through the Holy Spirit
(Matthew 1:20–21).

- When the child was born, they were to name Him Jesus. - For Matthew
who is writing to the Jewish people, understanding the fulfillment of Isaiah’s
prophecy, delivers this inspired revelation: “All this took place to fulfill what
the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give
birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)”
(Matthew 1:22–23).

- Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy because He was literally “God with us”; He
was fully human yet still fully God.
- Christ came to live in Israel with His people, as Isaiah had foretold.
- Matthew recognized Jesus as Immanuel, the living expression of the
Incarnation—the miracle of the Son of God becoming a human and making
His home among us so that He could reveal God to us.

What does it mean when the bible says, “God with us?”

1. GOD IS WITH US IN HUMAN FORM.

John 1:14 (NLT)
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of
unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the
Father’s one and only Son.

- It means that literally, God is with us in human form. In the person of Jesus.
- He was fully human and fully God at the same time.
- He was 100% man and 100% God.
- And v.14 of John 1, describes the Incarnation of God through Jesus Christ.
- So, if God is with us literally, then there’s no reason for us not to celebrate.
- In fact, we have all the reason to celebrate Christmas season.
- When we say God is with us in human form, it can also mean that He can
walk and talk with us just as He has walked and talked with Adam and Eve in
the garden.
- Through Jesus, God is not just a sign like the child that was mentioned
during the time of King Ahaz but God is with us through Jesus in Person.
- Jesus left the glories of heaven and took on the form of a servant so that
He could identify with us in our day-to-day human struggles.

- That is why he came here in human form.

- Anong Ibig sabihin nito sa atin?
- Dahil Tao si Jesus at namuhay kasama ng mga tao:
- Naranasan niya din ung mga dinaranas natin sa buhay
- natukso din siya, nagutom, nareject, trinaydor din Siya, and so on…

• It means that we can have someone who can hear our groanings, who can
listen and identified with our pains.
• It means that he knows all the things that we’ve been going through.
• It means that we can have the confidence in approaching the very throne
of God.
• It means that we can have a personal relationship with Him.
• It means that we can have peace in the midst of our challenging season.

2. GOD IS WITH US IN HIS FULLNESS.

Colossians 2:9-10 (NLT)

9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also
are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler
and authority.

- This means that through Jesus Christ, God is revealed not partially but
completely. Not 50%, but 100%.
- Walang labis. Walang kulang. Sabi nga from A to Z. (Complete)
- God is with us in His fullness means ramdam, dinig, at kita natin ang
buong pagka-Diyos niya sa ating buhay.
- He is not an absentee God but when we need Him, He is in full attention
with us.
- So, if Christ is revealing the full revelation of who God is, then if we have
Jesus, God is also living with us completely! Why?

Jesus said in… John 10:30 “…I and the Father are one.”
- We can know and experience God as our Father, our Friend, our Redeemer,
our Comfort, our Refuge, our Strength, our Provider, our Protection and
many more.
- Kumbaga full access tayo kay God because of Jesus being our Immanuel.
- Naka-experience na ba kayo ng ganun? Yung inallow ka ng kakilala mo o
kaibigan mo ng access sa lahat either parte ng bahay nila or maybe
amusement park.

ILLUSTRATION:
- One time we were allowed to sleep to a house of our dear friend in San
Fernando.
- Pumunta sila sa Manila at kami ang nagbantay. Puno ang ref ng mga
pagkain at pinatulog kami sa mismong master’s bedroom.
- Without knowing that ung unan namin puno ang pera sa loob.
- Hindi binigay samon pero, we got their trust!
- Sabi naman ni Gem after, hindi kaya tayo tinest?
- Possible pero she denied it.
- Hindi nga daw niya marember na may nilagay na pera don.
- But anyhow, she let us have the full access sa bahay nila.

- Ganon si God satin, He allowed us to have full access in His kingdom.

- Blessings, provision, favour, peace through Jesus Christ.
- Again, when we have Jesus as our Immanuel, we have God with us in His
fullness.
- God is ALL-IN and ALL-OUT for you and me!
 3. GOD IS WITH US FOREVER.
After His resurrection from the dead, before Jesus returned to the Father, He
made this promise: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”
Matthew 28:20, NLT

In fact, let us read that together.

Matthew 28:20 AMP Classic
20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and
behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually (eternally), uniformly
(consistently), and on every occasion (circumstance)), to the [very] close and
consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).

- Ang linaw. Sa lahat ng panahon, pagkakataon, sa mga pagsubok sa buhay

ay makakasama natin ang Diyos Ama.
- Eternally, Consistnently and in all Circumstance ng buhay natin.
- Hindi ka nag-iisa! Kamown now!
- Kung dito sa mundong ginagalawan natin is walang forever because
everything is temporary here, then with God there is forever.
- He said, “I am with you to the very end of the age!”
- Until the consummation of the age.
- Iniwan ba tayo ni God? Hindi! Kaya nga in our time today, we have the
Holy Spirit with us.
- Kay God walang iwanan.
- Hindi lang yun. Sabi ni God sa…

Romans 8:38–39 (NLT)

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today
nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us
from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed,
nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- The fact that we can never be separated from Christ’s love, this already
means that we are forever with God.
- So, in every season of our lives, we have all the reason to celebrate
because God is with us.

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 mentioned that there is a season for everything. And in

those seasons, I want us to understand that God is there. We may not
understand sometimes the season that we are in but the bible mentioned that
God made everything beautiful in His time.

- Last scripture that I want to share to us to give us proof that God is with us
forever.

Galatians 4:4-7
4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject
to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law,
so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his
children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to
call out, “Abba, Father.”7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.
And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

- If God has adopted us as his very own children and that God made us his
heir, therefore this simply means that we belong to God and that God is
with us forever.
- Why? Because God will not let his children be departed from his eyes.
- That He will look after us.
- That He sees, cares, and will act on our behalf because he loved us.

- Now that we have one very good reason, the next thing left for us to do is
celebrate.
- Let us not celebrate for the wrong reasons:
- Foods with us.
- People with us.
- Bonus with us.
- Gift with us.
- 13th month pay with us.
- spouse with us.
- family with us
- BF/GF with us.

- These are not reasons to celebrate but means to celebrate.

- Even if you don't have these, you will always have a reason to celebrate:
God with us.

Celebrate the right way:

Jesus is not just the reason for this season but in EVERY SEASON.

- Christmas was God’s answer more than 2 thousand years ago to people
who felt helpless, harassed, and hopeless.
- It is still His answer to your situation today.
- And so, if you are feeling helpless, harassed, and hopeless may this season
remind you that “GOD IS WITH US!”
- Ultimately, for those who are in Christ we always have a reason to
celebrate this season understanding that —God is with us.

4
MAIN POINT:
WE ALWAYS HAVE A REASON TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS KNOWING
THAT—GOD IS WITH US, AND IN HIM WE HAVE LIGHT AND LIFE.

PRAYER FOR MINISTRY:

1. Altar call – God with us has to be a personal decision. Will you let Him in
your life today? God in us.
2. Be careful and not be afraid – stay close to Jesus – he is Immanuel God
with us

3. If you are looking for miracles and someone to fight for you – look no
further. He is here. He already fought our greatest enemy and won. God for
us!

In Jesus Name! Amen!