Knowing Jesus through Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 18:1-8)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church on Sunday, January 26, 2020

Today, we are going to talk about knowing Jesus through prayer. Shortly after Dallas Theological Seminary opened its doors, their doors almost closed because of bankruptcy. Before their 1929 commencement day, the faculty gathered in the president’s office to pray that God would provide. They formed a prayer circle, and when it was Harry Ironside’s turn, he circled Psalm 50:10 with a simple Honi-like prayer: “Lord, we know you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Please sell some of them, and send us the money.”

The time lapse between our requests and God’s answers is often longer than we would like, but occasionally God answers immediately.

While the faculty was praying, a $10,000 answer was delivered.

One version of the story attributes the gift to a Texas cattle rancher who had sold two carloads of cattle. Another version attributes it to a banker from Illinois. But one way or another, it was God who prompted the gift and answered the prayer.

In a moment that is reminiscent of the day Peter knocked on the door of the house where his friends were praying for a miraculous jailbreak, the president’s secretary interrupted the prayer meeting by knocking on the president’s door. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder and president of DTS, answered the door, and she handed him the answer to prayer. Turning to his friend and colleague, Dr. Harry Ironside, President Chafer said, “Harry, God sold the cattle!”[1]

How is your prayer life? If you do not pray, you do not know Jesus. That is just logical. We cannot have a relationship with someone we do not talk with. Jesus describes the ways He wants us to come to Him. He wants us to come to Him with persistence.

We have been in a sermon series which I have titled “Knowing Jesus in 2020.” Today I wish to talk to you about knowing Jesus through prayer.

My theme is:

Jesus teaches us a meaningful order of prayer.

My application:

Pray persistently

1. How do we pray, what do we pray for?
   1. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take.” That may be the prayer that you learned when you were a child. When I was in preschool I learned: “God is great, God is good, God we thank you for this food, Amen.” We might have learned these prayers because we grew up in homes, or had extended family to teach us to pray. Others may not have had that privilege.
   2. Turn with me to Matthew 6:9-13:

“Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

1. In this passage Jesus teaches us a meaningful order of prayer.
2. This passage is also found in Luke 11.
3. In Luke 11:1 it says that Jesus was praying in a certain place and then the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.
4. Actions speak louder than words. The disciples saw Jesus’ actions. They saw Jesus praying often and they saw the miracles that He did. In Luke 9:28ff they saw the transformation. In Luke 9:12ff they saw Jesus feed 5000. In Luke 8:40ff and 49-56 they saw Jesus heal Jairus’ daughter. In Luke 8:43ff they saw Jesus heal a woman with an issue of blood simply because she touched His garment. In Luke 8:22ff they saw Jesus still the sea. In Luke 4:31ff they saw, or heard about, Jesus casting out demons in Capernaum. They had also seen Jesus praying a lot: in Mark 1:35 after Jesus had healed many people, He retreated to a secluded place to pray. The disciples likely connected prayer with the miracles. So, they ask Jesus to teach them to pray.
5. The question is: in the context of Jesus’ life, is the passage in Luke the same as the passage in Matthew? That is possible. It is also possible that Jesus taught this more than one time. This was important to Jesus.
6. Notice in verse 9 that Jesus says, “Pray then in this way.” This is important. Jesus didn’t say pray these words. No, Jesus was giving a pattern, an order for our prayers.
7. In order for us to grasp the significance of this we must look at the verses preceding this passage.
8. Jesus started teaching about prayer in verse 5. Notice in verse 7 Jesus said do not use “’meaningless’ repetition as the gentiles do.” The key word is “meaningless.”
9. There is nothing wrong with reciting this prayer occasionally in corporate worship, but we must be very careful of meaningless repetition. That is exactly what Jesus was going against as He taught them this order for prayer.
10. Greek prayers piled up as many titles of the deity addressed as possible, hoping to secure his or her attention. Pagan prayers typically reminded the deity of favors done or sacrifices offered, attempting to get a response from the god on contractual grounds.^[2]
11. Jesus doesn’t condemn long prayers but wants meaningful verbiage.[3]
12. We begin prayer with worship: Our Father who is in Heaven, holy is Your Name.
13. When we are praying as Jesus taught us to pray we are not simply saying “Lord, Your name is Holy.” We are saying, “Let Your name be holy.” There is a simple difference. The difference is that we are asking God’s name to be revered as holy. The name of the Lord is who He is. This is a polite request, or a wish. We are asking God’s name to be set apart, sanctified, sacred. This is worship as we are ascribing to God what He is. He is holy.
14. In verse 10 we continue in worship. We are praying for God’s Kingdom to come. In verse 10 I see the focus on God. I notice a repeated personal pronoun “you,” or “your” in the English. Do we realize what we are saying when we use this prayer. This is a powerful line. God’s Kingdom= submission.
15. “Your Kingdom come.”
16. “Your will be done.” (second person)
17. àthis means that our prayers must not be about us but about God. The only part about us is:
18. Forgiveness
19. Daily bread
20. Deliverance from evil
21. Lead us not into temptation
22. But the prayer starts with worship by giving God credit for who He is and the prayer starts with asking that His will be done.
    1. In this prayer we are praying for God’s Kingdom to come about. This is a strong prayer. We are praying for His Reign.
    2. This means that we must submit to His rule!

• So, meaningful prayer starts with worship. Meaningful prayer ascribes to God the attributes that He has and we request that He maintains His holiness. Meaningful prayer asks for the Lord’s will not our own. Meaningful prayer asks for His kingdom to come about. Meaningful prayer implies submission to His will and kingdom.

1. Verse 11 shows us the second category of meaningful prayer. Meaningful prayer includes requests for our daily needs. Give us this day our daily bread.
2. Richard Foster who wrote Celebration of Disciplines, says that this shows that we are allowed to make personal request in our prayers. If we need a babysitter today, pray for that. If we need help shoveling snow, pray for that. But we pray for what we need, not what we want.
3. Verse 12 shows us that a meaningful order of prayer includes a request for forgiveness. Notice that this request implies that we have forgiven others. Richard Foster says that we always must give in order to be able to receive. He says, “It is simply that by the very nature of the created order we must give in order to receive. I cannot, for instance, receive love if I do not give love. People may try to offer me love, but if resentment and vindictiveness fill my heart, their offers will roll off me like water off a duck’s back. If my fists are clenched and my arms folded tightly around myself, I cannot hold anything.”[4]

• In verse 13 Jesus shows that a meaningful order for prayer includes a request not to be led into temptation and deliverance from evil.

1. God does not tempt (James 1:13).

• But god will test us. Richard Foster says this: In praying this we are saying: “Lord, may there be nothing in me that will force you to put me to the test in order to reveal what is in my heart.”[5] The Lord can also intervene so that satan doesn’t tempt us.

1. Deliver us from evil is deliverance from the devil.

1. Pray persistently:

Let’s read Luke 18:1-8:

Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. ³ There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ ⁴ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; ⁷ now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

15. In Luke 18 we see a group of 3 parables together like we see in Luke 15.
16. This is one of the few parables in which Luke explains the purpose before giving the parable.
17. If you look at verse 1 it says “He was telling “them.” The “He” is “Jesus” and the “them” is the “disciples.” Jesus is talking to the disciples. We can discover this from Luke 17:22. We actually need to put this in context. The context is that Jesus has been talking to the disciples about the end times. That is what He was talking about at the end of Luke 17 and the audience or location has not changed.
18. MacArthur says the key to interpreting this parable is hanging on the door. I love that way of looking at it. What MacArthur means is that right in verse 1 Luke gives us the purpose.
19. The purpose is that at “all” times they ought to pray and not lose heart.
20. The parable consists of a “lesser to greater” argument—i.e., if A (the lesser) is true, then how much more B (the greater) must be true. The comparison here is between the reluctant action of an unjust judge (the lesser) and “how much more” just will be the action of a just God (the greater).[6]
21. There are 2 purposes here.
22. Remember that Luke also shared purposes at the beginning of the Gospel he wrote. In Luke 1:4 he shared that he wrote that Theophilus might know for certain the things he has been taught.
    1. We see that we should always pray.
    2. We see that as we always pray we should not lose heart.
23. Let’s pause for some applications:
    1. Are we always praying?
    2. Do we lose heart?
    3. Do we get discouraged in our prayers?
       1. Jesus is sharing this parable in order to encourage us to keep praying. Don’t give up. God honors our persistence.
       2. However, we are to pray about spiritual things. We must pray God’s will. We must pray for His Kingdom.
    4. Do we pray about all things?
    5. Do we persistently pray?
    6. In context Jesus had been teaching on the end times, are we praying for Jesus’ second coming? We must be praying for His second coming. We must be praying “Come, Lord, Jesus” (1 Cor. 16:22; Rev. 22:20).
    7. We must be praying for God’s Kingdom (Matthew 6:10).
24. I want to summarize the rest of the parable. This widow persistently comes to the judge. This judge does not fear God and does not respect people. Yet, because of the woman’s persistence he will grant her request. Jesus uses this as a parable about how we are to pray and how God responds. Basically, Jesus is saying if this mean judge still answers her request that means that our loving God wants to answer our requests.
25. However, remember that it seems the widow in the parable is praying for her needs, but this is an illustration about seeking God’s Kingdom and seeking His second coming. This is because the parable is in context right after Jesus was talking about the end times.

• Other applications:
  1. We must worship God who lovingly meets our needs and answers our prayers (Luke 18:7).
  2. We must pray to know Jesus.
  3. We must prayer journal. Sometimes prayer seems intangible. I encourage you to write out prayers.
  4. We must pray continually. Pray whenever a need arises or whenever you want to thank God or worship Him (1 Thess. 5:17; Col. 3; Phil. 4:6-7).
  5. We must have deeper, extended prayer.
  6. We must pray Scripture.

Close:

I began this sermon about Dallas Theological Seminary and Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer and prayer:

Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer and prayer goes back before that. He was overseas meeting with someone regarding the seminary. The seminary hadn’t even started yet. He woke up in the night and couldn’t stop thinking about all of the needs of the seminary. He got on his knees in prayer and He said to God that he would stop plans for the seminary if God wanted him to. The next morning he was at breakfast. The wealthy man he was staying with asked him how the library would be provided for and Dr. Schafer said that that wasn’t worked out yet. The man asked Dr. Schafer how his pay was coming. Dr. Schafer said that he was not taking pay. The man agreed to give money to start the library and pay for Dr. Schafer’s salary (I heard this from Swindoll on Insight for Living).

Do you know Him?

Luke 9:23

Confess, believe, trust, commit

Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

prayer

[1] http://www.faithgateway.com/pray-hard/#.Vp6jczY0nq0

^[2]Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Mt 6:7). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

[3] ver•biage \ˈvər-bē-ij also -bij\ noun

[French, from Middle French verbier to chatter, from verbe speech, from Latin verbum word]

(circa 1721)

1 : a profusion of words usually of little or obscure content 〈such a tangled maze of evasive verbiage as a typical party platform —Marcia Davenport〉

2 : manner of expressing oneself in words : diction 〈sportswriters guarded their verbiage so jealously —Raymond Sokolov〉
Merriam-Webster, I. (1996, c1993). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (10th ed.). Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster.

[4] Richard Foster’s book on Prayer page 186-187

[5] Richard Foster on prayer page 189

[6] https://www.esv.org/Luke+18/

Knowing Jesus through Scripture Meditation (Psalm 119:9-15)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church on Sunday, January 19, 2020

I once came across a powerful quote by Daniel Webster that illustrates this topic. In the presence of Professor Sanborn of Dartmouth College, Mr. Webster laid his hand on a copy of the Scriptures as he said, “This is the Book. I have read through the entire Bible many times. I now make it a practice to go through it once a year. It is the Book of all others for lawyers as well as divines; and I pity the man who cannot find in it a rich supply of thought, and of rules for his conduct. It fits man for life—it prepares him for death.”[1]^,[2]

With that in mind, turn to Psalm 119. I read the following:

The anonymous psalmist who wrote this longest psalm sought refuge from his persecutors and found strength by meditating on the Word of God. This psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible, is largely a collection or anthology of prayers and thoughts about God’s Word. C. S. Lewis compared it to a piece of embroidery, done stitch by stitch in the quiet hours for the love of the subject and for the delight in leisurely, disciplined craftsmanship.

This psalm contains a reference to God’s Word in almost every verse (except verses 84, 90, 121, 122, and 132). (The Jews claimed that only one verse did not refer directly to God’s Word: verse 122.756) The psalmist used at least eight synonyms for the Word of God, each of which conveys a slightly different emphasis. However, sometimes it appears that the writer chose a synonym simply to avoid repetition. “Way” and “ways” (Heb. derek) describes the pattern of life God’s revelation marks out. It occurs 13 times in the psalm (vv. 1, 3, 5, 14, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 37, 59, 168).[3]

We are in a sermon series in which I am talking about knowing God. How do you know God? One way to know God is to know His Word. One way to know His Word is to read His Word. A way to go deeper in His Word is to memorize His Word. While we memorize His Word, we are meditating on His Word.

Let’s read verses 9-16 because the Hebrew Bible would consider that a section, the Beth section.

My theme and application is:

Challenge yourself by meditating on Scripture.

Psalm 119:9-16:

How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
¹² Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.

Think about what this passage says, Hide the Word in our heart:

“The act of ‘hiding’ God’s word is not to be limited to the memorization of individual texts or even whole passages but extends to a holistic living in devotion to the Lord (cf. Deut 6:4-9; 30:14; Jer 31:33).”[4]

Other responses to God’s Word that the writer mentioned and that occur first in this section are “rejoicing” (vv. 14, 74, 162), “meditating” (vv. 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148), and “delighting” (vv. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174).[5]

• This is the longest chapter in the Bible and it is all about God’s Word, the Bible.
• The Psalms have been called the Jewish Hymnbook. Interesting that the longest is all about God’s Word. We have Psalms in the book of Psalms that they would sing on their way to Jerusalem for certain feasts, called Psalms of ascent. These are Psalms 120-134. I find it interesting that these Psalms follow the masterpiece on the Bible. Therefore, I believe meditating on the Scriptures is pivotal in worship.
• There are verses in Psalm 119 that specify praise: See verse 164: Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.
• Consider this, the Psalmist is praising God for His righteous law. The Law is the Word, the Bible. In fact, terms used for the Word or what we would call the Bible are:
  • Law,
  • Testimonies,

• Precepts,

• Statutes,
• Commandments,
• Rules,

• Word
• The Scriptures are our base in our spiritual life. They are our guide. We must have God’s Word in our head.
• Think of paint, the base is critical. I worked at Lowe’s and I went to a paint certification class. In painting they taught us something like 90% of painting is surface preparation. Not only that, there are base paints which we used to mix paints.
  • Our surface prep for spirituality is being in the Bible. Reading the Bible having the Bible handy.
  • The Bible is our base. Just like I could not mix paint without the proper base paint, we cannot grow spiritually without the Word of God.
• Think of a building’s foundation. I am not a master-builder, but I have dug holes and we are supposed to go a certain depth. Foundation is important and the Bible is the foundation for us spiritually.
• There was a wonderful family in my youth ministry in Cincinnati. So, I was disappointed to see that the mother posted an article on Facebook, or, rather linked an article, that references things the author wished Christians admitted about the Scriptures. This article had a negative view of the Scriptures. However, the more I study, the more I learn, the longer I am a Christian I am realizing that every Word of the Bible has great value and great meaning. Jesus responded to the devil’s attacks with the Scriptures (Matthew 4; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13; John 4:6-7). The Word is the only, offensive weapon against the enemy in Ephesians 6:17, the Sword of the Spirit. People have sought out to prove the Bible wrong and they become believers.
• I believe the Bible leads us into worship.
• How can we study the Bible, study the promises of God, and not worship the One those promises are about? I believe the Bible is written about a Big God. Tony Campolo was once confronted by an atheist who was one of his students. The young man told Campolo, “For me to believe in God, I have to have a God that I can understand.” And Campolo replied, “God refuses to be that small!”[6]
• I believe the Bible leads us into prayer.
• In Eugene Peterson’s book called Answering God, He makes a strong case that we only pray well if we are immersed in Scripture. We learn our prayer vocabulary the way children learn their vocabulary—that is, by getting immersed in language and then speaking it back. And he said the prayer book of the Bible is the Psalms, and our prayer life would be immeasurably enriched if we were immersed in the Psalms. [7]

1. So, we need to have the Word, the Bible, in our head, we do that by meditation.
   1. Let’s walk through the passage:
   2. Verse 9 the way for a young man to stay pure by living according to God’s Word.
   3. Notice that verse 9 is a question and an answer.
   4. I don’t believe the author is a young man and so I don’t think the author is talking about himself right here. I think the author is advising young people on how to stay pure.
   5. What does it mean to be pure? The verb translated as “pure” always means a moral sense. It can mean to be justified, to be righteous before God, to be clean in the sight of God.
   6. Don’t we all want to be right in God’s sight? Don’t we all want to be clean? Psalm 51 was written right after David, the King of Israel, had sinned by committing adultery and murder. In verse 2 of that Psalm he says, “Wash away all my iniquity, and purify me from my sin.” David had this sin before him and he wanted to be clean.
   7. David had already committed the sin. But in the passage before us this morning the point is preventive. How can a young person keep his/her way pure?
   8. The answer: by living according to God’s Word.
   9. There is something unsaid in this verse. It is implied and will be stressed more in verse 11 and the rest of the Psalm. Listen: a young person or anyone else cannot live according to God’s Word if they don’t know it.
   10. Think of the Bible as a filter for your life. I have had aquariums for half of my life. An aquarium needs a filter. The filter takes out the impurities and cleans the water. The Word of God is your filter for your life. It is the parent’s responsibility, under God, to teach their children God’s Word. At a certain point, as the child grows up, it is their responsibility to start teaching themselves. God has given us a filter for our life, but it requires that we spend time studying this filter and how to use it. Many times we let the filter sit on a shelf.
   11. It is not enough to take our filter off the shelf and read it, we must memorize it. We must know the Word of God when it is not in front of us. We must know the Word of God as second nature.
   12. In the original language the text says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By ‘keeping or ‘guarding’ his way according to your word.” Notice the difference? The NIV says by living according to God’s Word.
   13. The importance is that in the original language the idea of guarding our life and the guard is God’s Word. We have a guard watching out for evil and sin. Back in Bible times they had watchmen who stood on the city’s wall and watched for invaders. That is what this word means.
   14. How can a young man keep his way pure? By using the Word of God as a guard against evil.
   15. Although this is directly to young man or woman, this is not limited to a young person. The very next verse will make that clear.

• Notice in verse 10 the Psalmist changes from a young man to himself.
  1. He says, “’I’ seek you.” How much does the Psalmist seek the Lord? With every bit of his being, with his whole heart.
  2. This verse has two parts. The first part is a statement of what he is doing and the second part is a plea.
  3. Can you say that? Do you want to be able to say that? We all can, but we have so many distractions. Start by making the Word of God a guard for your life. Start by reading it, meditating on it, memorizing it. And start by having a fear of sin.
  4. Look at the second half of this verse. It is a crying plea. “Please, please do not let me stray from Your commands!”
  5. There seems to be a fear of falling away, of backsliding.
  6. I must ask myself, “am I scared of falling into sin? Am I scared like that of going into situation where I may gossip, lie, or sin in another way?”
  7. If so, meditating on Scripture is the way to purity.

1. Verse 11 comes back to the preventive idea.
   1. It is simply a short sentence: Your Word I have hidden in my heart… this means meditating on it. Thinking about it when you drive, or do other monotonous tasks. Memorize it.
   2. Why did he hide the Word in his heart? So, he doesn’t sin against the Lord.
   3. First, we read the Scriptures, then we memorize them, then we meditate on them. That is the way to sin free living. As we meditate on them, they are always before us in thought. As they are before us in thought they are a filter to keep our life pure.
   4. There is a Campus Crusade for Christ missionary, he memorizes whole books of the Bible. He memorizes the shorter, New Testament books. You know how he does it? When he jogs he takes his Bible and reads them over and over again.
   5. Ponder this: why are the Scripture worth reading, meditating on and even memorizing?
   6. These are the words for eternal life. These Scriptures are illegal in many countries. They may be illegal in the US some day. People have died to get you these Scriptures. Truly, people have been burned at the stake for translating the Bible. These are the Words to a full life.
   7. These are the words by which we can live a pure life. Use the Scriptures as a filter.
   8. Meditate is used 18 times in the N.I.V. translation of the Old Testament and 16 times in the Psalms. Meditate is used a total of 8 times in Psalm 119. Of course, what does the verb mediate have to do with the Bible.
   9. I once heard that the Hebrew verb “to meditate” has to do with chewing on something over and over again. From the Hebrew word ‘meditate’ we get our English word “ruminate”. It literally means ‘to chew the cud’. It’s like a cow that chews and re-chews the cud to extract all the nutrients from it. We need to approach God’s word at times and chew the cud.
   10. The idea of meditation is not necessarily memorization, but making the Scriptures a part of us. This means that we will reason differently, think differently, live differently. The promises of God, the actions of God are a part of us. Then we have the language of God a part of us.
   11. Look at verse 15: ¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
       and consider your ways.
   12. I have been talking about knowing God and making the case that we know God by meditating on His Word. How do we meditate on the Word?
       1. Make it your goal to memorize the Word.
       2. Choose a Modern translation as it will be easier if you can understand the language.

• Select a verse relative to your needs/life.

1. Read a passage several times to understand the full meaning.
2. Begin one verse at a time per passage
3. List the verbs in the passage/verse in order- ask what is next, add the rest of the verse to the verbs.

• Visualize the sequence of events.
• Carry memory cards.

1. Strive for word perfect memorization.
2. Practice reciting to a friend.
3. Remember you will learn it if you just keep ruminating on the passage.

I drink coffee most days. I love coffee. You know what? I absolutely hate it when I get grounds in my coffee. The grounds look like dirt and so I want my coffee filter to do its’ job and keep the grounds out of my coffee. Likewise, the Bible will help you keep dirt out of your life. Read it, memorize it, and meditate on it! Because meditating on Scripture is the way to Holy Living, the way to purity sin-free living! Try it. This week, memorize Romans 12:1-2 and then come to me and I will recommend another passage to memorize. Maybe there is a group of you that will want to memorize Scripture together?

Do you know Him?

Luke 9:23

Confess, believe, trust, commit

Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

prayer

[1]Charles R. Swindoll, Insight for Living devotion on Psalm 119:97 (I think)

[2] 1. Daniel Webster, quoted in Stephen Abbott Northrop, A Cloud of Witnesses: The Greatest Men in the World for Christ and the Book (Fort Wayne, IN: The Mason Long Publishing Co., 1894), 491.

[3] http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/psalms.pdf

[4] http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/psalms.pdf

[5] http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/psalms.pdf

[6] (From a sermon by Jeff Strite, Trusting in Ravens, 8/8/2011)

[7] Tim Keller

Knowing Jesus through Spiritual Disciplines (Philippians 2:13; 1 Timothy 4:7; 2 Peter 3:18)

Spiritual growth takes time and discipline, but we can only know Jesus through spiritual growth just like we can only know a person through investing in the relationship.

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, January 12, 2020

I wonder who you have a relationship with, do you know anyone?

Remember last week I talked about whether you know famous people. Recently, I heard a message in which someone shared that they were at a restaurant and Johnny Depp walked in. Johnny Depp walked in and went to a table at the back of the store and a bodyguard walked in with him. The bodyguard sat facing everyone else basically to say that there is no access to Johnny Depp.[1] There is no relationship with Johnny Depp. But you know what, we can have a relationship with Jesus. I would recommend choosing Jesus over Johnny Depp. Think about it, would you prefer a relationship with the creator and sustainer of the world or with an actor. Most reject the Creator and go after the actor. I exhort you to seek Jesus.

Okay, so do you have a relationship with anyone? I am sure that you do, so do you know them? How do you really know someone? Does it take effort? Does it take time spent together?

I wish to talk to you about knowing Jesus. I wish to begin a new sermon series related to knowing Jesus.

I read the following:

“Much of the history of Christianity has been devoted to domesticating Jesus—to reducing that elusive, enigmatic, paradoxical person to dimensions we can comprehend, understand, and convert to our own purposes. So far it hasn’t worked.”[2] I love that.

When the Bible scholar N.T. (Tom) Wright was asked what he would tell his children on his deathbed he said, “Look at Jesus.” Tom Wright explained why:

The [Person] who walks out of [the pages of the Gospels] to meet us is just central and irreplaceable. He is always a surprise. We never have Jesus in our pockets. He is always coming at us from different angles … If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus. And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but part of the drama that has him as the central character.[3]

We have the opportunity to know Jesus, but most do not. Even many of you, I dare say, do not know Jesus. Sure you made a commitment to Him, but do you know Him? Do you really have a relationship with Him? How is your prayer life? How are your devotions? How are your corporate and individual spiritual disciplines? If they are weak, I am here to help you and more than that, God wants to help you.

My theme and application is:

Knowing Jesus through Spiritual Disciplines (Philippians 2:13; 1 Timothy 4:7; 2 Peter 3:18)

Spiritual growth takes time and discipline, but we can only know Jesus through spiritual growth just like we can only know a person through investing in the relationship.

Read with me Philippians 2:12-13:

¹² So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

1. Work out your salvation, what does that mean?
   1. Relationships take time. Do you know your children if you do not spend time with them? Do you know your spouse if you do not spend time with them?
   2. Anyone seen Fiddler on the Roof? There is a clip where they sing “Do you love me”? Watch this.
   3. Play clip
   4. Now, they had arranged marriages, they may not have known each other when they got married, but they did by this point. They grew together and served together. They had a relationship. But it was work, or at least at times it was work.
   5. Love is a choice. Sometimes we may not feel the love for someone else, but we choose to love them because they are our spouse or child or parent or another human being, then we work on the relationship.
   6. Do you work on your relationship with your Savior?
   7. So, you just read that passage, now let’s think about it.
   8. If we read the whole chapter of Philippians 2 it is a marvelous chapter. Paul talks about looking unto others needs before our own. Paul talks about considering others more important than ourselves. Paul talks about having the mindset of Christ. Paul talks about how Jesus came to earth and died for our sins and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Now, Paul says to work out our salvation.
   9. “Work out” that is a mining term, imagine miners digging out precious metals.
   10. But does this mean we are saved by works?
   11. It says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, does this mean we have to earn our salvation? What do you think?
   12. Well, when it comes to that we must examine Scripture with Scripture and we will do that in a minute.
   13. In this case, just look at the context. Look at the next verse. It says, “God is working in you…” So, God is working in you so you must let it flow out of you. There is more we can say about that passage, mainly notice the reverence. “Work out your salvation with ‘fear and trembling…’” That is powerful!
   14. We are freely saved, we know this by Ephesians 2:8-9 which says that we are saved by grace.
   15. We have salvation freely given to us by Jesus, but we must grow spiritually, not to earn our salvation, but to foster a relationship with God.
2. Look at 1 Timothy 4:7-8:

But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; ⁸ for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

1. This is another passage about building a relationship with Jesus.
2. Instead of being caught up in worldly things discipline yourself.
3. What are we disciplining ourselves for?
4. The purpose of godliness.
5. Look at verse 8: godliness has much profit for this life and the life to come.
6. But do you see what it takes? Discipline.
7. There is no instant Discipline is the key to spiritual maturity.
8. The word “discipline” actually means “train or exercise.” Paul uses a Greek word from the athletic arena; we also derive from it the word ‘’
9. We have the Revealed Truth (Bible) + Disciplined Obedience+ The Power of God’s Spirit Within = Change & Growth& Maturity& Godliness.

• Let’s apply
  1. Most of us want a relationship with God that we do not have to invest in; therefore, it is one-sided. It sucks the life out of me as a pastor. Let me be personal, it is draining trying to shepherd people that do not care.
  2. I want to challenge you to have godly habits. This week begin devotional habits.
  3. Aim to read one chapter of the Bible a day and make an application. Aim to spend 5-15 minutes in devotions. Read the Bible, apply the Bible and then pray about what you read. Pray the Scriptures. If you need help contact me. Also, you can read along as I share on my podcasts and Facebook devotions, actually you can just listen to the Bible if you want. There are many ways to have access to the Scriptures if you want to.
  4. It takes 3 weeks to form a habit, so dedicate the time and make it a point to have a relationship with Jesus.
  5. Remember you do not have a relationship with someone who you do not spend time with. If you do not spend time with God are you saved? Good question.

1. Let’s go deeper in applications.
   1. We must view our relationship with God as a relationship and therefore, we must put time and effort into our relationship with God.
   2. We must discipline ourselves unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).
   3. We must understand spiritual growth takes discipline.
      1. We must discipline ourselves to spend time with the Lord.
      2. We must discipline ourselves to pray (1 Thess. 5:17).
      3. We must discipline ourselves to deep prayer (Ezra 9:5ff; 1 Kings 8:22ff).
      4. We must discipline ourselves to corporate prayer (Acts 4:24-30).
      5. We must discipline ourselves to pray instead of worry (Phil. 4:6-7).
      6. We must discipline ourselves to spend time reading the Scriptures (Psalm 119:9-11 and 105).
      7. We must discipline ourselves to spend time with the corporate church (1 Cor. 12).
      8. We must discipline ourselves to make Jesus our Lord (Luke 9:23; Romans 10:9-10; Gal. 2:20).
      9. We must discipline ourselves to pursue godliness so that out of that relationship with God flows fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
   4. We must spend time working out our relationship with God for the joy of knowing Him (Phil. 2:12-13).
   5. We must work out what God is working in us, we must let our relationship with Jesus flow out of us (Phil. 2:12-13).
   6. We must obey Peter’s command to grow (2 Peter 3:18).
   7. We must grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior (2 Peter 3:18).
   8. We must grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior (2 Peter 3:18).
   9. In our spiritual growth and our relationship with Jesus we must aim to glorify Him now and forever (2 Peter 3:18).

Conclusion:

I began the sermon talking about Johnny Depp. Let’s think of another famous person, what about Elvis Presley. I have heard that in the 1950’s the women would scream out these deafening screams to get to him. So, obviously Elvis had body guards, there was no access to Elvis, but you can have access to Jesus.

Oswald Chambers writes on the February 13^th date of My Utmost for His Highest:

 The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me (John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God by the devotion of hearing all the time. A lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things. It is not that I will not hear God, but that I am not devoted in the right place. I am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what He likes but I do not hear Him. The child attitude is always “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” If I have not cultivated this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times; at other times I am taken up with things—things which I say I must do, and I become deaf to Him, I am not living the life of a child. Have I heard God’s voice to-day?^[4]

Do you know Him?

Luke 9:23

Confess, believe, trust, commit

Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

prayer

[1] Randy Hechert shared this at Alliance Friends on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019

[2] Andrew Greeley, “There’s No Solving the Mystery of Christ,” Chicago Sun-Times, (1-16-04)

[3] Marlin Whatling, The Marriage of Heaven and Earth (CreateSpace, 2016), page 129

^[4] Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

Okay, the President of the United States is coming to visit Youngstown, who do you think will get the message first? He is not going to call me first, no way. Regardless of the importance of the factories, retail establishments and restaurants in town, I don’t think they will get the message first. I would think the message will come through the Mayor’s office down to the Police. I know this because I have been watching a very informative [Very informative, sarcasm] television show called Madam Secretary and that show has taught me all about the process to take place when a powerful person travels. Actually, I am really an expert on this because I watch Tom Selleck in the show Blue Bloods as well. Everywhere the President goes there is a secret service detail and motorcade. Everywhere the Secretary of State goes there are Secret Service and a Motorcade. I think the President of the United States, called P.O.T.U.S. in the show would need to work through the Mayor’s office for his or her visit.
I. Why Jesus came. Let’s not separate His birth in humility from why He did come. This is the extraordinary.

So, why didn’t the King of Kings enter the world that same way? I feel like Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men asking that, but we want the TRUTH. And it may really be that we can’t handle the TRUTH.

But let’s take a brief look at what the Bible says: John 1:14 says that The WORD, being God, took on flesh and came into our neighborhood (The Message). Philippians 2:5-11 says, in summary, that though Jesus was equal with God He became a slave and became a Human. It is because Jesus became a human that He could be our High Priest. He sympathized with us in our weaknesses. But more than sympathize, He took our place when He grew up and went to the cross. Listen to Hebrews 10:11-14 from the Message:
Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.
II. Now, let’s talk about how Jesus entered the world. This was ordinary.
We would expect that God would enter the world through Rome or through Jerusalem, or how about Alexandria Egypt, which was, after all, the intellectual capital of the world. No that is not how Jesus came.
In Luke 2:1-7 we see Jesus born of a virgin.

Listen to Luke 2:8-15:
There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
13–14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

This passage is pregnant with content, excuse the pun.
We have angels, we have shepherds, we have worship, we have ordinary and we have extraordinary.
But notice this. The King of Kings is entering the world. The Savior is coming.
Who was the first to get the message? Shepherds are the first to hear about this event. Shepherds were lower class. They were considered dirty and smelly. People did not like them because their sheep would graze on others property. Shepherds were the lowest class. Jesus entered the world like a shepherd. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and that is how the shepherds would do it. He was SHOCKINGLY laid in a feeding in trough. That is shocking, but I once heard Charles Swindoll say that is how the Shepherds did things. The King does not enter like royalty but identifying with the ordinary or even below the ordinary. Shepherds were ordinary. The local police did not get the message. Herod did not hear about it, nor did the emperor. No, the Shepherds got the message. Furthermore, the Shepherds saw the extraordinary. They say a myriad of angels worshipping, wow! I mean imagine walking your dog at night, or your cat or your squirrel, or your rabbit, anyways, you are out at night and you see an angel. An angel comes with a message and then you see the sky fill up with angels who are worshipping.
Most of the earth went on with our business, it was ordinary. But the angels, they knew what was going on. This was extraordinary.
Christmas is for you. Christmas is for everyone. Jesus came for all. He came to the ordinary. But Jesus came to do the extraordinary. He came to bring life eternal (John 1:1-14).
Walk away tonight with what John Newton wrote:
“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

Confess, Believe, trust, commit: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

pray

Jesus came, fully God and fully man, in order to die for our sins and give us life abundantly (John 10:10).

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church on Sunday, December 22, 2019

Every year we celebrate Christmas, but what are we really celebrating? Are we celebrating Christmas?

What is the purpose of Christmas?

Theme:

Jesus came, fully God and fully man, in order to die for our sins and give us life abundantly (John 10:10).

Application:

My application is that you repent and surrender to Jesus. Keep Christ the center of Christmas.

Let’s read Luke 2:1-7:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

1. Christmas is about God becoming a human being to save us from our sins.
   1. The passage I just read is probably familiar to most of us.
   2. It is a simple passage about Jesus’ birth.
   3. It is actually very simple. In Luke 2:1-7 we do not have any major Theological truths to explain. We do not have any issues of interpretation. Jesus is born in Bethlehem. This is not a fairy tale. Even most atheists must admit that Jesus lived.
   4. But, why was He born?
   5. To answer that question we must read to the end of the Gospel according to Luke. But we could just read Matthew 1:21-23: ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
   6. ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
   7. Jesus came to give God’s presence with us.
   8. Jesus was born, fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life and then He died in our place.
   9. When Jesus went to the cross, He took the wrath of God upon Himself instead of on us.
   10. Jesus came to die in our place.
   11. 4:4 says: But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…
   12. Jesus came and He lived, and He taught, and He gave us a good example, but His main purpose was to die on the cross for our sins.
   13. Some people think that you can be just a good person and go to Heaven. But realize that being good is not good enough. One sin separates you from God.
   14. The Bible teaches that God is too pure to look upon sin (Hab. 1:13).
   15. Psalm 66:18 teaches that if you hold sin in your heart the Lord would not hear your prayer.
   16. God is holy, that means set apart, perfectly pure.
   17. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says that God will not let the guilty go unpunished (2 Thess 1:8-9). Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16). That is a dilemma. God can’t tell a lie or He wouldn’t be God (Numbers 23:19). God doesn’t change His mind (1 Sam 15:29). That is why God sent Jesus. The guilty must go punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. The penalty of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.
   18. Allow me to summarize what I just shared.
   19. The Bible can be summed up with the acronym that spells GOSPEL.
   20. God created us to be with him (Genesis 1-2).
   21. Our sin separated us from God (Genesis 3).
       1. But don’t think of God as this megalomaniac wanting to inflict punishment on us.
       2. Think of it this way.

• Imagine you go to the roof of the empire state building and walk off the building, what happens?

1. You fall and hit the ground, but why?
2. Gravity.
3. Gravity is part of the created order.

• There is no reason to be angry at gravity.
• There is no reason to cast blame. Gravity did not want to hurt you. It is part of the created order.

1. Think of the wrath of God like gravity. God is holy and when we sin it is like violating the law of gravity. There is an automatic response. The response is separation from God. Hell is separation from God. But like gravity, God also does not want to hurt you. Back to the acronym.

1. Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4).
2. Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matthew – Luke).
3. Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).
4. Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5).
   1. Do you know when you trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior you don’t only receive eternal life, but also abundant life?
   2. You are reconnected with God.

• John 10:10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

1. So, in a nutshell Christmas is all about Jesus’ birth. God became a human being so that He could die for our sins. God brought events involving kings, common people and shepherds in order to bring His Son into the world. Jesus lived among us for 33 years and then died in our place. He died for our sins. Do you believe that? I want to ask you a personal question: have you come to a point in your life where you have accepted Jesus into your heart for forgiveness of your sins. Jesus didn’t come to earth just to live with us; He came to instruct us and to die in our place.

Whether you are part of the church or not, my question for you is: Do you Know Jesus as Lord and Savior and are you committed to him?

The Bible uses four verbs to describe the Christian life, they are: Believe, confess, commit and trust. Let me explain:

1. The Bible teaches that we must believe in Jesus. We must believe that He is who the Bible says He is. The Bible teaches that He was born of a virgin; He lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our sins and He rose triumphantly over the grave (John 3:16; 14:6; 1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 5:17 and 21).
2. The Bible teaches that we must confess that we are in need of forgiveness. This means that we must confess that we are a sinner in need of a Savior. In other words, we have done wrong things and we need forgiven (Romans 3:23; 6:23 10:9-10). We tell God this.
3. The Bible teaches that we must commit to Jesus as Lord and Savior. This means we are not simply fans of Jesus, but instead we are followers of Jesus. Fans stay on the sidelines, but Jesus calls us to be on the field with Him. Jesus told them to count the cost before committing to Him (Luke 14:27-33).
4. The Bible teaches that we must trust The belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior is not a casual belief, but a firm trust (1 Timothy 1:15; John 3:16).

Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

This year, don’t miss Christmas. Make Christmas your spiritual birthday.

Pray to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

Pray

First Meditation on Peace:

Did you notice the narration earlier?

The world waited with hope, watching expectantly for the peace promised by God in the Scriptures… Peace was brought by the Child born in Bethlehem.

 Let’s read Isaiah 9:6-7:

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.
⁷ 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.

1. This passage shows that the son to be born by the virgin cannot be a mere human son.
   1. This passage has not been fully fulfilled yet.
   2. Remember what the words of the choir anthem were saying, Born a Child to Grant Us Peace. Grant Us Peace Lord… Then Later, Peace on Earth, good will for all.
   3. Verse 6: the Government will rest on His shoulders. We get this picture in the New Testament that Jesus is reigning, but certainly not literally now, but He will be reigning over all (Rev. 21-22).
   4. Look at the names: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God: this means that He will do more than any other person can do. He will be fully God.
   5. He will be Everlasting God. I like what one source wrote about this phrase: He is said to be everlasting, just as God (the Father) is called “the Ancient of Days” (Dan. 7:9). The Messiah will be a “fatherly” Ruler. Third, perhaps Isaiah had in mind the promise to David (2 Sam. 7:16) about the “foreverness” of the kingdom which God promised would come through David’s line. The Messiah, a Descendant of David, will fulfill this promise for which the nation had been waiting.^[1]
   6. He will be called the Prince of Peace: the One who will bring in and maintain the time of millennial peace when the nation will be properly related to the Lord.^[2] Verse 7 again emphasizes that there will be no end to His Kingdom.

Praise God! We can experience Jesus’ Kingdom now, but we will not fully experience Jesus’ Kingdom until the end when all is made right by Jesus.

Close:

So, are you surrendered to Jesus? Where are you at spiritually? Is He your Prince of Peace?

Short prayer

End of first meditation

Next meditation, Joy:

Joy:

Message on Psalm 98:

Intro:

In a minute we are going to talk about Psalm 98 which is a Psalm that has frequently been used at Christmas time. It is an exciting Psalm for an exciting season.

Did you hear the intro about the angels appearing to the shepherds?

Did you notice the words to the anthem?

Listen to the sound of the angels singing, hear the joyful music fill the sky? Join with the Heavenly chorus, “Glory be to God on high.” Listen to the news of the wondrous story, echo through the Heavens clear and strong. Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Listen to the sound of the angels singing a Christmas song. See the shepherds kneeling at the manger worshipping the newborn King. Hear the bells of Heaven ringing. Hark the herald angels singing. Then: Hark the herald angels sing, “Glory to the Newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”

The anthem continued with other songs. As I read it weeks ago it made me think of the angels worshipping the Lord.

Psalm 98 goes along with Joy to the World. Actually, it seems that Joy to the World was inspired by Isaac Watts’ study of Psalm 98.

Please listen as I read Psalm 98 and as I pause to reflect on some of the words.

Psalm 98:

O sing to the Lord a new song,

• Why? We have to keep reading…

For He has done wonderful things,
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
² The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³ He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

• This is true. The Lord has made known His salvation. Are we not the ends of the earth? We certainly are not, in Israel are we? No, the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of the Lord. This is anticipating the Lord’s final salvation as well. Also, the Lord remembered Israel. You see all through the Old Testament The people of Israel were God’s chosen people, but they did not follow God, so God allowed them to be defeated by other nations. But Jesus came. He is the rightful King of Israel and also of the world. Let’s keep reading:

⁴ Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.

⁷ Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
⁹ Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

• Jesus will come again and He will judge the earth (Rev. 11:18).

Let me read more about Joy to the World

Isaac Watts, 1674–1748

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (Luke 2:10)

As one of the most joyous of all Christmas hymns, this carol omits references to shepherds, angelic choruses, and wise men. It emphasizes instead the reverent but ecstatic joy that Christ’s birth brought to mankind. For centuries hearts had yearned for God to reveal Himself personally. At last it happened as “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The entire Advent season should be filled with solemn rejoicing as we contemplate anew God’s great gift, providing the means whereby sinful man might live eternally.

“Joy to the World” is a paraphrase of the last part of Psalm 98:

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity.

Although it was originally a song of rejoicing for Jehovah’s protection of His chosen people and the anticipation of the time when He would be the God of the whole earth, this psalm was intended by Watts to be a New Testament expression of praise. It exalts the salvation that began when God became incarnate as the Babe of Bethlehem who was destined to remove the curse of Adam’s fall. The text was originally titled “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom” when it first appeared in Watts’ hymnal of 1719.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; let ev’ry heart prepare Him room, and heav’n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.

Express gratitude for our Savior’s birth with these words—^[3]

Short prayer

End of second meditation

Third Mediation Love

 Notice the words once again, “hope came down, too, because a Savior was given. And joy came down in the celebration of God’s gift of grace.”

Think about God’s love. A group of college students were reading through John chapter 3. They then came to verse 16 and one student said, “Everyone knows John 3:16.” The pastor leading later said, “If you think that everyone knows John 3:16, you really do not know John 3:16.” John 3:16 is powerful.

Let’s read John 3:16-18:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

1. God loved and God gave.
   1. Notice that God loved.
   2. Notice further that God loved to the point where God gave.
   3. God loved and he loved everyone.
   4. No one is left out.
   5. God so loved the world, it is the Greek word: kósmos which means the inhabitants of the earth.
   6. God so loved the world that He gave. How are we with giving? Are we giving people? I like how Swindoll pointed out that we are never more like God than when we give.
   7. God gave his only “begotten” Son, or His “one and only Son” or His “unique” Son.
   8. God so loved the world that He gave His only “begotten” (sticking with the NASB) Son…The rest of the passage picks up the purpose: that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
   9. Salvation is opened to all people but only through Jesus. Look at John 3:18:
2. Salvation is only through Jesus.
   1. John 3:18 says: He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
   2. We have to believe in Jesus.
   3. Salvation is opened to anyone through Jesus.
   4. Salvation is exclusive in that it is through Jesus, BUT Christianity is inclusive. Christianity is opened to anyone.
   5. I remember the 1996 presidential debates. Senator Bob Dole was debating President Clinton. The moderator asked Bob Dole about his tax cut proposal and Senator Dole instantly replied to the moderator that “he is eligible.” This meant that the moderator is eligible for the tax cut.
   6. Everyone is eligible for the free gift of salvation in Jesus.
   7. Rejecting Jesus is rejecting God the Father.
   8. Let’s look at John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
   9. We see this idea all throughout the New Testament, actually all throughout the Bible. We need a way to take care of our sins and it is only through Jesus.
3. Applications:
   1. Do we believe this truth?
   2. Do we care?
   3. Salvation is real and eternity is real.
   4. Do you believe in Jesus?
   5. Is Jesus your Lord?
   6. Are you trusting in Him for salvation?
   7. Do you want others to as well?

A man is rushed to the hospital where a doctor examines him and informs him that he is critically ill. The patient is told that he will die unless he gets proper treatment. The physician then prescribes medicine for the sick man and says, “If you will take this, I can assure you with absolute certainty that you will get well.” Now, what should the man do? Should he just lie there on his sickbed and believe that the doctor knows his business, that he has diagnosed his illness correctly, and that the prescription will surely make him well? No, that is not enough. If that is all he does, he will die. To live, he must take the medicine.

When a person offers you a gift that has cost him or her much, it does not become yours until you receive it from that person. The beautifully wrapped package in the outstretched hand of the giver will do the receiver no good until he or she reaches out and takes it. Likewise, reception of God’s gracious gift of eternal life is necessary before a person can benefit from it. Receiving a gift from someone else does not constitute a meritorious act or good work, and the Bible never regards it as a work. It is simply a response to the work of another.

Confess, Believe, trust, commit: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

Prayer

^[1] Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1053). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

^[2] Martin, J. A. (1985). Isaiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1053). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

^[3] Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996), 368.

2019 Rhodes family Christmas letterb

Prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; fulfilled: Matt. 2:1-6)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, December 8, 2019

We are getting closer to Christmas, does this excite you? Are you ready?

What do you most like and not like about Christmas? People were asked that question in 2013 and this is what they said:

Stats on What We Like/Dislike about Christmas

A 2013 Pew Research poll asked people what they like or dislike the most about the Christmas holiday season. Here’s a list of what people most look forward to at Christmas time:

1. 68 percent said spending time with family and friends
2. 11 percent mentioned religious services or religious reflection
3. 11 percent look forward to the Christmas “spirit” of joy and good will
4. 5 percent said music, decorations, and shopping
5. 4 percent look forward to the end of the Christmas season

Here’s what the poll said we most dislike about the Christmas season:

1. 33 percent—the commercialism and materialism
2. 22 percent—the money and expense
3. 10 percent—the shopping and crowds
4. 5 percent—the hectic pace and bad moods of people
5. 2 percent—the pressure to go to church[1]

I hope and pray that you really look forward to worshipping our Savior as we celebrate Christmas.

What are your favorite Christmas carols/hymns or songs? Shout them out, anyone.

What about “O Little Town of Bethlehem”? Is that anyone’s favorite? We are going to talk about that city and its importance in our Savior’s birth.

Play video about Bethlehem

It was prophesied some 700 years before Jesus’ birth that He would be born in Bethlehem. Isn’t it amazing how the Scriptures all connect? We have been talking about prophesies of Jesus fulfilled in Him as the Messiah. Today, we talk about His birthplace.

Today, my theme is:

The place of Jesus’ human birth was prophesied some 700 years before He was born. Yet, Jesus’ existence is outside of time.

Let’s read:

Micah 5:2:

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”

1. Jesus’ birth is clearly prophesied in this passage.
   1. Allow me to give the context of this passage.
   2. The NIV Study Bible: the author is Micah; the audience is the people of Israel and Judah, especially the oppressive landgrabbers who supported Israel’s corrupt political and religious leaders. The date is between 700 and 650 BC.
   3. There is a section from Micah 3:1-5:15 which includes judgment and then prophesy of restoration. Chapter 3:1-12 is about denouncing the present leaders. Starting in chapter 4 begins a prophesy about their restoration. Chapter 5:1-15 is about the Shepherd-King arriving.
   4. As we look at chapter 5 we see more prophesies than just this one, but we will just focus on Bethlehem.
   5. Bethlehem was a small city. Think about small towns and cities.

Google Street View, the virtual tool that allows users to view eye-level images of a location defined on Google Maps, extends to cover many parts of the world that are accessible by car. However, the Faroe Islands (an autonomous island country within the Kingdom of Denmark) noted over a year ago that their beloved island had not yet been indexed by Google’s tracking, and submitted a unique request. Led by resident Durita Dahl Andreassen, they proposed a Google “Sheep View” in which 360° cameras would be strapped to the backs of roaming sheep who would then provide the world with images spanning the remote beauty of the island nation. Upon receiving the proposal, Google reportedly responded that the idea was “shear brilliance” and supplied the island with the necessary equipment. The project was recently completed, and Google Maps Program Manager reflected on its success saying, “It’s our mission to make the farthest corners of the world accessible through Street View in the palm of your hand. But there’s a lot of world out there, so sometimes we need a little bit of help to hoof the distance. Now, thanks to Durita and her trusty sheep, you can explore the Faroe Islands in Google Maps. It goes to show—if there’s a wool, there’s a way.”[2]

1. Bethlehem was small, but Bethlehem was also where King David was from (1 Samuel 17:12).
2. Bethlehem was just 5 miles outside of Jerusalem.
3. Bethlehem had a prominent history in Israel’s history, though at this point it is really just a village.
4. Look at this passage. Micah is now prophesying about hope for Israel’s future. Look, he write, “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah… You may ask where is Ephrathah? It is most likely that Ephrathah is a broader area around Bethlehem, maybe like the township or the county. Micah may have used that term to separate this Bethlehem from another town also called Bethlehem.
5. Micah says that Bethlehem is too little to be among the clans of Judah. This simply talks of how small this village is. The ESV Study Bible shares:
6. The unlikely choice of David as king foreshadows the unlikely choice of Bethlehem as the hometown of the greater David.
7. Still, the passage shares that from Bethlehem One will go forth for God to be Ruler in Israel. Now, this is the Messiah. King David came from Bethlehem and now the greater David will come forth from Bethlehem.
8. The passage says, His, now this is referring to Jesus, His going forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. This is showing that Jesus exists outside of time.
9. At first glance that final phrase might look like it was talking about David, who came from Bethlehem and was from long ago. In fact, the NIV translates this differently. The NIV says: “Whose origins are from of old from ancient time.” Yet, the NIV has a study note that says “His origins were long before His human birth.”
10. This is talking about Jesus. This passage is not talking about a mere human King. This is talking about God becoming a man.

1. We see the fulfillment in Matthew 2:1-6:
   1. Let’s read those verses:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ² “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

⁶ ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah;
For out of you shall come forth a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

1. In these verses we see that the religious leaders of the first century clearly knew this verse was talking about the future Messiah.
2. Herod asked the scribes and the chief priests where the Messiah was to be born and they said, “in Bethlehem.” They knew this was about the Messiah.
3. Now, look at Luke 2:4-7: Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. ⁶ While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
4. Do you see the connection?
5. Another prophesy is fulfilled in Jesus.
6. Jesus as a mere human could not control His birthplace. But Jesus is not a mere human. He came fully God and fully man to save us from our sins and to live within us.
7. Jesus’ human birth was prophesied some 700 years before His birth, but Jesus exists outside of time as this passage says.

• Apply:
  1. As I look at this my faith is strengthened knowing that God had a plan long ago.
  2. Our Ruler, the Messiah, comes out of eternity, as it says in this verse. This is an awesome encouragement as well. Jesus truly is the highest and greatest Being. In John 8:58 Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I am.” He is eternally existent.
  3. This passage is about Bethlehem’s Ruler. Is Jesus your ruler? Jesus must be our King.
     1. We must surrender to Jesus for our future.
     2. We must surrender to Jesus each day.
     3. We must bow to Jesus (Phil. 2:9-11).
  4. We must submit to Jesus and His Word (Rev. 1:2, 9; 6:9).
  5. Since God can connect these prophesies with Jesus’ birth and life this is another connection to His sovereignty and another proof of the truth of the Gospel.

Close:

I referenced the hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Phillips Brooks, 1835–1893

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. (Luke 2:4)

In the same way that God’s “wondrous gift” came to Bethlehem, silently, so Christ comes into our lives today and casts out our sins and fears if we are willing to have Him abide in our lives. Then “the dear Christ enters in.” How beautifully the glorious message of Christmas is told in this well-phrased hymn by Phillips Brooks, one of America’s most outstanding ministers of the past century.

During a trip to the Holy Land in 1865, Brooks went to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve and worshiped there. He was deeply moved by this experience. Three years later, while pastoring the Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, Brooks desired to have a special carol for the children to sing in their Sunday school Christmas program. Recalling the peaceful scene in the little town of Bethlehem, Brooks completed the writing of the text in just one evening. He gave a copy of the words to his organist, Lewis R. Redner, and requested him to compose a melody that would be easy for the children to sing. On the evening just before the program was to be given, Redner awakened suddenly from his sleep with the present melody in his mind—and he quickly wrote it out. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” has been a favorite with children and adults around the world since that time.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by; yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light—the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary—and gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wond’ring love. O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv’n! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n. No ear may hear His coming, but, in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in—be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

In the midst of all the rush and activity of the Christmas season, take time to rejoice in the joy of Christ’s birth and ask Him to abide with you in a special way.^[3]

Confess, Believe, trust, commit: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

prayer

[1] Note: For the purpose of this illustration, some of the categories in the original survey have been renamed and combined into one category.

Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project, “Celebrating Christmas, Then and Now,” (12-18-13)

[2] Ethan Adams, PreachingToday.com; source: “Thanks to Sheep View, the Faroe Islands now has Google Street View” The Faroe Island Blog (11-24-17)

^[3] Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996), 370.

We will be turning to Isa 7:14 in just a minute.

I am in a sermon series on prophesies fulfilled in the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophesies related to the Messiah in His life, death and resurrection. This is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means “waiting.” Throughout the Old Testament they were waiting on a Savior. They were waiting on Jesus.

While waiting in a Nazi prison cell in 1943 a few weeks before Advent, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a friend, “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”

Shortly after penning those words, the Nazis executed Bonhoeffer. But he was right: the door of freedom for him and for us today is still opened from the outside by the coming and second coming of Jesus Christ.[1]

God became a human to save us.

I read of a Hindu who could not believe in Christianity because he could not contemplate a God who would be so humble himself. Then one day the Hindu came upon an anthill. He tried to get close enough to it to study it, but every time he bent low, his shadow caused all the ants to scurry away. He recognized to himself that the only way in which he could ever come to know that colony of ants would be if he could somehow become an ant himself. And that was the moment at which his conversion began.[2]

Let’s jump into the passages for today.

My theme is:

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born some 700 years later.

Application:

Since God is with us we do not have to fear.

1. Let us look at the prophetic passage in the Scriptures:
   1. 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.
   2. I need to give you some brief context about this passage as that will help you understand it more fully.
   3. Isaiah was called a major prophet in the Old Testament not because he was greater than all the others but because he wrote more content than many others. Isaiah prophesied to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom. Many of you may know that Israel was divided.
   4. Isaiah’s ministry lasted over 60 years and he served under wicked kings as well as godly kings. Ahaz was the current king.
   5. During this time, there was another kingdom called Assyria trying to advance on the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom of Israel. Assyria will eventually defeat the Northern Kingdom. It was truly a sad time period.
   6. Understand that this is the backdrop by which Isaiah ministered for the Lord.
      1. In Isaiah 7:10, Isaiah asks king Ahaz to ask for a sign from the Lord.
      2. In Isaiah 7:12 Ahaz told Isaiah “no.”

• So, in Isaiah 7:14 the Lord responds with a sign.

1. “A virgin will be with child…” in some translations it might say, “maiden” instead of “virgin.” To put it simply the Hebrew word is translated maiden. This does mean a young woman who is not sexually active. An interesting thing is that in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the same passage is translated more consistent to our word virgin and Matthew 1:23 references the Greek version of this passage.
2. I believe there are two obvious applications to this verse:
   1. The first is the child will be Maher-shalal-hash-baz ( 8:1, 3)who is the son of Isaiah. Or, some suggest, the son of Ahaz who will be Hezekiah, or someone else during Isaiah’s day.
   2. The second is that this passage applies to Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel applies this passage to Jesus and given what Isaiah 9:6-7 is written about we know that this must apply to Jesus.
3. Do you realize that Isaiah was writing about 700 years prior to Christ? As I have said in the past few weeks God had a plan. This is not just any old plan either.
4. Deut 18:22: If what a prophet proclaims in the name of theLord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
5. That is not the case here. This is being fulfilled. This is from the Lord. This is the prophesy.
6. But now, notice that He is to be called Emmanuel and this means: God with us. Think about the awesome ramifications in this passage. God came down to be one of us.
7. This is what sets us apart as Christ followers! What sets us apart as Christians is that God became one of us, but I would even go further than that. God didn’t only become one of us. God is still one of us and also God was not only with us for a time, God is still with us. Do we realize this? Think about it, God is with you. He lives with you. Remember the song we sing at Easter time? “You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart!” God lives with you.

1. The prophesy is fulfilled in Jesus.
   1. Matthew 1:23:“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
   2. Now, let’s watch the account of this in the Movie: The Nativity Story:
   3. In this location the angel is talking with Joseph. Joseph is told that Jesus’ birth will fulfill an Old Testament prophesy, specifically that a virgin will give birth to a son. I think that most of you know the story. Jesus’ mother, Mary, is the virgin. She is pledged or engaged to be married to Joseph. Everything was going well for this couple, but now things are dramatically changing. They are changing for our good, but it will not immediately be easier for Jesus’ mother and father. I have a daughter and if 6 years from now, when she is 14 she comes home and sits her mother and I down to talk and then proceeds to tell us that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, we would be skeptical. Yet, that is what happens here. Joseph is going to break off the engagement quietly. I hope you realize that by the Jewish law she could be stoned because this appeared to be adultery. But I think you know the rest of the story. In this passage an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and the angel confirms what is happening here is of God. Joseph takes Mary as his wife and Jesus is born.
   4. The child is Immanuel, which means “God with us.”
   5. S. Lewis wrote: The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God.[3]
   6. An atheist and a Christian were engaged in an intense public debate. On the blackboard behind the podium the atheist printed in large capital letters, “GOD IS NOWHERE.” When the Christian rose to offer his rebuttal, he rubbed out the W at the beginning of where and added that letter to the preceding word no. Then the statement read, “GOD IS NOW HERE.”[4]

• Application:
  1. God does not sleep or grow weary: Psalm 121: A song of ascents.

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

1. At one time I heard Pastor Tony Evans share an amazing story about this idea of God with us. You see he was on a cruise ship. It was a cruise for those that listen to his radio program. The cruise was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska and the cruise ship ran into some heavy seas. The seas were really rough, 35-40 foot waves. This was really bad. People were vomiting, things were moving around and so on. After so long a time of dealing with this Pastor Evans’ wife got unhappy about it and decided to call the Captain. She was unhappy as the captain knew they were heading into a storm and still decided to do so. He couldn’t stall or reroute as the captain had a schedule to meet. He had to be at a certain dock in order to pick up customers for another cruise. But Pastor Evans’ wife felt somewhat responsible as those on the cruise were there for Pastor Evans’ ministry. So, she calls the captain and the second to the captain calls her back. He says, “The captain wants you to do two things: First, the captain wants you to go to sleep. Second, you can go to sleep because I will be staying awake. I, the captain, will be staying awake to pilot the ship through the storm.”Psalm 121 says that our God never sleeps or slumbers. This passage is saying that God is with us. That is great. Like the captain, He is with us and He is awake guiding us through the storms of life.
2. So, do you realize the very special significance of that? Nowhere in the Bible does it say that there will not be any storms in life. But you know what God is with us. God is with us in the storms.
3. Now, I don’t want to miss the initial importance in this passage, Jesus came and lived a life as God with us. Jesus died for our sins and then rose again. So, Jesus is still alive and He sent His Holy Spirit to live with us now and that is why He is still with us today.

Matthew 3:11

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

1. So, if the Holy Spirit is with us meaning that God is with us, we must live like He is with us: John 6:35: ³⁵ Then Jesus declared,“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
2. The other thing is that if we are living in sin and if we are not seeking God in spiritual disciplines then we are not welcoming God to be with us. Welcome Him in and rejoice because Christ came and He lives with us today.

Close:

Think about these applications:

1. God with us means that He cares about us.
2. God with us means that we are never alone.
3. God with us means that we don’t have to worry about the future, He is with us.
4. God with us means that the creator of all can also be with His creation.
5. God with us means that we have the architect of creation with us.
6. God with us means that if He is with us He can support and guide us.
7. God with us means that He can and has communicated to us.
8. We must live with an understanding of this awesome Truth that God is with us.
9. We must live with an application of this awesome truth that God is with us.

• We must live allowing God through Jesus to soothe our needs as He is with us.

So, Jesus came, God came and lived among us, He died for us, in our place, but He rose again and He is still with us. Praise God.

A woman was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall. She was tired of fighting the crowds. She was tired of standing in lines. She was tired of fighting her way down long aisles looking for a gift that had sold out days before.

Her arms were full of bulky packages when an elevator door opened. It was full. The occupants of the elevator grudgingly tightened ranks to allow a small space for her and her load.

As the doors closed, she blurted out, “Whoever is responsible for this whole Christmas thing ought to be arrested, strung up, and shot!”

A few others nodded theirs heads or grunted in agreement.

Then, from somewhere in the back of the elevator, came a single voice that said: “Don’t worry. They already crucified him.”[5]

Confess, Believe, trust, commit: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

prayer

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, (Touchstone, 1997), page 416

[2] Bruce Thielemann, “Glory to God in the Lowest,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 75.

[3] C S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 14.

[4] Vernon Grounds, Radical Commitment. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 7.

[5] Homiletics (November/December 2006), Volume 18; submitted by Van Morris, Mount Washington, Kentucky