WEBVTT 00:30.000 --> 00:37.760 Must it ever be that we voices of laddies and barons be raised forever until he 00:37.760 --> 00:43.360 comes again? And what a good time to be alive. 00:51.760 --> 00:56.760 I have an almost 2,000 year old announcement. I'm sure you'll be glad 00:56.760 --> 01:01.920 to share it with me. It's contained in Matthew 1.23. And it's a beautiful thing 01:01.920 --> 01:06.720 because Matthew 1.21 had preceded it with the thought, and you shall call his 01:06.720 --> 01:12.600 name Jesus, for he shall be a Savior to his people. Now Matthew 1.23 follows 01:12.600 --> 01:16.800 with something more important. You know a Savior. In what way? I don't know as I 01:16.800 --> 01:21.200 understand. He gives us a new word. We're going to look at three aspects in 01:21.200 --> 01:27.920 Matthew 1.23 of a promise that is power and authority for living today. Matthew 01:27.920 --> 01:36.960 1.23 begins with the words, Behold, a virgin shall be with child. And then he 01:36.960 --> 01:42.960 follows it with this thought, and she shall bring forth a son. And that's kind 01:42.960 --> 01:47.160 of special. If you've had an ugly little runt boy come to your house, there's 01:47.160 --> 01:52.400 hardly anything like it, unless it's a sweet, pretty little girl. But he said, 01:52.400 --> 02:03.400 She will bring forth a boy, and thou shall call his name Emmanuel, which is 02:03.400 --> 02:11.280 being interpreted God with us. A more noble language might have said, God 02:11.400 --> 02:19.920 with us, God with us, God with us. Our Heavenly Father, how I thank you for the 02:19.920 --> 02:24.800 gift of life for this precious season. Be with our lovely ones that are on the way, 02:24.800 --> 02:29.840 Father, and be with our warrior saints who are out fighting the faith. And Father, 02:29.840 --> 02:34.440 we thank you for the hope of eternal life and that the gates of hell shall not 02:34.440 --> 02:39.760 prevail against your wee tiny church. I thank you for this season. I thank you 02:39.760 --> 02:46.320 for its joy. I thank you for its deep, deep pleasure in having these moments 02:46.320 --> 02:53.240 that we might as the angels sing and play hymns unto the coming Messiah. In 02:53.240 --> 02:59.800 Jesus' sweet name I pray, Amen. Now I'd like to examine three aspects of that 02:59.800 --> 03:09.000 Matthew 1.23. A virgin shall bring forth a son. She shall conceive. She shall 03:09.000 --> 03:16.200 have a child and shall bring forth a son. Now there's no wishy-washy business 03:16.200 --> 03:21.240 here. Mary was a virgin or we have nothing at all. We are all men most to be 03:21.240 --> 03:26.400 pitted if she was not a virgin because it says in the very technical aspect 03:26.400 --> 03:32.160 here was the purest and sweetest kind of godly woman and her precious womanly 03:32.160 --> 03:36.640 seed was cloned with the seeds of the Holy Spirit. I don't understand that. 03:36.680 --> 03:40.280 I don't have the faintest idea of how that happens, but this is the way God 03:40.280 --> 03:45.760 chose to do it. We have two great pillars of the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ 03:45.760 --> 03:50.200 and of his household, the Church of Christ. There is a kingdom that's called 03:50.200 --> 03:54.360 the church in the beginning of the kingdom was based on a marvelous and 03:54.360 --> 03:59.560 totally divine and miraculous occurrence that a sweet and pure girl should 03:59.560 --> 04:09.320 become a mother of one who was God with us. What an appropriate pair. Oh, God 04:09.320 --> 04:14.960 with us, be with us. Seems like a redundancy, but it really isn't. Is it 04:15.760 --> 04:23.760 God with us, be with us. Now that great pillar is the virgin birth of the Lord 04:23.800 --> 04:28.800 Jesus Christ. What we have is different from the Moose Club or any other 04:28.840 --> 04:35.320 quadruped group. We don't really believe in spiritual excellence and just 04:35.320 --> 04:39.600 social clubs. We believe that the reason the church is unique is it was founded 04:39.600 --> 04:44.400 up on a Christ and a Messiah and a savior who was born like no other man 04:44.400 --> 04:50.040 has ever been born and whoever will be born again. He is divinely born and 04:50.040 --> 04:53.960 that's a great column, which begins in the great granite of the earth, 04:54.240 --> 04:59.800 gnarled and moss written and ascends up into the clouds. A great pillar and 04:59.800 --> 05:06.720 foundation of the truths that Jesus was born of a virgin woman. The second 05:06.720 --> 05:10.800 great pillar of truth standing beside it, exalted and going high up into the 05:10.800 --> 05:16.480 clouds. It's very roots in the very nature of this earth is the resurrection. 05:16.720 --> 05:21.600 That beautiful, beautiful, most wonderful of all words. Anastasis that a man who 05:21.600 --> 05:26.960 is laid lower that a man is dead is resurrected and made to live again. Ah, 05:26.960 --> 05:32.600 his benefiting was uniquely divine and his ending was like no other man who 05:32.600 --> 05:38.520 will ever be on the face of this earth. The church has a precious and select 05:38.520 --> 05:44.600 and elect foundation born of a virgin and died to be lifted up from death to 05:44.600 --> 05:50.420 descend into his father's right hand there to be seated there forever and to 05:50.420 --> 05:56.180 speak in our behalf as chief advocate for we who are signals, Emmanuel, God 05:56.180 --> 06:01.540 with us, God with us, God with us. Now I look at something that's kind of cool 06:01.540 --> 06:07.980 here. We can go on and add that in Romans eight, 15, a very wonderful 06:07.980 --> 06:12.280 blessing was given to us and I touched on that last Sunday night and I'm not 06:12.280 --> 06:15.860 going to, there's so many things to talk about here and especially on this kind 06:15.860 --> 06:19.860 of a day as men's hearts are tuned to the little baby that came into the 06:19.900 --> 06:26.260 world. And I'd like to stress this in Romans eight, 15, he says, for you receive 06:26.260 --> 06:33.820 not a spirit of fear. Now men were born with a spirit of fear because if you 06:33.820 --> 06:38.540 don't know how to be born again and if you're living in this life simply to 06:38.540 --> 06:44.320 live it and then die and forever be dead, then you live in the fear of the 06:44.320 --> 06:49.820 bondage of death. He says you did not receive a spirit that made us a slave 06:49.820 --> 06:54.540 unto fear and Christians are people who can be tough enough that they don't 06:54.540 --> 06:59.540 need to be scared of death and therefore can rise above death and because of 06:59.540 --> 07:06.060 this marvelous kind of a birth and this marvelous kind of a resurrection, we 07:06.060 --> 07:13.820 can live without fear. Emmanuel with us, Emmanuel, God with us, God with us, God 07:13.820 --> 07:18.180 with us. Isn't that a wonderful way to live a happy life? And so he says, since 07:18.180 --> 07:25.460 you did not receive a spirit that made a slave unto fear, what did we receive? He 07:25.460 --> 07:33.420 says, but you received, but you receive something better, but you received a 07:33.420 --> 07:37.460 spirit of sonship. Now that sounds a little awkward because I'm not reading in 07:37.460 --> 07:41.900 this case the King James. I prefer the King James because of its beauty, but in 07:41.900 --> 07:47.300 this case, it's a very explicit scripture. And in this case, I believe it 07:47.300 --> 07:52.860 sits better for you did not receive a spirit of sonship. King Jamie says you 07:52.860 --> 08:00.020 did not receive a spirit of adoption, but how do we become adopted into the 08:00.020 --> 08:08.020 kingdom of God? How do we become part of God's family? God's elder son spoke up 08:08.020 --> 08:16.540 for us and made us to be part of that wonderful family of God. I belong. I am 08:16.580 --> 08:21.580 completely an inheritor of every good thing which God has for his people. I 08:21.580 --> 08:29.500 inherit also the liabilities and bad things and responsibilities, if you 08:29.500 --> 08:35.060 will, that belong to any proper son, especially an older son. I'm not a 08:35.060 --> 08:43.540 bastard son. I'm not just an adopted son. I am a son of the loins of my father. And 08:43.540 --> 08:53.140 thus he says, whereby King James says, whereby the NIV says, and by him, do 08:53.140 --> 09:01.060 you cry Abba father? Now Abba is their make. It is the language which Jesus 09:01.060 --> 09:07.820 spoke. And we have about 20 times where we have the literal words preserved in 09:07.820 --> 09:14.020 the New Testament of what Jesus said in the precise and exact language of every 09:14.020 --> 09:21.980 word which he said. Now Abba means papa. Abba means daddy. In some families more 09:21.980 --> 09:25.940 rigorous in down in Oklahoma, we didn't call our daddy father. He'd have been 09:25.940 --> 09:33.980 insulted. He really would have. We call him little papa. And we just adored him. 09:33.980 --> 09:37.780 And you know, we'd have been upset if another kid on the block had called my 09:37.780 --> 09:42.780 daddy papa, because he wasn't a proper son. He had to be an Allen to do that, 09:42.780 --> 09:47.420 didn't he? Well, that isn't much to brag about being an Allen. But I tell you, 09:47.420 --> 09:51.500 it's something to brag about. He says, we didn't receive that spirit of fear that 09:51.500 --> 09:58.900 made us a slave. See that made us a slave unto fear, but we see the more proper 09:58.900 --> 10:06.780 spirit, the spirit of being the complete and selected son of God. You must be 10:06.780 --> 10:12.180 born again, Jesus said of seven times. He said must you must be born again. Well, 10:12.180 --> 10:18.340 I'm a proper son of the father who is in heaven. Isn't that cool? I am a proper 10:18.340 --> 10:24.540 son. And what my father chooses to give to me, I shall fully and completely 10:24.540 --> 10:30.300 receive every gift he has stored up in heaven for me. I may say of my father, 10:30.300 --> 10:34.780 father, give me my inheritance. I dig that. I think that's a wonderful promise. 10:34.780 --> 10:39.620 It's a reason to be alive today, isn't it? A great and proper reason to be alive 10:39.620 --> 10:44.740 day. Emmanuel, God with us, God with us, God with us. You see, it's comfort for 10:44.740 --> 10:50.500 living in this day, isn't it? Ah, but he goes on to say the first thing had to do 10:50.500 --> 10:54.980 with the virgin birth. The second had thing to do had to be with the proper 10:54.980 --> 10:59.740 son to be born again into the family of God. And the first thing had to do with 10:59.740 --> 11:06.140 examining a little closer, what in the world Emmanuel really was. Emmanuel, 11:06.140 --> 11:12.420 Emmanuel, God with us, God with us. How and in what way is God with us? Because 11:12.420 --> 11:17.340 this is a conundrum to many, many people. How is God present in our lives? In what 11:17.340 --> 11:23.020 way does he activate us? In what way does he motivate us? In what way is his ever 11:23.020 --> 11:29.660 abiding spirit with us? Well, how was it on that day? Now the shepherds were 11:29.700 --> 11:34.300 out there on their heels. And you know, the flute's a very simple minded, it's 11:34.300 --> 11:40.420 mainly for simple minded musicians. It's got a pure and hollow and sweet tone, the 11:40.420 --> 11:43.940 likes of which I don't think any other instrument can emulate. And probably they 11:43.940 --> 11:47.180 were playing some reed instruments and one guy says, what's that noise? What's 11:47.180 --> 11:53.060 that noise? Well, something transcended a hollow tube that's called a flute. Or 11:53.060 --> 11:58.100 perhaps it was a strumming kind of a guitar like thing. Or maybe it was just 11:58.140 --> 12:03.780 some pituitary achromeglic who was humming in his spastic way, praises unto 12:03.780 --> 12:10.700 God Almighty and enjoy giving pleasure to his kumpadre. Well, I don't know the 12:10.700 --> 12:15.460 nature of the musicians, but suddenly a more heavenly and celestial music took 12:15.460 --> 12:21.180 over. For there came out of heaven a choir of angels singing and praising God 12:21.460 --> 12:26.460 and offering hymns of praise that a Christ child, a Messiah child was to be 12:26.460 --> 12:33.140 adorned and the Son of God, Emmanuel, is with us. And 1st Corinthians 16, he says 12:33.140 --> 12:36.820 these words, without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. For he says 12:36.820 --> 12:39.980 six things are the mystery of Godliness. Well, let's just examine two. There are 12:39.980 --> 12:46.140 four more. You can read those if you're curious. For without controversy, great is 12:46.140 --> 12:52.340 the mystery of God for Christ was manifested in the flesh. Now I don't know 12:52.340 --> 12:55.860 whether you know whether a manifesto, those of your truck drivers, a manifest 12:55.860 --> 13:00.380 says this is a declaration of the things I carry and your manifest better 13:00.380 --> 13:05.940 check out at the end of the trip with a cargo that you're carrying. You can get 13:05.940 --> 13:09.700 in trouble if you don't do that. It is manifest that Christ was born in the 13:09.700 --> 13:15.660 flesh. See that on that night it came to pass, didn't it? Emmanuel, for unto us 13:15.660 --> 13:20.820 is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, praising 13:20.820 --> 13:25.620 God and with a loud voice singing hymns and praises unto God. Well, what a 13:25.620 --> 13:31.780 wonderful thing that was. See Christ was manifest in the flesh and he was seen 13:31.780 --> 13:37.860 of by angels. I think of a whole host, a sky filled with the most glorious 13:37.860 --> 13:43.140 celestial bubbles greater than any tree could be manifested on this day of days 13:43.140 --> 13:50.700 and in this celebration of the coming baby. Jesus Christ God with us. Oh, God 13:50.740 --> 13:56.460 with us. God with us. Now he goes on to say something kind of important. You 13:56.460 --> 13:59.780 know that St. Augustine and I've talked about this before because I use it so 13:59.780 --> 14:05.140 much in trying to defend the faith against evolution. In what way did man 14:05.180 --> 14:10.740 become aware of a higher order of life? St. Augustine was a great man who 14:10.740 --> 14:16.980 lived and actually united all of Christ into one great authority, which may or 14:16.980 --> 14:21.100 may not have, which was not a blessing to mankind, but he had a great mind at 14:21.100 --> 14:26.020 any rate. And in the early part of the fourth century, he gave us the concept 14:26.020 --> 14:33.220 of St. Augustine's ladder of faith, ladder of awareness. Now I use this quite 14:33.220 --> 14:37.020 often in the prison because the first thing that a prisoner has to do is to 14:37.020 --> 14:40.980 say, I'm going to get out of here. But most importantly, what he has to say, 14:40.980 --> 14:44.500 I'm going to get out of here, but I'm not coming back here anymore. I don't like 14:44.500 --> 14:49.700 this place. This is an unfitting place in which to celebrate Christmas. And 14:49.700 --> 14:54.300 there isn't much flute playing, except with one exception in the entire prison 14:54.300 --> 14:59.260 system, probably. And it takes a lot of guts to play the flute in prison. You 14:59.260 --> 15:06.900 tell you, I'll tell you this much too. It begins with I am, I can, I should, I 15:06.900 --> 15:11.260 will, those four things you stop and think about as a thought process. And I 15:11.260 --> 15:15.260 reaffirm this because in this season, since the little baby was born and showed 15:15.260 --> 15:19.820 us innocence and purity, we need to show the world how to go back and do that. I 15:19.820 --> 15:26.900 am. Now I am is a wonderful thought. Jesus said of himself, I am that I am of 15:26.900 --> 15:33.300 whom God was the original I am. I am God is what he really said, didn't he? Now I 15:33.300 --> 15:40.380 am has the concept there. I think of a good idea. It means awareness, doesn't 15:40.420 --> 15:45.660 it? To become aware of a problem is to at least have the opportunity to solve 15:45.660 --> 15:51.020 the problem. How is Emmanuel with us? Well, look, first of all, I see myself as 15:51.020 --> 15:56.260 I am. This is what we participated in this morning in the communion to see me 15:56.260 --> 16:01.620 as I am, to discern the body, to compare my life against the holy wonder. See the 16:01.620 --> 16:09.540 celestial one, the Son of God to see Fat Albert in relationship to the Son of 16:09.540 --> 16:16.660 God. Now there's a terrific thought here. I am. That is awareness. Awareness 16:16.660 --> 16:20.500 begins, I think with confession, doesn't it? Wonder why God wants us to confess 16:20.500 --> 16:23.580 our sins. I don't think it's necessary to stand up before a crowd like this and 16:23.580 --> 16:29.180 say, I'm a big jerk. Now I may be. I don't know whether I'd even get your 16:29.820 --> 16:34.580 sympathy with such a statement, but we need to say to God, God, I have behaved 16:34.580 --> 16:40.580 as I ought not to have behaved. In first John one nine, he says, and if we confess 16:40.580 --> 16:46.140 our sins, he is faithful to forgive us and just to cleanse us from all our 16:46.140 --> 16:51.700 unrighteousness. So I think awareness of what we are and the ability to grasp God 16:51.700 --> 16:57.620 is with us. God is with us. God is with us. Is to say, I know what I am and I am 16:57.620 --> 17:02.060 a sinner and I confess what my problem. It is good to have a buddy in the church 17:02.060 --> 17:07.500 to confess too. I believe that with all my heart and you need a confidant in the 17:07.500 --> 17:11.860 church. You really do. You need to confess it to God and you need to confess it 17:11.860 --> 17:16.700 to somebody else on the face of this earth. I really believe that's necessity 17:17.500 --> 17:22.060 and it's a good and sound principle exercised by many great groups who are 17:22.060 --> 17:27.060 able to change people's lives like alcoholics, anonymous and many others. The 17:27.060 --> 17:32.860 recognition, the awareness, the confession. You see, now the second aspect I am 17:33.060 --> 17:37.300 is followed by I can. Now this is a possibility verse. We've had Philippians 17:37.300 --> 17:42.740 for 13 a million times. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens 17:42.740 --> 17:46.420 me. Now that's a little bit shallow. If you just say, I can do it, but there's no 17:46.420 --> 17:52.980 mechanism to have Emmanuel with us. I can only do great things because God is 17:52.980 --> 17:57.580 with me. You can only do great things and change some problems in your lives 17:57.580 --> 18:01.380 because God is with you and of your own power and your own authority, it will 18:01.380 --> 18:09.340 probably never ever get done. Now that implies choice. Now this is the one 18:09.340 --> 18:14.620 thing that Americans love is a good choice. Two football teams. I bet we could 18:14.620 --> 18:21.300 get up an argument over which one is superior. I'll bet if us grandpas and 18:21.300 --> 18:26.140 grandmothers got together, we could become enemies if we had to discourse 18:26.140 --> 18:29.460 upon which one of our grandchildren is the most brilliant or the prettiest or 18:29.460 --> 18:35.900 the, or anything like that. See, but I'll tell you what choice is the difference 18:35.900 --> 18:41.620 between men and animals, isn't it? If I'm to be something and if I'm to have God 18:41.620 --> 18:47.500 with me, it is that I have a wonderful choice. Now in Deuteronomy, let's go to 18:47.500 --> 18:50.860 Deuteronomy 30 beginning in verse 15 and 19. First let's reverse that. Let's go 18:50.900 --> 18:57.620 to 19 and he calls down a curse. God does calls down a literal curse on his 18:57.620 --> 19:03.140 people. He's got in the business of cursing. Yes, he is sometimes and at this 19:03.140 --> 19:06.060 season, it's a little hard to preach and teach it and most churches aren't 19:06.060 --> 19:12.020 preaching at any time. But the reason manual came down that God is with us is 19:12.020 --> 19:16.060 because we did sin and we need a blanket or propitiation of covering for that 19:16.060 --> 19:21.900 sin. We need a mechanism to start over. We need a clear cut choice. I am not an 19:21.900 --> 19:27.580 automaton, a robot. You can't just turn the little key in the back and push the 19:27.580 --> 19:32.980 button on and have me behave as God would have me behave. I need something else. I 19:32.980 --> 19:40.620 need Emmanuel with me for I have called down. He said, I have set heaven and 19:40.660 --> 19:45.700 earth against you. Everything, the mountains, the hills, the streams, the 19:45.700 --> 19:50.740 beautiful sky, the stars in heaven. I call the whole earth and the heavens 19:50.940 --> 20:01.180 against the what? Now he gives us a choice here for he says, I have and I 20:02.220 --> 20:09.820 I have given you. I have set before you. I have placed before you. And I says two 20:09.820 --> 20:14.980 things and I'm going to compare it with verse 16. The two things are this. I have 20:14.980 --> 20:22.100 set before you life and death. And then he puts over here blessing and cursing. 20:23.140 --> 20:27.740 Therefore he says, and when he says, therefore something after that conditional 20:27.740 --> 20:35.660 clause is to transpire. If there is a choice, therefore choose, he says, choose 20:35.660 --> 20:40.900 you that you and your seed may live. Now, many of us are concerned about raising 20:40.900 --> 20:46.140 children in this tawdry time in this ugly and gross out time when it's very 20:46.140 --> 20:51.340 difficult to raise children in the godly faith, very difficult to keep your own 20:51.340 --> 20:56.860 skirts clean in this day and in this age, very difficult to make your hands 20:56.860 --> 21:03.940 shake, be your bond, very difficult to be honest, to be undrunken and undrugged in 21:03.940 --> 21:07.900 a world that thinks that's the greatest way to live in the world. See, 21:08.820 --> 21:13.420 therefore, if you want to protect your babies, your family, your children, your 21:13.420 --> 21:22.860 wife, your sweetheart, your loved ones, choose life, choose the goodness that you 21:22.860 --> 21:29.740 and your seed may live. The best thing that a man can do is to lay himself 21:29.740 --> 21:37.300 before Christ, supine and acknowledge that God is his master and Jesus is our 21:37.700 --> 21:43.340 elder brother. And then your little babies and all those that you love and you 21:43.340 --> 21:51.220 men, you are the priests in your household. And if you are not, God will acquire of 21:51.220 --> 21:56.660 you a reason why you are not priests in your household for the husband is the 21:56.660 --> 22:01.460 head of his household. And you must agree that you break God's will when you 22:01.460 --> 22:06.020 choose to do it any other way, but that's a blessing and a combination. See, I've 22:06.060 --> 22:10.020 set before thee a blessing and a cursing. I have set before thee life and death. 22:10.020 --> 22:15.060 Now verse 15 said, I have set before you, and he changes a little bit, life and 22:15.060 --> 22:22.260 goodness and death and evil. You know, the Bible always has never a nuance, 22:22.380 --> 22:27.780 never a subtly, never a shade of gray, but the Bible always has a black and 22:27.780 --> 22:34.420 white, a positive and negative, a dipolar view, a dichotomy of the way things 22:34.420 --> 22:38.820 should be, yes or no. And didn't he one time say, let your yes be yes and your 22:38.820 --> 22:43.540 no be no? And that is so difficult. We even write books about how to say no and 22:43.540 --> 22:48.460 really mean it. Talk about a wishy washy bunch of wimps we have in the world 22:48.460 --> 22:54.060 today. You got to tell somebody how to say no when they don't really want to 22:54.060 --> 23:00.220 say yes. That's amazing, isn't it? Well, I think there's another step up. I am, I 23:00.220 --> 23:10.940 can, I should. Now should is a moral prerogative. I could do it. I can do it. 23:11.100 --> 23:16.300 There's a possibility. I do exist. I can. I should is a moral prerogative. There 23:16.300 --> 23:19.860 is a choice here. I know there's a choice. That was in the first step, but I 23:19.860 --> 23:26.180 should do it. See, and I think that's an important one. This be tokens to me. Not 23:26.220 --> 23:30.940 only do I have to make a choice. I do have to make a clear cut choice, but 23:30.940 --> 23:38.700 there's one I should make. There is a right one that's best for me. I should. 23:38.700 --> 23:47.660 You see, the good that I would, I do not. Roman said that which I should do, I do 23:47.660 --> 23:52.940 not. You ever find yourself in that conundrum? That's the schizophrenia we 23:52.940 --> 23:58.780 find in people that makes them too faced and double minded in it. Oh, I don't 23:58.780 --> 24:02.140 like that. You don't like a double minded person unstable in all of his ways 24:02.140 --> 24:07.820 because God didn't either. He liked a total commitment, didn't he? Well, in 24:07.820 --> 24:12.460 Galatians two, following after Galatians one, where he said, how do you restore a 24:12.460 --> 24:17.540 man that's fallen? Well, you love him, you forgive him, and you put him back in 24:17.540 --> 24:21.540 business again. That's our business in the church. But Galatians two, he says, 24:21.980 --> 24:25.500 bear ye one another's burden. The other version says, carry one another's 24:25.500 --> 24:30.980 burden. The NIV says, carry one another's load. And that's what we need. That's 24:30.980 --> 24:34.780 why we need in the church to carry one another's load. This is the idea of 24:34.780 --> 24:41.220 Emmanuel with us. When God came down, when God is with us, we have companions in 24:41.220 --> 24:45.380 the faith who help carry the load. Have you ever just borne something you could 24:45.380 --> 24:50.940 hardly handle and some big old guy just lifts that off your shoulder? I remember 24:50.940 --> 24:55.860 one time we were moving this retarded piano up here on the stage. And at 59, 24:55.860 --> 24:59.700 I just grabbed one corner of the piano and started to lift it up on the stage. 25:00.420 --> 25:07.060 And something didn't respond. I used to take joy in moving pianos because I 25:07.060 --> 25:12.620 love weights and I love physical things. But nothing happened on my end. And a 25:12.620 --> 25:15.700 big old boy with hair on his palms kind of reached down. He said, here little 25:15.700 --> 25:20.140 daddy, let me help you. And that old thing just lifted up. So he said, two of 25:20.140 --> 25:23.980 us, of course, I was carrying an inordinate share, but the two of us just 25:23.980 --> 25:28.140 did a fine. I think I said, thank you, son, for the help. Well, you know, a 25:28.140 --> 25:32.300 weight lifter is a good buddy to have if there's an object to be lifted. If 25:32.300 --> 25:35.700 there's a fight to be fought, if there's an ogre in the road, you need a big 25:35.700 --> 25:42.260 hairy handed guy to throw him out of the road. Well, the last thing is I will how 25:42.260 --> 25:47.540 I love those words. Remember how the guy who was eating hog swill one time said, 25:47.540 --> 25:53.420 I will get me to my father's house for there even, even the servants eat 25:53.420 --> 25:59.700 better than I. And when he said, I will, it said he came to himself and he went 25:59.940 --> 26:04.740 and reconciled himself with his papa. Now I hope there's nobody here that's 26:04.740 --> 26:09.700 unrecognized with either their daddy of the flesh because your papa of the 26:09.700 --> 26:14.620 flesh is a reminder of your father who is in heaven. And though your daddy of the 26:14.620 --> 26:19.620 flesh may be an imperfect man, he is doing like the ball nobber of Kentucky. 26:19.620 --> 26:24.340 He's just doing the best with whatever he's got. And so you forgive papa if he 26:24.340 --> 26:28.820 pooled fools around and messes up his life just to touch. He loves you with all 26:28.820 --> 26:33.900 his heart and soul. Well, if papa does, then our father who is in heaven loves 26:33.900 --> 26:38.940 us a thousand fold more and would not have us go hungry and would not have us 26:38.940 --> 26:42.540 hurt in any way. What are the shepherds here on that last day? Well, they 26:42.540 --> 26:46.500 heard some beautiful music. Didn't they? They heard some songs of praise to the 26:46.500 --> 26:55.180 little baby who had come to be with us. God with us. God with us. God with us. 26:55.180 --> 27:02.980 Well, I like that. I will, I will to know the father's will acts 22 verse 14 27:02.980 --> 27:07.140 through 16 is our God of our father has chosen the that you may know his will 27:07.140 --> 27:12.420 preeminently. We are to know what God was to do in our lives. How he is to work 27:12.460 --> 27:20.780 in our lives will, will, will. I think that we need to know that we have a 27:20.780 --> 27:26.420 protection. We have the abiding spirit of God. We know the commandments of God. 27:26.420 --> 27:30.900 We have access to his throne through prayer. We know that we have hope of 27:30.900 --> 27:35.300 eternal life. That's authority for living hard now because we're going to relax 27:35.300 --> 27:41.700 one of these days, but we're not home yet. And he says, get busy and serve me 27:41.700 --> 27:48.740 labor. Copy out. So for me, labor, intensely sweat, hurt, suffer for me. 27:49.540 --> 27:55.100 Christmas is the funniest thing. Taint really funny at all. It's the only 27:55.100 --> 27:58.980 celebration of a birthday party where you give presents to everybody, but the 27:59.140 --> 28:06.680 honoree. But I know this bunch doesn't do that. I hope when we look at things 28:06.680 --> 28:11.920 like this, here we have a famous man, that big ugly guy behind this pretty 28:11.920 --> 28:16.760 Chinese lady is Al Hamilton and Jonathan is here and he's going to be going 28:16.760 --> 28:20.440 back into the field. One of these days, a harder field than around the golf 28:20.440 --> 28:26.640 course at Paradise Valley. And there's little Lucy, sweetheart of God. And she 28:26.640 --> 28:31.240 was smuggled out of China and she's back in a Bible college. Now she wants to 28:31.240 --> 28:34.360 learn the gospel and go back to China. Would any of you have a great desire to 28:34.400 --> 28:39.160 go back to China this afternoon? I hardly think I'm awfully busy. I've got a 28:39.160 --> 28:46.360 committee meeting this afternoon. And I praise God that there are people who 28:46.360 --> 28:50.280 will give the gift of themselves. The most precious gift, Emerson self is a 28:50.280 --> 28:55.480 gift of one's self. That's what God did when he gave a gift of himself in the 28:55.480 --> 28:59.840 form of his son. I conclude with Proverbs 26 verse two. I've preached on this 28:59.840 --> 29:04.440 before, but he says the curse causeless shall not come. What in the world does 29:04.440 --> 29:08.480 that mean? It means if something is wrong with us, it was not because 29:08.480 --> 29:13.120 Emmanuel wasn't with us. Emmanuel was with us, but we chose not to hear his 29:13.120 --> 29:17.800 voice. And if there is a cursing in our life, we have chosen it. If there is 29:17.800 --> 29:21.600 something that does not bless us in our life, then we need to get away from it 29:21.600 --> 29:26.440 and eschew it, get rid of it, throw it out the window. And then that song, the 29:26.440 --> 29:31.720 shepherd's singing, the shepherd's plays finally come into reality. Listen to 29:31.720 --> 29:37.680 what he says. Actually in Ephesians two, we see a wonderful promise because 29:37.680 --> 29:43.160 Emmanuel, God with us was here because he preached and taught three and a half 29:43.160 --> 29:47.760 years among us because all of his words he deemed were feasible that we should 29:47.760 --> 29:51.800 remember and have as knowledge for eternal life were left and given to us. 29:52.680 --> 29:58.720 We know what he wants us to do and what his will for us really is. We are 29:58.720 --> 30:04.840 therefore co-resurrected and co-seated at our father's right hand. Why is 30:04.840 --> 30:09.720 that? Ladies and gentlemen, Ephesians one verse 19. And what is the exceeding 30:09.720 --> 30:15.040 greatness of his power to us were those who believe according to the working of 30:15.040 --> 30:20.680 his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ Jesus when he raised him from 30:20.680 --> 30:26.560 the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly place. We'll say, well, 30:26.560 --> 30:30.400 that's cool, man. That takes care of Jesus. He's all right. He's safe. He's 30:30.400 --> 30:35.120 sitting at the right hand of God. Oh, relate to me. If God is with us, if 30:35.120 --> 30:40.720 Emmanuel is real, if God is with us, how does that relate to me? Okay. Chapter 30:40.800 --> 30:51.800 two verse six. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in 30:51.800 --> 31:01.040 heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now that's the coal seating at the right 31:01.040 --> 31:07.240 hand of God. That's not complicated. It is a coal with we are seated because he 31:07.240 --> 31:14.320 is seated and he's saying, come on home, come on home, come on home. Emmanuel 31:14.840 --> 31:20.160 with us as we sing the last verse, maybe there's someone here who is an improper 31:20.160 --> 31:27.000 son and improper daughter of their father who is in heaven. Maybe you've never 31:27.000 --> 31:32.240 accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. Maybe you need to be with God's 31:32.240 --> 31:38.560 people in a home where remember he is coming to claim his bride, his bride is 31:38.560 --> 31:44.840 his church. The kingdom is the church and he died for the kingdom. He died for the 31:44.840 --> 31:50.000 church. And if you need such a thing, let's sing together. Would you stand?