Immanuel
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
What is the most significant challenge you face today?
What causes you the most stress, pain, frustration, or struggle?
Most emotional problems stem from the feelings of abandonment, lack of fellowship, and not being understood.
But there is a principle—a truth—that can change your whole perspective on life
Text
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
God wants you to know that He loves you—and your created purpose in life is rooted in the knowledge and understanding of that love.
He knows that this world and its sin has hurt you and life experiences can devour you.
So, God planned, from the very beginning, to provide a solution to sin and its devastation by sending His own son to rescue you.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Main Idea
God invites you to live life in relationship with Him.
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
The Immanuel Principle is the ultimate game-changer that will bring hope, peace, and joy in your life—and invite you to become an overcomer.
Point One
When Adam and Eve sinned against God, it was God who sought them out.
Even in judgment, God gave them and all humanity a promise:
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
You can open yourself up to life-transformation when you embrace the fact that God:
God is for us!
God is for us!
Even in our failures, God loves you—values you—and is FOR YOU!
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You are in the right place when you recognize that God wants you to experience the fulness of His purpose.
Know, believe, and live your life within the truth that GOD IS FOR YOU!
Point Two
Because God is for you, and for humanity—and because he knows how sin devastates lives—He promised a way of hope.
That way of hope is God coming to us!
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
This prophetic message from God is the answer that will change your life!
God is with us!
God is with us!
Jesus (the Second Person of the Trinity)—fully God, entered our world, born and lived among us.
Jesus modeled what life with God is all about—He took the penalty of our sin and died for us—so that we can, if we believe, experience life WITH God.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Knowing that God is for you, and knowing that God is with you—are powerful truths that can encourage you to face the challenges of life.
But there is one more part to this message that will change your perspective on life:
Point Three
God is in us!
God is in us!
When we believe in Jesus Christ—His death, His resurrection—and His Lordship—believing in His work personally—God saves us!
God in us speaks of close, personal relationship.
God in us speaks of family (adoption) and belonging..
God in us speaks of our ultimate destiny and fulfilment of purpose.
Conclusion
Immanuel is the game-changer to our life and purpose.
God is for us.
God is with us.
God is in us.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.