WEBVTT 00:00:00.233 --> 00:00:02.866 Well, we've been studying the Book of First Peter together. 00:00:02.866 --> 00:00:19.966 We're going to take a break from that today to focus on more of a Christmas message on the story of the birth of Christ, and then we'll actually continue over the next four weeks to take a break from First Peter to talk about some things to launch us into the New year. 00:00:19.966 --> 00:00:28.666 And as I approach today, someone, in fact, a few weeks ago gave me a book here in the church by the title When Your Way Isn't Working. 00:00:29.932 --> 00:00:33.365 And I thought, what kind of message are they trying to send me? 00:00:33.365 --> 00:00:35.033 That's a message we can all hear at times. 00:00:35.033 --> 00:00:40.966 We've all been there in seasons when your way was working, you're living life your way, you're doing your thing. 00:00:40.966 --> 00:00:42.265 And then till it's not working. 00:00:43.432 --> 00:00:44.566 Yeah, you've had that. 00:00:44.566 --> 00:00:46.365 I know you know what I'm talking about. 00:00:46.365 --> 00:00:47.566 I'm doing it my way. 00:00:47.566 --> 00:00:48.765 And then it's not working. 00:00:48.765 --> 00:00:54.332 In fact, then it shifts into not only is it not working, it's making everything worse. 00:00:54.332 --> 00:00:55.600 I'm sticking to my plan. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:56.265 I'm all good. 00:00:56.265 --> 00:01:01.533 I'm all in, guns blazing, and it's not working and it's causing more problems. 00:01:01.533 --> 00:01:03.432 What do I do? 00:01:03.432 --> 00:01:05.033 You found yourself in that season. 00:01:05.033 --> 00:01:06.200 What do you do? 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:07.465 We're going to look at a passage today. 00:01:07.465 --> 00:01:08.865 It's going to be very familiar. 00:01:08.865 --> 00:01:18.000 And I think in there is a key word, in fact a key name that is going to give us direction for what we do. 00:01:18.033 --> 00:01:22.033 How do we find a new way when your way isn't working? 00:01:22.033 --> 00:01:24.066 So turn to Matthew chapter one. 00:01:25.465 --> 00:01:30.799 As we look at the story of the birth of Christ, a very familiar story. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:35.299 And in that we're going to see this one particular word, this one particular name. 00:01:35.299 --> 00:01:38.332 We're in Matthew chapter one, verse 18. 00:01:40.332 --> 00:01:50.066 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together. 00:01:50.066 --> 00:01:56.033 She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 00:01:56.266 --> 00:02:07.066 One of the fascinating parts of the story of the birth of Jesus is just how unlike it would be, anything that we would do if we were God. 00:02:07.632 --> 00:02:21.233 I mean, if I were God, and I was going to come and try to deal with the people who had rebelled against me, rejected me, rejected my law, I wouldn't come as a little bitty baby in a manger born to a virgin. 00:02:21.233 --> 00:02:24.199 Which sounds crazy because it is. 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:25.332 I wouldn't come that way. 00:02:25.332 --> 00:02:31.733 I guarantee you there would be lots of flashing lights, lots of explosions, lots of bowing down. 00:02:32.332 --> 00:02:38.165 I'd have perfect abs and be shirtless through the whole thing, carrying large weapons of some type. 00:02:38.165 --> 00:02:39.000 All kinds. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.665 You know, it would be intimidating. 00:02:41.665 --> 00:02:43.665 And then we would just start at the bottom. 00:02:43.665 --> 00:02:48.032 I'd start when I was four years old with Little Jimmy, who stole my machine gun and broke it. 00:02:48.032 --> 00:02:53.532 I'd start with him and he'd get all kinds of judgment, and we would just go down the list till justice was served. 00:02:53.532 --> 00:02:56.000 That's how I would go about coming back. 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:59.265 But not Jesus. 00:02:59.265 --> 00:03:10.566 He comes humble, small, quiet. He comes-- the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. 00:03:10.566 --> 00:03:11.932 That's how he comes. 00:03:11.932 --> 00:03:16.832 That's what makes it so amazing, so unbelievable. 00:03:16.832 --> 00:03:20.966 In fact, it was quite unbelievable to one person in particular. 00:03:20.966 --> 00:03:33.665 Joseph, if you look at how he responds, though, look at verse 19-- and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 00:03:34.332 --> 00:03:37.699 Try to imagine how that conversation went. 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:38.832 We're engaged. 00:03:38.832 --> 00:03:40.765 We're looking forward to a life together. 00:03:40.765 --> 00:03:43.400 We have our honeymoon already planned in the Mediterranean. 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:52.199 We're probably going to work in sales for a few years, put off kids, enjoy the outdoors, maybe get into rock climbing and camping, and eventually have kids, settle down. 00:03:53.665 --> 00:04:01.932 But no, now she's coming to me saying she's pregnant and I know it's not me, but she says it's the Holy Spirit. 00:04:01.932 --> 00:04:04.866 Okay, right. Sure. 00:04:04.866 --> 00:04:07.099 What do you do with that? 00:04:07.099 --> 00:04:14.566 This tells you a little bit about Joseph's character, because what he says in this moment, he doesn't want to put her to shame. 00:04:15.866 --> 00:04:17.699 Even though she has ruined everything. 00:04:17.699 --> 00:04:19.466 I thought we were headed this direction. 00:04:19.466 --> 00:04:20.699 And look at what she's done. 00:04:20.699 --> 00:04:22.399 My life has completely changed. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:24.132 I thought we were going to have a life together. 00:04:24.132 --> 00:04:26.132 Now I'm facing divorce. 00:04:26.132 --> 00:04:26.600 Divorce? 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.000 Before I'm even fully married. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.600 Yet I don't want her to suffer for this. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.565 I want to put her aside quietly. 00:04:34.565 --> 00:04:37.665 That tells you a little bit about who he is. His character. 00:04:41.533 --> 00:04:48.733 And look, I think many of us have faced situations not just like this, but where you thought, this is where things are headed. 00:04:48.733 --> 00:04:50.033 Everything looks good. 00:04:50.033 --> 00:04:55.533 I've got the perfect plan, and now I'm facing something I never thought I would face. 00:04:55.533 --> 00:05:13.533 Takes some courage in the fact that Joseph could still look at the bigger picture, could still lean on God, could still ponder these things in his heart, still pray in the midst of what any of us would consider to be a radical redirection. 00:05:13.833 --> 00:05:19.833 Now, what happens is Joseph is contemplating that and something happens after that. 00:05:19.833 --> 00:05:21.100 Look at verse 20. 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:29.600 In fact, in these next few verses we're going to see the term, the word, the phrase that's going to guide us through how we find a new way when our way isn't working. 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:31.800 Look at verse 20. 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:51.233 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. 00:05:51.233 --> 00:05:53.300 She will bear a son. 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:58.665 You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. 00:06:00.065 --> 00:06:04.699 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:12.733 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means. 00:06:12.733 --> 00:06:18.932 And here's the phrase that we're going to unpack today, Emmanuel, God with us. 00:06:20.266 --> 00:06:32.165 When you have been trying things your way and it's not working and you need a new way, what we need is to remember and experience God with us. 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:43.365 And so we're going to look at three ways today in particular to know, experience, God with us, Emmanuel, in this season and moving forward. 00:06:43.365 --> 00:06:45.699 Because to find a new way, something has to change. 00:06:45.699 --> 00:06:48.733 I've got to be a more aware of God with us. 00:06:48.733 --> 00:06:50.699 And if you know God, he is with you. 00:06:51.766 --> 00:06:56.000 He promises he is with you that he'll never leave you. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:57.500 So how do we grow closer to him? 00:06:57.500 --> 00:06:59.899 How do we know he is with us? 00:06:59.899 --> 00:07:00.966 We're going to look at three ways. 00:07:00.966 --> 00:07:02.865 Let's look at this first way. 00:07:02.865 --> 00:07:05.865 The first way it'll be on the screen. 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:09.300 The first way is to look for him. 00:07:09.632 --> 00:07:14.033 Be active in looking for him. 00:07:14.033 --> 00:07:20.600 Many times we float through life and we're not actively thinking about him in our lives. 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:23.432 Him around us. 00:07:23.432 --> 00:07:27.266 We're just floating through it, kind of blocking him out. 00:07:27.266 --> 00:07:33.600 You know, the interesting thing of that quote we saw in verse 23 is it's a very familiar passage. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:41.233 If you've been to church at Christmas any time, this is probably been quoted or read, but it's a quote from the Old Testament. 00:07:41.233 --> 00:07:43.399 That's one thing we've seen in First Peter over and over again. 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:46.033 He loved to quote from the Old Testament. 00:07:46.033 --> 00:07:48.100 This is a quote from the book of Isaiah, 00:07:49.132 --> 00:07:51.500 14. 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:53.699 I've read that, studied that many times. 00:07:53.699 --> 00:08:06.800 And what's interesting about the context of that, what was going on at the time Isaiah was talking to King Ahaz, and Ahaz had been doing things his way, been trying to go about it his way. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.466 He was facing attack from two other kings. 00:08:09.466 --> 00:08:19.199 And so instead of turning to God for help, he sold off stuff in the temple to get money to go hire another king to help him come and rescue me. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:25.699 He was doing it his way and Isaiah comes to him and says, look, no, God will rescue you. 00:08:25.699 --> 00:08:26.665 He will show up. 00:08:26.665 --> 00:08:29.000 You don't just do it your way, depend on him. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.699 In fact, ask for a sign from him that he'll show up. 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.399 And Ahaz says, I won't ask for a sign. 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:40.765 He tries to make it sound humble, like, how dare I ask God for a sign? 00:08:40.765 --> 00:08:49.533 But Isaiah knows what's going on because he says to him, no, no, no, look, you are testing God. 00:08:49.533 --> 00:08:52.232 You won't trust him. 00:08:52.232 --> 00:08:54.633 You refuse to depend on him. 00:08:54.633 --> 00:08:56.200 You want to do things your way. 00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:57.765 So he's going to give you a sign. 00:08:57.765 --> 00:09:03.365 He's going to give you a sign of a baby born from a virgin called Emmanuel. 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:06.033 God with us. 00:09:06.033 --> 00:09:17.432 Ahaz, in the midst of when he needed God to come alongside him, didn't want him, wasn't looking for him, didn't want to hear from him, didn't want a sign. 00:09:17.432 --> 00:09:18.200 And look, I get it. 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:20.265 We've we've been there, you've been there. 00:09:20.265 --> 00:09:26.100 You've been in that place where everything is going bad, you don't feel good, and you just you don't even want to turn to God. 00:09:27.133 --> 00:09:28.332 Maybe you're embarrassed to. 00:09:28.332 --> 00:09:29.932 Maybe you're full of shame. 00:09:29.932 --> 00:09:36.533 Maybe you're worried that he might ask you to do something you don't want to do, and so you don't turn to him. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:42.166 But our call is to be looking for him, to be expecting him to move. 00:09:44.232 --> 00:09:46.500 There's a group of islands north of Scotland. 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:52.466 Scotland's on the northern part of Great Britain, and many of them are quite remote. 00:09:52.466 --> 00:10:01.399 But in the 30s and in the 40s, there was a pretty amazing revival that swept through a number of those islands. 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:19.799 And if you read some of the accounts of people who were there, they'll say things like, there was an expectation every day that God was going to move today, one lady said, I went to bed one night, not a Christian, but I went to bed knowing God is doing something. God is at work. 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:34.133 He's stirring in our community and I woke up and it was like the atmosphere had changed in an instant, and I knew he had shown up in our town just from the time she went to bed to when she woke up and she said, everywhere I went, people were talking about God on the bus. 00:10:34.133 --> 00:10:37.100 They were singing hymns in the fields. 00:10:37.100 --> 00:10:39.500 They were stopping to pray in the line at the butcher shop. 00:10:39.500 --> 00:10:46.500 All they were doing was talking about what God was doing in their lives and how he was present, and they could feel that he was moving in the islands. 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:58.932 And it wasn't because some amazing preacher showed up, it was just because they prayed and they were expecting, and they were longing and they were waiting and they were looking for him. 00:10:58.932 --> 00:11:02.932 They were looking for God with us. 00:11:03.166 --> 00:11:04.432 Emmanuel. 00:11:04.432 --> 00:11:06.566 They wanted him there. 00:11:06.566 --> 00:11:14.466 And so when you're stuck in your way, start by just calling out for him, come, Lord Jesus, come. 00:11:14.466 --> 00:11:16.600 I know you are there. 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:18.200 Be with me. 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:21.765 That's the first way to experience Emmanuel. 00:11:21.765 --> 00:11:23.133 Now let's look at the second way here. 00:11:24.365 --> 00:11:37.066 Secondly, when you are trying to do things your own way and you need a new way, focus on how great he is rather than how great your problems are. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:41.000 Focus on how great he is. 00:11:41.066 --> 00:11:41.966 Focus outward. 00:11:41.966 --> 00:11:45.932 Focus on something much greater than you rather than what's inward. 00:11:45.932 --> 00:11:49.265 And there's a great example of this in Exodus chapter three. 00:11:49.265 --> 00:11:51.899 Exodus is the second book of the Bible. 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:58.265 You want to flip over there just within the first 50, 60 pages here at the beginning of the Bible. 00:11:58.365 --> 00:12:02.899 Here we see Moses and you remember the story of Moses. 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:06.000 Maybe you don't know all of it, but you know the whole Ten Commandments. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:10.966 You know that Israel was enslaved in Egypt and they needed to get out. 00:12:10.966 --> 00:12:14.399 And Moses was actually kind of an adopted son of the Pharaoh. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:22.500 And so he tries to take things in his own hands. He tries his way and he kills one of the guards, buries him to hide him. 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:24.700 He's found. And so he has to flee. 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:25.732 He's tried it his way. 00:12:25.732 --> 00:12:26.666 It didn't work. 00:12:26.666 --> 00:12:33.732 He's working as a shepherd for decades, and one day God comes to him and says, now it's time. 00:12:33.732 --> 00:12:35.566 I'm going to use you. 00:12:35.566 --> 00:12:38.566 I'm going to use you to free my people. 00:12:39.666 --> 00:12:41.966 And here's how that conversation went. 00:12:41.966 --> 00:12:47.732 In fact, here's how Moses responded in Exodus chapter three. 00:12:48.066 --> 00:12:50.399 If you look at verse 11, here's what he says. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:13:02.600 But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:04.265 That's his immediate response. 00:13:04.265 --> 00:13:07.500 He was super confident when he was a lot younger. 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:08.533 That tends to happen. 00:13:08.533 --> 00:13:10.100 Had a little bit of life happen. 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:11.932 And now he goes, whoa, whoa whoa whoa. 00:13:11.932 --> 00:13:13.600 Who am I? 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.666 I'm nobody now. 00:13:15.666 --> 00:13:19.265 What I tried before didn't work when I was younger, stronger, more influence. 00:13:19.265 --> 00:13:20.932 How am I going to do anything now? 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:24.533 And here's what God says to him. 00:13:24.533 --> 00:13:26.066 Keep reading. Here's what he just says. 00:13:26.066 --> 00:13:28.000 Who am I? 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:33.466 God said, verse 12, but I will be with you. 00:13:34.832 --> 00:13:38.466 He simply says one thing I will be with you. 00:13:38.466 --> 00:13:43.700 There's a great quote on this by Kyle Adam, and he wrote the book that was given to me. 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:46.000 This quote will be on the screen. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:50.000 It says, this is how God assures Moses in his fears. 00:13:51.066 --> 00:13:53.832 He doesn't list out all his attributes. 00:13:53.832 --> 00:13:58.966 He doesn't say to Moses, look, no, you've got all the skill set already. 00:13:58.966 --> 00:13:59.765 You're in a good place. 00:13:59.765 --> 00:14:01.700 You have a very intimidating facial hair. 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:06.500 There's all kinds of attributes that we will use to bring these people out of slavery. 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:08.666 No, no, no, he doesn't do that. 00:14:08.666 --> 00:14:13.432 He simply says, I will be with you. 00:14:13.432 --> 00:14:14.966 I will be there beside you. 00:14:14.966 --> 00:14:19.166 By the way, I was beside you when your mom put you in a basket and pushed you out in the water. 00:14:19.166 --> 00:14:20.666 I was there with you. 00:14:20.666 --> 00:14:27.200 And when you were on the run for your life, I was there with you. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:39.365 If you've ever had a child that you need to send outside to do a chore late at night and it's dark and it's cold and they've heard a noise, good luck getting them outside at that point. 00:14:39.365 --> 00:14:43.265 You can use every bit of convincing you can think of. 00:14:43.265 --> 00:14:49.533 Look, nothing has ever happened at night outside taking out the trash in the history of the world, nothing has happened. 00:14:49.533 --> 00:14:50.732 Not going. 00:14:50.732 --> 00:14:58.865 You have basically a nuclear powered flashlight that could light up Mammoth Cave from here, the entirety of it inside. You'll be okay. 00:14:59.133 --> 00:15:00.600 Nope. Not going. 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:02.000 You know, you're older now. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.533 You shouldn't be as worried about going outside at night in the dark. 00:15:05.533 --> 00:15:07.399 Now that you're 34. It's okay. 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:09.500 You can do it, I promise. 00:15:11.765 --> 00:15:13.265 None of that works at all. 00:15:13.265 --> 00:15:20.265 But when you say, take my hand, let's go together. 00:15:20.265 --> 00:15:23.265 I will be with you. 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:25.799 Okay. 00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.033 Let's go. 00:15:28.033 --> 00:15:32.100 I will be with you, he says to Moses. 00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:37.100 And where that turns for us is to worship. 00:15:37.832 --> 00:15:44.600 We need to focus not on our problems, our challenges, our fears, but on him. 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:48.600 He will be with me and he is all powerful. 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:53.899 That's why we sing Holy, Holy, Holy to remind, not him. 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:56.799 He doesn't need to be reminded that he's holy. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:02.166 I've got to be reminded that he's holy because I so quickly forget. 00:16:02.166 --> 00:16:04.533 I so quickly forget how powerful he is. 00:16:04.533 --> 00:16:08.533 I encounter the smallest problem and it derails me. 00:16:10.232 --> 00:16:13.600 I got what I believe truly is a dishwasher that's possessed. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.799 I'm convinced it is. 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:22.765 I looked at every aspect of it that I could to fix it, and then I had to do the crazy thing and call a repairman. 00:16:22.765 --> 00:16:24.299 Don't judge me, men, okay? 00:16:24.299 --> 00:16:25.666 I did all I could. 00:16:25.666 --> 00:16:31.299 I called a repairman and he came and he said, well, I've looked it over and I've determined I can't fix it. 00:16:31.299 --> 00:16:32.200 You seem handy. 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:33.865 Good luck. I said. 00:16:33.865 --> 00:16:35.600 I don't ever want to see you again. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:36.566 Get out of my house. 00:16:37.832 --> 00:16:40.399 You were my one hope. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:44.899 I even started walking in other parts of the room, of trying to avoid the dishwasher. 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:55.600 And when a kid would say, hey, there's a leak, dad, it's leaking again, I said, Julie, if a neighbor ever calls you and says, you know, someone just threw a dishwasher out your front window, I said, just call the police. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.600 Just call the police. 00:16:58.633 --> 00:17:06.400 Because at that time, sometimes it's the littlest thing that makes you feel like, why has the whole world conspired against me? 00:17:07.566 --> 00:17:10.799 And that's not even a real problem, by the way. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:21.032 It wasn't like a family member was rejecting me, or I lost a job, or had a big challenge at work, or facing chronic illness. 00:17:22.633 --> 00:17:25.299 Something of real significance. 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:32.032 Someone at school who I thought was a friend and has now betrayed me and has it out for me, something that is really weighty. 00:17:33.032 --> 00:17:39.299 I've got to be reminded all the time to worship who is he? 00:17:39.299 --> 00:17:42.633 He is so much greater than whatever I'm facing. 00:17:42.633 --> 00:17:48.266 I got to turn to him over and over again. 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:53.566 So he is greater than anything I am facing. 00:17:53.566 --> 00:17:56.099 Remember he is with us. 00:17:56.099 --> 00:17:57.000 Look for him. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:01.732 But then there's a third way to experience Emmanuel. 00:18:01.732 --> 00:18:05.465 To experience God with us, especially this time of year. 00:18:05.465 --> 00:18:12.232 And in fact, it happens just a few verses over in Exodus 14, just a few pages over. 00:18:13.133 --> 00:18:20.599 But the third way we move forward is to step forward in faith, to step forward in faith. 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:24.465 Moses, God said, Moses, I want you to lead people out. 00:18:24.465 --> 00:18:25.532 Eventually he does. 00:18:25.532 --> 00:18:28.200 You have the ten-- I said, ten commandments earlier. 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:30.165 That's part of Moses's story. 00:18:30.165 --> 00:18:36.833 But what I meant was the plagues and all that, all that happens, they leave, they're walking through the wilderness. 00:18:36.833 --> 00:18:39.965 They think everything's great, we're good, we're free. 00:18:39.965 --> 00:18:44.865 And then off in the distance, you hear the army coming. 00:18:44.865 --> 00:18:46.465 Change their mind. 00:18:46.465 --> 00:18:49.465 It's all over. 00:18:49.766 --> 00:18:53.165 And Moses cries out, God, what should we do? 00:18:53.165 --> 00:18:56.333 God gives him direction and he relays it to the people. 00:18:56.333 --> 00:19:08.232 And if you look over in 14 Exodus 14, verse 14, verse 13, Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord, which will work for you today. 00:19:08.232 --> 00:19:13.665 For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 00:19:13.665 --> 00:19:20.000 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:27.232 If that were only easy to just be silent and wait on the Lord. 00:19:27.365 --> 00:19:32.032 Now the interesting thing here is, even though he says the Lord will work for you, you have only to be silent. 00:19:32.032 --> 00:19:34.266 He does give Moses a task. 00:19:34.266 --> 00:19:36.365 You do have a role in this Moses. 00:19:36.365 --> 00:19:40.365 Just a few verses later, lift up your staff. Verse 16. 00:19:40.365 --> 00:19:42.066 Stretch out your hand over the sea. 00:19:42.066 --> 00:19:45.032 Divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 00:19:45.032 --> 00:19:51.266 Yes, I'm going to do everything, but I've given you something to do, and you need to step forward in faith. 00:19:53.266 --> 00:19:55.099 That's one way I show that I. 00:19:55.099 --> 00:19:57.799 I trust that you're working. 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:01.232 I take a step forward in faith. 00:20:01.232 --> 00:20:05.900 But the beautiful part of that verse, you have only to be silent. 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:10.766 You have only to depend on me more than anything else. 00:20:10.766 --> 00:20:16.700 And when all you do is hold out a staff and the water parts, you know, that was not me. 00:20:16.833 --> 00:20:20.833 I had absolutely nothing in that. 00:20:21.833 --> 00:20:26.299 There's no way that me doing this is parting water. 00:20:26.365 --> 00:20:31.500 God is the one who moved and he is the one who is with us. 00:20:32.165 --> 00:20:34.099 And that's the burden today. 00:20:34.099 --> 00:20:36.333 God is with you. 00:20:36.333 --> 00:20:37.700 He is Emmanuel. 00:20:37.700 --> 00:20:45.400 If you know him, he promises it's some of his last words to the disciples, I will be with you even to the end of the age. 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:51.000 As you go out to tell others about me to make disciples, I'll be right there with you, he says in Hebrews. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:54.000 I'll never leave you or forsake you. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.232 We are the ones that forget that he is with us. 00:20:57.232 --> 00:21:00.365 If you know him, he is with you always. 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:15.500 And if you don't know him, don't let another day go by without knowing him, without trusting in him. 00:21:15.532 --> 00:21:25.965 Let this be the day where you put a stake in the ground for your sake, for your family's sake, for generations to come. 00:21:25.965 --> 00:21:31.833 Where you say, from now on, our family will know Emmanuel, God, with us. 00:21:31.833 --> 00:21:35.566 From now on we will serve him instead of self. 00:21:35.732 --> 00:21:41.532 From now on, of course, I'll have ups and downs, but today will be the day. 00:21:41.532 --> 00:21:42.965 Don't let another day go by. 00:21:42.965 --> 00:21:52.099 Don't let another Christmas go by without knowing you stand right with him, that he is Lord in your life. 00:21:52.099 --> 00:21:57.532 I'd love to talk with you about that after the service, I'm usually down front mingling around. 00:21:57.532 --> 00:21:59.299 You saw some of the elders that were down here. 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:04.000 They would love to talk with you, to pray with you, to talk with you about what that means, to follow Christ. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.400 Let me tell you, it is the greatest joy, the greatest hope. 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:08.465 It's the greatest delight. 00:22:08.465 --> 00:22:11.599 You will ever experience in this life. 00:22:13.766 --> 00:22:18.500 And if you want a new way when your way is not working, that's the starting point. 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.500 Let's pray. 00:22:25.932 --> 00:22:28.932 God, we thank you for being Emmanuel. 00:22:29.299 --> 00:22:32.299 God with us. 00:22:32.566 --> 00:22:33.766 You are with us. 00:22:33.766 --> 00:22:42.532 You are here even when I am not in tune to you, even when I have blocked you out. 00:22:42.965 --> 00:22:51.066 You are here and you are everything we read on screen from Isaiah chapter nine. 00:22:51.066 --> 00:23:04.299 Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and of the extent of your government there is no end. 00:23:04.633 --> 00:23:09.133 God, we may we walk in that truth today. 00:23:09.133 --> 00:23:12.500 May we be filled up with the reality that you are with us. 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:15.500 You are Emmanuel. 00:23:16.032 --> 00:23:17.000 We love you, Jesus. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.299 Amen.