Anticipating Advent: Week 1

This series is called Anticipating Advent.

The word advent is a word that means arrival, and

it's a word that is commonly used to anticipate the

arrival of a person or someone who's very important a

VIP and the season that we're in right now here

in December is often called advent because we are anticipating

the arrival of December twenty fifth, of Christmas Day, where

we celebrate Jesus's arrival here on Earth. During the holidays,

there's a lot of anticipation and there's a lot of

waiting during the holidays, waiting in lines, waiting for guests

to arrive, waiting for school to let out for break,

waiting for Amazon to deliver, and of course waiting for

Christmas Dinner for the meal to be cooked and ready

to eat.

There's a lot of we have anticipation.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is picking out my

Christmas tree.

Now, you see, I'm a tradition.

I need to have a live, living tree that I

cut down myself. How many here are our live living

tree people? We are the minority, I see, So that

means the rest of you must be artificial tree people.

Well, I'm a traditionalist.

And so the day after Thanksgiving this year, my family

and I went out into the tree farm to pick

out our tree and cut it down. And it was

a bitterly cold cold day. It was like winter had

said Thanksgiving's over, and now winter is here.

And so this picture is how the day started.

We're all smiles, and we spent some time hiking and

searching for our tree. We found our tree, we cut

it down, and here's a picture of how the day ended.

After we picked our tree, it.

Was bitterly cold, as you can tell in Shepherd's face. Now,

after cutting down the tree, Laura and Shepherd went into

the barn to get warm and get hot chocolate. I

took the tree to the farm workers to the state

where they took the tree from me, and they wrapped

it up in the nets, and then they were preparing

it so I could take it home. And they said

to bring my receipt back to pick up my tree.

And so I paid and brought my receipt back and

there was a line of people like me waiting with

their receipts to pick up their tree. I mean forty

maybe fifty people stretching through the farm yard into the

parking lot, and so I got into the line, and

I noticed that there was actually two lines of people

waiting to pick up their tree.

There was one line that.

Had a sign that said self service, that means that

you were going to receive your tree yourself and carry

it to your car yourself and tie it on your

car yourself. And there was a second line with a

sign that said full service, which means the farm worker

was going to carry your tree to your car and

tie on the roof of your car for you. Full service,

free service. Which line do you think was shorter? How

many of you think self service was the shortest line,

and how many of you think full service was the

shortest line. Surprisingly, the longest line was the self service line.

There was this line of forty or fifty people in.

Self service, all other dads, strong, big burly men with

beards and flannel and overalls.

You know, they didn't need anybody's help to tie on

their own tree.

And the full service line only had two people waiting

in line. I don't have any shame, I've got nothing

to prove, I got no pride.

I was not embarrassed to be.

The third person in the full service line say hey,

you want to tie the tree on my car, you

want to carry it out for me? I'm here for

the full Christmas experience. What are you anticipating this Christmas?

What are you looking forward to this Christmas? Are you

looking forward to gathering with family or seeing some relatives

that you haven't seen.

In a while.

Are you looking forward to giving gifts and receiving gifts?

Do you have something special on your Christmas lift that

you're expecting to receive this Christmas? There might be a

young lady who's expecting that this Christmas is the engagement

ring Christmas. And I know that there are some of

us who are not looking forward to Christmas. It can

be a little bit painful. For some This might be

the first Christmas without a loved one. For others, there

are some who are dreading the drama that comes with family,

the tension and the stress that comes with.

Those family dynamics.

And there's others who are feeling the financial pressure of

the holidays and the extra expenses.

And I know.

There are college students among us who right now are

in the middle of finals feeling that pressure to finish strong.

Maybe your bus this or your coworkers are feeling that

stress to finish the quarter well this year.

Sometimes Christmas is stressful.

Sometimes there's pressure in the holiday season. And Christmas can

bring a lot of anticipation. It can also bring a

lot of worry and even some fear. And today, the

message that I have for us today is this, God

is with you right now. God is with you right now.

Whatever you are going through, right now, God is with

you right now. God's with you in this season. God's

with you in the worry. God's with you in the

grief and the loss. God's with you in the uncertainty.

And God's with you even if you're feeling a little

bit depressed. Whatever season you find yourself in, God is

with you. He is not far away. God is not disinterested.

God is with you right now, right here. Today, I

want to take us back to the Old Testament in

the Bible. I want to go back to the Old Testament.

For centuries, the Jewish people had anticipated a Messiah. They

had expected and looked forward to a savior who would

come and rescue Israel from their oppressors, someone from the

line of King David who had come and restore Israel

to their past glory. And when we look in the

Old Testament, there are many prophecies about a future Messiah.

There are more than sixty direct prophecies in the Old

Testament about a savior, and there are even more than

three hundred indirect prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament.

And so during this series called Anticipating Advent, each week

we're gonna look at one example of an Old Testament

prophecy that Jesus fulfills.

By his arrival.

Today we're gonna look in the Gospel of Matthew, and

Matthew has several prophecies that he that he fulfills.

Writes about Jesus fulfilling.

There are no less than fifteen examples in Matthew of

Jesus fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy. And the author, Matthew,

uses a unique literary style that is called the fulfillment

statement formula to describe the prophecies that Jesus fulfills.

And it's very simple.

The fulfillment statement formula goes like this, Matthew writes the

event and the prophecy and its fulfillment.

I'll show you an example.

The event Jesus is miraculous birth. He's born of a Virgin.

The prophecy is in Isaiah chapter seven, and then Matthew

records the fulfillment.

Another example is Jesus's birthplace, Bethlehem.

The prophecy is in Micah chapter five, and then Matthew

records the fulfillment. This is how the fulfillment statement formula

works in the Gospel of Matthew. And so today we're

gonna look at the first one. We're gonna look at

Jesus in Matthew chapter one. So let's look at Matthew

chapter one, starting in verse eighteen. This is how the

birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother, Mary

was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they

came together, she was found to be pregnant through the

Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the

law and yet did not want to expose her to

public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered.

This, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in

a dream and said, Joseph's son of David, do not

be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because

what is conceived in hers from the Holy Spirit. 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.

All this took place to fulfill what.

The Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will

conceive and give birth to a son, and they will

call him the Manuel, which means God with us. There's

Matthew's fulfillment statement formula event prophecy.

Fulfillment when Jesus.

When Joseph woke up, he did with the Angel of

the Lord at come and took Mary home as his wife.

But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave

birth to a son, and he gave him.

The name Jesus.

I want to highlight Joseph today. I love Joseph. I

admire Joseph. Can you put yourself in Joseph's shoes just

for a moment. I mean, he's he's preparing to Mary Mary,

and he has no idea that she's pregnant. How do

you think, what is he anticipating? What is he expecting

right now? He's engaged there in love, he's making preparations

for the wedding. In Joseph's first century Jewish culture, the

engagement was a really big deal. Getting engaged in that

culture was just as big of a deal as the

actual wedding, and so typically a Jewish man and a

Jewish woman would come together for.

A ceremony, an engagement ceremony.

They would have all of their families together, all of

their guests, and it would be a ceremony where the

man and the woman would make a commitment to each

other for one year to be engaged.

And prepare for their wedding.

And during this one year engagement period, the man would

often build a home for he and his wife. Sometimes

the Jewish man would build an addition onto his parents'

home where he and his wife could live. And so

likely Joseph was preparing a place, building a home, making arrangements, planning,

anticipating this wedding. Now, let me take you back to

twenty two year old Andrew more than eleven years ago.

I was preparing to marry Lauren.

We had fallen in love and I was anticipating proposing

to her to marry me.

But there were three things that I needed to.

Do before asking her to marry me. First, I needed

to get a ring, So I got a ring. Second,

I wanted to buy a house. It was important that

to me that I have a.

Home for Louren. And so I found a house and

bought a house, and.

Then I wanted to make sure I could afford the house,

and so after my second mortgage payment, I felt comfortable

with my budget and then I could move on to

step number three, and that was to ask Lauren's dad

for his blessing to propose. And I love Lauren's dad

and I expected him to give us his blessing, but

I was still a little bit nervous to ask. And

when he gave me his blessing, I was so excited.

I had the ring, I had the house, I had

the blessing. I don't think I waited more than forty

eight hours before I proposed. It was on December first,

twenty thirteen, when I asked Lauren to marry.

Me and she said yes. And then after that, all

we had to do is plan a wedding. And if

you've ever planned a wedding, you know that's no big deal.

Joseph was anticipating his wedding, he was making plans, he

was making preparations.

But then.

Joseph's plans got interrupted. Mary's pregnant and the child is

not Joseph's Have your plans been interrupted? Has life smacked

you in the mouth, has a surprised knocked you off course?

Or tragedy knocks you sideways? Something been rescheduled, gotten bad

test results? Has your life been interrupted? Interrupted your plans?

I want to tell you today that God is with

you when life interrupts you. When life interrupts you, God

is with you. God is not interrupted by what life

can do. God's not shocked by the things that interrupt

your life. God's not scratching his head or wringing his hands.

God is still on the throne and he is still

in charge.

God is with you when life interrupts you, and when

life interrupts your plans, You've got a few choices that

you can make.

There's a few options. One you could flee.

From the interruption. You could run away from it. You

could ignore it. You could act like it doesn't exist.

You could minimize the effect that it has, downplay it.

You could flee from it.

You could screen the calls, leave the text on red,

just ignore it. But it doesn't change that the interruption happened.

Another option is that you could fight the interruption. You

could fight against it. You could dig your heels in.

You could insist on your own way. You get ready

for a fight. You could push your agenda, push and

pull to get your way, no compromise. In the past,

I've shared here about a difficult Christmas memory in my life.

After my parents were divorced, they had a.

Custody arrangement for Christmas, and that year, me and my

brother were gonna spend Christmas Eve with our mom and

then my dad would pick us up Christmas Eve night

and we'd spend the night in Christmas Day with our dad.

But me and my brother, we didn't want to leave

our mom on Christmas and we didn't want Christmas to

be interrupted, and so Christmas Eve day was stressful.

It was tense. And then that evening when my dad.

Came to pick us up, there was some conflict and

we stood in the doorway and we argued and back

and forth, and there were tears, and eventually my dad

left and we stayed with Mama.

No one won that Christmas. Everybody lost that Christmas. God

is with you right now. If you're in a divorced family,

God is with you.

If you've got custody arrangements, visitation schedules, God.

Is with you.

If you're a single parent, God is with you. If

you're in a blended family and you're a step parent,

God is with you. God is with you when life

interrupts you. And that's why I want to suggest, don't

flee the interruption, don't fight the interruption. I want to suggest,

find God in the interruption. God is with you when

life interrupts you. Want to draw your attention to our

text in Verse twenty two says all this took place

to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.

The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,

and they will call his name Emmanuel, which means God

with us. Jesus has a title Emmanuel, and it means

God with us. When life interrupts your plans, God is

with you. When life interrupts. God is more concerned about

drawing you to himself, getting closer to you.

God is not punishing you, he's not tricking you. He

wants to get close to you.

God is less concerned with your happiness and with your success.

He's more concerned with proximity to you. He wants you

to know him.

God is with you right now.

Jesus interrupted human history to come be with us, because

every single one of us is separated from God by

our sin. Our sin has interrupted our connection with God.

Our failures, our mistakes, our selfishness. It's interrupted our relationship

with God. But Jesus came to rescue us. Jesus came

to save us. When Jesus was born, he interrupted the

power of sin. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary

by a miraculous, supernatural, divine miracle. He interrupted biology, which

means that he's not corrupted by humanity sin nature. He

is truly the son of God, fully man, fully human.

And this boy grew into a man who's the Messiah.

And then he sacrificed his life on the cross. He

died as a sacrifice for our sin. When he was

on the cross, he absorbed our sin.

He carried our pain.

He interrupted the power of sin that so we could

be saved. But three days after he died, Jesus rose

from the dead, interrupting the devil's victory party. He interrupted

the disruptor, He defeated the disabler. He overcame the oppressor,

and he's brought eternal life.

To you and me. He's a Manuel God with us.

Do you know Emmanuel, God is with us right now.

God is with you when life interrupts you.

In Matthew chapter one, the Angel visits Joseph and says,

Joseph's son of David, do not be afraid to take

Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in

her is from the Holy Spirit. 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.

The name Jesus comes from a Hebrew name that means

God saves. You see, Jesus has a name, and Jesus

has a title. His name tells us who he is. Jesus,

God saves.

That's who he is, and his title tells us what

he does. God with us, is with us. God is

with you right now.

If your faith is in Jesus, if you trust in

a Manuel, God is with you. And so Joseph's plans

got interrupted, and naturally he assumed that Mary had been

unfaithful and committed adultery. And now by law, Joseph not

only has a right to divorce, Joseph actually has a

legal obligation to divorce Mary. You see, if Joseph did

not divorce Mary, then his own righteousness would be compromised,

and so now he's stuck in this situation. Here's what

the text says in verse nineteen. Because Joseph, her husband,

was faithful to the law and yet did not want

to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind

to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered.

This, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in

a dream. Notice this one word considered. Joseph was considering

all of this. This word consider in Greek is a

very unique word. It describes a difficult, heavy, deep thinking process.

One Bible Dictionary says this to consider involves an internal

process of reflection or deliberation, often with an emotional or

passionate component. This term reflects the importance of thoughtful consideration

in decision making and moral reflection. So Joseph is considering this,

He's weighing heavy this moral and Joseph's not just making

a pros and cons list. I mean, this decision is

way heavier than you or me deciding are we gonna

have ham or are we gonna have turkey on Christmas Day?

I mean, and you know the answer, right, it's both.

But this is a deep moral, visceral decision with wide

sweeping implications. I want to tell you today that God

is with you when you don't know what to do.

God is with you when you don't know what to do.

Are you facing a similar decision.

Like Joseph.

Do you have a serious decision about a relationship in

your life? It's the serious decision that will affect other people.

Or it might be a financial decision, a career decision

that you're weighing, trying to figure out. Are you facing

a decision where it doesn't seem like there's a win win,

You're not sure which path to take. It doesn't seem

like there's a clear right or wrong, and you're trying

to discern and.

Maybe your decision. You know that no matter what you.

Decide, someone's gonna be disappointed, someone's gonna feel hurt.

What do you do? I want to tell you God

is with you when you don't know what to do.

I want us to go back in history.

I want us to go back for a moment about

seven hundred years before Jesus was born. Let's go back

in history to a time when the nation of Israel

was stuck with a difficult decision see The nation of

Israel at this time was divided into two kingdoms. This

is just a crude drawing here. So there was the

northern kingdom called Israel, and then there was a southern

kingdom called Judah. And these two kingdoms divided over who

should be king, and they each one had their own king,

and they often quarreled with each other. In the southern

kingdom had a king named a Has. Would you say

the name a Has?

A Has?

And while a Has is king, the northern kingdom starts

threatening to invade and attack the Southern kingdom, and King

a Has.

Didn't know what to do.

So we read in Isaiah chapter seven, when a Has,

son of Jotham, the son of Uziah, was king of Judah,

king resident of Aram, and Pica the son of Ramalia,

king of Israel, marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but

they could not overpower it. Now the House of David

was told Aram has allied itself with Ephraim. So the

hearts of AHAs and his people were shaken as the

trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. So

a Has was terrified. The sister nation was threatening to invade.

The people were trembling and shaking with fear. What was

he going to do?

Well?

Here, as Has a couple of options. You see, there

was another nation, a foreign nation named Assyria out here,

and a Has he could make an alliance with Assyria,

and then maybe Assyria would attack the Northern Kingdom. On

the other hand, a Has could make peace with the

Northern Kingdom. But if he made peace with the Northern Kingdom,

it was likely that Assyria would invade and attack a Has.

So a Has turned to the prophet Isaiah, and he

asked for advice. And Isaiah told a Has, don't make

peace with this nation. Don't make an alliance with this nation.

Isaiah said, there's a third way. Isaiah said, trust the Lord.

And here's the words.

Of Isaiah in chapter seven. Then Isaiah said, here now,

you house of David. Is it not enough to try

the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of

my God?

Also?

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. The

Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and

will call him a Manuel. For before the boy knows

enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the

land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

Isaiah said, don't make an alliance with them, don't make

peace with that government.

Trust the Lord. You see.

Isaiah gives this prophecy the Immanuel prophecy, and often Old

Testament prophecies have double.

Meanings, they have more than one meaning.

For example, in this prophecy, the first meaning is that

there will be for king AHAs if he trusts God,

there will be a boy who is born.

They will call him Emmanuel. And before that boy grows

up to have a.

Conscience to know what's right and wrong, the enemies of

Judah will be gone.

That's the first meaning and the second meaning.

The double meaning of this prophecy is that Isaiah is

predicting Jesus's future arrival.

So what did AHAs do.

Will He ignored Isaiah's advice and he made an alliance

with the foreign nation of Assyria. He chose the enemy

of my enemy as my friend. And then it backfired.

It did not end well because eventually Assyria took over

and oppressed Judah. I want to tell you that God

is with you when you don't know what to do.

You might be facing a decision and you don't know which.

Way to go. You don't know what to decide.

You could play it safe. You could look for something

or someone to put your trust in for some security,

just like a has did.

You could take a risk.

You can put it all on the line, go all in,

take a stand, insist on your agenda.

You get what you want.

Well. I want to suggest, like the prophet Isaiah, that

there's a third way. I want to suggest that we

trust the Lord when you don't know what to do.

Trust the Lord.

Now, before you roll your eyes and think to yourself

that I'm saying you can just pray it all away,

let me explain a little bit, because you've got some responsibility.

If you're going to trust the Lord with a decision,

there's a few questions that you need to ask yourself. First,

ask yourself, do you have all the information? Proverbs one says,

let the wise listen and add to their learning, and

let the discerning get guidance.

Ask all the.

Questions, gather the facts, get the data, make the pros

and cons list, and then ask what does the Bible say?

In this story, God spoke to Joseph in a dream.

An angel brought the word of God directly to Joseph

in a dream.

I believe that God can and does speak.

To us supernaturally like that, But the primary way that

God speaks to us is through the Bible, through his

written word. And God's word doesn't always give us a

direct instruction on every situation in our life. But there

is wi, there is principles, there is guidance. And let

me tell you, if you want to hear a supernatural

message from God, You're gonna be more likely to hear

from God in that way if you are saturating your

heart in God's word regularly. So On one nineteen says,

your word is a lamp for my feet and a

light on my path. God's word can help you make

a decision. Then ask yourself who can give godly advice?

This is important.

You can get a lot of advice from people, but

who can give godly advice?

Who can give godly advice?

Proverbs eleven says for lack of guidance in nation falls,

but victory is won through many advisers. Who are the

Christians that can give you godly wisdom.

When I have a tough decision to make, I call Dale.

Dale's a good friend of mine, and Deal's a wise person,

someone that I respect and listen to And I know

that Dale hears from God. Is so when I had

a dilemma, I shared that dilemma with Dale and got

his input, shared my concerns, shared my feelings, and.

Asked him for advice.

And Dale asks really good questions and he sometimes has

a perspective that I don't always see. And I know

that Dale wants the best for me. Now, very rarely

will my friend tell me exactly what to do. That's

what makes him such a great adviser. But he helps

me think through things, and I.

Know that he prays for me. Who do you know

what Christians can give you advice?

Another question to ask is how can you honor God

with your decision? This is where we get into motives.

What is your motive? Is your motive to honor God?

Do you have a motive that is selfish, self seeking,

self promoting? Do you have a motive to prove something

to somebody? Or you motivate to make this decision to escape.

Something or avoid something?

Like?

What is your motive? Can you honor God?

Proverbs fifteen says Wisdom's instruction is to fear the Lord,

and humility comes before honor. If honoring God is your

motivation if you make a decision trying to honor God.

If you're walking into humility, God is going to honor you.

And then last ask can you make a decision and

trust God with the results.

This is where it comes down to faith.

You can make all of the pros and cons lists,

you can look at all the facts, you can get

all the.

Advice, but at some point you got to make a decision.

And that's going to take some faith.

If you're a Christian, if you're a believer in Jesus,

we are a people of faith.

We are a people of faith. We walk by faith,

not by sight. We walk trusting in God.

We walk according to the Kingdom rules, to the rules

of Heaven, not to the rules of this earth.

And so it requires some faith. Can you walk by

faith and trust God with the results of your decision.

I'll tell you that I recently had to make a

tough decision and it was gonna impact a few other people.

And I'll be honest.

As I was weighing this decision, I was concerned about

how others would receive it.

I was concerned about how maybe some people I might.

Lose some respect from them, or maybe some want to

like me anymore if I made this certain decision. But

then I went through a process similar to what I

just described, and I felt like the Lord had shown

me the clear next step, and I was convinced this

was the step I needed to take. And so before

I made the decision, I just prayed, and I trusted

the Lord and asked him to lead me, and asked

him to go before me, and he did. He went

before me, and he cleared the way, and those who

were involved received the decision well. Proverbs IIE says, trust

in the Lord with all of your heart, Lean not

on your own understanding in all your ways. Submit to

him and he will make your paths straight. Trust God

with the outcomes. Trust that God's going to guide you

through your decision. God is with you right now. And

I want to encourage you that even if you make

decision and it turns out to be a poor.

Decision, God is still with you.

If the outcomes don't turn out the way you want,

when you're disappointed or when things have negative results, God

is with you. Remember King a Has he didn't have faith,

he didn't trust God. Well, seven hundred years later, after

King a Has seven hundred years later, God redeems his

lack of faith because in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter one,

Matthew lists the chronology lineage of Jesus, all of Jesus

as an ancestors going back to Abraham.

Notice what Matthew says.

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son

of David, the son of Abraham on down, Issiah, the

father of Jotham, Jotham the father of who a has

a Has the father of Hezekiah and Jacob, the father

of Joseph, the husband of Mary and Mary the mother

of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

A has is a part of Jesus's lineage.

God did not let he has his lack of faith

interrupt God's plans. When you doubt your decision, when you

doubt yourself, do not doubt God. Because God is greater

than something that's in your past. God is greater than

the baggage from your family of origin. God is greater

than past failures and past mistakes. God can overcome a

bad decision. God can redeem a mistake. God can rewrite

your future. God is not interrupted by poor decisions. God

is not shocked when a bad decision goes south. God

is the one who is on the throne, the creator

of all, the sustainer of all, and he is the

God who is with you even when you don't know

what to do. He is a Manuel, and so God

can overcome even poor decisions, even decisions that we regret.

God is with you right now.

When Joseph's life got interrupted, I imagine that he felt

pretty alone. Can you just think about Joseph that night

before the angel visited him, before he fell asleep. Can

you imagine Joseph he's got this news about Mary. Can

you imagine him tossing and turning, think about all of

the what if questions in his mind? What if he

had kept better tabs on Mary? What if he had

fallen in love with somebody else?

Or the why me questions? Why is this happening to me?

What did I do to deserve this? Why me? I'm

sure he was alone.

I don't want to tell you that God is with

you when you feel alone.

God is with you when you feel alone.

Loneliness is a real thing, and for many, loneliness is

amplified during the holidays. You might be surrounded by other people,

even people that you care about but still feel lonely.

God is with you, and he's always been with you.

I want to end today by telling you about my

good friend Barry. I've shared his story a few years ago.

Barry's a family friend. He's the same age as my parents,

and he and his wife were like aunts and uncles

in our family. They didn't have their own children, but

they became like extra parents to me and my brother.

They were with us for holidays, family trips, things like that.

And Barry and his wife they were soulmates.

If you're watching any of these Christmas Hallmark movies, I mean,

Barry and his wife could.

Fit that profile.

I mean they just loved each other and they grew

more in love with one another.

They were made for each other.

I mean he was a writer and she was a musician,

like they were just perfect. And then more than fifteen

years ago, sadly, Barry's wife got sick with cancer and

she passed away.

And she passed on December twenty.

Third, two days before Christmas, and Barry was devastated. I

mean the light in his life was just gone. And

since then, Christmas has always been difficult and painful for Barry.

I mean he just he lost the love of his life,

but he continued to trust in Jesus.

He continued to hold on to Jesus. Barry believed he

man you well, God with us. And a few years

ago I asked Barry if he would share with me

what Christmas is like for him, what Christmas means to him.

And here's something that he wrote to me.

He said, Andrew, everything on my journey was pointing to

God is with us.

That is the only guarantee that we have. That's what

we celebrate at Christmas.

I discovered that God's presence actually means something real. In

our pain, we want everything to be okay, but it's

not always okay. But when we really understand that God

is with us, then we you know that everything will

be okay. See, Barry knows what Emmanuel means. God with us,

But more importantly, Barry knows who Emmanuel is.

After Barry's wife passed and a few years went by,

Barry fell in love again. And today he's.

Remarried and he and his wife are raising two beautiful children,

a boy and a girl. And while there is still

some painful memories attached with Christmas, God has redeemed a

lot of that in Barry's life. And now Berry will

be the first person to tell you that his story

is not a sign that God is going to replace

every wrong or God's gonna replace everything that we've lost,

but it is a story that God is with us

even in our darkest moments. And so today I want

to ask you, do you know, Emmanuel? Do you believe

that God is with you no matter what? And it's

possible that right now someone listening does not have that confidence.

You are listening and you don't have the confidence that

God is with you. You feel all alone spiritually, You're

in a dark place. But you want the hope that

Jesus promises. You want the eternal life that Jesus offers.

And today I want to give you an invitation to

put your faith.

In Jesus, to trusty Manuel.

Would you all bow your head and close your eyes

with me as we respond today If you want to

trust Jesus, all you have to do is simply.

Pray this prayer.

Repeat after me in your heart, say, Dear God, I

admit that I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness.

I believe that Jesus died from my sins and I

believe that He rose from the dead to save me.

Today I confess Jesus's lord of my life. A man

You'll come and lead my life. As we remain in

this posture of prayer with our eyes closed and our

heads bowed. If you prayed that prayer to trust Jesus

or to commit your life to him, I just want

to ask you, would you be brave enough to just raise.

Your hands that I could see you so I could

just encourage you. To tell you that God loves you.

Tell you that God sees you. Is there anyone here?

He loves you, He loves you, You are not alone.

He sees you. He loves you.

And you need to know that your sins are forgiven

and you have eternal life because of Jesus. Let me

pray for all of us, Father, God, thank you for

your grace, Thank you for your presence.

God, Thank you that you redeemed us from brokenness. You've

saved us from sin and we have a hope.

And so God, I pray that as we leave here today,

as we enter the Christmas season, that we will be

mindful of you above all, that you will fill our

homes with more of your joy, that you will fill

our relationships with more of your peace. God, we thank

you for the gift of a Manuel. And it's in

Jesus' name we pray Amen.