The King Is Coming: Emmanuel, God With Us

Wow. What an amazing, amazing idea that the creator of the universe, our God, would want to be with us. That you would choose to come among us. And not just that, but that you would desire to live in us. I pray that every person here would recognize how special that makes them. How special they are to be a carrier of your presence. I pray that today you'll come into our midst in such a special way that we'll receive miracles in our midst, healings in our midst, revelation in our midst, deliverance in our midst, joy in our midst, right here. Because you live in us. [00:49:11] (67 seconds)  #CarryGodsPresence

Relationships are the vehicle through which God's love is spread. And so we evangelize through relationships. We disciple and train through relationships. We mentor through relationships. Our relationships, when you become a Christian, your relationships are not just all about your pleasure. When you become a Christian, your relationships become actually, you start to learn to make your relationships actually about love. Not about what you get and what everybody can do for me, but what God can do through you for other people. And Christmas reminds us that we have new motives, new meaning in our lives. [00:53:28] (55 seconds)  #LoveThroughRelationships

For a Christian, Christmas is the core of everything that we do. It is the reason, it gives purpose to our existence and to all our significant activities. And we have Christmas every year. And that's good. Why is that helpful? So that we can remind ourselves who we are, what we've been given, and why we do what we do. Each year, despite the difficulties of the first 11 months, worshiping God during the Christmas season helps us lunge into the new year to do more, to serve more, to give more, to pray more, to learn more, to produce more, and to help more next year because Jesus is with us. [00:54:23] (60 seconds)  #ChristmasGivesPurpose

For all the religions of the world, that is a blasphemous statement. That every religion in the world would say, no, God doesn't want to be with people. People are too bad and God is too good. God is holy and people are ugly. And God would never, ever, ever want to be around people. God will always have some kind of barrier to keep you away from him and him away from you. Because you know all the things you've done wrong in your life. And that's the way religion always pictures it. But God had a better idea. [00:56:23] (46 seconds)  #GodBeyondReligion

You have to understand, God is not after religion. God is after a relationship with you. And God is the one who tore down all the barriers, pulled down the curtain, got rid of everything that stands between him and you. Everything about Christmas and Easter, everything about Jesus is about making a way so that you and God could become one. God took care of your sins so that he could be with you. Because God loves you. God created you. And God loves you. And let me say it this way. God likes you. That's a mind blower for a whole lot of people. [00:57:09] (53 seconds)  #RelationshipNotReligion

But you remember those pictures that you see all the time when you see the Christmas cards about the little baby in the manger? And Mary's there. And Joseph's there. And the wise men are there. And the shepherds are there. And the little animals are there. And they're not all looking around in the sky. They're all looking at that little baby. They're all, their attention, even the animals are looking at the little baby. And for the first time, God's got everybody's attention on him. [01:04:59] (42 seconds)  #AllEyesOnTheManger

But for this way, God's way, the Bible says that God was in Christ, God himself. God sent Moses. God sent Deborah. God sent Gideon. God sent David. But God said, I'm going to save the world. I'm going myself. I'm not going to send anybody. I'm going to put, the Bible says that he wrapped himself in flesh. He took on flesh and came into this world as a baby, not as a warrior, not as a fighter, but as a baby. [01:06:16] (38 seconds)  #GodBecameFlesh

And that's what Christmas is about. It's about God being with us. Our focus is on him, and he's using us. So as we're getting ready to go into the new year, this whole month, we're focusing on Christmas, and Christmas is helping us to remember who came to get us. He came to save us. And now he is here with us. [01:07:43] (36 seconds)  #ChristmasIsGodWithUs