God with us

Let's go to Matthew, chapter 1, verse 18 to 23. It says here that the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: Conceived by the Holy Spirit and Joseph, her husband, as he was just and did not want to slander her, he wanted to secretly leave her. And while he was thinking of this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary as your wife, because what is generated in her is the Holy Spirit.” – And here is the part that I want to emphasize to you – “And you will give birth to a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” And all this happened so that what was said by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled when he said, “Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call his name Emmanuel” – which translated is God with us…”

Let's all say, God with us. God in our midst. That the essential message is the heart of the Christmas message. It is one of the most mysterious things that the human mind or spirit can process. The fact that the Creator of the universe in which everything subsists and by which everything is sustained, thinned himself out in order to be able to enter into his own creation that he encapsulates and contains.

And God did this with a benevolent and merciful purpose, among other things to feel what we feel. He understood it abstractly because he knows everything, but he wanted to be in our condition and experience what we experience as men and women. And that fact was in God's mind from the very beginning of creation because the Bible tells us that in the same Garden of Eden God said that something would be born from the woman that would hit the principle of evil on the head.

This was not something that the Lord came up with at the last minute, as one more detail of the incarnation, but rather it was something essential in the Christmas message. Centuries before Jesus entered the world, Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14 already said, in a prophecy that would be fulfilled in Jesus:

“…Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call his name Emmanuel..."

And that is the message that Gabriel, the angel, when he announces to Joseph about this mysterious being, he says that this prophecy is precisely being fulfilled and that his essential name, his very essence will be Emmanuel, God with us.

Now, that's an exalted theological truth, that's a tremendously powerful and great concept. But what does that mean for you and me today in the year almost 2016 that we are entering right now? And how can this message help us in our daily life, in our struggles and our challenges that we face every day.

Well, the first thing we have already said, but I want to highlight it now in an isolated way. And the reason I want to make this point first even though it seems redundant is because there are groups today and throughout history that have questioned this truth that I am going to point out to you right now. In the first centuries of Christianity this was a subject of much debate and much internal struggle among the Christian people.

And what I want to say is firstly that Emmanuel clearly indicates that Jesus Christ is God. We say that it is the second person of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a very conscious, very personal manifestation of the divine, the person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

And that means, brothers, that Christ has all authority and therefore we can believe when he establishes a purpose in our lives, when he says, for example, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full, ” that has to be fulfilled because Jesus Christ is God and his will has to be fulfilled in us.

When the Lord gave the great commission to the disciples He told them, "All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me therefore go."

He is Almighty God. His will must be fulfilled on earth and in history. Although today we see so many things that are happening that seem to contradict the redemptive will of Christ Jesus, nevertheless, his coming into the world to announce his message, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth and for us to disciple the nations, that has to be fulfilled irresistibly.

The word says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And another thing that reminds us that Jesus Christ is enough. We don't need anyone else to come into the Father's presence. Christ is enough because he is God himself.

The Apostle Paul wrote a lot in the book of Galatians specifically pointing out that salvation is not Christ plus something else but Christ Jesus alone. When you pray, you don't need anyone else to help you pray, if you pray in him in the name of Jesus Christ. Anything else is just unnecessary, it's a waste of time. Christ is all you need to come before Heavenly Father.

I believe that something else is also what we have done today is that Christ is worthy of all adoration and all praise, all glory and all honor. The wizards adored him, the angels adored him, the shepherds adored him and we too can adore him every day in our lives. Amen.

Every time we come to the church, to the temple, let us remember that. When we are pointing out in the name of Jesus we are worshiping the living God, the living God, the sufficient and powerful God. Christ is God himself, let us pray in that attitude.

And you know another thing about Jesus that I like when I think that he is God, with us, God in our midst, is that we no longer have to be afraid of God when we approach him. We have a God who shares our nature and everything we are, and when we get closer to him we are getting closer to one who was like us too.

And that is something important because when one looks in the Old Testament, in that progressive revelation that we see through scripture, one sees in the Old Testament, although there are also passages that remind us that God is like a mother who covers us with its feathers, and that it is also accessible but in reality in those times, as the introduction to one of the hymns said, I think it was you when you spoke about how sometimes people, and even Christians, have sometimes lost sight of the vision this idea that God is not angry, God is not a bloody fat that we have to approach with fear of our life, if we abort it in some wrong way. He is like us, he understands us very well too, through Christ.

This morning when I was elaborating the sermon I was thinking about that passage in the Old Testament that tells us about when Uzza and his brother were driving the ark and Uzza with very good intentions... the ark was being brought into Jerusalem and the cart was moving a little and since it seemed that it was going to fall and Uzza, with the best intention in the world, approached the ark and tried to grab it to protect it, it says that the spirit of God was angry with Uzza and right there Uzza perished and remained dead. And this was a terrible sadness for Israel and especially for David, the king, who was so anxious to see the ark go into Jerusalem.

But that reminds us, with good intentions but using the correct way he touched the ark and God was angry with him and he was destroyed. That tells us something about the contrast with this accessible Christ that the word of the Lord presents to us. There is a change, a fluctuation.

In contrast to that… applause goes to Gregory who did a better job translating than I did saying it. In contrast to that, I think of the words of Isaiah that says, because a child is given to us, a son is born to us. That is, Christ is born as a baby in the family. A moment ago we were celebrating all these children, what tenderness the birth of a child causes. One wants to touch a child, kiss it, hug it, and likewise this child that is born to the family of God and to all of humanity reminds us of that God who is the complete opposite of that God that we have to approach with many liturgies and many sacrifices. and many formulas before being able to access it. What a big difference.

And I believe that this was part of God's plan, that we see him as a baby, and that is why this story is there. Perhaps it was not necessary in a theological sense to relate that the baby and seeing him there in the manger, and all these things, but God wanted him to grow in front of our eyes, with us, and that we could have that sense that he was part of us too and that it is familiarity that Christ provokes in us with respect to the person of God.

Another thing that I also see, another consequence of this God with us, is that as God has lived among us and in our condition and our nature, he intimately knows our condition and our nature.

And so says Psalm 103, because he knows our condition. Because? Because he was there, he experienced it, he knows it intimately. And even looking at that a little more concretely, that means that he can understand our temptations, for example. If you are struggling with some condition in your life, something that causes you pain because you want to control it but it is difficult for you, you are struggling, your thoughts betray you sometimes, there are situations in your life, a character you want to improve, defects in your personality, things that sometimes attract you that you know are not convenient for you. Did you know? God understands your temptations very well.

Even as we encourage you to seek that holiness of God and each day allow the person of Christ to form more and more in you, remember that you are accompanied by one who knows that progressive trajectory towards holiness, that struggle with temptation because he passed, The Bible says that he was tempted in everything but without sin. But the important thing in this case is that you remember that he knows the dynamics of temptation and he can have mercy on you and encourage you to continue through the Holy Spirit.

On your journey to holiness remember that God is there by your side, telling you, go ahead, keep going, don't worry, get up, stand up, keep going until you have completed the race. God wants you to win the race.

Another thing about this consequence that he knows our condition, is that he also knows our ailments, he knows our sufferings, our pains, our emotional and spiritual breakdowns.

Isaiah 53:3 speaks of the Messiah as familiar with suffering, experienced, it says, in brokenness and we know of all brokenness. He knows about loneliness, he knows about feeling helpless, he knows about betrayal and abandonment, he knows about the discomfort of a baby with everything he goes through, poverty, many other things, I mean, all those sufferings. . If you are suffering separation from your family at this time, you are depressed, you feel confused, whatever your emotional situation, remember that this does not mean that God is not with you, quite the contrary, he knows your ailments, he identifies with you. them and it is also there encouraging you, keep going, I am with you in the midst of your struggle and your trial.

I want to tell the brothers that they have their relatives in other parts of Latin America or Europe or the Caribbean or wherever, at this time sometimes one feels a little sad. If you are in any way separated by something, if you are unemployed, whatever, remember that the Lord is by your side and he blesses you, he loves you and he wants to lead you to a victory and he is going to use all those elements to bless your life. He knows your situation.

A third thing that sometimes makes us doubt about that God who promises to be with us, is illness, simply physical illness. Many of us perhaps are suffering from some physical condition that limits us, we are going through at this time perhaps some kind of physical suffering and that sometimes, I know it is natural and again, if you sometimes feel like wow, where is that promise of God to heal, etc.? And you are questioning yourself, you know what? The incarnation has a word of encouragement for you too.

That God who assumed a physical body also knows about what it is to be sick. I don't know if the Lord got colds, the Bible doesn't tell us about that, I don't know, but if he had given him that, it doesn't reduce my love, my respect and my sense of reverence for him. I'm not going to get into that, but look at what Isaiah 53:4 says, it says, “…he certainly borne our diseases and suffered our pains. And we considered him whipped, wounded by God and dejected…” certainly he carried our illnesses.

And if you are going through some time of illness, that Christ who suffered from illness, first, his divinity gives him power to heal you and you must continue to believe and pray and ask him for healing, healing intervention in your life. But also know that if you are suffering from this disease, the Lord who understood what it is to be sick will be with you through this process, and he will use all the elements of your life to bless you, strengthen you and make you more and more like him.

So we have a God who knows our condition when we are tempted, when we are in emotional and spiritual pain, and when we are suffering from various physical illnesses and that makes him extremely accessible to our requests, we can trust that he can identify with us and we can present our prayers with all confidence before him.

I love what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 4, see 15, “…because we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses…” listen to that. the high priest that we have, who intercedes, who presents us to the Father, who takes our prayers to the Father, is not the type of high priest who cannot sympathize. In other words, he can sympathize with our weaknesses.

We have a mediator who understands and who is accessible because the writer of Hebrews says that we have a high priest who was tempted in all things as we are. That is, according to natural human processes, so the Lord felt all that range of sensations, although he emerged victorious from all of them.

Another thing that reminds us of that God who is in humanity is that the enmity... through Christ Jesus the enmity between God and humanity has ended, it has been completely annulled. There is no enmity in the sense that it has to be. God through his son Christ Jesus annulled, for those who believe in Jesus any type of contradiction, any type of conflict and enmity with God. Now we are friends of God, we are friends of him too.

Ephesians 2, verse 12 to 16 says that, "... At that time - that is, before knowing Jesus, each one of us, before accepting Christ as our Lord and savior, - we were alienated from the citizenship of Israel and oblivious to the pacts of the promise without hope and without God in the world…”

Did you know that if we are not in Christ and with Christ we are distanced from God, we are without hope and without any kind of appeal or access to the Heavenly Father. If you are currently without Christ, if Christ is just something far away and beautiful but you have not made Christ your Lord and your savior, remember that no matter how good people you are, you are far from the Father, you are at enmity with the Father, says the word, because only Christ can establish friendship and communication between God and man.

Only Jesus is the intermediary, only Jesus actively, being accepted, invited, received by us, can establish that direct communication with the Father. Right there in Ephesians 2:13 it says, “…But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ…”

And look here about that enmity that is broken in Christ Jesus, in that incarnate God, he says in verse 14, "... because Jesus is our peace, who made both peoples one by breaking down the middle wall of separation, abolishing in his flesh the enmities, the law of the commandments expressed in ordinances to create in himself a single and new man making peace and through the cross to reconcile both with God in a single body, killing the enmities in it.”

As pastors of this beautiful congregation, I pray that the Lord will always help us to dwell within our great diversity in unity, as one people who have been united by the blood and person of Jesus Christ.

God's desire for this congregation this coming year and in future years is that León de Judá together with other churches in this city be like a small showcase of that Kingdom of God in which enmities between different socio-economic levels, classes, ethnic groups, all the things that divide humanity, that this church can be like a prophetic sign to the city and the nation of a very diverse people, but that in some mysterious and miraculous way there is love between us, there is communication , there is mutual appreciation, there is support for each other.

Almost finishing, I feel the Lord that we take a second before other points that I want to develop, that we pray for a moment. Let us lower our heads, let us close our eyes so that the Lord makes us live in harmony together in harmony.

Thank you, Father, that there is no barrier that you cannot break. You crossed, Lord, so much distance to make yourself human, to make you one of us, to teach that there is nothing that can separate us from you, just as Lord, I ask you to unite us, as you and the Father are one, Lord, that we be one in you.

Father, I ask you Lord, that every vision, that every enmity, that every racism or anger can be forgiven and that we can, Lord, be a prophetic sign of the power of God in this world, because Christ has come, he has made one of us I ask this in the name of Jesus.

Thank you Gregory. And practically the last thing I want to say is this, is that God wants to dwell not only in nature, in the world, in matter, in the cosmos, but also wants to dwell in your heart and in my heart.

And this afternoon I want to encourage all of us to examine our hearts and truly ask ourselves that God who became man, who in some mysterious way, even penetrated into the cosmos itself, into nature itself, through his incarnation, does he dwell? in my spirit? Because the word says that through us inviting him into our hearts, he comes and enters and sits on the throne of our life.

The Lord says in his word in Revelation that he is at the door, he knocks and if anyone listens to his voice, that incarnate Christ, if he listens to his voice and invites him to enter, if one opens the door, he will inevitably enter and he will dine with us, that is, he will have intimacy with us and we with him.

I want to make sure that if someone is visiting us this afternoon, perhaps you have been invited by someone and you are not sure that this act of birth of Jesus has taken place in your life and in your heart, and you want this coming year to be part of this family of God, that this process that occurred in history and in the cosmos take place, that it take place in your life, in your home, I feel that God wants to do something extraordinary in our community, here in this city where God has placed us and that he wants us, among other churches in this city, to be like a refuge from everything that is happening out there on the street right now and in the neighborhoods, and that León de Judá humbly be a place for us to turn to and find hope for our families.

If you are a parent who cares about your children, for example, your children are now reaching adolescence and you are afraid about what will happen when they enter high school, I want my children to produce, to do good things. , that they grow up, that they be God-fearing men and women, but you know that things out there get worse and worse every day, I invite you to invite Christ into your home this year.

I have a very great desire in the Lord that many families in this city feel that they can come to this place, as well as to other churches, but we are going to talk about León de Judá, and that they can see this place as a refuge for their lives. And the key to that is going to be that we invite Christ to sit in the center of our homes, in the center of our hearts, in the center of our fatherhood, in the center of the government of this city.

The only one who can neutralize the power of the devil right now in this world is Jesus Christ. And if you want your family to prosper, be blessed, you want to prosper yourself, your marriage, whatever, I invite you on this day to responsibly, courageously invite Christ into your heart. While I translate that into English I want you to meditate on that. I am making you a frontal, clear invitation, I am extending you an invitation card so that you receive Christ with your family, with your home this afternoon. Think about it for a moment.

I want to invite you in the name of the Lord, let's lower our heads for a moment, do not be intimidated by the number of people who are here, if you have come today with a need and you dare to recognize your need for Christ Jesus, I want to invite you in the name of Jesus, wherever you are, up there, on a balcony, down here, that this afternoon let the Lord know in front of your community that you want him to enter your life and your heart and your family. And I want to invite you to raise your hand wherever you are, if you feel that this call is for you, I want to invite you right now and if you want to get up with your family, with your wife, your husband, whoever you came with, raise your hand and we want to invite you to invite Christ Jesus into your heart.

Will there be someone who wants to do that this afternoon? God bless you my brother. Raise your hand, fear not. Keep your hand up. Remember that you are doing this because you want the Son of God to enter your family, your heart, and your life. We are going to start something extraordinary in this community, we are going to tell this city that Christ offers an answer and hope for every situation in this world. Amen. For this city Christ was born. Raise your hand right now.

If you feel that this invitation is for you, you want the Lord to enter your family, enter your house, enter your neighborhood, enter the building where you live, stand up for a moment. If you have raised your hand, stand up. This is not a show, right now you and God only. It's like no one is watching you except God. He has told you, I will enter if you invite me. And I know that there is still more, there are families, there are homes.

Invite the Lord, tell him, Lord, I'm going to walk with you. I'm tired of fighting by myself. I can't fight alone. I need you, Lord and that you change my life, that you change my neighborhood, that you change my nature. Dwells in me

Someone to pray with each of those people, to pray for them. And I want to invite you, you are up there, some have raised their hands, I bless you in the name of the Lord. Someone else around here, pray with them. The Christ born to humanity, and I declare in the name of Jesus that the presence of the Almighty Christ will revolutionize your life. That Christ is within you. He enters your heart, he enters your life, he enters your family, he enters your house, he enters your neighborhood through your person, he enters your building.

God is going to do something that you will amaze yourself. I declare in the name of Jesus that you will possess all the land that the soles of your feet tread on. I declare new things that will happen in your life. God is breaking the power of the devil over your life and is commanding, starting right now all areas of your being. Christ pities you, knows you, walks with you, knows exactly your condition, listens to your requests, identifies with you, is in your favor, I declare all of this about your life, your family, your loved ones this afternoon.

Invite Christ, tell him, Lord, enter my heart, I receive you as my God, my Lord, my savior, my intermediary. Through your death on the cross you heal my ailments, you make me a new creature and you will begin to order all aspects of my life and you give me my land, everything that I walk on, everything that I long for for the better. you grant it on this day. Come into my life, Son of God. Hallelujah! We adore you, Lord. Thank you.

Father, let that Christmas spirit be all week and every day of this coming year. Teach us how to announce this message of hope to humanity. I bless you in the name of Jesus, I bless your life. I bless you. Good and great things, keep coming to the house of the Lord, keep learning, keep growing. God has great things for you, may the grace of the Lord be with this community and with this whole family. I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.