God With Us | Judah Smith

Well, I'm excited to take just a few minutes and share with you a message around the Christmas story. And I'm struck this year with this incredible God who is present, available, and with us everywhere we go. And so, we're going to begin reading in Matthew. Matthew and chapter 1, starting with verse 18.

Every time we get together as a church, we take time to review, rehearse, and remember the story of God. Much has been made of this book, the Bible, over the course of its history. But it, more than anything else, the Bible is a story. It's a story of love.

This extraordinary, extensive, unconditional love that God has for you. And so we are determined as a church when we gather to to worship that we focus on Jesus and his extraordinary love for us. And so if you got tricked into coming to our Christmas Eve service tonight by a friend who said you'll love it.

It's like a like a like a like like a play. It's like Mary Poppins. Um you're going to love it. And suddenly you're going, "Oh my word, this isn't Mary Poppins. This is a church. That's a preacher and I'm about to get preached to." and you're bracing yourself for um negativity, for me to tell you how bad you are.

Uh you can exhale now. Thank God. Uh we are committed to good news, gospel. And the good news is no matter how bad you and I are. And I will raise my hand. I'm the first in line of badness. That God is still good and his love remains.

And he loves us in spite of our weaknesses and our shortcomings. And that's what makes Christmas good. Can I hear an amen? >> So, Matthew 1 18 says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrod to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. In a dream, St. 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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. And I love this. For he will save his people from their sins. We are here celebrating that this baby Jesus that was born grew up and he was born to die. and his death is the once and for all sacrifice for the heir wrong and sins of humanity.

He will save his people from their sins. Wow. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. And this is the verse that sticks out to me this year. Behold. Behold. Behold means check it out. Look, uh take notice. Come around. Think about.

Talk about. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. And I love this parenthesis, just in case you didn't know what that meant. It means God with us. Who is this God who is with us? And that's the incredible title that I'm working from tonight, that God is with us.

And it is my hope that in the next few moments we share together that you will leave here convinced that God is not far from you. He's not merely observing you. He is with you. Will you pray with me one more time? God, thank you for the moments we share.

We do ask that you would make these moments matter with your presence. God, thank you for our babies. Thank you for our children. Thank you that every Sunday we're not all together in the same room. We do take this moment to thank the kids ministry of church home for all they do for our children in Jesus name.

Amen. I uh I grew up um I don't know if idolizing is the right word. We're in church and so you're not supposed to have idols. But uh my favorite athlete growing up was a pro tennis player. I was a big tennis player. Loved tennis. And uh if you remember, there was this young man who broke onto the scene in the late 80s, early 90s, might have been actually mid 80s.

Uh wow, I'm definitely in my 40s talking like this, but um and his name was Andre Agassy. Andre Agassy, if you remember, he had this long bleach blonde hair and he had these just cool colors and acidwash jeans. And I wanted to be Andre Agassy. I couldn't believe the day came.

We happened to be in the same restaurant together. We were not together, nor was he intending to eat with me. But I asked Chelsea if I could go over and invite myself to join him and his wife Stephie Grath and their children for dinner. We were literally one table away.

The providence of God, I told Chelsea, it's the providence of God. Andre Agassi, Stephie Grath, who's also well-known, one of the greatest women tennis players of all time. And I'm like, babe, this is God. Like, we're supposed to be friends. And I was pretty distracted that night at dinner.

Uh that it helped that Chelsea gave me an envelope. And when I opened it up, she said, "It's a boy. We're pregnant with a boy." And so that that helped. Now, at that point, I'm thinking, "Oh, was not nearly as important as Andre." I don't know if that's clear.

I Yeah. Yeah. I think it's way, you know, um the boy I will have with me always, but this is why I'm on chance to meet Andre. So, I kept telling Chelsea like, I think he I should I should tell them that we're pregnant. And she's like, I don't think they care.

I'm like, I but I I think Andre would, you know, like and I remember throughout the dinner, um we ate I ate very slow that night um hoping to drag it out. And I remember looking over and uh you know it was probably I don't know maybe 20 years of idolizing this man and now seeing him in person within 10 ft of me watching his facial expressions watching thinking is that that's you know and by the way it sounds like I was like 14.

I was approximately 26 years old. So just to be clear like this was not that long ago. Actually, it was quite a long time ago. But I I'm I'm looking and I just I kept saying to myself, I can't believe he's here. I can't believe he's in this restaurant.

Like I just I can't believe that we eat at the same place. And I started thinking we have so much in common. A great forehand, an amazing serve, you know, like that's that's but it was it left an impression on me like I can't believe I was in the same room with him.

What are the chances? How unlikely would it be that we would end up in the same restaurant? And I think sometimes when it comes to God, wherever you are on the spiritual spectrum, whatever you believe to be true about God, I think it is safe to say if you asked me like called me on my phone while we're in the car on our way to that restaurant and if you asked me, Judah, do you think Andre Agassi will be there?

I would have laughed. No, I don't think I'm gonna end up at the same restaurant. What are the chances as Andre Agassy? And that's why when I got there, I was shocked to think, does he come here often? And I thought, Chelsea, we must come here often as well.

This is starting to get actually a little disturbing, isn't it? So, but I remember being so surprised and I I wonder this year what I've been thinking about and we took some time thinking about yesterday at at church in this very room is I think we'd be surprised, shocked even to consider where God is in our life, that God is present.

Far more shocked than I was to sit next to Andre Agassy in a restaurant. I think we would be blown away to see where God is. I think we we are convinced that we go places and spaces that God would never be that God would never frequent that God would never be there that God would never be available.

Now again, we're here tonight and I think we are convinced it's Christmas Eve. We know God is here and we know Santa is here, right? We're we're convinced that God is here in church. It's the Christmas Eve service of church home. He's definitely here like like God is available on Christmas Eve or Sunday morning or in the temple or in the church or wherever there is stained glass.

God is there. But I think we'd be surprised where Emmanuel, God with us, is that leads us again to the Christmas story. It leads us again to looking even at the arrival of Jesus. Look at the arrival of Jesus. It says in Luke chapter 2 and verse 7, it says, "And she gave birth Mary to her firstborn son, wrapped him in rags, laid him in a feeding trough for animals because there was no place for them in the end."

I'd like to share with you three unlikely places God is. And we can see that he is in these places even at the beginning of his life here on earth as Jesus God himself puts on skin and bone and moves into the neighborhood and dwells amongst us and is tempted and challenged like each and every one of us are yet without sin so that he could take care of your sin and my sin.

But before the cross we see him in three places that I'm struck by. The first is in a manger. The first is in a barn. The first is in what was either a barn or a cave. The first is surrounded by animals. The first is a place that is a place of displacement.

There's no room for him in the proper place. There's no room for him in the right place. He's in the quote unquote wrong place. He's in a cave. He's in a carved out feeding trough for animals. This this is where God arrives on the planet. And I said it yesterday, but nobody nobody controls God's story but God.

Nobody controls God's narrative but God. So the inkeeper wasn't controlling the story. The the over booked hotels and motel and holiday ends were not controlling the story. God is controlling the story. And every aspect and element of the Christmas story was de designed and fashioned and dictated by God himself.

He wanted to come to earth like this. Why? Because it is indicative of who he is and who he is after and who he loves. God comes to three kinds of places I want to show you. And the first is a manger. The second is Egypt. And the third place is in an ordinary home with a mom and a dad.

These are just the first few years of Jesus life. He's in these three places. And maybe you can relate with these places. The first is the manger. In culture and tradition, it could be say that's a that's a low place. That's not a lofty place. That's not a royal place.

That's not a nice place. The conditions are not ideal. They are not comfortable. They are not opulent. They are not This is not romantic at all. It is probably a cold, brisk night and Mary there's there's no opulence in this story at all because the message is clear.

God has come not just to those of royalty, not just to those with opulence. He has come to reach those who feel like they are in a low place, who feel like they are broken. Who feel like they Mom and Dad used to say, "What? Were you born in a barn?"

Do you remember that statement? And that meant I left a door open somewhere. Were you born in a barn? What I should have said back then, had I known better, I would say, "Yes, and so was Jesus." [laughter] That would have been good. But but Jesus is born in a in a barn.

Some say it might have been a cave, but the point is it was it was not a high place, a royal place. It was a low place. Are you in a low place tonight? Are you in a in a place where you feel low? Feel like you don't have a lot to offer?

Like the your your emotional state is is not opulent. It's not royal. It's not healthy. It's not you just you feel you feel really low. I want you to know there's a God who comes to low places. He comes to low places. He comes to unlikely places. He comes to broken places.

He comes to places like displacement. You feel displaced. You feel overlooked. You feel like you don't have much to offer. God comes to those places. Look at the nativity scene. The story goes on and Joseph has another dream in Matthew's gospel and it says that the angel of the Lord comes to there it is Matthew 2:13.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and says, "Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt." And they remain there and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.

Did you know this about Jesus who was born the Jewish Messiah? Do you know this about Jesus who was called first to his Jewish people? Do you know his first two years are in Egypt? Think about this. God who comes by way of the Jewish people and comes to redeem the Jewish people for his first two years.

God is making a statement. My I will come as the Jewish Messiah and yet I will be raised for the first two years in Egypt. Who is this God who could come any way he wanted? Keep in mind at any moment God could have come as a 30-year-old and fulfilled his some three and a half year public ministry.

But he comes as a newborn infant child in a nowhere place called Bethlehem born in a cave or a barn. And then for the first two years, God designs it that he will spend them in Egypt. Maybe you say, "Judah, I don't feel like I'm in a low place, but I feel like I'm in a distant place.

I feel far from God. I feel far from being where I should be. I don't feel like I'm where God would want me to be. I don't feel uh like a like like like a believer. I don't feel like some of the church folk in here tonight. I don't I don't feel like I got my life together.

I'm so far from what you're describing. I maybe you're thinking, I look around this room tonight. I'm thinking, man, the these people look put together. These people look nice and sophisticated. In fact, my whole row smells nice. like these people really got it together. I don't have it together.

I'm way off course. I'm way off the mark. If I'm supposed to be in Jerusalem, I'm somewhere in Egypt. I'm so far from God's plan for my life. Maybe there was a time you you seem to be in step with God. You seem to be right where you were supposed to be.

And of course, it's often times in those places we're convinced God's with us. God's favor is upon us. God is for us and God's going to bless us. But boy, it's really hard to tell somebody that God still loves you. God still has plans to bless you and favor you and forgive you even if you're dwelling in Egypt.

You feel like you've missed the mark in your life. Could it be that Jesus spent the first two years of his childhood in Egypt to let you and I know even when you are far from where you should be, God will be there. Ain't that amazing? And then the Bible says that there's only brief verses, but that Jesus actually God had a mom and a dad and he listened to them.

Now, think about it. I know some two-year-olds who think they're God. I really do. But that's for sure. Most two-year-olds, I'm convinced, believe that they are God. You know, but but this one is God. And the Bible says he was submissive to his mother and father. I believe it's in Luke's gospel or Matthew's gospel.

Put it up on the screen. There it is. Luke. And the child grew and became strong, filled with it with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went down went down Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12, he went up according to the custom.

So we can see even through these verses that Jesus followed the leadership of his mom and dad. In fact, we hear of nothing after Jesus is approximately two. Jesus is probably two or three when the the magi when they come and they worship. It takes them probably a couple of years to locate him.

So we hear nothing of Jesus life from 2 to 12 and then from 12 to 30 2 12-30 we hear no details but we are told and clearly that it's in those years he yielded himself to a regular ordinary home life. I think sometimes maybe you're not in a low place, you're not in a distant place, but you're in what I call an ordinary place.

It's amazing. Sometimes we can convince ourselves that God is after us because, you know, I'm far from God. God's going to come get me. Or we think, man, God's with me because I'm in a good place. But have you ever been in a really average place? And I know we're not supposed to tell anybody because New Year is coming around.

And I already had a friend ask me, "Judah, what are your hopes and dreams for 2019?" HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE SAYING, "I don't know. I DON'T HAVE ANY hopes and dreams right now. I'm trying to parent a teenager. I HAVE LOST SIGHT OF HOPES AND DREAMS. I just don't want to kill him.

That's where I'm at." What's your hopes and dreams for 29? Not to kill my 14year-old, right? Like I I And you don't feel like you're in an extraordinary place. And I know it sounds odd, but you also don't feel like you're in a bad place. You're just in a a mundane place, just the monotony of life.

But I love what it says about Jesus, about his ordinary seasons, the seasons we're not even told about. We are led to believe in scripture with all of my heart. I believe that the Bible says Jesus grew in favor. He grew in stature. So every ordinary day God is with us.

That's why Jesus went through these days. I want you to stop for a moment and think that God lived ordinary days. God lived average days. You know days where you find out your kids haven't brushed their teeth in three days and it's the fourth and you're like why? and they say, "I lost my toothbrush."

And you tell them that you are um going to get them another one. I was going to say something else, but I don't want to offend anybody on Christmas Eve. [laughter] I definitely edited that part right there, but cuz that's not what I told them, right? But I'm talking about ordinary moments of life, right?

I mean, at your lowest point. Maybe we even have more faith at our lowest point. Like, I know God's going to pick me up. But I wonder sometimes if we have faith that God is right there with us when we're just trying to teach our kids to brush their teeth twice a day.

I wonder if we need to know that this same God who we celebrate on Christmas and Easter and we talk about his birth and his resurrection that between his birth and his resurrection he lived a lot of ordinary days. Why? To tell you and me I'm there in the mundane.

I'm there in the ordinary. I'm there in the everyday. And I end with this. I'm done. It's a conclusion. Can you believe it? It is another Christmas miracle here at church home. Amen. Well, that was a mom for sure. Amen. It says in in Luke, we just read it a moment ago, that he grew in favor or he walked in the favor of God.

Can I remind you in this Christmas season and on our way into 2019 that if you only would simply receive the free gift of Jesus and his forgiveness that that favor that was upon Jesus in his adolescence in his teenage in his young adult silent years years we never hear about that favor that was on him to get up and maybe work with his with his stepfather Joseph.

Maybe those days just to get up and make his bed, do his chores, do the dishes, brush his teeth. On those days, do you know the Bible says there was favor on him in those days? Favor was not just on Jesus to die on the cross. Favor was not just on Jesus to rise from the dead and conquer death, hell, and the grave.

Favor was on Jesus to get up and make his bed and do the average, ordinary, mundane activities of life. You have a God who cares about every detail of your life. The smallest sliver of things and challenges and errands that you HAVE TO DO, GOD CARES ABOUT HIM.

AND HE PUT HIMSELF through that process to send you a message that he will be with you and he will favor you. The Bible says later in that same Luke chapter 2 that he grew in favor with God and man. The greatest problem in the world today, my brothers and sisters, is that we do not have favor with God.

We cannot earn favor with God. We cannot deserve favor with God. It is it is the bedrock of the Christmas story that Jesus came. He was not just born to be with us. HE WAS BORN TO DIE FOR US IN OUR PLACE. SO THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE FAVOR AND CANNOT GARNER FAVOR WITH GOD BECAUSE THEY'RE LOST IN THEIR HEIR AND their sin AND THEIR WRONG.

NOW BY PUTTING OUR FAITH IN THE PERFORMANCE OF JESUS which is perfect AND SINLESS, HE NOW BECOMES OUR SIN SO THAT WE CAN BECOME RIGHT WITH GOD AND RECEIVE favor with the ONE WHO MADE US. THAT FAVOR that we crave consciously or subconsciously. We all want it and those that don't have it know it deep in their soul.

I believe it. What we crave more than anything is to be in a right relationship WITH GOD, TO HAVE FAVOR with God. And I am here to announce that favor with God is available to all through the person of Jesus Christ. That if we simply believe, WE TRADE PLACES, HE BECOMES OUR SIN.

WE BECOME RIGHT WITH GOD. AND THAT SAME FAVOR THAT JESUS WALKED IN, WE NOW WALK IN. I WANT YOU TO LOOK INTO 2019 AND DECLARE, I HAVE FAVOR WITH GOD, AND I HAVE FAVOR with men. I HAVE FAVOR in my ordinary everyday activities. I'm believing for that. I'm reading that today going, "WAIT A MINUTE.

GOD IS WITH ME WHEN I'm brushing my teeth. God forgives me for not wearing my Invisalign. He's He's with me. He's with me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You want that favor? You can't earn it. You can't deserve it. You want this extraordinary presence of God, this delivering, saving, providing presence of God.

The Bible says, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes or receives him shall not perish but have everlasting life." One verse says this, "As he is, so are we now in this world." So, as we see the favor that Jesus walked in, we now walk in that favor by simply believing and receiving his once and for all sacrifice.

I want to pray for you today. Would you mind just closing your eyes just for a moment? If you're here and you say, "Judah, I'd like to make a a decision to receive Jesus for the very reason he was born." For the scripture declares, "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Tonight, we're not just celebrating a silent night. We're not just celebrating a season. We're celebrating a savior who is here to save you and me from our error, our wrong, and our sin by simply believing with eyes closed all around the room. This decision begins first and foremost between you and God.

If you're here tonight and you say, "Judah, I would like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers. I want to have a right relationship with God. I want to have favor with God for the rest of my life. And if you want that, on the count of three, I'm going to ask you to lift up your hand and put it right back down.

Oftentimes, people ask why why do you have people lift their hand? I actually just believe that when you respond externally on the outside to what's happening on the inside, it just makes it more real to you. So, that's why I ask you to do that. I believe you know who you are.

One, God loves you so much. Two, you'll never be the same. Three, if that's you, would you shoot your hand up all over the auditorium and say, "That's me. I believe and I receive. I believe and I receive." God, thank you for so many hands tonight. We celebrate again the greatest miracle of all, forgiveness.

Forgiveness. And we thank you that you were born to die and you died and you rose again. And we celebrate that you live forever more. We thank you for new life that comes by simply receiving that gift right now. And God, I pray your blessing upon each and every man, woman, boy, and girl under the sound of my voice.

We thank you for favor with God and men in this new year of 2019. In Jesus name. In Jesus name. If you believe that, would you say amen? Church home.