FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Jesus’ Christophanies before Birth | John 1:18
Can generosity truly transform a church community? Join us as we explore the vibrant happenings at First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, where the presence and goodness of God are felt deeply among us. We'll share stories of how our congregation's giving spirit has fueled various church activities, including the impactful Lottie Moon Christmas offering for global missions and the joyful KidVenture Christmas party. You'll also hear about the exciting opportunity for photographers to join our baptism team and capture significant moments that celebrate faith and community.
Journey with us through the intriguing theme of "Before All Things," where we delve into the profound concept of Christophanies. Just like Stan Lee's unforgettable cameos in Marvel films, these appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament underscore His eternal presence and active role in redemptive history. We'll examine how these biblical encounters bring hope and assurance, reminding us that Jesus is not only present in our lives but is actively fighting for us.
In our final segment, we invite you to encounter Jesus in a more personal way, emphasizing the power of worship, trust, and prayer during life's trials. Reflect on the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to see how Jesus empowers us through challenges. Finally, we extend a heartfelt invitation to accept Jesus's transformative power, as we celebrate those who embrace faith and join our supportive church community. Whether you're a first-time guest or a long-standing member, there's something here for everyone to discover and embrace.
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We're having a good church morning so far. Man God is so good. He's working in our lives. Thank you so much. And, ushers, I'll release you here in just a second to grab the offering. I'll talk about it here for a second, but first of all I just want to welcome everybody to First Baptist Church, powder Springs. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for joining online. If you're a first-time guest, we just want to say thank you, out of all the places you could be, that you chose to come here today. God brought you here today and we're just very thankful for you.
Speaker 1:We've got a free gift for all of our first time guests out on our Next Step station that we would love to give to you right after this service. There's a Next Step card in front of everyone, their seat backs this morning. I just want to encourage you if you're a first time guest, grab one of those Next Step cards. You can fill it out during the service. That's how you'll turn it into the Next Step station and get your free gift, and that'll just give us an opportunity to be able to connect with you and, honestly, just to help you along in your relationship and your journey with Jesus. As always, there's a large box on the back at the bottom where you can write down your greatest prayer need for this week. It is our honor, as your staff, to go to Jesus on your behalf and to take your greatest prayer needs to him so that you can see God's glory and your good come out in that situation. I just want you to know that we could do a thousand things as a church, but we believe that God has called us to do four things To worship him, to group together, to serve him, to serve one another and to live on mission together. And so that's also what the next step card is for that you are on journey with Jesus and we're on journey with Jesus together in those ways, one opportunity that you need to know this morning is we are looking to put together a baptism photography team. So if you are a photographer or you pride yourself in your photography, this is an opportunity for you to use it for the Lord in your church, as we want to do even a better job of photographing our baptism experience, our baptism moments, for those getting baptized, but also for our church. So you can just take the Next Step card the top the box at the top you can just write down photography, team or whatever. Turn that in and we would love to reach out to you.
Speaker 1:Last night we had an incredible choir and orchestra Christmas celebration. There was actually a service yesterday at two and at five. There's one more this evening at five o'clock that I would love to invite you back to in our sanctuary five o'clock choir and orchestra Christmas celebration. Be thinking about who you can bring, who you can invite. God's been moving. I met a man last night that said I wasn't planning on coming. He said I didn't feel well, I was in bed. God told me to come and he changed my life. So I wanna encourage you that you come. You bring somebody with you that God would speak to them. I wanna remind you our Christmas Eve services. We have a service on Christmas Eve at 3 pm in the Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra and at 5 pm in here. We would love for you to come to the 5 pm or the 3 pm. You bring your family, bring your friends, everybody in town, invite your neighbors. We don't wanna just be a church in the community, we wanna be a church for the community and maybe you could all go to Grandma's house after or maybe you're Grandma and you need to run there first to happen, and so you can have a great Christmas Eve together.
Speaker 1:Just as your pastor, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for the way that you serve, thank you for the way that you give. Second, corinthians 9-11 says you will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way which, through us, will produce thanksgiving to God. So I just want to remind you that God has made you. He's made you rich according to the rest of the world. We are rich so that you can be generous. He's enriched you in order to be generous. I just want to say thank you for the way that you give. You're an incredible giving church. You give according to what God has given to you. You give what God has laid on your heart and, as we've said, you have three opportunities, three different gifts to bring to Jesus this Christmas. We don't force this, we don't manipulate this, we don't beg for this. We just give you the opportunity. And, as the wise men brought three gifts, we have an opportunity to bring three gifts to Jesus. Number one just our regular tithes and offerings as you give. Number two Lottie Moon Christmas offering that goes to global missions, missionaries around the world, and number three to our local mission. If you want to see Powder Springs and beyond, reach with the gospel. That's what every penny of that offering goes toward, and I just want to say thank you, because God has just been working in so many incredible ways.
Speaker 1:Let me pray for our offering and we'll get started. Heavenly Father, we love you and God. We just pray in Jesus' name, lord, that you would speak and you would act and you would work and you would move. God, this is your church. God, we are your people. God, this is your word and Father. I just ask and I pray in Jesus' name, lord, that you would speak into our hearts, into our lives today, make us more like Jesus, and God, I pray that you would bless everyone that gives today, bless everyone that gives this week, bless them financially, bless them in every area of their life. And, god, I pray that you would bless every penny, given that it would go to reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, we love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you're gonna take up the offering this morning. Well, I am so glad that you're here and I just wanna say thank you to everyone. Thank you for coming and worshiping Jesus together. I wanna say thank you for all of you that have come and been a part of groups. This morning Maybe you were leading, you were teaching a group. Maybe this morning you were on our hospitality team. You're a greeter. Well, as we say, from the streets to the seats. I just want to say thank you for your service. Maybe this week you've been ministering and you've been working and you've been inviting people. I just want to say thank you, thank you for all that you're doing, and God is just at work in our church. I always love to share, because not everybody knows everything that God is doing. Did you know?
Speaker 1:Two Wednesday nights ago we had our KidVenture Christmas party for our kids ministry here in this room and we had over 230 people and part of families here for our KidVenture Christmas party 230, put your hands together for all that God is doing in our kids ministry. They're right now in their PJs eating pancakes, and thank you for not coming in your PJs today. I appreciate that, but, man, our kids are having fun in the kids ministry and we're going to feed them pancakes, hock them up on sugar and send them home to you. So, man, we're just so thankful for what God is doing. We had an incredible pre-parade Powder Springs Christmas party, so the Powder Springs City had a parade, so we did a pre-parade party on our property and many of you came, many of our community came, and we've even seen people from our community start coming to church because of it. If that's you, we just wanna say thank you, welcome to the family, and I wanna say thank you to everyone. Thank you for coming, thank you for serving.
Speaker 1:I want you to know that this coming Saturday is our meet and greet opportunity at 10.30 am, right here in the gym, with our prospective student and young adult pastor candidate and his wife and his children. So I would love for you to come back. God has just done a miracle. God has blown us away with his timing. God has blown us away with his provision. It's not something our personnel ministry did, it's not something I did. It's something only God can do. We're not that good, only he is and so he is doing a miracle among us. We are very thankful and we would love for you to come back this Saturday, 10.30, meet and greet, q&a. You'll get a chance to meet the family and then, if all goes well this coming weekend, then next Sunday we'll be able to vote on them and we'll have a new student and young adult pastor and we pray that the Lord would move according to his will. According to his will. Well, here we go. You can go and open up in your Bibles this morning to Joshua, chapter 5, joshua, chapter 5.
Speaker 1:We're in a series called Before All Things. Everybody say before, before All Things. Everybody say before Before all things. And this series is all about, as we're starting this big series on Jesus, but before all things. We talked two weeks ago how Jesus is before all things, from Colossians 1. Last week we talked about Jesus' presence in eternity past. This morning we're going to be talking about Jesus', christophanies, or his appearances in the Old Testament, why they were there and why they matter for us today. Next Sunday we'll talk about Jesus being the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and then on Christmas Eve we'll talk about Jesus's birth. This is all a part of a huge series that God has laid on our hearts that we would talk about Jesus specifically throughout his whole life, from Christmas December, his birth story, all the way through Easter, his resurrection story. So we'll look at right now, of course, before Jesus' birth, january, the life of Jesus. February, the teachings of Jesus. March, the miracles of Jesus. April, the passion week of Jesus. And May we will look at the mission of Jesus. March, the miracles of Jesus. April, the Passion Week of Jesus. And May we will look at the mission of Jesus.
Speaker 1:But this morning what I want us to see here together is we're going to be talking about the Christophanies, the Christophanies of Jesus and the Christophanies. To be honest with you, this is one of my favorite topics of all the Bible, favorite topics of all the Bible. It's amazing, because what God did is God has given us appearances of Jesus throughout the Old Testament. It would be like if you've ever seen a movie before, and maybe it was a mystery movie or a suspense movie or a thriller movie, and there's clues all throughout the movie, and then the movie all comes together at the end and all of the clues and all of the movie finally makes sense, and then you can go back and watch the movie again and you watch it in a new light because you know that all of the clues are leading to that ending or to that conclusion. Well, that's exactly what God is doing throughout the Bible, throughout the Old Testament, with Jesus. You ever thought about this? That it was a mystery to the Old Testament people, that they did not fully understand these appearances and these analogies of Jesus throughout the Old Testament? But Jesus was coming on the scene, unbeknownst to them. But how good it is to be on this side of the cross New Testament people, that we get to go back and read the Old Testament. How blessed you are to go back and see these appearances of Jesus throughout the Old Testament. God is so good. Another way to say it.
Speaker 1:I was reading this week about Stan Lee. Stan Lee was the former editor-in-chief of the Marvel movies, also the creator of Spider-Man, and did you know? If you're a big superhero fan, you probably know this better than I do. But Stan Lee wrote himself into his own movies to where he would have a cameo appearance. Here's Stan Lee right here, as he was a part of. This is Iron man 2008. This is Stan Lee right here, as he was a part of. This is Iron man 2008. This is Stan Lee right here, as he was in Thor of 2011. This is Stan Lee right here, as he was in the Avengers, 2012. Here is Stan Lee right here as he was Doctor Strange or in Doctor Strange in 2016. And here's Stan Lee right here as he was in Spider-Man Homecoming in 2017.
Speaker 1:And so that's what we see throughout Scripture and so that's what God is doing. God is actually writing his own son into the story, even leading up to his birth Jesus being born. In the New Testament, in the Gospels, but throughout the Old Testament. It's amazing. When you read your Bible, you get to see these appearances, these glimpses, these foreshadowings of Jesus that are called Christophanies.
Speaker 1:Christophany comes from two Greek words. Can we just nerd out for a second? Can we do a quick little biblical, theological survey of Christophany? And then I'm gonna jump in and I'm gonna show you what it means for you. So a quick survey.
Speaker 1:Christophany comes from two Greek words Christos, meaning Christ, phaneia, meaning appearance. So a Christophany is an appearance of Jesus before his birth. And you might be like why? Why does God do this? Well, god's reasons. Number one is God loves to put on display Jesus's divine and human nature. So, in other words, when Jesus is born, the reason that you celebrate Christmas is because of his incarnation. Jesus remains fully God. He becomes fully man. The Bible calls it, or theologians call it, the hypostatic union, the incarnation, to where two natures come together as one. God loves to put that on display.
Speaker 1:Secondly, we get to see Jesus' role in redemptive history. God loves it when his son is the main character of the biblical storyline. And isn't it awesome that God did not wait to the New Testament in order for his son to come on the scene. But in other words, throughout the Old Testament, god wrote within the story these mysterious Christophanies, that the people did not even realize what was happening. But today we get to read back and see these appearances of Jesus.
Speaker 1:But also it's because God loves to highlight Jesus' involvement in the lives of God's people. In other words, we do not you do not just read this to see what happened in someone else's life. Why isn't God's word just a book of truths? Rather, it is a book of stories that is interpreted by truths. Why is it all of these people? Because God is not just trying to teach you truth. God is showing you these people's lives because he wants you to see how he's working in your life.
Speaker 1:Can I get an amen? Jesus is just as involved in your life as he is in each of these lives. In fact, all Jesus is doing is appearing in their lives. But Jesus has promised to be present in your life. He's not just appearing, jesus is present. Just to give you a passage of scripture John, chapter one, verse 18, says no one has ever seen God. This is speaking of God the Father, but it says the only God, or some versions say, but the only Son of God who is at the Father's side. Talking about Jesus, jesus has made him known. You ever thought about that? Jesus did not just make God the Father known at his birth and throughout his life, but even before his birth, even before his life, that Jesus was making God the Father known, even throughout the Old Testament, as he was appearing on the scene.
Speaker 1:Here are seven quick, different examples Looks like the numbers mix up Two ones and then we'll go to six. Seven different examples of Christophanes the math isn't mathing Of Christophanes in the Old Testament. Number one you ever thought about this? That it was Jesus who walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden? Also, number one he visited Abraham. Remember the Oaks of Mamre, where there were three visitors and one of them was Yahweh. That's Jesus as he was visiting with Abraham. Also, jesus wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32.
Speaker 1:We've already preached through all these. You can go back and listen to all those on Facebook, youtube, the podcast, myspace, if you got it. Number four cloud and fire. And Jesus is that pillar of cloud and fire in Exodus 14. We have 1 Corinthians, chapter 4 and chapter 10 that says that Jesus is the rock in the wilderness of Exodus 17,. And whenever the Bible uses the language the angel of the Lord, it is speaking of Jesus, not just an angel of the Lord, but the Bible says 53 different times talking about the angel of the Lord. That is speaking of Jesus. So here we go.
Speaker 1:I want to teach you this morning three truths that Jesus' Christophanies teach you. I believe they all kind of boil down into these three truths and this is what God wants you to know for your life why Jesus appeared on the scene. And number one is this Jesus is fighting for you. Jesus is fighting for you. In other words, do you feel tired from the fight? Do you feel like you're in a battle? Do you feel like you're alone? Do you feel like that no one is defending you? Well, these Christophanies are showing us Jesus is showing us that he is fighting for you. He's present in your life and he's fighting for you, joshua.
Speaker 1:Chapter 5, verses 13 through 15, says this. It says when Joshua was by Jericho. So actually this story is right before the story of Jericho. Jericho, where they were commanded to walk around the city one time every day for six days. On the seventh day, to walk around it seven times, to scream, to yell, to blow the trumpets and the Jericho walls would fall. This is where they actually got the commands of how to do that, how to fight unconventionally.
Speaker 1:When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. So there's Joshua. He's looking around. Out of nowhere comes a man with a drawn sword and watch what Joshua does. I love this. And Joshua went to him. I love that Joshua was a man with a drawn sword. And watch what Joshua does. I love this. And Joshua went to him. I love that Joshua was a man's man.
Speaker 1:Joshua was a fighter. Joshua wasn't scared. God already told Joshua I want you to be strong, I want you to be courageous and I want you to fear me. Only, joshua did not run from the fight. Joshua ran to the fight, and that's what kind of men we need today. For the Lord, can I get an amen? Joshua ran to the fight and Joshua went to him and he said to him who are you? Are you for us or are you for our adversaries? And the man said no, meaning, neither, meaning bad. Question both times, joshua right. He said no, I'm not for either. He said I am the commander of the army of the Lord.
Speaker 1:We believe that this is Jesus. Why? Because the Bible says in Revelation, chapter 19, that a sword is gonna come out of Jesus, 19, that a sword is going to come out of Jesus's mouth and he is going to destroy all of evil at once Revelation, chapter 17, verse 14,. And it says in three, four other times in the Bible that Jesus is the King of Kings, that Jesus is the Lord of Lords, jesus is the one who is over everything. And here's the beauty of this passage is that you, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have direct access to Jesus himself. You do not have to go to Mary, you do not have to go to saints, you don't have to go to angels, you don't have to go to earthly priests. You get direct, direct access to Jesus, who is the commander of the Lord's army. Put your hands together right now, because that is what God has done for you. The commander of the Lord's army said I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and he worshiped.
Speaker 1:What happens when you experience the presence of Jesus in your life? There are times in our life that Jesus' presence is so strong that we fall to our face. There are times that we don't even have a choice. We need him so badly or we experience him so deeply. When's the last time that you got on your knees before Jesus and you just talked to him? To get on our face, to get on our knees before God, is a sign of worship, it's a sign of submission, it's a sign of surrender, it's a sign of his gratefulness that he is greater than us. Joshua fell on his face.
Speaker 1:I think about John 18, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane you remember this story and they were going to arrest him. And there come the Roman soldiers armed up to arrest Jesus and they come right before him and Judas said that's him. And they said who are you? And Jesus said I am he who you're looking for. And the Bible says, the Roman soldiers fell to the ground involuntarily because that's the power of the presence of Jesus. Can I get an amen? That's the power of the presence of Jesus. Joshua fell to his face to the earth and he worshiped.
Speaker 1:Do you remember in the Bible when there were people, when Peter and Paul would do miracles? There would be people that would come and bow before them and Peter and Paul would be like do not do that, you get up, you do not worship me, you worship God. Two times in the Bible where John, the apostle John, in Revelation. If you're reading through the Bible right now with us throughout the year, we're almost done and Revelation is coming, or, I'm sorry, we're in Revelation right now. And there are two times that John falls on his face before an angel. And you know what the angel tells John Get up, do not worship me, you worship God. Notice here the commander of the Lord did not tell him to get up, he did not reject his worship, he received Joshua's worship, said to him. Joshua said what does my Lord say to his servant? Joshua knew that it was some epiphany of God. Joshua said you're the Lord, I'm your servant. What do you have to say? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua why don't you take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy? And Joshua did so. This is the exact same thing that Jesus told Moses in the burning bush Take off your sandals, because where you're standing is holy ground.
Speaker 1:I think when we understand that Jesus is not just appearing in our life, but Jesus is present in our life, we will live our lives in more holiness, because we will understand that we are living in the presence of his holiness and we will want to obey him more. Why? Because Jesus is present with us in his life and we have direct access to Jesus. We have a night I want you to write this down Wednesday night, january 8th, the first Wednesday of the year after Wednesday the 1st, and we're gonna have a night of prayer at 6.30,. Why? Because I want us to get together as a church. We're gonna do it in here, probably sometime in the spring, but January 8th we're gonna do it up in the sanctuary. I want all of us to meet up in the sanctuary together and we're going to have a night of prayer and we're going to have a night of worship and we're going to call on God together. I want you to be there, I want your family to be there, and I want us to pray to God that he would accomplish what he wants to accomplish in our church in the year of 2025. Put your hands together right now, because that's what we want. We want God to work in our church. We don't want what we want, we want what he wants.
Speaker 1:You have direct access to him. Do you realize that this week there was an incident that happened in the community? That was kind of a safety incident that I was aware of and I wanted to know more about it. Why? Because I'm nosy. That's why. And so I called the person who I knew that was the highest up in the chain of command that could tell me exactly what was going on, and his name is David. And I said David, you got to tell me what's going on. And he said Pastor Chip, I'll tell you exactly what's going on. And he spelled it all out to me. I had direct access to this high chain of command. In the same way, you have direct access to the commander of the Lord's army, you have direct access to Jesus himself.
Speaker 1:I want you to know what do we learn from this passage that we're in the presence of Jesus. Listen to me. What is the fight that you are caught up in right now? What is the battle that is raging in your life right now? You need to allow Jesus to fight for you. We simply need to worship Jesus, we need to trust Jesus. We need to ask Jesus. What do you, my Lord, say to me, your servant? We need to just take off at times and just get on our knees, get on our face and just pray to God. Say God, I can't do this. I need you to fight. I need you to fight on my behalf. Why? Because he is for you, he is with you. Next, very quickly, jesus is sending you. Everybody say sending, sending Jesus is sending you. Everybody say sending, sending Jesus is sending you.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, chapter six. Isaiah, chapter six says this is talking about the prophet Isaiah, and he gives Isaiah a vision of heaven. It says in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. He gives him a vision of God in heaven. It says and the train of his robe, of God's robe, filled the up. He gives them a vision of God in heaven. It says and the train of his robe, of God's robe, filled the temple. He said.
Speaker 1:Above him stood the seraphim. What does seraphim mean? It means fiery ones. These are fiery angels. We don't exactly know what that means, but somehow, someway they're burning there. They look like fire.
Speaker 1:It says each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet and with two that angel flew. Those angels flew and one called to another and said holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. If you remember, when we were back in Leviticus, we learned that holy means set apart. In other words, god, you are set apart, set apart, set apart. In other words, god, you are set apart, set apart, set apart. In other words, god, you are unique, unique, unique. You are only, only, only you are unlike, unlike, unlike anything in everyone else. God, you're pure, you're pure, you're pure. God, you're perfect, you're perfect, you're perfect. All of that is wrapped up into these words Holiness times, holiness times, holiness into affinity is the holiness of God, which means that God will not make a mistake in your life. What is happening in your life is not a mistake of God. God is with you, he's fighting for you. He's present in your life, it says.
Speaker 1:And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of God who called, and the house was filled with smoke and Isaiah said whoa, it's me. Notice, isaiah did not say whoa, this is awesome, whoa, is anybody else seeing this besides me? That's not his reaction. Isaiah's reaction is whoa. The word whoa, the Hebrew, is oy, and oy means a passionate cry out of despair, guilt. He says woe is me, for I am lost and I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Notice, when Isaiah saw God, he didn't say God, you are so holy, it's a good thing you're here, because we got a bunch of sinners over here that need you God.
Speaker 1:Isaiah didn't say that. He said God, I'm first, I am a man of unclean lips. When we acknowledge and recognize the presence of Jesus in our life, the conviction is on our sin before we are bothered by other people's sin. But he also said I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. He was not only convicted for himself, he was convicted for all of the people of God. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts, the one of the seraphim flew. One of those angels flew. Isaiah said to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with from the tongs, from the altar what is that? Altar when they would do all of the sacrifices, the altar where the incense would be. So that he went and he took one of those burning coals from the altar and notice, the angel didn't say no, isaiah.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, you're a prophet, we've called you, You're good, it's everybody else. No, the angel is saying you're right, you are unholy, you are unclean. You do need this coal to atone for your language, to atone for your lips. He touched my mouth and he said behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. What a reminder that Jesus, if you're already a believer, if you are already giving your life to him, that he has already done this in your life. It is the blood of Jesus that has washed away your sin, literally atoned for your sin. Atoned means covering over that. Jesus' blood has covered over your sin. So when we come into contact with our uncleanness and we're convicted of our sin, that is the moment that we confess our sin and we're asking God to forgive us of our sin. Why? Because Jesus' blood has already been applied to your life. Can I get an amen? His blood's been applied to your life.
Speaker 1:Isaiah said, and I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And Isaiah, if you can just picture it, he sees the glory of God, the holiness of God, in that moment. God forgives him of his sin. And God said who's gonna go and who's gonna tell everybody? God says for us, speaking of the Trinity, who's gonna go and spread the gospel? And you can see Isaiah's countenance change from woe to excitement. You can see his hands shoot in the air. You can see him jumping up and down. You can see him saying God pick me, god choose me. Oh God, please send me. Oh God, can I please have the opportunity to go and tell people about who you are? God, can I please have the pleasure and the privilege of spreading the gospel so that people can be forgiven too? And that's exactly what Jesus is doing. Jesus is sending you. He sends us into ministry so that people can know Jesus, like we get to know Jesus. And Jesus does this. He sends you in big ways and small ways. There's a letter, an email that I got to read in the past couple of weeks, and it's from one of you here in this room and writing to Anna Lewis, her and Evan married couple. They are the directors of our elementary ministry here. And this person said hey, anna, I hope your week is going well.
Speaker 1:Two things have happened recently that I believe are a message from God to me. She said first in my devotion a few days ago. The author was talking about having an impact. She said to think about the children in your life. She said I was sad to realize that there are no children in my life right now. She said that a couple of nights ago I had a dream about being in a children's Sunday school class that was disorganized and chaotic. She said to me the message is clear it's time for me to use my gifts and my experience as a teacher and to teach our children on Sunday mornings.
Speaker 1:What I'm hoping is that you have a need that I could meet in the beginning of January. Would you put your hands together right now for how God moves and how God calls and how God sends people? Does God send us to other nations? Yes. Does God send us into a children's ministry? Yes, nations, yes. Does God send us into a children's ministry? Yes, right now we have an opportunity in the one-year-old class here during this hour, during the 11. We've got so many one-year-olds Y'all having so many babies that we had to open up a new class, and so maybe there's a group, a Sunday school class, maybe there's a connection group that can say look, we'll rotate in because we want to make sure that we have enough volunteers for our children's ministry so our children get to know Jesus the way that we know Jesus. I want you to know, just like Isaiah and we see here in John, chapter 12, verse 41, that the apostle John in the New Testament said Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke of him. The Bible says that Isaiah saw Jesus.
Speaker 1:In the same way, jesus loves to be present in your life. And I don't know about you, but there are some days not every day, but there are some days that I'm in the word of God and it's like Jesus appears in my life. Are some days not every day, but there are some days that I'm in the word of God and it's like Jesus appears in my life more vividly and more clearly than other days, and there are days in my life that I am more aware of his holiness, there are days in my devotion that I'm more aware of his presence. It's almost like in those days that God just peels back the clouds. He peels back what I'm able to see physically and it's almost like he opens my eyes spiritually, in my ears, hear him louder than ever. And as we get these visions of God that he allows us to have, our reaction, and and our response should first and foremost be conviction God forgive me, god cleanse me. And then, when he does, our response should be God send me.
Speaker 1:The question is not is if God is sending you? The question is who is God sending you to? Who has God put in your life to be this witness? Who has God put in your life so that they can know him, like you have the opportunity to know him? Not only is Jesus fighting your battles, not only is Jesus sending you, but, lastly, jesus is with you. Everybody say with Jesus is with you. Now, this is going to be a little different and I'll be done. I don't normally do this, but I'm just going to read to you a passage of Scripture, because I believe that God loves to speak for himself through his word. Can I get an amen? He loves to speak for himself, so I'm not even going to comment on it. Word. Can I get an amen? He loves to speak for himself, so I'm not even going to comment on it. I just want to read this for you and I want for you to experience it through the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life. Daniel, chapter 3, verses 19 through 30.
Speaker 1:Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, meshach and Abednego. And he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were baled in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace was overheated. And the flame of the fire killed those men who even took Shadrach, meshach and Abednego. And these three men, shadrach, meshach and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. The king Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. He rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors did we not cast these three men bound into the fire. And they answered to the king true, o king, we did. And he answered. And he said the king said but I see four men unbound and they're walking around in the midst of the fire and they're not even hurt.
Speaker 1:And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Put your hands together right now. That is Jesus. That is with Shadrach, meshach, abednego. The whole point is that Jesus walks with you in the furnace of your fire. He's present in your life. He's present in your life.
Speaker 1:Nebuchadnezzar the king. He came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace and he declared Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out, come here. So they came out from the fire. The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. There is something that is more powerful than Jesus taking you out of the fiery furnace that you're going through in your life, and here's something more powerful than Jesus removing you is that Jesus is present with you and that Jesus empowers you. He's with you through the fire. The hair of their heads was not singed. Their cloaks were not even harmed, there was not even a smell of fire that had come upon them.
Speaker 1:Nebuchadnezzar answered and said Blessed be the God of Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel, the angel of the Lord, and delivered his servants, who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies, rather than to serve and worship any God except for their own God. That's what God is calling us to do to not worship anyone or anything else than him. That's what God is calling us to do to not worship anyone or anything else than him. He said. Therefore, I make a decree any people, nation or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins. For there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. There's no one else, not even you, who can rescue you. Only God, the one true God, only Jesus. Then the king promoted Shadrach, meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 2. You ever seen this verse before? God says when you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. And when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you. This is what Jesus is presently doing in your life and he's calling us to trust him doing in your life and he's calling us to trust him. He's calling us to worship him, he's calling us to recognize him. Why? Because Jesus's very name, the name that we got to sing together earlier, the name Emmanuel. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When you sing and when you call upon Emmanuel, you are calling on the name of Jesus, and his very name means that he's with you.
Speaker 1:Our little girl, brooklyn Rose, five years old. Brooklyn means brokenness. Rose means beauty. I believe that God is calling beauty out of brokenness from our little girl's life. Our little boy, cruz, two years old. Cruz. Richard Cruz means cross. Richard means strong leader. My prayer for him every day and every night is that God's hand would be on his life and that he would be such a strong leader to lead others to the cross of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Our little Eliana, joy. Eliana means the Lord has answered Joy, talking about happiness in the Lord. God has answered our prayers to all of our infertility. She was our first naturally born child, joy. I've never seen a more smiling baby in my entire life.
Speaker 1:Jesus' name the definition of his name, emmanuel, is that he is with you, he is fighting for you, he is forgiving you, he is sending you All, because he doesn't just appear in your life. He's forgiving you, he is sending you All because he doesn't just appear in your life. He's present in your life, even in the fiery furnace that you're going through. Can I just ask us to bow our heads and close our eyes? With every head bowed, every eye closed, I just wanna encourage you right now.
Speaker 1:Maybe you've already given your life to him. Maybe you've already called on him to be your Lord, your Savior, your God. Maybe you've been going through such a difficult time that you just need Jesus to fight for you. You just need Jesus to forgive you. You just need to know that Jesus is with you. You just need Jesus to forgive you. You just need to know that Jesus is with you. He's so merciful, he's so gracious, he loves you so much. That's exactly what he is doing and all that he will do in your life.
Speaker 1:You just ask him for the faith, to see him, even when you don't feel him. Ask him for the faith to see him even when you don't feel him, even when you don't recognize it, even when you doubt it. Ask Jesus to give you the faith, the eyes to recognize his presence in your life. And maybe you're here this morning that you've not given your life to him, you don't yet have a relationship with him. But this is your opportunity right now. Maybe God is calling your name, maybe your heart is racing, maybe you are.
Speaker 1:You just feel convicted, maybe you feel compelled this morning, unlike any other time before, just to give all of yourself to him. Here's the best news he gave all of himself for you, on the cross. So, right here, right now, you can call his name and you can say Jesus, jesus, jesus. I need you, jesus, I believe in you. Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and I'm asking you to forgive me of all of my sin my past, my present, my future. Jesus, forgive me of all of my sin. I pray you can say Jesus, I believe that you rose from the dead, you're alive and you're real, so I call on you to be the Lord of my life.
Speaker 1:The Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Jesus, be my Lord, be my God, be my Savior, and you will be saved. Jesus. We believe Lord, be my God, be my Savior, and you will be saved. Jesus. We believe that we pray that in Jesus' name and all God's people said Would you put your hands together for anybody that prayed that this morning, that gave their life to Jesus? We're so thankful. We just want to say welcome to the family. Just want to remind you. In the seat back in front of you, we got a next step card. You can indicate on that card I gave my life to Jesus. You can indicate on that card I need to be baptized. You can indicate on that card I need to join the church or join a group or join a ministry. However, god is working in your life. You can indicate that on the card.
Speaker 1:Let's stand together right now and we're gonna worship Jesus one more time because he is present with us in this room. If you believe that, say amen, he is with you, he is for you and we get to worship him together. Heavenly Father, we just want to say thank you for Jesus, thank you that he appeared throughout the Old Testament. And, jesus, we just want to say thank you for being present in our life, thank you for fighting our battles for us. Jesus, we just wanna say thank you for forgiving us, thank you for sending us Jesus, thank you for being present with us Jesus. Would you give us eyes to see you, jesus, would you empower us for the fiery furnace of our life? And, jesus, we pray that we would be a church that point people to you and to you alone, and invite people to be a part of what you're doing here in your church. In Jesus' name, we pray. All God's people said let's sing to him together right now.