Sabbath 12/10/16 Seventh Day Baptist Daytona Pastor Wray sermon “What’s In a Name?” Isaiah 7:14-15
We are in the advent season preceding the birth of Jesus. Advent is a season of preparation. It’s a season of preparation for Jesus’s arrival. We spend so much time decorating and shopping that by the time Christmas day comes, we are burnt out. We are ready for the New Year to come. Traditionally the 12 days of Christmas was a celebration of Jesus’s birth that is to come on Christmas day. During this season we should focus on the prophetic scriptures about the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Jesus’ birth 700 years before Mary and Joseph’s time. God made a promise to Judah to deliver them from their enemies. He told them the sign that would prove He would save and deliver them. This sign was that a virgin would give birth to a son named Immanuel and that He would reject evil and choose good.
Seven hundred years later, Joseph thought to break up with his fiancé who had just gotten pregnant by someone else. The angel of the Lord tells Joseph in a dream, that the child is from the Lord. The child is to be named Jesus and called Immanuel. God promised in the book of Isaiah that He would deliver his people through a child name Immanuel. The name Jesus means God saves you from your sins. This name Jesus meant a lot to the Jewish people. The angel tells Joseph that Jesus will deliver the people from a different kind of wilderness than the one they were in with Joshua. This new wilderness is the wilderness of our sins. This sin poisons our relationship with God and other people. We are all infected with sin and our righteousness is as filthy rags. Jesus will make us pure again and bring healing into our lives. It’s important to hear and obey Jesus because He had come to save the world and not to judge it. He has come to save us from the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ or Lord.
Jesus also saves us from the power of sin. Through Jesus, we have died to sin and it has lost its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin and it has no control over our lives. Jesus saves us from the practice of sin. God gives us the strength to resist temptations and follow God’s promises instead of following sin. The name of Jesus is more than just a name. It is a statement of who He is and that He is the one to set us free so we can follow God. Immanuel means God is with us. God will be with us thru this man Immanuel, Jesus. God is with us. God came in the flesh as Jesus, to visit the earth. He came as a human child, as baby Jesus. Thru Jesus, God was with us. In Christ all the fullness of God lived in a bodily form. When Mary and Joseph kissed their baby boy, they were kissing the face of God. They had the responsibility of raising the Son of God. God was and is with us thru his son Jesus. Jesus is Immanuel, God is with us.
God came to the earth to show His love for us. He wanted to show that He cares for us so much that He would die for us on the cross. Jesus took this humble position for us. God kept his promise that He gave back in the book of Isaiah. He kept his Immanuel promise. God wants us to know that we are not alone. No matter how isolated we may fee, we are not alone because God is always with us! God wants us to be close to Him like family. He doesn’t want us to be alone. Jesus’ last words were that He will always be with us even to the end of time. What’s in a name? Everything when the names are Jesus and Immanuel.
AMEN
We are in the advent season preceding the birth of Jesus. Advent is a season of preparation. It’s a season of preparation for Jesus’s arrival. We spend so much time decorating and shopping that by the time Christmas day comes, we are burnt out. We are ready for the New Year to come. Traditionally the 12 days of Christmas was a celebration of Jesus’s birth that is to come on Christmas day. During this season we should focus on the prophetic scriptures about the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Jesus’ birth 700 years before Mary and Joseph’s time. God made a promise to Judah to deliver them from their enemies. He told them the sign that would prove He would save and deliver them. This sign was that a virgin would give birth to a son named Immanuel and that He would reject evil and choose good.
Seven hundred years later, Joseph thought to break up with his fiancé who had just gotten pregnant by someone else. The angel of the Lord tells Joseph in a dream, that the child is from the Lord. The child is to be named Jesus and called Immanuel. God promised in the book of Isaiah that He would deliver his people through a child name Immanuel. The name Jesus means God saves you from your sins. This name Jesus meant a lot to the Jewish people. The angel tells Joseph that Jesus will deliver the people from a different kind of wilderness than the one they were in with Joshua. This new wilderness is the wilderness of our sins. This sin poisons our relationship with God and other people. We are all infected with sin and our righteousness is as filthy rags. Jesus will make us pure again and bring healing into our lives. It’s important to hear and obey Jesus because He had come to save the world and not to judge it. He has come to save us from the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life thru Jesus Christ or Lord.
Jesus also saves us from the power of sin. Through Jesus, we have died to sin and it has lost its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin and it has no control over our lives. Jesus saves us from the practice of sin. God gives us the strength to resist temptations and follow God’s promises instead of following sin. The name of Jesus is more than just a name. It is a statement of who He is and that He is the one to set us free so we can follow God. Immanuel means God is with us. God will be with us thru this man Immanuel, Jesus. God is with us. God came in the flesh as Jesus, to visit the earth. He came as a human child, as baby Jesus. Thru Jesus, God was with us. In Christ all the fullness of God lived in a bodily form. When Mary and Joseph kissed their baby boy, they were kissing the face of God. They had the responsibility of raising the Son of God. God was and is with us thru his son Jesus. Jesus is Immanuel, God is with us.
God came to the earth to show His love for us. He wanted to show that He cares for us so much that He would die for us on the cross. Jesus took this humble position for us. God kept his promise that He gave back in the book of Isaiah. He kept his Immanuel promise. God wants us to know that we are not alone. No matter how isolated we may fee, we are not alone because God is always with us! God wants us to be close to Him like family. He doesn’t want us to be alone. Jesus’ last words were that He will always be with us even to the end of time. What’s in a name? Everything when the names are Jesus and Immanuel.
AMEN