God Is Still With Us

he's great a lot of uh people throughout history have acquired that tag under their name like alexander the great other people have been called great for something that they've done something they've achieved maybe a skill set that they have and while those people are certainly deserving at times of that tag on the end of their name they're certainly worthy of being called great there's only one person who really measures up to the full potential of that word and that is jesus if anybody has ever been great it was and is jesus alexander can't help me muhammad ali i don't have any bullies i need taken care of baseball players or sports figures they're fun to watch but at the end of the day that's about all they can do for you is entertain you but when it comes to jesus his greatness has more to do with entertainment his greatness has more to do with maybe some of the things that we could watch him do as awesome as that might be you know you see him walk on water and things like that that's great that's pretty cool but his greatness for us really stems from his working in our lives that we once were in one place and now we're in another once we had one experience of life and because god got involved things turned around and for that reason i can sing that song it's more than just lyrics i'm not just mimicking the words that are on the screen i mean it when i say how great is this god that we serve how amazing how magnificent how unimaginable is this jesus that can get involved in the lives of the people in this room and can take them from where they were and place them somewhere else each and every one of us have a story in this room and that story reveals the greatness of god reveals the greatness of god and i know we believe that i know we believe that i'm going to read one quick portion of scripture here at the beginning i'll have you all be seated matthew 28 and verse 20 and i'm i'm really focusing on the second half of this verse that it sort of spliced in the middle of jesus's thought here but the first half he's commanded him he says teach these disciples that you're going to make to obey everything i've commanded you and then he adds this to close out what he has to say he says and surely i am with you always to the very end of the age surely there's no doubt about it surely i am with you always even to the very end of the age there is no limit to the presence of god i don't know if you remember a few months ago i i preached or taught a lesson called reflections of a christian and i said that was the title because things peter's been thinking about didn't sound as nice and i said that i might do a part two of reflections of a christian this is sort of a part two or things peter's been thinking about as he reads his bible as he looks at the world but a subtitle this is is simply god is still with us god is still with us he hasn't gone anywhere he hasn't got confused he hasn't ran away he hasn't lost hope in us he hasn't run out of ideas of how to help us how to strengthen us how to work in the world work in our lives no god is still with us and that promise was made to us in this opening text where he says and surely i am with you always there's no limit to that god is with us always even to the very end of the age i wonder if we could offer up a thanksgiving for that promise before we're seated lord we're thankful that we always have your presence we always have your strength we always have the hope of you being around lord we're thankful for that we don't ever want to take advantage we don't ever want to get so used to that that we don't pay attention to the fact that you promised to stick by us jesus through the thick and the thin through the dark times to the happy times where you promised to be here and lord we're grateful we are grateful for that jesus and we praise you for that thank you lord and everybody said amen and you can go ahead and be seated like i said this is sort of a part two of reflections of a christian aka things peter's been thinking about and what i what i mean by that is is uh i pay attention to the cultural dialogue i i pay attention to society i i keep up uh with politics as dangerous as that is i i pay attention to the concerns of my community i pay attention to the things that occupy the mind space of the people around me and whenever i do that i i don't just engage it just for the sake of listening i don't just engage the culture engage the society just for the sake of knowing what's going on i don't do it just because i'm a nosy person maybe someone could accuse me of that but that's not the reason i believe i do it i i do it because i think it makes me a better christian in the sense that i know the needs that are in my society i can hear the problems that are going on in my culture i i can see some of the issues that might be coming up there's an old saying i don't know who i don't know if it's really old i heard it and i assumed it was old just because it it sounded like it was one of those things that's been around for a while but they said to really do this whole christian thing correctly you should have a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other has anyone ever heard that or did i make it up if i did i'm writing a book oh man aaron bachman's got me and i understand that that that statement has some sentiments of course we can be too lopsided we can have too much news we can pay too much attention to the world around us and we don't really know enough scripture to engage it correctly or sometimes we can know all the scripture but we have no idea where to apply it in the world because we're not paying attention at least a little bit and so that statement that was taught to me is meant to uh capture this thought that as we engage society we do so as christians when we look out in the world when we watch the news when we hear things on facebook when we hear talk at work or we hear talk even amongst fellow church members we're not doing so in the same way as the world is we're doing it in a very different way but as i pay attention to the dialogue right now and and i mean in the culture i mean society but i also mean in church too whenever i'm talking to my fellow church members whether it's in this building or maybe at ocean college and and i hear the conversations they're having i hear the things that they have to say about people are going to stop telling me things i'm like i'm listening uh people start to tell me things that they're thinking about society about the culture and i listen to that very intently i listen to that and i pay attention because i think it makes me more effective in my prayer i think it makes me more effective in my well talking to you but as i've listened to that dialogue as i as i've listened to the things that are being said i've noticed a few things that are happening right now and one of those things is that there are immense cultural and societal fears and concerns things that we're anxious over whether it be cultural shifts that are taking place whether whether it be the political power skill that's shifting whether it be here's a big one we're worried about our religious freedoms or maybe it's this whole covet thing where we're scared out of our mind with illness and sickness and the different things that are going on and we're listening to all this different different information we're not sure what to think what to believe what to trust and on top of that it's not just culture and society on top of those things we just have everyday life burdens don't we we're worried about our job or the lack thereof we have family concerns is my family okay are they all financially okay are they physically healthy are they saved are they spiritually okay are they emotionally taken care of we have concerns about our future what am i gonna do in the coming year if 2020 taught us anything it's that future is not certain so we can be scared about that we can have concerns about that sometimes we have concerns in our day-to-day life about purpose does my life matter does my life have value am i doing things that are making a difference in the world am i doing things that are benefiting the kingdom of god or or maybe we just have life concerns am i really in correct relationship with god do i really understand the truth am i am i really getting this thing down right or if i miss something we can have all of these concerns whether it be cultural societal or everyday life burdens what it amounts to is a compounding fear a compounding confusion and we can be left feeling overwhelmed like we're out here by ourselves trying to hold up the weight of the world there's fear all around there's concerns everywhere we're running around we're putting out fires physically whether it's somebody's in a car accident i've got to go take care of this so i don't have a job we're running around like chickens with our heads cut off or we're putting out emotional or spiritual fires maybe we're dealing with things inside but we're running around and if anyone has ever felt overwhelmed at times there is this thing that happens it makes you feel isolated to yourself like you're the only one dealing with these issues like you're the only one that is attacking your life trying to take responsibility for your life you can feel alone you can feel overwhelmed you can feel like the waves of life are overtaking you and if we're not careful we can buy into that feeling of being overwhelmed we can succumb to it i've done it before i i know what it feels like there's a bit of hopelessness that takes place but as an answer to that as i've reflected on that and i've seen it in my own life that when you look around there's so much going on you you feel closed in as i've thought about that and i've reflected i i also begin to reflect on what scripture has to say to these concerns what the bible has to say about these sort of mentalities that can take over our minds and what i have for us tonight is that i i can make the case i think that the gospel of matthew as a whole there's there's a neat thing that goes on in this gospel it attempts to combat those feelings that were out here alone trying to do this all by ourself i i think there's something neat going on in the gospel of matthew and here's here's where i want to give it away at the beginning so at the very end i read that opening text where i i said that jesus promised i will be with you always i'm not going anywhere i'm going to be with you even to the end of the age but when we go to the very beginning of the the gospel of matthew we find something very similar jesus is being born matthew's telling the story of the birth of christ and he gets to the point where he's joseph has had the dream all this different vision stuff's going on and matthew says this he says all of this was done all of this happened meaning jesus being born all the angels all that stuff to fulfill what the lord has said through the prophet and then he quotes that prophet next verse he says the virgin will be with the child and will give birth to his son and they will call him emmanuel which means god with us so the very beginning of the gospel of matthew we have that promise matthew writes and he says hey this baby jesus the presence of christ on the face of the earth is the fulfillment of that old prophetic promise that god would be with his people he would dwell amongst them and then at the very close of the gospel of matthew that same promise is reiterated out of the mouth of jesus hey god is gonna be with you all the way even to the end of the age if you will at the end of matthew he says this god is still with you we have the promise at the beginning jesus being born god's with us at the end jesus said god is still with you now what about the middle the beginning the end is cool what about the middle here's what i i think about it matthew makes his case god with us that's what jesus is all about which means the life of jesus everything that he did everything that he accomplishes in the gospel of matthew is to explain is to show what it means for god to be with us i was hoping for something more there think back over the stories of the gospel the life of jesus is what it looks like for god to be with us i'm going to throw a bunch of scripture at you real quick okay in matthew 4 15 and 23 jesus comes and he proclaims the kingdom he teaches in the synagogues he preaches the good news of the kingdom he heals the sick and he casts out demons and that that's jesus's motto it actually pops up almost word for word a couple times throughout the gospel of matthew where it says jesus taught in the synagogues he preached the good news of the kingdom he healed the sick and he cast out demons he just went around doing that god with us that's what it looks like god with us matthew chapter five through seven jesus reveals the truth on the sermon on the mount and it the climaxes in that ultimate truth which when he says in matthew 6 33 seek first the kingdom of god and everything you could be concerned about in life and the righteousness of god will be added to you in math 8 3 jesus reaches down and he touches a leper and he heals him he doesn't just heal him you have to understand leprosy in that day and age made you ritually unclean matthew makes sure to include the fact that jesus reaches and touches that leper jesus wasn't afraid to put himself in a compromising position to heal that leprous man and i'll say more about this later but god is not afraid of difficult circumstances god is not afraid of compromising positions in which he can reach into your life as difficult as it might be and rescue you out of that situation matthew 9 2 and 6 he heals a lame man and forgives his sins this is what god with us looks like in matthew 9 23-25 he raises the dead he brings somebody back from death in matthew 9 29-30 he heals the blind and the mute in matthew 9 37-38 he calls disciples to purpose and action in the kingdom of god in matthew 11 28-30 he offers rest and a new way of living life in matthew 14 19-21 he feeds the 5 000 he takes what seems like insufficient funds just a few loaves and a few fish he takes insufficient resources and he creates abundance out of that that's what it looks like to have god with us in matthew 18 15-35 jesus teaches what it means to offer forgiveness and oh how the world could use that lesson right about now matthew 21 12-13 and 23 and 26-64 jesus confronts the religious corruption hypocrisy and misuse of power in matthew 24 jesus reveals the future in matthew 27 11 jesus maintains his identity even in the face of political pressures in matthew 27 32-54 and 28-1-10 jesus accepts the cross makes the sacrifice for sin and defeats death in his resurrection this is what it looks like for god to be with us in matthew 28 18-19 jesus commissions us to pursue kingdom things to pursue his kingdom again first and in matthew 28 20 our opening text he reminds us that this sort of behavior which was associated with the presence of christ does not go away when jesus's physical feet leave the planet i just had a lot of fun i just had a lot of fun i just went through the entire gospel of matthew in which matthew is trying to make this case yes jesus is god with us do you want to know what that looks like it looks like healings it looks like deliverance it looks like provisional needs are met it looks like people find purpose it looks like people find something to do for the kingdom of god it looks like all of these things that jesus was doing while he was here and really i i can't imagine the relief and comfort that people experienced in christ's day when they knew he was around trying to put ourselves in that position if we read the gospel matthew i know some people were just there for for the sign they just wanted the miracles they didn't want commitment but people were running to him people were trying to find jesus or when they heard he was around they cried out to him they were trying to get his attention because they knew what it meant that god was there they knew what it meant for god to be with them and just as god was with them in that physical sense in that day what jesus is driving home in matthew especially at the very end is that god is still with us he may not be physically here we may not be able to see him although i know people that have had visions i don't know if i'm ready for that i know people have had visions and things like that but he may not be here physically but god the power that is associated with his presence even if it is in his presence in the form of his spirit the power of god is still available the things he did in the gospel that was common stock when jesus was around and i believe it should be common stock right now because god is still with us there is a tendency there may be a tendency at least i've had a tendency in my life to believe that christ's physical presence and the power that's associated with it was relegated to that day at least we have that disconnect in our mind right sometimes we can have that disconnect we can't see him we don't hear his actual voice and so sometimes maybe we forget it's not intentional it's not on purpose but slowly and by accident we can get there we can become content with the way things are we can become content with with our relationship with god or we can become so focused on the waves around us that we take our eyes off jesus we take our eyes off the reality of what it means that god is with us but the truth is simply this god is still with us let me just say that again for a fact the church should should have confidence from this statement god is still with us he's still even in this room tonight we're not out here alone yes we can look around and we can have these pressures from society or culture yes we can get really burdened down with the pressures of life with the cares of life and and these are not they're valid there's things that we have to pay attention to yes but we're not out here by ourselves we're not out here trying to fight this thing alone we're not out here thinking that we have to figure out a way to conquer all of the obstacles that are coming our way no we just have to realize that god is still with us and we don't have to do it all by ourselves in fact many times in the gospel you know what happened jesus i know i can't do it but i know you can so why don't you come and please help me with my situation why don't you please come and step into my situation and sometimes in our lives in this modern era we can say well i've got to be strong and tough and i've got to exhaust every option before i go to jesus i do it all the time my wife was telling me a while back she's like i've never seen you cry well i don't know why you pay attention to that but there'll be times where i'm i'm crying i'm in the presence of god i'm like lord i'm really struggling and i'm like suck it up jesus only helps people that help themselves you all know what i'm talking about but instead of that motto i think we should adopt that gospel model jesus i don't have the answer jesus i don't know what's going on in society i don't even really want to pay attention anymore to all the confusion but you have the answer and you're on my side and you're with me and so i can rely on you i can trust in you church god is still with us he's still on our side god still reveals truth in a world full of lies he still reveals truth in a world full of deception god can still reach down into compromising positions like he did for that leper in difficult situations he can reach down to those and he can bring deliverance and he can bring healing i know sometimes we can get so lost in our own situations and again that that idea pops up god only helps those who help themselves i need to figure my life out and then god will step in the leper couldn't do any more well maybe you shouldn't hung out with leprous people you know we're past that he's in a mess right now and jesus reaches down and touches them that is god with us and god is still with us he'll still reach down in those difficult situations god can still forgive sins he still is forgiving sins god can still provide purpose just like he did while his feet his physical feet were on this earth he can still give rest and offer a better way of living life god can still take what seems insufficient and produce abundance and that can be taken many different ways if you need a provisional need monetary he can take what seems insufficient in your bank account and he can work a miracle and he can turn it into abundance i just believe that i just believe he did it once and god's still with us he can do it again i just have a confidence in god to do that okay i believe he can take what seems insufficient maybe a small prayer maybe a small faith maybe a small belief and he can take those insufficient funds and he can turn it into abundance he can turn it into a miracle he can turn it into a healing god is still with us he is still working the miraculous he is still working in the lives of his people he is still doing all of those things he can still teach the world how to forgive not only can he forgive the world but he can teach the world how to forgive do we believe that i've looked into society for so long i've wondered have people forgotten what forgiveness is it's all about retribution it's all about somebody's got to pay but jesus steps onto the scene because he's still here he says no if you don't forgive people their sins then your father will not forgive you of yours he can teach an unforgiving world how to forgive and he'll do it by forgiving them in the first place god can still do that god can still confront the cultural and political powers and reveal their true nature you listen enough to the news you're like everyone's lying y'all with me ain't nobody telling the truth can't go anywhere and just get the facts everybody's got to take everybody's got to spin everybody's got a point that they have to prove even if it doesn't make sense and i'm listening i'm like did they watch the same thing god can confront those powers of deception i'm not worried about him i try to speak truth and preach truth and believe truth and i pray god protect me from lies and protect me from deception i think that's a prayer we ought to pray but at the end of the day i'm not afraid of them i'm not afraid of the powers that seek to tell whatever thing they want to tell out in a society i'm not afraid of them because god did it once he revealed their true nature he called them out he can do it again and he preserved his people through that process he kept them safe and secure through that process god can do it again god can still embolden us to stand strong even in the face of societal pressures god can still work in this city god can still work in this country god can still work in this world we are not alone out here doing this by ourselves god is still with us i wonder if we believe that tonight god is still with us sometimes in my prayer life i won't call them visions i call them using my imagination sometimes in my prayer life while i pray i like to imagine as if jesus was physically walking around i prayed one time for my family i said god there's a lot of things going on my family there's some issues happening and and i was praying and i said god i just god i need an army i need an angelic army to fight what's going on again i don't know if i'm spiritual enough to call them visions i'll just say i was using my imagination but the lord knows which one it is i was standing like this facing a wall in my den and i was praying and i just felt a presence move into the room and i remember my eyes were closed my head was about but i turned around and in my mind i i remember seeing a small army they're crowded in my little doorway that leads to my den if you've ever been to my house you know it can only be a small army but and standing at the front of that army all behind them was jesus and i and i felt god speak to me he said you wanted an army here i am and here they are god is still in the business of showing up we may not see him physically we may not see him in bodily form but he shows up in fact he's here right now sometimes we can say that and we can amend that but whenever i read the bible and i read stories i'm going to read one in matthew 20 here in a second i read stories of someone realizing oh jesus is here and i see the reaction sometimes i i really do wonder and i know we're in a different day and age and we have different etiquette and things i understand all that but sometimes i wonder do i do i really i really believed i really still have those feelings like those people had those feelings when jesus showed up in matthew 20 and starting verse 29 it says as jesus and his disciples were leaving jericho a large crowd followed them and two blind men were sitting by the roadside and when they heard that jesus was going by they heard he was in the vicinity and they knew who he was they had heard the stories they knew the power that was associated with his presence it says they shouted they said lord son of david have mercy on us they were blind they were physically handicapped they couldn't get up and move people had to lead them they didn't know what else to do they just did what they could i know jesus is around i know his presence is here i know god is with us right in this moment so jesus if you're here i've got a need will you meet me here it says the crowd rebuked them told them to be quiet but they shouted all the louder because god was walking with them right by him shouted all the louder lord son of david have mercy on us it says jesus stopped jesus was a busy man he had a lot of things to do some people estimate that he walked 20 plus miles a day maybe he wanted to stop i don't know jesus stopped and he called them they had been calling out to him he called them he said what do you want me to do for you and they asked with they asked with such faith they knew what he was capable of they didn't say well if it's possible you know if you're still kind of doing this thing no he said lord we want our sight we want our sight he had already healed some blind people earlier in the story matthew he said lord we want our sight so jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately they received their sight and followed him i believe that could be common in the church today because that same presence that stopped and called to those blind men is the same presence that is walking in this room right now and if mike will come and help me he's going to help me help us visualize some things here sometimes we can get caught up in the fact that yeah you i can see you and you can see me but we can't always see jesus but we can feel them i i understand all that but just as real because michael is right now walking through these aisles jesus is just as real just as true as it is that he is within earshot of whatever you might have to say to him jesus is with an earshot of whatever you might have to say to him just as true as it is is he's close enough that he could walk to you if you cried out to him or or maybe you could get up and it's just a short journey to get to michael just as true as that is about him it is just as true if not more that you could get up and find jesus tonight if you would cry out he's close enough he would come and visit with you tonight i i wonder if the same spirit that got a hold of those two blind men could get a hold of us tonight i i know there's pressures i i know there's issues i know there's problems but jesus is passing by god is still with us and if we would only get a hold of that and say jesus thou son of david i i need your presence in my life i need help in my life i need your strength in my life god is still with us he will meet you wherever you are he'll meet you in your situation he'll meet you in your problem he'll meet you in your trial he'll meet you wherever you need him to meet you he will meet you because he is still with us don't let the world don't let the enemy don't let your own mind ever convince you that we have some great distance between us in our god and savior he is still walking among us he is still with us we're going to begin to sing and play here but i know it's wednesday i know it's stormy outside but jesus is here god is with us if you have a need tonight we've got social distancing places up at the altar you can pray in your pews jesus is take advantage of the presence of christ right now don't let jesus walk by what if those blind men would have just let jesus pass by without ever calling out to him what if that was the story they would have never received their miracle they never would have received the work of god in their life let's not let him pass by tonight