Liverpool One Church
God With Us | Emma Bryant
[Music] Hi, welcome to our podcast. To learn more about Liverpool One Church, join us live, give financially and to get involved, head to the poolonechurch.com. We believe God wants to do great things in and through your life today. Enjoy this message. [Music] God, we thank You Father, God, for Your promises are faithful, His promise to You is faithful. He is a faithful God, He is a good God, and when You are feeling Your Word, so when You are in Your weakest, He is at the strongest. And I think simply because of that, we can give Him more glory and more honor because He's disturbing us in today's church. Amen. [Music] Father, just as we sing about Your goodness, just as we sing about Your promises. We sing about Your faithfulness to our lives. Oh God, I pray that in return we will be people that are keen to learn and hear from Your Word. I pray, Lord, God, that the faithfulness is a two-way thing. It's not just what we can get from You, but it's who we can become before You. It's what we can bring to Your house. So I pray, God, as we gather around Your Word, Lord, that You will speak into the lives of people as only You can. God, that there's no words that I could say that could manipulate or conjure up a hype. But I lean on the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit to land these words home in the heart of us as individuals. God, that we may see You differently when we leave this place today and ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. And amen. Go ahead and take your seats. Well, it's so good that you are in church with us today. Well done, the 10 o'clock, the raring-to-go group of people. So I expect a bit of life in this room today, but whether you're here, whether you're watching online, you are most welcome. And if this is your home church, if this is your family church, you will know last week we took in our legacy above and beyond offering and pledges. And from the bottom of our hearts from Luke, myself, the tea, the home church, we want to say thank you for your pledges. And over the coming weeks, you're going to find out exactly how much we brought into the storehouse and our plans for it. And you know, last week you've got to take these cards home and you got to decide, preferably as couples, as individuals, what your pledge would be. If you didn't get to take a card home, you can still take one home today because we are still collecting these cards in. And there are options some people chose to give a one-off pledge above and beyond that some people have chose to do it monthly. And that's good too. And so there are various ways and options for you to participate in this. We just come through and about everyone's series and we are building a future house that is going to be about way more people that are in the three services of this church and we've got to make space for them and this is our preparation for that. So we want to say thank you and you can hear a little bit more about this at the end also. But today we get to start a brand new series and it's everything coming up to Christmas. And yeah, that was so exciting of you all. Like it is Christmas people. It's Christmas. I love Christmas. My home looks like a grotto. I am thoroughly into it all. I love every aspect of the mess and the shopping and the wrapping and the packing and this is the point that I want to drive home today before I release to you what what it is that we're going to be talking in and around. There are two famous Christmas stories. One is about a child, a Christ child born in a manger and the other is about Santa and the sleigh bringing Christmas presents to the whole world in one night. One is a fable, one is a truth. However, if we don't understand the truth and we don't fully know the meaning of the truth, we will end up with a generation that get the two completely confused and they think the birth of Jesus is a fable like Santa and so we end up with school children who think reindeer were at the manger when Jesus was born and three wise elves came to give him gifts because it just becomes a little bit of a Christmas blare. So this coming series leading up to Christmas we want to talk to you around this subject the way in the manger. Now I want to open today by blowing three Christmas myths from you when it comes to the nativity scene. You see this time of year we're going to see it on the front of Christmas cards, it's going to be on calendars, it's in shop windows, it's in market places, you will see the nativity scene and traditionally what you will see is you will see a stable and a star and you will see three wise men and you will see Mary and Joseph and a baby in a manger and you will see some shepherds and some donkeys and some cackles and we know that's the nativity scene and though that does represent what happened it is not always an accurate picture and it is important for us as followers of Christ that we understand and we know the beginnings and the foundation of our faith because if it was not for the nativity if it was not for the birth of Christ we wouldn't be here today doing what we're doing we wouldn't be gathered we wouldn't have a faith so I want to start by blowing three myths out the window the first myth that you may hear around the Christmas story is that Jesus was born in a stable well there's nowhere in the Bible that says Jesus was born in a stable it says that he was laid in a manger which is a kind of feed-in trough and what we have done is we've made presumptions or that must mean he's in a stable the Bible tells us that Mary and Joseph had gone back home to Bethlehem because actually what happened was the whole nation had to return to their birth towns to register for tax purpose so there was chaos across the land and and we read it that Mary and Joseph went back to Bethlehem and there was no room at the inn now I don't know about you but I know in my past I conjured up an image of them going from hotel to hotel literally knocking on the door and no room at the inn we all know how we've played it out at school I got to be the door knocker one year that was my star role in the Christmas nativity at school and but that is not the truth because the word in in Greek when referenced here it literally means a private house of rest what actually happened was Mary and Joseph went back to Bethlehem and they went to the home of a distant family member it was a relatives house they went to and when it says there was no room at the inn what they were meaning was she was about to give birth imminently and the house was crowded because all of the relatives had come back to the house and all of the relatives was squashed in there and they couldn't find anywhere private for her to go and give birth well it was common in those days that the houses would have either at the back of them or underneath them they would have a kind of a store room they would store pots and pans and cattle trough and sometimes cattle in those places because the people lived in proximity with animals you know like you have your dog they'd have a donkey in the sheep like it it was just normal behavior so in fact what it was would they've gone back to a family member's house there was no room for privacy so she ended up in this room where they stored pots and pans and sometimes cattle the second myth that I want to blow is that there was a couple of shepherds and they were all about 70 or 80 years old nowhere in the bible does it say that it tells us that there were shepherds which is plural who were watching their flocks again plural in fields multiple fields shepherding was a common family practice so within the family there would have been teenagers and children husbands and wives who were out there shepherding in the field I actually think one of the reasons the angel made an appearance to the shepherds was because it was one of the largest communities and the word would spread quickly through the young people and the old people and the children all at the same time it was actually really common for women to be shepherdesses at the time I mean if you go back to the book of Genesis Moses's wife supporter she was a shepherdess Rachel who was Jacob's wife she was a shepherdess but the third myth that I want to blow from your mind today is three kings that came to visit Jesus when he laid in a manger first of all they were called magi which means wise men they were the wisest men of the land there were men of high influence and high importance and we have got a few things wrong based off an 18th century song that was created called "We Three Kings of Orientar" first of all there was not three of them second of all they were not kings they were the magi they were astrologists they were highly important influential men from Persia we have just presumed there were three because there were three gifts gold frankincense and bear but the truth is the magi traveled in like a caravan of at least 12 of them 12 15 18 of them they would move together these highly influential men so there were not just three of them there were many of them when the star revealed itself to them it was over the city of David and when they went to visit Jesus Jesus was about two years old when they got to see him so when you see them at the scene at the nativity scene we've tried to like bunch it all together for story effect it's not how it was so what was it about this child what was it about this child that made grown men not only flock to him but bow before him what was it about this child that made grown men cry what was it they could see what was it they understood what did they know in their heart about this small child that maybe the rest of humanity had not yet come to understand what was it what was the significance of this baby bomb 700 years earlier it had been scripted into the Torah which is the Old Testament part of the Bible by the prophet Isaiah he had written 700 years earlier that the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel and the people understood the word Emmanuel meant God with us which was so strange to them because they'd only ever known God to be away from us God was in heaven they were on earth but the prophet had prophesied one is coming and he is God with us and so when the maggai came and when the shepherds heard they would get in a revelation this child is the fulfillment of a prophecy that was given 700 years ago Isaiah went on in chapter 9 to write for unto us a child is born and to us a child is given and the government will be upon his shoulders the government the leadership the rulership will be upon his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace 700 years before Jesus is born Isaiah begins to prophesy his character Isaiah begins to describe the very nature of this child that is going to be born two-man on this earth he begins to tell what this savior this messiah this Emmanuel what his character is going to be like he calls him wonderful well the Hebrew word for wonderful is a word called palae and palae means the miraculous so when Isaiah was saying he's going to be wonderful he was pointing out he is going to be extraordinary he's going to be beyond human comprehend comprehension he's going to be the miraculous one his birth is going to be miraculous his works are going to be miraculous he's going to be the way to your health if your body is sick he's going to be the way to reconciliation if your relationship is broken he's going to be the way to calm down your anxious thoughts he's going to be the way to your freedom when you're carrying guilt and shame this wonderful one the palae one he's going to come with authority he's going to speak authority and amaze even his critics never before will have mankind have ever experienced the unearthly wisdom that is going to come from this child he calls him counselor well the word counselor means someone who gives advice and direction this child would come to humanity and bring truth and wisdom to the earth that the world had never experienced truth and wisdom like it before he's the way if you're on lust he's the way if you're unclear he is the way if you need clarity in your thinking a counselor gives guidance and this Jesus is going to come into the world and this Jesus is going to come into your life and he's going to show you right from wrong he's going to show you God from evil he's going to reveal to you the truth and he's going to expose the lie this is what this Jesus was going to do can you believe all of this was 700 years before he came to the earth she then goes on to call him because he's calling him counselor it also means one whole device a plan he's a strategizer as i was saying he's not just coming for no reason at all he's coming with the plan he's coming with the strategy and the strategy in the plan is for mankind he's your redemptive plan from god this is who this counselor is going to be his counsel is trustworthy his counsel is life-giving his counsel is timeless and his counsel is timely you need to know him as your counselor but he's also mighty god now when he said the word mighty god the Hebrew people back in that day knew the word mighty god in in Hebrew is elgabor elgabor now gabor was a mighty warrior gabor represented a man who would fight and defend and protect people he was the the strongest of warriors so when they heard that he would be elgabor mighty god they automatically got imagery picture of this one who would fight for them who would defend them who would go to war for them el means strength and authority gabor means the mighty warrior they would have known from the book of Isaiah there is one coming who's going to defeat the enemy and stand up to the adversity that i am facing in my life elgabor so this fully human man on the outside would be fully god on the inside which means whatever you're facing today fear sickness depression whatever it is elgabor almighty god is fighting on your behalf he called him everlasting father the word everlasting means there is no end like his kingdom is one without end Jesus will never end he was with god and always will be with god he was with god before he came to earth in human form he was he is and he is to come so his kingdom is everlasting you're never going to get to the end and the one when he calls him father he was saying to them look this is what his relationship with people is going to be like it's going to be like that of a father he's not really talking about a a blood relative father because the term father for the people of the day meant benevolent protector he was someone who was an overseer of people who cared for and protected people so he's saying like he's going to come as an everlasting father he's character to you is going to be nurturing and kind and loving and defending and protecting he's all about you and it comes with no end he's the ever lasting father everything Jesus is and everything Jesus did and everything Jesus does reflects god's heart for people that's why in john 14 Jesus said whoever has seen me has seen the father because the father's nature is in me as i calls in prince of peace when as i spoke these words he was highlighting the mission of Jesus the purpose the very reason he has come he's not just calm because god thought it would be a good idea to be amongst people he's coming on mission he's coming for reason he's coming to bring a peace to the earth that the earth has never known before you see this earth only knows circumstantial peace we only know peace when everything's right in life we know peace when the marriage is strong we know peace when the body is healthy we know peace when the finances are in order but this one who is coming is going to be the prince of peace and bring a kind of peace that can only be accessed from heaven but he's making a way that while you live on earth your ordinary everyday casual type of life that you can access a godly and a godly unearthly type of peace it's called a peace that transcends all understanding doesn't make sense to you and i but one other words Jesus is saying hey listen you know when you're at war with yourself on the inside you don't like who you are you don't like what you do you don't like the way you think i can bring peace into that situation for you you know when you're going through a crisis you know when your world hits chaos you know when it's all falling apart and you don't know how you're going to get through what you're going to get through i can give you peace in the middle of that situation prince of peace this peace is called shalom it means wholeness completeness harmony well being we are not conditioned by our circumstances we are conditioned by shalom peace that can break down every barrier and so that is how the prophet Isaiah described this child that would come that is how the prophet Isaiah 700 years earlier told the people this is what you need to be looking out for so when i look at that video and i see grown then crying i am understanding they are having a revelation of what the prophet what the prophet had already written this is the one this is who it is this is the one that's come to pass but here's a question that stumped me for years i never understood why did cheeses have to come as a baby like why because from his birth we don't hear anything about his childhood we get a small glimpse into him at 12 years old just a small glimpse that we don't hear anything from his birth to the age of 30 nothing in between and i just always began to wonder you know god why could you not have stepped him out of eternity and put him on the earth at a time of maturity could he not have just come when he was like 25 30 and just sort of integrated himself into society and then got on and here's this man who's doing these marvelous miracles i didn't understand why the baby thing but to understand the birth of christ you have to go back to creation you have to go back to a conversation that happened in the garden and to understand the conversation that happened in the garden of eden at the point of creation you would have to fast forward to the birth of christ and to fully understand the birth of christ you would have to fast forward to the death and the resurrection of christ and the point that i want to make to you is we can often view these as three separate events there was creation there was the birth of christ and there was the death and the resurrection of christ but what i want to show you is how they were all woven together as god's perfect plan for you and for i it was all part of god out working his perfect plan so i want to take you back to the book of genesis momentarily so we can understand what is happening at the birth of jesus why grown men cried why people worshiped a baby in genesis one god said let us make mankind in our image in our likeness so the earth has been created and all that's within it and now god creates mankind he says let's make them in our image and our likeness what god was doing was replicating his spirit into human form that is what a human being is human is your body being is your spirit and saying god said let them have dominion over the earth let them rule let them reign god was saying let them decide let them choose this adam and eve we've created in our image and in our likeness let them decide and then he took himself out of the equation he god stepped back from ruling the earth and he handed it over to man what was he doing he was making us responsible for our future he was letting us choose from that point on he said you your spiritual beings on this planet earth and i've wrapped a body around you to give you form and give you image and i've given you legal governance of this land my spirit is within you and i want you to govern the land and if you listen to my spirit i'm going to help you in your leadership and your governance and your choices that you make now the reason satan hated adam and eve so much was because they had been given something that he had not they had been given a body they had been given form they had been given an image that represented god and they had been given legal authority to rule the earth he had not he was the spirit in the garden of eden and he had not been given body or image or form and he had not been given any authority that was the reason he hated them the best thing satan could do was piggyback of a serpent because he needed some sort of form so he could get alongside adam and eve and god actually curses the serpent later on for allowing him to you for allowing satan to use his body and so we know how the story goes he is after corrupting the authority that god has given to adam and eve and we know it goes that he when he has a conversation with eve which kind of really gets to me because like why couldn't he just not have gone straight to adam why did i have to be the woman but i think maybe the serpent was on to something it's taken us a while to catch on to and that is you don't get much conversation out of a man if he's not really up for it and so he thought i'll go to the woman because she'll talk to anyone about anything even a snake it doesn't even cross her mind this isn't this is weird she'll talk to anyone about anything at any time so i will go to her and so he goes to the woman he influences her she takes the fruit she takes it to her husband they eat the fruit and then what happens is now what's happening is they have disobeyed god they've fallen short of the glory of god and now they are banished from the garden forever and they are separated from the presence of god because in that one action there was a transfer of dominion in that one action eve gave all her legal authority over to satan you see she'd allowed the wrong voice to influence her and that voice was the voice of evil and when she listened to the voice of evil she acted on the voice of evil and when she acted on the voice of evil there was a transfer of governance and so now now they are banished from the garden forever i believe let me just back up actually to this genesis three this was the conversation that took place because before they were banished from the garden god has a conversation he addresses eve and he addresses the serpent and this is how that conversation goes god told the serpent because you have done this you are cursed cursed beyond all cattle and all wild animals you're cursed to slink on your belly in the dirt for all of your life and i'm declaring war between you and the woman between your offspring and hers he will wound your head you will wound his heel another translation puts it like this i've got said to the serpent you will bruce his heel but her offspring will crush your head i believe that satan went for the conversation with the woman because he saw her as the weaker link i reckon he thought i can manipulate her and i can get into her she's an easiest target but he didn't know what he just messed with hello brave heart he didn't know what he just messed with because god says to him from now on woman will be your worst nightmare from now on you don't know what you've just done satan you see what the enemy did not know was how god had created and designed the woman with a system to be able to reproduce after her own cat and god had created a predestined plan that would outwork through the woman's body his most perfect plan was that adam and even their offspring would rule and reign in the garden and would have dominion over all of the earth but god also knew it is infinite wisdom i have created them with free will and because i've created them with free will it could go on with two ways and unfortunately it went in the wrong direction for god it is infinite almost powerful and unique wisdom had created the woman with a reproductive system and that womb would be the very vehicle he would use to take back the authority that satan had stolen from mankind so jesus had to come as a baby so that satan would know this is the fulfillment of god's word to me in the garden on that cold December night when that baby was born satan would have known the significance of that child's very humble beginnings this is the one sent to crush my head this baby is the one who's going to be my end this is god's reconciliation gift to mankind this is the one that god's going to bring it all back together with i wonder if god told satan on that night and said i told you she would be your worst nightmare i told you in the garden you don't step them off i told you in the garden satan there's one coming to defeat you i told you in the garden you've gone too far i told you in the garden christmas is coming it's been spoken about a prophesied throughout by kings and priests and prophets and everything has been waiting for this time earth has been waiting heaven has been preparing time is being referred refraining because on this day exactly how there is born to a virgin woman a child though he looks human on the outside he is a priestly king on the inside though he is born into this world he is not on this world though his beginnings look humble he is rich and glory though mary joseph look like they've lost their way she's just given birth to one who is the way though he cries like a baby he will roar like a lion satan did just mess with woman i am s everything up for yourself and though you will bruise his heel when you veil into that cross he will rise again and he will crush your head when he walks out of that tomb the undeniable undefeated resurrected kings are kings this baby is jesus his name isn't mine you are oh by the way satan you don't know what that means it means god with us because you separated not a god for this child and manual means up from now on god will be with his people his name is wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father and prince of peace okay can we stand this morning judge i don't know where your life finds you today and i don't know what you need from god maybe you need to know in this wonderful you need to know miss pellet maybe you're in need of a miracle in your life today and you are in need of a miracle touch from god you can call upon his name maybe you need to know miss counselor maybe you need some clarity in your life maybe you're unsure of a decision that you've got to make and you need some wise counsel maybe you need the mighty god elle get bored to fight on your behalf to strengthen you and fight for you and see you get through the thing that you're going through right now maybe you need to know him as a lasting father and you just need to be loved on and you just need to be nurtured and cared for i know that there is someone who absolutely thinks you are the apple of his eye the center of his attention this is oh god so when we worship in just the moment i'm going to encourage you you get before your god whatever one of those names you need from him find him find him in that place of worship you don't need me to come and lay hands on you and have a words for come over you you need to stand in his presence and say god i need you thank god for christmas if you're the biggest Grinch in here today you still need to thank god for christmas because without it you and i wouldn't even be here today but i'm going to pray one prayer before we worship in this prayer is maybe you have been far away from god maybe you've never known god maybe you don't know him as your lord and savior you didn't even know that it was a thing to have a personal one-to-one relationship with god as i have prophesied about him 700 years before he came we're talking about him 2000 years since his birth and so i want to just say to you is this real today as he was back then when there's wise men bow down and worshiped it's the same god that we're worshiping today and if you want to know him and you want to make that personal personal decision with every head bowed and all eyes closed i'm going to ask you put your hand on your heart and repeat this prayer after me because there is a god in heaven who loves you who sent his one and only son for you father god thank you for sending jesus jesus thank you that you came stepped out of divinity and into humanity to be my lord and savior and reconcile my relationship with god i ask you in this moment come into my heart come into my life give me direction give me hope show me the way and forgive me lord for the way i've been going on my own i don't want to be who i have been i want to be all that you created me to be in the name of jesus amen thanks for joining us today we hope that you can take that message and apply it to your life also don't forget to take a moment to subscribe rate and review this podcast to get connected or stay more connected to the life level of the one church and learn how you can join us live visit the one church dot com thanks again for joining us and we hope to see you again soon