What Kind of a God Should We Look for this Christmas? Matthew 1:18-25

1. What Kind of a God Should We Look for this Christmas?Matthew 1:18-25 • When reading the Bible ask: • What is God saying about Himself? • What is God saying about me? • What do I need to do about? • What kind of God do we see in Matthew 1:18-25

2. A God Who Acts in the Affairs of Mankind • Matthew 1:18,19 “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”

3. A God Who Explains His Activity • Matthew 1:20 “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

4. 3. A God Who Saves His People from Their Sin • Mattheew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.” • In Genesis 17, God promised Abram, He would not only be Abram’s God, but also the God of all who would by faith be made righteous as Abram was. • Exodus 6:7 “I will take you as my own people and I will be your God”.

5. 1Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. • Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God

6. Romans 6:5-11 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with] that we should no longer be slaves to sin—  because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

7. A God Who is With Us • Matthew 1:22-25 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” -- which means, “God with us.”  When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

8. Today He dwells within us through His Holy Spirit and manifests His love to us through being our Counsellor, Guide, Comforter and Companion. (John 14:16,26; 16:12-14;) • Romans 8:13-17 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

9. He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. • Hebrews 13:5-6 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

10. God’s message is: • God is active in our world, as He was 2000 years ago when Jesus was born. • God is seeking to make His activity known, through His creation, through His Word, through His people, and through the circumstances of the world and our lives. • God continues to reach out to save His people from their sin. • Romans 10:9,10 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

11. God is with us! • Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.