The Evidence of Emmanuel

but I really want to talk today that the title of my message is the evidence of Emmanuel. The evidence of Emmanuel. Then Emmanuel, the version we're going to read today, which is the new, the N.E.T., the New English translation, is going to say, Emmanuel with an E. And I picked that because evidence also starts with an E.

So it's the evidence of Emmanuel. And so if your Bible says Emmanuel with an I, that's OK. They're both correct. Emmanuel is Hebrew.

Emmanuel is the Greek translation of that word. So they're both appropriate. But the word Emmanuel means God with us. God with us.

It literally means with us is God. So in the Greek, I'm sorry, in the Hebrew, Emmanuel, Im, or Im means with. And the word El, Emmanuel means God. And if you ever heard the word Elohim, Elohim is the plural form of El.

But when you read El in the Bible, it really talks about God's power, God's might, and God's strength. So there's many words for God in the Bible. But specifically, when El is used, when the form of El is used for God, it's highlighting his strength. It's highlighting his power.

It's highlighting his might. So that if Emmanuel means with us is God, or with me, I like to personalize it, right? With me is God. With us is God.

If the God of the universe, the mighty, almighty, omnipotent God is with me, there should be evidence in my life that he's with me. Like, why would I have God with me and not be some sort of evidence in my life to show that God's actually in my life? So we're going to look at five things today, evidences of Emmanuel. Now there's probably more.

I'm sure there's like many more. I pulled out a few. But we're going to start with Matthew chapter 21, which will be our main text. And we're going to start with power over sin.

It's number one, power over sin. Number two, now don't get sideways on this prosperity. And we're going to talk about that from the life of Joseph. And then number three is going to be possession of promises.

And we're going to look at Joshua. Number four is going to be protection from the enemy. We're going to look at the life of Paul. And then finally, power for the supernatural or power for the impossible.

And I didn't do it on my PowerPoint, but it should be impossible in quotes because it's not really impossible when God's with you, but it seems impossible. It might look impossible. So we're going to highlight those. I'm probably going to go a little quicker than normal today.

And it'll be a little bit more jumping around than normal. But I really just, I told Christi yesterday, yesterday morning, I just these things just came to me really quick. And I was ready to preach yesterday morning. And then today I don't feel ready to preach.

So I should have preached this yesterday. But we'll see how it comes that we're going to trust God to do what he always does and bring revelation and understanding to his word. So if you have your Bibles, we're going to start in Matthew chapter 21, or I'm sorry, chapter 1, verse 19. Let me grab mine.

So Matthew chapter 1, verse 18, we're going to read through verse 25. And we'll go back and make a few. Make a few points. Have you, let me ask you a question, just as a thought starter.

Have you ever gone somewhere with somebody that was maybe very well known in a certain circle or in a certain realm or a certain sphere? Or maybe they had a lot of influence in that sphere. Any guys here ever go to the gym? Not enough.

OK. Well, let's just say you go to the gym and say you're like the little guy at the gym, right? And I remember when I was the little guy, I was not that I'm big now, but I was a little, or a long time ago. So when I was 14, I started working out.

And there was a guy in town. His name was Big Dug. And Big Dug had the only gym. At the time, this was 1984.

You can do the math. I was 14. But Dug had a gym called Body Shapers. And I think there was one around the day.

But Dug was a bodybuilder. And he was massive. He was like a power lifter guy. And when I would walk around with Dug, I was 145 pounds.

And Dug was about 250. But I walked like this, right? Because Big Dug was walking next to me. And then I connected with another guy, he was a power lifter.

But then I connected with another guy named Rocky Metz. And Rocky was a bodybuilder. And when I'd walk around the gym with these two guys, we became friends. They were probably 10 years older than me.

But I walked around like, what are you going to do? And I just walked through the gym. Instead of walking through as an intimidated little 14-year-old, I walked differently in that situation because of who was with me and who I was with. And so many times when we go, it could be your job.

It could be wherever. But we go into places. And the person that we walk with somehow changes the atmosphere that we walk into. Changes the situation that we walk into.

And Jesus said this. We're going to look at some Old Testament examples today and some New Testament examples. But let me just tell you this first. The reality of God with us today as New Testament believers is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is God with us. Jesus says, I will pray the Father, that He will give you another comforter. He says, the world can't receive Him. They don't even know Him.

But you know Him because He's been with you and He will be in you. And later, that's in John 14, but in John 16, Jesus says this. He says, it's profitable or advantageous or expedient that I go away. He said, it's going to be advantageous for you if I leave.

Because if I don't leave the helper or comforter or advocate, do you know what the word means in the Greek? It means the one called alongside. We're talking about God being with us. He says, if I don't leave, the one called alongside you won't come.

But if I leave, my Father will send Him. And He said, so Jesus says, as advantageous as it is for me to be here in person, it's of a greater advantage to you than I go. Because then when I go, I can send the Holy Spirit. And I can be in all people, in all countries, covering the entire world simultaneously.

And so it's advantageous that Jesus went away. And so the reality of His presence in us should change the way that we walk in the situations. It should change our behavior. It should change the way we see things.

Because now I'm walking with somebody that can do everything. That's done everything all of her needs, provided everything. And He's in me. And so that's the reality of the evidence we want to talk about today, these things.

Let's go ahead and get started. Matthew chapter 1, and we'll read through these. So it says, now the birth of Jesus. All right, we're going to start with this.

We're going to end with Luke with Mary. So it says, the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph. But before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph, her husband, to be was a righteous man. Because he did not want to disgrace her. He intended to divorce her privately. When he contemplated this, an angel the Lord appeared to him and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

Because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled. Look, the virgin will conceive and bear us his son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph awoke from the sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son whom he named Jesus. Go back one slide to verse 22. It says, this all happened, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled.

The virgin will conceive and bear son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. They say that, God with us. Now personalize that, God with me, God with me. So the first thing we want to pull out of this passage, it says that in Matthew, good, let's go to the next slide, power ever sin.

Keep going, next slide. Oh, here we go. I should probably mention this, I wanted to. When Moses is in the wilderness, with the children of Israel, they leave Egypt, they're at Mount Sinai, he gets the 10 commandments, and they have a tabernacle there, and the presence of God rests there.

Moses would go in, if you read it, X is 33, Moses would go in, and it said he would meet with God face to face as one talks to a friend, and he would come and go, but Joshua would actually stay in that tent of meeting because he was so overwhelmed with the presence of God, he wouldn't even leave. And so Moses, he comes out of the tent one day, and God says, okay, it's time to move from here. It's time to go on to the promised land, you've been here long enough, it's time to move. And Moses says this, he says, if your presence does not go with us, don't lead us from here.

So that Moses recognized that there was something about the presence of God, that it was better to stay put than to move ahead, if God didn't go with him. It was actually that somehow delay in his life would be better than advancement, because the presence of God was so powerful in his life. He said, how then can it be known that I've found favor in your sight, and I in your people, is it not by your going with us, so that we, I in your people, may be distinguished from all other people that are on the face of the earth. What distinguished Israel from everybody on the face of the earth?

It was the presence, it says, how can it be known, which means that it can be known? It can be known that the presence of God is with you. Like here's Israel, they weren't known by their ethnicity, they weren't known by their population, they weren't known by their education, they weren't known by their suffering, or anything else, he says, how will it be known that we can be distinguished, separated, identified from everybody else on the face of the earth? One thing, the presence of God.

And so when the presence of God, the same presence that dwelt in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the same presence that dwelt in the temple that Solomon built in the holy of holies, is the same presence that dwells in you and I today. And so if that presence was the distinguishing factor for an entire nation, it's also what distinguishes us today. It sets us apart. Like there should be a way that people could visibly look at our life and say that person has a relationship with God.

Like too often we carry around the presence of God, but there's nothing that distinguishes us from the world. Like we just look like everybody else in the world. And that shouldn't be. So number one is this, power over sin.

So if you truly encounter demand, it should be undeniable evidence in your life that differentiates you from the rest of the world. Okay, here we go. Number one, power over sin. So it says this, you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken through the prophet. We know this one to say a virgin will conceive and will bear a son and they will call his name Emmanuel. So the very first, and I'm gonna say this, the most important identifier of the presence of God of Emmanuel is the forgiveness of sins. It's that Jesus came for one reason, actually came for a number of reasons, but the reason he came for us was to reveal the Father, to show us that we needed a Father, to pay for sin, to restore us back himself.

And it says that he will save his people, save means to deliver, it means to heal, it means to restore, it means to rescue from their sins. And so so often when we think about getting saved, if we talk about getting saved, what do we think about? A lot of times I'll answer it for you, since nobody's with me today. It goes with me.

All right, are you waiting for another joke? Cause I could just tell jokes so we could go home. But I'd rather impart some word to you today. So when we think about getting saved, so often we think about the time in our life where we made Jesus the Lord of our life, right?

We said yes to Jesus, we became a new creation, and that's the day we got saved. But the Bible tells us this, that the salvation, although it's a one-time event, it's also an ongoing event. That you have, the Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 says this, it says, for by grace, you have been saved. So that the day you accepted Jesus, you were saved past tense.

But also in 1 Corinthians chapter one verse 18, it says that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, being saved, see, you're saved the day you get saved, but now you're, there's a process of being saved. And then one day over in 1 Corinthians 3, it says, if you enter to the end that you shall be saved. So salvation is really that you've been saved, you're being saved, and you will one day be saved. So it's a past, present, and future tense, all encompassed in salvation.

In the past tense, I have been saved from the penalty of sin. That when Jesus died from me, and I received that sacrifice, I've been saved from the penalty of sin, which the Bible says is what? Death, Jesus died in my place. As far as me living a life today, I'm being saved, I'm being saved from the power of sin.

Like sin has been rendered powerless in my life. And one day when I go to heaven, I'm gonna be completely out of here, I'm gonna be saved from the presence of sin. So it was the penalty of sin in the past, it's the power of sin today that I'm being saved, and one day it's gonna be the complete presence of sin, there'll be no sin where we're gonna spend the rest of eternity with Jesus. So if I'm talking about the identifier in your life today, I'm not talking about the penalty of sin, but there should be evidence that Jesus has saved you, that you're being saved, that you have victory over the power of sin in your life.

See, there should be a difference. It says this, go to the next slide, it says in Romans chapter six, it says, so then don't let sin rule your body so that you do what it wants. See, before you get saved, you didn't have a choice. Sin was your master.

When you accepted Jesus, that guy died. Sin no longer has dominion in your life. You now have a choice for the way you are. I don't want that responsibility.

See, what you're gonna notice here, every one of these things we look at today, where the presence of God should make a difference in your life, there's something corresponding, some action of faith that we take in addition to what God's provided. See, he says the power of sin is broken, but then grace releases this, don't let sin reign your moral bodies. See, God would be unjust to give us a commandment to do this and not supply the grace to live it out. See, he'd never tell you to do something and he didn't supply grace to fulfill it.

It says this, don't let sin rule in your body so you do what it wants. Don't offer parts of your body to sin, to be used as weapons to do wrong. Instead, present yourselves to God as a people who have been brought back to life from the dead, next slide. And offer all the parts of your body to God, to be used as weapons to do right.

Other translations say, offer your body to be an instrument of righteousness. Offer the members of your body to be instruments of righteousness. So that see, once you've been set free from sin that's causing you to act a certain way, I now have a choice. I can present my body a living sacrifice, as Paul talks about Romans 12 or not.

It's up to me. I choose whether to do it or not. I can either choose to say, okay, I'm gonna present my members of my body as this as weapons of evil or as weapons to do right. It's a choice.

But see, what happens a lot of times, people instead of receiving the enabling power of grace, they wanna give you all the excuses why they're still like they used to be. They get more people have faith than what they used to be, instead of faith in what God made them into. Say, well, this is just who I am. No, that's who you used to be.

The who you are is just like Jesus. And now you gotta choose whether you're gonna live like him or not. Well, I'm only human. No, you're not.

You're not only human. Your nature has the nature of God in you. You're one third Holy Spirit. Well, I was born this is my personality is the way I am.

No, you might have been born that way, but now you've been born again. You've been made new. See, you choose to allow sin to either have power in your life or not. And I'm here to tell you that if you understand grace, grace does not ever, ever, ever give you an excuse to live in sin.

Grace enables you to live sin free. It's an enabler. Sin will have, say this, no more power over me. Sin will have no more power over me because you aren't under the law, but under grace.

See, some of you are still struggling. You've been born again. You've been set free. You've been saved from the penalty of sin, but you're still living under the requirements of the law.

I love the verse in 1 Corinthians 1556. It says this, it says, the strength of sin is the law. That word strength is actually donumus. You know what that is?

Miracle working power. The miracle working power of sin is the law. See, what you need is the miracle working power of grace because grace will enable you to do that. Everything the law cannot enable you to do it.

Just all it can do is point out your failures. But grace, when you submit to it, and I don't mean grace is just a teaching. Grace is Jesus. Grace is the person of Jesus.

It says the word became flesh. There's another Christmas. That's another Christmas message. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld the only begotten is of the Father, full of grace and truth. And two verses later says of his fullness, we have all received grace for grace. Sin has no more power over you. If God is in you, if God is with you, He's equipped you and enabled you to live a life that's actually holy in what people see.

Like there should be a difference in your behavior. They should look at your life. There should be a difference. Like people should say, they probably know something that I don't know or they know someone that I don't know.

And maybe you have a chance to witness because of your behavior. Or maybe you actually shoot yourself in a foot and ruin your chance to ever tell somebody about Jesus because of your behavior. You can go either way. Power over sin, broken.

Number two, prosperity. So before you say, I was just in the message on prosperity, I believe I'm going to be qualified. I don't believe in a prosperity gospel, but prosperity is part of the gospel. Because poverty is part of the curse.

That when, when, and Jesus, it says in Galatians 3, it says that it says we've been redeemed from the curse. And the curse does everyone that hangs on the tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through faith that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. So that everything that was part of the curse, when Jesus died, he redeemed us from that sickness, disease, poverty, all those curses you can read about in the Old Testament. You've been redeemed from all of those.

So when we talk about prosperity, like when you hear the word prosperity, the first thing we think of, we think of it in, let's just say earthly terms, right? Biblical prosperity is not what you have, but who you have. Biblical prosperity is not what you have, but who you have. Who do we have?

God with us, right? We have El Elion, El Shaddai, Jehovah Jaira, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Shalom, all of those, Ad and I, with us. It says that Joseph, you remember Joseph's brothers? They took him, they stripped him, they killed an animal, they put it on his coat, they sent it back to his dad and say, hey, he must have gotten eaten by a wild animal, they throw him in a pit, the midnight traitors can buy, Joseph gets sold into slavery.

And he gets purchased by Potiphar, who was a captain for Pharaoh. Pharaoh was over Egypt. So here's Potiphar, who's the captain under Pharaoh, and he buys Joseph as a slave. Now typically slaves at that time are stripped, not only do you have no money, you have no clothes.

I'm not gonna demo that one today. My wife says, thank God. Oh, later, oh, now faith is the substance of things, hope for, the evidence of things not seen. Hope that is seen is not hope, for why would we hope for that which we see?

Man, you've got me all down a whole other path. No, but as a slave, you not only have, like he's completely stripped, he's broken, he's destitute, he's naked. He has no connections in society, but he has this. It says this, it says the Lord was with Joseph.

He's got one thing in life. The Lord was with Joseph, and look what the Bible defines him, and he was a successful man. He had nothing. He was a slave who was broke, naked, destitute, cut off from society, but God, through the prophetic word of Moses here, says that he was successful.

See, what happens so often is we're trying to become successful instead of realizing that when we have the one thing that we need, we're already successful. Like, you're trying to get success, not realizing you already have it. See, I tend to describe, if I want to describe success, I want to go back to what God's word says. God's word says I'm a success because he's with me.

Like if he's with me, how can I not be successful? Like it's almost impossible, sort of, sort of. It said he was a successful man, look where he was a success, in the house of his master. Before he did anything, while he was a slave, God defines him as successful.

And his master saw that the Lord was with him. Some of you need to have your employers see that the Lord is with you. Like you need to do your job in such a way that your employer looks at you and says, my God, I don't know what they know, but they're not that smart. They're not that talented.

They don't have the education, but they're successful. I need to know why. Because here's the Egyptian who is outside of the covenant of Israel, what we would call an unsaved person today, and he can discern something. God's presence with you should be tangible to such a degree that unsafe people can discern the presence of God in your life.

It says, his master saw the Lord was with him, and that the Lord, here's why I said, sort of, how can you not be successful in the world? How can you not demonstrate it when God's with you? Because you gotta do something with it. This is where, oh, the grace of God.

Oh, the blessing of God. And I'm just gonna sit on my can for 50 years waiting for something to happen. It says that the master saw the Lord was with him, and that God prospered everything that he put his hand to. See, if you read Deuteronomy chapter 28, it says, God, in the blessing, in the first 15 verses, verse eight says this.

God says, I will command the blessing on your storehouses and to everything to which you put your hand. See, so many people are walking around with the presence of God in them, success in them, blessing of God in them, but I wanna tell you, here's Bible math. You guys ready for this? A million times zero is still zero.

That God could pour out all of his favor, all of his blessing, all of his power on to zero, and it'll still be zero in your life. See, Paul said this, he says, I labored more abundantly than they all, so that the grace that was bestowed on me wasn't in vain. That Paul recognized that God give him something, but he said, okay, also recognize with the gift comes a responsibility that I've gotta actually do something with with God gave me. And when I begin to do something, and I put my hand to it, now God has something to put favor on.

Oh, you guys aren't clapping at that one. I got one person saying hallelujah, because God's gonna do something for you, because you recognize that God did it, but he's requiring a responsibility out of you as a steward. See, why would God give you more? What's it say in Luke 16?

One of the things that says that, it says that who would give somebody more if you can't faithfully steward what belongs to somebody else? What do you think Joseph was doing in the house? It was master. He was faithfully stewarding what didn't belong to him, but what belonged to his master?

His master saw that man, he ain't that good, but God must be on him. And on the side, next thing you know, Joseph is the second most powerful man in all of Egypt, but he didn't start there. He started by putting his hand to something. The power of sin is broken.

You are prosperous and susceptible, just because God's with you. Like I want you to think, I want you to get that in you today. I'm a success. Sin has no power in my life.

I'm gonna live, and it's gonna be evident that God is in me because I'm gonna live more holy than I ever did before, not because I'm trying because he's empowered me to do it. When I touch something, because God's in me, God's gonna bless it because that's what he does. Like it's gonna be evident even to unsaved people. Provision, provision of promises.

So when Joshua's getting ready, Moses dies, right? Joshua was the guy, I mean, he camped in the tabernacle. He camped in the present. So he's also one of the two that spied the land.

Remember Joshua and Caleb? They were the ones that says, we can defeat him, the other tends to know that we're gonna die. So he and Caleb, the only two, under I think was under the age of 20 at the time, that got to go into the promised land. And so when Moses died, Moses can't go in because you remember that story struck the rock, God said you can see it, but you're not gonna enter it.

And so God appears to Joshua and says this, therefore arise, go to Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving them, the children of Israel, every place the soul of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. Moses, let me go back here. Moses my servant is dead. Therefore arise, say this, go over, go over, go over.

Next slide. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. As I was with Moses, I'll be with you.

I will not leave you nor forsake you. Does that sound familiar? Hebrews 13, 5, Jesus said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you, therefore I can say, I will not fear, verse 6, as what man may do to me. Verse 9, have I not commanded you, be strong, be of good courage, do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is, say it with you, wherever you go.

So what's the Bible say about the promises? 2 Corinthians 1, 20 says this, all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Every promise of God, God's already said yes. It's a yes, if God gave it, it's a yes.

But we add to the yes, what, our amen, our let it be so. Like there's, so here's Joshua and the children of Israel, they're on the brink of the Jordan. And God said, do you see the land? Everything over there is yours.

I've given it to you, but it's not coming to you. I'm not picking it up and moving it over here, that you have to take a step, you've got to go, you've got to arise, you've got to stand up and you got to move forward. And wherever you go, I will be with you there. See, some of you have been sitting on a prophetic word for 20 years waiting for the word to come to you.

And I think God is saying, hey, I know it looks scary, I know you don't know what's over there, I know it's comfortable here. I saw a quote on, I didn't fact check this, Marcus Aurelius, like you ever hear that guy? I think he was like around gladiator, like you've never watched gladiator, have you? Oh, I thought you'd never watch gladiator, I love gladiator, like that's one of my favorite movies.

Marcus Aurelius, he's credited with saying this, the worst addiction is comfort. But see, here's what you can be on this side of the Jordan and be stuck in your comfort, but God has said, I've got promises there. I know there's enemies over there, I know you don't know what's gonna happen over there, but it's time to get up and take a step and when you take a step, I'll be with you. See, you've gotta go with God in order to possess the thing that he's already paid for.

He said, I've given it to you, it's yours. All the promises in the Bible are yes. Sometimes we think the amen just comes out of our mouth, but sometimes this is an amen. Sometimes it's a step, sometimes it's some other action, but you've gotta put faith into what God said, sometimes verbally, sometimes physically.

But the promise is this, no matter what or who you encounter, the presence is with you. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. See, the reason that promise is so solid, what did Jesus say on the cross? Before that, that's right.

He said a couple things on the cross. He said I thirst, he said it's finished, but he said this in context, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? See, he didn't say my father because at that time God was his judge. He's judging Jesus, he's putting the sin of the whole world on Jesus.

And because the sin is on Jesus, God has to turn his back for the first time and all of eternity on his son. And he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because Jesus was forsaken there, which means we'll never be forsaken now. If you can count on it, take a step, he'll go with you.

Protection, I know it's a little different today, but I just felt like not really a Christmassy message, but God with us. Hey, just as long as this, as long as we don't get to this Christmas message, we'll be okay. Protection. He calls in the city of Corinth.

I was telling Seth this this morning, you read all of chapter 18. He preaches, he gets opposition from the Jews, and he says, you know what? It's like verse six, he says, I'm done. I've had enough, I'm out of here, I wash my hands, blood's on you, I'm leaving town.

And God appears to him at night, and God speaks to him in the middle of night. And this is encouraging to me because God tells the apostle, the apostle Paul, who's been through all kinds of things, he tells Paul, hey, don't be afraid. Which tells me and implies this, that God wouldn't have told Paul to not be afraid Paul wasn't what, afraid. And we see Paul actually walking away from God's call on his life in that season because of fear.

And God shows up, Jesus shows up and says this, this will be in red if you have a red letter Bible. It says, the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by vision, do not be afraid but speak. Do not be afraid but speak. See, sometimes we have the word here, but faith needs to be released here.

It says speak and do not keep silent. See, when I have a time in my life when fear, like fear is a really motion, right? There's nothing wrong to admit you're afraid. There is something wrong with allowing the fear that you're feeling to influence what you do.

So when fear comes, what do we do? What I do is I go back to the word. I go back to the word. I speak the word.

And Jesus says this to Paul, he says, don't be afraid. That encourages me because if he was afraid, like then we all probably are gonna be afraid at some point in time. It's okay. Don't get sideways just because you get scared.

Speak the word, don't be silent. I am what? With you, I'm with you. Jesus said I will pray, says when the Spirit of truth comes, he will bring all things to remembrance whatsoever I've said.

So sometimes you don't have the luxury, ooh, ooh, ooh, let me find a verse of the situation. You better have spent some time here. And if you spent time here, the promise is the Holy Spirit will bring it. He says, don't be silent, I'm with you.

No one will attack you or hurt you for how many people in this city. God says this, hey, I know you're scared. I know it's uncomfortable, but I've called you here in this season. Don't leave yet.

I don't have it up there, but the very next verse, verse 11 says this, and Paul remained another year in six months. Do you know what happens to too many of us? When things get tough, I'm out of here. You hit it, like it happens here.

It happens in church. Forget out there. People, we have an issue here, we gotta deal with it. It's okay, issues happen.

I'm here to help you through it. I ain't dealing with that, I'm going somewhere else. Well, see, sometimes what you need is to go through that thing, because as you go through it, God's actually doing something in you. See, the worst thing you can do is run.

Sometimes you need to stay planted, start speaking the word. I know it doesn't look right, I know it doesn't feel right. Maybe I even messed up, but God's word says this. See, I love deliverance.

I love being delivered out of things. I was sick this week. I believe Jesus is the healer. I believe that by his stripes, I was healed.

And if I was healed, I don't need to get healed, because I'm already healed. But I'm feeling sick. So sometimes he doesn't deliver us from things, but other times he delivers us through them. And if I gotta go through it, when I'm going through it, guess who's going through it with me?

Isaiah 43, says this. It says, when you pass through the waters, when you pass through the waters, I am what? With you. When you pass through the rivers, they won't overwhelm you.

When you pass through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame won't burn you. See, that's a promise that I want to, I don't like to go through stuff to you. I hate it. But sometimes God's working something in me that I can't see.

Or maybe he's working something in you because of what I'm going through and the way that I go through it all of a sudden increases your faith or the way that you go through and increases my faith. You don't know everything. Get that through your head. See, when I read this verse, Isaiah 43, 2, I can't help but think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The King Nebuchadnezzar makes a golden image, 60 cubits high. I don't remember how big a cubit is. But it's 60 high, and it's 6 cubits wide. And he said, when the symphony plays, when all the musical instruments play at the same time, then everybody in the nation needs to bow down to this image.

And he says, if you don't, you're going to be thrown into the fiery furnace. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were friends with Daniel, Daniel chapter 3, they said, no matter what, we're not bowin' down. So they get brought in front of Nebuchadnezzar, and he tells them, hey, do you realize you're going to go into fiery first? They said, if that's what it is, that's fine.

We're not bound down to this image because we serve God. And Nebuchadnezzar was furious. He said, heat up the fiery furnace seven times harder than normal. And it says they bound them with their clothes on, with their head turban on, and they bound them with ropes.

And it said, the men, these mighty men that carried them up to the furnace died because of the heat. It was so hot, the soldiers carrying them died. So I got to ask myself, how did they get into the fire if the soldiers died carrying them there? It doesn't say this, but I got to add Lib a little bit that somebody must have been with them that was taking them through the fire because the people that were taking them there died.

It said, so they throw them in the fire, Nebuchadnezzar looks in the furnace, and he said, didn't we throw three people in there? And weren't they bound up? He said, because we threw three in and they were bound, but now I see four men walking loose, and one of them looks like the Son of God. And it said, they brought them out, and their hair wasn't singed, and their clothes weren't burnt, and there was no smell of smoke anywhere on them.

That's the God that walks with you through the fire. Like that's who you have. Like, why would we ever be scared? All right, last one.

Anybody getting something today? Man, I don't care if you, I'm getting something. So I'm preaching to me. Just not preaching from this thing.

I did say this, I don't see if I can work this in the message somewhere, but I don't think I can. I just can't do it. Power for the impossible. Remember, impossible needs to be in quotes.

Power for the seemingly impossible. We have power because of God with us. We have power over sin. We are already prosperous and successful, not because of what we have, but because who we have.

We can take possession of the promises that we have in God's word, or we've received prophetically by taking a step into the unknown, knowing that he's gonna be with us no matter what. And we can stand up, speak God's word, because he's with us no matter what kind of opposition we're facing, because we know that if we have to go through it, he's going through it with us. Like God's not over here in Fort Hill Stadium sitting in the stands. He's down on the field.

He's on the field. He's not a bystander. He's a standard by. But that, I just came.

He's not a bystander, he's a standard by. He's with you. Power for the impossible. Having come in, the angel said to her, and his Mary, rejoice highly favored one, say it.

The Lord is with you. Bless her you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled in the same, considered what manner of greeting this was. The angel said her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Verse 31, and behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, you shall call his name Jesus. And then he goes on to describe Jesus in verse 34. So Mary's like, okay, I'm a virgin. I get the scripture said a virgin will conceive.

I had no idea, that was me. I don't, I mean, I'm espoused to a husband, which at that time was, there was engagement, and then there was a spousal. So a spousal was actually, it was equivalent to marriage, but they hadn't done the ceremony yet. But it took a divorce to undo the espousal.

So she's like, I'm a spousal husband, we haven't had relations yet. So like, how's this gonna happen? Like, unlike me. It says, Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I don't know a man?

Next slide. It says, the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. There's always a connection between the Holy Spirit and power. Acts 1, 8, and you shall receive power.

After that, the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, and Jerusalem, Judea, Samariah, and other parts of the earth. Jesus, when he was ministering on the earth, never did a miraculous event or sign apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter said this in Acts 10, 38, he said, how they God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. You hear that?

Went about healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with him. God being with Jesus through the agency of the Holy Spirit enabled him to do miraculous things. When Peter didn't have baby Jesus. When Mary encounters the angel Gabriel, she's like, how's this gonna happen?

He says, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and the power of the highest, well, I'm sorry, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the highest will overshadow you, and therefore the Holy One, who's to be born and book all the Son of God. Here's our key verse. Then he goes on to say, your cousin Elizabeth, who was called Baron, that's verse 36, is now in her sixth month of pregnancy. Your cousin Elizabeth is now in her sixth month, who was called Baron?

So even labels that have been attached to you, your whole life, the power of God can reverse that label. See Elizabeth was old and barren. Now her pregnancy was miraculous, but it wasn't miraculous like this one, because hers was naturally miraculous. Mary said, how can this be?

And verse 30, 70 says, with God, nothing. With God, you have found favor with God. Mary, blessed are you among women because God is with you, with God. You've seen it God, you've seen this?

With God, nothing shall be what? Impossible, nothing. There's no impossibilities. That word, nothing is actually three words in the Greek.

It's u, pos, rema. U means no, pos means thing. Rema means spoken word. No spoken word.

No freshly spoken word is without power. Any word that you receive, written, spoken from God, contains within itself the DNA to explode in like a nuclear bomb, like a atomic bomb. Like think of the power in an atom when it's split. The word of God carries more power than that.

And he says, no word spoken from God comes to you without the power in it to perform the very thing that it said. See, when God gives you a word, he's in you. He's with you. The Holy Spirit is in you, speaking.

It says that Jesus says, he'll take from what is mine and declare it unto you. Sometimes the words come from other people. Sometimes they come directly from him. But regardless of the channel through which they come, if it's from God, it contains his power.

Mary said, behold, the maidservant of the Lord let it be to me according to your word. When she finally encounters Elizabeth later, and Elizabeth says, blessed is she who believed. See, Mary had the word released over her life. The Holy Spirit was hovering.

Kind of like creation. Remember creation? It says, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep. Darkness covered the earth, deep darkness.

And it said, and God said, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God, and the word was God. God said, let there be light. And so you have the Spirit hovering.

And the word of God coming and joining with the Spirit of God and creation takes place. See, anytime a word of God is spoken, you've got to believe it. Be it unto me. Be it unto me.

Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Be it unto me. Do you see the connection with each one of these things we talk to about today? That the power of sin is broken in your life.

What's the corresponding action? Do not yield your members to sin. Present your members as members of righteousness. So that sin is broken, but you've got to present yourself.

You've got to be willing. Be it unto me. I know you broke it, God, but I'm willing now to walk it out. I'm willing to allow you to work in my life so I can live a life that reflects you so that others can see you and me.

Joseph was prosperous in his master's house. Why? Because he put his hand to it. He did something and God was able to favor what he did.

The promised land was there to be possessed, but Joshua had to arise and go. He had to take a step. He had to put his amen to God's. Yes.

Paul, ready to book it. God says, no, stay. I've got many people here. I feel like right now, I just feel like that's God's word for us here today.

I just, as I'm saying, I just feel like God wants me to highlight that for City Reach Church, Cumberland, Maryland. I have many people in this city. Don't go. I've got many people in this city.

Don't be scared. Don't be afraid. Don't give up. Don't quit.

I'm with you. No matter how difficult. Stay here. Stay connected.

Stay plugged in. I've got people out there that need me. And when you, you know, like, I don't know how to witness. I don't know how to pray for people.

Take a step. Take a step. God bless you. God bless you.

Hey, I notice you, I notice you bent over. Is everything okay? I'll arm my back. Well, be okay if I just quickly and quietly pray for you.

You know, look for opportunities to deliver God's word in the city. Don't be silent. He says, don't be silent. Speak.

And finally, when God is with you, it actually equips you and connects you with a supernatural lifestyle. See, anything that's seemingly impossible takes God. What did Jesus tell his disciples with the day he ascended? He said, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them all things that I have told you, taught you baptizing the name of Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and lo, I am with you always.

Disipaling nations is an impossibility. How do you do that? I mean, we can't disciple Cumberland for crying out loud. We're trying, but it's going to happen.

Thank you because he's with us. See, the fact that he's with us enables us to do things that look impossible. The same day he said that Matthew records it, Mark records it this way, and these signs shall follow those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons.

They will speak with new tongues. They shall pick up serpents. If they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means harm them. They will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

And then a few verses later it says, they went out and preached the gospel everywhere and Jesus working with them with signs and wonders accompanying the word. See that any time that there's this co-laboring, that God with me, like I can't do it. You can't do it. It's impossible.

It's impossible for me to heal somebody. But when he's with me, I'm just the delivery guy. Like it's kind of like the UPS guy brought a box in my house this week. And it was a gift from somebody else.

I didn't go to the UPS guy. Oh my gosh, you're the best thing ever. Thank you. Thank you.

No. I didn't thank the UPS guy because he was just doing his job. I called the person that sent the gift and I told them, thank you. See the gifts come from him.

He's the source. We're just the guy with the brown suit on. Or maybe it's a red suit on Christmas. I don't know.

I'm sorry. I know it probably caused all kinds of theological issues saying the guy in the red suit. We'll just save the guy in the brown suit. I'm just the UPS guy.

That's all we are. We are the channel through which his grace flows. And we get to deliver grace gifts to people because he's with us. Bam.

Okay. Let's call it a day. Let's pray.