Sermon Cloud

            I like numbers and stats.  An interesting number the kids threw out there was the number 700.  700 different names in the bible for God.  Our God is way too big, too powerful, too dynamic to be confined to just one name.  But even 700 don’t come close to describing God.  He’s just too big.

            But what inspires me the most about the names for God is that each name came during a personal encounter with God.  Each God – human encounter revealed another aspect of God’s character, which prompted people to give God another name. 

            It’s similar to how Erin is my bride, my best friend, my ministry partner, my lover.  One person with all these different ways of relating to me.

            Abraham spent decades waiting for God to give him his promised child.  At age 100, Abraham was still waiting.  Finally, God sent Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. 

            God then did the unthinkable, asking Abraham to sacrifice his miracle Isaac on an altar.  As they walked up to the top of the hill, Isaac asked, “where’s the lamb for the sacrifice?”  Abraham responded, “God will provide.”  When they were building the altar, Isaac asked again, “where’s the lamb for the sacrifice?”  “God will provide.”  The same question was asked as Abraham was tying Isaac to the altar.

            Just as Abraham lifted his knife to plunge it into his child, God stopped his hand and then showed him a ram caught in the thicket. 

            From then on, God was called “Jireh,” the God who provides.  

            God is still providing today.

            One day Moses hears a voice speaking to him through a burning bush, “I’ve heard the cries of my people, you’re to lead them out of slavery and into freedom.”  Moses laughed, “me and what army?”  The voice responded, “all you need to know is that I’ll go with you, I am Yahweh.”  Yahweh, the God who leads us out of slavery.

            3,000 years later we still worship the God who frees us from slavery. 

            One day a guy named John pointed at Jesus and declared, “look Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  John knew that Jesus’ death on the cross would be the last sacrifice for sin that would ever need to be made.  No matter what we’ve done, we can find forgiveness because the Lamb of God died upon the cross.

            In Matthew 1:23, we read this name for God.  Immanuel – “God with us.”  No longer was God just a voice from a burning bush, or a voice from the top of the mountain.  God was born into the world as a baby.  God put on skin and moved into our neighborhood.  Our God is not far- off, he’s right here among us.  There’s no cold distance between us and God, he’s here among us.  In becoming human, God jumped right into our pain, our shame, our fears, our loneliness.  Immanuel, God with us.  God became one of us. 

            It was his love that made him do it.  No more separation between us and God.  He stands before us like a husband taking his bride’s hand on their wedding day, like a best friend sitting across the table at your favorite coffee shop.  Immanuel, God with us, God among us. 

            He’s right here, wanting to become a part of our life, but he won’t force himself in.  God leaves it up to us.  Do we want to experience the God who saves, the God who provides, the God who forgives, the God who is right next to us? 

            We get distracted by so much stuff during Christmas, but the only thing that matters is whether your God is in your life.