Immanuel: God With Us in Our Brokenness

Let me start this morning by saying I am sorry for being so late yesterday. I literally finished writing early, got some coffee and started my day and completely forgot to send out the message…I know, it’s happening. Ha! Anyhow, my bad. “"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).”Matthew 1:23 Have you ever thought about why God sent Jesus? It’s pretty amazing to think about. God could have chosen any number of ways to save us. But He sent His Son, Jesus, to fix our broken relationship with God. The Bible tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus didn’t wait for us to get our acts together before rescuing us. He met us in our mistakes and mess ups and said, “I’ll pay it for you.” You see, back in the Old Testament, Adam and Eve messed it up for us. We couldn’t have a direct relationship with God because we became imperfect and sinners. Way to go you two! But in reality, they may have done us a favor...Back then you paid for your sins with an animal, can’t imagine. God wasn’t having this anymore and he sent His son Jesus to live around us and die for our sins once and for all. Jesus brought with Him light, love, freedom, grace, acceptance, joy, peace, and hope.He gave us a chance to have a relationship with God. God named Jesus “Immanuel” because it means, “God is with us.” God chose to send Jesus to be with us even when we were broken and not worth it. And Jesus chose to live among us. To be close enough to touch us. So let’s live the life Jesus offered us. Let’s live like He would being close enough to touch people who need it. To be with people. To love people. Because Jesus loved us. And if we want to share Jesus, we’ve got to show Him with the way we live our lives. That’s how we can be storytellers. That’s how we can show an unbelieving world what true hope looks like. It’s not easy, we will fail but we can...and honestly, that’s all that matters. Be nice. Grace wins,