God With Us: Week 1
What does the Christmas story reveal to us then about who God is?
1) He loves you.
John 3:16 (NIV)—For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Love is at the core of who God is. Everything God does is out of love. In fact, God is love.
1 John 4:16 (NLT)—We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
- It is not just something He does it is who God is, and there was no better way to express and reveal who He is than sending His Son to reveal His heart for mankind.
1 John 4:19 (NLT)—We love each other because he loved us first.
- At the heart of this season is a God of love. A God who so loves you. A God who wants you to love Him.
- The world will try to distract you and cause you to direct your love to other things
Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NLT)—Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT)—For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
2) He wants to save you.
John 3:17 (NIV)—For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)—9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
- God revealing that He wants to save you also reveals that you need to be saved from something…
Romans 3:23 (NIV)—for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 6:23 (NIV)—For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3) He wants to be with you.
- This was always God’s plan ever since the garden, but sin separated us from God. Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father so we can be with him once again
Matthew 1:18-23 (NLT)—18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy
Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: (Isaiah 7:14) 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)—18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
John 14:1-3 (NIV)—1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (NIV)—15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Revelation 21:1-4 (NLT)—1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.
For Small Group Discussion:
Opening Question: What is your favorite Christmas decoration? (i.e. the tree, lights, stockings, etc.) For homework, look up where that tradition came from!
Main Point: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” -A.W. Tozer
Read/Tell the Story: John 1:1-34
Questions:
- This series is called “God with Us”. How is the promise of His presence significant in your life?
- Why do you think Jesus is called the Lamb of God?
- Jesus came “full of grace and truth”. Do you tend to be more graceful or more truthful? How does that play out in your relationships? What would someone close to you say?
- John came as “a witness to the light”. How can we be a light in the darkness this Christmas season?
- John had a very specific job that God had given him to do. What has God specifically given you to do? (If you don’t know, maybe your group could give you some ideas)
- John got to do something he never thought he would in baptizing Jesus. What is something meaningful that you have gotten to experience that you never thought you would?
- How do you plan to be intentional in focusing on who God is in this season?
Supporting Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7, Colossians 1:15-20, 1 Peter 1:19-21