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Blessed Christmas listener. This morning Pastor Peter Teo preaches on Emmanuel, God with us. We pray that you may be blessed with this word and touched afresh by the God of miracles.

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Father, we thank you, Father. We look to you. We look to you because you are the star of Christmas. You are our whole focus. You are the light of Christmas. Everything that we celebrate all points to you. Because you are the creator God who came to be among your creatures. And we thank you for this privilege of getting to know you, to know that you are the one who created us. You are the one who has got great things for us. And so, Lord, we come uh asking you not only just to know about the Christmas story, because all of us have heard Christmas story, but we want we come to ask you to give us revelation. Revelation of who you are, who you truly are. Thank you, Father. And we ask you for your presence. We know your presence is here, and we ask you, Father, manifest yourself among us. May your people really uh come face to face with you and and uh experience your touch. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You know, I just want to thank God for thank thank Pastor Daniel for this privilege of uh sharing during this Christmas. And uh indeed, God is good. You know, the Bible talks a lot about miracles. There are so many miracles in the Bible, but I want to say straight off that all miracles and all power belongs to God. All miracles come from God. I know some of you have heard miracles being done by the devil or other people who are not Christians. They do happen because uh Satan himself uh learned it from the creator. But all power comes from him. No matter what power he has, all comes from God. Okay? And so this power was with Jesus when he came to this earth. And we see again and again throughout the Bible how he heals people. Jesus healed people, his healing is more advanced than anyone can ever think of. And his healing, like sight, hearing, walking, people who cannot walk begin to walk. These are way before modern medicine or even scientists have invented anything for our eyes, for our ears, or for our legs. Now we have lasers for the eyes, now we've got hearing aid for the ears, and we got knee replacement. But way before all the invention came to being, teasers have been doing healing way in advance. And even what I want to say is that the healing that Jesus is so spectacular that science and medicine is slowly catching up in this modern age. Okay, he is way advanced. And so all these miracles that happened that Jesus did, like for example, feeding of the 5,000, uh, raising people from the dead, this has our modern technology have not reached to that height yet. Jesus is a pioneer in this thing. He's got the technology of God that did miracles. And so all these miracles that happen, even we read in this uh uh Christmas story, it's a miracle. When Jesus was conceived, it was a miracle. But before Jesus was conceived, there was already uh miracles of conception. People who cannot give birth, who are barren, begin to give birth. We see the story of uh uh Abraham's wife, Sarah, giving birth at 90 years old to Isaac. Then we also got now Noah's wife who gave birth to Samson, and then also we got Hannah who gave birth to Samuel, and then lastly but not least, also even Elizabeth giving birth to John the Baptist, and then of course uh uh Mary giving birth to uh Jesus. But even though these are miraculous birth, none can compare to the birth like like Jesus. Because they may be people who have been have this miraculous birth so that they will make way for the Messiah, but Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And the other thing is that all the other miracles birth, they were from uh more senior ladies, okay, more senior, I cannot use the word uh old, senior and uh barren, and they gave birth to babies. But for Mary, she was young and was a virgin, and she didn't know, and she did not have any intimacy with any man before her marriage. So that was really miraculous because her conception was really from the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit filling her body and uh causing life to come into her body, and coming to a point where we read just now, where Joseph was reluctant about marrying her, but the whole through the angel, he was convinced to take her as his own wife, and that thereby he adopted, he was actually the adopted uh uh father or foster father that registered Jesus under the line of King David, and so and so this uh passage we read just now in Matthew, Joseph was instructed in the dream to name him Jesus. But Matthew, at the same time, knowing that he's gonna be called Jesus, also remember that this baby was prophesied by prophets way 800 years ago. And he says it's from the book of Isaiah, and he says, This baby is supposed to be called Emanuel. With us, L means God, so Emmanuel means God with us, and the word Emmanuel can be either spelled with the capital I or with the capital E. Depends on the translation. Okay, if you are uh translating from Hebrew to English, is capital I. If you are translating from Hebrew to Greek to English, it will be the capital E. Okay, but no matter what, it is still the same meaning. Emmanuel, God with us. The first time Emmanuel, the word Emmanuel is being mentioned is in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. Actually, there are four times the name Emmanuel is being mentioned in the Bible. Uh, firstly, uh Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, Isaiah chapter 7, uh chapter 8, verse 8, and chapter 8, verse 10, which I when I read the Hebrew is Emmanuel. And then also Matthew chapter 1, verse 23. Four times it mentioned. So, but the first three times it's been mentioned in Isaiah, is talking about the same, same situation. The situation we the whole about uh particularly in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, it thought it talks about behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. The promise or the sign that was specially given was given to an evil and unbelieving king called King Ahaz. By this time, Solomon's kingdom has already been divided into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom called Israel, the southern kingdom called Judah. Okay? So at this time, King Hazia Ahaz was facing a threat because the northern kingdom Israel is collaborating with uh Syrians, Syrians to uh attack Ahaz, because Ahaz refused to join their alliance. And not only that, there's also the threat of the Assyrians. So there's a lot of threat of invasion at this very particular juncture. And so because he is unbelieving, he's a bad king, even refused to ask for a sign when the prophet Isaiah asked him, give ask for a sign, and God will give to you. But he refused. But God nevertheless gave him the sign that a child will be born called Emmanuel. Because at that time when they were facing this threat, they were the people and the king were shaking like trees in the wind. That's what that's what the scripture says. They were shaking, they were fearful, they were fearful because of this threat that's coming. It will be the end of their kingdom, it will be the end of their lives. But nevertheless, the prophet Isaiah says, It shall not stand. This will pass by. And this was the assurance that God gave to Ahaz. Nothing is going to happen, everything is going to be okay. He says, by the time the baby Emmanuel is born, the all the all the other invasion invading uh nations will all be gone. You will be safe. That's what it meant. I don't know how many of us are facing threat right now. Whether it's for next year, threat of losing your job, threat of uh being sick, threat of dying, threat of not enough because of the rising cost of living. But there's a lot of threat that you are anxious about. The Lord is saying to you, it shall not stand. It will pass by. If you are in such a situation, receive this promise from God, it shall not stand, it will pass by. Everything is going to be okay because God Emmanuel is with us. God Emmanuel is with us. And in this first Emmanuel manifestation in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, is assurance that God says, I am present with you. I will move nations, I will stop invading the army to stop. All you have to do is just trust him. Whatever trend you are facing, trust him today. Trust him this Christmas. The second time Emmanuel is being mentioned is in the New Testament. Matthew chapter 1, verse 23, as I've shared just now. At this time, the situation is totally different. Okay, the Jews at that time was under so many armies, uh so many empires, from Babylon, Greece, Persia, and now Romans. And so the the people, the Jewish people, were now becoming anti-government. Anti-government. Because recently King Herod just executed 45 of the 71 members of the Sanhedrin. And so they were very angry. They were under a lot of pressure and control. Even the priest will be appointed, the high priest will be appointed or dismissed at the fancy of the governor or the emperor. So they have totally no control. Even the priest uh vestment is kept in Antonio Fortress. That this is a fortress that is on the right hand side of the Temple of Mount, the modern temple of Mount, the Antonio Fortress, is kept there. The vestment. And it will only be released on festive occasions. And so they are very angry. The Jews, so they feel very oppressed at this time. And at this time, when you are oppressed, you are looking for that hope. And the hope in Israel was may the Messiah comes. Every time when they had the for the Jews, when they have big trouble happening to them, when is the Messiah coming? They look to God. And thank God, the Messiah has come. God is with us. And this second use of Emmanuel in Matthew chapter 1, verse 23, according to Matthew, it seems to have a fuller purpose, fuller manifestation than Isaiah chapter 7, 8 or 9. It's a fuller one because you know why? In the past, in the Old Testament, Isaiah, it was the presence of the Messiah of God when it talks about Emmanuel. Just the presence of God, the unseen, the invisible uh presence of God. But knowing that God is doing something just by prayer. But now it's a fuller manifestation. And it comes at this right time. At the right time, which is necessarily a convenient time. Many a times we like to have times that is convenient, that's easy, but it may not be the right time. But God came at the right time, and in the most inconvenient time for us. And the this time around in Matthew chapter 1, verse 23 is different. The Emmanuel is different. Because God Himself came. God Himself came. All the others was just invisible manifestation of God's power, moving nations against nations. But now God came. Aren't you glad? God came. Sometimes you people say you are imagining too much. God came. God came. Not only is that deliverance, but the deliverer, deliverer came personally. And it's very personal. And he came to be born as a man, as a man named Jesus. Jesus meaning God who saves. In the scripture, it says he will save us, save his people from their sins. So this time around, he's just coming as a deliverer, but he's going to save us. He's going to be a savior from our sins. And sometimes when we say about this kind of thing, when God comes personally, we don't want to get too close to God. Many of us have this superstition that we don't want to get near to God. You know why? Because ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, we you know we feel uh undone. We feel exposed about our wrongdoing before God. That's why we want to be in the hiding. We don't want to be the limelight. We want to hide under the chair if God is around. Because we don't want to be caught like a deer in front of the headlights. Because we feel we are struggling, people. We are struggling with sins. And we like to hide in darkness. Because we are afraid and we feel unworthy, not measuring up, inadequate, and we are afraid if we expose ourselves too much. The wrath of God is going to kill us. Let me assure you. God comes to heal us. God comes to save us. How can he save us when he wants to kill us? He comes to save us. He comes to want to live among us. In fact, that's what God's desire was all about from the beginning of Genesis right after Revelation. In Genesis, we can see Adam and Eve having evening walks with God. God was always there having conversation. It was an appointed time where they can converse. There was a relationship. And then when we come to Moses, Moses has this tabernacle. I'm sure you've heard of it. And you know what? God is in the center of the tabernacle. He lives among the people. And then in Revelation, it's even clearer. In Revelation it says 21, verse 33 to 5. He says, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them. And they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there shall be no longer be any death. There shall be no longer mourning, crying, or pain. The first things have passed away. Behold, I make all things new. You can see that God wants to dwell with us. In fact, Revelation, many of commentators say this is probably talking about heaven. Heaven where God is going to live with us. The real manifestation, God is going to be our neighbor, our next door neighbor. Or maybe even living in your house. God wants to live with his people. But because of because you know why? We are afraid of meeting God, getting close to God, because sin has caused a gulf between us and God. We because of our fear, we move away. We move away from the source of life, which is God Himself. When we move away from the fire, we begin to get cold. But we need to move closer to the fire. There's none other than God. Only shall we then live. Where did all this come from? It's because of the sin, because of the separation that we have on this earth. But the moment we are reconciled with God, we are forgiven by God. When we go to heaven, heaven is going to be the real heaven. Where there's no more the tears, no more death, no more crying, no more pain. Some people say, I want to go to heaven. But I don't like Jesus, eh? Jesus is going to be there in heaven. It's stated in the Bible. He shall dwell with his people. So it's better for us right now to get to know Jesus. Get to know Jesus because this is a rehearsal for the real thing. When we go to heaven, we see Jesus every day. He's going to be there. Whether you believe him or you don't believe him, or you like him or don't like him. You know, there's no Facebook in heaven, okay? Like or don't like. When you are in heaven, Jesus is going to be there. I can assure you that. Hallelujah. And so men tried, tried, okay? They know there's a gap between God and men. They try their own ways. They try uh education, they try good conduct, they try uh uh what you call doing good deeds, trying to cross the bridge, but they fail. You know why? God's standard is much too high. Much too high. If let's say you are running, doing jump uh high jump, you're gonna jump across a ditch that is 10 meters. If you run and then you try to jump over the ditch, if 5.5, what will happen to you? You go down the ditch. 8.5, go down the ditch. 9.95, you go down the ditch. Because God's standard is 10. It's much too high for us. The only way we can make it over the other side, from our side to God's side, is through Jesus. It's through Jesus. And God knew that we cannot do it. All of us gotta admit it. We cannot do it. But God did it anyway. God demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we are still sinners, he did not wait for us to be saints. God accept us the way we are, sinners, drowned in sin. But he showed us the way. I'm the bridge, he says. I'm the door. And because of Jesus, we can hear and we can believe and we can cross over to God. The second miracle of the of this second Emmanuel in in Matthew 1, verse 23, is that God took on flesh. This is a miracle for God up there, the creator of everything, of the whole universe, coming down onto earth in time as a human flesh. That is one of the greatest miracles that can ever happen. God didn't come as an angel, He didn't, He didn't uh sort of uh appear like an angel because the title says, For the grace of God that brings salvation have appeared to all men. This about Christmas. The grace of God, which is Jesus Himself, have appeared to us. We can see Him. And it says the in John chapter 1, verse 14, it says, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The word, talking about Jesus, Jesus, the word, the same word, the Logos, make a dwelling among us, he's standing, like Pastor Daniel says, He's standing among us, he's making a ten among us. Because this is very important that Jesus came in the flesh. You know why? Because many a times when in our suffering we ask God, God, where are you? I cannot see you, I only hear about you. I need to see you, flesh, in flesh, and even if I am suffering, do you understand God? God, do you understand my pain? The miracle of God becoming flesh is the real deal. God understand. He suffered, he suffered our pain on the cross. And John the apostle, that the apostles that's closest to the heart of Jesus, who always lean on the breast of Jesus, he says said in uh first John chapter 1, verse 1. I just summarize that we may touch him, that we may see him, that we may worship him, and that we may hear him. Hear, see, touch. Jesus is touchable, like us. He's not just an apparition, he is not his sacrifice on the cross, he's not a virtual reality, it's a real deal. He came to on earth, he died on the cross, he was nailed on the cross for our sin. He was not a zoom, telicas. Jesus didn't go to the virtual world, Jesus came on earth in our time that he may bring us back to the Father. To the Father. That's his purpose, being a human being like us, and yet can show us that he can live a sinless life. And if he if he can, we can also. Benjamin Warfield says the glory of the incarnation means God becoming flesh, is that it presents to our adoring guests not a humanized God or digified man, but a true God man. One who is all that God is, at the same time, all man is. That means that one whose mighty arm we can rest, and one whose human sympathy we can appeal. Hallelujah. For this Emmanuel who came, not just by himself, but come in the flesh. He understands a weakness. Truly God, truly man. And this Emmanuel is still around. Even though we say, okay, Jesus died, went back to heaven. Jesus is not here. Why? How can Emmanuel know? Before he left, he says, I will send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is here. We have the Holy Spirit with us. And he's manifesting his presence by saying, Emmanuel, God is with us. Still with us. He's still doing miracles. Let me show you a miracle which uh happened many years ago when I was in Japan. There was a yakuza. Some of you have heard the story, doesn't matter, but I still believe it's very relevant. There was a yakuza. Yakuza is a mafia, gangster. He was in charge of the area where I was in, of Fujisawa. He was working in the mafia construction site and had a heart attack on the 10th floor. He dropped from the 10th floor at the edge. First net broke, second net broke, the third one held him. By the time they revived him, he was already paralyzed and was sent to the uh housing project, somewhere near my church member. And this church member is one of the elders who does welfare uh visits to people. And so to keep the story short, he was paralyzed. And so my church member asked his fellow team, how many of you want to service this ex-mafia or still mafia? Nobody wants to go. You know why? They may get killed, okay? So that's why I said no, no, no, no, no, me, you go. And so, because she's the leader, she went. So every day she will go into his house, uh, just across the street, and service him, wash the place, cook for him, and uh help him whatever he needs. But cannot move, ma, just there. And so after a while, this church member of mine says, Can I bring my pastor to come and see you? And he says, Okay, sure. Got nothing to lose. I I cannot do anything, I'm lying down, I'm looking at the air. So I went. So I'm the one who he and he says, Come. Uh so when I went there, at that time my Japanese wasn't that good yet, not to the standard yet. So what I do is I go there, just smile and just lay my hands on him. Just pray quietly. I mean, some of you will pray in tongues very loud. I say, no, no, no. I pray quietly, pray. Every day, one hour. Every day, one hour. You can learn this. Every day for one hour, lay hands. You know why? I believe that the life of Jesus, the the spirit, the life of the spirit that's dwelling in our bodies is the same life that raised Jesus from the dead. There is life in us. So I say I lay hands on him. Let life continue to flow. Three weeks later, he got up from the bed and began to walk. He began to walk, not perfect, still having a cane, but walking, can go shopping. Then starts to come to church for uh connect group meeting, then to church ultimately, and he got baptized also. And he one thing I do uh remember, he always says, I am the worst sinner of them all. Do you know, Pastor? You know how many how many bad crimes I've done? And I say, You are just the right candidate for Jesus to save you. And when he got baptized, all his former gang former gang all start coming, no? Because he said, because he's the leader. So at midnight, uh all the all the gangs will start coming, knocking on the door. Uh, brother, uh, for consultation. And he tells them, I'm Christian, don't come to see me, I'm Christian with this. See, see, they don't believe. So you know what he did? He took the baptism set and kneeled in front of his house. And so whenever people come out, he says, See, I am a Christian now. No more uh gangs involvement. And then one day, without me telling him, one day he came to church, he showed me his hands, chopped off his little pinky. I have no more ties with you. I belong to Jesus. I was hoping, because I still see him every day. I was hoping that he would become the church pastor. He'll be great because so he got so much influence in the area. But for three years he lived. I'm sure he impacted many lives. But he passed on after that, went to coma and then gone to heaven. Miracles still happen. I don't know what kind of books you read, whether it's from the West, because I remember when I was in college, somebody stood up and said, uh, Mr. So-and-so, the lecturer, miracles do not exist anymore. You know, at that time I was so stood up, I said, I stood up and say, miracles happen in Asia. Not in America, Asia. And I share what happened. Not only this miracle, but many other miracles that happened, which is beyond explanation. Because miracles is beyond human uh what called law of nature, it's supernatural, only God can do. And the lecturer was so touched. You know what the lecturer says? This is what is the difference between the west and the east. The eastern Christian see miracle all the time. We are the eastern church. Miracle is still happening. Miracle is still happening. And I believe even today, not only will there may be people who have this miracle of salvation, but also there will also be miracles of healing. Some of you may come with all kinds of sickness. Don't just be resigned. Say, oh, it's normal. My father has diabetic, so I also have diabetic. My father has heart disease, I also have heart disease. Don't be resigned to that. You are a child of God, you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Learn to begin to speak, healing. Because when Jesus died on the cross, he didn't only just die for our sins, he also died for our sicknesses.

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We pray that you've been ministered to the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about His Christian Church, please visit our website at yccan.com. Have a blessing.