Jesus Present Before Bethlehem

When we face uncertainty, when life gets hard, when things happen that we can’t explain, we’ll often ask: Where is God? But every Christian should realize they are never alone. Jesus is with you. Pastor Greg Laurie shares more in this message.

Notes:

Focus verse - Genesis 22
  
Matthew 28:20 (NKJV)
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
 
Psalm 23:4 (NKJV)
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
 
Sometimes our feelings need to catch up with our faith.
 
#1 Joseph was in a prison cell. He probably felt all alone and abandoned. He was there, not because he broke a law, but because he kept one—God’s law.
 
God was in the prison cell with Joseph.
 
Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)
"You meant it for evil; but God meant it for good—to save many people alive.”
  
#2 Let’s go from a prison to a palace and think of Esther.
 
Queen Vashti, to her credit, refused. She would not be humiliated or objectified, not even by the king.
 
Vashti is a role model for young girls and women today.
Don’t ever let some guy reduce you to a mere object.
 
You are a woman made in the image God.
 
If you present yourself cheaply, don’t expect to be valued royally.
 
A man needs to value you for who you are on the inside, not only the outside.
 
The most attractive thing is to be a godly and principled woman.
 
Through the providence of God, Esther became the queen of Persia.
 
God is always at work in the life of the believer, every hour of every day.
 
God is now here!
 
Providence comes from the Latin prōvidentia; “pro” meaning "before" or "ahead of time” and “videntia” meaning “to see.”
 
God is in control.
 
#3 The story of Israel at the Red Sea.
They were between a rock and a hard place.
 
Exodus 14:13–14 (NLT)
 
Exodus 14:13–14 (NLT)
 
Colossians 1:16–17
 
Exodus 14:19
 
A Christophany is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament.
 
John 8:56–58 (NKJV)
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
 
John 8:56–58 (NKJV)
Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
 
John 8:56–58 (NKJV)
Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM!"
 
Luke 24:27
 
The disciples on the Emmaus Road were literally listening to God incarnate describe His Old Testament appearances.
 
Jesus didn’t begin in Bethlehem; He has always been.
 
The story of redemption started a long time ago in a garden.
 
The Christmas story begins with a tree: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
 
Adam and Eve sinned and lost that sweet fellowship with God.
 
Genesis 3:8 (NLT)
“When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden.”
 
We can never escape the presence of God.
 
When you walk with God, it is a source of comfort.
 
1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us.”
 
James 1:14–15 (NLT)
“Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow,
it gives birth to death.”
 
The Bible says, “Christ was slain from the foundation of the world.”
 
Genesis 3:15
 
Pharaoh tried to exterminate the Jews starting with the Hebrew baby boys.
 
Wicked Haman tried to have the Jews wiped off the face of the earth.
 
King Herod hearing that one was born, “King of the Jews,”
tried to kill Jesus, but that too failed.
 
Nothing would stop Messiah from coming.
Nothing will stop Christ from coming again either.
 
#4 The story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah.
 
Read Genesis 22
 
The two of them went together.
Genesis 22:8
 
That is exactly what happened when Jesus went to the cross for us.
 
This gives a glimpse of Calvary from the Father’s perspective, sacrificing His Son, His only Son.
 
Genesis 22:11
 
Christ died in our place and absorbed the wrath of God.

Looking for hope or know someone who is? Join Greg Laurie at the Harvest Crusade: Hope for America on November 16! Get event information here.

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