God Is With Us: How Christmas Is About God Coming To Us, not Us Finding Him.

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, HopeInOcala.com, and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you. Because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.

What if we have Christmas wrong? Now, I'm not talking about the Santa, Elf on the Shelf, Frosty the Snowman Christmas. I think we do that pretty good. I think we kind of get that. I'm asking, what if we get Christmas of the Bible wrong? What if the greatest lie about Christmas is you're supposed to find God? What if when the Christmas truth is that God stepped out and into our darkness and says, I'm here, I found you. That's an altogether different way of living Christmas. And many of us, if we can be honest, we're kind of, we're tired, we're wore out. We got work going on. We got our family. We have all kinds of nonprofits in our community and inviting us to be a part of things that they're doing and all really good intentions. But in many ways, the sentiment of Christmas can go something like this. I'll be glad when it's all over. And things can get back to normal. I don't want things to go back to normal. And I want to be infused with the kind of energy, Christmas energy that you see in the life of a boy and a girl and all the anticipation

of what Christmas wonder holds. And I think all that is found right in the Christmas story, but perhaps we've just missed it. In your copy of God's Word, two places this morning, we're going to connect Isaiah chapter seven and Matthew chapter one. So first find Isaiah chapter seven, just one verse. And then we'll look at how that same verse 700 years later was put into play. And in just a few moments, we'll all take communion together and I'll show you how even in the Christmas story and how here today communion, you are prophetically proclaiming Jesus coming just like the prophet Isaiah. Are you there? Isaiah chapter seven, look at verse 14. Therefore, as a result of all that has been said, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Here's the sign, it will sound familiar to you. The virgin, we know her name is Mary, will conceive and give birth a son and we will call him Emmanuel, meaning God with us. This, Isaiah seven, is 700 years before Matthew chapter one. When a real teenage girl named Mary becomes pregnant, she doesn't understand what's going on. Joseph, who she's engaged to, he doesn't understand, but the angels make it clear. Look at verse 23, Matthew one and 23. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, God with us. Imagine how your life would be on an ordinary Tuesday, a complex Wednesday,

a frustrating Thursday, filled with temptation Friday night, if you really left today believing that God is with us. God is with you. It's not just a Christmas cliche, but actually He is in you. He is with you and He is for you. On those moments in life when you just don't know if you can take another step, if you can't get past this obstacle to have something in you, a reality, that Emmanuel, God, is with me. The Bible actually says in Matthew 28, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So it's a promise, it's a power that has already been given to us, but many of us are not embracing this Christmas reality. And then John chapter 12, I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. We're going to walk off this campus. You're going to walk into everyday life with a fresh light. And here's the big idea, if you want to write it down, is Christmas is not about you finding your way to God. Christmas is about God coming to us. Christmas isn't God handing you a better map to navigate your way around life. Christmas is God stepping into the darkness and turning the lights on. And what I want you to see this morning, that God, Emmanuel, with us, is four gifts in our life that many of us, quite frankly, just aren't accessing. We're not turning them on. And everything, when we embrace these four gifts, these four Christmas gifts, because of his presence, because God is with me, these four realities will become a part of my everyday life.

It is game-changing. It is life-changing. Here's the first big idea is this, is that because God is with us, because God came, Emmanuel, Christmas, the Christmas light, is he gives us a new identity. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, that anybody who is in Christ, anyone who has accepted Christ as their Savior, we have become a new person. You know, we're often defined, I'm often defined by how I think about me, my past choices, my sin, some of the things I'm shameful of, the things that I did, I wish I could forget them, but they kind of hang out right here, how I feel, rejection, people in life who have rejected me, betrayals that I have experienced, labels that people have put on me. We often identify ourselves by what others say about us, but at Christmas, God promises, because Emmanuel, God is with us, he gives us a brand new identity. We have some friends, and many of you give very, very generously, and I am so thankful. And because of those gifts, we're able to reach out into people all across Ocala, literally around the world. Right now, some friends who are watching online with our partnership with God Behind Bars on the Pando app. Now, I understand, in our society, people make a choice, a decision that's less than best, they break a law, and then they are convicted, and they're incarcerated. I get justice, I get you do the crime, you gotta do the time. But I also get that Christmas is about redemption,

and when you look at our penal system, when you look at men and women who are incarcerated, most often than not, it's not like they're being redeemed. That's why we partner, that's why you give, because right now, we believe that although you've made a decision, that you're locked up and in Behind Bars, that God is still for you, God's got a plan that goes beyond this incarceration. And identity is lost in jail, in prison, in institution. Your name is gone, now there is a prison number. Now you are known by the crime that you did. And we don't have to be locked up in a jail cell. Many of us, right, we limp. You might not see it on the outside, but often, we're measuring ourselves, my identity, I'll measure my identity as a pastor compared to some other pastor. You'll compare yourself to somebody else. Their family compared to your family. How many followers they have on their social media compared to your followers. Did you get invited to prom? Did she get invited to homecoming? We have this way of Identifying ourselves compared to what others say or do about us and then then how our identity at times can get stolen And in the frustration, right? I don't know who is in Hawaii if you're watching right now from Hawaii But I have I have YouTube TV and if you've ever had YouTube TV is sometimes You have like a an area in the world that you're watching from so like mine is Daytona and Melbourne and so I go to click on the channel and I try to watch it and it says I'm out of my Region and so I go back in to see where it's at. And it says that I'm in Hawaii And I'm not in Hawaii and so I go back to reset it right and so then I can start watching because it's been reset And like 15 minutes later, it goes off And it says I'm back in Hawaii. So somebody in Hawaii has got my identity and it can make you frustrating

Here's the story God has given us a brand new Identity God wants you to know that you are not defined by what you've done Whether you are defined by what Jesus did for you. He is for you Yes, we have sinned, but he's not turned off by that sin on the contrary. He came Emmanuel Jesus came at Christmas Because of our sin because he knew the only way that you and I would ever get out of jail Get redeemed is to see him as our Savior So it is a light it is a gift to walk off this campus today and realize the Christmas truth is you are not who? You were you are not what you did and you are not the way others have said or spoken about you this Christmas light Replaces all of the labels you and I have a new identity. Here's our second thing. He's given us a new ability Again, this comparison trap we compare our abilities to everybody else rather than realizing God created you Uniquely you he has given you specific gifts and specific talents To change our world Romans 5 and 5 let this sink in on you We can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit I Don't know that I really live that way every day. I mean think about it God says I can't round up enough containers to hold Everything that God generously pours Into me if I believe that I would live differently the generosity that the peace The security But often we see what we don't have And we're focusing on if we can have more of this or less of that that somehow if we could arrive to a certain Destination then that destination would bring the kind of success if I had more of this ability and less of that liability Then somehow my life would be Better Ephesians 2 the Bible says for we are God's masterpiece Again, I don't always feel like that. I Think often in our humanity. We don't feel like a masterpiece

We feel like a leftover a Misfit I Mean it makes sense right at Christmas time Many of the Christmas movies that we like the most about misfits Someone who isn't considered a masterpiece the movies that we like watching the storylines are often a storyline of somebody that doesn't look like A masterpiece doesn't look like they have it all together rather. They look like a misfit How we often think and feel about ourselves in our minds, but what God wants God is shining Emanuel God with us He's trying to say hey listen. I'm giving you a new identity you are not What you did you are not who you were you are not what others say about you You are new in Christ, and I am giving you fresh ability. I have created you a new in Christ Jesus Christ who is perfect Christ who is all-powerful So we you I we can do good things that God has planned for us a long time ago In Isaiah 7 He puts in play that there is going to be this Jewish girl 700 years out into the future Who will conceive and give birth to a boy? She'll be a virgin and his name will be Emanuel 700 years in advance He puts it in play and think about the ability that God gave Mary She's 15 She's never been with a man and she's pregnant That's ability To give birth to a baby Knowing you were never with a man to change Divinity's diaper To guide divinity as the baby Jesus crawls as the baby Jesus begins to walk and fall all throughout those formative years as

Jesus goes through puberty Mary was given the ability to be mom To God How about Joseph? the ability that he gave Joseph To actually trust and to believe when the angel said chill out don't divorce her What's in Mary is of God? I don't know about you men, but I don't know that I'm believing that That's an extraordinary Ability that God gave to Joseph God's given you a God's given you abilities. It's the Christmas light Emmanuel God with us God in me and God for me God says I've given you so much that you don't have enough containers to hold all of the gifts that I've given to you in the Holy Spirit He's given us a new Ability what God calls you to he empowers you for this Christmas truth The light doesn't just shine on you The light shines through you Too many of us right we want the Christmas light shining on me I want to I want to experience it shine on me But then we let it terminate it through us rather than letting it illuminate through us We receive the Christmas light and then the abilities that God has put in us We let that light shine through us because that's why we're living we are living as Christ followers to bring God's kingdom on Earth Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven He gives you Emmanuel His name will be called Emmanuel God with us and God with you He gives you a new identity and he gives you new abilities and then he gives us this brand new Community that we get to be a part of called the church and I get it

I get it that at times throughout history the church has stubbed its toe There are some bad headlines of the way that the church Has acted There has been betrayal Churches have not often showed up and made it all about Jesus Christ. We've made it about the denominations. We've made it about personalities We've made it about power and agenda And so I certainly get some of the hesitancy in which we live today when it comes to this community this Ecclesia that we call the church, but let me remind you The church is not just some random idea The church is created by God For us God never intended for any of us as Christ followers to be lone rangers When you made a decision to trust Jesus as your Savior That's theology and you you said I come to the conclusion that I can't save me That Jesus on the cross died for me and he was buried and three days later became alive again And I believe that I received that that's theology and yes that happens individually But then that theology places us in a family Look what the Bible says John and one but to all who receive him who believed in his name He gave them the right to become the children of God Sometimes we'll say things like this. Well, everybody's a child of God. That's simply just not true Biblically that's not true. Now. What is true is we're all created in the image of God God has created every single one of us in his image But the only way that you and I become a child of God is we have to receive. What are we receiving? We are receiving the gospel message that our sin has separated us from God in just a moment when we take communion His body was broken Because our choices our sin choice broke The relationship between us and God, but when you receive the gospel message and then you believe in His name it is the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess

It's in the name of Jesus that were saved. He gave the right to become the children of God, who are born not of blood, not a biological birth, not of the will of the flesh, not an adoptive decision, nor the will of man, but of God. Romans chapter eight, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. When you make a decision for Jesus, the Spirit of God now inhabits us. We are filled by the Spirit. We walk and we talk. It is this community that we communion, this communion. We are communion together, not as Baptists, not as Pentecostals, not as Republicans, not as Democrats, not as independents, not as Americans, not as Europeans, not as capitalists and not as socialists. We are communion, communion together under one reality, the reality that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin and his name shall be Emmanuel. And God with us gives you a new identity. And God with us gives us new ability. And God with us gives us a new community. That's who we are. And this community that we call Church of Hope, you know, all across Marion County today, all across the state of Florida, all across these United States, churches are gathering. And that's a good thing.

And churches and pastors and priests are opening up a Bible and they're pointing people to God, Jesus, through the scriptures. We are on the same team. It is about the Word of God. It is about one Savior and his name is Jesus. We come union together. We are hashtag same team. We are not in competition. We are in cooperation. But we are identifiable. This is a local body of believers gathering together. We come union together to grow and to disciple. I think the tragedy in the West, we live in the West, we live in North America, is that we have this idea of our Americanism that because we're independent, we have freedom. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do is that we take that same ideology into our relationship with God. And somehow we think we can be independent from a family. We can make a decision of theology, but not be a part of a local family called the church. And I think that's why so many people drift. It's important. We have friends and family and coworkers who are in our life who would tell you, hey, I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, but they're not a part of a local family. That's like going to Costco and getting a hot dog

and saying, I had a family meal. Like ain't no family meal at Costco. It's a big box with lots of stuff compared to going to someone's house, coming to my house and sitting down and having a meal with my family in my home, at my table. I can see you and you can see me. We can have conversations. That's the value of being in community. That's why we have communion. If you've already picked up your copy of our 2026 Spiritual Development Journal, you'll see inside, there's a really important date. If not, I want to make mention of it now. January 11th, it's actually just a few weeks away. It's called Vision Sunday. We're gonna outline exactly who are we as a local church. We're amongst many local churches in the community, but how are we focusing on being a church in Ocala, Florida? We're gonna outline it, right? We need a training plan. We need a roadmap. And so inside this guideline, and if you're not a partner at Church of Hope, I would want you to come back that night because we're gonna actually have what we call a partnership meeting. Let me see if I can explain that. Is in our culture, you're often invited to become a member, a member at a country club, a member at a gym, a fitness.

You can become a member at the Y, right? And so you pay a due, you pay some fees, membership, and you become a part of the zone, right? And so now you have rights because you're a member at the zone. But that's not biblical language. We're not members. Following Jesus is not denoted by our rights. It's denoted by our responsibility. A Christ follower doesn't have rights. A Christ follower has a responsibility. I'm a follower of Jesus. That's what discipleship is. I am doing and following. I am saying, and I am living. I am leveraging and leaning in my one and only life. I'm responsible. for my one and only life, to follow after Jesus. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews, at the end of my life, when I go to judgment between just me and God, I'm gonna give an account for the way that I lived. Because my life in Christ is not marked by membership, my rights, it's marked by responsibility. And so that's what a partner is. Partners have responsibilities to each other. We both have a part to play. We both are in this together. I like to say it this way, our success is my responsibility.

That's a good statement. Matter of fact, you could use that at work. You can use that on your team. Our success, use it with your family. Our success is my responsibility. We all have a part to play. I was at a Christmas gathering a week and a half ago or so, and I was with a family who had immigrated here from Africa. And they introduced me to a brand new word. We were kind of having a moment together and they were sharing how grateful they are for one another. And at one point, one of the family members used this word, Ubuntu, U-B-U-N-T-U. I hope I'm pronouncing it right. Maybe I'm not so much. Anybody ever hear that word before, Ubuntu? You've heard that, right? And so I said, well, what does that mean? Because I didn't know if I was cussing or I don't know what I was saying. I've never heard that word before. So what is Ubuntu? Here's what it says. I am because we are. It's a sense of this village. We are better together. Ubuntu, I am because we are. That's true of us as a church, as a family, at Glacier. What we're gonna see in communion, we are better together. It's interesting.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, where we often turn to when it comes time for communion and you can actually see the language, it says, for whenever you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Now, what's interesting about this is the language is the same as in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was prophetic. Isaiah was prophesying, foretelling one day this virgin will conceive, give birth to a son, and his name will be Emmanuel, God with us. It's prophetic. It's speaking about something that is yet to come. Notice, you're about to get prophetic. You might've done communion for decades and never really understood that what you're about to do is remembering what happened in the past, and you're also prophetically pointing to what's the future, that Jesus Christ is coming again. I'm gonna show you in 2026, we're gonna do a series called I'll Be Back. Jesus is coming back. The Bible talks more about Jesus coming a second time than ever about him coming the first time. So when you take this communion, you will be foretelling that one day I'll be, Jesus will be coming back. Now, what's interesting is in 1 Corinthians 11,

we won't turn there, but if you'll look at it later today, I'm telling you, it'll, your brain. So Paul is writing to this church. So it's a church, the church at Corinth, okay? And he's writing to them, and this church at Corinth had a lot of problems. Starting in chapter one, he's just addressing problem after problem after problem after problem. In chapter 11, he says, "'Listen, I don't hear anything good about y'all. "'Read it for yourself.'" He says, "'Matter of fact, "'when you guys gather together as a church, "'you do more harm than you do good.'" Could you imagine? And so what he does to pivot them from focusing on their opinions and their preferences, he pivots their attention back to what we call communion. When you gather, it's about what you think. When you gather, it's about how you feel, what you want, what you think is best. And he said, "'Time out. "'When you gather together "'and you make it all about your opinions "'and your cultural preferences, it's not good.'" So what you need to do is to pivot and focus back on communion. And I suggest that in 2025,

with all of the opinions and voices and chaos that's all around us, this morning, us pivoting back to the reality that God loves you so much so that he sent his son, Jesus, and his body was broken and his blood was shed so that you and I could become a part of his family. And this communion that we're about to partake, it's open to anybody who's ever believed. To those of you who have believed and trusted Jesus as your savior. This is for us, because you are remembering 1 Corinthians 11, you are remembering what Christ did for us, and you're also pointing a picture, you're proclaiming that he's coming a second time. If you've not made a decision for Jesus, in a few moments you'll be given an opportunity, and I hope that you do. Matter of fact, you can make that decision right now, you don't even have to wait. You can just say, Jesus, I accept you as my Savior, and right now that prayer, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, I can't fix me. I believe that you were buried in a tomb, and three days later you became alive again, and I'm just asking you right now to save me. Give me that new identity that Mark's been talking about, fill me with new abilities, make me a part of this new family, then this is for you. And so we'll start with that cup, with the bread, so if you'll flip this over, it's a little cracker, just pull that tab back, and because he's put us, because Emmanuel God with us, he's given us a new community, he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. Our sin broke the relationship between us and God. Jesus came back to reestablish that relationship. This is my body, which is broken for you, eat this in remembrance of me. And then flip that over, you'll see the juice, you can pull back that tab.

He gave his whole life. That should challenge some of us. Some of us are tempted to give a portion of our time, a portion of our life. Jesus gave us everything. We follow Jesus by following him with everything. The Bible says there was a group of people who partially committed to Jesus. They were lukewarm, and God said, I want nothing to do with you. You're either hot or you're cold. You're either all in and following Jesus or all in, not. There's nothing that exists in the middle, why? Because of what you're holding in your hands, his life. This is my blood, which has been poured out for you. Drink this in remembrance of me. Emmanuel, God with us, gives you a new identity, gives you new abilities, gave you a new community, and ultimately, he gives us a new destiny. The great promise in Romans chapter 6, the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God's plan for you is, yes, security and comfort of knowing that when you die, there's a real place called heaven. But I want you to know something, that God's plan for you now, like think about it, I'm not dead yet, you're not dead yet. You're alive, I'm alive. And so his plan for me now is not to make me comfy until I die. Question, how many of you through your family or a friend or somebody, you've watched how hospice steps in and does such a great job at that season and stage of life? Many of you, right? They are an incredible organization. I've watched them professionally on so many different levels come in. And what happens when the family makes a decision, when hospice is called in,

it means the medical profession has come to the conclusion that there's not going to be recovery for this human being. There's no medical procedure. There's nothing they know of. There's no surgery. There's no medicine. There's no recovery from this. So they pivot the care from recovery to transition. That this human being can transition with dignity and with comfort. And I am very thankful for hospice. But God's not a hospice care worker. God's chief aim is not to make you comfy till you die. God has created you and designed you in Romans chapter 8 to become like his son, our savior, Jesus Christ. We're going to look at it all next year, becoming more like Jesus. That's what our world needs, you and I, who claim to be Christ followers, to become more like Jesus. I read a story. Some of my military friends, some of my friends who like history. It's World War II and it's London. And the citizens of that city, because of the... Constant bombing from Germany. They basically had lost their electricity and in many ways they were just living in the dark. And so there was a conversation between one man and another man and he was explaining how he was trying to get this girl's attention. Even in the midst of war, love is still happening. And back then in the 40s, winking, w-i-n-k-i-n-g, winking was still a thing.

We don't do a lot of winking today. There's probably an HR rule against winking or something, right? But it was like a thing. And so he's winking, he's trying to get this girl's attention, but she's paying him no attention. And so his buddy says, dude, you're winking at her in the dark. You're never gonna get her attention. Winking in the dark. You know, how many of us, you have good intentions, you love God, but you're living your life winking in the dark. At Christmas, Emmanuel, God with us, the lights are on. And the lights are on and turned on so that we can leverage this life that God has given to us. The church is still bright. The future is still bright. Thank you. Being together in this space today is really good. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. It's not about your behavior. It's not about your church attendance. It's about the reality that Jesus is for you. God's not mad at you. He's madly in love with you.

Would you right now pray this prayer with me? Hey God, it's me. I've sinned and I know it. And I can't fix me. But today, I receive you, Jesus, as my savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me and that you were buried for three days. And then you became alive again. And I invite you into my life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer, my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me, pastor at hopeinokala.com. I'll follow up with you and together we'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace.