Immanuel: God with Us
Pastor Tommy Bailey
Isaiah 9:1-7 + Matthew 4:12-22
“A blend of homesickness, nostalgia and longing, ‘hiraeth’ is a pull on the heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost.”
– Lily Crossley-Baxter
- Where are we?
- Who are we?
- What has gone wrong?
- What is the solution?
- Where are we going?
“The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.”
– Charles Spurgeon
“…and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6
“God is on the move toward us, not the other way round. In the very midst of our confusion and incapacity, we are met by the oncoming Lord.”
– Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ
Wonderful Counselor
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
– John 8:12
Mighty God
“Death is no longer a threat in the way it was. It has been defeated in Christ. The signs of aging are no longer a threat, but a promise. Gray hair and deepening lines on my face don’t need to speak to me of a past I can’t recover, but of a future I can barely conceive. The real glory days are not behind, but ahead.”
– Sam Allberry, What God Has to Say About Our Bodies
Everlasting Father
Discussion Questions
- What are some of our deepest longings? Why do we experience this profound sense of yearning? What has gone wrong, and is there any hope?
- Where are we looking to fulfill our deepest longings? Are we looking toward things of this earth that will never fully satisfy, or toward the God who created and cares for all things?
- How do we find peace? Are we fixing our eyes on the Prince of Peace who can give us true and lasting peace, or are we simply reaching for fleeting imitations of the real thing?
Prince of Peace
“Only when our greatest love is God, a love that we cannot lose even in death, can we face all things with peace.”
– Tim Keller, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering
“We can never anticipate Him. He always makes the first move. He is always there ‘in the beginning.’ Before we existed, God took action. Before we decided to look for God, God had already been looking for us. The Bible isn’t about people trying to discover God, but about God reaching out to find us.”
– John Stott, Basic Christianity