Title: God is with us; He will bring us through!                        (SHORT 10 Min. VERSION)

Introduction

1.     Understanding this concept will rid us of fears and feelings of inadequacy.

2.     Some people struggle grasping the significance of this simple statement.

3.     While others just take God at His word and run with it.

Proposition: Tremendous implications apply when God says “I am with you.” 

Interrogatives: Do we practically benefit from this statement, not only for ourselves, but for God and for others?

Transitional Sentence: To better understand of this statement lets look at it from two perspectives.  First from God’s point of view, second is from our point of view.

First Division: First, let us look at the importance that God attaches to His statement “I AM with you.”

a.      Subdivision: One indication of its importance is that it is one of His names

Discussion: Jehovah-Shammah   

1.     This name means - I am the ever present One, or God’s abiding presence, or the Lord is there.

2.     We all know God is omnipresent; this is one of His attributes.  In Psalm 139:7-12 David says there is no way to get away from God.  He is everywhere no matter where you go.

3.     But for the believers, God is with us in a very special way. 

4.     Individually He is with us Ps 23.  Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

5.     A Corporate example of Him being with us is in Ezekiel 48:35 "… and the name of the city from that day shall be, 'The LORD is there.'"

b.     Subdivision: God often says “I am with you.”  This is another way we know this statement is important to God.  It is one of His favorite remarks. 

He often says this when He wants a person to step out in faith, or take new ground, or when He is about do something spectacular through that person.

Discussion: Moses is an example of a person who did not catch on right away, but later on he did. 

1.     Moses had two pivotal conversations with God on this matter: 

a.      The first conversation is recorded in Exodus Chapters 3 and 4.  In Ex. 3:10 God speaks to Moses and says “I am sending you to pharaoh so that you may bring My people out.” 

                                                                                                                          i.      Moses offers a litany of excuses

                                                                                                                        ii.      In Ex. 3:11 his excuses start with “Who am I that pharaoh would listen to me?”  Then in vs. 12 God tells Moses “I will certainly be with you.”

                                                                                                                      iii.      Then Moses said “What if Your people don’t listen to me?” God patiently tells him how to deal with this.

                                                                                                                     iv.      Then Moses offers his last excuse - “I can’t talk, send Your message by someone else.” 

                                                                                                                       v.      In Ex. 4:14 we see God eventually gets angry with Moses.

                                                                                                                     vi.      Obviously, at this point Moses has not caught on!

b.     In a second conversation Moses speaks to God with a whole different attitude.

                                                                                                                          i.      This dialog occurred after God revealed His great power. 

1.     The plagues, the Red Sea and the destruction of the world’s most powerful army were all past history.

                                                                                                                        ii.      This conversation is recorded in Exodus 33, it occurred right after God’s people had an adulterous party. 

1.     They did not think God or Moses were with them anymore. 

2.     So they made a golden calf to be with them and they worshipped it. 

3.     After this episode God is disgusted, He tells Moses I will send my angel before you, when you go up into the land.  Ex. 33:2. 

                                                                                                                      iii.      But by this time Moses was a completely changed person. 

1.     Moses says to God “If You don’t go with us there is no sense in us going up at all.” 

2.     He talked God into going with them.
cf. Ex. 33: 13-17.

                                                                                                                     iv.      So Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible initially failed to grasp the meaning of “I am with you.” But we see later on he did. 

Discussion: Some people catch on right from the start.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a precious and wonderful example of the proper response to God’s pronunciation “I am with you.” 

1.     Mary the mother of Jesus is another precious example. 

a.      In Luke 1:28 the angel said to Mary “Hail favored one, the Lord is with you.” 

b.     Later in the conversation, verse 38, Mary said “I am the Lord’s servant, May it be to me as you have said.”

c.     With the understanding that He was with her, she demonstrated the proper response, she simply yielded to the Lord. 

d.     Her act of obedience had tremendous consequences.  She brought our salvation, the Messiah, into this world.

Transition: So we have covered the importance of this statement to God.  How He names Himself “I AM with you,” and that He employs this statement often when dealing with His children. 

Now we will go on to discuss why this statement should be important to each of us.

Second Division: The personal significance of God’s statement “I AM with you.”

a.      When we are afraid He is with us.

Discussion: Understanding that He is with us, enables us to move from fear and to faith.   

1.     Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not anxiously look about you for I am your God.  I will help you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

2.     Hebrews 13:6 I will never, no never, no never leave you nor forsake you, so we confidently say “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what shall man do unto me.”

b.     When we feel all alone or deserted He is with us.

Discussion: Jesus was always aware that the Father was always with Him.   

1.     In John 16:32 Jesus said "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

2.     In John 14:16-17, Jesus says “And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter (Helper, Intercessor, Advocated, Strengthener, Standby) that He may remain with you forever.  The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, welcome take to its heart, because it does not see nor know and recognize Him, but you know and recognize Him because He is with you constantly …” – Notice that these verses say the H. S. is with us forever.  The Holy Spirit is with us constantly. 


c.     When we are working a secular job God is with us.

Discussion: He often says to me “I am with you.” 

1.     When you are self employed, like me, you are all alone. You cannot run to the boss or an employee for help.   

a.      A prominent Maui lawyer hands me an expert witness case, a type I have never done before, and the Lord says to me “Do it! I am with you.”  Somewhat reluctantly I trusted His words.  As I worked on the case, I kept in mind that He said “I am with you.” In the end this case came out wonderfully.

d.     When we need to minister he is with us.

Discussion: Jesus utilized the concept of a yoke to show THE WAY that He wanted to work together with us. 

1.     In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you shall find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  This yoke indicates we don’t work for Him, but that we work with Him.  He works together with us.

2.     This preceding example strongly implies that HE is with us.  But Jesus also told us blatantly that He is with us.  In Matthew 27:20 Jesus says Lo I am with you even to the ends of the earth.

Transition: In conclusion, the statement “I am with you” really means a whole lot to us right here and now.

Conclusion

1.     So the next time He gives us a task and tells us “I am with you,”

a.      are we going to respond positively like Mary and

b.     say “Be it be done to me as the Lord wills?” 

2.     Or are we going start off following after God like Israel did,

a.      Who later on thought that God has deserted them

b.     and then went on to create and worship an idol? 

3.     The choice is up to us.  God always allows us to choose.

4.     But when we know for sure that He is with us,

a.      we will have a greater tendency to make the right choice

b.     and then He will faithfully bring us through.