Immanuel

There are many things I would like for you this Christmas season.
One of those things is;
for you to sit and think,
be still and ponder,
process the vast wonder of
Immanuel-God With Us.

 ...If you do not stand firm in your faith,
   you will not stand at all.’ Vs. 9
“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, Vs. 11
...a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Vs. 14
Isaiah 7- NIV

Old Testament
Always matches up with
New Testament

His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Vs. 18
"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Vs. 21
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
Vs. 22,23
Matthew 1-NIV

As a former Jehovah's Witness I would say time and time again;
"Sure I believe Jesus, sure he walked this earth, I believe in Jesus, I pray in His name."
I thought I had it all figured out. I believed I had it all down and even "right."
To the extreme and believing like the breaths I take daily, preaching daily door to door saying;
"He Jesus is a created being, and yes I believe in his virgin birth, but he is not God."
I would say to you, "Well, yes we are in agreement, when it comes to Jesus."

We are NOT in agreement!
I am no longer in agreement with those statements!

We need to agree with Jesus!
We need to believe who He is, and who He says He is.

The Incarnation of Christ.
Unless you fully believe and accept that He Jesus is God.
The Incarnation of God becoming man by the virgin birth.
God became man and dwelled with us-God With Us-Immanuel.
That I will be in agreement with you on.

Incarnation is one of the most important teachings and beliefs of Christianity.
Incarnation represents the belief that Jesus, who is the non-created second person of the triune God took on a human body and nature and became both man and God.
Immanuel-God With Us.

I didn't say this He did.
The best teaching on this is John 1:14
The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.  GWT

He was truly man and truly God and he dwelt with us.

I know as a former Jehovah's Witness myself,
I questioned, I battled, I fought, I argued, I cried over,  every bit of this truth.
I gave every rote (learned, memorized) answer I knew to give, to come against,
Who Jesus was.  Who Jesus is.
Immanuel-God With Us.

I challenge you;
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 1 John 4:1 NLT

He Was, He Is, and He Is to Come!
He is Immanuel.

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
1 John 1:1 NLT
He is Immanuel-God with us.

I take Him at his word today and every day ahead of me.  This is my faith.  I took my mustard seed of faith and planted it with Him for eternity.
This Christmas and every Christmas prior to this one,
and everyday He is Immanuel-God With Us.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.