God with us 3 – In the Struggle

Welcome one & all to Redemption Church. Merry Christmas to everyone here in Plano Tx and warmest Christmas greetings to everyone watching & listening online.

What is Christmas about? We can answer that with three words. GOD WITH US.

GOD WITH US

The true message of this season is that you are not alone. God is with us. 

Matthew 1:23 (NIV2011) “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

In week 1 we told you God is with us in the silence.

God is with us in the silence

The birth of Jesus Christ is proof that God and His promises were always with us.

Last week we told you that God is with us in the pain.

God is with us in the pain

We told you about a dead marriage, a dead reputation, and a dead baby that are all found within the Christmas story. It was in the middle of that pain that Jesus came to earth. God is still found in the middle of our pain.

Today I want you to know that God is with us in the struggle.

God is with us in the struggle

Redemption Church, do any of you know what a struggle is? Are there any of you that need the idea of struggle defined for you? In case there was anyone who came to Church today who has never had a problem in life.. I prepared a definition.

To struggle is to push, strive, and work to achieve or attain something in the face of difficulty or resistance

• When you are trying to do something, but it isn’t easy… it’s a struggle.


• When you are trying to help someone but they don’t understand your motives and it turns into a fight… it’s a struggle.


• When your dreams are on life support and you feel like you can’t do anything less that your best because it may all fall apart any moment… it’s a struggle.


• When you are trying to drag your family out of debt but it seems like everything you own is breaking… it’s a struggle.


• When what you are pushing to do starts to push back against you… it’s a struggle.

Money struggles. People struggles. Health struggles. Emotional struggles. Faith struggles.

The Struggle is Real

Can I just tell you for a moment that you aren’t crazy. The Struggle is real. You are NOT imagining this difficulty. It is real. You aren’t making up this issue. The struggle is real.

Sometimes we people are the worst at recognizing the struggles of others. Sometimes we belittle the struggle of others. There are times we open up about our struggle and people respond in flippant ways…

Ex. You tell someone about the struggle of parenting your child that is not doing well. And the person responds… it’s nothing a belt wouldn’t fix. And it is all you can do to not snap at them “Do tell me how many spankings does it take to whip the Autism out of my child!”

People don’t always understand your struggle. These people aren’t ready to talk about your struggle because often they haven’t owned their own struggle yet.

Christians aren’t always great at responding to someone in a struggle.

EX. You open up about something you are really struggling with. You feel like you are barely holding on… and they respond in Christian clichés…

“Well brother you just gotta have faith…” …Like confessing the struggle was a lack of faith.

“Well sister I’ll be praying…” …will you really be praying? Why not pray now. How about we stand in faith NOW!?

Redemption can we be a church that stands with people in their struggle? Can we stop standing in judgment against those with struggle and start standing with those in the struggle?!

The struggle is real, but so is my faith! The struggle is real but so is my God! I’m going to stand with you and push with you.. work with you… strive with you. The struggle is real!

I am so thankful that the Christmas account doesn’t leave out the struggle. I am equally glad that the Christmas story doesn’t focus on the struggle… The focus is Jesus Christ. That is how it should be in our story. Our story should not make the struggle the focus. Our focus should be the arrival of Jesus in our life.

Last week we talked about the pain between Joseph & Mary. We are going to pick up in that 1^st chapter of Luke where the Angel Gabriel is talking to Mary.

Luke 1:36 (NIV2011) Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable