156: Emmanuel “God With Us” & The Power of WITHness in Ministry

This episode features a personal Christmas message from Laurie. We were all created to experience Emmanuel - God with us - in life and in ministry!

Too many times in small churches, we are so busy working and striving for God, that we miss out on the experience of being with Him.

This encouraging message reminds us of the power of living and moving in the WITHness of God. Only then can we replace our drivenness to do for God with grace upon grace instead.


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Transcript

Laurie Acker: 0:01

Hey, this is Laurie Acker, welcome to the small church ministry podcast. Hey, hey. Welcome to another episode of the small church ministry podcast. Knowing that this is going live on Christmas Eve, we're going to keep it short and sweet. No matter where you're at with this holiday week or couple weeks, or whatever you're facing with work and church and ministry and family commitments and friends, I just want to encourage you to take a deep breath and just breathe in the truth of how loved you are, I want to invite you to put away any stress, any pressure of ministry, even if you've got stuff going on tonight or this week, to take those to do's on your list and put them in priority, and just breathe in how loved you are, because this is the core message of the gospel. This is why Jesus came to be with us, Emmanuel, which means God with us. We've talked a lot this year about doing ministry with people, not for them or to them, but with them. It's the basis of so much that we teach at small church ministry about connecting with volunteers, about team building. It's one of the foundational values, even in how we've developed planning parties, which are so talked about because they're really about doing ministry with people, not for them or to them, but today, on Christmas Eve, I just want to reflect on the the flip side of this of Emmanuel of God with us. Because so often when we're serving and and working and stressing out about ministry, it can leave us exhausted or spent or sometimes even feeling bitter or unappreciated, or like we are working too hard, or pouring out so much. And Does God really call us to move into exhaustion? But this is what we've seen, modeled in so much of our modern church culture, to pour out as we work for God instead of with God. But what about Emmanuel? What about the message of Christmas? What about God with us? Could life and ministry be more than working for God pouring out for him? Maybe even because of him and his call on our lives. But what about experiencing life and ministry with God? Why are American Christians who have more access to biblical teaching than any other people in history failing to experience the freedom of Christian life. Why are pastors, those closest to the work and ministry, burning out at an alarming rate? Why do many church members who give large amounts of their time and wealth to Christ and the Kingdom secretly questioning the legitimacy of their efforts? Are we making a difference? And why are spiritual seekers dismissing the validity of the Christian message? Is it possible that we've misunderstood the call of the Christian life? Those questions that I just listed off for you are actually in a teaser on Amazon for a book called with by sky jethani, have you read the book with I think it's really a perfect quote today. It's a perfect reminder today of this truth. Are we really doing life with God in ministry with God? Could we be experiencing something different? Jesus came, Emmanuel, God with us. God came as a baby. He did not land on Earth as an expert that came to impart truth. He did impart truth. Please hear me. We can look at his words and his truth 100% but the way that God came, the impact of Jesus was broad and deep and varied. But let's take a look at the impact of Jesus coming to live life with people, of doing life with us. If we reduce the impact of the gospel to only the words on the page, we're actually limiting the truth of the power of of God being with us, the choice of the God of the universe to come and live with us. To me, this is one of the the beautiful mysteries of the Christmas season that God chose to come and be. You with us to live a human life on the planet. The book that I mentioned with reimagining the way that you relate to God, again, by sky jethani, this is the posture I want to take as I go into the new year, even as this break in between almost one ministry season and the next. I want to read you another quote from that book sky jadani says this, it is only when we live with God and come to experientially know His goodness and His love that the shadows break and the commands begin to make sense. If I am eternally safe in the care of my good shepherd and I come to see the world as a safe place, then I am set free from my fears. I am free to give rather than Hoard. I am free to enjoy each day rather than worry. I am free to forgive others rather than retaliate against them, and I am even free to love the person determined to harm me. But all of it starts with trust, aka faith, in God's ever present love and care for me. End quote, this is the witness so often. I think as we serve in ministry, we strive to control factors that are outside our control, to get people to come to know the goodness of God, to serve with us, to see our vision, to work with us, to partner together. But and I'm going to quote sky jethani One more time in his book with reimagining the way you relate to God, he says this faith is the opposite of seeking control. It's surrendering control. It embraces the truth that control is an illusion. We never had it and we never will. Rather than trying to overcome our fears by seeking more control, the solution offered by life with God is precisely the opposite. We overcome fear by surrendering control, but surrender is only possible if we have total assurance that we are safe, we must be convinced that if we let go, we will be caught. Let me just say that one more time, if we let go, we will be caught. This assurance only comes when we trust that our Heavenly Father desires to be with us and will not let us fall. End quote, he desires to be with us. He came to be with us. The message of Christmas, Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. You know, when I think about these quotes and Jesus being with us, the concept that sky returns to many times throughout this book, is that we need to rely on the assurance that we are safe with God no matter what, if we really believe that God is with us, in ministry, in our lives, in our efforts, that God is with us, that we're experiencing life with God, that We're doing ministry with God, maybe not just for him. That's where the safety comes in. That's when we can experience a lot more freedom in life and ministry. Is when we believe that God really is with us, that he chooses to be with us, that he wants to be with us, that we are worth being with. I have no idea what your year has been like, or what your life has been like, what you've experienced along the way, and I gotta admit that my faith has been shaken over the past year or so in some really deep ways. It is tough when we are let down by people. But you know, God never promised that people are always going to be safe. God never claimed that humanity was safe, but that he is with us and we are safe when we are with Him. It is tough when systems let us down. Church, systems, work systems, educational systems. It's tough when our health fails, when things that felt secure once don't feel secure anymore. But again, this is where Emmanuel comes in, God with us. John, one says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning, through Him, all things were made without him. Nothing was made. That has been made in Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. And. The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, and he came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him, all might believe he himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light, the true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into this world. He was in the world. And though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet, to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, with us, we have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth, John testified concerning him, and he cried out, saying, This is the one I spoke about when I said, He who comes after me has surpassed me, because he was before me, out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God but the one and only son who is Himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made known as made Him known. John 116, which I just read out of his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given. The Greek phrasing of that phrase, grace upon grace, or grace in place of grace, it implies a constant overflowing gift. Can you imagine as Jesus followers being constantly inundated with the grace of God because of Jesus, Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. My prayer is that each of us in our small churches would build our ministries on this truth, on being with God, on Grace, upon grace, not building our ministries on our effort, our fears, our need to control, not on our pride, not built on the response or recognition of others, but that we could go into the next season just with God, knowing that God is with us. That's our safety net, that's our safety experience, experiencing God with us. Emmanuel, that's where my heart is today, and I just want to offer this blessing, not just on your holiday season, but as we move forward, May you experience grace upon grace, the witness of God, Jesus, Emmanuel, God with each and every one of us, Merry Christmas next week on the podcast, I've got some fun end of year journaling prompts for you Before we move into January. January is a month focused on women's ministry. As we head into one of our most amazing events of the year, the women's ministry in small church conference, it's coming up the last Saturday in January. If you are not on the wait list, you're going to want to be on it, we will let you know first when registration opens, which is coming really soon. So if you want to get on the wait list for that conference, go visit small church summits.com. You'll see the wait list sitting right there for you until next week. Be a light you