Erwin McManus | Signs (God with Us)

Wow the lighting of our Christmas tree is becoming a festival event on Hollywood Boulevard you cannot know how many people when I talk about mosaic and they go where is that and I go the Christmas tree they go oh we know where that is it's kind of amazing that that were a people of science isn't it this Christmas tree hanging or standing on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and labrat has become a sign to this community a sign to the city and while so many people have have known about Jesus who have had interactions with churches that this Christmas tree has become a sign that's so much more powerful it's become a symbol to Hollywood that God is for them that God has not abandoned the city that God Paschal II and intimately loves every single person who has ever walked down these streets yeah you ever missed the sign III think it's fascinating to me how people pick up the most nuance signs if that sign means something to them you may not have noticed but every so often I wear this necklace or maybe all the time and and it's a Star of David but I I've never had like a Swedish person come up to me say I noticed that Star of David just this never happened I've never had one Norwegian come up not one you know when you were speaking I kept thinking isn't that a star David I haven't really had a Cuban or a Salvadorian say that either but I cannot tell you how many people have come up to me who are Jewish and even when I've been in huge arenas or auditoriums where thousands upon thousands of people have been pressed into a room allows always have someone who says I was standing way in the back but I noticed here you're wearing a Star of David I thought this is so fascinating that I have this little sign and it means nothing to so many people and it means so much to some who or a people of science in fact sometimes our signs are just not that deep or profound sometimes I'll have someone come up to me and I think they're gonna say something really complimentary about my talk you know you can always hope they go I have a question I go home if I broken through I love that look I have a question I think somehow something I said finally just unlock their heart open their mind expanded their imagination and I go well what is it and go are you boot saint-laurent glad I could meet you here in this place you cannot know the disappointment people have when I when I when they come up and ask me you know is that shirt a fear of God and I'll go no the god I feel like I let him down is a you know what it is that signs pull us and they tell us whether we belong sometimes or tell us if we don't belong and if you're dating you better learn how to read the signs okay and you have to be careful not to project signs where there are none that happens a lot too but isn't every great romance about people who are giving signs to people who cannot read the signs like how long will it take for you to see that she's in love with you not her her you're the girl that's with you all the time the girl who shows up with coffee the girl who's there when your life is falling apart not the girl who's dating the other guy that's a sign by the way it's kind of interesting that that probably the signs we missed the most now I missed some highway signs iiiiii sometimes I miss speed suggestions I don't believe in limits I believe in God I believe in the impossible I believe it's possible and I say that speed limit I go no you have to believe we can do more than this but there are times I've missed signs I shouldn't have missed like stop signs I do not believe in missing stop signs and and for all the stop signs that I have missed I don't think I've ever missed one on purpose even if my wife will tell you different story it seems like every stop sign I've ever missed Kim is with me I'm not sure why it could be her fault doesn't I think about this and all right have you ever missed a stop sign just because you didn't see it and then someone judges you like I didn't see it no you needed to see it but they need to put in a better place not just right there in the corner they had to make a better color than red and what's amazing is that the way we're designed is that there are signs that actually should guide our lives and I love that the story of Jesus begins long before Jesus ever came in an Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 in this one verse God tells us this he says therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel long before Jesus was ever conceived in the womb of Mary he was conceived in the mind of God long before Jesus ever took his first breath in our atmosphere or his first steps on our planet God had already prepared this story and I love the fact that God isn't doing this for himself as much as he's doing this for us see this sign isn't for God this sign of Jesus coming into the world is not a sign for God so he can remember how he feels about us or what he promised to us or what only he can do for us this sign is for us he says I want you to know that this whole thing is going to start off because I'm gonna give you a sign because you're gonna need one because if it's if it's a problem they'll Carini through a stop sign or missing a red light or maybe missing the directions to an accident that you need to take the one sign that you cannot miss no it's not her sign or his sign it's the sign that God has sent for you so you might not go through racing in life and through life missing the sign that actually brings you to life it's so easy to miss the most important signs in life and in fact that's what we're reminded see as you get older that there are always signs in fact doctors give you signs you're supposed to look for symptoms because what happens is that if you have a disease you don't know you have the disease because the disease is hidden inside of you you actually only know that you have the symptoms over the disease and so they want you to pay attention to look at the signs and sometimes people go oh why do I need God and why why did Jesus have to come why did this have to happen mean really why in all the different possibilities why would God have to step into human history walk among us take on flesh and blood live a sinless and perfect life why would God have to allow himself to be mocked and beaten why would God have to allow himself to be whipped and torn to shreds why in the world would God had to allow himself to be crucified than buried and then raised from the dead why would God have to do all that just for us it's because we're not very good at reading the signs and we don't understand why this sign is so important see we think that the signs of a human condition are not connected to the brokenness of the human essence and we have science the signs look like bitterness the signs look like jealousy the signs that look like greed the signs that look like violence the signs look like anger we have all these signs that we mistreat each other that we betray each other that we abandon each other see we have signs everywhere we have signs of wars and violence signs of abandonment and abuse we have signs all over the world the families broke into pieces and humans shattered to pieces and we think all those things are just incidental that that they're just the result of circumstances what God is saying though you need to learn how to read the signs is that the signs of human history are everywhere that there's something broken inside of us that we cannot repair ourselves and so what God has done by sending Jesus into the world says I'm going to give you a sign I'm gonna give you a sign that I am what your soul needs and requires and the signs kind of a peculiar one because it's not that um set that over woman says the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son I mean that is miraculous by the way I hope you know that yeah I don't want to go any further and I don't want people setting the email saying I brought my 8 year old son and now he's asking me about that but it's a miraculous thing that a virgin would conceive and have a son but it's not that spectacular and when I read this I thought you know God you could have been a little more spectacular hey do you not know how to make an entrance you ever been around people they just know how to make an entrance whenever they walk in the room everyone looks in their direction I mean that the way God should be I mean if he's trying to impact all of humanity and shift changed the course of human history shouldn't the entrance be more dramatic more spectacular more god-like and I sort of think about well he's pretty good at making exits alright crucifixion resurrection huge exit I'm going that that's epic and even old school there's a guy named Elijah and it says it that he didn't die he went up in a chariot of fire upon BAM that's an exit being dropped the mic right how do you follow that with as I you know Elijah go well ok no point making a big exit and I'm not gonna top that one okay and well alright God if you know how to exit with a chariot of fire if you know how to exit by conquering death couldn't you've created a more dramatic entrance but the entrance is significant because it actually points the way to access to the hope that all of us need see if Jesus had come into the world in a spectacular fashion like on a chariot of fire it would have been impressive but it would have misguided us see if Jesus had stepped into human history parting oceans he's done that so he can't do that if he had parted waters and step into human history like a God in Greek mythology we would have been impressed but it would not have transformed us because we would have always looked for God in the spectacular we would always look for God out there and the magical and the miraculous and said no no my entrance has everything to do with my solution to the human condition a virgin is going to give birth to a son and his name will be called Emmanuel God with us that actually created a huge theological problem by the way I grew up Roman Catholic and more things you learned about is the Immaculate Conception which is an idea that says wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute God can't be born of a virgin because that means that is that his beginning is inside of a central human being that creates a huge problem so then a theology was created say well then Mary had to be without sin because the only way she can actually give birth of Jesus is if she didn't have any sin but that misses the whole point see the only hope we have is that Immanuel which means God with us the only hope we have is that if Immanuel can come and dwell within us in all of our imperfection and brokenness and sinfulness so God didn't need to clean things up for Jesus to come he didn't have to clean up the barn that we call a manger because it sounds more romantic and he didn't have to clean up the womb because God knew exactly what he was doing he was coming into a space that was broken and stained and sinful and dark and he stepped into our humanity this is what I love about Jesus is it didn't come and walk outside of us but he came to walk among us and with us and in us see the sign I'm so glad we have beautiful signs like lights and wreaths and Christmas trees I'm for every sign I want to light up the world I love Christmas in every aspect of it cannot be too cheesy or too gaudy there's just no such thing as too many lights I don't know where that phrase came from I love it all but when God stepped into human history there was no flash there was no spectacular there's no Randor it was a human moment it was the most human moment that has ever happened God stepped into human history in the womb of a human being but perhaps the most ordinary name ever known a woman named Mary and God came into human history in the same way he's going to come into your life not by making you pregnant because I'd be terrifying for us guys and we could not handle that he's gonna do it the same way he created the first sign by making sure that God is with you Immanuel this is why we celebrate this moment because of God who seems so distant and so obscure and so unknowable and so untouchable broke through every barrier destroyed every obstacle removed everything that would separate us from him and he stepped into our space where we could not crawl our way or fight our way to God but God his way to us see and I have somebody feel isn't okay I mean I heard all religions the same like oh no our religions are not the same and and when Christianity becomes a religion it's not the same either because all religions are is a human attempt to find our way to God and that's so frustrating isn't it then it seems like whenever we're trying to get to God God moves back and creates a greater distance between us and help and so whether you call it heaven or Nirvana or enlightenment whether it's through Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam or Christianity whatever it may be whenever we create a religion that says this is how we can gain God's love we can gain God's favor we gain God's grace we've missed the whole point we missed the sign here's the sign of Jesus is that there is no need to create a religion that tries to get to God because God has already then everything he needs to do he's done everything we need him to do for us to have a relationship with him it is not emmanuel translated us with God in his emmanuel translated God with us and so I may seem unspectacular but God is always a God of intimacy so he's far more interested in you knowing his intimate love experiencing his gentle caress swimming in his compassion and kindness than he isn't showing off what it means to be God he's already created the universe really what else is he gonna do he's created everything that exists everything that is everything far and beyond what we could ever imagine see God already went big now he's just going into man and if you're here tonight and this is the beginning of your Christmas if you're here for the lighting of the tree I'm so glad you're here and I hope it will be a sign to y'all but the most important sign the one I hope you will not miss is that there is a sign that was given that a virgin would give birth to a son and his name would be Immanuel God with God with me God with me God with you and I wonder tonight if God is still distant from you because you're distant from him they don't want you to realize that right now God is as close as the air you breathe the God's presence is pressing against your skin and God is pressing against your soul and that is knocking on the door of your heart and whispering to you in this moment I love you I'm here I'm here for you [Music]

Channel: Mosaic

Views: 9,555

Rating: 4.9712229 out of 5

Keywords: MOSAIC, MOSAIC Los Angeles, Erwin McManus, Erwin Raphael McManus, Los Angeles Church, YouTube Church, Church, Jesus, Worship, Mosaic MSC, Mosaic, MSC

Id: mSmTUZmyhlE

Length: 20min 15sec (1215 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 05 2016