We have felt needs and “real” needs. God cares about them both, but He prioritizes real needs. Brandon Heath sings about both in his song, “We Need Emmanuel.” Our real need stems from our separation from God, but our felt needs are addressed through His ongoing presence in our lives.
Join me as we see why the fulfillment of the prophecy promising “God with us” was necessary.
In this episode, I discuss:
- Taking a B.I.T.E. out of Scripture – this week’s Bible Interaction Tool Exercises include:
- Follow the cross-references
- Read and keep on reading
- Read in context
- The 30 Day Music Challenge
- How we are eternally separated from God because of sin – Galatians 3:19
- Obeying ALL of God’s laws is impossible and can’t save us – Romans 3:20
- How we’re under a curse – Galatians 3:10
- How Jesus is THE offspring – Galatians 3:16
- Moses as the intermediary between God and the people – Galatians 3:19
- Following the cross-references to understand the phrase “put in place through angels”
- Deuteronomy 33:2
- Acts 7:53
- Hebrews 2:2
- Understanding the roll of Jesus in the Trinity – Galatians 3:20
- Christ’s name Emmanuel meaning God with us – Matthew 1:18-25
- How the law was never intended to be the solution, but a guardian – Galatians 3:19-29
- Answering the question “We see why we need God with us, but why then?” – Galatians 4:4
- The role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as “God with us”
- We receive new birth through the Holy Spirit – John 3:5-8
- Jesus calls Him the helper – John 14:26
- He intercedes for us and helps us to pray – Romans 8:26-27
- The Holy Spirit regenerates and renews the believer – Titus 3:5
- He guards and guarantees the believer’s salvation – Ephesians 1:13, 4:30
- The Spirit baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ, a place where we find community and unity of purpose and thought – Romans 6:3
- The Spirit gives gifts to benefit and build up our faith and the faith of the body of Christ – 1 Corinthians 12:4
- The Holy Spirit gives believers wisdom by which we can understand God. 1 Corinthians 2:10-11
Enjoy the official audio video of our inspiration song below.
More Than a Song Playlist
Additional Resources
- Lyrics – NewReleaseToday.com
- “What Does the Holy Spirit Do?” – GotQuestions.org Article
- My favorite study Bible, and the one I used to track down the cross-references on this episode – Amazon Paid Link
This Week’s Challenge
The two main areas of Scripture to dive into this week are Matthew 1 and Galatians 3. Of course, feel free to read and keep on reading any and every time you engage with Scripture. Consider why God sent His Son to be “God with us.” Let Galatians 3 begin to help you understand the progression of things from sin, to law, to Redeemer, to adoption as sons of God. Because we really do need Emmanuel, not just to intervene in our current circumstances, but to rescue us for all eternity.
