Sermon Tone Analysis

One of the problems many people are facing today is loneliness.

It’s ironic that you can be surrounded by people, even friends or family, and still feel lonely.

You may feel that no one understands what you’re going through, or that there is no one you can turn to for help.

God has promised, however, to be there when we turn to Him.

In Isaiah’s day Judea was under attack by surrounding countries.

God sent Isaiah with a message of reassurance and hope, saying that their enemies would not prevail, and gave them a sign to prove the reliability of that promise.

Immanuel means ‘God with us’.

Names were generally believed to be related to the character and destiny of the individual.

In Isaiah’scase it was a reassurance that the people were not on their own.

God was not only aware of their situation but with them in it.

We know that Jerusalem was not conquered.

The enemy army was instead conquered by the Assyrians.

The Jewish people knew once again that God was with them.

God has always been with His people.

When Joshua was getting ready to lead the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land God appeared and said to him:

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Later on we see another instance of God’s presence with His people.

Notice that they trusted that God could deliver them but might choose not too.

Either way they trusted in God.

They were thrown into the furnace, but God was with them.

When the king looked into the furnace:

Daniel 3:25 He said, “Look!

I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

God’s presence in Jesus

The sign given through Isaiah was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

Jesus came to us as one of us so that He could directly experience all the struggles and pain that we experience.

He knows what it’s like to be misunderstood, rejected, abandoned and alone.

His closest friends fell asleep on Him at the time He needed them most.

Certainly Jesus experienced loneliness.

On the cross He felt that even God the Father had forsaken Him.

Because of this He understands our fears, our hurts, our sense of isolation.

God’s presence with us

After His resurrection Jesus’ physical body ascended, leaving the disciples staring up into the sky, but on the day of Pentecost He came to them in a new way by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as He had promised in the upper room before His death.

This promise was not for those first disciples but for all believers.

God is with us today.

Matthew 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, He is God, and is not only with us but is dwelling in all believers.

Counselor – teaches and guides

Comforter – brings us love, peace, joy

Advocate – intercedes for us

We may not feel that presence, we may not see Him with us, but we have the promise of Scripture that He is here.

Dr. Tony Compolo says that when he was a boy growing up in a congested and bustling city, his mother arranged for a teenage girl who lived nearby to walk home with him at the end of the day.

For this, she was paid a nickel a day.

But Tony rebelled in the second grade and told his mother, “I’ll walk myself to school, and, if you give me a nickel a week, I will be extra careful.

You can keep the other twenty cents and we’ll all be better off.”

After a period of pleading and begging, little Tony finally got his way.

For the next two years he walked himself back and forth to school.

It was an eight-block walk with many streets to cross, but he was careful and didn’t talk to strangers or get distracted along the way.

Years later at a family party, he bragged about his independence and reminded his family of how he had taken care of himself as a boy.

His mother laughed and added the rest of the story.

“Did you really think you were alone?”

she said.

“Every morning when you left for school, I left with you.

I walked behind you all the way.

When you got out of school at 3:30 in the afternoon, I was there.

I always kept myself hidden, but I was there and I followed you all the way home.

I just wanted to be there for you in case you needed me.”

God’s presence does not mean that we will have a smooth life.

He does not keep us out of the dark valley or the fiery furnace, He walks through it with us.

Know the promise

Trust in the promise

Seek the fulfillment of the promise

Have you ever been out in the woods late at night?

It’s dark, there are strange noises all around.

Does it make a difference if someone is with you?

When we know that God is with us it will help us deal with the feelings of fear or loneliness.

We can trust that God is always with us.

The question is, are we with God?