"What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus,
Tryin' to make His way home?"
- Joane Osborne, One of Us
What if God was one of us?
John 1:1-3 NIV
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.
John 1:14 NIV
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Doctrine of the Incarnation
Incarnation means, "the infleshing of God."
John 3:16 NIV
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:17 NIV
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
The Power of Your Presence
The fact that God became human should impact the way we share our faith.
God did not send a telegram, shower evangelistic books from Heaven.
He sent a man, His Son, to communicate the message.
When God wants to reach people, He sends people.
John 20:21 NIV
…As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
Mark 16:15 NIV
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
Are you willing to make yourself a little bit uncomfortable?
The Power of Your Friendship
Matthew 11:19 NIV
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NIV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
2 Corinthians 5:19 NIV
...that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
The Power of Your Humanity
Jesus' Humanity
- Born
- Thirsty
- Hungry
- Wept
- Weak
- Angry
- Grief
- Died
Humanity in the Genealogy of Jesus
- Tamar
- Rahab
- Bathsheba
In order to know I’ve been accepted by God,
I have to know that I’ve been accepted by God at my worst.
God knows you to your core and He loves you as you are.