Immanuel or Emmanuel either way they both declare "God With Us" what a beautiful declaration and reminder at Christmas time. God is with us. In Matthew 1 we read these beautiful words. God has come to us God is with us. In Matthew 28 Jesus reconfirms that He is with us always even to the end of the age. God with Us! Let's dive in and discover the peace that we have because of this truth.

As a kid I would run to the Christmas tree and look at all the labels on the presents. Searching for ones that held my name. I Would often count them and maybe shake them. Did you ever do that? I would get so excited to see my name. But my parents would have to ask on Christmas morning "Who is that from Colin?"

Did you every do this? Get so wrapped up in the to name that you forgot the from name? This Christmas we are going to explore the Names of Jesus in His Birth accounts found in the Bible. Why did he get so many names? What do they mean?

This Week Jesus "Yaheweh is Salvation"

How do we "love" our enemies. Without dulling the edge of this command lets chat about what that means and how do we even start.

We don't really make oaths anymore do we? So how do the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 about making oaths apply to us? Letting our Yes be Yes and our No be No.

Maybe there is more to this lesson from Jesus that does apply how we relate to others. Manipulating people to take our view point. Maybe Oaths and attaching God's name and person to our statements is a matter of trying to add authority to what we say in an inappropriate way.

Let's dive in.

Well here are some heavy topics that Jesus speaks to. The good thing is that it is Jesus speaking and we can look at the teacher and see the grace and mercy that He lived His life with. That after living He died for our sins. Even the sins that he speaks about here.

One of the big things to think about when we come up against hard teachings from Jesus is that there is a difference between conviction and condemnation. When we are convicted by the words of Jesus it may not feel nice and can lead to hard self reflection. But Jesus does not condemn us He convicts and then provides the oppertunity for forgiveness.

Hello Again, A heads up on this episode the audio was through the mic on the recorder so there are some background noises.

As Jesus talked about murder and said "You have heard it said..." "but I tell you" was he replacing the current law or building on it for us. Getting to the heart of the law and creating in us a reality of his fulfilling the law and how we dwell with him in his kingdom?

When Jesus declares that his followers ARE salt of the earth and light to the world what is he getting at? With these declarative statements Jesus is calling us into his mission into life in the kingdom.

What does Jesus mean when he says that "I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them." ? This week we dive into Matt 5:17-20.

A question to ponder is why do we think that Jesus wipes out the OT if he says that he doesn't? What does it mean to fulfill?