The second reason that God sent Jesus Christ is often overlooked, underestimated and seldom discussed.  The second reason that God sent Jesus Christ to this earth was for the purpose of our identification.  It is as if God said, “You know, it’s great that you are saved, great that you are going to heaven, but I am going to send someone to you who you can relate to, someone that you can lean on, someone that you can talk to, someone who will be there with you.  I am going to send you my Son.”  A lot of us have some misconceptions about Jesus.  Some people see Jesus as a pale, frail, meek and mild human being who walked across the stage of earth kind of like a Star Trek Vulcan, showing no emotion, unflappable.  Read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and they will blow that picture right out of the water.  Jesus was a person who had so much charisma that He could hold audiences spellbound for three days and three nights without food.  Here is a man who showed perfectly and modeled perfectly every emotion possible.  He got angry at legalists.  He got mad when they were turning His father’s temple into a Galleria.  He was happy.  He was sad.  He cried in front of His disciples.  He showed patience and long suffering with the downtrodden, the destitute, the prostitutes, the tax collectors.  No public figure in history has ever had such a wide variety of friends.  Read about Him, get to know Him.  He was a man’s man.

I am beginning a series today called Picture Perfect.  Over the next four weeks we are going to look at four specific snapshots of the Savior.  I am going to promise you something.  I am going to give you a challenge right now during the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  If you hang out here for the next four sessions, your life will never, ever be the same.  George Gallup recently told us that 84% of Americans believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  We acknowledge this, we believe it.

Ed Young Pastor: A lot of you right now are breathing a big sigh of relief.  “I thought I was the only one!  Man, that frees me up.  You mean a man of the cloth deals with doubt?”  The answer is yes.  Yes, I do.