How God Speaks Today
Isaiah 7:14; Hebrews 1:1-3
St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
December 24, 2025
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Here’s the message in a sentence: You and I will be happy with ourselves and with others, to the degree we understand and appropriate God’s love in our lives and our obedience to God’s voice.
A new Gallup survey suggests that 88 percent of Americans will celebrate Christmas this year, 47% will attend church services today or tomorrow, down from 64% in 2010.
Then another survey this week indicated that for the first time, the percentage of U.S. adults who describe their mental health as “excellent” has dropped below 30%.
Seven hundred years before Christ was born, the prophets foretold his coming. Then the writers of the New Testament declared that God lives forever in the hearts of those who believe in Him.
On Christmas Day, Jesus came to reveal our Creator to us, his Father. I have two daughters. The more you know them, the more you know about their mother and me; hopefully, they show the best of us.
Jesus showed us his Father everywhere he went:
He showed us his Father’s power when he walked on water and calmed stormy seas.
He showed us his Father’s compassion when he fed the hungry, healed the sick, and raised the dead.
And he showed us his Father’s love when he was born on Christmas Day.
You see, Jesus was the only child in human history to choose the circumstances of his birth. He chose his parents, the place where he would be born, and the first people to visit him after his birth.
If you had been able to choose your parents, would you have selected people of great wealth, status, and power?
Jesus chose peasants from a town so small it’s not mentioned even once in the Old Testament.
If you had chosen the place of your birth, would you have selected a sterile hospital in a major city with the best medical care?
Jesus chose a cave beneath a roadside hotel. When he was born, his mother wrapped him in rough, peasant clothes. Then his father laid him in a dirty, stone feed trough.
If you had chosen the first people to visit you, would you have selected famous athletes and celebrities?
Jesus chose grimy field hands. They weren’t allowed into a synagogue to worship or a courtroom to testify, but they were invited to meet the Son of God.
And although he was born more than 2,000 years ago, Christ is not distant from us. He speaks to us.
In 1966, Time magazine ran a controversial cover story asking, “Is God Dead?” Someone asked Billy Graham what he thought about the debate. Dr. Graham smiled and said, “I can assure you he’s not dead—I talked with him today.”
How does God speak to us today?
1. Prayer. The Psalmist prayed, “Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help” (Psalm 86:1). The psalmist was focused on the sovereignty of God, rather than the woes of the one praying for help. We can pray with the same confidence, knowing that God has already gone before us. Though life’s road is long and will continue to wind, He speaks into our lives through His promise to hear and answer our prayers according to His will.
2. Scripture. It’s through Jesus, the Word made flesh, that God speaks to us through Scripture. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
3. Holy Spirit. When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, “he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). He then promised them, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised, the Holy Spirit” (Luke 24:49).
4. Jesus The Apostle John penned Jesus’ words, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Then, now, and for all time, God speaks His message of love for us to and through His Son. Before ascending to heaven after His resurrection, Jesus assured His disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
5. Church. “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). God speaks to us today through His church. We must challenge ourselves to leave our devices and dive into God’s mission for the church. There are lives that need our personal touch, our in-person hugs, and our shared laughter and tears.
6. People. God speaks truth into our lives through His good and faithful servants. We are surrounded by others to help us live out God’s calling in our lives, weather the storms that inevitably surround, and share in the joy that breaks through it all. God reveals our weaknesses through others, if we will allow our hearts to be humble enough to hear constructive criticism. There is wisdom in advisors, Proverbs 11:14.
7. Creation. We can hear God’s voice in his creation. If the universe began as a Big Bang, where did the Big Bang come from? If life began as a cell floating in a pool of water, what made the cell? We can see the Designer in his design.
If you were walking along and kicked a rock, you might assume it just happened to be there. But if you later stepped on a watch, you wouldn’t think the hands, gears, face, and strap all just happened to fall together at that spot. If you found a watch, you would assume there was a watchmaker. Isn’t the world infinitely more complex than a watch?
8. God speaks to us through our gifts and talents. The strengths that we all possess are part of the designed purpose for our lives. What seems grueling to some is glorious to others. We all have a purpose laid within us that comes alive as we learn how to use it.
9. Worship. God speaks to us through worship, through which we welcome His presence. It happens when we sing, through the quiet way we stand in awe on the mountaintop, and the overwhelming blessing we feel as we hug our children. On our knees, hands lifted high, we can feel Him with us.
10. Social Media. God is not surprised by social media, nor is it beyond His power to cut through the surrounding negativity it can exude to reach lives and hearts. Social media feeds can be flooded with biblical inspiration and encouragement to combat aired-out drama and negative agendas. God speaks to us through social media today. Where the people are, He is. And people are in the thick of social media.
May this Christmas we respond to the Christ a new as did his mother: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). When we do—and only then—his transforming guidance, peace, purpose, and hope will be ours.
An elderly scholar surprised his colleagues by becoming a Christian. They asked him what led to his decision.
He told them that it was as if he had fallen into the bottom of a deep, abandoned well.
A Buddhist priest came by and told him that, if he ceased his wrong desires, he would cease to suffer in the well, then he went on.
A Hindu guru told him if he was faithful where he was, in the next life he would escape the well, then the Hindu went on.
A Muslim imam told him that it was the will of Allah for him to be in the well, and the Muslim went on.
A Confucian teacher told him that, if he had not tripped, he would not be in the well, and the Confucian went on.
Then Jesus saw him in the well and climbed down into the well with him.
“That,” the man said, “is why I’m a Christian.”
Receive Jesus as your Savior today and obey His Voice every day of your life.