Elder David Eldredge
December 24, 2023
Christmas Eve Service

So when I was asked to do this tonight, I really did not know what I would speak on  that would be different than what we've heard  year after year at Christmas.  I did come across a sermon that was given by a Richard Jumper  that really struck me.  So I do give him credit for some of the content of this message. It kind of inspired the message for this evening.  The message is going to focus around Silent Night, Holy Night. Is peace possible at Christmas?  I wonder if it was really peaceful on the first Christmas.  Silent Night,  Holy Night.  All is calm,  all is bright.  Round, young virgin, mother and child.  Holy infant, so So tender and mild  sleep in heavenly peace whenever Christmas carols were sung, this him is sure to be among them  for me, for as far back as I can remember,  every Christmas Eve service, my father played silent night on his guitar. Has everyone lit their candles?  Then everyone would join in and sing.  So for me, Silent Night is a must in the songs to be sung.  I'm sure for many of you,  it just doesn't seem like Christmas Eve  until we sing Silent Night.  One of the many legends about the origin of this Christmas carol has it being created out of a catastrophe. The folktale has it that it was Christmas Eve in the snowy hills of Austria.  When the assistant minister named Joseph Moore of a small church nearing Salzburg, near Salzburg, discovered  that his church organ had broken down.  Without the organ, how would the choir sing its special anthems?  How would the congregation be able to sing their favorite carols? 

The Christmas Eve service would be a disaster without music.  More turned for help to his choir master and organist, Franz Gruber.  Together, with More creating words and Gruber composing the lovely music,  they created a special song for Christmas Eve that could be played on a guitar.  The choir taught the song to the congregation  and a Christmas tradition was born. One of the reasons this hymn is so loved is because it pictures a perfect Christmas.  The kind of Christmas we all say we want,  but often never get.  Let's think about it.  What would be the perfect Christmas?  Perfectly behaved children?  Disaster proof meals?  Which clean themselves up? Laughter.  Piles of fresh white snow,  no delays in travel,  gifts unwrapped in an orderly and neat fashion,  and church services filled with favorite carols and a very short, meaningful sermon. Sounds ideal, doesn't it?  Well, we all know the reality of Christmas is often far from ideal.  Does this sound more like your Christmas?  Children get cranky.  Dishes pile up.  Part D doesn't seem to fit into slot A the way it's shown in the instructions.  The soloist for Christmas Eve service comes down with laryngitis. Cancelled flights keep family from coming home for Christmas.  Sound more familiar?  Silent night.  Holy night.  All is calm.  All is bright.  Reading the birth narrative in Luke's gospel makes me wonder  if this hymn really does describe that first Christmas Eve.  Caesar Augustus had declared that everyone must return to their hometown for a census of the empire. Ahem. Can you imagine the disruption that caused?  Picture how crowded the highways, railroads, and airports would be if such a requirement had been placed on our recent census.  Paintings and movies often show Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem through an empty wilderness.  It was probably more like 41 on Friday night of rush hour. Or any time during EAA week.  The route from Nazareth to Bethlehem would have been jammed with travelers.  Can you imagine how difficult it would have been for a nine month pregnant woman in that crowd?  When they finally reached Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary would have found it packed with early arrivals. 

Families would have arrived with children and servants.  Not everyone could fit in the available rooms.  Courtyards would be bustling with fires and cooks,  as well as people trying to sleep.  Peace and quiet would be the last thing one would find in Bethlehem that night. And  I stopped and was thinking about that, and I remember back  quite a few years ago,  Carl was  younger,  before he was married, and we decided to take a trip to Cooperstown,  and surprise Carl by going to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Well, Cindy and I were also young, so we were like, Oh, let's just go.  We'll find a hotel when we get there.  Well, we got there  not realizing  it was in Watkins Glen.  They were having car races that weekend.  There wasn't a hotel to be found.  Every hotel we, we tried to check into, they said, Oh, you're not going to find a room within 100 miles of here. So we just kept looking, kept pulling into hotels. We finally pulled into one and they said, Oh yeah, we have one room, one.  I said, I'll take it.  Well, let me just tell you,  without the gory details,  it was less than desirable.  Through Cindy's tears, I just told her, just go to sleep. We'll leave as soon as we wake up. And I think  when Mary and Joseph went,  there was no place.  And that stable  was probably pretty undesirable,  kind of like the room that we stayed in.  Stables were filled with the caravan of animals, of all the travelers, The space available for the young couple expecting their first child would have been limited. And once Mary went into labor,  calm and peace would completely disappear.  Since men rarely helped with such events, Joseph probably got one of the older servant women from the inn's courtyard to assist Mary.  She would not have come alone, but brought other women with her.  First, there'd be Mary's birth and cries,  then a newborn's cry,  and finally the songs of women celebrating a successful birth would have broken through whatever peace  and quiet existed in Bethlehem that evening. 

According to custom, the baby would have been washed, rubbed with salt, and then wrapped tightly, like a mummy, with long strips of cloth.  The manger he was placed in would have been a rough hewn ledge of stone, perhaps softened a little bit by hay and grain.  Joseph would have been waiting at the courtyard fire with the other men for news of the successful birth. There would have been much celebrating and shouts of congratulations to Joseph on the birth of a firstborn son.  There would have been little rest for either Mary or Joseph. of or baby Jesus that evening,  silent night,  holy night,  shepherds quake at the site  in the fields outside of Bethlehem.  It would have been a comfortable night. The shepherds were guarding their flocks left down the open countryside  as they gathered around an open fire,  some talking to stay awake,  others trying to sleep.  They would have heard not far off the sounds of sheep rustling and calling occasionally in the night.  The streams of travelers heading for Bethlehem would have finally trickled to a halt. Without warning, whatever quiet and rest that these shepherds were enjoying would have been shattered  by the appearance of an angel of God.  Its appearance was terrifying. Brilliant light surrounded by the glory of God.  Strange and overwhelming.  The shepherds would have cowered as their flocks scattered across the countryside in fear. What was I saying before about peaceful?  So much for peaceful here.  Add an angelic choir into this mix singing praises to God on high.  Rather than running after their frightened flocks,  these shepherds hurried to the overcrowded village of Bethlehem  Since that  is what the angel instructed them to do. After much searching, they found the newborn and his family cramped in a packed stable,  surrounded by women and men, celebrating his birth.  The shepherds added to the confusion,  sharing the good news the angel had told them concerning this child.  That news is found in Luke 2. 

I'm going to share with you Luke 2, verses 10 and 11.  And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  All who heard it were amazed,  not just by the message. But the God had chosen these shepherds  to be the bearers of such a message.  After a period of celebration, the shepherds returned to the fields as energetically as they first came.  Silent night,  holy night.  Son of God  loves pure light.  Radiant beams from your holy face  with the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus,  Lord, at your birth,  we all want a perfect Christmas.  We rarely get it.  Not even that first Christmas was perfect.  The good news is Christmas doesn't need to be perfect  to be Christmas.  God doesn't wait for perfection to shower us with his grace and love.  God's Son. loves pure light comes regardless of and in the midst of our catastrophes,  our squabbles, our confusion  and our everyday life. Children cry through the candlelight service.  A new baby,  a newborn baby fussed and cried in a cold manger.  Tempers get short.  Side dishes get burnt.  Carefully decorated homes look like disaster areas after a morning of unwrapping gifts.  Bethlehem was overcrowded.  A baby will be born regardless of the housing conditions. Shepherds leave their flocks defenseless  and search through the confusion for a newborn.  We seek the special,  the peaceful.  and the calmly prepared moments to look for God.  God instead comes to us in the ordinary distractions of life, the busyness,  the moments of tension, and in the midst of our problems and mistakes  and brings us peace. 

There is another story involving the hymn Silent Night.  It is said that during World War One, On a battlefield somewhere in Europe on Christmas Eve,  during a lull in the battle,  someone in one of the trenches began in a clear tenor voice to sing Silent Night.  The soldiers on the English side paused to breathe and to listen to this grace filled hymn. How far from a perfect world they were that night.  How far from a joy filled and perfect Christmas.  These trenches were  quietly  over the tattered land, the barbed wire fences and the cold winter ground  came a distant bass voice echoing back to him.  Only this time the words that were sung back were steely knock,  which is German for silent night. God comes regardless of our circumstances.  And only through that coming can we have peace. May the Prince of Peace enter your hearts and your homes this Christmas,  bringing you the gift of love and grace.  Amen.

​

Randy Meyer
​December 24, 2023

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Grace Bible Church. Merry Christmas to all of you as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I'm gonna start just by reading the verse  for today, it's in Isaiah, Chapter nine, verse six.  If I don't put some glasses on, I won't be able to see. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Let's open in prayer.  Heavenly Father, as we celebrate Christmas, let us remember that the birth of our Savior is the reason for the celebration. And may we bring honor and glory to your name as we study your word. Iit's amazing that Thursday we celebrated the first day of winter.  And today, three days later, we're celebrating the first day of spring.  And I'm sure those words will come back to bite me eventually.  And somebody here will certainly let me know. Okay, how should we celebrate the birth of Christ?  And I think it was more than just his birth. What we should be celebrating also is who he became, who he was. He was our Lord and Savior, Savior. He died our death and we could spend eternity with him. Let's start with First Corinthians Chapter 15.  This is this is a salvation message in a nutshell. Okay, and I think it needs to be preached this morning.  Says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein you stand.  By which you were saved.

If you keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.  For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that he was seen of Peter, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. Amen. After that, he was seen of James, then of the Apostles, and last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.  Now the interesting thing that I always took out of this is not only is it the salvation message,  but keep in mind, after three years of the Lord's ministry on this earth,  they were told to meet in a house and wait for the Holy Spirit. Three year ministry. At one point, he had gathered 4, 000 people together. Another point, he had 5, 000 people together. How many people were in that house after the Lord's Ascension?  120. And the important part of this verse is he was seen of 500 brethren at once. The problem is these things need to be passed down through generations.  We, if we don't,  if we don't give out the message to our children,  then how does anybody else in that family get it? We as, we as grandparents try to pick up that second generation.

Okay, maybe, maybe we feel we haven't done our job with our children. So we pick up with the grandkids. And that's our job. We keep this going because if we skip one generation, Lord knows where that ends up. We need to keep that message going. Okay,  I dug out a few things here which  maybe don't fit this day,  but I just want to use this for a purpose. Okay, everybody celebrates Christmas in one form or another.  But, you know, I'm, I'm like anybody else, okay, we give gifts, I'm sure you all do, okay, little kids still hear of Santa, alright, but as they grow older, that needs to change.  But, we're at a point where we celebrate the most ridiculous things you can think of. 

Here's a few of them. Pick out your favorite.  January 1st, January 1st, Polar Bear Plunge Day.  January 2nd. Now some of you may like this and I would be guilty to Buffet Day. Okay? That one I might be able to get into.  January 3rd. Fruitcake Toss Day.  That one I can get into also.  January 4th is Trivia Day. January 5th is Bird Day.  January 6th is Bean Day.  January 7th is Old Rock Day.  January 8th, Earth's Rotation Day.  January 9th, there's, this must be a special day because there's a couple of them celebrated, Static Electricity Day,  and also Clean Off Your Desk Day.  And here's, here's a really good one, okay. January 11th, we celebrate Hear Your Name in Morse Code Day.  So I mean, this is, this is how ridiculous things have gotten.  And according to what I found on the internet, and you know, we always believe what we find on the internet, these are a few interesting tidbits of Christmas also.  The birth of our Lord and Savior was so very important to all the people in the world. That the first celebration of his birth, according to the internet now, okay, there may be some other, some other places where you find something different, but the very first celebration of his birth was in the year 336  A. D., obviously, in Rome.  300 years after his birth, they finally acknowledge  and have a celebration of his birth? How sad is that?  And it did not become a major festival in Rome until the 9th century, which is about 500 years after his birth.  The second one, Christ's baptism received more attention than his birthday, celebrated January 6th.  I believe that's the day of Epiphany, and also that's when the, supposedly the three kings visited Christ. 

Cultures around the Mediterranean and across Europe observed feasts on or around December 25th, marking winter solstice. The Jews had a festival of lights. Celtic legends connected solstice with Baldr, maybe some of you have heard of him before, Baldr, the Scandinavian sun god, who was struck down by a mistletoe arrow. Pagan festival of Rome called Saturday Saturnalia. I'm sure it has something to do with the planet. They feasted and gave gifts to the poor. Drinking was closely connected with the pagan festivals.  The 13th century  so called Christians added Christmas carols.  No one is sure when the Christmas tree came into the picture, only that it originated in Germany. Eighth century English missionary, St. Boniface, who was an apostle to Germany, is said to have held up the evergreen as a symbol of everlasting Christ.  Puritans  were forbidden to celebrate Christmas.  In 1620, the Plymouth Colony Governor Bradford threatened New Englanders  with work, jail, or fines if they were caught celebrating Christmas. And in our country, it took almost a hundred years.  June 26th, 1870,  Christmas was finally declared a holiday in the United States. So according to history, Christmas is pretty much just another day. Okay, getting back to  our verse for today,  For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, To us  And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Christ was born to sit upon the throne of David.  And in this verse, for us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government, which means kingdom or empire, shall be upon his shoulder. Amen. Amen.  Let's flip,  I'm not supposed to say that word today. Isaiah chapter 61. Before we got started this morning, I was talking to,  um,  I'll draw a blank, he'll be mad at me now.  I was talking to Carl out in the room here,  and I told him, I said, the first time I spoke, I said the word okay at least 15 times, because I replayed it, looked at how can I improve, okay?  So I made a point of not saying that. Well, the second time, I said it over 20 times.  So that didn't do much good. So I asked him today, I says, Now, can you do something about that? I said, you know, can you hook something up, or if I say okay, you can zap me, and I know what's going on. And he thought for a minute, he says, Well, we could probably come up with something. So  Always, always there to help, you know.  Okay, let's go to Isaiah 61, and  we'll read the first two verses.  Isaiah 61, verse 1.  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God  to comfort all that mourn.  You don't have to turn there, but  if you are able, keep your, keep your place in Isaiah.  Luke chapter 4, 

Luke chapter 4 and verse, start in verse 16. 

Luke chapter 4 verse 16. 

And he, Jesus, came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet, the prophet Isaiah.  And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and the needy. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised,  to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  And he closed the book, and gave it again to the minister, and sat down. All the eyes of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled. Why did he stop?  He stopped because that scripture was not going to be entirely fulfilled.  To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,  and then the day of vengeance. The day of vengeance did not come.  Okay? The day of vengeance did not come. That's the kingdom, that's the tribulation leading up to the kingdom of David. Same thing is true  if you read our verse again. For unto us a child is born, to unto us a son is given. Okay, that son has been given to us, and the government. What's he talking about now? He's talking about the coming kingdom. That kingdom didn't come. So you have a division in scripture here as well. Okay?

There we go, okay. 

We have a first and a second advent of Christ.  And between those two, between the first and second advent of Christ, this is overlooked, I'm sure, by a number of people.  This, this church, I don't believe overlooks any of that, but let's turn there. First Thessalonians, if you would, please.  Chapter four. 

First Thessalonians chapter four. 

And we'll read, start at verse 13. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13.  But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning those which are asleep or who have passed away. That they, that you sorrow not even have as others, which have no hope for. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also would sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him  for this, we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them, which are asleep or dead. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and with the Trump of God.  And the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.  So what he's telling you is that Christ is going to return for us believers, and he will return before the wrath of God is poured out on this world. All the believers will be taken out before the tribulation. Amen. The reason I say that, there's a lot of people today that believe we are going through the Tribulation right now. I got news for you. Read the book of Revelation. You'll find out what Tribulation is. And if people think we're going through the Tribulation now, that's, that's a good book to read and see a lot of those things are not happening today.  Okay, back to our verse. In the context here, the verse is proclaiming the redemption of Israel. The activities, titles, and blessings of the Messiah who is to rule the earth and usher in a reign of blessing.  And keep in mind, you probably know this, the word Messiah is the Hebrew, the Greek word is Christ.  Usher in a reign of blessing and peace. And one of his titles is the Everlasting Father.  The Hebrew phrase  that's translated Everlasting Father could be translated literally Father of Eternity. 

And the title means that this coming Messiah is also the creator of everything. He is the father of time and eternity, the architect of the ages.  And we know this to be true  by the New Testament. If you turn to the book of Colossians,  Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, you have to remember that P comes before C in scripture. 

Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians,  Colossians. 

So this means that the Messiah is the creator of everything.  And we'll start in  verse 13.  The who of verse 13 means Jesus Christ, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us, pardon me,  let's go to verse 14. In whom, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Who, meaning Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.  For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.  So there they're talking about Jesus Christ as the creator of the world. He is God the Father as well.  Now the Hebrew word translated everlasting  obviously means without end. The next verse if you went in 9 verse 7, chapter 9 verse 7 of Isaiah. The next verse says of the Messiah, of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. The emphasis there is, is forward looking. Um, so everlasting,  it means everlasting, but maybe a better translation would be that it indicates not only there's no beginning, but there is no end. So as the everlasting father, the Messiah will be a father and his fatherhood  will be without end.  In ancient times, uh, the father of a nation was viewed as much the same way as a father of a family.  He was the father who was to protect and provide for his children,  in the same way this child to be born will become a king who will be a father to the children of Israel. He will protect and provide for them,  and as his role as protector and provider, he will not be limited by age or death.  His role will continue forever.  And the full identity of the Messiah, that he is God in the flesh, the second person of the Trinity,  would protect and provide for his people by death and resurrection on their behalf, and that the Gentiles also would be grafted into the family of Israel. 

But God's people would have to wait almost 700 years to see the Messiah revealed in the fullness of time. Amen.  Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, just a few pages  before Colossians, tells us what the fullness of time,  talks about the fullness of time. Galatians 4:4. I'll start in verse 3.  Even so we when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. So this was God's perfect moment for the birth of Christ. 

Okay, we'll go back to Exodus chapter 3, please. 

Exodus chapter 3. 

Yeah, Exodus chapter 3, okay. 

Sometimes I don't believe what I wrote down. 

Okay, Exodus chapter 3 talks about the burning bush and talks about Moses. 

We're gonna, we're gonna skip around here a little bit, but chapter 3 of Exodus, we'll start in, I'll just read verse 2 here quickly. The angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed.  Go down to verse 7. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt.  And they have heard their cry  by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And drop down to verse 10.  Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.  And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?  And he said, Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent you. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain. Amen.  Verse 13,  Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me.  And I am obviously  was one of the names of God  You can keep your finger in Exodus. We'll be back  I'm gonna go to John chapter 8 

John chapter 8 

And we'll drop down to verse 50 56  He's talking to the Pharisees and the Jews in this passage  He says, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.  Then said the Jews unto him, You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?  Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.  Now, why did they  pick up stones to cast at him?  A couple pages, go to John chapter 10. John chapter 10,  and we'll just, we'll just pick up here in verse 30.  Chapter 10, verse 30.  And he says, I and the Father are one.  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of these works do you stone me?  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because thou, thou being a man, makest thyself God.

So he's telling them he is God in the flesh.  That's why they cast up stones to kill him. 

Okay, we'll go back to Exodus chapter 6. 

Hopefully you kept your finger there. I didn't. 

Exodus chapter 6, 

and we'll start in verse 2.  Once again, here is Moses. God spoke unto Moses and said to him, I am the Lord.  And he said, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty. But my name Jehovah  was I not known to them. Amen. Let's go down to verse 6  Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their Bondage I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. I will take you to me for a people I will be to you a God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God Which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians I will bring you into the land concerning which I did swear to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for an heritage. I am the Lord.  Basically, what we're showing you here is Jesus Christ in the Old Testament was Jehovah God. Okay? The I am is Jehovah.  Jehovah means self existent one. I am Jehovah.  And Jesus Christ says, I am. 

Genesis chapter 22. The reason for this is simply to show you that that child that was born  was more than just a child in the manger.  He's no longer in the manger. He's no longer on the cross. He's no longer buried. He has risen.  The power of resurrection is in you. And the whole point of this is to show you who He was. We, we look forward to the birth of Christ. But He was more than that. He was our Lord and Savior. And I don't think that, that's said enough. 

Genesis chapter 22. 

This is interesting for a number of reasons. First off,  you know we always talk about Christ is love.  In the whole of scripture, the first verse you'll find any reference to the word love. Is here in Genesis 22.  Start in verse 1.  And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt or test Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take thou thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering.  I know the people in children's church hate to hear that. Teaching this to the little kids because of what happens here. Just, just the fact that here's, here's Isaac being put on a,  basically being the  burnt offering. And what's interesting is  you, if you scroll down, let's go down to verse 6.  Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid it upon Isaac his son. He took the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together.  And Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father.  And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they kept going.  So Isaac was  laid on the altar,  upon the wood,  and Abraham took out his knife, and the Lord stopped him.  This reminds me of them crossing the Red Sea, where the Lord told them, Stand still and watch the power of God. Here's the same thing. Stop, Abraham. Okay, you've proven that you trust me. You've proven me with your belief.  But people wonder, why did Abraham take his only son there? Obviously he believed God, but what else did Abraham know?  You can keep your hand here because we'll be coming right back.  I'm going to flip forward to Hebrews  chapter 11.

It's got to be  Hebrews chapter 11.  If you want to turn there, I'll wait.  Hebrews chapter 11. 

Hebrews chapter 11, we'll go to verse 17. 

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises,  offered up  his only begotten Son,  of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.  Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. Isaac. was taken there by Abraham because Abraham knew even if he went through with this, God could raise him from the dead.  So Abraham believed everything God had told him.  And the promises, obviously, that they talk about were given to Abraham, that he would be  in a land of his own and a people of his own. 

Go back to just a couple of quick notes here. In Genesis 22, the section we just read.  It says, Take thou thy son, thy only son Isaac, into the, into the  land of Moriah.  Just a side note, Mount Moriah, where they went, was the future site of Solomon's temple,  which I thought was interesting. Okay, the last section here, go to verse, 22 again, now that I've got you all messed up. Go to verse 14. 2214, And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said of this day, in the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. Now remember, Jehovah means I am, and Jireh, J I R E H, means your provider.  So what did God do  for Abraham? He provided the sacrifice. He provided a lamb  that they could sacrifice instead of his son.

So the son, according to  Isaiah, was to be the everlasting father. And who is the everlasting father? He's a creator. He's a source. He's a sustainer.  Sovereign of all creation. He is just. He is holy. He is merciful. He is gracious. Slow to anger. Abounding in love. In steadfast love, abounding in faithfulness, even unto the cross. 

Turn to Psalms  chapter 41. 

And be right after the book of Job. 

Psalms chapter 41. 

Psalms 41 verse 13.  It says, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting.  These are all going to be similar verses. Stay in the book of Psalms. Go to chapter 83.  Psalms 83. 

And go down to verse 18. 

That men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over all the earth. 

Another page over. Chapter 90. 

Chapter 90, verse 2. 

It says, Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.  All of these verses basically tell you that God is from the beginning and to the end. He is Alpha and Omega. No beginning, no end.  Psalm 93, verse 2. Thy throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting.  A couple more here in Psalms 103, Psalm 103,  verse 17, 103,  17,  that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto children's children.  And one more here in Psalms, you go to the longest chapter in Scripture.  Chapter 119 and verse 142. 

119  and 142.  Once again it talks of righteousness. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. 

If you flip forward a few pages,  touch on a few verses in Isaiah,  Isaiah chapter 26, Isaiah 

26  and verse 4, 

trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.  Turn over to chapter 40, 

chapter 40 and verse 28. 

As thou not known as thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth Fainteth not neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding  Isaiah 45 Isaiah 

45  verse 17  But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation He shall not be ashamed, nor confounded, world without end. 

Just a couple more here. Chapter 51. 

Chapter 51, and down to verse 11. It  says, Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, or Jerusalem. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness, and joy, and sorrow, and morning shall flee away.  And one page over.  Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54 verse 8. 

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. Sayeth the Lord thy Redeemer. Now that I bored you with all of those verses to prove a point, what was that point, right? Okay.  Christmas celebration,  people do different things. Okay, we read about the birth of Christ, the God man,  um, Herod's attempt to kill him.  We sing in choirs, we sing the praises of God.  We enjoy Christmas concerts, celebrate what's in our hearts, the real reason for Christmas. We enjoy friends and family and time together. You don't have to turn there, but in Genesis chapter 12,  God chose Abraham and his seed to be his own people.  They became the nation Israel, the Jews.  At that time, all other people were alienated from God.  When Israel crucified Christ and stoned Stephen in Acts chapter 7, The nation Israel was temporarily set aside. 

At this point, the entire world is alienated from God. But God was in Christ, reconciling the world, bringing us back together  with God. You cannot be reconciled until you've been alienated. And everybody was at that point. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. I've said this before, I think these verses that we're going to read  are not read enough. They're not understood. And if people understood this, they'd understand why everything in the scripture is not for us for today.  2nd Corinthians chapter 5, we start at verse 14. For the love of Christ Constrains us, excuse me, constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then all were dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.  This is the big verse to me. Verse 16. Wherefore, henceforth, from now on, knowing no man after the flesh, Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. He is a risen Lord and Savior. We're to know him from heaven.  Therefore, if a new man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To it that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 

If there was, if there was anything.  that we ourselves could do to be saved and spend eternity with Christ,  then the child would never have been born.  There is nothing that we can do in and of ourselves for our salvation. Christ did it all. He would, He would never have suffered and died the death He did for our sins. We can only believe in the finished work of the cross, His burial and resurrection.  And the power of his resurrection for our salvation. He did it all. And as he said on the cross, it is finished. Today,  I don't know if these are the proper words, but we're living in the climax of what Christmas started, the birth of Christ and what that birth began.  At this point, I'm going to steal six things from J. C. O'Hare. I don't think he'll mind as long as I give him credit.  At birth of Christ and what it began. Number one, the incarnation of God in Christ for the specific purpose of dying for sinners.  Number two, the sinless, perfect life of the God man Christ.  Number three, supernatural miracles to prove his eternal deity, unity, and equality with God the Father.  Number four, his once all sacrifice in fulfillment of prophecy and God's foreordained redemption for sinners. Number five, his bodily resurrection and ascension into the highest heavens.  And number six, promise that he will come for his redeemed believers and take them in glorified bodies to see and share in his glory forever as the everlasting father. 

Let’s close in prayer.  Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your presence during our periods of sorrow and joy. Help us not to be anxious for anything and through your prayer and thanksgiving. We have the peace of God.  May your mercy and grace shine through each of us as we witness to others. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

​

Elder Bernie Gaetzke
​Dec. 17,2023

The word is mighty. Let me turn to Isaiah 9:6. That's where we're gonna be for a little bit here.  Isaiah 9:6. And it says, For unto us a child is born, Unto us a son is given, And the government will be upon his shoulders, And his name will be called Wonderful. Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

With that, let's pray.  Heavenly Father, just thank you again for another day of your grace, Lord. I thank you for Grace Bible Church Oshkosh and everyone that's in these pews. We just pray for those that couldn't be here today, whether it be illness or traveling.  Lord, that you'd put your healing hand upon them and just come alongside them, Lord, and  love them. And just know that they are loved by this congregation and this church body. And Lord, just all the things that are said and done today, may they bring honor and glory to you and to you only. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.  

All right. To start this out the reference, mighty in Titus 2:13 and 14.

We're going to do a lot of going through the scriptures today. With this one word, we're going to be all over.  But that's a good thing. Titus 2:13, and 14. 

And, again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, here I am.  Here am I and the children whom God has given me. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he, mighty, destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.  And then in Colossians 3:1-4  It says, 4,  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also  will appear with Him in glory. And, ain't that the truth? You know, to keep our mind focused on Christ. How many times have you heard us say, the main thing is, keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and when we have our eyes on Him,  and our focus and our heart  we're in that right place. And when it goes somewhere else we stray away, that's when things happen that  probably aren't so good for us.  But as you all know, about any time that you go through scripture,  you always gotta start with Genesis 1:1. And that's where we're going. We're gonna take it all the way back. 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Heavens, plural. Earth, singular.  Just wanted to make you aware of that. Then,  it goes through how God created the earth and everything in it. And in Genesis 2:7, he actually explains how he created man from the sand and blue.  into his nostrils and he became, and he became alive. And with that,  there was this scientist. This scientist had a little discussion with God.  And he said,  I can make anything in my lab. God said, Oh, really?  Maybe we should go to your lab. So they went to the scientist's lab.  God said, well, what are you going to make?  I'm going to make man.  Really, he said.  So the guy pulled out a tote  grabbed a scoop of dirt and put it up on the table went down to grab another scoop of dirt and God said, ho ho time out here. He said, make your own dirt. 

But Now, a reference to the beginning in  John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. 

And again, this is just going to reiterate what we've already read in Genesis 1:1, and you know when God repeats something, it's important.  So here it is, John 1:1-3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him, nothing was made that was made. Boy, if that don't give a description of mighty, I don't know what does.  That, uh, very strong. And was God, there's a reference, if we go to 1 John  chapter 1, verses 1 through 5. 

It says,  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life.  The life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you, that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your, that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness. 

Then moving on, also  back in John,  where it says, reference to God. Let's go to Acts 17:24. It 
said, God made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in,  Does not dwell in temples made of hands.  So what temples does he dwell in?  Everyone that's a believer.  And that's amazing.  That he could do anything he wants, but he chooses to dwell in men.  And, praise the Lord for that. Another side note too, when you're reading the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there is a theme. in each one of those books. And I have it written right at the  beginning of each book. In Matthew, the theme is Christ as King.  Mark, Christ as a servant.  Luke, Christ as a human.  And John, Christ as God. Now, getting back to the, mighty, in the Hebrew, El, El Gibor.  That's in Hebrew, and what El means is God, and giver means strength, or power,  or even hero. 

Why God is a mighty God.  Jesus is our mighty God  because he is stronger and more powerful than all his creation.  And John 1:3 says, All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In a display of pure humility, he stepped down into his creation and gave himself to be brutally murdered by us, all of us. And like I said, he stepped down from heaven into his creation. And he did this all willingly. He didn't have to do any of it, but he did it willingly. And that is  a huge difference.  You know, we, we all know that verse where it says, we love him because he first loved us, and how true is that we are all enemies.

Before we accepted Christ as our savior, we were all enemies with him, but yet  he chose years ago to die on that cross to give us the opportunity.  And, what an expression of a mighty God that is.  And His love  is so powerful and mighty that  there's just nothing that compares to it. And  I think I've talked before, and what is the definition of love?I can only think of one thing. That's God.  But, okay.  Let's read Psalms 95 verses 3 through 6. 

Again, Psalms 95:3 through 6.  For the Lord is the great God and the great King above all gods.  In His hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the hills are His also.  The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry ground. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker. And then in Zephaniah,  how many of us have been in that book lately?  It is just before Haggai. 

Zephaniah.  3:16 through 17. 

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, do not fear, Zion. Let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. And, also, in another thing that shows God's power in Acts 13:35 and in Psalms 16:10, it shows that, God will not  let Christ or allow Christ to see corruption. And what is corruption?  Decay.  Let's go to those verses. Acts 13:35. I told you we're going to be going through  lots of books in the Bible today. Acts 13:35. Therefore, he also says in another psalm,  You will not allow your Holy One to seek corruption.  And then let's go to Psalms. 16:10. I would have put markers in my Bible, but it would have been so full. I wouldn't know where to go.  Okay. Psalm 16:10 for you will not leave my soul in shield, nor will you allow your Holy one to see corruption.  Just further proof that God's Word backs up what it says.  And, Anything that we really want to know or need to know about God or Christ, it's in here. And  I just love how when you pick something out that you can find Scripture to back up. And it gives credibility to God's truth. Romans 8:31 through 39. What is the Greek word for mighty God?  Pantokrator. Pantokrator, which means almighty,  omnipotent, and all powerful. In the Greek,  Old Testament, the word frequently translates, the Hebrew, Yahweh, Lord of armies, which stresses God's power over forces opposed to him and his people.
Let's see, Romans 8, 31 through 39. 

I know, It seems like an awful lot of reading, but if you want to get it right, you've got to read it right from God's word. And I, I don't know how to say it any other way, because  My memory is kind of like a caterpillar like somebody else this morning when they forgot to read scripture. And a caterpillar, I mean short and fuzzy.  But you're alright, Randy.  Okay, Romans 8.  I'm not going to be here that Sunday. Romans 8:31 through 39.  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all.  Who shall he not?  with him also freely give us all things who shall bring a charge against God's elect what does that mean right there? God's elect in this scripture verse.  I believe it means all believers  because when you trust Christ that's, you're put into God's elect and it doesn't mean that He predestined you  before the world began. That was not it. He knew who was going to accept Christ as their personal savior. And that's who God's elect is. It is God who justifies. Who, who,  who is he  who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen.  Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long.

We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.  Yet, in all these things. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heightened, nor death, depth. Nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Does that leave anything out?  Absolutely not.  And,we can put our claim on that. 

Okay. 

The Aramaic word Abba.  Meaning, father is used by Jesus in Mark, we're not going to go to these verses, I'll just let you know what they are, Mark 14:36, and also appears in Romans 8:15, and in Galatians 4:6.  It is terms of endearment.  When he says Abba, Father.  And Jesus showed his  right to be recognized as a Mighty God,  by demonstrating power over these things. And there's  four of them that we see here. One is nature, one is disease, one is demons, and one is sin. And let's look to his word to have him explain to us what it is that he has power over, nature. Let's look at Luke 5:1 through 11. 

Luke 5:1 through 11. 

So it was, as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God, that he stood by the lake of,  oh, where is it? Genesarea?  Lake Genesarea? And saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.  When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon,  Launch out into the deep and let down your nets. 

But Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.  Nevertheless, at your word, I will  let down the net.  And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink.  That's quite a few fish.  I've, I've never had that problem,  but, I would like that.  When Peter, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.  For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken. And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid.  From now on, you will catch men. So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him.  I'm sure they were pretty impressed with that.  Okay. Then, that was just power over nature. Now it's power over disease. Let's go to Matthew, chapter 9,  verses 18 to 26. 

Matthew 9:18 to 26. 

While he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, My daughter has just died, but,  but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. And suddenly a woman, who had a flow of blood for twelve years, came from behind and touched the hem of his garment. For she said to herself, If only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well.  But Jesus turned around, and when he saw her, he said,  Be of good cheer, daughter. Your faith has made you well.  And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping, and they ridiculed him. But when the crowd was put outside, he went up, he went in and took her hand, her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all the land. That's pretty powerful. 

Okay.  Let's go to Demons.  And I know a lot of you have probably heard this story, even as kids. And, let's go to Matthew, no, Luke. Luke chapter 8, verses 26 through 33. You know, and, you know, this is all seriousness, but I think if we had a visual and actually seen this in real life, we would, Some might think it's a little sense of humor, the way it happens, but,  but to them, it wasn't.  Okay, verse 26 through 33, here we go. Then they sailed to the country of  Gardens, which is opposite of Galilee. And when he stepped out on the land, There met him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wrote, he wore no clothes, no, nor did he live in a house but in tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I done with you, Jesus,  Son of the Most High? I beg you, do not torment me.  For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles, and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said, Legion.  Which, I believe legion is a thousand.  Because many demons had entered him, and they begged him that he would not command them to go out into the abyss.  And now,  a herd of swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged him that he would permit them to enter them, and he permitted them.

Then, the demons went out, of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep hill, or steep place, into the lake and drowned it. Again, showing we have a mighty God.  And the power over sin. Let's go to Mark chapter one. 

Mark chapter 1 verses 1 through 15. 

Again, this is the book where the theme is Christ as a servant.  In the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets,  Behold, I send my messenger before your face.  Who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  Then all of the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River.  confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey. 

And he preached saying there comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.  I indeed baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the spirit descending upon him like a dove. And, and then, a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.  Immediately, the spirit drove him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness, forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts.

And the angels ministered to him. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee.  Preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.  Okay, what gospel are they talking about there?  What's that?  Absolutely. And that was to repent and believe and be baptized. But what did they have to believe? They had to believe who Christ said he was, that he was their Messiah.  And prior to that, the economy that was prior to that, it was  believe what God said and do.  And that was the law. They had to do to be saved. And then, the economy following, this one here,  after Christ's death on the cross,  And, the stoning of Stephen, and then God setting the nation of Israel aside. There's a few things that happened here.  One of them  is that earlier on, when Israel became Israel, God took on Israel as his people. And the nation's Gentiles were put away. They could come and be saved through the nation of Israel. But that was it. And uh, but now he has set aside the nation of Israel. So essentially he has set man  totally aside,  but he made a provision in Christ on that cross that now we all are the same.

Nobody's better or different. God loves each person individually, and he treats everybody as an individual, not as nations or a nation any longer. So, we all have that same provision. If we put our faith and trust in what Jesus Christ did on that cross, in his death, burial, and resurrection, for our sins, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. And, to me, that is just so powerful.  You know, you talk about a God that has power and might, and that's it. 

Okay. 

So today, it's not just who Christ was, but what Christ did for us.  And also, too, you know, if you're looking, say, I want to lead somebody to the Lord, but I don't know how. Just go to 1 Corinthians 15:1 through 4. And it'll explain it  right there.  If you don't use your own experience and how you became saved,  then use that. It'll lead you to that. Okay, who is a warrior of God? By being a warrior for God, your primary goal is to discover and fulfill God's purpose.  You still have personal interests and goals, but they are not your primary  focus. Fulfilling the destiny God has for you becomes your top priority. Everything you do starts to revolve around that  primary goal. And let's go to 1 Timothy 3:16 

I'm in second, Timothy.  Let's go back. 

It says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.  And I'm going to read these through and then we're going to go back through and there's some references, uh, here that we need to go through. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles,  believed on in the world, received up in glory. First of all, God was manifest in the flesh. Let's look at John 1:14. John 1:14  And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Justified in the Spirit. Let's go to Matthew 3:16 and 17. 

Matthew 17. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened  to him. And he saw  the Spirit of God descending like a dove. Alighting upon him and suddenly a voice come from heaven saying, this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. We just heard that a few verses back in a different book and that's amazing. 

And seen by angels, Matthew 28, two through seven. 

And behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow.  And the guards shook for fear of him and became  like dead men.  But the angel answered and said to the woman, Do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus. Who was crucified. He is not here for he is risen and he said come to  Come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples That he is risen from the dead and indeed he is Going before you into Galilee there. You will see him behold. I have told you  and  Preached among Gentiles, Romans 10:18. But I say, they have not heard. Yes, indeed,  their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. 

And then believed on in the world,  Colossians 1:6 and 23.

Which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.  Verse 23.  If indeed you continue in faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which it was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. 

And finally, received up in glory. Luke  24:49 through 52.  Behold, I send the promise of the My Father upon you. But tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.  And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. I mean, everything that we want proof of, God has in his word for us. And,one of the things I want to finish with today, is more about the Christmas. gift giving, and that is,  when you get a gift underneath a tree, your name is on it.  Correct?  Is that gift yours at that point?  No.  When you take that gift and take it over to your chair, sit down,  and open it up, is that gift yours? Not yet.  When does that gift become yours?  When you actually  open it up, take the gift out,  and accept  that gift, because you paid nothing for it, it was a gift to you,  and you say,  yes, I accept it, this is my gift.  That's when the gift becomes yours.  And the greatest gift that we can get is what Jesus Christ gave to us.

And he gave us all, everyone, the same exact gift. He just  treats everyone the same, and there's no prejudice in God at all. And what He says is, this gift, dying on that cross,  in His death, burial, and resurrection for our sins, this is my gift for you. And it's all you have to do, your name is on it, everybody's name is on that present, on that gift, you just have to accept it. 
And take hold of it and lay claim of it, and it's yours. But it's not yours temporarily, it's yours permanently. Because he seals you with the Holy Spirit into Christ until the day of redemption. And you cannot, as we read earlier, you cannot lose your salvation. No way, shape, or form. Once you're saved, you're saved.

And to me that's  really, really powerful in the way to look at the presence and the presence of God and what he has so richly done for each one of us. With that being said,  we'll close in prayer.  Heavenly Father, once again, we just thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for your word, all the truths that we read today in there.That substantiate everything that you say and do and, clarifies it to us, Lord. And each day that we read your word and study your word, that we would be closer to you and, see the love that you truly have for each one of us. And not just us, Lord, but those outside of these walls. May you give us the boldness to preach the word to them, Lord, so that they have an understanding of the great love that you have for them as well. And that's just our blessing.  And, to be able to have this opportunity  under you, Lord, and just give you all the praise and the glory for all that happens. And it's in your precious name that we pray all these things. Amen.

​

Elder Mike Levenhagen
Dec. 10, 2023

Father, we thank you for your sacrificial love, how you came down humbly, as we celebrate the season of remembering your birth and Lord help us to just focus on who you are and your gift and help us be good ambassadors. And as we open your word to see.  Your name as counselor, help us to be motivated to be used by you. Thank you in Jesus name. 

All right. Well, a man fell into a pit one day and couldn't get himself out.  A Christian scientist came along and told him, You only think you're in a pit.  A Pharisee said, Bad people fall in a pit.  A charismatic says, Just confess you're not in the pit.  A social gospel pastor came and said, we brought you some food and clothing while you are in the pit.  A Calvinist said, you know, this isn't an accident. And a Methodist told the man, hey, we're going to have a meeting and we'll get back to you on how we're going to get you out.  An optimist said, things will get better.  A pessimist said, things will get worse.  Then Jesus came along, grabbed him by the hand, and got him out of the pit.  But it's all of us.  Throughout our Christian walk, fall into pits.  And we have everything, we live in a fallen world. We live with fallen image bearers. Even the most mature Christian person has feet of clay.  And so, we deal with, we deal with problems. We deal with ongoing, ongoing physical problems, ongoing relational problems. Even dealing with besetting sin, even if we're victorious, sometimes the battle can grow weary.  And sometimes we need somebody to take and grab us by the hand and get us out of that pit.  Today we're going to look at how Jesus is our counselor.  And,  it's interesting when you look at Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6, where this series is based on. And, as Mike pointed out last week, a lot of  Translations in this verse  take the comma out of Wonderful Counselor and make it Wonderful Counselor and not Wonderful and Counselor.  So depending on what translation you have, you might see that it's the, it actually, but we're not. There actually, the Hebrew really indicates there is a comma and his name is Wonderful and his name is Counselor. 

Now, in the Old Testament,  The counselor was a word that pictured a king giving counsel to his people.  And if you turn to Micah chapter 4 verse 9, you can see this real clear.  Micah  chapter 4  verse 9. And it says,  Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pains have seized you like a woman in labor. Now that word,  your counselor, is referring to the king.  The king was seen as a person who gave advice and, and throughout,  throughout the Old Testament, there were counselors to the king.

And so that word counselor in the Old Testament had the implication of a king. And, and so when we look at Isaiah,  When he's having this prophecy that onto us, the child will be born, his name will be called counselor. In this case, what we're looking at, it's a twofold prophecy.  The first in the prophetic program was prophesying Jesus's birth, his nativity, his earthly ministry. And it's also prophesying how he will be the perfect counselor, the perfect king. At the end of Revelation, when he comes back and establishes his kingdom and rules as king.  So that's a two, that's the first part, but the second part is what we have sandwiched in between the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and his second coming, which is this current dispensation. So, our counselor not only gives us wisdom to deal with our problems, and leads us to a place of security, and satisfaction, and enjoyment,  he also does this with assurance that because of who he is, he can help us in ways that we are far beyond our abilities to understand. Psalm 32:7 and 8. Psalm 32,  verses 7 and 8.  We hear, You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. So, he guides us and gives us directions beyond our limitations.  And, so many of our problems,  Whether it's relational issues, family issues, besetting sins, physical problems, whatever they are, are based,  a lot of the time, is based on our commitment to satisfy our God given desires  without dependence on God. 

So, Jesus comes along and he satisfies and gives us counsel to point, that points back to him, to allow him to satisfy those desires.  Love is one of them, unconditional love,  to be loved by a love that we've never earned.  That's just intrinsically a love for us and that security that because we've never done anything to earn it. We don't ever have to do anything. We can never do anything to lose it, because it's not based on what we've done.  And, so, in Jesus, our needs, our, our desire for love  can meet up with the one whose love knows no limits.  It's boundless, and it's unconditional.  It is a love that will never hurt us.  It's a love that'll never use us.

Galatians 2:20.  Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 speaks of  Jesus's  unfailing love. Galatians 2:20 says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I, which I live not in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  He demonstrated his love on the cross,  and it's unconditional,  but Jesus also offers affirmation. Many times,  whether we know it or not, we're seeking the affirmation of others, or seeking affirmation of the world state by the world standards.  But the Bible says that we were created through Jesus Christ, so he has the absolute authority to declare who we are.  Who are we to argue with him? 

We have a friend that we, just an amazing guy and God delivered him from the control of same sex attractions. He got married, has nine children.  And,  one of the things that their rule in the house is you don't get to say anything about yourself that you can't, that you can't back up. Chapter and verse,  you know, I'm stupid. Give me a chapter and verse that says that. I can't believe it. Give me a chapter and verse that says that.  What a rule. Because Jesus is the one who affirms us, right? And how does he do that? Through his word.  Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. I think we're all familiar with that one. It says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God hath ordained, that we should walk in them. When we get caught up and we allow this world standards or others and look for that affirmation, we're not able to really fulfill that calling on our lives.  And then we also have to look at Christ's faithfulness. His faithfulness.  He's the one who will be at our side and be our comforter, always.  We place our loneliness,  Our, our desire for love, our desire for affirmation and others often.

And eventually what happens? They let us down  and we get disappointed.  And then that disappointment,  because we've been looking to that, um, we wind up looking to others because, or to other things or to, and you know, it's like, it just becomes a sidetrack from our focus on the Lord.  Jesus is totally faithful to us. He always will walk down the life, the road of life with us. Never despairing, never giving up on us  and always with the inexhaustible supply of his unconditional love.  Romans 8:38, 9:38 and 39 Romans chapter eight, verses 38 and 39. Again, I'm sure it's a verse, some verses we're all familiar with.  Says, for I am persuaded  that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor the height, nor depth, nor any creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God,  which is Christ Jesus our Lord. He is faithful. And we can depend on that.  So,  Jesus came. He was born and he had an earthly ministry. And we can see what kind of counselor Jesus was as we look at his earthly ministry in Luke chapter two,  Luke chapter two, verse 40, it says,  and the child grew and became strong in the spirit filled with wisdom  and the grace of God was upon him,  Jesus grew in wisdom, and That wisdom that gives us counsel and direction in our lives.  Even as a child of 12, Jesus astounded the Jewish rabbis with his wisdom. In Luke chapter 2, verses 46 and 47,  goes on to say, Now, so it was after these three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. So already at the age of 12, he had grown in wisdom and he was able to just able to encourage and expound on God's word. Look at what happened in John chapter 4, and his interaction with the woman at the well. 

John chapter 4 verse 28, 29 and 30. 

So here he was, he met the woman.  And, what happened after his interaction with her?  The woman then left her water pot, went away into the city and said to the man, Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?  Then they all went out to the city and came to him. Alright, so,  Jesus, in his interaction with the woman at the well, he spoke to her, he saw her loneliness,  he exposed her shame,  and then he offered her the gift of life.  Jesus does understand  our human condition. He does understand the things we're dealing with. He knew the woman at the well. He knew what she was dealing with. And yes, she was in sin, but he offered her freedom from the shame, isolation, and loneliness.  Wonderful thing about Jesus,  he knows everything about everything.  Right?  A mom was cleaning out the attic.  She was an empty nester. Daughter had left home. And while she was sorting through all the treasured stuff her daughter had accumulated over the years and put it up in the attic, the mother came across the form her daughter had filled out in school. 

In response to the question, What is the most important counsel you ever received from your mother?  She had written,  She told me always to rely on my good judgment.  And the following question was, What was the most important counsel you ever received from your father? She answered, Go ask your mother, but  no one here on all the earth has all the answers, right? But Jesus does.  Jesus is a counselor who knows, has all wisdom. Romans 11, 13 talks about Romans 11 chapter. I mean Romans chapter 11, verse 33, Romans 11, 33. He talks about, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of wisdom and knowledge of God,  how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Colossians chapter two, verse three  goes on to say, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Colossians chapter two, verse three. And,  and so Jesus.  As Creator God, as the one who knows us,  knows everything about everything. He is the one that has the wisdom, the knowledge, and the heart, and the loving care to guide us and lead us.  Another great thing about Jesus is Jesus is always at hand.  To give us direction.  He's always there.  I like Psalm 139.

Psalm 139 verses 12 and 13.  Again, it's probably a verse a lot of us know it's, uh, Psalm 13. Even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. You formed me in my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb.  He's there. He knows.  He sees. And he cares.

And even though he knows that things are happening, and he knows that we're affected by living in a sinful world, we're relating to sinful people, his heart is, Daddy sees, Daddy cares, Daddy knows.  And he wants to help us.  He doesn't, just like a father whose child comes with a boo boo, and just wants the magic kiss, put the band aid on, the child will go out and play.

Right? That's, that boo boo still hurts after that happens, but the child can go out and live life because they know they have the security that daddy loves,  daddy cares, and daddy loves. Right?  And that's the same way it is with us.  We are living in a fallen world, but God wants to let us know he's there, he cares, and he's always here. 

A little girl learned that  Jesus watches over her and sees everything.  She does.  Sort of the truth compared to the world. Santa sees what you do, right? But  her mother asked her, Doesn't it bother you that he sees everything you do?  And her response was, Oh no, he loves me so much, he can't keep his eyes off of me. 

And isn't that God's heart for us?  And then the other thing is, I remember back several years ago when I was playing tennis, there was a book that came out and it was called The Inner Game of Tennis.  And this Inner Game of Tennis book really was a cool book that could help you improve your tennis game.

The author combined this zen and psychiatry  to get you into the inner game so your skills would improve.  And it did work. But the problem with that book was, it never told me if I should even be playing tennis,  right? God, on the other hand, not only tells us how, but he tells us the direction we should be going as well. 

Jesus gives us what we need, when we need it.  Let's look at an example of that in his earthly ministries. John, chapter 11.  John, chapter 11. 

Starting out in verse 20. 

This is the death of Lazarus.  Okay?  Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary was sitting in the house.  Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. 

Martha said to him, I know that. He'll rise again in the resurrection of the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection  and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?  She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world. 

And when she had said these things, she went her way.  And secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, The teacher has come and is calling for you. As soon as she heard that, she rose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her saying, she's going to the tomb to weep there.

Then Mary came where Jesus was and saw him. She fell down on his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not have died.  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in spirit and was troubled.  And he said, where have you laid them? And they said, Lord, come and see. 

And Jesus wept.  Do you notice two sisters, the exact same question, two responses.  Jesus didn't tell Mary, I am the resurrection. He's going to be resurrected.  He comforted her, he entered her pain and wept with her. Martha, on the other hand, he shared because he knew what their needs were. Martha needed that assurance that he is the rest, who he was and the offer.

Mary, on the other hand,  he comforted, he cried with her and entered in.  Did you ever think that sometimes  people don't need advice? As much as they need somebody to come alongside them  and just understand their hurt, understand their confusion.  It's like especially adults don't need, necessarily need advice. 

So Jesus knows what we need.  Jesus knows all the time and he gives us what we need when we need it. 

So how does Jesus provide wisdom and counsel now that he's  ascended into heaven?  How does he do that?  Well, he provides us a three legged stool.  He gives us his word,  his spirit, and his body.  All three.  The Word of God.  We all know it. Hebrews  chapter 4 verse 12.  Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12  tells us that the word it's of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.

Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints of the marrow  and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Now it's interesting that word  sharper than a two edged sword.  I think  as Christians we need to be careful because sometimes we use God's Word as a sword to hack people apart. 

Rather than a skilled surgeon gently separating the bone from the marrow. Second Timothy chapter three, verses 16 and 17. Again, I'm sure these are verses we're all familiar with, right? Second Timothy chapter three, verses 16 and 17 says, all scripture is given by the inspiration of God.

And what is its purpose?  It is profitable for doctrine,  reproof, correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.  And so God's word is his  wisdom, his knowledge, and useful for, for us to grow and conform to his image, right? And to comfort us as well. 

What about his Holy Spirit? Amen. Amen.  The Holy Spirit guides us by leading us to the truth of God's word  and by recalling scripture to our minds at opportune times.  By using our regular times of Bible reading to speak to us in relevant ways just at the right time.  John 14 verses 16 and 17  starts the, you know, Is when Jesus starts introducing the concept of the Holy Spirit. 

John chapter 14 verses 16 and 17.  And he talks about how I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide forever.  The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be with you. 

And again, in John chapter 16 verses 7, 13 and 15, John chapter 16 verses 13 and 15, we, he, he goes on and talks to his disciples and saying, however, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you unto all truth, for he will speak not on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you the things to come. 

He will glorify me and he'll take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the father has are mine. Therefore, I said that he will take a mind and declare it to you.  So that's what the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the only one who can change hearts.  The Holy Spirit brings about  regeneration as well, and it comes in the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the spirit. 

Galatians chapter three verses one and three. 

Okay. Oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before the eyes of Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, you are now being made perfect by the flesh. 

And, of course, in 23, as we abide in the spirit, as we allow the spirit to move in our lives and change our hearts,  we hear  in Galatians 5, 22 and 20, 22 and 23,  but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gentleness, self control, against such there is no law. 

And those who are in Christ,  and those who are Christ, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So there's a couple of things here to pick up. First of all, the Spirit brings those and will allow us to do that if we walk in the Spirit.

In other words, there's an element on our part that we need to not only hear and get encouraged, but we need to obey.  We need to listen to what we heard. You know, it's like a parent that says, now, listen to me. The child's obviously heard what you said, but that's not what you're saying. Right. Listen to me means  pay attention and do it right. 

How many times as Christians are we like that child  that just obeys, but inside our hearts are never changed. You know, it's like the child that's saying. I might be sitting on the outside, but I'm standing on the inside.  So, the next part of, that I'd like to talk about is,  you know, the spirit brings conviction, and the conviction of the spirit can sting, but ultimately, it's sweet to the soul. 

He does, he The challenge is, have we ever relegated the Holy Spirit to some sort of  bellboy?  Only calling on him when we need something. We're the tools of the Holy Spirit, not vice versa.  He wants to use us, not us just to use him.  Consider the doctrine of mankind, and then consider the doctrine of God. 

An elevated view of man, by default, leads to a lower view of God.  In the same way with the Holy Spirit.  If we elevate man and our understanding and all of that, and we're going to do things versus  elevating the Holy Spirit's role in our life to empower us, to convict us and to abide in him, to walk in him. It's really, we  need to have a good biblical view of the Holy Spirit and his role in our lives.  And finally, his body.  Christ has chosen to use his body  As a vessel for encouragement and comfort.  Second Corinthians  chapter one  verses three and four.  Second Corinthians chapter one verses three and four. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble with the comfort with we ourselves are comforted with.  Now, it's very interesting when, in, in John, when, when Jesus introduces the word, the Holy Spirit and calls, he will provide a comforter.

That word is paraclete.  But, there's a root word that, that is throughout, I mean, John is the only one who uses the actual Greek word paraclete. But throughout, Paul uses the Greek word paracleto, paracleto. Which is the same root word, and that's that word parato is comfort  and it, but it's used in a way.

It's like when you know somebody's hurting  and you come alongside them, whereas endured a loss  and you reach out to them with a, a card, a email, a visit, a call.  instead of awkwardly avoiding them. You know what you're doing. You're para toying them, you're para pleading them.  You paraclete somebody when you show them tough love  to someone who has been making foolish choices.

You choose to confront them. You in love  to help them get back on track.  How about para pleading someone to when you forgive them of wrongdoings?  Or when you encourage them when they're down, you're encouraging them, you're, you're, you're paracleting.  Finally, you can paraclete somebody when you share with them the difference your faith has made in your own life. 

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit in comforting and encouraging is pointing  us to Jesus in salvation.  And we can do the same for others.  When we can help them understand and know the gospel of grace.  I'd  like to close out looking at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29.  Now this is again a continuation of what Paul was talking about, putting off the old and putting on the new. 

And he always has  Don't do this, do this, and here's why.  And Ephesians 4. 29 says, Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that may impart grace  to the hearers. 

Corrupt literally means something rotten or crumbling, a crumbling stone.  It came to be used as something depraved or foul or impure, but the idea is something that is just crumbling and has no, no substance.  In context it refers to teachers or lifestyles of, of false believers and it doesn't refer to coarse jesting or jokes.

There's other, there's other verses we can use for that. But that isn't what this verse is, uh, is talking about. And in,  and that phrase, good for the necessary for edification.  Believers, as believers, we have to live, give, and minister for the good of the body.  That's what I need, we need to build up the body and it should be for the good of the body. And in the context here, grace,  that word grace,  isn't grace like salvation?  But the goodness or favor to other believers to build them up, especially those who are tempted and tested by the pull of one's previous life or dealing badly in life situations that you know, painful situations.  So in this verse, Paul introduces  us to a solution for our problems that is so radical.

We stumble over its simplicity.  Nothing less of us is required than that every word that comes out of our mouth in relationships and with other people  be consistent with the purpose of building up our listeners.  When we interact with people, are we doing that to build them up?  We're permitted to utter nothing that compromises or interferes with that single comprehensive objective of ministering grace to those who hear.  Paul instructs us to understand  these defenses and these fears and, and the shame that so many of us walk in.  And the purpose that we engage with others  isn't to get them to talk and understand and accept us. Because we have that in Christ, right? 

But to share the Lord by ministering to those needs of the other person.  It's consistent with Paul's admonition  elsewhere as far as regards others, can regard others as more important than ourselves. For instance, Philippians chapter 2, verses 3 and 4. Philippians chapter 2, verses 3 and 4. Let nothing,  Philippians chapter two verses three and four says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not look out, not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.  We're to be encouragers  and ambassadors for Christ. And if we're going to do that, we need to be less concerned with what we say and have things scripted out than we are  to why we're saying that. What is our real purpose? Is our heart ministry or is our heart to  protect ourselves, make ourselves look good to, to come and be the, the rescuer.  People don't need a rescuer.

They already have Jesus.  What they need is somebody to come alongside. It's like somebody's  in a river and they fell out of their canoe and they're, they grasped onto a log that just is going downstream and being carried towards the falls. And people on the, on the shoreline are saying, we're praying for you. 

They need somebody to actually throw and pull them to the shoreline.  Okay. Opportunities will go unnoticed  unless we consciously chose the goal of ministry when we talk to other people.  People are more concerned with how much you care than the advice and wisdom you want to share.  Right?  And sometimes people are hurting, people are feeling lonely.

You just need to know.  That you're there and care enough to hear what's going on. But how often do we, people everywhere, the natural tendency is to hide that loneliness, to hide the shame, to hide the struggles. The Christian four letter word that a lot of people use is fine.  Right? How you doing? Fine.  Or, okay. You know, and it's like, but what's the truth? You know, I'm bleeding inside. I'm hemorrhaging.  Do people, as Christians, do we look for opportunities, little wedges, little cracks that,  you know, can speak to their, to their lives?  And again,  the more precise the understanding of the person  and, and the brother or sister in the Lord, or even the non Christians, so we can get to share the gospel is understanding  where they're at and what they're dealing with.  Now here's some helpful principles.  First of all, Proverbs 12:18. All these are going to come from Proverbs. Again, God's wisdom is laid out throughout scripture, right? 

Proverbs 12:18 says, There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.  And 13:3, He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.  We need to be slow to speak.  We need to seek to understand and listen before we start speaking. 

Be gentle with your speech.  Proverbs chapter 15, verse one. 

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  What about verse four? A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,  but perverseness in it speaks the, uh, breaks the spirit.  And finally, Be gentle in your speech, Proverbs 26:21. 

As snow in the summer and rain in the harvest,  so honor is not fitting for a fool.  We need to be gentle.  We, you know, it's like, I love these word contrasts.  Snow in the summer, or rain when you're harvesting.  When we're foolish, when we speak  Out of wrath when we don't, when we just speak surface things,  one of the things that Christians can do sometimes is,  Oh, this is what God showed me in the scripture. Did he show you that? Yes. But is that building up the, is that building up the person that you're speaking to? Are you speaking it for words of encouragement? Are you speaking to say, look what God is doing in my life and look at how I, you know, the things I'm learning.  And let me be clear here. God's truth is never trite. God's truth is always God's truth, and it's the power of life. It's the power to change lives.  But, sometimes, it's like, if I ask how to get to New York,  and you tell me go east,  It's accurate, but it doesn't help me get there because, oh, by the way, you need to take Highway 150. Oh, and there's a detour over here.

Let's, let's go together so we can get there. So God's word is the ultimate goal, but sometimes we need to come alongside and help people get there. And the Holy Spirit and God wants to use each one of us in everyone's life as he crosses over and, and creates those relationships.  Another thing, if somebody approaches us with something, we need to avoid quick apologies or excuses. I'm sorry, or I didn't mean that. It's like,  those are, those foolish words. They don't breathe life, they're not edifying, they're not building up. Compare to, tell me a little bit more of what your, what your experience. I want to know how, what I did affected you.  And then, got to work in.  And another thing that we need to be careful of is of correcting someone's feelings. By that I mean, oh, you shouldn't feel that way.  Have you ever heard anybody say, tell that to you? It's like, what do you mean I shouldn't? That's how I feel, right? It doesn't change. It doesn't encourage. It doesn't, right? The thing to remember is we're not fully formed. We're not fully conformed to the image of Christ. 

But we can't wait for perfection to open our eyes and respond to the needs around us.  People are hurting. Fear is lodged deep in places that, that sometimes people aren't even aware of.  We all pretend, we all hide sometimes, we wear some masks, we arrange different layers snugly around us to keep us from being exposed and vulnerable to more hurt, to more rejection, to more, you know, to that shame of, you know, And what happens though is when we do that, we sacrifice the vitality of fellowship. Our distance from each other protects us from hurt, but it also blocks out encouragement.  Love that alone can thoroughly calm our fears and soothe our hurts is the perfect love of God.  When love penetrates our layers, we realize the thrilling reality of unconditional acceptance of Jesus Christ's blood. Our relational pains, our draw to sinful behaviors changes to a draw to follow and grow in the Lord. 

So, I'd like to just close in one final verse.  And that's in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25.  Hebrews chapter 10,  verses 24 and 25. This is our challenge. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assemblies of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another. And so much. More as you see the day approaching. So that's my challenge for us today.  And Jesus is our counselor  and he's coming back and he's calling us home.  And then we'll see him face to face, and we'll be perfect.

​

Elder Mike Ratsch
Dec. 03, 2023

Okay, if you notice on the top here,  we have a verse.  It says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That's from Isaiah 9:6.  And notice also that it is from the NIV translation.

And all of the references that I will be reading today will be from the NIV, that's just the Bible that I use, so that's what it'll be. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much, Lord, for your word and for this time. And Lord, we just ask that you help us to just truly focus on these things today and that we Later on can actually apply them to our lives so that it might make a real difference. Lord, we just pray that everything that is said here will bring honor and glory to you and will be a blessing to all of us. And we ask all of these things in Jesus name. Amen. 

Okay. Now, notice, of course, that all the things in that verse refer to Jesus Christ. This is Isaiah, the prophet, and he is prophesying this time when the Savior will, arrive, and so it all comes from there. Now, that is kind of going to be our verse of the month, if you were, okay? Because we're going to focus on that verse for the entire month of December, and an elder will be preaching on each one of these Sundays here and for our Christmas Eve service as well and, on a very, as a different aspect of that verse. So that's going to kind of be our verse, as I said for the month. Now I will focus on one word. That's what I was deciding to do. One word here. And that word is wonderful.

You'll notice that's part of that verse, of course. And sometimes when we start we want to investigate a particular word, a good place to start is the dictionary. I'll tell you what, what is the definition of this. And I found a good dictionary online called the Free Online Dictionary.  And, okay. Yes. Of course, we can find anything and everything online, right? We certainly can. And anyway, they have two different definitions for this, for the word wonderful. And the first one is admirable or very good, excellent, splendid. And it has synonyms, and of that being marvelous, fantastic, terrific, tremendous, and grand. And then the second definition is capable of eliciting wonder, astonishing, with synonyms remarkable, amazing, extraordinary, awesome, astounding, and miraculous.  And if you take a look at the Hebrew word that was actually translated wonderful in that context, the emphasis there is on the divine. That's kind of where it is. And certainly, as we go through all of these synonyms, they, I think, very aptly describe the person of Jesus Christ. Now, our approach to this world word wonderful is going to be a little bit different, a little unusual. My mind sometimes works in very unusual ways here.

Okay, we're going to use this as an acrostic, which means that every letter of that word wonderful is going to stand for a topic that relates to a specific characteristic of the person of Jesus Christ. And we're going to kind of, you know, do that and also kind of find some references in scripture that support that and talk a little bit about how we can make a practical application of each of these characteristics in our lives. So if, if you'd like to write down, jot down some things or some verses, you're certainly welcome to do that. And, for those of you that are, shall we say, a bit more mature, like myself you may remember, a book called The Telephone Book, and we used to use that a while back. Remember that one? It had yellow pages in the back, and you remember that, that ad that said, let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages?

Okay? Get your fingers limbered up, because we're going to be looking through lots of scripture today. Yeah? So, let's start off. The letter W stands for Wisdom. Wisdom. Jesus was a great teacher who valued knowledge, and his ministry was one of teaching. And, let's turn to the book of Mark, please. Okay, Mark chapter 4. We're going to go on. Mark chapter four,  we're going to be getting to, read at verse 30, Mark 4:30. And he's talking about a parable here. He says, again, he said, what shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground.

Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. With many similar parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything. And we can see here that Christ in his earthly ministry was very concerned about teaching his disciples about spiritual things. And he used illustrations, as a good teacher would, to help to, demonstrate things and to help them to just understand a little bit more about that. Now, what is kind of the practical application of knowing that?

Well, we also need to speak to, seek spiritual wisdom. For instance, we all know the verse, It is God's will that all men be saved. And come to a full knowledge of the truth, right? That is God's will. We know that. And so, that's our, his will for us as well. And Paul comments on this. Let's turn now to the book of Philippians, please. Okay, Philippians chapter 1.  And we're going to start reading Philippians 1 at verse 9. Okay, Philippians 1, starting at 9. And Paul says, And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge And depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. So, it's important here, and Paul mentions this here, that we grow in our knowledge. We know that's God's will for us. And that is really what we want to do to become spiritually more mature. Now, there's really one good way of doing that.  And here it is, okay? This is the way, right here, alright? And that is, we need to get into the word, we need to study it, we need to contemplate about it, and we need to see how we can apply that to our lives, and that is the best way to gain the spiritual wisdom that we know that God wants us to, have.

Okay, we're gonna move on. We'll do the next letter, which is O, which stands for one and only. One and only. Christ is the one and only mediator that provides reconciliation between a holy God and sinful man. We're going to take a look at some passages that mention that. And first of all, Christ in his earthly ministry. Again, let's turn to the book of John. Okay, John chapter 14. Okay, and verse 1 through 6. I'm going to read. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I'm going, but then Thomas is going to interject something here. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? And here's the most important part. Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So he makes it known that he is the one and only, uh, person. Let's take a look at another context here. Turn to the book of Acts, please. Acts chapter four. Where are we going to go? 
Okay, Acts chapter 4. And the context of this is that Peter has just healed a crippled beggar.  And Peter is appearing before the Sanhedrin, and they have some questions to ask him about this. So we're going to start in the middle of verse 8.  7 here, and so they ask him, by what power or what name did you do this, referring to the healing? And he said, Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this. Notice, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. And then notice what he says, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men. By which we must be saved. So there again, we have Peter who is affirming, uh, this. And let's take a look at one other context here, and that's, Paul, and go to First Timothy. 

Okay.  First Timothy, Chapter 2, and we're going to start with Verse 5 here,  and it says very simply. Verse 5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men, the testimony given in its proper time. And so there, again, we have this  idea is reinforced by three different people here that Christ is the one and only, he's the only one that, by which we can, receive. Salvation. And, you know, I don't know if you've ever heard of this illustration, but somebody said, well, it's kind of like there's a big mountain here, and heaven is on the top, and we're all striving to get there, and there are many different paths. Ever heard of that? Oh, we have this path and this path, they all lead you to the same place anyway, right? But we know, of course, again, from scripture, that that is not the case. That is not the case. Christ is the one and only, means of salvation. And so, what should our response be to that then? Well, again, Paul tells us. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians, move around here,  2 Corinthians  chapter 5, we're going to start in verse 17,  2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. Remember that from last week? We just heard about that last week. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us The ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself and Christ, not counting men's sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. If we know that there's only one way to get to heaven, we really should be telling other people about it. Right? That's exactly the, the point there. We have both the privilege and the responsibility to tell others that Christ is the one and only way to salvation. So that should be a real motivating, kind of factor there. Okay. And, and certainly I would, might also mention, isn't it wonderful? That Christ is the way and the truth and the light. That is terrific. So, let's go on then. The next letter is N.  And N  stands for Nativity. That seems kind of strange, I think, and it is, but perhaps it's timely with the Advent season. What can we really learn from Christ's Nativity about his character? Let's turn to Matthew, please. Matthew, please. Chapter 1. And we're going to start with verse 18, and here it describes the birth. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Now, here we can recognize the virgin birth of Christ. And this is absolutely miraculous. Hasn't happened since, hasn't happened before, I'm sure it will not happen in the future. And, if you recall, one of the synonyms that we talked about for the word wonderful was miraculous. And there it is, okay? And we know then that both the timing and the circumstances of Christ's death were all part of God's plan. He had this all planned ahead of time. So let's take a look at another aspect of the nativity here and turn over to Luke, please. Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. And we're going to start in verse 4.  So Joseph also went up to the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea. To Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child while they were there.

The time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn a son. She wrapped him in clogs and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. Now, think about this for a moment. The King of Kings. The Lord of Lords, the most important person ever.  that ever was and is had as his roommate animals. Stop and think about that, okay? Those of you, I grew up on a farm, and I know where animals are housed, you know, it's kind of dirty. It doesn't always smell the best, right? Okay? It's kind of, kind of bad, but, Christ was born in that circumstance, in that environment, okay? Because we know a manger is just a, that's where they put the animal feed. Okay? So, we can see that, and this certainly speaks of Christ's humility. And we can recognize that, of course, if you look further in his ministry, you will see examples of his humility again and again. Okay? And Paul gives us some advice concerning humility. So now we're going back to the book of Philippians again. 

So turn to Philippians. Philippians, chapter 2.  And here we have a very practical application of this.  Okay, that Paul, shares with us here, starting in verse 3, Philippians 2:3. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, But also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled  himself and became obedient to death, even death on a  So here again we need Paul is telling us about this, we need to follow Christ in his humility and understand that from, from things from, the Nativity scene there that we are looking at.

And again, Isn't it wonderful that Christ was so humble? That was great.  Okay, we're moving right on. The next letter is D. And D stands for Deity. Christ is God.  Christ is God. Let's take a look and find some proof for that. And that is the book of John. And  1, I think you probably You can know where we're going with this, okay, it's a familiar  passage, John chapter 1,  right in the very start of it here, 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. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. And then later on, if you'll just go over to verse 14.  Of this same chapter, John 1, 14, the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. So there again, there's, there's no doubt the Word of course refers to Jesus Christ here. And there is no doubt that Christ is, in fact, God. And you know, I was kind of thinking about that, and why, why is that important?

Why is that a fact? Why should we consider that? And in searching kind of for some answers for that, I ran across a short article written by Clint Decker, who is the president of Great Awakenings Ministry, and he gives four reasons why Christ's deity Number one, the deity of Jesus shows us there is a God and what he is like up close and personal. Jesus reveals that God is not a legend, but is real and that all other gods are false. Number two, the deity of Jesus shows us there is a savior for mankind and how it is him. Mankind inherently looks for a savior, someone or something to save him from the things he has done wrong.

He will look to other gods, religions, or philosophies. Yet the good news is that because Jesus is God, he is the savior mankind needs and truly seeks for.  Number three, the deity of Jesus shows forgiveness is possible. Jesus stands with arms wide open. Letting men know that complete and total forgiveness can be found in him and nowhere else. And then his fourth reason. The deity of Jesus shows that he is someone we should fear. Every human being should humbly stand in fear and trembling before him, and this should show itself in reverence.  Honor, and the ultimate worship of Jesus. So that certainly gives us some challenges there, too, and that the fact that Christ is indeed God, and of course there are some other faith traditions, shall we say, that do not believe that. They preach that Christ was a perfect man. Like Adam was before he sinned, and of course we know that's not true, that's not true. And again, that is, it's very, very important, and isn't it wonderful that Christ is God himself. Let's move on, and the next letter is E, and E stands for Everlasting Life. 

Everlasting life. We know that Christ's death, that burial and resurrection provides for us eternal life. Let's turn to the book of Romans, please.  Romans chapter six. We're gonna start in verse 22. True  And again, this is familiar territory, I'm sure to many people. And verse  22, But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness. And the result is eternal life for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now the concept of eternity. I tried to kind of think about this, stop and think about eternity.  Think about  a year from now. Think about 10 years from now. Think about a hundred years from now. Think about a thousand years from now. I can't even imagine that. I can't, it's like, wow, what is this all about? And that's because we live in a finite world. Everything has a beginning and it has an end, and we're just so used to that, and we actually are kind of bound by time, if you think about that. Everything we do, everything we experience in our life relates to time, but eternity and God, they're timeless.  And so, again, I, just, it's really difficult for me to wrap my brain around this, but I do know that God has something great planned for us in eternity,  and that in itself can provide us with great hope.

Let's turn to Titus, Titus chapter one, okay, Titus chapter one, when it falls. Titus.  Readings here, and it says, from the first verse there, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life. Which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. Notice there again, the words, hope of eternal life. You know, if we look around our world today,  it's kind of a hopeless situation. You see the many, many people that you see that just are so kind of downtrodden. They just don't have much hope at all. But for those of us that have Christ in our lives, We can have that hope, knowing that we will spend eternity with Jesus Christ. And isn't it wonderful that Christ is giving us eternal life. Okay, let's move on. The letter R is the next one here. And R stands for resurrection. Resurrection. Very important part here of Christ. Christ is resurrected from the dead. And he's alive today.  He is alive, okay? And Peter confirms this, this resurrection of Christ, when he's talking to the Israelites at Pentecost.

So let's go back again to the book of Acts.  I'm back here.  And of course, this is the time that he is confronting the nation of Israel with the fact that they killed the Messiah.  And so this is part of this Acts  2.  And we're going to start In verse 29. Acts 2, verse 29.  Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the Patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day, that he's still on the ground,  but he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.

Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses to that fact. Okay, now why, why is that fact that Christ was, was raised? You know, we, think Resurrection Sunday is really probably the most important day in, the Christian day year as we take a look at it and why, why really is that so important? Okay, again, we go to the Apostle Paul. He's going to tell us a little bit about that. Turn to Romans chapter 3.  Romans  chapter 3. Okay, Romans 3.  And we're going to start reading at verse 24. We read right before that a little bit earlier here. It says, And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice. Because in his forbearance, he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so that he is the, excuse me, as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  Where then is boasting, it is excluded on what principle? On that of observing the law, but on that of faith. So again, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing. The law there, okay, and we see there in Romans, now that word that, that is in NIV, it's sacrifice of atonement, that probably says propitiation in your, if you, especially if you're using the KJV, that's what it is, propitiation. And this is kind of a difficult concept, but kind of let me put it this way. God is holy and just.  When man sinned, God's justice. Demanded that man be punished for that. Instead, God sent his son to be sacrificed in man's place. The resurrection was proof that God accepted the complete, perfect sacrifice of Christ. It was as if God was putting his stamp of approval on this. And therefore, God was propitiated or satisfied. That's another name, word for that. He was satisfied. That's it. So we, as a result of this now, can have total confidence in this. If God Almighty accepted this complete sacrifice. Surely we can, right? Except it is our own. So we know, so the resurrection is really, it is that important here that we know because God himself said Amen to this. Christ said on the cross it is finished. It's done. Right? It's all finished and so we can have great confidence because of that.  And isn't it wonderful that Christ rose from the dead? That's what we need, okay? Alright, let's move on. To F, which stands for faithful. Faithful.  Let's learn about that. Let's turn please again now to Mark. 

The book of Mark, chapter 14. 

Okay, Mark chapter 14. And we're going to begin in verse 32.  Okay,  Mark 14.  beginning in verse  32.  They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.  My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he said to them. Stay here and keep watch.  Going a little further, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, the hour might pass from him.  Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.  Yet, not what I will,  but what you will.  And so here, Christ was agonizing during this time. He knew what was coming up. He had a total understanding and knowledge of what he was going to be going through. And here we do see a little bit of that human aspect of Christ coming through as well, because he was just, oh Lord, is there any other way that we can do this?  But again, he said, your will is what's important. Okay, I will follow your will. He was faithful, completely faithful, even unto death on the cross for us. Whatever God, his father had called him to do, he was going to do. He was going to follow through  with that. Now let's turn to another passage here that tells us a little bit about Our calling, then, to be faithful as well. Okay, turn to 1 Peter. 1 Peter, so we're going to go a little after Paul's epistles here.  1 Peter,  chapter 4. Starting in verse 10. And Peter says, each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others faithfully.  Administering God's grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.

If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. And so here we have Peter, we know also if you read Paul's epistles, he's constantly telling us about faithfulness, right? About God. So God expects us to be faithful, to be committed and dedicated to whatever task he has given us to do. And that's a, and isn't it wonderful that Christ Is so faithful. It's great. Hey, let's go on. We have two more letters to go. So we'll get there. Okay, U stands for unifying Unifying  that's what U stands for  Now, if we take a look and look around here, we actually have quite a bit of diversity in this church.

Take, we have young and old, male and female, married and single, a variety of occupations. Just think of the different occupations that people have had and the different backgrounds they, that they have. Well, What is, what brings us together, then? We're kind of, you know, an usual bunch of people to get thrown together here. And of course, it's the person of Jesus Christ that brings us together. When we become believers, God puts us into the body of Christ. And Christ is its head. So let's turn, please, to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 12.  Okay, 1 Corinthians.  Chapter 12, we're going to start with verse 12,  okay, and here we just mentioned that Christ is the head of the body, and here we have some information about the body.

It says, the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all of its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ, for we are all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free. And we were all given the one spirit to drink. Now, I'm not going to read the next verses that come down here, but then Paul continues, and he uses the human body as an illustration for the body of Christ, right? In that each part is important and one part affects the others. And then if you take a look over in verse 25, this is the same chapter.  Okay. Chapter 12, verse 25, So that there should be no division in the body, but that its part should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.  Okay, so he makes that very, very clear, and here, what he's emphasizing is the unity within the body. He talks about that one mind, that one spirit, that one focus. And because again, it's the person of Jesus Christ that brings us all together. Okay, even with our diverse backgrounds and everything. And so, there again, it's important, okay, to have that unity. And let's look at one more passage here that Paul talks, addresses the same thing. Romans,  chapter 15. 

Okay, Romans 15. 

And, starting in verse 5, Romans 15, starting in 5, May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. So we are called upon to seek unity with other members, to serve other members of the body of Christ. And again, isn't it wonderful that Christ is the head of the body and is, and implores  us to. Keep the body unified. Well, we have one more letter left. Okay, we're nearing the end here. And I see my time is nearing the end also. So we're going to be okay. And L stands for love. L stands for love.  Okay, in our current culture, the term love has been misinterpreted, misused, misunderstood, and redefined. Right?  Okay, in scripture, that word is used very frequently, and it's translated from the Greek agape. Okay?  And what does that word actually mean?

Well If you're not familiar with this book, I highly recommend it. It's an old book, Vines Dictionary, Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. Okay, if you want to get another insight into the background, some of these words, this is very good. And this is what he says about love. He says, love can be known only from the action it prompts. God's love is seen in the gift of his children.  But obviously this is not the love of complacency or affection. That is, it was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects. It was an exercise of the divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause, save that which lies. in the nature of God himself. And later he says, Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings. It does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all and works no ill to any. Love seeks opportunity to do good to all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith. And so he talks about love then, okay, as an action, not a feeling. Let's turn to one other passage here. First John. So we are going back farther now toward the back of the scripture.  First John chapter three. 1 John 3, starting in verse 16.  So 1 John  3,  and we're going to start in verse 16.  This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions, and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions. 
So the practical application of this is God does not expect us to have warm, fuzzy feelings of affection for everybody. That's almost impossible. I'm sure you know some people that are a little unlovable, perhaps in some ways, and it's kind of hard to develop, you know, a real strong, feeling and so on for them. But what he does What I ask us to do is to treat others with respect, honesty, and dignity, and with actions that promote the well being of others. And if when that happens  Other people can see the love of Christ reflected through us. Isn't that a wonderful privilege for us to be able to have that, that experience that, that they actually can see Christ's love that is going through us, and isn't Christ's love wonderful? It's great. Now, we've gone through nine aspects here, okay? Lots of things. I know we've gone all over and talked about several different topics and so on, and I hope that you don't feel overwhelmed by all of this, because we've covered a lot of territory here. So I do have a challenge for you, though. A challenge for myself, also. This week, select one of these nine areas. That we talked about, maybe investigate it a little bit more, and then figure out how you can apply that to your life. Because I've known of people, professors and so on, who are so knowledgeable, they know scripture in and out, but you know, if it doesn't make any difference in their life.

What's the point? It then becomes merely an academic exercise. And again, we want to make this real to us, and that's what we need to do. We need to then take a look and say, how can I apply it? I've given you several examples of applications today, but there are as many applications as there are people here. Everybody has their own different, depending upon where they are. And so I, I challenge you to maybe just take one of these areas and, and explore that. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we just thank you, Lord, so much for your precious and wonderful word. And Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, and how truly wonderful he is in every aspect of things. And so, Lord, again, we just pray that you'll help us to put these things that we have learned to practical use and so that I make a difference in our lives. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. 

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