Messianic Gifts: The Gift of Joy

Well, good morning, it's good to see you. Glad you're

with us this morning. If you have your bible's turned

with me to Isaiah chapter nine, Isaiah chapter nine, and

we'll go pick back up in our study and Messianic gifts.

We've been looking at together the prophecies of Isaiah and

how in Isaiah God promise Israel gifts that through the

coming of a Messiah, God would give Israel certain gifts.

And we've been walking through what were those gifts that

this Messiah would give to his people Israel, and what

these gifts that the Messiah will give to us. This

morning is our last part in this series, and this

morning we're looking at the gift of joy. The gift

of joy. Now, I would say in my estimation that

joy is probably one of the greatest gifts that we

can receive, and probably one of the greatest times of

joy is Christmas. Of all the times of the year,

this is one of the most joyous times of the year.

I can still one of my fondest memories of Christmas

us is being a dad and I for our girls

when they were little. We would they would be upstairs

on Christmas morning. We would we would come downstairs. We

come in the living room with all the gifts, and

and we would tell them you can't come into the

into the living room until we get set. And we

would get in there and we would get in place,

and Brandy would be in place. We'd make sure all

the lights on so they could see all the gifts,

and and then I get in place and I'd get

my camera ready, you know, I'd stand them at the

door so when that came in the door, I could

see their faces. And that was one of my greatest

memories is seeing their expressions of joy right when they

came into that room and they saw all the gifts

and what gifts they got that year, they just would

light up. Their faces would light up. And and as

I saw the joy in film, that brought me joy.

And that is part of what Christmas is all about.

The joy of Christmas is seeing children and seeing individuals

just express joy and receiving different gifts. But as we

come this morning and we look at not just a

joy of receiving a gift, We're thinking about a spiritual joy.

And now I want to ask you a question this morning.

Do you have joy? You have joy? And it was

just joy from just receiving a gift, but do you

have spiritual joy in your life? The passage as we

look this morning, God promised that through this Messiah he

would give you the gift of joy. Have you ever

received that gift of joy that only comes through Jesus,

only comes through the gift of the gift of God's

joy that's given through Jesus. You know. The sad thing

is there's many things in our life that brings joy, gifts,

but there are some things that can steal joy, can't

they There's things in our life that take joy, like

the loss of freedom. We can say that death steals joy.

Sin can steal our joy, and if we are caught

in sin or were stuck in sin, it can rob

us of spiritual joy. As we come to this passage

this morning, Isaiah is talking to Israel and he knows

that they have gone through, or they're about to go

through a period of time where there is going to

be a nation that steals the joy from Israel. That

nation is Assyria. Is Syriah is going to come and

it's going to attack the northern part of Israel, and

it's going to bring war. It's going to bring death,

it's going to bring destruction, it's going to bring captivity,

and through those things, it's going to rob the joy

of Israel. And God promises Israel chapter nine that there's

going to be a period of time where you are

going to lose your joy. There's coming of Messiah, and

that Messiah is going to bring you joy in the

midst of loss. What the nation has stolen, God will

bring in a form of a child. And this morning,

I want you and I to look together that in

this coming Messiah, this was to be a gift of

joy given by God. And I want you to see

the joy that Israel in this gift of Jesus. And

I know this morning you and I all are still

captives today. We're still captives of sin. We're still captives

were in this sin that maybe in our life can

still rob us of joy. Today we're still captives in

broken bodies, bodies that are decaying, bodies that are dying,

and our decaying dead bodies sometimes will bring us, will

rob us of our joy. We'll have our joy loss.

And we're losing loved ones, maybe this last year, maybe

in the year's past, and losing that loved one as

we come to Christmas time is some of the most

joyous time, but it is also some of the most

grieving times of all the year because we remember the

ones that we've lost. Can I tell you today, as

we look this Christmas morning we lived, we look together

that God gave you a gift, and his name is Jesus.

And through that gift of Jesus, he came to give

you joy. And what this life may have stolen, may

have stolen from sin, may have stolen from laws, may

be stolen from sickness, or whatever it may be, Jesus

came to restore joy. Let's look together at this joy

that's found in Jesus, and let's let's read and discover

the story together. We stand with me Isaiah chapter nine.

We're gonna read verse the seven verses here one through seven.

But there will be no gloom for her who was

in anguish and the former times brought in contempt the

land of Zebelin and the land of Neftie. But from

the latter time He's made a glorious way in the sea,

the land beyond the Jordan galleed of the nations. The

people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwell in the land of deep darkness. On

them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nations,

You have lists increased its joy. They rejoiced before you

with joy at the harvest, and they are glad when

they divide. The spirrel for the yoke of his burden,

and the staff for his oppressed, for his shoulders. The

rod of his oppressor you have broken, as on the

day of medium, for every boot of the of the

trampling warrior in battle torment, every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire. For unto us,

a child is born, and for unto us a son

is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be Wonderful counselor Mighty God, everlasting Father,

Prince of Priests. And on the crease of his government

and of peace there will be no end. And on

the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish

it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore, and the zeal of

the Lord of Hosts will do this. Let's pray together, Lord,

we love you, We thank you today that we come

together on this Christmas on Sunday morning, and we come

to celebrate and to recognize the gift of your son

Jesus and the gift of joy that he brings to

us sinners, broken and captive to sin captive to Lord,

a broken and fallen world. Or we pray today that

your word would reveal to us, Lord, the great gift

of your son, Lord, as you spoke through your messenger,

through your prophet, Isaiah, May you Lord speak today through me,

your your messenger. Lord. May you feel me as you

feeled him. Lord, Lord, May I declare your word as

he declared your word. Lord. I pray Lord today that

a movement of your spirit would be upon this place

to those who are here today, and Lord, they would

be moved by your word, not mine. So moving us Lord,

we ask, Lord, may you meet us in this place.

May you fill us with your joy today and your

name we pray. Amen, you may be seated as you

come to this passage of scripture this morning, we're looking

at the joy that's found in Jesus, the joy that

found in Jesus. First, Jesus brings joy through freedom. Jesus

brings joy through freedom. As we come to this passage

of Isaiah. Chapter nine Isaiah, as we've looked at the

last few weeks, he's prophesying what's to come, and he's

prophesied in seven and in eight that God would raise

up Assyria, a nation that would would be localized north

or maybe even you say northeast of Israel. And that

nation was a world power, that was a coming world power.

And God would use that nation and whom King A

has a form alliance with, and he would use that

nation to come and take over the land of Israel

in the northern part of the nation, and he would

come to bring destruction, death, captivity, and this would bring

darkness upon the land. And we looked at this last

week and verse two it says the people who walked

in darkness, this would bring darkness to the land of Israel,

the world, the death, the loss, or to bring darkness

upon the people. In chapter two, I mean in verse

two here he describes, Hey, there's gonna be a period

of time in darkness, and we looked at that also

in chapter eight and seven. But there's going to be

a time where a messiah is going to come. And

this messiah, and as we looked at last week, he's

going to bring light, and in verse two he's not

only going to bring light, but in verse three he's

going to bring joy. Look at what the past says.

You have multiplied the nation, and you've increased it's joy

seeing nation that walked in darkness, through loss, through death,

through captivity, through oppression, and we're going to look at

those things in just a minute. Jesus. The scripture says,

God is going to give that nation joy instead of darkness,

instead of loss, God will give them joy. The passage

gives a imagery in verse three of how they respond.

It kind of gives you the imagery of their expression.

You know you can when you give out gifts at Christmas.

Kids express their joy in different ways. Some just smile,

some will jump up and down some people some don't

hardly express they're real excited, they're just not very expressive, right,

But every individual expresses their joy in different ways. And

in chapter in verse three he describes how Israel will rejoice,

how they will express their joy, what their joy will

be like, and he gives them examples of times in

their life where they express joy. Look at verse three.

He says, there were joys before you as joy with

the harvest he you know, for this community, it was

a farming community, and they would would plant the fields

every year, and at the end of the year there

would be a harvest, and that would where they're taking

all the grain and all the crops. And at the harvest,

when everything had come in and when the refrigerator was full,

and when the harvest was full, well, the people will

rejoice at the harvest. And he said, Israel, you remember

the times where you liked and you went through lost,

and you went to the hard times of playing in

the fields and you didn't know what you were going

to get at the end. But when the harvest came

and the barns were full, you rejoiced at the harvest.

That same joy is coming, the same joy you had them.

It's the same joy that's going to come. He also

gives another imagery of joy in verse three, as they

were glad when they divided the spoil. You know, you

think about I talked about my girls, and when they

come in Christmas and they see all the guests, it's

like they're dividing the spoils, right, the spoils or Christmas.

They've got clothes, they've got toys, they've got candy and

all kinds of different things, and they're so excited about

all their things. And you know when the grandparents come

in or different, Hey, let me show you what sirt

I got. Let me show you what toy I got. Well,

let me show you what candy. They're just excited over.

And that's the imagery that after war, many times when

Israel would defeat a country, they would be spoiled and

they will rejoiced at all the things that they received

after winning the war. And he's saying, this is the

way you're going to rejoice, but it's not going to

be rejoicing over winning the war or the harvest. Listen

to the passage of Scripture. The joy here is a

joy at the coming of the Messiah. Look at verse three.

You have multiplied the nations. If you increased its joy,

they rejoice before you. The imagery is when Jesus comes

their rejoice. In this passage, he then starts describing why,

what are the reasons why there will rejoice at the

coming of this Messiah. If you look at the verses

of Scripture, verses four, five, and six, you see each

verse starts with four, and it's showing something that this

Messiah is going to do and it's going to bring

them joy. It's going to give them joy. And the

first one is as a just describe Jesus brings joy

through freedom. Look at let's look at the very first

one here in verse four, he says, for the yoke

of his burden, for the staff of his shoulder, and

the right of his oppression. You have broken on the day,

as on the day of Midian, when Assyria would come

into Israel, they would defeat the northern part of Israel,

and he would they would many would die, but many

they would take captive. We know as we read through

First Kings and Second Chronicles and other books, that they

would carry them into captivity, into Syria, and they would

become slaves. They would be there thus put on a

burden upon them to do hard labor, to do different things.

They would be oppressed. And he's saying, there's coming a

day when this Messiah comes and he's going to break

the burden of the pressure. He's going to break the

the staff of the oppressor, the burden that the Syrians

put on the israel Lights, he is going to break.

Look at the imagery in verse four, you have broken

as on the day of Midian he is going to

defeat all those who oppress in a moment at his coming,

He's going to come to set people free. You know,

just in the last year of the last year, we've

been watching as our world. In October seventh of twenty

twenty three, Hamas came into southern Israel, actually killed over

one thousand people. And on that day they captured hundreds

of Jews. They took them into Gaza. And for over

a year there's been those who've been in captivity. Now

you can imagine those terrorists who go into that nation

and they killed a thousand people. They also taking many

captive and they put them, took them into Gaza, and

you can imagine how that and for the nation of

Israel just stole joy. Can you imagine for those who

are in captivity. They're in an area, they don't know where,

they are, in a dark place. They don't have any freedom.

They can't go to McDonald's when they want to. They

can't talk on the phone, they can't do anything. They

maybe it can even talk at different times. They are

fully under the control of their oppressor. They have to

talk when their presser lets them talk. They eat when

their presser lets them eat, they go when their pressure

tells them to go. They are fully under control of

their oppressor. I heard the story I was reading and

preparing for this morning, and there was a lady and

she had a son named Andre. She was from Russia

and her son was there living in Israel at the time,

and he was captured at the time from Hamas and

in June, she had been trying to plead and plead

with them to let some of the captives free, those

who had been called and on. It was one morning

she was getting ready, she was about to fly from

Russia to Israel to try to plead and do different things,

and she got a phone call. She got a phone

call by someone saying that they had her son Andre

on helicopter and they were traveling into Israeli territory. It

was supposedly from somebody from the IDF. She said that

she first heard it, she was convinced it was fake news.

She thought it was a spam, it was a scam.

She later said that she knew it was real when

she had a video call and answer the call and

it was her son. He was in the hospital, and

she said that she had that phone in her hand,

and she was looking at her twenty seven year old son,

and she said, I held him in my hands like

I was holding a baby for the very first time.

She rejoiced that he had been set for the same

imagery that you hear the joy that she had when

she was her son was set free. He's saying, when

the Messiah comes, there will be people who rejoice because

they have been set free. Now, I want you to

think about us. Today's scripture says in John fifteen, eighteen

and nineteen, if the world hates you, you know that

it's hated me before it hated you. If you were

of the world, the world would love you as it owns.

But because you're not of the world, and I've chosen

you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Do you know you live in a world that hates

you as a believer? And I could tell you how

I convince you that you know that. When's the last

time you shared the Gospel? When's the last time you

told someone about the joy of the Lord that you

have in your life? You probably would The answer is

probably has it's been a while, pastor, or maybe haven't

done in a few days or maybe haven't done it

in a while. And the reason why is because you're

afraid if you tell someone about Jesus. You're afraid of

what the attack or the rejection that may come upon you.

You know that there are many people who do not

like Christians or oppose your Christianity, and so therefore you

don't share because you don't want what opposition against the

world that does not like Christians. And so you know,

we live in a world that opposes Christianity. We live

in a world that's captive. We live in a world

that oppresses Christian voices. And we know that we don't

have to go through. We can look through just in

the last year and the things that are happening in

a world to silence and voices of Christians we live.

And can I tell you though Jesus is a gift

of was a gift of God, and one day when

he comes again, He's going to set us free from

the captive of this world. We will no longer be

a press for our belief. And whuji Jesus is, he

will set us free from captivity, and he'll set all

the captains free and all over the world who are

suffering today as a result of living for Jesus. He's

coming to set the captives free. But you know, there's

only captive of those who are pressed for being believers.

But they're those who are We're oppressed and only for

being believers, But we also live in captivity of a

sinful body. You know. Paul knew this. In Romans chapter seven,

Paul says this, I know there's nothing good that dwells

in me, that is that is in my flesh. For

I have a desire to do what is right, but

not the ability to carry it out. For I do

not do the good that I want, But the very

evil I don't want is what I keep on doing.

For if I do what I do not want, is

no longer I who do it, but the sin that

dwells within me. So I find that a law that,

when I want to do right, evil lives close at hand.

For I delight in the law of God in my

inner being, but I I see in my members another

law waging war against the law of my mind and

making me captive. Listen to this captive, to the law

of sin that dwells in my members, wretched mand that

I am who will deliver me from this body of death.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Said,

then I myself serve the law of God with my mind,

but my flesh I serve the law of sin. You know, Paul, No,

they taught that we Scripture taught Jesus taught us that

we're captives in a world that opposes Christianity. But you,

as a sinner and me as a sinner, we're captives

to sin. We're a lot like Paul, aren't we. We

know what we want to do, We want to do good,

but there's something in us that the very good that

we do we don't do, do we And the very

sin that we don't want to do is the very

things that we do do right. The sin that we

don't like, we hate, is the things that we continue

fall over and over and all over. And at times

it seems like listen, just as those hamas are holding

those Israelites a captive or different people captive, it seems

like the sin that's in our bodies is holding us captive,

and it's making us do the very things that we

do not want to do. And at times we feel

like we are trapped in a body of sin. And

Paul declares today that my only hope is what is

that Jesus will set me free. You see, Isaiah saw

a gift that came from the Lord, and this gift

would set the captives free on this earth, but also

set the captives free to sin. You know, Jesus said

these words, and he fulfilled these words in John chapter eight.

When Jesus says in John thirty four through thirty six,

Jesus answered and said, truly, I say to you, everyone

who practiced sin is what a slave to sin. A

slave does not remain in the house forever, for the

sun remains forever. So if the Sun listens to this

sets you free, you will be free. Indeed, the joy

of Jesus is that Jesus brings joy through freedom, freedom

over sin. Today, do you know the joy of finding

freedom over sin? Jesus came that you might find that

type of freedom today. Do you know that joy gont

you see? Secondly, the joy that Jesus brings, he brings

joy through freedom, but he brings joy through victory. Look

at verse nine, I mean chapter nine, verse five. He

gives us the second four for every boot of the

trampling Warrior. In battle and tormult. Every garment rolled in

blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. And

this passage script sure, he's describing that if you've seen

on TV, you've seen armies march, they've marching stride, they've

march in rhythm. He's describing that there's coming a time

for Israel that Syria would march in rhythm, in boots,

marching boots, and they would march into northern Israel, and

they would take over the land. Not only would they

march in rhythm, this great army, but also this great

army would bring death. Look at the passage of Scripture.

It describes every boot of trampling warriors, talking about in

rhythm in battle. And then it says, in every garment

rolled in blood, none of there are many boots that

were coming against Israel that was going to steal joy,

that many soldiers clothing would be covered on blood. He

describes these two things that they were going to see

evidence in their lives, and there in the years to

come he sees that they are no longer use. This

is what it says. He says, every boot that was

used to trample, every garment that was rolled up in

blood in that time will be gathered together, and scripture says,

in the end of this passage, and will be burned

as fuel for the fire. Why are they burned because

they're no longer needed, there's no more need for war,

there's no more death. And so they'll take every boot

and every clothed I mean army soldiers, whatever clothing that

still has blood on it, and they'll put them in

the fire and they will burn them because there will

be no more need of war. There'll be no more death.

That's to come. Death will be no more and there

will be no more war. Man, What a great promise

that was for visual a time where they would see

a lot of death, where they would see a lot

of war. They long for the day where they would

be no more death. They long today that there would

be no more war. And on that day when there

would be no more, there will be rejoicing that death

is no more and there's no more war. You know,

we really live in a world. We were not at

war right now as America, but we see war overseas

in Israel, we see war in Ukraine, but we're not

seeing that on our land. But the reality is death.

This surrounds us. Doesn't it mean just two weeks ago

or less than a month ago, we saw on our

news slaughtering of a healthcare ceo. We just take that

in like it's nothing. Videos of it shows up on

our screens. We see just this week at a Christian

school the size of ours, a fourteen year old girl

kills two people injures six. Death surrounds us in our world.

And I don't know about you, but I long for

a day that there's no more war, there's no more

loss of life. But it's reality, isn't it. We see it.

But what it would be like one of the day

that there is no more no more school shootings, no

more innocent victims. I heard this week of a church

member of mine, at the first church I served in.

The little girl was a teenager at the time. She's

now married. She had a little baby six months old

and a little baby got flu. They laid her down

and they went to go check on her, and she

had passed. The funeral was yesterday. You know, there's nothing

that steals joy like death, does it. I want to

show you a picture. This is a little girl. I

think we have it on the screen. Maybe her name's Olivia.

This was Olivia's Christmas car and the car, as you

can say, it says nothing but joy. Olivia was adopted

by her mom and dad from China. Their name's David

and Wendy. It was her first Christmas. They had gotten

a Christmas decoration. She had Dora and one of my

favorite pictures of hers by the Christmas tree, touching the

Christmas tree. It was Christmas time and they were getting

ready and mom and taking her too. She had had

she was born with a heart defect, and when they

got her from China, they knew that she came here

and had successful surgery restoring her heart. Surgery went well,

she was recovering well. It took her that day to

do some Christmas shopping. Before the Christmas shopping, they wanted

to run in real quick and they had that doctor appointment,

Cardioli's appointment to check her out. Went into Cardiogis's appointment,

checked her out, her heart looked great. Was leaving the

head of two to do some more Christmas shopping and

look back and Olivia was gone. First Christmas death came

and stole joy, nothing but joy. But you know the

good news is this passage declares listen that when Jesus comes,

he's going to put it into all death, He's going

to put it into all war. And the good news

is that Christmas morning, Olivia found the greatest gift of

all and she found a gift of joy because she

was in the presence of the Lord, and she found

victory over death and of her sin. And that's the

good news. But it doesn't mean that it's not hard

for those who are left behind? Is it? The shadow

of death stings, doesn't it? But the Bible says Jesus

is the promise gift and then Jesus, Jesus comes to

end death, that you and I listen, might find victory

over death, just like Olivia did. And not only may

we might find victory over death, but we might also

find victory over the sting of death. Who's this sting

of death? For the sting of death is you and I. Right,

those in heaven are not feeling the sting of death.

You understand that the sting of death is those who

are left behind, who suffer the loss of grief, of

losing ones that we love. But the Bible says, and

Paul knew that Jesus was fulfillment of that, because the

Bible says the Second Corinthians, I mean First Corinthians fifteen four,

when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal

puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying

that's written, death is swallowed up in victory, Oh death,

Where is your victory, oh death? Where is your sting?

This sting of death? The sin and the power of

sind us law. But thanks be to God who gives us.

Listen to this who gives us victory through who through

our Lord Jesus Christ. Can I tell you Jesus came

to be the gift of joy, and you can find

joy through finding victory over death. And that victory only

comes through Jesus, which you see. Lastly, and I've got

to go fast, so hang on tight, the Bible says. Lastly,

here it comes in joy. Jesus brings joy through his

divine character. The Bible says, for unto us a child

is born, and unto us a son is given. It

describes this son, and this passage it gives different names

to describe him. It says for the government shall be

upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful

counselor a mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of peace. You know,

in our lives, there are different people that you have

in your life. You've got questions about different things. You

have different people in your life, and they're may be

gifted in certain areas and if you have a need,

you may call them, right, You'll call them to answer

questions for you, because they're all specialized in different things.

Like if you have a tax question or finance questions,

probably gonna call Stacy. He specializes, and that's kind of

his gift. If you have like a music question, you're

probably gonna call Tanner or a guitar question because he's

he's specialized. He's really good at that. If you have

a coffee question, by the way, Devin is the coffee connoisseur,

You're gonna call Devin for coffee questions. Right. If I

have questions about medical stuff, I'm probably gonna call Mandy.

She knows all those things. She's gonna give me wisdom

on that. Right. The other day, I was working on

the loan woarn and I couldn't get it to start,

and I was thinking I was frustrated. You know, when

you have a problem, it brings frustration because of the problem,

you don't know how to fix it, and you extra plans.

And I had a plan that I wanted Friday to

mow my grass or both of the leaves, and so

I decide I was going to do that, and I wait,

I work ten minutes trying to get Lonemar started. I

get frustrated. I was like, fine, I'm just gonna quit,

just walk out. And I finally like, who do I

know that's really good for Lawnmarce Joey is gifted in

so many different things, and one of things is very

good mechanically. So I called Joey. I said, Joey, what

should I do? He says, put gas in the Jonathan,

And it was just simply he's out of gas. So

it shows you I need help, and so put gas

in it. And I got it started. I tell you, listen,

you know when you're when you're when you're frustrated, and

when you when you've got problems and all joking aside,

and someone helps you and gives you answers. It as

silly as it may be, it brings peace. It brings resolution.

What Isaiah's saying, there's one who's coming, and then his

presence will be all that you ever need and he

will completely satisfy and there will be joy at his coming.

You know, you kind of think about this and maybe

put your mind or out Why this is so vivid

for Israel Is because there are certain people when they

come and when they they have our presence about them,

and there's power, there's a longing to be around that individual.

You know, I've told you this story before, but it's

kind of like one of one of the best movies

Christmas movies, I believe, is elf Right. And you remember

there's a there's a part in the movie where the

little worker in the in the little shopping mall is saying,

Santa's coming ten and am and he starts sah, you know,

and he's he's tomorrow, He's coming. You know, he's excited.

Why because there's something about who this Santa right, and

scripture says for unto us, when this child comes, it's

greater than any person individual and why And he describes

why because he's first, he's the wonderful counselor. You know,

there's all kinds of different wisdom, but there's most of

man's wisdom is folly. We look at King AHAs in

this passive of scripture, he thought he knows better than God. Right,

But this child is fully God, and therefore true wisdom

dwells within him, and his counsel is beyond all human comparison.

So I can't wait to be with my Lord, who

is the wonderful Counselor. He's not only longing and bring

joy at his divine character because he's the wonderful counselor,

but he's the Mighty God. It's a reference to Jesus's deity.

He's not just a child. He is fully God. And

as a result, all the power of God dwells within him,

and all Satan desires to bring upon him, to bring

against him, will not be able to stand against the

power that's within this little child. He's not only the

Mighty God, he is the everlasting Father. The kings of

Israel at the time would many times claim that they

would be Israel's father, they would shepherd Israel. But as

we see with presidents, they come and go, and kings

would come ago, and they would never last forever. This

father is to be an everlasting father. This Messiah is

going to come. It's going to be an everlasting father

who will be Israel's father for all eternity. And that

brings us the reminder of the passage where in Matthew

Jesus says, teach them to observe all that our commands you,

and behold, I am with you even to the end

of the age. He's our everlasting father. And lastly, why

would his presence bring such rejoicing when he comes, Because

he is the Prince of peace. This is a king

who comes for the very purpose of bringing peace and

establishing peace. When Jesus came, Jesus came and he brought joy.

He brings joy, brings joy in freedom, he brings joy

through victory. He brings joy in his divine character. And

the Bible says in Luke chapter two, when Jesus came,

he fulfilled the promises of Isaiah. Chapter nine. The shepherds

were in the fields by night, watching the flocks, and

Angel appeared to those shepherds right, and the angels announced,

listen to this, And Angel said, fear not. Behold, I

bring you great news of what great joy that will

be for all people, For unto you is born this

day in the city of David, a savior, who is

Christ the Lord. You know, many times in our lives

there are people who come and they bring different solutions,

different answers to our problems. But there's nobody who's ever

came like our Jesus. There's no one ever been like

our Savior. Today. Will you recognize the gift of joy

that came in Jesus, How he comes to set you free,

how he comes to give you victory, and how he

comes to bring you peace. You know, I wonder, I

wonder what it was like that day them shepherds in

the field the angels appeared announced Today's today, the saviors here.

What it must have been like? What joy must they

have felt? This is the promise of of Isaiah. This

is the one who's come to bring us joy and freedom.

This is the one who's coming to bring us victory

over death and war. This is the one who's coming

to be the very wonderful counselor, the Prince of Police,

the everlasting Father. This is the one. He's here. I

wonder how they must have rejoiced like the day of

the harvest. I wonder today, I tell your scripture tells

us that he's coming again. And when he comes again.

How will we respond. Will we respond with joy or

we respond with dread? You know, the Bible says, as

we finished this morning in John two, he commands believers

to abide in the Lord, to put their faith in

this savior, that when he comes, you might have confidence,

you might have joy. He says, There'll be those when

Jesus comes. They won't have joy, but they'll shrink in

shame that is coming. Why because they're not ready. They've

never been set free, They've never found victory in Jesus,

and they have never found joy in him. Today is today.

We recognize that Jesus is God's gift of joy. My

question is to you today, do you have that joy?

If you don't today's today, well you can put your

faith in Jesus, find victory of her sin, victory of

her death. And may one day when he comes you

can read joice that is coming. Let's pray together, Lord,

We love you, We thank you Lord for this morning.

We thank you Lord for your word. We thank you

Lord for the power of your word. God. We all

know how sin holds us captive, and we all long

to be set free. And Lord, I pray that be

those today that would put their faith in you today

for salvation and find forgiveness of sin. And Lord, that

would be set free from sin. Today. Lord, I know

those today today that are grieving ever lost. Lord, I

pray that be those today that would find Lord joy

in you in the midst of sorrow, that God, you

came to give them victory over death and the sting

of death. And Lord, I pray they be those that

would find joy in you today. Lord, I pray to

be those that would find joy in your presence. That

God there is that you You are, the wonderful counselor,

the Mighty God, the everlasting Father of the Prince of Peace.

And Lord, I pray there'd be those who would seek

you today. I don't trust you today. Wherever you lead us, Lord,

may we take this time to respond to you. In

your name. We pray Amen, Jesus, pain and all to

Him