What Child is this?

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

The title of the message this morning, What Child Is This?

If you have, don't, yeah, just raise your hand.

Here come Baba, make sure you have one.

Now we understand that this prophecy was written for the future coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that one day he would come.

And not only would he rule and reign on earth, actually, he really didn't rule and reign on earth, but that one day he would be ruling and reigning in the millennial reign.

And we talked about that this summer.

So it's a prophetic utterance that Jesus was coming.

The Messiah's coming.

And he did.

We know that to be fulfilled in Matthew 1 and Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Jesus came as the Messiah.

But that his what?

Eternity in his ruling in the millennial was also coming.

And we see that in this one phrase as we look at Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6.

Isaiah 9:6

As as important as John 3, 16 is in the New Testament, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Probably the most powerful New Testament verse, no doubt.

I mean, it is the foundation, the platform that all Christianity is built upon.

No doubt about it.

In the Old Testament, probably Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, is coequal with the John 3.16 because it describes for us who that baby was in John 3.16 that was born that Christmas morning.

Isaiah 9:6

So let's look at it.

Let's look at Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6.

Isaiah 9:6

Every phrase, every word is loaded.

It really is.

For unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given.

And 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.

Now, we have a little saying here at the church at Chelsea Westover that we first of all love this book.

Amen.

We learn this book.

We what?

Live this book.

Thy word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

It is one of our core values.

And you see our four core values right there on the wall.

Clear biblical truth.

Vibrant worship, which we've just experienced, fulfilling service, which is when we're involved in all the community projects that we do.

By the way, how many of you got our Christmas letter?

Did you get our Christmas letter?

All right.

Seems like everybody got it but us, but amen.

Amen.

Doing a summation of all that God had done this year and explaining to you what we are and who we are, fulfilling service and then intimate fellowship.

That's one reason we break bread together every Sunday.

It's intimate fellowship.

We believe in that strongly.

We really do.

So, with that said, we believe in clear biblical truth.

And this morning we want to look at what clear biblical truth is in reference to that little child that was born 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem.

Well, let me give you some answers.

Some say that he was just a good teacher.

But my rebuttal to that is good teachers don't claim to be God.

And in John 10, 30, Jesus said, I and my father are one.

When you have seen the Father, you've seen me.

John 14 9.

Some say that he was just a good example.

But my rebuttal to that is, good examples don't hang around prostitutes, drunks, and dirty politicians.

Amen.

Oh, listen to what Jesus said.

In fact, the religious crowd cornered him in Luke chapter 5 and said, Why do you eat with sinners and publicans?

Luke 5 · chapter mention

I mean, they just flat foot ask him, Wait, what's wrong with you, man?

You're eating with sinners and publicans.

You're eating with people that we don't associate with.

That was the problem.

By the way, the way you solve a problem is not avoid them.

You give them the truth.

Amen.

You should know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

That's why whenever, and I'm not being ugly, but anytime they say happy holiday, I say, yes, ma'am, but Merry Christmas.

Christ in Christmas.

Amen.

Because they got to hear the truth.

And when they hear the truth, the truth will set them free.

But notice what Jesus said when they said, Why do you eat with the publicans and sinners?

Here's what he said.

They that are whole need not a physician.

I didn't come to, hey, minister to the well.

I came to heal them that are sick.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19, 10.

Luke 5, 30, 31, and 32.

Well, some say he was just a religious madman.

Or a religious.

Let's say you go, no.

Some say he was just a religious fake.

Religious fake.

My rebuttal to that is religious fakes don't rise from the dead.

Amen.

I've had the privilege of going to Israel.

You can go to Ba, hey, you can go to, hey, you can go to Buddha's grave.

You can go to Joseph T.

Smith's grave, the former uh founder of Mormonism.

You can go to Buddha's grave.

You can go to all the graves, and you'll find a body.

But when you go to Jesus' grave in Israel in the Garden of Gethsemane, it has over the tomb.

He is not here.

He is risen.

Amen.

Come see the place where the Lord lay.

Woo! Matthew 28.

We love that verse 6.

So, some say he was just a religious fake.

But fakes don't rise from the dead.

Some say he was just a religious madman, but now I love this.

But madmen don't speak the kinds of words that he spoke, nor do they draw women and children to themselves.

And the Bible says the centurion that was standing there listening to him, he stood there and no doubt was converted at that moment.

He turned and he looked up and he says, Never have I heard the word spoken like this man speaks.

John 7, 46.

And Jeremiah 31, verse 1, that his love has drawn us to him.

Jeremiah 31:1

Some say he was only a phantom.

But my rebuttal to that is phantoms don't have flesh to crucify and blood to spill.

He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

And the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53 5.

Who his own self bear our sins in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.

1 Peter 2 24, in whom we have redemption through his blood.

Even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

Ephesians 1 7.

Oh, my friends, he was more than a religious madman.

He was more than a religious fake, a good example, a good teacher, and a phantom.

And then, lastly, these are just some of the sayings.

Some say he was only a myth.

Only a myth.

He's really not real.

Well, I've, hey, my rebuttal to that is myths do not set the history and the calendar into existence.

Before anything was, he was.

And after everything will be, he still will be.

He's the offer, hey, and the finisher of our faith.

Before anything was, he was, and after everything will be, he still will be.

Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

Amen.

So what child was this?

If he was not a good teacher, good example, he's not a religious fake, religious madman, a phantom, or a myth, so what was it?

Here it is.

This child is a gift.

This child was a gift.

2 Corinthians 9.15, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

There's never been a gift like Jesus Christ.

Oh, what a gift.

James 1.17.

Now here's how it applies to us.

He says, every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.

And now watch, in whom there is no variableness.

There is no, hey, favoritism with God.

Can I get an amen?

What I love about Christianity, it's not your race, it's not your social class, it's not your education.

When you come to know Christ, we're all one in Christ.

When you walk through those doors or you come under that tent, we don't care who you are, what color you are, what your social status is, hey, what your political thing is, or whatever it is, we love you because Jesus loved you.

We don't care.

And by the way, we're not interested in your past, we're interested in your future.

And God's got a fantastic future for your life if you give him all.

That's why he came.

That's why he was born.

To give us life and to give it more abundantly.

Amen, church.

So he's the greatest gift ever.

What child is this?

Not only was he a gift, this child is God with us.

God with us.

Listen to what he says in Matthew 1, 23.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth the son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which means what, church?

God with us.

What a gift.

God with us.

This child is a gift.

This child is God with us.

And thirdly, this child is the God man.

He's the God man.

The Bible says in John 1.14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son of the living God.

Ladies and gentlemen, this child that was born was as much man as Danny Levitt is, but he was as much God as God ever has been or ever will be.

He was the God man.

With that, I see two things here.

First of all, I see in Isaiah 9.6 tells me that this child has two unbelievable attributes.

Well, actually, the attributes of this child are three.

Look at them.

The attributes of this child.

First of all, we see is humanity.

For unto us, look at the verse.

Look at the phrase.

For unto us the child is born.

That is the Son of Man.

As a man, now watch this.

As a man, as a human, Jesus was born.

Just like any other baby that's born.

In fact, the Bible says in Philippians chapter 2, verse 7 and 8, but made himself of no reputation, but took upon him the form of a servant.

Philippians 2:7

Now watch, and was made, read it with me.

In what?

In the likeness of what?

Men.

And being found in fashion, notice what he says, as a what?

Man.

What?

He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

In fact, we see that he was as much human as we are human.

And that's why we see as a man, Jesus was born.

Now, what does that mean?

You said, what does humanity, his humanity mean to us?

It means that he feels everything that you feel.

Hello?

Come on with me now.

Come on.

It means when you hurt, he hurts.

Have you ever thought about that?

When you hurt, he hurts.

When you weep, he weeps.

Amen?

When you laugh, he laughs.

When you feel good, he feels good.

When you feel bad, he feels bad.

He has been through everything that you and I are ever going to go through, everything we've been through, and he has been victorious.

Thanks be unto God who gives us victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He says in Hebrews 4 that we have this high priest, and then he has been touched with the feelings of our what?

Affirmities, our hurts, our sins, everything.

And because of that, he says in verse 16 in Hebrews 4, we can come boldly unto the throne of grace that we might, hey, receive grace in time of need.

Aren't you glad he was human?

Amen.

He, hey, listen to me.

Listen to me.

He identifies with you.

He knows what you're going through.

You know, that's probably one of the greatest comforts to me because every once in a while I'm subject to have a pity party.

Hello.

Don't take off your mask.

Who else everyone's, huh?

Amen.

Yeah.

But you know what encouraged me more than anything?

Is to know that when I'm having that pity party, he's right there with me and he knows how I feel.

And all he's waiting for me to do is just turn around and say, Father, I know you're there.

I need you.

Help me.

Bring, hey, lift me back up, put me back where I need to be, and let me be victorious.

And he always does.

Why?

Because nothing's impossible with him.

Amen.

Luke 137.

Nothing.

By the way, Greek word for nothing is what?

Nothing.

Amen.

So we see that.

He felt everything.

Now notice the second thing about these attributes.

Not only his humanity, now watch.

This is so powerful.

We see his divinity.

Oh yeah.

Now watch.

Unto us a son is given.

Unto us a son is given.

As God, Jesus was given.

As man, what?

He was born.

As a man, Jesus was born.

But as God, Jesus was given.

Because he was God's Son.

Amen.

His only begotten Son.

What we see here, this speaks of the Savior's pre-existent deity.

Wow.

Before, hey, he came, he was with God, God's son.

He was with God, dwelling in heaven.

And then we see that God's word is so powerful because it says this child was the God man.

Now let me let me explain something.

This humanity and this divinity cannot be clearly seen.

Well, could not be more clearly seen than seen on the cross.

In his seven last words on the cross.

Remember that?

Luke 23.

And Luke 23, verse 34.

Luke 23:34

He said, Father, what?

Forgive them.

For they know not what they do.

Only God could do that.

In fact, the scribes and Pharisees, wait a minute.

Only God could do that.

Jesus said, Yep, you're right.

I am God.

We see his divinity.

Then the second word he said, we see his divinity.

In Luke 23, 43.

What did he do?

He turned to the thief and he said to the thief, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.

Hey, by the way, that tells you how salvation really takes place.

It's instantaneous.

You don't ease into salvation, it is a radical change.

Amen.

When you get saved, you change.

Or you didn't get saved.

I'm sorry.

All you did was uh have an emotional experience.

But when you get saved, your heart changes.

You get a new heart.

And when you get a new heart, you get a new attitude, you get a new think too, you get a new speaking, you get a new everything.

Now, that doesn't mean you can't, you don't have to work on it.

Right, Miss Pat?

I love Miss Pat.

She said, Oh, preacher, I did it, Pat.

You really have.

Majorly.

And you know why?

That's it.

What'd you say?

Because God's in our heart.

I can tell you, Pat's not the same person we met the first time she came here.

No.

She changed.

We still have struggles.

We still have to, we still have to work through those struggles because guess what?

We're babies.

That's why we're going to start a new baby class.

We're going to start an incubator class.

We're going to take you through the steps and the book I wrote in Jesus is also on what do you do right after you get saved?

First, you learn to tell your testimony.

First of all, you got to have the testimony to tell it.

Amen.

So we work.

And then what do you do next?

And why do you memorize?

I mean, it's just that's what we're going to do starting in January.

And I think Clay and Darren and two or three others are going to work.

Susan's already wanting to teach a class that she taught in uh uh what did what'd you call that class?

Bible 101.

It's I I am I am really shocked by how little Christians know the Bible.

Amen.

Yeah, and that's why we want to read through it this year chronologically.

We got that for you.

We're, I'm telling you, this year, this next year, we're gonna seek the real thing.

Amen.

And then when we seek it, we're gonna allow the Holy Spirit to live it through us so that we'll be the real thing.

Amen.

The difference in our church and any other church or the churches that God's hands on is this the real thing.

The Lord does not play with, hey, the Lord does not play with what?

Sin, he does not play with unrighteousness, and he does not play with the thing that's not real.

And I am tired, I am tired of us seeing people that claim to be Christians but live like the devil.

Tired of that.

Amen?

Let's be real.

And then when you live for the Lord, everybody criticize you.

I'm not even gonna go there, but y'all have been watching the news.

And it's it's a sad day in America when our newscasters try to say that because somebody reads a verse right out of the Bible that that's hate speech.

Well, guess what?

Your pastor's in trouble.

I'll probably be the first one in jail.

Just feed me, that's all I ask.

Because I'm not I'm not gonna denounce this book.

Amen.

This is it.

Look at it right there.

Hey, his divinity.

Today that shall be with me in paradise.

Then, hey, John 19, 25, 27, we see his divinity, and then we see his humanity.

He turns and he's he's dying on the cross and he looks down at his mother and he says, Woman, behold thy son.

And then he turns to the disciple, the beloved John, and he says, Behold thy mother.

He was concerned about his mother being taken care of as he was dying.

And then we see his humanity again in Matthew 27, verse 46, when he's there in the Garden of Gethsemane and praying to the extent of the pressure and the stress that's about to he's about to take upon him, the sins of the world.

Matthew 27:46

He's sweating drops of blood.

He looks up and he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

That's his humanity.

And then we see his humanity in John 19 28, when he says he's on the cross and he's hanging there dying, and he says, I thirst.

We see his humanity.

But let me remind you, my friends, when he's hanging on that tree, and right after that, he says, To tell us die.

To tell us die.

It is finished.

That's his divinity.

He controlled every moment of the crucifixion.

They did not take his life.

He willfully gave his life.

He could have called 10,000 angels to rescue him.

He controlled every step of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

It was on his timetable, not man's.

The Romans thought they had won.

No, the Romans were part of his plan.

Caesar thought he had won.

August, oh no, he controlled every moment.

And then we see in Luke 23, 46, when he says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

We see his divinity.

You cannot look at the cross and not see that he is as much man as we are, but that he is as much God as God ever has been.

Can't.

It's there.

Can I get an Amen, church?

It's there.

But look at the third thing in this verse.

We not only see his humanity, his divinity, we see his authority.

Whew, I love this.

And the government shall be upon his shoulders.

Listen, let's say that together.

And the government shall be upon his shoulders.

Ladies and gentlemen, the only rest I have, the only peace I have when I see what our government's doing right now is to know ultimately the hey, the whole, as my granddaddy used to say, the whole shooting match is on some of y'all, that's real southern lingo.

The whole shooting match is on his shoulders.

Amen.

Hey, hey, he knows what's going on.

Somebody said, man, I don't know what.

He knows.

It's just fulfilling his prophecy.

It's fulfilling his plan.

Just when the disciples thought it was all over and they're fixing to be, hey, hey, executed.

Guess what?

An angel earthquake shows up and breaks open the doors and puts all the guards asleep.

And Paul and Silas just well, not Paul and Silas, excuse me.

They didn't walk out, they led the jelly to the Lord.

But Peter just walks out.

Peter's about to be executed, fixing to kill him.

He puts all the guards asleep, and Peter just walks out.

Amen.

Hello.

I got a lot of things I want to talk to Peter about.

Boy, he had an exciting life.

He blew it too a lot.

He and I a lot alike.

For every good thing he did, he had four or five mess-ups.

But that's all right, look how I finished.

Wasn't how you start, it's how you finished.

Amen.

He said, Lord, he told the Romans, crucify me upside down.

I'm not worthy.

I'm not worthy.

Now we know this statement looks beyond the first Christmas to a time still in prophetic future.

I told you that at the beginning, when Christ shall reign over a little earthly kingdom that encompasses all the kingdoms and governments of this world.

Folks, I'm telling you, there is peace coming.

But it won't come until he reigns for a thousand years.

Amen.

You listening to me?

Instead of me having a little uh little uh Boston Terrier for a pet, I'm gonna have, are you ready?

I'm gonna have Leo the Lion.

He's gonna be walking with me, and you're not gonna mess me out and say, take him, Leo, get him.

The lion's gonna lay down with the lamb.

And the lamb with the lion.

What a day that's gonna be.

Hey, we're gonna be there.

You're gonna be there if you're a Christian.

We're gonna be there.

We're gonna be helping do that.

That's so exciting to me.

But what he is meaning today that Jesus Christ is to be king and ruler of our hearts, can I get an amen?

So, what are these attributes that are so powerful?

His humanity, his divinity, his authority.

Just remember when you think America is over, he's still in charge.

Can I get an Amen?

He's still in charge.

Okay?

That's why it's so exciting to be a Christian.

It really doesn't matter what happens, as long as we faithfully serve him and stand up for him, we're gonna be okay.

You say, well, what if they kill me?

Why, why?

What?

You're going to heaven! What?

What's wrong with that?

Huh?

By the way, if you saved you going there anyways, you just may get there a little earlier.

But how what a testimony to go through the Burley Gates knowing as you were killed standing for him.

Wow.

Wow.

Amen.

Well, what secondly then, what attracts us to this child?

Here's what should attract you.

Now buckle up.

These next five principles of who this child is is revolutionizing.

Are you ready?

First of all, he's wonderful.

Now the Greek word, excuse me, the Hebrew word for wonderful there is Pele.

Pele, P-A-L-A.

Pele.

And it means to lift above average.

That's what it means.

It means to raise above average.

It means to take something that's average and take it to its highest potential.

Woo! Hello.

And when he does that, are you ready?

When he lifts us to, hey, above average, then there is nothing that will compare to him.

In other words, when we say he's wonderful, there's nothing to compare with him.

Because what he does, he takes us that are average, and he brings us above average, and he makes us something wonderful and beautiful and uses us, hey, in a magnificent, unbelievable.

In fact, Psalm 66, 5 says he does awesome works through us.

There's nothing greater.

You say, Well, I'm just average.

Yeah.

But when you come to know Christ, you're not.

He raises you above average.

He raises you above average.

Now, watch this.

I thought about that.

Wonderful.

Marvelous.

Miraculous.

His ready?

Birth was a wonder.

It was unbelievable.

A virgin conceived and brought forth a son.

Never been done again, never will be done again.

His birth was a wonder.

Amen.

I mean, you can't explain it.

Don't cry.

That's why people say it was just a myth.

Well, I got news for you.

It's not a myth.

It wasn't a myth.

It was real.

Because God designed it and God planned it.

And it happened exactly the way he said it.

So his birth was a wonder.

Hey, his life was a wonder.

Can you imagine?

Everywhere Jesus went, he took the average and raised it above average.

For example, he went to a wedding, John 2.

Took ordinary servants, ordinary water pots, ordinary water, and turned it into extraordinary wine.

Amen.

He was walking by the Sea of Galilee and saw ordinary fishermen.

He saw Peter and John.

Saw Peter and his brother, Andrew.

They were casting nets.

Peter and John, brothers, they were mending nets.

And he said, Hey, follow me.

And I will make you to become fisher of men.

He took ordinary fishermen and turned them into extraordinary evangelists.

By the way, they became pretty good fishermen after that, too.

Everyone Jesus casting net to fill them up.

Amen.

And then, how many of you have ever heard of the city of Nain?

One.

Pat's heard of the city of Nain.

This is the most miraculous story in the Bible, one of them.

And nobody knows about it.

Luke, turn there, chapter 7.

I don't know if it's on there, Jeremy.

It may not.

Yeah, it is.

All right.

I want you to look at this.

You got to look at this.

Luke chapter 7, verse 11.

Luke 7:11

And it came to pass that day after that he had gone into the city called Nain.

And many of his disciples went with him and much people.

In other words, he and his disciples, I call it the procession of deity, are coming into the town.

And look what happens next.

And when he came close to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out.

Now watch, the only son of his mother, she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her.

I think she had to be a very influential woman.

I think she was a dynamic Christian woman.

And she had done a lot of good for a lot of people because there were much people in this funeral procession.

So she had to be somebody influenced, or they would not have had a whole lot of people in the funeral procession.

I think she was a dynamic Christian and it helped a lot of people.

She only had one son.

The Bible says he was a young son.

Neotes means that he was of less than the age of 40, because once you become 40, you're no longer called a young man in the culture.

Okay?

So notice what it says.

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not.

She's just weeping, probably uncontrollably.

Remember, he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

He knew exactly how she was feeling.

He knew exactly what she was going through.

He knew her heart, and he was touched, touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

Hebrews 4, 15.

And notice what he says.

And he came and touched the coffin, and they that bare him stood still, and he said, Young man, Yoti, I say unto thee, arise.

And he that was dead sat up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother.

And there came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God had visited his people.

Can you imagine?

The possession of deity coming into town, the possession of death coming out of town.

And we see Jesus sees her heart and knows, he knows the whole thing.

He's omniscient, he knows everything.

And he literally goes to the coffin, puts his hand on the coffin, and says, Stop! Now that would have you ever been in funeral, somebody come and grab the coffin and say, Stop! But man, he says something else.

He doesn't just stop it.

He says to the young man that's dead, rise up.

Now I I have a great memory when it comes, or should I say, creative memory when it comes to passages like this?

And I can't wait to get to heaven and see if they happen the way I think they did.

Can you imagine?

I know what the young man said.

I know.

Can you imagine?

There he is.

He's dead.

You know what dead means?

He ain't breathing.

And he says, And the camera's saying, what happened to the preacher?

He did.

Rise up.

And I believe he rose up, and the first thing he said, Jesus is awesome.

I believe you'd say that if you'd been dead and you just got raised from the dead.

Jesus is what?

Awesome.

Wow.

Wow.

Now that's a story.

That's a story.

When the procession of deity meets the procession of death, death is abolished.

Is that not good, church?

He went to an ordinary funeral.

And turned that ordinary funeral into an extraordinary event.

You wouldn't have wanted to be a funeral director during Jesus' three years.

Everywhere he went, people were dead.

Amen.

Is that not good?

He's wonderful.

Notice the second thing, he's counselor.

Now watch.

Don't miss this.

He's wonderful, which means, are you ready?

There's no comparison with him.

And if there's no comparison with him, that means if he's wonderful, now watch this.

He takes care of all the dullness in our life.

Dullness.

Can I say something?

You can't be spirit-filled and be dull.

Amen.

Hello.

Hello.

You can't be spirit-filled and be dull.

Now I'm not talking about you have to have an extraverted, extroted, extroverted personality like mine.

Actually, I'm really shy.

My wife is.

You never believe Susan, really.

She she's the totally opposite of what I now listen to me.

You can't you can't miss January the 23rd and 24th.

I'm giving you away a month in advance.

We're having a marriage retreat right here.

For all, all couples.

Or if you engage in fixing to get married.

Okay?

Okay?

Right here.

Right here.

20 bucks.

And let me tell you what that pays for.

Really done pay for.

We're going to provide babysitting.

We're going to provide two fantastic meals for you.

And then Susan and I are teaching our series that we wrote and did a long time ago, To Become One.

And you're going to get to see the side of your pastor and pastor's wife you've never seen before.

In fact, Susan said, You sure you want to do this?

We love doing marriage retreats.

Because, well, you got to go find one between now and then, Pat.

All right, back on the topic.

But really, it's going to be$20 a couple.

And that's uh, and if you don't have the$20, we'll take care of it.

So don't worry about it.

Money's not the issue.

We want every one of our, and if you know of a couple, young couples, especially, uh, that need they need to hear this.

I'm telling you, it's eight lessons.

We'll do it Friday night and end about 2.30 Saturday.

But it's going to be a great time.

We're going to have, we'll, we're going to do, we're going to do uh uh some some activities with the personality things and stuff.

It it will it will be fun, I promise.

So we see, not only is he wonderful, but now watch, he's counselor.

Now watch this.

He's counselor, he takes care of all the decisions of our lives.

Now remember, he's wonderful.

Lives us, hey, he lifts us above average, which means he takes care of all the dullness of our life.

You can't be dull, hey.

Hey, you can't be dull and be filled with the Spirit of God and him using you in a great way.

You just have an exciting life.

You really do.

It's a life of faith.

The life of faith is an exciting life.

What did he say?

I've come to give you what?

Life.

And give it what?

More what?

That means it can't be dull.

Okay.

One thing I promised Susan 32 years ago.

I'm not, I don't have a whole lot of money, and I'm not the best-looking thing, but I'll tell you what, you'll have the time of your life.

It'll never be dull.

Ask her.

It's been the time of brother.

We've had a time.

We have.

But now watch.

Counselor.

Now, that means then he takes care of all the decisions of our life.

So if he takes care of all the decisions of our life, now watch this.

There should be no confusion in our life.

Hello.

You say, but Brother Danny, I'm confused.

Well, the reason you're confused, you're not listening to the right counselor.

Hello.

Listen to what he says, 1 Corinthians 14, 33.

For God is not the author of what?

Hello.

There it is.

But of peace in all the churches of the saints.

In other words, if you allow him to guide you, you'll have peace about what you're doing.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

You'll have peace with what you're doing.

You won't be confused, or his word would be a lie.

Amen?

Is that not good?

So we see very in fact, here's what's happened.

We don't need to run everywhere for counsel.

We need to go to the psychologists.

I mean, excuse me.

We go to the psychologists, we go to the psychiatrists.

I wrote these down.

We go to the analysis, we go to the philosophers, we go to the astrologers, we go to the religious quacks for information when we ought to be running to the true counselor, Jesus Christ.

Watch this, Proverbs 8.14.

Don't miss this.

Powerful.

We will bless the Lord who has given me, excuse me, counsel is mine and sound wisdom.

What did he say?

God said, Counsel is mine and what?

I am understanding.

I have strength.

Powerful.

And then Psalm 16, 7.

I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel.

My reigns also instruct me in the night seasons.

In other words, in the dark times of my life, I know I can count on his counsel.

Can I get an amen?

Wow, is that not good?

Is that not good?

Job said this: with God is wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.

You shall know the truth and what?

Jesus Christ is our counselor and the Bible is our counselor's manual.

Amen.

See, the Lord knows that man's mind is limited and needs transforming.

Can I get an amen?

The Lord knows that our minds are limited and need transforming.

That's why it says in Romans 12, 1, 2, be not conformed to this world, but be ye what?

Transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

We need the counselor to instruct us through his manual, which is the B-I-B-L-E.

And when he instructs us, hey, we have peace that passes all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Isn't it so simple?

But why don't we do it?

Here's why.

We have an adversary.

And he's a roaring lion.

And he's walking about seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5.8.

Now you know the answer's verse next verse, verse 9.

1 Peter 5.9.

Resist him.

Now what's it?

By being steadfast in the faith.

Faith cometh by hearing.

So we stand fast in the counselor's manual as the Holy Spirit, the counselor's teacher, teaches us.

And we hold fast to those principles.

Is that good, church, or is that good?

That's why you have to stay in the book.

You have to stay in the book.

Now notice the third thing, mighty God.

Now, this is a great word.

It's gibboy.

Gibboy.

G-I-B-B-O-R, but it's pronounced Gilboy.

Mighty God, which means he takes care of all the demands of our life, which means there's no chaos in our life.

Wow.

There's no, hey, counselor, no confusion.

Now he's the mighty God, which means he takes care of all the demands that come on our life, which means there should not be any chaos in our life if we're allowing him to guide and direct us.

Can I get an amen church?

Why am I so excited about this new church, God's His church, is because the counsel of this church, we have one purpose, one goal, and that's to do it the Bible way, God's way, clear biblical truth.

We don't have an agenda but his.

That's liberating.

Everywhere I've been in the Christian world all these years, 32 years, somebody had an agenda.

The man of somebody had an agenda.

We don't have an agenda.

Hey, we beat an agenda.

We're his agenda.

Amen.

Tell us, Lord, we'll do it.

Well, how is he gonna tell you?

Counselor Manuel.

Amen.

Man, that's good.

Mighty God.

Casting all your cares upon him.

1 Peter 5, 7, he cares for you.

Woo! That's good.

Hey, come unto me, all ye that what?

Labor and heavy laden, and I will what?

Woo! Give you what?

Rest.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, but his wisdom is the peace of God.

You know what's wrong with America?

We're doing man's wisdom.

It's foolishness with God.

Amen.

By the way, it's not my wisdom.

One thing you I hope you appreciate about your pastor is it's not what I'm saying, it's what the book's saying, and I'm gonna give you the why do you think you have this?

Hey, don't try, don't trust me totally.

You go home and check it out yourself.

Because I don't trust you totally.

Amen.

My best friend David, I mean, I really do trust him totally.

But but we're we're we're men and women of our feet are of clay.

Amen.

And we hey, listen, you can have a good reason but have the wrong truth.

Amen.

Amen.

That's it.

You shall know the truth, the truth shall set you free.

What does it set us free from?

Sin?

Yeah, but let me tell you what else it does.

Now get this as a counselor.

It sets us free from making the wrong decisions and making the right decision.

That's good.

Ty, that's good.

Good to have Ty back, isn't it?

Y'all keep praying hard about him.

I'm praying the Lord's gonna send him back and work on his masters here.

Just a thought.

Hey, he's mighty God, which means he can defeat Satan.

Hey, he can deliver us from the power of evil, he can answer our prayers, he can restore our broken heart, he can reign over a rebuilt life.

Woo! He's a mighty God.

Amen.

That's just half of what I wanted to say.

All these verses.

Woo! Mm-hmm.

Psalms 147, verse 3.

Psalms 147:3

D, the everlasting Father.

Mighty God, everlasting Father.

All right.

Now I hope you I hope I'm not getting so excited you're missing.

He's wonderful, which means there's nothing to compare with him, which means he takes care of the dullness of our life.

He's counselor, which means he takes care of the decisions of our life, which means there's no confusion in our life.

He's the mighty God, which means he takes care of all the demands of our life, which means there's no chaos in our life.

And then he's the everlasting Father, which means he takes care, now watch this, of the duration of our life, which means he takes care of all the changes and the dimensions of our life that we go through.

Jesus is the person of the Godhead who created time out of eternity and fashioned the universe from nothing.

And he declares the end from the beginning.

Watch this.

Put it up there, Jeremy.

Isaiah 46.

This will make a Presbyterian shout.

Watch this.

Watch this.

By the way, I went to a Presbyterian school, so I can say that.

I did my doctorate there.

All right, now watch this.

They didn't reform me, though.

Are you ready?

Declaring the end from the beginning.

God has already declared the end from the beginning.

And from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, Now watch this, watch this, how it fits.

My counsel shall stand.

Now watch.

Last phrase, I've never seen this before.

And I do all my pleasure.

It is pleasurable for him to save you and watch you fulfill what he's called you to do through his counsel.

Wow.

Wow.

And he already knows what you're going to do and how you're going to do it.

It's our job to find out what that is and do it.

Amen.

It's that simple.

Well, how do I find out?

Who preacher?

I want to know.

I want to know.

How can I make God pleasure?

Hey, pleasurable.

How can I be pleasurable to God?

Very simple.

Stay in the book and let the counselor use the counselor's manual to show you exactly what he wants you to be and do.

Amen.

You say, well, but but but let me help you.

Oh, this is gonna be so liberating.

Don't worry about, hey, don't worry about tomorrow.

Just enjoy today.

Behold, today is the day the Lord has made.

I will rejoice and be glad.

Now, we planned five years all that, but live, hey, you can plan, but live in reality day by day.

Being obedient to an awesome God.

He's awesome in his works and he wants to do awesome things through his people.

Psalm 66, 3 and 5.

Amen.

Man, it's good.

And people wonder why I get sighted.

I can't help it with this book.

He's the same yesterday and today and forever.

He changes.

Philippians 1 6.

Look at this.

This is for you.

Being confident of this very thing.

That he which begun a good work in you, say it with me.

Will what?

Will what?

Until the day of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5 24.

Faithful is he that's called you, who also will do it.

All right.

The Prince of Peace.

He takes care of the disturbances and the difficulties of life.

Which means with Christ there is or there are no conflicts.

We've gotten some of the truth today, but we hadn't gotten all this truth because if we have, we'd all right now be taking a lap even in the rain.

Do you understand what this child was?

Mary, did you know that he was going to be wonderful?

Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

What does it mean?

Here's a question.

I asked myself years ago when I answered it.

What does it really mean to have the peace of God that passes all understanding, that will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus?

What does that really mean?

All right, I'm gonna give you the answer the Holy Spirit taught me that morning.

Here it is.

Number one, it meant the Holy Spirit said, Danny, here's what it means to have the peace of God in your heart.

First of all, realizing that you know that God is love.

You agree with that?

Say amen.

1 John 4, 8.

What?

God is love.

So if God is love, Danny, then his will will always be best for you.

His will will always be best for you.

We know all things work together for good to them who called according to his purpose.

That love God and are called according to his purpose.

You with me?

Alright.

So God is love.

That's part of knowing the peace of God.

The second thing he taught me that day was that God is omniscient.

He knows everything.

You believe that?

So if God knows everything, his direction and directives for my life are always right for me.

Psalms 37, 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in their ways.

Then number three, he said, not only is God omniscient, he knows everything, and he knows that his directives and directions for your life is what's best for you.

That he's got his love, he will never do anything to hurt you.

Then he said, but also God is omnipotent.

Which means he's what?

All powerful.

Revelation 19, verse 6.

Revelation 19:6

So, which means he can and will enable you, Danny, to do his will.

He will never ask you to do something that he will not enable you to do.

Now, unto him that's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, Ephesians 3.20.

Wow.

Then the last thing he said, he taught me that morning, God is omnipresent.

He's everywhere, he's right there with you.

And here's what I wrote down.

He says, I feel heaven and earth, said the Lord.

We know that.

He feels it.

So he will always be there for us, regardless of what we're going through.

He will always be there.

Now that's the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

So as I close, we see in this verse the message of Christmas in prophetic form.

With this child, there's no comparison because he's the good news of God's answers to all the confusion, to all the chaos, to all the changes and all the conflicts of life.

Wow.

Wow, what a child! And as I look back at the verse, unto us a child is born.

Now, here's the question: Who is the us?

In the context, right here, Isaiah is speaking of those who believe who rejoice in God.

Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior, and those who are rejoicing in his process of sanctification in your life.

You are being conformed into his image.

Now listen to me.

Because without that, there is no Savior, there is no hope, there is no peace, there is no eternal life, there's no mighty power, there's no wise counsel for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

So you have a choice.

You want to do it God's way, or you want to do it your way.

Because if you're gonna do it God's way, hear me, church.

Hear me, person.

If you're gonna do it God's way, the government of your life and my life must be upon his shoulders.

Amen.

We must give him our all.

You know what I'm praying every day and in our prayer times?

That this new year is gonna be a year to remember because we seek the real thing.

But Steve, not only do we seek the real thing, we find it.

We find the seeking, uh the shepherds came seeking with haste.

And they found it.

Can I challenge you right now and ask the Lord in your heart that 2014 will be the greatest year of your relationship with him you've ever had.

Can we challenge ourselves and hold each other accountable to do that?

We're gonna do our part on this end, I promise.

Of setting up the discipleship classes and reading through the Bible and our uh chaos for you ladies and the 40-minute Bible studies, and they're so good we men may use some of them.

Yeah.

It's it's it's just gonna be awesome because we want to seek the real thing in 2014.

But more than seeking it, we want to find the real thing.

Maybe that's the name of the series I ought to call it.

Let's find the real thing.

Amen.

Let's find the real thing.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.