Bro Gary Sunday Morning 12/18/11

Bro Gary Sunday Morning 12/18/11

This morning I want to preach on the thought of a miracle.

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The word sign means a miracle. 

Immanuel means God with us. 

Isa 9:2  The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

There are literally millions in darkness this morning.  They are not all in Africa or New York City.  They are very near to our hearts.  It takes Jesus passing by for them to get out of their darkness. 

They sat in darkness:  When darkness envelopes a soul, mind or life, they have no energy to seek God until God comes by and tells them there is hope in God.

Mat 4:18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

Everything about Jesus and what He does in men and women’s lives is a miracle.  People, in their minds, think that a miracle must be a visible thing in the thought of the blind seeing.  Each of us before we were saved was blinded and it took a miracle from God to make us see.

Don’t lose your vision of Jesus.  There are many things that can cause us to lose our vision, but God sent His only begotten son so that we did not need to lose our vision.

Jesus is to be the sin bearer.  God designed a plan where men could get rid of their sin.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

When God forgave our sins, that was a miracle.  We have so much to praise and thank God for.  He has never failed and he will never fail.  He sent a savior.  Even though the savior was crucified and went back to the father, His spirit remains in the world convicting men of sin. 

Jesus is the only savior; many have tried to find a savior in many things. 

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

“Neither is there salvation in any other.”  Jesus Christ is the only savior.

When Jacob was in trouble and was leaving his home and lay down to sleep under the stars with a rock for his pillow, God gave him a dream.  (Gen 28.)  There was a ladder that reached from heaven to earth and there were angels going up and down this ladder.  When Jacob awakened, he said this is none other than the gateway to heaven. 

Jesus is the door.  There are many that have ladders trying to achieve whatever they try to achieve but there aren’t any angels on those ladders.  You may have tried to achieve some type of satisfaction and didn’t find much from it. 

I believe in angels, I don’t have to see one to believe they exist.  In just this year, 2011 the angels have taken up my case at different times and said, “This is not going to happen.”  And they turned whatever it was so that it didn’t happen.

You may be here this morning and say, “I don’t know how I did it.”  God sent his angels to help you.  He is a God of miracles.

Isa 9:6  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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

He is born unto us.  A part of life is to be left out of whatever you may be left out of.  This never happens with God the Father. 

Joh 3:16  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.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

This is a world that has been blessed of God.  Our heavenly Father didn’t send Jesus for just America. 

He knew that those that should have been waiting for Him were going to reject Him.  The majority of the Jews were not happy with the plan and didn’t recognize Him as their messiah.  It didn’t change Jesus a bit, but It made them desolate. 

The whole world is blessed if they realize why Jesus came.  The frailty of life causes us to realize that this world is only a temporary home.  We realize that to live, even to live a full and good life, the day comes when the time world ends for us. 

It is marvelous that God sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.  It is a miracle the way God made us.  I think of creation.  We are dust and the body will decay and go back to dust.  But there is more to you and me this morning than dust. 

Solomon spoke of how literal man goes back to dust but the spirit returns to God which gave it.  We have a soul; we have an identity that it goes on past the last date of death.  This is a miracle.  God knew that everyone that came into the world was going to need a miracle and this is why He sent Jesus.  We are so blessed.

Isa 9:6  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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The government of your life is the government that He is really concerned about.  He is concerned about every detail of your life. 

Every night when Karen and I bow beside the bed to pray, I thank God for my home.  It is wonderful to have a home, however humble it is.  It is the goodness of God to have a home.  There are a lot of homeless people and you don’t have to make very many bad choices in judgment to lose everything that you have worked for.

God is concerned about every detail in our lives.  He is concerned about when we go to work.  He is concerned and he has ordained that when one member suffers then we all suffer.  We are members of Christ.  When one member rejoices we all rejoice. 

We’re not all that excited about materialism around here.  What really brings rejoicing is when a soul gets saved, or when a brother or a sister is passing through a valley of difficulty and you pray and God comes through. 

I don’t know much about travail; you sisters may know something about travail.  When one of the family of God is going through a difficulty, it is a miracle that you and I are able to experience our brother or sister’s pain.  We say, “God I want to feel this so that I can pray.”

There are good things in store for everyone in this audience this morning.  There is a God in heaven that has left us His word: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil to bring you to an expected end.”

There are times when just the right words come and it isn’t just from the preacher.  It helps us just how we need it.

Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

There are those in this audience that have heavy hearts for sons and daughters.  We may wonder what will happen.  There is a God in heaven that cares about your needs.  It may not look likely, but God is the God of miracles.  It was dark when Jesus showed up.  It will be just as dark when He comes back again.

There are towns that as you enter, you can feel the darkness.  There are people that are so dark that it is scary.  In darkness the light really shows up.

This mighty God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above whatever we might ask.  This is the mighty God that sent the sign of a virgin conceiving and bringing forth a son.

A good father desires only the best for His children.  God the father and Jesus His son feel the exact same way.  They desire the very best for you.  It is the spiritual clothes that the Father and the son are so concerned about:  That you be robed in the robes of righteousness, have on the garments of praise, and clean linen, pure and white.

He is the Prince of Peace.  We live in a world that tries to buy happiness and peace.  There isn’t enough money in the world to buy happiness.  My brother sang a beautiful song, “My happiness.”  He sang it to his wife and that is to be appreciated, but it takes more than a husband or a wife or children to bring happiness. 

Jesus came to bring peace.  It is wonderful to have peace with the past.  He gives peace with things and situations that you cannot change.  You cannot force people to make things right.  The law cannot force them. 

You can be wronged and you can forgive and that brings peace.  That doesn’t take away from them the responsibility of making things right, but it gives you peace.  If you live in the past you will never have peace.

He gives peace to the soul that confesses and forsakes their sin.  You may be in this audience this morning and wish you would have tried harder with whatever.  God will bring peace to your soul and say, “You cannot relive your yesterdays, but you can live in peace today.”

You cannot call back 2009 or 1999.  It is marvelous how God will say “Son or daughter I will give you peace if you will say, ‘Father I didn’t seek you as I should have; everything is yours if you will come and get it.’”

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this:  In the thought of zeal, it means the jealousy of God.  We think of jealousy always in a bad way.  When it comes to you and a jealous God it is beautiful. 

This jealous God looks upon every soul not exactly as what they are, but what He wants to make of them. 

You might have in your mind, “Would God really care for me?”  He will not only care for you but He will be jealous about you.  God doesn’t want your mind to make something your God.  He doesn’t want you to make having a good time at Christmas your God.  The trees the deer eat on out in front of the church are not gods to us. 

God is jealous of what we think about.  He has many wonderful things for us to think about.  The biggest thing that He wants us to get the victory over is thinking about our self all the time. 

God is a jealous God.  What you think of is going to have a great affect on your actions and your relationship with God.  He wants your mind stayed on him so that you will be a brother and sister to that one that He wants you to be a brother and a sister to.

Each of us that feels responsibility needs to realize that we need to place the responsibility on God so that instead of worrying and fretting we have peace.  As I age help me to trust you so that as my steps become slower I’m trusting God more.  As my eyes get dimmer, I’m trusting God so that I have peace.

His kingdom is righteousness…

Because of His jealousy He’s going to establish His kingdom with jealousy.  He is always fair.  That is a miracle.  He’s going to establish all of this because He loves every soul equally.  We often feel someone putting judgment on us when they don’t even know us.  With God He is always just.  When he lays judgment on something it is always for good.

God is a God of miracles beginning with creation.  The first baby ever born was a miracle.  Jesus Christ is God’s miracle to us.  Each one in this audience: your birth was a miracle.  Inside that 7 lb 15 oz is a soul.  It is a miracle. 

Our spiritual birth is even a greater miracle.  When we were born we had no committed sin.  When we came to Jesus Christ we came with a need of a spiritual birth.  We were dead in trespasses and sin and we needed a savior. 

Isa 30:26  Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

The moon is the Old Testament.  It says that out of the Old Testament there would be equal light as the New.   

Jesus Christ is very bright and the message is that a child was born and a son was given for us.  He wasn’t just given to change the time before Christ and after.  He was given so that we could have Immanuel with us.

He came to bind up the breach of his people.  He came to bring us that were a far off nigh.  He came to heal the stroke of their wound.  It is wonderful this morning that Jesus is the healer.  We are so blessed. 

He said that “I’m going to give a miracle: a virgin will conceive and bring forth a son named Immanuel.”  God with us, don’t ever forget that is why Jesus came.