Advent Day 1: Hope Series

Sermon - Advent 1 - 2019- Wonderful

- Our society is known for labeling, or stigmatizing other people.

- I was offended when I realized that I was lumped into the group of millennials,

mainly because of majority of their misguided ideas.

- Then I came across the stigma that, once again, labels people wrongly.

- Baby Boomers are being called “OK Boomer”.

- It’s a phrase to put them down, just because they’re a baby boomer.

Q- Now, what happens when you find a good labeling?

- A good name changes our attitudes, & even how we interact with other people.

- Our first outlook for Advent is Hope.

- Jesus is given a name that draws people to Him, inspires people, & causes

people to adjust their lives because they want to be more like Him.

- Last week I began with reading Isaiah 9:6, & we talked about the child is born, the

Son is given, & the government will be on His shoulders.

- Let’s read now the name that comes next.

Isaiah 9:6

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.

- Jesus will be called wonderful.

Q- Doesn’t the name, by itself, just draw you to Him?

- You want to know what exactly makes Him so wonderful, & it gives you hope,

because you hope the name is true.

Prayer

- The name wonderful calls in thoughts of greatness, peace, joy, comfort, & etc..

- This name of wonderful however, means so much more than what we perceive it to

be.

- This is a name that is meant to show the sheer wonder of our God.

- In the book of Judges, Samson’s dad asks the angel of the LORD what His

name is.

- This was God! He was in a form, revealing Himself to man. Listen to God’s reply.

Judges 13:18

18 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

- The Word secret is what is translated Wonderful in Isaiah.

- His name is wonderful, His name is secret, His name is beyond what we could ever

comprehend.

- Whenever we hear a secret, we want to figure out what the secret is.

- We often imagine up ideas as to what the secret could be.

- Isaiah prophesied, one will be born unlike anything, or one we have ever known.

Q- Could you imagine meeting a man who turned water to wine, healed countless

people both near & from far, walked on water, calmed the sea, fed 5,000 plus with a

boy’s lunch, & had wisdom by far smarter than anyone else?

- Those things were but a fraction of Who God is.

Q- What about the fact that He called from the empty void of space everything into

being.

- When we start grasping the idea, that His name means wonderful. Then we are

accepting the call to fear God, or be in awe of God.

- It’s a call to stare into the vast, unsearchable, universe, focusing on the trillions of

miles it stretches, & realizing There’s still so much more we haven’t seen yet.

Proverbs 9:10

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

- Each year we celebrate the birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

- Each year people question our sanity questioning why we believe in such a man.

- When we first are saved, questions like these bother us, but as we get older,

wiser in our faith, questions/statements against us don’t bring much of rise out

of Us.

- That’s Because we can look passed the things that are ugly, or unpleasant,

& see something wonderful!

Q- Is that not the full picture of hope?

- In the moment Jesus was born, Hope was complete.

- No longer is there searching for a better future, because the moment you make

Jesus Lord, He gives you His future.

- In Psalm 102, the psalmist, an exile from Jerusalem, & in poor health, teaches

us how he looks forward to what’s wonderful.

Psalm 102:19-21

19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth;

20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

21 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

- He looked forward to what God was going to do. The exile removed, & his home

restored.

- These were things unthinkable, at this moment, but he knew his Wonderful God