God Of Wonders

The God of Wonders

Thesis: We need to stop, look, listen and consider the Wonders of God at this Christmas season. Other wise you will miss the whole point of the Christmas season.

Video Illustration of the clips of Matthew of Jesus and the song playing in the back ground the God of Wonder.

Texts:

Job 37:14

“Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.”

Psalm 118:27 “Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.”

Introduction:

We are full throttle into the Christmas season. I went to the store the other day and stopped – looked – and listened. Let me describe what I saw. The people were hurrying here and they were spending money everywhere. They were rushing from place to place and store to store. They had minds set on shopping for Christmas Day. They were cutting down the trees and decorating them along with their homes. Everyone was in a scurry of flurry, rushing at a mile a minute. No stopping just hopping from place to place. They never stopped preparing, shopping and decorating.

I stopped and looked at these stressed out people with a look of exhaustion on their faces. Few had the joy of the Lord. Many looked like the Grinch had stolen their Christmas spirit. I looked at the decorations on homes there were lights, reindeer Santa’s, elves, angels, candy canes, and even some manger scenes. I looked at the manger and thought there you are Lord “The God of Wonders” laying in the manger but no one stops to ponder that. No one slows down to take a real look at what we are celebrating the birth of the God of wonders.

I also listened to the sounds of the season in the mall. Most of the music spoke either of Santa or Jesus and the babe. But did the people listen to the words about the God of Wonders. It did not seem like it. They just kept running, buying, and moving toward the day but with no thought to the God of Wonders. I listened to the crying kids saying “I want, I want, I want!” Mom’s and dads saying no and yes and maybe and hearing anguish and stress in their voices. Where is the talk about the God of Wonders I thought?

I looked at the Magazines on the rack and discovered to my amazement two magazines had done articles on the God of Wonders. But when I read the first magazine TIME I wad disheartened to discover that they where promoting the false writings of the ancient world which were declared heretical in AD 350. They said this about these writings, “Many people who have left the church-and some who are still in it-are looking for another way of being Christian.” They speak of an individual saying “Had I known the Gospel of Thomas, I wouldn’t have had to become a Buddhist!” They spoke as if these writings were from God and even say that the church banned them because they wanted to hide the truth that Jesus had a physical relationship with Mary Magdalene. No I did not here about the God of Wonder in TIME Dec. 22,2003issue only writers trying to discredit the Bible and Jesus Christ’s deity for their own evil reasons. Then I looked and listened to US News & World Report same date. They promoted Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code just like Time. This book seeks to tear down and cast doubt on the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. They say in the article that many today have accepted Browns view that “the greatest story ever told is, in fact, the greatest story ever sold”(46). The book seeks to discredit the church and to discredit the God of Wonders and both magazines seem to promote that this book is true and accurate and something to be considered. They show the picture of the last Supper painted by Da Vinci and suggest that the Apostle John could be Jesus’ wife. I listened as I read and heard “He was no God of Wonder!”

I came back to Job and Psalms and said America needs to stop, look, listen and consider the God of Wonder. He is found in the Bible and He is revealed as the God of Wonders.

Why is He the God of wonders? And how do I discover Him the God of wonders?

1. I believe He is the God of wonder because he loves us and everyone else on this planet.

a. Psalms 17:7 states, “Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.”

b. Have you stopped and considered God’s great love this Christmas season?

i. Stop running-stop shopping and look at the manger scene.