One Stop Shopping

“One Stop Shopping”

Isaiah 9:1-7

At our stage of life with 4 children and 14 grandchildren Carollyn and I try to keep our Christmas shopping simple. When our children were younger we would race from store to store trying to buy the latest toy for our children. Do any of you remember the Cabbage Patch Doll? I spent many hours looking for just the right doll.

Now we send money, Barnes & Noble gift cards, and on line certificates. I like the super stores like Target and Wal Mart where you can get one stop shopping.

It’s amazing how the latest system like X Box becomes too slow and the X Box 360 is better because it’s faster and better graphics. Now if you have the money you can get the Sony Play Station 3. Our grandchildren enjoy MP 3/4 players, I pods, PS 3 and PSP. The high price gifts soon become routine and boring.

Many of us want to move up to a HD TV or some other electronic gadget.

Many of these gifts are entertaining but they don’t last. Howard Stern, a while back signed a contract for 500 million to host a Satellite radio program. Does 500 million fill a void in a person’s life? Howard Stern was interviewed by a reporter and asked if he was happy. Howard Stern said, “No I’m not happy.”

No gift given on this planet can bring complete happiness.

There is only one place I know where we can go for one-stop shopping and fill the void in our heart and life. The place is actually a person – Jesus.

Isaiah 9:6-7 tells about the coming Messiah that would bring the ultimate gifts to humankind. When you have the gifts Jesus gives you don’t need any more. The gifts Jesus gives provide you with one stop shopping.

Jesus is wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace and the government will be upon His shoulders.

Wonderful Counselor is connected, but I want to discuss them separately.

Jesus is Wonderful. Jesus is beyond our greatest expectations. Jesus is His wonderful name. One of the songs the adult and children’s choir sang on Friday, Saturday and Sunday described the wonderful name of Jesus.

“Jesus! Wonderful Counselor; Jesus! Mighty Prince of Peace; Jesus! Everlasting Father, Alpha and Omega, He is the King of glory: Jesus is His wonderful name!

“Jesus! The ancient of days; Jesus! The Holy One of Israel, Alpha and Omega, He is the King of glory: Jesus is His wonderful name!”

The Bible describes heaven as a wonderful place. Scripture says in I Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, or mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Jesus is wonderful. He will far surpass your greatest expectations.

Jesus is Counselor. A counselor is one who gives counsel and advice. When Jesus ascended into heaven he sent the person of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to come along side of Christians to give guidance and counsel. Jesus is our Counselor. He never leaves us or forsakes us.

We find counsel through prayer and through the Word of God. Have you ever been working on something that had you stumped? Out of the blue a thought comes to you and the idea is just what you were looking for. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us into truth.

God’s Word promises to guide our steps as the Psalmist sang out: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105

When we sing the hymn: “Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah,” we are seeking God’s guidance as our Counselor. Hymn 51, verse 1.

Jesus is Mighty God. The prophet Isaiah prophesied that a Messiah would come and be a Wonderful-Counselor, Mighty God. The Scriptures clearly teach that with God nothing is impossible. Power from heaven is available for us to live a life of victory.

Jesus proclaimed in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Power is available to break bad habits, addictions, and anything that keeps a person from being like Jesus. Habits and addictions are not broken because even through a person prays for victory there continues to be a longing for the comfort and euphoria that the addition brings the person. The power of Jesus is available to give you deliverance from the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life and the addictions of this world.

From Genesis to Revelation the scriptures are about power encounters. When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt the ten plagues were a direct confrontation to the gods of Egypt. The Nile River as worshiped as a life-giving god. Life in Egypt was dependent on the flow of the Nile River in that desert region.