Sermon Notes

"For Unto Us a Child Is Born"

By Brother Parrish Lee

December 1^st, 2013

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            Giving honor to God, Who is the Head of our life, He who is the giver of all good and perfect gifts; He who knows no defeat.  He who has never left us, never forsaken us.  He who is our reason, our hope, and our glory.  He who is our joy, our strength, our Rock, our sword, our shield, our helmet, our high tower.  He who is our whole salvation.  Giving honor to that God.

            Giving honor to all of those who have gone on before us:  Our founding pastor and his family, our bishop and pastor and his family, Pastor Wilson who preached and taught and went on to head up the education wing, and Brother Kenneth and his family who mounted the pulpit and helped and taught and learned, and their testimonies, and they established.

            Giving honor to God for all of you who are here, who come and present yourselves and say, “Lord, I come to You…”  Yeah, you come to a building, but, “Lord, I come to You, because I want to receive, not from a person, but I want to receive from You.”  Amen.

Isaiah 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.

            If we could just bow our heads for just a moment:  Lord, we thank you for all the things that You have given us, yes, Lord, throughout our lives, and, yes, God, today.  We thank You for being so wonderful and comforting, so loving, and for establishing Your Word, Your truth, Your presence in our lives.  For leading us and guiding us, God.  Not laying sin to our charge, but taking it away by the precious blood of the Lamb; We thank You, Lord.  We thank You for our time of worship, to come before you and sing praises and, no, Lord, we’re not in rivalry with anybody, for we sing from our hearts.  It is all unto You a praise of thanksgiving, saying, “Lord, you alone are worthy.”  We thank You, and we pray all these things as we ask a blessing on this part of the message:  that You would instruct us and guide us that You would have it benefit our lives, for surely You said in Your Word, that it would not return unto You void, but that it would accomplish, that for which You sent it.  We claim Your promises in this, in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, amen.

            It is altogether fitting, saints, that we would have the month of thanksgiving followed by Christmas.  To be thankful, followed by the reason why we are so thankful for everything that we have.  It is altogether fitting that we should open a service like today with Isaiah chapter 9 verse number 6.  This Scripture, from the Book of Isaiah, was actually written about seven hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ.  At the time that God gave Isaiah he prophet this Scripture, Israel was in captivity.  We don’t know a whole lot about that now, because we are so modernized, but, if you are in captivity, you are under the rule of a people.  This just happened to be that they were under the rule of Assyria.  They had to follow whatever the Assyrians said, yes, they had some rulers, and they allowed them to have their sanctuary, and that sort of thing, but they had a lot of restrictions on what they could do; they were not their own.  So, while they are in captivity, a promise comes; God gives Isaiah a promise.  He says, “Unto you a child will be born, and unto you, My people, a son will be given, and the government will be upon His shoulders...”  The government, and, yes, that would have meant, “Wow, we’re not going to be under Assyrian rule, we’re going to be delivered.  Yes, it’s a-coming; it’s a-coming!”  “…And His name shall be called, Wonderful, and Counselor…”  “That’s rivaling the great kings that we’ve had1  That’s rivaling Solomon, and that’s rivaling David, and that’s rivaling the history of the great kings that we’ve had here.”  “…And He’s be the Mighty God, and He’d be the Everlasting Father,, and He’d be the Prince of Peace.”  Yes, 750 years before the birth of Christ.  Yeah, you know how it is:  you get a promise, and you’re going through something, you want deliverance, and you want deliverance, nowwwwwww!  They were looking for something to happen soon, after all, when he had spoken to Moses and told him about a deliverance, it wasn’t long before the plagues got started, and it wasn’t long after that, they were crossing through the Red Sea—how miraculous!  Then they went through the land, they went through the land, conquering and everything and all of those in disbelief, they died out in the wilderness, the Scripture says.  It goes on to say that the young went on to inherit the land.  God promised, and He kept those promises, it’s just that those that didn’t believe were not a partaker of that. 

            No doubt, they’re looking to see this promise come real soon.  They didn’t understand.  They didn’t understand that this King, this Son, He wasn’t going to be like any other one that had eve been.  Yean, He was going to be greater than David, and David, the bible says, was a king after God’s own heart.  He was going to be greater than Solomon, and Solomon had the riches, and the respect of everybody, and, it says, he was wiser than any other.  Yeah, this King, he was going to be stronger than Samson.  There was nobody that they knew of, that was likened unto Samson.  This King was going to have a certain kind of government, and the riches that would be in His government, wouldn’t corrode, wouldn’t lose value.  This King that was going to come, this Son, this Child, this ruler that the government was going to be on His shoulders, He was going to have a kingdom, but, inside of that kingdom was going to be things like love, and joy, and peace…  It was going to be redemption; it was going to be a way to find your way to God all the time.  You wouldn’t have to run to a Temple, you wouldn’t have to go find a man—like you were talking about there, brother Malcolm—you wouldn’t have to go find a priest, and bring a certain offering, and lay it at his feet, and hope that was going to be enough for whatever it was that you were asking for, whether it was for redemption, or whether it was for forgiveness, or whether it was for intercession, or make it right for me and my family, or me and the neighbors, or my sons or my daughters…  This Son, this great King, this Ruler, He was going to have a place where, in that house that He had, there were going to be many mansions, and, if it were not so, He would have told us.  They didn’t understand all that.  The key behind all of that was that f God promised it, He was going to do it, because God is a God that knows how to deliver on His promises. 

Luke 2:4-6      And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

            Okay, hold on just a second—The setting is that Israel is still in captivity.  It’s been seven hundred and fifty years, or, at least, seven hundred and forty-nine years, that they haven’t had this Son, this Child, this government upon His shoulders guy come, this Wonderful, this Counselor…  Seven hundred and forty-nine years have passed that they have been waiting—generation after generation have passed, and still no King.  They were still in captivity, so it would have been easy, at this point, to say, “Hmmm.  Well, maybe not in my lifetime.  Maybe it won’t happen for me.” 

Luke 2:7-20    And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.  And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.  And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.  But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

            Shepherds, why this jubilee?  Angels we have heard on high…  Why?  Why?  Why? because, unto us, a Child is born, unto us, a Son is given…  So, the shepherds were in the fields, and they were tending to their sheep—it’s tending to be towards the evening time—the shepherds are in the fields and the first one was the angel of the Lord appeared unto them.  The angel of the Lord appeared unto them and told them of the glad tidings—something really special—something that’s never happened before—something that the Blessed of the Lord has come to them.  He talks to these shepherds and he tells them, and after he tells them, in verse 10, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, for unto you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”  After that message, then you go to verse 13, and you’ve got, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude…”  This was more than a one angel message.  A multitude comes around praising God.  It took angels to praise God for this specific thing that was happening.  It’s amazing, saints; it’s amazing.  The angels appeared; they could have appeared unto anybody.  Why didn’t they go to the Temple and appear to the priests?  No doubt, the priests were watching.  Why didn’t they go to the big political house, where the Caesar and the governors were, and say, “Hey, don’t you know?  Somebody bigger than you is on the scene, now?”  He didn’t show up to them.  Why didn’t he go to the luxurious houses, or the universities, or the places where they were holding little prayer meetings.  No, he went to the shepherds.  Why?  Why would he go to the shepherds? because, saints, it was about the sheep.  It was al about the sheep.  So, he passes the message to the shepherds, they go into town and they looked to see this marvelous thing that the angels had told them about.

            There’s a little something about shepherds, you know.  Shepherds are basically a simple folk; it’s a simple profession.  You don’t have to have a college degree, or a master’s…  You don’t have to be super-studious, because sheep are pretty simple to flock.  All you have to do: you lead them out into the field, you corral them, and you protect them.  That’s it.  So, as the message come to these shepherds, the shepherds are a simple kind of people, that aren’t going to take a super-intelligent—you bring them a message and they say, “Well, I don’t know if that’s exactly right, you angel, you.”  If they were super-spiritual, they might say, “Well, that’s not how I understood it was going to happen, according to what I believe.”  If they were really strong, physical types, then they might say, “Well, maybe I should see if these guys can take me.  If they can, then I’ll believe them; if not, maybe not.”  No, the shepherds were a simple folk.  A simple folk for keeping of the sheep, that would receive a message from the angels and go look for that which God had given them.  It says that when they found Him—go down to verse number 17—it says, “And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.”  So they told everybody who was going to hear.  “You know what? there was a whole host of Heaven praising God for this Child.  They said that this was a savior, born in the city of David.  Could it be?  Could this be?”  Sure, the Bible goes on to say that Mary pondered those things in her heart.  Things are starting to move now.

            So, for seven hundred and fifty years, or, we could call it seven hundred and forty-nine, no Christmas, then, all of the sudden, here we are, at the very first moment.  What do we have?  What do we do?  How do we treat this, this Savior?  I mean, right now, it’s just a babe in swaddling clothes. 

            I asked specifically for that song, “Little Drummer Boy.”  So often, we can use the message.  When I was some years younger, I visited my mom, and she was a day-care teacher—she loved teaching kids.  She was getting the kids, and they were putting on this little play.  It was a Little Drummer Boy play.  She said, “Hey, Parish, why don’t you stay and watch this?”  “Are you kidding me?  I’m using my vacation to watch a practice?  Ma!”  She said, “Come on, hush up and just watch.”  So, they’re on their cots, and the little kid that was going to be the drummer boy, he had a tin drum, and he had a blanket tied around his neck.  He looked like he just woke up.  I was like, “Augggh.  Okay, Ma, I’ll do it for you.”  You know what? God has a way of making a move.  So, the song was playing—she was playing a cassette, or whatever—and the kids are like little lambs, and they’re doing their thing, and the drummer boy looks like he’s still waking up.  He’s trying to do his move, and he’s got his little drum sticks.  The song goes on, and then the message:  The little boy turns around, and the song goes, “…I have no gift to bring, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, that’s fit to give a king…” and he little boy turned around and he opened his arms with his little sticks, and he looked right at me.  God revealed to me that that was me: I don’t have a gift to bring the great King of kings.  What can I do when I come before Your presence, Lord, and I want to offer up to you something?  So, I had to walk out, because the tears were just coming and I realized that this relationship that I have with God—He has superseded everything yet He still receives us.  Yes, that babe that was in swaddling clothes and that whole thing, yes, He received us, everyone of us. He received me; He receives all of us.  If you were looking for the big ritzy thing that to come along, you know, the king that was going to be born wearing gold clothes and a big helmet, and be the prettiest thing around, then, you know, you were going to miss this blessing.  God wasn’t trying outshine anybody, because God don’t have to.  He can be the lowest, He can condescend to the lowest estate and lead captivity captive (Psalms 68:18).

            So, here we are twenty-seven hundred and sixty years later—the two thousand years form Christ until now and the seven hundred and fifty years from Isaiah to Christ, and here we are.  Unto us, still, that Child is born,, and unto us, still, that Son is given, and unto us, if we let Him, the government is on His shoulders. 

            I have to mention something real quick--It used to be at Christmas time, it was so great, you could do things for other people that you wouldn’t do any other time of year.  Maybe send somebody a card that you don’t even talk to the rest of the year.  It used to be that way; it ain’t so much any more.  It used to be that people would hold doors for people when they went to the shopping centers and malls and stuff.  Now you’ve got Black Friday, so you’ve got to get in tune with that.  You’ve got the Christmas shows, and you’ve got to get in tune with that.  You know, speaking of Christmas shows, that show, “The Little Drummer Boy,” it was a tradition—ever since my mom did that play thing—it was a tradition that I would go to Baltimore for Christmas and, “Hey, Ma, when’s that coming on?” so that we could watch together.  Some years ago, I said, “Hey, Ma, when’s that coming on?” so that we could watch together.  She said, “Oh, they took that one off.”  “Say what?”  “Yeah, they took that one off of TV.”  “Well why would they do that?”  “Oh, because people complained about it.”  It was animation, it was a cartoon—no, this ain’t the message—but it was an animated cartoon about a child being able to receive a blessing from Jesus.  That they take off.  Maybe Rudolph, and Santa Claus, and Frosty, but let’s make sure that society doesn’t want this message of the greatest savior being taught to our young, because then they have less need for Black Friday.  And they have less need for all that society offers.  than to hear little story about how even a child can come to the Lord Jesus and receive something precious for him.

            Not just  that—I’m going to do about that much more meddling, and then I’m back—I read on Yahoo recently how on the show called the Voice—that’s the singing show, right?  Singing competition show.  I don’t watch the show, so I just had to read the article—but they said that they all got together, and they were singing a song called, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”  Anybody know that song?  “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” but they had to take one word out.  Anybody want to guess what word that they took out?  “…Will the circle be unbroken?  By and by—Oh—By and by.  There’s a better home awaiting, in the sky—Oh—in the sky…”  If you take “Lord” out of that song, what home are we talking about?  Who's going to be there?  How do I get there if you take the Lord out?  It’s like what happened on another show, American Idol, they sang the song “Jesus, Lover of my Soul,”  but they took Jesus out.  Yeah, they did.  They took it out of the song.  Amazing, amazing, and, it was super-popular.  It was the number one how for a while.  They took that out.  Lastly—still talking about unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given—but not everyone is looking for that star.  When that star was there, yes, the Wise Men came, but everybody could see it.  There was one who said, “Where is it at?  When did it appear?  Let me know,” because  he wasn’t looking for Him, he wanted to do some damage.  Not everybody is looking for Him.  So, the last meddling that I have is abut another article I read about the newest mega-churches that are springing up:  They are, believe it or not, the atheist mega churches.  Yeah, the article goes, they would say, “I would go to church, and I would love the experience, but there was only one thing that I didn’t care for. The songs, they were enlivening, and the way people corresponded together, and that whole atmosphere, and you could be a better person, and benefit, but, the only thing I didn’t care for was that whole God/Lord thing.  So, we wanted to have our own place where we could come, but we don’t want God in there.  We’ll have our songs…”  Songs?  I thought songs were part of worship.  The question is, if you’re going to have some worship, the question is, who are you worshipping?  That’s it for my meddling.

            So, here we are in 2013. Yes, it’s still here.  This, unto us a Child is born and, saints, this is just so—for me, who was a Muslim, some years ago, this Child was born, and I didn’t even know it until 1983, when somebody shared with me, “You know what? Jesus is true.  He’s not just another prophet.  He is truly the Lord of Glory, and, He can save you from your sins.  Yes, yes.  Jesus, He can do that.   This old-timey Scripture?  Somebody might say, “Thos old-timey Scripture still has power?”  Absolutely.  If you were to go around the room, somebody would say, “To me, He is wonderful,” and somebody might say, “I needed a little counseling, so, to me, He’s a counselor.”  Somebody else might say, ”I needed a miracle, so, to me, He is the mighty God.”  Some people might say, “You now, I didn’t have too great  relationship with my dad, (Maybe he died, maybe he left, whatever the situation was, I needed an everlasting Father to teach me and guide me and love me like only a father can do.”   Somebody else, they could easily say, “I need peace in my life.  I’m just going to tell you straight, I needed peace in my life, but, to me, He is the Prince of peace.”  The truth of that whole scenario is, it doesn't stop there.  Somebody might say, “I needed deliverance from drugs, and, to me, He was  deliverer.”  You know what? I needed to pay some bills—I really did—and, to me, He was some paychecks and a way to keep my house.  The fact of the matter is, He never stops being everything to all of us.  This is that great God. 

            So the message is the same as spoken by the angels to the shepherds- but not only to shepherds but to all of us.  The angels, as they were singing,

Luke 2:10-14  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

In closing, What other fitting song goes so well, than the song that they chose to the word Lord out of?  

                           Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd