“Is
Jesus Your Counsellor?” By Brother Andy Giebler December
24th,
2017 Remain standing for just one more second. Let's
bow our heads. God
almighty, we come to You, thank You just to worship, that we can
worship You.
That the veil of partition was rent, that we have an avenue to You,
that we
have the ability to come to You. We thank You. God, I ask that You
would bless
this morning. Bless the message, bless every word that is spoken; God,
bless
the hearts that receive it, in Jesus name, amen. Luke
2:1-19 And, it
came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar
Augustus,
that all the world should be taxed.(And, this taxing was first made
when
Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)And, all went to be taxed, every one
into his
own city. 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. 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. Thank you, Ed. I enjoy this time of the year for
several reasons,
and there are some things I don't like about this time of year. One is
because
the Christmas story that the world tells, takes away from this story. I
enjoy
the traditions, though. I enjoy family getting together. I enjoy—it’s
one thing
just to give presents, but it's another thing when someone gets
something for
you, not necessarily something that cost a lot of money—not going out
to find
the biggest price tag—but, someone actually, thoughtfully, gave you
something.
Thoughtfully went out and made something, thoughtfully wrote a card, a
letter.
I know that some people would just enjoy getting cards, but they enjoy
getting
something written in it, personally, as well. And, those are the things
that I
do enjoy about this season. But, I tell you, the story that was just
told,
story that was just read—stop and put aside the noise, put aside this
hustle
and the bustle of the preparing food, and cookies, and getting the ham
in the
oven—yeah, that’s what I had to do this morning, figure all that out. But, put all that aside, and just think of the
story that was
told: this child that was born. Angels came to personally announce His
birth. I mean, it was great to have y’all
sing Happy
Birthday to me, last week, but, to have your birth announced by Angels
in the
Heavens, I mean, come on, that's pretty special. And, it says that Mary
kept
all these things and pondered them in her heart. But, when we stop and
think
about that, there was prophecy foretold of Jesus. So, what she pondered
in her
heart was based on the prophecy she already knew. There was prophecy
already
told of what this Christ child was going to be. And, it was one thing
to have angels
singing, and have the shepherds show up, and have Kings show up, and
bring
presents, but, she'd already seen an angel herself. An angel came and
said,
“Here's what's going to happen to you. You're going to have a child,
it's not
going to be from another man.” And, Joseph, in a dream, saw an angel,
who told
him what was going to happen. Put that in perspective on what she was
pondering. Put it in perspective, as Jesus grew, and she brought Jesus
to the
Temple, and it was prophesied over Him what He should do, that He would
die.
There's a song, “Mary Did You Know that your baby boy would save our
sons and
daughters, walk on water, heal the blind,” and I'm sure she had a lot
of
thoughts in her mind on what was going to happen with this thing that
she had
in her arms. But, I think that going forward from that, what was
foretold, and
people didn't see out right until it happened, was Jesus was more than
just
that, He was, He was something for me. We have a lineage now, because
He did
what He did, because He fulfilled that prophecy, we have the power, we
have the
power to become Sons and Daughters of God, we have an heir to that
throne. We
have an inheritance. And, that's what this Christ child was about. And,
there's
a question today, who is Jesus to me? So, as Mary pondered this child,
who was
this child to her? What did she see, what would she ponder? As we have
our gift
of Salvation, what is that gift to me today? What do I see in that
gift? Do I
see the power in that gift? Do I see salvation in that gift? Do I see
what God
has for me in that gift? Do I see, not just my life, but do I see an
avenue to
the Father? It was quite a significance last week, Kirk talked about
superheroes, and movies, and powers, and people; and it's kind of
funny, you
look at those things, and any movie you see, whether it's a superhero,
or
someone that was put in a position, none of them live, they all die at
one
point. They all died in, maybe, a martyrdom, or in a blaze of glory to
help
someone else, or to do good for someone else. And, that's what the
world wants,
to do good. I think they were afraid to have an immortal superhero
that's going
to live forever. Yeah, they've got some that are gods that live
forever, but,
the majority of them, those powers, they still die. And, there's
something
that's supposed to happen at the end of their life, that they're death
meant
something. But, Jesus said, “I lay it down, and I take it up again.”
That's
something that no man has ever done. No one that has ever been claimed
as a
god, as a religion, only Jesus lay down His life and took it up again.
Only He
rose from the dead. And, that's in John, ten, seventeen: John
10:17
Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. So, is this just a story, or is it the beginning
of a story? This
beginning of—and we do a New Year's celebration where we talk about
resolutions,
and doing things better, and eating better, and reading my Bible, and
praying
more, but this Christmas Story should be the start of that. The start
of
looking back. This is the story at the beginning of my life, because
this is
the story of—and we all found Christ in a different time in our lives.
But that
was the beginning. Without this Christ-child being born in that manner,
and
living perfectly, that day when I was in high school, when I looked and
said,
“God, there's got to be more to this.” And, then went out with my
friends, and
did everything that seemed fun to do, things that we talked about, and
shared
about, and, when we talked about it, it was so much fun, but when we
went out
and did it, I came back, and there was no fulfillment. And, that day
that God
spoke to me and pointed me in a different direction, because there was
something more to this life, that's where this story begins. Isaiah
9:6-7
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. 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's wonderful, He's a counselor. Wonderful,
something outside of
the natural, something bigger than anything of life. He's our
counselor. How
many of us have had a counselor of some sort during our life? Our
parents,
guidance counselors in schools, legal counsel, marriage counseling,
college counseling,
and they're all people that we go to for counsel on things because they
have a
knowledge, they have an understanding, they have a direction for us. So, the title of this section is, “Is Jesus Your
Counselor?” When do we seek Him? David said, “I will bless
the Lord at all
times,” in Psalms 16:7, “Who have given me counsel: my reins also
instruct me
in the night seasons.” And, in Psalms, one nineteen, ten: Psalms
119:10-11
With my whole heart have I sought
thee: O let me not wander from thy
commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against
thee. So, what is this Word he's talking about? Hid in
my heart. They
didn't have words of Jesus, Jesus hadn't been born yet. They had some
books
that we would call the Old Testament, now. But those words, it was more
than
words, it was Spirit, it was seeking as Jesus our Savior, as God our
counselor.
Is He our counselor when He wakes us up in the middle of the night?
When we
pull out our wallet to spend money on something? Is He our counselor
when we
watch a movie? When we have conversations with our friends? When we
speak to
family members, and we speak to friends? Is He our counselor? John
1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So what's this Word we talk about? You know,
this is important
(holding up a Bible), and I would never take away from it, but without
Spirit
it's just words on a paper. We can follow the commandments, but if
we're just
following this, then we're no different than those that are trying to
maintain
the law. I like the Scripture that talks about, we being Gentiles, do
by the nature
the things contained in the law through the Spirit (Romans 2:14),
because if
we're spiritual, then we're doing these things. If we're spiritual, if
we're
seeking God, if we're seeking the Word that was made flesh, that was
the spirit
that came in the form of flesh, that was the Word, the manifestation,
this is
also a manifestation. But, that Word made flesh, that same Spirit can
dwell in us.
Jesus continually referred to the Father, gave glory to the Father,
said, “My Father
works, and I work, I do nothing but of My Father.” (John 5:17, 36) And,
that
same Father is our Father today. that's the story that started with a
birth of
a Child; that same story ends with the death of a Savior, so I can have
that
avenue. Our Counselor. 1
Corinthians 10:13 There
hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man: [I'm
going to get a little personal, here] but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to
bear it. So, when is God my counselor? Is God my
counselor when I'm
standing at the doorstep of sin, when I’ve got to make a decision? When
I'm
right there in it? Or was God my counselor, you know, about a mile
back, whenever
God was saying, “Hey, don't even go there?” And, we go down the
highway,
highway signs are there, and I think we've all missed an exit somewhere
along
the line, why? Because we weren't watching. And, we always want to
blame—“Aw,
that road sign was bad,” or, “It just wasn't there.” But reality,
generally, is
I just wasn't paying attention. I wasn't familiar with that road. Once
again,
how do I get familiar with the roads? Right here (holding up his Bible) I can get familiar with those roads. If I
haven't studied that Word, I'm not familiar with it. We all want to
rely on our
GPS’s, put the little phone up on our dashboard, put the GPS on the
dashboard.
Sometimes those things work great. Sometimes they're not
straightforward. But,
if you sit down with a map before you get on the road, and, you say,
okay, this
turn, this turn, this turn, now you know what's coming before it gets
there.
Once again, study the map ; you know what's coming before it gets there. Luke
8:13
They
on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy;
and
these have no root, [This
is from the parable of the sower.] which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. So, the seed was sown on a hard ground, it was
on a rock. You put
something—maybe a rock’s get a little bit of soil on top of it, you put
a seed
on it, it starts to grab in and grow, and sprouts up, but, it's got
nowhere to
go. That seed has nowhere to go. So, what's my heart like today? What's
your
heart like today? Is the Word, You know, we read it, and study it, you
know, am
I allowing my heart to be soft enough to receive it? Am I allowing it
to sink
in? Because, that's where the key is, the root, having a depth, having
a depth
in God. And, I know this time of year is one where there’s a lot of
temptations
that we, you know, we’re with a lot of different people we wouldn't
normally be
with. A lot of us in the Navy had to deal with the Christmas parties on
the
ships. Workplaces have different Christmas parties. They all want us to
do
different things. They all want us to be like them, they want us to be
good.
Just like the superheroes, they want us to be good. They're that good,
this
isn't good enough, “Oh, it's okay; come out with us, come out and
party, just
let yourself—take a couple of sips, and kind of let yourself kind of
fade away,
you know, and loosen up a little bit. But, the question is, and I
always had to
look back at it, because I'm not going to stand here and say that
putting one
drop of alcohol in your body is a sin that’s going to put you in Hell.
But, why
would I put something in my body that I know is going to dull my
senses? Why am
I going to put something in my body—and I look at that on prescription
drugs,
sometimes I've got to take a prescription drug that some of the side
effects
are not that great. But, if I keep taking that, when I know that that
puts my
mind in a state that's not good, or if I take a drink of the alcohol,
It's
going somewhere where I have put alcohol in control of my body. I have
said,
God I want control, and I'm going to numb myself with this—and you
could call
it spirits, and it's not a wonder that they call alcohol ‘spirits’—but
being in
control, and being ready when temptations come, knowing the road map. I'm going to move on to the next section, but I
just want to
reiterate, you know, remember Jesse talked about the peace of God last
Sunday?
Do we have the peace of God in our life or willful sin? I can't have
peace in
my life if I'm not following the Commandments. I can't have peace if
I'm
committing willful sin. I heard someone say that, when you go to make a
decision, sometimes, we have to make decisions that no one is laid the
groundwork for. That a person hasn't told us how to make it. And,
that's if you
have the peace of God in your heart when you make it the decision,
that's
something that's good. When you go to make a decision, when you go to
do
something, and you seek God, and you don't have His peace, it's time to
turn
the other way. Because God can show us things through His Spirit that
we can't
see in the flesh. I mean, God has shown me things, to go talk to a
person, and
I did not want to go talk to that person, but as soon as I opened my
mouth—actually
before I did. I walked towards that person, and that person came to me,
and God
made it crystal clear exactly where that conversation was going to go.
And, it
didn't go anyway that I had presumed it would go. And, that was when
the peace
of God was there. The peace of God will be there when you go, whether
it's to
go pay your bills, whether it's to—what to do as far as buying a new
car, a
house, all the decisions of life, things that are just of the flesh.
Those are
still things that, “Does the peace of God come to me when I go to do
this?” I
really appreciate what Pastor Paine had said, you know, last year,
about this
time: “We have everything we need in Ministry.” We keep looking around
sometimes and say, we need this, “We need this,” and I'll sit down at
my
computer on Amazon to go buy a couple of things, maybe we could use
this and
that, and no, hold off, and God even showed me that we don't need that
stuff.
We may need it somewhere down the road. But God wants to use what we
have here
right now. Now it's the holiday season. At Christmas, we
give gifts. I have a
question: what do I have to give? I've got money, I've got things at my
house I
can give, I've got food, I've got my time, what do I have to give? Acts, chapter three, verses one through seven: Acts
3:1-7
Now Peter and
John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the
ninth
hour. And, a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom
they
laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask
alms of
them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to
go into
the temple asked an alms. [So, here, he's asking for something. And, this
goes back to
the peace of God, and things that, sometimes, we have to do. Sometimes
people
are going to ask us for things, they don't even know what they need.
Sometimes
God will show us, this is what they need, instead. You look how many
times
Jesus, someone would ask Him a question and He answered them according
to their
heart, not according to what they were asking.] And,
Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And,
he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. [So, he's expecting something, and people will
expect things
of us.] Then Peter said, Silver
and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of
Jesus
Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And, he took him by the right
hand, and
lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. Peter didn't have with the man was asking for.
He was asking for
money, and it's a good thing Peter was out of quarters that day. But,
Peter had
something worth giving. Peter had something worth more than any silver
or gold.
But, the man who was lame didn't know what Peter had. He looked at
them, he
knew they had something. I'm sure that he knew who Peter was. He knew
he had
something to give. And, if you're in the peace of God, and, if you've
got God Spirit,
people are going to look at you. People are going to know that you've
got
something. They may not know what you have to give. They may not know
what to
ask from you. But, when God puts people in your path, you have
something to
give. Sometimes, it might be something monetarily, sometimes, it's
spiritual,
sometimes, it's a kind word, and a kind action, sometimes, it's saying,
“You
need to get right,” because God will put words, if you're faithful, God
will
put those words in your mouth, too. That could be a gift that God uses.
And,
it's not pleasant sometimes, but sometimes, God will say, “Speak these
words to
this person.” And, I know, when people talk this way, people say, “Oh,
you're
crazy. God talks to you?” Yeah, and he talks to you too. Just,
sometimes, we're
not listening. Sometimes, we're going down the road of life blind, and
not
reading the roadmap, and we’re not studying, we’re not listening, and
we don't
hear that voice. But, God wants to use us. And, Peter didn't have the gift to raise him up
of his own self.
He wouldn't have it unless he was being spiritual, he wouldn't have it
unless
he was seeking his Father. If he wasn't seeking the God of his life, he
wouldn't have had that gift. Just like, if I didn't go to work—we
brought
Christmas presents for our daughter, and our son-in-law, and our
grandkids; if
I didn't go to work, I wouldn't have the money to pay for those things.
We
wouldn't have bought those. And, if I don't study, if I don't learn, if
I don't
seek God, I don't have those gifts to give to people. All the superheroes have a plot, all these
movies, you know,
there's an end. Well, this has an end, too. The trials and tribulations
of this
life are nothing to compare with glory. You know, we read this in Luke,
where
Ed read, we know the end of the story. We know where it goes. And,
sometimes,
through our life, we kind of put the map aside, and forget where we're
going,
and lose sight of what our end goal is. I figure, I look at when I
turned forty-seven
this year—a couple of years ago, I started to think, “Wow, I could be
halfway
through my life right now. What have I done with my life, and what am I
going
to do with the next forty-seven years?” You know, life is short. You
know, I
know some of y’all, when you were younger, you were still in school, or
you
were not in school yet, and you're thinking, “It's an eternity until I
graduate
high school. It's an eternity until I get to drive a car. It's an
eternity
until I have my own place.” Then, all of a sudden we’re there, with
that stuff,
and it's like, Wow, where did the time go?” What do I have to give? One more Scripture I want to read. Galatians
five, eighteen through
twenty-five. Who's got a Bible and can stand up and read that? Chris.
Galatians
five, eighteen through twenty-five, yeah, just stand up there and read
it.
That's fine. Galatians 5:18-25
But if ye be led
of the Spirit, ye are
not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell
you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things
shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:
against such
there is no law. And, they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh
with the
affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit. Amen. Read the list of the fruits of the Spirit,
one more time. Chris: Love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance. And, those are some things—notice it says fruit.
How do I know if
I'm living right? Do I have those things in my life? Love, joy, peace.
Sometimes,
sometimes I think I've got to work on my love, I've got to work on my
joy and
my peace. Long-suffering, I've got—that's a big one. I've got a house
full of
young kids, yeah, I've got to work on my long-suffering. But,
long-suffering
goes beyond their families. Long-suffering goes beyond our children. It
goes to
people around us. If I find myself needing long-suffering, love, joy,
peace,
what do I do to get those things? Walk in the Spirit. Because, you
don't plant
an apple tree and expect to get a peach tree. You don't put forth one
action
expect to get something else. I heard a story of a farmer who planted a
certain
crop, then asked God to raise up something else other than what he put
in the
ground. It doesn't work that way. We go through life talking about
peace, and
joy, and love, but that's—we look at that from a fleshly side of
things, and we
try to look at how we get those things. And, sometimes, we find
ourselves in
the midst of failure, sometimes we find ourselves in trials, we find
ourselves
in places we shouldn't be, and we say, “God bless this.” Now, the
Scripture does
say that all things work for good for those that love the Lord (Romans
8:28).
God is going to work things out. That doesn't mean that if I plant
wheat that
I'm going to get corn. Sometimes, I'm going to have to reap that wheat.
And, if I'm farming, and there certain times of
year that you
plant certain things, and if I put wheat in the ground, and say, “Oops,
that's
the wrong time of the year for that. That's not going to grow.” I'm
going to
reap what I sow. Now, if I get back on track, and I get where God wants
me to
be, sure, God can bless it. But, I'm not expecting a bumper crop of
wheat. I'm
not expecting corn to come up instead. I'm not expecting to get
something
different than what I sewed. God can still bless, but sometimes we have
to reap
the rewards of the things that we do. I look at King David, King David
put
himself in a bad situation. King David, I think most of us are familiar
with
it, found himself looking over at a woman, bathing. Found himself
sending for
her. Found himself sleeping with her. Found himself in a whole
predicament, and
told lie after lie to get out of it. But, I'm going to tell the story,
and then
I'm going to wrap it up. King David knew his castle. He knew the stairs
that
went to the roof. He knew where the women took their baths. He knew, if
he went
and took a look, what he would see. It wasn't that he—I don't believe
he wound
up there on accident. He made choices. And, when the servants even
questioned
him, “Hey, isn't that somebody else's wife?” He sent for her anyway.
It's all
about decisions. There is no temptation taken you (1 Corinthians
10:13), the temptation
was before he started to walk up those stairs. “Ooh, I’m going to go
take a
look.” No. His deliverance was there at the bottom of those stairs.
But, if I
take the time, and most of us, hopefully, got some time off, take some
time to
just be on your face, seeking God. Say, “God, what do You have for me,
this New
Year? What do You have for me, and even before we come together?” We're going to have a New Year's Eve
celebration, next Sunday,
right here. It's going to be a New Year's celebration, it's going to be
at our
normal service time. So, that way, no one has to drag kids home late.
We're
just going to have it at ten o’clock in the morning. But, even before
we go to
that service, take some time this week, read that Christmas story
again. Seek
God, say, “God what do You have for me this year?” Because, don't wait
until
next Sunday to say, “God, what do You want me to do?” No, let's pray
about it
this week. And, bring those things before God, and have a time of
prayer, here.
Come together. Because, there's one thing about being in prayer on our
own,
there's something else about being in prayer collectively, God hearing
us, having
God's spirit here. So, this week, take that time. Take the time to say,
“God
what would You have me to seek?” And, we're going to come next Sunday
and seek Him.
I tell you, I miss Parrish this week, he'll be back next Sunday; he’ll
be
bringing the message. But, I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking
forward to a New
Year, and I know a lot of us, some people talk about traditions, “Oh,
those are
just traditions.” Okay, sometimes traditions are good. The children of
Israel
had traditions. God told them, “Set up a memorial, have a feast for
times of
the year.” And, there's times in our seasons when we do things in the
flesh
just for that reason. So, as we celebrate Christmas and New Year's,
yeah,
there's some traditions that we do the flesh, start some traditions
that draws
closer to God. Start some traditions that—of reading a certain part of
scripture every year, traditions that remind us of who we are, remind
us of
where we're going. Amen.
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