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- There's good news for you. There are some stores open till 10 o 'clock tonight where you can still buy gifts.
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- I Have the list if you want to see you know, you can check with me later Gift giving his pastor
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- Vike said this morning. It's something that we do during the Christmas season and it's symbolic and It's not symbolic of anything other than this that God gives
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- God gives and therefore we give it doesn't matter if the world has forgotten the purpose
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- We give because God gave first. I'm going to read from the book of Isaiah Isaiah Chapter 9 and I'm only going to read verse 6.
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- So by the time you turn there all have finished for to us a child is born to us a son is given and The government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called
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- Wonderful counselor Mighty God everlasting father prince of peace
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- Given Jesus Christ is the greatest gift ever given and my outline is very simple
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- It's gift God Incarnate for us the fourth one's a little tricky
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- Transforming Transforming So first God It says they're wonderful counselor in our text and it really is
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- Wonder of a counselor the best counselor ever. What does that mean? I Just remember
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- Years ago when before I was saved sitting in an office with a man who was trained to know things about people and trained to give advice
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- And I remember thinking well he knew some things but he didn't know other things this text tells us about Jesus because Jesus is
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- God and it tells us that he is The wonderful counselor the best counselor why because he knows everything about us
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- And I remember thinking about that as I first read this And I and I think this was the moment where God fixed this truth to my mind the first time
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- I read it Just thinking Jesus knows everything about me and Loves me anyway,
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- I don't even like me And Jesus loves me and gave himself up for me.
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- That's amazing That is a gift, right? God when we talk about Jesus being
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- God, he's eternally God There's never a moment in time where he didn't exist he always existed
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- John tells us that in the beginning that is to say before time existed when there was nothing
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- But the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Jesus was there.
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- He didn't come into being He didn't come to be God he always existed as God so when it tells us that he is mighty
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- God, I posted this earlier and I just think this is it's not profound But it's so Deep that you can just sit there and just think about it.
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- I mean, it's not like I came up with this thought When we think about Jesus in the manger
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- Jesus with his mother baby Jesus Helpless Needing to be fed needing to be changed all the things that are true of a baby, right and At the same time the
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- Bible tells us he's upholding the universe He's keeping the entire universe together he's allowing us to live right he's sustaining every heartbeat in every breath
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- While he's helpless as a baby How does he do that? The Bible tells us that he's mighty
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- God. Yes Mighty God ever existent and yet as a baby helpless
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- Hmm also in Isaiah and we're still on the first point
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- Says that he's the everlasting father This idea of a father, you know kings in the
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- Middle East they would say That they were the father of their people you still hear that sometimes You know if there's a dictator of a country he'll say he'll he'll pretend to be the beneficent father the all -good father
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- Jesus is Entirely good and he
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- In here we see he's the everlasting father again Reflecting on his deity the fact that he's always existed
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- Jesus Always has been God and still is God Second point he is or he becomes incarnate
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- Fully God, but now he takes on an additional nature as man Notice our text in Isaiah 9 says that he is the prince of peace
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- Many people would like to pretend that they're some kind of ambassador or that they have the capacity to bring warring factions together and to Resolve tension and bring peace to a particularly
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- Violent situation Jesus actually does that He is a peace bringer
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- He is a mediator between two factions who are at enmity and those two factions are
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- God and man God is at enmity with man man is at enmity with God and why it's because of sin
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- When Adam sinned and we just heard that a little while ago when Adam sinned he plunged us all every single one of us
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- In the sin, the Bible says that in Adam we all fell We all became guilty of Adam and Eve sin
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- There's no escape from that and because of that we face the wrath of God and we need somebody to step in the gap
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- Somebody to bring us together somebody to bring peace And what do the angels say that he brings peace to mankind all whom he is pleased
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- Jesus came in the flesh and really it's a Condescending in other words. He left glory to come down to earth and when we think of Jesus We think about the baby
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- We think about all the things that go with babies But even as he grew Israel 2 ,000 years ago didn't have all the niceties that we have now.
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- This wasn't a great place to be This is a place where life was hard and Jesus willingly
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- Submitted to the Father's will and came to earth The Bible tells us that he set aside the full exercise of his powers he left the
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- Father's side and came to earth why because We needed someone to save us
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- We needed that mediator we needed somebody to do this for us and Because it was the
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- Father's plan The Bible also tells us in John 17 Jesus high priestly prayer he says
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- He has to return to the glory that he had before he came He didn't gain glory by coming here
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- He did the Father's will He left glory came down here did the Father's will and then he returns back to the glory he had before the
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- Bible also tells us Our third point that he came for us That he came for us
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- As I said, we're all born children of Adam We have a sin nature and we're unable to rescue ourselves.
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- So we need a rescuer Listen to what Isaiah says in Isaiah 53 about Jesus He was pierced for our transgressions.
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- He was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and With his wounds we are healed
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- Somebody had to take the wrath of God for us Somebody had to do that Somebody had to be able to withstand that and it wasn't us because we're sinners
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- We needed a sinless Substitute Somebody capable of taking that wrath and it had to be
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- God to take the wrath of God We also needed somebody to bear our sins
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- Isaiah 53 again says this he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors again, peace interceding
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- Substituting Only God could pay the price only
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- God could withstand the punishment and Yet only a man could receive that punishment as our representative in our stead in our place and that's why he came and finally
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- Jesus is also a Transforming gift. I dare say
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- I've received a lot of gifts that I've been excited about in my life I remember when I first got my my first real bike
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- It was nice blue stingray with get this a full -blown banana seat
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- That was you know that the long banana seat that was tiger for some reason
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- I don't know why the blue and the tire I loved it, you know, then again, I think I don't want to sick
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- So, you know, there's that but nothing
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- I ever received in my life. No Christmas gift. No birthday present nothing Ever changed my life
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- The Bible says that when you're born again, there is a change that takes place
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- There's a change in your nature a change in your desires if you want to know tonight. Am I a
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- Christian? My advice to you isn't to just say yes. My advice to you would be to do this to think to yourself.
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- Okay? When do I think I might have become a Christian has my life changed since then?
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- If it hasn't changed There's a problem Because Jesus when he talks about being born again
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- It's something that is done to you by the Holy Spirit You are transformed and you are not yet.
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- You know if you're thinking well, I'm not perfect yet. That's okay But if you're not changed that's not okay
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- Something has to happen to you because the God who created everything who spoke everything did into existence
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- Who upholds everything by the word of his power? He is at work in you if you belong to him
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- He doesn't leave you the same He changes you listen to Romans chapter 6 verses 6 and 7
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- We know that our old self was crucified with him in order or so that The body of sin might be brought to nothing.
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- In other words our old Person of sin our old sin habits might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died
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- Has been set free from sin. In other words if you have died of the old self if you have been born again
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- If you have had a change in nature You've been set free from sin
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- There's a change that has come over you There's a change that's taking place in you and it is by virtue of this the finished work of the
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- Lord Jesus Christ He came to earth. He lived a perfect life.
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- He never sinned He always did what he should have done and he never did what he shouldn't have done
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- And then he went to the cross wrongly accused wrongly convicted Suffered a horrible death that we only hinted at in Isaiah 53 when we read just a couple verses and then he was raised on the third day and It's because of the power of that resurrection by being identified with that by believing in him
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- That were changed God gives us the faith and then changes us
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- He doesn't leave us the same Christmas is about gift -giving 2 ,000 years ago
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- God gave us the greatest gift ever by sending the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue people in need of rescuing
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- Let's pray Father we thank you for your word.
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- We thank you for the clarity of it We thank you most of all for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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- What a gift God Condescending to become a man
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- To take our place to take the wrath to do us To die and then to be raised on the third day father.
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- What a gift What a blessing there is nothing else we need father for any here who don't know
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- Jesus Christ tonight Would you grant them saving faith?
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- Would you cause them to be born again? Would you give them a new heart and new desires new affections?
