The laughter of the redeemed.

Steve Brown:
The laughter of the redeemed. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Matt Heard is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the main guy behind ThriveFullyAlive.com

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you had a great week-end. And as I always say, I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. If you remember last week, I had invited Dr. Matt Heard to join me on Mondays during Advent and to talk about some themes of this season of Advent. And he’s going to do that each Monday. He was here last Monday. And he’s coming this Monday, and he’ll be here for the next two Mondays looking at the name of the coming Messiah. Before we turn to that passage in Isaiah 9, let’s pray and then we’ll study. Father, thank you for coming. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for being sufficient for every need. Oversee this broadcast, we pray for the ones who teach. Forgive them their sins, that we would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen. As I said last week on Monday, Matt assigned me a text and then he’s going to teach us on it. It is from the ninth chapter of Isaiah and I’m going to start at the second verse.

The people waiting in darkness

Matt Heard:
walking

Steve Brown:

walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light is shined. For unto us a child is born, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Matt, talk to us a little bit about those names. You started last week with hope.

Matt Heard:
I did. And you remember everything we talked about.

Steve Brown:
Every word. I took notes. In fact, you can test me on it if you would like. And I would get an A.

Matt Heard:
I would dare not. Dare not. Oh, but it is so good to be journeying through Advent with all of you. And as you remember us mentioning last week, if that word is new to you, it is referring to coming there are two advents. There’s the first coming, the first advent of Jesus. And then we’re waiting on the second advent. So, in this in between time, the beauty of Christmas is to celebrate his advent, his coming. And we’re looking at this text really in the midst of whatever darkness we’re grappling with, the light has some names. And names are Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And so, what we’re doing is taking those four names of Jesus that the prophet gives him, in paralleling those with four key really gifts. If you’re in a liturgical tradition, you know about celebrating Advent and those four candles stand for hope and joy and love and peace. So, as you’re going through this Advent season, we want to encourage you just as we start each Monday, be thinking through this, let this set the stage. Last week we talked about hope and how hopelessness is real, but so is the hope of the gospel. And companioning that hope with him being a wonderful counselor, counselors give us hope. If I’ve got a counselor who’s not given me hope, and that doesn’t mean they’re not honest. They’ve got to be honest. But in the midst of the honesty about the brokenness also has to be the honesty about the remedy. And that remedy, I gave Steve, it was just meaningful, it was a present, he will treasure it the rest of his life. Actually, I don’t want to make light of it, because it’s, both of us, Steve can be more cynical than me. But during Christmas, there’s so much sentimentality and nostalgia and almost pretend and we talked about being honest about the darkness and Christmas really being an opportunity for us to substantively celebrate because we’re honest both about the darkness but also about the fact that Jesus has come. And this nail that I carry around in my pocket and I gave Steve one. I do it every Advent, December. I just carry a nail that reminds me that this baby is not a little mascot, little cuddly thing in a manger. He grew up, he grew up with the purpose to die. It was the only human ever whose purpose was to die. And that death was to accomplish something absolutely powerful. And that is to invite us out of the realm of darkness into the realm of light, out of the realm of death into the realm of life. And he paid, he paid a price, a penalty that it would take us eternity to pay. And so, as our wonderful counselor comes along, and I would just mention this at the last week. Direction and our counselor gives us direction and Jesus gives direction. Maybe during this Advent, what is he saying? Maybe getting into the Gospels in a fresh way. I also love having a counselor that cares for me. Jesus cares for us. I mean, he, bottom line is cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you, displays empathy for us. So, we’ve got the, him as a Wonderful Counselor, but then comes that second name. Mighty God and let’s add that to Wonderful Counselor, and we had Wonderful Counselor illustrating the hope that Christ’s Advent brings us. But Mighty God, I like to think of it as companioning the joy that we have. You know, you hear about the, the joy of the Lord is our strength, that’s true, but the strength of the Lord is our joy as well.

Steve Brown:
You know, we sometimes take that out of our doctrines. You know, we teach and we should teach that God is big and He is sovereign and He’s in charge. And that’s not bad news, that’s good news that brings joy. And the stuff you were talking about earlier when you talked about the sweet and nice things we do at Christmas. I heard Paul Harvey say years ago, the late newscaster.

That they were going to call off Christmas because nothing could live up to the hype.

Yes, it can, but it can’t if you’re doing it the wrong way. But if you lean on a sovereign God, that’s what Mercy said in Pilgrim’s Progress. She laughed in her sleep and Christiana said, what are you laughing about?

That I was dressed in dirt and clothes that were filthy. And then I looked down and I was dressed in silver and gold and beautiful clothes. And I heard a voice saying, Welcome child. Welcome child. And I did laugh. And laugh and laugh.

So, a sovereign God is the source of the joy if he’s your father.

Matt Heard:
Yeah. Oh, that is so good because it’s, is he a word that, I like inventing words basically because I have such a poor vocabulary, I just make them up. But one that I, I refer to it as enoughness, God’s enoughness. And one of the great things as a fellow image bearer and human who’s navigating through the mire of a fallen world is I can wish you his enoughness that you would taste it, that you would experience. And I think that’s some of what Isaiah is saying here. He’s saying, you’re in the darkness, but the people walking in the darkness have seen a great light. And his name, that name of that light is Wonderful Counselor, yes, but also Mighty God. So, Wonderful Counselor bringing us hope, but a Mighty God that can bring us joy in that we know how it’s going to end. We know that he will be enough. If we know that he will get us through, that so often what robs us of our joy is we’re thinking, I can’t get, I’m not going to be able to get through this. I don’t have the resources. I don’t have the whatever kind of resources it is. And Jesus comes along and that might, if there’s authority, there’s, he’s our hero, but he’s also our protector. And he’s the one that comes along and he says, Hey, I’ve got your back. But I think one of the biggies is it teases, he’s our strength internally, just deep within. And this, you know, what does Paul say? He says.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

And Jesus, John 16:33.

I’ve told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world you’ll have trouble.

You know, in the Greek, you know what that means, Steve, I’ve done a lot of research on it. It means in this world, you will have trouble.

But take heart,

and he says.

let me give you a reason to take heart. I’ve overcome the world.

And Paul picks up on that. And so, during this Advent, engage with him not only as a Wonderful Counselor, but as Mighty God. And what’s the relevance of that? He’s, at the end of Romans 8, he says.

And all these things were more than conquerors through him who loved us because neither death nor life, angels or demons, the present or the future, any powers, neither height or depth or anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Steve Brown:
Oh, man.

Matt Heard:
He’s enough. Amen?

Steve Brown:
And that gives this old cynical preacher joy, when I recognize that God is in charge of all of this, and He’s good all the time, and He’s my Father. If that doesn’t do it for you at Christmas, you’re just not paying attention. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Every Monday leading up to Christmas, Steve and Matt are teaching us bit by bit about Advent. It’s the first time we’ve done this, so hope you’re enjoying this special series as much as we are. Hey, speaking of Christmas, how is your Christmas preparation going so far? Lots of errands, no doubt, planning, buying, wrapping. Let me ask you, how are you preparing your heart? Now listen, you know us. That’s not asked to induce guilt, but as an invitation. And toward that end, there’s a booklet we’d love to mail to you for free. It’s called Christmas Meditations, and it’s a collection of Steve’s writings on the real meaning of Christmas, the Incarnation of God in Christ. The booklet also includes Scripture and devotional questions to help you quietly focus and reflect on the impact of Christ’s coming. Get your copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] if you’d like to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact and just ask for your free copy of the booklet called Christmas Meditations. And finally, if you’ve been blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. And of course, as always, if you can’t give right now, all good. But if you think about it, please pray for us, alright? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.