Lathem Postell: Continue to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ that we're going to celebrate on Christmas. I hope that you're prepared for that. I know, Jacob walked you through all of the the worship times. I hope that you'll plan to be here with us for one of those Christmas Eve worship opportunities. I know it's going to be, a special night.
I will say as we we move forward towards that, I'm also a little bit like a kid on Christmas, and I know that that makes sense, especially this time of year. But one of the reasons I'm so excited about it is what we're doing next year. And so hopefully you know this by now. If if you aren't, this may be the first time I'm telling you. I brought this book with me.
One of the things that I I feel like God has challenged us as a church to do in 2025 is read through scripture together. I I really think that if we'll commit ourselves to that, we'll see God move in ways that we haven't seen God move before. And so I'm I'm really excited for that that task. We're going to do that in 2 ways. We're going to have a year long sermon series, 52 weeks, that we're looking at 30,000 foot high level, starting Genesis, go all the way through Revelation.
But clearly we're not going to be able to hit everything. And so I'm challenging you. Hopefully, you and your families will do this, that throughout the year we'll also do a Bible reading plan. And so, the one that we're going to do together is called the Bible recap. That's what this is.
I don't know if you can see it in the light. I know it's probably a little small from where you're sitting. But if you haven't purchased this yet, I tell you this, and I brought it here to say, it's on sale on Amazon. You can get it for $15. Also though, I did not want this to be something that you had to you had to buy something to participate.
So you can do this free of charge if you want to. Obviously, you come Sunday mornings, and then at each door, and we may have ran out over here, so we'll have to get some more. But what we have those, we have the actual reading plan that's in the Bible recap that you can just take and if you've got a bible, you can follow along with that. Someone also told me, I think it's in the bible app, the UVision Bible app. So there's reading plans in there.
You can just follow it, there if you use that app. So lots of ways to participate. Call us if we can help you at the office. Some folks have called this week asking us to help them purchase this book. It's great.
It's a really good resource. And so, I hope you're as excited as I am to to kick that off in 2025. It's going to be wonderful. But but this morning, we continue our journey, as I said, towards Christmas, as we go through this sermon series called, he shall be called. It's a reminder that names matter.
Hopefully, by now, I have made that point clear for you, and and and you're on the same page. Right? There's there's a reason we call things by by their names, and there's a reason that we take as long as we do as as we're naming something. Right? If you're naming a child, you think about it.
You pray about it. You see, you you really take time to craft that name. If you're naming a boat even, or or anything. Right? Anything that we're giving a name to, a dog, something like that, we we don't just name it, without considering the implications of that name.
And and the same is true for Jesus. This is a season where we need to pay attention to the names of Christ. Because sure, there's there's a lot of things going on in our life and I I really appreciated Jacob's prayer earlier. It spoke to me, right? Because Christmas is about not not just waiting for something.
We're waiting for a person. We're preparing our hearts. We do all the things we could we do to receive a person. And his name is Jesus. And so if we want to know who he is, if we really want to truly prepare our hearts, well then we need to understand who he is, and and his names give us kind of a sneak peek into his character.
In in Scripture, there's several names for Jesus. Several names that were given throughout the Bible, but this season, we're we're looking at 4 of those. So if you have your Bible, we've read all of these together, throughout this series, and we're gonna read them every Sunday together. It comes to us from Isaiah chapter 9. Here, the prophet Isaiah gives us four names for Jesus that we are to understand.
Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7. Let us hear these names once more. He says, for to us, a child is born. To us, 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. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Four names for Jesus, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
If you want to know who Jesus is, if you want to prepare yourself for him on Christmas, then you need to understand his names. Week 1, we looked at wonderful counselor. What does it mean for us to to understand Jesus as our wonderful counselor? To see him in that way? And if we do, right, we begin to see that we should allow Jesus to find for us what is true and what is not.
That's what it means for him to be our wonderful counselor. Last week, we saw Jesus as our mighty God. What does it mean to say that this baby would be the one who was mighty? Right? We saw that it was through this, through being born as an infant, living, dying, and being raised to new life, that God, and through Jesus, showed us his power.
Despite all of the things that were against him, he still defeated death. He is truly the mighty God. And so today, I want us to look at that third name. What does it mean for us to understand Jesus as the everlasting Father? I've got one more scripture for us this morning to to read together.
And so if you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to turn there. We're gonna be reading from Hebrews chapter 1, the very start of that book. Just the first four verses there. It'll be on the screen behind me as well. But let us listen to and hear this word together from the book of Hebrews, which tells us this.
In the past, God spoke to our ancestors, through the prophets, at many times and in various ways. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
Will you pray with me? Loving and gracious God, we we are just so thankful for the names that you've given us, for the names of Jesus, our savior, that help us to to understand him better, so that we might grow closer to him. Lord, we ask that throughout this time, throughout this worship, throughout this week, throughout this season, Lord, that you just draw us closer to him. Make us in his image that we might go forth telling the good news of his story. For it's in Christ's name that we pray.
Amen. So as we understand these words, I want you to remember again just a little bit the context behind what Isaiah is saying. Right? And if you've been here before, you you you know this context, but I want everybody to be on the same page. So so King Ahaz and the Israelites are in a in a bad spot when we get here to Isaiah.
They are surrounded by 2 armies that are preparing to come and and basically conquer Jerusalem, force them to to join their side to to fight wars. And and so, understandably, the the people are worried. The Israelites don't know what to do. King Ahaz is worried, and and of course, they're worried with 2 armies at their door, but they're also worried because we know that they haven't quite lived into the covenant that God has made for him and his people. They they haven't quite followed God as they should.
And King Ahaz, in particular, not being a good king, is is worried. And so God sends to them the prophet Isaiah to to help them see that He has not abandoned them, that He is with them, that He He loves them as His people. And so, Isaiah goes and he he proclaims this word to him, starting there in chapter 7, leading to chapter 9, where we ended up. And and so, he says that God is going to give to King King Ahaz, to the people of Israel, that He's gonna give them a sign of His faithfulness. And this sign, they'll know this sign because a child will be born of a virgin, and he will be known as, all of these names that we've talked about, that he will be known as the Everlasting Father.
This is the sign of God's faithfulness, a promise that we know is ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus, the baby born in Bethlehem on Christmas. Right? And so, Everlasting Father, this is the name. If we were having a hard time, or if Ahaz was having a hard time last week understanding this child as mighty God, can you imagine his difficulty in in coming to understand Jesus as the everlasting Father? Again, like all of these, it's always my fear with scripture.
We hear it enough times. We sing it. We've heard it read before, that sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other, and we can see past how absurd it was. But Ahaz had to wonder in that moment, Isaiah, how can a child, an infant that's going to be born, how can that be the everlasting father? Everything about that name, that statement, when you attach it to a newborn child, none of it makes sense.
People don't live forever. How are we going to call this newly born child everlasting? That's kind of the easy part of the name. Right? It's not just that he's everlasting, it's that this child is the everlasting father.
Babies can't be parents. At face value, this is a nonsensical statement. It would make no sense for Isaiah to come to King Ahaz and say, look for the child that will be understood as the everlasting father. By all definitions of those words, it's illogical. It doesn't compute.
To understand the child of the manger as the everlasting father is to understand an impossible proposition. How is he, the everlasting father? Perhaps, though, and this would be my argument to you, for lack of a better word. Perhaps, this impossibility is God's point. I think he wants us to look at it and be a little confused.
Remember what Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 3. You don't have to turn there. He says, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. Right? Everlasting Father does not make sense to understand and call an infant that.
It doesn't line up with our understanding of the world, but the question becomes, in God's eye, does that mean it can't be true? Stay with me for a minute. I know that we can get lost in this stuff, but stay with me through this. Right? Does it mean that this statement isn't true?
Our folly, one of our follies as humans, right, is we place our intelligence on a pedestal. In some ways, that's how Satan got Adam and Eve in the beginning. Are you sure God said that? That doesn't really make sense. Think about it logically, He might would have said.
Right? If we can't understand things, we just don't believe it. That's somewhat a design of our culture. If I can't understand what's underneath it or behind it, well then, there must be something about it that isn't true. The paradox of scripture though, is over and over again, we are told that the life of the believer is to go beyond just our own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5. Right? We see it in in John chapter 20, as the disciple Thomas questions the resurrection, something that, again, doesn't make logical sense. It's the basis of our faith. Thomas is is questioning that, as we might have if if we had been there.
And Jesus allows him in those questions to touch the the hands, to touch the wounds, to see that it's true. He allows that, but then he says to to Thomas and to us, because you have seen me, you have believed. But blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. That's Jesus' statement to us. What he's saying is, faith is not an exercise in certainty.
If it was, it wouldn't be faith. True faith is an exercise in trust. I've used this example before, but how many of you it just it sticks in my mind, how many of you, if you're driving, say you're driving this this Christmas season, you're going to visit relatives who live somewhere else, and so you you get on I-seventy 5 or you get on any interstate anywhere, how many of you, when you're driving down that road, as soon as you get to an overpass, slam on your brakes, pull off to the side of the road, look up the engineering company that built the bridge, call them, ask for the engineer that was in charge, ask to see the schematics for the bridge, ask to see the the weight tests that were done, ask to see some examples to make sure that the bridge will actually survive as it has. Right? None of us do that.
We live every day in an exercise of trust, not uncertainty. Now, we might have some evidence that it's going to stand right. We've seen a 100 other cars go through it, so we assume that it'll stand up if we go through it. But we don't know that for certain. Someone after the the first service came up to me and said, you know, I don't think about bridges, but I think about my car every time I get it worked on.
I rotate my tires, change my brakes. I don't drive slowly after that just to make sure that the brakes are going to work. No. We trust that that person knows what they're doing, and they are who they say they are. Life is an exercise in trust.
Faith is an exercise in trust. By giving Jesus the name, the everlasting Father, God is calling us as people of faith to recognize that he is the God of impossible things. Don't hear what I didn't say. Right? I'm not saying God's the God of very hard things.
Scripture says He's the God of impossible things. It's not just hard for an infant to be a father. It's actually impossible. It's logically impossible for a host of reasons for a child to be a father. And so by giving him this name, God is preparing us to see that in this child will exist the paradox of all paradoxes.
That Jesus' life and ministry will be a reminder that nothing is above God and Eve God and even the laws of man, the laws of nature are subject to him. Just look at his life. Right? You don't have to just look at Christmas, though it's there. Just look at his life.
In this child, in Jesus creation or creator, will enter creation. That that doesn't work. That doesn't compute. That's not possible. Right?
Yet, it happened. In this child, there will be 2 natures. You know the words from the creeds. It'll be fully human, and it'll be fully divine. 100% and a 100%.
The math does not work. Yet he is. In the person of Jesus, in this child born in Bethlehem, there will be no sin. Yet, on his shoulders, the sin of the world will be placed as he goes to the cross. How can that be?
Through this child, the greatest paradox of all will happen. That in dying, he will defeat death. It's impossible. It doesn't make sense. But from the very beginning, God is saying, Look, I am the one who's always done the impossible.
To worship and celebrate Jesus on Christmas is to recognize that we worship the God who does the impossible. That's the good news of Christmas, that God can do impossible things. He always has. He always will, because he is the Everlasting Father. Fortunately, I got a glimpse of that truth this week.
Funny how God works that stuff out. Several of you have asked this year about our, about it's not ours, the Angel Tree Ministry of the Salvation Army. A great ministry many of you are familiar with. They show love to God's kids in our community that are in need. It's great to see that.
Usually, we have a few of those angels on our tree. This year, we had the angels across the street, on the beautiful tree there in the lobby, and so normally, we have some of our senior angels, which y'all responded so great to. Thank you for that. If you don't go over there a lot, go see all of the presents that are under the tree that are going to go to seniors at Townsend Park. They're gonna get a gift this Christmas because of you.
But this year, we didn't have we didn't have any angel trees from Salvation Army. I don't really know all of why. I mean, we we've talked some. We just didn't get any, we didn't hear from them. That's not me, you know, talking bad of the Salvation Army.
It's just just a fact. We we somehow missed each other in the night, so to speak. Luckily, I I've talked to sergeant Jennifer this very week, and so, we're going to make sure to be in in communication in in the future. But but none of that really matters for the story, it's just to give you context. Again, I know many of you are familiar with the Salvation Army.
And so on Monday oh, here's some, wonderful angel trees that, you've never seen it before, that's usually what they look like. So on Monday, I got a text from my wife, Cammie. Hope you're watching. Evie has an ear infection. So, hey Evie.
She likes to watch me on TV sometimes. Sorry, I got off track there. So on Monday, I got a text from my wife, Cammie, who said, how much do we want to give? And I was really confused. I didn't understand what she said, so so she gave me more information, and she said that the the Adams family had been asking their Sunday school class, they're they're in the same Sunday school class, growing together, it meets right out here.
They sent out a text saying, hey, we need to, there's some kids that aren't going to get gifts through The Salvation Army. They're a little short this year, so they they were asking for some donations. They were going to go buy some some gifts. And so I I was still confused, I was concerned. I knew we hadn't gotten the angels, so I didn't know what was going on, so I called Brandon to get some more info, just because it was from, I think Natalie sent the text out.
And this was about 4 o'clock on Monday, keep that in mind. It turns out that they were more than a little short. They were about a 100 kids short, that there were going to be a 100 kids in the community that needed gifts, that weren't going to get it. They had sent out all the angels. They don't quite always get those back right.
They might have sent some to somewhere, and they sent 50, but only get 40 back. Somehow, they were a 100 kids short. They thought they had it all covered, but they didn't. So again, this was Monday at 4 o'clock. The other hard part of this is the deadline for the gifts was about 8 o'clock Monday night.
4 hours, 100 kids, impossible situation. Right? In a flash, went to Gabe's and Ollie's, met the Adams over there, it's kind of like a movie, right, where you're going down the shelf and just kind of scraping things into a cart. I don't know that Gabe's had any more Barbies after we were done with with going there. Right.
Barbies, Nerf guns, books, clothing, we we got a whole bunch of stuff. Filled up some cars with that. There there's more to the story. I mean, I wish there was so much that I could share. It it was phenomenal to see it happen in in real time, but but I tell you all of that for this part of the story.
Got to the sorting center, talking there with with Sergeant Jennifer, and she was beyond thankful that our church was there to help. And and what blew my mind was she said this, she said, she woke up that morning knowing that there were a 100 kids short, that as of that moment in time, they did not have a way, there was no way to provide gifts, clothing, all that was needed for the families of those 100 children. She said, she prayed that morning just a powerful prayer. She said, God, I don't know how you're going to do it, but I know that you're going to take care of these kids. I can't wait to see you do it.
Just a powerful prayer. For some reason, Brandon, had taken off that day, at least in the afternoon, and as someone who can't sit still for very long, and I say that with love for Brandon who's here in this service, right, he took the afternoon off, and so he thought, Why don't I just call somebody and see if they could use some help? If you know Brandon, that sounds like a very Brandon thing to do. Right? So he started calling around, called The Salvation Army, and for some reason, God's reasons, this all began to unfold.
Right? This one phone call, this very act, along with some other things, so Brandon's family, Growing Together Sunday School class. We have another Sunday School class, Pairs and Spares, that sent a donation as well. They used that money that day to go and help fill the gaps and buy some things. Right.
All of these things, thanks to God's grace, all of the kids were covered. A 100 kids short, I was told just the other day that they got it all covered. I tell you this because it's the story of your everlasting father. It's one story out of a million of a God who accomplishes the impossible. I still don't quite understand all of it.
I don't know how God did it. I saw some pieces of it. Others, I didn't. And really, truly, if you tried to make me write it all down, that's why my story is a little all over the place. I don't think I could exactly nail it down.
I don't know that anybody could. The point of the story isn't to hype up Brandon, or his family, or Natalie, or any of the kids. Right? It's not to hype up that Sunday school class, or growing together, or pairs in spirit. None of this is about any of them.
None of this is about any of us. This is a story of God accomplishing the impossible. It's a story of the everlasting father at work. If it was up to us, there'd be kids that wouldn't be getting presents this Christmas, but because of God, impossible things happened. I hate it for King Ahaz, because he couldn't quite believe it.
He had so much need and and God had had sent the prophet. He just couldn't quite get behind it. How how could this child be the everlasting father? And we know that he he he just couldn't believe it, because eventually, he he goes, kind of, with with 2 ideas. Right?
I can either trust God, or I can make a deal to defeat the armies and and and trust someone else. And that's what he does. He makes a deal and trusts somebody else. He he he couldn't believe, and so he missed out on God doing something impossible, seeing how God would deliver them from the armies at his doorstep. He missed seeing God do impossible things, not just hard things, but impossible things.
He he didn't believe that God could do it. Do you believe that God can do impossible things? Because friends, if there's anything that's true, it's we need God to do impossible things. There's so many things in our life that are impossible. What is it in your life that you just can't seem to shake?
Right? What's that sin that you just can't get away from? What debt just seems like it's never going away? What pain or grief lingers like a wave battering against the shore over and over, always there? What accomplishment or goal feels unachievable?
And there's probably more things we could think of. Whatever it is for you, whatever that mountain that stands before you, that you know you just can't climb, Whatever it is for you, I invite you to look past the mountain, and instead, look to the manger. Because here's the hard reality, whatever that thing is for you, it probably is impossible. I don't want to paint a false picture for you. That sin in your life that you just can't shake, there's a reason you can't shake it.
That grief, right? That accomplishment, whatever that is, it probably is impossible. Human history is us trying to do impossible things on our own. No. It is impossible.
The difference is we serve a God who does impossible things. Right? We we serve a God who over and over and over again in the person of Jesus throughout history has shown us that he can do impossible things. I saw it this week. God, once again, when we thought something couldn't be done, he did it.
God does impossible things. My new prayer now and and I don't know all of the reasons why God unfolded things as he did. Right? That's that's for God to know and not for me. But I think, perhaps, one of them is is so that I might have this new prayer.
My new prayer is the one that Sergeant Jennifer prayed. I just, man, I desire for that to be my prayer and for me to mean it as much as I think she did. Now, my prayer is for you to own it as well. Do you really truly believe the baby in the manger is the everlasting father? Do you recognize him in your life as the one who sits, as it says in Hebrews, at the right hand of majesty?
The one who truly is everlasting. The one who sustains all things just by His Word. Who loves His children, and is willing to do the impossible. Do you believe that's who God is? Will you make this your prayer?
God, I don't know how you're gonna do it, but I know that you're gonna take care of those kids, and I know you're gonna take care of me. I can't wait to see you do it. Let's pray. Loving and and gracious God, our everlasting Father, Lord, we we just are so thankful for who you are, for your character, for your nature. Lord, we're thankful for these names that just give us a glimpse of of your unfathomable glory.
Lord, you sit at the the right hand of majesty. Lord, you you are above all things. You you are Lord of Lord and King of Kings. And we know that you came down in the person of Jesus to show us that you are above all, that there is not one thing to which you answer. Instead, you are the ground of all being, the source of all life, truth, and goodness.
And so, Lord, help us to believe that you truly are the God of of impossible things. Help us to truly believe that that is true, that there is nothing greater, nothing wiser. Lord, help us that that even in those moments where we don't understand, we don't quite get all of it, where we lack a little certainty, where logic tells us to back away, that, Lord, you help us to press in remembering that faith is not an exercise in certainty, it's an exercise in trust. Lord, through your son, Jesus Christ, help us to have more of that faith, more of that that trust. That's that's what we want, Lord.
The the same willingness to drive over a bridge, the same willingness to to follow in your footsteps, trusting that where we place our feet, you have already gone. Help us, Lord. It's our sincere desire to pray prayers like sergeant Jennifer did. Lord, our brains, we we try to have an answer for everything, a plan in place, a schedule to follow, goals to hit. Lord, help us to be people that pray.
Lord, we don't know how you're gonna do it, but we know that you will. Lord Lord, we know that if it was up to us, we'd fail, but Lord, you never do. Remind us this Christmas that you are the God of impossible things, not just hard things, Lord, that you are the God of impossible things. And those places in our life were up against an impossible wall, where or doing things or asking things to be done that we just cannot accomplish. Lord, we ask that You fill our hearts and our lives.
Use us as an example. You use us as a tool to show the world that that You can accomplish anything. Because, Lord, if You can do it in us, You can you can do it in anyone. Send us forth believing with our whole being, believing as all of creation does, that you are our everlasting father. For Lord, it's in your name, the name of our savior, Jesus the Christ, that we offer this prayer.
Amen.