Voice of the Nazarene 12-15-24

Voice of the Nazarene 12-15-24

Transcript

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:00

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene a week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle and the voice of the Nazarene. I want you to listen to what Isaiah has to say in the fifth chapter, or the ninth chapter, in verse six, this is 700 maybe 750 years before the gift was given. But he writes it like this, For unto us, a child is born, and unto us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulders as His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor the mighty God, The everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Did you notice that the writer here Isaiah calls him five different names? He calls him wonderful because we needed someone to take care of the dullness of life. He called him counselor, because we need someone to help us with the decisions of life. He called him the Mighty God, someone to help us with the demands of life. And he called him Everlasting Father, because we need his help in the dimensions of life, and the Prince of Peace caring about us during the disturbances of life. The baby Jesus, I believe to be the greatest gift ever given to this world. Now, right now, people are searching for the perfect gift. I'm sure you're looking I've asked that lady, I don't know how many times, what do you want for Christmas this year? And she just gets silent. That's frightening. It might mean she wants something for a lot more bucks than I'm thinking. And the perfect gift. I don't know if you realize it, but shopping is up by 3.4%. $11 billion are being spent right now for Christmas gifts this year. If you're not aware of it, 97% of Americans exchange Christmas gifts. And another interesting fact is 55% of atheists are involved in exchanging gifts. Although they don't believe in God, they're celebrating Christmas with gifts. Everybody trying to find the perfect gift. I heard about a lady. Her name was Marie. She was 90 years of age, sick of this rat race of giving out Christmas gifts and people not really happy. And so when she thought about her grandkids and the great grands first thing, she thought, I'll just send them some money. So she bought cards and she got her checkbook out, wrote them all a check, and then wrote on the Christmas cards. Buy your own Christmas gifts this year. Sent off the cards. Weeks past, no response. Christmas is over now a number of weeks. She thought it strange none of them have even thanked me. She went back in and sat down at the desk and where she had written those notes and the checks, and when she opened the drawer, to her consternation, there were the checks she forgot to insert them in the card, and it simply wrote, buy your own Christmas gifts. Well, the perfect gift is the gift that God gave yonder way in the past, and I'm convinced it's the greatest gift that has ever been given. The Bible said a son is given. Now, if you notice two things are said. It says here that a child is born, speaking of the humanity of Jesus Christ. But when it says that a son is given, it's speaking of the divinity of Christ. A son is given, a gift, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, preacher received a gift. It was on his desk when he walked in, and he took one look at it, and it said, This is a gift. And the first thing he noticed, it was used. It was a used neck tie. He could tell it had been tied many times and had the wrinkles, he thought, also the ugliest tie I've ever seen. And then when he investigated a little closer, he realized there was a stain on the front of the tie. He was indignant. He went to his assistant and said that necktie there, she said, Yes. She said, you know your hero, the preacher that you think's the greatest preacher in America, and he died recently, yes. Said his daughter knew how you felt about him, and brought that tie as a gift. Oh. He said, Don't you touch it again then and said, furthermore, we need to put that behind glass in a picture frame. And what had happened when he understood the gift, it became more precious to him, and I'm saying this Christmas time, if we could better understand the gift that God had in mind when he gave his son. I think you'll better understand how precious that gift is. When I thought about the son, it said a son is given, four things come into my mind, and I just want to leave them with you and lay it on your heart. First of all, the son of the patriarchs. That's who Jesus Christ happened to be. Now, a patriarch is a man who's the leader of a great family. A matriarch is a woman who's the leader of a great family. Now if you'll study Matthew, chapter one, verse two, it's the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You say, Well, where did his genealogy began race back through time, and you'll find find that it began with Abraham. It said Abraham beget Isaac. Now, who's Abraham? Well, he became the father of the nation of Israel. A little bit more about that guy. He was 100 years of age. His wife was 90 years of age, and God said, I'm going to give you a child. Now, scientists said it couldn't happen, and medicine said it can't happen. All the experts said it can't happen, but God leaned over the balcony of heaven and said it's going to happen. And it happened. Probably they're the first couple that paid the pediatrician with money out of their social security check. Can you imagine sitting there in a rocker watching the diapers drying over on the line? They're up in years. So Jesus came from the lineage of Abraham, Father, the faith starter, the nation of Israel. And if you'll study those 42 generations from Abraham all the way down to Jesus Christ. Now time has passed. It's the New Testament, and Jesus is teaching in a temple, and suddenly somebody spoke up and said, We believe that you're possessed of a devil. That's a pretty mean accusation, wouldn't you say? And Jesus responded, he said, here in John, chapter eight, verse 56 your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day, and saw it, and he was glad. Now he's simply saying, Abraham looked forward and he saw that first Christmas. In the Old Testament, they were saved by looking toward the future of the coming of Christ. In our day, we're saved by looking back to the time Christ came. In actuality, we're saved by looking to Christ. He's the Way, the Truth and the Life. He's not a good way, he's not a better way, he's not the best way, he's the only way to get to God. Then in the 57th verse, the Jews, said unto him, Thou art yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? In other words, get real. You're somewhere around 32 years of age. Abraham's been dead for more than 2000 years. How could you see Abraham and look at the next verse, verse 58 Jesus said, I say unto you, Before Abraham was I AM. He's saying, I didn't begin with when the beginning began. He said, I began and started the start of the beginning. So you have to understand, before Abraham ever was, Jesus already was, and realize, when he said he was the son of the patriarchs, actually he's now saying, I'm the father of the patriarchs. I'm not only from the lineage of Abraham, 42 generations later, but before Abraham was, I was the father, no wonder Isaiah called him The everlasting Father. And you got to understand he didn't begin in Bethlehem. He already was. But a second thing about the son. He was the son of the kings Mary and Joseph were very poor. They had no money, very poverty stricken couple. And if you study their lineage, the only thing they had to brag about back in their lineage were two kings. Have you ever studied your ancestry? Now if you study about LaSalle, I don't know if you knew this, but he explored the Great Lakes, came down the Wabash River and stopped at a place they call it Tear Holt, or Tear Hut. How do you pronounce the capital of Indiana? Tear Hut, or Tear Holt? It's Indianapolis. But the problem is, I was adopted. That's I'm not really a LaSalle, except by adoption. I can't claim it by blood. That's the only one I can think of that ever did, anything that anybody ever wrote about. Anyhow, you didn't care. So we like to point back to somebody great in our lineage. Well, according to Matthew one six, Jesse, beget David the king and David the king beget Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Uriah, so they were of the lineage of two kings, David and Solomon. Now, I don't know if it created any kind of pride in their life, but they were of the direct lineage of King David, direct lineage of King Solomon. And what I want you to understand though there was something greater than that with Mary. Now looking back to King David, King Solomon, she was carrying a king in her womb right at that time, King Jesus. Those wise men in Matthew chapter two, verse two, said, where is he born, King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him. They knew that Mary had given birth to the King of the Jews. But I want to say, ladies and gentlemen, something more important. He was king of kings and Lord of lords, because in Revelation, chapter 19, verse 16, he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. What does that mean, King of Kings? It means that he was the king above every king born in humanity. As a son, he was given divinity. And something I'd just like to point out, I don't think I have in the past, but just a little note maybe of interest to you, it said the government shall be upon his shoulders. Let me read it to you. Unto us, a child is born unto us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Now, I don't know if you realize this, but no man can put the government upon his shoulders. Trump cannot put the government upon his shoulders. You have a guy that's been asleep for four years. He can't put the government on his shoulders. Don't get mad. They'll have to get him out of the nursing home. Some of you need to wake up too. I told him, in the early service, one guy died. They called the morticians, and they came trying to find him. They carried out six dead people before they found the right one. The Clintons couldn't put the government on their shoulders. The two Bush's, George H and George W, neither one of them, Barack Obama, couldn't put the government on his shoulders. But I want you to know that Jesus, Lamb of glory, was able to put the government upon his shoulders, upon his shoulders. Fact that matter, here's what Zechariah, chapter 14, verse nine says. It says the LORD shall be king over all the Earth. I kind of like that. Now, there's three branches of government you're aware of that, the executive branch, judicial and the legislative branch. Do you know where we got that from? We got that from Isaiah, chapter 33 verse 22 for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, and the Lord is our king, and then it says, And He will save us. Because that he was all three, he could save us. That's why, when we put the the United States government together and the branches of the government together, we put together those three, and that's the way we established our government, and how can he put the legislative branch on his shoulder because he was the law giver, and how can he put the judiciary branch on his shoulders because he is the judge? And how can he put this executive branch because he was the king and Lord? Now we didn't vote him in. You can't vote him out. When he comes back, he will come to take sides. He'll come to take over as King of kings and as Lord of lords. Now we're celebrating Christmas, right? So the first time he came, he came to a manger. The next time He comes, he'll come in majesty. He came that first time to a tree, but he's coming back to a throne. He came the first time to a crucifixion, but he's coming back to a coronation. And you need to know that the first time he came, he stood before Pilate. Next time He comes, Pilate and you and I will stand before him. First time he came, they said, nail Him to a cross. Next time, they'll say, Hail to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Ladies and gentlemen, he's the son of kings, but he is the King of kings. And soon, every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of Glory. So you need to understand the gift. He is the son of patriots, but he became the father, the Everlasting Father, Son of kings. But now we know Him as King of kings. And then the writer suggests that he's the son of sinners. He had never sinned. He did not have a sin nature. If he had, he could not have been our Savior. Here's

what Second Corinthians 5: 16:26

21, says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Let me ask you a question. How many of you have ever had a relative that you were ashamed of and you don't have to raise your hand and you didn't want anybody to know you were related to them? Somebody messed up in town and laughter and the joke of the town, you don't want anybody to know, hey, you know that's my dad, or that's uncle so and so, it was a very aristotic sort of a family by the name of the Smiths. They had come over on the Mayflower, and they thought pretty well of themselves, and they had relatives who had been senators and Wall Street wizards, and they wanted to leave a legacy behind for their children and their children's children. They wanted to put together this whole long tradition and family tree, and they wanted to put in a book so that it'd be passed on and on. So they hired an author and he was well known, and he said, I can really make this look good. And then they ran into a problem. When they got to looking back through their heritage. They had a great uncle, George. He had been executed in an electric chair. And what they said to the author, what are you going to do about him? We don't want everybody to know about him. He said, I could handle it very tactfully. So here's what he said. Great Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. And when he died, he died a death of shock. Well, I was a little shocked when I started through the genealogy of Jesus too, and understanding a little bit about Jewish lineage. Women are never mentioned, just not mentioned. But I read down through it, and there are four women listed in the genealogy of Christ, besides Mary. There in Matthew, chapter one, verse three, Tamar is mentioned in the fifth verse of that chapter, Rahab is mentioned. Let me just read it to you. Simon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, the Moabites despised group, and in the sixth verse, Bathsheba is mentioned four women mentioned in the lineage of Christ. Not a normal thing, very unusual thing. So I thought, who was Tamar? She's the woman that had a child by her ex father in law. Who was Rahab? Well, she had a label. She was called Rahab, the harlot. Who was Bathsheba? She's the girl that had an affair with a king. And I wondered, why did they mention these people, the Tamars and the Rahabs and the Bathshebas? Why? And I thought. Now, many people can relate to Rahab and to Tamar and to Bathsheba, because they've made an awful mess of their life. So Jesus, looking back through all of his lineage, he saw the Tamars and the Rahabs and the Bathshebas, and the first thing he thought, they need a savior. I'm not only the son of the sinners, but I was once the Savior, and I'll become a sinner for them die on the cross and take their sins so that they can be saved. That's what he's thinking. And why did he come? Why did he die? Because he was the son of the patriarchs, the son of the kings and the son of sinners, who became the father of the forgiven. But I'll give you a last one. He was the Son of God, the Son of God. Did you ever have a night you couldn't sleep? I think that's why we have a good attendance on Sunday morning, people just wanting to catch up on sleep. I think these thoughts and it's so quiet in here I think it's happening. But if you ever have one of those nights, get your Bible out and turn to all of the genealogies so and so, beget so and so we get so you'll soon be sound asleep. So I'm reading through the genealogy of Jesus, and it all began just like I told you back there with Abraham. And then you get down to verse 16 of Matthew one and Jacob beget, Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. Now you gotta understand Joseph held Jesus as a baby in his arms. He would hold him when as a young child, he'd get hurt, and he would cry, and he'd run to to Joseph, that voice was so familiar the words that he must have spoken to Jesus as an infant and as a young child and as a teenager. And yet the Bible never lists one word that the man ever spoke. No wonder he had such a marvelous marriage. Zoom. There it went again, and here it goes again, right over your head. Jacob beget Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called the Christ. It didn't say that Joseph beget Jesus, because he didn't. He was not the father of Jesus. God was. Jesus was not the Son of God because he was born of a virgin. Because he was the son of God He was born as a virgin. You say, Pastor, I don't understand. I have a problem with the virgin birth. Well, it doesn't depend on your understanding it or not. I don't understand electricity, but I'm not going to sit in the dark till I do. You may not understand how there was no Earthly father and yet a baby was created. You say, Well, Pastor, do you have a problem with it? No, and I'll tell you why there was a man by the name of Adam, and he just showed up, and he never had a mom and a dad. Maybe didn't have a belly button. And there was a woman by the name of Eve that showed up, and she didn't have a mom and dad either. You say, Well, I kind of have a problem with all that? Well, maybe your problem is your God is too small. Mary said, I don't understand it. And the angel said, For with God, nothing is impossible. Why did Jesus come? Well, there was a little couple named Adam and Eve. The first Adam they were created. They were created without sin. God put them in the garden, put them over dominion of everything, and then Adam and Eve sinned, and they were no longer the servants of God. They became the slaves of sin and salvation was lost by man. It had to be reclaimed through man. The problem is, God's a spirit. So how could he bleed and die on a cross? He's a spirit. And so God fathered a child through a virgin named Mary, and Jesus Christ was born. Now, when he was born, do you ever read about the angels and how excited they got, and how the whole hillside and the skies were covered with Myron of angels, and they're saying Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Peace on Earth. Remember all of that. Why were they so excited? Can I just suggest this thought angels had never seen God. God is a Spirit. They had never seen him, but they knew that suddenly, in human flesh, they would see God for the first time. What is God like? Just like Jesus. Jesus was like God, and they were seeing God, and they were excited. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Jesus lived 33 sinless years, went to a cross there He took my sin and He took your sins on himself, because it took the perfect Son of God to pay the penalty for sin. If you could only understand the gift, it will make a difference in your Christmas this year what God has done for us that the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that us sons of men, might become the sons of God. You get the picture. You understand the gift a little more, Mary, she said, it can't happen. I've never known a man. And the angel said, For with God, nothing is impossible. This month makes my 32nd year as pastor here in Bucyrus, at this church, this ministry, I want to say to you on this, thank you. I want to say to you that I don't know everything you're going through. Sometimes I lay awake at night and I'm saying, God, Am I saying what you're wanting to say? Am I getting across what you want to imply to the people? I don't know what's happening in their life. I don't know if their lives are coming apart at the seams or if the bottom is falling out. And so I say to you this morning, I want to leave this on your mind and lay it on your heart. I want to say in closing for with God, nothing is impossible. This may be one of the most hurtful years you've ever experienced, but why don't you quit trying so much and start trusting the God that can make a difference? Why don't you just kind of let go and let God, instead of trying to formulate everything and work all the details. I'll just say, God, here's my life, and I want you to just get me through the whole Christmas scene. Take me into a new year, make it to be a new me and change my focus and change my direction, and change my desires, and let me be the man or the woman God that you want me to be, let your present that you gave. And when he came to the world, there was no room but I want to open up my heart, and I give you the room of my heart, and I give you me. If you wanting a place to dwell, let your Holy Spirit dwell in my body. Give me your gift, and I receive that gift on this Christmas time of the year. Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle, for more information regarding BNC, visit bucyrusnazarene.org.