🙌 Celebrate Jehovah Jireh

The God who sees 👁️ and the God who provides 🕊️.

We celebrate His faithfulness and provision.

2025 Vision: Engage with God + Engage our Faith

• We are going after the:
• Detached 🙃
• Drifted 🌊
• Those Who Don’t Know ❓

📖 In this series we are going to discover the ultimate authority given to Jesus in Isaiah 9:6.

Isaiah 9:6: 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 Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

🌟 Historical Context

• ⏳ Eight centuries before Bethlehem, in a time of deep darkness with war, exile occurring, kings failing—God sent the prophet Isaiah with a word of hope and light: A child will be born. A son will be given. And this child will be anything but ordinary.
• 🔍 Today, we fix our hearts on just one of those titles: Wonderful Counselor.
• ⚖️ But before we get there, we have to understand the weight resting on this child’s shoulders.

👑 "The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder"

• 🏛️ In the ancient East, the shoulder was the place of strength and authority. When a king ascended the throne, the royal robe or the key to the treasury was placed on his shoulder as a sign: “All authority now rests here.”
• 🌍 Isaiah is saying: Every failed human government, every broken throne, every unjust ruler, every war, every oppression—ultimately all of it will be placed on the shoulder of this coming child-king. He will bear the full weight of ruling the world, and He will bear it perfectly.
• 📖 Revelation 19:16 pictures Him at the end of history with a name written on His thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
• 📖 Colossians 2:15 says, “He has already disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them at the cross.” The government of the entire universe already rests on His shoulder—and one day every knee will bow to prove it.
• 🗳️ When we say, “Jesus is Lord,” we are not offering a religious platitude. We are making a political statement of the highest order: There is only one final King, and His reign has already begun.

🧠 His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful Counselor

• 🇮🇱 The Hebrew here is extraordinary. The word “wonderful” (pele) is the same word used for the supernatural acts of God:
• Gideon’s fleece, Samson’s strength, the parting of the Red Sea, Daniel in the lion’s den, the fiery furnace, all the extraordinary things we read about in the Old Testament.
• 😲 “Wonderful” or “Pele,” it means something that causes awe, something that defies human explanation.
• 👥 “Counselor” (yo’etz) is not simply a good listener with a leather couch. In Scripture, a counselor is the king’s chief advisor who sits at his right hand and determines the destiny of nations.
• 📖 In 2 Samuel 16:23, we read about Ahithophel, and in 1 Kings 12, we read about Rehoboam’s counselors.
• ✨ So “Wonderful Counselor” means: This coming King possesses wisdom that is nothing less than miraculous, supernatural, divine. His plans, His advice, His guidance leave us speechless with wonder.

📚 Biblical Cross-References That Prove This Is Jesus

1. 🕊️ He is the very Wisdom of God with us in the flesh. 1 Corinthians 1:24, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:30, Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God.”
2. 🔮 He knows all things perfectly. John 2:24-25 – Jesus "knew all people . . . He Himself knew what was in man." John 21:17 – Peter cries, "Lord, You know everything!”
3. 🧒 He amazed and baffled the scholars as a child. Luke 2:46-47 – At age twelve, He sat in the temple, "astonishing" the doctors of the law with His understanding.
4. 🤐 He silenced every opponent with perfect answers. Matthew 22:46 – After He answered the Sadducees and Pharisees, “no one dared to ask Him any more questions.”
5. 💡 He is the One to whom the Spirit of Counsel belongs. Isaiah 11:2 (the companion prophecy) – “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might.”
6. 🌪️ Even in His state of humanity, demons and storms obeyed His word. Mark 1:27 – “He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Mark 4:39 – He speaks to the wind and waves, “Peace! Be still!” and the sea becomes glass.

❓ What Does "Wonderful Counselor" Mean for Us Today?

🛤️ He gives us infallible guidance for every decision.

• 🤔 What are you confused about today? Confused about a relationship? A career move? How to parent? How to live Godly in the midst of a godless society?
• 📖 James 1:5 promises, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
• 🙏 Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father, is praying for you right now, and His Spirit lives inside you to "lead and guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).

🌑 He counsels us perfectly in our darkest moments.

• 😰 When anxiety screams, He whispers, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1).
• 😔 When depression lies and says you are worthless, He reminds you, “You are more valuable than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).
• 😞 When shame condemns, He declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
• 💖 No human counselor can enter the depths of your soul like this.

❤️ He is the only Counselor who can actually change the heart.

• 🧠 Psychologists can describe your problem.
• 📈 Life coaches can give you strategies.
• 🔄 Only Jesus can say, “You must be born again” and then make it happen (John 3:7).
• 🔄 Only the Wonderful Counselor can take a Saul of Tarsus—breathing threats and murder—and turn him into the apostle of grace.

⛪ Church, we do not have to stumble through life relying on earthly wisdom or the ever-changing advice of this world. The One on whose shoulder rests the government of the universe has offered Himself to you as your personal Wonderful Counselor.

🎄 The Child Was Born – Invite Him In

• 👶 The child was born. The Son was given. The government is on His shoulder. And His name—forever and today—is Wonderful Counselor.
• ❄️ In this Christmas season, as many are celebrating, just as many are hurting. A Wonderful Counselor is waiting for you.
• 🙏 Invite Him in this morning.