The brilliance of this light shall be for all people. The radiance of this light shall rise and bring peace. There will be no end to the greatness and government of his peace. Power and peace will be in his kingdom, and it will grow forever and ever. He will rule on David's throne and over David's kingdom. He will make it strong by ruling with justice.
What am I tired of? I'm tired of each one of you trying to tell me what to do. I'm tired of being here all night with you all watching sheep that are sleeping. I'm tired of hanging out with y'all. Nothing ever happens out here. I mean, every once in a while we might get some wolves, maybe some foxes, but that's about it. Other than that, the sheep just sit there all day and just baa, baa, baa. And Sam will be here soon to start his shift.
Look, brothers, we must go and tend to God's sheep now. Okay. We have to provide and protect for his flock.
Terima kasih. We have come to worship our God this day, for our God is worthy of our worship. He's worthy of all the glory, all of the honor, and all of the praise.
What a delight it is to gather together on this fourth Sunday of Advent to celebrate the Christ who is born into the world to save us, to redeem us from all of our sin. And we thank God for this phenomenal music and arts ministry that has helped us to celebrate Jesus Christ on this third Sunday of December. Wherever you are, Wheeler, celebrate our music and arts ministry. Celebrate what they have done by bringing to us a phenomenal production about this Christ who has come into our world to save us, to redeem us, to bless us, and to keep us. What a blessing this service has been, and we thank God for it.
Now, have you heard it? Have you heard it reverberating all through the service? Have you heard the announcement? I know many of us, if not most of us, tuned out at announcements time. Announcements are boring to some of us. We miss some of the things happening around Wheeler Avenue because we click off before the announcements come.
But have you heard the announcement today? It's been echoing through the sanctuary, echoing through the production all while. While we've been together, the announcement for today is that Jesus is the presence of God, that Jesus is the presence of God.
All during this Advent season, we've been making these announcements, and I hope you've been hearing them because they have brought to us the wonderful reality of who Jesus is for each and every one of us. You've heard the singers singing it throughout the day. You heard Reverend Johnson preaching it on the fifth Sunday of the month: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government is on his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
It's been reverberating throughout the Advent season that Jesus is the word of God. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. It's been reverberating. It's been reverberating that Jesus is the sacrifice of God, the propitiation for our sin, the all-sufficient atoning sacrifice.
Have you heard the announcements? We've been making some announcements during this season that we did not want you to miss. We have shared with you that Jesus is the incarnation of God. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we've beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Over and over again through this season, we've been making some announcements that should bless your life. We've tried to announce to you that Jesus is the miracle of God, that God would decide to come to bring his child, his son, through the womb of a virgin. What a miracle it was, and that everyone rejoiced as a consequence of this miracle.
Announcements have been reverberating. We've tried to announce to you, my brothers and sisters, that Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And today, all through this experience of worship, we've announced to you that Jesus is the presence of God. Jesus is the presence of God.
And I'm so grateful for that reality on this Sunday that I just rejoice at the mere mention of it. If you know the text for today, I invite your attention to Matthew chapter one. For in Matthew chapter one, in verse 23, we find out that Jesus is the presence of God.
Listen to the words of the 23rd verse of the first chapter of the first gospel, which is Matthew. The Bible says, "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us." God is with us. He's the presence of God, right here where we are.
That blesses us, brothers and sisters, in more ways than we could ever imagine, for your Bible says that in his presence, there is fullness of joy; at his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. I thank God for his presence among us.
I don't know if you've heard, but I grew up at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 8301 South Damon Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60620. L.K. Curry was my pastor, but I also was a student at Emmanuel Christian School, 8301 South Damon Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60620, where Mrs. Dorothy D. Curry was our director.
At Emmanuel Christian School, all the way through my developmental years, all the way through my elementary school years, I had the wonderful honor of every year having perfect attendance. Every single year of my life, I got one of those certificates or one of those ribbons that talked about perfect attendance. I was so excited every year because I knew if I didn't get anything else, I was going to get a certificate or a ribbon for perfect attendance every single year, every day of the year.
My mother got me up. She said, "If you're sick, pray on the way to school. You'll be all right by the time you get there." And I had perfect attendance.
And I came to announce to you today, my brothers and sisters, that Jesus is the perfect attendance of God. That every single day of your life, you can celebrate the reality that Jesus is the perfect attendance of God.
In more elaborate conversation, Dr. Gardner Calvin Taylor puts it this way: that Jesus is in time what God is in eternity, always present, always with us, never away from us, right here where we need him to be. I love it, brothers and sisters, that Jesus is in time what God is in eternity, always present with us.
He's our ever-present help, even in trouble. And in times like these, we need this God to be ever-present with us, always available to us. We need him to have perfect attendance. Every time we call his name, can't you hear him present? Every time we need him in any situation, can't you hear him present?
Every time we call on him in our financial woes, in our family circumstances, in our faith challenges, he stands present, always available, always right here. He is the one who is with us.
And we learn it from the prophetic sense of the word. Listen, I read to you from verse 23, but you've got to know what verse 22 says because verse 22, my brothers and sisters, says that the prophet announced that Jesus Christ was going to come through the virgin. The prophet announced it. It comes directly out of Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. Isaiah 7:14 says, "The virgin will conceive and bring forth a son, and we're going to call him Emmanuel."
The virgin is going to conceive and bring forth a son, and the prophets had proclaimed it. Now, I love this, brothers and sisters, because the Bible says in verse 23 that all this was fulfilled so that the prophet's words would come true.
Catch it again. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. That's verse 22. Now you got to understand what that verse is. It is culminating. It is culminating verses 18 through 21, for in verses 18 through 21, your Bible says that old Joseph has had a conversation with the angel, and the angel has settled his nerves.
Last week, we left off rejoicing, didn't we? Because Mary had run to Elizabeth's house. The baby leaped in her womb. The baby leaped in her womb. The baby leaped in her womb. Elizabeth started rejoicing. Mary started singing and celebrating. All of them were rejoicing. The only problem is Joseph hadn't found out.
And because Joseph needed to have his nerves settled, he needed to be calmed down after he got word of her expectancy. An angel came to him and said, "Don't put your wife away. She hasn't done anything out of character. She is doing exactly what the prophet said was going to happen. She is availing her life. She is doing exactly what herself so that a virgin can conceive and bring forth a son."
The prophets had to say it because God told them to say it. And we learned last week that no word from God will ever fail.
Oh, brothers and sisters, the reason why we always look at Isaiah's prophecies is because we find out that what Isaiah said about God came true through Jesus Christ. And we recognize afresh that every word of God is true.
And we recognize afresh that every word of God is true. And we recognize every word God professes, God produces. Every single word God professes, God produces.
And today, sisters and brothers, we can rejoice over the prophetic word given in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, and then retold in Matthew chapter 1, verse 22. The prophetic was necessary to help us to understand what God was up to.
But don't stop with the prophetic because we learn right there. We learn right there. We learn right there. We learn right there. We learn right there. In verse 23, something about the profound.
Listen to the words again. A virgin is going to bring forth a child, and that child is going to be called Emmanuel, a virgin. How in the world is this going to happen? We know it to be a miracle. This is profound that God would use the very least to do the very most.
I love it that God would choose the least to do the most. If you were watching earlier, you would know that God would choose the least to do the most. If you were watching earlier in this production, you found out that this baby was going to be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, nobody cares about a little town called Bethlehem, but God will start you in a low place to take you to a high place.
God knows how to ensure that no matter how it gets started, if he gets included, all things can work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. It's profound to me. It blesses me. It blesses me. It blesses me. It blesses me. It blesses my socks off that the Bible would say, "Despise not the day of small beginnings."
It doesn't matter how you get started. When you get hooked up with the holy, he can do profound and amazing things in your life. Somebody's listening to me today who can testify, "Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think." Exceeding abundantly above all we can.
It literally means whatever your mind can conceive of, God can do so much better than that. Whatever you can think up, God can go much farther than that. It is the profound that God would take this peasant virgin girl and he would birth through her the son of the living God, the redeemer of the world.
Oh, child of God, it blesses me that God does the profound in anyone who would avail themselves to him. But watch again the pronouncement of the word of God. It blesses me that God does the watch again, the pronouncement, the virgin is going to conceive, bring forth a son, and they will call him Emmanuel.
Yes, Emmanuel, Emmanuel, which means God with us. God is with us. Did I mention to you I grew up at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 8301 South Damon Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60620? Dr. L.K. Curry was my pastor. Did you catch it? Emmanuel Baptist Church, literally 60620, suggesting, brothers and sisters, that from my early existence, my biggest theological word, my biggest biblical word, Reverend A.J., was Emmanuel.
It got drilled into us every single day that God is with us. Every single day of our lives, we were learning that God is with us. It was on the front cover of our bulletin, Emmanuel, in parenthesis, God with us. Every single day that I walked into that church, I saw on the side of the church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, God with us, literally suggesting to me that no matter what I go through, what I live through, what I endure, I've got a presence who is with me who refuses to leave my side.
Oh, child of God, you ought to hear that. In this day of pandemic where we have been quarantined, isolated, separated from everything, we are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone.
And everything and everybody that we would have loved to have been around, the word for you today is no matter how much social distancing you have to do, the sovereign never distances himself from you. He is with you. The savior is with you. That's my pronouncement to you today that God is with us.
And when you know that, it affects how you live. Yes, it does. When you know that, it affects how you walk and how you talk every day. You've got the presence of the living God residing with you, walking and talking with you. It will literally change the way you exist in this world. It will change how you live.
But may I suggest it'll also change how you lose. Oh, no. Yeah, it'll change how you lose. Let's be honest. Some of us in this here year have lost some things along the way. I'm talking to my sisters and brothers who have lost some loved ones due to this pandemic and other critical issues that have come in your life.
I'm talking to someone who has lost a job, lost some financial resources, lost some encouragement, lost some seemingly sanity. You've lost some things along the way. But one thing you can testify on this Sunday is that your God has promised that he'd be right there in the midst of all your losses.
And when you know he is with you, it affects how you lose, that you don't lose your joy just because you lost the job. You don't lose your satisfaction just because you lost a little sanity. So it seems you keep on celebrating the fact that he walks with me. Hallelujah. And he talks with me, and he tells me that I am his own.
And the joy that we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. Have you heard the pronouncement? It's been reverberating all through the world, through this worship service. And that is, brother, God is with you. Sister, God is with you. I don't care if you're in that house by yourself. You ain't really by yourself. He is with you.
I don't care if it seems like everything around you is crumbling. God is with you. It affects how you live. It affects how you lose. It affects everything about you. And this, my brothers and sisters, is the good news of chapter one of Matthew at verse 23. And that's the end of the chapter. God is with us.
That's the end of the chapter. But I can't end the sermon right there. Can't end the little message right there. Because there's a promise that's attached to that. There's a promise attached to that. It's not in verse 23, but it starts in the Old Testament where God repeatedly says, "I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you."
It starts in the Old Testament where God says, "I'm your ever-present help, even in the time of trouble." It continues in the New Testament when Jesus says, "Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world." He is with us. It continues with the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost is inside of us, and he will be with us, abide with us forever.
So somebody, wherever you are listening to me on this day, ought to rejoice at Christmas time. Because the announcement for you is, Jesus is present with you. He is the presence of the living God right where you are.
And today, we can celebrate the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, every time we call his name, has the perfect attendance we need him to have. And he says, "Present." You sick? Present. You broke? Present. You're hurting? Present. You're lonely? Present. You're frustrated? Present. You're angry? Present.
Anytime you need me, call on me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things. Because I am the presence of the living God. And all of God's people said, "Amen. Amen. Amen. And amen."
Jesus Christ is the presence of God, and we celebrate him every single day. And no matter what the stress, no matter what the challenge, no matter what the circumstance, we do not have to deal with it alone. He is with us. And to that God be all of the glory on this fourth Sunday of Advent, and even forevermore.
And all of God's people everywhere said, "Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen."
Listen, I want to invite somebody to a relationship with this Jesus who makes himself available to us, with this Jesus who is the presence of God. Yeah, the Bible says that Jesus stands at the door and knocks, and whoever will open the door, he will come in, engage in a relationship with you. He will stop with you, and you with him.
That means you will have intimate encounters with the eternal one. Sister, brother, whoever you are, wherever you are, if you've never given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can do that right where you are.
We've learned, haven't we? You don't have to be in church to give your life to Jesus Christ. Most people who have miraculous encounters with Jesus had those encounters outside of the house of God.
So, sister, brother, you want to give your life to the Lord Jesus. This is what you say: "Lord Jesus, come into my life. Save me. Redeem me. Make me to be the person you want me to be." And he will do that because he loves you.
And you won't have to wait till a subsequent time. He'll do that right now. You come to him right now. He'll save you right now. If anyone is in Christ, that person's a new creation. Old things are passed away, and all things become new.
I want you to be new in Jesus Christ. You need a church home? Oh, we can handle that. You'd love to be a part of Wheeler Avenue? We'd love to have you as a part of our family.
All you need to do, whether you need to be saved, whether you need to join our church, email us at newmembersministry@wheelerbc.org. That's newmembersministry@wheelerbc.org, and we'll be sure to get right back in touch with you so that you can be engrafted into the family of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.
Whosoever will, let her, let him come. And today is the day of salvation. We invite you right now. Today, you are that knowing Jesus. He will pick you up and turn your life around.
And if you've chosen to be a part of our congregation, we're so excited that we now have new family members who are a part of the Wheeler Avenue congregation. We're Wheeler wherever, so it doesn't matter where you are. If you want to be a part of our family, we'd love to have you as such a part of this wonderful body of believers known as Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.
Listen, it's offering time in the Lord's church, and we're so excited about giving to our God. And we pray that you will continue to give generously and cheerfully unto the Lord during this season.
I know that many of you have had other financial obligations to come upon you during this gift-giving time. But we never want to deprioritize our God and his church. So we ask that you will continue to remember how significant it is to give back unto God a portion of what God has given to you.
Get your device in your hand, whatever you use to give. If it is an electronic device, get it in your hand right now. And let's prepare to worship the Lord with a tithe, with the offering, with our gifts to missions and mercy, with our gifts to the building effort.
All of which come from generous and grateful people who are willing to offer unto the Lord what first belongs unto him. And I pray that you will continually be blessed, even in your finances.
Let me pray for you as we prepare to give unto the Lord. Gracious God, we do thank you for the privilege of giving. We thank you that you loved us enough to give to us Jesus Christ, who gave to us his life.
And we pray now that our lives would be a representation of that giving and generous spirit that is found in you. We ask, great God, that you will now take our gifts and that you will multiply them as you bless them so they might be a blessing to the church and even to the world.
And we thank you for victory in our finances in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's give unto our God now.
And as we give, let me share just a few announcements with you about the many goings-on that are happening at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.
First of all, let me just thank God again for this magnificent production team that has made today's experience a reality. We're applauding in the church house. You should be applauding in your house. Everyone ought to be celebrating all of the labor that went into making today's experience so phenomenal.
Because of the pandemic, we had to do it in some very unique ways, and I'm so grateful that these brothers and sisters gave up their time throughout the weeks to come together to share with us in such a special and powerful way.
I cannot thank enough our playwrights, the Palmores. Thank you so much for blessing us with your ingenuity and your creativity. We appreciate you. And then, of course, our leader here in music and arts ministry, our minister Leon Christopher Lewis. He's just amazing. There he is right over there on that instrument, and we thank God for him.
Thank God for him and for all that he does to make this church a better church and to ensure that we have everything that we need in music and arts ministry. What a blessing he is. And all of those instrumentalists who are over there who've been playing for the glory of God and all of these singers who are behind me who have been lifting their voices for the glory of God.
And although you can't see them, they're helping us to see everything. These camera operators, these technical folk upstairs who are doing the service of the Lord to make sure that we have excellence in quality and in our production, thank you all so very much.
And I can't thank our preachers enough. They are always on spot. Thank you, Executive Pastor Johnson, and to all of our preachers who are here in the sanctuary, those who are not here in the sanctuary but have been praying to ensure that today would be a day of excellence for God's glory. Thank you so very much.
We are soon concluding our season of Advent. This is the last Sunday in Advent. And I'm praying that when you get to Christmastime later this week, you will have an absolutely phenomenal and merry and safe and healthy Christmastime.
I want you, despite the distractions and the temptations, to go out and have a regular old Christmas. You know we can't do that. Please don't do that. We don't want to have a negative Christmas. We want to have a healthy Christmas. We want to have a negative spike in Houston or in the Houston area or anywhere around the nation.
There are already spikes in so many places. We don't want to contribute to an unhealthy, unsafe environment. So stay at home as much as you possibly can. And that means you can't go to all those holiday parties you usually go to. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it.
I'm trying to tell you, Jesus is with you, but he also gives you soundness of mind to make some right decisions. And so I want you to make the right decisions. Wash your hands regularly. Use that hand sanitizer as often as you can. Keep it in the car. Keep it in your purse. Keep it in your pocketbook. Keep it in your pocket. Make sure that you're using it regularly.
And then make sure you wear your mask. Wear your mask. If we were to pan the sanctuary, you would see that everyone in here is about 20 of us in the sanctuary. Everyone in here has a mask on because we want to operate in wisdom and we want to stay safe.
So thank you all so very much for doing the same. I want you to make sure that you do that.
Well, we have been asked many times whether or not we're going into January 2021 as a family on the Daniel fast. And the answer is yes. The answer is yes. We want you to participate with us beginning January 2nd.
Beginning January 2nd, we know many of you have the rituals and kind of traditions that you have for January 1st. So we won't bother your first day of January as is our custom. We'll begin the Daniel fast January 2nd, and we will go through January 31st.
January 2nd to January 31st, the Daniel fast. I know we're not able to get out like we would normally do. And I know that you may have to sacrifice a little bit more to engage the fast this next year. But I want you to participate with us beginning January 2nd through the 31st, and that's Sundays included.
Remember, when we do it during Lent, we do not observe the Sundays. But when we observe the fast in January, it is every day from January 2nd to January 31st. Don't tell me you can't do it. Yes, you can. Many of us have picked up that quarantine 15 or more, and we want to help you not just lose the weight, but be spiritually fit for the year that is to come.
So let's begin the Daniel fast January 2nd all the way through January 31st.
Listen, as of yesterday, at the close of our grief and grace ministry presentation by the Congregational Care Ministry, our church is closed for the remainder of the year. We'll only be having worship, preparing for worship so we can present it to you there in your homes and places of business.
So we will not be at the church. The ministers are on call, so if there's an emergency, listen to that word. If there's an emergency, feel free to call the church, and one of our clergy persons will be in contact with you because they are on call during the holiday season.
If there are any deaths, please let us know. Any hospitalizations that we need to know of, please ensure that if you do not email them, we'll certainly call us and let us know what needs to be known regarding those emergencies.
I am so grateful for all the members of our congregation who helped us with Christmas on the Avenue 2020. Oh my goodness, you all have once again amazed us by the way that you brought all of those phenomenal gifts that were asked of you to the church, and you blessed so many individuals over this past week.
So we had seven non-profit organizations that we wanted to bless, and you went above and beyond to bless them, and I cannot thank you enough. We appreciate your consistency and your generosity. Every time we make a call for those who are less fortunate, you show up and you show out immeasurably, and I thank you so much for it.
I want to thank Mrs. Cosby who oversees that project. Thank you so much, ma'am, for ensuring that we have Christmas on the Avenue in a phenomenal way. And her right-hand woman is Miss Agnes Em Johnson, and she was absolutely phenomenal making sure that all things worked together with regard to making all of the deliveries possible.
And we thank you so much for ensuring that you coordinated and then delivered all of those gifts to all of those brothers and sisters and to all of our other volunteers. Sister Mary, we remember you. Sister Candace, thank you so much for sharing. And to all of our staff members who assisted, we appreciate you, and we do not take you for granted.
Last thing, our New Year's Eve services will be next week. After we get past Christmas, of course, we'll have worship on Sunday, and then our New Year's Eve services will be on the 31st of the month at 12 noon.
Our first service, we're going to have regular worship. We're gonna have a good time celebrating God in that 12 noon experience, and then at 10:30 p.m., our second service for that day, the final service for the year, will kick off at 10:30 p.m. You don't want to miss it.
Bring me in real close to Eddie. I want him to see everything I'm saying. You don't want to miss the last service of the year. It's going to be phenomenal, so be with us at noon and then again at 10:30. It's going to be a great day of worship on the 31st of December.
I'm excited that this season has come. I'm excited about Jesus. I'm excited about our celebrations. I want you to have a safe and healthy week, and may our God continue to bless you all.
And I'll see you next over and over and over again as you continue to give him the glory that he deserves.
Minister Lewis, anything else?
Well, praise the Lord! Listen, normally we would close our service, you know how we do, with the doxology, and we celebrate the fact that God is worthy to be praised. Well, God is always worthy to be praised, but this week we're closing out a different way.
Our precious babies are going to help us to celebrate this special time. Listen, Friday is going to be a fabulous day. I want you to have a very merry Christmas, but I'm not the only one who wishes that. Our children wish you the very same.
So let's hear from our precious children as they wish us all a very merry Christmas. Until next Sunday, the Lord bless you and keep you is our prayer.
on Dec 18, 2024
