Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

We are kicking off a brand new series today. It’s our Christmas series and it’s called Searching.

This is a season of joy. At least that’s the hype. This season is all about, “Joy to the World.” We think about the joy of big family gatherings. There is joy when kids get up on Christmas morning. We spell the word “Joy” out in Christmas lights on the roof. This season is all about joy.

So why do studies show that many people have greater struggles with fear, worry, discouragement, stress, and depression at Christmas than any other time of year? It's because we are searching for things that no holiday season can deliver.

If you’re depending on a season to right what’s wrong in your life, you’re going to be discouraged. If you’re looking to a holiday to fix what is broken in your life, you’re going to be stressed. If you’re depending on Christmas to bring you what you’ve been searching for, you’re going to be depressed and disillusioned and disappointed.

No holiday can deliver that. Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year. I’ll take Christmas over any other holiday. It beats anything in the spring, summer, or fall. Nothing else compares to Christmas. I love all the traditions our family has developed. I get sentimental. I get sappy. I turn into a kid again at Christmas. I love it.

But even though this time of year has all that good stuff, it still doesn’t mean that we can depend on this season to change our lives. Seasons don’t do that. A Savior does. And that’s why we’re going to spend the next four weeks talking about Jesus. This is kind of a spoiler alert because I’m telling you what this series is about right upfront. It’s about Jesus.

“Man, everything in this church is about Jesus.” You’re right. And you couldn’t give us a bigger compliment than that. There is a reason that everything in this church is about Jesus. And you’re going to see that in this series.

This entire series about Jesus is based on a Scripture that was written 700 years before Jesus was born. It’s a prophecy about the birth of Christ. This entire series is centered on Isaiah 9:6.

“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. (Isaiah 9:6, NIV)

700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah told God’s people, “He’s coming. He’s going to come as a baby. But this child that is born is going to be the One.”

And Isaiah gives four different titles for Jesus. This one who was coming would be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

Over the next four weeks, taking us right up to Christmas Eve, we’re going to talk about one title each week.

Today, we’re tackling the first one in the list. Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor. And since He is our Wonderful Counselor, He is the answer to one of the biggest searches of our lives. The search for direction.

Here’s something that I know about everyone that is here today. This is true of every single person in this room today. Every one of us wants to make good decisions.

No one woke up today saying, “I hope I really just make a mess of things today. I hope that I screw things up so badly. I hope this is the day that I ruin my life.”

Nobody said that when they got up this morning! We all want to make good choices in our lives. But life is complicated. Life is hard. Sometimes it’s not easy to discern what the right decisions are, so what do we do? We seek the advice of others.

Everybody has an opinion of what you should do. Everybody. For example, has anybody ever told you, “You’ve got to see this movie?” And then you saw it and you were thinking, “Man, that was really bad advice. This movie is awful.”

That happened to me a few months ago. I’m going to pick on my staff a little bit this morning. Brian Morrissey, our Worship & Small Groups Pastor, was on me forever to see this particular movie. It’s an old movie. I don’t know how I grew up in the ‘80s without seeing this movie, but I did.

And Brian was always saying, “You’ve got to see this movie.” Well finally, he brought me the DVD. So I took it home and after the kids went to bed, Nicki and I sat down to watch the movie. She had seen it before. I never had. And about halfway through the movie, I said, “This is absolutely terrible. I can’t believe Brian recommended this movie.”

For those of you who like The Princess Bride…I just don’t understand you. You’re weird. That movie was awful.

And then there are those people who recommend restaurants. “You’ve got to try this place. It’s amazing!”

Josh Young used to do that to me. He’s our Creative & Communications Minister. Josh and I don’t agree on a lot of things…especially when it comes to restaurants. Josh has recommended several restaurants to me, and more often than not, I walk out of the place thinking, “Cross that one off my list.” I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that if Josh likes it, it’s bad.

Seriously, doesn’t everyone have an opinion of what you should do? And I’m talking about stuff that is way more important than a movie or a restaurant. I’m talking about big life decisions. Everybody has an opinion…including God.

God really does have an “opinion” of what you should and shouldn’t do. But here’s the thing…He’s always right. God really does have dreams and desires for your life. He really does want to direct your life. And He’s always right. When Isaiah prophesied about Jesus’ birth, he told us that Jesus would be our Wonderful Counselor.

But here’s the thing about that…if God is going to direct our lives…if Jesus is going to be our Wonderful Counselor…then we’ve got to be able to hear Him.

Here’s what I’ve learned…God wants to speak to us more than we want to hear Him.

“I don’t know about that. That sounds supernatural.” Of course it is!

Isn’t it interesting that we kick against the supernatural power of God, but we’ll go see a movie where a boy turns into a werewolf? Another turns into a vampire that sparkles.

But when we talk about Almighty God, we say, “I don’t know about that.” That’s insanity. The church has cornered the market on the supernatural. God wants to speak to us. It is supernatural. And it’s awesome.

Let’s take some time and explore how God speaks to us. This is something that a lot of people struggle with. They want direction. They want to know God’s will. They want to hear God’s voice. But they have no idea how to do that.

First of all, God speaks through His Word. The primary way that God speaks to us is through the Bible. Here at ACC, we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is complete. It is authoritative. It is without error. It is God’s Word to us. It is the primary way that God speaks to us.

In Hebrews 4, the Bible says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV)

Here’s the problem that a lot of us have. We’ve made the Bible cute and pretty, when in actuality it is a sword. A double-edged sword.

We’ve made the Bible cute, but if Hollywood turned the Bible into a film, it would be rated R at best. Some parts are probably NC-17.

Take the story of Noah and the flood, for example. We think that’s a cute kid’s story. Actually, it’s a story about how God massacred every person on the planet except for one family. And that’s the story that we tell our kids at bedtime! The Bible is a sword. It cuts. It’s harsh. It’s untamed.

Here’s another thing about the Bible…the Bible tells on us. It penetrates, it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow. And then Hebrews says this…it judges the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts.

A lot of us don’t like to read Scripture because Scripture actually starts to read us. It starts to reveal our sin. It shows us where God is calling us out. It shows us where we’ve got to change. God speaks to us through His Word.

The problem is that a lot of people read God’s Word for information, but not transformation. Don’t tell me how much Bible you know. I don’t care how informed you are. I care about how transformed you are.

If you want to know God’s will…if you want to hear His voice…get into His Word.

Secondly, God speaks to us through His Spirit. A lot of us don’t talk about the Holy Spirit. In fact, if we’re honest, we’re kind of afraid of the Holy Spirit. Older translations of the Bible refer to Him as the Holy Ghost. That sounds creepy. The Holy Spirit kind of weirds us out. In a lot of churches, the Holy Spirit is completely ignored.

Now, in other churches, the Holy Spirit is worshipped while they ignore the Father and the Son. Some churches are so laser-focused on the Holy Spirit that they forget about Jesus. The Holy Spirit was sent to glorify and magnify Jesus.

The Bible teaches very clearly that God is three-in-one. The theological term is the Trinity. That word is not in the Bible, but it’s a word that sums up a ton of Biblical teaching. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons that make up one God. And God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 8, the Bible says, “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” (Romans 8:9b, NIV)

The Holy Spirit is present in the lives of everyone who belongs to Jesus.

And in John 14, here’s what Jesus Himself said about the Holy Spirit. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:25-26, NIV)

Let me ask you a question…have you ever been driving down the road and just had a random Bible verse pop into your head? Have you ever felt a prompting you can’t ignore? “Go talk to that person.” “Pick up the phone and call this person.”

That is the work of the Holy Spirit. Some people kick against that. It’s too supernatural for them. Two problems with that. First of all, the Bible says that this is what the Holy Spirit does. And secondly, it’s happened to me more times than I could ever count. I know this is what the Holy Spirit does.

But now, we have to see this. In John 16, Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13, NIV)

Here’s the thing that we have to remember about the Holy Spirit. He guides us in truth. God’s Word is truth. That means that the Holy Spirit will not guide us to contradict Scripture.

I’ve heard people claim that the Holy Spirit told them to do something that was not Scriptural.

“God told me that it’s ok to live with my boyfriend because we’re going to get married.”

“God told me that I can cheat on my taxes because all that money is going to a corrupt government anyway.”

“God told me that pornography is not a sin. It’s harmless.”

“God told me that I don’t need the church. I can just read my Bible and worship Him on my own.”

Here’s the problem…you can’t claim that the Holy Spirit told you something that contradicts what the Bible says. If someone claims, “God told me…” and it’s something that is not Scriptural, you can totally write them off. God didn’t tell them anything.

It’s not always easy to discern the Holy Spirit’s voice in your life, but you have to start with Scripture. If you’re being prompted to do something that is Scriptural, you can believe it. If not, then you have to ignore it. What you’re hearing is not the Holy Spirit, but probably your own feelings.

Dr. Emerson Edderichs said it very simply. “Your feelings are not the voice of God.”

Just because you “feel” something doesn’t mean that God said it. In fact, much of what God tells us to do makes us UNcomfortable! If God is always telling you to do exactly what you want to do…if He is always saying things that you want to hear…then you’re not hearing the voice of God. You’re hearing yourself. Or, even worse, you’re hearing Satan disguised as God.

But if you’re hearing something that is Scriptural…especially if it’s something that makes you uncomfortable…then you can believe that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

Thirdly, God speaks to us through others. All of us have friends, but let me tell you the kind of friends that you need above all others. You need to have friends who love Jesus and love you. In fact, you need to have friends who love Jesus MORE than they love you. Those are the kinds of friends that God will use to speak truth into your life.

They’ve got to love Jesus and they’ve got to love you, in that order. They’ve got to love Jesus more than they love you. If they don’t, then they’ll always tell you what you want to hear. But if they love Jesus more than you, they’ll tell you the truth.

In Proverbs 15, the Bible says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22, NIV)

God often speaks through other people. But again, when God is speaking to you through another person, that person will be giving you Scriptural advice. If their counsel contradicts Scripture, you need to completely ignore it. God is not speaking through them.

God has used different people to speak into my life. One of the people He uses the most is my wife. My wife is a godly woman who loves me. But she loves Jesus more than she loves me, so she is not afraid to give it to me straight.

I remember one time about a year ago when I am absolutely positive that God spoke to me through her. I was in a bad place. I was depressed. I was discouraged. I was seeing a counselor.

Ministry had really taken a toll on me and I felt like I had nothing left. To be brutally honest, I wanted to quit. Every pastor I know has experienced these extremely low times, and this was one of those times for me.

Nicki and I were sitting at our kitchen table talking. I laid out every reason that I had for quitting. To be honest, I thought I had an air tight case and that she would say, “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s time to move on.”

But that’s not what she said. Instead, she looked me in the eye and told me, “God’s not finished using you here.”

Can I tell you something? That’s not what I wanted to hear because, in that moment, quitting seemed a whole lot easier. But look at what I would have missed. I would have missed the most exciting season I’ve ever had in ministry. I would have missed the move of God that is happening in our church right now.

And let’s be really honest…if I would have quit, then a lot of you in this room would not have come to Christ because God used me to reach you. And if my wife had not spoken those hard words of truth to me then, you wouldn’t be here now.

Do I believe that I was hearing the voice of God through my wife? Absolutely. You will never, ever convince me otherwise.

God speaks to us through other people. I have people tell me almost every Sunday, “You were talking right to me. That message was preached right to me. Would you get the cameras out of my house? Would you stop reading my email? You must be doing that, because you’re preaching right to me.”

No, I’m not. God is. God is speaking to you through me. And I love Him more than I love you, so I’m going to keep giving you tough truth. I’m going to keep making you uncomfortable. I’m going to keep offending you. But think about it…the only time the truth makes us uncomfortable is when we are pushed to do something we don’t want to do. The only time the truth offends us is when we’re living in opposition to it.

I’m going to keep telling you the truth. And you need to surround yourself with people in your life who will keep telling you the truth. God speaks through people like that.

A fourth way God speaks to us…God speaks when we are still.

In Psalm 46, God says, “Be busy, and know that I am God.”

“Overcommit yourself, and know that I am God.”

“Fill your life with noise, and know that I am God.”

“Stretch your family way too thin this Christmas, and know that I am God.”

That’s not what it says, is it? “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10a, NIV)

We live in a culture that is totally devoid of stillness. If something is quiet, we wonder what’s wrong.

It’s kind of like being a parent of young kids. If I’m in another room and I hear my boys romping around, I know everything is ok. But if everything goes quiet, I get nervous. If everything goes quiet, I stop what I’m doing and go check it out. Because if everything is quiet, something is wrong.

That’s how we usually feel about stillness and quietness. If everything is quiet, something is wrong. But God operates completely counter to our culture. He said, “If you want to hear my voice, you’ve got to be still.” Some of you have never heard God’s voice because you never slowed down enough to hear it.

In the Christmas story, the Bible tells us that when the shepherds found the Christ child, they got loud. They were celebrating. They were worshipping. They were telling everybody they know. It was awesome! And there are absolutely times when we should rock out in praise and in worship to God.

But there are also times when we follow Mary’s lead. Look at what the Bible says about her in Luke 2. While the shepherds were celebrating, the Bible says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19, NIV)

Mary was still. She was quiet. She pondered everything that God was doing in her life, and you’d better believe that she was hearing the voice of God in her life.

Let me give you a practical way to do this. This week, when you’re driving to work, don’t turn the radio on. Turn your cell phone off. And just say, “God, I’m here. And you’ve got my attention for this entire commute. If you would like to speak to me, I would sure like to listen.”

If you don’t have a long commute, then try something else. But however it works out, you’ve got to have stillness in your life. If you don’t, then you will not hear God’s voice.

“Man, this doesn’t feel much like a Christmas message.” Then you don’t understand Christmas. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, and when Isaiah prophesied about His birth, he said that Jesus would be our Wonderful Counselor.

The reason Christmas happened…the reason Christ came…is because God wants us to hear Him. He sent His Son to destroy the barrier between us and God. God doesn’t want there to be anything between you and Him. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to hear Him. That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

So what do we do with this? We’ve talked about the different ways that God speaks to us…the different ways that we hear His voice. How do we respond? What do we do with the voice of God?

Two things. First of all, we acknowledge it. When God speaks, we acknowledge it. We don’t ignore it.

When I was young, my family got a new puppy. We were trying to get this dog housebroken, so the dog slept in its cage which was in the kitchen. My bedroom was the closest one to the kitchen. So one night, I was the first one that heard the puppy start whining.

But it was like 2:00 am, so I ignored it. I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to take the dog outside in the middle of the night. It was wintertime. The weather was freezing. My bed was warm. So I just ignored the dog’s whining.

Guess what happened? The longer I ignored it, the louder it got. I kept on trying to tune it out, but this dog was not going to be ignored. This dog wanted to go outside NOW. The longer I ignored it, the louder it got.

And so finally, when I got up to let the dog out, it was too late. There was a mess to clean up. A mess that would not have been there if I hadn’t ignored it.

This series is based in Isaiah 9:6. But later in the book of Isaiah, in chapter 45, God said, “I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” (Isaiah 45:19, NIV)

God IS speaking and we can’t ignore Him. You can run from God, but you can’t outrun God. You can try to tune Him out, but He will not be ignored.

God does not speak in secret. He speaks the truth. He declares what is right. And you know what that means? That means if you ignore Him for too long, there will be a mess in your life.

For some of you, you’ve been ignoring God for far too long. You know He’s telling you to end that relationship. You know He’s telling you to seek help for your addiction. You know He’s telling you to drop your pride and go to counseling to save your marriage. You know He’s telling you to give your life to Him, to make Jesus your Savior and your Lord.

What is God calling you to do? Are you acknowledging it? Or are you ignoring it?

Which leads us to the second thing we do when we hear the voice of God. We obey it. When we hear from God, we obey God.

James 1:22 says it so simply. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22, NIV)

That’s not complicated. That’s not hard to understand. But it can be incredibly difficult to do. When God speaks, we acknowledge His voice. Then we obey His voice.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes.”

We believe in God. We acknowledge God. We obey God. That sounds great at church on Sunday, but how about when God speaks to you on Tuesday? And He tells you something you don’t want to hear? Or He tells you to do something that you don’t want to do? Gets a lot tougher then, doesn’t it?

In Ezekiel 36, God said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, NIV)

Key in on that last sentence. “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.” God speaks to us, and it’s always because He wants to move us.

This really hit me as I was reading through the Christmas story in Matthew. If you know the story of Jesus’ birth, you know that Joseph had to take Mary, his very pregnant fiancé, to Bethlehem because the king had decreed that everyone had to go to their ancestral town for a census. But this isn’t the last move that Joseph made. Check out what Matthew 2 tells us.

Starting in verse 13, the Bible says, “When [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:13-15, NIV)

God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream, and that angel told Joseph to go immediately to Egypt because Jesus’ life was in danger. So in the middle of the night, Joseph packed up his family and took off.

But then in verse 19, Matthew writes, “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” (Matthew 2:19-21, NIV)

God sends another angel and says, “Now you can leave Egypt. Head on back to Israel.”

But then in verse 22, the Bible says, “But when [Joseph] heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:22-23, NIV)

Every time Joseph went to sleep, God sent an angel and told him to move! I believe I would have developed a severe caffeine addiction just trying to stay awake. Every time the dude went to sleep, his life got upended.

But here’s the point…every time God spoke to him and told him to move, Joseph moved. Do you realize how big of a pain this was? Any parent knows what it’s like to try to go anywhere with a new baby.

Before Nicki and I had kids, we could go anywhere we wanted on the spur of the moment. “Hey, you want to go out to eat? Yeah? Let’s go!” And we’re sitting down a table with menus in our hands 10 minutes later.

Then we had a baby. And all of a sudden, it took an hour for us to just get out the door! And then inevitably, we’d have to turn around because we forgot the diaper bag or the baby spit up in the car seat. And it didn’t take long until, “Hey, do you want to go out to eat?” turned into, “Hey, do you want to have a pizza delivered so we don’t have to leave the house?”

Going anywhere with a baby is not easy. And God told Joseph to move with Mary and a newborn baby THREE times! He never had time to get ready. He never had time to pack the diaper bag and make sure there were three extra onesies in case Jesus spit up. God said, “Move…and move now!” And Joseph obeyed, every single time.

When God tells you to move, do you move? Or do you stall? Do you make excuses? Do you ignore Him? Do you run the other way?

A lot of times we want God to give us direction for our future. If Jesus really is our Wonderful Counselor, then shouldn’t He give us counsel about the future? Shouldn’t He give us direction about the future?

Not until you obey Him right now. God didn’t tell Joseph what the next move was until he made the move that God told him to make right now.

God will never show us what is next until we obey Him now. You never get the next if you don’t deal with the now.

What is God saying to you now? Where is God trying to move you now? He IS speaking to you. Are you acknowledging His voice? Will you obey His voice?

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Bible, Christmas, God's voice, Holy Spirit, Isaiah 9, Jesus, obedience, Searching..., stillness, wisdom