Celebrating The Character of Christ

Isaiah 11:1-2, reads: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—"

Isaiah give us tremendous insight into the secret of peace in spite of our circumstances or the affairs of our lives. In these two verses, Isaiah gives us several characteristics of the coming "shoot...from the stump of Jesse". Obviously, the prophecy begins with a prophetic promise of the coming Messiah. And he gives a really interesting description of the coming Messiah.

The Holy Spirt's role in the Christmas story is the anointing that He brings to the Messiah. According to Isaiah, the Spirit will anoint the Messiah with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. What is he saying?

I believe that when we understand the attributes and character of Jesus, we begin to think  differently, which in turn, causes us to live differently. When we reflect and meditate on the character of Christ, our thought processes are transformed. And when we begin to think differently, our own character and behavior changes as well.

For most of us, when we experience difficult or trying circumstances, our thoughts focuses on the difficulties, the pain, and the struggles. We wonder why we are experiencing the event or maybe if the unfairness of the experiences.

But when we trust the wisdom and understanding of the Messiah, we are confident that His wisdom is greater that ours and He knows what He is doing. When we trust that He is able to counsel us during those events, we can also trust that He has the might to accomplish good, even in the midst of our pain (Romans 8:28).


So the first secret that Isaiah shares with us concerning our experiencing peace in spite of our difficulties is to focus on, elevate, and celebrate the character of Christ.

The Gift of Peace

As we begin our new series on Christmas Gifts, we started by looking at The Gift of Peace. In the book of Isaiah, we discover that Holy Spirit moves into the Christmas story with a sense of peace. Isaiah 11:6-9 refers to the predator lying down with the prey. "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. It is a picture of supernatural, Divine peace.

It is important to remember that Isaiah did not live in a peaceful time. He was preparing the people for the invasion of the Babylonians which would eventually lead to the exile of the Hebrews. Yet, peace is a major theme in Isaiah, and specifically in the Christmas prophecies. The word peace that Isaiah uses means more than just our English word peace. It carries the idea of the coming of wholeness and fullness. The prophecies of the coming Messiah is one that will bring wholeness and fullness to mankind. And as I said earlier, it is theme that is closely related to Christmas.

 In Isaiah 9, we are told that one of His names will be the Prince of Peace. In Isaiah 2:5, we find Micah (a contemporary of Isaiah) prophesying that the Christ child will be born in the town of Bethlehem. And he goes on to say that He will be the source of peace. We flip over to Luke and read about Zachariah's prophesying about his son John the Baptist, how his son John will point to Christ, and how their ministry together will lead to a path of peace. Then Luke 2 describes the angels coming to the shepherds, and proclaiming "Peace on earth, goodwill to men." 

However, the Christmas story is actually anything but peaceful. Angels show up and scare the shepherds to death. A teenage girl is told she is going to be the mother of God and conceive a child even though she is a virgin. Mary and Joseph live with the stigma of raising a child born out of wedlock. They are living under a period of Roman occupation and brutality. The king is a paranoid egomaniac, who has all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of two killed to prevent this newborn king from living. Nothing about this story is peaceful.

And for many of us, the Christmas season is not peaceful. We go home are places of conflict. Our shopping centers make the news daily of brutality and attacks during the holiday shopping. Conflicts and war continue to ravage our planet. Hunger and poverty continually plague many of the children of our planet. Peaceful? Hardly.

So how do we have peace when the events and circumstances of our lives do not lend themselves to peace? How do we experience peace when the lamb is being stalked by the lion? Mark Batterson says it this way, "Peace has less to do with the state of affairs we live in than the state of being we rest in."  The events and circumstances of our lives (our state of affairs) might be filled with chaos and conflict, tension, and strife; however, our spirits (our state of being) can be at rest. Peace is not so much about the state of affairs that we live in, but the state of being that we rest in.

This week, we are going to look at two really important concepts that will enable us to experience the supernatural peace of God in spite of our circumstances. The first is the character of God? Secondly, we are going to look at some practical things we can do to experience peace in spite of our circumstances. I hope you will read all these post. In a world filled with stress, anxiety, and pain...God promises us a supernatural peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

When Life Throws You A Curve

Three nations aligned against Judah and her king, Jehoshaphat. They met in a place that should have been Judah's ultimate destruction. The people of God were out-numbered, out-gunned, and were staring annihilation in the face. But as God often does, the valley that should have been their destruction, became the valley of their greatest blessing. 2 Chronicles 20:26 says, "On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today."


Judah didn't have to fight the battle (just as God had promised). All they had to do was enjoy the spoils of God's victory. The Bible says that it took three full days to gather up all the plunder left on the battlefield! I just want to say it again! The place of that should have been their ultimate defeat became the valley of their greatest blessing.


This was something the people of Judah would never have gone after themselves. The weren't the ones scheming to attack and conquer. They weren't devising plans to rob the Amonites, Moabites, and Meunites of their goods and supplies. They were minding their own business. But when these enemy armies conspired to do evil against them, God said, in effect, “You're not taking anything from my people today. In fact, you're giving to my people today.” And the army of Judah spent three days gathering everything.  Proverbs 13:22: “The sinners' wealth passes to the godly.”

So let me conclude this week, and this sermon series by giving you three things to remember when you face what appears to be overwhelming odds. First of all, you can outlast your problems. Even if can't conquer a problem in your own power, you can choose to outlast the problem. Many situations are able to resolve themselves, if we just allow them the opportunity to run their course.  That doesn't mean that you do nothing and wait for the problem to fix itself. It does mean that you continue to pray, you continue to trust, you continue to praise, you continue to put yourself in position for God to work a miracle. So remember, when life throws more at you than you can handle, stay faithful, stay consistent, keep walking with God, and you'll find yourself outlasting the enemy.

Secondly, the valley of blessing should be a valley of praise. Judah praised Him when they sought His help.They praised Him when they were stepping out in faith. And they praised Him when He's gave them victory. In everything situation....Praise Him! At every stage of a crisis, the stage of despair, the stage of faithful obedience, and the stage of victory,remember that praise and worship and thanksgiving play a vital role. 

Finally, when battles are public, remember that public battles lead to public victories. Public victories not only bring honor glory to God, they bring a proper amount of honor and respect to you, as well. You'll be able to make a difference in people's lives, because they will have witnessed the power of God at work in your life.  That's why, when we've been to the Valley of Blessing, we need to do what the people of Judah did. We need to march around with harps and horns, making as much noise as possible, proclaiming to all who will listen, "God has given me victory."

Valley of Blessing

As we conclude our series entitled Trouble Is Coming, we focused on how God accomplished an amazing miracle for King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. As a recap, Jehoshaphat was a godly king who tried to lead his people into a period of spiritual restoration. While doing what was right, he faced a tremendous crisis. Three kings aligned their armies for the sole purpose of annihilating Judah. You see, living for Christ does not automatically grant us immunity from struggles. Even though he was terrified, Jehoshaphat began to seek God (2 Chronicles 20:3). We discovered the first of three over-arching principles at this point: Because it is God's heart to have an intimate, personal relationship with us, He orchestrates the events of our lives to cause us to seek Him.


God told Jehoshaphat that He was going to fight this battle for the people of Israel (verse 15, 17). But He did command Jehoshaphat to lead the army of Israel into a face-to-face confrontation with the approaching enemies. He informed Jehoshaphat to position himself against His enemies. We discovered that the singers of Judah led the soldiers into battle. The second over-arching principle from this story is that if we want to God to fight our battles, we much get ourself into the right position...a position of praise and worship.


Today, we discover that "At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped." (2 Chronicles 20:22-24). 


The armies of Judah began to plunder the riches of these three conquered armies. It took them three days to collect their prize. Then we read in verse 26: "On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today."  


Do you see it? The third over-arching principle of this story: The very place that the enemy is waiting to conquer us, can become the place of our greatest blessing. God told Jehoshaphat to position himself face-to-face with the invading armies. The armies thought they were gathering in this valley to eradicate the people of Judah. But this place that was intended to be the Valley of Judah's destruction became the Valley of Judah's blessing.

Whatever is causing you the greatest amount of stress right now, whether it is a financial problem, a relational problem, a physical problem, an emotional problem, or a spiritual problem; that thing that the enemy has designed to be your valley of destruction will become the source of your greatest blessing, if you seek God, fill your heart with praise and worship, and believe His promise to deliver you. Your valley of destruction can become your valley of blessing!

God Will Show Up And God Will Show Out

We have been looking at an exciting story found in 2 Chronicles 20, where King Jehoshaphat was facing a problem where he didn't know what to do. Three of his enemies had aligned their armies for the sole purpose of eradicating Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. We saw that Jehoshaphat began to seek the Lord (verse 3) and God told him that the battle was not his, but God's (verses 15; 17). During our first week of this series, we discovered that every event of our lives is orchestrated by God to cause us to seek Him

This week we have been looking at the challenge God gave Jehoshaphat to go face-to-face with his enemies. We have discovered that God wants us to meet our problems face-to-face because He wants to give us victory in the presence of our problems. We have also learned that the time to confront our problems is now.

As we conclude this week's posts, we are going to discover the overarching principle of this entire story: If we want God to fight our battles, we must position ourselves in the proper place.  "You will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord's victory." (verse 17). What was the position that God told Jehoshaphat to take? The same that you and I should take when we are faced with problems where we don't know what to do.

“After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!” (verse 21). Then the Bible says in verse 22: “At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.” Did you catch it? At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the enemy self-destructed. Last week we talked about how praise and worship are an important part of seeking God. They're also an important part of confronting your problems, and they're crucial to experiencing victory.

The difference in confronting your problems and complaining about your problems is praise and worship! People who complain about their problems act as if their problems are the biggest in the world. People who confront their problems with faith and praise know that God is bigger than any problem they will ever face. 

In this story, the army of Judah was preceded by praise, and, as a result, they never had to enter the fight. God fought the battle for them. If you and I will precede our battles with praise, we won't have to fight our battles either. And as my friend Sandy, who is battling stage 4 cancer often says, "God will show up and God will show out!"