There's a incredible Japanese art form and I'll probably mess up the name. But uh Kent Suji. Kent Suji is, is this art form that really the word means golden joinery. And what they do is they take broken pieces of pottery. So bowls, cups and the like and while most people would discard this broken pieces of pottery, they actually take these pieces, these artists and they put them back together using a special kind of golden resin glue. And when they glue it back together, it is stronger and even more beautiful than when originally created. And so I actually have a picture of that. So you can actually see a picture here. And so just a beautiful piece of art. And I love that because their belief is that there is beauty in Brokenness and that when the pieces are being put together, a couple of things happen that it is stronger than ever before. But also each piece becomes unique. And the reason I love this as an art form is because I think it's also a picture of what God does through us that if you've ever felt broken, if you felt overwhelmed, if you felt like God can't use you. God actually puts us back together and when he puts us back together, we are stronger than ever before. And that there is beauty even in the middle of your Brokenness. And so what I want to speak to today is that, you know, we're singing, we're decking the halls, we're having fun. Everything's great. But I want to speak to those who are hurting today. Those that maybe put a brave face on and you came into this room or you're struggling, you're watching online while you're working through some stuff. But I wanna speak into that Brokenness, into that struggle into the, the quietness because I think God speaks into that. And there is hope this Christmas season that we don't have to put our best foot forward for the world to see and approve of. But that in our Brokenness, God puts us back together and, and really, there's beauty in that this morning's message is entitled Missing Peace. And it's a play on words because I think some of us feel like we put together the puzzles of our lives and we feel like we're missing a few pieces. But I think what it is at the core is that we are actually missing peace that comes from God and God alone. You see the definition of peace is complete, whole and restored, complete whole and restored. There's two words for peace in scripture. We see the Hebrew word Shalom. And then the Greek word Rene in Shalom, you might have heard that phrase is, is a common Jewish phrase which really means peace. And now it's used to mean a number of different things. So actually in scripture, uh it's described at one point as a stone of Shalom, meaning that there was a complete or a rock without cracks, right? To be completed there too. You could also use it as a greeting. Why? Then we go into the New Testament where Paul is oftentimes in his letters is like grace and peace to you. There is an opportunity to make peace, to restore a relationship, right? When something is brought back together. And so this picture of peace is this one of restoration of putting together and of wholeness. And another way to think about it is that the opposite of peace or a feeling of anxiety actually means to be pulled apart. So to have peace is to be brought together, to be anxious, is to be pulled in multiple different directions. And so the heartbeat of Christmas is that the arrival of Jesus is the arrival of peace. So if you take notes, you can write down our big idea for today is that within the chaos and complexity of life, Christ makes us complete within the chaos and complexity of life. Christ makes us complete now, where does this come from? We've been walking through the Christmas story every week through the month of advent. And we've been reading the same story found in Luke chapter two. And in week one, we discussed how Jesus brings with him hope and that hope is tied to our expectations and our expectations influence our experience. In other words, if you place your hope in anything other than Jesus, it's gonna impact your experience this Christmas. Then last week, along with a cute kids musical, we preached through the theme of joy. That joy is more than a feeling. It's actually a focus. And so that even when you don't have a smile on your faith, joy can give you strength to your soul. And that the angels to the shepherd delivered good news of great joy. And that joy is based on the fact that Jesus is both Lord and Savior. So we continue our story and after the proclamation by the angels, he's the angel is then surrounded by other angels. And so we pick it up here in Luke chapter two verses 13 and 14. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. So the arrival of Jesus brings the arrival of peace. Now, what's interesting is that this promise of peace was predicted or prophesized over roughly 700 years prior by a guy named Isaiah. Now Isaiah who was seen as a major prophet, not because he was more important than others. But, but just because his letter is a lot longer and so he's got this really long letter in the Old Testament and he is basically a warning sign to the people of Israel. Think about that light that pops on in your dashboard. You know, the one that you've been ignoring, you know, are there, well, quick, quick show of hands here, are there people in the room who as soon as they see a warning light, they take their car in and get it checked out anybody. All right, if you see the warning light and you're just like, ah, I'm sure it's fine anybody. Ok. Yeah, that's me. Right. I wait for like the second or third light to come on. I was like, ok, now something is wrong. Ok. Well, this Isaiah is the warning light for the people of Israel. They've been very disobedient. It's a very pagan culture. It's very worldly culture. There is extreme diversity, but in a way of spiritual worship and, and struggle over power. And so the people of Israel are gonna be taken over by the Assyrians and the people of God are gonna later be taken over by the Babylonians. And so for the most part, for most of the letter, he's like, hey, stop doing that, you're disobeying God judgment is coming. But in the middle of all of that, he also promises hope and salvation. And so in the middle of all this disobedience in the middle of all this darkness that is the world. We can hang on to hope because God is coming and he's gonna provide a better way. And so in the middle of this darkness, in the middle of this world, that seems more divided than ever. The same message of hope comes and it was predicted 700 years before the coming of Jesus. We find this verse in Isaiah chapter nine verse six. For to us, a child is born to us. A son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder. I wanna pause there because they were in a upheaval over government and the Syrians and Babylonians are about to take over. And so there's this all this overthrowing and struggle for power. And so I don't think it's a coincidence. He says, hey, the government is gonna actually be on his shoulder. So not that the shoulder is gonna be on the government, but rather that someone's gonna come that all the weight of the world can rest on his shoulders and he can handle it. And so he gives this imagery here. He says, will rest upon his shoulder. He says, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and Prince of Peace. So we are given four descriptive names of Jesus and actually some translations put a comma between wonderful and counselor. So some will even say uh five names because he's just all encompassing wonderful, I like two words together and other translations put in it. So we're gonna do four, OK? And so we're gonna break down these four names of Jesus because what happens is that each name describes a different aspect about the character of God and each one offers in its own right, peace for you and for me, and this is a specific prediction and prophecy of the coming of Jesus during Christmas time. And so I think this is still relevant for you and for me right now, so the names of Jesus. So some of this is for me, some of this is taken from a commentary written by a guy named Warren wears be excellent commentary there. So we kind of mix this together, run it up with a chart, you can find the chart again on downloading the Church Center app or we'll put it up on the screen. And so what we're gonna see with these names, we're gonna see the name, the area of impact and the actual application of why it matters to you and I today. So the first name, wonderful counselor, this impacts our mind, which then helps us with the decisions of life. The fact that Jesus is described as a wonderful counselor, shapes are mind and then helps us make decisions. You are not simply a combination of your thoughts, but rather a combination of your decisions, you're making decisions by the thousands, every single day and everyone watching or listening to this message right now is receiving counsel from someone or something. So the question is, whose voice are you listening to? Whose voice are you listening to? The fact that God is described as a wonderful counselor gives us a picture of the advice that we're really longing for Jesus. In John chapter 14 puts it this way. He says, but the helper, the Holy spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance. All that I have said to you. Peace. I leave with you, my peace. I give you not as the world gives. Do I give to you? Not let uh not let, not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. And so God offers us his peace. In other words, how many this Christmas could use some peace of mind? How many of you feel like the duck on the pond? Who says on the surface seems calm, cool and collected? But in your head or underneath the water, you're going crazy right now. You know what I'm saying? Have you ever been so mentally drained that you become physically exhausted? You haven't gone anywhere today and yet you just feel so tired because your mind has run a marathon between all the choices that you have to make, right? Someone said something to you. What do they mean when he said that to me? What's the contact. What's the tone? I can't tell tone. It was an email. How do I respond? What if I'm in person? I should totally say this. No, I shouldn't say this. But if they say that, then he'll say this and then we go back and you start going back and forth and you start thinking about their response to your response, their response to the, am I tracking with anybody here? It's tiring. So the question then is where do you get peace of mind? And where do you get your counsel? Whose voice are you listening to? I think as Christians, there are four ways to receive God's counsel, four ways to receive God's counsel. First way Christians can receive God's counsel is by studying his example. Jesus came down to earth, not only as the method for salvation, but also the model for us to follow. First John 26. I believe it says that those who believe in Him shall walk as Jesus walked or those shall live as Jesus lived. So he gives us a model to follow roughly 2030 years ago, 25 years ago. It was real popular. The WWJD bracelets. The reason people would wear those bracelets. What would Jesus do now? I used to think that's not a fair question, right? Because Jesus is a God. So like if you're hungry and you're like, well, what would Jesus do? Well, he can just make stuff up here like that's not a fair question except upon further studying of scripture. What you realize is that Jesus never dips into his deity to live out his humanity, meaning he took on the limitations of flesh, of a human body. He got tired, he got hungry, he, he was betrayed, he was persecuted. He went through daily life to where we now have a savior that has been tempted a savior that can empathize with us, a savior that knows the struggles of humanity. And so he goes through this life through the power of the spirit and actually gives us an example to follow and to live by. And so we can look to the model of Jesus and truly ask ourselves, what would Jesus do if Jesus were in my situation? How would he respond? What would he say? How would he act? How would he love? How would he serve? So, the first way to know God's counsel is to look at the example of Jesus himself. The second way to know God's counsel is to study his word, to study his word. We have the message of God available to us. Hebrews 412 describes the word as living and active. I feel like people get so caught up in wondering and worrying what they don't know. Instead of focusing on obeying what they do know, I silence my phone while I'm preaching, which that makes sense, right? Shouldn't my phone shouldn't be buzzing while I'm up here but my problem is I forget to, uh, change that setting on my phone. And so I'll go through midweek and just repeatedly miss all the calls. And so, like, my wife who's amazing and she'll, like, send me a text message or something like, hey, babe, how's your day? Love you check in on you. Like, she's so sweet and just nothing. And then I'll get home like, babe, why didn't you call me today? It's like I did. I'm like you did not. You totally did call me. Yep. Yep. That's on me. How many of us do that with God. God, I just wanna hear from you if I could just get a word from the Lord. Meanwhile, you've turned the notifications off. He has spoken and he is speaking. The Bible is not just how God spoke. The Bible is how God speaks present tense. So we have as an example, we have his word third. We have a spirit that passage we just read from John 14 tells us that the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the helper is the one that gives us insight and remembrance into all things within the word. So when you get that nudge that little tap on the shoulder, the little whisper in your ear to do something, right? The question then is, well, how do we know it? Is it, is it my desire or is it the Holy Spirit nudging me? Well, the beautiful thing is that God never contradicts himself. And so what you can do is compare the nudge to the word to the life of Jesus because they're all gonna say the same thing, right? I'm gonna add one more in there. Is that if that nudge is gonna lead you to be a little more uncomfortable and requires more faith or a little more sacrifice, it is probably from God. If the focus and that desire ends up being more on self and pride and needs and narcissism that you have, that's, that's gonna be you. Are we trusting the spirit? Are we trust? Are we spirit led and spirit filled spirit led? Really being the combination of humility, trust and obedience, right? That means I'm I humble myself. God, you know, better than I do. I trust that your ways are better than my ways. And so then I'm gonna obey and spirit filled in the fruit of the spirit you see in Galatians five. And so, so do we lead in this way? Do we live in this way or do we run through life and say God come follow me? Well, I want it. I'm gonna get it now. Go, we have one more way to receive God's counsel and that's through his people. What's the saying that you're the average sum of the five closest people in your life, right? Health, finances, spiritual things like who, who are the people that you surround yourselves with? Do you have some Godly people, some mentors in your life that you can ask questions to, that can speak into your life. Do you have people that encourage you or do you live the American way where you do what you want when you want, how you want it? And then you turn around and say, well, if you don't agree with me, then you don't love me. That's not what scripture says. There is wisdom in counsel and Godly people around you. And when you put those all together, doesn't necessarily make the decision easier. But you do have some wisdom in a direction to go. When you have the example of God, the word of God, the spirit of God and the people of God all saying the same thing. Now you have a step to take. So then the question is, is there an area in your life where you need God's counsel? Is there a decision that you know, you need to make? But you're not, is there a nudging from the Holy Spirit or from His word that you know, you need to take? But you're just afraid to or you're hesitant to or you're not sure where to go. If you have a decision to make. Can you bring it before God and trust His example? His word, His spirit and His people to give you counsel? I think you can't because the way He describes it is not just wise, right? Because he say coming of Jesus who is a wise counselor. It's actually a wonderful counselor. It's beautiful. So much of life feels dull. But yet when you walk in the ways of Jesus, it's wonderful. All right. It's the first name of Jesus. Second name, Mighty God. Same descriptors used in other, used in other places to describe a warrior. This impacts your body, the physical aspect of life, which then helps us with the demands of life. You know, there is the mental energy but how much of us, how many of us struggle with the physical energy itself, right? We're walking through the battles of everyday life. And so it helps to know that God isn't just a counselor but a warrior willing to fight the battles for you and with you, how do I know that it's a physical battle? Because Jesus physically came, he physically lived, physically died and physically rose again. Colossians, one verse 20 says, and through him to reconcile to himself, all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace. There it is by the blood of his cross. In other words, Jesus made peace possible by physically dying for us. In the first century. One of the big proponents of Christianity was this group of people called the gnostics. And the gnostics separated the spiritual and the physical. And there were two negative ramifications from that. Their first one was that people said, well, they're spiritual and they're physical, they're not connected. So I can believe what I want over here and then I can live and sleep with and do whatever I want over here because they're two completely separate categories. Well, that's not healthy, but that also is prevalent in today's world. How many people go to church on Sunday? Oh, I believe what I wanna believe. But I'm gonna sleep with who I wanna sleep with and live. What I wanna, how I wanna live and buy what I wanna buy. And it, it, they don't connect because they're spiritual and physical. It doesn't matter, right? That's not healthy. Then the other side of it is, then they separate the two and say, well, everything in the body is bad and only the spiritual matters. So we have to then avoid all things. And so what they did as gnostics, they didn't deny the existence of Jesus. They denied his authority. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus died. OK? And well, no, Jesus came physically to set you free spiritually and he cares how you live, right? We know this to be true. We feel things physically, what we're going through emotionally and spiritually, don't we? Right? We're battling fatigue, we're battling illness, we're battling things in this world. But the deepest root of that is a spiritual one that then has a phys physical outpouring of it. See the same writer Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, writes this in Ephesians chapter six. Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil for. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. What he's saying here is that you might be physically exhausted because you're in a spiritual battle. So to be strong, to physically here, put on the armor of God to fight the battles. We have a God who fights for you and with you and then gives you the peace and the strength to fight. And he starts walking through the different pieces of the armor of God. And we get to verse 15 and it says this, it says, and the shoes on your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Peace are your kicks, piece of the shoes you gotta put on your shoes matter, right? Church. How's your shoe game these days? If you got little ones at home, then you've walked through this battle. How many times have you left the house? Only realized they didn't wear shoes. I remember dropping off one of my kid. I was at preschool and I'm getting him out of the car seat and just completely bare feet. And I was tempted like, well, this is how he's going to school today. And I was like, oh, he's probably gonna think he's homeless. So, uh, we went back and got the shoes and then of course you go back to find the shoes and they're never together. Right. One's buried in a closet, the other one's on the top of a tree. And you're like, how is this even possible? And you find yourself wondering, like, how can you leave the house without your shoes on? Well, church, here's the thing. Are you leaving your house without the shoes of peace on your feet? You're trying to go through everyday life, everyday battles without wearing peace. You know, you talk about the negative side of where, OK, where are the shoes? Where are my shoes? Where are my shoes? But when you get new shoes to a little kid, what do they do? Look how fast I am, right? Look, you put on some fresh kicks of God's peace. You're gonna be going through your day like, oh, what can this day bring? What's this? Cos we have a mighty God who died physically so that you could live spiritually that we can put on the armor of God, which includes the shoes, a piece to help with the different demands of life. Third thing, third name of God. First two, right? Advice. Awesome mighty God warrior. Cool. This next one impacts the heart, everlasting father. It helps with the different dimensions of life. Speaks right to the heart. Sometimes we view God simply as the old school football coach, rub some dirt on it. Get back out there. But when you're hurting, right, you just want to lean in. And this idea of everlasting father gives us a picture of a God who gives a shoulder to cry on. This is unheard of in ancient, near east religion. And really even today, various forms of religion are this, this God who maybe created the world and then backed off and then was judging it. You think about Greek mythology, like all the different things you gotta do to appease the gods and there's like anger behind it and don't get me wrong. There's a God of justice, right? And a holy God. But in the Old Testament, you go from where they barely would say the name of God. Yahweh. It almost sounds like a breath yahweh. He comes this prophecy of an everlasting father that in the New Testament, Paul calls him abba like an intimate personal relationship. That's why if you've ever heard someone say daddy God in their prayers, it sounds off. But honestly, it's the theologically there. We're calling out that the Lord's prayer. How do we start off r father, the personal relationship and a God who can speak to the heart everlasting forever. Shortest verse in the Bible, John 11 verse 35 Lazarus had died. People that Jesus cared about. His friends were mourning the loss of Lazarus 1135 Jesus wept. Now, the fact that Jesus cried, did not make him any less of a man or any less God because a few verses later, he defeated death. I think that's pretty cool. But what it did was it shows his heart and that when God sees you hurting, he hurts. So we have a God who cares? Colossians 315 says let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. You have a piece almost like the umpire calling balls and strikes in your life. What's coming in, right? Are you allowing the peace of God to rush over all the emotions? All the feels you're gonna feel up, you're gonna feel down, you're gonna feel far, you're gonna feel close. But the peace that God gives goes beyond that the rule in your heart, which indeed you were called in one body to be and be thankful. Another example of this piece found in Philippians chapter four verses six and seven, do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known, be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds. In Christ, Jesus, you don't have to understand the plan to trust His purpose. You don't have to be anything or have the right answers. That promise is that when literally the world is going to hell and you're in pain and you're hurting or you're questioning or you're doubting bringing that before God He can give you a peace that goes beyond understanding because it guards your heart and that like a loving father can say daddy's here, come here. Sometimes when you're hurting, you don't want help. You just want a hug. I and God gives you both. So I love that. He speaks to the heart. So the question is for us then and I'm not saying let's go be comfortable because God will call you out in faith. But I am asking, is there an area in your life where you need comfort or you're hurting? Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's betrayal, maybe it's something that you've done and need forgiveness. Maybe it's something that someone has done to you and you need to forgive. But in all this emotional kind of under the surface stuff that people are afraid to talk about, you can take to God and he goes, I see you and I'm here. Last name is it Jesus called the Prince of peace. And I think all four of these names have implications with peace. But I think this one goes deeper. So we've talked about the mind, we've talked about the body, we've talked about the heart. I think this one really speaks to the deepest core of who we are, our soul, our soul, and it helps us with the disturbances of life. Because let me tell you storms are coming. If they're not, they're already here and it's not like receive Jesus and then it's all sunny days and rather he says, receive Jesus put on the armor, it's go time. I'm gonna give you the strength to carry you through. How do we know this? Ephesians 214 for he himself is our peace. Who made us both one and has broken down in his flesh, in the dividing wall of hostility. Jesus himself is our peace. So peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of Jesus. And how did he accomplish this peace? How did he make it available? Romans 51. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the depth of what we need in our soul. This forgiveness of sin is provided through the sacrifice of Jesus that he is peace. The arrival of Jesus is the arrival of peace. Mark chapter four. The disciples are in a boat, there's a storm, it's in the middle of the night. A lot of them are fishermen. So how bad does the storm have to be for fishermen to be afraid of their life? And what is Jesus doing? He's taking a nap. My man, Jesus loves leftovers, loves naps. Let's go. Ok. He's sleeping, they wake Jesus, he speaks and the storm calms down. The disciples still experienced the storm. The difference was that they had Jesus in their boat. Psalm 23 verse four. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Everyone's walking through a valley. The difference. The reason you don't have to fear evil is because the good shepherd is with you Jesus Emmanuel God with us. So the question we have to ask ourselves at the deepest level is, how's your soul? How's your soul? Just think about this for a moment. What was our first definition of peace, complete whole, restored the four names we just gave today impacts our mind, our heart, our soul, our body. You know what happens when you have peace at all four levels? If you whole and you have peace. So what area do you need peace in your life today? Are you struggling in your mind? Are you stressed out? Overwhelmed? Are you physically exhausted in your body? Are you emotionally tapped out or at the deepest level? As there is a spiritual unrest in your soul? There is good news for you. Good news of great joy because Jesus has come savior and Lord and with him comes peace. It starts with trusting him. So I know you can have peace this Christmas because peace is a person, the person of Jesus. Would you put your faith in Him today? Would you pray with me dear God apart from you, life can feel restless and overwhelming and a struggle because you are a savior in your Lord because you died on the cross and rose again. I can have peace for my soul. I can have peace in my mind, I can have peace in my body. I have peace in my heart that you are mighty and fight our battles. And yet you are personal like a father and you are a prince to rule as a king and in all things, you are wonderful. What Isaiah prophesized? 700 years before you're coming. 2700 years before today still rings true. We put our belief and our trust in you. We commit our lives to you. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for loving us and thank you for giving us everlasting, overcoming all powerful. That's my prayer for our people today that we can experience your peace and your sons and we pray amen.