December 10, 2025 • 25 mins
From His Heart Ministries
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you need a counselor? Well, guess what the wonderful
counselor is here today on promise heart.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Do you ever feel like you're going a little crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
You can get so overwhelmed with issues and situations and
problems and pressures, especially around Christmas time, that you can
feel like you are losing it, And so we just
live lives of quiet desperation.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, if there were just a.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Counselor someone that we could go to that would understand,
someone who could really help us. There is He's the
Wonderful Counselor and he wants to help you and help me.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Scool with real truth.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Real from what does the name Wonderful Counselor about Jesus? Well,
you'll be encouraged by today's message of hope as Pastor
Jeff Sherive reveals the heart of Jesus and how he
can work miracles in your life when you bring your
(01:11):
problems to him. This is from his Heart with Pastor
Jeff Sharieve and today's lesson is entitled the Wonderful Counselors Here,
and it's from Pastor Jeff's timely series for this holiday
time called What a Beautiful Name Isaiah's description of the
Promised Messiah. In this series, Pastor Jeff's going to explore
(01:31):
the beautiful names of Jesus and how he can change
your heart and bring peace to your life. Pastor Jeff
is also contributed to the writing of a beautifully moving
daily devotional book for next year. It's called The Heart
is God's Home. It's our thanks for your crucial gift
of support this month from his heart, a vital end
(01:51):
of the year gift as we hope to reach oh
so many more this coming year. And you can get
your copy when you make your gift today by eight
six six four zero Bible or go online to Promisehart
dot Org. More on the book later. Now, though, open
your Bible to the Book of Isaiah chapter nine. Here's
(02:12):
Pastor Jeff to begin the series. Isaiah's description of the
Promised Messiah and the first message. The wonderful Counselor is
here now.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Isaiah, the prophet who began his ministry around seven point
forty BC and had a long ministry over fifty years.
He and his writing in Isaiah chapter nine, he gives
us some names. The Lord has lots of names. He
gives us some names concerning this one who will come
Isaiah nine to six. For a child will be born
(02:44):
to us, and we celebrate the child being born, and
we talk about the Nativity scene, the infant story. A
child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us. That's the infinite sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
For God so love the world that.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He gave his only begotten son. And the government will
rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called,
will be proclaimed wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince
of Peace. So the very first name he gives us
is the name wonderful counselor. Not just any counselor, but
(03:24):
the wonderful counselor, the counselor who works wonders, the counselor
who works miracles. I heard about a man. He went
to see this high priced counselor. He was a psychologist.
He went into his office. They exchanged pleasantries, and the
psychologist said, well, how can I help you? And the
(03:45):
man said, well, I don't think he can help me.
He said, I've been to psychiatrists, psychologists, therapist counselors from
the east coast to the west coast, and they all
tell me the same thing. I can't be helped because
I'm crazy. And the doctor said, well, well, tell me
your story. And so the man began to tell his story,
(04:06):
and the psychologist had his pad and he's listening so intently,
taking notes.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Uh huh, uh huh.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
About twenty minutes into it, the man gets up and said,
I'm leaving. You're incompetent. You don't know what you're doing.
You can't help me at all.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I'm leaving.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And the doctor's like, hey, wait a minute. You said
I'm incompetent. I don't understand this. And the man said, well,
let me tell you why I said that. He said,
I've been in your office now for twenty minutes. He said,
I'm wearing two watches on my wrists. They're two identical watches,
one on my left hand, one on my right hand.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
He said.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
As I've been talking to you, I've been gesturing. I've
been raising my hands. He said, not one time have
you said anything about me wearing two watches. Now, I
would figure even a novice would know that you need
to say something to somebody if they're wearing two watches.
You didn't say anything. You're supposed to be a trained professional.
Therefore you're an incompetent. I want my money back.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I'm leaving.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
The doctor said, well, ho time, time out. He said,
I've been taking notes. He said, I want you to
read what is on the top of my notepad and
he gave it to the man. Man read it and
he says, patient is wearing two watches. And he said, see,
I knew as soon as you got in here that
you're wearing two watches. And he said, and furthermore, I
(05:21):
know why you're wearing two watches. And at that the
guy got excited. He said, really, I've been to all
these doctors. You can tell me why am I wearing
two watches. He said, well, it's because you're crazy. You
told me that when you first came in here. Do
you ever feel like you're going a little crazy? I mean,
(05:44):
we live in a crazy world. Our world is so
crazy we can't figure out the difference between a boy
and a girl.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
That's how crazy our world is. But in life it
can do.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
You can get so overwhelmed with issues, in situations and
problems and pressures, especially around Christmas.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Time, that you can feel like you are losing it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You are just being spread so thin and you can
get worried and bothered and stressed about so many things.
And if you're not careful, you can get down and
depressed about your life, about your failures and faults and
financial condition. It was Henry David Thoreau, the nineteenth century
(06:28):
author and poet and philosopher, who said this, The massive
men lead lives of quiet desperation, the massive men, and
especially men, especially males. Because we live lives of quiet desperation.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
We don't feel who.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
We're struggling with issues and problems and difficulties and frailties
and faults in our own character, and we don't feel
like we have anyone that we can share them with,
and so we just live lives of quiet desperation.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Oh, if there were just.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
A counselor someone that we could go to that would understand, someone.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Who could really help us. There is a counselor.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
He's the Wonderful Counselor, and he is here by his
Holy Spirit, and he wants to help you and help me. Now,
when Isaiah told us that his name would be called,
would be proclaimed, it's not so much that the people
would see him on the street and say, hey, wonderful counselor.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It's not that his name means that.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
His name proclaims that that's who he is. He is
the wonderful Counselor. And because Isaiah calls him the wonderful Counselor,
there are four wonderful assurances that we glean from the
name the Wonderful Counselor. Assurance number one, Jesus is the
(07:55):
wonderful counselor.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And he knows about our problems.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
See, you might go to a counselor, you have to
tell him your problems because he doesn't know about your problems.
But the Wonderful Counselor, he knows all about your problems
before you ever open your mouth, because the eyes of
the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and
the good. When the Lord met Moses at the burning bush,
(08:23):
remember he called to him, Moses, Moses, here I am,
He says, take your shoes off, because the place on
which you're standing is holy ground. I am the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
And he says to him in Exodus chapter three, verse seven,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people who
(08:43):
are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry
because of their task masters. For I am aware of
their sufferings. They'd been slaves in Egypt for over four
hundred years. The Lord wasn't indifferent to their plight. The
Lord wasn't unaware. He was aware, He knew, and he
knew the suffering that they were going through. And the
(09:06):
Lord knows today what you're going through. There might not
be another person in your life who really understands what
you're going through, but the Lord does.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
He knows, He's seen it.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
He's seen your sufferings, your grief, your pain, your sorrow.
That's what that word means. Some of you cried yourself
to sleep this week. The Lord saw that, He saw
every tear. He knows. But not only does he know,
as the wonderful counselor wonderful assurance number two, he cares,
(09:42):
He knows, and he cares about your problems and your
struggles and your trials. On Peter chapter five tells us this,
humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all
your cares upon him, because he cares for you, casting
(10:04):
all your anxiety upon him, all your worries upon him.
Why because he cares for you. Literally it matters to
him concerning you. And the Lord says, not only do
I know, but I care, And when you are hurting,
I hurt for you. See, we deal with difficult situations.
(10:28):
The Lord knows, and the Lord cares. We deal with
difficult people at work, or maybe in the neighborhood, or
maybe even in your own home. Difficult people. The Lord
knows and the Lord cares. And then we deal with
every single one of us. We deal with what the
King James calls besetting sins. New American Standard calls it
(10:50):
the sins which so easily entangle us. They're different for
different people. Many in this room. The sin that so
easily entangles you as the sin of blust. For others,
the sin which so easily entangles you is the sin
of insecurity and constantly comparing, and you don't ever match up,
(11:10):
and you just feel like you're so less than. For others,
it's pride for others, it's greed. For others, it's bitterness.
There's somebody that hurts you and you refuse and can't
seem to get past the fact what they did, and
you're carrying this bitterness toward that person.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Well, what do you do with all that?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Hebrews Chapter four, verse fifteen says this, we do not
have a high priest speaking of Jesus, who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in
all things as we are yet without sin. The Lord
sympathizes with our weaknesses, with our faults, with our failings,
(11:53):
with those sins which so easily entangle us, which we
struggle against, and we seem to fail and fail and fail.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
We get the idea that.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
God he just must be so sick of me because
I can't ever seem to get a handle on this
area or that area, and I keep falling to drugs,
to alcohol, to pornography, to this, to that, to the other. Hey,
he sympathizes with our weaknesses. He's been tempted in those areas.
He's been tempted to be bitter, he's been tempted to lust,
he's been tempted to be greedy. He's been tempted in
(12:24):
all points as we are, yet without sin. The Bible
says in Hebrews too, that he's able to come because
he's been tempted. He's able to come to the aid
of those who are tempted. So he knows and he cares,
and he wants us. Thirdly to come to him with
(12:44):
our problems, to.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Come to him. Hey, I know what you've gone through.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
The wonderful Counselor says, I see it, and I feel
for you in this.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I want you to come to me, and I want
you to talk to me about it. Truth of the
matter is, many of us don't come. James, Chapter four,
verse two says this, you have not because you ask not.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
You don't come to me. You're dealing with this problem,
this difficulty.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Maybe it's external, maybe it's in a situation, maybe it's
with the person. Maybe it's internal. Maybe it's something you're
struggling with, some sin you're struggling with. But here's the thing.
You're not coming to God to help you. You're not
coming to the wonderful Counselor. And the Lord says, you
have not because you ask not. Now, David was a
(13:41):
man that the Bible describes only a man in scripture.
The Bible describes this way a man after God's own heart,
and one of the things.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
That made David different from everyone else.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
As far as that goes, is that he had such
a tender heart toward God. And he said in Psalm
sixty to verse eight, here's the secret of David's greatness.
Trust in him at all times, O people, pour out
your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
(14:15):
God is a refuge for us. So trust in him,
have confidence in him, be bold with him, because.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
He's a refuge. He's a shelter. He's a safe place.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
See when the Lord says, I want you to come
to me, you come to the wonderful counselor. And you
know that the wonderful Counselor is a safe place.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's safe to.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Share everything with him. Lots of us don't like to
share things. We don't like to share things with people.
We don't like to share things with him. We definitely
don't like to share the sins which so easily entangle us.
Why because we're ashamed of those things, So we don't
want to share those things.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But hey, David man after God's own heart.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
He had some terrible things, terrible things with lusting after
Uriyah's wife Bathsheba, having sex with Bathsheba, and then having Uriah.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They hit tight, her husband killed.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Because Bathsheba ended up pregnant, and David didn't know what
to do, and everyone would know, Hey, Uriah was out
fighting a war and there's no way that he could
be the father of this child. And it was going
to come back on David. So he ended up having
Uriah killed. Put him in the heat of the battle.
He told the general Joe abb put him in the
(15:32):
heat of the battle, and everybody else would draw that
was David. That's the man after God's own heart. He
did those terrible things. But what did he do with
all of that? He brought it to the Lord. He
shared it with the Lord. All the ugliness and all
the sin and all the terrible things, he shared that
with the Lord. And all throughout the Psalms, when he
had things coming at him and people coming at him,
(15:55):
what would he do. He'd cry out to the Lord
because he knew the Lord card was a safe place.
I've counseled enough people over the years that I know
there's a recurring question when they come in. Now, Pastor Jeff,
this is confidential, right, I'm getting ready to tell you.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Some things about me, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Afraid that this will get out. It's like the old
Breck commercial. They told two friends, and they told two friends,
and so on and so on and so on. You know,
small towns are known for gossip, and so if somebody's
going to come in and share some deep, dark secrets,
they want to know. This is confidential, right, This is safe?
(16:37):
Is it safe for me to share my heart here?
It's safe for you to share with the Lord. He's
a safe place, and David shared early and often. It
says in First John, Chapter four, verse eighteen, there is
(16:59):
no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear
because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is
not perfected in love.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
We love because He first loved us. There's no fear
in love when you understand God loves me.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
He loves me when I'm doing good, He loves me
when I'm doing terrible.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He just loves me.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
And if I share with him some terrible, horrible thing
that I did, or some thoughts that I've had that
have been awful, He's not gonna stop loving me. Because
Romans five, verse eight, God demonstrates his own love toward us,
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us when we were separated from God. He died for us.
How much more is his own son, his own daughter?
(17:46):
Will he not love us no matter what? So it's
safe to share everything with him, and it's necessary to
share everything with him. It's critical to share everything with him.
You want to build a close relationship with the Lord,
you have to share with him. See, sharing creates vulnerability,
(18:10):
and vulnerability creates intimacy with God. If you just share
surface stuff with God, safe stuff in your mind, you think, well,
this is safe. You know, there's no sin attached to this,
there's no bad motives that I have attached to this.
So I'm gonna I'm going to talk to God about
the safe stuff in the safe zone. In our minds,
we think everything is safe, but we think that's the
(18:31):
safe zone where you just have a relationship with God.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That's just surfacing.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
You have to get down and you have to start
sharing some things. And when you do, all of a sudden,
you deepen your relationship with him. Why because you're sharing
secrets with him. You're sharing shattered hopes and shattered dreams
and all the pain and all the failure.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You're sharing all that with him.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
But see here's what most people do. Guys especially do this,
and ladies this is what we talk about up. Ladies
tend to be better at sharing than men. Men don't
seem to want to share too much because that makes
us vulnerable, and we don't like to be vulnerable, and
so we typically don't have very many people to share with,
(19:13):
or anybody to share with. And that's why thererou said
the massive Men lead lives of quiet desperation, no one
to talk to about what we're struggling with. The truth
of the matter is most men are struggling with the
same things. And so I think, well, nobody else has
this problem. And the guy next to me is thinking, well,
nobody else has this problem. The guy next nobody else
has this problem. All three have the same problem if
(19:34):
they would just share with one another.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
But here's what we try and do. We try and man.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Just buck up, bucko, I mean, just pull yourself up
by your bootstraps, get a stiff upper lip. You can
handle this. There was a song that was written by
two guys. They were brothers. One of them was named
Felix Lloyd Powell. He was from Wales. He was serving
(20:00):
as a staff sergeant in the army during World War One,
and he and his brother wrote a song to encourage
the troops.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
It was called pack up your troubles in.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Your old kit bag and smile, Smile, smile, And that's
how the lyric went, pack up your troubles in your
old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
What's the use of worrying?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It never was worthwhile, So pack up your troubles in
your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile. What do
you do with troubles, Well, you don't have to share them.
You just pack them up. You just put them in
the knapsack. You just stuff them in there, and you
just put on a smile and everything will be fine.
They wrote that song and it was a huge hit
(20:46):
and soldiers would march to that song. It was deemed
one of the most encouraging songs written in that era.
That's what Felix Lord Powell and his brother wrote in
nineteen team You know what happened in nineteen forty two.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Felix Lloyd Powell.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Was overwhelmed with problems and financial pressures and he put
on his uniform, took a gun.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And blew his heart out. You know that tells me
there are some things that.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
You can't pack up, that I can't pack up, that
we can't just stuff away and act like, well, this
is no big deal. I can handle this. I'm a
big boy. I can do this because you can't.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I can't. No one can't, David couldn't. You got to
get that stuff out.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
If you try and bury those hurts, it's like burying
toxic waste. It's gonna leak out, and it's going to
poison and it's going to ruin. Hey, it's critical to
share everything with the Lord.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
This has truly been an important caution against keeping all
our hurts to ourselves and not taking them to the Lord.
We need to continually be in Christ and beside Him
as well to ward off this tendency to try to
fight the devil on our own. How do you do that? Well?
A chief weapon you can use in that battle is
(22:16):
to discipline yourself to have some quiet time with God
each and every morning or any time of the day.
And that would be a great way to start the
new year too. And to help you do that throughout
the year, Pastor Jeff participated in the creation of a
new three hundred and sixty five day devotional book for
twenty twenty six. It's called The Heart is God's Home.
(22:39):
It is a quality keepsake book with a beautiful full
leather cover, and it'll help you sink up your heart
with God's heart. When we ask the Holy Spirit to
come into our hearts, we'll desire his ways. First. John
chapter four, verse four says greater is He who is
in you than he who is in the world. To
help you draw near to him, this daily devotional will
(23:01):
keep him first in your heart and in your thoughts
and in your actions. It's also our thank you gift
for your support to from His Heart this month of
any amount. This is a crucial time for us financially
to get the support we need to be able to
go and to grow in twenty twenty six. Pastor Jeff
is strictly a volunteer for this ministry receives no income
(23:22):
from it. Would you pray and consider a special year
in gift this month, we would so much appreciate it.
When you do make that gift, we'll send you the
book The Heart is God's Home, a daily devotional that
you'll learn to grow by. Call eight six six four
zero Bible to get yours eat six six four zero
Bible or go online to make a secure gift that
(23:45):
from his Heart dot org and God bless you for
joining with us in this mission to reach the world
for Christ. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join us
tomorrow for part two of the message called the Wonderful
Counselor from Pastor Jeff's Sees. What a beautiful name That's
on Friday, when Pastor Jeff shree will share real truth,
(24:06):
real love, and real hope from God's heart here on,
from his heart always, from his Heart is the listener
(24:39):
supported broadcast ministry of doctor Jeff Shreeve speaking the truth
in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember,
no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. Find out more go to Promishart
dot org.
Do you need a counselor? Well, guess what the wonderful
counselor is here today on promise heart.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Do you ever feel like you're going a little crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
You can get so overwhelmed with issues and situations and
problems and pressures, especially around Christmas time, that you can
feel like you are losing it, And so we just
live lives of quiet desperation.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, if there were just a.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Counselor someone that we could go to that would understand,
someone who could really help us. There is He's the
Wonderful Counselor and he wants to help you and help me.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Scool with real truth.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Real from what does the name Wonderful Counselor about Jesus? Well,
you'll be encouraged by today's message of hope as Pastor
Jeff Sherive reveals the heart of Jesus and how he
can work miracles in your life when you bring your
(01:11):
problems to him. This is from his Heart with Pastor
Jeff Sharieve and today's lesson is entitled the Wonderful Counselors Here,
and it's from Pastor Jeff's timely series for this holiday
time called What a Beautiful Name Isaiah's description of the
Promised Messiah. In this series, Pastor Jeff's going to explore
(01:31):
the beautiful names of Jesus and how he can change
your heart and bring peace to your life. Pastor Jeff
is also contributed to the writing of a beautifully moving
daily devotional book for next year. It's called The Heart
is God's Home. It's our thanks for your crucial gift
of support this month from his heart, a vital end
(01:51):
of the year gift as we hope to reach oh
so many more this coming year. And you can get
your copy when you make your gift today by eight
six six four zero Bible or go online to Promisehart
dot Org. More on the book later. Now, though, open
your Bible to the Book of Isaiah chapter nine. Here's
(02:12):
Pastor Jeff to begin the series. Isaiah's description of the
Promised Messiah and the first message. The wonderful Counselor is
here now.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Isaiah, the prophet who began his ministry around seven point
forty BC and had a long ministry over fifty years.
He and his writing in Isaiah chapter nine, he gives
us some names. The Lord has lots of names. He
gives us some names concerning this one who will come
Isaiah nine to six. For a child will be born
(02:44):
to us, and we celebrate the child being born, and
we talk about the Nativity scene, the infant story. A
child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us. That's the infinite sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
For God so love the world that.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
He gave his only begotten son. And the government will
rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called,
will be proclaimed wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince
of Peace. So the very first name he gives us
is the name wonderful counselor. Not just any counselor, but
(03:24):
the wonderful counselor, the counselor who works wonders, the counselor
who works miracles. I heard about a man. He went
to see this high priced counselor. He was a psychologist.
He went into his office. They exchanged pleasantries, and the
psychologist said, well, how can I help you? And the
(03:45):
man said, well, I don't think he can help me.
He said, I've been to psychiatrists, psychologists, therapist counselors from
the east coast to the west coast, and they all
tell me the same thing. I can't be helped because
I'm crazy. And the doctor said, well, well, tell me
your story. And so the man began to tell his story,
(04:06):
and the psychologist had his pad and he's listening so intently,
taking notes.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Uh huh, uh huh.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
About twenty minutes into it, the man gets up and said,
I'm leaving. You're incompetent. You don't know what you're doing.
You can't help me at all.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I'm leaving.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And the doctor's like, hey, wait a minute. You said
I'm incompetent. I don't understand this. And the man said, well,
let me tell you why I said that. He said,
I've been in your office now for twenty minutes. He said,
I'm wearing two watches on my wrists. They're two identical watches,
one on my left hand, one on my right hand.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
He said.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
As I've been talking to you, I've been gesturing. I've
been raising my hands. He said, not one time have
you said anything about me wearing two watches. Now, I
would figure even a novice would know that you need
to say something to somebody if they're wearing two watches.
You didn't say anything. You're supposed to be a trained professional.
Therefore you're an incompetent. I want my money back.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I'm leaving.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
The doctor said, well, ho time, time out. He said,
I've been taking notes. He said, I want you to
read what is on the top of my notepad and
he gave it to the man. Man read it and
he says, patient is wearing two watches. And he said, see,
I knew as soon as you got in here that
you're wearing two watches. And he said, and furthermore, I
(05:21):
know why you're wearing two watches. And at that the
guy got excited. He said, really, I've been to all
these doctors. You can tell me why am I wearing
two watches. He said, well, it's because you're crazy. You
told me that when you first came in here. Do
you ever feel like you're going a little crazy? I mean,
(05:44):
we live in a crazy world. Our world is so
crazy we can't figure out the difference between a boy
and a girl.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
That's how crazy our world is. But in life it
can do.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
You can get so overwhelmed with issues, in situations and
problems and pressures, especially around Christmas.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Time, that you can feel like you are losing it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You are just being spread so thin and you can
get worried and bothered and stressed about so many things.
And if you're not careful, you can get down and
depressed about your life, about your failures and faults and
financial condition. It was Henry David Thoreau, the nineteenth century
(06:28):
author and poet and philosopher, who said this, The massive
men lead lives of quiet desperation, the massive men, and
especially men, especially males. Because we live lives of quiet desperation.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
We don't feel who.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
We're struggling with issues and problems and difficulties and frailties
and faults in our own character, and we don't feel
like we have anyone that we can share them with,
and so we just live lives of quiet desperation.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Oh, if there were just.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
A counselor someone that we could go to that would understand, someone.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Who could really help us. There is a counselor.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
He's the Wonderful Counselor, and he is here by his
Holy Spirit, and he wants to help you and help me. Now,
when Isaiah told us that his name would be called,
would be proclaimed, it's not so much that the people
would see him on the street and say, hey, wonderful counselor.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
It's not that his name means that.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
His name proclaims that that's who he is. He is
the wonderful Counselor. And because Isaiah calls him the wonderful Counselor,
there are four wonderful assurances that we glean from the
name the Wonderful Counselor. Assurance number one, Jesus is the
(07:55):
wonderful counselor.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And he knows about our problems.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
See, you might go to a counselor, you have to
tell him your problems because he doesn't know about your problems.
But the Wonderful Counselor, he knows all about your problems
before you ever open your mouth, because the eyes of
the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and
the good. When the Lord met Moses at the burning bush,
(08:23):
remember he called to him, Moses, Moses, here I am,
He says, take your shoes off, because the place on
which you're standing is holy ground. I am the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
And he says to him in Exodus chapter three, verse seven,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people who
(08:43):
are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry
because of their task masters. For I am aware of
their sufferings. They'd been slaves in Egypt for over four
hundred years. The Lord wasn't indifferent to their plight. The
Lord wasn't unaware. He was aware, He knew, and he
knew the suffering that they were going through. And the
(09:06):
Lord knows today what you're going through. There might not
be another person in your life who really understands what
you're going through, but the Lord does.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
He knows, He's seen it.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
He's seen your sufferings, your grief, your pain, your sorrow.
That's what that word means. Some of you cried yourself
to sleep this week. The Lord saw that, He saw
every tear. He knows. But not only does he know,
as the wonderful counselor wonderful assurance number two, he cares,
(09:42):
He knows, and he cares about your problems and your
struggles and your trials. On Peter chapter five tells us this,
humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all
your cares upon him, because he cares for you, casting
(10:04):
all your anxiety upon him, all your worries upon him.
Why because he cares for you. Literally it matters to
him concerning you. And the Lord says, not only do
I know, but I care, And when you are hurting,
I hurt for you. See, we deal with difficult situations.
(10:28):
The Lord knows, and the Lord cares. We deal with
difficult people at work, or maybe in the neighborhood, or
maybe even in your own home. Difficult people. The Lord
knows and the Lord cares. And then we deal with
every single one of us. We deal with what the
King James calls besetting sins. New American Standard calls it
(10:50):
the sins which so easily entangle us. They're different for
different people. Many in this room. The sin that so
easily entangles you as the sin of blust. For others,
the sin which so easily entangles you is the sin
of insecurity and constantly comparing, and you don't ever match up,
(11:10):
and you just feel like you're so less than. For others,
it's pride for others, it's greed. For others, it's bitterness.
There's somebody that hurts you and you refuse and can't
seem to get past the fact what they did, and
you're carrying this bitterness toward that person.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Well, what do you do with all that?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Hebrews Chapter four, verse fifteen says this, we do not
have a high priest speaking of Jesus, who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in
all things as we are yet without sin. The Lord
sympathizes with our weaknesses, with our faults, with our failings,
(11:53):
with those sins which so easily entangle us, which we
struggle against, and we seem to fail and fail and fail.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
We get the idea that.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
God he just must be so sick of me because
I can't ever seem to get a handle on this
area or that area, and I keep falling to drugs,
to alcohol, to pornography, to this, to that, to the other. Hey,
he sympathizes with our weaknesses. He's been tempted in those areas.
He's been tempted to be bitter, he's been tempted to lust,
he's been tempted to be greedy. He's been tempted in
(12:24):
all points as we are, yet without sin. The Bible
says in Hebrews too, that he's able to come because
he's been tempted. He's able to come to the aid
of those who are tempted. So he knows and he cares,
and he wants us. Thirdly to come to him with
(12:44):
our problems, to.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Come to him. Hey, I know what you've gone through.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
The wonderful Counselor says, I see it, and I feel
for you in this.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I want you to come to me, and I want
you to talk to me about it. Truth of the
matter is, many of us don't come. James, Chapter four,
verse two says this, you have not because you ask not.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
You don't come to me. You're dealing with this problem,
this difficulty.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Maybe it's external, maybe it's in a situation, maybe it's
with the person. Maybe it's internal. Maybe it's something you're
struggling with, some sin you're struggling with. But here's the thing.
You're not coming to God to help you. You're not
coming to the wonderful Counselor. And the Lord says, you
have not because you ask not. Now, David was a
(13:41):
man that the Bible describes only a man in scripture.
The Bible describes this way a man after God's own heart,
and one of the things.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
That made David different from everyone else.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
As far as that goes, is that he had such
a tender heart toward God. And he said in Psalm
sixty to verse eight, here's the secret of David's greatness.
Trust in him at all times, O people, pour out
your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
(14:15):
God is a refuge for us. So trust in him,
have confidence in him, be bold with him, because.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
He's a refuge. He's a shelter. He's a safe place.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
See when the Lord says, I want you to come
to me, you come to the wonderful counselor. And you
know that the wonderful Counselor is a safe place.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's safe to.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Share everything with him. Lots of us don't like to
share things. We don't like to share things with people.
We don't like to share things with him. We definitely
don't like to share the sins which so easily entangle us.
Why because we're ashamed of those things, So we don't
want to share those things.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But hey, David man after God's own heart.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
He had some terrible things, terrible things with lusting after
Uriyah's wife Bathsheba, having sex with Bathsheba, and then having Uriah.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They hit tight, her husband killed.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Because Bathsheba ended up pregnant, and David didn't know what
to do, and everyone would know, Hey, Uriah was out
fighting a war and there's no way that he could
be the father of this child. And it was going
to come back on David. So he ended up having
Uriah killed. Put him in the heat of the battle.
He told the general Joe abb put him in the
(15:32):
heat of the battle, and everybody else would draw that
was David. That's the man after God's own heart. He
did those terrible things. But what did he do with
all of that? He brought it to the Lord. He
shared it with the Lord. All the ugliness and all
the sin and all the terrible things, he shared that
with the Lord. And all throughout the Psalms, when he
had things coming at him and people coming at him,
(15:55):
what would he do. He'd cry out to the Lord
because he knew the Lord card was a safe place.
I've counseled enough people over the years that I know
there's a recurring question when they come in. Now, Pastor Jeff,
this is confidential, right, I'm getting ready to tell you.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Some things about me, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Afraid that this will get out. It's like the old
Breck commercial. They told two friends, and they told two friends,
and so on and so on and so on. You know,
small towns are known for gossip, and so if somebody's
going to come in and share some deep, dark secrets,
they want to know. This is confidential, right, This is safe?
(16:37):
Is it safe for me to share my heart here?
It's safe for you to share with the Lord. He's
a safe place, and David shared early and often. It
says in First John, Chapter four, verse eighteen, there is
(16:59):
no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear
because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is
not perfected in love.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
We love because He first loved us. There's no fear
in love when you understand God loves me.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
He loves me when I'm doing good, He loves me
when I'm doing terrible.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He just loves me.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
And if I share with him some terrible, horrible thing
that I did, or some thoughts that I've had that
have been awful, He's not gonna stop loving me. Because
Romans five, verse eight, God demonstrates his own love toward us,
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us when we were separated from God. He died for us.
How much more is his own son, his own daughter?
(17:46):
Will he not love us no matter what? So it's
safe to share everything with him, and it's necessary to
share everything with him. It's critical to share everything with him.
You want to build a close relationship with the Lord,
you have to share with him. See, sharing creates vulnerability,
(18:10):
and vulnerability creates intimacy with God. If you just share
surface stuff with God, safe stuff in your mind, you think, well,
this is safe. You know, there's no sin attached to this,
there's no bad motives that I have attached to this.
So I'm gonna I'm going to talk to God about
the safe stuff in the safe zone. In our minds,
we think everything is safe, but we think that's the
(18:31):
safe zone where you just have a relationship with God.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That's just surfacing.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
You have to get down and you have to start
sharing some things. And when you do, all of a sudden,
you deepen your relationship with him. Why because you're sharing
secrets with him. You're sharing shattered hopes and shattered dreams
and all the pain and all the failure.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You're sharing all that with him.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
But see here's what most people do. Guys especially do this,
and ladies this is what we talk about up. Ladies
tend to be better at sharing than men. Men don't
seem to want to share too much because that makes
us vulnerable, and we don't like to be vulnerable, and
so we typically don't have very many people to share with,
(19:13):
or anybody to share with. And that's why thererou said
the massive Men lead lives of quiet desperation, no one
to talk to about what we're struggling with. The truth
of the matter is most men are struggling with the
same things. And so I think, well, nobody else has
this problem. And the guy next to me is thinking, well,
nobody else has this problem. The guy next nobody else
has this problem. All three have the same problem if
(19:34):
they would just share with one another.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
But here's what we try and do. We try and man.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Just buck up, bucko, I mean, just pull yourself up
by your bootstraps, get a stiff upper lip. You can
handle this. There was a song that was written by
two guys. They were brothers. One of them was named
Felix Lloyd Powell. He was from Wales. He was serving
(20:00):
as a staff sergeant in the army during World War One,
and he and his brother wrote a song to encourage
the troops.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
It was called pack up your troubles in.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Your old kit bag and smile, Smile, smile, And that's
how the lyric went, pack up your troubles in your
old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
What's the use of worrying?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It never was worthwhile, So pack up your troubles in
your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile. What do
you do with troubles, Well, you don't have to share them.
You just pack them up. You just put them in
the knapsack. You just stuff them in there, and you
just put on a smile and everything will be fine.
They wrote that song and it was a huge hit
(20:46):
and soldiers would march to that song. It was deemed
one of the most encouraging songs written in that era.
That's what Felix Lord Powell and his brother wrote in
nineteen team You know what happened in nineteen forty two.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Felix Lloyd Powell.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Was overwhelmed with problems and financial pressures and he put
on his uniform, took a gun.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
And blew his heart out. You know that tells me
there are some things that.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
You can't pack up, that I can't pack up, that
we can't just stuff away and act like, well, this
is no big deal. I can handle this. I'm a
big boy. I can do this because you can't.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I can't. No one can't, David couldn't. You got to
get that stuff out.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
If you try and bury those hurts, it's like burying
toxic waste. It's gonna leak out, and it's going to
poison and it's going to ruin. Hey, it's critical to
share everything with the Lord.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
This has truly been an important caution against keeping all
our hurts to ourselves and not taking them to the Lord.
We need to continually be in Christ and beside Him
as well to ward off this tendency to try to
fight the devil on our own. How do you do that? Well?
A chief weapon you can use in that battle is
(22:16):
to discipline yourself to have some quiet time with God
each and every morning or any time of the day.
And that would be a great way to start the
new year too. And to help you do that throughout
the year, Pastor Jeff participated in the creation of a
new three hundred and sixty five day devotional book for
twenty twenty six. It's called The Heart is God's Home.
(22:39):
It is a quality keepsake book with a beautiful full
leather cover, and it'll help you sink up your heart
with God's heart. When we ask the Holy Spirit to
come into our hearts, we'll desire his ways. First. John
chapter four, verse four says greater is He who is
in you than he who is in the world. To
help you draw near to him, this daily devotional will
(23:01):
keep him first in your heart and in your thoughts
and in your actions. It's also our thank you gift
for your support to from His Heart this month of
any amount. This is a crucial time for us financially
to get the support we need to be able to
go and to grow in twenty twenty six. Pastor Jeff
is strictly a volunteer for this ministry receives no income
(23:22):
from it. Would you pray and consider a special year
in gift this month, we would so much appreciate it.
When you do make that gift, we'll send you the
book The Heart is God's Home, a daily devotional that
you'll learn to grow by. Call eight six six four
zero Bible to get yours eat six six four zero
Bible or go online to make a secure gift that
(23:45):
from his Heart dot org and God bless you for
joining with us in this mission to reach the world
for Christ. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join us
tomorrow for part two of the message called the Wonderful
Counselor from Pastor Jeff's Sees. What a beautiful name That's
on Friday, when Pastor Jeff shree will share real truth,
(24:06):
real love, and real hope from God's heart here on,
from his heart always, from his Heart is the listener
(24:39):
supported broadcast ministry of doctor Jeff Shreeve speaking the truth
in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember,
no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. Find out more go to Promishart
dot org.
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