Sermon Central
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Wonderful Counselor Series
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Nov 30, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: That’s Christmas: God got undressed in order to dress Himself with our filthy rags so that we might be dressed with His glory!
WONDERFUL COUNSELOR
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.
(NIV)
What does a counselor do? A counselor comes alongside you.
A marriage counselor who comes alongside of you and your spouse to listen to your problems within your marriage and advises you on what actions you should take to make your marriage better.
A mature-looking lady had an appointment with a marriage counselor, and told him flat out: "I would like to divorce my husband." To this, the counselor replied, "Well, do you have any grounds?" She answered, "Why yes. We have almost an acre." The puzzled counselor asked her, "You don’t understand. What I want to know is do you and your husband have a grudge?" The lady answered, "Actually, we don’t, but we do have a nice carport." At this, the counselor shook his head and said, "Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I just don’t see any reason why you should divorce your husband." The lady looked at the counselor and said to him, "It’s just that the man can’t carry on an intelligent conversation."
Another marriage counselor really came alongside a couple he was counseling. After an hour of listening the counselor got up, walked around the desk, lifted the wife up out of her chair, and gave her a kiss that took her breath away. He turned to the husband and said, “That’s what I prescribe 3 times a week for the next 30 days.” The husband said, “Well, I am pretty busy, but I can I bring her in on Mon. Wed. and Fri.?”
A Christian counselor, when asked about what she would consider the best method for counseling, replied: “Having my doctorate in counseling and having studied all the different techniques and methods for counseling, I have found that the only one that works is Christian counseling. All the others may treat a few symptoms, or teach you to holler softer when you’re upset, but only Christian counseling deals with the root of the problem, your heart and your relationships with Jesus Christ. You got to have “your Jesus right”, or nothing else will work.”
The prophet Isaiah, even though he is preaching hundreds of years before Christ would be born, got his Jesus right! Isaiah called Jesus such a fine counselor that it would cause His counselees to be full of wonder at His expertise, wisdom, and advise.
A counselor recognizes who you are. In order for a counselor to give you the kind of direction that can change your life, the counselor must know who you are, evaluating what you tell them. Sometimes the counselor will question your motives behind your actions, probing and prodding until the real you is exposed.
Bruce Larson, in There’s A Lot More To Health Than Not Being Sick, writes:
“Behavioral sciences in recent years have expounded the simple truth that "behavior that is observed changes." People who are accountable by their own choice to a group of friends, to a therapy group, to a psychiatrist or a pastoral counselor, to a study group or a prayer group, are people who are serious about changing their behavior, and they are finding that change is possible, because they have to be accountable.”
Only when the real “me” is exposed can real life change happen!
Psalm 139:1-4, 13-17
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
(NIV)
The Counselor also recognizes who you can become. Like a good coach, a counselor sees your potential and will not give up or let up until you have become your best.
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.