for the Lord today. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Isaiah chapter number 9. I believe the Bible says, and if I remember correctly, the Bible says, He that hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness shall be filled. And when you and I come before the Lord, as a hungry people, I don't believe we'll go away empty. I believe the Lord will fill us, don't you? And I hope you come to church expected. I don't want to just come to be seen. I want to come to meet Him. And I hope that's your heart's desire this morning. And I just want to say, boy, isn't the auditorium beautiful? And the foyer area. I just want to say thank you to the people here in our church that do so much to make things like this possible, and the work that you put into it, the time. and the energy and so many faithful people here at Calvary and I'm so thankful for everything that gets done around here. And if I had to do it, it'd be awful, okay? But I'm glad God puts people here that can do wonderful things and make things look really nice. Isaiah chapter number nine this morning, we're kicking off Christmas at Calvary. If we're talking about rooted, we're gonna be rooted in Christmas over the next several weeks here. And we're gonna be enjoying some wonderful music and also a time of studying the Bible together about our great Savior and learn of Him. And trust you've turned to Isaiah chapter 9. As you're turning, I just want to give a little advertisement about tonight. Can I help us remember that it takes three to thrive, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And Sunday night is different than Sunday morning. Different message, different songs, but we want to be the same people and the same Lord, right? And more people actually. And we want to come together. And I'm going to be preaching tonight because everybody, everybody goes through tough times. Don't we all agree with that? And sometimes there are situations in life that it's hard to be thankful. It just really is. And we struggle with that. I'm going to talk to you tonight about how to be thankful in the tough times of life. And the Lord impressed this thought on me several weeks ago, and I was amazed. Sometimes when you're preparing messages, sometimes it's just really difficult. And you're working through it, and you're pounding away at it, and sometimes it takes two weeks to put together a message. I like it when the Lord gives them one and it really comes together in just a matter of minutes. And I don't think I'm any closer to the Lord at one or the other. It's just how it flows. And this was one the Lord just, I mean, it flowed. And I hope it flows tonight because God helped me. And I hope that through this message God will help you as well. We're going to learn some things about our God. Well, we should be in Isaiah 9 verse 6. The Bible says, For unto us a child is born. Isn't that what we celebrate here at Christmas time? The fact that a child is born. But Isaiah goes a little further in his prophecy and reminds us, Unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder. I'm looking forward to the day when King Jesus reigns. What about you? And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. What a passage. What a passage. Isn't that amazing? I never cease to be amazed as I read this passage and I read those names of the greatness of my Savior. Well, during that meet and greet time as we were waving at one another, I was gazing over the auditorium and all the wonderful people that are here today, and I'm thankful that you are. And I realized how so very different we are. We all live in different areas. We don't all come from the same neighborhood, the same area, even around here. Some drive from pretty distant places to get here to Calvary. We work different jobs. We come from different backgrounds. We have different likes and dislikes. On a Thanksgiving meal, as the tables fill, some people like green beans and others turn their nose up at it. I can't have turkey and dressing without cranberry sauce. I'm probably one of the few that eats it. Most people just really turn up their nose. And I don't really care for turnip greens, but I love turnips. I like them cooked and buttery and fresh, and I'm making everybody hungry, but we all have likes. Some people are sweet potato pie people, and other people are pumpkin pie people. We all have likes and dislikes, but you know what? There's one thing every one of us has in common. You know what it is? We all have a name. I have a name and you have a name. Now some people love their names. Other people would like to change their name. They really don't like it or whatever. Some of us have popular names. What I mean by that is they were popular in that day to name their child this particular name. And there's nobody in my family named Kevin but me. But I went to school with a whole lot of Kevins, okay? And that's why we called each other by our last names. I was Brawhill, that's how they say it back home, Brawhill. And then there was Kevin Knight, and Kevin this, and Kevin that, and we all had last names, and we played ball together. I'd say, good catch, Knight. What did you say, Kevin? There might have been another Kevin on the team. And they wouldn't have known which one I was talking about. And so, we had those names. And maybe you have a name that was given to you that was popular in that day. Some people have Bible names. Lori and I, when we met, we courted on her sister's front porch. She lived with her sister at that time, and she had a swing. I think it's still there. I don't know if it's the same swing or not, but there's one in the same place. We would sit out there in the evenings, and we'd talk about the future, and we named our children on that swing. Now, listen young people, I just want to tell you, it's a chore to name kids. Sometimes it can be a fight. It just really can't. For us it wasn't. And we sat there and we talked back and forth, and our son James, you would think that we were real spiritual that night, feeling close to God, and wanted to name our son after the Lord's brother James, okay? But that really wasn't the driving factor. It was a family name. My dad's James, her dad who's in heaven is named James, and the first broil that came to the shores of America, you guessed it, he's named James. And so my son is named James. Emily was named after a young girl in our church. And I was an usher here over thirty some years ago. Brother Vernon and I was much younger, much less gray hair back then. And we were here at the same time and I was an usher and there was a little girl She would sort of peep out from around. And by the way, she's still in our church. She would peep out around the pew. I'm not going to tell you who she is. I don't want to embarrass her. But anyway, she would peep out around the pew. And I always thought, that's a cute little girl looking at me from the pew as I'm taking up the offer. And if I ever have a name of a girl, I'm going to name her Emily. And God gave me a wonderful daughter and I named her Emily. And that's how our children were named. Have you ever wondered why you were named the name you were given? Have you ever asked? I thought that was interesting. Well, you know, I learned something today, and this is the bomb. I was telling my Sunday school class I was going to drop on my wife. I went in and I asked Siri, okay? I was very millennial. I was feeling very millennial this morning. And so I asked Siri something. I said, Siri, what does Kevin mean? And I found out that Kevin is of Irish origin, and honey, it means handsome. There it is. So every time she says, Kevin, even though it ain't always sweet, she's just saying, hey handsome, don't you like that? Isn't that great? I mean, names just mean something. I thought it was great. Wow. Well, we better get to the message because I'm getting carnal. The ancient Hebrews, when they gave their children names, they had great meaning. Hannah was barren. She was distraught. She prayed and prayed for God to give her a child. One year she was so distraught she went to the tabernacle and she was weeping so much so the preacher thought she was a drunken woman. He rebuked her and she said, no, I'm broken. And she poured out her heart to God and said, God, I want You to give me a child. And God, if You give me a man child, You give me a son, I'm going to give him back to You. And God heard and answered her prayer and gave her a son, and she named him Samuel. Samuel is a compound Hebrew name that means God heard. Every time she called His name, you know what she was saying? God heard me. God answered my prayer. Anytime anybody met Samuel during that day, they were being reminded that God hears and God answers prayers. I guess what I'm trying to say is names mean something. And names identify and they designate who we are from everybody else around us. I'll talk more about that through the series as we begin to unwrap the names of Jesus. Because a name stands for who you are. When I say the name Lori, or somebody says the name Lori, identifying my wife, the letters L-O-R-I do not come to my mind, but an image of my wife, who she is. Because that name stands for the woman that God placed in my life as my wife, my partner in life. And when it came time for God to name His Son, who's existed from all eternity, God did not just give Him one name, but He gave Him over 350 different names, titles, and phrases to designate and paint a portrait and a picture of who His Son is and what He is in our lives. Because no one name could fully describe and define and declare all that Jesus is to us. The prophet Isaiah, over 700 years beforehand, wrote of Messiah's birth. We read his prophecy in Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7. And while we relate it to His birth, because it talks about a child to be born and a son to be given, really the crux of the prophecy is about what He's going to do. And not just in His death, because that's really not mentioned here, but in His reign. It's picturing Him and His nobility, His royalty. Isaiah is saying there's going to be a child born, and He's the Son given, and one day He's going to reign not just over Israel, but over all the nations of the world. And I'm just glad to say today, He's my King. He said the government's going to be on His shoulder. and then desiring us to show us something of the King and His beauty, and finding that one name would not suffice, the Holy Spirit, impressed upon and inspired, gave Him the very names, and adorned Jesus with five names, each ringing His praise as it reveals the glory of His person. Every one of these five names is wrapped up in the person that you and I know best as Jesus. We all like to unwrap gifts. We all do. I want you to join with me over the next several weeks. Don't miss a one. as we unwrap together the names of Jesus. And my prayer is this, that at the end of each service, that you and I will go away with a greater understanding, a greater appreciation of just who He is, and what He means to us, and us to fall in love with Him all over again. Because you can pray these names back to the Lord. You can. And you can tell Him just how wonderful that He is. Let's look at the first one this morning. Look if you would at verse number 6, middle part of it. And His name shall be called, Wonderful. Wow. What a name. Let's pray. Lord, we love You. And I just want to say today, Lord, that You're wonderful. And Lord, You're wonderful to me. As I began to study this name, Lord, I recognized more about You and how this is such a fitting name of my Savior. I pray, Lord, that through this name we'll know You better. And Lord, through this name we'll love You more. And Lord, through this name that we'll be more devoted and more serious about how we live for You and serve You as Your people. And Lord, I thank You for who You are in my life. Lord, if there's someone here today that doesn't know You're wonderful, they don't know You as Savior, I pray they'll come to know You before the service is out. Revive our hearts again, Lord, and we'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. But when you and I come to this name Wonderful, it says something to me. First of all, it says to me something about the wonder of Jesus, just who He is. I begin to look at the name Wonderful and I begin to unwrap it, and I realize that it comes from the root word wonder. Wonderful means wonder-filled, filled with wonder. Our Lord is a wonder in Himself. I began to look up synonyms that went along with this name. Let me tell you what I came up with. How about extraordinary? What does the name wonderful mean, preacher? As it designates this wonderful, matchless person. Well, it means extraordinary. How about marvelous and astonishing? How about awe-inspiring and admirable? How about unspeakable? Indescribable? Inexpressible? Beyond description? How about this one? More than amazing. That's who He is. No, just one word is enough, is it? Just to describe this one name. This name, wonderful. It encompasses all the other names. As we look in our text, He's wonderful in counsel. He's wonderful in might. He's wonderful in His eternality as the everlasting Father. And friend, listen, let me tell you, when we get to this final one, He is wonderful in peace. Aren't you glad that our God is a God of peace? Exodus 15 and verse 11, Moses was contemplating the greatness of God. And here's what he wrote. He's talking to the Lord and he said, Who's like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? He was looking at all the pagan gods of Egypt and the surrounding lands that really are no gods that people worship. And he said, Who's like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? There's nobody's God like our God. You know, there's a whole lot of gods in America, and I'm not going to preach on all of that. Everybody worships something, even if it's just themselves. And I just want to go on record and say this, who is likened to our God today? There's nobody like the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is likened to Thee, O Lord? Who is likened to Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Isn't that amazing? You realize everything about the Lord is marvelously wonderful. There is no one and nothing likened to our great Savior. I began to think about Him, and here are some thoughts that came to me. I realized from our text He is wonderful in His person, who He is. Look if you would again in verse number 6. He said, the very first part of it, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Did you notice that one sentence sets before us the wonder of our Savior, who He really is? Isaiah mentions first about a child being born. That speaks of humanity. It tells us something of the humanness of Jesus. But He doesn't stop there. If He did, then Jesus is just an ordinary man like all the rest of us. But He didn't stop there. The Holy Spirit gave Him something else. He said, unto us a son is given. The child born is a son given. That speaks to us as deity. Because only God can give a son. Isn't that amazing? The one links Him to the earth and tells us He's the Son of Man. The other links Him to heaven and tells us He's the Son of God. One tells us of His earthly beginning, the other of His eternal being. It's all right here in one verse. And then He says He's wonderful. Isn't that amazing? One tells us He's the babe of Bethlehem and the other tells us He's the God of glory. One tells us of the perfect humanity and the other of His eternal deity. I just want to tell us that this babe that we so celebrate about in Bethlehem's manger is no ordinary person. He's no ordinary birth. All is extraordinary about Him. It's wonderful. He was born of a virgin. Can I tell you that's not incidental? That's fundamental? You can't do without that. If Jesus isn't born of a virgin, then we're wasting our time here and everything that we believe comes down like a house of cards. Because men can't give birth to deity. Oh, there's more to it than that, but we'll go on. The Lord Jesus, the second Person of the Divine Trinity, who existed from all eternity, united Himself with human flesh. God took to Himself in the womb of a virgin a human nature and a human body. He's like us in every way, but yet so unlike us in that He was without sin. And in that marvelous, matchless, miraculous moment, think about this. This is what we celebrate. God became man. Isaiah gives another name, and I don't have time to give them all. I'll come back and preach these. He gives another name and another passage back in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, and another prophecy. He calls Him Immanuel, God with us. He's wonderful in His person, but He's wonderful in His life. Do you know nobody lived like Jesus lived? Do you realize that every word that fell from the lips of Jesus was wonderful? Isn't it amazing? Can you say that about your words? Has everything you've ever said been wonderful? No. Not even close, is it? But can you imagine living a life and you never said a wrong word? And that everything that you said was profound and meaningful? That everything was the truth? Not just truth, but absolute truth. Divine truth that's spelled from the lips of the Son of God. Oh, how wonderful it is. Matter of fact, the very first message that he preached in Luke 4, the Bible said, And all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. For God so loved the world. Wow! It's wonderful, isn't it? In John 7 verse 46, the chief priest had sent people to arrest Jesus and they came back empty handed. And they said, where's He at? Why didn't you get Him? Why didn't you arrest Him? We told you to go and arrest Jesus and bring Him. And here's what they said. Never a man spake like that man. Nobody's ever spoke. We just got so mesmerized, so enamored, so caught up in what He was saying. We left without Him. Nobody's ever... Can I just tell you nobody ever speaks like Jesus spoke. He's wonderful, isn't He? In John chapter 6, he's giving the great sermon on the bread of life. I am the bread of God, which came down from heaven and giveth life to the world. And here's what he said. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. They're spiritual words. And they are life. They are life-giving words. Pray tell me, why are we not reading His words? Because they're wonderful. They're spiritual. And they're true. And they're life-giving. You realize with His words He inspires our hearts, He instructs our minds, and He satisfies our lives. Never a man spake like this man. Can I tell you it's through His words that we share in the wonder of who Jesus is. But He doesn't stop there. What about the wonder of His works? Not just what He said, but what He did. Listen to what Isaiah said of Him. O Lord, Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Isn't that amazing? You realize everything that Jesus touched, everything that He did was wonderful. With a touch, He cleansed the leper. With a touch, He caused a paralyzed man to leap. With a touch, He caused a deaf man to hear. With a touch, He caused a blind man to see. With a touch, He caused a mute man to be able to speak. With a touch, He turned water into the best grape juice anybody ever drank. With His voice and His hands lifted, He stilled the raging seas. I just want to tell you, He can still, as He can still the storms of a body of water, He can still the storms in your life. He fed thousands with a handful of bread. Can you imagine the touch? As He broke that bread and handed it, thousands were fed. Only Jesus. It's wonderful. Only Jesus. That's the one we're worshiping. That's the one we're to be caught up with. I just want to remind you this morning, He's wonderful. in Mark chapter 7, listen to what they said of Him, of one of His miracles, and they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well. I look back over the course of my life, and everything that God's done in my life has been well. I can't say that about everything I've done on my own, but what God's done, He's done it well. He's wonderful in His person. He's wonderful in His life. As we think about the wonder of Jesus, I realize He's wonderful. The wonder of His death. Nobody died like He died. You say, wait a minute, preacher. He's not the only person who ever died on a cross. You're right. Over 100,000 Jews were crucified in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the nation of Israel. Over 100,000. You just name me one of them. I can name you a man that was crucified. And His name is Jesus. You see, because His death wasn't like their death, His death was for you. He was born that He might die for your sins and my sins. The songwriter got it right when he wrote, Wonder of Wonders, how can it be that God was incarnate given for me? The Almighty came down and dwelt among men. Wonder of Wonders, He died for my sin. Friend, can I tell you, if you can't find anything wonderful about Jesus, you can find the wonder of this, that He died for your sins. Peter put it this way, for Christ also at once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Can I tell you, He came for you. If you had been the only person on planet earth, He came for you. He wants you to know Him. He wants to work wonders in your life. He does. Will you let Him? Will you let Him? You know what? There's Christians, no doubt, maybe some sitting in this room that really if I were to ask you what's God done for you in the last month, you couldn't tell me anything. Because your Christian life's gotten stale and you're just used to being saved. And you've lost the wonder of it. And can we at this Christmas season recapture the wonder as we unwrap His names and learn something of the greatness and the wonder of our Lord? Can I give you this next one as we think about the wonder of Jesus? I thought about the wonder of His resurrection. He didn't just die as no other person ever died, but friend, He's done what nobody else has ever done. He got up from the grave. He's alive. Isn't that a blessing? We live in such a day of pluralism in our post-Christian world. We do. What I mean by that is just even probably 50, 75 years ago, most everybody, even your neighbors, they recognized we had things in common spiritually. The majority of people you work with today and rub shoulders with, they don't have a clue who you are and what you're about. They don't. They don't hold anything in common because most of them are biblically illiterate. Don't know anything about the Bible. It's always fun to sit down and watch, I think it's Jeopardy, the one where you have to do the trivia question. Isn't that it? I always love it when they do the Old Testament and New Testament because none of these smart men can ever answer it. And I'm thinking, I've got kindergartners in our Christian school and our Sunday school that can answer that. Isn't that amazing? Do you know that we live in a day of pluralism where they want to lump all the gods into one big pile? Just pick him out, whatever you want to call him, and we're all going to the same place, and it's just one God, and there's many roads, and there's no one God better, greater, bigger than another God. You know what Oprah Winfrey would say, who's a self-proclaimed religious guru in America? And there's lots like her. And what they're doing, and young people, you're hearing it all the time in school and on social media, and in our world, the coexist symbols and all of this, and we see it all around us. And really, Christianity is no different than any other ethnic religion. If anything, it's worse, because we're terrible, because we believe we're the only ones right. I hate to tell them. It's because we are. But it's not because of us. It's because of Him. And I'm not being a smart aleck. I'm not. Because there's a difference between their gods and my God. Their God's dead. He is. You can't equate Jesus and Allah. Or Muhammad. Because Muhammad's dead. He lived, he died, and he's dead. Buddha lived, died, he's dead. The founders of all the so-called great religions of the world, they all lived, they all died, and they're all dead, and their worshipers visit their tombs and they worship their bones. People that go to Jerusalem to visit Jesus' tomb, they don't go there for what's there, they go there for what's not there. One of the funniest stories I've ever been told was about visiting the Holy Land was Brother Ron Cull. He was visiting the Holy Land. You may have told it when you're preaching. I'm still in your illustration, brother. He was visiting the Holy Land. And evidently, at that time, it was shoulder to shoulder, dog eat dog, just getting into different areas. And there were people trying to barge into the tomb. Some lady bumped into him like he was getting in her way. And I don't know if you actually said it or not, but here's what he was saying. Lady, it doesn't matter who gets in there first because there's nobody there. There's nothing there. Something along those lines. Isn't that right? And it's really true. Friend, let me tell you what makes Christianity different is that Jesus lived and He died and He's alive right now. That's the wonder of our Lord. I talked to Him already today. You say, preachers ever talk back to me? Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't know about you, I'm a little bit full up. Only He can say, I'm He that liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. That's the end of it. Isn't that great? I just want to tell you that's my God. He's awe-inspiring. He's admirable. He's matchless. He's extraordinary. He's awe-inspiring. We ought to stand in awe of our God. Don't ever get used to Him. But can I finish this morning on this name wonderful by talking about the wonder not only of Jesus, but the wonder of Jesus in you. You see, we don't really understand how wonderful He is until we understand this part. The wonder of wonders is this, that He's not only Emmanuel, God with us, He's God in us. That's the uniqueness of biblical Christianity. No Buddha, no Buddhist will ever come up and say to you that he's in Buddha and Buddha is in him. No Hindu will ever talk about their 500 million gods and name their God and say, I'm in Him and He's in me. No Muslim would ever dare say that Allah is in them and they're in Allah. But yet, that's exactly what my Bible teaches me. That the moment I came to know this wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, that He came to live in me, I'm in Him and He's in me. It is a living relationship with a living God. And it's wonderful. He whose name is wonderful brings new wonder to our lives, and He does it on a daily basis when we let Him. God made you for Himself. He did. He made every person for Himself, whether they ever realize it or come to recognize it, or they live in the reality of that or not. There is a void. There is an emptiness. There is a hole in a man's soul that's so large that only God can fill it. This name Wonderful is God's answer for the dullness of life. Warren Wearsby in his book on the names of Jesus made this statement, The dullness of life isn't caused by the circumstances outside of us, but by the spiritual condition on the inside of us. You see, even sin gets boring after a while. You buy a new car, you get it home, it's old. You move into a new home, and before long, it's old. You buy a new suit of clothes, and before long, it gets old. Nothing satisfies in life, no matter how big it is, no matter how shiny it is. You see, the reality of it is, we're living in a world where people are trying to fill the emptiness of their lives with those things that are less than wonderful. Oh, they're wonderful for the moment, but the wonder doesn't last. It's only temporary satisfaction and they're empty all over again. It doesn't matter what the stuff is, whether it's reaching a promotion, whether it's getting a new fancier this or that, or whether it's having this person or that person, or whatever. Even sin, after a while, even though it may start with pleasure, will lose its luster and no longer satisfy the emptiness of the heart. That's why there's a drug problem in King, and an alcohol problem in King, and a sin problem in a human heart. Jeremiah describes all of this stuff as broken cisterns, jars that can hold no water. You fill it up and it just runs out. And you see that's what people are doing. They're filling up their heart, their soul with all this stuff and it just runs out. And it leaves them empty and miserable all over again. It does. But true wonder begins, listen to this, when a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior. They know Him in their heart and life, and they experience the forgiveness of sin. They know the invasion of a whole new life. No person ever comes into the presence of Christ and remains the same. I challenge you to read Luke and Matthew's account of the birth of Christ, and even there, nobody came into His presence and was the same again. They all left differently. It might have been Simeon or Anna in the temple. It may have been some wise men from the east, the Magi. It may have been the shepherds that came. It might have been Joseph and Mary. But the moment they came into the presence of Christ, their life was forever changed. It was never the same again. And when you come to know Jesus Christ, He brings radical change to our lives. As a matter of fact, 2 Corinthians 5.17 puts it this way, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. The old, boring, dull routine of life is passed away. I'm living life on a higher plane now, and friend, can I tell you, all things are becoming new. That word new is not new in time. It's new in kind. That means when a person comes to know the Lord, the One that's wonderful, they receive a new life. They're made a new creature. They're given a new nature. We have a new mind that we can know God. We have a new heart that suddenly loves God. We have a new will that desires to obey God. We're new. It's radical. It's changed. Let me ask you a question. What's new about you? Because if you're saved, there's something new. Isn't that right? And if you're the same old you that you've always been, it may be a good time to look into your heart to see if what you had was real. I don't know, and I'm not the judge of that, only you can be. That doesn't mean I live life on a mountaintop all the time. Doesn't mean that we don't go through rough patches in life. And that doesn't mean that we can't get dull and routine in our Christian life. But that's us and not Him. And what He wants to do is revive something in us and make it fresh and new because His mercies are new every morning. He's given you a new name, Christian. A new name. Did you know that? You don't even know what it is yet. Revelation 2 or 3 talks about it. I just sort of came up with it off my mind. I could turn to the passage and find it, but he said, I will write upon him my new name. You know, some people have a given name to their children. It's always funny. Not funny. It can be a little bit. You'll meet a family and they start introducing, well, this is Tootsie and this is Rootsie and this is, you know, and they just go down the list. And I'm like, well, I thought you were But that's how they know them and their family. It's a little special name their family has for that individual. You know what I'm saying? And all of that. Do you know that God has a special name for you? You'll find it out in eternity. I wonder if when He summons us to His presence physically in the New Jerusalem, if He'll use that name, that new one. A special name just between us and Him. Because see, God doesn't look down and see a mass of people. You're an individual to Him because He knows you by your name. And He wants you to unwrap His names and know Him by His names. The moment a person comes to know the Lord as Savior, he enters into a living union with Him. We're in Him. He is in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ liveth in me, Paul would say. Think about it. The sovereign Creator God of the universe makes my heart His home. John 10.10, he says, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. That's what the devil does every time. He said, but I've come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. I think that's that wonderful idea again, don't you? Life on a different plane, marvelous, overflowing, absolutely amazing and wonderful. That doesn't mean that we don't go through difficult times. That doesn't mean that we don't hurt and have pain, that everything goes right in the life of a Christian because we all know that's not true, don't we? We're going to talk about the tough times of life tonight and how to be thankful in them. But here's the difference between every Christian and every non-Christian is I never go through a tough time by myself. I've got One with me that's promised to see me through it. And He's wonderful. Everything in the path that I follow Him in, I'm not going to tell you, is wonderful experience. I didn't enjoy ICU. I didn't enjoy chemotherapy. I didn't enjoy those things. But He was still wonderful. Because He saw me through all of it. Even in my moments that only my wife saw. And I can only talk of me. The reason I'm using me as the illustration is because I don't know anybody else. And I'm just going to tell you, I didn't handle it right all the time. And there were times that I was upset. And there was times that I looked at God and I said, why? And there was times I was saying, God, I could serve you a whole lot better if this had never happened to me. You say, Preacher, you're so carnal. Yeah, I probably was. But I was real. Job was real. He said, God, I wish you'd never let me have been born. But then he said, he knows the way that I take. We have tried me, I'm going to come forth as gold. See, that's what's wonderful about the Savior. As long as we live in this life, church, we're going to have tough times. Just like the Dietrich's church burnt down and there's a hurting congregation of people that don't have a place to meet in. But I guarantee you that those that know the Lord are saying, He's wonderful. He's good. This isn't wonderful, but He's wonderful. Aren't you glad of that? Years ago, There was a medical missionary in China. Whenever someone came to him for treatment, he would always tell them the story of Jesus. One morning as clinic doors opened, there came to him an aged woman. She was stooped and bent over from age and the hardship of life. And he could tell by the dust on her feet that she had traveled a very long way to come to his clinic and get attention and medical help. And if you've ever been in a third world country, you understand that medical care is nothing like what we have in America. It doesn't even hold a candle to it. And came to the clinic. And he treated her and as always he told her about Jesus and how to be saved. And here's what he wrote. He said, the missionary wrote this, he said, As the rose opens to receive the rays of the noonday sun, so her heart opened to receive the Savior. Her tears made little rivulets down her dusty cheeks as she opened her heart to Jesus. Several weeks went by and one morning heard a knock on his door. He went to the door early before the clinic opened and there was that little aged woman stooped over that had come to him several weeks before. Here's what she said. She said, Sir, He has saved me and I know He lives in my heart and He's made my life so happy, but Sir, I've forgotten His name. Could you please tell me His name again? And the missionary would take her and he would say, Jesus. And she would echo back, Jesus. And he did it over and over. Jesus. And she would say, Jesus. And repeat that name. And she went away smiling saying, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. There was a lady by the name of Lella Long that heard that story and God moved her heart. And here's what she wrote. There have been names that I love to hear, but never has there been a name so dear. To this heart of mine is the name divine, the precious, precious name of Jesus. Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and He's just the same as His lovely name. That's the reason why I love Him so, for Jesus is the sweetest name I know." Isaiah said, "...and His name shall be called Wonderful." Is He wonderful to you? When was the last time that you just bowed your head and out of a genuine heart of tender gratitude to the Savior and worship and adoration. Because see, you can pray every one of these names when we get done back to the Lord. You can talk to Him. Because they that know His name shall put their trust in thee, the Bible says. The more I know of Him, the more I'm going to love Him and I'm going to tell Him about how wonderful He is. When was the last time you just said, Lord, You're wonderful? You're wonderful. And then you told Him about how wonderful He is. You want to revive your heart. You want to renew your love. You want to get out of the routine of boring, dull Christianity. Then just tell the Lord how wonderful He is. Just talk to Him. Just you and Him. And I'm going to tell you something. There's going to be something lit in your heart that will bring it all fresh again. Because He never gets old. His mercies, remind you, are new every morning. Right? He's fresh and new. And He wants your life to be fresh and new in Him every day. We can live... Isn't that amazing? I've been saved for over 35 years. And it's still new. What I mean by that is if I'll let it, every day is new because I'm new in Him and I can live in the newness of the life that He's given me. Sometimes I fall back into that old attitude. You ever done that? And the old you takes over? And that's when you lose the luster and the wonder goes away and all of that because you're living in the old you and not the newness of Him. Because He's wonderful. He just is. I'm going to ask you something. Do you know Him? Do you? Do you know for sure your sins are forgiven? There was a day in your life that you received Him into your heart as Savior and He made you new. If not, why don't you let today be that day? He wants to give you a wonderful brand new life. He wants to put you on a different plane. He does. It's a life that the world doesn't understand. They can't comprehend it because only He can give it. Would you receive it? He's got a gift for you. Just for you. It's called eternal life. Would you receive it today? Would you make it yours? Would you? If you're willing to admit you're a sinner, you can't save yourself. Not enough trying that you can do to earn any favor with God. You must be born again. You must receive Christ. You must by faith trust Him and Him alone for salvation by putting your faith and trust in Him. And if you'll admit you're a sinner and you can't save yourself and you'll put your faith in Christ and Christ alone and what He did on the cross for your sins, He'll make you new. He will. I'm not saying that lights are going to go off and whistles are going to blow and fireworks are going to go off in your life. But in that moment, the moment you say yes to Him, He'll make you and you forgive your sins, write your name in heaven, and give you a brand new life. He will. And then He'll want you to grow in that life. And it can be yours right now if you'll receive Him. Would you do that?