Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000541A
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00:02 BREATH OF LIFE MINISTRIES PRESENTS
00:07 B541 HE'S A Mighty God AND THE EVERLASTING FATHER 00:16 BREATH OF LIFE THEME[music] 00:20 PB: The Word of God says to us in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6- 00:23 -if you have it, let me hear you say amen. 00:26 Aud.: Amen. PB: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is"--what? 00:34 Aud.: Given. PB: "And the government shall be upon his"--what, everyone? 00:38 Aud.: Shoulder. PB: "And his name shall be called"-- 00:41 Aud.: Wonderful. PB: "Wonderful. Counsellor, The mighty God, 00:46 The everlasting"--what? Aud.: Father. 00:49 PB: "And the Prince of"-- Aud.: Peace. 00:53 PB: We talked about Wonderful. We talked about Counselor. 00:59 Today we continue with He's the mighty God and everlasting Father. 01:07 Father in heaven, Lord, now for the next few minutes we ask 01:13 that You would speak now through Your Word. I'm so unworthy 01:18 to stand here. When I think about God, the gift that You 01:24 gave us through Your Son, I say thank You, Jesus, 01:27 because it makes me able to stand here today. 01:31 Penetrate Your people's hearts, and when we leave, 01:34 we'll be able to say it was good to have been in this 01:38 place today. Forgive me of my sins. In Jesus' name, amen. 01:42 He's a mighty God and the everlasting Father. 01:50 In Isaiah's day, the people were not godly people. 01:55 In fact, the children of Israel had messed up so 02:00 badly that God was bringing the nation of Assyria 02:03 down upon them to punish them. So in Isaiah's day 02:09 it was extremely dark, dismal, dim, and depressive. 02:17 But it was on the edge of this darkness that 02:22 God revealed that He was going to do something about it: 02:26 that God was going to send a great Light, 02:30 that He was going to send a child of hope and promise, 02:35 that He was going to send Jesus Christ. 02:39 But just before Isaiah 9:6, God lets His people know 02:45 in Isaiah 9:4 that He's going to break down their enemies. 02:51 And He's not going to just do it with Wonderful, 02:55 not just with Counselor, but He's also going to do 03:00 it with the mighty God. When Isaiah prophesied that 03:05 this child would come, Isaiah said something very distinct. 03:10 Isaiah, this child would be God. This was then in harmony 03:17 with Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heavens 03:22 and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; 03:27 and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the 03:29 Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." 03:32 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 03:37 We skip down to verse number 26, and the Bible says 03:40 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," 03:47 which means God was not one. But there was God the Father, 03:53 God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, because the text says 03:58 "And God said, 'Let us make man,'" not let Me make man. 04:03 We then go to the New Testament, and the Word of God says 04:07 in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 04:12 was with God, and the Word was God." The Bible continues, 04:17 "The same was in the beginning with God [because] all 04:20 things were made by him; and without him was not any 04:23 thing made that was made." But then we go to verse 14 of John 1, 04:28 and it says that the Word became flesh, dwelt among us, 04:34 which then makes Matthew 1:21 make sense: "And she shall bring forth a son. 04:39 Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shalt save his 04:45 people from their sins." Which then means, friends of mine, 04:48 Jesus is God. In John 10:30, Jesus said, 04:54 "I and my Father are one." In John 14:9, 04:58 Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." 05:02 Someone once said to a preacher, "Preacher, I want to see God. 05:06 I want to see the Father. Show me the Father." The preacher 05:12 then responded and said, "If you want to see the Father, 05:15 look at the Son." Because if you look at Jesus, 05:18 you'll see the Father. So if you want to know what God is like, 05:21 look at Jesus. If you want to know God, know Jesus. 05:25 If you want the grace of God, seek Jesus. If you want 05:29 the love of God, love Jesus. If you want the salvation of God, 05:33 trust Jesus. If you want the blessings of God, tell Jesus. 05:37 And if you want to live eternally with God, live Jesus. 05:41 Jesus is God. But Isaiah doesn't just say that Jesus is God. 05:49 But Isaiah also says that Jesus is the mighty God. 05:54 Now, the Hebrew word for God is El. Everybody say El. 05:59 Aud.: El. PB: That's E-L. And in the Bible, 06:01 the word El is always prefixed before the adjective 06:04 that describes God. El Shaddai, the all sufficient God; 06:11 El Hannora, the awesome God; El Elyon, the most high God; 06:18 El Olam, the everlasting God. And then we come to Isaiah 9:6 06:24 and we have El Gabor, which means the mighty God. 06:28 Mighty means possessing great strength, possessing great 06:32 and impressive power. When this child that Isaiah is 06:36 prophesying about comes, He then would come with power. 06:42 So Jesus is not just God, but Jesus is the mighty God full of power. 06:50 When we look throughout history, we see the mighty, 06:54 powerful acts of a mighty God in the person of Jesus Christ. 06:57 Look at His birth. You had to know that He was a mighty God, 07:01 because He's the only one in earth's history that had one 07:04 human parent and one divine parent. So then He inherited both 07:09 the nature of man and the nature of God: He's a mighty God. 07:14 But then look at His teen years. He's the only one that could 07:17 speak with authority among the preachers, teachers and theologians 07:20 of his day, as a teen. He's a mighty God. But then look at His miracles. 07:25 I think about the one recorded in the Old Testament. 07:28 In the Old Testament there are three Hebrew boys, 07:30 they're on death row. They're about to experience capital punishment. 07:37 They are about to be executed. They're about to be thrown in a fiery furnace. 07:40 The king comes out to watch, to make sure that the execution 07:45 has been completed. But when the king gets there, 07:48 he looks into the fiery furnace. He sees not three men, 07:54 but the Bible says he sees four men. And he says, 07:58 "One looks like the Son of God." He's a mighty God. 08:04 But then I go to a New Testament story, and I go to Mark chapter 5, 08:08 which tells the story of a desperate father by the name of Jairus, 08:12 who forsakes his pride, forsakes his high social standing, 08:16 and pleads with Jesus to heal his near-death daughter. 08:20 Jesus agrees. I'll heal your daughter, but on the way to Jairus' house, 08:25 everything goes wrong. First, they're delayed. A woman with an 08:30 issue of blood stops Jesus because she wants to be healed herself. 08:34 Then Jairus is approached by one of his servants who tells him, 08:38 "Look, Jairus, it's too late. It's over. You took too long. 08:42 And because it took too long for Jesus to get here, the girl died." 08:47 But Jesus said, "Man, don't you know who I am? I am the resurrection 08:53 and the life." Don't worry about when I got here. Don't worry about 08:59 how I got here. Just believe. Your emergency is not God's emergency. 09:06 Just because you're in a hurry doesn't mean God is. What you have 09:11 to understand, friends of mine, is that if God is time, 09:14 He holds the time. Life is in His hands and death is 09:18 in His hands, so what does He have to rush for if He's already there? 09:22 [Aud. reaction] PB: When they get to the house it's a crazy scene. 09:27 People are crying and mourning the little girl's death. But Jesus says, 09:31 "The little girl is not dead, she's just asleep." 09:36 The people laughed at Jesus, they mocked Jesus. 09:41 But Jesus lifts the little girl up by the hand, speaks a few words, 09:48 and the little girl is alive again. Lungs that had no air 09:54 fill up again. A heart that was still starts to beat again. 09:59 Flesh that turned gray became rosy again. Eyes that had sunk 10:04 in and rolled back in her head because bright again. 10:07 He's the mighty God. And so the lesson for us today is simply this: 10:12 Like Jairus, our lives may be full of limitations and road blocks. 10:18 Medically speaking, it doesn't seem like it's going to get any better. 10:22 Financially speaking, it doesn't seem like you can do this. 10:25 The thing you're dreaming of can't happen with your resources. 10:28 We live in limitations. We're limited by our own strength. 10:34 We're limited by our education. We're limited by our finances. 10:39 We're limited by our resources. But Jesus the mighty God 10:45 knows nothing about limitations. He crosses every barrier. 10:51 He breaks through every wall. It doesn't matter to Jesus 10:55 that people laugh. It doesn't matter that this has never 10:58 been done before. It doesn't matter that a father's faith 11:02 is wavering. It doesn't matter that people say it can't happen. 11:06 He's the mighty God. He transcends time, surpasses space, 11:12 outdoes obstacles, breaks barriers. He's a mighty God. 11:18 He heals the sick, He raises the dead, He forgives sinners, 11:24 He delivers captives, He blesses the young, He respects the old, 11:30 He rewards the diligent, He's Master of the mighty, 11:34 Captain of the conquerors, Head of the heroes, 11:37 Overseer of the overcomers, Leader of legislators, 11:42 Governor of governors, King of kings, Lord of lords. 11:46 He's a mighty God. He's incomprehensible, He's invincible, 11:52 He's irresistible. You can't get Him out of your mind. 11:55 You can't get Him off your hands. You can't outlive Him 12:00 and you can't live without Him. There's nobody before Him 12:04 and there'll be nobody after Him. He's CEO of the universe. 12:08 You didn't vote Him in, and you can't vote Him out. 12:11 You can't impeach him and He's not going to resign. 12:15 [Aud. reaction] PB: He's the mighty God. And what I 12:19 love about Jesus the mighty God is that He devised 12:21 everything that's supposed to happen. What do you mean, 12:25 Pastor Byrd? Well, they conspired against Jesus. 12:28 They made up all this stuff about Jesus. You know how 12:32 people make up stuff about you. But the good news 12:34 is a lie can't live. I wish I had a witness in this place. 12:37 [Aud. reaction] PB: They made all this stuff up about 12:39 Him to get Him out of the way and then they killed Him. 12:40 They thought they were finished with Him. They thought 12:44 He was never coming back. They thought it was the 12:47 end of the story. We've got the troublemaker out of the way. 12:52 But God stepped in, usurped their schemes, turned 12:58 everything upside down, and superseded their plans 13:01 with a plan of His own. What was His plan? His plan 13:05 was Jesus had to die on Friday. He lay resting in the 13:08 grave on the Sabbath, which means Jesus was obedient 13:11 to His commandment even in death. But early Sunday morning, 13:16 on the third appointed day, He got up with all power in His hands. 13:21 Let me tell you something. It's called Resurrection power 13:24 because that's what the mighty God is all about. 13:27 He takes the most difficult things in life, 13:30 the situations we say that are unchangeable, 13:33 and does something amazing with them. 13:35 Why is the Resurrection so important in the life 13:39 of a Christian? Why is the Resurrection so important 13:42 in the life of an Adventist? It's not just because 13:46 He got up. It's not just because He rose. 13:50 It's not just because Jesus now lives, but 13:54 it's also because as I've learned in my life, 13:56 in life's moments, when life has encased us, 14:00 when life has closed us inn, when life has boxed us in, 14:05 when life's stones have been rolled to close us 14:08 up in our own human experiences, and when all human 14:11 indicators say there's no way out, the Resurrection 14:15 reminds us that there's nothing too hard for the mighty God. 14:20 That God reverses the irreversible. 14:23 That God fixes the unfixable. That God does the undoable. 14:28 That He beats the unbeatable. He saves the unsaveable. 14:31 He's a mighty God. He's a miracle-working God. 14:35 He's a Satan-defeating God. He's a circumstance-changing 14:40 God He's a wonder-working God. He's an overcoming God, 14:45 because He's a mighty God. [Aud. reaction] 14:48 PB: That wherever you are today, to say that God 14:53 can't get you out of it is for you to say you don't 14:57 believe in the power of His resurrection. 15:01 What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before Him, 15:06 heaven and earth adore Him. What a mighty God we serve. 15:10 That's the power of God, that's the miracle of His 15:14 resurrection. But also, it's the gospel of redemption. 15:17 Let me tell you something. There is no greater miracle 15:22 that God has worked than the redemption of your soul. 15:27 Let me say that one more time. There is no greater 15:31 miracle that God has worked than the redemption of your soul. 15:36 Somebody in this place today--I know you look good, 15:38 but you should be out there strung out somewhere- 15:41 -there's somebody in this place, you should have lost 15:43 your mind by now. But there is no greater miracle that 15:48 God has worked than the redemption of your soul. 15:52 So if you're looking for a modern-day miracle, 15:55 baby look in the mirror. And look at yourself and say, 15:59 what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, 16:03 since Jesus came into my heart. Without Christ, 16:07 all of us--all of us--without Christ, all of us 16:13 have been sentenced to hell like an inmate. 16:17 Locked behind bars, can't be acquitted. 16:21 When we are living without Christ, friends of mine, 16:25 our lives have already been condemned to live out 16:28 in the heat and blaze of hell's fire. But with Christ, 16:33 He comes in, He fans the flames, reaches in and rescues 16:41 the perishing, and then He brings us close to Himself. 16:46 Then He says you belong to Me, and anybody that 16:50 belongs to Me can't be taken out of My hand. 16:53 That's some good news today. [Aud. reaction] 16:56 PB: That I don't care what you've done, 16:59 I don't care how far you've been backed up, 17:01 I don't care how bad you've messed up, 17:04 if you're in the hand of God, no devil in hell can take you out. 17:11 Let me tell you something. What I love about our faith 17:14 is simply this: our faith is not based on coming do, 17:20 but our faith is based on already done. 17:25 Somebody missed this. Our faith is not based 17:28 on coming do, our faith is based on it's already done. 17:32 Somebody got it. I hear you. Somebody got it. 17:34 Satan is done. Satan is already defeated. 17:40 Satan is already finished. Nobody can undo 17:44 what Jesus already did at Calvary. 17:46 You can't undo what God has already done. 17:49 God had a plan to redeem you and me before 17:52 the foundation of the world. It's done. 17:55 That's why I love to praise God. It's done. 17:58 That's why I love to worship God. It's done. 18:02 That's why I love to live for God. It's done. 18:06 That's why I love to stomp my feet. It's done. 18:09 That's why I love to lift God. It's already done. 18:13 Don't wait till the battle is over. Shout now. 18:16 In the end you're going to win, because He who 18:19 has begun a good work in you will continue and 18:23 complete it until the day of redemption. 18:25 It's done, because He's a mighty God. And because Jesus is God. 18:32 But because Jesus God has revealed Himself to us as a mighty God, 18:36 God's power--listen to me good--God's power is not just in Jesus. 18:43 But if Jesus is in us, His power dwells in us. 18:56 [Aud. reaction] PB: Can I be real today? 18:59 Some of us don't know who we are. We're sitting 19:03 on a ton of dynamite. I refuse to walk around like 19:11 a pitiful, scared, wounded, Seventh-day Adventist Christian. 19:17 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. 19:22 If God be for us, who can be against us? No weapon 19:28 formed against us is going to prosper. Jesus died for me. 19:32 Jesus rose for me. Jesus lives for me, and I've got power. 19:39 Anything we ask in the name of Jesus, it shall be done. 19:43 Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, 19:46 knock and the door shall be opened. 19:49 This is the confidence we have in approaching God, 19:51 that whatever we ask, we know we have. 19:55 When Jesus left this earth, He gave us the Holy Ghost, 20:01 and the power of the Holy Ghost has been given to us. 20:06 [Aud. reaction] PB: So I can tread on serpents. 20:10 I can tread and stomp on scorpions. I can denounce 20:15 and depress demons, because we serve a mighty God. 20:21 Oh, you don't hear me. I said, we serve a mighty God. 20:25 Somebody in here, you're weak and weary. 20:29 But we serve a mighty God. Somebody in here, you're faint, 20:34 but we serve a mighty God. I need a mighty God. 20:40 You need a mighty God. We need a mighty God. 20:44 I'm trying to move to everlasting Father, 20:46 but my soul is all happy 'cause we serve a mighty God. 20:48 If you're having trouble with your life, He's a mighty God. 20:52 If you're having trouble with your job, He's a mighty God. 20:55 If you're having trouble in your marriage, He's a mighty God. 20:59 If you're having trouble with your children, He's a mighty God. 21:02 If you're having trouble with your finances, He's a mighty God. 21:05 If you're having trouble with your health, He's a mighty God. 21:07 You may be weak, but He's a mighty God. 21:13 You may be in your own fiery furnace, but He's a mighty God. 21:18 You might be in a lions' den today, but He's a mighty God. 21:23 Somebody, you may be going through it right now, 21:25 but He's a mighty God. Somebody, your back is up against the wall, 21:31 but He's a mighty God. So I just stopped by to tell you, 21:35 number one that we serve a mighty God. 21:39 But not only is He a mighty God, He's an everlasting Father. 21:45 [Aud. reaction] PB: Now, we're smart people. 21:48 So somebody wants to know how can Jesus be the Son 21:55 and the Father at the same time? There's God the Father, 22:02 God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And though there 22:07 is one God, three co-eternal Persons working to bring 22:12 about our salvation, the Son is not the Father, 22:17 and the Father is not the Son. So how can the Son 22:23 be the everlasting Father? If you study the text, 22:31 you will notice that the text has no bearing upon the 22:35 position and titles of the Godhead with regard to one another. 22:39 The text does not indicate the relationship of God to Himself, 22:44 but it indicates the relationship of Jesus Christ to us. 22:48 Jesus to us is the everlasting Father, 22:52 which means Jesus is eternal, Jesus is endless, 22:57 Jesus is enduring, Jesus is undying, Jesus is perpetual, 23:03 Jesus is never-ending, Jesus is infinite, Jesus is boundless, 23:09 Jesus is timeless, Jesus is immortal, Jesus is everlasting. 23:14 Let me put it to you this way. Jesus was always here, 23:19 always has been here, always will be here, 23:25 because He always was and He always is. 23:27 Because HE is what He was, He was what He is, 23:30 and what He was and is He will always be. 23:32 [Aud. reaction] PB: Jesus couldn't be called everlasting if it 23:39 were possible that one day He would cease to exist. 23:43 So then Jesus is as eternally the Son as the Father 23:49 is eternally the Father. For according to Colossians 1:15, 16 and 17, 23:54 Paull says that "Jesus is the image of the invisible God, 23:58 the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all 24:01 things created that are in heaven and the earth, 24:04 visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, 24:06 principalities, powers. All things were created by him, 24:09 for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." 24:15 Jesus is everlasting, but now, let's link everlasting and Father. 24:26 Now, in our finite minds, the Father must be before the Son. 24:35 But we must understand that the terms used in Scripture to 24:41 represent God are not intended to literally be understood or 24:45 rendered in their exact earthly sense, because human language 24:49 fails to convey the very essence and fullness of heavenly things. 24:54 God says, your says are not My ways. Your thoughts are 25:01 not My thoughts. Jesus is as eternal as the Father, 25:06 or He would have never been called the everlasting Father. 25:10 But Pastor, how is Jesus Father? Because in order to be a father, 25:17 you've got to have children. But remember, any man can make a baby; 25:23 it takes a father to rear a child. [Aud. reaction] 25:27 PB: But let me give you one way Jesus is Father. 25:32 First, Jesus is Father who represents those who are in Him, 25:36 just like the head of a tribe represents the descendants 25:40 in that tribe. If you read First Corinthians 15, 25:42 the Apostle Paul speaks of two Adams: the first 25:47 Adam and the second Adam. Adam is a Hebrew word 25:51 that has two meanings. Number one, it has a general 25:55 meaning and number two, it has a specific meaning. 25:58 Generally speaking, Adam is a generic term meaning man 26:03 or mankind or humanity. In this sense, this Adam includes 26:07 everybody, male and female. White and black. Young and old. 26:14 Jew and Gentile. Rich and poor. North and south, east and west, 26:20 this is everybody. But the second meaning of the word Adam 26:23 is specific and individual. It means Adam, the man. Adam, 26:30 the male. It means Adam, the husband of Eve. Adam, 26:37 the father of Cain and Abel. Adam, the primary ancestor 26:42 of every race and nation. Adam, the progenitor of the human family. 26:46 Adam, the common father of us all. Adam, whom God made and place 26:51 in the Garden of Eden to develop and maintain it. 26:53 But the Bible says that the first Adam stood for us in the Garden, 27:00 then he fell and ruined it for all of us. The Bible says wherefore 27:07 as by one man sin entered into the world, death by sin, 27:12 so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Which means then, 27:18 the first Adam was the representative man by whose obedience 27:23 we should have been blessed, but through whose disobedience 27:27 we've been made sinners. The first Adam was the representative 27:32 head of all of us, and when he fell we all fell. In the first Adam, 27:39 we all die. But praise God today, there's a second Adam, 27:48 and His name is Jesus. The everlasting Father. 27:56 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is 28:01 eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. We call the first Adam 28:06 "father" sorrowfully, because we were cast out of Eden because of him. 28:12 We till the ground -- 28:16 >: Thank you for joining us for another exciting 28:18 Breath of Life television broadcast. 28:20 Tune in next week at the same time, 28:22 as Dr. Byrd will deliver another dynamic message from the Lord, 28:26 just for you. Until next time, may God bless you. 28:29 END |
Revised 2017-01-05