Key points
- 1
1Jesus is Emmanuel — God who joined humanity, experiencing everything we experience so that nothing we face is foreign to Him.
“he's always been with us, but Jesus brings a whole new layer”
- 2
2As the Everlasting Father — the originator of eternity — Jesus is the God who sees us, just as He saw and cared for the outcast Hagar in the wilderness.
- 3
3The Prince of Peace does not promise the absence of conflict but peace with God — a right relationship with our Creator that is the only foundation for true contentment.
“it's not the absence of conflict that is peace, it's the presence of harmony”
- 4
4The Wonderful Counselor gives counsel that is beyond human comprehension — a king's directive, not mere advice — and we only experience His might when we obey what we do not yet understand.
- 5
5When you reach the end of yourself, you have arrived at the beginning of God — His mighty power is released precisely at the point of our surrender.
“when you get to the end of yourself, you've now just got to the beginning of God”
“God is right there. Jesus, God with us, means he got in the game that he created. Became one of us, and he's on the field right next to you, not to harm you, but to help you”
A story from life
The preacher recounts his four-year-old grandson Phoenix's first tee ball game and his father David's patient presence on the field with him
- 6
6Trusting God with money and time is the practical first step of truly believing God, not merely believing in Him.
“the answer isn't once I understand God, I'll listen to Him. The more you listen to Him, the more you start to understand Him”
“He doesn't want you just to come to be at a church meeting. He wants us to be the church”
Application
Pastor Bill's call is straightforward: stop merely believing in God and start believing God. That shift shows up in the practical, sometimes frightening places — how you steward your money, whether you step into a serving role, whether you follow an unexpected call. The counsel God gives is 'wonderful' in the truest sense: beyond what we can figure out on our own. But that is precisely the point. Like Hagar in the desert or a nervous four-year-old on a t-ball field, we are invited to take the Father's hand and trust that He knows the game He created. Peace with God comes first; contentment and clarity follow. The next step is simply to do the thing He is asking — even the scary thing — and watch the Mighty God show up.
