Messiah: Wonderful Counselor
Isaiah 9:6-7 and Selected Scriptures
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Discuss how resolutions made last week in “growing more like Jesus” worked themselves out – what God did in and through you (Phil. 2:13) Celebrate and thank God for those together and pray with those who experienced some “Lows” this week, for God’s encouragement for them.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
This Christmas season we're focusing on the names of the Messiah as recorded by the prophet Isaiah. In the midst of a very dark time in Israel's history God spoke through the prophet about the coming of the One who would bring light into the world. Each of the four names express the character and activity of Jesus our Messiah and the impact that he makes in our lives today.
This week we look at Jesus as “Wonderful Counselor”
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Read Isaiah 9:6-7 together.
Reflect:
The Hebrew phrase that we translate as Wonderful Counselor carries a sense of awe! in short, Isaiah is saying, “This is a counselor Who will leave us awestruck at the way He helps us navigate our world!
Brainstorm:
What are examples of times where Jesus’ response to the questions that were continually thrown at Him left the people around Him “awestruck” at His wisdom and authority? (Tell the story, maybe use Google search to find the verses if you need to!)
Read Hebrews 4:14-16: “Believe He gets you!”
How can God, living on the throne of Heaven and Earth as God Almighty, understand our stresses of finance, marriage… of life… that so often overwhelm us? Discuss the “testings” that Jesus faced.
The Scriptures promise here that we will receive “mercy… grace” from God in our time of weakness. Talk about a time where you experienced that— what was it like to receive grace in a time of weakness?
Read Luke 5:27-32: “Face what He shows you”
How can a person who thinks they are righteous find out that they are not what God would call “righteous”?
Jesus is not winking at sin here; He is clear on the need to acknowledge sin as sin in God’s eyes AND repent of it (turn away, do a 180). Talk about the role of repentance in spiritual healing.
Read Mark 10:17-23: “Do what He tells you”
How is this interaction an evidence of Jesus as “Wonderful Counselor”— what was Jesus ‘poking’ at that this young man needed to deal with, and how did this help him get there?
The Scripture says, “Jesus looked at him, and loved him.” God loves the world, so why do you think the writer brings this out here? What does this show us about Jesus as “Wonderful Counselor”?
Respond:
The thing about counselors is they help us come to terms with and deal with our “stuff”, our “issues. Spend some time in prayer together this evening asking God to lead you to, through, and beyond your “stuff”, giving you the will to make that journey because it is His will and your freedom!
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