Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church

Guest (Male): Wonderful is your name. Every Sunday he sets me up. Started me on my way. Food on my table. Brought joy to my day. I know your love has never changed. How wonderful, wonderful, wonderful is your name.

He set me up, very wonderful, very special. He set me up, very wonderful, supernatural, special gift. When I was in prison, he set me free. I was blind and in darkness, he let me see. I've come through so many storms in my life, and the same thing he did for me, he'll do for you. He is so wonderful.

Supernatural, very special. He set me up. He set me free. Very special. A very special gift he did for me. I'm so glad he sent me Jesus. He's so wonderful, supernatural, special. I love to call his name. I love the name Jesus.

Jesus, he's a wonderful Jesus. He's a counselor. Prince of Peace, Mighty God. I just love the name. I just love the name Jesus. Help me call the name Jesus. My way in, my way out, he's my comforter. In the midnight hour, I love the name. Help me call the name. He's my all in all. Help me call him. I just love the name. He's my way maker. He's my leaning post. When I'm in trouble, he always shows up. I just love the name. Jesus.

Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr.: We thank God for the awesome privilege that it is to be given to us to stand a few moments to open with you the Word of God and to look into the scriptures that we might gain some knowledge and understanding of the truth that our lives may be helped and enriched, and that we may be able to respond appropriately to God as we go through this difficult time.

I want to invite you to join me now in a moment of prayer as we again prepare our hearts for what the Lord would say to us in this moment of sharing. Father, we express our love to you again, and we can't thank you enough because as we think about our very lives and the journey of our time on earth, we know that you have been with us.

You have guided us and protected us. You have blessed us. You've brought us through another week. You even allowed us to lie down last night in the rest and woke us early this morning with our hearts and minds on you. And we thank you for all that you do. We thank you for this season where we celebrate the fact that you became a man and came a part of our human existence to be able to identify with each one of us.

Now, Lord, as we come to your Word, we pray for divine guidance. Pray that as we open it, you will give us clarity and understanding of the truth and then be able to apply it as you would have us do so. We don't want to just be hearers of your Word. We want to be doers. So bless us now. Lift again your human out of self. Speak to us and through us in this moment.

Bless now the words in our mouth and the meditations on our heart that it may be acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to take you to a place that's not usually associated with the Christmas season, but I want to take a look at John's Gospel, Chapter 8.

John's Gospel, Chapter 8, and I want to read beginning at verse 51 and following that to the end of the chapter, verse 59. It's a dialogue. We pick it up in the middle of a dialogue of Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. And I want you to listen at this conversation. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

Then said the Jews unto him, "Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keep my sayings, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom makest thou thyself?" Jesus answered, "If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honoreth me, of whom you say that he is your God."

"Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you. But I know him and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see me, to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." Then said the Jews unto him, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?"

Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. This is the Word of God for the people of God. I want to preach this morning from the subject: The Majestic Jesus.

We know and have levels of familiarity with the Christmas narrative of the trip of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, and we know all of those things, and we've turned that word upside down. And we like to talk about the pretty little baby, but I want to talk about him grown up because that's where he becomes the Majestic Jesus.

Seeing him in a manger and those things may have caused some level of wonder and some admiration for him and about him as just as any child that you see. You don't know who they are as they are in that early form. But it's as they grow and mature and begin to then have an impact on the world that you understand who this child is.

Even now, we have to be careful. We have to be careful with children. We have to be careful because you don't know who you're raising and you don't know who they're going to become or what they're going to do or what contribution they would ultimately make. It's important that we do our best to give guidance and to lay down good foundations and to do those things that are appropriate that leads to wholeness and fulfillment and all that God intends to be fulfilled through those children.

I submit unto you today that we celebrate Christmas, and I mentioned last time that people miss Christmas because they miss Christ. They don't believe in Christ. But John writes a record, and at the end of his record, he said, "These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and having believed, you might have life through him."

To leave him in his infancy and the admiration of shepherds who came and looked and went on, wise men who came and dropped gifts and went on back into their country, that's fine. But let's go on the inside here and see a little more, if you will. John here in the eighth chapter shows us Jesus in the temple in the latter days of his ministry.

What opens the eighth chapter is the religious leaders have found a woman caught in the very act of adultery. And they drag her into the temple and literally throw her down at Jesus' feet. And they say very smartly, "Moses in the law said she should be stoned to death. What you say?" And Jesus didn't even reply.

I want us to see the Majestic Jesus. He didn't reply. The scripture said he just stooped down and he started writing on the ground. And some theologians say he was writing their names, the very ones that had brought her and did that kind of thing. It's just so amazing that people are so quick to judge and beat up on people that they think that they have gotten the advantage over.

You miss the real moment. The real moment here is in the majesty of the Lord, and you understand a little bit more now why he came. Because whether or not you have been guilty of that sin, you're guilty of some sin. And when Jesus finished writing and he looked up, one by one they dropped their rocks, they put up their church finger, and they tiptoed back out.

Jesus said, "Where are your accusers?" And she said, "I have none." And he says to her, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more." And she went away, and he began teaching about himself. He began to say that "I am the light of the world, and as long as I'm in the world, you won't have to walk in darkness."

The religious leaders challenged him on his claim to be the light of the world. And so it started a dialogue. And Jesus said, "You think you know me, you know that you're in bondage." They said, "We've never been in bondage to anyone. We're Abraham's children." And they always hid behind their ethnicity. They always threw up Abraham.

Jesus said, "If you really knew Abraham, you would know me because I'm the one that Abraham wanted to see. Abraham looked for my day, and he saw it." Now, they understood exactly what Jesus was saying. Jesus was saying—they said, "You ain't 50 years old. How in the world you saw Abraham?" Because they know that Abraham was dead.

They know that Abraham didn't come and suddenly appear in the temple or in Jerusalem during Palestine days of Jesus. So it meant Jesus had to have been back then when Abraham lived. And they want to know how you do that. Either you are God and we need to bow down and worship you because you are God, or you're a big liar and standing here in the temple you are blaspheming.

They picked up rocks and they sought to stone him because they didn't know he was telling the truth. They made the wrong choice. He was who he said he was. He is who he says he is. And he does what he says he will do. Is there anybody here today who understands that he is who he says he is? And he has the power to do anything but fail.

That's the Majestic Jesus. So let's look. If he is who he says he is—and his implication here, these Jewish leaders understood that he was saying very clear that he is God. And they didn't believe it, and therefore they wanted to stone him because they said, "You're lying." But he wasn't lying. So let's go into the Old Testament, Book of Exodus, Chapter 3.

Go to the burning bush when God showed up and Moses was there. And God said to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I have heard the cries of my people. And I am sending you to Pharaoh to tell him I say, let my people go." And Moses wanted to have a dialogue with God. He said, "Well, who am I to tell them sent me? What's your name?"

God said, "Tell them I am that I am." Now those Hebrew words "I Am" are interpreted as Yahweh, and sometimes when you see them in the New Testament, or 8,000 times in the Bible, they are written Lord. And when they are written as Lord, they are all capital letters. It is called the tetragrammaton, and the tetragrammaton is the name of God.

The name of God is "I am that I am." So now John here in his record, to fill up the titles of Jesus, has Jesus saying "I Am". All right, now here in Exodus Chapter 3, God appears to Moses and he says, "Tell those Hebrew people down in Egypt that 'I Am' sent you." Okay, and what is that? "I am the Eternal One."

That is, "I have no beginning of days and I have no end of days. I am that I am." Moses writes about the eternality of God in the 90th number of the Psalm. In Psalm 90, Moses says, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place from all generations." Listen at his description: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth or the world was formed, thou art God."

Moses understood from the dialogue that he had with God that God was the Eternal One. Right? All right, Exodus Chapter 6, Moses is still having dialogue with God about his proposed journey to go to Egypt. And in Chapter 6, not only is he saying, "Who am I going to tell them sent me?" and God repeats it again, "I am that I am," and this time he reveals that "I am not only the Eternal God, but I am the God that will be with you."

"I am the Eternal God who is among my people." Are you going to learn something this morning? If we're going to know who God is, if we're going to know why we celebrate and who we celebrate and why we celebrate, you need to hear this. Not only is he the Eternal God, that is who has no beginning of days and end of days, but he's the Eternal God who is among his people.

Are you hearing that? There's a third revelation. And God says to Moses in that Exodus Chapter 6, he says to him, "And you tell them that I have heard their cry, and I am come down to deliver them." Now that's the first time he reveals himself as being a redeemer. And he goes on later and he says, "I revealed myself to Abraham and he knew me as the Eternal One or the Almighty, El Shaddai."

"He knew me as the Strong One. But I had not revealed myself to them as the Redeeming One." So God in the Old Testament to Moses revealed to him his nature, that he is the Eternal God, that he's the God who lives among his people, and that he is the God who delivers, brings people, and rescues them. So now let's go back to John 8.

If Jesus then is God as he claims to be, then it means he has power because God has power—all of the power. What kind of power does he have? It means he has to have power to forgive sins. Mark Gospel tells us of an account when Jesus was in the house teaching and four friends brought a buddy of theirs.

They tore off the roof and they let the man down in the presence of where Jesus was standing. And Jesus looked at the man and he said, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." And the same religious leaders were in that house. And they said, "Who he think he is? Only God can forgive sin." Jesus said, "What's easier to say? 'Your sins are forgiven you' or 'Take up your bed and walk'?"

He said, "But to demonstrate—because it's easy to say your sins are forgiven. I can say today your sins are forgiven, that's easy to say. And you could smile within yourself and say 'not mine' because you know you. All right, but to say that more than just to say it, to demonstrate that I have the power," Jesus is talking, "to forgive sins, that I have the power to forgive sins, I say to you: take up that bed and walk."

Guess what that man did? He took up that bed and he walked. And you know what the folk were? "Who is this that has the power to forgive sin?" I don't know how it makes you feel. That woman in that temple that day, when she left there, she left shouting because she knew that he had the power to do what? Because everybody else was ready to throw stones.

If I haven't got no other reason to celebrate Christmas, I can say thank you for forgiving me of my sin. But if he's God, and he is, he has the power to forgive sins, and he does. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh, precious is that flow that makes me whiter than snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus because he has the power to forgive sin. But if he had the power to forgive sin, and if he's God, and he is, then he had to have the power over spirits. Another day, Jesus was in church and a demon was in there.

The demon cried out, "Thou Son of God, what have we to do with you? Are you come to cast us into the abyss?" The demons knew who he was. "Are you come to torment us?" because they always knew who Jesus was, and they knew that they had a day of an assignment where they would be cast into the great abyss. And the demon cried out in church that day.

Jesus cast the devil out of that man. And the devil had to tear him one more time before he let him go. But he had the power, and he does have the power over the spirit world. Anybody glad about it? Man, listen, we live in a demon-cursed society, and the demonic is everywhere. And while you and I can't handle them, thank God for Jesus because he can do it.

He can cast the devil out of your child, out of my child, out of the neighborhood children. He can cast the devil out of those who think they are in charge because he ultimately is in charge. Are you following me? If he's God, now, and he is, and if he's God, and he is, not only does he have the power to forgive sins, but he has the power over the demonic realm.

And not only does he have the power over the demonic realm, if he's God and he is—otherwise he's lying. And if he's God, he has power over Satan himself. Now in the garden, when Adam and Eve messed up, God start talking when he called them into counsel. And he said to the woman, "Because you have done this, you participated, you obeyed, and now in pain and travail you're going to bear children, and your desire is to be the rule over your husband."

Somebody said that's when the fight started. And he said to the man, "Because you have done this, from the dust you came and the dust you shall return." So physical death was born. But he said to the serpent, he said to Satan who occupied the serpent, "Because you have done this, the seed of a woman will come. You'll bruise his heel, but he's going to bash your head."

When Jesus went to the cross, Satan bruised his heel. But when he got up the third day morning, the game's already over. It's just waiting to end. See, when the team has gone ahead, and you know you're in the fourth quarter, and it's too late and the lead is too big, the game is over even though the time has not run out. The game has been decided.

Well, if he's God, and he is, then he has power over Satan even though the game is not over. He still wins, and one day he's going to cast the devil and all of his imps into the lake that burns with fire. Are y'all hearing me? I'm talking about why we ought to celebrate him, the Majestic Jesus. Because he said he was who he said he was. He said, "I Am. I am God."

That's what he said, he's using the name of God. And they saying, "You lying," and they picked up stones to throw at him because they say, "You're not telling the truth." And he says, "I Am." And so if he is, that's what I'm saying, then he has the power to forgive sin. If he is God, he has the power over demons, and he has the power over the devil himself.

But if he is God, and he is, then he has to have power over death. Listen at the argument. The Pharisees and the religious leaders say, "Who you think you are? We're Abraham's seed, and you say that anyone who believes your words will never see death. And Abraham died, and the prophets died. Are you greater than these men? Are you greater than Abraham and the prophets, and they all died?"

Follow me one Friday to a hill called Calvary. As they marched him up the Via Dolorosa and they laid him on the ground, and they put nails in his hands, and they put nails in his feet, and then they accidentally lifted him up. And when he fulfilled all that the prophets had said, he said, "I thirst," and then he dropped his head in the locks of his shoulders, and he died.

But hang around, don't leave. All day Friday he's in the grave. All day Saturday he's in the grave. But early, early Sunday morning, he got up with all power in heaven and earth in his hand. And to prove that he was alive, he walked around for forty days. He went to his friends. He said, "You don't believe it's me? Come here, put your hands in my hand, put your hands in my side."

"Give me some fish and a honeycomb and let me eat so that you could understand that I'm not a figment of your imagination, that I do have the power over death, over hell, and the grave." If he is God, and he is, then he has the power over death. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, but the strength of the law is sin.

Thanks be unto God that through Christ we have the victory. Are you following me? There's a getting up morning waiting on us, and we too will experience the great victory that's ours because of him. When he got up, he became the first fruit of them that slept. If it was fitting and proper that one man, Adam, messed us up, then it was fitting and proper that one man, Jesus, would fix us up.

So if he is God, and he is, then he must have the power to forgive sin. He must have the power over demons. He must have the power over Satan. He must have power over death. But if he is God, and he is, then he must have power to calm storms. Oh, my brothers and sisters, I don't know how it makes you feel, but I'm glad that when storm clouds rise and billows blow and shake me and rock me to my core, that I don't have to worry and I don't have to fear.

Because I know somebody who can stand up and speak to the storm, and even the winds and the waves have to obey his will. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Yes, I celebrate Christmas because I celebrate the Majestic Jesus. What then should be our response?

They was in the presence of Jesus, and they should have fallen down on their face and worshipped him. But instead, they picked up rocks to throw at him and to run him out of town. Wrong response. There was another group one day after—John writes about it later in Chapters 14, 15, 16, 17, after the upper room experience. He went to the garden called Gethsemane.

And the same Jesus, and a band of men came from the temple, the police. They came to arrest him for being a perpetrator. And when they showed up in the garden, he said to them, "Who you looking for?" And they said, "We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth." And he stood up and he said, "I Am he." And the Bible said and they fell back.

They fell to the ground, the whole army fell to the ground because he said, "I Am he." So what should be our response? We should fall to the ground and we should bow before him and we should worship him as the only true and living God. He is the living God. He is the only living God. But they made the wrong choice.

Those men fell back that day, but they got up again. And they got up with swords and they got up with sticks and they came to try to attack him. And Peter was there, and Peter whipped out his sword, and Peter whacked the ear off the man. I'm glad that Pete wasn't at that other day because the boy got his ear, but Pete was going for the head.

They fell. They were in the right position. They were on the ground, but they didn't worship. And I don't want us to make that mistake as we go through these remaining days and this time that we have. Don't waste your time in worship. It's not about who stands here; it's about who sent them here. It's not about what they sing; it's about who they sing about.

It's not about what we decorate with; it's who decorates our hearts. No finer statement to be able to say than he walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me that I am his own. And the joy that we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. That's what we worship. When Jesus was ready to preach, he was tempted by the devil.

The devil told him, "Bow down and worship me." Jesus said, "It is written that you shall worship the Lord God and him only." So I just want you to understand what should be your response. If he is God, and he is, then we should bow before him, worship and adore him, honor him, and praise his blessed name.

That has nothing to do with who's watching you. You ought not care who's watching you. You ought not care what somebody else think about you because they didn't do for you what this Jesus did for you. Who wiped the tears from my eyes? Who mended my heart when my heart was broken? Who opened the door when the door was closed in my face? Who picked me up? Who healed my body? Who turned my life around? Who puts a song in my heart, clapping in my hands, running in my feet, shouting in my voice? Nobody but Jesus.

Can't nobody do me like Jesus. So yes, I came to praise the Lord, the Majestic One, the one that Abraham saw, the one that Moses knew, the one that parted the Red Sea, the one who fed them with manna in the wilderness, the one who woke me up this morning, the one standing in my soul right now. Majestic Jesus.

I just came to say that I love you, Jesus. Anybody love him today? Anybody ashamed to tell somebody that you love Jesus? That's what worship is. Real worship is expressing love. How many of you boys remember when you first met that girl and you were at a party and you were dancing and you were trying to sing in her ear while stepping on her toes and she was trying to get away from you?

You just wanted her to know that you loved her. So why can't we sing? Why can't we tell God that we love him? He want to hear from you. He want to know how you feel about him. You know how he feels about you. You're here today, and you're here because of his expression of his love to you. When are you going to say to him you love God?

I love Jesus. I love the Lord, I do. And I just came to worship the Majestic Jesus who has power, all power, power over my sin to cleanse me and to make me whole, to give me a right standing. Power over the demonic which attacks me every day. Some demons wake up with you on their mind, but thank God for Jesus.

Thank God that he has the power over the devil himself. And thank God he has the power over death. Thank God he has the power over our storms. So our response should be we're going to bow before him and worship him and tell him thank you, Jesus. I love you. Choir, doors open. Doors of the church open.

Come on, say it, God. Somebody might be here today, somebody's life need to change. This can be your start. I love the Lord. Listen at the song. That ought to be somebody's testimony today. He heard my cry. Oh yes, I said he heard my cry and he pitied every groan. Lord, as long as I live and trouble rise, I'll hasten to his throne.

I love the Lord. He heard my cry. And he pitied every groan. Long as I live, and trouble rise, I'll hasten to his throne. I'll hasten to his throne. Father, we thank you for being who you say you are. Thank you, Jesus, that you are God. That you became a man. You were born in this human experience to live among us, to experience our life so that you could identify with our hurts, our hungers, our pains, our challenges.

Yet, Lord, we thank you for all that you have inside of you, all of the power over every situation, over our sins, over the demonic, over the devil himself, over death. Thank you. Over our storms. And it is our desire to worship you, to bow at your throne and to honor you for all that you do.

We pray now for the sick among us. Pray that you would heal like only you can. You have the power to heal. We pray for the bereaved because we know you have the power to comfort. And Lord, we pray for every person and every need that we all have. Keep us by your power and use us for your glory.

Bless the study time that follows. Bless all that will take place throughout this day and throughout our life. In the name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, we pray. And now may the grace of God, the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, may he rest, rule, and abide with each one of you, children, until we meet again. God's people said amen. Amen, amen.

Dr. Michael W. Wesley Sr.: Hope you enjoyed the broadcast. You have been listening to a message from the Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church where we are reaching the world for Christ. Located at 2135 Jefferson Avenue Southwest, Birmingham, Alabama 35211. For a copy of this message, you can reach us at 205-925-9750 or 925-9751, or visit us on the web at www.greatershiloh.org. For another uplifting message, we invite you to join us for our next broadcast.