Friending Jesus

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• Friending Jesus
• Isaiah 96
• For to us a child is born,
• to us a son is given
• and the government
• shall be upon his shoulder,
• and his name shall be called
• Wonderful Counselor,
• Mighty God,
• Everlasting Father,
• Prince of Peace.
• 
  (English Standard Version)

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• Facebook friends?
• Are you on Facebook?
• Any trouble signing on?
• Good thing your name isnt
• Becky Super
• or
• Bess Pancake
• or
• Tim Six
• All three signed up for Facebook
• All three were rejected
• Washington Post, March 5, 2009

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• Facebook friends?
• Facebook clearly isnt in touch with the
• unusual names some people have
• And it has to take it seriously that people
• will feel hurt for being rejected for
• simply being themselves
• Fortunately most of these folks have eventually
• made it onto the social network by going
• through a lengthy appeals process
• Though there is a new group on Facebook
• Facebook Hates My Name

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• Are Wonderful Counselor
• Mighty God
• Everlasting Father
• Prince of Peace
• Facebook Names?
• More to the point,
• are WE accepting these names?
• Are we Friending Him?
• The great challenge of Christmas is
• to establish a strong connection with
• the baby born in Bethlehem

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• Wonderful Counselor
• At the beginning of his ministry
• Jesus meets a woman at the
• Samaritan well. (John 4)
• Jesus Friends her
• She Accepts him.
• Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor-
• The one who knows us most fully
• and loves us most deeply
• Jesus tells us the truth about ourselves
• and invites us into his family

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• Mighty God
• When Jesus friend Lazarus died,
• Lazarus sister tells Jesus, Lord if you
• had been here, he would not have died.
• (John 11)
• Jesus answered, Those who believe in me,
• even though they die they will live again.
• Lazarus was given new life
• And so are we
• If we believe in a Mighty God
• Christmas is all about moving
• from death to life through
• the power of a Mighty God!

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• Everlasting Father
• When Jesus is eating with his disciples,
• Philip says to him,
• Lord, show us the Father
• and we will be satisfied
• Jesus replied,Anyone who has
• seen me has seen the Father
• The appearance of the Word of God
• in human form shows us that Jesus
• and the Everlasting Father are one

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• Prince of Peace
• When Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
• people were looking for a military messiah
• to drive the Romans out of Judea
• Jesus came to be the Prince of Peace,
• based on truth, justice, and righteousness
• Jesus said, Peace I leave with you,
• my peace I give to you John 14
• Our mission is to make peace with others
• following the example of the One
• who came to reconcile us to God
• We are to Friend others, just as Jesus
• came to make us Friends with God

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• Jesus is our
• Wonderful Counselor
• Our Mighty God
• Our Everlasting Father
• Our Prince of Peace
• Lets not be put off
• by these unusual names
• Instead lets receive him, accept him,
• and strengthen our connection to him
• What a Friend we have
• in Jesus!

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