A Great Light Has Come - A Great Light Has Come

Message from Steve Holt on 12/21/2025

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Steve Holtz. I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast. Each week we go into God's Word. We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse. We are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world. So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life. So this morning I want us to turn not to the typical Christmas story, but to Isaiah chapter 9. One of 400 prophecies about the coming Messiah that God led me to for the first time. I haven't taught from Isaiah 9 before, but I want to do that this morning because of where we've been in this country, where we've been as a church. It's one of the most beloved passages. If you look at verse 6, this is where we camp almost always at Christmas time, is verse 6. Let me read that. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, and some most theologians combine those two in the Hebrew wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So, Father, in the name of your Son Jesus Christ this Christmas, 2025, we celebrate you as the child that came, the Son that was given. And we believe that the kingdom of God government is upon your shoulder and will increase throughout all time. We thank you that you're wonderful counselor, that you're mighty God, your everlasting Father, and you're the Prince of Peace, all the things that we need in this life. And so we bless you this morning. We thank you for what you're doing in our lives, and may you speak to us in a clear and fresh way this Christmas that will take us into the new year with a new anointing and a new power from your spirit. In your name we pray. Amen. So it's one of the more beloved prophetic messianic passages in Scripture, but it's taken out of context. Actually, as Isaiah wrote this through a revelation from God, he gave them what we now classify as verse six. But the context is the nation of Israel being in Babylonian captivity, and he's trying to give them hope, and God is speaking through him to give them hope, but they feel like they're in the darkness. So if you'd go back with me to verse 2, let's start with verse 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. Well, I don't know about you, but I can speak from personal autobiographical experience for this year. This has been the hardest year of my life. And for many of you, because of the context in which I've shared or counseled or been in your midst, some of you feel the same way. One lady said to me not so long ago that she can't wait for 2025 to be done. And so for many of us, we may have felt like that we've gone through a valley of the shadow of death. It's been a difficult year. It might have been relationally, it might have been financially, it could be in your marriage, and it could be in something to do with your job or the work that you're doing, but you're going through the valley of the shadow of death, and you're feeling that darkness upon you, and there is a light that has come. And that's Jesus Christ. And I want to say this God, God has term limits on suffering. God has term limits on suffering. And so what has just constantly bombarded my heart through the years and through this year especially has been the fact that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. That God is going to increase his kingdom in our lives, oftentimes through suffering. So it's oftentimes as we go through times where we feel like we're in the valley of the shadow of death, that's where the light shines the brightest. Many of you know that I'm a hunter, so I hunt high up in the Rockies almost every year for elk and deer, different seasons. And what you do if you're a hunter is you get up super early and it's super cold because it's in the fall. And one of the last things you want to do is you don't want to be on the sunny side of a valley. Because as you can imagine, that's your best time to see an animal, and you'll have the light shining in your eyes, which messes up your scope. So you're always on the shadowy end. You're always on the shadowy end or the north-facing side as it relates to a valley. And it's super cold. It's usually, you know, 10 degrees or less. It's sometimes windy up there, and it's the coldest time of the whole day right before the sun breaks. And so you're cold, you're shivering, and I've always had my boys with me, so they're really shivering. And we're there, and we start to see that light crest across the valley. And as that light crestes across the valley, what you want to do is you want to run over to the other side. Because it's on the south-facing side that the sun begins to hit. You're still in the shade, you're still in the shadows. You're in the shadows, and you can see the light shining. And you know that if you could just let the sun hit you, you'd warm up by 20 degrees. But you're sitting there shivering, and you know you can't, because this is a pivotal time. And I think life sometimes is like that, where we're in the shadows, we're in the darkness, it's a difficult time in our life, and we see everybody else doing better. Anyone know what I'm talking about? It just seems like everybody's got a story of a miracle or something that God's done, and it doesn't seem to be happening in your life. And you're shivering in your own agony and in your own struggle and in your own pain, yet you can see the light coming down, you can see it shining. But men and women, listen, it's going to hit you. The light is going to come. But sometimes it takes time for that light to shine. And when that light shines, it makes all the difference in the world. When the light comes through, that's what Christmas is about. Christmas is a time where we're coming in the shadow of what we've been through. And we let the light shine. David, who would have been, knew, who had known something about suffering and enemies, wrote, For you will light my lamp. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. David understood the increase of the power of God in his life, suffering more, possibly, than anyone besides Jesus in the Bible. The suffering that he went through, he said he could see the light, the light shined through him, and as a result, he could leap, leap like a gazelle. He had power and he had anointing because of that light shining through him. John writes, this is the message we've heard from Jesus that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. So what is it about light? What is it about light shining? I think there's three aspects to light as I look at it. Number one, it's healthy for you. It's healthy to be in the light. So when it's sunny and it is a lot in Colorado, I love to go out in my backyard. If I'm here, or if I'm here, I'll do the same thing at the facility here. But if I'm at home, I'll go back there and I've got a chair and I've got a little table there that I have my place for my Bible or water or whatever I'm drinking, might be coffee. But I want for 30 minutes the vitamin D of the sun shining into my eyes. No sunglasses, just letting it shine. God's like that. The more we gaze upon him in worship, the more we gaze upon him in prayer, the more we take those shadowy parts of our lives and we surrender them again to him, there's the almost like the vitamin D of the Holy Spirit that comes and begins to heal us. And hour after hour and day after day, sometimes it takes a long time, but we lay it before him and the light shines. Secondly, light penetrates darkness. So darkness can't withstand the light. That's what John's saying. The darkness cannot overcome it. So the more we shine the light, the more the darkness flees. So, church, if you come today with anxiety and burdens, will you trust God this Sunday to give that to Him? Will you take the time to say, Lord, I don't know what to do about this. I don't know what to do about that. I'm I'm overwhelmed. And it feels like I'm in the darkness. Would you shine your light? Would you shine your light and penetrate and drive back the darkness? And because thirdly, light enables us to see things, see things that we wouldn't see. So I'm not a big flashlight guy in my hand. I think because of all the stuff I've done outdoors, everything goes on my head. So I've got a flashlight that I put on my head. Pretty powerful one, too. And so my hands are free. But I'm constantly in situations, either in our barn or outdoors somewhere doing something where I need my hands, but I still need light because it's dark or it's a shadowy area. And so I can see and I can work because my lamp shows the way. What is it, a lamp unto our feet? And a light into our path. And so it's through the word of God that God gives us light. And so he gives us light in the darkness. Now look what he says next. It's really important. He says this you have multiplied the nation, verse 3, and increased its joy. Increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest. Now, there's a difference between happiness and joy. And I've taught on this before. When we went through the book of Philippians, we talked about the difference between happiness and joy. So happiness tends to be outer. Tendency to derive our sense of well-being from outer circumstances. Stuff that, you know, we're trying to control all the time. But joy is something that is an inner peace from the Holy Spirit. Joy is an inner peace from the Holy Spirit, and he makes the correlation, it's like a harvest. It's like a harvest. And what he's, I think what he's alluding to are the three feasts. And one of the feasts was the feast of weeks or the feast of harvest, where all able-bodied men came to all three feasts every year, but they would come to Jerusalem and they rejoice at that feast. It follows that Pentecost was that harvest. When the Holy Spirit came down in Acts chapter 2, it was at the feast of harvest, the feast of the work of the Spirit in our lives. And so he's speaking of a harvest in our lives. Can I challenge you today or sometime this week before Christmas, that you would take time, take time to write down in a journal or somewhere, what has God done in your heart and in your life that's a harvest? Where God is shown up in a mighty way. I can only say from my own experience that most of the time I focus in on my current circumstances way too much. I overthink the future way too much. And I don't look back enough. And I think sometimes, church, it's important to look back and see where God's taken you, to see what God has done, to look at the work of his spirit in your marriage, to look at the work of his spirit in your kids, to look back and see his faithfulness. That's looking at the harvest. And then what does it say? It says, men rejoice when they divide the spoil. And so the idea is of generosity by which the harvest is so great that we actually share it with others. We share it with others. And so there's this coming forth of the harvest in our lives and then sharing it with others as we do. And so, and so would you stand with me right now? Would you just stand with me? And let's just take a moment. What are you thankful for from this year? One thing. What's one thing you're thankful for this year? Let God speak to you. Lord, what are you doing in us that you want us to be reminded of of a harvest in our hearts and in our spirits and in our souls? And when he puts that in your mind, I want you to thank him for it. I want you to thank him for it and ask for more joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. God, I want to just thank you for what you're doing at the road. I want to thank you for what you're doing in my family. I want to thank you for what you're doing in my marriage. I want to thank you for my precious wife Liz. I thank you for the work you're doing in her and in me. God, I just rejoice in that. And Lord, for every person in this room, whether it's relationships, a job, or finances, God, pour out blessings in 2026 of increase. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Alright, you can be seated. Alright, look at verse 4. Because guess what? It's a battle. Does anybody know that this whole thing's a big battle? For you have broken the yoke of his burden if you're if you've got your pen in hand, circle yoke of his burden, yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every warrior sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and the fuel of fire. So the story here is of Midian, you know the story of Gideon. Gideon had 32,000 men. Many of them were trembling in fear, getting ready to take on the Midianites, way outnumbered already. And yet God says that those that are fearful can go home. And 22,000 did, so now he's down to 10,000. And God says, Too many. He says, Go down to the water, and those who cup the water, keep those, and those who drink like a dog, let them go. So everybody but 300 now leaves. And so Gideon has to fight against tens of thousands with 300 men, with some torches and some trumpets, and they go forth and bring forth the victory. The point is that we're in a battle and God wants to fight for you. If you know him in a personal way and you have an intimate relationship with him, he's there to fight for you. And I'm going to give you a little thought about 2026. Our theme for the road is build and battle together. Build and battle together from Nehemiah. And so, in one sense, we have a Bible in one hand and we have a sword in the other. We're going to battle and build together. And so, with that, there was this tremendous understanding of a battle taking place, and it's a yoke. And all of us have yokes that we carry. Some of those are agreements that we've made with the enemy since childhood that have been a burden and a yoke over us. And that burden has carried us through our whole life, and it's been a battleground for us. And because of that, we look to what Jesus said. Come to me, all of you who are weak and heavy laden, or labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So we might, how many of you have heard of replacement theology? Raise your hand if you've heard of replacement theology. I'm not gonna get into that. How about replacement lifestyle? What about replacement lifestyle? Here's what I mean that we take the yoke of worry and anxiety that we've been carrying, and we hand it over to Jesus and say, Jesus, would you give me your yoke? I'm giving up my yoke to receive your yoke. Your yoke is light, your yoke is easy. If you're in a leadership position in any way, you feel the yoke of leadership. If you're a father or a mother with children or grandchildren or family, you feel the yoke of that. For you that are single, there's a yoke that you carry, and it's burdensome. It's heavy. This time of year, there's more suicides than any other time of the whole year. Some would say there's more suicides in this time than the whole year combined. I haven't seen that statistic, but I've heard that. That would mean that there's a number of you in this room right now, at the sound of my voice, that you've contemplated this year taking your life. And you're carrying that yoke. It's a yoke of depression, a yoke of anxiety. It might be a yoke of the what you think is going to happen in the future. Can I challenge you today, at this service, that you would give Jesus a chance? Oh, I know Jesus. I grew up in a religious home. I've been to church. No, I'm talking about a dynamic, growing fire in your heart through a personal, growing, dynamic relationship with him. I've had the privilege this year to be in a lot of your homes. You've invited me over at different times. I've been in your homes. And here's what I love about road people I always find a Bible somewhere. And it's usually, and maybe they put it out because the pastor's coming over. I totally get that. Yep. But it seems like, because I'm not dumb, I wasn't born yesterday. Um I'm from Georgia, I figured it out. Open it up. And you see underlined and highlighted places. That that's all that's a weathered Bible, that's a used Bible. Men and women, it's in the lamp of the word that we discover the truth of everything that God says, and that's how we believe it. That's how we begin to believe it in our lives. It's because we're reading it, we're hearing it, we're experiencing it every day. And so that's that's where the yoke gets translated. Is that God, I can't do this anymore. Does anybody feel that way? I feel it more often than I'd like to admit. I just I can't carry this anymore. And so what I'm speaking of here is that dynamic of yielding into the Spirit and giving it to Him, giving it to Christ this year. Because my prayer for myself. For the road, for the staff, and for all of you here is that 2026 will be the greatest year of your life. That it will be the most miraculous year of your life. We're going to begin in January the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so the first eight weeks are all on that because I want us to experience the power and the gifts and the lifestyle of the Holy Spirit in our lives. To experience Him, to take off the heavy yoke, break the heavy yoke by giving that to Him. He's a yoke breaker, and then He's a yoke giver to us. For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. So what's happening here is that Isaiah is prophesying this is there's a there's going to be something that's going to happen. And what we see right now is that we're in Babylonian captivity, but there's a child coming. There's a Messiah coming. That Messiah will carry that government. This Babylonian government will not be here for very long. There's going to be a move of the Spirit and church. There's going to be a move of the Spirit in America. And I believe it's this year. I believe in 2026, God's going to move in unprecedented ways. He's already moving in unprecedented ways since 2021. There's been this vast, this huge move of the Spirit. And I would say this from 2021 to 2025 is the down payment for what God's going to do over the next four or five years. Because the government is not Democrat. Everybody goes, the government is not Republican. It's kingdom of God. It's a kingdom of God. And this child who was born 2,000 years ago and reigns supreme on his throne next to the Father in heaven until all his enemies are under his feet is not up for re-election. His growth is happening in our hearts and in our lives. And if you will take the heavy yoke and you'll give it to him, and you'll receive his yoke, his light yoke, guess what? The increase of his government will be eternal in your life. So I quoted the church father last week, by which he said the divine became human so that the human can become divine. I had a young man coming, I don't know what that means. I said, come next Sunday. Here's what it means: it means that as we take on the kingdom of God more and more in our lives, it's like yeast. It's leavening the dough. It starts very, very small. I mean, you think about this guy, Tank, the big fighter up there at the prison in Lyman. You think about the other guy, I don't know his name, who's a the drug dealer, but when they received Christ, when they began to follow Christ, probably the kingdom was really, really small. Maybe all they heard was read the Bible. So you start reading the Bible. Or just come to the Sunday service when Marcus comes. And so he started doing that. But guess what? It starts to grow. It's like yeast, man. It starts to grow and it starts to take over. Guess what's happening? The biggest drug dealer in Colorado is becoming divine. That's got to be blowing everybody away. The biggest fighter in the prison is becoming more like Jesus. Now listen to what I'm going to say next because it's really important that the character of a kingdom is always a reflection of the character of the king. The character of the kingdom is always a reflection of the character of the king. And here's what it says: a fourfold name for Jesus. He's wonderful counselor. Isaiah later writes in chapter 28, this also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel. Wonderful in counsel. So when we listen for God's voice, when we're willing to slow down enough to hear his voice, he has wonderful counsel for you. He has amazing insights in you and through you that you'd never know without the power of the Holy Spirit working as wonderful counselor. John writes, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and he we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Well, I don't know the grace in this situation at all. I don't know what the truth is in this particular dilemma that I'm in. So you wait on God. You wait on him, and he begins to give you wonderful counsel. Secondly, mighty God, the omnipotent one. All power flows from the Father, God, to the Son, the Messiah Jesus, and to us. Guess what this Hebrew word means? Mighty God. It means hero. He's a hero to us. He becomes our hero in the worst of times through the power of the Holy Spirit. So the power of the Holy Spirit comes through mighty God working within us and giving us the power to handle any situation that we encounter. And so He's mighty God. Paul writes in Colossians 1, we are strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son, of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So not just the power to be forgiven of sins, but the power to live out a kingdom life within us. Mighty God. Thirdly, everlasting Father. He's our everlasting Father. He's Abba Father. Men and women, you've been adopted into the family. He's your father. And I don't know, you know, what kind of father you had, what kind of father that you grew up with, but you now have an everywhere present. That's another way of saying everlasting, Father. Abba Father, and you're his adopted child. Prince of peace. Write down shalom. That's what the word means. Shalom. It's the idea, the reign of Christ characterized by shalom means health, healing, well-being, prosperity, happiness. It means to be complete. It means to be whole. It's the idea of wholeness in our life. It's wholehearted devotion to Him because you're living out of a whole life. That's shalom. He's the prince of shalom. He's the prince of health. That's why Jesus said that he was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. To destroy the works of the devil. Because the devil is there to fracture, break up, tear apart, and divide. And so the more you see division, that's of the devil. The more you see breaking happening, that's a work of the devil. Where you see unity, where you see synergy, where you see wholeness, where you see health, that's Jesus stuff. That's what we're about at the road. That's what you should be about in your life. I don't even like to use the word Christian. That seems religious to me. You know what you are? You're a Jesus disciple. You're a Jesus disciple walking in abundance through him and the power of the Spirit because He's the Prince of Shalom. Verse 7. And of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, ever, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The increase of the kingdom of God will have no end. The increase of the kingdom of God will have no end. So the character of the kingdom emanates from the character of the king, and the king wins. Jesus wins. All across the globe, God is moving. Among Muslims right now, unprecedented visions and dreams. Muslims are coming to saving faith. I was, some of you know that I've had a heart for Nepal. I've only been to Nepal once. I've been to India many, many times and been all over Asia, but I remember years ago, it was about 12 years ago, the impact that speaking at a church planting conference had in me about Nepal. And Liz and I were at the airport coming back from Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we spent Thanksgiving. And she just typical of Liz, she's just starting talking to this person, and she goes, Steve, he's from Nepal. He's from Nepal. And I said, Oh, cool. So we start talking. And in the discussion, I find out he's a he's a huge internet leader and influencer in Nepal, and he's uh a fashion designer now in New York, and all he wants to do is use fashion design to bring the kingdom of God. I mean, I didn't say anything about the kingdom, I didn't even say I was a pastor. I just was being nice and said I'd been, I'd spoken one time in Nepal uh years ago, and he says, Yeah, I'm a fashion designer. And I said, That's great, that's awesome, man. And I'm studying in New York right now because I'm I'm getting this master's degree in design. I want to take it back to Nepal because I want to see the kingdom of God in fashion design. And I go, man, we got one. This is what it's all about. And so that began a wonderful conversation with this young man. Guys, the kingdom is moving across the globe. In America, over 31 million Gen Z and Gen X young people have gotten saved since 2021. It's just amazing. Greg Laurie, Greg Laurie, who had front row seat during the Jesus People movement in the 60s and 70s, pastor of Harvest Fellowship in Riverside, California, and the director, one of the directors of the movie, The Jesus Revolution, said this a few days ago. Today, things are changing in America, and they're changing for the better. There's a new wind blowing across the nation, not only for the older generation, but among the young as well. It's time to rebuild. Like Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, we must rise to the challenge and restore the spiritual foundation that has been eroded. The Old Testament speaks of this increase of the government of God. But you, Bethlehem, Ephratha, though you're little among the thousands of Judah, the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5.2. Habakkuk 2.14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That's what God's doing. His government, his kingdom of God is coming, and it's coming to Colorado Springs. And it's coming through this church and other word and spirit churches that his increase would drive back darkness in a mighty and powerful way. And you're a part of it. You're a part of the men and women that will make a difference this year in 2026 in amazing ways.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast. We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. For more information about The Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org. That's theroad.org.