Skip to content The Perfect Gift || Inside the Manger Pt.3 || Pastor Adam Mesa Dec 17 · 46 min ...more
The Perfect Gift || Inside the Manger Pt.3 || Pastor Adam Mesa
December 17, 2023 · 46 min
Series Patria Sermons December 17, 2023 · 46 min · Patria Sermons
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492K followers
Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
492K followers
The Perfect Gift 0:01 Welcome to the ALSC podcast. Here at ALSC, we seek the lost, teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you are encouraged by this week's message.0:12 If you're ready to dig in the word, I've heard from so many people that have been enjoying this series inside the manger, for pastor Diego's message last week, both of our campus were sharing, even people online, how0:24 impactful that message was. And the first weekend, if you joined us, if not, you can always check our YouTube channel and jump in, genealogy of Jesus. And so what we're gonna talk about today is0:36 does the perfect gift exist? Has anyone ever struggled with finding a gift for somebody? Is there anybody ever like, what am I gonna get this person? I struggle every single year thinking of what0:47 I'm gonna get to for my wife. I mean, she has everything. She has me. So what else can you get on top of that? What can outdo the greatest gift of all? All the0:59 men said, amen. Amen. There we go. Fellas, you already know. You know, your wife rolling her eyes at you right now. It's tough. When she has it all, I'm thinking1:11 every year, what do I get? Does the perfect gift exist? We're gonna talk about that today. And so, if you have your Bible, would you turn to Matthew chapter 2? 2 weeks ago, we were in Matthew 1. Now, we're in Matthew1:22 chapter 2. Just 1 chapter over. And start in verse 1. We're gonna talk about the wise men a little bit today and the gifts they brought. Jesus. When you're ready, would you do me a favor? Could1:34 we stand for the honor of reading God's word this morning? Matthew chapter 2 verse 1 to 12. It says this, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea1:46 in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw1:57 his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people,2:09 he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for it is written by the prophets. And you owe Bethlehem in the land of Judah2:21 are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall become a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and2:33 ascertained from them where, what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I2:45 too may come and worship him slash kill him. That's what he means. After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen2:57 when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house,3:09 they saw the child with his Mary with his mother. And they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they'd offered him gifts of gold, frankincense,3:21 and mer. And being warred in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Let's pray. Laura, we thank you so much for today, God, as you have gathered your3:33 people into this place, Laura. Over the world, joining us from other campuses, joining us from the courtyard and the cafe to this room. Lord, we have all come here to3:45 hear a message from you. I pray, Lord, in this moment, may your spirit speak to us, minister to us, a new way to see how much you love us, to see how much you can3:57 you strive after us. And today, may we make a step forward to you. In Jesus name, amen. You may be seated. Thank you so much.4:23 A lot of stories, we tend to think that the wise men were 3 individual and they brought a gift each. Well, the Bible never says that. That's usually the picture we have in our head is it's 3 different wise4:34 men and then they each brought their own gift. Well, if there's a plural of men and the Bible never says how many, so they could have been anywhere from 3, but really they could have been 2 dozen to a hundred4:46 wise men. There's no way of knowing. What we do know though is, collectively, they brought 3 gifts to Jesus, and they presented 3 powerful gifts to Jesus. The first gift that they gave4:58 to Jesus was The second gift they gave to Jesus was frankincense. And the third gift they gave to Jesus was myrrh. These all were meant to to symbolize something to Jesus.5:10 And as they would gift this to Jesus, gold royal gift. So what they were saying when they gave Jesus5:22 gold, they said, we believe that you are the king of kings. We see that. They said that to Herod. They said, we have come to worship the King of Jerusalem. Herod doesn't like that because he's5:34 the current king. He thinks if there's gonna be a king that comes, he's gonna kick me off my rule and that's not a good thing. And so his desire is to try to kill Jesus before he gets the opportunity to become king.5:46 Unfortunately, Herod didn't know the kind of king that Jesus was here to become because he was here to become the king of kings, the king of all kings, of all powers, and of all authorities.5:58 And so as they come to give him gold, they're saying, Jesus, this baby, this child will become King. And then the next thing they give him is frankincense, which frankincense was something that6:10 you would burn in a ritual or in a temple. It's a worship practice. And so, incense was only used when you were worshiping something. So when they give Jesus incense and frankincense, what they're6:21 saying is, not only is he gonna be king of kings, he's also gonna be Lord of lords. So this incense is something that you would give to something that you believed was divine. And6:33 so the wise men believed that Jesus was divine. So as he was king of all things and as he was divine, he was fully God. Then the third gift comes and what do they give him? They6:45 give him Myrrh. When was Myrrh used? Well, Myrrh was used in ritual burial practices. Some point. And so6:57 they gifted Jesus myrrh to say, we also know that you are fully human to redeem humanity. So the first gift, they say, Jesus, you are king of kings. Second gift they say Jesus you are7:09 Lord of Lords. Third gift they say Jesus you must die so all can live. So these were very they call white we call them wise men for a reason because these were men that understood the mission that7:21 Jesus had to play out to redeem humanity. And so we understand that at this moment as they would gift, the Bible says when we read it, it says, and they came to him and they saw7:33 the child not the baby. So in Jewish literature, just like us, there's a difference between a baby, a newborn, a baby, an infant, a toddler. And so for them when they're calling Jesus7:45 a baby, in Hebrew literature that's anywhere between 6 months to about 2 years old. So that's about the age that Jesus is in. Why do we always tell it in the Christmas story and it seems like they're7:57 there at Jesus's birth? Well, because when you're watching film and television there's not enough room to tell the story of what happens for a year and a half. So they kind of bring the whole story together so that we8:08 see it's all 1 kind of journey. But really what you're looking at is that story where we hear about the shepherds going to visit Jesus in the manger with Mary and the angels are there. Now you're talking about anywhere8:19 between 6 months to a year and a half later as they're raising Jesus, the wise men finally make it because they're coming from the east and they got to come by animal or walk. So it's going to take them some time to get8:31 to Jesus. It's also great to remember that the star was lit in the air for that amount of time that they could follow that for that long. And so this is a story that God was telling for8:42 some time for them to get to Jesus. And so where does it come now? Well the reality is for Jesus, the wise men gave the perfect gift to Jesus. And8:54 I know when we look at that passage, we think that the perfect gifts are the gift of gold, frankincense, and myrrh because in their day, those are the 3 most highly valuable things, resources, next to salt9:06 that you could own on the planet. So they gave Jesus the best and many of us will look at that and say, see, that's where it is. Sermon before.9:18 They gave Jesus the most valuable stuff and they blessed them and that's what the gift was. But that is not what the true gift is that the wise men gave them. The wise men gave them something. There's 1 word that we read9:29 in there perfect gift that they gave Jesus in return.9:42 It's not that they gave material possessions, because if we get caught up in the material thing that they gave Jesus, then it's easy for us to get caught up in the material that we want from God. And9:54 so, if we just say, oh, Jesus gave them the best material, then we think, oh, then all I could do is write the church a check, and then I'm good. I don't need anything else. If you get caught up in that type of10:05 mentality, that could be detrimental to your faith, because what they really did was they humbled themselves before a child and they worshiped him. They worshiped10:17 him. Teach, pastor. You know, there's a great video that I saw online and it's of a young boy who spent his whole life in foster care, spent His whole life in foster care, and at about 11 or 12 years old he was10:29 finally adopted by a family. And so they sung him happy birthday, and they say in the captions that it was the first time that a family had ever presented a10:41 birthday cake to him. He had never seen a birthday cake, never had 1 for himself, and never been celebrated. I want you to see and I want you to try to identify what is the actual perfect10:53 gift in this video. Is the perfect gift the birthday cake or maybe it's something else? So I want you to look at this video and try to decide what the perfect gift is.12:16 So he doesn't move it off the other day.12:49 So tell me, in that video what was the perfect gift? Was it a birthday cake or was it a family? Yes. A family that he's always wanted, a family that he's always desired, A family13:01 that he's always needed in his life. When we think about God's gift to humanity, the greatest thing that God can give you and I is a place in his family. It's the greatest thing that's13:13 the greatest gift God can ever give to you and I. Is he can put us in a place in his family where you and I, as Romans 8 says, we become inheritors and children of13:25 God. That's the greatest thing that you and I need in our life. There are a lot of other things that we may be believing for. There there may be a lot of other things we may be asking for, but the reason why Jesus came13:35 to humanity was to bring you into the family of God. Not necessarily to set you up for success, not necessarily to make your life perfect and your life easy. It's so that 113:47 day and even in this life, we would experience what it means to be part of the family of God. That's why Jesus is known as the Prince of Peace. The greatest gift God can give you is a sense of peace. Is a sense13:59 of belonging, is a sense of purpose. And so Jesus even says this in the scriptures. I want you to see this verse because it makes me laugh. The confidence of Jesus in John chapter 4 verse 10. Many of us14:11 know the story of the woman at the well. This is a woman late in the afternoon getting water. She's gone through many husbands. She has a boyfriend, all these things like that. And so what happens is Jesus encounters her14:22 and he says this to her when he asks her for a drink of water and she refuses at first. God that's standing in front of you talking about himself. If you14:34 knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Listen, I love everybody here. I14:46 know you think you're God's gift to humanity. I know you think just like I said that you wish for Christmas you could just wrap yourself up in wrapping paper and present yourself14:58 to your family. I know that's what we tend to think, and I also know that we in this life, we call celebrities and entertainments and athletes, it's been said, oh they're God's gift to humanity.15:10 Their talent, their skill, what they bless us with entertainment wise. I know Mariah Carey may have the number 1 song of all time when it comes to Christmas, but at the end of the day, she's not God's gift to humanity.15:22 She has been gifted by God for humanity, but not God's gift to humanity. And so what happens is we can often get it construed and think to ourselves, God, I am the gift this Christmas15:34 season. And if people would just recognize how unique and special I am, their life would be so much easier. But there's only 1 person that could stand in front of a woman that's in15:46 need, look her in the eyes and tell her, if you knew that I was wrapped up 30 years ago in a swaddling cloth in a manger and you knew that I was God's gift to15:57 humanity, you would ask me for some living water. Jesus is the only 1 who could confidently look someone in the eyes and say, ta da. He's the only 1 who could do it.16:11 He's the only 1 on this planet that could legitimately look at you and I and say, hey, that gift you're looking for, it's me. Jesus is our perfect gift.16:23 Jesus is the gift that God has purposed for you and I. So if you're taking notes, we're just gonna look at 3 things today with the few moments that we have. The the few things that a perfect gift is and it's God's desire16:34 to present you the perfect gift today. Here's the first thing that the perfect gift that God has for us. The perfect gift comes with no strings attached.16:46 Amen. No strings attached. Right. Perfect gift comes with no strings attached. How many of y'all like giving gifts? Anybody here like giving gifts to somebody? How many of y'all like getting gifts? Getting16:58 gifts? Y'all lie in like half the room put their hand in. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Right. I see. I'm a I'm a see. Eileen, could you run up here real quick for me? Could you could you come up here17:10 for me? You know, I was thinking because it's the holiday season. I was at the grocery store other day. And so, you know, Eileen, you're pastor Aaron's daughter. You know, you married Colin who's over at Abundant Kids.17:19 And so I got for you and Colin, a little a little chocolates, a little Christmas gift. So some Kinder chocolate. So that's my gift to you today. Okay? Yeah. So that's my gift to you today. Okay? Yeah. So that's my gift17:30 to you today. Okay? No. No. What what do you what do you have for me? What do you have for me? A bracelet with hair on17:42 it. Oh. No, you could keep the chocolates, I don't want the gift. Thank you so much. See how awkward that is? That when I give a gift17:53 and then I expect something in return? Okay. I did something for you, now what's in it for me? And we often think that, and we often treat people that way. We often create these lists.18:05 Hey listen, I've gifted you, now what are you gonna gift me? What is in it for me? Hey hey babe, I gifted you a massage. What are you gonna what are you gonna do for me now? Or or we think to18:17 ourselves, we just we give, but what? There's contingencies on it. Hey, I thought of you, I got you this gift, but what's on it? Oftentimes we think to Jesus if we're like the wise18:29 men. We say, okay Jesus, okay Jesus, I'll worship you. I'll get on my knees like the wise men, I'll worship you, but what's in it for me? What gift are you gonna18:40 give me in return if I worship you? Well, the reality is worship comes out of place of recognition of what's already been done and what's already been given. Worship18:52 is not a gift to God, it's a reaction of the gift he has given you. That's the placement. And so a lot of times we think to ourselves, God, this is what I'll do for you this holiday season. Me and my family, we didn't19:04 plan on going to Christmas Eve, but since Abundant's been talking about it so much, God, we'll give you an hour and a half on Saturday night so that we get the rest so you don't interfere with the rest of what we have19:16 going on. And a lot of times, we that is a mentality we have. Worshiping God becomes a burden in our life. Okay. Yeah. Like, you know, we could19:28 go to It's summer. We can go to the beach on Sunday, but Alright. Alright. We'll just watch online on the way. And I'm not saying that, I'm not saying that you can't do those things, I'm not saying that those aren't real19:38 decisions you have to make, but it's the expression of where the heart is. Is the heart a place where like I have to do that because I feel like when I give God the gift of this time, then he I'm19:50 expected that he's gonna give me gifts back. There's a difference between man, this is part I read my Bible, I spend time with the Lord, I go to church. Why? Because it's a reaction of what God's already gifted20:02 me with. It's a reaction of what he's already given me with. And so therefore, if we do go to the beach, I'm not even guilty because God knows he has my worship on a daily basis. There's no guilt to that.20:14 There's no condemnation in any of those things. Why? Because I am spending time with the Lord. I do have my worship. So therefore to take a Sunday off to go hang out with your family and drive somewhere, it's not there's20:26 no wrong with that. Because you are regularly worshiping God. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 to 5 says this, but when that set time had fully come God20:38 sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law. What? That we might receive what? Adoption to sonship. Why did Jesus what what's God's perfect20:49 gift for us? Adoption to sons and daughters. That's God's gift to you and I. Adoption. Jesus was born so that you can join the family. That's what it was.21:02 And God begin to give you this gift with no strings attached. And as the wise men would present gifts, that was not mandated by God that they needed to present21:13 gifts. The worship was the place that they But they loved Jesus so much that they also wanted to contribute to his namesake, to make sure he got to where he needed to go. We know shortly after21:25 that, when Herod found out where he lived, that for a period of time for many years, Joseph, Mary and Jesus had to flee to Egypt. And they lived in Egypt for many years. And you wanna know how they afforded to live in21:37 Egypt for many years? They had gold, frankincense and myrrh to sell to live off of.21:42 So they21:42 were like, Jesus, we want to present something for you that is useful to you. But what we are giving you is our worship. So God gives with no strings21:54 attached. What we need not what we deserve. That's mercy not fairness. God gives you22:06 and I what we need not what we deserve. I know we may have a list this Christmas that Santa's been not really providing for you guys and so you present the list to God instead.22:19 But outside of the list God will always give you what you need, not what you deserve, and not more than what you need that will take you from him. That's what the Lord does. And22:31 so God provides mercy not fairness. What would be fair is we don't get nothing. We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of joy. We all need a lump of cold in22:42 our little stocking this Christmas. But but God doesn't do that. He doesn't provide a lump of cold. Even those who don't follow him, he lets them have an opportunity of success in this earth. That is part of God's22:54 love and that is part of God's grace that everybody takes for granted every single day. And so what we see is a perfect come get with perfect gift comes with no strings. That second thing is this, the perfect23:06 gift has you in mind. Has you in mind. Has you and I in mind. How many of you guys have ever given a bad gift before? Anyone23:18 given a bad gift? I know I have. I've, when I was early on married, the first years of my marriage, it was 1 of my anniversaries, my second year marriage anniversary with Ashley. And, I thought to23:30 myself, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna I'm gonna order online like a little mold. And, I'm gonna I'm gonna order online like a little mold, and I'm gonna pour concrete in it, and I'm gonna custom make her a candle.23:40 So this candle took me like 8 hours to make. So I gotta mix the concrete, pour the concrete in the mold. I gotta get a pot and pan, and I gotta melt the wax, and I'm melting wax, and I'm pulling all these scents that I23:52 think that are her favorite, and I'm like, oh, that's lavender, oh, that's this, and I'm pouring it in. I'm thinking to myself, when when she finds out the work that I put in to this candle, she's gonna lose24:04 herself. She's gonna lose herself. And so I'm sitting there for like 7 hours that day. She's at work and I'm there and I'm cutting the candle wick and I'm looking at YouTube videos on how to make a candle and then put in24:15 the fridge to dry. And so it's our anniversary and I got her these gifts and I got her some other gifts but to me, the big dog was the candle. Like that was like she was gonna she24:27 was gonna fall out, you know. So she opens this up and she looks at the candle and she's like, oh wow, thanks babe. And I told her I made it. I made the mold and I painted the candle and I laid all24:39 the wax and I did all these things and she's like, Oh thank you so much babe. And she gives me a kiss and I'm like, Okay well didn't celebrate as high as I thought she would, but but she likes it, she likes24:51 it. About a month later, I open up her her medicine cabinet and the candle is rolled in the back of the medicine. It's collected25:03 hair, it's collected lint, and so I pull it out, I say, hey babe, why is my candle in the back of your day? She says, oh my gosh, I25:14 misplaced it, thank you, you found it, oh my goodness, thank you, and she gets it, and I go, you know, you've had this for over a month and you you've never lit it. And she's like, no I could smell it, you know, there25:26 and I put it away because it's special and I and I don't want it to get lost. I'm like, candles just grow legs in the middle of the night? Like, how does a candle get lost? And in that moment, I realized really25:38 fast early on in the marriage, my wife is not an arts and crafts person. That is not her love language, that is not her thing. What I found out is my wife is much happier if I take the25:50 day off and I buy her a Disneyland pass and I take her to Disneyland. That to her is you got this gift for me. So when I made that candle, I made it for me. Because I was26:01 expecting some type of praise, some type of reaction. It wasn't about me wanting to know her or get to know her, it was a matter of fact to say, when she finds out how much I26:13 did for her, she's gonna celebrate me. And so when it comes to God, he has the perfect gift in mind for you of what we need and what he wants26:25 to show us which is bringing us into his family. He has you and I in mind. He sees his children, they're lost, they're wandering, they're broken, they're26:37 addicted, they're in pain, they're hurting, and he thinks to himself, I could get them a new car. I thinks to himself, I could I could provide a boat for them for Havasu on the weekends, but what I could really do is26:48 I could heal them of all that brokenness through my son Jesus. That's He's having us in mind to say, that's what they really need. That's what my children want. I27:00 can actually adopt them into the family provided that Jesus fulfills this mission and this mandate, which is to be born and 33 years later die for our sins27:12 and resurrect 3 days later. He said, as me and my son have a plan that goes according to purpose, I can give humanity something more special than they ever knew they could ask for. And that is adoption into the27:24 family. If you ever ask a Jewish person if they're if they're part of the family of God, they no. They don't believe so. That that because that's not the goal of Judaism. To them, God is just too27:36 far. God would never adopt us into his family. He's too good for that. He's too holy for that. The best thing we could do is build temples and just worship him because of27:48 how grand he is and how he has selected us as a special people and a special nation. But to be considered part of his family? No, we could never.28:00 But because of Jesus, God says, yes, you can. Yes, you can because I have you in mind and I have the perfect gift which is my son. My my wife on the flip side, 1 of the things28:12 about Ashley is is Ashley has a great heart and she's super caring. And about a week and a half ago, we were at the movie theater and we took our boys on a day off and we went and watched a movie. We went to watch the28:23 new Trolls movie and we're sitting down and we're watching the movie and there's maybe about 20, 25 people in the movie theater and somewhere near the front row, there's a there's a family of kids that have come because28:34 it was kind of a holiday Monday. So a bunch of people were off and there's a line of kids and there happened to be 1 girl who was, on her iPad, during the movie. And, the iPad wasn't28:46 super distracting. When the movie got quiet, not like no speaking at all, you could kind of hear it. But outside of that, I mean it wasn't when the movie's talking and characters singing and talking, you don't hear28:56 nothing at all. So finally, about 5 minutes into the movie, someone says, shut the iPad off. And and and and the mom turns around and she's like, guys I'm so sorry. My29:08 daughter has autism. We're here with our family. There's nothing I could do. This is what calms her and we're trying to let all the kids. And then someone on the other side in the other back of the room says, nobody29:19 cares. Turn it off.29:23 And then29:23 me and my wife were just like, we're like looking at each other like, oh my lord, what just happened? And so the woman starts crying. And then about a minute29:35 later they hear it again and they're like, get out and a person actually goes and gets the worker. So the worker comes and they're like trying to, they're talking to all the people who complained and blah blah blah blah.29:44 So finally, the mom gets up and she's bawling and she grabs her daughter who has autism, she's got headphones on, she's got her iPad, she got everything, and she looks at the29:56 crowd and she says, I'm trying the best I can, and she's crying and then and then a woman in front of us says, just leave.30:08 And so this woman storms out crying and sure enough there's my wife next to me, she grabs her popcorn bucket, she throws it in my lap and she's like, I'll be back. And she gets up30:20 and if you've never seen my wife before, my wife is is is she's the bubbliest person, but when she's not bubbly, she's pretty scary. She's she's a scary black woman, that's what she30:32 is. She's taller than me, she's stronger than me, she's buffer than me, just on all accounts my wife could beat me up. So she's somewhat, like you don't want to make30:44 her mad, it's just not gonna go well, and so she storms out and then about 5 minutes, 5 minutes later, Ashley comes back and she has the mom under her arm and she sits down and then she sits down and she30:56 looks at the crowd and she's like, nobody speak to her. And then she goes to her seat and I go, babe, what'd you do? She said, I told her those people are idiots. Don't listen to them. I want you to know if they31:08 say something again, I'll stand up. I'll get your back. You're not doing this alone. I'm gonna do this with you. I got your back. So mom came back in, and she watched that movie,31:20 and you know what Ashley did in this season of Christmas? She gave that mother a perfect gift. She gave that mother the confidence, the support, the encouragement, where that mom31:32 felt alone in that room, felt alone in that world, nobody else would speak up for her, we're even sitting there saying what's going on, but then she said, you know what, I'm not gonna be like the crowd. I'm not gonna say31:44 that's not in my business or I'm not gonna be like them and say, yeah, she should leave. I'm gonna get in there and I'm gonna get in between the fight. If this person can't speak for themselves because this is too hard31:53 for them, I'll speak for them. And I just wonder to myself as God would step in and give us the gift that we need, how much more so in our own lives are there people around us that need a gift like that? That need a gift32:04 of a text of encouragement. Hey, I see what you're doing. You're a great father. You're a great mother. I just want to encourage you today. Hey, I just want to see, hey, I know you're a single mother, I know, I just32:14 talked to my husband, if if if we could ever watch your kids for a night so that you could just go or an afternoon so you could go and get a massage or whatever, just want you to know we have your back. To text a32:24 grandparent who maybe hasn't heard from someone in a while. Hey, just want to check-in on you. Is there anything you that you need? Are you doing okay? Just to start supplying people with the very thing that they need.32:35 Some people just need a word of encouragement, some people just need support, some people just need someone else to fight with them. It's as simple as just linking an arm with someone else because what happens is32:47 that says, hey, I got a gift for you but I have you in mind for this gift. Not me in mind. Not, oh, I know when I give this gift they gonna be so impressed. Every year they give me a 25 dollar gift32:59 card, to Chick fil A and I'm gonna get them some shoes. So I know they gonna feel real awkward when I get them some shoes and they looking at their chick fil then Then everybody gonna know that I'm balling this Christmas33:09 season. You know, sometimes we think we're doing something because we're thinking we wanna fix perception of people. But for God, God humiliated himself by sending his son to go on a cross.33:21 It's not the fanciest way to save people. It's not the most beautiful way to save people, but it's the right way and it's the way that has you and I in mind. Here's the last point is this as we close, the perfect33:33 gift has to be received. You gotta stretch out your hand and you have to receive the perfect gift. You have to receive it. There was a33:44 point not too long ago where I had something mailed and shipped to me and I had it because I wasn't home and I it was something I had to sign for. I put it I sent it to like a local FedEx. Well, the problem was is they33:55 kept sending me emails and I had busy days and emails, hey, don't forget you have this package, don't forget this package. By the time I made it to FedEx and I gave them the tracking code, they said, hey, we sent that34:05 back because you never received it when you needed it. A lot of times we think to ourselves, when I die 1 day, I'll I'll receive Jesus. I'll look at God and I'll be like, God I'm good. I believe in you34:17 now. Now that I see you face to face. No. No. No. The season to receive God's gift is when you hear it. When you hear the good things that God has done for you. When you hear that God34:29 has wants and desires to bring you into his family and his requirement is receive my son who I gifted you with. Receive the present. When people say, why aren't there other ways to heaven? Because God only wrapped 134:41 present. That's why. There's no other present he wrapped. You could go to someone else's Christmas tree, you can go you can go to someone else's stocking, but that's not the present that34:53 God wrapped. And so why do I have to open Jesus? Why do I have to go? Why do I have to go through Jesus? Because God in heaven wrapped 1 baby in swaddling cloth in a manger and he said that's my 135:04 gift that will work for all humanity. You don't have to search for other gifts. You have 1 gift that you have. And so the perfect gift have to be received. Here's 3 verses about it as we35:16 close. John chapter 1 verse 12 says this, yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave what? The right to become children of God. There it is again. Now he wants to bring us in35:28 the family. He wants to adopt us. He wants to consider us children. Revelations 3 20, Jesus speaking. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. I say this all the time in alter calls. If anyone hears my voice and35:40 opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. What does he say? I stand at the door and I knock. If anyone receives me, you get to eat at my table and we will dine35:52 together, which means you become a benefactor of the goodness of Christ. Everything that he has, you become an inheritor of what he has. Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 to 7. So then just as you have received Christ Jesus36:04 as your Lord, continue to live your lives in him. Rooted and built up in him, strengthen the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. There's36:16 multiple verses that say, receive Jesus. When you receive him, you become adopted into the family. When you receive him So this Christmas season, there is a difference between36:28 having a welcoming spirit, a welcoming attitude to Jesus unwelcoming attitude towards Jesus. I'll close with this. When, a couple years ago, about 5 years ago, I got a call36:39 from a friend. They said, Hey, man. I have, I met someone at something. There's a guy in Thousand Oaks and, there's a church that no longer meets, but it's a it's a church. And so,36:51 it's a guy who's retired and he has about 40 or 50 people kind of in his retirement community, and they've been meeting on Sunday evenings and having church together. Because in their local area, there's not really any37:03 churches there. So there is a church that stopped meeting but the building's there. So they're running it. And, it's just all his friends about 40 or 50 of them that are all retired. They're all 60 and above. And37:15 they have been looking for a pastor. He wasn't offering me the pastor job. He said, they've just been looking for a pastor because they want a pastor to come in and revitalize the church, and they love young people and37:26 they want to win the next the next generation to the lost and all these things like that. And so he said, would you consider going and preaching there and just giving them encouragement while they're looking for a37:38 pastor? I said, Yeah, absolutely. And so I bring about 6 of my friends, from our Sunday night fresh start back then, and so I I bring about 6 other people that were all kind of millennial age at the time, 20s, 30s, and37:49 so when we roll up to the church at 6 it's the church that's 6 of we roll up at 5 we roll up at 5 30. The whole church is waiting outside in the parking lot. Everyone that was38:01 there to meet for church was in the parking lot, all 40. And when we came and we pulled up and we got out of the car, they all started clapping and they all started cheering. And then and this woman came up to me and38:14 she said, I baked you these cookies. And so she hands me some cookies and then there's another person's other grandma came up and she's like, went to 1 of my other friends, she's like, I got you guys candies and she38:23 hands candies, you know. She doing the grandma thing, we're like, they're like, we're so excited for you to be here. We love that you're here. Thank you so much. And so then we go in to have service and they're just38:32 standing up the whole time while I'm preaching. They're so excited that young people are coming and they're, yes, pastor. I don't even think they listened to half of what I was saying. They're just so excited that young38:43 people came in to have church with them, and so they're jumping and they're shouting and they had a praise and worship with just 1 acoustic guitar, but you would have thought it was a 10 piece band and because they're38:53 jumping and they're clapping and they're shouting. When I'm done preaching, we talk for about an hour. They're telling their stories and but also more than that, they're looking at our young guys. Tell us your story. How39:03 many kids do you have? We're talking, we're talking. And so they are just so elated to have us there. They're so excited to have us there. They act like it's the greatest gift and the greatest39:15 besting they ever had before. Still to this day, I've had the honor and privilege of standing on little stages and big stages, talking in front of of 20 people to 20000 people, but I'll tell you, that is still to this39:26 day a top 3 experience for me. Not because of the size of the room, not because of the greatness of the crowd, it's because when I came, there was an attitude and spirit that said, oh39:38 we've been expecting you. We're excited to have you. We're thankful that you're here. And they welcomed us with open arms. They made us feel like we were the president or some type of celebrity39:51 because of a welcoming spirit. How much does a welcoming spirit change? And I wonder to myself, do I have that same attitude when it comes to the Christmas story of Jesus? Do I welcome thisShow more In this video 0:00 The Perfect Gift
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