Episode Transcript
Alright.
Boy, that was a good scene.
Thank God.
That was wonderful.
Man.
I don't get to often title my messages, but I got to title this one.
We title this a heavenly gift.
A heavenly gift.
I want to start off saying good afternoon and welcome to all who came to hear God's word.
Wow, wow.
As we have gathered together this afternoon to celebrate the birth of our Savior.
The gift of God.
I want to ask you a question.
At this time of year, what do little children look forward to the most?
That's right.
Presence.
At this time of year, little children look most forward, they're most forward to of getting gifts.
I remember when I was a young child, I would get so excited about getting presents.
The night before, it seemed like it took forever to go to sleep.
I could hardly wait to see what my parents had gotten me for Christmas.
My brother and I would get up on Christmas Day and we would wake mom and dad up unless they were already up before us.
And we would go in the living room where the Christmas tree was, and we would pass out the presents.
And you know, for the life of me.
I cannot think of any time when my mom or dad or my brother handed me a present and said, this is for you.
And I said, no, thank you.
I don't want it.
Do you ever recall that moment?
No.
I can't think of a single time that I refused a Christmas present as a child.
Jesus said in Luke 18, 17, verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord.
Thank you for your precious word, Lord.
And we just thank you, Lord, for each and every person that's come here today, Lord, to hear your word.
And we pray that the saints are edified here today, Father, and that the lost are pointed to you, Father.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
The word receive used here comes from a Greek word that means accept.
Except.
As I said before, when I was a young child and I was given a carnal or worldly present that my parents worked hard for in order to pay for, I had the option To receive it or not receive it.
I could have either accepted or not accepted.
But being a young child, I had not yet learned of a thing called pride.
Therefore, every time I was handed a gift that was for me, guess what Brother Dove did?
I received it.
I accepted it.
Our Lord has blessed each and every one of us with the option.
To receive the kingdom of God or reject the kingdom of God.
You can either humble yourself as a young child and receive the gospel of Christ and inherit the kingdom of God.
Or you can remain prideful and all grown up and reject the gospel of Christ and be separated from the kingdom of God forever.
John the Baptist said in John 3. 27, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
Now if something is given to you, it is considered a what?
A gift.
If you have to pay for it, it is no longer a gift.
If you have to work for it, it is no longer a gift.
A gift is something that is given to you.
James 1. 17 says, every good gift.
And every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
The word perfect used here means complete.
No matter how many gifts you receive from this carnal world.
No matter what the monetary value of those gifts are, no matter the prestige.
Or the fame of the person you receive them from.
None of those gifts can save your soul, folks.
None of those carnal gifts will bring you forgiveness of your sins.
Only the good and perfect gift from God can save you.
Amen.
John 3, 16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God gave it, have you received That's right.
Amen.
When you believe that Christ, God's only begotten Son, died for your sins, you are receiving God's gift to you.
Amen.
John 111 through 112.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name.
Do y'all remember what the word receive means?
Except.
Except.
If you're not accepting, you're denying.
And Jesus said in Matthew 10, 32 and 33.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven The second part of 2 Timothy 2. 12 says, if we deny him, he also will deny us.
God sent his only begotten Son in order that you might be forgiven and reconciled to God.
That word reconciled means to change mutually.
Without reconciliation to God, we are still enemies of God because we have not been forgiven of our sins.
God's law demands that sin is paid for and until payment is made, we are still liable to pay our sin debt.
If I had a warrant out for my arrest and I got pulled over Sound familiar mom?
And I got pulled over.
That warrant for my arrest is still active until it gets paid for Now either I'm going to have to pay to satisfy the debt for that warrant, or someone is going to have to pay to satisfy it before it gets canceled.
One way or the other, that debt has to be paid before I'm free.
Romans 6. 23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift Of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Praise you.
God is holy and sinless, and he does not want unholiness and sin in his house.
And I hope you can understand that God the Father loves you so much that he wants to change that relationship with you.
He wants you forgiven.
He wants you holy so that when it's time for you to put off this tabernacle You can come and live with him for eternity in a holy and sinless place.
And that's where I want to go when my time comes.
Sounds like heaven to me.
And the only way to get there is through faith in Christ.
Romans 5, 8 through 11.
But God commendeth his love toward us.
In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Amen.
Much more than being now justified.
That word means to render innocent, not guilty.
Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.
Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
By whom we have now received the atonement.
The word atonement used here means exchange.
The just or the unjust.
Have you received the exchange?
Christ has already lived a perfect life that we can't.
Christ has already paid the price for our sins by his death on the cross.
Christ offered his perfect, sinless life to God the Father in exchange. for our imperfect life with sin.
Have you accepted Christ's offering for you?
The gift of God.
The gift of forgiveness.
Ephesians 2. 4 as we start to wind down.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.
Even when we were dead in sins, Christ loves you.
Folks, if there's somebody here today that doesn't know Jesus Christ, that they're saved.
I want you to know that God loves you.
He loves you so much that he sent his only begotten Son to die for your sins in order that you might be forgiven.
You have to receive it.
It's a done deal.
It's already done.
That's how much God loves you.
He allowed his son to die for you.
Even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ, made us alive with Christ.
By grace ye are saved, it says in parentheses.
Another word for grace.
Gift.
Give.
And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
That's coming, folks.
If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, when you put off this old tabernacle We're gonna be sitting with Christ in heavenly places.
Amen.
That's coming And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
I believe it's Philippians that says, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
You don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Your greatest need right now is to know forgiveness.
That is your greatest need.
And God supplies that through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2. 8, for by grace are ye saved through faith.
And that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God.
It is the gift of God.
You can't pay for it.
You can't work for it.
You're not going to earn it.
That is what's so beautiful about the whole thing.
You can't earn it.
You can't add to a perfect sacrifice.
What are you gonna do?
You can't add to it.
You can't do nothing for it.
You can believe it.
By faith.
Accept it again.
Acts 10. 43, to him, Jesus Christ, give all the prophets witness.
That through his name, whosoever believeth, or you can say, receive it, you're not going to believe something you don't receive.
You're not going to believe it if you don't receive it.
You have to receive it in order to believe it.
That through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Word remission.
Forgiveness.
Forgiveness.
Freedom.
There's no joy like salvation joy, boys.
Woo!
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for each and every person that's come, Lord, to hear your word, Father.
I pray that you were glorified here today, Lord.
And we thank you so much, Lord, for this lesson that you blessed us with to share with the folks who come here, Lord.
We pray, Lord, that the saints are edified and that the law report into you, Father.
Lord, we want to pray for those, Lord, who couldn't come today because they can't get out of their beds, Father.
We pray for the sick that are here, Lord.
We pray for the lost that are here in this place as well, Lord.
And Father, we want to pray for the caregivers that are here, Lord.
And we pray that they will take care of these folks the way you want them to be taken care of, Father.
Lord, we want to thank you for the the Bibles that our pastor and his wife have brought, Lord, to share with the folks here, Lord, the ones who will receive it, Lord.
We pray for those who will receive them, Lord.
Lord, we just thank you for the camera lady coming and running the camera.
We thank you for the Brother Larry and his wife Sherry coming and helping out, Father.
Lord, we just thank you so much, Lord.
Thank you for Brother Ray and his wife, Lord, when they come to help out.
We just thank you for each and every person. comes Lord.
Lord, we just thank you so much.
Can't thank you enough for Jesus, Father.
Thank you for the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ, Lord.
Thank you so much.
And in his name, Lord, we want to pray.
Amen
