Don't Forget Your Gift (December 24, 2023)

Good morning, again, to each of you on this beautiful and glorious Sunday morning. And on this day, the day before, celebrating Christmas, we certainly give our praises and honor to God, especially for sending the Lord Jesus to rescue us from sin and from death. And I really give our praises to the Heavenly Father because when you think about it, when you think about it, the Lord Jesus came to save us from our sins. It doesn't matter how many times we attempt to deflect what is going on in our lives by saying that the devil is a liar. In reality, the problems that we often face, those problems are self-created. They come about as a result of self-inflicted wounds, and we've got to do better. As we're closing out this year and God allows us to see a 2024 and moving into a new year, we have to continue to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, with fear and trembling. It's time for us to be about living a more victorious life, and often our lives are often complicated because of what we do and what we say and what we think, and often we reap the consequences of our own bad decisions, which simply grow out of the fact that we are not living in harmony with God's will, our simple resistance to God. Every time we say everything else but simply and sincerely, yes, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Every time that we engage in this simple resistance to do our own thing as opposed to following God's agenda, our lives get complicated. I hear people say that sometimes, you know, when things are going on, they say, it's complicated. Well, yeah, it's complicated because of simple resistance. But I'm so glad this morning that even in the face of simple resistance and we're striving to move beyond that because Paul would say, what shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid, so we're trying to move away from this simple resistance. And thank God that when we have engaged in simple resistance, that the Father looked down on the earth and he loved us so much that he sent the Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. I'm so glad that he looked into the future and that he saw the generations to come and he orchestrated the arrival of his heavenly gift, the Lord Jesus, through the transfer portal. Hallelujah. Yeah, yeah, before we got to college football, there was a transfer portal. A young virgin by the name of Mary, and I'm so glad this morning that the Lord Jesus came through that transfer portal, a virgin Mary, to save us from ourselves. I think if we just get real about it, if we get real about it, we will probably grasp this that oftentimes that what the Lord Jesus is doing is saving us from ourselves. Every believer who confesses his existence and believes in the heart that God has raised him from the dead, we can affirm and we can proclaim that we have the victory. Family, this morning, we have the victory. I hope that this resonates that we have the victory. Let this mind be in us, which is also in Christ Jesus, to give God the praise and give God the thanks that we have been given undeniable victory, sweet victory. Hallelujah. I thank God, Dr. Glendon, that we're not talking about a settlement agreement. We ain't trying to come to an amicable resolution with the devil. We have the victory. Hallelujah. All right. All right. We have the victories, and as we have this victory, one of the thoughts that I came in with on this Sunday morning was just as a reminder for us to don't forget the gifts. Don't forget your gifts. Now, on tomorrow, of course, many will exchange gifts, and some are going to exchange gifts out of obligation, but the gift of God who we have in Christ Jesus was not given because the Father had to, but because he wanted to. Somebody tomorrow is going to give a gift because they feel that they're obligated to do so, but that's not the message that we have as a part of this gospel, because we know that we know that we know that we know that for God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son. Hallelujah. I'm so glad that he loved us first. I'm so glad that he didn't have to wait on me and you to try to get it right. Hallelujah. For him to make it right. He loved us first. So don't forget about your gift this morning. I know you're in the house, but before you leave the house this morning, I want you to walk out of here, hallelujah, with your gift, with your gift, with your gift. Gift. Hallelujah. Oh, God, don't let us walk out of this place without a gift. 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