The Un-Opened Present 12-19-2021

Kids Thought

There is a story told about a rich man, an art dealer.

The man and his son, went all over Europe buying and selling art and

they kept quite a collection of the best paintings from all over Europe.

The mans beloved son got drafted.

That means he had to go fight in a war.

Within a year, word came that his son had died, saving his wounded friends.

The last man he was saving when he got killed was an artist.

He came to visit his friends Father.

He came to tell the father what a great son he had and

How many people he had saved, getting them to medical help when

he got shot and died.

The young man, also wanted to give a present to the father, it was a painting of his son.

The old man gratefully took the painting, which was not very good and hung it up in the middle of his collection.

He had to move priceless painting out of the way, to hang it in the center of his collection.

Over time, more men came to thank the father for his courageous son who saved them.

The old man’s sadness gave way to thankfulness for the kind of man his son was.

Later the old man died and a great auction was set up.

Art dealers, art collectors from around Europe and America came to buy from his collection, to enhance their collects.

The first item for bit, was the sons portrait.

The the buyers wanted to skip that worthless painting and get onto the good stuff but the Auctioneer insisted,

“The will clearly states, that painting must be sold first.”

So he started the bidding at $100.

No body made a bid, not even to hurry things along

The auctioneer asked if there were any bids for the picture.

A neighbor spoke up and said, I knew that lad, he was a nice boy, I’ll give $10, that’s all I can give.

The auctioneer asked if there were any more bids.

Silence

The auctioneer then declared sold.

He looked at the audience and announced the auction was over.

Stunned disbelief quieted the room.

Someone spoke up and asked, “What do you mean it’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son.

What about all of these paintings? There are millions of dollars of art here! I demand that you explain what’s going on here!”

The auctioneer replied,

“It’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son…gets it all.”

Puts things into perspective doesn’t it? Just as those art collectors discovered on that Christmas Day, the day of the auction,

the message is still the same:

the love of a Father,

a Father whose greatest joy came from His Son,

who went away and gave His life rescuing others.

And because of that Father’s love,

whoever takes the Son, gets it all.

– Unknown

https://tonycooke.org/stories-and-illustrations/son-gets-it-all/

If we love Jesus, then we can be forgiven and some day go to be with Him in heaven were things are so rich and fine

the streets are made of Gold.

The rejected catfish

I once caught a catfish.

He definitely took my bait and I hooked him.

Then for the longest time there was no resistance, it was like I had caught an old boot and was just reeling it in until the moment that the fish caught sight of the surface, and then it made a mighty lung for the bottom and broke my rod.

That’s when I got mad and determined in my heart that

If I landed that fish,

I was going to keep him and

eat him.

Despite the broken rode,

I did land him and

kept him.

When we were done fishing,

I returned to camp, with my my catfish.

My dad’s friend saw the catfish and

he told us ALL about his famous catfish recipe

which involved a lot of side dishes,

and the last step in serving up the catfish dinner was

to through out the useless catfish and eat the sides instead.

I guess he didn’t like eating catfish.

The rejection of the catfish reminds me that

sometimes there are presents that never get opened.

It’s a sad sight to see a lonely present,

left un-opened, under a tree.

Heart breaking for the giver. A loss for the receiver.

Why do some presents get left un-opened?

Sometimes the recipient can’t or won’t come:

Busy job,

traffic/ weather delays,

un-forgiveness,

Just gone: stationed too far away

Can’t contact them any more

or they have gone on their eternal abode

be it heaven or hell.

Sometimes it’s by choice

Don’t value the gift

Sometimes we think we know what the gift is, and we don’t want it.

We may be right about the gift,

but sometimes we are very wrong.

Don’t like the person who gave it

Their weird

Their different

They don’t follow the popular crowd,

so we reject the gift, because the giver is not popular.

We think we know what the gift is, and we don’t want it

Many people have a wrong picture of the Christian life

We forget about the gift, lost neglected gift, we have too much

Gift got lost in the mail,

the delivery person failed to get it too us.

What makes a gift valuable?

Its cost

Money

Time involved

Love involved

Who the giver is

Children’s precious little gifts

Presidential medal

Royal letter of thanks or being knighthood

The Gift of Christmas is the start of Hope for Salvation

The hope of peace with God and People, others

Why don’t people receive God’s gift of salvation?

We can’t blame the weather or traffic,

because God is always with us, ready to give us salvation

Too Busy

We can be too busy,

too distracted to hear His voice

to answer His call to salvation, and

that’s on us

To Busy can also keep us from growing.

I have to fight to keep from letting my busy life

interfere with my growing in God, I bet you do too

Don’t Like the God, Giver

Some people are angry with God, they don’t like what He did or didn’t do for them

So they distance themselves from Him.

It is a laughable mistake, to tell God you are angry with Him, so you won’t believe in Him.

if you are angry with him, then you believe in Him

That contradiction is laughable, until you die without Him.

Don’t think they want the God’s gift

Many people have thought becoming a Christian would be a drag,

until they become one and found excitement and Joy.

Some even fear heaven will be boring,

Everyone with a harp playing only old hymns

But we are promised much better than that in heaven.

God’s gift is not delivered

One year Gary and Susan sent presents to their relatives in Montana, and the presents didn’t arrive by Christmas.

They didn’t arrive by New Years, and they didn’t arrive by Easter.

Why hadn’t their relatives received their presents,

because UPS made a mistake.

You see this time of year UPS adds trailers to the big brown trucks to deliver more packages each day.

When the rush is over, they store the trailers until the next seasonal rush of shipping.

Some time in the fall, when UPS was getting ready to use those trailers again, the opened the one with Gary ans Susan’s gifts.

With alarm they found those packages that had been there all year since Christmas

They quickly shipped out the packages and sent notes of apology to Gary and Susan and the others affected.

I bet they included notes of explanation to the Montana recipients too.

When it comes to the Christian Message from Christ birth to the Cross and Resurrection

We,

you and I as Christians

are a major component of God’s shipping service,

getting the message of God Christmas present

out to those who haven’t heard the message

Each generation seems to know less and less about God.

Some people can’t receive God’s gift because they haven’t heard about it.

That’s why we should support missions

That’s why we should tell others about what Christmas is all about,

so they too can have a chance to receive Gods free Gift of Salvation.

The gift of Christmas

Galatians 4:4 NIV

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

The gift of Christmas was a costly gift.

God sent His Son to Die for us so that

we could receive the free gift of salvation.

Jesus left

the comfort,

the glory,

the fellowship of heaven and the direct presence with the Father,

to suffer and die to redeem some of us,

those willing to receive His free gift.

John 1:12 NIV

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

About Christ,

Paul said this in Philippians

Philippians 2:6–11 NIV

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus Christ paid a high price to redeem us

He did it because of Love for us.

He did it because of His love for the Father.

He chose to be obedience to His Fathers will.

The gift of Christ is a gift of hope

Leads to eternal life

The Baby becomes the boy,

Becomes the man

Becomes our living sacrifice to atone for our sins on the cross

Making it possible to please God and

receive his favor

You receive Christ, with His help start living better and

God becomes your fan, when you are in his family.

The gift of Christmas is valuable

Mark 10:29–30 The Message

29 Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message 30 will lose out. They’ll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!

Some of us, may have had some disappointments with God,

but keep in mind,

God loves us

John 3:16 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Have you opened the gift of Christ salvation?

Have you shared that gift with others.

Or are you like a UPS trailer

full of shipments

that are not going to anybody.

Let’s Pray

Then I’ll open my plain present with the kids.