The Greatest Gift

“The Greatest Gift”

I Love Gifts.

I love to get gifts!

Sometimes their meaningful - Bibles

Sometimes their memorable – Trips

Sometimes significant – Savage model 15-A

And sometimes their just FUNNY! CORNU-CAP-IA

I Love To Give Gifts

Sometimes I don’t know what a person wants

Often I don’t know what a person needs

GOD ALWAYS KNOWS THE PERFECT GIFT!

Sometimes they are a blessing at just the right time

Sometimes it’s His presence in a difficult time

Sometimes it’s the Difficult times that helps us to grow in just the right way!

Some would argue that Life is the Greatest Gift!

Favorite Movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”

George Bailey in Bedford Falls - Pottersville

Even in knowing what we have in every breath, knowing what we have in our spouse, and knowing what we have in our children…even in the most spectacular gift we could ever give or receive here on Earth, there is nothing that can compare to the Greatest Gift that has ever been given.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

PRAY

Some would say that life is the greatest gift ever given, but if we are specific, the greatest gift that has ever been given is eternal life, and that gift came packaged in the form of a little human.

How many of you like to know ahead of time what gift you are getting?

I am not anti-surprise, but whenever possible, I like to know what I am getting ahead of time.

Sometimes there are additional pieces of the puzzle that are necessary for the gift to be complete.

Sometimes, it’s nice to have a little input into what you would like the gift to be.

For example, Kristi almost always knows what her gift is going to be. Conveniently, that’s because she typically picks it out herself.

I have always said that I am pretty easy to buy for, but as I have gotten older, the things I want have narrowed. With that said, Kristi has started paying attention more to the things I talk about.

I know what I am getting this year.

Kristi told me, it was going to work out, but now I am eagerly anticipating it!

As we look at Christmas and the Greatest Gift, we can look back and we can see that this was a gift that should have been anticipated because it had been promised for thousands of years.

This was a gift that the people needed, and this was a gift that was announced and promised.

I. The Greatest Gift was Promised

a. Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

b. Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

i. Bethlehem (Genesis 35:16-19 “Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),”

1. Bethel – House of God

2. Ephrath – Fruitfulness

3. Ben-Oni Son of my sorrow

4. Benjamin – Son of my right Hand

c. Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

i. Immanuel – God with us

ii. Virgin – Luke 1:26-27 “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

d. Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

i. A Son is given

ii. Government upon His shoulders

iii. Wonderful

iv. Counselor – Because He has the answers we need

v. Mighty God – Because He has the power to help us

vi. Everlasting Father – Because He knws us and loves us anyway

vii. Prince of Peace – Because He alone can fix what’s broken

THE GIFT WAS PROMISED

II. Great Gifts Require Planning

a. 20thAnniversary Trip

b. The Messiah was promised AND PLANNED through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

i. Abraham Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

ii. Isaac Genesis 17:19 “God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”

iii. Jacob Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.”

iv. The Tribe of Judah Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

c. The “imPerfect” Lineage

i. Matthew 1:1-16 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos t…”

III. Great Gifts are Needed

a. We give gifts that are wanted not needed.

i. The problems with entitlement is a lack of need for God

1. The government SHOULD BE upon His shoulders

b. Jesus is the only way to reconciliation with the Father

i. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

ii. Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

IV. Great Gifts Are Exceptional and Often Expensive

a. John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”