The Gift Pt 4 - Christmas Production
00:22:16:03 - 00:22:37:57
Speaker 6
And so if you don't know the reason for this season, let me just remind you, it's not about the gifts that was under the tree, but it is the gift that was hung on the tree. Hey, man, you'll get it in a second. Some little marinate, a married couple. Okay, before I get into our lesson today, I just want to just encourage all of the merry people out there.
00:22:38:24 - 00:22:58:05
Speaker 6
I'm not going to put you on blast, but Nicole said it politely, like this is a tune up when you want to invest into your marriage. And so I want to encourage you, if you're married, that you take that time away to the pull away to withdraw, to really get into a space where you can spend time with your spouse and get that tune up.
00:22:58:05 - 00:23:22:24
Speaker 6
Because sometimes, you know, when you're driving your car and it kind of pulls to the left, right. Unintentionally, you need to take it in for a while. Alignment. And so what we want to do as as married people to have in alignment with our spouses and the focus of Christ. And so February 10th, 11th and 12th is time to get away.
00:23:22:48 - 00:23:46:35
Speaker 6
Myrtle Beach hang out. They call it Dirty Myrtle, but a I don't know why, but that's what they call it. But I just encourage you just to make that investment. And I promise you, you would not be you would not regret it. So this Christmas, as we focus on Christmas, I want to just encourage that our focus should be on Christ and not anything else.
00:23:47:15 - 00:24:09:36
Speaker 6
That our focus should be on our Savior, not shopping. Right. That our focus should be on like being deliver and not going into debt. You know, every year many people spend so much money going to debt, buying, purchasing gifts and and doing everything else. But I want to encourage you today that we shift our focus and realign ourselves what God has called us to do through the scriptures.
00:24:10:19 - 00:24:26:45
Speaker 6
And there's a lot of debates out there throughout the Bible. There's a lot of people who argue about scriptures and what really happened in the Scriptures. Do Jesus really walk on water, you know, should be baptized? Should we do forced immersion or should you do the little sprinkle? But there's two things that I know that we cannot debate about.
00:24:27:54 - 00:24:55:41
Speaker 6
The first thing is this is that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin and that he died in Rose and he's coming again. You can argue about everything else, but I know that Jesus Christ himself came to set us free and then he's coming back again. Because what you believe not only determines and dictates your behavior, but ultimately it will affect your destiny.
00:24:56:53 - 00:25:25:57
Speaker 6
Who you believe, who Jesus Christ is, ultimately affect and determines your destiny. So when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, there's this. There's a promise that's attached to it. There's a promise that is attached. And when we begin to put our faith in Jesus Christ alone, the reality is this that the name of Jesus is the only name that can save Him.
00:25:26:36 - 00:25:52:50
Speaker 6
And as I get older, as there's more candles being put on my birthday cake every year, but my wife has a lot more than me. It's alright though. She know I love her, but she looks so much younger to me. But as I get a ho ho ho know, as I get older, this is I begin to get a little more frustrated about Christmas.
00:25:52:50 - 00:26:22:24
Speaker 6
I'm sorry kids. I get a little bit more frustrated about Christmas because we begin to really put more emphasis about Christmas than what Christmas is about. And I begin to get frustrated because even the mainstream American mainstream TV shows and just social media puts so much emphasis about shopping and going now and we begin to decorate. And we you know, we put all the emphasis of going out and just making sure that the holiday season is perfect, but we lose our interest.
00:26:22:59 - 00:26:45:47
Speaker 6
And the importance of our Christmas is about, you know, we're all about the festivities, Christmas festivities. We're all about the holiday parties. We're going out and we're shopping, We spend the money, we're doing everything else, but really focusing on Christ. We enjoy the times with our family. We enjoy times off from work. We enjoy decorating hanging lights in our houses.
00:26:47:20 - 00:27:14:02
Speaker 6
But there's something that's that's out of order with that, that we spend so much time decorating and shopping that we don't slow down enough to really focus on what the Bible says, what Christmas is truly about. There's something missing. There's something missing in the true meaning of Christmas. It's kind of like when you have Kool-Aid and no sugar, right?
00:27:14:51 - 00:27:36:29
Speaker 6
When you when you have the peanut butter without the jelly or the collard greens without the hot sauce. Come on now, Texas beat. Yo. Or if you have, like, peppered salsa empanadas without without the free whole list, you know, there's when there's something missing, you know, that there's something off. And for my southern people, it's like having grits without sugar.
00:27:36:31 - 00:27:49:13
Speaker 6
Amen. Yes. Selma set the record straight. The only way you're supposed to eat grits is with sugar. Amen. Oh, come on, now. Yes.
00:27:50:59 - 00:27:53:16
Speaker 4
Yes.
00:27:55:22 - 00:27:58:39
Speaker 4
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
00:27:59:19 - 00:28:27:10
Speaker 6
There's something missing in this season. You know, shopping for our kids has become harder and harder as they've gotten older. We know Felicia now we have two amazing kids. And, you know, it's no longer easy when we get to go to, like, Toys R US and just buy gifts. Right? You know, it's a requirement in our house that they have to email us a Christmas list with the links and they don't come with the link.
00:28:27:11 - 00:28:54:00
Speaker 6
You don't get that gift. I mean, but even more than that, you know, as they get older, you know, growing up, we realize that they weren't as picky. But even as there are grown up, they became more aware of what the other one was getting and they remember that they would count the number of boxes that each of them have because if one got one extra box than the other person, then there's going to be some trouble in the Sims household.
00:28:54:00 - 00:29:42:43
Speaker 6
Those who have multiple kids understand what that trouble is like. Not only are they size enough boxes, but they're sizing up the dollar amount as well. And I'm like, Oh my God, there's something missing. We've allowed their personalities and preferences allow them to make the changes and the gift that we give them. And after time, our personalities and our preferences allows us to miss the gift that God has given us, our preferences of the Gospel, our preferences of what we don't like, or what God is asking us to change.
00:29:42:43 - 00:30:04:21
Speaker 6
But that's not the case about the birth of Jesus Christ. Someone lift up a scripture real quick. And so Matthew, Chapter two, verses one through 11, I'll be reading from the interview version, and I promise you this is going to be short because I know we have our babies with us in today because it's Family Sunday as we have our production for the play Matthew Chapter two versus one through 11.
00:30:05:28 - 00:30:33:34
Speaker 6
And the Word of God is after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the time of King Herod, the Magi from the east, came to Jerusalem and ask, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him when King Herod arose. He was disturbing.
00:30:33:34 - 00:31:09:14
Speaker 6
All of Jerusalem was with him when he had called together all the prophets, the people's chief priests and teachers of the law. He asked them, Where is the Messiah was to be born In Bethlehem. In Judea, they reply, for this is what the prophets has written. But June, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, our no means least among the rules, rulers of Judea, four out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people.
00:31:09:14 - 00:31:47:08
Speaker 6
Israel didn't hear called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appear verse. He sent them to Bethlehem. I said, Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him. After they heard the king, they went on their way in the star they had seen when it rose and went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was when they saw the star, they were overjoyed and coming to the house.
00:31:47:08 - 00:32:15:13
Speaker 6
They saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bow down and worship him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. For our guests here today, we've been in a series, summer series called Them Talking About the Gift. Our production this morning was called The Gift. And so really, I want you to really understand why we celebrate.
00:32:15:13 - 00:32:38:26
Speaker 6
Christmas is all about the one gift. It's not the iPad or the newest iPhones or whatever Mac books that you may want to purchase is not any of those gifts that we're talking about. It's the only gift that matters is the gift of Jesus Christ. You now begin to really look at Scripture as we begin to hone in on our lesson today, I begin to think about the three gifts that the Magi was.
00:32:38:26 - 00:33:18:52
Speaker 6
Some people would call them scientists or they call them astrologers. They they brought them three gifts. Those three gifts were gold, frankincense and myrrh. So think about it. They bought a baby boy, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Let me just say that one more time. They bought a baby boy two Chainz Right. Which is gold frankincense, which is incense and myrrh, which is an oil.
00:33:18:52 - 00:33:50:46
Speaker 6
Why would they give a baby boy those three gifts? And as you begin to study your scriptures and your Bible, you will understand that those three gifts gives you a clue about who Jesus is. See, God is a representation of royalty. See, back in that time frame, if you were to receive Go the Kings and and all of those those people who are in authority, they receive go and that's what they acquire.
00:33:50:46 - 00:34:19:12
Speaker 6
Because that was a symbol of authority. God meant that it was sovereign dominion. So those those Magi understood that Jesus Christ himself, this baby boy had authority on heaven and also on Earth. So they wanted to give something to him that represented to his his dominion, his power, his authority. He go, was one of the most precious metals that was found back in that day.
00:34:20:02 - 00:34:50:20
Speaker 6
The wise man recognized that this baby boy of the major was not an ordinary baby, that he was set apart, and yet they gave him gold. And when they gave him go, what else did they do? They sat and bowed down to a baby. You only bow down to those who have authority. They bowed down to a king that was not of this world, that was born in heaven.
00:34:50:20 - 00:35:18:22
Speaker 6
That was of heaven, Frankincense. What is that? What is frankincense? Frankincense is a sacred beating. What? What I mean by that? Frankincense was closely associated to ceremonial worship. So frankincense was used to really indicate where the wise men understand that their prophecy was born to a newborn king and that the incense was part of a ritual service that they did back in the temple of Old Covenant.
00:35:18:59 - 00:35:49:12
Speaker 6
Burning incense at the altar was a key part of a sacrificial system prescribed by God in the tabernacle. So once you understand that the Magi gave a baby boy gold, they also gave incense, which is frankincense. And we see that there is a specific recipe in in Exodus chapter 30 versus 34 and 35, where the instance was born, it had a prescribe a very special order of how they were supposed to do it.
00:35:51:23 - 00:36:22:34
Speaker 6
So there's a definitely a parallel between Jesus in the pure and holy offering that we have as Lord, Our Lord and Savior in the last gift was what was more myrrh was an oil. It was a oil base where they actually gave it to the baby Jesus. And this is the reason why they gave it to him. Mother was an embalming fluid used for dead people.
00:36:22:34 - 00:36:43:31
Speaker 6
So when incense, they they're recognizing his authority as a king. Another instance, another gift. They they recognize that he is true. The Lord is saved, that he is high priest, that he is the temple. He is the person that we are to worship and do begin to proclaim who he is. And then the last gift that they gave was myrrh.
00:36:43:31 - 00:37:12:11
Speaker 6
So I don't know about you. If I have a child and some I brings my child gold, frankincense and myrrh, I'll be somewhat concerned. So we have to recognize that the gifts that were given that day was proclaiming who God was, who Jesus is, and what the how he's going to lay down his life for us as we witness in our production today, we saw the birth of Baby Jesus Christ and then we saw Jesus hanging in a tree over here.
00:37:12:11 - 00:37:44:53
Speaker 6
See those three gifts? Recognize every aspect of what we talked about today, what the production was all about, that we worship a baby boy who is king, who is Lord, who's our savior. See the gift of Christmas that the Magi brought today through Scripture, as we see in the production, was gold, frankincense and myrrh, and identify his authority.
00:37:46:23 - 00:38:17:29
Speaker 6
It is identify him as Lord. Then he also identify him being our Savior as as he began to embalm and was more so as we began to look at Christmas and begin to be reminded of unwrapped gifts, unused gifts, family, you know, you guys, you've seen it when you guys purchase a gift for your family members or your children in the play with them for a couple of days.
00:38:17:29 - 00:38:39:43
Speaker 6
And next thing you know, what happens is collecting dust, right? Is that toys no longer use this kind of set off to the side. And that's what we do with Jesus Christ. We don't use him the way that we're supposed to use him. We don't worship him the way that God wants us to worship him. We don't walk with him the way that God has asked us to walk with him.
00:38:41:46 - 00:39:17:28
Speaker 6
Oftentimes, the greatest gift given to us is unused. A gift is never given with the intent of it not being used. Let me say that again. A gift is never given without the intent of it being used. And so as we begin to use and proclaim this, I want to encourage everybody today that we use the gift that God has given us.
00:39:17:28 - 00:39:59:11
Speaker 6
So when you put your faith in Jesus, your behavior should change, your language should change who God has called you to be, should change as well, that you are beginning, transform the renewing of your minds and are reminded of this. The average age of a man in the United States is 75 years old. The average age of a female is 81, and I was given a gift back in 2018 to remind me of the short time that I have on his world.
00:40:00:23 - 00:40:40:59
Speaker 6
And oftentimes I keep this ruler that has 102 centimeters on it. And when I was given this gift, it was just a reminder of one of my mentors and I was giving it back in 2018, to be exact, was General July the 22nd. And he was telling me, Soraya, if you have 102 years to live, this one is over here where the microphone is in my age of 42 is right here.
00:40:42:29 - 00:41:15:22
Speaker 6
I want you guys to see that. So what I have left to live my life is right here. This is a gift that many of us have that we're not using. So if I were to live in the average of an adult male in the United States of 81 years old, it literally would be right here. So the reason why I have this gift and I keep it in my Bible because I want to be reminded of the time that I have on this world and I want to make the best of it.
00:41:15:22 - 00:41:16:26
Speaker 6
I want to make the most of it.
00:41:18:29 - 00:41:44:03
Speaker 6
And so whatever your age is today, we have two of our youth is going to be passing now, just something very simple. It's a tape measure. And as you get it today, I want you to put down and circle the age that you are and put today's date and just remind, as have put it, in your Bible so it can be a reminder of the purpose that you have to fulfill that God wants you to fulfill before you leave this world.
00:41:45:16 - 00:42:12:15
Speaker 6
But that purpose in that calling is directly connected to the gift that we have, and it's in the name of Jesus Christ. And so wherever you are today, I want to encourage you to not to allow that gift to be unused today. It's just a very simple lesson, a very basic lesson, so that we can be reminded of the three gifts that Jesus has has received.
00:42:12:15 - 00:42:37:03
Speaker 6
When he was a child, he received gold, frankincense. Murphy in all three, represented who he is and what God has called him to do on his world, that he's a Lord and Savior, that he's the high Priest, that he came to redeem us back to God. The Father, and says, We search and seek and walk out our calling with God.
00:42:38:01 - 00:43:04:23
Speaker 6
We encourage to walk with God in such a way that the lives and the people that you come in contact with would be different. And as our worship teams making their way back on the stage and we'll close out with this and we're close out with the scripture is in Hebrews chapter one. It says this In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets.
00:43:04:23 - 00:43:40:52
Speaker 6
At times in various ways. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, which is Jesus Christ alone, whom he appointed heir of all things. And through him all things were made. The sun is the radius of God's glory and the exact representation of His being sustaining all things by the powerful word. After he had provided purification of forces for our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majestic in heaven.
00:43:40:52 - 00:44:05:44
Speaker 6
Magic's the father in heaven. So he became as much as appear to the angels as a name. His in he inherit in is superior to theirs. In verse five says This For to which the angels, dear God ever say, You are my son. Today I become your father and I will be his father and he will be my son.
And again, when God brings this firstborn into the work, he says this Let us all worship him so today be reminded that God wants us to worship Him and Him alone as we begin to realign our purpose and our thoughts about what Christmas is. It's not about the gifts that we put up under the tree, but it's about the gifts that hang on the tree.