EASTPORT BAPTIST CHURCH                                   AND PRESCHOOL

"LOVING GOD BY LOVING HIS PEOPLE"                 

The gifts of the Gift…

Have you ever thought of what Jesus has really done for us?

I mean that we all know the story how our Lord has come to earth to build a bridge from here to eternity with our father in heaven.

We know that without Christ our souls would be condemned to spend eternity in a place called hell.

We know that He is the gift of God the father to us …God’s children.

But we also know that Jesus is the Gift of the father that if received will change the heart of each and every being that accepts that Gift of Christ…the savior.  

But as we come to celebrate Christmas this year most of us will l have more than one gift… most of us were and are spoiled…brother Mac was telling us when he was a kid…his Christmas was an orange and apple and a family breakfast…some of the ladies remember mom making them one dress a year and that is what they received for Christmas.

We have been spoiled …but when we accept God’s Gift of Jesus Christ as our savior…have you ever thought of all that comes with it.

When you ask Jesus to enter into your heart…when you ask Him to be your savior you have gained the gift of eternal life but more than that God gives us a multitude of gifts…that will help us in this life.

It is kind of like those toys you buy and you open the first there is one on the inside just like the one you opened but just a smaller version and when you open that one there is another smaller one and so on and so forth until you have about 6 of the same ranging from large too small.  A box with in a box within a box, within a box.

Well when we have received the gift of Christ we receive many more gifts with it but like opening up our Christmas presents…if we don’t use the gift then it never works the way it should or what it was intended for.

So if you don’t use the first Gift…then all the other gifts that come with it won’t work either….it is like when little children open the present and then play with the box.

So let’s talk about the gifts that comes with Christ when we accept Him.

Acts 2:38 

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The main gift that comes with salvation is the Holy Spirit.

Now we can do several sermons on the Holy Spirit but I want to just point out the purpose of the Holy Spirit and how it operates with in each and every believer…

But I just want to let you know that the Holy Spirit is the activator of all the other gifts….

It’s like in some paint for it to become pant you have to pour in part a with part b and then together it becomes paint and that is how the holy spirit of God works in us….it starts from the time we ask Jesus to be our savior and then it starts to work on opening up the other gifts that God has given us by:

1.      Changing us from the inside out

2.      Cleaning up our hearts

a.      Broken hearts

b.      Hard hearts

c.       Dirty hearts

3.      The Holy Spirit is like a Antivirus program

a.      It cleans us up.

b.      It sets up protection to keep sin out

c.       Then updates us to keep us clean and pure

One of the gifts the Spirit gives us and in the changing our hearts is to give us wisdom…

1. Wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong
2. Wisdom to know and understand the difference in being a Christian and being in the world.
3. Wisdom to discern good and evil or truth from a lie
4. Wisdom to let God control your life vs. yourself
5. Wisdom to know what Jesus has done for you.

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Now I believe that people who are saved should be different than those that are not…

Gods spirit helps us to be different..Sometimes it is against our will because our will is not always what God wants.

So Gods spirit transforms us into a person that can be used by God for His purpose.

And that purpose on this side of heaven is to share the miracle of Christ with the world around us…that is dying and going to hell if we are not used as God intends us to be used.

I believe one of the gifts The Holy Spirit unravels for us is to learn that we as Christians cannot be judgmental.

1.      Reason is that only God can judge us in the end

2.      If we judge others by our standards then God will use our standards to judge us as we have others.

3.      We can point fingers at others but until we walk in their shoes we will never totally know what is going on between them and God.

4.      Sometimes I believe that in being judgmental towards others is a reflection of being judgmental on ourselves.

5.      Again we will stand before the Lord and He will judge us on our works…

a.      God may ask the question….What did you do about my son…..and what can we say….

b.      God may say: did you feed my sheep

c.       God may say: do you hear my voice

And while we learn not to judge the other half of that is forgiveness…with the spirit of God in our hearts we learn that forgiveness of others must move within us….Jesus said:

Matthew 6:14-15  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Learning to forgive is truly Christ like….

And God has forgiven us if we choose to accept that gift.

Again Gods Spirit changes us and gives us a gift….

Ecclesiastes 3:13

 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.

I believe having peace in our hearts is a gift from God that comes from accepting His son.

I like this scripture because I believe it tells me that even though life is hard, life is tough, God will be there for me….i am to enjoy what he gives me.

I would like to say that every labor needs to include labor for our lord…

Ecclesiastes 5:19  Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

Isaiah 32:17  And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

I believe that worry is one of the biggest killers and destroyers of people… we let all kinds of things that are trivial take hold of our lives and that will shape us, mold us and make us into something that God never intended….

1. We worry about our looks and what people will think
2. We worry about our kids
3. We  worry about someone who has angered or hurt us
4. We worry about money
5. We worry ourselves sick about being sick

Worry comes in all forms and fashions…

But like the old saying says…

Two things you have to remember in life….

1. Don’t worry about the small stuff
2. It’s all small stuff.

Matthew 6:25-34  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Knowing Jesus in our hearts should change our hearts.

Take the worry out of our lives

Enjoy life as to what God has given us.

Learn to have peace…

That peace that Goes beyond all understanding….

And our worries… Give them to God

Jesus says:

Matthew 11:29-30  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

You see the gift of God, Jesus Christ, when accepted leads to many gifts…if we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Jesus was ministering to people when a man approached him and told him is daughter was sick and dying and Jesus told him.

Luke 8:50  But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.

We too can be made whole through the peace, love, the not worrying and having no fear in Christ.

John 4:9-10  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

I would say there are some here who may not have received that God of Living water.  And like the woman at the well whose life was a mess our lives are a mess.

But God wants to have peace and he says there is a choice:

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Have you made your choice yet?

Paul says:

Romans 1:11  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

God wants to see you established…to be blessed to have a life that can be enjoyed.

God wants you to have the gifts he has prepared for each of us.

James 1:17  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.

Would you not want the good gifts from God…what sane person wouldn’t …

But there is another purpose or a gift that we receive when we receive Christ .

It is the gift of love….

The love of God

The love for our brothers

The love for the lost

The love to reach out and share what god has given us to someone else.

1 Peter 4:10  As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Now as we come to a close today…the question is:

Have your received the Gift of God

And if you have…have you allowed the other gifts to make you whole?