What A Gift! | Tyrone P Jones | Legacy Giving

Now, of course, we're as noted, we're standing a few days from from Christmas and obviously homes are decorated. Some of you don't even never take down your Christmas lights, but homes are decorated. Trees are lit. Gifts of rap. Music is is is playing for some. Maybe if you got younger Children, they're probably counting down the hours and before they can open their gifts. Some some of us are adults are counting the cost, right? They're counting the hours. We're counting. We're counting the cost. People may be asking questions on whether they did enough or got the right thing or how people gonna respond with their with their gifts. But I hope that we've all come to a place to really ask ourselves what really does matter? Uh, when when I was preparing this and actually even in our content meeting months ago, I I knew there was going to be a story that I would share about. Uh, in 1973, I was actually living in, um, Chester, Pennsylvania, which is just six miles right outside of Philadelphia, right on the edge of Philadelphia. My mom went into the hospital December 9th, 1973. She didn't come out of the hospital till January 18th or 16th, something like that. Now, mind you, I have been living with my grandparents all of all of the years up until one year prior to that, not even quite a year, but somewhere in that area before I was living with my mom and my stepdad for the first time. And my stepdad at the time was out of work. I actually saw my mom collapse right in front of me before she went into the hospital. My stepdad wasn't working and I it was a whole everything was new to me where I was living the culture, uh, that I was living in family dynamics. Everything was new. And the one thing that I had came to the conclusion that would not be normal would be Christmas. But sure enough, that Christmas morning when I didn't even try to wake up early because I, you know, I wasn't expecting much. My mom was in a hospital and stepdad wasn't working and I didn't really even know him that well. But when I did come down the steps, it was me, my brother, my sister. There was three gifts under the tree. Um, every one of us, somehow another, he managed to get a gift for every one of us. And I still remember

what mine was. It was one of those little table air hockey things. You remember those a little? I still can remember because what mattered then was a love that he showed that that's what that that's what mattered. It didn't matter that it was only only, uh, one gift. And at that time, I was a black man, not into hockey. I got into hockey, but I wasn't in hockey at the time, but it didn't matter. It was a love that was shown. So every December, you know, we exchange gifts and some are meaningful. Some feel obligatory. Honestly, most of the time, most gifts are forgotten by February, to be honest. And, um, but we know ultimately Christmas is not about what we give. It's about what God gave. That's what John 3 16 speaks about. And before we rushed to the manger scene, before we sing a silent night, before we open a single gift, Christmas asked all of us to stop for a minute and consider the one gift above all others. It's the most powerful thing that has come down from heaven and broke into earth. So personal what God did that he didn't send a message. He sent himself a gift. That's so great. That verse we read in second Corinthians 9 15 was actually Paul not even having the words on how to describe how great this gift was. He just simply says, My goodness, this is undescribable. This is undescribable what Christ has done. And so honestly, the question for all of us is not really that complicated, but it's looking into this and asking, What is it that God really gave us when he gave us his son? Normally this time of the year in churches we're celebrating what's called Advent and it starts the closest Sunday to November 30th. That starts the first week of Advent and it runs for the next four Sundays right up to Christmas Eve. And the word Advent of course means, the Latin word is Adventus, but it means coming or arrival. There is the coming and there's yet the arriving. It's about the past, remembering that Christ has come, but it also anticipates the future, that Christ is going to come again. And we live in the present, and in the present, there's this spiritual preparation that all of us should do, should be going through. We have a sense to look at things from a calendar perspective, and it's almost a spiritual preparation for a reset.

And each week, we're reminded of what Christ did for us, hoping that we would embrace those elements going into what the Lord has ahead of us, whether the four elements are hope, and peace, and joy, and love. And in most churches, or some churches, I should say, they light a candle each week to remind us of those themes. The real theme, to me, of Advent is reminding us of the real gift of Christ. And so, this message is designed to speak about what Christ gave us. And the first thing, if I was to go with the Advent theme, is when God gave us Jesus, He did indeed give us hope. The scripture is real clear. Without God, there is no hope. I want you to hear, or you can read it on the screen, Ephesians 2.12. It says, in those days, you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel. You did not know the covenant promises God made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. Paul is talking to the people of Ephesus, but he's speaking to all of us in this sense, that we're Gentiles outside of the covenant promises of God until Christ came. And so, not only did we not have hope, we would not have had hope if Christ hadn't come. But humanity, it wasn't that we just struggled without Christ. We're actually lost. We're overcome with sin. We've absolutely missed the whole idea of what God's purposes are for our life. Without this hope, we'd never be able to embrace the God who created us. And so, what Jesus did, God sent his son to invade the world, to absolutely invade the world. Not because we deserved it, because none of us deserved it. And it's not because humanity came along eventually after Adam and Eve, and somewhere down the line, we improved. We didn't improve. As a matter of fact, we got worse. As a matter of fact, you don't have to go far on any stream or TV channel to see that humanity is even getting worse without Christ. I don't know if worse is a word. It just became one. That's one of the greatest things about going to Yuma High

School, you can make up words. But it just got worse. And there's this great new book out called Grip by Hope. If you read it, there's something in it that I think that you'd want to hear. Because I deal with quite a bit in the beginning of the book of what hope really means. And oftentimes, we speak about, you know, when we say hope, we mean either wishing or, man, I just, you know, really, really wish this comes through, but we leave ourselves with a little doubt. But not biblical hope. Biblical hope absolutely means anticipation or confident expectation. That when we have biblical hope, there is an assurance that God is going to do what He promised. Romans 15, 13 says, may the God of hope, and that word hope there means confident expectation. May the God of confident expectation fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with confident expectation by the power of the Holy Spirit. So hope is not wishful thinking, it's confidence rooted in God's character. There's a couple in our church and they're really dear friends of Lady V and I. And they recently shared with me that he had a job offer to move from Yuma. And he was kind of concerned on whether, you know, he didn't know whether he should take the job or not. But of course, we prayed together and just encouraged him to listen to the Lord. And so he did. And he felt like that he should take it. reported to his company that he wants to look further into the opportunity that they gave him. And so, sure enough, they made him a formal offer. And in this formal offer, though, it was a lot less than what he thought it would be for his family to move to an absolute another part of the country. And so when they added everything up, looked at everything, he came to the conclusion there's just no way that we can make it financially

with what we're doing, even to sell the home with the money we get from the home, to buy another home, et cetera. And so, of course, I get the call. I'm talking with him, praying with him, and laid out some options. And he worked through all of those. One is, I can just negotiate with him. If usually a company's making an offer, that's what you do, you negotiate with them. And then, or just turn it down. Say, hey, good opportunity, but not gonna make the move, et cetera. Him and his wife talked about it, and she asked him a simple question. They'd done all the math and said it's, financially, it's not gonna work. Not in the manner that this is gonna go. And talked to his wife again, and she said to him, do you believe that this is part of Jesus's calling for our life? He says, absolutely, I do. He says, it's without a doubt. Then she said, either you will choose to trust him or not. And he made the decision, I'm gonna trust the Lord. And so, sure enough, the next day, he called his company and says, I'm gonna take the offer. And two days later, he gets a phone call from his stepmom, who lives in another place. And she was aware that they were talking about

making this move, and she's not a believer, by the way. But she said to him, well, I've looked at the property. She's in real estate. I've looked at the properties there where you're going. I know, I know basically what your house is worth. I know what you'll have to spend to get another house there. And she said, his father's past. She said, your father would be so proud of you, of what you're doing with your family, how you're leading your family, that I wanna bless you. She asked for his account number. They woke up the next day, and sure enough, she had put $200,000 in their bank account. He knows absolutely, of course, you know me, I asked him, does she need another stepson? But that confident hope, that expectation, that you can trust God, that's what we received in Jesus, is hope, is confident expectation. When God gave us Jesus, he gave us hope. Hope that sin would not be the final word, honestly. Hope that death would be defeated. Hope that God would keep his promises when he gave us Jesus, he gave us hope. The second thing is when he gave us Jesus, he gave us peace. And oftentimes, we kind of misunderstand peace as, well, shalom from the Hebrew, it doesn't mean the absence of conflict. It actually means the presence of wholeness. It means the presence of reconciliation.

It means the presence of restored relationships. That's what peace means. I'm just gonna tell you, as long as you live in this world, chaos is always nearby. So peace for us is not free from chaos. Chaotic nonsense, you know, you might be living with chaotic people. Don't look at them, but you might be living with chaotic people. So it's not the absence of conflict or the absence of chaos, but there is a wholeness that comes in Christ. There's a reconciliation with yourself and with God and restored relationships. Ephesians 2.12 says, God clearly informs us that we are, sorry, the word clearly informs us that we are all at enmity with God, enemies of him, against him and his holy calling. Jesus didn't come to merely calm our anxiety. He came to reconcile us to God. To reconcile us to God. Romans 5.10 in the Amplified says, for if while we were sinners, we were reconciled, sorry, for while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. It is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved from the consequences. of sin by his life, that is, we'll be saved because Christ lives today.

And so when we have peace, he gives us peace with God. He gives peace within our own hearts. He gives us peace that doesn't depend on circumstances. When at Christmastime, when heaven touches earth, it's not with a sword, it's with a baby in a manger that entered this world wrapped in swaddling clothing. The third thing is when God gave us Jesus, he gave us joy. And you know this, joy is not happiness. Happiness can comes and go. Happiness depends on happenings, depends on circumstances. But joy is rooted in something that's solid, that's constant. And I know for a fact what's constant is God's salvation. That's why we receive joy, that's why we have joy, that's why we embrace joy. That song is so great, the words of it, joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Lord reigns, the Savior reigns. And that last stanza, he rules the world with truth and grace. That's why we have joy, because of what Christ has done. Christ has come. God gave us joy when he gave us Jesus. Luke 2.10 and 11 says this, and the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. A Savior has come, and the scripture is clear that joy has a name, and that name is Jesus. Joy is knowing that God entered a broken world and didn't leave us alone. Didn't leave us alone, and here's the fourth thing. When God gave us Jesus, he gave us love. It's the final candle, and if we were lighting candles today, that would be the one that we would be lighting. John 3.16 is so known and so often quoted. And oftentimes, I just sometimes think people miss some of the key elements in it. It begins with love, and it ends with life. It begins with love, and it ends with life because God's love is not sentimental. It's sacrificial. It's sacrificial, and love always gives. And when God gave us Jesus, he gave us a love that forgives all of our past. It forgives all of our sins. It redeems our present. Our life now is new because of the love of Christ. He redeems all of our present, and he secures our future. It wasn't, love wasn't just spoken in heaven. It was demonstrated on the cross. It was revealed greatly. Romans 5.8 tells us this, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us, and here's the last thing,

and the team probably can come. I didn't realize I'd be done this fast. I'll probably make up something as we go, but here's the last thing. When God gave us Jesus, he gave us himself. That's actually the heart of Christmas. God did not just send help. He didn't just send hope. He didn't send us instructions on how to make life better. He came himself. Think about that. The God who created the planet, that is the sovereign ruler over all things, that knows all things, that is in control of all things, he came himself to rescue mankind. Matthew says he's Emmanuel, that he's God with us. Hear that. He's God with us, God with us in pain, God with us in temptation, God with us in suffering, God with us in death. He is Emmanuel, God with us. The greatest message of Christmas is that we are not alone because God has sent his son. Jesus did not shout salvation from heaven. He walked it out on earth, and here is what Christmas says. Christmas says you're not alone. Christmas says that God is near. Christmas says that God is present. Christmas says that God is with you. Christmas says that our God invaded the planet

so that we would know what he's able to give us. to us. It's no wonder that Paul used those words, what an indescribable gift. What an indescribable gift. We may unwrap sometimes this gift and just unwrap parts of it and pieces of it. Maybe we're in a tough time and yes, then we do need hope so we break open the gift and just use Jesus for hope. Times in our life when nothing seems to be restored, nothing seems to be coming together and we need peace. Well, we'll open up the gift and just get some peace. Maybe things just aren't seem to be going the way that you wanted to go and you got more down days than up days. Well, you'll just open up the gift and just get a little bit of joy out. But when you're feeling lonely or feeling ostracized or feeling less than, maybe you just open it up and get a little love. But this is an indescribable gift that always has all of those things. So as believers, there's not times when we should ever be lacking in any of those. We always have hope if we always have Jesus. We always have joy if we always have Jesus. We always have peace if we always have Jesus and we always have love if we always have Jesus. And so the real issue, honestly, is how do you respond to it? Because that's where the rubber meets the road. There's no hocus pocus about preaching at Christmas or even Easter. If a dude don't preach on resurrection on Easter, he need to quit preaching. If you don't preach about the birth of Christ, people want to come up with all kind of, oh, it's boring to preach the same things. People want to hear about a baby in a manger. They want to hear Christmas songs. They want to see lights. They want to hear about gifts. So there's no hocus pocus about the message. What I'm preaching is something that you should have expected to hear, but here's where the rubber meets the road. It demands a response. That's the real issue. Something has to be done with it. Many people admire the gift. And I'm telling you, Jesus is easier to admire than he is to follow. Some of y'all got that, some of y'all didn't. People admire the gift. Some people talk about the gift. Everybody's talking about Christmas. People are singing Christmas songs that

don't even know Jesus. You hear it everywhere. You hear it in the market. You hear it in a movie theater. You hear it in an elevator. People humming along and singing along. And you know they don't know Jesus. They're stumbling around with everything in their hand, but they're joy to the world. They don't even know him. They got joy, but it ain't the right kind. But you know what I'm saying. The issue is, do you receive the gift? Because if you do, it'll change your life. It will absolutely change your life. John 3.16 says that whoever believes in him, belief is not an intellectual agreement, it's a trust. You don't earn a gift. You don't negotiate for a gift. You simply receive it. And the tragedy of Christmas is it's not so much that people reject Jesus, because people will accept the fact that there is a Jesus. But the tragedy is that everyone who knows about him doesn't receive him. And I don't want that to be you. So before you open another gift, before you attend another gathering, before you sing another carol, receive Christ. Receive the gift that's been given to you. We stand here on the doorsteps of Christmas, and the question for you is, what do you do? For some, it's a response of faith. For some, it's surrender. For some, it's gratitude. But this Christmas season, the greatest wish, I'm no longer wishing for my two front teeth, not wishing for that anymore, and not singing, all I want for Christmas is you, because I already got her. But my wish for, my prayer for all of you for Christmas is that you receive his son. You receive forgiveness. You receive life. Let the greatest gift that's ever been given change your life forever. Everybody stand if you would. Prayer team, you can come. It'll be a great gift not only to you, but I'm telling you what a great gift it would be for those that you're in relationship with if today is the day that you make a decision to give your life to Jesus. that can happen for Christmas, is for you to receive the gift that Christ has for you. Now, if you're in the house today

and you haven't opened up that gift that God the Father has sent down to all mankind, today can be the day you can start a new life, a great life, a life that has an assurance of hope and peace, joy, and love, but it starts with you receiving that gift. I'm gonna pray for you. The prayer team is here for you. It's in your court. Those of you that know Christ as Lord and Savior, don't let any of the gifts go to waste. I said it earlier, and maybe it may not be true for all situations, but a lot of times you don't remember what you got for Christmas because we set it on the shelf somewhere. And you know what some of us are doing? Some of us are taking hope and setting it off somewhere. Some of us are taking peace and setting it off somewhere. We've been given joy and we're setting it off somewhere. And we're living this life without the things that Jesus came to give us, that you wanted when you said yes to him. Start living with what Jesus gave us, the hope, the joy, the peace, the love that he gave us. And if you want that, today is the day for you. Father, I want to thank you for this opportunity to share the word of the Lord. Believe in you, that this is not just a normal Christmas. But for many, this is a new day. For others, this is a new opportunity.

And for many more of us, it's a real reality that we have a gift that's greater than anything else. We want to just start living with it. Father, we thank you and we love you. In Christ's name we pray, amen. God bless you, have a great day. What a wonderful message to just prepare.