The Perfect Gift
(John 3:16-17)
(John 3:16-17)
This Scripture speaks to what God had on His mind, even at the beginning of time. God knew that we would fall, from the beginning, but He had a plan to redeem us. God gave us the perfect gift; our challenge is “Will we receive it?”
“God made sure we had the perfect gift.” – Elder Michael Harris
Peter said God has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness.
Our Response to the Gift
On Christmas day, one of the disappointing aspects of giving to your children is seeing them open a present you labored to give them, only to find that they don’t care for the gift. God sent us the perfect gift, but just as children opening gifts, we sometimes respond in a way that says, “I don’t want your gift!” Our response to this gift is often disheartening. We ask questions like, do I need this gift? Do I want this gift? Is this gift really for me?
But we should ask, “How can we live our best life without the Best Gift?” But the issue is, without the gift, we perish.
Know the Gift whom you have received. Get to know the person of Jesus. Explore; find out who He is. Many of us have heard of Jesus; we’ve heard the name of Jesus; but we don’t know Jesus. We must know who we are receiving. Even Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And even today, we are wrestling with this question. God has said, “This is my son in whom I am well-pleased.” God even asked, “Whose report will you receive?”
In John 11:5-44, we see the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And in it we see Mary and Martha’s knowledge go from head-knowledge to heart-knowledge. Mary and Martha believed on Jesus as the teacher. It was then that they began to really know the gift.
There are some things in our lives that we believe are dead. Jesus said “I am the resurrection”. We wait for things to happen when we believe they are going to happen. God wants to fellowship with us. Jesus wants to be more in our lives other than the one experience we had.
Jesus asked Peter who he believes Jesus to be. Peter answered You are the Christ yet he later said he didn’t know Christ. We can’t let fear run us, but rather the love of God.
“Jesus wants to be more in our lives than just the one thing we know.” – Elder Michael Harris
God Knows What We Need
God knows what we need, and is never late on the gift. God has said He’ll be a friend to those who are lonely; a provider to those without; a father to the fatherless. God knows exactly what we need, and has prepared the best gift for us.
“How can we live our best life without the best gift?” – Elder Michael Harris
Understand the benefits of the Gift. In Him, we have everything that pertains to life and godliness. We are told that God, daily, supplies us with benefits.
The relationship with Christ. Not knowing God means we are enemies of God (MOST IMPORTANT)
The gift of The Holy Spirit. He sent someone to guide you.
The gift of wisdom.
The gift of freedom. Free from sin and guilt.
The gift of favor. If you just ask you will receive.
Victorious Living
Salvation
Church-Family
Once we know the person of the scripture we live to please Him. There is a difference in knowing the scripture and knowing the person of Jesus Christ. People base things on their own knowledge and understanding. It’s important that we get to know Christ. If we say he is only our provider or healer, we still do not know Christ.
Allow the Gift to work in you so you can be a sharer of the gift. Our motivation in giving has to be the love of God. We should connect others to the Perfect Gift. God so loved us that He sent His Son. We should so love Him that we share His Son. We need to allow God to work in us, that we can re-gift the gift of Jesus to others that they might know Him. We must share Christ to the world. The great commandment – Go and make disciples.
In our re-gifting make sure we are pulling off the old man and putting on the new.
Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving.
“Why do we want to give someone a gift that we are not willing to use ourselves?” – Elder Michael Harris
“God thank you for the opportunity to be a gift.” – Elder Michael Harris
Ultimately, receive the gift: Jesus.