GOD'S CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO YOU

TEXT- James 1:17

INTRODUCTION

With the passing of every day we are drawing closer and closer to Christmas.  Christmas is a wonderful time of year.

It brings with it an anticipation and excitement that is unsurpassed by any other holiday.  No doubt this Christmas you will be gathered with your families and friends to share the presents you have purchased for one another.

Some will be exactly what you have wanted, while others may not quit meet your expectations.  I remember one year I received a broken back massager in a green trash bag.

Watch your expectations this Christmas season! The holidays can seldom deliver all the happiness and love we've come to expect from them. The advertising images of romantic couples and laughing families may sell a lot of merchandise, but they often mock the heartache felt by so many people at this time of year.

What should we do? Shove our expectations deep down like cold hands in a winter coat? Put our hopes on long-term layaway? Pretend we don't really care?

Instead of trying to temper our expectations, why not let them soar toward the highest desires kindled by this season? That hope is echoed in Charles Wesley's great hymn:

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.

No holiday or human can deliver what we long for, but we can find it in Christ Himself.  This Christmas, watch your expectations, and see them wonderfully fulfilled in Jesus!

As we celebrate Christmas this year, I would like all of us to remember the gifts that God has given to us.  Unlike the gifts we give to one another, the gifts God gives to us have been carefully selected and can satisfy your every need.

James 1:17  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

The title of my message is, "God’s Gifts To You."

Matthew 7:11  "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

In the last stanza of the song, I Gave My Life For Thee, it speaks of the gifts God wants to give all of us.  It says:

    And I have brought to Thee,
    Down from My home above,
    Salvation full and free,
    My pardon and my love;
    I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee,
    What hast thou brought to me?

What kind of gifts has God given to us?  This morning I like us to consider three gifts.