The Greatest Gift Keeps On Giving

 It has been a while since I have blogged a sermon. Part of the reason was I ran out of journals to take notes in and there were other reasons as well that I would rather not share. This past week a good friend handed me a journal and said they hoped I would start taking notes again of the sermons. Since, I have a great deal of respect for this friend, I decided to start blogging the Sunday sermons once again.  The sermon today was preached by Bro. Will Cook. I enjoy hearing him preach and teach. Before I share his sermon, I want to say how wonderful it has been to have Pastor Davis back in church with us. I wish Sis. Vickie Davis was in the service with us as well. We don't always understand why things happen the way they do. I miss her every day. It is nice to see our pastor on the platform again. Just hearing him speak before he gave the prayer requests and opened up the alters for those who wanted to be prayed for, was very reassuring to my heart. Bethel loves Pastor Davis, and we are all praying for him as he navigates this new season in his life. Bro. Cook preached what could be considered a Christmas Sermon. That being said, as a Christain, we celebrate Jesus every day, so it was perfectly fine that he preached this sermon in January. I am going to share with you the portions that stood out to me the most. You can view/listen to the service and sermon here. Bro. Cook preached on, " The Greatest Gift Keeps On Giving". His main text was taken from Isaiah 9:6. Isaiah 7:14 and John 3:16. God gave us the greatest gift and that is himself. In December when you are out shopping you will often hear music that is about Jesus. You will hear that He is the gift. The truth is He is the greatest gift, and he is a gift that keeps on giving. In John 3:16 we read that he so loved the world that he gave.  This is the key. He so loved. He did not just love us; he so loved us. We tend to use the word love lightly. We love our things. When it comes to God, his love is unconditional. His love is pure. People try to do things to make God love him. This is not necessary. God does not love us because of who we are. He loves us because of who he is. He loves you and I. We all have a story.  We all have situations in our lives that bring pain. Not everyone can understand what we are feeling at the time. God however is touched by the feelings of our problems.  His love for us is so great that he can feel what we feel. He understands and he cares. The thing about a gift is that it's not yours until you receive it and open it.  We read in John 3:16 that he gave. In Acts 2, we read of how we can receive him. Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. God came down in the flesh of man to being the greatest gift. A gift that would keep on giving. He died on the cross and rose again so he could give you the gift of eternal life. The gift of His spirit living within you. It's up to you and I to receive this gift. To open our hearts and lives to his spirit. To be filled and baptized in his name. When you do this, you have in you and with you the greatest gift that keeps on giving. He is your comfort. His love is with you. He cares about you. His steadfast love is grace and mercy following you into every situation in every day.  Dear Bethel, I say to you, that the best is yet to come. God is good.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Sound OF Freedom-My Story

Image
 The Sound Of Freedom was released into the movie theaters on July 4th 2023. A friend made me aware of it. I decided to watch it. It's based off of a true story of a brother and sister who were rescued from child sex trafficking. This is not a movie you take young children to. I do strongly recommend that every person who is old enough, to go and watch it. This is very real and it's happening in your world. I think it's time we wake up. Why is this so important to me?  Let me tell you a little of my story. My birth dad abused me as a child. He was also a part of a drug trafficking ring. He was also a part of child sex trafficking. He did this all while being a faithful saint and minister in the church. When I was in 5th grade, I started fighting back and slept with a baseball bat by my bed. He decided he didn't like that and one day he picked me up from school and took me for a very long drive. This was before cell phones. He didn't say a word, he just drove. Eventu
Read more

One Month

Image
 RJ and I have officially lived in NC for one month. The people here are very kind and nice. Southern food is absolutely delicious. I can easily find a good place to buy a delicious taco. Coffee places are aplenty. It’s been wonderful to reconnect with old friends and even more wonderful to make new friends. Soon, I will start teaching and RJ will enter into 12th grade. We are currently looking at colleges. I can’t believe we have come to this stage in life. We miss our friends and family in NY. We especially miss Bethel. Our new church home is a gift. I am so thankful for them. Slowly NC is starting to feel like home.  God is good. 
Read more

When Grief Rolls In

Image
 Grief can rise from the most unexpected times and places. In December, it will be a year that our beloved Sis. Vickie went home to be with the Lord. She has been on my mind a lot lately. Today, as my son and I were cleaning the church, he asked me about washing the baseboards in the foyer. I had a playlist playing on my phone and as he asked, the song changed to a song that Sis Vickie often referred to believing God was going to heal her of ALS.  I just stood in the foyer, mop in hand, and tears started streaming down my face. I remembered finding her on her hands and knees cleaning the baseboards so that it would be clean for a Sunday service. I remembered getting on my knees with her to help. She taught me almost everything she knew. She was going to teach me how to remove the light bulbs from the ceiling, but we never got around to it. She loved Bethel. She prayed fervently for the saints who filled the pews. She wept for those who no longer attended. She taught me how to forgive a
Read more