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You You You You You You You You You To be born the virgin so that he could live a perfect sinless life and die for our sins and be Buried and rose again and all that so, you know, I want to kind of talk about gift giving This evening and just kind of use that theme as the kind of the christmas Service tonight if you would look there in acts chapter 20 verse 35 Where paul wrote I have showed you all things how that's so laboring out to support the weak and to remember the words of the lord Jesus how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive And of course, you know, that's something we often hear people say Hey, it's more blessed to give than to receive and that's something you should keep in mind You know, this is not exactly the thrust of the sermon here But that's definitely something you need to keep mind especially this time of year You know, especially if children kind of have an attitude where it's all about getting, you know That's kind of how you know, you cross the threshold into adulthood is when You're giving out more gifts at christmas than you're receiving more gifts, right? Now you're the one who's writing to mom or from mom from dad on the on the label and everything like that But you know, we as parents often get more out of that than the children do of receiving something We're more blessed to give a gift to somebody we like the joy it brings to them. We enjoy giving Uh gifts to other people because of the of what we receive in uh in return, you know The joy of having done that and that's no coincidence that we feel that way because jesus said hey It is more blessed to give than to receive And jesus is one who definitely understood that he's one who you know gave it all he gave his life Literally so that we could receive eternal life and that's the gift that I want to focus in on tonight Is the gift of eternal life and if you would go over to john chapter 4 verse 10 You know if there's anything you could receive in this life that the greatest gift that you could receive more than any other Is the gift of eternal life if that's the only thing you ever received for the rest of your life You know, you got saved you received the free gift of eternal life, you know No one from that day forward acknowledged a birthday or an anniversary Or christmas, so just never no one ever gave you a gift again after that. Look you've got the greatest gift anybody could ever have And I just want to remind us tonight of the gift that god gave us in his son And the gift that we receive through him that is eternal life because that truly is the greatest gift that any of us could receive Now you're there in john chapter 4 look at verse 10 He said jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that saith to thee Give me a drink thou wouldest ask him and he would have given thee living water He's saying look if you would ask for ask for me, I would give you Living water, you know, and of course we're going to come back to this passage So keep something there, but if you want to go over to titus chapter 2 titus chapter number two So jesus is saying look you should ask for the gift that i'm going to give you should ask for what I can give unto you Right, and that's really again the greatest gift that we could have and that gift is eternal life. That is the gift of god And we understand that that's something that god gives to us that eternal life is a gift That's not something that we work for, you know, if you're in this room tonight and chances are 99% of people in this room Are saved you've come to the place Where you understand that salvation is not something you work for it's something that's freely given to you It's not of works as anyone should boast. It is the gift of god And we you know, there's many many passages we could talk about that and you know We go to romans chapter 5 and talk about how The you know, the free gift came upon all men and the justification of life. So salvation is that free gift That's what we want to focus on tonight But we have to understand like that, you know, just because we receive something freely That doesn't mean it didn't come at a price to somebody else You know, that's why you should always you know Be grateful for the gifts that you receive this time of year and never turn up your nose and say well That's not what I wanted or I wanted something else or you know Have a bad attitude about what you what you get because of the fact that you know that did come at a price You know if you get I don't care if you get the the ugly knit sweater or you get the wool socks Or you get a new pair of you know jeans or something like that. You get just some you know The the the not so fun gift. You don't get the flashy, you know gizmo or whatever, but you get something You have to understand that you should still be grateful that because of the fact that whoever gave that to you it cost them something You know, I remember the first when we first moved to michigan Uh, my mom moved us out there, you know, she went to goodwill and literally bought our presents in front of us And we didn't even know it She's like pulling up that she's just shopping at goodwill and she's putting in clothes because that's all she could afford. That's what we needed So on christmas, you know christmas came around that was you know, that wasn't the most exciting christmas But i'll tell you what in in the in northern michigan on december 25th You're you appreciate the wool socks you appreciate the ugly sweater you appreciate the the used jacket from goodwill You know, we didn't get the nintendo We didn't get the game boy. We didn't get all the cool things that all the other kids get but you know What we got the things that we did it needed And you know, I don't remember anybody in our family having a bad attitude about it You know and later I that stuck with me over the years because I remember look that's what my mom could afford That's what she could give us that year And you know, that's that that gifts come at a price So, you know, obviously the greater the gift the greater the price so think about if eternal life is the gift of god Consider the price that was paid for it, you know and and part of the virgin birth part of the christmas story That is you know that gift being paid we often just associate it with You know, uh, the the the death on the cross and the resurrection and look that's part of the price, too But none of that would have been possible if christ hadn't first humbled himself And then and and become, you know born the lowly manger And and all of that, you know, that was part of the price of that gift that was paid was his birth as as a as a babe So remember that it came at as a gift right where it came at a price all gifts do The bible says in galatians one grace be to you and peace from god the father and from our lord. Jesus christ Who gave himself for our sins? That he might deliver us from this present world according to the will of god and our father So yes, you know the greatest gift we can receive is eternal life But remember the only reason we're receiving it is because christ what gave himself for our sins? Okay Look, I know this is elementary. I know this isn't anything new to us. Okay. This might not be the exciting new You know christmas sermon you were expecting but this is what we need to be reminded of And this is the time of year that we we observe these things and focus on these things and we think about these things You know a lot of times we can get distracted by everything that goes on in the world around this time of year You know, we can get distracted by the giant inflatable santas and you know, the christmas lights everywhere and you know The tins full of popcorn and the and all the you know, the candy canes and everything else and look all those things are fine And good. Well, maybe not the inflatable santa claus, right? That's another sermon right but all the things that come along all you know, the commercialism just all the materialism Everything that comes along with christmas, you know, we can kind of lose sight of what it's really all about And look a lot of the world does this they they try hard to make christmas about something else, don't they? You know, but it's got christ right in the in the in the name christ mass, right? It's christmas You know, they want to they want to call it xmas in some places, right? They don't want to acknowledge god at all It's like well then go find another holiday, you know, go find some other Day of the year where you where you go do all the things that you do Go hang your mistletoe some other time of year So i'm i'm preaching this again. I know it's not new. It's not exciting But this is what we have to be reminded of more and more Is that the greatest gift we can receive is eternal life. It came at a price and part of that was You know the whole life of christ his birth his life and his death If you look there in titus chapter 2 look at verse 13 looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great god and our savior Jesus christ who gave himself for us That he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself of peculiar people zealous of good works So again, how did we receive this gift because of the fact that christ came and gave himself for us, you know salvation is a gift We love it. It's it's the it's the greatest gift we can receive but it came at a price It's salvation is a gift. We understand that but and what I want to Emphasize more this evening is the fact that what makes it such a great gift is the fact that it's a gift that keeps on giving You know salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving It's not you know, we get saved. It's not like well i'm glad I got that over with You know salvation is something that we benefit every single day Of course, you know, we're going to benefit in eternity because of the fact that we're not going to go to hell We're going to go to heaven And our souls are saved, you know, that's that that one thing obviously is the is the is the greatest aspect of that gift but I wanted to point out a few other things tonight to show us that Even beyond that salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving there's so many other benefits that come along with being saved other than just Not going to hell now that's believe me if there were no other benefits That alone would be worth it. You know that that would be we couldn't ask for anything more But you know what god is so good god is so gracious God is so loving that there's other benefits that come with being saved And I want to just look at that how salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving If you would go back to john chapter 4 john chapter 4 in verse 10 is where we read where he jesus, you know, he told her at the end there give me He said if thou knewest the gift of god and who it is that sayeth to thee Give me any drink thou would have asked of him and he would have given the living water. We'll pick it up in verse 11 The woman sayeth unto him, sir, thou has nothing to draw with and the well is deep from whence hast thou that living water? So this is kind of going over her head, right? He's saying look if you know who I was you'd ask for me for water And i'd give it to you and you'd never thirst again. She's saying you don't even have a bucket You don't even have a string. You don't have a rope. How are you going to get any water at all? Verse 12 out there greater than our father jacob which gave us the well and drank therefore thereof himself and his children and his cattle Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst Again, because salvation is what a gift that just keeps on giving Saying look you drink this water Of you know, the water that i'm going to give you you'll never thirst again The gift that I give is a gift that just keeps giving all throughout your life, okay He's he'll never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting Life so How is salvation a gift that just keeps on giving how is it something that we benefit from throughout our whole lives? And not just in salvation. We'll go over to ephesians chapter one ephesians chapter one One way in which salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving Is the fact that when you get saved you are sealed by the holy spirit You're sealed by the holy spirit Meaning you're eternally secure every day No matter what you do you couldn't lose your salvation if you wanted to It stuck to you You know, I remember I heard an illustration years ago He was so sure of his salvation that he would swing from a a a rotted grapevine over. Hell He'd be willing to grab onto some little piece of string and swing right over hell because he said I know i'm saved I couldn't go to hell even if I wanted to You know, that's one way that salvation is a gift that keeps on giving every single day You wake up no matter what you do Whether you're living for the lord or you're living for the flesh Whether you you're doing what you should do or whether you're doing what you shouldn't do Salvation is just keep on it just keeps giving you it's still that well in you that's still springing up into life everlasting You're still never going to thirst for salvation again because salvation is eternal. You're sealed by the holy spirit You're in ephesians chapter one He said in ephesians 40 agree or excuse me four verse 30 Breathe not the holy ghost whereby are you sealed under the day of redemption? How long are you sealed to sealed onto until the day of redemption? not meaning when we get saved, but when we get our new body when we're You know when we are, uh in the moment and a twinkling of an eye when we are transformed We are with christ caught up together in the clouds to meet him. Look at ephesians chapter one verse 11. That's the day of redemption In whom we also have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in christ of whom also He in whom he also trusted after that he heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation In whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise You know, it's the earnest of our inheritance It's the down payment is the sealing of the holy spirit. The sealing of the holy spirit is the holy is the sealing of promise That we are going to go to heaven no matter what that we are going to receive that new body We're going to be made new in christ. Jesus You know and and that's something that we have every single day. Look we benefit from that every day Because here's the thing if you could lose your salvation you would If we could lose our salvation everybody here would be damned to hell Because we we break god's law probably every day to some degree or another And and so, you know, that's why it's the holy spirit of promise, you know, that's not something we're going to lose It goes on it says in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance, you know, it's the down payment We haven't got the whole thing yet. You know, we haven't got the new body, you know We haven't got that new mind and all that that we we haven't gotten all that but we have the earnest we have the down payment right god's serious about Uh, you know redeeming us. He's not just kind of oh, maybe i'll get i'll get to it eventually You know that earnest, you know, if you ever bought a home that would that's probably You know ringing some bells right what's part of the of buying home part of that process is putting down the earnest money Right showing them. Hey, i'm serious about buying this house Well, you know the holy spirit the ceiling the holy spirit is god's earnest towards us I'm serious about taking you to heaven. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna follow through You're gonna go there and you're gonna get that new body Which is the earnest inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession Under the praise of his glory. Now. The other thing I want to point out here is that You know another way in which Uh, you know salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving is not only because we're sealed But because we're also sealed we also have an inheritance if you look there again in verse 11 it says In whom also we have obtained in an inheritance We've got something coming I mean, look, we're already going to heaven and that's pretty good But god just says you know, i'm going to put a little bit more on top You know, it's like you get that that that kid it gets that big old piece of cake or something, you know We get that we go and we get that big old sunday And it's got everything on it and then something, you know, so you know what you want that you want that You want a little bit more whipped cream on there? you know, we went to the the uh, the caroling the other night with my daughters and they And they um, we had cocoa and cookies afterwards And they don't get that every day, you know, we try to take it easy on the sweets with them But they're there, you know, and they like dad. Can I have some cocoa? I'm like sure, you know get him the cocoa I'm like, hey, he wants a whipped cream on that You know, they weren't expecting the whipped cream. They didn't they weren't they didn't wake all they were thinking was cookies and cocos, right? Did I catch you off guard with the whipped cream? Oh, no, she said no. I she's like, yeah, I was expecting she was playing me. She's like, oh I had no idea right? Well, I guess so, right? Right, but that's you know, salvation's like that cocoa, right? We're just wow man hot chocolate. I don't deserve this And then god's just like you want some whipped cream, too Like yeah pour it on pilot high, you know, i'll say when you know what I mean Just keep it going. Look that's what we have. You know, not only are we sealed not only saved but we also have an inheritance You know, it's the icing on the cake so to speak right? We have an inheritance We've obtained it if you would go over to colossians chapter one colossians chapter one The bible says in hebrews 12 that you are come on to mount sion of the city of the living god The heavenly jerusalem unto an innumerable company of angels And notice he's speaking there in present tense. He says ye are come on to mount sion You know this, you know, this is mount lemon over here. This is mount bullhead. This isn't this isn't mount sion Right, you say well, it's saying it's present tense Yeah, because it's because we have the promise we're sealed. We we already have that We've already been purchased, you know, we already have that redemption. We already have that promise of the holy spirit It's as if we're already there in god's mind. It's like you're all we're already in heaven We might as well be there right now. It's such a sure thing This inheritance is already there kind of like karen just a minute ago. She's like, yeah, of course, I was expecting the whipped cream You're my dad. I know how you are Right. I wasn't gonna get just straight cocoa. There's gonna be a big old pile of whipped cream on that Right. Well god's eyes like of course, you're gonna get the inheritance Of course You're gonna you're you are coming to mount sion you are coming to the city of the living god The heavenly jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven Which are written in heaven not we're going to be we are And to the god of judge of all to the spirits of just man made perfect and to jesus the mediator of the new covenant You're there in colossus chapter one look at verse 12 Excuse me Giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light again What have we we've gotten more than just salvation. We've gotten what an inheritance We've been made meet to be partakers of the inheritance inheritance of the saints in light You know salvation is the gift that's just going to keep on giving Not just in terms of not going to hell, but when we get there god's just going to pile it on even thicker I mean, we can't even begin to imagine what heaven is going to be like what eternally is going to be like If you would go over to first cor- uh first corinthians chapter two first corinthians chapter two You know that people uh were asking me recently there's there's been some sermons where where uh that have been preached and I don't know About this, you know, I I have really studied all out. I can kind of see where people are coming from They said so do you think there's going to be mansions in heaven? You know and I and I've listened to some of these a couple of these sermons I said well I could definitely see where people are coming from You know, I I still kind of hold the belief that we are going to get mansions but the more I think about it But the more I thought about like, you know mansion no mansion You know We're gonna get something heaven's gonna be it's gonna blow our minds Whatever, you know, it's not like you're gonna get to heaven be like, huh? You know, you're gonna get there like oh, I thought there's gonna be a mansion. Yeah You know, you're gonna get there and it's gonna be amazing I know there's gonna be streets of gold There's gonna be gates of pearl. I know some some definite things about a heaven and how it's described I mean there are some things that we do know for sure and those few things that we know Are pretty cool I mean, we know we're coming to an innumerable Company of angels we're going to be there with all the saints and light we're going to be stand in the presence of god and this presence of christ eventually will God the father will make his dwelling with men, you know after the millennium. I mean, there's just So many things that are going to take place You know What i'm saying is this is that salvation is the gift that just keeps on giving you think well i'm going to get to heaven And that's it. No, once you get to heaven, it's only gotten started Once you get to heaven, that's just the beginning There's going to be so many more things that that are just amazing. Look at first corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 But as it is written I hath not seen nor ear heard Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which god hath prepared for them that love him You know, we don't know everything that god has in store for us But I know that it's it's going to be amazing go to first corinthians chapter 13 first corinthians chapter 13 You know paul talked a little about this in second corinthians He talked about how he was caught up into the third heaven and he was caught up into paradise and he heard unspeakable words He's saying I was hearing things. I saw things which are not lawful for me to utter He's like I know things about heaven that i'm not allowed to tell you Because you'd probably just spend the rest of your life like just you know staring up in the sky You'd probably just you'd just be peremigrating the whole time and not get anything else done You'd probably just want to hurry up and die so you could get there right But you know heaven is just going to be amazing It's because salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving even after this life is over There's just going to be more and more and more look at uh first corinthians chapter 13 verse 12 He said now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face Now I know in part but then I shall know even also as I am known Look, we look through a glass darkly right now, don't we? That's why I don't really get caught up on if people have different opinions about You know, it's having going to be like this or having going to be like that because you know a lot of it's just uh Is just conjecture or you know, it's just people speculating and there's nothing wrong with that You know, there are some things we know but there's a lot of things where we just we can kind of make things out about heaven But one thing I know for sure is that when we get there, you know It's going to be things that we couldn't have ever imagined that heaven or are there going to be things that are in heaven? So this is another way in which salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving You know, it gives every day because of the fact that we are sealed on the day of redemption We have the earnest of the spirit. We have the holy spirit of promise that that's a gift that we get every single day The every day that you don't lose your salvation because you can't You know, that's just that's just salvation continuing you to just being a gift that keeps on giving When you get to heaven you think well now, okay the gifts over right? I got eternal life, you know I was sealed i'm redeemed now and now i'm here and that's it though, right? This is where it ends. Nope That's where even more gifts keep coming more help salvation just brings more Uh amazing things, right? But here's another way in which salvation Or is a gift that just keeps on giving eternal life It's just a is just a as a well of of water just springing up on the life everlasting If you would go over to uh, colossians chapter 3 colossians chapter 3 You know the one other way in which salvation is a gift that keeps on giving is the fact that While you're here, not only are you sealed and on your way to heaven, but you have opportunity to earn rewards on here on earth You know, it's not you're not just saved so you can just you know, you know, you got your fire escape Right your tickets punched you're on your way to heaven You know, you still have opportunity while you're here to make heaven even greater of an experience for yourself to go there And to be rewarded for the works that you've done Now if you would uh, you're going to colossians chapter 3 and people I think lose sight of this, you know This is something i'm not going to spend a lot of time on it tonight because I know I talk about this quite a bit here But it's because I think people lose sight of it You know, we kind of we kind of get into church and we get into our bibles and we're kind of living the christian life But we might be tempted to think but why am I doing this? What's the point of it? You know, why why live for the lord, you know, why have these standards why go out soul winning? Why do all this work? You know, well because god will reward you for it You know, we have to be reminded of that. Otherwise, you know christian life might turn into a drudgery You might burn out and fade away if you're if you forget that there's you know That that the labor is worthy of his of his of his reward the bible says jesus said blessed everyone shall hate you and they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name As evil for the son of man's sake rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy Why? For behold your reward is great In heaven he's saying there's he's saying look there is a reward in heaven for those that are persecuted for righteousness sake You know and that look that's not the only way you can earn rewards. That's just an example I'm, just pointing that out because jesus did say that people are rewarded in heaven, aren't they? That there are rewards we think well, that's too good to be true. I know but it is You know, it it's that good That's how salvation is a gift that keeps giving you're like, oh I got saved, you know, surely that's that's all the more I could ask for Oh, I get to go to heaven and heaven's going to be amazing. I surely that's all that that that salvation affords me Oh, I can't lose my salvation that you know, what else could salvation profit me Well, how about you could also Get rewards every single day. You can earn rewards for for living for the lord And this is something the bible talks a lot about, you know, we could go to first corinthians three We won't i'll just read to you how paul said that every man's work is going to be made manifest for the day shall declare it Because it shall be revealed by fire. He said if any man's word of work abide which he hath built there upon He shall receive a reward He shall receive a reward And and you know, this is something we have to keep in mind in the christian life that there is a reward coming to us for our labors That's why we should get involved not just because it's the right thing to do Because of the fact that there is reward and look you don't want to get to heaven And and miss out on this Because it's eternity. There's no this is it. This is the one chance you have to earn rewards And look when you get there and everybody else has got their rewards And you got nothing that's going to be a long time in attorney. Well, i'll just be happy to be in heaven. I'm sure you will I'm sure i'm not i'm sure we're not gonna we're gonna be pouting about it in heaven But we will look around and go man. I could have gotten a lot more done And not just the rewards too. I mean just think about when you finally see christ I there's I don't think there's gonna be a single person here who's gonna look jesus in the face said yeah, I did enough Nobody I don't care how much you did I don't care if you were the most zealous christian on earth. You're not going to get there and say yeah I did enough works, you know, I probably did too much I could have probably scaled it back and and and you know done some more things that I wanted to do, you know I could have spent more time on the lake Than then serving as god. No one's going to say that everyone's going to look at jesus and say man I could have given him so much more of my life, right? So, but don't let it be you know, why get there and say well I didn't give him anything, you know, we need to learn to To the fact that you know, there are rewards to be earned in heaven We should get that insight now not then because then it's too late Look at colossians chapter 3 verse 23 and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the lord and not unto men Knowing he said look this is something you need to know This is why i'm touching on this. This is why i'm bringing this up about how salvation still against us Keeps on giving you need to know this you need to get this drilled into our heads Knowing that of the lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the lord christ You need to know that there is a reward in heaven That we need to earn jesus said i'd come quickly and behold. My reward is with me to get every man according to his works Say yeah, I got my whole life to serve christ. I'll get to that later. Look it's going to go by like that It's going to go by so fast And you say well i'll serve christ later on i'm just going to kind of do what I want the first few decades Yeah, but you know what that might you might not have those decades. No one's promised tomorrow You know, we we could we our lives could end at any moment We should serve christ while we still can jesus said look I come quickly And look even if you lived a long full life of serving lord, it's still going to be Too cool. It's going to he's come still coming quickly So that's another way in which Salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving. I want to look at one other way before we close tonight And if you would go over to galatians chapter five a very familiar passage Galatians chapter five so, you know salvation is a gift that keeps on giving because of the fact that once you're saved you're always saved Every day you get up and you you transgress god's commandments you break the law of god's word you sin you're still saved You're still saved salvation still is keeping you saved It's a gift that keeps on giving every day when you get to heaven, you know You're gonna all all the the rewards and the glory that god's gonna show us and give to us That salvation is just going to keep on giving all through eternity salvation is going to be a gift that keeps on giving But how about this? How about even on earth? You could still have the fruits of the spirit? Do you know the fruits of the spirit are something that's reserved for god's children? And that's something that you can have every day now. It's not something you're guaranteed Okay It's something that the spirit, you know, it's the fruit of the spirit. It's the the spirit bears this in your life It's not something you just drum up It's not just something you make yourself do, you know as you get out of the flesh and you walk in the spirit You walk with the lord, you know you god Bears this fruit in your life. And this is this is the kind of fruit. Look people are clamoring for this in the world There's people out there that are searching for these things high and low and they can't find it They're they're going to doctors. They're taking drugs. They're chasing pleasure They're making their lives about money. They're thinking about all these because they're what they really want are these things And what are they well look at verse 22 Galatians 5 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love Joy, peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law I mean, isn't the world just looking for these things? You know, they want joy. They want peace. They want love They want all these things But the bible says that these are the fruits of the spirit Meaning if you don't have you know, if you don't have the spirit, you know If you have not the spirit of christ and you're none of his You know if we all aren't saved these things aren't available to us. I mean we can manufacture them we can have them To some degree, you know in a worldly sense But to have the fruit of the spirit the fruit of god bearing these things in your life, you know That's what that's a another way which salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving You know we get saved we're secure eternally Heaven is going to be amazing We're going to be rewarded for our works and while we're down here doing those works and while we're on our way to heaven We can also have love joy. Peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance We can have all these fruits they're available to us You can see how salvation's a gift that just keeps on giving it's not just a one-off. I got saved i'm on my way to heaven There's all these ways in which salvation profits us every single day and yay through all eternity So if that's the case back up go to verse 16 He says this I say then walk in the spirit and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh Why should I walk in the spirit? Why should I crucify the flesh so that you can benefit? From salvation for you can benefit by having these fruits in your life We should want these things And they're available to us and not everybody gets them where it's very privileged thing to have these things So, you know, these are just a few ways and we could probably sit around and brainstorm some other ways in which Salvation is a gift that just keeps on giving every single day of our life and into eternity And you know as I started out in the sermon, you know, I was reminding us that you know in this season of gift giving You know, we should be grateful for gifts Look, we should be very grateful for the gift that just keeps on giving be grateful for your salvation if you would Go to second corinthians or go to force, uh Go to james one go to james one Be grateful for the gift The bible says in second corinthians chapter nine, thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift Thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift You know i'm trying here and and and probably not that well certainly not to the degree which it merits Trying to put into words the gift that god has given us Trying to just use the bible and just show us look salvation is an amazing gift It just keeps on giving in all these different ways But when you know when we are in heaven We finally have the fullness of life when we have that new body that new mind when we understand all these things You know, then maybe we'll be able to under Fully comprehend how amazing salvation is but until then it's an unspeakable gift It's a gift that I can't even we can't even fully put into words and even if I could If anyone any one of us here could fully describe what an amazing gift salvation is we couldn't comprehend it We couldn't we wouldn't be able to wrap our minds around how amazing salvation truly is. It's an unspeakable gift You know, this is just an attempt this evening to try to remind us of that gift You know that we receive eternal life as we think about the birth of christ, you know Because a lot of people that they'll even acknowledge birth of christ, but then they'll have a lot of ideas It's about you know, it's about it means this we're supposed to it's about just teaching us humility Obviously we learn humility through christ But it's a lot more than christ didn't just come here and to be born a manger to show everybody how humble he was He came here to bleed and die to give his life as a ransom for many. It's about salvation That's the gift that god gave us that's what we're acknowledging in the birth of christ That god was manifest in the flesh And that he you know, he gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time You're there in james chapter one look at verse 16 Do you hear my beloved brethren 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 of his own will begat begat he us with the word of truth That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures So look when we're talking about the gift of eternal life and how it's just a gift that just keeps on giving We should remember we should be mindful of the fact that we need to be grateful for this gift That it comes down from the father of lights that is something that god has given to us You know, we should be grateful to the lord for what he's done The bible says in first peter chapter four as every man hath received the gift Even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god You know one way you can show your gratefulness is ministering to other people You know and you will you know, you have the fruits of the spirit if you have love joy peace and long suffering and gentleness faith meekness and goodness if you have all these fruits, you know That is going to manifest towards other people in your life That is going to you know, you're going to do Good unto other people that's a way to show your thankfulness to the lord Of course, you know, we should get down and pray and and sincerely and honestly, thank god for the free gift of eternal life You know, we should thank god for that unspeakable gift But you know, we should have an attitude of gratitude, right the way you conduct yourself in life will show how grateful you truly are You know if you take time out to read your bible take your time out to pray To go to church to preach the gospel to help your brothers and sisters in christ If you take the time to do what to minister the same one to another You know to be gracious towards other, you know to love others even as christ has loved you That will show whether or not you're truly grateful for this gift and we should be grateful for this gift Because you know, we just scratched the surface tonight and looked at how salvation truly is a gift that just keeps on giving Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer Dear lord again, thank you for the free gift of eternal life lord It's it's something we we preach here. It's something that we preach to others out soul winning It's it's something that we think about Probably every day of our life lord if we're reading our bibles if we're going to church It's something that we're often reminded of the fact that we have Eternal life through christ and lord help us to think about the fact that not only are we saved lord But we benefit so many other ways from from the free gift of eternal life The fact that we're sealed or the that heaven awaits us and that there's rewards to be earned and We can enjoy the the fruits of the spirit even here on earth for it. We just thank you This evening and lord help us to go in this new year with this with this attitude this mentality of being grateful for this gift lord and we pray help us to To show that through how we treat one another and those around us. We ask in christ's name. Amen All right. We'll sing one more song before we go So So