Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast
from St. Augustine, FL.
Now enjoy this message. Merry Christmas Eve.
It's Christmas Eve going into Christmas.
You know, I was raised in church.
My mother, when she got pregnant with my sister, had just
recently been born again and so didn't know a whole lot
concerning the scripture or God for that matter.
She just knew she was born of God.
And you know, when we're growing in the things of God, you know,
the Bible calls us babes in Christ.
That means, you know, we're needing to develop, mature.
We don't know everything and we'll never know everything.
Don't get me wrong, but there's an infancy in Christ and then
there's a maturity in Christ. And a person mature in Christ
knows how to pray. A person in mature in Christ
don't know how to pray. And a lot of times God will help
us along the way because he wants to teach us.
How to pray? Amen.
And so my mom made a statement, said Lord.
If you'd give me a healthy child, I'm going to follow you.
Now she's negotiating. Couple of things is you don't
need to negotiate with God, just need to know what his word
means. Amen.
But my our heavenly Father, such a good father, he was letting
her know it is my will for you to have healthy children.
And so when my sister was born, because she was going to church,
she said I'll raise my children in church.
And so she came out healthy. And from there they were going
to church. Well, three years later I came
and man, we were in church and that's what we did.
And if we didn't go to church on Sunday, something was wrong.
I said something was wrong. Now my father wasn't a person
who went to church. He stayed at the house.
He was honestly mad at God because of some childhood
things. And it took him, you know, to
the end of his life to come around.
And But he only came around because he had a wife who prayed
and he had children who prayed and who lived in front of him.
The word of God. Amen.
Don't be waiting around thinking you going to be all right till
the end. Hallelujah.
But in his case, it was. And I remember one particular
Sunday, I decided I wanted to stay home with Dad, you know,
And I couldn't just say, hey, mom, I want to stay home.
And my dad was wise enough to never go against God with Mom,
so he wouldn't say, well, this. And my son, he can stay home
with me if he wants. To.
He didn't do that, didn't play that card, so I had to play the
sick card. Because if you were sick.
You know, you could stay home. So I was complaining, Mom, I
don't feel good. I don't feel like going today,
like many people, you know, I don't feel like going today.
Right. You know, So we fake a cough,
right? I wasn't Ferris Bueller yet, you
know, I wasn't at that level of of manipulation for those who
know who that is. But, you know, I just did a
little cough, you know, moping around, and my mom had some
wisdom. She had.
She heard the Holy Ghost and she said, now Earl Wayne, she called
me Earl Wayne. She said, Earl Wayne, if you're
too sick to go to school, church, then you understand this
afternoon you're going to be too sick to go outside and play.
Well, I find myself instantly healed.
It was a miracle in the house that day and I made it to church
and lo and behold, I got to play that afternoon.
Amen. But we did have quite a few
traditions in my home growing up.
You know, there were things we did, things that I didn't carry
over necessarily as I became a husband and a father.
Some things I did a little different than my parents.
But let me just say it this way. I don't know how much worldly
traditions you have this weekend.
And, you know, they're worldly because they're not in the
Bible. But I want you to know, you do
have a filter. It's called the word of God.
And because of that, you know, there's certain things that we
do during this time. There's certain things that we
recognize. There's certain individuals we
recognize, you know, and we didn't keep our allegiance to
them because they weren't real people, right?
But they're in a world where people don't have the filter we
have. It's actually quite problematic
because they're raised to trust in someone that doesn't exist,
only to find out later they weren't real.
And then when we try to tell them about Jesus, that can
become a problem. Amen.
So, but in the keeping of traditions, you know, my my
parents were good about keeping the best presence until we went
to bed. You understand what I'm saying?
It was those gifts that showed up under our Christmas tree
after we were asleep. All right.
Now, my mom had a plethora of gifts, you know, and the gifts
that were under the tree starting around, you know, the
middle of December, were the necessity ones.
You understand? The underwear to socks.
OK, we're talking pajamas, some kind of clothes.
I remember the granimals back in the day.
How many remember the granimals back in the day, you know, And
so they would still have the tags on.
So I know how they match. This is why I'm problematic now.
I have a hard time going into Marshalls.
I was there yesterday and I went through and I went to my wife.
She said, you find anything? I said no, there's nothing from
me here. We left with six shirts.
Now, if they had granimals for adults, I'd be all right.
I say, if it's not on a mannequin, honey, it's very
problematic for me. I just can't see how it comes
together. Are you hearing me?
So, you know, if we go to the mall where there's a mannequin,
I'm like, I could wear that now I can wear it if I look like the
mannequin. Amen.
Some of y'all need to say get a mannequin.
That's my size. So I know what it's going to
look like when it's on there. Because even the mannequins are
liars. Have you noticed them that
they'll have their shirts all bunched up in the back?
Now who walks around with a little clip in the back of their
shirt like that? I'll do it through the day.
It looks good here. But now I get around back and
like that shirt was too big for you so but they would put the
best ones out, right? Because you know whenever we
woke up, you know, the whole deal was is you're supposed to
let mom and dad know. There was 1 Christmas.
My sister and I had attained to a layer of maturity.
What do I mean by that is we were thinking about others
besides ourself. And so we woke up and it
traditionally it went this way. Kim wakes me up.
I don't wake up first. She wakes me up.
So she wakes me up and she says it's time, right, It's time.
And so we get over there and she goes, Now let's be quiet and
let's don't wake up mom and. Dad, this year, let's let them
sleep in. Man, aren't we good kids.
So it was the quietest unwrapping of presents ever.
But we were taking on down, bro. We were like, screaming at each
other quietly, right? It's called Whisper yelling
what? I got next one, right?
And so all of a sudden my mom woke up and she comes in and
finds the majority of the gifts open and she hits the light.
What are you doing? We're like, it's like we're
caught. They had my name on it.
I didn't steal a thing, right? I didn't steal a thing.
They had my name on it. We're like, well, we were going
to let you sleep in and I'll never forget my mom, she says.
Don't y'all understand that the greatest gift for your dad and I
is to see your face when you open the gift?
So I was like, we'll wrap them again.
I'll unwrap them. I'll fake this thing, no
problem. Because I am the unwrapping gift
guy like you little basket people here.
I'm not a big fan of y'all. Y'all need redemption.
I mean, who? How fun is this?
But man, when you start tearing that thing down, I mean, be the
one, like that one guy was talking about this.
I'm. I mean, I'm just bringing a
little humor because I'm going to bring some good stuff here.
I think it was Tim Hawkins. What's his?
Is that What's the? Comedian.
Is that his name? Tim Hawkins.
He was talking about getting a doll for his daughter for
Christmas. Well, you know how they strap
them down, He said. They must have got this from the
state penitentiary that the prisoner was like, if I can't
get out, they. Ain't getting out.
You know, 'cause if you've done that, you're like, how many
rubber bands and zip ties do we got to do the whole Barbie on
this piece of paper right now, right?
And so, you know, I'm the God, you wrap it up.
I've got a few people that give me gifts that have gifts within
gifts and I just keep unwrapping because I like that.
It's like an adventure. What's on the inside?
I want to unwrap some things. Well, with that being said,
Second Corinthians chapter 4, we're going to look at verse 18,
Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 18.
We could quote it because we've done it so many times, as you
know, but it bears repeating. And to get our eyes on it.
And 2nd Corinthians chapter 418. It says why we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are what not
seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, In other word is temporary.
But the things which are not seen or what they're eternal,
they're eternal. Now you as know as well as I do
that there are a lot of gifts that you buy for your children
or for people that you know they don't want, right?
They're just stuffers. They just make it seem like they
got more. Come on.
I mean, what's the reason for a stocking stuffer?
Can anyone remember anything you got in your stocking as a child?
OK, Kohl's, that would be a shock and you probably remember
that, OK? But most don't remember, OK, And
it do you remember every year what you got in your stocking.
That means they put the same thing in there every year if you
do. No, I mean, typically, you know,
we don't, right? It's probably candy.
At least that's what my mom did. She put candy in mine and it was
gone. It was temporary, right?
It was usually gone that day, you know?
And then I passed it the next day.
So it was completely away from me.
I mean, even last 24 hours, right?
I mean, that gift's gone. It was temporary and it
definitely didn't do my body. Any good?
All that sugar? Hallelujah.
All right. But there are other gifts as
well. You would have it and they play
for a little bit and then disregard it, throw it away.
It's almost like a disposable. Gift, right?
You know Kid loves it, thinks it's awesome.
Throw it to the side. Bam, going to the next one.
Because usually we're building up to the gift, right?
The one. That they were asking, you know,
typically, OK, which one do you want?
What's your big gift? Right.
And that's the one I remember one year when I got my BMX bike,
that was the gift. And that was easy to spot when I
came in, All right. And I rode that thing.
I rode that thing for years. It had at least three or four
different paint jobs because my dad was a painter, OK, He did,
you know, residential. He didn't do vehicles.
Although we could tap into that. And so I would strip that bike
down, man. I would sand it.
I would paint it. It had different colors, man.
I would run that thing. That bike was really awesome.
Had mag wheels on it, bro. They were bad.
And so and I was fast and I would jump things and I would
ride to school because back in the day you could ride to school
without subject of, you know, bad stuff.
So it was totally different life back then.
But it's still temporary. I said they're temporary.
But I want to talk to you about some gifts today that are
eternal. I said that are eternal.
And the thing about our eternal gifts is that unlike my jacket
that I'm wearing right now and you know, someone could buy me a
shirt that I could wear for multiple years as long as I
don't grow out of it one way or the other or it doesn't tear or
something. It's still a temporary item, but
the eternal things are not seen but yet they're always available
if we just know how to gain access to them.
And what's awesome about these gifts, as these gifts are new
every day. I said they don't wear out,
they're awesome. OK so with that being said, in
Romans chapter 6 verse 23 it says it this way for the wages
of sin is death, but the free gift of God is what?
Eternal life? In Christ Jesus our Lord, so the
gift of God is eternal. Life.
Now, it's important for us to understand about eternal,
because all of us are eternal. You know, this is one of the
things that, you know, we say, but a lot of times people aren't
actually equating what's being said because we say now if you
accept Jesus as Lord, you'll have eternal life.
And so at that point they say, OK, I'll live forever, But what
they don't understand is they're actually going to live forever
already. It's the quality of their
eternity that's at stake. OK, so based upon the definition
of what we know is life, right? A breathing of consciousness.
OK, you know, so we say that, you know, a lot of times people
don't really grasp what we're talking about because all beings
are eternal. Some are already eternally dead,
meaning they're separated from God.
But they exist. And that's why there's troubles
and trials and issues within their lives that they can't seem
to get a hold of and a handle on.
And no matter how they try to find something else to supply,
suppress, or to conquer, overcome the feelings of guilt,
shame and different things like that, all these euphoric
opportunities that they have, that they they live here, but
the next day they're way down here.
You know, they have these seasons of up and down
constantly in their lives. Nothing comes to satisfy.
Affection. Well, when you're separated from
God eternally, then you understand there's nothing that
satisfies 'cause. Even the temporary fixes of
alcohol relationships and different things of that nature,
you know, they're just. Temporary We unwrap women, we
unwrap men, we unwrap jobs, and we find that they do not
satisfy. Because we are in death still,
and it keeps us separated from the things that are God.
But those who've called on the name of Jesus, they're already
live in eternity. They already have life now.
Now we still have a touch to things that are separated from
God, 'cause we're not present with Him, but as.
Far as our existence, we are eternal with God in life, and we
can tap into that life today. And when we go through trials
and tribulation, there are gifts we can unwrap perpetually that
came with the tree of Jesus. Amen.
It's called the cross. It came through the cross that
we can go unwrap these things anytime in remembrance so that
we can tap into the life side or or the God life now and
forevermore. So James 127 says every good
thing given and get and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lies from.
Whom? There is no variation or the OR
shifting shadow. See, each gift is given to add
something to you, not take it away.
God's gifts is actually to help aid.
You. They're there for you now.
I'll be honest with you. Some gifts that I have used more
or what Pastor Lynette Hagan thought were trinkets because
she's really good at giving gifts.
And anytime we do something as a regional director and we're
connected with a meeting, whether I'm a speaker at camp
meeting or or call to arms or whether I'm doing something you
know with the third year pastors group or we go to a regional
directors meeting, Pastor Lynette gives gifts and a lot of
times she ends up giving these multi tool gifts that have
Rhema's logo on it. And I have used those things
even though they are not leather men or Gerber's, but they seem
to find themselves necessary at various times of my life that I
can just go grab that little trinket tool and it does what I
need it to do. Are you hearing me?
Well, you understand, when it comes to God, God's gifts are
always being added to us if we just go find it.
And utilize it. Are you hearing me?
We must always appreciate the gifts of our king.
We must not treat his gifts with little value once we assume the
one the the newness wears off. But you know when you stay in
the word, you'll realize it gets it's new.
His mercies are what, new every morning?
So that means that any of God's gifts, when we are exercising
them, when we are unwrapping them and utilizing them, they're
brand new. They are of new quality.
They don't break down. Or you hear what I'm saying?
Y'all doing all right this morning because I said I'll be
done by early, we'd be done by three today and we're going to
be all right. I told that to some first time
guests and they kind of went shocked.
Everybody who knew me laughed. Seriously, though, we'll be done
earlier than three. OK, So with that being said,
let's talk about the first gift you receive, and it's called the
gift of grace. Come on, aren't you glad for the
gift of grace now, There are multiple gifts of grace.
There's not one. So do not think there's just
one. There's a saving grace.
There's a sanctifying grace. There's a serving grace.
There's a sharing grace. There's a strengthening grace.
Jesus Christ did not need unmerited favor because Jesus
Christ never failed. Yet the Bible says he was full
of grace. So you cannot define grace as
unmerited favor. We got something we didn't
deserve. Tell me what Jesus didn't
deserve besides the cross. But it says when he was a child,
he grew in grace and favor with men.
He was full of grace. What grace was he operating in?
It was the gift of empowering grace.
It was strengthening grace. It was the grace that caused him
to look at temptation and say not here, not on me.
I'm not going to fail. I'm not going to give in to
that. Unlike my first brother Adam, I
will not yield to this deal. I will stay faithful with the
Lord. And it was God's gift of grace
that he unwrapped each time. And caused him to conquer the
the devil, his temptations, his flesh, and ultimately, the
world. Hallelujah.
Aren't you glad? So we can see this grace in
Ephesians 47 says. But to each one of us grace was
given. As Christ apportioned it, He
gave us grace. First Corinthians 14 says it
this way. I always thank God for you
because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
Grace is a gift, and I'm thankful for the gift.
Which means in 2024 there's going to be more grace for me to
unwrap, for me to be able to function and operate in.
I mean, I had some grace functioning in 2023, but it's
nothing like the grace that I have for 2024.
Amen. That I, grace can continue to
abound in our lives. Why?
And it never gets old. Because when I need grace, it is
there for me. Hallelujah.
It is a gift from God. Well, because grace was able to
be given, and I could access that grace through faith.
Faith is what unwraps these presents, right?
I mean, think about it. Isn't unwrapping gifts faith
anyway, Because all of us, as children or even as adults, we
get a box. You know, because again, unlock
a bag. It's a little more difficult.
OK, give me your. Bag.
Yeah, Alex. Give me this bag right here.
This is so sweet. Look at this, right?
I mean, it's a little less violent because I'm afraid
whatever's in is fixing to bust out of the bottom.
It'd be like that would be embarrassing, though.
I can't fill it. I'm going to guess it's a
candle. It's going to be my guess.
Got some weight to it, right? I mean, that's what you do in a
bag. But now if this was a box, is
that a box there? No.
OK, you got one. Give me that.
One. Yeah, here we go.
Now we talking. Is this fragile?
OK. All right.
You know how it was, you were like.
You're trying to figure this out.
I'm thinking some kind of apparel is up in this thing.
I don't know. Wait a minute.
That's different. Could be a boot.
Please tell me you didn't get cowboy.
Boots in here, man. I mean, we might have to burn.
This one if these are cowboy boots.
Right, we shake it up. Now here's the thing.
Can I see what's in this box? Is there something in this box?
How do you know? You don't know?
You haven't even touched it yet. It could be.
Air in the box, but based upon it, have a little weight and
you're feeling something. You're assuming it's something.
And here's the thing. You begin to imagine, based upon
what you've said you've wanted, of whether that item based upon
weight and how you're feeling that might fit the description.
So you begin to imagine something before you even see
it. But if you're going to exercise
enjoying whatever it is. Because I've already received
it. I can walk around the rest of my
life like this. What you got?
I got a gift. Well, what is it?
It's an awesome thing. Well, what is it now?
Let's say it is a pair of boots, right.
And and I got caught, you know, in a snowstorm when my flip
flops on and then I'm, you know, I'm starting to get frostbite.
And they're like what you got in the box?
I don't know. It's a gift.
It was given to me and I'm so thankful for it.
Come on, you're hearing what I'm.
Saying what good is the gift if you don't exercise and get it
out and put it on? You got to put it on.
And this thing could be my salvation of my toes here.
But I'm not getting delivered. I'm called out to God.
Oh Lord God, please save me from the snow.
He's like, bro, open up the box. I got your boots right, and it
really is a lot of times. Thank you.
That's simple. But because we don't exercise
our faith to be able to receive the gifts that God have for us.
Oh, Lord, help us, Lord. Like, unwrap the grace in your
life. Lord, please deliver me from the
devil. Unwrap the grace in your life,
because I've done everything I can already to I've whipped him
and stripped him of his power. You need to stand up as a child
of God and speak to him operating the grace.
Are you hearing me? OK, the next.
Gift is because of grace. Faith opens it up as the gift of
salvation. You know this, John 410 Jesus
answered and said to her, He said, If you knew the gift of
God, and who it, and who it and. And who it is who says to you?
Give me a drink. You would have asked him.
And he would have given you what?
Living a world? Didn't know that he was a gift?
Didn't know he was wrapped up in a bow?
Didn't know he could get unwrapped.
Are you hearing me? You know what it says in
Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. For by grace you have been saved
through faith. It is not of yourself.
It is what the gift of God. So we receive salvation.
When we called on Jesus Christ to be Lord of our lives, what
did he do? He He evicted the spirit in you
that was dead and did not know him, and put a new spirit inside
your body. Then move the Holy Ghost inside
your suit as well where he could bear witness with your spirit.
You were a child of the king. You are royalty.
You're part of the royal family right now, I said, right now.
Glory to God. So you were saved from all of
your transgression, all of your sin, every wrong you've ever
done against God, against his crown, against his Kingdom in
rebellion, total forgiveness, and you've become the
righteousness of God in Christ, which is the next.
Gift. It is the gift of righteousness.
In Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10, it says it this way,
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. For with the heart a person
believes resulting in righteousness.
That's right, standing with God. Or we can say it this way, right
standing with the governing authority.
And who is our governing authority?
It is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Lord is not a religious word.
It means supreme and authority. Jesus Christ, or the Word of
God, is the supreme authority of my life.
And when I was born again, my spirit was made in the likeness
of the King of Christ himself so that I would be made right with
God and have the ability to hear God again.
I'm in right relationship with God, and now I can grow, learn,
develop, and have all that God wants for me because I'm now in
his household. Hallelujah.
And so righteousness is accredited to us.
Look, when it says in Romans 5 verses 15 and 17, he says.
But the gift of God is not like the transgression, OK, for by
the transgression of one many died.
Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the
one man, Jesus Christ, abound. To many the gift is not like
that which came through the one who sinned.
For the One hand the judgment arose from 1 transgression,
resulting condemnation, but on the other hand, the free gift
arose from many transgression, resulting in justification, 4 If
by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one.
Much more, those who receive the abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus
Christ. Now when you begin to reign in
life, you're reigning. Now this is not raining.
Once you get to heaven, you have the capacity to reign in the
earth because Jesus said, oh, now that you're in the family
when you pray, pray this way. Our Father.
Whose Father? Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
And as a child of God, you can have God's will done in your
life while you're still walking on this planet.
Amen. Because you've been made
righteous. Now it's your assignment to
maintain your righteousness. For the Bible tells us to
practice righteousness. And here's the problem is that
we have a grace gift given to us that's eternal.
That means every day it's like you get to go to the tree and
unwrap a whole nother free, brand new present of grace,
right? I mean, think about it now then
this is how God is. But our little minds can't
handle this. That's like you getting your
brand new vehicle, brand new. You go out not a mile on it.
I mean, you know what it smells like when it's brand new?
I mean, the factory dropped it off.
Now, Danny, they've only turned it on to make sure it was
working. And then they brought it to your
house, full tank. You get in that thing, you're
like woo and you drive around, come Home Park that thing and
the factory picks it up and takes it.
The next morning another brand new 10 miles full tank of gas,
whatever miles you run that day or the only miles you'll ever
run on that thing because the next day another brand new
vehicle shows up. I said another brand new vehicle
shows up. I mean, can you?
You'd be like and and and it's, it can be a different one,
another one, a better one. Right.
You know, I'm going to, I'm going to put in for SUV
tomorrow, Tomorrow. You know what?
I'll take a Porsche. I think I'll get that Aston
Martin tomorrow. You know what I'm feeling a
little. You know, practical.
I'm going to get a VW. You know, I need to go off
roads. I need to get me a gladiator and
I want the thing decked out. No.
Miles, you said, Well, that would be lavish.
You know what? That's what Grace.
Is. That's what salvation is.
That's what righteousness is. You can't wear it out.
You can't put mileage on the stuff and tear it up.
It's like, it's every day. Here's a brand new set.
It's brand new out-of-the-box. Here you go.
I mean, you're not like, oh, I don't want to overuse God's
grace. He's like, son, I've got an
eternal supply of this stuff. I got an eternal supply of
saving you out of all your trouble.
Salvation can come to your house on multiple levels.
Listen, I can keep you in the top performance of
righteousness, where you're living every day in the
righteousness of God, in Christ. Jesus.
I don't think I would ever get tired of opening up something
brand new at all. Now the world's taught us that
that's wrong. And again, if that's all you
were pursuing or natural things, well, that is wrong.
But when our Heavenly Father's giving out eternal gifts, it's
not wrong. He's not saying.
Well, just rub that grace off. It'll be good enough today.
I know. You're right.
This is a little dirty there. Just rub it off.
No. He's like my stuff's brand new.
I said my stuff's brand new. Top of the line doesn't break
down. Guaranteed.
Got a warranty? Forever.
Are you hearing me? Which brings me then to the next
gift. And this gift here is amazing.
It's called the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Are you hearing me? It's the gift of the Holy Spirit
1st. And then we'll go into some of
his gifts. OK, the gifts of this spirit.
Let's talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost first.
First you get the Holy Ghost in and then you have him come upon.
In Acts chapter 2 verse 38, it said Peter said to them repent.
And each of you. Be baptized in the name of the
Father or the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sin, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We know the Bible says that we call on the name of the Lord.
We're brand new. We become a new creature in
Christ Jesus, the old past way. Behold, all things become new.
We become the temple of the Holy Ghost, Luke 1113 says.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask of Him?
But we also know that this gift of the Holy Spirit has power
that comes with it, because in John chapter 21 Jesus was with
his disciples after his death, burial, and resurrection.
He walks through a wall and he says to them receive ye.
The Holy Spirit in the Bible says he blew on them and they
received the Holy Ghost, which means they got the Holy Ghost
within all of those in the room that day were.
Born again, Jesus saw the salvation of man.
But then he tells that group. Now you hold on and wait until
the promise of the Father, because the Holy Ghost has got
another gift he's going to bring.
And it's called power. Because I want to give you
power. Not only do I want to bear
witness with your spirit that you're a child of God, but I
want to empower you. I want to give you power.
I want to give you power from on high so that when you're
witnessing and you're being an ambassador for me and you're
representing my Kingdom, you bring the power with you.
Are you hearing me? In Acts chapter 10 verse 45 to
46, it says all the uncircumcised believers who came
with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit have
been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they were hearing say
hearing they were hearing them speaking with.
Tongues and exalting God, Are you hearing me?
They They heard what they received on the day of
Pentecost. The power of God fell upon them
on the day of power of Pentecost.
They begin to speak in other tongues, which is just the
language of the Kingdom. OK, 'cause I have multiple
nationalities in this service right now.
I could have people jump up and speak to me in Spanish, speak to
me and Albanian, speak to me in some other languages, and none
of us would be running around going crazy.
Don't you know that the God of all tongues knows how to give a
tongue to his children? That may be unknown to us and
unfruitful to our minds, but it is from the Holy Ghost and our
Father nonetheless. And we know what it's saying,
even though we do not know what word for word because it says
he. When we pray in that language,
we're praying out the perfect will of God.
Are you hearing me? And here's an awesome thing.
The devil sure don't know what you're saying either.
Amen. Acts Chapter 11, verse 17 says,
therefore, if God gave to them the same gift as he gave to us,
Also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I
could stand in God's way? Now here's the thing with the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit himself brings
his own gifts. That's like unwrapping a
present. And when you unwrap it, there's
more presence. I said there's more presence.
You unwrap one, there's a present that you can see in it,
but then within it there's more. And so First Corinthians chapter
12 verse one says this. Now concerning spiritual gifts.
Brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.
And this is Paul talking to the church because this is what's
crazy. People out like these gifts
aren't around anymore. Paul was never part of the
original apostles ever. But Paul was not the only
apostle out there after the original apostles.
There were many. If you read the Bible, actually
we're called apostles well beyond the original 12.
So the office of the Apostle is still in play today.
Not only that, when Peter first priest and people were speaking
in other tongues on the day of Pentecost, he said this gift is
for you and for all who are far off as many as the Father is
calling to himself. Will our people being called by
the Father today or people being born again today?
If people can be born again today, then they can be baptized
in the Spirit today as well. And when Paul's talking to a
church at Corinth, which by all rights was a Gentile church, and
these people had been in some gross idolatry, they were
functioning in the gifts without having the understanding of what
they were doing. And Paul being the apostle and
the church age gave instruction by the Spirit how these gifts
were to be conducted within the church services.
He goes on to say that there are 9 of.
Them in verse four of First Corinthians 12 he said, Now
there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there
are a variety of ministries, and the same Lord.
There are a variety of effects, but the same God who works all
things and all person, but each one is given the manifestation
of the Spirit for the common. Good for to One is given the
Word of Wisdom through the spirit, to another the Word of
Knowledge according to the same spirit, to another faith, by the
same spirit, to another. Gifts of healing.
Well, you open up gifts of healing.
You get a whole bunch of other gifts.
Then we get into verse 10, To another the affecting of
miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of
spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another
the interpretation of tongues. But each one and the same spirit
works all these things, distributing to each one
individually, just as he wills. Amen.
So here are 9 gifts that come with the Holy Ghost.
And when the Holy Ghost unwraps gifts of the Spirit, they are
multiple in that which may be when he's moving in the realm of
healing, he can have gifts that heal cancer, tuberculosis,
diabetes. You know, any element, any
disease those gifts can get in an operation.
These are gifts that are beyond just a simple laying on of hands
that a believer can do to the sick.
Are you hearing me? Because there are some cases
that requires the gifts to get in play.
And here's the thing God saying to us, there's not a case that I
cannot conquer. Are you hearing me?
Because when we are exercising the gifts, when we continue to
draw on these eternal. Gifts Again, when you receive
the baptism of the Spirit, that gift, are you opening it daily?
Are you participating in it daily?
In fact, Jude said concerning that gift.
He said you need to stir your up your most holy faith praying in
the Spirit, which means it's a gift you should unwrap every day
and you should function in Amen. You don't want to discredit any
one of these gifts, because do you remember what your life was
before you had? Any of these gifts?
Now there's another gift that the Lord gives.
It's called ministry gifts called Ministry gifts.
In Ephesians chapter 4, verse eight, it says it this way.
Therefore it says when he ascended on high, he led captive
a host of captives and he gave what gifts to man.
Now this word here will go to another gift that I'll talk
about here in a minute 'cause it's not limited to ministry
gifts because when he said he gave gifts to men, he gave
everybody a gift. I said everybody is a gift.
But when we get to the 11th verse, he tells us of the of the
gifts that are very specific that he begins to outlaw.
Then he said he gave some as meaning, some gifts as apostles,
prophets, pastors, teachers, right and evangelists.
Those are very specific gifts for.
The equipment of the Saints for the building up of the body.
You should come wrap Unwrap me every service.
Are you hearing me? Now again, if I am that gift
under Christ's tree, that's like, Oh yeah, I'll get to that
one later, then you don't get the benefit of that gift.
Hey man, you don't get the benefit of that gift, any gift.
We don't unwrap, we don't get the benefit of that gift, and
it's eternal life associated with it.
So you should have the expectation.
Cause again, you know how your kids and grandkids are going to
be tomorrow or even later today? If today's that day that you're
going to let them into those gifts, they're going to be like
sitting already just waiting for you to say go and then they
going to tear off into that thing with great anticipate.
In fact, they're talking. About it, right?
When we go open them, when we go open those gifts, when we go
open those, listen to the expectation in them, right.
I mean, did did you have that same expectation, Man, I can't
wait to get to church today and unwrap pastor or I can't wait to
unwrap that gift. What is in that gift today?
What is he going to say today? What is God going to say through
that gift? I can't wait for that thing to
come. Now again, if you don't have
that, well, our church is great. Amen.
I had this thought today. I thought, yeah, that's.
I'm sure that's true, I said. Why is?
It sometimes I can get stuff like this and then other times
it's like, man, where are we going?
He said. The Lord said to me, He said,
expectation, and you think, well, that's you, that's your
problem, is it? Because when there's an
expectation of people waiting on what God's going to say.
Through you, then, you make a demand on God to give me
something. But if you don't have an
expectation, you just like I don't know what they'll say,
we'll find out when we get there and don't have any expectation.
Well then I'm like what we going to say?
Cause ain't nobody expected nothing today, 'cause if you
expect. Nothing.
I can be a nice gift wrapped. Oh, you don't?
Want to hear this? They're called display gifts.
They just put it on display. You want me to be a display
gift? 'Cause I don't want to be
unwrapped and be empty. What you got today?
Nothing. I got nothing.
How come? What's wrong with you, Pastor?
What's wrong with you? You pulling on me or something,
'cause I mean, I got enough for me all week.
I got my answers. God answered my problems.
I went to the Word. I found my stuff.
I'm growing. I'm doing something.
But we're talking about the pastor gift for you to equip
you. What do you need?
But if I'm just the same old voice.
Right. And I I mean, I try to, you
know, decorate myself differently every service,
right. I mean, good thing for YouTube
and we film. I can go.
What did I wear a couple Sundays ago?
Not going to wear that outfit. You know, put on a new present.
Amen. All right, Ephesians, chapter 3,
verse seven says, of which I. Was made a minister according to
the gift of God's grace, which was given to me to the working
of his power. The last gift I'll talk about.
And there's other gifts we could talk about today, but for the
sake of Tom, I'm not going to give you These are just eternal
ones you can tap into all the time.
Because you know what? You need to look at your kids
today. You need to be honest and your
grandkids. And when they're saying who got
us this gift today, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the ultimate gift giver.
That's who gave you this gift because of how good he is to us.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? That's just how good he is to
us, right? And you need to say, but listen,
they're gifts that we have from him that we can unwrap all the
time, just can't see them. But they are exist nonetheless.
And they're more real than this box I'm handing you right now.
It's more real, you know, than this bag I'm giving you right
now. It's more real.
And you know what? It'd be ready tomorrow.
It'd be ready the next day. And don't you ever think that
it's old, It's common. It's nothing.
No, it's the greatest gift ever. How can people, when they get
the revelation that they need Jesus as Lord all of a sudden
say His name with disdain, treat it as?
Common determine when we want to listen to Him and when we don't.
Because when we first encountered him and our death
and our guilt and our shame, we're like, man, I need Jesus
and we were so thankful for him. And then what happens?
What happens a month from then? Six months, Year.
Two years? Why has it become so common that
all of a sudden he's no different than that gift you
can't remember when you were a child.
He's become that gift that you can't hardly even remember.
Oh, yeah, I remember that one. That was so fun.
I remember that. No, because here's the thing.
This last gift I'm talking about is so amazing because of the
gift he is. It's called the gift of
assignment. It's why you were born.
This is what's so amazing about when.
Christ, God gave his Son to us and we unwrapped him.
Jesus popped up and says unwrap this, no you.
Didn't get it. The minute you unwrap Jesus
Christ and he was revealed, you became your Lord.
He is hand holding a present, he said.
Son, daughter, unwrap this, unwrap this.
What's that, Jesus? It's you.
It's why you were born.
It's it's it's who you were before you were in your mother's
womb. It was before the foundations of
the world. Oh, I just want you to unwrap
this. I want to walk with you and help
you unwrap you the rest of your life.
First, Peter 410 says for each one has received a special gift,
employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold
grace of God, Romans 11/29 said For the gifts and the calling of
God are irrevocable. Many have unwrapped Jesus and he
says unwrap this. And they're like, no, unwrap it,
No, I'm just satisfied that I'm going to go to heaven when I
die. Unwrap the Listen.
You don't have no idea how awesome this is.
You and me. If you won't under unwrap this
thing right here, I've got to I can't accept your gift.
I'm not worth. Listen, I just made you worthy.
And I want you to unwrap the gift.
Because it's not just about you coming to heaven.
I need you to know why you're here.
I need to know you didn't know why I saved you, why you're born
of me, why you walk with me, why you can talk with me while
you're in my Kingdom. You need to unwrap this gift of
assignment. Because if you don't.
Unwrap it. The things that are coming
against you as a gift are still coming, but what you need to
overcome is in the box. I need you to unwrap it and you
won't falter when they come. Romans chapter 12, verse six
says it this way. Since we have gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise
them accordingly. If prophecy, which is it?
Goes on to a list there, but we are to exercise them
accordingly. You know what I love about us in
the body of Christ is that we're different.
I don't want to be you. You don't be me.
I don't want to be you. You be you.
You're an awesome gift from God. God had a plan and purpose for
your life when you made Jesus the Lord of your life.
He's like, this is all that you were ever destined to be.
And you could say, well, my gosh, man, I'm 72 right now.
How can I ever be me at 72? You know what?
God can do something that everyone says you can't get.
The world says it all the time. Time is a gift.
Once you spend it can't get it back.
That's a lie. Because Jesus Christ can't even
redeem the time. He can redeem the time.
He can buy back all of those wasted years and cram what he
had for you for your whole life into the sliver of what's left.
But you got to unwrap you. What we don't understand is that
all we want to do is unwrap Jesus.
And Jesus is saying, I want to unwrap you.
I want to unwrap you. I want everything that I ever
destined you to be. I want it to come out.
And This is why we're afraid of Jesus.
Because we're really afraid of finding out who we really are.
Because honestly, if Jesus is not Lord of your life, what you
think you are is a lie. Your father, the devil, has kept
you in bondage. He don't want you to discover
yourself. He don't want you to know the
real you. And you think when you're coming
to Jesus, you're coming because of how not good you are, how
horrible you are. And yeah, you've done some
really rough stuff underneath the father you're with.
But he says I'll take you away from that, Daddy.
I'll bring you to my I'll adopt you into my house.
I'll make you my child. I'll strip your past.
It won't even exist anymore. And then if you.
Will receive me as your gift. Then I'm going to ask you to be
my gift. And I'm going to.
I'm going to show you who you are always destined to be.
And Africa is not where we're all destined to go.
So please do not think God's going to call you to the mission
field. Let me tell you, there have been
more missionaries in Africa. It has been missionary well
over. I mean, when God's called in
today, he's actually not sending most people to Africa just to
let you know, OK And he there's plenty to do right here in Saint
Augustine and plenty to do. And your family?
There's plenty to do with your job.
I mean, let's just work on that one.
And let's not be concerned. Most of you are never going to
be called to the fivefold ministry anyway.
You're going to be called as a St. and you're going to do the
things of God, as I was talking to win when he was at the house
the other he said. Pastor Earl, thank you for your
gift, for all that you and your wife do appreciate.
He goes, I love what I do. I pick up people older in life
before they transition and I'm able to take them to their
doctor's appointment and I get to spend time with them and I
take care of them and I get to share with them.
And here he is on a bus route where he's taking people that
may be coming off coming out of the domain of darkness into the
Kingdom of He is right there, frontline.
Handling those in these crucial times of their life, I can't get
there but together because but what we do in the body he is
hands on with someone's life and unwrapping his gift and sharing
with them the Kingdom, showing compassion and joy and mercy
every day, pouring out the the, the fruits of the spirit in
their life. And that work is so amazing, So
amazing because he let God unwrap him.
I said do this and do that and do this and say this to this
person and you got it in in you to do this and I'll strengthen
your body so you can do that. Are you hearing me?
Listen, there are a lot of eternal gifts that we should
unwrap daily. Not only us, but we need to
remind our children because the gifts we give, they're
temporary. With His gifts are eternal.
Let's pray. Thank you so much for listening
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