The Greatest Gift Of All- John 3:16 Series

I’m going to present to you, as a present, my gift, or better said God’s gift to you, on the Sunday before Christmas, what would be considered the greatest verse, most widely read and communicated verse in the bible…

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.-NKJV

Lets pray…

I read this week what one consumer publication termed as…

27+ Jaw-Dropping Christmas Spending Statistics for 2021-capitalcounselor.com

10% of Europeans go into debt due to Christmas shopping.

41% of Americans are willing to take on debt due to gift shopping.

In 2021, Americans are expected to spend nearly $6.1 billion on Christmas trees.

$15.2 billion is the estimated total of unwanted presents.

Friends are the worst Christmas shoppers when it comes to unwanted gifts.

23% of people have labeled their own friends as a source of unwanted gifts.

In-laws take the second spot on the list above with 14%, and parents come third with 7%.

Also, Gen Xers seem to receive the worst gifts when it comes to age, with 44% of them disliking what they receive. However, Christmas spending facts show Gen Xers also spend the most ($121.90) on presents that turn out to be unwanted.

In 2021, Americans are going to spend an average of $886 on Christmas gifts.

Now having read all that on excessive spending on what prove to be unwanted gifts, can I take this Sunday morning’s bible verse, and unpack it for you, by presenting to you what I’ve entitled todays message after…

John 3:16 - The Greatest Gift of All!

And though the reasons are almost innumerable, can I like the "The Twelve Days of Christmas" the Old English Christmas carol, places before us 12 gifts given, that I’m confidant that the majority of which no one in this room would actually want…

1. A partridge in a pear tree,

2. Two turtle doves,

3. Three french hens,

4. Four calling birds,

Unless you where starting an aviary is a large enclosure, or zoo for confining birds

5. Five gold rings,

6. Six geese a-laying

7. Seven swans a-swimming,

8. Eight maids a-milking,

9. Nine ladies dancing,

10. Ten lords a-leaping,

Maybe if I was starting a basketball team!

11. Eleven pipers piping,

12. Twelve drummers drumming.

May If I was starting a marching band!

But anyway, I would like to have us go slowly through this verse so that you and I can see why within it is contained the greatest gift ever given which can be yours if you’ll just receive it!

And let us start from where we need to start from where this verse begins…

John 3:16a For God…

I. The Greatest PERSON.

A) God!

Psalm 95:3 For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods.

Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

Jeremiah 10:6 There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and great is Your name in might.-ESV

1 Chronicles 16:25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

He also is to be feared above all gods.-ESV

1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.

Proverbs 26:10 The great God who formed everything,

Malachi 1:14b I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations. -ESV

Isaiah 66:1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2a For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the Lord. -NKJV

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has become His counselor?”

35 “Or who has first given to Him

And it shall be repaid to him?”

36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.-NKJV

Hebrews 6: 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. -NKJV

John 3:16b so loved….

II. Out of the Greatest PASSION…

A) Passion ?