Chirstmas Eve

In the new Veggie Tales movie,

the Lord of the Beans

which is an excellent movie by the way

The main character,

Toto Baggypants

discovers that each one of us

have been given a gift

a gift from God

But it is up to us

what we do with it

and how we use it

Tonight we have come together

to celebrate the greatest gift

ever given

A gift greater than any gift

we will open tomorrow

A gift that is truly one size fits all,

it never needs batteries

and it is free of charge

And that is of course,

the gift God gave the world

on that first Christmas night

The gift of his only Son

the Messiah

Christ Jesus our Lord

And the gift of Jesus Christ

is truly the gift

that keeps on given

In Christ Jesus,

God gave us the gift of Emmanuel

Which means God is always with us

no matter where we go

or what we do

or what happens

through Jesus Christ

God is right beside us

Hearing our prayers

forgiving our sins

guiding us through any

and all problems

We are never alone

we are never left to figure

this world out on our own

but through the birth of the baby Jesus

God is always

and will always be with us

Jesus showed the world

that God is not confined to a building

though sometimes we treat him that way

But if you want to know where God is

just look around

because he is with us

**The gift of Jesus Christ also

assure us that God’s light

will always shine in our hearts

and in our lives

Showing us God’s path,

revealing God’s love

and illuminating which right from wrong

Through the light of God

we can always see hope and joy

in the darkest of situations

because we know our God is

is working in the midst of it

**The gift of Jesus Christ

on the first Christmas

showed us just how much

God truly does love us

That we have a God

that loves us so much

that he was willing

to send his only Son

Down from heaven into our world

to save us

Jesus shows us

that our God loves unconditionally

and yes, he expects certain things from us

But when we fall short

when we slip

when we get turned in the wrong direction

God loves us so much

that he will forgive us

allow us to make a U-turn

and put us back on the right track

**And of course,

through the gift of God’s only Son

We have been given the gift of eternal life,

the hope of the messianic banquet

the promise of heaven

so that we know

no matter what happens

to us in this world

Whether sickness

accident

or anything else you can ever imagine

Our hope and our future

have been bought and paid for

We know that our future belongs to God

and is guaranteed for all of those who believe

in his eternal Kingdom

where we will spend eternity

in God’s glory

**That gift we received from God

on the first Christmas

the gift of Jesus Christ our Lord

Is truly a remarkable gift,

a gift we should celebrate

not just at Christmas time

but year round

However,

as Toto told us

receiving the gift is just half of it

what we do with it is up to us

So what are we going to do with it?

are we going to leave this place

any differently than we came?

Are we just going to put the gift of

Jesus Christ back into closet

with the rest of the Christmas decorations

and pull him back out next year?

What are we going to do

with the greatest gift ever given?

We see in the Christmas story

many different characters

who react in many different ways

to the birth of Christ

First, we have the Shepherds

who after the angels visit them

they immediately walked away

from what they were doing

to come find the true peace

that only Jesus offers

The Shepherds left their jobs

they left their sheep

they left their way of lives

to find the true peace

that comes in God’s Christmas

present to the world

We see more and more people

in our society struggling

looking in all kind of places

to try to find peace and joy

in jobs

in money

in material possessions

in relationships

and the list goes on and on

But true peace,

the peace the surpasses all understanding

can only be found in the manger

as the Shepherds showed us

So perhaps

we should take a lesson from the Shepherds

and away from whatever we are doing

to find the Messiah

the only true peace

Jobs,

Money