The Three Gifts of Christmas

During my tenure as pastor at Life Connections, each Christmas I brought a series of messages to our church community called, The Three Gifts of Christmas. The sermons were loosely centered around the wisemen’s gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The messages were about gifts God had for us in the coming year. Though no longer pastor, in the spirit of Christmas’ past, I share my Three Gifts of Christmas for 2024.

Our first gift this year is found in Luke 5:17. Luke begins to recount the story about the miraculous healing of a paralytic with the simple words, “one day.” This is our first gift. The possibility of one day. I’m sure the paralytics friends, neighbors, and most certainly, he himself, had dreamed of a day when he would walk again. He is the photograph of hope for many of our prayers. We pray, hope, and imagine the moment that God says, “yes,” and our prayer becomes reality. How long had he dreamed? How long had people prayed? Was he incapacitated from birth? How old was he? All appropriate questions, but in a day they all become irrelevant. Was it hot or cold? Sunny or rainy? Did someone pray a “super” prayer? We will never know but what we must hold onto is the possibility that any day can become “one day.” So. Pray your prayers. Keep your faith. Wake up with an expectation that this could be my “one day.”

Luke uses the word that is our second gift fourteen times in his two books, Luke and Acts (AMP Version). It’s a powerful word. It is an exciting word. It is an unexpected word. The word, “suddenly.” Suddenly, it means immediately or quickly, without warning. No expectation. Boom! In a moment the miraculous! Luke’s first suddenly involves a most unexpecting group of men. Shepherds. In Jesus’ time the profession of shepherding was considered one of the lowest in society. It was lonely, smelly, and weather conditions could range from intense heat to the coldest of cold. There was no upward mobility. It’s to this group we see Luke’s mention of a supernatural suddenly. On a dark night, alone with sheep and their thoughts, the sky explodes with light and angels singing! It rocked their world. They observe, listen and obey. With no regards to their employers, sheep or future, they immediately go to see the baby Jesus. “Suddenly’s” do that to us. They change our perspective. They change our priorities. They change our world. Suddenly’s come to common people living ordinary lives. Suddenly happened on a mountain to disciples, worshippers in an upper room, and Paul on the Damascus Road. Who is a candidate for a suddenly? If shepherds are. If a murdering Pharisee is. Then anyone at any time can experience a suddenly! Can I encourage you, live every day with wander, could suddenly happen to me today?

The last gift is found in the statement made by a leper who meets Jesus in Luke 5:12. His request shows incredible confidence in God’s authority and power. His appeal, “Jesus, if you are willing, You can make me clean.” His statement leaves no room for doubt, no question of God’s power. He is a social outcast. He is covered with disease. He is alone. He has been abandoned by society. Yet his confidence in God’s ability is bold. If you are willing hope puts every possibility on Jesus and it can carry us through our darkest days. Hope knows God can do anything. The leper’s life was literally falling apart. His prognosis. You will never walk. You will continue to lose body parts. Death is imminent. What is your leprous diagnosis? Your unchangeable situation? I’ll never get over a mistake, my past. This addiction will always control me. My sickness is incurable. My financial battle will never get better. Whatever it is, like the leper, we must take on an unwavering confidence in God’s power and authority, “Live. Pray. Resolve. Hope. That if Jesus speaks, our situation has no choice but to change.

I am confident that God has put these three gifts in my spirit to share as we jettison into 2025. Times are tough. Life has hardships. Pain is real. Disappointments come. To survive we must have a shift in mindset. Become God focused and Spirit led. Allow these three gifts to marinate in your heart and life. Start living every day with elevated expectations. IF we will, the possibilities are endless. Get up with a “this could be the day” mindset. Live looking and expecting a suddenly to burst onto the landscape of your life. Pray, knowing God did, that God does, and that you have the hope, that if He is willing, your situation has no alternative but to yield to God and His power.

The Three Gifts of Christmas 2023

For years I would do a three-week series around the holidays called, the Three Gifts of Christmas, it was based on the story of the wise men bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus. In our home we incorporated the idea as well, there would be three gifts in each stocking, and three nice gifts for each of us under the tree. This last year the series paused, as we stepped down from our pastorate, but after a year off, and a lot of requests for its return, its back.  Now in written form in a single blog, here are my three Christmas gifts for you as we merge into 2024.

The first gift is the gift of maybe today. It is the hope of every prayer. The hope for those who have sickness in their body, a loved one facing illness, or a marriage that is on the brinks. Maybe today is the hope of a parent with a prodigal child, for the person who needs a change in their career, or the lonely person longing for a spouse. After years of seeking help from physicians, the woman with an issue of blood went to Jesus, hoping maybe today things would be different. In a moment, with  a single touch of Jesus’ garment, all of her not todays turned into yes today. There are prayers I’ve prayed for years. Each time they’ve been met with a no, or worse, silence, but I don’t give up. I keep praying, hoping that maybe this time, it will be answered with a yes. Why should you keep believing? Why have faith? Why keep praying? Because of the gift of maybe today. No matter how discouraged, how overwhelmed, or how defeated you may feel, never let go of maybe today. Wake up each day, believe with every prayer, that your maybe might come today.

The second gift of Christmas in 2023 is the gift of suddenly. We find the word suddenly, which means “quickly, without warning, unexpectedly,” thirteen times in the New Testament. It is the nature of God to do things without warning. Suddenly’s were a part of Jesus’ birth and His ascension. When Jesus walked on this earth blinded eyes were open, deaf ears unstopped, and lame lives were changed in a moment. Suddenly’s have been eliminated or are discouraged in most modern-day church services, but they are something that people are desperately longing for. Suddenly’s were common throughout the book of Acts. Noise, wind, fire and the Spirit fell suddenly in the upper room, on Cornelius and his house, and on John’s disciples on Paul’s third missionary journey. I encourage you to live life, to get up every day, with the expectation, that just maybe, a suddenly might happen. You serve a God who loves suddenly’s!

Finally, my last gift of Christmas is the gift exceedingly. God always does things extraordinarily! When He turned water into wine, it wasn’t a little, but 10 large jars, and it was just wine, but the finest wine. When He provided food for 5000 men, plus women and children, all left full, and there were twelve overflowing baskets of leftovers. When He gave His blood, it wasn’t for a few people or some sins, but it was enough to cover every sin that every person might commit. God goes above and beyond, He does exceedingly! Live your life expecting, not just a little or enough favor and blessings, but live expecting exceedingly!

This year I feel that the three gifts that God gave me to share are gifts people are to take into 2024. It’s one thing to get a gift, it’s another to use it. How many gifts end up in drawers, closets, or worse, Goodwill’s or garage sales. That isn’t where these gifts are supposed to end up. These gifts are supposed to encourage you, inspire you, and give you hope. Tough days will come and discouragement will visit you in 2024, but when they do, pull these gifts out of the depths of your heart and they will carry you to a better day and better year. If you will, maybe today a suddenly will exceedingly overwhelm you.