"He Gave Gifts to Man" By Brother Parrish Lee December 6th,
2015
What
a wonderful opportunity to
come and worship. A
couple of times, I
was just like, “Hey, Andy, just go ahead, you guys take it!” You know, when you start
feeling and adjusting… Anybody
here in love this morning? Ain’t
it a great feeling to be in love?
Anybody here in love with the Lord?
I love the Lord; I love the Lord!
It’s kind of hard not to love, after talking
about the blood that will never lose its power, and then Jesus, You are
the
lover of my soul, and You are my King.
Kind of hard not to.
Talking
about how great is our God. Kind
of hard
not to. But, just
to say, and this ain’t
the message, but, just to say, if you find yourself and you haven’t
encountered
that, you haven’t been lost in that feeling, you find yourself that you
can’t
really say that you’re in love with the Lord, not to worry, not to
worry,
because, the truth of the matter is, He is in love with you. He loves you so much that
He came and gave
His life for you, by name. He
loves you
so much that He moved everything else to make sure that you and He
would have
the opportunity to have a relationship.
That is the longing on our souls.
What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God. Well,
my name is Parrish Lee, I am
one of the fellowship leaders, along with Andy Giebler, and, myself, if
you
don’t know me, and, you know it has been such an honor and a privilege
and so
humbling to be in this calling, this position, this office, you could
say. But, I’d say
it has been so much more, just encountering
what God has for us. We
had a wonderful
month, last month, and this month, we’re actually looking forward to
greater,
because there’s no hindrance, no restriction in God.
And we do, we want to set our sights high. We don’t want just a
little bit from God. You
know, when you make a withdrawal at the
bank, the only limit you’ve got is what you have, but wouldn’t it be
nice to
have your own ATM in your house, to have no limit, and all you had to
do was
push a button, and it dispenses out according to what you want, and not
what you
have. That would be
nice. Well, God is
the One who gives what He has,
not what we want. Our
Scripture theme for the month: Ephesians 4:7-8
But unto every one of
us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore He
saith, When he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave
gifts
unto men. I’m
sorry, I neglected to do
something. When
Pastor Ulysse was here,
he taught us something. He
taught us, he
said, at the beginning of the reading of the Word, we need to stand and
give
homage to the reading of the Word.
I
thought that was really great. I
had it
written down, and I forgot to do it.
So,
we’d like to do that. We’d
like to have
that as a practice. When
it comes to the
reading of the Word for that message, we’d like to stand when it comes
to that. Our
Scripture theme for today: Ephesians 4:4-12
There
is
one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling; One
Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above
all, and
through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace
according
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, When He
ascended up
on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that
He
ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower
parts of
the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far
above all
heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave some, apostles;
and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For
the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the
body of Christ: If
we could
remain standing just for a word of prayer.
Lord, we continue being amazed.
We come to worship You, but You pour out so much
more of a blessing than
we ever give to You. Thank
You, Almighty
God. We thank you
for the reading of
Your Word; we thank You for this time of Your presence.
And we ask, God, we ask that, according to
Your Word, that it would not return unto You void, but You have a
purpose for
it in each one of our lies, and we ask, God, that it would do according
to Your
will. So, we
present ourselves to You,
Lord, and we thank You for all Your good and perfect gifts. And this we do pray and
claim, in Jesus’ name. And
everyone said amen. Amen. You
may be
seated. Giving
honor
to the Lord who is the head of my life.
Giving honor to all those who have come and stood in
the gap, from our
founding pastor, he and his family, from our pastor, he and his family,
and all
those who have come and stood in the gap to make up the hedge in
furthering
forth of the Gospel. And
giving honor to
all of you, who present yourselves to that same God, that He might
nurture and
minister and administer into your lives, that you might be enrichened
thereby
to go forth to do more of His art, and have your relationship with Him
evermore
enrichened. Very
thankful today, very thankful today to be able to come into the
presence of so
many saints, and so many people who love the Lord. Truly there is no
other
place like it. There
are many places
around, but when you come into a place in the company of people who
love God,
it is always different, it is always different. Part 1:
He Led Captivity Captive As
we read,
and I want to reiterate one more time:
Ephesians 4:7-8
But unto every one of
us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore He
saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave
gifts
unto men. And
I know what you’re
thinking. I know
what you’re thinking;
you’re thinking, “Hey, it’s December!
Hey, where’s the star in the sky?
Where are the three wise men?
Where are the shepherds?
Where is
the babe in the manger?” And,
at this
time, all over the world, they put Christmas up there, and Christmas
immediately takes you to a place—and it should.
It should. But
it immediately
takes you to a place where the quick assumption is, “Well, if I have my
Christmas,
if I put up my decorations, and I cook a really great meal, and I have
some
presents to give to other people, that will be Christmas. And I’ll have Christmas
then; I can say I had
Christmas.” And
people come along and
say, “How was your Christmas?” Oh,
and
there’s one other thing: “I
have to have
the Christmas Spirit. I
have to be nice
to people.” Whether
I’m nice or not
normally, and we’re going to leave that alone, but this time of year, I
have to
be nice to people. I’ve
got to have the
Christmas spirit. All
over the world,
all over the world, that is the Christmas phenomena, by the world’s
standards. But,
the truth is, the first
Christmas did not start two thousand years ago, as we would be led to
believe. The very
first Christmas
started in the garden. The
very first
Christmas started at the fall of man.
It
started when God turned to the serpent and told him, “It shall bruise
thy
head.” (Genesis 3:15) This
child, this
child from the woman that comes will bruise your head.
That began the first Christmas.
The first meaning of a Savior, and the first
gift of a promise. And,
again, “…Unto
every one of us is given…” And
we want
to stress the “give” part. The
title of
the message today is, “He Gave Gifts Unto Men.”
“But unto every one of us is given grace according
to the measure of the
gift of Christ. Wherefore
he saith, When
He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto
men.” So, unto
every one of us is given grace. Unto
every one of us is given grace, or this
gift of joy of liberality. This
thanksgiving-worthiness. Grace
is such
an immense word, immense subject, immense gift, it’s hard to boil it
down to
just a few quick words, and sum it up.
It’s much bigger than that.
As
our pastor had said to us, Andy, he said, “Grace is the gift that was
given
that you don’t deserve.” And
he went on
to say, “But mercy is when you are spared from a punishment that you do
deserve.” Let’s
talk about that gift that
we’re given that we don’t deserve.
When
he said, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive…” he
actually
was referring to a Scripture in the Book of Psalms: Psalms 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led
captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the
rebellious
also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. David
said this, and he was
referring to a time when the Ark of the Covenant was coming back into
the camp
of Israel, and this was for a very specific point.
The Ark of the Covenant was being released by
the enemies; it was coming back into the camp of Israel, and they honed
it
where, they respected it where, this Ark of the Covenant had the
cherubims on
top. And, between
those two cherubims
was where the Spirit of the Lord would dwell.
So, for that to be coming back into Israel was a
great time of celebration
because it was God coming back into the camp.
And, this God that was coming back to the camp, they
knew that He dwells
on high. So, He led
captivity captive. And,
as it says, that, if He dwelt between
the cherubims, the enemies of Israel, the things that held them
captive, the
things that bound Israel would themselves be bound by this God that was
coming
back into the camp. So
this captivity
that they were going to be subject to, was going to be held captive by
their
God. This was a
great time. This
was a great time. So,
even though David was speaking, as it
was, in front of them, physically, he was also speaking prophetically. He was covering this long
before the babe in
the manger and the three king and the frankincense and myrrh; before
all that,
he was talking about this. He
was
speaking of that wonderful God who would be where His people are. Not afar off, but where
His people actually
are. He was
speaking of that same God,
having that relationship, and showing His God-ness by, even in the
midst of His
people, exalting Himself, and showing Himself on high.
Now, that’s some kind of God, who can be with
and show you that He is that great
to
be on high and with you all at the same time!
And, this same God, who would show His God-ness,
would also show what
God does by delivering from captivity.
Taking whatever captivity it was, in the time of
David, and holding
those things captives! He
Philistines,
for example, the Moabites, the Ammonites; but not just those enemies,
He was
also talking about sickness, and insecurity.
He was also talking about depression, and lack of
hope. This God, the
things that hold His people
captive, was going to take those captivities away.
He was also talking about poverty.
He was also talking about taking away the
power the devil would have over His people.
He was talking about taking away the power of sin to
rule over His
people. God would
hold that and take it
captive, and give gifts to men. He
was
also going to take away death, and the curse of the Law. What a God!
What a Savior, to take away the things that would
hold any of His people
captive, and those things that are over Hs people in captivity
themselves. Only
God could do that. And
it goes on to say, “…and He
received gifts for men.” In
David’s
time, it says He received gifts for men.
This is in the aspect of a conqueror.
A conqueror who would conquer whoever the ‘they’
was, and, after the
conquest, He would give, from that conquering, gifts to those who
followed
Him. This conqueror
would conquer the
land, and then give gifts of the spoil to those who followed Him. We want to visit that a
little bit more, a
little later on in the message. But
the scripture goes on to say
that He received gifts for the rebellious, also.
Psalms 8:18 “Thou hast ascended on high, thou
hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for
the
rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.” So, even for the
rebellious, God wanted to
show Himself God. Because,
that great
God, that awesome God, that wonderful God wants to have a relationship
with the
rebellious also. He
wants to dwell among
them and what’s more, He could run off, and, you know, it’s one thing,
church
people, if they’re not careful, they could fall into a little trap. You know, there’s a lot of
rebellious people
in the world, but it wasn’t too long ago that we were in that moment. And, so, it could happen
where, “Oh, well,
you know, they need to get it right,” and the putting forth of the
pointing of
the finger when we have to realize that, you know what?
“A couple of days ago, that was me.”
And, God—I can remember when I was rebellious;
sometimes I can remember
when I was rebellious by looking at my clock, or the watch on my hand. But, I remember when I
am—I’m not going to
say, “I was,”—I am rebellious, God still wants to have a relationship
with me. That is
the kind of a God that He is. “…For
the rebellious also, that He might
dwell among them.” Psalms 68:19-20
Blessed
be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits [long before
the babe in
the manger], even the God of our
salvation. Selah. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto
GOD the
Lord belong the issues from death. Daily
loadeth us with benefits,
and to Him belong the issues of death.
What kills you, what drives you there, what makes
you look at death;
those issues belong to Him. “I
need some
sustenance for this day,” well, He daily loadeth us with benefits. You know, it’s amazing,
it’s amazing the
things that God does for us, and we could fall into the trap of not
bringing
them into—and I had to repent, I had to repent recently. I was talking to God and
he was reminding me
what He’s doing for me, and He makes it seem—God is so amazing—and He
makes it
seem like it was nothing. He
did it, and
he made it seem like it was so easy to do.
He did it, and it made me wonder, “Why was I
stressing out about
it?” You know? When the fact is, before
He did it, you knew
we had a problem, and it’s God-sized.
And, after God came in, it was nothing.
And God had to remind me that He is continually
doing that for my
life. I know for a
fact, on the road, I
am a few feet away from an accident.
I
know for a fact that, on my job, I am a couple of bad decisions away
from
getting fired. I
know, for me, there’s
so many things that God daily delivers us from, I have to turn to Him
and thank
Him because He does it so easily and so smoothly that I begin to think
it’s
me. Thank You, God,
for your
deliverance. But,
last Friday, I had the
opportunity, I was at work, and I want to just say this: I was at work, and they
were having a blood
drive, and I was giving blood; it’s just something that I like to do. As I was giving blood, you
know, you go over,
and you step up, everybody does it, and, if you do it regularly, they
give you
a donor card, and they want to see your donor card and, as soon as I
showed my
card, the lady got all excited, “Ooooh!”
And she said, “You’re O Neg!”
I
said, “Yes, I know.” And
she said,
“Would you like to give red blood cells, and platelets, a double issue?” I said, “Sure, why not.” And she went on to talk
about how special my
blood is. “You’re
the universal donor!” “Yes,
I got the card.” We
were talking about this, and it’s been
ever since high school. Ever
since high
school, when I first gave blood, and they saw that my blood was O
Negative,
they said, “You’re the universal donor,” and they used the example, and
say,
“Oh! Wow, you’re
special!” And I
would get calls, actually calls from
the Red Cross, because they want that blood, that special blood. And, sometimes we’re where
you don’t mind
helping out people, and it kind of makes you feel good to help people,
but,
sometimes, you know, you feel like you’ve got a little bit of power
over them. And they
tell you, you know, if somebody’s in
an accident and the need blood, or sometimes somebody’s on the
operating table
being operated on, and you need blood, they don’t need to run around
and do a
lot of testing for my blood; they know my blood will work. That O Negative, they know
that’s going to
work. And, if
anybody in here is O
negative, and you give blood, you are going to get those calls, too. But, they would tell you,
“Hey, look, we
don’t have to do a whole lot of testing; your blood is special. Just come on down.” God, it makes you feel a
little…something. I
wanted to give them
a little bit of warning, “You know if you take my blood, whoever gets
it is
going to have some severe sugar cravings.
I’m just saying.
Every cookie is
going to be a delight for them, every piece of cake, sweet potatoes,
you name
it. It’s going to
send them to a place
of euphoria, but, having that blood is worth it.”
So, okay, yeah, I’ll give it.
And, it kind of takes you back a little bit;
it kind of takes you back to the
universal donor. It
kind of takes you
back to the One whose blood everybody
wants. My blood can
just help save you
if you need a pint. I’m
not giving much
more than that at a time, you know?
And
it might help your heart beat a little bit more; might help you and
your lungs
or whatever, as they give you the other medicines, but His
blood can deliver you from sin.
His blood takes away depression!
His blood can cover anger and malice!
His blood can change your direction!
His blood, as they sang this morning, reaches to the
highest mountain,
no matter where you are, and it flows to the lowest valley. It gives us strength from
day to day. His
blood had never lost its power. The
universal donor. Yes,
He gave gifts unto men. So,
let’s talk a little bit more
about these gifts unto men. Part 2:
He Gave Gifts to Men What
gifts did He give? We’re
going to do a little Scripture reading.
And, let’s see: Ecclesiastes 3:13
And
also
that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his
labour, it
is the gift of God. So,
if you eat, and you drink, and
you work, and get that good feeling of accomplishment, that is the gift
of God,
according to the Scripture. Ecclesiastes 5:19
Every
man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him
power to
eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour;
this is the
gift of God. So,
here, if you get a paycheck on
a Friday, that is the gift of God.
If
you’re able to put gas in your car, that is a gift from God. If you have food on your
table, that is a
gift from God. If
you wake up in the
morning, and your nose will be so clean, your eyes will be awake, and
your mind
goes to being able to conversate for that day, it is the gift of God. He loadeth us with
benefits. John 4:10
Jesus
answered and said unto her, If
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to
thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have
given thee living water. The
gift of God was sometimes
right in front of us. Right
in front of
the woman at the well, right here, readily apparent, right here in our
midst. The gift of
God is the Lord, Jesus Himself. Acts 2:38
Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. If
you have the Holy Ghost in your
life, it is the gift of God. Nobody
else! It is God’s
gift in your life! And
I want to say a little something about
this Holy Ghost. That
Holy Ghost being in
your life, ain’t going to put up with a lot of nonsense. The Holy Ghost will bring
Scriptures to your remembrance,
and it will also reprove you; it will correct you.
But, it will also bless you.
It will give you that, “Oh, I can do this in
God.” That Holy
Ghost. And, as far
as that correction, as far as
that reproof, if you have the Holy Ghost speaking to you, you know for
a fact, there’s
nothing sweeter. In
fact, “God don’t
ever stop talking to me,” is what the Christian says.
“I don’t care if You reprove me.
I don’t care if You correct me.
Whatever You do, don’t take Your Spirit away. Speak to me, Lord, because
Your voice would
make the birds shut their mouths.
Your
voice is sweeter than honey, and Your voice guides me and directs me.” I love
for God to correct me. I
don’t love the
correction at the time, but I love the fact that the correction shows
me where
I have to change. I
don’t have to worry
about it; I might not like it, but I know it’s God’s way, and it’s
better than
the way I had in my mind. Thank
You, oh
Lord, for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It
is the gift of God: Eternal
life! 1 Corinthians 7:7
For I
would that all men were even as I myself. But
every man hath his proper gift of God, one
after this manner, and another after that. Apostle
Paul was speaking
specifically about people who are married, and people who are single. People who re married
trying to get out of
their relationships, and he said, “Don’t you know, everybody has a good
and
proper gift.” If
you’re married, it’s a
gift of God! Ask
God to bless your
gift! Ask Him to
bless; tell Him, “God,
I need more of a blessing in my gist of marriage.
Please, bless my wife.”
“Bless my husband.”
“Bless my family, bless my children, because,
God, You gave it. The
Bible says what
You put together, let no man put asunder.
You gave it, God, You bless it.”
And, unfortunately, unfortunately, sometimes there
is not so much you
can do. Sometimes—and
that’s the world
we live in. So,
whatever state you are
in, God will bless you there. If
you’re
single, it’s a gift of God! It
might
change in the future, but, right now, it’s a gift of God! “God, bless me and my gift! Show me!
Enrichen me! Give
me more! God, I
don’t want to say, is he the one?”
“Is she the one?”
“I’m looking, I’m looking, I’m looking, I’m
looking…” And, yes,
God, if you’re
looking to be married, and it’s a wonderful thing, it’s a laudable
thing, look
for the—thank you, Abby, for the instruction yesterday.
She did a marvelous job.
Somebody recorded it, it was off the
chain. But, she
said, “If you’re going
to look for a mate, a help-mate, look for them in God!
Don’t look for them in the world!
If you look for them in the world, that’s
where you’re going to be; you know you’re going to be lost! Look for them in God!” So, every man has his good
and proper gift. Every
man!
Don’t be thinking in the mulligrumps; don’t be
complaining about
it. Bless God, and,
if you want more,
tell God, “I want more!” Hallelujah! Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Hallelujah! Even your faith is a gift
from God. Oh, thank
You, Lord. I didn’t
think it up or do it myself. God
gave it to me. Ah,
what a gift! Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made
a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the
effectual working of his power. If
I minister, if I say something
and there’s a blessing in it, it is the gift of God!
Not me, I didn’t do it myself; God blessed
it! You ever see
somebody do something,
and somebody come right behind them and do something, and just make it
all—Woooh! One had
the gift, one did not. It
is the gift of God. 2 Timothy 1:6 Wherefore I put
thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee
by the
putting on of my hands. Saying
that some of us have gifts
of God we haven’t even tapped into yet!
Stir it up! Stir
it up! Just say,
“God, I’m coming to You! I
know I’ve got things in my life; I don’t
know how to express them, I don’t know how to get them across! Stir them up, God; stir
them up in me! Send
me to pray right! Send
me to fellowship right! Send
me to pray right! Send
me to read right! Stir
up the gifts in my life!” Amen. 1 Peter 4:10
As
every man hath received the gift, even so
minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold
grace of
God. Being
a steward is a gift from
God! Being a
steward is a gift from God! Part 3: We Also Know That Gifts Are Things
That Are Given Matthew 9:8 But when the multitudes saw it, they
marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. The
power that God gives us is a
gift of God. Being
able to pray, and see
somebody recover, being able to minister, and have somebody be
encouraged;
having somebody minister to you, and you leave there encouraged is a
gift of
God. Matthew 13:11 He
answered and said
unto them, Because it is given
unto you [given
unto you] to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it is not given. Being
able to understand His Word
is a gift from God. Being
able to look
at it, and read it and when it is revealed, and revelated, the
revelation comes
to you, that is a gift from God. You
know, it really should rub your craw when somebody starts boasting
about how
much they know. It
really should go
right up your spine, and say, “That’s not right,” because that’s not right.
The Lord can give, and He can take it
away. I know nobody
that God has given
to wants it to be taken away, but God will to prove His point. Matthew 20:23 And
he saith unto
them, Ye shall drink indeed of
my cup, and be baptized
with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand,
and on
my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it
is
prepared of my Father. Being
able to drink of His cup is
a gift from God. And,
being able to be
baptized with His baptism, is a gift from God. Mark 12:25
For when they shall
rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but
are as
the angels which are in heaven. And
the Lord Jesus was talking
about something that hasn’t even come to pass yet.
But He’s talking about something that’s going
to be given to us in the new life, in the next life, in the
resurrection, and
that is, being as the angels which are in Heaven; given to us. Luke 22:19
And he
took bread, and gave thanks, and
brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This
is my body
which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. His
body was a gift of God. John 3:16
For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. The
love of God is a gift of
God. His Son, which
was given, is a gift
of God. John 3:27
John
answered and said, A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven. John 13:15
For I have given you
an example… I
love that! You got
to love that! Not
somebody sitting around, telling them, “Go,
and do this, go,” pointing ways. But
He says: John 13:15
For I have given you
an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Thank
You, Lord. John 17:8
For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them,
and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that
thou didst
send me. His
very words were given to us; they
are the gift of God. John 17:22
And the glory which
thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are
one: A
gift of God. God
gave of His glory to us, and he said, “My
glory will I not give to another,” in the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 42:8),
but it
says here that He has given of that
to us to shine, in situations, as Christians.
You are the light of the world, to bring compassion
and understanding,
and a love that isn’t there without God.
The gift of God. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 But the
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the
Spirit the word of
wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another
faith
by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To
another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another
discerning of
spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the
interpretation of
tongues: But all
these worketh that one
and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. God
has poured out His gifts, all
through His people. Poured
them
out! In verse
eleven, it talks about, “…all
these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit…”
If somebody has the gift of prophecy, and
another has the gift of knowledge, they don’t have to compare their
gifts with
each other. If one
person has the gift
of encouragement, and another has the gift of compassion, it isn’t a
competition. These
things are to work
God’s ministry together, that God gets the glory.
It’s not to be desiring of somebody else’s
gift, but, rather, encourage them in their gift, that God might give
you more,
when you have respect to the gift that God gives.
2 Corinthians 12:7
And
lest I
should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations, there
was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest
I should be exalted above measure. So,
even our thorns are a gift
from God. When you
have to struggle
sometimes, it is a gift from God.
When
you go through something hard, it is a gift from God.
Why?
Because all things are working together for good for
those who love Him
(Romans 8:28). “Well,
you don’t know,
Brother Parrish. I’ve
been sick; I’ve
got bills; you don’t know I lost my job…”
Yeah, you could go through something, but it’s
supposed to work for the
greatness of God; He hasn’t finished with His blessing of you yet. It is a gift—it might not
look like it, it
might not be in our great expectation of a gift, might not be the gift
that we
want—but He gave it to us that it could work His pleasure in our lives. A
thorn in the flesh, lest I
should be exalted—lest I get the big head, you know?
I don’t know if anybody here has ever gotten
the big head, but, I tell you what, every now and then, if God blesses
and
blesses and blesses, I need a pin.
Somebody needs to bring a pin to pop that bubble, to
make sure I’m even
keeled with that Spirit that I’m supposed to be following, let I say,
“You
know, God, You’ve been doing a fine job; I can take it from here.” A thorn in the flesh. James 1:5
If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be
given him. Wisdom
is a gift from God. 2 Peter 1:4
Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So,
exceeding great and precious promises
are gifts from God that we might be made a partaker in the divine
nature, the
divine nature of the Lord. Hallelujah. 1 John 5:11
And
this is the record, that God hath given
to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. This
is the record. This
is it:
Eternal life, a gift from God.
Which
brings us all the way back to our last Scripture.
The Christmas story; the real Christmas story
from He who gave. So,
it wasn’t just
simply about that babe in the manger.
It
wasn’t simply about that star in the sky, but the Bible says He came to
give
gifts unto men, and we have been waiting for these gifts. We have been waiting to be
set apart, and
connected, and refreshed, and reconnected, and refined in the Lord. Luke 2:8-11
And
there were in the same country shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the
Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid. And the
angel said unto them, Fear not: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto
you is born this day in the city of
David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Amen.
Can we give
the Lord a praise?
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