Christmas Reflection

Are you ready for Christmas? Old people would say, nah..but young people would say yes.There was A boy who wanted a watch for Christmas. That's all he talked about. And his daddy got so tired of listening said. I don't want to hear anything about that watch But if you'll ask anything, I might give that to you. During dinner, the father asked the kids before meal, what is your favorite verse? The boy said, my favorite verse is mk 13:37. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch.

To think that God could have ended the world, he came as a baby in an obscure place. To die on the cross so that you and I can have eternal life and live in eternal life in heaven. That's the best christmas gift. Amen?
And out of that gift, there are other gifts of jesus.
Have you received some gifts this Christmas? Sino ang meron na? Sino ang wala pa? I have something for you. Please come here and receive your gift.
Have you received a gift within a gift within a gift? When you open it, theres a gift then you open it, and you have another box. Akala mo ang laki ng regalo yun pala, yung tag bebente na laruan. but Thats the kind of gift of jesus. A gift inside a gift. That there are still more gifts when we receive jesus.
I would like to share to you three gifts we receive this Christmas.
1. Forgiveness
We know that we are not perfect. There are times in our in our life that we simply make wrong decisions,mistakes, hurt people, ourselves and god.
Theres a boy who wrote to Santa, and he said dealer Santa, there are three boys in this house, jeffrey 2 years old, David, 4, and Billy 7. Jeffrey is good some of the time, david is also good some of the time, but billy is good all the time. And by the way, I am billy.
The problem is none of us is good all the time. We all have regrets, we all have guilts. And there are so many things that we become stupid. Bt god simply forgives us. The christmas message is god forgives. And gods forgiveness is immediate. He does not ask you to fall in life and wait for your turn. When you sincerely ask god for forgiveness, he forgives at that moment. And this forgiveness of god is undeserved. None of us is worthy of his forgiveness. We are all unworthy for his forgiveness and yet god still forgives. God forgives you. Also, gods forgiveness is complete. The bible says when you ask for forgiveness, god will forget your sin. God chooses to forget our sin when we ask for forgiveness. If you have sins today that you are still keeping, ask the lord for forgiveness. And when the lord forgives, he forgets. The bible says when you confess your sins To the lord, god will remember your sins no more. If god forgets, we can forget. It's not about having a new leaf but it's having new life.
2. The gift of strength
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This world is hard at times. We face struggles and difficulties that are sometimes insurmountable. We don't know what next year holds, but the gift of Christ who was born to gift us with his strength will give us the assurance that we can pass all possible trials that may come our way. When you surrender your life to god, you will hear him saying its ok, it's alright. You can do it. Never give up. Do not be afraid. Your burden is light, your cross may be many but I will be there to help you carry through. It's not your own strength but it's gods. He is your strength. He alone is your strength enough to sustain your life.
3. The gift of heaven - buhay na walang hanggan.
They say you're not ready to live until you are ready to die. We are afraid to talk about death because we are not sure about it. We don't know about it. Everyday, god is preparing us for that day when we receive him and be with him. Receive him in your life as your god, as your savior, your protector, and death will simply be our home coming.
So god gives us gifts in our life. Forgiveness, strength, and eternal life.
The tragedy is so many people celebrate Christmas year attest year and not receiving gods Christmas gift.
 There was a story of a man who received a gift from his wife and never opened it for 49 years. How would the wife feel when her gift was never opened. Would she feel sad? Disappointed? I think god would feel the same. If we will put him aside, his greatest gift to us, he will also feel sad. That must have hurt the heart of god. God gives us the greatest gift that we could ever imagine.
A father gave a plastic pearls to his daughter and she wore that until 13 years old. One day the father asked his daughter, give me that pearl. And the daughter asked, why? Then the father got a precious pearl from inside his pocket and said, this is the reason why. God wants us to give to him, what we have, what we carry I'm us from this world, our sins, our frustrations, our anxieties, our worries and pains, our possessions, that occupies our life with so much hatred, discontentment, many burden. God is asking us give me all those and I will give you something genuine, something real.
How do you receive gods gift?
There was a boy who was assigned in a play, and he plays the character of a house boy. He repeats his one line practicing it..the line is..sorry, wala na pong kwarto dito.
Then during the play, Mary and Joseph went into the house and knock on the door bringing with them some lights..then billy, the houseboy, said sorry, wala na pong kwarto.
Then Mary and Joseph carrying the baby walked away looking for another house to stay. And in that play something happened. Without any reason at all, the 10 year old boy felt something and said ..hey, come back..you can have my room.
Have you made room for jesus this Christmas?
Maybe some of you here is missing something this christmas. And you just felt that you're missing something. You know that jesus can be that person in your life. He will forgive you, he will strengthen you, and he will give you fullness of life.
This is the invitation this Christmas, receive jesus in your life this Christmas. He is your greatest gift. Merry Christmas and God bless us all.