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Welcome to the Bridge Church VB Podcast, your weekly source for uplifting and transformative Sunday messages! Each episode features insightful, practical teachings rooted in Scripture, designed to inspire and guide you on your spiritual journey. Led by our passionate Lead Pastors, Archie and Tangie Callahan, we strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages individuals from all walks of life to connect with the person, power, and purpose of Jesus Christ.
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0.000000 6.000000 Merry Christmas. It's good to see it this afternoon here at Bridge Church. I want you to take out your
6.000000 12.480000 Bibles and turn to Luke chapter number one and we're going to look at some scripture today just
12.480000 18.400000 for a few minutes and we're going to come back and sing and just do some other things, take communion.
18.400000 23.520000 But we've been talking about light your world this month here at Bridge Church. I want to speak
23.520000 29.120000 to you just for a few minutes on the gift of God, the gift of God. And we're going to look at
29.120000 35.360000 Luke chapter one and look at the birth of Christ from the viewpoint of Mary. Luke, who is a
35.360000 41.040000 physician, is riding through the lens and the perspective of Mary. Matthew looks through the lens
41.040000 50.400000 of Joseph at the birth. We know men and women have different perspective when it comes to the
50.400000 57.040000 birth of a child. And all the men said, Amen. Amen. I remember when my wife, we had four kids,
57.040000 62.480000 her perspective of giving birth is totally different than my perspective of giving birth.
62.480000 67.280000 And so we're going to look through Mary's eyes and we're going to talk about the gift of God. I
67.280000 74.080000 want to ask you a question. What makes a great Christmas gift? What makes a great Christmas gift?
74.080000 79.120000 I can remember some great Christmas gifts growing up and I think the greatest Christmas gift that I
79.120000 86.880000 got experienced growing up was getting a go-kart. And it was one Christmas morning, but that day back
86.880000 92.960000 in the 80s, it never got above 12 degrees. How many, though that was a good gift, it was hard to
92.960000 99.680000 experience that gift because it was 12 degrees. I think I made one loop around the house and parked it
99.680000 106.800000 and went back and got near the heater that day. It was a great gift and it was a great go-kart. But
106.800000 116.480000 what made that Christmas gift so great? The reason it was so great was because of the heart behind
116.480000 122.640000 the gift. My parents were willing to sacrifice and give me something of themselves. They had to pay
122.640000 128.800000 for this go-kart. They had to give of themselves to get me something that I desired for Christmas.
128.800000 136.240000 And when we began to look at the story of Christmas, we began to discover that gift giving
136.240000 143.200000 has been woven throughout the Christmas story. In fact, when the wise men, the magi, I came to see
143.200000 151.280000 Jesus. They brought him three gifts. They brought him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold, frankincense,
151.280000 160.480000 and myrrh. The gold represented his kingship that Jesus was king. The frankincense actually,
160.480000 167.920000 it began to represent that he was divine. He was God. And the myrrh represented that he came to
167.920000 175.440000 suffer and to give his life and to become the savior of the world. So in those gifts, we see the
175.440000 185.920000 identity of Jesus. We see Jesus, King, God, and Savior. King, God, and Savior. That's a beautiful
185.920000 193.360000 word, Savior. I think it's the most beautiful word in the Bible. It's a word that has been given to us
193.360000 201.360000 by God, sending His Son as the Savior of the world. This theme of gift giving even goes down
201.360000 207.440000 into the fourth century where we see Saint Nicholas who was a bishop and that area of the world that
207.440000 214.480000 we call modern day Turkey. He went around giving gifts. He was a man that came from a means and was
214.480000 221.040000 willing to give that up, but he was a giver. He gave gifts to widows, to children who were orphaned,
221.040000 228.160000 and that's where we get our understanding of Santa Claus, was from Saint Nicholas. Old Saint,
228.160000 236.240000 what? Nick. And he's been giving gifts ever since through parents to children. Charles Dickens,
236.240000 241.600000 and a Christmas Carol, he emphasizes this theme of generosity and gift giving all throughout
242.400000 249.440000 the Christmas Carol. And I believe tonight we're going to or today, we're going to see what it really
249.440000 257.680000 means to see God as the gift giver. He gave two very important gifts. Let's look at Luke 1 verse 26
257.680000 265.280000 through 28. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent an angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town
265.280000 273.280000 in Galilee. Galilee was probably 90 miles from Bethlehem to a virgin pledge to be married to a man named
273.280000 281.680000 Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Mary. The angel went to her and said,
281.680000 288.720000 "Greetings, you are a highly favored. The Lord is with you." There are two things in that latter
288.720000 297.920000 verse that we see. We see that Mary was highly favored and the Lord was with her. God, by his
297.920000 306.880000 very nature, is a gift giver. God is the greatest gift giver. And tonight, I want you or today,
306.880000 315.280000 I keep saying tonight because I feel like it's dark. Amen. God's gift, number one, is the gift of salvation.
315.280000 322.400000 Look what it says in verse 21 of Matthew. Let's look through Matthew's eyes. She, Mary, will give birth
322.400000 331.120000 to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from what they're
331.120000 341.520000 sins. He will save his people from they're sins. He gave us the gift of salvation when he sent his
341.520000 350.960000 son Jesus to be born over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, Bethlehem means a house of bread.
350.960000 357.120000 It's where the bread of life was born. So Jesus at that moment when he was born into this people planet
357.120000 364.080000 is the concept of an incarnation that God would become man so that man could become like God. And
364.080000 371.360000 God come to send it to us. He came to us when we couldn't get to him and he became our Savior.
371.360000 379.840000 No greater word in the Bible than Savior. No more beautiful of a word than the word Savior.
379.840000 386.880000 Ephesians 2 ay says we are for is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from
386.880000 392.720000 yourselves. It is, look here, the gift of God. What is the gift of God? It is salvation.
392.720000 400.160000 Salvation. That word saved actually means to be delivered. It means to be rescued or healed. That he
400.160000 410.640000 came to save us. That gift of salvation is for the taken. You can take it from God by faith. He gives
410.640000 420.240000 it to us by grace. I'm kind of amazed as I watch my grandkids grow and my grandson roises about 19
420.240000 428.000000 months, 22 months, somewhere around there. And he opened the gift the night before last. And he was,
428.000000 435.120000 he was trying to get into this gift that his grandmother bought him. Not just want to get multiple gifts.
435.120000 440.480000 But he started with one gift and you know how little toddlers are they? They can't get into the gift
440.480000 446.880000 because that gift has scotch tape and to that toddler that scotch tape looks like duct tape. It's
446.880000 451.760000 just as powerful as duct tape. Anybody ever tried to open a gift that you just got mad at man. You
451.760000 457.120000 just wanted to beat it against the wall. And so I watched him open this gift. He puts his finger
457.120000 462.880000 trying to get the tape all trying to rip it. And then his mom steps in and puts a little tear in the
462.880000 469.120000 paper. And then he just takes his index finger and and his thumb and he tries to tear a little piece
469.120000 474.160000 a little bit out of time. How many you know as grandparents and parents you want them to open it fast
474.160000 482.240000 at that age. But and then you try to help him. You know to get it all open. He he is unwrapping the gift.
482.880000 488.160000 And sometimes when we look at salvation we need to unwrap the gift of salvation.
488.160000 496.320000 The gift of salvation is amazing but we have to take time to unwrap the importance of that to us
496.320000 504.000000 because God sent his son as a gift to the world but we have to unwrap the gift to the world. We have
504.000000 510.960000 to unwrap Jesus and sometimes like a toddler tearing a piece of paper off a gift that's been given
510.960000 518.240000 to him or her. We have to begin to unwrap this gift that's been given to us before we can experience
518.240000 527.760000 the gift of salvation. And so tonight God has given us this gift of salvation but we have to unwrap it.
527.760000 534.000000 We have to take it out of its packaging and understand that while we were yet sinners,
534.720000 544.240000 God sent his son to the earth to die for us that to free us from sin.
544.240000 555.360000 Look what it says. He will save his people from their sin. What does that mean? What is sin?
555.360000 560.720000 Sin actually means to miss the mark. It means to fall short of the glory of God.
562.160000 570.240000 Sin, he will free his people from their sin. What does that mean? Well, it means the penalty of sin.
570.240000 576.000000 The penalty of sin is death. The power of sin, we're free from the power of sin and we're no longer
576.000000 583.520000 as believers let around by our own fallen instinct and desires but that power of sin has been
583.520000 589.520000 broken over our lives and now we can walk and free them and one day the very presence of sin will
589.520000 596.560000 be removed when Jesus comes back and recreates his earth. So he came to save his people
596.560000 603.840000 from their sins. The gift of salvation, their number two is that God's gift of presence.
603.840000 610.400000 Sometimes I believe this is the greatest gift we can give people. The greatest gift of father
610.400000 616.400000 can give his kids is the gift of presence. The greatest gift of mom can give to her kids is the
616.400000 624.160000 gift of presence. Sometimes the greatest gift that you can give your spouse is the gift of presence.
624.160000 631.280000 What do I mean by the gift of presence? I'm talking about the very presence of God. Look what Matthew
631.280000 638.800000 123 says. The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel which means
638.800000 649.760000 God with us. Did you know that's what the Christmas story is all about? God being with us, the gift of
649.760000 657.680000 presence. Sometimes when people are grieving they don't need a word, they don't need a pattern
657.680000 664.400000 on the back. Sometimes people need just the gift of presence, just sitting with them, just being there,
666.320000 673.600000 just being seen and not heard. It's almost like God says this world and needs my presence and all
673.600000 679.680000 throughout the Bible we see the gift of God's presence. We see it in Genesis chapter 3 where the
679.680000 686.800000 Bible says that that God came down in the cool of the day and spent time with Adam and Eve. He was
686.800000 693.520000 there. When Moses was instructed to take the children of Israel out of a Egyptian bondage and God told
693.520000 702.080000 Moses in Exodus chapter 3, God says, I will be with you. Joshua chapter 1, when Joshua is going into
702.080000 707.680000 the promised land, God told this to Joshua. He said this. He says, as I was with Moses, I will be with
707.680000 713.840000 you. It's the gift of presence. When the three Hebrew children were thrown into the fiery furnace,
713.840000 720.000000 God was in the furnace with them as the fourth man in the fiery furnace. When Daniel was thrown into
720.000000 727.040000 the lines then, God was with him. When the disciples were on the sea of Galley and the ways are about to
727.040000 735.200000 overtake the boat in Mark chapter 4, Jesus was in the boat with them. He is a manual, God with us. I
735.200000 739.360000 don't know where you're at today. I don't know where you're at in life. I don't know what you've been
739.360000 745.200000 going through, but I can assure you that just as Jesus told his disciples, I will never leave you or
745.200000 754.080000 forsake you. I'll be with you to the end of the age. God is with you right now. He's with us. In fact,
754.080000 760.000000 in the New Testament he said, we're two or three are gathered in my name. There I am in the midst of them.
760.000000 767.440000 There are a whole lot more than two or three people in this building. He is here. He is with us. It is the
767.440000 774.480000 gift, not only a salvation, but the gift of presence. When I come to Christ for the forgiveness of sins,
774.480000 781.280000 he comes into my life and he abides and Paul says, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So he lives
781.280000 793.600000 in us. He's a manual, God with us, not just Savior. Yeah, we needed a Savior. You know, if we would
793.600000 799.200000 have needed information, God would have sent an educator. If we were to need a technology,
799.200000 805.040000 he would have sent a scientist. If we would have needed pleasure, he would have sent us an
805.040000 816.640000 entertainer, but we needed the forgiveness of sins. So God sent a Savior. Jesus, to be with us, to
816.640000 823.600000 live in us. Remember my son when he was about five years old. I was putting in a bed in like most
823.600000 828.240000 five-year-olds, four-year-olds, six-year-olds. They began to talk a whole lot before you put him down
828.240000 833.600000 to sleep. And so he was doing a whole lot of jabbering. He was doing a whole lot of talking. And I was
833.600000 838.720000 putting him to bed and he began to say, dad, I'm scared. I'm scared up here in the dark. I don't want
838.720000 845.520000 to be up here alone. And I began to explain to him, son, it's okay. We're in the house. And God
845.520000 851.120000 is with you. And I made it more personal. Jesus is with you. And he looked up at me and said, dad,
851.120000 857.280000 I need Jesus with some skin on him. Anybody ever need a Jesus with some skin on him?
858.160000 863.120000 That's the way I feel sometimes. Sometimes I just need Jesus with some skin on him. And in this,
863.120000 870.000000 in this explanation of the light of the world that we're going to light our world with the gospel,
870.000000 876.960000 our world needs Jesus with some skin on him. And we have become the light of the world. Jesus said,
876.960000 883.440000 you are the light of the world. And in this dark world, we as believers, as followers of
883.440000 891.040000 Christ, become that light to people walking in darkness. And we begin to light up the world for God,
891.040000 900.080000 so loved the world that he gave. There it is, a gift giving that he gave his one and only son,
900.080000 911.440000 the whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life, the gift of salvation given
911.440000 920.880000 to us by God. The gift of God's presence given to us by God. The whole Christmas story is about God
920.880000 934.720000 coming to earth. He took on the suit of flesh. He became one of us so that we could become like him
936.000000 942.720000 through the experience of the forgiveness of sin. Can you bow your head today? Lord, I just thank you
942.720000 948.560000 for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your love. I thank you for the gift of
948.560000 958.480000 salvation. Thank you for the gift of your presence. God, we might experience loneliness, but we're never alone.
959.600000 970.880000 You're always with us wherever we go, whatever we do. You're the God that never leaves. You are
970.880000 980.480000 Emmanuel, God with us. And we thank you for it today. We worship you today. We honor you today. God,
980.480000 987.840000 for those that are lonely today, I pray that you'd be God with them. For those that are hurting,
987.840000 993.200000 maybe grieving over a lost loved one. They've lost recently or this year, I just pray, God,
993.200000 1000.640000 in grief that you would be the God that is ever present, that you would be real to them.