https://youtu.be/5k8PcYh9xBo?feature=shared
hey hello Dennis here uh Christmas is coming isn’t it and Christmas presents a few challenges to those of us who struggle with receiving
gifts it’s Pride that has a problem with receiving anything isn’t it and so this really is the heart of the Christmas message that God so loved you that he gave his son Jesus Christ for you to receive his son into your heart that you might truly live so God gave you the most precious thing that he could give his only son but the question is will you receive Jesus Christ will you receive God’s gift to you that is the message that I’m bringing you today when people came to me years ago in the 80s and said you need Jesus I pushed them away told them where to go with a few expletives they even poked me in the chest telling me I needed Jesus and they were pushy you know they were pushing Jesus on me and it of course caused me to rise up and push them and their message away sure I needed Jesus all right but the way they came at me it put me on
then some years went by and I happened to walk into a uh Gathering of people who were all sitting down listening to some rock music in a hall in Scarborough in Perth Western Australia and I had just come from the beach was walking home saw all these people outside this Hall heard the music saw people inside and went and sat down in there and uh I was looking around I could see young girls you know teenagers and girls in their 20s guys families and as I was looking around one of those young ladies got up she she was dressed like in Surfy in you know sort of Indian sort of clothing uh Indie clothing she came over and uh sat down with me and I thought wow I’m in now a pretty young girl and she looked at me big blue eyes and said have you ever asked Jesus into your heart and I said no and up I got and ran out of that place as fast as I could I had walked into a church and I didn’t know I didn’t know churches were like that I thought churches had stained glass windows and pews and certainly didn’t think they had a rock band playing so that encounter spooked me a bit and that added to a number of other encounters I had over the years where people were putting Jesus in front of me as some one that I needed and this girl said that I needed to ask him into my heart so this Christmas God is extending Jesus towards you that you would ask him that you would receive him and that he would come to dwell inside of you as God’s precious gift of life to you not a ticket to go to heaven but the beginning of a relationship with your father God through Jesus because there is no way you can know God without first coming to Jesus Christ the Messiah the king of Israel the king of Judah Jesus died on the cross for us so that all our sins are forgiven so there is now no Darkness between us and God there is no accusation pointing at us saying sinner there is only a title written over us forgiven and beloved of God God loves you that’s why he sent Jesus and God still loves you and that’s why he sends people like me to tell you you need Jesus you need to receive him so a lot of people then get their heckles up say I don’t need Jesus I’m a good person I don’t need God I’m a good person or I don’t need religion I’m a good person so when we say I’m a good person we’re basically saying I don’t need help I don’t need Jesus I don’t need God to get through this life and you might be right but it’s not only about this life
friend there is an age to come a life after death and God wants you to inherit eternal life the life of the age to come and the ages beyond that so and God wants you to know him at a heart-to-heart level even as a son should know their father and know his heart and so it’s through Jesus that this is all possible and while we hold out and claim our own goodness we cannot receive Jesus and then be able to know God so I pray that you would humble yourself that you would lower your pride and admit your need of the Savior Jesus today that you might know the Father’s love that you might have God come and live in you and teach you encourage you lead you every day and fill you with his peace and joy no matter what’s happening in your life God wants to walk with you as a son walks with with his father or as a daughter walks with it her father God is the perfect father God is love the Bible declares and the devil’s done a pretty good job at painting the wrong picture of God through our Earthly fathers perhaps or through other uh caricatures that he wants us to look at that portray fathers and men in a light God is none of those things God is loving and kind and merciful god is forgiving God is just God is compassionate and patient filled with joy God is a wonderful person and you can know him but in order to know him you must receive Jesus and so the gift is held out to you will you take Jesus to be your own life will you take Jesus to be the gift of righteousness of right standing with God that you need because your righteousness saying you’re a good person will not stand in the court of heaven when you claim to God that your righteous your goodness should be enough when you claim that you’re a good person sorry the court will rule against you you need Jesus Christ the Perfection of God Jesus is the Perfection of God in every way and you can receive that Perfection as your own when Jesus comes in and lives in your heart and again I say to receive him we must humble ourself acknowledge Lord I need Jesus I need to be saved I need you to come and live in my heart and be my God Jesus and I welcome you today if that’s you and if that’s your desire go ahead and ask you perhaps you need to kneel down perhaps you need to just stop a moment and listen and ask God send Jesus into my heart that I might know you I pray this in Jesus name amen