We trust today’s message encouraged and guided you in your journey of following Jesus. These notes are meant to help you remember and reflect on the message, help you go deeper into study on the subject, or be used for a sermon group discussion.

Sermon Title: THE GREATEST GIFT REQUIRES OUR GREATEST GIFT - PART 1

What are some of the greatest gifts you received for Christmas? Because you remember them so well, means they had a great impact on you. If we can make a great impact by giving and receiving gifts, how much more can God‘s gift have an impact on us?

Notes:

James 1:16-18 NLT
16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. 18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

Matthew 7:9-11 NIV
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Ephesians 3:20 NIV
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”

His greatest gift he has given us is in the person of Jesus Christ.

The biggest reality is that God’s greatest gifts to us require us to give Him our greatest gift - ourselves.

He wants us to experience and come back to Him.

Think about God’s love more deeply…

Created us (Adam and Eve)
They fell
He provided redemption
Rescued Israel out of Egypt
Brought them to His promised land
Established them as a nation - His people
They kept falling away and serving idols
They kept being exiled due to disobedience, but He kept restoring them

Jesus became the answer for all of this

He came out of heaven - lived like we do
He experienced what we do
Lived a sinless life
He healed, fed, delivered, taught, walked with, cared for, lived with His people.
He was betrayed, punished, and crucified for doing nothing wrong
“It is finished” - curtain torn - access to Him

He has never left His people through all of this

Look at the gifts He gives us…

Romans 5:15-17 NLT
15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. 16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:19-23 NLT
19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Imagine what God has done for us:

The gift of forgiveness –
sins gone
The gift of being made right with God –
access to Him
The gift of righteousness –
our identity as His
The gift of eternal life –
our retirement plan

What do we give to Him?

We can’t match what He has given. He has done it all for us. The greatest gift we can give to Him is ourselves.

Luke 19:1-10 NIV
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Let’s look at Zaccheaus for a moment:

He had curiosity
Wanted to see what was happening
He planned to overcome his main weakness
He was short
He executed a plan
His strategy – ran ahead and climbed a tree
Jesus noticed him…
Invited him to his own house
He was convicted
Something changed in his heart - “… if I have cheated anybody…”
He was rewarded
Had fellowship with Jesus

Notice Jesus here:

Jesus overcomes the norms of his societal identity
He saw and pursued Zaccheaus
He gave something to him that he could not get from society - or anyone else. - He gave himself!!!

The key concept in this story is curiosity.

Curiosity defined:
The desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness

Interest, eagerness, interestedness

Curiosity always opens the mind to something new and exciting.

Opposite of curiosity is judgment

When we judge something, we stop being curious
Once we judge something, we stop learning
Once we judge something, we don’t see what we can change
Once we charge something, we don’t explore other options
Once we judge something, we don’t have to do anything more than enhance our lives
Once we judge something, we shout out God‘s spirit to us

Curiosity is…

Wanting to know more
Wanting to add to our limited understanding
Wanting to see things from a different angle
Wanting to explore other options

As opposed to judgment, which is…

Thinking we know everything
A closed-minded, stubborn attitude
Not allowing new information to be processed

Judgment is the mindset of the Pharisees.

Curiosity is the mindset of Jesus‘ disciples.

Pharisees rejected a different way

Disciples were engrossed in new ways.

We can be like the Pharisees and stay stuck where we are in our limited view
of ourselves, God, and others…

Be like Zacchaeus who runs ahead and explores who Jesus is
and what he can do in our lives.

Takeaways:

God is always pursuing us – since the Fall
- He is always pursuing us today!
- The problem: we are not always listening or seeing
- The reality – from Genesis to revelations is a redemptive story of God‘s love and Him giving us Himself
2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
- Recognize Jesus in your life
- Pursue Him - climb your tree
Jesus is always wanting to break the norms of our fleshly identity
- He transcends our own understanding of ourselves
- Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house
  - V 7. - “All the people saw this, and began to mutter, “he has gone to be a guest of a sinner””
- Zacchaeus repented for anything he might have done - repented; changed
  - Jesus changed his identity -
  - V 9. - “Jesus said to him, ‘today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham’.”
Jesus is always giving us something we cannot get from anyone else or anything else.
- He gave living water to the Samaritan woman at the well.
- He gave healing to the cripple at the pool of Bethesda and multitude other people.
- He gave his wisdom and provision to the multitudes.
- And when Jesus uttered, “it is finished”, on the cross, God gave us Himself.
Our curiosity leads to a discovery that is much deeper than our fleshly understanding could ever imagine.
- Listen and feel God’s call of our soul and discover:
  - God‘s redemption and repair
  - Fellowship with the creator
  - Eternal life
We are not defined, but what happens or who we are on this earth – but by how God defines us!

Our curiosity + our desire to overcome our weakness + noticing Jesus noticing us + our conviction and desire for a change of heart = Experiencing the greatest gift of all - God Himself through Jesus

Discussion:

What did God use in this sermon to speak to your heart or situation?
What scripture stuck out to you and why?
Do you find yourself following the lead of the Pharisees or Zaccheaus? Explain.
Are there any areas in your life where your judgment has stifled your curiosity?
In what ways are you allowing God to use your gifts?
Are there any areas that you believe you could let God use your gifts more?
What should we ask God for in our prayer time to help us apply this message?

The most important decision you will ever make!

If you’re ready to trust in Jesus for salvation and eternal life we encourage you to process this decision with a strong believer and when you’re ready say a simple prayer like this from your heart: Dear God, I acknowledge and admit I have sinned. I see my need for Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe I am forgiven and cleansed of my sin by His death. I also believe I have eternal life because of His resurrection from the dead. I repent, I turn away from my old ways and I choose to live my life to worship you and follow Jesus, Amen!

We would love to know if you decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Let us know here.

Pray Together

We hope you found this AFTER THE SERMON discussion helpful for your walk with Jesus. We pray you can find ways to apply it this week!

Jody Wood

THE GREATEST GIFT REQUIRES OUR GREATEST GIFT - PART 1