25-1226A_THE GREATEST GIFT
Psa 63:1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
Psa 63:2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Psa 63:3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Psa 63:4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Psa 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
Psa 63:6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Psa 63:7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
Joh 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.
GOD'S.GIFTS.ALWAYS.FIND.THEIR.PLACES_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-13 SUNDAY_ 63-1222
13 Now, two more days till Christmas. One
more day, isn't it? That'd be two. Monday... Tuesday's Christmas Eve? Tuesday's
Christmas Eve. Isn't it
awful to see that this great holiday, that we're approaching, is approached in
the manner that it's approached in? It's such a pitiful thing, such a--a--a
rashel thing, to think that--that rabbits and a--a
myth called "Kriss Kringle" (Santa Claus) and everything, has taken
the real value away from what Christmas is.
14 Now, we don't... we--we don't know, and I certainly do not believe... I was just coming down, my wife's back there, and I... coming down the road, was listening at an astronomer; that now, they just fell on the idea which an astronomer told me many, many years ago, when I was just a game warden here in Indiana. When they told me that... how those stars came together, just like that first astronomer did and that formed, what they said would be a natural thing that happens every, I believe he said tonight, eight hundred years, or something like that. And it reforms itself again, of: Sardis and Jupiter, and I forget; and Mart-... Mars; no, I... that's wrong. It's some of the stars how they speed when they cross their orbits in line of the earth, and this astronomer tonight was trying to tell that it actually was a natural thing. I--I don't--I don't accept that. I believe it was a supernatural thing, that God did. He, things is supernatural with God. He is Supernatural.
*...WE FIND OUT THAT--THAT
CHRISTMAS IS TO THE... IS MAINLY CHILDREN... BUT IT REALLY SHOULD BE ADULTS; IT
SHOULD BE TEACHING THEIR CHILDREN WHAT REAL CHRISTMAS IS.
GOD'S.GIFTS.ALWAYS.FIND.THEIR.PLACES_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-13 SUNDAY_ 63-1222
15 And--and I looked down and know that this is facing back now to April, I've... the Lord willing for me to live that long, I'll be fifty-five years old. See? And I--I know the... But looking back on my life, and I wonder where it happened. From them first little Christmases, when we hang up our stockings, and Mama would get... We'd probably get an orange, and two or three little pieces of striped candy, and that was a great Christmas to us. But, you know, kids they--they look forward for them gifts. We--we find out that--that Christmas is to the... is mainly children, they--they look forward to that nowadays. It it's turned off to the children. But it really should be adults; it should be teaching their children what real Christmas is.
*... BUT I BELIEVE THAT
CHRIST WAS BORN IN A SPRING, BECAUSE IN EVERY WAY HE WAS A LAMB. SEE? AND
NOTICE, HE WAS BORN IN A BARN, AND NOT A HOUSE.
GOD'S.GIFTS.ALWAYS.FIND.THEIR.PLACES_ JEFF.IN
V-6 N-13 SUNDAY_ 63-1222
16
And I totally do
not believe that--that Christ could be born on a twenty-fifth day of December,
in Judaea, because it's colder than it is right here now. See? Oh, and how
could the shepherds be keeping their flocks by night? And--and then the
taxation and everything, and Mary having to come that far, from way down in
Bethlehem up into Judaea, up into Jerusalem, rather, at the... for the
taxation. I--I--I hardly could--could--could believe that. Come up, I believe
she come to Nazareth, and so when... How that--that could be done. It could not
be--be done, but I believe that
Christ was born in a spring, because in every way He was a Lamb. See? And
notice, He was born in a barn, and not a house.
17 And when they took Him to the cross (the others), as far as we know, that he never said about Him leading them, but they led Him. Did you know a lamb or a sheep has to be led to the slaughter? It--it will not go to the slaughter, you--you have to lead it there. And usually it's a goat that leads the sheep. In the--in the killing pens, they have a goat. And the goat will walk up this runway, till he gets up to get the sheep started down the runway to be killed, and then the goat will jump out. But when they come a time they going to kill the goat, he really kicks up a fuss (he has to go in) because you couldn't blame him. But--but it's a--a thing how a sheep has to be led, and He was led to the slaughter. They led Him. He was a Lamb. And I believe in that way being altogether nature, and lambs are born in March, April, and somewhere along in there, not later than May. And I don't believe it was anything before March and anything after May, sometime along in there.
*IT--IT'S CHRIST IN YOU; GOD,
DWELLING IN THE HUMAN HEART. THAT'S WHAT THE REAL CHRISTMAS MEANS.
GOD'S.GIFTS.ALWAYS.FIND.THEIR.PLACES_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-13 SUNDAY_ 63-1222
88 And if you're so grateful for Christmas, it's not to say,
"I--I give Joneses a gift; and they give me one back, I'll see what I got
in the morning." Why don't you open up your heart and see what's in there,
find out what's you got in here. And accept... if we find it empty, with just
negative creeds and--and--and cares of the world, why not ask Christ to fill it
tonight? Tonight, so that you can get the real
meaning of Christmas. It--it's Christ in you; God, dwelling in the human heart.
That's what the real Christmas means.
89 But, you see, today we become so negative. It's the Devil getting us through there, (there's painted candy sticks, and a--and a reindeer and a--and a whiskered man, and flies through the air like an airplane, and visits the whole world and every home with a little bundle of toys on his back, and visits every child) and it--it's just a lie! It's just, right out, a lie. See? Now, see? But why? The Devil did that so he could twist the minds of the people.
THE.QUEEN.OF SHEBA_ 60-0401E
46 Now anyone knows, that any time
that God sends a gift to the earth, and the people turns that gift down, it’s
always chaos to that nation and that people, that turns down the gift of God.
47 Jesus was the greatest Gift God ever give to the world. And the Jewish people turned It down, and scattered throughout the world from that time since. And when God sends a gift, and the people refuses to see it, and refuses to take it, then it’s scattered, the people is, and they, like sheep having no shepherd.
*THE COMMERCIAL WORLD GOT
INTO IT AND THEY... IT'S BECOME A GREAT COMMERCIAL THING WHEN IT OUGHT TO BE A
WORSHIP; A WORSHIP.
GOD'S.GIFTS.ALWAYS.FIND.THEIR.PLACES_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-13 SUNDAY_ 63-1222
90 The commercial world got into it and they... Why, they make enough through Christmas time until they can retire the rest of the year, almost. I talked to a merchant the other day, he said, "You give me these two weeks, and if I didn't have to keep my band here," said, "I'd wait till next Christmas; I could go fishing, whatever I want to do, till next Christmas." He said, "But I keep the boys going." Said, "Just keep them here just enough to keep my business open and it keeps--it keeps my hands paid off and things." Said, "I don't make nothing till--till Christmas time comes along." You see, it's become a great commercial thing when it ought to be a worship; a worship.
*THERE IS NOT ONE GIFT THAT COULD BE GIVEN GREATER THAN LIFE
THE.GREATEST.GIFT.IN.THE.BIBLE_ 57-0811A
20 And I said this afternoon, or for this afternoon, that I wanted to speak on, “The Greatest Gift In The Bible.” And how many in the audience this afternoon could think of any greater gift that God could give to man than Eternal Life. There is not one gift that could be given greater than Life. Life is the…that is the sublime gift. It’s the greatest of all gifts, for where there is life, there is—there is joy. And God alone has Eternal Life.
*GOD WRAPS HIS OWN PACKAGE.
GOD’S.WRAPPED.GIFT_ 60-1225
46 But God
wraps His Own Package. He’s got a right to do it, He’s the One that’s a
giving It. He has a right to wrap It any way He wants to wrap It. Doesn’t make
any difference how it is, He’s got a right to do it because He’s the One that’s
giving the—the Gift.
47 Another thing, the reason of it was, as it was then, so as it wasn’t customary for them to receive It the way It was wrapped. They was expecting something, a gift coming, that would come down on chariots, with an Angel escort driving fiery horses. But when It come as a little Baby being born in a manger, little did they ever know the Scripture said, “I’ll give this world a super sign.”
*THE GREATEST THING WAS EVER
WRAPPED IN HUMAN FLESH WAS WRAPPED IN IT.
GOD’S.WRAPPED.GIFT_ 60-1225
44 Just a little while from then,
and the world was going to receive its greatest Gift that it ever received, a little
Package wrapped up. A little, first little Christmas Package that was ever
wrapped, in all the world, God wrapped It up. I want to break in on my thought,
and say this. The greatest thing was ever wrapped
in human flesh was wrapped in It. God Himself wrapped His Own Self in a
Christmas package and sent It to the world.
45 Why did they refuse It? Why couldn’t they see It? Why did they turn It down? Why is it they didn’t want It? The same reason they don’t want It tonight. It wasn’t handed to them in the custom that they were used to gifts being handed. That’s the reason It’s rejected yet, tonight, is because It’s not handed to the people in the custom that they have been used to receiving gifts.
* CHRIST WAS GOD’S LOVE GIFT
TO THE WORLD.
LOVE_ 56-0726
“Well, Brother
Branham, can you explain that?” Yes. See, Christ
was God’s love gift to the world. You believe that? [Congregation says,
“Amen.”—Ed.] Greatest gift that God ever give was His only begotten Son. Is
that right? That was God’s greatest gift.
Now, God had His gift in His Son, and could use It any way He
wanted to. Now, when God showed Him something to do, that was God doing
it. Now, God hadn’t showed Him this, and the woman
done it; but her faith in God moved God through His Son, because that was her
point of contact. You see what I mean?
*IT’S THE ATTITUDE THAT YOU TAKE TOWARDS ANY DIVINE GIFT
OF GOD THAT BRINGS FORTH THE RESULTS THAT YOU’LL GET FROM IT.
THE.QUEEN.OF.THE.SOUTH_ 58-0620
23 And we know that any age, and
all through every age, God has always had His witness on the earth; He’s never
been without a witness. And He never will be without a witness. And when God
sends a gift to the earth, and the people reject it, that generation goes into
a chaos of blackness, and darkness, and rejecting of God. For God judges that generation by the way they judge His
gifts.
Now, Jesus was God’s greatest gift. And He was trying to tell
them that they had rejected His message. They rejected…Sodom rejected
the message of the Angels. And in Noah’s age, that age rejected Noah’s
message. And then He begin to refer back to some that did accept it, and He
gave illustrations in it. And He said, “Then at any generation that received
God’s gift, or God’s message, that generation always prospered and become a
great generation.” It’s the attitude that you take
towards any Divine gift of God that brings forth the results that you’ll get
from it.
*JESUS WAS GOD’S LOVE GIFT TO THE CHURCH, AND THE CHURCH IS GOD’S LOVE
GIFT TO JESUS.
A.GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.IS.HERE _ 57-0228
90 .....And the world has always attacked the gifts of God. And Jesus was God’s greatest Gift. Jesus was God’s love Gift to the Church, and the Church is God’s love gift to Jesus. God so loved world that He gave. See? “All the Father has given Me will come.” See, it’s a love affair.
*AND ALWAYS IN ALL AGES GOD
HAS WORKED THROUGH HIS GIFTS, GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT.
A.GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.IS.HERE_ 57-0228
20 He was discussing with them.
They had attacked Him. And the world has always attacked the gifts of God. And Jesus was God’s greatest Gift. Jesus was God’s love
Gift to the Church, and the Church is God’s love gift to Jesus. God so loved
world that He gave. See? “All the Father has given Me will come.” See, it’s a love affair.
21 And always in all ages God has worked through His gifts, gifts of the Spirit. God in sundry times and divers manners spake to the fathers through the prophets, but in this last day through His Son Christ Jesus. Now, noticing, God works in His gifts, and when God sends His gifts, those gifts always stand stedfast. They’re always attacked by the devil, but they hold their color because they are from God. And all the attacks that Satan could put upon them will never move one.
*...WORSHIP HIM, THEN PRESENT
YOUR GIFT; PRESENTING YOUR BODY AS A LIVING SACRIFICE, WHOLLY AND ACCEPTABLE TO
GOD.
GOD'S.GIFTS.ALWAYS.FIND.THEIR.PLACES_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-13 SUNDAY_ 63-1222
91 Now, God, so anointed Jesus with the fulness of Himself till the... He was God's Gift to the world. That the wise men are clearly identified, that they're offering their gift to Him; showed that in their heart they knew who He was, and what He was going to do for them. So (no wonder) the first thing they did, they fell down, perfectly in order, and worshipped Him. Before they could even understand it, they fell down and worshipped Him and then presented their gifts. That's the way to have real Christmas: worship Him, then present your gift; presenting your body as a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable to God.
*JESUS SAID THAT TRUE WORSHIP
WAS IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH, JOHN 4:24.
47-3 PATMOS.VISION - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.2
Then the most of them
go to church on Sunday. That is good but even there they have no idea of how to
approach God and how to worship Him. Jesus said
that true worship was in Spirit and in truth, John 4:24. But what kind
of worship can you get in a church that knows so little of God it puts up a
Santa Claus at Christmas and bunnies at Easter? Where did they get that? They
got it from the pagans and made it a part of the church doctrine. But when one turns to the Lord and is filled with the
Holy Ghost he ceases from all such things. He has a rest in his soul. He really
begins to live, and love God and worship Him.
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