An Embassy City Christmas

Written By Tim Rivers
 

Merry Christmas everyone. Man, y'all look great. If you're a guest with us, we want to say welcome to Embassy City Church. Whether you're here in person or watching online, thank you so much for being with us. This is the second of three services. Make sure that if you have room by you next to you, just scoot in and we've got people still coming in. We want to make room for everybody. Hey, before we go any further, I just want to make an announcement. You made it. Only about a few of y'all will actually get that, but the enemy thought he was going to take you out in March, but you made it to April. Then he thought he's going to get you in the summer, but you made it to the fall and now we're all the way into summer with a couple of more days left of this year. I wish somebody would just take 30 seconds and give God praise that you made it through 2024.

You got about 20 seconds and I'm going to start my message, but I just want to give somebody the opportunity to give God your best praise rage for being with you all the way to the end. Come on, somebody. Oh yes. Oh man. Some of y'all are living and breathing testimonies of the goodness of God. Really, all of us are that some of us take that opportunity to give God praise for it. Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is our Christmas service day. I'm just really in a season of thankfulness. Last week we talked about the gift of grief because some may be going through a hard time. Maybe the season isn't as joyful as you hoped because you've lost some things, you're grieving some things and there's space for that. And I want to remind you that in the kingdom of God, in the body of Christ, you can hold both grief and hope intention.

You can be sad and be joyful. You can go through some stuff and look forward to some stuff. You can go through hurt and hope at the same time. And so today I just want to calibrate you. I want to talk about hope. I want to talk about Jesus. Is that all right? After all, he is the reason for the He's the reason. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Alright, stand to your feet. We're going to the Book of John, the book of John. If you have your Bibles, you can turn it in there. Book of John chapter three. If you have an electronic Bible, IE your phone, you can use that. If not, it's going to come up on the screen. John chapter three, very familiar passage of scripture. Maybe not something that you anticipated reading on Christmas Day, but very appropriate. John chapter three, verse number 16.

For God so loved the world that he gave somebody say he gave, gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And everybody say, amen. Lord, we're just so grateful, so grateful that we get to be in your presence, celebrating the reason for the season. And in a few days we will be opening gifts and we'll be eating and we'll have a joyous time with family and friends, but not without stopping to recognize that we would not be celebrating Christmas if it wasn't for you gifting us the ultimate gift. And so we just stop to say thank you. I pray that in the next few moments you would give us ears to hear, heart to receive, and a mind to understand what the spirit would say to us in Jesus' name.

And everybody say Amen. One more time. Give God some praise in this place before you seated, oh, come on. You can do better than that and you may be seated. My title for today is The Gift of God. The Gift of God. Now, I love, as I mentioned last week, I love Christmas time because it is a time and a season for a lot of amazing things which I enjoy. I love the festivities, I love the weather, I love the food, I love the celebrations and I love the, and the truth is, all of us love gifts. Is there anybody in here that doesn't love gifts? Okay, well, you can be the giver.

The truth is all of us enjoy gifts. In fact, we love gifts so much that it's been estimated that this year, this Christmas season that us individuals, people in the US will spend over a trillion dollars for the Christmas holidays and 60% of the average American's holiday budget is dedicated towards gifts and presents. You remember the times where you could just go to five and below or the dollar store and get a few gifts and kids were happy. Now they want a switch. PS five, Xbox 360 or whatever it is. Now, my son came to us and he said, dad, I think I know what I want. I said, yeah, tell me he's like a four-wheeler.

I said, I will get you something with four wheels and it'll be your four wheeler. But the truth is all of us love gifts, but there are many different types of gifts. There are gifts that you want that you receive that are awesome, and then there are gifts that you need that are awesome. And there are some times where you really want the gift that you want, but then you get the gift that you need and you're thankful, but you're also in conflict because this is the one time a year I should have got what I wanted. But I love when someone gets you a gift that keeps on giving a KitchenAid mixer. Can anybody testify? It gives you bread, it gives you cake, it gives you shredded chicken. See, y'all don't even know you could do that. It gives you pasta, it gives you mixing different types of meats. The KitchenAid mixer, if it ain't on your list and you don't have one, put it on your list. KitchenAid, y'all can support me for the product add, but the truth is whatever gift you receive, gifts are generally an expression of love. In fact, if you want to describe a gift, really a gift is something given to someone who is not already the owner. In other words, don't re-gift something that somebody already owns.

Although I will say, I've gone through the house and looked at some stuff that I didn't use. Could I give this again? But a gift is something given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. And there are many reasons why you would give someone a gift. You can give them a gift sometimes to express gratitude. Sometimes you give a gift to express love. Sometimes it's a gift to express grace. Sometimes you give a gift to express joy. Sometimes it's to resolve conflict. Any married couples in here, one of the best ways husbands if you're in conflict is to swing by jarret's the gallery of jewelry.

No, I want Tiffany's, but you can resolve conflict with a gift. Sometimes a gift is to meet a need. It's benevolence. But at any rate, whatever the motivation behind the gift, the fact remains that in order for a gift to be a gift, it has to be given without expectation of a return or repayment. Otherwise, it's not a gift. It's an exchange. It is a product that you're selling, but a gift requires for one person to give somebody something that cost them something and cost them nothing. Now, there are two sides to gift giving because a gift is not a gift yet until there are two parties who agree to exchange the gift. In other words, I can have gift for you and present it to you, but it still belongs to me until the point you actually accept my gift and receive it. And so there are a lot of people that have a gift offered to them that don't have a gift because they never received it.

Now, there's something special that happens about gift giving and gift receiving. Psychologists, they've looked at this and they've realized that anytime you receive a gift or you give a gift, there are the feel-good chemicals that go off in your body. There are three main feel-good chemicals, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. A combination that is referred to as a helper's high because it makes you feel good. And here's the cool thing about gifts. Anyone have some gifts under your tree right now just wrapped? You don't know what it is. This is our way of tempting our children and torturing them for the next few days, right? You take gifts and you put it in wrapping, they don't know what it is, you hide it on a tree and then for the next several days you tell them, don't you open it. Don't you pick it up? Don't you rip off the corner?

Don't you Try to guess what it is. And here's the cool thing. This is what psychologists have found out is that you don't have to receive the gift to feel the joy. Just the anticipation that there's a gift waiting for you evokes an emotion in you of excitement. Anybody excited about Christmas Day on what you're going to get? Come on elbow. Elbow your neighbor. What you get me? What did you get me? Where were you at all day Friday, I try to sneak around and Janice would be like, where were you at trying to guess? I'll just pick up coffee. You'll see on Christmas Day, if you ever had someone give you something, you know the feeling that you get, the joy that you get when you receive a gift, right? And it could be something so small, you can be in the line at Starbucks and somebody paid it back.

Then you get up there and you feel the pressure. Do I pay it back? The first important question is, how many drinks do they order? I had one latte, and if it's too much, well, I'll pray for them. God bless. The truth is you get the same feeling of joy when you give and receive the same receptors go off in your body. In fact, the older you get, the more you generally enjoy seeing your kids enjoy the gift that you're giving them. And it's less about you receiving it. It becomes more about you giving and there is more. That's why the Bible says that there is more joy in giving than in receiving. Why? Because this is the nature of God. So think about this. If we as humans enjoy gift giving and gift and we're made in the image and likeness of God, then we must have received this emotion from God.

In fact, think about this. The first gift giver was God In the very beginning in Genesis chapter one, you can't even get out of that first chapter without realizing that God is a gift giver. Think about it. He created the worlds and in the space of six days, he created Adam and Eve. When he created Adam, he created 'em from the dusted ground. And the Bible says that he breathed into man the breath of God. Adam could not have earned or paid for his own breath. Therefore, the breath that Adam received from God was a gift. The first gift given to mankind was the gift of life. When was the last time you just stopped to thank God for the gift of breathing?

Come to we can get so caught up with wanting stuff that is on our Christmas list that we neglect to give God praise for what he's already given us. The fact that you woke up today is reason enough to be thankful to God. The fact that you got here in a car is reason enough to give thanks to God. The fact that you woke up with a roof over your head is reason enough to give God some thanks. The fact that you are breathing let everything that has breath, the only prerequisite to giving God praise is the fact that you are breathing. It's the greatest gift you received. And I know you may be going through some hard times and I know, but you can still breathe and go through a hard time.

God gives them breath. That's the first gift. But then God doesn't just stop with giving them breath. But then he also gives them everything that sustained their life. So he gives them life and then he gives them the garden with everything that they need to sustain the life that he gifted to him. So when you look throughout the scripture, you find out that God is someone who gives gifts. Now we know the story in the garden in Genesis chapter two and three where Adam and Eve, in a moment of greed and thanklessness took the gifts that God gave them and they threw away. And as a result, they lost the gift of life. Their life began to deteriorate. They lost the gift of the garden. They were kicked out of the garden. They lost the gift of fellowship with God. They were separated from relationship with God because God is such a gift giver.

God says, you know what? I know you threw away what I gave you, but I'm going to give you a promise that there's another gift coming and this gift that's coming, I'm not going to tell you when it's coming. I'm not even going to tell you necessarily the space of time, but I am telling you that there is a gift coming. I'm giving you a promissory note that there's coming a day when there is a gift coming, which will reset, reconcile every gift that you ever, and it's going to come through the seed of the woman and the gift of the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent. And since that moment that God gave the promise to Adam and Eve, humanity has been waiting in grief and in anticipation for God to fulfill his promise of a new gift. But God didn't just say, Hey, listen, you're going to have to wait without any gifts.

God still gave gifts. Think about all throughout scripture, because he's a gift giving God. God gave precursory gifts to mankind. We can look throughout the scripture that some of our heroes, he gave no the gift of a rainbow. He gave Abraham the gift of a son. He gave Jacob the gift of a new name. He gave Joseph the gift of a dream come true. He gave Moses the gift of his presence. He gave Israel the gift of deliverance. He gave Hannah the gift of a prophet son. He gave David the gift of a kingdom. He gave Solomon the gift of wisdom. He gave Isaiah the gift of prophecy for telling the coming of the Messiah. He gave Daniel the gift of angels in the lions den shutting their mouths. He gave the Shadrach, Meshach and Bendigo the gift of his presence in the middle of fire.

He gave Esther the gift of influence all throughout scripture. You read over and over again that our God is a God who gives gifts. And the amazing part is those gifts were great gifts from God. David didn't earn the kingdom. Esther didn't earn the influence. Daniel didn't earn the angel in the lions did. Shadrach, Mesha and Bendigo didn't earn the presence of God in the midst of fire. These were unearned gifts and yet God is such a gift giver that he gave from his own love. Those were amazing gifts. Those were grand, those were powerful. Those were mighty. Those were amazing. And here's the thing about all those gifts though. All those gifts faded away with the recipients. David eventually stopped being King. Esther eventually lost her influence. Jonah, he was gifted the gift of a big fish, but eventually a big fish spit him out.

Eventually, every gift that you receive on earth will either fade with you or fade with somebody else because they're temporal gifts. No gift could have compared to the ultimate gift that God was preparing for hundreds of years. There were foretelling about a promised gift that was going to come and they didn't know how it was going to come. They didn't know who it was going to be. But lo and behold, beyond anyone's imagination, God was looking out across earth trying to find the perfect gift, and yet God also knew that there is no gift that can compare to me. And so God himself wrapped himself in the lightness of sinful flesh. He was injected into the oum of a woman. He was born as a baby boy wrapped in swallowing, clothes, lying in a manger, and the greatest gift that was given to mankind wasn't just a gift from God, but it was the gift of God.

See, this was very confusing even to Joseph because remember the story. The angel comes to Mary and says, Hey, listen, you're beloved. You're favorite among all women and you are the one selected to deliver the gift of God. You are the one selected to bear the son of God. Now imagine the conversation as Mary is talking to Joseph trying to explain to him how she's pregnant. Joseph, this upright man who has got his reputation, he's got a business, he's a great guy, he found a great woman, and everyone's rejoicing for him. They're getting ready for the wedding plans. The engagement party was lit, and all of a sudden Mary's like, Joseph, I need to talk to you. And Joseph was like, uhoh, that don't sound right. I don't think this is supposed to wait after marriage.

Some of y'all get that on your way home. Mary says, listen, I'm pregnant. Joseph was like, what? Who is it? Was it Jedi? Was it Thelonious? All these biblical names. Who was it? Mary says, this is going to be more complicated. It was God. What do you mean? It's the Holy Spirit who told you this? An angel. Okay, now I'm done. I'm done. And so Joseph being a righteous man, the scripture says, decided to put Mary away privately because he thought there's no way that this could happen, right? And while Joseph is pondering how Mary is talking about not just receiving a gift from God but saying that she is bearing the gift of God, Joseph is having a hard time with this. So the angel appears unto Joseph and recites a prophecy foretold by the prophet Isaiahs 700 years before, and he says this in Matthew chapter one, verse 23, behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. God who was the ultimate gift giver, became the gift given. Think about this. When God looked throughout the world and he found nothing, the greatest gift that God could give us is the gift of himself. Now, this is what I want you to know about God, that because God gave himself, when you receive the gift of God, you also receive everything that God is and has. It's the gift that keeps on giving. It's like a membership that gives you access to special exclusive deals. Anyone have a Costco card?

If you don't have a Costco card, go get you a Costco card. Have you ever noticed when you're walking through Costco how people, they just walk a little different. It's like they know than when I walk through this door and I flash my card. They don't even check the picture. I just flash the card. They walk in the Costco different because now they have access to things that people without a membership don't have access to. I can buy in one sitting 750,000 bottles of water at a discounted rate. I no longer have to buy just one bag of chips. I can buy 128 bags of chips that I will not eat, but I got access to it and so put it in my cart. I don't need 300 rows of toilet paper, but put it in my cart. I don't need all these tissues, but put it in my cart. Why? Because now, because I have a membership, now I have access to everything that Costco has. Did you know that when you receive the gift of God, that you receive everything that God is and has?

Some of y'all are not taking advantage of the fact that when you receive the gift of God, you also receive Jehovah Gyra your provider. You also receive Jehovah Rafa, your healer. The reason why some people struggle through life is because they don't realize that when you receive the gift of God, you have access to everything that God has for you. I just want to let you know a couple of things that you have access to. First of all, you have the gift of his presence. When you receive the gift of God, you also have the gift of his presence. Emmanuel let that sink in. God with us. Somebody say, God is with me. Let that sink in because some of us have tried to go through 2024 by ourselves trying to figure out everything by ourselves, trying to come up with all the strategies to make it through life.

If I had a better job, if I had a nicer car, if I had a bigger house, if I had better connections, if I had better friends, if I had a different spouse, if I had a different boyfriend or girlfriend, if I had a boyfriend or girlfriend, if I had a different children, y'all need prayer. You got what you got. Thanks a lot. The thing is, we can go through life thinking that if we do better than maybe my life would change. Instead of realizing that when you accept the gift of God, you have access to his presence, meaning there is nothing in life that you go through where God isn't there. If I'm in the hospital, God is there. If I'm walking in the shadow of death, he is there. If I make my bet in hell, he is there. If I'm closing big deals, he is there.

If I'm losing big deals, he is there. When I launch that new company, he is there when I to file bankruptcy. He is there when I'm sick in the hospital, he is there when I'm going through a hard time. He is there when I'm grieving, he is there when I'm joyful, he is there. Anybody thankful for the presence of God no matter what you go through Christmas is a reminder that he is Emmanuel. God is with us. You don't have to go through anything in life by yourself. I don't have right friends, you got God and if you have God, you have enough. The gift of God gives me access to the gift of his presence. Look at this in Hebrew chapter four, verse 14. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God. Let's hold fast.

Our confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then with confidence drawn near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. His presence brings everything that he is. It brings peace, it brings joy, it brings hope. It brings patience. It brings healing. It brings faith. It brings endurance. Whatever I need in the moment, the presence of God supplies. To me, Christmas is a reminder that you don't have to do life by yourself. Do not walk into 2025 with an independent mindset. Do not walk into this new year thinking, I got this. 2024 has proven you ain't got this, but God's got this. God's got every situation that I go through.

He has it and because he has it and he's with me, I'll make it through anything. I'll make it through every storm. I'll make it through any situation. If people talk about me, I don't even care. God is with me. Have you ever? I remember this time when my brother and I, we were small kids in elementary school and I was in conflict with a young guy and I thought, you know what? I'm going to get into a fight and I'm going to beat him up. And so I looked at my friend and I said, here, hold my pretzel, Don. He held my pretzel and I squared up and my idea of fighting was kicking.

I played soccer and I said, that's my strongest part of the body. I'm going to kick the fire out of this dude. And I squared up with him and I was ready and out of nowhere, he punched me right in my mouth and I looked at him. I said, oh, I'm in trouble fighting back tears. I said, give me my principle dog. I'm going to go get my brother. And I went and found my brother. He was running around with his friends. I said, Hey, I need you to do something for me. That boy hit me in the face. My brother said, where is he? I said, he's over there. He got his homies together. He said, we're going to get him. I said, yes, we are. And I ran with my brother and we chased that dude around the school yard and my chest was puffed out and I was eating my prison. I didn't have to do anything wise because I had the presence of somebody who was willing to protect me. When you walk into 2025, whatever the enemy tosses at you let 'em know that I got the presence of God with me. So try it if you want to, but it's a fixed fight, go ahead and parch me in my mouth. See what happens.

And he's still here. So you have the gift of his presence. Don't forget that, but you also have to gift of his peace. Here's the thing, one of the most underrated things that you have access to that most people don't take advantage of is the gift of God's peace. Not your peace, not the resemblance of peace. Listen, how many have ever taken a vacation to get away from the trouble? You got to come back for that few days out there in The Bahamas. It's great, but it's waiting for you. When you come back, you may be refreshed good, you may have a tan, awesome, but it's still there. Here's the thing. God promises us peace. Here's what the scripture says in Isaiah, when he was prophesying about the Messiah some 700 years before his arrival, he describes the gift of God and he says this, for unto us, a child is mourned and to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace.

That word peace is the word shalom. Now, the biblical concept of peace doesn't mean that you won't have warfare or conflict. The biblical principle of shalom is that in the midst of conflict, you have the presence of God, and when you have the presence of God, there is greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You can't be stopped when you have God. You can be in the middle of conflict, but if you have the presence of God, you have the presence of peace because he is the prince of peace. One of the greatest gifts that you have access to through the gift of God is the gift of peace. You do not have to walk around troubled in your mind by yourself. You have access to the prince of peace. God offers all of us peace.

You keep looking for peace in the wrong places. That guy, tall, dark, and handsome is not the prince of peace. He may be a prince, but he ain't the prince of peace. She may be a queen, but she ain't the queen of peace. I said, man, this is too real. That's supposed to be Christmas. True inner peace that surpasses all understanding only comes in the gift of God. You also get the gift of his promise. I would be remiss if I spent all of my time today just talking about the gift of Christmas without talking about the actual day of Christmas, the birth of Jesus, without talking about why Jesus actually came. Jesus didn't come just to be a token of God's love to mankind. He came to give us eternal life. He came to save his people from their sins. This is why the scripture says in John chapter three 16, that's why I read it to you.

For God so loved the world, the greatest expression of love that God has toward humanity is that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have what everlasting life. Matthew chapter one, verse 21 says, Jesus came to save his people from their sins. The greatest gift of God that gives us access is access to the gift of the promise of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter two, verse 38. Then Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Here's the amazing part about when you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, you don't just receive the presence of God in you, but now you receive access to the power that's contained within the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is what Jesus said, you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit comes upon you. I just want to preach and tell somebody you may be walking out of 2024 in weakness, but I pray that you walk into 2025 with power. You may have had some stumbling blocks this year, but I pray that you have some stepping stones in this next coming year. This is the last Sunday that we are gathered together in 2024, and I just want to take some just a couple of seconds to remind somebody that when you receive the gift of God, you receive access to the power of God. You receive access to the power that is greater, is dynamite power. It's due to us power. Power to walk right, power to talk, right power over disease, power over addiction, power over your sickness, power over your mental state, power over the dysfunction in your family, power over trauma, power over your mama if your mama's crazy, but got to give you power in your mind, I wish somebody would hear me preach today.

You don't have to walk into the new year powerless. God wants to give you real supernatural power working in your life. This is what the Bible says that he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Whatever God started in your life, he is faithful to do it. Power is working in your life. Maybe I'm just preaching to myself, but I pray that God indus you with power to overcome every obstacle that comes your way. Power over the grief that you've been dealing with so you can grieve properly. Power to break every chain of addiction that's been working in your family. Power over sickness and disease power to rejoice in trial power as you walk through the fire power, as you walk through the shadow of death power, as you climb mountains, power as you go through valleys, God gives you power. This is the real message of Christmas is that he didn't just come and say hello and 33 years later say, deuces, I did my job, but he says, when I leave, I'm sending the comforter so that the same power that Jesus operated in while he was on earth, you now have access to, you have access to that type of power.

Some of us are going to be unwrapping gifts this Christmas, things that we put on the list, things that we want, but lemme tell you something. The greatest gift that you can unwrap is the gift of God, but remember the caveat. A gift isn't a gift until you receive it.

So here in this Christmas, we're reminded that God presents to all of us the gift of himself, but it's not yours until you believe in. Isn't that what the scripture says? For God's love the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life? Have you received the gift of God? Have you truly received the gift of God or have you just been pondering the gift? Do you see it but haven't accessed it? Because for many of us, we can hold a gift in our hand but not open it. I'm the type. Janice always tries to tuck me before the day. Do you want to open it early? And I'm the type, I'm like, no, I'm a man of principle. I don't want to open it until the day I have the gift in my hand, but I haven't received it yet because it's not unwrapped yet. How many people come into Christmas receiving a gift in their hand and they hold onto it until Easter and then Easter comes and goes and they come back next Christmas and it's the same gift?

You don't know what's in the gift yet because you haven't unwrapped it yet, but when you unwrap it and you accept it and you believe it, it will change your life. It will change it. So if you're in this place and maybe you're among those that you've been around the gift, but you haven't believed in the gift, it's available to you today. This is what I want to do. I want to give you an opportunity to unwrap the gift. I want to give you an opportunity to access the gift that is God say, would you stand to your feet?

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? There's some in this place, maybe watching online that you made it through 2024, really just leaning on yourself or leaning on your friend group or leaning on some support, but you hadn't really been leaning on God and Christmas is a reminder that you don't have to do this by yourself. You have access to God. You have access to a gift that keeps on giving. Will you unwrap that gift today? This is what I want to do. As heads bowed and your eyes are closed, some of you're going to say it for the first time. Some of you're going to say it in concert just with your friends that are saying it for the first time, but I want you to repeat this after me. Say, dear Lord, Lord, I recognize my need for you, cognize. I believe you came in the form of humanity.

Form of humanity. You gifted us your life. Your life. I believe. I believe you paid for my sins, for my sins by dying on the cross. I believe. I believe you conquered death by rising from the grave. I believe you are seated in heaven ruling as Lord and king. Forgive me for my sins come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. I receive your gift and commit my life to you. Thank you for hearing my prayer. In Jesus' name, amen. Someone rejoice with those. Come on, that have unwrapped the gift for the very first time, but it doesn't end here now. You begin to utilize all the gifts that you have access to. I pray that 2025 is a year where we really take advantage of everything that we have to back to my KitchenAid mixer. Once you buy a KitchenAid mixer, you have access to all kinds of stuff, but you got to get the accessories right. There's the pasta accessory. There's the meat grinder accessory. Did y'all know that you can grind meat with a KitchenAid mixer? I'm putting y'all on game right now. I'm giving you a gift of knowledge.

The gift of God is the same way. You have access to so many things that you need in your life just by the presence of God. I pray that in 2024, you just start unwrapping all the accessories that you have access to, the gift of peace, the gift of joy, the gift of his presence, the gift of hope, the gift of love, the gift of forgiveness, the gift of grief, all those things. I pray that you would just unwrap it and ravel in all the amazing things that you have access to in Jesus name.

Tim Rivers
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