Dios Es Un Dador | Por qué La Navidad Todavía Nos Da Esperanza

00:00:00

Entertainment reflects the culture in which it's created.

00:00:07

When writers write and are inspired, it's because

00:00:10

they're in an environment that's impacting them.

00:00:12

So you know a lot about a culture, you know a lot

00:00:14

about a person based on their entertainment choices

00:00:17

or what they actually create.

00:00:19

I believe that when art hits us very deeply,

00:00:24

it's because it's saying something about God.

00:00:27

Even if the writers or the filmmakers

00:00:30

weren't intending to make a statement about God,

00:00:33

whenever it's true and whenever it's good,

00:00:36

God is present, God is in it.

00:00:39

That's why Christmas movies, so many of them are magical,

00:00:43

because they're tapping into the divine essence of God

00:00:45

and making us aspire to having a life

00:00:48

that's higher and greater than a humdrum life.

00:00:51

Today's movie is called A Christmas Story. Yes.

00:00:56

Okay. Everyone's going to have to raise their hand in here.

00:00:59

Everyone's going to have to, tell you right now,

00:01:01

everyone's going to raise your hand.

00:01:02

I'm going to ask you two questions.

00:01:04

You have to raise your hand on one of them.

00:01:05

First one is this. How many of you --

00:01:07

This just will help me speak here today,

00:01:09

make sure I get it right.

00:01:10

How many of you have never seen the movie A Christmas Story?

00:01:13

Never saw it, go ahead and raise your hand.

00:01:14

Never saw it? Never.

00:01:17

You have to boo them.

00:01:19

My gosh, bunch of ungrateful, judgmental people.

00:01:23

That's exactly why people don't come to church.

00:01:25

You guys are judging people

00:01:26

because of movies they haven't watched.

00:01:29

All right. How many of you have seen A Christmas Story?

00:01:34

[cheers] All right.

00:01:35

Okay, well, I don't know where I am right now.

00:01:37

What was it maybe 20, maybe 20% has not seen it maybe, 30.

00:01:42

Joe, what was it? What do you say?

00:01:44

So ten, somewhere in there. All right.

00:01:47

So this is all about a kid who wants a gift.

00:01:53

This is about a kid who wants something, specifically,

00:01:56

he wants a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock

00:01:59

and the thing that tells time. That's what he wants.

00:02:02

His name is Ralphie and he is consumed

00:02:06

on getting this BB gun, and he is consumed

00:02:10

with maneuvering and asking in such a way

00:02:13

to ensure that he has it.

00:02:14

This movie, when I saw it, I didn't see it

00:02:17

until my mid 20s, after I was married.

00:02:20

And I was over at Lib's house with her parents

00:02:23

and this thing came on and I had never seen it before.

00:02:26

I felt like, when I watched this movie,

00:02:29

I felt like someone had been spying on me my whole life.

00:02:33

I thought, this guy has nailed

00:02:36

what I used to think and do as a little kid.

00:02:39

I felt busted, I actually felt violated.

00:02:42

So how does he know my my life?

00:02:45

I've always wanted a BB gun, always always always always.

00:02:48

And I asked my parents for it over and over

00:02:50

and over and over and over and over again for it.

00:02:52

And it was just. It's a source of tension for me.

00:02:56

And so this movie was based on a series by Jean Shepard

00:02:59

which was called In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.

00:03:04

And then this assortment of essays

00:03:07

got packaged into a movie,

00:03:10

and Jean Shepard narrates the movie

00:03:13

as the little boy, Ralphie, who wants to have

00:03:16

the Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in stock

00:03:19

and the thing that tells time.

00:03:21

And he actually goes on and does some pretty amazing things.

00:03:25

But he's known, his voice is known for this work

00:03:28

as he narrates and co-writes this script.

00:03:32

Now, just to get us associated with these people

00:03:36

and the characters, you're going to see here, Ralphie,

00:03:39

you're going to see his brother,

00:03:41

you're going to see his mother,

00:03:43

you're going to see his dad

00:03:44

and some of the family dynamics that are taking place.

00:03:48

Let's take a look at our first little clip.

00:03:50

- Ralphie, why don't you go help your father?

00:03:53

- Really? Can I? - Yeah.

00:03:55

Watch the traffic there.

00:03:57

- Okay.

00:03:59

- It was the first time that it had been suggested

00:04:01

that I go help my father with anything.

00:04:07

- What are you doing here?

00:04:09

- Mom said I should help.

00:04:10

- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.

00:04:12

- Okay. Sit down here. Squat down.

00:04:15

That's it. Yeah. Hold this here.

00:04:22

No, not that way, not that way.

00:04:23

Come on, Rat Pack, put it like this.

00:04:25

- How? - Like this.

00:04:26

I want to put the nuts in it.

00:04:28

Okay, there we go. There's four of them.

00:04:31

And we got it. Ha-ha. Right there.

00:04:34

There it is. Let's get that dirty mug.

00:04:39

Bang, bang! There we go.

00:04:41

- For one brief moment, I saw all the bolts

00:04:43

silhouetted against the lights of the traffic,

00:04:45

and then they were gone.

00:04:47

- Oh, fuuuudge.

00:04:54

- Only I didn't say fudge.

00:04:56

I said the word. The big one.

00:04:59

The queen mother of dirty words.

00:05:02

The f dash dash dash word.

00:05:04

- What did you say?

00:05:07

- Over the years, I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap.

00:05:10

My personal preference is for Lux,

00:05:12

but I found Palmolive had

00:05:14

a nice piquant after dinner flavor,

00:05:17

heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness.

00:05:24

Lifebuoy, on the other hand. - Yuck!

00:05:26

- Are you ready to tell me?

00:05:31

- [mumbles]

00:05:35

- All right. Where did you hear that word?

00:05:38

- Now, I had heard that word

00:05:39

at least ten times a day from my old man.

00:05:42

My father worked in profanity the way other artists

00:05:45

might work in oils or clay.

00:05:47

It was his true medium, a master.

00:05:49

But I chickened out and I blurted out

00:05:52

the first name that came to mind.

00:05:54

- Schwartz.

00:05:56

- Oh, I see.

00:06:10

Hello, Mrs. Schwartz. Yes. I'm fine.

00:06:13

Um, Mrs. Schwartz, do you know what Ralph just said?

00:06:18

No, no, he said [inaudible].

00:06:23

- No. Not that.

00:06:25

- Yes, that. Do you know where he heard it?

00:06:29

No. He heard it from your son.

00:06:32

- What? What? Whaaaaat!?

00:06:41

- What did I do, mom? I didn't do nothing! Oh!

00:06:53

- Oh, oh, I love it, I love it. Now, now, here's the thing.

00:07:00

The thing about this story is you,

00:07:04

even though Ralphie is in a traditional family structure,

00:07:07

you've got a family that's together.

00:07:10

You've got a mom who I believe stays home

00:07:12

and doesn't work outside the home.

00:07:14

This is a movie that really is relatable to so many people.

00:07:22

And the reason is it contains the desire that all of us have,

00:07:28

and that is for our parents to be givers.

00:07:32

Everybody wants a parent who is a giver.

00:07:37

Everybody wants a dad who is a giver.

00:07:40

Everybody wants a God who is a giver.

00:07:46

And this is the heart of Christmas.

00:07:50

Again, I don't think Jean Shepherd

00:07:52

knew what he was writing,

00:07:54

but he was writing something that is a core, core message

00:07:59

to the Bible and to Christmas.

00:08:00

In the book of Isaiah there's a prophecy that came around

00:08:04

a long, long time before Jesus came around.

00:08:07

And there's a prophecy of what they were to expect

00:08:10

of this coming Messiah, or there was a messiah coming

00:08:13

and prophesies about Him.

00:08:14

And here's what it says in Isaiah 9:6.

00:08:18

For to us a child is born.

00:08:20

This is a Bible verse

00:08:22

where Handel's Messiah is inspired from.

00:08:24

[singing] For unto us a child is born.

00:08:27

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, given,

00:08:35

and the government shall be on his shoulder,

00:08:38

and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,

00:08:42

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

00:08:47

To us a child is born, to us a Savior is born

00:08:51

and He is given. Given.

00:08:55

Jesus is a gift by His Heavenly Father

00:08:59

and your heavenly dad,

00:09:00

whether or not you know Him or not to your life.

00:09:03

A gift to give you some governance,

00:09:05

a governance that actually works in your life.

00:09:08

Unlike the governance of our country.

00:09:10

Governance actually works in your life

00:09:13

to give you a prince who brings peace,

00:09:15

not catastrophes and calamities and confusion,

00:09:19

but actual peace. This is given.

00:09:22

And then in the book of Luke 2:11,

00:09:25

we see how this is fulfilled,

00:09:28

where it says this, a classic Christmas passage.

00:09:36

Where is it? Where is it? I know it's here.

00:09:40

I know it is here.

00:09:44

Well, let me just read it off my my little cheat sheet here.

00:09:47

For unto you is born this day in the city of David

00:09:51

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

00:09:53

Unto you is born, in other words,

00:09:56

unto you is given this day.

00:09:59

This truth that's communicated that I saw in my mid 20s,

00:10:03

quite frankly, it wrecked me. It wrecked me.

00:10:07

It was a picture of the father, my Heavenly Father,

00:10:11

that I had never seen, I'd never really considered before.

00:10:15

And this is why this movie endures,

00:10:19

because we can relate to it.

00:10:21

One of the characters inside of the movie is the bully,

00:10:25

and this is like when bullies were bullies.

00:10:28

This is when when Scott Farkus or Scott Farkus,

00:10:31

whichever one you want to say.

00:10:32

This when bullies were bullies.

00:10:34

This when bullies would actually beat you up.

00:10:36

This when bullies would make you bleed,

00:10:38

not they would call you a nickname and go,

00:10:40

"Oh, I'm so hurt. I'm traumatized."

00:10:43

You haven't been bullied.

00:10:44

You have a nickname you didn't like.

00:10:45

This is back when bullies were bullies

00:10:47

and we had some of those in my school.

00:10:49

We had those around.

00:10:50

You just want to stay away from them

00:10:51

because they were bad, bad news.

00:10:53

Thankfully, we've come a long way.

00:10:55

But Scott Farkas, whose name is actually,

00:10:59

not not Zach Thomas, not Zach Brown,

00:11:02

Zach Ward talks about what this is as he grew.

00:11:07

This is him as he grew, as he grew older.

00:11:09

This is him right here. Oh, no that's not, that's not.

00:11:11

No, Andy Dalton is not a bully.

00:11:13

Andy Dalton is a good man. I've met him.

00:11:15

He's a very, very good, good, godly man.

00:11:17

No, no, this is what he looks like today,

00:11:20

not too far from Andy Dalton. Right?

00:11:24

And here's what he said when he watches this movie still

00:11:27

and sees its enduring, lasting effect.

00:11:30

And by the way, he still gets royalty checks.

00:11:33

He says he gets them every other year for 1800 bucks.

00:11:35

That's what he gets. Here's what he says.

00:11:37

He says, "I've seen five year old kids

00:11:39

squat down in front of a TV

00:11:40

and not talk while they're watching it.

00:11:42

There's no song from Frozen, there's no dancing,

00:11:46

there's no talking reindeer or snowman.

00:11:48

It's kids, in a time when that five year old

00:11:51

doesn't care if it's a little white boy or girl,

00:11:54

little black boy or girl, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish,

00:11:58

it doesn't matter; they don't care.

00:12:00

They're watching it because that's their family."

00:12:09

It resonates deep inside of us because we all want something.

00:12:13

You want something. Why don't you name it right now?

00:12:16

What is it you want?

00:12:17

If God was to give you something this Christmas,

00:12:20

what would it be? I'm not going to tell anybody.

00:12:22

Just like, well, if He's a giver, what would that be?

00:12:26

I want you to think about that right now.

00:12:29

Ralphie asks. He asks again and again and again.

00:12:33

Sometimes we're afraid to ask

00:12:34

because we don't think that God is a giver.

00:12:38

We think that God's a taskmaster.

00:12:40

He's a slave driver. He's just an instructor.

00:12:44

He's a grader of papers. He's a Santa Claus.

00:12:47

He's making a list and checking it twice.

00:12:50

He's a father who's interested in his business.

00:12:53

He's not really interested in me,

00:12:54

even if I'm one of his children.

00:12:55

We have all these ideas about God that don't fit.

00:12:59

See, none of us are blank slates or blank canvases.

00:13:04

You can take a canvas that has a previous painting on it

00:13:08

and you can paint over it, but painters know

00:13:11

it still is not the same because of what was there before.

00:13:14

It's called the ghosting,

00:13:16

or it's called the shadow effect,

00:13:19

or it's called tainted ground or residual,

00:13:22

the residual layer or stained ground

00:13:24

because we don't -- When we've been having

00:13:29

a negative impact on our life, it affects how we view God.

00:13:35

But if you believe that God is a giver,

00:13:39

what would you ask Him? What is it?

00:13:41

What is it that you want?

00:13:44

We may not believe that God is a giver,

00:13:47

but we all want Him to give us something.

00:13:49

And we all have systems to get that to happen.

00:13:53

For some people, the system is religion.

00:13:55

You may have came to church today.

00:13:57

You may serve in Kids' Club.

00:13:58

You may do whatever your religious thing,

00:14:00

or go with whatever religion of your preference

00:14:02

or tithe or give to 10X or some of you

00:14:05

might be doing these things.

00:14:06

Which all may be good in themselves,

00:14:08

but the subtle reason you're doing it is because

00:14:11

you're trying to exert control over God

00:14:13

to get Him to notice you,

00:14:15

to earn maybe Him giving you something.

00:14:19

One of the ways we try to play God or control God,

00:14:22

others of us, let's pray like the only time we pray

00:14:24

is when we want something.

00:14:26

Which, by the way, is okay.

00:14:28

God is good to hear your voice under any circumstances.

00:14:31

He never gets tired of hearing your voice.

00:14:32

But for some of us, that's really

00:14:34

the only time we think about praying.

00:14:35

We don't think about praying when things are going well.

00:14:38

Don't think about praying for somebody else.

00:14:39

Don't think about praying just to see

00:14:41

if God might say something to me.

00:14:42

But like when I want something, we pray.

00:14:44

It's a way that we do have it to tap into God.

00:14:48

For others of us, it's our morality.

00:14:51

We tow the line morally because we believe

00:14:54

if we're good little boy or good little girl,

00:14:56

then God will give something to us.

00:14:58

By the way, this is what causes bitterness.

00:15:01

When we want something to happen with God

00:15:02

and we feel like I'm playing by the rules.

00:15:05

I'm doing the religious things, I'm praying,

00:15:09

I'm not beating up old ladies and I'm not, you know,

00:15:11

doing kiddy porn or some such thing.

00:15:13

I'm doing good stuff.

00:15:14

Why isn't God giving me what I want?

00:15:18

It's because we're trying to manipulate Him.

00:15:21

We're trying to strong arm Him a bit.

00:15:25

We're manipulating our way there.

00:15:28

Ralphie tries to manipulate his way to a Red Ryder BB gun

00:15:33

with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time.

00:15:36

And so throughout the movie, he's doing this,

00:15:37

and he has this idea like, oh, I know if I write a paper.

00:15:43

And the teacher reads the paper and I have the paper

00:15:47

about the Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in stock

00:15:50

and a thing that tells time, my parents will hear about it

00:15:54

and she'll actually vouch for me.

00:15:56

She'll go to my parents and tell my parents,

00:15:59

"You know, Ralphie really should have that BB gun."

00:16:01

And, uh, this again, is one of the things

00:16:04

that kids think of. I know I did. Here it is.

00:16:09

- Come on, kid.

00:16:11

- Ho ho ho! - Come on.

00:16:17

- Come on up, come on up.

00:16:19

Ho ho ho. Ho ho ho. Ho ho ho. Ho ho ho!

00:16:30

And what's your name, little boy?

00:16:33

- Hey, kid. Hurry up. The store is closing.

00:16:38

- Come on. - Listen, little boy,

00:16:41

we've got a lot of people waiting here, so get going.

00:16:44

- Come on.

00:16:47

- What do you want for Christmas, little boy?

00:16:51

- My mind had gone blank.

00:16:52

Frantically, I tried to remember what it was I wanted.

00:16:55

I was blowing it. Blowing it.

00:16:57

- Come on, kid.

00:16:59

- How about a nice football?

00:17:03

- Football? Football? What's a football?

00:17:06

Without conscious will my voice squeaked out football.

00:17:10

- Okay, get him out of here.

00:17:13

- A football? Oh, no. What was I doing?

00:17:16

Wake up, stupid! Wake up! No!

00:17:26

- No!

00:17:27

I want an official Red Ryder carbine-action

00:17:28

200-shot range model air rifle!

00:17:32

- You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

00:17:36

Merry Christmas. Ho ho ho.

00:17:40

- No!

00:17:47

- Ho ho ho!

00:17:50

- I love that, ho ho ho!

00:17:54

I love that, that's amazing.

00:17:55

Hey, I'm gonna go to Santa.

00:17:56

I'm gonna see if Santa will actually give it to me.

00:17:59

I'm gonna see if Santa actually is my way to get in.

00:18:04

God doesn't always give us everything that we want.

00:18:08

I hate to break it to those of us

00:18:10

who have a secret crush on a televangelist.

00:18:13

I hate to break it to those of us who still have

00:18:15

an affinity for the health and wealth gospel

00:18:17

that you believe that if you just do the right thing,

00:18:19

God's going to bless you and give you what you want.

00:18:22

And if you're not getting what you want,

00:18:23

then something's wrong.

00:18:25

No, that's that's horrible, stupid theology.

00:18:27

It's not in the Bible.

00:18:29

There's people who God loves very, very, very much

00:18:31

and doing all the right things

00:18:33

and are in poverty in third world countries.

00:18:38

But He is still a giver.

00:18:40

He just might not give to us in the way

00:18:44

and the timing that we want.

00:18:46

I know this, I know this

00:18:47

because I noticed just from my own life.

00:18:50

Like there's women, there's women that I wanted to date

00:18:55

that God wouldn't give me.

00:18:57

I can't believe it. Stunning, stunning.

00:19:01

Zero interest. Said no to me.

00:19:03

And by the way, I'm kind of happy

00:19:05

God didn't give them any to me,

00:19:07

because then I wouldn't have been with Libby, my wife,

00:19:10

who's amazing and the perfect person for me.

00:19:13

And I never even knew she was the right person for me.

00:19:16

But God didn't give me the women I asked for.

00:19:19

God didn't give me the church I asked for.

00:19:22

Before I came to Crossroads to start Crossroads

00:19:24

we had an amazing opportunity.

00:19:26

We thought it was locked down.

00:19:27

We had done all the beauty pageant and the interviewing

00:19:31

and the preaching and a pretty a well-known church

00:19:34

in a really great area of the country.

00:19:36

And we're like, this is it. Yeah, we're going.

00:19:38

And then no, no, no, no, God did not give that.

00:19:42

And we had we had dreams about it.

00:19:44

Supernatural things were happening. And no.

00:19:48

And I am glad, again, God said no because

00:19:52

I wouldn't have been able to be here with you all.

00:19:54

And I know some of you are going, "Damn,

00:19:57

why didn't they give that to him? I wish they would have."

00:20:01

But God, God said no. He didn't give that to me.

00:20:05

I am thankful that God said no to relieving us

00:20:09

of financial stress for many, many, many, many years.

00:20:12

We just it just took Lib and I a while

00:20:16

to get our financial P's and Q's in order.

00:20:19

And, um, believe it or not, I'm thankful for it now

00:20:22

because I have a level of gratitude

00:20:24

that every time I just fill up the gas tank,

00:20:27

I just think, "God, thank you.

00:20:28

You brought us so far that I can just fill up a gas tank

00:20:30

instead of putting $2 or $3."

00:20:32

And $2 or $3 gets you like two gallons before. Right?

00:20:36

And so I'm kind of glad that He didn't just give me

00:20:40

financial security earlier than He did,

00:20:43

because it's deep in my trust in Him.

00:20:45

It's deep in my self-discipline, Lib and my self-discipline.

00:20:48

I'm thankful for that.

00:20:50

God didn't give me three sons.

00:20:52

I prayed for three sons. I wanted three sons.

00:20:55

And Lib knew I did, too.

00:20:56

She was apologizing when our first child comes out,

00:21:00

Lena, my oldest daughter in the delivery room.

00:21:02

She's apologizing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

00:21:04

"It's fine. She's great. She's awesome."

00:21:06

And she is great. Lena is phenomenal.

00:21:08

But she knew that I wanted, was asking God

00:21:10

to give me three sons to disciple for their whole life.

00:21:13

I just saw a dearth of godly men who were strong,

00:21:17

saw a lot of rule followers, saw a lot of weenie boys,

00:21:20

saw a lot of people who played around with God

00:21:21

and just use God, but I just saw very few men,

00:21:25

men who stepped into what God wanted them to do

00:21:28

and understood how to do hard decisions

00:21:29

and do hard things, and we're sacrificial

00:21:32

and would lay their life down like Jesus did.

00:21:34

I just saw two few. I was like I want to create three of them.

00:21:37

And God said, no, no, you get one.

00:21:40

And I'm glad I got two daughters.

00:21:43

In fact, I wish You would have given me three.

00:21:49

My son and I are very close.

00:21:50

He's a very-- he's a good man, good, godly man.

00:21:53

And we're very good friends, but, man, girls are freaking awesome.

00:21:57

They are just great.

00:21:58

Or at least I wish I had, like,

00:22:00

three girls and my son, you know?

00:22:02

So I'm glad God didn't give me what I wanted,

00:22:04

which was all boys live.

00:22:06

And I prayed, God, if You're a giver,

00:22:08

please give us a healing of this cancer

00:22:10

she's been dealing with this last year.

00:22:12

And you know what He said, no, I'm not giving you that.

00:22:14

Well, He is actually giving us that.

00:22:15

He's giving us it through, I think,

00:22:17

chemotherapy and radiation, which she's supposed to start.

00:22:21

And I still sort of wish He would have given us

00:22:24

a supernatural healing. We did all the right stuff.

00:22:26

We had people praying for us, laying hands on,

00:22:30

oil, elders of the church. Yada yada.

00:22:31

We did all the right things and all the passages.

00:22:33

But God said no. No.

00:22:35

I kind of still wish He would.

00:22:36

But then where we are right now, sort of glad He hasn't

00:22:40

because Libby and I are closer now than we were a year ago.

00:22:45

God's refined us more in ways than we were before.

00:22:49

Even when God doesn't give to us what we want to get,

00:22:53

He's still giving to us, even if it's something

00:22:55

that we don't want or something we don't understand.

00:22:59

Ralphie doesn't understand this.

00:23:01

All he knows is what he wants, and he'll do it any way he can.

00:23:06

Santa Claus or his fantasyland with his elementary teacher.

00:23:16

- I knew I was handing Miss Shields a masterpiece.

00:23:20

Maybe Miss Shields in her ecstasy would excuse me

00:23:23

from theme writing for the rest of my natural life.

00:23:34

- You call this a paragraph?

00:23:36

Margins, margins, margins.

00:23:41

All my life's work down the drain.

00:23:44

A semi-colon, you dolt. A period. F.

00:23:50

I shall weap if I have to read one more. F!

00:23:55

Ralphie Parker. Ha!

00:24:12

Oh, the theme I've been waiting for all my life.

00:24:15

Listen to this sentence.

00:24:18

A Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock

00:24:23

and this thing which tells time.

00:24:28

Poetry. Pure poetry. Ralph, an A+.

00:24:35

My Ralph! Oh, Ralphie, you've made me proud.

00:25:10

- Ralph! Ralph! Ralph! [cheering]

00:25:21

- Is there something you want, Ralph?

00:25:24

- I'm just turning in my theme.

00:25:28

- Well, you can take your seat now.

00:25:33

- Ralphie's doing all that he can.

00:25:36

Now, the problem again is when I try to convince you

00:25:40

that there's a God who cares for you and He is a giver,

00:25:44

His nature is He is a giver.

00:25:47

The challenge we have is that none of us are blank canvases,

00:25:52

and many of us didn't have a father.

00:25:56

And many of us who had a father didn't have one who was a giver,

00:26:01

unless it was a giver of spankings,

00:26:03

or a giver of grief or giver of trauma, or some such thing.

00:26:08

I had a good dad. I had a very good dad.

00:26:11

I'm very, very, very thankful for my dad.

00:26:13

Very, very thankful for my parents.

00:26:14

My parents were very generous.

00:26:17

And they weren't generous in a way

00:26:20

that set me up to understand the core,

00:26:24

a core value of God, which is that He is a giver.

00:26:29

Uh, examples for you.

00:26:30

First of all, we never went hungry, never went hungry,

00:26:33

lived in an upper middle class home.

00:26:35

My dad worked for a corporation.

00:26:37

He was a nuclear -- He would troubleshoot nuclear reactors.

00:26:41

He wasn't dumb. He got paid pretty well.

00:26:43

I never went hungry, never had to pay a tuition bill.

00:26:48

Never had to pay any bill for school

00:26:49

because he was all school all the time, him and my mom.

00:26:53

Had my own room, all that stuff.

00:26:56

So very, very thankful for.

00:26:58

But they came from some really difficult circumstances.

00:27:02

My dad, uh, excuse me, my grandfather was a pastor.

00:27:07

And he pastored in a time in an era and in a church

00:27:10

where the way the pastor got paid was by chickens.

00:27:13

Every week, some of the people in the church would come by

00:27:15

and they would give them chickens out of their garden,

00:27:17

or they would out of their farm, that's how they feed them.

00:27:19

And the and the money had the cash he had

00:27:22

would come from refereeing high school football games

00:27:25

on a Saturday during the weekend.

00:27:27

So they just didn't have a lot of means to give

00:27:31

things that people would want to give at Christmas.

00:27:34

And so my parents, as you know, they became parents,

00:27:38

they inherited that sort of poverty mindset.

00:27:41

And they were great, great savers,

00:27:43

but they didn't really necessarily know

00:27:45

how to spend on people, what to do with that.

00:27:48

I've told a story before, so forgive me

00:27:50

if those of you who have heard this last year.

00:27:51

But, you know, my mom would stuff our stockings.

00:27:57

So we would go, I know were stockings.

00:27:59

You had a mother gave you stockings full. Must be nice.

00:28:02

Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know.

00:28:03

We all have our issues, okay?

00:28:05

But she would put inside the stocking all the stuff

00:28:09

that would help me not smell.

00:28:10

She put the deodorant in there.

00:28:12

She put the toothpaste in there.

00:28:15

Put the fresh socks in there.

00:28:17

In other words, it wasn't until I was 12, I realized,

00:28:19

"Oh, wait a minute, she's trying to save on the family budget.

00:28:25

She's trying to just put all the stuff in my stocking

00:28:27

that should be in the stuff."

00:28:29

So that was just kind of the way it was.

00:28:30

I remember my perception was

00:28:32

people were always getting more than me.

00:28:34

My friends, my neighbors, my relatives

00:28:37

would go over extended stuff.

00:28:38

At least that was my feeling at that time.

00:28:43

My wife is a giver. Lib is a giver.

00:28:46

Like it's one of her love language is giving, core.

00:28:49

It's her top love language is giving.

00:28:51

And for years, I don't know what was happening,

00:28:54

but I would get so angry with her on Christmas morning

00:28:58

because she would have these stockings.

00:28:59

I had -- My stocking was like a literal sock

00:29:03

and put it, put it in.

00:29:04

She goes and buys these stockings that are this big

00:29:07

and they are jammed, I mean, jammed with good stuff.

00:29:11

People pulling stuff out.

00:29:13

I'm going, "You got that in the stocking?

00:29:15

That's a legitimate gift to be under the tree."

00:29:18

And I would get so angry.

00:29:20

I started off thinking I would get angry

00:29:22

because I didn't know how we were paying for this stuff.

00:29:26

I started I was getting angry because

00:29:28

I thought we were breaking the budget,

00:29:29

but really, as I thought more about it, no,

00:29:31

what it was is I was just I was jealous of my kids.

00:29:35

I was jealous of them.

00:29:36

It was like something dark was being tapped into me,

00:29:39

that they were getting a level of generosity

00:29:42

that I never got, and I bemoaned them.

00:29:44

I was jealous, if you will.

00:29:46

It was horrible. Horrible.

00:29:49

Not horrible what she was doing,

00:29:50

horrible how I was putting that on them and on her.

00:29:55

And the BB gun. I asked for a BB gun every year.

00:29:58

I did everything I could to get a BB gun,

00:30:00

everything I could, extra work,

00:30:03

having people try to intercede to my mom and dad.

00:30:07

If I was over somebody's house and had a BB gun,

00:30:10

I said, "Hey, you know Oren, Oren has a BB gun.

00:30:13

Can I get one for Christmas?" No.

00:30:16

Or they would say, "Well, we'll see,"

00:30:18

which was their passive aggressive way of saying no.

00:30:21

That's the way they work.

00:30:22

So that movie and that message, it tapped into

00:30:25

that old, old stuff for me.

00:30:28

And it was um, it was really good for me to see.

00:30:31

Now, here's the thing. Here's the thing.

00:30:33

Again, my premise here of what we're talking about

00:30:35

is God is a giver.

00:30:39

So let me just go to the beginning of Bible,

00:30:40

give you some highlights why I think this way.

00:30:43

Okay. First of all, God gives Adam and Eve life.

00:30:48

God gives Adam and Eve a garden to be in.

00:30:51

God gives Adam and Eve freedom to move about the garden.

00:30:54

Tells only one thing I don't want you to do.

00:30:56

Don't eat of that one tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

00:30:58

Just don't do that.

00:30:59

And then when they do it, He's still a giver.

00:31:02

He gives them, they're hiding themselves with with fig leaves

00:31:05

because all of a sudden they know they're naked

00:31:07

and now they're ashamed.

00:31:09

And out of mercy, He gives them clothes.

00:31:12

God is the first person to kill in the Bible.

00:31:16

He kills animals and strips them of their hides

00:31:19

and gives them to them because He's a giver.

00:31:21

He's like, "Hey, son or daughter,

00:31:22

this will work better for you. Use this."

00:31:25

Then He comes to Abraham and He gives him a vision

00:31:28

to start a new nation, the nation of Israel,

00:31:30

and gives him an awareness that his descendants

00:31:33

will outnumber the stars in the sky.

00:31:37

In fact, you and I are part of his descendants,

00:31:40

if you've received one of his descendants,

00:31:41

who is Jesus, who is the Messiah.

00:31:44

He gives forgiveness, which, by the way,

00:31:46

is not just a New Testament thing,

00:31:48

it's an Old Testament thing.

00:31:49

The book of Psalm 103:8 in the Old Testament says this.

00:31:52

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,

00:31:55

and abounding in steadfast love.

00:31:58

He abounds it, slow to anger, and He gives forgiveness.

00:32:03

He gives second chances. He gives cleanliness.

00:32:08

He gives David an enduring vision to have a family

00:32:12

and an heir come out of his loins that's going to be

00:32:15

the King, the reigning King, King Jesus.

00:32:18

Jesus comes, He gives teachings, He gives healings.

00:32:20

He gives exorcisms. He gives love.

00:32:22

He gives His life on a cross so that you and I

00:32:26

don't have to give our life

00:32:28

so that we can have eternal life.

00:32:31

By the way, if you know my father-in-law just died.

00:32:35

Just died today, actually, at 6:15 in the morning.

00:32:38

He was -- It's not a sad thing. It's not a sad thing

00:32:41

because he hasn't been himself for years, has lost his mind.

00:32:44

Some of you may know him, he worked

00:32:46

out at the information center at Oakley, like forever,

00:32:49

him and him and his wife, Sally Neubauer.

00:32:51

And it's a good thing, it's a really good thing because

00:32:53

he didn't like the way he's been the last few years.

00:32:56

And it's a really good thing because

00:32:57

we know right now he is with Jesus.

00:32:59

There's no, people are, "Oh, I'm sorry."

00:33:01

Don't say sorry, I'm sorry nothing.

00:33:02

He won on this deal. He's in a great place.

00:33:05

He is with the generous aFther right now

00:33:07

where there's no suffering, where there's no pain,

00:33:09

where there's no tear.

00:33:10

And he has his full freaking mind.

00:33:12

It is a good thing because that's what God does.

00:33:16

He's a giver, a giver of eternal life.

00:33:19

Giving isn't what God does. It's who He is.

00:33:25

His identity is one of a giver,

00:33:28

which is why Jesus gives His life.

00:33:31

He may not give us everything what we want,

00:33:34

but He will give us what He wants us to have.

00:33:37

He may not give us things in our timing,

00:33:39

but He will give things in the timing that He understands.

00:33:42

We may not get the things that we think we'll never have,

00:33:45

but He may give us the things we think we'll never have,

00:33:47

because that's just who He is.

00:33:49

It's what He is. It's what He's done.

00:33:52

Jesus in Matthew 7:9, he says:

00:33:55

Which of you, if his son asks him for bread,

00:33:58

will give him a stone?

00:33:59

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

00:34:03

If you then, who are evil, know how to give

00:34:05

good gifts to your children,

00:34:06

how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts

00:34:11

to those who ask Him.

00:34:13

Jesus says, you know your dad is a giver.

00:34:16

Even a poor dad like Brian Tome who gets upset

00:34:20

when his kids get better stocking gifts than he does,

00:34:23

even him, poor father Brian Tome won't give his kids a stone.

00:34:28

Imagine how much a great dad is.

00:34:31

That's your Heavenly Father.

00:34:34

And this is the story of Christmas. Matthew 2:10.

00:34:38

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced.

00:34:42

And they went into the house, and they saw the child

00:34:44

with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.

00:34:46

They opened their treasures.

00:34:47

They offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

00:34:51

And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,

00:34:53

they departed to their own country by another way.

00:34:56

This is the Magi, the wise men.

00:34:58

They come at the first Christmas and they give

00:35:02

because there is a heavenly entity who they don't even know.

00:35:08

They're Persians of some Zoroastrianism strand

00:35:11

of religion, they're not even in the line

00:35:14

of approved religious practices, but they know enough

00:35:17

and are in touch enough with the one true God

00:35:19

that they model His characteristics of being a giver.

00:35:25

Mary gave her womb for God to put His seed inside of it.

00:35:30

Joseph gave his life so that Jesus would have basically

00:35:35

a foster father to take care of Him the rest of His life.

00:35:40

This is what happens in Christmas,

00:35:42

and that's because of who God is.

00:35:45

And this builds to a crescendo of one of the rare times

00:35:49

as an adult male, I actually cried.

00:35:52

It was the first time I saw this scene when Ralphie,

00:35:56

at the end of the movie, believes that

00:35:58

he has been forgotten and that nobody has heard him

00:36:02

and that nobody cares.

00:36:05

- Did you get everything you wanted?

00:36:08

- Almost. - Almost. Huh?

00:36:10

Well, that's life. Well, there's always next Christmas.

00:36:14

- Yeah.

00:36:17

- Hey. That's funny.

00:36:19

What's that over there behind the desk?

00:36:21

- Where?

00:36:23

- Over behind the desk against the wall over there.

00:36:28

Why don't you go check it out? Go on.

00:36:46

- What did you put over there, honey?

00:36:49

- Santa Claus probably brought.

00:37:28

- Oh, it was beautiful. I could hardly wait to try it out.

00:37:32

- Do you know how to load it?

00:37:34

- Yeah. - Yeah. That's right.

00:37:47

Careful, they run all over.

00:37:56

Close it up. Close it up.

00:37:59

- Can I? Can I try it out, Ma? Can I?

00:38:02

- Okay, but outside.

00:38:05

Oh, I still say those things are dangerous.

00:38:07

No, no. Put on your galoshes and your coat. It's cold out.

00:38:13

- I had one when I was eight years old.

00:38:17

- What if he hurts himself?

00:38:19

Ralphie, your coat.

00:38:24

- Mhm. What do you know, he gets what he's asked for.

00:38:31

You know the more I watched that clip,

00:38:32

the more things that pop out to me.

00:38:36

You know, when I first saw it, I just was struck by,

00:38:38

oh man, there's a kid that got something he asked for.

00:38:40

I would have loved to have had that.

00:38:42

It was the only level I processed it on when I first saw that.

00:38:45

Now, when I see that, I see

00:38:47

the father's joy in giving to his son.

00:38:51

Did you see that, how he was just getting into

00:38:55

opening up the little BB canister

00:38:56

and he was just caught up in it.

00:38:59

I think that's the way your Heavenly dad is with you.

00:39:03

I think He likes giving to you things

00:39:06

that you may not even know, but He just enjoys it

00:39:09

because it's who He is.

00:39:11

It's not just what He does. It's who He is.

00:39:13

And I like to close our time just praying for you

00:39:17

and that thing you thought of earlier that maybe,

00:39:23

maybe God might give that to you very, very soon.

00:39:26

I'd like to pray for that right now. So let's pray.

00:39:31

Lord, first thing I pray for is some of us thought,

00:39:35

man, I'd really like to know, the gift I'd like to know

00:39:38

is a level of assurance and I'd like to have faith.

00:39:44

It'd be nice if I could just believe.

00:39:48

And, God, some of us in here, we've heard enough.

00:39:50

We're ready to believe.

00:39:51

We're ready to put our faith in You.

00:39:53

And so we say, Jesus, I want You in my life.

00:39:56

I want to give my life to You. Give me Your Spirit.

00:39:59

Give me Your forgiveness. Give me Your power.

00:40:02

God, would You give the gift of eternal life,

00:40:05

the gift of relationship with Jesus right now?

00:40:08

God, others of us are are asking for

00:40:11

a restored relationship.

00:40:14

We just can't figure it out. It doesn't make sense.

00:40:17

We've done all we can do and just we're getting nowhere

00:40:20

and our heart is aching.

00:40:24

God, would You bring restoration?

00:40:26

Or would You at least give peace to let it go?

00:40:29

Would you bring something that gets us to a new place

00:40:32

with that person, with our own self?

00:40:37

Others of us want health, physical health,

00:40:41

emotional health, we want health.

00:40:42

We want something that a doctor is not able to give us.

00:40:46

God, would you bring healing?

00:40:50

Others of us are asking for something financially to break

00:40:56

because it's just not working for whatever reason.

00:40:59

God, I'm asking that you bring a financial push,

00:41:05

a financial, a financial unexpected thing

00:41:08

to those who are asking. I ask that.

00:41:13

Some are asking for a child, want a child.

00:41:17

Can't figure it out. Doctors can't figure it out.

00:41:19

God, would you open up wombs,

00:41:21

You opened up Mary's womb

00:41:24

when there wasn't human masculine sperm.

00:41:27

And You can open up wombs with no matter what the problem is.

00:41:31

You can do something and implant life.

00:41:33

I pray that you would do that.

00:41:39

God, I also say no matter what You decide to do or not do,

00:41:46

we're good with You.

00:41:47

We recognize you as who you are. You're a giver.

00:41:50

We pray these things according to

00:41:52

the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.

00:41:56

All right. You have a great day. We'll see you next week.

Recent Series