The Eternal Gift - Joy | Week 3

As the frosty air fills with the scent of pine and the sound of carols, we're reminded that the greatest joy often comes from the act of giving. We joined forces with the Mercy House community this Christmas, where we saw generosity flow like a never-ending river. The episode reverberated with tales of a festive event where lowriders and motorcycles paraded in unity, bringing smiles and gifts to countless children. We delved into the heartbeat of Mercy House's mission, from tutoring and Bible studies to ensuring those in need have their basic essentials met, all while exploring the cyclical beauty of those once helped now extending their hand in kindness.

The holiday season brings more than just a reason to feast; it's a time to reflect on the eternal gift of Jesus Christ and how to emulate His love in our everyday lives. A moment to cherish the story of the Wisemen and their profound gifts that held significant promise for mankind. The Magi's quest epitomizes true adoration, a poignant reminder of the divine prophecy come to life in the birth of Christ.

Wrapping up our festive journey, we turn to the transformative power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, encouraging listeners to open their hearts to the change He can bring. The chapter comes alive with a collective prayer of surrender, emphasizing the strength we find in the Lord's joy and the profound act of worship with our very being. As we prepare to bid farewell to another episode, we leave you with a blessing for the week and a personal invitation to draw closer to the divine, ensuring your holiday is illuminated with faith and fellowship. Join us as we celebrate this season of giving and the boundless love that Jesus brings to all of us.

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Transcript

Pastor Jason Brown: 0:01

Amen. Our question for us today is have you found joy? We've been talking about these ideas and these different questions during this Christmas season, and one thing I love is in giving gifts to someone. It's a highlight for me and I think that that's a highlight for many of us. Yesterday, as a community of faith, we were able to partner with the Mercy House and collectively we were able to give hundreds of kids a gift at Christmas time. Isn't that an amazing thing. We're so very blessed for all those that gave and were a part of it.

Pastor Jason Brown: 0:36

You can see here how the different teams they came in together and they formed a big line and some gave gifts ahead of time and others in the community were partnered with us. We had people from some lowrider groups that came in with their tricked out cars on hydraulics and with amazing sound systems. We had motorcycle groups that were coming in and showing off their motorcycles and revving them out and doing burnouts out in the street. It was this amazing thing as they came and brought in all these gifts and many of our volunteers, many of you, were a part of that. You got a chance to line up and be a part of this and loading the gifts down into the Mercy House so we could pass them out to the kids, and it was amazing because there were so many gifts that actually backed up the line. Isn't that awesome that people were so generous that they had had so many gifts that they backed up the line and getting them in there? What was amazing about it is that all the kids that came, all of those that participated, were able to get a gift at Christmas. They were able to experience the joy of Christmas as someone made it possible for them. They gave them a gift and it was a blessing to them. And if you scanned out, actually it was pretty amazing. Just inside the fence, in the yard there at the Mercy House it's a community center that is in Cashion there was over 400 people that went through the gate with a clicker. I mean, it was a lot of folks in the yard. It was a pretty amazing thing. And for all that came and made it possible, there was food for everyone and all the kids got a gift and it was such an amazing thing to see it happen and to see the joy that was there and to see the gifts stacked up right before they were given out. It was something to behold. So thank you for giving to the Mercy House, thank you for giving a gift underneath the Christmas tree, thank you for participating in making it happen and seeing it happen there for Christmas.

Pastor Jason Brown: 2:23

But at the Mercy House it goes way beyond just what happens there at Christmas time. It's something that goes week in and week out as people go and serve from this body and from other places and go and serve the students that are there. They give tutoring. That happens every week and we sponsor Bible study there for adults on Tuesdays and for kids on Thursdays and then on the weekend. We actually every other week make it possible through Tiamikas pantry and closet to give those who need food and those who need clothing, free food and groceries and clothes for them that need it. It's a way that we can give and be the hands and feet of Christ and that happens every week, week in and week out. Every month happening week in and week out. In the summer we do a reading program for kids that need to catch up and reading and it's a way for us to help the community take that step forward. All of this happens because of people like you that give of their time and their talent, they use their effort and they use their treasury, they use what's in their pocket to help other kids in need. It's because people like you that bring joy to kids at Christmas and so we're very thankful for that.

Pastor Jason Brown: 3:34

I was thinking about it, we were talking about it and you know it's thinking about Mika and Mika has been doing this. This is the 29th year that the Mercy House has had Christmas in the community. Powerful thing, it came out of her heart and Pastor Rich and then partnered together and seeing the Mercy House become a reality. And I got to sit by Mika, stand by her on stage yesterday and to be there. And she was just overcome with how the Lord had provided for her and provided for all these kids in the community and how he had brought community members and he had brought along us here at Cornerstone and other people to make it a reality. And she was just overcome by the grace of God and the love of God and the provision of God. And see if it wasn't for her heart to love the kids in her community sometimes not that easy to love rough kids in a rough community. She was loving kids because she had the love of God and her heart, and so she wanted to show them the love of God, and so she did that, with her own resources first, and then other people caught the vision and started to partner with her and it became this, a massive thing that we saw yesterday. In God willing, it'll be even bigger with the bigger scope in the future as more people are reached. What a powerful thing. We stood there on stage, and now generations of people have been affected by the love and the joy, by the generosity of Mercy House, as she stood there beside kids that grew up at Mercy House, that are now grown adults with their own business, with their own community groups, and they are now the ones that are giving back so that other people can know the joy of God, of Christmas. What a powerful, powerful thing.

Pastor Jason Brown: 5:27

I think about all of that and I think about how it is so much more a blessing to give than it is to receive. And I know, man, we like having nice stuff and getting good stuff, but we all know this that all that stuff is fleeting. None of it lasts forever. So as good as a gift is on Christmas, all the better to have the eternal gift, which is found only in Jesus Christ, and so we look to that at Christmas time and that's the reason which motivates us to be generous. It's the reason we motivate such to give. It's to see that smile on one of the kids' faces. It's to have that opportunity to be the love of God to others. That the reason we do. It is so that we can experience the joy of the Lord and we get to be a part of that process as we worship Him by giving love to others, amen. And so it brings us to that question and that idea of today of looking at that, to say what is it that we have joy in? Have you found joy? We've been talking to us about this idea of the eternal gift.

Pastor Jason Brown: 6:32

In our series at Christmas has been looking at different aspects and different facets of the gift. We look here to our series theme in Isaiah 9. It says for to us a child is born and for to us, 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. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, and on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forever more. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This theme we understand it sees the fulfillment of who Christ is to us, fulfilling all these different attributes of who the Messiah would be.

Pastor Jason Brown: 7:30

Today, as we look at the eternal gift, we look at this theme of joy eternal. What does it mean to have joy eternal? You have your Bible, your tablet, your phone this morning. If you turn with me to Matthew 2, we'll pick up in verse 9. And it says this after listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose, went before them and until it came to rest over a place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Have you found joy, lord? We thank you so much for your word. We thank you, lord, how you breathe upon it by your spirit. Holy Spirit, we ask you to come and have your way in our service and in us, or that you would make this alive to us, challenge us, transform us, lord, more into your image. We pray In the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, welcome to Cornerstone. We're so happy that you are with us today and that you've joined with us here in person or online, if you haven't met.

Pastor Jason Brown: 8:39

My name is Jay and Celeste and I have such an amazing opportunity of leading in this community of faith. We see ourselves very much as people who are following after Jesus, as Christ followers. We see ourselves not as having arrived, not as perfect in any way, but very much in need of a Savior, very much following Him where he's leading us to go. That's why, collectively, our ambition is to be more like Jesus, to be those people who are reflecting more and more of His characteristics and less and less of our own, so that we could be called the people of God, that we could be called little Christ, just as Christians denotes, so we can live for Him. We do that here, collectively, in our gatherings is the church. We do that throughout the week, throughout the city and life groups. We do that no matter where we go, no matter what we're up to, so that we can live the love of Christ, not just that church, not just in a building on a weekend, but wherever we go. That we would be the love of Christ. So let me encourage you that you join with us, not just in this Christmas season but in the year to come, because there's some great things that God wants to do in and through your life, some powerful things that he has for us, even in the upcoming year. Now, as we look to the scripture here, we've been talking about this theme of the eternal gift, and our focus here is, with joy eternal. I want to be one of the first ones to wish you a very Merry Christmas and I would ask that you would center on Christ at Christmas this year. Let Him speak to you and what it would mean to transform your heart and life more into Him.

Pastor Jason Brown: 10:12

We see this scripture here and we understand it picks up with the story of the Wisemen, the Wisemen characters, the ones we've seen in video and in song today and talked about a little bit In the Wisemen. Maybe you have an activity at your house. You see the little characters that are there and they're a nice little addition to the story, but in a lot of ways they're beyond just what we think of. There are these magi that were seeking to know the divine, seeking to know something that was beyond the normal. They're seeking to know a real revelation from the Creator God, and it's an amazing thing when you really think about it, because they were coming from a far off distance. They were coming seeking the knowledge. They had the pinnacle of knowledge in their day and they wanted to know the living God. They wanted more, and it's them that come and seek the Christ child.

Pastor Jason Brown: 11:02

So often we see them like this on camels just three of them, and though that works well with a nativity set, it was more likely a big entourage. It was their people that would go and be with them, because there were people of notoriety, people of wealth, people of influence, people who had other people with them, and so there was this big caravan following this star that they saw arise out of somewhere. Now you think about that and you think about the parameters in which that means it means that they were already studying to understand the stars, means they were the ones that come from these places, where mathematics comes from and where they were charting the sky as we rotate through it and all the different attributes that it means. It also means that they were looking and understanding in other languages, looking to see what the scriptures foretold of what would happen, and so when they were looking for this symbol and they see this star that doesn't belong and it's acting not like the rest of the stars. They know it's finally happened, this star is here, and so they abandon all other things that they're doing and they set up their caravan and they follow where the star is leading them and it leads them to the Holy Land and it leads them to the Christ child there in Bethlehem.

Pastor Jason Brown: 12:12

And it's interesting because you see the different figures that are there, each one of them historically having a representation of a people group from which they come from. And you see them coming from Arabia and Ethiopia. You see them coming from Persia and from India. You see them coming with these backgrounds of understanding, each one of them representing a kingdom and people with great knowledge, the pinnacle in their day, and they're coming to find this foretelling. They're coming to find the Christ that would bring all these scriptures together, what it's called is the adoration of the Magi. It's when they come to worship, to adore the fulfillment of scripture. And if you're going to come and you're going to worship the child, you don't want to come to a king empty handed. And so they come to the king with a gift.

Pastor Jason Brown: 13:02

We see these gifts and we see it throughout Scripture, each one of them having a very important reason that they brought it. The first gift that's brought is gold, and we talked about before how gold obviously denotes wealth. It denotes something of substance. It was, in that day, even fought over, much like it is today, of having a sink of wealth, something that people would trade for and has value because of its rarity, because of its brilliance, because of its use. And so they this was something that you would give a king as you entered into his kingdom. And so they, they knelt down and they offered this little Jesus, this baby Jesus, a gift fit for a king.

Pastor Jason Brown: 13:42

The second thing they brought was frankincense. It's something that was of great value and it was used in this. In this case, it was used actually in worship and in a context that you would see here. For the children of Israel, it was something that was, in sense, before the Lord. It was used as a worship, used by the priests of that day and the Holies of Holies before the Lord, as a worship of him, always this incense, this fragrance going up before God. And so this thing of great value was given to him, but it's a gift that was meant for a priest. It was denoting that Jesus himself would be our high priest. He would be the one that makes the ultimate sacrifice for the Holy Father on our behalf.

Pastor Jason Brown: 14:31

The third gift that you see here is myrrh, and myrrh and it's it's original form might look granular or otherwise, but usually it was emulsified and made into an oil. It was used to to go actually in the cremation and even in embalming it was using to be those things that they would use for someone who had died and preparing the body for burial. It very much was something that was used, talking about what the fulfillment of the Christ would be, one that died for all of us, who became the sacrifice for all of us. It became a marker for the reason that he came to earth for us was to be this, so it was a gift for a savior. So as you think about them and you think about them coming and giving these gifts, you think about what that would be like and what that would mean, and and even today, as we go and we would clamor for these different things. It answers that question about what, when you find what you're looking for, how you have a heart full of joy. In scripture it says that when they saw that the star stopped where the child was, they were full of exceedingly great joy. You know these gifts. They mark more than just what we see in scripture, what we see meant for a king or a priest, or for the savior.

Pastor Jason Brown: 15:55

They also denote something, even in our context they denote wealth and influence and, dare I say, legacy. You think about gold and you think about all the people that they chase the wealth in our world, and the reason they chase it is because it makes us feel important or that we have security when we have wealth, or whatever that would mean to those who acquire it. But even we know is that this wealth is only for this world, because when we die it goes to another, and so this wealth we stack actually doesn't belong to us or stay with us. It goes to other people and, and all that we can try to do with this world, we cannot make it eternal. It dies.

Pastor Jason Brown: 16:36

Here Many people, they try to clamor and maybe they try to get influence over another. You see this so often in political realms, where they want to be influential, they want to be important, they want to have that anointing, if you will. They want to be someone that others look to and they look up to, and it has this effect and so they're clamoring to be this person all the while we know that influence here on earth lives and dies. Here on earth, where Christ is eternal forever, we don't look to those here on earth to be our Savior, we don't look to them to solve everything for us, but instead we look to the one who is eternal, who came to restore our relationship back to the Father. You think about all these leaders and all these great people who have made a mark in history and they tried so hard to have their name last forever. I remind it, as we lived in Egypt or we lived in Europe, of great places that were built palaces and cathedrals and castles and pyramids that were built by these people to have a legacy for their name that it wouldn't die with them.

Pastor Jason Brown: 17:51

But their legacy is fleeting because it's only a marker in a little book somewhere. It doesn't have substance, because it doesn't love on with others, because it's not a life lived with the eternal focus. When we live with an eternal focus, then our legacy lives on in others as we live and give to the Lord, as we get to share the joy of providing for others in gratitude. As we get to be those people, we get to live and have a legacy that lives on in Christ, because we go to be with Him forever, so that we pass through this door called death. We are not dead, but alive forever with Him.

Pastor Jason Brown: 18:29

So when we think about our wealth and we think about our influence and we think about our legacy, all those are good things, but they're good if we use them for the right reason. So let me encourage you if you're someone who can amass wealth and good, use it for the Lord. Let it be a blessing for the Lord and let it be a blessing through your hands and, as you turn it over to Him, see that he won't multiply it and magnify it and use it for His glory. That it would be beyond just you, but it would be a gift for a King that you give to Him. That is, you're someone of influence. Maybe you're influential online, or maybe you're influential in your community. Maybe it's at your workplace or at your school or wherever you are that you would use your influence, not for you and for clout, but you would use it for Him and for the glory of God, that you would use it as a worship of God, like a fragrant offering for the Lord, that you would use it as a gift for Him, giving it over to Him and using your voice, your testimony, as a worship of God.

Pastor Jason Brown: 19:36

Maybe you have lived a good and a long and a healthy life and maybe you now have influence because you have family or you have other people that look to you in this way, that your legacy would not be about you, that your legacy would be about Him and about how you have lived as a servant of the most high God and that whenever you pass through that door called death, he says well done, good and faithful servant, that your legacy lives on because you are alive in Christ and you have a future, because your story isn't over. You don't have to worry about what the footnote says in a book. You get to live a life with Christ forever. So, friends, that you would use all that you have and your wealth and your influence and your legacy and, like the magi before us, all that we would be those that humble ourselves and bow down and offer all those things as a gift to the most high God, the living Messiah, jesus Christ, each and every one of us. We have to answer that question have you found joy? My suggestion to you is this that, instead of chasing after all these hollow ambitions, that you would go to the real source of true joy that is found alone in Jesus Christ. Let me encourage you that you would be someone, in this Christmas season and beyond, that lives with the joy of the Lord as your strength, and it doesn't matter with what's going on outside of you or what things you're walking through, because your joy comes from the Lord. It's not happiness, it's joy that comes from the Lord. And in the midst of even the most chaotic situation, you can have the joy of the Lord in your circumstances.

Pastor Jason Brown: 21:28

Because we look to the scripture today, we see Jesus' own words. He says this but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you. See, when we chase after wealth and influence and legacy, just for what they are, they fall short. But if you live for God, see that he won't give those things to you as at your disposal as an opportunity for you to lift the name of God even greater. He says that we shouldn't chase after what we eat or what we wear, these other things because they're fleeting and other people worry about those things. We don't have to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow brings its own stress, but instead we look to him as our source, seek first the kingdom of God. Everything else will be added to you.

Pastor Jason Brown: 22:27

Today, as we look to the scripture, we do so understanding that our joy eternal is when we found the real answer for joy. It's found, just as the magi said, in the personhood of Jesus Christ. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly, with great joy, because they found what they were looking for. Today, only you can answer that question for yourself. Love, you found joy as we come to this altar. It's one of decision, and it gives us an opportunity to each, every single one of us here, that most pivotal question the reason why we come together as a gathering of saints is to give you the opportunity to respond to his love, and maybe you're here and you've never made decision to ask him into your heart and life, even for the very first time.

Pastor Jason Brown: 23:14

Today, as an opportunity for you, it's that question you have to answer. And have you embraced Jesus? See, for us, the symbol of the cross is a powerful one, it's one of sacrifice, but it's also one of freedom. It's one where Christ paid for my mistakes, for yours. He paid for our sin upon the cross. He paid for the very thing that was separating us from a holy God. He comes and he makes a way. He becomes the ultimate sacrifice for all people, for all time. Scripture says that he lived a sinless life and he then goes through the cross, taking on our sin, paying it once and for all for all people. And with our faith and trust in him, we start a new relationship with God through Jesus, and it's an alive relationship. It's not based on something dead or past or gone, but alive as we live our faith in him.

Pastor Jason Brown: 24:11

The apostle Paul, when he's writing to the church at Rome, he says it like this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your day of opportunity to make a decision to invite Christ into your heart and life, to change you forever. If you're here in the room, I'd ask you to stand right where you're at, just bow your head. If you're online, you should prepare your heart for what God wants to do in you. It's a simple prayer, the one that we pray. We do so inviting Christ into our lives and asking him to forgive us of where we've fallen short, of the sin and mistakes that we've made. In doing so, it starts a new relationship with him. Here in the room, his heads are bowed.

Pastor Jason Brown: 25:07

If that's you and you want to make a decision to follow Jesus, or maybe you've been away from living for Jesus and you need to recommit your life back to him, today is an opportunity for you to do that. If you would, wherever you're at today, if you just raise your hand right where you're at, say, pastor, remember me in that prayer today, in raising a hand saying, lord, I want to make that decision. To see the hand that's there. Thank you, lord. See the other hands that are here. Thank you, god. People making a decision For you online, making a decision. We agree with you as well. Thank you, lord, for these hands that we've seen.

Pastor Jason Brown: 25:41

It's a simple prayer. I'm gonna ask this all to you and ask this all to pray together. It goes like this Lord, thank you for loving me and thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name, I pray Amen, amen. Friends, we were adjoiced with you making a decision to follow Jesus today. What a powerful thing.

Pastor Jason Brown: 26:20

And for those of you in the room that raised your hand to make that decision, we have something for you, right back after service, here by the prayer banner. We want to give you something you know, online, message us. We want to send something to you so you can live after God and be successful in your faith with him. I'm so very thankful for what God's doing in this season and we're gonna open up this altar to you to step forward and just embrace God, to get more of God and get closer to him, that he would be the joy in this season. Lord, we thank you so much for this word and we pray over it today.

Pastor Jason Brown: 26:49

Lord. Thank you, lord, for the example of the Magi, lord, coming from afar off seeking to know the divine Lord. They came, lord, intentionally to seek into worship, lord. They did so, lord, with gifts that show exactly who you are as our king and priest and savior, lord, that we would do the same with all that we have, with our wealth and influence and even our legacy. Lord, that we would live them as unto you. Lord, we will worship you with our whole lives, holding nothing back. Lord. In this way, lord, we know that you draw close to us and we pray. Holy Spirit, you impart to us, even in this moment, more of your spirit and more of your love and more of your power. Lord, that the joy of the Lord would be our strength and, as we come to this altar, lord, that we would do so to get more of your presence. We pray it's the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. I invite you to this altar today. I want to ask you to stand for the blessing today.

Pastor Celeste Brown: 27:42

We're so grateful that you attended the family service today. I have to say it's always such a good feeling when you get your kids in here and they get to see you as a parent or a grandparent worshiping, and then you get to have childlike faith once again and love Jesus the way they do. So what an honor. Have a fantastic week. We're gonna be doing a Christmas Eve service on Saturday night at five o'clock. It'll be an hour. It's a candlelight service. You don't want to miss it. Just come be a part in the next Sunday, normal time on Christmas Eve morning, nine and 11. And we hope to see you here.

Pastor Jason Brown: 28:16

Amen. Those three services are the same, so it's your choice. On the Saturday or the two morning services on Christmas Eve, it's gonna be a blessing. Before we go, praise, blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. I leave you in the power of your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and Merry Christmas.