A party, a drunken monarch, and a rash promise. A young woman manipulated, a mother angry, and a hideous request that ended the life of Jesus’ own cousin. While one person denied decency and right, another denied his conscience and gave a gift he would forever regret giving.

<p>A party, a drunken monarch, and a rash promise. A young woman manipulated, a mother angry, and a hideous request that ended the life of Jesus’ own cousin. While one person denied decency and right, another denied his conscience and gave a gift he would forever regret giving.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written

John Bradshaw

The Gift

Before we open the Bible together, let's pray and expect God's blessing.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the privilege that is ours to come to you through your word.

We pray you'd open our hearts and give us understanding.

We pray, thanking you for the presence of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you and we thank you in Jesus' name.

I'm not a great Christmas shopper, never really have been.

Good Christmas gift ideas just don't come easily to me.

Many years you'd have seen me at whatever shop was open as late as possible on Christmas Eve.

I'm the guy you saw trolling through Walgreens late on the night before Christmas.

Last year I did my homework ahead of time and I at least put together a list of nice Christmas gift ideas and I found that there are plenty of options for nice Christmas gifts.

You have the internet to help you, you can find easy Christmas gift ideas, such as a cashmere blanket, ideal for traveling, $2, 150.

Now you think that's a lot, but do remember it doubles as a pillow.

I was interested in this, a scented candle from Selfridges in London.

I was interested in the scented candle from Selfridges in London because I used to work in Selfridges in London on Oxford Street.

Now you think that may be a lot but it has notes of lemon and bergamot and galbanum and sapphire and if you know what 2 of those 4 are then you get bonus points.

Now I was interested that it has notes of heather and berries which I think everybody's looking for in chocolate, and it boasts a long dark finish, which was such a surprise.

Imagine chocolate having a long dark finish.

Unfortunately, there wasn't time for me to order any of those things and receive them by Christmas.

So maybe next time around I shall order the Ecuadorian chocolate.

Not that I eat it, but it does have a long dark finish.

But what would it be like if you could have whatever you wanted for Christmas?

If money was no object, if someone promised you whatever you wanted, what if you were told you can have anything?

I noticed recently that some companies are offering land on the moon for sale and even land on Mars.

Now I don't know how it's theirs to sell, but you could own a little piece of outer space real estate.

I remember reading a while back that you can pay money to have a star named after you.

Of course it isn't official, but that's a gift with the difference.

My brother got his DNA done and that was very interesting but you have to be apparently very careful about that.

There have been support groups set up for people who got their DNA profile done in order to find out about their ancestry, they found out more than they wanted to.

Found out some things that surprised them.

Remember if you could have anything at all, I don't mean world peace or a cure for cancer or that people would accept Jesus.

But of the things that money can buy, what would you ask for?

What would you ask for if you could have anything at all?

Well, a young woman we're gonna talk about today found herself in that situation once upon a time.

1 evening in fact, just a teenager, she so impressed a wealthy older man that he told her that she could have anything that she wanted.

Money was no object, And it really wasn't, as he was 1 of the uber-rich.

So what in the world would prompt a man in his 50s to make such an extravagant promise to a girl not even old enough to have graduated from high school?

Well, the usual things I think you'd find.

But then there were some quite unusual things as well.

And here's what we can learn so much from the gift.

It wasn't the kind of gathering just anyone could be at.

Really kind of makes you wonder what a teenage girl would be doing there at all.

There was a lot of laughter, friends catching up with old friends, business associates putting in an appearance, and along with that there was music and alcohol.

And if you've ever doubted the damage that music and alcohol can do, especially when you combine that with ego and desire, then the events of that night will leave you in no doubt at all about how important it is to make smarter decisions and to not put yourself in the place where you could end up exposed to ghastly stuff.

You see, it's common that not everyone who attends a party is there with entirely perfect motives.

Some are there simply to play the angles, to look what they can gain, to settle scores sometimes.

And this night there would be scores settled.

She was promised she could have anything she wanted.

A teenage girl, computer gear, a horse, a car, jewelry, tuition.

The rich man told her that she could have anything, so she could have chosen an island, or a resort, or a shopping centre.

Let's find out what she chose, the suspense is killing me.

If my daughter was told she could have absolutely anything she wanted for Christmas, I'm not sure what she would chose, but I'm thinking she would choose something for her father.

So we turn in our Bibles to Mark chapter 6, verse 13 says, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

You know, I wonder if we can really imagine what that was like.

Imagine hearing that a man went to your local hospital and healed everyone in there.

Then he went to rehab centers and healed everybody there.

People got out of wheelchairs and threw away their crutches and their walkers, and people took off reading glasses and never needed them again, and people threw out their medication and no longer needed to go to dialysis.

It's not easy to get our minds around this because we've never experienced it.

But this is what happened when Jesus came to town.

And when that happened, do you think people heard?

My father-in-law was blind, but now a sight is back.

They talked about it in offices and in universities and at City Hall.

They talked about it in government buildings, in the halls of power.

And most people were thrilled, most but not all.

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The Gift

Transcript

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