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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

The Greatest Gift

So what is the greatest gift you have ever received?

You know, in my home, my parents' home, we have what we call el museito.

It's a literal translation from Spanish is the little museum.

And what we have in this museum at home, and it has followed our family all my life.

I was just in Tennessee for Thanksgiving and we spent time in the Museito.

And what this place is, it's this space in the home that is literally filled with hundreds, hundreds of different items.

Going all the way back to my infancy and childhood for both my sister and I and our family since the very day we became family.

And so we have all sorts of things, all sorts of things.

I mean, I have every 1 of my baby teeth, little containers.

I have plastic bags with hair locks of my first haircut.

It's a museum, a little museum of memories, so many memories.

And what's really fun though about El Museito is that I get to notice and see with my very own eyes and even handle toys, gifts that I received throughout my life.

And of course, of course, there's many other gifts that are no longer there because they're long gone.

Who knows where my Christmas gifts ended up?

Some of them, you know, they just disappeared.

Other gifts, Well, let's just say they're destined to be in a storage box forever.

And then another set of gifts, well, let's just say that at the end of the day, nothing, nothing will exist beyond the end of time.

Everything, all the gifts we've ever received will not exist beyond the end of time.

But of all the gifts, of all the gifts that we have received in a world filled with material possessions, in a world filled with temporal things, What is the gift?

The gift that transcends time, space, and eternity.

And the greatest gift ever given to mankind is God's gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

I believe you've caught that by now through the music that we enjoyed this morning.

What a beautiful message, a beautiful message that came to us on a silent night, holy night, when Emmanuel came to us.

You know, the greatest gift, the greatest gift was motivated by God's love.

You've given gifts that have been motivated by well by your love.

Maybe to your old, you know, the girlfriend that you had, you know, when you were young or your fiancé, your husband, you know, children, etc., etc., etc.

We've given gifts that have been motivated by our love.

How much more, how much more a God who is love would be motivated to give us a gift.

Our minds can't even wrap ourselves around the magnitude of this gift.

You know, it's true, motivation plays a critical role in the act of giving, really does.

Anything given has a motivation behind it.

You know, I remember when Heidi and I were dating, getting to know each other.

And if you were to ask Heidi, what was 1 of the greatest gifts, you know, your husband today ever gave you?

You know, I would venture to guess that she would remind me of that day in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where I gave her 1 of the greatest surprises of her life.

When I gave her a gift, we were dating, I was at the seminary at Berrien Springs, and so I had a little apartment, 1 bedroom apartment, and just what I needed.

And as we got to know each other, and I was very much, very much drawn to her.

After much prayer, I sensed in my heart that God had brought Heidi into my life.

And I began to be motivated, very much motivated, to show her how special she was becoming in my life.

I was motivated to show her how much I loved her.

I was motivated to communicate to her that she was becoming someone very significant in my life.

And so what I did 1 day, and this was around February, which was her birthday, also happens to be just around the corner from Valentine's.

And so what I did was I went to my one-bedroom apartment, and I literally went to the room, and I emptied it completely.

I moved furniture with some friends down the walkway into another friend's house, just emptied out that room completely.

And and I transformed it, transformed it into a banquet hall.

Don't give her a hint of what I've done to this room.

So I closed the door and yes, okay, she won't have any idea.

And so the evening came when I had invited her to come to my home, to my apartment for a dinner, special dinner, Come.

And so she came and I said, well, come on, honey, I'm so glad you're, I don't know, did I call you honey at that time?

Oh, I'm so glad, hey, Let's enjoy an evening together.

And I took her into the kitchen table, and there was paper plates and plastic spoons and plastic forks.

And I put her smack in the middle a can of refried beans with a can opener.

And I said, oh, I'm so glad we can enjoy, you know, dinner tonight.

Oh, man, I wish I would have had a video of her face.

But she's so kind that she was very cordial, very, very polite.

Great disappointment, or at least it wasn't meeting your expectations.

Until I said, oh, but Heidi, you know, I do love you, and I really love you so much more than this.

And I took her by the hand and I had in my pocket the little remote control where at the right moment I started playing some music, you know.

We'll talk later, But yeah, so I played the music.

And I opened the door and she walked in and she couldn't believe it.

There was a tool with white lights and rose petals.

And there was a beautiful table with glassware and china plates and candles.

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The Greatest Gift

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