Chapel Service
Napa Speedway
Albuquerque, NM
September 29, 2012
“We see Jesus in You”
www.BeyondCheckeredFlags.com
Bob Butcher
This chapel is about each of you. But, first I need to give you some background from Kathy & my ministry over the years.
All of you likely know that Kathy & I also serve another ministry organization called Youth With A Mission …or YWAM. This is our 25th year in that ministry and our family has have experienced an amazing life.
A life in full time ministry was our plan before we married.
Back in the day Kathy and I along with our girls led numerous outreaches into the former Soviet Bloc countries before & after the Berlin Wall fell. We did it all; smuggle Bibles and money, street preach with mime & drama presentations, visit underground churches, battle wits with communist secret police & their military, help build churches, and try to meet the needs of destitute, abused, oppressed, and enslaved nations of people.
We went with dreams & plans of helping these people any way we can. We raised money and went out on the limb to bless them and love on them for Christ. Even our family thought we were nuts taking Leeanne & Sarah into these countries where we could end up in prison easily. But, we knew that Jesus asked us to go for Him and we did. It is just that the outcome wasn’t always the result we envisioned. No, it usually wasn’t!
Instead of showing Jesus to these people, we saw Him in them. Let me show you three scriptures about what I mean:
Colossians 1:27: The Apostle Paul speaks about “Christ in you”
“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ living in you, the hope of glory.”
Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
2 Corinthians 4:10: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be plainly seen in our lives.”
I am speaking of the reality that when you have Christ in your life and you are dedicated to be His servant and mirror the image of His character, it is then seen in you and readily realized when you allow Christ to express His love through you to meet the need that person or people have.
We always went in order to do just that. We came here amongst you to also do just that.
However, so often we would arrive to bless & love on these people and instead of us showing Jesus to them, …they showed Jesus to us!
Many times these people who barely eked out a living under communist oppression showed us Jesus instead. They fed us the best of what they had not caring that they might go hungry, treated us like gold, and offered us anything they had.
We saw Jesus Christ in them and it was humbling indeed.
Before Mexico got too dangerous to take people into, we annually raised the funds and took some of the racing community from the old Northwest Tour and Craftsmen Truck Series into Mexico and built houses for homeless families.
The results were the same. These people were dirt poor, living in cardboard boxes around dumps, and they would bring out the best of what they had for us to eat and drink. To refuse their hospitality would have been an insult so we ended up being the recipients of the very love and care we intended to bring to these people.
Again, We saw Jesus Christ in them and it was humbling indeed.
** Pause a moment here so that one thing becomes clear. Does this mean that if I say we saw Jesus in them for their actions that it means they were what people call “saved” today, or “written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?”
Scripture is absolutely clear about this. There are absolutes about this issue:
Romans 10:9-10: “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Know also that once this is accomplished it does not mean that the outward man changes instantly. All too often I meet unbelieving people that think that this is true and they mock the offending person and Christians all together. The reality is that while the outward man people see and meet takes a lifetime to continue changing it is only the inward man or spiritual man that is instantly changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old spiritual man has gone, the new is here!”
There will be many that upon that day they must stand before God and plead their case for eternity’s residence they will fail because of the simple basic belief as the two above scriptures speak. Matthew chapter 7 verses 22-24 say: “In ‘that day’ many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we preach in your name, didn’t we cast out devils in your name, and do many great things in your name?’ Then I shall tell them plainly, ‘I have never known you. Go away from me, you have worked on the side of evil!’”
Make sure today that your name is forever written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You can do that right here and now by simply asking Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive your sins because you believe that He is the Son of God and was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected …for you!
Now, let’s continue…
Today and for the last number of years Kathy & I; along with our daughter’s families at times, have come to this NASCAR racing community to accomplish the same thing as when we went overseas.
You have become our family and we are honored to be here to serve you in any way we are able to.
But, once again the same thing has happened.
We came to serve you, bless you, love on you, and show you Jesus and instead we see Jesus in you.
We have been blessed with hotel rooms, finances, food, and electronic equipment, …the latest being an IPad… which I just finished teaching off of the last couple weeks at YWAM Salem and at a NIKO Leadership Training program in the Oregon wilderness.
Once again we see Jesus’ love in you and are sincerely humbled.
You see, …real love is helping others for Jesus’ sake even if they cannot return the favor …and Kathy & I never will be able to.
As I said at the beginning, this Chapel is about each of you.
You have been teaching us and it is humbling as I said, but really, REALLY Good!
Thank you
We are proud of you & love you all to pieces!