Chapel Service
Special Edition
NASCAR 2015 Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala
at the NASCAR Hall of Fame
Charlotte, NC
Christmas 2015
“The Most Important Christmas Gift”
www.BeyondCheckeredFlags.com
Bob Butcher
Here at Youth With A Mission, Salem, Oregon (YWAM) which is Kathy and my “other” ministry hat that we wear; we start each week with a time of all campus worship for students and staff. This often is the very time that the Lord speaks to me and lays out a church or chapel message to share, …especially at the track on raceday. Today was another one of those days. Let’s open His Christmas Gift:
God had a plan from the beginning to redeem those of us who choose Him over our humanness which breeds rebellion and thus sin, plus the same redemption from deception which His enemy plans for us. Scripture reveals to us that “…when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent His Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the Old Testament Law so that He might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free by grace instead of the impossible law to experience our rightful adoption and heritage.” (Galatians 4:4-5, GBB)
Hence, the birth of Jesus, let alone it being in a cattle barn/cave and laid in a manger in the worst of conditions is what we celebrate today as Christmas; unless we ignore the truth of the celebration and buy into the commercialized pandemonium of camouflaging God’s incredible Christmas Gift to each one of us.
While God’s gift began as a baby the real gift of God was Jesus, our Savior, to grow among us and begin creating a way out for us having to live up to an impossible set of Old Testament Laws in order to be redeemed and adopted as His own child from our rebellion and sin.
God doesn’t stop here however. He wants none of us to be lost and condemned to Hell instead of living with Him. His Gift of Christmas is for everyone. He has a plan how to accomplish this. He commanded each of us “To Go into ALL the World…” We are to “create after our own kind” or if you will …have kids of our own to present to Him! So yes, He wants to produce kids with us.
How do we do that? …Simple. Intimacy! That’s exactly part of the reason He created male and female. It’s all about intimacy, have kids of our own to raise, and present to Him. We can go a bit further here if we stop and remember that God calls His Church His Bride and Jesus the Bridegroom. Then in Revelation 19:7-9 speaks of the Wedding of the Lamb (Jesus, the bridegroom) and the Church (His Bride).
Let me present it this way: God doesn’t just want to hold hands with us! He wants us to go to the depths of intimacy with Himself. That’s exactly how this world will radically change for the good. It is quite an analogy/metaphor! You see, that deep type of intimacy we are talking about brings our heart into alignment with His dreams and desires and that causes us to get excited about bringing new believers (kids) into His Kingdom for eternal life of their own with Him. (And yes, we kept this PG here)
Okay, before we end this, let me deal with another subject that’s bound to arise in today’s value system as a hot topic of the day. Some will raise the question about God being okay with being gay then. However, God’s Word is quite clear about that whole issue. If one goes back to the beginning (Genesis 1) God creates both male and female …in His own image. At first He created the male, then the female as a help-meet. You must remember that God is the completeness of both male and female, unlike us humans. He is all male and all female in His oneness. That is why a human lacks completeness unless both the male and the female feelings, views, actions, are joined as one by marriage. It is His purposeful design. Both male & female are needed. (That is unless God individually prepared a person to be single and celibate.) (See Matthew 19:3-12 and1 Corinthians 7:1-9 among other scriptures)
God being both male and female along with understanding the Trinity is tough to explain. Personally, I just take it all in faith like I do water, steam, and ice being one and the same thing, or…me being a husband, father, and son all at once.
As we end I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you take this Advent season as a time to pause and reflect upon God’s amazing Christmas Gift to each one of us. It never goes out of style or goes away and you can open it new daily.
Then as the New Year arrives each one of us have to ask ourselves are we going to just hold hands with Jesus, the Creator God who came in the flesh, (Emmanuel Matthew 1:23) and sing “kum-bye-yah my Lord,” or will we dive into intimacy with Him and procreate?
Do you want to open another gift that’s under your Christmas tree from God?
Then try pondering this especially if you think that you have gone too far and He can never forgive all you have done. Put your name into the “me.” Write it down. Write it in you cell phone notes or wherever you keep important things. This gift is good every day of your life …forever!
“His Love never fails…
It never gives up…
Never runs out on me.”
There is a great song by a group called Jesus Culture that uses it within their song. Here are the lyrics:
“One Thing Remains”
Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change
One thing… Remains [repeat]
[Chorus:]
Your love never fails, never gives up
Never runs out on me [3x]
On and on and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never, ever, have to be afraid
One thing remains
[Bridge:]
In death, In life, I’m confident and
covered by the power of Your great love
My debt is paid, there’s nothing that can
separate my heart from Your great love…