Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / December 24, 2018 | Discover The Wonder - Christmas Eve Service

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December 24, 2018 | Discover The Wonder - Christmas Eve Service · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: The choir, the musicians, Maya, weren't they great?
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So Christmas.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: A nine-letter word describing the most wonderful time of the year.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what other nine-letter words also describe this time of year?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe even better?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: High speed.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Breakneck.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Whirlwind.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you had to spell it in eight letters, it would be stampede.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And in seven letters, dashing, and in six letters, hustle, and in five letters, hurry, and in four letters rush.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: We slap together our Christmas lists.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We rush to the store to buy our gifts before it closes.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then we swing through the fast food drive-thru to pick up food for the family.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Just before we race to the school Christmas program, at which we fret constantly that it'll let out too late for our traditional take the kids to McDonald's for ice cream Sundays at Christmas time before bed.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's why when we get an invitation to a cool Christmas party during December, we're ambivalent.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: We have two minds about it because we go, I really want to go, but really can I squeeze one more thing into this month?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: There was a brilliant sentence in a Christmas blog that one of you wrote.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday I was online and read this sentence and loved it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: December feels less like slowing down and embracing the Advent and more like barreling into the holiday with a mad screeching stop on Christmas Eve.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone panting and clutching at their chests and hoping to regain composure before the return to school in early January.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I loved that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Fact is, we all feel a little bit guilty about rushing around and rushing our family around at this time of year.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're always lecturing to the kids to remember that Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's his birthday after all, you know.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Back in a national poll just taken recently, two out of every three Americans declared strongly that the birth of Jesus Christ is what Christmas is what makes Christmas Christmas.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we need more of Christ at Christmas.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I was thinking whenever any of us celebrates a birthday, there comes this moment when everybody looks at us and falls silent and asks us to say something, because after all, it's our birthday.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm thinking, since we're celebrating his birthday, why not ask this question?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: If Jesus Christ had 15 minutes to say something to you this Christmas season, what would he say?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I happen to know exactly what he'd say because he told me.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean, uh, but really, let me tell you the four things that I think Jesus Christ would say if we gave him 15 minutes to tell us anything he wanted to this Christmas.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing I think he would tell us is, let me tell you who I am.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Every baby is unique.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Just ask mommy and daddy what makes that baby special.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But there's never been a baby quite as unique and quite as special as that little baby born in a manger 2,000 years ago.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because the baby in the manger was actually the Prince of Heaven, the eternal son of God, come down to take on human flesh, which is why the angel announced to Mary, the Holy One to be born, will be called the Son of God.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when the angel called Jesus the Son of God, and when the rest of the Bible does, we understand them to be saying that Jesus is more than just a superman or even a super angel in human form, but that he's truly God at the same time that he's truly man.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard the story about the kindergarten teacher, I'm sure, who was observing her classroom of children while they took, while they drew pictures.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: She decided to walk around the room to see what they were doing.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: What are you drawing?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: She asked one girl who was intensely drawing what appeared to be a face.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Little girl replied, I'm drawing God.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Teacher paused and said, but uh no one knows what God looks like.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Little girl said, they will in a minute.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ was the very picture of what God is really like because he was God, and it's why he was always telling people, when you see me, you've seen the Father.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, Jesus Christ only had 15 minutes to tell us four things this Christmas.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing I think he would tell us is, I am God.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing I think he'd say is, let me tell you what I did.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm told that one Christmas day God was looking down from heaven and he saw what appeared like a lot of selfishness and greed and meanness down here on earth, and so he decided to send an angel down to check it out.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: He summoned Gabriel.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: He sent him down.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when Gabe returned, he told God, it's true.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's bad, it's getting worse.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: 95% of the people down there are selfish, greedy, and occasionally mean.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Only 5% of them are good people.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: God thought for a minute.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: He thought, you know, that's pretty harsh.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'll get a second opinion.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: So he summoned Michael.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: He sent him down to earth to check it out.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when Michael returned, he reported to God, Gabe's right.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: The earth is dark.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: 95% of the people down there are bad, only 5% are good.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: God shook his head.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: God said, This is not good.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: God said, I think I need to encourage the 5% to hang on, not to give up.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: He decided to send them an email and encourage them to keep it up.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know what that email said?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, I didn't get it either.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, instead of sending an email, God sent himself.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: He sent Jesus Christ, born as perfect God and perfect man, into a world of sinners.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, 95% was too generous.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, 100% of us are selfish, deceitful at times.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: We hurt others, we want stuff that isn't ours, and we grab for all the gusto we can get.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And God, being God, must punish us for our sin.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: He has no choice to punish us with separation from himself and with death.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible says simply the wages of sin is death.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, since sin was our doing and not his, Jesus could have left us to suffer our own consequences, but because he loved us, he demonstrated his love the very greatest way possible.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Approximately 33 years after the manger, he took your place and my place on the cross.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he died as our substitute, taking the punishment for our sins.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: During the Civil War, a farmer in New York was drafted to serve in the Union Army.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: His wife had died several years before, making him the sole caretaker for his children.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Big problem.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: What to do?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But then a miracle occurred.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: A single man, an unmarried man in the town offered to go in his place.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And for the sake of his children, the father accepted the offer.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: That self-sacrificing friend went off to war, and in the first battle, he was shot and killed.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The farmer, hearing the news, traveled to the battlefield, found the body, brought it back home, buried it with honor, erected a tombstone on the top of it, in which he carved these words.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: He died for me.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ died for me and rose again, victorious over death and the enemy.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Which means that God now has a righteous basis for saving us rather than condemning us, which is why the angel used the word save or savior when he said to the shepherds in the field, unto you is born in the city of David this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So here, if Jesus only had 15 minutes to talk to us this Christmas season, the second thing he would say to us is, I came to die on the cross in your place.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: The third thing Jesus would say to us that if he had 15 minutes on his birthday is, let me tell you why I did it.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why I did it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know what we like best about the gifts at Christmas?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're free.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: They cost something, you know, but someone else paid for them and gave them to us, and they're a free gift.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ, listen, was born in a manger and died on a cross so we could receive eternal life as a free gift.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: The price has been paid.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: God cannot accept us, will not accept us, because we've gone to church, because we've been baptized, because we've kept the commandments or lived a good life.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: If so, there'd be no reason at all for Christ to have come in the manger and died on the cross.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, God can only accept us on one basis, which is the cross on which he died in our place.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Admitting our need as sinners, we must receive eternal life as a free gift by trusting his Son Jesus Christ as our only way to heaven.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus repeatedly used the word believe, saying to everyone repeatedly, whoever believes in me has everlasting life.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to believe?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Tyler, four years old, went with his family down to the seaside on vacation.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when they got there, his daddy opened up the trunk and pulled out a kite and told Tyler that when he was a little boy, he loved flying a kite.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: But Tyler had never seen a kite before, and he said, How does it work?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Father said, Well, actually, you hold on to the spool and the string is connected to the kite, and the kite flies up in the air, and it's a lot of fun.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: You watch it swoop and you watch it soar.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tyler had big doubts.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: The kite just goes up in the air.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he said.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Dad said, you run and the wind takes the kite up.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Todd just stared at his father, then held out his hand, and he took the kite.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And to his surprise, it worked just that way.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: As Tyler let out more and more string and the kite flew higher and higher to his delight, he said, I knew it would fly, Daddy, because you said it would.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what believing is.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's simply taking Jesus at his word, believing that what God says is so that when we place our faith in him as the only way to heaven, he will give us eternal life as a free gift.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So the third thing that Christ would say to us is this I will give you eternal life as a free gift if you believe in me to save you.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth thing that Jesus would say to us on his birthday is this.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what I'm asking.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what I'm asking from you.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher from years ago, tells the famous story of a prince who was ready to be married and who wanted to find the perfect maiden to be his wife and his queen.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: One day, while the prince was running an errand in a local village for his father, he passed through a poor section of the village.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And glancing out of the windows of his carriage, he saw this beautiful peasant girl.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Day after day, in the ensuing days, he had his carriage slowly drive by where the girl was working, so he could watch her working.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: He could watch her serving and helping others.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: He watched as she smiled, as she talked with her friends.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And as this happened day after day, he fell in love with her.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: But he had a problem.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: How would he seek her hand?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: He could order her to marry him, but even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage pulled by six white horses.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: But if he did this, he would never be certain that the maiden loved him for who he was or was just overwhelmed by his splendor.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: In the story, the prince comes up with another solution entirely.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: He gave up his princely robe.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: He moved into the village and uh, exchanging his crown for the garb of a peasant, he lived among the people.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: He worked with them, he shared their interests and their concerns, he ate with them, he talked with them into the night.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And in time, the maiden grew to love him for who he was, and because he had loved her first.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when he revealed to her who he was and asked her to accept his invitation to become his wife.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds a little like a Hallmark Christmas movie, doesn't it?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think the reason why the Hallmark Christmas movies are so beloved by everyone, including Melody and me, is that many of them are perfect reflections of the greatest story ever told.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: The story of the Prince of Heaven coming down to earth to woo and to win us to himself.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: But there comes that moment in any of these stories, that critical moment when the prince extends the invitation, when he asks, will you accept me?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: You see, if Jesus Christ only had 15 minutes to say something to us on his birthday this Christmas, I think that's the fourth thing he would say.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing he would say, let me tell you who I am.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm God.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Second thing he would say, let me tell you what I did.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I came to die on the cross in your place.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: The third thing he would say is, let me tell you why I did it.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that I could give you eternal life as a free gift if you believe in me to save you.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the fourth thing he would say, here's what I'm asking.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Will you accept my free gift of eternal life by believing in me to save you?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: In the whirlwind of Christmas and the stampede of this season.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Why not stop and accept the invitation of the Prince of Heaven?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can tell him right now that you're accepting his invitation.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just follow along as I pray and whisper the words after me.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Bow your head.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Dear Lord, I come to you now.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know I am a sinner.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing I am or do makes me deserving of heaven.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I believe Jesus Christ, the one born in a manger, died on a cross and rose again.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, I place my faith in him as my only way to heaven.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the free gift of eternal life that I have just received.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.