Christmas Eve, The Gift of Love

I'm happy to say that I expect that some of you have never been in a church like this where people are kind of really into it. In other words, we're serious about it. We're serious in a positive way because we realize that God's given us his grace. He's given us the gift of life and we have the privilege of enjoying it and then sharing it with others. That's what our ministry is about. Every time people come to this presentation, particularly at Christmas and Easter, they say to me, I'd like to be part of this. What can I do to be part of something as significant as this? After the service earlier today, one woman who had not been here at Northwood before said I've never seen anything like this in a church. How do people do it? And I said one word. I said volunteers. What you're going to see tonight of costumes and all the technical support, which I can't begin to describe. There's over 200 people involved in this production tonight. It's volunteers, people like you who have given their busy, busy lives into this evening to make it what it is. But you can share in the evening with us. Right now we're going to take a very brief offering. We're going to ask you if you would like to be part of what's happening here at Northwood by giving something of your resource. You can do that. If you're a guest tonight and you don't want to give, that's fine. Please feel the liberty not to. But many people say, I don't want to just be a spectator. I want to participate in spreading the good news. And so we invite you to do that tonight. Just a moment. The ushers are going to come. And if you'd like to share on that, then we encourage you to do so. And by all means, put that little card in the offering as well as just an indication of your being here with us tonight. The folks who come to this church support the ministry, but we also believe that many of you tonight want to honor Christ, your King, by giving a gift. And I want to remind you that we not only extend mission work here in our city, as you saw in the video, but around the world. Tonight as I speak to you, there are missionaries, 21 missionaries in 11 different countries serving Christ sent from this church all around the world, China, Central America, India, all around the globe, because we believe that God's given us a message to share. Can we pray together? And the ushers are going to receive the offering tonight. Father, we thank you for the mystery of the Christ child made known to us as Jesus our Messiah. And we pray, Lord, that as we share tonight in this offering time, it would be unto you, God, a pleasing offering, an offering of substance, something that represents the abundance with which we have been blessed. Lord, I thank you that everyone who gives tonight cheerfully gives a sweet fragrance unto you. And may we, God, see your name and your word and your heart shared with thousands more, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Once again, please feel led as God would lead you to participate as we receive the offering now. And we're going to stand as we do so and sing that enchanting hymn, the Christmas Carol, What Child is This? Let's stand as the ushers come to receive the offering tonight. Thank you, Debbie. Yes, we have up here, boys and girls, something very special tonight to show you. Anyone know what this is? Yeah, what is this? This is a Furby. He's saying, he's looking at me saying, you're ugly. I don't think that's very nice. These are Furbys. If you don't know what these are, then you're not a parent of a young child. This in 1998 is the hot toy. This is the toy that everyone's trying to get a hold of. They sold for $30 a while back. Now I've seen them on the internet for $500. I have two of them here, a black one and a white one. And we thought that we would auction them off right now and raise a little money for our children's ministry thing. Huh? What do you think of that, huh? Actually, I'm not all that impressed, but there they go. He'll keep talking. You've got to ignore him. They just go off. There. Here's the question I have. Why is it that some people will spend hours, and I know of some people who stood in line overnight to get a Furby. We had to borrow these. We couldn't buy them anywhere. Someone generously lent them to us. People are really searching for a Furby. Incredible. That against the backdrop in our nation of what has been called by some people the most tumultuous time since the Vietnam War. A time when we're in self-described political chaos. A time when in a surreal kind of way we're dropping bombs on Iraq while our own cameras are keeping track of the score. A very strange thing, isn't it? Here in America, our values are being turned upside down. People are wondering, what's going to happen? What's going to happen at the end of 1999 when we turn the clocks? Are the computers all going to work? Nobody knows, friends. But it certainly is the season when wise men are going to ask the questions that we're going to pose tonight. Questions like, why are you really here? Do you know? You know, when I was 25, I thought, you know, my whole life's ahead of me. I'll figure it all out as I go. And now I'm double that, and I realize life goes very quickly, and you better know what it's about. You better know. And here tonight, we're going to watch God's answer unfold before us as we see the Christmas story presented. And I want to ask you the question tonight. Are you a person that set themselves to seek God's truth for your life? Do you know why you're here? Do you know what God's plan for your life is? Do you know why he put you where you are? Have you been the kind of person God wants you to be in this life? If not, then there is an answer, and you can begin to discover it tonight. We would do well to pay attention to the wise men that we're going to see. The wise men were three, perhaps maybe more. The Bible doesn't specifically say three, but there were three gifts that were brought, so we assume there were three wise men that came. These were educated, wealthy, highly respected men from ancient times. They were not Jews. They were from other countries. They came to search out this Messiah led by a star, wondering, was this the man that they had heard about that would possibly come to be the redeemer of the world? And friends, I personally believe that God put the story of the wise men in the Bible to speak to a generation like ours who think that we have it together, who think that we know what life's about, to remind us that we're never too educated, never too successful, never too wealthy to still need to know the truth, the truth about God. And so I pray that tonight as you watch this presentation of the gift of love, that you will open your heart to the truth. You know, we in America are speculators. Some of us would say tonight, well, I think I know what God's all about, or I think religion is really this, or I believe this about God in my own way. And I want to say to you tonight, well, good for you, but is that really the truth? You say, well, Jay, are you saying there's really just one way? That's awfully abrasive to me. You mean all those other people are wrong and you think you're right, and I know that can sound arrogant, and I am not the one saying it. Friends, I am saying that Jesus Christ, on the credentials of his death and resurrection, said he was the way, the truth, and the life. And tonight, I want you to investigate in your heart, do you know that to be true? Wise men still seek him. We're going to see the play tonight from the perspective of the wise men 30 years later looking back. And at the very end, you'll see the wise men as they were then coming back up to present their gifts to Jesus. Because in the end, we can learn from them what truth is about. And their search for a Messiah was really a search for true joy and love in this life. Let's watch the gift of love.