Sand Mountain Sermonette 77
I John 4:18-19; Romans 10:8-13; Revelation 3:20
Santa’s Chevy
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.”
I John 4:18-19
When I was about seventeen years old, I surprised my dear friends, the Woodham family, by walking up to the front door of their home dressed as Santa Claus; and they had no idea who I was! I had played Santa for the family of one of my mother’s sisters in Albertville about a week earlier, and afterwards I had thought how much fun it would be to surprise Lloyd, Odell, Bryan, and Valerie Woodham one evening of Christmas week in 1973. So, dressed in full costume as Santa Claus, I hopped in my 1973 Chevy Nova “SS,” drove it across town to Walnut Street where the Woodhams lived, parked it at a safe spot a few houses away, walked up to their front door, knocked, and gleamed at Odell’s reaction to my “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas” (offered with a changed voice, of course)!
Now, as I said, she nor her family knew who I was. Afterwards, they invited me into their living room where I handed each of them a gift from Santa’s bag. Then we visited about thirty or forty-five minutes and then, as I was standing to leave for my sleigh, Odell asked, “Louie, is that you?” At which time I removed my hat and beard and declared to them, ME!
The reality and the beauty of Christmas time and beyond is the fact that God came to earth in flesh so as to reveal to the world who the Father was and is! Luke Two tells us the angel practically came knocking at the shepherd’s door to proclaim the good tidings that Jesus, the Savior who is Christ the Lord, had been born for them and for us right next door in the city of David (Bethlehem). The tragedy is, unlike that night in 1973, most of the world did not accept Jesus as God’s Son, the Messiah.
Have you recognized Jesus as the true Savior-the One who came to earth, lived, died, rose, and is coming again? And more importantly, have you opened the door of your heart and received Him in and are now fellowshipping with the One who loves you so? Have you reached out and taken the gift of salvation for yourself? (See Romans 10:8-13). Remember, Jesus first loved you! The fear and punishment you feel looming over your shoulder is from the enemy of your soul. Christ’s love is imparted perfectly through His Spirit to we unlovely people, by His grace! Hallelujah!
Behold, He stands at the door and knocks… (Revelation 3:20).
Pastor Louie