Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 99: Christmas Joe's Heartfelt Journey - Soulful Music, Redemption, and the Gospel's Message
"Do YOU know the ultimate gift giver? Today we discuss Him & our 'CHRISTMAS JOE' Tour journey with gospel themes, redemption, inspiring performances and memorable individuals."
Join us as we embark on a heartwarming journey through our experiences performing the beloved 'CHRISTMAS JOE' play at various churches.
Today, we're diving into the profound themes of the gospel's message and the ultimate sacrifice. How do God's high standards compare to a prestigious university's entry requirements? Our discussion pivots to the biblical basis of the Christmas story, exploring human sinfulness and the necessity of Christ's righteousness. Discover how the gospel presents a solution through Jesus Christ, aligning believers with divine standards and offering new spiritual direction. In the spirit of a "madman for Christ," we wrap up with an invitation to share in our enthusiastic faith journey, leaving you with a heartfelt blessing and a promise of something special on the horizon.
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Yes, the Faith Assembly of Christ in Capitol Heights, maryland, and yeah, we had a fantastic time there. We saw some and our sister Jackie down there, jackie Coles, and we had just a fantastic time of worship down there and we had a fantastic time of the Christmas Joe play, the production of Christmas Joe, and we continued on our tour and we've done some plays in between. Today we did one last night actually at Calvary Chapel of Monmouth County in New Jersey, up in Leonardo, new Jersey, and a few days before that, a couple days before that, we were at Grace Bible in North Middletown, new Jersey. That's Dino and Rocco and Dave, Pastor Dave Durande, that's their church over there and Pastor Shaw is the pastor of the place we were at last night. Pastor Shaw is the pastor of the place we were at last night and, man, we had a fantastic. Just every one of them has been fantastic.
Speaker 1:Randy Yelton, richie Yelton, randy was on drums. Richie Yelton came out and came out and played percussion like a pro, like a champ, and Phil Sinclair, brother Phil. Brother Phil was on the base on Sunday night at Grace Bible I love it and Brother Phil was doing his thing. And then last night we had Brother Roy Larson on the base. Phil was on the base Sunday night and then Roy Larson was on the base. That's the cool thing. We have guys that step in and stand in the gap and the Lord has raised up a number of guys to play along, to help out, and it really made a big difference for me. I'll give you an example Rocco. He came out, brought his saxophone and when we went to Rocco's home church he was actually doing sound. So I gave him a hard time because he didn't bring his saxophone but he was working on the sound. I was hoping he could play then. But it was really nice last night when he played the saxophone because it allowed me to not have to play the melody on many of the songs and I could sit back a little bit and be more of an accompaniment and concentrate on other things. And it was fun. It was just it was enjoyable. Not that playing the melody is not enjoyable, it's just that I offloaded some of the work to him. It was beautiful, it was great.
Speaker 1:And um, our dear brother, pastor shaw, I believe. I believe he just had his 92nd birthday and he came out. Praise the Lord, man, oh man, he's my official New Testament Greek instructor and just a dear brother, longtime worker in the fields for the Lord, and we've had him on the program. Actually, early on, early on in this program we had Pastor Shaw. So if you want to check him out you could go look look up. Man, I forget which episode it was, it was early on, it was like five or six or something like that. And you know he talks about his story, how he met Jesus, how he got involved in ministry. He came up to me last night and it was such a blessing. He came up to me and he said you know, that was the best stage play I've ever seen. That was great. And he really he was blessed by the Christmas Joe play that we do.
Speaker 1:So what are we going to do today on Plays on Word Radio? We are going to take a look. Last week we took a look at some cool verses and today we're going to look at some cool verses. I wanted to look at some biblical text about Christ, specifically in the Old Testament. You know Jesus was promised. You know Jesus was promised and every one of the plays that we do I explain the gospel, the gospel message, and in particular the Christmas Joe concert, is great because we have a time of worship and then in the middle of it, we kind of we don't, kind of we do explain what is going on.
Speaker 1:What is this all about? You know and I start with Adam the Christmas story begins in the very first book of the Bible. The Christmas story begins with the story of mankind and mankind falling into sin, mankind rebelling against God and God providing a way providing covering for them and providing a way providing covering for them and providing a way for mankind to get out of the condemnation that he finds himself in. Now, I don't get into all these details when I'm sharing it from the stage. I keep it simple. I go to Adam, but since you guys are a captive audience, we can go a little bit deeper in this.
Speaker 1:We were all, we all. Mankind is under condemnation. What do you mean? Why that's mean? That's mean. Listen, man, you had no choice over what city you were born in, what nation you were born in, what time period you were born in. We had no choice in that, okay, so don't don't give me a hard time about the fact that you were born in a sin.
Speaker 1:It's just one more thing there, and it's actually the main thing thing. We were all born in Adam. We come from Adam. We were not born good and perfect, contrary. The heart of man Is wicked from childbirth man. Yeah, that's a shock for some people to hear, but that's scriptural, that's biblical. Don't argue with me. You can choose to not believe it, but just know that you're choosing to reject the word of God that's on you. The heart of man is wicked from childbirth man. Before the child comes out the womb, the child is already in Adam. I'm not saying that every kid is an axe murderer. No, I'm not saying that. But in comparison to a perfect, righteous, holy God, there's no comparison.
Speaker 1:And this whole idea of being good without God and without redemption, without Christ, you can do good works, but your works are like filthy rags without Christ. Again, that's scripture. Without Christ, you know, without God, the best that man can do, the best man can do, is filthy, dirty rags. With Christ, all things are possible with faith. It is possible to please god. Without faith, you can forget it, man.
Speaker 1:So get back to this main point. All man is under condemnation. I mean, that's the book of Romans man Condemnation. It starts out we're all condemned and it's a shame and it's sad, but don't blame God, it doesn't make him mean. You know, we can blame Adam and blame ourselves. Okay, adam share a sub and a blame, because it's because of him. We're born, in Adam, we come from him. Okay, adam and Eve, they sinned and everybody else from them has been a sinner. But we also are guilty in that and we are also culpable. We also contributed. We contributed to it. Not one of us has kept the Ten Commandments perfectly, and that's just ten. Not one of us, not one of us.
Speaker 1:And so God intervened and found a way not found a way, he made a way because there was no way. So he made a way for us to not be under condemnation, which is incredible. To not be under condemnation. Which is incredible and that is what we celebrate at Christmas is the fact that God sent this, promised this son, this promised son of his. He sent his son. And in Genesis 3.15, we get the first inkling of that, of this promise, this gospel promise, this good news, this good news, promise of wait a second as soon as sin shows up, god makes a promise In Genesis 3.15, someone's coming and we're going to deal with this.
Speaker 1:And then the Bible unfolds as the story of redemption, redeeming fallen mankind. Of redemption, redeeming fallen mankind. The Bible is a story of the ultimate gift giver, who is God? Yeah, god gave this opportunity, this chance, this way out from condemnation. The thing is, god's a gentleman and he's not forcing it on anyone. He does put a premium on people being able to reject or to choose. He does do that, I mean, he makes that possible. He's a gentleman, though he's not going to force you into his presence for all eternity. If you don't want that, that would be hell for you, as weird as that sounds. He's not taking it away kicking and screaming into heaven, into his presence. No, no, that's not the way God's working, no, but if you come to him and you want to be out from underneath this condemnation, from this fallen realm, you come to him by faith. Man, he is more than willing, to the point of death and beyond man. He, you know he bled.
Speaker 1:So let me get back to my story, because I don't go into all that either when I'm sharing. We're having our conversation here, okay, guys, listen, we're having our conversation here. Okay, guys. I start with Adam and I say listen, every single person from Adam has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, every single person, every single person, and Jesus, when he was speaking to the religious leaders and to all the people and the disciples really, it's a sermonermon on the Mount, but there were some religious leaders that were listening, but it was mostly the disciples this big crowd of people, it was a big crowd and he went up on the mountains and he sat down and started to teach, the way rabbis do, and he started teaching the Sermon on the Mount. But within that sermon, he said listen, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Sadducees and Pharisees, you're not going to make it into heaven. You're not going.
Speaker 1:And he set the bar at a level of perfection that we cannot comprehend, you know. He says in Matthew 5, 48,. He says and this is where the bar is set, man, he says you must be perfect, not the way you see perfection, not, no, no, no, no. Not perfect from your point of view, your perspective. No, uh-uh, wrong, uh-uh. You must be perfect, as my father in heaven is perfect. What? Drop the microphone. What Are you kidding me? Wait a minute. I don't even. I can't even begin to comprehend the level of perfection as your father in heaven is. I have no point of reference, because everything I see is skewed and broken in one way or another. Yet we're, we are, there's the bar. He said it at perfection. So that's the standard, that's the line we have to meet in order to get to heaven.
Speaker 1:So the you move over a few blocks from Matthew 5 48 and you go to Romans, chapter 3, specifically verse 23. It says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god. And I jokingly say, but with like 99 seriousness, that in the greek that word all means all. So the bible says you must be perfect at a level which you can't even comprehend, a level of perfection. So you got to be perfect. And then the Bible says guess what? Nobody's perfect. And therein lies the problem for mankind.
Speaker 1:This is the problem. Man God's not mean because he demands a level of perfection that we can't even comprehend. No, that doesn't make him mean. That means he has standards. It doesn't make Harvard, yale, mit and I'll throw you a pen in there because I'm an alumni but it doesn't make them mean because they're not taking students that have only straight A's. And you can't just have straight A's, you have to have a whole bunch of sweet extracurricular stuff going on too. You just can't. It's not enough to be an, a student. You got to be better than you got, to be exceptional. And it doesn't make them mean. It means they have standards, that's all.
Speaker 1:And so you'll hear a lot of people say you know, god won't allow you to, won't allow you to to to have to deal with more than you can handle. That's not completely technically true. Now, if you're not in Christ, you have a standard to meet. That is something you cannot handle. There's no way to get back to zero. You were born in the negative and it doesn't matter if you do a bunch of good deeds. You can't get back to ground zero. You can't get back to a clean starting slate starting slate, it's just, there's no way to do it.
Speaker 1:So this is where the gospel comes in, this is where the good news comes in, because God, god himself, came, stepped into time, space, which is what he created and lived the perfect life, met the requirements that Adam refused to meet, that Adam was disobedient in keeping. Not that he couldn't keep it, he didn't keep it. He didn't keep it. He wouldn't keep the commandment. There's a little bit of a difference there, and now all of the trouble we see comes from his decision and our contributions. I mean literally even check this out, even the brokenness in creation itself. Yo, that's heavy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, adam being the representative for God for the whole cosmos and being entrusted as the steward over the creation. That's why it says in Romans the whole creation is waiting with eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed, because the creation was subjected to frustration. You know the creation, the creation has suffered. Here, everything we see. Our point of reference is bent, it is busted, broken. We don't have that right perspective because we've never had it, never, not one time, oh.
Speaker 1:But, believer, he has given us of his spirit, though, so we have tasted hey, what, yes, taste and see that the Lord is good. We've gotten a down payment, though, and our compass is set the right way. If you're in Christ, your compass has been recalibrated towards the right north, the proper north, towards Christ, towards God. When you're in Christ, by faith, we still suffer difficulties, but our compass is set right. We are no longer wandering around like, like, uh, people with no rudder. I'm using all kinds of metaphors here, please forgive me. I guess you could tie it all back to sailing. But yeah, so.
Speaker 1:So the lord came down and lived that life and met the requirements. And when he came down at the right time, god sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. This, I mean that Galatians 4. Right there, that's a Christmas verse. What we celebrate is God's intervention into this messed up, broken situation. And we see him flex divinely. We see him flex and be the man of God that Adam wouldn't be Let me make sure I get that right. And he lived the perfect life. And then he was put to death on the cross. See, he was born to die. Look the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Look the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. That's what John the Baptist said about Jesus, the Lamb of God.
Speaker 1:And all the Old Testament sacrifices, in one way or another, pointed to the ultimate final sacrifice of Christ Jesus himself. The only place in the Bible where God accepted a human sacrifice, it was himself. Yes, he asked for a human sacrifice with Abraham and Isaac. Isaac, I want you to take your son, your only son, take him to Mount Moriah, where I will show you, and sacrifice him there. And Abraham was like oh man, whoa, and Abraham did what God wanted. He went, and Abraham, I believe Abraham he pulled out the knife and I believe he was. He was swinging it downward when the angel of the Lord said Abraham, abraham. And Abraham stopped like within inches and said here I am. And the angel of the Lord said Abraham, don't harm the boy. Now I know that you love me. And that was God.
Speaker 1:It wasn't just, it wasn't Gabriel, it wasn't Michael, it wasn't just a, an angel, it was the angel of the Lord that speaks, the messenger. That's what angel means in Hebrew the messenger of God. This angel speaks as God, with the authority of God. Because this angel said now I know you love me. Oh what? The angel of the Lord is a sighting of Christ in the Old Testament, it is a Christophany. Yeah, and Abraham stopped.
Speaker 1:So Isaac didn't actually have to die, but in his mind, Abraham had reckoned that God was able listen to this, that God was able to raise him from the dead after he killed. It was a done deal. Man, in Abraham's mind, can you imagine this? He's walking with Isaac and Isaac wasn't like an eight-year-old kid. Isaac was probably 30 when this went down, or maybe 33. Either way, abraham was walking with him and Isaac was like Father, we have the, you know Isaac was carrying the wood. He was like we have the wood, we have the fire, where's the lamb? And for the sacrifice. And I could just feel like the Abraham's stomach turn a little bit. Feel Like the Abraham's stomach turn a little bit Because it's, it's, easy to read over. But we have to realize these are people With real emotions. They're not superheroes that are, and you know what Not to ADD right now. But the superhero movies, the best superhero movies, are the ones that show the humanity the emotions of these characters, even the villains, like on the Avengers, thanos.
Speaker 1:He became a sympathetic villain. To a certain extent you can almost understand. He just wanted to. You know he wanted to wipe out half the universe but you know it was for a, from his perspective, a noble reason. Either way, these biblical characters, like Abraham, he's a person, so he's. You know he's got to kill his son, but he reckoned, oh, he reckoned in his mind kill his son. But he reckoned, oh, he reckoned in his mind, this is faith. He reckoned in his mind that God could raise his son from the dead. Nobody's seen anybody raised from the dead up to this point. What are you, are you kidding me? And he did it. He reckoned it in his mind, man. And so, therefore, when he was going to slay his son, kill his son, that knife was moving in Isaac's direction and God said Abraham, abraham. And he stopped. What was going through Isaac's mind? Was he willing Say yes, father, okay, your will be done whatever, like Christ in the garden, we don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't want to go beyond scripture, I just want to give you some seeds there to think about. The only place where God accepted a human sacrifice is the cross of Christ, who was born to die to take away the sin of the world. And that's what he did. There was no shout from heaven when Christ was slain. There was no Abraham. Abraham, don't harm the boy. Now I know you love me. No, the sacrifices of the Old Testament all pointed to Christ His blood, the atoning work, the complete in the burnt offering, the complete sacrifice, all of it was burnt. The scapegoat, taking our blame, taking the blame of the people. I could go down the list and I know some of you want me to right now, but hey, it looks like we're running out of time for plays on word radio. Oh, my goodness, I tell you what we're going to have to continue this.
Speaker 1:We are celebrating the fact that the ultimate gift giver gave the ultimate gift, because God gave his one and only son so that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but would have eternal life. This gift we celebrate Around this time of year. Well, I try to celebrate it every day. I mean, we celebrate it every time. We say hallelujah, praise God. Right, you should, but this specific Christmas time, the time of Christmas, you know, the birth of Christ.
Speaker 1:The birth of Christ makes possible the death of Christ, which makes possible our redemption and our sin removal from us to him, transferred to him the scapegoat to him, off of us, so that God can look at us as if we had never sinned in the first place. Oh, hallelujah, are you kidding me? What? If you're not happy about that? Then you don't understand it. And then, on the third day, he was raised to life again, as a sign of approval, as a stamp, a seal, saying the sacrifice has been accepted.
Speaker 1:And now, by us putting our faith in him and trusting him, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not works, so nobody can boast. Works, so nobody can boast. But by us putting our faith in him, we stand before God not guilty, meeting the righteous requirements of the law. How is this possible? There's no way I could have met the requirements of the law. There is no way I could have been that righteous dude. I could have been that righteous dude, but yet he made a way for me to be counted as righteous. Oh, are you kidding me? This is absolutely amazing. To be counted, hey, some of you know what I'm talking about when you're how happy I am, because I know I was. I was a skunk and some of y'all nodding your head saying, yeah, he was a skunk. Hey, wait, not me. Some of you nod your head saying, yeah, I was a skunk too.
Speaker 1:Praise God, I can stand before God, meeting those requirements, the requirements of perfection that I can't even comprehend, man. This is incredible, the fact that I'm not guilty. But it goes even farther. Not only am I declared not guilty and I've been given mercy. He's given me mercy. I'm not going to suffer. He's not giving me what I deserve to get. I'm not going to suffer.
Speaker 1:Condemnation for eternity, but it gets greater. Listen to this. He lavishes grace on us. He adopts us into his family. He says I love you, I'm giving you my last name, I am putting you in my family. You're not a servant. You're not a servant, a slave anymore. You're my child. We are heirs, co-heirs with Christ. We've been adopted into the family of God.
Speaker 1:Are you kidding me, man? If you don't, man, if somebody doesn't say hallelujah, I'm about to run out. I'm sitting in my car recording this right now, but I'm about to run outside. Just somebody, get somebody to say hallelujah with me. Somebody needs to praise the Lord on this.
Speaker 1:I'm not a madman. Well, I am a madman, but I'm telling you I'm a madman. Well, I am a madman, but I'm telling you I'm a madman for Christ. When you start thinking about this, you just ought to get excited. Hallelujah. I'm telling you hey, oh, that's yeah, yeah, that's that. That looks like it's all the time I done talked up a whole storm here. I talked and talked and talked. All I did was talk. So we got something special again next week for you too, alright, and I know I've been saying that, but we really do have something special for you. We're closing up our tour, we're coming back, so listen to this Until we meet again next week. I really want you to listen to this and take this to heart. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. See you next week.
