R1027 Then The Dog and the Chicken Man Come to Church

Now more than ever, we need some Christmas encouragement. A great Christmas message coming up next from Dr. Don Wilton. Won't you stay tuned? As we're preparing to make these holidays holy days, Christmas in God's economy is today's message from Dr. Wilton.

That's Christmas in God's economy. We'll head to Luke chapter 1 in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants you to know that we're here for you. We'd love to talk with you, pray with you, connect you with resources. We can do that on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. Also at this phone number 866-899-WORD.

Shot it down, store it in your cell 24 hours a day. We'd love to talk and pray and connect you with resources at 866-899-9673. Now today's message, Christmas in God's economy with Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. Now you're going to need your Bibles this morning. Turn with me to Luke's Gospel in chapter 1.

I want to speak to you about Christmas in God's economy. There's so much good going on in the world and I will repeat myself for every one thing that you and I know about, there are probably a thousand others. I know there are people that are worshiping with us right now that what you do, you do because of the Lord.

And what you do is not necessarily out there in public. In fact, sometimes not anybody will ever know, but God does. But it doesn't take away the fact that we live today in difficult times, does it? Now folks, I'm not here this morning to convince anybody about the difficult times in which we live, because we do. I will say to you that I still believe in America, it's going to take a long time for us to really know what difficult times are compared to some parts of the world. That doesn't in any way diminish what so many people go through.

I want you to know that I'm praying for you very, very much. I know there are some hurting hearts. We have a difficult economy. There are big issues facing us. People are being laid off. Businesses are having to make decisions. Communities. There are people losing their homes. Thousands of Americans at Christmas time are saying, listen, let's just give each other a thought for Christmas this year.

I'd love that Rolex that you were going to give me, but let's just whittle it down. I even know families that say, okay, we've each got $5, go out and find something. And they're big decisions, economic decisions. Do we, don't we?

People are saying yes, and some are saying no. We've got wars going on around the world. Poverty rising to unprecedented heights. People being persecuted.

Nations around the world that are in conflict. You know, you could go on and on. Here's the bottom line, folks. What is it about Jesus, born in Bethlehem's manger, that has something to say to us about God's economy? See, I'm a Christian man. I'm not an ordinary person. You can't belong to Jesus Christ and be an ordinary person. I'm just a man.

I'm just a person like everybody else. But when Jesus Christ comes into my heart, the Bible says to me that greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world. And what I've come to discover is that when I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord Jesus does for me what I cannot do for myself. That's why even here in our church, and I know there are thousands of churches just like ours, we believe that in Christ, more is possible than you can ever imagine. Right now, what I imagine is a downturn in the economy.

Stocks are down. What I imagine right now is turmoil and what I imagine is all the things that go on in society, but in Christ more is possible. The Lord's given me a word for you today.

I just want to mouth this to you. I want to speak to you about Christmas in God's economy. And in Luke chapter 1, we find recorded the song of Mary.

Some have called it the Magnificat. Some have said this is a prayer. I don't even think that that is necessarily important. The fact of the matter is that Scripture records for us the most incredible prayer, the most incredible song I think ever sung. I think that when you understand what happened here in the life of Mary, it boggles the mind. Now I'm going to tell you why.

Everybody listen up. Because Mary was poverty-stricken. Don't kid yourself about Mary, the mother of Jesus. She had nothing, folks. She lived in a day and age when her people, her family would have had nothing. They lived on the smell of an oil rag. They were a poverty-stricken people.

They had to calculate everything they did. Historians tell us these people lived not from one paycheck to another, but from one meal to another. Their meals were so meager.

They had to stretch everything. They had no money. She was poverty-stricken.

Let me tell you something else about Mary. She lived in political turmoil that you and I find hard to identify with. Now the people in Darfur, Sudan, they won't struggle to understand this. People in China won't struggle to understand this.

People in most of Africa, people in India right now won't struggle to understand. People in Pakistan, you talk about political turmoil, Mary. The Romans were in charge and the Romans weren't nice people, folks. They were brutal. This was a very tough time politically. Just if you think about the birth of Jesus and you think about how Herod wanted to kill the baby Jesus and you just think about the fact that one person issued an order to kill all the babies.

I don't even want to go there. But back then it was just kind of like a public thing. It just wasn't issuance. They lived in a time where human life was not even of any value. Mary didn't have a vote.

She had no say so. The Romans would literally line people up. You could walk into some of the towns and villages and there would be people hanging on crosses. Just common people would just be crucified and they would be left. Their bodies would hang on those crosses just as a warning.

Don't you mess with us. But you know she had another little thing, just oh excuse me by the way. The angel had just come and told us some horrific news. She was pregnant. You know in today's day and age we might handle things a lot differently.

In their day and age folks this scandal doesn't even come into the scheme of things. And the angel came to her and said you will bear a child and his name will be Jesus and he will deliver people from their sin. And so here's Mary going to visit Elizabeth.

The Bible tells us there that she would spend three months with her. And all the time she knows that she's pregnant and this wonderful thing is happening to her that she knows is wonderful. But she got a little problem on her hands. Not everybody else is going to think this is wonderful and by the way she didn't have a microphone. She didn't have the ability to send word out and explain her condition through an email.

She didn't have any means to be able to try and quieten the uproar. And so it is that we discover some of the incredible truths of Christmas in God's economy. I'd like to read this to you in Luke chapter 1 beginning at verse 46. And Mary said my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones. He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but he has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever even as he said this to our fathers. Henry James, that great novelist, he said this and I just want to quote this. A great quote from Henry James about our world in which we live. Listen to what Henry James said.

He said life in fact is a battle. Evil is insolent and strong. Beauty enchanting but rare.

Goodness very apt to be weak. Folly very apt to be defiant. Wickedness to carry the day. Imbeciles in great places.

People of sense in small places. And mankind generally unhappy but the world as it stands is no illusion. The world as it stands is no fanaticism, no evil dream of the night. We, you and I, we will wake up to it again, again, forever and forever. We can neither forget it nor deny or dispense with it. That's what the world is.

Folks, can I summarize what he's saying? It's Christmas but the world's out there. We're in worship today but we've got to go into the world. We've got to continue.

What shall we do? Man's economy is not good so where shall we turn? So I want to speak to you about Christmas in God's economy. That great Spanish writer Jose Ortega Gasset said this. This is a powerful quote. This is a great quote from the Spanish writer.

This is what he said. He said, before long there will be heard throughout the planet a formidable cry rising like the howling of innumerable dogs to the stars asking for someone or something to take command. Do you know, beloved people, that history tells us that when the world runs into trouble people start looking for a savior? Historically, you can take any epoch in history, take any downturn in any economy, take any political turmoil, take any negativism as it is applied to a society in general or to the world in particular and you will always hear the howling of innumerable dogs who howl to the stars asking for someone or something to take command. That's why Jesus came.

He came to take command. That's why Jesus has come. That's why the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perry but shall have eternal life.

A verse we know so well but do we live it out? Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's great teaching from Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment, but he wants me to remind you we're here for you. We're taking your calls at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 and also connecting keyboard to keyboard at our website www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's message, Christmas in God's Economy with Dr. Don Wilton. Jesus came to take command, to lead the revolution, the Savior of the world. This wonderful song, this statement, this theological mind boggler rests on two pillars. Number one, Mary's deep love for God. Let me announce to you, my friends, that you can never do or say or express the faith and belief that Mary shows to us if you don't have a deep love for God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the ultimate expression of her faith. It was the solid rock upon which she stood.

This here is tied into inextricably God's economy which tells us that a foolish man builds his house upon the sand, but a wise man builds his house upon a rock. And when the floods come and the rains come, the house upon the rock stands firm. Jesus Christ came, this revolutionary, to be a rock, the rock of our salvation.

What does this stand on? The song rests on pillar number one, Mary's love for God. Pillar number two, on Mary's deep understanding of what God does. You see, it's not about what I can do for my Savior, it's what my Savior does for me.

That's God's economy, folks. Be encouraged today because Jesus has come and he lives in your heart and in mine. Mary had a deep understanding of what God does and I submit to you today that Mary's song shows that what is seen is not all that it seems to be. Mary's song reminds us that God takes the world's values and expectations and turns them upside down. What we are reminded of is that God lifts us up when his children are down. What we are reminded of in this incredible theological statement is that God, our God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is sensitive to individual needs.

Every one of us, infinitesimal as we are, each drop in the bucket of God's ocean. Mary was a revolutionary for her time, folks. Just think about her. She was not some kind of young, naive mother-to-be, self-absorbed in her own circumstances.

Oh me and oh my, what am I going to do? She was not too naive to know about the political climate in which she lived or too focused on her own situation to not understand the poverty that surrounded her. No, not Mary.

Not Christmas in God's economy. Mary speaks in the highest prophetic voice. Mary echoes all the Old Testament themes of redemption and freedom and justice. When Mary speaks in the pit of her own human circumstances, she brings to bear upon this entire world the magnificence of the Christ child who gives to us all that we could ever hope to be. It's an amazing thing really because regardless of her circumstances, did you note the two things that she did? Number one, her soul glorified the Lord.

I love that. Look at verse 46. Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord. By the way, that word there glorifies the word that we use the word to magnify. Have you ever used a magnifying gloss? By the way, that's where some people have called this the magnificat. It's where it comes from. My soul magnifies the Lord. Oh, here we are. Did you know this is a magnifying gloss?

Some of you looking at me, you're going to wear these one day, I promise you. All right. So now, when I look down here and I have my Bible in front of me, I see, I know that there are words here.

I really do. But if I started to read it just like this, I have a little bit of a problem. But now when I put on my magnifying gloss, ah, it makes sense.

What has happened? I have made that which is big. I have allowed what may be hidden to be completely revealed.

I've made the obscure clear to me. And that little phrase there, my soul glorifies the Lord, is indicative of an habitual act. Mary was establishing the fact that because of her faith in God, that this Christ child, this Christmas story signaled the beginning of God's economy. And if God be for us, who can be against us? And as her soul magnified the Lord, so it was that she was saying that in everything that she did, no matter her circumstances, she was going to make God big.

He was going to overshadow everything. She also says there, her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. In verse 47, that little word there rejoiced there carries with it the idea of confidence. So her soul makes God big, the overriding factor despite her circumstance, and her spirit has absolute confidence in God's capability and capacity to do what she could not do for herself. My God shall supply all you'll need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's God's economy, folks.

My God shall supply all you'll need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, how was this possible? She tells us. This passage, if we were to do a thorough exegesis, if I could take the next four weeks and just develop this for you, I would focus in on the four reasons why, despite the fact that she was living in political turmoil, despite the fact that everybody was looking for a Savior, despite the fact that the economy in her day and age was null and void, despite the fact that she was pregnant but not married, her soul glorified the Lord, made God big, and her spirit continually rejoiced in God her Savior for four reasons. Number one, because she understood her position.

That's what the Bible says in verse 48, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. She understood. One of the biggest problems we've got in America today, folks, is I'm not sure whether we really know who we are in the light of who God is.

We've come to believe that we've got the key that will unlock the clue to our own existence. She understood her position. Number two, she recognized that God was at work. That's why she could glorify in the Lord and rejoice in God her Savior. There it is right there in verse 49. She recognized God was at work.

Watch this. She says, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Here's a lady who's poverty stricken, who's living for fear of her life, who's got this news that she's pregnant.

She's not married. She's got a lot of talking and explaining to do, perhaps. You talk about trust God. She's got confidence that God was at work.

God is at work. Number three, she had confidence in God's unchanging love. Look at verse 50. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. Basically, she's quoting the Old Testament again.

Where from? Exodus 26, the Ten Commandments, way back there on Sinai. God's love and his mercy extends from generation to generation. God doesn't, he's not a fair-weather friend.

God is, his mercy goes on from generation to generation. And then number four, she gave him glory. She gave him glory. From verse 50 on, his mercy extends. He's performed mighty deeds. He's scattered those. He brought down the rulers, lifted up the humble, filled the hungry. He sent out. He's helped his servant.

I mean, it just goes on. She gives him the glory. My wife yesterday reminded me that giving God glory is giving a correct account of who God is. Don't stop engaging your world for Christ. I will show you real power. I'll show you real joy because Christ lives in you.

Oh, how we want you to know that joy. Before we get away, as we wrap up this week's broadcast, would you take a moment and hear from Dr. Don's heart next? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now?

Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God. This is exciting news. Welcome to the family. Some of you have prayed, as best you know how, to let Jesus come into your heart.

You can still do that now. We'd love to talk with you, pray with you at the other end of 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Let God take over your life. Each and every day, we thrill to the opportunity of sharing Christ with you and with others, and some of you are asking how you can get involved prayerfully and financially with the ministry.

Well, here's Liz with all the details. Over the past few months, our viewership and calls to our prayer line have greatly increased. The demand for our quarterly devotional has also increased. We praise Jesus for this. We are reaching more people for Christ. Will you join us in reaching just one more? Your monthly donation of any amount will help us continue the work of the Lord.

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That's 866-899-9673. It's been a remarkable week of teaching. There's more to come over the weekend. Go to our website, tewonline.org. You'll see video opportunities and places to watch like Daystar over the weekend to connect with God's encouraging Word together with us. I pray you'll join us again online at tewonline.org or for prayer anytime at 866-899-9673.