R1145 I Believe Christmas if Perfect

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on perfection. It's so good to welcome you in as we study the word together with Dr. Don. He'll be headed to Luke chapter 2 because this message is, I believe Christmas is perfect.

That's the perfection we're talking about today. And during this wonderful holiday season, I pray that your holidays are becoming more holy days. We'd love to help you do that with some resources we have on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. We're also connecting on the phone at 866-899-WORD. Many folks are calling and asking for the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide. Just ask for it.

It's free at 866-899-9673. Now let's open our hearts in God's word together with Dr. Don Wilton. Today I want to show you something that is so close to my heart. I want to speak to you on this subject today. I believe that Christmas is perfect. How do you like that?

I believe that the Christmas story, I believe that the message of Christmas, I believe that Christmas is perfect. Now we know how hard it is to be humble when you're perfect in every way, right? And I'm going to use this word perfect this morning. And I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles with me. We're going to be in the book of Luke. And there's a Bible in the pew rack if you'd like to use it.

It's got a red cover and you can turn there. In fact, it's on page 992. If you want to turn to page 992, we're going to be in Luke Chapter 2. Luke was a physician.

He was a doctor. And God used Luke to record the story about the birth of Jesus. And here in Luke Chapter 2, we read about what happened when the Lord Jesus was born. This is what Christmas is all about. The greatest thing that ever happened. And I believe that this passage reminds us that Christmas is perfect. Now that word perfect means it is something exact. There is no blemish. It's exactly what it needs to be. It's perfect in every way.

There are no adjustments that need to be made. You know, when you get out there on the ball field and you're playing and your coaches make that play and your quarterback steps back into the pocket and he looks out and he makes the play and it sort of works out almost right, but not quite. And so just before the next play, time out! Coach calls. And the players run over and you get into a huddle. That offensive coach, he gathers you together and he says, now look, what we're doing is good, but it's not perfect. And he calls the play. And he calls the team together and he designs something that's going to result in a touchdown.

And perhaps a win for the team, perhaps a championship. Here in Luke chapter 2, the Bible tells us about something that is absolutely perfect. And I just want to share with you from my heart today on the fact that I personally, I believe that Christmas is perfect. You see, I'm a Christian man.

Now, most of you know me as Don Wilton. And you see me stand up here today as pastor of a wonderful church. And I have a wife that I love so much, but the thing that I want to tell you most of all is that I'm a Christian man. Jesus Christ has come into my heart and into my life.

And he's changed my life forever. And because Jesus Christ has changed my life, I want you to know that what happened at Christmas time is perfect. Here's what the Bible says in Luke chapter 2 and verse 1. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria and everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to a place called Bethlehem. The town of David, because he belonged to the house and to the land of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a baby. Now, while they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and so she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and she placed him in a manger because there was no room for them at the Hilton. May the Lord write this word in our hearts today. But I want to speak to you for just a few moments on I believe that Christmas is perfect. I love great stories like this. There are all kinds of stories that I love, but there's no greater story than the story of Christmas.

Jesus, this one who came and who was born in Bethlehem of Judea. It's perfect. I want to tell you four reasons why the Bible tells us that the Christmas story is perfect, why I believe this. Number one, it's perfect because the timing was perfect.

The timing was perfect. Have you ever asked that most difficult question? Why is it that God waited so long to send Jesus to come to this earth, to be born, to die upon a cross, to come forth from the grave, to ascend, to be seated at the right hand of the Father? Why did God wait so long? I mean, when you wind the clock back and you look all the way back in the Old Testament and you think of people like Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob and of Moses. You look at the lives of the kings. You watch the Israelites wandering around the wilderness, messing up time after another. You look at all the prophets and you culminate in the Book of Malachi. Why did God wait so long?

Well, there are a lot of reasons for that. I came to the conclusion that God did what God does because he's God and that his timing is perfect. Why was it that Jesus came and was born in Bethlehem at a time when the Roman Empire was on a rampage? When people were in slavery and bondage. Why did Jesus come at a time like this when there was so much hate going on in the world, where the economy was being threatened in the time of Caesar Augustus to the point at which they were considering new taxes upon the people?

Why did the Caesars of their day have such an adversarial relationship with the Senate of the Roman Empire? Why was there so much squabbling going on in the world? Why were there wars and rumors of wars everywhere? There were earthquakes and volcanoes were erupting and it was right in the midst of this that God's timing was perfect. Jesus came. I believe that Christmas is perfect because the timing was perfect.

So what time is it for you? I know when I look at my own life, I cannot get over the fact that God's timing with me was perfect. I don't understand these things. I don't understand that why would I have grown up in Zululand in Africa? Why would I come from Africa? Why would I be born in Africa? Why would I go to boarding school in Africa?

Why would I give my life to Christ as a young boy in Africa? Why would I begin to drift away? Why was it that I began to hang around with the wrong crowd?

Why was it that I flunked the ninth grade, the 11th grade equivalent here? Why was it that I went off to the army? Why was it that I went through all the things? Why was it that my heart became angry? Why was it that I was going through it? Why was it that I met such a beautiful young lady who had such an incredible impact on my life?

Why was it that I went through so many years in which there was a tug of war going on in my heart? Why was it that I walked headlong into this Jesus at the time that I did and came to understand that He loved me despite myself? And that right there on my knees, why was it that in God's perfect timing that I knew that God was getting a hold of my life? Why was it that I stood up and understood that God had called me to be a preacher and teacher of the gospel when I loved so much being out there on the athletic field and riding motorbikes and surfboards and all the good things of life?

Why was it? Because God's timing is perfect. Because in God's time, God got a hold of me. And in God's time, God's timing is always perfect. And some of you today, you're here because this is God's perfect time. So grateful and proud of all here today. And I believe it's God's perfect time for everybody worshipping today in the encouraging word and through the word of the living God that God's perfect time has arrived for you.

I believe that Christmas was perfect because the timing was perfect. I pray that this would not happen. I really do. But I've met some of you guys can walk out of here. You can destroy yourselves with cigarettes and with alcohol and with broken marriages and four letter words and pornography and you can allow the sewers of life to flow through you and destroy you. And I pray not only for you but each one of us that you would understand that God's timing is perfect. This is not an accidental time. And what happened when Jesus was born in Bethlehem was absolutely perfect. Jesus came. The timing was perfect.

Not only the timing was perfect but the place was perfect. Bethlehem! You know we sing that great hymn, O little town of Bethlehem. By the way, I've been to Bethlehem.

I've been to Bethlehem 20 times. It is a little town. Even today, it's not some great metropolitan area. It's no Atlanta, I promise you that. It sits up on a set of hills overlooking the shepherd's field.

It's unmarked. Today it's scarred by all the divisions that go on in that part of the world. And Bethlehem has within its precincts some of the most precious people I've ever met upon the face of the earth. But the place was perfect. It was absolutely perfect. And I believe that Christmas is perfect because the place has never stopped being perfect for Jesus to be born. This is your place. This is your Bethlehem.

Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with more of Dr. Wilton's message on I believe Christmas is perfect in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here for you 24-7 on our phone line at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to pray with you and for you. And many are asking about the daily encouraging word Bible guide.

It's free for the asking. We'd love to put one of those in your hands. Just call and let us know you're interested.

That's 866-899-9673. Back to today's teaching with Dr. Don. I'll guarantee you there's at least one person today saying let me out of here. Never be in a hurry to close the door on your Bethlehem. It's an amazing story. Here's Mary and Joseph coming with the baby Jesus yet to be born and there was no room for them at the inn. And yet there was a stable. The place was perfect.

In the context of that stable one can only imagine the content of that stable. You and I have such a wonderful idealistic picture of the stable with beautiful neat things everywhere distributed evenly with pictures on the wall and a television in the corner with the national championship between LSU and what was that? Alabama playing on the television set and all these things that go on and our picture of this is just this perfect little nook in the world and yet your place is no different because the place where upon you stand at this moment is holy ground too.

The place was perfect. For some of you your place is that motel room that overnight after a long day's journey it's perfect for Jesus to be born in your life. For some of you today looking and worshiping because I receive letters from you every week. Your place is a prison cell. Thank you, John, for your letter recently in which you told me you're in prison for a long, long time. And you may be worshiping right now through the encouraging word and I want you to know, John, that you blessed my heart and I'm so grateful that God's encouraging word has blessed you because that prison cell is the perfect place for Jesus to be born in your life.

That's your stable. For some of you it may be that nursing home and for some of you it may be in that bedroom. For some of you it may be in a church service.

For some of you it may be at a nurse's station where you work and serve other people night and day. For some of you, you may be a policeman on duty and we thank God for you. And for some of you, you're in Iraq and Afghanistan and you've gone the uniform of these United States of America and you're in a tent and you're about to go out on patrol and you know that there are IEDs and there are guns pointed at you but you're in the perfect place for Jesus to be born in your stable. I believe that Christmas was perfect.

The timing was perfect and the place was perfect but furthermore, the people were perfect. I mean, just think about them, how many times have we not spoken about Mary, the mother of Jesus, the perfect human mother? How many times have we not spoken about Joseph and tried to think about what must have gone through his mind under the circumstances in which he lived and the news that he had received, the reaction of his family and of his friends.

What a perfect man to be, quote unquote, the human father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Oh, I love to talk about the people. I love to talk about the wise men bringing their gold and their frankincense and their myrrh. I love to talk about those shepherds every time I go to Israel.

I love to go to the shepherd's field and I love to read those stories about those shepherds in the fields watching over their flocks by night and how they came, they were drawn by the star and they came into the stable because they were perfectly situated for this one who was born in Bethlehem's manger. I believe Christmas is perfect because people are perfect. Do you know that you are the perfect person for Jesus to be born in your heart because Jesus came and was born in Bethlehem for everyone.

He has no color in his eyes. When Jesus hung upon that cross, he looked back to that time when he was born right there according to God's perfect timing in a perfect place for a people like you and me and he said, Father, forgive them because they know not what they are doing. And Jesus came into this world to level the playing field and to let all people know that they are perfectly situated because all people are sinners by nature and sinners by choice and all people are invited to trust Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord and today I give to you that same invitation and I invite you to give your heart and your life to Jesus Christ. Would you trust him as your Saviour today? Would you turn your life over to him? Would you invite him into your stable? Would you let him move into your house?

Would you let him be born into your life? Because Jesus said in order to go to heaven you must be born again and evidently the whole concept of being born, the Son of the living God, it's the new birth. Jesus came so that everything would become brand new which leads me to that concluding wonderful aspect of the perfectness of Christmas. Oh, man, I love Christmas and I believe Christmas is perfect. The timing was perfect. Your time and mine right now is perfect. I believe the place was perfect.

Your place right now is perfect. I believe the people involved and that gathered around the manger were perfect because you and I are perfect. I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. I perfectly fit God's description of the very reason why Jesus was born.

I perfectly fit the mold because without Him I'm nothing. Jesus said, Behold, I'm coming, I'm knocking at your heart's door and if any man will open the door, I will come in and I will sup with him and he with me. Jesus looked into my heart in Africa and said, Don Wilton, just give me a manger in your heart to lay my head down so that I, the Son of God, can take up residence in you and I do it and my life has never been the same again and your life will never be the same again. I believe that Christmas is perfect because the promises were perfect. It's an amazing thing what happened when Jesus was born. Bible says in these passages, right in the aftermath of the shepherds, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace toward man on which the favor of God rests. The promises of God are perfect.

You see something, folks, everybody in this world is looking for peace. I was like that. I know I may not resemble that today and I played different kinds of sports but I played at a very high level of athletics. I also was almost selected to some major teams. I played cricket and rugby.

I know you all fish with crickets. I played with that. I played rugby and you play football.

The difference between rugby and football is we didn't play with crash helmets on. But I tell you what, folks, I met a beautiful girl. I had everything. I had motorbikes.

Man, I spent time chasing great white sharks in the Indian Ocean, traveling around all over Africa, hitchhiking everywhere, getting into all kinds of trouble, received all kinds of awards and accolades. But deep down in my heart, I needed the promise of Christmas. I wanted peace. I tell you guys, you can get the Heisman Trophy and have no peace. You can become a free agent and sign a $250 million contract to leave St. Louis as a world champion and have no peace. Some of you guys here today, you're gonna have your name up in the newspaper.

I'm gonna be one of those people who are gonna open the newspaper and say, ah, wow, man. But have no peace. And the world everywhere is looking for peace. And the world offers great things. It's wonderful to be married to the right person. It's wonderful to make a good living.

It's wonderful to excel. Guys, you can even go today and minister to children in need and get great satisfaction, but when you walk out of that door, you still have no peace. And the Bible says that Christmas was perfect because God's promises were perfect. Indeed, God's promises are perfect, and one of the promises we embrace at this time of year more than anything else is the promise of eternal life through this babe that came in a manger that we celebrated Christmas but ultimately went to the cross to die for my sins, to die for your sins.

No matter what you're going through, I pray you would know that the God of the universe, the God of Christmas, is using this broadcast to let you know He loves you, He has a plan for your life, He's not mad, He's ready to receive you. Whether you've ever given your life to Christ or not, or maybe it's time to come home, would you open your heart to what Dr. Don Wilton's gonna say 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. If you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Christ, welcome to the family of God. Welcome back if you rededicated your life. We have resources Dr. Don wants you to have. You just need to call and let us know at 866-899-WORD.

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