R1147 Christmas Gifts

We all need some encouragement, and we'll find it today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on gifts. In actuality, a message called Christmas Gifts. I'm not sure where you are, but I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet. I know that's tragic to say.

Maybe some of you have already finished, had that done months ago, or maybe you're right in the middle of it. Either way, today's message from Dr. Wilton called Christmas Gifts is going to give you a new perspective on the giving of gifts. As we open the Word together, know that we're available for you. We'd love to pray with you and for you, both keyboard to keyboard or on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org, or our phone number 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now, Dr. Don Wilton. He's alive. He was born on this earth, and he came and died upon a cross and took upon himself the sin of the world. And then he went to a cross, gave his life, took upon himself my sin, yours was buried. By the power of God was raised so that all those who believe in his name might know that they know that they know that they know that one day. When you and I are to die, or if Jesus were to come back first, yep, that we're going to go and spend all time and all eternity in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Do you know this Jesus, this Christ of Christmas, or is this just another holiday? You see, this holiday is a very special day because it's about Jesus. And I want to invite you today to give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what happened. 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. And so Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to 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 child. While they were there, the time came for a baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.

She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and placed him in a manger because there was found no room for them in the inn. Can you just imagine this incredible event? And people began to hear the good news. Some of those people were the shepherds.

Listen to what happened to them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them suddenly, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid because I bring you good news of great joy. That will be for all people today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you.

He is Christ, the Lord, and this will be a sign to you. You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace toward men upon whom the favor of God rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. And so they hurried off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

And guess what happened? The word began to spread. And in Matthew's gospel, we read about three men. The Bible calls them wise men. They were people who studied the stars.

They were very learned. I want to read to you just in Matthew chapter two and from verse nine, because they did something that I just love at Christmas time. Look what happened here with these three wise men. The Bible says, after they had heard the king, they went on their way. And the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. And on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and they worshipped him. And then, boys and girls, did you know what they did? I love this. This is like my favorite time at Christmas.

Look what they did. The Bible says they then opened their treasures and they presented Jesus with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. Isn't it amazing that when Jesus was born, gifts were exchanged?

You know, I love Christmas time because it's just absolutely my favorite time. There's all kinds of things that I want to get. My wife, you know what she gave me for Christmas? She gave me the new app to Wintrest. No, I'm just kidding you.

She didn't. What is that thing that you're watching on television all the time? Wintrest? Pinterest. Pinterest. Pinterest. She said I needed to really pick up my general knowledge and so I'm kidding you, she didn't do that.

I need to just settle this right now. I didn't get a new app to Pinterest, I promise you. I didn't get one of those, but all right.

Now, let's just see here. I get all kinds of things for Christmas and I love that. Let me find out who got something for Christmas here today. Who would like to tell me what you got for Christmas? You tell me what you got for Christmas. I got Just Dance 3. What was that again? Just Dance 3.

Just Dance. It's part of Wintrest. It's part of Wintrest. That is wonderful, sweetheart. All right, you tell us what you got for Christmas. I got a pair of stilts. A pair of stilts?

That means you're going to be much taller than your daddy, which is a good thing. What are you going to do with them? I'm just going to walk around my neighborhood. Now, what you never do with stilts is walk around them on the edge of a lake, you know that? Because what would happen if you did? Because you might fall and get...

Absolutely, you'd fall right into the middle of the lake. All right, let's see right here. I got a pair of brown boots for Christmas. Brown boots. I love that.

That is very precious. Now, I saw someone with some pink cowboy boots on. Excuse me, cowgirl boots on. Where are they? Where are they? I know they're somewhere here. Someone's got them. There they are.

I love those. You got... Just quickly, let me get over here. Coming through, coming through. Hold that for me.

Isn't that great? I love you. There we go, sit down there. There we go, all right.

Oh, there goes another button. Now, who else wants to tell me what you got for Christmas? Electric scooter. Electric scooter? I think that is more fun than you can imagine.

I think that's very fun. I'm so happy you got an electric scooter. iPod touch. iPod touch?

You're going to need to teach me how to do that one of these days. And what did you get? An electric scooter. No way you didn't. You got an electric scooter. All right, boys and girls, where's Mr. Steve?

I lost him again. You know what I love to do at Christmas time? I love to sing Christmas carols together. You know, to be able to sing Christmas carols and then all the things that we do, the beautiful lights and the Christmas trees. But you know, I think it's so wonderful to bring special gifts to the Lord Jesus. I think that's wonderful. And you know, I wish I could go to all of you and ask all of you what you got for Christmas because I know that it's been a very special morning and the whole day is going to be like this. It's going to be very, very special. In fact, I brought some gifts along that I really, so I want to have a look here.

Would you help me open this one here and let's see what I might have in this? Okay, let's lift off the lid. All sit down, boys and girls.

Just sit. Oh, wow. Oh, yay. Isn't that great?

Boy, I love it. You think I could put him in my chair for a minute? No. No? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. All in favor, say yay. Yay. All right, let's put our big old teddy. He is one cuddly one right there. He can just sit there and mind his own bit. Oh, we got another one here.

Can you help me? Let's open this here and see what we've got in this one. Oh, oh, oh, we've got to get, we got to get this out. We've got to, oh, oh, okay.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. All right. All right. Okay.

And they thought they had it bad in Cairo with those riots. I mean, look here, boys and girls. I'm going to open this. Okay, everybody watch, everybody watch. Oh, you are not going to believe what I've got here. All right. Oh, got to get this thing. Oh, look at this. What is it? I got an Xbox. All right, listen, everybody listen. This is a PlayStation number three.

I love that. All right, okay, I'm going to put that here next to Teddy because I've got one more that I want to open and that is over here. What is it?

Well, what do you do with it? I don't see anything. What do you see? What do you see here? Okay, boys and girls, everybody sit down. Okay, don't throw any more, don't throw any more. Here I come, here I come. Okay, what do you see when you look in there, boys and girls? Huh? I don't see anything.

What am I doing wrong here? Oh, I see, I've got to turn this around. When I turn this around, I see myself. Do you know, boys and girls, do you know that that is the absolute best Christmas present you can give to Jesus? Ourselves and your heart. You know, boys and girls, the most wonderful thing about Christmas is that God gave His only Son. He gave Himself. And when Jesus came, He gave Himself and He was born in Bethlehem's manger.

And the Bible says that for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will never die but will have eternal life and will live with Jesus in heaven forever and forever. And, boys and girls, all watch me. Here's what Jesus wants from you and from me. He wants one thing. He wants us to give of ourselves.

And I couldn't get a better Christmas present than a big mirror because when I look in that mirror, I see exactly what it is that the Lord Jesus wants. You see, there's a lot of things that I can give to God. Oh, I can give Him maybe some of my money. I can give Him my motor car.

I can give Him my time. And that just made me happy. And when I think of all the people who give all their time to serve Jesus, and I think that is wonderful.

And, boys and girls, we can give Him our gifts and we can give Him letters and we can give Him the way we sing and we can give Him all our love but what He wants from us, the best of all, bestest gifts that we could ever give is our heart. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and we'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you we're here for you. This is not just a presentation of these messages. It's an opportunity to begin a conversation. The Lord is stirring your hearts.

Even now, we don't have to wait till the end to make an adjustment, a course correction. Oh, how we'd love to pray with you through that particular direction change, or we'd also like to maybe put some resources in your hands like the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide that will help you grow on a daily basis in your faith. It's free for the asking. It's a little quarterly booklet we send out every three months, but you can get your copy by calling us right now at 866-899-WORD. 866-899-9673, or meet us online at TEWOnline.org.

That's TEWOnline.org. Now back to today's message, Christmas Gifts with Dr. Don Wilton. You are so right, sweetheart, and what the Lord Jesus wants us to do is to give our hearts to Him. Have you given your heart to Jesus? That is the most wonderful thing in all the world is to give your heart and your life to the Lord Jesus. There's nothing greater than that.

My friends, I know that you would agree with me. Christmas is just such a lovely time of the year. It really is. You know, folks, I grew up overseas, long way from here. In fact, when we were growing up, Christmas was in the middle of summer. I didn't know what a cold, wintry Christmas was all about where I grew up in Africa. You know, on Christmas Day, we used to have cold meats and salads for lunch, and of course, I grew up with all boys, and you know, on Christmas Day, most of the time, the first thing we'd do is open our presents, and in my house, my mommy and daddy, they would put all our Christmas presents in a pillowcase, and in the middle of the night, Santa would come. I know, because he always ate the cookies and the things that we left for him, and then we'd wake up early in the morning, and we would see all of us little boys on the end of our beds with pillowcases, and boy, Santa had brought us some things.

Mm, that wasn't a Pinterest app, and it wasn't a Xbox, but I tell you what, it was a... You know what I remember getting? I remember getting a wonderful bicycle. I remember that bicycle, and we'd get a fishing rod, and we'd get things that boys liked to have and all kinds of things like that, and then we would run through and wake up mommy and daddy, because we wanted to show them too what we had gotten for Christmas, and it was very, very special, and I have wonderful memories of being at the beach and going swimming in the sea on Christmas afternoon after we'd been to church.

We always went to church on Christmas Day, and it was very special, but you know, we just sang about it. We just talked about it. The greatest gift you can give is your heart. Today I want to challenge you and invite you to give your heart. The Spirit of God is speaking to you, my friend.

Here's what happens. When Jesus went to the cross, He took upon Himself our sin. He was buried, and with Him was buried all our sin for all time and for all eternity, for those that are willing to repent of their sin and trust Jesus as Savior. That's what the angel said. The angel said, He is Christ. He's Savior. He's the Messiah. He's the one who's come to deliver you from your sin.

Greatest rescue mission ever was what God did for us in Christ, and then when Jesus went back into heaven, He sent His Spirit, and the Spirit of God is the one who reveals God to you, tells you, yep, you're a sinner, and when you respond, you're responding to the Spirit of God who's knocking at your heart's door, and when you respond and you recognize that you're a sinner condemned to die but that Jesus came and was born so that you and I can have life, when you're willing to repent of that sin, Bible says that if you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. I want to invite you to give your heart to Jesus. Your life will never be the same again. Go and have a wonderful rest of the day together. I certainly am. I can't wait, but before we go, we've got some important business to take care of, and standing here today are going to be some of my closest friends. They're going to come, and if you've given your life to Christ, I'm going to ask you to come today.

Jesus said if we confess Him publicly before men, He'll confess us publicly before the Father which is in heaven, but if we deny Him publicly, He'll deny us. Right there in the hangar at the Genesis service, I'm going to ask Robert Hargrove to come. It's been wonderful to have Robert and Grace here this week visiting us from Covington, Louisiana, where he serves that wonderful First Baptist Church in Covington. Yep, you can respond listening online today. Right now, we're about to go off, and maybe you're sitting in that bunker in Afghanistan.

Maybe you're on a ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. We hear from you all the time. Maybe you're in that nursing home, and maybe you're seated in that dining room right now, and there's a whole lot of you, and you're just about to have the most wonderful Christmas lunch together. I love you so much, but nothing like Jesus. I want you to give your life to Christ.

I invite you to trust Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. Yep, a merry, merry, merry Christmas, a happy Christmas. Yep, it's all about Jesus. It indeed is all about Jesus.

Merry Christmas. Yes, even early in the month, we're continuing to share the love of Christ in unique ways because this season of the year, Christmas, is one of the opportunities where some of your friends, some of your neighbors, some of your family members, some of the people you work with or go to school with, work out with, involved within other areas, these people are more open to talk about Christmas than ever before. I pray that you and I would not miss out on the opportunity to share our faith. We have wonderful resources on our website, T-E-W online dot O-R-G, that might just be conversation starters for you, prayer cards, the daily encouraging word Bible guide.

Again, all those are on our website at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. And right now, a special greeting from our pastor, Dr. Don. You know, every single time I get up and have the privilege of being able to share God's Word with you, I pray for you. And I ask God to allow me to see you through my spiritual heart because I know how much God loves you.

I just want you to know that it means a great deal to me that you would write to me, that you would allow us to partner together. Your life is important. It's important, first of all, to the Lord Jesus, every step of every day. But it's also important to me because I'm part of your family.

We are part of the family of God. So God bless you, my friend, and thank you for letting me pray for you. I just love when the opportunity comes where you can just hear from our pastor's heart. Again, you're listening to the encouraging word with Dr. Don Wilton. And right now, during the month of December, we have a wonderful resource called the Spirit of God.

Here's Liz with all the details. As you reflect upon your life this season, think about your friends and family members outside of Christ or those who are drifting away from God. Could this be you? This Christmas, Dr. Wilton wants to encourage you to make a commitment to meet Jesus every day so you can learn more about him and be able to live a life of trust and not fear. With your gift of $30 and support to the encouraging word this month, you will receive the Spirit of God within you, a beautiful 52-week leather-bound devotional written by 52 trusted pastors and leaders, including Dr. Wilton. You will find blessings upon blessings as you read uplifting scripture verses, daily devotions, and prayers. Plus, you will receive psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, instrumental music CD by gifted pianist and Louisiana College President, Dr. Rick Brewer. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request the new devotional and music CD.

They will make great Christmas gifts of encouragement, too. Thank you for your continued partnership. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you from all of us here at the Encouraging Word.

Please know there's more information on our website at the other end of 866-899-WORD, not only about that particular resource, the Spirit of God, but many other things that we pray would help you grow in your faith. Now, before we get away, all that you've heard today, the teaching, the insight from our pastor, it all points to this one point. We believe that God is ready to do something remarkable in 2021.

This has been a unique year of 2020, has it not, for all of us? Some of you, like me, have been wrestling with, what is God calling you to do next? We know that's an exciting thing that I believe God's gonna answer, but if you haven't given your life to Jesus yet and you're not a part of the family, then that question's premature. Would you take a moment and hear our pastor's heart and these closing thoughts?

You know, these are such special times together. I'm so grateful, my friends, that we can worship together like this through the encouraging word broadcast ministry, and you're such a vital part of all that God's doing, and I just love you, and I want you to know that. You know, this ministry goes on 24 hours round the clock all the time. We want to be involved in your life, and we want to continue to pray for you.

You can call us at any time. You can partner with us all the time through prayer and through your giving. We know that you are 100% engaged as we are in sharing God's truth with our searching world.

That's what this is all about. We need Jesus, don't we? And God is doing a great work, and I love you today. Thank God for you. Pray for you. God bless you. If God stirred your heart, won't you give us a call? 866-899-9673 is the number to call. We have resources for those of you that have given your life to Christ or rededicated your heart. 866-899-9673 or meet us online at tewonline.org.