Well, let's see. We have a special message today, and I especially want the kids to be able to hear this message. And if you guys can hear just fine, that's fine. If you want to come closer, you can come sit right up front if you like. You guys have been waiting for a long time for Christmas to come, right? How long have you been waiting for Christmas to come? How long? One year. That seems about right, doesn't it? Waiting one year for Christmas to come. Well, you know what? The people who waited for Jesus to come the first time waited for more than one year. In a few minutes, I'll tell you a little bit more about that. You know what I've got here in my hand? Sammy, can you come up here for a second? You're a good reader, so I'm going to get you to read what's here. You don't have to read this side, but see if you can read that side there. Roast turkey and gravy, slow smoked rump roast, glazed sprinkle ham, apple, pecans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, casserole, green bean casserole, honey, glazed carrot, and dinner roll. What do you think that is? Somebody's lining up to come to my house today. That's my menu for today. And you know what guys, whenever I cook Christmas dinner, I have to put this together because it's got a schedule because not everything cooks at the same sort of speed. And if you're wanting to bring everything out at the same time, you know, I'm going to be using every burner on my stove. The pots will be piled so high in the sink that we won't see out the window of the kitchen. And there's going to be an oven at use at Grammy and Grandpa's house. And I'm even going to use my barbecue to slow smoke my rump roast. And just so you don't think I'm an absolute glutton, this allows me to not cook for the entire Christmas holiday. I can just fill my fridge with that stuff and there's soup and stew and sandwiches and every kind of thing you can imagine. But what time do you usually have Christmas dinner at? Does anybody know what time? Elijah, what time do you think we'd have Christmas dinner at? 8.30. You know what? When you first do a Christmas dinner, there's a good chance that a few of you have had Christmas dinner at 8.30 and you didn't quite mean to. But here's the answer to that question. You know when you have Christmas dinner? You have Christmas dinner when Christmas dinner is ready. Anybody who's tried to say we're gonna sit down to eat right at 6 p.m. has eaten either pink rubber turkey or dried out leather turkey. Because it doesn't matter what it says on that label, That turkey is ready in the fullness of time. Now, there's some hints that will tell you that that time is drawing near. Do you know what those hints are, Elijah? You might see all kinds of activities start to happen in the kitchen. You see, for a long time, nothing has to happen. Everything just sits in those ovens and sits on those pots and just simmers away. But as the time grows closer, The nose starts to tell you things are coming to their fulfillment. Everything is about to be completed. And gravy, well, that takes a little bit of time. It has to be cooked off a little bit and some things added to it and whisked around. And then the vegetables, those things that I know you guys are so excited about eating, those have got to go on and they've got to simmer for a little while. And finally, the last sign is when you start seeing things being carried to the tables and the covers pulled off, that's the sign that the time for Christmas dinner has arrived. Now, I want you to think about this a little bit because it helps us to understand, I think, how God works in our world. Listen carefully, I'm going to read you Paul's version of the Christmas story and we find it in Galatians chapter 4. Did you know that Paul put a little bit in here about Christmas? And it has to do with you kids. Okay, are you listening? I see lots of paper wrinkling around. Okay, here we go. Galatians chapter 4 says this, I mean that the air As long as he is a child, he is no different from a slave. You ever feel like a slave, you kids? You ever feel like a slave? Like, hey, you got born into this family. Yeah, I see the finger pointing. You know, and all of a sudden I have to wash dishes. What? I have to clean my room? I have to straighten all the shoes up? I've got to carry out the garbage and the recycling? This is what it feels like to be a slave. Well, it says right here, all the way back to Bible times, the child is like a slave. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. There's a lot of words in there. And some of those are hard for you guys to understand. But let me ask you this. What does it mean to get adopted? Micah, what's it mean to be adopted? Tell me, Nathan. That's very good. Okay, somebody else had a child and maybe their parents died or their parents went away but that child didn't have parents anymore and so I come along and say I'll be your parent and then I adopt you and if I really adopt you then you become my heir. Anybody know what it means to be an heir? Taps? Very good, Tabby. Somebody who's going to take over my responsibilities and also get what belongs to me. And so if you're one of my children, then you are my heirs. And this is what the Bible has to say, that God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he could fulfill, that he could do what was necessary, so that God could adopt us as his own children. You see, Jesus is God's only begotten Son, but through Jesus, God has many other children who have come to Him through faith. And that's part of the message of Christmas. And this happened in the fullness of time. At just the right time, it says that Jesus was born. Do you know how long, I asked you this earlier, do you know how long people were waiting for Jesus to come? How long they waited for the first Christmas? Do you, would you believe 4,000 years? Our first reference to the coming up of a Savior comes right after Adam and Eve fell into sin and God promised that he was going to send somebody that would redeem them from their sin and that was what Jesus came to do. Now I want to take you to one other passage and I know it's hard for some of you guys to sit and listen but I want you to listen to this for just a minute. We're going to go over to Ephesians chapter 1. Galatians says that in the fullness of time, God brought forth his son. And I want you to listen real carefully. Can you guys listen? I want you to listen for the words, the fullness of time. Okay, when you hear the words, the fullness of time, put your hand up, okay, so I know that you've heard them. Because there's going to be a whole lot of words before that. What are you listening for? The fullness of time. Okay, get ready to listen. Here it is, Ephesians chapter 1, we'll start at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. That means to be perfect before him. In love, he predestined us, that means chose us beforehand, predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Have you heard it yet? Not yet, okay. In him, We have redemption through His blood. Redemption, that means to buy back something. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, To unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. You guys heard it? You heard it? In the fullness of time. When is the fullness of time? Do you know? The fullness of time, Sam? The end? Well, it will be the end of time, but it's when everything is ready. God doesn't give us a date. He doesn't say, well, it's going to happen on such and such a date. People all over the world have gotten all worried about December something or other, 2012, that's the end of the world. God doesn't put a date on it. And I think part of that is because God is at work and God is working throughout the world to bring all things together. And that involves an awful lot of simmering and an awful lot of cooking things together until everything is absolutely right. And God knows when that time will be, and at the fullness of time, God is going to bring these things together. Now, I want to talk a little bit to the grown-ups, but you guys can listen in too. You guys probably came downstairs and found your stockings full of coal. No. I mean, you guys probably came down this morning and found that a Christmas tree was filled up with presents. And I bet you you sat there, and I don't know if you got to open your presents yet, but I know that we sat there and watched as our kids opened up all their presents. And all the kids had two or three presents to open. Did you notice mom and dad kind of sat there? And mom and dad usually get one or two presents. And we don't mind that. But grown-ups, listen to this idea. This passage here in Ephesians, this is a Christmas tree brimming with gifts for you. These are blessings, and blessings aren't like presents. Presents wear out. New clothes get threadbare. New toys get old. The batteries go dead. The pieces break off. You grow out of them. But blessings, blessings are gifts that do not end. Blessings are things which are as fresh and new and enjoyed and appreciated as they ever were. And this is what this passage is about, that the Lord Jesus has given us gifts that are overflowing. We could go through this thing and list them off, to be holy and blameless before Him, to be predestined for adoption as sons, to be redeemed through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, to have made known to us the mystery of His will, And in the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. And it wraps up with these words, in him we have obtained an inheritance. That's what comes to an heir. Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory." When do you think Jesus is going to come back? Well, you know, some people look and they say, you know, we've been waiting for 2,000 years. I don't know if it'll ever happen. But the Bible says, God is not slow in keeping his promise. He is patient with you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to salvation. And God is waiting for the fullness of time. If they waited 4,000 years from the time that God promised a Savior, we've only waited half that much time. But I'll tell you, as you look around, you start to see some of the signs coming together. Some of the things that God talks about in his words that are signs and evidences that all things are about to be completed. And it is a sign that we should be prepared. Because I'll tell you one last thing about Christmas dinner at my house. I don't tell you exactly what time it's going to be, but I say you'd better be there around such and such a time, because when it's ready, I'm not waiting for you. And Uncle Nathan can attest to that a couple times. He comes in and gets a tray that he says, put it in the microwave. The fullness of time came and you had not yet arrived. But I'll tell you, on a spiritual basis, we look backwards to the Lord Jesus coming once. We look forward to when he will come again as king. And the encouragement, the essential aspect of scripture, he says, is you are invited. Be prepared. Do not be one of the ones who misses out because this is not one where you get reheated in a microwave plate. This is one where those who are prepared, those who are ready, those who have made room and invited the Lord Jesus in, will be ushered into God's presence, will be adopted as his sons, will receive the inheritance, and those who reject it, who ignore it, who do nothing about it, will be excluded. When he comes, Will you be waiting? You should not be caught by surprise because you have heard this message. Christmas can only be spiritually helpful to you if you accept the Lord Jesus as the Savior of the world, as your personal Savior. If we think of this as only a time of friends and family or love and peace, we miss the blessing that God has sent out for each one of us. And I give you these words just as in closing. Another pastor mentioned them to me and I thought that's very memorable. He says, I don't really care for those signs that say, keep Christ and Christmas. He says we need to let Christ out of Christmas. He says too many people keep Christ in Christmas. They're there for Christmas Day and come Boxing Day they box him up and they put him away until next Christmas. Let Jesus out of Christmas. Let him into every aspect of your life. That's what he came to do.