On Time and On Target

Galatians 4:4–5 NKJV

4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

.

Gift Giving and Preaching at Christmas

Especially in America: “Buy me! Take me home!”

Can become routine, taken for granted

Preaching at Christmas is like that

Preaching: The inn, the shepherds, the wise men!

The prophecies and the angelic appearances!

Today … Christmas with Paul

His statement about Christ’s birth to the Galatian church

Consider all his statement encompasses

Body

God is always on Time

“When the fullness of the time was come.”

This event had been expected and prophesied for thousands of years

How impatient we become when things don’t work out as planned:

When our prayers are not answered or when difficulties persist

When we think something should be now, and we have to wait longer

But God is always on time!

All my days were written in His book before I ever lived one of them

He was not taken by surprise, and He is not late to arrive

Consider some Old Testament examples:

Joseph sold into slavery and imprisoned. He becomes the prime minister of Egypt

After 13 years in slavery and prison

yet, at precisely the time needed to precede the famine and save his people

Moses preserved in the desert becomes the deliverer

Over 400 years of slavery

the failure of his own efforts to bring justice

banished in the desert, and settled there

until the precise time, when God had chosen, of which He spoke to Abraham 400 years earlier

The Red Sea experience: The sea opened just in time

the people were cursing, saying God had brought them there to die

God was right on time with the birth of Christ

How long it must have seemed!

The promise in the Garden,

the prophecies,

the silence

Then, ACTION: angelic activity

The taxing,

the crowded inn,

the birth,

the shepherds,

the wise men

the slaughter of the babies

The flight into Egypt

God will be right on time with the Second Coming of Christ

The current scene and temptations to date setting

Some doubt, but God will be on time

Many signs may be fulfilling prophecy even now

But, just as the people then failed to recognize them, most people fail to see it today

But if you are ready - the time is always right for you

blessed is that servant who is doing what he is supposed to be doing when his Lord comes

God is always on time in His working in our lives

You are not here by accident

Your difficulties are opportunities to believe

every test is another chapter in your testimony: If you live by Faith

God meets People where they are

“God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law …”

That’s where we all had our beginning

Born so helpless

How strange that God should choose this entrance to the world

How great the degree of His humility (Phil. 2:5–7)

Laid in a manger

God will meet you where you are today

In your humanity

stained by sin, and failure, doubt and even fear

God will meet you in faith

God wants to change People from what they are to what they can be!!

“That we might receive the adoption of sons”

Adoption means “son placed”

Adoption possible because of redemption … the cross

God is developing you into what you ought to be

Do not frustrate the grace of God

Receive This Adoption!

Jesus will change your Life

You can only be what you ought to be through his Power