Trusting in Gods Perfect Timing

Throughout life, God’s timing is always perfect. In this inspiring and heartfelt message, Pastor Chris Teien reminds us that Christmas is not about stress, shopping, or disappointment—but about Jesus arriving right on time. Through Scripture, real-life stories, and personal reflections, this message invites us to celebrate God’s plan, trust His timing, and boldly share Christ during this season and beyond. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16335627

Key Points:

• God Planned to Send Jesus from the Beginning – Genesis 3:14–15. From the first sin, God had a plan to send a Savior to rescue humanity.
• God Gave Guidelines but People Needed Grace – Romans 8:3–4. The law revealed human weakness and pointed to the need for a Savior.
• Jesus Came at the Perfect Time to Rescue and Adopt Us – Galatians 4:4–5. God's timing brought salvation through Christ and adoption into His family.
• God’s Perfect Timing Continues in Our Lives – Romans 8:29. Even today, God is orchestrating events to shape us into the image of Christ.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:

• Honest reflections on the timing of meeting his wife Julie at just the right stage of spiritual maturity.
• Stories of faithful witnessing through Bibles and hope cards shared in daily life.
• Encouragement to embrace opportunities to share Christ during the Christmas season.
• Real-life examples of seeing God’s timing in everyday circumstances and ministry.

Notable Quotes:

• "God’s perfect timing sent Jesus into a broken world—and His timing is perfect in your life too."
• "Christmas isn’t about finding the perfect gift—it’s about receiving the perfect Savior."
• "Don't wait until it’s too late to respond to Christ—today is the day of salvation."

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Trust that God's timing is better than your own—especially in seasons of waiting.
2. Boldly share Christ with others during Christmas and all year long.
3. Reflect on the hope and certainty you have because of Jesus’ arrival and promised return.
4. Spend time simplifying and focusing on your relationship with Jesus this season.

Scripture References:

• Genesis 3:14–15 – Promise of the Savior after the fall
• Romans 8:3–4 – The law could not save; Christ could
• Galatians 4:4–5 – God’s perfect timing in sending Jesus
• John 3:16 – God’s gift of salvation through Christ
• Romans 8:29 – God's purpose to shape us into Christlikeness
• Hebrews 3:1 – Focus on Jesus, our apostle and high priest

Keywords:
 Christmas, God's perfect timing, gospel, trust in God, salvation, adoption into God's family, John 3:16, Galatians 4, Christian hope, sharing Christ

Closing Statement:
 God’s perfect plan was revealed when Jesus came at just the right time—and He is still working perfectly in your life today. Trust Him, celebrate Christ, and boldly live out your faith this Christmas season and beyond.

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The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

So time is moving on, and we have great things that we can do and great things that we can celebrate, and we really need to get our arms around Christmas and say it's not about giving toys and just making people happy, but it's a really awesome opportunity to show Christ how appreciative we are, how appreciative we are, and also to tell other people about Jesus. So there's lots of people that celebrate Christmas that are open to hearing about Christ at Christmas time, that they may not be at other times. And you and I need to do all that we can to proclaim Christ and to tell people what Christmas is really about. But joyful fulfillment, trusting in God's perfect timing. Joy is a theme that I'd like us all to have for this Christmas time. And Billy Graham, he was telling about this. He said, Every year people write me saying how much they dread Christmas. Often their complaint stems from how busy they will be or how much money they will spend. And then Billy Graham asks, Did those wise men who journeyed hundreds of miles across the desert to seek out the infant Jesus ever feel that way? After all, it took months to make the arduous trip, and they had gone to great expense to provide gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the new child. I doubt it. In fact, as their journey neared its end, we read that they had exceedingly great joy. What made the difference, their focus was totally on Jesus, the one who would be called Emmanuel, God with us. So we shouldn't let the Christmas season overwhelm us. We should do all that we can to keep moving forward in our relationship with Christ and understanding what Christ has done for us and what Christmas is. It's about Christ. It's not about what stores want you to do or to buy. It's not about buying your kids the best toy or just trying to make them happy. It's not about making sure nobody feels disappointed on Christmas Day because you didn't get them the latest gift or game or thing that they expected. But it's really about Jesus. And I think that if we were able to find time to spend this Christmas season and grow closer in Christ, that we will start to look forward to Christmas time and start to see it as the opportunity that it is. And as a pastor, you know, I would like to win all of Bell Plane and Jordan and Henderson and Cologne and Lesour and Le Center and people around us to Christ. But I don't know all those people, but you know a lot of people that I don't. And I constantly say, share Bibles, share Bibles. I carry this in my truck. I've got a Bible tightly in a bag here, and then a hope card, and I'm ready to distribute them whenever I have opportunity. And I hope that you would be too. When we run out of Bibles, we'll get more. To be sharing Christ. You, as an extension of our church and our ministries, you need to be the ones that go out and share Christ with the people we don't know. Because I'm never going to meet your classmates, I'm never going to meet your co-workers, I'm never going to be in your school or your work the way you are. And even if I am, people will be suspicious of me because they know I'm a pastor. And of course I'm going to share Christ because that's what I do. But when you share your relationship with Christ, when you share your testimony, when you share what Christ has done in your life, they will, as you pray for them, they'll become interested. Hopefully they'll become interested and you will be able to share Jesus and all that He has done. But God's timing for Jesus Christ to come was perfect according to God's plan. I think to myself, wouldn't it make more sense if Jesus came today? Because we've got social media and video, and like 94% of all the people under 24 years old have smartphones. And you know, wouldn't it be more convincing to watch like a video of Jesus after he was crucified to rise again as opposed to just reading about it and trusting in manuscripts 2,000 years ago? But that's not what God planned. God planned actually from the very beginning to send Jesus to save us. Number one, God planned to send Jesus to save us from the beginning. So Adam and Eve fell into sin, and Satan was cursed by God, Genesis 3.14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you've done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. And that is the first prophecy found in Scripture that Jesus is going to be coming. That God had a plan that Jesus would be sent to rescue us. God planned to send Jesus to save us from the beginning. And God showed who he was in his progressive revelation. So he chose Abraham and sent, told him to go to the promised land. And he dealt with Abraham. And then the Israelites, God had this special chosen people, and he repeatedly said, If you follow my ways, because I'm holy, you got to be holy like I'm holy. And here's a list of stuff you need to do. Here's the law, you've got to follow it, the Ten Commandments, and we'll add some more stuff to that. Next slide, actually. Number two, God gave his chosen people guidelines for living, the law, but they were unable to fully obey. Romans 8:3. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his son into body, like the bodies we sinners have, and in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirements of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. So God laid down these guidelines. And Romans 8.1 actually says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Have you ever tried to keep a list before? Have you ever tried to make yourself a goal list and then try to keep that list all the time? Or what about a dietary list? Have you tried? I mean, now you can take romaine lettuce off the list of things that you're supposed to be eating. So, but pie is okay, right? That's what people are telling me. So it's safe to eat pie, but not safe to eat lettuce. But there was the Ten Commandments, but then there's also 613 other guidelines that God wanted his people to follow. And it was impossible. And it would be impossible for us. And if that's what makes us right with God, then it's impossible for us to be right with God. And one of the most difficult things about following a list of things to be made right with God is that you know you fall short, so therefore it's hopeless. You just throw your hands up in the air and say, I can never do it. And in the Old Testament, they would bring sacrifices for their sin all the time. They'd sacrifice an animal which didn't cover their sins. It was a sign of their faith, then Jesus would be the ultimate sacrifice that would be sacrificed for sin. But Galatians 2.16 says, Yet we know that a person is made right with God and by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law, for no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. So the law wasn't bad. The law was standards that for the Old Testament people to follow. And actually, if you look at the Old Testament law, there's things in there that still would be good for us to follow and good for us to do, but it's not the way that we are made right with God. Galatians 3.13 says, But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took it upon himself, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the scriptures, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. So the law didn't bring us hope in life, it actually brought us condemnation and sadness and disappointment and hopelessness. The salvation of Christ is when Christ came and lived among us, lived a perfect life, a sinless life, and then was sacrificed for our sins, exchanging our sinfulness so that we would receive his righteousness. We wouldn't be judged based on fulfilling the law. We would be judged based upon did we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Galatians 3.24. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came. It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. That was our schoolmaster. It was the guidelines that God had for his people to follow. And we as Christians today, we live under Christ's law, not necessarily under the Old Testament law. Living in grace doesn't mean that we throw out the Ten Commandments, though. Matter of fact, Christ's law. Jesus was asked, what's the most important commandment? Matthew 22, 36, teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses? Jesus replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself. So when you look back at the Old Testament law, you can look at the things and say, okay, well, those are some good principles. Should I wear materials woven of two different types of fabric? Well, let's see. Is that not loving God? No, that doesn't. Is that, am I still loving my neighbor as myself? Yep, so probably okay to wear materials or two. Can we cut the corners of our beards? Yep, that's probably okay. What about tattoos? That's in Leviticus there. You gotta be careful with tattoos because people will size you up based on what your tattoo says. Does it glorify God? Does the tattoo help you to love the Lord your God? Even though in the Old Testament says that you shouldn't tattoo your body. Actually, it don't tattoo, give marks for the dead, tattoo your body for the dead. So some people say no one should have tattoos, and I don't have any tattoos. But the Bible, when you look at it, okay, so am I loving God? Am I loving my neighbor as myself? Some of my pastor friends have like really big Christian tattoos, like armor of God, I can do all things through Christ. Rich Froning, the great fitness guy, has a big tattoo down his side. Does it draw people to Christ? So you gotta figure out, you know, what is it that God wants you to do? Many times you look back in the Old Testament and see it's confirmed in the New Testament. So it's like, oh, I want to keep that one. Ten Commandments, basically, every one of the Ten Commandments is affirmed in the New Testament, except for keeping the literal Sabbath. In Hebrews, it says that we should observe a Sabbath to honor God, but it's not saying on Saturday we can't work from this period to this period and we can't do this, like the Pharisees kept it, so we want to figure out. But the thing is, is that even if we blow it, we're not saved based on fulfilling all the rules of the law. We are saved based on our receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And our desire should be to please God in every way, to love God so much and to love other people so much that we wouldn't want to do any of those things that are outside of God's will, because God is holy and he wants us to be holy when we follow after Christ. The Holy Spirit helps us to live the Christian life. So, number three, God sent Jesus at the perfect and appointed time to rescue and adopt us. It's the perfect and appointed time. So I love perfect timing. So I was telling my son that when I met my wife that it was the perfect time because if I would have met her earlier, I wasn't ready. I was still trying to figure some stuff out, trying to get over some sinful stuff I was doing. Anyway, so I was maturing, and then at the right time, God brought the girl that would become my wife into my life. So it was still young at 19, but I wasn't ready to meet her in tenth grade. I wasn't ready to meet her the first year I was living on my own. I wasn't ready to meet her then, but God brought her into my life at the right time. Many times I've been in the right place at the right time, and God often is orchestrating timing, and God did that even in the Old Testament. Joseph was sold into slavery and thrown into prison, but at just the right time, God raised him up to preserve his people. Moses was raised up, thought that he was going to be used of God, killed the guy, ran off to the wilderness, tended sheep, and then God brought him back to lead his people out of their slavery. When Moses brought the people to the Red Sea, it looked like a big body of water, and nothing was going to happen. But as the Egyptian army was following at just the right time, God opened up that sea, let those Israelites through, and then closed it up, and the Egyptian army died in the water, perfect timing. And the Bible says that Jesus came at the perfect time. In the Old Testament, the prophets would talk about the Messiah's coming. Then there was a 400-year period of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament, where God didn't speak through his prophets, and at just the right time. And what was different about that time? Well, the Romans had brought about peace in the empire. There was like 200 years of peace among the people. The Greeks had brought a language that, a Greek that was a Greek that was simplified, that was the common language among people in even different lands, the trade language, the common language. There was a census that needed to be taken that brought Jesus back, or Jesus' parents, Joseph and Mary back to where they needed to be to fulfill the prophecy, and Jesus would be born, and it was just the perfect time. When we have communion, we always talk about that we do this until the Lord returns, and at just the right time, Jesus is going to return. And it's tough to think about Jesus returning when life is comfortable and we have everything we want. When we look back on our at what we've got and we're like, oh, this is a nice place that I live, and these are some good people, and I'm just so comfortable right now. Jesus, you don't need to come back now because I'm good, I'm good. You know, we can do the other stuff later, right? We have all of eternity, so we can do that later, right? But when you're being persecuted or when you have health troubles, or when your life is crushed, shattered, disappointed, disappointment sets in, then you look forward to the return of Jesus. And Jesus said he would return again. And there are some people that are acting like Jesus will never return. And so they don't do anything to live for Christ, to share their faith. They think to themselves, well, I'll just do whatever I want, I'll live in whatever I sin I want, and then when I get old, I'll get it together. I'll turn my life over to Christ at the last minute, and that should be okay, right? And that whole idea of waiting until the last minute, the end of your life, you'll often die at a quarter till, and you won't have that opportunity. I mean, just think about it right now. If you hear an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, to ask the Lord to forgive you of your sin, to come into your life and to respond now, because now is the day of salvation, and you hear that and you reject that, the Holy Spirit convicts you and you know that you should receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you walk away from that. Is there a guarantee that the Holy Spirit's going to keep giving you the opportunity? Is there a guarantee that you're not going to like fall backwards, hit your head, and be a vegetable for the rest of your life, you know, tomorrow? Is there a guarantee that you even have a tomorrow? So we should ask people if they'd like to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and we should try to get them to respond and not let them just say later, because we don't know what God's timing is, but we do know that God's timing is perfect. God sent Jesus at the perfect time. And so it would be cool if Jesus came today on one hand, but it wouldn't be cool because we have like 2,000 years of biblical scholars and Christian living and all sorts of testimonies of God's greatness to look back on. We have so many treasures that the original Christ followers didn't have. And we have a full Bible, we have all these great resources. We have Bible audio, digital, video. Right now Media actually took our suggestion, or maybe not just our suggestion, but on the RightNow Media app for your phone or your tablet, you can now push it into audio mode. So if you're like driving or doing something, you can just listen to it instead of having it play on the screen. And you can load stuff up in a queue and make it auto-play so that it goes from the one video to the next video. So that's a great resource for you to use to keep growing in Christ. But we have all these resources to grow in Christ. We also have all these distractions. We have all these distractions that may keep us from following after the Lord. We come to New Year's and we have a list of stuff we want to do. We're like, I'm gonna read to the Bible in a year, I'm gonna read this book about theology, I'm gonna grow in this, maybe I'll learn some basic Greek, take a class, go back to school, become a missionary, I don't know. All these things that we say we're gonna do, and then for some reason it just never happens. And we come to the end of the year, it's like, oh, I failed. I'll try it again, and we go through. But Jesus came at the perfect time, and he cares about us, and he is still active, even though you know it was 2,000 years ago that he ascended back into heaven. But we have a personal relationship with him, and through the Holy Spirit, we're able to be empowered to live the Christian life and to understand the way that we're supposed to share faith, to have power for ministry, fruits of the Spirit in our life, all that comes through Christ in us and the Holy Spirit working through us, as we pray to our Heavenly Father who wants to be in a relationship with us. So Galatians 4:4, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoptions as sons. At the perfect time, which happened to be 2,000 years ago, the Romans had set up a peaceful empire and roads that made it possible to travel anywhere. And the again, the Greek that was spoken at the time was one that could be understood around the known world at the time. The Greek philosophy and the disappointment of the Jewish people made them welcome the opportunity to have Jesus come, many of them to have Jesus come. So at the perfect time, God moved. And we look back on that. I mean, we have scripture that is guaranteed to be preserved. People may try to get rid of the Bible, but it will always be with us because God is not going to let it disappear. God has given us precious promises for living today and for all of eternity, and we should invest our lives banking on those promises. Romans 8 29, God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son, so that his son would become firstborn among many brothers and sisters. So it's not that Jesus came and we can be saved and have fighter insurance and know that we can spend time with God in eternity, but that we are adopted as his children. So some Bible translations say, brothers and sisters, the original language says as sons, but actually in that culture. If you had the status as a son, you had more rights, resources, and an inheritance. They didn't often give that to the daughters. We have this inheritance, we have this opportunity to be adopted into God's family. And the adopted son was adopted permanently. He could not be adopted today and disinherited tomorrow. He became a son of the father forever. He was eternally secure as a son. The adopted son immediately had all the rights of a legitimate son in the new family. The adopted son completely lost all of his rights in his old family. The adopted son was looked upon as a new person so that old debts and obligations connected with his former family were cancelled out and abolished as if they never existed. Into God's family, we have full rights and we become Jesus' brother or sister. And it's such a cool thing that God loves us so much that he would open up his loving relationship to us. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and insert your name as a family is pretty awesome. So, and then God gave the first Christmas gift. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. He loved the world so much, but we have to receive that gift. We have to receive it. God doesn't force it upon us, yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, nor of husband's will, but born of God. From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after one another. John 1 12 to 13 and verse 16. God gave the first Christmas gift, and we need to receive that gift. And we can do that by acknowledging that we're sinners and that we need Christ to come into our life and save us. And we can do that through prayer. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin. Come into my life and save me and make me the person you created me to be. Thank you for welcoming me, welcoming me into your family. Or if we have received Christ, Lord Jesus, thank you so much that I am part of your family. Help me to invite other people into the family. Lord, help me to be bold in my faith and to share this great news with others and to re-gift the gift that you first gave us for Christmas. In Jesus' name. Amen. In the insights commentary, Chuck Swandal says, After many years of ministry, I've boiled down this relationship to Christ into essentials for breathing life into our personal relationship with God. So and I looked at this list and I'm like, this is such a great list of things that we should do at Christmas time. We should do in this next month for Christmas season. Simplicity, uncluttering our lives and minds from things that distract us from God. Can you find ways of simplicity this Christmas time? Can you find silence and solitude? Slowing our pace and making space in our schedules for God. Will you surrender? Releasing our grip on things that take our attention from God. Will you pray? Calling out to God with our praise, thanksgiving, and petitions. Will you be humble? Bowing our entire lives before the will of God. Will you have self-control? Holding back our own priorities in favor of God's priorities. And will you sacrifice, giving up the things God expects us to surrender to Him as we get ready to celebrate Christmas time? So it's communion time now. But it really is a great time to just take a time out and look back on your life and see what you did in the last month or the last week or last few days and see if there's the Holy Spirit points out any sin in your life that you need to confess and just acknowledge that was wrong and ask him for help not to do it again. So God can use you as a clean vessel. God can use you if you would keep your lives free of the sin that contaminates. One person had Explained it as being like a plumbing pipe, and there's a pipe of God's blessing coming, and you get crud in the pipe, and the pipe can get clogged if you're living in sin. You've got sin in your life. Yes, Christ is forgiving you of your sins, but the sin in your relationship, sin is doing anything against what God's will. That kind of stuff can clog God's blessing pipe. And so as you confess it, clean out those pipes. God's blessings, the joy of the Lord start flowing again. But whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. What an exciting day that will be. I can't even imagine what it will be like, but it is what's next on the agenda for the Christian. So Paul writes, I received from the Lord what I passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke in and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And John 3.36 says, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, and whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. So music will play, and the communion elements will go around, and this is a great time for you to go to the Lord in prayer right now. And maybe confess any known sin. Maybe recommit your life to Christ. Maybe ask him what it is that he wants you to be doing with your life right now. Just take a time out, take a moment, and do that. And I'll come back up in a minute. Let's pray. Jesus, we really are so undeserving of all that you all the love that you show us and the grace that you bestow on us and the blessings you give in our life, Lord, and in the hard times. You give us hope and you can give us peace, and you work all things out together for our good as we love you and are called according to your purpose. Lord, that's just too good of a gift for us to keep to ourselves. Lord, I pray that you give us a great boldness to live for you and to share you. Jesus, we thank you that you gave your body on the cross. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. And Hebrews 3:1 says, Dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven. Think carefully about this Jesus, whom we declare to be God's messenger and high priest. A new covenant that says we're saved, not by works, not by living out every requirement of the law, but by placing our faith in Christ. And He changes us, He makes us more like Himself, He makes us holy through the Holy Spirit. We are constantly in a process to grow more like Jesus. And I bet that we can look back, or you can look back on your life and see how you're changing and see how you're becoming more like Christ and see how your attitudes and how the things that you love and value are changing to become more like Christ as you spend time in his word and as you spend more time praying for others and having a heart for lost people. There's just so many things that Christ is doing in your life, and so many things that he will do if you'll yield yourself to him, if you will be filled with the Spirit, if you will step out in faith, in obedience, and serve the way that he is calling you to serve, to make disciples, to proclaim Jesus everywhere. And Christmas is a perfect time to do that. So now is the music place, and the elements are passed out. This is a good time to thank Jesus and to just praise him for what he's doing and what he's gonna do. And I'll come back up in a minute. In Jesus' day, you could be into debt, and then to pay your debts, you could sell yourself into slavery, or you could be taken into slavery because of your debts. And then your family or your friends or somebody who cared about you could redeem you. They could pay off whatever debt was owed and then set you free and redeem you. And Jesus redeems us from the sin, redeems us from the empty life, redeems us from a life without Christ. And he has redeemed us through a sacrifice on the cross, through the shedding of his blood. And when we receive him, we can be redeemed from the curse of the law and we can live a new life in Christ. As redeemed people, we should live in loyalty to Jesus Christ to realize that we want to follow him as our master and Lord and do what he says because we always come out ahead when we put God first. Jesus, I thank you so much that you have made it possible for us to know so much about you. You've made us possible for us to gather together with other believers. You've made it possible for us to read your word in languages we can understand. Lord, we thank you for all the resources you give us. Lord, we pray that you'd help us to use our time wisely. And Lord, that you would show us all that we could become if we fully gave ourselves to you. Jesus, we thank you. We praise you, and we want to find ways to proclaim you at Christmas time. Help us to do that. Let's take this and drink.