Have you ever gotten the wrong gift for Christmas? A woman was talking to her nephew just after Christmas. In a very apologetic way she says, "I'm sorry you don't like my Christmas gift, but I asked if you preferred a small check or a large check." With his head hung in disappointment, the nephew replies, "I know, but I didn't think you were talking about ties." I hope none of us will receive the wrong gift this Christmas.

IN SOME WAYS, GOD'S GIFT TO US AT CHRISTMAS SEEMS ALL WRONG. Think, for a minute, about the world that Jesus entered. "In the days of Caesar Augustus. . . ." What was the world like in the days of Caesar Augustus?

Well, these were days of the most marvelous peace the ancient world had ever known! You see, forty years before this, Julius Caesar had died. And he died so …