Change of Plans
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Intro and Engage
Intro and Engage
Where are we? | In a series | God’s Big Story | Plan for redemption, relationship and revival | Leading up to the Birth of a Savior | Today, we are going to talk about that birth.
Straight off the bat:
Who are planners here? Christmas shopping done in July, you are planners, those of you who have not started, are definitely. not. Planners.
Christmas is coming, sometimes, things happens we don’t plan | Relatives might not come | Someone might not make it | etc | Empty Seat | Maybe you’re not where you said you would be.
Tension
Tension
Maybe your in a situation, where you thought you wouldn’t | Maybe you got a sickness | Maybe you don’t currently have a job because of the world | Maybe someone you loved, deeply betrayed you? | Maybe something has happened that wasn’t in the plan
What I want to do, is talk about Jesus’ Birth, and give you a couple of truths
Title: When the shop runs out of Tinsel - You have to change your plans
My Hope: Today, as we reflect on the brith of Christ, you will know that you have been marked, with purpose - with Love, to be redeemed and revived.
Truth
Truth
What are we going to do? | Go through Jesus Birth | Unpack a Truth | Challenge, Encourage Convict
What I want to do is fill in some blanks | Not in the Bible, but read between the lines, of Mary and Josephs life | Make some Assumptions | Not Heretical, go with me on this.
Mary went to Youth Group one night | Met a leader called Joseph | Starts hanging out | Asking Questions | Found out he has a Job - Potential | Mary wonders if Joseph likes her, he does | Agree to catch up in a coffee shop in nazareth | Meet each others parents | one day, everything makes sense, he sees the ocean in her eyes | Mary realises Joseph loves her, He realises Mary loves him | Go for a walk, stroll, proposes | Mum starts planning wedding - control freak |
Then what happens - Young couple, crazy in love, they would start to plan their future | House | Kids | Etc.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary must of been confused in fact:
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Important = not from a seed of Adam, but from a seed of a Virgin - the only one without Sin, without Blemish, the perfect Lamb ,for our sins. Remember when we unpacked Genesis in the first Gospel, this was the seed.
What about Mary’s Plans? What was her response?
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
She must be over the moon | So excited to tell her Husband - Who would love, support and protect her and Baby Jesus | Saviour of the World.
What happened:
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Shattered | He has to tell his parents she was an adulter | He loved her | Trusted her | Told her things he had told no one else | Mad , Torn |
“Divorced her Quietly” | Back then Engagement needed a divorce | Divorce frowned upon | Joseph now an outcast |
What about Mary?
Remember what she said | Anything for you God | but now, no husband | Life totally over | no job | Begger | imagine the rumours
What is Mary thinking right now?
“God why are you allowing this to happen?” “This isn’t fair”
Do we find ourselves here?
God why? I have done everything right Lord | Why am I sick? | Why is this happening to me? | Why did that person wrong me? | Why can’t I get over to see relatives this Christmas? | why did that person…die? This wasn’t the plan | Lord…WHY? it wasn’t the plan.
1 Truth: You don’t have to understand the plan, to TRUST God has a purpose.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
So what happened, Mary, distraught about to be divorced, Joseph about to divorce her.
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
Gosh - What a truth - God’s plan was so much bigger than Josephs plan.
You don’t have to understand the plan to Trust God has a Purpose.
I grew up on a Farm in GinGin - Life was awesome, from what I remember | When I was 10, I found out my father, was not my father - I remember my brother, crying hanging on to this picture, locking himself in the class room | Moved to Perth and then, Busselton where I would grow up for 10 years | Moved back to Perth | Corperate Contracts | Moved back here to spend some time with Family | Decided to work at Woolworths | Met Emma | Emma…didn’t want to go back to Perth | Emma had just got out of a tough relationship | When I met my Wife, it felt like I had just found my best friend | We didn’t plan on having Kids | Emma fell Pregnant | Miscarriage | Then Alexis | Then Nate | | Started Business | Saved in this Church | Emma’s brother was a Christian | God called me to be a pastor | it wasn’t the plan, but I believe there is a purpose.
the fact I am teaching today here, is a reflection how Life has not always gone to plan but God had a different Purpose.
If you look at the last 5 years of your life, and how many times your plans have changed, I am sure you will see God‘s hand all over it.
Even in those times when you wouldn’t choose it, and amy not want to go through it again - but God used it for a purpose - Same for Mary and Joseph.
You don’t have to understand the plan, to trust God has a purpose.
What if, you believe you don’t deserve to have a purpose? Who did God choose to have this baby?
Mary = God Loving | Obedient | Soft toward the Lord | Willing
Joseph = Just Man with trust issues
Who did He choose to tell the Good news to?
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Shephard = Let me tell you about shepards | Lowest Class | would often miss ceremonial law rituals due to their work, so they had a bad reputation | So unreliable, they could not be a witness in the law-courts | However, they loved God - They fell short | Like us, yet, they loved God |
He came to the humble - not the proud
Sacrafice a spotted lamb every morning and evening - likely these where those lambs |
God, comes to those preparing a sacrafice for the temple, to tell them about the sacrafice that He has prepared for the entire world.
God came to the lowest, to tell the biggest news to.
What did Jesus say? I came for the sinners, not the righteous - We spoke about Grace and Truth last week.
Truth 2: It’s not what you’ve done that will determine your purpose, it’s who you are
What where the shepards doing? Humbly and Faithfully serving.
back to Mary;
Mary carrying saviour, royal treatment? No, she was in labour, on a donkey| Nazereth to Bethlehem is 4 days, travelling 8 hours per day | Joseph forgot to book ahead | Had to stay in a place that was for the animals | Jesus was born into a literal Mess.
And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
You don’t have to understand the plan, to understand the purpose, and the purpose, was to give us one of the greatest christmas carols of all time; “away in a manger”
Manger, society has made this cute *Show Picture* | No place for them = Message, in our mess, in the crowded areas of our hearts, do we make a place for Him? | He was born in filfth | The message: God knows our suffering and he came to walk in, share it, and bear it on the cross.
If you make room for Jesus in your Life, You won’t have to find your Purpose, your purpose will find you.
“King Herod wants to kill your child” - This is real people | A Mum | a Dad | Hearing, that someone wants to kill their baby.
but, God had a purpose for this little baby, born in a mess, born into turmoil, born into a time when the world was dark, to turn on the LIGHT.
Now mary and Joseph on the run | Hiding in Eqypt | Houses | Fast forward 33 years
Remember Mary “I will do what ever you want”
Now, looking at her son, her baby nailed to a cross | Back whipped so hard his organs are probably showing | Face unrecognisable | Mary did EVERYTHING RIGHT|
They are SPITTING ON HIM | Jesus says “Forgive them”
then “ IT IS FINISHED “
One final Breath
“INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT” - he echoes a psalm to fulfill a prophesy.
Mary and Joseph had a Plan, God had a Purpose.
Mary and Joseph didn’t have extrodanry ability, just availability.
What was that purpose? Let me tell you. I Hear “Jesus is the reason for hte season”
The Purpose is YOU. Ask God what the reason of the season is, he will say “YOU” | Yuu can’t make up this Narrative | You don’t have to understand the plan, to understand the purpose. If you are a child of God you have a purpose if you just make room.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.
You are not here by Accident | You are here because the Lord is Sovereign and he has a Purpose for your life | Wake up every day, knowing that the world is DIFFERENT because you CHOSE to SERVE JESUS TODAY | Wake up KNOWING that you have PURPOSE | that you have MEANING | and that you have VALUE.
Wake up KNOWING DEEP in your HEART that JESUS CAME…FOR…YOU.
IF you feel like you are not walking in PURPOSE - Humble yourself - **Maybe talk about Fast day**
Humbling yourself means just start following His ways. Let God speak to you. WHen you pray, stop talking.
God doesn’t want your extraordinary ability, he wants your AVAILABILITY.
You don’t have to understand the plan, to TRUST GOD HAS A PURPOSE. DRAW TO HIM BE WITH HIM.
Let this be your prayer
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
YOU HAVE A PURPOSE. GOD CAME FOR YOU. JESUS CAME FOR YOU.
**Altar Call**
**PRAYER**