3 years ago

By Pastor Gary Wayne

Text: Jeremiah 29:11-14, Luke 1:28-38

I love Christmas time – it is such a beautiful and festive occasion.
I love to drive around and look at the wonderful decorations.

I think with Christmas time, there can be a kind of fantasy expectation as to how it should be - kind of a Norman Rockwell / Thomas Kinkade painting kind of thing with the settings just perfect.

In our text, Mary was expecting. What was she expecting?
A baby yes, but I think she must have expected more than just that.

With everything the angel Gabriel told her, I’m sure her expectations were working overtime.
She was going to give birth to the Son of God – this would be the greatest birth EVER!

She had grown up with the prophetic voice that the Messiah would come and deliver them.
This was going to be fantastic – after all this was God at work!
Announced by an angel – BY AN ANGEL! This would be the greatest birth of All time. THIS IS EPPIC!!!

She was God’s favorite – chosen above all other women. THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS!

But the reality was probably far different from what she expected.

What would you and I expect – given the angel visit – the Immaculate Conception – given the greatest event to happen in all history?
How would we expect things to go?

But the Christmas story seems to be just the opposite.
Discomfort from the very start. MANY QUESTIONS! What is God up to?
Did He really mean this? He wants me to what?
Mary and Joseph had to travel about 90 miles with her being late term pregnant.
When they got there, there was no room for them in a normal house.
They had to lay the baby in an animal feeding trough.
Then they had to run for their lives. Live in a pagan, foreign country.
But I thought God would have ________.

When we hear “God is up to something BIG in your life, what do we expect?
We instantly have expectations of how this will go.
Knowing that I am God’s favorite – I expect…..

That God would reveal his whole plan to me – not keep me in the dark.
Not allowing me to not understand.
That God will seek my input and follow my opinions.

I expect God to fulfill His plan quickly.
I expect God to eliminate every problems, every rough place, with no oppositions in my life. Should we even talk about finances???
Isn’t that what most of us would expect God to do from a God who can do ANYTHING?

When Mary says yes to God in ver. 38 I don’t think this was what she expected.
But what she did get for Christmas was God’s best – for her and for the rest of humanity. THAT IS TRULY EPPIC!

What can we expect for Christmas? What can we expect from God?
I don’t want to paint a picture of pain and hopelessness, just the opposite!
I want to take our eyes off the problem we are going through and identify with the presence of God that is with you. Immanuel = God With Us!
Psalms 23:5 – look for the table of fellowship.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
What the enemy meant for evil, God turns it around and brings GOOD! Gen. 50:20

Jer.29:11-14

When something happens and we don’t understand, there’s a huge tendency to move into living in a place of disappointment and loss of hope, mistrust towards God.
I want the supernatural power of God’s Word to restore Hope and Faith inside.
A fresh revelation of His table of fellowship.
Where We live from God’s Word, not from my experiences or from my disappointment – not from my pain, but from Immanuel = God With Us!

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