There's Been a Change in Plans! Christmas LIVE! Pastor David Rathel. 12.18.17

Rivertown Church Podcast

THERE’S BEEN A CHANGE OF PLANS - Christmas Live Series 12.17.17 Luke 1:26-37 http://biblehub.com/nasb77/luke/1.htm) A CHANGE OF PLANS Luke 1:31, 38 (NIV) 31You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 38“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Don’t Let Your Plans Make You Miss God’s Purpose. Life springs many surprises on us that ruin our carefully laid plans. Mary had been planning her wedding to Joseph, but while she was planning to get married, God was planning to save the world. Just like Mary, we have a decision to make when there is a change of plans. We must decide whether or not we will see God’s purpose in the change. PLAN FOR INTERRUPTION Mary’s Interruption Was Your Salvation. Getting pregnant was a major interruption to Mary’s life and to all of her plans. But it was also the greatest thing that had ever happened to the world: God coming in the form of a Baby. Your Interruption Is God’s Invitation. Some Of Life’s Greatest Invitations Come In The Form Of Interruptions. We need to recognize that the things that interrupt our agendas are often the things that were at the top of God’s agenda all along. By building margin and flexibility, we can be ready to respond to the opportunities God presents us that do not adhere to our original plans. PLAN FOR INCONVENIENCE In Order To See God Work In Big Ways, We Will Often Have To Face Great Personal Inconvenience. It was hugely inconvenient for Mary to travel to Bethlehem for a census when she was pregnant, and then give birth in a barn. We could look at the Christmas story and think that God did poor planning. But, what if instead it’s that God wanted to show us something by the way His Son came into the world…. PLAN FOR IMPERFECTION Our Expectation Of Perfection Stops Our Celebration Of What’s Really Important. Many of us get disappointed in the Christmas season. We are in love with a perfect ideal of Christmas that is never met. If we plan for things to be imperfect, we’ll be able to celebrate what’s really important. Our Expectation Of Perfection Stops Our Celebration Of Progress. Pregnancy is an apt metaphor for anything God puts inside of us. Just as God conceived Jesus inside of Mary, God plants divine purpose in each of us. With a pregnancy, we celebrate every little step along the journey. But as believers we often expect perfection in life, instead of celebrating the little steps of progress along our journeys. God Expected Our Imperfection, So He Incarnated Perfection. God didn’t wait for us to be perfect, but sent His son while we were still sinners. God knew from the beginning of time that we would never be able to get it all right, so He planned to send Jesus. PLAN FOR IMPOSSIBILITY God’s Plans Always Defy Human Reason. Mary asked the angel ow it was possible for her to give birth, since she was a virgin. He told her that the Holy Spirit would come to her and that she would conceive. He went on to say that no word from God would ever fail. We can plan for impossibility because God wants to do things in our lives that defy human reason. THE PROMISE REMAINS “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 This Implies That You Don’t Know Them. God’s Promises Still Stand, No Matter What Happens. We Get Plans Confused With Promises. Instead Of Trusting In Plans, We Can Trust In Jesus. So, We Get Upset When God Changes The Plans. He Changed Every Plan, Every Person, And EveryThing By Coming To Earth To Save Us Plans Change, But The Promise Remains. He Died For Our Sins And Destroyed Death And Hell And Rose Again! For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8: