Date: December 26th, 2010
Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder
Title: Radical Christmas: When God Changes Plans...
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever had your Christmas disrupted and had to change your plans?
- We have. One year was by an accident just 4 days before Christmas killing Joyce’s Mom.
- Another year it was a family crisis among some people in our church that pulled me away from the Christmas dinner table to go and counsel with a family.
- Other things can be weather or illness where the best laid plans suddenly get sabotaged.
It happens….
- Sometimes plans change by our choice
- Sometimes they change because of the choices of others
- Sometimes God changes our plans.
Reflect on Mary in regard to this….
I would bet as a young teenager Mary had her plans and dreams ….and I don’t think they immediately involved pregnancy.
She didn’t have a husband…not a good plan
i.e.
Story of a young teenage girl that came in to see the Dr. with her mother.She was having abdominal pains. Dr checked herout and said “The issue is you are pregnant.”
The girl quickly blurted out. “That can’t be I don’t even have a boyfriend” Her mother also jumped in saying “There’s no way. She hasn’t even been with a boy alone for more than 30 mins.”
Dr turned and went and silently stared out the window for a long time.
Finally, the mother broke the silence and said “Dr. is something wrong? Are you okay?”
He replied:
“Well, the last time I heard about something like this happening there was a bright star in the sky and 3 wise men from the East. I missed the 1st time and I didn’t want to miss it again.”
Once pregnant a lot of Mary’s plans were changed.
- Suddenly where she lived changed. She goes to be with an Aunt Elizabeth for awhile.
- When the baby is just about due she has another change of plans to deal with. A trek to Bethlehem to Joseph’s ancestral home to fulfil the census requirements.
- Once there her plans changed again. I’m sure it wasn’t her plan to have her baby in a stable with a manger as a crib.
- She probably didn’t expect visitors to come as well – shepherds and wise men from the East.
And then yet another change.
Joseph is warned in a dream about Herod’s impending reaction to the news of a king being born in Bethlehem. To avoid the impending slaughter of all the baby boys 2 years and under they flee to Egypt where they stay for 2 years.
Nothing about this 1st Christmas was going according to her plan I’m sure. God had a change of plans for Mary.
Question:
How do you respond when God’s changes your plans?
Get angry.
Get mad because we think we know better than God how our life is to play out.
Resentful…bitter
Feel sorry for yourself….pity party
Listen to Mary’s response
“I serve the Lord,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me just as you said it would.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary trusted God’s plan. She trusted his care. She trusted the character of God as it is expressed in
Jer. 29:11 – “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
I wonder if that was Mary’s life verse. I wonder if those were the words she quoted to herself when all these changes came at her.
“I serve the Lord. May it happen to me just as you said it would.”
Wow! Many of us would struggle to say that.
We often feel like God doesn’t like us…trying to punish us…We doubt his character and intent.
Not Mary. May it happen as you have said.
Question: Why does God change our plans?
3 reasons:
1. GOD CHANGES OUR PLANS SOMETIMES TO GET OUR ATTENTION
In Psalm 81:8-14 we read about this with Israel (The Message)
Listen, dear ones—get this straight;
O Israel, don’t take this lightly.
Don’t take up with strange gods,
don’t worship the latest in gods.
I’m God, your God, the very God
who rescued you from doom in Egypt,
Then fed you all you could eat,
filled your hungry stomachs.
11–12 “But my people didn’t listen,
Israel paid no attention;
So I let go of the reins and told them, ‘Run!
Do it your own way!’
13–16 “Oh, dear people, will you listen to me now?
Israel, will you follow my map?
I’ll make short work of your enemies,
give your foes the back of my hand.
God has allowed them to experience hardship…given them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their devices and allowed them to face hardships to get their attention.
i.e.
Think of a flashing light on a road crew.
The light is flashing to get our attention. To warn us of a detour.To get us to slowdown.
Sometimes God puts out these flashing lights called “plan changes” to get our attention. To prevent us from some bigger dangers and problems down the road.
I know at times God has to throw some hurdles in my way to get my attention. To wake me up.To get me back consulting him. Get me off coast in my spiritual life.
3 warning signs he uses when I’m locked on my plans:
- Fatigue – running hard but not getting anywhere
- Fear – deep nagging fear that something isn’t right
- Frustration – things are getting between and my goals. Life isn’t lining up the way I want it.
Those are warning signals. Flashing lights.
- God is trying to get your attention.
- God wants to change plans.
Sometimes God changes our plans to get our attention.
2. GOD CHANGES OUR PLANS TO ENCOURAGE US TO TRUST HIM
Proverbs 3:5 – 6
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do,
everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
i.e.
- Have you ever found yourself as a parent saying “Trust me on this one.”
- Maybe as a leader or a coach “trust me on this one.’
i.e.
Basketball coach:
One of the challenges is to get your athletes to trust the system…trust the play. This will work…trust me.
i.e.
One of 1st capital campaigns had to get my board to trust the campaign strategy. Guys you have to trust me. This will work…neck on the line.
Night we went over goal – one of board members stood up and publicly apologized to me.
God sometimes throws changes at us to encourage us to trust him. “God will you come through?”
In fact, it is the way generally that God uses to build our trust. When we step out and trust him we find out he is faithful. That encourages us to trust him the next time.
We really don’t learn to trust God except in those times when our plans get sent awry.
3. GOD CHANGES OUR PLANS BECAUSE HE HAS A PLAN FOR YOU.
Typically the plans God has for you are bigger.
Usually they are better
And usually they are more difficult.
i.e.
Mary – God’s plans for Mary were certainly bigger than she would have imagined.
God’s plans for her were certainly better.
And without doubt they were more difficult.
The ridicule, the donkey ride, the hardships, the 2 years with a new baby in Egypt
1 Cor 2:9 says:
However, as it is written:
“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him”?
Sometimes we don’t realize at the moment.
Jesus said to his disciples:
John 13:7
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
We don’t often see that God’s plans are bigger, or better.
We don’t always understand why the plans have changed.
But in those times we need to ask:
- God, are you trying to get my attention.
- We need to see them as times where we reaffirm our trust. Times when we say “Lord I don’t understand everything right now but I’m going to trust you.”
WRAP-UP
There is verse I want to leave with you in regards to trusting God’s plans. Powerful verse o commit to memory when things are rough
Ps. 138:8
The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
God wants us to trust him in the change, not just trust our plans.
Trust in the Lord…. He will work out his plans for your life
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New International Reader's Version. 1st ed. Zondervan, 1998, S. Lk 1:38
New International Reader's Version. 1st ed. Zondervan, 1998, S. Lk 1:38
Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Ps 81:8-14
Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Pr 3:5-7
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. 1 Co 2:9
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 13:7
Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Ps 138:8