The Separational Season (Matthew 1:18-25)
At a Friday Night Prayer Service, I received confirmation that the message this morning is truly not only for me, but also for the House of Transformation. This year we’ve experienced some wonderful times and some low times. There’s some stuff that many of us have been waiting all year to see; waiting for God to fulfill His promises. The devil has tried to make you and me think that word which God spoke to us, really wasn’t from God. The devil has even tried to make some of us think that we were going down a dead end street, but the devil is a liar. I know I’m right because some of you have expressed that to me. And if I am to be honest, that’s how I’ve been feeling as well.
But I’m here to tell you; God is not a god who should lie. That which He says, He will fulfill. We just have to keep on doing what God says and don’t listen to anything that’s contrary to what He says and don’t look with our natural eyes. We have to just keep on keeping on. Church we must put on our spiritual bifocals and watch the Lord move in a miraculous way; a way that no man can define and a way where no man can take the glory. We must simply wait on the Lord. And, while we are waiting Church, God is pruning us. In other words, God is shedding and removing anything that is not like Him. While we are waiting, God is preparing us for the work of the ministry. And, while we are waiting God is shaping us to handle the overflow that is to come.
Our text, this morning, speaks about a time, it speaks about a period were things didn’t occur as the norm. Let’s make it clear that Jesus Christ’s birth was not normal; it was different from that of any other Jewish boy named in the genealogy of our text. The Book of Matthew starts off with the lineage of Jesus. All the other births begat someone but Christ birth was begat by the Spirit of God. Christ was born of an earthly mother even though there was no need for an earthly father. I’m telling you that Christ’s birth wasn’t the norm. Christ pure existence on earth came through unusual means. Christ, according to John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was ‘with’ (say with) God and the Word was God.” The Word was Christ who separated himself from God the father and came her to this earth for you and for me.
As stated, this morning’s text speaks about a time, it speaks about a period were things didn’t occur as the norm. There was a season of separation and it was during this separation that God was performing His mighty work. Let’s look at our text as recorded by Eugene Petersen in the Message Bible. Petersen records Matthew 1:18-25 as follows:
“The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus – ‘God saves’ – because He will save His people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term.
Watch for this – a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for ‘God is with us’).
Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream. He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.”
Don’t you find this odd that here a man and a woman wed but they don’t enjoy the pleasures of marriage? The normalcy is when one ties the knot; soon thereafter the couple consummates the union. In other words, they can’t wait for the wedding night (and if not that night due to exhaustion), they barely can make it to the next morning (am I right about it). But this wasn’t the case with newlyweds in our text. Look at verse 25 again of our text, “But he (Joseph) did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby.” While reading this scripture on December 17, 2004, God revealed to me that He isn’t a God of normalcy. He doesn’t perform according to the standards of the world. Afterall, His ways are not our ways. So the things that He does He doesn’t perform them to the way we think He should perform them. But rather, He does them according to what’s best for Him and for us. This scripture is evident that the Spirit of God was truly resting not just upon the Virgin Mary but also upon the husband Joseph from the Household of King David. What man do you know doesn’t want to consummate his marriage on his wedding night? But Joseph believed God’s angel that spoke to him in verse 20,
“While he was trying to figure a way out, (to quietly disclose Mary) he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant.”
The Spirit of the Lord was upon Mary and the Spirit of the Lord was also upon Joseph, Church. Unbeknown to some of us, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you and me. His Spirit has impregnated us with some stuff. Some of us are pregnant with aspirations to become:
· An administrator
· A doctor
· A preacher
· A teacher
· A social worker
· An actress
· An engineer
· A business owner
· A retiree
And some of us don’t know what we’re pregnant with we just know we are pregnant because there’s an unsettling within our bowels. Church, as it was with Mary, our pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. That notion that dream within you is from the Spirit of God. Yes, you dreamed about it and yes, comprehension of the dream wasn’t there until the voice of God called you out and call me out by name. God said, “Roy, Son of God; Suzie, Daughter of Thunder; and Joseph, Son of David, that which you dreamed is from me and it will come true.” You didn’t make it up; you didn’t mishear the voice of God, no matter what the devil is trying to make you believe. You did hear the voice of God!
· Oh yes, you may feel abandon
· Oh yes, you may feel aloft
· Oh yes, you may feel ridiculous
· Oh yes, you may feel misunderstood by everybody
· Oh yes, you may feel rejected
· Oh yes, you may feel persecuted
· Oh yes, you may feel isolated, in this thing all by yourself
· Oh yes, you may feel separated from everything and everybody
But hold onto your dreams! Don’t give up; what you’re feeling; what you’re experiencing is the Separational Season. It won’t last forever! I’m telling you Church that which is in you is Spirit-conceived. God made you pregnant and you will give birth to your dream. But for right now, we have to carry the dream to full term. We have to wait for the right season to give birth and the closer we get to that season of delivery, the harder the labor pains we will feel. Oh yeah! It may feel like we are all alone; it may feel like God has forsaken us; and it may even feel like we are in the wilderness, just wandering to and fro. But I’m here to tell you, Church, that which you have conceived, YOU WILL GIVE BIRTH TO IT. That which TRANSFORMATION conceived, we the Body of Transformation Worship Center and the Body of Christ will give birth as well. For the Spirit of the Lord told Joseph, “She will bring a son to birth.”
I stand here today as a mouthpiece for the Lord to tell you, don’t stop dreaming – hold onto your dreams. For the Word of the Lord declares, “You will bring it to birth.” Can I get an Amen here! Praise the Lord Church.
Many times God puts us in an incubator. You are not the first to endure incubation. The Prophet Elijah, in 1 Kings 17, experienced the Separational Season for a period but soon thereafter, the Lord used a raven to fed him. The Physician Luke alludes to this Separational Season, this wilderness experience. Luke states in Luke 3:4, that the wilderness is the place of preparation as John-the-Baptist was in the wilderness making preparation for the soon Coming King.
· It’s in this wilderness experience or I like to label it as the Separational Season that it feels like God has us in a holding state.
· It’s in this wilderness or this Separational Season that God is shaping us and preparing us for the work that He has before us.
· It’s in this wilderness experience or the Separational Season that God is making us ready Church so that we can do what He has for us to do.
Pastor R. M. Henderson of Washington Street Missionary Baptist Church in Paducah, KY said in his article, When God Puts You on Hold,
“Many times God puts us on hold until we can grow up in a situation. Every set of circumstances is not for immediate deliverance. There are times when God says you must grow before you go. Your next level isn’t coming until you clean up the mess on the level you’re on.”
No one likes being put on hold. We want immediate gratification. We need to hear a word from the Lord right now but the Lord puts us on hold. In today’s vernacular, it’s like calling a business and the person on the other end of the line says, “press 1 for this and press 2 for that.” Then after you go through all the process of listening to the menus and pressing all the buttons, (and still waiting to obtain help for what you called for initially), the person on the other end of the line who finally comes to the phone puts you on hold. That person says, “Please hold.” Church, there are times that we all will be placed on hold.
That’s how it was for Mary and Joseph; they were placed on hold. They were husband and wife, but the Bible says, “He did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby.” Church, God put them on hold. See, there was a bigger picture at hand. The salvation of the world through the conceived Spirit of God was at stake. And there’s a bigger picture than you or me. Someone is at bay if we don’t stay abreast and believe that our God-given dream will come to fulfillment. If we quit, maybe that lost child will not be found. If we quit, maybe that drug-addicted mother will never be delivered from drugs. If we quit, maybe that spouse, who looks at his/her mate going to Church Sunday after Sunday, will never come to Church. I’m telling you Church, God will put His children, you and me, on hold! God is shaping us to help someone else who is in need. He has to put a hold on the consummation until He can grow us up! Amen! God has to separate us so we can clearly hear from Him and He can see what’s inside of us. I’m telling you God will allow a Separational Season to surface in the midst of yours and my pregnancy.
Some assignments that God gives require us to part from others for a season. King David also experienced the Separational Season when he left his parents with the King of Moab and David escaped to the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1-4).
Let me see if I can make it clear. The latter part of Verse 22 in the Message Bible states, “This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term.” God will cause separation in order for the Spirit-conceived embryo to grow. Then God will put His Name on that birth as a seal of approval. It’s in this Separational Season that God will allow the embryo to develop and as it goes through the developmental stages God will not allow any outside forces to infiltrate the sack (He did not consummate the marriage until she gave birth). God is going to develop the dream; no outside influences will alter that which God conceived. If we allow outside influences to infiltrate the sack then the penetration will prolong and delay the birthing of the dream.
Outside forces couldn’t influence, sway Mary or Joseph and that’s why God wouldn’t allow them to consummate their marriage. God wanted to assure that the blood covenant was in tack prior to the birthing of Mary’s son, the Savior of the World.
Now, using my sanctified imagination, I do believe Mary and Joseph experienced those feelings that come as a result of the Separational Season. All they had was each other and they couldn’t even come together for each other. Most definitely they must have felt:
· Abandonment
· Being aloft
· Appearing ridiculous
· Being misunderstood
· Rejection
· Persecution
· Isolation
· Separation
We must remember Church, that Mary wasn’t the only one who had a dream. Joseph had a dream as well. In that period of time, it was dangerous for a woman to come up pregnant and not be married. She would be literally stoned to death as we literally stone people to death with our mouths. And the fiancée would face ridicule from others and be separated from amongst his peers. What I’m trying to say here is that not everyone will accept your dream. There will be times when others will reject you and say all kind of manner of evil against you. But you just keep holding onto your dream. And while you’re in the Separational Season, know that God is preparing not only you but also others as well (like He did with Joseph) to hook up to your dream. Pretty soon, others will catch hold of your dream, your vision, and run neck-to-neck, hand-in-hand with you.
However, until God releases His hold and takes you and me out of the Separational Season, we must “be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because our labor is not in vain in the Lord.” We must know that our dream is not in vain. We must:
· Keep on trusting God and His word.
The scripture said, “Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream. He married Mary.” Church, we can’t go wrong if we put our total alliance, reliance, and faith in God. God will never fail you; He’s faithful to His promises (even when we are unfaithful to His commands).
Until God releases His hold and takes us out of the Separational Season, we must secondly:
· Keep on doing what your inner man, the Spirit of God, instills in you to do.
Don’t stop serving God; don’t stop studying His word; don’t stop praising God; and, don’t stop worshiping Him in your tithes and offerings (these are reasonable services that we offer to God – Romans 12:2). All of these forms of worship are for your and my growth and for kingdom building.
Finally, until God releases His hold and takes us out of the Separational Season, we must:
· Not quit – there’s too much at stake; someone’s life is dependent upon your dream, my dream.
Someone is weighing in the balance. Someone is dependent upon your dream to aid him or her in defeating the works of the devil. Someone needs those who are spiritual to restore him or her in the spirit of meekness. Someone needs you and someone needs me to guide him or her into the marvelous light. It’s not about us! There’s a bigger picture at stake.
It couldn’t have been easy for Jesus to be in a holding stake. From the cross at Calvary (guess what God did), God put Jesus on hold. There was a Separational Season between God and Jesus while Christ hung on the cross. Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken me.” Christ realized that God had not closed the door on Him totally because when Christ gave up the ghost, Christ returned to His Father. As yourself this question, “If God would put His Only Begotten Son on hold, why wouldn’t He do the same to us?” Church when we:
· Give up our ways – deny ourselves, motives, and thoughts
· Cry out to God - for guidance in birthing the purpose of our dream
· Realize our frailty - that we can’t do but God can
Then just like Mary and Joseph that Spirit-conceived dream will give birth.
In this Separational Season of Advent, where the world acts out of normalcy by disrespecting the fact that Jesus Christ is the sole Reason for the Season. However, the Saints of God (who are in this world but separated from the world) await the return of our Soon and Coming King, Lord Jesus in the Advent Season. In this Separational Season of Advent:
· We must hold up the bloodstain banner.
· We must continue to look to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.
· We must continue to look to the hills from where our help comes from.
· We must learn to be abased and abound in our ups and in our downs.
· We must apply those things which we’ve seen, heard, and learn
· We must think on good things and remember that Jesus is the Reason for this Season
Church, God may have you on hold but in this Separational Season, just keep on trusting God and His word – YOU WILL GIVE BIRTH TO YOUR DREAM.
Church, God may have you on hold but in this Separational Season, just keep on doing what your inner man, the Spirit of God, instills in you to do - YOU WILL GIVE BIRTH TO YOUR DREAM!
Church, God may have you on hold but in this Separational Season, do not, under any circumstances, do not quit, don’t give up on your dream, and don’t give up on God – YOU WILL GIVE BIRTH TO YOUR DREAM.
As Mary was highly favored by god, you are highly favored by the lord to instill a dream in you and you will birth that dream. If you believe that the Lord gave you your dream, then give the Lord some praise while you await the delivery of your dream in this Separational Season!
