Embrace the Change
CHRISTMAS 2014
Times And Seasons Part 3
I want to start by reading the story of the birth of Jesus,
from the gospel of Luke.
Luke 2:4-7
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
This is the greatest event in human history,
yet its captured in a very simple story.
There was a census being taken
of that part of the Roman empire, for tax purposes,
so Joseph and Mary were forced to go to Bethlehem
to register,
they were not there by their own choice.
and I want you to notice something in verse 6.
It says that while they were in Bethlehem.
going about their business,
the time came for the baby to be born.
We read right by that phrase, the time came…
But have you noticed that
God works in your life at just the right time.
We've been talking the last couple weeks
about the seasons of our lives,
When God wants to do something in your life,
he does it at just the right time,
though you may not always feel ready for him to do it,
just like Mary and Joseph were not ready for this.
They didn’t have a sonogram,
they didn’t know the due date,
And they weren't near any family to help with the birth,
They didn’t know it was the right time,
that God had arranged…
they were just going about their business,
doing what they had to do,
and the time came.
And I wanted to tell you that,
I believe for many of you sitting here this morning,
the time has come, for something great
that God wants to do in your life.
The time has come.
And you might not feel totally prepared,
because you're never gonna feel totally prepared,
and you might not have everything in your life together,
but what I love about God, is that
when its time, its time.
And when its time, nothing can stop God
from doing what he wants to do.
When its God's time, it’s the right time.
And I believe that right now
its time for joy, and peace,
and love, and grace,
to burst forth in your life.
How many of you would like to see that in your life?
You'd like this Christmas to be a new beginning,
a time for restoration,
a time for redemption,
a time for new things in your life?
Let me tell you, its time. Its time.
I want you to finish this sentence, in your mind…
If I could change one thing about myself,
it would be… FILL IN THE BLANK
In fact, if you came with someone else this morning,
turn to them,
and tell them how you'd answer that…
Now notice I didn’t say,
If I could change one thing about you…
Don’t answer that question to the person you're sitting with,
or else we'll have fights all over the auditorium,
and your Christmas will be ruined,
and I'll get hate emails.
If I could change one thing about myself, it would be… FILL IN THE BLANK
I don’t know about you,
but when I ask myself that question,
I have a long list of things I'd like to change,
and I'd have a hard time choosing just one.
Now why did I ask that question?
Because the Christmas story is all about change.
But as we all know,
all change is not created equal.
For example,
There's good and bad change.
Some change is a mixture of both,
but some is just all good.
Let me give you an example a good change…
I'm gonna play a noise,
and you figure out if you know what it is.
[dialup modem]
None of the young people here have a clue.
That’s what we used to have to do,
to get on the internet…
It’s a dialup modem.
You used to have to ask your mom,
can I have the phone line for 30 minutes,
and nobody's gonna be able to call us during that time,
the line will be busy,
but I want to get on the internet.
How many of you remember getting
the free AOL cd in the mail,
with 40 hours free internet time.
Who here had a screen name on Instant Messenger
back in the day,
and is it something you can say in church?
How many of you would agree that
WIFI is a good change.
So there's bad and good change,
And there's change that seems to be bad
when you're going through it,
but when you look back on it afterwards,
you see that it was one of the
most valuable experiences of your life,
because you learned and grew through it.
Some change is easy, some change is hard.
Like having a baby,
which is what the Christmas story is all about,
is that hard or easy change?
Well it kind of depends which part of the process,
and which partner you are.
A man talks about, we're having a baby.
You're not doing anything but driving the car
when she tells we need to go.
Your job is easy.
But when it comes to raising them,
it gets a little harder for both parents.
Some change is voluntary, and you get to choose,
But some change you don’t get a vote on,
its unexpected and unwelcome.
I've always thought it would be easier to embrace change,
if it would just announce its arrival well in advance,
and let me get ready for it.
Now, sometimes you know its coming.
Like when you get married,
you know a new season is starting in your life,
that's going to require some changes.
And when you start a new job,
it’s a new season that will require some changes.
But the problem is,
We have many seasons of our life
that don’t come chronologically or predictably.
And not only are all of us
in different seasons of our lives right now,
but all of us are experiencing several different seasons
at the same time.
You may be in a season of blessing and increase at work,
but your family relationships stink.
Or your home life is great
but you think you may get laid off any day.
Maybe your marriage is great right now,
but you're going to the nursing home
several times a week
to be with one of your parents who is dying.
We experience several seasons at the same time.
And sometimes you're facing change
in several at once.
Now one thing I've noticed,
is that most of us are much more excited about
changing our situation,
than we are about changing ourselves.
We get all caught up in things
that we want to change around us,
but the greatest change
that God wants to make in our lives,
is a change within us.
And that's the change of Christmas.
So lets go back to a little bit before Jesus was born,
and read what the angel said to both Joseph and Mary,
to announce to them that a change was coming.
Can you imagine the change for these two teenagers,
raising the son of God,
giving birth to the hope of the world?
A change that they did not choose,
but a change that would change everything
for all time?
And as we look at their lives,
I want us to think about 4 changes
that God may want to make in your life this Christmas.
Lets start with Joseph.
He was the one who had to explain to all of his friends,
my girlfriend is pregnant,
but God got her pregnant.
Matthew 1:18
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
And you know everybody in the family was thinking,
yeah right… its God's baby, sure.
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
You see, for God to change your life,
first he has to change your mind.
Because Joseph already had his mind made up
about his situation.
He was gonna divorce her,
but he was gonna do it quietly,
to avoid as much public disgrace for her as he could.
So he had it all planned out…
but then
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
So there was something that Joseph had to accept.
He had to accept a change in his life
that he didn’t fully understand,
and over which he had no control.
And I wonder if there's something
that God wants you to accept this Christmas?
To accept something that you don’t understand.
To accept something that you can’t control.
One of the hardest changes in the world
is to change your mind about something
that you cannot control.
Its easier to make changes
that we plan and we're in charge of,
than to accept changes that
we didn’t get a vote on.
So Joseph had to accept what God did here.
I wonder does God want you to accept something
this Christmas season?
To accept a challenge you're facing
that doesn’t seem fair.
To accept a phase of your life that you're in,
that's harder than you expected.
To accept a limitation in your life,
that isn't going to go away.
To accept a disability
that other people don’t have to deal with,
but you do.
To accept an empty seat at the table,
from someone you loved,
but who now is lost.
Its difficult to accept the change,
when you don’t get to affect the change.
One of the hardest things in the world
is to accept what God allows,
but ultimately you've gotta look at your situation and say,
God, I didn’t ask for this,
but I can’t change this,
so I'm accepting what you've allowed God.
I believe that you know what you’re doing,
even when I don’t understand it,
so God this Christmas
I'm going to accept what you have allowed in my life.
I'm going to believe that you're working in all things,
even the things I know you didn’t cause,
I'm gonna accept them and trust you.
But Joseph not only had to accept something,
he also had to obey something.
It was one thing for the angel to say,
Joseph don’t be afraid,
But now Joseph has to make the decision to obey,
and not divorce his wife,
In verse 21 the angel goes on…
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").
Aren't you glad that God is not only above us,
but he's also with us.
Only God could be in two places at one time.
He's above us
so that he can control what concerns us,
But he's also with us
so he can comfort us,
whatever we're going through.
Verse 24
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Ridicule and all,
shame and all,
questions and all,
I wonder, is God calling you this Christmas,
to be like Joseph,
and obey something you don’t understand?
I wonder is he calling you to give up something
that’s hurting you,
I wonder is he calling you to pick up something
that you put down somewhere along the line,
because you got tired.
I wonder is God calling you to offer an apology to someone
who hasn’t even asked for it.
I wonder is he calling you to reconcile with someone,
whose been making you bitter for years.
I wonder is he calling you to act on what he's spoken.
The good news from God is,
you don’t have to understand completely,
to obey fully.
You don’t have to know where its gonna end up,
all you gotta do is what Joseph did,
to look back at what God is saying to you,
and go, lets do this.
God I don’t know where this is going,
I don’t know exactly what your plan or purpose is,
but lets do this.
I'm going to follow through with what you started in my life.
I believe you know everything,
I believe you can do all things,
so lets do this,
lets obey what God is speaking,
lets not make ourselves miserable
by disobeying his voice.
Often what seems to be an interruption
turns out to be the greatest invitation
to experience God in the greatest way.
That was true for Joseph, but he decided
lets do this,
lets accept and obey.
But we all know that Joseph's ankles didn’t swell,
we all know that Joseph's belly didn’t grow,
the real hero of this story is Mary.
Luke 1:28
The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words
Now think about this.
If an angel showed up to you, and said,
Greetings…
Did you know you're highly favored by God,
and he's with you.
Wouldn’t you be happy?
You'd be jumping up and down and saying,
all right, I'm favored by God.
I'm gonna go buy a lottery ticket,
I'm gonna ask my boss for a promotion,
because I'm favored by God.
But Mary doesn’t react that way.
It says, Mary was greatly troubled at his words.
You see, Mary knew that
when God shows up in your life,
He's often going to CHANGE something,
and change is often uncomfortable.
in verse 30…
But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
The angel says,
Mary you've gotta birth something.
Joseph had to accept and obey something,
Mary had to birth something.
I wonder, is there something God wants to birth in your life
this Christmas season.
There's something God has put in you,
and its just about ready to come out.
Maybe a dream that God gave you,
or a vision God put inside you,
a calling that he placed on your life,
Maybe its something you forgot about,
or something you can’t yet see.
Maybe there's a ministry God put inside of you,
so that you'll be able to help others,
because of the bad things that happened to you.
Maybe there's something inside of you right now
that’s seems so small,
just a gift or a talent or an ability,
an idea or a business,
or even an new habit
that God wants to birth in your life
or in your family.
This just might be the Christmas
that you decide to push,
and give birth to something
that God himself planted inside of you.
We sometimes think that
when God does something in our life,
its just gonna happen.
Well the Christmas story shows us that
God will put it inside of you,
but when it comes time to give birth,
you have to push.
And its time this Christmas
for you to push through confusion,
its time for you to push through abuse,
its time for you to push through addiction,
because there's a change God wants to make,
there's a new beginning God wants to birth,
and its time for you to push.
Its time for you to bring forth what God created you for.
But it all begins with something
God is calling you to believe.
If you're gonna accept it, and obey it, and birth it,
first you must believe it.
Look at verse 34…
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
And there's some of you here, this Christmas,
and you want to believe
that God wants to do something in your life,
but its hard for you to believe that,
because of who you are, and what you’ve done.
And maybe this Christmas,
the change God wants to make inside of you
begins with something you believe.
The angel told Mary,
you don’t need to worry about how its gonna happen…
you just need to know who it is,
that’s speaking to you,
… "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
In other words, its not about you Mary.
Its about the God who has chosen you.
Maybe God is calling you this Christmas
simply to believe that he exists,
even though you can’t see him,
you can’t always feel him,
and you've never heard his audible voice,
but He's been there your whole life.
And its time to believe.
Or maybe you need to believe that
God could love someone like you.
Its great to say that God so loved the world
that he gave his only son,
but until you believe that God loved you,
and you make it personal and say
He loves me, just like I am,
with every hangup,
with all my doubts and misgivings,
I'm gonna choose this Christmas
to believe what I can’t see,
that God loves me.
I can’t see it, but I believe it.
Maybe he's calling you this Christmas to believe that,
even with all the relationships and sex you've had,
even after everything you've put in your body,
even with all the opportunities you've lost,
and even after all the things you think in your mind
on a daily basis,
even after all that,
He invites you to come, just like you are,
he invites you to believe, birth, accept, and obey.
Again, I wonder what change God wants to make
in your life this Christmas.
You should know that all change creates pain.
All the mothers in here would say Amen to that.
When you're bringing forth change, its painful.
but what we learn from the Christmas story is that
you can embrace the change,
even through the pain,
when you know the purpose.
Its hard for any of us to go through pain,
when we don’t see a purpose for it.
And maybe that’s why the angel spoke to Joseph,
in Matthew 1:21,
because God knows how men are,
and he said
Joseph, its going to be difficult,
I know you don’t understand what you can’t see clearly,
but there's a purpose to this,
you see, Mary is going to give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus,
Why?
Because he will save his people from their sins,
Joseph, there's a purpose in this.
And you can embrace the pain of the change
when you see the purpose of the change.
When I was in college I rowed on the crew team.
I started as a sophomore,
and I had never rowed before
so I was way behind everyone else,
but I improved so rapidly that
by the end of the spring racing season
I was rowing on the varsity team,
and I actually earned a varsity letter in my first season.
Crew is a year round sport,
you do some racing in the fall,
but the primary racing season is spring.
I came back in the fall of my junior year, and I was even better,
I had a great fall season with the varsity team.
I was rowing in the two seat on the varsity boat,
I had it locked up, that seat was mine.
Over Christmas break
I went home with my roomate for a few days,
and I got in a tobogganing accident.
My friend and I were on a toboggan with two girls,
and halfway down the hill it flipped over,
threw everyone in the air,
and the girls landed on me,
wrenched my hip, knee, and ankle all at once.
I was in pain for several weeks.
When I went back to crew practice after Christmas vacation,
I couldn’t yet run, and couldn’t fully train with them
for several more weeks.
But I finally recovered,
and I was expecting to pick up right where I left off.
But to my great dismay,
I'd lost a lot of strength during my time off,
and I was now behind many of my teamates.
To make a long story short,
I didn’t make it onto the varsity boat that spring.
Someone else took that 2 seat from me.
I was heartbroken.
I felt like I had lost what was mine.
An accident came from out of nowhere,
and someone else stole my racing seat,
they took what belonged to me.
So I made a decision, I decided that,
whatever it took, whatever it cost me,
no matter how hard it was,
I was gonna get it back.
Now, it didn’t happen right away.
We ended that spring season
and I hadn't yet gotten it back.
but that summer I trained like I never had before.
I was running and weight lifting all summer long.
I weight lifted 3 times a week,
and put several inches on my arms and chest.
I know you look at me know and its hard to believe, but I was ripped.
And it was long, hard painful work,
but then I came back to practice in the fall,
and the difference was so noticeable,
everybody was saying,
Ken, what have you been doing this summer?
Long story short, I got my seat back.
You see, I had to train,
I had to endure some pain,
because I wanted to get back what I lost.
What's the point of this story?
When you realize that you lost something
that God wants you to get back,
all of a sudden now I can embrace the pain
of what I'm going through
because I've gotta get something back
that belongs to me.
The angel tells Joseph,
name him Jesus
because he will save his people from their sins,
in other words,
he came so you could get back
what rightfully belongs to you,
So you could be part of the family of God,
heirs with Christ of all the riches of Gods blessings,
you can get back what belongs to you…
and I believe there's somebody here today,
you're about to get your joy back,
you're about to get your sense of peace back,
and your sense of purpose back,
you're about to get your mind back,
maybe you gotta get your children back,
and it might hurt a little, it might be uncomfortable,
but you've gotta get back what belongs to you.
Jesus died to give it to you,
Get it back, reclaim it.
There's purpose in the pain.
You see, Joseph needed a purpose…
But Mary needed a promise.
She asks, how can this be, since I am a virgin?
The angel says to her, basically,
Don’t worry about it Mary…
Why?
Then he makes one of the greatest statements in the Bible.
Verse 37
The angels says, Mary, I want you to know this…
37 For no word from God will ever fail."
Ever... Ever.
You see, you can embrace any change
that life brings your way,
when your life is rooted in something
that will never change.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
How do I push through the pain and embrace the change?
Because I'm rooted in the one who will never change.
The leaves may fall off the tree when it gets cold out,
but the roots are planted deep,
and if you're rooted in Jesus Christ
you can embrace any change
that the world brings your way,
because you have a God
who does not change,
and cannot fail.
And if I stay rooted in him,
I will bear fruit,
I will succeed,
I will overcome,
my life will have purpose,
my life will make a difference,
I will leave a legacy,
because I serve a God
who never changes, and cannot fail,
he'll never leave me, he'll always love me.
In fact,
You want to know how he proved his love for you
forever and ever?
When he was born,
he was so helpless they had to lay him in a manger.
but 33 perfect years later,
he was so strong, that he carried his own cross.
He was born with his back on the wood of the manger.
and he died with his back on a wooden cross,
suffering for your sins.
You don’t think he loves you?
You don’t think he has a plan for you?
The cross proves once and for all
his amazing love toward you and me.
The cross shows that
before time ever began,
he had a plan to redeem me,
before I was even born,
before I ever blew it or wandered away,
he already had a plan to bring me back,
And when the changes of this life get painful,
I can cling to the cross,
because he has a plan.
When Jesus was laid in that manger,
they wrapped him in old linen cloths,
and after he died,
his body was again wrapped in linen cloths,
but then he rose from the dead,
and Peter ran to the tomb,
and found the strips of linen they'd buried him in,
folded and lying there in the tomb,
Why does that matter?
The circumstances of Jesus birth
were already anticipating his death and resurrection.
Because no word of God will ever fail,
His plan always prevails.
We sometimes sing a song with the words,
Ain't no grave gonna hold me down,
Well, it couldn’t hold Jesus down,
and it can’t hold us down
if we give our life to Jesus.
And that's why this Christmas season
God wants to change you from the inside out.
God loves you just like you are,
but he loves you way too much to leave you that way.
The greatest change that God ever makes in our life,
is when Christ is born in our heart.
When someone who is far away from God,
comes home to him.
You know, there's people who live good moral lives,
who are far away from God.
there's people who grew up in church,
who are far away from God.
But God's offer is to all of us.
whoever comes to him, will be changed,
a new creation.
Why wouldn’t you let God change your life,
your heart, and your destiny this Christmas?
Some of you have held back
from making a decision to follow God,
because you know so-called Christians
that are unloving and narrow-minded,
and you don’t want to be anything like that.
Let me assure you,
if you allow God to change your life,
you have nothing to fear,
and you'll never regret it,
because God made you and knows you,
and he has a plan and a purpose
and a promise for your life.
And I realize when it comes to commitments like this,
its so easy to say,
Yeah, someday I need to start following Christ,
and put him first,
and get into his purpose for my life,
someday I'll do that.
But we're not promised tomorrow,
none of us know if we'll have another day,
and you don’t know when you'll get this chance again.
You don’t know if God will speak to you like this again.
Maybe you've tried changing yourself before,
you tried to change things with God,
and you didn’t feel like it worked.
God has already paid the price for you to be changed.
Maybe this time
instead of you trying to make a change,
you need to just embrace the change God offers.
Instead of you trying to be a better person,
you need to receive the grace of God,
that only he can give, through Jesus.
Lets stand together for prayer,
and I'd like our worship band to come up.
Lets bow together,
and I'm going to lead you in a prayer.
This morning if you were thinking, yes, I'm far off from God, and I want to come and let him change me, I want to receive that free gift of grace this Christmas, then I want you to pray this prayer with me,
and I'd like everyone to repeat this out loud after me, whether you already are connected with God or maybe are coming back, or want to make him your Lord for the first time.
Heavenly Father, I receive the change that you're bringing into my life today. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of the world. I believe that he died on a cross, so I could be forgiven, I believe he rose from the grave, so I could have new life, I ask you to change me, I turn from my sin, I give you my heart, make me a brand new person, in Jesus name.
Now as we continue to bow together, no one looking around, if you prayed that prayer and committed your life to Christ, or maybe you're coming back after a long time away, then I'd like you to raise your hand right now. You're making a declaration to God that you belong to him, you embrace the change.
Now God, I pray for these people who are now yours, who have give their lives to you. We ask that you'll bless their lives, that you'll bring new peace and joy into their lives like they've never felt before, that they will feel your presence today. Guide them, fill them, empower them God.
