Christmas In The Real World Series
Surviving The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
1 of 3
December 1, 2002 FBC, Chester, Illinois Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A Show clips of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
*No perfect Christmas speech
*Grandma saying grace
*National Anthem
B Looks like any of your homes for Christmas? Were starting a 3 part collection of messages entitled "Christmas In The Real World." This series will offer real help for real people like us. The first message is "Surviving The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year."
a Text: Matthew 1:18-25
MT 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. [19] 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. 20 But after he had considered this, 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. [21] 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."22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: [23] "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with us." 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. [25] But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
b The first Christmas had it’s share of stress. (ETS)
C Chances are your perfect Christmas will have some unexpected interruptions. (ESS)
a I hope you’ll see dashed Christmas plans as an opportunity for Christian growth. (Objective)
b What can you do to survive the next four weeks? (Probing Question)
T.S.: Lets look at two survival tips that can help us get through the most wonderful time of the year.
I The first survival tip that can help us get through the most wonderful time of year is...expect your best laid plans to be interrupted. (vv:18)
A Joseph & Mary had been planning a wedding until God told them to prepare a nursery.
a Hebrew marriages had two stages.
(1) Kiddushin (engagement, betrothal): legally the couple was married, but not living together, have not consummated the relationship. The Kiddushin could last as much as 12 months. Tested fidelity, integrity. In order to break the engagement you had to get divorced. Now you just say "let’s call it off."
(2) Huppah (Marriage ceremony itself)
b *Joseph was planning on marrying his sweetheart, drawing up house plans, carving their marriage bed...BIG PLANS.
*Mary was planning an elaborate wedding, picking out china patterns, looking for the perfect lingerie for the honeymoon...BIG PLANS.
*Can you imagine a 15 year old Mary going to her 20 something fiancee and Joseph starts talking about floor plans and wall color...Mary says, "Joe, honey, we need to talk....I’m pregnant."
Short of divorce, death or dismemberment...very few of us will have holiday plans interrupted as much as Joe and Mary’s!
B If God interrupted Joseph and Mary’s wedding plans, realize that our Christmas plans are fair game for God too.
a We can make plans on top of plans on top of plans....our plans may not be what God has planned for us.
b James 4:13-15
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." [14] Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. [15] Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."
Our Plans VS. God’s Plans (Which one do you think is ultimately going to get done? God’s of course!)
C In December of 1998, Pam and I were planning a special Christmas. (After four years of trying to conceive, Pam got pregnant.)
a Plans? We had a ton of them. We began to have problems in the pregnancy and we lost Kaylea Danae’ on December 13.
*Our plans were to become parents, buy Easy Bake ovens, Raggady Ann & Andy stuff, a lot of pink. (Our plans were interrupted.)
b We spent the Christmas of 98 crying, buying a casket and the only pink were the flowers on the grave blanket. Let me tell you about plans....they get interrupted. (The only thing that is certain, permanent in concrete is a headstone, everything else is open to interruption.)
T.S.: Your best laid plans are subject to interruption, but that’s not an entirely bad thing.
II The Second survival tip that can help us get through the most wonderful time of the year is...try to get God’s take on the interruption.
A Joseph could have really blown this one.
a Joseph’s knee jerk reaction was to divorce Mary. (vv:19)
*Joe could have embarrassed her, disgraced her socially, had her executed..he chose to divorce her quietly. (Bought her time)
b vv:20-25
Joseph got God’s take on the matter!!
Who named Jesus? (Joseph!) I’m sure glad Joseph got it!!!
2 things happened (1) He got to marry his sweetheart. (2) He was honored to have been chosen to raise God’s only begotten Son.
B Consider God’s take (Joseph did! Verse 20)
a Lot’s of us won’t even consider seeing God’s hand in our interruptions.
(All we see are dashed plans, nixed ideas, disappointments, defeat, failure)
b Here are 3 words to help you gain perspective when your plans are interrupted.
(1) PRAY: Stop & pray. Pray for courage, wisdom, guidance, help...JUST PRAY. (I Thess. 5:17, Jms. 5:13a)
(2) PERSPECTIVE: Put the interruption in proper perspective. How bad is it really? Lots of tend to be catastrophic in our thinking. We spend $100 worth of worry on a $5 problem.
(IL.) Garren, Louisiana boy on our softball team. Got his girlfriend pregnant, she broke up with him, he solved the problem with a 12 gauge shotgun.
*If your tub doesn’t get scrubbed before company comes over, it’s not the end of the world. (Luke 12:22,25; Matt. 6:34)
(3) PROVIDENCE: God is in control. He still has your hairs numbered.
(Duet. 32:4, Is. 55:8,9, Ps. 145:17)
Nothing can happen to you without God knowing it.
C Knee-jerk reaction to some interruptions wouldn’t happen if we had better information. Better information, Better decisions
(IL.)Mrs. Monroe had nine children, one day she came home from the grocery store and found the house as it usually was..only quieter. She looked in the living room and saw five of her children sitting in a circle. She put down her groceries and went to get a closer look. Her five adorable children were playing with 5 of the cutest little skunks you’ve ever seen! Mrs. Monroe yelled, "RUN CHILDREN, RUN!" Each child grabbed a skunk and ran in five different directions. The Mother yelled again, "Run, Children." Scared the kids so much they squeezed their skunks. Skunks don’t like to be squeezed.
(AP.) When we face interupptions/dashed plans we gotta be careful. Don’t react with our feelings, emotions. Great potential to squeeze the skunk.
Conclusion:
Our life doesn’t always go as expected. Chances are your perfect Christmas plans will have some unexpected interruptions. (ESS)
A We’ve looked at two survival tips that can help us get through the most wonderful time of the year.
a Expect your plans to be interrupted. (Nothing in your life is off limits to God)
b Get God’s take on your interruptions. (When God disrupts your plans, He’s trying to accomplish His.)
B I hope you’ll see dashed Christmas plans as an opportunity for Christian growth.
a Choices? Two. Let interrupted plans surprise you, get you down, rob you blind, keep you miserable..............or
b Realize that your plans may not be God’s and God is working his plan when he interrupts your plan.
C What can you do to survive the next four weeks?
In A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe:
The first things to emerge are the baby giraffe’s front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, he rolls to an upright position with his legs tucked under his body. From this position he considers the
world for the first time and shakes himself. The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over the calf. She waits for about a
minute, then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heels. When it doesn’t get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired,
the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts....Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up! In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild
hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes, and they’d get it too, if the mother didn’t teach her calf to get up quickly and get on with it!
RO 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
a The things in your life will not work out. God is working out things.
b What can you do to survive the next four weeks?
***Notice: I have used Sermon Central sermons for a VERY long time. If this or any of my sermons are similar to a sermon that is already on Sermon Central by another pastor or teacher....chances are I have used it. Actually, there is probably absolutely nothing in this sermon that hasn’t been preached before! If I used your sermon and haven’t given you credit, please write me and I’ll give you credit by name. I have in no way intentionally withheld credit to any work I’ve used/borrowed from. PLEASE NOTE THAT IF I HAVE "USED" YOUR WORK IT WAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU HAD A SUPER SERMON! I prefer to preach with an outline and just rearranged your sermon. My intent is to make sermons relevant and easy for outline guys to use. If you use MY work, feel free to claim it. I do not care!! Simply realize that I have borrowed from other preachers, too.
Mike Fogerson, Pastor, Chester’s First Baptist Church
