The stories for Mary and Joseph would change forever with the announcement from the angels. Their response to God’s interruption should serve as a model for how we respond when God changes our plans as well.
Observations:
- Mary and Joseph had plans for their lives
- But their plans were interrupted with God’s purposes
- Mary and Joseph believed God because
- They relied on God’s Word (spoken & written)
- They honored God in their lives
Conclusions:
When you encounter a divine interruption…
- you can count on God to make a way
- you can expect that God is doing something incredible
- A. your response must be obedience,
- B. which is easy when you hold to simply Jesus
Application:
- Live according to God’s will
- Make your plans with an open hand
- Hold tightly onto simply Jesus
Proverbs 16:9
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”
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.” 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. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
1 Th 5:2 – “For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
2 Pe 3:10 – “The day of the Lord will come like a thief”
Re 3:3 – “I will come like a thief”
Re 16:15 – “I will come like a thief”
Mt 24:43 – “But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.”
1 Thessalonians 5:4-6
“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.”