{"id":603,"date":"2018-12-20T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/?p=603"},"modified":"2018-12-19T16:51:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T21:51:50","slug":"interrupted-by-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/interrupted-by-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Interrupted by God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A few weeks ago, I got the privilege of speaking at Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy&#8217;s Upper School Chapel. \u00a0It just happened to be on the 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. \u00a0What I hoped to share with them from God&#8217;s Word is how God can and often interrupts our life. \u00a0They all agreed that those interruptions are seldom fun, but I wanted to encourage them to see them as a blessing from God. \u00a0I think they as well as we can all agree that many times that is easier said than done. \u00a0What follows here is what I got to share with them that morning. \u00a0I pray that it will encourage you today to trust God, even when it seems difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Truths From the Christmas Story<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>God is the One in Control<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0The theological term for that is sovereign.\u00a0\u00a0To say that God is sovereign is to say that He is in absolute control of all things, at all times.\u00a0\u00a0For some people that raises a lot of questions, some doubt, and maybe even some concerns.\u00a0\u00a0However, knowing that God is the One who is ultimately in control is meant to give us peace and comfort. \u00a0In the Christmas story we see that Mary is simply going about her life like she had planned. She was engaged to Joseph, the man of her dreams.\u00a0\u00a0When all of the sudden an angel appears to her and says, \u201cGreetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Before she could fully process what was happening she is told that her life and world were going to be turned upside down because she is going to conceive and carry a child.\u00a0\u00a0Not any child mind you, she was going to carry the Son of God.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know about you, but I think I would have more than a few questions. \u00a0But what I want us to see here is that God didn\u2019t ask Mary or Joseph\u2019s permission to interrupt their life.\u00a0\u00a0He simply told them what was going to happen.\u00a0\u00a0How many of you like being told what to do? \u00a0However, because God is the One in control of things, He doesn\u2019t need our permission to accomplish His will.\u00a0\u00a0For some of you that may not sit well with you.\u00a0\u00a0That may frustrate you. Hopefully, you can learn to see how to appreciate and even be thankful that God is in control.<\/li><li><strong>God is more interested in the eternal than the temporary<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Some would say that Mary was going to be inconvenienced by this pregnancy.\u00a0It certainly caused some trouble between her and Joseph.\u00a0\u00a0She was going to have to deal with the morning sickness, the weight gain, the stretch marks, and little did she know it, but a 70 mile walk\/ride on a donkey at 9 months pregnant was in her future.\u00a0\u00a0Of course she was also going to have to see and hear the whispers of people every time she went somewhere, because after all she was pregnant, and her fianc\u00e9e wasn\u2019t the father.\u00a0\u00a0Of course it turned Joseph\u2019s life upside down as well.\u00a0\u00a0He had to deal with news that his fianc\u00e9e was pregnant and it wasn\u2019t his.\u00a0He had the stress of not only providing for a future wife, but now a child.\u00a0\u00a0He was probably getting a lot of advice from his friends on what he should do with his apparently unfaithful wife-to-be.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes life is like this, you get hit with something unexpected.\u00a0This is where it helps to remember that God is the One in control, and He has a plan and a purpose for everything.\u00a0We would see the purpose in Luke 2, when the angel appeared to the shepherds and said, \u201cI bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.\u00a0\u00a0For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0What Mary and Joseph may have seen as an inconvenience, was actually God working out His plan that was formed from before the foundation of the world.\u00a0\u00a0God knew the stress, strain, and struggle that Mary and Joseph were going to go through over the next nine months, but He also knew that Jesus\u2019 birth was going to begin to accomplish His will and His plan for the world.\u00a0I want you to hear this, God is more interested in your eternal holiness than your temporary happiness.\u00a0\u00a0I love how Jeremiah 29:11 ends.\u00a0\u00a0We all know the beginning, \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you says the Lord.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The end of that verse says, \u201cto give you an expected end.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Everything that God is doing in your life and my life right now is part of Him accomplishing His plan and His will in our lives to bring us to His expected end for us. But how can we learn to appreciate these interruptions in our life?<span style=\"font-weight: 600; background-color: rgb(232, 234, 235);\"><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Application<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Remember that God is good<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0As Chris Tomlin reminds us, and Christian radio stations remind us over and over and over, God is a good Father.\u00a0\u00a0He has your best interest at heart.\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t mean that God won\u2019t allow pain and difficulty to come into your life.\u00a0\u00a0It just means that even in the painful times, the inconvenient times of life, God is working something out for His glory and your good.<\/li><li><strong>Remind yourself that it won\u2019t always be like this<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0No one likes pain, stress, or trials.\u00a0\u00a0But when we trust God, we can know that there is a purpose behind them.\u00a0I love what the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, \u201cFor this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The pain we go through here can\u2019t compare to the glory of being in Jesus\u2019 presence for all eternity.<\/li><li><strong>Remember God is with you<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Just like the angel said to Mary, God has said to each of His children, I am with you.\u00a0Regardless of what you are going through, even if you feel like you are alone and everyone has abandoned you, God is with you.\u00a0\u00a0You may not be strong enough.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m sure Mary and Joseph wondered how they would make it through this time in their lives.\u00a0But God gave them the strength and the grace needed each day, and He has promised to do the same for us.\u00a0\u00a0For God is faithful and He has said, \u201cMy grace is sufficient, for when you are weak, then My strength in revealed.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0So let us echo what Mary said to the angel that night, \u201cI am the servant of the Lord, may it be unto me as the Lord has said.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks ago, I got the privilege of speaking at Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy&#8217;s Upper School Chapel. \u00a0It just happened to be on the 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. \u00a0What I hoped to share with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/interrupted-by-god\/\">Read More <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westlakebaptist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}