2. Waiting on God’s timing can be
one of the most difficult parts of life for us to accept…especially if we don’t have a grounded faith and trust in both His goodness and His power.

3. Isaiah 64:4 “Since ancient times
no one has heard,     no ear has perceived, no eye has seen
any God besides You,     who acts on behalf of those
who wait for Him.”

4. After becoming engaged to Mary,
Joseph surely would begin thinking about plans for their future together…ones that likely involved a simple life in Nazareth, where they would raise a family together.
God’s timing complicated their plans.

5. 1. Mary & Joseph both live in Nazareth
2. Mary visits Elizabeth for 3 months
3. Mary & Joseph travel to Bethlehem
4. Jesus is born in a Bethlehem manger
5. The Family finds a home in Bethlehem
6. They go to Jerusalem, meet Simeon & Anna
7. The Magi visits Herod, then the Family
8. The Family escapes to Egypt for ? years
9. God calls the Family back to Nazareth

6. In Mary’s divine pregnancy and
the family’s multiple travels afterward;
God gained glory
for Himself, provided protection for them,
and blessed others.
The same is true for us.

7. what is happening is to fulfill what
Throughout the Christmas Story accounts in Matthew & Luke, it is noted that
what is happening is to fulfill what
God promised hundreds of years earlier.
These prophecies state that Jesus needed to be born in Bethlehem, spend time
in Egypt, but be known as a Nazarene.

8. The point of God’s prophecies is NOT
for humans to waste our days trying to predict them; but that we may be aware of them so that when they are clearly being fulfilled in front of us… God will receive the glory & honor that is due Him.
Our faith stands on prophecy fulfillment!

9. “For the revelation awaits
Habakkuk 2:3
“For the revelation awaits
an appointed time;     it speaks of the end     and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it;     it will certainly come     and will not delay.”

10. As God had protected them on their 80-mile, week-long journey
to Bethlehem;
God continued to bless
Joseph & his family.
Matthew
2: 13-15, 19-23

11. He did during the first “Exodus” with the Israelites.
We know very little about the family’s time in Egypt… only that God provided for them and delivered them out from there just as
He did during the first “Exodus” with the Israelites.

12. to take his family back to Bethlehem
Matthew 2: paints an interesting picture of Joseph initially attempting
to take his family back to Bethlehem
(rather than Nazareth) when God calls them back to Israel. It’s only when God shuts that door that he seems to realize “Oh… I actually get to go back home!”

13. Although it took much longer and was much harder than originally planned, Mary and Joseph finally settled in Nazareth and started a family,
of at least 4 more boys
and multiple girls.
(Matthew 13: 55-56)

14. Because Joseph & Mary’s plans
were inconvenienced by God’s timing, others were able to be blessed:
Zechariah & Elizabeth
The Shepherds of Bethlehem
3. Simeon & Anna at Jerusalem
The Visiting Magi

15. Galatians 4: 4-5 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, 
born under the law, 
5 to redeem those under the law,
that we might receive
the full rights of sons (adoption).

16. Romans 5:6 “You see, at just the right time,
when we were still powerless, 
Christ died for the ungodly.”

17. May we all strive to trust God’s timing better this Christmas and always; knowing that He is always at work
for our good and His glory, as well as opening doors for us to be a blessing to others in the midst of our “waiting.”