The Nativity

The occasion of the birth of Jesus is like no other; it is filled with lessons on how God is truly sovereign over all of creation. Jesus coming into this world to be the Savior didn’t transpire without a lot of things “just happening” at the right place and the right time.

1. Nothing Just Happens… 
• Mary and Joseph were a match made in Heaven.
• To the outside world, the lives of Mary and Joseph were mundane and ordinary, but behind the scenes God was formulating the greatest thing that has ever happened for mankind – God becoming flesh.
• Mary and Joseph were Nazarenes, but according to prophecy, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
• God spoke to Mary and Joseph about many things, but never once did He tell Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem. They made it there just the same.
2. Mankind Has Responsibility Inside Of God's Sovereignty
• Could this be pure chance that Ruth stumbled into the one field that belonged to the one man who not only would redeem her as a person, but play a huge part physically in bringing the Savior into the world to redeem sinful man? 
• In fact, most of the decisions you make in life will be made without knowing for certain if it is God’s will or not.
• It would be easy to think that Jonah's failure would be a mark against him, but his blunder ended up being the one sign Jesus spoke of to illustrate the Resurrection. 
• Religion trains us to think the worst thing that can happen is to do something wrong - to fail, but Jesus teaches that the worst thing you can do is to do nothing at all.
• God orders the events of this universe and nothing happens without His permission - that's called sovereignty.
• One of the most important issues in the early Church was not settled by a great booming voice from God or a vision from Heaven, but rather, "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…" 
3. We Can't Always Be Sure but We Can Always Commit Our Ways To The Lord 
• When you find yourself in a place where God's will is not so clear, just make the best decision you can, and commit that unto the Lord and He will bring His will to pass.
• There are three keys for knowing God's good, acceptable, and perfect will: The first is a yielded body, the second is a separated life, and the third is a transformed mind.