CHRISTMAS EVE SPECIAL INTERLUDE
"Following God's Lead To Equip Our Children For A Blessed Future"
(Matthew 1:18-2:23)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) The Torrington Register Citizen paper ran an insert called "USA Weekend" in the February 24-26, 1995 Saturday issue entitled, "Fatherless America." The article showed the drop in fathers per child growing up in the United States:

(a) In 1960, 80.6% of America's children had a father and a mother at home. In 1990, that number was down to 57.7%.

(b) In 1960, 7.7% of America's children lived at home with a mother only. In 1990, that was up to 21.6%.

The report summarized: "Fatherlessness is the engine driving our most urgent social problems, from crime to adolescent pregnancy to domestic violence."

Children in America are increasingly growing up into an uncertain, at-risk future!

(2) All we need to do to confirm the uncertainty and risk facing the next generation is to peruse the Christian Book Distributors 1995 Christmas Catalogue. Under "New Books," they list the following:

(a) Stuart and Jill Briscoe have out The Family Book Of Christian Values which seeks to help children learn values since "you know your kids won't learn (them) in most classrooms . . . "

Real Family Values to show parents "how to keep the faith and pass it on in this age of cultural turmoil" with "confused children."

(c) In Escaping The Coming Retirement Crisis, Theodore Benna and William Proctor state that 99% of people making good money now will be severely hampered financially when they retire. Well, what will this crisis do financially to burden the next generation of Americans if changes do not occur with how the baby boom generation is now using its money?!

Children in America are increasingly growing up into an uncertain, at-risk future!

Well, what can we as parents do to work through this maze and guide our children so that they can end up being blessed of God? Can we give them the Christmas gift of sound parenting amidst these challenges?! If so, HOW?!



(We turn to the "Need" section of the message . . . )

Need: "With life's great obstacles to happiness for the next generation, this Christmas, I wish I knew HOW to give the gift of good guidance my child needs for his future blessing. Any ideas?!"
  1. Even before His birth, Jesus' upbringing was humanly at-risk!
    1. As Jesus was God's sinless Son come-in-the-flesh, Mary and Joseph had no familiar precedents to rearing such a child, Jn. 1:1-14!
    2. Also, Satan situated himself to kill Christ as soon as He was born!
      1. The woman with child in Rev. 12:1-2 pictures Israel in history preparing to produce the Messiah, cf. Ryr. St. Bib., KJV, ftn. 12:1.
      2. Satan, in the form of a dragon stands in front of her, confronting her to destroy her child as soon as it is born, Rv. 12:4, 9. This was played out in Herod's slaughter of the Bethlehem infants, Mt. 2:16.
  2. In spite of these obstacles, God led Joseph as an "adoptive" parent to equip Jesus for His future, God-ordained adulthood as follows:
    1. Element One - God led Joseph to sustain the family meant for Jesus:
      1. God led Joseph to preserve his marriage for Jesus' development:
        1. God intentionally had Mary miraculously conceive Jesus after she was engaged but before she married Joseph, Mt. 1:18.
        2. But when Mary became pregnant, Joseph considered divorcing her, naturally assuming that she had been immoral, Mt. 1:18-19.
        3. However, God explained the virgin birth and urged Joseph to wed Mary to preserve God's planned family for Jesus, 1:20-25.
      2. God led Joseph to preserve the mother-child bond: as He told him to move Jesus, God often included Mary with Jesus, Mt. 2:13,20.
    2. Element Two - God used the most credible circumstantial means Joseph knew to signal Joseph what to do for Jesus' practical welfare.
      1. God directed Joseph four times by dreams, Mt. 1:20; 2:13,19,22.
      2. Dreams were then considered by the Jews as signals of divine interaction, Edersheim, Life & Times of Jes. the Mes., v. i, p. 155.
      3. When God thus used dreams to lead Joseph, it was a means most believable to HIM so that Joseph would KNOW what to do!
    3. Element Three - God's chosen direction for Joseph to take Jesus in life was accompanied by an adequate supply of funds, Mt. 2:11.
      1. Both after Roman taxes (Luke 2:1-5) and before fleeing to Egypt, God supplied gifts to Jesus through the visiting magi, Mt. 2:11.
      2. These magi were king makers with costly gifts, Z.P.E.B., 4, p. 33.
      3. Well, the nativity family was in Egypt only months before Herod died, Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, p. 143.
      4. Thus, God supplied ample funds for them to go to Egypt for a few months in keeping with God's will for them abruptly to flee there!
    4. Element Four - God lead Joseph by precedents, 1:20; 2:13,19,20,22.
      1. God repeatedly used dreams to guide Joseph in his decisions regarding Jesus' welfare, Mt. 1:20; 2:13,19,20,22.
      2. This consistent communication method set up a clear direction for Joseph for his the critical moves into Egypt & Galilee, Mt. 2:13,22.
    5. Element Five - God's input to Joseph was given one-step-at-a-time.
      1. When God ordered Joseph to return to Palestine in Mt. 2:20, He did not direct him at that time to head into Galilee, Mt. 2:20.
      2. Only when Joseph ran into the threat of Herod's vicious son, Archelaus did God give added input for heading up to Galilee, 2:22
    6. Element Six - God's direction for Joseph to equip Jesus was independent of man's expected norms, Mt. 2:22-23!
      1. Joseph would have assumed that Jesus needed to be raised near his Bethlehem birthplace to assume the Davidic throne, Micah 5:2.
      2. However, Archelaus' infamous rule over Judea and God's warning left him heading to "out-of-the-way", despised Galilee, Mt. 2:23.
      3. Yet, it was all necessary: Is. 49:2 predicts that Messiah's criticism of Israel's sin would be so sharp that God would have to hide Him at first, making Galilee a required residence for Jesus' hidden era!
    7. Element Seven - God's leading came when Joseph was patient enough for God to have a chance to direct him, Mt. 1:18-20a!
      1. Upon learning that Mary was pregnant, another fiance might have erupted in a fit of wrath and suddenly divorced her, Mt. 1:18-19.
      2. Yet, undoubtedly concerned about "burning bridges" too quickly with Mary, Joseph pondered it, giving God time to lead, 1:20a.
Lesson Application: To know how to give good guidance for our children, (1) believe on Christ as Savior to be equipped with God's parental guidance, Jn. 3:16 & Mt. 1:19; Rom. 8:14. (2) Then (a) confess our sins and (b) depend on the Holy Spirit for behavior control (Gal. 5:16-23) to (c) obey God's leading in His Word, Ps. 119:105. (3) In the process, seek God's will for the child, which means decisions that protect the family unit God intended for the child (good parental marriage; healthy mother-child bond). (4) We can then identify other divine directives: they will be choices with (a) enough funding, (b) obvious and (c) credible precedents for crisis decisions, (d) input for our next step, (e) directions independent of our expected norms and (f) input where we give God time to lead us!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 As some of you know, we pulled Connie out of Torrington High School this month for health reasons. Though she had made high honors the grading period before, we believe that we were led of the Lord to do this so that she could get better, really better, a nd go the GED route toward getting her diploma.

Something happened on the night our Church went caroling in 1988 and then again last Sunday evening that confirmed this.

On my birthday in December of 1988, Nadine's mother went home to be with the Lord. Nadine was very ill with her fibromyalsia so ten or so days later, she lay home in bed while I went with the kids out caroling. Joanne was wearing a white knitted scarf th at Nadine's mom had made, and she inadvertently lost it somewhere along the way! I was very concerned about finding that scarf, for I knew that it might make things emotionally tougher for Nadine if I didn't. But there was snow on the ground that night, a nd white scarves and snow have this arrangement that hides the scarf! Retracing our steps the next morning, I found it on the path of the Napey's house, lying beneath a thin layer of soft snow. I picked up the shawl, shook it off, and it was none the wors e for wear, thanking the Lord for enabling us to retrieve it!

Last Sunday night while caroling, Connie lost an earring that had been made by Aunt Mickey Shell! She felt she had lost it somewhere along route 202. It consisted of white strings of beads that would blend in with the snow! Well, we took the van along t he road after caroling, hoping we would find the earring for Connie's sake as well as for Aunt Mickey's! Right at the edge of the road was a path of dirty brown road sand, and right in the middle of that path glistened the white beads of the earring! If i t had dropped out in the road it could have been flung who knows where and ruined. If it had dropped in the snow, we would never have spied it. It was on that narrow strip of road sand where we could spot it, but where the tires didn't track.

On our way home, I relayed to the family about the 1988 incident with the shawl and this one, how BOTH events encouraged us regarding a member of the family in physical and emotional need! It was another circumstantial signal of God's support -- He will see us through this matter with Connie as He did with Nadine in 1988!

That's how God helps us parents lead --by faith!