You Were Always Part of The Plan | Katie Hauck

One short version of the Christmas story, it's in Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 20. It says, While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first thorn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds looking out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and at earth peace on those whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger, and when they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Lord God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for this season. Lord God, thank you for Christmas. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus. Lord God, I pray tonight that we bring you honors. We talk about this story and the things that you revealed to us through it. Lord, and I just pray that every person in here knows that you came for them, Lord God, and that they just honor you and know how deeply lovely you are. Lord, open your ears to hear what you have here today, Jesus said. Amen. So as you read that story, it's an amazing, beautiful, awesome story, but there's something that I always wonder, and that is, why would God choose to announce the birth of his son to shepherds? He could have gone to Cades, right? He could have gone to religious leaders, but he didn't. He went to the shepherds. And I think that that's very important because here's something you need to know. In those days, shepherds were not respected. They were considered insignificant. Okay, they were seen as dirty. They lived outdoors. They worked with animals. They didn't follow the strict cleanliness laws that were required. The Pharisees didn't like them because they didn't attend Synod out regularly. Many rabbis even believed that shepherds were unreliable and not trustworthy and would not accept their testimony in their courts. So in other words, society looked at the shepherds and said they don't matter and they don't belong. No one would have ever thought that the shepherds were worthy of announcing the birth of the Savior of the world to, but God did. And this tells us something really important about God, that God sees differently than you do. In 1st Samuel 16, 7, God says the Lord does not look at the things that people look at, the outward appearance. The Lord looks at the heart. You see, we judge people by their past and their estates and their reputation, but God sees people by their value and his love for them. And that's why this Christmas announcement didn't come with condition. The angel didn't say good news for the people who have it all together and follow all the rules, right? He said, I'd bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. That's right. I want to show you a picture. Guys, I've got to put a picture up there of my daughter.

When she was born, someone gave her this peak crochet blanket. Okay. And she... There it is. You can't really see the blanket, but that's okay. She has this peak blanket. Someone gave it to her, Brooke, and she named it Mannequin. Okay. I think she was trying to say Blankie, but she couldn't, so she said Mannequin. Okay. And she loved this Mannequin so much. She carried it with her everywhere she went. She slept with it, and then she would chew on it whenever she would get upset or nervous about something. And in that picture, she's chewing on it because she's mad about something that happened that day. Okay. Today, this is Mannequin. Well, that's the last of me. Okay. Okay, now anyone else would look at this piece of yarn and say, that's dirty, that's gross, that's worn out, you should throw it away. Well, my daughter doesn't see it that way. My daughter loves it. And because of that love, mankey is worth keeping. So I kept it. I didn't save mankey because it was clean. I didn't save mankey because it was perfect. I saved the mankey because it was loved. And that's how God feels when he looks at us. Isn't save us because we're clean or we're perfect. He saves us because he loves us.

Okay, it's just like the shepherds, just like this blanket. Maybe you feel dirty, maybe you feel broken. Maybe society says you are just not worth that much, but God says, I love you and you are worth counting for. Thank you, Lord, yes. So he came because he used you like this blanket. Maybe worn, maybe stained, but worth seeing. I know some of you are thinking, okay, I get it. I get the shepherds, I get the blanket, but they didn't do what I did. You don't know my story. You don't know the things that I've done, okay? I get it, I don't. So I'm gonna take you back a little further. I'm gonna take you back to the beginning because guess what? Christmas didn't start in Bethlehem. Christmas started in the garden. Okay, because in the beginning, God created Adam and Eve. He gave them Herodotus and he gave them each other and they got to walk with him, but he gave them one wool and the wool was do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One wool and they broke it and Eve ate the fruit and she convinced Adam to eat it too and when God came looking for them, they hid and when he confronted them, they began blaming each other and I think this sounds familiar because today we're still hiding and blaming, aren't we? But here's what a lot of people miss.

Yes, there were consequences for their sin. They became separated from God, no longer able to be in his presence. God banished them from the garden, but that banishment may have seemed like punishment, but do you know that banishment was actually protection? Because you see, there was another tree in that garden. It's called the tree of life and if Adam and Eve ate from the tree of life after they sinned, they would have lived forever in their broken and sinful state, separated from God for all of eternity. So God sent them out of the garden and he placed angels and a flaming sword to guard the way back, not because he wanted to keep them out forever, but in order to protect them while his plan unfolded because from that very moment, before they ever left the garden, God already had a plan to bring them back, to bring us back and that plan would take thousands of years and it would move through some of the most broken, messed up people you could possibly imagine and if you don't believe me, I wanna walk you through some of that and as I share these stories, I want you to think about what they did and I want you to listen to see if you hear yourself in any of these stories, okay? So the first one is Noah, the man God chose to save humanity.

He literally walked with God. He built an ark when it had never even rained before. He saved his family while the whole world drowned and after that, he planted a vineyard and got drunk and passed out naked in his tent in front of his kids, but God still used him and you have Abraham, the father of our faith. Bible calls him basically the most faithful man to ever live but he was so afraid for his whole life that he lied about his wife, not once, twice. He let other men take her into their hole in order to protect himself. He put her at risk to save his own skin, but God still chose him. You have Jacob. Jacob's name literally means deceiver. He tricked his starving brother into giving up his birthright for a bowl of soup. Then he dressed up in animal skins to fool his blind, dying father and steal the blessing that belonged to his brother. He manipulated, he lied and he cheated his way to get what he wants, but God still called him. Then you have Jacob's sons. He had 12 of them and they were so jealous of one of the brothers that they threw him into a pit and left him there. The original claim was to kill him, but instead they sold him to slave traders for 20 pieces of silver.

Then they dipped his coat in blood, brought it to the father and let him believe his son was dead. For 20 years, they watched their father breathe without ever saying a word. And I'm still good at his playing. You have Moses, the great deliverer. He led people across the Red Sea, but he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and he looked around to make sure no one was watching it and he killed the man with his own hands and buried the body in the sand. And then when people found out, he ran away. He hid. the desert for 40 years. And when God finally called him, he argued with God and made excuses. But God still used him for his plan. You have Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute. She made her living selling her body. She was a pagan living in a pagan city. And when spies came, she lied to the faces of the authorities. She was everything that religious people said to stay away from. But God didn't just save her. He put her in the bloodline of Jesus. You have Gideon. When the angel came, he called Gideon a mighty warrior. But Gideon was hiding so the enemy couldn't find him. He was terrified. And even after God spoke directly to him, he couldn't believe it. He asked for a sign. And then he asked for another sign. And then he put out a fleece twice because he couldn't believe God would use someone like him. But God still used him in his plan. Then you have Sansam. Sansam was set apart from her. He was given supernatural strength. He was called to deliver Israel. And he threw it all away because he couldn't control his passions. He broke every vow. He touched what he wasn't supposed to touch. He went where he wasn't supposed to go. And then he told his secret to a woman who was clearly trying to destroy him. He lost his strength, his eyes, and his freedom. But in his final broken moment, God hurt him and used him. We have David. David is calling man after God's own heart. Yet he saw another man's wife bathing and desired her. So he selected her and she became pregnant. And then he called

her husband home from war, hoping to cover it up. But when that didn't work, he sent that man back to battle with orders for everyone to abandon him on the front eyes. David murdered a loyal soldier to hide what he had done. And then he kept the secret from us. But when he finally broke and repented, God still loved him and still used him for his plan. You have Solomon, the wisest man ever lived. God appeared to him twice, gave him wisdom and wealth and the honor of building the temple. And Solomon turned away. He collected 700 wives, 300 concubines, the very thing God wanted him not to do. He let them turn his heart toward other gods. He built altars to idols on the hills around Jerusalem. The man who built God's house started building houses for false gods. But God still kept his promise from him. We have Jonah. Jonah. God told Jonah go to Nineveh and preach. But Jonah got on a boat going the opposite direction because he hated the people that God wanted to save. He ran from God. You know the story he was growled over? He spent three days in the belly of a fish. And even after God saved him, even after God saved an entire city of people, Jonah sat on a hill and pouted. Because he was angry, God showed mercy to his enemies. He cared more about claimed than he did hundreds of thousands of people. But God still showed him grace. Are you seeing this? Liars, murderers, prostitutes, cowards, runners, cover-up artists, people paralyzed by fear, people stuffing codependency, people drowning in shame. And yet through every broken story, every failure, every mess, God kept working. He kept pursuing and he kept this clan moving forward. Because redemption was always the point. And you may say, why? I don't know. Why? I ask myself that all the time. Why does he love us? Why would he continue to wait patiently for us broken? Know the people who screw up over and over and over. And the truth is, I don't know. But I do know it has nothing to do with us and everything to do with him. Because he is good and he is loved. And for some reason, he chooses us, even in our mess. Amen. He says God demonstrated his own love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for just while they were sinners. Not after we were cleaned up. Not after we got it all together. While we were still in it. We have this entire history book in the Bible with people who messed up. But when the time was just right, God's plan started being hidden and started being seen. He came to a man named Zachariah, and he said, your son will prepare the way. And guess what Zachariah did? He didn't believe him. He was a priest, a man serving in the temple, and he doubted God to his face. God still used him. Then he came to a young unmarried girl named Mary. And he said, you will carry the Savior. And that meant that she would be pregnant before her wedding. And in that culture,

she could have been shunned, rejected, even stoned. She would be whispered about, judged, looked down But she said yes, anyway, and through her God changed everything Not the power not through status through humility obedience and surrender and Then the Bible tells us the word became flesh and dwelt among us enough that Jesus was born in a lowly nature We don't know much about was childhood only one story really when Jesus was around 12 years old his parents been fined him They were frantic searching everywhere and when they finally found and listen to what Jesus said He said why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? Those words are important because Jesus already knew something about us He knew that humanity would spend his whole life looking for salvation in the wrong places we look for it in substances and Relationships in approval in control and religion and fixing herself and Jesus is saying what you're looking for is me But you're looking in the wrong place because salvation is found in my father's house It is found in relationship with him. It's found in surrender to our pre Amen, then just a little later scripture tells us Jesus said I must be about my father's business Why well because this father's business was redemption That's why Jesus came not to impress people not to condemn people but to redeem people back to the father So Jesus came for redemption What does that actually look like when his early miracles in Mark chapter 2 shows us, right? You probably heard the story is this paralyzed man and his friends carried him to Jesus and they couldn't get through the crouch So they ripped the roof off and lowered this man down right in front of Jesus Can you imagine being there watching to think about it? Imagine you're in that roots and this just happened, right? You're sitting around waiting because you've heard of Jesus and he's done some really cool things and you are waiting for this dramatic Moment, right something visible in something powerful and Jesus looks at the man and he says son my sins are forgiven and Honestly, that doesn't feel very dramatic does it? Right, there's no lightning. There's no physical movement. There's no poof, right? You can't see forgiven sins

Not get some of us feel that way sometimes, right? You can't go out to Jesus and you pray the prayer, but you think didn't did anything really change? Cuz it doesn't really look different At that time the religious leaders were furious because they got who does he think he is only God can forgive sins And that was exactly the point So why would Jesus start for forgiveness? By forgiving the man would clearly the man needed to walk, right? That's what they were expecting But he started by saying your sons are forgiven, right? But the thing is we can't always see the thing that matters the most They've been had a problem. Everyone could see he couldn't walk But he also had a problem. No one could see if he was separated from God. Jesus came to fix both It started with the one that lasted forever But Jesus didn't stop there because while eternity matters the most Jesus also cares about your physical life He says Simon your sins are forgiven the most beautiful words anyone could possibly ever hear But then he said pick up your mat and walk notices his healing required faith The man had to move the man had to stand and the man had to obey and that's where some of us get stuck You may have accepted Jesus and your eternity is sealed you are forgiven and you are saved But now Jesus says pick up your mat and walk That means that lady in what once held you stop returning to what almost destroyed you stop Identifying with the thing that you were healed from you are not an addict. You are not a felon You are not a slut. You are loved you are chosen. You are worth saving now walk like this. Amen Amen Amen So you see the Bibles film broken people just like us and you see that God had a plan From the beginning to redeem us not because we are good or because he is good and you see that plan unfold With an announcement of the birth of the Savior given to the shepherds working in the field And what did those shepherds do after they heard about Jesus?

They didn't just go back to the field acted like nothing happened. No, it says they went and told others what they had seen dirty overlooked Insignificant shepherds became the first evangelists. That's what God does He takes the broken and he makes them messengers as what Jesus wants to do with you, too So tonight kick up your mat leave your mess behind and go tell others Jesus came and he came for you Because he did so maybe you walked in here tonight feeling like their story is just too messy like you failed too many times. Like I could never really use someone like you. So look at the people we just talked about, right? Liars, murderers, cowards, people who broke every vow, people who hid from God, people who made the worst choices you can imagine, and God didn't give up on a single one event. And he's not giving up on you. He came for Noah, he came for Rahab, he came for David, he came for Solomon, and he came for you. Not because you earned it, and not because you deserve it, but because you were always a part of his plan. Ephesians 1, 4-5 says he chose us in him before the creation of the world, and he predestined us for adoption. Before you made your first mistake, before you took your first breath, he chose you, and he came for you, and he lived a perfect life for you, and he died for you. And yes, you may say he did that for all of us. He did, but he would do it all over again if it was just for you. That's how much he loves you. So maybe you're struggling this time of year. I know the holidays can be hard. Maybe you feel like a splanket, worn out, like you should have been thrown away a long time ago. But God is holding onto you, not because you're clean, but because you are loved. And maybe that's the most beautiful thing about Christmas. The Savior of the world wasn't wrapped in rose. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, simple, humble fabric, just like his worn-out blanket. And the angels could have announced it to anyone, but they announced it to the shepherds, because God wanted us to know no one is left out, including you. So friends, do not be afraid.