A Very Messy Christmas

We want to wish you a very merry Christmas. Every element reveals part of his character, really. Yeah. And the upside down way that he rules and reigns. Hello there. You're listening to the Girl Talk podcast. My name is Carol. I'm Kelly. My name's Tricia. And we want to wish you a very merry Christmas. In fact, we're going to talk about a messy Christmas. And I'm not talking about the one on your living room floor right now with bows and paper and tape everywhere and scissors. I never can find the scissors. No, no. I can be wrapping a package by myself in my house and lose the scissors sitting on the floor. Absolutely. Oh, that'd be just terrible. That's how you find them. Hello. That's not the Christmas we're talking about. So before you go away, hang on. Have you ever thought of the Christmas story as messy? You mean like other than giving birth in a stable and we've got all the messy stuff? Yes, I'm talking about the actual story itself, like how we got to the birth of Jesus. We sanitize it. We do, but I think there was lots of twists and turns and like, oh my word, how in the world? Mary, I mean, are you freaking out? Because I mean, like she's engaged to be married and all of a sudden an angel tells her that she's going to birth the Christ child and she's got to break that news to her. Beyonce. Yeah, and he's like, okay, what's up with this? And he, so he makes a plan to kind of solve that. And then an angel appears to him and says, nope, hold up. I mean, there's so many twists and turns in this story and the way that, that God chose to do it is, I mean, I don't, it's messy. It's calling it messy. Is that sacrilegious or unreverent? I think it's total reality. I mean, and I think there's a thousand ways that the Christmas story is messy. One of the things I was just thinking about is the oppression of the time. You know, that Mary and Joseph lived in this time when Roman oppression was a big deal. It was constant. And they felt this, yeah, just extra thick heaviness. And then you add to that, they'd been, you know, silent. God had been silent for 400 years and they're, they're just feeling all of these feels, all of this pain and heartache and oppression. And then, then, you know, the actual birth of Jesus, they're told they have to get on a donkey and go from one place to another and travel throughout this season of oppression. And wait, there's more when you get there. There's not going to be anywhere for you. There's not going to be a place for you to sleep. That's right. That's right. And it's just, it was just a terrible time to have to go through all of those things and have all those feelings. And then you're not only told that you're going to be the mama that's going to carry the Christ child to birth, but you know that there's going to be all kinds of extra oppression on you that's even over and above. And they were expecting a king. A king to come take over and, you know, rule and reign. Ride on a white horse. A full-thrown man on a white horse with a crown and very large weapons. And they get a baby born to an unwed mother in a dirty stable with animals. That's right. And the shepherds are the very first ones who get to hear about this. Speaking of messy. Yes. Speaking of messy and rejected. A rejected group of people. And minimized. Yes. The shepherds were. Oh, yeah. Their testimony wouldn't stand up in court. And. Nobody would believe them. Then God brings them all together with a star. Right. Yeah. I mean, he couldn't make that up. Nope. But God. But each and every detail he had thought of, you know. And I just. It reminds me of just thinking through the Bible and thinking about how many. How many people God allowed to be a part of his story. You know? I mean, it just is so neat. I mean, he could have. He could have done it any number of ways. I mean, it could have been a lightning bolt and bam. There's Jesus right here. You know. Yeah. Descending from the clouds. That's right. That's right. Could have done it. Yeah. And yet he did it this way for a very specific purpose. Yeah. And for a reason. And each and every character, you know, you got to look at it sometimes and go. And I know it's a familiar story. But if you really sit down and think about it, it just is amazing that God used all of those people and how he intricately designed each and every detail leading up to the birth of Jesus. And after that, too. Yeah. Yes. Beyond what we can see. I have a strange tradition at my house that kind of keeps me focused all year long. Doesn't matter if you come in December or if you come in March on the wall or July on the wall. There is a like a parchment that one of my life group girls gave me and it has the words Oh Holy Night on it. Oh, yeah. And it's just a good reminder to me because a lot of times people come in there like, is that a Christmas decoration? Like, yes. And it reminds me. Christmas lives in my house. Christmas lives in my heart. That's right. It reminds me of the Holy Night that we celebrate that changed everything. So. Everything. What do you think the Christmas story in particular says about the heart of God? Well, I think one of the things we just said is that he has a sense of humor. Right. Yeah. True. And I think that, you know, it's, he's just clever enough to bring all of these, uh, wackos together into one great big. What version is that? That's the message. It's the KBV. The Kelly Brandon version. You know, that he brings broken people with broken stories with high expectations together in a beautiful tapestry that we can, you know, we can't even imagine. We couldn't paint of our own if, even if we tried, we could never make that. And so I think one of the things that shows is just his sense of humor and his cleverness and, uh, how creative he can be with, um, the grace that he extends. Yeah. Doing things like Tricia said, upside down. Yeah. Upside down kingdom. Yeah. I love that. Um, I, I think when you asked that question, my first thought was, I think it shows that he cares about everyone. Mm. Every single person. Yeah. No one is on no one. Everyone matters to God and the Christmas story shows that in the way he revealed himself to the shepherds and the way he, um, chose Mary for her heart and not because she was powerful or whatever. He knew she would have that surrender, trust in him, um, that, that it can't be done in our power that, that it's only done in his. Right. And so I think all those different. Strange little elements are, are reminding us of that. Yeah. All the details point to, um, he, he knew there was no other way. No other way. Right. And so he made a way, you know, and, and I like to, one of the things that I like about the Christmas story is that, um, the, the fact that there was no, no room in the inn, um, the innkeeper used even, I mean, the God used even the innkeeper who said no. Yeah. But I got a bargain. I got a barn out back. You want to use that and, and they did is that God, God's not surprised by a no, right? Yes. Correct. Yes. God didn't forget to make reservations for the Christ child to be born. Um, he used that no to turn it into something beautiful and something that we celebrate this time of year. So those are the things that kind of brings out for me. And how, um. How much faith does it take to believe this unbelievable story? Yeah. And so I think it's also just indicative of God's grandeur. master plan and how just creative he can be with this robust, creating an unbelievable plan. I can imagine being the Pharisees during this time and going, oh, do what? There's no way that's true. There's no way shepherds followed a star to find the Christ child in a dirty stable. God wouldn't do that. But yet, if you really peel back the layers of God's holiness and his character, that's exactly the kind of God we serve, is the God that comes to the lowest. He comes not to the kings and queens first. He comes to the lowest of the low first. And what a great God that we get the privilege of knowing. And Jesus modeled for us humility from the very beginning. You know? Yeah. He came down. He came down and showed us that there is nowhere that he won't go for us. Wow. Oh yeah. Talk about messy. Yeah. Yeah. He left the throne room. Perfection, which we've just done an episode about last week. And he came into our mess. I mean, he willingly put himself, took himself out of the throne room. Yeah. Out of perfection and into a stable and came as a prophet. Yeah. And he came into our a child just in all the mess that that brings the way we did you know and there this was before epidurals i don't god knew i needed to be around now not him and screaming all the noises yeah you know but he willingly and and um not just willing he was excited to do it you know it was his pleasure to come and rescue us from the mess of love yeah yes so cool so cool that we get to celebrate that this time of year and if you have never thought about the christmas story i would encourage you to just sit down with your bible and read through it very slowly one more time because i think one of the things that can happen is that we get immune to the power of the christmas story because we've heard it so much if you've grown up around church or even if you hadn't grown up around church you probably have heard it elsewhere and so i think it's important for us to truly understand and to examine the christmas story as we never have before because i think there's something new for us year after year after year after year absolutely god's word is like an onion right peel off layer layer layer and even also make you cry it'll make yes that's true and it flavors everything so wonderfully that's right yes but it truly there is uh you can read one verse and if you spend time thinking about the words god will reveal something yeah each time something different yeah and i think that's one of the things especially this time of year that we just rush right by the christmas story oh yeah i've heard that you know but really truly and i don't know if it happens in a church for you or maybe in your living room or um maybe in a uh homeless shelter or a halfway house or at a a meeting wherever it is god's word is powerful so wherever you're listening today take time sit down with god's word and examine the story once again it is the greatest story ever told and we want you to know that story not just to know that story but to be changed by it the whole reason that we do the girl talk podcast is so people can be introduced to the life-changing gospel of jesus christ it's changed my life it's changed kelly's life it's changed trisha's life 100 and we live our lives we do this job wouldn't call it a job we're part of this ministry because we want other people to know the good news and that includes you so if you don't know jesus um sit down go through the christmas story um read it for yourself it's there for you and also know that if you have other questions or things that you're really not sure about maybe you grew up around church but you've never really committed your heart to jesus and you'd like to find out more about doing that you can text the word jesus just the word jesus to 81891 we'll send you some information where you can follow up and ask live questions there with somebody and we would love that and um i'm thankful for you gals i'm thankful we get to do this every day and we're so thankful for you hey and also if you want to text the word talk to 81891 we'll send you a devo that goes along with this episode and we just love hearing from you we love celebrating with you and we love that you're a part of this community and as we wrap up the year we just want to say thank you for listening to the girl talk podcast thank you for all that the encouragement you've passed our way we get to see you out on the streets and telling us that you listen that means more than you will ever know really does and you know what we're going to save you a seat next time we gather around these microphones for the next girl talk podcast