Reading Plan

If you’re looking to dive deeper into what the Bible says about this topic, here’s a suggested Reading Plan, one passage per day for a whole week, based on the sermon:

1. MONDAY: Matthew 1:18 – 2:12
2. TUESDAY: Luke 2:1-21
3. WEDNESDAY: John 1 (especially vv. 1-3 & 14)
4. THURSDAY: Colossians 1
5. FRIDAY: Ephesians 1
6. SATURDAY: 1 John 3 (especially the second half of v. 8)
7. SUNDAY: Isaiah 9:2-7

eGroup Discussion Questions – Great for personal reflection/journaling, too!

Sermon Notes: “This Isn’t What I Pictured” ⤵️

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Preacher: Steven Furtick
Passage: Hebrews 11:3
Title: This Isn’t What I Pictured
Date: December 15, 2019

Sermon Notes are taken during the 9:30 Experience at the Columbia Campus.

Quick Summary

• When you picture your future, what do you imagine? … And where did you get your picture? From the world? Or from the Word?
• Where did you get your picture of God? Just like with Jesus’ birth, he may not appear the way you expect him to.
• The greatest thing God does comes through Joseph’s greatest disappointment. What if how God wants to you use isn’t how you pictured it?
• It’s hardest to believe what you can’t see.
• The message of Christmas is his presence not my picture.

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Introduction

• Pastor Steven opens with a story about taking his kids on a carriage ride while Holly is shopping. After a few minutes, Abby is already bored and crying. When he says to her in that firm, loud-but-quiet parent voice, “This is what you wanted,” she replies, “This isn’t what I pictured.”
  • Being out $85 is one thing but what if it’s your relationship? Your relationship with God?
  • Is there anyone here living in a scene that you did not picture?
• Hebrews 11:3, KJV: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
  • There’s a difference between what God sees and what you see.
• When you’re supposed to:
  • Be married
  • Have a certain job
  • Have kids
  • When kids don’t want what you want for them
• Where did you get your picture?
  • Did you get it from Instagram?
  • You will always be disappointed by looking at the perfect glimpses of other people’s lives.
  • Some TV shows are emotional porn.
• We operate through what is seen.
• God operates through what is unseen.
• Enter Jesus:

A. Where Did You Get Your Picture of God?

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:18, NIV

• If you don’t understand how he came you’ll misunderstand why he came.
• Where did you get your picture of God? What do you imagine?
  • Do you imagine King Trident from “The Little Mermaid”?
  • What if he isn’t what you pictured?
  • Heaven won’t look like what you imagine. People you didn’t think would be there will be there.
• Colossians 1:16b-17a, NIV: “All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things.”
  • Before Jesus was seen, he existed. [The fancy theological term for this is “Pre-existence of Christ”–Jesus is understood to be the Word mentioned at the beginning of creation in John 1–Pastor Steven mentions this later.]
    • Behavior is belief before it is seen.
    • Feeling is a thought before it is seen.

B. What if How God Wants to Use You Isn’t How You Pictured It?

19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 1:19-20, NIV

• “He had in mind” — When we pursue what we had in mind and not going to God first.
• After God tells Joseph the plan, he must be thinking, “Why couldn’t you tell me that six months ago?!”
  • Why does God wait until you make a plan to interrupt it?
• The greatest thing God does comes through Joseph’s greatest disappointment.
  • He interrupted Joseph’s plan
  • He may interrupt your plan because he has a different picture than you.
• Just like our our Nativity scene isn’t accurate:
  • There weren’t three wise men. There were three gifts, but the number of magi is never mentioned. And they didn’t appear at Jesus’ birth.
  • The stable probably looked more like a cave than a nice building.
• What if how God wants to you use isn’t how you pictured it?
  • If we rely on our senses, we’ll miss what God is doing.
  • The problem isn’t your situation, it’s the picture.
• Carpenters make a living off measurements, plans, but this isn’t what he expected.
  • God is saying to Joseph (and to us): “This isn’t what you pictured… but it’s ME. Are you building your life based on your picture, or on me?”
• Just like a jigsaw puzzle, God gave you the pieces to build the picture that he came up with for your life before you were born. [Not that life is supposed to be a puzzle, again, he gives us the picture and the resources for the picture. (Eph 1:4-5)]
• But if you only focus on what you see you’ll build your life around worldly dreams and emotions.
  • It’s hard to believe God when it doesn’t feel good.
• “What’s in her is from me.”
• “What’s in you is from me.”
  • Pastor Steven shares how he feels pressure about what he perceives to be missing pieces in his life, in regards to preaching and his preaching style.
• But you have all the right pieces already!

C. The Message of Christmas is His PRESENCE not my PICTURE.

21 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us“).
Matthew 1:21-22, NIV

• Who had a harder job? Joseph or Mary?
  • Mary–has no choice
  • Joseph–has a choice
  • Mary–Gives birth
  • Joseph–Gives him the name
  • Mary–Knows (she knows her body, that she is a virgin)
  • Joseph–Has to believe
• It’s hardest to believe what you can’t see.
• This didn’t start with you. Joseph has in mind to walk away but God has a different picture: to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy: “God with us.”
• The message of Christmas is his presence not my picture.
  • Hebrews 11:3, The world was framed … like a picture
  • Did you get your picture from the Word or from the world?
  • Are you framing this season of life with your faith or with your fear?
• God’s picture: It’s better even though it’s different.
• To illustrate trusting God when you cannot see him, Pastor Steven asked the camera to stay still while he moved in and out of the frame:
  • You can’t see me on the screen. But if you know my voice, you know I’m still here.
  • Just like Jesus, you may not see him, but he did not leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)
  • I will see it with the eyes of my faith.
• God isn’t building your picture.
• He building his purpose.
• Be who God called you to be.

Conclusion

• By all appearances, Jesus birth was:
  • Insignificant — He came through a peasant girl named Mary
    • BUT Christ is born in every heart that receives him (not just celebrities) so stop saying “I’m just a …“
  • Impossible — A virgin womb can’t give birth
    • BUT impossible situations are the places where faith is born.
  • But it was Intimate — he came in the most intimate way. Jesus longs to be personal with you.