Just because it’s God doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Steve Brown:
Just because it’s God doesn’t mean it’s easy. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
You’re listening to Key Life, and if you’re a struggling believer, you’ve come to the right place. Steve invited our friend Jerry Q. Parries to do the teaching this week. Jerry is a pastor, an author, and has served in ministry for more than 35 years.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Welcome again Jerry, if you’re just joining us Jerry and I’ve had such a good time over this Christmas week just talking about what’s this thing all about? We’ve talked about that Christmas is about Jesus that he’s the gift and then it has to do with sin. That sounds like a bad message, but it’s a wonderful message. It’s the central message of the Christian faith, forgiveness. Then we talked about our assignment, where we’ve been called, and then how we are to become a gift to others. In fact, Christmas is a time when we gift ourselves to others the way Jesus has gifted himself to us. Now, this sounds to me like it’s not going to be a great program, frankly, Jerry. Jerry did the research on this and he’s doing most of the teaching and he said, let’s talk about on Friday that even if it’s of God, it’s not easy. And I thought, I don’t want to talk about that. But when you start thinking of Christmas, it really wasn’t easy, was it?

Jerry Parries: No.

Steve Brown:
I mean, God was doing the biggest thing he had ever done for the entire world and they’re not in a five star hotel. I think you said they’re in the stable. What’s with the stable?

Jerry Parries: Oh, wow. This is one of my topics that when I look at the story of Jesus and when I look at all that he has done. God has created Jesus through Mary and it’s time for him to be born, Dr. Steve. I’m thinking if anybody ought to be in a five star hotel, it ought to be Jesus. Jesus should be in a five star hotel. He should have been coming in on a Cadillac. And Mary has to ride a donkey. She has to be in a stable. There’s no room at the inn and this is God’s purpose. And sometimes in our lives, when God has given us visions and he’s given us purpose and he’s given us dreams. We think that it’s going to be easy because God gave it to us.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: But just like Mary had to birth Jesus in a difficult situation, just because it’s God, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Sometimes God takes visions that you have and dreams that you have and he makes it, the birth process can be difficult. The birth process of bringing that vision to pass can be challenging. And so, I want Christmas to be a reminder that even though it’s a fun time, it’s a celebration time, it’s a reminder that your vision and your dreams that God has given you, sometimes take a different turn than you expect, but God is fateful to make sure that dream will come to pass.

Steve Brown:
So, don’t get discouraged and don’t get down. When you came in today, you asked me how I was and I told you I’d fallen down in the parking lot. I tripped over a parking barrier and I hit a car and I hurt my ribs and they took me to the ER and it was really painful. And the doctor said, you’re not going to die, it’s going to get better. And my son in law, who’s a doctor, said it’s going to be okay, it’ll heal, but it’s going to hurt between now and then. And quit being such a wuss. Deal with it, they said. And that’s kind of what you’re saying. Is yeah, sometimes it hurts, but God is involved even in the pain and even in the difficulty in the sweat and the blood and the tears, to bring forth just as he did at Christmas.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
His own son.

Jerry Parries: Yes. And when you look at the Christmas story, could you imagine carrying the greatest gift that God ever gave mankind? And you’ve got to ride a donkey for miles. Miles to deliver that, it’s like, well, come on God, you know, you could have angels kind of carry me over there, you know, a donkey, all of these miles and you’re carrying Jesus, you’re carrying the Father’s Son and Mary does not get what I would consider special treatment.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: She gets some of the most difficult circumstances to bring forth Jesus. And I’m thinking, God, if Jesus came through that kind of toughness, my visions, when I have my visions and dreams for my church and for my life and what God has given to me, I could rest assured that some of those things are going to be difficult and they’re not going to come as easy as we think, but just because it’s God doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be easy. One of the things that I used to say, and I’m guilty of saying it, where there’s vision, there’s provision. Yeah, you know, we always say, if God’s dream and God’s given you the vision, he’s going to provide provision. There are some times God gives you vision and there’s no provision, that there’s no way, God, how am I going to get this done? I don’t have money in the bank. I don’t, I can’t build it. I don’t have it. How am I going to get this done? And you’ve got to have sweat, blood, tears, faith to walk that thing through. So, I want to encourage somebody in this Christmas season, the year is almost up and you looked at your year’s calendar. And by now you knew that your stuff was going to be done. You knew that God called you in January and December, you were going to have it all together. And now you look and you see, man, I don’t have it all together. I don’t have it, it hasn’t happened, it hasn’t come to pass, but it was God that told you that, I want to tell you it could have been God that gave you that vision. I want you to hang in there, trust him and watch him walk you through that process.

Steve Brown:
Isn’t that what the angel told to Joseph? You know, we have this thing in our time that we think that they were a superstitious bunch in the first century, they weren’t any different than you. Nobody knew, everybody knew that virgins didn’t have babies. And when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, I mean, he, you know, he said, I’m going to divorce her.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
I’m going to, they had a pre marital thing that he was going to set aside. And didn’t the angel say to him what you just said to our listeners, don’t give it up.

Jerry Parries: Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Stand there. God’s going to, God’s doing something here.

Jerry Parries: Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And it’s really big. And that’s true for a nation.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
And that’s true for a people.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
And it’s true for a church. And it’s true for you.

Jerry Parries: Yes. And if you’re not careful, you will abort what God has given you.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: Because it did not birth the way you thought it was going to birth.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: I can assure you that when Mary got the message that she was going to be carrying the most precious gift the world had ever seen. I could assure you that she thought, wow, God’s going to roll out the red carpet for me.

Steve Brown:
Yeah. I’m going to be the mother of God.

Jerry Parries: I’m going to be the mother of God. I’m going to be in the best hospital.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: I’m going to be in the best hotel. I’m going to have the best doctors. Boy, this is going to be amazing. And what did she find herself, in a stable, riding a donkey all of these hours. And a midwife to deliver the baby.

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Jerry Parries: Because, just because it’s God, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be easy.

Steve Brown:
And so, at Christmas it’s time to remember that.

Jerry Parries: Yes.

Steve Brown:
When you get discouraged, and people do get discouraged. Christmas does that sometimes

Jerry Parries: Yeah.

Steve Brown:
to some people. When you’re down, when you’re sad, when you wonder if God really loves you.

Jerry Parries: Yeah.

Steve Brown:
When you think, you know, if he treated his friends better than he would, he’d have more friends. And you think about Mary, and you think about Joseph and what they went through. And look what God did. He still does that, doesn’t he?

Jerry Parries: He does. I remember when Lazarus died, Martha came to Jesus and had you been here.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, this wouldn’t have happened.

Jerry Parries: This wouldn’t happen, you know, and when you read it, you got to notice there was some underlying neck shaking and hand pointing, you know, had you been here, my brother would not have died, but yet and still there was a faith, even in her anger to say, but you still can ask God and he will do it. And so, today I want to encourage somebody that even though you feel like, man, things have not gone the way that God showed me, I want to encourage you, hang in there, it’s going to happen.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that’s a good message. That’s a good way to end this broadcast and this week of broadcast. You know, it starts with Jesus, it starts with his call of us and what he wants us to do. It starts with our being forgiven and loved and accepted. And if this Christmas, it’s dark for you, and you’re discouraged, and you’re down, just remember how down and discouraged it must have been for Mary and Joseph too. You know what a hard time, as you said, should have been in a hotel, not in a stable. So, don’t you shilly shally. Don’t you back up. Don’t you change, you hang in there, cause it’s of God, and sometimes when it’s of God, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy. And by the way, have a Merry Christmas. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Jerry. And with that, we wrap up a very cool week of teaching about the purpose of Christmas. If you missed any episode, be sure to visit us at keylife.org to stream that anytime you want. Also, this coming Monday, is Christmas Day. Uh, duh. So, after the presents and the feasting, get everybody together and tune in to hear Steve’s unforgettable reading of the Christmas story, pulling from Matthew, Luke, and John. It really is something special. Do you know the name Horatio Spafford? Well, he’s the man who wrote one of the most all time famous hymns after his four daughters died in a shipwreck, It is Well with My Soul. Well, Steve used that hymn as a title of a very powerful sermon. A sermon we would like to send to you on CD, for free. Get it now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses, just ask for your free copy of the CD called It Is Well With My Soul. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or stop playing Wordle for five minutes and pick up your phone to text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter, just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.