In today's gathering, we explored the profound theme of "Christmas Interruptions" as we delved into the story of Jesus' birth from Matthew 1:18-25. This narrative is a powerful reminder of how God often interrupts our lives to fulfill His divine purposes. The Christmas story is filled with unexpected turns and divine interventions, from Mary and Joseph's disrupted plans to the shepherds and wise men being drawn into a miraculous event. These interruptions are not mere inconveniences but are orchestrated by God to bring about His greater plan of salvation.

We reflected on how Joseph and Mary, despite their initial shock and confusion, chose to trust and follow God's guidance. Their story encourages us to embrace the interruptions in our own lives as opportunities to refocus on God and His purposes. Just as God used ordinary people like shepherds and wise men to announce the birth of Jesus, He continues to use us, regardless of our status or background, to share the good news of His love and salvation.

The message also highlighted the importance of prayer and seeking God's perspective during life's interruptions. By trusting in God's providence, we can find peace and direction even in the midst of chaos. The story of Christmas is a timeless reminder that God's plans are far greater than our own, and His interruptions are often the beginning of something beautiful and transformative.

**Key Takeaways:**

1. **Divine Interruptions:** Life's interruptions are often God's way of redirecting us towards His greater purpose. Just as He interrupted the lives of Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, He uses interruptions to draw us closer to Him and to fulfill His divine plan. Embrace these moments as opportunities for growth and transformation. [39:18]

2. **Trust in God's Plan:** Joseph and Mary's response to God's interruption teaches us the importance of trusting in His plan, even when it seems confusing or challenging. By leaning not on our own understanding but acknowledging God in all our ways, we allow Him to direct our paths. [40:40]

3. **Prayer and Perspective:** In times of interruption, prayer is essential. It helps us gain God's perspective and understand what He is teaching us. By seeking His guidance, we can navigate life's challenges with wisdom and peace. [01:07:30]

4. **God's Providence:** The story of Christmas is a testament to God's providence. What may seem like a disruption is often part of His greater plan. Trusting in His providence allows us to see beyond our immediate circumstances and recognize His hand at work in our lives. [01:12:10]

5. **Sharing the Gospel:** The Christmas story reminds us of our mission to share the gospel. Just as the shepherds and wise men were called to witness and proclaim the birth of Jesus, we are called to share the good news of Christ with the world. Let God's interruptions in our lives be a catalyst for spreading His love and truth. [01:22:31]

**Youtube Chapters:**

[00:00] - Welcome
[35:18] - Introduction and Thanksgiving Reflections
[37:48] - The Depth of the Christmas Story
[39:18] - Christmas Interruptions
[40:40] - Joseph's Dilemma and Divine Guidance
[44:58] - The Betrothal and Jewish Traditions
[47:09] - Communication Challenges
[47:58] - Trusting God's Plan
[49:42] - The Role of Shepherds
[52:38] - The Wise Men and Prophecies
[55:29] - Jesus: An Interruption to Religion
[57:26] - Personal Stories of Interruption
[01:07:30] - Practical Advice for Handling Interruptions
[01:12:10] - The Providence of God
[01:22:31] - Sharing the Gospel
[01:26:44] - Invitation to Respond
[01:29:52] - Announcements and Closing Remarks

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I'm ready to provide the 5-day devotional based on the steps outlined. Here it is:

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Day 1: Embracing Divine Interruptions
Life's interruptions are often God's way of redirecting us towards His greater purpose. Just as He interrupted the lives of Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, He uses interruptions to draw us closer to Him and to fulfill His divine plan. Embrace these moments as opportunities for growth and transformation. When we face unexpected changes, it can be easy to view them as mere inconveniences. However, the story of Christmas teaches us that these interruptions are often orchestrated by God to bring about His greater plan of salvation. By embracing these divine interruptions, we open ourselves to the possibility of growth and transformation, allowing God to work through us in ways we may not have imagined. [39:18]

Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV): "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Reflection: Think of a recent interruption in your life. How might God be using this situation to redirect your focus or purpose? What steps can you take to embrace this change with faith and openness?


Day 2: Trusting in God's Plan
Joseph and Mary's response to God's interruption teaches us the importance of trusting in His plan, even when it seems confusing or challenging. By leaning not on our own understanding but acknowledging God in all our ways, we allow Him to direct our paths. Their story is a testament to the power of faith and obedience, even in the face of uncertainty. When we trust in God's plan, we acknowledge that His wisdom surpasses our own, and we open ourselves to the guidance and direction He provides. [40:40]

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV): "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Reflection: Consider a situation where you are struggling to understand God's plan. How can you practice trusting Him more fully in this area? What would it look like to acknowledge Him in your decision-making process today?


Day 3: Seeking God's Perspective Through Prayer
In times of interruption, prayer is essential. It helps us gain God's perspective and understand what He is teaching us. By seeking His guidance, we can navigate life's challenges with wisdom and peace. Prayer is not just a means of communication with God but a way to align our hearts and minds with His will. Through prayer, we can find clarity and peace, even amidst chaos, as we learn to see our circumstances through God's eyes. [01:07:30]

James 1:5 (ESV): "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Reflection: Identify a challenge you are currently facing. How can you incorporate prayer into your daily routine to seek God's wisdom and perspective on this issue? What specific prayers can you offer to invite His guidance?


Day 4: Recognizing God's Providence
The story of Christmas is a testament to God's providence. What may seem like a disruption is often part of His greater plan. Trusting in His providence allows us to see beyond our immediate circumstances and recognize His hand at work in our lives. By understanding that God is in control, we can find peace and assurance, knowing that He is working all things together for our good and His glory. [01:12:10]

Ephesians 1:11 (ESV): "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will."

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you experienced what seemed like a disruption. How did you see God's providence at work in that situation? How can you remind yourself of His sovereignty in your current circumstances?


Day 5: Sharing the Gospel Through Life's Interruptions
The Christmas story reminds us of our mission to share the gospel. Just as the shepherds and wise men were called to witness and proclaim the birth of Jesus, we are called to share the good news of Christ with the world. Let God's interruptions in our lives be a catalyst for spreading His love and truth. By viewing interruptions as opportunities to share the gospel, we can become vessels of God's love and grace, impacting those around us with the message of hope and salvation. [01:22:31]

2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV): "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

Reflection: Think of a recent interruption that provided an opportunity to share your faith. How can you be more intentional about using life's interruptions as a platform to share the gospel with others? What specific actions can you take to be an ambassador for Christ today?

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"God has come to man in order that man might come back to God. And you and I reap the benefits of Christmas today." [00:38:57] (12 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"Everything that goes on around Christmas is an interruption of the plan of what most people had in place. I want you to hear me. Jesus is an interruption to religion." [00:55:29] (12 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"God's doing His own way, His own thing, through His own Son, the way He planned to do it, the way He worked it out. We had so missed it. We don't even, the human race doesn't even see this coming and God interrupts everything all of a sudden and splits time to put Jesus in place." [00:57:26] (21 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"God wasn't trying to drive Joseph crazy. God wasn't trying to do something horrible to Mary. God wasn't out there beating up on the shepherds or making those wise men just travel for the fun of it. God had a massive plan that he had been working down through the ages that was going to culminate you in the birth of the Messiah." [01:07:30] (20 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"What looked like a horrible circumstance on the front end turns into this incredible miracle that's going to bring salvation to the human race. You don't know. Look at me. Look at me. You don't know what God's going to do in your circumstances." [01:12:10] (17 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"Jesus came to this earth not to remain a baby in the manger the rest of his life. Not even just to go to a cross. When he comes back, my friend, he won't be a baby and he won't be dying on a cross. He'll be the King of kings and Lord of lords." [01:22:31] (21 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"It's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ where you allow God to interrupt your life and you come to a place where you acknowledge you're a sinner and you trust him as your Savior and you allow him to come in your life in the person of the Holy Spirit and then live that life, empower that Christian, that Christian life through you." [01:22:31] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

My name is David Harper, pastor of HBC Rome, and we're excited to celebrate with you the message of Jesus Christ, expecting that for the next hour or so, you'll be filled with hope, encouraged, and refreshed as we learn together what it means to follow Jesus.

If this is your first time joining us, let us know that you're here. Simply text the word WELCOME to 706-229-7838. And if you enjoy your time spent with us today, we'd love to get you connected with up-to-date information about upcoming events that you, your friends, and family are going to love. So be sure to shoot us an email to info@hbcrome.org with your email address and your cell phone number so that we can make sure you're in the loop.

I hope you enjoy today's worship and message, and if you haven't already, go ahead and stand up.

Good morning. All right. Y'all thank the praise team for a great time of worship. I don't know if... I don't know if you're already tired from Thanksgiving, or if you're already worn out because of what's coming this week.

So, Beverly and I were talking. Tuesday night's the Christmas parade. I think Thursday night I've got a board meeting. Friday night there's a get-together. Saturday there's business all day. Next Sunday night's another one, and all day Sunday, and I'm already ready to take a nap. So, thank you for being here. Thanks. Welcome to Hollywood. Thank you for being here with us this morning.

We're excited that you're here and part of the service today. Thank you for being part of this time together. Good to see old friend Butch Pilcher here this morning, and Mike and Pat Powell and others. Why don't you welcome them in? We're glad all of you that are guests are with us today, and it's always great to have our own church family able to be here with us today, and those who join online and others. We're glad you're part of the service this morning.

A lot of thank yous need to be said. I've got to tell you, I'm just glad to be here. I don't know if you've had this stomach bug that's going around, and I won't try to describe it at all because it'll gross you out right here before lunchtime, but it was horrible, and I wanted to die one day.

As a matter of fact, I told Aaron, I said, if you'll just come to the house and get one of my guns and shoot me, I'll just go be with Jesus because this thing, this is awful. And then what he didn't know was last Sunday when he preached, he was so glad he was the one Harper that made it through it, until after church was over, until after he went and got fast food.

Yeah, and went home, and then he got a dose of it, and so it's kind of tore its way through our family, and I just need to say a big thank you to Aaron for last week. I told him he could do whatever he wanted to. He didn't have to stick with Acts, and I said, but if you want to try to close the book out, and I just got to say, he did a phenomenal job.

Some of you, Gene and others, talked about it, that, man, if you look at the beginning of the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit empowers the church to live out, act out Christianity, but the way he closed it out, the reason the Holy Spirit gave you that power is for us to share the gospel, and that's what Paul does, like the last three chapters, just over and over and over.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to share the gospel, not just so you can be a better dad, or a better mom, or a better man, or a better woman, or a better God. He gave us the Holy Spirit to get the gospel to the world, and that's still the need today. Amen? By the way, that's still what Rome, Georgia needs. Rome, Georgia needs the gospel, and they need to work in the power of the Holy Spirit, so thank you, Aaron, for a phenomenal job.

Matter of fact, I was watching, Beverly and I were watching online. You can watch on YouTube, and we pulled it up on our TV and watched it on YouTube, and if I'd have been here, I think I'd have come forward. I was ready for an invitation, and really, I lose my heart, so I'm grateful to him and all who've kind of filled in and taken over.

It's been a crazy week with Thanksgiving and a short week, but I'm glad you're here, and we've got something special to share with you at the end of service this morning, so we're going to begin Christmas. I know. Happy December. It's here. Yes. Ready or not, here it is. Cold weather, Christmas and all, and so we're going to jump into talking about timeless Christmas.

And so if you'll take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew chapter 1, you know, I know you've heard the Christmas story every way it can be told. I've preached it probably about every way it can be told. I guess this is now my, like, 38th time, 39th time, I don't know which one's which, that I've preached a Christmas series of sermons.

And so you got, I mean, it's one story, but it's incredible the depth and the width and all that goes with Christmas. God coming to earth to reach us, to enable us to be back in right relationship as the human race to bring us back into relationship with God.

No wonder the angels sang Gloria. No wonder the shepherds shouted his praise. No wonder the wise men traveled the hundreds and hundreds of miles that they traveled over time to get there. God has come to man. God has come to man in order that man might come back to God.

And you and I reap the benefits of Christmas today. I don't know what's going on in your life. And I'm going to talk about this one. I want to talk about Christmas interruptions. Anything ever interrupt your life during Christmas? Anything ever interrupt your life anywhere? Every day, right?

Every day. Every day I've got a plan for the day. And every day somebody, someone, something seems to interrupt my plan, right? And I got to tell you, probably about 90% of those times it's God interrupting my plan, going, David, you don't have it together. Let me get it together and get you where you need to be.

So I want to talk about those. If you look at the story of Christmas, everybody involved in this story, their life is being interrupted. So don't be surprised between now and the next 24 days that your life doesn't get interrupted. Maybe it's already there.

Maybe there's already something going on in your life that has just interrupted the flow of Christmas and what could go on. So look at me. Look at it with me. Matthew 1. We're going to look at verses 18 to 25. It says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.

After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take you Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us.

Then Joseph, being aroused from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for families that are here. Thank you for the children that are in this service. Thank you most of all for the Holy Spirit that is here, and for the heart of this church, and for the church to follow you.

And I pray now you'd just connect all those things together. All those pieces, just like the story of Christmas, there's a lot of moving pieces that are going to come together in this month. There's wise men from Babylon. There are shepherds, the outcasts on the hillside. There's an innkeeper. There's some teenagers, Mary and Joseph, that are going to travel a long ways.

Lord, there's angels from heaven. Heaven itself are going to come down and be part of this story. All those pieces are going to come together. I pray for us that all the pieces would begin to come together as you lead and direct our lives to follow you, that you would bring those things together.

And Lord, interrupt our lives where they need to be interrupted, that we might refocus on you. Help me. Help our church. Every man and woman, boy and girl sitting in this room, Lord, interrupt us that we might see you.

In this morning's service, just remind us that you're always at work around us, and we give you the glory and the praise and the honor. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Now we just invite the Lord into this service to speak to our hearts about Christmas. You see the story here in Matthew 1. This is the first component of Christmas. You see Mary and Joseph. They've been betrothed, and that's a lot stronger word than engaged.

They are not only engaged to each other, they are promised. As a matter of fact, for them to break up will be like a divorce. It's so serious in the Jewish tradition what it means to be betrothed to each other, that you're set apart for each other, that you're already connected together.

There's just the matter of the wedding ceremony and the betrothal taking place to bring everything to conclusion. And as Joseph finds out that Mary's pregnant, it blows his mind. It interrupts his plan.

I mean, this guy is planning a life. He's built, in all likelihood, in Jewish tradition again, the husband, the man that's being betrothed to the woman, literally when they were betrothed together, he would go back to his father's house, and he would begin to collect money, and he would begin to build on it.

He would build on a room to his father's house. Now, for most of you, this part of the story would absolutely freak you out, because what they're going to do, instead of you really getting away from mom and dad, you're just going to add a room on to mom and dad's house, and that's going to be your house.

Your place is going to be a room at mom and dad's house. Some of you had to do that for a little while, but you didn't stay there long, most likely. You kept moving on. Well, that was going to be the end of the story. Their place for generations to come, in all likelihood, and so Joseph's going back home, and he's adding on to the house.

He's getting ready there in Nazareth. He's putting all the pieces together for he and Mary to have the wedding ceremony, and when the ceremony's over, and all the celebration is done, he brings Mary back to that room, and that becomes their place, and so it takes some time.

That's why the betrothal would be extended out, and all the same time, Mary's over here making all the preparations in her family for the wedding celebration, and all these pieces have to come together.

Guys, it's just like you right now. Some of you, I guarantee you, there's some of you have a room at your house, and you've already bought 90% of Christmas, and you've wrapped it, and it's got a tag on it, and it's sitting in a room somewhere.

That's probably 1% of you, right? 90% of you don't even have a list yet. Right? I'm still trying to get some of my family to tell me, what do you want for Christmas? What do my grandchildren want for Christmas? What are we doing for Christmas?

We couldn't even, our family couldn't even get a plan together for Thanksgiving without everybody misunderstanding what's going. It's a struggle sometimes, isn't it, to bring all the plan together. Things keep interrupting, and upsetting, and moving, and changing, and in the fast-paced world in which we live, you would think, with these things that we hold in our hand, I can communicate right now with Eli down in Itchmule.

I can communicate with Eugene in Moldova, but I can't communicate with my family that won't text me back. Hello? Well, why is it that teenagers and 20-year-olds will sit in a room and text each other across the room, and I will text them wanting to know what they want, or how we're going to do something, and I can't get a message back for two weeks?

Does anybody else have that problem? They're textbooking, and Facebooking, and they're sending messages, and they're Instagramming, and they're Twittering, and they're doing all the WhatsApp, and sending all that. There's a thousand ways to communicate.

You know what you could do? You could pick it up and go, hello? Hello? I don't know why I just thought of No Time for Sergeants. I don't know what's on. Hello? You just have to go watch that old movie. It's hysterical.

Anyhow, it's when Andy Griffith and Barney Fife first come together in a movie. It's a great movie. Find it and watch it. You know what? Mary and Joseph are struggling with the same thing. They're trying to communicate with each other in the middle of them and their families communicating about what's going on.

Listen, God interrupts all of that, and he appears to Mary, this probably, listen to this, probably a middle school girl. Now, I know I've said this over and over again, but it's just I remember when Andrew got to be, I don't know, about 16 or 17, and that was a few years ago, and my truck was a lot newer and nicer, and he wanted to go.

I think it was, I don't know if it was senior prom or something. He was taking some girl somewhere, and he comes in and says, Dad, could I borrow your truck? I'm like, what? What? I'm going to give my nice, new to me, fairly new to me, truck to a 16, 17-year-old boy?

I remember standing in the driveway watching him drive off and going, oh, God, please let my truck come back like it was. And Andrew, too, kind of, but really my truck, I want it to come back like it was. I struggled trusting. I trusted my son with the truck.

God is about to trust his son to a middle school girl. Hello? Hello? There are couples that I know, I joked with them for years, that when they had their baby, there was no doubt the first child would get left at Chili's.

That they would get in the car and drive off and go about halfway home. Where's the baby? Sitting in the car seat back at Chili's because they lost everything they ever had. Wallets, keys, phones, everything they ever had was lost somewhere along the way.

And I just knew that poor child is going to be left behind somewhere. And God is interrupting the life of a middle school girl, most likely a young teenage girl. He's interrupting. Interrupting her life.

And by the way, when he interrupts her life, how many of you know his grandparents? He's interrupting the whole family. Huh? He's interrupting everybody. And then he comes over to Joseph. And Joseph's probably not a lot older than Mary, but maybe an older teenage guy.

And saying, hey, there's something going on with Mary, and she's pregnant. But don't worry. Don't worry. It's not what you think. It's the Holy Spirit. Have you tried that story on anybody? It took God to sell that story.

And he interrupts Joseph's life. Matter of fact, he interrupts his sleep here. And I think about all the interruptions of Christmas. Shepherds are out one night in the middle of a field watching over the flock. It's night. It's dark time. They've got a little fire built.

They're talking and hanging out. You can hear the sheep out there. And by the way, I just remind you, because you already know this if you've been around here any length of time, because the shepherds are probably one of my favorite parts of the story.

Because shepherds were nobody. They weren't even, a shepherd could not testify in court because they would not trust them. A shepherd could not go into the temple to worship. They could not go where every other Jew in the country could go to the temple and go inside and worship God, but not a shepherd because they were unclean.

They could not go into the temple because they were low, filthy people. And yet that's the very people that God comes to first. He lets them know my son, the Christ child, the Messiah, the hope of the human race is being born right over the hill in Bethlehem.

And first God announces that to the lowest of the low. Now that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me because I've never thought of myself as anybody. My family comes from Sand Mountain, Alabama. That's kind of, in Alabama, that's kind of, we're the hillbillies.

We're the low. And don't look at me like that because you are too in Rome. Huh? You're from Coosa or Lindale, or Chatsworth, or wherever you're from around, man, everybody looks down on that group of people and identify with those shepherds because everybody looks down.

Nobody expects anything out of you. Nobody expects you to accomplish a lot. Nobody expects you to make anything out of your life. You're just a shepherd. You're just a country person. You're just a hillbilly. You're just an uneducated redneck. You're a nobody.

Nobody expects you to amount to anything, yet God comes to you and says, I want to make something out of you. I want to take a group of men that everybody has discounted and pushed aside and said as nobody, I want to make you the guys that they will talk about you for the next 2,000 plus years.

You know who we talk about? Those shepherds. We may talk a little bit about King Herod. We may talk a little bit about the wise men, but we're going to talk a whole lot about the wise men. We're going to talk a little bit about those shepherds.

God's interrupting their life. And you can just go on and on. Those wise men in Babylon, God lets them know through the prophecies of Daniel. There's over 300 prophecies that Jesus is going to come the first time, that the Christ child will be born, where he'll be born in Bethlehem, when he'll be born, what's going to happen to him, that it's going to be of a virgin.

He lays all that out in over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that are leading the way, that are pointing towards the Christ child, Jesus. And he's going to let these wise men up in the Babylon area, Iraq, Iran, that Persia area of the world where Daniel was held captive, God's going to let them know and interrupt their life so they can travel for months to follow a star.

He's going to interrupt the universe to put a star in place. He's going to interrupt Herod when those wise men show up at his front door and unexpectedly, unknown to him, they're going to say the star and the scriptures tell us that a new king of the Jews is to be born, that he's being born.

Where is this new king? And it so radically interrupts Herod's life. He loses his mind and has a bunch of babies slaughtered, thinking he's trying to kill. By the way, you know that Herod's going to kill his own sons? This guy's a nut. He's crazy.

And God's going to interrupt. Everything that goes on around Christmas is an interruption of the plan of what most people had in place. I want you to hear me. Jesus is an interruption to religion.

Jesus is an interruption to Baptists. Jesus is an interruption to the Presbyterians. Jesus is an interruption to the Pentecostals. Jesus is an interruption to the Catholics. God's doing His own way, His own thing, through His own Son, the way He planned to do it, the way He worked it out.

We had so missed it. We don't even, the human race doesn't even see this coming and God interrupts everything all of a sudden and splits time to put Jesus in place. And it's so radical that we still, 2,000 years later, denote time by before Christ and after Christ.

He splits time and interrupts time with His own Son. Everything about Christmas is an interruption. Every part of it. It's a timeless tale of Christmas that God's interrupting everything to bring His Son.

We all have these incredible expectations and I'm sure, Mary and Joseph are, Mary's making plans for this big wedding and Joseph is building on to the house and they've got these big plans to get together and God just interrupts every bit of it.

You ever had a time leading up to Christmas where something happened in your life and just kind of interrupted Christmas? Some years ago, we had already decorated for Christmas and got set for Christmas and all of a sudden, we decided to change out the carpet in a couple of rooms and we thought we were going to be real smart.

We took our Christmas tree and we thought, hey, we can ease all this stuff out onto the back deck and not have to tear it down or take it apart and put it out here and let them come in and put the carpet down and we'll bring it all back in.

How many of you know that didn't go according to plan? Huh? You ever done anything like that? I know you say, I would admit to that if I were you. Yes, too late for me. Y'all already know I'm crazy. My family is crazy.

We started trying to get that Christmas tree out the door and nobody checked the width of the door versus the width of the tree and you think it's just a Christmas tree, it'll flex, it'll bend, it'll move. No, it will break.

And when that little interruption was over, I think we had a poinsettia, didn't we? We wound up with the poinsettia in the room with Christmas trees or presents around it because it was too late to go get another tree and try to redo all that.

It just all got scrapped. It just all got interrupted. But you know what? Everybody enjoyed Christmas and everybody got a present and everybody was excited. And at our house, we love to laugh and we know we can laugh at ourselves a lot more.

We probably laugh at anybody else in the crazy things that we do. An interruption. Maybe you're something more serious than that. Maybe it was a doctor's visit that interrupted. You know right now I've always despised to see that at Christmas time right here at Thanksgiving and Christmas companies begin to lay off people and let people go.

That's to me, that's a horrible thing to happen to somebody at Christmas time is to do that to someone. Maybe your interruption's been different than that. Maybe it's a sickness or maybe it's a death. Some disappointment in your life has come and God's interrupted your life perhaps to get your attention so you'll focus on him.

We see how Joseph responded. He still followed God. We see how Mary responded. She still followed God. We see the wise men. We see the shepherds. Everybody is still following God.

Now it's easy for us to have a knee-jerk reaction. We just go, you know, and I just, let's be honest, I do that when things interrupt my life. It makes me mad. I'm a passionate person. When things interrupt my life, man, I'm like, what in the world?

And then, as I've gotten older, I've learned to kind of, okay, step back, take a breath, count to 10, look at this. This may be a good thing. Maybe God's trying to keep you from making a mistake. Maybe God's trying to keep you out of trouble.

You know what? I just, can I give you a few things if you want to jot them down? I think it'll help you if an interruption comes your way. I just want to give you two or three practical things out of this Christmas story today that might help you in your life deal with interruptions that come your way and how to look at them, how to deal with them.

I'll give you three things and I'm going to give you a verse of scripture. Proverbs 3:5 and 6. This was my dad's favorite scripture. He wrote his name or signed anything he always put Proverbs 3:5 and 6 under it. You know it. This is trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him and what? And he shall direct your path. Boy, whenever God's working, look to him to say, what are you doing, Lord? Where are you taking me? What do you want to say to me in this interruption, in this time, in this sickness, in this layoff, in this issue, whatever it is?

Or what are you trying to say to me? Maybe he's just saying to you, slow down. Slow down a little bit. Take a breath. Sometimes today, you know, there's all kinds of people who need to rest and there's all kinds of people who need to work.

I already got a long time ago talk about if you went to a professional basketball game. I used to love when I was a lot younger. I loved to go to Atlanta to the NBA games and it wasn't so much for Atlanta, but I wanted to see when the Sixers were there, might see Charles Barkley, or when Chicago came to town, get to see Jordan, or when Boston came to town, see Larry Bird, see some of those guys play that were just icons of the NBA at that time.

And you know what you'd see? There'd be 20,000 people in the old Phipps Arena, 20,000 people eating popcorn and eating popcorn and eating popcorn and eating popcorn and cokes and hot dogs and drinking beer and cokes and having a big time, and there's 10 guys on the court that are running their guts out as hard as they can go.

And you know what you saw? There's 10 guys that needed rest and there's 20,000 that need exercise, right? I mean, that's a pretty good way to illustrate it. Maybe in your life you're one of those two. Maybe you need to slow down and rest or maybe you need to pick up a place in your life and go to work.

But look to God. Lean not to your own understanding. You know what you can do? Listen, look at me, look at me because I want to give you these three things that I'm done for the morning. Lean to not to your own understanding. You know what you got to do?

God help me to understand what's going on. So the first thing I'd say to you is pray. Man, if you're in a time of interruption, pray. Ask God, what is it that you want me to learn from this? I would just say to that to you all the time, man, whatever's coming your way, whether it's unexpected or expected or whatever's going on in your life, this kind of you're struggling with, why don't you stop and ask God, give, let me see what you want me to see through this.

Let me learn. You're going through a struggle. You're going through a test. You're going through discomfort. You're going through a problem in your life. Lord, what are you trying to do in your life? What are you trying to do in your life? What are you trying to do in your trying to teach me?

Because listen to me, folks, here's what I'm going to say to you. I don't believe anything happens on an accident. I believe God is always working in our lives. He is always trying to teach us something. He's always trying to show us something.

And a lot of times he's not, he's trying to show me stuff about you. He's really trying to show me stuff about me, right? And the same thing for you. You're like, wow, my neighbor needs to learn a lesson. Well, maybe you need to learn a lesson about not worrying about your neighbor.

What is it in your life that you pray? Ask God to show you. Ask God to lead you. Ask God to teach you through this time. What is it? Call out to God. And by the way, I think a lot, let me just say this. I'm going to say this. I'm just step out on a limb.

I think a lot of times when God's interrupting our life, he's trying to get us to refocus on him. He's just trying to get us to refocus on him. So many of us in our lives, our life today, we put our car on coast. We put our car, well now you got cars, you just put it in the lane and lock it in and you can just let go.

And we've all seen the pictures of the folks in some of these Teslas and other vehicles. They're over there taking a nap. I'm like, you're an idiot. You know how many computers have glitches? We call it Harper luck in our family. That's what my brother calls it. Be my luck, I'd get the one Tesla's got the glitch.

But you know what? A lot of us have done, especially some of us that have gotten older, we put it on cruise control and we're just kind of gliding in to the finish line. I don't think that's what God wants us to do.

And I think sometimes God's sending us interruptions in our life to say, hey, you know what I'm saying? Focus on me again. Look at me. Trust me. That's what that verse says. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, acknowledge him in your life, and then he will direct your path. So there's some conditions to that, and I think we ought to lean into that to say, God, I think we ought to lean into that to say, God, I think we ought to lean into that to say, God, I've got to, don't I don't understand these interruptions, but I'm going to acknowledge you and I'm going to lean into you and I'm going to trust your understanding in this.

Now please direct my path. I don't think that's an automatic for a Christian. I think you've got to lean into God for that. That's just a David thought for whatever it's worth to you. The first thing you do when your life's interrupted, stop and pray.

Stop and pray. Pray for God. Pray for courage. A lot of us need courage to face the things that are right at us. Pray for courage to get through those. Pray for help. Look to God. God wants to help you. He wants to guide you.

God wasn't trying to drive Joseph crazy. God wasn't trying to do something horrible to Mary. God wasn't out there beating up on the shepherds or making those wise men just travel for the fun of it. God had a massive plan that he had been working down through the ages that was going to culminate you in the birth of the Messiah, the Savior, the Emmanuel, the Savior of the world is going to happen out of all these circumstances coming together.

God's weaving a plan together, and I think God's trying to weave something together in your life, his plan, his will, his desire for you, whether you're a teenager or you're a senior adult. God's trying to work in your life to bring you to that place.

The second thing I'd give you as I see in this is not only is there you need to pray, but you need to have the right perspective. So many times we're angry today. Well, if things upset us, maybe that's just me. But put that interruption in perspective.

How bad is it really? How bad is it really? How long will it really be important to me? What difference will it make in eternity? Some years ago, as a matter of fact, Beverly and I were talking about it. We don't remember the exact date of it.

I had a white Ford F-150 before the one I have now. And Ford had sent out a recall. I'd gotten the recall notice and didn't really think it applied to me and need to do something about it quickly. It seemed kind of far-fetched that the master cylinder on the brakes had a sensor on the front of it.

And that sensor was in close proximity. That electrical sensor was in close proximity to brake fluid. If you know anything about brake fluid, you know brake fluid is highly volatile. I mean, it's kind of like gasoline. It just will burst into flames if it gets any spark near it at all.

Well, some genius engineer at Ford had decided to put that sensor right up against that brake fluid. And over time, the corrosive nature of that brake fluid would increase. Eat through the walls of that sensor, and they come in contact with each other. And you never knew when it was going to happen.

I'd driven that truck to Atlanta that day, came home. We think it was somewhere in December. I honestly don't remember this morning when it was. Usually, I park that truck in the garage. But out of God's divine providence, that truck didn't get in my garage that day.

If it had of, the Harper family might not be here. Aaron's room was immediately adjacent. There was a little wall that separates that garage from his bedroom. On the other, on the front end of the garage, the wall separates our bedroom from the garage.

The insurance adjusters that came later told us there had been multiple cases in Georgia. A family's being killed by that happening. And that would somehow, over time, that would finally get through to that sensor, and it would spark, and it would start a flame.

That particular Saturday night, I was already in bed. Beverly was already in bed. A guy came to the door and was banging on the door. We didn't hear him. He was banging on the door. Beverly woke up and heard something, ran in there.

And this guy was driving up the hill. If you know where we live, he was driving up the hill past our driveway and he saw fire coming out from under the wheel well that the driver's front side. There were sparks and fire coming out of there.

By the time I got out there, there was fire coming through the grill of the truck I had parked about a foot away from the garage door or close probably a couple of feet within the garage door and the fire was boiling out from under.

I ran around the house and got a hose and turned it on, and I remember Don standing there with my hose, what should be splashing on the hood of my truck. I realized all of it, you know, you're in just this adrenaline mode and I'm just trying to go, I didn't want it to get in my house and I'm trying to get this fire under control.

They've called 9-1-1. The fire department's on the way, and it hit me all of a sudden two things. There is no hood. The fire's just now coming. There's no hood there any longer where I'm putting water, and there's two five-gallon cans of gasoline two feet behind me in my garage, and I'm standing between the two.

Probably not a good place to be standing. We finally got it all under control. It totally destroyed my truck. I still remember we were talking about it. I don't know what you know. We've had this family. I don't know which one of the kids.

Oh, both the boys have been through the fifth-grade fire thing, you know, where the fire marshal comes in and talks about what do you do? You meet out a tree in the front yard. You make a plan. And I still remember, I think it was Andrew was trying to decide whether to save the Xbox or the Nintendo as he was leaving the house, which one was worthy of grabbing and running out the door.

It was a crazy night to get all that settled down and then come here for church the next morning. You talk about an interruption. That'll interrupt your life. Some of you are going through much more serious interruptions than that.

You got to put it in perspective. You know what I realized? My truck was gone, and I loved the old truck. My garage door had been melted. The siding on the house, all the stuff in the attic was smoked out and gone.

It was a disaster for weeks. They came and pulled all the insulation out of the attic. You don't realize how much that insulation helps keep your bedroom warm till it's gone in the wintertime.

We were piling blankets on the bed trying to stay warm at night. An interruption. See, mine or is it looked, it seemed like a big deal, but all in all, now we look back on it and kind of laugh about it and joke about it.

Put it in perspective. The last thing I'd say to you, and this is where I talk about this, is thank God for his providence. God's always working a plan. If that truck had been in that garage, as I said, either all of us or some of us would probably be gone.

The insurance adjuster came and he told me several stories. I'd not heard anything like this about that truck. He told me stories of people in Atlanta that had it parked in their garage and the whole family died when it caught fire and caught the house fire in the middle of the night.

I'd driven the truck to Atlanta earlier that morning. I'd parked it out. It'd been out sitting in my driveway for probably 10 hours after I got back. Wasn't like I just pulled up and turned it off and it caught on fire. It'd been sitting there for hours.

In God's providence, that truck didn't get in my garage. And I just thank God for that. That's the providence of God. And you know what? I'm sure Mary and Joseph, when they look at, when they were looking at this, what was happening to them, they're thinking, God, what are you doing?

What in the world? What do you mean Mary's pregnant? What do you mean it's the Holy Spirit? What am I going to tell my friends? What are we going to tell our family? What are we going to do?

And Joseph's making plans. He's going to set up a plan. He's going to set up a plan. Because he loved Mary so much, he was making plans to secretly basically divorce her, push her away and not marry her and do that privately.

Not to make a big spectacle out of her because he thought so much of her. He loved her so much. But in the providence of God, he's bringing his son into this world.

What looked like a horrible circumstance on the front end turns into this incredible miracle that's going to bring salvation to the human race. You don't know. Look at me. Look at me. You don't know what God's going to do in your circumstances.

You don't know what God's going to do in the middle of what's going on in your life. You don't know what God's plan is. You think, we all think, oh, I think I've got an idea of what God wants to do and he's going to do this, this. You don't know what God's going to do.

My sister, we got together at Thanksgiving and yesterday, a lot of the family got together and she had found an old picture and gave it to me. And I was just kind of shocked to see it. I don't have a lot of pictures of me and my dad together from way back when.

And I guess I was probably about 10 or 11 years old. My dad, when we went to Florida, of course, he was blonde hair, blue-eyed, fair skin. He didn't care anything about the beach. He didn't care anything about getting a tan. He didn't get a tan. He got blistered.

Matter of fact, later in his life, melanoma would kill him because he was so fair-skinned. He had moles and just, he just didn't care for the sun at all, but he would go fishing. So while my mother, you'll love this ladies, my mother got tasked with taking care of the three of us and taking us to the beach.

And can I, just keeping up with me was a full-time job, but she's got three of us. And my dad is out on a Captain Anderson party boat fishing, deep sea fishing. That was his gig. When we were in Florida, he wanted to go fishing.

And somehow he talked me into going with him and I'm with him and I'm standing there on the back of the boat. They took a picture. Deborah found it from somewhere and looks like I'm about 10 or 11 years old and standing there with my dad.

And he's got his little cutoff shirt on that he would wear when he cut grass or go out and do stuff. And we're there again. It was kind of a shock to look back at that.

Can I say to you, that 10 or 11-year-old boy had no clue where he was going to be today. That boy had no idea. Matter of fact, the last thing on his mind was ever being a pastor. It was enough to be a pastor's kid.

When you've been a pastor, you've been a pastor's kid. You've been a pastor's kid. You don't want any part of being a pastor. Nothing. But can I tell you? I thank God for the providence of God that one kept me alive to this moment, allowed me to see God's hand work through my life and see God's hand work through this church and what this church has been able to do for the last 30, almost 39 years.

The church that exists in San Francisco, Mexico, the places where we've done ministry in Lake Placid, New York and others where God used us and touched us. The people of Rome, Georgia and Floyd County. The men that are pastoring churches today because of what you've done and this church has done is nothing but the providence of God.

I didn't plan any of that. I didn't put out any kind of plan to make that happen. The Holy Spirit directed that, empowered that, and the providence of God brought it together.

Can I say to you this morning and I'm done? It's the providence of God that you're sitting in this room today. God brought you to this place. You may say, well, God didn't bring me here. I got up and took a shower and got in my car and drove myself here. That's called God.

God brought you here for a reason. He brought you here for this moment. He brought you here to teach you something, to show you something, to try to change your perspective, to try to get you to lean into Him and see that all the interruptions that are going on in your life, God's trying to get a message to you.

You know what you see about every one of these characters? In the Christmas story, look at me. I'm done right here. Look at me. Every one of them, the wise men, the shepherds, Mary, Joseph, every one of them, even Simeon at the temple waiting on the Christ child.

Every one of them are interrupted in their life. Not a one of them was expecting, hey, I know God's about to send Jesus and here he comes. No, none of them knew what was going on. All of them are surprised at what's happened. All of them are caught off guard. All of them. All of them are interrupted.

And I wonder who in this room this morning, God's interrupting your life today to say, hey, all that stuff that preacher's talking about, I'm trying to get a message to you. I'm trying to get you to understand I love you. The gospel is for you.

Jesus came to this earth not to remain a baby in the manger the rest of his life. Not even just to go to a cross. When he comes back, my friend, he won't be a baby and he won't be dying on a cross. He'll be the King of kings and Lord of lords.

He came to this earth in his providence to make a way for you to have a way to have a relationship with God. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

And friend, it's not bad. It's not by being baptized. It's not by praying at an altar. It's not by being a church member or being a member of a denomination. It's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ where you allow God to interrupt your life and you come to a place where you acknowledge you're a sinner and you trust him as your Savior and you allow him to come in your life in the person of the Holy Spirit and then live that life, empower that Christian, that Christian life through you.

That's the Christmas story. That's the interruption of Christmas. And that's the interruption the Holy Spirit would love to do in your life today is to see you give your life to Jesus.

And if you're already a believer, could it be it's time for us to kick the car out of cruise control, kick our lives out of cruise control, and get refocused again on let's follow Jesus with all, quit cruising, and coasting, and start pursuing what God wants to do in your life.

Let's bow for prayer. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the truths of Scripture, the timeless story of Christmas that you came into the human race to interrupt all the junk that was going on around us and refocus us to follow you, to personally follow Jesus Christ with all of our heart and all of our life.

And I pray for the folks in this room right here right now, those that are watching online. Help us to tune back in. Help us to retune and refocus our lives to say, once again, I'm coming to God in the middle of this interruption. I'm coming to pray.

I'm coming to have my perspective changed, that I'm ready, anxious, excited to follow Jesus. And then, Lord, I'm praying for the people in this room, the providence of God, that you work out your will through me.

It's not just preachers. It's not just missionaries. It's not just deacons and elders, but every Christian, you want to work your providence through us, your plan through us. Please, Lord, work that will.

Let the Holy Spirit remind us we're here to share the gospel. We're here to impact the lost world. We're here to bring the good news of Jesus to a world that needs to hear him. Touch and work in our lives. Interrupt us this morning. Interrupt us in this time.

Interrupt our plans and our thoughts, Lord, with what you want to do. And every man, woman, boy, and girl in this room, touch our lives now and guide us now and help us to be courageous enough and willing enough to follow you and to seek your understanding and plan for what you want to do. Amen.

Just like you did Joseph and Mary and the shepherds and the wise men, all the others, help us to follow you. I pray that for your glory and honor. In Jesus' name, heads bowed, eyes closed.

In just a second, we're going to stand. Just a second, they're going to sing. You're going to have the opportunity to respond, to act on what the Holy Spirit's put in your life, that interruption that's come your way, a situation that you're facing.

To bring it to God and say, God, I don't know what to do with this. I don't know how to handle it. I'm coming to get your perspective on what you'd have me do in this moment.

I believe with all my heart, God's calling people in this moment to follow him, to obey him, to take that next step in pursuing God and his providence, his plan for you.

If this morning you need to know Christ as your Savior, we'll show you how. If you're a prodigal son or daughter away from God, don't let that hold you back. God's waiting for you to come home.

Come home this morning and restore that place and position you have with him. Whatever it may be, you just need to come and pray. This place is wide open for you to obey God.

Let's stand together, please. They're going to sing, Father, have your way. Glorify Jesus in this place. In his name we pray, amen.

Come on. Come on. That's right. Come on. God's calling you. The providence of the moment is you obey God.

Spirit, this is going to change in just a moment. You need to mind God. This is your time. Come on. You've thought about it. Now's the time to respond. Come on.

And thank you for your attentiveness. Thank you for those of you who responded. I got to say, this corner over here, y'all did really good. I was, all the moms were real nervous about all the little Harper kids being in here and put Gallaghan to sleep, didn't I?

So anyhow, good times. Grateful for you being here. Thank you for being in the service. I got a few things I need to mention to you quickly and then I'll get you out of here.

As I said, it's good to have Butch here with us and Mike and Pat and others. Don't forget, don't forget, if you've got your info sheet, I'm just going to kind of scan through this quickly. You can read it. I don't need to read it to you.

Hope for the Hungry's Thursday. The budget brochures are out. They're on the Hutch. If you didn't get yours last Sunday, you can pick those up. The finance team will be available this Wednesday from 6 to 6:30 to answer questions.

Also next Sunday morning, 8:30 to 9 in D103. All that's on the front of the brochure. If you have questions about any part of the budget, you can meet with the finance team and then we'll vote on it next Sunday morning after the service.

Okay? They're going to decorate the worship center tomorrow night. And guys, the ladies need some help this morning. If you could help for just a minute right after the service, there's some of the larger items up at the old worship center that need to get down here.

And Miss Karen Kolb right here on the corner, if you guys could help her for just a moment, ensure that some of those items get down here, that would be of great help to us.

Is Avery here? Avery? And what? Okay. Avery? Every week they have this little activity sheet. Matter of fact, the Harris's were so nice to give me one this morning when I came in so I could color and draw during the worship service.

And Avery did all hers and turned them in. And that's a prize, dear. Thank you for doing it. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for being part of that for all of our children to be involved.

And any of you ADD adults that need something to do during the service besides listen, or you can do that. Actually, I can do multiple things at one time.

So they're going to decorate tomorrow night, and we need your help to do that, guys. So please don't forget that. See Karen before you go.

And then just remind you quickly the pancakes and pajamas for the children, December the 13th, 6 to 9, will be in the B building. And next Sunday, the preschool check-in will move to the other end of the building.

There's more of an open area where you come into the B building. And so all the check-in, you'll have to go through the A building if you park on this upper side between the office and the A building.

You'll go through the A building and go out. You're under an awning and go into the B building there, and they'll have all the check-in stuff. And there will be signs and people out there to help you, kind of guide you through that.

So know that's coming, and please, please be part of that. I think I've covered one more thing I'll cover here in just a second.

I do want to remind you about giving here at Christmastime is so important. In December, as we wrap up, year-end is really important. We're behind on budget. We need to catch up.

We need some year-end gifts. We need you to pray. God provides those, and perhaps through you, God would provide some of that.

God would provide some of that to help make up that difference so we can continue on in the ministries we've got to do. And that affects not only the closeout of 2024, but it's also going to affect as we go into the budget of 2025.

That's really important. Or immediately we may have to make some adjustments, and nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to have to start cutting back ministry.

So we ask you to give, and I know money's tight. Listen, I'm the one that buys the groceries. I'm the guy that usually has to leave the grocery store and ask forgiveness for my rotten attitude.

When I walk out of there with four little bags and I spend $100. So I understand what it's like. I know money's tight right now. But I know my first gift of any gift is going to be to what God's doing. Amen?

And I want to give, and we give above and beyond the tithe. So I'm asking you to do that. And then the other thing I want to mention right here before I mention prayer requests, and we'll go.

It's not even 12 o'clock yet. We have some families connected to our church that we are helping them with children for Christmas.

These are the ones we are aware of that we could find. So Bev's going to, and Archie's going to help her. We've got some little Christmas ornaments, cutouts here.

And on there is a, it tells the child's, whether they're like, I think there's eight of them. Child one through maybe seven or eight. I forgot the number.

But each one has a child designated. And beside that, it tells you the age and whether it's a boy or girl. And then it's got maybe one or two items on there asking you to, would you pick out one of these and get it.

And you can wrap the gift. But please make sure this tag gets back on there so we know who it goes to. And don't have to unwrap your present to figure out what's in there.

We want to help these families. We want to do something. And I know you're always generous and willing to do that. I think there's about 25 tags here.

Thank you, buddy. Thank you for helping me. And so when church is over, if you come up here and, you know, gosh, who can say no to one of these guys, right?

I love children. I love our families. And I want us to do our best. I want to do for him, but I also want to do for you, right?

That's what God's called us to do as believers. We're all in the family of God together. We're all in the family of this church together.

So I'm asking you to, you've always been generous. You've always been generous to do this. They're here. All I know to do is make the need available to you and allow you to come take it and see what you can do.

If you can get them back by next Sunday, that would be incredible. We want to get these to the families well ahead of time.

I think we probably do have a couple of weeks to get this together. But the quicker you get them and bring them to the office, the sooner we'll know what everybody has and what we need else we need to take care of.

Secondly, a part of that. Listen again closely. I know you're ready to go. You're already thinking about eating Mexican. So you're ready to go.

Listen at me for a second. If you want to give money, you can give and designate it to benevolence, Christmas, and it'll get to the right place.

So if you want to write a check, if that's $10 or $1,000, it'll help make that happen. And so you can do that online giving. You can write a check. You can put it in a cash in an envelope.

But just make sure somewhere you write on there that it's Christmas. So it'll get to the right place. Okay? Thank you for doing that. God bless you online. God bless you guys in here.

Hope you have a great week. Enjoy it. Merry Christmas as we move forward in December. I hope I'll see you next Sunday. God bless you. Have a great week.

Whether you were with us online or in person, thank you for joining us today. We hope you experience God's presence in today's service and see God moving in your life.

We would love to pray with you and come alongside you on your journey with Christ. So be sure to connect with us this week and let us know how we can help. You'll find us on social media or you can visit us at hbcrome.org and connect with us there.

We would love to hear from you. Have a great week.