Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) – God says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so my thoughts are higher than your thoughts and My ways are higher than your ways.

Galatians 4:4-6 (ESV) – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

God’s Strange Christmas Story

Strange Purpose– To adopt us into His family

Galatians 4:6 (ESV).. so that we might receive adoption

Strange Timing

Galatians 4:4 (ESV) when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son…

Strange Location– Bethlehem

Strange Form—a baby

Galatians 4:4 (ESV) – When the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son…

Philippians 2:6-7 (ESV) – though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Strange Family—Mary and Joseph

Galatians 4:4 (ESV) – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman…

2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV) – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Strange Response to Sin– Redemption

Galatians 4:4-6 (ESV) – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law

2 Corinthians 5:19 (ESV) – in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them

Strange Appearances

Strange Christmas Applications

1. Look for God in the Simple Things

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV) – give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

2. Trust God in the Confusing Things

When life is the hard

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 (ESV) – Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

Psalm 46:1-2 (ESV) – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear

Psalm 34:17-18 (ESV) – When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

When God’s Commands are Confusing

Psalm 37:3-7 (NIV) – Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices .

God’s moral will as seen in the Bible is rational and reasonable, but the circumstances in which we must trust God often appear irrational and inexplicable. When we disobey God, we defy His authority and despise His holiness. When we fail to trust Him, we doubt His sovereignty and question His goodness. In both cases, we cast aspersions upon His majesty and His Character…In order to trust God, we must always view our adverse circumstances through the eyes of faith, not of sense. – Jerry Bridges