This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to day five of our look through
Matthew chapter one. Today we're going to talk about what do you do with the
disappointments? Because in Matthew chapter one there were plenty of
disappointments.

You know, I like to look at beautiful Christmas paintings sometimes, artworks
from the last 2000 years that depict the birth of Jesus. And there are many
beautiful things in those pictures, but one of the things that bothers me about
them sometimes is that the pictures are so often idealized with these beautiful
halos and this beautiful light and everything seems so perfect in many, many of
those paintings. The truth of the matter is everyone that was part of the first
Christmas faced massive disappointments.

If they could talk, they would tell you that it did not turn out like they
expected. Just ask Mary, who expected to have a wedding and then a baby, become
pregnant and then have a baby, not to become pregnant and then have the wedding
and have the baby. That's not how she thought life was going to work.

Just ask Joseph, who learned that his wife-to-be was pregnant. Just ask Joseph,
who hearing that he could marry her then had to hear that he must keep her a
virgin for nine months. Just ask Mary and Joseph together.

They're told that Jesus is going to be the Savior of the world. So they have all
of this discipline, they face all of this disappointment that things did not
work out as they expected, but they thought, I'm sure they thought, what's the
birth going to be like? I mean, this is the birth of a king.

This is the birth of a Savior of the world and he's born in a barn. Now today we
think that's a great part. Wow, Jesus in a barn, we got the donkeys and we got
the cows looking in.

But just for a moment, put yourself in Mary's place. How would you like to give
birth in a barn with the donkeys and the cows looking in? There were
disappointments, lots of them, in that first Christmas, in that first moment of
Jesus coming into this world, but there's also a lot of truth, a lot of truth
you and I can learn about how to live above our disappointments.

Let's just talk about two things today that you can see here in Matthew chapter
1. What do you do? How do I live above my disappointments?

Because we're all going to have them in this world. We live in a sin-filled
world. We're imperfect.

Everyone around us is imperfect. The world is imperfect. Guess what?

You're going to have disappointments in this world. And you can live within
those disappointments, letting them control your life, or you can live above
those disappointments, allowing God to direct and guide your life. How do you do
that?

You hear God's message, and you see God's purpose. First, you hear God's
message. The moment that disappointment hits, we have to choose which message am
I going to listen to?

Am I going to listen to the message of the world, which says, "I deserved
something better"? Am I going to listen to the message that comes from within
that says, "Oh, well, here it comes again. Here we go again," and starts to be a
martyr?

Am I going to listen to the message of selfishness, which says, "I have to
somehow lift myself out of this"? We handle all kinds of circumstances in all
kinds of different ways. And whether it's large or small, when disappointment
comes, it's amazing how easily we fall into one of the traps.

Let me use a very small illustration just to give you an idea of what happens
when we become disappointed. Let's say you go to order ice cream at an ice cream
store. You're standing in a line, and the person in front of you orders two
scoops of ice cream.

And they get an ice cream cone with two of the most gigantic scoops of ice cream
you've ever seen. And you're thinking, "Oh, this is going to be awesome. " You
go and you order two scoops of ice cream, and you get two tiny little scoops of
ice cream.

What do you do in that moment? How do you handle that moment? Well, the truth
is, with disappointment, we can become demanding, we can be defeated, we can
have jealousy, we can become accusing, we can become demanding.

You can say, "I want a bigger scoop. That guy got a bigger scoop. " But the
truth of the matter is, and this is above ice cream here and what you might say
at the store, the truth of the matter is, eventually, you're going to face a
situation where you can't get what you want out of life, no matter how demanding
you get.

You're going to be disappointed. It's usually in relationships. So what are you
going to do then?

Some people become defeated. "Well, I guess I didn't deserve a big scoop," they
say. They become a martyr.

They have this pity party. Some people end up in jealousy. "Why did he get a
bigger scoop?

Ah, he must like know the person or something. He must have paid him off. " You
go all these thoughts.

Some people end up accusing. They blame the scooper. "I'm never coming back here
again.

I'm never letting that person serve me again. " With a lot of the circumstances
of life, the scooper is God. And a lot of us end up blaming God.

Deep down, whether you realize it, you might be blaming God right now. that life
didn't work out like you thought it should work out. You've never been honest
about it, but it's there.

The truth of the matter is, we need something above all this. We've got to live
above our disappointments. We need a bigger perspective, like, "Hey, I'm on the
Daniel Plan.

I shouldn't be ordering ice cream anyway. " A totally different perspective, a
different way of looking at things. And Joseph and Mary, they heard this
different message.

People came to them and said, "There's going to be a Savior who is born. " A new
way of looking at things. Emmanuel will be His name, God with us.

God sent His message into their lives, and they listened. How can you listen
better to God's message right now in the midst of the disappointment? The number
one way that we hear God's message is through God's Word.

But the truth is, in disappointment many times, we need to hear God's Word
through God's people. It can be a teacher. It can be a friend.

It can be a pastor. It can be a message. In disappointment, there are many times
that God will use His people to express His Word into our lives.

That's how He speaks to us. Hear God's message. Listen for God's message.

That's how to live above disappointment. And the second thing you do is you see
God's purpose. The clouds of disappointment start to lift when you realize that
there is no disappointment that can keep God from working His plan into your
life.

We began by looking at these four women this week. No disappointment could keep
God's plan from being at work in their lives. And the same was true for Joseph
and Mary.

God had a plan. Again, back in verse 22 and 23, "All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son, and they'll call him Immanuel," which means God with
us.

The truth is, they were disappointed, but God had planned it all along. God had
a better plan. God had a plan that worked even in the midst of their
disappointment.

Often we find that our disappointments become God's appointments. If you look at
the Old Testament, you have an example like Moses, who is fleeing from Egypt
towards the promised land, and he hits the Red Sea, disappointment. But God had
a better plan, and he split the Red Sea to show the people the power that he
had.

Or if you look at the New Testament, the disciples are following Jesus,
expecting that he's going to become a king someday, and all of a sudden they see
him on a cross, giving his life. And they face massive disappointment only to
find that that was God's plan. God had planned for that cross so that you and I
could be forgiven of our sins.

What do you do when you're facing a Red Sea? What do you do when you're facing a
cross? You recognize that God's plan is still at work.

You see, the book of Matthew, it's the story of the fulfillment of God's plan.
And if you and I miss that God wants to fulfill his plan in our lives as we walk
through this, we've missed the personal message in our lives. Now, when you see
that God is working even in the midst of the disappointment, it does not mean
that that which brought the disappointment is good.

Sometimes because I've been selfish or others have been selfish, I face
disappointment. That's not a good thing. You don't have to call evil good to get
over a disappointment.

You have to realize that God is good. And God can take what was intended for
evil, and he can use it for good. You have to remember the truth that life is
hard, but God is good.

And when my plans and God's plans don't match, there are going to become these
moments in life when, of course, I'm going to be disappointed. I thought it was
going to work out this way, and yet God worked it out this way. What's going to
happen in that disappointment?

I have a choice. You have a choice at that moment. I can say, God, once again,
here's my plans.

Here they are. I want you to make your plans these plans. Or the truth is, I'm
not going to believe in you.

I'm going to go do my plan. I've planned this perfect life. I've got this no
problem, no pain, only success life planned.

Come through and I'll believe in you. Well, that's not faith. That's blackmail.

In fact, the truth of the matter is that's foolish because there's no such thing
as a no problem, no pain, only success life. Everyone faces problems. Everyone
faces pain in their life.

And so you and I have to realize that God is working even in the midst of that.
And instead of saying, God, here's my plans once again. Make these work.

When those disappointments come, you have this opportunity to say, and Joseph
and Mary did this, God, I trust your plans. They're not my plans. You are not
working the way that I would have done it.

I just want to remind you of that, but I know I can trust you. I know that
you're working. I know that your plan cannot fail.

So I want to be part of that plan. Now, you might be thinking, what could God
possibly do? How could he possibly work in the midst of the problems I'm facing,
the disappointments that I brought on myself or someone else has brought on me?

And I don't know all the answers to that because I don't know what the
situations are that you're thinking of right now. But I do know this. No matter
what, God is working to grow your character towards eternity.

I do know that the greatest plan of God is often not what he is doing through
you, but what he is doing in you as he works through you, as he works towards
eternity. God has a plan that's not just what's happening on this earth. He has
a plan that designs and develops us and prepares us for eternity, what he's
going to do forever.

So you've been disappointed. I've been disappointed. The question is, am I going
to keep my eyes on that disappointment?

Or in the power of Christ, am I going to ask for his strength to lift my eyes
above that disappointment, not ignoring that the disappointment happened, but
realizing that even in the midst of that, he still has a plan. He still has a
purpose. He's still at work.

Our Father, as we pray, we just pray the simple prayer. I trust you with my
disappointments. I trust you with even my disappointments.

I don't know why some of them happened. I don't understand why some of them
happened. But even if I understood, it might not have taken them away.

So instead of seeking understanding, I want to seek faith. So I just say, I
trust you with my disappointments, that you're working even in the midst of that
sorrow, even in the midst of that pain. I trust you.

In Jesus' name, amen. Join us next week. It's Matthew chapter 2.

We're going to learn more about obedience from Joseph, and we're going to learn
about worship from some wise men.