take our Bibles this morning, and we're going to turn to the book of Isaiah. We're only going to be here just for a few minutes, the book of Isaiah, and we're going to look at chapter number 55, just a couple of verses from Isaiah 55, and then we'll get back into the Christmas story. I heard about two co-workers that were discussing their holiday celebrations. After everyone got back to the office from Christmas break, Dan asked Bob, so what did you get for Christmas? Bob replied, you see that brand new red Ferrari parked out in the parking lot? Dan was shocked. Seriously? Wow, that's incredible. Bob said with a sigh, I got a tie the exact same color as that Ferrari. I want to preach a message this morning that I've entitled the expected, the unexpected. You know, we all have ideas in our mind how tomorrow is going to go. Probably we have ideas of what might be under the Christmas tree for us. And I hope you get something that you're not expecting. Now, I hope it's good. I don't think anybody part of Victory Baptist Church would get coal for Christmas. But I hope you're getting something good that you don't expect. I remember a couple of years ago, I was sitting in a chair and Kids were opening presents, and after that, it was time for me to get a present, and I didn't see any present around, and I thought, okay, well, this is gonna be good, and they pulled the old dad, close your eyes. I closed my eyes, and sure enough, somehow, I don't know how they orchestrated it, but they had gotten this bicycle into the bathroom right there off the family room, and I opened my eyes, and they wheeled out this brand, but that was unexpected, a brand new bicycle, wow. How many of you ever got a bicycle for Christmas? Yeah, that's good. I'm excited about this year and the new car. You know what I'm saying? You gotta be bigger and better. It's gonna be good. You know, there's a lot of things that happen sometimes that are unexpected. Maybe this year, for Christmas, you will get an unexpected guest to show up. Maybe some family member will surprise you. I remember a number of years ago, my youngest brother was having, I think it was his 40th birthday or something like that, And the whole family had driven up there, it's in Connecticut, and we were hiding, he pastors a little church on the side, part-time, and we were hiding in his church. And he was kind of a little bit frustrated, you might say disappointed, kind of, with his wife, because this was a big birthday, and nothing was happening. And I mean, it was by two or three o'clock in the afternoon, you know, and he's thinking, wow, this is kind of, huh, maybe what's going to happen? And he came into the church, and there we all were. Surprise! You know, unexpected company. When you think about the Christmas story, there are a lot of unexpected things that may happen or people that might become part of it. And that's what I want us to look at this morning. The Bible says in Isaiah 55, verse 8 and 9, God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith 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. When I look at the Christmas story, I see a lot of the unexpected. It tells me some things about God. As you think about the Christmas story, I want us to see number one, and we're going to turn to Luke chapter number one. God uses unexpected places. Turn with me to Luke chapter number one. There are two cities that we're going to look at here this morning as we think about unexpected places. The first is the city of Nazareth. I want you to think with me just a minute. I did a little research on what it takes for a city to become the city that the Olympics might use. Think about it if you were looking at this story. Think about the type of city that you might use. The Olympics, they have to go through, cities have to go through an evaluation process. In order for them to even be considered, the city must prove that it is big enough to handle the Olympics. With the games come a huge host of tourists, athletes, journalists, politicians. It has to be big enough. Number two, a city, and for it to host the Olympics, needs to convince residents that the expenses of covering the Olympics is worth it. They might have to even raise taxes. And number three, in order for a city to be considered, it needs to maintain a highly positive media exposure to carry out the games. By the way, I'm told for a city to host it, it's like $150,000, or at least it was back in the day of the writing of this article. And you think about, wow, what kind of a city would be chosen for such a great event? When we think about the birth of our Lord, when we think about Jesus leaving the splendors of heaven, the splendors of perfection, a close and right relationship, of course He always had, with God the Father there. And you think about Jesus coming from heaven to earth. As we look at the Word of God, We see some cities that we think might not have been the cities that we might have chosen. The city of Nazareth is the first city we look at. As we look at Luke 1 and verse number 26, we recognize Nazareth. Nazareth wasn't a big city in the Old Testament. It got bigger as we come into the New Testament. The thing that I find interesting about Nazareth, verse 26, and in the sixth month of chapter one of Luke, The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of Galilee, named Nazareth. And Nazareth, the interesting thing about the city of Nazareth, is that it was one of the most wicked cities. Nazareth, one commentator said, was perhaps one of the most corrupt towns to be found in all the region at that time. Its location contributed much to making it such a wicked place. The location made it a halfway house between Jerusalem and Tyre and Sidon. Along that highway there passed Roman soldiers, Greek merchants, Greek travelers. It was a place where Roman soldiers often tarried overnight. and Greek merchant men put up their caravans. It's interesting when Nathanael was told about Jesus, what did he say? Do you remember what he said? He said in John 1 45, what good thing comes out of Nazareth? By the way, a little side note, Mary, we know was a virgin. We know Mary was pure. We know Mary was a godly woman. And yet Mary was able to be godly and pure in a city that was so wicked, the city of Nazareth. And as we look at it, part of the Christmas story focuses on a city, a city of Nazareth, maybe a city that we wouldn't choose. Look at the other city we see and we all know about that, O little town of Bethlehem. We find this in Luke chapter number 2. Of course it was prophesied in Micah 5, 2. The city of Bethlehem in Luke 2 and verse number 4, And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David. The city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David. We might think that God would choose to send his son to a more perfect city. We might think that God would choose to send his son to a bigger, more populated city. But you know the town of Bethlehem was quite small. Bethlehem means the house of bread. Ephrata means fruitful. It was insignificant in size and population. So much so, it's not mentioned among the cities of Judah when you look at the Old Testament. It is little in worldly importance. She is so, another commentator said, she is so little that she's scarce to be arranged among the cities of Judah, which go out by a thousand, or are led out one that is head perfect, or a captain of a thousand. What are we saying as we look at the city? We look at the city that God chose. God chose for Nazareth to be part of the Christmas story. God chose for Bethlehem to be part of the Christmas story. And as we think about this, if we were putting this story together, we might choose cities that are different. What does it tell us about God? It tells us that God uses unexpected places. Do you know God can work anywhere? God's not limited to certain places. God's not limited to certain people. God can do anything, anything but fail. God can do his work anywhere that God so chooses. Secondly, as we think about the Christmas story, and we think about God's thoughts being higher than our thoughts. Secondly, I want to throw this at you. God uses unexpected people. you go to the Word of God and turn to Matthew chapter 1. won't say much about Joseph and Mary, suffice it to say they were normal people just like we are. The Bible says in Matthew 1 and verse number 16, And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. You slide down to verse 18, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. You look at the lineage there, we won't take a lot of time there, but you can see that Joseph was a normal human being. Joseph was just a normal man, trying to do normal things, and God chose Joseph. We might have thought that God's gonna choose some great man. No, just normal Joseph. You think about Mary, as we said already, Mary in Luke chapter number one, the angel appears to Mary and says, Mary, you're highly favored. You found favor with God. She was from Nazareth, just a woman there from Nazareth, trying to do again, trying to do what was right. And the Bible says the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph. And we could take a lot of time and just look at Joseph and Mary, but I want to focus our attention when I think about this truth to Luke chapter number two. And I want to talk just a little bit about the shepherds. So would you turn to Luke chapter two? And again, you're familiar with this as well. God chose, God could have done anything that He wanted, but God chose to communicate His message to some shepherds here. In verse number 8, the Bible says, And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And you know that. The Bible says in verse 15, it came to pass as the angels were gone from them, the shepherds said one to another, let us go now even to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass. And they came with haste, found Mary, Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Do you know shepherds? were not a popular people in this day. As a matter of fact, shepherds, to be a shepherd was more of a disdained occupation. The Talmud equated them with the heathen. They would not allow shepherds to be witnesses in court and forbid giving charity to them. The attitude towards shepherds among the Jews in Christ's day was similar to the one that we find in Exodus, in the book of Exodus, in the town of Egypt in Joseph's day. Scripture reports that in Joseph's time, every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Often, those in the city, they would speak scornfully of these shepherds. They were not looked up to as some great occupation. And yet, God chooses to use unexpected people. Hey, we might say, hey, I have a message that I need to communicate. We're not gonna get the downtrodden. We're not gonna get the shepherds, man. Let's get some people that are a little more educated. Let's get some people that are a little more popular amongst people. God doesn't work that way. We read in the book of Corinthians, God uses what? The foolish to confound the wise. God uses the weak. God uses the frail. Hey, unexpected people are part of the Christmas story. And that tells me as I think about God and I think about what God does, it tells me that not only can God work anywhere, but God can use anyone. And sometimes we think about our own selves, and we think about our own weaknesses. We think about, hey, maybe I didn't come from a Christian home. I'm thankful, by the way, that I came from a Christian home. I'm thankful for my godly mom and my dad. But you know, my parents, at least my dad, they didn't come from a Christian home. My dad was on the streets of Philadelphia and someone invited him to church. And that was the start of him coming to church and trusting Christ as Savior. Wow. And the work that God did. And sometimes we think, hey, I don't have talent. I can't play that harp over there. And I can't play that piano. And we think, hey, I don't have talent. Or I don't have ability. Or maybe, hey, I don't have the education that others do. That doesn't matter. God can use anyone. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. What a great God! He can use anyone. Thirdly, as we look at the Word of God here, I want us to think about not just God using unexpected places, He can work anywhere, and unexpected people, He can use anyone. But think with me about the unexpected possessions that we see in the Word of God and we see God using. We're in Luke chapter number 2. And the Bible tells us in Luke 2 that they found the firstborn son, verse number 7, she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. We might think that we'd find the king of kings and lord of lords wrapped in some royal robes. They didn't have, like we do nowadays, someone's having a baby and they have a baby shower, you know, and they sign up at all these different stores. I can't remember what the names of them are. It's been a while since we've had little ones. What's the big babies are us? There it is. They sign up there and sign up here. People go on and they buy them all these gifts, not the Lord Jesus. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. According to the Mishnah, Jewish writing, these lambs were immediately wrapped in swaddling clothes after their births to protect them from injury, since baby lambs tend to thrash about and harm themselves in their first couple hours of their lives. The shepherds who attended these lambs, being under special rabbinical care, were also required to keep their birthing calves ritually clean. Since there was no room for Mary and Joseph at the local places, these young people were allowed to occupy one of the birthing caves in the hillside. And we'll talk about that in just a minute. As we think about the clothes, they wrapped him in swaddling clothes. And you think about the aspect of the clothes. Swaddling cloth was primarily used to wrap the body of someone who had died. So Joseph's actions told this story. In this cave in the Judean hillside, the young Lord of the universe lay in a stone manger wrapped in grave clothes. This action was taken according to the angel of the Lord to be assigned to the shepherds who would come to visit him. It offers a sign to us as well. Does it not that Jesus was born to die on a cross? We think about the significance of just some swaddling clothes. Think about the significance of where Jesus was born. The scripture tells us there was no room for Him in the inn. He was born probably in a cave. A cave that was not a nice place, but was a place for animals to sleep. The word stall there is a word, I mean the word there stable is a word that's translated stall in Luke 13 and verse number 15. In a cave there, a place to hold animals. And we think about the manger. Probably a place where, possibly where animals ate that was carved out of an area of the cave. The author of this article written by a Hebrew said, the entire scene seems so illogical, doesn't it? Logic would seem to dictate that when the Lord of the universe, the Almighty God, chose to enter into the life of this world, he would have elected to have been born in absolute luxury and splendor. We would think that he would have chosen a place in Rome or Alexandria or Antioch or Ephesus. But he did not. He chose to be born in a cave that was carved into the side of a Judean hillside. Even the lowest peasants were born in better places than this. Shocking, isn't it? We think about God and how God works. As you think, I thought a little bit about the word of God and the things that God uses, the possessions. What did God say to Moses? Moses, he said, I wanna use you to do a job. And he asked Moses this question, Moses, What is it in thine hand? A rod. God used a rod, a wooden stick. You think about the widow's mite. You think about the little boy that had five loaves and two fish. And God took the little possessions that he had, and God multiplied those possessions, and God fed 5,000. The disciples said, hey, what are these? What are these five loaves and these two fish among so many? There was probably 10, maybe 15,000 people. The scripture says there was 5,000 men. And you think about the women and the children that were probably there. There was thousands of people there. and God took that five loaves and two fish and He break it and He fed the multitude. I think of that little song that goes like this. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus' name. Well, when we look at the Word of God and we see what God is able to do. We look at this, I don't know about you, if you were writing a story or writing this story, what you might put, you might say, hey, we're going to use a big city. Hey, we're going to use these talented, these talented people. Hey man, we're going to use great possession. Think about all the work. I was in Michigan a few months ago and I talked to a fellow that was in the White House as a security guard for one of the presidents. I won't say which one because maybe he told me some stuff in confidence. in any event, and he was telling me how they operate, and they have to switch posts wherever the president is in the White House, but then he was also telling me how he had to drive some different people around in a car, and he said, you wouldn't imagine how much prep work goes into a president going to a particular place. All the vehicles that they gotta get there. All of the security that they have to get there. It's enormous. And we might have written the story just a little bit differently, but what God does is God says, hey, I'm going to take unexpected place. I'm going to take this little town of Bethlehem here. God's the one that put it on the map, by the way. I'm going to take this little city of Nazareth, and I'm going to do a great work there. And every Christmas we sing, oh, little town of Bethlehem. We know of it because of the birth of Christ. God says, hey, I'm gonna take some people, just some ordinary people. I'm gonna take some ordinary people, and I'm gonna do a great work through some ordinary people. I'm gonna take a Joseph and a Mary, and I'm gonna do some great things. And we might say, hey, that's not what we might expect. God uses unexpected people. God uses unexpected possessions. We think about this aspect as I look at the Christmas story and I recognize the unexpected aspects here. You think about what could God do through you? What could God do here in Chester Springs through a bunch of folks that would say, hey, I'm willing to be used of God to do great things. When you think about it, the aspects of the Christmas story, every character had to be willing to submit to God. Joseph had to be willing to say, okay, I'll take her as my wife. Mary had to be willing to say, hey, be it unto me. The shepherds took the news and they said, hey, we're gonna go and we're gonna go with haste. Hey, the wise men, when they saw the star, they said, hey, let's go, we're gonna be there. You think about Anna and Simeon. They waited for the consolation of Israel as we look at that aspect. I mean, all, you think about the angels. Go down there, glory to God in the highest. You think about what God did. God, here's our thought for this morning, God can do anything with anyone, anywhere, if we'll let him. Jesus came, we might have life, and we might have it more abundantly. There may be someone here this morning, you say, boy, I don't know 100% sure I am right with God. I'm not 100% sure that my sins are forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven. Jesus came to die on Calvary's cross that you might have forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven. But it doesn't stop there. We confess our sin, we place our faith and trust in Jesus, and we have 100% sure we're on our way to heaven. We have a relationship with God. But it doesn't just stop there. God doesn't just leave us here to figure it all out. God says this, I'll meet the need in your heart. God says, I'll meet the deepest need in your soul. And not only will I be abundant life in you, but I will take your life and I will use your life to have a great impact. So often we are our own worst enemy. We think, what could God do with me? I don't expect that I'm gonna do anything for the Lord. We may go out and take some gospel tracks and say, boy, I'm gonna go out, but I don't expect that God's going to use me. Oh, here we are, a little church of what, 90 or 100 people, in this little Chester Springs, and you ask people, do you know where Chester Springs is? And they go, no. Do you know where Downtown is? No, not really. Do you know where Exeter is? No, not really. Do you know where Philly is? Oh yeah, Philly, yeah, I know where Philly is. And we're an hour from Philly. We're known by the city of Philly. But do you know what? God's not limited, because we're in a small town, as a small church. He wants to do great things. His ways aren't our ways. His thoughts aren't our thoughts, but you know what? I'm really glad about that. If God can take some unexpected cities and some unexpected people and some unexpected possessions. You say, well, I don't have a lot. You know what? Little is much when God's in it. You say, God, I don't have much, but I'm gonna give it to you. Didn't he give everything when he came here, was born in a manger, and hung on Calvary's cross? He gave everything. If we'll say, God, you can have the little bit that I have, God'll take it, and he'll do great things through us. Lord, we love you today. Thank you for the truth that we find in your word. Thank you for the unexpected. The unexpected places that you use. Lord, you can do a reviving work right here.