Series: The Call of Christmas  
Message: The Call to Protect  
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 42:1-5.

Read: Matthew 1:18-25—Re-read in the ESV translation for new insights/questions.  

Reflect: How does God talk to you today? Complex question or easy question, really depends on your answer and reaction. I wonder often if we have spent so much time trying to dissect the process and methods of communication that we have missed the glaring reality around us every day. Maybe we have made it far more complicated than it is. Joseph has a dream…and in that dream an angel of God encourages him not to leave Mary, even with the “private method,” but to hang in there. 

How many times do you have an impression, or a dream, that God is nudging you toward some direction? For example, in Acts 16:6-7, two times the Holy Spirit is encouraging Paul to not go to Ephesus but instead to go to Troas. Luke does not even explain how this came about. I believe that this conviction came about through prayer and patience with God. 

All the great stories in the Bible of characters like Abraham or Daniel, cover a huge timeline in their life. We read of these conversations, visions, dreams with God and think, they are on a regular basis. But the ones recorded often would be 10 or 40 years apart. During this Christmas, could there be a lot more God is saying to you that you have simply ignored?

Recalibrate: 

1. How does God talk to the people closest to you?
2. When was the last time you knew that God was involved in a decision you made? Did you know at the time or only afterward?
3. How would you explain to a child that God still talks to us today?

Respond: Pray for the opportunity to engage and care for someone.

Research: Consider reading The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.