God sent His Son to be born in a barn, so we know He doesn’t mind “messy.” From Mary and Joseph to the wise men, that first Christmas was as messy as it gets. So why do we run ourselves ragged trying to pull off the perfect Christmas each year? Kinda feels like we might be missing the point.

It’s not just that God doesn’t mind messy. It’s not just that he’s willing to come into the midst of our mess. It’s this: God loves turning our messes into His miracles. That’s the truth of Christmas that Matthew is unwrapping here. God loves turning our messes into His miracles.

God-centered priorities will lead us through the messiest of situations. Our priorities drive us and changing our priorities is no small task. On our own, we cannot change them. But, we don’t have to pursue this project on our own…

We want to say yes to God…we want to move forward with bold, courageous faith, no matter how messy it might get because we know that saying yes to God is always less messy than saying no. We want to be willing to step into messy situations because we believe that he has raised us up to be the miracle for other peoples’ messes. We want to be generous because we believe that we cannot weigh the costs we know against the rewards we cannot even imagine.

The Bible's tweets about your future.

God wants to renovate us so He can reside in us.

There’s still work to be done. But that’s what God is doing here. He’s renovating us. And these aren’t just cosmetic renovations. Many of them are structural. They’re profound.

And structural renovations aren’t always easily accomplished. In fact, sometimes you’ve got to break something down before you can build it up. But remember the possibility! It’s been said that the church is the hope of the world. Not because the church itself, as an organization, is capable of much, but because The Church is God’s chosen dwelling and instrument for transformation.

Faith in Jesus not only brings us together, it empowers us to stay together and serve the Gospel.

From the very beginning, God had intended for his people to not only possess hope but to proclaim it as well. That’s in important principle:  When God gives hope, he expects us to possess it and proclaim it. He expects us to take hold of it and also to pass it on to others.

In spite of who we were, God has transformed who we are. People often say that Christianity isn’t about works, but that’s not quite right. Christianity is about works. It’s all about works! It’s just not about our works. It’s about resting in what He has done for us. It’s about trusting in the kindness that led him to do what He has done for us.

This weekend Scott Wenig continued our series through Ephesians. As we look into being empowered through God's Word, Scott helps us to understand who we are, who we are becoming and what we must allow to define us in the in-between.