Advent: Week 1

It is good to be in the House of the Lord,

and it's so good to see you this morning, on

this very cold, snowy morning. But you made the track

to get in here today, and I'm so glad about that.

For those of you who are on line joining us,

we're glad that you chose to join online and you're

in the room, even though you're not in the room right.

But today we are in the first Sunday of Advent,

and we all know that Advent is preparing us for

the coming of Christ. It is the weeks leading up

to Christ's coming and so or being born, and so

this is a time of anticipation, a time of celebration.

If you didn't know about Advent, you probably was wondering, like,

why is there only one candle lit? What's wrong here?

Do they run out of batteries? No, Each week will

light a candle leading up to lighting the Christ's candle,

which is the final candle of Advent. And so we're

so glad to celebrate today. Would you pray with me today? Father,

we thank you, We thank you for your goodness, for

your mercy, for your glory and God, we thank you

or that you have brought us to this space to

be able to share together your word. Lord, I pray

that you would open our ears to hear, open our

eyes to see, and open our hearts to obey. Whatever

you say today, help us to say yes and Jesus'

name Amen, Amen, again. It is good to have you

here today as we look at this Advent season. I

don't know about you, but it's the most wonderful time

of the year. There's so many things that are happening

around us, and a lot of people might find themselves

shopping and some of you guys went black friend shopping

and doing all those good things. And maybe you have

got all your stocking stuffer is taken care of. We've

bought nothing yet. Yeah, and it's all good. It's gonna

be great and whatnot. So we'll figure it out. We

got twenty something days left. We'll figure it all out.

But today we wanted to look in the Word and

look at the life of Joseph. The sermons title for

today is Chosen for the Hard Assignment. Chosen for the

hard Assignment. I don't know about you, but Joseph wasn't

just filling a role. He was chosen, equipped and graced

by God for a purpose bigger than he imagined.

And I believe so are we.

Most sermons in this season of Christmas we focus in

a lot on Mary, and rightfully so, it's because of

her great obedience. We can't really explain it, it's remarkable.

But today I want to shift our attention to Joseph.

Sometimes I consider him, and many may consider him, a

hidden figure of Christmas, because so often we focus in on,

of course, Christ and Mary, the mother who births him.

So often he's treated as a side character, a filler,

and sometimes even just a surrogate father. But Matthew the

first chapter, verses eighteen to twenty five, shows us something

quite different. Joseph was not a backup plan. He was

God's chosen man. He was hand selected and graced and

in trust with this divine assignment that would change all

of history forever. And like Joseph, God continues to call

ordinary people to extraordinary assignments. These assignments are quite difficult

at times. They require obedience, they require a character, they

require trust, and often lots of courage. Sometimes God calls

us to situations that go beyond us. They're so complicated,

they're uncomfortable, they're costly, and these assignments really just nag

at you. I don't know about you, but I would

prefer an easy assignment. I would prefer an assignment that

I could just get done in my sleep. If you

would have known me in school, I'm that kid that

if the teacher says, hey, I need one student to

volunteer to do this math problem on the board, the

one she could count on not calling would be me,

because I prefer not to stress myself out with a

difficult assignment.

But not Joseph.

Joseph accepts the assignment, and he shows us that the

call of God may interrupt your plans, may challenge your identity,

may cause misunderstanding, but will always carry a divine purpose.

Joseph wasn't a placeholder, he wasn't a babysitter, he wasn't

a stand in. He was chosen. He was grace, and

he was called just like you. Let's look at Matthew

one eighteen through twenty five, and let's just walk through

that together. I believe that we can find a lot

of truth in these in this passage that shows us

not just where Joseph was, but where we can find

our side. The Bible says this in verse eighteen, it says,

this is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.

His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,

but before they came together, she was found to be

pregnant through the Holy Spirit problem. Many of us would

have stopped right there if we were in the same

situation as Joseph, and at the beginning, before you even

launch out into no, this is not good, this is

not okay. And Joseph had all the rights legally, he

had the rights, He had everything that he needed to

be able to say, I don't want to go forward

with this. This situation is bad, This situation is complicated,

this situation is ugly. But even though the situation was

all of those things, the Bible goes on and it says,

because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and

yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace,

he had a mind to divorce her quietly, this is grace.

This says a lot about Joseph's character. He had every

right to be upset, he had every right to lamit,

he had every right, but he chose grace when he

didn't understand what was going on. When he didn't have information,

he chose grace. Joseph was an upright man. He wasn't perfect,

but he was graced. The Bible says this. But after

he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared

to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of Dave,

I love this. He calls him into identity, Joseph's son

of David. Remember that Joseph is in the line of David,

as Jesus is in the line of David. He says,

Joseph's son of David. He calls back his identity. Anytime

God calls you into something, he's calling you into a task,

a challenge, or calling you for anything, he will identify you.

He will remind you of who He says you are,

who you are, who He created you to be. And

so he says Joseph's son of David. Do not be

afraid to take marry home as your wife. He says,

I'm canceling out your fear.

Do not be afraid. I know you're afraid.

When God calls us to an assignment, to a task,

when he chooses us, you will be afraid because you're

not sure how you will fulfill that assignment. How will

you fulfill this thing that God is calling you to,

He says, because what is conceived in her is from

the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son,

and you are to give him the name Jesus, because

he will save his people from their sins, gives them

a task. Take Mary, take this assignment, Take this child,

and give him the name Jesus, because he has an assignment.

I want to let you know this morning that somebody

is connected to your assignment. And you may feel like

your assignment is insignific, but I want to let you

know that your assignment carries weight, that your assignment will

deliver a savior, will deliver more than you could even

anticipate Verse twenty two. All this took place to fulfill

what the Lord has said through the Prophet. The Virgin

will conceive and give birth to a son. It had

been foretold, and they will call him I Manuel, which

means God is with us. You are to call him Jesus,

but they will call him Manuel, God with us. When

Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the

Lord had commanded him and took home Mary as his wife,

But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave

birth to a son, and he gave him the name Jesus.

Zero point one. Joseph was chosen for a divine assignment.

He was chosen, he was selected, He was set apart.

Before Joseph speaks a word. Matter of fact, Joseph doesn't

say anything, which is probably a good thing. Listen, sometimes

when the Lord speaks, we just need to shut up.

No words need it, just obey respond. And so Joseph

doesn't say anything. Until the Lord didn't cause his name,

he identifies him, He places this tag on him, this

is who you are, and then he entrusts him to

do something one protect Mary.

And when I say protect.

Mary, I'm not talking about physically, although he did that

as well, but he protected her emotionally as well. Hear that.

I know some wife is about to have a deep

conversation with their husband and this evening, because sometimes we

will pull out all the guns and the swords. But

the type of protection that the Lord is calling for

is an emotional protection. He cared for her image, the

way that she walked in the community. He protected her name.

He didn't disgrace her. He protected her to He covered Jesus.

He was a covering for Jesus. He has to take

ownership of this. Could you imagine God asking you to

raise his son. We struggled with the kids that he

gave us. Could you imagine you get to raise the

son of God. What kind of pressure is that you're

talking about? Which preschool to go to? Oh, my lord,

we have a great one here by the way. Anyway,

shameless plug. But Joseph covers Jesus. Thirdly, he stewards the

Messiah's early development. Everything that Jesus learns in his early years,

Joseph is teaching him. He's showing him. Joseph was just

a carpenter in the community, no person of notoriety, no

person who had a vision prior to that one day

he would be great.

No, he doesn't have.

A big backstorre worry. All we know is that this

man was engaged to a woman, and he finds out

all these details, and then the Lord speaks to him.

I'm talking to the person who doesn't feel special, who

doesn't feel significant. I want to let you know it's

not about what you think. It's about the God who

calls you into something. Why you.

Why Joseph? Why Mary? Because God.

Had plans for Jesus.

I love this thought.

Mary was chosen to carry Jesus, but Joseph was chosen

to cover Jesus. I want to let you know that

most of the most significant things that we would do

are not the things that are done publicly. It's the

private things. And Joseph seems to be a very private man,

but he has a major role and a major weight

that he's carrying to cover the Savior. I remember earlier

my ministry, well, let me not say before there was

a ministry. There was a time where I was serving volunteering.

I was about eighteen nineteen, a little bit before I

turned nineteen, maybe right at nineteen. I was serving at

a kitchen that we had. It was a weekly kitchen

that we provided for those who were unhoused, and.

It was amazing ministry.

People would come in, they would have breakfast, we had

clothes for them, will receive a message. We had an

excellent minister. His name was Reverend Hill, and Revenue Hill

would always preach. I mean, he would preach Heaven down

and then he would say this one line. Every time

he preached, he would say, keep coming back, more shall

be revealed, And people would come week after week after week,

and although they were unhoused, they would keep coming, and

they came for more than just clothing food. But one

Saturday morning, Reverend Hill was sick and could not make it,

and our team was down. We didn't have enough people,

and Sister Flood came to me and said, hey, we

need some help today because we've got to get the

mill together. We got to get the clothes out, and

some of the team is down, and so we're gonna

need you to bring the message.

Bring the message. I don't do that knowing.

So you guys are like, what, Well, this is how

it all started, okay on a Saturday morning serving and

I said, I don't know how to do that. And

I've seen it done, but I don't know how to

do it. And it was so great since the Flood

said to me, she said, listen, pick a scripture and

share your testimony. Well, I got a testimony. Now I

need to find a scripture, and I'll never forget. I

picked the scripture where Jesus is feeding the multitudes, and

I remember the title of the sermon or the message

little becomes much in the Master's hand. Little did I

know I was preaching my own story because God would

do more little faith and one nudge. Some of us

in this room tonight today just need a nudge. And

the Lord has chosen you for something that he's been

nudging at you all alone. Well it may not be

a spotlight rule, but God sees the assignment He has

set you out for. Anyone can celebrate a miracle. You

see a miracle, everybody celebrates, but only few people can

guard that miracle. This is what Joseph did.

Point two.

Joseph was graced for a hard situation.

When I say grace, that.

Means that a person is set aside or set apart

for a special task, or has a special ability. I

always think of families who have children who have special needs,

or a child who has a disability or a special

need who requires special support. They are graced. I've watched

parents were day in and day out with their children

the things that I knew I did not have the

patience or the grace sport I've seen them do. Yes,

I can sit in a room for ten, fifteen to

twenty minutes with that child, but this parent is day

in and day out doing all the tasks that it

takes to make sure that their child has a life.

That's what grace looks like.

And if you really want to see grace real quick,

and you've never seen it before, walk down the corridor,

down the hall.

And go into the room with the two year olds.

That's grace.

Now I have a eighteen nineteen month granddaughter and boy.

Grandparents have grace, right, But you put me in a

room with nineteen kids, Grace has lifted and she will

not be returning, okay. And so the reality we can

be grace for hard situations, a situation that no one

else can do. No one else can complete that task.

No one else could have done what Joseph does. But

what helps him. One thing that helps him is that

God says.

Don't be afraid.

He uses the angels to say, don't be afraid. Anytime

the Lord calls us to a task, he always gives

us the grace to complete that task. Joseph was faced

with a lot of things that he should have been

afraid of.

He should have been afraid of shame.

He should have been afraid of the confusion that could

be created because of what the task was. He had

to be afraid of all the disappointment. Joseph just wanted

a normal wedding, like the guy down the street. But

he starts out rough, and some of you here today

and some of you online, it started out rough. It's

gonna take you extra semester to complete school. The job

you've been focusing on for so long and been studying

the take that test to get that job. You're not

doing well and you're studying and you're not completing that test,

and you gotta wait again take the test. Guess what

that's okay. It's starting out rough, but God has chosen you.

Doesn't look good. Do not be afraid of the assignment,

but lean into the purpose.

That's what Joseph does.

Should have been very afraid, but he leans into who

God says he was, and that is Joseph son of David.

I want to let you know that sometimes the things

that look like scandal is actually salvation. Jesus, this little baby,

this is.

A scandal waiting to happen.

I think God that Jesus was born when he was born,

because guess what this would have been on every network,

everybody would have covered this. But what was being birth

was salvation for you and I graced. I want to

let you know some of You will be criticized, you

will have pressure, but you will be graced to lead

your family, lead yourself, lead the assignment, do the thing

that God is calling you to do, because God has

graced you to finish what he started. You never wanted this,

You never wanted this task. Joseph did not get in

the line and said, please pick me.

I want to be that God.

No, he didn't want the task, but when the task came,

the Lord graced him with the ability.

To complete it.

I want to let you know when it comes knocking

at your door, if it has not come knocking at

your door yet, you will be grace to complete it.

Maybe there's some child who's gonna come to your door,

who's your grandchild or stranger or in foster care or

coming out of the system. And God is gonna say

your call to raise that child, your call to deposit

in that person's life, your call to serve in those spaces.

And guess what, when it comes knocking at your door,

you may feel like you can't, but God will grace you.

With what you need.

Because God always finishes what he starts. I love this

time of the season because we get to spend a

lot of time with our friends. And some of our

friends came over over the holidays and they spend some

time and we were eating and just having a good time.

But we we always do this thing where we reminisce right,

tell the same stories over and over. This is how

I know I'm getting older, because we tell the same

stories over and over, and every time we tell the story,

we laugh at the same parts.

Because they were wonderful when they were happening.

But these friends of ours, they were recounting a story

that I didn't know too well. I know the end

of the story, but I didn't know the beginning. That

when my very good friend was courting his wife, he

was discouraged from marrying her. I was his best man

in his wedding. My wife was one of the forgot

what the best woman is? What is that? That's it?

That thing right there right, that's who she was. And

we stood with them on their wedding day. But before

all of that, there were people who were saying, no,

you guys shouldn't get married. And they asked him, why

are you marrying her? And he said, because I love her.

It's like, but she has two kids, why are you

marrying her? Because I love her. My friend was graced

to raise these two children. And when I say grace,

I mean nobody does it better or could do it better.

They extended their family, their family grew, and now, almost

thirty years later, I want to let you know that

this family is so tight and intact.

They've been through many storms, but.

Because he was graced, and he said, yes, we see

what God can do. Difficult, yes, but graced. What feels

like a disaster just might be your destiny. God is

calling someone into destiny. Zero point three. Joseph obeyed without

needing the whole explanation. Some of us, I don't know

about you, but I know I like details. But I

want to let you know details will get you messed up.

There's some details you don't need because details then get

us stuck. The more details you get, the quicker you

get stuck. Now, I've been married for twenty years, and

in those years, my wife will always ask me a

question when I want details.

She'll say, do you.

Want the long story or the short story. I want

to let you know I've learned to take the short story.

Why Because the long story has so many details that

in the details I get caught up and we never

get through the whole thing because I'm so.

Stuck on point three B.

So the Lord omits details. He omits details because he

doesn't want you to get hung up.

You got a job to do and there's no time

to waste.

The Lord has chosen you. So Joseph does what the

Lord is calling for him to do.

He won took Mary as his wife.

He protected her purity until Gjesus was born. That's a

whole other sermon for a men's group. Amen. And then

he named the child Jesus, fulfilling prophecy and establishing legal kinship.

Do you understand that Jesus had to come out of

the line of David Joseph, son of David, Jesus, son

of Joseph. He completes what needed to happen. The greatest

sermon ever preach is obedience, and Joseph preaches that message

without words, no words. What does Joseph ever say. It's

not what he says, it's what he does. God has

called for us to be doers and not sayers. What

is God.

Calling for you to do?

I remember when my mother was coming into faith, and

I remember that I've shared this with some of you

before that. It was a process, and in that process,

the Lord would always remind me I was only called

to love and not correct. I wanted to say, hey, mommy,

you know you're following Jesus. You probably should stop, or

maybe you shouldn't, or maybe you should try, or maybe

I had all the answers, but the Lord said, shut up, preacher,

just love her. And I got to first hand watch

the Lord transform her life and to someone I could

not reckon eyes because God had did such a marvelous.

Job without my help, how dare he?

Obedience will get us to the place that God is

calling us. Joseph teaches us that the call of God

is often uncomfortable, confusing, and costly, but it's never without

a purpose. It may hurt, it may take a lot

of time, it might have a lot of pressure. But

guess what God is in the middle of it. He's

in the middle of that blended family situations. He's in

the middle of that tough leadership position that you have.

He's in the middle of the job that feels like.

It's beneath you.

I went to school for more than this. Why am

I doing this job? But guess what He's in the

detail tells us that he is in that ministry role

that stresses your faith. You thought you would never be

that person sitting in that seat, But guess what he's

in That He is also in the storm that you

did not sign up for. No one ever signs up

for a storm. I know I don't, but he's in

the storm you're calling. May not come wrapped up in comfort,

and boy, do we like comfort. I got these little

clothesy cozy blankets at home, and it just doesn't feel

right unless I don't have it. It could be hot

in the house. I'll turn up the fan so I

can get under that cozy blanket. You do too, I

know you did. We like comfort. Comfort feels good, But

it may not be wrapped up in comfort. But I

want to let you know that it will bless you.

It may disrupt your plans, stretch your faith, shake your norms.

But God uses everyday people to do extraordinary things. He

uses mentors and parents and youth leaders and advocates and

people in the weirdest positions they couldn't even imagine they

would be in those positions in order to carry out

his extraordinary kingdom work. Please note this that your career

might not be your calling. Say that again over here.

Your career may not be your calling. Yes, you went

to school and you thought you would help people doing

this thing because you're going to be a doctor, a lawyer,

a teacher. But maybe the Lord has a different calling.

Joseph surely thought he was gonna help people by creating

chairs and tables and other things of that nature that

people could have in their homes. This is how I

serve people. But guess what his calling was to be

the father of the Savior. Maybe we need to consider

that that you and I, just like Joseph, are chosen,

We are graced, and we are trusted by God to

do something that is valuable. I believe that God hand

picks you on purpose for a purpose. He knows what's

in you because He placed it in you, and he

calls it out of you. Listen, many of you are

in this room, and this you have done. Before you

get on the phone, you're talking to somebody, and while

you're talking to them, you hang up the phone till

you think or you hang it up and then you

put in your pocket. And then the next thing you know,

you look at your phone and you've been on the

phone with them for fifteen minutes. Some of you guys

are doing it right now at least and listening to

the sermon Amen from your pocket.

Well, I want to let you know.

God does not pocket call you. There is no accident

in his calling. There's no accident in him choosing you.

He chose you. And even though you may feel unqualified,

you may feel overwhelmed. They feel afraid of the task

of a head that's ahead. You may feel the weight

of that responsibility. And guess what. The job that He

is choosing you for may not even be glamorous. But

with all of that in mind, guess what. You are

not a backup plan. You are not an accident. You

are not a placeholder. You are chosen. You are grace,

and God is equipping you for the task ahead. He's

chosen you. The assignment may be hard, but it's still holy.

And Joseph's sign his assignment was hard yet holy. God

trusts Joseph, and he also trusts you. When God calls,

he equips. When God assigns, he covers, and whoever he

chooses he will sustaining what God spoke over Joseph, I

speak over you today. Do not be afraid. Don't be

afraid to take on the assignment whatever that is. Some

of you today you already know what it is. You

feel it, and God's been nudging you all along. And

I know you're scared, but it's okay. God's got you.

You can do this.

How do I know Abram did, Moses did, Sarah did,

Esther did Rahab did? It doesn't matter the condition that

you're in, whether it be financial, physical, mental, even spiritual.

The Lord is leading you and guiding you to the

thing that he's called you to.

Well I'm not good enough.

Well good, I'm glad you're not good enough, because he

is God enough. He is just waiting for a willing vessel. Well,

I'm over my time, but I really want to tell

this story. Is that.

Okay.

I was standing at a Indiana State Youth convention and

I was standing on a stage and I had just

preached about the Holy Spirit. Me and the Lord we

have had this conversation. He said, anytime you do a conference,

if you're doing it for three days, one of those

services are dedicated to teach about the Holy Spirit. My

wife and I we just went up to Kentucky and

we just did exactly this the third night. I appreciate

about the Holy Spirit. But in this Indiana State Youth convention,

I was on a stage and while I'm on the stage,

the Lord is talking to me. He's talking to me. Now,

I don't know if you've ever experienced that that while

you're talking, the Lord is talking, and he kept.

Saying a name in.

My ear and basically was saying, call this name. And

I'm sitting there and I'm like, I'm not gonna embarrass myself.

I'm fighting inside while I'm talking, and the Lord keeps

calling this name and literally at a point of like

screaming the name that if you find the video somewhere

they recorded this, you see me saying, Luke, where are you?

Because I was so were afraid to obey.

And out of the audience this time of the year

usually the state youth conventions. Around this time, a young

blonde hair, blue eyeboy came running up and the same

time that the Lord was talking to me about him,

the Lord was talking to him about him, and the

obedience happened that when he stood on this stage in

front of me, the Lord downloaded a whole peace about

his life, which he confirmed publicly. I was so scared,

but I obeyed. I know you're scared, but obey. Would

you believe this that? After this was done, the Lord said, Bethany,

she's about sixteen years old.

I was bold then, because.

God, if you could talk about Luke, you could definitely

talk about Bethany. So I said, Bethany, you're about sixteen

years old? Where are you? This young lady comes up

to the stage and I said, are you Bethany? I'm old?

Now are you Bethany? Yes, I'm Bethany. How old are you? Fifteen?

When do you turn sixteen? Thanksgiving obedience?

I want to let you know it may scare you,

It may.

Be difficult, it may be weighty, it may be the

thing you don't want to do. But guess what, if

you will do it, the Lord will honor you, He

will honor himself, He will gain glory out of your obedience.

This week, as you would walk away, I want you

to pray this and I want you to ask the

Lord Lord, what are you trusting me to cover to protect?

How do you want me to obay? Obey right now?

And as the Lord Lord speak to me, help me,

help me to trust the call even when it's not clear.

Help me to surrender my fear to your grace. Help

me to step into obedience. Like Joseph, God picks the

hardest assignments to his and gives them to his trusted servants.

This morning, I believe they're in this building. Would you

stand on your feet with me this morning? The passage

of scripture that we read together earlier. My favorite part

of that whole scripture is the end. And he named

him Jesus. It's a final period of obedience. He could

have named him Joey Junior, after his own self, but no,

he named him Jesus.

And it is.

By that name that you and I are saved today.

It is by that name that we are healed. It

is by that name that we are delivered. It is

by that name that blind eyes open, that death ears open,

that hearts are changed, that lives are rearranged, that marriages

come back together, that people get up out of hospital beds.

It is by that name that even people who have

been clinically dead have risen up. At the name of Jesus,

every need will bow, and every tongue will confess that

he is Lord Geez. That name Joseph's obedience gave us

a name. It gave us a name that when we

have no other name that we can call.

We can't call.

Mama, can't call Daddy, can't call our best friends, we

can call on the name of Jesus. There's power in

that name. So today I want to pray for you.

It's a simple prayer because I believe the Lord has

chosen you for a task, just like Joseph. And it

may seem a significant is what he's calling you two,

and it has great power. When we end a prayer,

we always say amen, which means let it be so,

Let it be so, so, let it be so. Is

really just yes, Lord, Yes, God, We thank you now.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for the opportunity to preach and to hear

and to recede and to give together. Lord, help us

to say yes, Help us to respond to your will

and your work in the earth. In Jesus' name a man,

Let it be so,