Fear Not: Week 2

Now, I think it's natural for most of us to just assume that if

you're going to follow Jesus, that it's gonna be smooth, or that you're

gonna follow Jesus and people are going to cheer you on, people are gonna

support you, or it's I think it's natural for many of us to believe

that if you make a big decision that you're going to obey God, maybe

it's a big step of faith. Well, things should be smooth, things

should be easy, things should be comfortable because I'm obeying God right, I'm

doing the right thing, so I wanted things go right. Well, what

I've learned is that when I make a decision of faith or a step of

faith, that usually is about fifty to fifty if it's going to be smooth

or easy. I'll give you an example. When I was a youth pastor,

one of the incredible opportunities I got to be a part of was helping

start and run a leadership training program for middle school students and high school students

in partnership with a local school district. It was just an absolutely god thing

where our church was invited to come into the schools and operate these programs and

provide mentoring and training for young people. As awesome as that was, it

took a lot to get there, And let me tell you, behind the

scenes, there were a lot of roadblocks and a lot of challenge. It

was not smooth and it was not easy. For many years, myself and

our church and our youth team had desired to be in the school system because

we knew that that serving in the school district is how we were going to

advance the gospel and reach young students. But everything we tribed didn't work.

I mean, for years, we would try to hold meetings with the principles

and administrators and we wouldn't even get a callback or an email. Backer where

we walked into the office one day and just asked if we could have a

meeting and we were denied. Sometimes we tried to just bless the teachers.

We'd come in with coffee and donuts and say we just want blessed it,

we want to encourage you. But none of that opened a door. And

sixteen things got really really dark in this particular school district when a young middle

school student died by suicide over spring break, and it just sent the school

district into a dark place. Parents were angry with administrators, administrators were blaming

other people in the school district. In fact, there was a news story

done on the contentious school board meeting that happened in that season. It culminated

when a group of parents called for a prayer gathering during spring break and the

people of the community, hundreds of people in the community showed up and walked

in prayer around the entire campus of this middle school. And so there was

all of this darkness in this school district, and then God opened just a

little little opportunity of light. I had no idea that someday we'd be helping

run a leadership program. But at that time, the superintendent of the school

district invited myself and my team to provide grief counseling for the students, and

so we stepped into that. Then I was invited to serve on a committee

that was going to rewrite the student code of conduct and address some of the

bullying policies. Then we were invited our team to provide supervision for the lunch

hour. And then after a year of being faithful with these small steps,

the school came to us and said, we trust you would you start and

launch a leadership training program for our students, and of course we said yes,

but it started with these small steps, and there was a lot of

resistance and there was a lot of challenges along the way. So the message

I want to share with you today is that big decisions for Jesus often come

with big challenges. If you're going to follow Jesus, I you're gonna take

a step of faith, You're going to face challenges. And nobody knew this

better than Mary and Joseph. And so we're going to look at this story,

this Christmas story, and see how Joseph had to make a really big

decision. Mary and Joseph knew that there were gonna be challenges, that it

wasn't gonna be smooth and easy. Mary knew that her decision to carry this

baby out of wedlock meant that she deserved to be put to death. Joseph

knew that there would be shame, there would be a tarnish on his reputation

forever for his future. And so with all that impending reality, with all

of everybody else's opinions and the reactions, we enter into this story, Joseph's

story, where Joseph has a decision to make. So let's look at our

text here, Matthew one point twenty. It says, but after Joseph had

considered this, In other words, he's thinking deeply about this. He has

a lot on his mind. He's thinking things through. He's weighing the pros

and cons and know, I can only imagine he's going through the cons of

staying with Mary, the pros of staying with Mary, and ultimately the he

cons outweigh the pros, and he decides he's just this is too much drama

for him, and he's gonna move on. We read in verse eighteen,

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. Because Joseph, her

husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her

to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. So Joseph

decides to walk away. But he's an honorable man, so he decides he's

not gonna make a big scandal. He's not gonna make a big public disgrace.

He's just gonna divorce her quietly and be on his way. But then

the Lord intervenes. We'll got verse twenty. After he considered all this,

an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Joseph,

son of David, fear not. Now, the King James version is

the version that says fear not. The version we're reading continues like this,

do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is

conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Now notice verse twenty one.

It's so powerful. 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.

And then Joseph wakes up, and at this moment, you gotta imagine

that the pendulum in Joseph's mind just swings back and forth. His emotions are

ping ponging back and forth. You know, like, on one hand,

he's thinking, Wow, the people of Israel have been waiting for a savior,

and now God has told me I get to be a part of this

historical event. But then on the other hand, Joseph's probably thinking, well,

what are people gonna say about this? What kind of reputation. Is

this gonna bring what's this gonna cost me? On the one hand, he

can possibly change the world. On the other hand, he has no idea

how difficult this is gonna be. Everyone around him is probably saying too much,

drama, too confusing, just walk away. So what should he do?

He has a fundamental choice. Joseph has to decide is he gonna do

what other people approve of or is he gonna do what God has asked him

to do? And I promise you, as a follower of Jesus, that

is a decision that you and I are gonna have to make repeatedly, again

and again and again. You're gonna be confronted with a decision to obey God

or do something easier, and that is do something for the approval of people.

Why does this matter so much? Well, this is the big thing.

The main thing that I want to share today that I hope that you

will remember today, is that becoming obsessed with what people think about you is

the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you. This is so important.

I want to say it again. Becoming obsessed with what people think about

you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you. And this

is just a fundamental human trait. This is a human truth that if you

are a human being, this statement is true for us, and it's been

true throughout history. For example, I recently learned about a story from a

man in the sixteenth century named Hugh Latimer. And Hugh Latimer was a Protestant

reformer living in England, a very dynamic preacher and gifted speaker, and he

would often be invited to places to preach the Gospel and preach the Word of

God. And one day Latimer discovered that in the audience that he had been

invited to speak in front of in that audience was King Henry the Eighth.

Now, if you know anything about history, King Henry the Eighth was a

pretty wicked guy. He just was evil, He was selfish, he was

violent. He put people to death, banish people, he imprisoned people.

He was a very violent person. And so Hugh Latimer has this internal struggle

where he has a great responsibility to preach the word of God, but he

knows that the message he's going to preach is going to offend King Henry the

Eighth, this very powerful person, and so what is he going to do

well? I want to read a transcript from history of how Latimer preached this

sermon. This is what history says. As he began his sermon, he

said, Latimer, Latimer, I guess it was okay to speak in the

third person, then, Latimer, Latimer, do you remember that you are

speaking before the High and Mighty King Henry the Eighth, who has power to

command you to be sent to prison, It can who have your head cut

off if it pleases him. Will you not take care to say nothing that

will offend royal ears? He then paused and continued, Latimer, Latimer,

do you not remember that you are speaking before the King of kings and the

Lord of lords before him, and at whose throne Henry the Eighth will stand

before him, to whom one day you will have to give an account yourself.

Latimer Latimer, be faithful to your master and declare all of God's word.

And so Latimer faced a choice. Would he preach what a human wanted

to hear. Would he preach out a fear of not offending a human?

Would he preach what God had commanded him to preach and honor God? And

so Latimer chose to honor God, and he preached a message that was very

offensive to King Henry the Eighth. Now King Henry the Eighth did not have

him arrested, he did not have him put to death. But King Henry

the Eighth's daughter, Queen Mary, did murder Latimer for his faith. Even

with all these great examples throughout history, self preservation is a part of our

DNA. It's just a human thing to obsess over what other people think about

us and try to earn their approval. And the reality is, for most

of us, we drift toward wanting to please people, whether consciously or subconsciously.

We want to be liked, We want to fit in, and so

we ask questions like will this make me fit in with them? Will this

make them like me? What do they think about me? What are they

saying to their friends about me? You know, when you're in middle school,

it's not just important to fit in, but it's also really important to

not stand out. Can I just blend in? Can I not stand out?

Do they like what I'm doing? Well? I get into their friend

group? Do what they think I'm doing is right? And suddenly, without

even meaning to, we surrender to the opinions of people at the expense of

living to please God. And so I want to ask today, how do

we overcome that. Remember, becoming obsessed with what people think about you is

the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you. But I have good

news news. This good news is so powerful. The opposite of that statement

is true as well. Becoming obsessed with what God thinks about you is the

quickest way to forget what people think about you. I want to share an

idea concept with you that maybe you've heard before, or it may be new

to you, But I want to introduce the concept of living for an audience

of one. Living for an audience of one, Living for an audience of

one, says God. I want to please you with everything that I do.

If God's the only person in your audience, then it doesn't matter what

other people think. This is the quickest and the best, and maybe it's

the only way to grow out of trying to win the approval of other people.

And here's the bottom line when you think about it, you can't please

everybody. If you try to please everybody, you're gonna fail somebody and your

end up gonna please nobody. We can't please everybody. If you're at work

and you've got a moral decision to make, you're faced with an ethical,

moral decision, and if you make this decision, it's gonna cost the company

money. Now, you're not gonna please everybody, because on one hand,

people are gonna celebrate you for doing the right moral thing. On the other

hand, someone's gonna criticize you for costing money or bringing a bad reputation on

the company. Or when you're at school and you're with a group of friends

and they want to do something that you know is wrong, are you gonna

go with the flow or are you gonna say no, that's wrong. Now,

some people might celebrate you for standing up. Other people will criticize you

for breaking up the friend group or bringing drama into the group. The bottom

line is, you can't please everybody. I know this so true. In

that story I told about working with the local school district to form that program

for students. One of the first things that I was asked to be a

part of was I joined a committee of parents and teachers and administrators to rewrite

the student code of conduct and address some bullying policies and procedures in discipline in

the school. And I remember going to the first meeting at the district offices

and man, it was tense, like you could just feel the tension in

the air. And I knew that wherever I chose to sit would speak volumes

about my loyalties and my opinions. I knew if I sat with these parents,

then administrators would make some assumptions about me associating with those parents. I

knew if I sat with these teachers or with these administrators, then some of

these parents would criticize me for sitting there. So what did I do?

What could I do? Well? I chose to sit with the school resource

police officer because I knew if I'm on the side of the law, I'm

on the right side. No matter how hard you try, you cannot please

everyone. But the good news is you can please God. You can please

God. You can live a life where God looks at you and he says

you did good, I'm pleased with you. You can even live a life

where God will say to you one day say thank you, thank you for

obeying me, thank you for sacrificing, thank you for serving. So the

question that we asked today is how do we overcome living for what everyone else

thinks. How do we overcome living for everyone else? The answer is we

surrender ourselves to living for an audience of one, because becoming obsessed with what

God thinks about us is the quickest way to be set free from what people

think about us. You see, when we serve an audience of one,

we don't have to impress God. And I want you to hear this clearly.

I think there are some of us who have, whether from our childhood

or in our psychology, we have an invisible audience that we are trying to

perform in front of. And whether you're aware of it or not, your

emotion and your behavior and your life is directed by this invisible audience, as

if you're on a stage under a spotlight. And whether it's a parent from

your childhood, or a coach or a teacher, someone who is influential that

you wanted their approval, you're performing to win their approval and to win their

applause with your life. When we serve an audience of one Jesus, there's

nothing to prove, because Jesus proved everything when he died on the cross,

and when he rose from the dead, he proved his love for you.

He proved his power over sin and death. So we've got nothing to prove.

So when we serve an audience of one, it's all for God's honor.

It's all for God's glories. It's not to earn or to prove anything

to him. It's to celebrate him. When we serve an audience of one,

we are set free from what people think about us. Think about the

early apostles in the church, Peter, James, John Paul, these early

apostles. Multiple times the apostles were pulled aside by powerful leaders, and they

were instructed stop preaching about Jesus or else you're gonna get beaten, you're gonna

get flogged, you're gonna get put in prison. And all they had to

do is follow the rules and they could live a peaceful life. But what

did they do. Look at Acts Chapter five, Peter and the other apostles

replied, we must obey God rather than human beings. They chose to serve

an audience of one. Now, I want to be really clear, serving

an audience of one does not give you permission to be rude, to be

mean, and to make enemies out of other people. See what Peter's saying

here. He says we have to obey God rather than human beings. But

Peter did not make human beings his enemy. The Bible tells us that our

fight is not against flesh and blood. It's not against human beings. Our

fight is against spiritual for us, against spiritual powers. And so this does

not give us permission and not be kind, to not be humble, to

even serve others that we may disagree with or may be in conflict with.

And I believe that in our culture, especially in the Western world in the

United States, we have such a foundational, fundamental individuality and independent freedom that

sometimes when we take a stand, or when we make a decision that's unpopular,

a decision of faith or a decision based on God's word, there's a

little bit of us that wants to get rewarded for making that decision. And

then we get upset when we suffer the consequences of our decision, like,

hey, I should be honored and recognized and rewarded for obeying God. Well,

these apostles they took a stand, and they were beaten, they were

flogged, they were put in prison, they were tortured, they were ultimately

put to death, and they celebrated that they were found worthy to suffer dishonor

for the name of Jesus. You can't please everybody, you can't be honored

by everybody, but we can humbly and obediently honor God. And so I

want to give you two big thoughts today. And these two big thoughts are

under this title, this subtitle how do we live for God instead of people?

Two thoughts. I think it's important that we get these two thoughts first.

Pleasing God often means disappointing people. Pleasing God often means disappointing people.

If you're not ready to be criticized for your obedience to God, you're not

ready to be used by God. Trust me on this. I've seen this.

It's been a privilege in my ministry to help mentor and work with many

young people over the years. And I've seen several young people who have felt

God calling them into vocational ministry. Maybe that's to be a church pastor or

a missionary, or to work with children, but in this vocational calling,

and I've seen many times where they feel passionate in this calling from the Lord,

where they face criticism even by people who are closest to them. I've

seen parents tell young people who are called in the ministry, Hey, that's

nice that you want to do that, but you need to get a real

degree, you know, or you need to have a backup plan if that

doesn't work out for you. I've seen some get criticized by their friends,

well, like, hey, you know, you're not going to make a

lot of money. You know, how are you going to survive in this

economy with that kind of career path. They face criticism, and even if

it's not a vocational decision. I've seen Christians face criticism, like those who

want to go on an international mission trip. They feel prompted to travel overseas

and to serve with a ministry there. I've seen them criticized by people saying,

that's too dangerous. You're risking too much. You know, you've got

responsibilities here. You know, going to a different country is too dangerous for

you. And you know, Pastor James and I we see this even here

in a context like this. Anytime that he or I were to preach about

God's word in the Bible's sexual ethics, it's not uncommon to notice somebody in

the audience who is visibly disagreeing with what we're saying from God's word. And

it's also not uncommon to not see them again after that because they disagree.

I don't want to offend anybody, but I love the people that I speak

in front of too much to not share the word of God, to not

share the truth of God's word. Because God's word reveals his desire for you,

his best plan for you. You can't just please everybody. We have

to honor God an audience of one. Joseph and Mary were simply obeying God.

They were just trusting God's word. I mean, just think about all

the different ways that Mary and Joseph would be criticized. Think about all the

people that would publicly disgrace them, didn't want to associate with them, maybe

some relatives who want to cut them off. I mean, because Mary's like,

hey, I'm pregnant, and it's God's like, how does that really

hold up at Christmas dinner? Or Joseph think about how this might tarnish his

reputation, his ability to be employed. You know, people whispering, Hey,

you know that's not really Joseph's baby. There's a huge disgrace, and

I don't know how it's gonna play out in your life, but there's gonna

be a time when you're reading God's word and God's word tells you to do

something and it is unpopular, and if you obey, you're gonna be criticized.

Or you hear the voice of God leading you to do something. You

might be a student and you want to obey God, and you've decided you're

breaking free from the party scene. You've decided to follow Jesus. You're not

gonna get drunk anymore. You're not going to use drugs anymore, and you're

gonna go and obey Jesus. Or you're in a dating relationship and no matter

what's in your past, you've decided that in this relationship, you're gonna obey

and honor God with your sexual integrity. Or you're with your friends and you

say, hey, your friends, you guys are gonna go on this big

trip together. But you've decided to take that money and invest in a in

a ministry effort, or go on a mission trip. And some people are

going to criticize you. They're gonna make fun of you. They're gonna say

your old fashion, they're going to say that you're you're stuck up. They're

gonna say that you're you're you're too good to hang out with them. Or

maybe maybe you face a second career decision do you want to do? You

know what I mean by a second career decision? For some adults, at

some point in your life, for a few adults, there is a decision

where there's a second career decision where you feel God leading you to make a

decision that is outside of the career that you've been in your whole life.

It may require training, it may require education, it may even come with

lower pay. But it's this second career that God has put on your heart

because He's calling you to it. And you may face criticism for that.

People may say, hey, you're just too old, why are you doing

this? Or this is too much of a big risk at this stage in

your life, like why would you do that? Or maybe maybe you just

decide to live beneath your means. You know you have a healthy income,

but you decided I'm gonna live beneath my means so that I can give generously.

I recently heard about a news story in our area about an Indianapolis man

who saved up all of his money. I mean all of his money,

not I mean all of his money. Terry Khan lived in a very modest

house on the South side of India. He drove an old Honda and get

this, even in the twenty first century, he did not own a cell

phone because he thought they were too expensive. And so when he died in

twenty twenty one, he continued to save money because he didn't want to spend

money on an obituary in the newspaper. Everything that he saved was left to

nonprofits. But the problem was when his attorney got ahold of the will.

In his last wishes, Terry did not specify what non were to receive his

estate, and so the attorney just started calling nonprofits throughout Indianapolis, and twelve

nonprofits picked up the phone and said, yes, we would love to receive

a donation. All told, his estate donated thirteen million dollars to nonprofits here

in Indianapolis. And no, they did not call church at the crossing.

You have an opportunity to decide to honor God or to please people, even

if it's unpopular. Now you may not have a millions and millions of dollars

like that story. But how is God prompting you to live generously? We

just heard about the year end offering opportunity. What might God be prompting you

to contribute to that effort. That's something me and my wife have to do

this week. We have to prayer fully consider God, what do you want

you put us in the front of this opportunity? How would you have us

respond? Or? Is God prompt you to invest in our students? Our

high school and middle school students have summer mission trips and camps and the youth

convention that they go to, and these things cost, and we have several

students who don't have the financial means to pay for that whole cost. Would

you be called to invest in a scholarship for that where a student's life might

be transformed. People may not understand when you make a decision to follow Jesus,

but we serve an audience of one. The next thing I want to

say is something that I've heard over and over again. I've heard this teaching

many many times, and I believe that it's a true teaching. If you

want to make a difference in this world, you will endure more pain than

those who don't if you want to live a life where nobody criticizes you,

if you want to live a life where you don't feel your faith stretched,

let me tell you what to do. Do nothing, stand for nothing,

and have nothing but for me. I choose to engage in spiritual warfare.

I say to our spiritual enemy, the devil, bring it on, because

I serve Jesus, who rose from the dead. Remember, when we take

a stand to follow Jesus, when we obey Jesus, we're not fighting against

other human beings. Your fight is not against the boss, it's not against

a teacher, it's not against a parent. It's against the spiritual enemy.

We're called to serve and love other people, not make enemies out of them,

and so we have to pick our fights on a spiritual level. We

have to contend in the spiritual realm. And so everything I've done significant in

my life, or anything we've done as a church, has always been met

with spiritual resistance and criticism. In the spiritual realm, anything significance is always

met with spiritual resistance, and so we have to fight for it on a

spiritual level. If you're not ready to be criticized for obeying God, then

you're not ready to be used by God. Because remember, becoming obsessed with

what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about

you. But becoming obsessed with what God thinks about you is the quickest way

to forget what other people think about you. And I want to share thought

number two and this is gonna help set some of us free. Extraordinary acts

of God often start with ordinary acts of obedience. It doesn't start with having

a thirteen million dollar estate like that preacher from England in the sixteenth century.

You may not be called to stand in front of a large audience or speak

in front of kings and politicians. But extraordinary acts of God start with ordinary

acts of obedience. Think about this. Jesus, the Savior of the world,

came to two young Jewish kids who are engaged to get married, and

they just simply said yes to what God wanted to do. And you know

what's crazy? Could you think about getting inside the mind of Mary and Joseph,

Like, think about how little instruction they got. I don't know if

you're a type A, if you're a planner, about how little instruction they

got. The Angel showed up and said you're gonna have a baby boy.

You will call him Jesus, and he's gonna save the world. Goodbye.

And no details, Like what about the details? Like imagine what Mary and

Joseph are thinking, Like how do we raise him? Like how do we

discipline him? I mean, he's the son of God. Do we spank

him? Do we put him in time out? Well, if he's perfect,

maybe he'll spank us and put us in time out. There's no details,

And I think that there are many of us who are held back because

of a fear of not knowing the whole plan. You're stuck in fear and

it keeps you from taking the first step because you don't see all the details.

And so you're praying, God, show me the details. God show

me the plan, show me the details. And God is saying you can't

handle the details, because if you knew the details, you want to take

the first step. So just take the first step. Extraordinary acts of God

often begin with immediate, simple steps of obedience. We don't have to understand

completely to obey. Immediately, just take the first step. We don't have

to see the whole picture, we don't have to see the whole puzzle.

Just to put the first puzzle piece in and trust God, because the outcome

is up to God. The outcome is not up to you. The results

are not up to you. What is up to you obedience and trusting him.

You have no idea what God might set in motion with one simple act

of obedience. Think about this coming week we have our Christmas Eve services.

Now, these Christmas Eve services, we are going to share the gospel of

Jesus. We're gonna share the hope of the love of God. And you

may be able to invite someone to come to Christmas Eve with you who may

not normally be open to an invitation to church, but you may be able

to bring someone. It may be just a small simple step of obedience to

invite and to bring them to church. And then I believe that there are

going to be people who are saved at these Christmas Eve services because we are

praying and we are contending for this. And then their lives are gonna be

changed, and it's gonna change how they treat their spouse, and that's gonna

change how they raise their children, and their children are gonna grow up knowing

Jesus, and then their grandchildren are gonna be introduced to Jesus. Your simple

step of obedience could bring about multi generational change. You have no idea what

a simple step could do. Or when you feel prompted to serve somewhere in

the church, maybe it's in children's ministry, reading Bible stories, teaching Sunday

school, you have no idea the influence you're gonna have on them. Or

you may feel like now is the time that God is calling you to start

tithing on your income, just a small portion of it, and you're gonna

be able to look back and say, wow, we took that small step

of obedience to tithe, and look at what God has done. He's multiplied

that gift, He's provided for our needs, He's increased our faith. Or

maybe God is leading you to make a difference in the life of a child

through foster care or through adoption, and this simple step of obedience and you're

thinking, like, how are we gonna do this? What about this?

What if it costs that? And you don't have to understand completely take a

simple step of obedience and then you look back and say, wow, look

at what God has done. Or maybe you're a single guy and you start

coming to church and you see a single Christian girl at church, and then

God's prompting you to turn off your xbox, iron your shirt, brush your

teeth, and then ask her Owd on a date. And then one day,

a year or two from now, you get married and have a child,

and you name that boy Andrew, because God helps you get them together.

You have no idea what a simple active obedience can do, what kind

of chain reaction it can happen. Extraordinary acts of God often start with ordinary

acts of obedience. So let's return back to our text. Here, the

Angel said to Joseph, fear not. Don't be afraid to take Mary as

your wife, because what is in her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus because

he will save people from their sins. So now Joseph has a choice to

make. Does he do what it's easy, or does he do what's right.

Does he do what people want him to do and get the approval of

people, or does he do what God wants him to do. Becoming obsessed

with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks

about you. But becoming obsessed with what God thinks about you is the quickest

way to forget what other people think about you. Pastor James and I often

reflect on our experience through the pandemic, starting back in twenty and through and

we both agree that during the pandemic, if you were in any form of

leadership, you could not please everyone. You could not make everyone happy.

If you worked in an organization with more than one people, there was differing

opinions, differing preferences. The only people that did well in the pandemic were

those who worked for a boss of one. If you were self employed,

you were okay. But what I've realized is that through all the decisions,

if we make this decision, these people will be upset. If we make

that decision, these people will be upset if we allude to this, if

we allude to that. I've learned that in leadership, I want to obey

Jesus. I want to stay focused on the mission of Jesus. I want

to honor Jesus. I want to be kind to people, I want to

serve people. I want to be humble. But I want to follow Jesus

and I want to obey Jesus. See an audience of one is a theology

that's going to help you through the rest of your life. It's not about

mom or Dad. It's about Jesus. It's not about a boss. It's

about Jesus. It's not about an institution. It's about Jesus. It's not

about a club, it's not about a sorority, and it's not about a

fraternity. It's about Jesus. Serving an audience of one sets you free from

trying to win the approval of other people. So it's finished with Joseph.

Let's see what his decision is. Look at verse twenty four. When Joseph

woke up, he did with the Angel of the Lord had commanded him,

and took Mary home as his wife. He did with the Angel of the

Lord commanded him, and through that simple act of obedience, the greatest act

of God in human history was brought to fulfillment. Jesus was born. Jesus

became the savior of the world. I promise you you have no idea what

one simple act of obedience can do for the rest of your life and the

lives of those around you. You can't please everyone, but the good news

is you can please God. And so I want to end today by inviting

you into a moment of prayer. And I want to invite all of us

to respond to the message that we've heard today. And so would you pray

with me? Would you bow your head and close your eyes? And in

this moment of prayer, I want to invite you to pray to God the

Father, Say, Father, is there any piece of my life, or

any relationship, or any area in my life that I need to trust you

with or take a step of obedience with? Just ask him that question.

And if he brings something to mind, pay attention to it, take notice

of it. Is he prompting you to make a change. Is he prompting

you to let go of something? Is he prompting you to forgive? Is

he prompting you to take a big, bold step of faith? As I'm

praying, I also just want to pray for anyone here who something in your

past has come to mind where maybe you didn't take action or you feel like

you failed. I want to tell you that you have not let God down.

God is not ashamed of you. You did not fail God. But

there is more grace for you. There is a new beginning. There is

forgiveness, and there's a fresh start in Jesus. So, in the name

of Jesus, we break off the shame that the devil's been using from your

past, and we claim a new day for you in the name of Jesus,

a new victory in Jesus. For the person here. You may be

fighting against a secret, or there may be a secret addiction in your life

that you feel like I'm just not good enough to be used by God.

Because of this, in the name of Jesus, we pray more of His

power into your life, more of His freedom into your life. You have

better days in front of you. That addiction or that secret does not define

you, but you can be free of that because of the love of Jesus.

And so has God brought anything to your mind? Has He put anything

on your heart where you need to make a change or take a step of

faith? Would you just capture that? And I want to pray for all

of us, Father God, I pray for any of us who feel like

we've received a prompting or some direction to take, or a step to take.

God, would you give us the courage to take that step? Would

you give us the faith to trust in you, to obey even when it's

unpopular. And God, if we face criticism, God, would you give

us an internal resolve that the praise and the approval of human beings is not

what we're after. But our treasure is set in heaven, where moth cannot

destroy, where rust is not destroyed, where thieves cannot break in this far.

But we have a hope set on heaven. And so even though we

suffer here a little while, there's coming a day when we will be in

heaven, where there will be no tears, there will be no brokenness,

there will be no disease, there will be no shame and scorn and reproach.

And so God, I pray for all of us that you would give

us the courage and the confidence to obey you. And I pray this in

Jesus' name. Amen.