Joseph the Just

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Good morning.

How's everybody doing?

Oh Lord.

We're going to try that again.

How's everybody doing?

We can do better than that.

How's everybody doing?

Alright, since we're gonna be like that, I need the men to stand up.

All the men's, even the young men y'all stand up too.

Come on, come on.

Alright, that's what we're gonna do.

Since y'all don't want to act right, we're gonna get you right.

So if your wife or girlfriend or crush is in the room, I need you to turn to them.

Want you to grab their hand.

And we're gonna sing this beautiful song.

Is what we're gonna say.

Oh baby, you got what I need.

But you say we just friends.

Hey, you come on, do it again.

Hey, oh baby.

Y'all not singing.

Come on now.

Y'all sit now.

Y'all sit now.

Ladies, I need you to stand up.

I need you to stand up.

Come on.

There's a lot of ladies in the room.

Come on.

It's your turn.

I always put the men on the spot if it's your turn.

That's what we're gonna sing.

You are my sunshine.

Come on, sing it out.

Hey, you make me happy.

Some of y'all may singing.

Oh, y'all sound good.

You'll never don't sing it to me, sing it to your man.

I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine.

Alright, give yourselves a round of applause.

That was good.

That was good.

So, as you guys know, um, or some of you don't know, I'm the youth pastor here, and uh Pastor Rick is out, but he always sends a message.

He wants you guys to know that he loves you and that he cannot wait to be back to celebrate Christmas Eve with you.

Um, but for today, you got me.

So listen up.

It's gonna be a fun time.

If I get a lot of amens, we'll start, uh, we'll stop short.

If I don't, I'll keep going.

So let's practice.

All right, all right.

We're moving on fast.

Okay, so today we're gonna be talking about Joseph.

And I sent my notes in and I got a message from Pastor Eli and he was making fun of me.

He's like, dude, why are you writing a message about yourself?

And I totally didn't get it.

Like, I was just like, what are you talking about, bro?

Like, it's about Joseph.

And I'm starting to like explain all these things, and he's like, dude, I'm just joking.

But we are talking about Joseph, not this Joseph, right?

We're not talking about Joseph, coat of many colors.

We're talking about Joseph, the stepdaddy to Jesus.

And as I'm I'm looking at this text, what comes to my mind is life is hard.

If you feel like life is hard, man, let me let me see some hands raised.

If life is hard, and I'm not talking about hard as in like you're trying to take your wife on a date and you ask her, where should we eat?

I don't know, babe, where should we eat?

Well, what do you want?

I don't know, babe, what do you?

I'm not talking about that kind of hard.

I'm talking about when you turn 29 and all of a sudden your back starts hurting for no reason.

You sleep the wrong way and your neck just you gotta do all these, you can't even turn around, right?

I'm talking about the hard when you go to the doctor and you don't get that report that you wanted.

When they give you the worst case scenario.

I'm talking about the hard when you come home and you find out that your spouse has been unfaithful.

I'm talking about life.

And if I've I've learned anything through this study, I've learned that life is hard, but God is faithful.

Life is hard, but God is faithful.

Now, I've only lived 29 years thus far.

I'm about to turn 30, and I'm I'm freaking out.

Um, you know, I don't know why, but I feel like when I hit 30, like life's gonna end.

Uh my I've been talking to my brother who's 32, 31.

Is he 31?

My mom's in the building.

31.

And he told me about his knees hurt, his back hurts, everything is just hurting.

Now, I know some of y'all a little bit older than 30s.

Is that true?

Yeah, I see it.

Look, he he told me to get some ibuprofen and some icy hot, right?

And and I'm worried about it.

I'm worried about it.

But I'm learning that even though time doesn't stop, even though things get hard, that God is good through it all.

And that God, through his word, gives us a blueprint of how to live a life that would bring him glory in the worst parts.

And so when I look at Joseph, I see somebody who had hard choices.

Right, let's turn our Bibles to uh Matthew chapter 1, and we're gonna go to verses 18.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

So when you get there, give me an amen.

All right, y'all fast, y'all fast.

All right, so it says this.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.

After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

So let's pray and we're gonna dive in.

Um, dearly Father, I just pray right now for every man, every woman, every teenager in this building, God, that you would remind us, God, that there's a way through the wilderness.

And God, sometimes it's not around the wilderness, sometimes it's straight through it.

Sometimes it's it's hard and it's a struggle, but God, the way we suffer, God, the way we take bad news is a testimony.

So, God, I pray that you would speak through me.

God, that you would hide me behind the shadow of your cross.

Um, God, help me to speak only your word and nothing of myself.

God, speak to our hearts.

So we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I'm looking at this and I'm thinking to myself, what would I do if I'm about to get married and I come home and what my future wife is like, hey, uh, sit down.

First of all, when you say sit down, that just you already know it's about to be a struggle.

Right?

I I maybe I'm the only man in here, but when my wife says we gotta talk, I just start thinking about, okay, what did I do?

Right?

So to come in and him and her say, baby, sit down.

We gotta talk.

No, I don't want to sit down.

Tell me what it is.

Just just tell me the truth.

And for her to say, I'm pregnant.

Like, wait a minute.

I ain't known you yet.

Hold up.

What who are you pregnant with?

The Holy Spirit.

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.

What is going on, right?

And so you gotta think in this scenario, how crazy, don't take the humanity away from Joseph.

Right?

Don't think because he's in the Bible that he's this perfect man, right?

For him to hear from his wife, yo, I'm pregnant.

And we ain't done nothing.

That's scary.

That's over the top scary.

Right?

Think about this woman that he loves, that he's ready to spend the rest of his life with, and she's pregnant.

Let's see how he responds.

Right, it says this, uh, verse 19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not wanting to make her a public spectacle or public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take your wife, Mary, as your wife.

For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Then she will be bring forth a son, and he, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

The first point is this that Joseph was righteous.

Now, what we're talking about is how to love God, how to be uh a good follower of Jesus through hard times, through those bad uh times, through through hearing that you have cancer or hearing that your spouse has been unfaithful, or hearing that as a teenager you don't get that A on that test.

How do I follow God?

What does it look like for me in that time?

Joseph was righteous.

It said that him being a just man.

Right, what does it mean to be righteous?

It means to be right in the sight of God.

That when God looks down and sees Joe, he sees righteousness.

He sees us as good, right?

Joseph, if you look at the first verses in chapter one of Matthew, Joseph comes from a line of godly men, right?

Abraham was in his line, David, right?

Isaac, Jacob, all these men are in his family.

And so you gotta know that Joseph was raised up right.

Somebody would have taught him the word.

He would have known the Pentateuch, right?

The uh Old Testament, the first five books of the Bible, right?

He would have known God's word.

He was a righteous man.

And I was thinking about this.

What would the Holy Spirit write about you?

Right?

We know that God's word was written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit.

And so for them to write about Jesus and say he was a just man or righteous man, what would the Holy Spirit say about you and about me?

Right, if they had to write a book about our lives, what would it say?

Would it say righteous or ratchet?

Would it say holy or horrible?

Right?

I I think about my life.

Sometimes I can say, yeah, yeah, God would say that I was righteous.

But the other 99% of my life, God would say I'm ratchet.

Okay?

There are times where I'm like, man, I I love you, God, but I struggle.

There are times where I want to do the right thing and I don't.

Where I want to say the right thing in the right moment, but my mind and my mouth just aren't on the same page.

Right?

In this hard time where Joseph gets this hard word, it says he was a just man.

And he could have done all sorts of things, but yet he was quiet.

And it said he went to go think.

James 5, 17 says, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

In your time of struggling, if you are following God, it's going to change the trajectory of your struggle.

It's going to change how you struggle.

It'll allow you to struggle well because a lot of us are going to struggle.

A lot of us are going to go through things that are hard, but if I stick toward God's word and what he says and who he says I am, if I think about the outcome of my life, right, as a believer, I know one day I'll be in heaven and all these things will fade away.

If I stick to that, it's going to change how I suffer.

A lot of times we suffer not well because we're thinking of the now.

We're thinking of our flesh.

We're letting our flesh control how we respond to things.

Joseph could have done a whole lot of things.

He could have gone crazy.

I don't know about y'all, but I don't know what I would have done.

Me just being me.

I probably would have blew up.

But it said that he was just.

Proverbs 24, 16 says, This for a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.

We're going to struggle.

We're going to have hard times in our life.

But this relationship with Jesus is going to allow us to suffer well.

The Bible says that rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Hard times are coming, but will we be righteous through it?

Will we let the Holy Spirit speak through us through it, or will we just go to the flesh?

Joseph, in this hard moment, the woman he loves, telling him this hard news, he didn't respond with the flesh.

The second thing that we see about Joseph is that he was gentle.

Now, you gotta know, in this time, for Mary to say what she said wouldn't mean that Joseph had the right to take her out into the city in front of all of the people in the public and to stone her.

Right?

Because she, according to law, was unfaithful.

And so according to Leviticus 20, verses 10 through 12, he could have brought her out and killed her for what she did.

Leviticus 20:10–12

Now think about this hard choice that Joseph has.

The choice to give up this wife that he loves.

This woman that he maybe was waiting for a long time to marry.

Think about your spouse.

Think about the person next to you.

Like you have loved them so much, you have given so much of yourself to them.

And then to hear this news would have crushed us.

And yet Joseph takes time away from her.

He said, I'm going to put her away quietly.

He didn't want to just take her out and have her stoned.

He wanted her to still be able to have a life.

And so it said that he put he was going to put her away secretly.

Even though she had just crushed his dreams.

He met her with gentleness.

What's your response when you get bad news in your relationship?

What's your response when your spouse does the thing that you don't want them to do?

The thing that you told them, like if you do this again, and then you find them doing it again.

How do you respond?

Or the Bible says that a soft word turns away wrath.

How you respond can change the whole situation.

Parents, with your kids, when they keep on doing the same thing over and over, how do you respond?

Are you quick at your with your temper?

Ready to smack them in the back of the head and call them out their name?

Are you you saying, hey, you should be like this.

You should be like your sister or your brother.

Like, are you quick to be angry at them?

My mom's here and my adoptive mom's here.

And I've seen both of them in hard situations.

And I've seen both of them at times be ready to snap.

But I've also seen both of them at times be gentle.

And I'm telling you, the times that they snapped on me, I thought the world ended.

Now, did I need it?

I mean, did I did I do something wrong most times to get it?

Yes, I did.

But there were times where my mom, in disciplining me, I felt unloved.

Now that I know she was loving me, right?

But sometimes it was it was aggressive and it was hard.

And so in receiving that, it made me shut down.

And it made me fearful.

And instead of like wanting to be obedient because of love, I was wanting to be obedient because I didn't want to be, you know, treated like that.

And so how do you respond to your kids when they keep doing that thing over and over?

I had a professor of mine who uh he used to explain to us how he would discipline his kids.

He said, one moment I'd take their phone away.

One moment I'd whoop them.

One moment when they thought that they were gonna get the worst punishment, he said, I would just hug them, tell them I love them, and we would go get ice cream.

And he said, What I'm trying to do is show them that in your relationship with God, there are times where he's gonna discipline you immediately.

But there's also times where he's gonna give you that space.

And he's gonna walk you through it, and he's gonna love you through it, and he's going to be a gentle savior through it.

But for you and I, if we receive that gentleness from God, if we don't receive everything from God that we deserve, should we not do that for our kids or our spouses?

When we feel like they deserve for me to cuss them out and do this and say this, should we not think about how the Savior looks at us?

When we sin way more against God than our spouses sinned against us, what would change if instead of yelling at our spouse that we had a soft word?

And we we were still angry, right?

There's a we're allowed to be righteous in our anger, but yet we were soft in it.

What would change?

Teens, your siblings don't need you to just be mean to them, they don't need you just to yell at them and to make them feel small.

But what would happen if they came in, you you came into your room and saw them playing on your video games, and instead of getting mad at them, you you maybe sat down and talked them through it and loved on them, right?

And maybe gave them a second chance.

What would happen if instead of you getting mad, you sat down and played with them?

Maybe you take the controller that don't work and give that to them and make them think they're playing.

Or ladies, what if, instead of getting mad that they're messing with your makeup, what if you had a night where you just did their makeup and you just loved on them and you made them feel special?

See, Joseph in this time could have done a whole lot of things.

Now, what would have happened if he took his wife out and stoned her?

You and I wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be Christians.

Because he would have ended Jesus' life right there.

Yet he was gentle.

The next point is this that he was self-controlled.

Now, this part, I think for a lot of us is hard.

I know, you know, the 21 days of fast are coming up, and most of us are gonna fast things that we kind of like.

But how many of y'all in here are gonna fast Facebook?

I saw one hand, oh my two hands, oh my soul.

How many of y'all gonna fast the news?

Some of y'all need to watch the news, huh?

It's the older folks.

I look, I don't watch the news.

But Joseph had self-control.

Let's go down to verse 24 and 25.

It says this.

So then Joseph, being arose from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him to.

And he took his wife, him and his wife.

And he did not know her till she brought forth her firstborn son.

Let me say that again.

He did not know.

Let me tell y'all what that word know means.

It's not intellectual.

It is an act that happens between two married people.

Okay?

Y'all following me?

He did not know his wife till after Jesus was born.

Now, there's some uh stuff there.

People, he didn't want people to think that this boy, Jesus, was born from him, right?

Scripture said that she was gonna be, he was gonna be born of a virgin.

So for him to do that, people would have seen Jesus as illegitimate, right?

They would have seen him as Joseph's son instead of the Holy Spirit.

But I'm gonna say right now, this this man is tough.

He withstained.

Now we have nine months.

That's crazy.

There's kids in the room, so I ain't gonna get into it.

But that's crazy, okay?

That's crazy.

Self and control.

He put Jesus before himself.

A lot of times we don't live with self-control because we're thinking about self.

In the midst of your hard times, it is so easy to do for me.

When I'm mad at my wife and I feel like she did something wrong to me, it's so easy for me to do these things and try to justify why I did them.

When my mom was in and out of jail, it was easy for me to want to watch these things and be this type of way and to be angry.

And I try to justify it because my mom was going through these things.

I was being selfish in the midst of my struggle.

When my grandmother died, and I skipped school for two weeks.

I try to justify it.

Now, was I sad that my grandmother died?

Yes.

But was I happy I could skip school?

Yes.

When life gets hard, we make uh a we allow ourselves to do things that we normally wouldn't do.

We excuse ourselves.

It's hard to have self-control when you feel like you ain't got no control.

It's hard to want to follow Jesus when it feels like your world is caving in.

Being self-controlled is a result of a relationship.

Right?

It's a fruit of the spirit.

So in the midst of your hard time, it'll be easier for you to be self-controlled in your relationship with God if you have a relationship with God.

And here's the thing: it doesn't start when that control is needed.

It starts way before.

That I'm going to find out if I have it.

It's before when I'm in my closet and I'm praying to God and I'm working on my relationship with Him.

That's where I'm building self-control so that in the moment when life is hard and I want to choose myself, I can say no because of that relationship.

Joseph had self-control because he knew God.

The second point is that Joseph was obedient.

Right in verse 24, it says that when he had woken up from his dream, that he did as the angel said.

Now I want to take a side bar real real quick, and I want to say this.

Take naps.

Okay?

Take naps.

Anybody in here a good napper?

Like 20% of the room.

Listen.

Joseph heard from God three times.

And guess what he was doing when he heard from God?

He was sleeping.

Listen, I'm not saying that God's going to speak to you because you're taking a nap, but I'm saying some of y'all grouchy.

You didn't take a nap.

Some of y'all didn't nap yesterday.

That's why you're grouchy today.

Listen.

That has nothing to do with my sermon.

I just want y'all to take a nap.

I'm talking to my wife and she don't let me nap.

So I just had to say that.

So when y'all walk past her today, tell her, hey, let him take a nap, right?

It's spiritual.

The second point is that Joseph was obedient.

Point A, he heard from God.

He heard from God.

Now listen, I remember in my relationship with church early on, before I got saved, I would hear people say this all the time.

Yeah, God told me this.

Yeah, God spoke this to me.

Yeah, God, God was telling me this.

And I remember like early on, like, God, God, why don't you talk to me?

And now I'm not thinking like most of y'all think.

I'm thinking he is audibly talking to people.

I'm thinking he is just, you know, the burning bush.

Joseph.

Come here.

Like that's how I'm thinking about it, right?

But then I learned that's not the case.

But I'll tell you, I tried to hear from God.

I remember I was a senior in high school, and I'm laying in my bed at nighttime, and I'm like, man, God, just speak to me.

Like, God, just say something, anything.

And as I'm laying there, it's pitch black.

Every house I've lived in my whole life, uh, I've been in the basement.

Okay.

And so it's pitch black, and I have this door and all this workout equipment, and there's a trash bag on the door, and I remember the door going, eh, and I and I like I looked up.

I said, God, is that you?

And I didn't hear nothing.

I said, that ain't God.

I went straight to sleep.

But as I grew, I learned that hearing from God is not this audible voice.

Right?

Sometimes it's just the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart.

Sometimes it's just Him nudging you towards a thing.

I remember the first time that I felt like I heard the voice of God.

It was after I'd been saved for a year, and I'm at this church camp, go tell.

We take our kids there every year, but I'm there, and it's my second year.

I'm freshly saved, and we're we're in the altar call.

And so the guy starts talking about being called to ministry.

And so at this point, ministry is not in my mind.

Like I don't want anything to do with it.

I just want to be a Christian and make money, and that's just what I wanted to do.

But I'm sitting there and they're giving the altar call.

And I'm a youth leader, I'm not even one of the teens.

I'm just like looking at the kids, like, yo, you know, if God's calling you, like, go up.

And I remember feeling inside me, I heard the words go.

I looked around, I'm looking around, like, man, who is that?

Like, they're not talking to me.

And so I'm like, that ain't, that's just me.

And I heard go again.

I'm like, no, like, what is that?

And I'm freaking out because I know I don't want to be in ministry.

And the third time I heard go, and next you know, I'm walking down the altar and I'm back here crying, praying.

I don't know what's about to happen.

But I remember just feeling God inside of me calling me.

And how I knew that it was God is because he worked out everything along the way.

I was going to a college for free.

God brought me to this college.

I have these scholarships, everything.

God worked it out through there.

Um, God got me jobs.

I mean, God brought me here.

I know that I'm called, and it's because I heard him.

But see, hearing God has to do with the relationship.

If you don't have a relationship with God, you can't expect to hear from him.

Joseph heard from God three times.

Are you hearing from Jesus?

Is the Holy Spirit speaking to you?

When you're in the midst of the hardest parts of your life, are you hearing him?

Now, how do we hear God though?

That's an important thing to say.

So, one, you hear God through prayer, right?

And in your time of talking to him, sometimes he's just going to answer things.

Right?

I remember when I was praying about my direction after college, where should I go, and I had these two options, and one of them seemed like a sure thing.

It was to be a youth pastor in uh Washington, D.C.

Um, and the other one was to take an internship in Chicago.

And so to most it seemed like a no-brainer.

Right?

I would be talking to my pastor uh back at home, and he's like, like, take this job, this, you're gonna be set up, like, this is what you should do.

And I'm like, but I don't know if that, I don't feel that.

And he's like, well, pray about it.

And so I started praying, and I remember just God saying, Chicago.

And I argued with God for a little bit, but he said, No, Chicago, that's where you're supposed to go.

And I'm thankful, like God did a whole lot of things, but had I not prayed, I would have just moving, wouldn't have been moving in my own flesh.

Listen, sometimes things don't work out for you because you're not asking God for it.

You're trying to do your own thing, and so we can hear from God if we'll pray.

The other thing is this that we hear from God through his word.

He wrote this for us.

And it's perfect, and nothing needs to be added.

You want to know what God thinks about you?

Right here.

You want to know what God expects from you?

Right here.

You want to know what God's will is for your life?

Right here.

It's not it like a lot of times we think it's this mystical thing.

What is your will for my life?

Should I go do this and do that?

God wants you to be obedient.

God wants you to love wherever you're at to love him and to serve him.

And you'll be in his will.

Whether you're over here and you have a business and you're loving him and serving him, whether you're a student and you're loving and serving, whether you're just a stay-at-home mom, loving and serving, you're in his will.

Right now, are there times that he'll take you to different places?

Yes.

But he wants us to serve him where we're at.

That right now, I don't have to wait till I'm older.

That's what I used to think a lot of times.

I had to wait till I was graduated from college before I could serve God, but he said, No, serve me right now.

Teenagers, you don't have to wait until you're an adult to love God and serve him.

Like you can do it now.

There's little kids in that room over there that could use your life, that could use your testimony, that could use you pouring into them.

You have little siblings that need you.

You could serve God where you're at right now.

So he heard from God.

And I believe it's because one, he had a relationship with God, but two, he was in God's word.

And he was seeking him.

The Bible says to seek God while he still can be found.

A lot of times we're just we're in the wilderness because we're not looking for God's will.

We're not looking for what God wants us to do and what wants us to be.

You have to take yourself out of it.

Right?

If you want to hear from God, you have to remove this.

Because a lot of times we block God with our own selves.

I believe that God is speaking 24-7.

It's just up to us whether or not we'll listen.

Whether you'll receive it, whether you'll hear it.

The Bible says, those who have ears to hear, let him hear.

Joseph heard from God.

Now here's the thing.

He didn't just be in passing hear from God, right?

He was actively listening to what God was saying.

Now I'm gonna tell you right now, this is something that God has been convicting me of because my wife will talk a lot, and I'll say I'm listening, and you know how she catches me?

Well, what did I say?

There's smoke.

Well, you said something, girl.

You you you was talking, I know you was.

I heard I heard words.

Okay, what words did I say?

You know what words you said.

Do you know what you said?

I'm serious, I'll tell her.

Well, what did you say?

She's like, you ain't even listening.

Look, sometimes God is speaking and we ain't listening.

Some of y'all here now, y'all not listening.

I'm playing.

I know y'all listening, I can tell.

Except for the one back there sleeping.

You know, I'm playing.

But God is speaking and we have to, like, like you, I've learned I cannot listen to my wife and do other things.

I have tried to play games, and that wasn't good, but I try to play games and listen, I'm listening.

No, you're not.

I've tried to text other people, I'm listening, no, you're not.

She'll catch me.

I'll be on the phone with her playing games.

And she'll be like, Are you playing on your phone?

Huh?

No, I'm not.

Was you just playing on your phone?

Yes, you ain't even listened to me, right?

You we have to be active in the way we listen.

Because sometimes we praying to God by thinking about dinner.

We in church, y'all thinking about the meal.

What you gonna eat after this?

And how you gonna listen?

Right?

If two people are talking, somebody's not listening.

I tell the teams all the time: if I'm talking, what should you be doing?

Listening.

If God is speaking, we have to be actively listening for what he's saying.

Joseph was listening.

The second part is just that he believed what God was saying.

Now that that word believe is to be convinced of something.

When's the last time somebody convinced you of something?

Something, maybe, maybe you believe one thing and somebody just came and just convinced you and you believe the opposite.

Anybody recently?

Any married men?

Yeah, look, y'all married men, you better raise your hand.

When your wife says something's right, you better say she's right.

Listen, I used to be the biggest liar as a kid.

My mom knows it.

Right?

I so you know when you go to school when you're little, you go to school, and everybody says, What'd you get for Christmas?

Right?

And I I, you know, I don't want to say, oh, I got clothes or this.

I'd be like, man, I got a lamborghini.

Like, boy, you eight years old.

Yeah, I got it at the house.

Where's it at?

Let's go to your house and see it.

No, my mom took it out to drive.

Like, I would just lie all the time.

And it got to the point where nobody believed me.

Like, and it would make me so mad because I would start to tell the truth.

And because I lied so much, are you lying?

No, man, I'm serious.

I got an A on the test.

No, you lying.

And it just hurt my feelings.

So I just, for the rest of my life, like, you know what?

Nobody's ever gonna make me feel that way, even though it was my fault.

I'm gonna tell the truth.

And I ain't gonna say nothing unless I got the facts to prove it.

When's the last time God made you believe something that you you maybe you believed something your whole life and he just changed your mind?

Joseph was spoken to by Mary.

I'm pregnant.

And it's God's son.

I had to hear from God to believe what she said.

Now, I don't know about you, but that's something my wife and I used to struggle with.

Right?

I would tell her something, and I don't know a whole lot of things, but I would think there's something I do know.

And I would tell her something, and she'd like, no, that ain't it.

And she would go tell, she would go talk to her daddy, and her dad would tell her the same thing, and I'd be like, Yeah, like I told you, right?

This this was happening right here.

Like, Mary's like, look, I'm pregnant, but I wasn't unfaithful.

Yeah, right, you a lie.

And then God comes.

No, she really is pregnant, and it's not with another man, it's with the Holy Spirit, and he believed it.

Tony Evans said it like this Faith is acting as if God is telling the truth.

It is acting as if something is true, even when it doesn't appear to be true, in order that it might be shown to be true simply because God said it is.

What will carry us through the hardest times in our lives is what you believe about God.

What you believe about his word.

I used to hear professors say it all the time.

The most important thing is what you believe about God's word.

Even though his word is true, if you don't believe it, your life's not gonna change.

If God said to jump off this uh stage and you're gonna land perfectly, and I didn't believe him, it's gonna change my life.

But if he said it and I did it, right, it's gonna, one, it's gonna strengthen my faith, right?

And I'm gonna be able to build on this trust with God.

Joseph, because of his relationship prior to this moment, what he believed about God, when he heard from the angel, it was a no-brainer.

This is true.

I'm gonna do what you said, I'm gonna be obedient, right?

Listen, we have to take God at his word because he's not a man that he should lie.

And there are things that we miss out on in our lives because we don't believe what God says.

There are things that can change in you and I, if we'll take him at his word.

Before I came here, Pastor Rick told me, he's like, look, if you come here, we'll make room for you.

You know, you may not be able to be the youth pastor right away, but we'll we'll work it out.

Like it'll it'll be good.

And you may not make this much money, but God is gonna take care of you.

And had I not believed him, I'd still be in Ohio, working two jobs and just depressed, right?

But I came here.

And guess what?

In the beginning, it did not look like what he said was telling the truth.

I'm just saying.

It did not look right.

Six months in, I'm like, wait a minute.

There was a tornado that happened.

Like, all these different things were going on.

I'm like, man, how is this right?

Like, should I believe him?

Another six months goes by, and my car breaks down on the way to take my wife to a date, and then somebody from the church buys us a new car.

And then money was short here, and some random person, hey, God told me to give you this.

And step by step, God ordered the way to get us here.

And now I'm the youth pastor, right?

Had I not believed him, I'd still be in Ohio.

But because I believed him, and you know why I believed him?

Because I know he trusts God.

I believe Pastor Rick, and I follow Pastor Rick because I know he follows God, right?

And so Joseph heard from this angel and he believed what he said, and the rest is history.

What do you believe about God when it doesn't look true?

When your finances look bad, do you still believe that God will take care of you?

You still believe that God will make a way?

When your health is failing, do you still believe that God is a healer?

That even if he doesn't heal you on this side, one day in glory you're going to be healed forevermore.

Like, do you believe God's word when it doesn't look true?

Because if you do, the person on the outside that's been questioning if God is real, when they see how you suffer, it's gonna create something in them.

When they see how you serve God, when things just look terrible, it's gonna cause a wonder in them.

I was talking to a man the other day and he was telling me about how he was cynical of the church.

And then he met Dave Roper.

And he said he he believes in God and he believes in the church, and he knows that CCW is his church.

Because that man believed in God, and that man was real.

What do you believe in the midst of your circumstance?

And here's the thing belief turns into action.

When you believe something, it pushes you towards that thing.

When Michaela told me that she loved me and I believed it, I bought a ring.

And I put the ring on her finger.

And now we're married.

When you believe something, it changes how you move.

It gives you a confidence with that thing.

Joseph believed that this really was a thing from God.

And he changed his whole life for it.

Think about the disciples.

When Jesus died, right, everybody scattered.

But when he showed up to them, they committed to give their lives for the gospel.

Every pastor on staff here, we know that church is hard, that ministry is hard, but because we believe that we're called by God and that God is doing something, we run into the fire.

And sometimes we get burnt.

And sometimes we have wounds.

But because we believe what God has told us, we keep on marching.

There are a lot of people that are here today only because of what they believed in God.

Only because of what they seen God do and how they place their faith in Him.

And some marriages are still together only by the grace of God.

And had you not had a relationship with God, it probably would have been done in a minute.

I know had my wife not had a relationship with Jesus, she wouldn't have made it with me.

But because she she believes God's word, and she believes that the Holy Spirit is not finished with me, but that what he started, he's going to finish.

She continues to stay with me.

And she sees the growth and the fallback and the growth.

And so in your life, in the hard times of your life, you have to stand on this firm foundation of Jesus Christ completely.

Because everything else will fail you.

Money will fail.

Relationships will fail.

But God in his word will never fail.

Point C is this that he obeyed God's command.

Like I said, three times in a dream, God came to him.

And everything that God said to him, he did.

But everything that God told him to do, he did.

I want to go to chapter 2 of Matthew, and I want to look at verse 13.

And it says this.

It's another thing to believe what God is saying.

But it's a whole nother thing to obey.

A lot of y'all have heard from God.

You've read his word.

You believed his word.

But did you obey it?

What would have happened if Joseph would have heard God and believed, like, yeah, like this, I should take my son away, but he didn't.

Herod would have killed Jesus.

Listen, obedience changes things in our lives.

When we hear God's word and obey his word, it changes our lives.

There are a lot of people in God's word who got a word from God, believed it, and didn't do what he said.

And it ended terribly for them.

There's a scripture, I couldn't remember it where I found it at, but there was a man who God had told to go do this thing, but when you're done, I want you to leave immediately.

And so he goes and does that thing, and then there's this other guy who says, Hey, no, you're supposed to stay here with me.

And he says, No, but God says this.

He said, No, no, no.

God told me, stay here.

And so the guy stayed here instantly.

He died.

There are some things that in our lives will happen because we're not obedient to what God says.

And there are things that we'll miss out on.

Bad things that we'll miss out on because we're obedient.

He was convinced by what God said to be true, and he obeyed.

Now, I've said this before, but I want to say it again.

Delayed obedience is still disobedience.

Now, I know this is true because one time my mom had told me to do the dishes.

And she left, and I went to my room, and I started playing some video games.

And then I hear my mom come home.

She said, Boy, what'd I say about these dishes?

I'm like, uh.

So now I'm doing dishes and I'm crying.

Guess what?

The dishes still got done.

But was I obedient?

No.

In the same sense with God, there are things that He's telling us to do that are time pressing.

And some of us are lingering in them.

Some of y'all, God is called to the ministry.

And you're 20 years plus without doing it.

Somebody in here, God is called to start a business.

And you have all these fears, and you're not being obedient.

God is calling us to do things.

We have to be obedient.

Right?

In John 15, God says, those who love me will keep my what?

Commandments.

Me obeying God's word is a reflection of a love that I have for Him.

Because I love God, when He says not to do this, I'm going to do my best to not do it.

When He says to do this, because I love Him, I'm going to do my best to do it.

Right?

It's an obedience not out of fear, but out of love.

Right?

Joseph obeyed God's word.

And it was well with him.

There was a mass genocide of babies.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus would have been a part of that had he not left.

But because he left, one, his family was safe, but two, he fulfilled a prophecy.

Listen, God is calling us to something.

What's your answer?

And I want y'all to know this.

God, he's not going to force you to do things, right?

God is not, like you have a choice in the things that he asks you to do.

But if you love him, you'll obey.

So Joseph was obedient.

And the last point is this that Joseph was protective.

And so I'm not going to get into all this because I've already spoken on it, but I want to just kind of take a moment to speak to the men.

And I just want to say this.

Your wife and your kids need you.

Joseph had to make the hard decisions to keep Mary and Jesus safe.

And I want to ask, I want to ask, are we, are we keeping our families safe?

I'm not just talking about physically because I know a lot of y'all are packing and y'all got the shotguns and the closet.

I know that.

I know that.

Some of y'all got them right now.

But spiritually, are we being protective over our families?

This scripture has just been whooping me up and down, convicting me.

Have I been a spiritual leader to my family?

Joseph not only protected Mary and Jesus by fleeing and getting them to safety, but he also every year made it a point to bring his son to Israel, right?

To do the Passover.

So he was having Jesus in church.

He was growing him spiritually.

And one of the things that I really was kind of thinking about in this, that this is a side part, but could you imagine raising God in your house?

Like, and you try to correct them.

Like, boy, you heard what I said.

You heard what I said.

Like, like, this is God speaking.

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.

And so I'm looking at um, I think it was Luke.

And one, Joseph and Mary, they they took Jesus to the temple, but they left and they said they thought he was with them, and he wasn't.

Right?

So they're on a journey for two days and they realized, wait a minute, where's Jesus?

And so they turn back around and they get back, and Mary's like going off.

Like, Jesus, like, why did you do this to us?

Like, you knew we were worried, and Jesus responds, why'd you come back for me?

Do you know my will is to do my father's will.

Like, this is what I'm supposed to do.

Imagine the car ride back, like, dang, our son just told us off, right?

Like, God just got us, right?

Like, like, that just I don't know.

I'll just think about that.

It was just wild to raise Jesus when he's probably raising them.

You know what I'm saying?

But for us, spiritually, are we being an example for our kids?

Like, are we loving God inside the home where the pastor can't see us?

And some of y'all, your kids, tell on you, okay?

Don't be doing stuff you shouldn't be doing, because I find out.

Right?

Your kids, they don't keep nothing a secret, right?

But how are you with your family?

How are you leading them?

One of the things that McKay and I really have talked about uh recently is Netflix.

Like, have you have you changed your ratings for your kids?

Let me take it a step further.

Have you changed the ratings for yourself?

Because what kind of example do we give when we say, hey son, I don't want you to watch this, but while they're in bed, we're watching something worse?

Like, what kind of example are we bringing for them?

Where we say, hey, I want you to do your best in school, but we're not doing our best at our jobs and in our daily lives.

What kind of spiritual leader are you for your family?

Joseph wasn't just willing to save his family from physical death.

He wanted to lead them spiritually as well.

And so I want to, in closing, I want to challenge you guys.

Figure out what things need to go.

Figure out what things have been influencing your relationship that could be good things.

But they're trying to replace God.

Figure out those things, figure out those idols and remove them.

Because one day your kids are going to grow up.

And they're going to be on this stage and they're going to be telling testimonies about their parents.

One day you'll have a funeral, and what will they say at it?

Well, they look back and say, Man, my dad was awesome.

He loved God.

He loved his family.

He was a good man.

He put Christ first.

Man, my mom, she loved us.

She loved God's word.

She prayed for us.

She gave us encouragement.

She would send us little scriptures when we were struggling.

What will your kids say about you?

What will your spouses say about you?

And the last thing I want to say as we get ready for our altar call.

Joseph had a hard life.

He had to do a lot of running, a lot of protecting.

He was a good man, good father, good husband.

But what made Joseph, it wasn't self-made.

It was all from a relationship with God.

So if you hear everything I've said and think that you have to be better, that you have to look cleaner, that's not what I'm saying.

Joseph was just because of God.

You and I are not righteous, are not good because of what we do, but because of what Jesus did.

Because of the cross and the burial and the resurrection, we with Christ get to be right.

We get to be right with God.

So if you hear anything that I say, I want you to hear this.

When you're struggling, when life is hard, when it seems like everything is crashing down, remember your relationship with God.

Remember that He promises to never leave you nor forsake you.

That when your mother and your father forsake you, that God will never leave.

That the only way through this hard life is holding on to the hands of Jesus as he walks with us.

Joseph was awesome, but his God was way better.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCWConnect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.