Why the dream

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

So this morning, as we open to Matthew chapter 1 and look at Joseph, a just man, a man of character, Lord, a man of integrity, and the part that he played in the birth of your precious Son, Jesus, who has come to save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

In Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, can't we just give him another clap offering this morning?

Amen.

I want you to turn with me this morning to Matthew again, chapter 1, where we were last week.

Man, I'll tell you what, for some of you that missed last week, God just showed up and showed out.

We had 12 saved and 12 baptized and 285 folks here last week.

Can we give God a clap offering?

Unbelievable.

And by the way, we will be baptizing again this coming Sunday, right before Christmas.

I know there's several that were saved Sunday that wanted to be baptized.

So please contact Tabitha this week in the office and just give us your information so we make sure you get a certificate so that you'll have a certificate after your baptism that you can take home, put in a frame, put it on the wall, and every time Satan tries to get you to doubt your salvation, you go back to the time and the place.

Can I get an amen?

And say, get thee behind me, Satan, you're a liar.

I know that I know that I'm saved.

So that's very, very powerful.

In Matthew chapter 1, last week we looked at verses 18 through 25, that last paragraph.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

And that's where we'll go again today, but I'm not going to take time to read it since I read it to you the whole paragraph last week.

But we will be looking at verses, verse by verse, as we explain the powerful dream that we see in verse 20.

That Joseph, that while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David.

Powerful statement right there.

Powerful statement, and you'll see why in a little bit.

Fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife.

For that which is conceived in her is one of the Holy Ghost.

The December 12th, 2005 issue of Time Magazine featured an article in the religion section titled Father and Child.

It was written by David Van Bieman or Bima.

But they pronounce it Bima.

It began with this story.

Four days before Christmas, in 1994, John David Eddington, 22, the adopted son of a Presbyterian minister named Howard Eddington, was driving home through the Orlando, Florida downpour when he lost control of his car, hit a tree, and was killed instantly.

And the tragedy was mourn deeply in the lofty reaches of the Orlando Evangelical Circle because the Reverend Eddington was an extremely respected minister in the area.

In fact, he was the pastor of the well-known, who's now with Jesus, Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade, which was just a phenomenal organization reaching thousands and thousands of college students on college campuses.

So, Pastor Eddington could have retreated into his grief, which a lot of people do, but instead, he preached three Christmas sermons that month on a topic he had never talked about before.

He preached on the subject of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and as he pointed out, the adopted father of Jesus.

But he did not stop there.

He began working on a book about Joseph that further delved into the nature of the relationship between the older man, the adopted father, and his son Joseph, the holy child.

And in the year of 2000, he published, and boy, what a book! A slim little book called, and I just finished reading it.

I'd never read it before.

A little book called The Forgotten Man of Christmas.

Wow.

The Forgotten Man of Christmas, Joseph's story.

A lot of the material that I'll be giving to you came from that little book.

He combined his biblical truth with material that he found in secular sources.

And he admitted that when he was writing this book, it seemed like a strange project to him, especially because he was a Protestant minister, and Protestants do not do much with Joseph during the Christmas story.

And one of the reasons we don't do a whole lot with Joseph's, there's not a whole lot to do with.

Scripturally speaking.

So, we really don't know anything about him.

And so he began this journey and he goes on with the rest of the story.

But Reverend Eddington concluded that there is a great spiritual value to recapturing the part that Joseph played in the ongoing mystery of the incarnation.

In this lesson, we will be looking at the forgotten man of Christmas.

Now let's look at Joseph.

Joseph had a royal lineage as a descendant of King David.

In fact, look at Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

You're there.

Verse 6 says, And Jesse begot David the king, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias.

Then drop down to verse 16 and watch.

And Jacob then begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

This is very important.

We know little about Joseph except that one, hey, he was of the lineage of King David.

That is very important.

And the reason that is very important, church, is because Christ had to come from the lineage of David.

Can I get an amen?

And secondly, what we know, or what little about Joseph we know, was that he was a man of humble means.

He was not a wealthy man.

And how do we know that?

Based on his offering of two doves in the temple as a substitute offering, offering allowed for those unable to afford a lamb that was unspotted.

In Leviticus chapter 12, verses 2 through 8, and also Luke 2, 24.

Leviticus 12:2–8

And also, I'd say, not only was he of the lineage of David, not only was he a humble man of, you know, just bare means, but he is also, I think, a very robust man.

And you say, why?

He was a carpenter.

He was a carpenter.

All you carpenters.

Paul grew up a carpenter.

Where's Bob?

All carpenters.

All you carpenters stand up.

Matt?

Harry?

Come on.

All carpenters stand up.

Look at these guys.

These aren't wimps.

Amen?

They aren't wimps.

You think they are?

Shake their hands.

A carpenter was not a wimp.

He was strong.

He was a hard-working man.

Got up early, went to bed late.

Back then, they got up when the sun came up and they went to bed when the sun went down.

But in between those two events, they worked.

Work was not an evil to them.

Work was a necessity for them.

Amen.

Work's good.

It's not bad.

We need to tell some people that.

Hello.

Just a thought.

And we also see he is mentioned only in verse 18 here in Luke 1.27 as the husband to be of Mary.

But nothing more personal is said about him.

That's it.

In the whole Bible.

That's it.

So after Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to a son, and we saw that last week, she apparently left Nazareth.

After God in Luke chapter 1 told Mary, you're going to conceive of a child.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

And Mary said, But wait a minute, how is that possible?

I've never had a sexual relations with a man.

He says, hey, that's not it.

It's going to, hey, your conception is going to take place by the conception of what?

The Holy Spirit of God.

In other words, God is going to birth your baby.

She didn't understand it.

Let me ask you, how could you understand it?

A girl of 14 or 16 years of age.

That's how old she was.

Between 14, 16.

And she didn't understand that.

She was engaged.

She had been betrothed.

And let me remind you, the betrothal we talked about this last week.

It was a serious covenant signed by the man and woman.

For a year.

It could last up to a year.

And it was as if they were married.

Even though they didn't see a whole lot of each other during that period.

Because the guy was working, getting ready, preparing a place, and making sure he had enough to take care of his wife.

And to honor her.

So there would be no speculations.

It was very, very, should I say, the accountability.

In other words, it was an honor.

It was marriage meant something.

Undoubtedly, marriage means nothing today in America.

God help us.

We don't understand that marriage is a symbol of God's relationship, hey, through his son Jesus, to his church.

We should not take it lightly.

Amen.

It is a beautiful picture of the relationship Jesus has with his church.

And you're going to see more how Joseph honored that.

So it's very important.

Today we don't, people don't honor marriage.

In fact, one of the reasons they don't honor marriage is they don't, hey, hey, how many people we have that just live together?

That's not right, folks.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Never does.

They don't, they, they, they've got the wrong view of marriage, and mostly because they've seen it through their parents or other parents, because they had the wrong view.

For the last 25 to 30 years, we have done a poor job showing a Christ-like marriage in America.

And a Christ-like home in America.

And many of us are products of that.

I'm a product of a bad home situation.

But I made up my mind, if God will say, allow me to have a godly wife and a godly family, I will change that in my family.

We will have a godly family.

And God's allowed us to do that.

I made a promise that I would be a daddy to my children.

I never saw my daddy.

And I was a daddy to my children.

And I promised I'm going to be a granddaddy to my grandchildren.

And I went and stole them thirsty.

Brought them back home with me.

But you know, as I was stealing them, you know what Mary said?

My oldest daughter, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And now as Sunday has come, I understand why she said, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Aren't grandchildren lovely?

Aren't they fantastic?

You love on them, you spoil them, and then you send them home.

Hallelujah.

No, we've had the best time with our two grandchildren.

I played, I played a game.

I'm gonna tell them, can I tell them about my game?

This was pretty good.

No, don't go say anything.

They're having a hard time saying yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no ma'am.

But I asked Braden, I said, What about in your class?

They made me say yes, sir.

I said, Well, what about mom and dad?

No, they don't care.

And that's not true because Mary had told me, help me, Dad, with this yes, sir, no, sir.

And I've been trying this last couple of times and I I it wasn't working.

So I said, I got an idea.

This will work.

Listen up.

We've got one of the greatest stores in this city for you controlling your children to help you.

It's called the$5 store.

I'm telling you, Susan, has this been the best weekend we've had with our kids?

I said, okay, guys, I got a gang.

I love gangs.

I mean, we count colors of cars, you know, to keep them from killing each other.

So you get creative with the gang.

I said, here's what we're gonna do.

You ready?

I said, you gotta get up to at least 40 points.

You get 40 points.

By the end of Saturday night, I'm gonna take you to the$5 store.

And you can pick out anything you want.

I mean, the whole store is five dollars.

From a dollar to five dollars.

You you take your child and show them that big store and all those big balls and stuff.

You can have anything you want.

But you gotta have 40 points.

So every time they say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, and were polite to each other, they got points.

But everything they said, what and yeah, uh huh.

Yeah, deducted points.

And little Braden blessed his heart, he'd say, Yes, sir.

And then he started asking me questions.

Poppy, sir, he said, Poppy, sir.

Smart kid.

Paul Brooklyn sitting over there, where am I, Poppy?

I don't know how many I got.

So we got to 40.

He said, No, Papa, we could we could go to the store.

I said, won't that be good?

He said, uh-huh.

I said, uh, 39.

He went, ah, ha ha.

And I went, ha, ha, ha.

I said, we gotta get that white and hun, yeah, out of there.

He said, I know, I know.

Get it out, Poppy, get it out.

So they ended up, he ended up with about 55.

He said, Can we go now?

I said, let's go before you lose them.

He said, Yeah.

I said, see.

He said, Oh, how'd I do that?

I said, that's okay.

You had 56.

But I said, just be quiet till we get to the store.

Great.

I'm telling you it worked.

They were nice.

They said, yes, sir, no, sir.

In fact, I had to make sure they were the same children, but they were good.

They really were.

It was awesome.

But but getting back to godly home, wouldn't you when's the last time you've heard teenagers and children say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am.

You know, it just makes me go, oh, thank you.

Wow.

It makes me want to do anything for them, too.

When they show respect.

Yes, sir.

Five dollars stone.

Let's go, preacher.

I heard this statement.

Manners will take you where money cannot buy you.

Well said.

Money will take you places where money can't buy.

And don't you ever forget that, young people.

I'm telling you.

And I believe I still say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, the people older than me.

And even actually younger, because I say yes, ma'am, and no ma'am to my wife.

Sometimes.

So, we see Joseph.

Now, there's five things I want us to look at this morning.

I don't know why I got on that rabbit, but I did.

So let's get back to the message.

First of all, let's look at the discovery.

Look at the in this in this beautiful situation.

It starts with, and Mary has conceived.

Mary, what happens after Mary conceives?

She gets word that her kinfolk, Elizabeth, has conceived, and the word had gotten out.

She's pregnant.

In fact, she was six months pregnant when Mary heard about her being pregnant.

If you go back and read again in Luke 1, John the Baptist.

She was pregnant with the forerunner, John the Baptist.

So Mary, now she's been conceived, and she she had heard of the miraculous really, you know, situation with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was past childbearing age, but yet she had conceived Zacharias and she had conceived a son, John the Baptist.

And so she said, I don't know what's going on, but I've got to get to Elizabeth so I can talk to her about my situation.

Because I know nobody else would understand, but she may understand.

So she takes off, she's gone three months.

There's no doubt that she did not know when her conception had taken place, but to be gone three months and now return, and we she's returned, and this is where we pick up the scene.

She has returned after spending three months with Elizabeth, them talking about all the things that God had said to each of them.

And then all of a sudden, now let me ask you something.

Three months, you're gonna be showing a little bit.

Maybe you're gonna be showing a lot.

So she comes back, and here's the discovery.

Wow.

Look at verse 18.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on its way.

It was in the process.

When as his mother Mary was exposed to Joseph before they came together, they had not had any sexual relations.

She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Now, wow.

This is a kind of a bad situation.

And here it is.

She comes back, Joseph sees that she's pregnant.

She's expecting a child.

Now, I don't know about you, but if you loved your wife, your wife to be, you're betrothed with her, which means you've literally made a covenant as if you're married.

I mean, back, gifts had been exchanged, all of that.

And they'd written their covenant.

And one of the things that could break that relationship, by the way, which, if it was broken, they were given the writ of divorce.

That's how serious the betrothal period was during that time.

You with me?

So this is a serious thing.

And one of the only ways or one of the key ways of breaking the betrothal period would be unfaithfulness, sexual immorality.

I don't know about you, but if you're Fiance came back three months later, and she is showing with the child you got a problem.

You hadn't seen her when she left.

She wasn't pregnant.

She comes back, she's pregnant.

Problem.

Hello, anybody gonna disagree with that problem?

So, it's a discovery of a major problem.

Folks, I'm telling you, this is serious.

Now, look what happens.

Verse 19.

Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, oh powerful, powerful, powerful, just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.

Wow.

The picture in verse 18 here.

Joseph discovers his wife to be was pregnant.

I mean, that's a discovery.

That leads me to point two.

Look at the dilemma.

Look at the dilemma.

Man, this is powerful.

Verse 19, he gives credit to Joseph.

It was his intention to spare Mary the public humiliation over her pregnancy.

He was going to divorce her quietly.

Look at verse 19, the word minded there.

Powerful word.

It means, in verse 19, it means to consider things deeply.

In other words, he just didn't hastily say, What are you doing?

You unfaithful lady, you get out of here.

I'm leaving you again.

I don't want to ever see you again.

No, he didn't do that.

Because he was a just man.

He was a man of character.

And I'm going to show you in a minute four ways he handled this problem that is so powerful.

Joseph did not respond rashly or impulsively.

He took time to consider what would be the best course of action.

Woo! How many of us have not done that?

When a problem came, a serious problem, we reacted hastily.

One, two, three, four, five of us.

All right, then I'm going to preach online again.

Okay.

I mean, that first reaction, we men, now, women, you have a little bit better track record of being a little more patient and thinking through a little more clearly before you react on major problems.

And Melvin, you're shaking your head.

Some of them do.

Most of you do.

Okay?

But he didn't.

He didn't.

In fact, I love what verse 20 says, but while he thought on these things, in other words, he was more concerned.

Now watch this.

He was more concerned about Mary, his espoused, to be wife, than he was what the people thought.

But he was concerned of what people might think.

He didn't want her to be hurt.

He didn't want her to be abused physically.

By the way, remember what one of the laws were back then?

If it was factual that she had been unfaithful, bam, they'd stone her to death.

I mean, this was serious business, folks.

We're talking about a major dilemma.

So we see the fact that he was.

She was conceived and born out of wedlock.

He knew that they would cite Joseph's failure to report to the authorities his discovery of Mary's pregnancy as proof that Jesus was born out of wedlock.

And by the way, that is one of the greatest issues that our critics to the Word of God and the virgin birth do.

They keep attacking the virgin birth as Jesus being not the Son of God, but an illegitimate child.

They don't believe the virgin conception.

And they attack it constantly.

But it's interesting that Matthew and Luke are very upfront about the facts of Jesus' conception and birth.

They did not speak, hey, they did not seek to hide any of the facts of the matter which spoke of the accuracy.

Now, Joseph's reaction was normal, very much a human one.

Before, though he had the opportunity to act on his intentions to deliver Mary privately and divorce her, guess what?

The dream.

Why the dream?

It was a direct intervention of God himself to tell and to confirm to Joseph that Mary, here's the dilemma.

Mary had not been unfaithful.

See, there's only three, there's only three conclusions here you can come up with.

One, Mary had been unfaithful.

Two, she had been raped.

Three, God chose her.

That's it.

That's the only three.

He knew if she'd have been raped, she'd have been upset, she would have told somebody.

And then he his pain.

In fact, he's got a puzzle here.

His puzzle, and then his pain, I call it.

The puzzle is how could Mary do this?

I don't believe she's doing this.

Mary's a godly woman.

I know how godly Mary is.

I know my to-be wife.

I know something's not right here.

I don't understand it, but it's not right.

Can you imagine the painful thoughts he was going through?

But yet she's showing that she's pregnant.

Three months pregnant.

Wow.

Interesting conversation when we get to heaven to talk to Joseph.

Man, I got so many interesting conversations when I get to heaven.

I got my list, Mayor, to talk to all these guys about these situations.

I can't wait.

That's gonna be part of fun being in heaven.

Tell me, tell me, hey, hey, Daniel, how in the world did you go to sleep with 50-something hungry lions?

Don't look at me like that.

You you wouldn't have gone to sleep.

You'd have been.

He went to sleep.

Now you tell me that's not the peace of God that does.

Hello?

But anyway, we see right here.

He's in a dilemma.

But then verse 20, God spoke to him through an angel in a dream, and the message was Joseph, son of David.

Son of David.

Why'd he say that?

Lineage.

He's beginning to give him factual proof.

Factual proof.

Let me tell you, God's in this.

God's chosen Mary, but he's also chosen you to be the adopted father.

You're from the lineage of David.

Notice what he said.

Man, that's powerful.

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take your, hey, to you, Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

The dream added the third option.

She had not been raped, she had not been unfaithful.

God had chosen her.

Man, that's good.

Now quickly, let's look at how Joseph, and this is good, handled the problem.

Four things I want to give you.

Number one, Joseph, first of all, handled his problem with character.

Being a just man.

He was a man of character.

He was a man of integrity.

In other words, his first reaction was not to harm anybody.

His first, a man or woman of integrity, when a major dilemma comes up, a problem, they begin to think through it.

Let me think through this.

Let me think through this.

Let me ponder this.

Let me gain evidence.

Let me get the facts.

Let me get the truth.

Blessed is the man who walks in his integrity.

His children shall be blessed after them.

Proverbs 27.

Notice the second way he handled it.

He was a man of convictions.

He was minded to put her away privately.

Now watch.

He had convictions, a morality.

Even though he loved her, he if Mary had been unfaithful with another man, undoubtedly there were problems here.

She didn't love me.

She didn't really care.

Her covenant wasn't what it was, even though he was thinking humanly that way, and that was not the case.

That's you and I would have thought that way, even though you try to put it out of your mind.

You can't help but think that way.

That's the flesh.

But what because he was still just, hey, even though he loved her, he was a man of convictions.

What's wrong in America?

We have no convictions anymore.

We don't care.

If it's good for you, do it.

God bring us back to convictions with the word of God.

Can I get an amen?

And the exciting thing you said, but Pastor Danny, I've been there.

I messed up.

That's okay.

1 John 1:9, listen to me.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Listen, you can be forgiven, you will be forgiven, you can be restored, and you can start a clean life over.

Hello.

And that's the grace of God.

But when you do, do it God's way.

Can I get an amen?

Be a man and woman of convictions that you can teach your children the right way.

Then look at the third thing.

He was, he not only handled his dilemma with character, with convictions, but then with compassion.

He wanted to put her away privately.

He didn't want to embarrass her.

He didn't want her to be out, to be shown up like a harlot or anything like that.

He loved her so much.

He wanted to handle it as quietly and as compassionately because he loved her.

He didn't want to throw a stone.

Can I get an amen?

He that, Jesus, remember what Jesus told the people.

Hey, with the with the harlot, he said, He that hath no sin, cast the first stone.

John 8.

Let me just say, next time you start to criticize something, remember that.

You won't be throwing any stones.

If you do, you'll be throwing them at you.

So, tremendous insight.

Compassion.

Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another.

And by the way, convictions, there's a verse I wanted to give you.

Romans 14, 16, with the word convictions that God showed me is let not your good be evil spoken of.

That's what Joseph was trying to do.

Romans 14, 16.

Let not your good be evil spoken of.

1 Thessalonians 5.22, abstain from all appearances of evil.

That's what Joseph's concern was.

Godly man, man of character.

And then, man of compassion, and then number four, a man of control.

Woo! That's good.

Man of control.

Verse 20.

While he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream.

All those points right there in verses 19 and 20.

Powerful, powerful, powerful.

Powerful.

Number three.

Number one, the discovery.

Number two, the dilemma.

Now, number three, the dream.

And then number three, the dream and how he handled the problem.

But now, number three, now look at the dream.

Look at the dream.

The solution was found in the dream.

The solution was found in God's revelation, God's word.

The solution to Joseph's dilemma was the dream in which an angel confirmed Mary's story.

Look at three things.

I'm going to look at the explanation.

I love this.

Fear not.

When God tells you to do something, I want you to remember these two words immediately.

Fear not.

Amen.

Now, if man tells you to do something, you better check it out.

But if God, through his word, tells you to do something, fear not.

For God's not given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1.7.

Amen?

Tremendous insight here.

Fear not the explanation here.

In verse 20, he said, Son of David, again confirming the reference to Joseph's royal lineage, qualifying Joseph to be the earthly father of the Messiah.

He said, Mary's pregnancy was of the Lord, not a result of her being unfaithful.

Number two, then look at the instructions.

Verse 21.

Joseph was instructed to take Mary as his wife and to name the son.

Woo! When God calls you to do something, you don't have to, the reason you don't have to fear is he's gonna tell you how to do it.

Somebody, I that's good preaching.

You don't have to fear God.

God, when he calls you, is gonna show you.

Hey, when he called me to come here, I had no clue.

Wasn't even thinking about it.

Rick, when he made that statement to me that night, he didn't have any clue that I was gonna ask him to consider coming here.

He just said, I'm thinking God's gonna move me.

And one of the reasons he was thinking that, we found out for you that missed yesterday, it was cute to hear his testimony.

He said he was sitting there minding his own business, just working and building a great youth ministry in Connorsville there at Calvary Baptist Church, been there 10 years, and his wife comes up to him and says, You know, honey, out of the blue, she said, if God was ever to move you or want to move you, I'm okay with that.

Wait, wait, it gets better.

Then about a month later or a couple of weeks later, the pastor comes up and says, Rick, I love you.

You've been my right arm, but if God saw fit to move you, that's okay.

I don't know about you, I'd have had an inferior complex, or they want me to leave.

But God, I shared, and next thing you know, within a month, he's here.

He and Heather are here in a month.

Don't even have a place to live.

They're living in David's house and Ben's up in my house.

But hey, God told them to go, God provided the way.

Now, David and I helped a little bit, but amen.

When God says, do something, he'll show you the way.

And there's Joseph, not understanding anything going on, but God says, Fear not, I'm gonna show you what I mean.

Then he says, For he shall save his people from his sins.

You shall name, she's gonna have a son, you're gonna name him Jesus, and he's gonna save his people from his sins.

Woo!

Man, that's good.

And then look, the revelation.

God's word is sure.

Verse 22.

Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying.

Isaiah 7.14, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, uh, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, meaning God with us.

In other words, it was the fulfillment of God's word, God's prophetic prophecy that it was gonna happen this way.

And Joseph, this is God fulfilling his word, his prophetic prophecy in Isaiah 7.14, Micah chapter 5, 2, I'll be born in Bethlehem, and now it's going to happen right here, and you're gonna be a part of it.

Micah 5 · chapter mention

All of a sudden the peace of God came all over him.

And now he's no longer trying to put her away privately.

Now he is supporting her confidently.

Now there's two witnesses.

And what does the Bible say?

Where two or three are together and shall agree, it shall be done.

Now you've got a just, righteous man that was known throughout the community as a godly man, a man of character, supporting and confirming not only the unbelievable, ridiculous story Mary was saying.

And hey, hey, remember this, remember this.

Let me ask you something.

You don't think it's a ridiculous story?

What would you say if your daughter came home and said, Mama, I'm pregnant, I'm three months pregnant, and I know what you're thinking, but it's not what you're thinking.

I've never had sexual relationships with a man.

God told me that I was gonna have his son, Jesus, and we're gonna name him Jesus.

He's gonna save the people in the world.

And Mama, so it was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Mama's like this.

Mama, wake up.

And now, oh, wait a minute.

Now you got the the the groom, the groom or or uh to be groom.

He said, No, she's right.

Don't laugh at her, don't make fun of her, don't mock her, don't condemn her.

I thought the same thing, and I was willing to ease her way and take her out of the country and, you know, divorce her, but yet still take care of her till everything was okay, so she'd be okay.

But then guess what?

That same angel came to me in a dream and told me exactly what I needed to do, and that she had conceived of the Holy Spirit of God and that I was to be the adopted father.

I agree with her.

I know it's true.

Now they're going, well, we got two crazies.

Is that not good?

Man, what a man.

What a just man.

Joseph was.

God's word never returned void.

Look at Isaiah 55, verses 10 and 11.

Isaiah 55:10

I love these verses.

Well, first of all, 1 King 8:56 says, There hath not failed one word of all of God's good promise.

Amen.

When God promises something, it will happen.

When God tells you something, it will happen.

And then, verse of Isaiah 55, 10, 11, listen.

For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and runneth returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud.

Now look at this, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

And then verse 11, you know it, it's powerful.

So shall my word that goes forth out of my mouth, it shall never return void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.

It shall accomplish where I send it.

Wow.

Well brings him to the fourth thing.

His decision.

The selection of, I call it of his choice.

Verse 24 and 25.

Relates to Joseph's decision in light of the dream.

He obediently took Mary to be his wife, the same obedience that Mary said in Luke 138, even though I don't understand it, be it unto me as you have said.

Talking to the angel and to the Lord.

Not a trick question.

Really?

Deedra.

It's good to have Deedra.

Melvin calls her out of town brown, but uh every time she's out of town, she's doing something for God through mission work, and we pray for her every day and love her deeply.

Thank you for being who you are and helping this church stay missionary, mind.

Deedra, I looked at Deedra and said, Why don't you come and be our missions director at our church?

Now wait a minute, we don't have a church yet.

Now she probably didn't say it to me personally, but she was thinking, What church?

We're starting one.

She knew me and David and Christy and Susan, and possibly three or four others.

We knew, we knew uh Carrie and Sonia, because I'd been their pastor before.

And and but that was it.

David said, David said, I've got a Sunday school class of 35 people.

You know, maybe some will come with us, but we're not, I'm not counting on that.

I'm glad we didn't count on it because only one came Bob and Jewel.

And those were the ones that I thought.

Most likely wouldn't come.

And I don't know why I thought that.

I just thought, well, they're older.

I mean, man, they're going to step out here with just a handful of us.

But hey, you can't figure out God.

The ones you think are going to be with you the first to leave, the ones you think ain't going to be there, they stick with you through thick and thin.

That's what I've learned.

Can I get an amen?

You can't.

You can't predict God.

God will send you who you need.

And you know what got them?

David and I asked him, they're in our prayer room, some prayer benches.

Now that we got steps, we'll use them in a prayer.

We didn't have a place to pray.

And I said, everywhere I've been, we've had, you know, whether it be steps or prayer benches to pray.

I said, Bob, you think you can make some?

He said, I can do that.

And he was telling his story yesterday.

He was out in there building those prayer benches.

And you know why?

In fact, he said, he said, I didn't have any intentions going over there starting a church.

But God spoke to his heart and he said, Jewel and I can be used here.

Been here ever since.

And I thought he volunteered, but he said he didn't.

I volunteered him.

I'm good at that.

Hey, Falwell did me the same way.

He called me up and said, Hey, Pastor, I'll never forget this.

We were at Liberty University.

We'd lost our dean of the seminary.

Guy that hired me, he had gone to take the presidency of another seminary in Portland, Oregon.

And so Falwell, he had called me in about a month prior to that and said, Have you ever thought about being the dean?

I said, Me?

I'd only been there two years back to the school.

Y'all don't understand.

I don't like school.

Now he wants me to be the dean of a school.

I said, Doc, that's not me.

In fact, I'm probably going to be back in the pastor.

I told you I'd come back and get the evangelism back on fire and pastor.

He said, okay.

Not knowing that my other mentor, Dr.

Rollins, had told him, he said, we don't need a theologian.

We need a pastor and an evangelist to head up the seminary so we can build a shepherd seminary.

Training shepherds.

So I'm sitting out there having a good time worshiping.

And he said, Oh, by the way, we're very excited.

We found our new dean of the seminary.

And I'm sitting there, oh, we have?

Who?

I said, Susan said, I don't know.

Dr.

Levitt, come up here.

Oh, okay.

You never told Dr.

Falwell no.

So, Bob, thank you for not telling me no.

But now he's, you know.

So, what am I saying?

When God tells you to do something, you may not understand it, but just do it.

Start doing it, and God will show you every step of the way.

He's provided every step of the way for this church.

And that's why I'm not worried we're almost out of money now.

He will provide.

Amen.

By the way, we had our covenants meeting last Sunday.

Perfect.

We got a new budget,$450,000 for next year.

That's a big budget for this church, but we did it last year almost 430.

We've increased it actually about 250,000, I think.

No.

What if we've increased it, David?

I forgot.

500.

What?

10%.

Thank you.

Whatever that is.

Figure it up.

I'm not a mathematician.

My wife is.

But but what I'm saying is, I know, I can't wait to see how.

You know what?

God's going to bless some of you so unbelievably that you're going to be able to give more than you ever thought you'd be able to give, and you're going to enjoy doing it so much.

And when after you do it, he's going to even bless you greater.

You watch.

I don't know about that.

Well, just trust me and see.

I promise you.

The decision.

I want to show you his decision, then we're going to finish up.

Number five.

Watch what I saw about his decision.

He did two things.

Are you ready?

This is powerful.

God gave me this yesterday morning.

I'd bout through, about got everything.

I said, oh, I'm ready.

And all of a sudden I'm going back.

I just I just assimilate it and meditate upon it over and over all week.

And that's a boom.

How many of you would all right, teenagers, this is for you.

Single folks, Deedra.

Just a thought.

You know, the Bible says it's not good for man to be alone.

And Deidre's motto is, yeah, and I'm not going to help him.

But anyway, watch this.

You can stay alone, right, Deedra.

But now watch.

How many of you that would like to get married would love to have a storybook ending?

Not a lot of you want to get married.

Wouldn't you like to live happily ever after?

Hello.

Let's go heaven.

I know y'all looking at me.

That's not a trick question.

No?

Let me tell you.

Let me tell you how to live happily ever after.

For you that aren't married.

If God wants you to be married.

Okay?

I said that, dude.

Just for you.

If God wants you to be married.

All right?

Here we go.

Look what Joseph did.

Two things.

One, Joseph married the woman God told him to.

Woo! Yes! That's good.

Now I know what you're thinking, well, that's just elementary.

I bet it's not elementary.

How many of us, or how many people you know that got married that didn't marry them because God told them to?

Amen.

Hello.

I married my beautiful wife, and she, we've been married 34 wonderful years.

I married her and I married her quick after my first wife had died.

In fact, I got lamblasted about it.

But I tell you what, I married her because God told me to.

God says, this is your, I've got her here.

I put her here for you.

She's gonna help raise your son, and y'all are gonna do ministry the rest of your life together.

Now I knew that within about three months.

And you know what I did?

I acted on it.

I didn't care what people thought.

In fact, when I made the announcement, you ought to seen our church, they about fainted.

Because she had been in the church and she was a little 19-year-old, I know I married a baby, but a little 19-year-old girl, and I said, Oh, by the way, I'm gonna be engaged.

They were kind of excited because they knew, you know, my wife had died and they were been experiencing that.

And I said, by the way, would you stand up, Susan Burr?

And they went, Am I right?

And I told the deacons, I said, told the deacons, I said, if it means me resigning to church, I'm resigning to church.

I don't care.

I'm doing what God told me to do.

And Larry Bonner was on the deacon board.

I love old Larry.

Larry said, Whoa, go, preacher, go, preacher.

I knew she'd make a good preacher's wife.

Remember that, Christy?

I don't know if y'all may not have been there yet.

I'm not sure.

But anyway, it was awesome.

It was awesome.

Do what God tells you to do.

By the way, 34 years.

In fact, we had people say, Well, that was all emotions.

Can I say something?

If emotions are guided by God, they're okay.

I'm just a cold person.

No, I don't have any emotion.

I love you.

Women like a little emotions.

They like you to be a little emotional.

Can I get an amen, ladies?

They like you to be a little romantic.

Can I get an amen, ladies?

Don't I know I will, you do it, you do it, you make us all look bad.

I understand.

Then let me close.

Has this been good?

Has this been good?

Man, I didn't know so much about Joseph.

It's so powerful.

Then notice the last thing he.

Oh, oh, I know what you think.

Joseph married the woman God told him to marry.

Number two.

Watch this.

This is the most, this is leads up to why he married her.

Joseph married a woman in whom Christ's characteristics were evident.

He married a godly woman.

Can I get an amen?

Or, ladies, you ought to marry.

Hey, Mary was going to marry a godly man, a just man.

Can I get an amen?

There's your formula for living happily ever after.

Marry the person God tells you to, and let their life be evident that they love Jesus.

You know what turned Susan on who got us to she liked me?

And I really didn't know she liked me at first.

You know what?

I quoted a verse.

It wasn't my looks, it wasn't my money.

I was flat broke in debt with school bills.

She didn't marry me for my looks, Christian.

She didn't marry me for my money.

You know what she married me for?

Because I love the word of God.

Because I quoted Jeremiah 15, 16, Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

She went, whoo! That's my verse.

That's my man.

I'm not sure she said the second part, but I liked it.

Amen.

Amen, CZW.

Amen.

So with that said, Joseph makes two determinations.

The determination, here they are.

Number one, he took Jesus into his home.

Wow.

He took Jesus into his home.

And when you go to Luke chapter 2, verse 52, you see what they taught him.

Luke 2:52

That Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.

They taught him socially and academically.

They taught him how to grow physically, and they taught him how to grow spiritually.

In those three areas.

Luke 2, 52.

That's the verse.

And then I know what you're thinking.

They didn't have a whole, it doesn't say anything about those 30 years.

Just the last three years.

So Joseph's not mentioned.

And we do understand, and I'm just going to share with you what God laid on my heart as I've been studying Joseph.

Let me tell you, I think there was so much going on with Joseph and Jesus that you would, you can't imagine.

I think that Joseph was Jesus' best friend.

And let me tell you why I believe that.

Here's why.

One, Joseph, Matthew says he was a carpenter.

Okay.

So I believe, and hey, that he taught Jesus to be a carpenter.

And let me tell you why I believe that.

Here's another verse.

Boy, this is good.

Mark 6 tells me that Joseph himself, Mark 6.3 says, not Joseph's, I'm sorry.

Mark 6.3 says, Jesus was a carpenter himself.

So you don't learn to be a carpenter unless you have spent endless days and hours with your father, who was a carpenter.

It's kind of reminding me of Harry and Matt, right there.

Good example.

Right here.

Grew up with his daddy being a carpenter.

Learned carpentry from his daddy.

Can you imagine the illustrations that Joseph was able to teach Jesus?

And that Jesus was able to even share back to dad.

We don't know, but let me tell you, here's what I do know.

He was a pretty smart cookie.

Because at age 12, they left out of Jerusalem, and Jesus stayed back in the temple, confounding the, hey, doctors of religion and theology.

And two days later, by the way, I did a little research because I kept saying, how in the world did they miss Jesus two days?

Well, they traveled with their families.

So they figured Jesus was just spending the night with, you know, Elizabeth and them.

But all I'm saying is, can you imagine when Jesus and Joseph were alone together, the conversations they had?

Wow.

Wow.

Now, when it's time for Jesus to enter to his myth, ministry that he has come for at age 30.

Three of the most first dynamic years, but in the end, the horrible time of his crucifixion.

We hear nothing of Joseph.

He's not there.

We don't believe he's there.

Because if he had been alive, most theologians, I believe he probably, whether it was sickness or whatever, he had died.

Because he would have been at the foot of the cross with Mary and John when Jesus was crucified.

If his son, he would have been there.

I would you all hell couldn't have kept me from being there.

They'd had to kill me.

And they may have.

We really don't know.

But we know Mary was at his foot.

Because he looked to the beloved John and said, Woman, behold thy son.

But she didn't have Joseph.

What a daddy.

And then this last thing he did.

He took him into his home.

A lot of us take Jesus into our home at Christmas and Easter.

But here's the key.

We must take him into our heart.

Jesus had to save his dad, adopted daddy, and his mother.

Why?

That's why he came.

That's why Jesus came.

Verse 21.

Jesus came to provide salvation to his people.

Jesus' parents had to come to grips with the fact that their child was their Savior.

In time they had to be willing to humble themselves before Him and allow Him to be birthed in their hearts just as surely as He was birthed in the stable of Bethlehem.

Romans 10, 9, and 11.

Here it is.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Wow.

Have you taken Jesus this morning into your heart?

You may have taken him into your home at Christmas and Easter, but have you really taken him into your heart?

Does he really rule supremely in your life?

Is he Lord of all?

That's it.

That's the question.

Because if you haven't, you really don't understand Christmas.

And if you haven't, you cannot live happily ever after.

But if you have, you will.

Because one day, every knee's gonna bow.

And every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.