Mary Did You Know (Fear Not)

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.

Well, it's an exciting time of the year.

Christmas.

It's one of my favorite times because everyone is conscientious of a baby that was born over 2,000 years ago in a place called Bethlehem in a manger in Bethlehem.

And it was the fulfillment of Micah chapter 5, verse 2, the prophecy that said that there would be a child, the Messiah, born in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread.

Micah 5:2

How fitting that the bread of life should be born in the house of bread.

Isn't that awesome?

Well, I want you to turn with me to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

If you do not have an outline or a worship guide, would you please raise your hand for us, please?

And that way you'll make sure everyone good has got one.

So that anyone that does not, please raise your hand and we'll make sure you get one for a couple of reasons.

Number one, we want you to have our prayer sheet.

Hopefully, many of you have prayer requests on that sheet so that we can pray for you every day, every week.

And we do that fervently.

People are having prayers answered every week, and praise the Lord for that.

So this is a way that we pray together as a family.

And I'm excited about the new year because we're going to do a new format here at the church starting January the 1st on Wednesday nights.

We're going to come back and we're bringing everybody on campus.

It's going to be exciting.

We're going to have some extra rooms for more small groups on campus, but we're going to do a service in here.

The young people are going to take their, they're going to have their own room back there where the children's church area is right now, or either down uh on the bottom section, we don't know yet, but they're going to build their own kind of room and have their own youth room.

So we're going to be coming in here as adults in the first six weeks of the new year on every Wednesday.

I'm going to teach through the six chapters of my book on Christian life and evangelism and discipleship.

It's kind of our new converts class, our new beginner's class is what it is.

But I'm going to teach the whole church the first six weeks on Wednesday night.

And it's going to be, and then we'll set up Darren where we have continuing it.

But I felt like what I want to do is teach it to the whole church.

I think it'll be so important because our goal is to become better at discipling one another and holding each other more accountable.

It's going to be exciting.

Six o'clock to six thirty, we'll have snacks.

Then we'll start right at 6.30, and I promise we'll be through by 8 and out of here.

And during this time, we're going to have prayer time together in here, and we're going to memorize a verse a week together.

It's going to be exciting.

We did this at Open Door for years, and God just so richly blessed that.

We'll have a celebrate recovery class going on.

Our youth, our children, so we'll all be on campus together.

That's going to be exciting.

It really is, I promise.

So that's going to start the first Wednesday in January.

So, and the other purpose for our worship guide, fill out the report.

Let us know that you're here, but also put your prayer request there.

Or if there's a need that you need us to meet and come talk to you about, please let us know.

Our councilmen, they get that, they get it to us immediately.

So we can, that's what we do all week.

We're praying and meeting needs and helping people.

So that's him, that's how we do that.

So fill that in and put it in the offering plate.

And visitors, first-time visitors, if you did not uh fill out the uh uh should I say the information at our visitor center, fill that out.

And by the way, go ahead.

You may be a first-time visitor, you got a prayer request.

Fill it out, drop it in the plate so we can pray for you and so we can respond and help.

Well, in Luke chapter 1, I said Luke 2, didn't I?

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Or did I say Luke 1?

Luke chapter 1, where the the outline says Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention Luke 1 · chapter mention

I want you to turn with me.

We'll be in Luke 1 and 2 and Matthew 1 this morning as we look at Mary.

Did you know?

Where's Benji?

I thought you were going to sing for me.

Yeah, you're ready, aren't you?

All right.

Waiting on me.

All right.

Well, that night when the angel came upon Mary and told her that she was going to conceive the Son of God.

Can you imagine?

In fact, the what we'll look today.

She pondered all that had been told to her.

But also, she was troubled.

She was disturbed.

And we'll look into that today.

The fear knots of the scripture.

Oh, Mary, did you know that your baby would one day rule the world?

Mary, did you know?

Well, on that evening, we see that after the message was delivered to Mary, she was troubled.

In fact, the Greek word for the word troubled there, in fact, if we look at it, uh, we see that she was in a situation.

She really, you know, her whole life had kind of been planned out for her.

And uh when the angel comes in verse 28, the angel came unto her and said, Hail, Mary, thou hast found favor.

Thou hast found favor, highly favored.

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

And then the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

In other words, that phrase literally means, the Greek, the Greek word there literally means you have received God's grace.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we all have to come to the point when we get saved that we realize we have received God's grace.

For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourself.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

So we have been favored by God and his grace.

And so we see that tremendous principle there.

And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and he shall call his name Jesus.

The word there is Joshua.

It's Yahweh.

It literally means Joshua, who is Yahweh who saves.

That's what it means.

What a tremendous, powerful word.

And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.

And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and for his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Marion to the angel, How shall this be?

saying, I know not a man.

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.

Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born in thee shall be called the Son of God.

And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age.

In other words, beyond childbearing age.

And this is the sixth month with her.

She's six months pregnant, who was called barren.

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of thy Lord.

Bid unto me as according to thy word.

Powerful statement.

And the angel departed from her.

Fear has been a part of human existence since the fall of man.

In Genesis chapter 3, verses 8 through 10, we see that Adam and Eve had sinned against God.

Genesis 3:8–10

They had partaken of the forbidden fruit.

And listen to what it says.

And they heard a voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?

And he said, I heard the voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.

So fear began all the way back at the very beginning in the garden.

And today we have fear.

Fear is the number one cause of most of us not fulfilling what God has called us to do.

Hello.

Amen.

Fear is the number one cause of what, hey, that what Satan uses to keep us from fulfilling what God has called us to do.

I'm a personally, you know, afraid.

I grew up being afraid of the dark.

Anyone else?

I used to have to take the garbage out, and it was at the back corner of our lot because that was where back then we lived where there were alleys.

Y'all don't know what alleys are.

People around here today in the subdivision don't understand what alleys are.

Do y'all know what an alley it means?

Well, a few.

So it was always on the back corner, right by the light post.

So that's where the garbage truck came by.

So you know, and to me, I think I felt like that was a two-mile hike to take the garbage out.

And never fell.

I'd always wait and have to take it out at the dark.

And I never forget, I would walk up there and I'd walk in, I'd be so scared.

I'd hear the dogs barking, and I'd be thinking, my soul, what's somebody's gonna get me.

A dog's gonna get something's gonna happen.

And I'd get there and I'd open the lid, throw the basket in, the trash basket and a bag in, and then close it and turn around and pig off.

That's why I got so fast.

I was running from the garbage.

I'd be back on that porch so quick.

I mean, I was scared to death of the dark.

I had a guy the other day tell me, he said, Well, I'm afraid of heights.

He said, but I'm not afraid of the height itself because once I get up there, it's a beautiful, beautiful scenery.

He said, and I'm not even afraid of the fall because it's exhilarating.

He says, I'm just afraid of what's going to happen when I hit the ground.

Good point.

But we all are afraid of something.

If I had to define fear, I would have to say that fear is the number one cause of us not accomplishing what God wants us to do.

We are, hey, we're afraid of snakes, we're afraid of spiders, disease, financial setbacks, old age, gray hair, no hair.

We're afraid of rejection, disappointment.

I wrote all this down.

Exposure.

Hey, being forgotten.

Even in the Bible, we can see men were gripped.

Some of the greatest patriarchs were gripped by fear.

In fact, I look at Abraham.

Abraham was gripped with fear, and he lied about his wife Sarah because he was afraid she was.

Now she must have been a good-looking woman.

I can't wait to see Sarah.

I meant this lady was unbelievable at 90 years of age.

In fact, Abraham was so afraid that he said, now, honey, you gotta tell them that you're my sister because they'll kill me to get you.

Amen.

Somebody say, ladies, say, Amen.

So he lied, Abraham.

And then we get to Jacob.

Jacob was scared of Esau.

And so he lied.

And then we get, hey, it gets Moses was afraid of Pharaoh, so he lied.

Moses was afraid of the rejection of the people, so he lied.

So we see this goes on and on.

And then the disciples in the New Testament, Jesus is even in their boat, asleep with them.

And the storm comes up and they're afraid.

How in the world could you be afraid when Jesus is in the boat?

But they were frightened to death.

So fear has been with us ever since the beginning.

Nothing has changed.

People are gripped with the fear.

And especially at this time of the year.

Do you really know that this time of the year is the worst season, even though it's the greatest season for many of us, the worst season for suicide rates.

More people kill themselves during between Easter and the end of the year than any other time.

Why?

Fear.

Fear.

Why did I say Easter?

I meant Thanksgiving.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanksgiving and Christ.

They knew what I meant.

Thanksgiving and Christmas.

More people, they're frightened, they're alone, they're lonely.

And Satan constantly attacks them with that fear.

And they end their life.

How tragic.

How tragic.

So I want us to look at today what Jesus and what the angel Gabriel said about fear.

I'd never seen this before.

I I read all three, but God so gripped my heart about the, hey Mary, did you know the fear not of Christmas?

It reminds me of the great Scottish preacher John McNeil told that during his childhood, I was reading his biography, during his childhood, as he was growing up, he would have to go through a wooded area that had a major big ravine walking home every day from school.

And he would be in school at 4:30, 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

It'd be so dark.

And it had been known that in that part of the woods that there were wild animals and and and uh bobcats and uh all kind of you know vicious animals and and robbers and and and things.

And so each and every night as he would go through, a lot of times he would, you know, hear things crackling, or and he would be so afraid because he didn't know if it was a robber or he didn't know if it was a wild animal.

And one night he was walking through and it was foggy and it was so pitch dark you couldn't hardly see to walk, and he had no flashlight or any light, and he heard this uh name call out.

And he thought to myself, oh no, it's robbers.

I'm doomed.

It's I I'm gonna be robbed, I'm gonna be killed.

And he heard the name again.

John! And it was an ear recall, and he just knew it was over, but then he heard another one.

He said, John, my son.

And he knew immediately it was his dad.

And his dad had shown up because he knew how scared John was of the dark, and it had been so dark and foggy, and he said, Dad, is that you?

He said, It's me, John, it's your dad.

And immediately he said the peace of God came all over him.

And I thought to myself, that is what you and I need today.

We need a word from our father.

We need a word from our father, our daddy, Romans 8:16.

Romans 8:16

Oh, but Father, we need a word, and I got news for you, ladies and gentlemen.

We've got a word today in this message, and it's three different times in relationship to the Christmas story.

Jesus said, Fear not, fear not, fear not, for I am with thee.

So this morning, I want us to look at this powerful message.

Three times we see they spoke the words of fear not.

With the message, the message, there was the message of deep concern, the message of uncontrollable circumstances, the message of confusion, the message of I don't know what to do.

But immediately with that message came the comfort of fear not.

So, what I'm saying, church, is in this Christmas, when you don't know what to do, and there's fear and there's uncertainty, there's there's disappointment, there's there's confusion going on in your home and in your life and in everything that you are going about.

Remember the words, fear not.

Fear not.

You've got a word from your father.

Fear not, peace I leave with you.

My peace I give unto you.

John 14, 27.

What a comforting thought, folks.

I had the call Wednesday night about 11.30 to the Brooks family.

19 years old.

Many of you have heard he was murdered Wednesday night in Montgomery.

Shot down.

And I was called to that situation.

But there, there was a family when we knocked on the door at 1.30 in the morning to tell them that their 19-year-old son had been killed.

Fear came upon them.

Unbelievably.

Fear.

And I stayed with them for hours, and basically I got them, I got just sharing the scriptures with them.

And and sharing every time they'd ask a question why, I say, it's okay to ask why.

But God's here, God's going to come to us.

They're Christians.

They go to North Shelby Baptist Church with Alan Murphy and called Alan and he responded.

But what I'm saying is, folks, in those circumstances and in those situations when you don't understand what's going on and you are afraid, you have questions, I've got good news.

Fear not.

Fear not.

Because I'm with thee.

I'll never forsake thee.

I'll never turn my back on thee.

What a comfort during this time of the year.

So let's look.

Let's look at this.

And and oh, it's it's it's so unbelievable.

In fact, I thought to myself, the first thing I want us to look at, do not fear.

Mary, did you know, do not fear what?

Of human impossibility.

Mary, don't fear about the what?

Human impossibility.

You say, but God's called me to do this, but I can't do that.

God would never call you to do something that He would not empower you to do.

Listen, verse 37, what does it say?

Say it with me.

Nothing is impossible with God.

Here we see, I want you to look at what I want you to look at this morning about Mary.

First of all, look at the calmness of Mary's life.

At this time, when God appears to Mary, she's between the ages of 14 to 16, probably.

Some have even said as early as 12.

Some of the commentators.

Most say between 14 and 16.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's a young teenager.

That's a young teenager.

But not only is she 14 to 16 years of age, she's engaged.

In fact, it's more than engagement, it was a betrothal.

Which literally means, watch this.

It was more like there was more of a commitment there than what we do engagement, more than just sliding a ring on.

They had basically almost signed the covenant.

Well, really, they had.

In other words, that if I when I got ready, say Susan, I was going to marry uh Susan, and I did, and uh, I would go to her dad and I would say, I want to marry your daughter, and I would sign a covenant with him because one of the reasons I had to sign a piece of paper or covenant with him is because we had he had to decide, and I had to decide how much I was gonna pay him for her.

I'd like to go back to that custom.

I had to pay everything for my two daughters when they got married.

I didn't that we have changed that.

That was not biblical.

Too late, honey.

But not only that, let me tell you what else it meant.

It meant that they would not, they would, she would go, she would stay in her father's house.

Joseph would go back to his house, and they literally would not see each other very much during a six months to a year period, and they sure wouldn't be out alone.

Hello, because they didn't want any scandal going on, they didn't want any Any temptation going on.

Can I get an amen?

Which in America today we don't know anything about that.

I mean, it was such an arrangement.

Now, watch this.

It was so, there was such a covenant commitment there that the only way that could commitment could be broke would be infidelity.

Hello?

You listening?

And not only, let me tell you how bad it was, not bad, but it's how serious it was, that if infidelity was caught and proven, for example, if Susan had had an affair with another man and they were caught and it was proven, or if I'd had an affair with another woman during that betrothal period and I was caught and it was proven, Deuteronomy chapter 22 said that we both could be stoned to death.

Deuteronomy 22 · chapter mention

You want to stop the sex revolution?

Hello.

Y'all looking at me like I'm crazy.

Read it.

Deuteronomy 23 through 24.

It's there.

In fact, I read it again.

I said, whoo.

I didn't, I should have taught this to my daughters.

But anyway, it's serious business.

Do you get it?

So important because it really is the context of this whole story.

The whole context.

So, with that said, Mary, she had dreamed about being married.

She had dreamed, like every young lady does, being married, having a family, growing up, and living happily ever after.

And guess what?

Those situations were taking place in her life.

She was a godly lady.

How do we know that?

Because God's word says that God found favor with Mary.

Can I tell you something?

God doesn't find favor with ungodliness.

God finds favor with godliness.

Can I get an amen?

She was pure physically and she was pure spiritually.

That's a great word for our teenagers.

Keep yourself pure till you find that person that God sends you that you can become one together and live the rest of your life for the glory of God.

Amen.

Now I know that's not popular preaching, but I'm sorry.

I'm preaching the truth.

She was so pure.

She was so innocent.

So righteous.

And Joseph was too.

So here's the situation.

She had her life.

And I really think when life's, don't you love it when life's going just like you wanted it to go?

And everything's, there's no problems, there's no trials, there's no tribulations.

You're just living on the mountaintop.

Don't we love that?

Yes! The right answer is yes.

I hope you're not one of these.

Well, I just like living in the valley.

Oh, Lord, help us.

You got a problem?

No, we love it.

We have it planned out.

Susan's a better planner than I am.

I'm kind of get up, I'm a spontaneity person.

Get up.

Woo! The day's the day the Lord has made it let it fly.

That drives her crazy.

She gets up and she's got her day timer and everything planned out.

That drives me crazy.

Here, you got to go, go, beep, beep.

I gotta go here, gotta go here.

But together, praise God, we work it out as a team.

I need her organization, but bless God, she needs my excitement.

Woo! Here we go.

If I'm gonna do lists, we're gonna have a good time doing it.

What does that mean?

Well, we may do it my way instead of your way.

I may end up at Walmart last instead of first.

Because I may get stopped and start sharing Jesus' grain with somebody.

It may be a little later than you planned.

Amen?

But here in her normal life, overnight, her life is turned upside down.

Overnight, her life is turned upside down, just like the Brooke family the other night.

It was turned upside down.

Now look at the second thing.

Look at the challenge of Mary's life.

We see the calmness.

Everything was calm.

Now all of a sudden there's a challenge in verses 28 through 37, which we just read.

When Gabriel makes her announce his announcement to Mary, her life is again immediately turned upside down.

You know why?

Here's this sweet little precious girl, loving God, ready to get married to her wonderful husband Joseph.

And now this angel Gabriel shows up, which scares her to death, and then tells her that she is going to mother the child of God.

Now, I don't know about you, but if that happened and my daughter came in and told me, or if my fiancee came in and told me that, I'd say, what are you smoking?

What kind of drugs are you on?

Fourteen, sixteen years old, never known a man, and now she's gonna bear the Son of God.

Don't you think that might upset you just a little bit?

Just a little.

No one's gonna believe her.

Joseph would not have believed her if it hadn't been for the angel showing up again to tell him.

Can't you see Susan come to me and say, oh honey, I uh I'm pregnant?

What?

And then she tells me she hadn't been fooling around.

Well, how in the world did you get pregnant?

That the stork, y'all believe in the storks?

The stork delivered.

Remember when that first that was a story our parents used to say, oh, the stork brings the babies.

I never did understand that.

Nobody wanted to talk about the birds and the bees.

When I asked Eric about the birds' bees, he said, Oh, Daddy, I know all about that.

The bees go and the birds go chip, chip, chip.

I said, Well, I don't need to talk to you yet.

Amen.

I don't need that conversation yet.

That's a true story, isn't it, honey?

Yep, the bees buzz and the birds sing.

But notice, Mary now is called to bear shame, reproach.

Now, watch this.

Woohoo, whoo, this is so good.

Most of us right here would say immediately, I want to find favor with God, would we not?

Amen.

We want to be pleasing to God.

But notice what this favor and this pleasing brought to Mary.

You know, when you say I'm living for God and you say, hey, God's gonna, my life's gonna be prosperous and blessed.

I'm never gonna live in a life of problems and situations and and you know, just bad things happening to me.

No, I'm gonna follow God all my life.

Everything's gonna be on the mountaintop.

There'll be no valleys.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is as far from the truth as the Word of God is.

The Word of God is truth.

But let me tell you, the world's ideology is this.

Hey, that, hey, and boy, they they they even bring in, it was brought back in those days.

If you're having problems, you can't be of God because there's sin in your life.

Now, that's a possibility.

That's one thing.

If you're saved and you're living for God, uh, I mean, if you're living for God and then you get out of the will of God and you start living for yourself again and start doing wrong, God will send storms into your life.

Amen.

That will happen.

And we'll see that.

But notice right here, this is so important.

She's now brought to the point where she bears shame, reproach, and humiliation for the glory of God.

That was her challenge.

Now, how do I do this?

How do I do this?

I don't understand it.

Well, when our lives do not go as we have planned it, I wrote this to myself.

It is easy to fear that which is unknown.

But God allows these to come into our life.

I'm writing this right here to Danny Lovett.

But God allows these hard times to come into our life, even though we don't understand some of the things that are going on during that time, yet the Lord sends them our way so that we might grow in him.

Now listen, and come to know him in a better way.

That's it.

That I might know him.

And the power of his resurrection.

We love that, don't we?

But notice the next phrase and the fellowship of his suffering, that we may be conformed into his image.

So we see this happening right here in Mary's life.

The storms come, number one, to correct us.

When we're out of the will of God, the storms have come.

He chastens the one he loves.

Can I get an amen?

Secondly, they come to grow us.

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are to try you as some strange things happen to you.

Amen.

They grow us.

And thirdly, they come to convert us for those that are lost.

Because you turn to the only one you can turn to for real help.

His name's Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

So we see that in Mary's life right here.

You see an inescapable part of being a Christian.

See, an inescapable part of being a Christian is found in, and I don't think I wrote it up there, but it was later.

Matthew 16, 24.

He says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.

Now watch.

And take up what?

And follow me.

There's a cross bearing to be bore.

Amen.

You have to.

That's part of the Christian life.

You have your mountaintops, thank God, but you have your valleys.

And it's so important that we understand that.

But it's also important to realize that his grace is sufficient.

His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Most gladly can we glory in his infirmities because when we are weak, he is throne.

2 Corinthians 12, 9.

Amen.

You with me, church?

So we see that.

And then the other thing I see under the challenge of Mary's life was the secret to surviving all these dreadful times is complete and absolute trust in Jesus.

Now notice what Mary said.

She didn't understand it.

How in the world could, in fact, she even asked the question it's okay to ask questions.

She even asked the question to the angel, how can I bear a son when I've not known a man?

In other words, how can I have a son when I've never had sex?

She didn't understand that.

That's exactly what she said.

And comfort was, well, fear not, Mary.

Why?

Because the Holy Ghost is going to come upon you.

In other words, God's going to bear his son through you.

God will be the father of your little boy.

Woo! Wow.

Man.

The baby changes everything.

I love that song.

The baby changes everything.

Amen.

And he does.

So I wrote this again.

There was a young lady named Nancy who was working in a place or store, making a meager living by hard work, and she was radiant, triumphant believer.

One day a wealthy lady walked in, very gloomy outlook on life, and said to her, You're happy now, Nancy, but what about if you lose your job?

What about if the store closes?

What about, or suppose you lose your job?

Or suppose the manager closes the store and she started to say, Suppose something out.

She said, Stop! There are no supposes in my life.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He maketh me to lie down in the green pastures.

To me, there are no supposes.

Wow.

There's only trust in my God.

I will fear not.

I will fear not.

Wow.

I stagger not at the promises of God through unbelief, but am strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had said, He will do.

Romans 4, 20 and 21.

And all those supposes that are making you so miserable.

And by the way, then she added, she said, and it's all those supposes that are making you so miserable.

Isn't it amazing?

We worry about so many things that we can't control.

Is that not true?

Huh.

So again, why don't we just give them up and trust God completely?

That's it.

And she was.

She was a bond slave.

Listen, gives me the last thing about Mary.

The consecration of Mary's life.

Despite the shame that was sure to come her way, despite the humiliation that she would bear, Mary was willing to submit her life to the will of the Lord.

In doing so, watch this.

She set the example for us.

Now watch.

Oh, this is so powerful.

And here's what she said.

Look at verse 38.

And Mary said, Behold thy handmaid.

You know what that means?

Behold your bond servant.

Behold your bond servant.

That's powerful that you understand that.

Behold your bond servant.

Watch this.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Be it unto me according to thy word.

And the angel departed from her.

I want you to look at three three things right there.

Number one, her submission of love.

She said, Behold your bondservant.

Behold your bondservant.

She was submitted to the Lord's ownership and rulership in her life.

Notice the second thing: a decision of faith.

She walked by faith.

Look at what she said.

Mary said, Behold the handmaiden, that's that submission of love.

The Lord, I'm your servant.

Bid unto me according to thy word.

In other words, I'm going to walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

I'm going to walk in accordance to your word.

That's a decision of faith.

It's a submission of love.

And then the third thing was so powerful, we see a confession of hope.

A confession of hope in verses 46 and 47.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Even though in her humiliation, even in a situation, she knew that was going to make front page news in Nazareth.

She knew she would be the laughing stock of the, well, actually, she wouldn't be the laughing stock.

She'd be the scornful stock of the town.

She would be the harlot of the town, the loose girl of the town.

She said, I'm going to go with God.

I will do what you've told me to do.

Now, this is the one that's found favor.

You know, finding favor with God means sometimes dealing with the consequences of that commitment.

And sometimes those consequences of that commitment are tough.

Thou therefore endure, say it with me, hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2.3.

All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

2 Timothy 3.12.

Count it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are going to try you.

Let me tell you something.

If there's ever been a fiery trial, this was one.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

When we learn to submit to the will of the Lord in every detail of our life, I like what Peter said when they were fishing in Luke 5 and they had fished all night, hadn't caught anything.

The Lord said, Go back out and throw your throw your net over on the right side of the boat.

And Peter, there for a minute, he started saying, But Lord, you're not a fisherman.

But Lord, uh uh, we don't go out in the deep in the middle of the day.

You fish in the shallow waters at night and early in the morning or late at night.

But he didn't do all that.

You know what he said?

He said, Okay, at thy word, I will.

Same thing Mary said.

At your word, I will.

That's good.

That's good.

Joseph, who was loved by his father and occupied a very special place and privilege in his family.

God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery by his brothers, and he was in jail for 13 years.

Now, most of us have said, what did Joseph do?

He had to be out of the will of God.

God wouldn't let him stay in jail 13 years.

Well, he did.

But it was through that that he ended up being second in command in Egypt.

And when his brothers came before him, starving to death, Israel, the whole nation about to starve to death.

And Egypt would have been starving to death if he hadn't over those many years that he had taken the leadership and stored up the grain that would endure the seven years of famine.

So that everybody would be okay.

Everybody would live.

Israel and Egypt.

And he looked them in the face when they realized it was him, and he said, You mean it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Genesis 50, 20.

You meant it for evil.

Now listen to me.

A lot of times men will mean it for evil against us as Christians.

But God uses it every time.

Listen to me, every time, for his good.

Either to correct us, to grow us, and if you're lost, to convert you.

Every time he has a plan.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

Because you're in one of those three.

I'm gonna go ahead and give you the bad news.

You in one of those three.

You either are lost and you, oh, hell's coming against you, and you God's trying to draw you to him and you're rebelling.

Number two, you're you're sinning against the Lord, you're not doing what God tells you to do, you're you're not living in his will, you're not living according to the word, so he's getting your attention, he's correcting you, or if you say, I know I'm faithful, Lord, and he's growing you.

One of the three.

You're there.

And hey, hey, and let's all say together, thank you, Lord.

Because we don't ever want to quit growing.

And growing calls sometimes calls rubbing together.

As iron sharpens iron, hey, when iron sharpened, what is there?

Sparks.

It's not always easy.

Amen.

Man, that's good.

All right, let's go.

Look at number two, the second fear.

The fear not of immediate obedience.

Woo!

The fear not of immediate obedience.

You know what's wrong?

How many times, let's be honest, and I'm I'll I'll I'll be the guinea pig.

How many times I know God's told me to do something and I question God, I didn't obey him immediately.

I tried to do everything I could to justify why God was wrong with what he told me to do.

Anybody else like that here today?

Hello, thank you.

And the other half of you lying, but that's okay.

I still love you.

Well, I'm telling it like it is.

You know, God tells you, hey, I want you to, oh, Lord, Lord, wait a minute, wait a minute.

We need to talk this over.

You know I can't do that.

I don't have this talent.

I don't have this.

I don't.

Aren't you glad Mary said, I can't have your baby?

I'm not, I've never had sex with I'm not married to Joseph.

I can't do that.

He said, nevertheless, even though I don't understand it.

Your will be done in my life.

Lord.

Now that's the blank check, David.

That's the blank check.

You bring, hey, you fill everything in.

Well, excuse me.

You just sign the check.

You bring the check.

You put it on the altar.

You let God fill it in.

You just sign the name, you put the check on the altar.

You let God tell you what he's going to do.

Hear my Lord.

Send me.

Isaiah 6.8.

Look at the pain of Joseph's life in Matthew 1, 18, 19.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, bless his heart.

Oh, the pain.

Folks, the pain in Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine?

Look at verse 18.

Can you imagine?

Here he is, his life's all planned out.

He's so excited about his precious fiance, Mary.

He loved her so much.

And now the birth of Jesus Christ was on the wise, was on this wise when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, that means before they had ever had sex together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, watch, not willing, verse 19, to make her her public example, was my hey, was minded to put her away privately.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, the son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is a Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son, and that shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done that he might be, that it might be fulfilled.

The prophecy of Isaiah 7 14, the Lord himself shall give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth her son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and she brought shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us.

Then Joseph, watch, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bid him, and took unto him his wife, and knew not her till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.

The pain of Joseph.

She's pregnant.

They've never had a relationship together.

His world's turned upside down.

His future wife's pregnant.

He doesn't know what's going on.

He doesn't know she's been unfaithful.

He doesn't know.

Can you imagine all the thoughts going through his mind?

The pain that he's had, the troubleness.

I mean, he feels humiliated.

He feels embarrassed.

What am I going to tell people?

What are people going to think?

With his dreams shattered, his hopes dashed, his pride lost, his life seemed over.

He had two options.

Watch this.

Option number one, he could divorce Mary quietly and have her sent away until the baby was born.

Two, he could divorce her publicly and thereby subject her to the ridicule and humiliation of the public.

This option could also have resulted in her death.

Joseph's life was literally turned upside down by the news of Mary's pregnancy.

We've all faced a similar situation.

We thought we had everything in order.

When I graduated from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, went to Open Door Baptist Church.

Me and Becky, my first wife and our little son Eric, everything was great.

We were excited.

We were going to build a great church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the glory of God.

Two weeks later, New Year's Eve service, we had a beautiful service.

My wife and I knelt at the altar and said, Whatever it takes, we're willing to give to build a church for God's honor and God's glory, not knowing that the next morning she would die in my arms with an asthma attack.

Twenty-eight years old.

Overnight, my life, my plans were shattered.

But I got good news.

Jesus showed up and he said, Fear not.

Fear not! The whole next week I was questioning God and talking to God, and it went on for months.

I don't understand why, why, why, why.

And all he would tell me is, fear not! Fear not.

And thirty-three wonderful years later, I look back, and to this day, I still don't understand.

But I do understand, fear not.

When our little boy was born dead, I knew the answer that time.

Fear not.

I don't understand.

Fear not.

Fear not.

Job said, man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble.

Huh.

Real comforting.

Real comforting.

This was the problem of that Job faced.

He suffered the loss of everything he had, worked for, everything he loved.

His life was turned upside down overnight.

These times will come to all of us, and hey, we must handle them or they will handle us.

We must fear not, or they will destroy us.

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

Can I get an amen?

That brings me to the second point, the privilege of Joseph's life.

Look at his privilege.

Yeah.

As Joseph pondered what to do about this situation, God sent an angel.

And he told Joseph, you are about to gain a lot more than you think you're going to lose.

That's what he said.

Watch this.

He thought he was fixing to lose his home, his hopes, his wife, everything.

Everything he had dreamed about and worked for.

It was over.

His wife's pregnant with another man's child.

But he loves her so much, he's not gonna, you know, make her make it a public nuisance or news.

He's gonna do what a godly man would do.

He's gonna try to help her and put her away side.

But he still, he's just he said, wait a minute, you haven't lost anything, Joseph.

What you don't realize, you've gained the greatest opportunity you ever had.

Can you imagine?

Let me tell you what God told me.

Can you imagine what I think?

I'm gonna ask Joseph when I get up there.

I believe he said, you don't understand, Joseph.

You are gonna have the honor and the privilege to help raise and disciple the Son of God.

Wow.

You're gonna teach him how to build carpentry things.

You're gonna teach him how to go fishing.

You're gonna be his dad, earthly father.

You're gonna have the privilege of having raised.

Wow.

Wow.

You know what?

I think at that moment nothing else mattered.

He got it.

In fact, the scripture said, he woke up and said, Yes, Lord.

Yes.

Yes.

The privilege.

Let me give you quickly four admiral, I don't think this is there.

This is admiral qualities of Joseph.

First of all, verse 19, his righteousness.

He was a righteous man.

Number two, his discernment and sensitivity.

Also in verse 19.

Look, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, a righteous man, a godly man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.

That is, oh, I love this.

This is discretion and sensitivity.

Wow, we need that man.

Can I get an amen?

Sometimes I'm not sensitive enough.

And then the third thing, we see in verse 24, his responsiveness to God.

Look at what happened in 24.

Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife.

In fact, he married her immediately.

He didn't wait any longer.

God said, Marry her now.

He married her.

And then notice the fourth thing his self-discipline.

Wow.

Verse 25.

And he knew not her till she brought forth the Son of God.

Even though he married her and had the right and the privilege to have intimate relations with her, he did not touch her till after Jesus was born.

Because the way it had to be, Jesus had to be born of the pure seed of God.

He was disciplined.

Now afterwards, they had many other children.

But he didn't touch her.

Now that's a godly man.

That's a man that finds favor.

Don't say we can't wait.

Hello.

You can wait to marry his teenagers.

Can I get an amen?

You can wait.

You can overcome.

And then the priorities of Joseph.

It looked bad in the beginning, but in the end, he knew God would be glorified.

Regardless of what comes our way in life, we need to determine in our hearts that we will seek the Lord's will and will do what he has called us to do, regardless of what anyone else thinks.

Can I get an amen?

Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

That's why the Church of Chelsea Westover will do what God's called us to do.

And we won't regard what anybody else thinks.

We'll do what God tells us to do.

Can I get an amen?

Through his word, at his word.

Then the last thing, and I'm through.

And I'm not going to go too much into this one because I'm going to preach on the shepherds next week.

Do not fear.

The fear not of salvation.

Look at the shepherds.

The burden of the shepherds.

Verse 8 in Luke 2.

The shepherds, let me tell you a little bit about them.

They were usually vulgar, dirty, smelly, and unkept.

They were the religious outcast of the bunch.

Really?

I'm serious.

They were considered thieves.

They would steal.

I mean, they were the misfits.

Nobody wanted anything to do with them.

They sure were not allowed to come into the temple because they were dirty.

They didn't adhere to the rituals.

They didn't watch them.

I mean, hey, they were separated here.

Man, this is good.

They were separated from God and man.

Now here it is.

Listen, here's the burden for me and me.

As sinners, we are separated from God and man.

We need to come to Christ.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

For the wages of sin is death.

But we must come to Christ.

So we will no longer be alienated and separated from God.

If you're here this morning and you really do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you're separated from God and your destiny is hell.

Oh, listen to what the scriptures say.

Oh, listen to what the scriptures say.

Oh, uh Isaiah 59, verse 2.

Isaiah 59:2

Throw that up for me, Jeremy.

This is awesome.

Isaiah 59, 2 says, Because of our iniquities and our sins, we are literally separated from God.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

So that was the burden.

Isn't it exciting to know that the shepherd, the chief shepherd, came to the shepherds that day, probably the ones that kept the lambs that would be offered up for the sacrifices in the temple.

There they were taking care of the lambs that were going to be sacrificed, but they themselves needed the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world.

And they came.

And they came.

And notice the second thing, the blessedness of the shepherds, verses 9 through 14.

Why were these shepherds afraid?

Can I tell you why they were afraid?

They were brought face to face, hey, with a confrontation with God Himself.

Let me tell you something: what happens when you and I come face to face with the conviction of the Holy Spirit of the living God, knowing what our sins really are.

We know that we're sinners, and we know with, hey, if we continue in that sin, then our destiny is destruction.

We know that when the Holy Spirit comes upon our lives.

They were brought face to face with that confrontation, knowing that they were misfits, they were separated from God, and they needed Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

They needed that little baby.

The baby changes everything.

And they came.

They came.

And that's the way we ought to fear the Lord.

We ought to come.

There's only one reason why men remain in their sin and wind up in hell.

It is summed up in one statement from the lips of the Lord.

Look at John 8.24.

One statement.

The Lord said himself speaking, you shall die in your sins if you don't believe in me.

Look what Jesus said.

Therefore, unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins.

There it is.

Amen, folks.

And then the last.

The brilliance of the shepherds.

After the shepherds met the baby Jesus, they were forever changed.

They left the manger.

In verses 15 through 16, they obeyed immediately.

What?

To go and see the Jesus.

When they got there, they worshiped verse 20.

They worshiped Jesus.

And then verse 17, they shared the good news of Jesus.

The shepherds heard the message of the angel.

They reacted with fear, but that fear led them to their salvation.

You may think that God will not forgive you of your sins.

You think you've been too bad of a person.

I got good news for you.

Hey, that Paul was the chief of sinners, and if God can save Paul, who killed Christians regularly, he can save you.

Amen.

He can save me.

And he died for all.

And all that come to him, he said, I am no wise will cast out.

John 6, 37.

I close.

Three times the angels came.

Three times there was a reaction based in fear.

However, when the fear had been dealt with with the Lord's message, hey, and they surrendered to the Lord's message.

And you know what the message was when he said, Fear not?

My grace is sufficient.

My grace is sufficient.

I got good news this morning, folks.

His grace is sufficient.

Amen.

In fact, I I wrote this down and I'm through.

Here's the three keys to happiness.

Are you ready?

Fret not.

He loves you.

Say that with me.

He loves me.

Say it with me.

He loves me.

He says in John 13, 1, I will love you to the end.

Fret not.

He loves you.

Number two, faint not.

He holds you in his hand.

Look at Psalms 139, verse 10.

Psalms 139:10

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

And fear not.

He keeps you.

Psalms 121, verse 5.

Psalms 121:5

The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon the right hand.

Well, can I get an amen?

Is that not good?

Fret not, faint not, fear not.

You ought to have that with you all week.

Fret not, faint not, fear not.

Somebody ought to Facebook it.

Preacher told me, hey, you know what?

He said, fret not, God loves me.

He says, hey, faint not.

God, hey, he holds me.

And fear not, he keeps me.

Man, isn't that a great exhortation?

Well, if there's fear in your heart today, bring it to Jesus.

If there's sadness in your heart today, bring it to Jesus.

Here you go, Sylvester.

Is there fear over sin and hell?

Bring it to Jesus.

Hey, is there disappointment and disillusionment?

Hey, bring it to Jesus.

Is there trials in your life?

Bring them to Jesus.

Are there burdens too heavy to bear?

Bring them to Jesus.

Is there brokenness and despair?

Bring them to Jesus.

Is there failure and defeat?

Bring it to Jesus.

Whatever the cause of your fear is, bring it to Jesus.

Amen.

Fear not.

Behold, I bear you great tidings.

Great tidings of good cheer and peace and love.

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.