1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:06,160 Probably the least Christmassy Christmas movie is The Sound of 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:10,080 Music. It's not really mentioned. 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:12,400 We associate it with Christmastime. 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,080 I personally love it. One of my favorite songs of 5 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:24,960 course is My Favorite Things. Raindrops and roses, whiskers on 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:33,000 kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,360 paper packages tied up with string. 8 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,680 These are a few of my favorite things. 9 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,440 And the song goes on to talk about hard times, right? 10 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:48,240 You know, biting dogs and stinging bees and feeling sad 11 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,120 and that the antidotes given the song is to think about your 12 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:53,760 favorite things. You're sad. 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,880 Think about some of those favorite things. 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,800 It's cheering, and I agree with that. 15 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:06,000 Far be it for me to criticize one of my favorite songs about 16 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:13,160 many favorite things. However, though these favorite 17 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:19,200 things are God's good gifts to us to be received with joy and 18 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:24,840 gratitude, I think we need more. I think we need more. 19 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:31,960 And when we're going through very hard times, the joy of the 20 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:38,120 season can frankly make you feel kind of dislocated. 21 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:44,880 Everybody's happy except me. And we've talked about this talk 22 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:50,960 about how Advent invites us into a type of lament so that we can 23 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,880 cry out to God. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. 24 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,320 Lord Jesus, heal us. Lord Jesus, be the light in our 25 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,560 darkness, Lord Jesus, because you're our only hope. 26 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,680 And so, though I and you will partake in your favorite things, 27 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,560 may they always and ever be a springboard to the most precious 28 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:22,880 treasure of all. And may that not be merely lip 29 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:29,560 service, but may it find a deep and abiding resonance in our 30 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:36,640 hearts, sometimes only understood and experienced for 31 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:41,080 the first time through deep darkness and suffering. 32 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,280 We're going to talk about darkness and light. 33 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,800 We're going to talk about how the world did everything that 34 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,040 could to snuff out the light of the world. 35 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,520 God kindled a light for our darkness in the Lord Jesus 36 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,280 Christ. And from Herod to Pilate, they 37 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,800 tried to snuff him out. Indeed, they thought they won 38 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:11,560 when they put him in a stone cold tomb, but that couldn't 39 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,600 hold him, could it? Because the Christmas dawn 40 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:20,400 rekindles and the Lord Jesus Christ lives again. 41 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,600 And then we have this spreading light tradition, which is the 42 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,280 light of the resurrection, the light of the gospel going 43 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,880 through a dark sanctuary. As we think about those who 44 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,560 shared the gospel with us and think about those that we are 45 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,600 influencing toward a gospel life, and we see how it just 46 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,560 keeps spreading. It's been spreading, friends, 47 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,960 like a grand tree for over 2000 years. 48 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,040 Billions of believers strong. It's an unshakable Kingdom. 49 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:52,120 And this is what we're all about tonight. 50 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,080 My text is actually in Matthew. I know we typically look at Luke 51 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:02,600 2, but today I want to talk about Matthew's account, the 52 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,480 birth of our Lord. This time, instead of focusing 53 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,640 on Mary as we did two weeks ago, we're focusing on the Lord 54 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,920 Jesus's wonderful adopted father, Joseph of Nazareth. 55 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,279 I'm in Matthew's Gospel in the 1st chapter, beginning in verse 56 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,160 18. Hear the word of the Lord. 57 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,880 Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. 58 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,760 When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they 59 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,120 came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy 60 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:42,120 Spirit, and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling 61 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:47,040 to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 62 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,960 But as he considered these things, behold, an Angel of the 63 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:56,760 Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David. 64 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,680 Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is 65 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,640 conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 66 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,560 She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for 67 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,560 He will save His people from their sins. 68 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,360 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the 69 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,080 prophet. Behold, the Virgin shall 70 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,160 conceive and bear a son. They shall call his name 71 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:26,320 Emmanuel, which means God with us. 72 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,480 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the Angel the Lord 73 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,480 commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her 74 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,960 not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name 75 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,720 Jesus. Perhaps Joseph doesn't get as 76 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,480 much attention. Perhaps he's kind of like a prop 77 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:53,200 in your nativity set just there to make sure Mary gets what she 78 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:58,040 needs. But the story invites us into a 79 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,880 hero story, which is almost unbelievable. 80 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:06,640 Mary and Joseph, as you know, are engaged. 81 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:15,200 She's pregnant and explaining it to people, telling them that 82 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:20,480 she's still a virgin and that an Angel told her that the baby is 83 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:26,040 from God, actually conceived not by a man, but by God himself. 84 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:40,040 What's going on with this girl? Is she an evil liar? 85 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:48,000 She's seriously disturbed. Whatever way you choose to go, 86 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:55,000 her story defies belief and it's super scandalous. 87 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,800 The text isn't going to give us a lot of details about Joseph, 88 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:02,560 but those details are important to the story. 89 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,120 One of the first things that we can notice is his very name, 90 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,120 Joseph. If you know your Old Testament, 91 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,560 you know that he is named after a very important Christ figure 92 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:18,680 in the Old Testament, one of the sons of Jacob Joseph who rescued 93 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:24,520 his family from a famine in all places Egypt. 94 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,440 He's also named after very he's he's named after this important 95 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,680 rescuer Joseph. But we also know by reading our 96 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,520 Bibles that he, Joseph of Nazareth, is descended from 97 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,000 another important rescuer from the Old Testament, one named 98 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:43,720 Boaz. Remember him? 99 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:48,880 Boaz, who rescued Ruth and Naomi? 100 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,240 This is Joseph's ancestor. We also know that Joseph was a 101 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,760 descendant of King David. We know that Joseph was a 102 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:04,240 Carpenter by trade from the town not prestigious, the not 103 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,680 prestigious town of Nazareth in Galilee. 104 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,560 This particular text that we just read tells us that he's a 105 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,000 just man. He lived according to the 106 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:21,120 standards of his Bible. He understood the stories of his 107 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,360 ancestors and lived in them and through them. 108 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:28,960 And that comes out in the way he responds to this tremendous call 109 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,480 upon his life. He's a believer, and he cared 110 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,080 about living his face and enjoying the reputation that 111 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,120 comes from godliness in his community. 112 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:48,920 But now this just man is implicated in a serious scandal. 113 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,720 And one of the things that bothers a just man or an upright 114 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,960 woman more than anything, if they seek to live their life by 115 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:02,520 integrity, is to have their reputation destroyed, 116 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:08,880 particularly unjustly. It's enough to push you nearly 117 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,840 to madness to have to live in a community where you're upright 118 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,960 and just reputation is destroyed, particularly 119 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,080 unjustly. This is what he's contemplating. 120 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:25,760 He's trying to find a way out. What is he going to do? 121 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,680 She's claiming that the Angel talked to her and told her the 122 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:36,400 child is from God, so to protect Mary, he's going to just quietly 123 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:41,280 break off this engagement. But God intervenes, doesn't he? 124 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,400 God intervenes with a tremendous call upon Joseph's life, and he 125 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,840 receives his his own announcement from an Angel 126 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:54,360 confirming Mary's claims. This changes everything. 127 00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:01,200 Joseph believes the Angel believes Mary, and from this 128 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,800 faith he is motivated to take heroic action. 129 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,920 Just like Joseph of old and Boaz of old. 130 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:15,360 This Joseph will participate in God's rescue plan for ruined 131 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,080 sinners. But Joseph's faith journey is 132 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:23,760 marked not with political honor. No, Joseph's path goes down. 133 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:28,840 It goes down through humiliation and dishonor. 134 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,160 His whole life now he will live under the shadow of suspected 135 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:40,800 infidelity, suspected illegitimacy, and deep suspicion 136 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:46,920 from the community that he's an accomplice to lunacy or lies or 137 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,600 both. This just man is going to have 138 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:55,320 to live under a shameful reputation in order to live 139 00:10:55,320 --> 00:11:01,160 according to the truth claims of his wife, the Angel, and 140 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,600 eventually his son, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ the 141 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,560 righteous. First, we're going to notice 142 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:13,320 from this text that authentic faith obeys God's commands. 143 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,440 Authentic faith obeys God's commands. 144 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,440 There are several commands in this text. 145 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:25,320 Take Mary as your wife, call his name Jesus, and we're told that 146 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:27,480 he obeys. When when Joseph woke from his 147 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,440 sleep, he did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him. 148 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,920 He took his wife, but knew her not till she had given birth to 149 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,920 a son and he called his name Jesus. 150 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,360 Joseph's obedience means the loss of an honorable reputation, 151 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,640 which is probably his most devastating loss. 152 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:47,040 But we can also note that his righteous obedience also leads 153 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,880 to other sacrifices. He refrains from knowing his 154 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:52,760 wife until after the baby is born. 155 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,160 He gives up his fatherly privilege of naming the child 156 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,560 using the name that was given to him by the Angel. 157 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:09,040 And then he commits to adopting to adopting Jesus, to being his 158 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,960 stepfather. He create his courageous faith 159 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,480 overcomes his fear of consequences and he radically 160 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,320 obeys God in order to protect his wife and his son in order to 161 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:25,120 fulfill his destiny as an even greater Joseph than his most 162 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,640 famous ancestor. Verse 21 says she will bear a 163 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:31,320 son. You shall call his name Jesus, 164 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,200 for he will save his people from their sins. 165 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:37,280 This brings us to our second point. 166 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:43,360 Jesus saves sinners by faith. Jesus saves sinners by faith. 167 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:48,080 His name means he saves. It's the newer version of the 168 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,600 Old Testament. Joshua comes into the Greek 169 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,320 world as Jesus. We've noticed some things about 170 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:59,960 the courageous faith of Joseph, but the focus is really on his 171 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:04,560 adoptive son. Jesus identity and his vocation 172 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,880 as Savior are captured in his name, which means Savior. 173 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:10,320 What's he going to save his people from? 174 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,480 Everybody thinks he's going to be the savior of the external 175 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,160 political threat of an oppressive, oppressive Roman 176 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,680 government. We learn from the rest of the 177 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:27,160 story that his main goal is to suffer and to die and to live 178 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:32,160 again, to save people from spiritual darkness, from the 179 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,000 rebellion, from their sin, the sin in their hearts. 180 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,120 The text is clear. Christ's mission in this first 181 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,640 coming is to save sinners from themselves, from the moral 182 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,400 rebellion that lives in each and every one of our hearts. 183 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:50,840 Friends, the Bible teaches us clearly that if we believe in 184 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:56,200 who He is, this God man, and if we believe in what he has done, 185 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:00,320 living a perfect life, dying and atoning death in our place, and 186 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,240 raising to life on the third day and ascending into heaven from 187 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,440 which he will return. If we believe in who He is and 188 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:10,480 what he has done, and if we confess this belief and trust 189 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:17,960 him and follow him, the Bible says we will be saved and then 190 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:25,640 our faith will take action, as it did for Joseph, righteous 191 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:30,240 Joseph, who heroically embraced a life of low reputation. 192 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,520 He must have known and believed that he was a Sinner. 193 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,120 He must have known that he needed his son more than his son 194 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:40,120 needed him. He must have believed that his 195 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,920 son was a true hero. And this saving faith in Joseph 196 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,800 motivated his courageous obedience to flee from Herod, to 197 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:57,280 take his family down into Egypt, to live as a refugee, to come 198 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:01,000 back up into the land, to take care of him the rest of his 199 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,400 life, to to cheat teach him the trade as to be the Carpenter, to 200 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,080 teach him how to obey God and to live according to the law. 201 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,440 Jesus our Lord learned these things from his stepfather 202 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:18,200 Joseph. Not only does Jesus save 203 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,360 sinners, but there's another name given for him in this text. 204 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:26,440 Did you see it, Emmanuel? Emmanuel gives the faithful 205 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:31,120 himself. We love our favorite things, but 206 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:32,720 we need more than our favorite things. 207 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:37,320 We need God Himself. We're going to give presents 208 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:38,720 tomorrow. Many of us will. 209 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,560 And you really hope that your kids love you as much as their 210 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:45,440 toys, or at least more than their toys. 211 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:47,520 You're happy to give them toys. You'll tell them about the 212 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:49,480 greatest gift ever given the Lord Jesus Christ. 213 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,560 But you do hope that down in their little hearts of hearts 214 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,280 that their true affection isn't just for the stuff that you 215 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,200 give, but for you, their parents. 216 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,280 It's so often so easy to slip into a type of Christianity that 217 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:09,520 just wants Jesus for the stuff, Forgetting about the suffering 218 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:14,720 that comes with this and forgetting about he himself as 219 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:18,160 the point. This Christ candle is the point. 220 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:24,120 Emmanuel gives the faithful the gift of Himself. 221 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,880 It's easy to think of salvation merely in terms of rescue. 222 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,160 Isn't it? Be hard to remember that we're 223 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,320 not only saved from negative consequences, but we're saved 224 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,200 for something and someone better? 225 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,480 And it could be tempting to think that that something better 226 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,360 is some vague notion of heaven, a place of beauty where we're 227 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,480 free from suffering and reunited with our loved ones. 228 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:55,360 This is all good, but it can be easy to forget, can be easy to 229 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,080 forget that there's something better in heaven is is 230 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,720 infinitely better than a pain free existence in a pretty place 231 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,200 surrounded by our relatives. The point, the point is not only 232 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,760 those beautiful things, but the things that they point to, the 233 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,920 giver of all good things, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 234 00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:16,440 The Bible teaches us that the good news of salvation is not 235 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,720 merely rescue from hell, but in an in an eternity in heaven. 236 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:24,480 The greatest sadness of Adam and Eve being banished from the 237 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,280 garden wasn't that they lost the pretty orchard. 238 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,360 The biggest tragedy of that story is that they were banished 239 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:34,120 from the intimacy of being with God in unbroken fellowship. 240 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,120 And so the whole Old Testament is obsessed with this problem 241 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:43,120 being rectified. How do we get intimacy with God? 242 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:48,360 How do we get that Paradise regained all of the Old 243 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:50,360 Testaments pointing to Jesus the Messiah. 244 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:57,400 Now he's here, Now he's here, and he's literally called God 245 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:04,920 with us, God with us, Emmanuel. And that's the most thrilling 246 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:10,200 thing about the entire story. Do you long for him, my friends? 247 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,360 Do you miss Him? Does your heart break for those 248 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,200 who don't know him or don't value him? 249 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:23,480 Lord, help us increase our love for you so that we can say with 250 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:29,400 a psalmist, My soul thirsts for you as a deer pants for streams 251 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,720 of water. May He fill us with longing for 252 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,480 His Word and for His people, but most especially for His very 253 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:44,440 self. Christmas Hymn in the children's 254 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,440 section. Be near me. 255 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:55,360 Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me. 256 00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:00,000 I pray. We want Emmanuel, we want God 257 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,880 with us. Bless all the dear children in 258 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:10,720 Thy tender care and fit us for heaven to live with thee there. 259 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:16,800 Precious Emmanuel, we never ever wanted to be parted from You. 260 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:20,680 Lord Jesus, hold us close and never let us go. 261 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:25,520 And please come into our darkness again. 262 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:31,440 Come quickly. We long for thine Advent here 263 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,800 and we pray. How long, O Lord? 264 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:39,800 How long? So we've seen the authentic 265 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:45,080 faith in Jesus saves us from our sins, unites us with Emmanuel, 266 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:50,000 and inspires us to courageously and lovingly obey His commands, 267 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:57,200 even if it means suffering. Now it's time we're coming up 268 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:02,320 close to this spreading light as we sing The Silent Night and we 269 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,040 recognize that Jesus is the light of the world. 270 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,320 And though the darkness tried to overcome it, he could not snuff 271 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,120 him out. And so with this great hope, we 272 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:17,480 will sing together and carry out this tradition and move into 273 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:23,080 Christmas time and into the New Year with gospel hope, with a 274 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:29,240 deep and growing faith, with the joy of the Lord and the peace of 275 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:33,240 Christ ruling in our hearts, giving us a tranquility that the 276 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,520 world doesn't have any categories for. 277 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:38,360 May it be so. Let us pray. 278 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,320 Father in Heaven, we thank you for this beautiful text. 279 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:47,960 Thank you for Joseph, heroic stepfather to our Lord. 280 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,200 We pray, Lord, that in his model and His example, we too can be 281 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:57,720 rekindled and enjoy the courageous faith that comes and 282 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:02,360 the obedience that comes from from the gospel and the power of 283 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:06,200 the Spirit working in US. Bless us as we pray and we sing 284 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,240 and we participate this tradition and be with the 285 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,400 children. Bless them as they grow. 286 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,480 In the strong name of Christ our Lord, we pray. 287 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:16,080 Amen.