1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,360 So what I want to do is look at the coming Messiah from the 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,160 perspective of Mary and Joseph. You know, how did this all 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:08,640 happened? How did it all become? 4 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:11,080 And so we're going to be in Matthew chapter 1. 5 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,720 We're going to look at verses 18 through 25. 6 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,120 You know, Joseph is one of those characters that in the Bible 7 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,880 doesn't get too much love. You don't hear a lot about 8 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,520 Joseph. You don't hear much said about 9 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:24,360 Joseph. Joseph doesn't really even say a 10 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:28,440 lot, but I believe that today as we look at the story of the 11 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,240 Messiah coming, there's something that we could learn 12 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,080 from both Mary and Joseph and that we could apply to our 13 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:35,800 lives. So we're going to look at 14 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,400 starting on verse 18. And for you guys that are new, 15 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,640 pretty much what we do, we just walk through the text and see 16 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,840 what the Bible says because I'm not that smart. 17 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,160 All right, so here we go. So let's look at verse 18. 18 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:50,560 And this is what the word the Lord says. 19 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:54,600 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. 20 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:59,320 His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before 21 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,560 they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the 22 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,360 Holy Spirit in verse 19. Because Joseph, her husband, was 23 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:12,040 faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public 24 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,160 disgrace. He made in He made in mind to 25 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:21,080 divorce her quietly. All right, so this is not your 26 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,320 normal Taylor Swift love song. So like when we think of Mary 27 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:30,520 and Joseph, we really never talk about how they how the union of 28 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,400 them two came together. When we talk about the Angel 29 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,760 appearing to them, she's going to give birth to the Messiah. 30 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,800 But what I want to look at is let's peel the onion back a 31 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,200 little bit and see where this came from. 32 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:47,280 So let's look at verse 18. This is how the birth of Jesus 33 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,960 the Messiah came about. So this is how it all happened. 34 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,680 So we got to look at the text, right? 35 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,640 So when we talk about Jesus, when we talk about Christmas, 36 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,040 when we talk about God stepping out of heaven and taking on 37 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:05,080 human form, this is the story right here. 38 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:11,120 His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before 39 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,160 they came together she found out to be pregnant. 40 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,640 All right, so Ricky, I don't understand this wording before 41 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:20,880 they came to. So pretty much when you in the 42 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,320 text when you see came together took her home. 43 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,600 That means consummated the marriage. 44 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,520 That means they got it on for you guys that need a little bit 45 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:35,120 more help. So we got to look at some 46 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:40,200 cultural considerations when we talk about Joseph and Mary. 47 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,720 So when we look at the Jewish culture, it's not just like what 48 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,520 we think marriage looks like. So like I fall in love, I pop a 49 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,680 knee down after I tell Rachel to get up. 50 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:52,600 I'm supposed to do that. I'm joking. 51 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,000 Where's Rachel? And then just rolled her eyes. 52 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,920 All right, so and then, you know, I asked for a hand in 53 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,720 marriage and, and, and then you start working from there. 54 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,960 But in the Jewish culture of this time, there's actually 3 55 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:06,520 phases to marriage. So go ahead. 56 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,280 I'm going to go and put that on the screen so that way we have a 57 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,000 better understanding, right? So in the Jewish culture, you 58 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,920 have the espousal phase, then you have the betrothal, and then 59 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:22,080 you have the actual marriage. So the espousal phase is pretty 60 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,840 much when mom and dad come together and they start having 61 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,040 conversations about who their son and daughter shouldn't 62 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,160 marry. And they start analyzing things 63 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,360 and maybe people they've been in their, in their family or their, 64 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,680 their group of friends or in their friends circles. 65 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,640 And they start having these communications of like, you know 66 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,480 what? You know, I think like, let's 67 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,240 say it was my parents, man, I think Ricky would be really good 68 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,120 with her because like, he doesn't like to talk a lot, but 69 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:49,680 she talks a lot, man. Nothing would be a great 70 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,320 combination. Like, I don't know, like. 71 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,240 So they start having these conversations together about who 72 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,600 should marry each other. Now, in this time also marriages 73 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:03,120 would happen between the age of 15, literally 15 to 17 years 74 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,880 old. So they got married very young 75 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:11,680 in those days. And then once both sets of 76 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:16,959 parents would agree on the union of what should happen, there was 77 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:19,399 some contractual agreements as well. 78 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:24,920 So the father of the groom would be giving gifts or whether it's 79 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:29,120 land or cattle or money, whatever that looked like to the 80 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,640 father of the bride because the father of the bride was in 81 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,880 charge of the wedding and the weddings would last about 7 82 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,280 days. So there was a lot of agreements 83 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:41,120 that happened. There was some exchanging and 84 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,360 gifts. And then once the families both 85 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:49,600 agreed that this thing should be going down, then you enter into 86 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:54,000 a betrothal. Now a betrothal is pretty much 87 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,440 that me and, or Joseph and Mary are going to be married one day, 88 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:00,800 but they're, they're living apart. 89 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,120 So they, they've, they've all agreed everything is good to go. 90 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,000 You're pretty much my wife. But we're not going to 91 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,560 consummate the marriage until we actually get into the marriage. 92 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:17,160 So this Petroto stage is about 6 months to a year. 93 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:22,280 And this gives time for them to really, truly understand what 94 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:24,920 they're committing to. And it gives the man of the 95 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,080 house or the groom time to set up the life that he's going to 96 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,360 take care of when it comes to his wife. 97 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,800 So he said stuff where they live, work, how's he going to 98 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:36,880 take care of her? All that stuff happens in this 99 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,240 one year. So they're pretty much in 100 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,120 agreement contractually. It's like the equivalent of you 101 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:48,880 going to the courthouse and getting married, but yet you're 102 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,480 not living together. That's not yet. 103 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:57,200 That's the betrothal. And this phase was so serious 104 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,680 that if you enter into the betrothal phase and you decide 105 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,080 that you don't want to do this anymore, you have to, by law, 106 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:11,280 get a divorce. And what we see in scripture is 107 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:16,600 because this was a a highly religious time, morally strong 108 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,760 and they followed the law to the T, The only way that you would 109 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:29,120 divorce is infidelity. So in the Petrothal stage, after 110 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,120 a year, after everything, after all the agreements, everything 111 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:37,000 was good to go, then comes the marriage and the marriage 112 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:39,720 celebration would last about 7 days. 113 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,120 See y'all think your quinceaneras are live? 114 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,880 Try doing that for seven days. The marriage piece is so 115 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,360 serious. Remember when Jesus went to 116 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,200 Canaan and he walked into the marriage and they ran out of 117 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,280 wine and it was a big deal. So Jesus turns the water into 118 00:06:56,280 --> 00:06:59,560 wine and they're like man, usually the wine comes out great 119 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,400 at first, but man, you save the best for last. 120 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,600 You see, when a man has a daughter, what we see culturally 121 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,920 is that they would put 1 barrel of wine every single year that 122 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,560 she turned for her birthday and they put it away and it begins 123 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,440 to ferment and begins to grow and it begins to get better and 124 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:21,960 better. So by the time the wedding 125 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:26,160 comes, when she's married, they take that barrel of wine out and 126 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,720 they celebrate, they toast to the fathers and they use the 127 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,760 best wine. Marriage was a big deal. 128 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:38,720 It was very sacred. Also, God honors purity. 129 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,280 It took a very, very serious here. 130 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,920 So what we see here is that Joseph and Mary, they were in 131 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,640 the betrothal stage. They were in that process. 132 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,280 There were agreements made, there were gifts given. 133 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,880 They were going to get married soon. 134 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,480 They were contractually married, but they were in this phase in 135 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:07,960 the Jewish culture. Then Joseph discover something 136 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:14,120 devastating. Look at 19 because Joseph, her 137 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,480 husband was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose 138 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:23,280 her public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 139 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:27,520 So Angel of the Lord approaches Mary. 140 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,360 This is out of Luke chapter 1 and you could you could read 141 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,720 about Joseph and Mary in the 1st chapter of Luke. 142 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,880 And also before we move forward, what do we know about Joseph and 143 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:42,679 Mary? The first time we see Joseph 144 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:47,480 mentioned is in Luke 126 and 27. It says that he's a descendant 145 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,160 of David. But we also see that the first 146 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,560 time that Mary's mentioned, an Angel of the Lord appears to her 147 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,040 and says, I'm going to, you're going to be given a child. 148 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,040 He's going to be the Messiah of the world. 149 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:02,000 But I love what verse 38 says because this is a lot about Mary 150 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:04,680 that I think all of us could learn from. 151 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,960 Mary ends that and she says I am the the Lord's servant. 152 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:15,360 May your word be fulfilled. So what we know about Joseph and 153 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:17,280 Mary, they both honored the Lord. 154 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:20,720 They both loved the Lord. They both were servants of the 155 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,880 Lord. They were both obedient to the 156 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:24,200 Lord. And let me tell you something, 157 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,760 if I'm God and I'm going to put something on earth, that man, my 158 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,000 son, I'm going to give him to somebody. 159 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,320 I'm going to look for people who are obedient and faithful to me. 160 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,440 And I think this is a great lesson for a lot of us. 161 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,360 But where's your faithfulness? Where's your obedience? 162 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,960 Where's your like? Do you love like, do you pray? 163 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,360 Do you do these spiritual disciplines? 164 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:49,760 And we see this with Mary and Joseph. 165 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,680 They love the Lord. They, they followed his law and 166 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:56,960 God chose them to bring in the Messiah. 167 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,600 And because Joseph was faithful to the law, that means that 168 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,600 Joseph honored the law. He loved the law, he studied it. 169 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:12,400 He knew that with Mary getting pregnant, it was not going to be 170 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,640 good. You see in Deuteronomy chapter 171 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:21,520 22, verse 23, stoning was legal when somebody committed 172 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:25,360 adultery. So the the husband of the groom 173 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,760 had every right to pick up a stone and gather everybody 174 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,480 together and stone his wife if she committed adultery. 175 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,400 The law was serious. This was a moral, a high moral 176 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:42,920 that they were living in. And Joseph knew that if news 177 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,360 came out that Mary was pregnant while they were in their 178 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:49,840 betrothal, people could take it the wrong way and it could shame 179 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:51,520 her. It could even like it might even 180 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,480 take her life. But what does Joseph do? 181 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:57,760 He's like, you know what? I'm, I'm going to, I have it in 182 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:02,160 my mind to divorce her quietly. And when you cross reference 183 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:04,960 this and you look at all this, Joseph is going through a 184 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,200 dilemma right now. So he discovers that Mary is 185 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,320 pregnant with child through the Holy Spirit. 186 00:11:11,560 --> 00:11:13,560 Now he has a dilemma. He's like, man, this is what's 187 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:15,680 going down. How do I manage this? 188 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,080 And it says that man with this moral code that I'm living in 189 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,200 and this this high religious state, how am I going to manage 190 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,560 this in this society? But because Joseph was a 191 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:28,600 righteous man, he knew to do the right thing. 192 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:34,120 So he probably stayed up. It probably just boggled his 193 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,360 mind. And I love what verse 20 says 194 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,160 because it says but but after he considered this, that means that 195 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,240 he was thinking about it. Have you guys ever been troubled 196 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:51,320 so badly or so hard that you had a hard time sleeping where you 197 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,800 lay down in bed And it's like your mind just keeps going in 198 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,640 circles and it's like, you can't, you can't rest like you 199 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,160 can't just like, relax. And what we see here is that 200 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,880 Joseph considered this. That means that he stayed up. 201 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,840 He constantly thought about it, but then it says that he fell 202 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,480 asleep. How do we know he slept? 203 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,400 Because an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. 204 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:20,760 And let me remind us, I think sometimes some of us just need 205 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:25,320 to go to sleep when things are bothering us. 206 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,720 When things are like when you're restless, put your phone away 207 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,880 and take a nap, go to bed, give it to God, just go to sleep. 208 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,520 I think there's sometimes that's the best thing that some of us 209 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,320 could do. And Joseph was asleep and then 210 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,480 the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 211 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:48,240 Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your 212 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:53,600 wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 213 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,720 It's not wild, like everything just seemed off, but it's funny 214 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,440 because even though everything seemed off, the Holy Spirit was 215 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,800 working. So Joseph was confused. 216 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:06,760 He didn't know what was going on. 217 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:11,120 An Angel of the Lord came, talked to him in a dream while 218 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,920 he was asleep. So we talk about dreams. 219 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,680 Joseph has four dreams during this whole story of Jesus being 220 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:22,320 born. There's four times that God 221 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,120 speaks to Joseph in a dream, and it must have been to get really 222 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,880 gathers attention. God says it's all right to take 223 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,000 Mary as your wife. That's dream 1 #2 Joseph, get 224 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,520 out of here. Herod is coming after your life 225 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,080 #3 Herod is gone. It's OK to come back home. 226 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,520 And then dream number 4 was, hey, as you come back home, go a 227 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:43,320 different route. I want you to go through 228 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,320 Nazarene so that way the prophecy can be fulfilled. 229 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,840 We look at dreams in scriptures, the Bible. 230 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,760 There's actually about 21 dreams that God uses to speak to 231 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,480 people. 11 of them have to do with Joseph. 232 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:00,640 There's a few in the book of Daniel that are sprinkled there. 233 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,240 Even if you look at culture, you hear a lot of stories of people 234 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:10,160 that are in Islam having dreams of Jesus appearing to them and 235 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:15,200 they convert their lives. So in the Scripture, we don't 236 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:17,360 see a lot of dreams. Like kind of the way that we 237 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,920 think about it, it's a way of God getting our attention and 238 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:26,120 God speaking to us and we have his word as well. 239 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:31,600 But this dream is an under score of the supernatural character of 240 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,720 Christ's Advent. Jesus is coming. 241 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:36,600 There's something supernatural happening here. 242 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,000 God is speaking to Joseph through a dream. 243 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,800 So that way he he's sure of what he's going to do. 244 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,240 And Joseph obeys him. Don't forget that. 245 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,520 And in verse 21, she will give birth to a son, and he will give 246 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:55,480 him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their 247 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,120 sins. So Joseph has this dilemma. 248 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,760 Then God speaks to him through a dream, and then in the dream God 249 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,280 gives him some instructions and he's like, hey, when this child 250 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,720 is born, Joseph, you're going to name him Jesus. 251 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,280 Why Jesus? Why Joshua? 252 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,720 Or you can even say Joshua. What, what? 253 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:17,560 Why? Because the word does the name 254 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:22,560 Jesus means Savior. It means Jehovah saves. 255 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:29,600 It means the Lord my salvation. He gave the name Jesus because 256 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,960 it it was what he was came to do on this earth to save us. 257 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:36,960 It wasn't just the roll of the dice. 258 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:38,800 And no they didn't call him Chewie. 259 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,400 I know y'all thinking that they called him Jesus. 260 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,960 And listen in the book of Matthew they give, they give 261 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:53,440 about 6 titles to Jesus. They call him they call him the 262 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:55,680 son of David. They call him the Son of 263 00:15:55,680 --> 00:16:01,320 Abraham, the Christ, Yeshua, Emmanuel, and in Jesus or Jesus 264 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,720 Christ, that's the name that we've come to embrace, to call 265 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:06,960 him. Why? 266 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,560 Because Acts 412 says for there is no other name under heaven 267 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:16,520 and earth that anyone will find salvation under Jesus. 268 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:21,200 So we claim the name of Jesus, we say the name of Jesus, we 269 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,800 worship Jesus because there's salvation in that name. 270 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,680 That's the only name that anything happens under. 271 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,440 And I love how sometimes I think, as I was reading and 272 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,840 praying over this, I felt like the Holy Spirit's like, don't 273 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:39,120 overthink it. Sometimes we tend to overthink 274 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,800 things and we, we say these names like we, we know what they 275 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:44,560 mean. And as we pray, we're, we're 276 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,640 busting out like, Oh, Christos, Yahweh, listen, just say Jesus, 277 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,080 don't overthink it. That's the name that we call 278 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:53,800 him. That's the name that we use. 279 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,640 That's the name that God says, like call him by his name, which 280 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,200 is Jesus. And then verse 22, So he's given 281 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,000 instructions. And then all this took place to 282 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,920 fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. 283 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,760 What prophet? Daniel, which we talked about 284 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,720 last week. He says the virgin will conceive 285 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,760 and give birth to a son. That is Daniel Chapter 7 verse 286 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:24,200 14 and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with 287 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:30,840 us, Jesus stepping out of heaven, coming to earth to have 288 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,720 a relationship with us as the Lord walking amongst us. 289 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:41,080 John one for the word became light, John 114 and it dwell 290 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,400 amongst us. That's what this is all about. 291 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,280 It's about having a purse, a close and personal relationship 292 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:53,520 with Jesus Christ because He wants to have one with us and he 293 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:57,920 came to save us of our sins, to give us a new life, to restore 294 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,080 the broken, and to give us peace. 295 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,920 So it is God with us. The reason why all this is going 296 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:09,960 down is because this has been prophesied hundreds of years 297 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,400 before. This is what the whole Bible's 298 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:17,080 about now. Why does Matthew mention all 299 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,560 this stuff? Because Matthew, the book of 300 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,640 Matthew, was written with a Jewish audience in mind. 301 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,040 So Matthew talks a lot about the Old Testament. 302 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:27,840 He talks a lot about the prophets. 303 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,800 He talks a lot about like the Greek and, and the names of God, 304 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:32,960 the Hebrew. Why? 305 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,720 Because he's writing to a Jewish audience and he wants them to 306 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,560 see that every single thing in the Old Testament, everything in 307 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,920 God's Word, everything in the Torah is 1 big fat neon sign 308 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:48,600 that points to Christ. So Matthew is letting us know 309 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,920 who the audience is. And I think, and I want to look 310 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,280 at verse 23. I thought this was interesting. 311 00:18:56,120 --> 00:19:01,120 In verse 23, I think one of the biggest keywords that we have in 312 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:07,640 verse 23 is the word the what does he say? 313 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:14,560 The virgin will conceive the word the is pointing out to a 314 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:18,800 very specific individual. This means that this was not a 315 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:23,000 random act of God. God had this set in motion from 316 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,000 the the foundations of the world. 317 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,800 So the beginning of everything that he was going to choose a 318 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,000 virgin and her name was going to be Mary. 319 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:37,360 He had this in mind. The virgin will conceive Mary 320 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:40,640 was God's plan. She was to be the mother of 321 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:45,240 Jesus, not of anyone else. A specific woman known as the 322 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:50,600 Virgin Mary. God knew, and it's very, very 323 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,080 specific and timely. And listen, this is something 324 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:55,800 that we have to understand. This was God's plan. 325 00:19:56,120 --> 00:20:00,080 God knew who he chose. And in verse 24, when Joseph 326 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,680 woke up because he was asleep, Angel spoke to him. 327 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,080 With the dream, when Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the 328 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:11,680 Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 329 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:19,040 So Joseph now had the same attitude as Mary did for the 330 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,880 Lord. Remember, Mary obeyed the Lord. 331 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:25,960 Mary honored the Lord. That means that Mary was 332 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,000 constantly in His word. But watch this. 333 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:33,080 That means that Mary surrendered her will to the Lord, that she 334 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:37,480 served him, that she knew that the Messiah was coming through 335 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,160 her. And it says that Joseph, now him 336 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:46,200 obeying the Lord, shows the same exact surrender to him. 337 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,680 So it says that the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home 338 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,480 as his wife, but they did not consummate the marriage. 339 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:59,360 Yet Joseph did what was asked. See, Mary was bringing mankind, 340 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:03,400 but the Holy Spirit was bringing in heaven and only God can link 341 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,480 those two together. So it had to be 100% man and and 342 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,880 100% God. The Messiah needed to be both of 343 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:17,080 them. So Joseph took Mary home, but 344 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,560 they did not consummate the marriage until Jesus was born. 345 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:27,120 Joseph was very faithful and that's what verse 25 says. 346 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:32,520 She gave birth to a son and he gave him the name Jesus. 347 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,640 You know, when I think about when you look at the story of 348 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:42,520 Mary, Joseph in Christ, when we see everything, there's a 349 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:47,080 keyword here that I, I want us to, to understand and know when 350 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:52,040 we think of Christmas. The keyword here is surrender. 351 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,920 When you think of Christmas, you you don't normally think of 352 00:21:55,920 --> 00:22:00,040 that. Mary surrendered to the will of 353 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,560 God and did everything that he asked her to do. 354 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:10,680 Joseph surrendered to the will of God and did everything that 355 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,760 God asked him to do. And Jesus surrendered to the 356 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,560 will of God, stepping out of heaven, taking place in a 357 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:23,880 Manger, living humbly as a servant all the way to the cross 358 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:27,680 to die for our sins. Even in in the Garden of 359 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,120 Gethsemane as he's cries like Lord, like if there's any other 360 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:34,200 way to do this, please do it. He goes, but not my will, but 361 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,920 yours. That's surrender. 362 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:41,800 And listen until you're willing to surrender your will to the 363 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,640 Lord. Unless you're willing to 364 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,800 surrender, you will miss out on what the Lord wants to do 365 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:52,360 through you. I think we say Merry Christmas. 366 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,240 It's a great way to greet people. 367 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,440 We say a lot of things like Christ and Christmas, don't miss 368 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,600 it. But I think Merry Christmas is 369 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:06,560 great because the story of the Messiah is a story of surrender 370 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,320 and it's good for us to follow kind of. 371 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,360 I want to close today is looking at Joseph. 372 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,920 You know, what we see in the Scriptures, Joseph, you don't 373 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,480 hear Joseph say anything. You just see him do stuff. 374 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,360 You know, he speaks to Mary. But every time the Lord tells 375 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:32,600 Joseph, Joseph obeys. And I think there's some things 376 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,560 I want, you know, that we could learn from Joseph as him and 377 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:42,680 Mary brought the Messiah in. And I think especially just 378 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,920 talking to our our men in this room, there's some things that 379 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:52,680 we could learn from Joseph. He doesn't say much, but he does 380 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,280 a lot. And I think some of us as we 381 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,400 listen to people, we need to start not just listening with 382 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,440 our ears, but we got to listen with our eyes as well. 383 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,480 You can say all you want, but I got to see something. 384 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,840 And the same thing, Joseph, what we see here is that Joseph 385 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:12,760 obeyed the Lord. So what can we learn from Joseph 386 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,280 out of the text? And I just hope that this serves 387 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,240 as an encouragement to all of us, especially US men in the 388 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,960 room. So #1 what do we learn about 389 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,040 Joseph? Joseph was faithful to the word. 390 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,920 Joseph was faithful to the law. We saw that earlier in the text. 391 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,000 That's how he is described in this text. 392 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,000 They don't say much about Joseph. 393 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,520 They just say that he's the son of David. 394 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,680 But but Joseph was also faithful to the law of the Lord. 395 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:47,560 David talks about how David, I delight in the law and there's a 396 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:52,400 difference between legalism and spiritual disciplines and 397 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,280 listen, being in the word, loving the word of God, 398 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,960 following the word of God is not legalism. 399 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,760 Legalism says I'm going to do these things so that way God 400 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,000 will love me. That's legalism. 401 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,520 But loving God's word, this is not legalism. 402 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,520 It is a spiritual discipline that listen to me like Joseph, I 403 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,880 hope that I am known for like that. 404 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,360 That's my like goal in life is that man, if Ricky were to 405 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:23,520 disappear from this world, one thing that I wish, I hope he's 406 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,000 known for is that that brother loved his kids and also that he 407 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,440 loved the Lord and he loved his word. 408 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,800 And listen, all of us can be here. 409 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,320 We have to love the law of God. We have to love His Word. 410 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,920 Listen, the law is what's going to sustain the grass Withers and 411 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:46,440 the flowers fadeth, but the word of the Lord last forever. 412 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,880 And listen, if we want to sustain, we got to be like 413 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,440 Joseph and love the law. Because when you have God's word 414 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,360 inside of you, when you Start learning his word, you're able 415 00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:00,720 to manage and maneuver life. And when difficult things and 416 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:05,080 things that are confusing come to you because you have the word 417 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,040 of the Lord in your heart and because you're so ingrained and 418 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,880 you're anchored on His word, which is unshakable, you're 419 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,120 going to be able to manage lifeway better, which Jesus said 420 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:18,840 the second part, what did we learn about Joseph? 421 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:23,680 Joseph had high character. Joseph was a man of high 422 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,120 character. How do we know this? 423 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:31,520 Because when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he 424 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,360 didn't go and run to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the 425 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:37,880 judge. He, he didn't just throw her 426 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,440 out. He said, you know what, Like if 427 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,240 I'm gonna have to do something, I'm gonna do quietly because I 428 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:47,000 care about her. High character is what do you do 429 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:52,520 when nobody's looking at you? What is your life look like when 430 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,480 nobody sees it? How do you see? 431 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,200 How do you plan things? How do you, how do you talk 432 00:26:58,200 --> 00:26:59,680 about people? How do you treat people? 433 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:04,240 Can't, I can't help but see the love of God's word and his law 434 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:10,440 is tied to high character. And if you have trouble with 435 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,720 high character, maybe it's because you don't have enough 436 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,320 word in your life. So we've got to have God's word 437 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,760 more, Joseph said. You know what, I'm not going to 438 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:22,400 expose her in public. I'm not going to do that. 439 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,680 I love Mary. I care about Mary. 440 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,920 And even though I have every right, and even even though I 441 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:36,720 have every reason to go ahead and walk away from this thing, I 442 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,160 care about her too much. Listen, that's high character 443 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,600 Joseph had that. He could have exposed or he 444 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,600 didn't do it. But also when you have high 445 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:51,400 character, you are an emotionally stable human being. 446 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,000 And we need some more emotional health in our life because when 447 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,960 things come at us and when things are difficult, if I buy 448 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:06,560 into my feels and my emotions, which are out of my flesh, I am 449 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:08,800 going to operate outside of God's law. 450 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,720 I'm not going to think through it, but if I have God's law and 451 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,320 I'm ingrained in it, then I'm going to know how to deal with 452 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,440 things and act a certain way because I understand what His 453 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:25,320 word says and I trust it and it's ingrained in my soul and in 454 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,920 my spirit. I'm able to handle now more 455 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,080 difficult and confusing and frustrating situations. 456 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,760 Listen for Joseph. Can you imagine telling your 457 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,000 boys this? Hey, dude, I heard Mary got 458 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,840 pregnant. It wasn't me who did it. 459 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,280 The Holy Spirit, man, come on, you going to get adna test? 460 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,720 I mean, like think about like there's so many things like we 461 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,560 read this and it's just like whatever, but think about like 462 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:59,080 seriously, if I'm I'm scheduled, like I'm going to get married to 463 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:00,800 my fiance. She's like Ricky, I'm pregnant 464 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:06,960 by the Holy Spirit. I'm like, guys, there's so much 465 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:12,200 in this, but the Lord was guiding both, the Lord was 466 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,480 speaking to both, the Lord was leading both. 467 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,840 And if they did not surrender to the will of God, it would be a 468 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,560 whole different story. But the Lord knew because they 469 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,680 were both faithful, Mary and Joseph. 470 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:29,400 Joseph was a man of high character and high integrity, 471 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:33,200 and he cared about Mary. He loved Mary and listen, he let 472 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:38,280 his actions do the talking. He didn't just yap about it. 473 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,760 No, he he showed it. He took good care of her and 474 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,000 listen, that's something that we could learn from Joseph. 475 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,520 Joseph didn't just love God's law as we see in the text, but 476 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,080 Joseph had high character because of how he handled the 477 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:56,880 situation and how he treated Mary during all of this time. 478 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,320 And there's a land of story we're not even talking about 479 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:03,680 right now, but Joseph handled it well. 480 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,560 Next thing we learn about Joseph, go ahead and put the 481 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,840 next one up, is that he lived a surrendered life. 482 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,120 He lived a surrendered life. He surrendered to God's calling 483 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,440 and his will and his life to the point that we see in verse 24 484 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,160 when the Angel says, I need you to take Mary as your wife. 485 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,640 And then the next verse it says, and Joseph did so when God told 486 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:30,760 him what to do, he just did it. God commanded him and he did it. 487 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,520 God commanded him and he did it. And when you live a life that is 488 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,440 surrendered to the Lord, when you see God tell you to do 489 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:41,440 something, you do it. It's difficult, it's hard, it's 490 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,560 scary. You live in faith and you walk 491 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,040 and you do it because we have the Messiah with us, Emmanuel, 492 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,400 God with us. So you're not doing it alone, 493 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,120 you have Christ. Many of us have to kind of get 494 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:58,720 over this me centered life, surrender it to the Lord and 495 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,680 follow him and you're going to see Scott do some amazing things 496 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:06,680 in your life. Joseph, both Joseph and Mary 497 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,400 love the Lord. Both Joseph and Mary surrender 498 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,080 to the Lord and I promise you right now both Joseph and Mary 499 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,000 are standing at the feet of Jesus and eternity worshipping 500 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,880 him. They live the life surrendered. 501 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,600 Then the last thing, and we'll close with this, Joseph 502 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:34,120 understood the big picture. Joseph understood the big 503 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,320 picture. He understood that this was 504 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:42,000 beyond himself. He understood that this was 505 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,240 something that that was beyond his comprehension. 506 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:49,280 It was beyond his means, and I love what it says. 507 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:55,000 Therefore, the Lord used Him. When you live a life that's 508 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:01,280 surrendered and you understand the bigger picture in following 509 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:05,240 Christ, the bigger picture when it comes to ministry, the bigger 510 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:06,880 picture when it comes to all of this. 511 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:12,720 Listen, church isn't about you. Church is about the Messiah. 512 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,880 Church is about worshipping Jesus and knowing Him and 513 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,600 serving Him and giving our lives for Him. 514 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,960 And it's hard. Trust me, ministry is hard, 515 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,360 loving people's heart, discipling people's heart, all 516 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,480 these things that we practice and that we do, it's difficult. 517 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:32,920 But listen, the bigger picture here is the rule and reign of 518 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,520 the Messiah of Jesus Christ. We want to know Him and make Him 519 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,160 known, and there's a lot more people who need to know Him. 520 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,680 He came to fix the broken. He came to redeem us back to 521 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,440 God. He came to bring peace, mercy, 522 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:53,320 grace, and there's people outside who are living, not 523 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:58,280 knowing the Messiah, and we have it. 524 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,240 The bigger picture is not us. The bigger picture is not my 525 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,520 comfort. The bigger picture is not the 526 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:06,800 career I want. The bigger picture is not who 527 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,480 I'm going to marry. The bigger picture is serving 528 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,200 King Jesus and He's why we do what we do. 529 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:18,440 So I want to invite you today, if you not, if you have not 530 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:23,960 decided to follow Jesus, if you have not decided to surrender 531 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,520 your life and your heart to Christ the Messiah, today's a 532 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,480 great day for you. We're going to have some 533 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,160 brothers and sisters up here in the front. 534 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:33,520 I'll be up here in the front too. 535 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:35,920 Love to pray for you. If you want to make a decision 536 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,760 for Christ, come. We would love to talk with you. 537 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,720 We would love to just chat with you and lead you to that. 538 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:48,680 What are you missing out on? Think about your life. 539 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,800 What what are you missing out on that God has for you? 540 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,080 But because you haven't surrendered your life, you 541 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:55,800 haven't been able to experience it. 542 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,480 And the truth is that he tells you what to do when you 543 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,560 surrender life, He's going to tell you what to do. 544 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,000 But when he tells you what to do is not just a good thing, it's 545 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:07,120 the best thing. And when you walk with him and 546 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,840 you follow him, there's nothing like it. 547 00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:13,400 And some of us today need to say, Lord, I'm all in. 548 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,080 And listen, when you say Lord, I'm all in. 549 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,880 You never know how God is going to use you. 550 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:19,199 You never know he's going to rock your world. 551 00:34:19,199 --> 00:34:21,080 You never know what he has in store for you. 552 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:25,920 So Merry Christmas, surrender to Jesus.