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I believe it was the great theologian, Forrest Gump.

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Y'all, y'all have read him?

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Okay.

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Who said, life is like a box of chocolates.

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You never know what you're going to get.

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Another way people convey that same truth is by saying to expect the unexpected.

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And my youngest son Ezra, y'all know him too?

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He has taught me to embrace that truth like no other.

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Because I've literally come home and you just, you never know what you're going to get with

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Ezra.

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You never know what he's going to do.

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You never know what he's going to say.

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You never know what he's going to be wearing.

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Like I came home one time and I found Ezra wearing Ninja Turtle pajamas with snow boots,

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work gloves, swimming goggles, and Anna's scarf around his neck.

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And that was in summer.

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You just never know what you're going to get.

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And honestly, he's kind of taught me to embrace the unexpected things in life.

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And what I think is so cool about the Christmas story is even though it's a familiar story,

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when we think back to what happened over 2000 years ago, God did something that was expected

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and unexpected at the same time.

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Because every Jewish person expected God to send a Messiah.

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They expected that the Messiah would come, that he would be born from the line of David,

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that he would be in the tribe of Judah, that he would be born in Bethlehem and born of

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a virgin.

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They didn't have all the details as to the timing of when that would take place.

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But they had a lot of expectations.

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But the thing is, no one at the time expected that the Messiah was going to be born into

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their own family.

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No one expected him to come, no one expected to be the family that would bring forth the

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Messiah into the world.

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It was fine to think about the Messiah coming in a very general way, in a very global way.

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It was another thing entirely to think about the Messiah coming in a personal way.

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You know who definitely didn't expect the Messiah to come from their own family?

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An unmarried virgin named Mary, and an unknown carpenter from a small town named Joseph.

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Mary knew that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, but she never once thought that

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she would be that virgin.

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Joseph knew that the Messiah would come from the line of David, but he never thought that

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he would get to serve as the earthly father of the Messiah.

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And this is just one reason why the Christmas story is so wonderful, is because God did

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something that was expected and unexpected at the same time.

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And this baby that Mary was going to give birth to, Jesus, he would change their lives

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forever.

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Nothing would ever be the same, and his presence in their life would change everything for

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them.

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And in the same way, I want you to understand this morning that the birth of Jesus is not

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just global news for us, the birth of Jesus is personal news for us.

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His birth directly impacts our lives today, and not only that, but his presence in our

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lives changes everything.

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That's why the Bible says that Jesus is Emmanuel.

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Notice this, it means God with us, not God with the world at large, not God with everybody

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in general, not God is here, God with us.

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It is a personal pronoun, and it means that God is with you and his presence in your life

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changes everything.

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So here's what I want you to understand about this.

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As we look at what was happening here in this Christmas story, as they're about to embrace

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something that was completely unexpected for them personally, I want you to understand

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that when God is with us, he enables us to navigate life's unexpected circumstances.

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When God is with us, he enables us to navigate life's unexpected circumstances, which means

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you have to have God in your life and his presence in your life to be able to navigate

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those unexpected circumstances that you know you're going to face in life.

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I mean, you don't know exactly what's going to happen in the future.

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You don't know what the future holds or what circumstance you're going to face, but you

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know that things are going to catch you by surprise, and I'm telling you this morning

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that the only way for you to navigate those times is to have Jesus in your life.

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The question that we should consider is, well, how does the presence of God enable us to

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navigate life's unexpected circumstances?

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It's one thing to say it, but how does that actually work?

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That's what we all want to know.

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How does his presence enable us to do that?

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I want you to see how his presence enabled Joseph to navigate this unexpected circumstance

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in his life.

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If you would look with me at verses 18 and 19, the Bible says, now, the birth of Jesus

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Christ took place in this way.

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When his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was

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found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband, Joseph, being a just man

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and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

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Now, I know we're all familiar with this story, but we do need to get a little bit of cultural

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background here, because a lot of people get this wrong.

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Joseph and Mary were not engaged.

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I was actually reading a devotion to my oldest son, Judah, last night, and the devotion said

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that at this time Joseph and Mary were engaged.

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That's not right.

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They were not engaged, they were betrothed to one another.

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Betrothal was more serious than engagement.

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I know we like to think of them as being the same things today, but they were not.

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You see, in those days, most marriages were by arrangement.

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Basically, a couple of families would come together, and they would have kids of their

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own, and they would talk with one another and say, hey, let's come into some sort of

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agreement and let's marry off our kids.

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Let's pledge them to one another.

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When they are of age, they'll get married.

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It's much the same thing that I'm trying to do with the Brites, with marrying off Judah

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to Clara and Ezra to Charlotte, because we just want to see the world burn.

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That's why we're trying to marry those two.

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We're still in negotiations, so it's not quite there yet.

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But that's what families would do.

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They would say, hey, we've got some kids, let's come to some sort of agreement, and when they're

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of age, they'll get married.

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These people would be pledged to one another for most of their lives, and at some point,

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they would enter into the betrothal period.

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Now, the betrothal period lasted one year, and it was a legally binding agreement, which

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is interesting, because at this time, if you were betrothed to someone, you were legally

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considered to be husband and wife, which is why the Bible in this passage, if you look

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back, it talks about Joseph and Mary, it talks about being wife and husband, and that they

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needed a divorce.

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I don't know if you noticed that.

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And it's interesting to think about today, because again, when we think about engagement,

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and if engagement is called off, no one says, well, that couple got divorced, right?

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We just say, oh, they called off their engagement.

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But at this time, the only way to legally end a betrothal was by divorce.

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It was that serious.

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And based upon Deuteronomy 22, if a betrothed woman was found to have been indecent or to

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have slept with another man, she was to be killed by stoning.

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Although at this time, the Romans were like, yeah, we're not going to do that.

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But here's what you can do.

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If your betrothed cheats on you, then you are allowed to not only divorce that person,

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you are allowed to publicly shame that person.

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And so I know that this is a Christmas story, and because of that, we don't always think

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about how scandalous this story actually is.

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But it is actually quite scandalous.

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I mean, for a moment, imagine that you were Joseph, and you've been pledged to Mary for

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your whole life.

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And you have grown to love her, and she's the love of your life.

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And she's probably your best friend at this point.

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And you're entering into that final stage before marriage.

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You're betrothed to one another.

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Your excitement is building, and one day you go to see your wife, and you find out that

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she's pregnant.

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Now, I don't know if you've ever been cheated on, but I have multiple times, and it's not

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fun.

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It's one of the worst feelings that you can experience.

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It is ultimate betrayal.

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And so if you're Joseph here, you're angry, you're hurt, you've been betrayed, and then

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Mary, you go to her, you find out she's pregnant, and she tells you, hey, it's not what it looks

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like.

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I haven't been unfaithful to you.

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This baby is actually from the Holy Spirit.

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So let's just take a poll real quick.

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How many of you would believe her?

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All right, I was going to call you out.

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If you raised your hand, I was going to call you out from the pulpit.

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No one's believing her, right?

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Like, imagine you were a soldier, and you had been away on tour in Iraq for three years,

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and you come home to see your wife, and she is pregnant, and she tells you, hey, I know

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what it looks like, but don't worry, I haven't been unfaithful.

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This baby's from God.

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Are you believing her?

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No, of course not.

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And Joseph didn't believe Mary.

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He fully believed that she had been unfaithful to him, and so he decides to do something

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about it.

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I want you to notice this.

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The Bible says that Joseph resolved to divorce her quietly.

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And so notice this.

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Joseph had every right, according to the biblical law, and according to Roman law, not only to

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divorce his wife, but to publicly shame his wife.

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And I'll be honest with you, if this option had been available to me all those times I

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had been cheated on in my past, I would have taken them up.

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Joseph's a better man than I.

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I would have taken it up and publicly shamed every single one of them, but I digress.

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Because here we see something very interesting.

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We see the character of Joseph on display.

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Because although he was entitled to this, and although he had every right to publicly

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shame Mary, the Bible says he resolves to divorce her quietly.

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I know that tough times will build character in us, but I want you to understand something,

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church.

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Before these difficult times ever build character in us, they reveal the character that is in

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us.

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And so you need to understand that Joseph, he didn't become a righteous man at this time.

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He didn't become a just man at this time.

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His character was revealed, not created.

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And it's interesting this word where the Bible says that he was a just man.

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It's the Greek word, the kiosk, which means righteous.

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In other words, Joseph was a righteous man in the eyes of God.

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He was someone who walked with God closely.

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He was someone who was a devout follower of God and had been made righteous by God.

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And because he had been made righteous by God.

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And because God was with him, Joseph was able to do the righteous thing, even when the righteous

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thing was the hardest thing.

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And here's what I want you to understand this morning.

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God's presence enables us to show grace when we've been disgraced.

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Joseph had been disgraced by Mary, at least he thought at the time.

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And it was because of the presence of God in his life that he was able to show grace

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and extend grace when he had been disgraced and hurt and betrayed.

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And I got to see a really cool story about this last year.

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Anna and I had some fall pictures taken and it was with a photographer that we had never

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met before, but we were talking with her and I found out she was a Christian and she was

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going to another church and so we had a really good conversation.

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So what was interesting is afterward I was telling my sister about these pictures and

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she's like, oh yeah, I know that photographer.

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Did she tell you her testimony?

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And I said, no, I mean, she just told us she's a Christian, but I don't know anything else.

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And she said, well, she's got an amazing testimony because basically here's what happened.

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Basically after they had their third kid, her husband left her for the caregiver of

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his father at the time.

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And so he entered into this adulterous affair with this woman and abandoned his wife to

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take care of three kids on her own while he went and actually started living with this

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other woman.

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Now at this point, this lady had every right according to the law and the Bible to divorce

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her husband and be done with him.

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But because she was a devout follower of Christ, she began to pray.

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And she said that she had this overwhelming sensation that God was telling her her marriage

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was not over and that he could reconcile it.

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And so she decided by God's grace to do the hardest thing to do in that situation, which

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was continue to pray for her husband and for their marriage.

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And so she continued to pray that God would convict him of his sins and show him the errors

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of his way and that ultimately God would bring him back to her and restore their marriage.

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And so she kept praying and praying and eventually the Lord answered her prayer and her husband

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showed up at the house one day.

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He confessed all of his sins.

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He repented to his wife and he begged for her forgiveness.

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Now at this point, if you're the wife, you've got to be feeling pretty good, right?

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Because he's come, he's admitted that he was in the wrong, he's asking for your forgiveness.

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But it's one thing to see that forgiveness and have it be asked of you.

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It's another thing entirely to actually extend the forgiveness, is it not?

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The hardest thing to do in that situation is the righteous thing.

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And yet because this woman had been praying and because she felt certain that God was

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telling her that he was going to restore her marriage, she decided to extend grace when

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she had been disgraced.

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She decided to extend forgiveness and God actually did restore them and reconcile their

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marriage and they are happily married today and use this story as a testimony to God's

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goodness and to His grace.

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Now listen, I don't know if your situation is that drastic.

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Personally, I hope that it's not.

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I pray that you never have to experience that type of situation, but I think that we can

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all agree this morning that everybody in this room knows what it feels like to be disgraced

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by someone else.

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I think we all know what it feels like to be hurt and betrayed by those that we thought

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we could trust and those who were closest to us.

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I still remember one of the worst times I was ever betrayed was by someone in the church

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that I considered to be one of my best friends at the time and I thought there's no way

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this person did this thing and I could not believe it.

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And yet we all have experienced something like that.

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Have we not?

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Or someone's hurt us and betrayed us and let us down?

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And I just want to tell you this morning, if that has happened to you, you have every

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right to be hurt.

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You have every right to be angry and upset and distrustful, but I want to warn you and

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say that I personally know that when we're in that spot, when we have been disgraced,

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it's very easy to begin to try to be petty, right?

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It's very easy to meet disgrace with disgrace because when we've been hurt, we want to lash

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out.

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We want to publicly shame people.

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We want to put people in their place.

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We want to return the favor.

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We want to get into this contest of who can out petty who?

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And we'll see who gets the last laugh in this situation.

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And when you're hurt and when you've been betrayed and when everything in you wants

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to lash out and dish it out in return, I can just tell you this morning, the hardest thing

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to do in that situation is the righteous thing.

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It's to lay aside your rights like Joseph did here.

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To lay aside what you're entitled to and extend grace when you have been disgraced.

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And I can just tell you this morning that the only thing that's going to let you do

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that, the only thing that's going to let you put aside your rights and what you're entitled

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to and extend that grace is the presence of God in your life.

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He makes all the difference in our lives because yeah, I might have been hurt by other people

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and I might have been betrayed by other people and I might have thought I could trust someone

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and they proved me wrong, but then when I remember how many times I have hurt God and

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I remember how many times I have publicly shamed God and I remember how many times I

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have betrayed God and done things that I swore I would never do and how many times I have

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disgraced him and I remember how every single time I did that God forgave me and God met

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my disgrace with his grace and God extended his love and his mercy towards me.

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It actually frees us to be able to extend that grace and do the righteous thing even

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when it's the hardest thing.

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You cannot do it on your own, you cannot do it in your own strength, but when you are

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able to extend that grace, it is a clear evidence that God is present in your life and that

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he has changed you for the better.

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And so it was the presence of God that enabled Joseph to act righteously and extend grace

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here and I want you to notice what happens next.

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Look at verse 20.

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But as he considered these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a

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dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which

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is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

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And she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people

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from their sins.

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And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

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He called the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel

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which means God with us.

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And so notice what happens here.

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God through this angel gives Joseph all the information he needs to alleviate his fears.

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He is telling Joseph that no, Mary has not been unfaithful.

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She is not lying to you.

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She is telling the truth.

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The baby that she is carrying is from the Holy Spirit.

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The baby is going to be named Jesus.

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This is God in the flesh.

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This is Emmanuel, God with us.

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And so Joseph, you don't have to be afraid to take her as your wife.

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He says that God is fulfilling his prophecy here.

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But notice what he does to alleviate his fears.

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He is reminding him of all of his previous promises to show Joseph that he can trust

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him in this present moment.

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And that's exactly how God works with us church.

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When we are fearful of the future, the presence of God calms our fears by reminding us of

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his past faithfulness.

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When we are fearful of the future, God, the presence of God calms our fears by reminding

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us of his past faithfulness.

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God was saying to Joseph, essentially, Joseph, I know what I'm doing.

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This has been the plan since before I ever even formed the foundation of the world.

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You might not have known you were going to be included in those plans.

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But this has been the plan from the beginning.

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And he says to him, essentially, Joseph, have I ever failed my people?

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Have I ever failed to bring even one of my promises to pass?

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No, then I'm asking you to trust me now in this present moment.

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And we need to remember this in our lives too, church, because I know if you're anything

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like me, you can get pretty fearful about the future.

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When you start thinking about potential circumstances that could possibly happen, if all these other

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things happen, then this could happen.

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I mean, my wife will tell you, attest to this.

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My mind will run away with these possibilities.

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Okay, my mom is not in her head more than my wife.

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Chill, mom, I said, Anna, not you, okay?

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All right?

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But this is what my mind does.

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My mind will just race to all these possibilities, and I start getting anxious about, well, what

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if this happens, and this happens, and this happens?

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And we can get so fearful about what might happen in the future that we fail to recognize

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the presence of God right now in the present moment.

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And like Joseph and Mary, you might not have all the details of what's going to happen

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or what might lie ahead, but you can trust that the same God who has always been faithful

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to his people and never once failed his people is the same God who is going to be faithful

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to you and not fail you.

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You know, there's an old saying, and I actually heard it recently in a funeral, and it took

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everything within me not to correct this person, but it was at a funeral, so I restrained myself.

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But there's an old saying, and it's a popular saying in our time, where people will say,

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God will never give you more than you can handle.

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That comes from Second Opinions, Chapter 3.

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God will never give you more than you can handle, folks.

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I just want to tell you that that is an absolute lie, and you will not find that anywhere in

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the Bible, because let's be honest, this was more than Mary and Joseph could handle on

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their own.

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They were not, but the thing is, they were not on their own.

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God was with them, and because God was with them, they were going to be able to face these

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circumstances.

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You see, if God never gave you more than you could handle, then you would never rely on

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God, would you?

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You would never trust in God.

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You would never depend on God, because if God never gave you more than you can handle,

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it's all about you and what you can handle, and so you learn to trust in yourself and

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your own abilities.

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And this is where we end up with the American mindset of just pull yourself up by your boot

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straps, do more, and try harder.

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And God says, hey, you can do that, and it'll still be too much for you.

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You see, God gives us more than we can handle to teach us to rely on Him rather than ourselves,

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to teach us to trust in Him and not in our own wisdom and our own strength.

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And so yes, God will give you more than you can handle on your own, but if God is with

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you, He will enable you to handle any circumstance in your life.

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And so I don't know what challenge you're facing this morning.

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I don't know what circumstances you're thinking about or what you're getting nervous about

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or what you're thinking.

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I don't know how I'm going to make it or what I'm going to do, and I can't tell you what

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is going to happen, but I can tell you that if God is with you, He will enable you and

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give you the strength and the grace that is needed to be able to navigate these unexpected

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circumstances.

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If you will recall how faithful He's been to His people in the past, if you will recall

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how He's provided for His people in the past, if you will remember how He strengthened His

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people in the past, then you will be able to trust Him now in this present moment, no

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matter what you're facing.

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And I want you to just look at verse 21 with me real quick, because verse 21 is one of

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my favorite verses in the entire Bible.

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In fact, it might be my favorite verse in the entire Bible.

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It says that we shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

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And I'll tell you why this is maybe my favorite verse.

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It's because it teaches us so much about who Jesus is and what He does for us.

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First, notice this about this verse.

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It tells us that Jesus is in fact God in the flesh.

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You know, there are so many people today who deny the divinity of Jesus, and it's not even

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just atheists.

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You see the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Jews, the Muslims, the Mormons, they all believe

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Jesus was a remarkable man, but they do not believe that Jesus was God.

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And yet, notice this verse says, call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from

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their sins.

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The name Jesus in Aramaic is Yeshua, which means Yahweh saves.

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So notice this.

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His name is Jesus, Yahweh saves.

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Call His name Yahweh saves, for He will save His people from their sins.

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It's very similar to the Hebrew names Joshua and Isaiah.

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Both of those names in Hebrew mean Yahweh saves.

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But Jesus is not like Joshua or Isaiah.

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They had their names to remind people that the Lord saves, but Jesus is given His name

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because He will save His people from their sins.

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And so you can think about it like this.

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The names Joshua and Isaiah would remind the world that there is a God who saves, but the

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name Jesus tells the world that Jesus is the God who saves.

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You know, when I talk to Jehovah's Witnesses, and many of you know this based on a recent

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podcast that I did, but when I talk to Jehovah's Witnesses, they will refuse to let you use

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the book of John to prove the divinity of Jesus.

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It's pretty easy to do from the book of John.

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You just go to John 1-1.

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In the beginning, it was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

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So it was very easy to prove the divinity of Jesus from John.

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But they think all that stuff about Jesus being God was just added in at a later date.

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So they won't let you use the book of John.

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I'm like, okay, that's fine with me.

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Let's go to Matthew because Matthew 1 says, his name is Jesus.

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Yahweh saves because He will save His people from their sins.

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Not only that, He is called Emmanuel, which means what?

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Church?

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God with us.

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And that doesn't mean God is with us just in some spiritual, ephemeral sense.

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It means that God is physically present with us in the person of Jesus.

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It is literally the incarnation.

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God took on human flesh and became man.

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And so this verse teaches us that Jesus is God in the flesh.

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But notice this also about this verse.

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It's amazing because this verse teaches us that the atonement of Jesus is a definite

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atonement.

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It is so beautiful here.

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Notice this.

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He will save His people from their sins.

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That is written in the Greek in a tense.

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That means this is a guaranteed going to happen thing that is going to take place in the future.

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So Jesus will save His people from their sins, which means folks, listen to me say this very

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clearly, Jesus does not try to save anyone.

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Jesus does not try His best to save people.

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He does not give it His best effort and hope that He's done enough.

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When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He saved His people from their sins.

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This is a definite atonement.

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Jesus will never sit in heaven going, I wish I could have done more.

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I wish I could have tried harder.

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I sure hope that I did enough.

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If only they can add something to this, folks.

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If you have to add something to salvation, then it was never accomplished in the first

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place.

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And yet when Jesus died on the cross, He said what?

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He said, it is finished.

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There's nothing else for you to do.

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There's nothing else for you to add.

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It's been done by Christ.

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He has saved His people from their sins.

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It is a definite atonement.

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And you know, this is Christmas, so we tend to focus only on the birth of Jesus, but I

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want you to notice this, church, before Jesus is ever even born and before He ever even

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breathes the air that He created.

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His death on the cross is alluded to here.

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Because how else does He save His people from their sins but on the cross?

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And so notice this, you cannot separate the cradle from the cross.

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The cradle of Christ lies in the shadow of the cross of Christ.

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And when Jesus would eventually die on the cross for our sins, His mission would be accomplished.

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He would save all of His people from all of their sins.

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The Bible says the Lamb of God will receive the reward of His sufferings.

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And the reward of His sufferings is the eternal redemption, atonement, and salvation of His

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people to the glory of God.

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That's why this verse is so wonderful.

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Call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

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And with this news that God is with Him, I want you to notice that Joseph was able to

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obey what God was asking of him.

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Look at verses 24 and 25.

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When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

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He took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called His

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name Jesus.

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Now I imagine that if I'm Joseph at this time, and I've just been told all of this news,

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my fears and anxieties are probably not all taken away.

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Because at this point I would know that, okay, Mary didn't lie.

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This baby is from the Holy Spirit.

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This baby is the Messiah.

458
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,640
He's God in the flesh.

459
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,400
But you're still being asked to do something incredibly difficult.

460
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:25,960
Are you not?

461
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:31,000
You're being asked to father a child that is not actually your child, and to love that

462
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,640
child as though he were your child.

463
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:40,320
And think about it like this too, church, just because Mary and Joseph knew all of these

464
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:45,440
things from God and they believed them, does not mean the rest of the world was going to

465
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,600
accept them or believe them either.

466
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,360
When they would tell the rest of the world that, hey, Mary was not unfaithful and we

467
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,600
didn't do anything before marriage, this baby is from the Holy Spirit, people probably were

468
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:58,160
not going to believe them.

469
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:01,040
It's a scandalous story.

470
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,760
They know that they're probably going to be societal outcasts at this point.

471
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:09,300
They're probably going to be gossiped about and slandered and rumors are going to circulate

472
00:31:09,300 --> 00:31:11,880
around the towns.

473
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:19,080
And yet, notice that Joseph, even though he was probably still fearful, probably still

474
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:24,960
anxious and probably still thinking about all that was coming their way, he did what

475
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:29,080
God had commanded him to do through the angel.

476
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:34,280
And so Joseph was able to do what God was calling him to do, even when he probably didn't

477
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,080
necessarily feel like doing it.

478
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,760
And it teaches us a very important thing, church, if you wait to obey until you feel

479
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:46,720
like it, you'll never get around to it.

480
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,440
I think all God's people said, amen there.

481
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:50,440
Yeah.

482
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:55,600
If you wait to obey until you feel like it, you will never get around to it.

483
00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,480
I've told you this before, we live in a culture that is absolutely dominated and ruled by

484
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,840
our feelings.

485
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,560
Everybody today, they use their feelings for everything.

486
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,280
Their feelings determine what they say, what they do, where they go, who they talk to,

487
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:13,320
who they associate with.

488
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:18,960
Everything is about your feelings and we think that we have to feel a certain way to do certain

489
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,360
things.

490
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,880
And if we don't feel a certain way, then we're not going to do certain things.

491
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:28,520
And yet the Bible says that regardless of how you might feel, there are certain things

492
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,000
that you were called to do no matter how you feel.

493
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:36,960
And you kind of learn this truth the hard way as a parent, because I learned this the

494
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:37,960
hard way as a parent.

495
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:44,560
There are no sick days for parents and all the parents said, amen, yeah.

496
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,060
This was one of the hardest truths we had to learn.

497
00:32:47,060 --> 00:32:50,520
When you work a job, you get sick, you just call in, you say, hey, I'm not feeling well

498
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,520
today, I'm going to take a day.

499
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:55,960
When you're a parent, there are no sick days.

500
00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:00,920
And I can't tell you how many times I have woken up and I've been sick with something

501
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,520
or other and all I want to do is just lay in bed and be sick all day.

502
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:10,240
That's all I feel like doing, I just feel like laying in bed and yet I look at my watch

503
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,080
and I realize there are two little boys upstairs who are depending on me to go up there and

504
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:21,120
wake them up, get them dressed, get their breakfast, pack their bags, get them to school.

505
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,280
And so I might feel like laying around all day, but there are certain things that need

506
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:26,680
to be done and I've got to do them.

507
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:31,720
And the same way, church, if you wait around to obey God until you feel like it, I can

508
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,240
pretty much guarantee you're never going to get around to it.

509
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:39,120
For instance, you might know that God has called you to forgive someone who has hurt

510
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,680
you and you know that you've been hurt by them and you know that God says you were to

511
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:47,560
forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven you.

512
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:54,840
And you say to me this morning, well, pastor, if I'm honest, I really don't feel like it.

513
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:56,800
They don't really deserve my forgiveness.

514
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,400
They haven't even said sorry.

515
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,560
And so I don't really feel like forgiving them.

516
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:02,560
Okay?

517
00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:04,640
Yeah, I hear you on that.

518
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:09,400
But the Bible doesn't say you are to forgive people as long as you feel like forgiving them.

519
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:10,400
Right?

520
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,920
The Bible says you're to forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven you.

521
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:19,280
And I'm willing to bet that if you're waiting around to forgive someone until you feel like

522
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:24,240
forgiving them, you're probably never going to feel like forgiving them.

523
00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:25,240
Or men.

524
00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:30,000
And if you're new here, you'll learn I'm a lot harder on the men in this church than

525
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,320
I am the women.

526
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:41,280
But men, you know that God has called you to be the spiritual leader of your household.

527
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:48,640
God has called you to be the spiritual leader who leads your wife and your children to be

528
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:54,600
an example of Christ for them to lead them closer to the Lord and to be that example

529
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,160
in their lives.

530
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:01,680
You are responsible for raising your children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord.

531
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:07,200
But so many men today will say, well, pastor, if I'm honest, I just don't really feel like

532
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,480
it.

533
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:16,360
If I'm honest, pastor, it's just easier to let my wife take the lead.

534
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:24,560
It's just easier to let my wife run the household and deal with all that Jesus stuff.

535
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:25,560
And I get it.

536
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:27,940
That is easier.

537
00:35:27,940 --> 00:35:31,960
But God does not say that you were called to be the spiritual leader of your household

538
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,320
as long as you feel like being the spiritual leader of your household.

539
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:37,000
Amen.

540
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:42,200
God has said you were called to lead your family and your wife and your children and you were

541
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,240
to be the man of God in your household.

542
00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:49,840
So in other words, men, it's time to stop using your feelings and your passivity as

543
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:51,840
an excuse for disobedience.

544
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,880
It's time to step up and be a man.

545
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,040
And all God's people said, amen, except for the men.

546
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:00,040
They're too scared to say amen.

547
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:01,040
That's okay.

548
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,040
We can talk afterward.

549
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,200
There's some of you here this morning who know that God is calling you to do something

550
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:08,720
right now.

551
00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:10,360
And you've known it for a while.

552
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,880
He's leading you in a certain direction.

553
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,640
He's put this thing before you and you know this is where he's leading you.

554
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:21,600
And yet you are not obeying God because you're waiting around on a feeling.

555
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:23,840
And can I just be honest with you this morning?

556
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:28,720
So many Christians today are waiting around for God to give them a sign or a feeling when

557
00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:32,960
he's already given us a command.

558
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,400
We've got to stop using our feelings as excuses for disobedience.

559
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:44,640
We've got to stop using our feelings and our fears and our anxieties as excuses for disobedience.

560
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:49,880
The Bible says that God is, that Jesus is in manuel, which means God with us.

561
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:56,240
And when God is with us, church, he will enable us to navigate those unexpected circumstances

562
00:36:56,240 --> 00:36:57,760
in life.

563
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:01,960
His presence will enable us to show grace when we've been disgraced.

564
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:06,040
His presence will calm our fears by reminding us of his past faithfulness.

565
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:11,100
And since we know that he is with us, we don't have to wait around to feel a certain way.

566
00:37:11,100 --> 00:37:16,720
By God's grace, we can obey him even when we don't have that feeling, which means all

567
00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:23,120
this is to say, this story teaches us that if you will go with God, you cannot go wrong.

568
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:24,120
Amen.

569
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:50,080
Let's pray.