SPEAKER_00: I listened to Rich uh Rick preach, but he said, No, you're gonna stay off that thing for two weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that, preacher?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, yes, I was supposed to, but uh anyway, and then I cheated a little bit Wednesday after my I meant what was it?
SPEAKER_00: Wednesday, Tuesday was the uh surgery, and then Wednesday I went to therapy, and uh I figured if I could go to therapy I was okay, so let me and I did a little too much Wednesday and my knee went like that, so I decided I might better pay attention to what the doctor said about trying to stay off of it for a couple of weeks before I start back going.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do that.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Look at there.
SPEAKER_00: All right, give give Darren a hand, amen.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to turn with me in your Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm on a roller coaster here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: And boys, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I've I've had a ball, even though for the last two weeks and a half I've been in quarantine.
SPEAKER_00: Uh one good thing about being a pastor, I love to read and study the scriptures, so I've had a lot, I've already gotten all three messages ready.
SPEAKER_00: So we're ready, and it's exciting because uh next week I'm gonna do a I'm gonna do a brand new.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, this is kind of a new message.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I I did it one time about 20 years ago, and I found it.
SPEAKER_00: I had lost my Christmas file, but Susan, I found it in storage, and so I kind of went, started going back through some of my old Christmas messages that I had preached, and I found this one, and I said, wow, I have not preached that one in a while.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, so today we're gonna be looking at the fear nots of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And then next week we're gonna look at Christmas, brand new, hot off the press, through the eyes of Simeon.
SPEAKER_00: Simeon was in the temple, he and Anna, and it was really, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Baby dedication day.
SPEAKER_00: All the people in the region, Jesus had been born for 40 days.
SPEAKER_00: Mary had gone through a purification, so they were all coming to the temple to dedicate their children to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: How fitting for what?
SPEAKER_00: Baby dedication and not just baby dedication.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a child that's never been dedicated to the Lord and watching online, next Sunday bring them and let's dedicate them to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a sweet service.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, it looks like we got anywhere from eight to ten people to be baptized next week.
SPEAKER_00: Can we give God a hand?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be a sweet service next week as we dedicate uh children to the Lord and watch uh young people and older people follow the Lord and believers' baptism.
SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be an exciting day.
SPEAKER_00: What a time of the year to be baptized or dedicate your uh children to the Lord or to even get saved.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh I got saved in uh March, in spring, but I would have loved to have gotten saved around Christmas time.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in fact, Christmas time is my birthday.
SPEAKER_00: Uh should I say December the 15th, uh, I will be uh 67.
SPEAKER_00: And I know I don't look it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but I kind of feel it right now with my knee.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but that too shall pass.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll be back.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be back on the pickleball court pretty quick, whipping everybody.
SPEAKER_00: But uh till then.
SPEAKER_00: Today, though, I want you to know all of us fear something.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We all have our fears.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like snakes.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody else will agree with me there?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Don't come at me with a snake.
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, I'll pull them a gun and shoot you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, bears and animals like that, lions, I'd rather you come at me with one of those instead of a snake.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like snakes, can't stand snakes, don't think about snakes, don't even want to be around.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody says they're good snakes, not to me.
SPEAKER_00: There's no good snake.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know there are good snakes, rat snakes, king snakes, I know.
SPEAKER_00: But just don't bring them around me, please.
SPEAKER_00: And don't pull a joke on me with a snake because I will not be held responsible of what I will do.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm forewarn you, don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, a lot of you are afraid of heights.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody afraid of heights?
SPEAKER_00: Several.
SPEAKER_00: I'm really not afraid of the height.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, when you get up in a on a large uh building or like in New York State building, and and I've been on a lot of uh buildings, been up in the rotation uh uh restaurants and all that, beautiful sights.
SPEAKER_00: So that doesn't scare me.
SPEAKER_00: Even I used to ride every kind of ride there was at the fair that would drop you, you know, from a height.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was exhilarating.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't really scare me.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what really scares me about height?
SPEAKER_00: It's not the fall and it's not the height, it's the landing that scares me.
SPEAKER_00: What's gonna happen when I splash?
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's what really scares me.
SPEAKER_00: But we all are afraid of something.
SPEAKER_00: Spiders.
SPEAKER_00: My daughter's extremely scared of spiders and diseases and financial setbacks, old age, gray hair, no hair.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we all are afraid of things, disappointments, rejections.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham, even in the Old Testament, he was afraid of the king, so he lied about his sister.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob displayed fear of Esau.
SPEAKER_00: Moses feared Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_00: Moses feared rejection, and the disciples feared the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing has changed.
SPEAKER_00: We all still are afraid of everything or a lot of things, should I say.
SPEAKER_00: So today we're gonna be looking at some of the things, and I think these really three pictures of the fear knights give us an introduction to Mary and what she feared when the angel appeared to her and said, Mary, you're gonna conceive of a child.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary, there for a minute, and we're gonna look at the word troubled.
SPEAKER_00: She was, hey, she was frightful, she was afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she she didn't understand.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the word there troubled is dia tarazzo, and it literally means to be disturbed greatly.
SPEAKER_00: She was puzzled, she was frightened, she was upset.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because how would you feel if all of a sudden the angel, ladies, let me put you in your place?
SPEAKER_00: And some of you girls, if you, you know, and here's the staggering thing about this whole story.
SPEAKER_00: You know how old Mary was, probably when this happened?
SPEAKER_00: Anywhere between 14 and 16.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have any 14 to 16-year-old young ladies in here today?
SPEAKER_00: One?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
SPEAKER_00: Two?
SPEAKER_00: 14 to 16.
SPEAKER_00: How many teenage girls do we have in here?
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Several.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine for all you teenage girls, on an evening, now watch this.
SPEAKER_00: An angel appears to you.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, that's gonna frighten you to death.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about Casper.
SPEAKER_00: But an angel appears to you and tells you, now wait, now here's the here's the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, you're engaged.
SPEAKER_00: And all the parents are saying, they're too young to be engaged, a teenager.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a little different back then.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, back then, a lot of the times your parents would pick your husband, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: You go, uh-oh, am I in trouble?
SPEAKER_00: No, you're not in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why you're not in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Because if your daddy or your parents picked your husband, ladies, do you know most likely who they're gonna pick?
SPEAKER_00: Somebody just like your mother.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, I love my mother.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't do that today.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's we ought to go back to doing that.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this as I was studying, because the divorce rate maybe would not be near as high.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, can you imagine a ghost appears to you?
SPEAKER_00: Your dreams are about ready to be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: You're excited.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've met hopefully the man in your dreams, Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: You're excited about getting married, you're gonna have a family, and you're gonna live happily ever after.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, there is a happy ever-after ending if it's done the storybook way.
SPEAKER_00: And the storybook way is the B-I-B-L-E.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: So, can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine, ladies, teenagers?
SPEAKER_00: And then on top of that, they're gonna tell you you're gonna have a baby.
SPEAKER_00: Time out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a virgin, I've never had sex with any man, I've not even had sex with my engaged husband, which is a great admiration.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies, teenagers, you should preserve yourself and your whole body and your purity to the man that God sends you, in the same way with the men.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen from the parents?
SPEAKER_00: It's special.
SPEAKER_00: But here, all of a sudden, you're praying, you've got to have a baby.
SPEAKER_00: Now, first of all, you're you're troubled.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, why you've you've seen this supposedly an angel.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't know what an angel is, you've never seen an angel, so you really don't know that's an angel.
SPEAKER_00: And then they speak to you directly and say, You're gonna have a baby.
SPEAKER_00: And there you are saying, This is impossible.
SPEAKER_00: If you watched my little devotional yesterday for Word for the Week, that's what I dealt with.
SPEAKER_00: The impossible.
SPEAKER_00: And not only do we see the impossible about Mary, even her friend Elizabeth in in her 80s, she's gonna have a baby.
SPEAKER_00: Impossible! Which happened to be the baby of John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: And now, here you are.
SPEAKER_00: Sixteen years old.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have a baby.
SPEAKER_00: You're terrified, you're not married, even though engagement back then was like you were really as if you were already married.
SPEAKER_00: Engagement meant something back then.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, now they say it's gonna be the son of God.
SPEAKER_00: I would have fainted.
SPEAKER_00: That would have carried it overboard.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 16 years old, I'm excited about getting married, but now I'm gonna get pregnant before I get married, and it's gonna be the son of God, and now I don't even know who the father's gonna be, and then they say, Oh, yes, you do, it's gonna be the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Go tell that to your parents.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, mom, sit down.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna believe what I'm about to tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: An angel came to me last night and said that I'm gonna have a son.
SPEAKER_00: And the son's gonna be the son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And the father of that baby is gonna be the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what mom's gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: She's gonna faint.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the context of the story right here.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_00: Now, with that said, it brought me to a situation that the Scottish preacher John McNeil, I found this illustration.
SPEAKER_00: So during his childhood, he was walking a long distance home every evening and he had to go through a deep ravine.
SPEAKER_00: And in that ravine, supposedly, supposedly, there were all kind of wild animals and all kind of robbers and thieves that would rob people during this time.
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, one night he was coming from work later than normal, and he started hearing all these noises, and sure enough, he heard this shriek of a sail that called out.
SPEAKER_00: And he called out and he said, John! But it was such a shriek he couldn't, and so far away he couldn't understand it, so he even got scared her and he started trembling and he started thinking, Oh my goodness, it's a robber, I'm gonna be robbed, I could be killed.
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden he heard the name called again.
SPEAKER_00: Except this time it was with full clarity.
SPEAKER_00: John, is that you?
SPEAKER_00: And he recognized the voice.
SPEAKER_00: It was his daddy.
SPEAKER_00: And his daddy came and his daddy met him.
SPEAKER_00: And he grabbed his hand and he said, I knew you'd be terrified tonight.
SPEAKER_00: It was late.
SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to come and meet you and walk with you home.
SPEAKER_00: I thought to myself, oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that what Jesus does for us?
SPEAKER_00: When we're frightened to death, when we don't know what to do, when we don't know where to go, we don't know who to turn to.
SPEAKER_00: And he just reaches out and he grabs our hand and he says, follow me.
SPEAKER_00: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: And he grabs us by hand.
SPEAKER_00: And so basically, in these three situations this morning, I want us to look at a word from the Father because in verse 37, where we see that nothing's impossible with God, and then verse 38, we see Mary's response after the angel has told Mary what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: Then he he blatantly says, Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: And then after Mary realizes the peace of God and that this is of God, she makes a profound statement in verse 38, where she says, and look at what it what she said in verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: It is so powerful.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, and Mary said, Behold the handmaid, that means servant, that means submission to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Be it unto me according to thy word, and the angel departed from her.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: What we need today in the midst of our fears is a word from God that says, Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: For God's not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
SPEAKER_00: Second Timothy 1:7.
SPEAKER_00: And here we pick up the story.
SPEAKER_00: And what a beautiful story.
SPEAKER_00: And in the sixth month, verse 26, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.
SPEAKER_00: And the virgin, virgin's name was Mary, and the angel came unto her and said, Hail thou that are highly favored.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you underline some words in your Bible, I do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to underline the word highly favored.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: This ought to get, this ought to make a Presbyterian shout.
SPEAKER_00: If you are saved this morning, you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, listening online, and there's a bunch of you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you are highly favored.
SPEAKER_00: Say this with me, church.
SPEAKER_00: I am highly favored.
SPEAKER_00: Say it better.
SPEAKER_00: You can say it with more passion than that.
SPEAKER_00: I am highly favored.
SPEAKER_00: And then notice what he says: the Lord is with thee.
SPEAKER_00: And then underline the next word: blessed art thou among women.
SPEAKER_00: Underline the word blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Say this with me, church.
SPEAKER_00: I am blessed.
SPEAKER_00: During the month of December, more suicide attempts, more suicides, more unfortunate, unbelievable things happen, and people are more depressed during December than any other month.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Because they don't understand that they are highly favored and that they are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says in Psalms 115 that God is mindful of us to bless us.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: So don't let Satan win.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let him defeat you.
SPEAKER_00: And when she saw him, she was troubled at this saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what in the world's going on?
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said unto her, here it is.
SPEAKER_00: Underline it.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not, for thou hast found favor with God.
SPEAKER_00: Say this with me, church.
SPEAKER_00: Underline the word, two words, found favor.
SPEAKER_00: Say this.
SPEAKER_00: I have say, I have found favor.
SPEAKER_00: Now say this.
SPEAKER_00: I have found favor with God.
SPEAKER_00: And when you find favor with God, hey, you are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, church.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus on the line, the word Jesus, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's God, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no end.
SPEAKER_00: And then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be?
SPEAKER_00: I know not a man.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the high shall overshadow thee.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: I am my father of one, Jesus says in John 10, 30.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, the cousin Elizabeth was bearing a child too, doing the impossible, who was John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: And then Mary said, Behold, your servant.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Three times.
SPEAKER_00: The angels speak the word of fear not.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning I want us to look at each of those fear not.
SPEAKER_00: And let's see the message of these angels.
SPEAKER_00: So that we can learn our for ourselves what it means to fear not.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, from what I want you to put down in your outline.
SPEAKER_00: And boy, what a beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, introduction.
SPEAKER_00: Mary was troubled, greatly disturbed, upset, frightened.
SPEAKER_00: But notice after she understands that it's a word from God.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's important.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's what gets me so excited as a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: We have a word from God in every situation.
SPEAKER_00: We really do, folks.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I encourage you to stay in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Have that daily time in the word and in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Because God will give you word.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you come to church.
SPEAKER_00: Again, God's going to give you a word every time you come into this building through a teacher of the word or a preacher of the word.
SPEAKER_00: Or it could be one of your friends in the Lord that's been studying the word and God's given them a word and they share word with you and it speaks to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you fellowship with other Christians.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be around the people that I know spinning the word so that they can give me the right wisdom, the right counsel, the right direction.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need the worldly direction and the worldly wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: We get enough of that 24-7.
SPEAKER_00: I need God's word, God's wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: God gives wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 2, 6.
SPEAKER_00: But notice the first thing: the providence of God.
SPEAKER_00: The word providence there means the care, the guard, the guardianship, and control, it means controlled.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: Write it down.
SPEAKER_00: It means controlled.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, control exercised by the deity of God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God exercises his control for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not good?
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what we see here with Mary.
SPEAKER_00: It's divine direction.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's the overruling watch care and involvement of God in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: That gets me excited.
SPEAKER_00: God cares for me.
SPEAKER_00: I am highly favored.
SPEAKER_00: I am blessed.
SPEAKER_00: And He cares about what He wants me to do for Him.
SPEAKER_00: So this Christmas, it's not about all these gifts and this beautiful tree, which Rosemary and all that are involved just.
SPEAKER_00: You do such a magnificent job.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, on Christmas Eve, and all day Christmas, we're going to record Susan and I doing the Christmas tree story.
SPEAKER_00: So you will be able to watch that on Christmas Eve and Christmas and get your friends and relatives.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: On Christmas Day, you could say, hey, I want you to watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Our pastor and his wife are going to read the Christmas story and tell the Christmas tree story and how the Christmas tree presents the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a sweet time.
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
SPEAKER_00: But with that said, we see the calmness of Mary's life in verses 26 through 27.
SPEAKER_00: She's calm.
SPEAKER_00: Even though she's frightened to death, she's troubled.
SPEAKER_00: She's calm.
SPEAKER_00: And again, what we see about Mary's calmness is that she was a devout Christian.
SPEAKER_00: She was a devout follower of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I've learned?
SPEAKER_00: I've been in ministry 40 plus years now.
SPEAKER_00: I've been in every kind of situation, circumstances you can see.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, we still need to be lifting Steve up.
SPEAKER_00: Please keep him in deep prayer because he's in a situation that just needs a divine intervention.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: He really does.
SPEAKER_00: Steve McCloda.
SPEAKER_00: Keep him in your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, I was thinking all these circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: I've been in circumstances with lost people and saved people.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, church, it's a difference between night and day.
SPEAKER_00: How they handle those circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Mary didn't get upset, she didn't lose control.
SPEAKER_00: She, now was she fearful?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: But she knew God was in control.
SPEAKER_00: That's why she was able to say, At thy word, I will do what thy say.
SPEAKER_00: So she was calm.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the second thing.
SPEAKER_00: There was a challenge to Mary's life.
SPEAKER_00: In verses 28 through 37, when Gabriel makes his announcement to Mary, her life is immediately turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been going in one direction and then all of a sudden circumstances come into your life?
SPEAKER_00: Things come into your life, circumstances come into your life, and all of a sudden your life is turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: Ever been there?
SPEAKER_00: Only four or five of us?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, mercy me.
SPEAKER_00: You're excited.
SPEAKER_00: You're about ready to go in one direction.
SPEAKER_00: You get a phone call?
SPEAKER_00: Someone has died close to you?
SPEAKER_00: Someone's been in an accident.
SPEAKER_00: Something major has happened, and now your life is turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: So there was a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: When our lives do not go as we have planned, it's easy to fear the unknown, is it not?
SPEAKER_00: But we see here Mary didn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Often God, by the way, will allow things to happen in our lives in mind that they are hard to bear and hard to understand, just like Mary, she didn't understand it.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't know how it was going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Yet the Lord sends, hey, to us and to Mary, things and comfort so that we might grow in the likeness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I've learned?
SPEAKER_00: When those circumstances that turn our life upside down, there's three things.
SPEAKER_00: Now this will be worth you writing down.
SPEAKER_00: There's three things in 40 plus years of ministry, God has taught me when I get in a situation and my life is turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: It could be a you walk in and all of a sudden they lay off, they lay you off and other people in your job situation.
SPEAKER_00: Next thing you know, you've had a good income coming in, you've had a good retirement, and all of a sudden overnight, bam, your life is turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: Hello?
SPEAKER_00: I know I don't think Benji and Sarah would mind me using this illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Benji and Sarah had gotten married.
SPEAKER_00: They got married a lot quicker than they had planned.
SPEAKER_00: Because David and I told them better to marry than to burn.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all didn't get that joke, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, they got married and then that sweet little baby girl came along.
SPEAKER_00: We were all excited.
SPEAKER_00: Planning for a great, you know, baby's birth.
SPEAKER_00: And then, sure enough, the baby was born early, born with major complications.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't think she was gonna live.
SPEAKER_00: Stayed at the hospital all these days.
SPEAKER_00: But you know one thing we we believed in?
SPEAKER_00: That God was gonna come through.
SPEAKER_00: That God was gonna heal that little baby.
SPEAKER_00: We never doubt it.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at that little baby.
SPEAKER_00: You never know.
SPEAKER_00: She almost died.
SPEAKER_00: You never know anything that was wrong with her.
SPEAKER_00: But their life was turned upside down that night that she was born.
SPEAKER_00: Our life was turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: Mine and Susan's life was turned upside down when our little boy was born dead.
SPEAKER_00: But we were able to stay calm.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: We know.
SPEAKER_00: Even though we don't understand, either know we're upset, either no we're troubled, even though all these feelings of uncertainty and annulled are just rushing you.
SPEAKER_00: When you lose that job, they're rushing you, and you don't know what am I going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is trying to get you in every which way he can to say, just get frightened and disturbed and lose hope and lose faith.
SPEAKER_00: It's a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: But three things.
SPEAKER_00: One, when these upside down or impossible situations come along.
SPEAKER_00: One to correct us.
SPEAKER_00: Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: The storm came into his life because he needed correction.
SPEAKER_00: He was going in the wrong direction.
SPEAKER_00: He was supposed to be going to Nineveh.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he was going to Tarshish.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, these storms come into our life to grow us.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples in their storm.
SPEAKER_00: To grow us.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what Jesus told us?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you so faithless?
SPEAKER_00: That's the exact words he used.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you so faithless?
SPEAKER_00: It's to grow us in our faith.
SPEAKER_00: To grow us in the knowledge of who he is, and for us to trust in him, trust in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not on thy own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he'll drag your past.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, I got news.
SPEAKER_00: When those circumstances and those situations and those unbelievable, should I say, hard things happen to us?
SPEAKER_00: We do not have understanding, humanly speaking.
SPEAKER_00: We have to have divine intervention.
SPEAKER_00: Or we won't make it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We won't make it.
SPEAKER_00: I was able to leave that room after seeing my little boy born dead.
SPEAKER_00: And that afternoon I had a funeral with one of our workers in our daycare, whose husband I'd led to the Lord, Johnny, two weeks before he died.
SPEAKER_00: He was under a car, he was a mechanic, it fell on him, crushed him.
SPEAKER_00: But two weeks prior to that, he had gotten saved, come to church, been baptized, and hadn't missed a service in two weeks, then he dies.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm able to stand up and preach that funeral that afternoon and tell him about the grace of God, and that we know that all things, even though there's no way we can understand this situation, but I know where Johnny is to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that, hey, he needs you right here.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you that are his buddies and his friends are lost.
SPEAKER_00: He's told me and he's praying for you, and he wants you to receive Christ and be with him one day.
SPEAKER_00: And do you know 24 people got saved that afternoon?
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
SPEAKER_00: There's a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: A little girl named Nancy earned her meager, a meager living by hard work.
SPEAKER_00: She was radiant and a triumphant believer.
SPEAKER_00: And one day a wealthy lady with a very gloomy outlook on life, and you've seen those kind of people, you've been around those kind of people.
SPEAKER_00: She got tired of seeing Nancy's joy and expression of excitement all the time, and everything's okay, everything's going to work out for the best.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, You're happy now, Nancy.
SPEAKER_00: But what about later?
SPEAKER_00: Or suppose your employer moves and you have no job.
SPEAKER_00: Or suppose, and about that time Nancy broke in and said, Stop! I never suppose the Lord is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: I shall not want.
SPEAKER_00: And it's all those supposes that are making you so miserable, she said.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you give them up, she said, and trust the Lord completely.
SPEAKER_00: She had a challenge.
SPEAKER_00: But she was calm.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, look at the consolidation of Mary in verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: Despite the shame that was sure to come her way, despite the humiliation that she would bear, Mary was willing to submit her life to the will of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, she sets an example for all of us in her obedience and surrender that every one of us need to have.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in Luke 11, 28, blessed are they that hear the word of God and do it.
SPEAKER_00: You and I would never.
SPEAKER_00: You and I would do well to learn to submit our lives to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I see here?
SPEAKER_00: I see Romans 12, 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_00: I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
SPEAKER_00: Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable word of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is, right here.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Joseph?
SPEAKER_00: He was loved by his father and occupied a special place of privilege in his family, yet God allowed Joseph, listen to this, to be sold by his brothers into slavery and to spend the next 13 years in either, hey, servitude or prison.
SPEAKER_00: 13 years.
SPEAKER_00: However, in the end, God proved that his plan was the right plan, and Joseph came out on top of the heap.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what he said to his brothers when they showed up?
SPEAKER_00: They thought he was going to, they didn't know it was Joseph at that time, that Joseph's gonna kill them.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You meant it for evil.
SPEAKER_00: But God meant it for good.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We know what Satan means for evil, God means for good.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 1, verse 18 through 25.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, in number one, it's the fear not of human impossibility.
SPEAKER_00: Underneath number two, the fear not of human impossibility.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing, say this with me, church.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing's impossible with God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: You better believe it.
SPEAKER_00: Because nothing's impossible.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, if you could just go through all the impossibilities that we see what God did.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, in fact, I wrote them down and I don't have time to give them to you, but in Genesis, Joseph, hey, from prison overnight to the position of vice pharaoh of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, overnight he went from prison to the palace.
SPEAKER_00: In Exodus, he what?
SPEAKER_00: He freed the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: And what did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He parted the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_00: Impossibility after impossibility.
SPEAKER_00: What about Joseph?
SPEAKER_00: Remember Joseph?
SPEAKER_00: Under number two, the fear not of immediate obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Fill that in.
SPEAKER_00: Immediate obedience.
SPEAKER_00: In verses 18 through 19, we see here the pain of Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph was like Mary.
SPEAKER_00: He had, he was excited.
SPEAKER_00: He was engaged to this beautiful girl.
SPEAKER_00: His dreams had been fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: He had found the right one.
SPEAKER_00: Fixing to get married.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden his life is turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he finds out that Mary's pregnant.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, now it's time for me to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: What about you?
SPEAKER_00: You're dating this young girl, you're engaged to her, and all of a sudden she comes to you.
SPEAKER_00: She says, uh, honey, sit down.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: I'm pregnant.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, wait, wait, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: He's a devout man, he's a righteous man.
SPEAKER_00: They had not had sex before marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: I know I don't get many hallelujah because see, today everybody lives together before they get married.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand that because they don't understand what God's picture of marriage really is.
SPEAKER_00: The average young couple today doesn't understand the picture of marriage in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not I'm not condemning you for that.
SPEAKER_00: What I am condemning is the lack of teaching of what a godly marriage ought to be.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And thank God.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, doesn't matter where you are, what you've been through, but you can stop right where you are and hey, live like God wants you to live.
SPEAKER_00: That's what 1 John 1 9 is about.
SPEAKER_00: We confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can still have that happy book ending and teach your children God's right way.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: And that's, I know that's not politically correct preaching, that's not popular preaching, but I'm gonna stand before God one day and give an account of what I preach.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna teach you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: When I was growing up, it was uh uh it was well, I'm not gonna go there.
SPEAKER_00: I've said enough.
SPEAKER_00: All right, but notice the pain in his life.
SPEAKER_00: He's upset.
SPEAKER_00: Mary was pregnant.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph was not the father.
SPEAKER_00: His dreams were shattered, his hopes were dashed, his pride lost.
SPEAKER_00: Now he had two options.
SPEAKER_00: He could divorce Mary quietly and have her sent away until the baby was born, or he could divorce her publicly, thereby subjecting, a subject, or should I say, preventing her, well, or really proposing for her the opportunity not only to be ridiculed, shamed, which she was anyway, after three months, you start seeing a baby.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they know she was pregnant, so no telling the gossip and all that was going on.
SPEAKER_00: But Joseph, if he had made it public, you don't realize back in those days there were laws.
SPEAKER_00: I meant stream, I'm talking about strict laws in Deuteronomy 24, Deuteronomy 22, that a lady that got pregnant during the engagement period could literally be stoned to death if it wasn't her husband.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: So with that said, and you know everybody's thinking, well, uh you know what they're thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Joseph and Mary have had sex.
SPEAKER_00: She's pregnant.
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: We all fear similar situations when our life is turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: But can I remind you what Job said?
SPEAKER_00: Man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Hey?
SPEAKER_00: That's life.
SPEAKER_00: It's life, folks.
SPEAKER_00: It's life.
SPEAKER_00: But he had pain.
SPEAKER_00: Can I say something?
SPEAKER_00: The Christian life does, once you get saved, let me help some of you new Christians.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian life does not promise you you're going to be, hey, delivered from the pain.
SPEAKER_00: But I can promise you, you'll be delivered through the pain.
SPEAKER_00: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not delivered out of the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: They were delivered in the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel was not delivered from the lion's den.
SPEAKER_00: He was delivered in the lion's den.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the privilege of Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph pondered what to do about his situation.
SPEAKER_00: God sent an angel, told Joseph that he was about to gain far more than he should lose.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph finds out that he is the man who has been chosen to raise the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is your fiance pregnant, but she's pregnant with the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And you, Joseph, are such a devout man.
SPEAKER_00: You are chosen to raise Jesus, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now I thought about that.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, Dads.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, with our families, we are chosen when our wives conceive our child, and knowing that that child is going to be birthed, you and I have been chosen by God to raise those children in a godly home.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 6.
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that more next week.
SPEAKER_00: The privilege Joseph had, the privilege you and I have of raising our children, our grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: Say this with me, church.
SPEAKER_00: I am privileged.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not, Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: You have a privilege.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, look at the priorities of Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph willingly took the assignment offered to him by God in spite of the ridicule and the humiliation.
SPEAKER_00: He was willing to make the Lord's will a priority in his life.
SPEAKER_00: Four admirable qualities of Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_00: He was righteous, verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: He was discreet.
SPEAKER_00: He had discernment and sensitivity by not putting Mary, you know, making it public, verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: He was responsive to verse 20 in verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: He did what God said.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 25, he had self-discipline.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because after they got married, he didn't touch Mary physically until after Jesus was born.
SPEAKER_00: He had to be pure.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a man.
SPEAKER_00: There's a message in that too.
SPEAKER_00: I've I did an outline on the unsung hero of Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And it's Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: The unsung hero of Christmas is Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us, what would you have done?
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, Mary, you'd have fainted too after you heard that story.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine hearing the same story that Mary told to her parents?
SPEAKER_00: She tells to her fiance.
SPEAKER_00: You're pregnant and you've not had sex with anyone?
SPEAKER_00: You've got to be kidding me.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it does if God's in it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the only explanation.
SPEAKER_00: He believed it.
SPEAKER_00: The priorities of Joseph's life.
SPEAKER_00: He was righteous, he had discretion, he was responsive, and he had self-discipline.
SPEAKER_00: Last thing.
SPEAKER_00: The shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 2, verse 8 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not of human impossibility.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not of immediate obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph had immediate obedience to what God said, even in the most difficult time.
SPEAKER_00: But now we see the fear not of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The burden of the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: They needed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: They needed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it.
SPEAKER_00: They needed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They were in the fields abiding by abiding their sheep and taking care of their sheep.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: They were the dirtiest, smellingest, vulgar.
SPEAKER_00: They were the worst of the worst in the social ladder.
SPEAKER_00: If anybody needed Jesus, they needed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You know what gets me excited about the shepherds?
SPEAKER_00: Because they were the worst of the worst.
SPEAKER_00: They were so dirty they couldn't even enter the temple, and they were the first to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That ought to get us all excited.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how low you are, how bad you are, Jesus loves you, died for you, and wants to save you.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! That's good.
SPEAKER_00: Why were they afraid?
SPEAKER_00: These old tough guys.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say something.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Anytime you have a confrontation with Jesus and you're lost, you're going to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't like it when I was confronted with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It took me a while to understand it.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't want somebody telling me what to do, when to do, how to do, and where to go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have to give up all that I'm doing, all my dreams, all my aspirations, all my goals to follow this who?
SPEAKER_00: Loves me?
SPEAKER_00: No, he doesn't love me.
SPEAKER_00: If he loves me, why would my parents break up?
SPEAKER_00: Why would I be kicked out of my house?
SPEAKER_00: Why, why, why, why, why, why, why?
SPEAKER_00: I had a list of why is anybody else like that before you got saved?
SPEAKER_00: So what do we see of these shepherds?
SPEAKER_00: The burden of the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: They had a burden.
SPEAKER_00: They needed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But then verses 9 through 14, we see the blessedness of these shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: Ha ha! The blessedness.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they're the first to come and hear the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, let me show you something.
SPEAKER_00: What's so exciting about these shepherds?
SPEAKER_00: Not only do we see in these three situations the fear nots, but we see after every message of the fear notch, guess what the what the angels gave them?
SPEAKER_00: They gave them the message of peace.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not great?
SPEAKER_00: And then let me show you the second thing they give you.
SPEAKER_00: So when your life's upside down, one, you can expect the message of peace.
SPEAKER_00: Goodwill to all men.
SPEAKER_00: Peace I leave with you.
SPEAKER_00: My peace I give unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Not as the world gives, give I unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: John 14, 27.
SPEAKER_00: Button here.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa, this is good.
SPEAKER_00: The second message they gave them, hey, was direction.
SPEAKER_00: They led them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when you have peace, you can be assured that, hey, you're gonna be led to Jesus, or you can be assured Jesus has got you by his hand.
SPEAKER_00: That's good, preacher.
SPEAKER_00: I'm about to have a spell, but I can't run.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know how hard it is for me to.
SPEAKER_00: But then notice the third thing: the brilliance of these shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: And I've told the story, I've read it so many times.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15 through 20, after these shepherds meet the baby Jesus, they were forever changed.
SPEAKER_00: When the shepherds heard the message of the angel, they reacted with fear.
SPEAKER_00: But let me remind you that fear eventually leads to salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, salvation of the sailors on the boat with Jonah led them to salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Their fear led them to God.
SPEAKER_00: Ha ha, that's good.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, You shall die in your sins if you don't believe in me.
SPEAKER_00: You got a choice.
SPEAKER_00: But you must believe.
SPEAKER_00: You must believe.
SPEAKER_00: They were changed.
SPEAKER_00: Well, three times the angels came, and three times there was a reaction based in fear.
SPEAKER_00: However, when the fear had been dealt with, watch this.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's message was allowed to come through, the message was seen for what it really was.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the message was?
SPEAKER_00: Now don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: This will next time your life turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: This you'll remember this.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the message was after Joseph's life was turned upside down?
SPEAKER_00: After Mary's life was turned upside down, after the shepherd's life was turned upside down?
SPEAKER_00: The message was the message of grace.
SPEAKER_00: All grace, all sufficiency in all things.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 9.8.
SPEAKER_00: All grace, not some grace, all grace, all sufficiency in all things.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: That you may do the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 9.8.
SPEAKER_00: An old man was asked what had robbed him of joy the most in his lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he replied.
SPEAKER_00: What has robbed me of joy most of my lifetime?
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he said.
SPEAKER_00: The things that didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: The things that didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: He worried most of his life about things that never happened.
SPEAKER_00: Someone has cited three key, three keys to happiness.
SPEAKER_00: Write this down and I'm three.
SPEAKER_00: This is ringing in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I'm going to use this this next week in my word for the week.
SPEAKER_00: God taught me this week.
SPEAKER_00: One, fret not.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
SPEAKER_00: John 13, 1.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you to the end.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: Fret not.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: Faint not.
SPEAKER_00: He holds you.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 139, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Your right hand, God's right hand, holds me.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not good?
SPEAKER_00: Darren, is that not good?
SPEAKER_00: Fret not, faint not, number three.
SPEAKER_00: Fear not.
SPEAKER_00: He keeps you.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 121, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is your keeper.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord holds your right hand.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta give you another little saying that I found researching.
SPEAKER_00: W.B.
SPEAKER_00: Davidson wrote this.
SPEAKER_00: When just a small child, I accompanied my father on a short trip to see grandmother, who lived three miles from my home.
SPEAKER_00: We remained longer than we should have, and night overtook us.
SPEAKER_00: Between our home and grandmother's house was a swamp.
SPEAKER_00: That night, the frogs croaking and the crickets chirping, together with the darkness and the shadows of the trees, frightened me to death.
SPEAKER_00: They were in a buggy.
SPEAKER_00: I inquired of my father if there was any danger of something catching us, but he assured me there was nothing to dread.
SPEAKER_00: And so, taking me by the hand, he said, I will not allow anything to harm you.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately, my fears passed away, and I was ready to face the world.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: For my father had me by the hand.
SPEAKER_00: Every head bow, every eye clear.