Well, I hope you have had a great, great week of Thanksgiving this week. And either you have made a long trip home, or you got the house cleaned up because they destroyed it. Whichever it is. I love this weekend of the year because this weekend is one of those weekends that brings incredible unity in our whole community. Because it is official that this weekend, we can all put up our Christmas decorations and not be judged. Amen, we can do that. Now, I know some of you rolled right out of Halloween and went ahead and put yours up. And I know some of you have been listening to Christmas music all the way since November the first. But I've been watching the debates on social media, and there is some real shame being thrown all over the place about, well, you don't give thanks and you don't love Jesus and you don't love this. But hey, we can throw all that down this week because it is officially the Christmas season. It is officially there. And with the Christmas season comes some incredible things. We can put up the little pilgrim saltshakers and bring out the Mr. and Mrs. Clauses. We can put up the decorations. We can officially start wearing the ugly sweaters, we can plan the parties. We can do all of that. But I know your favorite part of Christmas is the anticipation that comes behind the sermon series, right? I know it. I can just feel it. You've been all week just wondering, what is he going to say? What is he going to talk about? In fact, probably 95% of you went back and listened to last year's Christmas series, just getting ready for this year's said no one, right? Said no one. 

But no, really, this year we are walking into our Christmas series this week and I love it because we can slow down a little bit and we can begin pointing our minds and pointing our hearts to the birth of Jesus. To the birth of the Savior of the world. It's my favorite part of the season. Last year we looked at Isaiah chapter nine, the whole season of Christmas, and we watched the names that were given to Jesus. He is the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, and the Prince of Peace. This year, we're going to do something a little different, and we're going to roll over and start looking at some of the characters in the story of the incarnation story. Now, I'm going to say that word incarnation a lot, and that's just a big churchy word that means the birth of Jesus story. This year, we're going to look at the people that are involved. We're going to look at their lives and kind of focus on what they were thinking and what God was doing in them. And we're going to see what God did in their hearts. And we're going to pull some principles into our hearts of what is it that God wants to do during this season? 

Now, with any Christmas series, you begin to learn really quickly that there are some major players of Christmas, and then there are some minor players that don't get the press that they deserve. And, you know, the major players, you can't do Christmas without talking about Mary. You can't do Christmas without talking about the angels. And you certainly, although people try all the time, can't do Christmas without Jesus, it just doesn't work. All right. By definition, you can't do it. This morning, we're going to talk about one of the lesser players that I don't think gets the press that he deserves. In fact, the player that we're going to talk about this morning doesn't even make it onto the speaking part list in any Christmas play. You knew that if you were cast into the role of Joseph in the Christmas Story, that all you had to do is stand there in your bathrobe and look cool, right? That is all you had to do. But this morning, I want to bring you into the mind of Joseph a little bit, because Joseph really is one of the unsung heroes of the birth story. And I want to show you that this morning. If you got a copy of scripture, I want you to go with me to Matthew Chapter one. Matthew Chapter one. We're going to start in verse 18 this morning. If you're new to church, I just want to kind of say it and kind of put it out there for you that the Book of Matthew and the Book of Luke, their gospels are the founding versions of where we read the account of the birth of Jesus. Luke kind of gives it to us through the lens of the long narrative of Mary. Matthew gives it to us through the lens and the lineage, at least of Joseph. Of Joseph. It tells us that Jesus was adopted into the line of David, into the family of Abraham. Now, most of us, we don't spend a lot of time when we start to read the Gospels in the first 17 verses of Matthew. Why? Because it's just a big old list of names, right? Most of us, when we start reading it, we kind of skip those names to move on to the good stuff of where we're going to start today. But I just want to encourage you to not do that. And here's why. There are some incredible, incredible messages that we can pull from those first 17 verses, the first of which is that the Savior has come the savior has fulfilled a lot of prophecies to be here. The Savior is from the line, a real family that existed on this earth. And catch this, what I think is one of the best messages out of all those. It tells us that in every family there are some messed up people. Right. You know, this half of you didn't even make it to the Thanksgiving meal this year without some weird political debate. Right. There are crazies in every family. And the first 17 verses of Matthew tells us that, listen, let me just say this and I'm going to move on. If there are no crazies in your family, you're the crazy. All right, that is it. That's how it works. If you're not seeing one, surprise, you're it. 

Okay. And that's what those first 17 verses show us. It shows us some murderers. It shows us a prostitute. It shows us all of this story. But catch this. God still used them. And God still used it in his plan to become with us. So, let's jump into our text this morning. Like I said, we're going to start in verse 18 and we're going to look at Joseph's life. And here's what we're doing today. We're going to read the text and we're just going to ask God to challenge us. Matthew Chapter one, verse 18, says this. This is how the birth of Jesus; the Messiah came about. Now what Matthew's doing, I'm not going to go this low. But what Matthew is doing here is he is telling us how Jesus was born, why Jesus was born. He's writing an apologetic, not like he's sorry, but he's defending what Jesus came to do. This is how the birth of Jesus; the Messiah came about. His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Now, pause there because we've got some cultural work to do. Let's talk about this idea of being pledged, or maybe your kind of copy of Scripture says betrothed. All right. Those are the same thing, just two different synonyms used. You see, being pledged looks a lot different than just being engaged and it matters. You see, betrothal or being pledged was a big deal. It was a Jewish custom called Kiddushin. 

All right. It was part of the fullness of the marriage ceremony. And here's how it worked, just in case you don't know. A young man and his fiancé, when they finally entered into this betrothal, right. Would go before the judge, would sign the marriage declaration. And at that point, they would be officially married. Okay, this is not engagement. This is not I gave you a ring. When you get mad at me tomorrow, you throw it back to me. This is an official deal. It is officially signed before the priest. But in the betrothal period, they would have to wait a year before they lived together. They would have to wait a year before they slept together. Before they had any kind of wedding ceremony. Now, from the outside looking in, this is the dumbest thing that has ever been created. Right? For those of us that are married, you're like a whole year. I'm married, but I'm still waiting. You feel where I'm going in that, right? I'm still waiting in the process. But you see, in those days, marriage looked a lot different. Here's how it was different. In those days, students you're going to want to chime in and get off the phone just for a second to listen to this, because this is school. All right. In those days, that was bad. In those days, a mother and father would go to a mother and father of another family, and they would decide who you're going to marry. All right. The moral of the story is doesn’t peeve off your parents. All right? That's what the moral the story looks like there. They would go to them. They would in contractual form. They would decide on a dowry or a bride price. So, the dude's dad would pay your parents daughter would pay your parents a price so that you could be married to their son. 

Now, for those of you that have, ladies were like, we may be on to this. For those of us that have guys were like, nope, don't like this at all. Right. But here's how it worked. They would go to them and but here's the problem in it. The guy's parents would want to make sure what they were getting was right. I told you, this is a terrible deal. They would want to make sure that what they were getting was pure, that she wasn't pregnant. That she wasn't damaged. She didn't have any kookiness about her or whatever. And so then after that year of going through this betrothal process, they would officially then have the marriage ceremony and then the couple could move in together and they could do what married couples do. You feeling me where I'm saying that? Right. So, here's the thing. Other than the physical side of marriage, when you were betrothed to someone, you were married to them, you were married. So that means this to get a divorce, you had to actually walk through the divorce process. And it had to be something that was spelled out in the law. So, let's get into Joseph's head for a minute. From the text we just read. From the text we just read during this waiting time. Mary shows up pregnant. Mary shows up pregnant in this betrothal period. Now Joseph knows that baby ain't mine. Joseph knows we haven't been together. He knows that they haven't even been in the same vicinity of each other. 

Now, let me run the timeline for you in this, because it's a little bit confusing and maybe nobody’s ever walk you through it. Most theologians believe, here's the timeline of the whole birth event in this, to where we're at. You see Mary in Luke 1, receives the message from the angel Gabriel. We're going to see this. We got plenty of weeks left. Don't freak out. Right. She receives this message from an angel that she is highly favored, that she is going to conceive as a virgin and that she is going to give birth through the Holy Spirit to the Messiah Jesus. She receives that. Now, as soon as Mary receives that message, the Bible tells us that she immediately hightailed it out of town and went to her Aunt Elizabeth's house. Now it doesn't say anything about her talking to her parents, doesn't say anything about her talking to anybody else. She immediately packs up her stuff. She's confused. She doesn't know what's going on. She goes to Elizabeth's house because Elizabeth is six months pregnant at this point with John the Baptist. If you read, you know the story, right? She goes into hiding to kind of figure out life, figure out what this thing is all about, figure out what this message from Gabriel the angel means. And then after the three months, this is what I want you to feel. After the three months, she then decides to come home and tell Joseph what's going on. All right. Now, this brings a whole lot of light to the story. She waits three months to tell Joseph that she's pregnant. Why did she wait three months? Well, in those days, you couldn't pop over to CVS and get the test right in your hand. You had to figure out, hey, is this thing for real? Right. I want to know this thing's for real. Also, three months is about the limit for most pregnancies where you start kind of recognizing some is going on there. Right. So, she comes home. She tells Joseph that she's pregnant. So, she's three months pregnant. So, when Joseph hears this from Mary, you can imagine how painful it is. 

You can imagine how humiliating, how confusing this was for Joseph. Why? You've married this girl. You've pledged yourself to this girl. You're waiting. You're getting your house ready. You are burning with the passion of an engagement. Amen. And now she comes home after a couple of months. And says, Hey, Joe, we need to talk, right? We need to talk because. Because I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant. Now, in Joseph's mind, rightfully so. This changes things, right? This changes things. But he's a godly man. Watch verse 19, because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. Now, at this point, understandably so. Joe's done right. He's a godly man, but he's done. The Bible says he's faithful to the law. He's a righteous man. He's describing he loves the Lord. But the Jewish law was incredibly clear that marriage should be the only place that sexual relations should ever happen. And adultery was not to be tolerated. Now, listen to this. Let me kind of a little side note here. All scripture, God speaks over and over and over again about the great clarity and the great concern dealing with the subject of sexual purity. He speaks about it over and over, over again, almost as much as he speaks about any other topic, because he knows that is something that humans struggle with. And he speaks about the topic that virginity. 

Listen to me. Those of you that aren't married, virginity coming into marriage is a sacred thing. No matter what culture tells you, no matter what anybody else tells you, it is a sacred act to God not to be thrown out from cultural norms. He speaks to it right here. So, Joseph, when he hears this news from Mary, he's got some options, right? He's got some options. Let's talk about them. First option is he could publicly humiliate Mary. He could throw her out because of his perceived this immoral act. And according to Deuteronomy 22, this could possibly lead to her being stoned. You can read it later. Deuteronomy 22 is very clear that the adulterous person should be stoned. That tells you how serious God is about purity. That was the first option. The second option is he could just do what the Bible's kind of telling us he's thinking about doing. He could divorce her quietly, send her on her way quietly, because he really did love her. But he knew that that was the law. But he also knew that this would also bring her shame and it would bring this kid into poverty. He could divorce quietly. The third option is that he could marry Mary. I love saying those together. He could marry Mary and he could bring this child into his home as his own. Now, no Jewish guy would have done this in the time. It wasn't really on the radar, but he knew that it was an option. Those were his three options, whether there was possibly a fourth. There was a number four. But it really didn't have to do with anything in this society because it was a godly society. The fourth option is he could have just aborted the child and not worried about it, but being a godly person, he realized that wasn't even on the radar for him. Look, the options didn't seem to be great at this point. It didn't seem to be great. But Joseph loves Mary, so the Bible says, and he's a godly guy and he knows this is not really like this girl. He wants to have compassion. So, let's get into Joseph's mind again. Joseph is now in a dark place, right? Are you feeling this? Joseph is alone. He's isolated. He's ashamed. Joseph, listen. 

We're reading this. 2000 years later, Joseph is living this in real time. Joseph has no idea what God is doing. No idea. In fact, write this principle down. We're often blind to the fact that God is at work behind the scenes. We're often blind to that fact. And boy, does Joseph not show us that? Joseph just thinks that Mary's been unfaithful, that Mary is running around on him, that Mary has found somebody else. But we're blind in many ways. Joseph would say to the fact that God is working behind the scenes. But listen, as people who profess our trust in God. Listen, we've got to live a life that positions ourselves to hear from God. Well, let me ask you this about your last week of your life. How did it go in positioning yourself to hear from God this week? How did it go? Did you intentionally leave this week, carve out time in your life where you said before the Lord and you said, God, I need you to speak to me. I need you to give me what you want me to do. I need you to speak into my soul. Did you do that this week? Have you lived away this week in order for God to speak to you? Have you been faithful to the law in a way that you're coming before God going, God, I don't know in this craziness how all this is looking, but God, I need you to speak to me? Listen, Joseph is confused, but Joseph is faithful to the law. Are you feeling that? Keep going in the story. Watch what happened in verse 20. But after he considered this. What is he considering? Just he's considering just divorcing her quietly. But after he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 

Now let's stay in the mind of Joseph. If it's not emotional enough to have your wife come home and tell you that she's pregnant. Now the angel appears to Joseph. The angel comes and it completely leads him in a new direction. There's no precedent for no one else would have thought about it. Everyone would think he's crazy and this is going to change his life forever. But remember, God is faithful. He's faithful. In fact, right. This principle down. Sometimes it is God who shatters our dreams to give us better dreams. Sometimes it's God who shatters our dreams. We don't talk about this a whole lot, but we can share stories about this over and over and over again. In fact, let me just say this. I'm standing here today because of a shattered dream. A shattered dream. This is not what I wanted to do with my weekends. Do you feel me on that? But God's said, no. This is what you're going to do. This is where you're going to walk. This is how you're going to live. You see, I know it's hard to swallow, but it's true. But this is how God works. The Bible is very clear that God works His will in our lives, and sometimes we don't understand it. Sometimes we don't. This is Isaiah 55:8. God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways. My ways, declares the Lord, as heavens are higher than the Earth. So are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. In other words, God's plans are rarely what we would plan for our lives. That's what it means. The same is true in Job chapter one and Job chapter two, where God shows us that His plans are always the best plans, but they're not the plans that I would have for my life. 

They're eternal plans that sometimes leave some earthly mess. Romans 8:28 tells us that, God, we know that all things work together for the good of those who he loves and are called according to his purpose. You see Mary and Joseph at this point, their plans are shot. You say Matt, what do you mean, their plans are shot? Well, their perfect wedding is gone, right? Their perfect life is gone. Their perfect image is gone. The living the American, or the, you know what I'm saying? The Israelite dream right is gone. All that is over. To which I've often thought this from reading this. God, why did you do it this way? Why did you do it this way? I mean, both of their reputations are gone. Nobody in their right mind thought they were telling the truth. You do realize that the angel did not proclaim to everyone on this earth what happened to Mary? They just had to try to convince people, which probably didn't go well. You know that everybody thought they were liars, right? They thought Mary was just this impure girl had a secret dark side. 

And listen, there was not much clarification to that until the resurrection or the gospels were written. In fact, in John Chapter eight, the Pharisees came up to Jesus and still called Jesus an illegitimate child. So, you're feeling the pressure they're living in. This doesn't look like the abundant life. But why did God do it this way? Let me let you in on a little secret. He did it this way to save the world. You see, what I mean by his plans are always bigger than our plans? He did it this way because it's the only way that sin can be satisfied. And the God could save the world. Why? Because Jesus had to be fully man to relate to the world as a blood sacrifice, but he had to be fully God to save the world. You see, Jesus couldn't be born of a man. You say, well Matt why not? Well, because of Romans 5:12 that the seed of sin falls in the line of man. Since Adam. There he goes. Well, missing him for a minute. Since Adam on, what happened? The sin of man has been passed on from man to man to man to man. So, what did God do? He circumvented man through the Holy Spirit and made him born of the Holy Spirit. But he also had to be born of a woman to be fully man, adopt that into the house of God. Why? Because only God could devise this plan. Keep going in the story. Watch this. He says she will give birth to a son. And you are to give him the name. Jesus because he will save the people from their sins. All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said to the Prophet. The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel. Which means, here's our series, God with us. So, what's his name? I mean, there's two of them here, right? There's Jesus or his name is his name Emmanuel? Look, I get it. If you're new to the Bible, I'm sorry. This is a little confusing, right? I mean, one is one the real name, one the nickname one. Like the family name. I mean, hi, I'm Jesus. My middle name is Christ. My friends call me Emmanuel. You can call me Lord. I mean, which one is it in the story? Let me explain it to you just for a minute. You see, he is Jesus. Meaning this. Here's what Jesus literally means. It means Jehovah is salvation. That's what Jesus means. That's what he does. But catch this. He is Emmanuel, meaning God with us. 

That's who he is. Man, I love this because what does it do? It gives us the full picture of who Jesus is and without both these sides, listen to me, Church. Without both these hands, we don't have salvation. Without both these sides, we don't have our sins fully covered. Without the fact that he was born of a human, and he was fully man, that we don't have a sacrifice that has been made on our behalf without the fact that he is born of a virgin, that he is fully God. Then we don't have a God that can save us. But here's the thing. He is both. That's why God did it this way. Jesus as God, catch this, has the power to conquer sin and death. Jesus as man has the ability to be the sacrifice for my sins. That is not only just a blood sacrifice but is a perfect sacrifice for my sins. Here's what that means Jesus as the God man Emmanuel with us that saves is not a distant God that is out there in the universe. He is a God that saves, and he is a God that is with us. That's what it says. And he still loves us this way. He is Jesus. Catch this. And He is Emmanuel. You can't have one without the other. That's why he did it this way. Back to the story, verse 24. When Joseph woke up, remember, he's having this dream. He did what the Angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Now, I love the clarity of verse 24. Why? Because he did it. He acted on what the Lord said. Can I tell you there's one phrase that I have not been able to get out of my mind all week long studying this, and I get to soak on it a little bit? And that is the phrase he did what he was asked to do. Can I just be straight honest with you? This is what I want to be said over my life. I don't want it to be said over my life that I was a good this or I was a bad this or I was a this. I just purely want it to be said over my life, that I did what God asked me to do. And I want that to be said over my life in the good times. But here's the deal. I also especially want it to be said in the crisis times. Because that's what Joseph showing us, right? In fact, write this principle down Joseph's life shows us. Here it is. How we respond to God in times of crisis reveals a great deal about our walk with God. It really does. 

You see, Joseph would say that giving the appearance that Jesus is Lord in the good times is great and all. But what about when it's hard? What about when it's crisis? What about when stress is on the rise? What about when your reputation is on the line? What about when the future is on the balance? You see, this is why I think Joseph gets the shaft sometimes at Christmas. Because can you imagine the faith that it took for Joseph to hold? To stay? You see, he shows us so much about living our life in a land of faith. In fact, he shows us four things. I just want to give him to you as we're on our way out today. Joseph would say, Hey, following Jesus is really just four things. Number one, it's complete trust in God's plan. It's just complete trust in God's plan. And that's what Joseph has shown us in the whole story. Joseph had to believe and trust the impossible. And he risked everything. When you read this, nothing went according to how Joseph planned it, did it? Nothing. He thinks he's out there getting the shop ready, building the house, getting stuff ready, planning the party and Mary's just off with all the girls. But Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son and you're to give him the name Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins. And what did Joseph do at this moment? Did Joseph complain? Did Joseph argue? Did Joseph give God a whole lot of “but God why?” No. The Bible said he just did what the angel had commanded him to do. What? He trusted in the plan. This is Isaiah 12:2. Surely God is my salvation. I will trust and I will not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord Himself is my strength, my defense and He has become my salvation. 

You know, how many of us, if we were honest this morning, would say this? Matt, I got plans for my life and I'm not sure I'm willing to give them up for God. That's what Joseph's showing us. In fact, you probably go another step forward because how many of us would actually say this? Matt, if I was really honest, I think that my plans are better than God's plans. Because Joseph says they might look like it, but he's the savior of the world. Number one, he just shows us to completely trust in God. Number two, he says, following Jesus means absolute obedience to God's requests. Absolute obedience. You got absolute trust, or complete trust. You got absolute obedience. What God was asking Joseph to do, listen to me real closely, man. I mean, some of you students need to hear this. What God was asking Joseph to do seemed foolish in the world's eyes. It seemed foolish. And listen, many times it does. It really does. But Joseph, in faith, what did he do? He said yes. No arguing, no attitude, no delay. Just yes. Verse 24, When Joseph woke up, I'll say it again. He did what the Angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. Man, this should be a theme verse of our lives. 

So, let me just ask you, what is it today? Real personal right here. What is it today? If you were completely honest with yourself? What is it that you know that God is asking you to do, but you have said No, God? What is it? What is it you have not said yes to God in for maybe even years? You know what? For some of you today, God's calling you to himself to save you, to save you. And maybe even this week, you've been so squirmy. You have not been settled in your soul. And God is calling you to repent and to give you a moment to respond to his salvation call. Is that you today? Do you need to respond? Say Yes, Jesus. Maybe you today you have not said. You have not said yes to baptism. Maybe you've just put your hand up and you say, I don't know, God, maybe that's just something other people have done. What are people going to say about me? I'm afraid of being in front of people. I don't know. God, man, just say yes. Maybe for you today Jesus is asking you to give your first and your best to actually begin tithing and watch how God blesses your life. Not only just replaces what you're giving but bless your life. Maybe God today is asking you to give up a habit. Maybe God is asking you to jump into a group that you can do life with and walk with. Maybe God is asking you to speak into someone's life about Jesus. 

The point is, is if we're following Jesus, no matter what it looks like on the outside when God asks. Our role is just to say, Yes. Joseph would go, hey, it might be crazy, but it's worth it. Number three pretty self-explanatory. He would say following Jesus means full self-denial. Full self-denial. Now I know it's not popular to talk about. I get it. But when you follow Jesus, you're literally saying Jesus, I'm putting myself second, and I'm putting you first. I'm putting you way up here above my desires. This is the whole story of Jesus, but it's especially the story of Jesus and Mary. You see in verse 25, it kind of throws out this little point, but they watch this. But he did not consummate their marriage until they gave birth to a son. You know what that means? It means Mary and Joseph completed the marriage process and then he still didn't get to be with her until months later. Look, I've dealt with a lot of young couples that are sexually pure. This don't happen. All right, but it's the point. He said, Hey, hey, no, God, if you tell me to wait, I'm waiting. If you tell me not to, I'm not God. I am putting myself behind you. Listen, church is not popular to talk about. The part of the Christian faith is putting God before us in everything. It's full self-denial. Listen, I. I'll just say that this. We're not the center of the universe. God is. Here's number four. This is quick. Following Jesus means embracing worldly inconvenience for the sake of eternal blessing. Eternal blessing. It's the whole point of the story, right? It's the whole point. I don't think we realize how much this turned their lives upside down. Because we're reading it as a history novel, and we get to see the end of the story. We're like Matt, it all turned out okay, right? I mean, they had Jesus, they get a cool manger scene, and we still know their names. It worked out for them right. But I don't think we realize how much this did. Listen, let me just say it like this. Eternity is on the line. Temporary never holds up. And serving Jesus is always inconvenient. 

But it's worth it. It's worth it. So, here's the question. What eternal blessing have I been missing this week because I've been chasing the temporal? I've been chasing the world. Now, we put all this together and we say, this. Man was a lot. Joseph is a stud. Joseph needs more than a bathrobe. Right. We need to give that boy a speaking part in something. But here's my question. How did he do it? How did he go from just this lowly merchant metal, slash wood, slash stonemason to being able to say, yes, God? It's pretty easy. It's in the story. Pretty easy. He saw God for who he was. He was it. It just told us right here in the story. Why? He simply knew God rightly. He knew God, catch this, is the God who saves and the God that is with us. Here's my challenge today, its super simple. Super simple. Your will and your discipline are not going to give you the faith to move. It's not. But your view of Jesus will. Really and truly your life is a reflection of who you think Jesus is. This is the whole story of who Joseph is, right? Joseph knew Jesus as the one who saves and the one that is with us. My question as we close this morning is this do you? Do you? Because here's what I know. When we struggle with knowing Jesus for who he is, we will always struggle living for Jesus for what he wants us to be. 

So, I'm going to ask you this morning, do you know Jesus like this? What's your view of Jesus? Have you allowed Jesus in your life as the Savior? Have you given Jesus control of your heart as your Lord? Have you submitted your heart to Jesus and say this, Jesus, I don't really care where my friends are? I don't really care where anything else is in my life. But I care about you. Look, we don't know a whole lot more about Joseph. I'll just be honest. We know Joseph. Is at the birth story. Right? We kind of get that. We'll see that in a few weeks. We know Jesus. We know Joseph left Jesus in the temple when he was 12 years old. Little parent f right. We know that. But evidently, at some point between Jesus being 12 and Jesus being on the cross, Joseph dies. We know that because Jesus looked at John and asked John to take care of Mary, his mother. So, Joseph wasn't around. But here's what we know Jesus or Joseph. He has left us an incredible legacy of walking in faith. Will you take it this week? 

Lord Jesus, God, let us see this week, that you are worth it. That you're King and Lord and Savior that you're the one who saves and the one that is with us. And God this morning, just like we've done in every other service that we have had. God, I just pray that you call people unto yourself today. With your heads bowed in your eyes closed, I'm just going to ask you this morning, do you know Jesus like this? Do you need to give your heart to Jesus? Do you need to ask him to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life? Do you need to settle that today? In just a second, during this invitation song, I'm going to be over here to your right. I've got some other people that are with me. And here's the deal this morning. If you need to give your heart to Jesus, wherever you are, just take one step into the aisle. Walk over here to us, look us in the face and just say this. Hey, Matt, I need Jesus, and we'll walk you through the rest. We'll talk you through the rest. Maybe you do know Jesus today, but you haven't seen him as the one who saves and the one that is with you, in a long time. Maybe today you just need to say Yes, Jesus, I'm walking in your power. Do in me what you will. Lord, give us a couple of minutes today to let this to seer into our souls in this time of invitation. Thank you, Lord for Joseph and his faithfulness to you. Thank you that he's shown us how to live out our faith. It's in your name we pray. 

Amen. Amen. 

Let's stand and sing together.