(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

you you you you All right, welcome everyone to pure words back to church we're gonna start here With our first song song number 423 You All number 423 way to the world The Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare him room And heaven and nature sing And nature The Savior While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy No more let sins and sorrows grow Nor thorns impasse the ground He comes to make his blessings flow For as the curse is found He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations rule The glories of his righteousness And wonders of his love And wonders, wonders of his love Amen. Our second song, song number 420. Song number 420. There's a song in the air. Start out there on the first. There's a song in the air There's a star in the sky There's a mother's deep prayer And a baby's low cry And the star reigns its fire While the beautiful sing For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king There's a tumult of joy For the wonderful birth For the virgin, sweet boy Is the Lord of the earth And the star reigns its fire While the beautiful sing For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king In the light of that star By the ages impelled For the song from afar Has flipped over the world Every hearth is aflame And the beautiful sing In the homes of the nations That Jesus is King We rejoice in the light And we echo the song That comes down through the night From the heavenly throng I wish out to the lovely Evangel they bring And we greet in his cradle Our Savior and King Welcome everybody to Pure Words Baptist Church, our midweek service. We're going to go through the bulletins. If anybody needs a bulletin, there's one on the back shelf. And we've got our service times, 1030 and 530 on Sunday. And you made it tonight, 7pm. It's a cold one out there, so it's good to see everybody. And then we have our soul winning times there. Our Sunday time, we start out here at the church and we go together at 2pm. And then the other times there, just contact the respective leaders and meet on site. Is there any soul winning to report for this week? Okay. And so, our numbers are right down there. Things have been very fruitful. Things are going well. Just glad to have a lot of you guys out there soul winning. Keep it up. And then we have expecting ladies that need prayer. We have Christian Rogers due in January. Miss Sheena, Miss RG and Miss Sandra. So, keep these ladies in prayer that they have an easy time. And God gives them some mercy and some grace to get through that baby's healthy. And the mother is just fine. And then we have upcoming events today. We're missing Evangelist Urbanic and we miss him. We wish he was here, but we got a special treat. We got Brother Raymond Cooper from Faithful Word Baptist Church. So, it's great to have him here. He's first time here. So, please welcome him. Make him feel at home. And hopefully he enjoys his time here. Thank you so much for coming and preaching for us. We really do appreciate it. Coming up on December 25th, we have our Candlelight Service and Cookie Fellowship. So, make sure you make it for all the great preaching. And then you get some cookies later in the evening service. It's like Pastor Shelley always says, there's more of a crowd whenever you serve food. So, maybe that's one of the tricks. But it'll be a great time. It'll be nice to celebrate the birth of Christ and Christmas at church with our family that believes as we do. And so, that's kind of special this year. Looking forward to that. And then we have prayer requests there. We've got a list of people. And we'll just go through these and just pray for these people here as we do on Thursdays. If you want to just bow your head and we'll pray. Father God in Heaven, thank you for your tender mercies and your healing and your miracles. We just ask you that you help continue with Brother Edward and his health. And Miss Liberty's family member, Catherine with breast cancer. I know that's got to be a tough time. Please encourage her and strengthen her. And give wisdom and understanding to the people involved that are giving her care to make the best decisions. And we just pray for her that she comes through this the best possible. Brother Joel, please encourage him and strengthen him and his family. Shield of Faith Baptist Church up there in Idaho with all the weird freaks up there that are protesting them. Father, please encourage them and strengthen them and just be with them as they go through this. And we just thank you for that church, like-minded church. And just with Pastor Joe Jones, just be with him and his family in protection of all of his church members and his family, Father. And we have Raphael West healing and getting her visa. We ask you for miracles if need be. We ask for whatever needs to take place, Father. We're just kind of leaning on you. We appreciate everything that you do for us. Please help her out. And we have Brother Franz moving and his baby Lydia healing. It's got to be really rough when our babies are sick. Father, just please be there and comfort them through this. Help them out and give them healing for their babies and help them as they move. And Brother Moe, he has a friend that needs salvation, Father. We ask that you give this friend as many opportunities as possible to hear the gospel. Please, Brother Moe, for other people that you can bring into this person's life. We ask you to drive away wicked and unreasonable men that kind of poison their minds and just make a time so they can hear the gospel and make up their minds what they want to do. And R.G.'s mom for help, Father. Please help her out in whatever that situation is and bring comfort to them with her, Father. And Brother Moe, his mother, for salvation and help, Father. Please extend her days as long as possible so she can hear the gospel as many times as possible, Father, so she can believe. We ask all these things in your precious son's name, Jesus Christ, amen. So the last thing is the church reminders. Just the main thing is children running around and on the stage, you know, things of that nature. We don't want any accidents. And that is it for announcements. Brother Moe will come up and read the next song. All right, turn to your hymnal for song number four hundred and thirty four. Four hundred and thirty four, A Little Town of Bethlehem. A little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie, Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting life. The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight, For Christ is born of Mary And gathered all above. While mortals sleep the angels keep Their watch a-bondering love. O morning stars together Proclaim the holy birth, And praises sing to God the King And peace to men on earth. How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given, So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven. No weir may hear his coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in. O holy child of Bethlehem, Listen to us we pray, Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell, O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel. Please turn into the Bible to the book of Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew 1, and the Bible reads, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, The Son of David, the Son of Abraham, Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, And Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, And Judas begat Phares, And Phares, Zarah, and Thamar, And Phares begat Ezrem, And Ezrem begat Aram, And Aram begat Amenadab, And Amenadab begat Nahasson, And Nahasson begat Solomon, And Solomon begat Boaz of Rakab, And Boaz begat Obedeth of Ruth, And Obedeth begat Jesse, And Jesse begat David the king, And David the king begat Solomon, Of her that had been the wife of Uriah, And Solomon begat Reboam, And Reboam begat Abia, And Abia begat Asa, And Asa begat Jehoshaphat, And Jehoshaphat begat Joram, And Joram begat Ozias, And Ozias begat Joatham, And Joatham begat Achaz, And Achaz begat Ezekiel, And Achias begat Manassas, And Manassas begat Ammon, And Ammon begat Josias, And Josias begat Jehoicus, And his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon, And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconias begat Thalathiel, And Thalathiel begat Zorababel, And Zorababel begat Abiad, And Abiad begat Eliakim, And Eliakim begat Azor, And Azor begat Sadak, And Sadak begat Achim, And Achim begat Eliad, And Eliad begat Eleazar, And Eleazar begat Matan, And Matan begat Jacob, And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, Of whom was born Jesus, Who is called the Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, And from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, And from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, When, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, Before they came together she was found the child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, And not willing to make her a public example, Was minded to put her away privileged. So while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, Saying, Joseph, thou son of David, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, For he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, Which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Emmanuel, Which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, And took unto him his wife, And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, And he called his name Jesus. Let's pray. Father God in Heaven, thank you so much for the work that you're doing in this life. And for your foundation. Amen. Alright, so for those of you who don't know, My name is Raymond Cooper, and I'm just visiting from Faithful Word over in Tempe, Arizona. But I'd like to thank Pastor Shelley for this opportunity to preach, And thank you guys for coming out. And so tonight I'm going to be preaching from this famous passage in Matthew chapter 1, That we get basically the Christmas story from where Jesus is born and all that good stuff. But I'm going to be preaching a little bit different of a sermon Than you would typically hear from these passages. And that instead of talking a lot about how Jesus came to save us from our sins, Which is very important, which is obviously the reason for the season, right? But instead I'm going to focus on a character that maybe we don't think about as much, Or that the Bible doesn't emphasize as much, But he's a very important character in this story, And I believe that he has many lessons for us to learn from. And the title of my sermon tonight is Lessons from Joseph. Lessons from Joseph. So Joseph, you could call him Jesus' stepdad if you want to, Or the guy who basically raised him while he was on this earth. Obviously we know that he wasn't Jesus' actual father. But I've been able to pick out from this passage five lessons that we can learn from Joseph, Just in these few verses in Matthew chapter 1. I'd like to share those with you today. So you're there in Matthew chapter 1, look down if you would at verse number 18, That's where I'd like to begin. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, Espoused there means that they were married, Before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, Was minded to put her away privately. And so my first point, and one great lesson that we can learn from Joseph, It's very simple, but Joseph was a just man. It says right here that he's a just man, he's a good guy. And I think that from these few verses right here, That we can see that he showed a lot of compassion here. Because if you think about it, and if you put himself in his shoes, He's probably very upset. Because think about what's going on. He just got married to this girl, he loves her, And then they're together, but he realizes that she's pregnant, And it wasn't him or anything. So the thing is that he's probably upset about that. And then she's telling him, well it's from the Holy Spirit, But he's like, yeah whatever, whatever you say. He's not believing it I'm sure. So the thing is that he could ruin her reputation maybe, Or do something bad with that, But it says that in verse 19 that he was not willing to make her a public example. Because he was a just man, he wanted to show mercy. She could have possibly ruined his whole future. He wanted to have a family with this lady and stuff, But then she just threw it all away, she just messed it all up. But he's like, you know what, I'm not willing to make her a public example. I don't want to cause her the same hardship that she caused me. Maybe that's a little bit of speculation there, But I do think that we see some compassion here on the part of Joseph. And at the end of the day, whether it's said this or not, God knew that he was a just man. God knew that this was a good guy. And I think that's probably why he picked Joseph to be Jesus' stepdad, Or his surrogate father while he was on this earth. Because of the fact that God's not going to pick some wicked individual To raise his son while he's on this earth. This is a great honor and a great privilege that Joseph had To be the family, the household that raises the Savior, That raises the Lord on this earth, physically speaking. And so I'm sure that Joseph was a great guy. And it says that he's a just man. And God the Father chose his household to be that household. And the Bible doesn't say anything negative about Joseph either. It doesn't really say anything negative about him. It doesn't say anything negative about Mary. I mean they were just good people. Just all around good people. And here's I guess the question or the challenge that I'd like to propose with this first point. And that is, do you personally have the type of household that God would choose to live at? You know what I mean? It's kind of a funny question, but it's a question to where you can examine yourself And examine what does my household look like? And I'm not talking about if it's clean all the time. You know what I mean? Where there's no dirt on the floor or whatever. Because that was Martha's problem, right? Martha was just coming about with much serving. And then she's like, Martha, Martha, you're not doing the right thing. I'm here with you right now. You should be with me. But do you have the type of household that you'd be proud to present to the Lord? Or do you have the type of household that you'd be ashamed to have God live there or visit there or whatever? You know, whenever you get home after your job, after your work, after church, whatever. You know, you kick the shoes off, you let the hair down or whatever. Is it the first thing that happens is the TV comes on and then you watch for hours or whatever? I mean, that's not right. That's not what you ought to be doing with your time. Or whenever you get home, is it you and your wife or you and your husband? You're fighting, you're yelling at each other, you're screaming, you're throwing dishes. I mean, hopefully not. Hopefully that's not what's going on. But the thing is that do you have a type of household that you'd be proud to present to God? When you get home, is it that you forget God? Is that whenever you just forget God? You're just like, I'm done with this and I'm not going to pray. I'm not going to sing praises to Him. I'm not going to think about God at all. I'm not going to read the Bible. I'm just going to go about my day and I'm just going to forget God. Is that how you live your life whenever you get home? And I'm primarily aiming that towards families, I suppose. But even people living by themselves, if they just go home and then they just get on Facebook and they just scroll for hours and hours or YouTube or something worse than that. The thing is that we need to make sure that we have a good household. Whenever we get home, that's not the time to basically forget about God and just get into some sins or even just a bunch of vain stuff and not really have a household that's pleasing unto God. And you might think to yourself, brother Raymond, that's kind of a silly question. God's not going to come live with me. That happened to Joseph and Mary, but that's not going to happen to me. But you know what? You can't have God come and visit with you though in a spiritual way. The Bible says in Matthew 18, it says, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. I can imagine the great honor and privilege that Joseph and Mary had to have the Lord live with them in their house. But guess what? You can have God visit with you in your house as well. You can have him come where two or three are gathered together in my name. You shouldn't have a lot of these things going on in your household and stuff. Obviously we're not perfect, but in general though, especially just don't forget about God whenever you get home. That's the number one thing. Just make sure that you have a household that's pleasing unto God. And then just one last carnal example of this, but then parents in this room, if you had to choose somebody to raise your kids for a while, are you going to choose some derelict type of family that they're just doing whatever? Are you going to choose the best type of household or the best type of family for your kids to live at? And so that's just kind of a carnal example of that. But we can have God meet with us spiritually speaking in our house. So I think that's the first lesson that we can point out today is that it's very simple, but Joseph was a just man and we need to be just people as well. We need to be righteous people whether we're out and about or whether we're at home. We need to have this righteousness here. So the second lesson I want to point out today, and everybody here knows this already, but I want to point it out anyway because it's so important and it's such a great doctrine from the word of God. But here's the thing, Joseph is not Jesus' father because Jesus is the son of God. And that sounds so simple, everybody here I hope knows that. If you're confused about that then you need to get saved because that's like the first thing right there. But let me just show you some verses about this from the word of God. Even here in Matthew chapter 1 look at verse 18 it says, Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Verse 20, Fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Verse 23, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. And see this doctrine may be a cookie on the bottom shelf type of a doctrine but it's still so important. I'm just going to go through a litany of a few verses here that talk about how Jesus is the son of God. I mean the most famous verse in the whole Bible right, John 3 16 it says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It goes on to say, For God, referring to the Father, sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. John 1 1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. In verse 14 it says, And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Psalm 2 says, I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And then Hebrews 1 quotes it, it says, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels, spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. And you know, I just wanted to share a few verses about Jesus being the son of God. And here's the thing about that, is that these verses are super familiar to us. You know, I'm sure that some of these verses you probably were quoting it in your head as I'm reading it. But you know what? They are so powerful as well. They are just filled with power. And you know, I just want to throw this in there, an extra little bonus point. But you know, the thing is that we need to love the word of God. And we don't need to be, for example, thinking to ourselves, well I already know this. You know, I already know that Jesus is the son of God. I already know John 3 16. I already know this. I don't need to hear this again. No, we need to have this attitude that we love the word of God. We love it. It's just so wonderful to us and we just crave it and we just want it. And we just, you know, our heart just loves the word of God. And that was actually going to be my sermon I was going to preach tonight, but I ended up switching at the last moment. So just thought I'd throw that in there a little bit, that we need to love the word of God. And so it shouldn't be grievous to hear the same things over and over again. And so this is a very simple truth, but Jesus Christ is the son of God. He's not the son of Joseph. And so that's another great point that we can learn from the story. Here's the next point, okay. Divorce is never right. It's never okay. Yeah, it's never right. And so look down, if you would, at Matthew chapter 1. I'm going to prove this to you from the Bible, but we're going to turn to many scriptures as well. But in Matthew chapter 1, look down at verse 18. It says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, so they're married, before, notice that word, before they came together. So there's some sort of gap here between whenever they got married and whenever they came together with that physical relationship. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. So notice, it calls Joseph here a just man, but you know, he wants to put her away. He wants to divorce her or whatever. I mean, how is this going to work? How does this, you know, connect? And let me show you how. Go to, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 24. Deuteronomy chapter 24. Now, and keep your finger there, Matthew 1. We're going to come right back. But you know, the Bible, you know, in the Bible, God, you know, there's this phenomenon where basically God gives us sometimes, he gives us what is technically allowed, you know, but then what is preferred as well. What God would prefer to happen and then what is technically allowed. So I'll give you a perfect example. Matthew 18 talks about a situation in the church where basically you and a brother can't get along or whatever and you know, something happened and basically you bring it to them, they don't repent. You bring it before the church and eventually they get kicked out if they don't repent or whatever. Obviously, you know, that's allowed, but that's not what God really wants because later in Matthew chapter 18, it also talks about how Jesus is talking and he's saying you should forgive your brother 70 times 7. So obviously what would be better is that you just forgive each other, you know what I mean? You would just forgive each other your trespasses, but God allows for this other stuff as well. And so we see this in Deuteronomy 24 with what we're talking about right now as well. So look down if you would at verse number 1, Deuteronomy 24 verse 1. It says, When a man had taken a wife and married her and had come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, but look at this, this is why, because he had found some uncleanness in her. So this is just like Joseph's story where they're a spouse, they just got married, and then he finds out that she's pregnant. There's some sort of uncleanness in her, right? So same thing going on. Then let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. Now how does that work? How can she go and be another man's wife? It's because they were never together, you know what I mean? It's not committing adultery because they were never actually together. In modern vernacular, we would call this an annulment, kind of. You know, this is before they come together physically, but after they've done the vows and everything. And so this is allowed in God's word, but it's not God's perfect will. Turn if you would to Matthew chapter 19. I want to thoroughly explore this subject. But let me read to you from Matthew chapter 5 while you're turning to Matthew 19. But Jesus said, But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, this is the same thing, the same subject, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, commiteth adultery. So it couldn't be any clearer than that. Is that whenever you get divorced and then you go and remarry, then you're committing adultery. And he says that that's always the case, saving for the cause of fornication. Now many people would get this wrong and say saving for the cause of adultery. If your spouse commits adultery, then oh, we can get divorced now. That's not true. See, there's a difference. Fornication happens before you're married. Adultery comes after. So the thing is that before you two are together, you can basically annul the vows or whatever because if you find out that she committed fornication or whatever. That's what it's teaching here. Okay, so was Joseph causing her to commit adultery whenever he was thinking to himself, well, I'm going to put her away privately? No, of course not because they had not come together yet. Now look at Matthew chapter 19 because the Pharisees had an issue with this. So look down if you would at verse number three. The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Look, did the Bible ever say that? Did the Bible ever say that you can put away your wife for every cause? You know what? The Pharisees thought that. The Pharisees were teaching that. In the world today, in America today, we have that where you can just put away your wife for whatever reason. I don't like your face. Get out of here or whatever. But the thing is that that is not the way that it's supposed to be. That is not the way that the Bible puts it. And look at what Jesus says. Jesus rebukes them. It says in verse four, And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read? Do you not even know what the Bible says? You're saying every cause? Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall plead to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God had joined together, let not man put asunder. So notice, again, it's allow this annulment before you come together. But once you become one flesh, once you have that relationship there, then all aspects of that annulment or that divorce is gone at that point. You have to stick with it. You have to stick together. But look at verse seven, because he sheds a little bit more light here. They say unto him, so the Pharisees are talking to Jesus, Why did Moses then, look at this word, command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? And then listen to what Jesus said. He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. So notice, they're saying that Moses commanded them to do it, but then Jesus is saying, no, no, no, he suffered you to do it because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not so. It was not like that from the beginning. See, we should not have this attitude that's like, well, maybe divorce is okay. No, it's not okay. It's completely wrong. God has made them one flesh. And then it says in verse nine, And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, that's the one thing, and shall marry another, commiteth adultery, and whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery. So we see here that Joseph is in this situation. And honestly, I don't know how often this situation actually came up, between the time that they get married to the time that they have that physical relationship that he figures out that she's fornicating or whatever. I don't know how often that actually happened, but at least Joseph found himself in that situation. And the Bible says that he was a just man, and he was going to do it privately, but he was going to get rid of her and annul it. But even though it's allowed, it's not God's perfect will, so then God stopped him from doing that by bringing the angel to talk to him, and tell him, no, look, it's not what you think. Your wife, she's still pure and everything, so she's a virgin. And so basically, Joseph was going to make a huge mistake here, but in his mind and in his heart, he was a just man there. So this is a great lesson that we have from the Word of God, that divorce, not okay, not at all, it's never okay. And even if God allowed it, to annul it, that's not God's perfect will. So let's not try to get close to that or anything like that. So then my next point, so here's a great point, here's a great lesson that we can learn from Joseph, is that Joseph didn't hesitate. Now what do I mean by that? Joseph didn't hesitate. Look down, if you would, at verse number 24. It says, then Joseph being raised from sleep, look at this, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. So notice, he didn't waste any time. He did exactly what the angel told him to do as soon as he woke up. He was raised from sleep and he did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him. He didn't wait till next week. He didn't wait or whatever. He didn't put it off. No, he immediately did it. And we need to take that as a lesson that whenever we know God's will and we read it from the Bible, we need to immediately do it. We don't need to hesitate. We need to just go ahead and do it. Turn, if you would, to Numbers chapter 25 and we'll see another man that did not hesitate. Now I understand taking some time, if you have some sort of, for example, a big decision to make in your life, like what church should I go to or should I buy a house or something like that, taking some time, praying about it, sleeping on it, thinking about it. I understand that. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about whenever you see what the Bible says and you see what's right and wrong and then you need to just do it. You don't need to hesitate. Or whenever the preacher gets up and he says, you shouldn't be doing this, you should be doing this, you shouldn't hesitate. You should immediately go and make that change. I'm talking about whenever the Bible says, Thus saith the Lord. That's whenever you need to not hesitate and just completely change. You know, this is right, this is wrong, don't hesitate. Just do what is right. Don't wait, just do it. And so Joseph knew this and Joseph knew what he was supposed to do. The angel came to him, he told him, and then he just did it. He just did it like that. And so look at Numbers 25. We see another story where a man did exactly what he was supposed to do and he didn't hesitate about it and I love this story and I wanted to point it out. But look if you would at verse number 1. It says, And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined themself unto Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one of his men that were joined unto Baal Peor. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel, and those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. So what happened here? This piece of work, this dude here, he just was blatantly committing this awful sin in front of the whole congregation. Took this Midianitish woman and he's like, Let's go to the tent. And he did it in front of everybody, in front of Moses, in front of the whole congregation. And while everybody's just standing there, just Aaron probably, just like, What are you doing? You know, Phinehas, he didn't waste any time. He immediately knew what he was supposed to do and he did it. He went in there and he slew them because that was not right, what they were doing. You know, notice he didn't go and get permission from Eleazar first, like, Hey, you know, he didn't go to Aaron or Moses. He's like, Hey, listen, you know, this guy over here is doing some weird stuff. You know, maybe we should reprimand him or something. No, he just took care of business. He knew what was right, he knew what was wrong, and he just immediately did it. Nobody else did, everybody else was just, they saw it, but they were just like, I don't know what they were thinking, but Phinehas, he's the one that actually took care of business here. And so we need to be people who, whenever we see what the Bible says, we just do it. You know, we just do what needs to be done. You know, so we don't need to be the type of people that hesitate. You know, for example, we don't need to hesitate when the Bible says, let me give you some examples. Whenever the Bible says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, right? My favorite topic, soul winning, you know, hopefully yours too. But, you know, we don't need to hesitate about this. You know, we don't need to let, you know, weeks or, God forbid, months go by where we're not telling somebody how to be saved, whether in our daily life or door to door soul winning, which is better, but, you know, we don't, shame on you if you even go one week without telling somebody how to be saved. You know, how to go to heaven. You know, even just this morning on my way to the airport flying out here, I was able to share some verses with my Uber driver and he was very, very interested. You know, we didn't have enough time to go through the whole thing, but at least, you know, he heard it, you know. And I gave him a card and all that. So here's the thing, you know, how are we going to preach the gospel to every single person in the world if you won't pull your weight? You know what I mean? You got to be, you know, preaching the gospel a little bit, right? Not a little bit, a lot. But don't hesitate. Don't hesitate when you hear this from the word of God. You know, don't hesitate whenever the Bible says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. And you say, well, I got this, you know, little TV show, you know, I like it, but it's got some bad stuff in it. It's got violence or, you know, pornography or something really bad in it. You know, how about taking the name of the Lord in vain, you know? It's got something bad in it, but you're like, well, I'll quit watching it, you know, once the season is done. You know, I'll quit watching it once, you know, this episode is done or whatever. No, we don't need to hesitate. We just need to turn it off and just not watch that because it's wicked. You know, I will not set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Or how about, you know, we shouldn't hesitate. Here's another one. We should not hesitate when the Bible says in regards to disciplining our children, thou shall beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. Oh, but she's just so sweet, you know, she's a perfect little angel and I don't want to lay one little finger on her. You know, that's what my grandma says about my kids or whatever. But, you know, the thing is that, yeah, she's so sweet and everything, but, you know, I'm making her a better person whenever I discipline her, you know. And, you know, I got two kids and my oldest Priscilla, you know, she's very well behaved. She can go, you know, one, two, three, four days without getting a butt whooping or whatever. But, you know, whenever that time comes, I don't hesitate, you know what I mean. I just give it to her because I know I'm making her a better person. And my mom always told me whenever I was little, it's like, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you. But I don't say that to my kids though. I don't. I'm happy to do it because I know it's going to make her a better person, you know what I mean, in the long run. Obviously, she doesn't like it now, but someday she'll like it. But how about, okay, but here's another one though. How about in regards to salvation? You know, whenever we're preaching the gospel and we go through the gospel with somebody, you know, we don't want them to wait. You know, we don't want them to wait to get saved whenever we preach to them. You know, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6, it says, For he saith, I have heard thee and a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suckered thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You know, whenever I preach the entire gospel to someone and I get to the end, I'm like, okay, so, you know, we're all sinners. Do you agree with that? Yes. You know, where do we deserve to go because of our sins? Hell, what did Jesus do for us? He died for us. What do we have to do to go to heaven? Just believe in him. Is there anything else? No. Once you're saved, can you ever lose your salvation? No, you can never. Once they understand it all, I'm like, okay, so you understand the gospel, but do you believe this in your heart or do you believe something different? You know, what do you personally believe it takes to go to heaven? And, you know, oftentimes, you know, they'll call upon the name of the Lord and they'll get saved, but sometimes, too, they decide not to believe. They say, well, I understand what you're saying, but I was taught something different. I'm going to stick with that. Or I understand what you're saying, but I belong, but I'm a Catholic and I'm just going to stick with the Catholic Church or whatever. This happens often. And so the thing is that they're hesitating there. And, you know, many of those people will not get saved in the future. But, I mean, I pray for them and I hope that many of them will get saved in the future, but the truth of the matter is that some will and some won't, but, you know, they hesitated. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. So they should have just called upon the name of the Lord right there, but they're just like, well, I've got to think about this a little bit. You know, they're hesitating. Let us not be people who hesitate whenever we see what the Bible says. Let us be like Joseph or Phinehas and just do what the Bible says. You know, as soon as we see it, we just take care of business. We just do it. We just make that change or, you know, do what we have to do. Now, this is my final lesson today. We had five lessons. This is my final one. And this is that Joseph was patient and Joseph had self-control. So what do I mean by this? Let's look at it. So you're there in Matthew chapter 1 and look at, if you would, at verse 21. It says, And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and, look at this, verse 25, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Now look, they're married. You know, he has every right to his wife and he has every right to, you know, consummate that marriage and be with her and everything. You know, God is telling him, no, you got to wait. You got to wait for a little while. You know, you got to wait for another nine months or eight months or however long that was left in that pregnancy. But, you know, he had to wait for a little while and he's probably been waiting for a long time and everything and so this had to be tough, but you know what? God told him to do it and he just did it. You know what I mean? He just did it. He just, it doesn't matter how hard it was. He just decided, you know what, I'm going to listen to God here and I'm just going to wait. Right? And so this is a great lesson to us because of the fact that we have a more sure word of prophecy in the Bible. You know, Joseph, he had the angel come and talk to him, but we can be more sure that God is talking to us than he was because we got the Bible right here. And you know what? This part right here is directed to the unmarried, but you know what? You need to wait until you're married before you have that physical relationship because God has told you to wait. You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, it says, Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Does that sound familiar? We were just talking about that with the Nahas, right? Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. 1 Corinthians 6 says, meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord and Lord for the body. And 1 Corinthians 7 says, Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband. Look, God is telling you to wait. You know, wait, wait until you're married before you commit this awful sin of fornication. And this is, you know, for the unmarried, but how about to the married? You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 6, it says, But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth its own soul. Be like Joseph, have some self-control. Don't commit this awful sin of adultery that was punishable with the death penalty in the Old Testament. You know, don't do it. And how about this, Exodus 20, it just says, thou shalt not commit adultery. How much clearer does that get? You know, we as married men and women and everything, we ought not to commit adultery. We really need to, you know, avoid that, of course, and just stay away from that because it's very wicked. And you know what, God has told us not to do it. So have some self-control. Be like Joseph where you have some self-control and you don't do it. You know, how much clearer can the Bible get? Just don't do it. And then finally, just to make sure I hit everybody, okay, on this last point, I got one last verse. Bible says, kids listen up. The Bible says in Proverbs 25, it says, has thou found honey? Eat so much as sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith and vomited. So, you know, Christmas around the corner, so don't eat too many sweets. You can eat a few, but don't eat too many. Have some self-control. Be like Joseph. Don't eat too many sweets, you know. You kids or you adults as well, you know, but myself included. But listen, you know, what was the point of this sermon? You know, why did I want to preach this? You know, I wanted to give you guys, first of all, a different perspective on the Christmas story, highlight a character that's not really talked about or emphasized that much, Joseph. But then, you know, also too, you know, I think that Joseph is a great example to us and that we have many lessons that we can learn from him and many things that we can change our own lives so that we can be more like him and ultimately, of course, more like Jesus because he's the real person that we need to be emulating and to be more Christ-like and so let's just go ahead and pray and then we'll be dismissed. So dear Lord, thank you for this opportunity to preach and I just pray that something that I said would have helped somebody and would have been able to edify and just please bless us all as we go our separate ways and it's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. All right, let's turn to our last song, song number 421. Song number 421, The First Noel. Start out there on the first. The first, oh well, the angel did say, Was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay, In fields where they lay keeping their sheep, On a cold winter's night that was so deep. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel, And by the life of that same star, Three wise men came from country far, To seek for a king was their intent, And to follow the star wherever it went. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel, This star drew nigh to the northwest, O'er Bethlehem it took its rest, And there it did load stop and stay, Right on the place where Jesus lay. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel, And entered in those wise men three, O reverently upon their knee, And offered there in His presence, Their gold and myrrh and frankincense. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel. All right, great singing. You're all dismissed. You