Jospeh

Last week we looked at Mary, and how sometimes God has to disrupt our plans, our ideas, our lives so that He can have his will for our lives and His done!

Mary was a prime example of that:

She was about to Get married,

She was about to start this new chapter with a new man

Raise a family

Do the things that wives did

But God had other plans for Mary, bigger plans for Mary:

And we know the story right

God did what was impossible so that he can save this world from their sin

Show Video:

Introduction:

As we look at this video this morning, one word comes to mind!

Unqualified

And can we be honest here for a moment, isn’t that how a lot of feel sometimes

Maybe when we are starting something new in our lives

Maybe when we have to learn something new

Maybe it was when we held our first newborn babie

Life has this way of letting us know that we don’t have all the answers, we don’t always kow what to do, and that in a lot of areas we feel unqualified.

But I want to make something crystal clear this morning:

Unqualified doesnt mean disqualified!

God wants to use unqualified people do His will.

Because sometimes, often times, it is God who uses what we deem unqualified to do some of the biggest things

God qualifies us through his son Jesus Christ the moment we believe, to be used for His glory, to bring His name honor and praise!

God never Get’s tired of receiving glory from situations where only he can be attributed to His own work!

I remember when I was just a new believer, and my friends and I from church would get together and pray, and we would always pray and ask God to work so that only he could recieve the glory from how these requests were answered!

God wants to use People who don’t feel worthy:

It is a precedent we see of God using imperfect people to execute His perfect plan that leads to great glory for Himself. If you do not believe me, just look at a few examples of God setting the precedent that leads to Him getting glory.

In Genesis chapters 12-22, God calls Abram to leave his country and follow Him to a place God would reveal along the way. God later would change Abram’s name to Abraham. He may have been considered too old to follow God away into such a task because he was 75 years old when God invited him into the opportunity. It would be another 25 years before Abraham would become a father of one; this would end up leading to being the father of many nations beyond the number of stars in the sky. God set a precedent of getting a kick out of receiving glory from people and situations that depended on God to make it all happen.

In Genesis chapters 25-35, we see God using a cheater and liar named Jacob to end up being used by God to be a blessing of many peoples all throughout the earth.

In Genesis chapters 37-50, God uses another Joseph, someone who would go through horrible abuse, trafficking and injustice, eventually to be used by God to have influence and give leadership to the whole nation of Israel. A terrible season of life that included famine affecting God’s people would be solved through Joseph being dependent, faithful, and open to being used in difficult circumstances by God.

The whole book of Exodus is a story of God using a stutterer named Moses eventually to be the mouthpiece of God before Pharaoh who enslaved the people of God. God chose to use Moses in supernatural ways to share a supernatural message and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and onto the doorstep of the Promised Land of Canaan.

In Joshua 2, God decided to get glory through a woman named Rahab who was a prostitute. She was part of a plan to assist the Israelites in capturing the city of Jericho that was a major factor in God’s people moving forward into the Promised Land.

Much of the Old Testament speaks of and echoes the story of David. While he is called “a man after God’s own heart,” he also is known for ungodly actions in his life including committing adultery with a married woman named Bathsheba, and then having her husband murdered after David found out Bathsheba was pregnant. And yet, the place that plays such an integral role in the Christmas story is Bethlehem; aka, “the City of​David.​”

Don’t Be Afraid:

sometims when we feel unqualified for a task that God has put before us we often times run to fear!

We are afraid of the unknowns

We are afraid of the what if’s

We are afraid of screwing it all up

Fear is a powerful weapon that the enemy uses against us to paralize us and stop us from doing what God wants us to!

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Think about the things running through Joseph’s mind:

How could I possibly be in a relationship like this?

Who will ever believe a story like this about a girl like Mary and a guy like me?

I never asked for a marriage like this.

What will everybody think of me...of us?

How can I be who God wants me to be when so much of this situation makes so little sense on the surface?

But did you catch God’s Message to Joseph:

Matthew 1:20 ESV

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

I kow you are afraid; I get it!

But you have no reason to fear

I need you to trust me

I am with you both through this whole thing!

Remember Jospeh, was assuming the worst, and was going to end the betrothal to Mary and start over!

Because he was afraid

Because he was concerned about his reputation

Because if He was going by the worlds acceptance of Him then this made no sense

Do not be afraid!

God Uses Unqualified People for His Purposes:

I understand that Joseph is radically underqualified for all he’s about to encounter. But isn’t that the type of people God uses? The most unlikely folks to do the biggest things. It seems like those are the ones He always picks because He is a God who will never give up on us.”

There is so much truth in those lines and so much glory to be given this Christmas to God if we find ourselves relating with Joseph as one who is underqualified.

How many of us feel radically underqualified to do what is on our plate in a way that gives glory to God this Christmas?

For the one who feels afraid about the future...

For the one who feels inadequate to take care of your family like you think you should...

For the one who feels like you are in a dead-end job...

For the one who feels stretched between taking care of kids and aging parents...

For the one who feels misunderstood...

For the one who feels burned unjustly by what was posted on social media...

For the one who feels in over your head with responsibilities that were not part of your plan...

You are the kind of person this morning, like Jospeh, that God wants to use in His plan for this world!

But if we are going to be used of God, despite how unqualified we feel, we have to trust God and His plan for our lives!

It all comes down to faith:

We cannot as we stated last week please God without faith!

But faith in Christ also means that we trust Him even though we can’t understand why or how God would want to use someone like me!

If I am honest with you all this morning there are many days that I wake up and feel like this, how can God use someone like me to impact this world for the name of Jesus!

But then I realize in moments like this I have two choices

I can trust God, and even though I don’t know How he could uses somoene like me, I can trust Him and let Him lead

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

I can resist God, think I know what is better for my life, and fail to step out in faith, missing the blessing and opportunity to see God work!

Conclusion:

So as we finish up here this morning what are you going to do? Are you going to allow the feeling of underqualification deter you from following God?

Or will you step out in faith trusting God, leaning into His perfect plan for your life, realizing that it is not what we do that makes us qualified! Rather what he did for us!