He's Got You..

But, but, but...

This three letter word speaks volumes, and can change depending not just on how it’s used but on how it’s said.

(use the word but in conjunction with other words to show how inflection matters)

See the difference there. Everything changes when you change the way the word is used, and what it’s used with.

It’s the But God! Declarative statement that we find when we look at how God works and Who God uses.

(video)

You want me to do what?

Isaiah 55:8 CSB

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

As we move forward today we need to keep this scripture in the center of our minds and hearts.

God uses people to do things in ways that will prove that He is the one that deserves the glory.

All throughout scripture we find him using unlikely people.

In Genesis we find God Calling Abram at the age of 75 to leave all he knows , travel to a place he wasn’t sure of and become the father a a great nation, along the way his name would be changed to Abraham and he would have a son at the age of 100 that would be the start of the Nation of Israel.

God then uses a liar and a cheat named Jacob to further his plan.

Continuing on in the story he would use Jacob who’s name had been changed to Israel’s son Joseph a man trafficked into slavery, abused, and falsely accused to save not just the nation of Israel but also the Egyptians.

Exodus has God using a man who complained to God that he couldn’t speak, took matters into his own hands killing a man that ran away and lived in the Desert for 40 years to Lead his people out of Slavary but not before showing who was really in charge, (hint it was not Moses)

In the book of Joshua we see God using the prostitute Rahab to keep the spies sent to Jericho safe.

And then there is David, a shepherd who became king who became an adulterer and a murderer, called a man after God’s own heart and the one that the Messiah would trace his roots all the way back to.

God uses broken, unlikely, under qualified, people to do amazing, powerful, meaningful world changing things.

Just a man.

Joseph was one of these people. And Joseph would need the peace of God, that peace that we read about here in Isaiah.

Isaiah 26:3 CSB

You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

God spoke to Mary first, we know this because of what we read about here in Matthew.

Matthew 1:18–25 CSB

The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.” When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

See Joseph loved Mary but even he couldn’t believe the story she was telling him. That’s not how it works. People don’t just get pregnant. There are some pre-requisites that have to happen in order for that to take place. Joseph would have had all kinds of questions screaming through is mind.

More than a carpenter

I have to wonder if anyone could ever really feel at all qualified to do the job Joseph was tasked with. We don’t here very much of Joseph beyond the birth of Jesus. We do find an angel teling him to move to Egypt. After that he has only two metions, one when Jesus is 12 and again when people were wondering about Jesus.

John 6:42 CSB

They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

This man, this unlikely person who had no idea what was going to happen next. Was chosen to be the earthly father of the savior of the world.

God made a statement to Joseph that speaks to the PEACE that can and should come from our relationship with the God of the Universe.

Matthew 1:20 (CSB)

But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

It was after this that Joseph had a choice. Just like we all do. Joseph could lean into the Peace that Comes from God and in doing so step into a role that, while terrifying, would bring God Glory and enable a world to know and return to the relationship they were designed to have with God in the first place.

(light the candle)

Matthew 1:24 CSB

When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her

Joseph leaned into the peace that while unable to be explained or even expected comes from fallowing God into the places he leads regardless of the fears and apprehesion and worry that we may have.

This Week’s Challenge

God has something for each of us to do. We know that we are supposed to go and make disciples. We know we are supposed to be salt and light, to feed the hungry, care for those in need, visit the sick. You know all that Matthew 25 stuff. The question is this. What’s holding you back.

You are being handed a card with a fill in the blank. This week’s challenge is to prayerfully fill in that blank this Holiday Season.

Over the next three weeks I will not be afraid to _________________________.

Watch what happens when you step out in the peace of God and do what seems unlikely or impossible to you.