Mary/Jospeh prophecy

Good morning everyone…it is so great to see everyone this week. I know that we have already welcomed everyone to the church, but I wanted to take this time to welcome our kids and let them know that now is when they get to meet their teachers in the back of the room and go to worship together in a way that you understand. Listen, you guys get the chance to go and learn, while mom and dad you get the chance to stay and grow yourself as we look into Scriptures together. It is such a blessing that within this amazing church family we have people that love your kids enough to prepare these lessons as we come along side you as the parent.

I also want to take a moment and welcome those of you online. It is an honor to have you join us, whether you are here this morning, this evening, or sometime in between we absolutely want to welcome you into our extended spiritual family. We also have new ways to learn and grow as we continue to look for ways to serve you. In order to serve you best, we have a new website that you can view any service as well as watch live right on our website. Just go to www.leafriver.church/live and that will take you to the current livestream. We will stay on youtube and facebook, but you don’t have to worry about searching for us this way, you can just come right on over to the webpage every singe Sunday morning and make this a part of your Sunday schedule. We also have a podcast on google podcasts, we are still working on getting on Apple as well as Spotify and other services. Now, Christmas Eve is THIS FRIDAY night! I want to invite every single person that is joining us online to join us in person. We will stream our service, but I promise it is not the same as being welcomed by the amazing family that will be here in person Friday night at 6pm. Then after our service we will have the best hot chocolate bar in town with homemade cookies, and tons of marshmallows…its gonna be great! Anyway, if you want to find out more about that night specifically, go to the website and you can learn more about what is going on…thats leafriver.church/christmas, again leafriver.church/christmas and you will see all of the info about this Friday night and how you can be a part of the best night of the week!

So, speaking of Friday night and Christmas Eve. We are in the middle of our series called

The Journey (title slide)

In this series we are looking specifically at the journey to the manger. When we started this series we went all the way back to the beginning...we went to where God met, or better yet, created humanity. Adam and Eve were the very first man and woman to exist and God created them to be partners with each other. However, they sinned and that allowed sin to infect the world. The good thing is that isn’t the end of the story…You see, God had a plan, and even in the very beginning we saw the very first promise of the Messiah. We saw that in

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Right here we see that there will be one coming from Eve that will crush what comes from the Serpent, namely Satan. Then last week we walked through a series of Old Testament prophecies…We saw through these prophecies that in the thousands of years between the first sin and Jesus, God was giving hope and direction. As a matter of fact that direction that we saw last week leads us to todays stop in this journey. Remember

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

You see, here we see a distinct person that will have a baby, and what that baby will bring, remember Immanuel means, God with us. . That is amazing becuase with this the Jews were able to eliminate other possibilities. Either, a baby was born of a virgin, or they were not…That is a relatively easy question. So, today, that brings us to

Mary, mother of Jesus:

This is a person that was given a huge task in caring for baby Jesus, then toddler Jesus, child Jesus, teenage Jesus, adult Jesus…Jesus was 33 years old when he went into ministry, so that was alot of caring that was done. So, let’s take a moment and remember who this person is. I mean, we all know the song, “Mary did you know”, but what about you…Do you know who Mary is?

Well, Mary is a young lady who grew up in Nazareth. Mary is engaged to a man named Joseph, we’re going to talk about him in a minute. Becuase Jewish women would have married very young in that culture, Mary is around 14-16 years old. Mary grew up poor, we know this becuase she was in Nazareth. This is a place that was despised by the Jewish elites…you know, the ones that felt they were the “real Jews”. People have alot of thoughts about Mary, but the thing is…Mary is not the goal here. You see, there are some religions out there that would say that you need to worship Mary…That is not a good thing, becuase if we are worshipping Mary, then we are not worshipping Jesus, which is the whole point. You see, the most important thing we can possibly know about Mary, is that Mary is a tool, used by God Let’s take a look at where we should be looking.

Luke 1:26–33 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Ok, so if you remember the direction that the prophecies gave is that there would be a virgin who would give birth. Now, we have a virgin named Mary that has been visited by the angel Gabriel. So I have a question for you this morning. What kind of faith did Mary have? I mean, Mary, who is a young lady, has been visited by this man who told her that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High. That is an intense type of faith that Mary would have to have. This is the type of faith that would produce fear. Do you think that Mary was afraid? I mean, not just of the visitation, becuase we see that in the conversation, but what about after this visitation? What about when she had to go and tell Joseph? What about when she had to talk to people from town, who knew that she was not married yet. What kind of faith did Mary have…honestly…I think Mary had the kind of faith that you and I likely have. You see, Mary had an authentic faith. An authentic faith that wasn’t perfect…What was the first thing Mary did? Did she go to Joseph right away as her soon to be husband? Did she go to her father and mother for advice as her parents. No, the next thing that we see Mary do was run to her aunt Elizabeth. You see, the angel also told her that her Aunt Elizebeth was pregnant, so if that is true, then maybe this is also true…Then, after arriving at Elizabeths home and seeing that she was also pregnant, and after Elizabeth runs up to Mary acknowledging that the Son of God in in Mary’s womb, after these things happened Mary finally praised God. You see, Luke 2, 44-54 is a song sung by Mary after she is acknowledging her faith in the Lord…She says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” You see, Mary’ faith is strengthened when she is encouraged by others. It’s not that Mary didn’t have faith prior to interacting with Elizabeth, but there is a difference in a faith with fear, and a faith with joy, and I think that we see both with Mary.

So, what about you? What type of faith do you have? Are you here this morning and you would have to say that you trust God, but you are nervous, or maybe even completely scared....or are you here this morning and you would say that you are full of joy in your faith. I’ll tell you that I have experienced both of these myself. First of all, when I first started talking about moving to Illinois I was scared to death. I mean, I had faith that God is good and if God was leading me here, then it would be all good…but I was scared that I would mess everything up. Now, today…Im still a little scared, I have a healthy fear of what will happen next, but I am so joyful about being used by God. I mean, I can sing along with Mary saying that my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. However, I know some of you here this morning, and some of you joining us online maybe haven’t quite experienced the faith with joy…or least not in a long time. This morning I want to encourage you to experience a faith with joy! Cry out to God the way that Mary did and acknowledge that God is your saviour. You see, Joseph did the same thing, let’s take a look...

Joseph, father of Jesus:

Now, Im not going to spend as much time on Joseph, frankly becuase we just don’t know as much about Joseph. What we do know though is pretty amazing. You see, Joseph was just a guy in town who fell in love with Mary. Next thing you know, he finds out that Mary is pregnant, and he is not the father. Now, I don’t know about all of you, but if my fiancé were to come to me and tell me that she was pregnant, but it’s ok becuase the baby is the Son of God, I don’t think I would believe her…Well, that is exactly what Joseph is faced with here. However, Joseph is a good man and so he wants to protect her even though, from his perspective, she hurt him…he wants to protect her. Look at this with me

Matthew 1:18–19 (ESV)

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. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

You see, he decided to just quietly allow her to go her own way and figure out life. However, something happened to Joseph…Joseph had an encounter, and then he had a decision to make. Joseph had an encounter with an angel. Look at this

Matthew 1:20–23 (ESV)

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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Joseph was sitting and thinking about what took place…maybe feeling angry, maybe feeling hurt, eventually falling asleep. Then he has this encounter with the angel where the angel confirms what Mary has told him. Not only did this angel confirm what Mary told him, but this angel confirmed the prophecy from Isaiah also. You remember, the one we looked at last week. The one that said that the virgin shall convince and bear a son, and that his name would be Immanuel. So, Joseph is holding onto faith himself…Joseph knows the prophecies and he knows what this means, and so, Joseph’s faith led him to obedience. You see, the very next thing that happens is

Matthew 1:23–25 (ESV)

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Joseph’s obedience doesn’t stop there though…You see, about two years later, King Herod decided he wanted to kill Jesus, and so Joseph escapes to Egypt after the instructions from another angel. That story can be found in Luke 1…you will enjoy that! Now, do you think that Joseph shared in Mary’s fear? Knowing that Joseph was a human, yes…Joseph had fear, however, his faith was greater than his fear. Mary’s faith was greater than her fear?

So as we are on this journey to the manger we have seen a great deal of planning on God’s part…We have seen angels telling prophecies this morning, but most of all we have seen the faith of Mary and Joseph this morning. A faith that is either rooted in fear that needs encouraged, or a faith that is rooted in joy. This is why the church family is so important. The thing is that we all experience fear in faith, and we all need to be encouraged to obey…That is what a spiritual family is all about. refocusing each other from fear to joy, and giving the strength to obey the Scriptures, no matter the cost.

Joseph and Mary are on a journey to the manger…what about you? Where are you in that journey to the manger? Are you in the stage of fear, or joy…or maybe somewhere in between? This morning let me encourage you that you can do whatever it is that God has called you to do. However, you absolutely cannot do it alone…You see, the only strength we have, I mean real strength…The only strength we will ever have, comes from the Lord. May and Joseph literally had Jesus walking with them to the manger. However, Christian…you literally have the Holy Spirit walking with you to the manger this morning. So, what are you going to do…

Listen, this morning I know there are likely some that are here, or maybe joining us online that are unsure about this whole idea of faith. Maybe you are here becuase you want to be, or becuase someone made you come, but either way, you are here. Maybe you are here and you are questioning your own faith, or lack of faith. You are wondering what a life of faith in Jesus actually looks like. Maybe you are here this morning and you are realizing this morning that you have sinned and that you want to call out to Jesus in faith for the first time. Whatever your situation this morning, I want to ask you to do something today. I want to ask you to send me a message online. You can go straight to the Facebook page, or even right there on the website leafriver.church and you can send me a message and lets get together and talk about your journey to the manger. For now though, let me pray for everyone here as we each struggle with our faith and obedience. Let me pray for you that you are strengthened and encouraged being around your spiritual family today, and that if need be, God send someone to give you wisdom in whatever it is you are facing this morning.

Lets Pray...