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God-Chooses-His-Servants · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: S S S S so S S S S says,
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Speaker 1: speaking its se sonts S S S sixty six s
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Speaker 1: S S S s.
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Speaker 2: What was it that magnificent time? Sing through all Jerusalem?
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Speaker 2: Christ Is Born in Bethlehem. I hope you haven't had
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Speaker 2: so many Christmases that the significance of it is no
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Speaker 2: longer significant. I urge you through this week unique that
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Speaker 2: it is because the end of it we come to
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Speaker 2: the day itself, on the day we remember our Savior's birth.
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Speaker 2: And I know there are more things to do than
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Speaker 2: just sit around and meditate. But I do hope that
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Speaker 2: each day you'll take thirty forty minutes just to be
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Speaker 2: quiet and let the wonder in our lives can rush by.
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Speaker 2: At such a pace we do miss much, and God
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Speaker 2: gives us, on occasion even a calendar to bring us
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Speaker 2: almost to the climax of the event itself. But you
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Speaker 2: must have the personal discipline to set aside those moments
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Speaker 2: just to be quiet, turn the TV off, set aside
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Speaker 2: to all the other stuff, and just think, Sing through
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Speaker 2: all Jerusalem, Christ Is Born in Bethlehem. Charles Wesley put
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Speaker 2: in these words, we are often lost in wonder, love
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Speaker 2: and praise. May this week, be at least partly that
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Speaker 2: experience for you. Now the story is revealed in Matthew
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Speaker 2: one Versus eighteen through twenty five. If you have your Bible,
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Speaker 2: I invite you to open to it. These are the
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Speaker 2: final verses of chapter one in this first book of
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Speaker 2: the New Testament. Let's look at these words through fresh
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Speaker 2: eyes and sort of train ourselves to think of them
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Speaker 2: as if it were for the first time, and they
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Speaker 2: will be more meaningful for us. I'll be reading from
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Speaker 2: the New Living Translation. Please stand together for the reading
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Speaker 2: of God's Word. Matthew one eighteen. This is how Jesus
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Speaker 2: the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to
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Speaker 2: be married to Joseph, but before the marriage took place,
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Speaker 2: while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through
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Speaker 2: the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancee, was
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Speaker 2: a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly,
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Speaker 2: so he decided to break the engagement. Quietly. As he
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Speaker 2: considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
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Speaker 2: in a dream. Joseph, son of David, do not be
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Speaker 2: afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child
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Speaker 2: within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she
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Speaker 2: will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,
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Speaker 2: or he will save his people from their sins. All
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Speaker 2: this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through this prophet. Look,
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Speaker 2: the Virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth
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Speaker 2: to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which
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Speaker 2: means God is with us. When Joseph woke up, he
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Speaker 2: did as the Angel of the Lord commanded and took
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Speaker 2: Mary as his wife, but he did not have sexual
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Speaker 2: relations with her until her son was born, and Joseph
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Speaker 2: named him Jesus, her father. Would we come to an
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Speaker 2: impasse and find ourselves unable to change things as they are?
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Speaker 2: We've learned to call on you. Your word teaches. For this,
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Speaker 2: shall everyone who is godly pray unto you in a
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Speaker 2: time when you may be found. Surely the floods of
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Speaker 2: great waters will not come nigh to him. Thank you
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Speaker 2: for encouraging us not to be afraid. Thank you for
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Speaker 2: meeting our needs often before we even ask, and when
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Speaker 2: we do ask, we are grateful Lord for those times
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Speaker 2: you tell us yes, and we're learning to accept those
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Speaker 2: days when you tell us no or wait. It is
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Speaker 2: all about you and your plan and what you would
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Speaker 2: want that will ultimately unroll for your glory. And we
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Speaker 2: accept that, and we find comfort in that. Just as
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Speaker 2: in the days when your son arrived, it was in
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Speaker 2: the fullness of time, when everything was according to your
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Speaker 2: plan in place. Then you moved, and you moved in
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Speaker 2: as no one else could ever do, and you placed
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Speaker 2: your precious, indescribable gift in the womb of a young virgin,
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Speaker 2: And there he remained nine full months, having been supernaturally conceived.
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Speaker 2: He was naturally born. And we do this day sit
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Speaker 2: in wonder full of gratitude. May this week be unlike
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Speaker 2: any other week in our year, whether we are here
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Speaker 2: at home or traveling, whether we are with others or alone.
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Speaker 2: Remind us to set aside time to think, to think deeply,
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Speaker 2: to relive the ancient scenes that took place in Bethlehem
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Speaker 2: centuries ago. Use that Father to give us a better
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Speaker 2: perspective on the day in which we are now living.
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Speaker 2: May we become not busier people, but deeper people as
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Speaker 2: a result of our time with you. Finally, Lord, I'll
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Speaker 2: remember those men and women who, in uniform or out
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Speaker 2: in difficult places today are serving their country, some on
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Speaker 2: secret missions that are highly dangerous and require great skill.
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Speaker 2: Many of them in dangerous places that we will never be.
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Speaker 2: Take good care of them. Lord, give their families comfort
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Speaker 2: as they, from time to time are able to connect,
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Speaker 2: or even if they're not, May they be reminded that
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Speaker 2: you were there. You're at work. Finally, Lord, thank you
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Speaker 2: for giving us your best gift. We have not treasured
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Speaker 2: him as you have, but we are learning how to
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Speaker 2: do that. May He be evident in our lives as
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Speaker 2: we walk with him and learn from him. Give us
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Speaker 2: a genuine relationship.
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Speaker 1: With You.
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Speaker 2: That eclipses all other relationships. Our gifts are yours, and
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Speaker 2: we give them gratefully in the name of Jesus. Everyone said, amen,
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Speaker 2: Please remember this statement. What comes into our minds when
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Speaker 2: we think about God is the most important thing about us.
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Speaker 2: Once again, what comes into our minds when we think
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Speaker 2: about God is the most important thing about us, So
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Speaker 2: wrote aw Towzer in his fine book The Knowledge of
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Speaker 2: the Holy. In my message today, I'm going to emphasize
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Speaker 2: something about God that we tend to overlook or ignore
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Speaker 2: or deny. But what comes into our minds about our
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Speaker 2: God is the most important thing about us. My message
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Speaker 2: has to do with this statement, God knows what he's about.
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Speaker 2: He's involved in every facet of our lives. It isn't
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Speaker 2: an afterthought, It isn't a last minute decision. It isn't
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Speaker 2: a shot in the dark or a knee jerk reaction
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Speaker 2: on the part of God. It is a game plan
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Speaker 2: that is underway, has been in motion since eternity passed,
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Speaker 2: and we are in the midst of that plan as
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Speaker 2: it runs its course through our lives. Several years ago,
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Speaker 2: in a Navigator conference in Glenary, Colorado Springs, the theme
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Speaker 2: of the conference was two words consider Him, taken from
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Speaker 2: Hebrews chapter twelve, verse two, consider Him. And it came
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Speaker 2: to be a sort of a saying through the week,
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Speaker 2: just think about him, Just think about Him. A couple
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Speaker 2: who was at the conference began to really latch onto
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Speaker 2: that truth. They agreed to them with themselves that no
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Speaker 2: matter what, from that week on, for the rest of
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Speaker 2: their lives, no matter what, God was to be praised because,
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Speaker 2: in my words from today's message, God knows what he's about.
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Speaker 2: So we're going to praise him, we're going to thank him,
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Speaker 2: we're going to acknowledge him, regardless of what occurs. That's
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Speaker 2: quite a commitment. So happens that toicular couple. I understand.
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Speaker 2: I wasn't there, but I've been told since then. As
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Speaker 2: they were driving home, they were almost side swiped by
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Speaker 2: a car coming in the opposite direction. They swerved, drove
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Speaker 2: over and wound up in a ravine. There was a
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Speaker 2: bridge there. They missed the bridge. They went into the ravine,
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Speaker 2: and in fact, the wife crawled out one side of
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Speaker 2: the car, the other side. The husband crawled out in
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Speaker 2: there on top of their car, which is just above
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Speaker 2: the surface of this uh stream, this ravine, this water.
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Speaker 2: By then people had gathered on the bridge that were
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Speaker 2: They were looking down on them in their in their car.
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Speaker 2: There was even a policeman who had arrived uh interestingly,
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Speaker 2: he was on site there and and he looked down.
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Speaker 2: Everybodies were concerned learn about them. And they looked at
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Speaker 2: each other and sort of shrug. They were okay. So
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Speaker 2: they held hands and they began to sing praise God
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Speaker 2: from whom all they sang the doxology together. When they
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Speaker 2: looked up the policeman that has had off and on
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Speaker 2: the heart over his heart, and the people stood there
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Speaker 2: and steer. Three weeks two weeks earlier, they would have
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Speaker 2: never done that. But you see, when you think rightly
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Speaker 2: about God, and when you realize He is engaged in
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Speaker 2: the warp and woof of our lives, regardless of what occurs,
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Speaker 2: you're drawn toward the doxology often, and you want to say,
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Speaker 2: praise God, from whom all blessings and all testings flow.
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Speaker 2: Praise Him, all creatures here below. The birth of Jesus
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Speaker 2: in Bethlehem's Manger is a lastic case in point. It
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Speaker 2: didn't just happen to be in Bethlehem, though Mary and
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Speaker 2: Joseph lived in Nazareth, ninety miles an earth. But the Prophet,
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Speaker 2: remember wrote seven hundred, seven hundred years earlier, from you Bethlehem,
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Speaker 2: a ruler of Israel will be born, seven hundred years
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Speaker 2: probably before Micah himself could imagine the details of which
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Speaker 2: would happen Joseph and Mary. When the fullness of time came,
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Speaker 2: when everything was just right, just as God had planned it,
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Speaker 2: the Virgin birthed em Manuel. It's an amazing, amazing thing,
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Speaker 2: and because we are so familiar with it, some of
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Speaker 2: the amazement and is lost. God planned for his son
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Speaker 2: to come on this profound and essential rescue mission, to
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Speaker 2: be the savior of the world, to protect him from
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Speaker 2: any touch with sin. There was no man involved in
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Speaker 2: the relations with the woman. In fact, God miraculously placed
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Speaker 2: in the womb this embryo that would be sinless. He
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Speaker 2: would know no sin, do no sin, have no sin,
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Speaker 2: And from that virgin would come the Christ child, God
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Speaker 2: in flesh. Yes, you are the one who saves. So
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Speaker 2: when we read in Matthew one of this narrative regarding
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Speaker 2: the birth of Jesus, it is easy to forget that
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Speaker 2: it was all mapped out from eternity. Past centuries had
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Speaker 2: rolled along, when prophets lived and wrote, when kings came, lived,
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Speaker 2: reigned and died, when kingdoms rose and fell. In the
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Speaker 2: midst of all of this, there in the little obscure
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Speaker 2: backwater town of Bethlehem we would call it today a
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Speaker 2: truck stop. There behind an inn, in an animal enclosure,
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Speaker 2: a cave like space. The baby is born. No trumpet blasts,
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Speaker 2: no no no, no loud shouting, no parades, no celebration. Joseph,
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Speaker 2: no doubt, went to a place to find water her
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Speaker 2: that Mary might use as she births her first born.
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Speaker 2: Neither is experienced in any of this. A more simple
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Speaker 2: and innocent setting can hardly be imagined now. The story
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Speaker 2: as it unfolds in Matthew does step back long enough
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Speaker 2: for us to understand a couple of the details related
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Speaker 2: to the Ultimate birth. Before the marriage took place between
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Speaker 2: Mary and Joseph, while she was still a virgin, she
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Speaker 2: became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Never
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Speaker 2: happened before, will never happen again. I taught a Bible
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Speaker 2: class a number of years ago, and one of the
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Speaker 2: late in the class was intrigged by all of this.
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Speaker 2: She was a member of a liberal Protestant church where
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Speaker 2: the Bible wasn't taught, so this was brand new information
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Speaker 2: for her. She thought the Christmas was about the trees
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Speaker 2: and the celebration and the gifts, and she had never
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Speaker 2: really thought deeply about anything related to the person of Jesus.
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Speaker 2: So she went to her pastor and asked about the
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Speaker 2: virgin birth. She wanted to know what he could explain
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Speaker 2: to her as far as its necessity was concerned. With
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Speaker 2: a sneer, he responded, I'm not concerned about the sex
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Speaker 2: life of Mary. God was, so should every one of
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Speaker 2: us be. He selected a young jewess who had no clue.
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Speaker 2: She would be the one. He could have selected any
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Speaker 2: one in the line of David, any one of those,
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Speaker 2: and there were many. He selects sovereignly selects Mary. The
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Speaker 2: way he goes about it is an intriguing story. I
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Speaker 2: wrote a book several years ago I think it's two
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Speaker 2: thousand and seven, called A Bethlehem Christmas, in which I
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Speaker 2: unfolded the story in the first person. In the chapter
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Speaker 2: on Mary, I included these words. Nazareth was a tiny village.
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Speaker 2: It felt cut off from the rest of the world.
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Speaker 2: Roman soldiers often stayed in Nazareth because it gave them
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Speaker 2: a good view of the territory, so our regular contact
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Speaker 2: with Gentiles made us undesirable to other Jews. Some of
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Speaker 2: the family were too friendly with the soldiers, and their
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Speaker 2: daughters paid an awful price. A remote, tight knit community
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Speaker 2: like ours was both a blessing and a curse. Everybody
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Speaker 2: knew everything about everyone. My father introduced me to the
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Speaker 2: man who would become my husband. From the moment I
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Speaker 2: met him, I knew I would be happy. He was
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Speaker 2: handsome and serious, with a shy smile. It revealed the tender,
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Speaker 2: humble strength that women longed for and so rarely find
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Speaker 2: in a man. We would have to wait twelve months
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Speaker 2: for the marriage feast to take place, twelve long months
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Speaker 2: of loving and longing, But it was the happiest ache
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Speaker 2: I'd ever known. One morning, I was tending to my
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Speaker 2: chores at home, quietly humming the hymns I'd learned from father,
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Speaker 2: when a gentle breeze suddenly blew through the room. When
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Speaker 2: I saw my shadow forming on the floor, I instinctively
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Speaker 2: turned to see what light could shine so brightly during
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Speaker 2: the day. A voice like none I had ever heard
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Speaker 2: broke through the silence. The Lord is with you. Mary.
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Speaker 2: Don't be afraid. You have found favor with the Lord.
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Speaker 2: You will become pregnant and bear a son, whom you
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Speaker 2: will name Yeshua. The Lord saves. How can this be?
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Speaker 2: Joseph and I No. I have not been with a
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Speaker 2: man ever, nor will I until my wedding night. The
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Speaker 2: mess in your step forward and gestured for me to
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Speaker 2: be quiet. This will be no ordinary child. He will
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Speaker 2: be called the son of the Most High. He will
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Speaker 2: be the King of Israel. I looked intently into the
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Speaker 2: Messenger's eyes and asked, Messiah, Messiah, are you saying I
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Speaker 2: will bear the Messiah How will this be for I am,
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Speaker 2: if I am to conceive before my wedding night, how
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Speaker 2: the Lord's anordered will not be the seed of sinful people?
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Speaker 2: He responded, The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The
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Speaker 2: power of the most High will overshadow you. I set
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Speaker 2: for a moment, trying to understand what the Lord had
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Speaker 2: asked of me. Somehow I realized I had a choice
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Speaker 2: to make. I could refuse, but my father's words rang
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Speaker 2: in my ears. He had said at least one hundred times, Mary,
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Speaker 2: obey first, understand, later, obey first understand. Later. I dropped
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Speaker 2: to my knees, bowed my head and whispered, I'm the
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Speaker 2: Lord's to do with as he pleases. Let what you
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Speaker 2: have announced be done. And I began to sob uncontrollably.
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Speaker 2: I'm convinced Mary had been well taught. One of the
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Speaker 2: reasons she was chosen. She knew of Messiah, she knew
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Speaker 2: he was to come, she knew he was to be
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Speaker 2: the savior. She also had been taught that God knows
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Speaker 2: what he's about. And when it dawned on her that
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Speaker 2: she was the chosen one, there was no resistance, no argument,
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Speaker 2: There was full acceptance. From that moment on. You never
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Speaker 2: read of a reluctant response on Mary's part of any kind,
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Speaker 2: not one complaint regarding the pain of being talked about
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Speaker 2: in the community, not one reaction against having to go
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Speaker 2: that long distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem close to term.
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Speaker 2: Because she knew God, knew what he was about, she
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Speaker 2: was chosen as his servant, and when it all fell together,
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Speaker 2: she realized how blessed she was. You see what comes
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Speaker 2: into our minds when we think about God is the
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Speaker 2: most important thing about us. It isn't the maryust so great.
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Speaker 2: It's that God had revealed himself to her through the
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Speaker 2: teaching of the years in the synagogue, under her father's
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Speaker 2: direction and her mother's and in the home. She was
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Speaker 2: the perfect one to be chosen. And then the man,
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Speaker 2: not enough time has been given to this other subject,
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Speaker 2: who is such a vital part of the story, Joseph.
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Speaker 2: He too has been well taught. He's aware that Messiah
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Speaker 2: would come, but never in any passing moment of the
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Speaker 2: day's past it it ever dawn on him that this
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Speaker 2: would be Mary's child. So we read that Joseph, her fiancee,
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Speaker 2: a good man, did not believe her, but He doesn't
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Speaker 2: want to make an ugly scene for the public to
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Speaker 2: turn and point in her direction, so he decides simply
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Speaker 2: to put her away quietly. He has not yet made
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Speaker 2: the connection that Mary has made. She's at peace. When
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Speaker 2: she tells him of her pregnancy, she spoke quietly, but
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Speaker 2: with assurance. This is the Lord's plan. He's made this arrangement.
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Speaker 2: I'm the chosen one by his grace. Joseph, doubting all
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Speaker 2: of that we read in verse twenty, considered the words
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Speaker 2: of the angel in a dream one night when the
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Speaker 2: angel spoke and said to Joseph, Joseph's son of David,
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Speaker 2: do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.
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Speaker 2: Afraid of what Afraid of what people will say, Afraid
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Speaker 2: that she's been disloyal or unfaithful, afraid of anything, any
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Speaker 2: doubt that will come into your mind. Put it aside.
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Speaker 2: Don't be afraid. Because the child within her was conceived
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Speaker 2: by the Holy Spirit. She will have a son. You
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Speaker 2: are to name him Jesus. He will save his people
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Speaker 2: from their sins. Joseph had been well taught as well now,
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Speaker 2: but all fell together and talk about what a great
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Speaker 2: man he was. Look at the end of the chapter.
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Speaker 2: When Joseph woke up, he did as the Angel of
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Speaker 2: the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife, but
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Speaker 2: did not have sexual relations with her until her son
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Speaker 2: was born. I'm telling you you, that is some kind
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Speaker 2: of a man. How could he do it? Convinced that
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Speaker 2: God knew what he was about, convinced that there was
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Speaker 2: to be a virgin conception and birth, he would stay
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Speaker 2: away from her intimately until the baby was born. Philip Keller,
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Speaker 2: in his words in his book Rabbon Eye, pictures the
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Speaker 2: scene with a little imagination. He writes, beginning with the
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Speaker 2: words of the angel, don't discard Mary. Don't distrust the girl.
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Speaker 2: She's innocent. That one to be born of her was
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Speaker 2: conceived of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Most
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Speaker 2: High God. Take her as your wife. And so he did.
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Speaker 2: This fight the wagging tongues, this fight, the whispered gossip,
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Speaker 2: despite the sneering jests of neighbors. It took courage of
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Speaker 2: the highest caliber. It was the measure of the man
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Speaker 2: that he was more responsive to what God said than
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Speaker 2: to what the people of Nazareth said. So for the
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Speaker 2: remaining months, the little Virgin bore the Christ. She and
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Speaker 2: Joseph carefully kept their secret of the Savior, kept it
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Speaker 2: as carefully as the reverence and respect of this man
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Speaker 2: of honor, who kept himself from exercising his masculine rights
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Speaker 2: as a married man. For when the babe was born,
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Speaker 2: he would emerge from a womb that was sacrosanct, never
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Speaker 2: entered or touched by a male organ. It was a
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Speaker 2: virgin who would present the King of Glory to the
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Speaker 2: waiting world. You know what's interesting about Joseph. Never again
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Speaker 2: is there any reluctance once he becomes convinced that did it.
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Speaker 2: From that moment until the birth, he is all for it,
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Speaker 2: all in favor of it. The tongues of all the
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Speaker 2: neighbors hardly penetrated for a moment. Joseph was determined to
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Speaker 2: see this all the way through. That leads me to
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Speaker 2: a story from my own life that is not nearly
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Speaker 2: as noble as Joseph's. You need to know when Cynthia
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Speaker 2: and I were engaged, we were both very young. She
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Speaker 2: was sixteen, I was nineteen. You can all sigh at
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Speaker 2: the same time. That's very young. And what you don't
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Speaker 2: know is I was extremely jealous. I was consumed with
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Speaker 2: jealous thoughts. I had no reason to be. I'd never
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Speaker 2: known her ever to be then or since, unfaithful or disroyal.
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Speaker 2: But in my mind it was all a very vivid imagination. Jealousy,
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Speaker 2: he says, the scriptures is as cruel as the grave,
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Speaker 2: and mine was. I just peppered her with questions during
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Speaker 2: those early months of our engagement. Who she talked to
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Speaker 2: at school? What was his name? What did he say?
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Speaker 2: What did you say in return? Where did he look?
38:53
Speaker 2: Now that's a cute question, isn't it. How did you respond?
38:58
Speaker 2: Did he play on the football team? Was he well
39:02
Speaker 2: known in the school? On and on, until finally that
39:06
Speaker 2: was it. Nobody can say livid that like Cynthia Parker
39:13
Speaker 2: could say livid. And she said it. I want you
39:17
Speaker 2: to know it's over for us. This makes me living.
39:26
Speaker 2: And she got through to me, she said, I will
39:30
Speaker 2: not live with this jealousy. None of it is justified.
39:34
Speaker 2: I should not be the brunt of such questions. You
39:37
Speaker 2: have no reason to do that. And I want to
39:40
Speaker 2: tell you something that did it? That did it? It's remarkable.
39:47
Speaker 2: I don't have many remarkable stories in my testimony, but
39:50
Speaker 2: that is one of them. From that moment livid really
39:56
Speaker 2: landed in me. To today, I do not entertain one
40:01
Speaker 2: jealous thought ever. Not once in our marriage have I
40:07
Speaker 2: ever struggled sixteen months overseas, never once a thought she
40:12
Speaker 2: might have been unfaithful to me. I did not feed
40:15
Speaker 2: those thoughts. I did not have those thoughts. It was
40:18
Speaker 2: all gone. That's the way it was with Joseph. He
40:22
Speaker 2: was certainly taught in the scriptures. He knew what Isaiah
40:27
Speaker 2: had written. He just never linked that to Mary. Once
40:31
Speaker 2: the Angel said to him, this is of God. The
40:36
Speaker 2: one within her womb is of the spirit of God.
40:39
Speaker 2: That was all Joseph needed to hear. That did it.
40:43
Speaker 2: That solved it. Never feared that she was lying, never
40:47
Speaker 2: thought such a thing any further. Ever again, never touched
40:51
Speaker 2: her intimately throughout the early months of their marriage, not
40:57
Speaker 2: until that baby was born. That is one strong guy,
41:05
Speaker 2: one godly committed follower of the Living God.
41:12
Speaker 1: You know why.
41:15
Speaker 2: Because of what he thought about God. What comes into
41:22
Speaker 2: our minds when we think about God is the most
41:25
Speaker 2: important thing about us. God was in her virginity. He
41:32
Speaker 2: wanted nothing, nothing to call that into question. Why, Because
41:38
Speaker 2: Joseph realized God knows what he's about he's at work,
41:43
Speaker 2: and of all things, he chose the one that I'm
41:46
Speaker 2: to marry as the individual who is to bear his son.
41:52
Speaker 2: What a privilege to be a surrogate father to this
41:57
Speaker 2: one who was to be born the child so she
42:00
Speaker 2: delivers Joseph will soon deliver you too. Remember, the savior
42:08
Speaker 2: of Mary is also the savior of Joseph and of
42:13
Speaker 2: all of us. God knows what he's about, by the way,
42:18
Speaker 2: he's still doing what he chooses to do, including get
42:25
Speaker 2: this his selection of you, you, you and me in
42:34
Speaker 2: the plan that he has devised. Now go there with me,
42:40
Speaker 2: Walk there with me for the last few moments of
42:43
Speaker 2: our time together. I fully believe these next statements are
42:50
Speaker 2: true of every one of us, whomever God may choose.
42:58
Speaker 2: Often it seems to us that we're least qualified to
43:03
Speaker 2: carry out his plan. Think about your life now, Think
43:09
Speaker 2: about the way God has used you and moved in
43:11
Speaker 2: your life and brought you to this very day. As
43:16
Speaker 2: you look back and see the blessings, you feel least
43:21
Speaker 2: qualified to have received such blessings. I know I do.
43:27
Speaker 2: We are often the most surprised to be selected, just
43:30
Speaker 2: as Mary was, Just as Joseph realized I don't know
43:37
Speaker 2: how many times I've responded to the Lord when he's
43:40
Speaker 2: revealed a plan to me that I never dreamed. What happened?
43:43
Speaker 2: Who me? You're asking that of me to do that?
43:51
Speaker 2: We're often the most surprised. Here's another one. We're often
43:55
Speaker 2: called to fill roles no one else in our family
43:58
Speaker 2: has ever filled. About it, your life, your role, your contribution,
44:07
Speaker 2: your gifts, your ministry to others, your involvement in their lives.
44:15
Speaker 2: I met with a man for lunch day before yesterday,
44:18
Speaker 2: and his life is committed to mentoring young men. That's
44:22
Speaker 2: his life. He's finished his calling in his day to
44:26
Speaker 2: day job, if you will, ministry, and he's now moved
44:30
Speaker 2: into the realm of a mentor as he gets up
44:34
Speaker 2: into years. He said to me, no one in my
44:38
Speaker 2: family even knew what mentoring meant. I never received any
44:43
Speaker 2: mentoring until I was a young adult. And then he
44:47
Speaker 2: said some nice things about several people that had helped
44:50
Speaker 2: shape his life. He said, now I'm building into the
44:53
Speaker 2: lives of others. It's a role no one in my
44:57
Speaker 2: family ever filled. So I'm really in in brand new
45:01
Speaker 2: territory doing this, and he's loving it. We're often challenged
45:06
Speaker 2: to believe God against all odds. Like Mary and Joseph,
45:12
Speaker 2: the Angel had no visible proof, no pictures, nothing regarding
45:19
Speaker 2: the future that could prove to them how it would
45:21
Speaker 2: all work out, just his words. We're often challenged against
45:27
Speaker 2: odds to step into God's will and do it, and
45:33
Speaker 2: often we must stand alone in the midst of it,
45:37
Speaker 2: surrounded by those who are not of the same persuasion.
45:41
Speaker 2: That's all part of it. We're often unable to explain
45:46
Speaker 2: why God led as he has led. All we know
45:50
Speaker 2: is that he has. And here we are today amazed
45:56
Speaker 2: to see the Lord's hand over the passing of years.
46:02
Speaker 2: And let me add this, we are often among those
46:06
Speaker 2: most amazed at the way we have been used. Marriott
46:15
Speaker 2: Joseph included in all the above, you know, want to
46:18
Speaker 2: think of it The image I have in mind like
46:22
Speaker 2: an enormous hourglass where the grains of sand wind up,
46:28
Speaker 2: passing through a narrow neck in that tiny point of
46:34
Speaker 2: the hourglass and then fills out below. Here we are
46:38
Speaker 2: moving in God's direction and in God's plan, right down
46:43
Speaker 2: to this very date, this day, mark this day. Right
46:50
Speaker 2: here we are. God has been at work moving. He
46:54
Speaker 2: knows what He's about changing things, leading things, altering events,
47:01
Speaker 2: bringing tests, blessings alike. What he takes or what he
47:06
Speaker 2: gives as shows the Father's love so precious, says the
47:09
Speaker 2: old hymn. Had things taken, having had things given, we
47:14
Speaker 2: are brought to this very moment. Now let me address
47:17
Speaker 2: you who've never met the Savior. You're right there. You
47:25
Speaker 2: know what you thought when you came to this place today.
47:29
Speaker 2: You thought you were just showing up, just maybe someone
47:33
Speaker 2: invited you, or a family or a friend, or maybe
47:36
Speaker 2: you came on your own. And here you are. Up
47:40
Speaker 2: until this moment. You never realize you're part of an
47:42
Speaker 2: hour class. You never realized the hand of God and.
47:45
Speaker 1: All of this.
47:46
Speaker 2: Think back over your life and you've come right there.
47:54
Speaker 2: You've come to this moment of decision. You didn't just
47:58
Speaker 2: happen to show up any more than that couple in
48:03
Speaker 2: that car happened to drive into that ravine, any more
48:09
Speaker 2: than Mary, busy about her chores happened to be the
48:14
Speaker 2: virgin chosen by Since eternity passed, it's been unfolding. When
48:21
Speaker 2: you grasp this thought about God, it will revolutionize both
48:29
Speaker 2: blessing and testing. It will you'll remove along with the
48:35
Speaker 2: word awesome, though this is an awesome thought here, you'll
48:39
Speaker 2: remove the word accident from your vocabulary. With God, the
48:46
Speaker 2: unfolding of the plan is a sovereign arrangement of things
48:50
Speaker 2: so that He and his inscrutable way of working brings
48:56
Speaker 2: us to this point. Now, is we get too analytical?
49:03
Speaker 2: This is one of my mentors used to say. We
49:05
Speaker 2: try to unscrew the inscrutable. We try to overanalyze how
49:10
Speaker 2: all of that worked together. Don't waste your time, That's
49:13
Speaker 2: God's business. All we know is we are here at
49:17
Speaker 2: this moment and a decision must be made regarding Jesus Christ.
49:30
Speaker 2: Bow your heads with me, please right now, just close
49:34
Speaker 2: your eyes. I want this to be the moment that
49:42
Speaker 2: will never again be duplicated in your life when you
49:49
Speaker 2: came to realize that God knows what he's about in
49:53
Speaker 2: my life, that he has set the hounds of heaven
50:00
Speaker 2: after me, and I now find myself right here at
50:05
Speaker 2: this point, on this day, at this hour, facing the
50:13
Speaker 2: reality of his offer of eternal life. And I've never
50:22
Speaker 2: responded before to him. Today I respond today I acknowledge
50:36
Speaker 2: he has stayed with me and stayed after me until
50:39
Speaker 2: this moment. Arrives when just as he spoke to Mary
50:44
Speaker 2: and then to Joseph, one of them while she was awake,
50:47
Speaker 2: the other while he was asleep, one visibly, the other
50:51
Speaker 2: in a dream, but both received from God's messenger his plan.
51:02
Speaker 2: Perhaps I am that messenger in your life today. What
51:08
Speaker 2: a privilege to fill that role. He who has the
51:13
Speaker 2: Son has the life. He who does not have the
51:17
Speaker 2: Son of God does not have the life. You come
51:24
Speaker 2: to Christ today, you will experience a Christmas like you've
51:27
Speaker 2: never known before, because you will realize it isn't just
51:32
Speaker 2: about gifts and trees and beautiful flashing lights and songs
51:38
Speaker 2: and carols and gifts. It's about Jesus alive and at
51:48
Speaker 2: work within because He was born to be your savior.
51:56
Speaker 2: Right where you sit, right now, simple prayer. Lord, I
52:03
Speaker 2: don't understand a lot of this, but I understand that
52:08
Speaker 2: you are speaking to me about my need for the Savior.
52:14
Speaker 2: Thank you, Father for accepting me just as I am.
52:21
Speaker 2: I trust in Jesus. At this moment, I give you
52:26
Speaker 2: my life to do with from this moment on as
52:30
Speaker 2: you please. Thank you for coming into my life, forgiving
52:37
Speaker 2: me of all the things I have done wrong, and
52:42
Speaker 2: accepting me into your family. If we can help you
52:46
Speaker 2: in this journey in any way, that's why we are here.
52:51
Speaker 2: Connect with us, let us know will help you on
52:57
Speaker 2: your way. Now, let's pray. We bow before you, our
53:03
Speaker 2: great God, and we acknowledge that the best things we've
53:09
Speaker 2: ever considered have been our thoughts of you, and they've
53:14
Speaker 2: made all the difference in the world. We realize today
53:17
Speaker 2: that you really do know what you're about in the
53:21
Speaker 2: selecting of your people. How grateful we are to be
53:25
Speaker 2: one of them. By your grace, Help us in our
53:30
Speaker 2: journey to lay aside the struggle and the resistance and
53:35
Speaker 2: the fight that's often been a part of our response
53:39
Speaker 2: to you. May we acknowledge that you have first place
53:44
Speaker 2: in everything we do from this day on. May we
53:48
Speaker 2: please you, just as Mary and Joseph followed through without
53:55
Speaker 2: reservation or hesitation, rearing that sun and releasing him to
54:02
Speaker 2: fulfill his mission. May we spend our days Father, with
54:08
Speaker 2: that kind of commitment to your will. Now that we
54:12
Speaker 2: have met you and heard from you regarding you're delivering
54:19
Speaker 2: us from a life of sin and failure less in
54:25
Speaker 2: a very special way. These days leading up to the
54:29
Speaker 2: day we remember the birth of Jesus, May they be meaningful, significant, comforting,
54:39
Speaker 2: and encouraging. In the name of your Son, we pray
54:43
Speaker 2: these things. Everyone said Amen. The preceding message God Chooses
54:52
Speaker 2: His Servants was copyrighted in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen,
54:57
Speaker 2: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty seventeen by
55:00
Speaker 2: Charles R. Swindall Ink. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
55:05
Speaker 2: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited. In
55:10
Speaker 2: the preceding message, Charles Rswindall Inc. Is grateful to Stonebrier
55:15
Speaker 2: Community Church for permission to use their twenty sixteen performance
55:19
Speaker 2: of Sea amid the Winter's Snow Arrangement by Dan Forrest,
55:23
Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty sixteen by Beckenhorst Press Inc. All rights
55:28
Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide.