Pastor Fletcher preaches from Matthew 1:18-25 about Joseph, the father of Jesus. Discussion points: The Lord worked through a dream to convince Joseph to move forward with marrying Mary, Joseph is Jesus’s real father while not being his biological father, we are not outsiders or second rate children in God’s family.



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Scripture reader: [Matthew 1:18-25] 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. 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 Emmanuel," 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.

This is the word of the Lord.

Preacher: Good morning. My name is Fletcher. It's a joy to have you all, today. And a joy to be able to bring God's word for you this morning. Do you ever have any example in your life of a time that you were roped into something that you maybe did not sign up for? Like maybe you were volun-told to organize a holiday party for your, your office? Anybody ever have one of those situations occur to them. for me, when we first got married, my wife was very adamant that we needed a dog. Very adamant that we needed a dog. I made like a PowerPoint presentation for her, with all the reasons why we did not need a dog, you know, I pulled up the charts. This is the total investment that a dog is going to actually take. It's like thousands of that you have no idea. It's like it would be better for you to buy a BMW than for you to buy a dog, OK? It is very expensive owning a dog.

And as things went on though, as things do happen, she won and we got a dog and there I remember I came to her one morning I was like, OK, I've been praying. I think that we can get a dog that afternoon we had a dog like it it went quickly we had a dog, a little white fluffy named Maggie. She's absolutely ferocious and I talk about her a lot now, um. To this day, I don't think I understood. What I was getting myself into or what I was getting roped into. I didn't want a dog. I didn't want someone to pick up poop after and take outside 2 or 3 times a day and feed and to this day I'm still roped into that task of caring for the elderly dog. I'm bandaging the wounds from the bite marks on my fingers that she leaves on me. If you know my dog, she is um. A very ferocious West Highland white terrier, yeah, who's grumpy.

Anyways, maybe you were drafted into a nativity play when you were a kid and you, some of you may have been all about that, like nativity. Play Let's go. I, I can't wait to be Mary or be Joseph or or be a shepherd but some of you might have been there standing with a, a shepherd staff made out of cardboard and a bathrobe on being like, how did I end up here? we get roped into things that we don't necessarily sign up for.

And I can't help but think that that must be a little bit of how Joseph felt. Getting roped into something he did not sign up for. I mean, he's just living his life. He's a carpenter, he's working, he's betrothed to a woman, he's excited about the future he has, and all of a sudden the angel appears and says that your wife is pregnant. Deal with it, stick with her. That's basically his life. And so Joseph in that moment has to figure out what to do.

Today is the 4th and final Sunday of Advent, and we're walking through the traditional hope, peace, joy and love themes through a series that we're calling The Light Has Come Witnesses to the Birth of Christ. And so today we're considering love from the perspective of Joseph and as. As we often do, I'm just going to walk through the passage and help us to understand the fatherly love that Joseph shows to us.

So let's dive in the first verse, chapter 1 of the Gospel of Matthew, verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother, Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. Now for many of us, it's a ...