I hope I don't get what my wife has. That wouldn't be good. Let's turn the Bibles to Matthew chapter 1 and let's look at verse 18. We're going to start a new series and I hope you'll be here tonight because we're going to go from morning, night, morning, night, morning, night until Christmas now. All right. This is a series that I started, a season to celebrate. That's the theme for this series that I have. And today we're going to look at a season to hope. Look at verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus was on the wise. when, as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and now willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for thou which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which be and interpret God with us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful gift of salvation. Thank you, Lord, for hope. and the hope that we carry. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. A person asked me, a Christian person asked me, Pastor, there wasn't a workplace. This is a lady that used to go to Great Rolando Baptist Temple. She was a boss kid. She no longer go there. But she asked me, pastor, what are you preaching this week, this Sunday? I said, a season to hope. And she said, oh boy, what a nice theme, I need hope. I look at her, I said, you going to church? She says, no. I said, you need to go to church. She said, I do. I said, do you a favor, go to church. Go to church. You know, some people skip church purposely. I'm not talking about the ones who are sick. I'm not talking about the ones who have to work. I'm talking about those who skip purposely. I hope there'll come a day on which they want to come to church and they can't. Listen. We try to make the place look nice, right? We try to honor the Lord by cleaning it up and do all this stuff. But ultimately, that's not the church. You are the church. We make the church together. We assemble together and we worship the Lord together. That's the church. May we keep that in mind. When we meet together, it's to worship our Savior together. Listen. I know some people get roughed up, like, you know, this person in the church, that, but listen. We need to stop walking around with a chip on our shoulders. That's what we kids, boys used to do in the playground. Oh, take it out, take it out. Take it out see if you listen that's not Christianity Christianity is we love one another and what forgive one another as Christ has forgiven you We should not have a hold of grudge Because if you hope we all the grudge you are in sin. You need to ask God to forgive you and We are to be the most forgiving people on the face of the earth and we are to forgive God's people more than anything else. We are God's children. We meet together to worship together. We are the church. Okay. But that said, let's go to our theme right here. We all wanted to, and I'm sorry, am I in the right lesson? Yes, a season to hope. So we all want to desire, the other day I preached a lesson and in the end they told me that was not the right message, Pastor. And I felt bad because I had to give them the wrong outline. But anyway, so we all wanted and desire a world free of pain, don't we? suffering and trouble and worries. But the great reality is that this is not going to happen. We live in a falling world, right? Satan is the prince of this world. And guess what? We eat so many diseases in our world, so many chemicals, all kinds of stuff, and it cuts our heart when we see somebody suffering. Right now, your mind can go to many people that you know, you are sick, you are struggling, you are in pain, And He said, if it's something I could do, I know you would do. I remember my mother, she's with the Lord today. She used to say, when I was battling cancer, she used to say, if I could take that away from you, I would. And she used to say that with tears. She would say, I would die in your place if I could. Well, that's the love of a mother, I understand that. I understand that. But, if we could live in a world that was free of all those stuff. It's coming today, the new heaven and the new earth. Unfortunately, our world is full of pain, suffering, trouble, worries. Our world is full of people who have lost all hope and of thousands of people who are looking for hope in the wrong places. Some people find hope in drugs or try to find. Some people try to find hope in the bottles of booze. Some people try to find hope, goodness, I mean, use your imagination, in all kinds of things. But some of us have found hope in Jesus. now christians have been called the most wonder now christmas i'm sorry has been called the most wonderful time of the year but for many people it is a time of despair and hopelessness When we consider the way Jesus came to the world to live and die for our sins, to fulfill God's redemptive plan, we can find that Joseph found that, that Jesus Christ is indeed our hope of glory. Remember, here he goes in the Christmas season, being made, we read in the Bible, here's Joseph, Joseph's ready to be married, to marry to Mary, and the news comes, oh, Mary comes to him and guess what, I'm with child. Talking about getting a bucket of cold ice water and just throwing at the guy. And the guy goes, oh really? You went home and contemplated, look I can just have a stone to that. Oh, I can just put it away privately. Now think about it, if you were Joseph at that time, what would you do? This is the person who's going to be your wife. You're already engaged to be married. Actually, the popular song, it is the most wonderful time of the year, was written to celebrate some of the beloved traditions many people engage each year during these holidays. the sledding in the snow, spending time with loved ones, marshmallows over the fire, singing Christmas carols. Recorded and released in 1963, the song is still one of the top 10 most requested holiday songs. And it is favorable for getting people into festive mode. while the Christmas season truly is a wonderful time of the year together with family and friends and neighbors for fellowship and encouragement for many around the world it is a time of despair unrest and hopelessness may we not be naive okay may we not be naive to think that all things are wonderful this time of the year because it's not there's many people you will spend Christmas alone There were many people who spent Christmas in the hospital beds. There were many people who spent Christmas right after the surgery. There's all kinds of pains and sorrow that goes in our world. And actually, you know, this time of the year is a time when the suicide rate in America is really high. Why? Despair, hopelessness. And Satan uses this time of the year to infuse more hopelessness in people's hearts so they give up on living. We live in an imperfect world where too often it seems things that are going well one minute are breaking down the next, and things that seem all but certain today are thrown on uncertainty and chaos tomorrow. One man in the Bible knew just what I'm just talking about and his name is Joseph. In Matthew 1, we read the account of Joseph being hit with an unexpected news and struggling with how to handle. Do you ever been in a situation with some news just arrive on your front door and knock right on your door and you open the door and say, Hi, I'm bad news. I'm coming in. Nice to meet you. Then you go and you sit on your chair and you meditate for hours. You don't know what you're going to do about that bad news you just got. I think all of us been there one time or another. See, Joseph just didn't know what to do, but when thinking seemed at their most hopeless, hopeless time, an angel of the Lord comes to him and began to talk to him. But before that, he's there meditating, contemplating, he got the news. Now he said, what am I going to do? Oh, I can't have her stoned to death. I can't put her away privately. You see, in Joseph's mind at that time, there was not, okay, I'm going to put this behind me. I'm going to forgive her and we're going to go on with life. It was not in his mind. His mind was, I can have a stone to that or I'll put it away and go on with my life. Was he struggling with that? Yes, he was. Yes, he was. If it was not for the angel of the Lord, more than likely, they would not get together. It wouldn't happen when he knew that was from God. So to get this, the Bible in the Bible, the word hope is not synonymous with maybe the word hope in the Bible refers much more than the world hope can ever offers. Many people actually live in a state of, I hope so. I hope things get better. I hope my dreams become true. I hope I can get that job. I hope I can get that vacation. I hope I can get that house. I hope I can make more money. I hope people can love me. I hope people will listen to me. I hope, hope, and as always, I hope, I hope. You know what? In the Christian side, we have all the hope we need. It's a different hope. We can say if the Lord will, then it will happen. You see, biblical hope refers to sure and certain expectations which, because they are still in the future, create in us a sense of anticipation. The hope we mean here in this passage is based on the promises of God, of God's Word that can change our anticipation to the future. So for Joseph, this hope was the promise that he would see God's child given to save the world. So let us look at this topic, hope. from several points this morning the word hope actually is a wonderful word isn't it it's a hope that said I hope in God he's going to transform all this let's look at this from several points number one the announcement of hope the announcement. You will see this in verse 18. The Bible tells us these words about biblical hope. The Bible tells us, tells these words about the hope that came to the human race and about the hope that you and I have and everyone else needs. Look in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus was on the wise when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. We may look at this simple verse and really don't pay much attention to it, but this verse describes to all humanity the greatest hope to the human heart. Listen, we can hope about all kinds of stuff, but this is the greatest hope we can have. jesus came so you and i can have hope of salvation jesus came so you and i can walk in the street of gold jesus came so you and i can be for eternity in heaven with the lord and walk in a new heaven and a new earth this is the greatest hope i tell you what this is the greatest gift somebody can have this christmas I don't, I'm not saying I don't like gifts. I love gifts. I love gifts. You know, you have one for me. Oh, I'll say thank you to you. But anyway, but the greatest gift we can have is the great, the greatest gift is the great, I'm sorry, the gift of hope. If you follow the outline, hope can, letter A, came to an espoused couple. First we see that Mary was espoused to Joseph, verse 18. American society still largely observed the practice of entering into a period of engagement before a couple exchanges wedding vows. But the Jewish tradition of that day were a little different than ours. In this culture, spouses signify that a contract of marriage had already been agreed upon by a groom and the father of his bride. For all intentions and purpose, the couple was already legally married under the Jewish law, but they had to observe a period of separation before intimacy, during which the groom would prepare a home for his wife and himself. Now no doubt Joseph was wishing the days of the separation period would speed up and he was eager to be with his new wife Mary. He was in love and already committed himself to her for the rest of his days. We can imagine, we can imagine much of his free time was spent dreaming about how to you're going to spend time with this bride. So little did he know he was about to get a far more than he bargained for. He married, imagine the woman that he loved comes to him and says, think about it. Hey Joseph, I have some great news. What is it Mary? I'm with child from the Holy Ghost. And you're standing there looking at Mary, you would say, right. Absolutely, where planet you come from? which of the Holy Ghost really. I think about it. Okay. We are human beings and Joseph was a man just like me and you. Really Mary. Okay. It took an angel of the Lord to come to him and talk to him because nobody else was going to convince him. It took an angel of the Lord. As we live in an immoral society, some like to infuse immorality in the Bible. People who think like that are people who should do a great thing to clean their minds of such polluted stuff. The Bible is clear that Joseph and Mary were a moral and pure couple. Look what it says in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was a spouse of Joseph. Look what it says, before they came together. Understand the words. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Do you understand what the Bible says? By the way, when a person calls himself a Christian, when such a person denies the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, that person, I have doubts if that person is a Christian at all. A virgin birth that is very well announced in the Bible. A virgin birth that had become a basic doctrine of the Christian faith. Over and over in Scripture, the Holy Ghost protects the doctrine of the virgin birth by the claim that Mary was pure before God revealed His plan by way of an angel's announcement. Luke 1 26 and in the sixth month the angel Gabriel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin see it is listen if you ever if you have a bible version that don't have that word version in there you might want to write it there a virgin is supposed to a man whose name was joseph of the house of david and the virgin's name was mary twice you find that word there why because the bible wants to ask to know that it was not of joseph it was of god's doing it is important The Bible tells us in notes on certain terms that Mary was not just a young woman but a virgin in Israel. The word translated virgin in the English Bible is the Greek word right here that literally declares in the Bible that that word is a virgin. That's who she is or she was at the time. Okay, so. Look what it says in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear son and shall call his name Emmanuel you see it's promised in the Old Testament it's fulfilled in the New Testament and is a virgin so if you have any Bible translation please do yourself a favor write it there because you need to know because some people are denying the virgin birth of Jesus Christ Let us see. Hope lived in the heart of a blessed couple. Notice that two important phrases in the end of Matthew 18. First, the Bible says Mary was found with child. The word translated is found here. It is a child come from the Lord. Hope, this pregnancy was not something either Joseph or Mary had foreknowledge of it. It was completely an expected discovery. Now, This week I saw a show on, not a show, I was about to watch because it says on Netflix. If you have Netflix, there is a one movie that says Mary. Now the movie tries to get to give you in about her life before she became the mother of Jesus when she was a child. I turned the movie down in three minutes. Because there's no way the Bible tells us that Gabriel came to her mom and dad and told her, told them that Mary was a child of promise. That is wrong teaching. It said, I know I have nothing to do with this. I turn off the moon. So if you watch, please do yourself a favor, don't even watch that because it's not even biblical. So the second phrase, even more important, the child Mary carried was of the Holy Ghost. Typically, when a baby is on the way, he or she is identified as the product of both mother and father. Yet the Bible makes no mention of a father, for Jesus here, it says, is of the Holy Ghost. In fact, God goes even further with this birth as our blessed hope. In Galatians 4, verse 4 says, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. made of a woman that would an interesting phrase right here basically basic biology biology would say it is a physical physically impossible for a baby to be conceived absent from a man a man's contribution but the bible is clear that jesus had no earthly father how can this be a wise man once said don't try to explain it you lose your mind don't try to deny it you lose your hope or you lose your soul All we need to know is this was the work of God right here. Remember that Jesus is the hope of humanity. He is my hope. He is your hope. And now we look at the Bible. It says he is our blessed hope. He's coming. Our blessed hope is coming. It's all about hope, right? It's a hope. He is. Listen, Jesus is the hope of our salvation. He is the hope for our living. He is the hope of our future. He is our hope that is coming. Wow. Jesus is the hope of Joseph and Mary and your hope as well and my hope. Jesus is the hope that you and I need for today, for tomorrow and for the future and for eternity. So here is hope this morning. Luke 1st Timothy 3.16, And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. So the child, the very child, Israel, was waiting for centuries, was a child married, carried in a womb, made of a woman. The hope of the world was wrapped in this doctrinal truth. Jesus is the Son, is not the Son of a human father. Jesus is the Son of God. Number one, the announcement of hope. Number two, the poundering of hope. The poundering of hope. Now let us go to Joseph's situation after receiving the hard news from the one that was about to be his wife. Let's go back to your situation before you receive this hard news. We can only imagine how overwhelmed Joseph must have been upon receiving the bad news that his wife was of child. I believe in his human thinking. There's no way he would think in a godly way. He probably, obviously, he was saying, how could you have been unfaithful to me? How could you do such a thing? How could you even come to me and give me this news? Is that the way he was thinking, I think? He was pondering on it. And his partnering is not good because he lost hope. Hope was lost. You know one of the sad things for people is when we lose hope. When we lose hope, it can be a sad place to be. I have a man that said to me, where's this man, I'm sorry, go back a few years back, this man named John. And he was sitting on the seashore with a little stick, scratching the sand and looking at the waves. And he was there. The seagulls would come next to him and he wouldn't even bother with the seagulls. He's just there. Very complex, very sad. this man came along and says, sir, what's going on with you? Everything okay? And he honestly looked at the man and looked back at the waves. That was not me, by the way. I don't think it was me, okay? Look at the waves. And the man persistently said, sir, I think something is wrong with you. Are you okay? He looked at the man and said, sir, do you care? and he said, I care. I can sit next to you and talk to you. I do care. What's wrong? Look what he said. I lost all hope. I have no hope anymore. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of all these issues of life. I have no more energy. I have no hope. The good thing is the man was a Christian. And the man said to him, do you know Jesus? He said, I heard of him. This man said to the man, he said, you know, he's the God of hope. He can put hope in your heart, the hope that left that you don't have anymore. He can make your heart rejoice. The man began to cry. He looked at this Christian man and he said, I love him, but I don't know him. Can he give me hope? And he said, yes. He sat next to him, he said, can I sit next to you? And the man said to him, you don't have to tell me what's going on in your life. I just want to give you the God of hope. After the man went through the Bible and the scriptures, the man looked at him and said, I want this hope. Can you give me this hope?" The Christian man said, No, John, I cannot give you hope because I'm not God, but I can introduce you to Him, and you can ask Him to forgive you of your sin. And a God of hope is going to come to your heart. That man there, that lost all hope, probably pictures many people in our world today. give his life to Christ. Isn't that wonderful when we find the God of hope? Joseph, that news just knocking his door, walk right in, sit in his living room. When Mary told his good news, Joseph didn't see it that way, he lost it. It took God to come to him. You know, the condition of our world today is many people who are hopelessly lost and lost all hope today. You know what they need? Jesus. That's what they need. They need Jesus. Letter A, we see a just pondering, verse 19. We find a couple notable things mentioned about Joseph Joseph's character in verse 19. See first the Bible says that Joseph was a just man. The word translated as just here is a word mean he was a man stood up for what God taught in his word and he was a man that strived to live a life that was obedient to the Lord. For the reason why you listen when the angels show up for this we know that Joseph was a man who followed the Jewish law and try to live obediently to the law of the Lord. Having received this announcement about Mary, Joseph would have known that there was well within his rights to divorce her or publicly stone her to death. We don't read of any rage or evil thinking in his mind, but obviously he was not thinking about getting together with her after this. One example that he displays here is that he listened to the voice of God. When the messenger of God came to him and told him what was going on, he listened to the voice of God. May we too, when God speaks to us through his word, or through the preaching of his word, or the teaching of his word, when that still small voice talks to him, may we listen too. Because sometimes we don't. We're too stubborn to listen many times. We see a compassion poundering right here. We also find that Joseph was a merciful man. Imagine because rather than make a public example of Mary, Joseph thought about putting her away privately. He didn't want any harm to her. For sure, this man was not vengeful, neither would he think about doing evil to others. You know, And that's the way the Christian life should be. You know, we should never think as Christians, we should never think about doing evil to others. Okay. Pastor, but you don't understand what that person did to me and that person did to me and that person did to me. You don't understand what they're doing to me. So I need to get even. You know what? When we think that way, we are wrong. Okay. go to Matthew chapter 5 verse 44. I want you to see something right there because sometimes we can justify in our hearts and think that what we do to get even with other people is you know and justify the means that's not biblical but look what it says in Matthew 5 44. But I say unto you, he's speaking right here jesus love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despisedly use you and persecute you is that fall right here we see joseph didn't want to do any evil to mary even though in his humanity before the angel came to him guess what he knew that something was wrong in his mind he was justifying himself but we don't see any evil come of him i'm going to do this to you or that to you All right, so let us see, we see a patient pondering in verse 20. The beginning of verse 20 reads, but why he thought on these things, obviously they overcame over him, he was thinking about it, which indicates that Joseph was still deliberating on his response when he heard what he heard from God. He did not react carelessly, although in an impatient response would have been understood. He didn't get angry. He waited really dead and then make a hasty decision about something that would affect his life and Mary's life as well. Let me put it this way. The best thing we can do many times and do great for us and when we get a piece of bad news, don't overreact. Many people overreact immediately. It's an immediate reaction. ponder on, take it in, dwell on it, think about it, pray about it, and make a decision. Because sometimes it's easy to just assume something, when in reality it's not what we are thinking. See, when Mary gave him the news, he immediately assumed what? You've been unfaithful to me. That was his assumption. He didn't say like, you know, oh, this is from God. No, no, he did not believe that. So he assumed, okay, I can divorce her, put her away privately, or I can publicly humiliate her and stone her to death. You see, he just assumed in his mind. You know, he's human, right? You ever assume something and you're that wrong about it? I mean, you're all guilty of that. So that's a good point. So number one, the announcement of hope. Number two, the powering of hope. Number three, the provision of hope. Spend any length of time with a three-year-old and you will quickly learn one thing, one of your favorite questions at this stage of life is why? They want to know about everything. Why the sky is blue? Why the dogs bark? Why I must go to bed? Why do I have to eat? Isn't that what kids do? And you go, the kids, moms go crazy. You go, this kid has been, dad gets home and he says, dad, this kid has been asking me why, why, why, why all day. Your turn. And guess what happens? He's going, dad, why, why, why? And you have to be what? Patience. Because you know what? Patience. You know what? I'm sorry. I'm going to confess something to you. You ready? I struggle with patience. Patience is one of my weaknesses. I don't have a lot of patience, but I always pray, Lord, give me patience. I think I'm doing okay. Sometimes I don't do okay. But patience is a hard one for me. Even at work, people say to me, you need to be a little more patient. I said, I'm being patient. No, you're not. I'm sorry. I had one Friday. I said to him, I said, will you forgive me? I went to him and said, I know I was being pushy. And he said, you need to calm down a little bit. I said, I'm very calm. I'm very calm. I was. He said, no, you need to be. He goes, let me be simple to you. You need to be a little patient. So I went to my table. I come back. And I was like, I come back to him and say, hey, will you forgive me? And he said, I mean, he said, yeah, for what? I said, for not being very patient. He goes, I'm glad you recognize that. So anyway, but that's a famous word in a little kid's mouth is why? Why this? Why that? It can sometimes become exhausting just keeping up with these questions. Why? Now get this you and I would have often like uh like three old in a way that we can become preoccupied with waiting to know what God is doing and why he's going to step in oh why oh why lord why he's taking so long for you to come why you're not coming today look at the way the world's getting lord i can't take this world anymore why why why lord what's holding you from coming back because he's coming in this time not on your time You know, He give us reason why He give us one day at a time so we can trust Him and live for today. But why? You don't understand why this? Why that? Why these things go on? Because the world is full of sinners just like you? You see, we want to know it all, don't we? We want to know why, we want to know it all. So we find ourselves often asking God of this, why this and why that? But God always reveals that we need to know in His time. You know? Listen please, when you don't know every detail, you weren't sure things are going to work out. We can rest in the knowledge that God is good and He loves us and that He has an unfolding plan for our lives. A preacher said these words, when you can't trace his hand, you can't trust his heart. For if it was for Joseph, in the midst of his pain, confusion, and questions, he was about to discover that true hope, that's what it's all about. know he got into the state he didn't listen he didn't listen to mary he didn't listen to what she has to say you know what he just assumed stuff in his own mind you probably would do the same we do it all the time you know what but hope was when in the horizon right here hope was coming to him letter a we see a miraculous hope almost done In our darkest experience, it's easy to forget God and what He can do to help us with our dilemmas. You know how many people have said to me, I said, listen, remember this person in the Bible and this person in the Bible. Oh, that was them, not me. Well, the God that took care of them can take care of you. We don't understand where I am. No, I don't, but God does. we say that many times do you know this passage in the bible you know this person and that person oh that was them oh you know i'm a different person praise the lord you are so we see a miraculous hope right here So sometimes we forget who He is and what He can do in our behalf. We forget that God has a plan to bring good out of suffering. While Joseph was wrestling through the undesirable options, God lift the curtain and reveal a miraculous plan. And then Mary was speaking the truth to him the whole time. I hope, listen, I hope I hope that when you get so stubborn and assume things, and I do the same thing, help me too, that when we, the truth hits us in the forehead, that we could say to go to the person, I'm sorry, I was stubborn, I was wrong, will you forgive me? You know, guys have a problem saying that to another guy, right? I don't want to tell him I'm sorry. I don't want to be wanting, I'm weak. It takes a man to go say I'm sorry to another man. It takes a mature man to say I'm sorry to another man, to recognize I've been wrong. Look what it says in Matthew 1 20, but why he thought on these things, what things? The news that Mary give him He was pondering on that. He's trying to make sense of all that news. Behold, the angel of the Lord hath prayed unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not, to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Didn't you heard that word before? Who told him that? Mary. She was telling the truth the whole time. But he did not believe. Think about that. Not only was Jesus to be born of a woman, he was conceived of the Holy Ghost. Wow! That was great news to the heart of a struggling man. You see, it was the angel of the city of Abraham is of the Holy Ghost. So he couldn't believe it. Get this, those who deny Jesus' virgin birth, who deny Jesus' eternal Godhead and deity, they are those. Some try to compromise by saying Jesus was a moral teacher, a prophet, according to the Koran, even a messenger of Allah. But the Bible is very clear and speaks very loud about Jesus' deity. Go to John 1, verse 14. You know the Bible is clear about Jesus. Who is Jesus? The Bible says and the word was made flesh and dwelled among us and we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. And Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 says for in him in Jesus dwell all the fullness of Godhead bodily. See it means literally when Jesus walked on the face of the earth he was 100% God 100% man. He was Emmanuel, the Bible said, God with us. That's why Jesus said, when you look at me, you see the Father, because I'm in the Father, I'm one. You see, the blood of Joseph would have no saving properties, no resurrection power. If joseph was the father on the cross, jesus spilled the very blood of the holy spirit of god That's why this season is so significant is a season of hope If there is no christmas, there will be no cross If there'll be no christmas, there'll be no resurrection If there'll be no christmas, there'll be no shed blood at calvary's cross. So there'll be no hope for me and you So let's rejoice together because in the Christmas season we're celebrating Jesus's birth. And people say, oh pastor but Jesus was not born in December. Who cares? Pastor you just said that. Yes. Let me put it this way. If I was overseas, let's say some country, I don't know what country you put in your mind, whatever country. And my birthday passes by and you, a dear friend of mine, and I come to America like six months later. Are you okay if you celebrate my birthday when I get here? Say, hey, Pastor, I want to celebrate your birthday. My birthday was back last year. It doesn't matter. That's exactly what we do. That's it. We celebrate Jesus's birth in December. So what? Praise the Lord that we do. It's a grand celebration. You know why? Because this is a season of hope. Hope came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Hope came to us wrapped in a little manger. Hope came to us. I love that song, Mary did you know. It's one of my favorite songs. You know why? Because it was Emmanuel in her arms. God with us. Just think about it. They give me chills just to think about. God with us in the lap of Mary. Mary, did you know? She knew that child was very special. Let it be we see a salvation hope. The miraculous birth that was God's plan to send his son and send Jesus for a specific purpose. Let me tell you this way. When Adam in the Garden of Eden sinned against God, God never turned his back on the human race. Mankind did turn his back on god It was man who walked away from god because god says do not touch that And they did so men turn his back on god walk the other way, but god said I love you And promise the messiah right there and through the ages the promise keep coming to the prophets keep coming keep coming and the bible says in the new testament in the fullness of time emmanuel our hope came i'll tell you what when you witness to somebody when you tell somebody about jesus you are giving them a message of hope the same hope that you have in your heart You know what? Listen, Christianity should be a joyful thing to live because I serve a risen savior. He lives. You know what? I'm going to be with him for all eternity. People say, if I can only have this and have that and have this, then I'll be full of hope. Yeah. When you have this and have that and have this, you know, when you get it out there, you want more. Isn't that what we are? Oh, if only in my bank account would be this big when you get there. Oh, yeah. Let me see if I can get double. Let me get double this thing. That's the thirst of the human heart greed. But hope don't matter where you are in life. No matter what we do and you can be hurting can be in a hospital bed. Their hope never goes away. It's a living hope. I tell you what I could be preaching until tomorrow. But I tell you what, Christmas is a season of hope. I tell you what, I'm gonna close with this. I have Christian people who ever told me, I hate Christmas. I understand why they say it. But I said to these people, I wouldn't go around and say this. Because I understand sometimes bad things or all kinds of memories come back in this particular time of the year. But we should not forget why we celebrate Christmas. And not think about the bad things that happen to us, but why we do it is a season of hope. Because of Jesus, I've been forgiven. Because of Jesus, I can live with hope in my heart. Because of Jesus, I know that I don't have to stay in that cold grave. Because of Jesus, I will walk in the street of gold. Hope. So the message of Christmas is a message of hope, but it's not the hope of Shaggy expectations is a hope of sure promise that God came to us, purchase our pardon, and offers us an eternal gift. We might wonder how Joseph took the news of God's revealed plan, which must have sounded incredible to his ears. While the Bible does not record his reaction, it does record his actions. It doesn't it? I'll tell you what. It happened exactly the same thing to every believer. I see people get saved on which they cry. I see people that I led to the Lord which they hug me. I see people that I led to the Lord which they have no reaction. But as they begin to grow in the Lord, we see their actions. They begin to have a new love they never had before. They'll begin to love God. Isn't that great? Christmas is a season of hope for the hopeless. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for hope. What a sweet word, what a kind word. Lord, I pray if there's someone here that doesn't have that hope of heaven today, May they call upon you for salvation today. We have an altar here. They can come forward. We can show them from the Bible how they can get saved, Lord. And those who are online, Lord, I pray right there where they are. Lord, they will realize they're sinners. They have done wrong before you. They'll confess this sin to you, Lord, and they will call upon Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. It's that simple. God is looking for sincere hearts. Help us, Lord, as Christians, to be hopeful people. Not to rely on the things of this world, but to have hope in you, Lord. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. If you could stand, please. We're going to have a song of invitation this morning. Page 294. 294. Just as I am. Let's sing together. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb, Listen, let me be sincere with you here this morning. Even you online. If you were to die right now, are you going to heaven? That's a serious question. If you would drop dead right now, are you going to heaven? You say, I'm going to heaven, based on what? Your baptism? Your church affiliation? Or you're a good person? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come to the Father but by me. No heaven without Jesus. You got to put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way you can get to heaven is by Jesus alone, by faith alone. That's it. So don't play religion. Don't play I'm a good person, because you're not going to make it there. There's a lot of religious people in our world. And a lot of them are very sincere in what they believe. It doesn't mean they're going to heaven. A season of hope. Folks, we have everything to be hopeful. We have a whole Bible to teach us how to live the Christian life. Make use of it. Read it. Meditate on it. Apply it. That's what God wants us to do. Let's sing one more verse and we're done. Just as I am waiting on to rid my soul of one dark line, Thank you so much for being with us tonight. And tonight we're going to look at a humble servant. We're going to continue with our series. So I hope you can come to our service tonight. But in the meantime, let's pray we'll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for your blessings, for your goodness, for the blessing of being in your house today. And I pray you'll keep us safe as we go our way. Help us to be a blessing to someone and to you as well. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You are dismissed.