by Lakeshore Christian Church on Dec 05, 2023
The sermon series focuses on the concept of holy moments and the transformative power of obedience to God's will. The speaker underscores the importance of serving in Jesus' name, despite the challenges of busy schedules, and encourages prioritizing such service. The significance of personal responsibility for spiritual growth is highlighted, with an emphasis on the individual's duty to engage with God's Word and pursue personal development, rather than solely relying on church attendance or accumulating knowledge without obedience.
The power of a single moment of obedience is a recurring theme, with the speaker illustrating how such moments can have profound impacts, both positive and negative. The Christmas story is used to demonstrate the importance of holy moments, with a focus on Joseph's obedience in accepting his role as the earthly father of Jesus. The speaker also shares personal experiences of obeying God's word without full understanding, later realizing the benefits and blessings that came from such obedience.
The sermon addresses the challenges that can shake one's faith, such as betrayal or hurt, and the temptation to believe that God has failed us during these times. The speaker emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's promise that He works for the good of those who love Him, even in the most difficult circumstances. The role of Joseph is examined in detail, with the speaker highlighting his occupation, hard work, righteousness, and faithfulness.
Prayer is discussed as a means to seek God's will, with the speaker sharing how their prayer life has evolved to become more specific and centered around God's will in various aspects of life. The congregation is encouraged to listen to God's guidance, make obedient decisions, and experience the transformative power of holy moments.
The speaker also reflects on various personal memories, both joyful and sorrowful, that have left a lasting impact. These memories are described as holy moments that shape our lives. The sermon concludes with a call to view everyday decisions as holy moments and to recognize the power of obedience in making a positive difference in the world.
Key Takeaways:
- Serving in the name of Jesus requires intentional prioritization, as it often competes with the busyness of life. By making holy decisions and trusting in God's wisdom, individuals can fulfill their responsibility to obey, leaving the outcomes in God's hands. This obedience can lead to God working for our good in ways we cannot foresee. [59:35] [01:01:03] [01:02:02]
- Spiritual growth is a personal responsibility, and individuals should not blame others for their lack of progress. It is essential to act on the knowledge of God's Word already received, taking steps of obedience that can lead to transformative experiences and a deeper relationship with God. [01:07:58] [01:08:47] [01:09:41]
- One moment of obedience can have a significant impact, as seen in the Christmas story and Joseph's life. These moments can arise from clear scriptural teachings, the Holy Spirit's prompting, or godly counsel. The outcome of such obedience can be beyond imagination, demonstrating the power of God's work through our decisions. [29:12] [30:00] [30:37]
- Obedience to God does not always require complete understanding. By sharing personal experiences, the speaker illustrates that obeying God's word can lead to blessings and benefits that may not be immediately apparent. This principle encourages trust in God's wisdom and timing. [46:26] [47:16] [47:57]
- Holy moments often coincide with life's hardest challenges. By responding in obedience to God, even in the lowest and most soul-crushing experiences, individuals can allow God to work everything together for their good. This promise is specifically for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. [44:14] [44:56] [45:36]
### Bible Study Discussion Guide
#### Bible Reading
1. **Matthew 1:18-25** - The story of Joseph's obedience in accepting his role as the earthly father of Jesus.
2. **Romans 8:28** - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
3. **Matthew 6:9-10** - The Lord's Prayer, focusing on "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
#### Observation Questions
1. What was Joseph's initial reaction when he found out Mary was pregnant, and what did he plan to do? (Matthew 1:19)
2. How did the angel of the Lord address Joseph's fears and what instructions were given to him? (Matthew 1:20-21)
3. According to Romans 8:28, for whom does God work all things together for good?
4. In the Lord's Prayer, what does Jesus teach us to pray regarding God's will? (Matthew 6:10)
#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why do you think Joseph decided to obey the angel's message despite the potential social and personal consequences? (Matthew 1:24) [49:44]
2. How does Romans 8:28 provide comfort during difficult times, and what conditions are attached to this promise? [45:27]
3. What does it mean to pray for God's will to be done "on earth as it is in heaven," and how might this influence our daily decisions? (Matthew 6:10) [01:10:40]
4. How can one moment of obedience, as seen in Joseph's story, have a significant impact on God's plan? [28:35]
#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt prompted to obey God without fully understanding why. How did you respond, and what was the outcome? [48:22]
2. Joseph faced a holy moment of decision at a low point in his life. Can you identify a challenging moment in your life that turned into a holy moment through obedience? [35:38]
3. Romans 8:28 speaks of God working for the good of those who love Him. How can you remind yourself of this promise during your current struggles? [44:48]
4. The sermon emphasized the importance of personal responsibility for spiritual growth. What steps can you take this week to engage more deeply with God's Word and pursue personal development? [01:07:02]
5. The speaker shared how their prayer life has evolved to be more specific and centered around God's will. How can you incorporate this approach into your own prayer life? [01:11:49]
6. Serving in Jesus' name often competes with the busyness of life. What is one activity you can cut out of your schedule to prioritize serving others this week? [58:14]
7. Think of a recent decision you made. How might viewing it as a holy moment have changed your approach or outcome? [01:05:44]
Day 1: Intentionality in Service
Intentional service in Jesus' name often requires setting aside the busyness of life to prioritize God's call. By choosing to serve and obey, individuals can trust that God will work through their actions for the greater good, even when the outcomes are not immediately visible. This act of faith demonstrates a commitment to living out one's beliefs in tangible ways. [59:35]
James 2:17-18 - "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."
Reflection: How can you prioritize serving others this week, despite the busyness of your schedule?
Day 2: Personal Responsibility in Spiritual Growth
Spiritual growth is a personal journey that requires active participation and obedience to God's Word. It is not enough to simply attend church or accumulate knowledge; one must also apply that knowledge through actions that reflect a growing relationship with God. This personal responsibility is the foundation for a transformative faith experience. [01:07:58]
Philippians 2:12b-13 - "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."
Reflection: What is one step of obedience you can take today to act on the knowledge of God's Word you have received?
Day 3: The Impact of Obedience
A single moment of obedience can have a ripple effect, influencing not only the individual's life but also the lives of others. The Christmas story exemplifies this through Joseph's obedience, which played a pivotal role in God's plan. Such moments are often guided by scriptural teachings, the Holy Spirit's prompting, or wise counsel, leading to outcomes beyond our imagination. [29:12]
1 Samuel 15:22 - "But Samuel replied: 'Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.'"
Reflection: Can you recall a time when your obedience to God led to unexpected blessings or outcomes?
Day 4: Trusting Without Full Understanding
Obedience to God does not always come with full understanding or immediate clarity. Trusting in God's wisdom and timing can lead to blessings and benefits that may only become apparent in hindsight. This trust is a testament to one's faith in God's overarching plan and His ability to work through our decisions. [46:26]
Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
Reflection: What is one area in your life where you need to trust God's wisdom and timing, even though you don't fully understand His plan?
Day 5: Holy Moments in Life's Challenges
Life's most challenging moments can also be holy moments if one responds with obedience to God. These experiences, while often difficult, can be the times when God's work in our lives is most evident. The promise of God's goodness is for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, even in the midst of trials. [44:14]
Romans 5:3-4 - "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
Reflection: How can you respond with obedience to God in a current challenge you are facing, and trust that He is working for your good?
Good morning again, everyone.
We are so glad that you're here with us today. Welcome to Smarter Campus. We love you guys. Glad you're connected there. Everybody that's connecting with us online, we're so happy to have that connection with you.
It is a joy to be able to start a brand new message series today called Holy Moments. We're glad you're here for the beginning of this. We hope you'll be here all the way through. It is our Christmas series leading right up into Christmas Eve and then Sunday after all through December. So we hope you can catch all of those. If you miss any of them, we always archive our messages on our YouTube channels so you can go there and catch anything that you might have missed.
It's been said that life is not measured by time but in moments. Life is not measured by time but in moments. And I know it's true for me because here's the problem I have. I can almost never remember exactly when something happened in my past. Dates and times, even the year sometimes. I don't remember what year that happened. But there are certain moments that I remember vividly without knowing the exact date or time of when they happened. Do you have that in your life? I know a lot of people do.
Things that stick out with me, some of them not so good, some of them really great that stick out in my mind. I remember I was just a young kid and one of my grandfathers had come to live with us temporarily at our house, a small house, and I have a room with my two brothers. And he was in one room. We had three bedrooms, but it was a tiny house. And I can remember I would get up every morning and my grandpa would have already made coffee and I would sit and have coffee with my grandfather and he would put half cream and sugar in mine, of course. And he made strong Louisiana coffee. I think you could stand up a spoon in it.
But I can remember the moment when I got up and he wasn't up yet. And I thought, man, why isn't grandpa up? And I called him Big Daddy, one of my grandfathers. And so I asked mom where Big Daddy was and she said, "I thought he was up. Is he not up yet?" I said, "No." She said, "Well, go wake him up." I went into his room to wake him up and he had died. I was probably five or six years old. I remember that vividly trying to wake up Big Daddy. And it sticks out. It's one of those things that goes deep into your mind and stays there.
There are other things like that. I mean, all through life, you can remember certain things. I can remember this moment when I was with my mom when she breathed her last breath. That sticks in your mind when you're there for something like that. You experience that. It's a sad moment, but at the same time, it's a holy moment if you let it be. If you look to God during that and lean on him, it becomes a very holy moment.
There's some good ones too. I remember meeting Sue Ann for the first time. Woo! Man, changed my life big time. I saw her bopping down the stairs at their house, fresh from Florida with that tan, wearing cut-off shorts. I remember that vividly. Don't judge me. I was a young teenage boy. That was exciting. I remember that. I remember our wedding very much. It sticks out, right? I remember the birth of our two children. I was in there with Sue Ann and the delivery for both kids. I remember those very vividly. I have to stop and think about birth dates, but I can remember the moment, right? Very vividly it stands out.
I can't believe how strong my wife was both in giving birth and squeezing my hand as she gave birth. She was powerful, powerful. It was amazing. I can remember, and maybe you do too, those certain moments, but you don't remember life in years necessarily. You don't remember like a whole year at a time. You don't even remember a whole month at a time usually. You don't even remember a whole week at a time usually. Not even a whole day. I can't tell you every detail of yesterday for me. I can tell you some moments of yesterday, but I can't tell you every detail of the whole day yesterday. And maybe you're that way too.
This past week was a week filled with a lot of different things, fun things and sad things. Holy moments though, all of them. This past week I was involved with two funerals. I was at a funeral of a guy that I served on the board with at Easel Harding Christian School, and he was so gracious to me. He had been at the school for years, and he welcomed me in as a new member of the board and was so gracious to me. At the funeral, I learned and heard from everybody. He was that gracious to everybody. What a great legacy, right? To leave behind a man of faith that was gracious to everyone in his life.
Then this past week we had the celebration of life for one of our members, Robin Caston, and that will stick out right from this past week of a holy moment where we honored and celebrated a life well lived with Robin and all the great impact and influence that she had on so many others. There were some moments from yesterday I remember too. Good and bad. There was a really sad one where I got a call from one of our members, Loretta Mackey, her daughter, with her other daughter Sarah, found her daughter Julie had passed away when they went to check on her. Holy moment, but a hard moment, right? A sad moment. And it sticks out when you get that call, right? And you first hear the news, you remember that kind of a moment like that.
And as a pastor, you know, your heart goes out to that family, and it's hard for that family to even tell you what's going on because they're in such shock and grief sometimes. They stand out big time. And I know some of you were laughing because there was another moment yesterday that will stand out too where Alabama beat Georgia. Some of you Tide fans are all excited. I don't consider that a holy moment, but it was a moment that sticks out. A moment that sticks out big time.
But in this series, we're going to be talking about holy moments. And there's a theme for this that I want you to get. So I want you to hear me say it once, and then I'll say it again. I want you to really let it sink in. I want this to be a holy moment for you that you remember this, okay? So listen, you have no idea what God can do through just one moment of obedience in your life.
I'll say it one more time. You have no idea what God can do with just one moment of obedience in your life. But here's the counter to that. You have no idea what Satan can do with one moment of disobedience in your life either. We're going to be looking at the Christmas story, and I'm just picking out some of these holy moments where in that moment it was critical that the people involved made the right decision for it to become a truly holy moment that God could use to do some amazing things.
We're going to start out with a guy named Joseph. You know him from the Christmas story. He's not the main character. He doesn't get all the press. He's not the one that most sermons are preached about, but there was a huge holy moment in the life of Joseph we're going to look at today. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 1 and hold that for just a moment. We're going to pick up with verse 18 there.
You have no idea what God can do through one moment of obedience. Sometimes it's in response to a clear teaching of Scripture that you just come to grips with, and you know God's speaking to you, and you have a moment of decision to make. Am I going to respond in obedience to what I now see clearly is what God teaches in His Word? Sometimes it's the prompting of the Holy Spirit where you feel nudged by the Spirit to do something or not do something, and you have to decide, am I going to respond? In this moment, am I going to respond in obedience to the prompting of the Spirit?
Because you have no idea what God could do with a moment of obedience. Sometimes it's the godly counsel of a friend who has told you clearly, you've asked for opinion or advice, and they've said, here's what God's Word teaches, here's what God's will is. Do you listen? Do you respond in obedience? Because you have no idea what one moment of obedience, what God can do with that one moment of obedience.
However it comes, you might be prompted to say something or to do something or to give something, and sometimes you know this is true because you can look back on your life, and when you've listened and when you've obeyed and when you've said what you should say or done what you were supposed to do or gave what you were supposed to give, God took it and did great things with it. You can look back, and those moments will stick out if you look for them. Those holy moments where decisions were made that God used for great things.
But maybe too you can go back and remember like me, there were also some moments where the scripture spoke or the spirit spoke or a godly friend spoke, and you didn't respond immediately to what was the obedience that was called for and how you might have missed something great that God wanted to do in those moments. Don't ever underestimate what God can do with one moment of obedience in your life.
For Joseph, that's true too. We want to look at some things about Joseph that he's not a main character because we don't know a lot about him. Not a whole lot. There are really five main things we know about Joseph from scripture, okay? First, he's a carpenter. In fact, the word there means builder. It doesn't mean just working with wood, but it means building, and a lot of the building they did wasn't just with wood. It was also with stone and things like that. So he was a craftsman that worked in stone and wood and building things.
In that culture, it would have been, of course, hard work, but very respectable work if you did a good job with it. We know he was a carpenter. We also know that he is said to be a righteous and faithful man. I mean, if you had to have some words to describe your life, wouldn't it be great to have righteous and faithful in there? Joseph was righteous and faithful. He also, we know, was a descendant of David according to scripture. That's important when you go back and look at some prophecies and fulfillment of prophecies and things like that. It's important to know that connection.
He was also, we know, at a certain point, became Mary's husband. This is the Mary that gave birth to Jesus. This is her husband. And the scriptures. We also know that he then became Jesus' earthly father, stepfather, whatever term you want to use there. He didn't actually father the child, but he became the father to the child to raise the child, Jesus. We know that he's not mentioned anymore after Jesus was 12 years old. You know the account in scripture where they traveled to Jerusalem for the feast. They are traveling back home, and they don't know Jesus is not with them. He's 12 years old, and he's not there with the crowd.
Now, they traveled in big family clans, big family groups, so it would be easy for, I don't know how many of you have ever left a child somewhere. I have. Yeah. You don't have to confess, but I'll confess. Suanne and I left our son at a very young age at a Christian camp we had dropped our daughter off at. We drove off and left our son there. Got back, and he was sitting in the dining hall of the camp wondering what's next.
Well, they had left, and they were heading home and realized Jesus wasn't with them, so they went back to find Jesus, and he was in the temple debating there with the teachers of the law there in the temple. It's amazing. And Joseph is mentioned there, but not after that. Most scholars believe it's because, even though we don't have a record of it, Joseph died sometime shortly after that. We don't know that for sure, but we do know that he's not part of the rest of the story, not mentioned as a part of the rest of the story, and we know that when Jesus is hanging on the cross, he looks at the beloved disciple John, and he looks at his mother, and he says, "John, behold your mother." In other words, John, I want you to take care of my mom now that I'm not going to be here to do it.
Joseph wasn't in the picture anymore for sure, because he would not have needed to do that had Joseph been there. So we know that Joseph was a part of Jesus' life and raising Jesus as a young child. We don't know much beyond that at all. But in that short time and in that short record that we have, we can learn some valuable lessons about holy moments in his life, about how important a moment can be and how God can use just a moment of obedience in a very powerful way.
The first thing I want you to see today is this. Holy moments are often hard moments. Sometimes the hardest moments of your life become the holiest moments of your life if you let God do His work in that moment and you respond in obedience to what He's calling you to do.
Let's pick up in Matthew 1 verse 18. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. Wow. Talk about a righteous man.
Here he is at what had to be the low point of his life. It says he was engaged to Mary. We think of engagement different today than they did in that culture. It is different today. Today is engagement of setting up ahead of time, making sure you get that picture for an Instagram moment, right? You want everybody to see when they pop the question and gave you the ring. It's a staged kind of thing oftentimes. Sometimes it's a surprise to the person that's being asked. Sometimes it's not. Usually, they try to set it up as a surprise, but capture it on film somehow. So you capture that moment as a beautiful Instagram moment.
But in that culture, engagement was far more than some Instagram moment. It was on one level a very much a legal agreement that had already been made and entered into where they are legally bound to each other when they got engaged. This is not a dating Instagram thing. This is a decision you've made. This is the person I've committed to for the rest of my life when you got engaged.
But here's the thing. It is very much like already legally being married without the benefits. You can say, okay, you know what I'm talking about. It's all right. We understand that God's plan for marriage is that's where you wait for that for the intimacy, right? For the becoming one flesh, that's God's plan for how relationships are supposed to work and how you enter into a marriage. And the engagement bound you to that person without the marriage intimacy that comes after the actual public marriage ceremony.
So you're already bound to each other in one way, but not in that way in their culture. Now I know we do it completely different here. People are just reversing the order and doing it all different ways. But that was God's plan, and that's how God had established it to work, and that's how their culture practiced it regularly. And in that culture, when you bound yourself to someone in engagement, part of that meant that you're no longer to be with anyone else. You shouldn't have been anyway in their culture and the teachings of God's word on how marriage is supposed to work and relationships are supposed to work. You're not supposed to be involved with anyone else anyway in that way, but certainly once you got engaged, you are now committed to only being with that person for the rest of your life.
And Mary comes to Joseph and says, "I'm pregnant" in that culture under those conditions. And it is so hard for us to grasp this in our culture because we're so different with this. We're so away from God's plan on this in our culture. It is so hard for us to understand how powerfully disappointing that was to Joseph, how it rocked his world completely, how it changed everything. It changed his life. It changed Mary's life. It changed their family's life because what Joseph thinks has happened is she's been unfaithful, and that's the only way she could be pregnant because he knows he has not been with her, and so his only thought has to be, she's been unfaithful to me, and in that culture and in God's teaching, that brought disgrace to Mary, but also to Joseph and to their extended families for that to be known that that has happened.
And all of Joseph's life's plans in his mind at that point when he hears that she's pregnant, all of his life plans are shattered in that one announcement that she's already pregnant and it's not his baby. This is a critical time for Joseph. It says he was a righteous man, and even with the disgrace that he's feeling and the betrayal that he thinks has happened that he's feeling and experiencing, he still did not want to expose her to public shame.
You see, the law allowed for in extreme cases they could have a woman stoned to death in that case. That didn't happen most of the time. Most of the time what happened was there would be a public court hearing of divorce where they would publicly disgrace the woman, and they would have to live with that branding of being divorced out of that disgrace because it would have to be a legal divorce to stop the relationship that they had, to break the engagement. But he, being a righteous man, did not want to expose her, even under those conditions, to any public disgrace.
So he decided in his mind, here's that holy moment of decision, right? Part of it was, well, I'm not going to disgrace her publicly. He obviously loved her, even though he felt betrayed by her. He wanted to just divorce her quietly, not make it a public thing, not have to go to public court, because legally you could do that kind of on the side with the right legal people taking care of the paperwork and everything. You could break off the engagement legally without it being a public thing. If you're not going to try to disgrace the person or make it a public humiliation thing, you could do it quietly. And that's what Joseph had decided in his mind that he needed to do there.
It's his lowest moment. It's probably the most challenging moment he had experienced in his life to that point, how he was going to handle himself in view of what he thinks has happened here. What kind of person is he going to be? I have found in my life, I've already talked about some of those hard things, moments that stick out of my life. There are a lot of others besides those. But looking back on those things, I can see how God worked in the hardest moments of my life, and He transformed them into some of the holiest moments of my life that impacted me the most for good in my life. Maybe you can too.
So Joseph is at this critical moment where is he going to let God take this moment of his life, which seems like the lowest possible moment? Is he going to let God take that moment? And is he going to be obedient to God at the lowest point of his life? See, Satan loves to get us at those low points, those points where we're shocked about something that we didn't expect, those points where we just are hurt by something that we never thought would happen, those moments where we feel betrayed by someone we thought we could trust. He loves to take those moments to convince you God has failed you, God has let you down. You know, no reason to hold on to your faith, no reason to honor Him, no reason to keep walking in obedience if this is what God allows to happen.
That's where Joseph is right now. I'm sure Satan is whispering all those things in his ear. And he's got to respond in that moment. How's he going to respond to God? A lot of us know this passage, Romans 8:28, but do we believe it? Listen to it again. We know that in all things... What things? We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who've been called according to His purpose. In all things He works for what? The good. Not for everybody. This promise is not for everybody. Don't think this means you can say to anybody, even people who don't know God, don't love God, don't honor God, you can't tell them this passage applies to them. It does not.
This passage applies to those, it says, on whom His favor rests, those who've been called according to His purpose, those who love Him. This is the promise for those people, the people who love God, who know that God has called them for a plan and a purpose in their lives. This is a promise for us. And the promise for us is He will work anything and everything together for our good. It's a powerful promise.
What about the low points? What about the hard moments? What about the soul-crushing experiences? Is God big enough? Is He strong enough? Is He faithful enough? To use those moments for our good. It's a moment of decision we all have to make in those moments. Don't ever underestimate how God can powerfully use a moment of obedience in those hard moments of your life. And don't ever underestimate how powerfully Satan can use moments of disobedience in those low moments of your life. He can cause so much damage and destruction while God can work all things together for good. It depends on our decision in the moment. That's what makes it a holy moment.
Is we're on the brink, on the precipice of God doing something great or Satan doing something terrible based on the decision that we make in those moments. And I think if we're honest, all of us can say we've gone sometimes both ways at different times and different moments. And we've seen the destruction Satan can bring when we've made the wrong choice. We've seen the blessing God can bring when we've made the right choice. And I love that we have this story, this very honest and real God's word. That's one reason I'm so convinced it's true is because it doesn't sugarcoat anything and it doesn't hide the hard things from us. It's very vivid in detail on the hard things too.
And Joseph has this critical holy moment of decision to make. But here's the second thing we need to see today and I hope we can learn this. You don't have to understand to obey. I'll say it this way. You don't have to understand completely to obey immediately either. I have obeyed a lot of what God said in His word without understanding why He said that. But I found out later many times why He said that when I got the benefits of it, when I saw how He used it, when I experienced the blessing that came from it, then I can understand better why He said that. But sometimes at the moment you don't get it.
So the holy moment of decision is will you obey even without fully understanding? Why God says this way, not that way. Say this, do this, give that, whatever it is. Without fully understanding the details. You don't have to understand to obey. Look at verse 20. But after He considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to Him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son. You are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. They will call Him Emmanuel, which means God with us."
Look at verse 24. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. Immediately obeyed. Now let me ask you something. Let's get real with the story here. This is the real account with the details of what's going on. How many of you think Joseph understood everything the angel told him that night? I don't think he understood, but a portion of it, a small portion of it. He understood this was a messenger from God. He understood that part. He understood that this was part of God's plan that Joseph needed to be a part of through his obedience.
But there's no way he understood all the details of what it meant. He couldn't possibly have understood everything that this angel was telling him. There's so much that he didn't know when he obeyed. Think about it for a moment. He's heard this great announcement about a savior, but he didn't know some of the details. A lot of the details. He didn't know that at nine months of so pregnancy of his wife, there was going to be a decree that you had to go to Bethlehem to get registered for a census. He didn't know he was going to have to travel from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem about 90 miles, and he was going to have to do that with a nine-month pregnant wife who was riding on the back of maybe a donkey or a horse we don't know for sure, and can you imagine how she felt about it?
And guys, don't ever say this to your nine-month pregnant wife, but she's probably kind of grumpy on the trip. It's not the time to point it out. I want to assure you of that. But I'm sure she's not enjoying the ride, that 90-mile trip through horrible weather probably freezing cold at night in that climate and that culture, and he didn't know that he was going to have to, when he got there, his baby was not going to have a room in the inn for them to stay at because he didn't make reservations ahead of time, and I'm sure Mary mentioned that a few times.
And that the baby that the angel said was going to be born is going to be born with farm animals all around, and that there wasn't going to be a crib. He's a carpenter. He probably built a crib for the baby already. He doesn't get to use the crib that he built. He has to put this baby in a feeding trough for the animals when it's born. He didn't know any of that when he said yes to the angel and to Mary, and he obeyed.
And he didn't know that after that, that smelly shepherds were going to come visit them in the stable. He didn't know that later on, these wise men were going to travel and come see them and bring these gifts, and he didn't know that when they came, as exciting as that seemed to be, that they came with a message that now they've got to pick up and flee for their lives because Herod's going to try to kill the baby. He didn't know that ahead of time. So now they've got to pick up and leave their homeland and move to a different country for the safety of the child. They didn't know that because of their baby, two-year-old babies and younger are going to be slaughtered by Herod back in their homeland.
He didn't know any of those details when he said yes in obedience to what the angel was calling him to do, what God through the angel was calling him to do. He didn't know anything about how hard it was going to be to raise the Son of God in his home. And all that God had planned and orchestrated to go along with that. See, that's the thing about committing to God your life is you're committing to God your whole life. The high moments and what else? The hard moments, the low moments, because you can never imagine in your life how God can use one moment of obedience even in the lowest, hardest times of your life.
Here Joseph is obeying at the lowest point of his life, obeying what God had called him to do, and God is using it in such a powerful way. And it could happen to any of us. Maybe as you're learning from Scripture and you're growing as a Christian, you realize I'm in a relationship that I shouldn't be in. It's not holy. It's not what God's called me to be doing in a relationship. Maybe when you realize that, you've got a hard decision to make, don't you? You've invested so much in the relationship that you might risk it if you change the relationship and get back into the will of God in that relationship. That's a hard moment.
But friends, it's one of the holiest moments of obedience you could ever do that God could use in a powerful way that you bring that relationship back in line with the will of God and the teaching of God in your life. He doesn't say it's going to be easy to do it. He says He'll use it for your good if you do it. It may be for you or for me. It could be something else. It could be that you understand God's teaching, that you must forgive others the way you want to be forgiven, and someone has hurt you and betrayed you, and you feel such betrayal and anger and resentment about what's happened, and you realize God wants me to forgive that person.
That's a holy moment of decision that you've got to make. And it's not easy. And He never said it would be, but He said I can use it for your good. It's not for the other person, by the way, that He wants you to do that. It's for you that He wants you to do that. It might be that you feel prompted to help someone, and our first thought might be, well, they don't deserve it, and if they made better choices, they wouldn't need my help. You know, we've got all these reasons we don't help someone, but if the Spirit is prompting you to help, you've got a decision to make. It's a holy moment.
I'm not saying you have to help everybody that asks for help. I'm saying if you feel the leading and the prompting of the Spirit, listen, that's a holy moment. It may be that you're married and somebody outside your marriage covenant is flirting with you, trying to attract you, trying to flatter you, to get you to do something with them outside of your marriage vows. It doesn't sound like a holy moment, does it? But it is, it can be, because you have to decide. You know what God's Word teaches about honoring your marriage vows. One of the holiest moments could be when you decide, I'm going to keep my vows no matter what. I'm going to honor my spouse no matter what. I'm not going to be led into that by someone else.
It's not easy. Sometimes the marriage has already been hard. It's rocky. It's causing pain and heartache in your life. That's not an out for this, friends. It's a holy moment when you decide to honor the vows anyway, even at the lowest moment of your marriage. It might be you're being prompted through this last series that I taught to start tithing to the church. Man, you could think of a hundred different reasons you don't need to do that right now. I mean, you may be at one of your lowest points financially. You're saying this is not the time to start tithing. That's a holy moment of decision. What's going to come first in your life now, moving forward, starting now? Who's going to be first in your life?
It may be that you're neglecting your family because of your work schedule and all the activities you've committed yourself to, and there's no time at home with your family, and your kids are growing up and you're not even there around what they're doing or involved with them at all because you're so busy trying to make a living that you forgot about your life. That's a holy moment. You've got to decide, am I going to reschedule my life and my priorities to be with my family the way I need to be with my family?
It may be that you know that you are not supposed to be just a spectator at the church. You're supposed to be a servant with the others and serve people in the name of Jesus. Here at Lakeshore, it's a connect, grow, and serve, right? That's what we're supposed to be doing, all of us, and serve as part of it. And maybe you know God wants you to start serving in the church, but we're so busy, right? We're all so busy. How are we possibly going to work one more thing in to our schedule?
It might be the holiest moment in the world when you cut one thing out to do a better thing instead, like serving in the body of Christ. You see, it's those moments of decision that God can take and use in great and powerful ways. In Romans 11, there's a passage where the Apostle Paul just cries out and prays to God, and the thing he's praising God for most in this passage is the wisdom of God. And that's why I bring it up right now, is because in those holy moments of decision, part of what makes that decision go the way it's supposed to go is when you understand how wise God is to start with.
When you understand the wisdom of His teaching, the wisdom of His Word, the wisdom of Him as the person of God, then you have to understand He knows better than you what's best for you. He knows better than me what's best for me. Listen to what Paul says, verse 33. Amen. He is above all, He knows all, past, present, and future. He's got knowledge and wisdom and understanding far beyond anything you have or your friends have. It's time we realize we need to listen to God, because those decisions become holy decisions when we're listening to God.
And you can never imagine what God can do through one decision of obedience, even at that lowest point, even when it doesn't make sense, even when you don't know all the details, even when you don't understand why, you just obey, because you trust the wisdom of God more than you trust your own. The sooner we can trust God's wisdom more than we trust our own, the sooner we can have holy moments that God uses for great things.
And that leads to the last thing. I'll close with this one. Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God's responsibility. Here's the way the relationship works. What we're responsible for is what? Obedience. What's God responsible for? The outcome. See how this works? Our part is obedience. God's part is taking care of the rest of it the way it needs to be taken care of. And remember, He does it for those who love Him, who listen to His call in their lives. He does it in a way that is for our what? Our good.
So we're responsible for the obedience. He's responsible for the outcome. Look at verse 25. But He did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And He gave Him the name what? Jesus. What name did they say to give Him? He's still being obedient. That was not the family name. That was not His family lineage name to give to His son. This is the name God gives to Him. And the name Jesus means Savior, Deliverer.
You see, that act of obedience, God used in a great and powerful way. Remember what the angel told Him? The angel told Him that this child that is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She'll give birth to a son. You're to give Him the name Jesus. Why? Because He will do what? Save His people from their sins. It doesn't get any bigger than that in a holy moment of decision that God's going to use for something great and powerful.
He's using this decision of obedience to bring the Savior to the world. To bring the Savior to you and to me. He could have made a different decision, but He would have missed the greatest event in all of human history. The incarnation. God come to man. He would have missed the visitation of God on earth in the flesh, had He made a different decision here.
That's why you can never imagine how God can use one moment of obedience, even in the hardest, lowest times of your life. You don't have to know the details about it and about how it's going to end if God was there in the beginning. Do you catch that? You don't have to know. You don't even need to know how it's all going to turn out in the end if you know God is at work in the beginning of it. If you know He's responsible for the outcome, then you just hold your responsibility to be obedient and let God take care of the outcome.
I'm the kind of person like you, a lot of you probably, I like to know in advance if I do this what's going to happen. How's it going to work out if I make that choice or that choice? Sometimes God gives me a clue. I mean I see examples in scripture. I see promises that He makes. I have a clue sometimes, but I don't know all the details. Sometimes it doesn't work at all the way I thought it was going to work, but it's even better than I thought it was going to be. Sometimes it's harder than I thought it was going to be, but it still accomplishes something better in the long run than I thought it was going to.
But I've learned that God's wisdom is greater than mine. I don't always immediately think that way. I don't always immediately in the flesh respond that way. But I know that when I have, God's plan is always better than mine. And He accomplishes so much more than I ever could have doing it my way. And I want you to know that too. I want this Christmas season to be about holy moments for you. Where you begin to put the importance on those everyday decisions that you need to put on those everyday decisions.
Sometimes those decisions don't even seem to be big. They don't even seem to be important. But don't ever underestimate how one decision of obedience can make a huge difference for good in the world. For you personally, for your family, for your friends, for the people God wants to reach through you and influence through you. Those moments of decision of obedience are powerful. And they happen every day as you just go through life. You're faced with decisions every day just because you're living life.
And you can make those decisions very holy moments. When you start deciding based on the realization that God can take those moments of obedience and do great things with them. I've been convinced of this as a pastor for a long time. I've heard Christians criticize their church this way. Not at Lakeshore of course. But other churches. I'm going to go to another church because I just don't feel like I'm being fed enough at that church.
My first question is how long have you been a Christian? And here's why I asked that question. When you give birth to a baby you expect to have to feed the baby for a while, right? But what do you expect to happen eventually? The baby starts doing what? Feeds itself. Right? You're not expecting to be bottle fed or spoon fed by somebody else the rest of your life. You shouldn't be.
So in the church we're supposed to be growing up and maturing spiritually. And we're supposed to feast on what? God's Word. Can you do that on your own? Absolutely. Are you supposed to? Yes. Stop blaming a lack of maturity or spiritual growth on anybody else but you. You're the one responsible for that. Nobody else. Now at Lakeshore I know that's not a problem. But still, start out bringing it up in case you're attending another church somewhere. And you visited Lakeshore today because you're not being fed over there.
But here's what you've got to know. Most Christians don't even need to know more than they already know until they start being obedient to what they already know. It's like the preacher that was a new preacher at a church. The first Sunday he preached on repentance and how people needed to turn from these sins and get their life on track. And everybody said, oh great sermon, we're so glad you came to be our preacher. Next Sunday he preached on repentance. And they said, oh that was good again. It's kind of like what you preached last week.
Five Sundays in a row he preached on repentance every single time. Finally one of the guys that helped hire the preacher went to him and said, preacher, you're a good preacher and that's a good sermon but you've preached that same sermon for five weeks now. Don't you think you ought to be preaching some other stuff? He said, as soon as you repent I'll go to the next thing.
See most of us are saying feed me more when we're not even being obedient to what we already know that God has called us to do. This might be a holy moment of decision for you right now. Are you ready to take those steps of obedience to what you already know God has called you to do? Have you already professed your faith in Christ? Have you already repented of sin? Have you already been baptized into Christ in obedience to that command? Have you already become part of a church family somewhere that you connect with and identify with as your church home?
All of those are things you already know in Scripture God teaches you to do. This may be a holy moment where you start doing that. You take those next steps. You do what God has called you to do right now. It's a holy moment of decision. You never know what God might do. And for those who've already done those things it may be other things. Maybe it is that you're in a relationship that's not right with the will of God. The holy moment might be let's get that worked out. Let's go to that person, let's talk about it, and let's get right with God in this relationship.
It may be with your money, it may be with your job, whatever it is. This may be a holy moment of decision for you because friends, God's wisdom is greater than yours and mine. And you can never imagine what God can do through one act of obedience.
In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. They had asked him to help because they saw what a great prayer life he had. You know I've talked about this before but Jesus is my hero. When I want to know how to do anything I look to Jesus, right? How did Jesus handle this? How did Jesus do that? He's my hero. So when it comes to prayer I like what Jesus teaches us about prayer, right? He's my hero. He's wiser than me. What does he say about prayer?
And he said this in Matthew 6 beginning with verse 9. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Oh here's this next part. Your will be done. Where? On earth as it is in heaven. My prayer life has changed a lot in the past few years. I've always been able to recite that prayer. It goes on, you know, you probably know this prayer. You may have recited it at different things. And I knew what it said.
But you know what I've started praying more specifically about everything now? Your will be done in my life, Father, as it is in heaven. I want it to be done on earth that way. And my family, Lord, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And my role as a pastor, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the life of my kids and my grandkids, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the life of Lakeshore Christian Church, Father, your will be done on earth at Lakeshore as it is in heaven. And my marriage, Father, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
You know how the will of God is carried out in heaven? Perfectly. Completely. There is no disobedience there. When I pray for you in your life, I know we're not going to be perfect. But more and more, here's how we need to be growing and maturing. More and more the will of God in you is being done on earth like it is in heaven. And that only happens in those moments, those holy moments of obedience in you.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you that today we've been reminded of Joseph and that hard moment in his life, Father. Where he had to be tempted to do things that were not your plan. And yet when you spoke to him through the angel, he listened. And in that moment he obeyed without knowing all the details, without understanding all it was going to require of him. He just committed to obedience to what you were calling him to do. And Father, you used it for a great and amazing, wonderful thing in sending your Son Jesus to be our Savior.
I pray for those here today who have holy moments of decision in their lives to make, as all of us do as we go through life. I pray that we would listen. We would follow the teaching and the wisdom that you give us in your word and through the prompting of your Spirit. And then even today, people would take those steps of obedience they need to take and just watch what you're going to do with those holy moments of decision.
We give you the praise and the glory and the honor in advance. In Jesus' name, Amen.
We're going to stand and sing today and offer you this time of invitation. If you have a decision you need to make, just come right up front while we're singing and I will meet you there.
Oh great, great is your faithfulness. Mr. Ali is here and for the first time in a long, long time Ms. Fran is able to be with us too. And she's been called by God to help care for them and provide for them. So we want to pray for her strength and pray for Fran and continue to pray for Ali. But this is a huge blessing to celebrate today too. We're so grateful for that.
So let's go to God and pray together.
Father, we just lift up Sharon and Fran and Ali. We just thank you for the way you've provided so far in such powerful, amazing ways. You've answered prayer. We pray for continued strength and ability to care for the needs here. We know that you are the great provider and the source of all good things. We thank you for how you're going to provide and sustain in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you, Fran. God bless you. Thank you.
Come on up, brother. This is one of our brothers that's been attending for a while now and he's asking for prayer. He's trying to work through some things, get some things done legally that he needs to do, like getting a birth certificate right, some things like that. So let's be praying. Tell me your first name again.
Michael Barnett.
Let's pray for Michael.
Father, we lift up Michael to you. We pray that you would give him wisdom and discernment, that you would grant him favor with the people that can help him with this, that he would be able to get this worked out, to be able to get things done that need to be done here for the blessings that he's seeking in his life. We pray for him as he walks in the days ahead to be guided by your steps in Jesus' name. Amen.
God bless you. Thank you, Michael. Amen.
At this time, Paul is going to come and lead us in a time of communion together. We want to thank you again for being here with us today. What a joy to have this assembly time together as God's family.
If you'd like to continue worshiping through the giving of an offering, we have offering boxes available, one in the back of the auditorium, one in the hallway as your exit. There's a slot in the top of those boxes. You can drop your offering in there. You can also give online at LakeshoreChristian.com. Just click on the Give tab there. You can scan the QR code in your bulletin there. It's got a QR code in the bulletin shell that you can scan. It takes you to that page where you can make a donation. And of course, you can mail in your offerings to the church office. A lot of different ways to give. And however you do it, it is an act of worship.
I'm going to ask Jeremy to be coming on up here. He's going to share some more announcements with you. A lot of exciting things happening this month as we celebrate the birth of Christ. Thank you again for being here as a part of that. Jeremy, thanks.
"You have no idea what God can do with just one moment of obedience in your life." [29:12] (Download)
"Don't ever underestimate what God can do with one moment of obedience in your life." [31:54] (Download)
"Most Christians don't even need to know more than they already know until they start being obedient to what they already know." [01:07:58] (Download)
"Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God's responsibility. Our part is obedience. God's part is taking care of the rest of it the way it needs to be taken care of." [01:02:02] (Download)
"You don't have to understand to obey. You don't have to understand completely to obey immediately either." [47:57] (Download)
"It's a sad moment, but at the same time it's a holy moment if you let it be. If you look to God during that and lean on him, it becomes a very holy moment." [24:42] (Download)
"The sooner we can trust God's wisdom more than we trust our own, the sooner we can have holy moments that God uses for great things." [01:01:03] (Download)
"Holy moments though, all of them. You don't remember life in years necessarily. You remember those certain moments that stand out vividly, shaping who we are." [26:12] (Download)
"It might be the holiest moment in the world when you cut one thing out to do a better thing instead, like serving in the body of Christ." [59:35] (Download)
"Don't ever underestimate how God can powerfully use a moment of obedience in those hard moments of your life." [46:26] (Download)
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