DECEMBER 4. 2022

SERIES: CHOICES FROM THE CHRISTMAS STORY

WILL I CHOOSE TO OBEY GOD WHEN THINGS DON’T MAKE SENSE?

Obedience is: Love+Trust +Action

I John 14:15 -If you love me, you will obey what I command.

JOSEPH – 5 secrets to living a life of obedience

1. Do it Now!

Matthew 1:19-21,24 (NIV) Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had 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, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Psalm 119:60 (NIV) – I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

I John 5:3 (NIV) – This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.

2. You keep on trusting!

Matthew 1:25 (NIV) – But he and no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

II Corinthians 4:8 (TLB)We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit.

3.You’ve got to let it go!

Matthew 2:13-15a (NIV) -When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up’, he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So, he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.

2 Cor. 1:3 (NIV) -Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.

Hebrews 5:8 (NLT)-So even Jesus was God’s Son He learned obedience from the things He suffered.

4.You take a risk!

Matthew 2:19-20 (NIV) -After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.’

5.You use your brain!

Matthew 2:21-23 (NIV) -But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.

Matthew 7:24 (TEV) -So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.

Psalm 119:34 (MSG) -Give me insight so I can do what you tell me, my whole life one long, obedient response.

Philippians 2:8 (TEV) -He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death, His death on the cross.