2819 Church - THE KING IS HERE | A Virgin Birth or Vixen Botch? | Matthew 1:18-25 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

In week TWO of “THE KING IS HERE,” Pastor Philip A. Mitchell recounts the conception and birth of Jesus Christ. Welcome to the official Youtube channel for 2819 Church. This channel features powerful and life-impacting messages from Philip Anthony Mitchell and guest communicators. As you listen to these sound biblical messages you can expect to be challenged, stirred, matured and inspired in your faith and walk with God. For more information about us visit 2819Church.org.

I'm gonna say this to you for at least a couple weeks. I believe this is your year of harvest. I believe it's our year of harvest. God is adding to our fellowship, this post-gathering church, every single week. And I believe it's not only going to be a year of harvest for us, but a year of harvest for you. I want to encourage you to do things differently this year to come out of the dark come out of being alone come out of just running in and run out just try something different jump into a squad a small group today and have friends and have godly relationships jump on a team i'll be doing basic today jump on a team meet me in the room

man have friends and do godly relationships. Relationships are our most valuable commodity. They're worth more than money. God will oftentimes bless you by the two legs that walk into your life. Jump into

a squad. Jump into a team. Be faithful with what you're giving. Just try to be faithful this year and see what God does in your life. Jump into a squad. Jump into a team. Be faithful what you're giving. Just try to be faithful this year and see what God does in your life. Nothing changes until you change. Amen. To my, I guess I get to say this two weeks in a row, my 2819 family. Local and abroad, to all of our family watching us right now, live in cities all around the country, we welcome you to 2819, our gathering,

whatever city you're watching. Everybody watching right now on YouTube live from even pockets around the world, our friends in Australia, in Brazil, in Haiti, in South Africa, in Jamaica, and Trinidad who's watching us live. Man, we welcome you right now. Those of you who get up at a different time to stream live, we welcome you right now to the presence of God and to 2819 Church. Today is week two of a brand new series,

the first series of the year called The King is Here. Okay? The King is Here. And this is a teaching series through the first four chapters of Matthew's gospel. Just by way of review really quickly, I probably won't do this after the third week, but if you're here for the first time, we are walking through what is called the gospel of the book of Matthew. Matthew was a man who lived in the first century A.D. He was a Jewish man who worked for the Roman government as a subcontractor collecting taxes from his own people. Because of that, in those times, these kind of men were greatly despised.

So we understand historically Matthew was a man who was probably lonely. He probably had no friends. so we understand historically Matthew was a man who was probably lonely. He probably had no friends. He was a social outcast, may not have been married. And one day history tells us Jesus was walking by his office. They made eye contact and he said these two words to Matthew that changed his life forever. He said, follow me. I'm not going to tell you what happens after that. Just follow me. Just take a step of faith. That step of faith changed Matthew's life forever. And so we are now studying Matthew's gospel.

We're spending an entire year in the book of Matthew, okay? And I believe that this year is going to transform your life for those of you who listen, take notes, and lean in, okay? Matthew's gospel was used by the church for 1,700 years to ground believers in the faith. It was the primary document that they used for discipleship. If someone came into the knowledge of the faith, it was the book of Matthew that was used for 1,700 years to train up people in discipleship. The Bible is the most widely read book in the history of the world. The Bible is the best-selling book in the history of the world, and the gospel of Matthew is the most widely read document in the history of the world. More people have read the book of Matthew than any other thing in print

in the history of the world. It is the most influential document in the New Testament and the most read document in the Bible in the history of the world. It is in the book of Matthew. You're going to bump up against every single thing that intersects your life. From your mind, your heart, your relationships, your walk with God, your finances, marriage, struggles, anything you

could possibly think about, you're going to bump into in the book of Matthew. And the whole purpose of the book is to outcast Jew writing a book to Jews who had Jesus on trial. This book that we're about to study through is the blueprint for human flourishing. I'm going to repeat, this book that we're studying through is the blueprint for human flourishing. If you read the book of Matthew and put its principles into practice, you would experience human flourishing. The last week we went through Jesus' genealogy. I preach a message to you called a royal and ratchet family tree. Another Matthew's in the building. Shout out to my man, MG, the mortgage guy in the building

again. I know him as Matthew. Y'all know him as MG, the mortgage guy, the most influential mortgage loan banker in the country, my man of 30 years plus. I just want to say to some of you that don't do relationships right, man, it's hard to have stories of longevity like that when you treat your relationships like one night stands and flings. If you treat your relationships like flings and like one-night stands, you'll never have stories of 30 years of brotherhood.

So value your relationships. Treat them like they're valuable. When they're broken and God wants you to have them, fix them. Learn to apologize. Learn to say, I'm sorry. Learn to say, let's reconcile. Discern the relationships you're supposed to have and invest in them. Learn to apologize. Learn to say I'm sorry. Learn to say let's reconcile. Discern the relationships you're supposed to have and invest in them.

Me and my brother, 30 years and running. 30 years and running. Love you, my dude. In this message, we're going to unpack the next section of verses in Matthew. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18 through 25. We're going to tag a title to this text called A Virgin Birth or A Vixen botch eternal garden of a wise father we feel your presence in this room spirit of the living god we feel you on every aisle in every row we feel you in the sound booth Lord I pray you would help

this weakened earthen vessel to communicate these eternal truths from your word may our hearts be burned and our spirit be stirred may our lives be transformed and our spirit be stirred. May our lives be transformed and may the kingdom be enlarged in today.

In Jesus' name I pray. If you agree with me, say amen. Say amen. Amen. A virgin birth or a vixen botch. Y'all know what a vixen is? A pretty girl. See her in the videos. Everybody want a piece of her.

We're about to talk about a pretty young lady today. Whether she had a virgin birth or she was a vixen botch. Last night, on the last night of the fast, my son and I was having an intimate conversation. And during that conversation, we both shed some tears. During that conversation, it was one of the best moments I've ever had with my son and with my family. I felt like that was like the reward for me at the end of our consecration. The moment I had with my family last night and especially with my son who was 18 years old. And when I woke up this morning, I was thinking

about this message. And I was thinking about how, you know, I've never met a person that has never shed a tear. I've never met a person that has not felt some measure of insecurity whether they were wealthy, middle class or poor. I'm not sure if I've ever met

a person that never had mental struggles or emotional struggles or physical issues in their body. I'm not sure if I ever met a person that never had mental struggles or emotional struggles or physical issues in their body. I'm not sure if I ever met a person that at some point they may not have struggled with pride or self-loathing or have not been dealing with the process of aging or even death, which no one can escape. When I consider the people in this room, when I consider those of you who are watching me live right now

all around the country, when I consider the things that I see on the news, you pick your station depending on your political affiliation, CNN, Fox News, whatever. When I look at everything happening in humanity, I just saw on my phone this morning 10 people were shot and killed in another mass shooting in our country somewhere.

When I think about all of the sufferings of mankind, all of the issues of mankind, all of our relational tension and mental issues and all this stuff, man, it is very easy for anyone to go anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world and recognize that there is a problem with humanity. We are people filled with broken relationships, broken marriages. We are people, no matter how well you dress it up on the outside, we wrestle them with all kind of issues on the

inside. From Jeff Bezos to the single mother trying to feed her kids, I've never met a person that has no type of struggles at all, no mental struggles, no emotional struggles, no issues at all. One thing that is the ultimate equalizer for all of us is that everyone in this room can testify to having feelings that are low, mental problems, heaviness. There's not a person in this room that's never had problems, that's never had issues. There's never a person in this room that's never had problems, that's never had issues. There's never a person in this room who's never felt sad. We've all dealt with betrayal. We've dealt with loss. We've dealt with family members who have died. If we look around, we can all testify

that we are dealing with human brokenness. Human brokenness is noticeable. The issues in our society are noticeable. The issues in our society globally are noticeable, okay? We have problems, and we have issues in this life. Even issues in creation, violent weather, a tornado tore up downtown McDonough not that many days ago. And so even in our weather patterns and all of the violence we see even in nature, anyone can stop and stare at nature and make us a fear objection on humanity that as human beings we have problems. There is no one alive who's ever been void of the common issues and the struggles of men. The world we live in is not perfect. The world we live in is broken.

My friend, I want to tell you something that's going to make a lot of you feel uncomfortable for a little while, but it's going to make sense in a few minutes. This world that we live in, when everyone in this room, if I ask you to raise raise your hand can testify of hurt you've been through or bad relational issues all of that this is not the world that god gave us okay i'm a lot of you about to get uncomfortable but i just got to keep it 100 with you while i'm up here one of one of the questions people ask from generation to generation is if a loving god exists how could he allow so much human suffering how could he allow people to age and get sick and we pray for loved ones who died how could he allow my father who was battling with cancer where I was crying out to God for him die three months after I started this church how how could a loving God allow so much human suffering my friend

the world you and I was born into is not the world that God originally created. The world God originally created was utopia. Listen to me. It was perfect in every way. There was no such thing as hardship. There was no such thing as grind or hustle. Everything man needed, God provided. The first two people he created, man, they didn't even have clothes. They were completely naked and didn't even realize because there was no such thing as shame. The human heart had never even felt shame or embarrassment or loss or grief or guilt or regret. So the world that God created was perfect. And the first human beings he created was perfect.

And everything he gave them was perfect. It was a world that you and I know not of. But it was a world that existed, a world that Jesus is going to restore when he returns. But something happened to that world and something happened in that first relationship a fallen angel named satan lucifer and the devil who was once in the presence of god responsible for leading worship ezekiel tells us that his body was made of musical instruments and pipes, and he got a glimpse of himself, Isaiah chapter 14, and realized he was beautiful and got prideful and started saying, I will, I will, I will, I will, in essence, overthrow God's kingdom. He goes to war

against God. You lose that battle. He's kicked out of heaven. Because he was a gossiper, he took one-third of the angels with him. Because he had been in their ear for some amount of time. The scripture tells us he's cast down to the earth. Jesus said, I saw him fall like lightning to the earth. He takes a third of the angels from heaven. These are the demons we deal with right now. Demons that lie to you when you go see Miss Cleo.

Demons that lie to you when you get your palm read. Demons that tell you about your past because they've been watching you with accuracy. When you sit in front of the tarot cards and give you some foolishness about your future because nobody knows the perfect future except God. Yeah. But the enemy knows the scriptures is why he was quoting it to Jesus in Matthew 4. And so the enemy crept into a relationship that was perfect, a world that was perfect, an environment that's perfect.

He deceives a woman. She rebels against God. The man rebels against God. What happens next is called the fall of humanity. Because of their rebellion, look at me, sin, missing the mark of God, enters into the world. And what follows sin is everything we're suffering with right now. So if you've ever cried, it's because of sin. If you've ever been sick and had to see a doctor, it's because of sin. If you've ever lost a loved one, it's because of sin if you've ever been sick and had to see a doctor

it's because of sin if you've ever lost a loved one it's because of sin if you've ever had a bad relationship it's because of sin you ever dealt with divorce it's because of sin if you've ever had mental heaviness it's because of sin if you've ever been grieved it's because of sin all of the suffering of humanity in the earth is not because a loving God did not care. All of the suffering in humanity in the earth is because sin entered into the world. And so the world we live in is a fractured environment that we created because of rebellion. But that's not the worst thing that sin brought. The worst thing that sin brought was immediately separation from God.

And so God takes these two human beings, tosses them out of his presence, and says, now for the man, you're going to work hard to earn your money. Try to be lazy and see how your bread stack. And then his punishment to the woman all the mothers know in pain you're going to bring forth children so every time you got to get that epidural it was a reminder that this is not what god originally intended So not only does suffering follow sin, watch, I'm going somewhere, but separation from God follows sin, and because of that, watch, death follows sin. That because of that now, human beings age, get old, get gray, and die because of sin. God never intended for human beings to grow old and die.

That's why when we lose loved ones by death, it is extremely painful because God did not wire us to lose people we love through death. But not only physical death follows sin. Here's the worst part. Spiritual death followed sin here's the worst part spiritual death follows sin after our pristine parents every human being born after them to this day was born in sin david said i was born in sin shaped in iniquity born separated from god the evidence of that is that you don't got to teach a child to lie or be rebellious or cuss out a parent because they were born with a sinful nature all of us was born with a sinful nature

it's our natural bent and the worst part of that is that if we die in sin according to the scriptures we will be eternally separated from God Jesus Jesus wanted to prove this, so he told a story about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. Both died. One went to heaven, the other one went to hell. Jesus said, from hell, the other rich man cried out and said, God, deliver me from this place. And Jesus said to him, no, you cannot be delivered from that place. He begs for water. He said, no, you cannot give for water. He said, then at least go and tell my relatives that this place is real. He said, I will not tell them that this place is real.

They have the prophets. And if they don't hear the voice of the prophets, they're going to die and end up in the same place you are. So the worst thing that happened because of sin, I'm going somewhere, was that if human beings die without the covering of God, they are eternally separated from God forever. For example, Judas who betrayed Jesus died

and went to that place in the first century. What year is this? 2023. So he's been there for over 2,023 years. When is he going to get out? And he'll be there for another 2,000 years.

And another 2,000. And another 10,000. 20,000. thousand years and another two thousand and another ten thousand, twenty thousand. The scripture says forever. but God and his love he was looking down upon humanity and said, I got to do something about this. Because they're in a situation that's inescapable for them. This reminds me of when I was very little, my mother sent me to a camp.

And in the camp, on the first day, they were teaching us how to swim. I will never forget this day. They lined up all the kids along the edge of the pool. And because I was the shortest, I was in the front on the first day, they were teaching us how to swim. I will never forget this day. They lined up all the kids along the edge of the pool, and because I was the shortest, I was in the front of the line. The instructor was walking down the line, and I could hear his voice saying, everybody face forward. Today you're going to get your first lesson on how to swim.

And then he's walking, and he gets to the back of me. I can feel him on the back of my neck. He said, everybody watch. You're going to get your first lesson in how to swim and he shoves me into the deep end of the pool now because I can't swim I go straight down to the bottom I'm trying my best to get out from the bottom of that pool I feel the water starting to run up in my nose I feel my head starting to swell I knew I could not escape from the bottom of that pool. I feel the water starting to run up in my nose. I feel my head starting to swell. I knew I could not escape from the bottom of that pool. I kept feeling this pole poking me in my head. And in the beginning, I didn't have enough common sense

to grab the pole. So as long as the pole kept poking me, I'm just sitting there like, what's going on? And all the while, I'm drowning in the bottom of that pool. Without enough common sense to grab the pole. Someone up there was trying to rescue me. Someone on the surface was trying to rescue me. But I did not have enough common sense in the bottom of the pool to grab the pole.

This is the situation with humanity. Humanity is born at the bottom of the pool. God is looking down at humanity saying they cannot escape the fate of sin on their own. Because God is holy, blood must be shed to pay for the price of sin. So God, in his love for humanity, puts together a plan to rescue humanity from the bottom of the pool. He institutes the plan by creating a nation called the nation of Israel through which he says, I will bring a Messiah, a Savior to rescue them from the bottom of the pool. He gives them one ordinance in specific. I want y'all to listen. Every time y'all make a mistake, find an animal, kill the animal, take the blood, shed the blood, and every

time I see that blood, it will temporarily atone for your sin. Watch. They was doing this for thousands of years. Watch. Shedding the blood of animals to cover their sin. What was God doing? He's so smart. He was seeding into the world the necessity for blood to cover sin. He was trying to show the world this picture that you need blood to cover sin. He was trying to show nations through Israel that you need blood to cover sin, that the only thing that can atone, fix, eradicate your sin nature is blood. Now watch. They were doing that for thousands of years, but none of these animals was perfect. So none of them was able to permanently take care of the sin issue. And when God could find no perfect sacrifice to deal with

the sin issue, men at the bottom of the pool, they all are headed to hell. Every person born is on route to damnation, according to the scriptures, apart from their sin being atoned. And when God saw mankind at the bottom of the pool, he said to himself, there's no perfect animals down there. There's no perfect people down there, because we need blood from a perfect sacrifice uncontaminated to cover the entire sin issue of the whole world so god is searching the earth he says i can't find no one i got an idea i'll come myself since he's the only one that is perfect he he says, I'm going to come myself.

But God now has a challenge in coming to shed blood. He has a challenge. He has an obstacle he's got to face. God is a spirit being, so he has no veins. He has no physical body. And with no veins and no physical body he can't shed no blood you can't kill a spirit so god wants to come and atone for the sins of man but he has an obstacle he got to overcome he has no veins he has no blood he has no physical body. So now God now has to overcome this obstacle of dying for humanity

while he's a spirit being with no body. So how does God solve the problem of the lack of a physical body to atone for the sins of men? Matthew tells us in Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed, which is a form of engagement much serious than what we do to Joseph, before they came together or before they had sex, She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

So how did God deal with the lack of a body issue? He sent his son from heaven. He hijacks the womb of a virgin and sends his son into the world because he needed a body to atone for sin. This is insane to me that God impregnates a virgin, a woman who's never been laid. She's never had sex. He hijacks the womb of a woman and impregnates her. No one in the history of the world had ever heard of a virgin getting

married. I've never heard of a virgin, I mean, getting pregnant. I don't know no virgins that's pregnant. If I see a big belly and you convince me that you ain't never been laid in the first century a.d that's an impossibility today we could do that with science but Luke a doctor and historian tells us how this startled Mary when God rolled up on her in Luke chapter 1 verse 26 let me just insert this text in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city called Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of who the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, Greetings, you favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at this saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive, and in your womb you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord will give him the throne of his father David.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be glory. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be? I am a virgin. She was about 14 at the time. And the angel said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child that will be born to you is called holy, separated, consecrated. He will be called the son of God.

Now, family, let's not get super deep, okay? Let's be for real with each other for just a moment. All that sounds wonderful to Mary, but Mary was a real human being who lived around the first century A.D. Mary, who was engaged to to Joseph had her own plans. She's engaged to a man. They're planning on how they're going to do their own family. And God intervenes in her plans.

The scripture says the news of this troubled Mary. She was disturbed in her soul. She was not excited to hear the Holy Spirit is going to impregnate me, and what am I going to tell my husband? She's thinking in her mind, come on, come on, come on, come on. I'm engaged to be with this man. The angel's telling me I'm about to get impregnated by a spirit I don't know, and then I got to go explain this to my husband. So she's thinking in her mind, probably I could lose everything.

My husband, who is my provider, I could lose everything. But God inserted himself in her life without her permission. Because sometimes God will intervene in your life without her permission because sometimes God will intervene in your life without your permission that he don't need your permission to intervene for some of you I feel like God's gonna do the same thing in life he's gonna insert himself in areas of your life with no permission you're gonna be thinking about something you need and god is gonna just show up in your life without you even praying about it that's why sometimes your best response to god just needs to be yes so God he showed up in her life watch unexpectedly and sometimes God will show up in your life

unexpectedly God can show up in your life through an unexpected relationship that he sent into your life an unexpected opportunity that he sends into your life an unexpected calling that he puts into your heart an unexpected charge that he sends into your life, or unexpected calling that he puts into your heart, or unexpected charge that he gave you. Like God gave me a charge when I was in Jerusalem in December 2018. Sometimes when you least expect that God will intervene in your life through two legs, or open door, or some kind of calling he places on your heart and our best response to that is yes so the holy spirit says to mary you're about to become impregnated with the son of god now let me explain something to you that i don't fully understand

i just accept it by faith because the scripture teaches it. We serve a God who is one being, one God, who co-equally exists in three persons. I don't understand that. Don't ask me to help you understand it. And God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. This is probably not a good example, but it's like H2O. H2O is a substance we know that exists in three forms. It could be a solid like ice cubes. It can be water like liquid. Or it could be that steam in the bathroom. The steam is water. The liquid is water.

The ice cubes is water. When I think about Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I feel like God the Father is like water. From him all things flow. When I think about the Holy Spirit to me, he's like steam. He's like that vapor that moves all throughout the earth. But when I think about the ice cube, the one you can touch. That Jesus was the only one of the three who human beings have touched and held his hand. Who had a physical body.

He was the ice cube in the Trinity, what the scripture calls the Godhead. So Jesus always existed. You need to understand this. He is not a created being. He is greater than Muhammad. He is not a created being. He is greater than Muhammad. He is greater than Joseph Smith. He is greater than

your favorite prophet. He has always existed. But he did not have a body. But you cannot die for the sins of people without a body. So he had to borrow the womb of a woman to take on a physical body. He was sent to get a body so he could die. He was sent to bring in a kingdom that will last forever.

He was sent to pay the price for your sin and mine. And the only way to pull humanity from the bottom of the pool was that someone perfect has to die. The birth of Jesus, listen to me, because I'm sick of your little Christmas stories. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of your little nativity wood thing on your, I'm sick of your little Christmas stories. We tell the story of Jesus from the manger. It don't start there. It starts from eternity. It starts from the fall of man. It starts from the fact that we all was born in sin and headed to hell. Watch. So when we talk about the birth of Jesus, we're talking about a

sign from God that I'm coming for your rescue. I should say that one more time. Every time we talk about the birth of Jesus next Christmas, it is a reminder to human beings as a sign to you that God says, I'm coming for your rescue.

That for all those who put their faith in the death of Christ upon the cross, they are covered in his blood spiritually, that when they die, they arrive in glory and not in separation. You said about all the people that died before Jesus was crucified. Well, the scripture says he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So people who live before him, if they just put their faith in God, God retroactively applied the blood of Jesus to the past to cover them because God does not live in time. He lives in eternity. So the cross has always been before him in the past, present, and future.

That's why the scripture says Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. So the people in the Old Testament got saved the same way we got saved, by their faith in God retroactively applying the blood of Christ. This is too much I feel like the plane took off and they're not on it, Rhonda You sure? Y'all here? Y'all locked in?

If you're locked in, holler at me Can I proceed? Can I proceed? This is, in history, the most spectacular and most important birth in history. The immaculate birth of Jesus that's called for us who are of the Christian faith, the incarnation of Christ. That's the theological term for what happened. The incarnation of Christ. Not just he was born, it's the incarnation of Christ.

The enfleshment of Christ. How a spiritual being that always existed borrowed the womb of a woman to take on a physical body. It's called the incarnation of Christ. That's why John, I love him, one of the early followers of Jesus wrote in his gospel in the beginning, in the beginning was the word, always existed. And the word was with God. And the word was God, verse 14. and the word became flesh or a man and he walked among us God in a body walking around in the first century AD that everyone in the first century who touched

Jesus saw Jesus ate with Jesus went to the bathroom Jesus, they were hanging out with God in her body. I got some dope friends, but I ain't got no friends that's God in her body. Amen. And I want you to notice how Jesus was not contaminated by sin. Because no father was involved in his conception. No semen came from a man. The Holy Spirit put him in the womb of a woman.

The only thing they did was borrow her womb. No semen from a man, no contamination from sin. So because of this this he was fully god and fully man the hypostatic union a divine human being born of the spirit birth through a woman so when he lived he was a divine human being it's why he did miracles that people could not understand and it's why he was tired when he went long journeys. He got tired because he was human. He raised the dead because he was divine. He got tired after fasting. He opened up blind eyes because he was divine. He cried

because he was human. He opened up deaf ears because he was divine. He ate food because he was human. He opened up deaf ears because he was divine. He ate food because he was human and was resurrected because he's divine. Can I go a little bit deeper? I'm almost done. Can I go a little bit deeper? This is why the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus gets you. Let me testify. I know what it is to make a mistake, commit sins, have regrets, have failures. Watch. And feel so guilty, I feel like God don't want nothing to do with me.

But Jesus was a human being. So he understands everything I went through. This is what the rite of Hebrews teaches. He knows what it is to be tempted. He knows what it is to be grieved, to sad to be betrayed all of that that's why the scripture tells us we should pray boldly because we have a high priest who understands everything that we feel that because he was a human being he understands everything that you feel that's why it's a trick of the enemy when you fall short to make you run away from God instead of towards God.

So I want to tell someone right now that's hiding, Jesus gets you. He understands. He's the one person you can be fully vulnerable with and don't have to fake a front. Like you can say to Jesus, I ain't going to hold you. I'm mad. I ain't going to hold you. I'm lustful. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I'm masturbating. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, I'm mad. I ain't going to hold you, I'm lustful. Lord, I ain't going to hold you,

I'm masturbating. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, I'm struggling with pornography. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, I'm mad at my wife. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, I feel like quitting. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, I don't want to go to church. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, I need some more money. Lord, I ain't going to hold you, they pissing the hell off. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I ain't going to hold you, Lord. I'm mad as hell at this person. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I'm mad and I don't want to forgive. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I feel like quitting.

Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I feel like giving up. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I don't feel like praying. I don't feel like reading my Bible. I ain't getting up tomorrow morning. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I'm about to eat on this fast

Lord I'm about to break this fast before Sunday because I'm tired and I'm having headaches Lord I ain't gonna hold you I feel like the grace has lifted from me Somebody say, Lord, I ain't going to hold you. And then just keep it real. How unfortunate are we when we creep into his presence,

acting like he don't already know what you're dealing with. That's why we'll see later on in Matthew, he says, when you come before the Father, don't come with all these fancy words. Man, I already know what you need. Watch, just get to the point. Lord, I ain't gonna hold you where my husband at like I've been faithful for a long time like Lord I ain't gonna hold you I'm getting tired now I ain't gonna hold you, Lord. Like, where he at?

All my single ladies, we got some brothers in the church now. It's men up in here. Lord, I ain't going to hold you. I'm going to have to do this for myself. I'm going to holler at this dude in the lobby. We're going to get in a squad on the same team. I'm getting on team just to get near him.

He already know somebody here said oh Jesus was single the scripture says he's married to the church so all the married people he know your issues too he know what it is not to be treated right by a spouse he know what it is for a be treated right by a spouse. He know what it is for a spouse to not communicate with him. They ain't prayed in four weeks. He know what it is to not hear from his spouse.

Man, they love other things more than me. He know what it is to be betrayed by a spouse. He know what it is to have difficult spouses. They ain't going to say amen right here. Because nobody want to say I'm a difficult person for the Lord to love. He know what it is to love somebody that's difficult. He was a human. He was a human. You eating up these scriptures, sir. All right.

I'm almost done. But listen to me. That's why I teach all our communicators. When y'all preaching the Bible, I taught them for years. Don't call people characters in the Bible. You don't call George Washington a character. These are real human beings. The scriptures, this is a historical document about real human beings. Don't call them characters.

Ain't no fables here. So can I talk to you for real? Mary is knocked up and is not Joseph. Watch. She got to go and explain this to Joseph. Whether he finds out from a big belly, at some point in time, she had to sit down with him and have a conversation like, yo. I know you're not going to believe this. An angel came to me and said that I'm going to believe this.

An angel came to me and said that I'm going to be pregnant with the son of God. What? If I'm Joseph, I'm like, run that by me one more time. An angel told you you're going to be pregnant? Like, it's giving Maury Povich. It's giving Jerry Springer. You knocked up and I ain't touch you? How is a real brother going to feel about that?

Somebody that slipped into his queen and it ain't me? And you wasn't even strapped? You're pregnant? Come on, don't play around. I'm a real dude. I'm going to feel some type of way. Where the brothers at? Come on.

Your queen can't come to you and say, I'm knocked up, and it's the Holy Spirit. What? Are you kidding me? You were sipping too much of that Patron last night. Nah, Mary, you were sipping too much of that wineskin. You knocked up by who? This happened when? Our angel told you what?

And I ain't touch you? So let me ask y'all a question. How do you think Joseph responded? Oh Mary, thank God for Gabriel. This is wonderful news. You're pregnant and it wasn't me. Let's cook some bread and get some wine. This is wonderful. Real men don't respond that way.

Let me show how real men respond. Verse 19. Verse 19, this is how real men respond to a knocked up fiancé. Verse 19, and her husband Joseph being a just man. y'all I just peeped my clock but y'all took up like 20 extra minutes with y'all singing so I want that back before I gotta can i get that back because i was way i was back there waiting on y'all we was in the glory i was enjoying myself i need that 20 minutes back

can i all right so this is how a real brother responds. And her husband Joseph, being a just man, unwilling to put her to shame. Watch this, resolved. That is, he heard what she had to say and he made a decision. To divorce her. Quietly. Now, when you read the scriptures, you got to fill in the details. They had a conversation. He did not believe her.

See, I'm teaching you how to study the scriptures. They had a conversation, and he obviously did not believe her. If he believed her, he would not be preparing to file for divorce. He believes you were out there being a vixen. You're walling out. I don't believe you got impregnated by the Holy Spirit. We got to end this right now. Now a history lesson. In that culture, marriages was done in three stages. Two families came together and said, your son is going to marry my daughter. That's how marriages was done in the first century. Then they had a stage called betrothal, which was 12 months, but they were considered husband and wife, but they did

not have sexual relations. And then they consummate the marriage with a big feast. But during that betrothal period, you're considered husband and wife. Now I want you to pay attention to what's going on right now in the text. Joseph did not believe her. So that means for a short season he's happy. He got his young wife who she's dope. They're making plans for their future. Making plans what house they're going to buy, what wagon they're going to purchase for their car, all that stuff. And his girl come home pregnant. He doesn't believe her. Joseph is hurt. He's emotional. He feels betrayed. She was unfaithful. His world has been completely rocked and it's upside down.

He's a real human being. Stop the nonsense. In his mind, I have one or only two options. I only have one or two options. In those days, you're allowed to divorce quietly, bring the families together, sign the paper, it's over. Or the way it was commonly done, watch, was you divorce publicly, which was more common. And in that culture, if a woman was found to be with child, not from a husband, they will bring her to the city gate and they will stone her to death. So an unfaithful woman would be killed in front of everybody. But the scripture said Joseph was a just man.

He was righteous. So he decided to spare her life by trying to divorce her in private. His brokenness sought a divorce. His character sought compassion. His broken heart sought a divorce but his character sought compassion. This is powerful to me because it teaches me that in life you

will get hurt by people but how you respond to hurt is a sign of your character. You could get hurt and act a fool or you could get hurt and act with grace. And for those of us who are followers of God, the latter is how we respond to hurt. Don't hurl insults on social media, and you're trying to get vengeance. The Lord said you're going to do that. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.

Let me remind somebody, God punches much harder than you. Lord, they hurt me. You get them. He hit much harder than you. So God saw Joseph hurting. Five more verses, I'm done. And watch how God intervenes to help Joseph. Verse 20.

But as he considered these things, what things was he considering? My wife is pregnant by someone else. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Joseph, son of David. This is so powerful. Do not be afraid. This is so powerful. To make Mary as your wife. This is so powerful. Do not be afraid. This is so powerful. To make Mary as your wife.

This is so powerful. For that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. This is so powerful. I want you to stare at the text. Just stare at it. It says, as he considered these things, he had a dream. Watch. As he considered these things, he had a dream.

Joseph was so heavy in his mind, he went to sleep. Sometimes you go through pain so deep in life that your only relief is to just go to bed. Joseph is hurt so deep, he's thinking about these things to the point he says, I have a headache, I just need to sleep. And when he falls asleep, an angel appears to him. Not just a dream, but a spiritual being is talking to him in his sleep and says to him, watch, do not be afraid. It is the number one commandment in the scripture. Over 360 times the scripture says, do not be afraid or fear not. Almost one for every day of the year.

He says, yo, you don't have to be afraid, signaling to the reader that Joseph was emotionally shook up. So watch, God intervened in his time of distress. Because God intervenes in our time of distress. Some of you could look over your shoulder thinking about times when you were so distressed, you felt so hurt, so broke down, and a loving God came and met you on a bathroom floor while you was crying and broken in a fetal position. It was God who came into that room and wrapped his arms around you. Do I got any witnesses? Witnesses.

Because he is Christ the comforter. So he comes in to comfort Joseph. I'm almost done. And look what he does. This is so profound. He says, Joseph, you son of David. So he's reminding him of his identity and his lineage connected to the coming Messiah. Watch.

Joseph, I want to remind you that you are a man of purpose. You are a woman of purpose. Don't mess this up. Oh, y'all, right over your head. Joseph, I'm trying to remind you, son, daughter, you are a person of purpose. Don't mess this up.

God. God. God. God intervened in his circumstance to lead Joseph down, to protect you from making a catastrophic mistake. That sometimes, God, I thank you, Holy Spirit. God will slam a door on your face to redirect you to something else. Sometimes he will snatch a toxic relationship out of your life to protect you from something you cannot see. Sometimes somebody will walk away. You don't even know God is trying to protect you. God will work in many ways to protect you from things you can't even see.

God will intervene in your life in ways you don't even know to cause you to walk down a path of purpose. I remember when God was speaking to me about starting this church, I had a full-time job at Federal Express, and I liked my job at Federal Express. I had friends there. I was feeding my family. Wasn't making a lot of money, but I was taking care of the bills. I remember God told me to start this church, and he says, I want you to go full-time. I want you to quit your job and start that church. I said, nah, that's a lying spirit. I ain't quitting no job. I got bills to pay, and I remember arguing with God for weeks. He's telling me, quit your job, start the church, and the only thing I'm thinking is, how am I going to provide for my family? I remember the company I worked for, FedEx, they called us all in one day for a meeting, and the next 60 days, we shutting down the whole plant.

Watch. Everybody's getting reassigned to someplace else. Around the city and around the country. 299 people got a reassignment except one person. So I went to the VP office and I remember making an appointment and sitting down in the office waiting to talk to the VP.

Why am I the only one that didn't get a reassignment? I'm sitting there waiting to talk to him and I hear the Holy Spirit tell me, you're being disobedient. The VP comes out and says, Phillip Mitchell, yes, okay, you can come in now. I stood up and I said, no, thank you, sir. I'm going to be all right. God was trying to force me to start this church by shutting down an entire plant.

And this is why you can't blame everything on the devil. Some of you, if you look over your shoulder, God has disrupted and dismantled things in your life because he was trying to redirect you to something you would otherwise not have chosen on your own sometimes we don't have enough wisdom or the courage to take the step he wants us to take so i'm gonna say something so deep for some of you your purpose is so consequential god would disrupt your life to push you into your purpose. Like, you don't even understand what I've called you to do is so important in your generation.

I won't even let you mess it up. So he used an angel to talk to Mary, an angel to talk to Joseph. Angels are given by God. They help him. They assist him. They send messages. They protect. They fight. They carry out punishment, all of that.

I remember I got visited by an angel when I was in college. I remember going to the student union in the bathroom. I'm in there. I had to take a number two. So I went to a small bathroom in the basement where nobody would be. And I remember I came out the store and there was a man standing in front of the mirror. Now, back in those days, I didn't wash my hands back in those days too much. So I said, I saw him and said, let me go wash my hands because I didn't want to be embarrassed. I'm a changed man. I'm not going to hold you.

And I remember washing my hands in the, in, in, at the, in the, at the, I'm washing my hands. And I see him standing right next to me. And I noticed he had no reflection in the mirror. It's a true story. I'm washing my hands in the basement at college. I went to North Carolina Central University. And I'm washing my hands. And I don't want to look at him because he had on a police uniform.

And I had bad experiences with officers of the law, so I don't want to make eye contact with him, but as I'm standing there, I notice I don't see nothing in the mirror right here. I'm not thinking nothing of it, and then he turns to me, and he says, God is calling you. He walks out the bathroom. It's the first time I had heard that. I run out the bathroom to find him, and I said, anybody seen that cop? He's like, what cop? He was wearing this colors. He said, the campus police don't wear those colors. What about the city police?

They don't wear those colors either. about the city police? They don't wear those colors either. So nobody wear these colors? No. It will be some 10 years later I realize God sent an angel to talk to me in the bathroom. Seeding into me that God was calling me to do something that I did not know yet. That's why the scripture says you better be careful how you treat strangers because you never know when you're entertaining an angel unaware. Sometimes angels will come in a human form to drop a message on you and then disappear. Let me just finish.

Let me finish, God. Y'all ready to go home. Let me finish. So listen. No, no, no. I'm about to shut it down. Listen to the instructions the angelic being gave Joseph. Verse 21, he said to Joseph, your wife will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Notice the angel told Joseph, another one spoke to Mary, but you are going to give him his name. Why is that so important? Because although lineage in that time was traced through men, and although Mary was from the line of David, Joseph had to name Jesus. By naming Jesus in that culture, it is a sign of legal adoption. Which inserts Jesus into the line of David. So Jesus was adopted by an earthly father. Now he himself turned around and adopts all these children that he calls to his name. An adopted child adopts other people for himself.

I was adopted by Jesus in November 2003 in a bathroom over a toilet seat while I was suicidal. The Lord met me in that bathroom and adopted me as a son into the kingdom. So he knows what it is to be adopted and to live with a stepfather. God was so dope to at least put him in the house of a good man. The angel said you're going to name him Jesus. In Hebrew it's Yeshua, which means the Lord of salvation. The angel told him the mission of the child. The child you're going to have, he's going to be coming to save and to rescue. He gave him the purpose of the child. The child you're going to have, he's going to be coming to save and to rescue. He gave him the purpose of the child. And the purpose of Jesus' coming was not to eradicate

suffering. It remains. It was not to eradicate hardships. They remain. It was not to eradicate all of our humanistic desires. They remain. His coming was to save and to rescue. That's why my deepest affection for Jesus is not to thank him for the stuff that I have. My deepest affection for Jesus is to thank him for the salvation he gave me. So Joseph was going to divorce his wife. My only two options. God had a third option.

Keep her, marry her, name the child. Now let's finish. Why did God engineer the birth of Jesus this way? Verse 22. All this took place, Matthew said, to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. This is Isaiah. And he's quoting a prophet from 700 years before the birth of Jesus. 700 years. Because the Bible is the only book with prophecy that's come to pass.

Not the Pearl of Great Price, not the Quran, the Bible. 700 years before Jesus was born, a prophet named Isaiah wrote, and then Matthew quotes that prophet, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. So Matthew takes an Old Testament passage, he puts it in his book to convince Jews that this person that y'all crucified, he was the Messiah, He was the promised son of God. His birth was a sign to you that God was bringing the kingdom into the world. God doesn't make oopsies. He'd been planning the birth of Jesus for hundreds of years. He is strategic with Jesus' calling. He's strategic with your calling. And for some of you, your purpose is so important, God refuses to allow the words he has spoken over you to fall to the floor.

Now, I feel the spirit right now. Some of you don't even know from the time you was in your mother's womb, God spoke words over you. And he's been directing the course of your life from different states to different cities to different hardships and trials. Because the purpose that God has given you is so significant, he does not want his words he's spoken over you to fall to the floor he called Jesus Emmanuel God with us now let's finish these last two verses and we're done now watch how Joseph's next move was watch how critical his actions was we're done. Last two verses. When Joseph woke up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife and he knew her

not. That means he did not have sex with her until she had given birth to her son, which was Jesus. And when the son was born, he calls his name Jesus. I want you to notice his obedience in the midst of his deep emotional pain and confusion. Joseph is hurt, but he did as the angel commanded him. This is why sometimes obedience got to be greater than your emotions. The angel commanded him, don't know her. Stay away from her. So he was committed to the plan.

Why? Because he did not have sex with Mary until the angel was born. Why would he do that? To make sure that when that baby was born, nobody could say Joseph ran up in that. So Joseph was committed to the plan. I'm done, Frank. So he did not touch her for nine months so that when Jesus was born, no man could get the glory for his birth. Now, I just want to, I'm going to close with this. I just want to ask you a question. What if Joseph did not obey those instructions?

Everybody look right at me. What if Joseph does not obey? Look right at me. Watch. If Joseph doesn't obey, if he doesn't name the child Jesus, the Lord is disconnected from the line of David. All the prophecies fall to the floor. What if he would have divorced Mary and they stoned her at the gate? She would have been killed with Christ on the inside of her womb, dead before the cross. No Savior. No salvation for us. One act of obedience.

But you have no idea how important your obedience to God is or what he's trying to do in your life on the backside of one instruction. So I want to close by just saying four things to you that I pull from this whole text that I just want you to think about. The first thing is this. Divine disruptions in your life are often necessary to redirect you down paths of greater purpose. So be sensitive that when God is disrupting something in your life, he might be trying to redirect you down a path of greater purpose. Instead of standing at a closed door and crying over it for five years, maybe you should turn to the left or turn to the right and see what other option God is trying to give you. A second thing I learned when I studied this text is that, you know, you got to trust the leading of God

even when you don't understand why he's giving you a direction. You got to trust him even when you can't trace him. God, I feel you telling me to do this, but I don't fully understand why. He doesn't owe you an explanation. You just need to trust him. Because sometimes on the other side of your obedience, man, are blessings that you have no knowledge that God is going to bring into your life.

And God would oftentimes test you by not giving you all the answers. He just wants to see, do you have the courage to just obey? The other thing I learned from this text, and this is a reiteration because it's important. As a follower of God, your character got to be greater than your emotions. Because your emotions can cause you to make a catastrophic mistake that you will regret for three lifetimes. So yes, we get emotional, but emotions are indicators. They're not guides. It's like on the new cars, you got that little yellow light

on your rear view mirror. It's an indicator. It tells you that there's a car in the lane next to you. That's what emotions are. They're like indicators. They tell you something is going on inside you, but that indicator can't make you go into the next lane. So it's like, man, I'm angry, but it can't make you decide what you do with that anger. You decide what you do with those emotions. Your emotions are indicators. They're not guides. So your character got to grow to stronger than your emotions. And I want to end with this last point, which I think is the most important, that I saw in Mary and Joseph.

You listening to me? Look right at me. Look right at me. Everyone feels fear. I've never met a fearless human being. But you cannot allow fear to handcuff your faith faith must be greater than fear you gotta feel fear and overcome that with faith you gotta feel God calling you to step out and take that leap and fear meet you at the door

and you kick past that door with faith. Joseph dealt with fear. Mary dealt with fear, but it was faith that pushed past that fear. And in this life, there's some things that's never going to happen for us if we don't allow our faith to overcome our fear. You got to know how to take the first step, like MLK said, when you can't see the staircase. You got to learn how to pack up and move to the city. Quit the job. Start the business. Write the book. Get out the bad relationship.

Start the ministry. Partner with that person. Just take the step of faith. But Lord, I feel afraid. When you step out, he will catch you. My wife and I moved here with nothing. No job, no friends, no bank account, nothing. So never allow your fear to handcuff your faith.

For the scripture says without faith, it's impossible to please God. Your faith got to kick open doors. It got to silence the mouth of the devil. It got to push you out of comfort zones because you don't grow there. You must live by faith. That means there will be seasons when life gets uncomfortable. And moments when things get uncomfortable. And times when you cannot see what's on the other side of this decision. But I know God is telling me to take this step anyhow.

So I want to pray for everyone's faith in the room. Father, in the name of Yahshua, the Holy One, I pray for all of these, my brothers and sisters. I pray, God, that there will be a mighty increase in faith in the hearts of your brothers, my brothers and sisters. I pray, God, that there will be a mighty increase in faith in the hearts of your brothers, my brothers and sisters. Faith to believe. Faith to start. Faith to conquer. Faith to kick open doors. Faith to silence the devil. I pray in this house, there will be an explosion of faith over your sons and daughters in the name of Jesus. Faith to believe your word. To believe your character. To believe what you have spoken.

I pray faith for my daughter Israel for the songs that she's going to write that's going to change the world. I pray faith for my son Malachi for the ministry he'll give birth to that'll change the world. I pray faith for Josiah and Abby and everyone who I love, that they'll do things in this life, they'll look back over their shoulder and be shocked at all they accomplished because of you. I pray a release of faith to believe and to do in Christ's name. Now with every head bowed and every eye closed, the greatest step of faith any person would ever take is the step of faith to come out from sin and to say I want my sins forgiven. I want to be written in the Lamb's book of life. I want to know that when I leave here today, that God is my father and that if I die in a car accident on the way home, I will not

wake up in damnation. I'll wake up in glory. It ain't spooky. It's the truth. You said, preacher, I don't believe you. Just die and find out, but it'll be too late. Now here is the gospel. My friend, you were born in sin and so was I. You've committed sin and so have I. The scripture says if anyone dies in sin, they're going to be separated from God for all eternity. But God in his love, not wanting anyone to perish, sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the earth to pay the price for your sin. And the scripture says if anyone would simply turn and put their trust in Jesus, they will be saved, filled with the Spirit, and forgiven of sin. My brother, you're not here by accident.

God is calling you to a life of purpose and forgiveness. My sister, you're not here by accident. God is calling you to a life of purpose and forgiveness. I want to pray for you before you leave. If that's you, I'm going to count to three. No one can't see you. It's private between you and God. If that's you, I'm going to count to three. When I count, just throw your hand up so I can see it, and I'm going to pray for you. Nobody can't see you. I'm not going to embarrass you. I'm not going to bring you to the front. One, God is calling you. Two, he engineered this moment to forgive you of your sins. Three, throw your hand in the air and leave it, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 35, 36. I see you, sister. 37, 38, 38.

38. All 38 of you, just ask God right now to forgive you of your sins. Talk to him. In fact, we're going to talk with you so you don't feel ashamed. Everybody say, Lord, forgive me of all my sin, of all my wrongdoing. I'm sorry. In this moment, I surrender my life to you. In your name I pray. Now, Father, I pray over these 38 brothers and sisters that you would fill them with your spirit.

That you would guide them and direct them down the path and purpose you have for them. I pray, God, Lord, if they belong here, they will plug in here and grow. If they belong somewhere else, you will send them to that church. Father, I thank you that they are now your sons and daughters. Their names are recorded in heaven, that a prayer did not save them, but the sincerity of their heart and what you were doing before the foundation of the world, you regenerate not a man. Father, you said when one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices.

So right now we rejoice with our new brothers and sisters.