 You guys ready to have some fun studying God's word tonight My church, I truly believe that studying God's word should be one of the most fun things that we do that the excitement and the anticipation and the Expecting God to speak and so tonight let's have some fun. Let's lean in Let's expect God to speak as he promises to to accomplish that work as we open God's word together And let's pray and ask him to do just that if you want to say amen You want to put your hands together you want to just don't sit there and fall asleep That's all I'm asking tonight or pastor David won't ever have me back and I love being here So don't do that and let's have some fun studying God's word tonight amen Bob we thank you so much for this opportunity that we get to be together as a family of God Studying your word together And so I pray tonight as we open your word your word would open up our hearts Our ears our eyes our lives to receive what you want to do within us Lord Jesus, thank you for saving us from the power of sin the penalty of sin Thank you that in eternity you will save us from the presence of sin and Lord through your son Jesus Christ We may see Jesus clearly on the pages of this living word This evening in Jesus name and all God's people say amen Have you ever gone into something? Expecting it to work out one way and it ends up working out a completely different way Where you go into it, and you say This isn't what I was expecting Expecting That happened to my wife a few Christmases ago. You see my wife Morgan She was asking for a certain jacket in a certain color in a certain size and along with what she was asking came picture examples cute along with that came picture examples of What she wanted for? Christmas just so I wouldn't mess it up But I had this idea at the time yeah, oh a woman says At the time I had this idea that at the time it seemed like a good idea and That was to get her something. She never knew she always wanted a different jacket in a different color and Because she was pregnant at the time I figured I'll get in a larger size just so she could wear it I was being thoughtful people. Don't look at me like you hate me and so Christmas came around and I had wrapped this jacket in a Beautiful box and wrapped it immaculately with a big bow And I saved and hid that package for last because in my family my family's tradition growing up We saved the the best present for last the big present was always the last present We kind of work our way up from stocking stuffers to the the present for last Why I hid this present and it was pulled it out the last minute to give to her and She saw the box and she looked at me like after all these years. You finally figured it out And I was looking at my kids like this is what a husband looks like Because I knew how it was gonna work out I already played through the scenario in my head over and over and over again and it was gonna go something like this She would begin to wrap open the package that I so beautifully wrapped and spent so much time on not even noticing How beautiful it was because knowing how beautiful the present inside would be and then as she would rip open the box She would lift up that jacket and overcome with emotion She would begin to romantically softly whimper and Just collapsing in emotion. She would nuzzle into me and say this is just too much In which I would reply. It's not too much. You are everything to me and more At that moment I would look over at my children and say this is how you do it safe to say It wasn't what she was expecting Safe to say it wasn't how I expected it to go either The only thing I got right was the opening of the package and the crying part Those were the two things that I had gotten right. You see sometimes in life things don't work out like we Expected it to work out and there are times when things happen where we think I didn't expect it to be this way in this Relationship in this marriage in this business venture with my health at this stage in my life This isn't what I expected life to be like It might have happened to you tonight when I walked out on stage. You thought there's a 13 year old teaching us the Bible That's why I grew this to make myself look a little older My high voice doesn't help me either Can I get an urban? You might think oh That's not what I was expecting I want to talk to you today about how When things don't work out like we expected God's still working out a plan exactly how he Expected it to work out you see God doesn't always meet our expectations so that he can Exceed our expectations come on somebody in church tonight God doesn't always meet our expectations because God wants to do above and beyond What we were expecting in our text today It's a familiar story the birth of Christ We look at this story every Christmas and it being almost summer I want to take this text from a different perspective and I want to look at it from the perspective perspective of Joseph to put ourselves in Joseph's shoes or should I say Joseph sandals I Want to put ourselves in Joseph's shoes and look at it from his perspective of the story of Jesus's birth because really Joseph's the Unsung hero of this story you see in the Christmas story even in the nativity scene You know you have Mary you know the the virgin birth and kind of a big deal and and you have Jesus who of course is the center of the story And should be but then there's Joseph somewhere in the shadows You know and even in the manger scene It's not even a big deal like if Jesus goes missing your manger's trash You know there's no reason to have a manger anymore It's just a bar now, but if if Joseph's missing like it's not even a big deal It's like nobody notices that Joseph's not there I mean you can just take one of the shepherds and just put him in there nobody is gonna know it's not Joseph and So Joseph's really in the shadows of this story But I want to look at the story from Joseph's perspective because a man named Joseph is engaged to be married and as Joseph's married or Engaged to be married Things don't work out through his engagement like he was expecting But God is about to do something far greater than Joseph could have ever Expected let's take a look Matthew chapter 1 beginning in verse 18 It says now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph Before they came together physically intimately and in consummating their relationship before they came together She was found with child of the Holy Spirit Now something that you need to know in this culture in that day That the parents of the children would arrange their children's marriage Now that I have a four-year-old daughter I think that is a great thing as Parents would have the opportunity to pick who their daughter would marry. I think that's a great thing I just didn't think it was a great thing when I Wanted to marry my wife my now wife Morgan when her dad thought it was a great thing that dad should arrange marriages But in that culture the parents would get together and you could be engaged Before you were even born If two parents would agree that our children if you have a boy I have a girl when we have kids they will be married we can agree upon it enter into that engagement covenant They're engaged from an even a very very young age. You could be engaged, but one year Before your wedding when you would become of age One year before your wedding you would enter into a betrothal state Which you would begin to live in the father of the husband's house Kind of a lean to that would be built onto that house and that father would train this man and this woman What it would be to be married it was your discipleship process of how to be married together But in that season you would be legally married But you would not come together intimately you wouldn't have those perks It was really training for your marriage Joseph and Mary were in that betrothal stage of their marriage Although legally married in the eyes of the law They were they were then learning what it was like to be married together and now Mary finds out that she's gonna have a baby Joseph when Mary tells Joseph Joseph Joseph our pregnant it would be safe to say It was not what Joseph was expecting Joseph who had honored his fiancee who hadn't been with her Physically sexually who had been pure in the sight of God who did right in the sight of God now His fiancee comes to him and says hey Joe I need to tell you something What what is it Mary? I'm so listen Big news newsflash, um, I'm actually pregnant But it's not what you're thinking It's God Girl you had done lost your mind Imagine if you were engaged and your fiance comes to you and says um sweetheart I'm pregnant, but it's not what you're thinking God placed this baby in my belly You know I'm out I'm done and that's exactly what Joseph thought I'm out of this my fiance that I love The person that I care Most about in the world Is with child What am I? How am I? What do I do and it says in verse 19 Joseph her husband being a just man and Not wanting to make her a public example Was minded to put to put her away secretly It would be safe to say that things weren't working out like Joseph had expected Joseph wasn't expecting Mary to be expecting and so when Mary came to Joseph and told Joseph that She was pregnant. Joseph now had two options He could have charged Mary with adultery option number one To charge Mary with adultery and if he did that what they would do is the community leaders would grab Mary They would drag her from her residence or wherever she was at they would pull her into the town square They would place her in a box that was filled with fresh cow dung That would be up to her knees even as high as her waist place her in that Which would completely defile her in the eyes of the community and then begin to stone her Until she was either dead or knocked unconscious and fell into the dung That's would be the treatment to a woman who would it be in the betrothal stage legally married Joseph would be your husband. He could charge her with adultery Or he could divorce Mary quietly If someone really cared about their spouse And didn't want to make a public spectacle They still could put that person away Divorce but do it quietly not make a big public spectacle in the community about it And so joseph now is contemplating his two options. What do I do? Is it this option option number one? Or is it option number two? Here's my two options But verse 20 while he thought about these things While he was contemplating his two options Behold an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream One time I was an angel in the christmas play That role came very natural to me And the angel says this this was my one line in the play Joseph Son of david Do not be afraid to take To you marry your wife For that which is conceived in her is of the holy spirit And she verse 21 will bring forth a son and you shall call his name jesus For he will save His people from their sins Joseph is thinking about his two options now follow along track along joseph has two options divorce her As a public spectacle Or put her away quietly Have her charged with adultery Or just separate from her permanently But now god comes in with a solution that joseph didn't even see as an option God comes in with something that's a better idea Than what joseph could ever come up with and fathom in his own head You see when things don't work out like you were expecting them to work out We think what are my options? I can do this or I can do this and a lot of times we try to do the different things to work The situation out to make it better and we do this option or this option and we try all of our options And a lot of times we exhaust our options. Have you ever been there? With your options exhausted you've done everything that you possibly can do to solve the problem to fix this The the situation that you're in And we can do all of that But it's when we turn to god God can give us something that's far greater That's better than plan a or plan b. It's plan god And god's plan is always better than whatever our own plans could ever be It's like when morgan got that jacket Her two options are the either I could lie and keep it and say I like it Or I could take it back and I came in like jesus does and says or you could wear it That's the third option And god comes in And that's how god works we look at our options The financial struggles the relationship options. What's the solution and god says if you would only obey me You will see me do something that you didn't even know as an option You see the situation you're in right now might not be what you were expecting Maybe you got a prognosis or a diagnosis from the doctor And it's not what you were expecting You never had expected to have cancer. You never expected to be battling this You never expected to face this in your life. You always thought yeah, it's there But it's probably not going to be me. No one goes through life expecting. This is what's going to happen to me Maybe it's not what you expected Maybe in your your life right now in in your Relationship or your marriage your marriage isn't working out like you had expected it to work out Or maybe you're you're single and you didn't expect to still be single at this point in your life And it wasn't what you were expecting You see joseph Didn't expect his fiance to be expecting Wasn't what he expected But god is about to exceed his expectations You see the situation might not be what you expected it to be but the outcome Is going to be greater than what you expected it to be God doesn't always meet your expectations church Because he wants to be able to exceed your expectations If god's always just meeting your expectations and doing what you expected him to do Then he would never be able to do what he promised to do in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 Where he says now to him Jesus christ who is able to do Exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask Or think and I don't think it would damage the text by saying all that we were expecting Because god wants to do above and beyond abundantly Beyond what we were expecting him to do according to the power that works in We ask god god. Why aren't you doing this? I've been praying for this week after week month after month Year after year and here we are god. Why aren't you doing this for me? pastor you're mocking me. Yeah, I am Why god is like come on Don't you realize if god's not meeting that expectation? It's because what he has in the works for you Is far greater than what you were expecting I'm convinced that many of god almighty creator of the universe king of kings lord of lords His royal children Ask too little and pray too small I'm convinced of it And god would say I would be able to answer that prayer But if I just do that I won't be able to do all that I want to do in and through your life And so god has to say no or or not that Because he wants to do something better Or greater in your life than what we are asking for that we view what would be best for us Because sometimes what we view would be best for us isn't what god knows would be best for us Life might not be going like you expected Maybe you didn't get expect you weren't expecting to be let go companies downsizing economy whatever may be happening and And you were in the cutbacks or you were fired unexpectedly terminated From your employment and you weren't expecting to be in the financial crisis that maybe you're facing Presently, but god would say if you never left that place If I never took you out of there I wouldn't be able to bring you to the place that I want to take you To be able to bless you in the way that I want to bless you to provide for you in the way that I promise to provide for you You might not be expecting to be single still Because the person that you would be expecting to marry god says if I let you have that type of person I won't ever be able to give you the person that I know that you need that will be far greater than what you were expecting To be married you saw the picture god works that way Maybe you weren't expecting to lose your home Be told that you have to move out of a place that you've been Renting or leasing But god says I have something greater for you in your life Things don't always work out in life like we had expected it to go It's not what we were expecting But can I say with god it's always going to be greater Than what we have expected So when things seem like they're falling apart With god they're falling into place The bible says that god holds all things together in his hands That all things are held together scientists secular scientists call it atomic glue Because they don't even know what holds the atom together And the atoms are held together and they don't know what holds like everything is made up of moving parts We think they're solid, but it's not really solid. It's just atoms moving really really really fast. So it appears to be solid And nobody knows why it's held together Let me just tell you what the bible says god holds all things together in his hands All things that's your financial situation. That's your marriage. That's your children. That's your family. That's everything God holds it together So when you take it out of your hands puny little tiny hands And you place it in god's hands whose hand spans the universe that's ever expanding And you place it in his hands. You have to realize you can know that god's hands can handle it because he's got some big hands god can do it Take you out of your hands and give it to him because god's god wants to do something greater Than what you were expecting god wants to take you to new levels Now you might not say well, I lost my job and I got a job. It's not paying as much Well, maybe through all that god wanted to teach you a greater dependency upon him Greater faith in your life things are going to matter that's going to impact who you are for all eternity And here we are thinking about our temporal lives that lasts about 80 years or so Maybe 90 for some that he kale and stuff 70 for you that drink soda And we think about our temporal lives and god says i am preparing you for all eternity And here we are thinking i don't know how this is better. I don't know how this is greater But through that god is making us into who he wants us to be A greater weapon for his kingdom A greater vessel That relies and depends upon god in greater ways A man of god that knows his word in a greater way a woman of god that seeks after god in a greater way Because with god everything always works out for greater Because we serve a god who does greater things because we have a great great god amen When things seem like they're falling apart. They're falling into place It might not be what you were expecting, but it was always part of god's plan How do I know look at verse 22 and 23 to close So all this was done that it might be fulfilled Which was spoken by the lord through the prophet Saying behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son and they should call his name Emmanuel which is translated god with us listen When It wasn't what joseph was expecting for mary to be expecting But 800 and some years earlier god had spoke to humanity through his prophet isaia And said that god would send his son and a virgin would conceive miraculously Supernaturally What joseph wasn't expecting to happen to him god had planned Hundreds if not thousands of years because before the world began God had the plan of how he was going to redeem fallen humanity And god spoke it to humanity Exactly how it was going to happen It was always part of god's plan although joseph didn't know it was part of his plan You see god is working to fulfill his perfect plan Through every situation in your life You might say well listen This person did something to me That i've never even told anybody about This this person has damaged me This person has done evil towards me This person you're saying that god god is allowing that to happen. Here's what i'm saying about those things Because you might say how is that greater? How is how is that better in my life? God promises though To work all things together for good For those who love him and are called according to his purposes now listen. This is where a lot of confusion comes in God does not say all things are good Because those evil things that could only be spawned and stirred through satan himself Those things are not good But god promises to take the things that are not good and work all of those things together the pain the suffering The shame everything that wasn't good He can work that together For good for those who love him So he can take your pain and turn it into a promise He can take the shame and turn it into a future and a hope He can take the bad and he can work it together For good because god promises to do that because he's a good god And all those things might not be What we had expected to happen in our lives Keep looking to god expectantly Maybe you're in a situation right now Presently Where things aren't working out the way that you expected keep looking to god Knowing that something greater is going to come from it Because all things are working out for good just like god said it would whether you see it or you don't We walk by faith not by sight. We have to believe it and when we believe it We'll know that god will do it God would say if you just walk close to me I'll give you an option. You didn't even know as an option If you'd only obey me, I will show you an option that you didn't know as an option God did this throughout the bible over and over and over again if you've studied god's word, you know that I call it the parting of the red sea Remember when moses was called to deliver the people out of egypt God led them through the wilderness A three to seven journey max walking from egypt to the promised land not a long journey But they went down into this v-shape formation at the very bottom There was payahirath in the corner the worst place to be Strategically to protect your people from an attack if egypt was to come after them So moses started to make his way back up to where the promised land the entrance would be to get to the promised land And god told moses. What are you doing? Stop and go back down to payahirath So moses obeys god goes back down to where god told him to be the worst place to be strategically The worst place to be militarily to protect your people And moses goes back there obediently Egypt invades goes to attack And moses says great How is this good god? But then you know the story god opens a pathway moses never saw as an option The option was to go this way or to go this way and god says neither of those are an option I have a better path for you to walk Parting of the red sea That's the path. I want you to walk And god does that with us joseph says this the option or this the option And god says or you could marry her Um joseph is like I never thought of that as an option God you want me to teach this message tonight or this message tonight god says uh neither I have something different You see god has god has a plan And he's working that plan out God does this throughout the bible and god opened doors God will open doors in your life that you never knew or even a door that could be opened to you When you're obedient like moses was and did what god was telling you to do What does joseph do look at verse 24 and 25? Then joseph being aroused from sleep Did as the angel of the lord commanded him and took to him his wife The text there In the tense that it's written in talks about an immediate obedience and an urgency behind what joseph did god told joseph what to do And joseph Immediately obeyed and did instantly what god told him to do He is like he got up and did it it wasn't he woke up and thought okay. I'll get around to what god's telling me to do Or one day i'll get there you know We'll work through this and then no joseph obeyed immediately And because he obeyed immediately he was able to see god do what god wanted to do In silver's 25 he did not know her that is intimately Until she had brought forth her firstborn son And he called his name jesus joseph wakes up does what god spoke to him to do Wasn't what he expected, but he realizes what god is doing is better Because joseph said yes to god and was obedient to god He received the greatest thing that had ever happened to him that could ever happen to him in his life To be the adopted father the stepdad of the savior of the world You see it's not always easy to say yes to god's plan It's not always easy to do what god's telling us to do It's not always easy to face the difficulties when things aren't expecting like In life like we thought life would go It's not always easy to face those situations. I understand that Understand that many of you have lived many more years than I have And I understand that in life brings tragedy life is hard Life hits hard life hits hard equally a lot of people are hit hard through life. I understand that I understand that maybe some of you here tonight are suffering right now going through things That you didn't expect you would ever have to face in life But although we may be facing those things when you're obedient and you say yes to god And are obedient to what god is telling you to do now and you will meet immediately obey not delayed obedience because listen delayed obedience is still disobedience Come on parents Son, I need you to come in this room Son, I need you to come in this room Son, you better get in this room right now Okay, dad one minute. No Not one minute not when you want to get around to it When dad calls you you need to come right away son out of the street. There's a car coming one minute. No Delayed obedience is still disobedience And many of us as the children of god god says hey It's time to move get out of that street It's time to come into this new heights new depths in your relationship with god Okay, god. I'll get around to that god said no, that's not how it's gonna work Delayed obedience is still disobedience. And so when god calls you to do something Obey him right away And when you do like joseph you be able to see god do what you never expect him to be able to do And you'll receive blessings that are greater than you could have ever expected god to bless It's not always easy But when we obey god We'll be able to see god do those things you see for joseph to obey what god was telling them to do Joseph to take mary at that stage in their pregnancy At that stage in their betrothal Joseph a righteous man would now be viewed by society differently. He would be emitting guilt In his community Joseph would be taking the blame for a sin He didn't commit to be a covering to mary. It's not always easy to do what god calls you to do But you can be certain it will always be what's best for you It's interesting how some of the greatest opportunities in our lives Come not in the way we expected at a time. We didn't expect The greatest things in our life Can come through simple steps of obedience in the bible when david killed goliath It was because he simply obeyed his father and was taking food and running an errand to give food to his brothers on the front lines And through a simple step of obedience david was a place where he would be able to defeat goliath Which would set things in motion for david to become king of israel and the greatest king that had ever lived It's interesting when moses who delivered the people out of egypt He was tending sheep But god called him out of that into a new calling And moses simply obeyed through a series of events And simply obeyed god and now god used him to do something great when peter was fishing all night and caught nothing Jesus said throw your nets on the other side and peter could have said I don't know who you are. I'm the professional fisherman The fish that are on this side of the boat some under the boat. They would be on this side of the boat That's not how it works But peter through a simple step of obedience of taking the net out of this side of the boat in a small dinghy And placing it in this side of the boat So that simple step of obedient was able to receive the greatest catch he had ever seen miraculously And god does the same thing in our lives When we simply obey what god is calling us to do We see god able to pour out his blessings in ways that we had never expected But they happen through simple steps of obedience and saying yes to god My wife morgan can tell you that's true On the day that I asked her to marry me The greatest thing that had ever happened to her Through a simple step of saying yes Came at a time when she least expected it in a way that she didn't expect it God works in ways In ways that we don't expect at times that we don't expect Joseph wasn't expecting mary to be expecting but god was doing something great And when things don't work out according to your plan know that all things are working together for god's Perfect plan for those who are in christ jesus. So church love him Live for him obey him and you can live your lives Expecting would you turn to someone next to you and say you look like you're expecting And would you tell him expecting god to do great things? And let's live our lives Expecting god and greatness from god and greatness through god And as we obey god know that god opens doors that we never thought as an option When we obey what god is telling us to do it might not be what you were expecting But god doesn't always do what you're expecting so that he can do above and beyond What we're expecting for those who are in christ jesus. That's a promise for you Calvary chapel chino valley this night Don't give up Don't lose heart have faith and know that god is working in jesus name