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[ Silence ] [ Music ] [Music] There's a star in the east on Christmas morn

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Eyes of silver and gold It will lead to the place where the Savior's born Eyes of silver and gold ♪ Follow, follow ♪

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♪ Right on Shepherd and follow ♪ ♪ Follow this dog, walk that blue trail ♪ ♪ Right on Shepherd and follow ♪ ♪ Leave your sheep, leave your sheep ♪

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Leave your lambs and ewes. Rise up, shepherd, and follow. Leave your sheep, leave your sheep, leave your sheep and your lambs.

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Rise up, shepherd, and follow. Follow, follow. Rise up, shepherd, and follow. Follow this power of heavenly hand.

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Rise up, shepherd, and follow. If you take good heed to the angel's word-- Rise up, shepherd, and follow. You'll forget all your flocks, you'll forget your herd.

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Rise up, shepherd, and follow. Follow, follow. Rise up, shepherd, and follow. Follow the star of Bethlehem,

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Wise of Sheppard and follow. Follow, follow, Wise of Sheppard and follow. ♪ Follow the star of Bethlehem ♪

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♪ While his daughters shepherd and follow ♪ My brothers and sisters, I have been led of the Spirit to invite Joseph, who was the foster the Father of Jesus to come and share with us a story that he has to tell concerning the nativity, a story that will enlighten and enrich our lives.

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I am Joseph. I have come on a journey through two centuries. It's a journey through the years. So let me begin by telling you about my background.

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I was well born. My lineage may be traced through 42 generations. I am of the lineage of David, the most popular king in Jewish history. I was taught from my early years to observe the commandments of the Lord and to look for

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the Messiah to appear in human history. I was given the name Joseph, which means my God will add, or may God add. May God increase my posterity. I lived a rather quiet life.

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My name is not mentioned much in the New Testament. Only three times or more, maybe four. And when my name is mentioned, it appears in Matthew and Luke, where Jesus is referred to as the carpenter's son.

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It's also mentioned again in the Gospel according to John. When John says that Joseph, the son of a carpenter in reference to Jesus, Jesus is the son of Joseph, who is a carpenter, that's the way it's put. As a young man, I was attracted to a beautiful maiden

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named Mary of Gatalie. It was for me a situation of love at first sight. first sight. I made up my mind when I saw Mary that she was the woman for me. It It was a fact that grew more and more as we saw each other more and more.

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I believe our marriage was sanctioned by heaven as early as I could. set the engagement time, which was one year before the marriage, according to Jewish custom. following the engagement, I was impressed by the manner in which Mary conducted herself because she considered herself as my woman,

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and I considered her as my wife. As time passed on, I began to hear whispering concerning how Mary was conducting herself.

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These whisperings concern Mary's virginity and her fidelity. I thought of her as a righteous, God-fearing woman. That's the way I thought of her. But as time went on and I heard these whisperings and these rumors, I began to question it.

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And instead of the whispering dying down or getting quieter, the whispering grew louder. And my faith began to waver, my faith in Mary. I began to wonder whether Mary was truly the woman I thought her to be. Some of the fellows called me a fall guy.

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circulated the rumor that Mary was pregnant with the illegitimate child of a Roman soldier. And the more I heard, the more I wondered, and the more I was led to doubt that we should get married. considerable meditation on the matter, I reached the conclusion that I would put

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Mary away quietly. I did not want our marriage to get started on a sour note. We owe it to ourselves to have a good beginning. I decided to talk to Mary about the matter, and it was a situation in which she informed me of some very intimate and personal happenings in her life.

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Mary told me about the time she was visited by an angel who told her that God was involved in her pregnancy, that it was not of man but of the Holy Spirit. I never heard of such a thing. Sounds like a fairy tale to me

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that the paternity of her child would be of the Holy Spirit, that this is a pregnancy of God. Well, I didn't understand how Mary could be pregnant

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in such a manner. I understand how one can be pregnant from having sex with a man, but not God. I didn't understand it, Mary didn't seem to understand it, and if she didn't understand

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her in the world would she expect me to understand it? Pregnancy of God, that just about blew my mind. And we attributed many things to God, but that's just about the last straw, the pregnancy of God and having a child in the womb of a maiden, a peasant maiden from Galilee.

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After much thought, I decided that I would settle the matter by breaking the engagement, by having Mary put away quietly. The rumors would have time to die. Mary would go her way and I would go my way.

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I did not want to embarrass or punish Mary. Basically, I thought she was a good woman. But while I was thinking about all of these things, one night I had a dream.

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The angel of the Lord spoke to me in the dream, commanding me to marry Mary. That the child she was carrying was conceived by the Holy Spirit

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and that her pregnancy was of God. So this sort of reinforced what Mary had told me. Strange how angels are involved in this thing. Angel appeared to Zachariah and Elizabeth

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announcing the birth of John the Baptist. Back in earlier history an angel appeared to Elijah. Angels, angels. It looked like all the time angels were watching over the people of God.

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angels, angels. Well, in the course of time, it was revealed to me that the God we worship is the Creator.

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He creates out of nothing. And if our God can create the world out of nothing, He can certainly cause a pregnancy in a woman without any assistance from a man.

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He can do whatever he wills to do. So I decided to take God at his word and and faithfully follow his command to take Mary as my wife. And I'm absolutely and completely convinced that strange and wonderful things happen when we walk with the Lord. When you walk with the Lord in the light of his word,

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what a glory he sheds on the way. When we do his goodwill, he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. When the child was born, we named him Jesus, a name derived from the Hebrew "Jeshua."

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And it's also a name from which we get "Joshua." You know, Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho, Joshua who was a Moses army bearer, who succeeded Moses and led the people of God from the wilderness into the promised land. Well, this new child, what a wonderful child, born of the Virgin Mary,

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whose lineage may be traced through Joseph as well as through Mary, even though he technically is a foster child. However, Jesus is considered the son of the Father, the eternal Father. Joseph is there, but he's just a channel.

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God shows us that man has nothing to do with his own salvation. It is all of God. He doesn't have to have man to do it.

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He does it all by himself. So during those early years, I was a resident of Bethlehem. When you study my background, Matthew indicates that I spent some time in Bethlehem.

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We went to Bethlehem to fulfill the edict issued by Caesar Augustus that all of the inhabitants of the Roman world should be taxed. So we return to Bethlehem because that was Joseph's native city that was required in the eating.

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Oh, I would have preferred remaining in Nazareth, our home. But what Caesar says, what he commands, he gets. So we made the journey to Bethlehem. Oh, we had a long and tedious journey.

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I would have preferred staying in Galilee, but we had to go to Bethlehem. The trip was long and tiresome, but we made it. And Mary, though weary from distress and strain, she quietly suffered. She did it with a sweet, sweet spirit.

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And guess what? That's the place, this humble town of Bethlehem, the hometown of Joseph. This is where the most significant event in human history occurs.

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Bethlehem of Judea. Jesus is born. There in Bethlehem, it was crowded. Every room was taken.

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There was no place in the lodging places that were there. Crowded, the thrones too great. those without reservations had no place to stay. And this all was happening without people around us

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knowing, as the old saying puts it, a heap see, but few know. So it was in Bethlehem that night. Those who were near the scene did not realize that the most wonderful thing had happened.

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Eternity had invaded time, and the Son of God had come to dwell on earth. Oh, it was a wonderful night. There was a recess in heaven, and angels descended and sang from the balcony of glory.

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Glory be to God in the highest, and on peace on earth, goodwill to all men. Peace on earth.

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It was a wonderful night. It was a night in which God blessed this world in an unusual way. Not only did the angels sing an anthem, which is the first anthem of Christmas, not only What did the angels sing?

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But on that night, the angel of the Lord also delivered the message directly to the congregation. Oh, it was quite a night. I shall never forget that night. It was a night that no worship service I've ever been in could compare with.

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It was a wonderful, wonderful night. hallowed the occasion with light and the harmony of the angelic choir and a special messenger from heaven to deliver the sermon. Well those who were on the outside looking in didn't get in on all that. But those who were on the inside had

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this peculiar experience, this mystery, this magic that comes with every meaningful worship service. So Jesus is born. Imagine that. Jesus the Son of God born in a barn who leaves his home in glory where he is on the throne descends to earth and is born in a barn where there's cattle, where there is hay, no fine hospital bed, no physicians

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to see that everything is done that we like to think of as being done. Born in a barn. And the mother took him and he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. What a night. What an experience.

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Son of God, born in a barn. But in the course of time there were others who came, even after his birth, and brought gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh that was brought by the wise men who

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came from the East. But as I think about what happened, I remember the occasion, how Jesus came home with us and how he seemed to be such an unusual child. I remember it.

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I remember we took him to the temple where he was blessed on the eighth day. I remember when he had his bar mitzvah. I remember it quite clearly.

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I remember when he came to the temple at the age of 12 and when we got ready to go back home, We traveled for some time. In fact, we put it all together in about three days.

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And we couldn't find Jesus. Somehow we had left him and we did not realize what we had done. We left him and we lost him. I can remember the anxiety, I can remember the suffering as we looked for Jesus.

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And many people are still losing him. He is lost to them. But after they searched and searched and searched, they went back to the temple and they found him where they lost him. So he went home with us and he was a very obedient child.

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But the Word got to Herod and Herod said go and look and if you find him come and tell me so that I can go to worship him but Herod secretly planned to kill him and we left Bethlehem we left Bethlehem we escaped into Egypt I want to tell brothers and sisters you hear at Ebenezer that God has strange ways of

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leading his children. Strange and wonderful ways I tell you of leading. He takes us out of the city of Bethlehem that we may escape to Egypt. Bethlehem, the house of bread, Bethlehem, this quiet secluded place where it seems that he would be protected and secluded from hurt, harm, and danger. He takes them, he

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leads them out of Bethlehem and causes them to escape into Egypt. So be not dismayed when you find yourself having to escape to Egypt. That may be God's plan for your life, it may be God's plan for my life to escape into Egypt because God has so arranged it that when we get to Egypt and we learn things about God

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that we never would have learned in the quiet seclusion of Bethlehem. We learn things about God we would have never learned in the quietness of Nazareth and In Egypt, we experience the hardships. In Egypt, we find what power God has

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and the wonderful things and the miracles that God can perform in our lives. So from Egypt, the people of God have a wonderful history going through the wilderness and to the promised land.

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So that's my story. That's my story as Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, that's my story. And I love to tell it. I love to tell the story.

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It will be my theme and glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I love to tell it because those who know it, they love it. So we come now, you've heard the story. I've lived the story.

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Maybe you are here this morning and you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Maybe you're here without a church home. This is the time to get up from your seat.

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to come down, give God your heart, to preach in your hand as we extend the blessed invitation. It all happened in a little place called Bethlehem, and wonderful birth. We open the doors now.

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Come. ♪ Oh little town of Bethlehem ♪ ♪ How still we see thee lie ♪ Among the thief and aimlessly the silence does go by

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Yet in the cross she's tied the everlasting lie The hopes and fears of all the years, are making me to laugh. Sometimes, you're born in a day, [Singing]

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[Music] [Chanting] [Music] [Singing]

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[Music] [Music] [Music] ♪ This patient memory ♪

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♪ Dying ♪ ♪ Tell me ♪ ♪ The love that fits with you ♪ ♪ The love that holds you ♪

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[Music] [Chanting] ♪ For I am eternal praise ♪ ♪ And in my will be peace ♪

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♪ And in my will be peace ♪ ♪ For the rich I am ♪ ♪ Descend on us, we pray ♪ ♪ Cast out our sin and enter in ♪

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♪ Be born in us today ♪ ♪ We hear your voice, we sing ♪ ♪ Newt, Margaret, Tidings tell ♪ ♪ O come to us ♪

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♪ Abide with us ♪ ♪ O Lord Emmanuel ♪ Those persons who stood celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries,

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would you go now to the rear of the sanctuary? At this time, as the organist continues to play softly, Brother Austin, would you go and stand with them, you back home, and the Johnsons, if you'll do that too, those who stood.

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[silence] I commission you to go forth from this place, spreading the good news of God's grace, God's truth, and God's glory. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be

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gracious unto you. Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace now and forevermore. Amen. [ Silence ]