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00:00:00 Matthew chapter one, I'm going to begin reading about the 18th verse.
00:00:26 This was how Jesus, God's anointed one was born.
00:00:31 His mother Mary had promised Joseph to be his wife.
00:00:35 But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
00:00:43 Her fiance, Joseph was a righteous man, full of integrity, and he didn't want to disgrace
00:00:50 her.
00:00:51 But when he learned of her pregnancy, he secretly planned to break the engagement while he was
00:00:59 still debating within himself about what to do.
00:01:04 He fell asleep and had a supernatural dream.
00:01:09 An angel from the Lord appeared to him and in clear light said, Joseph, descendant of
00:01:18 David, don't hesitate that that that's like your mama calling your middle name.
00:01:25 You know, like if she says Cheryl, I'm okay, but he says, Sherrilyn, I'm in trouble.
00:01:31 Okay.
00:01:32 Joseph, Joseph, the descendant of David.
00:01:36 There's a lot riding on your name, boy.
00:01:38 Don't hesitate to take Mary into your home as your wife, because the power of the Holy
00:01:45 Spirit has conceived a child in her womb.
00:01:49 She will give birth to a son and you want to name him savior for he is destined to give
00:01:57 his life to save his people from their sins.
00:02:02 This happened so that what the Lord spoke through his prophet would come true.
00:02:08 Listen, a virgin will be pregnant and she will give birth to a son and he will be known
00:02:13 as Emmanuel, which means in Hebrews, God became one of us.
00:02:21 He will be known as Emmanuel.
00:02:23 And it means God became one of us.
00:02:28 No longer is he far, far away, but he is one of us.
00:02:34 And when Joseph woke from his dream, he did all that the angel of the Lord instructed
00:02:41 him to do.
00:02:42 He took Mary to be his wife, but they refrained from having sex until she gave birth to her
00:02:48 son whom they named Jesus.
00:02:53 All of that is a little crazy.
00:02:56 Wouldn't you say it seems a little crazy, but today I want to tell you what I loved
00:03:06 about Mary and Joseph is that they knew how to be consistent in complications.
00:03:16 They know how when, when times got complicated, I'm a point out just a few things to you in
00:03:21 a moment, but they knew how to be consistent.
00:03:25 I love consistency.
00:03:28 I love people who you can just count on being at the right place at the right time, doing
00:03:35 what God has told them to do.
00:03:38 Consistent even anybody can be consistent when all is well, but can you be consistent
00:03:43 in complicating times?
00:03:46 Look at somebody and just tell them, be consistent in complications.
00:03:54 Tell your other neighbor, neighbor, be consistent in complications.
00:04:01 What that really means is be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding, always abounding above and
00:04:14 beyond, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
00:04:21 Spirit of God, I love you.
00:04:22 I thank you for this moment.
00:04:23 I ask you to bless everybody under the sound of my voice, whether they're here, whether
00:04:28 they're home, wherever they're watching from, let your word leap up off the pages today.
00:04:34 Help us as we tell your story, we'll give you glory in Jesus name.
00:04:40 Amen.
00:04:41 On your way down, hit somebody and tell them, be consistent in complications.
00:04:54 There is, there is something about Christmas.
00:04:58 I walked out here today and all of a sudden I seen such a, I see red.
00:05:03 I'm just looking like red.
00:05:04 There's red everywhere.
00:05:06 It's, it's, it's beautiful.
00:05:07 So many beautiful things about Christmas.
00:05:11 It's a, it's a wonderful season and it is also a very stressful season.
00:05:20 And I say stressful because I don't know if y'all have noticed, but you should never go
00:05:24 to HGB on the day before Christmas Eve.
00:05:28 Whatever reason I went thinking, I'm just going to get a card and go through and pick
00:05:35 up five or six things.
00:05:36 Well, it was about an hour later and I'm, I'm, I feel like I'm a church usher at H E
00:05:44 B because I'm smiling and I got a cart and their carts are big and, and, and I'm like,
00:05:51 Oh no, no, go ahead.
00:05:52 No, you got it.
00:05:53 Oh, I'm so sorry.
00:05:54 And like, that was just like, that was a lot.
00:06:03 Okay.
00:06:04 Um, Lord bless HGB, but it was a lot for me.
00:06:08 Um, everywhere seemed to be crowded.
00:06:11 Stores are crowded.
00:06:13 Parking lots are crowded.
00:06:15 Flights are crowded.
00:06:18 Our schedules are crowded.
00:06:21 Parks are crowded.
00:06:23 The roads are crowded.
00:06:25 All of this around this season that we call Christmas, it's hard to get anywhere in any
00:06:34 time quickly.
00:06:35 So be prepared.
00:06:38 But I say it's wonderful also because it's the season that God, the God, the God who
00:06:45 made us came to earth to redeem us and it came to save us.
00:06:53 He came that he might purchase our salvation.
00:06:57 There is no Easter without Christmas, right?
00:07:03 There is, there can never be an Easter without Christmas.
00:07:06 This is where it all began.
00:07:08 He came to earth to purchase our salvation.
00:07:11 He came to earth to pay the price for not only every sin that I will commit, but how
00:07:17 about every sin I have ever committed or even thought about committing?
00:07:20 He paid the price for that.
00:07:23 Yes.
00:07:24 The Bethlehem baby, he became the king that was nailed to the cross and he left his home
00:07:31 in heaven so that he can walk amongst me and you.
00:07:36 He came into our world because he wanted to see our world from his perspective.
00:07:44 Let me tell you about loving somebody.
00:07:47 You can't husbands and wives hear me today.
00:07:50 You can't, you can't really love somebody if you don't understand them.
00:07:58 There's something about understanding that enables you to love somebody.
00:08:05 And it's, it's, it's, it's, if you're trying to, to love somebody based on a, just that
00:08:13 little feeling or, Oh, you are cute.
00:08:16 You are fine.
00:08:17 You are all of that.
00:08:20 That that's nice, but we change.
00:08:24 I said we change.
00:08:26 So it's about the good thing about God is most of the time he hooks you up with somebody
00:08:32 and you get to know them really well while you're still looking okay.
00:08:36 All right.
00:08:39 I mean, we always look okay.
00:08:40 We just sometimes later in life, we have to work a little bit harder, just a little bit
00:08:45 harder.
00:08:46 And, and, but it's, it's, it's, you have to understand them.
00:08:51 You have to, there are certain things that I can look at Bishop and, and laugh about
00:08:56 why?
00:08:57 Because I understand him.
00:08:59 I've been with him for 47 years.
00:09:02 And so I, I should understand him, but now I'm just going to tell you, I'm pretty hopeless
00:09:07 if I don't, but, um, he, he, he, he came to earth to understand me.
00:09:14 He came to see what I would feel like when my heart was broken.
00:09:18 He came, he came to face what you and I would face.
00:09:23 And so therefore he knows what we feel.
00:09:26 He knows what being weak feels like.
00:09:29 He knows what being strong feels like.
00:09:32 He knows what being overwhelmed feels like.
00:09:35 He knows what facing a test feels like.
00:09:39 He knows what failing a test feels like.
00:09:44 He knows what facing rejection feels like.
00:09:48 He knows what facing racism feels like.
00:09:52 He knows what facing a broken heart feels like.
00:09:57 He knows what it feels like to cry until you can't cry anymore.
00:10:02 He knows what it is like to be me.
00:10:07 He knows what it is like to be you.
00:10:11 He gets us like nobody else gets us because he's been us and he came to earth as a gift
00:10:22 for us.
00:10:23 Make no mistake about it.
00:10:24 He didn't, he came as a gift.
00:10:27 You cannot buy the gift of Jesus.
00:10:31 That's impossible.
00:10:32 You know why?
00:10:33 Because you could never afford it.
00:10:35 I don't care how many billions of trillions of dollars that you have for God.
00:10:40 So love the world that he, say it again.
00:10:45 He gave, he looked around heaven and he said, how do I redeem Cheryl Brady?
00:10:50 How do I redeem?
00:10:52 Put your name in there.
00:10:53 How do I redeem them?
00:10:55 How do I let them know how much I love them?
00:10:57 I've got to redeem them.
00:10:59 But in order to redeem them, I have got to buy them back from the slave market of sin.
00:11:05 And so he came as an incredible, remarkable gift to us.
00:11:11 But here's the deal.
00:11:13 He came in an unremarkable package, remarkable gift, but an unremarkable package.
00:11:21 He didn't come into the world, uh, just looking like God.
00:11:27 He came and when he came, he was flesh and blood.
00:11:32 He didn't come into the world to, to be like a human.
00:11:38 He came into the world as a human, not just to be like one, but he came as one.
00:11:45 That means he needed eyes to see.
00:11:48 That means he needed ears to hear.
00:11:50 That means that he needed lungs so that he could breathe.
00:11:53 That means that he needed rest and he needed food and he needed a friendship and he needed
00:11:58 fellowship because though he was divine, make no mistake about it.
00:12:04 He was also very human.
00:12:06 Now when I think of his mother, Mary, I very rarely, maybe I'm by myself, but I very rarely
00:12:13 think of her as somebody that's human because why would God pick her?
00:12:18 There was something, they can say it was nothing, but there was something about her that made
00:12:24 God choose her.
00:12:27 So I don't, I think of her as somebody that must've been holy, somebody that must've been
00:12:31 pure, somebody whose hands must've been clean.
00:12:35 It's hard for me to imagine this young girl who had been chosen by God to give birth to
00:12:42 the Messiah.
00:12:44 She was actually a human being, but that's exactly what she was.
00:12:50 As a matter of fact, when we are first introduced to her, she was a young girl.
00:12:55 She was excited.
00:12:57 She was about to be married.
00:12:59 Is there any married ladies in here that remember that little season when you are getting everything
00:13:06 ready for your wedding?
00:13:08 Lord, y'all trying to forget.
00:13:16 I'm going to act like I didn't see any of that.
00:13:20 It was, it was, it was, it was fun.
00:13:22 It was a good time.
00:13:23 And she had just recently gotten engaged to this man whose name was Joseph.
00:13:28 Now I'm sure that like every other human being, like all of y'all in here that are married
00:13:34 and went through that.
00:13:35 I'm sure she was excited.
00:13:37 I'm sure she was making up all these plans one day as she was walking down to the well
00:13:43 to get water.
00:13:44 All of these questions started flowing through her mind.
00:13:48 Who am I going to pick as my bridesmaids?
00:13:51 How many should I have?
00:13:52 And what color of dresses?
00:13:54 I don't know.
00:13:55 What's my favorite color?
00:13:56 What color dresses should I put them in?
00:13:59 And what style of dress, what style of dress should I wear?
00:14:02 I wonder if that even matters to Joseph.
00:14:04 I bet it doesn't even matter to him.
00:14:06 But, and then who do we invite?
00:14:08 How big can this be?
00:14:10 Or maybe I should cut it down.
00:14:11 I don't know.
00:14:12 Who do we invite?
00:14:13 I need, I, I, I, what about the venue?
00:14:16 What kind of venue?
00:14:17 What venue are we going to use?
00:14:19 And are we going to have tablecloths or what?
00:14:22 What are we going to have?
00:14:23 We, oh, I probably need to make those reservations.
00:14:26 Oh, but I first probably should send out invitations because you don't want invitations without
00:14:32 reservations.
00:14:33 So, so, so I need, I got so much going on.
00:14:36 What are we going to eat?
00:14:37 I wonder what we're, and the cake.
00:14:39 Oh, I need somebody to order the cake.
00:14:43 It's got to be beautiful.
00:14:44 It's got to be three tiers.
00:14:45 It's got to have a bride and a groom sitting on top of it.
00:14:48 It's got to, it's just got to be perfect.
00:14:50 And, and, and, and all the photographer, if we don't get a photographer, we will have
00:14:55 no pictures of this and we've got to have pictures.
00:14:59 Well, there's just so much to be done.
00:15:04 And she's sitting there thinking about her special day with her special person in a special
00:15:11 place with special people.
00:15:14 And all of a sudden she hears the brakes squeal.
00:15:20 All of a sudden her planning thoughts have been interrupted by a voice with a very special
00:15:28 announcement and that very special announcement came from a very special messenger.
00:15:33 Hail Mary.
00:15:36 God highly favored somebody.
00:15:39 Hall of favor.
00:15:40 You're highly favored and you are blessed among women.
00:15:46 Wow.
00:15:47 Okay.
00:15:48 Thank you.
00:15:49 Thank you.
00:15:50 You shall bring forth a son.
00:16:02 Me?
00:16:03 Oh yeah.
00:16:04 I don't know who you are, but I'm engaged to get married.
00:16:09 Me and Joseph, we're going to get married.
00:16:10 We've already talked about having kids and we're, we're really believing for a son.
00:16:15 Well Mary, it's not going to happen like that.
00:16:19 Okay.
00:16:20 That would be so convenient, but it's going to happen more like when it's crazy, not when
00:16:25 it's convenient.
00:16:29 So wait a minute.
00:16:30 What are you, what are you saying?
00:16:34 Like, like I'm going to be like pregnant like right now.
00:16:40 You mean I'm the, I'm going to be the only one in the world that has an unexplainable
00:16:43 pregnancy out of every woman in the world.
00:16:47 Me and how, how can you?
00:16:50 How can this be?
00:16:52 The Bible says that she pondered these things in her heart.
00:16:58 You see God from time to time will say things to you that'll make you ponder in your heart.
00:17:06 Sometimes they, they seem so far fetched that you can't even, you can't even imagine uttering
00:17:12 them.
00:17:13 You don't want anybody to think you've lost your mind.
00:17:15 So, so you just, and it's better that way sometimes because people will kill what comes
00:17:21 out of your heart if you're not careful and they'll do it with their words.
00:17:25 They'll do it with their unbelief.
00:17:28 And so sometimes when God speaks something to you, you've got to hold it close to you
00:17:32 until it's time.
00:17:33 Look at somebody and say time.
00:17:34 Timing is everything.
00:17:35 There are times that God will say things to you that will just make you think things you
00:17:46 don't always talk about.
00:17:49 You just, you think about them highly favored.
00:17:53 Then what in the world?
00:17:56 If I'm highly favored, I was, I raised like I was raised.
00:18:02 If I'm highly favored, why am I out looking for a job right now at my age?
00:18:08 If I'm highly favored and God is so good, why are we moving again?
00:18:15 Why?
00:18:16 If I'm highly favored, did she walk away and leave me after 35 years?
00:18:26 I mean, is this what being highly favored looks like?
00:18:33 Sir, how do I explain this to Joseph?
00:18:40 That's important.
00:18:43 One minute she is planning a wedding and the next minute she's trying to figure out how
00:18:48 to tell Joseph that she's carrying a child that is not his.
00:18:56 That's going to be trouble.
00:19:00 Hey babe, I love you.
00:19:05 You know I love you, right?
00:19:07 I had the crazy experience, most crazy experience today while I was thinking about a wedding
00:19:12 and all of the questions that I have, because you know, I always got questions, but as I
00:19:17 was planning on all of that, this stranger walked up to me and all I can tell you, I'd
00:19:22 never seen him before, but he had this glow about him.
00:19:26 He had this glow.
00:19:29 Joseph's like, really?
00:19:31 Tell me more.
00:19:32 Anyway, he had this glow about him and he said, he hollered, you are highly favored
00:19:41 and the Lord is with you.
00:19:43 And Joseph, I'm telling you, the closer he came, the louder he got and the louder he
00:19:49 got, the more bolder he got.
00:19:53 What did he say to you, Mary?
00:19:54 He said that I had found favor with God and that I would bring forth a child.
00:20:02 And he said that this child would be the son of God.
00:20:07 Well, then what did you say to him, Mary?
00:20:12 Well, that's the thing I said to him, how?
00:20:17 And the angel then said to me, because the Holy Spirit would overshadow me and that this
00:20:25 child, because he would, I have been overshadowed.
00:20:28 This child would be holy.
00:20:30 He also said that the power of the most high would come upon me and with him that nothing
00:20:39 would be impossible.
00:20:42 So at that point I said to him, awesome.
00:20:47 Yeah, cool.
00:20:49 Being unto me.
00:20:58 What do you think, Joseph?
00:20:59 Joseph, why are you looking at me like that?
00:21:03 Joseph, are you okay?
00:21:05 No, Mary, I'm really not okay.
00:21:09 I mean, how do you expect me to tell my friends, dude, my girlfriend is pregnant with a baby
00:21:19 and she tells me that it's the Holy Ghost.
00:21:24 It's not going to go over well in my tribe.
00:21:28 Okay.
00:21:29 That, that, that's not going to work.
00:21:32 And I, I, I just, I don't, I don't know what to say right now.
00:21:36 I'm just a little stunned.
00:21:38 I love you and everything, Mary, but I'm just a little stunned.
00:21:42 I need a nap.
00:21:45 I need a nap.
00:21:47 Most of the times when, when God does things that people don't understand, when he does
00:21:56 things in our lives that we don't understand, our first inclination is to back up.
00:22:02 Let me just, let me just back up.
00:22:06 Let me just slip away.
00:22:07 Let me just, let me just shut down.
00:22:11 That's our first inclination.
00:22:13 But the real truth of the matter is that life is designed to try your staying power.
00:22:26 When things go crazy, that's not the time to back up.
00:22:28 You might fail the test by backing up.
00:22:31 That is the time to stand firm.
00:22:34 See, anybody can quit.
00:22:36 Okay.
00:22:37 Anybody can walk away when, when, when times are hard, but life is designed for us to be
00:22:43 able to take our times and still stand flat footed and say, for God, I live off of God.
00:22:52 I will, even when it doesn't make sense to you or to your friends or to your family.
00:23:00 What I want to know today is that do you have any staying power?
00:23:07 Having done all to stand, do you have the ability to remain standing when life starts
00:23:15 punching at you?
00:23:17 Can you stand when you don't understand?
00:23:24 Can you stand when you don't understand what is happening in your life?
00:23:30 Can you stand by faith knowing that in spite of what I feel, I'm favored in spite of what
00:23:36 I see, I'm favored in spite of what I don't see, I am favored.
00:23:42 Can you stand and say I'm favored when you feel nothing but frustration?
00:23:50 You've got to know that frustration.
00:23:52 You got to know, tell somebody you got to know.
00:23:55 You have got to know that frustration always precedes favor.
00:24:00 Frustration always precedes favor.
00:24:03 And for somebody listening to me today, you have been so frustrated and you cannot figure
00:24:08 out why, but that could be a sign that God is getting ready to open the windows of heaven
00:24:15 and pour ridiculous favor in your life.
00:24:19 Look at somebody and tell them it feels like frustration, but I prophesied to you that
00:24:27 it's favor.
00:24:32 It's favor.
00:24:33 It feels like heartbreak, but it's favor.
00:24:38 Feels like confusion, but it's favor.
00:24:45 I'm going to stand, stand.
00:24:49 Mary teaches us a lot of great lessons.
00:24:55 One of the lessons that she teaches us here is that it's possible to be favored, still
00:25:00 be pregnant and have to ride on the back of a donkey, fighting the heat in the daytime,
00:25:09 fighting the cold at night, looking for a place to give birth to a holy child.
00:25:19 She's teaching us.
00:25:20 She went from planning a wedding to planning now to have a baby, a baby that nobody would
00:25:27 comprehend how she conceived.
00:25:30 Mary's life has instantly been turned on a dime.
00:25:33 Listen, when life just flips on you on a dime.
00:25:37 It is sometimes because God is in charge and he looks high and he sits high and he looks
00:25:43 low and he sees a window and says, now I know when to flip your life.
00:25:48 I know when to take who out of your life.
00:25:51 I know when you can handle it.
00:25:53 I know when you can't handle it.
00:25:55 I know when to give it to you and I know when I can't give it to you yet.
00:26:03 Your plans are crumbling.
00:26:07 Things are no longer coming together.
00:26:10 As a matter of fact, it really looks like things are absolutely falling apart.
00:26:15 What was sure is now unsure.
00:26:18 What was stable is now shaking by the root.
00:26:24 What I thought was a dream is now becoming a nightmare.
00:26:28 Look at somebody and tell him it's complicated, but it's going to be all right.
00:26:34 I don't know who I'm talking to today, but life may be complicated right now.
00:26:40 You may not know which way to go and where to turn and you're smiling and wearing pretty
00:26:44 colors because it's Christmas, but God brought you here today to hear me say to you, it's
00:26:50 going to be all right.
00:26:52 Look at somebody and tell him it's going to be all right.
00:26:56 Yes, yes.
00:26:57 If there is anything Mary taught us, Mary taught us how to be consistent when life gets
00:27:07 confusing.
00:27:09 She showed us how to be steadfast.
00:27:12 She showed us how to be unmovable.
00:27:14 She showed us how to always abound.
00:27:17 She showed us how when you step into the purpose of God, sometimes even though it gets a little
00:27:23 confusing, you have to just ride it out.
00:27:27 Look at somebody and say, ride it out, ride it out.
00:27:31 She teaches us how to remain calm on the outside when everything on the inside is chaotic.
00:27:39 She teaches us how to remain committed in the face of frustration, committed in the
00:27:45 face of fear, committed in the face of what in the world is going on in my life, committed
00:27:51 in the face of confusion.
00:27:53 She teaches us how to remain determined when you are distraught.
00:27:59 She teaches us how to remain trustworthy when you are living in turbulent times.
00:28:05 Look at somebody and tell them it's going to be all right.
00:28:12 That's what Mary taught us.
00:28:13 Now, if it would have been me, I would have had so many questions.
00:28:17 I would have still been asking questions.
00:28:20 I would have been like God.
00:28:21 Okay.
00:28:22 So you're bringing a son into the world.
00:28:25 But why, why do you have to bring him into a stable and not bring him into a palace?
00:28:32 You are God.
00:28:33 This looks bad on you.
00:28:37 This is your child.
00:28:38 Why is this happening?
00:28:39 Why don't you bring him into the world in cashmere blankets?
00:28:47 But why?
00:28:48 Why do you have to take a milk rag that they use to wipe the breasts of the cow after the
00:28:54 cow nursed?
00:28:56 And now we got to take this.
00:28:57 It's going to sour and you want us to wrap up?
00:29:02 What is all of that?
00:29:03 Why did you bring him?
00:29:04 Let me just back up and say, why did you bring him into the world to two people who are in
00:29:10 a very messy relationship right now?
00:29:16 They're on the run.
00:29:19 Why did you bring him into the world into the hands of people that had nothing to clothe
00:29:23 him with?
00:29:24 I mean, because they took the baby, they took the bread of life and then they wrapped him
00:29:31 in those swaddling clothes in those milk rags.
00:29:35 They wrapped him up in, in, in rags that had soured milk in.
00:29:38 So they wrapped the bread of life up in the milk that that came from the cows.
00:29:44 Why would a God like you choose to make your entrance into the world using such a crazy
00:29:52 method as this one right here?
00:29:55 Mary really did cause me to rethink what favor really looks like.
00:30:06 Just because you don't have a place to birth what God has put in you yet.
00:30:11 Just because you can't quite figure out where you're going to lay your head yet.
00:30:17 Just because all of these crazy things are going on in your life.
00:30:21 It does not mean that God has forgot you.
00:30:24 It might just mean that he has showered you with his favor.
00:30:29 Look at somebody and yank their hand and tell him I got favor.
00:30:36 It don't look like it, but I got it from the top of my head to the soul of my, I got favor.
00:30:52 Mary has really caused me to see that just because you have favor, here's the flip side,
00:30:59 just because you have favor, that doesn't mean that you won't have fear.
00:31:04 You can have fear and favor at the same time.
00:31:09 Just because you have favor doesn't mean that you will never be frustrated.
00:31:13 It doesn't mean that you won't have moments where you feel like a failure just because
00:31:18 you have favor.
00:31:19 You can have all the favor in the world.
00:31:22 Highly, highly woman, you are highly favored, but you will still see times that frustrate
00:31:30 you.
00:31:31 She teaches us that you can have favor and still have to ride on a donkey carrying the
00:31:39 child, the Messiah.
00:31:42 You can be in contractions and still have to ride on a donkey.
00:31:47 She teaches us that the Holy Ghost can come up on you and you still have no place to stay
00:31:54 and you still be put out and you still have to wrestle with all of these things.
00:32:00 She teaches us that you can carry something inside of you that is holy and be surrounded
00:32:07 by hellish everything.
00:32:10 You got holy on the inside, but hell on the outside.
00:32:15 And guess what?
00:32:16 It was Mary's job and it's my job and it's your job.
00:32:20 They should you choose to accept it, to survive it all.
00:32:25 You've got to survive it all.
00:32:27 Here comes hell or high water riding on a donkey, no place to lay your head evicted
00:32:34 out of your house.
00:32:35 But yet I have decided to, I dare you to think over your life about the things you have decided
00:32:43 to survive and give God a survivor's praise.
00:32:50 High five somebody and tell him I will survive.
00:33:04 He didn't choose Mary because she was so perfect or he didn't choose Mary because she was so
00:33:09 holy.
00:33:10 He chose Mary because he knew she was consistent.
00:33:14 He knew that if he gave her something to do, her hands would do it.
00:33:19 He knew that she would stand flat footed and say, I heard from God.
00:33:24 I know what God has said to me.
00:33:27 She was consistent when times were not.
00:33:30 She was tenacious.
00:33:32 She was a ride or die chick.
00:33:34 She was a come hell or high water lady.
00:33:37 She was consistent when everything was confusing.
00:33:43 She was the type of woman.
00:33:46 She wasn't about to drop her assignment simply because people didn't understand.
00:33:52 Look at somebody, tell him that ain't gonna happen.
00:33:56 She wasn't gonna drop her assignment because the road got rough.
00:33:59 Yes, she was a virgin, but there was so much more to Mary than a virginity.
00:34:04 We talk about that a lot, but at the end of the day, there's another part of Mary.
00:34:09 I dare you to just dig into Mary's life and you will see that up underneath all of that.
00:34:15 There was a woman that was determined.
00:34:17 She was strong minded.
00:34:19 She was strong willed.
00:34:20 She was unflinching.
00:34:22 She was unwavering.
00:34:24 She said, I'm pregnant.
00:34:25 You're right.
00:34:26 And I misunderstood and I get it.
00:34:29 I understand.
00:34:31 I understand how you could misunderstand this, but guess what?
00:34:35 I'm still going to have this baby boy.
00:34:37 I'm going to have him.
00:34:38 I'm going to carry him.
00:34:40 I'm going to have him wherever I'm supposed to have it.
00:34:43 My circumstances, they aren't right right now, but I'm still going to have this baby
00:34:48 inside of me.
00:34:50 I know my situations are a little chaotic, but I'm still going to birth what God has
00:34:56 told me I have on the inside.
00:34:58 Oh, I'm telling you today, you gotta have something inside of you that can smile at
00:35:05 people when they don't understand you and say, praise the Lord and just keep on moving
00:35:11 because you know that you know that you know that you are on assignment.
00:35:21 Mary was on a sign.
00:35:24 This was not about what Mary envisioned.
00:35:28 It is about this is my assignment and whatever I have to endure to birth my assignment, move
00:35:37 every obstacle out of my way, move every hurdle out of my way, move every animal out of the
00:35:47 barn.
00:35:48 Joseph, this is my time.
00:35:51 I am not going to sit here and cry because they won't make room for me.
00:35:58 I'm not.
00:35:59 I mean, can you imagine that the guy that was working at the end that had the audacity
00:36:04 to tell Joseph, I'm sorry, we are sold out.
00:36:07 There are no vacancies in this place.
00:36:09 Oh, can you imagine if he had just found a way that would have been the greatest landmark
00:36:16 of all time.
00:36:17 Room 333.
00:36:18 The Messiah came into the world right here in Bethlehem.
00:36:24 Take your pictures.
00:36:25 It's marketing could have had me.
00:36:34 Mary said, Joseph, just get everything out of the way.
00:36:38 It's our time and I'm not gonna, I'm gonna not gonna sit here and cry because they didn't
00:36:45 make room for us in their little motel.
00:36:49 I ain't gonna sit here and cry because they didn't make room for us in their little circle.
00:36:54 I'm not gonna sit here and cry because they didn't make room for us in the clip.
00:36:59 I'm not gonna sit here and I'm not gonna cry because they kicked us out of their system.
00:37:06 That's okay.
00:37:07 Most of the time when God does miracles, he always steps outside of the system.
00:37:13 Look at somebody and tell him, step out of it, step out of it, step out of it and hear
00:37:23 God.
00:37:24 Step out of it.
00:37:28 I'm not sure about the timing of this census, Joseph, and I'm not sure why I had to labor
00:37:36 while I was traveling and I'm not sure this particular, why God would put us on this particular
00:37:42 mode of transportation and I'm not sure why I got to sit up here and bounce on the back
00:37:49 of a donkey and I'm not sure why we didn't have reservations or room in the end for us.
00:37:57 This has really been one big hassle, but in spite of the hassle, hope has got to be born.
00:38:06 I said, hope has got, Oh God, I feel that it's been inconvenient, but joy has got to
00:38:15 come to the world and I'm still gonna birth hope and I'm still gonna birth joy.
00:38:21 I'm still gonna birth the promise.
00:38:23 Bring joy to the earth.
00:38:27 I am determined to deliver what heaven is counting on me to deliver.
00:38:37 You know why?
00:38:38 Because I would rather be out here with him than being there without him.
00:38:47 Hit somebody and tell them, but the system.
00:38:52 I'm almost done.
00:38:53 Mary, Mary birthed the baby boy.
00:38:59 She was tired.
00:39:01 She was ready to rest, but not until she looked at him.
00:39:10 Joseph, let me bring him to me.
00:39:16 I want to see.
00:39:17 I want to see what the face of God looks like.
00:39:28 So this is what you look like little man.
00:39:30 I'm sorry.
00:39:31 I don't mean no disrespect.
00:39:32 Oh God, you going to have to help.
00:39:33 I need y'all got to help me get through this because I don't know how to raise.
00:39:44 I'm not a raise a baby like this.
00:39:49 Let me see.
00:39:50 Let me see what's in your eyes.
00:39:52 You let mommy wipe this out of your eyes.
00:39:59 You have to see clearly.
00:40:02 Let me wipe the corners of your mouth.
00:40:12 I got you.
00:40:15 Let me see your little fingers.
00:40:16 You have long fingers.
00:40:19 You might play the piano if you have long fingers.
00:40:21 That's what they say.
00:40:26 Before you know it, the very same hand that flung the stars into the sky, we're now wrapped
00:40:38 around Mary's finger, the little hand, the very one who had placed the earth, the moon
00:40:51 in the orbit is now asleep on the head.
00:41:00 Mary birthed her baby.
00:41:03 Then she had to snatch him up and she had to run with him.
00:41:09 She ran like a convict escaping and pursuing the eyes and all of the evil plans of a king
00:41:18 whose name was Herod.
00:41:19 I wish I had time to tell you about Herod.
00:41:23 He was an evil person.
00:41:27 He's now having to run out of Egypt, her and Joseph, and they are running for their lives.
00:41:35 How can I be highly favored and have to run for my life?
00:41:45 How can I be highly favored and have to live on the run?
00:41:49 How can I?
00:41:50 Don't cry.
00:41:51 It's okay.
00:41:52 I'm trying to keep you quiet, bud.
00:41:55 It's going to be all right.
00:41:56 It's going to be all right.
00:41:57 Have here, here, you are so fabulous that you are the first baby that ever created the
00:42:05 milk that you would need to sustain you.
00:42:09 Wow.
00:42:10 He's awesome.
00:42:12 Y'all I said he's awesome.
00:42:18 Be quiet.
00:42:19 She's trying to calm him.
00:42:21 She's muffling his cry.
00:42:23 It's okay, baby boy.
00:42:24 It's okay.
00:42:26 We cannot let them hear your voice.
00:42:28 We cannot let them find you.
00:42:30 They ran.
00:42:31 Do you hear me?
00:42:32 They ran for two years because their baby had a bounty on his head.
00:42:39 Oh, if I would have been told I was highly favored, I don't understand why my baby would
00:42:48 have to have a bounty on his head.
00:42:51 My question to you today is, can God trust you with favor?
00:42:58 Even when it doesn't look like favor, even when it doesn't feel like favor, can he count
00:43:05 on you to know that you're favored when everything in your life suggests otherwise?
00:43:13 Or are you the kind of person that only shows up for the party and not the problems?
00:43:26 Can he trust you with chaos?
00:43:30 Can he trust you with a bad marriage?
00:43:35 Can he trust you?
00:43:37 I'm not talking about being beaten and being abused, male or female.
00:43:42 I'm just talking about a marriage that just didn't turn out like you thought it was going
00:43:47 to.
00:43:48 Can he trust you with bad kids?
00:43:53 Can he trust you with loneliness?
00:43:55 I said, can he trust you with loneliness?
00:44:02 Because I promise you, anybody that God has ever used in a great way has had to battle
00:44:08 great loneliness.
00:44:12 Can he trust you with disappointment?
00:44:16 Will you keep being faithful when you're frustrated?
00:44:19 Will you keep being faithful to your assignment when your assignment feels more like a burden
00:44:29 than it feels like a blessing?
00:44:33 Can you be favored and frustrated and still fight the good fight of faith in a howl?
00:44:46 God, look, you did not tell me when I said, "Yes, be it unto me."
00:44:56 You did not tell me that I'd be so terribly misunderstood.
00:45:03 You did not tell me that Joseph would want to call off the wedding.
00:45:07 I never heard that.
00:45:09 You did not tell me that I would have to spend two years hiding and ducking to keep this
00:45:17 baby safe.
00:45:18 You didn't tell me, number one, that my baby would be on hell's hit list.
00:45:24 You did not tell me that I would have to have him in a manger, in a barn.
00:45:29 You did not tell me that I couldn't show him off.
00:45:35 I want to show him off.
00:45:36 I want the world to know this is God with a face.
00:45:40 This is God in diapers.
00:45:47 You didn't tell me that the life that you were giving me was one that I could not rest
00:45:55 in another day.
00:45:59 You didn't tell me when I agreed to have this baby that this baby was born to die for the
00:46:09 sin of the world.
00:46:11 You didn't tell me when you said I'm highly favored that I had to go through all kinds
00:46:18 of hell.
00:46:19 You did not tell me that when you were trusting me with your son, that you were trusting me
00:46:25 with levels of pain that I have never known in my entire life.
00:46:32 You didn't tell me that all of my plans would be disrupted.
00:46:38 You didn't tell me that every decision I would ever have to make will trace back to
00:46:49 our first conversation.
00:46:51 You didn't tell me that I would have to respond to the call on my life, not because I chose
00:47:00 it, but because it chose me.
00:47:06 That's when you know you've really been called.
00:47:08 You don't just look at it and size it up and say, yeah, no, that's a career criminal move.
00:47:17 What you do is you look at it and you're like, God, I wanted it.
00:47:22 I don't want it.
00:47:23 I, I, I, I, oh God, what in the world?
00:47:27 No, it chooses you.
00:47:29 You do not choose it.
00:47:33 You didn't tell me that being highly favored meant that I would take my son to the temple
00:47:38 and in the biggest city that we were in of all times, I would lose him.
00:47:45 You didn't tell me I would go through those days and have to wonder where's my boy, where's
00:47:50 my boy.
00:47:51 You didn't tell me all of that.
00:47:53 You did not tell me that when he would grow up, that he would spend the biggest part of
00:47:59 his time following after your will.
00:48:04 You did not tell me that as he followed after your will, little by little, he began to ignore
00:48:11 who I am.
00:48:12 The woman that rode the donkey, the woman that said, yes, we got this.
00:48:16 You didn't tell me he would get so busy in the kingdom and building the kingdom that
00:48:21 he wouldn't even know who I was.
00:48:24 I had no idea after I've sacrificed everything I've sacrificed to be his mother, that he
00:48:32 wouldn't even acknowledge me as his mother.
00:48:36 You didn't tell me about the time that I would go to hear him speak and I would ask those
00:48:42 who were at the doors, tell him that his mother is here and he had the audacity to say, who
00:48:49 is my mother?
00:48:50 You didn't tell me that after pouring everything into this child, that he would say, who is
00:49:10 she?
00:49:11 How do I deal with that?
00:49:15 How do I process that pain?
00:49:21 I didn't know that my baby boy, that our birth would be arrested on false charges.
00:49:30 Young Mary has taught us.
00:49:32 I said, Mary has taught us.
00:49:35 I didn't know he was going to be arrested on false charges.
00:49:37 I didn't know that I would have to live long enough to see my baby boy beaten unmercifully.
00:49:46 I didn't know that I'd have to watch them pluck every beard or hair out of his beard.
00:49:52 You did not tell me that I would have to watch him hang on a cross and die, watching them
00:49:59 pin his hands to the tree, watching them pierce him in his side, watching them put a crown
00:50:06 of thorns on those very same hands that gripped my finger.
00:50:13 I had no idea that one day they would be nailed to a cross.
00:50:21 You didn't tell me those very same hands that reached up for me.
00:50:29 My mama, I picked him up and I buried his head right here in my chest.
00:50:40 He can't reach for me now.
00:50:42 No, if I could, baby, if I could just pull you close one more time.
00:50:52 If I could bury your head in my chest just one more time.
00:51:03 You did not tell me that I'd have to stand there and watch him go first and be powerless
00:51:14 to change anything about it.
00:51:19 I don't know who I came to talk to today, but I am sure what I did come to say, and
00:51:27 that is just because you have frustrations does not mean you should say, I don't have
00:51:36 favor.
00:51:38 I'm simply telling you today that the presence of fear doesn't necessarily mean you don't
00:51:49 have any faith.
00:51:52 So don't beat yourself up about that.
00:51:56 I'm here today to tell somebody that you can be powerful and painful at the very same time.
00:52:06 I came to tell somebody that's under the sound of my voice, whatever it is that you are dealing
00:52:13 with right now, right at this moment, could be an assignment that God selected you, you,
00:52:21 you, you, you were the only one that he chose for that assignment.
00:52:26 He may have chosen you because he knew that a lesser man or a lesser woman would have
00:52:33 caved in under the pressure.
00:52:35 And he knew that there needed to be stability.
00:52:38 He knew that there needed to be somebody who could be in pain and still be a leader who
00:52:44 could be in pain and still be a father who could be in pain and still be a mother.
00:52:51 He knew.
00:52:52 Look at somebody and tell him, finish your assignment.
00:52:56 You might be frustrated, but finish your assignment.
00:53:01 I might have to cry, but I will finish my assignment.
00:53:05 I might have my plans all tripped upside down, but look at somebody and tell him I'm determined
00:53:12 to finish.
00:53:13 You may misunderstand me, but I'm determined to finish.
00:53:17 I have to set your face like a Flint and say, I'm going to do it when it feels good.
00:53:34 And when it don't feel good, I am going to do it when it's working and when it looks
00:53:41 like it's not working, I'm going to do it when I want to do it.
00:53:45 And I'm going to do it when I, even I don't want to do it.
00:53:49 I am going to do it.
00:53:55 And I'm going to do it right.
00:53:59 Even when everything around me is crazy, I'm going to do it.
00:54:07 Even when I feel like my passion is off point, I'm going to pull it back on point because
00:54:24 God has entrusted me with this assignment.
00:54:31 So if you're looking for a quitter on Christmas Eve morning, you have come to the wrong place.
00:54:41 If you're looking for a runner, somebody who is going to run away, you have come to the
00:54:47 wrong place.
00:54:48 If you're, if you think you're looking for a preacher who is here to tell you, maybe
00:54:53 just throw in the towel.
00:54:55 That's ridiculous.
00:54:56 I ain't going to tell you that because as for me and my house, we are in it to win it.
00:55:05 I said, we're in it to win it and we are going to stick with it.
00:55:10 We're going to ride it out.
00:55:11 Having done all to stand, we are going to stand.
00:55:15 Why?
00:55:16 Because God has trusted us with this child, with this church, with this ministry, with
00:55:23 this house, with this family, with this marriage, with this man, with this woman, with this
00:55:31 grandchild.
00:55:32 God has trusted me with this situation.
00:55:36 And even though I don't always understand all of it, I will still stand up to it.
00:55:45 Look at somebody and say, you may not understand all of it, but you got to stand up to it.
00:55:53 Mary stood up to it all, tears running down her face, but she stood firm.
00:55:59 When she couldn't get him down off the cross, she stood firm.
00:56:03 When she couldn't change the situation, she stood firm.
00:56:08 And when he cried, it is finished.
00:56:18 I just knew, I just knew she would be done, but she wasn't.
00:56:28 It wasn't game over for Mary.
00:56:31 It was game on.
00:56:34 Through the pain, it was game on.
00:56:38 Through the agony, through the misunderstanding, through the death of her baby boy, it was
00:56:46 game on because she rode the process out.
00:56:52 And I'm so glad she stayed in there because it was three days later.
00:57:01 It was three days later that she got word that her baby had got up out of the grave.
00:57:17 Listen to me today.
00:57:18 You got to write it out and you got to write it until bad turns to good, until sad turns
00:57:27 to happy, until wrong turns to right, until weak turns to strong, until death turns to
00:57:38 life.
00:57:39 Shake hands with two people and tell them, write it out.
00:57:45 She watched them bury her baby, but she rode it out.
00:57:49 She probably felt like quitting.
00:57:52 She probably felt like throwing in the towel, but she rode it out.
00:57:57 Listen, you may only be in your Friday or your Monday, but whatever day it is, write
00:58:07 it out because Sunday is coming.
00:58:12 Write out the process, write out the darkness, write out the frustration, write out the uncertainty.
00:58:35 Pray and ride, ride and pray, worship and ride, weep and ride.
00:58:41 May you endure to the night.
00:58:47 Tell everybody around you, he brought joy.
00:59:01 He brought joy to the world.
00:59:02 He brought joy to the world.
00:59:04 He brought joy.
00:59:05 That's why when you don't know what to do, write it out.
00:59:06 When you don't know what to say, write it out.
00:59:13 When you don't know where to turn, write it out.
00:59:17 When you have to dry your eyes, dry them and write it out.
00:59:23 Encourage yourself because he brought joy.
00:59:28 When your house turns into an apartment, when your car turns into an Uber, when your paycheck
00:59:50 turns into unemployment, look at somebody and tell them, write it out.
00:59:57 Because your favorite, your favorite, your favorite, through your marriage, write it
01:00:03 out.
01:00:04 Through divorce, write it out.
01:00:07 Through disease, write it out.
01:00:10 Through death, write it out.
01:00:15 If Mary could write out all of that, you can too.
01:00:27 But the bottom line is, listen, don't move.
01:00:31 The bottom line is, Mary loved the Lord.
01:00:39 When she got to Calvary, she loved the Lord.
01:00:45 When it was all said and done, Joseph, at the end of the day, Mary loved the Lord.
01:00:56 And because she loved him, she would stand up to everything that came her way and she
01:01:05 would write it out.
01:01:08 Maybe you feel like your business is failing.
01:01:11 Maybe you feel like your marriage is failing.
01:01:15 Maybe you feel like your health is failing.
01:01:19 Maybe you feel like your vision is failing.
01:01:23 This is not the time to let go.
01:01:27 This is the time to tie a knot and hold on with everything.
01:01:35 Mary stood firm through the beatings.
01:01:39 She stood firm through the lies, through the trial, through the court case.
01:01:44 She stood firm through the crucifixion.
01:01:47 She stood firm to the graveside.
01:01:51 She endured it all.
01:01:54 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were in one place and in one accord,
01:02:02 and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind,
01:02:07 clove and tongues sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
01:02:20 The Bible says, I say this every year and I don't want to ever stop saying it because
01:02:27 you've got to hear it.
01:02:29 The Bible says that Mary was one of those who were in the upper room that day.
01:02:37 And she too received an infilling of the Holy Ghost.
01:02:45 Mary's legacy was not just her virginity.
01:02:51 It was not just the fact that she was tenacious, even though she was a relentless.
01:02:57 It's not the fact that she just endured a hell gone or even wrote it out.
01:03:05 But while everyone else in the upper room were feeling Jesus on the inside of them for the first time.
01:03:21 Mary, the mother of Jesus is the only mother in history to ever feel her baby move twice.
01:03:43 And when he came inside of her body on the day of Pentecost, Mary was able to say,
01:03:51 I lost him, but I got it all back.
01:03:55 I got it all back.
01:03:57 And as I close today, I want to tell somebody, if you'll write it out,
01:04:02 and if you'll really love the Lord, I don't care what you lose, you are going to get it all back.
01:04:10 God is going to restore unto you the years that the caterpillar and the locust have eaten up to every Mary in this room.
01:04:22 God wants you to know that if you'll hang in there, I'm going to give it all back.
01:04:31 Look at somebody and tell him he'll get it all back to you.
01:04:35 [Music]