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Amen. All right. Keep your place there in Matthew chapter one. We'll be going back and forth there. So this evening we're finishing up our Christmas story sermon series. So what do we talk about in the first two sermons? We talked about the shepherds in the first sermon. We talked about how the shepherds can relate to us as the shepherds were local. They were there to share the news, the good news of the birth of Christ to the people in the area. Then we talked about the wise men or the kings as they could correctly be called according to the Bible. The wise men and how they were Gentiles that came from afar from the east and they spread the gospel to the uttermost. And we see how that relates to us as well. This evening we're going to talk about in the last sermon on the Christmas story, the details of the Christmas story, we're going to talk about the first family. We're going to talk about Joseph and Mary and their role in the birth of Christ and how that can relate to us, what we can take from that. So we see in Luke chapter one, turn to Luke chapter one, we see the angel first visits Mary. We see in Matthew chapter one we saw that the angel came to Joseph and we'll go back to that. But we see the story of Mary and Joseph is found in Luke chapter one, Luke chapter two and then of course in Matthew chapter one. So there's a couple different areas we're going to look here this evening. But in Luke chapter one, take a look at verse number 26. In verse number 26 of Luke chapter one, the Bible reads, this is the angel visiting Mary. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel, not just any angel by the way, it was Gabriel. The angel was sent from God onto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her, Fear not Mary, for thou has found favor with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. And he shall be great and be called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered her and said, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God. So at this point, you have to understand the knowledge that Mary would have, the knowledge that women in this time and even men in this time as Jews would have had, is that they were waiting for a Messiah. So when he said, you know, he's going to be the son of the Most High, the son of God, you know, Mary knows exactly who this angel, who Gabriel is talking about, basically saying you are going to give birth to the Messiah is what she's being told here and she understands this. There's a lot of reference to, you know, the kingdom of David. You know, of course, you know, this is how God is to fulfill his promise to David that David's kingdom would last into eternity is going to be through Jesus Christ. We saw, you know, the line of the kings of Judah was always a son of a son of a son of a son from David all the way to the end of the carrying away of Judah into Babylon. And then this kingdom goes into eternity through Jesus Christ. This is how God fulfills that promise. So let's look at one aspect of Mary. See Mary here, you can already see Mary's demeanor. You can already get, if you read this, you can already start to see the type of woman that Mary is. How could this be? How could it be me? You can already start to see Mary's, you know, you can tell what kind of woman she is. Look at Luke chapter one, look at verse number 46. The Bible says, And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. She's like, a lowly person like me has this great honor, is what she says. Turn over to Luke chapter two and look at verse number 17. This is another aspect, this is when the shepherds came and this is, you know, gives you another idea of just the character of Mary. Look at Luke chapter two and verse number 17. We're trying to get an idea of the type of person, the type of demeanor, the type of character that Mary has here. Look at verse number 17 of Luke chapter two. The Bible says, And when they had seen it, they made known abroad, this is the shepherds, they made known abroad, they went and they told everybody about the saying which was told them concerning this child. And they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Turn to first Peter chapter three. Turn to first Peter chapter three. So here, here the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Son of God has just been born, has just come into the world. This is a promise that everyone has been waiting for, for hundreds of years. And it finally happens and it's through Mary. And here these shepherds come, the first people to come visit Jesus, other than Mary and Joseph, they come visit the child in the manger after the birth. And they're there and they go and they just tell, they're telling everybody, the Messiah is born. I mean, the Son of God is here. I mean, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Mary, the mother, Mary the, I mean, think of this, the mother of Jesus, just, she just ponders it in her heart. She's quiet. I mean, think of how mothers are today. I mean, my kid this, my kid that, my kid smarter than this. My kid started walking when he was three days old. I mean, my kid, my kid can read, my kid read the whole Bible and he's two. You know, I mean, moms are ridiculous now. Mary just, I mean, she, her son is the Son of God. I mean, she just gave birth to the Messiah and she's just humble and quiet about it. Turn to first Peter chapter three. Are you there? Are you in first Peter chapter three? Let me get there myself. Look at first Peter chapter three and look at verse number four. Well, look at verse number three. The Bible says, talking, this is talking about wives and how women should be. And they behold, you know, it's talking about wives being a blessing to their husbands. You know, beholding their chaste conversation. Verse number three, who's adorning, it's saying what they wear, let it not be the outward adorning of plaiting of hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. This is telling, this is telling women how they should be. It's not about, you know, how you look on the outside and all this gold and apparel and all this. It's about having, what's valued is having a meek and quiet spirit, the Bible says, which is in the sight of God of great price. The Bible is saying, look, the Bible is saying here that humility and meekness and quietness are of a great price to the Lord in a woman. These are the character traits of a woman that are highly valued by the Lord, that are of great price to the Lord. And look, Mary had this. This was Mary. I mean, think of this woman. Her child is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And she just has, she's just meek and she's humble about it. What I like, what pops out at me when I read this, when you look at 1 Samuel 13 and you look at Acts 13 where it talks about David being a man after God's own heart. This is like the female equivalent of that. You know, the Bible talks about what David had a lot of problems. David fell into some issues and had some sin, but David's heart was after the Lord, the Bible said. David had a heart that was after God. He was a man after God's own heart, the Bible says. And this type of woman is the equivalent of that. A woman who has a meek and humble and quiet spirit. It's kind of, you know, it's kind of funny from the sermon this morning, talking about how we looked at a lot of opposites, like the world will tell you one thing. And then, you know, but the Bible says this. I mean, every single point from the sermon this morning was the exact opposite of what the Bible said. That's why, you know, I kind of, it was a tongue-in-cheek sermon where I was like, hey, you know, here's reasons not to homeschool your kids. Let's see what the Bible says. Oops. It's exactly the opposite of every single point that I gave you. And it's funny because this woman, this woman that Mary was and the woman that the Bible teaches you to be, ladies, is exactly opposite of what the world will tell you. The feminist, the loud, the loud and profane woman that they want you to be. These profane men out there. Now the women are just trying to emulate the profanity of the men, to show that they can be just like the men. That's what feminism will teach you. It's the opposite of the Bible. It's not a little bit different. It's the exact opposite. It's the exact opposite. So that's Mary. Let's take a look at Joseph. Let's look at when the angel visits Joseph in Matthew chapter 1. Go back to Matthew chapter 1. So we see that Mary, I mean Mary was a woman of tremendous character. I mean to, even the most humble person, when something great happens to them or something wonderful happens to them or they've done something great, even the most humble person really has to hold back to not want to let that out. And Mary, she just pondered these things in her heart. So Mary was a woman of great character. Turn to Matthew chapter 1 and look at verse number 18. The Bible says this. We're not going to go through the genealogy. We've preached through that before. Don't skip over the genealogies when you're reading the New Testament. There's a lot to be studied and a lot to be learned from the genealogies in the Bible. That being said, look at verse number 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, super important right there. They weren't fully married. They were espoused. So they had not come together. That's talking about, you know, the consummation, the physical consummation of the marriage. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. So imagine the situation that Joseph finds himself in. He's got himself a maid, a virgin, a chaste wife that he's espoused to and she's pregnant. Look at verse number 19. Now we're going to start to see the character of Joseph, by the way. Verse number 19. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man. So it's interesting, number one, something to point out there that espousal was considered marriage. We're going to get into this at the end of the sermon when we do some application this evening, okay? The espousal was not fully married, but it was considered marriage. He was still considered her husband, okay, in verse number 19. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privily. That means he was minded to, you know, put her away. That's divorce, privately, okay? So another thing that, you know, we can see that espousal was considered marriage in this time was that it was a putting away. It was a divorcing situation, and the Bible describes this in the Old Testament. We'll talk about that. Verse number 20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Okay, there, God explains it to him, okay? But you know, he could have still, you know, not wanted to deal with the shame, but we'll see what Joseph does. Turn to Luke chapter 2. Turn to Luke chapter 2. So first of all, I want to point out that espousal, she was considered his wife at this time. Being espoused was considered a wife. It was considered marriage, okay? Look at Luke chapter 2 and verse number 5. The Bible says, when they went to Bethlehem, the Bible says to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. In 2 Samuel chapter 3 and verse 14, I'll just read it for you, talking about David with Michael. The Bible says, and David sent messengers to his possessed Saul's son, saying, deliver me my wife Michael, which I espoused to me for 100 foreskins of the Philistines. So espousal was the marriage before they came together. It was the promise of marriage, but it was considered marriage. I want to point this out, because it's going to be important as we talk through this in a few minutes. There's really no equivalent to this today in our culture, of this espousal, okay? Engagement, you're saying, oh, it sounds like engagement. Engagement means little to nothing today. People get engaged, no one even takes it seriously anymore, because you're like, what does that even mean? It means the guy just doesn't really want to get married. That's what it usually means. But look, engagement today means little to nothing, and it is not the equivalent of espousal. That's the point I'm trying to make here, okay? So remember that. Joseph, but look, Joseph, before the angel visited him, Joseph could have legally and morally put away Mary before the visit from the angel, because he found that she was pregnant. Turn to Matthew chapter 5, and there is only one reason in the Bible, there's only one reason in the Bible for divorce. One reason, and I'm going to show you that even that one reason, I'm going to wreck your day, maybe, hopefully not, but that one reason doesn't even apply today, which is why I'm considering, I'm putting so much emphasis on espousal. Matthew 5, look at verse number 32. The Bible says, but I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication. You better have a King James Bible right now, because if you don't, you're going to be all messed up. Saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery. So look, the great thing about this verse is it distinguishes fornication from adultery, because you can't say that the King James Bible doesn't distinguish the two, because they're both mentioned in this one verse. It says, for the cause of fornication, well what in the world does that mean? Well, if you go and you look at Deuteronomy chapter 22, and for the sake of time we're not going to study through all that, in the espousal period, if the espoused wife was found to not be chaste, to not be a virgin, the man would then go through this process of bringing her to the council, and her father would, you know, vouch for her, and if he could not vouch for her, and she was not, you know, she was not a virgin at that point in the Old Testament, she could be stoned with stones, the Bible said. I mean it's taken very seriously. So we see, so the point I'm trying to make here, is that's the type of fornication, is that during that espousal period, before they came together physically as husband and wife, if she was found to have committed fornication in the past, and not be a virgin, the Bible says that in that case you could, in Deuteronomy 22, he could put her away. He could put her away. But we see Joseph's heart here, because Joseph was not going to do that. Joseph was not going to make her that public example. He was not going to get her in trouble. He was just going to privately just put her away. Turn back to Matthew chapter 1. That's why the Bible, I mean, we see Joseph's character even before the angel visited him. In Matthew chapter 1, because look, God's, no matter what, fornication or whatever in the Old Testament, God, God hateth putting away, the Bible says. God does not want, it's for the hardness of their hearts that God even allowed that one reason. He wants there to be reconciliation all the time. Look at verse 19 of Matthew chapter 1. The Bible says, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. Then of course, God steps in and explains, look at verse 24, then Joseph, and so God steps in and explains the situation, hey, no, it wasn't fornication, it's of the Lord, it was of the Holy Ghost, you know, the Messiah, the whole thing, he understands, but look, he could have not wanted to go down that road. Because there's people that are still going to be talking, I'm sure, but he could have not wanted to go, but look what he did, verse 24. Then Joseph, being raised up from sleep, dead as the angel of the Lord, had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son and called his name Jesus. So Joseph listens. Joseph hears the angel, he listens, he's good to go. He's just going to go and do what God wants him to do. So we have a man of good character here as well. So what I'm trying to get you to understand is God did a pretty decent job of picking, you know, the people that would take care of Jesus and raise Jesus, the right stewards for his entrance into this world. So we see Mary and Joseph, the story there, but I do want to go back now and just a little bit of application and see what we can figure out from this espousal. Because I want to point out some of the differences between the espousal of the Bible and the espousal of the children of Israel and what happens today and what we do today. And I want to point out some of the reasons that that worked and the reasons that we do the things that we do today and maybe why, you know, the things of the Bible are a little bit better than what we figured out today. Okay, so look, espousal versus dating and engagement is what I want to look at here. So why, why espousal? Espousal period would last sometimes as long as 12 months. It was considered marriage, number one, we saw that. And it was only broken off in cases of fornication. And when it was broken off, it was considered divorce. It was that serious, okay? So today, we have these engagements that people go and they get engaged for. And it seems to me, I don't know if it seems like this to anybody else, but the engagements today in our culture that we're living in in America, they're getting longer and longer and longer. And then even aside from engagements, we have this dating that goes on. And let me just say, both with dating and with engagements, not a fan of either. And I'm going to explain to you why, okay? You say, why? You say, what, you're against dating and you're against people getting engaged? Well, no, I'll explain that. But here's the thing, it's not ideal. It's not ideal, because it's not what happened in the Bible. Think about Israel. Let's look at this idea of espousal. Israel was a homogenous culture. They all believed the same thing. They were all generally, they were Israelites. They may have been not from the, I'm not talking race, I'm talking religion. I'm talking their culture, what they believed. They knew what everyone believed. They knew what everybody's morals were. They knew the cultures that everyone came from. You don't have any idea what you're getting if you meet somebody and you don't know where they came from, so you must date as a young person today. And after that, after you date, you have to have this nervous engagement period, which not only means nothing, but many times lasts forever. It's more of a failure period, from what I've seen. Or an appeasement period for a guy that doesn't really want to get married anyway. He just wants to appease his girlfriend that they've been dating for years or whatever. But in today's culture, first of all, let's talk about the world with dating and engagement. First of all, with the world, both dating and engagement are all wrapped up in fornication. And it is wicked as hell. It's all wrapped up in cohabitation, look folks, it's a mess. It's a mess out there. It's a mess when all this, I mean, who in the world would want that for their daughter? To go into this worldly dating and engagement culture that we're living in right now. And even, look, even in Baptist cultures, even in Baptist, Christian, Bible believing cultures, look, the dating, and there's proper ways to do it. There's proper ways to do it with chaperones and teenagers dating with, you know, teenagers you should not be alone together. You know, riding in cars together, going on dates together, that should not happen. But look, I'm still not a fan of it. You say why? Because it's not ideal. That's why. Dating, even in the Baptist culture, even in the Christian, properly run culture, dating is a pragmatic solution. It is not an ideal solution. It's a solution to just solve a problem. It's definitely not ideal. It's a way, it's pragmatic because you have to find out who the person is. You have to. You have to find out what their culture is. You've met some guy or you've met some girl, teenagers or young people. I mean, you have to know where they came from. I mean, you have to know how they were raised. You have to know what their character is. You have to know who their parents were, who their parents are. You have to meet their parents. Hey, who created this person that I might marry and spend the rest of my entire life with? And who will be integral in leading my family or raising my children as we talk about a lot here. But look, here's the thing. And as I've said before, eventually, eventually we all come to church together, eventually we will find out who all of you are. I will find out who all of you are. I mean, I have found out who most of you are over the last year and a half. But look, it takes time. It takes time to find out who people are. It takes time because we spend time together. So that's how we figure these things out. So what is the ideal situation? You say, okay, you know, you're not a fan of dating, but it's pragmatic and I understand the point of it. But are you saying, are you just going to state problems? Are you going to give any solutions up here this evening? You're just going to complain? But look, this is why you must have a church. This is why you must have a Bible preaching, Bible believing church. This, look, this is our Israel in that sense. This is our common culture. We know who we are. We know, you know who I am, you know who my family is, I know who you are, I know who your family is. So ideally, these kids would grow up together in this culture, in this Israel, of this church. These families would know each other. Imagine this. Look, I've hired people this way. I've hired people this way. Back in North Dakota, there's some guy applies for a job and we're like, who's this guy? And another guy in the room's like, I know his dad. Well, who's his dad? Oh, this guy, hire him. Happened all the time when I grew up. Who's his dad? This guy, don't hire him. Simple. This is how it should work. This is the ideal situation. This was the situation in Israel when you had the espousals. These kids would grow up friends. These kids wouldn't just meet each other, they'd grow up friends. They'd know who each other are. Turn to Exodus chapter 22. The kids would grow up friends and eventually, and guess what, eventually, guess who has a say? Guess who has a big say? Dad. Dad has a big piece of this pie right here. Exodus chapter 22. Look at verse number 16. The Bible says, and if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. So this is just giving an example. Look, this is the same situation as Deuteronomy chapter 22 in verse 28 when basically you have two people, two unmarried people that commit fornication together. They fornicate together and the Bible says they should get married unless dad vetoes it. Because the dad has the option to, the dad has say who his daughter marries. The Bible is super clear about that. And by the way, a lot of people, and you've got to have a King James Bible here too. Because in Deuteronomy chapter 28, there's two situations. One is, you know, he lay hold on a maid. That is not talking about a forced situation. How do I know? Because the verse right before it, verse 25, talks about a forced situation. It's two completely different situations. Oh, the Bible condones rape. No, it doesn't. The guy that forced, he's killed. He's executed. The Bible teaches capital punishment for someone who would force himself on a woman. Death penalty. It's talking about fornication. Exodus 22 and Deuteronomy chapter 22. But dad gets a say. Say, oh, somebody commits fornication, they have to get married. Well, not if dad says no. If dad says no, then that's it. There's a fine paid and it's done. So look, I mean, there should be no question, but this is the beauty of a common culture in a biblical church. Is that it should, this is the ideal case. Is that these kids would grow up from this big to, and we would know who they are. Dad would approve. They would, you know, have an espousal period. They wouldn't have to go date, you know, 10 people. I mean, why in the world would anyone ever want that? Even if there wasn't fornication involved. Why would you want that? I mean, no thanks. It's why you have to be involved in a good church, folks. You have to be. Get faithful. So you say, well, those of you with older children, you say, well, what about us? You know, maybe, here's the thing, maybe you're just gonna have to rely on the Lord to play some catch up for you. It's that simple. You should be praying for spouses for your children. I mean, my wife, I mean, she's nodding her head right now. I mean, my wife does this all the time, and she's constantly reminding me all the time. Look, it's on the top, I know it's on the top of her prayer list. She's constantly praying for spouses for our children. I focus heavy on the practical. I'm trying to get these boys ready. I'm trying to get this machine ready to be married. I'm trying to get these boys ready to be able to support a family and take, you know, but I need to pray too. And I'm glad she's there to remind me. Let's get this vehicle running right. I'm a practical fixer. Let's go to the mechanic shop and teach the mechanics how to fix your car. So like, look, the world's, let's just recap here. The world's philosophy, the world's philosophy, this dating, this meaningless engagement, all intertwined, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, all intertwined in cohabitation and fornication. I mean, look, it's completely normal today. It's completely normal today. Nobody even bats an eye about it anymore. It is wicked as hell. We should have nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 6, look at verse 18, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that comitteth fornication sinneth against his own body. The Bible, the Bible specifically points out this sin as worse than most other sins because you're sinning against yourself, your own flesh, your own body. I mean, look, and young people, fornication will destroy, will destroy your chances at having a successful marriage. I've said this before, I mean, because when you do get it right and get into a good church and you know, you're finally, you found that person, well, hey, you know, that person has to agree to marry you too. This isn't a, hey, come marry me, no, she has a choice. She has a choice and her dad has a choice. Her dad has a choice. Here's the thing, from this evening to this morning, and one of you mentioned this today, but you pretty much, if you were raised in the world in public school and you weren't raised in a good church, you pretty much have to look at everything that you've learned in the world and you pretty much have to do the opposite. You pretty much have to realize that everything that you've been taught is wrong. Everything that the world is teaching you is wrong. Get your family into and plugged into a good church where you can establish and live a culture that your kids can grow up in. Pray for their spouses. And you know what I believe? This is, and we're going to get crazy here. You know what I believe? You know what I believe? Get ready. Turn to Daniel chapter three. Turn to Daniel chapter three. Turn to Daniel chapter three. This is where Daniel, in Daniel chapter three, this is where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were supposed to worship a false god, and they wouldn't do it. Look at Daniel chapter three and verse number 17. Look at Daniel chapter three verse 17. The Bible says Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said this, they're going to be killed if they don't do this. And here's what they say, and I believe this, and I believe this, and I don't understand why more Bible-believing Christians, they may say they believe it, but they don't act like they believe it sometimes. But look what they said here in verse 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. Look what they say in verse 18. But if not, but if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. You know what they said? They said, you know what, our God is able to save us. Our God is able to do whatever he wants to do. But they didn't say he would do it. They didn't say he would do it. They said, you know what, we're not going to bow down. Our God is able to save us. We don't know if he will, but we're still not bowing down. And I believe that if you pray and you live an obedient life, and look, I'm not talking about salvation here. I'm talking about living a life that shows that you love the Lord. I believe God is able to make those prayers come true. I believe that God is able to do whatever. I believe if I raise children to love and serve the Lord, look, where's my base case? My base case is that my children get saved, and that they learn to love and serve the Lord after they get saved. But look, I believe, turn to Romans chapter 4. I believe that if I live an obedient life, that he will answer these prayers for us. Look, you don't want to be this guy, though. You don't want to be this guy that saved in Romans chapter 4. Let's look at this in Romans chapter 4. You've got two guys here. Romans chapter 4. Look at verse 4. The Bible's talking about two guys here. Romans 4, 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Here's a guy doing great works. He's out there doing great works, and he's going to come up short. This is talking about salvation here. He's going to come up short. He's going to come up with nothing but debt. But here's a guy, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. This guy is saved. How do I know? Because look at the rest of it. His faith is counted for righteousness. This guy is a jerk. This guy doesn't do good works, but he's saved. Look, you don't want to be a saved guy who's a jerk, who's living in a bad relationship with his Heavenly Father, and then trying to ask God to provide a spouse for your kids. It doesn't make you not saved. It makes you in a bad relationship with your Heavenly Father. This guy here, he's not doing the works. He's saved all the day long, but he's not doing the works. Look, I believe that if you're faithful, God will answer your prayers. I believe that these are good prayers. Lord, could you provide a God? I have these children, Lord. I've been serving in church. I've been soul winning, Lord. I've been consistent in my life. I've been, the word has lost me, but I've been faithful with my life, Lord, and I've raised these kids. These kids are saved. These kids are serving you. These kids love you. Lord, we need a spouse for them so they can continue to serve you. Are you kidding me? What kind of Heavenly Father do you think that you have if you don't think that that kind of prayer would be answered? So that's the answer if you're late to the game. That's the answer. I mean, look, God, shocker, God is able. God is able to do whatever he wants. That's what just kills me about this year. It kills me. I can't believe it. As people are just, they're just freaking out all the time about everything. Is God on the throne or not? I mean, Jesus sits on the right hand. Don't forget who's on the left. I mean, God the Father is on the throne, folks. I mean, he can do whatever he wants. And these are prayers. Look, these are prayers. God, you know, can I have a Porsche? You know, let me come. That's a stupid prayer. You know, God's not going to give you a Porsche because he doesn't want you to quit serving him. And you know, I mean, just, you know, God, can I, you know, have a billion dollars or whatever? I mean, these are stupid prayers. God, could I have a spouse for my children so they can continue to serve you? Can I have a faithful spouse provided? I mean, you watch miracles happen. But get right, get serving, get plugged in. And then ask. I mean, don't go ask for the keys to the car when you're a bratty kid. You know, get faithful. Get faithful. It's not about salvation, folks. It's just about being in good standing with your Heavenly Father, and he'll provide those things for you. So look, I'm not a fan of the way things go today. And I get, you know, the Christian dating scene, and it's pragmatic. It has to happen. I get it. I get it. It's not ideal. Because ideally, these kids would grow up together, and we would all know who each other are, and there would be an espousal and a marriage, and that would be it. Both dads, or the dad of the daughter would consent, and it, because he's like, yeah, I know that kid, and I know his dad. And that would, that's how that would go. That's the ideal situation, folks. So look, we see a lot of things that we can take from the Bible, we can take from this situation with Mary and Joseph. There is no cause for divorce today, you know, that's why you have to have a King James Bible. You get these other Bibles, and they'll say, you know, except for the cause, it doesn't say fornication, except for the cause of sexual immorality, I mean, are you kidding me? You divorced somebody for any reason then. You looked upon a woman, that's adultery, I mean, there you go. I mean, it's just, you must have the proper word of God sitting in front of you. You're just going to get all messed up on your doctrine. That's the Christmas story, folks. The first family, the shepherds, the wise men, great stories in the Bible, hopefully now you know more about Christmas than most people. Okay, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.