Keion Henderson - When You Don't Get What You Expected

I want to talk about this subject: when you don’t get what you expected. How many of you have ever been in a situation where you didn’t get what you expected? Touch three people on your way down to your seat and say, «It’s about to happen.» I think that the story of Jesus is so important that it should not be relegated to a specific portion of our calendar experience. That is to say, we should not wait until Christmas to talk about the miraculous conception. The entire tenet of our faith rests on the personality of the second part of the Godhead, which is the Son of God, known as Jesus Christ. Well, «Christ» is His title. In the Scripture, the Holy Ghost specifically says, «And His name shall be Emmanuel, God with us.» Well, how was He with us if He left us? I remember specifically when He was baptized in the river; His Father says, «This is my beloved Son, aged 30, in whom I am well pleased.» Three years later, we see Him, after the resurrection, ascending back to be at the right hand of the Father. So how is He there and here at the same time? Well, God has demarcated Himself into a trilogy we call the Trinity. God the Father is the creator and sustainer of the world. Jesus Christ, God the Son, is the payment for sin and is God in human flesh. This should not be mistaken for those who suggest that Jesus was just a man; for you must recognize that when He became man, He was still God. He didn’t have to stop being God to be man; He is the only being who was 100% God and 100% man at the same time. He was crucified; no man takes my life except I lay it down. So, He was not killed; He laid His life down. He leaves behind the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. That 's how He can claim that He’s with us because the Holy Spirit is with us. It is in Him that we move, it is in Him that we live, and it is in Him that we have our being. Does this make sense to you so far? So, the personality we’re speaking about is God the Son, who somehow wraps Himself in human flesh. He gives Himself X and Y chromosomes, skips through forty-two generations, impregnates a virgin named Mary, and somehow, as God, finds a way to be born. Divinity comes down the birth canal of humanity, making her holy because He’s inside of her. He is born of flesh, is then crucified afresh, and then sends Himself back to Himself, helping us recognize that He had already told us in Genesis, «Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.» For those who are surprised about the birth of Jesus, they must have picked up the story in the New Testament, because if you read Genesis chapter 3, He has already told humanity in the days of Adam and Eve, after the fall, " I will put enmity between thee and me, and I will send forth a seed.» Well, He was talking about Jesus-not Cain and Abel, for Jesus is the seed of Abraham. So, the birth of Jesus has been documented since Genesis; He has been on His way for 42 generations. He stops in the Virgin’s womb, picks a girl named Mary to impregnate, and every time I’ve covered this miracle, I’ve either covered it from the angle of the wise men or from the angle of Mary. But I’ve never covered it from Joseph’s side of the story. Joseph has a perspective, you know? It is incumbent upon us to realize that Joseph has gone through something and did not get what he expected. Joseph had been dating women all his life. You’ve got to understand that Joseph has grown in this text. Mary is the only baby; in those days, it was okay for a grown man to get a young woman. So, Joseph is a grown man. Joseph already has a job; he’s a carpenter. He’s already a worker. Notice that Joseph is a carpenter, and Jesus picks up the same trade; Jesus was a carpenter. Joseph didn’t get what he expected. He dated a girl in the Jerusalem Middle School, went over to Bethlehem High School, and didn’t get one. He wandered all over Jerusalem, dated all these girls, and decided, «You know what? I want me a young tender; I want me a sweet young thing; I want me a virgin.» So, he goes and gets a girl that’s 14 years old, who has never been touched, who nobody has been with, and he has that prerogative because that was his choice, and it was legal back then. He went and found him a young sister with potential; he found Mary. And he said, «Mary, you know what? I have searched all over and couldn’t find nobody, nobody greater than you. Mary, I’m asking you, can we be down like four flats on a Cadillac? Mary, I’m telling you your feet must be tired because you’ve been walking through my mind all day long.» Yes, Mary, I’m trying to holla. Do you hear me? Mary said, «Go ahead, Joseph. Tell it.» Joseph said, «Girl, we got a thing going on.» Y’all know what I’m talking about. He said, «I fell in love the first time I ever saw your face. Mary, Mary, Mary, did you know that we were made for each other?» Y’all know how we spit game. You know, we’re soul mates. «Mary, I know we don’t know each other yet, but we’re supposed to be together.»