The Greatest UnSung Hero of the Bible !!!!!!!!!!

      If any of you out there have not seen the movie Courageous yet, I implore you to A) see if you can find a theatre that it is still playing in or B) Get the book that goes with the movie at your local christian bookstore or bookstore period for that matter and then get the movie and watch it the moment it comes out on DVD. This movie struck a cord with me about being the husband and father that God wants me, no commands me to be. I saw this movie before it came out in theatres at a pre screening and it really got me to thinking, what kind of father am I or have I been? What kind of Husband was or am I ? What kind of man am I ?So I decided to take a look through the scripture at the men that were in there, and see how I measured up, and to see if I could learn anything from them, and what I discovered is there is one man in the Bible, who gets very little time in the spotlight, and I do mean very little time. He is a man who is a true example of what a man of God should be. He is Man of Honor, a Man of Courage, a Man of Principle, a Man of Conviction. He was a Man of God above all other's I now believe. He is, in my opinion, the greatest unsung hero in the Bible. Who is this man you ask, well I will tell you his name can be referenced for the first time in Matthew 1:16 ,where the lineage of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, is laid out. For you see Jacob had a son named Joseph, who was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called Christ. 
    Then in Matthew 1:18-25 we learn that " This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."
       That's right, I am talkingg about Joseph. The husband of Mary. Earthly Father to Jesus. A simple Carpenter who was a direct descendant of Abraham through King David and on down to Joseph. I am talking about a man who played a very significant part in the development of the Church today, but a man who gets no credit when credit is due. We hear of men like Abraham, father of the nations. We hear of King David and his son Solomon. We hear of Noah and the ark. We hear of Peter and Paul, to great men in the history of the Church. But we do not hear very much of Joseph. Why is that. I believe it is because there is so much to write about our Lord and Saviour during his short life eon Earth, that Joseph got overlooked for content's sake. So why do I feel like Joseph is the greatest unsung hero of the Bible, and possibly of all time? well let me tell you.
   Joseph was a simple carpenter. He was engaged to a lovely young woman named Mary, and they were making plans I would assume, for their future together. How they would possibly live in a small place and save up some money to put down on that little house with a barn overlooking the city. How maybe that they would take a honeymoon to Rome and see the sights. Then one day BAM, life , the unexpected happens. His new bride tells him she is pregnant. Now Joseph is furious, yet curious. He knows it's not his child, because he and Mary have yet to consummate the marriage and "be" with each other. So who's is it? Now this is where we learn that Joseph is a Man of Honor. You see he had a choice to make, and not an easy one either.He had to decide, A) do I stay with her and raise another mans baby as my own and keep it to myself, or B) do I divorce her quietly so know one knows and neither one of us get hurt or humiliated?Do I walk away and let her deal with this on her own, I mean after all I didn't play a hand in this, or C) Do I have her stoned to death as our customs allow for in this situation? What do I do? Well before Joseph could make a decision on it, an Angel of the Lord came to him and said " hey dude, your wife, this child, this situation, is a fulfillment of Prophecy, the one that states that Behold a virgin shall give birth to a son and they will call his name Immanuel, which means God with us."So what does he do, well being a Man of Honor, he decides not to divorce her. He decides that as a Man of Courage he is going to take her home, regardless of what others might say or do. Being a man of Principle and Conviction, he does exactly as he is told to do by the Angel. He DECIDES that he is going to not only do what God wants him to do, he is going to do what God needs him to do, and that is to be a Father to the Child. Sure he could have done without the Earthly Father since he was/is the Son of God, Joseph was "chosen" by God because he was a "righteous" ma. We know this because in Verse 19 we see the writer states that Joseph was a Righteous man because he did not want to expose Mary to Public Disgrace.
          Now I don't know about you, but in my younger years if I had found out that the young lady I was in love with and had just married was carrying another mans child, I would have flipped out and went off the deep end. The wedding would have been off, the presents returned the tux cancelled, and I would have probably called her every nasty name in the book, especially around people that he rand I both knew. But Joseph, because of the customs of that time, said you know what she is going to suffer enough as it is, who am I to make it worse, let's just do this thing quietly, you go your way and I'll go mine and we'll be through, but God had other plans.
          You see God wanted Jesus to have an Earthly Father in my opinion that would mentor him. That would make sure he was grounded in scripture. That Jesus would always be taught the correct way, under the scripture and giving God all the glory. You see God wanted a righteous Father here on earth that would Be able to guide him in those tuff years of growth, and in Joseph he found this. I believe God looked down and saw in Joseph a man after his heart. A man who would not A) Not judge or condemn Mary for what was going on. B) A man who would make sure that Jesus studied the word of God daily and would put it into their heart. C) I believe he saw a man he was Proud of, just as he would be proud of his son. A man who would raise Jesus as God would raise him himself.
        This Christmas season I want every man out there to ask themselves,does my life as a father and husband mirror the life of Joseph? If the answer to that is no, then go to the Lord in prayer and just ask him, Lord  what do I need to do to be more of a dad, more of a father, like your earthly father Joseph was? Help me to be like him for My kids so that we might see this decline in fatherhood actually come to a stop so that we can become more like the men in the movie Courageous and be the fathers, husbands, brothers, etc. that God has called us to be.I know in my life I have had to make some tough decisions, and they have not all been easy, but the sign of a strong man in the Lord, as Joseph showed us, is how you deal with that disillusionment, or stress. Do you handle it in a worldly way, or do you handle it in a Christian manner?
        Joseph was a man who modeled his life after God, that is why Joseph was chosen to be the earthly father of Christ. We owe a ton of gratitude to Joseph my brothers and sisters, and one day we shall be able to tell him that by his sacrifice, we are all there in the throne room with God and no one, can take that away from you unless you let them.

   God bless you all and have a very blessed day and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you out there.

In Christ's Love,
   Bro Bill Roy