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The Heart of Anna: Serving God Amidst Loss
Pastor Josh Massaro shares a poignant message centered around the life of Anna, a prophetess who recognized Jesus as the Messiah. Through Anna's story, he emphasizes the importance of maintaining faith and dedication to God amid life's challenges and losses. Despite her hardships as a widow, Anna chose to serve God with fasting and prayer, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to her faith. The sermon calls listeners to reflect on their own spiritual disciplines and the necessity of proclaiming the redemption found in Christ. As the Christmas season approaches, Pastor Josh encourages everyone to meditate on the gift of Jesus and to live out their faith actively, being distinct in a world that often stands in contrast to the teachings of Christ.
Pastor Josh begins the podcast by articulating the significance of traditions, particularly during the Christmas season, and how they serve as touchstones for family and community connections. He thoughtfully examines the differing emotional landscapes that accompany this time of year—while many revel in the joy of reuniting with loved ones, others grapple with the pain of loss and change. This dichotomy sets a poignant backdrop for a deeper spiritual exploration, one that draws from the biblical narrative of Anna, a prophetess who exemplifies faithfulness and perseverance in the face of adversity.
As the sermon unfolds, Pastor Josh paints a vivid picture of Anna's life, noting her lifelong dedication to God through fasting and prayer in the temple. After losing her husband, Anna chose to draw nearer to God rather than retreat into despair, showcasing a powerful testament to the sustaining strength of faith. Pastor Josh encourages listeners to reflect on their personal responses to life's challenges, urging them to consider how they can emulate Anna’s unwavering spirit of devotion. He posits that Anna's recognition of Jesus as the Messiah amidst a world that largely overlooked Him underscores the importance of being attuned to God's movements in our lives and in our communities.
The podcast culminates in a strong call to action for believers to boldly share the message of redemption and hope found in Jesus. Pastor Josh emphasizes that their faith must be vocalized through both deeds and words, challenging listeners to reflect on how they can embody this message in their everyday lives. The Christmas season serves as a catalyst for this call, reminding Christians that the joy of salvation is not merely for personal enjoyment but is a gift meant to be shared with others. By living out their faith authentically and proclaiming God’s truth, believers can illuminate the darkness around them, following Anna's example of faithful proclamation and service.
Takeaways:
- Traditions hold a special place in our hearts, and they can enhance our faith.
- Anna's dedication to God amidst loss serves as a powerful example for believers.
- Living a life focused on redemption means denying ungodliness and living righteously.
- True thankfulness for redemption should compel us to proclaim God’s truth to others.
- The spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and Bible study are essential for growth.
- Anna illustrates the importance of being in God's presence through faithful service.
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh:My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Pastor Josh:Now come along.
Pastor Josh:Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Pastor Josh:You know, traditions are a good thing.
Pastor Josh:Does anyone else have one before?
Pastor Josh:I.
Pastor Josh:Traditions are a good thing.
Pastor Josh:I.
Pastor Josh:I think that one.
Pastor Josh:One of the reasons that traditions are fun is because it might not be necessarily really unique or it might not even be something that other people find interesting, but they're special to us because we continue to do them, and it.
Pastor Josh:It holds a special place in our hearts.
Pastor Josh:And when you.
Pastor Josh:When you think about scripture and you think about, you know, different things that people did and how they reacted to things, you know, people reacted to Jesus in many different ways.
Pastor Josh:And, and it was a lot of times people reacted to Jesus with awe.
Pastor Josh:Many people reacted to Jesus with.
Pastor Josh:With anger.
Pastor Josh:Some people reacted with.
Pastor Josh:With Jesus in great joy.
Pastor Josh:And I think that's how sometimes at Christmas time, we, you know, different people have different perceptions of different things that happens.
Pastor Josh:And, you know, for many people, Christmas is a time of joy.
Pastor Josh:Many, many people, you know, they're looking all year towards Christmas, and maybe family's coming together.
Pastor Josh:This might be the one time the family gets together in the year.
Pastor Josh:And so there's great joy with that.
Pastor Josh:But, you know, for other people, Christmas time can be difficult, you know, when.
Pastor Josh:When certain elements of the life has changed.
Pastor Josh:Maybe a person has gone on to be with the Lord or maybe there was an instance around that Christmas season where there was a difficulty.
Pastor Josh:You know, sometimes people have a different perception.
Pastor Josh:And, And I think that that's important for us to understand as, as Christians, we can see the very same thing and have a different viewpoint on it than somebody else because of our experience.
Pastor Josh:And we're going to talk about an individual here this evening.
Pastor Josh:Her name is going to be Anna.
Pastor Josh:And Anna has a reaction to Jesus that really was unique.
Pastor Josh:There were really only a few people at this time frame that were recognizing Jesus as Messiah.
Pastor Josh:We know at this point the shepherds had recognized Jesus as Messiah.
Pastor Josh:We know that right before this, Simeon had recognized Jesus as Messiah.
Pastor Josh:You know, at this point, Mary and Joseph are certainly understanding not completely the implications of who Jesus is, but to some degree they're understanding this.
Pastor Josh:And we see Anna reacting in a very unique way here.
Pastor Josh:There's not a lot to be said about Anna in This passage.
Pastor Josh:And, you know, I.
Pastor Josh:I wonder sometimes in Scripture, sometimes I wonder why.
Pastor Josh:Why was this mentioned?
Pastor Josh:Why was this little snippet mentioned in Scripture?
Pastor Josh:And I think that if something's mentioned in Scripture, it's there for us for a reason.
Pastor Josh:It's there for us to learn.
Pastor Josh:It's there for us to maybe learn from a good example or a bad example so that we don't follow that path.
Pastor Josh:You know, there's some passages of scripture that are just descriptive, just describing something that happened so that we can tie that together with reality, so that we can tie it together with history.
Pastor Josh:So, so we know at this point in time, Jesus is born.
Pastor Josh:His parents take him to the temple.
Pastor Josh:And Simeon there, as we saw last week, followed the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Josh:So he was a man led by the Spirit.
Pastor Josh:He worships Jesus.
Pastor Josh:He.
Pastor Josh:He recognizes the truth of God's word.
Pastor Josh:And we see there in verse 29, he says, now the Lord, now, let us now serve and depart in peace according to Thy word.
Pastor Josh:So he's essentially saying, I have now seen my Savior.
Pastor Josh:I can depart in peace.
Pastor Josh:I can be done.
Pastor Josh:I fought the good fight.
Pastor Josh:I finished my course.
Pastor Josh:And so he says, the reason why, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel.
Pastor Josh:And so, really, in that passages of Scripture where Simeon is talking, we see a lot of really interesting points.
Pastor Josh:One point is that Jesus is not just coming for Israel, even though he came for his people.
Pastor Josh:He did come, as it says there, to lie in the light of the Gentiles.
Pastor Josh:And so we know that Jesus's message of the Gospel is for all.
Pastor Josh:And we see that Simeon is led by the Spirit to proclaim this truth.
Pastor Josh:But at the end of this, we see in verse 36, a new character come onto the scene.
Pastor Josh:And this is the individual named Anna.
Pastor Josh:And it says, and there was one Anna, a prophetess.
Pastor Josh:Now, if you see that, you might not understand, really.
Pastor Josh:I.
Pastor Josh:I don't understand the implications of what that phrase means.
Pastor Josh:We don't see a lot of that in Scripture, that phrase prophetess.
Pastor Josh:But it does kind of shine some light on us this morning as we looked into that word prophet or prophecy.
Pastor Josh:We believe many people, many biblical scholars believe that Anna was someone who was proclaiming the truth of God.
Pastor Josh:She was proclaiming the truth of God to those around her.
Pastor Josh:So she's only in a handful of women in the Bible that have the title of prophetess.
Pastor Josh:The others were Miriam in Exodus chapter 15, and Deborah in the book of Judges.
Pastor Josh:And, and we, we see that there are a few others in Scripture, in the book of Isaiah, I believe that there's one mentioned.
Pastor Josh:And, and so what does that mean?
Pastor Josh:Did that mean that she was holding the office of a pastor?
Pastor Josh:No, we just believe that she was someone who was there to proclaim the truth of God.
Pastor Josh:And it even is seen here as she proclaims the truth of God in this culmination of Jesus's birth.
Pastor Josh:And so it says that there was one Anna, a prophetess, a daughter of fuel, of the tribe of Asser.
Pastor Josh:She was of great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity.
Pastor Josh:And she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day.
Pastor Josh:There's a lot that we can learn from the life of Anna.
Pastor Josh:Right here we see that she was an elderly woman.
Pastor Josh:She had only been married for seven years.
Pastor Josh:And the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what happened, but we know that her husband passed away after that short amount of time.
Pastor Josh:And the Bible says that she remained a widow for the rest of her life.
Pastor Josh:Now, that might not jump off the page to you too much, but at that time frame, someone who was a widow was, was really the outcast of society.
Pastor Josh:She would not have had someone providing for her like the other women that were there.
Pastor Josh:And the Bible says that at that point in time, she made a decision.
Pastor Josh:And you know, that's an interesting decision because a lot of people have allowed heartache in their life to draw them away from God, to, to lead them away from God.
Pastor Josh:But Anna does not respond that way.
Pastor Josh:What does Anna do in the midst of loss?
Pastor Josh:She turns to God.
Pastor Josh:And it says here that after this happens, she departed not from the temple.
Pastor Josh:She wanted to be in the presence of God.
Pastor Josh:And I think that there's a lot that we can learn here from her life because no doubt the loss of her husband was not only an emotional loss, but it, but it was a, is a physical loss, a material loss.
Pastor Josh:She lost her security.
Pastor Josh:She lost probably her standing in society, unfair as that is.
Pastor Josh:And ultimately what happens here is that she could have allowed that to lead her to a place of going away from God, maybe even questioning God, getting to a point in her life where she was bitter, maybe even angry with God.
Pastor Josh:But instead, what does she do?
Pastor Josh:She clings to God in the midst of that loss.
Pastor Josh:She says, lord, I want to be with you.
Pastor Josh:I want to be in the temple.
Pastor Josh:I want to serve you.
Pastor Josh:And it says that she was there in the temple.
Pastor Josh:She departed not from the temple.
Pastor Josh:That shows her desire to be close to God.
Pastor Josh:But it says there more.
Pastor Josh:It says, but served God.
Pastor Josh:We spoke about that importance this morning about serving God with the proper motives.
Pastor Josh:Serving God in the midst of difficulty.
Pastor Josh:Instead of getting angry with God.
Pastor Josh:What did she do?
Pastor Josh:She served God.
Pastor Josh:And then it says that she served God with fasting and prayers.
Pastor Josh:And this shows dedication night and day.
Pastor Josh:This shows the time frame in which she did this.
Pastor Josh:It wasn't when it was convenient to her.
Pastor Josh:Now her faith had become her life.
Pastor Josh:This indicates that Anna was, Though she was elderly at this point, she was still busy serving the Lord.
Pastor Josh:And so she was busy serving the Lord.
Pastor Josh:But we also see here that she was looking, she was looking for hope.
Pastor Josh:Verse 30.
Pastor Josh:And she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord.
Pastor Josh:So very similar to Simeon.
Pastor Josh:She gives thanks to the Lord.
Pastor Josh:She, she's looking for opportunities to give thanks to the Lord.
Pastor Josh:You know, I think so many times in our life we miss opportunities to give thanks to God because we're so focused on the issues that are around us.
Pastor Josh:You know, if we just opened our eyes, I think we would be very, very, it would be very, very obvious for us to give God thanks for many things around.
Pastor Josh:And so here in this case, she's, she's ready.
Pastor Josh:And she comes in that instance and she gives thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Pastor Josh:And so she gives thanks to the Lord for this opportunity to see Jesus.
Pastor Josh:And it says that she spake of him to all of them that looked for redemption.
Pastor Josh:Now, what we know is that there are people at that time frame looking for redemption.
Pastor Josh:They were looking for someone to redeem them.
Pastor Josh:That word redemption means to be bought back.
Pastor Josh:And so people were looking for a redeemer.
Pastor Josh:And what she did is she recognized Jesus is the Redeemer.
Pastor Josh:Jesus is the one to bring this redemption.
Pastor Josh:And so what does she do?
Pastor Josh:She proclaims that to all the people who were looking.
Pastor Josh:That's a great example for us as believers.
Pastor Josh:We, we should be proclaiming the redemption of Jesus Christ in our life.
Pastor Josh:And I want to take you to a passage of Scripture that talks a little bit about that.
Pastor Josh:We're going to come back to Anna here in a few moments, but I want you to turn there to Titus, chapter two.
Pastor Josh:I, I, I was really pondering as I was studying the life of Anna.
Pastor Josh:One of the words that jumped off the page for me was that word redemption.
Pastor Josh:Redeemer what does that mean for us?
Pastor Josh:What?
Pastor Josh:What does that mean for us when we are trying to share our faith with other people?
Pastor Josh:Well, we're going to see here in this passage of Scripture in Titus chapter two, the opportunity to explain what redemption looks like and how we can live in light of that to those around us.
Pastor Josh:Let's look at Titus chapter 2, and we're going to look at verse number 11 says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
Pastor Josh:And so, in light of the grace of God, so.
Pastor Josh:So the same grace that Anna experienced all those years ago, the same grace that you experience in trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior and knowing his gift of grace in your life, that should bring us to a place that we should deny ungodliness, things that are not reflective of the word of God.
Pastor Josh:We should deny these worldly lusts.
Pastor Josh:We should live soberly.
Pastor Josh:We talked about that this morning.
Pastor Josh:Righteously and godly in this present world.
Pastor Josh:So the Bible says, to live a life focused on the redemption of God is a life to live differently in this world.
Pastor Josh:A life that lives in opposition to ungodliness, a life that lives in opposition to worldly lust.
Pastor Josh:A life that leads us to a place of sobriety.
Pastor Josh:Not just sobriety.
Pastor Josh:When it comes to alcohol, a lot of times we use that word, sobriety.
Pastor Josh:We think of, well, they're abstaining from alcohol.
Pastor Josh:No, it's more than that.
Pastor Josh:It's living a life unaffected by the cares and the whims and the sins of this world, to think seriously about the things of God, to live righteously, to live godly in this present world.
Pastor Josh:It's very easy for us to be swayed by this present world and not to be thinking about the redemption that God has extended in our life.
Pastor Josh:And I think that so many times we get our eyes off track of the true message and we get so clouded up with all these things of this world, and we do end up living lives of ungodliness, lives of worldly lust, lives that are not sober, lives that are not righteous, lives that are not godly in this present world.
Pastor Josh:And then he says, how do you get back to that?
Pastor Josh:How do you get back to living that life of sobriety?
Pastor Josh:How do you give.
Pastor Josh:How do you get back to living that life of godliness and that focus in the truth of redemption?
Pastor Josh:Well, it says, looking for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:It's looking to that culmination of it all one day, looking to the end, keeping our eyes fixed on those things which are eternal.
Pastor Josh:Colossians chapter three says, keep your eyes fixed on those things which are above.
Pastor Josh:And, and I would say that so much so that we must, we must be vigilant in living a life with that eternal perspective.
Pastor Josh:I know that's a phrase that we use quite frequently here.
Pastor Josh:But if you cannot allow yourself to live your life and, and think on and believe in those things which are eternal, we're going to be stuck.
Pastor Josh:And those things which are in the here and now.
Pastor Josh:Anna could have very easily, when she lived that life for those.
Pastor Josh:Those years, those years she's, you know, in her 80s, 90s years years old.
Pastor Josh:She's old at this point in time.
Pastor Josh:She has gone through a lot of stuff in her life, and she could have used a lot of different things to cause her to live like the world, cause her to live like the people there in Jerusalem.
Pastor Josh:But no, she says, I'm going to live differently.
Pastor Josh:I'm going to keep my eyes fixed on redemption.
Pastor Josh:I'm going to look to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:And that's.
Pastor Josh:We as Christians have to follow that same path, looking for that blessed hope.
Pastor Josh:You know, there's a lot of Christians that are walking around not looking toward redemption, not looking toward being restored, not looking forward to these things.
Pastor Josh:They're looking forward to tomorrow, they're looking forward to Friday night.
Pastor Josh:They're looking forward to that vacation.
Pastor Josh:They're looking forward to getting that bonus.
Pastor Josh:And our eyes are just fixed on the wrong things.
Pastor Josh:And so they said, look to Jesus, look to Jesus.
Pastor Josh:Here Paul is saying to Titus, if you want to live this life of difference, if you want to live this life focused on redemption, look to Jesus, verse 14, who gave Himself for us.
Pastor Josh:Folks, we can never get used to the gospel message.
Pastor Josh:Never become callous to the fact that Jesus gave his life for you.
Pastor Josh:Sometimes when we think about in the corporate sense, we kind of remove ourselves from the equation.
Pastor Josh:We say, yeah, God died.
Pastor Josh:You know, Jesus came and God died for the sins of the world.
Pastor Josh:But.
Pastor Josh:But yes, he did.
Pastor Josh:But he also came and gave his life for you.
Pastor Josh:And I think so many times we miss that connection.
Pastor Josh:So he gave himself for us that he might, here's our word for the night, redeem us from all iniquity.
Pastor Josh:It was God's plan for him to send his only begotten son so that we could be bought back with a price.
Pastor Josh:The Bible says That we are bought with a price to redeem us from iniquity, to live differently from the world.
Pastor Josh:Folks, the truth is, is that I think so many times, and I'm included in this, we recognize that we can't be sinless.
Pastor Josh:And so we just don't fight that battle against sin.
Pastor Josh:We say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm just human.
Pastor Josh:Aren't we all just human?
Pastor Josh:But the Bible does say here that we are on that path of living more righteously.
Pastor Josh:And it says that God has redeemed us from that sin.
Pastor Josh:The book of Romans is all about this fact that you were, before you were saved, a servant to sin.
Pastor Josh:You were in bondage, but now you have the freedom to choose the path of obedience.
Pastor Josh:You had the freedom to choose the path of the Spirit.
Pastor Josh:So he says that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, a different people, zealous of good works.
Pastor Josh:This is describing what a person who is set on the redemption of God.
Pastor Josh:This is what it looks like here.
Pastor Josh:It says that they are set on living a life differently from the world.
Pastor Josh:They're.
Pastor Josh:They're unique people.
Pastor Josh:They're not conformed to this world, but they're transformed, zealous of good works.
Pastor Josh:Now, the good works don't come before that because some people say, well, you got to start working hard for Jesus Christ, and then you'll understand all these blessings.
Pastor Josh:No, the blessings come in faith.
Pastor Josh:And then we see us zealous of good works.
Pastor Josh:And so what I would encourage you to think about is this.
Pastor Josh:To live a life focused on the redemption of God is a life focused on the eternal, a life focused on the gospel.
Pastor Josh:Now, Anna obviously didn't know all the implications of everything that was going to happen with Jesus, but she did know that he was the redemption, that he was the One who would be the Redeemer.
Pastor Josh:And so we go back and we look at Anna and we see that she proclaimed that to all the people that were around her, verse 38.
Pastor Josh:And she, coming in the instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord.
Pastor Josh:So it's the thankfulness in her heart for the Redeemer that allowed her to tell other people about the redemption in Jerusalem.
Pastor Josh:So I would challenge you to think about it this way.
Pastor Josh:It's the thankfulness of what God has done for us in our life that causes us to tell other people about Him.
Pastor Josh:Are we going to be willing to be so thankful for what God has done that we're willing to tell other people proclaiming the truth of God?
Pastor Josh:Are we willing to serve him night and day?
Pastor Josh:Are we willing to say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I want to be around Him.
Pastor Josh:I want to be in his presence.
Pastor Josh:I want to spend time with him in his word.
Pastor Josh:Now, I would tell you that a lot of people will say, well, I love the Lord.
Pastor Josh:I want to be around Him.
Pastor Josh:Well, how can we be around Him?
Pastor Josh:Well, I'm going to tell you that you're not going to get any closer to God by being in this building.
Pastor Josh:This building is not the temple.
Pastor Josh:Believe it or not, this is not the temple.
Pastor Josh:God.
Pastor Josh:God isn't in that.
Pastor Josh:I, I, There are some kids running up here today.
Pastor Josh:I was like, guys, you're not allowed to come back here.
Pastor Josh:We, we didn't stop them from coming back there because that's the holy of holies, okay?
Pastor Josh:It's not the holy of holies back there.
Pastor Josh:And so how can we be in the presence of God now?
Pastor Josh:Now, for Anna, she was living in a different time frame.
Pastor Josh:And so there was the temple and there was the presence of God.
Pastor Josh:And so there was that challenge for her to be close to the presence of God.
Pastor Josh:But for us today, it's not about being in a specific place now.
Pastor Josh:It's not about allowing ourselves to be in a sacred, holy cathedral.
Pastor Josh:The Bible actually says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Pastor Josh:And so you can have that access to God anywhere that you are.
Pastor Josh:So it's not about the location of your body.
Pastor Josh:It's about the location, if you will, of your heart, about where you stand before Him.
Pastor Josh:And so you say, I love God.
Pastor Josh:I want to be with Him.
Pastor Josh:How do we spend time with God?
Pastor Josh:We spend time.
Pastor Josh:And this is basic.
Pastor Josh:This is basic Christianity 101.
Pastor Josh:We spend time with God by reading His Word, by studying His Word, by communing with him in His Word.
Pastor Josh:Folks, if we love God, I'm going to tell you a statement.
Pastor Josh:And if you don't like this statement, you can throw tomatoes at me.
Pastor Josh:But the truth is, I think I can back this up in Scripture.
Pastor Josh:If you love God, you will love His Word, okay?
Pastor Josh:You might not be able to understand everything in His Word.
Pastor Josh:I, I don't understand everything here.
Pastor Josh:You might not be able to read it as much as you'd like to read it every single day, but there should be a desire to know His Word, to grow in it, to understand it, to meditate upon it.
Pastor Josh:Folks, I would encourage you not just to do your daily reading and walk away, but to dive deep into that.
Pastor Josh:What is there for me today?
Pastor Josh:What, what, what is God?
Pastor Josh:Saying to me in this passage of Scripture, folks, he wrote this so that you could learn.
Pastor Josh:He wrote this so that you could grow.
Pastor Josh:And so the way that you hear from him is through His Word.
Pastor Josh:You know, it would be nice if.
Pastor Josh:If we could get a phone call and he could tell us directly what he'd like us to do.
Pastor Josh:But that's not the way that God communicates with us.
Pastor Josh:The way that God communicates us is through primarily Scripture.
Pastor Josh:Now, he does speak to us through the conviction of the Spirit, but the conviction and the comfort of the Spirit will always be aligned with His Word.
Pastor Josh:And so I would say to you tonight, if you want to be that person, like Anna, that wants to commune with God, be in His Word, spend time in it, don't rush through it.
Pastor Josh:Alicia and I just went out for our anniversary to dinner.
Pastor Josh:And, you know, I'll be honest with you, sometimes when I'm out to dinner, I'm thinking about other things.
Pastor Josh:But I tried my best during that meal, during the anniversary to set my intention on her, right?
Pastor Josh:And, you know, we were able to have some good conversation.
Pastor Josh:Our parents are here to.
Pastor Josh:My parents are here to watch the kids.
Pastor Josh:And so we were able to go out and not have a lot of distractions, you know.
Pastor Josh:But would it have shown my love for her if I was like, all right, I got to get out of here.
Pastor Josh:We got an hour.
Pastor Josh:I got to get.
Pastor Josh:I got to get somewhere.
Pastor Josh:I got things on my mind that's going to indicate to her, like, hey, he loves something else more than me, right?
Pastor Josh:He's trying to get past this and trying to get through.
Pastor Josh:And so isn't that sometimes how we read the Bible, though?
Pastor Josh:Isn't that sometimes we're like, okay, we got to get stuff done today.
Pastor Josh:We got a busy day, so let me just get through this real quick.
Pastor Josh:I.
Pastor Josh:I think the challenge for us, obviously, we live busy lives, but to allow ourselves to spend more time in His Word and the, The.
Pastor Josh:The psalmist will put it, you know, this way, you know, to meditate on the Word day and night.
Pastor Josh:That's that idea of just being in it, spending time in it, and, And.
Pastor Josh:And then thinking about it throughout our day.
Pastor Josh:Um, so.
Pastor Josh:So His Word now, Now how do we speak to Him?
Pastor Josh:We speak to him through prayer.
Pastor Josh:Spending time in real prayer.
Pastor Josh:I think that's one way that we can commune with God.
Pastor Josh:There's many other ways.
Pastor Josh:Uh, we.
Pastor Josh:We even see Anna gives us the demonstration there.
Pastor Josh:She was there with fasting and prayers.
Pastor Josh:I would encourage you to do the same thing.
Pastor Josh:I would encourage you allow yourself to be so focused on God that you're not pulled away by other things.
Pastor Josh:You know, we.
Pastor Josh:We sometimes think of fasting when it comes to food, which it does in context.
Pastor Josh:That's what it's talking about there.
Pastor Josh:And, and this isn't a message on fasting.
Pastor Josh:I won't get there tonight.
Pastor Josh:Wouldn't have enough time.
Pastor Josh:But what I would say is that some of us might need to fast from other things as well in our life.
Pastor Josh:Just.
Pastor Josh:Just transparently.
Pastor Josh:Again, this thing that's standing before me with my notes on it can be a great tool for the Lord, but it also can be a great distraction.
Pastor Josh:And some of us can be scrolling on our phones and miss out on many things that God would have us to do in our lives.
Pastor Josh:And distractions can come from all different places.
Pastor Josh:And so.
Pastor Josh:So sometimes we need to remove things from our life so we can have our eyes set on the Lord.
Pastor Josh:Now, I don't think that fasting is something that you have to do to continue in on your salvation, but I think it would be something that we do recognize in our life as a need.
Pastor Josh:There's something that I need to get rid of in my life so that I can be more focused on the cause of the gospel.
Pastor Josh:That's what Anna was doing.
Pastor Josh:She was praying and she was fasting, and she was communing with God in this waiting period.
Pastor Josh:And you know what?
Pastor Josh:For, for many of us, those decades passing by, she might have been tempted to say, is this really worth it?
Pastor Josh:But we see a lifetime of faithfulness for some of us when the answer doesn't come right away.
Pastor Josh:For me, when God's answer doesn't come right away, I'm tempted to think, well, maybe he's not there.
Pastor Josh:Maybe I'm asking in the wrong way.
Pastor Josh:Maybe I'm asking for the wrong thing.
Pastor Josh:But let me tell you, sometimes God has us waiting.
Pastor Josh:And we see here, Anna waits a lifetime for this to come to pass.
Pastor Josh:And, and she continues on, staying faithful.
Pastor Josh:And so I would say in the midst of prayer, in the midst of Bible study, in the midst of service, have that godly patience in your life.
Pastor Josh:And that that word patience is sometimes a bad word for many people.
Pastor Josh:I don't want to pray for patience.
Pastor Josh:I don't want to have patience in my life because I don't want to be tested.
Pastor Josh:But I'm going to tell you that patience is a necessity in the spiritual life.
Pastor Josh:Patience isn't.
Pastor Josh:It's what we talk about this morning, the fruit of the Spirit.
Pastor Josh:It's One of the fruits of the spirit, right?
Pastor Josh:It's, it's.
Pastor Josh:It's the fruit of the spirit.
Pastor Josh:We have those things.
Pastor Josh:And so I would say that.
Pastor Josh:That patience is something that we should strive for in our life.
Pastor Josh:If God isn't doing what we expect him to do.
Pastor Josh:Patience, trust, allow yourself to say, you know what God, it's, it's, it's in your timing.
Pastor Josh:It's not my own timing.
Pastor Josh:And so we see Anna was, was faithful.
Pastor Josh:We see that Anna was committed.
Pastor Josh:We see Anna was a devout follower of Christ.
Pastor Josh:Not in her actions as much as her heart.
Pastor Josh:Her actions matched her heart.
Pastor Josh:The Bible is very clear to say that we are supposed to do things.
Pastor Josh:There's this phrase that I've been studying out a lot recently.
Pastor Josh:It's called the spiritual disciplines.
Pastor Josh:Now.
Pastor Josh:Now, the spiritual disciplines are things that we are to do in our life that the Bible tells us to do and that we are called to grow in.
Pastor Josh:So some examples of the spiritual disciplines, prayer, fasting, Bible study, service.
Pastor Josh:These are all things that don't necessarily come naturally to us, but we are to grow in because the Bible tells us now.
Pastor Josh:So what I would say is that.
Pastor Josh:Do spiritual disciplines make us more spiritual?
Pastor Josh:Does just reading your Bible make you any closer to God?
Pastor Josh:Well, not necessarily.
Pastor Josh:I know a lot of people that are unsaved that can read the Bible.
Pastor Josh:So reading the Bible in and of itself is not enough.
Pastor Josh:It's reading the Bible with the understanding that this is bringing me closer to God.
Pastor Josh:There's many people that pray, but they're praying in the flesh.
Pastor Josh:There's many people that read Scripture and they're reading in the flesh.
Pastor Josh:There's many people that serve, but they're serving in the flesh.
Pastor Josh:And so it's not so much that the spiritual disciplines is the end.
Pastor Josh:The spiritual disciplines is a means to get to the end.
Pastor Josh:It's a means to become more and more God, Godly, more and more Christlike.
Pastor Josh:And so the goal for a Christian is not to, you know, hey, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I just need to read my Bible two hours a day instead of three, or I need to read my Bible five hours a day instead of, you know, it's not about more, more, more.
Pastor Josh:It's about, I need God more.
Pastor Josh:And if God wants me to read more, I'm going to read more.
Pastor Josh:If God wants me to serve more, I'm going to serve more.
Pastor Josh:And so we see Anna's faithfulness here, and we see that she's willing to go through those spiritual disciplines.
Pastor Josh:Now, spiritual disciplines are difficult.
Pastor Josh:That's why they're called spiritual disciplines.
Pastor Josh:The world is pulling us away.
Pastor Josh:How many times have you tried to sit down and try to read the Bible?
Pastor Josh:And things happen, right?
Pastor Josh:Phone goes off, distractions happen.
Pastor Josh:Like the list goes on and on, right?
Pastor Josh:And, and so all these things can happen.
Pastor Josh:And I personally, I.
Pastor Josh:I firmly believe that, that Satan is at work even on Sunday mornings.
Pastor Josh:How many of you, if, if you don't believe that, how many of you try to get your children in the car and you're, you know, there are things happening, right?
Pastor Josh:There is a force that's against us to grow in our spiritual disciplines.
Pastor Josh:And, and what I would say is that's not a reason to stop.
Pastor Josh:That's a reason to push forward and to trust God even more.
Pastor Josh:And, and so what we can see here in the life of Anna is Anna was someone who was dedicated to God even in the midst of great loss.
Pastor Josh:She was faithful in service.
Pastor Josh:She was faithful in prayer.
Pastor Josh:She was faithful in fasting.
Pastor Josh:She was faithful in proclaiming the truth of God to other people around her.
Pastor Josh:And when she sees this come to pass, and I think verse 38 sums it all up, and so when she comes and she gives thanks to God for this opportunity to see Jesus, and then she has that thankfulness stir her heart to the place of proclaiming the truth to those in Jerusalem for redemption.
Pastor Josh:And so are we going to be the Christians that are excited about the redemption of God in our lives?
Pastor Josh:You've been bought with a price.
Pastor Josh:Think about what Jesus Christ has done for you.
Pastor Josh:Are you willing to say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I am going to live a life that is proclaiming, proclaiming God's redemption in my life.
Pastor Josh:Are we going to be those distinct, distinctly different people?
Pastor Josh:That's what it says in Titus chapter two, that we're different.
Pastor Josh:It doesn't mean so.
Pastor Josh:So the Bible speaks of us being a strange people, a peculiar people.
Pastor Josh:That's.
Pastor Josh:That doesn't mean that we're weird.
Pastor Josh:That doesn't mean that, like we try to be contrarian to the world.
Pastor Josh:It means that we live for Christ.
Pastor Josh:And us living for Christ makes us different from the ways of the world.
Pastor Josh:Folks, if you live for Jesus Christ in this world, you are going to stand out.
Pastor Josh:People are not going to like that.
Pastor Josh:Trust me.
Pastor Josh:Try raising your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord publicly.
Pastor Josh:People will balk at that.
Pastor Josh:People will say, I can't believe you.
Pastor Josh:Don't let your children do this.
Pastor Josh:I can't believe you.
Pastor Josh:Don't do this.
Pastor Josh:Right.
Pastor Josh:Just live differently.
Pastor Josh:People will see the difference.
Pastor Josh:And people will say, like you're talking about Brother Frank, you live differently in front of them.
Pastor Josh:It will make a difference.
Pastor Josh:Now, we don't just live by deed.
Pastor Josh:We live by word and deed.
Pastor Josh:So it's sometimes not enough just to live differently, because people might say there's something different about those people.
Pastor Josh:But why?
Pastor Josh:So it's living differently and then connecting that to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:And that's.
Pastor Josh:That's the sharing of the Gospel.
Pastor Josh:So I live differently so people can see the change, so that people can see Christ in me.
Pastor Josh:But then I proclaim the truth of God.
Pastor Josh:So my talk and my walk match up.
Pastor Josh:Because there's some people that proclaim the truth of God, but their walk is not anywhere close to that.
Pastor Josh:And so someone goes, well, you say Jesus, but you're not living Jesus.
Pastor Josh:You say faithfulness, but you're not faithful over here.
Pastor Josh:You say you live by the Word, but your life doesn't match with that.
Pastor Josh:So there are people who talk it, but they don't walk it.
Pastor Josh:And then there's other people that live differently, but they say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:My.
Pastor Josh:My actions speak louder than words.
Pastor Josh:And I think that is true.
Pastor Josh:But.
Pastor Josh:But the Bible does say, this is not.
Pastor Josh:Pastor Josh.
Pastor Josh:It says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Pastor Josh:It's connecting our different actions to the why behind it, our word behind it.
Pastor Josh:If someone comes up to me, okay, let's say, you know, Pastor Josh, why don't you do this?
Pastor Josh:We're at a party.
Pastor Josh:Why aren't you joining in with us and all this?
Pastor Josh:And we.
Pastor Josh:And I go, well, you know, it's just not good for my health.
Pastor Josh:I'm trying to.
Pastor Josh:Trying to be different.
Pastor Josh:You know, I'm just.
Pastor Josh:I'm can't touch this stuff, whatever.
Pastor Josh:Right.
Pastor Josh:Is that really explaining my personal conviction?
Pastor Josh:No.
Pastor Josh:My personal conviction is, no.
Pastor Josh:I believe biblically that I cannot do this.
Pastor Josh:Right.
Pastor Josh:It's sharing the truth of God, and it's connecting the difference to the source of the difference.
Pastor Josh:And so being different is fantastic.
Pastor Josh:We should be different, but we should also connect that with the proclamation.
Pastor Josh:So in Word.
Pastor Josh:And indeed, we live our lives for Christ.
Pastor Josh:And I believe that's what Anna did.
Pastor Josh:Anna proclaimed the Word, but she lived differently.
Pastor Josh:She lived in the temple.
Pastor Josh:She was faithful in her fasting.
Pastor Josh:She was faithful to her prayers.
Pastor Josh:And so what I would say is this, as a Christian, it's being faithful to God in those actions and in our proclamations.
Pastor Josh:Now, are all of us called to preach the gospel?
Pastor Josh:Publicly?
Pastor Josh:No, but all of us are Called to preach the gospel by the way that we live our lives and by what we say and by what we do.
Pastor Josh:And folks, I can tell you I have failed on that.
Pastor Josh:I have failed in many ways on that.
Pastor Josh:Because as a pastor, for me, it's a lot easier for me to get behind a pulpit and preach something in scripture, but it's a lot harder for me to practice that when someone does something wrong to me in public, right?
Pastor Josh:I'm out at the store and someone mistreats me, okay?
Pastor Josh:Am I going to proclaim Jesus Christ in that situation?
Pastor Josh:Am I going to live soberly, righteously, godly in those situations?
Pastor Josh:I don't think most of you that are here tonight and most of you that are watching online are tempted to lose your testimony while you're in church.
Pastor Josh:Most of you aren't.
Pastor Josh:Sometimes that might be a temptation for you, but most of you have enough self control, say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm not going to cause a ton of issues here at church, okay?
Pastor Josh:But sometimes we're tempted to live a different way here than we do out in the world.
Pastor Josh:I, I've been tempted.
Pastor Josh:I, I, I've been challenged by this when I'm dealing with our children, like, hey guys, you can't do that at church.
Pastor Josh:Instead of saying that, why don't I say, you can't do that anywhere.
Pastor Josh:You can't do that at church.
Pastor Josh:You shouldn't do that in your school.
Pastor Josh:You shouldn't do that in our house.
Pastor Josh:And so it's that idea of connecting the lifestyle that, that you see that Anna was not a person who was like a Sunday morning, only Christian.
Pastor Josh:It wouldn't have been Sunday morning for her.
Pastor Josh:It would have been the Sabbath day.
Pastor Josh:But she wasn't someone that was coming once a week and just saying, oh, I'm going to do my due diligence today, I'm gonna, no, it was her life.
Pastor Josh:Now, I'm not saying that you need to come to church every day of your life.
Pastor Josh:What I'm saying is that you should live that relationship that you have with Christ out every day of your life and not just a Sunday morning.
Pastor Josh:And so the challenge for us is to say, you know what, am I going to live like Anna and give my life to Christ?
Pastor Josh:Am I willing to say that I want to be in his presence at all points in my day?
Pastor Josh:All points of my life should point back to Jesus Christ.
Pastor Josh:And so this is exciting for Anna.
Pastor Josh:She sees her savior face to face.
Pastor Josh:You have experienced Jesus in your life.
Pastor Josh:The question is, are we going to let that change us for the cause of the gospel?
Pastor Josh:Or are we going to allow that to just let us stay unfazed, stay the same, be like the world, just like that.
Pastor Josh:Titus 2 passage says, to be different, to live soberly, to live righteously.
Pastor Josh:In this present world we live.
Pastor Josh:We can't get out of the world that we live in.
Pastor Josh:I think there's a lot of people that will say, you know what?
Pastor Josh:If we could just live in this Christian utopia and create all of, like, hey, everybody's Christian around us, we're not going to have any issues.
Pastor Josh:Well, if that was the case, no church would ever have an issue.
Pastor Josh:But the problem is, is that churches still have issues.
Pastor Josh:Why?
Pastor Josh:Because we're made up of human beings and we still have sin in our lives, and so we cannot get out of the world that we live in.
Pastor Josh:And I will even challenge you to say this.
Pastor Josh:There are going to be people that live in this world that.
Pastor Josh:That are unsaved, that are going to act.
Pastor Josh:Believe it or not, an unsaved person is going to act like an unsaved person.
Pastor Josh:A person characterized by their sin is going to live out their sin.
Pastor Josh:We can't expect an unsaved person to live like Christ because it's just impossible.
Pastor Josh:So what we say is this.
Pastor Josh:We don't try to avoid all of the evil in the world and say, okay, let's go ahead and just hedge ourselves in and never be exposed to evil in this world.
Pastor Josh:What we do is we infiltrate, we go after it.
Pastor Josh:We as Christians say, how can we publicly influence people for the cause of the gospel instead of trying to hide in our little shells and going, well, if someone finds out I'm a Christian, maybe they'll get mad at me.
Pastor Josh:No, we proclaim it to the world.
Pastor Josh:And I think what happens is, for many Christians is that we're afraid to actually proclaim what we believe because someone might judge us.
Pastor Josh:But I've said this before.
Pastor Josh:The.
Pastor Josh:The opposition, the.
Pastor Josh:The side of evil has no shame in producing and providing what they believe to us.
Pastor Josh:And so I would challenge us, like I believe Anna was.
Pastor Josh:Was willing to do, is to proclaim the truth of God to a world that is evil, that is dark.
Pastor Josh:Because how do we get rid of darkness?
Pastor Josh:What's scientifically, how do you get rid of darkness?
Pastor Josh:Light.
Pastor Josh:Darkness is the absence of light.
Pastor Josh:And so we shine the light into the dark world so that these people can make decisions for the gospel, for the cause of Christ, and so that we can see hearts changed, hearts change, then their minds change.
Pastor Josh:We can't change their minds without changing their hearts.
Pastor Josh:And so what I would encourage you to think about as a Christian and as hopefully someone like Anna, that you are willing to proclaim that, to speak of him to all them that looked for redemption.
Pastor Josh:Now, some people probably rejected what she said.
Pastor Josh:It's because it says here all them that looked for redemption.
Pastor Josh:Some people aren't looking for redemption.
Pastor Josh:So they probably weren't really interested in what Anna was saying.
Pastor Josh:But what I will say is speak to people.
Pastor Josh:It's not your job to see who's receptive and who's not receptive.
Pastor Josh:It's your job.
Pastor Josh:It's my job to proclaim the truth of God to people around us.
Pastor Josh:You know what?
Pastor Josh:There are some times that talking to somebody and I can realize if they're interested.
Pastor Josh:And there's times, other times where I'm talking to someone, I'm like, they're, they're a million miles away.
Pastor Josh:I've lost them.
Pastor Josh:Okay?
Pastor Josh:And I think that sometimes we, we worry about that when we're preaching the truth and we're proclaiming the truth.
Pastor Josh:Does this person really want to hear this?
Pastor Josh:It's not really our job to decide whether or not they want to hear it.
Pastor Josh:It's, it's something that they need to hear.
Pastor Josh:Right?
Pastor Josh:And so I, I, I don't think that it's something that we all have to do 247 by getting out on the street and preaching.
Pastor Josh:But what I will say is that, like Anna, she proclaimed it to all those around her.
Pastor Josh:And I think that we should proclaim Jesus in this world.
Pastor Josh:So that is Anna.
Pastor Josh:I think that there's a lot more that we could learn about her if we knew her more.
Pastor Josh:But that's all we have in scripture, and I know that.
Pastor Josh:Certainly I would like to know more about Anna.
Pastor Josh:I would, but there's a lot of individuals in scripture I would like to know more about.
Pastor Josh:But God, for his wisdom, only gave us what we need to know from these folks's life.
Pastor Josh:But when I get to heaven, there will, I don't know, I don't know how true this is.
Pastor Josh:I've always said that when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask questions.
Pastor Josh:I don't know if I'm gonna do that or not.
Pastor Josh:Right now.
Pastor Josh:In my mindset, I will, but things might change when I get there.
Pastor Josh:But there are certain individuals that I want to go know more about.
Pastor Josh:I, I, I, I want to go and, and ask Anna, hey, how, how, how were those years?
Pastor Josh:You know, that you're in the temple and sometimes These folks can get just glossed over in the Christmas story.
Pastor Josh:And so that's why I wanted to take some time for those two weeks to talk about Simeon and Anna.
Pastor Josh:I think that they are there for a reason for us to learn from.
Pastor Josh:And I think that there's a lot that we can model in our lives after them.
Pastor Josh:So, hey, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I know it's the Christmas season.
Pastor Josh:I know that you're busy, you know, and I think there's a common theme with people that I talk to these days.
Pastor Josh:For the most part, we're busy.
Pastor Josh:We're busy people.
Pastor Josh:It's not just Christmas time.
Pastor Josh:Like, after Christmas, we're like, hey, it's New Year.
Pastor Josh:And then, you know, it's getting to this time.
Pastor Josh:It's like we live in a society that is.
Pastor Josh:Is we fill ourselves with busyness.
Pastor Josh:And.
Pastor Josh:And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
Pastor Josh:But if the problem comes where we're so busy that we can't spend time with God, that's a big issue.
Pastor Josh:We gotta.
Pastor Josh:We gotta recognize that.
Pastor Josh:I have to recognize that there have been times in my life where I've been so busy that I'm like, I.
Pastor Josh:I put my spiritual disciplines on, like, hey, a checklist.
Pastor Josh:I gotta get this done today.
Pastor Josh:I gotta put it.
Pastor Josh:If.
Pastor Josh:If I have to put.
Pastor Josh:I mean, here's the thing.
Pastor Josh:Practically speaking, yes, put your Bible time and your prayer time on a calendar.
Pastor Josh:But if you have to put your prayer time and your Bible time on a calendar, it might.
Pastor Josh:It might be time for you to inspect and say, am I too busy for Jesus right now?
Pastor Josh:Because you know what?
Pastor Josh:If I had to say, okay, Alicia, let me.
Pastor Josh:I'm really busy.
Pastor Josh:What day of the week can.
Pastor Josh:You know, and then maybe some of you would appreciate that, hey, maybe there's a calendar there.
Pastor Josh:That's a good thing.
Pastor Josh:But.
Pastor Josh:But if we.
Pastor Josh:If we delegate, if.
Pastor Josh:If we put Jesus as a.
Pastor Josh:As a mark on our calendar, we've.
Pastor Josh:We've missed.
Pastor Josh:I think the point.
Pastor Josh:I think we missed the fact that Jesus wants everything from us.
Pastor Josh:He wants our heart.
Pastor Josh:Now.
Pastor Josh:It's a good place to start.
Pastor Josh:Because if you're so busy and you're like, I don't have any time in my day for Jesus.
Pastor Josh:Mark out some time for it.
Pastor Josh:Put it.
Pastor Josh:Put a specific time in a place.
Pastor Josh:And so, so, so don't.
Pastor Josh:Don't hear me wrong.
Pastor Josh:I'm not saying don't schedule a time, but what I'm saying is, is that if we're so busy that we have to say well, I'll give Jesus five minutes today.
Pastor Josh:My calendar, that's.
Pastor Josh:That might be an issue because I would encourage you, you can, you can talk to Jesus anywhere.
Pastor Josh:You can talk to the Lord anywhere.
Pastor Josh:Some of the best convers, conversations, prayers that I've had with the Lord have been in unorthodox places.
Pastor Josh:I'm just going to tell you that they haven't always been on the steps right here or in my office or in my prayer closet sometimes.
Pastor Josh:Some of, some of my realest conversations with the Lord have been in a vehicle on a long trip.
Pastor Josh:And I, I'm going to tell you, I didn't close my eyes while I was driving, but I.
Pastor Josh:But I've just been in the car by myself.
Pastor Josh:And I said, lord, you know what?
Pastor Josh:I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna talk to you today and I'm just gonna take this whole long drive to talk to you.
Pastor Josh:And it was a wonderful time.
Pastor Josh:And I think so many times we think of prayer not as that.
Pastor Josh:We think of prayer as this formal thing that we have to do in a certain way for a certain amount of time.
Pastor Josh:But what does the Bible say about prayer?
Pastor Josh:That we should pray without ceasing should be our lifestyle.
Pastor Josh:And I encourage you to think about what that means for you.
Pastor Josh:That means to continue in that prayer life constantly.
Pastor Josh:And so I would, I would, I would.
Pastor Josh: ging myself with that here in: Pastor Josh:I don't want it to be relegated to, to a moment of the day, but that it's my life.
Pastor Josh:And so I encourage you to be challenged with that.
Pastor Josh:Well, we're coming to the Christmas season here.
Pastor Josh:Now.
Pastor Josh:I will say that this Tuesday we're going to be over at Lighthouse.
Pastor Josh:I would encourage you to be there if you can.
Pastor Josh:I'm going to be preaching a message from Romans, chapter five, Lord willing, about the free gift of grace and how that is a wonderful gift, much better, infinitely better than the gift of the world.
Pastor Josh:We had one individual named Adam.
Pastor Josh:Adam brought us the great gift of sin in our life.
Pastor Josh:That's not a good gift.
Pastor Josh:Okay.
Pastor Josh:It says, by one man sin entered the world.
Pastor Josh:But there was a second Adam in Jesus Christ who by his one gift of sacrifice cleansed us from all of our sin.
Pastor Josh:And so that's an awesome picture to see the contrast between the world and what Christ brings us.
Pastor Josh:And there's a lot of things that the world brings us.
Pastor Josh:Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.
Pastor Josh:But what does the Lord bring us The Lord brings us salvation, forgiveness, eternal life.
Pastor Josh:And so we're going to look at the contrast between the gift of God and the gift of the world.
Pastor Josh:And hopefully by the end of the night, none of us want the gift of this world because it's not a.
Pastor Josh:It's not a great gift.
Pastor Josh:So we're going to go ahead and close with a word of prayer, and then I'll have announcements and it will be dismissed.
Pastor Josh:Lord, I thank you for this time.
Pastor Josh:Thank you for this opportunity to study your word tonight.
Pastor Josh:Thank you for the life of Anna and Simeon, Lord, and their wonderful testimony of looking towards a Savior and celebrating the Savior and proclaiming the Savior to the world.
Pastor Josh:Lord, thank you for the redemption that you've extended to us.
Pastor Josh:Lord, we're thankful for the opportunity to serve you and to love you and to be growing in those spiritual disciplines that you've called us to grow in.
Pastor Josh:Lord, I pray that you be with all these families in the Christmas season.
Pastor Josh:Lord, help us to take a few moments out in our day this week to just meditate, to ponder upon the gift of your son.
Pastor Josh:And so, Lord, I thank you for your love and your grace.
Pastor Josh:Keep us safe as we go our separate ways tonight.
Pastor Josh:In Jesus name I pray.
Pastor Josh:Amen.
Pastor Josh:All right, thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Pastor Josh:I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Pastor Josh:You.
Pastor Josh:If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Pastor Josh:You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.
Pastor Josh:Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh:God bless.
Pastor Josh:Have a wonderful day.
