Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now, come along.
Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
All right, we'll go ahead and get into our study here this evening.
If you have your Bibles, turn to that classic passage in the book
of Luke, Luke chapter two.
We're going to take a break.
Thank you, buddy.
We're going to take a break from the Book of Acts here until
the end of the year.
And once we turn over our calendars into 25, we'll pick up
in Acts chapter 17.
I.
I do know that Acts chapter 17 is one of my favorite passages of
scripture.
It speaks of the Bereans, and it talks about searching the Scriptures
and, and thinking biblically, and I'm looking forward to getting
to that.
But here in the Christmas season, I do want to talk about some
things that are important surrounding Jesus's birth.
And, you know, as a pastor, sometimes the challenge is to tell
that story over again and tell it anew.
And I guess we don't need to tell it a new way because it's the
greatest story ever told.
But sometimes I think it's important to look at different elements
of the story.
We do know that Jesus was born in a manger.
We do know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
We do know they traveled from where they were at there in Nazareth
and moved to Bethlehem and all that transpired, the angels, the
shepherds, all that came to pass.
But I do want to talk about a few individuals that encountered
Jesus right after his birth.
And we're going to talk about two individuals, one named Simeon
and one named Anna.
Now, this morning, I was very optimistic by saying we're going
to talk about both Simeon and Anna.
And as I was praying about it this afternoon, thinking about, I'm
like, you know what?
We're going to break this into two parts.
And so this week we're going to try to cover Simeon as much as
we can.
And next week we will finish Simeon if we need to, and look at
Anna and look at these two characters in Scripture, and I'm
careful to call them characters because we didn't know
these are real people in a real place.
And so here In Luke chapter two, we're going to start in verse
21 to set the scene, and then we're going to look at this fellow
named Simeon and his response to Jesus.
Verse 21 says, and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising
of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named
of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
And when the days of her purification according to the law
of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to
present him to the Lord.
So this would have been customary for them to do verse 23.
As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth
the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord.
And to offer sacrifice according to that which is said in
the law of the Lord.
A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
And so we see Mary, Joseph and Jesus traveling to Jerusalem, to
the temple here, for this process that has been laid out to
them in the law of the Lord.
And we're going to see this fellow named Simeon.
We're going to see Simeon's interaction with Mary, Joseph, and
specifically Jesus.
And I think there are some things that we can learn from the
life of Simeon.
I've entitled this the Snapshot of the Servant Simeon.
And we don't get a lot of Simeon's life here.
We only get a snapshot of who he was and what he did and what he
believed.
But I think that we can learn a lot from this passage of scripture.
So verse 25 says, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose
name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout.
So the Bible tells us what his testimony was.
And this is important to know in his life what his testimony was.
He was a just man or a righteous man.
He was devout.
He was dedicated to the Lord.
I was having a conversation with someone recently.
I said, you know, it's one thing to say something about yourself.
It's another thing to hear what people have to say about you.
I can say all I want about myself, but really my testimony is
what other people say about me.
My character is what I do when no one's watching.
But my testimony is what people see and what they say about
you.
Now, we don't live a life so that people will praise us, but the
truth is, is that people are going to observe us.
And the observation here in the life of Simeon was that he was
a man that was just.
He was a man that loved God's righteousness.
He was a man who was devout.
And we see what he was doing in his life.
He was waiting, as it says here, for the consolation of Israel.
Now, that's an interesting phrase there, that word Consolation
could also be understood as comfort, the comfort of Israel.
And so Simeon was looking towards the Messiah to come.
He was looking forward to Jesus coming now.
Again, he didn't know how this was all going to play out, but he
was looking forward to a Messiah.
He was looking forward to the one who was going to bring peace
and comfort to his people.
And so he was longing to see his Savior.
And I think that's important for us to understand in our lives.
Do we long to see that comfort in our lives?
Do we long to see the return of Christ?
And so he says, he was waiting for the consolation of Israel and
the Holy Ghost was upon him.
So we see a man who was longing for his Savior, but we also
see a man that was guided by the Spirit.
We can't undersell the importance of being guided by the
Spirit in our lives.
There's a lot of things that can make us change past.
There's a lot of things that can make us make decisions in our
life.
But I can.
I can tell you, biblically speaking, the only thing that's going
to steer us in the right direction is the guidance of the
Holy Spirit.
And I would tell you that there's nothing better than walking
in stride with the obedience to the Spirit.
And I hope that you as a believer understand that conviction,
that comfort, that guidance.
Now, sometimes God doesn't speak in miraculous things in the
sky to tell us, don't go here.
Or, you know, he doesn't speak with a loud voice over here.
Sometimes it's that still small voice.
It's that comfort of the Spirit.
It's that circumstance that God has put in our path.
But what we see here is that the Holy Ghost was upon him.
He was led by the Spirit, verse 26.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost.
So the Holy Ghost was speaking to him.
The Holy Ghost said to him that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord Christ.
And so he comes to the temple, led by the Spirit, knowing that the
Spirit has promised him that he would not pass until he sees the
Messiah, till he sees the Lord.
The Christian verse 27.
And he came by the Spirit to the temple.
He wasn't led by rumors.
He wasn't led by just a whim, his gut feeling.
No, he was led by the Spirit to come to the temple.
So not only is he sensitive to the Spirit's voice in his life, but
he's also obedient to the Spirit.
And I think that's one thing for us as Christians to understand.
It's One thing to be.
To be touched by the spirit, for the spirit to either convict
us or comfort us or teach us something.
It's another thing to be obedient to the spirit.
I know that in my life I've asked the Lord to give me clarity,
and he's given me clarity.
But I didn't want to go that path that he was leading me.
Okay, Lord, I'll give you an example.
Lord, what should I say to this person?
Lord, you know, I need to guide this person.
The Lord very clearly tells me what I should say.
And I said, but, Lord, I don't want to say that they might get upset
with me.
And so the truth is, it's one step to be sensitive to the Word
of God.
It's one thing to be sensitive to the guidance of the Spirit.
It's another thing to be obedient to the Spirit.
You'll go unto the Word of God.
And so we see that Simeon was obedient to the Spirit.
It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not
see death and verse 27, so that he should go to the temple.
And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him
after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and
blessed God and said, lord, now let us thou thy servant, depart
in peace according to Thy Word.
And so Simeon's prophecy was filled with love for his Savior.
And he didn't even know Jesus.
This is his first time seeing him, but this isn't his first time
communion with God.
We see a man who is devout, and this is that moment of culmination.
This is the moment where God keeps His word.
And that's that moment of fruit.
Now there's going to be times in our life where we don't always
see that fruit.
There's going to be times in our life where we might not see the
end.
This is the end for Simeon.
He understands this is what my life's all about.
Seeing my Savior.
He takes him up in his arms, and so he expresses his love to the
Lord.
But we also see that he expresses the love of God through
the obedience to the Word.
What does he say here?
He says, according to your Word.
He recognizes that this was a promise of God in accordance to His
Word.
Folks, to be a servant like Simeon, we have to trust God.
We have to be guided by the Spirit.
We have to be longing to see our Savior.
And then what we see here is we have to be obedient to His Word.
We have to cling to the Word.
We have to cling to the promises.
First Peter and Second Peter talk about these great promises,
that we have a more sure word of prophecy, that this thing that
we have in front of us, this Bible is more than just a guidebook.
It's more than just a list of rules.
This is God's Word to us.
And so we should say everything is according to His Word.
The decisions that we make according to your Word, the hope
that we have according to the Word.
And so Simeon is a man who is committed to the Word of God.
He's committed to the obedience to the Word of God.
He's committed to his Savior.
Folks, I'm going to stay here this evening.
And I don't think this is a big stretch.
If we are committed to God, we are committed to His Word.
If we are committed to God in our love for him, we love His Word.
There's no getting around that.
Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Where do we find his commandments in His Word?
The Bible says very clearly that we must understand that God
has not just called us to live a life of the mundane, the apathetic.
No, he's called us to live a life different and separated for
the cause of the Gospel.
And the way that we can do that is by living this book out in
our lives.
I was having a conversation with someone.
I forget who it was recently, but I remember what I said.
I said, you know what?
There are some things in scriptures that I struggle with.
Believe it or not.
I think it was Brother Dan.
All right, it was Brother Dan.
I saw it was Brother Dan.
There's things that I struggle with in the Bible.
But you know what?
It's not my job to say, you know what, I agree with this, or
I don't agree with this.
It's the word of God says this.
I have to believe it.
I'm not the one that came up with this.
If I came up with the Word of God, I would probably change a few
things, because the truth is, is that my flesh clings to other
things.
But what the Bible says is this is wrong.
And so when we're standing for things that are true in this world,
people might say, you know what?
That's your opinion, or you're bigoted, or that that's hateful.
The truth is, is that Scripture tells us what it says.
And what we have to do is we have to live our lives by Scripture.
Because if we don't live our lives by Scripture, what are we going
to live our lives by?
Well, we're going to live our lives by the whims of this world.
We're going to live our lives by the culture.
Now, 50 years ago, our culture was much different.
Some of you that can remember, 50 years ago, America was much different.
Right?
What was the norm was much different.
You know, Christmas was all about Jesus.
Nowadays you walk around, what's Christmas all about?
It's not about Jesus.
It's about other stuff.
Okay, and so what do we do?
We say, well, cultures change.
So we change.
Well, the truth is, is that this Word of God, the Bible says
that, that heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of God
will stand forever.
The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the Word of God
is going to stand forever.
So what do we do?
We base everything off the Word of God.
And that's what Simeon did.
Simeon says, I trust.
I trusted that this would happen and it happened.
So he is a man of the Word.
We need to be people of the Word.
So he goes on to say this, verse 30, for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation.
He's thankful for his salvation.
It was as if Simeon was commanded by God to keep watch in
the night until the sun would come up.
And what happens here is this case is that this.
He sees the sunrise.
He sees the culmination of everything.
And he says, this is my salvation.
This is my hope.
How often do we get so comfortable, we get so apathetic
about what God has done for us.
But we see here, he says, mine eyes have seen thy salvation which
thou has prepared before the face of all people.
And he's about to say something very interesting here.
He's about to say something that would have been contrary to
their culture.
He says, yes, we see the Savior who's coming for all people,
a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people,
Israel.
So what Simeon says is that Jesus, the Messiah is not just coming
for Israel, though He is coming for Israel.
He is coming to exalt them and his people.
He's coming for everyone.
That includes the Gentiles.
And the people at that time would have been like, what's that
all about?
He's not here for the Gentiles.
He's here for us.
And so that's why many people in Israel today reject Jesus as Messiah,
because it didn't come in the way that they thought it would come.
He came differently than what they were expecting.
So therefore they reject Jesus because Jesus is not the King that
they were expecting or the King that they were wanting.
And what we can see here today is that Jesus came not just for the
people of Israel.
He came to the Gentiles, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
That's the book of Romans.
All of us here tonight, I believe, would be lumped into that
idea of being a Gentile.
Aren't we thankful that the gospel message is open to all?
It's not just people of certain status.
It's not just people from certain countries or certain cultures.
The gospel is for all people.
And that's the beauty of this, of our Savior.
And so Simeon recognized that.
Simeon recognized the broad scope of the gospel message to all
the world.
That's the gospel.
And so what is he doing here?
He's proclaiming the gospel.
So.
So we see a guy, Simeon, that he's longing to see his Savior.
We see a guy named Simeon, who is led by the Spirit, obedient to
the Spirit, loving the word of God, loving his Savior, and then
ultimately proclaiming the gospel message to the world that
he was.
He was in.
He proclaimed it to all those in the temple.
This is the Savior of the world.
This is the one that's going to light the light for the Gentiles
and for Israel.
And we see Joseph and Mary's reaction.
And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were
spoken of him.
And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary, his mother, behold,
this child is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel.
You say, what does that mean?
Well, I believe that Simeon's speaking to the great blessings that
Jesus would bring to certain people in salvation.
But also he's a stumbling block.
Jesus is an offense to many.
And so there are going to be many people that fall.
I think of the contrast between Peter and Judas, right?
For Peter, Jesus was the one who would raise him up and save him.
Then you see people like Judas, and that would be his destruction.
Jesus was the opposition for him.
And so what we can see here is that there's going to be great blessing
with Jesus, but there's going to be great judgment.
The rising and falling of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall
be spoken against.
And then he says something very interesting to Mary here says,
yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.
So.
So we know that obviously Mary, as Jesus's mother, went through
great pain and torment watching her son go through that
pain and torment.
And I know there's a lot of heresy with Mary, okay, We have to
be very careful with that.
We have to see Mary for what the Bible says about Mary, Mary was
a godly woman.
Mary was obedient to the Lord.
She loved the Lord.
Mary was not perfect.
Mary sinned, okay?
And I need to be very clear about that, because the Bible says,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the only
one who knew no sin was Jesus Christ.
So there's a lot of false teachings out there about Mary.
But what.
And Mary's in the news right now?
I didn't.
I haven't watched the movie, but there was a new Mary movie.
I can't vouch for it, okay?
All I know is that it's out there.
I would be cautious if it's coming through some outlets, but
what I would say is just be very cautious about exalting Mary
above what the Bible says.
But also don't downplay Mary either, because there's a lot of
people out there so fearful of exalting Mary too high that we kind
of push her to the side.
Mary was a godly woman and a great example for us as well.
But what we see here is that.
And I think sometimes we forget about this.
The torment that Mary would have gone through, the struggle that
Mary would have gone through to see her son rejected.
Eventually, Simeon obviously prophesying about the physical pain
that Jesus would face.
And so that not only would Jesus be pierced, but as it says
here, Mary would be pierced through her own soul as well, and
the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
And so obviously here Simeon is giving a word of prophecy.
And so he's explaining to Mary that, hey, you know what?
Mothering Jesus would not always be easy.
It would not always be smooth.
It was a privilege, but it was also a burden.
And I would venture to say that no other human being at that
time, at that place, would have gone through so much pain as
Mary did through Jesus's rejection and suffering at the end
of his life.
The love of a mother is a wonderful thing.
I mean, I can't understand it.
I.
You know, I understand love.
I understand loving my children, but there's.
There's a love of the mother that's different, and that's what
that's talking about here.
So Simeon's not only receiving a blessing from Jesus, but he's also
turning around and blessing Mary here.
In this case, he's trying to encourage her and give a prophecy
towards her life as well.
And so.
So I think about a few different things here with.
With Simeon.
What.
What can we learn?
Well, I think that Simeon was a man who loved God.
We know that.
And it's very clear that he did.
We see Simeon was a man who allowed the Holy Spirit to guide
him.
We see that through his obedience there to going to the temple,
we see that Simeon was a man who loved the word of God.
He.
He desired to follow the word of God.
He professed that Jesus would be the savior of the world, not just
for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles.
He would preach the truth not only to the people that wanted to
hear, but everyone that was there.
He preached that Jesus would bring glory upon the people of Israel.
Yes, but also to the people of the world.
And so I think that there's a lot of things that we can learn from
Simeon.
We can learn that he longed for the consolation, the comfort,
and he longed for the day of the coming of Christ.
And I think too, that can be something that we can do.
We can long for the day of the coming of Christ, but not as he came
as a baby, but as I mentioned this morning, as he comes as a victor.
I want you to see a passage of Scripture in the book of Philippians,
Philippians, chapter three.
This is Paul speaking here.
And.
And I.
And I think that this is interesting for us as well, because
just as Simeon was longing for the coming of the Messiah on the
front end, we as Christians like Paul should be longing for that
coming of the Messiah as well.
But not coming in the sense of a baby, but coming as a conqueror.
It says here in verse number 13 of Philippians, chapter four,
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth under those things which are before, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as perfect, be thus minded.
And if anything, ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal
even this unto you, meaning this.
Hey, keep pushing forward, keep longing to see Jesus.
Keep saying that.
You know what?
I'm going to press for the call that God has for my life.
But then there's another passage of scripture that we need
to be aware of, and that's two Timothy.
Second Timothy is essentially Paul's.
We would call it Paul's last words.
And I know that for many of us, at least for me, Paul is one
of my heroes.
Paul is one of those guys in Scripture that I look at, and I'm
like, man, if I could be just a.
Just a percent of his faithfulness, I would be happy.
But.
But he comes to the end here, and I think that hopefully, hopefully
all of us can say this as a testimony, but second Timothy, chapter
four, verse number seven, Paul.
We'll look at verse number six.
He says, for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure
is at hand.
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which
the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day.
And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
So what's he saying here?
He's saying there's a crown of righteousness for all of us that
long and look for the day of the Lord's coming.
And so, just as Simeon was like man, I'm longing for that day
that the Messiah comes.
We should as Christians be like this.
I'm longing for the day that Jesus is coming back.
I'm longing for that day that all things are going to be made right.
I'm longing for that day that I can see him face to face.
I had a tough conversation with, with Micah here recently and
I was, it caught me really, really in the core.
We were talking about something and he, he said we were
trying to do something.
He's like, dad, I'm never going to do this.
I'm not going to tell you what it is because I don't want to embarrass
him.
But he's trying to get something done.
He's like, dad, I want to do this.
I said, son, it's going to happen sooner or later.
You're going to figure this out.
And he said, yeah, but what if Jesus comes back?
And I said, well, here.
And I understood what he was trying to say, right?
We all went there, like, I want to experience this on this side
of heaven.
I want to do this thing.
But what if Jesus comes back?
And obviously that's, that's a very small minded idea.
But, but I was there, Lord, I just want to, I just want to get
my driver's license.
Then you can come back, okay?
I just want to get married and come out.
I just want to have a child, right?
There's all these things in our life.
And the reason why we are that way is because we love this world
as much as we don't want to admit it.
There are things in this world that we think are the peak, the pinnacle.
Like, that's it.
That's all I want in my life.
But the more we start to understand how fleeting this world
is and how great heaven is going to be and how wonderful the
victory is in Christ, we say, you know what?
These are all great, but God has something better.
And when he returns, there's going to be.
It's going to be all right.
And some people say, well, how can heaven be better than this?
I can tell you.
Just look around, okay, it's going to be a lot better than this.
Infinitely better than this.
And some people say, well, what is heaven like?
I don't know, but it's infinitely better than what we're
dealing with right now.
Eternally better.
And I can't even describe to you what heaven's going to be like,
but it's the greatest thing that we could ever imagine.
What I would say is, that's all of us, as Christians should.
If we longed for that day, we would be living differently.
If I truly was longing for that day, I'd be a lot more busy
about the work that I had for the Lord.
Instead, I'm more busy about the things that I have to do today.
I gotta get this done and this done.
You know what the truth is, is that none of that one day when we
get to the end, none of that's gonna matter.
None of these things on this earth are gonna matter except for
what we do for Christ.
And so just as Simeon's like, I want to see that Messiah, I'm longing
to see him.
We should all say the same thing.
I'm longing to see my Savior.
I'm longing for that day that he returns.
Lord, let it be now.
And it's a lot easier as we get older, right?
It's a lot easier when we go through more pain and suffering because
we start to see how painful this world is and how wonderful it
will be to be with him one day.
So I want you to think about that here tonight.
Are we those types of people like Simeon that are looking forward
to that day, longing for that day?
Or do we love this world too much?
Simeon was in the minority.
There wasn't a ton of people lining up at the temple looking for
the Messiah.
They were expecting something else.
They were expecting someone to come in a great throne room and come
in.
And we know that because ultimately, at the very end, right,
Jesus was coming in, and they were waving palm branches and throwing
their clothes out on the street and saying, hey, he's coming
in.
He's about to take over Rome.
And when Jesus didn't do what they were expecting, they were like,
wait.
The same people that were praising him were yelling out, crucify
him.
Right?
And that's the idea is sometimes when Jesus is not what
we expect him to be.
Sometimes when Christianity is not what we are told it should be,
we start to doubt whether or not it's worth continuing on in this
path.
Sometimes we don't long for that.
Sometimes we don't strive, as Paul says, for the prize of the high
calling.
So what I would encourage you to do is I want you to think about,
hey, Jesus is not what we create in our own minds.
Jesus is the one who is eternal.
Jesus is the one who is the creator.
So many times we put Jesus into what we always consider to be
our proverbial box.
Right?
We have created him to look this way.
You know, I don't think Jesus looked like that right there.
I don't know if he did or not.
We see pictures and portrayals of Jesus on TV shows.
And I'm not saying don't watch TV shows that have Jesus in it.
What I'm saying is be so careful of putting that as your picture
of who Jesus is.
Where do we find the portrait of Jesus Christ?
Find it right here.
Okay.
We can dramatize it all we want, but the truth is that if that's
where.
Oh, you know, I want to think that Jesus was this way.
Well, you can, but if the word of God doesn't say that, we have
to be very, very careful.
Right.
What does the book of Isaiah say?
Isaiah 53 says, he was a normal guy.
He wasn't walking around with a golden aura around him, at least
not until the mountain transfiguration.
But in the most part, he was walking around like everybody else.
The Bible says there was nothing to be desired of him, Jesus.
And you say, well, what does that mean?
That means.
I'm just saying that's what the Bible says.
And so the Bible says that Jesus humbled himself and became
a servant.
And so one of the things that I would have you be cautious of is
trying to create Jesus or Christianity or the Bible in your
own terms.
And so Simeon didn't do that.
Simeon said, you know what?
I'm going to worship this way.
I'm going to give praise to the Lord.
I'm going to give him his due worship here.
And he does, and he praises him.
And so Simeon is a man who is a servant.
Simeon is a man who is committed to the word.
Simeon is a man who is obedient to the spirit in his life.
I hope that we can be like Simeon, longing for that day and
when we do see our Savior, to praise him.
Folks, Ratna's testimony got me excited.
And yes, you can tell your faith Story.
Okay, when that time comes, we can do that.
But when we see God working in our life, may we be aware of that.
And may we be aware of his power and his love and his grace.
And then proclaim that to the world so we don't have to look very
far to see God working in our life.
And so many times it's easy just to skim right over it.
I'm going to tell you that one of the things in my life that I did
for a long time, I'm not as faithful in it as I used to be, but
I used to write down what God was doing in my life at that current
time, almost like a journal.
And I'll never forget the very first week that I took over as pastor
here.
I actually wasn't.
Let me rewind.
I was not pastor, but I was preaching and I was doing some things
here.
And that week was the craziest week.
And I could tell you a hundred stories about that week, but I wrote
it all down in my journal.
And I think it was a couple months ago.
I went back and read that, and just to see how God worked through
those situations was just an amazing thing.
And I had a moment there where I just fell down on my knees and
I thanked the Lord for getting me through some of the things that
I thought were insurmountable, to be honest.
And I would encourage you to do that and encourage you to rehearse
what God has done in your life here.
I know we sometimes say to do it in Thanksgiving, but even at Christmas
time, go back and recount all the gifts that God has given you,
starting with salvation and going down the line and saying, lord,
look what you did here.
This could only be you.
So sometimes people call it a God thing, right?
This is only a God thing.
Go back and say, lord, I'm going to give you praise.
I'm going to tell people what you have done for me.
That's the greatest message.
The greatest message is sharing with other people the testimony
of what God has done in your life.
Now match it to the Word, right?
Match it to his character, match it to his goodness.
Match it to what the Word says.
But what I would tell you is that your testimony is powerful.
I can look through this room and for the most part, I know most
of you.
I know most of you in the concept of.
I could at least pick one thing that I've seen God working
in your life with in the last few years.
I can do that.
And I know you can do it in your own life.
And that's an amazing thing to see, seeing God working in people's
lives.
And more people need to see that.
I was, I'm on a group with, with pastors and they talk about
certain things.
And one guy said, you know, we went to church today and we sang
Christmas carols, but it just felt dead today.
It just felt like no one was excited about things.
And folks, we have all the reason to be excited for what the
Lord has done for us.
I'm going to tell you, if you sit down and recount all the blessings
that God has done in your life and in my life, we can sit here all
night.
We can sit here for hours praising God.
And so what I would encourage you to do is never get used to what
God's doing in your life.
Simeon was like, lord, you have given me salvation.
He I love how he said it.
He says, the light to lighten the Gentiles, for my eyes have seen
thy salvation.
I, I would encourage you.
I know Brother Jeff does this, and I'm thankful for.
In testimony time, I would encourage you, when you get the testimony
time, share how you came to Christ.
I mean, you know, maybe your spouse knows, but, but we all don't
know.
And it doesn't mean that that's how I came to Christ.
Right.
But I.
And you would all benefit from hearing, let, let the redeemed of
the Lord say so.
Let's never get used to that.
Like, let's be like Simeon.
What does he say for mine eyes of seeing thy salvation?
I think that that's something that we as Christians sometimes get
so used to.
We just get so used to, oh, yeah, they're saved.
Oh, yeah, I'm saved.
But it's, it's the greatest miracle in our lives, the fact that
we have been saved.
And so Simeon was excited about it.
We're going to see that.
Anna is excited about it.
But what I would say is that as Christians should we.
We should be excited about it and not just a superficial excitement,
an emotional rah rah kind of thing.
I would say the challenge is for us to live differently because
of what Jesus Christ has done.
Simeon.
I don't know how much longer Simeon lived after this, but again,
my guess would be that he would have told everybody about this
encounter for as much time that he had.
And I know that for us as Christians, sometimes the temptation
is to keep it as a very personal, intimate thing with God.
And it should be personal and intimate in some ways, but also very
public and very.
What I would say is demonstrative in the concept of how
he has impacted our lives.
You know, there are unsaved people that you can reach that maybe
I can't reach because of your relationship with them.
And I would encourage you to live that way so that you can proclaim
Jesus in every aspect of your life.
Well, that's Simeon.
That's a snapshot of Simeon.
He loved God.
He obeyed God, he allowed the Spirit to guide him.
And I hope that that's your testimony as well.
I hope you're longing for that day of his return more and more now
as we see the chaos of this world, we know that there are people
looking for hope.
There's people looking for.
Like I mentioned this morning, there's people that are looking for
peace, but they're looking for it in all the wrong places.
You know, a big word that we hear is tolerance, right?
And if I offend you tonight, it's not my intention, but peace
is not going to be found by just saying, well, everybody's right.
Your way is right, my way is right.
We'll find peace if we just all agree that everyone's right.
Well, let's say, for example, I have person A over here that says,
well, I believe this.
And the person B right here says, I believe this.
Two contrary opinions about something.
If they're both right and they conflict, what are we going to do?
Well, there's.
There's never going to be peace, right?
So.
So tolerance isn't the remedy for peace, okay?
That's not going to happen.
Avoiding things is not a remedy for peace, right?
Sometimes we just stick our heads in the sand and just say, well,
not my.
Not my issue, okay?
Well, that's not the remedy for peace.
We know the remedy for peace is the peace of God that passeth
all understanding, the prince of peace.
And so it's Jesus that brings this type of peace in our life, this
type of hope in our life.
Simeon understood that.
He was like, hey, peace has come to Israel.
And so my challenge for you, my challenge for me this year in
2025, is how can I live publicly?
Not.
And I'm not talking about getting out on a corner and Bible
thumping, okay?
If you want to do that, that's totally fine.
If you're a street preacher, preach on the streets.
Not all of us are called for that, but all of us are called to
live as the light.
Now, we are not the light.
The light is Jesus Christ.
But as he lives within us, it should shine out.
And so what I would encourage you to do is think about, hey, how
can I be A light to this world.
How can I show the love of Jesus Christ?
We're going to have opportunities for you this year to
do that.
I'm excited.
I want to get to January because going to be launching our
new vision for the year.
And there are so many different opportunities for you in
Middletown, in Delaware, in the United States to exercise your
freedom of religion publicly so that we can reach people for the
cause of the gospel.
I think gone are the days where we need to be afraid of offending
people in Jesus Christ.
Let's just be unashamedly for Jesus in this culture, okay?
Because the people that are opposed to our cause are unashamed
of their purpose.
And so are we going to be.
Paul even mentions this in Romans, chapter one.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Are we ashamed of the truth or are we.
You know what?
We're proud of what Jesus Christ has done for us.
Not a selfish pride, but as Paul says, I boast in Jesus Christ
and him alone.
So let's boast a little bit for Jesus Christ in 2025.
I'm sure Simeon wasn't afraid of that.
And so we'll come back next week and we'll look at Anna.
Anna is even a smaller snapshot, but I think there's a lot
we can learn about Anna as well, and I think we can apply it
to our lives here.
So I do want to thank you and I do want to encourage you folks.
We have something special here in Middletown Baptist Church.
I look around and I see miracles happening in our midst.
I see people that have so many gifts.
And I think, I believe, and I truly believe that God has miraculous
things in store for 2025.
I really, really do.
God has brought a unique group of people together to a place, unassuming
place, Middleton.
I didn't know about Middletown, Delaware until I moved
here, but.
But you know, God has moved people from across the world to Middletown,
Delaware.
I'm looking around, I see people from South America, I see
people from Asia.
I see people from all over the world.
And he's got you here.
I see different people from different cultures, different backgrounds.
Different.
Different hobbies.
Different, different whatever.
And you are here for a purpose.
We are here for a purpose.
And instead of just saying, well, this is all just by chance,
no God, I believe.
I believe in the direction of God.
And I believe that he has taken you and moved you to Middletown
Baptist Church for a purpose.
I really do.
I don't believe that we're all just tumbleweeds flying through the
wilderness.
And hey, we all just randomly are here.
I think God has a purpose for you.
I think God has a purpose for us and I'm excited to see what's
going to happen here this year.
Well, I'm going to go ahead and close us in a word of prayer.
I did promise that we'd get out a little early and I did keep
my promise, which sometimes I don't do that.
But I want to try to keep my promise here tonight.
So let's go ahead and pray.
I have a few announcements for you and then we'll be dismissed.
Lord, I thank you for this time.
I thank you for this opportunity to come here tonight
to study your Word, Lord, to see a servant named Simeon, faithful
servant, dedicated to your Word, dedicated to following the
Spirit, dedicated to proclaiming the truth of the gospel.
Lord, help us to be those that are dedicated to the Word, dedicated
to the guidance of the Spirit and dedicated to the proclamation
of the gospel.
Lord, help us to long for the day that we see you face to face.
But I pray that we can be the church that you've called us to be.
Lord, thank you for each and every person representing here tonight.
I thank you for the families, I thank you for the testimonies,
thank you for the miracles when you are a God that's still at
work.
And we're thankful for that.
Even tonight as we go across the way and celebrate the PETA family,
Lord, we know that even their family is a miracle.
And Lord, we thank you for what you do, what you continue to
do in our lives.
We look forward to 2025, Lord, if you give us that year, Lord, help
us to use it.
Help us to be pursuing you in every way.
We love you and we thank you in Jesus name, Amen.
Thank you so much for your attention tonight.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org.
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Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.