1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,200 Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast. 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:11,560 To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church, 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:20,160 connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live well. 4 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,440 Good morning Riverbend. My name is Todd Slade, and I 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,960 have the privilege to serve as your executive pastor. 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,480 It's crazy that it's been 15 or 16 months ago that the Lord 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,600 brought us to Riverbend. Crazy how fast time flies. 8 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,600 But we are so thankful that God has brought us here. 9 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,080 So thankful for Pastor Ben allowing me to come up and close 10 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,240 out our Christmas series this year, 2025. 11 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,360 Just real quick by a show of hands, how many of you knew that 12 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,360 I was preaching this morning? All right, so one or two of you. 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,680 And you came anyway. So you're a glutton for 14 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,440 punishment, I guess. And so thank you for being here 15 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,600 this morning. I'm so thankful for Pastor Ben 16 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,600 and the way that God has allowed him to lead Riverbend over this 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,319 past year. And man, it has just been such a 18 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:07,720 a fun ride. And I'm so excited about what 19 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:12,800 God's going to do over 20262027 in the years to come. 20 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,720 So thankful again for the opportunity to close out our 21 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,520 Christmas series with you today. It's been wonderful to look back 22 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,320 at the big idea of our series. Christmas Isn't Christmas isn't 23 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:27,520 just the story of Jesus birth, it's the story of God's heart. 24 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,680 And this has served as our big idea for this series the last 25 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,480 four weeks. Again, Christmas isn't just the 26 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:38,040 story of Jesus birth, but it's the story of God's heart and 27 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,200 it's been so good to look back over this. 28 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,720 God's heart is to send Jesus to come rescue his people. 29 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,680 And we've looked at that these past four weeks. 30 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,080 This morning I want to put a bow on this series as we look at 2 31 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,920 incredible individuals that are part of the Christmas story and 32 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:56,960 you may not think they're part of the Christmas story, but they 33 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,880 are. We're going to look at 2 34 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:02,400 possibly forgotten characters of the Christmas story. 35 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,120 It's kind of like 4 weeks ago. Nathan read through all of 36 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,759 Matthew chapter one. I'm glad Pastor Ben asked him to 37 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:11,480 preach that sermon and not me because there were so many hard 38 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,000 words. And that's in that passage that 39 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,800 Nathan did a great job with. But often times that passage of 40 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,800 scriptures overlooked because people don't want to try to say 41 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,600 those words or read those words. Pastor Nathan did a great job. 42 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,360 But it's kind of just like that, that passage of scripture. 43 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,080 Often times Anna and Simeon get left out. 44 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,000 They kind of get forgotten about. 45 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,800 And so this morning we're going to look at 2 possibly forgotten 46 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,680 characters of Christmas Story, Anna and Simeon. 47 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,720 Before I jump into the message this morning, I want to 48 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:47,520 recommend to you a wonderful little book. 49 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,040 It's written by a guy named Daniel Darling. 50 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:51,920 We've got it up here on the screen this morning. 51 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,880 It's called the Characters of Christmas, the unlikely people 52 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,560 caught up in the story of Jesus. And that's exactly what we've 53 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,960 been talking about through this through this series. 54 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,400 The unlikely characters of the story of Jesus. 55 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,240 Anna and Simeon fit right into that. 56 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:13,440 This unlikely characters, the unlikely characters that are in 57 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,600 this story. And so this morning as we look 58 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,600 at at at Anna and good grief, Anna and Simeon, I pray that you 59 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,680 would be encouraged by the by what we see about them. 60 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,000 The characters of Christmas that point out Jesus presence in our 61 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,040 lives are Simeon and Anna. If you're like me, this is not 62 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:34,080 the first two people that you think about when you think about 63 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,840 Christmas. I'm sure all of you, if you have 64 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,760 the Nativity set somewhere in your house, you have your Anna 65 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,480 figurine and your Simeon figurine right beside your 66 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:46,360 Nativity set, don't you? Right. 67 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:48,040 Yeah. None of us do, right? 68 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,720 It's just not what we do. Simeon and Anna are often 69 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,080 forgot. One quick question before we get 70 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:56,480 going. You can raise your hand if you'd 71 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,000 like to. How many of you sat around at 72 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,160 some point this Christmas and read the Christmas story from 73 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,080 Luke chapter 2, starting in verse one? 74 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:05,160 Any of you do that? Yeah, we do that. 75 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:06,800 That's part of our Christmas tradition. 76 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,360 And so it was a little bit later this year. 77 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:11,840 My family's had a, a, a different Christmas this year, 78 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,840 which was fine. But we we read the Christmas 79 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,720 story, Luke chapter 2 verses one through 14. 80 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,079 What we didn't do is we didn't read about Simeon and Anna at 81 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:23,760 the end of Luke chapter 2, right? 82 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,120 I was going to say, how many of you read about Simeon and Anna 83 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,400 at the end of Luke chapter 2? You just don't do that right? 84 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:31,400 We. Stop at at. 85 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,800 Luke chapter 2, verse 141516, somewhere around in there, but I 86 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,920 challenge you to go back and read all of Luke chapter 2 87 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,920 because it's very, very encouraging to us, and we're 88 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:43,840 going to look at that this morning. 89 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:46,280 Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 25. 90 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,800 We're going to start looking at Simeon, talk about him, and then 91 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,080 we're going to dive in and take a look at Anna towards the end 92 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:54,200 of our time together this morning. 93 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,200 So if you have your Bibles, I'm going to ask if you would to 94 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:01,360 open to Luke chapter 2, Matthew, Mark, Luke in the New Testament, 95 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,480 Luke chapter 2 and begin in verse 25. 96 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,520 If you don't have a hard copy of God's Word, that's OK. 97 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,040 The word of God will be on the screen for us this morning. 98 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,320 And so if you want to read together along. 99 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,040 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. 100 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:18,600 This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the 101 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,920 consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 102 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:24,720 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would 103 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,600 not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 104 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,360 And he came in the Spirit into the temple. 105 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,000 And when he when, when the parents brought in the child 106 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,040 Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took 107 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:42,040 him up in his arms, Blessed God, and said, Lord, now you are 108 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,240 letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. 109 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,680 For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have 110 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,800 prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation 111 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:55,040 to the Gentiles and for and for glory to your people. 112 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:56,520 Israel. Father, I thank you for your 113 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,720 word this morning. Lord, I pray that you would use 114 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,000 Your word to challenge us. Lord, I pray that you would use 115 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,640 your word to encourage us. Most of all, Father, I pray this 116 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,000 morning that through the study of Your Word, we would leave 117 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,640 here more in love with you. Father, would you send your Holy 118 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,120 Spirit to provide illumination and understanding? 119 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,120 Lord most of all, Lord, would you allow us to hear from you 120 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:23,240 this morning? Father, we love you. 121 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:26,400 Christ's name we pray. Amen. 122 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,800 So verse 25 of Luke 2 starts with a conjunction and that 123 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,240 conjunction is the word. Now I want to give you just a 124 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,040 little bit of background as we jump into this passage this 125 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,120 morning. Jesus has been born, all right? 126 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,840 We know that because Luke chapter 2 one through 14 tells 127 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:48,760 us that it sets out the story of Jesus birth Mary, Mary and 128 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,720 Joseph going up to Jerusalem. And it's interesting that it you 129 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,040 always when you hear about Jerusalem, they're always going 130 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:55,760 up. Well, that's because Jerusalem 131 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,240 was on a hill and so they had to go up. 132 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,200 And so Mary and Joseph have gone up to Jerusalem. 133 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:04,200 They find themselves without any place to have a baby. 134 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:09,160 So they go into the stable. Jesus is born here in our story, 135 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,840 as we get to verse 25 of the story, verse 2223 of Luke 136 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:18,400 chapter 2, we find that Jesus is now 40 days old. 137 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:23,280 Now this is important because an Old Testament law when a, when a 138 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,600 baby is 40 days old or so, you would have to take him to the 139 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,760 temple to have him presented to the Lord. 140 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,560 And so that's what Mary and Joseph are doing here. 141 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,120 They've taken Jesus up to be dedicated, if you will. 142 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,760 We, we practice a parent child dedication here as well. 143 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,280 That's kind of what's going on here with Mary and Joseph. 144 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,240 There's also an additional thing that's going on after you would 145 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,240 have a baby in Jewish, in Jewish customer Jewish culture, you 146 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,760 would have to go to the temple and be cleansed 40 days after 147 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,400 you had had a baby. And so Mary is going to be 148 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:57,240 cleansed. Jesus is going to be dedicated 149 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,560 or presented to the Lord. So that's what's going on here. 150 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:07,440 Mary and Joseph are devout followers of Jehovah God and why 151 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,960 wouldn't they be miraculous? Or some say crazy things have 152 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:13,400 happened to get them to this point. 153 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,480 Just think about it. Wouldn't you be a devout 154 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:21,320 follower of God if if an Angel had come to you and your soon to 155 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:26,520 be spouse and told you that you were going to have a baby, On 156 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:29,240 top of that this baby was going to be the Son of God. 157 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:34,480 Oh and on top of that that Mary was going to be pregnant by the 158 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,600 Holy Spirit because she and Joseph had not been together. 159 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,400 I mean these were miraculous things right? 160 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:46,680 And so why wouldn't they be devout followers of God? 161 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,200 Well, they would have been devout, the devout followers of 162 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,800 God, not just because of those things that had happened, but 163 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,120 Mary and Joseph were devout followers of God because of 164 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,080 their family history, because of their lineage, parents, 165 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:01,800 grandparents. Let me say this to you this 166 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,920 morning. It's huge for us that we lead 167 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,760 our children according to God's law, according to God's Word. 168 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,000 Mary and Joseph were devout followers of God, not just 169 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,040 because of the things that had happened to them over the past 170 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,200 few weeks and months, but they were devout followers of God 171 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,520 because of their parents and their grandparents and the 172 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:21,960 lineage that had been given to him, the history that had been 173 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:23,120 given to them. The. 174 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,360 Legacy of faith. That had been passed down from 175 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:28,640 them. And so let me encourage you this 176 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,000 morning, parents, grandparents, whether you're new to the faith 177 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,360 or whether you've been a Christian for 50 or 60 years, 178 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:35,560 let me encourage you this morning. 179 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,920 It's never too late to leave a, to leave a godly heritage for 180 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:44,880 your children and grandchildren. Mary and Joseph were devout 181 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:49,320 followers of God. Praise the Lord And remember, 182 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:53,480 they're just teenagers here. They would have been 12/13/14, 183 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,120 maybe 15 years old at this point. 184 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,440 And so the fact that that all of this is happening to them is 185 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,240 amazing. This sort of explains a little. 186 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,840 Bit about why Mary and Joseph would have been devout followers 187 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,040 of God, but the interesting thing is their devotion to God 188 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,200 had begun a long time before this. 189 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,760 Their devotion to Jehovah God is a result of the families they 190 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,960 were raised in. I would say that there's a 191 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:22,640 sermon in that for a different day. 192 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:24,160 We could preach all day about that. 193 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,640 We could preach all day to encourage us as parents and 194 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,400 grandparents to leave a legacy for our kids. 195 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:34,160 But for today, let's go on with Simeon and Anna. 196 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,160 Jesus is 40 days old. His mom and dad take him to the 197 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:38,600 temple to present him to the Lord. 198 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:43,720 We come to verse 25. Now there was a man in Jerusalem 199 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,840 whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and 200 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,160 devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the 201 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:53,960 Holy Spirit was upon him. Now I'm going to give you some 202 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:57,560 points about Simeon and we'll dive into these points as we as 203 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:01,160 we get into each one of them. But first, Simeon was righteous 204 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,320 and devout. That's interesting. 205 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:06,160 We don't know a whole lot about Simeon. 206 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:07,720 We don't know much about him at all. 207 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:09,400 We don't know his parents or we don't know any of those things. 208 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:11,880 We just know that he was righteous and devout. 209 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:13,480 This is a pretty good thing to know. 210 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,360 Simeon is an example of the faithful. 211 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,160 Verse 23 says he was. I don't think that's verse 23. 212 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,120 That's verse 26. I think he was waiting for the 213 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:26,600 consolation of Israel. More on this in a moment. 214 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:29,800 And Simeon was full of the Holy Spirit. 215 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,560 We don't have time this morning to really dig into this. 216 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,240 There's so much in this passage that I wish we could really dig 217 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:41,200 into because it is so very important for us to dig into 218 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,480 each of these things. There's so much here, church, we 219 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,280 could spend all day just on this one point. 220 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,040 But let me point this out, Simeon. 221 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,000 It says he was full of the Holy Spirit. 222 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,080 Do you remember a little thing that happened in Acts chapter 2? 223 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,080 Acts chapter 2 verse one says when the day of Pentecost 224 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,760 arrived, they were all together in one place and suddenly there 225 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,280 came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. 226 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,200 It filled the entire house. So they were sitting divided 227 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:10,960 tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of 228 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,040 them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began 229 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,280 to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 230 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:20,960 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from 231 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,000 every nation under heaven. And at this sound the magnitude 232 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,600 came to the multitude, came together, and they were 233 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,480 bewildered because each one of them hearing them speak in his 234 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,040 own language. Now here's the interesting 235 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:37,000 thing. Acts chapter 2 is Pentecost. 236 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,440 Luke chapter 2 is what we're talking about with Simeon. 237 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:46,160 All right, Acts chapter 2 takes place roughly 33 years after 238 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,160 Luke chapter 2. OK, so hang with me just for a 239 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:51,920 second. Get this if you will. 240 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:57,320 Acts chapter 2, Luke chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 happens 33 years 241 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:01,480 after Luke chapter 2. The Holy Spirit falls on the on 242 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,480 the people, on the followers of God in Acts chapter 2. 243 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:08,360 There has been no Holy Spirit in Luke chapter 2. 244 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:12,640 All right, you got me so far. So the fact that Luke includes 245 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:16,760 this small little detail and says that Simeon was full of the 246 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:18,600 Holy Spirit, that shouldn't have happened. 247 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,480 It shouldn't have happened because the Holy Spirit hasn't 248 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:25,840 come yet. All right, you got me. 249 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:29,720 So the fact that Luke adds this detail about Simeon tells us 250 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,640 something huge about this man named Simeon. 251 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:37,680 He wasn't just your regular old patron at the at the Jewish 252 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:41,120 temple that day. That was something unique going 253 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,320 on with Simeon. You know, Pastor Ben has says 254 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,400 that has said this a lot over the past few weeks. 255 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,360 But we are as close to God as we want to be. 256 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,680 And man, what a powerful statement that is. 257 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,360 Hey, listen, church, if you get up in the morning and you go 258 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,560 about your day, you jump in the shower, you brush your teeth, 259 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,880 you comb your hair, you go grab your cup of coffee and you hit 260 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:01,840 the road and go. To work. 261 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,280 Hey, guess what? You're probably not going to be 262 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:06,480 as close to the Holy Spirit as you want to be. 263 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,960 But if you get up in the morning and your first 5-10, fifteen, 264 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,840 20-30 minutes that you spend in the morning is diving into God's 265 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,560 Word, hey, guess what? You're probably going to be a 266 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:20,280 little bit closer to the Lord than if you didn't do that. 267 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:26,040 And so the fact that Luke includes this, this important 268 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,480 distinction about Simeon is huge. 269 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,840 This shouldn't have been the case because the Holy Spirit 270 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,640 hadn't come yet. But the fact that the that the 271 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:39,640 Bible says that Simeon was full of the Holy Spirit is huge. 272 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:44,560 Lastly, Simeon waited a long time for the long. 273 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,440 Expected Christ, child. He was a devoted follower of 274 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,000 Christ who had waited a long time for this consolation of 275 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,200 Israel. Now we don't know where Simeon 276 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,800 was from. We don't know who his parents 277 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,200 were. We don't know many details at 278 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:03,680 all about this man named Simeon, but what we do know is very, 279 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:08,480 very powerful and it ought to be a lesson to each of us, man, if 280 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,560 we want to be known as as these types things, there's things we 281 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,880 need to do in our lives to make sure that people know us by 282 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,760 these things. I don't know how many of you, a 283 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,320 lot of you in the room this morning, you weren't born in 284 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,800 1980, so this won't mean anything to you. 285 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,440 But for some of you, this brings back a little bit of nostalgia. 286 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,920 I've got a little video I want to show just real quick. 287 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,120 What's Ernest doing now? He's waiting for the ketchup. 288 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,120 He's what? Hey, we don't wait for ketchup. 289 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,320 You don't. Hope you and your ketchup have a 290 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,280 real nice time. Heinz Ketchup. 291 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,680 It's so rich, so thick, why waste time with anything else? 292 00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:00,560 Heinz Ketchup The best things come to those who wait. 293 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,400 Any of you remember those commercials from Heinz ketchup? 294 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:08,120 Good things come to those who wait. 295 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,160 Yeah. So Simeon understood that. 296 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,920 Except for Simeon understood it. And much more of an appropriate 297 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:16,600 way than that. That wasn't the one I wanted to 298 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:17,520 show. Thank you, Chris. 299 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,080 But Chris found that and showed that this morning. 300 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,920 And so I appreciate that. Our great communications 301 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:26,520 director, or whatever we call him. 302 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,880 Lord have mercy, You got me so frazzled this morning. 303 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:34,600 All good, good things come to those who wait, right? 304 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:36,240 That guy waited. He was glad he waited for the 305 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,880 ketchup, wasn't he? And when I was his age, I'd have 306 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:44,760 been waiting for ketchup too. Dang, remember 2 weeks ago 307 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:50,120 though Pastor Ben mentioned to us that from Malachi to Matthew, 308 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,680 there's a mostly. Blank page in your Bible, and on 309 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,480 that mostly blank page there's. 2 words written on that blank 310 00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,840 page. It's called the New Testament, 311 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:02,720 right? That mostly blank page 312 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:07,119 represents 400 years of 400 years of history, but more than 313 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,560 that 400 years of. Silence. 400 years of God not 314 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:16,839 speaking at all to his people, 400 years of nothing, nada. 315 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:20,160 Just the people going about their lives with nothing from 316 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,680 the Lord, 400 years of people just relying on the history that 317 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,440 they've been told that God is going to send them a hero. 318 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,120 God is going to send them somebody to come and rescue 319 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:37,680 them. 400 years of nothing. And then before that, 400 years, 320 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:42,440 there was 350 to 350 years prior to that where Isaiah had 321 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,480 prophesied that the Messiah was going to come, that the Messiah 322 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,160 was going to be sent, the King of Kings, the the wonderful 323 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,640 counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace, He was going to be sent 324 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:57,640 and he was going to come and rescue the nation of Israel. 750 325 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,160 years of waiting on this Messiah to come. 326 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:08,240 And Simeon knew that now. No, Simeon wasn't 750 years old, 327 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:12,600 but he knew these prophecies. He knew that God had promised to 328 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,400 send his long-awaited Christ child. 329 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,120 And so every day Simeon would go to the temple and he would say 330 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:24,440 is today the day, is today the day, is today the day. 331 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,520 And as the 80s commercials say, good things come to those who 332 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,920 wait. Simeon was a faithful waiter on 333 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,720 the Lord. He had waited all of his life 334 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,120 for the consolation of Israel. And you may want to just jot 335 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,040 this in the margin of your notes, but the consolation of 336 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,080 Israel just simply means God coming to rescue his people. 337 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,040 That's all it means, God coming to rescue his people. 338 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:51,440 So Simeon had waited on that rescue. 339 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,880 He knew that 750 years ago that the Messiah had been prophesied. 340 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,680 And so he's faithfully waiting on God to come and rescue his 341 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,920 people. God had told Simeon that the 342 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,360 consolation would happen within his lifetime. 343 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:12,000 And what we know about God is that God always keeps his 344 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,080 promises. Always. 345 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,200 And so this morning if you're in the room and you're waiting on a 346 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:22,040 promise from the Lord, God always keeps his promises. 347 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,600 And Simeon wasn't a young man when when we read about him in 348 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:28,280 Luke chapter 2. We understand this because verse 349 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,400 29 says this Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in 350 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:37,400 peace according to your word. Simeon is old and he's about to 351 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,480 die, but he can die in peace because this long-awaited 352 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,440 consolation of Israel, this long-awaited savior of the world 353 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:51,000 has now come and Simeon has seen him there in the temple. 354 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,360 I'm going to give you a really. Amazing detail found at the end 355 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,160 of verse 25 and 26. I've already talked a little bit 356 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,560 about the Holy Spirit being upon Samuel, but verse 25 and 26, the 357 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:05,240 Holy Spirit was upon Simeon. I think I said Samuel Simeon. 358 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,320 Sorry about that. And it had been revealed to him 359 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,400 by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen 360 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,080 the Lord's Christ. Now, there's so many things that 361 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:19,880 I could be remembered for. Doesn't look like it now, I 362 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,400 know. But I was a fairly good athlete 363 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,960 in high school. And I'm pretty sure I can still 364 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,200 take some of you in the room to this morning, right? 365 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,320 I was a fairly good athlete in high school. 366 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,200 I could be remembered for being a slave, my last name. 367 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,360 I have a a rich legacy of faith on my dad's side of the family. 368 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:39,960 I could be remembered for being a slave. 369 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,480 I could be remembered for being the grandson of an amazing 370 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,760 pastor. My mom's dad was a pastor. 371 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,320 He passed me for over 60 years and he passed away last year. 372 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,520 Thank God for his legacy that he has left me. 373 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,920 I could be remembered for being on staff at Riverbend during one 374 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,680 of the most amazing times of history of Riverbend Church. 375 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,840 This last year has been amazing and I hope that the momentum 376 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,640 that we have, the fact that God has been working in and through 377 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,480 River, been the way He has. People coming to faith, us being 378 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,560 able to baptize folks. I pray that that continues for 379 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,160 many, many, many years to come. I could remember for being on 380 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,280 staff during that time. I could be remembered for being 381 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,480 Jennifer's husband who raised 5 amazing children together, and I 382 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,400 hope that when my children become adults that they would 383 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,440 follow in this rich legacy of faith that has been left to 384 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,440 Jennifer and I on both sides of our families. 385 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,440 But most importantly, I could be remembered for being the best 386 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,880 looking staff member at Riverbend in 2025. 387 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,920 I mean, let's just say let's just tell the truth. 388 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:49,920 All of these things are great, right? 389 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:54,520 But how much? More important, is it to be 390 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:59,240 remembered as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ who was 391 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,720 full of the Holy Spirit. I mean, all jokes aside, church, 392 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:11,600 when I'm dead and gone, whatever is remembered about me, if it 393 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,680 doesn't include a rich legacy of faith, then I don't want it 394 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,680 written. I want, I want, I want. 395 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,720 People to Remember Me as one who loved Jesus Christ. 396 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:27,400 People that Remember Me, they Remember Me as always giving, 397 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:31,200 always being concerned about people knowing Christ and people 398 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:34,720 being led to Christ. I want the history books to say 399 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,200 that Todd cared about the next generation knowing him and 400 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,840 worshipping him. And I hope and pray that that's 401 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,880 your goal and your mission in life as well. 402 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,360 Simeon was remembered for being a faithful follower of Jesus 403 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:55,880 Christ, full of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us very little 404 00:22:55,880 --> 00:23:00,520 about Simeon, but what it does tell us is so very important to 405 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,440 us this morning. And I believe that it's not by 406 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,280 accident that Luke doesn't include any of those other 407 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,720 details. He just includes these very 408 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,720 important details that we all hope and aspire to. 409 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,680 So let me pause right here and just ask you a very simple 410 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:21,080 question of application. What will you? 411 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:22,960 Be known for when your life is over. 412 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:30,400 If by some happenstance 100 years from the time after your 413 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:35,960 death, there's a book written that survives for 2000. 414 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:42,440 Years and in 2000 years in some church in America, somebody 415 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,360 picks up that book and they start reading about you. 416 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:52,200 What will that book say? Again, there's not much known 417 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:58,080 about Simeon in history, but what is known is super, super 418 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,840 important. Simeon was a faithful waiter on 419 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,680 the Lord who was full. Of the Holy Spirit. 420 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,000 A simple way that we could describe Simeon this morning is 421 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,400 that he was faithful. Christmas reminds us through the 422 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,600 story of Simeon that God's heart is for the faithful. 423 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,640 One quick note to add here. And this got me all excited. 424 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:22,160 This got me. I'm going to just say it jacked 425 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,120 up when I was studying for this message. 426 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,200 Christmas is about God's heart for the faithful. 427 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:28,960 And I pray this morning that it describes you. 428 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,080 I pray that you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and that 429 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,080 you serve him faithfully. But there's a little detail in 430 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,800 this story that is really, really huge for us that can be 431 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,120 missed if we don't, if we don't take time to really dive into 432 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,240 it. And it's found in verses 30 and 433 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:46,800 32. It says this. 434 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,440 Let me set this up real quick as Simeon is. 435 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,880 Seeing Jesus and he's holding the baby Jesus there in the 436 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:59,440 temple, Simeon responds to God. And he says this, For my eyes 437 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,760 have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the 438 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,600 presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, 439 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:08,040 and for glory to your. People Israel. 440 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,080 All right, wait, hold on just a second. 441 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:14,760 What? Why does Simeon say this? 442 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:21,200 Salvation up until this point was was reserved only for the 443 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:25,360 nation of Israel. Like if you were a Gentile. 444 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,360 And just in case you're wondering, all of us in this 445 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:32,400 room this morning, I'm pretty sure every single one of us are 446 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,520 gentiles. If you're a Jew. 447 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,440 I'm sorry that I missed you, but I think most of us in the room 448 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,400 this morning are Gentiles. Up until this point in history, 449 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,760 all of us would have been outside the promises of hope. 450 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,640 All of us would have been left without any kind of hope in a, 451 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,800 in a, in a risen savior who was going to come and rescue us. 452 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:57,120 We would have we, we, we, we would have been looking at dying 453 00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:00,040 and going to hell without any chance of being rescued. 454 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,600 And, and, and Simeon says, a light for revelation to the 455 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,840 Gentiles. Wait, what? 456 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,400 Remember Paul writes this in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 457 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,720 and 12. Therefore, remember that at one 458 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:17,080 time, you Gentiles, all of us in the room, you Gentiles, remember 459 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,640 that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated 460 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,960 from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of 461 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,800 promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. 462 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,560 Gentiles, in this time they were, they were bad off. 463 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:39,560 Can you imagine not having any hope, No hope at all? 464 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,280 Some of you in the in the room this morning. 465 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,920 You're thinking, boy, life has left me over the past couple of 466 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:51,600 weeks and months with no hope. Life has left me feeling 467 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,440 absolutely awful about life. I just want life to end. 468 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,440 Well, let's be honest with what Simeon has just said here. 469 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:04,560 We have hope because Christ has come and he's torn down that 470 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,360 dividing wall that separated the the the nation of Israel from us 471 00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:12,120 Gentiles when Christ died on the cross, Well, really when he rose 472 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,200 from the grave, that curtain that separates the Holy of 473 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,680 Holies was split in two. And Gentiles can now boldly 474 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,360 enter in to the presence of King Jesus. 475 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,560 And we should all say thank you, praise the Lord for that. 476 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:27,960 But again, it didn't happen until many years after what 477 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,320 Simeon it's saying here, Simeon had been given special 478 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,040 revelation that nobody else had been given. 479 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,920 And we of all people ought to be most gracious for what Simeon 480 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:44,520 says here because later on in Acts verse 26, verse 18, Paul 481 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,120 responds to the Lord Jesus and he's and and and God tells him 482 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:50,440 this. I am sending you to the Gentiles 483 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:51,480 to open their. Eyes. 484 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,480 So they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of 485 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,920 Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and 486 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:04,400 a place among those who were sanctified by faith in me. 487 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,960 And all of us collectively should say Amen, praise the 488 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:15,880 Lord, because we have been grafted into the faith of God. 489 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:21,960 Now the fact that this is included in Luke chapter 2 ought 490 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,800 to make the hair on your arms stand up like it does mine. 491 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:31,160 Because Simeon had understood that this baby was something 492 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:37,560 special, perhaps. This year you've gone about 493 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:42,360 Christmas and it's just been another Christmas. 494 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,200 Perhaps you've gone about Christmas this year and it's 495 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:52,760 just been about presents, not with AC, but with AT right 496 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,280 presents that we open. Perhaps it's been about giving 497 00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,760 presents. Perhaps it's been about being 498 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:04,080 with family and and. Eating, obviously, which I love, 499 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:11,000 right? But if you've not gotten excited 500 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:16,560 about this baby Jesus and what what he has done for you and for 501 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:23,520 me, this baby Jesus, he's changed everything for us. 502 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,320 If you're in the room this morning and you've never made 503 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:32,880 Jesus Lord of your life, then I pray today before you leave this 504 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:38,760 place that you make that right. The second character of 505 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,360 Christmas that I want to quickly look at this morning as a lady 506 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:45,800 by the name of Anna, Anna the prophetess. 507 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,800 We read about Anna in Luke chapter 2 verse 36 and 508 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,800 following. There was a prophetess Anna, the 509 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,000 daughter of Fanueil of the tribe of Asher. 510 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,040 She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband 70 511 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,560 years from when she was a virgin and then a widow until she was 512 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,240 84. She did not depart from the 513 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,440 temple worshipping with fasting and prayer all night and day. 514 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,840 Coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and 515 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,320 to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of 516 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,560 Jerusalem. Anna, just like Simeon, is 517 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,200 fairly obscure. We do have a little bit more 518 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,000 information about Anna because it tells us who her who her 519 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,600 father was. So by that we can do a little 520 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,800 bit more research than we can on just this guy whose name was 521 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,280 dropped, right, Simeon? I keep saying, Samuel, I'm sorry 522 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,120 if I do that. I don't know, it's my brain. 523 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,160 All right, so you all know it's not normal. 524 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,080 And so anyway, there you go. All right, Simeon, if you hear 525 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,040 me say, Samuel, just think Simeon. 526 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,000 Simeon has just dropped on us and we're given this amazing 527 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,280 list of characteristics about Simeon, and that's all we know 528 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:56,880 about him. Well, Anna's a little bit more. 529 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:58,840 We have her dad's name, so we can do a little bit of more 530 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:00,280 research. But anyway, the things that are 531 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,800 important about her is #1 she was a prophetess. 532 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,840 Unfortunately, we don't have enough time this morning again 533 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:09,640 for me to drop to really dive into what it means for her to be 534 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,360 a prophetess. What I can tell you is that 535 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,200 there aren't many women in Scripture who are called a 536 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,080 prophetess. So this characteristic of Anna 537 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,560 is hugely important. I want to encourage you to go 538 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,040 back and do some research on your own about what it means for 539 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,080 Anna to be a prophetess. Why is this designation given to 540 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,320 her right here in Luke chapter 2? 541 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,840 Again, remember, there are no details given in Scripture by 542 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,360 accident. So these, these details that are 543 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,680 given of these folks that we're reading about are given to us on 544 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,280 purpose. And so if you have time, I pray 545 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,440 that you do go back and do just a little bit of research on why 546 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:47,800 she has been designated as a prophetess. 547 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:57,000 Excuse me, just for a minute second, Anna was a widow. 548 00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,520 With the time we have remaining, we will focus on what it meant 549 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,680 for for Anna to be called a widow or for Anna to to for this 550 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:09,640 point to be made crystal clear about her being a widow. 551 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,800 Anna became a widow when she was very young. 552 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,960 Historians and commentators largely agree that Anna would 553 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,480 have become a widow in her 20s. Now most of us in the room this 554 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:26,240 morning are over the age of 20 and so we we can understand what 555 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:30,000 it would have meant for us to be a widow in our early 20s or a 556 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,880 widower in our early 20s. More than likely she was 557 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,320 probably 2122 when she became a widow. 558 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:41,320 The Greek text here can be interpreted two different ways. 559 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,240 One way is Anna could have lived as a widow for 84 years. 560 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:50,880 This means that Anna would have been 100 to 105 years old at 561 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:55,320 this point in Luke chapter 2. Now that's not the most widely 562 00:32:55,320 --> 00:33:00,320 accepted meaning here of Luke chapter 2. 563 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,400 The most widely accepted interpretation is that Anna 564 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,640 lived as a widow from the age of 21 until now. 565 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,440 In Luke chapter 2 we find her. She's 84 years old. 566 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:14,840 The point though, is still the same. 567 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:20,040 Anna had been resilient in her faith for a very, very long 568 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:24,200 time. Probably some 60 some odd years. 569 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,440 Anna had been resilient in her faith as a widow. 570 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,320 You say, Pastor Todd, why do you keep using the word resilient? 571 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:33,200 Why? Why would it have mattered that 572 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:35,680 she was a widow for 60 some odd years? 573 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,600 And why would that make her resilient? 574 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:43,520 Well, let me tell you, we'll get to that here in just two 575 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:45,680 seconds. I'm sure if we could go around 576 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,800 the room this morning though, we could talk about some very heart 577 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,120 wrenching stories that God has allowed to take place in your 578 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,360 life, in my life. If we go. 579 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,360 Around the room this morning we can hear some stories that would 580 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,600 tug on our heartstrings. We go around the room this 581 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:05,080 morning. I'm sure there would be some 582 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,639 tears shed on things that are happening in our life today, If 583 00:34:08,639 --> 00:34:11,199 not today, then things that have happened in our life within the 584 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:15,520 last five or ten years. You could tell stories about 585 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,520 things that have happened to you and your spouse that just don't 586 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,520 seem fair. You could tell stories about 587 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,040 things that have happened in your family that that just 588 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,480 aren't right. Well, Anna, I'm sure could tell 589 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,760 those stories. The story of Anna. 590 00:34:32,159 --> 00:34:35,679 What makes this story even more heart wrenching is that Anna 591 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:40,280 would have found herself all by herself when she was 21 years 592 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:46,400 old, just a young, a young lady, just without anything. 593 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,000 What we need to understand about the Jewish culture is women 594 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:51,520 would marry at a super young age. 595 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,480 Most often times in biblical culture, women would marry 596 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,560 somewhere between the ages of 12 and 15. 597 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:02,400 All right, super, super young. Not many of you in here, if any 598 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,360 of you in here could, could understand being married at 599 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:09,040 12:13, 14-15 years old. Some of you may be right. 600 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,760 My parents were married. I think my mom was 17. 601 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,360 I think my grandparents though they were 1516 when they got 602 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:16,920 married. So it was a lot. 603 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:21,360 More common 60-70 years ago than it is today. 604 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:26,280 Most of us today get married in our mid to late 20s, if not even 605 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,080 our early 30s. And so for us to understand 606 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,320 what's going on in Jewish culture here, we really have to 607 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:35,120 set our minds back, right? They would get married at 12:13, 608 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,760 14-15 years old. Now, this is for a purpose. 609 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,920 Women would become adults at the age of 12. 610 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,240 They would enter into religious adulthood. 611 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,160 And this was also the age at which they would enter into 612 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,600 puberty. And so they would get married at 613 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:54,520 12:13, 14/14 years old. And it represents those of those 614 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,680 of us in the room who have been through unimaginable tragedy. 615 00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,280 Now here's the reason why that is. 616 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:03,560 Imagine being married at 12/13/14 years old and being 617 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:09,280 being widowed at the age of 21. I mean, I can't even imagine 618 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:13,240 that Jennifer and I have been married 21 years. 619 00:36:13,240 --> 00:36:16,200 And if something were to happen to Jennifer, half of me would be 620 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:19,320 gone. I can't imagine spending the 621 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,320 rest of my life without I'll. I'll go ahead and say it. 622 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,200 I know most of you will too. But without my better half, 623 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:31,360 right? I can't imagine what Anna has 624 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,240 experienced in the loss of her husband. 625 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:38,600 And while some of you in the room have experienced what Anna 626 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,040 has experienced, you've. Lost. 627 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:45,360 Your spouse. What Anna really represents is 628 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:50,200 all of us, because all of us have experienced tremendous loss 629 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:51,880 or tremendous tragedy in our life. 630 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,400 I'm positive you've heard me talk about the fact that 631 00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:58,640 Jennifer and I lost our first baby girl. 632 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,160 We lost her at 2020 weeks in utero. 633 00:37:02,240 --> 00:37:05,680 I can't, I can't begin to tell you what that day was. 634 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,520 I remember it as if it were yesterday and it's been almost 635 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:14,680 1514 years ago now. I remember walking out of the 636 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:19,320 doctor's office and I put we had a truck and I put Jennifer in 637 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,760 the front seat and I turn around and I put my back against the 638 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:28,160 door and I just shrunk to the ground sobbing uncontrollably. 639 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:33,960 I somehow managed to call my dad and my dad, all I could hear him 640 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,000 saying is what's going on, son? What, what, what's, what's 641 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:38,160 wrong? What's happening? 642 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,400 I couldn't talk. I I was gasping for air because 643 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:47,160 I was crying so hard. At this unimaginable tragedy, 644 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,320 Jennifer and I waited seven years to have a baby and for us 645 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,240 to get pregnant and then find out 16 weeks in the pregnancy 646 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,160 that this baby had less than a 5% chance to live. 647 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,240 You can imagine Jennifer and I's thoughts were God, why would you 648 00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:03,280 do that? Why would you even allow us to 649 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,840 get pregnant only to allow that pregnancy to end? 650 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:07,880 God, how cruel. Of you. 651 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:14,680 And on top of all of that, I was a student pastor at the time. 652 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,480 And so I have to show up in front of my students and I have 653 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,360 to tell them that God is good and that God is loving, and God 654 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,120 wants nothing but good things for you. 655 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,880 It was at that point in time that I realized that God maybe 656 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,120 not always want good things for us. 657 00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:36,200 God wants us to go through hard times because it teaches us more 658 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,840 about Him when we're in those valleys. 659 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,520 It teaches us more about trusting in Him and relying on 660 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:47,000 His goodness and His graciousness and His love for 661 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,760 us, that no matter what this life throws at us, He's got us. 662 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:57,200 And he's holding us in his hand. Anna represents that to all of 663 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:01,960 us in the room this morning. On top of that, last year we 664 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,080 found out that Jennifer's dad had prostate cancer. 665 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:09,480 And that's in large part the reason how the way that God got 666 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:13,880 us to Riverbend. We found out just about a month 667 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:18,960 or two ago, maybe six weeks ago, that what we originally thought 668 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:22,520 Jennifer's dad was going to die with, now he's going to die from 669 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:27,560 his cancer has mutated into a terminable cancer. 670 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:32,360 And we're probably going to watch Pop, her dad Charles. 671 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:36,200 We're probably going to watch him enter into to his eternal 672 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:40,800 rest at some point in 2026. That day will be sad. 673 00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:45,200 That day will be hard because Pop, my father-in-law, the man 674 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:50,680 that I've come to love and to admire over the last 22 plus 675 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,400 years. There's a good possibility I 676 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:58,360 will do his funeral, but the reminder is always there. 677 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,520 God is good. And he's calling us to be 678 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:04,280 resilient in the face of life's challenges. 679 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:06,840 Challenges. He's calling us to be resilient 680 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,600 no matter what life throws at us. 681 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,440 Anna, just like us, had a choice to make when her husband died. 682 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:17,480 She could. She could have said, God, how 683 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,840 could you? She could have said, God, why 684 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,840 would you do such a thing like this, God? 685 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:26,640 Why would you let me go through the rest of my life like this? 686 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:30,280 God, why? But she didn't do that. 687 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:34,080 She stayed faithful and she stayed resilient. 688 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,960 And, and I haven't mentioned this yet, but a very important 689 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,920 point that we need to make. Women, especially in Jewish 690 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:46,120 culture, women weren't very high on the totem pole. 691 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,680 Women often times faced extreme vulnerability due to lack of 692 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:53,800 property rights. These women, these women would 693 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,200 have relied heavily on men and their family for support and 694 00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,240 protection. Let me explain that just a 695 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:02,120 little bit. Women couldn't own property in 696 00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,600 1st century Jerusalem. They couldn't own property. 697 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,720 It was, it was a man's culture. It's why we see in Scripture why 698 00:41:09,720 --> 00:41:12,760 everything was passed down to the first born son and not the 699 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,760 first born daughter. Women had very little places of 700 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,840 significance in 1st century Jerusalem, right? 701 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:24,200 So Anna, when she got married, she would have married a man who 702 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,320 would have had property, would have had a house, who would have 703 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:27,800 had all kinds of different things. 704 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:32,040 And when she was widowed, all of that would have gone away. 705 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,560 That's one important thing. Secondly, in the Old Testament, 706 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:41,520 widows are protected by law, but really in practice they were 707 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,440 often marginalized, with some being forced into unwanted 708 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:51,440 marriages simply to be able to make life do or to make to make 709 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,760 ends meet widowed. Women. 710 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:59,680 Well, let me just say this, women in general in 1st century 711 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,240 Jerusalem would have had little significance. 712 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,440 A widowed woman, you can forget about that. 713 00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:11,560 This is why Anna had every reason to give up on God. 714 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:13,400 Why would he allow this to happen? 715 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:15,400 How could a loving God be so cruel? 716 00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:22,840 And if this is you this morning, if you're struggling with how 717 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,480 could a, how could a loving God be so mean? 718 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,560 How could a loving God allow me to go through this? 719 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:31,520 I have hope for you today. It's called Christmas. 720 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:36,120 It's called Christmas because that's when Christ was sent to 721 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:42,280 the earth to live a life that you and I could not live and to 722 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,600 die a death that you and I deserved to die. 723 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,200 Christmas is a time that reminds us. 724 00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:55,240 That no matter what life throws of us, throws at us, God has got 725 00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:56,560 us. And He's calling us to be 726 00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:00,200 faithful. He's calling us to be resilient. 727 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,800 Listen, life's not always going to be fair, but I'm telling you 728 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:05,600 today. Church, you've heard it before. 729 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:09,360 We don't want fair. We don't want fair. 730 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:13,800 We should be thankful for grace and we should be thankful for 731 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:18,160 mercy because that's what we want even without knowing that's 732 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:22,720 what we want. So we close this morning as we 733 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:24,720 often do here. Let me just ask you a quick 734 00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:32,680 question, one question for application today after four 735 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:39,080 weeks of being reminded of this big idea this this big idea for 736 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,080 the series, Christmas isn't just the story of Jesus birth, it's 737 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:45,760 the story of God's heart. What do you do with that? 738 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:51,760 What do I do with that? You know, often times we come to 739 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:55,920 church and we sing some songs that make us feel good and we 740 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:59,080 listen to a sermon that hopefully encourages us. 741 00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:02,640 But when we walk out the door 15 minutes from now, are we going 742 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:04,920 to remember anything we've talked about over the last four 743 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:09,600 weeks? I hope that you, I hope that you 744 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:13,520 do. Christmas isn't just the story 745 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:15,920 of Jesus's birth. It's the story of God's heart. 746 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:18,480 God is running after you this morning. 747 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:21,960 And if you don't know him, I pray that you would make 748 00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:25,920 salvation true today, that you would make today the day of 749 00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:28,680 salvation, that you would come running to Christ this morning 750 00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:31,160 and that you would receive him as your Lord and Savior. 751 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:34,480 Perhaps this morning you're in the room and you're like Anna 752 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:39,240 and you're just going through an UN a crazy amount of suffering 753 00:44:39,240 --> 00:44:42,680 in your life. God is there for you. 754 00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:47,040 He's wanting to hold your heart. He's wanting you to know that 755 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:50,760 it's going to be OK. He's wanting you to know that in 756 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,760 spite of that diagnosis, in spite of whatever it is that 757 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:58,040 he's here for you. And so perhaps this morning you 758 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:01,480 may just want to come down and make this altar your place of 759 00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:03,840 just pouring out your heart to the Lord this morning. 760 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,360 If you need to do business with God, this altar is open. 761 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:11,240 I've asked. Connor and the team to come out 762 00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:16,600 and as he so appropriately said while ago, King of Kings, man, 763 00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:20,880 what a song. As we in 2025, God is the King 764 00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:22,640 of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. 765 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:25,080 And so we're going to they're going to come back out. 766 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:26,680 They're going to sing through that again. 767 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:28,720 I pray that you would just reflect. 768 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:30,440 On the Lord and if you need to do business with the Lord, 769 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:32,840 Pastor Ben will be over here. Pastor Nathan will be over here. 770 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:35,360 Come do business with the Lord this morning. 771 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:39,000 Father, I thank you so much for Simeon and Anna and what they 772 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:43,560 represent to us as part of the Christmas story. 773 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,840 Father, it's by no accident that you have included the details 774 00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:52,560 that you have included about each of these characters of 775 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:59,280 Christmas in your story. Father, I pray, Lord, that 776 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:02,000 whatever you are doing in our hearts and our lives today, 777 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,880 Father. What you're doing in my heart in 778 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,600 my life, Lord, that I wouldn't leave here today without one 779 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:10,120 even giving you acknowledgement for what you're doing or two, 780 00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:12,760 Father, just laying my heart out on this altar. 781 00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,560 And Lord, maybe I need to repent for not being faithful. 782 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:24,640 Maybe I need to repent for not being resilient. 783 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:29,800 Father, I pray that you would. Have your will in your way in 784 00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:36,080 this place this morning. Lord, do whatever you would want 785 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,760 to do now. In our hearts and in our lives, 786 00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:47,600 in Christ's name, we pray, Amen. Thank you for listening to 787 00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:50,960 Riverbend Church's podcast. To find out more about this 788 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,520 message or Riverbend Church, connect with us online at 789 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,120 Riverbend Church dot live.