Luke 2:22-38 The Lord in His Temple

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Don Filcek; Luke 2:22-38 The Lord in His Temple

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I'm Don Filsak, I'm the lead pastor here, as Linda said, and I'm glad to be back here together. I'm grateful for Pastor Ben preaching in my absence last week.
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I'm just grateful for other guys who are able to step up and fill in the pulpit while I'm gone. Hopefully you had a good
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Christmas time with your families and getting together and a good
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New Year celebration and here we are already, walking forward into 2025 together as a church.
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I'm looking forward to what God's going to do in us and through us. God will provide all kinds of opportunities for us to grow in faith, grow in community and grow in service in this next year.
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We're going to finish, just so you know where we're going in the next couple of weeks, because some of you might be curious, like, are we just going to continue on in Luke?
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I haven't really announced that. We are going to finish Luke chapter two, so that's going to take me through next week. The next couple of Sundays are going to be in Luke.
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I'm wrapping up a large, large segment heading of the book, kind of that introductory stuff about the birth of Jesus and John the
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Baptist. But then after that, I think what I'm planning on doing, God willing, is heading over to the very shocking
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Old Testament book of Hosea. I've been threatening that for a while now, and I think it's actually going to come to pass.
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So I say that tongue in cheek. If you know anything about Hosea, all of a sudden you're like, oh, goodness, what are we doing?
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We're all going to get a swift kick in the pants in 2025. And I think that that's what God desires of us by going through Hosea.
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But as we wrap up this section of the Gospel of Luke, the author stated up front that he was interested in sharing eyewitness accounts for the purpose.
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And he gave a stated purpose for writing the Gospel of Luke. He said the purpose was to give us an orderly account of the life of Christ that grants us certainty regarding who he is.
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And so that certainty, that confidence is is meant to be a byproduct of studying and going through the
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Gospel of Luke, that we would we would be able to hear these eyewitness accounts of things that actually happened in history and grow and increase in our confidence in our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So during this opening section about the birth account of Jesus and his cousin,
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John, we have seen testimony after testimony of eyewitness accounts of the unique happenings surrounding the very significant and very unique birth of our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus. But the story doesn't stop there with Christmas. Now, Christmas is so totally last year.
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Right. Jesus came to lead an extraordinary life. And even as we move forward in this gospel over the coming couple of years again, the
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Lord willing, we'll pick up Luke as as we kind of need some some something in between theories and in between books.
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And that's the way I've used the Gospels in the past. I preached through Matthew. It took me about 10 years to finish Matthew just a little bit at a time here and there.
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I'm going to be doing that with Luke as well. We'll keep coming back to it and marching through it. But the story doesn't it doesn't stop, of course, with Christmas in these first two chapters.
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Jesus led an extraordinary, awesome, unique life. And it is worth our study. But in our text this morning, we see the
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Lord coming into his temple. And you might have read this. You might have read this a hundred times and never have noticed that it is the
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Lord God coming into his temple here in this text. He, of course, in the text has to be carried there in the arms of his parents.
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But he is indeed brought into his holy temple. The Lord coming into his holy temple, don't lose the irony of the almighty wrapped in flesh coming into his temple as an infant.
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Like I said, Christmas seems so totally last year to most of us. But the incarnation is a deep and profound mystery that ought to capture our imaginations and our minds all year long, that God would become flesh and dwell among us in our text.
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Jesus will be brought into the temple for his dedication to the Lord as the firstborn son and for the purification sacrifice of his of his mother,
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Mary. And they encounter two strangers who immediately launch into praise at the meeting of baby Jesus. And that's going to be the structure of our text is these two people.
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I can't imagine these are real people, Mary and Joseph, real people. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be them.
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I mean, can you imagine like just randos coming up to them and announcing deep and profound things about their baby?
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Right. This is just happening in all of these supernatural things surrounding his birth there.
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They are said in the text to marvel about these things, marvel at these things.
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They are said to store up these things in their heart. In other passages, Mary is said often a few times that she pondered these things.
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And not only are we meant to ponder and marvel and wonder with Mary and Joseph, but we are called to participate in the praise that they're experiencing as people come to praise
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Jesus as an infant. The main point of this passage is a call to join in and praise the
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Lord as we consider him entering his holy temple. And that's a good call for us in twenty twenty five to be a people of praise centered on our
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Lord and Savior. We are to learn from Simeon's anticipation that we see in this text. We are to learn from Anna's devotion in this text, but we cannot leave that anticipation and devotion on the surface or as if it's just that's the call.
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Just just live a life of anticipation. Just live a life of devotion. It requires anticipation for what and devotion to whom.
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Right. And that's the main point. Seeing what Simeon saw, the salvation of God brought to us in Jesus.
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Speaking of what Anna said, the Messiah has come, a call based on the glory of the one coming into his temple.
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It's knowing him. That's the point that then launches us out into a life of doing things of a life of worship, a life of anticipation, a life of hope.
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It would be shameful, by the way, for the Lord to come into his temple without a welcome. Do you guys know what I'm talking about?
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If the Lord comes into his temple, somebody ought to say hi. Somebody ought to say, I'm glad you're here.
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And so the Lord is welcomed in his temple with a strange welcome that seems fitting with the humility of his entry into his world.
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So let's open our Bibles or scripture journals or your devices to Luke chapter two. And we're going to read starting in verse twenty two.
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Luke two, twenty two. That's easy to remember. All two's Luke two, two, two through thirty eight.
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And that's going to be our text this morning. Recast, you're going to you're about to hear my voice reading
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God's word. So it's my voice, but it's his words. This is what he desires to communicate to us this morning.
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Luke two, starting in verse twenty two. And when the time came for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the
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Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the
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Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
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Now, there's a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
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And the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the
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Lord's Christ. And he came in the spirit in the temple. And when the parents brought in the child
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Jesus to do for him, according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed
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God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
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For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the
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Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel and his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother.
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Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
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And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Samuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin and then as a widow until she was eighty four.
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She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day and coming up at that very hour.
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She began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
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Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship through singing this morning. Father, I rejoice,
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I rejoice in this passage, just the glory of you sending your son, his entry into his temple, the manifestation in this infant of the second person of of the triune
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God, father, son, Holy Spirit. God, what a mystery, what a glorious, amazing and awe inspiring, jaw dropping mystery of incarnation.
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And then, father, just as as we think about what what it implies that these two people greet him, there's an anticipation and a welcoming and a declaring his glory and his majesty and the future, the implications of this baby, both salvation and sword, one who would divide and all people would be divided on the basis of their allegiance to this one baby brought into the temple on this day is just just mind bending.
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And yet we recognize and we are those who have been embraced by his love, those who have recognized his sacrifice for us.
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Father, I pray that you would ignite within us a passion and a joy and a gladness for this one, that we would center our twenty twenty five on this one, that twenty twenty five would be a year of of anticipation and a year of welcoming, a year of praise to Jesus, a year of boldly declaring the joy that we have in Jesus, that he would be the center of this new year for us.
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We enter this new year with anticipation, hope for the future. But all kinds of things can crowd that out and cloud and and cause a mist to our ability to understand what you're trying to accomplish in our year.
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But father, this one thing we know to be steadfast and true, that is that you have sent forth your son to rescue and to save and that those of us who have put our faith and trust in you, we have hope for not just this year, not just this next couple of weeks, but father, we have hope for eternity because of Jesus Christ.
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So, father, I pray that this would be a passage that centers us at the start of this year on the glory of Jesus Christ and we would not get past him this year in Jesus name.
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All right. And thanks to the band for leading us, really grateful for them and I encourage you to reopen your
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Bibles, your devices to Luke chapter two, starting in verse twenty two. And we're going to go through verse thirty eight on that and spend the remainder of our time in his word.
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But it wasn't in my notes, but I decided to address this in the first service. I'm going to kind of point it out in the in this one as well.
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There was a question that was left on a connection card on my desk. It was on my desk because it was submitted and then it just got through to me and it was asking a question that I thought was really good for me to answer to everybody.
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And it was a very simple question. I think it came from a good place. Didn't offend me in the least. But the question was, why does Don yell? There we go.
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Why does Don yell? And I thought it was a good question because it could, you know, in our culture, it could it could ruffle some feathers and some of you associate that with an angry dad or you associate that with, like, you know, anger or frustration or meanness or something like that.
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It's funny. I I posted that question to the men's group on Saturday, yesterday morning, and they all said, just because you're a mean, just because you're a meanie and you're a jerk.
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And that's why you yell. I know we know. But no, there's three reasons. There's three truths that come to bear in the reality of why
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I sometimes get pretty impassioned. My voice raises. The first is that I'm a naturally loud person and my family could testify to that.
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Just last night, I was watching Michigan beat of USC and basketball. Super great game. Classic.
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You can go back and watch that one if you want. I got a little bit loud. I got loud enough that my wife at one point turned over to me and really like, could you just bring it down a notch?
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Like, could you just turn it down a bit? And that probably happens like three times a day at my house.
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So I'm a naturally loud person. I if I'm going to be myself up here, then there's going to be times where I'm going to get loud. The second thing is
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I'm excited. I only get loud about things that I'm excited about and I'm excited about the word. I really legitimately am.
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And so some of these truths just get me like kind of ramped up and they get me excited. And so it comes out. And the third thing is
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I'm not a good actor. So I'm excited. I can't have a hard time suppressing that. Like, I'm not going to be acting to not get impassioned.
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It's gonna be acting if I don't get zealous. And those of you that have talked with me at a coffee shop at times been like, could you just keep the conversation here at the table?
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Like, I get loud. So that's just part of it. And so nothing that I do up here is like primarily for rhetorical effect.
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I'm not a I'm not a gifted, trained public speaker in terms of like, oh, you notice somebody sleeping in the back.
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Raise your decibels a few and you'll get them back brought in or not. No, there's no artistry in this.
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I'm doing what I what I just know to do. And that's about it. Now, the closest that I get to that is when
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I when I ask you to raise your hand occasionally, that's because somebody is asleep. So I'm just trying to try to that's not the only tool that I use to occasionally wrangle back people.
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But but not every time that I do that. Now you're going to be like when I ask you a show of hands of anybody, you're gonna be looking around going, who's sleeping?
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But that's not always the case. No, let's let's focus our time and attention on Luke chapter two here.
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The context here is that Jesus is about a month old. Actually, 40 days old, according to the old covenant, because Mary has completed her days of purification.
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The Old Testament lost us 40 days for a male son that's born. And so we know pretty much when this happens.
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Forty days after he's born. So she and Joseph visit the temple to make a required sacrifice for her purification.
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Again, it just gets kind of confusing. But the law for these things is found in Leviticus 12, verses six through eight.
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If you want to kind of just jot that down and look that up on your own time, Luke 12, six through eight is where you're going to see some of those kinds of laws about purification.
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While what we see in our verse 23 here of Luke chapter two contains a quotation from another passage,
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Exodus chapter 13, verse 12, about the Exodus. And you'll see why here in a second. But what we find here in the beginning of this is that Joseph and Mary are old covenant people.
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They are good Jews following the Jewish laws, following the Jewish customs, doing the right things and going about things correctly.
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And the idea of presenting Jesus to the Lord in the temple that you kind of see there in verse 23 comes from the
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Exodus. It's it's it's it's kind of an enactment of a story and a reminder and a thanksgiving for a story.
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When I remember in the Exodus, when the firstborn of every Egyptian was killed in that final plague.
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But the Israelites were told to put blood over the doorpost. And if they if they follow God by faith and did what he asked, then their firstborn survived, where all of the
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Egyptian firstborn died. And so each firstborn male was then in Exodus 13 was told to be brought into the temple and redemption price of five shekels was to be paid for their dedication.
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That sounds like a racket, right? Just bring your money. You had a baby. Bring money. You have this. Bring money. You do this.
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Bring money. But it's not. This was a symbolic act of thankfulness for God's historical deliverance of the firstborn of Israel during the
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Exodus. It was a way of keeping that thankfulness in front of the people. Does that make sense? So they would do this as an act of thanks,
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God, for your work in our history, your saving work to deliver us out of Egypt. And there are all kinds of reminders about that primary central saving act of God in the
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Exodus that that the Jews, a lot of that old covenant law was about. But his parents, therefore, come to this place and they offer two birds for the purification of Mary.
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That's from Leviticus 40 days after she's given birth. And again, people make much of this, by the way, that it's the two birds you see in verse twenty four and to offer according to what is said in the law of the
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Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Well, actually, that's not all that it says in Leviticus. It actually says a lamb unless you are in low means and then bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons.
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That was kind of like there was like a allotment or what's the word
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I'm looking for? Allowance. There's the word. Thank you. An allowance for somebody who couldn't bring a lamb.
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It wasn't. And I think what we have the image of here is Joseph and Mary are getting off to a start.
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They're like on their own now. They're they're married. They're young. Anybody would recognize like, hey, there were times when
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I was newlywed that we were kind of eating rice and beans for a little bit there. Like it was just kind of scraping things together. Some of you know what
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I'm talking about, especially those of you that are newlywed now. And you're like, buy a house. Are you kidding me? Like, I mean, maybe in 30 years.
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Right. So I recognize that that's hard. So. So, yeah, I think the image here is one of them not doing super well.
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And so they're they're bringing those two turtledoves or two young pigeons.
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But all of this is what's really foreign to our ears. What we need to understand is really quite routine in Israel.
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I wonder if they were the only family they're doing this on this day. Certainly not the only family they're doing this this week.
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I mean, all of Israel was required to do this. And those who are good, you know, abiding by the law, they came and they did this thing.
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And I cannot emphasize enough how utterly common what's happening here in the text was to them, to our ears seems pretty foreign.
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And yet there's a deeper thing that's going on here in the text on this activity, because this is not just any baby being brought to the temple for a dedication here.
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I want you to just wrap your mind around this for a minute here. The Lord himself, the son, the second person of the triune
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God is being brought into his temple. This is the place of his worship.
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This is the place that is the centerpiece of the worship of the one God in three persons, father, son and.
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Holy Spirit, the triune God, I've got some questions for you.
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Where are the trumpets? Where are the trumpets? God is coming into his temple, where the trumpets, where is the high priest on this day, where are the singers?
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Just just get this image in your mind, if you if you have some Old Testament knowledge or you were here when I preached through the book of First Samuel, where David danced with feverish devotion as the mere symbol of the presence of God, that is, the
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Ark of the Covenant was brought up into the tabernacle and he's dancing with devotion.
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And he had it so that every few steps they're carrying the Ark, the symbol of God's very presence, and they're carrying it towards the tabernacle and every whatever it was, 12 steps or whatever.
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There's a sacrifice made and there's trumpets and there's there's prescribed singing and there's choirs that all of us as God, the symbol of God's presence comes into his temple.
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Where's that on this day? No singers. No trumpets.
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No fanfare. He is not greeted with choirs. The outer and inner courts of the temple are busy with people doing their religious tasks and responsibilities, just like any other day.
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While the God of the universe is sneaking up the stairs in the arms of his mother, do you see it?
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I hadn't thought about that before studying this text this week, and it's it's impressive what is going on here.
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Will the Lord come into his temple unnoticed? Close, but Jesus will never be unnoticed.
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Jesus will never be unnoticed. He cannot go unnoticed. In verse 25, we meet Simeon. He's a genuinely good person and everything that's that's mentioned in this text.
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Now, there's a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the
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Holy Spirit was upon him. All of this is indicating he's a really good guy. You would want him to be your neighbor.
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He's righteous and devout, both internal and external devotion to God. So that means he treats others with respect and he is sensitive to religious matters in his heart.
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He wants to do the right thing. Furthermore, he's identified as being guided by the Holy Spirit, a man filled with the spirit, which who the spirit has now led him to a state of anticipation for the arrival of the
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Messiah, the Savior. He's expecting the one promised to Eve and to Abraham and to David and the prophets.
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Simeon's anticipation is fueled by a special revelation from God that he won't die before seeing the
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Messiah. And I think that knowing this, like, I don't know how he found this out. Like, was it in a vision?
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Was it in a dream? Was it an audible voice that spoke to him and said, bro, you're not going to die until your eyes behold
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God's Messiah, God's Christ? Well, I mean, you talk about anticipation.
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What would this build in your life if you were told that you would you wouldn't die until Jesus returned?
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Like, what would that what would that look like for your life? Like, would you be like, wake up every single day and every single moment go like, is it today?
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Is it this hour? Like, what kind of anticipation would you live with? I mean, Simeon, I just imagine that this this did a number on him.
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I imagine Simeon glancing around whenever he was in public going, is it him? Is it him? Is it him? Who is it?
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Is it that wealthy guy standing over there? Is it a powerful member of the Sanhedrin? Maybe I think that as a
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Jew, you might have thought, is it Nicodemus, a really powerful guy among the 70?
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Is it Joseph of Arimathea, the very wealthy member of the Sanhedrin? Surely he looked around at people with noble standing and wondered,
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Messiah or Caiaphas, the high priest. That would be probably a good a good person to consider.
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Right. Maybe it's the guy who's at the very head of our religious order is going to be the one who is the Messiah. But he's alive.
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He's here. He's somewhere. When you've never seen a
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Messiah, how would you know what to look for? Right. But in verse 27, in verse 27, we're told the spirit guided
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Simeon to the temple and he arrived at, of course, the perfect moment. God, in his great providence, has promised to bring
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Simeon and the Messiah together. And now they are indeed in the same room.
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How many of you have seen God's sovereignty in your life? You've seen his providence in your life, leading you and guiding you where you go like, oh boy, there's either a whole lot of coincidence in this world, like like a truckload of coincidence or there's somebody organizing this.
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I mean, I've I've run into people that I was like, you have no I wasn't going to come here and you had no business being here.
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And how are we here in the same place at the same time? You know, you just look at this and you see how
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God guides and directs. And here, of course, God is sovereign. God is providential.
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He's able to lead Simeon to the Messiah. And however it was made clear to Simeon, we don't know whether there's an aura around the baby or whether the spirit goes, this is it, bro.
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Here we go. Or see that baby over there? That's the Messiah. But whatever, however,
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Simeon, it was made clear to Simeon, he immediately scoops up baby Jesus from the arms of Mary and began to bless
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God. Praise God. Now, probably not many of you. There's a handful of you in the room who have had a baby in the last year.
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You're probably not very eager for some stranger to just come pick up your baby. Right. Like or if you've had a baby in the past, you know, that's probably not so kosher.
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And some of you would be like, give me my baby back right away. But Mary and Joseph were surprised, just like you might be if somebody grabbed your baby.
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And but they're amazed by this and especially what Simeon declares in this context.
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They kept experiencing, Mary and Joseph kept experiencing these divine moments. Angels talking to them, leaping babies in wombs, shepherds declaring great things for their son, and now a stranger in the temple scooping up the child in his arms.
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Now, Simeon indicates that he's glad he can finally depart in peace. The indication to me,
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I actually kind of think he's an old guy, just like we're going to see Anna here in a moment as an older lady. I think that he was just by the terminology or the way that he speaks about like,
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OK, now finally I can go to my rest. But the anticipation within him is fulfilled by God introducing him to this baby.
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God had been faithful to keep his word and had orchestrated this meeting in the temple according to divine providence.
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In verse 29, Simeon praises God for his faithfulness to keep his promises.
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But there's also Simeon in the spirit here utters a couple of prophetic things that are worth our attention to things that he really keys in on here in this text, two things that I want all of us to behold alongside of him for the purpose of worship throughout our 2025.
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Look at verse 30. Simeon beholds salvation. He says that my eyes have seen
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God's salvation. He doesn't see, by the way, he doesn't say I see the pathway of salvation.
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He doesn't even technically in the text tell us he sees that he has now beheld the savior he sees in this little infant
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God's very rescue. Consider this faith for a moment, because I want to just ask you in a real human sense, like our eyesight is like light bouncing off of things and coming back into our retina and our brain processing it, which is just an incredible thing altogether.
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But but but honestly, what do his eyes behold? What does Simeon see in this moment?
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Does anybody anybody want to venture a guess to what I'm thinking? What does he see? What was eyes taken?
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Yes, a baby. That's exactly what I was thinking. His eyes take in a baby.
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Was the baby crying? The text doesn't tell us. Was he extra strong for his age, already walking and rolling over?
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And was he swole baby Jesus? That might seem that could seem sacrilegious.
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But did he did he see the sermon or did he hear the sermon on the mount? Was it the sermon on the mount that led him to wow, the great teaching of this infant?
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No, see the baby walk on water. How about the feeding of the 5000?
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Or did he see the crucifixion? The place where the salvation of all would be bought the empty tomb?
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Did he see that great victory? What's your answer? Did he see any of those? What did he see?
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He saw a baby. He trusts God implicitly. He declared that he has seen the salvation of God.
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Why? How can Simeon say that without beholding all of these great things that we're we're brought into the know about these things, right?
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Because of where we're born and where we live in the the place in history and all the revelation of God available to us.
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But Simeon didn't have any of that. And yet here he says, my eyes have seen your salvation. Why?
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Because he knows what the Messiah is coming to accomplish. He's been a student of the Old Testament. The Lord's Christ is coming to save.
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He doesn't need any of the details. Faith assures us.
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That we don't need to know how we'll get through the next month. We don't need to know how this the challenging issues, whatever it is that you're facing will resolve.
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You don't need to know that. We don't know. We need to know how we're going to transition from this life to the next.
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We don't need to know what 2025 holds for us. But what we do know.
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Is that we have faith that God is saving us, that God is rescuing us, that he is faithful to keep his promises to be with us until the end.
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And that he will lead us to the new world he has planned for us. Amen. Simeon witnessed salvation and he was filled with praise.
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He didn't need all of the intricate details of of atonement and substitutionary atonement and all these highfalutin theological words, propitiation, justification, sanctification.
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He didn't need all those words. He had been given enough, as mentioned in verses 31 through 32.
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God had been preparing the public announcement of his Messiah. He didn't hide it. He was bringing it forward.
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And here within the temple of the Jews, Simeon recognized the global scope of this salvation that was coming.
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This baby was a light for revelation to the Gentiles. Amen. Are you glad that this was that he came as a light to the
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Gentiles, people like you and me? It wasn't just for the Jews. Certainly, this is happening in the
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Jewish temple. But praise God that it didn't didn't end there. This baby was a light for the revelation to the
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Gentiles and glory for the Jews, the great glory. What is the great glory of the Jews? That Jesus came to them.
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That Jesus, the Messiah, came through them. He had witnessed Simeon had witnessed the salvation of God in flesh, and he understood that this was a blessing for all the nations.
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That can just you can get there just from studying Abraham, just from studying the promises that were made to Abraham, that one of his line would be a blessing to all peoples.
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But there's something else that Simeon saw that I want to focus a little bit of attention on this morning. It's something that was on my heart a lot in twenty twenty four.
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It seemed like a lot of my Advent readings this year leading up to Christmas kept bringing this often overlooked reality to my mind.
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Simeon saw salvation, yes, but he also saw a sword. Let's look at what
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Simeon directly tells Mary in verses thirty four through thirty five. This child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel.
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He is a sign that will be opposed and his heart will be pierced by a sword. Well, it says and his mother, he says to Mary, your heart also will be pierced, implying that so will the babies.
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Simeon witnessed the profound contrast between salvation and sword. Rescue and rejection, grace and justice, this baby coming to bring both.
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He saw a stone that would form the very foundation of a kingdom, and that same stone would also be the stone that falls upon his enemies.
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Crushing those who oppose him a great foundation to build on for those who love him.
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So as we consider the king coming into his temple, what do you perceive in this infant? Who is the infant at the center of this account to you?
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Is he salvation? Or is he a sword? Salvation or sword for you, your neighbor, your mother, your father, your siblings, your aunt, your coworker, your cousins, everyone, everyone, everyone to everyone.
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Jesus is either salvation or a sword. This encounter presents a choice, great glory or great fear.
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Elation at the arrival of a savior or disdain and disgust at the audacity of this one who will grow up to declare himself the righteous judge over all and some will despise him and reject him and others will find their only hope in him.
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What about you? Simeon witnessed the duality of salvation and sword. The fate of individuals would be determined by this baby.
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Hearts would be splayed open and revealed and he would face opposition. From many, we know he has faced opposition for many, even down to our day, right?
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However, Simeon remained in this text, unperturbed by these things. In the spirit, this baby was revealed as the salvation that was coming to the world from God, the father.
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And what did Simeon do? He praised in verse 28. You can look at it. He took the baby up in his arms and he blessed
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God. Simeon was moved to praise and rejoicing in light of the
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Messiah that had come into his temple. God was fulfilling the anticipation of Simeon.
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But Simeon isn't the only welcoming party for the Lord as he comes into his temple. Of course, like I said, there's no trumpets, no fanfare, no choirs, but two faithful people.
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There was the prophetess named Anna. We get her pedigree as the daughter of Emanuel of the tribe of Asher.
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We, by the way, you know, researchers, historians try to figure out who this manual is. Nobody really knows.
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We don't know anything about him, but Luke was interested in citing his sources. Why would this even occur there if there's no benefit from it?
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It's because that first generation of readers would have a chance to verify and actually meet this Anna or at least talk with people who knew her.
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We don't know how long she lived after this event, but I mean, to say, oh, that Anna, the end of the one that's the daughter of annual, you know, of the tribe of Asher, that Anna.
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Oh, that one. And then people could go and verify this account. Luke was very open to people, real people going and checking up on his sources.
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That's why he names him. He names names with the intention of that first generation being able to go like, oh, wrong,
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Anna. This is the Anna who was born to Samuel. But Anna is advanced in years. She's at least 84 and some think that she might be 105.
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And I don't get too caught up in the differences in the numbers. All depends on whether she was a widow for 84 years or is currently 84.
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Currently, 84 years when she encounters Jesus. Obviously, the English Standard Version that I read earlier takes the latter as the case and believes that she's currently 84.
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But Greek and it's the Greek language lacks some precision surrounding some of these things.
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And so it leaves it open to our interpretation or a debate. But either way, in her day and age, in our day and age, by our estimation, how many would think whether she's 84 or 105, she's lived some life.
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OK, she'd been around for a while. And further, we are told here in the text that she devoted her life to worship, to prayer and fasting in the temple.
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She has spent decades, decades, decades as a single woman in a world that was not at all favorable to single women.
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You guys know what I'm talking about? It is do some history and some study to this time. And this was not a culture that was favorable to single women.
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And she is she is punched her card. She's she's done her her dues here. Her piety and devotion for that reason alone is exemplary, particularly for anyone considering what it means to age in this world.
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Why do I say age in this world? Well, what does it look like to age in a world where suddenly the younger generation start to look more confusing?
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Anybody know what I'm talking about? And then it starts to get to where you're not relating to them anymore because you're frustrated with them, just like the generation ahead of you was frustrated with you.
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Do you know what I'm talking about? Anybody buttheads with your parents? Any wonder that the kids buttheads with their parents? That's a generational thing.
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And what ends up happening in a heart as we begin to look at the world and just kind of go like this place feels like it's going to hell in a handbasket.
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Anybody felt that doesn't mean that somebody was asleep. I just wanted to know if you felt if you if you felt that.
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I have felt that. And here's the thing. In my younger days, I was pretty impulsive and I'd love change.
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Now I'm finding that I like my routines. I make my same pour over in the morning that I sit in my brown chair.
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Anybody got one of those chairs? Mine's brown. It's a recliner. It's a lazy boy. Sit in there with my
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Bible and my cup of coffee and have my quiet time and kind of do the same rituals and routines. Anybody you get there.
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And as you get older, those things become a comfort to you, don't they? And eventually you're shouting at the kids out the front window.
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Get off my lawn, right? Like, I mean, you become I mean, how do we avoid becoming crotchety, angry, mean old people?
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How will we avoid that? Anna here is devoted to the Lord. She's devoted to the
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Lord and she stands is almost kind of like if we believed in patron saints, I would call her the patron saint of old people.
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But she's the person who I mean, what a model. What an example. And she did not lead a easy life.
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And she's dedicated and devoted to the Lord. And as an example of a woman who didn't give up in the face of hardship, she lost her husband seven years into their marriage.
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And then lived however many years after that. Eighty four. Some say maybe more like 70.
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Doesn't really matter that much when you think about the scope of things. She lived decades without without her husband.
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This would not have left her in an easy place. Instead of growing bitter, though, instead of feeling set aside, instead of complaining to the
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Lord about her difficult circumstances, she devoted herself to his service. And God here sees fit to use her as one of the two people, one of only two people who welcome the
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Lord as he comes into his temple. At that very hour, a God ordained hour, she met
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Jesus and his mother and his father. And however, it was made clear to her again, we don't know if it's an aura or some audible thing or whatever.
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She recognizes this baby as the Messiah. And here's what's glorious about this elderly woman. She would not shut up about it.
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She wouldn't shut up about it. She kept giving thanks and kept speaking of him to anyone who would listen.
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This imperfect, the imperfect tense. Now, some of you glaze over when I start talking English grammar and all that stuff.
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But this this Greek word is in the imperfect tense, which means kept doing it.
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She kept on giving thanks. She kept on speaking of him to anyone who would listen, emphasizing that she kept looking for a chance to thank
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God and speak about Jesus to anyone who would listen. And of course, she found the best listeners were the ones who were already waiting in anticipation for the redemption of Jerusalem, the ones who were already hopeful and already thinking and already primed thinking about the
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Messiah. Did you know there are people in your life who are already thinking about him? There are people who don't believe what you believe, but are thinking about him.
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And you might be the one that God would use to declare hope in him.
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That might be the one to bring them over the line and say, brother, sister. There are people who are thinking about these things.
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It might be your next door neighbor. It might be the person who works in the cubicle next to you. It might be an aunt or an uncle who you've written off because you already shared the gospel with them when you were 20 and they just rejected it outright.
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And they might be primed now. Right. They might be ready now. And you've given up and you're like, I don't don't go there.
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Don't go there with Aunt Jane. Don't talk with her about this stuff. And she might be ready.
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So what are we to make of this? This account of these strange occurrences in a routine temple visit.
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Again, this is very routine. But look at Joseph and Mary's response in verse 33. How do they respond to this?
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They marveled at what was said about Jesus. And so should we. As far as applications go, this historical account leads me to walk down and think down pathways of praise and wonder at whatever the spirit might draw into your life regarding praise and wonder at Jesus, keeping him the center is is good for you.
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It's good for us to remember Jesus and make sure that in 2025, as we launch out here, the first message in 2025 leading us church out into praise and worship and anticipation of Jesus in this coming year.
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What a great what a great place to have us here in this text here at the start of this year. But let me let me commend four ways to apply this text.
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Things that I'm working on that God's working in me in this next year through this text.
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The first is simply this. Like just following Simeon's example, the first application anticipate
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Jesus. Anticipate Jesus. Simeon was told that Jesus was on his way and he kept his eyes open for the
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Messiah's arrival. And so in a very in a very kind of practical sense, like, you know, that Simeon was waiting for the arrival of the
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Messiah. But so are we like, I mean, some of this is sky gazing, right? Like it's just it's just waking up in the morning and looking at the sky going.
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That's the sky that he's going to return in. Could be today, right? There's that kind of anticipation of the of the literal arrival of our
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Messiah, the literal arrival of our king, the literal rescue of us to eternity.
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But there's another way to think about the anticipation of Jesus. We are no less called to a life of daily anticipation of God showing up in our day to day lives as well.
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Do you know what I'm saying? I don't think I don't think it does any injustice to the text to make this figurative in our lives.
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I recognize that it takes a concerted effort on our part to be mindful of God in the moment by moment of everyday life.
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It's easy to think about God when I'm at church. Harder when
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I'm stuck in traffic. Do you know what I'm talking about? A little bit easier to think about him when
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I'm having my quiet time in my brown chair. But what happens an hour later when somebody rubs me the wrong way or I'm frustrated?
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How often are we like the foolish man in James that it says the word of God is like a mirror and you come to it and you look into it and you gaze into it and it says, man, blemish here.
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Your hair's all disheveled and you look like you just woke up. Oh, good. And then you then you don't apply the brush.
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You don't you don't change anything and you just go about your day. Well, I looked in the mirror. Got a good assessment of what
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I am. And then you just go about your merry way. How many of you would identify that forgetfulness is your greatest enemy in the
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Christian walk? That it really comes down to like I can I can have a really great time in God's word and two hours later be like just frustrated and pull my hair out.
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You know what I'm talking about? It's that it is. Are you anticipating his presence with you in this next year?
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Are you anticipating his presence with you moment by moment? I'm encouraging us to work on more mindfulness.
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That's intentional thoughtfulness about God in our day to day this year. And it might require some quite specific changes.
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It might be just as simple as printing out some Bible verses to tape around key locations. Maybe you need one on the on the screen of your computer at work or at home.
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Maybe it's just take just take a Bible verse and put it right next to that speedometer. When you're going 100 on my tail in the left lane,
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I'm going to pass. I just am trying to get you know, I'm trying to get around and not get a ticket, bro. But I'm always afraid one of you.
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I'm always afraid it's going to be one of you that I pass going really fast. But it does help that I've got a recast license plate.
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So that tames me a little bit. But you're going to know it if it's me. Hasn't happened yet yet that I know of.
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Maybe some of you know. But a life of anticipation is a life that expects
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God to be present with us. Are you going to launch out into this tomorrow, Monday?
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Let's just take tomorrow as an example. Are you going to launch out into tomorrow expecting God to be in your day? And if you could do that every day, guess what?
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You would have a year of anticipating God's presence in your life. But then there's another step in the second application is a subtle next step to anticipating.
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That's expecting, hopeful that God shows up. But then when he shows up, welcome Jesus into your life.
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What do I mean? When you're mindful of him and you actually get that moment of like, oh, there's that verse there,
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I am doing 100. God, why am I in a hurry right now and begin to welcome him, praise him for his presence with you.
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Turn your thoughts and concerns and fears and yes, even your anger and frustration in moments. Turn those thoughts and prayer over to him.
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I'm convinced that if we live the life of anticipating Jesus and welcoming him into our moments, not only would we sin less, but we would cherish and delight and rejoice in the intimacy of our savior and the closeness of our savior more and more this year.
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We would delight and cherish those moments together with him. Do you know what I'm talking about?
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I'm recommending a life of increased contemplation of Christ this year. This might require a change in our routines.
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And it's just a couple of diagnostic questions. Do you have any time without Spotify playing or without YouTube TV on?
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Do you have any margins for welcoming Jesus into your days? Consider what might need to change for you in this next year to be anticipating and welcoming
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Jesus. And again, the third thing that I can draw from here, all centered on Jesus. Praise God for Jesus.
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Taking Simeon's understanding, Simeon understood that Jesus brought or brings to every life either salvation or a sword.
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And if you've asked Jesus to be your lord and savior, then praise him often for bringing salvation to you.
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In a few moments, we're going to come to the tables of remembering, which are also the tables of Thanksgiving thankfulness.
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Let's be sure to praise God for sending his son to die for us, to be with us, to save us and to rescue us.
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And lastly, let's follow in his example. Tell others about Jesus. Anna aged and spent in devotion to her
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God is such an awesome example of enthusiasm and delight in our Lord.
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She couldn't be silenced. Nobody could shut her up. She just kept talking about Jesus. You're not going to believe what I saw. She took every chance she had to give public thanks to God.
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And she was looking for chances to tell others about the Messiah she had encountered as an infant in the temple.
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Now, do you see in the text where it says she took an evangelism class immediately so that she could go share?
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Do you guys find it? Is it in there? She immediately launched into a six a six week course on how to share her faith with others so that she would be equipped and capable of telling others about Jesus.
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Is that what the text tells us? Where does Anna's enthusiasm come from her heart and her experience?
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Right, she had encountered Jesus and in her encounter with Jesus, she she was lit up like zealous and on fire for what she had encountered.
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And the Messiah is here, everybody. Can you believe it? He came and our salvation is here.
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Can you get fired up about that? Can you be enthusiastic about that? If you've met
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Jesus, I want you to honestly ask this question. So if you've met Jesus, I want you to ask yourself this question.
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Do I have enthusiasm for him? And then I want you to ask the deeper question, why or why not?
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Why or why not? Do you have enthusiasm? If you don't, why?
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And I think that those of you who have had a genuine encounter with Jesus that have allowed the world to crowd out and I'm kind of telling you why
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I think that maybe you don't have enthusiasm for him and you're not bold in your sharing and you're not quick to talk about him with people around and at your workplace and among family and all of that stuff and in your neighborhood.
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Part of the reason is that you've probably quite likely allowed the concerns and the worries of this world to crowd out your enthusiasm for him.
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Not that you don't have any, that your focus and your eyes are in the wrong place. Do you know what I'm talking about? I get there,
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I get there where I'd be easier to complain to somebody at work than to talk about Jesus with somebody at work.
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Do you know what I'm talking about? You get together with family easier to talk about what's not going right and what hurts and aches and pains and this and that and the frustration at work.
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And do you guys know what I'm talking about? Easier to be an evangelist for the negative than for the positive, right?
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We need to flip that. May God flip that for us in 2025. Maybe we be a people who are out joyfully, enthusiastically declaring the glory and supremacy of our our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to anyone who will listen like Anna. I believe that God desires this year to be a year of bold, bold joy, bold enthusiasm, bold speaking of him to any and all.
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And especially we may find that some are awaiting the redemption and they didn't even know it. They're eager, but they didn't know it.
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The Lord came into his temple and rather than being anticipated, welcomed, praised and boldly declared by the important people, he was anticipated, welcomed, praised and declared by common people like you and me.
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He wants your delight in 2025, and he knows that your delight means more boldness this next year.
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So along with Simeon and Anna, we recognize that he will be opposed. He will be rejected and even rejected until our own time.
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But we recognize him as the very salvation of God breaking into the world. He came to be the salvation for all who receive him.
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Therefore, if you've accepted him as your Lord and Savior, believing that he died on the cross to atone that is pay for your sin and you've asked him for forgiveness, then come to take a cup of juice to commemorate his blood shed for us and take a cracker to remember his body broken in our place.
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However, let me just say if this passage does not resonate with your current journey toward God, consider this morning's text that we've studied and what it has to say.
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He either represents salvation or sword to all. He will either be embraced by you or rejected by you.
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If you desire to escape the just judgment of his righteous hand and embrace his wondrous and glorious grace, I encourage you to come and speak with me afterwards.
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If I'm intimidating, find someone who looks less intimidating and talk with them. You're like that guy yelled at me.
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I don't want to talk to him. If that's the case, then then by all means, go find somebody with a friendlier smile and talk with them.
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The fact that they smile probably is a good indication that they got an answer for you anyway. But most anyone here would be delighted to discuss with you how you can transition from sword to salvation today.
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But for those of us who recognize him as our salvation, let's go to the tables with joy and gladness, unified as we launch out into 2025, anticipating him present in our lives, welcoming him, praising him, delighting, rejoicing in him and telling others about him.
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Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this glorious entrance into your temple, your son.
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Wow. One God, three persons and your son coming into his temple as infant in flesh.
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Just a couple of people recognizing it and just how how understated and humble you are to make your entry this way.
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No fanfare, no trumpets, but a couple of people who will be faithful to declare you faithful to testify of your goodness.
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Father, I pray that you would use us because it's so glorious how you will use just the smallest band of people who have faith and trust in you.
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I pray that you would give us an increased boldness, but not a boldness for boldness sake, but a boldness that comes from enthusiasm and a reigniting of our hearts and gladness, a refreshing in our minds of what we deserved and what we obtain that we who deserved eternal punishment have received eternal glory in Jesus, eternal forgiveness, hope and righteousness, the opportunity to praise you and glorify you for eternity because of what
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Jesus did for us. I pray that you would help us be mindful of that as we go to these tables and rejoice together in 2025.