The Heart of Anna: Serving God Amidst Loss

Pastor Josh
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Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh
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My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh
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I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh
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Now come along.

Pastor Josh
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Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Pastor Josh
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You know, traditions are a good thing.

Pastor Josh
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Does anyone else have one before?

Pastor Josh
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I.

Pastor Josh
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Traditions are a good thing.

Pastor Josh
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I.

Pastor Josh
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I think that one.

Pastor Josh
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One of the reasons that traditions are fun is because it might not be necessarily really unique or it might not even be something that other people find interesting, but they're special to us because we continue to do them, and it.

Pastor Josh
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It holds a special place in our hearts.

Pastor Josh
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And when you.

Pastor Josh
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When you think about scripture and you think about, you know, different things that people did and how they reacted to things, you know, people reacted to Jesus in many different ways.

Pastor Josh
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And, and it was a lot of times people reacted to Jesus with awe.

Pastor Josh
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Many people reacted to Jesus with.

Pastor Josh
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With anger.

Pastor Josh
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Some people reacted with.

Pastor Josh
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With Jesus in great joy.

Pastor Josh
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And I think that's how sometimes at Christmas time, we, you know, different people have different perceptions of different things that happens.

Pastor Josh
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And, you know, for many people, Christmas is a time of joy.

Pastor Josh
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Many, many people, you know, they're looking all year towards Christmas, and maybe family's coming together.

Pastor Josh
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This might be the one time the family gets together in the year.

Pastor Josh
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And so there's great joy with that.

Pastor Josh
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But, you know, for other people, Christmas time can be difficult, you know, when.

Pastor Josh
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When certain elements of the life has changed.

Pastor Josh
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Maybe a person has gone on to be with the Lord or maybe there was an instance around that Christmas season where there was a difficulty.

Pastor Josh
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You know, sometimes people have a different perception.

Pastor Josh
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And, And I think that that's important for us to understand as, as Christians, we can see the very same thing and have a different viewpoint on it than somebody else because of our experience.

Pastor Josh
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And we're going to talk about an individual here this evening.

Pastor Josh
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Her name is going to be Anna.

Pastor Josh
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And Anna has a reaction to Jesus that really was unique.

Pastor Josh
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There were really only a few people at this time frame that were recognizing Jesus as Messiah.

Pastor Josh
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We know at this point the shepherds had recognized Jesus as Messiah.

Pastor Josh
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We know that right before this, Simeon had recognized Jesus as Messiah.

Pastor Josh
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You know, at this point, Mary and Joseph are certainly understanding not completely the implications of who Jesus is, but to some degree they're understanding this.

Pastor Josh
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And we see Anna reacting in a very unique way here.

Pastor Josh
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There's not a lot to be said about Anna in This passage.

Pastor Josh
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And, you know, I.

Pastor Josh
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I wonder sometimes in Scripture, sometimes I wonder why.

Pastor Josh
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Why was this mentioned?

Pastor Josh
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Why was this little snippet mentioned in Scripture?

Pastor Josh
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And I think that if something's mentioned in Scripture, it's there for us for a reason.

Pastor Josh
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It's there for us to learn.

Pastor Josh
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It's there for us to maybe learn from a good example or a bad example so that we don't follow that path.

Pastor Josh
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You know, there's some passages of scripture that are just descriptive, just describing something that happened so that we can tie that together with reality, so that we can tie it together with history.

Pastor Josh
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So, so we know at this point in time, Jesus is born.

Pastor Josh
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His parents take him to the temple.

Pastor Josh
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And Simeon there, as we saw last week, followed the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Josh
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So he was a man led by the Spirit.

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He worships Jesus.

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He.

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He recognizes the truth of God's word.

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And we see there in verse 29, he says, now the Lord, now, let us now serve and depart in peace according to Thy word.

Pastor Josh
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So he's essentially saying, I have now seen my Savior.

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I can depart in peace.

Pastor Josh
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I can be done.

Pastor Josh
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I fought the good fight.

Pastor Josh
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I finished my course.

Pastor Josh
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And so he says, the reason why, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel.

Pastor Josh
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And so, really, in that passages of Scripture where Simeon is talking, we see a lot of really interesting points.

Pastor Josh
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One point is that Jesus is not just coming for Israel, even though he came for his people.

Pastor Josh
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He did come, as it says there, to lie in the light of the Gentiles.

Pastor Josh
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And so we know that Jesus's message of the Gospel is for all.

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And we see that Simeon is led by the Spirit to proclaim this truth.

Pastor Josh
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But at the end of this, we see in verse 36, a new character come onto the scene.

Pastor Josh
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And this is the individual named Anna.

Pastor Josh
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And it says, and there was one Anna, a prophetess.

Pastor Josh
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Now, if you see that, you might not understand, really.

Pastor Josh
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I.

Pastor Josh
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I don't understand the implications of what that phrase means.

Pastor Josh
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We don't see a lot of that in Scripture, that phrase prophetess.

Pastor Josh
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But it does kind of shine some light on us this morning as we looked into that word prophet or prophecy.

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We believe many people, many biblical scholars believe that Anna was someone who was proclaiming the truth of God.

Pastor Josh
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She was proclaiming the truth of God to those around her.

Pastor Josh
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So she's only in a handful of women in the Bible that have the title of prophetess.

Pastor Josh
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The others were Miriam in Exodus chapter 15, and Deborah in the book of Judges.

Pastor Josh
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And, and we, we see that there are a few others in Scripture, in the book of Isaiah, I believe that there's one mentioned.

Pastor Josh
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And, and so what does that mean?

Pastor Josh
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Did that mean that she was holding the office of a pastor?

Pastor Josh
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No, we just believe that she was someone who was there to proclaim the truth of God.

Pastor Josh
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And it even is seen here as she proclaims the truth of God in this culmination of Jesus's birth.

Pastor Josh
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And so it says that there was one Anna, a prophetess, a daughter of fuel, of the tribe of Asser.

Pastor Josh
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She was of great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity.

Pastor Josh
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And she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day.

Pastor Josh
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There's a lot that we can learn from the life of Anna.

Pastor Josh
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Right here we see that she was an elderly woman.

Pastor Josh
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She had only been married for seven years.

Pastor Josh
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And the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what happened, but we know that her husband passed away after that short amount of time.

Pastor Josh
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And the Bible says that she remained a widow for the rest of her life.

Pastor Josh
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Now, that might not jump off the page to you too much, but at that time frame, someone who was a widow was, was really the outcast of society.

Pastor Josh
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She would not have had someone providing for her like the other women that were there.

Pastor Josh
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And the Bible says that at that point in time, she made a decision.

Pastor Josh
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And you know, that's an interesting decision because a lot of people have allowed heartache in their life to draw them away from God, to, to lead them away from God.

Pastor Josh
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But Anna does not respond that way.

Pastor Josh
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What does Anna do in the midst of loss?

Pastor Josh
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She turns to God.

Pastor Josh
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And it says here that after this happens, she departed not from the temple.

Pastor Josh
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She wanted to be in the presence of God.

Pastor Josh
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And I think that there's a lot that we can learn here from her life because no doubt the loss of her husband was not only an emotional loss, but it, but it was a, is a physical loss, a material loss.

Pastor Josh
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She lost her security.

Pastor Josh
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She lost probably her standing in society, unfair as that is.

Pastor Josh
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And ultimately what happens here is that she could have allowed that to lead her to a place of going away from God, maybe even questioning God, getting to a point in her life where she was bitter, maybe even angry with God.

Pastor Josh
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But instead, what does she do?

Pastor Josh
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She clings to God in the midst of that loss.

Pastor Josh
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She says, lord, I want to be with you.

Pastor Josh
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I want to be in the temple.

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I want to serve you.

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And it says that she was there in the temple.

Pastor Josh
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She departed not from the temple.

Pastor Josh
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That shows her desire to be close to God.

Pastor Josh
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But it says there more.

Pastor Josh
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It says, but served God.

Pastor Josh
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We spoke about that importance this morning about serving God with the proper motives.

Pastor Josh
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Serving God in the midst of difficulty.

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Instead of getting angry with God.

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What did she do?

Pastor Josh
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She served God.

Pastor Josh
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And then it says that she served God with fasting and prayers.

Pastor Josh
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And this shows dedication night and day.

Pastor Josh
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This shows the time frame in which she did this.

Pastor Josh
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It wasn't when it was convenient to her.

Pastor Josh
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Now her faith had become her life.

Pastor Josh
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This indicates that Anna was, Though she was elderly at this point, she was still busy serving the Lord.

Pastor Josh
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And so she was busy serving the Lord.

Pastor Josh
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But we also see here that she was looking, she was looking for hope.

Pastor Josh
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Verse 30.

Pastor Josh
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And she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord.

Pastor Josh
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So very similar to Simeon.

Pastor Josh
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She gives thanks to the Lord.

Pastor Josh
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She, she's looking for opportunities to give thanks to the Lord.

Pastor Josh
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You know, I think so many times in our life we miss opportunities to give thanks to God because we're so focused on the issues that are around us.

Pastor Josh
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You know, if we just opened our eyes, I think we would be very, very, it would be very, very obvious for us to give God thanks for many things around.

Pastor Josh
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And so here in this case, she's, she's ready.

Pastor Josh
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And she comes in that instance and she gives thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Pastor Josh
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And so she gives thanks to the Lord for this opportunity to see Jesus.

Pastor Josh
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And it says that she spake of him to all of them that looked for redemption.

Pastor Josh
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Now, what we know is that there are people at that time frame looking for redemption.

Pastor Josh
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They were looking for someone to redeem them.

Pastor Josh
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That word redemption means to be bought back.

Pastor Josh
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And so people were looking for a redeemer.

Pastor Josh
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And what she did is she recognized Jesus is the Redeemer.

Pastor Josh
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Jesus is the one to bring this redemption.

Pastor Josh
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And so what does she do?

Pastor Josh
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She proclaims that to all the people who were looking.

Pastor Josh
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That's a great example for us as believers.

Pastor Josh
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We, we should be proclaiming the redemption of Jesus Christ in our life.

Pastor Josh
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And I want to take you to a passage of Scripture that talks a little bit about that.

Pastor Josh
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We're going to come back to Anna here in a few moments, but I want you to turn there to Titus, chapter two.

Pastor Josh
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I, I, I was really pondering as I was studying the life of Anna.

Pastor Josh
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One of the words that jumped off the page for me was that word redemption.

Pastor Josh
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Redeemer what does that mean for us?

Pastor Josh
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What?

Pastor Josh
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What does that mean for us when we are trying to share our faith with other people?

Pastor Josh
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Well, we're going to see here in this passage of Scripture in Titus chapter two, the opportunity to explain what redemption looks like and how we can live in light of that to those around us.

Pastor Josh
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Let's look at Titus chapter 2, and we're going to look at verse number 11 says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.

Pastor Josh
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And so, in light of the grace of God, so.

Pastor Josh
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So the same grace that Anna experienced all those years ago, the same grace that you experience in trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior and knowing his gift of grace in your life, that should bring us to a place that we should deny ungodliness, things that are not reflective of the word of God.

Pastor Josh
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We should deny these worldly lusts.

Pastor Josh
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We should live soberly.

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We talked about that this morning.

Pastor Josh
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Righteously and godly in this present world.

Pastor Josh
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So the Bible says, to live a life focused on the redemption of God is a life to live differently in this world.

Pastor Josh
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A life that lives in opposition to ungodliness, a life that lives in opposition to worldly lust.

Pastor Josh
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A life that leads us to a place of sobriety.

Pastor Josh
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Not just sobriety.

Pastor Josh
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When it comes to alcohol, a lot of times we use that word, sobriety.

Pastor Josh
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We think of, well, they're abstaining from alcohol.

Pastor Josh
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No, it's more than that.

Pastor Josh
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It's living a life unaffected by the cares and the whims and the sins of this world, to think seriously about the things of God, to live righteously, to live godly in this present world.

Pastor Josh
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It's very easy for us to be swayed by this present world and not to be thinking about the redemption that God has extended in our life.

Pastor Josh
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And I think that so many times we get our eyes off track of the true message and we get so clouded up with all these things of this world, and we do end up living lives of ungodliness, lives of worldly lust, lives that are not sober, lives that are not righteous, lives that are not godly in this present world.

Pastor Josh
00:11:23

And then he says, how do you get back to that?

Pastor Josh
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How do you get back to living that life of sobriety?

Pastor Josh
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How do you give.

Pastor Josh
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How do you get back to living that life of godliness and that focus in the truth of redemption?

Pastor Josh
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Well, it says, looking for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
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It's looking to that culmination of it all one day, looking to the end, keeping our eyes fixed on those things which are eternal.

Pastor Josh
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Colossians chapter three says, keep your eyes fixed on those things which are above.

Pastor Josh
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And, and I would say that so much so that we must, we must be vigilant in living a life with that eternal perspective.

Pastor Josh
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I know that's a phrase that we use quite frequently here.

Pastor Josh
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But if you cannot allow yourself to live your life and, and think on and believe in those things which are eternal, we're going to be stuck.

Pastor Josh
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And those things which are in the here and now.

Pastor Josh
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Anna could have very easily, when she lived that life for those.

Pastor Josh
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Those years, those years she's, you know, in her 80s, 90s years years old.

Pastor Josh
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She's old at this point in time.

Pastor Josh
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She has gone through a lot of stuff in her life, and she could have used a lot of different things to cause her to live like the world, cause her to live like the people there in Jerusalem.

Pastor Josh
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But no, she says, I'm going to live differently.

Pastor Josh
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I'm going to keep my eyes fixed on redemption.

Pastor Josh
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I'm going to look to Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
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And that's.

Pastor Josh
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We as Christians have to follow that same path, looking for that blessed hope.

Pastor Josh
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You know, there's a lot of Christians that are walking around not looking toward redemption, not looking toward being restored, not looking forward to these things.

Pastor Josh
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They're looking forward to tomorrow, they're looking forward to Friday night.

Pastor Josh
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They're looking forward to that vacation.

Pastor Josh
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They're looking forward to getting that bonus.

Pastor Josh
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And our eyes are just fixed on the wrong things.

Pastor Josh
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And so they said, look to Jesus, look to Jesus.

Pastor Josh
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Here Paul is saying to Titus, if you want to live this life of difference, if you want to live this life focused on redemption, look to Jesus, verse 14, who gave Himself for us.

Pastor Josh
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Folks, we can never get used to the gospel message.

Pastor Josh
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Never become callous to the fact that Jesus gave his life for you.

Pastor Josh
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Sometimes when we think about in the corporate sense, we kind of remove ourselves from the equation.

Pastor Josh
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We say, yeah, God died.

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You know, Jesus came and God died for the sins of the world.

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But.

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But yes, he did.

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But he also came and gave his life for you.

Pastor Josh
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And I think so many times we miss that connection.

Pastor Josh
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So he gave himself for us that he might, here's our word for the night, redeem us from all iniquity.

Pastor Josh
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It was God's plan for him to send his only begotten son so that we could be bought back with a price.

Pastor Josh
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The Bible says That we are bought with a price to redeem us from iniquity, to live differently from the world.

Pastor Josh
00:13:54

Folks, the truth is, is that I think so many times, and I'm included in this, we recognize that we can't be sinless.

Pastor Josh
00:14:01

And so we just don't fight that battle against sin.

Pastor Josh
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We say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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I'm just human.

Pastor Josh
00:14:06

Aren't we all just human?

Pastor Josh
00:14:07

But the Bible does say here that we are on that path of living more righteously.

Pastor Josh
00:14:12

And it says that God has redeemed us from that sin.

Pastor Josh
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The book of Romans is all about this fact that you were, before you were saved, a servant to sin.

Pastor Josh
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You were in bondage, but now you have the freedom to choose the path of obedience.

Pastor Josh
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You had the freedom to choose the path of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh
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So he says that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, a different people, zealous of good works.

Pastor Josh
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This is describing what a person who is set on the redemption of God.

Pastor Josh
00:14:41

This is what it looks like here.

Pastor Josh
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It says that they are set on living a life differently from the world.

Pastor Josh
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They're.

Pastor Josh
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They're unique people.

Pastor Josh
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They're not conformed to this world, but they're transformed, zealous of good works.

Pastor Josh
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Now, the good works don't come before that because some people say, well, you got to start working hard for Jesus Christ, and then you'll understand all these blessings.

Pastor Josh
00:15:00

No, the blessings come in faith.

Pastor Josh
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And then we see us zealous of good works.

Pastor Josh
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And so what I would encourage you to think about is this.

Pastor Josh
00:15:11

To live a life focused on the redemption of God is a life focused on the eternal, a life focused on the gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:15:18

Now, Anna obviously didn't know all the implications of everything that was going to happen with Jesus, but she did know that he was the redemption, that he was the One who would be the Redeemer.

Pastor Josh
00:15:28

And so we go back and we look at Anna and we see that she proclaimed that to all the people that were around her, verse 38.

Pastor Josh
00:15:34

And she, coming in the instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:15:39

So it's the thankfulness in her heart for the Redeemer that allowed her to tell other people about the redemption in Jerusalem.

Pastor Josh
00:15:49

So I would challenge you to think about it this way.

Pastor Josh
00:15:52

It's the thankfulness of what God has done for us in our life that causes us to tell other people about Him.

Pastor Josh
00:15:57

Are we going to be willing to be so thankful for what God has done that we're willing to tell other people proclaiming the truth of God?

Pastor Josh
00:16:04

Are we willing to serve him night and day?

Pastor Josh
00:16:06

Are we willing to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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I want to be around Him.

Pastor Josh
00:16:09

I want to be in his presence.

Pastor Josh
00:16:11

I want to spend time with him in his word.

Pastor Josh
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Now, I would tell you that a lot of people will say, well, I love the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:16:17

I want to be around Him.

Pastor Josh
00:16:19

Well, how can we be around Him?

Pastor Josh
00:16:20

Well, I'm going to tell you that you're not going to get any closer to God by being in this building.

Pastor Josh
00:16:24

This building is not the temple.

Pastor Josh
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Believe it or not, this is not the temple.

Pastor Josh
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God.

Pastor Josh
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God isn't in that.

Pastor Josh
00:16:31

I, I, There are some kids running up here today.

Pastor Josh
00:16:33

I was like, guys, you're not allowed to come back here.

Pastor Josh
00:16:34

We, we didn't stop them from coming back there because that's the holy of holies, okay?

Pastor Josh
00:16:38

It's not the holy of holies back there.

Pastor Josh
00:16:40

And so how can we be in the presence of God now?

Pastor Josh
00:16:43

Now, for Anna, she was living in a different time frame.

Pastor Josh
00:16:45

And so there was the temple and there was the presence of God.

Pastor Josh
00:16:48

And so there was that challenge for her to be close to the presence of God.

Pastor Josh
00:16:52

But for us today, it's not about being in a specific place now.

Pastor Josh
00:16:56

It's not about allowing ourselves to be in a sacred, holy cathedral.

Pastor Josh
00:17:02

The Bible actually says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Pastor Josh
00:17:07

And so you can have that access to God anywhere that you are.

Pastor Josh
00:17:11

So it's not about the location of your body.

Pastor Josh
00:17:14

It's about the location, if you will, of your heart, about where you stand before Him.

Pastor Josh
00:17:18

And so you say, I love God.

Pastor Josh
00:17:20

I want to be with Him.

Pastor Josh
00:17:21

How do we spend time with God?

Pastor Josh
00:17:23

We spend time.

Pastor Josh
00:17:24

And this is basic.

Pastor Josh
00:17:25

This is basic Christianity 101.

Pastor Josh
00:17:29

We spend time with God by reading His Word, by studying His Word, by communing with him in His Word.

Pastor Josh
00:17:34

Folks, if we love God, I'm going to tell you a statement.

Pastor Josh
00:17:36

And if you don't like this statement, you can throw tomatoes at me.

Pastor Josh
00:17:39

But the truth is, I think I can back this up in Scripture.

Pastor Josh
00:17:42

If you love God, you will love His Word, okay?

Pastor Josh
00:17:46

You might not be able to understand everything in His Word.

Pastor Josh
00:17:48

I, I don't understand everything here.

Pastor Josh
00:17:51

You might not be able to read it as much as you'd like to read it every single day, but there should be a desire to know His Word, to grow in it, to understand it, to meditate upon it.

Pastor Josh
00:18:01

Folks, I would encourage you not just to do your daily reading and walk away, but to dive deep into that.

Pastor Josh
00:18:06

What is there for me today?

Pastor Josh
00:18:07

What, what, what is God?

Pastor Josh
00:18:08

Saying to me in this passage of Scripture, folks, he wrote this so that you could learn.

Pastor Josh
00:18:14

He wrote this so that you could grow.

Pastor Josh
00:18:15

And so the way that you hear from him is through His Word.

Pastor Josh
00:18:18

You know, it would be nice if.

Pastor Josh
00:18:20

If we could get a phone call and he could tell us directly what he'd like us to do.

Pastor Josh
00:18:23

But that's not the way that God communicates with us.

Pastor Josh
00:18:25

The way that God communicates us is through primarily Scripture.

Pastor Josh
00:18:29

Now, he does speak to us through the conviction of the Spirit, but the conviction and the comfort of the Spirit will always be aligned with His Word.

Pastor Josh
00:18:35

And so I would say to you tonight, if you want to be that person, like Anna, that wants to commune with God, be in His Word, spend time in it, don't rush through it.

Pastor Josh
00:18:46

Alicia and I just went out for our anniversary to dinner.

Pastor Josh
00:18:49

And, you know, I'll be honest with you, sometimes when I'm out to dinner, I'm thinking about other things.

Pastor Josh
00:18:56

But I tried my best during that meal, during the anniversary to set my intention on her, right?

Pastor Josh
00:19:00

And, you know, we were able to have some good conversation.

Pastor Josh
00:19:03

Our parents are here to.

Pastor Josh
00:19:04

My parents are here to watch the kids.

Pastor Josh
00:19:05

And so we were able to go out and not have a lot of distractions, you know.

Pastor Josh
00:19:09

But would it have shown my love for her if I was like, all right, I got to get out of here.

Pastor Josh
00:19:14

We got an hour.

Pastor Josh
00:19:15

I got to get.

Pastor Josh
00:19:16

I got to get somewhere.

Pastor Josh
00:19:17

I got things on my mind that's going to indicate to her, like, hey, he loves something else more than me, right?

Pastor Josh
00:19:22

He's trying to get past this and trying to get through.

Pastor Josh
00:19:24

And so isn't that sometimes how we read the Bible, though?

Pastor Josh
00:19:27

Isn't that sometimes we're like, okay, we got to get stuff done today.

Pastor Josh
00:19:29

We got a busy day, so let me just get through this real quick.

Pastor Josh
00:19:32

I.

Pastor Josh
00:19:32

I think the challenge for us, obviously, we live busy lives, but to allow ourselves to spend more time in His Word and the, The.

Pastor Josh
00:19:39

The psalmist will put it, you know, this way, you know, to meditate on the Word day and night.

Pastor Josh
00:19:44

That's that idea of just being in it, spending time in it, and, And.

Pastor Josh
00:19:47

And then thinking about it throughout our day.

Pastor Josh
00:19:49

Um, so.

Pastor Josh
00:19:51

So His Word now, Now how do we speak to Him?

Pastor Josh
00:19:54

We speak to him through prayer.

Pastor Josh
00:19:55

Spending time in real prayer.

Pastor Josh
00:19:58

I think that's one way that we can commune with God.

Pastor Josh
00:20:00

There's many other ways.

Pastor Josh
00:20:01

Uh, we.

Pastor Josh
00:20:01

We even see Anna gives us the demonstration there.

Pastor Josh
00:20:04

She was there with fasting and prayers.

Pastor Josh
00:20:06

I would encourage you to do the same thing.

Pastor Josh
00:20:08

I would encourage you allow yourself to be so focused on God that you're not pulled away by other things.

Pastor Josh
00:20:15

You know, we.

Pastor Josh
00:20:16

We sometimes think of fasting when it comes to food, which it does in context.

Pastor Josh
00:20:21

That's what it's talking about there.

Pastor Josh
00:20:23

And, and this isn't a message on fasting.

Pastor Josh
00:20:25

I won't get there tonight.

Pastor Josh
00:20:26

Wouldn't have enough time.

Pastor Josh
00:20:27

But what I would say is that some of us might need to fast from other things as well in our life.

Pastor Josh
00:20:33

Just.

Pastor Josh
00:20:34

Just transparently.

Pastor Josh
00:20:35

Again, this thing that's standing before me with my notes on it can be a great tool for the Lord, but it also can be a great distraction.

Pastor Josh
00:20:43

And some of us can be scrolling on our phones and miss out on many things that God would have us to do in our lives.

Pastor Josh
00:20:49

And distractions can come from all different places.

Pastor Josh
00:20:52

And so.

Pastor Josh
00:20:52

So sometimes we need to remove things from our life so we can have our eyes set on the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:20:57

Now, I don't think that fasting is something that you have to do to continue in on your salvation, but I think it would be something that we do recognize in our life as a need.

Pastor Josh
00:21:05

There's something that I need to get rid of in my life so that I can be more focused on the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:21:10

That's what Anna was doing.

Pastor Josh
00:21:12

She was praying and she was fasting, and she was communing with God in this waiting period.

Pastor Josh
00:21:17

And you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:21:18

For, for many of us, those decades passing by, she might have been tempted to say, is this really worth it?

Pastor Josh
00:21:25

But we see a lifetime of faithfulness for some of us when the answer doesn't come right away.

Pastor Josh
00:21:31

For me, when God's answer doesn't come right away, I'm tempted to think, well, maybe he's not there.

Pastor Josh
00:21:36

Maybe I'm asking in the wrong way.

Pastor Josh
00:21:38

Maybe I'm asking for the wrong thing.

Pastor Josh
00:21:39

But let me tell you, sometimes God has us waiting.

Pastor Josh
00:21:42

And we see here, Anna waits a lifetime for this to come to pass.

Pastor Josh
00:21:47

And, and she continues on, staying faithful.

Pastor Josh
00:21:50

And so I would say in the midst of prayer, in the midst of Bible study, in the midst of service, have that godly patience in your life.

Pastor Josh
00:21:58

And that that word patience is sometimes a bad word for many people.

Pastor Josh
00:22:01

I don't want to pray for patience.

Pastor Josh
00:22:02

I don't want to have patience in my life because I don't want to be tested.

Pastor Josh
00:22:05

But I'm going to tell you that patience is a necessity in the spiritual life.

Pastor Josh
00:22:10

Patience isn't.

Pastor Josh
00:22:11

It's what we talk about this morning, the fruit of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh
00:22:14

It's One of the fruits of the spirit, right?

Pastor Josh
00:22:15

It's, it's.

Pastor Josh
00:22:16

It's the fruit of the spirit.

Pastor Josh
00:22:17

We have those things.

Pastor Josh
00:22:18

And so I would say that.

Pastor Josh
00:22:19

That patience is something that we should strive for in our life.

Pastor Josh
00:22:21

If God isn't doing what we expect him to do.

Pastor Josh
00:22:24

Patience, trust, allow yourself to say, you know what God, it's, it's, it's in your timing.

Pastor Josh
00:22:29

It's not my own timing.

Pastor Josh
00:22:31

And so we see Anna was, was faithful.

Pastor Josh
00:22:33

We see that Anna was committed.

Pastor Josh
00:22:35

We see Anna was a devout follower of Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:22:39

Not in her actions as much as her heart.

Pastor Josh
00:22:42

Her actions matched her heart.

Pastor Josh
00:22:43

The Bible is very clear to say that we are supposed to do things.

Pastor Josh
00:22:46

There's this phrase that I've been studying out a lot recently.

Pastor Josh
00:22:50

It's called the spiritual disciplines.

Pastor Josh
00:22:52

Now.

Pastor Josh
00:22:53

Now, the spiritual disciplines are things that we are to do in our life that the Bible tells us to do and that we are called to grow in.

Pastor Josh
00:22:59

So some examples of the spiritual disciplines, prayer, fasting, Bible study, service.

Pastor Josh
00:23:06

These are all things that don't necessarily come naturally to us, but we are to grow in because the Bible tells us now.

Pastor Josh
00:23:13

So what I would say is that.

Pastor Josh
00:23:15

Do spiritual disciplines make us more spiritual?

Pastor Josh
00:23:20

Does just reading your Bible make you any closer to God?

Pastor Josh
00:23:24

Well, not necessarily.

Pastor Josh
00:23:25

I know a lot of people that are unsaved that can read the Bible.

Pastor Josh
00:23:28

So reading the Bible in and of itself is not enough.

Pastor Josh
00:23:31

It's reading the Bible with the understanding that this is bringing me closer to God.

Pastor Josh
00:23:35

There's many people that pray, but they're praying in the flesh.

Pastor Josh
00:23:37

There's many people that read Scripture and they're reading in the flesh.

Pastor Josh
00:23:40

There's many people that serve, but they're serving in the flesh.

Pastor Josh
00:23:42

And so it's not so much that the spiritual disciplines is the end.

Pastor Josh
00:23:46

The spiritual disciplines is a means to get to the end.

Pastor Josh
00:23:49

It's a means to become more and more God, Godly, more and more Christlike.

Pastor Josh
00:23:53

And so the goal for a Christian is not to, you know, hey, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:23:57

I just need to read my Bible two hours a day instead of three, or I need to read my Bible five hours a day instead of, you know, it's not about more, more, more.

Pastor Josh
00:24:05

It's about, I need God more.

Pastor Josh
00:24:07

And if God wants me to read more, I'm going to read more.

Pastor Josh
00:24:09

If God wants me to serve more, I'm going to serve more.

Pastor Josh
00:24:11

And so we see Anna's faithfulness here, and we see that she's willing to go through those spiritual disciplines.

Pastor Josh
00:24:17

Now, spiritual disciplines are difficult.

Pastor Josh
00:24:18

That's why they're called spiritual disciplines.

Pastor Josh
00:24:21

The world is pulling us away.

Pastor Josh
00:24:23

How many times have you tried to sit down and try to read the Bible?

Pastor Josh
00:24:26

And things happen, right?

Pastor Josh
00:24:29

Phone goes off, distractions happen.

Pastor Josh
00:24:32

Like the list goes on and on, right?

Pastor Josh
00:24:34

And, and so all these things can happen.

Pastor Josh
00:24:36

And I personally, I.

Pastor Josh
00:24:37

I firmly believe that, that Satan is at work even on Sunday mornings.

Pastor Josh
00:24:42

How many of you, if, if you don't believe that, how many of you try to get your children in the car and you're, you know, there are things happening, right?

Pastor Josh
00:24:48

There is a force that's against us to grow in our spiritual disciplines.

Pastor Josh
00:24:54

And, and what I would say is that's not a reason to stop.

Pastor Josh
00:24:56

That's a reason to push forward and to trust God even more.

Pastor Josh
00:24:59

And, and so what we can see here in the life of Anna is Anna was someone who was dedicated to God even in the midst of great loss.

Pastor Josh
00:25:07

She was faithful in service.

Pastor Josh
00:25:09

She was faithful in prayer.

Pastor Josh
00:25:11

She was faithful in fasting.

Pastor Josh
00:25:13

She was faithful in proclaiming the truth of God to other people around her.

Pastor Josh
00:25:17

And when she sees this come to pass, and I think verse 38 sums it all up, and so when she comes and she gives thanks to God for this opportunity to see Jesus, and then she has that thankfulness stir her heart to the place of proclaiming the truth to those in Jerusalem for redemption.

Pastor Josh
00:25:35

And so are we going to be the Christians that are excited about the redemption of God in our lives?

Pastor Josh
00:25:42

You've been bought with a price.

Pastor Josh
00:25:43

Think about what Jesus Christ has done for you.

Pastor Josh
00:25:45

Are you willing to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:25:47

I am going to live a life that is proclaiming, proclaiming God's redemption in my life.

Pastor Josh
00:25:53

Are we going to be those distinct, distinctly different people?

Pastor Josh
00:25:58

That's what it says in Titus chapter two, that we're different.

Pastor Josh
00:26:00

It doesn't mean so.

Pastor Josh
00:26:02

So the Bible speaks of us being a strange people, a peculiar people.

Pastor Josh
00:26:06

That's.

Pastor Josh
00:26:06

That doesn't mean that we're weird.

Pastor Josh
00:26:07

That doesn't mean that, like we try to be contrarian to the world.

Pastor Josh
00:26:11

It means that we live for Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:26:12

And us living for Christ makes us different from the ways of the world.

Pastor Josh
00:26:17

Folks, if you live for Jesus Christ in this world, you are going to stand out.

Pastor Josh
00:26:21

People are not going to like that.

Pastor Josh
00:26:24

Trust me.

Pastor Josh
00:26:25

Try raising your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord publicly.

Pastor Josh
00:26:29

People will balk at that.

Pastor Josh
00:26:30

People will say, I can't believe you.

Pastor Josh
00:26:32

Don't let your children do this.

Pastor Josh
00:26:34

I can't believe you.

Pastor Josh
00:26:35

Don't do this.

Pastor Josh
00:26:36

Right.

Pastor Josh
00:26:36

Just live differently.

Pastor Josh
00:26:38

People will see the difference.

Pastor Josh
00:26:39

And people will say, like you're talking about Brother Frank, you live differently in front of them.

Pastor Josh
00:26:43

It will make a difference.

Pastor Josh
00:26:44

Now, we don't just live by deed.

Pastor Josh
00:26:46

We live by word and deed.

Pastor Josh
00:26:48

So it's sometimes not enough just to live differently, because people might say there's something different about those people.

Pastor Josh
00:26:53

But why?

Pastor Josh
00:26:53

So it's living differently and then connecting that to Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:26:57

And that's.

Pastor Josh
00:26:58

That's the sharing of the Gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:26:59

So I live differently so people can see the change, so that people can see Christ in me.

Pastor Josh
00:27:04

But then I proclaim the truth of God.

Pastor Josh
00:27:06

So my talk and my walk match up.

Pastor Josh
00:27:09

Because there's some people that proclaim the truth of God, but their walk is not anywhere close to that.

Pastor Josh
00:27:13

And so someone goes, well, you say Jesus, but you're not living Jesus.

Pastor Josh
00:27:17

You say faithfulness, but you're not faithful over here.

Pastor Josh
00:27:21

You say you live by the Word, but your life doesn't match with that.

Pastor Josh
00:27:24

So there are people who talk it, but they don't walk it.

Pastor Josh
00:27:26

And then there's other people that live differently, but they say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:27:29

My.

Pastor Josh
00:27:30

My actions speak louder than words.

Pastor Josh
00:27:31

And I think that is true.

Pastor Josh
00:27:33

But.

Pastor Josh
00:27:33

But the Bible does say, this is not.

Pastor Josh
00:27:36

Pastor Josh.

Pastor Josh
00:27:36

It says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Pastor Josh
00:27:41

It's connecting our different actions to the why behind it, our word behind it.

Pastor Josh
00:27:47

If someone comes up to me, okay, let's say, you know, Pastor Josh, why don't you do this?

Pastor Josh
00:27:52

We're at a party.

Pastor Josh
00:27:53

Why aren't you joining in with us and all this?

Pastor Josh
00:27:55

And we.

Pastor Josh
00:27:55

And I go, well, you know, it's just not good for my health.

Pastor Josh
00:27:57

I'm trying to.

Pastor Josh
00:27:58

Trying to be different.

Pastor Josh
00:27:59

You know, I'm just.

Pastor Josh
00:27:59

I'm can't touch this stuff, whatever.

Pastor Josh
00:28:01

Right.

Pastor Josh
00:28:02

Is that really explaining my personal conviction?

Pastor Josh
00:28:05

No.

Pastor Josh
00:28:05

My personal conviction is, no.

Pastor Josh
00:28:07

I believe biblically that I cannot do this.

Pastor Josh
00:28:09

Right.

Pastor Josh
00:28:10

It's sharing the truth of God, and it's connecting the difference to the source of the difference.

Pastor Josh
00:28:16

And so being different is fantastic.

Pastor Josh
00:28:18

We should be different, but we should also connect that with the proclamation.

Pastor Josh
00:28:21

So in Word.

Pastor Josh
00:28:22

And indeed, we live our lives for Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:28:25

And I believe that's what Anna did.

Pastor Josh
00:28:27

Anna proclaimed the Word, but she lived differently.

Pastor Josh
00:28:29

She lived in the temple.

Pastor Josh
00:28:31

She was faithful in her fasting.

Pastor Josh
00:28:32

She was faithful to her prayers.

Pastor Josh
00:28:33

And so what I would say is this, as a Christian, it's being faithful to God in those actions and in our proclamations.

Pastor Josh
00:28:41

Now, are all of us called to preach the gospel?

Pastor Josh
00:28:43

Publicly?

Pastor Josh
00:28:44

No, but all of us are Called to preach the gospel by the way that we live our lives and by what we say and by what we do.

Pastor Josh
00:28:50

And folks, I can tell you I have failed on that.

Pastor Josh
00:28:52

I have failed in many ways on that.

Pastor Josh
00:28:53

Because as a pastor, for me, it's a lot easier for me to get behind a pulpit and preach something in scripture, but it's a lot harder for me to practice that when someone does something wrong to me in public, right?

Pastor Josh
00:29:06

I'm out at the store and someone mistreats me, okay?

Pastor Josh
00:29:09

Am I going to proclaim Jesus Christ in that situation?

Pastor Josh
00:29:13

Am I going to live soberly, righteously, godly in those situations?

Pastor Josh
00:29:18

I don't think most of you that are here tonight and most of you that are watching online are tempted to lose your testimony while you're in church.

Pastor Josh
00:29:27

Most of you aren't.

Pastor Josh
00:29:29

Sometimes that might be a temptation for you, but most of you have enough self control, say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:29:33

I'm not going to cause a ton of issues here at church, okay?

Pastor Josh
00:29:36

But sometimes we're tempted to live a different way here than we do out in the world.

Pastor Josh
00:29:43

I, I've been tempted.

Pastor Josh
00:29:44

I, I, I've been challenged by this when I'm dealing with our children, like, hey guys, you can't do that at church.

Pastor Josh
00:29:51

Instead of saying that, why don't I say, you can't do that anywhere.

Pastor Josh
00:29:54

You can't do that at church.

Pastor Josh
00:29:55

You shouldn't do that in your school.

Pastor Josh
00:29:57

You shouldn't do that in our house.

Pastor Josh
00:29:58

And so it's that idea of connecting the lifestyle that, that you see that Anna was not a person who was like a Sunday morning, only Christian.

Pastor Josh
00:30:07

It wouldn't have been Sunday morning for her.

Pastor Josh
00:30:09

It would have been the Sabbath day.

Pastor Josh
00:30:11

But she wasn't someone that was coming once a week and just saying, oh, I'm going to do my due diligence today, I'm gonna, no, it was her life.

Pastor Josh
00:30:17

Now, I'm not saying that you need to come to church every day of your life.

Pastor Josh
00:30:19

What I'm saying is that you should live that relationship that you have with Christ out every day of your life and not just a Sunday morning.

Pastor Josh
00:30:27

And so the challenge for us is to say, you know what, am I going to live like Anna and give my life to Christ?

Pastor Josh
00:30:31

Am I willing to say that I want to be in his presence at all points in my day?

Pastor Josh
00:30:35

All points of my life should point back to Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:30:39

And so this is exciting for Anna.

Pastor Josh
00:30:41

She sees her savior face to face.

Pastor Josh
00:30:44

You have experienced Jesus in your life.

Pastor Josh
00:30:47

The question is, are we going to let that change us for the cause of the gospel?

Pastor Josh
00:30:54

Or are we going to allow that to just let us stay unfazed, stay the same, be like the world, just like that.

Pastor Josh
00:31:00

Titus 2 passage says, to be different, to live soberly, to live righteously.

Pastor Josh
00:31:06

In this present world we live.

Pastor Josh
00:31:09

We can't get out of the world that we live in.

Pastor Josh
00:31:11

I think there's a lot of people that will say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:31:14

If we could just live in this Christian utopia and create all of, like, hey, everybody's Christian around us, we're not going to have any issues.

Pastor Josh
00:31:23

Well, if that was the case, no church would ever have an issue.

Pastor Josh
00:31:25

But the problem is, is that churches still have issues.

Pastor Josh
00:31:27

Why?

Pastor Josh
00:31:27

Because we're made up of human beings and we still have sin in our lives, and so we cannot get out of the world that we live in.

Pastor Josh
00:31:33

And I will even challenge you to say this.

Pastor Josh
00:31:35

There are going to be people that live in this world that.

Pastor Josh
00:31:37

That are unsaved, that are going to act.

Pastor Josh
00:31:39

Believe it or not, an unsaved person is going to act like an unsaved person.

Pastor Josh
00:31:44

A person characterized by their sin is going to live out their sin.

Pastor Josh
00:31:47

We can't expect an unsaved person to live like Christ because it's just impossible.

Pastor Josh
00:31:52

So what we say is this.

Pastor Josh
00:31:54

We don't try to avoid all of the evil in the world and say, okay, let's go ahead and just hedge ourselves in and never be exposed to evil in this world.

Pastor Josh
00:32:02

What we do is we infiltrate, we go after it.

Pastor Josh
00:32:05

We as Christians say, how can we publicly influence people for the cause of the gospel instead of trying to hide in our little shells and going, well, if someone finds out I'm a Christian, maybe they'll get mad at me.

Pastor Josh
00:32:15

No, we proclaim it to the world.

Pastor Josh
00:32:16

And I think what happens is, for many Christians is that we're afraid to actually proclaim what we believe because someone might judge us.

Pastor Josh
00:32:23

But I've said this before.

Pastor Josh
00:32:25

The.

Pastor Josh
00:32:25

The opposition, the.

Pastor Josh
00:32:27

The side of evil has no shame in producing and providing what they believe to us.

Pastor Josh
00:32:33

And so I would challenge us, like I believe Anna was.

Pastor Josh
00:32:37

Was willing to do, is to proclaim the truth of God to a world that is evil, that is dark.

Pastor Josh
00:32:43

Because how do we get rid of darkness?

Pastor Josh
00:32:45

What's scientifically, how do you get rid of darkness?

Pastor Josh
00:32:49

Light.

Pastor Josh
00:32:50

Darkness is the absence of light.

Pastor Josh
00:32:52

And so we shine the light into the dark world so that these people can make decisions for the gospel, for the cause of Christ, and so that we can see hearts changed, hearts change, then their minds change.

Pastor Josh
00:33:05

We can't change their minds without changing their hearts.

Pastor Josh
00:33:08

And so what I would encourage you to think about as a Christian and as hopefully someone like Anna, that you are willing to proclaim that, to speak of him to all them that looked for redemption.

Pastor Josh
00:33:20

Now, some people probably rejected what she said.

Pastor Josh
00:33:22

It's because it says here all them that looked for redemption.

Pastor Josh
00:33:26

Some people aren't looking for redemption.

Pastor Josh
00:33:27

So they probably weren't really interested in what Anna was saying.

Pastor Josh
00:33:30

But what I will say is speak to people.

Pastor Josh
00:33:32

It's not your job to see who's receptive and who's not receptive.

Pastor Josh
00:33:35

It's your job.

Pastor Josh
00:33:35

It's my job to proclaim the truth of God to people around us.

Pastor Josh
00:33:39

You know what?

Pastor Josh
00:33:40

There are some times that talking to somebody and I can realize if they're interested.

Pastor Josh
00:33:47

And there's times, other times where I'm talking to someone, I'm like, they're, they're a million miles away.

Pastor Josh
00:33:51

I've lost them.

Pastor Josh
00:33:52

Okay?

Pastor Josh
00:33:52

And I think that sometimes we, we worry about that when we're preaching the truth and we're proclaiming the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:33:57

Does this person really want to hear this?

Pastor Josh
00:33:59

It's not really our job to decide whether or not they want to hear it.

Pastor Josh
00:34:01

It's, it's something that they need to hear.

Pastor Josh
00:34:03

Right?

Pastor Josh
00:34:04

And so I, I, I don't think that it's something that we all have to do 247 by getting out on the street and preaching.

Pastor Josh
00:34:11

But what I will say is that, like Anna, she proclaimed it to all those around her.

Pastor Josh
00:34:14

And I think that we should proclaim Jesus in this world.

Pastor Josh
00:34:16

So that is Anna.

Pastor Josh
00:34:18

I think that there's a lot more that we could learn about her if we knew her more.

Pastor Josh
00:34:23

But that's all we have in scripture, and I know that.

Pastor Josh
00:34:26

Certainly I would like to know more about Anna.

Pastor Josh
00:34:30

I would, but there's a lot of individuals in scripture I would like to know more about.

Pastor Josh
00:34:35

But God, for his wisdom, only gave us what we need to know from these folks's life.

Pastor Josh
00:34:40

But when I get to heaven, there will, I don't know, I don't know how true this is.

Pastor Josh
00:34:44

I've always said that when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask questions.

Pastor Josh
00:34:46

I don't know if I'm gonna do that or not.

Pastor Josh
00:34:47

Right now.

Pastor Josh
00:34:48

In my mindset, I will, but things might change when I get there.

Pastor Josh
00:34:51

But there are certain individuals that I want to go know more about.

Pastor Josh
00:34:53

I, I, I, I want to go and, and ask Anna, hey, how, how, how were those years?

Pastor Josh
00:34:59

You know, that you're in the temple and sometimes These folks can get just glossed over in the Christmas story.

Pastor Josh
00:35:04

And so that's why I wanted to take some time for those two weeks to talk about Simeon and Anna.

Pastor Josh
00:35:08

I think that they are there for a reason for us to learn from.

Pastor Josh
00:35:11

And I think that there's a lot that we can model in our lives after them.

Pastor Josh
00:35:15

So, hey, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:35:16

I know it's the Christmas season.

Pastor Josh
00:35:19

I know that you're busy, you know, and I think there's a common theme with people that I talk to these days.

Pastor Josh
00:35:26

For the most part, we're busy.

Pastor Josh
00:35:28

We're busy people.

Pastor Josh
00:35:29

It's not just Christmas time.

Pastor Josh
00:35:31

Like, after Christmas, we're like, hey, it's New Year.

Pastor Josh
00:35:33

And then, you know, it's getting to this time.

Pastor Josh
00:35:35

It's like we live in a society that is.

Pastor Josh
00:35:37

Is we fill ourselves with busyness.

Pastor Josh
00:35:40

And.

Pastor Josh
00:35:40

And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

Pastor Josh
00:35:42

But if the problem comes where we're so busy that we can't spend time with God, that's a big issue.

Pastor Josh
00:35:48

We gotta.

Pastor Josh
00:35:49

We gotta recognize that.

Pastor Josh
00:35:50

I have to recognize that there have been times in my life where I've been so busy that I'm like, I.

Pastor Josh
00:35:55

I put my spiritual disciplines on, like, hey, a checklist.

Pastor Josh
00:35:59

I gotta get this done today.

Pastor Josh
00:36:00

I gotta put it.

Pastor Josh
00:36:01

If.

Pastor Josh
00:36:01

If I have to put.

Pastor Josh
00:36:02

I mean, here's the thing.

Pastor Josh
00:36:04

Practically speaking, yes, put your Bible time and your prayer time on a calendar.

Pastor Josh
00:36:08

But if you have to put your prayer time and your Bible time on a calendar, it might.

Pastor Josh
00:36:12

It might be time for you to inspect and say, am I too busy for Jesus right now?

Pastor Josh
00:36:17

Because you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:36:18

If I had to say, okay, Alicia, let me.

Pastor Josh
00:36:21

I'm really busy.

Pastor Josh
00:36:22

What day of the week can.

Pastor Josh
00:36:23

You know, and then maybe some of you would appreciate that, hey, maybe there's a calendar there.

Pastor Josh
00:36:27

That's a good thing.

Pastor Josh
00:36:27

But.

Pastor Josh
00:36:28

But if we.

Pastor Josh
00:36:28

If we delegate, if.

Pastor Josh
00:36:30

If we put Jesus as a.

Pastor Josh
00:36:32

As a mark on our calendar, we've.

Pastor Josh
00:36:35

We've missed.

Pastor Josh
00:36:36

I think the point.

Pastor Josh
00:36:37

I think we missed the fact that Jesus wants everything from us.

Pastor Josh
00:36:40

He wants our heart.

Pastor Josh
00:36:41

Now.

Pastor Josh
00:36:41

It's a good place to start.

Pastor Josh
00:36:43

Because if you're so busy and you're like, I don't have any time in my day for Jesus.

Pastor Josh
00:36:47

Mark out some time for it.

Pastor Josh
00:36:48

Put it.

Pastor Josh
00:36:48

Put a specific time in a place.

Pastor Josh
00:36:50

And so, so, so don't.

Pastor Josh
00:36:51

Don't hear me wrong.

Pastor Josh
00:36:52

I'm not saying don't schedule a time, but what I'm saying is, is that if we're so busy that we have to say well, I'll give Jesus five minutes today.

Pastor Josh
00:36:57

My calendar, that's.

Pastor Josh
00:36:58

That might be an issue because I would encourage you, you can, you can talk to Jesus anywhere.

Pastor Josh
00:37:03

You can talk to the Lord anywhere.

Pastor Josh
00:37:05

Some of the best convers, conversations, prayers that I've had with the Lord have been in unorthodox places.

Pastor Josh
00:37:11

I'm just going to tell you that they haven't always been on the steps right here or in my office or in my prayer closet sometimes.

Pastor Josh
00:37:18

Some of, some of my realest conversations with the Lord have been in a vehicle on a long trip.

Pastor Josh
00:37:22

And I, I'm going to tell you, I didn't close my eyes while I was driving, but I.

Pastor Josh
00:37:26

But I've just been in the car by myself.

Pastor Josh
00:37:28

And I said, lord, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:37:29

I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna talk to you today and I'm just gonna take this whole long drive to talk to you.

Pastor Josh
00:37:33

And it was a wonderful time.

Pastor Josh
00:37:34

And I think so many times we think of prayer not as that.

Pastor Josh
00:37:37

We think of prayer as this formal thing that we have to do in a certain way for a certain amount of time.

Pastor Josh
00:37:41

But what does the Bible say about prayer?

Pastor Josh
00:37:43

That we should pray without ceasing should be our lifestyle.

Pastor Josh
00:37:49

And I encourage you to think about what that means for you.

Pastor Josh
00:37:51

That means to continue in that prayer life constantly.

Pastor Josh
00:37:55

And so I would, I would, I would.

Pastor Josh
00:37:57

I'm challenging myself with that here in 2025, that I want my prayer life to be different.

Pastor Josh
00:38:03

I don't want it to be relegated to, to a moment of the day, but that it's my life.

Pastor Josh
00:38:08

And so I encourage you to be challenged with that.

Pastor Josh
00:38:10

Well, we're coming to the Christmas season here.

Pastor Josh
00:38:12

Now.

Pastor Josh
00:38:12

I will say that this Tuesday we're going to be over at Lighthouse.

Pastor Josh
00:38:16

I would encourage you to be there if you can.

Pastor Josh
00:38:18

I'm going to be preaching a message from Romans, chapter five, Lord willing, about the free gift of grace and how that is a wonderful gift, much better, infinitely better than the gift of the world.

Pastor Josh
00:38:32

We had one individual named Adam.

Pastor Josh
00:38:35

Adam brought us the great gift of sin in our life.

Pastor Josh
00:38:38

That's not a good gift.

Pastor Josh
00:38:38

Okay.

Pastor Josh
00:38:39

It says, by one man sin entered the world.

Pastor Josh
00:38:42

But there was a second Adam in Jesus Christ who by his one gift of sacrifice cleansed us from all of our sin.

Pastor Josh
00:38:49

And so that's an awesome picture to see the contrast between the world and what Christ brings us.

Pastor Josh
00:38:54

And there's a lot of things that the world brings us.

Pastor Josh
00:38:57

Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life.

Pastor Josh
00:39:00

But what does the Lord bring us The Lord brings us salvation, forgiveness, eternal life.

Pastor Josh
00:39:05

And so we're going to look at the contrast between the gift of God and the gift of the world.

Pastor Josh
00:39:09

And hopefully by the end of the night, none of us want the gift of this world because it's not a.

Pastor Josh
00:39:13

It's not a great gift.

Pastor Josh
00:39:14

So we're going to go ahead and close with a word of prayer, and then I'll have announcements and it will be dismissed.

Pastor Josh
00:39:19

Lord, I thank you for this time.

Pastor Josh
00:39:20

Thank you for this opportunity to study your word tonight.

Pastor Josh
00:39:22

Thank you for the life of Anna and Simeon, Lord, and their wonderful testimony of looking towards a Savior and celebrating the Savior and proclaiming the Savior to the world.

Pastor Josh
00:39:31

Lord, thank you for the redemption that you've extended to us.

Pastor Josh
00:39:34

Lord, we're thankful for the opportunity to serve you and to love you and to be growing in those spiritual disciplines that you've called us to grow in.

Pastor Josh
00:39:43

Lord, I pray that you be with all these families in the Christmas season.

Pastor Josh
00:39:46

Lord, help us to take a few moments out in our day this week to just meditate, to ponder upon the gift of your son.

Pastor Josh
00:39:54

And so, Lord, I thank you for your love and your grace.

Pastor Josh
00:39:56

Keep us safe as we go our separate ways tonight.

Pastor Josh
00:39:59

In Jesus name I pray.

Pastor Josh
00:40:00

Amen.

Pastor Josh
00:40:00

All right, thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh
00:40:05

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh
00:40:07

You.

Pastor Josh
00:40:08

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh
00:40:17

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Pastor Josh
00:40:30

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh
00:40:31

God bless.

Pastor Josh
00:40:32

Have a wonderful day.