Pinky Promise and Advent Season

Speaker 1 0:30

Jesus . Jesus is both the fulfillment of the promise that he has already made and also the not yet fully fulfilled promise . In biblical times it was known as a covenant . We may not fully understand that . We may not understand what a covenant is , but there is something that I think is universally understood as far as an agreement that two people enter into , and that would be this . It's this word right here . It's a pinky promise . Does anyone else ? Yeah , you don't . Those are legally binding in the 48 states of the United States , not in Hawaii and Alaska , but other than that , it for sure , and at least in our house .

Speaker 1 1:07

I don't know how it is for you . Well , I'll tell you in a second , so I'll look this up . Actually , pinky promises has been around , or pinky swear , has been around since the 1600s . It's a Japanese saying or phrase that translates . Pinky promise translates to finger cut off . Take that . It basically saying if you don't say the truth , if you don't hold your word , I get your finger . So that feels like a fair trade . It also says pinky swear whoever lies will be made to swallow a thousand needles . Happy Sunday , everybody .

Speaker 1 1:38

But the way that we and I'm sure that there's lots of different iterations of a pinky promise for us and it's harder to do is you pinky promise like this ? You hook these like this , and then each person and this is usually with my daughters , but you will you kiss your thumb and then they kiss their thumb and then you match them like this . That's how you know . It's a ceiling and it's binding . That's both a legally binding agreement and it's science . So that's just how it goes . So that is an agreement that I enter into whenever I'm making deals with my kids , and what I found out this last week is that this actually was helpful and came true .

Speaker 1 2:12

Because what and something else I didn't know about myself is that I am a fashion icon . I don't know if you knew this or not , but I am . I'll explain why here in a second . It has come to my knowledge that my children well , they're thieves , but they steal my clothes out of my closet at all points and times , which you wouldn't think that a dashing , handsome person as myself would have , clothes that would be appropriate for junior , high and high school young ladies . And yet there just seems to be something that the fashion has just met and overlapped it's very basic standards . If a putties and sensible khakis no , not those . But at any point in time , I will usually find more of my clothing around the house than I will in my actual closet . And so what's nice is when I'm getting ready for work in the morning is that they can't come in and steal it . And so they walk in and they're like oh , I didn't see you there . I wanted to ask you if I could borrow something from you , because that's naturally what I would do . I would never take it , I would borrow .

Speaker 1 3:08

And so this is my youngest daughter , charlotte , who's in middle school , and she said I need to borrow your black hoodie . And I was like that's the best one . I was like , okay , but I need it back , I need it back . And she goes yeah , I'll give it back . I said pinkie promise . And she lets her in , she thinks and she considers and she's like yeah , yeah , pinkie promise .

Speaker 1 3:31

So we pinkie promise , but as we're going in like this , I go hold on , because now that I have an agreement , I'm gonna add a couple more things into this whole thing and I go , and you have to be nice to me all day long , all day . I don't care if you're mad at somebody else . You still have to be nice to me , because sometimes on days that end with why you're kind of mean when you get home from school and that's just because you're grumpy and you need a snack , and that's fine , I get that . But could you be nice to me today ? And she goes . And then it was like , yeah , okay . So we made this pinkie promise and we hooked and that was great . So I came home later that afternoon and she hadn't had the best day lots of tests , end of the semester and so I asked her something . And she just goes . I was like whoa ? I said you enjoying that hoodie ? She goes , yeah . And I said we made a pinkie promise and she goes , okay , it's really nice to see you , dad . And she walks away like this . She kept her promise and now I will say later on she came back down from her room and she had taken it off , so all bets were off . At that point she wasn't wearing it anymore . She's like I don't have to be nice anymore . You got your hoodie back .

Speaker 1 4:33

So but as we are in this Advent season , could we be people that see the arrival of Jesus as something very similar to that agreement , as it comes as a blessed promise , no pinkies , and actually God took all the risk on himself . But we get an opportunity to experience , while we wait , hope . That's what this season is about . That's what we get to experience is hope , and so we're so glad that you're here today . I haven't had a chance to introduce myself . My name is Jeff Bachman

Waiting for God's Promise Fulfillment

Speaker 1 5:06

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Speaker 1 5:06

I'm one of the pastors on staff and it is a privilege as we kind of slingshot into the last seven days before Christmas of that I get to come and give you a message that has been working on my heart as much and I get to deliver it to you . And we've been looking for three weeks . The first week we looked at the idea that God is faithful and that we get a chance to declare that faithfulness of what he has done . In the last week , a powerful message from Pastor Larry on power , on that we are the blessing that God has given to us , and then we get to live that out . And then today is the idea of hope , that the hope of Christmas is God's unfailing love and faithfulness that came through Jesus both and then that hope comes in the salvation of Christ . That's where our hope is , that's what it rests in , none of these other things , but that is where our hope is the word advent , as we've talked about as this idea of advent .

Speaker 1 6:02

The word advent translates to Adventus , which means waiting , and with anticipation , and it's waiting for somebody who is of importance to arrive . So that's what we sit in and as you sit and as you wait that you have hope for that which is to come , we would be known as people who are in between two advents . We were given the promise was fulfilled in Jesus coming , and yet we wait for that which has not yet been delivered . We're gonna look at some people today that actually experienced the first advent , but for us is that we are in between two advents and waiting now looks differently than it did 2,000 years ago , when Jesus came and he lived the life that you and I could not , and he died and he rose again and ascended into heaven . Is that at that point in time , everyone sat and they waited and they said surely someday they're ready . You know , like at the end of a movie , when you're just like leaning in and you're waiting for it . That's how they were waiting . They waited it must be this day when you said that you were gonna come back . It was next week , right , jesus ? Now fast forward 2,000 years .

Speaker 1 7:03

I don't think that we wait with that same anticipation . I mean , we think that he's gonna come back and it's someday , hopefully before the election , you know like , but like gosh maybe , but it's like , if I'm gonna be honest , I think that we've lost a little bit of hope . Matthew 24 says that we don't know the time or the place , we don't know when , and so we are called to wait and hope with anticipation . But it could it be that we are a people and maybe it's just me but it could it be that we are a people that have lost a little bit of hope , that we're tired and we know that God's still good , but I don't know what that actually has to impact my life today . That hope doesn't hope is a really nice word that we use . Hope to see you next week oh , I hope .

Speaker 1 7:51

But there is this foundational , rudimentary part of our soul that longs to hope in something that is more than who we are and what we can produce in and of ourselves , which is difficult in a season like we are living in and experiencing right now . It's busy , it's a season where more is being asked of you and expected of you , and maybe that's just gifts , but it's probably even more with relationships than any gathering that you're gonna be walking into and all of those , it's easy to fully forget the promises that God has given us . May we this season , as we head towards Christmas and even today , be reminded that your hope is not foolish . Let me say that again your hope , though it may not have been fully fulfilled yet , is not foolish because , as we will see , that there are people that we look to and that we learn from in scripture , that hope and that God faithfully fulfilled and that , though it may feel like it is a lifetime , that God does not disappoint in those hopes . And there's still work to be done .

Speaker 1 8:56

For today we're gonna be looking at a part of the Christmas account that you may not necessarily always see in a manger scene . For us , when we were with our kids , starting with it , we bought them this little play nativity scene , in fact , it was this one right up here , so it is biblically accurate , as you can tell , to infinity and beyond . That's where God is . So . But we bought this I think it was called like the little people or something like that and it was great and we got our kids comfortable with it and they played with it and they told the story out . I guess that's a Barbie car or something like that , I don't know , but that was their manger scene and it was to depict and remind them and to teach them the story of Jesus .

Speaker 1 9:35

We have a different manger scene right now and I wanna see if this is what you guys have traditionally in yours . Our manger scene that we have is like it was carved out of olive wood and it was handed down from my wife's mother and we have it in our living room and it's all set up with the normal cast of characters . But there's one thing that's not in our manger scene and I don't know if this is true for you guys In our manger scene there's no baby Jesus Not yet , at least right Because baby Jesus hasn't been born yet . It's not December 25th and so we don't have baby . Does anyone else do this ?

Speaker 1 10:04

The more I tell this story , the more people are like no , you're just weird , which I didn't need to tell you that story to know that . But hold tight , it gets weirder . So we hide baby Jesus because he hasn't been born yet , and then on Christmas morning we have a scavenger hunt for baby Jesus where we leave clues . When you say it out loud it sounds weird . We leave clues , and so we're like is he in the microwave ? No , and then there's another clue there , and then you're like he must be in the garage , like in second hesitations . And so you go from place to place to place and he's not in the refrigerator . And then we find baby Jesus . We celebrate , we sing him happy birthday , we eat birthday cake and then we open presents right , I mean , just like they did in the days of Yor .

Speaker 1 10:56

We need some new traditions , but that's what we do , and what we're gonna be looking at is a scene of Christmas that you aren't going to see in the nativity scene . So turn with me , or you can look at the big sky Bible up behind me of Luke 2.25 , and we are gonna be looking at two different characters here . They're by the names of Simeon and Anna , and they or if you grew up in the frozen generation , then it's Anna , so it's Simeon and Anna , so either way , but these are two people who we get to experience their hopeful waiting in a way that we don't necessarily see in other parts of scripture . And so we're in the middle of the Christmas story . This is actually this takes place 40 days after Jesus was born . Tradition and this time was after you're first born , you had your first born is that they weren't brought to the temple for 40 days and then , after 40 days , you brought them to the temple so that they were dedicated and consecrated and you were bringing offering . And what we'll see here is that Mary and Joseph bring in offering . It's not a big offering , because that is who they were they weren't people of great means but that they were faithful to what we see here in scripture . So let's start in Luke 2.25 , and then we're gonna be going through this passage . So it starts in 25, .

Speaker 1 12:12

It says now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon . He was righteous and devout . He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was on him . It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah . Moved by the Spirit , he went into the temple courts when his parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required . So , simeon , and then eventually Anna , they had the Holy Spirit on them , which seems to be a different way in which the Holy Spirit interacts with those who have said yes in place of faith in Jesus .

Speaker 1 12:46

Now , at the point that we say yes to Jesus , now , we are sealed with the Holy Spirit . At that point the Holy Spirit came and left . We see , in Psalm 51 , david writes create me a clean heart and do not cast me away . Restore me your spirit and don't take it away . Don't take it away from me . And so you see .

Speaker 1 13:03

The sense that for these two is that they were having a revelation from the Holy Spirit that was on them and an understanding of what was coming , and they were waiting for the consolation of Israel , which means it's a consoling , it's that they had , the Israelites had experienced suffering for so long and they said just wait , there is one who will come . It's not yet , but just wait . And so God was promising that he would console them . They had , based on their history , experienced that same thing and seen it from Exodus 14 , saying that they would be rescued out of slavery , and so they didn't know how it was going to happen , but they had placed themselves in the path of hope . Let me say that again , they had placed themselves in the path of hope because they recognized that at some point God was going to fulfill the promises that he said he was going to do , and they were just waiting . In fact , simeon was sort of out . He said you won't die until you see the Messiah . So just wait , but wait with hope . That's what their experience is , is a hopeful waiting .

Speaker 1 14:06

If you're anything like me , is that you've probably spent a little bit of time over Christmas doing some shopping . I'm with you in this . I've been to Target a couple times this week . I'm probably going to go again today . But here we've now , as we've kind of grown up and learned Target , we've learned the different roles . My role at Target is I hold the cart . That's what I do . I'm the cart manager , and I'm the cart manager because that's where the snacks are . That's just and here's everyone's like you have snacks in there . I'm like , yeah , snacks can be in any cart . If you try really hard , you just put them there and it's great . It actually used to be better when you would go by the food court because then you could buy the popcorn it would be there . But I've just learned is that I get the cart and I hang a quick left and then I go to the grocery area and I just pick up things that I want to snack on for that day while I'm in Target . Now here's the thing I'm not stealing , it's reverse buying . It's like a loan program from Target . I eat until I get to the bottom of the box and then I just pay for the carcasses that way . So you can do that . You just can't leave without it . Sometimes I think that Target should just weigh me at the start and at the end and then they're like we're going to have to pay you based off of tonnage or whatever like that . But I have the cart , I have the snacks in there and that's safe .

Speaker 1 15:18

For a while there I used to walk around with my family and you know how Target has the big main square right . For a while there I would go down all the mini aisles and I would try and trace them down , where there were makeup and health and all the different beauty stuff , where we'd go in the clothes , and I would get lost because I had the cart and I would follow them and then I'd come back and they were gone . Then I get scared and I get lost and I get hungry , but not anymore because I have cart snacks . So I've now just learned because I get to the back where my cell phone doesn't work anymore and I can't call anyone to send for help . So I sit in the back and I got my snacks and it's just a great place . And here's what I know . One of two things is going to happen If I place myself in that main path . That main square one is that they're going to come back to the cart because I've got all their cell phones and so they're going to need them , or I'm going to get kicked out and I'm going to go home and just find another family . But either way it's going to be fine , I'm going to find either way , but I just learned that that's going to be the place where everyone is going to come back , and so I'm placing myself in the path of hope and allowing God , or God I'm allowing my family to meet me there , and I think that that's what we see here , too is that Simeon and then Anna went and placed themselves in the path of where they knew that God was working , because they wanted to experience it .

Simeon's Faith and God's Promise

Speaker 1 16:26

So then , simeon is a devout Jew . There's a clear picture of who God had called him to be . He was a remnant of the people that were left and he had experienced a significant amount of pain as a person waiting for the consolation of Israel . All that he had experienced of slavery was the rulers , who were just mean and cruel to them . They were people who hadn't had land , they had come out of slavery and they were just suffering , and they were eagerly waiting and desperate saying God , you've promised us this . Now let us live into this promise . When is it going to be ? I don't know , but , god , we are going to trust you in that and wait with hope Because , understand , as people of a first advent , they had experienced Scripture in a different way .

Speaker 1 17:12

When we read something like Isaiah 9 , we read it as a Christmas song or as something that we know the end of it to . But let me read it . Listen to this how , somebody who didn't know who Jesus was , listen to this . This is Isaiah 9 , 6 , and 7 , because Simeon knew this and Anah knew this , but not in the way that you and I do , for to us a child is born , to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor . Mighty God , everlasting father , prince of peace , of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end . He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom , establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness . From that time on and forever , the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this . Isaiah to him is a lifeline and it's a promise that has not yet been fully fulfilled . It's not a song and it's not people who sit in between two advents . He is resting all of his hope in this , and that is his theme and that is his promise is that I will place myself in the path of God . I trust God is going to move because he said he was going to do that . Simeon's experience happened because of the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph . So think of it in this way Is that Mary and Joseph said yes to stepping into giving birth to Jesus and allowing all of that to happen , staying away from the temple for 40 days and then bringing him and because of their faithfulness , simeon then experienced the blessing of God . Don't forget that our obedience at different points and times is someone else's blessing . Let me say that again Our obedience , your obedience , is someone else's blessing and you don't even know it .

Speaker 1 19:06

I worked early on in my ministry career . I worked at a church that we inherited the building . We probably didn't even deserve to have a building that big , but we inherited this building and then we went to go and start to transform it and so we're doing a lot of construction projects and renovation on it . And we got into this thing and we started to demo it and do the electricity and then we did the framing on all the different walls before we wanted to be and we knew that at some point we were going to be opening up a church there . But we kind of got to the point that we were out of money and we sat there and we had put up the framing and we were looking around going we can't afford drywall . And that gets real weird . Not only did they not open things up because of fire codes , but we now have this building that just has a bunch of framing and there's nothing we can do .

Speaker 1 19:49

And I remember sitting we had started building that day and we were out of money and we were out of drywall and we sat there and we took a lunch break and I'm not even sure if we sat and prayed , but I just know that we sat there and we made this kind of cry and a declaration of saying we're out of money and we don't have any drywall . And about 30 minutes later , and we're sitting there trying to figure out what's the next thing that we're going to do , and two young ladies who are about 20 years old , they walk in and these young ladies , they were just , they were white as a ghost . And they walked in and they just had wide eyes and they go . I'm not sure . I don't know why we're supposed to do this and I'm sorry if this sounds weird , but my dad owns a drywall company and God told me to tell you that he wants to donate drywall to you , right ?

Speaker 1 20:38

And what's crazy , after first service , I was talking with Pastor Ken , who would experience something very similar , and what I think is it's God's way of saying I see you , thank you , pastor Megan and Pastor , I see you , I'm there , you're not left alone . And I'm going to leave you these moments where you get to see that I will meet every one of your needs , even drywall , and that somebody else saying yes to an odd leading was somebody else's blessing , and that's what we experienced in that . So let's keep going here in 29 . So , sovereign Lord , as you have promised , you may now dismiss your servant in peace as a Simeon , for my eyes have seen your salvation , which you have prepared in the sight of all nations , a light for revelation from the Gentiles and a glory of your people , israel . And so , as it says in verse 30 , simeon saw , which means the seeing was a depth of knowledge , of seeing and understanding . And he saw three things . One Jesus would be the salvation of the world . Two is that he would deliver truth not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles , and that Jesus would bring glory upon the people of Israel . God has not forgotten you and there is a consolation that is coming , and it's easy for us to look at that and go yeah , but look at you , guys . You were in that time and it was easy to have that sort of faith . You were being led by God , you were being obedient , even when it didn't make sense . And yet what you see is that even in the times of doubt and of confusion is a Simeon placed himself in a position where he would then experience God . Because don't forget Simeon being somewhere . Records indicate that he was about 80 years old At this point in scripture

The Challenge of Waiting on God

Speaker 1 22:12

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Speaker 1 22:12

God had been silent for 450 years , which means that the communication that Simeon had gotten from God was that of the Holy Spirit , which had told him to wait there . And then Old Testament , the Hebrew text , that's it . So then , as these stories are being shared , of one who will come , it probably sounded less like scripture and more like a Christian fairy tale and a fable . And yet he stayed and he remained faithful . And then , as soon as he saw him , he said and now I can go , and now I can die . God has done what he said he was going to do , and I've experienced it because I waited on God and he fulfilled that .

Speaker 1 22:55

I'm going to be honest my waiting does not look anything like that . It doesn't look like that at all , because I am forgetful of his covenant that he has made to us . It feels like God is silent , or he has forgotten me , or he is doing nothing for me . Is that I have to start generating something , because surely , god , you need my help ? That's probably part of it . You've probably forgotten about me over here , and so I'm just going to get really noisy on social media and let people know what I'm up to . Rise and grind man , that's what we got to do , right , every day . We got to do something for God . And yet what I see in here is that that is not what is going on , and I'm trying to generate in my life some sense of the fact of going . God , you've probably forgotten the pinky promise that you made with us , so I'm going to do something to maybe even warm your hearts back to that . And oftentimes the answer that he gives me is it is your time to sit and wait and hope and trust , which isn't nearly as attractive .

Speaker 1 23:57

When I was in middle school , I was that kid . What do you mean ? Come on , I was that kid . I had a special seat in every one of my classrooms . I was always in the back , right by the door . Jokes on them . I sat at the back door and talked to everyone who was walking by that way . I was that kid . Right , amen . I had lots of parent and teacher conferences . Whenever anybody would talk about Jeff Bachman , they would say , oh , he has good parents . Yeah , those are the things that they would say about him . Like I came from good stock or something . I had healthy bones .

Speaker 1 24:32

When I was in youth ministry , it was the same thing . When I went to youth group , is it ? My youth pastor didn't know what to do with me Because I just couldn't hold . Still , I wanted to do and be something . So he put me in charge of the light switch . I was the light switch monitor because it was before lighting booths and sounds like that . So it was like , okay , well , we're turning the lights off because it's worship time and now it's teaching times to the lights go on . I was like and I'll tell you what best lights you've ever seen . I was like off , on , off , on off . Sometimes they go off and on and stuff like that . Like we gave the light switch to the wrong guy . I don't know if I'm much different now than I was back then and that it's hard for me to hold .

Speaker 1 25:12

Still , let me ask you a question When's the last time that you saw somebody who was appropriately sabbathing , resting , trusting and waiting and you said , man , that person there they're being productive , busy is not greater than or equal to blessing . God is doing something in your life . I promise you that I don't know what it is . I wish that I could tell you , but God is doing something in your life . It just may not be in the time that you think . And , by our definition , they were wasting years and years waiting on God faithfully waiting for what is and this account 60 to 80 years . And I'm sitting here . If I've got a long weekend where nothing's happening , obviously something's broken .

Speaker 1 26:11

Side note , and this is specifically for the high school students but if you don't have somebody in your life who's a little bit older and who has faithfully and patiently waited I'm not that guy , by the way but if you don't have somebody in your life who has road tested time and tradition of faithfully waiting and patiently pointing their lives in the same direction , you need to pray for a person like that Because to have somebody who can speak into that again , we can all find an entrepreneur who can tell you how to hustle more , but to tell you and to speak into your soul of that , there's something time tested about sitting and waiting obediently that God is going to do something , in that it's just not on your time . Find that person and through the life of Samuel and Anna , we see these people living in faithful obedience , hoping in the right time , trusting that God is doing something . I just don't know what it is and typically it takes longer than we think it does . It's longer than we expect and also I directly relate my satisfaction more to the destination than to the journey . There's a book that I've been trying to get through , but I keep getting distracted and I set it down . It's called Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson , and there's a quote that I thought was worth sharing with you because it's been wrecking

The Power of Hope and Waiting

Speaker 1 27:35

me this week .

Speaker 1 27:36

It says hoping does not mean doing nothing . It's not a fatalistic resignation . It means going about our assigned tasks confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions . It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality . It is the opposite of desperation and panicky manipulations , of scurrying and worrying . And hoping is not dreaming . It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain . It means a confident , alert expectation that God will do exactly what he says he will do . It is the imagination put to the harness of faith . It is the willingness to let God do it in the way , in his way and in his time .

Speaker 1 28:25

My friends , what I see in God's design is for a relationship with you and I that actually is producing nothing . Let me say that again because if you have , for the first time , been released from some sort of an expectation that God never put on you . My friends , what I see in scripture is that God is not interested in what you can do for him . It's that he wants us to look more like him . And how exhausting is it to wake up and to take an expectation that has been delivered to you from different people and from your work and from your relationships and from the gifts that you're supposed to give and probably every gathering that you have walked into in the last month , knowing that there is some expectation being put on you . That is exhausting . And you must feel overwhelmed because if you don't , I do , that's not from God . And while God does desire us to be holy , as he is holy what I see in scripture he does that by being with us , not wanting us to become anything . There is nothing that you can do to make God love you more . There's nothing that you can generate or create or become that will make God say , finally , it's about time we live in a Christmas season that it is a manual , which means God with us , not God waiting for us to become something . Don't put that on yourself , because he is not putting that on you , but because I want a response from God . I feel like I then have to generate something and do it . And yet we are not in spiritual time out until we have solved the Jesus riddle . There is a sanctification process that God is working in us and it just takes time , and we live in a society that does not welcome that at all .

Speaker 1 30:32

Verse 33 says the child's father and mother marveled at what has been said about him , and then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against , so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a soren will pierce your own soul too . Isn't it interesting that , though Mary and Joseph had a clear understanding of who Jesus was and they were stepping forward in obedience , and yet there was a confirmation and having somebody , a trusted source outside of them , affirm what it was that they were experiencing . They both knew who Jesus was , and yet they marveled at the confirmation that Simeon gave to them . I mean and I know this , it's where you're like well , I'm sure , but I'm not sure . If I'm sure , you sure . And so it's . What a gift that Simeon provided to them of saying look at this , do you even know who's with you ? And they say yes , but tell us again .

Speaker 1 31:40

And then continuing on , there was also a prophet , anna , the daughter of Panool of the tribe of Asher . She was very old . What a description . What do you know about her ? She's very old . She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84 . She never left the temple but worshiped night and day , fasting and praying , coming up to them , mary and Joseph . At the very moment she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem .

Speaker 1 32:16

If , students , if you're still considering what you want to be when you grow up , prophet is an awful occupation . It really is . The retirement's not great and you have to be right 100% of the time . And if you're not , if you're not called in to be a prophet , don't do it , because when you're wrong you're then drug out into the courtyard area and stoned to death . So if it's not for you , I wouldn't take one of those aptitude tests and try and figure that out .

Speaker 1 32:40

But for Anna , who had been called into , this is that she was listening and responding to God for decades . Look back at this . She was married for seven years , we assume married relatively young , married for seven years . Her husband died , which in these times that was a death sentence for a woman . She went and trusted on the kindness and generosity of other people and lived in the temple for what seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 years . She waited with God , with hope and anticipation , and it's all she had . That's it . She goes . This is my plan . This is plan A and plan B and plan C .

Speaker 1 33:18

Can I ask you , how many plans do you have ? I got about seven , maybe eight on a good day , and I , because I'm a good Christian , jesus is my first plan , but I'll . I've always got something else . If Jesus doesn't come through , I've got my retirement . If I don't have that , I'll work on my resume . If I don't have that , I'll go live in my parents' basement . They don't know that plan yet , so don't share that with them . But I have lots of plans because I never want to fail and I never want to . I don't want to put everything in trusting in Jesus .

Speaker 1 33:51

And yet I see that that's what Anna was doing . She believed and she said I will live in the temple and I will wait upon Jesus who comes , and then , when he arrived , she celebrated and told other people about it , celebrated and told other people about him . Here's the good news we don't have to go to the temple , we are the temple , and so there will come a day , maybe on this side of heaven , that God will meet us and he will proclaim to us and declare and show us the fully revealed Jesus . And I don't know if that's today or tomorrow , but we sit and we wait , knowing he will show up in full revelation and glory at some point , and so we trust in Christmas . To remind us of that , today , many of us have just stopped waiting and hoping . We're just holding out and sitting , which looks similar but has a much different posture , doesn't it ?

Speaker 1 34:52

There's a movie that came out in 2021 . It's called Anoda Ten Thousand Nights in the Jungle , and it's a story of a Japanese soldier named Hiro Anoda , and he had fought in World War II and he fled to an island on the Philippines and he lived there for 10,000 nights , thinking that World War II had continued . Ten Thousand Nights works out to be 27 years , 4 months and 15 days . Sound familiar . Has the world around you told you that the world that you are living in has no hope . Are we living and responding in such a way , believing that there is no victory , because we have allowed this world to convince us of that ? And maybe not , but maybe there's somebody else in your life who needs that hope and you need to be the agent of hope and deliver that to them .

Speaker 1 35:57

That's why we gather here on a Sunday for Christmas Eve services , winter extravaganza out in the community . It's we gather to come together and to remind one another , because there are times that I am not strong enough , but you are , and so then I need you in my life to do just that . And there are going to be those times that it's the other way around , but that we sit and we remind one another and you remind me that my cold dead heart has forgotten that Christ is worth hoping in , and so we hold tight . It's one of the reasons why I'm so excited that we're launching back into rooted here in January , because we are creating communities of people to say don't give up . There's hope , and you may not be experiencing right now , but I will remind you of that because Jesus is worth that . That's why we do this , and this season , I recognize , is very layered , because there's lots of experiences and for everyone it's not all Christmas experiences and nostalgia and memories that actually these times bring about awful memories for you . And so , whether it is joy and celebration or it's mourning and grieving , know that Jesus wants to meet you in that . Allow me to read this for you .

Speaker 1 37:02

First Thessalonians 4 , 13 and 14 says brothers and sisters , we do not want you to be what uninformed , don't live thinking that there's still a war going on that hasn't taken place . We don't want you to live like you were uninformed . Now notice what it doesn't say . It doesn't say to be sad , not be sad . It doesn't say to not grieve at saying we want you to live , even in your grieving , that there is hope about those who sleep in death , so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope . Where we believe that Jesus died and rose again , and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him .

Speaker 1 37:44

Celebration , waiting , hoping , trusting . Because 1 Corinthians , 15 , 54 and 55 says death has been swallowed up in victory . Where oh death is your victory , where oh death is your stain . And so we live , even with pain , in moments and in seasons of saying I don't love where I'm at right now , but I wait with hope , I put myself in the path of hope . I live in this season with hope because Jesus has come and he has given it to me , and so I will live and operate differently , even if it's a difficult season , because my hope is rooted in what I have seen and what is yet to come . It's both of those . That's how we live .

Speaker 1 38:25

My friends , hope is not a Christian wish . It is not something that we sit and go well , maybe , and with my fingers crossed and my prayers and I write in my dream journal and all those . Hope is rooted . Hope is rooted in the very foundation of who Christ is . That's what we put our hope in . That has not been disappointed and it will not be .

Living With Advent Hope

Speaker 1 38:47

And we see for Simeon and Anna that they position themselves appropriately , not always getting what they wanted , but living and experiencing in such a way that they knew their hope would not be disappointed . And so for us , we live within a manual hope a God with us and will be with us again , and that , though it may start here , it does not end here . That's what we get to live out . We get to live out that which we experience and then take it to somebody else . So then , let us be people who live with advent hope , an advent hope of that God has been faithful to keep his word , as he did in sharpening and refining the faith of those , and that he is powerful even in the midst of our weakness and that in our sin , he has conquered all of that . So , then , we get to live out , hopefully and hopeful , waiting on God to fulfill everything that he said he would do .

Speaker 1 39:48

Let me pray for us . We get a chance to spend time hopefully responding as well . God , could you meet us in our doubts and our fears ? I've got to believe that , even though what we see in the account of Simeon and Anna is that they were faithful people , but there it had to have been days right . God , would you meet us in all of those , in the days of celebration and proclaiming your goodness ? But then also , god , would you meet us in those moments , and maybe seasons , and maybe today , to say I don't have a whole lot of hope right now , so I must be instilled courage . God , would you encourage us to be people who live and trust in ways , in your hope and your hope alone . You're our only plan , and we trust you in your promise Amen .