WEBVTT 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.320 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:16.600 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.820 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:23.019 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:27.239 you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:31.039 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:36.590 by this week's sermon. I have lived in Chiang 00:00:36.590 --> 00:00:39.350 Mai for 17 years. I lived in Singapore for four 00:00:39.350 --> 00:00:41.030 years prior to that. So I've been in Asia for 00:00:41.030 --> 00:00:45.590 over 20 years. And I live and work with ABTS, 00:00:45.590 --> 00:00:48.509 but I am self -supported as a missionary. And 00:00:48.509 --> 00:00:51.210 I remember when I first went to candidate school 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:54.229 with my mission. And, you know, I was young, 00:00:54.289 --> 00:00:56.270 naive, didn't know what I was doing. And you 00:00:56.270 --> 00:00:58.329 go to this group and we're preparing for overseas 00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:03.020 work. And this is what they told me. Expect the 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:07.739 unexpected. Has anybody ever told you that? Don't 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:10.680 you hate it when people tell you that? What are 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.459 you supposed to do with this phrase? How can 00:01:13.459 --> 00:01:17.379 you expect that which is unexpected? Of course, 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:19.719 what they're telling you is you have all of these 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:22.040 grand ideas in your mind of what's going to happen. 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:24.159 And guess what? It's not going to happen that 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:28.359 way. There's going to be unexpected things in 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:30.120 your life, and you need to be prepared for that. 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:33.140 And there's value to that. Expect the unexpected. 00:01:33.819 --> 00:01:36.680 You see, life is full of expectations. In fact, 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:39.319 that's how we live our lives. When you woke up 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:41.640 this morning, you had a number of expectations 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:44.359 that brought you here today. First of all, you 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:48.140 expected that you would wake up, right? You expected 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:50.299 that when you wake up, your body would have enough 00:01:50.299 --> 00:01:53.739 power and ability to get you out of bed and get 00:01:53.739 --> 00:01:55.560 you into the bathroom and downstairs eventually. 00:01:56.500 --> 00:01:58.760 You expected that you'd still have a home, that 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:00.700 there'd be clothes in your closet, that there'd 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:03.219 be food in the refrigerator. You'd expect that 00:02:03.219 --> 00:02:05.079 if you're driving here, your car is still there, 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:07.299 that it still functions, that you have gasoline 00:02:07.299 --> 00:02:09.699 in your car to get you here. Or if you're taking 00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:12.159 a grab, that there is still such a thing as grab. 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:15.469 You expect all of these things. In fact, when 00:02:15.469 --> 00:02:16.969 you get here, you expect you're not the only 00:02:16.969 --> 00:02:19.930 one that's here, right? That there still is a 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:22.550 Sunday morning worship service at ECB at 9 o 00:02:22.550 --> 00:02:24.969 'clock. And so when you get here, there's all 00:02:24.969 --> 00:02:27.430 these expectations. And usually in life, our 00:02:27.430 --> 00:02:30.930 expectations are fulfilled. For example, you're 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:33.669 here now, which I'm assuming that all these expectations 00:02:33.669 --> 00:02:36.009 you had this morning have been fulfilled appropriately. 00:02:36.870 --> 00:02:40.030 Life is like that. You have to anticipate a little 00:02:40.030 --> 00:02:42.110 bit into the future so that you know what decisions 00:02:42.110 --> 00:02:45.919 to make. and how to move forward in life. But 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:49.000 sometimes those expectations are not fulfilled. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.560 Sometimes the unexpected happens. And at times 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:57.340 like that, you can be discouraged, maybe confused, 00:02:57.659 --> 00:02:59.900 maybe distressed. Depends on the level of your 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:03.300 expectation. For example, maybe after church 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:06.419 you're thinking, I'm going to have beef for lunch. 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:10.539 And you get home and you realize that your spouse 00:03:10.539 --> 00:03:14.280 instead made chicken. Well, you had an expectation, 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:16.639 and depending on how much you like beef, it could 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.060 have been a serious distressing expectation that 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:22.340 has now been unfulfilled. But usually that's 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:24.560 pretty minor. You're like, okay, I can eat chicken 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:27.539 today. But there are other expectations in life. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:30.819 For example, maybe you think you're going to 00:03:30.819 --> 00:03:33.740 have a long life, but at a very young age you 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:38.300 develop cancer. Or maybe you have children, and 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:39.699 your expectations that they're going to grow 00:03:39.699 --> 00:03:42.090 up in the love of the Lord, but instead they 00:03:42.090 --> 00:03:46.870 fall away from the faith. How do you manage those 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:54.530 expectations, those distresses? Sometimes we 00:03:54.530 --> 00:03:59.250 expect the wrong things, right? Skewed expectations. 00:04:00.930 --> 00:04:04.169 And it can be devastating when we are trying 00:04:04.169 --> 00:04:07.449 to understand God's role in this world and in 00:04:07.449 --> 00:04:09.879 our lives. Because usually the first thing that 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:13.379 happens when our expectations are skewed or unfulfilled 00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:16.120 is we wonder, God, where are you? What are you 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:22.000 doing? And it could be a crisis moment. So I 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.939 don't believe the answer to this is to lower 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:26.720 our expectations. I think our answer is to align 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:31.060 our expectations with God's word. That's what 00:04:31.060 --> 00:04:32.220 we're going to look at today. We're going to 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:35.000 look at a story in Luke chapter 2, the story 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.000 of Simeon, which is usually like a Christmas. 00:04:37.779 --> 00:04:39.519 Sermon, a Christmas story, but we're going to 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:40.860 take it out of Christmas. We're going to have 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:44.819 Christmas in June. Okay? Sound good? And Simeon 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:47.560 is a story of Jesus coming into the world. He's 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.279 40 days old, and he's coming into a world of 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:54.579 expectations. People who are anticipating somebody's 00:04:54.579 --> 00:04:56.699 going to come. They're anticipating a Messiah 00:04:56.699 --> 00:04:59.839 who's going to come and relieve the people of 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:02.730 Israel from their distress. And so what does 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:06.009 that look like? How did Simeon, how did he expect 00:05:06.009 --> 00:05:08.509 the Messiah? And what did that birth of Jesus 00:05:08.509 --> 00:05:11.430 look like in this context? So we're going to 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:13.910 read together Luke chapter 2, and I'll read this, 00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:16.490 just follow along. When the time came for the 00:05:16.490 --> 00:05:18.790 purification rites required by the law of Moses, 00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:21.449 Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present 00:05:21.449 --> 00:05:24.089 him to the Lord. As it is written in the law 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:27.430 of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated 00:05:27.430 --> 00:05:30.629 to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice in keeping 00:05:30.629 --> 00:05:32.910 with what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair 00:05:32.910 --> 00:05:36.370 of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was 00:05:36.370 --> 00:05:39.850 a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous 00:05:39.850 --> 00:05:42.949 and devout. He was waiting for the consolation 00:05:42.949 --> 00:05:46.290 of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It 00:05:46.290 --> 00:05:48.529 had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:51.050 he would not die before he had seen the Lord's 00:05:51.050 --> 00:05:54.399 Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.600 temple courts, and when the parents brought in 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:58.939 the child Jesus to do for him what the custom 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:02.240 of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:06.199 and praised God, saying, Sovereign Lord, as you 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:09.300 have promised, you may now dismiss your servant 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:12.920 in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:15.720 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.680 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:23.459 glory of your people Israel. The child's father 00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:25.540 and mother marveled at what was said about him. 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:28.040 Then Simeon blessed them and said to marry his 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:31.560 mother. This child is destined to cause the falling 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:34.519 and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:37.199 that will be spoken against so that the thoughts 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.360 of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:48.730 pierce your own soul too. So there is the passage. 00:06:48.930 --> 00:06:50.970 And as we see, Mary and Joseph have a little 00:06:50.970 --> 00:06:53.050 baby Jesus. And they're on their way to the temple. 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:54.870 And they're there at the temple for two basic 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:57.629 reasons. The first reason is for purification. 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:01.230 This is going back to Leviticus chapter 12. So 00:07:01.230 --> 00:07:04.629 Mary just had a baby. And so according to the 00:07:04.629 --> 00:07:06.449 law, after you have a baby, there's the flow 00:07:06.449 --> 00:07:08.449 of blood. And so you have to go through purification 00:07:08.449 --> 00:07:12.110 rituals. You have seven days of being unclean. 00:07:12.129 --> 00:07:15.990 You then circumcise the boy on the eighth day. 00:07:16.509 --> 00:07:18.810 And then you have another 33 days of uncleanliness. 00:07:18.870 --> 00:07:21.329 So at day 40, you then have to go to the temple 00:07:21.329 --> 00:07:24.670 to present an offering. Now, according to Leviticus, 00:07:24.709 --> 00:07:26.870 the offering should be a sacrifice of a lamb 00:07:26.870 --> 00:07:30.750 and a bird. But it makes a concession if you 00:07:30.750 --> 00:07:33.149 don't have much money, if you're poor, that you 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:36.470 can offer two birds instead. And as you can see 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:38.269 from Mary and Joseph, they offered two birds. 00:07:38.350 --> 00:07:41.540 So they were not very wealthy. They are there 00:07:41.540 --> 00:07:43.699 for a second reason, and that is for presentation. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.399 And this is going back to Exodus chapter 13. 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:49.040 You remember the story of the Passover, right? 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:51.839 We all remember that story, and God had passed 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.620 over the firstborn of Israel, and as a result, 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:57.899 he says, now what I want you to do is to consecrate 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:00.879 to me every firstborn male that's born, right? 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:03.620 And you're going to consecrate them to me, kind 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:05.680 of like giving them to the Lord, but you can 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.439 redeem them back by paying five shekels to the 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:11.420 temple. So Mary and Joseph, of course, their 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:14.500 baby was a boy. And so they go to the temple 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:17.439 to present this baby boy there and to redeem 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:19.920 him back. So we learn here that Mary and Joseph 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:22.420 are pious and they're rather poor. They are offering 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:24.459 the doves, but they're actually doing what the 00:08:24.459 --> 00:08:27.379 law requires of them to offer Jesus at the temple. 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:29.459 As they're walking there, they meet this guy 00:08:29.459 --> 00:08:32.399 named Simeon. We don't know much about this guy. 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:35.379 Usually when we think about Simeon, we think 00:08:35.379 --> 00:08:38.399 he's a bit older, maybe. Maybe he's like some 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.620 kind of priest or some kind of guy like that. 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:42.580 We're not even sure of that. We're not even sure 00:08:42.580 --> 00:08:45.240 why he's here necessarily. He's just this kind 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:47.419 of like random character who's here, but it's 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:49.379 actually quite important because we have a little 00:08:49.379 --> 00:08:52.159 bit of a description about him. The passage says 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.059 he's righteous and devout. We don't know exactly 00:08:56.059 --> 00:08:58.279 what that means, but he's a person who is following 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.559 the law, who's following the Lord, seeking to 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:03.399 live his life for the Lord. In other words, he's 00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:07.230 kind of an ideal Jew. If you think of Luke writing 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:09.590 this passage to people who are trying to understand 00:09:09.590 --> 00:09:12.769 who Jesus is, the very first person who, after 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.049 Jesus is born, is going to declare who this son 00:09:15.049 --> 00:09:19.149 is, we can trust him. He's reliable. His testimony 00:09:19.149 --> 00:09:23.230 is reliable because he is a faithful Jew. He's 00:09:23.230 --> 00:09:26.389 also, we're told, led by the Spirit. Several 00:09:26.389 --> 00:09:29.009 times here, verse 25, the Spirit was upon him. 00:09:29.029 --> 00:09:31.750 Verse 26, the Spirit revealed to him that he 00:09:31.750 --> 00:09:34.669 would see the Messiah before he dies. Verse 27, 00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:38.370 he's led by the Spirit specifically at the temple 00:09:38.370 --> 00:09:41.070 at the right time on the right day to meet this 00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:43.629 baby boy. Now think about it. You don't have 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:46.309 WhatsApp. You don't have Facebook. You don't 00:09:46.309 --> 00:09:48.490 have Line. How do you figure out when the Messiah 00:09:48.490 --> 00:09:51.129 is going to come to the temple? This is a tough 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:54.929 one, right? And so it was the Holy Spirit that 00:09:54.929 --> 00:09:57.850 told him, okay, go to the temple. And I don't 00:09:57.850 --> 00:09:59.549 know if it was an actual audible thing or just 00:09:59.549 --> 00:10:01.769 kind of he felt led to go there. And I don't 00:10:01.769 --> 00:10:03.710 even know how he knew of all these boys, little 00:10:03.710 --> 00:10:05.570 boys coming to the temple that this was the Messiah, 00:10:05.830 --> 00:10:08.409 but he did. And it was the Spirit that revealed 00:10:08.409 --> 00:10:12.370 that. But perhaps most significantly about Simeon 00:10:12.370 --> 00:10:14.690 is we're told he's waiting for the consolation 00:10:14.690 --> 00:10:20.470 of Israel. Consolation of Israel. Consolation 00:10:20.470 --> 00:10:24.529 is a strange word. We don't use that word very 00:10:24.529 --> 00:10:27.289 often in language. Many of us, English is a second 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:30.429 language. I probably would guess you don't use 00:10:30.429 --> 00:10:32.570 this word at all. I don't even use it, and English 00:10:32.570 --> 00:10:37.690 is my first language. What is consolation? When 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:40.710 I first heard this word, I go back to the 1980s 00:10:40.710 --> 00:10:44.370 when I was a kid. I grew up in America. And in 00:10:44.370 --> 00:10:46.809 the 1980s, what we would do is watch game shows. 00:10:46.970 --> 00:10:48.929 And you still have game shows today, right? In 00:10:48.929 --> 00:10:51.129 all countries where people go up and they play 00:10:51.129 --> 00:10:53.429 these games. And if you win, you get a prize, 00:10:53.710 --> 00:10:56.730 right? But if you lose, what they would tell 00:10:56.730 --> 00:10:59.590 us back in the 80s is you get a consolation prize. 00:11:00.830 --> 00:11:02.590 Which when you hear that, you're thinking, oh, 00:11:02.649 --> 00:11:06.110 you're a loser. You know, that's a negative thing 00:11:06.110 --> 00:11:08.269 to get the consolation prize. Nobody wants that. 00:11:08.830 --> 00:11:11.210 So when I first heard this, consolation kind 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:13.070 of takes on negative terms. Of course, it's not. 00:11:14.119 --> 00:11:19.600 Consolation means to console, to comfort. It 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:22.460 implies a need, that you're in need of comfort, 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:24.480 that there's some kind of pain or circumstance 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.820 you're going through that therefore you need 00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:34.220 comfort. Israel was in need of consolation. Why 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:37.159 is that? Well, as you know from your Old Testament 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:40.100 history, hundreds of years ago they went into 00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:43.549 exile, right? The Babylonians came in and they 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:46.029 took over Jerusalem and they sent them into exile. 00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:49.649 Eventually they came back, but Jerusalem was 00:11:49.649 --> 00:11:53.190 never the same since. You had the Babylonians 00:11:53.190 --> 00:11:55.909 take over. You had the Persians take over. You 00:11:55.909 --> 00:11:58.269 had the Greeks take over. And now, of course, 00:11:58.330 --> 00:12:02.610 you have the Romans. Idolaters. You're being 00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:06.070 ruled by foreign idolaters in the land of God, 00:12:06.210 --> 00:12:11.559 God's holy land. So the end of the exile seems 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:15.779 like it had never come in truth. And the problem 00:12:15.779 --> 00:12:17.720 that the people of Israel had is they read their 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.139 Old Testament. And as they're reading passages 00:12:21.139 --> 00:12:24.580 of Isaiah and many of the prophets who are proclaiming 00:12:24.580 --> 00:12:29.159 that God is going to make all things new. He's 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.620 going to liberate Israel. And they're going to 00:12:31.620 --> 00:12:34.139 rule again and the temple will be built and it's 00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:38.000 just going to be better than old times. And yet 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.399 they look around them. And the Romans are ruling. 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:46.340 The reality is not liberation. The reality is 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:51.440 oppression. They need a Messiah. And in fact, 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:53.139 in the first century, there were so many people 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:56.019 looking for Messiahs. In fact, many false Messiahs 00:12:56.019 --> 00:12:58.820 came around at this time. And there were groups 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:02.039 gathered who were kind of anticipating a Messiah 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:07.059 in their own way. One of these groups were the 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:10.039 Pharisees. We're very familiar with the Pharisees, 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:13.379 right? As we said when we were a kid, the Pharisees 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:18.259 are not fair, you see. They believed that consolation 00:13:18.259 --> 00:13:21.059 is going to come through self -discipline. Their 00:13:21.059 --> 00:13:26.000 motto, God helps those who help themselves. Because 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.460 the Pharisees were all about the law. If there's 00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:31.519 going to be consolation in Israel, it's going 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:34.639 to come through following the Torah. But they 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:36.220 were very concerned, not only that we follow 00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:38.039 the Torah, but that we don't break any rule even 00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:40.559 closely connected to the Torah. So they added 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:43.259 more rules to the Torah. Now, I don't know if 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:45.220 you've read your books of Leviticus and Exodus, 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.799 and you've looked at all the laws. There's already 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.740 plenty there, right? It seems like we're okay. 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:54.220 We've got enough. But they felt like there should 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:57.860 be more, so they added around 600 more that have 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:00.299 to do with ceremonial purity, like washing your 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:05.649 hands, things like that. maybe things like tithing, 00:14:05.710 --> 00:14:10.629 they were very careful. We have to make sure 00:14:10.629 --> 00:14:12.110 we follow the Torah. In fact, we have to put 00:14:12.110 --> 00:14:14.389 all these guardrails up there with extra laws 00:14:14.389 --> 00:14:16.710 so that we don't even get close to breaking any 00:14:16.710 --> 00:14:19.649 of those laws. And if we are faithful enough 00:14:19.649 --> 00:14:22.190 and we work hard enough and we are good enough, 00:14:22.409 --> 00:14:26.950 then consolation will come. That's the Pharisees. 00:14:27.529 --> 00:14:29.610 Jesus did not have all those great things to 00:14:29.610 --> 00:14:32.700 say about the Pharisees. The other group were 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:40.159 the Sadducees, who were sad, you see. They believed 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.720 that consolation came through political maneuvering. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:45.940 See, their motto was, God helps those who get 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:48.960 political. Because the Sadducees were often the 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.080 people who were in the high ranks of religious 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:54.879 society. Oftentimes high priests, or at least 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:58.409 on the Sanhedrin, priestly caste. And so these 00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:00.070 were people who were getting political. Let's 00:15:00.070 --> 00:15:02.990 try to maneuver with Rome and do things with 00:15:02.990 --> 00:15:05.450 Rome and see if we can make this work in our 00:15:05.450 --> 00:15:10.129 favor. They were the elite aristocrats, the high 00:15:10.129 --> 00:15:14.549 priests who had political power. Okay, Pharisees, 00:15:14.549 --> 00:15:17.289 Sadducees. Jesus didn't have very good words 00:15:17.289 --> 00:15:19.610 for the Sadducees either. One group that we're 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:21.529 not as familiar with because we don't hear this 00:15:21.529 --> 00:15:25.259 name in the Bible are the Essenes. And the Essenes 00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:27.340 were kind of a unique group because they believed 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:29.500 that in order to get consolation, they had to 00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:32.759 escape. They are the people who created what 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.240 we know as the Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, this 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:38.120 is the cave where those scrolls were found. And 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:41.259 they lived in the deserts. They kind of formed 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:43.860 their own unique community with their own rules 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:46.100 to escape everything else of what's going on 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:49.679 in town. And basically their belief was God helps 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:54.399 those who flee the world. If consolation is going 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:55.960 to come, we're just going to sit here and wait 00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:00.279 for it. Was the idea. Right? We're not going 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:01.840 to go in town. We're not going to try to change 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.220 things. We're not going to get political. We're 00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:06.299 not going to fight. We're going to escape. And 00:16:06.299 --> 00:16:08.019 we're going to be in our little lifeboat here 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:10.259 in the desert waiting for the Messiah to come. 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:16.700 Okay. Fourth group. The zealots. We do encounter 00:16:16.700 --> 00:16:21.139 these in scripture, right? Their view was consolation 00:16:21.139 --> 00:16:25.740 comes through force. And their motto, God helps 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:29.759 those who are willing to fight. Because the zealots 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:34.039 had zeal. Zeal for the nation of Israel. Zeal 00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:37.559 against the unlawful rule of Gentile rulers. 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:41.639 A revolt against Rome. That was their viewpoint. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:44.820 Look, we can't just escape. We're not going to 00:16:44.820 --> 00:16:47.549 get political because that doesn't work. Following 00:16:47.549 --> 00:16:50.269 the law, okay, fine, but how is that really helping 00:16:50.269 --> 00:16:52.990 us? Instead, we've got to go out there and fight. 00:16:53.409 --> 00:16:56.090 Get up your swords. Let's go out and start an 00:16:56.090 --> 00:16:59.549 insurrection. Of course, we encounter some zealots 00:16:59.549 --> 00:17:01.690 in Scripture. One of the disciples was a zealot. 00:17:01.730 --> 00:17:05.089 Do you remember who it was? Simon, right? And 00:17:05.089 --> 00:17:08.349 of course, Jesus was crucified, and they let 00:17:08.349 --> 00:17:11.990 go a zealot, probably, Barabbas, who was an insurrectionist. 00:17:13.009 --> 00:17:17.180 So we have these four groups. And as Jesus is 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:19.140 born, these four groups are the ones who are 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:22.059 anticipating the Messiah largely. This is what 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:25.920 he's born into. The anticipation, the expectations 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:28.700 of the people of Israel were kind of like this. 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:33.140 And here is Jesus born into the first century 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:36.500 and Simeon holds him and is going to give a prophecy 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:40.660 about his expectations. And Simeon had very different 00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:46.069 expectations. We see it in verse 29. He says, 00:17:46.130 --> 00:17:48.930 Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:51.609 now dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes 00:17:51.609 --> 00:17:53.869 have seen your salvation, which you have prepared 00:17:53.869 --> 00:17:57.049 in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation 00:17:57.049 --> 00:18:00.569 to the Gentiles and the glory of your people 00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:08.769 Israel. What was Simeon's expectations? What 00:18:08.769 --> 00:18:12.869 was he looking for in a Messiah? Well, interestingly, 00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:15.829 as you read through this prophecy, it connects 00:18:15.829 --> 00:18:19.529 a lot to Isaiah. Especially the suffering servant 00:18:19.529 --> 00:18:23.289 of Isaiah's prophecy of who this Messiah will 00:18:23.289 --> 00:18:26.210 be. He talks about this Messiah delivering from 00:18:26.210 --> 00:18:29.369 oppression. Of course, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, 00:18:29.430 --> 00:18:31.269 the Zealots, the Essenes, they'd all be in favor 00:18:31.269 --> 00:18:34.630 of this. They'd believe that. He also talked 00:18:34.630 --> 00:18:36.450 about the establishment of righteousness and 00:18:36.450 --> 00:18:39.869 justice. It's not just about freeing a nation. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.500 So that they don't have foreign oppressors. It's 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:45.039 about bringing peace and righteousness and justice 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:49.059 to the earth. He talks about how this Messiah 00:18:49.059 --> 00:18:51.720 will bear our iniquities. At least in the book 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.779 of Isaiah. So he's not just here to give us what 00:18:54.779 --> 00:18:56.859 we want. He's here to give us what we need. That 00:18:56.859 --> 00:18:59.960 is the rescue from sins. And he's going to be 00:18:59.960 --> 00:19:04.039 a light to the nations. This Messiah is not just 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:07.900 here for Israel. He's here for the Gentiles as 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:11.539 well. He's here, in fact, for the nations. And 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:13.599 his kingdom is going to expand throughout this 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:17.160 whole earth. It's so much bigger than what these 00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:24.059 first century groups were anticipating. As we 00:19:24.059 --> 00:19:26.380 learn in the passage, Mary and Joseph are listening 00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:29.200 to this. They hear this prophecy and they marveled, 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:31.759 we're told. If you were to look at their faces, 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:36.619 it would be like, you know, what? Our son? They've 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:38.920 already seen and heard so many wonderful things 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:41.880 during the birth of Jesus, right? With the shepherds 00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:44.440 coming and the kings and all those things. And 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:48.420 now Simeon gives this amazing prophecy. And as 00:19:48.420 --> 00:19:50.420 they're marveling, Simeon's not finished yet. 00:19:51.460 --> 00:19:54.400 And we're told he looks specifically at Mary. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:57.940 And here's what he says. It's not all good news. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.759 The child's father and mother marveled at what 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:03.700 was said to him. Then Simeon blessed them and 00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:07.210 said to Mary, his mother, This child is destined 00:20:07.210 --> 00:20:09.930 to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, 00:20:10.069 --> 00:20:13.089 to be a sign that will be spoken against so that 00:20:13.089 --> 00:20:15.349 the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed, 00:20:15.529 --> 00:20:21.509 and a sword will pierce your own soul too. Up 00:20:21.509 --> 00:20:24.089 to this point, it was really good news. And everybody 00:20:24.089 --> 00:20:25.789 could get on board with that kind of Messiah, 00:20:26.009 --> 00:20:29.250 right? But here now, we have this prophecy that 00:20:29.250 --> 00:20:31.849 turns into a little bit of a negative. Kind of 00:20:31.849 --> 00:20:34.930 counter expectations that something is going 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:37.829 to happen with this Messiah. He's going to be 00:20:37.829 --> 00:20:41.269 rejected by his own. Of course, Isaiah prophesied 00:20:41.269 --> 00:20:46.170 this, right? Despised and forsaken of men. And 00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:48.890 he looks specifically at Mary, which I find quite 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:54.569 interesting. Why Mary? You know, if you're a 00:20:54.569 --> 00:20:56.250 mother, I think you kind of understand this a 00:20:56.250 --> 00:20:58.779 little more. Here's your baby boy. And this is 00:20:58.779 --> 00:21:00.359 going to be a Messiah and you have such high 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:03.220 hopes for him. But Simeon's kind of warning her 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:06.400 of what's to come. There's going to be an end 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:10.180 that's going to be a bit shocking. People are 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:12.019 not going to all follow him just simply because 00:21:12.019 --> 00:21:13.599 he's the Messiah. He's going to be rejected. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:16.299 But most significantly, Mary, a sword is going 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:21.420 to pierce your own soul too. Who knows what that 00:21:21.420 --> 00:21:23.160 means? It could mean something about her own 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:25.740 relationship with her son and whether she believes 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:28.440 and how that goes about. But most likely, it 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:31.240 refers to Mary standing before the cross as her 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:36.240 own son is brutally tortured and killed. That's 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:40.059 hard for anybody. Imagine your own son and having 00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:46.559 to watch that at the foot of a cross. And of 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:48.460 course, Simeon is also telling us that there's 00:21:48.460 --> 00:21:52.279 going to have to be a response. The Messiah doesn't 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:54.359 just come and make everything great and everybody's 00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:57.500 happy. He comes and brings what we need, and 00:21:57.500 --> 00:21:59.259 that means there's going to be a response on 00:21:59.259 --> 00:22:01.819 our behalf. We have to respond to this, and not 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:05.519 all of us will respond well. It will cause the 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:10.819 rising and the falling of many. See, Jesus doesn't 00:22:10.819 --> 00:22:12.960 come to meet our expectations. He doesn't come 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:15.420 to conform to our expectations. He challenges 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:19.680 what we think we need and offers what we truly 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:23.000 need. And isn't this why Israel rejected him 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.779 in the end? If you think about the life, Jesus 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:27.660 had these followers and people who were with 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:29.759 him, but at the end they turned their backs on 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:33.920 him and they yell out, crucify, crucify. This 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:39.319 isn't the Messiah we signed up for. He's not 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:41.400 meeting our expectations. He's supposed to just 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:44.420 kind of come in as a king and take over Rome, 00:22:44.619 --> 00:22:47.160 but instead he's talking about sins and he's 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:51.859 going to a cross. It reminds us of Isaiah where 00:22:51.859 --> 00:22:54.119 Isaiah talks about the stone metaphor. Remember 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:57.660 the cornerstone? You can stumble over that stone 00:22:57.660 --> 00:22:59.980 or it can be the corner of your house, of your 00:22:59.980 --> 00:23:05.299 building. What's your choice? So the question 00:23:05.299 --> 00:23:10.059 for us today is, who is your Messiah? You know, 00:23:10.059 --> 00:23:12.259 in the first century, these different groups 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:16.680 were expecting a Messiah. They had read Isaiah. 00:23:17.549 --> 00:23:20.769 They knew Isaiah frontwards and backwards. What 00:23:20.769 --> 00:23:24.450 happened? How could their expectations be so 00:23:24.450 --> 00:23:29.009 skewed? They perceived the Messiah through a 00:23:29.009 --> 00:23:32.369 nationalistic lens, that God is going to send 00:23:32.369 --> 00:23:35.049 a Messiah to deliver them from Roman oppression, 00:23:35.369 --> 00:23:38.609 to free them from political aggression so that 00:23:38.609 --> 00:23:42.089 they can live in freedom in their land. And God 00:23:42.089 --> 00:23:46.779 had a bigger purpose. A more significant role 00:23:46.779 --> 00:23:48.680 of not just giving them freedom in their land. 00:23:48.740 --> 00:23:50.839 Hey, that's great. But there has to be a deeper 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:53.160 problem that's resolved. The problem of sin. 00:23:54.119 --> 00:24:00.480 And they miss that. Well, what about us? We have 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:03.539 the advantage of the New Testament. We come to 00:24:03.539 --> 00:24:05.339 church. We talk about the Messiah all the time. 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:07.559 We think we're different from these groups. We 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:09.940 have the right Messiah. We understand scripture 00:24:09.940 --> 00:24:13.990 well. And maybe we do. But just like the people 00:24:13.990 --> 00:24:18.150 of the first century, cultures can skew our expectations 00:24:18.150 --> 00:24:24.269 of the Messiah. For some of us, we grew up in 00:24:24.269 --> 00:24:26.230 cultures where we were looking for a therapeutic 00:24:26.230 --> 00:24:30.410 Messiah. A Messiah that will make us feel happy 00:24:30.410 --> 00:24:34.470 and good about ourselves. So that when trials 00:24:34.470 --> 00:24:36.150 come in our life, we kind of look around and 00:24:36.150 --> 00:24:39.170 say, what happened? Where's God? I thought he 00:24:39.170 --> 00:24:43.960 was here to make my life better. For some of 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:48.000 us, we're looking for an on -call Messiah. We 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.500 can go about our lives on our own, and we're 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:52.920 perfectly fine until something happens in life 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:57.039 we can't control. Sickness, a death, loss of 00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.519 work, no income, the list goes on. And then suddenly 00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:02.559 we're on our knees crying out, Lord, where are 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:06.859 you? Please help me. Have you been there? That's 00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:12.009 me. I'm sufficient in myself. I can kind of make 00:25:12.009 --> 00:25:14.109 this happen. It seems like life is going well 00:25:14.109 --> 00:25:16.309 until it doesn't, and then I'm on my knees crying 00:25:16.309 --> 00:25:19.609 out to the Lord. Just remember the last time 00:25:19.609 --> 00:25:23.450 you were sick, right? And the problem with these 00:25:23.450 --> 00:25:26.609 messiahs is they're all focused on me. God's 00:25:26.609 --> 00:25:30.750 there for me. Or we think we can control God. 00:25:32.089 --> 00:25:34.990 We expect God to meet our expectations to do 00:25:34.990 --> 00:25:40.269 what we want. And what Simeon and Isaiah remind 00:25:40.269 --> 00:25:44.269 us is this isn't about us and we don't control 00:25:44.269 --> 00:25:49.730 God. He is saving the cosmos and we fit into 00:25:49.730 --> 00:25:54.410 his plan. Isn't this the value of living in a 00:25:54.410 --> 00:25:57.789 different country for many of you? I assume many 00:25:57.789 --> 00:26:01.069 of you live here and you've maybe traveled the 00:26:01.069 --> 00:26:02.750 world and you've seen different things. At least 00:26:02.750 --> 00:26:06.609 I have. And it kind of reminds me that God is 00:26:06.609 --> 00:26:14.390 not American. Can you believe it? And sometimes 00:26:14.390 --> 00:26:16.009 you get that perspective when you're just stuck 00:26:16.009 --> 00:26:18.309 in one spot. You just think, okay, I think I 00:26:18.309 --> 00:26:20.410 got a grasp of what God wants. And then he kind 00:26:20.410 --> 00:26:22.289 of conforms to those expectations. But when you 00:26:22.289 --> 00:26:24.190 travel, it broadens your perspective and you 00:26:24.190 --> 00:26:26.069 realize, oh, God's doing a lot of things I didn't 00:26:26.069 --> 00:26:30.509 even understand. And it humbles me. I don't have 00:26:30.509 --> 00:26:36.039 the answers like I used to when I was 20. Travel 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:38.740 adjusts our expectations. It removes our provincialism. 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:40.519 It gives us a bigger picture of what God's doing. 00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:43.859 Reminds us that God is a light not only to the 00:26:43.859 --> 00:26:46.019 nation of Israel, not only to America or Thailand, 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:50.240 but to the whole world. But secondly, we don't 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:53.980 control him. He confronts us and he demands a 00:26:53.980 --> 00:26:56.339 response. And to tell you the truth, the reason 00:26:56.339 --> 00:26:57.859 I'm giving this sermon today is because this 00:26:57.859 --> 00:27:02.289 is what I struggle with. It's a feeling of like 00:27:02.289 --> 00:27:04.710 I have control of my life and I expect God to 00:27:04.710 --> 00:27:07.130 meet those expectations. I can kind of maneuver 00:27:07.130 --> 00:27:10.730 him to do what I need him to do. Let me give 00:27:10.730 --> 00:27:15.589 you a story about this. We've lived in Asia for 00:27:15.589 --> 00:27:17.549 20 years. Our very first year we moved to Asia, 00:27:17.609 --> 00:27:22.250 2004, we adopted a child. As soon as I say that, 00:27:22.309 --> 00:27:24.130 it already gives you a lot of information about 00:27:24.130 --> 00:27:26.309 the expectations that were already unfulfilled 00:27:26.309 --> 00:27:29.569 in our lives for me and my wife, Karen. When 00:27:29.569 --> 00:27:31.630 you're young and you're 20 and you get married, 00:27:31.710 --> 00:27:34.490 what are your expectations? We're going to have 00:27:34.490 --> 00:27:37.910 children. So for 10 years, we struggled with 00:27:37.910 --> 00:27:40.769 infertility. We met with doctors. We had no answers. 00:27:41.369 --> 00:27:45.130 We finally realized, okay, well, maybe this isn't 00:27:45.130 --> 00:27:48.509 for us. We moved to Singapore and we thought, 00:27:48.609 --> 00:27:52.470 let's do adoption. So in 2004, we adopted our 00:27:52.470 --> 00:27:55.309 baby girl, Ella Grace, or Cheng Jing Ying, who 00:27:55.309 --> 00:27:59.049 is Chinese, born in Taiwan. And she was three 00:27:59.049 --> 00:28:01.950 months old. And from the start of when we first 00:28:01.950 --> 00:28:05.490 put in our paperwork to adopt Ella to the time 00:28:05.490 --> 00:28:08.630 we picked her up, it took three months. I don't 00:28:08.630 --> 00:28:09.970 know if any of you are involved in adoption, 00:28:10.170 --> 00:28:12.089 especially international adoption, but that is 00:28:12.089 --> 00:28:15.250 remarkably fast. It usually takes one or two 00:28:15.250 --> 00:28:18.390 years at least for paperwork to be processed 00:28:18.390 --> 00:28:20.490 and where you can actually pick up a child. So 00:28:20.490 --> 00:28:22.390 our baby daughter was very young. She was only 00:28:22.390 --> 00:28:25.700 three months old. So we were able to go to Taiwan. 00:28:25.740 --> 00:28:27.339 That's a picture of me holding her for the very 00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:31.339 first time. And the joy of that overwhelmed those 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:33.519 expectations I had of having my own children. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:36.680 Like if you've had adoption, it's like a whole 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:39.500 unique, amazing experience. I wouldn't trade 00:28:39.500 --> 00:28:43.420 it for anything. And so like God fulfilled our 00:28:43.420 --> 00:28:47.000 expectations in ways we didn't even expect. But 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.319 that's not the end of the story. You see, our 00:28:49.319 --> 00:28:52.940 expectation was to have several children. So 00:28:52.940 --> 00:28:55.299 we adopted Ella. It took only three months, as 00:28:55.299 --> 00:28:57.559 I said. She graduated actually just this year. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.180 She's 22 years old. She just graduated from college, 00:29:00.259 --> 00:29:03.859 so she's now a little bit older. But after about 00:29:03.859 --> 00:29:06.880 a year, we decided let's try for a second. So 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:09.839 what we did is we went to the same orphanage 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:12.500 in Taiwan. We figured it only took three months 00:29:12.500 --> 00:29:14.220 the first time. This is going to be really fast. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:17.839 You know where this is going, don't you? We send 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:21.339 in our paperwork. And the paperwork comes in. 00:29:21.380 --> 00:29:23.480 We get the response, okay, now we're waiting. 00:29:23.619 --> 00:29:25.200 Three months goes by. We're thinking it should 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:27.720 be any day now. Of course, it takes four months, 00:29:27.819 --> 00:29:30.660 five months, no response. About six months, we 00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:32.960 go back to the orphanage. We say, did you get 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:34.759 our paperwork? Is everything okay? Yup, yup, 00:29:34.819 --> 00:29:36.779 it's just things are slower now. You might have 00:29:36.779 --> 00:29:40.099 to wait longer. Okay. Well, the year goes by. 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:43.579 And about that time, our school decided to move 00:29:43.579 --> 00:29:47.000 from Singapore to Chiang Mai. So we moved to 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:49.039 Thailand. which means we have to get all of our 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.099 paperwork renewed, we have to pay all the expenses, 00:29:51.380 --> 00:29:53.519 we have to do home studies, we send in all the 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:56.019 revised paperwork. Okay, it should be any moment 00:29:56.019 --> 00:30:00.240 now. Another year goes by. Another year goes 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:04.259 by. In the meantime, my daughter is like four 00:30:04.259 --> 00:30:07.220 or five years old, and every night I sit with 00:30:07.220 --> 00:30:10.319 her at bed and we pray for her baby sister, that 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:13.539 she would come soon. We prayed that way for years. 00:30:15.140 --> 00:30:18.920 After six years, We finally decided God doesn't 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:25.740 have this for us. That's painful. Now let's process 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:31.019 this for a moment. Does God love families? Does 00:30:31.019 --> 00:30:34.000 he want us to have children? Does he love adoption? 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:40.180 He adopted us as his children. There are so many 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:43.019 kids out there who don't have good homes. We 00:30:43.019 --> 00:30:44.539 want to bring a child into our home. Doesn't 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:51.339 God want that? So what happened? Why didn't God 00:30:51.339 --> 00:30:55.200 meet this expectation? You know what? I don't 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:58.400 have an answer for you. And that's the point. 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:05.619 I don't control him. And this is the value, the 00:31:05.619 --> 00:31:07.539 power of this passage, because if you look at 00:31:07.539 --> 00:31:11.559 this passage again, he's not my Messiah. He's 00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:14.099 not your Messiah. According to Isaiah, whose 00:31:14.099 --> 00:31:18.210 Messiah is he? Look at your passage. He's the 00:31:18.210 --> 00:31:23.349 Lord's Messiah. God sent him for his purposes, 00:31:23.410 --> 00:31:26.170 to do his purposes, to meet what he wants to 00:31:26.170 --> 00:31:31.329 do in this world. It's not about me. You know 00:31:31.329 --> 00:31:36.190 what I need to do? Is trust him. I wish I had 00:31:36.190 --> 00:31:38.910 a second. Honestly, I really do. And it's hard 00:31:38.910 --> 00:31:41.289 for me even sharing this today, after all these 00:31:41.289 --> 00:31:46.099 years. But I trust him. I trust him that he knows 00:31:46.099 --> 00:31:47.920 what he's doing. I trust that he knows what is 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:52.400 good and he's doing what's good in my life. And 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.180 I trust and surrender to his will. That's hard 00:31:56.180 --> 00:31:59.420 to do, isn't it? And I pray for you if you're 00:31:59.420 --> 00:32:00.819 going through something like that, that today 00:32:00.819 --> 00:32:04.619 would be that day of trust and surrender. Heavenly 00:32:04.619 --> 00:32:08.519 Father, this is hard to speak about. These are 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:13.329 not easy things. Really hits at the core of life 00:32:13.329 --> 00:32:15.549 and the struggles that we face in life and how 00:32:15.549 --> 00:32:18.430 it is that we walk by faith because when things 00:32:18.430 --> 00:32:20.670 don't happen as we expect, especially big things, 00:32:20.950 --> 00:32:23.250 we wonder where you are and what you're doing. 00:32:25.730 --> 00:32:29.349 And what a great reminder today that your Messiah 00:32:29.349 --> 00:32:32.089 is doing things even bigger than we expect, that 00:32:32.089 --> 00:32:34.630 we can trust you, that you know what is good, 00:32:34.690 --> 00:32:39.390 you know what is perfect. We surrender. Amen. 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:04.940 If God is calling you to support our ministries, 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:07.660 you will find giving options on our website. 00:33:08.460 --> 00:33:11.900 And remember to join us next week. God bless 00:33:11.900 --> 00:33:12.140 you.