I’m inviting you to take your Bibles with me this morning. And we’re turning back to Luke’s gospel chapter 2. We’ve been hanging And, the anticipation of Christmas is here, isn’t it?

You adults may not feel it, but you just talk to the kids around here and the anticipation of Christmas is here. I was telling our Sunday school class this morning, number of years ago, it was actually before Carter was born. We just had Tyler and Zach. Zach was just I don’t know. He may not have even been a year old.

And we were a little concerned about putting the Christmas presents out He may have been just a little over one morning, Tanya went out and every one of those wrapped presents was unwrapped. But presents was unrapped. It was Tyler. Anticipation of Christmas. I mean, you just get a it’s Christmas Eve today, and I just know there are going to be chomp and a I mean, tonight, they’re going to go to bed, and ready to get up before the crack of dawn.

Tomorrow. Because it’s You know, throughout this series of messages, I’ve mentioned that Christmas is a season of waiting. Stripper is a season of First Christmas, the wait for the micaia, the longing for the consolation of Israel, we looked, Simeon and Anna last week and they’re waiting for the redemption of Israel, the consolation of Israel. This morning, we’re turning to Luke’s gospel chapter 2, a part of the classic Christmas story. We’re looking at a section of scripture that I want to bear fruit towards the end of the message as it relates to this waiting experience.

I’m inviting you to stand with me this morning as we read this text together in honor of the word of God. We’re going to begin our reading in verse 8. And there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and lo, the angel of the Lord, the glory of the Lord shown around about them. And they were so and the angels said into them. Fear, for behold, I bring good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and angels were gone away so man. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this and all they that heard it wonder these things which were told them by the Shepherds. But Mary, they were told them at these things, which were told them by the Sheperd.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her. And the Sheperds returned glorifying and praising God for all these things. And they were all seen as it was stored. And them. Talked to us this morning, particularly from verse 11, that Salvation has come and Salvation is coming.

Let’s pray together. Right. We rejoice this Christmas Sunday morning as we have an opportunity Throughout this day and throughout the coming days ahead as we reflect on the reality fact that through your, you have, brought salvation to all I pray it in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated.

The older that I get, the more interested I become in the advent of Christ. To the world, yes, as a baby, but also his promised second coming come. I won’t tell you how many. I’ll just tell you that I was 9 years old troubling thought to a 9 year old. Place in our farmhouse, I was more that I get, and the more that I think about that the more I think about the truth, the to have a spirit of that first Christmas of great anticipation process, aren’t we?

Once again, as I look around our world and I see current world events, I realize that the world is silently waiting. There are some people that they’re going about their as if life is, and not a lot of anticipation of a comin. But for draw us to draw the draw for the most part, I mentioned this earlier source, we’ve romanticized the whole picture of Christmas, the story of Christmas, those. You know, we sing about how the angels sang. Scripter doesn’t tell us that the angels sang.

They were there’s a whole lot of fear going around. There’s probably a whole lot of shepherds trying to find a place to hide that first Christmas morning announce. Put into modern context, God’s revelation that he was sending the Messiah into the world. If we could put that in modern context, it would be like, night while a group of men were out digging Fiber optic cable so that you and I can have people in Jewish society. These are a group of men who live their lives out on the hills with a bunch of stinky children close your ears stupid sheep.

So Their dumb To be a shepherd was the lowest of society, and yet God sends his angels out into these hills, out into these to announce the birth of his I want to focus our attention this morning on verse 11 that says, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. There are a couple of points that I wanna make this morning that I trust will somehow energize our anticipation as we think about Christmas afresh and new. The focus of the angels message was a message of salvation. A salvation that was good news of great joy to a few people, right? No.

The angels say to all, the message of salvation so spectacular. What was it about this heralding of salvation to all men that was so spectacular? I think the first thing that you and I need to consider this morning is what is a savior? If this, a bring salvation, we have to understand what a savior does. A savior is one who redeems or saves someone from certain imminent desperate circumstances, right?

You know, Right? In good a good position that you don’t need any kind of rescuing, then a savior means absolutely nothing. But whenever we grasp the reality that God broadcast to these shepherds, that he is sending That the angels’ message of salvation means to us. And the first point that I want to make is their message of salvation is a message of personal salvation.

The angels said to the shepherds for unto you, sin. Go back to Genesis, chapter 1. And we read that man was created in the image of God. You begin to work your way through Genesis and you get to Genesis chapter 3. You don’t get very far and takes of the fruit that God has said don’t touch, don’t, don’t.

There’s separation between God and man and darkness enters into the says to Joseph of what this son that will be born to Joseph and her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quiet. Divorce or divorce. He considered these things behold an angel, the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, her is from the holy spirit. She will bear a sun and you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his purpose for a personal salvation. So that those who have been separated from God through sin can be brought back into relationship with him.

The fact that God chose shepherds to reveal this great news is a reminder that salvation is to all men. God chose the ditch diggers of the world, if you will, to reveal that salvation is to you. That means for us today, this salvation is personal to every man, woman, boy, and girl. There’s not a person that’s been excluded from this list of salvation. God doesn’t keep a naughty or nice list.

He doesn’t look for those that says, well, they’re worthy, they’re worthy. They weren’t such a good person. That he came for those who were and what the law For Are you catching the correlation here? The angels are heralding salvation to you, personal salvation. Why?

Because Paul says here that the law was weak and what it could not do a sinful flesh for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh verse 4, Romans chapter 8, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, spirit. Christ came so that you and I can have salvation from our sins. The Hebrew writer tells us that through Christ there is a better way than the old testament covenant system. There’s a better way than bulls and rams being sacrificed on an altar, where a priest would go into the holy place once a year to offer sacrifice.

No. Now through Jesus Christ, you and I have direct access to the very throne of God, where we can find the remission of our sins. Amen? Thank the Lord for personal salvation. Christ coming is good news because it’s personal to us.

But let me give you another one. The second point that I think we need to consider from this particular text that we read together is that the message of salvation is not just personal, but it’s for unto you is born this day. For you is born this day, a day. Group of shepherds that are keeping the flock that is used in temple sacrifice. Now picture this with me for just a moment.

Here’s a group of shepherds that understand the whole process of what they’re doing. They’re raising sheep that will be taken back to the temple, that will be sacrificed on the altar for the purpose of the remission of the sins of those who come, year after year. He significance when he when the angels said that you’re gonna go to Bethlehem and you’re gonna find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, They understood that when a lamb that was born that would have any kind of a blemish that needed any kind of healing, they would swaddle that lamb. They would they understood what was going on with this whole idea of a savior being born, swaddled in and they would have understood the significance of Israel’s need for salvation, both personal, futuristic event, something that would, reality? Isn’t that wonderful for us today that you and I can know today that we have been saved from our sins?

Why? Because there is a personal savior who has striated We as Westlands could learn a lot of. And I’ll ask you to say amen to that. But you we have a lot to learn about the fact things that I’ve so appreciated about our Westland heritage is the emphasis that is put upon salvation that you and I, all men, can be saved. Wesley had a 4 point saying concerning man’s salvation.

He said, all men need to be saved. Why? Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He said, all men can be saved. Why?

Because Christ came into the world to be the propitiation for our sin. Wesley said, all men can know they are saved. Isn’t it wonderful to know that when we have confessed our sins that he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins? And Wesley said that all men can be saved to the uttermost. Isn’t it wonderful to know this morning that the salvation that you and I can receive through Jesus Christ is a present tense reality that is for eternity.

It’s weekend. I read an article about a in California who had gotten stuck. Don’t know all the details. The article didn’t know all the details. Some of the people Don’t know all the details.

The article didn’t know all the details. Somehow, this fella had got himself stuck in a little crevice Some teenagers just happened to be walked right along the coastline, and they heard these cries for a. So they called 911 and 911 came. And isn’t it wonderful when 911 can’t even get you out of your stuck position? To try to They couldn’t get them out, so they left blankets and some provisions for them and said we’ll be back in the morning to and they’ll be there to be there.

Potentially drown, but hey, we can’t get him out. We’ll be back in the morning. And so they came back the next morning. That’s a true. -J.

-J. The salvation that was heralded to those shepherds at 1st Christmas morning is behold, born unto you this day is a savior, Christ the Lord. God provides present tense salvation. God sent his son into the world to make it possible for man to be saved from his sins right now. In Paul’s letter to the, second letter to the Corinthians, this is what he writes, for he says in a favorable time, I listen to you and in a day of salvation, I have helped you.

And in a day of salvation, I have helped you. Draw that verse by saying behold now is the favorable time. Behold now is the day of salvation. Can I just say to you this morning, if you are here or you’re turning in online and you don’t know what it means to have been personally saved from your sins by the blood of Jesus, today is the day of salvation? Why?

Because the salvation tense, Today, the Salvation broadcast that first Christmas night was concerning a personal salvation and it was a present salvation. But let me give you the third point I want you to take away. You is born this day a savior in the city of David, a savior who is Christ. The third point that I want to make from this text is that salvation is perpetual. This is about a in the city of David, which is Bethlehem, there is born to you a savior.

But that is also foretelling in its thought. Because in the city of David is a reminder that there is a Messiah that is coming, that is, yes, salvation today, but it is a promise that there is coming another mess or the messiah is coming again for the purpose of redeeming all of creation. Salvation that’s necessary for you and I to be relieved of our sins. I don’t ever want to lose the reality of that. Amen?

I don’t ever want to lose the reality that Christ came the gods and his son into the world to do more than just redeem you from your sins. God came into this world to redeem all of creation. God came for the purpose of salvation of all of creation. Paul wrote to the Romans that the world is groaning in travail, but that there is coming a day when Christ will come again to make his blessings known as far as the curse is found. When we celebrate Christmas too often, I think we celebrate a limited edition Christmas.

We celebrate the birth of Christ 2000 years ago. And we missed the reality that you and I are now the ones that are the Simeon and the Annas of the world, waiting for the consolation of all of creation. The restoration of all of creation, that there is coming the savior once again to redeem all of his creation. Want you to hear me out. Christ came because man sinned, yes, but he also came to restore a broken world.

God did not intend for us to live in a fallen world. Amen? If you could for us to live in a fallen world. Amen? If you go back to the Garden of Eden, you discover that God had created all things good, beautiful, perfect.

And he put us in it for the purpose of glorifying him. Sin, so that you and I could be redeemed of our sin, but he also has every intention to come again and restore all of this in the song Joy to the World. So when he put all the music stuff together But I purposely wanted us to sing joy to the world. Because Isaac Watts, in writing that song, draws for us a grander scope of the Christmas story than just about the birth of a baby. A right, as a reminder that the Lord is coming again.

Whenever he talks about the Lord’s coming, he is referencing the Messiah’s second coming. Mind, in, in comprising this him, the, the culminate, the, And so beautifully captured that one day when Christ comes again, every thing from this world has been affected by the fall of man. Creation. Yes, you and I will sing, with joy that the Lord has come to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found at his second coming. For it is in the cross that the Lord has made no nature.

That you and I can experience. But it’s a perpetual salvation. That there is the Lord’s return again when he’s going to right all wrongs and faithfulness to the house we because of what it means for a future. The Lord is coming again. This Christmas, excuse me, as we consider the meaning of the waiting upon the Lord.

And we are waiting once again for the we are waiting for his return. Without question, we’re living in days that are dark, and I don’t mean that to sound like I’m some sort of a doomsday. Right? Doomsday. But I do believe that we’re living in a world that the darkness of the world seems to be ever increasing.

And yet, it is with great anticipation that the light of the world is coming again. Hallelujah. Let’s rejoice this Christmas in a salvation that is yes personal, yes present, but it’s going to be a perpetual salvation, a redeeming of all of creation. Hallelujah. Let’s stand together as we close in.

Father, we rejoice this. We rejoice this. We rejoice this. I pray this is this Christmas season that you would help us as your people to reflect on the wonderful reality that you have come, more than I pray for every person that is here and every person that’s tuning in on so that we can have personal right now, present in our oh, I rejoice in the truth that you are coming again. That you are gonna redeem all of hearts of great anticipation.

Would you give us that would wait patiently upon you? But in that waiting, glorify you through our words and through our lives and through our actions. I pray it in Jesus’ name. May you encourage our hearts afresh and anew. We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. The Lord bless you. You are dismissed.

This morning, we’re looking at 2 figures from scripture that are somewhat obscure in the Christmas story, but were 2 characters that waited upon the lord. Inviting you to stand with me as we read these verses together, Luke chapter 2. We’re looking at Simeon and Anna.

Beginning in verse 22 of Luke chapter 2, this is what we read. When the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him, being Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or 2 young pigeons. Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. Jisus to do after him after the custom of the law, blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.

Let me just pause here. And this very moment, Simien’s life is so fulfilled I’ve mother, and Joseph and his, marveled at these things which were spoken of him. Ra, sword and that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was 1 Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Finneal, of the tribe of and she was a widow of about 4 score and 4 years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers. And she coming in, in that instance, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

You may be seated. In Jerusalem. You may be seated. When I was in college, I believe it was at the end of my 1st semester, the job that I’d had my 1st semester was transitioning out. I needed to find other work.

And so I was doing some job hunting the beginning of my 2nd semester. And there was a fellow that lived there in Hobe Sound and try to put up hurricane shutters on this condo. It’s a great job. You can make really good money doing it. I said, I’m interested.

Keep me posted. And I waited. And I waited. Because that job never materialized to anything. What I thought was going to be a great deal turned out to be You’ve waited for something that’s been promised and you wait and you wait and you wait until you finally say, you know what?

This is pointless. I’m wasting my time. It’s disappointing when there is a promise that is given only to discover that there is no fulfillment of that promise. May I ask you this morning, have you received a promise in your life? Are there things in your life, your way to be fulfilled, something that you’re longing for to come to pass?

That period between a promise given and the promise received, that waiting period, it can be a really challenging period. It can be a really challenging period. It can be a really challenging period. It’s a very challenging period. It’s a very challenging period.

It’s a very challenging period. It’s a very challenging period. It’s a very challenging period. Can be a really challenging period of time. We looked at a little bit of that last week.

We talked about what do we do talked about the importance of obedience and the importance of worshiping the Lord. And we’re looking at the characters of Simeon and Anna, 2, elderly people of Israel that are waiting for a promise that the Lord has given In our text this morning that we’ve read together, Luke records for us, Mary and Joseph coming to Jerusalem to take part in what was a Jewish tradition, something that had been passed down from generation to generation, a law that had been given, was to happen when a baby was born, particularly, a baby boy, and especially when it’s a baby boy that is the first to be born. The Jews in the 1st century, when a baby boy was born, the first to open the womb of his mother, would be brought into the temple. And as a part of this whole process, there was really 3 things that were happening in this process. 1st, there was the purification process.

Mary had passed her period of purification. She now comes to present her child to the Lord. As a part of that presenting this child to the Lord is the second element. A baby boy that opened the womb was holy to the Lord. If you go back into the old testament according to Leviticus chapter 12, this male child was to be given to the Lord.

And the only way that they could be received back to the family was through a sacrifice that would be given or was to be given, ordinarily, this was to be a lamb that would be offered and a pigeon dove that would be offered to the Lord. Luke records to us that Mary and Joseph come not with a Lam. What do they draw? What do they draw? A pair of pigeons, right?

You know, that’s a reminder to us this morning that Jesus was not born into some form of privileged life. He was born into a family that was just a common working class family. Born into a family that was more than likely on the lower echelons of the social life. Mary and Joseph knew what it was like to sit down with a budget, count their pennies. Jesus wasn’t born into an elite status family.

A family where there was great wealth. So Mary and Joseph have come into the temple to offer to the Lord these 2 pigeons. They’ve come for the purification process. They’ve come to pay the tribute necessary to purchase their son back, if you will. Waiting for the promise.

Of divorce. When I think about Simeon and Anna, I’m reminded of the words of the Old Testament prophet. When Habakkuk says, how long, oh, Lord? How long? For Simeon and Anna, they are they’re advanced in years, and yet both of them have been waiting for years for the promise of the Lord.

Both of them have spent their lives waiting on the coming of a promise of the Lord. Leading religious leaders of Israel were deeply interested in the Messiah, I asked myself, why did the Lord reveal to simian and Anna, the Christ child, the Christ child. Why didn’t he go to the religious elite of the day? They’re ones who have shown themselves to be righteous in Israel. Why does the Lord reveal himself to them?

Of all of the Jews that he might have chosen to recognize the child, the Messiah, why does he choose to reveal himself to them? I would suggest to us this morning, it’s because they represented as it were the very best of the old covenant who are waiting for the new covenant. They’re the ones who had been looking for the promise of the coming messiah. They’re the ones who are looking for the promise of Israel, the redemption of Israel. Simeon is waiting for the consolation of Israel.

Anna is waiting for the redemption of Israel. Promise that the Lord had given to his people. They’re waiting for something that’s tangible, something that’s more than just words of promise. You see, a promise many times is a word that is spoken or something that is indicated that is to come, right? You?

Somebody has given something to you, signed by their hand, something that indicates that you will receive something. Now, you’ve not received it in its full, right? Something. Now, you’ve not received it in its full. And you can go to the store and say, here, I want to buy something.

And they’re going to look at you and say, sorry, but if you go to the and you’re Well, you should. Now, maybe you’re like, I Now maybe you’re like, I’ve been at times, I’ve gone to the bank, and there’s one time in particular that I think I cashed a check or something, and I pulled out, and I drove away. And as I’m driving down the road, you know, you always check to make sure. And I counted it out and that was $20 short. So I went back to the bank, only to discover after I told them their mistake that I realized it was my mistake.

There were 2 twenties stuck together. A little embarrassing. Tangible reception of that trauma. It records for us that it had been revealed to Simien by the holy spirit that he would see the Messiah, the Christ, the child Christ. The equivalent to that in our day would be that the Holy Spirit the rapture.

That’s the equivalent that Simeon has been I imagine that Simeon would go to the temple day after day thinking maybe today, maybe today. Day after day, thinking maybe today, maybe today, day after day after day, day after day after day, and the promise of this messiah, Simeon would hold in his hands on this particular day that Luke records for us, Simeon holds that fulfillment of the promise that God had given centuries before to his children, is in this baby is the consolation for just a moment. Take us back into the old consolation of Israel takes us back to the time of Abraham when the Lord had said to Abraham, I will make of you a great nation. And through you, all of the nations of the world will be blessed. Promise and then to Jacob or to Isaac and then to Jacob.

But that promise continues to roll down through history. God told Moses that one day a great prophet would come who would be unlike any other prophet before him. He promised to David that he would give to him a son who would sit on his throne and reign forever. God promised through Isaiah that there would be a son who would be born to a virgin, and that his name would be called Emmanuel, God with us. And in the final moments, as the old testament is closing, God gives to Micah a promise and a prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

For generations, this promise has been repeated from father to son, from mother to daughter. It’s repeated from generation to generation, from family to family, the older, instructing the younger, passed down from history or from generation to generation. This promise, history that through Israel, the world would be blessed. A messiah would appear. By the time you get to the first century, you have centuries of expectation building up.

Keep in mind, it’s been silent for 400. Now there’s silence. But Siemens received a promise. Siemens received a promise that he would see the Christ child. By the time that you get to this point, there’s all sorts of and his great work, the life and times of Jesus, the Messiah, Alfred Eder Jesus was born there was great excitement in the nation of Israel.

Edersheim says that by the time Christ was born, one question above all others was on the lips of every expectant demise. The promise has been given. Why the delay? Why the delay? Why the delay?

And yet, Simeon waits. Simeon waits. A promise has been given specifically to Simeon that you will see the Messiah. And I wonder if there are days that after week after week and month after month and year after year of simians going to the temple. Do you think there are days that Simeon begins to question, Lord, how long?

How long? Don’t we ask that question sometimes in our lives? Lord, how long? How long? I struggle with this situation?

How long will it be that this goes on in my life? How long, oh Lord, until you do something about this? Lord, how long until you fulfill your promise. I can’t read this passage without observing some important truths for us that apply to us today as it pertains to waiting on the Lord’s promises. Here is Simeon, a man who’s waited for years.

Here is Anna, who has prayed for years and served the Lord for years, And now, after all of these years of waiting, centuries of waiting, and now here stands Simeon in the temple. Could you somehow grasp what it must have felt like for Simeon? Did you imagine what it must have been like when the spirit of the Lord spoke to Simeon that morning and said go to the what kind of anticipation Simeon must have had that morning as he walks into the temple and he looks around and the spirit of the Lord reveals to him this child. Now keep in mind, Simeon has no doubt been in the temple for years. And he’s watched as mother and father would come in and present their little.

He’s watched as all of this has taken place, and yet time after time after time, it’s not the consolation of his. But there’s something. Hands. Messiah. And in a moment, seen the Messiah.

I’ve beheld the promise that’s been given. And for Anna who had been serving the Lord for years in the temple, being a widow for years, sees the Messiah and knows this is the redemption of Israel. Let me give you 4 lessons that I just I think are takeaways for us as we look at this story. Four lessons that we can learn from these two figures. The first is this, God’s promises are precious, and they’re worth waiting for.

Day as Simeon had gone into the temple wondering if this would be the day, and yet day after day going home, no messiah. Do you think that there I could almost guarantee that there were days that he thought that. You say, how do you devout man. Because I happen to know that even good godly sure, Are the promises of God precious? Will they are they worth waiting for?

And Simeon reveals to us, yes, the promises of God are precious and they’re worth waiting for. I’m sure that there were days that Simeon questioned, will I ever see the Messiah? Yeah. I had a promise that the Holy Spirit gave to me, but will it come to pass? And I want to just remind us this morning of the words that Peter records in a second, his second epistle.

He says, great, his second epistle. He says, grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. His divine power has been given to us all, has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue. By which have been given to us, listen to this, exceedingly great and precious promises that through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. You know what the great and divine precious promises are for us today?

You and I can have our sins pardoned. He came to pay the ransom so that you and I can become the children of God adopted into the family of God. You know what the divine precious promises are for us today. Simeon was waiting for. The consolation of Israel.

That’s and it was waiting for the redemption of Israel. That’s and it was waiting redemption of Israel. God’s promises are and yes, their worth, They always come to pass. They always come to pass. Now I confess, I’ve made a lot of promises over the course of my lifetime.

And I’ve broken a lot of promises in the course of my lifetime. Of course, my life Now, there have been times that I’ve made promises with good intentions. I mean, if you’ve made promises with good intentions forget. And I remind us this morning that when God makes promises, they always come to pass. God never makes a promise but what he doesn’t intend to keep it.

Paul said it this way in his second letter to the Corinthians. He says, for Jesus Christ, the son of God, does not waver between yes and no. He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preach to you as God’s ultimate yes. He is always He always does what he says. For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding yes.

And through Christ our amen, which means yes, ascends to God for his glory. God never makes a promise but what he doesn’t keep it. He’ll never leave you nor forsake you. He will never abandon you in your weakness. But Paul says again, that his strength is made in our weakness.

He’ll supply all of our needs according to his riches and glory. Amen? The promises of God are sure. Third thing that I see from this passage of scripture is we look at Simeon and Anna’s waiting on the promises of God is that God’s promises are not always easily spotted, but sometimes packaged differently than expected. The spiritual leaders of Israel were interested in the Messiah.

Maesai. -It was obviously something that they knew about. Because when Herod asks, the Pharisees, where is this king of the Jews to be born? They said, Bethlehem. They knew all about.

Parker and I were talking last week. Seminars about how to recognize the messiah’s And while they’re holding all of these great conventions, God slips his promise through the back door messiah had come. It was an old man and an old woman who recognized him, while all of those who were studying the prophecies of old missed it. How many times do you and I miss the promises of God because we’re looking in the wrong places or looking for something and we expect God to do it this way. We expect him to come this way.

Want him to do something this way. And we miss his promises because he does it in a way that we don’t expect. Think about it. The Pharisees were there in the city of Jerusalem, probably in the temple that morning. Imagine the very presence of God was in the temple.

And the ones who should have known it missed it. But there was a simian. And there was an who were waiting for the consolation of Israel, the redemption of Israel. And because of their waiting, God revealed the promise unto them. Maybe in ways are sure and they’re precious.

Let me give you the final one. God’s promises are worth sharing because they are the hope of the nations. And look at Ana’s response. Ana sees the child. She recognizes this is the Messiah.

And without any hesitation, she goes off to start sharing that the redemption of Israel has come. Can I just tell you this morning that the promise of God is still here? Available. And can I tell you this morning, it’s worth sharing to a world where there’s a lot of broken, hurting people? In a world that’s filled with broken promises, there needs to be a broadcasting of the truth that the Messiah has come, that the promises of God are sure and steadfast.

This Christmas is you wait upon the Lord. Let me encourage you to lean into his precious promises. Talking about the things that God has promised to you in his word. And I’m talking about the things that God has promised to you in his word.

And I’m talking about the things that God has promised to you in his word. The promises that God has given to you in his word. Lean into those this Christmas season.

May this be a season of renewing your will to wait on the Lord as he stretches your faith. Why? Because the promise that was given was a promise that was fulfilled in the very presence of God. In the very presence of God, given to a man who had waited for years on a promise. A promise made, a promise kept, a presence received.

This morning as we close, I’m going to ask Brother John Parker to come and Brother Armstrong to slip to the organ. We open the service by singing a song, your presence for Christmas. You know, amidst all of the promises that are made, the greatest promise that was ever made, the greatest promise that was ever made, the greatest promise that was ever made was that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. And if we avail ourselves to that promise, you and I can receive the greatest promise of Christmas, his presence in our lives. Let’s stand together as we close with this song.

And let’s just invite the presence of the Lord to be a part of our Christmas this year. Lord, I want your presents for Christmas. Father, that’s our desire this Christmas is for your presence to be with us. Thank you for the promises of God that you have given to us that are sure and steadfast, precious promises. Laura, thank you for the promise that you will fill our hearts with all joy.

Salvation. I pray this Christmas season that there would not be a one who would reject that promise of salvation to those who would because of the sin of this of their life. Because of the effects of the fall, they’re so keenly aware that they’re broken. I pray this Christmas, May they have you for your presence for their Christmas this year. I pray.

Lord, we ask it in Jesus name. But Lord bless you. You were dismissed.