David [00:00:00]:
You know, for the last six weeks, we’ve been talking about the season of giving. As we discovered a couple weeks ago, this is not only a season of giving, it is also a season of receiving. What we learned was there cannot be a giving of gifts unless there is a receiving of gifts.
David [00:00:42]:
And that is the law, what we call the law of giving and receiving. That is the flow of blessing that God has established. That’s how he’s established blessing to flow. Through the law of giving and receiving, we also learn to be a great giver, you must be a great receiver. We see this throughout Scripture. If there is no planting of seed, there is no harvest. If there is no sowing, there is no reaping. What we find as we study this principle is all of life is founded on this law.
David [00:01:27]:
Spiritually and physically, supernaturally and naturally. And Toby, I’m going to pause right here, and we’re going to redo this from the beginning. Because this gnat, once I say all that, the gnat disappears. All right, I’m gonna start over and pray this thing doesn’t come back. Father, I pray that Nap be gone in Jesus name. All right, Here we go. 5, 4, 3. For the last six weeks, we’ve been talking about the season of giving.
David [00:02:06]:
As we discovered a couple weeks ago, this is not only a season of giving, it is also a season of receiving. There cannot be a giving of gifts if there is not a receiving of gifts. And that’s one of the things that we learned. And this is what we call the law of giving and receiving. And this is the flow of blessing that God has established. We also learn, to be a great giver, you must be a great receiver. We see this throughout Scripture. If there is no planting of seed, there is no harvest.
David [00:02:49]:
If there is no sowing, there is no reaping. What we find as we study this principle is all of life is founded on this law. Spiritually and physically, supernatural and natural. The flow of life is giving and receiving. When the Word or Jesus Christ created the world, he created it around this principle, the law of giving and receiving. When God created mankind, he wired us to be generous and give and to be grateful and receive. Today we’re going to look into the fourth way. We give during the season of giving.
David [00:03:40]:
And that is the giving of ourselves to our God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, we see the blessing of giving ourselves to God and serving him in the story of Simeon and Anna. And this is from Luke 2:21 35. And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of turtle doves are two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
David [00:04:55]:
And this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against.
David [00:06:16]:
Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. We see four things about Simeon that set him apart. First, it says in the Scripture that Simeon was just and devout. That phrase there, just and devout means he was righteous and faithful. It means taking hold of the promise of God. To be righteous and faithful means walking in and doing things God’s way, the right way. It’s fulfilling what the Lord said to Joshua. Let’s look at that again.
David [00:07:04]:
Joshua 1:8 says, this, this, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. We see that Simeon did this. He studied the Word, meditated the Word, and walked out the word. This is why he knew about the promise of the Messiah. So well, Simeon was devout and faithful to follow the admonition of the Lord from his Word. Secondly, he said he was waiting. Waiting here means to expect the fulfillment of promises.
David [00:07:59]:
This word in the Greek is an active word. It is not sitting around being passive. Waiting was not sitting around being passive. It was getting up every day looking for and expecting to see the Word of God fulfilled. Every time Simeon came into the temple, he came with an active expectation that he was going to see what the Lord had told him by the Holy Spirit. He would see an experience before he died and passed away. Simeon came with expectation into the service of the Lord every day. The third thing we see here, he was waiting or expecting the consolation of Israel.
David [00:08:53]:
This phrase, consolation of Israel speaks of the Messiah. The word consolation means to console, to comfort or refresh. The rabbis called the Messiah the consoler, the consoler, the comforter, and the refresher. This is who Simeon was promised he would see before he died. This is who he was expecting to see. The moment he saw the child, he recognized who he was. The next thing it says here about Simeon was the Holy Spirit was upon him. The phrase the Holy Spirit was upon him signifies that Simeon was empowered, guided and anointed by the Holy Spirit or a specific purpose or mission.
David [00:09:52]:
As we mentioned before, he was daily expecting and praying and looking for the fulfillment of the promise. Then a part of his mission was seeing the Lord Christ and speaking a word of blessing over him and his parents. The Lord had him declare the purpose and mission of Jesus over the young child Jesus. The presence of the Holy Spirit in Simeon’s life reflects God’s favor on him. God’s guidance and divine purpose being enacted through him. Simeon was led by the Spirit of God. Simeon was taught by the word of God. Simeon was obedient to the will of God.
David [00:10:45]:
And thereby Simeon was given the opportunity to witness the salvation of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What an incredible story. What an incredible story. Simeon came expecting every day, and God fulfilled his word to Simeon, his promise to Simeon. And he got to speak blessing over Jesus and over his parents, Mary and Joseph. Now let’s continue reading because this is where Anna enters the story.
David [00:11:23]:
Luke 2:36,38. Now there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phnuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers, night and Day. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. The word Anna, her name there, translated there in the Greek and the Hebrew, means grace. God’s unmerited favor. Anna came displaying, carrying, walking in God’s grace because of her heart, to give herself in service to God.
David [00:12:31]:
Daily, Anna walked in God’s unmerited favor. People respected her and listened to her. She was known as the prophetess. And that word prophetess there means a woman to whom future events or things hidden from others are at times revealed either by inspiration or by dreams and vision. As Anna gave herself to the Lord in prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit showed her things to come and things that others could not see or perceive. She saw them and understood them. So her and Simeon both were shown things by the Holy Spirit. And God spoke to them, revealing to them the promise of salvation.
David [00:13:32]:
The next thing it says about Anna was who did not depart from the Temple. She did not withdraw herself from the presence of God, from the sacred place. She stayed in the presence of God, fasting, praying, believing, expecting, seeing things that she shared with others as she sought the Lord. Simeon and Anna are examples of. Of faithful Jews who waited their whole lives, who expected their whole lives to see the Messiah. And it says, as she came in, in an instant, in that instant, that phrase there in that instant means a certain definite time. Anna just didn’t happen to be passing by. Her being there was not just a, you know, coincidence.
David [00:14:43]:
It was very much providence. Her being there was ordained by God. He had a purpose for her there. She began evangelizing to all those present around her, to anyone who was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem, Jerusalem that she knew about that here’s the promise of salvation. Here’s the promise of redemption. The consolation of Israel is right here in the temple today. Anna’s story serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of faithfulness, perseverance and hope. And our walk with God.
David [00:15:27]:
When we walk with God and give ourselves to him, and we are faithful to follow after his direction, to persevere in what he has called us to, and to walk in hope, which that word, hope, there in the Greek means active expectation. It means confident expectation, unshakable expectation. Because hope works with our faith to see God’s word come to pass. Both Simeon and Anna had eyes to see. They saw who Jesus really was. They saw more than a baby in the arms of his mother. Much like the wise men, they saw the hope, the promise, the consolation and redemption. Of Israel and all the world.
David [00:16:25]:
They received this insight and revelation because they decided to give themselves to the service of God to honor Him. As we Prepare to enter 2025, there are several things we can take away from the story and example of Simeon and Anna. So let’s look at those right now. First, I want to challenge you with this. I want to challenge you to ask God this question as you enter this year, Lord, how can I give myself for you and your kingdom and all I do, all those I am with this year, with your family, with your friends, where you work, where you attend church, where you go out into your community, with all the world around you, ask God to show you how you can give yourself each day to his service and for his keeping every day. Simeon and Anna consistently chose, it was their choice, chose to give themselves to God and His plan for them. It wasn’t an every other day thing. It wasn’t a once in a while thing.
David [00:17:59]:
Every day they came with expectation, giving themselves to the service of God. Think about that. How would your day change if every day you asked God to show you how you could give yourself for his purpose and plan that day? Simeon was led by the Spirit of God, taught by the word of God, obedient to the will of God, and thereby he was given the opportunity to witness the salvation of God. The Lord wants us to walk in those same four things. When we consistently give ourselves to God, the Holy Spirit will help us. Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit is our helper. And Jesus said in John 16, verses 13 through 15, and I’m reading this from the amplified classic version. But when he, the Spirit of truth, the truth giving Spirit comes, He will guide you into all the truth, the whole full truth.
David [00:19:15]:
For he will not speak his own message on his own authority, but he will tell whatever he hears from the Father. He will give the message that’s been given to him. And he will announce and declare to you the things that are to come that will happen in the future. He will honor and glorify me because he will take up, receive, draw upon what is mine, and will reveal to declare, disclose, transmitted to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That is what I meant when I said, the Holy Spirit will take the things that are mine and reveal, declare, disclose, and transmit it to you. Wow, what a great promise that is for us. And the Holy Spirit is available every day for us.
David [00:20:15]:
We see these four things here in these verses that the Holy Spirit is sent to do for us. That’s right, he’s here Every day to do these four things for us. He will guide you. He will show you the way. God wants you to know the way. He will tell you what he hears from the Father. So the Father will give you wisdom and insight and understanding and revelation and direction as you seek Him. And he does that through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, who lives and dwells within of us, within us.
David [00:20:57]:
The third thing the Holy Spirit does. I love this. He will announce and declare to you things that are to come, just like he did for Simeon and Anna. He will announce to you things that that are to come. Number four. He will take of what belongs to Jesus and reveal it, declare it, disclose it, and transmit it to you. So not only what he hears from the Father, but what he hears from Jesus, what he sees from Jesus, what he knows from Jesus, what Jesus has. He will take up all that and reveal it to you, declare it to you, disclose it to you, transmit it to you.
David [00:21:48]:
Hallelujah. Wow. He truly is the comforter. He truly is our guide, our counselor. The Holy Spirit has come to be here with us, in us, to work through us and for us. The Holy Spirit is active and operative in our life every day. All we have to do is pray and listen for his voice. Secondly, the Word teaches us the way.
David [00:22:28]:
This is Joshua 1:8. And action. I’ve already read this verse, but let me read it again. Joshua 1:8. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night. That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. God wants you to be prosperous and for you to have good success in life.
David [00:22:59]:
Every day you discover how to walk in this by meditating in the word day and night. And the Holy Spirit gives you revelation. And in that revelation you observe what to do, and then you follow through. Take action on it and do it. Do according to all that is written in it, that the Lord gives you wisdom, insight, and understanding on. Paul said it this way in Romans 12. You’re familiar with this? Romans 12:2, and I’m reading this from the amplified classic. Do not be conformed to this world, to this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs, but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is a good and perfect and acceptable will of God.
David [00:24:09]:
Even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight. For you the Word of God will renew your thinking. So you think like God thinks. You think in the right way. You think and choose to walk in his way and not be conformed to the world. And walking in the world’s way, renewing your mind with the Word proves the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God for you. So get in the word. Third thing this says to us is being obedient to the will of God.
David [00:24:55]:
Joshua 1:8. Again, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Obedience brings God’s blessing Another way you could say that is God’s blessings flow from obedience. The word blessing in the Hebrew means empowered to prosper, increase, and excel. When we honor God by doing what we see and learn from His Word, walking in his way, blessing flows to us. We are empowered to prosper, to increase and to excel. Hallelujah.
David [00:25:49]:
We are empowered to advance, to make progress, to succeed, and to profit. Praise God. Obedience brings God’s blessing. The fourth thing is this being given the opportunity to witness the salvation of God. First let me say this. A witness is one who gives testimony to something or someone. Because of what God, through Christ has done in us, we have the privilege and honor of testifying of him, witnessing for him and what he has done for the world. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, 20 in the Amplified classic he said this.
David [00:26:45]:
Therefore, if any person is engrafted in Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. The old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself, received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him. It was God personally present in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against men their trespasses, but canceling them all, and committing to us a message of reconciliation, of restoration to favor. So we we that promise is to us. We’ve been restored, we’ve been restored to favor, brought back into harmony with him. Hallelujah.
David [00:28:17]:
So we are Christ ambassadors, God making his appeal, as it were, through us. This is verse 20. So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making his appeal, as it were, to Us, we as Christ’s personal representatives, beg you, for his sake to lay hold of the divine favorite now offered you and be reconciled to God. These verses show us how we have become his witnesses and had the opportunity to testify of his grace and love his mercy. Let’s look at this. These verses tell us this. Number one. He is reconciled us to Himself.
David [00:29:11]:
This means he has received us into favor and harmony with Himself. When we gave our heart to Christ, he received us. There’s that law of giving and receiving again. We gave our heart to Christ, and He received us as his own. Forgave us, blessed us, gave us favor. You don’t have to be worthy to receive, be received into his favor and harmony. You don’t have to earn the right to be received into his favor and harmony. You don’t have to work for it.
David [00:29:51]:
That’s why his favor is called unmerited. There are no merits necessary to receive his favor. All you have to do is believe in him and give your heart to Him. That right there. It’s the gospel message. That’s the story. And when you accept him as your Savior and your Lord, he invites you into favor, into harmony with Himself. You become a part of the family of God and all the blessings of God are yours.
David [00:30:34]:
You are co heir with Jesus Christ. Second, he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So once we’re received and we’re reconciled to Christ, he’s given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And you might think, oh wow, how do I do that? It’s very simple. He gives us the opportunity to be a witness of his goodness, mercy and grace. We simply testify to what God has done in our life by our words and deeds. It says there in the amplified, by our words and deeds, we aim to bring others into harmony with Him. It doesn’t take a theology degree to share Jesus with others.
David [00:31:26]:
Your words and deeds can speak hope, light and life to those around you. It’s just that simple. It’s just that simple. So who are you speaking into today? Third, we are Christ Ambassadors. The word ambassador means to act as a senior representative. As Christ followers, we stand before our Father God as just, righteous, holy and highly favored representatives of Jesus Christ and God’s kingdom here on the earth. Think about that. You are a sin.
David [00:32:15]:
Your representative of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You represent the kingdom of God here in the earth where you live, where you are, your jurisdiction, your realm of dominion and authority. You represent the family of God. Hallelujah. As we give ourselves to the service of God and Mankind, we are given the opportunity to witness of the salvation of God. Here’s another one of those challenging questions. How will you give yourself to God in 2025? I believe God is inviting all of us to partner with him and seeing his kingdom come come and his will be done here on Earth as it is in heaven. What a privilege and honor we have to be his representatives here on the Earth.
David [00:33:20]:
And just like Simeon and Nana, we have the opportunity every day to choose to give ourselves to God’s plan for us. I pray that we choose to be led by the Spirit of God, taught by the word of God and obedient to the will of God. So we are given the opportunity to witness to the salvation of God to all those we come in contact with. Six weeks ago, we started talking about the season of giving. First way we talked about giving was giving thanks. That’s what thanksgiving is all about, is giving thanks to our Lord and Savior for his blessing, for his harvest, and for all that he’s brought to us and our families. The second way we express giving in the season of giving is acknowledging the greatest gift ever given to man. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
David [00:34:36]:
The third way we celebrate the season of giving is by giving gifts to one another. We talked about that last week, giving and receiving. And the fourth way is what we’ve talked about today. Giving ourselves in service to our God and Father Jesus Christ and all of mankind. Hallelujah. I’m expecting great things in 2025. I’m expecting that you will experience them as you walk in this law of giving and receiving and see the flow of God’s blessing come in your life. Let’s pray together.
David [00:35:24]:
Father, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the opportunity we have to partner with you, to share and testify of, to witness to others of the goodness of God, of the salvation of God, of the opportunity we all have to be received into your favor and harmony with you, to walk as one with you. Lord, thank you for surrounding us with your favor, as your word says, as with a shield. And Father, we thank you for the purpose and plan you have for each of our lives. And Father, I pray that we all commit to walk in that this year in 2025 and see your kingdom come. Your will be done here in the earth as it is in heaven. Lord, we give ourselves to you today and thank you for giving yourself to us.
David [00:36:28]:
In Jesus name, amen. Pastor Conia’s coming now with a closing word and a prayer. Be blessed and have a great week.
