The Joyful Life

That's how you want to die, man.

You want to smile and look at your kids and say what Simeon said.

Hey, you are letting your servant depart in peace and according to your word.

That's how you die well.

You depart in peace and according to God's word.

This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

Let's pray together.

Lord, our confession today is that you're the joy of the longing heart because you're the thing that we long for.

You're the thing that we look for and the thing that and the one that we look to.

Everything else is just sinking sand.

Everything else just reeks of insufficiency.

And so we've tried it and it's been found lacking.

So give us the wisdom to not go back to it, to come back to you.

Pray for anyone in the room today that's kind of like, I like this, but this reminds me that I feel far from God.

The Bible, let them be consoled today, God.

The promise of the Bible says that you came for those who are far off and those who are near.

And so, Holy Spirit, say something today that has our name on it.

We look to you and we love you.

And so we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You could have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

I want to talk to you this morning on this third Sunday of Advent about the joyful life.

The joyful life.

I don't have tips or techniques on how to be more joyful.

I want to read a passage in the Bible.

I'll start reading in Luke chapter 2 about verse 22.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And we'll look at the life of a man named Simeon.

Simeon was a man that God had spoken some things to him earlier in his life, and he just hung around in the temple waiting to see what he had heard about.

And so when what you hear becomes sight and you see it, it's very confirming.

And so I'm just going to read the passage and I'll point some things in the Bible that I think mark and characterize a person that lives this joyful life.

And before I read the Bible, let me begin with a practical question.

If I were to ask you, hey, how many joyful people do you know?

What would you say?

Don't answer that out loud.

Just think in your head, because I've been asking random people this week, hey, do you know many people that are really joyful?

Probably my favorite one was a lady that she doesn't go to this church.

I don't think any church.

She goes, Oh, my friends are most of them are joyful.

Until you get a couple glasses of red wine in them, then the real them comes out.

And I was like, Oh, I think that person goes to my church.

But anyway, yeah, I said, you should come.

You would be welcome here.

And she's like, Yeah, I'm not so nice on either side of that equation.

And I said, Is Christmas about being naughty or nice?

She said, Pretty much.

I said, What about joyful?

And she said, Who's got time for that?

Yes.

And so here's my point.

In this, in this kind of dog eat, dog, jaded, everyone just get yours, and everybody else is on their own.

Joy is kind of a fading commodity until you turn to the Bible.

And I want to just read Luke chapter 2, verse 22.

Luke 2:22

And when the time came for their purification, in your mind and heart marked that word there.

When the time came for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him, Jesus, up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord.

Every male who first 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 or two young pigeons.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous 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.

And he came in 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.

A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

The joyful life.

It involves four things that the text demonstrates.

The first one is simply this parents who do the right thing.

Parents who do the right thing.

It's verses 22, 23, and 24.

You see this rhythmic cadence around the law.

It says, and they verse 22 when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses.

You see, uh Jesus' earthly parents.

Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, okay?

And so he did not inherit a sin nature.

And yet he has an earthly mother and father that are committed to doing the right thing.

Over and over you see references to the law, as it is written in a law of the Lord.

And then later on it says, what is said in the law of the Lord.

And so you see this kind of rhythmic cadence, and it gets down there to the verse 27.

It says, according to the custom of the law.

And so he has a mom and dad.

When I say parents that do the right thing, joy, here's why.

Parenthood is where we model for our children where true joy comes from.

Our kids should see in us, you and I, mom and dad, this freed-up life that only comes from the truth.

And in the case of Joseph and Mary, they followed the law.

Authority existed before they show up.

I know that's a novel concept because we live in a day and age where the only authority anybody acknowledges is their own opinion.

But according to the Bible, authority existed before anybody got here, and we are to submit to it.

Nutty, crazy concept, I know.

But authority existed before they show up in the law of God, and they submit to that.

And Jesus was raised by two parents who respected God's law.

Now, ask yourself this question.

If you, and by the way, they knew because Joseph was like, You're really?

God knocked you up?

Give me a break, lady.

It's a Joseph was going to just be like, hey, I tell you what, I'm going to keep this on the down low, but I'm kicking you to the curb because I don't believe a word of this.

And God sent an angel to Joseph to say, hey, what's stirring in Mary is of the Holy Spirit.

And Joseph's like, oh, yeah, whatever you say, I'm good with, okay?

And now, if you they here's my point.

They knew Jesus was the Messiah, that he was the Son of God.

And if you knew that, would you not show up at the temple and kind of go, guess what this is?

You think we're gonna pay this little temple tax?

Give me a break.

We got the Son of God.

We need VIP.

Where's the velvet rope?

Back up, people.

But no, he has a mom and dad.

Hey, they they live in submission.

They do the right thing.

The law applies to them as well.

Now, a little background you need to understand to get what's happening here.

Jews in the first century followed a lot of customs and laws around the birth of a baby.

Two you need to understand, or you don't understand what's being said here.

The first is simply this according to Leviticus 12, the mother of a baby had to go through a time of purification that lasted for 40 days.

The first seven days, at the end of seven days, she would take a bath, a ritual bath that signified her cleansing.

And then for the next 33 days, she could not touch anything that was considered holy according to the law of Moses.

And so at the end of 7 plus 33, at the end of 40 days, you would come to the temple to offer a burnt offering and a sin offering.

Typically, the burnt offering was a lamb, the sin offering was a pigeon or a turtle dove, unless you were poor.

You see, sometimes the Bible just winks at us and says, Look what I'm doing here.

Unless you were poor, then the law allowed you to have just a pigeon and a turtle dove, one for the sin offering, or for the burnt offering, and one for the sin offering.

So when the Bible mentions right here that Joseph and Mary came and they had two birds, what the Bible's telling us is they didn't have a lot of money.

Remember when you first got married and you didn't have any money?

And you look back now and you think, how were we happy?

Yes, yes.

It's actually a lot easier because the more you get, it's easier to kind of turn your heart away.

But back to the background.

And so they show up, they got the sin offering, and they couldn't afford the lamb.

And so they're kind of there.

Now you may be wondering right now, why don't we do all this offering, lambs and birds and blah, blah, blah.

Here's why.

Because when Jesus died on the cross, he offered himself as the Lamb of God, as a sacrifice once for all for the sins of everybody.

So you don't have to do rituals, you can have a relationship with God.

That's the first thing you need to understand, the background of this offering.

The second one, when I said circle the word there in their mind, is because the second part was for Jesus, or the in the case of a firstborn male child, that baby was consecrated to the Lord.

And this involved, they had to consecrate to the Lord.

This involved a visit to the temple, and they pay a fee, a temple tax of five shekels.

And basically, this goes to the priesthood to buy a non-Lavidical child back from temple service because only the descendants of the Levites were allowed to work in the temple.

And so if you had a son that was firstborn, you had to go and pay a temple tax, five shekels, and that's what supported the Levites that lived there because they were serving and they were pressed into the service of God.

And so they come and they're in submission to this.

Now, the events recorded in this passage occur when Mary and Joseph went into the temple in Jerusalem to follow these aforementioned legal requirements after the birth of Jesus.

That Mary and Joseph were obeying the commands, says a lot about their piety.

That they're offering two turtle doves indicates their poverty.

Now, can you imagine Mary and Joseph or Joseph and Mary get up there and they say, hey, you know what?

They don't play the Son of God card, they play this card.

Hey, you know, we were wanting to get our son an iPhone 11 for Christmas, so we're not going to do this law thingy, okay?

You understand, right?

Right?

Now, why do I say that?

Because you say, nobody, they wouldn't do that.

You're just being goofy.

Yep, they wouldn't do that, but here's what we do.

I've heard this out with my own ears.

Yeah, we don't do the whole tithing thing because our kids are on a swim team and that's expensive.

Yeah.

You look at that and you go, oh, no one would ever do that.

Or oh, my kids on the traveling team in baseball, and that costs a lot of money.

And let me just say this: when mom and dad parents, when you set aside the law of God for your kids, you teach your kids that they're more important than God, and then they grow up and act like it, and they will break your heart.

And you can't drag them down here and kind of go, oh, the student ministry failed my kids, or the church failed my kids.

Look at me.

No, you failed your kids.

You failed your kids because you subjected the law of God to your kids' affections.

And so your kids have affections for everything but God.

They ride to church in the back of the suburban, flipping on their phone.

How long is this gonna take?

And deep down inside, it didn't start when they got 14 and went to puberty or 12.

It started when you and I make these little decisions.

It's like, uh one of ours walked into our bedroom one night, she was 16, and she said, By the way, I've been in a texting with some of my friends, and we took a boat, and they all decided, and when my girls would talk to me like this, I would just giggle.

I was like, Whatever's coming out of your mouth right now is just craziness.

Go ahead.

But I wouldn't say that.

I didn't want to hurt their feelings.

I wanted to hear crazy besides from somebody besides my wife.

And so she said, at about 11:05 at night, I'm watching Sports Center, and she says, by the way, my friends all agree, y'all are like the strictest parents in the world.

And I said, Is there a trophy for that?

And she's like, Oh, you were impossible, and turned around and marched out.

And my wife is like, Is that hard for you?

Not at all, because I know we're doing the right thing.

Now, why do I say that?

Because doing the right thing, your kids will not always appreciate that.

The hardest and most necessary thing for you to endure as a parent is your child's wrath.

And you say, Oh, not my kid.

You hadn't made him mad enough yet.

Yes.

And so I just want to say again, this whole joyful life thing starts with parents who do the right thing because they always have words for it, but your kids look and they see in you something that they can't find in themselves or their experiences, and they're drawn to this joy that comes from just doing what God says.

Here's the second thing about the joyful life it's it involves waiting well.

You see, in the text, I got him Simeon.

Starts in verse 25.

The Bible says this.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

See, we see this picture of this person who waits really well.

Notice that the text says he was righteous and devout.

You would think that because he was this thing, he would get special treatment from God and he wouldn't have to wait.

Uh I know you don't think that, but every once in a while I think that.

Not that I'm special or whatever, but I cannot stand waiting because if I have to wait, I rarely do I go.

Oh, this is just a consequence of life.

This is what happens.

I think somebody's not doing their job properly and they need me to coach them up.

And my wife pats my leg and says, put the chalk up.

You're not the general manager of the universe.

Because I told her one time I should carry chalk and put an X on the ground and show these people where to stand so their life would go better.

And now my kids are like, Dad, we're choking on chalk dust.

And I'm like, I'll whip this truck over and show you some chalk dust.

And so, and listen, my inability to wait is so well developed that sometimes it comes off as service to humanity instead of my impatience.

For example, a long time ago, this is like explaining to kids about not just a home phone and not a cell phone, but a rotary dial phone.

Anybody remember the rotary dial phones?

And you dial it, it would just take forever.

And they're like, How long did it take you to make a phone call?

Well, it took you almost a minute to dial the thing.

You know, got those numbers in there.

And they're like, oh.

So before cell phones came out, and before they had the driver's license plates out here on 59, it's got like 48 lanes, and you can log in online and show up and walk in.

Before all that, you just had to go to the DMV.

Now, when we first moved to Sugarland, we lived in the hood over here in Aleaf in an apartment that I wouldn't even drive by at daylight nowadays.

So when I got my license, my birthday is June 28th.

Write it down so you'll remember.

And so June 28th, I had, I didn't, I was traveling speaking at something.

I went to go get my license the first week of July over at some DMV off Beach Nut.

I walk in and the doors are open when I got out and when I parked and got out.

I was like, why are the doors open?

Because the line's coming out the door.

I was like, oh no.

Oh no, this thing, I dog, they need some help.

I get in there, just get a number.

I pulled the number, 82.

They were on 19.

I started losing my peripheral vision, looking around, seeing who I could help.

And then I got a good idea because the doors were open, the air conditioning wasn't working, we were all sweating.

The lady said, just sit down, wait your turn.

Like, I can help you, you can't lecture me, okay?

I didn't say that, but I thought that.

And so you sit down and you just felt like your face had been washed with a glazed donut.

You just got this smeggy stickiness to you.

I'm just like, close the door, it's not working.

Well, I ain't gonna stand outside.

Well, outside is outside, inside is and I look out the door, we're in a strip center, and there's a convenience store on the end.

And so I just thought, oh, that must be the Holy Spirit.

I walked over there, I bought two cans, the little plastic grocery bag can, dumb, two bags full of cold can drinks.

Filled them up, walked back over there, got up on a chair in the DMV, and I said, Hey folks, in the Department of Motor Vehicles, appreciate you being here today.

And because it's a long line, there's a wait, we've got cold beverages.

Who would like a Dr.

Pepper?

Oh, oh, oh, oh, who would like this?

Who would like a seven up, brother?

The lady that was called numbers sitting at a desk, I saved a Sun Kiss Orange and walked over there and I said, You've worked so hard today.

She said, Don't start with me, fool.

I'm just gonna set this right here on the corner of the desk.

In case you kind of like to wet your whistle from all these numbers you're having to call out.

And she said, What's your number?

I said, 82.

She said, We're on 21.

I said, I went to the store and came back, and y'all got like two people.

And in my haste to help everybody and bless everybody, I forgot to save a coke for me.

So I sat down and now I'm really just boiling.

30 seconds later, she grabbed the microphone and said, 82.

Eureka! I walked in and I said, I know you liked me.

She goes, I don't like you, I like orange.

Now, sometimes, that sounds noble, and yes, I like helping people, but I hate waiting.

Now, why do I make a big deal out of that?

Because in this life, you and I are going to have to wait.

Waiting is a tangible reminder that somebody else is in charge of the world.

Sometimes you're gonna have to wait for something.

Somebody in this room are waiting for something right now.

It's easier to wait for something than to wait for somebody.

And you're gonna wait for somebody's in this life and you're gonna wait for some things.

Simeon is a man that waits well.

He's righteous and devout, and he's waiting.

What is he waiting for?

He's waiting for the Bible calls it the consolation of Israel.

The consolation of Israel.

Now, we hear the word consolation, especially if you're an athlete like me, wink wink.

Uh consolation is the loser's bracket, right?

You hear consolation because in the NCAA basketball tournament, they have the final four, the semifinals, the two teams that win go to the finals.

The two teams that lose, they used to make them play the consolation game.

And finally they were like, we're not playing it, dude.

We're going back.

We don't want third place, okay?

Second place is the first loser.

Third place is who cares, okay?

And so they just dropped it because they couldn't get teams to stay another two days and have this meaningless game.

So when we say consolation, I want to take a little bit from that kind of thinking and just kind of say, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, was born for people who feel like they've lost.

But that's not the way the Bible means consolation.

Jerusalem had been overrun and occupied and oppressed by everybody.

Over and over, they'd been through so much that one of the things that brought them comfort was looking forward to the promised Messiah.

So much so that they called it the consolation of Israel.

And so, look at me.

You're gonna get in situations in life, and some of you may be there right now this morning, that it's so overwhelming when you look around, you're just kind of like, I don't find any joy in this.

You can't just look at now.

You gotta look at then and take comfort that now is not gonna be forever.

You are not gonna feel this way, your life's not gonna be this way, you're not gonna have midterm final exam students anytime after you get through with your education.

I thought this was helpful.

My daughter's like, I got seven tests, and I said, I've not taken a test or written a paper since 1993.

That wasn't helpful for some reason.

And so I was like, well, pace yourself.

You're in the 11th grade, your mom and dad went to like the 23rd grade.

That wasn't helpful either.

But sometimes the Israel, Jerusalem was so just overwhelmed that they would comfort themselves by saying, It's not always gonna be this hard.

That's the way they thought about the coming of the Messiah as the consolation of Israel.

And every once in a while, God, long before Jesus was born, like back in Isaiah chapter 40, God kind of said to them, Hold on, hold on, don't go, don't quit on me, okay?

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

I know what I'm doing.

This is Isaiah chapter 40, verse 1 and 2.

Isaiah 40:1

Comfort.

Comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, and that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

Consolation is not a word that we use very much, but I want us to think about it today as our year draws to an end.

And I'd like us to think about it by asking ourselves this question What would it look like for God to console you?

What would it look like?

And do you ever, it's a weird word.

Do you ever ask God, hey God, I just need I just need you to console me?

Because if you're not careful, you'll spend your entire life seeking pity from people instead of consolation from God.

And you may think, I've never thought about that, but it'd be great.

Pray tonight.

You're like, you know what, I could do some consolation.

That's not coddling, that's not babying, that's just being consoled, being reminded, okay, uh, of what really matters and what's temporary and what's eternal.

How would God console you if he were to console you as you wind down this year?

Here's a third thing we see in the text from this joyful life.

We see someone that enjoys the Holy Spirit, someone that enjoys the Holy Spirit.

Listen to this, let me read the text.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

This man was righteous 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'd seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in 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, Simeon, took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

By the way, this is free.

That's how you want to die, man.

You don't want to die looking at your kids, kind of going, I know I can't believe that God let it let your dad get cancer.

Oh, this is terrible.

You want to smile and look at your kids and say what Simeon said.

Hey, you are letting your servant depart in peace and according to your word.

That's how you die well.

You depart in peace and according to God's word.

You smile at your kids and your grandkids and your great grandkids, men, and you say, hey, God's been more than good to our family for generations, okay?

We are basking in the compounding interest of generational obedience.

So you weasels here at my deathbed, don't go out and screw it up just because you get an inheritance.

Amen.

And just if necessary, have a stick there by the bed to whack a few on the way out.

Don't you want to die like that instead of sitting there and just being like, oh, feel sorry for me.

Call your great-grandson who's 16 and put a broomstick against his throat.

Hey.

Hey, don't be a weasel.

Because you're going to miss out on the favor of God instead of just opting for your nonsense.

And then just crack him on the head one good time.

Would he not talk about that the rest of his life?

Would he not meet his wife somewhere when he's 26 and her say, Why are you so unlike everybody else?

Because I stood at my great-grandfather's deathbed and he spoke words of life into me, and then he cracked me on the head with a broomstick, and it changed my life.

Who wouldn't want to marry into that family?

Come on, men, step your game up.

Stop being so boring and predictable.

Well, I have a trust fund and it's protected, but if you'd like to make out, we'll see.

Give me a break.

We've seen that movie.

What do I mean he enjoys the Holy Spirit?

I mean, Simeon, hear this.

We say, what do you mean he enjoys the Holy Spirit?

And let me just say, the Holy Spirit is a reference to the Bible talks about God as the triune God, the three in one.

God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And so in John 14, Jesus has finished his earthly ministry.

He's getting ready to leave earth, go back to heaven, and he tells the disciples, I gotta go.

And they're like, oh my gosh.

He's like, no, no, no, it's okay.

It's necessary that I go so that the comforter, the paraclete, the Holy Spirit will come.

Because here's what God, here's what Jesus said to them.

I'll not leave you as orphans.

I'll not leave you as orphans.

You and I are never away and apart from the Spirit, the presence of God, either in the Son of God or the Spirit of God.

Equal and yet separate entities of the Godhead.

And so I want you to take notice here that we talk about the Holy Spirit a lot here.

Jesus is 40 days old, and the Holy Spirit is pre-existent.

He's always existed.

Way back in Genesis when God said, Come, let us make man in our image.

Us in our plurals, those are references to the triune God, the three and one.

The Holy Spirit is not something that God came up with or that men invented when Jesus died on the cross.

He's always been.

How do you know?

Baby Jesus is 40 days old, and Simeon, this old man, is being carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So when I say enjoy the Holy Spirit, let me just give you some things from the text that characterize the life of a person who enjoys the Holy Spirit.

The first one is this is that the Spirit is on them.

The Spirit is on them.

Verse 25.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Let me ask you a question.

Do people recognize the Holy Spirit at work in you?

Do people look at you and kind of go, hey man, I've worked with you for two years, and progressively over the last nine months, you've become a different person in a good way.

I'm just curious what is up.

People recognize that the Holy Spirit was on Simeon.

Here's another thing about a characteristic of a person that enjoys the Holy Spirit.

They experience revelation.

They experience revelation.

Verse 26, it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Now, when I say they experience revelation, that doesn't mean you get to make up your whatever you want to see happen and blame it on God.

The Spirit of God never says anything that violates or negates the word of God.

But they experience revelation, this sense of, I'm not just here, I don't know what to do, so I'm just kind of going with my biggest hunch right now, or I'm following my strongest feeling.

No, this person, hey, God reveals some things to this person this person.

Thirdly, they rely on the spirit.

They rely on the spirit.

Verse 27, look at what he says.

And he came in the spirit into the temple.

Let me say that again.

This is talking about Gideon.

I mean Simeon.

And he came in the spirit into the temple.

Ever wonder what church would be like if we came in the spirit to the temple every Sunday?

Now I'm not saying every Sunday is going to be a journal entry.

Some Sundays my alarm goes off, my wife nudges me, and I'm like, I don't want to go.

She goes, You're preaching.

You kind of have to be, oh, oh, it's Sunday.

Okay, here we go.

Here we go.

No.

No, I look forward.

I feel like David.

David said in the Psalms, I was glad when they said to me, Come, let us go into the house of the Lord.

I love being together with the church.

I don't come to church.

I am a part of the church.

I experience the church.

What would it be like if we all came in the spirit into the temple, into the place where God's people gather for worship?

The fourth thing that characterizes these people is they hear and they see the gospel.

They hear and they see the gospel.

Verse 29.

He says, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation and have prepared that you have prepared in the presence of all the people.

He heard it because God revealed it to him years before.

But now he sees it.

One of the problems in the American church is it's full of people who've only heard the gospel and they just hear the gospel and hear the gospel and hear this spiritual truth and go to this women's study and go to this men's breakfast, which is happening Tuesday, by the way, and they go to all these things.

Nothing wrong with all those things, but look at me.

If all you do is hear the gospel and you don't see the gospel, you will retire from your company and you'll check out a church because, and not just automatically, but it'll be like, hey, you know what?

We've gone to church for a long time.

I've heard this.

Preacher, we've gone to church for a long time.

It's kind of time for us to do our thing.

But let me tell you something.

A person that not only hears the gospel, but sees the gospel, they come with a sense of expectancy that they can't find on any vacation anywhere in the world.

They don't have a travel agent that calls them and says, Hey, let me spend your money this way.

They're like, oh, no, no, no, no.

We're seeing the gospel, girlfriend, and it is stirring things up in us, all right?

And it doesn't just happen at a retirement age, okay?

It also happens when you get about 16 in the youth group, and you've used the church to socialize in the alcohol-free environment until you get a car, and now you're too school for cool, and you get a car and you just kind of pass on everything.

That's why you have more seventh graders than seniors in a student ministry.

Because it's like, oh, well, yeah, hey.

And mom and dad don't say, hey, in this house, we worship the Lord.

Now I can't make you worship the Lord, but I can make sure yourself gets there where he's worshiped.

But nowadays, parents are like, oh, well, you know, I want them to decide.

Or my favorite, well, we think it's important our kids go to church where their friends go to church.

Really?

Your friend, your kids are with their friends seven hours a day at school.

If that was a true spiritual principle, schools will be a place of revival instead of perversion.

But it's not, and you're a coward that you let your kids decide your ecclesiology.

Y'all are like, dude, it's Christmas, lighting up.

Come on, you're getting after it.

Hey, look at me.

December is not about sentiment, it's about principle.

I love Christmas.

I love it to death.

I'm all about it, but when the Bible says let's get after it, let's get after it.

Because here's my concern is that a lot of people are leaving the church, and it's not because the church isn't whatever, it's that you've never seen what you've heard talked about your whole life, and you can't stand your own hypocrisy.

And by the way, you're not the only people who want to see something.

Here's a gods in Pampa, Texas.

You got to be going to Pampa, Texas to get to Pampa, Texas.

Ain't nothing out there, but there's a bowling alley out there, at least there used to be, because I was speaking at a student event and they said, hey, we're gonna go bowling.

And I wanted to take a pool queue and just beat myself to death.

Here, I'm bowling with a bunch of Christians on a Saturday.

Please, Jesus, don't come back.

I think you'd be disappointed with me if I was doing this.

And so I bowl the game, and then we're about three frames into the second game, and I look over, and there's these guys playing pool, and they got these gloves on these two fingers and their thumb.

That's just it.

And I'm like, those people look interesting.

And I just sense the Holy Spirit said, Go over there.

So I said, Hey guys, you guys bowl at me.

I go over there.

I said, Who got next up?

And they're like, Well, we're playing.

I said, I want to play the winner.

Well, who are you?

My name's Neil.

What's your name?

My name's Griff.

This is my friend Magoo.

And I said, You guys got some bad juju on you.

We may have to talk about that after I beat you in a game of pool.

I'll take this guy over here, the worship leader for the weekend.

He went to private school.

He'd never seen a pool table.

I said, Hey man, you play pool?

He went, uh, uh, well, I guess I could learn.

Oh, Lord.

Uh okay.

So we get up there, we start playing.

They won the first game.

I said, that's right, I got more quarters.

Because the worship leader scratched on the eight ball.

It's like, it's right in the corner pocket.

All you gotta do is hold your thumb out and slide the thing.

He so mishit the cue ball that it went in the side pocket, didn't even touch the eight ball.

They were all laughing.

And I said, Oh, okay, we'll run it back.

And Pastor Sunshine went first.

And they lost and they lost and they lost and they lost again.

And the guy goes, I'm out of money and I'm nervous because I don't have cigarettes.

I said, I'll tell you what, I'll buy you a pack of cigarettes at that machine over there if we can talk about this funky juju you got on you.

He goes, Oh yeah, you sure you want to know?

Oh, I want to know.

I want to know because for some reason I want to fight you too.

My spirit is shirtless right now.

Woo! And so I don't know, I'm not endorsing this.

I went over to the cigarette machine, put money in, we go, chung, chung, dump, dropped out.

There you go.

Smoke them if you got them, boys.

Rack them up.

We're out of money.

I'll pay, we'll talk.

Long story short, they're both witches.

He said, I'm over a cover, about 25 witches.

And he's boated.

What do you think about that?

I think greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.

I think you're just kind of looking for something.

I don't think you found it yet.

I hear Bono in the background.

You still haven't found what you're looking for.

He's like, uh, about this time there's a guy working behind the counter the bowl now.

He is moved, he was over cleaning shoes, they moved over here.

Finally, at this point, he opens a little gate, comes out, and walks over and stands by the pool table.

And I said, Can I help you?

Because I just thought if I'm gonna have to fight two of them, I might as well fight big boy here as well.

And he said, No, I'm I'm I'm kind of enjoying it.

I know who you are.

I saw the silent pitch on.

You're at the first Baptist church, aren't you?

I said, Yeah.

Then this young kid said something that changed my life.

He said, I'm not a bad person.

I've actually been to that church you're at.

And I said, What do you mean you've been?

You don't go, I don't know.

They go every Sunday, they sing those songs, and nothing ever happens.

I just want to see something happen, Neil.

Yeah.

And so do you.

You ought to be sick of just hearing about it.

You ought to experience it.

You ought to see, unless you think I'm just making something up.

When John the Baptist, I think this is Matthew 11, John the Baptist is in prison, about to get his head cut off.

He sends his disciples to ask Jesus, hey man, are you the one to come, or should we expect somebody else?

Because if I'm dying, I don't want to die for some upstart Jew with a bad attitude.

But if you're the Son of God, I'm going down in glory, brother.

I'm like Simeon.

Oh Lord, hey, let me depart in peace according to your word.

His disciples go to Jesus, say, Hey, you're the one to come.

Are you the Messiah?

Hear this.

Jesus says, Go tell John what you hear and see.

The blind receive sight, the lame can walk, the sick are healed, the good news is preached to the poor.

And John dies in peace because he didn't just hear it, he saw it.

Yeah.

And you were created by God, and I was created by God to hear and see this gospel.

Fourth thing about this joyful life is just the sufficiency of Jesus.

You still with me?

The sufficiency of Jesus.

What do I mean?

Look at verse 32.

He gets on, he says, Lord, you're letting your servant depart in peace.

Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.

Salvation is not a four-point plan or a presentation.

Salvation is not a preacher.

Salvation is the Son of God who tumbles wet and wobbly into the manger right here in front of everybody, born of a virgin.

And then he says this he said, You've prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

Now pay attention because this is the most profoundly impossible, crazy thing in the whole passage.

He says, first of all, a light for revelation to the Gentiles.

This means Gentiles was a reference to people who didn't know God, didn't have a relationship with God.

They're not Christians.

Some of you in this room may be that way.

And hey, relax.

You're welcome here every Sunday.

You do not need a preacher to tell you the truth, but you need to rightly understand who Jesus is, because God has not left humanity in the dark to figure it out on our own.

In the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, we see light and life.

And this light shines in the darkness.

And the darkness has not, cannot, and will not overcome it.

So if you know anybody who doesn't have a relationship with God, invite them to church, absolutely.

But in your conversations, take them to Jesus.

Let me say that again.

Invite them to church.

Wonderful.

But take them to Jesus.

After the guy that worked at the bowl and I said that, the worship guy just walked over and put his pool cue on the rack and just sat back down.

He said, I'm done.

I just won't think about what that kid said.

And so it's me and two witches and an employee at the bowling alley.

And the Christian kid nerds are over there going, Hey, he's talking to people that are smoking.

And I was like, Oh yeah, yeah.

So I go back to church that night, I got reprimanded.

We heard you bought some cigarettes for some sinners.

Yeah, they were much more enjoyable than your pearly white church kids.

But anyway, well, we don't know if we could have this back next year.

Please don't have me back.

I'll be smoking down there at the Bowling Alley.

Y'all just some mean-hearted, hard-headed old Baptists.

And I love them.

By the way, this is a Baptist church.

You know that?

Y'all are like, you're kidding, right?

No, we're not all mad.

Some of us are pretty joyful.

Highly recommend it.

What I mean when I say, take them to Jesus.

After my buddy Brett sat down, I just talked to him.

I said, hey man, tell me about Jesus.

Where does Jesus figure into all this?

Because if Jesus is who he really says he is, y'all are in deep trouble.

And the guy says, Well, I mean, I believe Jesus existed.

I said, tell me why Jesus existed.

Well, I don't know.

That's all I know to say is that Jesus existed.

Is that enough for you?

That's not enough for me.

If Jesus existed, you gotta understand why.

If he existed on earth, then where'd he come from?

I don't know.

He left heaven, the perfection of heaven, and came to the imperfection of earth.

Why would he do a dumb thing like that?

For imperfect people like me and you.

And the kid from the bowling alley goes, keep going.

Why?

Because invite people to church, but in your dialogue with them, get them to the point where they have to think about Jesus.

This is a light for revelation to the Gentiles.

That's what you need to understand.

The second thing he says, for glory to your people Israel.

For glory to your people Israel.

This is the crazy part, okay?

This is a reference to the Jewish nation, the Jewish people, reminding us that one day the veil will be lifted from their eyes and the hardness removed from their heart, and they will glory in Jesus.

Now, you say, okay, what's the big deal?

Jewish people today, a Jew today does not even acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah.

They don't believe that he's the Messiah.

They're still waiting for the Messiah to come.

Okay?

And so, because the Bible says over and over that there's going to be a great turning among the Jewish people to Jesus.

And so it is not wise for Christians to mock Jews or make derogatory comments about Jews or whatever, okay?

Because there's going to be a spiritual awakening and a revival among the Jewish people.

The Bible promises that, and God is not a man that He would lie.

It's so much so that the Bible says right here, for glory to your people, Israel.

That these people, some that hate and all discount, are one day going to glory in Jesus.

Now, beloved, when this was written as it is today, that sounds crazy impossible.

And God is motivated by the impossible.

One of the reasons our prayers don't get answered very much is because everything you ask God for, you could do yourself if you had time and money.

But it's not impossible.

It doesn't tap in.

What does it mean to glory in Jesus?

Perhaps a quote from the old English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, would help us.

Spurgeon said this some men go to schools for glory, others to the camps of war.

In all kinds of places, men have sought after honor, but the believer says that Christ is the mine in which he digs for this gold.

Christ is the sea in which he fishes for this pearl.

He gives up all other searches and looks for glory in Jesus and nowhere else.

Ask yourself this question this morning.

Where do I look for glory?

If you're really honest, you look for glory in your bank account.

And by the way, I pray for the flourishing of my people.

I pray God blesses you.

I pray you get in bed and lay down, and you're just like, oh honey, it's better than you could ever imagine.

I mean, I got my bonus and I passed out.

Had to pull over.

I was sobbing like a kitty.

And then don't be arrogant and go, aren't I awesome?

Reward me, honey.

Kids come and bow down to your father.

No, and they call on you to pray at Christmas dinner and just say, everything we have and ever will have comes from the hand of a benevolent, merciful, generous God.

Eat with wonder, kids, enjoy.

Why do I say all that?

Why do I say, take a moment and think about what we just said, how far we are from the Jewish people glorying in Jesus?

Here's why.

I want to remind each of us of the sufficiency of Jesus to the person who doesn't know, that's the Gentile, as well as the person who thinks he knows too much to ever believe in Jesus.

That's the Jew.

And the sufficiency of Jesus is enough for both poles of that equation.

And I don't want to get bogged down in Jewish history, though that's a great thing.

I want it to also remind us of the sufficiency of God for whatever feels impossible in your life this morning.

And so let's just end by thinking about what feels impossible to you right now.

And could you begin to see and believe and think and pray to God and say, you know what?

There's a glory for you in the impossible.

So I'm not put off by this.

I'm not, I'm not sheepish.

I'm not like, well, Lord, you know, if you're not too busy, could you do something about that?

I'm coming boldly to you to say, God, I need you to act in this situation.

One day you're gonna make the Jewish nation glory in Jesus.

And so this is no step for a stepper.

Imagine God's heart just kind of just set up.

He just kind of nudged Jesus.

Hey, look down there.

Or do we just bore God to indifference with our prayers?

The glory.

There's a glory for God that only comes from the impossible.

And here in the text he says a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

Back then and even to this day, that sounds crazy.

You say that to an Orthodox Jew, and they will be mad at you.

Because it's so preposterous.

And yet the Bible says that's exactly what's gonna happen.

That these people, that they're gonna mine, they're gonna dig in this mine.

This is gonna be the mine that they dig for this golden, and Christ is gonna be the sea in which they fish for this pearl.

They give up all these other searches and look for glory in Jesus and nowhere else.

Let's just spend a moment this morning.

Just thinking about whatever feels impossible in your life and praying towards that.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guests, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then say, hey, let's bend our minds toward this today.

Let's get our head around this.

And so Clyde will come and you play.

You may just play, you may see something over you.

Some questions come up on the screen.

Don't try to write all this down.

You can take a picture.

Or discreetly with your phone, let me voice a prayer.

God, your word is so pungent, so thick, it's so sufficient, it's so hardy that we can't just eat it.

We gotta kind of stop and digest it.

And so we want to digest right now.

We want to just kind of unsnap our mind and relax and say, okay, all right, what do I do with this?

So gotta brood over.

Brood over people that are facing impossible things.

Because you're the God of the possible.

There's a glory for you in the impossible.

And so we lay the impossible before you this morning and say, Lord, please do something about this for your glory and our pleasure.

God, we're mindful today that all this started with something that sounded impossible.

When you said back in Isaiah that a virgin shall conceive and give birth, people scoffed at that.

That's not what virgins do, but it's what God does.

And so, God, we just invite you to come glory yourself in what all feels impossible and is impossible in our life as individuals and in our life as a church.

Because you're sufficient for everything and everybody.

You're a light of revelation to the Gentiles.

For those that just don't know your glory to your people Israel.

For those who think they know everything.

So, Holy Spirit, smooth in all that we pray.

And effortlessly claim your due glory.

This we ask in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for part of our service.

Uh, you're always welcome here.

Your questions are always welcome here.

Hopefully, you had an opportunity in the seat back pocket in your row.

There's a guest card.

Hopefully you pull one of those and filled it out.

All we ask of you today is that you just drop it in the wooden box by the door on your way out.

Uh, that's also where uh if you're a part of this church, you consider this your church home.

If today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you take care of that as well.

Usually we have an announcement video to make you aware of things.

And instead of that, I wanted to show you a few things.

I sent to you an email, but some of you don't read email because you're too important.

Amen.

I take it personal.

No.

We've been for the past couple years kind of paying down debt and preparing to build a new sanctuary.

We'll go in this green space right over here.

It will connect to the children's building.

And this building here will become about uh Sunday morning Bible studies and midweek classes on Wednesday nights.

We don't have to flip it back and forth and Tuesday morning ladies' Bible study.

They have a hundred women in here.

There's not a building in this room.

Most of the rooms in this building can only hold the big ones, can hold about 40 people.

Uh, and so we're not doing away with this.

We will continue to utilize this.

And so that's where the sanctuary would connect to the children's building.

That's the layout on the inside.

It's a flat floor.

Uh, and in the back, the seats are tipped up.

From your perspective, they're tipped up.

Uh, and it's called stadium seating because it's warmer.

I'll give you a visual, leave that up for a second, guys.

From the front of that stage to the back is about as far as the front of the stage to that soundbooth back there.

It's very warm, but it just wraps around further around to the side.

And so we don't want a big, long, empty box.

We want something that's warm and intimate.

And so that's what you're seeing there.

Uh, next slide.

Uh that class right there is Tommy Hammer's class.

It's it's a group of older, more mature adults.

I'll say it like that.

They meet in the fellowship hall.

Uh they're gonna get a class right there so they can just walk out into that big that third place is our architect talk for lobby.

Uh, not a shoebox, but a deep wraparound lobby where people, those little triangles are seat groupings, people just hang out and drink coffee.

Next slide.

Uh that is the perspective.

If you were standing across the highway here, uh the building on the left, we're gonna redo the front of this building so it kind of matches the architecture of the new sanctuary.

That's the new sanctuary.

Next slide.

That's a closer picture of the new sanctuary.

And yes, a couple of you emailed me and said, Oh, I see you put your truck in there.

So I'll be right here after the service so I can throw punch you.

No.

The architect did all this.

I don't know how to draw.

There's Clyde's BMW S UV, uh, because he's a worship leader.

That's okay.

Uh that's a view uh from like looking right here, right across there.

Next slide.

Uh that's if you're standing there over by Nick's Italian restaurant, which I highly recommend, and you're looking.

Uh next slide.

That's a view, hold that for a second.

If you're over on the far north side of our property, the ditch, and you're looking back at the children's building on the right, that's a portachet, and then it'll connect right there.

That's the new sanctuary.

That's another view from just around a little bit more to the left.

And I think that's it.

Same old truck, yes.

Pastor parking right at the door.

Yes.

By the way, everyone, somebody asked me the other day, they said, Hey, where's the staff parking?

I hear about staff parking.

Staff parking is in that gravel lot way out there.

And it will continue to be there when that building's built.

And here's why.

And not because I'm not mean to these people.

If anytime these the guys that work here are like, he's hard on us, they're lying to you.

Here's why.

The Bible says the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.

And to give his life as a ransom for many.

Ministry is not about privilege, it's about responsibility.

And so we should model sacrifice.

So we park the furthest parking lot out there.

And our legs work and we just walk.

It's crazy.

I know, right?

And so, uh, why am I showing you all that?

Because uh we've gotten to this point because you're faithful in giving.

Uh and so you continue to listen to the Holy Spirit.

I'm not passing out envelopes.

Uh you listen to the Holy Spirit and do whatever he tells you to do.

Fair enough.

Stand for the benediction.

Hold your hands out.

Joy is not an emotion or a feeling.

It's a state of being.

Jesus tumbled into this world to make it available.

He died on the cross to make it yours.

Right now.

Live as joyful people.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.