Chapter two this evening, Luke chapter two. As you turn there, let me mention one more announcement that I forgot to mention earlier. If you were here this morning, you heard it, or if you were watching this morning, you heard it. But this week, Lord willing, I plan to post a few videos on Facebook about some of our basic Christian disciplines of prayer and Bible reading and and growing in grace and knowledge. And so look for those. I want to give you some very simple practical ways that you can set up a Bible reading plan, some different ways that you can approach Bible reading in such a way that you can grow in the word this year. And I want to also talk about prayer and give you some practical tools and practical pointers for how you can grow in your prayer life this year. And so look for those this week. Lord willing, I'll post them as the week goes on. Of course, we've reached the end of the year, and as we look into the new year, oftentimes we consider what is a way that I can refresh my prayer life? What is a way that I can approach Bible reading this year? And so I want to give you some ideas that will help you, Lord willing, as 2021 unfolds. Luke chapter two, I'm going to read three verses. Luke chapter two, verses 36 to 38. Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel 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. Well, we all no doubt know and remember that it has been one year and one day since Kay went to be with the Lord. And it's interesting that today on that day, almost exactly one year since she went to glory, that I preached two sermons on two seniors. What a great blessing faithful seniors are. We look upon the memory of Kay, we look on the memory of Valda, who we also lost this year, with great fondness. It's a wonderful thing to see someone in those later years, still faithful, still serving, still joyful in the Lord. I remember growing up, there was a gentleman in our church, and I won't mention his name in case someone watching here might know him or know his descendants, but this man was widely regarded in our church as a man of great joy and holiness. He was supposed to be a happy and holy man. Well, I found out later that that was not necessarily the case. He put on a good show at church, but a friend of mine then moved not far from this man's house. And he was a grumpy old goat. He really was. He didn't like to see kids skateboarding. And so if they skateboarded past his house, he would run out and yell at them, scare them off their skateboards, and then steal their skateboards and hide them in his garage. I did not hear about Kay doing any such thing, so I'm grateful for that. It is good when you find someone in those later years continuing in faithful service, continuing in the faith. In this evening's text, we meet a woman named Anna, who is very senior and very faithful. Anna is a faithful witness for Jesus. The name Anna is basically the equivalent of the name Hannah, and it has the idea of grace or gracious, Anna was both a recipient of God's grace and a woman who proclaimed the tidings of God's grace. Tonight, I want us to see four things that Anna's life was marked by and how ultimately those point us to the greatness of our Savior, Jesus. Well, first of all, Anna's life was marked by perseverance. Perseverance. She kept on going for the Lord. Anna was of an incredibly, incredible old age. The scripture tells us that this woman is a prophetess. She's the daughter of Phineuel. It tells us that she's of a great age, specifically that she had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years. And in looking at this text, the wording is difficult maybe for us to sort out. Does this mean, verse 37, that she was an 84-year-old widow? Or does it mean that she had been a widow for 84 years? I suspect that she had been a widow for 84 years, but I don't know that for sure because the language could go either way. But one thing we know for certain is that she was very old. If you look up what the life expectancy was in that area at this time, the life expectancy for someone is about 35 years old, 35 years of age. Now, one of the big reasons for that was there was a very high infant mortality rate. Many, many infants died. But if you take that out of the equation, the life expectancy still was in the low to mid 50s. So whether Anna was 84 years old total, or whether she had been a widow for 84 years, Anna is an incredibly aged woman. But she has remained faithful. She has persevered in the faith and she has persevered in faithful service for the king. We know that she has continued in the faith. She is someone who has served God. She is called a prophetess. It's a wonderful thing to see someone who has lived and walked with the Lord for many years. in our society that seems to put such an emphasis on youth. And everyone wants to look younger and seem younger. And even today, in weird, weird ways, the opinions of the youth are seen as more valid and important than the aged. I see you, Greta. We now live in this age where these young people are seen often to have a more important voice than those who are aged. Well, the scripture tells us a very different story, doesn't it? The scripture tells us, for example, Proverbs 16 and verse 31, the silver haired head is a crown of glory. And then it puts this qualification on it. It's a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness. How often are those who are seniors mocked as some dinosaurs of a bygone era? Little weight is given to their views. Little weight is given to their knowledge that they have accumulated over the years. And yet, the scripture says, no, no, no. That silver head, that silver haired head, that gray hair, that's a crown of glory. And Anna was one such woman. She was someone who had no doubt that crown of glory upon her head, found in the way of righteousness. She had kept going, continuing in the faith. For those that attended our Wednesday prayer meeting and Bible study, we've looked at what are the marks of a true believer. And one of those key marks of a true believer is perseverance, continuing in the faith. Here's Anna. No doubt she has outlived her friends, her closest friends and companions by many years. And yet the passing of time has not made her bitter, has not made her angry. She's actually continued in that faith. Not only has she continued in the faith, she's continued in service. Notice the scripture says that she did not depart from the temple, but served God. In verse 36, Anna is called a prophetess. It's possible that Anna was part of the assembly of women that were described in Exodus 38. The women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. These women would be on call to serve in various ways and help out in various ways. We might remember as we look back in the biblical record how Eli's sons had abused their position by laying with many of these women who were there to serve God. Well, the years have gone by and no doubt there are such faithful women continuing to serve. Anna is one such woman serving God. She's called a prophetess. This relates to the word of God. There are differences of opinion about whether this prophetess means that she is someone who God used to speak his word to others in the sense of giving revelation that she would then proclaim, or whether she is called prophetess in the sense that she was simply faithful to encourage people on the word of God. John Gill says this regarding this, for though prophecy had ceased among the Jews for some hundreds of years, It now revived upon the coming of the Messiah, and though instances of women prophets were rare, yet some there were, both before and after the coming of Christ, as Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, Huldah, the wife of Shalom, and this Anna at the time of Christ's birth, and afterwards, four daughters of Philip the Evangelist. Is it possible that God now breaks his silence as he has now brought the word into the world and speaks through her. Either way, what we have here is a woman who is faithful to the word of God. Whether this is about God giving her revelation to then pass on to people, or whether this is about her being faithful to what God has already revealed in the Old Testament, this is a woman who is faithful with the deposit of God's word that's been entrusted to her. She is a woman of the word. She has continued in the faith and she has continued in service, proclaiming the word of God. You know, as you grow older in the faith, and you might think that you don't have the energy to serve God in ways that you might have had in your youth. Do not let that be an excuse to keep you from serving at all. In fact, the scripture gives those who are older women a very important task in the church. And that is of teaching those who are younger women in the faith. Be people of God's word. continue faithful with that word that he is entrusted. Whether that would be edifying one another through the word, whether that would be evangelizing outside of these walls, be faithful with the word that you have been given. This is what Anna has done. The scripture also tells us that she did not depart from the temple. Likely, Anna lived in one of the apartment-like dwellings that were attached to the temple. These were the dwellings that would be used by the priests in their week-long duties in their periods of service, but there were often more apartments than necessary for them. And perhaps Anna was given one of these apartments because she was so faithful and such an important part of worship there. So here's Anna. An extremely aged woman, but still going for God. Faithful. Faithful, continuing in the faith and continuing in service. Friends, may that be our testimony as the years go by. And let me say this, Anna had continued doing this year after year after year. In other words, this was the pattern of her life. I talk sometimes to believers and encourage them in their walk with God, and they tell me, well, I don't really have much time now, but maybe one day I'll serve God. Well, most often the case is that when we say one day I'll serve God, one day I'll do that, that day never comes. Serve God in ways that you can serve him now. Don't let the ways you can't serve him stop you from serving him in the ways you can serve him. And may that be the pattern of your life. And let me also say this, service for Christ, service for God is not just about an appointed position. We sometimes have this idea in our mind that I, I can serve God only if I have a role, if I am in the choir, if I help out with kids club, if I am involved in this ministry that's an official ministry of the church, or that ministry that's an official ministry of the church. You look at the exhortations that we are given in scripture, and there are far more exhortations that fit every single one of us. So don't let that stop you while I'm not an officer of the church. Can you still encourage someone with the word of God? Can you still help them and pray for them? Can you still give them a phone call to encourage them? Can you exhort them when perhaps you see them straying? Of course you can. This is something that we all can do. I think of our brother Gabriel who's told me that In the morning he gets up and he sends out passages of scripture to a great number of people. We don't have an official scripture sending ministry of this church, but you don't have to have an official scripture sending ministry of the church to serve God that way. Friend, there's many, many areas that we can serve God and let's seek those areas and let's live that way. So Anna's life was marked by perseverance. She persevered in the faith and she persevered in service for God. But she's also marked by prayer, isn't she? Verse 37 says that she did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. You notice that it says that she served with prayers night and day. that perpetual life of prayer. Anna was that kind of person who lived out this truth. 1 Thessalonians 5.17 tells us, pray without ceasing. This was her life, a life of prayer. Often when we come to the end of the year, we evaluate what we have done for God and maybe what we haven't done for God over the past year. I don't think that there's any Christian who doesn't reach the end of the year and say, you know, I wish I'd prayed more. I think we all look at our prayer life and say, I wish I could grow in that. Sometimes that's a sign that we've been really lazy in our prayer life, but sometimes that's a sign of good health. What was it that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them? They didn't ask Jesus to teach them how to teach. They didn't ask Jesus to teach them how to preach. They didn't ask Jesus how to teach them how to organize things. They didn't ask Jesus to teach them how to set up a church building. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. Here's a woman who's lived her life praying. I love to hear the prayers of senior saints who've walked with God. One of the blessings of my heart is on our Wednesday prayer meeting, hearing our brother Peter pray. To hear that voice that has walked with God, expressing his prayer and devotion to God, and it's encouragement to me. How we can learn from those who have walked with God and how we can be encouraged by their walk with God and their life of prayer. Here's Anna, involved in perpetual prayer, night and day. Jesus, of course, told a parable, didn't he? That men ought always to pray and not to faint. Not only was Anna's prayer perpetual, she prayed night and day, but it was also passionate prayer. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, the scripture tells us that she served God with fastings and prayers. I know that now, and at least in some health areas, fasting is kind of cool. Um, At least what's called intermittent fasting is kind of cool. And the more cynical among us might say that only a millennial could skip breakfast and call it fasting, but that's a whole other story. Fasting in itself may have some health benefits, but fasting by itself has no spiritual benefits. Notice that this fasting is a spiritual exercise of Anna that is connected with prayer, fastings and prayers. Fasting is a spiritual exercise that's accompanied by prayer, points to true devotion. When you are serious enough about God and serious enough about prayer to skip meals, That shows a level of hunger for God and devotion. Fasting is a way in which we say, God, you are worth more to me than food. Fasting doesn't always have to be food though. I've said before that it might be wise for some of us to take a social media fast. except for maybe on Sundays, because I want you to connect with us at Facebook Live, but take a social media fast. And instead of the time you would spend on social media, spend that time praying, or take a time of fasting away from television. And instead of that time watching TV, spend time praying and reading God's word. Fasting. Fastings and prayers night and day. We don't know for sure how often that Anna fasted. One commentator that studied this and the culture of this time said that possibly as much as two days a week. You think about this, two days a week, two days of seven fasting. What an incredible commitment that is. Now the scripture does not command us to fast or command us how often to fast. Scripture does command us to pray. Scripture does command us to read God's word. But fasting is a way that we can express our devotion to God. Fasting sometimes brings a certain clarity and passion to our prayers. So Anna is a woman of prayer. I wonder if the same could be said of us. I remember one time, the church I used to be involved in, and they were talking about a man in the church that was going to take over teaching the teens in the church. And one of the members of the church, one of the pastors of the church said, I think he's such, I think it's such a good fit because he's a man of prayer. That stuck with me to this day. He's a good fit to teach the teens because he's a man of prayer. You know, we often think today, what's a good fit for someone that's gonna teach the teens? Well, they're cool, they know the latest shows, they know the latest styles, they know the latest things of this world. That's the kind of person that can reach teens. But this man, they said, he's exactly the man they need. Why? Because he's a man of prayer. Friends, let us resolve to be men and women of prayer. We find as well, though, that Anna is a woman of praise and thanksgiving. The setting of verses 36 to 38 is Jesus' presentation in the temple. According to the law of Moses, the first male son or the first male that opened the womb of any woman would be dedicated to the Lord. Of course, Jesus was the firstborn son of Mary, and they brought him to be dedicated to the Lord. And while he's there being dedicated to the Lord, another aged man named Simeon comes in. Simeon is moved by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit is upon him, and Simeon comes in and sees Jesus, takes Jesus in his arms, then expresses a spirit-inspired word of praise and prophecy about what Jesus would be. It's in this context that Anna comes in. Anna perceives, look at verse 38, and coming in at that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord. Anna's perception of God's great gift that's there in the arms of Simeon prompts her praise and thanksgiving. It's a marvelous thing to me to think that there are only, in this whole temple, there are only two worshipers that recognize Jesus for who he is, that recognize this baby as the Christ, that recognize this baby as the promised Messiah, the one who will bring salvation and redemption. Two people. I think it's a beautiful thing that in, if you will, that birth narrative of Jesus, the first person that recognizes Jesus for who he is, is the infant John in the womb of Elizabeth. The last people in this birth and dedication narrative of Jesus that recognize Jesus for who he is, are two senior saints. from the young to the old. But here in the temple, no doubt there were many worshipers, but only two of them recognized Jesus for who he is. But when Anna recognizes what is going on, who this child is in the arms of Simeon, her immediate reflex is one of praise and thanksgiving. We, I have quoted this verse a few times in this Christmas season and I'll no doubt quote it again because it's one of the greatest and most simple expressions of gratitude to God for Christ. Second Corinthians chapter nine and verse 15, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. And here's Anna. She sees Jesus. She recognizes this is the Messiah. This is the one that will bring salvation and redemption. And her immediate reflex is gratitude. How her example is a great example for us as well. Are we grateful for the great grace of God in Christ? God's grace should prompt our spiritual reflex of praise and thanksgiving. When I was a youngster, I played in this softball league, the Grenfell Tikes. We were champions that year, by the way. But there was one day where my dad was not able to drive me home. And so the coach drove me and his own children. He took me home with, he took me home. Of course they were there in the, in the, in the truck as well. But on the way home he stopped and he got us all a Coke. And so I really enjoyed drinking that can of that bottle. It was a bottle glass bottle of pop on the way home. I got home. And my dad saw that I had this Coke bottle. And he said, well, where'd you get that? And I said, oh, the coach got it for me. He said, did you say thank you? And I said, I forgot. And my dad said to me, I'm disappointed in you. Never wanted to disappoint my dad. Still don't want to disappoint my dad. but I can understand why he was disappointed in me. Those who are given gifts and goodness should respond with gratitude. Now listen, if I should have given thanks for receiving a little bottle of Coke, which tasted great, but probably didn't do a whole lot for my health, How much more should I, should all of us be grateful for the gift of Jesus who gives us eternal life? May we be people of gratitude. But then finally, not only was Anna a woman of perseverance, prayer, and praise and gratitude, praise and thanksgiving, she is also a woman of proclamation. We've seen this already when we see this word, a prophetess in verse 36, but we're given even greater clarity about how she, how she spoke the word of God and what she spoke of at the end of verse 38. So she came in, she gave thanks to the Lord's having seen Jesus and then verse 38 and spoke of him. to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. She spoke of him. She saw Jesus. Now notice again, she has only seen the infant in Simeon's arms. She hasn't seen the Jesus who's come to full maturity, who has healed the sick and raise the dead. She has not seen the great miracles that Jesus has performed. She's just seen Jesus as an infant, but she knows who he is and she knows why he's come. She knows that he will bring redemption. So what does she do? She uses the rest of her life, however many days the Lord would give her, she used her life to proclaim this child, to speak of this child, to speak of Jesus. This would be the theme of her life and her lips until the end of her mortal life. What greater theme could there be to speak of than Jesus? We talk about a lot of things, don't we? We talk about a lot of things, and they're not always wrong. We talk about weather and sports and the snow, and we talk about driving conditions. We talk about budgets. We talk about COVID. We talk about wearing masks. We talk about vaccines. We talk about all kinds of different things, school and online learning and asynchronous learning and all of these other things. We talk about those things. They're not wrong. But I wonder sometimes you talk about all those things and don't talk about the main thing. Don't talk about Jesus. Don't talk about his greatness and his grace. There is no greater theme than Jesus. So Anna is a woman of perseverance, prayer, praise and thanksgiving, and a woman of proclamation. Anna's life is very commendable, but this account is not about Anna. It is and it isn't. This account is not given to us just to say what a wonderful woman Anna was, but to focus us on how great Jesus is. As Luke has unfolded the first two chapters of this book, we've seen different witnesses to who Jesus is. We've seen people like Zacharias. We've seen Elizabeth. We've seen Mary herself. We've seen the angels. We've seen the shepherds. We now see Simeon and Anna. And all of these lives, are directing our focus on Jesus, on how great Jesus is. Jesus is the worthy one. Jesus is the one, as Simeon would say, who is the salvation, is salvation himself. He is the light. He is the glory. He is, verse 38, the one who will bring redemption. All of this to say that he is the one that's worthy. If we come away from this text just saying, oh, Simeon and Anna were wonderful people, and that's all we say, we've missed the point. These were wonderful people, but they pointed to someone who was so much more wonderful than they were. They pointed to Jesus. They lived their lives. Proclaiming the greatness of Christ. We would have the right attitude in life. If we took as our theme, John 3 and verse 30, the very thing that John the Baptist said, he must increase, but I must decrease. May God give us the grace to put Jesus on display. to show His greatness and glory, to live our lives shining the spotlight upon Him. Well, friends, this is the cast of Christmas. What an incredible cast that God drew together for this purpose, to show forth the greatness of Jesus. Let's live our lives for His glory and proclaiming His grace.