I was the high school pastor at Bob Jones University to the dormitory high school students that were sent there by their parents from all over the world. I mean, we had military leaders, we had United Nations leaders, we had diplomatic children, we had ambassadors' children, we had children that their parents didn't know where else to send them and they thought at least, you know, they'll do something with them there. And every week, I would go before the student body and I'd say, who wants to go this week and get in the bus? and go to Clemson, as in Clemson University, and Seneca, and Walhalla, and Westminster, and go and walk the streets and talk to people about Christ. Well, every week we had about 60. And they'd all get on that bus, and it was a two-hour, or an hour and a half to two-hour drive from Bob Jones University down to drop these young people off in the streets. And every week I'd take a group myself, and I had other young men that would help me, and we'd go in about teams of 10. But on the way down, it was a crucial thing, and I think that's why probably I'm motion sick now. I mean, I can't ride anywhere but behind the steering wheel, and I get sick. And now I think about all the years that I rode standing backward. The bus was going that way, and I was standing up with my arms around the two chrome things, you know, keeping from falling on all the bumps, and holding my Bible and leading them in song and preaching to them. And I think that's affected me now, given me motion sickness. But on the way down, I would always give a gospel message to them. and there wasn't a week that God didn't work in someone's heart and we saw one of those young men almost every week from a Christian school sent by often Christian parents in a Christian high school that one of them would come to know Jesus Christ personally. Many of them had grown up in the church and they never had met Christ. Some of them had always faked it. Others of them had never been sure. But all the way through that multi-year ministry, we'd see young man after young man after young man come to Christ. And now some of them are serving in parts of the world. In fact, I get phone calls and they track me down. And they say, Mr. Barnett, that's what they always called me, I'm now a pastor. You remember the little boy that hadn't even started shaving yet, that was a ninth grader, and his hair was sticking up, and you always had to tell him to, you know, button up and fix up? I say, yeah. He says, well, I'm a pastor now, I'm married, I have so many children, etc., etc. Well, one of my favorite songs that I taught them, and I'm going to teach you this this morning, is exactly what we're looking at. 1 Thessalonians 2.12. It says this, that you walk worthy of God, okay? Now, what we're looking at, and I'm going to give this to you this morning, and we'll continue a little bit in the days ahead, Lord willing, is that we, in Christ, are looking at what the Apostle Paul led the people of Thessalonica into. He led them into a new goal, to wait for the sun. They had a new plan, walking worthy of God. That's verse 12. Verse 13, they had a new authority, God's Word. They had a new standard. They measured things by Christ's coming, on and on. But I used to always lead the young people in a song. And these boys really got into this. And I'm going to see, this morning, if you're going to get into it. You're not going to sing. You're just going to quote back to me, okay? And I'll try and teach this to you. It only has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight lines, okay? And what you do is, I'll say something, and you say it right back to me when I get done, okay? And we'll see if you can get in cadence here. And if you can do it well enough, we'll sing it, okay? Repeat after me. I sing a new song. Since Jesus came. Serve a new master. Wear a new name. Walk a new road. Have a new goal. I know a new peace. Down deep in my soul. Let's see, I don't know if you can see. We better try it once more before we sing it, okay? I sing a new song. Since Jesus came, serve a new master, wear a new name, walk a new walk, have a new goal, I know a new peace, down deep in my soul. Now the ending's real tricky when you sing it. Some people go, down deep in my soul, and the others go, down deep in my soul. Do you see the difference? And I won't try and orchestrate that. because I have hands going in both directions, but it's really beautiful when they cross in the middle, you know, with their scales going both ways. Okay, let's try singing. I sing a new song. I sing a new song since Jesus came. I serve a new master. Wear a new name. Walk a new road. I have a new goal. I know a new pea. Down deep in my soul. Ah, now you got it. See, there I heard some of you do the lower part. Let's do the ending again. Half of you go, down deep in my soul. The others go, down deep in my soul. which are going to be the down deep in my soul. Raise your hand. Down deep in my soul. That's the rest of us. Okay, here we go with the ending. Down deep in my soul. What a choir you are. What are we talking about? And why was I emphasizing that to the young people? Why did I say that I sing a new song? Because Jesus Christ, when he comes into our life, gives us a new song. In fact, if you're ever talking with your parents about music, or if you're ever talking to your children about music, or if you're ever talking about music in general, the only word that consistently is in the scripture about music is that Christians, believers, and saints sing new songs. That is opposed to the old songs of the world, of the flesh, and of the devil. And whenever the new songs sound just like the old songs, there's something wrong. But we sing a new song since we're in Christ, because he came into our hearts. He is our master. We have his name. We're walking his road toward a new goal. That's what the Apostle Paul told these people. I want you, and if you want to get on the back of your bulletins, you can write these down, because this is the course we're going to be following for a few weeks. I'm showing you the exhortations for Christian living. I'm showing you these little terse statements that the Apostle Paul gave to a group of people just like the boys on my bus for those five years. The Apostle Paul was talking to a group of people that didn't know very much about Christ. And he came to them and presented Christ to them. Let's just for a minute look at what happened. Look at verse 9 and if you are someone that likes to challenge the very first class that that they teach in seminary in the English Bible. This is not Greek class where they kill you, but in the English Bible where it's always a blessing. The first class in seminary of the English Bible, I always will remember, the professor came out and said, do you know how rich the Word of God is? And all of a sudden, mm-hmm, we do. He said, I want to show you. He says, I want you to take a piece of paper and turn to 1 Thessalonians 1, 9, and 10, and I want you to write down as many truths as you can find in those two verses. And he says, let me tell you this. You can't even pass this test unless you find at least 50. And we went, what? 50 different things? Well, let me show you what I mean. By the time we got over, our class compiled their list. We had 120 truths from this little 2 verse 8. Look at what it means. For they themselves declare, somebody's talking, right? Someone's talking about the Apostle Paul. His life touched him. Concerning us. And so some outside people outside of Thessalonica are talking to Paul about them and what manner of entry. People were talking about the way Paul came into Thessalonica. the manner of entry that we had to you. So they were talking about how the Apostle Paul came from a distant place, came to Thessalonica, and met the Thessalonian people. And how you, that's the saints in Thessalonica, turned. So that means they were going this direction, and when Paul met them, all of a sudden they did a turn about in their life. And how you turned to God, that means they weren't headed toward God, from idols, that meant that they were worshipping false gods of stone and wood and precious metals, to serve the living God. That means God is living, as opposed to dead false gods, that God needs to be served, as in people that passively want Him to do something for them, God is to be served. To serve the living and the true God, that means that there are false gods, if God is the true God. And you know what I mean? And we could go on and on. We could talk about where he came from, how he walked from Philippi, and he walked 97 miles, and he walked beaten after being imprisoned down there. I mean, all that's implicit in this. But look at verse 10. And not only did they learn to turn from the false gods and the dead gods to the true God, the living God, and knowing to serve Him, but they learned to wait for His Son. Wait. What does that mean? That means he's coming, and they're waiting for him. His son, that means God has a son. That means there's God, the Father, and God the Son. So he's teaching a little bit about the Trinity. From heaven, that means Jesus is in heaven. I mean, these are all true statements that Paul packed all this in. That means that God's Son has a son, and he's in heaven, but he's coming from heaven. Whom he raised, that means God raised Jesus. That means Jesus was dead. You know what I mean? I mean, there's a lot in this little section. Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus. That means God's Son is named Jesus. That's the one in heaven. And He delivers us, that means we need to be delivered, because He is the deliverer, from the wrath, that means God has wrath, and that wrath is coming, and the only hope is Jesus. Now that was 25. And if you had any time to think about it, you could get a lot more. Distilled into these two verses is an incredible amount of truth of what Paul taught these people in a very short period of time. And what he did is he moved in to a town that was steeped in paganism, as we saw last week, that was steeped in licentious living. You say, what's that? That's the living that's portrayed in most television shows and most movies and most current pop songs, okay? Someone once said, if you took a Willie Nelson record and played it this way, you know, he gets drunk, he loses his wife, and she leaves him. And if you turn it this way, you know, he gets sober, his wife comes back, and you know what I mean? And that's just the soul of our society. It's licentiousness. It's wickedness. Well, we can distill down this truth into these little short sayings. And on the back of your bulletin, you can write some of them down. I'm going to focus just on one this morning. But I want to give them to you, and I want you maybe to underline them in your Bible if you'd like to find them. The first one we saw last week was that the Apostle Paul told these people if they wanted to please God, number one, they had to wait for Jesus. Wait for His Son. Now what's interesting, and when we talk about the coming of Christ, the harpazo is the word he uses, the rapture, in a future date I'm going to talk to you about this, but the word wait is very interesting. It speaks of an eager anticipation. Now, I've mentioned this before, but whenever I think of this eager anticipation, I always think of the streets of Los Angeles. Because when we lived in Los Angeles, I used to just buzz along the back streets because the highways were just jammed and sitting still. And so I'd go along 3rd Street or 6th Street or 9th Street or Olympic Boulevard cutting across town, and the one thing you had to watch out for were the people that were waiting for the buses. Now these are six-lane roads and there would be these, I forget their acronym they use for the Los Angeles Rapid Transit, the RTD I think they call it, the Rapid Transit District. There'd be a sign that'd say RTD and it would be sitting there and underneath it would be a whole crowd of people and what they would do is, if this is the curb, they would lean way out into the road looking past the people to see if the bus was coming because there was always more people than there was room on the bus and so they would have to push to get on in order to get their place on the bus. And so those people would literally stand at that sign and here are six lanes of traffic, three lanes going this way and three lanes going that way. Now I've stood on those curbs. I've had those crazy Los Angeles drivers get off the road and come right up onto the curb. And their tires, I can remember one time, that they came so close I pulled my feet back because they were trying to get around someone and they came right up on the curb. And it's dangerous to stand on the curb. You should stand back. And yet these people are so interested in the bus coming that they would lean out into the traffic and look down the road for a coming bus. Do you know what that's called? That's called waiting in the New Testament sense. It's called an eager looking that focuses their whole body on what they're looking for. In fact, if I was driving down the street and I saw a whole bunch of people leaning forward and going like this, do you know what I knew they were doing? They were looking for the bus. You know what Paul says? You formerly were taking and pouring your lives into these false idols, and you were looking for pleasure, and you were looking for desires of your flesh to be fulfilled. Now, verse 10 says, for His Son. Direct and focus your life on looking for Him. Eagerly look and press and look for Him. That's what's supposed to characterize us as Christians. That's why we're not looking for the end of the world. We're not looking for our ship to come in. We're not looking for anything other than Jesus to return. And when people say, how come you don't have a down day like I'm having? You say, because I'm waiting for the Son. They say, why are you waiting for the Son? Well, it says it in verse 10 at the end. Because He has delivered me from the wrath to come. You see, there is wrath coming on this world. And by the way, that's remarkably absent from most televised Christian messages and a lot of radio-delivered Christian messages. Did you know it's out of vogue to talk about the wrath of God? In fact, the Church of England has decided there isn't even a hell. Isn't it interesting that they could decide such a thing? Strike it from the record that there is no hell." But Paul went to these people, and when he had only three weeks to give them the Gospel message, he told them that Jesus Christ was coming, Jesus was the Son of God, Jesus was the living and the true God, their gods were false, that God's wrath was coming and the only way out was Jesus. And if they wanted to live in a way pleasing Him, they should look for Him to come and get them. Can you imagine what the people in Monrovia, Liberia, were doing when the American rescue army helicopters were coming to get them out of that war-torn and civil strife ravaged nation? They were just standing on the rooftops, just looking for the helicopter, just looking for someone to come and get them. They couldn't wait. There's battling all around them. They were wanting to be rescued. We are in a world that is perishing. And God says, the helicopter is coming. but he left us here not merely to stand on the rooftop and wait, but to get as many people up on the rooftop with us to go with him. Are you taking anybody with you as you're waiting for the sun? As you're standing there looking for the bus and someone says, what are you doing? What are you looking for? Are you telling them you're waiting for the sun? And he's the only hope they have to deliver them from the wrath to come. Well, the second one is the one we're going to focus on this morning and it's verse 12 of chapter 2. And on the back of your I'm sorry, number 2 on the back of your bulletin is really number 3. The verse is right, but there's a typo there. Number 2 is verse 12, walk worthy of God. You can just put that under number 3 in your notes if you want to, but it's chapter 2, verse 12, and taking God at His word in your bulletin is chapter 2, verse 13. But this is what he says. It says, that you, verse 12, would walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. Now, the Apostle Paul is telling them this. They were in the kingdom of Caesar, but God has another kingdom, and they were called by God to come into that new kingdom. Now, remember, we looked last week at the book of Acts, chapter 17, that talked about what happened when this message was delivered. And the people all started rioting, the unsaved people that didn't take the message, and they said, the Apostle Paul's telling people there's another king. Yes, he did, because he said in verse 12, he has called you into his own kingdom. Do you know you only need one thing to have a kingdom? A king. Wherever that king is, that is his kingdom. Did you know that we as believers need to acknowledge something? That we have a King. And that's why the songwriter wrote that beautiful hymn. King of my life, I crown thee now. Thine shall the glory be. Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow, lead me to Calvary. We should acknowledge that we have a King. Well, what does it mean to walk worthy of God? What are some examples? Well, let me show you real quickly. I want to show you a man and a woman. that really captured the idea of walking worthy of God. And maybe if you've never seen this before, it'll be a blessing to you. Just keep your finger right there and I want you to turn with me to Luke chapter 2, just briefly. Luke chapter 2. And I know that you know these characters because they always come up at Christmas time. Simeon and Anna. But a lot of times we forget about them when it's not Christmas and when we're not going through the birth of Christ. And so I'd like you to see in two very obscure people, two very elderly people, two very unknown people, people that had no power, they had no standing, they had no wealth, they had no societal recognition, two people that walked worthy of God. And I hope this morning, when you think about the Word of God this morning, I hope that you'll capture the idea that the second truth the Apostle Paul taught to these new believers was after they learn to wait for the Son of God, that the second greatest ministry they could have is to walk. That means live your life in a way that's worthy of God. Have you ever told your children, don't do that, our family doesn't do that, or don't act that way, that's not the way our family acts? Well, that's on a human level, but you know what, God says, you have a new name, and it's my name. And when you walk around bearing the name that you are a son of God, that you are a daughter of God, that you are a child of God, that you are a Christian, Christ's one. That makes you walk in a way that's worthy of His name. How does that look? Well, chapter 2 of Luke, verse 25, it says, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, he just lived there, we don't know anything else about him, whose name was Simeon. A lot of people were named Simeon. And this man was just and devout. Now, what we see is, the first facet in his life that you'll see is that a walk that's worthy of God is, first of all, a walk of faith. A walk of faith. Now, you've heard that. Remember it says in Hebrews 11.6, but without what? It's impossible to please God, but without faith. Okay, the first thing we have to do to walk worthy of God, and the first thing the Apostle Paul taught the people of Thessalonica, and the first thing we're going to see in this man's life is, that a walk that's worthy of God is a walk of faith. You say, okay, I know that. What's a walk of faith? Well, first of all, it says this man was, verse 25, just and devout. A walk of faith is, number one, a holy life. Do you know what just means? It means straight, not crooked. You ever met someone, and it seems like every time you meet them, they're always a little off-center. I mean, they always have some deal. or they're always getting around something, or they're finding a way to cheat their employer. My father worked at Elizabeth for 46 years. He said all the men that worked with him used to know this one fella, and his goal was to see how much he could steal from General Motors. He learned that he could take toilet paper in the men's room, toilet paper, he'd roll it up into little tubes like that, and he'd stick it in his thermos. He was taking toilet paper home. Can you imagine coffee-stained toilet paper? I mean, who would want to visit his house, you know? But this guy was crooked, and he would work on his breaks, and he'd go in that bathroom and lock the door, and he'd wrap those up, put them in his thermos, and take them home. Just and devout. Now, I know that's absurd. None of you would ever do that. It's ridiculous. There are people that are not just. and they're not devout. And the first aspect of a walk of faith is it makes us internally have a holy life. The second one is, it says he was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. You know what? It's a patient life. Now that's going to hit home. How many of us struggle with impatience? Impatience. We get all worked up because we can't wait. Good lesson this morning from Terry, from Isaiah. Wait for the Lord. He walked by faith. He had a holy life. He was just and devout. He had a patient life. He waited for the consolation of Israel when Israel was going to be delivered from their captors and from their bondage. But thirdly, it says He had a consecrated life. It says the Holy Spirit was upon Him. If you have a walk of faith, you'll have a holy life. That means that your life will be just. It will be lined up with God's holiness. You will have a patient life. You will also have a consecrated life. Do you know what consecrated means? The hymn writer puts it well. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine. Consecrated means you give it up. And a person who is walking by faith like this plain, old, unknown fellow named Simeon is well known to God because he had a holy life, a patient life, a consecrated life. But look at verse 26. 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. Anyone else? A walk of faith that's worthy of God It won't just be holy, it won't just be patient, it won't just be consecrated, but it will be Spirit-illumined. You say, what do you mean by that? This guy had a life that the Spirit of God illumined his heart. What do you mean? How did he do that? He was reading the Old Testament Scriptures. And the Old Testament Scriptures talk all about the Lord's Christ. That's what the Old Testament called Jesus. The Lord's Mashiach. The Anointed One. And it said this Anointed One was going to come. He was the branch. He was the offspring. The root of David. He was the rock. He was the stone cut without hands. He is the coming one, the star that will rise, the scepter, the Shiloh. I mean, there are so many words for Christ in the Old Testament. And Simeon had been reading the Old Testament prophets, you know, the back part of your Bible, or the front, I mean, the part we don't use that much. And he was reading that, and as he was reading, the Lord said, Simeon, you're walking by faith? You're living a holy life. You're waiting patiently for the consolation. You've consecrated your life to me. Guess what? You won't die before you see Jesus come. He had a spirit-illumined life. Do you know what that means to me? That means for those faithful ones that get before God in this book, God will show you things He doesn't show other people. Do you know why? If you walk by faith into this book, and if you say, Oh God, show me your Son, the Lord Jesus, show me and open this book, you'll get something. There's something there if you're looking. There's some people, they say, I don't get anything out of that book. It doesn't mean anything to me. Do you know why? They're not looking. If you want to see Christ, you have to want to see Christ. You have to seek for Him. And if you want to have a walk of faith, it should be a Spirit-illumined life, where the Spirit of God opens the Word of God, but it doesn't stop there. Look at this, verse 27. Another facet of this walk of faith that's worthy of God is, it says in verse 27, He came by the Spirit into the temple. Do you know what that means? He was led by the Holy Spirit. Do you know what that's called in the New Testament? walk in the Spirit. This man walked worthy of God. Why? Because he was walking in the Spirit. Do you walk in the Spirit? I'll tell you where the Holy Spirit doesn't walk. That's how you can tell if you're walking in the Spirit. And I'll tell you where He does walk. He walks in areas that will lead to consecration. He walks in areas that will lead to building of the spiritual fruit of patience. He leads in ways that will enhance our consecration. was saying in the choruses? I'm loving you more every day. That's what consecration is all about. I can't have any more of Jesus. Did you know that? God doesn't give His Spirit by measure. I got them all. But He can sure have more of me. And He can sure have more of you. And every time we face His Word, it should be a decision of letting Him have more of us. And this man, let God have all of him, And he had a spirit-led life. He came by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was leading him and he came into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, they followed the Old Testament rules. They were obedient. This guy, I mean, I have thought about this and thought about this. I mean, if you've ever seen Jerusalem and seen how crowded and seen how funny they look with all their gear on, their phylacteries and their robes and those moths and their little hair sticking down, the men, and all the strange stuff they do, and they're so loud, and they're moving all the time, and I can just see the activity in the temple. And here's this newlywed young couple, and Mary, she's holding this precious baby, and I mean, angels told her the baby was coming, and angels sang to her when the baby came, and people came and brought her presents, and I mean, it was quite a big... and she's walking in on the eighth day to do to Christ according to the law. And I mean, he didn't know anybody knew him, and all of a sudden, And this old, old, white-haired man comes along, and he comes up and he goes, oh, and he grabs the baby right out of her arms. You know what we say in New York? Police! Mugger! No, no, no. He grabbed Jesus and took Him up into his arms, and he blessed God and said, Lord, now You're letting Your servant, 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 people to light to bring the revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel." You know what? This fellow also had Spirit-energized worship. Can you imagine? I mean, better than health, food, and aerobics, this guy was walking in the Spirit, and he came up and he got to hold the Lord's Christ. Do you know that really energized his worship? I mean, I can't imagine that that man held the baby Jesus and went, Oh Lord, your salvation has come. I can't imagine, even though that's a very grandfatherly way, I can imagine this man at the height, the loudest voice, holding that baby close to him and saying, Oh Lord, now I have seen your salvation, a light! I mean, people were stopping in the temple looking at this old geezer holding that little baby. Did you know that's what happens when We walk the walk of faith that's worthy of God. The Spirit energizes our worship. That's what happens when you get a mist in your eyes when you're singing those choruses. That's what happens when you get a lump in your throat when you're reading the same book you've read countless times. And you start finding yourself talking about what God revealed to you in His Word. This morning I was reading the Bible and I was praying and I was thinking, I'm going to have my last time to talk maybe to Don Evans before he, this side of glory, And I thought, I want to share, and I was reading through, and I got to the book of Amos, and I found one of the best little verses, and I had to call Don's house before I could share that with him. It says, Seek the Lord who made the Pleiades, that's seven stars that are bound by a gravitational field up there in the sky. And he made Orion, that's that massive constellation that has a great big galaxy in the belt, and it has one of the largest stars known in the universe up there, that is huge, that would hold our whole solar system. The guy on earth that gets to know the God that made all that, it says He turns the darkness of death into morning. Did you know our whole world doesn't like death? It's dark to them, it's a dark valley. But if you get to know the Creator, He turns that dark valley of death into the brightness of morning. I had to call Don and share that with him. and just let him know that the Spirit of God just opened the Word and gave such a beautiful verse I wanted to share with you. Do you find yourself talking about the Word of God? Do you have Spirit-energized worship when you're in this book that He opens it to you? One last thing about Simeon before we go. If you look at verse 29, this man not only had a holy life and a patient life and a consecrated life and a spirit-illumined life and a spirit-led life and a worship-energized life, but he had a satisfied life. You know what it says? Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace because I've seen what you promised. I am satisfied. Another hymn. I am satisfied. I am satisfied. I am satisfied in Jesus. A walk of faith is a walk that is satisfied in a satisfied life. Well, look at the other one, verse 36. Another senior saint, and if Simeon was the walk of faith, then Anna is the walk of precision. I mean, there's something very precise about her walk, and I like this, and I just want to walk you through it real quickly. It says, now there was one, this is verse 36 of Luke 2, there was one Anna, and she's also someone that's walking worthy of God, and she was a prophetess, a lady that God had His hand on her life and she spoke for Him in special ways, a daughter of Phanuel, probably another great servant of the Lord, of the tribe of Asher, not one of the more significant tribes. She was of great age. You know what we see? This woman had put everything in the Lord's hands. First of all, she had put the duration of her life in His hands. She was of great age. You know what? She wasn't moaning it. She wasn't complaining. She had a lot of problems. Look at this. It says that she had lived with a husband. That means that her decisions of life were in the Lord's hands. She had given those to Him, and the Lord had decided that she couldn't have her husband her whole life, so it says she was a widow, verse 37, of about 84 years. You know, the way the construction is, that means she had been unmarried or a widow without a husband for 84 years. That means that she was married at least a little while, maybe one year, so 85 years. And she got married at 13, she was 98. I met someone here this morning that's 96. And this lady was running around at maybe 98. She had given the duration of her life, she was old, she had given the decisions of life, her husband, the deprivations of life, her widowhood, and look at this, and she did not depart from the temple. I mean, she could have been down at the Dead Sea where, I don't know, all of you will want to come with us tomorrow, but down at the Dead Sea there is this mud that comes oozing up out, it's black, and it's kind of like tar, only tar mixed with mud so it doesn't stain, it doesn't stick to you. And people put it on them. And there's some chemical in there that makes your skin get tight. And did you know all those cat hairs, you know, smile marks and wrinkles? After you put that mud on, it pulls them all out for a few hours. And you know, people, they just... In fact, our people will be doing that, you know, and they'll be looking in the mirror and they'll just feel so young. They get back on the bus and a few hours later, you know, it goes back. But he could have been living down at the Dead Sea, putting the mud on and laying out in the sun. You can't get sunburnt down there. Did you know that? The atmosphere is so thick, because you're 1,600 feet below sea level, that it's like wearing sunscreen. You just get all cocoa tanned with no UV problems. She could have been down there. She wasn't. Where was she? She was in the temple because her destination of life was in the Lord's hands. And she said, I want my life to count no matter how long it is, no matter how many deprivations I have, no matter how many things are in my life, I want to be serving you. How did she serve the Lord? Look at this. She served God with fasting and prayer. Two things that no one can see. Have you ever thought about, well, I don't have a ministry, I can't be up here leading the choruses and giving little testimonies, I can't be teaching my Sunday school class. Here's a woman who couldn't have a public teaching ministry anyway, who couldn't be a high priest, she couldn't be a great leader in Israel, and yet God singled her out because she served him with fastings and prayer. You know what fasting is? Fasting is denying myself. You know what prayer is? It's seeking God. She denied herself and she sought God. And God says, anybody that will deny themselves and seek Me is serving Me. Because they're not serving themselves. Well, that means her time was in the Lord's hands. You know what else was in the Lord's hands? Her feet. Look at verse 38, "...and coming in that instant." I mean, she came at the exact instant. that old Simeon was standing there holding Jesus, and he was loudly proclaiming, and God had another person that He was directing their life. And this woman came in, and I like the wording, in that instant, wow! And what does she do? Well, not only is her time in the Lord's hands, she's serving Him with all of her time, and not only are her feet in the Lord's hands, she comes in at the right time. Her heart is in the Lord's hands because her instant response is, verse 38, she gave thanks to the Lord. I mean, she was so in tune with God that her mouth belonged to Him. And as soon as she had an opportunity, she just let loose with a volley of praise to God. Her heart was in His hands. And then look at this. and she spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Not only was her heart full of gratitude, not only were her feet always doing his bidding, not only was her time totally sacrificed to God, her lips belonged to Christ. And she went all over the city and said, the Christ of God has arrived." And she was just, I'm sure she was very excited. And I can just imagine she's skinny and very emaciated because she was fasting all the time. This little, thin, wizened, white-haired, stooped-over, 98-year-old woman is running around going, the salvation of God has arrived! The salvation of God has arrived! I saw him in the temple! And she just went everywhere telling people. That's what a walk worthy of God is like. It doesn't mean you're some significant, great, looming, powerful figure. It means that you and I are walking by faith like Simeon. Our moments and our days are in his hands. The Spirit of God is leading us. And like little Anna, the prophetess, we deny ourselves and we seek him. And he lets us serve him even in ways that no one will ever see. You can serve God today just by fasting and prayer, and that will be a great service. You don't have to do anything big in public. Just serve Him that way, and you know what will happen? He's going to open your word, and you're going to find yourself being in exactly the right place at the right time. You'll find yourself speaking to people seeking Him. You'll find yourself the recipient of The people in this world, like I've shared some of them with you, that just come, they sit next to you on airplanes and they ask you about the Bible. They come into your office and they say, could you tell me who it is that you know? They'll come to your restaurants while you're eating and they'll lean over like one couple came to my wife and I and they said, could you tell us why you have such tranquility? I said, tranquility? They said, yeah, we watched you the whole meal, you look so tranquil. And they said, we didn't see you taking anything. What do you have? I remember a man dying of AIDS with a ski cap on, lost his hair, emaciated, sickly, leaned over and he got on our table and leaned up and looked at me and he says, what are you on? See, he was on cocaine. He was on everything and he couldn't find peace. You know what, all you have to do is be led by the Spirit. All you have to do is give your life to God, and back to 1 Thessalonians 2 as we close, and I don't want you to miss this. Number one, and Paul only had three weeks to tell them, and maybe three more weeks before they ran him out of town, and he says, number one, if you want to be someone that pleases God, if you want to be someone that is acceptable in his sight when he comes, you be somebody at the bus stop waiting for the sun, and you secondly be someone that is walking worthy of God. How do you walk worthy of God? You walk by faith. You walk led by the Spirit through this book. You walk denying the flesh. You walk seeking God. And then, when God gives you the opportunity, you speak about Him wherever you are. There are people that are only going to hear about Jesus from you. And that's part of what I think the judgment seat is going to be all about. Did you tell those people? And by the way, I don't tell everyone. And sometimes I have such an awareness, and I just had it this week. I met with someone on a totally different thing, and it was very intense, and I was just working out some business with them. Very sharp person. And you know, when I left that situation, distinctly I knew in my heart, there was someone that you spent enough time with. Why didn't you tell them? So, you know, I've got their card and I'm going to chase them down and I pray that they survive until we get back, but I'm going to tell them. But you know what? It should be the rare thing that touches your heart when you don't share Christ with someone. It shouldn't be the normal thing that you let people come through your life that you don't tell them about Christ. Well, I sing a new song since Jesus came. I serve a new master. I wear his name. I walk a new road. I have a new goal. I know a new peace. down deep in my soul. Let's bow together for a word of prayer this morning. Lord, I thank you for the Simeons and Annas, but even more than that, I thank you for the Pagans of Thessalonica. They show us that it's possible to walk worthy of you, O Holy God, despite a very soiled and wicked past, despite self-righteous false worship you can change all that. Thank you for the new life you've given us in Christ. And I pray this morning, if there's anyone here that hasn't yet found that new life, that they would turn to you, O God, from their idols. For if they are not in Christ, they are worshipping at the altar of self, and self-righteousness, and self-works, and self-achievement, instead of at the foot of the cross, humbly trusting only in your finished work, dear Jesus. Work in our hearts, draw to yourself any whom you would have this morning. We pray, O Father, and open our lips to speak of you, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen.