Play the Long Game

Good morning. Good morning, Alive Church. Good morning. Thank you for being interactive. It's going to be an interactive kind of morning. So, those of you who responded, you're on the right track. If we haven't had a chance to meet, my name is Carrie Arnold and I have the privilege of being one of the leaders here at Alive Church and I have an even greater privilege of getting to walk us through scripture today. And for those of you who have been with us when we started the book of Luke, uh we're going to be picking up in Luke again. If you haven't been here, that's okay. I'm going to give you a quick recap before we get started with today's scripture reading. So, we are in the book of Luke, chapter 2. And if I had to give a a quick recap, in fact, three-word recap for the first chapter and into the second chapter of Luke, I would say angels and babies. That's pretty much what the first and second chapter are. We start Luke 1 with the angel coming to Zachariah and telling him that he and his wife Elizabeth are going to have a baby boy. And then we see an angel coming to Mary to tell her that Mary and Joseph are going to have a little boy. And then we see babies. It's kind of like right now we've had a boom of babies in 2025. In case you haven't noticed, if you haven't noticed, go hang out in our infants to twos room because they are just busting into the seams. So we have babies. We have babies born. We have John. We'll learn more about John later in Luke. And then we have Jesus. We have the baby boy Jesus born, which we read through obviously this week at Christmas time. So we are going to pick up in Luke chapter 2. And before I have you stand for the reading of the word, we get the privilege also today of having our alive kids, first through fifth graders in service with us. So, I want to hear you guys. Where are you at? Where are my my first through fifth graders? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. All right. So, they're going to be joining us today, which means today might be a little bit more interactive. So, whether you're one of our live kids or one of our live youth or you're just an adult who really likes to be a part of the show, today is your day. You get to interact. But go ahead and stand with me as we read through a portion of our scripture today. And we stand to honor God's word. So that's what we're going to do now. And you can follow along with me. We are going to be reading Luke 2 verse 27 through32. This scripture passage says, "Moved by the spirit, he, this is a man named Simeon, went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word today. We thank you that we are walking through your scripture and I pray that you would give us fresh and new revelations from your word. And I thank you that we get to learn about your son, the savior of the world. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You can go ahead and have a seat. Now, speaking today comes with a few challenges. I only get one service, so I got to make it good, right? I only get one service. I don't get a doover. And I have a very large age population in the room today. So, my goal is to capture everyone at some point. So, real quick, I want to tell you a story. Has anyone remember listening to radio shows or radio series? Okay, a few people. Yeah. For those of you who've never listened to a radio series, it's very similar to today's podcasts. So, where are my podcast listeners at? Okay. All right. So, I don't want to say back in the day because this was not that long ago, but it used to be that you sat around the radio and you listened to a radio show. Now, does anyone remember a radio show hosted by a man named Paul Harvey? Any Paul Har Okay, I got a couple more hands that time. Couple more hands. So, Paul Harvey had a radio series and his radio series had a catchphrase. Okay. He would say, "And now you know the rest of the story." See, you guys are getting it. It's going to be a great morning of interaction. And now you know the rest of the story. Now, I didn't grow up listening to that show. I got to know about that show from my father-in-law, Mike Arnold. He would sit his three boys down and they would listen to that radio show. My husband, Adam, is the oldest of those three boys. And if you know anything about Paul Harvey's show is he could tell a story. And if you'd ever gotten the chance to meet my father-in-law, you would know he could tell a story. And if you've had a chance to meet my husband, Adam, then you know he can tell a story. And his stories might go a little long, but they are captivating nonetheless. And so today, the rest of the story is kind of where we're at in Luke 2 because we're coming right off the heels of a big moment. Jesus is born and the angels come and tell the shepherds to go find the baby Jesus, the savior, and then we get the rest of the story. So that's what we're going to be walking through today in Luke 2 is the rest of the story. So it starts in verse 21. It says, "On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. When the time came for the purification rights required by the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons. So, let's just break this down for a minute. In this scripture passage, it mentions the law of Moses. So this is a reference to the writing in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament in chapter 12. And that section summarized says that the mother and baby infant boy are unclean for 7 days after birth. The baby boy is circumcised on the eighth day and then 40 days after birth they return to the temple for presentation and then lastly they give a sacrifice. um it's required to give a young lamb, but if you notice in our scripture passage today, Mary and Joseph brought two birds. This was considered a poorer offering, but an offering nonetheless. Now, the purpose of the law of Moses, the way it was designed was to symbolize that the Jews are set apart from the Gentiles and there's the cleansing of sin and redemption. So, let's talk about Mary and Joseph for a minute. At this point in the story, Mary and Joseph have some knowledge of the bigger picture. They don't have the full picture of who Jesus is and what he's going to do, but they have some knowledge of who he is. They know that Jesus is the son of God, not the son of Joseph, the son of God. They know that he is holy and will reign over Israel, which we get from prophecy. and they know that he will bring salvation and forgiveness of sins. They just don't know how yet. Now, Jesus's purpose, the reason that God sent him to the earth is to fulfill that law. Meaning, the law of Moses is no longer needed. Jesus came to fulfill the law. He came so that we could be forgiven of our sins and redeemed and he gives forgiveness to all. So Mary and Joseph are walking out this law of Moses because of their devout faith. They are doing it obediently to follow the law. So when I think about our lives in context with Mary and Joseph, I think about it this way. We can't always see what is on the other side of our obedience, but God can. We can't always see what is on the other side of our obedience, but God can. So Mary and Joseph, they obey the law not knowing what impact it's going to have. They obey out of faithfulness to God and the law that God gave because he loves his people. this. So, this made me think about our everyday life because we're talking about obedience, right? I'm sure that all of the parents in the room are like elbowing their kids and being like, "She's talking about obedience. You need to listen up." [sighs and gasps] We get the opportunity every day to obey. And we do it out of our faithfulness to God. We obey our parents. Some of us are obeying teachers. We are all obeying leaders. And we do that as a way to honor God and those he has put in our lives to share wisdom and grace. What we may not see in our obedience as those is those who are watching our obedience. When my children were younger, they're the oldest of a cousin set. So I have the three oldest and then they have three younger after them. And we had a saying, little eyes, little ears. meaning your cousins who are younger than you are watching and listening to what you're saying. I actually think it's a good reminder for us eyes and ears are watching and listening what we are do and how we obey and honor God points them to who God is. Now Mary and Joseph are not the only ones impacted by that day in the temple. So starting in verse 25, we get to meet two new people. So, we've met Mary and Joseph and Jesus, obviously. Then, we get to meet two people, a man named Simeon and a woman named Anna. It says in the scriptures that Simeon was religious and devout. And the Holy Spirit gives him a promise that he will see the Messiah before his death. And he waits. He doesn't just wait. He eagerly waits. And then we meet Anna. Anna is described as a prophet, meaning that she proclaimed God's truth. She was married for seven years and then became a widow. And then she stayed a widow until she died at 84 years of age. In that time, she devoted herself to worship, to fasting, and praying in the temple. So at this point in scripture, Simeon is led to a specific place at a specific time. He's led by the Holy Spirit to the temple and we read that scripture passage when we started. He is there when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus and he gets to pray a blessing over him. So what happens next? So we read in verse 33, [snorts] the child's father and mother marveled at what was said about Jesus. And then next we get Anna on the scene. Anna arrives just as Simeon declares who Jesus is. And then we read in verse 38, "Coming up to them at that very moment, she Anna gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." Now, Simeon and Anna, they have a lot in common, which is kind of one of the reasons I put them together as we talked about them today. So, they are both mature in years and faith. They're deeply committed to their faith and both have been eagerly waiting for the Messiah with expectancy. Most importantly, they arrived at the right place and the right time for a purpose. So, just a moment ago, we were talking about obedience. Another thought I'd like to share with you today about obedience is obedience can lead us to the right place at the right time for the right person and the right purpose. I almost messed that up. Hope you didn't tell. Obedience one more time can lead us to the right place at the right time for the right person and the right purpose. So Simeon and Anna's purpose was to declare the savior. The light has come for all people, not just the Jews. Now, that's not the only example in scripture where we see obedience, being at the right place and right time. So, we're going to go through a quick list. It's not a countdown list. These aren't my favorites. It's not a countdown list. I don't have a podcast that I'm going to plug right here with my countdown list. I'm going to tell you the story, but I want you to tell me who I'm talking about. And if you don't know these stories, then I just know you're going to rush home and read them today. And remember, our alive kids, you're in the room. So, I want to hear your voices, too. I'm going to tell you someone in the Bible, the story of someone who was obedient. I want you guys to tell me who it was. Are you ready? Yeah. Okay. Here we go. This person obediently takes food to his brothers on the front lines of war, challenges the giant Goliath, and defeats him in the name of the Lord. You got it. David. David. Right place, right time. All right. Next one. Next one. Here we go. This person obediently worships God and God alone despite law from the king. You got it. He's thrown into a den of lions only to emerge declaring the living God. We've got Daniel. This one, this next one might be my favorite. This person advocates advocates to the king for their people, the Jews, even though it could cost them their life. There it is, Esther. Good job. Now, in each of these lives, the choice of obedience may not make sense in the moment, but the purpose is the same. To point to God. Just like there are others watching our obedience for how it points to God, there are those all around us who need to know that God is working in their lives. So, what does that look like in your everyday life? In my everyday life, what does that look like? That might look like a kind word. Smile goes a long way. It might look like a helping hand. It might look like encouragement. The right place at the right time. It might look like taking time to pray with someone who is hurting. I know in all of those possible examples, it means being present and available. It means we are Holy Spirit led to see all of those around us. For me, that means I need to slow down and quiet myself because I can be a little bit of an Energizer buddy. But in those moments when I slow myself down and I take a moment and just pray asking the Holy Spirit, show me what you see and guide me where you would have me to go. Being Holy Spirit-ledd and available. Now, for this last part of my message, I'm just going to be very honest. We have a time gap. Okay? If you were watching a movie at this point in scripture, there'd be a screen that would go up and at the bottom of the screen it would say 12 years later. Or for my younger friends that are joining us today, it would be the Spongebob meme meme where he says 12 years later. It would be that that's there's no way to get around it. That's a horrible impression, guys. But I have practiced it for weeks and it never got any better. But there's a 12-year time gap. There's no way to seamlessly go from one to the other. So, we get a 12-ear time gap. So, at the next part of scripture, we arrive where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus have gone to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Now, if you're not familiar about the Passover festival, it was a very important festival that the uh Jews would go to Jerusalem to celebrate. And they would celebrate the Passover. Meaning if you go back to the days of Moses when uh the Israelites were being held captive by the Pharaoh and Moses is saying let my people go and there was a plague that God said would come and the plague would take all of the firstborn sons. And uh at that time the Israelites were encouraged to put blood on the doorposts and it would pass by them, pass over them and the boys would not die. And so the firstborn Egyptians died and it broke Pharaoh and he let the people go. It's a whole big story. We're not we're just going to stop there. But they are in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival. Now this is the only glimpse of Jesus as a child in scripture. This is the only piece. And at this time, hence the gap. He's 12 years old. And uh at 12 years old in their culture, they were considered both a child and an adult. They could be considered either. It kind of reminds me of my 15 and 1/2 year olds. Do we have any 15 and 1/ half year olds here today in my youth section? No. 15 and 1/2 year olds? Anybody close? Okay, Jackson's close. Okay, so at 15 and a half, just pay attention, Jackson, so you know what's coming up. At 15 and a half, we have the privilege for our 15 and 1/2 year olds, they can uh take a test and get their driver's permit, right? And then at 16, if they pass their test with uh with with a good score, they get to drive a car. If you think about it, it's kind of a weird thing because at 16, we'll let you drive a car, but you're not considered an adult. So, you can drive this massive machine on busy highways, but you know, there's all the 18-year-old things you can't do. So, Jesus is kind of in this same section where he's not quite a kid, but he's not quite an adult. And what that means for our story is he could travel with his mom and the women of the caravan to and from Jerusalem. That's where the children went. He might have traveled with her because his cousins or siblings would have been there or he could travel with the men and his father. And so we arrive at this point in verses 43 through 45. Let me tell you what happens. It says, "After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. And when they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. So coming off the heels of Christmas, this is giving major Home Alone vibes. Anybody get what I'm catching there? You know, I think in Home Alone, there's like everybody getting ready to go to the airport and a cousin or an older sibling is in charge of like counting all the kids and she obviously counts wrong. And lo and behold, Kevin is left at home, home alone, and his family's gone on without him. Now, I have to be honest. Before I was a parent, I used to judge Mary and Joseph a little. I'm like, how can you lose a kid, right? And then I became a parent of three. My children were all born in five years of age. So, I had three under the age of five. And I did a lot of head counting. A lot of head counting. So, I can give some grace. I can give some grace. So after they've discovered that he is missing, we know that he's in the temple. So in verse 46 it says, "After 3 days, they found him in the temple courts sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him who heard Jesus was amazed at his understanding and his answers." So the rabbis, these are the the most studied rabbis in all the land are there and they're amazed. And I used to think it was because of his age, but it was actually because of his depth of wisdom. And then next we see in verse 48 says, "When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." I don't know how she would have read that. I can read that in my head the way I would as a mom, but I don't want to put that on Mary. And then Jesus says, "Why are you searching for me?" He asked, "Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house?" So Jesus's first ever words spoken in scripture are questions. Now, he's not questioning his parents. He's seeking to understand. There's a big distinction there. And despite it being questions that he puts forth, he's actually making a declaration. The declaration he's making is that he longs and belongs to be in church. Now, in case you didn't know, here at Alive Church, at all of our locations, our Alive kids and youth make declarations every time that they are in this building. They make them in their classrooms. They make them in their wid midweek services. There are four declarations that they make every week without fail. So, my alive kids and youth, this is one of those moments I said I was going to need your help. I'm going to say the first three declarations, but when it comes to the fourth declaration, I want you guys to say it with me like you say it in your classrooms and my helpers. I know I've got some amazing leaders out there. So these are the four declarations that our alive kids and youth make. They declare, "I am loved. I am a leader. I am a world changer. I go church. >> I belong in God's church. I belong in God's church." Every time our children and our youth are in these walls, they know that they are loved, that they are leaders, that they are going to change the world, and that this is a place that they belong. So when we look at this in the light of our scripture and Jesus, Jesus with his questions is setting the stage for a ministry of belonging for all ages. Later we're going to read in scripture that Jesus will gather his disciples with invitations of follow me. His disciples and those Jesus encounters will echo the same belonging with invitations of come and see. In John 1, Jesus uses the words come, see, and follow. Three times he says come and you will see. He says follow me. And then lastly, he says you will see greater things than these. So at the end of November, Pastor Michael reminded us of vision for the new year. We are purposed in the present and focused in the future. And we see this throughout the entire scripture passage today. Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna are all intentionally purposed in the present. And here at a live church, our purpose is all around us. You heard purpose in the kids and youth decorate declarations. It's part of our identity statement which is on our walls in the lobby [music] and it's who we are in our mission that at live church we exist so that as many people as possible will live fully alive. So this year, as we close out 2025, I want to invite you into a new year that is about fully following Jesus and seeing what he wants to do in us and through us. When we reflect on the passage today, Mary and Joseph were in wonder of their son. Simeon and Anna expectedly waited with wonder about the coming Messiah. And Jesus at 12 years old, he listened and taught in the temple with wonder. So I invite you, we get to enter the new year with wonder. Our last thought for today is wonder leads us to come and see and love calls us to follow. What does it look like to follow? If I asked our alive kids and alive youth to come on stage, I'm not asking you to come on stage and play a game of Simon says, we might see what following looks like. Better yet, if I said the winner would get a prize of one year free Chick-fil-A, how many of you think they would follow pretty well? Yeah. How many of you would do that? How many of you would come up for a free year? That's what I'm saying. I can tell you this, to win that game, they would have to focus. I think I can say with 100% certainty, you'll never win a game of Simon says distracted. You won't. You'll miss something and you could be out. So to follow takes intentional focus. So, what does intentional focus in the new year look like for us? A few questions for you to reflect on, maybe even write them down. Are we filled with wonder at what the new year has to hold? Are you wondering, God, what do you want to do in my life in a new [music] year? Back to the beginning of where we started today. Are there areas of your life that need greater obedience? Spoiler alert, there are those in my life that need greater obedience. Are you aware of the people around you that are desperate for God to show up in their life and the right word at the right time could point them to God in a new and fresh way? Maybe 2025 was a rough year. If you're being honest with yourself, [music] it was a rough year and you're not sure about the new year. That's okay. That's okay. Maybe obedience and wonder just looks like showing up and saying, "God, do what you want to do." As we go through the book of Luke into the new year, we're going to learn about his disciples. We are going to learn that his disciples came from many different walks of life, many different seasons of life and they came with their own rough year moments. But Jesus invited them. He said, "Come follow. Come and see." Would you stand with me today? We've asked a lot of questions of ourselves as we close out the year, as we close out this message today. >> [music] >> And my prayer is that in this moment and maybe in the days to follow that you take some time to just sit and listen for what the Holy Spirit wants to speak to you and [music] write them down. More importantly, I I pray and we'll pray over you in just a moment that you get to walk into the new year with a new sense of wonder and expectancy. In just a moment, we're going to continue worshiping to close out today. But before we do that, let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. I thank you that you sent your son so that we could live a life forgiven of our sins and redeemed. That we would no longer need to live under the law, but that we would get to live in relationship with you. And God, I pray for each and every person in this place [music] today. I pray that this passage comes alive to them and that they would have the opportunity and take the opportunity all of us together to hear what you have for us. That your word and your Holy Spirit would guide us. And God, we just come into this new year with wonder and expectancy, [music] knowing that you are doing a work in us and surrendered, you are doing a work through us. And may everything that we do glorify [music] you and your son in Jesus' name. Amen.