Mark Medley: This is our second uh sermon in our Christmas series, which is called Expecting.
Mark Medley: I thought it was just kind of a little bit funny this morning because Brooke was playing the guitar.
Mark Medley: You know, Brooke is expecting.
Mark Medley: And uh in just a few weeks, and it was just funny that she was playing the guitar off to her side like this because she couldn't play it like this.
Mark Medley: That was beautiful, actually.
Mark Medley: Um but this this series is about uh Christmas, but it's really about growing to uh growing in our on our journey of learning how to worship Jesus better and become a better, better worshiper of Jesus.
Mark Medley: So we're learning through the songs of the Christmas story how to expect Jesus to speak to us.
Mark Medley: And whether we're in our family in worship uh at home or individual worship in home or a corporate gathering here.
Mark Medley: So last week we learned from Zechariah's song, how we can enter into worship and hear God.
Mark Medley: Zechariah heard the voice of God.
Mark Medley: Um and this week we're studying a different, another uh kind of a character that gets overlooked sometimes, but he has a song too.
Mark Medley: His name is Simeon, and he's a man who knew God and he heard the voice of God, and he dedicated himself to the service of God and to the temple and had a lifestyle of worship, and out of that came this song that brought glory to God.
Mark Medley: So if you'll read with me in Luke in chapter 2, starting verse 21, let's read Simeon's song and the story around it.
Mark Medley: And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Mark Medley: And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves, or two pigeons, two young pigeons.
Mark Medley: 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.
Mark Medley: 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 Allah, he took him up in his arms, and he blessed God and said, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
Mark Medley: For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.
Mark Medley: A light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.
Mark Medley: And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him, and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.
Mark Medley: And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
Mark Medley: Father, this morning we thank you for your word, and we pray that through your holy son Jesus, the thoughts of all of us would be revealed.
Mark Medley: That you would go into the depths of our hearts, the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
Mark Medley: Let your word divide, and you would speak to us, Lord, as you want to this morning.
Mark Medley: In Jesus' name.
Mark Medley: Amen.
Mark Medley: Okay, so here in the midst of the Christmas story, we see uh this song rising out of the heart of this servant of God, a man who devoted himself to God, devoted himself to the temple, who leaned in close to Jesus to hear the heartbeat of Jesus, and who even was given a promise by the Holy Spirit.
Mark Medley: And you know that's that happens when you're that kind of a person, when you're a person who leans in, who is devoted to the Lord, God gives promises to those people.
Mark Medley: He gives privileges to such a person.
Mark Medley: Even today he does.
Mark Medley: Simeon was a man who knew God in his daily life and even knew him further in his worship in the temple.
Mark Medley: So he's not the only one, though, in the story.
Mark Medley: If we read a little further, we'd also see that Anna was involved in this.
Mark Medley: She didn't have a song, or at least she didn't have a song that Luke recorded for us, but she was just as devoted as Simeon was.
Mark Medley: And she was a widow, advanced in years, a prophetess, it says, who apparently lived in the temple, it says, and worshiped the Lord with fasting and praying.
Mark Medley: And she also came into the scene at the exact same time that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus in.
Mark Medley: Here comes Simeon, here comes Anna, here comes uh the parents of Jesus all into the temple.
Mark Medley: First of all, I'm really grateful for the seasoned saints of God, older people who are faithful to come to church to serve in the church.
Mark Medley: And um, we have some Annas and Simeons here today.
Mark Medley: You know that?
Mark Medley: We've got some really faithful people, and the scripture says to give honor to whom honor is due.
Mark Medley: And so um, we're not gonna call you up, but uh we want to honor you.
Mark Medley: We want to thank you for everything that you do, your service, your faithful service through the years, and you know who you are, and uh if you don't feel old enough, just ignore that.
Mark Medley: But if you feel old enough, then we want to honor you.
Mark Medley: We thank you for valuing the church, valuing the kingdom of God.
Mark Medley: And you know how to worship your Lord with your entire lives, with all of who you are.
Mark Medley: And so thank you for being dedicated to him and to his church.
Mark Medley: But everyone in the story is gathered around the temple.
Mark Medley: Everyone in the story had a custom of going to church.
Mark Medley: They attended church.
Mark Medley: And so this morning, uh, as because they valued the gathering of the saints together, we're gonna talk about gathering together in worship.
Mark Medley: We're gonna talk about worship this morning, but specifically when we gather here in corporate worship together.
Mark Medley: And um, so let's see what the Lord can speak to us out of this verse, this passage concerning that.
Mark Medley: So you know that worship, as we said last week, is a revelation.
Mark Medley: It's a response, and it's a relationship.
Mark Medley: God, in his kindness, opens our hearts to see him, opens our eyes to see him in different ways, and that causes response to come from us.
Mark Medley: It's a response from our soul, our spirit, our minds, our bodies.
Mark Medley: We respond in some way as we see him, and that response eventually it leaks out into our entire life.
Mark Medley: And so it's really a relationship.
Mark Medley: The whole point of it all, of worship, is relationship with God.
Mark Medley: Right?
Mark Medley: And God revealed himself to Simon, to Simeon.
Mark Medley: We see him as God revealed himself as a God of purpose because he said he has a mission not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles.
Mark Medley: And we see that God revealed himself even, he revealed a little secret to Simeon.
Mark Medley: Right?
Mark Medley: You're not gonna die until you see uh the Christ.
Mark Medley: And the response of Simeon was a lifestyle of worship that he brought into the temple, and um he was moved by the Spirit.
Mark Medley: It says, moved by the Spirit, he went to the temple.
Mark Medley: So this was his pattern.
Mark Medley: His pattern of living was being faithful to attend church.
Mark Medley: We could say it that way.
Mark Medley: And his relationship was that he was devoted to God.
Mark Medley: So Simeon means the one who hears and obeys.
Mark Medley: That's what his word, his name means.
Mark Medley: One who hears and obeys.
Mark Medley: So when we say that he has a relationship with God, we mean a few things.
Mark Medley: First, we mean that he had a walk with God.
Mark Medley: A walk with God, scripture from the beginning of Genesis all the way through the end of the Bible, there's this word in there, walk, which which has uh is application toward our relationship with God.
Mark Medley: It's a walk.
Mark Medley: It's and a walk is, as you all know, because you walked in here today, is a step and a step and a step, right?
Mark Medley: It is taking steps day by day.
Mark Medley: It is making decisions day by day, little decisions on a journey with Christ.
Mark Medley: Little decisions that are that are consistent with your commitment to God, and more than that, consistent grounded in his commitment to you.
Mark Medley: Because he's committed to you, you commit to him.
Mark Medley: That's a walk.
Mark Medley: We take step, step, step, taking steps of obedience, um, honoring the Lord day by day.
Mark Medley: And this is what we see in Simeon.
Mark Medley: He was full of the Spirit, it says, He was full of the word because when he when he spoke and his prayer and his prophecy to Mary was uh from scripture.
Mark Medley: He's quoting the Old Testament even while he's speaking.
Mark Medley: So his relationship means that he had a walk with God, but also his relationship means that he attended church.
Mark Medley: He went to church regularly, he knew where to find God.
Mark Medley: You can find God among his people.
Mark Medley: His life was grounded in fellowship with other people.
Mark Medley: And also his relationship means that he heard God.
Mark Medley: And he heard God when God was mostly silent.
Mark Medley: Because there had been 400 years of silence between the last time a prophet spoke from God and the time that Jesus came was 400 years.
Mark Medley: No official word through a major prophet is recorded there.
Mark Medley: And yet this man was tuned in to the Holy Spirit.
Mark Medley: When there was a famine of the word of God in the land, he still heard the voice of God.
Mark Medley: He heard the promise that was spoken to him.
Mark Medley: So Simeon knew the voice of God speaking from the scriptures, and he knew the voice of God speaking to his own heart, his own spirit.
Mark Medley: And he responded.
Mark Medley: He kept the light, the lamp of prophecy burning even when there was no prophecy in the land.
Mark Medley: It was almost snuffed out, but it wasn't.
Mark Medley: And those who are devoted to God can hear his voice.
Mark Medley: And then he responded to God immediately.
Mark Medley: This is interesting.
Mark Medley: God spoke to him and he responded right away.
Mark Medley: As he walked with God, he looked for the fulfillment of that prophecy.
Mark Medley: It says he was expecting the consolation of Israel.
Mark Medley: So he was expecting, just like we're expecting, he had a promise from God, as all as did all the Jews, that there would be a Messiah who would come, who would save them.
Mark Medley: And so he was expecting that prophecy to come to pass, especially because God said, You're not going to die until you see this.
Mark Medley: He had a little incentive to go to the temple.
Mark Medley: So God moves in timing.
Mark Medley: God has perfect timing for his purposes.
Mark Medley: And this is why it's important for us to, when we hear him, to respond immediately.
Mark Medley: Anna came to the temple, Simeon came to the temple.
Mark Medley: Joseph and Mary came to the temple, and there's where this whole story converges.
Mark Medley: But they're responding to God.
Mark Medley: First time obedience is really important.
Mark Medley: Okay?
Mark Medley: And those of you who have children and you're trying your best to get your kids to obey you the first time, there's this principle of obedience, right?
Mark Medley: It's not obedience unless you actually do what's told.
Mark Medley: So do what I say, do all that I say, do it when I say it, do it with a happy spirit.
Mark Medley: This is this is our goal, okay?
Mark Medley: This is what we're going for.
Mark Medley: You don't have doesn't happen immediately, but this is what we're going for.
Mark Medley: And we train our children to do this because we want them to also respond to God that way.
Mark Medley: When they learn to hear God's voice, they do it completely, immediately with a happy spirit.
Mark Medley: So what you're doing in uh in training your children to obedience is you're training them to obey God.
Mark Medley: If you don't train them to obedience, you're training them to disobey God.
Mark Medley: Because God says to them, the only real commandment that He gives to them is honor your father and mother.
Mark Medley: So we have to hold the standard of obedience to teach them to honor their parents so they're obeying God and that they hear God's voice later on.
Mark Medley: And then Simeon's relationship with God, his being faithful to God, led him to the point where his faith became sight.
Mark Medley: He saw and he held the promised Messiah in his arms.
Mark Medley: I don't know what that was like.
Mark Medley: It must have been must have been beautiful.
Mark Medley: Must have been beautiful.
Mark Medley: But he held the promise in his hand.
Mark Medley: We don't always get to hold the promise in our arms.
Mark Medley: Sometimes God moves a little different way, or sometimes we're praying for something that's going to come up, come to pass in a time later, you know.
Mark Medley: But sometimes we do get to hold the promise of God in our arms.
Mark Medley: And Simeon did.
Mark Medley: And as he held the Messiah, his heart just burst out into this song.
Mark Medley: And his song tells us a lot about him.
Mark Medley: His song says that he understood that God is in control.
Mark Medley: God is sovereign, he keeps his promise, and that he understood mission.
Mark Medley: God has got a big plan.
Mark Medley: God is not only concerned with the Jews, but also with all the nations, including us today.
Mark Medley: He was praising God, and his praise turned into prophecy.
Mark Medley: Remember, last week we talked about, we talked about how as we praise, the voice of God begins sometimes to move prophetically.
Mark Medley: And this is what happened.
Mark Medley: He's just focused on God and what God has done.
Mark Medley: And then he turns and has this prophecy to Mary.
Mark Medley: He turns to Mary and he says, This child is for the rising and the falling of many in Israel, so that the hearts of many would be revealed.
Mark Medley: So, a lifestyle of worship with God, one of the things that happens is God begins to reveal our hearts.
Mark Medley: As we love him, he loves us, and he wants to turn our hearts more toward him so that we live the blessed life he wants us to live.
Mark Medley: So Simeon was quoting a prophecy here.
Mark Medley: I don't know if you caught that, but he was quoting from Isaiah chapter 8, the Messiah would be a stumbling stone, a rock of offense.
Mark Medley: But Isaiah also prophesied that the Messiah was going to be a foundation.
Mark Medley: I lay in Zion, this is in chapter 28, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
Mark Medley: So the Messiah was going to be a sure foundation and a stone of stumbling.
Mark Medley: Wow, how does that work?
Mark Medley: It sounds a little strange to us, doesn't it?
Mark Medley: That the rock that is our foundation is also a stone of stumbling for others.
Mark Medley: And it depends on your heart.
Mark Medley: The state of your heart.
Mark Medley: So I'm I would say 100% sure that everyone here has been offended by a person.
Mark Medley: Is that right?
Mark Medley: Is anybody not?
Mark Medley: I'm looking.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: Never been offended by a person.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: All right.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: Well, I know that's not true.
Mark Medley: Yeah, it's yeah, you have.
Mark Medley: But have you been offended by God?
Mark Medley: Have you ever faced a circumstance in your life that you could not reconcile with the concept of a loving and sovereign God?
Mark Medley: He's full of love, He's full of, He's in control, and yet this is happening.
Mark Medley: Have you ever been offended by God?
Mark Medley: Have you ever experienced things that have shaken your faith?
Mark Medley: If not, I think maybe you haven't followed very far.
Mark Medley: Because this is the way of things.
Mark Medley: It's the normal way of things.
Mark Medley: Jesus is a sure foundation, but he is also a stumbling stone.
Mark Medley: And sometimes, sometimes God will throw down a little rock, a little stumbling stone to test our hearts.
Mark Medley: It's not cruel.
Mark Medley: It's wise.
Mark Medley: And it's good.
Mark Medley: It's out of the goodness of his heart.
Mark Medley: He wants to reveal our own hearts to ourselves, to us.
Mark Medley: He wants us to mature.
Mark Medley: He wants to move us further into his purposes, but it doesn't feel like that when it's happening.
Mark Medley: It just feels like I'm offended with God.
Mark Medley: The religious leaders who were opposing Jesus and the common people who heard Jesus gladly were oftentimes in the same crowd as Jesus was talking.
Mark Medley: And one group was deeply offended by his words.
Mark Medley: And the other group were filled with hope and joy and wonder at his words.
Mark Medley: And Simeon says, Behold, this child is appointed for the rising and the falling of many in Israel, that the hearts of many would be revealed.
Mark Medley: The word of God divides asunder even the soul and spirit and the thoughts and intents of our hearts.
Mark Medley: So I was thinking about that this week, and I thought about the story that Matthew told us in Matthew 15.
Mark Medley: Do you remember it was a Canaanite woman, a Syropharenician woman who came to Jesus, and she had a daughter who was being oppressed severely by the devil, and she came to Jesus because she believed Jesus could do something about it.
Mark Medley: And she said, Jesus, would you please heal my daughter?
Mark Medley: And Jesus said, I was only sent to the house of Israel.
Mark Medley: And it's not good to take the bread that belongs to the children and give it to the dogs.
Mark Medley: Okay, what is he saying?
Mark Medley: Is he calling her a dog?
Mark Medley: Is he being racist, the Jews versus the Gentiles?
Mark Medley: What's he doing here?
Mark Medley: What is that?
Mark Medley: It's like if we if we call people up for prayer at the end of the service, you know, we have a whole line of people, and it's like, okay, we're we're gonna pray for healing.
Mark Medley: Whoever needs healing, come forward.
Mark Medley: And so we're praying.
Mark Medley: Oh Lord, thank you.
Mark Medley: Bring your healing completely, Lord.
Mark Medley: We lay hands on this one.
Mark Medley: Would you just please heal this one?
Mark Medley: We come to you and we go, uh, it's not for the dogs.
Mark Medley: And we come over here to this next one.
Mark Medley: Well, what would you do?
Mark Medley: Well, what you do reveals your heart.
Mark Medley: What did she do?
Mark Medley: She said, Yes, but Lord, even the dogs get the crumbs from the table.
Mark Medley: Something falls to the ground, and the dogs get the That.
Mark Medley: And you know what Jesus did?
Mark Medley: This I'm paraphrasing.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: He said, Well done.
Mark Medley: Well done.
Mark Medley: I see your heart.
Mark Medley: You stepped past that stone of stumbling.
Mark Medley: You went with your faith over the top of that stumbling stone.
Mark Medley: And what you want, you're gonna get.
Mark Medley: And her daughter was made whole from that hour.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: Okay, why does God do this?
Mark Medley: Because God knows our hearts.
Mark Medley: He knows where we're at, he knows what it takes to get us from here to there, to the next place, to the next level of maturity and knowledge of Him and ability to bless other people.
Mark Medley: So if there are things in your life this morning that are confusing or causing you to be offended, take a pause and ask God, what is it?
Mark Medley: Is there something in my heart that you need to show me?
Mark Medley: Do I need to change?
Mark Medley: Is there something of my action or my attitude or my thoughts or the way I'm thinking about you?
Mark Medley: Or is there something you want to change in me?
Mark Medley: Is God getting your attention because there needs to be correction?
Mark Medley: Could be.
Mark Medley: Simeon could have been offended because it had been years and years since he had this promise.
Mark Medley: He's never seen the Messiah yet.
Mark Medley: And Anna could have been offended because she was a widow.
Mark Medley: Her husband died.
Mark Medley: And for many, many years.
Mark Medley: She's by herself.
Mark Medley: She could have been offended, but she came to church.
Mark Medley: And she saw the Savior.
Mark Medley: Offense.
Mark Medley: They were in the temple, they're pushing past their offense, and they're not letting it steal their worship.
Mark Medley: And this is the thing this morning.
Mark Medley: Offenses, it's one of the major things that steal our worship to God.
Mark Medley: We get offended at God or at people, and we let that get in the way of our worship.
Mark Medley: And Satan is a thief of worship.
Mark Medley: He's a thief.
Mark Medley: If you look at the origin of Satan in the scripture, there's some passages in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 that talk about Lucifer, about how he fell, how what he was before, and how he fell.
Mark Medley: And apparently, there's a little bit of mystery here, but apparently there's an indication that he was like an anointed archangel that covered the throne of God and was was um part of his job was taking the worship of all creation and reflecting it back down to God until he decided to take a little bit of that for himself.
Mark Medley: He was exalted in his own beauty and in his own eyes, and he he was lifted up.
Mark Medley: And the scripture says, You said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high, I will sit on the mount of the assembly, I will ascend above the heights in the clouds, I will make myself like the most high.
Mark Medley: But you are brought down, brought down to hell, to the far reaches of the pit.
Mark Medley: You see, his heart was, I will, I think I deserve a little bit of this credit.
Mark Medley: I mean, look at me.
Mark Medley: I'm pretty special.
Mark Medley: I'm an angel over the throne of God.
Mark Medley: So he was lifted up in his beauty.
Mark Medley: He decided to reach out and steal some of that, which was only deservedly goes to God.
Mark Medley: And he wanted to take some for himself.
Mark Medley: And that is the reason that he fell.
Mark Medley: And so that's not that's what he still does.
Mark Medley: He still does this thing trying to steal worship.
Mark Medley: He tries to steal our worship now.
Mark Medley: And he has many tactics he tries to do to steal what rightfully belongs to God.
Mark Medley: And remember the story that we read this morning takes place in the temple where we gather together and worship like a church building.
Mark Medley: So, how can we guard ourselves against our worship being stolen when we're together?
Mark Medley: How can we bring an acceptable sacrifice to worship God together?
Mark Medley: I'm glad you asked.
Mark Medley: A lot of people fail to experience the fullness of what God wants them to have in worship because they fail to prepare and bring a sacrifice.
Mark Medley: You know, in the Old Testament, nobody ever came to worship God without bringing something.
Mark Medley: There were offerings they were supposed to bring.
Mark Medley: So they brought the offering that was prescribed.
Mark Medley: They brought it the best they could afford.
Mark Medley: Sometimes you have provisions for people who are poorer.
Mark Medley: You can bring this or you can bring this, whichever one you can do.
Mark Medley: And so they're bringing whatever's specifically prescribed, the best they can afford.
Mark Medley: Like David said, I will not offer to God something that costs me nothing.
Mark Medley: This is the attitude of a worshiper.
Mark Medley: I want to bring something.
Mark Medley: How can we worship him in that same spirit?
Mark Medley: How can we have that attitude?
Mark Medley: I want to bring something to God.
Mark Medley: For all that God has done for me, I will come not only to receive, I will come to give.
Mark Medley: I'll bring something, bring a sacrifice.
Mark Medley: Now, we know we don't bring a sacrifice to God, excuse me, to be right with God.
Mark Medley: There's already a sacrifice for that.
Mark Medley: It's Jesus Christ, the righteous one, who was offered for us the perfect sacrifice that makes us acceptable to God.
Mark Medley: So we don't come with a sacrifice so that God would accept us.
Mark Medley: We come because God has already accepted us in Christ, and we bring something out of a pure heart of motivation, of love.
Mark Medley: So, but you but we are called upon to bring something when we come to worship.
Mark Medley: So I want to give you some practical steps this morning about how to prepare yourself, how to bring a sacrifice when we're worshiping together.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: So I may try to make it easy for you.
Mark Medley: So I made it into an acronym acronym.
Mark Medley: And it's in the letters spell out the word prime, P-R-I-M-E, prime, as if you were going to prime your praise pump.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: So we're going to prime our praise pump this morning or learn how to do it.
Mark Medley: You know what a pump is, right?
Mark Medley: You remember the old, is anybody anybody used an old pump?
Mark Medley: I mean, now we just turn the faucet on, right?
Mark Medley: This is like that's not really much.
Mark Medley: But but it, you know, if you have a pump and a well and there's there's water under the ground and you got to get it up, and you have to prime the pump a few pumps so the water comes up.
Mark Medley: Then the water's there and it's ready and it's flowing, right?
Mark Medley: But you got to do a little bit of work to get that water up here.
Mark Medley: Okay, so we're gonna talk about priming your praise pump this morning.
Mark Medley: So P is for prepare.
Mark Medley: Prepare.
Mark Medley: Now it says of Simeon, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devoted.
Mark Medley: Devoted or devout.
Mark Medley: He was devout.
Mark Medley: So that means if you're devoted to something, it means you, your, you, your life revolves around that something.
Mark Medley: Whatever it is.
Mark Medley: There's some people who are so devoted to their own hobby, whatever the hobby is, that like their whole life is focused on that.
Mark Medley: All of their time, all of their energy, much of their money, it's poured into whatever they're devoted to.
Mark Medley: He was devoted to God.
Mark Medley: He was not just coming to the temple out of habit, he brought his habit to the temple.
Mark Medley: Okay, that's that's good.
Mark Medley: You guys, yeah, I'll leave that up there a minute.
Mark Medley: Maybe you want to take a picture of that.
Mark Medley: That's good.
Mark Medley: He wasn't coming to church out of habit, he was bringing his habit to the temple.
Mark Medley: He came by the spirit into the temple.
Mark Medley: He was doing, he, what he already was, he brought there.
Mark Medley: He didn't come there to get the spirit, he lived in the spirit and he came to the temple.
Mark Medley: That's that's called preparing.
Mark Medley: That's called your lifestyle day by day makes you into the person that you are, and you bring that person into church.
Mark Medley: And together, it's powerful when you do that.
Mark Medley: He was already ready before he came.
Mark Medley: So, how can we prepare?
Mark Medley: All week long, stay in an attitude of worship.
Mark Medley: Play some worship music during the day.
Mark Medley: Worship the Lord.
Mark Medley: Um, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
Mark Medley: Be sensitive to the mind of the Lord.
Mark Medley: Walk with God.
Mark Medley: And this way you come into the service with an idea of what God is already speaking.
Mark Medley: You'll never get the most out of your Sunday corporate worship experience if you're not living day by day in worship.
Mark Medley: So, and can I ask you, can I ask you to adjust your schedule?
Mark Medley: I know a lot of us are here on time, a lot of us can't be, a lot of us have you know kids, it's kind of hard to get here, those kind of things.
Mark Medley: But you can adjust your schedule.
Mark Medley: I mean, there's there's grace, but but you can adjust your schedule.
Mark Medley: Some of us go to bed really late on a Saturday night because there's some kind of ballgame on or something.
Mark Medley: I don't know.
Mark Medley: And we get up really late Sunday morning, and like, oh my gosh, we're running through the shower, we're grabbing something to eat or not eat, just grab a cup of coffee or something, and maybe get the kids together and like in the car, and you're driving slightly over the speed limit to get here, and you get here and you're a little bit late, so you gotta park up there, and then you gotta walk in.
Mark Medley: You slide in the back door back here, uh, and the during the third song of worship, and yeah, and then you're okay.
Mark Medley: Oh, what is this I'm feeling?
Mark Medley: Oh, yeah, it's the presence of God.
Mark Medley: I felt this last week.
Mark Medley: I remember last week, last Sunday.
Mark Medley: This is so good.
Mark Medley: Oh, it's over now.
Mark Medley: It's over.
Mark Medley: The last song is over.
Mark Medley: Oh, you what if you came early?
Mark Medley: I'm just uh it's just a little suggestion.
Mark Medley: What if you came early?
Mark Medley: So I was talking to my son-in-law Evan, who's from Ghana this week, and he said he was because he was an usher in a church there, and in the churches in the villages in Ghana, what they'll do is when the worship starts, they lock the door.
Mark Medley: And if you come late, you you have you're outside.
Mark Medley: You're standing outside.
Mark Medley: Now, when it's over, because they don't want anybody to like distract in worship, and then the worship is over, they'll unlock the door, you can come in and hear the preaching, but you have to stand outside.
Mark Medley: It's a little bit awkward.
Mark Medley: So we're gonna institute policy next week.
Mark Medley: I think if it's good enough for Africa, it's good for here, man.
Mark Medley: So it's gonna be our little counter's gonna go five, four, three, two, one, click.
Mark Medley: And if you're not in, you're out.
Mark Medley: And you have to be out there in the cold, and then after the worship's over, we'll we might let you in.
Mark Medley: No, we're not gonna do that.
Mark Medley: We we're not gonna do that, but what if you came early?
Mark Medley: That's all I'm really saying.
Mark Medley: What if you came early and ready?
Mark Medley: What if you brought your habit to the temple?
Mark Medley: Once you're prepared, your whole sacrifice is already prepared, your mind is in the spirit before you come.
Mark Medley: What if you live it all week long?
Mark Medley: What if you're accustomed to it when you walk in?
Mark Medley: Yeah, there's no culture shock.
Mark Medley: This is what preparing does.
Mark Medley: It saves you, prevents us from Sunday morning culture shock.
Mark Medley: Oh, oh, this is the spirit of God.
Mark Medley: This is the presence of God.
Mark Medley: I love it.
Mark Medley: You can have that all week long, by the way.
Mark Medley: It keeps culture shock from stealing our worship.
Mark Medley: Okay, P.
Mark Medley: R is for repent.
Mark Medley: Repent.
Mark Medley: It's now again, it says of Simeon.
Mark Medley: There was a right there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
Mark Medley: This man was righteous and devout.
Mark Medley: Righteous.
Mark Medley: Righteous and devout.
Mark Medley: Simeon was right with God.
Mark Medley: He came in right with God.
Mark Medley: And a lot of us are hindered from the presence of God because of a guilty conscience.
Mark Medley: You know, we do have an accuser.
Mark Medley: And he talks a lot.
Mark Medley: And even if we didn't, some of us have our own little thoughts in our head.
Mark Medley: We're accusing, we get accusation from both sides.
Mark Medley: And we're all feeling a little bit guilty.
Mark Medley: We have a guilty conscience, or maybe we have a maybe I'm possibly guilty conscious.
Mark Medley: You know, I can't think of anything I've done, but I just surely there's something, and I I don't, I just somehow feel like I'm I'm guilty all the time.
Mark Medley: Some people sort of live that way.
Mark Medley: So what's the answer?
Mark Medley: 1 John 1 9.
Mark Medley: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Mark Medley: He is faithful.
Mark Medley: Oh, but I haven't been faithful.
Mark Medley: But he is faithful.
Mark Medley: And we try to, we walk in the light, but if we sin, we repent quickly.
Mark Medley: And he's faithful and just to forgive us for our sins and cleanse us.
Mark Medley: He wipes it clean.
Mark Medley: You can you can live in the cleanness of God.
Mark Medley: This is what Jesus has done for us.
Mark Medley: We're grounded in the grace of God.
Mark Medley: We approach his throne through the blood of Christ.
Mark Medley: This is it.
Mark Medley: We restore our relationship with God quickly, or our relationship with our brother or sister, or wife quickly.
Mark Medley: We do it quickly so that this accusation of the enemy is not stealing our worship.
Mark Medley: So repentance prevents accusation from stealing your worship.
Mark Medley: So I is invest, P-R-I, invest.
Mark Medley: Look what it says about Jesus' parents.
Mark Medley: They brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, to offer the sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, two pair turtle doves or two young pigeons.
Mark Medley: Okay, they didn't come empty-handed.
Mark Medley: The law required them to bring a sacrifice.
Mark Medley: And so they did.
Mark Medley: They did.
Mark Medley: Now we understand Jesus is our sacrifice, but I want to ask you, what sacrifice did you bring here this morning?
Mark Medley: Or did you come with a mindset of bringing something this morning?
Mark Medley: I'm going to invest in this service.
Mark Medley: I'm not just coming to receive, I'm coming to invest.
Mark Medley: When you invest, you have an interest in what you invest in.
Mark Medley: And you're looking for a return on your investment.
Mark Medley: And so when you invest in the service by preparing beforehand, by coming in with an attitude of bringing something to the Lord.
Mark Medley: What did you bring this morning?
Mark Medley: Maybe you brought the fruit of your lips to give thanks.
Mark Medley: Maybe it's your words.
Mark Medley: Maybe it is your heart of service to help your brothers or your sisters or encourage them.
Mark Medley: You invest with your body.
Mark Medley: You know it's scriptural.
Mark Medley: What we do, uh there's scriptural forms of worship.
Mark Medley: When you're clapping, this is in the Bible.
Mark Medley: Oh, clap your hands, all you people.
Mark Medley: Clap to the Lord.
Mark Medley: When you're singing, when you are lifting your hands, this is in the Bible.
Mark Medley: When we're kneeling, it's in the Bible.
Mark Medley: When there's times of silence, all of these are forms of worship.
Mark Medley: And we are investing with our body.
Mark Medley: You know, sometimes because some of you probably don't think you sing real well, and so you just don't sing.
Mark Medley: This is a sacrifice that you can bring to God.
Mark Medley: You can sing.
Mark Medley: And I'll I'll just tell you probably the people around you are gonna be okay if you don't sing good.
Mark Medley: They'll probably be okay.
Mark Medley: They'll be all right.
Mark Medley: They'll just say, Bless his heart.
Mark Medley: What a joyful noise he's making.
Mark Medley: So invest with your body.
Mark Medley: Go ahead and open up and invest in this service.
Mark Medley: Don't just don't just spectate and watch people up here singing.
Mark Medley: Sing! Man, open up your mouth, let her rip, man.
Mark Medley: Let's go.
Mark Medley: One person is at I sing by letter.
Mark Medley: Open my mouth and let her fly.
Mark Medley: Go for it, man.
Mark Medley: Go for it.
Mark Medley: What do you bring?
Mark Medley: What about your broken heart?
Mark Medley: You can bring a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Mark Medley: You can lift your hands when you can hardly lift them, but you do anyway.
Mark Medley: Man, it's a beautiful form of worship.
Mark Medley: It's a beautiful sacrifice.
Mark Medley: Maybe it's the most beautiful kind of sacrifice.
Mark Medley: First Corinthians 14 says, when you come together, everyone has everyone, every one of you has a psalm or a scripture or an encouragement.
Mark Medley: So let everything be done decently in order.
Mark Medley: Okay, so we've got if we've got 250 or 300 people here, we can't let everybody sing a song one by one.
Mark Medley: They were doing it in smaller groups.
Mark Medley: But you do have something to bring, you have something to invest in.
Mark Medley: What he was saying was, you have a part.
Mark Medley: It's not just coming to watch other people do it.
Mark Medley: So when you want to invest your body and your prayer time and your and for the kingdom of God and to see his will be done, give yourself to the body of believers that you're a part of, commit to this church.
Mark Medley: This is all this is all investing.
Mark Medley: And it prevents apathy and laziness from stealing your worship.
Mark Medley: M is minister to God.
Mark Medley: Minister to God.
Mark Medley: Simeon took him up in his arms and he blessed God.
Mark Medley: He took the Messiah, the Savior, the promise he was given, you won't die till you see this child.
Mark Medley: He took the child in his arms and he gave thanks to God.
Mark Medley: He focused on God.
Mark Medley: When we talk about minister to God, we're saying, we're saying our focus is on Jesus when we worship.
Mark Medley: The glory and the pleasure of God is our only focus here.
Mark Medley: Do you remember last week we we talked about uh Exodus 15, the very first song in the Bible?
Mark Medley: And the very first words of the very first song is I will sing to the Lord.
Mark Medley: This is the focus.
Mark Medley: The focus is to the Lord.
Mark Medley: It's about all that He has done.
Mark Medley: It's all of us together.
Mark Medley: That's what it was there.
Mark Medley: But it was I will sing to the Lord, fixing our eyes on Jesus, ministering to him and worship.
Mark Medley: And I'll just say this.
Mark Medley: Um of us here suffer from ADD, and not the kind of ADD that you're thinking about.
Mark Medley: I'm talking about audience distraction disorder.
Mark Medley: You know, because you especially if you're not, you know, if it's one reason sitting in the front is great because you don't get so distracted, but you're back there, it's like you're looking around and you're like, well, there's brother so-and-so now.
Mark Medley: I wonder how it's going on.
Mark Medley: I need to talk to them afterwards, and it's just it's you're it's audience distraction disorder, right?
Mark Medley: Can't seem to keep from looking around at what's going on around you.
Mark Medley: If you need to, move up front.
Mark Medley: There's some seats.
Mark Medley: It's okay.
Mark Medley: This is it's a good thing where there are fewer distractions.
Mark Medley: And don't worry about what people are thinking about you because they probably aren't.
Mark Medley: I hate to break it to you, but they probably aren't.
Mark Medley: One time we had this uh uh this is many, many years ago back on Dedrick Avenue, Jack.
Mark Medley: We had this great service one Sunday night, and I mean.
Mark Medley: The worship just took over, and the presence of God was so strong, and we worshiped for over two hours.
Mark Medley: It was just nothing but worship the whole night.
Mark Medley: It was, it was powerful and thick, and the presence of God was so beautiful.
Mark Medley: And I was in the middle of the stage, you know, because I was leading from a guitar, and for two hours plus, and right over the top of me was the words.
Mark Medley: And so it looks like the strange things is when you're here on stage and everybody's reading the words, it looks like they're looking right at you.
Mark Medley: Yeah.
Mark Medley: They're not, but it looks like they are.
Mark Medley: And it's like, so I'm right there.
Mark Medley: And I'm leading worship, and this is such a powerful thing.
Mark Medley: And for so long, it was like impactful.
Mark Medley: And then the next morning, I remember we came into the office, and somebody said, Oh, we had such a great service last night.
Mark Medley: Were you here?
Mark Medley: And it was beautiful because it like set me free.
Mark Medley: You know, because you think, oh, they're all looking at me for two hours.
Mark Medley: It's like, Were you even here?
Mark Medley: Oh, this is great.
Mark Medley: Probably people aren't really thinking that much about you as much as you think.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: So raise your hands.
Mark Medley: Sing.
Mark Medley: Minister to God.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: This prevents distractions from the service itself from stealing your worship.
Mark Medley: Okay, last one, E.
Mark Medley: Enter in quickly.
Mark Medley: Jump right in.
Mark Medley: It says of Simeon, he came in the spirit into the temple.
Mark Medley: Okay, as we said before, he didn't come to the temple to experience the spirit.
Mark Medley: He came in the spirit to the temple.
Mark Medley: He was already there, guys.
Mark Medley: He was already worshiping before he even got here.
Mark Medley: You know, worship is, you know, worship is about spirit and truth.
Mark Medley: It's about the heart, right?
Mark Medley: You carry this around in your heart.
Mark Medley: It's not about the location or the style of music or anything, but we come together, we carry this worship in our heart.
Mark Medley: Don't wait until your favorite song is played.
Mark Medley: Because what if they don't play it this week?
Mark Medley: What are you gonna do?
Mark Medley: Not worship?
Mark Medley: And what is God's favorite song?
Mark Medley: Of course, he likes the one I like.
Mark Medley: My favorite song is his favorite song, of course, right?
Mark Medley: And so we all just, oh, just not gonna we'll just tolerate all those other songs, and we'll get to the one I like, and then I'm gonna go for it.
Mark Medley: Come on.
Mark Medley: Enter in quickly, jump in, go for it.
Mark Medley: Right from the first song, no, right from the first verse, first word, first chord, boom.
Mark Medley: I'm here.
Mark Medley: I'm here in worship right now.
Mark Medley: You don't have to warm me up.
Mark Medley: It doesn't take three songs.
Mark Medley: I'm gonna do it right from the start.
Mark Medley: Let her rip.
Mark Medley: Let's do it.
Mark Medley: Do whatever you do, do it heartily unto the Lord, right?
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: This sets you in a place to interact with God and other people here right from the very beginning.
Mark Medley: Okay, so, all right, prime, your praise pump.
Mark Medley: Prepare, repent, invest, minister to God, enter in quickly.
Mark Medley: This helps us to bring something to the Lord, and it helps, it prepares our hearts and our bodies, and we guard against Satan stealing our worship.
Mark Medley: He can't steal it unless you let him have it.
Mark Medley: He doesn't have any authority, and he doesn't deserve it.
Mark Medley: So don't let him.
Mark Medley: So when we glorify God and we become part of what he's doing right now, how he's moving among us today, we're participators, not spectators.
Mark Medley: This is great.
Mark Medley: Okay.
Mark Medley: So let me end by this.
Mark Medley: Because a question came to me as I was studying this this week, and I thought, why, what is it, what is it about about Simeon's understanding of God?
Mark Medley: Why did Simeon think God was worth devoting his life to?
Mark Medley: Outside the temple and inside the temple.
Mark Medley: This is a man righteous and devout, and he came and he lived this lifestyle of worship.
Mark Medley: Why did he think it was worth it?
Mark Medley: And I think he thought it was worth it because he knew there was a Messiah coming.
Mark Medley: As we talked last week, all the Jewish people had their own advent going on.
Mark Medley: They were waiting for the coming of a Messiah.
Mark Medley: This was in their psyche.
Mark Medley: Expecting was part of their living.
Mark Medley: They were ready, or they were looking for this Messiah.
Mark Medley: And so Simeon saw that God had a purpose in making his salvation known, not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, to us here today.
Mark Medley: And Simeon waited for this Messiah who would deliver his people from their sins and build a living temple, a holy dwelling place, like the prophets had spoken of.
Mark Medley: Gathering called out ones into this Messiah, a dwelling place for God.
Mark Medley: So let me tell you why the focus of heaven is on a lamb and what the lamb has done.
Mark Medley: I read a passage to you before from Isaiah about the rebellion of Lucifer against God.
Mark Medley: And let me finish today by reading this other passage, which is actually a song that the early church sang.
Mark Medley: It's in Philippians chapter 2, starting at verse 5.
Mark Medley: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Mark Medley: Simeon's song was so full of glory to God because he understood the significance of this Messiah who was coming, who he would hold in his arms.
Mark Medley: And the heart of Jesus could not be more opposite than the heart of Lucifer.
Mark Medley: They're totally poles apart.
Mark Medley: Lucifer said, I will be like God.
Mark Medley: Jesus said, I will let go of my equality with God.
Mark Medley: Lucifer said, I will ascend to heaven.
Mark Medley: And Jesus said, I will leave heaven.
Mark Medley: I will take the throne.
Mark Medley: I will take the form of a man.
Mark Medley: I will take on the likeness of God.
Mark Medley: I will take on the likeness of a man.
Mark Medley: I will be Lord of all.
Mark Medley: I will be servant of all.
Mark Medley: I will exalt myself.
Mark Medley: I will humble myself.
Mark Medley: Pour myself out.
Mark Medley: I will impose my will.
Mark Medley: I will surrender to the will of my father.
Mark Medley: And this is the message of Christmas.
Mark Medley: God has come to earth as a baby.
Mark Medley: This man, Jesus Christ, is both the stone of stumbling and the sure foundation.
Mark Medley: God does things differently.
Mark Medley: He does things sometimes backwards in the way we think because he's wise.
Mark Medley: And he sent Christ to humble himself, to take on himself the form of man.
Mark Medley: Christ humbled himself so that we could be lifted into fellowship with God.
Mark Medley: And this is why God has exalted him and given him a name above every name.
Mark Medley: And every knee will bow in heaven and earth and under the earth.
Mark Medley: And every tongue confessed that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Mark Medley: And Simeon understood this.
Mark Medley: This is why his song out of his life became a praise.
Mark Medley: And Simeon died as a satisfied man.
Mark Medley: Because he saw and he held the promise of God.
Mark Medley: So this morning, come on, come on up, guys.
Mark Medley: This morning, are you are you satisfied?
Mark Medley: Could you die a satisfied person right now?
Mark Medley: I think there's a difference between contentment and satisfied.
Mark Medley: Sometimes we can be content in our hearts and yet not quite satisfied because we believe God is pulling us into something more than we are.
Mark Medley: But I want to tell you this morning, there's a promised Messiah that you can not only hold in your hands, you can hold him in your heart.
Mark Medley: You can have him in your heart.
Mark Medley: And you can live and die eventually as a satisfied person because this Messiah is in your heart.
Mark Medley: This is the message of Christmas.
Mark Medley: You can see his salvation in your life today.
Mark Medley: Right now.
Mark Medley: You don't need to go further.
Mark Medley: You don't need one more day.
Mark Medley: You don't need one more day to be satisfied.
Mark Medley: Today, right now.
Mark Medley: Today's the day of salvation.
Mark Medley: Right now.
Mark Medley: If you hear the Lord calling out to you, it's not hard.
Mark Medley: Yes, Lord.
Mark Medley: I surrender.
Mark Medley: Your lives can change.
Mark Medley: So I want to end since we're talking about corporate worship by worshiping.
Mark Medley: But I want to pray for you first.
Mark Medley: You can stand with me.
Mark Medley: Lord, thank you for this Messiah.
Mark Medley: Thank you that we don't have to attend church to be accepted.
Mark Medley: We don't have to worship a certain way to appease you or so you'll love us more.
Mark Medley: We love you because you first love us.
Mark Medley: But Lord, we want to refresh our commitment to you this morning.
Mark Medley: We want to say yes to you.
Mark Medley: For those who are hearing your voice calling them, Lord, I'm asking that you would draw them into a place of repentance and salvation to you.
Mark Medley: If they would just say, Yes, Lord, I believe in you, I receive you.
Mark Medley: Jesus, you are Lord.
Mark Medley: I see.
Mark Medley: You died for me.
Mark Medley: You rose again for me, and I believe in you.
Mark Medley: For those of us who believe that, Lord, we want to turn from any offense that steals our worship, turn from any excuses, turn from our pride, turn from our good works.
Mark Medley: We want to ask you to receive this worship that we have in our hearts for you.
Mark Medley: Lord, we want to pray that you would make us worshipers that are just day-by-day worshipers, Lord.
Mark Medley: So when we come together, it explodes because we've had it all week long.
Mark Medley: We've lived in it.
Mark Medley: And we just lift our offering of praise up to you.
Mark Medley: As we end this morning, Lord, we just end with our focus on you.
Mark Medley: We minister to you.
Mark Medley: We look to Jesus.
Mark Medley: We glorify Jesus.
Mark Medley: In Jesus' name, amen.