Waiting for Christmas Part 2: Anticipation for His Second Coming

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Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. And we need to be ready. This is the day, the day when life begins. Well, we're so happy you're taking a few moments to celebrate Christmas with us today here on A New Beginning. On behalf of Pastor Greg Laurie and all the team here at the ministry, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas. You know, there's such a heightened sense of anticipation for this holiday, for kids especially. But for all of us, there should be a heightened sense of anticipation for Jesus' second coming as well. And as Pastor Greg takes us back to the very first Christmas, we'll get some insight on that.

Glad you're along. I want to talk about two people that are sort of unknown folks in the Bible that were waiting for the first Christmas. Simeon and Anna.

You ever heard of them before? Simeon and Anna. Believe it or not, they're actually a part of the Christmas story. Even the Nativity story. And in some ways, they're more a part of the Christmas story than the wise men were. Because the wise men came quite a bit later.

Maybe up to two years later. The Bible says they came to the house where Jesus was, not the manger where he was born. So let me show you where these two fit in to the Christmas story.

Kind of big picture timeline. Remember the angel Gabriel came to Mary, living in the city of Nazareth. A city renowned for its wickedness. She was a nobody in a nowhere town in the middle of nowhere. And though it was known for immorality, Mary was a godly girl living in an ungodly place. And it was revealed to her that she would become the mother of the very Messiah. She was trying to wrap her mind around how this would happen. And Gabriel, who gave her this message, told her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy.

And he will be called the Son of God. So Mary agreed. She said, let it be according to your servant. I'm in. I agree.

I'll do it. She could have said no. She could have said no, thank you.

Could you get somebody else? No, she said yes. And so now the Son of God has come into the world. The message is given to the shepherds.

So let's see what they said. Luke chapter 2 verse 9. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them.

Imagine. They were terrified. And the angel reassured them, don't be afraid. He said, I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people, the Savior. Yes, the Messiah, the Lord, has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.

And you will recognize Him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger. Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. The shepherds said to each other, let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about.

We will stop there. So the shepherds come and they find Mary and Joseph and the baby in her arms no doubt. The wise men appeared a little bit later. I already mentioned a couple of years later.

Listen to this. The next event in the Nativity story is eight days later after the birth of Christ when Joseph and Mary take Jesus into the temple. There He was circumcised. And now we come to the first of two people who were waiting for Christmas or waiting for Christ. The first was Simeon.

Who was he? He was a godly man who was waiting for the Messiah. So here's old Simeon hanging out in the temple waiting. The Lord had revealed to him he would not die until he saw the Messiah.

And one day who walks in? Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. And Simeon knew who they were.

Now how did he know? Well they glowed right? Or they had halos. Jesus had a little baby halo. That's what we see in the religious art.

Honestly I don't think they looked any different than any other peasant family. But Simeon knew who they were because he was a man of God. Because he spent time in prayer and God reveals things to those who seek Him that are not revealed to those who don't. So he sees him and he knows right there in this spot.

This is the one. This is the Messiah. And we read in Luke chapter 2 verse 32. He thanked God. He had seen the Messiah and he prayed. He's a light to reveal God to the nations. He's the glory of your people Israel. Mary and Joseph were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed him and he said to Mary, the baby's mother, this child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall and many others to rise. He's been sent as a sign from God and many will oppose him. As a result the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your very soul.

Wow. What did that mean? That meant that Mary would make a great sacrifice to be the mother of Jesus. You might say, oh I wish I could have been Mary.

Do you? Mary had to go through life with a reputation of an immoral woman. See a lot of people just didn't buy the whole supernatural conception story. They believed she had sex before she was married with some guy. In fact on one occasion the Pharisee said to Jesus, well at least we weren't born of fornication. Which is another way of saying, at least we're not illegitimate like you.

Wow. Those are fighting words. But the point is that was the reputation Mary lived with. And the irony is this is a very moral, virtuous, godly girl who had to live with that reputation.

Effectively a scarlet A written on her robe for adulteress. But she hung in there. But the hardest thing of all is when she looked up on the cross and saw her son hanging there. Those hands nailed to the cross were once tiny little hands that she guided as a mother. Those feet that he would run and have such a fun time as a little boy were now nailed to a cross. And it was so painful.

How could we even imagine such a thing? A sword pierced her soul. Simeon told her that would happen.

So the Lord fulfilled His promise to Simeon. Well there was someone else hanging out in the temple too. Her name was Anna.

She was 84 years old. She never left the temple. The Bible says she just prayed constantly. Never left the temple. She wouldn't even go out and get a burger at McDavid's or whatever.

What if I miss the Messiah? So she just waited. One day she sees Simeon talking to Mary and Joseph. She sees the baby Jesus. She knows the prophecy has been fulfilled. And we read that she rejoiced and told everybody about the child.

Wow. What a story this is. But how easy it is for us to just miss the whole point of Christmas. I heard about a family that was going out of town for Christmas. And they got the SUV loaded up. Packed all their luggage. Left the dog over at a friend's house. Got their playlist of Christmas songs to listen to. Pulling out of the driveway. Going down the street. And suddenly the mother realizes and says to the husband, We forgot the baby.

So they had to go back and collect their baby that they had left in the house. That is Christmas for many people. We trim our trees. We hang our lights. We go to endless events. But we forget the baby.

Right? Simeon was eagerly waiting for Jesus to come the first time. And we should be eagerly waiting for Jesus to come the second time. Because Jesus Christ is coming back again to this earth.

That is what the Bible says. The first time he came into manger. The next time he will come back in glory. In his first coming he was wrapped in swaddling cloths. In his second coming he will be clothed royally in a robe dipped in blood. In his first coming he was surrounded by animals and shepherds. In his second coming he will be accompanied by saints and angels.

In his first coming there was no room for him in the inn. In his second coming the door of the heavens will be open to him. In his first coming he was the lamb of God coming to take away the sin of the world. In his second coming he will be the ferocious lion of the tribe of Judah bringing judgment.

Let me ask you this. Are you looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ? You should be. Just as the godly Simeon and Anna look forward to his first arrival. We should be looking forward to his second coming. And that's really a mark of your spiritual state. If you're like oh reluctant, apprehensive, I don't want to hear this. That would indicate to me you're not doing well spiritually. But if your heart would jump a little bit and say yes Lord. Come tonight Lord.

That shows me you are where you ought to be. Anna and Simeon are waiting for the Messiah and a king. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Visit us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org Well we're glad you're joining us for Pastor Greg's message today called Waiting for Christmas.

Let's continue. Why did Jesus come? Why? So we could shop. That's why. Right? So we could spend too much money.

No, of course not. He actually came to die. I know that's not a pleasant thought to think of a beautiful little newborn and say you know that baby came to die. But actually Jesus came with the express purpose of dying on a cross for our sins. Because the Bible says Jesus speaking I came to give my life as a ransom for many. You know here's the thing.

That is the whole point of it. He came to bring life to us. To bring the ultimate gift to you. Now you're going to receive some gifts. Some of you open your presents in the evening. How many of you open presents on Christmas Eve?

Raise up your hand. You're Christmas Eve people. How many of you have to wait until Christmas morning to say I have more of you? Alright.

It's all good. So you can open your presents and some you'll like. And some you'll have to fake it a little. Let's be honest. You know we gave the gifts to our grandkids today. You know the girls were delighted by their pajamas. My grandson was not so excited. He was waiting for a toy. And so when he opened up his little R2D2 remote control robot he was finally happy. So you'll get something to go oh awesome great. And you're not really that happy.

Liver world. Gift card. Whatever. But here's what I want to remind you of. You're probably not going to remember next year what you got this year. Just as you don't remember this year what you got last year.

You probably don't. And certainly not five years ago. And whatever you get no matter how cool it is it will be dated in time. You know maybe you got the latest gadget, cell phone, combination cell phone, drone, toaster, and robot.

Right? It just came out. It's brand new.

And it has an 80 inch screen that comes out somehow with the most megapixels. Give it three months. Something else is coming. And your thing will be dated. Or your outfit. No matter how cool it is.

Styles change. You won't remember those things. And there might be some things that you have that have been given to you that don't mean that much to you now. Maybe a drawing by your child. Or a card written by your grandchild. But then as years pass and those other gifts are forgotten and you pull that little card out it touches your heart.

And if your house was on fire you would take that thing out of there. Maybe before anything else. Because it is valuable to you. Some gifts become more valuable with the passing of time. When you are a young person and someone says if you become a Christian you will go to heaven when you die.

You are like great but that is a long ways away. Because I am young and you are old. So maybe you are excited about it but I don't care.

Alright I get that. You know when I became a Christian to me the most appealing thing was I could have life in all of its fullness. And I have experienced that life. But as I get older that whole eternal life thing is starting to become a little more interesting to me now. Because pretty soon I am going to be cashing that one in. And I have loved ones that have already gone to receive that reward from God. And so that becomes a more precious gift with the passing of time. You know some of you had grandparents that didn't buy you gifts or toys. They put money in an account. Every Christmas grandma said, We put some money into your Christmas account. And you were thinking grandma is so lame. Well now 20 years later you just checked your balance and you said, Grandma was awesome. Right. Because it accrued. Interest made it a larger sum.

It is more valuable. And as you get older you realize this gift of eternal life I am going to cash this card in pretty soon. I don't know when. Because Christmas is a marker of time isn't it. It reminds us of getting older. You remember last Christmas.

Oh wow I can't believe a year has passed already. You remember that there were some people with you last Christmas that aren't with you this Christmas. So there is some pain in your heart over it.

It is a marker because in a way and I know this sounds a little bit morbid. But Christmas is sort of connected to death. And when I say it is connected to death I am simply saying it reminds us that on Christmas the first one. Death was going to now be defeated. And it ultimately was defeated when Jesus died on the cross. You see death died when Christ rose.

And I don't want us to miss this point. Because God is offering to you the most amazing gift of all. The gift of eternal life. And I wonder if you have this gift.

You say well what do you mean. I mean knowing that you are a child of God. You know sometimes people say we are all children of God. We are all God's children.

I know that sounds very nice. But I beg to differ and the Bible begs to differ as well. Actually we aren't all children of God. We are all loved by God. We are all created by God.

We are all made in the image of God. But to be technical and theologically correct we are not all the children of God. The only way you can become a child of God is by accepting the gift of eternal life. Because the Bible says for as many as received Him He gave them the power to become sons of God. So there has to be a moment where you admit to God you are a sinner. That is why He sent a Savior. And you have to turn from that sin and ask Jesus to come into your life.

And I wonder have you done that yet. Have you asked Jesus to come into your life and do you know with complete certainty that if this were your last Christmas. Let's be honest.

It could be. If this were your last Christmas do you know with certainty that you would go to heaven. The greatest tragedy of all would be if you didn't know that. Because this gift I am talking about is greater than any gift under your tree. And I don't care how amazing it is. You see those commercials of people who give cars with giant bows to their spouses.

I don't know anyone who has ever done that by the way. Well that would be a pretty good gift I will admit. But you know what. It is better than a car with a bow. It is better than something you put in your finger or wear around your neck. It is better than money that grandma put into an account. It is the only gift that keeps on giving. The gift of eternal life.

And God will give it to you right now and all you have to do is receive it. When our grandkids are opening their gifts they do what kids do. They attack. They don't say things like, Oh this is so nice I will save the ribbon for later.

They don't care. They want the gift. And really that is the way to do it. Just go for it. Receive it. Accept it. Enjoy it. The gift card. Redeem it.

Start living it out. God offers you this gift. And I am going to close with a prayer. And I want to extend an invitation. I am offering you something better than anything this world can offer you. And it is not really me offering it. It is just me telling you about the offer. It is really God who offers it. But I am telling you right now about the ultimate offer of all times. That is like that unused gift card that for many sits unused.

Unaccepted. The gift of eternal life. The gift of the forgiveness of sin. The gift of finding the meaning and purpose of your life. The gift of a relationship with God. Have you received this gift?

If not do you want to receive it right now? Let's do that together. Let's all bow our heads and everybody pray with me if you would. Father thank you for loving this so much that you sent Jesus to be born in that manger. Then to die on that cross.

And to rise from the dead. Lord Jesus thank you for coming and laying your life down for us. And now I pray for every person here.

Every person watching. Listening wherever they may be. If they don't know you yet let this be the moment they believe and receive the gift of eternal life. For we ask it now in Jesus name. Amen. An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie. And if you'd like to make that kind of change in your relationship with the Lord. Pastor Greg wants to help you do that before we wrap up today's edition of A New Beginning.

So stay tuned. If you'd like a permanent copy of the message Pastor Greg brought us today. Get in touch for the study called Waiting for Christmas. We'll give you the details when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime 24-7. Yes even here on Christmas Day. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online for an instant replay at harvest.org. You know Pastor Greg there was a lot of talk about voting this year. Our listeners may not realize it but they vote to keep this study coming their way. They vote by partnering with us. Their support is what helps these programs keep coming their way. And we just want to say the polls are open.

That's right they are open. And that is a way that we know that we're impacting you. When you write us. When you contact us. When you communicate with us and say I'm listening.

I'm being impacted by what you're offering. And also when you support us financially. Because that enables us to reach even more people. I know so many of you listen every single day or every other day. And it's a part of your life. And you share these broadcasts or our podcasts with other people. And we're thankful for that. And we want to continue to be able to come into your home.

Into your vehicle. Wherever it is you're listening to us. And we want to come into other people's lives as well. Because people need to hear the word of God.

Don't you think? So I'm going to ask you as we come to the end of 2020. To prayerfully consider making a financial contribution to Harvest Ministries. When you do this you share in the spiritual fruit of what we're doing. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers and he said. It's not that I want a gift but I want fruit to abound to your account. So when you give toward this ministry.

That's what's going to happen for you too. And we have seen thousands of people come to Christ. Well over a hundred thousand people have made a profession of faith. To follow Christ through our online ministry. Through our outreach. Through our film A Rush of Hope.

And of course through our radio and television and so forth. And we're praying that next year will even be greater. So listen with that gift that you send our way whatever it can be. I want to say thanks by sending you a copy of a brand new resource.

That we have never offered before. It is the DVD version of A Rush of Hope. You saw it online and many of you said. Oh I want my own copy. Now you can have one. And you can watch it as many times as you want to watch it. And you can show it to as many people as you want to show it to.

And you can do it wherever you want to do it. And you'll have your own copy along with some special resources we've developed. A booklet that's called Answering Life's Most Important Questions. That you could give out to a non-believer that you know. Also a piece that we wrote that will show you how to host a watch party.

In other words how to have the maximum impact if you bring people over to your home. To have a viewing of this cinematic crusade that we call A Rush of Hope. So we'll send you a copy of this DVD for your gift of any size. And I want to just say in advance. Thank you for believing in what we do. And let's pray that next year is our greatest year ever.

Amen. And in that regard your gift couldn't come at a more strategic time. So I hope you'll contact us today for your copy of A Rush of Hope along with all the extras. Not only are we offering this on a DVD. But there's also a special digital download code we will provide for you. What that means is you'll have the DVD to show to whoever you want to show it to. But you can download it to your phone.

You can download it to your tablet device or to your computer. And then watch it or show it whenever you want. Carry it around with you even. And you can have an evangelistic crusade in your pocket.

Yeah that's right. So contact us today with your generous year-end donation at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. 1-800-821-3300. And we can take your call 24-7.

Or just go online to harvest.org. And then Pastor Greg, I know there are some in our audience who felt God speaking to them today through your message. And they want to make a change in their relationship with the Lord. And what better day to do that than Christmas Day. That's right.

Could you help them with that? Yeah, you know, Dave, the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So I want to lead you in a prayer where you will be doing just that. Calling on the name of the Lord.

So listen. If you want your sin forgiven. If you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven. If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and take away your guilt and your shame. Then just stop what you're doing and pray this prayer with me right now.

Pray this after me if you would. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I have broken your commandments.

I have fallen short of your standards. But 2,000 years ago you died on that cross for me. Then you rose again from the dead. So Jesus come into my life and be my Savior and my Lord and my God and my friend.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer along with Pastor Greg and you've meant those words sincerely. God has heard you and forgiven you of your sin. And we want to send you some materials to help you as you begin your new life as a follower of Christ. It's a collection of resources called the New Believers Growth Packet. We'll send it without charge if you've made a first time commitment to the Lord today. Just ask for it when you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Next time Pastor Greg offers an important look at the life of Samson. We know him as the Bible's great strong man. But great was the fall of the great strong man, Samson. With the new year upon us, we'll learn to plan our steps in a way that avoids his mistakes. That's next time. Well Pastor Greg, I saw a social media post wishing me snowflakes, friendship, and winter cheer.

Wow. Your wish for our listeners is a little more substantial, isn't it? Yes, my wish is that they would have a blessed and happy and fulfilling Christmas. Not in the obtaining of presents, but by experiencing His presence. Emmanuel has come. God is with us. Listen, don't put your hope in Christmas. Put it in Christ and you'll have a blessed Christmas.