R1636 A Grandmother’s Example, Pt.1

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton about a grandmother's example. In just a moment, we'll head to Luke as Dr. Don Wilton talks about this concept of a grandmother's example. And whether you're a grandmother or not, don't worry, that's not the key.

The key is the concept of how we can love and the likeness of Jesus Christ and watch that change the world, especially for those younger than we are. Again, we're opening God's Word in just a moment with Dr. Wilton, but our phone line is always open. 24 hours a day, you can call for prayer at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or online. We'd love to connect with you there as well at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.

Now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. I'm going to be in Luke chapter 2. So if I was going to have a little survey here and I said to you, what's the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about Luke chapter 2? Some of you are looking at it. It's about Jesus. It's about the birth of Jesus.

So guess what, everyone? There was a mom involved, right? You better believe there was a mom involved. I'm not talking about Jesus' mom right now. So not too long after Jesus was born, Jesus' mom, mother, and father knew exactly what they had to do with baby Jesus. They knew it.

They had to take Jesus to the church, to the temple, to get dedicated to the Lord. Now look, I'm just reading into the text here, okay? I'm not trying to put us dads down, but I can just imagine Joseph saying, come on, man. We've got to go all that way again.

I hate riding on donkeys. You know, something, I mean something like that, because dads can be sort of a little grumpy sometimes. You know, let's not do that. Is this absolutely necessary?

And I'm reading into the text. How many times is it mom looks up and says, excuse me? We're going to the temple because our baby is going to be dedicated to God, and because God said it, we're doing it.

Any questions? So I don't know about old brother Joseph there. He might have been one tough cookie, I don't know, but I promise you, now he didn't live in the south, so he didn't say, but I guarantee he looked at her and said, yes, ma'am. At any rate, they got on their camel or whatever and they went. They did exactly what mom said. They took baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated, and that's what you folks do. I love that. I love when parents dedicate their children, babies, to Jesus, because that's what Jesus did.

That's what we're supposed to do. So here they are, and they're in the temple, and along comes the preacher, Simeon, and he takes baby Jesus and he prays, and it's just a beautiful picture, and that's not what I'm preaching about. Did you know there was a grandmother there?

You're about to find out. So I'm going to share with you today about a grandmother's example, because there was a grandmother there, and her name was Anna. Let me read it to you.

Let me read it to you. So we're going to be in Luke chapter 2 and beginning at verse 36, just two verses. There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Panuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then she was a widow until she was 84.

She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying, and coming up to Mary and Joseph and the baby, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the baby, about the child, to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do my level best to build a profile of Anna.

Is that fair? We're going to take the Bible, and I'm going to tell you what this grandmother did and what she was like, to the best of our ability, without taking license. I want to just show you who this grandmother was. So who was Anna?

Just a couple of things that we know about her. Number one, she was a daughter. She had a mom and dad, just like you and me. She came from a mom and dad. Let that sink in for a minute. But here's the interesting thing.

The Bible tells us that her father's name was Panuel. That's P-H-A-N-E-L. Okay, now I want all of you, watch me here. I want you to just look at the last two letters. E-L. Anybody know what that means in the Hebrew text? E-L. God. El Shaddai. God.

Okay? God. Even like in other religions, like the Muslim religion, the word Allah in the Hebrew. E-L. God. All right, so the first couple of letters are P-H-A-N in our English text.

You all with me? Fan or pan. You know what that means. Face.

Now put the two together. Face of God. So this grandmother, when she was born, her parents named her Anna, and her father was Panuel, which means the face of God. So why do you suppose they named her Anna? What does Anna mean? Well, Anna carries two meanings, and it's absolutely beautiful.

Anna means grace or favor. Favor. Guys, get this.

I don't want you to miss this. Has anybody ever come to you and said, you know you look just like your mother, right? I'm just going to tell you now, in looks, most many of you didn't know my mom and dad. My dad was real ugly. My mother was as beautiful as anything. Some people say I look like my mother. I just need to get that out of the way. Just don't put that in your notes, okay? You know, what greater compliment when your mom or your dad are just precious people, and people come up and say, you know, you just sound like your mother. You talk like your grandmother. But I want to take it more.

Personality, discipline, disposition, attitude, love. You just love like your mother loved everybody. Isn't that fantastic? You pray like your mother prayed. So watch this. Watch this, guys.

Get this. This grandmother, God wants us to know not just about her as a grandmother, but that she carried throughout her life the DNA of what was passed on to her. Hey, I'm only on my first point here, so guys, get out your lunch, okay? So the first thing you can extrapolate from this, from the text, is that Anna is a daughter. Number two, she was a prophetess. You'll be interested to know there are five women who are called prophetesses in the Old Testament. Okay, I've got them all down here, Miriam and Deborah and Naodia, and one even in Isaiah that's not mentioned by name but is called a prophetess. In other words, the Bible, God wants us to know that she spoke the words of God. So if you think of your mother, and we think of so many of our mothers and grandmothers, and you say, you know, my grandmother was such a godly lady.

She showed the face of God, she spoke God. So there's a third thing we know about, she was a widow. Evidently, she'd been married for seven years, and then her husband went to heaven and said she was a widow for 84 years.

Now, I'm not going to get into all the background here. Did she live longer than that? Did she remarry at the age of 80? We don't know all of that, but the fact of the matter is she was a widow. So what can you think about widows? I mean, I know some of the most precious ladies whose husbands have gone on to heaven. So you can attach all kinds, she understood grief, bereavement, loneliness, separation, survival.

Listen, man, she didn't have so security check. Then in her day and age, to be a widow by herself, it was something that she would have showed what she showed in the circumstances by which and in which she lived. And number four, she was a God follower. She was a God follower. This is before Jesus went to the cross. Remember, Christians, the word Christian came in the Acts of the Apostles where followers of Jesus were first named Christians. The word, you and I are Christians because we've followed Jesus.

Jesus was just born here, okay? So she was a God follower. She followed God who was in fact and is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we know she was a God follower.

A lot of that temple, worship, praying, fasting, et cetera, et cetera. And then one more thing I want to say about her that she was obviously a seeker, seeker. She was expectantly anticipating something spiritual to happen.

Isn't that just like moms, grandmothers? So friends, Anna's lifestyle may to us seem somewhat eccentric, right? Almost like she was almost a workaholic. I mean, some people would look and say, boy, she didn't have much of a life. Well, I don't think Anna would have thought that. So the biblical text helps us in a way to build some kind of understanding of her. Here's a couple of other thoughts, okay? I'm going to suggest to you that she was possibly very slight in stature in build.

Why? Because she, Bible says she fasted perpetually. Well, if you go and study the fasting habits of these people back then, guys, this wasn't just like skipping out on cookies on Wednesday afternoon.

They took that seriously. So in all likelihood, she was very slight in build. She was probably very fit because she walked a lot. And by the way, the temple compound was huge. And she had to get there from her home in Jerusalem every time.

And so there was a lot of walking for a person of this age, right? So you can surmise that. She certainly was perceptive. Why was she perceptive? Because she saw everything going on. She saw the activity. She saw Simeon. She saw Mary and Joseph. She was perceptive, man.

She was soaking it in. She was definitely hearing. She heard what was going on. She heard the pastor praying over the child. She probably heard baby Jesus crying. She heard what the parents were saying. She heard everything going on. She was remarkably determined. She must have been determined because she waited a long time.

You notice something about moms? They teach you that it's worth the wait. Oh, but patience is such a hard thing to learn. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. But Dr. Don insists I remind you we're available for you.

It's not just a presentation, as Doc says, it's a conversation. And many of you have already been calling and texting and praying with us. If you want to find ways to connect, you'll find all of that on our website, tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. We could also talk with you one-on-one on our prayer line at 866-899-WORD. I hope you've jotted that number down, stored it in your cell. As Dr. Don would say, we would be happy to be one of your 2 a.m. friends.

Anytime, day or night, you can call us at 866-899-9673. And right now, many are asking about and celebrating the fact that we have had a $200,000 challenge gift made to the ministry of the Encouraging Word as we begin to look at a brand-new opportunity to take the gospel even further. I pray that you would consider getting involved. Your gift, your best gift, might not be $200,000.

It's not something I could do, but perhaps it's something else. And whatever the Lord leads you to give, I pray you would consider giving us a call and sharing that gift with us. 866-899-9673. Or meet us online to discover more about who we are, knowing that Dr. Don Wilton is committed to biblically-based preaching, that he's been the pastor of Dr. Billy Graham for 20-plus years. We'll help you understand the kind of ministry that God has called us to and how so many people have said, we want to get involved. Again, if the Lord's leading you to get involved, we would love for you to be a part of this wonderful $200,000 challenge that's moving us towards sharing the gospel with even more people, details at TEWonline.org. Or you can call to give your gift now, 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. I've always found with wives and with mothers and grandmothers, it's like they never quite seem to be in the same hurry that I'm in.

I'm always in a much, you know, I need to get it now, and patience is a virtue. She was highly respected because she prophesied. She was speaking God to the people. She was very respected. She was very respected. You know, can I just say, you are, in many ways, you are really respecting me right now because you're letting me speak.

You're listening to me. Well, can you imagine this grandmother coming into this type of hierarchical system dominated by all these men, male-oriented world, and she was a prophetess. She was highly, guys, this is, she was a highly respected, highly valued person. She was highly valued, she was respected because they let her, they listened, they let her talk about God and they listened to her, but she was also highly valued because they let her in. I mean, this was right there in the temple for crying in a bucket. They valued her.

Guys, you can respect somebody but not value them. Anna was, this was one precious grandmother. I also want to say to you that she must have been deeply spiritual because this lady followed hard after God.

I mean, she did. Have you ever heard someone, I've heard people say all the time, you know, my mother, she prayed for me nonstop. I've heard people say, boy, my grandmother never stopped loving me and praying for me. I've heard people say what my mother put up with was nobody's business. But I'm telling you, my mother prayed for me relentlessly. I mean, I remember as a teenager, as a young teenager, I remember me, I mean, behaving badly, I remember walking past my mother's bedroom and I could look through, I'd look through the door of her bedroom and my mother would be on her knees calling out my name to God. Me.

Just calling out my name. So Anna, Anna had suffered for many years. She was elderly, found herself alone. She had to fight for survival.

But I think you and I can conclude something about this grandmother. She had her priorities in place. Isn't that just like mom? You know, in my home with Karen, always, you know, we always want to get out there and we were always at it.

It always seemed like she was the one who had her priorities in place. You know, it was like, I mean, I grew up in an all-boys family. I know this is silly stuff, you don't even have to talk about it, but I grew up in an all-boys family. So, I mean, when it comes to mealtimes, guys, I mean, gosh, do you really have to sit down and have it all sit around a table and have it all set out? I mean, eat the food for crying in a bucket.

It's there, eat it out of the pot if you need to. And then I married Karen. And it's, no, we're going to all sit here as a family. And it's all going to be nicely put out. And we're all going to wait and then we're going to say grace together.

It's like, come on, man, the chicken's getting cold. And I know you might look at me and say, well, that's just so silly. No, it's not.

Because my kids have grown up and they now, it's the little things that matter. There's a hundred times I'll even come to church and I'll walk out the door and the mother in my house will look at me and she'll say, you're not going to wear that, are you? Well, what's wrong with it? Well, look at your shirt. Well, what about it? It's blue. She said, no, it's got a crease. Where? On the bed.

You can't go and have a crease. I mean, do you know something? There's something I don't even know how to talk about. Those are the things that really matter. Indeed, it really is the small things that matter. And as they add and add and add, they become big things in building relationships and changing lives. I pray that you know that as we've been studying God's Word together, it's our prayer behind the scenes and in the heart of our pastor, Dr. Don Wilton, that you would have not just heard his wonderful South African brogue, but you've heard the Lord speaking through his word, the Bible itself, and letting you know he loves you.

He wants a personal relationship with you. You've heard Dr. Wilton as he's been teaching. Now, as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much. And I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin.

I confess my sin to you. And I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.

And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. If you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Jesus Christ or rededicate your life, you need to know we would love to celebrate with you, to pray for you, and to equip you with tools that will help you grow in your new decision. Dr. Wilton has prepared wonderful resources for you if you've just given your life to Christ or just rededicated your life to Jesus. We want you to have these and he wants you to have them absolutely free if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.

We can also connect keyboard to keyboard as well on our website. TEWONLINE.ORG is available 24 hours a day just like our phone number. 866-899-WORD and TEWONLINE.ORG. We are always looking forward to connecting with you. Everywhere there are people who want to know the truth. Our mission at The Encouraging Word is to share God's truth with a searching world. We have a deep and abiding conviction in our hearts that Jesus Christ has an encouraging word for each of us. We would love to send you some information on how you can learn more about our ministry. You need to know who you are listening to.

The world is full of false prophets. Our desire is to help you connect more to God, encourage you on your Christian journey, and to help you engage the world for Christ. Call us at 866-899-9673 and say I want to know more about The Encouraging Word and we will send some information to you.

The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry that trusts in God to supply our needs through people. Thank you for listening today. We love hearing from you. And whether it's been a letter that was just shared with us about how much fun you're having sharing the daily encouraging word with others on social media or this dear friend who just gave their life to Jesus Christ, you need to know we would love to hear from you. Dr. Don would love to hear your story.

His email is don at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. If you want to speak with one of our team right now and share your story, we'd love to hear from you and we'll make sure Dr. Don gets all the details. Our phone number again is 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to hear how God's using the encouraging word in your life and especially how you're sharing it. Remember one of the most important things we can do as followers of Christ is point others to Jesus. Maybe there's someone in your life that you know would be blessed by this biblically based teaching.

So share it with it whether it's on Facebook or online at some of our Twitter and Instagram. You'll find all those links easy to share at T-E-W online dot O-R-G. Now before we get away, closing thoughts from our pastor, Dr. Don. You know, these are such special times together. I'm so grateful, my friends, that we can worship together like this through the encouraging word broadcast ministry. And you're such a vital part of all that God's doing.

And I just love you and I want you to know that. You know, this ministry goes on 24 hours round the clock all the time. We want to be involved in your life and we want to continue to pray for you.

You can call us at any time. You can partner with us all the time through prayer and through your giving. We know that you are 100% engaged as we are in sharing God's truth with our searching world.

That's what this is all about. We need Jesus, don't we? And God is doing a great work and I love you today. Thank God for you. Pray for you.

God bless you. Again, as Dr. Dodds mentioned, we would love to stay connected with you. You can do it on our website, T-E-W online dot O-R-G or on the phone. Jot the number down. We'd be happy to be one of your 2 a.m. friends anytime you'll reach us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.