R1636 A Grandmother’s Example. Pt.2

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and this message on A Grandmother's Example. Today we bring you part two of this wonderful message from Dr. Don Wilton coming from Luke about the grandmother's example that we all can learn from. As we open God's Word together, know that we're available for you.

We're connecting one-on-one right now. The phone number 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Many are calling about the video Risen and the video series from Dr. Wilton called Wonderful Hope. If you're interested, check out the details on our website at www.tewonline.org. And yes, there are still copies available of the Saturdays with Billy book, the latest book from Dr. Wilton about being the pastor to Dr. Billy Graham.

All the details are at www.tewonline.org. And now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. 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 the 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 saw—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.

Have you noticed something about moms? They teach you that it's worth the wait. 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 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. 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. My name to God. Me.

Just calling out my name. So 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, we always wanted to get out there and we were always at it.

It always seemed like she was the one who had her priorities in place. 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 all sit around a table and have it all set out? I mean, eat the food for crying in a bucket.

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. But 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? It's 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 it. Those are the things that really matter. Okay, so how did this grandmother live her life? Let me just rattle off some things.

You might want to write them down. Well, first of all, she disciplined herself right, obviously. She was a woman of discipline. Number two, she went to the right place.

Right? There was no argument about her about being in church. She, number three, worshipped the right God. This grandmother didn't say, oh, come on. I mean, you know, just, you know, if there's an owl sitting in a tree, let's go worship the owl. Or, you know, you know, as long as you can catch the right kind of vibe, you know, or just, you know, as long as you believe in something.

No. This grandmother worshipped the right God, made no bones about it. She looked for the right person. She was looking for Jesus, the deliverer, the redeemer. She knew this was in her heart. She waited with the right expectation. It was an expectation.

It just was there. It was in her soul system. This grandmother, she had the right heart. How many times I find so many of my friends, so many people I know in our church, so many ladies, so many grandmothers, precious people, just got such a precious heart.

I've said many times, you've said it, man. I'm telling you, it doesn't matter where I am, what I'm going through, how I'm feeling. I just have to go and sidle up to one of these precious people, these grandmothers, these mothers. They got such a right heart, and it just like is contagious. You know, when you say, man, she just, she just so precious.

What does that mean? She said the right things. She prophesied. She talked about God, the God of our fathers. She gave the right thanks. You'll notice there in that final verse I read, she gave thanks to God. And finally, not conclusively, she shared the right news.

All right, let's bring that all in one tub here. What does this grandmother teach us on a day like this from God's word? What can we take from this?

What can you take from this? All right, if you were to get out a piece of paper and a pen right now and write down, and I ask the question, what did you learn from your grandmother? Or what did you learn from your mother?

Be a great list, right? Boy, my mom taught me. All right, that's the question I'm asking here from Anna today. What is God saying to us today? So I wrote down seven things.

Ready? Number one, discipline. She must have been one seriously disciplined lady. What does that mean, to be disciplined? It means you, what she was saying, is you need to be willing to do what it takes in order to accomplish what it is that's in your heart.

Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the conclusion of today's message. But oh, how we strive to have that courage to accomplish what God puts in our hearts, the courage that can be fueled by a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. We have a wonderful tool that is absolutely free that we have found over the last decade or more has been a grand tool for just doing that, empowering us to be stronger in our faith and closer to Jesus Christ. We call it the Daily Encouraging Word Devotional. You can sign up for it to get an email or email it phonically, as we say, on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. You can sign up today and receive it within the next 24 to 48 hours, or if you'd rather have a physical copy, like my bride likes to have over her dash in a carpool line or in her Bible, it's absolutely free if you call 866-899-WORD and say I'd love the Daily Encouraging Word Devotional.

Again, it's absolutely free, 866-899-9673, or you'll find a way to sign up for it, email it phonically or in person as well, having that delivered to you on our website at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. So, just using an illustration. At school, you're going to school, right? You're not going to lose your joy over this, but as long as you keep messing around, you're not going to get it done. I guarantee you, you've got to have discipline. Some of you getting ready to go off to college, you've got everything going on, I mean, all over the place. You better be disciplined.

I'm telling you, that'll get away from you in a heartbeat. You'll become one of those other people that are always trying to beg, borrow, and steal from everybody else to do those assignments and get the thing done and to read the book and to answer the questions and you're going to develop dark rings under your eyes because you've got no discipline. You constantly, perpetually stay up late at night. You go all over the place. You're playing around all the time.

You think life is just one big game. You've got no discipline. You'll pay a price for it.

I'm telling you, you'll pay a price for it. That's what Anna teaches me. She was one disciplined person, guys.

Discipline is not, you know, your neighbor. It's the essential things that you have to do in order to accomplish what you know you need to do. So, if you want to play on the football team or you want to be a cheerleader in high school, you want to be a cheerleader? You want to be a cheerleader? You want to be a cheerleader at high school.

You love cheerleading and you're in middle school or, and you just, you would love to be able to be on the same, you would love to be a cheerleader. You better be disciplined. Don't just like rock up and say, because I promise you that coach is going to look at you and say, oh, she looks good, she sounds good, but man, she just doesn't put it all together. There's no discipline here. You can't be counted on. All right, discipline. Number two, focus. There's another one, focus, focus. She was so focused, man, focus.

She wasn't like, you know, one minute there, looking over there. Listen, she knew what she was after and it took her 84 years, which leads me to the third thing that she teaches us and that's determination. That's a great, wonderful trait, isn't it? Determination. Determination, man, means I am so determined to accomplish this, to be able to do this. I am determined.

I am going to do this. So here's a fourth one, perseverance. You can be determined, but if you don't accompany that with perseverance, you're not going to get it done. Determination is the attitude and the demand of your heart. Perseverance is the vehicle that carries you to keep on doing it. You can have an attitude that you're going to accomplish this, but if you don't persevere, next week, you're not doing it. So number five, worship.

Let me just summarize. Number one is discipline. This is what Anna teaches us, this grandmother, this is her example. Discipline, focus, determination, perseverance, worship.

She prioritized worshiping the Lord. That's an incredible thing, man. You know, I smile because about 10 weeks ago, a father that I know who's in this church, I turned to him and I love him.

They come, I've known them for quite a long time. They've got a young family and I said, man, it's good to see you. And I said to him, hey man, I just appreciate the way you're always here.

You're always in place. He said, don't thank me, thank her. I said, you mean it's all about your wife? He said, let me tell you something.

There's some things that are negotiable and there are other things that are not negotiable and being in God's house and worshiping the Lord with my wife, non-negotiable. But I'm telling you, there are some dads that get dragged kicking and screaming to church every Sunday. Because you not only hunt turkeys, you are a big turkey and you don't want to come. I didn't say that, man. Some Greg Springsteen said that to me. All right, number six, here's the number six, gratitude, gratitude. Can I read that verse to you again? Verse 36, coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God. Don't our moms and our grandmothers, isn't it beautiful the way they teach us to be thankful? Don't just be thankful, folks. Say it.

Say it. Number one to God. Tell the Lord how grateful you are to him.

Over and over and over again. Tell him, thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my mother. Thank you for my father. Thank you for the food that I eat. Gratitude.

That's what she did right out of the hatch, man, after 84 years. The first thing she did is I just thanked my God for this Jesus, who is the redeemer, the saviour of the world. And then the seventh thing that she teaches us is evangelism. What is evangelism? Evangelism is about the good news. It's about sharing what we know to be true about Jesus.

Did you notice something about her? All these years, she looked for Jesus, and when Jesus came, the first thing she did was gave thanks to God, and the second thing she did was she shared it with everybody. She went out and told everybody who was looking for the redeemer, even in their understanding, there were people looking for a rescuer, like an emperor. Some were looking, yes, for the Messiah. She just said, these people that are looking for the redeemer, she just began to share. All those who are looking for hope, do you know something, my friends? All around us, there are people who are looking for hope that only Jesus brings.

Do you know what? I've met Jesus, and He's my Savior, and I thank God, and I just want to share that with you today, that He really does love you. So would you bow your heads with me for a minute? Every head, just let's talk to Jesus just for a minute here today. See, this is about Jesus.

That's a beautiful picture. And this grandmother, she had such a personal relationship with the Lord, didn't she? And what a beautiful person she must have been, even in her own world, which is so different from mine. But what an incredible person, and all she could do was thank God and then share Jesus. Do you know Jesus?

Have you trusted Him? Are you ready to give your heart to Jesus today? Would you do that today? Give your life to Christ today, right now.

That is the question, but what is your answer? You know, as you've been listening to Dr. Don, as he's been preaching and teaching today, perhaps the Lord has stirred questions in your mind. You'd like to have one of our team walk you through some of the scriptures he shared, or just have some questions, want someone to pray with you. We're here right now at 866-899-WORD. We would love to speak with you and pray with you.

866-899-9673 will connect you with one of us anytime, 24 hours a day. But perhaps rather than call us, it's time for you to call out to God. As Dr. Don steps into the studio, I pray you'll 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've 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. Perhaps you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago, giving your life to Christ for the first time or perhaps rededicating your life. Either way, Dr. Wilton has prepared unique resources he wants you to have absolutely free if you'll call us. Our number is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.

And sometimes I know it's a little more familiar to say, let us talk keyboard to keyboard. We'll do that as well on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. We would love to connect 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.

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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. As we're wrapping up the final broadcast of the week, we're excited to have just a spare moment to share these closing thoughts with our pastor, Dr. Don Wilton, with you. Well, here I am again.

What a day this has been. You know, one of the things I want to say to you is let's stay connected. You know, we've got so many means to be able to do that.

You can write to us, email us. You've got all the details right there in front of us. We are. We're a family together. We stay connected in so many ways, and your life is very important to me. I see you there, and God shows me, and I want to be able to pray with you and connect with you and be a vital part of your relationship, your growth.

Your needs are maintained. I'm walking in your shoes, and I want to pray for you. Please don't stop. Call us.

Write us. Keep praying. Keep giving. Keep connecting. Keep rejoicing. Keep celebrating. Keep striving.

God is on His throne. This is the encouraging word, and now you know why. Again, our time is gone, but oh, how we love to stay connected. Praying together at 866-899-WORD, that's the number. You'll reach someone any time, day or night, at 866-899-9673, or meet us online as well at TEWOnline.org. And yes, we are in the middle of a remarkable opportunity to share Christ with even more people, as God has provided a $200,000 challenge gift, which we're adding to that to get to the full goal of $500,000 this month as we look ahead to, again, brand-new opportunities to share Christ. If the Lord leads you to get involved, would you call and share your gift at 866-899-9673 or discover more of how you can get involved online at TEWOnline.org.