Welcome to Leading the Way Audio with pastor and author Dr. Michael Youssef. In a moment, listen as Dr. Youssef brings a powerful message of hope. It's called unrealistic expectations. He introduces us to Simeon, a man who offered unrestrained praise to God when he realized he had finally met the long awaited, long promised Messiah. It's a reminder that although some of God's promises may require a lifetime of patience, placing our hopes on the promises of God are well worth the journey.
So listen along now as Dr. Youssef begins this life changing message. Unrealistic expectations. Now I am told today by an authority on the subject that when you ask young people today and you say, what do you want to do when you grow up? Well, back yonder in my day it was, you know, fireman, policeman, doctor, engineer, astronaut, never heard a preacher. Nobody ever said, I want to be a preacher.
President, yes. But now I'm told that the vast majority of young people who say, what do you want to be when you grow up? They said, I want to be famous. That is a surprise to me. How?
It doesn't matter. I just want to be famous. But more importantly, here's what I learned about unrealistic expectations. The more unrealistic the expectations are, the greater the depression when these unrealistic expectations are not fulfilled. So what's the answer?
The answer is, are you ready? Realistic expectations. More specifically, I want to tell you about the realistic expectation that will never, never, never, how many nevers is this?
Never disappoint. And that is when you place your whole of your expectations on the promises of God in the Word of God. No matter what happens in life, no matter what difficulties you may be experiencing in life, no matter how tough circumstances that you're in even now, no matter how long it takes, no matter how unrealistic these promises are in the sight and in the eyes of the non-believing world, no matter how long these expectations will take to be fulfilled, you can bank on the fact that sooner or later, God will fulfill his promises. Luke chapter 2, verses 25 to 32. This reading is about a man who was living in expectations. Expectations that is totally and completely anchored on the promise of God in the Word of God.
This prayer, known in the Latin name for Nank Domitas, Nank Domitas simply means now dismiss, now dismiss. The man who prayed this prayer, after seeing that which he has been expecting for a long time, after he saw the fulfillment of his expectations, this man name is Simeon, and that's about all we know about him. That's all we know about him. But from his prayer, we know that he had realistic expectations of the promise of God to be fulfilled.
I'm going to explain that in a minute. Because of his realistic expectations were firmly founded and anchored on the promise of God in the Word of God, he was not disappointed. This man and his prayer have impacted millions upon millions upon millions upon millions of people in the last 2,000 years. Yet, he was not famous preacher. He was not a television celebrity. He was not a superstar. He was not even a pastor or a theologian or a big name.
Hear me right, please. If you think that God only uses big shot preachers and evangelists, please, please, please think again. So many of the greatest revivals in history, they were ignited by nameless and faceless but faithful people. What was his highest expectations? His highest expectation was to see the fulfillment of thousands of years of promise in the Old Testament come to pass.
The Messiah Jesus, Immanuel, is here. And he was not disappointed. He was not disappointed. Simeon's expectations were not placed on Rome or even Jerusalem.
It was not placed on a presidential candidate or the economy or the stock market. His expectations were not even in the way the Bible describe him on his own righteousness and his own devotion. But his total expectations were anchored on the promise of God in the Word of God. So my challenge to you is this. Dare to trust God. Dare to trust God.
Say that with me. Dare to believe what God said even if the world says it's impossible. Expect what the world may call is unexpected.
Hope for the world called hopelessness. Attempt what appears to the world to be unattainable. Be convinced of what the world calls inconceivable. See the invisible to be and the undoable. There is no disciple of Jesus Christ at the sound of my voice who could ever say, oh, I am just an average Christian.
Don't do that. Oh, I'm just an ordinary Christian. No, I cannot believe big things. I don't have big faith in a big God who has big promises. I just cannot wait for God to fulfill all his promises out of fear that I may be disappointed.
You will not. I cannot dream big dreams for God, not big dreams for me, dreams for God because I'll be disappointed. I cannot claim to believe that all the unconditional promises of God are true and yes and amen. I believe with all my heart that God is ready to use any of his willing children.
I believe with all my heart in these last days that God is longing to use his surrendered children. What the Holy Spirit wanted us to know, what the Holy Spirit want every one of us, every one of us to know is what God thought of him. What God thought of Simeon's faithfully waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises. God wants us to know what he thought of his longing expectation.
And here are his qualifications for receiving this incredible, incredible privilege. He was righteous, not self-righteous. He was devout and he was watching and waiting and never give up, never give up. I know somebody wrote a book by that title. Never give up.
The word here actually denotes someone who's daily standing guard, someone who's daily reporting for duty. Here I am, Lord. What do you want me to do?
Send me. Someone who's expecting God to fulfill his promises. It's like a sentinel, watching and waiting and praying and serving and giving and trusting. Remember this, because of all of this, because of all of this, God gave him a personal promise. It's a personal promise as different from the promise of God of the expectant Messiah. First of all, you need to know that in the Bible, there are three different promises. First of all, there are general promises. The promises of God that are in generality, anyone can claim. But then there is a conditional promises. There are conditional. Those promises God is not going to fulfill until and unless I meet the condition. Given will be given to you. It's a conditional promise. But then there are personal promises that God makes to you personally. Oh, but be very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very careful.
Because there are some people answer their own prayers. Make a promise to themselves and then blame it on God. Be extremely careful that you are listening to God with all ears and all heart and all mind.
Be very careful. Lest you make yourself a promise and confuse your voice with God's voice. What I have learned the very, very, very, very, very hard way about God's personal promises to an individual believer is that when that happened, read my lips. Keep it to yourself.
Don't blab it. Remember Samson? And that is why we see here in Luke chapter 2 in Simeon's life, the Holy Spirit made him a personal promise. There was a promise of the coming Messiah. But then God made him a very personal promise just to him because he was faithfully waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, God told him, Simeon, you're going to see it with your own eyes. You're going to see it with your own eyes.
Wow. So as soon as he held baby Jesus in his arms, he knew that God kept the personal promise to him. He kept both the biblical promise of sending his Messiah and the personal promise that he is going to see the Messiah with his own eyes. And so when he saw the Savior of the world, he said, now I can be released from sentinel duties. Now I can be dismissed from the duty of waiting and watching. Now I can depart in peace. Now I can go to glory and be with the Lord. Now it is time for me to step down from my watchtower. Now that I have seen the fulfillment of the lofty expectations of the promised Son of God, the virgin born Son of God, I've completed my mission.
I'm ready to go. Luke chapter 2 verse 29, Simeon prayed, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word. Question, what brought about this confidence in Simeon?
Thank God I don't have to come up with the answer. It's verse 30, the answer. Because my eyes have seen the fulfillment of all of Israel's expectations.
Oh my beloved friends, please listen. When your expectations are on the promises of God and the word of God, you will never be disappointed in the long run. Simeon was privileged to see what Abraham longed to see and didn't see what countless others throughout generations for thousands of years were longing to see and didn't get to see. You see, Simeon was not the first generation to wait for the Messiah.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He was the last line of long generations who were waiting for the Messiah. But he was the generation that was privileged to see it for thousands of years. Generation after generation after generation after generation were waiting with expectancy. And when they came to the end of their life, they said to the next generation, you watch for the Messiah, you watch for the Messiah.
To the next generation, then the next generation. In fact, the Apostle Paul himself thought that he's going to see the parousia. Can you say parousia? Do you know what that means? The return of Christ. He thought he's going to see it in his lifetime. But when he came toward the end of his life, and the Lord had not returned, but he's going to go and see him first. He said to Timothy, now Timothy, you're going to see the parousia.
You live with expectation. And when Timothy came toward the end of his life, what happened? He told the next generation of disciples, you look for the return of Christ.
You look for the parousia. And generation after generation. So what is the lesson here from the experience of Paul and Timothy and the following generation?
If you're listening, say amen. It means that every generation, every generation must live with the expectations of the coming of Christ. If the Lord does not return in my lifetime, I'll be telling my children and my grandchildren to be expectant of the return of the Lord.
I don't know which one is going to see him. But we all must do that with our children and children's children. And that's precisely, precisely what the Old Testament saints have done. That's how they're saved in the Old Testament before the cross of Christ. They're Old Testament saints, Old Testament believers. They were saved by going, listening to the previous generation that says you look for the Messiah, and you look for the Messiah, and kept going, and they kept going generation after generation.
Never give up until they come to Simeon. It all started in Genesis 3.15. After Adam and Eve sinned and God redeemed them with the slaying of a lamb, he said to them about the seed of the woman who's going to redeem them.
And in their minds they thought it's going to be the first generation. As soon as Cain was born, they said here he is. That's what Cain means.
Did you know that? Cain means here he is. They thought that was it when the first child was born. No, no, no, no. They didn't realize it's going to be a long, long wait.
Far from it. It wasn't Cain. So they passed that expectation on to the next generation and the next generation, all the way to Abraham. And the Bible said that Abraham looked forward to the cities not built with God. Jesus said to the Jews, he said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. In fact, it said Abraham was waiting for my day and was looking forward to it by faith.
And that's why they want to kill him. Abraham looked forward with expectations. And then when Abraham died, his grandson Jacob, the next generation, when he was blessing his son Judah in Egypt, remember he was blessing each one of his 12 children. When he was blessing Judah, he said to him, he said, the Messiah is going to come from the tribe of Judah. And it's followed by the generation of Exodus who were waiting for the Lamb of God, followed by the generation of Leviticus, who were waiting for the great high priest, followed by the generation of Numbers, who were waiting for the smitten rock, followed by the generation of Deuteronomy, who were expecting the Messiah, the prophet, followed by the book of Joshua, where they were expecting the captain of the Lord of hosts, followed by the book of Judges, where the coming Messiah is going to be the judge of the world, followed by the book of Ruth, where he is going to be the kinsman redeemer, followed by the book of Samuel, the two books of Samuel, where he was the coming anointed one, followed by the books of Kings, where the coming Messiah is the king of kings and the Lord of all lords, followed by the chronicles generation, where he is the glory of the temple of God, followed by the Ezra generation, where the Messiah is the coming teacher who is from God, followed by the generation of Nehemiah, who is expecting the Messiah, who is the rebuilder of broken lives, followed by the generation of Esther, who is the protector of his people, followed by the generation of Job, who was the comforter in times of trouble, followed by Psalms, who is the good shepherd, followed by the generation of Proverbs, where he is the wisdom of God, followed by the generation of Ecclesiastes, where he is the preacher of the kingdom of God, followed by the generation of Song of Songs, where he is the bridegroom of his bride, the church, followed by the generation of Isaiah, where he is the righteousness of God, followed by the generation of Jeremiah, where he is the potter who shapes the clay of our lives into the image of God, followed by generation of Lamentation, where he is the weeping prophet, followed by the generation of Ezekiel, where he is the wheel inside the wheel, followed by the generation of Daniel, where he is the son of man, coming on the clouds with great glory that he is the stone that is not cut with hands, and he is the fourth person walking in the fiery furnace, and followed by the generation of Hosea, where he is the love of God for the backslider, followed by the generation of Joel, where he is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, followed by the generation of Amos, where he is the author of judgment and of mercy, followed by the generation of Micah, where he is the great intercessor between God and man, followed by Nahum, where he is the stronghold in the day of trouble, followed by Habakkuk, where he is the god of mercy, followed by the generation of Zephaniah, where he is the establishment of the kingdom of God, followed by Haggai, where he is the desire of all nations, followed by Zechariah, where he is the branch of Jehovah, and finally, that generation of Malachi, where he is the refiner's fire, the sun, S-U-N, of righteousness that rises over all the world with healing in his wings. And the Scripture then goes silent all the way, and we come to Simeon, who said, I've set my expectations, not on a position, not on accumulation, not on false hope, not on people, not on things, but like all of my ancestors, I have set my expectations firmly on the promise of God, and now my eyes have seen the fulfillment of the promise of God in this virgin-born baby that was holding in his hand. Now that I've seen the fulfillment of all the hopes and the dreams of all the previous generations who have been waiting for that first Christmas, now, Lord, take me to glory.
I have seen your amazing faithfulness. Now, beloved, as I come to the end, I want to remind you again, wrongly placed expectations or unrealistic expectations, expectations on people or on things, sooner or later, you will be disappointed. You will be disappointed, but expectations that are placed firmly on the promise of God and the Word of God will never disappoint, never, never, never, never depress you, never disappoint you. God promised that he's coming back. Jesus promised that he's coming back. The Scripture promised that he's coming back, not as a babe in the manger or a helpless body hanging on a cross, but he's coming back with great power and great glory. He's going to reign and rule with an iron scepter. He's going to come back to fulfill all of the hopes and dreams of his children who are waiting for their redemption. The question is this, are you certain that when he does come back, if this is the generation that sees his return, are you certain that you're going to see him? Are you going to be with him? Are you ready? If not, you can't be today.
You can't be today. A great challenges to point your expectations toward the promises of God. Thank you for joining pastor and author, Dr. Michael Youssef, for Leading the Way Audio.
Please do remember that Leading the Way is listener supported. It's made possible by the prayers and generosity of people like you. And when you get in touch, make sure to tell us where and when you watch and listen. Now if your family is anything like mine, one of the first things that happens when we get home from work is check in the mail.
The next trip usually is to the trash can, but sometimes there's a nice card or a surprise that comes. And the surprise we really enjoy receiving and it never gets tossed in the trash is my journal. My journal is a monthly magazine from Leading the Way with content that speaks pointedly and biblically to issues of today. And each issue guides you through encouraging content about work, family, and being an agent for change in the culture of today. The title again, My Journal, and you can get your free trial subscription started when you call us, 866-626-4356. Online sign up is quick and easy too. Just visit ltw.org. Well that's it for today. Don't forget to join Dr. Michael Youssef for the next episode of Leading the Way Audio and consider participating in this month's Giving Challenge. You can learn more about that at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-08 02:23:28 / 2024-12-08 02:31:44 / 8