Priscilla Shirer brings a powerful word to She Rises conference about living a life worthy of God’s calling, and understanding the value of a true encounter with God. This video was brought to you by TBN Networks® WATCH full Praise episodes for free on the TBN app: https://watch.tbn.org/praise
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 / praisetbn  NEED PRAYER? TBN’s Prayer Partners would love to prayer with you and are available 24/7: 714-731-1000 (U.S. and Canada) and +1-714-731-1000 (International). On the air since 1973, TBN’s flagship ministry and talk show Praise is one of the most recognizable — and most watched — Christian programs in the world. Taped before a live audience and hosted by TBN’s own Matt and Laurie Crouch along with other popular personalities, Praise features the best in contemporary Christian music and worship, fresh and impacting ministry voices, engaging interviews from a wide variety of guests, and a fast-moving hour of relevant talk you won’t want to miss! #praise #tbn #priscillashirer 00:00 Intro 00:33 Evidence of Your Environment 02:35 Desensitized to God’s Presence 06:46 An Encounter with Jesus 10:16 Affluence Can Be a Distraction 15:47 The Danger of Expectation 19:46 The Manifest Presence of God 21:35 The Revelation of the Holy Spirit 23:46 The Holy Spirit Resting Upon You 28:43 Living in Holiness 29:34 The Illumination of the Holy Spirit 31:13 The Leadership of the Holy Spirit 33:04 Living in the Spirit 34:44 The Value of Spiritual Mentors 41:30 Experience God for Yourself
more than anything else the enemy wants
you
disconnected from the privilege of
hearing the voice of God y’all this is
what separates our faith from every
other so-called faith on the face of the
Earth it’s that our God is
alive it’s that he speaks it’s that we
have the privilege to hear his voice
never downplay or minimize the value the
beauty the lavish Grace of this
privilege that we have to hear the voice
of
God there was a commercial that came to
my mind it’s a honeynut Cheerios
commercial this lady’s got a hairnet on
she’s been working in the factory all
day long they’re interviewing her and
she says you know I’m just like regular
Mom working moms sometimes after work I
got to go to the grocery store so I do I
run my errands I go to the grocery store
and she says sometimes I’m walking down
the aisleway in GR in the grocery store
just one aisle after the other and every
aisle I go down I see people
going they’re wondering why they why
they can smell what to them smells like
fresh bread baking somewhere or cookies
somewhere and then she said every now
and then I’ll walk past and I’ll just
put people out of their misery and tell
them hey you’re just smelling
me because I smell like the environment
I’ve been in all
[Applause]
day so when we leave from a place like
this we go back into our homes and our
jobs and our neighborhoods and our high
schools and our universities and people
are just like where you
been something different about
you you smell like the environment
you’ve been in all
day Lord Jesus I thank you for this
place that is permeating with the
fragrance of your presence I thank you
Father in jesus’ name that our lives
will have the resid do of your presence
on them that father from this place we
will never ever be the same again we are
your daughters Lord and we are coming
over your word now to hear a fresh word
straight from the mouth of God lord I am
so glad that everybody else in this room
is here but I didn’t come to see
everybody else I came to see you and so
Lord I asking that you would open up the
windows of heaven and come down and
speak to your daughters we are listening
in jesus’ name everybody agreed when
they said
amen amen you may take your
seats years and years ago man my babies
were little I remember this because I
traveled to Memphis on one particular
occasion and I remember this because I
was exhausted I was so tired um you know
my kids were small at the time and I
happened to take this particular trip uh
by myself and I traveled to Memphis and
I remember being so excited when the
lady picked me up from the airport that
was a part of the church that I was
going to be ministering at she took me
to from the airport to the hotel it was
an early evening I was so glad anybody
ever been glad to just go to bed at 8:00
p.m. I could not wait I laid down in the
bed ready to get a good night of sleep
and I was jolted awake about 2:00 3:00
in the morning because there was a train
that went by right outside the window of
our hotel the conductor of the train was
sitting on the horn as the long train
blazed right outside of the hotel where
I was sleeping I sat straight up in bed
sort of alarmed by the noise went and
looked out of the window and realized
that literally the train tracks were
right there and it was one of those very
long trains with a lot of cars that went
whisking by it took a while for the
train to finally pass by and settle I
tried to go uh back to sleep as best I
could lady came back to pick me up that
particular morning because the
conference started I had to be there
very early in the morning so it was
about 6:30 or so anyway that I was going
to have to get up and get dressed and
get ready for a 7:15 or 7:30 pickup and
so I got in the car and I didn’t really
really say anything no big deal we had a
great day at the conference I went back
to sleep that night thinking of course
that the night before had been a fluke
and that that train wasn’t coming by
again went to sleep about 8:30 900 p.m.
so glad to get a good full night of
sleep but 3:00 a.m. you guessed it that
train went roaring by right outside the
window I sat straight up in bed not
believing that this was happening again
and I couldn’t even get back to sleep
that night I couldn’t wait for that
sweet lady to come pick me up the next
morning I sat down in the car and I said
so hey did you know that there is a
train that goes by about 3:00 in the
morning at least the last two mornings
that that I’ve been here that train has
gone by in the middle of the night woken
me straight up out of my sleep and she
had this look of complete compl horror
and regret written all over her face she
said I am so sorry I didn’t even think
about the fact that that train goes by
because those of us who live in this
community have grown so used to the
sound of the train that it doesn’t even
occur to us when it’s passing through
anymore it occurs to me that those of us
who live particularly in this western
part of the world where the presence of
God has been so lavishly given to us
where on every street corner we see
another church with a pastor that
preaches the good news of Jesus Christ
where we can turn on Christian radio
stations or go across town to the
Christian bookstore where we live as
women in a day and age and generation
where there have never been ever in
history so many bible study resources by
women for women could it be that we’ve
grown so used to the blessing ing of the
presence of God that when the train of
God’s glory Falls when God’s presence
comes and marks and and and permeates
our presence that we don’t even
recognize it
anymore that God has so blessed us that
we’re too blessed for our own
good that we don’t see the Fingerprints
of God in our lives that when there’s
even just a hint of disappointment or
discouragement or frustration or
irritation in our that we are blinded to
the fact that even when things are dark
the light of God’s presence can still be
found if we’ll just open up our
eyes may we never be desensitized to the
presence of
God and if you have your Bibles and you
want to look with me at a passage of
scripture I’ll just read it to you that
I want to point out today if you still
you know actually use a Bible with paper
Pages like I do or your iPhone your iPad
any manner of of iness is fine in Luke
chap 2 there are a group of people who
are about to be in the presence of God
and they’re not even going to recognize
it I will tell you as you turn to Luke
Chapter 2 that the author Luke wrote
this gospel and recorded these stories
really to show us how to have an
encounter with Jesus to not miss him
when his presence is near and by the way
this is our goal as Believers this is
the reason why he died on the cross of
Calvary so that we could not just know
about him but so that we can encounter
him we’re not just supposed to read in
the Old Testament about how he divided
the Red Sea or caused the walls of
Jericho to come tumbling down or met
with a man named Moses in the form of a
burning bush or showed up as the angel
of the Lord in a wine press while a
fearful timid Gideon was beating out
wine uh threshing wheat rather in that
wine press we’re not just supposed to
read about others that had an encounter
with Jesus we’re not just supposed to
see and applaud and experience the
testimonies of other people they’re
supposed to encourage us to realize that
if regular folks like that can encounter
him so can we and Luke comes along and
he writes story after Story in his
gospel to show us that we can have an
encounter with Jesus these people that
he is writing to and that he’s writing
about we’re in a time of national Decay
there is chaos happening and swirling
around them morally and socially and you
and I can relate to that because they
were not just in a time of national
Decay so are
we our country is in a state of more
social de Decay and decline than we’ve
ever seen before and the more God is
marginalized and segmented to the
periphery of society the worse things
are going to get the more he is
completely ignored and disregarded the
more we’re going to see the influx of
chaos and destruction but today I don’t
want y’all to worry about the White
House I want to get to your
house I want to talk about the
destruction and the Decay happening
maybe underneath the roof of your own
home Luke is writing not just then but
now to people who need a
savior folks who are waiting on a hero
to show up and rescue them from the
plight of their own circumstances Luke
was writing to them but by the Holy
Spirit he is writing to us today for any
of you who are in a state of decline in
some area of your life where we’re
seeing against the backdrop of Darkness
this need we have for the Savior to
manifest himself for us to not just know
about him from afar applauding him in
the testimonies of other people but if
anybody wants to experience him
themselves then Luke is writing to you
and I want somebody to know this today
that sometimes sometimes your
difficulties are less about the Enemy
being against you and more about God
wanting you to show wanting to show you
what it looks like when he is for
you sometimes it’s about him finally
wanting his daughter’s eyes to be open
so that when he shows up they’re
sensitive enough to see him Luke 2:
25 says and behold there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon this man
was righteous and devout and looking for
the consolation he was looking looking
for some hope y’all looking 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 and he came in
the spirit into the temple and when the
parents brought in the Child Jesus to
carry out for him the custom of the law
he took Jesus he went over to this
couple grabbed this 40-day old child
into his arms and he blessed blessed God
and said now Lord you can let your
servant depart in peace because
according to Thy word my eyes have seen
your salvation you have prepared your
salvation in the presence of all the
people a light of Revelation the glory
of thy People Israel and Mary and Joseph
they were amazed at the things that were
being said about their son Jesus Christ
here on this occasion Mary and Joseph
have come into the temple for um the
purification ceremony it was traditional
it was ceremonial that about 40 days
after a baby was born and the
purification process had taken place
that the parents of a new baby would
bring their baby into the temple to
offer specific sacrifices a burnt
offering a sin offering um and just to
present their child to the Lord now
traditionally when folks came into the
temple they would bring sacrifices and
if you look back into the Book of
Leviticus the details of those
sacrifices are given they would need to
have a pigeon for a particular sacrifice
they would need to have a lamb for
another sacrifice and there is a caveat
I’m just going to take a little Rabbit
Trail for a second because I love that
y’all like rabbit
Trails there’s a little caveat given in
Luke Leviticus chap 12 that says that if
someone is not wealthy enough if they do
not have the resources to actually
purchase a land for this sacrifice that
they actually can just bring two pigeons
and I didn’t read all the details here
but a few verses earlier than where we
started in verse 25 it tells us that
Mary and Joseph come into the temple
with two pigeons or two Turtle dos they
they don’t have a lamb which indicates
to us that they have expended so much of
their resources that they are in a state
of poverty at least enough that they
were not able to afford their own lamb
they’ve got two pigeons it’s all they
had to bring on this occasion as they
bring their new baby into the Tabernacle
to present him to the Lord they’ve got
these two pigeons which means that when
they walked into the temple people would
have looked at them and recognized them
as a couple that was um in that had
insufficient funds as a couple that was
lacking as a poor couple they would have
been looked down upon people would have
marginalize them because they did not
have the accoutrements of wealth that
everybody else in the building had so
they did not have a lamb and yet they
have in their possession the lamb that
takes away the sins of the world can I
just say to anybody who is in the room
and you felt like an outcast because you
don’t wear what everybody else wears you
can’t afford to drive what everybody
else drives you you don’t have the
resources to live in the neighborhood
where everybody else lives listen my
friend even if you do not have a lamb
you might be in the perfect position to
make sure you have intimacy with the
lamb who takes away the sins of the
world and can I tell you that sometimes
it is our our affluence that keeps us
from having the Lamb of God in our grasp
intimacy and fellowship with him like
never before the people that I have met
that have more of an intrical intimate
ongoing fervent passionate relationship
with Jesus Christ they are not the
people sometimes that live in the
Mansion on the hill it’s the people in a
Hut in a village with thatched rooms and
dirt floors who have in their
desperation had an encounter with Jesus
Christ and y’all I have met people in
third world countries who pray for
us oh they pray for us they feel bad for
us because they say we pray anemic
self-centered prayers they listen to our
prayers that are so focused on having
more Comfort than we already have where
in their desperation they have met with
Jesus they have seen him with their own
eyes they have been marked by the
presence of God they have watched God
show up in so much Splendor and they
want that for
us so sometimes when we can afford our
own
lamb it pushes out the opportunity and
the margin that should be reserved for
the
lamb comfortable people pray anemic
prayers
it’s
desperation it’s
insufficiency it’s lack its emptiness
when you find yourself in that state
where like Mary and Joseph you don’t
have enough to buy your own lamb anymore
that might be the perfect setup for your
encounter with the Lamb of God and so
they are coming into the temple with the
lamb he’s in their arms they walk in to
the
temple y’all they’re at
church there’s a group of people
including religious leaders Pharisees
and Sadducees that have all gathered
around probably hundreds of people all
carrying their sacrifices that have
joined in on this
occasion and they’ve been waiting all of
these people have been waiting on the
Messiah they’ve been waiting for the
kingdom of God to be at hand they’ve
been waiting on a king to ride in on a
white horse and to redeem them from all
that has been lost all they’ve lost as a
nation they’ve been waiting for somebody
to rescue them from the oppression of
Rome they have been looking for a
hero and the hero comes in and they do
not recognize him they are at
church and they do not recognize the
presence of
God the reason why is because he has
come in a package that they do not
prefer he has come in a package that
does not align with their expectations
and so because he does not look like
what they wanted him to look like about
what they had in their own estimation
prepared as the package that would be in
their estimation the best package for
the king to arrive because their
circumstance does not look like an he
has not appeared the way that they
prefer they downplay the Messiah when he
arrives I want want to submit to you
that Jesus is there in this difficult
moment in your marriage in this trying
moment in your finances in this struggle
on your job in this uh difficulty in
this relationship you’re rubbing Corners
with your boss or your spouse or this
struggle you’re having on your
University campus or in your high school
campus this hard time that you are
having he is there he just may have come
in the package you don’t
prefer and that often times the
fingerprint of God are not recognized
not because he’s not there it is just
because the expectation we have set up
about what he looks like and how he will
speak and how he will move the prayer
request the solution that he will bring
doesn’t align with the prayer requests
that we have prayed we have boxed God
into the way we want him to answer
instead of believing that his ways are
not our ways and his thoughts are not
our thoughts as high as the heavens are
above the Earth that’s how high his
thoughts are above our own and so we box
God in when we say Lord answer my
request in this particular way do you
know that you limit not God but you
limit I limit our experience of God when
we say Lord answer my request exactly
this way I have learned to pray here
Lord is my request you said that I can
make it known here’s how I would like to
see you move in my circumstance thank
you Lord that I can come boldly and make
my request known so I’ve made my request
but at the end of that prayer I’ve
learned to pray Lord do it or do
something
better because do you know there are
categories of options that our brain
doesn’t even know are available and
accessible to us and if we limit God to
what we can think and what we see as the
way we have not even considered the
categories of opport
that this Divine holy Almighty being has
accessible to him y’all he’s not just
thinking about you he’s thinking about
your children and your grandchildren and
your great grandchildren and those that
are to come and how his kingdom purposes
are going to be outworked in this
generation and so on this occasion the
Messiah shows up and nobody recognizes
him except somebody say except
ex except a guy named
Simeon he had been told and
promised just like we have that we he
would see the Manifest presence of God
he’d been told it he’d been promised
just like we’ve been promised because of
our relationship with God through Christ
Jesus and the Holy Spirit indwelling us
that we will see the Fingerprints of God
working in our lives this is called the
Manifest presence of God it is unique to
omnipresence omnipresence means that God
is everywhere all at the same time I’m
so grateful for God’s omnipresence
because God’s omnipresence means that
when I fly back to Dallas where I live
when my new friends that I just met from
Uganda fly back to where they live um
that when you all fly back to whever it
is you’ve come from whether all over
different areas of California or afar it
means that no matter where we go he is
as much with me as he is with you
because he is omn
present but if you’re anything like me
you’re grateful for his Omni presence
but you want more than that you want the
manifested presence of God I’m talking
about where you can look back over your
circumstances and realize that his
fingerprints were all throughout that
thing I’m talking about where you can
see footprints in the sand as you
actually recognize that God was walking
beside you the whole way I’m talking
about what other people call coincidence
encounters you see The Sovereign hand of
God that was aligning your footsteps and
setting you in the right place at the
exact right time the Manifest presence
of God I wanted to know what made
simeon’s eyes open to recognize what
nobody else in this scenario did I
figured whatever opened up his eyes
might open up our eyes as well are you
ready three things that I want to point
out to you it says in verse 26 about
Simeon it says that it had been actually
verse 25 I want to start there there was
a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon
he he was righteous devout looking for
the consolation of Israel we could spend
a whole lot of time in those three but
here’s where I want to hearten the Holy
Spirit was upon
him the Holy Spirit was upon him it
says that he came into the temple verse
27 in the spirit verse 26 says it had
been revealed to him by
the Holy Spirit look at the presence of
the holy spirit permeating this text
look at how the author has over and over
and over again highlighted the work of
the holy spirit in opening up simeon’s
eyes to be able to recognize the
manifested presence of God before him in
the person of Jesus Christ Luke here he
is just in the second chapter of this
book and by the way just in these first
two chapters he has already alluded to
the spirit 10 times
the work of God’s spirit is so powerful
and so needful to a fruitful experience
in the life of the of the believer that
even before the book of Acts even before
Pentecost even before the spirit has
come Luke points out the movement of the
spirit here in the life of Simeon this
shows you how important the spirit’s
work is how critical it is to making
sure that your spiritual senses your
spiritual radar is heightened so that
you can detect the presence of God the
Holy Spirit was upon him now I want you
to see the work of God’s spirit this is
just the first uh characteristic of
Simeon but I want to just just take some
time for just a few moments on it the
work of God’s spirit is so important we
it deserves a little bit of our
attention here there are three ways that
the holy spirit is described as relating
to Simeon in these few verses just just
a few ways that the Holy Spirit relates
to Simeon in these few verses the first
thing it says is that the Holy Spirit
was upon him now listen I want you to
know that if you have placed faith in
Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit lives on
the inside of you Ephesians chapter 1
says that the moment you believed you
received the Holy Spirit you were sealed
by the Holy Spirit of promise I want you
to know that at the moment you became a
believer in Jesus Christ you receive the
most incredible gift you will ever
receive this side of Eternity and that
is the very presence of God living on
the inside of you the holy spirit is not
a ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove he
is often symbolized by those things but
don’t minimize him that ain’t who he is
the holy spirit is the third person of
the Trinity not third because he is
least in value just third because he’s
the last to be revealed to us in the
pages of scripture but all of the Power
all of the glory all of the authority
all of the Grandeur of God the the
father is in the person of the Holy
Spirit which
means if you’re a Believer and the Holy
Spirit lives in you that means all of
the Grandeur and all of the greatness
all of the authority of God himself now
lives on the inside of you so if you are
a Believer you have the Holy Spirit you
are not waiting on more of the holy
spirit all of the Holy Spirit you ever
going to get you got the moment you got
saved
now you do need to be filled by God’s
spirit so that his influence in your
life grows and grows so that you operate
under the gifting of the spirit so that
you can live according to the fruit of
the spirit that means living beyond your
natural capacity it means when your
patience runs out you can still have
more patience with that person it means
when gentleness has long since left the
building you still find you got a little
gentleness for that person when
self-discipline I mean you just don’t
know have no more self-discipline in
that area we need the fruit of God’s
spirit so we need to be filled by the
spirit as we yield to him in obedience
we are filled which means he influences
us more our mind is renewed and
transformed we are Sanctified into the
image of Christ Jesus so the holy spirit
is in
you but
Simeon his relationship with the spirit
is not described in that way it doesn’t
say that the spirit was in him it says
that the Holy Spirit was on
him which means there is a difference
between the spirit being in you and the
spirit resting on
you listen to
me the gift of God’s spirit in you oh
this brings tears to my eyes the gift of
God’s spirit in you
he will never leave you nor forsake you
there is nothing you can do to work
yourself out of a relationship with the
Holy Spirit okay but him being on
you you got to live a life I I want to
live a life that is a magnet for the
presence of God to rest on me we can sit
in this conference until we’re blue in
the face and applaud the truths of God
and say Amen to the truths of God but if
we leave this room and live in a way
that is out of alignment with the truth
of God we will not have the spirit
resting on
us if you want the mark of God’s
presence on you I’m talking about where
other people can see you operating in
your gift moving about in the
assignments that you have been given
where they can just see there’s a unique
favor on your life toward that
particular task or that particular
Endeavor where you are marked by
something that gives you favor that
gives you his grace for a particular
area of your life then you must live I
must choose to live in a way that honors
God so that God’s presence can rest upon
us cuz he will not force himself on you
he offers you this resting of his
presence and his grace upon your life if
you will choose to live in a way that
does not uh disturb his presence that
does not keep him from being able to be
near you because you have chosen here it
is to be
holy listen to me are you
listening y’all we live in a day and age
where we have become more interested in
being
impressive than being
holy where we are more interested in
making sure we have
likes yes and friends and the Applause
of people more than just being flat out
Holy by making sure that political
correctness is not our main
goal that we’re not after the Applause
of people we’re after the Applause of
Heaven you got to choose to be ye holy
and so I implore you Sisters by the
mercies of God to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling by which you have
been
called so the spirit rested upon him let
me just show you quickly verse 26 says
that the spirit revealed to him so that
means the spirit not only rested upon
him the spirit’s revealed to him old
preachers called this
illumination it’s shining a spotlight
it’s when you’re sitting in church on a
Sunday and your pastor opens up the
Bible to preach and man he just reads or
she reads that first two vers vers that
that they’re going to be preaching from
and you sit straight up in your seat
because you feel like it’s all about
you anybody know what I’m talking about
it’s where you’re trying to figure out
how did did the church bug my house how
did they
know that’s the illumination of the
spirit it’s when he it’s when the the
old truths of script scripture leap up
off the page and for lack of a better
way word it’s when they grip you in your
soul where you see how that intersects
with something you are personally facing
today that is the revelation of the holy
spirit this is what the Holy Spirit does
he reveals he illumines he shines the
spotlight Simeon was there that day
because he had been promised by the
revelation of God’s spirit it wasn’t
just a random promise it was his promise
oh you’ve had that happen over the
course of these days that we’ve been
gathered you probably have had that
happen where something that has been
said it wasn’t just great to hear it it
gripped your soul you knew it was an
assignment for you it was a conviction
that you knew the Lord was going to send
you out of here with that assignment
because the Holy Spirit revealed it to
you God’s spirit rests he reveals and
then he ruled Simeon CU it says in verse
27 that he came in the spirit to the
temple meaning the spirit told him on
this day to go into the temple and it
says that he came into the spirit under
the into the temple under the conviction
of the Holy Spirit when the spirit said
go Simeon said yes sir he submitted to
the leadership of the Holy
Spirit and he was in the right place at
the right time to run right smack dab
into the Messiah because he was
submitted to the leadership of the Holy
Spirit do you know that the more you
ignore ignore that still small
conviction the quieter that voice will
become not because he is no longer
speaking but because you’ve built a
callus of
Disobedience you have muffled the voice
of the holy spirit so it is better to be
so sensitive to God’s holy spirit that
sometimes you give when maybe he hasn’t
even prompted you to give but it’s okay
because to the best of your capacity
you’re obeying the holy spirit of God
just to keep those Airways open and
clear from the Disobedience that will
begin to muffle his voice in your life
because more than anything else the
enemy wants you
disconnected from the privilege of
hearing the voice of God y’all this is
what separates our faith from every
other so-called faith on the face of the
Earth it’s that our God is
alive it’s that he speaks it’s that we
have the privilege to hear his voice
never downplay or minimize the value the
beauty Beauty the lavish Grace of this
privilege that we have to hear the voice
of
God so the Holy Spirit rested upon him
there are two other things that I want
to point out to you that were symbolic
or was were significant about Simeon
that opened up his eyes to see Jesus as
he was to be seen in this package that
other people downplayed and found
insignificant that they totally ignored
because they didn’t think that their
king would look like that here’s what
opened simeon’s eyes not only that he
was in the spirit when he came into the
temple and by the way here’s another
Rabbit Trail
sorry if we came to church in the
spirit it would change our experience in
church can I just say
that because while everybody else was
looking at that poor couple wondering
why in the world they were in their
midst and discounting Mary and Joseph
Simeon came in the spirit spirit and he
was less concerned about who was wearing
what and who was driving up what and who
sat where and who was in his seat and
whether or not it was hot outside and
they had to walk far to go take their
children to Sunday school they were he
was less concerned about his convenience
whether or not the preacher preached
good was irrelevant to him he was
looking for
Jesus whether or not the microphones
were perfectly balanced or the lights
were exactly as they should be whether
or not the LD screens were on full
display that day whether or not the
ushers were or were not kind was not his
priority he had had come with his eyes
peeled for Jesus we would be less
critical and less skeptical if we came
to church in the
spirit then the pressure wouldn’t be on
the person who’s on the stage cuz you
didn’t come to see them you came to see
Jesus okay verse
27 so he comes in the spirit and then
look what happens in verse 27 the
parents bring in the Child
Jesus Jesus comes in in in his parents’
arms look at the Savior look at how the
Manifest presence of God arrives on this
remarkable day watch him show up into
the experience of this aged saint named
Simeon in a very personal way and onto
the landscape of human history he
arrives in the arms of his
parents there is something about the way
we see Jesus when we look at him through
the well-worn paths that have been HED
out by our parents
our grandparents our great-grandparents
our forefathers and our forem mothers
spiritually speaking the people who have
gone before us and have walked with
Jesus just a little while who spent
their lives serving him I am always
nervous when I see a young group of
Christians with their little skinny
jeans and their lattes and their avocado
toast which I love by the way I’m just
always a little nervous when I see them
Instagraming all their religious
experiences without the oversight of
some spiritual
parents because y’all we have modernized
Jesus today the modern version of Jesus
that we have crafted he has made him
water down now he’s tolerant of sin
without the expectation of Holiness our
Jesus is politically
correct we need to see Jesus coming in
the arms of our parents the people who
have gone before us the folks who have
walked the road a little while who know
what himels
are who sang the good old hymns that
were based in some theology we got to
make sure that our new praise and
worship songs I love them we got to make
sure they’re rooted in some good
Theology and so the package may change
listen y’all I I still go to the kind of
church it’s come a long way but it
started when I was one year old the
church that I go to now so you know back
in the day there was no way in the world
I would have ever gotten on a stage with
with with pants on are you
kidding anybody know what kind of church
I’m talking about we still have a few
people in our church a few mothers of
the church if anybody knows what I
mean jeans in the church are you
kidding they came in in their suits I’m
talking about where the skirt matches
the
jacket like they were bought
together
and not only that but underneath that
suit she’s going to have some actual
panty hose on I’m not talking about
spanks with the feet cut out uhuh I mean
panty
ho the ones with the girdle top anybody
know what I’m talking about anybody
remember
that and she’s going to have a handbag
in her hand and that handbag that clutch
is going to match that jacket which
matches that skirt which matches her
patent leather shoes that she has on her
her
feet closed toe patent letter
shoes but the outfit is never
complete and you know it ain’t no
regular hat right you know it’s got
something it’s a feather or a net or
something that’s sitting just like
this and she’s going to worship God
anybody know what kind of church I’m
talking
[Applause]
about and I love when she comes up to
give a
testimony about what she has seen the
Lord
Do It might not be moderate and it might
not be new and
improved but it’s the Jesus of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob it’s the god of our
forefathers there are some things you
cannot learn on Instagram there are some
things you just need to be with a mother
of the church somebody who’s walked the
road a little bit longer than you to
make sure you can bounce off of her or
him the from the true theological
biblically based unchanging venerated
word of
God so the package may change but the
principles never do y’all Jesus was
never politically correct he was always
a revolutionary he never dismissed
sinned he called it out in in Grace but
most certainly in truth he was never
watered down he always said I am the
only
way I am the truth and I am am the life
he didn’t acques or tolerate he l loved
but he did say repent for the kingdom of
God is at
hand God made us in His image and one
philosopher said we have now returned
the favor favor by trying to make him in
ours we got to see Jesus as he’s always
meant to be seen and sometimes it
requires you going to find a parent a
spiritual parent who can show you the
Jesus of the Bible Simeon saw Jesus
because as he was meant to be seen he
saw him in the package in which Our
Savior wanted to come because there were
some spiritual parents who were willing
to bring him in so I speak to the
younger people that are in this room I’m
telling you check your
arrogance check our lack of teachability
where sometimes we just think we know it
all so we won’t recognize and see the
beauty of our our savior because we
won’t receive him from the parents who
are trying to give him to us so the
package may change change the package
enjoy that freedom but watch and make
sure that you’re sticking to the true
milk of the word of
God and then can I implore you who are
in this room and you’ve sort of
graduated to that parent
Department take this as your
privilege to carry Jesus to those who
need him to see him and experience him
as you will bring him Simeon shows us
that in order to have our eyes open his
experience demonstrates to us that we
need to have the Holy Spirit upon us and
we need to be looking for how the
parents bring him into our experience
but finally it says in verse 28 that as
soon as he caught a glimpse of him he
went over look look at the boldness look
at the audacity look at the eagerness of
Simeon he runs over to the parents he
takes the baby
out of their arms and gathers him to
himself because an experience with Jesus
from afar wasn’t enough for
Simeon C can I just tell you in this
room that that God does not have
grandchildren you got to have your own
relationship yeah you have to make your
own choice you have to go and gather him
up for yourself you have to taste and
see for yourself how good he is you can
celebrate him in the testimonies of
other people in the experience of other
people till you are blue in the face but
there’s got to come a time where you
decide I’m going to stop sitting on the
periphery and applauding his experience
with other folks you got to decide today
will be the day that I go and gather him
up for myself that I start to spend time
with him in prayer and in conversation
so that I can take advantage of this
privilege to hear his voice and to speak
to him in prayer that I won’t let
everybody keep spoon feeding me the word
of God I’m going to go to the scriptures
myself and know that I too can have an
ongoing fervent relationship with Jesus
I’m going to gather him up in my own
arms and when you do you will see him
and experience him and encounter him in
a way way you have never encountered him
before