Case Study 4 - Anna -The Female Evangelist Series

SERMON OUTLINE:

Insight #1. Prophetess (vs 36a).

Insight #2. Daughter (vs 36b)

Insight #3. Widow (vs 36c-37).

Insight #4. Witness (vs 38).

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• When you plant a Chinese bamboo tree,

• You will need to water it, nurture it, and fertilize it every day.

• But nothing will happen in the first year.

• You do the same thing the second year, and still nothing happens.

• You do the same thing for the third year, and still nothing happens.

• You do the same thing for the fourth year, and still nothing happens.

• That’s right, you see no results for 4 long years!

• You will see no outward results, no evidence of progress.

• But then, what happens on the fifth year is just awesome.

• One morning you wake up and see a small bamboo sprig,

• Then the next day an even bigger one and in 5 weeks it has grown up to 90ft!

• TRANSITION:

• You could say it is only outwardly fruitful at the end of its life,

• Although lots of things have been taken shape unseen.

• It is the end and not the beginning that you notice!

• The story of Anna is like that Bamoo plant.

• Anna’s story is brief,

• In fact, this is her only mention in the Bible (just 4 verses).

• But her story packs a punch!

• I have noted 5 characteristics that make her special,

• The last characteristic that we will look at is found in verse 38b.

• “and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”

The Living Bible paraphrase it:

“she also began thanking God and telling everyone in Jerusalem who had been awaiting the coming of the Saviour that the Messiah had finally arrived.”

• Let’s look at Anna,

• And see what we can learn.

Key factors of Anna in the Bible:

Insight #1. Gifted Prophetess (vs 36a).

• “There was also a prophet, Anna”.

• Anna is identified as a prophetess,

• That means she had a special gift of declaring and interpreting God’s message.

Anna is one of four other female prophets named in the Old Testament.

• Question: Do you know who they are?

• Answer: They are…

• Miriam (Exodus chapter 15 verse 20),

• Deborah (Judges chapter 4 verse 4),

• Huldah (2 Kings chapter 22 verses 14-20),

• Noadiah (Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 14),

• And we also have an unnamed prophetess woman in,

• The book of Isaiah (chapter 8 verse 3).

• Question: which one of these was a false prophetess?

• Answer: Noadiah (Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 12-14)

• In the New Testament we also have the four daughters of Philip,

• (Acts chapter 21 verses 8-9).

Note:

• In the Old Testament,

• Prophetic ministry is not one dimensional,

• By that I mean they were not all the same in their ministry.

• I think there are at least 8 different types of prophets in the Old Testament.

• We often think of prophets foretelling.

• (that is predicting what would happen in the future).

• But often involved forth-telling,

• (that is making clear to the people what God had said about sin & judgement).

Note:

• Bible scholars do not all agree on exactly what this title means.

• Because for 400 years between the time of the Old and New Testament,

• There was no prophetic word from God.

• So instead of foretelling (new revelation),

• Maybe she forth-told the Word of God.

• Interpreted the Scriptures to make clear what was being said.

A prophet/prophetess’s primary function was representing God to the people,

• Like an ambassador relaying God’s Word.

• The prophet or prophetess was God’s mouthpiece.

• The Biblical prophets weren’t sharing their personal opinions,

• But divine revelation given to them by God.

• Anna’s ability to convey God’s message,

• Would have been highly respected and valued among the people.

ill:

• Question: Anyone recognise who is in this photograph?

• Answer: King George V:

• A bit of trivia.

• It was King George V who made the first royal Christmas Day broadcast.

• On 25 December 1932.

• As he would write in his diary:

• “At 3:35, I broadcasted a short message of 251 words to the whole Empire.”

• Actually, the broadcast was at 3:50pm as the clocks at Sandringham,

• (where the broadcast took place).

• Were set thirty minutes faster than normal time to maximise daylight.

Back to my original story:

• King George V was to give the opening address at a special disarmament conference,

• The speech was to be relayed by radio to the U.S.A.

• As the broadcast was about to begin, a cable broke in the New York radio station,