What Is The Promise You Are Waiting To See? Series

What is the promise you are waiting to see?

This month in our Fresh Fire series we are considering the Holy Spirit in the Life and Ministry of Jesus.

A topic that could take years to really cover in detail.

So the ministry team are going to take the opportunity to give you a glimpse of some of the key Holy Spirit moments in Jesus Life and Ministry.

And I hope that this month you will be blessed and encouraged by what you hear, experience and learn.

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Looking at the life of Christ, is something that is essential for every believer.

To help us grow in our understanding of Him & our relationship with Him.

Over the days, weeks, months, years, centuries, that you have been in church, you have probably listened to many people preach and teach about Christ.

The fact that you are here this morning would suggest that you still want to learn about God,

you want to experience the blessing of knowing God more, you want to grow closer to Him.

To really follow Christ properly, we need to be in a daily relationship with Him.

Be honest, there are some days when you feel so close to God you can sense His presence and purpose for you easily.

And there are some days when life just gets in the way and we struggle to find time to focus on God.

Each day there are things that grab our attention.

Our relationships, our families, our work, our situations, our circumstances, our likes, our wants, our desires, even our hobbies can just get in the way.

When we should be waiting for God to speak, to act, to move, to bless.

When we should be waiting on God - we often make God wait for us don’t we?

Following Christ is not a stagnant process.

It is a journey. It is daily.

And it takes our commitment to participate.

And sometimes it takes our commitment to wait.

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This morning I want to take us to the very beginning of Jesus human incarnation and consider something that happened when Jesus was only 8 days old.

Something that involved someone who had been waiting a very long time for a promise that had been made to them by the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled.

We are going to look at Luke 2:25-32:

25At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,

29“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised.

30I have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared for all people.

32He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” 33Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” (Luke 2:25-35 NLT)

This really is a beautiful account of an early event in the life of Jesus.

Like many prophets, we know little about Simeon. The thing we know most is that God had given him a specific promise.

He had been promised by the Holy Spirit to see the Messiah before he died.

And knowing that God keeps His promises.

Simeon waited.

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Has God given you a specific promise?

Have you already seen that promise or are you waiting for God to keep His promise?

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On Wednesday night at our Brainstorm session,

we were reminded of some of the specific promises and prophecies God has given us as a church.

Some we have seen God already deliver -

And the others - we believe, we know,

we need to wait and God will fulfil them -

in His time, in His way, in His Grace, in His love.

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Simeon was waiting...

Simeon had the incredible promise that he would see Israel’s Salvation before he died.

God fulfilled His promise.

Simeon was part of a long line of waiting people.

Centuries before, God had promised a saviour and His people had been waiting.