Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / What We Can Learn From Simeon’s Role in The Christmas Story 12-25-23

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What We Can Learn From Simeon’s Role in The Christmas Story 12-25-23 · OneLegUpAlex Media

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  That is the sound of Saint Patrick's Cathedral midnight Mass here on the Alex Garrett
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  Podcast Network. And whatever you've done today or this weekend, or even made
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  it a four day weekend for yourself, taking Tuesday the twenty sixth off as
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  well, I hope you have honored what today means, and I hope you've
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  enjoyed today with family at Christmas and on Christmas Day. But before this day
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  ends, I cannot go without talking about a story that an organization Protect our
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  Kids shared over the Christmas weekend. And the story is of one named Simeon.
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  Simeon we find in Luke chapter two, verse twenty five. And behold,
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  there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same
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  man was Jesus, just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
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  And the Holy Ghost was upon him. It was revealed unto him by the
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  Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
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  And he came by the spirit into the temple. And when the parents
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  brought in the child Jesus to do for him after custom of the law,
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  he then then took he in him up in his arms and blessed God and
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  said, Lord, Now, let'st thou servant depart in peace according to thy
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  word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before
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  the face of all people. Simeon seems to be not a bystander, but
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  an average person who just was a devout Israelite, maybe even I would say,
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  a devout Jew, and he was waiting for Emmanuel to ransom captive Israel.
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  Why this struck me the story of Simeon is because he was sort of
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  uh. I don't know if he went around town, but he might have.
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  He might have been like a power of ear that knew he would,
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  that knew Christ was coming, and was so waiting for that moment. And
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  I'm sure he told the town about it, that he was to see the
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  face of God, the face of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
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  the Emmanuel, Thou ransom captive Israel. So that is why this story of
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  Simeon, as it was told to me by Mark of protect our kids,
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  fascinating me. Because he was prophesy prophesied by the Lord that this baby would
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  be born, that this baby Jesus Christ would be born, and he stuck
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  by that prophecy. He believed in that prophecy, and he waited till he
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  saw Christ before it was called home, and he was given that chance by
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  God to see the face of Christ. So when we say when we say
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  here on the Alex Gart podcast network, and when you hear it in church
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  and they say something to the point of may his face shine upon you,
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  I would like to add, may God's face shine upon all of you as
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  it did for those like Simeon at the birth of his son, Jesus Christ.
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  Because Simeon is most likely a honest, or was most likely an honest,
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  humble human being who, like all of us, you know, pray
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  to see Jesus. And actually even I think a lot of us can visualize
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  Christ as I do, walking side by side us every day, every day
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  in that robe and those sandals. I see Christ walking with us, guiding
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  us, forgiving us as well. And that birth is always celebrated today.
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  But if Simeon was able to wait and had the patience, and then was
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  promised by God that he would see the Lord's only son, only begotten son,
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  and the Lord fulfilled that promise, imagine what praying today can do for
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  you. If you don't believe in him, that's okay. But if you
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  just shoot up a prayer if you're in a time of need, God might
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  be there for you. Furthermore, if you want to believe in Him but
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  not any kind of organized religion, that's okay too. As long as you
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  believe in Him, he is there with you even if you don't. By
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  the way, I don't want to get too preachy on Christmas because I know
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  that this is more of a ooh, let's open presence kind of day,
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  and it's kind of nerdy, I guess, to talk about Christ in this
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  way. But at the serious matter of it, Simeon's story struck me because
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  here was an average person of Israelite praying for Israel to be healed thanks to
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  Christ, and his patients was rewarded. And so if we want to look
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  to find celebrities or sports athletes, but I think a lot of us naturally
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  want to do right. We want to meet all the big hitters, all
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  the big quarterbacks, and all the big movie stars. And we honor those
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  who get to see all these people, and they become TikTok famous and whatnot
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  for seeing these people. Well, let's give me in some love as well,
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  because his patients was rewarded by God to see the face of God and
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  actually hold hold Christ because Christ, because he was told by the Lord that
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  will will be done. And so maybe today if you're itching for that next
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  reward, or you're wanting that next reward to come sooner than later, because
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  you might feel cashtrapped, or you might feel lost, so you might feel
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  some sort of way, maybe the patience that Simeon had and the reward he
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  had to not only see the face of Christ and the face of God,
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  but also hold him and proclaim him as the Savior while holding this little baby
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  in his arms, maybe we can think our life may not be full of
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  riches, may not be full of elitist things, if you will, but
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  filled with that spirit of knowing God's reward will be coming to us as well
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  in this lifetime, and it comes to us every day also because every day
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  we live is another reward by God. The chance to be six to not
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  be six feet under is a reward, Thanks be to God. So he
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  didn't take Simeon home yet because he knew that Simeon had another purpose before being
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  taken home. And Simeon knew that purpose and sow it through to the end.
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  And so how do we apply that into today's world? On Christmas Day?
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  We stay patient, We recognize the rewards God gives us right now,
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  and then we understand God is playing the long game with us. He is
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  playing He is going to bless us when he feels the time is right.
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  And so whenever God blesses us, we must feel that excitement as much as
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  Simeon. No matter how little or how big the reward is, Godd's reward
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  just right for us. And I think for Simeon he hit the jackpot,
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  did he not by getting to see Christ, by seeing his patients rewarded by
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  knowing getting to see Christ, but by being able to hold him. We
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  give be that patient. We can have that reward too. We do have
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  that reward because God gives us the chance to wake up every day and get
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  it right and make it right within this world. And I feel like there
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  are so few that recognize that and do so that the more we talk about
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  how God wakes up every day to make it right. And Christmas is about
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  gift giving, it's about secrets saying, it's about maybe even God for bit
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  elf, for the elf on the shelf. But it also is about who
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  lay in the manger that holy night. I love a peaceful Christmas Eve.
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  I love rolling them in my fiance Gabby back to our apartment in that peaceful,
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  cool December twenty fourth night, as the lights were blaring from different houses.
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  That was pretty cool. And I don't care how old I get.
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  I think I'll always appreciate the lights. I'll always appreciate the music, and
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  I'll always appreciate that God's reward to us was Jesus Christ. And then God's
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  personal reward to Simeon was that he got to see Jesus Christ and got to
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  see the Son of God and got to see the man that the baby that
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  would eventually become the man that was healing the lame and healing the blind and
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  gathering so many people for the sermon on the Mountain and others on how to
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  do right by people. That's what that little baby and that major teaches us
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  is how to do right by people and love thy neighbor. So God's love
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  can shine on our faces, does shine on our faces, much like it
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  shined on Simeon. The not so well known character Luke two twenty two who
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  got to hold Christ our Lord in Bethlehem. Also Luke, the Gospel of
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  Luke talks about Christ's circumcision. Yes, and so the reason why I can
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  identify as both a Lutheran and a Jewish person because I'm proud to really is
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  because Christ the Lord changed the world and he was Jewish. And I can
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  proudly say that on Christmas Day. And I'm proud to say that on Christmas
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  Day. And that's why we pray for Bethlehem right now as they're undergoing a
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  canceled weekend due to the Israel Hamas war. We have to pray for Bethlehem,
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  the birthplace of Christ, so that they may get to show that reward
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  God gave us once again when conflict ends. And we of course continue to
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  pray that Emmanuel comes and Ransom's captive Israel and really helps all of us held
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  captive by fear, by financial distress, by worry, by anxiety, and
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  remember what he teaches us on this Christmas Day that be anxious for nothing.
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  The birth of Christ shows us and gives us a day to remember there is
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  nothing to be anxious for because God rewards us every single day. Merry Christmas,
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  and please be well as we head into twenty twenty four. God bless you.