Finding a Way Through Pain

Tonight, I want to speak about finding a way through pain, because in many of our lives, we spend a great deal, especially of those early Christian years, as early years as believers in Christ or seekers of God, we spent a good part of those early years trying to find our way through personal pain, rejections, sufferings, heartaches, dreams that didn't materialize, words that were said, as we heard tonight, one of the prayer requests, I've had evil words spoken over my life that have brought me into the place where I loathe myself and I want to cut myself. And that's a curse in a sense, it needs to be broken off that person's life. If you'll turn with me to Luke chapter two, please, in your Bibles, Luke chapter two.

Father, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for the touch of heaven on this message tonight. I thank you for the enablement to speak it in a way that everyone can understand it.

I thank you for the anointing to be able to hear it, for the anointing has to be two ways, not just upon the speaker, but upon the hearer as well. I ask you, Lord, to do the work that you said you came to do. I ask you to open blinded eyes, heal wounded hearts, set free people that are imprisoned and oppressed of darkness.

Those that feel that they're poor and have no resource, Lord, reveal the strength of Christ and the victory of heaven. God, we thank you for it and we praise you for it tonight. In Jesus' mighty name, amen and amen.

Luke chapter two, beginning at verse thirty-six. Now this is about the day that Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus Christ into the temple to be dedicated to God. Now there was one Anna, a prophetess, verse thirty-six, Luke two, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.

She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. This woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instance, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

I think of Anna. Now follow, let's go on a journey. The Bible doesn't record all of her journey, obviously, so I just want you to follow me on a potential story that maybe hallmarks parts of her life.

And most likely she initially attended the temple broken-hearted, captivated by regret and unable to see a way into the future. Now in those days, girls married young, anywhere from fourteen sometimes to maybe seventeen. Probably at eighteen you were considered getting a little old for marriage.

You should have been married by now, back by the standards of those times. Now let's assume that she got married at about the age of sixteen. I think it's a safe assumption.

And she had a husband for seven years, and probably a wonderful seven years. Maybe the desire of her heart is fulfilled. She loves this young man.

They're serving God together. They're involved in whatever business or occupation they're involved in. And suddenly he gets sick one day and he dies, and she ends up a widow at twenty-three years of age.

I can see her coming into the place of worship, and most likely consumed by the question, why? Why God? Why would you take this away from me? This was my heart's desire. This was the fulfillment of my life. We had plans together.

We were going to have children together. I had a vision in my mind of what it would be like as I got older, and not just our children around us at the festival days that were so frequently happening in Israel, but also our grandchildren as we got older. And then suddenly he dies, and she's only twenty-three years of age, and she would come into the temple.

And that's the way many of us come to the kingdom of God, and we come into the temple with all of the sorrows that we've carried with us, and the whys. We have to go there. It's not a wrong place to begin.

There's no doubt she is brokenhearted. She's coming in. I've seen this.

We've visited churches in various cities throughout Europe and places like that, and you just see people sitting there sobbing in the seats. Now it might be a church that espouses truth, and it might be one that lives on the margins of it and hasn't quite got the answer down yet, but you'll see these people sitting there, and they'll come in, and they're turning to God, and they're silently weeping, and they're just, God, why? Why did my child have to be taken away from me? Why did this have to happen? Why did that have to happen in my life? Why were those words spoken over me as a child that I can't seem to escape and get out of my mind? Why did my dream not materialize? And for the next 61 years, 61 years, Anna was in the temple. The scripture says day and night with prayers and fasting, 61 years in this place.

I want you to picture that for a moment, 61 years. If you wanted to find Anna, you went to the temple, and she was praying and fasting. This young girl who came in at the age of about probably 23 is now 84 years of age.

Initially, our journeys in the personal trial begins with a personal focus, sometimes to the exclusion of the trials of others around us. I think of the disciples in Mark chapter 4 at evening time, verse 35. Jesus said to them, let's cross over to the other side.

And when they left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was. Now, here's an interesting part of that verse, verse 36 of Mark chapter 4, and other little boats were also with him. In other words, it wasn't just the disciples on this journey.

There were other little boats, not big ones, little ones, going, trying to go across, trying to follow, trying to, to get to the other side. There's a lot of people in society today in little boats. We're going to the other side.

We're going to where God says we're going to go. No matter what storm comes your way, I'm telling you, young people that are here today and older folks, no matter what storm comes your way, if Jesus said, you're going to the other side, you're going to the other side. If he said, I have a plan for your life, he has a plan.

If he said, I'm not going to forsake you, he's not going to forsake you. If he said, no, you go through the fire, it won't burn you. You go through the flood, it won't drown you.

I will be with you always. We're going to the other side. Doesn't mean there won't be a storm, but we're going to the other side, thank God.

But there were other little boats there who didn't have Jesus with them. They were trying to follow him and find him, but they didn't have Jesus with them. And a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling.

But he was asleep in the stern on a pillow. And they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Do you not care that we are perishing? See, that's how we start our journey. They're in a storm, but they're not the only ones in the storm.

But they're the only ones that have Christ in their boat, do you understand? There are other little boats in the same storm, but the problem is, when we first come to God and we first come into the temple, we all have a self-focus, I might put it that way. We're concerned about ourselves. God, do you not care about me, do you not care about my finances, do you not care about my marriage? And there's things we should be praying about, and in the initial seasons of seeking God, that can be almost all consuming in our prayer time.

But I think, and it's my conjecture, that at some point in Anna's life, her head and heart began to be lifted above her own sorrow. And she began to notice many others coming in with their own sorrows, their own pains. She saw the little boats coming into the temple, people with pains, sorrows, regrets, and she began to see them.

And, you know, time starts to heal her. And then she suddenly, I think there's a shift that happens in Anna, and it happens in all of us over time, where we're not looking to our own needs anymore exclusively. We still have the occasional prayer request for ourselves, but we're starting to see the needs of others who are coming in.

And she starts seeing these moms and dads coming in with broken homes, with sick children. She starts seeing all these people coming in, doing their rituals, and calling out to God for the help that only God can give. And suddenly Anna's heart, I believe, changes.

And the prayer and fasting is now not about herself exclusively. It's not about her past and her wounds and her lost husband and all the rest of it. But she's now beginning to call out, God, did you not say to the prophets that a Messiah was coming? Did you not tell us that a day was coming when you're going to wipe away all tears and you're going to give us victory? Did you not tell us? Let me just read to you one of the passages of Scripture.

She may have known. Isaiah chapter 12. In that day you will say, O Lord, I will praise you.

Though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away and you comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid.

For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song. He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

And in that day you will say, praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His deeds among the people. Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things.

This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst. And she would have known passages like this and said, God, you promised that you were going to come to us.

And you promised that you were going to be the source of our strength and the source of our healing and the source of our life. You were going to defeat our enemies and give us a song of joy and a shout of victory in your presence. You promised that you were going to be God with us, Emmanuel, God is with us.

You see, in a sense, what's happening to Anna is she's now starting to live for the benefit of others. That's what we teach at our Bible school here at Summit International School of Ministry, that you don't really find the purpose of Christianity or living for God until we get beyond ourselves and we start now living for the benefit of other people around us. That's what we teach here.

And this is what Anna is starting to do, 61 years, 61 years. Everybody would be familiar with Anna. For over 61 years coming into the temple, everybody knew Anna.

Some of them probably thought she's this crazy old lady that comes in and fasts and prays all the time and wondered why she's wasting her life and what's going on. I don't know, maybe the priests saw her as a nuisance. I don't know.

She was one of two old people, the Scripture says, Simeon and Anna, that were in the temple all the time praying, fasting. I believe that they had gotten over themselves. We all need to get over ourselves at a certain point, folks, let me tell you straight out.

And the whole of the gospel becomes about others. I am saved, I am secure, my name is written in God's book of life. That is settled, heaven is my home, Jesus is my savior, the Holy Spirit is my helper, as Pastor Tim says all the time, and heaven is my home.

Thank God that is settled. Now I'm left on this planet to intercede for the sake of others. And my focus shifts from myself and I begin to live for the benefit of others.

Then one day, after 61 years, one day, this couple come in with a baby, and they're poor because their sacrifice that they brought in for the dedication was two turtle doves or pigeons, and that was the sacrifice that was allowed for the poor. It was for people who couldn't afford a lamb. And they came in with two turtle doves, and maybe it's near the end of the day, and the priests, I'm just conjecturing it, but the priests might be there and they say, well I did the last one, you do this one.

They don't see anything. Folks, listen to me tonight, God has just come into the temple. God in human form, the Son of God has just come into the temple.

The pivotal point of human history, the redemption that Israel has been praying for for years and years and years and believing God for. The one single person on the face of the earth that's going to change the course of history and change the destiny for billions and billions of people over the course of time. And the irony of it all is, just travel with me on this journey, you see the priests talking to each other, well I did the last one, you did this one, I gotta go home.

They're looking and it's a couple with a couple of pigeons in a cage, so they obviously not going to be very many gold coins in the tip from these guys, they probably live for a lot of the tips. You know the thing is that they were using religion for, Jesus himself said it, they're using it for garments, for seats at banquets, for greetings in the marketplace, they're using it for acclaim, for titles, for advancement, for power over other people. And people who use the kingdom of God for these things are generally spiritually blind, they can't see.

It's the same today as it was then. Now the difference being, Anna's not in the temple for that reason. She's not there for power or position, she's not there for titles and seats, she's not there for the accolades of men or the tips that come in from doing acts of service that they were supposed to do for free for the people.

She's just an 84 year old lady who's been praying and fasting for one thing, and then one day she sees what the religious system around her was blind to. She sees a couple coming in, and in their hands is the Son of God. And the scripture tells us that Anna, a widow of 84 years who did not depart from the temple but served God with fasting and prayers night and day, and coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

In a sense, she was a pre-cross evangelist, you understand, but in a sense, the shepherds were the first evangelists, I suppose, but they only repeated what the angels told them. But she saw it, she got it from God, she had a vision from God, she saw the Son of God, and immediately begins to speak to the people in the temple and say, the hope you've been looking for is here, the help you have longed for is here, the healing you have needed is here, the mercy that we have prayed for all these years is here, victory over darkness is here, the one who opens prison doors is here, the one who gives sight to the blind is here, the one who frees us from captivity is here, the one who can heal your wounded heart is here. She began to speak of the redemption of God to all the people in the temple who could listen.

This old woman of 84 years who had been 61 years in the temple, she's been years a widow, she's fasted and prayed, her focus has shifted from her own needs to the needs of others and God did what Jesus said he came to do, I came to give sight to the blind. May I put it this way, she pressed through pain to purpose, it's about the best way to say it, and all of us have to do that at some point in our life, we've got to press through the pain in our hearts, press through the disappointment in our lives, press through the woundings that were given to us to a divine purpose, and with that purpose comes spiritual vision given by God, where you and I begin to see things that those who are using the kingdom of God for their own advantage will never see. Oh God, thank you, God thank you.

It's just two old people in the temple, Simeon and Anna, Simeon can prophesy and Anna can see and I thank God for it, but all those with the fancy robes and the big names and the big titles don't even have a clue what they're dealing with and what's in their hands. Imagine one of those priests is actually probably holding the son of God and has no idea what's in his hands, no idea, his religion has blinded him. But when you and I choose to live for the benefit of others, when you and I choose to get beyond our own pain and begin to be concerned with the needs of others around us, suddenly our eyes open, we're given spiritual vision, and we're able to do what Anna did and we're able to begin to preach and say, the redemption you have looked for, the wounding in your heart that you thought would never heal, the captivity you thought would never end, the hopelessness you thought would never be changed into a place of hope, it's all changed now because the Redeemer has come.

The promised one is here. The one that was promised to the prophets and through the scriptures that would come and vanquish our enemies and wipe away our tears and usher in a kingdom one day where the lion would lay down with the lamb, he's here. Kingdom of God is now among us.

And when you and I have the courage to look away from our own struggles, our own needs and our own trials, when we've all got them, trust me, I've got mine, you've got yours. We've got our aches and pains, and we've got our memories, and we've got our regrets. We all do.

We all have our, I wish I had done it this way, I wish I had not done that, I wish I had changed this, I wish I could do that. We've all got these things in our lives, but at some point we have to press through these things and say, God, it's not about me anymore. I see a lot of people coming into this temple, Anna could say, and they are broken hearted.

Oh God, time has healed me. But God, you've spoken to my heart about a healing that's bigger than just time. It's your actual presence.

And I believe her fasting and prayers day and night were, come Savior, come Messiah, come, come for the sake of these people, come for the needs that are so great in so many lives that can't be met any other way. And one day he came, oh thank God, one day he came. And she saw him, and she saw his purpose, and she saw the person of God come in in the form of a baby.

And she began to preach. And so realistically, Anna is the first evangelist. Now the interesting thing is, there's a lot of names maybe part of this whole scenario.

There's a lot of leaders in the temple, there's a lot of different people in authority. We don't know any of their names, do we? But we do know Anna's name. And Anna had no idea that through her pain, and through her fastings, and through the things she had to get involved in and get through, that her name was going to be recorded in scripture.

And the Bible tells us the word of God will never pass away. And so this story about Anna will be told for eternity. We'll be reading it in heaven.

It will be spoken of. This lady, who maybe people never thought she had much of a ministry, but God thought she had quite a significant ministry, so much so that he wrote her name down in the story. So I guess the point I'm trying to make tonight is, it's time to press through the pain, and find the purpose.

You know, I think a lot of people, they get stuck in their pain. They get stuck in their memories, and they never get beyond why, why, why this, why that, why this. And they never get beyond themselves, even in their prayer life.

But I believe that Anna did. And because she did, her eyes were opened. And because her eyes were opened, she saw.

And because she saw, she preached. You can't preach what you don't see. If you preach what you don't see, it's just facts.

Just statements. There's no power behind it. It's just information.

But when you see it, when you can see the work of God, when you can see the presence of God, when you can see the mercy of God, when you can see the touch of God, then you begin to preach. And there's power in your preaching. To the point that God himself even records it in Scripture.

Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Could I have the worship team come, please? We're going to go to the communion table in just a moment.

And at the communion table, we're going to celebrate this incredible victory. Anna saw the beginning of it. And because we are here today and we know him as Savior, we saw the end of it.

We saw the cross. We see the resurrection. We see a divine purpose for each one of our lives.

This is not the time to be silent. Anna could have been concerned about the decorum as the religious order of the day might have seen for the temple. But it seems to me she didn't care.

She just began to preach to everybody who could hear. The redemption you have sought for has arrived. The hope has come.

The Messiah is among us. Praise be to God. Praise be to God.

So my exhortation to you tonight is push through your pain. Those that are online, listen to me. Push through your pain.

Now, it doesn't mean you won't feel pain, but push through it. There's a higher purpose for your life than just mourning over everything that has been lost or done. And God will show you that purpose.

Push through to the purpose that God has for your life. Praise God. So we're going to sing one song, and then what we're going to do is we're going to come to the communion table and celebrate together.

It seems to me that, it seems to me the theme of this prayer meeting tonight from all of the prayer requests that were read was depression. And God is speaking to us tonight. Push through the depression.

Don't let it, don't let it dictate your future. Don't let depression dictate your life. That's not what you're about.

It's not what you're called to be. There's a point to look, look away, look away from your aches and pains and worries and woes. We all, because you will always have them.

Trust me, they'll always be around one way or another, but look away because there's a lot of people that don't have what you have right now. They don't have the hope that God has planted within your heart. Push through your pain.

Don't let your pain dictate your future. Don't let it dictate your conversation. Don't let your pain dictate your thought.

The Messiah has come. One day we will be in a place where there's no more tears. There's no more sorrow.

There's no more sighing. There's no more crying. There's no more lying.

There's no more dying. One day soon, one day soon, the trumpet will sound and those, the dead in Christ will be raised first. We who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them.

So shall we ever be with the Lord. One day soon, somebody's going to meet you at the gate of heaven that you knew and you loved. Maybe an angel will lead you down Golden Avenue to your mansion that you'll be dwelling in forever.

One day soon, you'll have an explosion of knowledge in your mind and you will understand mysteries and things and the reasons for things will be revealed. You will see that God's been in control all along and all things did work together for good because you love God and were called according to his purpose. One day soon, one day soon.

You see, the thing is, we can see that. We can see that future. We can see the redemption of God.

We can see that we are a people who have hope and a victory and a purpose and an eternity with God. And now is the time, as Anna once did, that we get outside of our own pain and began to tell other people what we see. She saw a baby, but she said, no, it's not a baby.

It's the Messiah. It's the promised one. It's the victory.

It's our hope. It's our future. It's our defender.

It's not just a baby. It's God in the flesh. She saw it because she got beyond her own pain.

She got beyond her own struggles and her own trials. What a day that will be. What a day is coming ahead of us.

Oh, hallelujah to the Lamb of God. If I go before you, I'm going to meet you at the gate. I'm going to say, I was right.

I was right, wasn't I? I was right. You're going to see it. By God's grace, we're going to see it.

It won't be long. We're going to be there. It might be in my lifetime.

So if ever you're going to speak, start now. Start telling this generation about the Savior because he has come. He is among us.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Can you give God a shout of glory in this house? And for you who are online tonight, all you have to do is open your heart.

Say, Jesus, if you died for me, God, I invite you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for forgiving me.

I will live for you as you enabled me to all the days of my life. Jesus, thank you for saving me. That's all you've got to pray.

It's not a formula. God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for coming to get me.

Thank you for saving me. Thank you for giving me a reason to live. Thank you for breaking the bonds of evil off of my mind and my heart and my life.

The Messiah has come. Thank you, God, for when you went to the cross, Jesus, you broke the power of death and hell and sin off of my life. And you gave me not only eternity but a reason to live on the earth.

Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord, for giving Anna a voice in the midst of all of her life that so many would have looked at and said, what a wasted life. But it wasn't.

It's recorded in Scripture, and she was one of the first voices raised up to point the way to the Messiah. God, thank you for the illustrations you give us in Scripture that no life is wasted in your sight. God Almighty, God Almighty.

I think Anna could have even said, if it took the pain in my life for me to see what I see, it was worth it.