Dear Henly father. Thank you, that we can laugh. Thank you, that we can sing. Thank you, that we can experience your love, your hope, your peace and your joy. God. As COVID numbers have begun to rise, we do pray for the safety and healing of our community. We pray for those on the front lines. We pray for those serving God. We pray that you would have people in a place that they can connect to you because we also believe that church is essential that COVID is not the only pandemic that people are facing right now. And so wherever people are engaging with this message, I pray that you can just meet them where they are just like you did for the story that we're talking about today, we love you God in your son's name. We pray amen this morning. I want to talk to you about wonderful joy. Now, I almost called the message weird joy because everything in the story we're gonna talk about today is a little bit odd, the location, the activities, the characters, I mean, the characters are just flat out strange in terms of main people that you would think of in the starting of a religion. You know, if, in fact, if, if you were to add like monsters into the story, you could almost call this story stranger things because it's just weird. It involves kids and involves people that you wouldn't expect working together. Right. Oh, maybe we could call it manger things. Ok. Ok. That was too bad. I'm sorry, I apologize. I apologize for that one. I will stop. I will stop. I want to focus in on the Shepherds of the Christmas story and it just seems weird to me and strange that God would include Shepherds in the Christmas story. Like what God up there thinking, hey, someday there's gonna be Christmas pageants and they're going to need some extra roles for the rambunctious kids or the kids that don't know how to remember lines. And so I'm going to add some shepherds into the story. Anyone out there in the room played a shepherd, anyone play a shepherd. That makes sense. Ok. It seems weird, right? The, the coming of the savior of the world and in the middle of this story, they zoom in on a random field outside of Bethlehem. That seems a little odd, doesn't it? See Shepherds was seen as a common job, an ordinary job but not a glorious one. In fact, Shepard's testimony really wasn't considered valid in court. So they're not educated, they're not wealthy for the most part. And so there was just this everyday ordinary position. No, they had a nice little religious highlight in Psalm 23. But at this point, Jesus had not referred to himself as the good shepherd in John 10. And so this is just this everyday kind of blue collar worker in the graveyard shift in the middle of the night with some dirty smelly sheep. But this is exactly where we pick up the story. And so we're gonna read through Luke chapter two verses eight through 20 but we're gonna look through a little bit of a different lens. And I wanna give you a little bit of insight into how my mind works for good and for bad. Maybe you'll never come back again. I don't know. But my mind just works a little differently. It's a little quirky and I'm gonna show you what I mean by as we read the story. I want to point out some things that maybe you've never noticed before or maybe you've thought the same things I did and you never expressed it because it's so commonplace. Now. The Christmas story, Nativity. The Manger Shepherds. Oh, it's awesome. It's weird. Can we just be real for a second? It's weird. That's a weird start to a religion. Can we agree to that? But let's find out how while these shepherds are weird and odd and strange, they're actually amazing and inspirational and downright wonderful. And the shepherds can experience joy. I believe you. And I can experience joy in the everyday ordinary unlikely stuff of life right now, Christmas season 2020. So let's jump into it. Luke chapter two verse eight, it says in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Now, just pausing there. Just, we're, we're doing a lot of pausing here and just break down some words within this story, the fact that it says and in the same region, there were some shepherds. It's that story point or movie point where the main character cuts away and then it cuts to somebody else. You're like, how is this connected? You're not sure, but down the road, you're thinking their paths are gonna cross here are some everyday ordinary people working the graveyard shift and their lives are about to radically be transformed in the same region that also made me wonder how many people were in the same region and had no idea that Jesus was close by. That's a whole sermon in and of itself, how many people in our community are so close to God. But they have no idea that he's there. These shepherds weren't looking for God, they weren't prioritizing God. But instead of them searching for God, God went and found them in the ordinary mundane, not celebrated, not famous routines of life. So there were shepherds out in the field. You know, I wondered if this is where my mind steps in. Ok, I wonder if like, shepherds had like a calling card or business, like, was there like Shepherds Incorporated? You know, and their tagline is we're outstanding in our fields. And, yeah, this is not good. See, I told you this is not normal how my mind works, but so they're out in this field, they're keeping watch over their flock by night. That can't be exciting. They just like, how's it going, Joe? Good. Still sleeping. Yep. Any wolves? No, here's another thing I thought about. Can you imagine if you were one of the shepherds that was not on shift that night? And then everything else came. Wait, what happened? I've been a shepherd for 40 years and the one night I'm not there, angels show up. Come on. And so they're there by night. Ok. Let's continue. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled, filled with fear. Look at that phrase of the Lord, the angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord. That's gonna be important in just a moment. But there they were just working everyday jobs surrounded by darkness and they could see the stars in the sky but bright lights. Boom, an angel appears. It's angels in the outfield like the movie of the mid nineties. OK. Maybe not. But uh on a side note, I don't know who, who thought Christopher Lloyd had a face of an angel in that movie. But really like when you think angel, do you think Christopher Lloyd? I don't. But anyway, ok, so, so here an angel out of nowhere appears not Christopher Lloyd and he appears and they are filled with fear. I would say that's the understatement of the story, isn't it? If you're just working the night shift and all of a sudden and like angels appear before you and the glory of the Lord is filling the sky. You're gonna be. Wow. And so they are filled with fear, but the angel immediately eases their fear. Let's continue reading. And the angel said to them fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy. That will be for all the people. It's good news of great joy. The angel didn't say I bring you good news with great joy. Do you have that person in the office? That seems a little too peppy. Hey, how's your morning? Like if you, if you're just a quick show of hands, how many of you are morning people? How many? OK. How many of you are not morning people? OK. Notice how much slower those hands were raised in the room. And if we're being honest people that are not morning people, we get a little bitter at morning people don't we we're just trying to wake up in the morning or you walk into the office. And so like, hey John, how are you doing? You're like OK with love, with love. That's what you do. That's not the angel here. He's not, he's not communicating with joy. I bring you good news with joy. Yay. No, he's saying I bring you good news of joy. There's a difference. Let me put it to you this way. Joy is, is not the label on your Amazon package. Joy is what's in the box. It's not the label on the package. It's, it's what's inside the box that matters. And so the angel is gonna say, I'm gonna bring you, I'm gonna give you news that gives you joy. That means that the good news, the gospel, the celebration of what I'm about to tell you is gonna radically change your life and it is going to bring and give you joy. In other words, it is an object. It is a gift that I can bestow to you and notice that even at this point, it's not just for the shepherds. It says you don't know this yet. You can't testify in court. We're in the middle of the night. No one even knows your name. But this joy that I'm gonna share with you is gonna be talked about for generations to come. It continues on verse 11 and for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ, the what Lord? So the angel of the Lord declares the glory of the Lord and shares the good news of the coming of the Lord. So from the very beginning, the good news of great joy is the coming of the Savior Jesus, who is God. So can you know joy? Yes, because joy is a person. Joy is Jesus. Joy changes everything. The city of David is the idea here that Bethlehem is tiny, tiny town in obscurity, not the metropolis of of the time in the era, but it was prophesized hundreds of years prior that the savior would be born in the lineage of David in the town of Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary and be named Emmanuel. And so it fulfills prophecy. It's the, it's the announcement of Jesus as Lord now is the time for for all baby uh announcements we're pregnant and all these things. There's a lot of quarantine babies happening. I'm not going to give any commentary on that. But and so all these fun baby announcements, right? They display and it's like guess who's coming and then they have like this thing or they do a gender reveal and there's like poof, it's, it's pink, it's blue. OK. None of that compares to angels in the sky declaring the savior is here like talk about a birth announcement, but it almost seems like the birth announcement went to the wrong people. It didn't go to the religious leaders, it didn't go to the kings, it didn't go to the marketplace, it went to a field of shepherds in the middle of the night. It just seems strange. But then here verse 12. Ok. And this will be a sign for you that you will find a baby wrapped in cloth. Ok. That's not weird. Lying in a manger. Ok. God, you're just playing. Now, these are shepherds. They are very familiar with mangers. They're, they're feeding troughs. Ok. Ok. Angel, we get it. You're just playing with this. Yeah. Right. Like we're going to find the savior of the world in a feeding trough. Ok? But if they found it, that would be a little crazy, right? The fact that there's angels in the sky speaking to them right now. That's a little crazy. Right? So, all right, if we find this baby in a manger, then maybe what the angel is saying that he is savior is true. And then suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts man, even in angels, there's a front man in every band. Think about that. There's one angel given. It's, there's the Beyonce or the timber lake of the angels out front doing their thing dancing just like going around making the sweet announcement. And then all of a sudden multitude shows up. The rest of the band shows up, the, the cur is lifted and a choir of angels shows up and collectively together, they are praising God saying glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among those with whom he is pleased. So angels are created to glorify and to praise God, we're going to come back to this as well. This idea that they were created specifically to glorify and to praise God. Let's continue on. And when the angels went away from, from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. Let's go see this thing. I love it. I love that. Shepherd's response is let's go worship. Let's go praise the holy one who has come before us. It's let's go see the thing, right? I mean, why not? Let's go see the thing like this is life altering, generational altering legacy building that we will talk about for 2000 years and their responses. Yeah, why not? Let's go see this thing, let's do it. And so after talking, they decide to move forward and says, and they went with Haste and found Mary and Joseph the baby lion in a manger. Now two things or really three things in this story from this specific verse. They went with haste, meaning that they obeyed immediately. It's a whole another sermon for a whole another day. But you don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. You don't have to know everything to do something right now. But they did, they went and then it says they found Mary and Joseph. You know what's really interesting about that word found that means that they actually had to search for him. You want to talk about? Weird. Can you imagine them going through the town that night knocking on doors? Yes. Who is it so late? Oh, it's shepherds. What do they want? They're looking for a baby. What can you imagine these dirty smelly shepherds going door to door? Hey, have you seen a baby in a feeding trough? An angel told us about him. That seems really weird. Right. But they found me. Here's another thing I thought about what did they do with the sheep? Are they walking through town with like 100 sheep? Like going through? Right? Or did they like sheep babysitting, like on the side? Right. Did someone get left behind? I mean, probably left behind because that's dangerous because what, what does sheep do when they, they see a manger? They're gonna go eat their sheep might have eaten Jesus. We're here to see this. No, no, no. Stop it, stop it, stop it. Bad. Sheep don't eat Jesus. They call that manger danger. I think I told you. So my mind works. Sorry, not sorry. Mhm. But they went and felt like this is getting weird. An angel comes the shepherd in a field in the night. They say the savior of the Lord savior of the world is here. Go find him. What can you give me a little more direction than that angel? But they looked, they searched, they found and when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child and all who heard it wondered what the shepherds had told them. Let's continue. But Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had seen and heard and had been told them. So they saw it. Why were the shepherds included? I think they were included because it, it was for their joy, right? But notice it was also for Mary and Joseph. You want to talk about weird, imagine being Mary and Joseph. Their whole story is weird. Pregnant teenager gonna be engaged to be married. And Mary speaks to Joseph and say, hey, um don't be afraid, you know it was God. Ok. But then he gets a dream and yet confirms and so now they're going to get married and they're going to be married and now they go back to a census this little town of Bethlehem and here they're walking across the desert with a pregnant woman. And so you know they're just traveling through, I wonder how many times they had to stop to use the restroom. But anyway, um so they finally get, by the time they get to Bethlehem, there is no room in the inn and they gotta be thinking, God, you promised to bring forth the savior of the world and you can't make a reservation at the hotel. Yeah. And so instead they're in a stable and they give birth to a baby and place him in a manger. And you're just, you're, you're just done giving birth the baby in the manger. And your first visitor is not, family is not religious leaders. It's not town leaders out of the blue Shepherds show up. Hey, is there a baby here? Wait, what? Yeah. But now the pieces start to fall in and they realize that they were in the exact position, the exact place that God wanted them to be. And he used the obedience of the shepherds to bring joy to Mary and Joseph. And how confirming for the shepherds after knocking on doors looking for a baby in a manger to actually find them and then to hear Mary and Joseph's story and to hear how the coming of Jesus was, this miracle that would be celebrated for generations to come. And they start telling everybody around because while shepherds are not popular, they know everybody, you know, when you don't have power and position, you can kind of maneuver in and out of a town pretty easily. And they start telling everybody about what happened and then they end up going home and what do they do? Praise and glorify the Heavenly Father. They started as shepherds, they finished with the job of angels. Isn't that awesome? And in this weird quirky story, we see how joy is possible if you're taking notes or if you're watching from home, I want you to write this down. The joy of the Lord is available to everyone and changes everything, the joy of the Lord is available to everyone and changes everything. The fact that God chose the shepherds to deliver the good news of great joy gives hope for you. And for me, all the quirks and weirdness and strange components of this story demonstrates that God is still in control and God can speak to you and use you right now, right where you are. And once you experience the joy of the Lord, it changes everything, doesn't it shepherd whose testimony wasn't even valid in court couldn't shut up. Speaking of, of just how incredible God was and it was their testimony that got the word out about the coming of Jesus. Do you think? Do you know how crazy that is? The guy would use the testimony of shepherds to deliver the news of great joy to the community and people around them. It doesn't make sense unless you realize that joy is available to everyone and changes everything. And so here are three ways, three places where you can find joy. First, joy is found in a message of faith. Joy is found in a message of faith. The angel said to the shepherds, I bring you good news of great joy. I give you joy. Jesus is the gift. And so when you hear a message of faith. You can walk out, strengthened and refueled for your day. My prayer and hope is that everyone that watches every week or comes into CB live every week walks away being encouraged and challenged in their faith. Why? Because you have received a message of joy and when you receive good news, it changes everything. Secondly, joy is found in intentional obedience. Notice that the shepherds didn't start praising until they started obeying. They didn't just hear the greatest hits of the angels and go mm oh I love Christmas so cozy. All right. And they go back to just petting their sheep. No, they heard the message and then they obeyed and it was awkward to the point where they're knocking on doors in the middle of the night and search for a baby seems weird but they obeyed. And because of it, they receive joy. And the third way you can find joy is in the person of Jesus. When they encountered Jesus, even baby Jesus, they knew that it was different because Jesus didn't just simply come for a moment. He came for a mission. He didn't just come in a cradle. He actually came for the cross. And ultimately, so that you and I can have a crown. He came so that he could live on this earth. A perfect life, die on the cross for the sins of the world, defeat death. Rise again on the third day and offer us forgiveness and life and purpose and joy and love and eternity with him forever. And so when you encounter Jesus, it changes everything. And I love the story and it's, it's awesome. And I love seeing nativity scenes. But when I was reading it to prep for this week, I found myself stuck. I actually found myself struggling and I never struggled with this story before. And I struggled with these two words, they returned. In other words, they went back, do me a favor. And to your neighbor say they went back, they went back. What? You're an everyday unknown shepherd that just had an angel fly in the sky. Bring you good news of great joy. You went and found the savior of the world born in a manger, experiencing the spirit of God, the presence of God, the testimony of God. And you go back. What, how could you leave that? How are you not just saying? All right, cool. Looks like Mary and Joseph just got some shepherds for the rest of their life. How can you go back then? After further investigation, I realize they went back to the same but everything is different. Turn to your neighbor and say same but different. And here, here's where I need everybody to lean in on this because when I, when I realize this light bulb moment for me and I hope this could be some light bulb moments for you here in the room, are you watching with us? Right now, they went back to their same situation. But with a new heart, they went back to the same job, but with a different responsibility, they went back to their same view, but they had a whole new perspective. They went back to the same relationships, but they had whole new love. They went back to the same difficulties, but they had new determination and they went back to the same circumstances, but they have new and greater and life transforming joy. Some of you right now are walking through difficult circumstances. And you had this idea in your head that when you would receive God into your life or when you would have faith or you would go to church all of a sudden, everything would change, life would be rosy, you would be blessed, everything would be right with the world and then you get saved, your heart is changed. You experience the spirit of God and then you have to go to work the next day or you get in a fight with your spouse or your kids or you're walking along in faith and out of nowhere, you get diagnosed with cancer. That doesn't make sense until you realize that it's same but different. Joy is so much deeper than any circumstance that you can experience joy is something that when you have it, when you experience the joy of the Lord that cannot be taken from you, you might have the same view. The same job, the same relationships, the same diagnosis. But when you have the joy of the Lord, it changes everything that now instead of pain, you find purpose. Now, instead of darkness, you find light, instead of rejection, you experience forgiveness and grace and love and it gives you the strength and the courage to fight and never give up. Because while your circumstances might not have changed, there is joy that is available to you. And we know that because God used shepherds to find a baby in a manger. It wasn't the stable that made things holy. It was the presence of God. It's not a building that makes church. It's the presence of God. It's not a declared faith that makes a family. It's a lived out obedient faith that changes everything that changes relationships. And so when you believe in Christ, when you believe in God, when you experience his joy, you now have the strength and the perspective to go back to the mundane job, the everyday relationship, the conversation with friends and family and have a whole new approach because now you've seen what is possible and you see the power that has come and the joy that has come in church. My prayer for you is that when you walk out, we're still in the same year 2020. But you can have a whole new joy and perspective. If you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior today, as the band comes up I'd like for you to close your eyes and bow your heads. And I just want to give you the opportunity to receive this joy into your life because it seems weird. It's like, oh, I'm accepting a baby. No, he came as a baby humbly. But so that he could grow up and die on a cross for your sins and for mine and that the declaration of good news of great joy is still available for you and me today. If we believe and trust in Him as Lord and Savior, let's pray together dear go. Thank you for bringing us great news. Thank you for this Christmas season. I don't know what people are walking through right now. Maybe it's financial struggles, health struggles, relationship, battles, the God, wherever they are today, I pray that we can receive the same message the shepherds received that night of jesus' birth. May we receive this good news of great joy? We believe in you as Savior and as God, we commit our lives to you. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for changing. Help us to walk in and experience joy because while our circumstances might not be different, we can be different. We can overcome the troubles of this world because you overcame the troubles of this world. So whatever people are walking through right now, I pray that they can experience this inexplicable joy that comes from security of faith and hope and love in you. Thank you for using shepherds to bring this good news to demonstrate that that joy is available to the shepherds means that it's also available to us. And tomorrow when we go back into our jobs into schools, we're at home doing school, depending on what district you're in. God. I pray that we can have a new perspective, a new joy and a new love for you. And he says that would be great if you prayed to receive that joy of Jesus in your life. I wanna know, I wanna encourage you to fill out that next step card online. If you're watching, let us know in the comments or let us know about that form at Mission grove.info, let us know so that we can take this journey with you. And that I know times are tough and times are crazy, but let us experience true joy that comes with faith in Him because God was not surprised by this year. And so we can walk out of these doors with the same situation but completely changed. And we experience will you stand and sing with us as we finish the service together.