Message Notes

MINISTRY: Pulpit Ministry 2020 Bilingual Worship
DATE: November 15
SPEAKER: SP Karong Seichunga Kom (Steve)
TITLE: “Good tidings of great joy to all people for a Saviour is born.”
TEXT: Luke 2:8-20

INTRODUCTION

1. The Christmas season brings joy in many ways.

a) Joy of family gathering

b) Joy of celebration

2. Christmas also brings a very special joy from God.

a) Great joy of a Saviour’s birth.

b) To all people of every nation.

c) Inclusive of rich and poor, young and old, big and small.

3. We all can find this joy for ourselves personally.

a) The Bible recorded how different people had found this great joy for themselves.

b) One group of people were the humble and poor shepherds.

c) This story is recorded in the Gospel of Luke 2:8-20.

A. A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE SAVIOUR’S BIRTH TO THE HUMBLE SHEPHERDS (LUKE 2:8-12)

a) The Saviour

i. His name is Jesus.

ii. He is called Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11)

iii. He was born to save men from their sins.

iv. Born in the city of David and yet lying in a manger, that people like poor and humble shepherds could also come to Him (Luke 2:11-12).

v. He identified Himself with the poor and the lowest people though He was the Son of God.

vi. It was indeed good tidings of great joy to all people.

b) The Shepherds

i. Shepherds belonged to one of the lowest status group of people in the society.

ii. Mainly, they lived in the fields far away. Not an easy life to live.

iii. Sometimes nobody notices their existence too. Yet God remembered the humble shepherds.

iv. Good tidings of great joy were brought to them by God’s angel (Luke 2:9-10)

v. They were the first people to witness the Saviour’s birth and to worship Him. This is special indeed.

B. THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO THE GOOD NEWS GIVEN (Luke 2:15).

a) The shepherds believed what they had heard.

b) They regarded the angel’s announcement as from the Lord.

c) There was no delaying. Nothing could stop them from going their way in search of their Saviour.

d) They went to search for the Saviour as instructed by the angel “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see…” Luke 2:15

e) The shepherds appropriately responded with faith and obedience.

C. GREAT JOY FOUND WAS REAL AND PERSONAL (Luke 2:16-20).

a) The shepherds found the Saviour exactly as they were told by the angel.

b) Truly the Saviour was born, they had seen Him for themselves.

c) They proclaimed widely the same good news to many people (Luke 2:17).

d) They were glorifying and praising God (Luke 2:20).

e) They had experienced great joy personally.

f) The lives of the shepherds would not be the same again.

APPLICATION

1. We are remembered by God. No matter what we are, who we are. God cares for all of us. He loves us all. And we are not forgotten.

2. I came from a very poor family and from a very small and remote village in India. But it’s so wonderful that the Lord remembered me so that the same good news of great joy had reached me. I have found the Saviour personally.

3. The good news about the Saviour is for all of us.

CONCLUSION

1. Let us not be sad or feel unimportant. We all are special in the sight of God.

2. We too can find this Saviour if we genuinely search for Him in faith in response to the good news shared with us.

3. We can have this great joy for ourselves as real and personal as we celebrate Christmas this year.