God chooses those who are available

Allow me to share with you a passage of Scripture related to this time that we are living, this Christmas season that is so beautiful. I shared it with the English ministry last night and I feel the Lord will share it with you as well.

The Gospel according to Saint Luke, Chapter 2, verse 8, says the word of the Lord “.... there were shepherds in the same region who kept watch and kept watches of the night over his flock. And behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were very afraid, but the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy that a savior will be for all the people who have been born to you today in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord. This will serve as a sign, you will find the child wrapped in diapers, lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' It happened that when the angels had gone from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see what has happened and that the Lord has revealed to us." and Joseph and the child lying in the manger, and when they saw it they made known what they had been told about the child. And all those who heard marveled at what the shepherds were telling them, but Mary kept all these things meditating on them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as they had been told....”

Now, let's go back, let's go to the book of the prophet Isaiah, and We are going to see a messianic prophecy, a prophecy related to Jesus, to Christ, issued hundreds of years before this event that we have just narrated took place. The prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, predicts the birth of a wonderful, mysterious being that he himself, I believe, did not clearly understand who he was. Certainly the Jews still don't understand or don't want to understand, I'm not sure which, that these passages refer specifically to the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.

But we are going to see how the Lord inspired the prophet to express values and attributes of the messianic ministry very similar to what we see hundreds of years later in the appearance of these angels and the announcement of the birth of the baby Jesus.

Isaiah, Chapter 9, verse 2 says: “...the people who walked in darkness saw a great light, those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, light shone on them. You multiplied the people and increased the joy. They will rejoice before you as they rejoice in the harvest, as they rejoice when they distribute the spoil, because you have broken their heavy yoke and the shoulder rod and the scepter of their oppressor as on the day of Midian. Because all footwear that the warrior wears in the tumult of battle and all cloaks covered in blood will be burned, fuel for the fire, because a child, -that is the origin of all this great transformation to which the prophet previously alludes, says- .... because a child is born to us, Son is given to us and the principality on his shoulder, and his name will be called admirable, counselor, Mighty God, eternal Father, prince of peace. The expansion of his empire and peace will have no limit on the throne of David and on his kingdom, exposing and confirming it in justice and judgment from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this...”

Bless the Lord his holy word. Father, help us to do justice to such a beautiful story this morning and renew the enthusiasm of your people for such a beautiful story, such a mysterious narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ, that we do not see it as simply something routine, Father, but as something new. before our eyes and that the warmth of Jesu s' birth be felt again in our hearts, Father, in your name we ask it. Amen and amen.

This account of the birth of Jesus and the announcement to the shepherds always fills us with great enthusiasm. Of all the stories, I believe, that are related to the birth of Jesus, this is one of the most dramatic, it is one of the most that lends itself, I believe to dramatization and fantasizing about what that would have been like.

You can imagine these shepherds there nodding perhaps, it was probably early morning or something. The night was still well, well closed. Some of them are very fast asleep, one or the other is keeping watch, taking their turn to see that the sheep are protected and well guarded and that a ferocious animal does not come around to kill one of them or someone to steal one of them. them or that they are going to escape from the area, etc. everything is fine, the silence of the night, everything closed and very dark and very quiet and for the moment an angel appears to them, a mysterious being who is accompanied by a great light, a great energy that surrounds them all. And of course, imagine, who is not filled with fear before an apparition of this nature.

And that angel brings them an incredible announcement, a wonderful announcement that a mysterious being has been born, which in fact the Jews have been waiting for many, many years, it has been announced that a savior is coming, a savior is coming. It may be that he is going to redeem Israel and bring something new and different to the history of Israel. And this angel announces to them that this being has already been born and that they can go see it and that they can enjoy the spectacle of seeing this child being born.

And one of the things that I wonder looking at this text is, why did God choose a group of pastors in the first place, a group of humble people, completely insignificant according to the values of society? Of all the people that God could have chosen to announce the birth of Christ to them, it seems illogical to us to a certain extent, because it did not seem very effective. If God wanted it to be known that his Son had been born, why not do it better in the palace or do it to the high priest, in the house of the high priest, a man with such influence.

You'd have thought those people would have more reach and more reasons to receive this ad. But no, God chooses some shepherds. One wonders, well, why not the king. Well, the king, as we saw on Friday, was least interested in another king being born. He was too interested in his own privileged position and although he knew there was something in the Scriptures about it, he was stubborn and more interested in his own position, his own privileges, than in making room for this king who came from heaven to transform to humanity.

So he knew that the king was not the right person, and that he was not interested in these rich, noble people either because this king was not like the kings they were used to serving. Neither the priests, the Pharisees, did not interest him. We know what the high priest ended up doing when Jesus was already at the end of his ministry. They too were engrossed in their privilege, locked in their own position and their own prerogatives. They weren't interested either. But these shepherds had something that God wanted them to be.

Because you see, God deals with tremendous integrity with regard to humanity. He doesn't care... God doesn't need the Internet, God doesn't need the newspapers, God can announce his things in the way he prefers. What interests him is that his message has authenticity, that his message arrives in the correct way. God was doing something, making something, not just for a small group of people in that country, but for billions and billions of people who were to read the Gospel message throughout all the centuries. It was that audience that he was really interested in reaching, us, for example, today in the 21st century here reading this passage and understanding messages that God was giving in code about his Son.

So, that's why God chose because he was thinking of centuries and centuries, generations that needed to hear this message. Now, specifically, for example, he chose shepherds, I think, because shepherds exemplified many things that God wanted us to understand.

For example, one of the things, the pastors were working, they were available. The rest of the people were surely asleep, caught up in their own breaks, in their own personal dramas. These men were in the field, they were open, they were available, they were even close, they were positioned to receive that message and go to where the child was and acknowledge it and welcome it so that its birth would not go totally unnoticed.

That is, God reached them first because they were available and were doing their job and were open to the message. And that helps us understand one thing and that is that brothers, we always have to be open to God's truth, even though that truth is sometimes uncomfortable for us. The priests, the kings could not receive that truth in Israel because they were involved and closed and already decided on what they wanted to believe. These pastors were open, they were not very religiously taught, they were not stubborn in their Pharisaism or in their Judaism and God recognized them, and they were in a position, they could go, they were close to the place where they had to go.

And brothers, I always say, Father, help me, help us to always be available, always be active, as long as our spiritual land is a fertile land so that if you need us for something, if you want to send your message, if you want to send us to do something that we are available and prepared.

The most dangerous thing is to lock yourself in like these Jews were, like these nobles and rich of society were in a position. I believe that today, for example, God wants to do great things in New England churches, but many churches are closed. Look, they love God and they are biblical churches, and I respect them, I love them and some of them are worthy of admiration, but many times they are stuck in a position and for God to come in and do something new and different he is going to have to break a number of things that people do not want to let go, their habits, their rituals, their way of leading the service, what they expect from Sunday, and the Holy Spirit wants to come and touch lives and make them cry and dance and convert people and bring them dirty and shaggy and smelly, but they find no place in our well-ordered, theologically correct churches. They are not ready, they are not open. They already know what they want to believe and they are already well defined and God is looking for open people, available people, people who are working, people who are doing things, to send them and bring them to a deeper, deeper encounter with the will of God. for his life.

I want to be like that, I want to always keep myself open to what God has. I want to be open to changing any of my convictions, as long as the word supports me. Because there are many things that one believes to be what God has said but then you analyze it, and look at it from another perspective and say, oh, wait, I was wrong. Let's always be open, brothers, amen. Let us be like the shepherds always available, always working.

Look, by God it reaches..... I always say in Scripture God reaches many of his prophets and Apostles while they are working. These shepherds were watching over their sheep. God, I have said, reaches out to Moses when he is actually also herding goats and herding sheep; He finds Elisha tending his oxen, remember? He meets him on the way. And so to many of the.... to Gideon, he finds him when Gideon is also threshing the wheat and many passages..... to Peter, he calls him when Peter is washing the nets of his boats.

Why does God always kind of grab people in the middle? He calls Levi when he is at his table attending to the issue of tithes and taxes for the people and tells him, "Come and follow me." Why this thing about God always calling people when they are in the middle of their work? Brothers, it is because God likes hard-working people, God likes to enter our reality at the moment and take us away, and how to establish that priority that he is the owner of our time, our life, our everything.

Now, he knows when people are willing, and that's why he calls. Let us always be ready for God's call. We are always waiting for God to take us out of.... we are always working. The Lord says that we are always striving, working. The Lord once said, 'I work all the time for my Father', and we also have to make an effort like this, working for the Lord, making an effort, because in that God is going to call us to go to another level of knowledge of he. Amen.

Now, he also calls the shepherds, another reason is because these shepherds reminded him of what his Son's mission was going to be: Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus shepherds his sheep. That Son, that Baby was born into the world to shepherd, to advise.

In Isaiah, one of his attributes is 'counselor', he is a counselor, he is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the Christ who advises us, the Christ who guides us, the Christ who guides us in life, the Christ who enlightens us and those pastors were an example. God has chosen them, I believe because he knew that his Son was going to be a shepherd of sheep too, human sheep, but sheep nonetheless. And I believe that there was something there also in the mind of God that chose these men for that reason.

In other words, these pastors had reason to be chosen and were exemplary in that sense. Now, there's something else here that I see as well, this glory of the Lord that surrounds the shepherds. Jews, Pharisees and scribes, and Bible commentators spoke of the Shekinah glory of God. This glory, this presence. When this angel comes and announces the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, this glory of God comes, invades, fills the whole place, as if to say, 'I, Almighty God, am endorsing the birth of this wonderful being.' God wanted us to understand that his presence, his person, was involved in this birth.

Christ was a partaker of that glory. It was necessary for this humble child to have an announcement that was suitable, that was glorious enough to justify his birth. And there is another very important thing here, and it is that God wants us to understand that his power is invested in the birth of his Son, that the power of God is in the ministry of Jesus Christ. That good shepherd who wants to shepherd us, minister to us, who loves us with an endearing love, has the power, has all the necessary resources to ensure that his good purposes are fulfilled in our lives. Christ has power for any situation that you may be going through in your life, remember that the power of God is with him to heal you, to provide you, to minister to you, to get you out of any quagmire in which you may find yourself. That is the precious message of Christmas that God has come and entered our lives, and that he has all the power and all the intention to use all the resources of heaven so that you have a successful life and a blessed and prosperous life.

One of the things that strikes me about this ad is what it says here in verse 11, it says that '.... this day a Savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord.... ', and that little word 'os', that 'to you is born this day...' in Isaiah Chapter 9, echoes this as well. And I say, there is a detail that we cannot miss. Hundreds of years before, the prophet Isaiah announced the birth of this wonderful being in the same way that the angel did hundreds of years later.

Why? Because as the prophet Isaiah says, look at verse 6 of Chapter 9, he says '...for a child is born to us, a son to us is given.... '

You see how important details are in Scripture. Isaiah could well have said, because a child is born, a son is given and the principality on his shoulder and his name will be called.....

Why that grammatical word that he suggests to us? It's the idea, isn't it? To us he is born, to us he is given. And the angel says, 'because he was born to you today...', he was born to you today.

In other words, the angel wanted us and the shepherds to understand that the birth of Jesus is something very personal, it is something very familiar. Do you know that Christ is not a generic being in the sense that he was born just like that for all humanity. No, Christ was born to me, he was born to my family, he was born to my community, he was born to my culture. Christ was born as a personal gift. It's like when a baby is born. I saw a little girl who was here in front with the people and there were several people around her and the attention of the whole world was on that very pretty little girl who knew, I think, inside that she is loved and loved; and everyone would look at her and say thanks and all these kinds of things because there's a joy when a baby is born into a family, a baby. Everyone rejoices, it is like a gift that has come to the family and everyone brings gifts and the family feels enriched and blessed, and the same thing happened, when Christ came into the world, he came to you and he came to our family , came to my person. The birth, the person of Jesus is something for us. And until Christ does me and my heart it is as if I had not been born in a sense. Until Christ becomes personal to me he's just a historical figure, that's all.

I marvel at the generous act of God who sent his Son, sent his divinity and was born with the purpose that each of us would have a personal relationship with Jesus. This Christmas I hope that everyone who listens to me feels that desire, that need to have a personal relationship with Christ, for Christ to be born in their hearts daily. Renew that relationship with Christ continuously, that Christ is something personal for you, that you can walk with him, that he is your shepherd, that he is your counselor, that he is your Father.

Isaiah says, among the names he gives Jesus, he gives him counselor, admirable, he says, eternal Father. Each of those names had a meaning: the eternal Father is precisely that idea that God is your Father, God has a personal relationship with you, God loves you, God knows you, God forgives you when you fail.

The word of the Lord says, 'As the father has compassion on his children, the Lord has compassion on those who fear him because he knows our condition and remembers that we are dust...'

That personal nature of Jesus, brothers, it is important that we always protect it. Never allow Christ to become merely religious. This Christmas crowds of people go to church, one of the few times they visit the church, and they go there simply to perform a ritual: they dress in beautiful clothes and it is something cultural and it is something merely religious, but Christ has no a personal place in their lives, Christ is not the point of reference, he is not the foundation. And I ask you in the name of Jesus, brothers, let us be a people radically committed to Christ, that the Lord have a personal meaning for our lives, because Christ was born because he wants to have a daily relationship with you. He was born to you, he was born for you, he was born in your family. He wants your life to be governed and enriched and determined by the values that he brings to life. So let us never allow ourselves to simply have a generic, general relationship with Jesus Christ.

It also says here that 'I give you tidings of great joy that will be for all the people...' that is also important. The fact that Christ comes to bring joy to our lives. Christ comes to bring hope into our lives. Christ comes to bring light into our lives.

Again, the prophet Isaiah puts it in these terms, he says “...the people who walked in darkness saw a great light, those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, light shone upon them. You multiplied the people and increased the joy, they will rejoice before you as they rejoice in the harvest, as they rejoice when they distribute the spoil...."

Brothers, the presence of Christ in our lives, the fact that we are believers has to be accompanied by joy in our lives as well. We have to be a people of joy, we have to feel the joy of the Lord in our lives. Let's not allow Christmas, which can sometimes be, as I said, so much burden, so much effort, rob us of the joy of the Lord. Let us ask the Lord to always renew his joy within us and sometimes the joy that we feel is going to have to be something that we ourselves, by faith, raise and exercise.

The Apostle Paul says, '...rejoice in the Lord, again I tell you, rejoice...' Many times life is not going to make it easy for us to rejoice, but I believe that rejoicing is a decision that one makes many times. It is the first one to recognize, Christ has been born to me, Christ has come into my life, I have reason to be joyful, I have reason to celebrate. Although there are problems in my life, I know that I have a God who is my advisor, he is my strong Father, my eternal Father is my strong God, he is mine, he knows me, he loves me and I have reason to hope that every year will be better and better. I have problems but I have a God who is bigger than all problems and therefore I can rejoice in the Lord, you can enjoy life.

Brothers, I believe that Christians have to be the most joyful people in the world. And again, I'm not talking about superficial joy, I'm not talking about that revelry that many times people may be looking for, simply that artificial joy. We believe that we always have to have an automatic smile on our faces. I speak of a joy from within, a joy that comes from our bowels, a joy that comes from knowing that God is with me, that I know where I am going, I know where I came from, I know who I am based on, I I know that God is working in my life, he is working in my family, that every day I am growing and I am getting better and better and better and that is why I rejoice in the Lord and I celebrate.

The world needs to see joyful Christians, you know? The Apostle Paul speaks of 'your kindness being known to all men...' The word kindness, which Paul uses, means that, it means that your goodwill, your sympathy, I could say, is evident to all people.

Brothers, it's evident your sympathy, your joy in your work, or people look at you like you've been dunked in lemon juice like that and you're a gloomy and sad person and wrinkled in your demeanor. Brothers, I say, let us cultivate the joy of the Lord.

Hear me if you feel overwhelmed, worried, in the name of the Lord claim the joy of God in your life. Don't get used to a depressive attitude. I know that depression comes, I know that sadness comes, I know that sometimes the worries of life are so great, but brother, do not allow it to settle on you any longer than necessary. Leave it there for a while and then kick it and say 'bye-bye, go over there, I receive the joy of the Lord.' Confess the joy of the Lord and celebrate the fact that you have a God who is committed to you.

These pastors, brothers, were men who were ignored by society. The Pharisees considered them impure people, they dealt with animals, they had no knowledge at all, they could not be in the temple continuously celebrating all the tricks and all the rites that the Pharisees had invented, they had no money, they were completely ignorant, and these people the Lord sends them an announcement, and tells them 'I have sent my Son to be born in your lives, I have good news'.

Evangelisomai, is the word in the original Greek from which the word Gospel comes, good news for you. News of great joy, your destiny has just changed, your situation has just changed. You are no longer ignored people, insignificant people, God is interested in you and God has sent your savior to change your destiny and if you want to have a personal relationship with him you are going to be completely new people and that is why you should rejoice . It is blessed news. The darkness of these people was changed into light.

That is why the prophet Isaiah says, '...those who walked in darkness have seen a great light....'. And how interesting that this happens in this story, in the book of Lucas, these people are in the middle of the night, everything is dark, the night is closed. It's not like the nights here, let's say, of the cities that there is a light here, another light there. No, this was in the field, completely dark and in the midst of that darkness boom... a light, the glory of God invades and fills that place wanting to say something, and it is that 'the darkness had now been penetrated by the light of God'.

And the darkness of these poor, miserable people, neglected and despised by the religious, now God was telling them, you are important to me and I have a destiny for you, my thoughts are good for you, so rejoice, they are good news of great joy, news of great joy to you.

My brother, my sister, that news is for you too. Do not allow dark thoughts to enter your life this Christmas. I know maybe some of us have had a difficult year. I am not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I know that there have been difficult situations, yes or no? That smile tells me that I touched something there, right? There have been financial difficulties, there have been perhaps family difficulties, perhaps you have had health concerns, perhaps you feel alienated from your family and you would like to be there in your country celebrating Christmas these days, but you know what? Don't worry, the Lord is with you, you can celebrate, you can enjoy yourself anyway. Don't dwell too much on the negative things. Look, the one who is in Christ always has hope that things will get better. God allows, many times, times of difficulties and sufferings to come, and who has not had them, who has not. That is a condition of life, that is natural, that is the world we live in, we are going to have problems.

Christ says, '... in the world you will find affliction...', but He also said, '... do not fear, I have overcome the world...'.

So there is reason to rejoice, brothers. If Christ is in your boat, don't worry, the boat is not going to sink, maybe there will be some little holes around there, and a little bit of water will get in, but the boat is not going to sink. God allows these things so that you become stronger, that you know him better, that you know that he is faithful, that he arrives at the right time.

Listen, never give up. Never hang up your gloves. In Christ Jesus there is always hope, there is joy, we must celebrate, brothers, we must give glory to the Lord. It is good news of great joy that God has for us. Christ has already burst into the world and Satan's domain has already been snatched out of his hands. Christ stripped principalities and powers. Christ destroyed the principle of evil that ruled over the world.

Now evil is still doing its thing, but the foundation of evil has already been taken away by Christ Jesus. And those of us who come under the protection of Christ have all the reasons in the world to rejoice, to celebrate in the Lord. If you have concerns, don't give them more importance. Look more to Christ than to worries and expect that things will always get better and better and better because Christ is your strengthener. Christ is with you one hundred percent.

The one who gives you value is Jesus, my brother, my sister. That is what I clearly see here that, again, these shepherds are sent by God to go and see the child and to have the opportunity to celebrate together with the wise men. And it is interesting that in that place there was a meeting of the two extremes of humanity: the magicians were very renowned people. Perhaps they came from Syria, from Iran, from Iraq, from those parts over there, far away. In those days that was an incredible distance, and the magicians, just in case brothers, it is not that they were magicians in the sense that we use the word. In the original languages it is believed that these people were sort of very highly developed scientists, they were a very high social caste that was a mix of very learned people, they were scholars, they were like scholars who knew the laws of astronomy and maybe other things. also. Possibly they were astrologers who also had something to do with the planets and the mysteries of the planets. They were also people of a certain political level, of political importance, of political influence and probably wealthy people as well. Look at the presents they brought to the boy.

So, God wanted these people to come and witness the birth of his Son. In other words, the rich and high end of humanity, but they also sent some shepherds, the other end, people who probably had no contact with religion, who had no money, who were the poor of the earth. And there these two extremes of humanity arrive to see the baby Jesus. These shepherds there with such mysterious and rich characters.

And I think there is something there too: the angel tells them that he has an announcement for everyone. Christ has come for the rich, for the poor, for the educated, for the man, for the woman, for the elderly, for the young, for the person who has many wounds in life and who has made mistakes in life, and also for the person who has been quite well behaved, respectable and who has always done things well; for all that humanity Christ has come.

And Christ has come for you. Christ, God is interested in your having a personal relationship with him, no matter what your status is, God is interested in you as he is interested in the richest and best known person in the world. You are worth to the Lord, you know? When God sent his Son he sent him to the whole world and today I want you to feel affirmed by God, that you feel that Christ has a special purpose for you.

If you have made mistakes in the past, if you are struggling with some difficulty in your life, some sin, some bondage, look, God is interested in being in relationship with you and breaking your chains, breaking your heavy yoke, free you from any situation.

I'm going to ask the musicians to come over here quickly. God is interested in bringing light into your life. God is interested in bringing deliverance into your life. It says, "...those who walked in darkness, light shined..." God took off the heavy yoke. God broke the oppressive rod over our lives. Christ comes to set you free and give you a new reason to live. It doesn't matter what your condition is, it doesn't matter what your past is.

Remember, God cares. God is interested in having a relationship with you on this day. Receive the call of God right now. He has purposes for you; This Christmas, celebrate that powerful Christ, that Christ who has something new and different for you.

Let's bow our heads for a moment, let's thank the Lord for the gift of Jesus. We are going to say to the Father, 'Thank you for sending such a beautiful gift, Father. Thank you for sending Christ with your light, with your power, with your heart of acceptance of us, with your paternal heart, with your pastoral heart, with your desire to bless and honor me, with your attitude of serving me in my needs. And I refuse at this time to fall into sadness or depression, doubt or fear. I confess that I am privileged. I confess that I have special Jesus as my Lord and in my tribulations and in my trials and my difficulties, I will cry out to him. I am not going to let him go, I am not going to let him go, I am not going to distance myself from him, but I am going to cry out to him with more force than ever and I am going to hope that his salvation will become manifest in my life.

And I also want, brothers, to ask if there is someone who does not know Jesus and who has not yet entered into that personal relationship with Christ, that Christ has not been born into their life, I would like to invite you in this tomorrow also to give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have not done it before, if you do not know Jesus I want to give you an opportunity this morning, invite the baby Jesus, so to speak, to be born in your heart as well.

Will there be someone who wants to make their peace with Christ this morning and wants to give their life to the Lord? If you haven't already, I'd like to pray for you this morning if you'd like to lay down your life and accept Jesus into your heart. Will there be someone? Amen.

Well, glory to God, glory to God for his gift. Glory to God for his blessing that he has given us through Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all.

We're going to stand up and let our worship team lead us in worship and with that we're dismissed. God bless you my brothers.