On An Ordinary Day 5 | The Shepherds Encounter | Eloisa Payne

Okay, good morning.

What a time in God's presence.

And as we were saying, what a God, what a God.

I will think about, even though you are sitting down, if Laura could come back.

And I just felt for us to start, you know, this time to declare who our God is.

And as we were singing, you know, uh about his how his goodness, his faithfulness, and I was thinking, wow, what a God we have.

And it's almost like I feel what I'm going to say, God, when it's about you.

No, it's just like sometimes I don't have words.

Because he's so good.

And I can prove to you, you know, that he's so faithful.

He never leaves us alone.

And then he knows us.

This is what for me is like he knows me.

He knows my weakness.

He knows where I'm broken.

And it's still some brokenness there.

Even though he had set me free a lot of things, but it is still some days that I look at me and I said, God, how do you trust me?

Because I don't trust myself.

But he's so good, he's so faithful, he's so gentle, and he's so powerful.

So, and sometimes, honestly, I don't know how to put it together.

Because it's God is, and you know, and we are an army for this nation, we are army for the nations, and my heart today is that God give us a little bit more of revelation about that truth.

What a God He is, and He trusts us, He trusts us.

No, we are going to talk about the shepherds, but I will think, yes, it's amazing.

I love this passage, but this was for them 2,000 years ago, and they responded.

But what about us today?

How we were going to respond to this amazing message about who God is, and we are in Christ.

And it's funny because as much as I love to dig in in God's word, for those who don't know, you know, I have been working in an organization who called YWM, Youth with a Mission, which is great, makes me feel young.

And 36 years now in July, I did my first school in YWM.

And I stopped for about eight years when my children were young.

And always I was involved with schools.

I have the privilege to be involved with schools in YWM.

And, you know, we go deep in the word.

We learn the context.

We learn the Greek, the Hebrew, what it meant for them, and a lot of things.

But when we come to apply it, it's very simple.

And it seems to be that I want to share the same word again and again about God's goodness, and that we are his ambassadors to preach the gospel.

So, and then I will think, wow, the shepherds, it's amazing.

But now is our turn.

And what we are going to do with the message that we have been listening for years and years.

So, yes, I just like us to sing, you know, what a God, it's our God.

So, and then just for you to let it think about his goodness, his faithfulness.

I love to use illustration when I'm sharing the word.

And it's funny because most of people they remember my illustration.

I don't know if they remember what I said.

But anyway, I brought one today.

We are going to talk about that later.

As I said, we are going to talk about the shepherds.

Uh, and we are really see how amazing was this experience.

Luke, chapter 2, from 8 to 20.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

So if you could please, group of four or five, you get together, and if one person could read it out loud in your group, and I'd like you to read it twice, please.

Okay, thank you very much.

So, as we know, the context of this passage is when Jesus was born.

So, and then we see this passage only in the book of Luke.

As we know, we have four gospels, but only in the book of Luke we have this registered that the shepherds went to visit Jesus.

As we know, the book of Matthew talks about the wise men, which they went later.

Now, Jesus maybe who knows, he was around two years old, but here in the book of Luke is the only place that we can know that the shepherds they went to visit I.

Why God used Luke to register this amazing experience, went to visit the Jesus when he was born.

And what makes it even more powerful?

And when we think about the shepherds, because in our days, like as a Brazilian and here in England, unless you know we go to Wales, where I have seen a lot of sheep, so we we don't see them around, do we?

No.

But for them, for them, in their culture back there, that was very common.

Very common to have shepherds looking after flock.

But when we think like about Luke, who Luke was, why he wrote the book of Luke, why he wrote the book of Acts, what was the Holy Spirit doing, which is incredible, it's amazing.

He was make a link, what has been said about the Messiah in the Old Testament, but now he has arrived for all people, not only for the Jews, but for all people.

And then we need to remember that to be a shepherd at that time, you were outcast.

Shepherds, they were considered robbers.

They couldn't testify in court because their word was not trustworthy.

They didn't trust the shepherds, they were there in the field being outcast.

Because, again, in the time of Jesus, you need to be clean.

If you don't follow the rules of the Judaism, you are unclean.

How the shepherds could be clean if they were all the time dealing with stuff that they were unclean, but they were looking after the lambs that could be being sacrificed in the temple until the perfect lamb would arrive.

So this is very important for us to know that they were outcast.

And in the book of Luke, he talks about a lot of groups of peoples that they were outcast, but Jesus came for them, for them to establish God's kingdom.

So if you could have the passage on the screen, please.

Great joy that doesn't come because everything is going well, but comes because of Jesus.

And then he says, I bring you great joy.

And he says, For into you is born a day, a seat of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord.

That is amazing.

Shepherds, outcasts in the floor, in the field during the night.

Can you imagine this revelation?

What they just had, the Christ, the savor, the Lord.

Because for us, we say amen and amen, but for them was like, What?

The Christ that we were waiting for all of these years in the manger, the savior, the Lord, because they were expecting someone powerful, a political figure that will bring peace.

Because as we know, was all the time persecution, they were under persecution, but now he he shared the angel, he chose the shepherds to say, you are going to see the savior, the Lord, and he's going to bring peace, joy for all people.

That is amazing.

And then goes on, and suddenly they were with the angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts.

Praise God.

And then he says, twelve, and this you be a sign for you.

You find a baby wrapped in swelling clothes and lie in the manger.

Suddenly there were with them an angel, multitude of heavenly hosts praising the saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

When we see this, and then you see a sign.

For us, it's just we carry on.

But for them, that was very important.

It's just like because was some something incredible that God was saying to them.

For us, it's easy because we know the full story.

But for them, it's like, what?

The Messiah is coming.

But he said, but it's going to be a sign.

I may say that is true what I'm saying.

And then they went.

The shepherds went.

And then when they got there, 15, when the angels went away from then the heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see these things that have happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

That as well is incredible, because they believed.

The shepherds they believed, even though it was something incredible, odd, incredible, impossible, strange, out of the box, because God's kingdom is upside down.

And look, he proves this to us.

God's kingdom is upside down.

And they said, The Lord has made known to us.

And this is what I have been pondering.

What has God made known to you today?

What has He made known to you as your calling, as what He has chosen you to do?

What has He made known to you?

That sometimes seems to be odd, seems to be like people would say to you, Are you sure that God called you to do that?

I remembered when you know Richard and I got married.

Uh, someone said to us, Well, now it's time for you to stop being IOM.

It's time for you to think about, you know, you need to pay your market.

I said, No.

We are not going to stop to live the way that we do.

Yes, but now you got married, maybe you have children, so let's be responsible.

And I said, No, we don't have a plan for that.

And again, now I feel that I understand, but is someone trying to think about our future?

And then say, yes, when Rich, well, now Rich is retired, by the way.

But and then he says, Oh, you can sell your house.

And then I said, No, we are not planning to do that.

I mean, planning to go to the nations, carry on to go to the nations.

We are not planning to settle.

So it's almost like they say, Yeah, so, and by the way, you know, God, He provided, and someone in the end paid off our mortgage.

So we have mortgage free.

So, you know, no, we are not stopping.

Even though people think, well, let's be responsible, let's do that.

But here they say, the Lord has made known to us.

And my question for us today is what has God made known to you?

That sometimes can be crazy.

People they are not going to agree.

But what has God made known to you?

Because for the shepherds, that was a challenge.

They were outcasts, they were in the field, looking after the flocks.

And then angels appeared, and then they say the Savior, the Messiah, has born, and you are going to see them.

Is something completely out of the box?

But they did.

They went.

And then when you think, did they follow Jesus for their whole life?

Did they see Jesus being crucified?

I don't know.

What they did with this revelation, I don't know.

But I was thinking, what do I do with the revelation that Jesus has given to me?

What have you been doing with the revelation, big or small?

You know, big or small doesn't matter.

But what I was receiving from God, you know, as I was preparing this, is like what I have been doing with the revelation.

Since, you know, uh I was 14 when God called me.

You know, I tell my daughter, Melissa, Melissa, I was 14 when God called me, no pressure.

So, you know, I remember the first time I went to preach, I was 15.

It was evening, it was raining, and I said to my mom, I need to go, I'm preaching.

She said, You don't know how to preach, you're not going.

Is this a storm?

I need to go, I'm a preaching.

But how you don't know how to preach?

I said, Yes, actually, it's my first time.

So, you know, but when I look back, honestly, everything I have done with my life is only by God's grace.

I couldn't have done.

But I know when the father makes something known to me.

That I think has been my treasure for my life.

I know when the father makes something known to me, even though it's scary, even though I don't want to do.

And I tell you, sometimes it's the smallest thing that is more difficult for me.

When I need to love people that I don't like them, you know, they annoy me and I don't like it, and I think they are wrong, I'm right.

Because I say the gospel would be much easier if it was not for the sake of my neighbor.

Isn't that if it's only between me and God, but we have the neighbors between.

And then it's not big stones, we don't step on it, it's the smallest ones.

And it's hard because sometimes when people that you love so much, they hurt you.

But and then by the grace of God we forgive, by the grace of God we love, and then the Father He makes known to us the great things.

You know, took me, I think, about, I don't know, maybe 15 years or more to accept that God called me to live in England.

Because I know a lot of Brazilians they come to England for money and they work here for money and they live illegally.

But I came here to learn English, and my plan was to go back and to start a bilingual school in Wyom.

But God said to me to stay.

I said yes, but for many, many years, always complained.

Why am I here, Jesus?

If I was in a poor country, there is much easier, blah, blah, blah.

When I went to the pole, I went to stay, and I was even looking for schools for Martha and Melissa.

And I came home, I said, yes, in Katamandu, there is a British school.

And Richard said, No, Eloisa, he is much easier for you to stay and go to the nation.

I said, okay.

But one day God spoke to me.

It's a lie that you believe.

Why you cannot stay in England?

Because I thought I was not good enough.

And that day I was doing this TSM school, and when God TSM was a school in another church in Bedford that some of us did, and God said to me, Is a lie.

I brought you here, I spoke to you, and you are in obedience.

So, and then again, what has the Lord made known to you?

This is what matters.

And then we see that Mary she kept in her heart what they said, and they went, they went there.

Now they say, and they went uh 16, and they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph.

Can we imagine when they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger?

Because it was not common to lie any baby in a manger, but this was the sign you are going to find the Messiah laying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been called, then concerned this child, and all who heard it wondered at the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured up all the things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising for God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them.

What a powerful statement.

When we step out in obedience, in faith, trembling, with fear, but we know what the Lord has made known to us.

And can we imagine for Mary to have the certainty?

This is incredible as well, because she was a young teenager, having a baby, the Messiah.

So now she has this confirmation that God, in his kindness, in his goodness, he does that.

For the shepherds, but not for us.

For us was the day that our Savior was born.

For all people.

Because the book of Luke is for all people, is for everyone.

Doesn't matter how you hear God's voice, doesn't matter what is your gift, doesn't matter, nothing matters.

What matters is what we are going to do, what the Lord has made known to us.

For me, you know, for my life, since very young age, I knew that I was going to be rich in nations.

And every single time is complete by his grace.

The way he provides the money, the way he helps me, because honestly, I don't know how I travel by myself.

The way that I am, honestly, but I do.

Well, I have an assistant that reaches, he makes everything ready, he put in the plastic bag, he explains to me.

So helps a lot.

So when I was doing my English school about 27, 28 years ago, someone gave me this as a prophetic word.

And she said, uh, God is going to use you here in England.

The way that you are, you know, you are going to bless his people here in England.

So, and I kept this.

I always look at it.

My is in my wardrobe.

And this person said, you know, but it's the way that you are.

You don't need to change.

I have tried my best, you know, to change it to be more proper, whatever.

But I failed.

So I know that, you know, my British Melissa, she feels embarrassed.

She said, Mom, you cannot do it here.

I said, well, but I'm in Brazilian, Melissa.

So but you know, in my weakness, do you think it's very hard to learn English?

You know, it's very hard for me to teach the Bible where I needed to learn a lot of words that I never see them.

But you know, God has blessed me with this leader in YOM.

She has been.

I always tell her she was in the right time for my life.

She's extremely academic.

Her teaching is like up there.

And I look at her, I said, Wow.

And then she says to me, You as good as me.

I said, No, I'm not.

And each time when I teach, I phone her and I said, Catherine, I think I should have done that.

I should have done that.

And one day she stopped me and said, Eloise, listen, I wish I was more like you.

You wish that you were more like me, but we are not.

She said, you know, I give to God what I can, and you give it to God what you can.

I said, okay, Catherine, I'm not going to nag anymore.

So, and when I say to her, Well, I think I feel God is telling me to teach that book, she said, Yes.

I said, Are you sure I can do it?

She said, Yes.

I said, Yes, but I don't know how to make PowerPoint.

She said, You don't need to make PowerPoint.

And always God provides someone to do PowerPoint for me.

But you know, that has been.

But last time I was teaching, it was a little bit in a hurry because the teacher got ill, and the one student said to me, Please don't make PowerPoint.

Said, okay.

But you know, my point is what God has been known to us.

And he's faithful.

Because honestly, you know, to have people who give me opportunity and say, do it in your way.

Like, you know, was a great prayer that Neil prayed for me today before the service.

He prayed that I could be myself.

So that took the pressure off.

To understand, God, He puts leaders in our life that they say, be yourself, it's okay.

But it's a huge journey.

It's very hard this journey to be ourselves.

And but today, what I'd like you to go home with is was extraordinary.

What happened to the shepherds was an ordinary evening.

But they obeyed, they went.

But my question for us is and for us today, what is God speaking to us?

What is his being known to us?

And I'd like to end with that question for you.

To pray, Jesus.

We thank you for Luke that wrote, uh, cost him a lot to research.

Maybe he spoke to Mary, maybe Mary told him, and we are so thankful for Luke who wrote this book.

We are so thankful for Mary who obeyed you, for the shepherds, really edify us.

But now is our turn.

And we pray by the grace of God that you do help us to do what you are telling us to do, what is our calling, where to go, to bless whom, to do what?

And by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, I pray that we are going to do it.

We are going to share the gospel, we are going to pray for the sick, we are going to bless people, we are going to do what you have been calling us to do, to spread your kingdom that is upside our kingdom, but is the best kingdom.

Jesus, my pray for us, help us to hear very clear what the Lord has known to us.

And Lord, we declare your faithfulness and we really thank you.

Amen.