Skip to content Experiencing God's Light: The Story of the Shepherds || Pastor Adam Mesa Dec 22 · 36 min ...more
Experiencing God's Light: The Story of the Shepherds || Pastor Adam Mesa
December 22, 2024 · 36 min
Series Patria Sermons December 22, 2024 · 36 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
492K followers
The Call to Praise and Respond 0:00 If you're ready for God's word, would you have if you have a bible, you could turn to Luke 19. If you don't, I'll have it up on the screen. And so, we could read that way in general as well. But if you'd like to follow0:11 along with me, we're in Luke 19. We've shared this passage for about 3 weeks now. This will be our fourth week that we've shared this particular passage. I've cut it in half for the sake of time, so that we could just0:22 read the second half of what we've been reading. And so, if you're ready for God's word, would you just stand so that we just give God our full attention as we hear, from the bible today. Here's what God's0:34 word says. He says, as he was drawing near, speaking of Jesus, already on the way down of the Mount Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began rejoicing and praising God with a loud voice for all the0:46 mighty works they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your0:58 disciples. If these were silent, the very stones would cry out. You may be seated. On Tuesday for our Christmas Eve1:10 services, we'll conclude, this series, with also, kind of a music experience and an artistic experience, but we'll continue to kind of share about this theme that I believe in1:22 the word of God, not only do we see that all of creation glorifies God, but Jesus says that if humanity would be quiet in terms of praising God, God would cause an eruption1:34 of creation to praise him. And we know, as a matter of fact, that if you were to get a microphone that has enough power, that every single thing God has created actually emits a1:46 sound. And so if you ever go online and just type what is the sound that rocks make, or what is the sound that spakes makes, they all have a noise. They all have a frequency. They all make a praise. That's because God1:58 caused everything under his creation, everything under his hand to make noise and worship him. In fact, you and I are created that way. And the theme of Christmas isn't just a2:09 theme where we look at this beautiful baby in a manger. It's actually meant for you to receive, but not just receive, respond to it, to make a joyful noise. When the2:21 Pharisees look at Jesus, say, Hey, Jesus, your your disciples are making way too much noise for you. Quiet. So if I told them to be quiet, everything else would just erupt. Because humanity2:33 was created to praise God. In a few moments, we're going to see how there's a moment where Jesus is born, and God makes an invitation to these shepherds that are out in a field caring for2:45 their sheep. And the angel of the Lord, through God, invites the shepherds to make noise and follow Jesus. To respond to a moment of celebration that JesusThe Shepherds' Invitation 2:57 is born. But earlier this week, I was at home and my youngest son, so we just had my 3 year3:09 old, Thomas. He was in preschool and he had a book and he got this book talking about God and it was all about how God's created us for a purpose, how has a purpose in our life and3:21 God loves us. So Thomas, when he we picked him up from school, he said, will you guys read me this book? Will you guys read me this? Well, we had a long day, and so we didn't make it home until the evening. And when we3:32 get home, Thomas once again says, mommy, can you read me this book before bed? Ashley says, yeah, Thomas. Let's go upstairs. Let's get in bed, and I'll read you the book. He said, okay. Great. So I'm downstairs taking3:44 care of some things. I hear upstairs Ashley reading this book to Thomas, and what happens is as I start walking upstairs, I forgot, and I didn't realize, about 3 years prior when I changed a bunch3:56 of light bulbs in our house, I had bought those like smart light bulbs. You know, the ones where like it connects to your phone and you could tell Siri or Alexa whether you want it on or off or whatever. I didn't4:07 realize I had those. And I guess with Apple's new update, it just kind of automatically connected it all into my phone. So I'm walking upstairs. And I noticed on my phone for the first time, I hadn't seen it4:19 before, it says, you can control it says, well, Ashley's light is on. And I was like, Ashley's light is on? I forgot that I had that I had set that up a long time ago. Ashley's light4:31 is on. And it says, would you like to dim Ashley's lights? And and I was like, I don't know. And so I'm walking upstairs and I stop at the stair and I see Ashley,4:44 reading this book to Thomas. And she's reading it and she's in the moment telling Thomas, and God always has a purpose for our life. And at that point, I4:55 dimmed the light. I didn't think it would work, honest to God. I I hadn't seen this before on my phone. And I dimmed the light and Ashley goes,5:08 and she looks up to heaven. And at the same moment that she does that, I also change the color from obviously white, but to red. Then5:20 she drops5:21 the book.5:21 She says, oh Thomas. She loves she says, God's talking to us. And I'm looking at her. I'm like,5:33 no you dummy. It's it's me. It's the fuck. And she looks at me, her face goes so red. And she goes, I thought God was talking to me. And I said, and saying what?5:46 What is he saying in that moment? He'd been trying And I looked at her, I said, he's been trying to talk to you for a long time. So I guess it is believable that he would do that with the lights.5:59 And she starts laughing, and she's completely embarrassed, and in the moment, she goes, you're not gonna use that in a sermon ever, are you? And I said, no. I don't plan to. Maybe 16:10 day. And then sure enough, I'm studying for this weekend shepherds. And I said, there we go.6:22 Here's the story. Believe it or not, that all happened for a reason this week. And so in Luke 2 8 to 14, as as crazy as that would seem that God would mess with Ashley's lights to get her6:34 attention, appearingly in Luke chapter 2, God does come through an angel. The angel of the Lord speaks to some shepherds in light. He comes as light. Says that light6:46 shown all around him. Other translations and other passages would use this as use this name as like a star. So they see this beautiful star. We know that in the wise men, they give Jesus 3 types of and they followed6:58 and they followed a star to Jesus. And so this star appears to And here's what the star says, which is actually an angel, that they7:10 see. And it says, in the same region, speaking of there There were Shepherds out in the field. They were keep keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and7:22 glory of the Lord shone -Right. -And they were filled with great fear. And the angels said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good for behold I bring you good news of great joy. That will be7:34 for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, for, for Christ the Lord. And there will be a sign for you. Baby7:45 wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with an angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth7:57 peace among those whom he is pleased. You see, so there's a moment.8:05 And 18:05 of the questions we have to ask ourselves, and if you study the bible, there's always moments that you want to ask questions. And and and God's completely okay many times with asking questions. 1 of the questions 1 of8:16 the questions that would be asked in this story is God, when Jesus is born, and you're inviting people to your son's birthday, what type of people would you invite?8:28 Or who would you invite? And God appears to shepherds that are in the middle of a job. They're looking after their In Jesus' day, in their culture, shepherds were8:40 especially rabbis considered them to be fairly dirty individuals because they were kind of nomadic. And so they would travel where with their sheep wherever there was fresh grass. And so shepherds kind of8:52 rarely took showers. Their clothes were often kind of dirty and smelly and and it was just work wear for them. They often slept by tent out with their sheep.9:04 And so normally, if a shepherd came into the city, it's like you could smell him before you see him. You know? If you were going to invite someone to your birthday,9:16 you wouldn't necessarily invite shepherds that are in the middle of their job. It would be for you. Let's just say for instance, you know, we we got some Hispanics in the room and some Latinos in the room. And so imagine9:24 your daughter's having a quinceanera. And so imagine your daughter's having a quinceanera. And imagine your daughter's having a quinceanera. Okay? Or for those non Hispanics, let's just say your daughter's having a9:33 sixteenth birthday. But a quinceanera is a little bit more appropriate because sixteenth birthday, they're nice. But if you ever get invited to a quinceanera, I mean, it's just it's just chaos packed in 1. There's9:44 dancing, there's a priest, there's drinking, there's celebration, there's food, it's just pure chaos. But it's very formal at the same time. So I want you to imagine you're on the way to9:56 this party, and you pass by a bunch of construction workers, or you pass by some people that are working for Caltrans, and they have worked all day. All day. They have10:07 grinded this thing out. I've got friends that are construction workers and contractors, and I'll see them throughout the week, and I'll go to give them a hug, and they'll be like, no, just shake my hand, I'm smelly, I'm10:18 stinky. And I'm like, no, it's all good. But imagine these individuals, you see them in the job on the way, and you say, hey, come to my child's wedding. Come to my daughter's quinceanera. Come celebrate with10:29 us. They would look and they would be like, are you sure us? First of all, we're in the middle of a job. Second of all, we've been working all day, and so we're dirty, we're smelly.10:42 We we don't we don't I don't have it. I don't have time to get a gift. I don't even have a gift. And then the angels like, oh, who cares? Your presence is his gift. Come visit him. It'd be like,10:53 why? Why me? Why us? Well, immediately what God is trying to communicate to us is the people that are normally on the outskirts of society, The people that you would normally not think. I11:05 mean, construction and contracting, it's a great living. But for a shepherd back then, it wasn't necessarily a great living. And so God immediately visits people that are on the edges of society, showing11:17 people that his son's birth is for everybody. He didn't show up to a local politician and be like, hey, come pay your respects. He didn't show up to the local business owner and say, hey, come law bond11:29 Jesus. Middle of doing something and said, hey, why don't you come and visit the savior of the world.11:41 And so in that moment, what happens is, is they see a light, and so I is they see a light and so I got my little light right here. And so the the shepherds, this light appears to them11:53 and tells them, hey, I got good news for you. The savior of the world is born and you guys can go visit him. Here's an invitation that that the light is coming to you,12:05 and you could go visit him in his home. Well, if you're taking notes, what happens is is they don't just go, oh wow. This is beautiful. What a great light. Most of us, if we saw an angel,12:17 we would be more consumed with people with with people knowing that we saw an angel than sharing with what the angel said. So if you're on your way home or you were laying in bed and a light comes in12:29 your room and God starts talking to you, you would immediately go on Facebook and you'd be like, yo, I just saw an angel. How do I know that? Because people do that with aliens all the time. I saw an alien tonight, and12:41 it's like, no, it's just a family member who, you know, but like we saw we I saw an alien tonight, but the reality is the angel, it's not just about appearing to the shepherds, it's about giving them a message.12:54 Come and visit Jesus. And so what we see in the in the second point if you're taking notes, what happens is is when you hear from heaven, it'll hurry your heart and it'll create haste in your life.13:06 God wants to create a hastiness in your life. It says in Luke 2 16, and they went out with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a13:18 manger. And so this light appears to them to visit Jesus,13:31 and a13:31 lot of times we're looking for more of these miracles of God without the message of God. We want this miraculous moments rather than just, God, what are you trying to get me to do? Where are13:43 you trying to get me to go? When I was 17 years old, it was the first time that I truly saw God's light. I grew up in a Christian home. I grew up with Christian parents. Grew up13:54 with parents that were pastors. And so for much of my life, I figured that 1 day I would go to Heaven and I'd be like, God, you gave me a Christian home. I I had this like14:06 really sweet cross necklace that I would wear, and I would go to church on Sundays, and I was pretty nice to every person I met. In theory, you know, me and God are good.14:19 But when I was 17, there was a moment where I had to make a decision whether Jesus was gonna be my personal Lord and savior or not. Whether I was gonna allow him to radically transform my14:30 life or not. So when I'm 17, first time I truly saw God's light in HD 4 ks. I'm I'm at my house. I come home. I had a girlfriend at the14:42 time, even though I wasn't allowed to have girlfriends at the time. And so I had a girlfriend at the time, and she was 3 months late on her. And so I had figured in my head, because I have parents that are14:54 in ministry, that what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pack a bag, and I'm gonna run away because I'd rather them be able to say I ran away than shame them with whatever's gonna be the outcome. That was the theory shame them15:03 with whatever's going to be the outcome. That was the theory that I had in my head. So I go to my and I get ready to pull a duffel bag out. I'm going to go to my girlfriend's house. We're going to take a pregnancy. We're15:13 going to figure this whole thing out, but I'm going to do it without embarrassing my family. Brother Caleb, who's my middle brother, he says, Adam, why don't you come into my room real quick? I said,15:25 Caleb, I don't have time. I gotta go somewhere real quick. And he said, just give me 10 minutes. Has me open up the bible to Romans chapter 2. He has me15:37 read all of Romans chapter 2. And then he begins to share the gospel with me. The only thing this time is he said something that stuck in my heart that changed my life forever. Because as I was reading Romans 2,15:49 who Jesus is and what Jesus did for me began to be very clear for me. The message was clear. And so I begin to see the light. And then what happens is he makes a statement and he says, Adam, for every day that you16:01 sin, you're wasting a drop of Jesus's blood. And so in that moment, my heart broke. I felt wasteful. Felt like my life was wasting away. Felt like I wasn't doing things fully the way that God16:12 had created me to live, and living the way God created me to live. And so in that moment, I received Jesus as my Lord and savior. And what happens is, I said this is what's going to happen. I'm gonna call my girlfriend.16:22 I'm gonna tell her, hey, I'm not gonna come pick you up. Whatever the outcome is, I'm gonna talk to my parents. I'm gonna own up to whatever I did. So that was my thought. I said, I'm gonna call her. I'm gonna tell her16:33 that. I'm gonna tell her I just received Jesus as my lord and savior. I go in the other room and I call her, and I said, hey, do you have a second? She said, yes, but before you say anything, I just wanna let you know16:43 that I just had my period right now. First of all, in that moment, I was like, whew, okay. All right. So,16:55 first thing I did, I said, man, that's great. I'm so excited. Here's the thing. I don't feel like I'm making wise decisions. I think we should break up. So I broke up with her in that moment. Friend. And I17:07 shared the gospel with her. She received Jesus, in that moment herself. She started coming to church here for a couple years after that, and then today she's married to a pastor, and they live in Arizona. And so she17:18 fully committed her life to Jesus as well. But here was the reality for me, is when I saw the light, it wasn't just about being aware that I needed a relationship with God.17:30 It was taking the steps that I needed to take in haste, in a hurry. Not, well, I was in the middle of something, or oh, I went That's what happened with the shepherds. When they were met with17:42 God's grace to say, hey, come visit Jesus. They were like, well, let me go take a shower real quick, Or or who's gonna take care of the sheep? They didn't start trying to figure things. It said they hurried with haste to17:54 meet Jesus. And when God begins to speak to you, we need to begin to have a hastiness to meet God where he's at. Because God's making anShow more In this video 0:00 The Call to Praise and Respond2:55 The Shepherds' Invitation17:55 The Light of the World
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