Good News of Great Joy

In one paragraph

This message traced the Christmas story through Luke's Gospel, following the angel's words to Mary, then to the shepherds, and asking what it looks like to truly receive that message. Pastor Ray used photos from a 2010 mission trip to Morocco to help the congregation see the physical world the shepherds lived in, and he kept returning to one question: when the good news reaches you, what do you do...

Read together

1. Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary, her response, and the promise of the Holy Spirit
2. Luke 1:46-49 The Magnificat, Mary's song of praise beginning 'My soul magnifies the Lord'
3. Luke 2:8-20 The shepherds in the fields, the angel's announcement, and their response of glorifying God
4. Luke 11 (approximate) A woman from the crowd blesses the womb that bore Jesus, and Jesus responds that more blessed are those who hear and keep the word of God
5. 2 Corinthians 8:9 Jesus became poor so that by his poverty we might become rich, used to describe Christ leaving heaven to meet us on earth
6. Matthew 28 (approximate) All authority given to Jesus, the commission to go to every tribe, tongue and nation with the good news
7. John 16 (approximate) In this world you will have trouble but take heart, Christ has overcome the world
8. John 6:29 Jesus says the work of God is to believe in the one he sent, used as the closing verse

Talk about it

1. Sam South amended his first text to say that Jesus came to earth to be like us so that we could be like him and go to heaven. How does that fuller picture change the way you think about what Christmas is actually about?
2. The angel's greeting to Mary is built around the word 'grace', calling her the 'ingraced one' who has received unmerited favor from God. When has God's unmerited favor shown up in your own life in a way that left you pondering, the way Mary pondered that greeting?
3. The shepherds heard the message, went immediately, and then made it widely known. What tends to slow you down between hearing something from God and acting on it?
4. Pastor Ray walked through several translations of the angels' song, noting the difference between 'peace, goodwill toward men' and 'peace to those on whom his favor rests.' How does the idea that God's favor rests on those who receive and keep his message sit with you, and where do you feel the tension between God's sovereignty and human responsibility there?
5. Jesus said in Luke 11 that the person who hears the word of God and keeps it is more blessed than Mary for having nursed him. The word for 'keeps' carries the meaning of guarding, protecting, and preserving something carefully. What does that kind of active, watchful keeping of God's word look like in your daily life right now?