Thank you for listening to a special edition of It's Preaching Time, The Story of the Shepherds by Dr. David Gibbs. Merry Christmas from WZYN. And now, Preaching Time. The church that I grew up in, a lady by the name of Mahalia Jackson would come and sing once each year, and she always sang that song. And boy, I promise you she was world acclaimed for how she sang it. This dear precious lady here sang it with more heart than I've ever heard it before. So thank you, thank you, sweet little Jesus boy. What a thrill to get to be here. I want to apologize. A precious evangelist friend of mine, who years ago, every time I'd see him, he'd say, now, you promised to do my funeral. And I said, yeah, we'll do it for sure. Never thinking he was going to die. And then all of a sudden, I heard he was sick. And I said, how are you doing? He said, oh, I'm fine. They let him out of the hospital. He was doing great. And then, praise the Lord, went home to be with the Lord in his sleep. And I got the call, and the last thing he wrote down was, you're gonna be there, right? And so I had to call Brother John, and your pastor was so very gracious, I apologize about that. Isn't it wonderful? We don't lose people, we know exactly where they are. They're with the Savior, Jesus Christ. Turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2. I want you to look at some shepherds tonight, at some shepherds. They're out in their fields at night watching o'er their flocks. And that's a tough job. Shepherds slept with the sheep. They moved with the sheep. Their job was to protect the sheep. Growing up as a young man, occasionally we would be let out to have to go to watch over calves at night because all the predatory animals are out at night. And they want to get those young animals, the young sheep, the young cattle. And these shepherds are out in the fields or they're watched by night. A difficult job. And God decides in his divine wisdom to make an announcement to them. about the crushed child. Now isn't it amazing, humanly speaking, if any of us had been given counsel to God, no one would have said, go to insignificant shepherds out in a field in the middle of the night watching sheep. We'd have said, no, no, no, you need to do something where there's significance You're announcing the birth of the Christ child. You ever notice like in the royal family in England when they announce a baby, boy, they make all out. They want everybody to know. They want the rest of the kings and rulers of the world to know. They want the White House to know. Well, God says, that's not how I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna pick some shepherds whose names you don't know. who until we get to heaven you'll never meet them and have you ever thought this when I get to heaven there's some folks that I want to meet and these shepherds are some of them you were the first ones to get the announcement of the Christ child Luke chapter 2 verse 8 and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night Now, let me give you something here. Being a shepherd was not considered a high elevation position. It was a position of servanthood that if you could get out of it, you did. But among the shepherds who watched over the sheep, watching them by night was by far the worst of being a shepherd. So these would have been men of low estate, watching over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid." Now, would you underline that word, sore afraid, in your Bible? It's the word for terrified. Terrified. Now, we sit here and we go through all of this, and it doesn't trouble us at all because we know the completion of the story. but they're out here watching over these sheep and all of a sudden there is an angel on them and it terrified them. Have you ever had something terrify you? Not scare you, not frighten you, terrify you. I was walking our dog one night just standing out in the yard enjoying the evening breeze and all of a sudden a pack of wolves came on us suddenly out of nowhere and all you could see were their beady eyes and their teeth Now maybe that wouldn't frighten you, but the first thought that I had was the only thing I have to do is outrun the dog. And I love the dog. Terrifying. They did not know what to do. And the Bible says, they were sore afraid, and the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Now, they had to say, lying in a manger. That's what you feed animals out of. It's the trough that you put the feed in is called the manger. And swaddling clothes were literally discarded rags. And lying in a manger. And suddenly, I love this part, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men now we have captured worldwide that statement peace on earth and completely taking it out of context we want to make it that what the Christmas season about is is God wants everybody to be peaceful one with another and clearly that's not what he said He was bringing peace, but it wasn't peace from man to man, it was peace from man to God. You see, he said, they're going to hate me and don't be surprised that they hate you. The reason they're going to hate you is because they hate me. He never said that this would bring peace, of which the world speaks. It was peace with God between God and every man. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, I love this part, as angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see the thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds." The story of the shepherds at Christmas. Would you write three things down? Because there's greatness in this story. Here's the first great key, and I love this. These shepherds terrified. The announcement of the babe was a message of assurance. God said, listen, don't be terrified, fear not. I'm telling you right now, I am bringing you a message which is going to change the eternal destiny of everyone who believes. Peace, goodwill towards men. The whole message of the Christ child, that's what Christmas is about. It wasn't ever about having a holiday where we buy all kinds of things for each other. It wasn't about where we just celebrate and have food and fellowship. And I love all those things. But it was about a message. This Christ child came to bring a message to earth. Peace, goodwill toward men. God himself sent his only begotten son. and the shepherds were gonna make the announcement of it. I'm amazed where we live in Ohio, how people that don't believe in Jesus love to celebrate Christmas. Because we've just made a holiday of it. We've changed the whole complexion of the holiday. What are you doing to make Christmas about Jesus? There was a family that had their Christmas celebration, did everything that they would normally do. They opened presents, they had food. And one of the uncles turned to a little girl in the family and said, did you like Christmas? She said, I sure did. And he said, did you get all the presents you wanted? She said, no, no, I didn't. And he said, oh, that's too bad, that's too bad. And she looked at her uncle and she said, it wasn't my birthday. We weren't celebrating my birthday. We were celebrating his birthday. That little girl got it right. What did you do to celebrate his birthday this season? I grew up, our home was on a major highway. And my mom got this idea. We put up a sign. It was huge. And the sign was very simple. It was all lit at night. It said, keep Christ in Christmas. It's his birthday. That's what it's about. What are you doing? It's not my birthday. It's not your birthday. The little girl says, it's his birthday. Oh, that'll change everything. Now the world doesn't care if you celebrate Christmas, as long as you don't bring Jesus into it. And now all of a sudden, even in our nation's capital, they're saying, we gotta be careful at Christmas that we don't mention Jesus. We've got to be careful that we don't mention Christ. That's what it was all about. It was a message to the shepherds that went to the whole world. And that message was about Jesus Christ. We've been handing out gospel tracts the last little bit. And I always ask people, we get a great opportunity to witness as we travel. on airplanes when they turn the fasten seatbelt sign on, the guy next to you can't go anywhere and so handing him a gospel track is simple and I always ask them what are you doing to celebrate his birthday? They always say the same thing, pastor, whose birthday? Jesus, the Son of God. What are you doing to celebrate his birthday? Oh, the shepherds had a message And when they went down there, they said, we've heard from the angels. It started with one and then the heavens were full of a heavenly host. And we come to church and we sing there, hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. But are we getting his birthday celebrated? Are we getting his message? Write the second key down. It had a message. Number two, it demanded a response. Do you notice what it said there? Come and let us go. Why didn't they just sit out in those fields and say, boy, that was something, huh? That was amazing, wasn't it? Did you see that? An angel and then a host of angels. No, no, no. The scripture says it demanded a response. and it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see the thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." How responsive are you? How responsive am I for the whole Lord and the message of Christmas? Wow. In our home, my wife has been spending a lot of time in prayer. And I love this for Christmas. She said, we have to have a time where we tell others, boy, there's a message. But she said, we got to have a time where we step out of this holiday and where we step into our response, our heart's response to the message of Christmas. The Son of God has left heaven and taken the form of a babe and is put in the lowliest of a state. He's in a stable, a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. It couldn't be any lower. And what was God doing? Bringing a Savior to the world. That demands a response in you. That demands a response in me. My mom's dad, my grandpa Cal, was a very quiet man. By profession, he was a print setter. Computers have taken all of that profession away. But he would set print for books and for Bibles and things. And he was not very outgoing, just a quiet, nice gentleman. But when we'd send the Christmas songs, he'd weep uncontrollably. And I would say to him, Grandpa, are you okay? He said, I'm fine. I just can't believe He put the Son of God in that manger for me. I just can't believe that He would come, but to come into that lowliest state, and He'd weep. Oh, we just sing the songs almost by routine, Brother Gibbs. We sing our Christmas songs like we sing the national anthem. We know the words and by rote we just say them. We don't even need to think about the words. Do you understand? These shepherds said, this is incredible. This demands a response. The Son of God has come. And we're going to leave the sheep And I'm sure they left people there to take care of them. I don't think they abandoned them. But we're going to go and see. Now we know from Scripture six miles away were scribes that knew of the birth. There was a king not far away that was troubled by the birth, but they never did a response. The shepherds did a response. And the shepherds came and said, let us go. Let us see. Is your family going to be led to make a response this Christmas? It's not our birthday. It's his birthday. Incredible message. Needs a response. Write the third thing down. It's a message that needs a response, and it's a message that needs to be told. Would you look at what the shepherds did at the end? Verse 17, And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told of them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Can you imagine the shepherds became the first evangelists, Brother John? They were the ones to go out there. Not learned men. Very simple servants taking care of sheep. But they took the message and they spread it. I trust this is not true for you, but in our churches nationwide, 94% of the people never tell anybody anything about Jesus, even at Christmas. Now we want our pastors to do it, and they should, and we sure want a church that stands clear on the gospel, but what are you doing with the message? What am I doing with the message? The Christian who does not respond with this message treats the message with insignificance. I love the story of what happened with the sinking of the Titanic, and I want to read something to you that struck me. Four years after the Titanic was sunk, a man by the name of Aquila Webb gave this testimony, and I quote, I am a survivor of the Titanic. That awful night I met John Harper while drifting alone on a small wooden spar. Man, he said, are you saved? No, I said, I'm not. He replied, do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The waves bore him away. But strange to say, the tide shifted and brought him back a little later. And he said to me, are you saved now? No, I said, I cannot honestly say that I am. He said again, do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And shortly after he went down, he sunk to his death. And there alone in the night, with two miles of water under me, I believed on Jesus Christ. I, Aquila Webb, am John Harper's last convert." When they made the movie, The Titanic, word was out that they were looking for stories. Aquila Webb submitted this story and said, you need to make it a part. They said, John, in those frigid waters, John Harper went from person to person leading them to Christ. Gave up his only life vest, gave up his seat in one of the lifeboats so that he could reach the lost. You must put them in. The men that made the movie said, this story is insignificant. It's not important. And so it was never put into the movie. Strangely, it's the only thing that is important. Because everybody here one day is going to step into eternity. Every person you ever meet one day will be in eternity. And all that matters in that day is do they know Jesus Christ? And have they called upon the name of the Lord to be saved? Do you remember the sign that my mom had us put up? Huge thing on our lawn, I mean huge. Keep Christ in Christmas, it's his birthday. Hundreds of people every month would stop by that sign to have their picture taken with it. And my dad and my sister and I would be handing out gospel tracts and saying to people, do you know it's his birthday? Have you asked him to save you? There wasn't a year that that sign was up that we didn't lead three to four hundred people to Jesus Christ on our lawn. Just because somebody remembered what Christmas was about. It was a message beyond compare. The birth of the Christ child. God in the flesh. Never happened before, will never happen again. Jesus Christ our Savior. And it was a message. Peace. You're going to be able to have peace between you and God. That's what we're here to announce. It was a message so strong that they had to respond. They left their sheep and went down to see the Christ child. But when they saw him, they left changed. They went abroad. And I like it when it says they were the first evangelists. They went out and told everybody what they had seen. And people believed everywhere. Christmas is just a few days away. And again, I love the Christmas holidays. I sure love the food. How many of you like to eat? Hold your hand up, would you? If you don't like to eat, you're a sick puppy, all right? That's all there is to it. I love to eat. I love the fellowship. I love getting to give gifts and show our love and affection one to another. But it's his birthday. It's not our birthday. And what are you doing? What are you going to do for the Christ child? And who are you going to tell? This Christmas will be over in a flash. I'm at the age now Well, I'm just incredibly impressed how quick life goes by. I mean, it's hard to imagine we're at Christmas at this time now. It just comes quickly. But what a message. And by the grace of God, we've got to tell somebody about this message. Every person needs to know the birth of the Christ child. In heaven, when we see those shepherds, I got just a couple questions. I bet you guys were terrified. Did any of you run? I gotta imagine some did. Boy, I know I'd have been out of there. But of everybody God could have chosen, He gave these shepherds in the middle of the night, watching a flock of sheep, the heaven-sent message. But they grabbed it and they went. It took a response. And then when they went and saw the Christ child, they took the message and spread it everywhere. It's the story of the shepherds. What's our story going to be this Christmas? What's mine? What's yours? Bow your head in prayer. Thank you for telling us of these incredible men, shepherds, watching o'er their flocks by night. Brother Gibbs, God spoke to my heart. I want to be sure that everybody around me remembers whose birthday it really is. And by the grace of God, I want people to know this Christmas that there's a message they have to receive. It's the only message in life that really counts. The people that put that movie together, the Titanic, were dead wrong. The one thing that really mattered was not all the sub-stories that are put in a script, it was that there was a man there with the gospel message. And I want the world to know that what I'm celebrating is not a national holiday. I'm celebrating the birth of a Savior and God helping me. I want to make that strong this Christmas. My heart's been touched. I want that message to be strong and vibrant through me. If that's what God touched your heart with, raise your hand right now. Hold your hand up high. God spoke to my heart. Oh, I want that. Father, I raise my hand with them. Forgive us where we've been pulled into the culture, to the celebration, the Christmas spirit that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Help us now. We'll never do what's right when we leave. If we don't do what's right when you speak to our hearts, hear the cry of our heart, I pray in Jesus name. Let's all stand together. We certainly hope and pray that the Bible message you heard today on It's Preaching Time was a spiritual help to you. You might want to visit our website at wzyn.org to download this message and many more. Tune in same time tomorrow to hear more good Bible preaching. you