Let's go to the Lord in prayer and then we're going to look at the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2, but let's pray first. Lord Jesus, we come to you and we thank you for another great day that you've given to us. This is a day where we as individual temples Those of us who are saved, our body is your temple, a place of worship, but we have gathered together on this day to enjoy singing together, praying together, looking at your word together in our Bible study classes, and then as we gather in a large group. And Lord, I pray that this day, not only our time here, but also our time in our homes or wherever we have been has been good and profitable and that we have enjoyed you. And Lord, now I pray that as we open your word, that ultimately your Holy Spirit who wrote this word through some 40 authors, that your Holy Spirit who ultimately authored this book would now illuminate it for us, reveal to us what it is that you are saying, and show us how it is that it applies, how it works. Lord, we don't just want to gather information just for curiosity's sake. We want to be more conformed to the image of you. And so we need to change our thinking and our behavior. And so as we are exposed to your word, may you expose us any area that needs adjustments. And may we make that right. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, let's look at Luke chapter 2. We're going to look at the Christmas story through the eyes of Dr. Luke as he tells what he observed. And one of the things, as you're going to Luke chapter 2, one of the things that we realize is that while God's Holy Spirit is ultimately the author of all 66 of the books that make up the Word of God, we also realize that there's the human component to this as well. You know, they didn't just You know, sit down and God just opened their brain up and filled them with information and they begin to write. If you look at Luke chapter 1 and the very beginning, he actually talks about how it was that he had investigated. You know, he had apparently done interviews. I wonder if maybe as he was with the Apostle Paul and they went to Jerusalem, I wonder if he looked Mary up and said, hey, tell me about what happened. What was it like? What did you experience? And so I wonder if as he was doing the investigating and God's Holy Spirit was riding through him, that both of those components were there and we have such a blessed, blessed story as we do in Luke chapter 2. So let's look at this, Luke chapter 2 verse 1. And we're going to get through, we'll just go through the first 20 verses, try to get through there and draw some things out of this for our own spiritual nourishment. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. So one of the things that we realize, first of all, is Luke, as he's writing this, and God's Holy Spirit, as he's writing it through Luke, is wanting us to be able to identify when this exactly happened, right? Every single word in Scripture is there on purpose. There's no word in Scripture that is there by accident. Every single thing is there on purpose. We may not understand it. Maybe even this side of heaven we will not rightly appreciate it. But every single word in Scripture is important. So, what are we to make of this? That he said, okay, this all happened when Caesar Augustus, ruling in Rome, said that the whole empire should be registered, and that there was a guy named Quirinius who was governing Syria, and we also know that this was also during the time that Herod was ruling over or leading the area of Israel, you know, where they were. And so, what I believe Luke and God's Holy Spirit is doing is saying that if you question this, you can investigate it. You can check this out. You can go back. Now, I'm telling you, for the longest time, people were looking at this verse and saying, this is not historically accurate. Because up until about 1700, I think it was 1746, I think it was 1746 when there was a scroll that was discovered right outside of Rome that described an unnamed ruler in Syria who ruled from 6 to 9 AD, but it said that he had also ruled a second time, and the way it described him, it was describing Quirinius. And so many have looked at this and said, this doesn't match because Quirinius didn't rule over Syria when Herod was in power and when Caesar Augustus had issued this decree. That's not when this happened, but in fact they have discovered a scroll that did point this out. Not to get into the trivia of this, but if Quirinius governed, and one of the things that has been discovered is not only did he rule a second time, or a time before, but it looks as if he ruled between 4 and 6 BC. And if Herod died in 4 BC, which history tells us that, then Jesus was not born in the year zero, right? Because Herod sent, you know, after the Magi had come, he sent to Bethlehem and said, all of the boys, two and younger, have them killed, because it was possible that Jesus could have been two years old, up to two years old at that point. And Herod died in 4 BC. So it's often thought, it's suspected, that Jesus was born, if we were to tag it in history, then Jesus was born somewhere between maybe 5 or 6 BC. 5 or 6 BC. But all of these guys were ruling at this point. Luke wants us to know this. The Holy Spirit wants us to know that this is historically validated. Verse 4, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth to Galilee to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family line of David. So when it says he went up, which direction do you think he went? What does that sound like? It sounds like he went north, but he actually went due south. Due south. He went up because it's not going up going north, it's up going in elevation. Nazareth, if you in your mind's eye, if you could look at that map that maybe you've looked at so many times in the back of your Bibles, where from your vantage point the Mediterranean Sea is over here, and you've got Israel right here, you've got the Sea of Galilee, and then the Jordan River, and then the Dead Sea. Nazareth is roughly in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea, it's right there. Bethlehem is all the way down here at the top end of the Dead Sea, right? But it's higher in elevation, so that's where they went. And by the way, if you were to go to Israel at this point, which I would not really advise at this point that you go, but if you had things calmed down and you're able to go to Israel, one of the things that you'll realize is Nazareth is like 95% Muslim now. They were kind to us, generous, you know, let us cross the street in front of them, you know, we were tourists, but they seemed nice and pleasant and everything. We certainly weren't proselytizing. I suspect that the tone would have changed at that point. But also Bethlehem is also It's in Gaza, you know. It's ruled by Muslims as well. It's a very, very different place now. But they went from Nazareth in Galilee, the northern area, all the way down to Bethlehem. Now, what does it call it? It's Bethlehem, the city of David. Why is it the city of David? Why was it called the city of David? Yeah, that's where he was tending sheep. That's where he grew up. That's his hometown. Yeah, Bethlehem. And the house of bread is what that is. And so it was the city of David. And so he went down to the city of David because, the end of verse four, he was of the house and family line of David. And this is interesting as well. If you look at the genealogies, one in Matthew chapter one, and then the genealogy, is it Luke chapter three, is it? Yes, it's Luke chapter 3. If you look at the genealogies, you realize that both of these genealogies have King David in them. But one of them is Mary's genealogy, which is Luke 3, and one of them is Joseph's genealogy, which is Matthew chapter 1. Both of them were descendants of David. Joseph, the adopted father of Jesus, was a descendant of David, but by way of King Solomon, right? He came through Solomon. Solomon was his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandpa. Mary didn't have Solomon. She came through the line of Nathan, one of David's sons, but both of them came from the line of David. So, whenever there was a registration, Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem so that they could be registered. This whole registration, early on, before Israel was brought into it, it seems as if this was an opportunity for Rome to see how big their fighting force was when they needed to go to war. It was their census to see how many guys do we have fighting age here in the empire. But eventually Israel and others were brought into this where they just wanted to see how large this thing. Whether they were taxed or not, we do know that they were going there just to be counted. It was like a census. And so they went to be counted. Now how many of you know that this census was decreed by Caesar Augustus, right? But do you think that God was in charge of this? I just want you to catch that point. There are so many places that we can see this in Scripture, so many places. There are so many times where Christians are praying, oh Lord, I want to know your will, Lord. I want to know what your will is. I don't want to miss your will, Lord. And I'm just absolutely convinced that the Lord is saying, you can't do it. You're not powerful enough to mess my will up. Even a pagan king who just wanted to register his people. He didn't pray and ask for God's will. He just did what he wanted to do, right? And it looks like it was every 14 years that this census would happen, and yet he was fulfilling God's plan. Now, that's not to minimize us praying. Oh, certainly, if there's a decision to be made, one of the things we must integrate into that is prayer, is prayer. But ultimately, we're praying for the moral will of God. God, what is it morally that I, what are the options that I morally can consider, and those that are immediately knocked out because your word forbids it, you know? And then I'm going to seek godly counsel and say, okay, based on the counsel that I've received as I've sought godly men and women, These are the options that I can rule out, and these are the things that I think may be. There may even be times that God just clearly reveals to your heart, this is what I want. But I just want you to know, you and I are not powerful enough to mess up God's will. We're not powerful enough. God has given his will for how planet Earth comes to an end. He's written it in a book. It's called the book of Revelation. He has allowed Satan himself to study this book if he so chooses, and he can't do anything to stop it. You and I are not powerful enough to mess it. We can make decisions that will mess us up, but it's not going to mess God's will up, right? So he called on, he had a census, and yet God was working behind the scenes to get Joseph to where he needed to be so that Jesus would be born in the city of David. Verse 5, to be registered along with Mary who was engaged to him and was pregnant. Okay, now let me ask you a question. What did Mary ride to get to Bethlehem? Okay, yeah, good, good, good. That's something else. A lot of times we see movies and we read stories and things like that. And if we're not careful, we'll allow that to influence how we think. Now, whether or not she rode a donkey, it's insignificant. But there are other things. Other things that if maybe you're watching the Chosen, I like some of the things about it, some of the things I don't like, but what I am greatly afraid of is some Christians who are too lazy to get into God's Word for themselves go into sources like that and saying, that is Bible truth. That is dangerous. That's dangerous. The Bible doesn't say whether or not Mary was on a donkey. A lot of times, you know, whenever you ask, hey, what was she riding? Hey, she's riding a donkey. Well, chapter and verse. There is no chapter and verse that says that she rode anything. That's insignificant, but many other things aren't. be people of the Word, right? You can look at some other things, but have such a working knowledge of God's Word that you filter everything you are reading and watching and seeing and experiencing through God's Word, right? Does that make sense? Yes, absolutely. We're people of the Word, people of the Word. Verse 6, while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and then she gave birth to her firstborn son. And she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger. Your translation may say a feeding trough. It's the same thing. Because there was no guest room available for them. I can only imagine. Mary shows up, Joseph, don't tell me you didn't get reservations. Oh, I forgot. So, but even then, was it an accident? Did this mess God's will up, that he was born in a stable, in a cave, and he was placed in a manger? Did that mess things up? No, God is glorified by exalting himself so that he can lift us up, right? God loves us so much, He invites us into a relationship with Him, but for us to be invited into a relationship with Him, Philippians 2 has to happen, where Jesus has to not consider equality with God to something to be held onto and grasped, but He has to willingly let go of just about everything except His deity, and come to earth and humble Himself. And as He humbled Himself, even to the point of death on the cross, then he makes it possible for us to come into relationship with him. It was not an accident that he ended up in a feeding trough. This was a powerful picture that God said, this is how much I love you. This is how much I love you. This is what I'm willing to do to bring you into relationship with me. This was no accident. God delights in humility in us because he himself has done that multiple times. Verse 8, in the same region, okay, so Luke is giving us a clue. He's not just saying, okay, how do I start this next segment? No, this is important. In the same region, so in the same region as what? In the same region of Bethlehem, in the same region where Jesus is born and placed there in the manger, in that same region, who were out in the fields? Shepherds. Shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Okay, so if you were to travel by bus to Jerusalem, you wouldn't take a direct route. You have to go a little bit north, just a little bit north of the city of Jerusalem, and then go through a tunnel and go up and down that road, windy road, all the way down until you get to a place, Bethlehem is actually quite a bit south of there. One of the things that I realized, though, is how close those two cities are. It's really not that far apart. It would have been farther apart because, you know, at this time, because Jerusalem wasn't so big, its outer city limits extend far out now, but it wouldn't have been nearly as large back then, so it would have been a little bit farther from one to the other. But when it says in the same region, the same region of Bethlehem, it's not a stretch to say in the region of Jerusalem as well, because they're close, right? They're close. And I believe that is absolutely important to this story. In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields, keeping watch at night over their flock. So what do we learn from this verse? What's going on? Anybody tend sheep? Hmm? You used to have some sheep. Yeah. So what can you tell us about them? They stink. Okay. All right. But not really. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's that? Sheep need a leader. Yeah. Okay. Is it fair to say that sheep are dumb? So how so? Because I mean, I've heard that, but I've never tended sheep. So I mean, from your experience, how so? And they just don't think. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so they are dumb then. And they also are pretty defenseless as well, right? Yeah, I've heard if their fleece is, you know, if they've got a big fleece, they can lay on their back and they will never be able to get back up. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so we've got shepherds, shepherds that are watching sheep. So these sheep can't protect themselves. They are dumb. You know, they stink. And these are just some of the things that we have just discovered or said. And they've got, you know, other things. So what in the world are these guys watching sheep for if they're all of that and more? Why are they watching these sheep? Exactly. Okay, you're really jumping. Phew, good job. It's quite possible that it's quite, we cannot say it definitively, but it is very, very, very possible that at least some, if not all of the sheep that they were watching were going to end up being sacrifices there in Jerusalem. They were in the region of Bethlehem where Jesus was born. They were also in generally, not too far away, the region of Jerusalem where the temple was, where daily sacrifices happened. You know, when somebody has sinned, somebody did something wrong, or then for the three annual sacrifices that are festivals that the Jewish men were required to show up to, they were constantly sacrificing animals there. And so where are you going to get them? Well, probably this would have been at least one of the sources. So these shepherds are overseeing possibly, quite possibly, the sacrificial lambs. So let's go on and jump to the point that Ruth pointed out. So, what did John call Jesus when he saw him the first time? Behold the the Lamb of God. Lamb, sheep, same thing, right? The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And so, who better to come and inspect this little lamb, Mary's little lamb, than the shepherds that almost certainly were guarding the sheep or helping to tend the sheep that were eventually going to be sacrificed because Jesus, after all, was the Lamb of God that would one day be sacrificed. In fact, this may have been God graciously giving these shepherds a pink slip, but saying, I'm not going to enact it for about 33 years. Right? You still have a job. You still have a job until he dies on the cross, and then we've got no more purpose for sacrifices. 33 years, you've still got a job, but just use the next 33 years wisely to develop another skill. In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock, then an angel of the Lord. One of the things that I've shared with you before is when it says the angel of the Lord, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's talking about Jesus, but it could be. Jesus is not an angel, but the word you know, angel in the Hebrew and in the Greek really means messenger. And so when you see that and it says the, you can say the messenger of the Lord. It could be an angel, but a lot of times, especially in the Old Testament, you look and you see that this person is claiming deity, right? And so anyway, but this is not thee, this is an angel, thee and a messenger of the Lord. So an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were, what? Terrified. Okay. So, now again, I don't know about sheep. I've never tended sheep. But I have heard that they don't naturally just lay down and go, you know, rest for the night. They have to have everything fixed. Everything has to be settled, right? They've got to have food in their stomach. They've got to have had water so they're hydrated. They can't have lice or the flies that are flying around their face. They've got to have salve or whatever it is to keep that stuff away. And they cannot think that there's danger out there, right? And so then when all of that happens, they're settled down. And one of the things that I've heard that shepherds in first century Israel did is they would play a little flute. They would play a harp. You know, David would play the harp. They would do something to kind of calm things down, just really calm things down. So if you could imagine the scene is just so quiet. It's so peaceful. Man, it's so relaxing. If it was a clear night, you could just count the stars up there. The sheep have settled down. Maybe the flute is still somewhere. One of the shepherds is still playing the flute. Or maybe the harp is going. Or maybe they're just settled down and just lowly, you know, just quietly talking to each other. And all of the sudden, boom! Huge light shows up. The glory of the Lord. What's that talking about? the Shekinah glory of God. The word Shekinah does not appear in the Bible at all, but we know what we're talking about. That is the glory of God. It's the holiness of God that shows up in not, I think it's not just a brilliant light. I think it's more, I think it's a presence, right? But it's at least a bright light. It's the light that led the Israelites at night through the wilderness. It was the bright light that I believe showed up here. There were, like Matthew 17, when Jesus went up on the mountain, and it says he was transfigured in front of them. The glory shone, you know, there. And so, all of a sudden, a bright light. All of a sudden, their eyes aren't adjusting. They can't even see. It's like the sun just came out, just like that. And now, they're barely able to look. And there's a guy, there's a guy, an angel, a messenger standing right in front of them. I would imagine that I would be scared. One of the things that I have enjoyed doing to my boys, I'm a dad, I terrorize them every now and then as a kid. It's our job, right? You know, they're coming around the corner completely unsuspecting. You know, I yell out and they jump and they get scared. Yeah, they don't stay that way, but they got scared just for a minute. I wonder if this terrified doesn't mean that they were just long-term terrified. It's just, you know, something quick happened and it shocked them. It shocked them. Verse 10. But the angel said to them, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. So let's go back and look at this. I proclaim to you good news. The word good news is the Greek word euangelion, and it's also translated gospel. Exactly. If you were to say, okay, what does the word gospel, as it's translated in English, what does it literally mean? What it literally means is good news. I'm telling you, preachers that just like to get angry and like to just talk about how bad people are and the sinners and everything, that's not good news. That's part of the news that sets us up to receive the good news. But if they don't get to, and if we don't get to the point where, yes, we're all sinners, we're broken before God, we're deserving of God's judgment, we're worthy of a place in hell forever. But God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us that whoever trusts in him can be saved. Do you want to be saved? That's good news. That's good news. Behold, I bring you good news. I bring you the gospel. of great joy." They said, you can be happy about this. This is exciting. That will be for all the people. Okay, so they said it's not just for the shepherds. It's not just for the people of Jerusalem. It's not just for the Jews. It is for who? all people. I'm telling you, the gospel is for everybody. Everybody. Of all of the people on planet earth, Christians ought to be the least prejudiced of anybody. Because Jesus died to pay the sin debt of anybody, regardless of color, regardless of any sin preference they have, regardless of gender, regardless of class, regardless of any, it doesn't matter. Jesus died so that anybody and everybody who trusts in him can be saved. This isn't just for a particular group. Verse 11, Today in the city of David, Bethlehem, was born for you Today in the city of David was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord? So who did they say, who did this angel say had been born in Bethlehem? The Messiah. Okay, we could chase this rabbit and we could stay down this road for a good long while in what the Jews were looking for in their Messiah. All I will do is just tell you that when you read, and many of you have read through the Bible this past year, and so you've read the Old Testament, but if you've really had a keen eye, one of the things that you'll realize is that we know a whole lot more than they did in the Old Testament, a whole lot more. God has revealed more to us through the writings of the New Testament. We understand things with greater clarity than they did back then. God's Holy Spirit enabled those writers to write, but He didn't reveal all of the things to them that we now have in the New Testament. One of the things about the Old Testament is they were speaking about the coming of the Messiah, the son of David, the one who would reign. One of the things that they often did, and you can see it in the book of Joel and Isaiah and many other places, is they would take the first coming of Jesus and kind of bump it right up next to the second coming of Jesus, and to them it looked like it was all going to happen at the same time. Right? They weren't telling anything untrue. It's certainly not wrong. It's just they didn't understand that there was a big time frame in the middle. We understand that now. When they were looking for the Messiah, and when Jesus showed up and began his ministry, they were saying, hey, let's go on and get this kingdom going. Let's have you throw the chains of Rome off, and we're going to follow you. We're going to be your men, the disciples. And yet, one of the things that the New Testament has given us is a greater clarity that when the Messiah comes, he's coming one day to judge with an iron scepter with righteousness. But he first came as a humble lamb to offer salvation to everybody that would receive it, right? He came with grace and mercy. And so we understand that there is this big span, however this is. And Peter even said, some say, you know, where's the sign of his coming? You know, things keep happening the way that they've always done. And then Peter says this, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, a thousand years is as a day. He's not doing a math equation. He's just saying God doesn't calculate time like we do. But then he went to the heart of the matter. He said, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why is God stalling? Because there's somebody else that needs to be saved. There's somebody else that needs to be saved. And so the coming of the Messiah, they were looking forward to the king, but they didn't realize that he was coming as the lamb before he came as the lion. Verse 12, This will be a sign for you. This is how you're going to know who this baby is. You'll find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough. the mouth drops open. Wait a second, I thought we were talking about the Messiah. I thought we were going to Jerusalem. You're saying we're going to Bethlehem? That's a small little town. And by the way, whenever we hear of Herod sending the order that all boys two and under were to be killed, in our mind we may think 100, 200 kids, something like that, when really it probably would have been, and horrific as it was, it may have been a dozen or less. It's a small community, Bethlehem was at that time. Small community. But go to Bethlehem and find the Messiah in a feeding trough? Are we talking about the same person? Verse 13, suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly hosts. You know when in our translations it says Lord of armies or it says Lord of hosts. That's the angelic host, the angelic army, right? Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host. It was the angelic army with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people he favors. Verse 15, that would have been beautiful to listen to, whether they were singing or talking, Herb, whether they were singing or talking, it would have been beautiful. Verse 15, when the angels had left them and returned to heaven, so now all of a sudden it's dark again. You know how it is when your eyes have been, you know, way, you know, you've been looking at light and all of a sudden it's dark and you can't even see now? I imagine that's what it was like when the angels had left them and returned to heaven. The shepherds said to one another, let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what happened, which the Lord has made known to us. What they left out was, we're drawing straws for who stays, because I'm going. Who's staying with the sheep? Because I'm going. Or maybe when the angel showed up and this whole thing happened, maybe the sheep took off. We don't know, but they wanted to go see. Verse 16, they hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. It was just as they had been told. They know that what they heard was true. It was not merely a vision. It is true because facts backed it up. They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. Now, once again, a lot of times whenever we think of the place where Jesus was born, a lot of times we think it was a stable. In fact, we've got a stable here, but we're just not sure. If you were to go to Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Israel, and go visit, there's actually a cave that they've got. Now they're not even saying that that's the cave where Jesus was born, but they said that there are all sorts of these caves that are over here in this area and it's quite possible that maybe in one of these caves is where the the manger was, you know, where the room for where these people were staying, you know, all of these people were staying, this would have been the cave where they had the animals and things like this. Cave or stable, it doesn't matter. I just want you to know that it could have been a cave. Verse 17, after seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child. Verse 17 says, that these shepherds encouraged Mary and Joseph, probably much more so Mary. One of the things that we read about Mary, and it's said of her a few times in the Gospels, is she treasured all these things in her heart. She liked to reflect on things. She apparently didn't talk too much. She apparently liked to listen and just meditate on what she'd heard. She meditated on these things in her heart. And I just wonder, as we're watching our daughter-in-law take care of our granddaughter and, you know, just seeing the meticulous care that she is taking care of this little life that's been entrusted to her and our son. I would imagine that if, and they have made their way to visit with other family, they'll be down here with us probably in about a week or so, less than a week. But I would imagine that as they have stayed at hotels when they were away from home, I can only imagine how broken they would be if they needed to stop and there were no hotels and they had to stay in one of the barns or something like that. And how our daughter-in-law would feel so absolutely miserable about having her daughter in a place like that, right? I just bet that as Mary had gotten this vision from the angel nine months earlier that she was going to give birth to the Messiah, I just wonder if in her mind she was thinking it's going to happen in Jerusalem, things are going to be very well, our family is going to be taken care of, I bet she had these sort of thoughts. I'm just suspecting, but I bet she had those sort of thoughts. And here she is in small town Bethlehem, and she gives birth, and she lays her little baby in a feeding trough. If that's true, and if she is discouraged, don't you know that the shepherds really encouraged her? It says in verse 17, after seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child. The shepherds showed up as Mary and Joseph were like, I guess this is it. Here he is, he's in a feeding trough and there's nobody here to greet us. It's just us and we're out here with these animals and it stinks and it's hot. is this is it. And then they see some guys coming toward them and they're shepherds. It's like, what are these guys doing? Are they coming to get some of the animals out of here? Hopefully they're going to get some of the animals out. And they come in and they're looking right at them and they say, you know what? And they just have excitement and energy in their eyes. These guys do. And they come in and say, you're Joseph, right? Yeah. You're Mary, right? Yeah. And this is, this is little baby Jesus. This is Messiah, right? Yeah. You will never believe what we just saw in the field just now. You will never believe what we just saw in the field. It was like nothing we've ever experienced before. There was an angel that came down. The glory of God was everywhere. He told us about that you were here and he told us what it would look like when we got here. And this is what it looks like. And then the heavenly armies came down and they sang a praise to God. And it was like nothing we'd ever heard before in our life. And it was all about this child, right? I bet that Mary all of a sudden would have been feeling much better about what's going on. I'm telling you, just because somebody's a follower of the Lord doesn't mean they don't get discouraged, right? John the Baptist, mighty man of God, when he was in prison, remember, he sent disciples to Jesus saying, are you the Messiah, the one that is to come, or should we look for another? John knew he was the Messiah. He did. He was discouraged because he was in prison. Elijah, prophets of Baal, you know, did that there on Mount Carmel. And then when Jezebel comes after him, he goes and he hides under a tree. He's discouraged. He's discouraged. Jonah, given a mission by God, he goes and he goes to sleep down at the bottom of a boat. Over and over and over we see men and women in Scripture that are mighty men and women of God that have times when they're discouraged. I think Mary probably was. These shepherds would have been a breath of fresh air. breath of fresh air. Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up the one that is in need, that it may give grace to those who hear." Right? Ephesians 4, 29. Sounds like a great verse. Heard that this morning. Well, you remembered. Good. Verse 18, and all who heard were amazed at what the shepherd said to them. They were amazed. Thank you for telling this. This is encouraging to us. Yes, God is watching over us, even though we were feeling like, God, where are you? God is watching over us and you have encouraged our hearts. Verse 19, but Mary, here it is, was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. I'm telling you, verse 19 is incredible. We should be more like Mary in this. we should be more like Mary in this, to reflect on what God's doing. That's the thing about the fast-paced life that we're living in and the noisy life that we've got. You know, we've got the radio on in the car, we've got the TV on at home, we've got all sorts of conversation. We're never away from anybody, always have that phone where it could text or ding or call a ring or whatever at any moment. We don't have quiet time like many years before us, you know, Christians before us have done. Man, this is a great verse that's calling us to be like Mary, to just reflect on what God is doing and the meaning of it. Exactly. Exactly. It's quite possible that as Luke was traveling with missionary Paul, that whenever he went back to Jerusalem with the offering, it could very well be that Luke did some investigating. He went and found Mary and he talked to her, you know, did some other talking to some other people. But what was it like? What did you experience? Exactly. Verse 20, we're done. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told. They were settling their sheep down for a very boring night. And then God showed up. And now there, you can't contain their excitement. In our individual lives and in our church, let's pray that, you know, of course, this is different. This was a once in a lifetime, once in the universe, a one-time thing that happened that God sent His Son to earth. But there are times that God visits his people where a boring, stagnant spiritual life, but yet people that are hungry for him, God shows up and does something incredible. Let's pray that God would do that. God would do that. Any questions or comments as we have looked at that text? Anything else? That's a good point. Yep. Yes. Yeah. Respected. Yeah. Yeah. I'm telling you, even in contemporary Christian culture, even though we know that our God celebrates holiness, even though we know that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, we know that our God loves humility and despises pride, but yet oftentimes in our Christian culture we can know that in our mind, but yet live in a very different place, and sometimes come to think that God can't use us because we're nobody special. You know, there's people that are qualified, they've been to school, they've, whatever, and we think God tends to use those people. Now, it doesn't mean that God can't, but one of the things that we see here is there's nobody in any position that God can't use if they're willing. if they'll respond to him. Nobody. God can use anybody. Yeah. Yes. Both ends of the spectrum. That's right. That's right. Yeah, it's good stuff. Well, I think it's a great story. It's a wonderful story, especially this time of year, but it's a wonderful story to remind us of what God did the extent that God went so that He could make it possible for us to be forgiven and us to come into relationship with Him. So, let's be ready and willing that as we go out from this place and as we spend this next week, let's be open to the fact that there may be somebody that we bump into this week that needs to hear the gospel. Maybe they just need some encouragement. But maybe somebody that needs the gospel, let's be ready and willing to share it with them. It's good news. Good news. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we come to you and we thank you once again for your word. Lord, I pray that as we have looked at it, that you have spoken to our hearts and you have revealed something to us that we can hold on to and take with us. And Lord, help us to realize the privilege that we have as men and women that are trusting in you for salvation, that you have given us salvation, that we have a privilege. It's not merely responsibility, it's a privilege. to share the good news of the gospel with family, with friends, with co-workers, with whoever we bump into. So Lord, I pray that you would help us to be ready and willing and open to sharing the greatest news that has ever been told with someone this week. Thank you so much for this day. Help us to enjoy this week with you. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, Amen.