That's the first part of that, Sister Georgie. This is no longer a prophecy. This is a reality. He has come and he has been born. And so they're gonna go out, they're gonna tell the world. Well, let's pick up the scene. What do you say we go to verse eight, okay? So go with me to verse eight. It's no surprise here in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and watching over their flock by night. All right, there's nothing unusual going on here in their lives. You know, it's been a long day. They've been watching their sheep. They've been leading them around to the pastures and to the waters. It's time to lay down, put their weary bodies to rest, you know. You know, it's that time of the day. They didn't have electricity like we have today. They just go, you know, turn on the light and watch their sheep, you know. And they didn't have a generator to start up out in the middle of the field there and turn on the lights and see what was going on. If there was any light at all, it was simply the light of the campfire that they were sitting around, you know. I can remember at times in my life, there haven't been many times, but I can remember sometimes in my life when I've gone out, you know, out, I know some of you have too, where there hasn't been a whole lot of light. I can remember as a Boy Scout, and I was a Boy Scout, and I was in Tulsa. We were at this place called Keystone Lake, which was just out west of Tulsa, yeah. And I can remember getting, I have lived in Tulsa. I've lived in St. Louis. I lived in Washington, D.C. area. Okay, so we go out here into the wilderness and the night comes and I'm looking up and I'm seeing more stars than I've ever seen in my life. I didn't know that there were that many stars in the sky at night. I had no idea. And I know that if you go to places even further outside of Tulsa or even way out in the wilderness somewhere, you can see even more stars than that. And so here you have these shepherds, you know, camping by, with a fire, you know, a campfire. That's all the light they've got. And maybe they're, you know, at night you're not talking real loud. You're not boisterous, you know. You're kind of covering all some conversation. Have you all been there at night? You know, have you been around a campfire? You don't yell and scream and holler and jump around. You're kind of laid back, you know, and everybody's kind of talking in low terms and low tones, you know. And so this is what they're doing. All of a sudden, the scripture says, out of nowhere, in this dark night, there comes this brilliant light. This angel appears before them, and God, through the angel, begins to speak to them. And that's how it is, I don't know in your life, but a lot of times in my life, when I'm quiet, deep in the night, when I maybe wake up in the middle of the night, that's sometimes when God speaks the loudest to me. And when these guys are calmed down, their minds are calmed down, the hustle and bustle of life has kind of gone away, and so they're laying here, and then all of a sudden, God is able to get their attention. We've got to be careful. This is a busy time of the year, folks. It's real busy. It's real tempting to get your minds going some other places all the time. And you leave God out. And you leave God's Word out. And you leave time out for God. Don't do that. I know you're busy. I know you've got a schedule. I know you've got things that you've got to accomplish. But please, take time out for the Lord. Still plan that into your daily activities. To listen to God speak to you. He's still speaking. Verse 9. Let's go to verse 9. So the scripture says, And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terribly frightened. I love this part. I love the part where it says, this angel suddenly stood before them. In my mind, I put an exclamation point right there. Boom! He was there and they were so surprised. They were beyond ability to speak. This was so unexpected. They were speechless. I don't know if you've ever been scared speechless before. Maybe it's impossible to scare some of you speechless. I don't know. But I can remember a time or two in my life when I was scared beyond the ability to utter anything. If I wanted to say something, I couldn't say anything because my throat was so Tight my vocal cords were tied up, you know, I couldn't I was that scared I couldn't utter a peep now I know there are times when somebody might sneak up behind you say boo, you know You jump and you scream and you know, but this was way beyond that It's way beyond that They were totally caught off guard. They didn't know what to do. Have you, you know, have you ever been so surprised that you stop for a second and you're trying to analyze what you're hearing and you're trying to analyze what you're seeing because it just doesn't make sense to you? You know, it just happens so quickly. And so you're trying to think it through. What's going on here? What's happening here? And I kind of think that's what is going on in this particular scene. They were frozen in time. And then it says, you know, the angel speaks to them. He speaks to, they couldn't, you know, they couldn't talk, but it didn't, you know, it didn't stop them from being able to hear what was being said, and the angel says to them, he says, the angel says the obvious, what? You don't need to be afraid. Now I'm gonna ask God about that. You know, what do you mean you don't need to be afraid? What do you mean? I don't know that those words brought a lot of comfort to the shepherds at that particular time, I really don't. You know, it's one of those things that has confused me about this whole scene here. Seriously? Don't be afraid? Seriously? This is an incredible sight. A blinding light. The glory of the Lord shines about them. That's what the scripture says. They've never seen anything like this before. It totally surprises them. And the angel says, hey, you don't need to be afraid. What? Well, I think the angel knows they're probably pretty scared at this particular time. So he goes on verse 10. Let's go to verse 10. So the angel says, verse 10, the angel said to them, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. All right. So who's the messenger? Who's the angel? Probably Gabriel. Gabriel's been hanging around pretty close to the earth lately. I mean, he came to John. Elizabeth said, hey, you're going to have a child. You're going to name him John. Who is it? Elizabeth and Zachariah. Thank you. Drew a total blank there. So he comes and says, you're going to have a son, John. Then a few months later, he comes to Mary and says, hey, you're going to have a child. You're going to have a child. His name is going to be Jesus. And he talks to Joseph and says, hey, you need to go ahead and marry Mary. And so they do. And so here he comes again. And he's talking to the shepherds, and he's giving them this news. And what's interesting here is that Luke says that, in my version, he's going to have good news. If you're looking at the King James version there, it says he brings good tidings. And really, this is kind of a cognate of the Greek verb, which means to evangelize. That's really what the idea is. And there's one translator who said that Gabriel actually evangelized the shepherds. In other words, what he's trying to say here, this isn't a mere announcement to you. I'm not here to just make a speech. I'm not here to preach to you. I'm not here to give you a voicemail. I'm not here to send you a text. I am bringing you some good news. So now we got to ask, what makes good news, good news? What makes good news, good news? Well, sometimes what makes good news good news is really, really bad, bad news. You see? You know, you think, well, I got cancer. And so I need to go to the doctor and I'm going to get checked out here and they're going to run some tests on me and they're going to take some biopsies on me. And so you're sitting there and you're waiting for the doctor to come in with this news. And he comes in, he says, hey, look, you don't have cancer. That's really, really good news when that happens, you know. You're grateful that it turned out that way. You know, you hear reports of a tornado that struck in an area where you have loved ones. The tornado came right down in that area, and so you're waiting, you're wanting to hear from your loved ones. Did they survive the tornado? How much damage did they suffer? All this kind of stuff. All these things are going through your mind about all the terrible things that could have happened to your loved ones. And finally, after a while, you get the phone call from your loved one and they tell you, we're fine, we're okay, we made it. That's really, really good news when that happens. You know, you take a test at school, and you're waiting for the grade to come back, and it comes back, and the grade is better than you thought it was going to be. That's really, really good news, you know? So sometimes good news has within it some bad news. You see? That's what makes it powerful. Now these shepherds were living during a time when things were terrible. It was a terrible time to live. It was an evil, corrupt world. The government was corrupt. Rome was corrupt. Caesar was corrupt. These were very powerful people. You know about people like Matthew, the tax collector. who ripped people off, took everything that they could. They were surrounded by pagan worship, and pagan worship was highly immoral. It was full of prostitution and adultery. They were being cheated out of their wages. The poor were getting poorer. The rich were getting richer, you know, kind of like our country today. They were hopeless. They were discouraged. There was hardship everywhere. And then all of a sudden, You have Gabriel coming up and he says, I have good news against that background that I just painted for you. And surely their hearts leapt with anticipation about whatever this good news might be, and their minds had to be reeling, what is this good news? What is this good news? I want to know what it is. And then notice what Gabriel says, I have good news, good tidings of what? Great joy. I have good news of great joy. And so to heighten their anticipation, he tells them it is news of great joy. And what's interesting here, in the Greek it says, you will be cause to rejoice. The angel says, I have no doubt about what I'm telling you. You will be made, when you hear this news, you will be made to rejoice. You're gonna have real joy that you cannot stop from having. You know, there are things that I'm happy about, and there are things that make me happy. There are things that I am happy about, and there are things that make me happy. You say, what's the difference? Well, I am happy about hot water in the morning when I take my shower, okay? I am happy about my wood stove when I have wood to put in my wood stove. I am happy about the parsonage in which I live because it's a very comfortable place for me and for my family. I'm happy about the fact that you all subsidize me and pay me and I have money to spend and to pay my bills. So what makes me happy? I'm happy about all those things, but what is it that makes me happy? What makes me happy is generally what I'm going to get. Okay? That's generally what makes me happy is what I'm going to get. I have things already in my possession. Those things, I'm happy. But what's coming? And this is what the angel is saying here. There's something coming that's going to give you constant joy in your life. You're going to be in a state of happiness. And then notice what he says, it is that which is for all people, which will be for all people. I want you to contrast that with what he said at the beginning. Notice what he said back at verse eight. He said, I bring what? I bring you good news. I bring you good news. Then we get down to this end of the verse here where he says, this is going to be news for all the people. So there's the you and then there's the all the people. So we move from kind of the singular to the masses. This has always been the way God has worked. This has always been God's plan. God's news is first received personally, and then it moves to all people. That has always been God's plan. Look at it down through biblical history. How did we start? Well, we started with man. We started with Adam, and we started with Eve. What do we wind up with? We wind up with an earth full of people. How did God start the nation of Israel? He called one man by the name of Abraham. And from Abraham came the mighty nation of Israel. How did this church start? The church started with one man by the name of Jesus Christ, who is the foundation of the church. And today we have literally hundreds of thousands of churches upon the face of the earth. This has always been the way God has worked. This has always been His plan. This has always been the principle by which He's operated. Why? Because that is what gives Him the most power and glory. It demonstrates His power and glory in no other way. Notice what the scripture says again. In 1 Corinthians it says, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And the beast things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are not. He said, this is the way I get glory. I take that which is small and the least powerful and I use it for my glory. That's the way he operates. Well, in this case, before us this morning, he takes some guys called shepherds. Shepherds are nobody. If you were a shepherd, you're at the bottom of society, okay? I'm not going to compare that with anything in our culture, in our society. But let's just take it for what it's worth. They had no status. They were not rich at all. They had no position in society. Their names were certainly not up in lights. But these are the men that are chosen to take the message. The first men chosen to take the message into the world. So what was the message? Verse 11. Look at verse 11. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. So as their fear begins to subside, and they begin to think more rationally about what they're hearing, the news is the Messiah has come. The Messiah has come. And I can imagine that when they hear that, they almost go back into shock. Because they've heard it so long and yet have not received the coming of the Messiah, and then all of a sudden they hear the message, and there's no doubt about it in their minds, the Messiah has come. Perhaps that was more shocking than the whole scene that they'd already seen up to this point. But at this point, you know, they had kind of been visually assaulted by what they were seeing, but now they were being verbally assaulted by what they were hearing. And I'm sure they had to be looking at each other, you know, there have been times in your life, I know when you've been scared and you didn't know what was going on, you've probably looked at the person next to you and you say, did they say what I thought they said? Did this just happen? What I saw, did it actually happen? So I'm sure their minds are saying, you know, has the Lord really been born? And so there's no other message that could meet the criteria because this is fulfilling everything that the angel has said. The angel said to these men, this is going to be good news. What made it good news? Bad news made it really good news. Bad news is often a part of good news. Well, what was the bad news? The bad news is you can't save yourself. I got really bad news for you this morning. You cannot save yourself. That's the worst news of all. Beloved, you're not a good person. You may think, well, I'm just pretty good. And I'm not out to depress you this morning. I'm not out to make you feel inferior this morning. And I'm not out to ruin your day. And I'm not out to make you feel awful. But the truth is we're selfish. We have been born with a sin nature, and our first concern is ourselves. You say, no, no, no, preacher. I am a very giving person. I am a very loving person. I am a very nice person. I'm a very kind person. And people tell me that all the time. Now, there are some people who are turned that way, no doubt about it. There are a lot of people out there nicer, kinder, sweeter than I am. I'll admit that right off the bat. And we like hearing those kinds of things, no doubt about it. And inwardly, we like being accepted and approved of. But no matter how good you think you are, you have a sin nature. You have a sin nature. And the good news is Jesus Christ came to save you. He died on the cross to save you. You cannot save yourself. You cannot change yourself. It takes the power of God. You have to be born again. You have to have a new heart to be saved from eternal hell. Jesus came to procure your salvation. Secondly, notice, not only did he say it was good news, he said it was a message of what? Of great joy. It was a message of great joy. The joy here isn't the fact that merely a child has been born and laid in a manger that's wonderful, we like, we celebrate the birth of babies. There's nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of babies. But the joy here is the fact that this baby is the Savior. He's the Savior. He's not like any other child ever been born. How many of you have ever had the experience of really struggling to... maybe to carry something, and what you were trying to carry was really awkward, and you couldn't hardly get your hands around it, you couldn't hardly hold it, and maybe it was really heavy. And then all of a sudden, somebody comes along, and they help you carry it. Or maybe they take it from your hands, and they carry it for you. When that happens, you have a little slight degree of appreciation for what they've done for you. Have you ever had your arms full? Maybe you're carrying a child or maybe you got your arms full of packages and you're trying to open the, you know, turn the knob on the door or go into a place or go into a place of business or a residence or whatever the case may be and you're just really struggling to try to get the door open. You just can't do it. And all of a sudden somebody comes along and they open the door for you. Don't you acknowledge some gratefulness? Say, thank you, you know, thank you. When Jesus comes along, and He's opening the door to eternal life for you. That baggage you're carrying of your sin, He's going to carry that for you. He's going to take it upon Himself on the cross. He's going to die for you on the cross and carry all that baggage and give you eternal life, open the door to heaven for you on your behalf. Imagine the relief. And finally, you remember Gabriel said that this message was going to be for all men. You remember that part? It's good news. Certainly it is. It's news of great joy. But it's also news for all men. For all men. Whether you're the richest person on the face of the earth, and you lack nothing and you have more money than anybody else or whether you're the poorest man on the face of the earth and you're dying right now and you don't have a penny in your pocket and you're gonna die alone. Jesus died for you. He died for all men. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's the truth. But the Bible also says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And that's the truth too. No matter who you are, no matter how wicked you may think you are, or how unlovable you are, how good you may think you are, Jesus died for you. That babe in a manger grew up and went to the cross and died for your sins. This morning, we're going to give you an opportunity to receive Christ as your personal Savior. Brother Doyle is going to lead us in an Invitation Hymn here. And as he's coming to lead us, I want you to stand with me, too. Would you do that? Would you stand as we prepare for the Invitation Hymn here this morning? And follow along as he introduces our hymn for us. What page, Brother? 560. 560. Blue.