The Campfire Concert, Pastor Jamey Houghton, December 20, 2025

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

this content with somebody else so they

can be blessed as well. We're so glad

that you can be a part of our online

church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

Pastors have many different jobs.

Some of them we never knew about when we

were studying to be a pastor.

And one of those jobs was taking care of

sheep many, many years ago.

Real live sheep.

Our church in Bakersfield, California,

where I started ministry as a youth

pastor did a program called Walk Through

Bethlehem every year.

And we had, I think, three or four

weeks, maybe three weeks worth of um

programs. Each night there about a

hundred volunteers. We had live animals

and uh we ran about 5,000 people through

every Christmas, handed out literature

at the end. And my job,

among other things, was to take care of

the animals. Now, there was a farmer

that we'd had to deal with, and we would

borrow sheep and goats and one donkey

from this farmer. And every about late

November, I would go with one of my

church members had a horse trailer and I

would hitch it up to my truck and I

would go out to this farm. He'd open the

gate. I'd pull in with the truck, open

up the back of this trailer and he knew

we fed these animals well. And so he

stuffed as many sheep and goats in that

trailer as he could fit. I would I would

look and I'd be like, "Okay, we're

full." He's like, "No, no, no." And he

he put another sheep in underneath that

sheep. And and then we had this donkey

that was uh it was staged in the manger

where Mary and Joseph were and baby

Jesus in the program. We built a whole

city of Bethlehem.

And uh my job was to take care of these

sheep and the goats and the donkey

throughout the month of December every

year

and feed them, water them, the whole

thing. Bring them up to the city of

Bethlehem and then take them back down

after the program was done. I can

remember one time the donkey.

You ever heard them stubborn as a mule?

stubborn as a donkey. You've heard of

that, that cliche, right? It's true. We

tried to bring this donkey up for a

program one night and this donkey about

20 yards away from his pen, I was

leading him by by his halter and he just

sat down.

And I thought to myself, "All right,

donkey, come on. I can I can coax you

and keep on going." He was not going

anywhere.

So, I called a couple of other guys in

my church, grown men. I said, "Hey, I

need some help with this donkey." And

about five of us, two in the back

pushing carefully from the backside. You

don't want to get kicked. And about

three of us hanging on to the the rope

in the front, pulling at the same time

trying to move this donkey. Not an inch.

We tried a carrot. Nothing. Finally, we

were just sitting there. How we going to

get this donkey up? And he decided to

stand up on his own. And then we were

going. He was not going anywhere without

him deciding to go. The sheep and the

goats were a little bit of a different

story to move from the pens up to the to

the uh the town of Bethlehem that we'd

built. Usually, if you get one kind of

lead one and and pull it along with a

rope, the rest of them will kind of

follow right along in theory. And it

usually worked pretty well. And so each

night we would bring up the goats and

the sheep and the donkey and put them in

the pens and and people would come

through and they go through the whole

program. We had guides that would walk

them through the city of Bethlehem. And

there were all kinds of different people

in there. And uh in the evenings we

would bring them back down. Well, one

evening I was gathering some of my

youth. I was the youth pastor there and

I was getting some of my youth to help

me bring the goats and the sheep and the

donkey back down to the pens. It's about

9:30 at night. It was cold December. And

so we got the the two kind of the head

honchos in both the goat and the sheep

group that usually were the leaders. And

we started walking with them. And the

other ones were kind of just we didn't

tie those up or or put a rope around

their neck. We just hoped that they

would follow like they had. Well, we're

starting to go down to the pen and about

five sheep decide we're not going back

tonight and they bolt for the other side

of the parking lot that that where the

driveway leads down to the intersection

in a red light.

So, I see these sheep take off and I'm

like, "Oh, no. These aren't even our

sheep." And so, I give I give this sheep

with the rope to somebody and I go

taking off after the sheep. Now, what do

you think sheep are going to do when

somebody starts chasing them?

Well, those sheep just ran a little

faster. So, I ran a little faster and

there's several other church members see

what's going on and they join me in the

chase. So, it's 9:30 at night and we're

chasing sheep and they're going down our

long driveway towards the intersection.

And I'm thinking to myself, "Please

don't run through the intersection. I

don't want to clean that up and explain

this to the farmer." They go right

through the intersection. Fortunately,

no vehicles.

I am in hot pursuit right behind them

through the intersection.

They head up the hill to Walmart.

They're running through the Walmart

parking lot with me hot on their heels

and a couple other church members.

People in the Walmart parking lot. It's

late at night and they're looking.

They're like, "Boy, you see everything

in Walmart at night, don't you? Here I

am chasing sheep."

The sheep go through the whole parking

lot, go to the back of the parking lot,

up a steep embankment to the mall.

Another huge parking lot. I am not in a

good mood at this point.

My estimation of sheep was very low.

They go through, they go into there's an

old department store called Gotshocks. I

don't know if anybody remembers

Gotshocks. It's like Nordstrom's or

something like that. And we pin them up

against the side of the mall. There's a

little al cove and we we corral them in

there and we're like, "Well, now what do

we do with the sheep? We're a quarter

mile away from church."

So, I called uh one of my church members

who also happened to be chief of police

and I said, "Hey, can you bring your

truck over? We got some sheep we need to

throw in the back of your truck." He

says, "All right, I'll be right over." I

said, "I'm at Godshocks."

So he headed over and we've got these

sheep coraled and one at a time we had

to catch these sheep, pick them up, put

them in his truck bed, have somebody lay

down on top of the sheep so they didn't

jump out of the moving truck while we

take them back.

So we've got this truck bed full of

sheep with grown men laying on top of

them. I wasn't worried about being

pulled over by the police cuz we were

already with the police, which was

great. brought those sheep back, put

them in their pens,

and ever since then, I've not liked

sheep very much.

They are not the brightest animals that

God made. When you look into the eyes of

a sheep, there's not much going on

behind their eyes.

Now, I have I have a German shepherd at

home, super smart. He looks at my face

and reads my face and looks at my if I

look towards the door, he looks towards

the door like we going outside. There's

a lot of intelligence going on behind

those eyes. When you look at a sheep,

not much going on.

Whenever I look in the Bible at

scriptures that refer to us humans as

sheep, it makes me pause for a little

bit.

Psalm 100:3, it says, "Know that the

Psalms 100:3

Lord, he is God. It is he who made us

and we are his. We are his people and

the sheep of his pasture."

John 10:11 says, 'I am the good

John 10:11

shepherd. The good shepherd lays down

his life for his sheep. Isaiah 53:6

Isaiah 53:6

says, "All we like sheep have gone

astray."

And even though I don't like the idea of

being looked at as a sheep or any of us,

it's pretty accurate for us as humans,

isn't it? It's a good thing we've got a

shepherd who watches out for us.

In Luke chapter 2, we see a story about

Luke 2 · chapter mention

some shepherds that are part of the

story of baby Jesus. Turn with me in

your Bibles to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Start in verse 8.

At this point in the story,

John has already been born. He's not

John the Baptist yet. He's just baby

John.

And I thought about this part of the

story and I've wondered if at some point

after John was born, before Jesus was

born, if they ever went over to visit to

see baby John, because baby John was

also prophesied. It's a miraculous

birth.

I mean, if I were a parent, I would be

curious. If I if I had been visited by

an angel like Mary and Joseph had been,

and they had been as well, I would be

curious. I would want to meet and to see

this baby because the two babies are

going to be connected at some point. I

wonder if they ever went to visit. In

Desire of Ages, page 44, it says,

"Already the forerunner was born. His

mission attested by miracle and

prophecy. The news of his birth and the

wonderful significance of his mission

had been spread abroad. Yet Jerusalem

was not preparing to welcome her

redeemer. Many people had heard about

the miraculous birth of John. I mean, it

word spread.

And yet, most of Jerusalem wasn't paying

close enough attention. To them, it was

just an interesting thing that happened.

But to some people who were studying the

scriptures, they realized that something

big was happening.

In the temple, the priests were

presiding over the morning and evening

sacrifices that pointed to the lamb of

God, but they had no idea he had just

arrived.

I think it's the exact same thing today.

I don't think most of the world realizes

that Jesus is coming soon.

It's up to us

to tell people what amazing news that is

and how much it means to them in their

life.

In the birth of Jesus,

I wonder if there was a Jewish midwife

that was around that helped out. Jewish

midwives are in the Bible. We see them

when Moses was born. And the Jewish

midwives were heroes in that story, I

believe. I wonder if there was a midwife

that came and helped Mary with the birth

or if it was Joseph.

I remember when we went to Lama's

classes before the birth of our first

child. And I remember them saying,

"Dads,

if the baby starts coming on the way to

the hospital, this is what you need to

do." And I remember being terrified

and thinking, "God, please don't let

that happen to me.

Don't let that baby be born on the way

to the hospital.

I don't think I can do it.

Was Joseph the one that delivered the

baby? Or did they maybe have a Jewish

midwife? I don't know.

Again, in Desire of Ages, page 47, it

says, "Men know it not, but the tidings

fill heaven with rejoicing. With a

deeper and more tender interest, the

holy beings from the world of light are

drawn to earth." Let me pause here for

just a second. It's talking about the

angelic host

looking at the situation of baby Jesus

with a tender interest. Do they know who

Jesus is? Absolutely. They've worshiped

him in heaven

and now they see Jesus as a small human

baby in a very dangerous world.

It's a huge shift for the heavenly

beings to look and to see this change.

And she says, 'The author here says that

they looked at it with a deeper and more

tender interest.

They'd never seen anything like this

before.

She continues, "The whole world is

brighter for his presence. Above the

hills of Bethlehem are gathered an

innumerable throng of angels." I've told

you this before. I am fascinated with

angels. We read about angels in

scripture, all kinds of stories about

angels interacting with people. I've

heard I've heard of people that I know

that have said they've seen angels and

that blows my mind. I would love to see

my angel.

The picture that's painted here

over these hills is that just beyond the

visible barrier are an unnumbered amount

of angels that are waiting there in

anticipation for what's happening. It

paints a really neat picture in my mind.

It says they await the signal to declare

the glad news to the world. Have you

ever been to like an orchestra

and just before the conductor gets up

and gets everything started, you can

feel a palpable buzz amongst the

musicians and choir. Have you ever you

ever experienced that where where

there's a little bit of excitement that

you can that you can feel just before

things get started?

I picture something like that in my mind

as the angels, more than you can even

count,

are hovered above the hills there

in anticipation, waiting for the cue

to sing an incredible song to those

shepherds.

In verse eight, we pick up here. Here it

says, "Now there were in the same

country shepherds living out in the

fields and keeping watch over their

flock by night." I picture in my mind a

group of shepherds. The sheep are calm.

They don't have to work. They're not

chasing sheep. It's a calm evening,

brisk maybe, and at a campfire. And

there's there's something therapeutic

about sitting around a campfire when

it's cold outside and staring into the

flames. You ever stared into the flames

in a campfire? You start thinking deep

thoughts, don't you? You start pondering

life.

It's just a very peaceful place to look

and there's something incredible about

the flames and it just you start to

think. I've sat around many many

campfires and you just start thinking

and just kind of staring into it and

here they are and the discip these these

these uh shepherds

are out in the very same hills that

David used to take care of his sheep in.

Do you remember the animals that David

had to tangle with in those same hills?

bears, lions,

and here they are keeping watch over

their flock,

possibly taking care of the sheep that

would be used in the sacrificial

services representing the lamb of God.

Verse 9, it says, "And behold, an angel

of the Lord stood before them, and the

glory of the Lord shone around them, and

they were greatly afraid." And it's a

little overwhelming, I think, to

encounter an angel. Over and over again,

we see in the Bible the people that

encounter angels are a little

overwhelmed.

Even people that have been in the

presence of God, there's a we see

evidence of light shining from their

face. That's overwhelming for people. We

see that with Moses.

Says they were greatly afraid. They

didn't expect this as they were around

the campfire out there watching over

their sheep.

Then the angel said to them, verse 10,

'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring

you good tidings of great joy, which

will be to all people. Let's pause there

for just a second. I just read that in a

pretty monotone way. Good news, great

joy for all people.

I don't think that the angel probably

had a monotone voice when he announced

this to the shepherds. How excited do

you think this angel is to share this

news with these shepherds? This is good

news, the best news. How does this angel

share this with these with these

shepherds? I bring you good tidings of

great joy which will be to all people. I

imagine that angel was probably smiling

with this news as well.

He continues, "For there is born to you

this day in the city of David a Savior

who is Christ the Lord.

Very likely these shepherds had just

been talking about this.

In Desire of Ages, page 47, it says, "In

the fields there where the boy David led

his flock, shepherds were still keeping

watch by night. Through the silent

hours, they talked together of the

promised Savior and prayed for the

coming of the king to David's throne."

You think maybe the angels came to the

shepherds because the shepherds were

studying and anticipating it.

If you seek, you're going to find,

right? If you're not seeking, are you

going to find?

As they've been talking about this, the

angel shows up and gives them news in

regards to their conversation that

they've just been having.

For there is born to you this day in the

city of David a Savior who is Christ the

Lord.

And he gives them instructions on how to

find him. He says, "And this will be a

sign to you. You will find a babe

wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a

manger."

Hardly

a royal scenario that maybe they would

have been expecting.

And as they're pondering this in verse

13, it says, "And suddenly there was

with the angels a multitude of heavenly

hosts praising God and saying,"Glory to

God in the highest and on earth, peace,

goodwill towards men." Now, I would have

loved to have been with those shepherds

out there that night to experience what

this was

because all those angels, the Bible

says, an unnumbered amount of angels,

all of a sudden they're visible now. the

the curtain has been pulled back.

They're ready to sing.

Can you imagine the sounds of music that

were sung that night over those hills to

those shepherds?

The harmonies, maybe the joy. I don't

think it was a solemn song. I think it

was a joyful song that they heard that

night. This is the most joyful

announcement. They can't contain their

joy anymore. The curtain is pulled back.

Boom. Up in the sky. Here are all these

angels that have been waiting.

That's a picture I don't think any of

those shepherds ever forgot in their

minds for the rest of their life.

Can you picture the look on their face

as they see all this

and the message from these angels? Glory

to God in the highest and on earth

peace.

In a world that is so tense,

doesn't peace sound so good?

>> All we see is tension everywhere we

look.

A peaceful life sounds so good, doesn't

it?

Good will toward men.

God is a good God and thinks good things

towards us.

Verse 15,

it says, "So it was when the angels had

gone away from them to heaven that the

shepherds said to one another, "Let us

go to Bethlehem and see this thing that

has come to pass which the Lord has made

known to us." Now, I want to pause here

for just a second. There's two options

that the shepherds have here after they

see all this, after they hear all this,

after they've been told this by the

angel.

Have two options.

First they can soak it all in and say,

"Wow, that's incredible. Are you guys

ready for bed and then they go to bed

and they don't tell anybody?"

Their other option

is exactly what they do. We've got to

tell somebody this is incredible.

This is what we've been waiting for.

Those are their two options. They can

hold it in or they can share it.

It's the same way with us with the

gospel today.

We can read our Bibles all we want. We

can be inspired even.

But what's the point if you're not

sharing it with somebody?

We don't read just to hold it in. We

read to share with other people. We're

inspired to share that inspiration.

And if you have been inspired by the

scriptures and the story of Jesus,

I want to challenge you this coming year

to plan on sharing that inspiration with

somebody else.

If Jesus has done something for you in

your life, you have a story to tell.

Many people have said to me, "Well,

Jamie, you know, I don't have this this

this dramatic story where, you know,

somebody found me on the street with a

needle stuck in my arm and took me and

and told me and I didn't I baptized in

this big big huge testimony. I don't

have that kind of testimony, Jamie.

What do I say?"

One of my favorite authors says this,

"If Jesus has done anything for you in

your life, you have a story to tell.

If you have hope in a better world than

this one, you have a story to tell. If

you've experienced the grace and

forgiveness of Jesus, you have a story

to tell. If you have any type of hope,

you have a story to tell. If Jesus has

brought you through a tough time, you've

got a story to tell. If Jesus has

blessed your life in a variety of ways,

you have a story to tell. And I want to

challenge you to do exactly what the

shepherds did in this story. Let's

continue. It says, "Now when they had

seen him," verse 17, "they made widely

known the saying which was told to them

concerning this child,

and all those who heard it marveled at

those things which were told to them by

the shepherds." Can you imagine hearing

their testimony?

So you're saying, "What? You saw angels?

We were out in our field watching the

sheep and all of a sudden

light like I've never seen before." And

an angel showed up.

And this is what the angel said. The

Messiah is here. You remember hearing

about the miraculous birth from

Zachcharias?

There's been another miraculous birth.

And the angel said, "This was Christ the

Lord."

Can you imagine hearing them tell that

story? You said there was singing,

singing like I've never heard before.

Incredible.

Their testimony

got up got people's attention. It says

all those who heard it marveled at those

things which were told to them by the

shepherds. But Mary kept these things

and pondered them in her heart. Then the

shepherds returned glorifying and

praising God for all the things that

they had heard and seen as it was told

to them.

These simple shepherds

were some of the first evangelists

in the Gospels.

These simple shepherds, untrained,

all they did was have an encounter with

heavenly beings and meet baby Jesus.

And they had a story to tell.

Can you imagine them meeting Mary and

Joseph? As it says in verse 16, it says,

"With haste, they found Mary and Joseph

and the babe lying in a manger."

How would they even start that

conversation?

Hi, we're shepherds.

Um, we saw an angel. I know that might

sound a little bit unique, but if

anybody recognizes and can relate to

this, Mary and Joseph can, cuz they've

just seen an angel recently, too. They

know we've seen that same angel.

Well, they showed up and they sent us

here. Is this the baby? Can you imagine

them laying eyes on that baby? The baby

they've been anticipating and praying

for to see

And the next thing they do is tell

everybody they can that they've seen the

Messiah.

First gospel evangelists.

If these shepherds can do it, so can we.

If Jesus has done something in your

life,

tell somebody else what he can do in

their life as well.

If you've experienced the grace and

forgiveness that Jesus offers in your

life and the peace that that brings,

tell somebody else how they can have

that same peace, too.

Jesus experienced birth as a baby.

And as we talked about at our

candlelight communion service last

night, he also experienced death

years later

on a cross.

and he was laid in a tomb.

He faced death on this earth. Death is

something that

shouldn't be here. It was never meant to

be here. And yet, it's something that is

unavoidable. In a planet where nothing

was supposed to die, now everything

dies.

Death is

an unfortunate reality for us living in

this sinful world. I've as a pastor done

many many funerals and I've walked

around many many cemeteries

and I I enjoy reading the headstones and

seeing uh you you find out a little bit

about people just by reading their

headstones and just a snippet but I find

it very interesting and the older

headstones are fascinating to see too

from the older times in the 1800s. Many

years ago, my family was in Breenidge,

Colorado, spending a few summer days up

in the mountains, and we were driving

from Breenidge to Frisco, and there was

an old cemetery on the on the west side

of the road. And being a bit of a

history nerd, and I knew that there were

going to be a lot of old tombstones in

here, I pulled over to the side with my

family and said, "We're going to go for

a walk." And I remember walking through

this cemetery, and we were going to see

who could find the oldest gravestone as

we walked through there.

And I've been in many, many cemeteries.

This one was unique, though, because I

noticed a lot of the headstones

marked the graves of mothers and their

babies together.

In the Old West in the 1800s,

it was more common than it is now with

the lack of medication and hospitals in

the Wild West. And many many mothers

died in childbirth with their babies.

And I remember seeing more than I

expected to see even. I was just like,

man, another one.

Death is something that we

get used to even sometimes.

And Jesus also experienced death. I want

to take you for a moment

to the tomb where Jesus was laying.

In Desire of Ages, page 780, it says,

"Brave soldiers that had never been

afraid of human power are now as

captives taken without sword or spear.

The face they look upon is not the face

of a mortal warrior.

It is the face of the mightiest of the

Lord's host.

The messenger is he who fills the

position from which Satan fell.

Picture the angelic tension behind the

scenes because he's there.

She continues, "It is he who on the

hills of Bethlehem proclaimed Christ's

birth.

The earth trembles at his approach. The

hosts of darkness flee as he rolls away

the stone. Heaven seems to come down to

earth.

The soldiers see him removing the stone

as he would a pebble. And hear him cry,

"Son of God, come forth. Your father

calls you." Picture this scene in your

mind. There's there's sensory things I

think that we miss out on sometimes. The

ground is literally shaking at Gabriel's

approach to the tomb.

The Roman soldiers are laying there as

dead men. They can't do anything.

The fallen angels who are celebratory at

this place now flee as the angel from

heaven who ministers at the right hand

of God comes down

and rolls away that stone as if it's not

even there.

And now these words,

what do you think his tone of voice was

as he says, "Son of God, come forth.

Your father calls you." Do you think he

whispered it? I don't think so.

I think it was maybe the most powerful

voice those Roman soldiers had ever

heard.

Son of God, come forth. Your father

calls you.

And out of that tomb, defeating death

came our savior Jesus Christ.

Someday

Jesus will resurrect those same

shepherds.

What a story they'll have to tell. Hey,

we were there when he was born.

You ever had somebody meet you and say,

I I remember you when you were born.

like little thank you.

They were there when he was born

and someday they'll hear him call their

names back to life.

I'm so glad that Jesus defeated death

so that we can have hope in a new life

someday.

In this life, we may be fortunate enough

to live to see Jesus come and never see

death.

And if that's the case, praise the Lord.

If we end up needing one of those

resurrections someday,

that's okay, too, because we'll see the

same Lord.

We'll experience that resurrection and

be going to the same place, the home

that he's prepared for us in heaven.

He said, "I go to prepare a place for

you." That means you already have an

address in heaven. He's counting on you

being there.

Today, I want to challenge you

to do exactly what the shepherds did

at his first coming.

As we anticipate the second coming of

Jesus, I want to challenge you to be

gospel evangelists just like those

shepherds were. and tell somebody about

Jesus soon second coming

because there are people that don't know

he's coming. There are people that don't

know he even exists or there are people

that maybe have rejected him because of

some previous hurt.

Jesus came for every single person.

He came to extend grace and forgiveness

to those who will come to him.

And his message is a message of the

deepest of love for each and every one

of us.

His sacrifice in giving up heaven to

come and be born a baby.

His sacrifice of being nailed to a cross

on our behalf.

And the power of his resurrection

reminds us that we have a hope in Jesus

that is lifechanging.

My challenge to you, a simple challenge

for 2026.

Tell somebody

about the hope that you have in Jesus

so they can share that same hope as

well. I want to invite our worship team

to come up. We're going to sing two

verses of our closing song, Angels from

the Realms of Glory. And the first verse

says, "Angel from the realms of glory,

wing your flight or all the earth. Ye

whose creation story now proclaim

Messiah's birth." This talks about

proclaiming his birth the first time he

came. And we have the privilege of

proclaiming his second coming. May these

two things be at the forefront of our

minds this Christmas season. And may we

be inspired by the story of the

shepherds and telling other people about

his soon second coming. Let's stand

together as we sing our closing song,

Angels from the Realms of Glory, two

verses.

Jesus, today we are so grateful for your

sacrifice for us. We're thankful for you

coming to be born a baby. We're thankful

for what you did for us on the cross.

And Lord, we're so grateful that you

rose from the grave, giving us hope and

a resurrection someday soon.

Father, help us to remember how much you

love us this Christmas season.

how much you've done for us and remind

us, Lord, each and every day that you're

planning on us being there. Keep us

faithful to you, God, until you come to

take us home. And we're so glad that

today we're one Sabbath closer to being

with you in heaven. In Jesus name I

pray. Amen. Thanks so much for joining

us here at the McDonald Road 7th Day

Adventist Church for worship. Each

month, we reach between 25 and 30,000

people with gospel content online. We're

looking to expand our audiovisisual

department this year and looking to

raise $30,000 in this project. We would

love for you to partner with us on this

and consider making a donation to our

audiovisisual department as we look at

expansion and reaching more people with

the gospel across the internet this next

year. You can go to mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audiovisisual department. Thank you so

much for considering making this

donation and the privilege is ours to

partner with you in making this a bigger

and more effective ministry here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church. God

bless each one of you and thanks again

for joining us here at the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church.