What the Shepherds Found

Welcome to this week's message from the Church of Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

It's the Christmas story chapter that we all love and enjoy and we all read every Christmas, and we'll do that next week.

We'll read the Christmas story on our family Christmas next Sunday night.

Please make plans to be here if you can.

It's going to be a beautiful, beautiful service.

It really is.

If you're here and you do not have our worship guide, if you don't mind, raise your hand.

We'll be glad to make sure you have a worship guide.

It is very important that we uh uh keep a, should I say, we keep a good contact with our members here.

We really do.

And one of the ways that we do that, we ask you to fill out the little uh information guide.

And if you'll notice on that little information guide, uh we uh have uh on their uh decision today, uh, let's see, register for covenant class.

You can check that little uh uh box, the 24th, write this date down, the 24th of January, the 24th of January on a Saturday right here from 8:30 to 1230.

Uh we're gonna be doing our next covenant class.

And if you're interested in becoming a member, check on there.

We would love for you to be a part of our next covenant class.

And please put your prayer request there because it is so important that we have your prayer requests, and I know here's mine, it stays in my Bible.

I pray over them every morning, every morning in my quiet time.

So please make sure you do that and turn the little information sheet in during the offering.

And boy, we're excited today.

It's our Lottie Moon offering, and you may need a uh uh individualized envelope if you want.

It's our missionary offering.

This it's the Southern Baptist Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

And what we love about this Lottie Moon Christmas offering, it goes directly to the missionaries.

By the way, we have, are you ready for this?

Over 5,000 missionaries serving all over the world in our convention.

Let's give God a hand for that.

That's unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

The largest evangelical mission board in the world.

And so you have a little part of that.

We do every month that we give.

But this is a special offering.

Every dime goes directly to the missionaries.

It doesn't encompass any of the ministration.

Not that we don't need a ministration, but it goes directly to the missionaries.

Luke chapter two.

What the shepherds found when they arrived at the inn on that Christmas.

And Luke chapter two, beginning at verse eight, and it says, And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round and about them, and they were all so afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.

That's what Christmas is all about.

Can I get an Amen?

Good tidings and great joy, which shall be to all people, not just some, but 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.

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts.

Now, what that literally means, ladies and gentlemen, the word heavenly hosts there means an army.

These were not just the angels that blew the trumpets or the angels that sang the songs.

This was the army of angels.

I meant, hey, when Gabriel came, he came with his army.

Hey, let me tell you something.

When God decides to come down, he doesn't come down to just agree with you.

He comes down to take over.

Amen.

So here we see on this miraculous, unbelievable wonder of an event.

He brings the army of angels with him.

I meant, what an unbelievable sight that must have been.

And the glory of the Lord shall round about them, and again, they were so afraid.

But notice, he said, For unto you today is going to be born 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, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

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.

Underline the word now, if you underline in your Bible, even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

Verse 16.

And they came with haste, underline the little word haste, and found, underline the little word 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 they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them.

Wow! What a story! I could preach for months just on these few verses.

It's unbelievable.

The theological and the eschatological, the the church emphasis and the church meaning and the spiritual theology that's loaded in these little verses.

So today I'm gonna give you, I think, some of the three most profound things that the shepherd found on that Christmas.

First of all, you should wonder why God chose shepherds to be the first recipients of this glorious news concerning Jesus' birth.

Have you ever ever wondered about that?

Have you ever wondered why the outcast, by the way, the shepherds were known as the outcast.

Okay?

They were known as the dirty old sinners.

Hello.

I think I can, hey, I can agree with them.

I understand that.

Amen.

Anybody else in here understand that?

I'm nothing but a dirty old sinner.

Amen.

All my righteousness is as filthy rags.

Isaiah 64, say.

There's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understandeth.

There's none that seeketh after God.

We can identify with the shepherds.

We really can.

And I'm so thankful that we can.

So why did he come?

They were the dirty ones.

They couldn't worship in the temple.

They couldn't partake of all the rituals and the ceremonial washings and all the rituals that the religious folks said you had to do in order to be right before God.

Aren't you glad to know it's not by works but by grace that we're saved?

Amen.

So why did God come to the shepherds?

I want to give you three things that I think in the introduction.

Number one, because of their dedication.

Their dedication.

I want you to look at verse 8 again.

And the Bible says, and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Now, the word abiding there is a powerful word.

The Greek word literally there means faithfulness.

It means to be faithful in something that you're doing.

That's what it meant.

Abiding there meant that they were faithful in what they were doing.

Now, in the Greek language, there's what we call the present participle and the aoris tense.

Eris tense means a completed action once and for all.

The present participle tense means something that is continuous.

So this verb here, abide, is in the con, hey, present participle.

It is a continuous action.

In other words, they were faithful day in, day out, tending to their sheep.

That was one of the reasons that they were so despised because they could never, never make it to the temple.

But now, well, let me show you what was surprising.

Because during this time, in the morning and in the afternoon, at the temple, they offered up lambs, hey, sacrificial lambs for the sins of the people in the morning and in the afternoon.

And so they did that every day.

And so there were so many lambs that had to be offered up that the temple had their own sheep, their own lambs out in a big field there in, hey, Bethlehem.

And there was no doubt, no doubt at all, or in Jerusalem, I'm sorry.

In Jerusalem, they were there.

And so these shepherds were partaking of the lambs that were going to be offered for the sacrifice every morning and every afternoon.

How fitting to know that the first people that saw the blessed Savior, the little baby Jesus born on Christmas, was, hey, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, John 1.29, was shown to the shepherds that were keeping the lambs offered up in the temple.

Wow, is that not good?

What a typology, what a symbolism that we see there.

He came to the common castaways.

He didn't come to the kings, the princes, or even to the religious folks.

He came to the common people.

Oh, Paul says it this way.

Hey, see your calling, my brother, not many mighty, not many wise.

But God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound them that are wise, and the weak things of the world to confound them that are strong.

Why?

So that men cannot glory in man.

Amen.

That we can't glory in our efforts and our talents.

Wow, that's good.

So their dedication, listen to me.

God uses people that are dedicated, and hey, let me just go on record and say, God does not use lazy bums.

Hello.

Maybe I shouldn't set a bum, but lazy people, okay.

Amen.

He won't use you.

These people were dedicated.

They were faithful.

God's looking for faithful people.

I have people all the time say, I just don't understand why what's happening.

And they go on and they tell me all their involved.

You know the first question I ask them, first of all, do you know the Lord?

Second question I asked, are you faithful to the Lord?

Hello listen to me, church.

We can know him and not be faithful to him.

Hello.

You listening to me?

If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1:19 and 20.

Isaiah 1:19

You with me?

Hey, you gotta do more than know him.

You gotta do more than know about him.

You gotta have a relationship with him.

And a relationship with him means you're obedient to him.

If you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

John 14, 15.

And one of those commandments is coming to church.

And I know I'm preaching to the ones that are usually here, but go tell the ones that ain't, they need to be.

Amen.

We can find an excuse every Sunday morning not to come to church.

Amen.

Every time we can.

And we justify it.

One day, every knee's gonna bow.

And every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And I'm telling you, no excuse will be good enough up there.

Not one.

Not one.

Not one, folks.

You listening to me?

No, the second thing about these shepherds.

Why did they appear to the shepherds?

Number two, because of their occupation.

They were shepherds.

Moses was a shepherd for 40 years.

King David was a shepherd for many years.

Jesus is a good shepherd.

He's the chief shepherd.

Amen.

I mean it's very fitting that he would show himself at the very beginning to the shepherds.

And not only that, not only because of their dedication, not only because, hey, hey, of their occupation, but because of their expectation.

Oh, yeah, look at this.

Watch this.

Look at verse 15.

God may have selected these shepherds, no doubt, because of the expectation, because after the angelic announcement, they said, look at verse 15, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known unto us.

These shepherds were seeking someone, and guess what?

They were not disappointed.

Can I get an amen?

They were not disappointed.

Now, let me go on record saying, before they started seeking Jesus, Jesus found them.

See, John 15, 16 says, you've not chosen him, he's chosen you.

Amen.

So, hey, but when God loses you, then you got to do your part, and your part is you got to seek him.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 17, 9, seek.

He says, You shall seek me and find me.

Watch, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

Let me tell you something.

When you're searching God with all your heart, Sunday morning, you're going to be in church.

Wednesday night, you're going to be in church.

It's just that simple, folks.

Why?

You want to.

You want to be.

Not because legalistically we've told you to.

Hey, you want to.

I want to be here this morning.

I can't wait to be here.

Amen.

Why?

God's going to wrap his arms around me.

He's going to encourage me.

He's going to teach me.

And he's going to direct me in the right path to go.

I'm telling you, folks, everyone that's have major problems.

Can I say this?

I've never counseled with any couple that I really know of that have been faithfully serving the Lord that was telling me that they're having all these kinds of problems.

I really haven't.

Now, not that they didn't have problems.

But you know what?

They didn't let their problems overcome them because greater is he that's in him than he that is in the world.

They allowed the Lord Jesus Christ to overcome their problems through his strength, through his grace, through his power.

Because they put their trust in him.

And I guarantee you, Christy's sister and family, even though as tragic as it is right now, they know their trust is in him.

When I was laying on his deathbed, hey, his trust, our trust was in him.

Yes, we prayed for the healing, like we've been doing for Christie's sister.

But at the end of every prayer, when I pray that way, Lord, it's our will for you to heal them.

But we want your will done because your will can be greater than our will.

And let me just help you out right here.

I want you to understand this.

Going to heaven is a lot better than staying here.

Amen.

Hello.

So when somebody you're praying for God to heal them and you get upset after God takes them to heaven, he has divinely healed them.

It's over.

There'll be no sin, there'll be no sickness, there'll be no suffer, there'll be no tears up there.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Lord.

You can't threaten me with heaven.

Amen.

He said, Well, I'm taking you out.

Let it go, baby.

Let it go.

Rip it.

I'm going.

You can't threaten me with that.

Hey, here's my goal.

I want to complete what God's called me to do.

I don't want to mess that up.

And then when I'm through, I'm gone.

Hello.

Amen.

You get to go.

Can't wait to go.

But I'm like the beloved John.

But hey, behold Lord Jesus, come quickly.

Now I wouldn't mind going in the rapture.

Amen?

That would be fun.

You're there.

Now that's going to be a ride.

You've never been in Six Flags and had a ride like you're going to have at the rapture.

That's going to be a ride, folks.

Amen.

That's going to be a ride.

So wow.

Look at what the shepherds found.

Now we know why they chose them.

Their dedication, their occupation, their expectation, they couldn't wait.

Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these other things shall be unhey added unto you.

So notice the first thing they found.

First of all, the shepherds had to ascertain.

Big word.

You said, why'd you use that word?

Well, it had an A.

It started with an A.

You could have, I could have used the word authenticated.

But anyway, I like the word ascertain because it took me two days to learn how to pronounce it.

Ascertain.

It really means to make certain by examination.

It means to make certain by examination.

I'm not joking.

I kept saying ascertain.

And Susan said, no, that's not right, honey.

She said, change it.

And I said, well, the word that I want to change is to authenticate.

That doesn't make sense to me.

You said why do you use that?

Because I like to alliterate.

I can remember it better that way.

But here's what it means: it means to establish.

Here's what ascertain means.

To establish with certainty.

Woo! Now somebody say that's good.

That's good.

I've worked hard on that definition.

Amen.

But that's what it means.

So these shepherds had been given a word from God, and now they're going to say, Woo, we gotta go see this thing.

We gotta see what God's told us.

So we see they ascertain the facts concerning this happening.

The stillness of the night had been broken in by an angelic announcement accompanied by a blaze of glory.

Oh, by the way, when he says the glory of hosts, every time you see that in the New Testament, it is in representation of the Shekana glory of God.

In other words, God Himself glory showed up.

It ought to.

The angel Gabriel, the army of angels, can you imagine?

No wonder.

I bet you those shepherds said, Woo! I mean, they were frightened, but yet there was a wonder there.

There was an excited fright, maybe.

You ever been that way?

You ever been kind of I have.

I forgot what that ride was, but it was hurt my neck.

My wife wanted me to ride it again.

I said, I ain't riding it again.

Space Mountain.

What what at uh anybody ever been on that ride?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'm up there and they're right here, and I there's an ex kind of an excited fear.

I didn't know what, and by the way, after I got through, it was a stupid fear.

Because I ain't getting on it again.

Amen.

How stupid to get on the first time, but I'm not getting back on it again.

Oh, honey, write it one more time.

Nope, I ain't gonna do it.

I'll get you somebody ride with you.

Hey, hey.

No.

Not doing it again.

Amen.

I'll I'll tell you, I'll go with y'all to I like the going to little shops and watch Mickey Matt.

I like Mickey Matt.

But I ain't getting on no rides.

No, I'll tell you the ride, my favorite ride.

It's a wonderful world.

Small world, small world, small world.

Small world.

Y'all mean look at y'all already say it's a small world.

Yeah.

Now I'll ride that one over and over again.

It's cool, especially when it's hot.

But I'm not riding those roller coasters anymore.

Okay, got that.

But really, the stillness, can you imagine?

Look, look, the shepherds heard, look at what the shepherds heard.

Look at verse 10 through 12.

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.

For as there is born in this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Now watch.

And this will be the sign to you, to us.

You will find a babe wrapped in swallowed clothes, lying in a manger.

This heavenly news was so astonishing and held such far-reaching consequences that these wise shepherds could do nothing less than go see for themselves.

Wouldn't it be exciting to see that kind of excitement about people coming to church every Sunday?

I can't wait to get to church to hear about this newborn babe.

Lord, would that not be exciting?

Oh, people, all I'm hearing now is about the bowl games and the playoffs, and hundreds and thousands of people will be going.

Why wouldn't it be nice to hear that same excitement about going to a crusade or going to a church, hearing the King of Kings, hearing about the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

The shepherds.

Look, they seriously, under ascertaining the facts, number one, they seriously ascertained the facts concerning Christ.

Look at verse 15.

Let us now go to Bethlehem.

Now, at this point, nothing else really mattered.

Is that not exciting?

At this point, nothing else really mattered.

All they, hey, keeping the sheep didn't matter.

It didn't matter anymore.

It was secondary.

They must go at once to see this thing which the Lord had made known to them.

In other words, when Christ gets a hold of your heart, listen, ooh, I'm about to have a spell.

Hey, when Christ gets a hold of your heart, ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.

Nothing else matters.

Nothing's going to keep you from getting to the king when he really gets your heart.

When he turns you upside down, you're going to be there.

You're going to say, Here are my Lord, send me.

Isaiah 6, 8.

Here am I.

And boy, they couldn't wait.

They took off.

Oh boy, boy, how these shepherds condemn us today.

Nearly 2,000 years have passed since the recorded event, yet we have failed to ascertain the facts about Christmas.

Doesn't that break your heart?

Oh, it breaks my heart.

It really does.

The fact that God invaded history for the purpose of redeeming the human race.

Can I get an amen?

Oh, and the Lord, hey, hey, and the Lord became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his Lord, the Lord, the only begotten Son of God.

Oh, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

He came.

Here's another fact.

The fact that Jesus died so that man might live, who his own self bare sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.

That's a fact.

Wow.

Wow.

Fact.

That salvation from sin depends upon the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Fact.

He that believeth on the Son has life.

He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Fact.

That Jesus died.

He was buried.

But on the third day, he rose again.

Fact.

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

Fact.

And now that he's seated at the right hand of God, and he is now our mediator, making intercession for you and me.

1 Timothy 2.5, one God, one man, one God, one intercessor between man and God, the man Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 2.5.

Fact.

Fact.

The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.

So shall we ever be with the Lord?

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Fact.

Wow.

Do you think I'm excited about Christmas?

Because all of Christmas is encompassed and enclosed in those facts.

The beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Before anything was, I was, and after everything will be, I still will be.

With haste.

To them the matter was urgent.

They could not delay.

They had to investigate the facts that were announced by the angelic messengers.

The sense of that urgency concerning God's way of salvation has trickled all the way down since that first Christmas.

Remember the words of Paul?

He said, Behold, now is the day.

Behold, now is the time for salvation right now.

The urgency.

The urgency, the urgency, church.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

The urgency is there.

The seeking is there.

And we see it so beautifully portrayed.

Now I told you to underline three words.

Now.

Look at the word now.

Verse 15.

Now go.

The word there shows the promptness.

When Jesus Christ gets a hold of your heart, you need to move then, right now.

Immediately.

You don't wait.

You don't think about it.

You just obey it.

Amen.

You don't think about it.

You don't have to go pray about it.

You know what I've learned after 30, I don't know, 32, 33 years.

When people tell me, when I ask God's told them to do something, or you ask them to do something, you need help, and you ask them to do something, they say, Let me pray about it.

Let me tell you what that the Greek word means for let me pray about it.

I ain't gonna do it.

I'm not gonna do it.

I used ain't on purpose then.

My wife said, That's three times you've used ain't.

Well, I'm I'm emphasizing.

Amen.

When God speaks, not only do you listen, you obey.

Oh, God help us.

The urgency.

Now look, the word haste.

Look at the word haste.

Verse 16.

It means, hey, the pace.

Now means promptness.

The word haste means pace.

Go now.

And then look, there's a reward for now, the promptness.

There's a reward for the pace.

Look, he found the word found.

He found the reward.

Listen, when God speaks to you and you move promptly, and you, hey, move with haste, the promptness and the you have a purpose, you will find what God, hey, wants you to be and wants you to do.

Isn't that exciting?

When you move with haste, when you move now, the promptness and and the urgency, God will reward you with what He's got waiting for you, His plan for your life, your hey, his future for your life.

And it's wonderful.

Hey, we're not interested in your past.

God's got a fantastic future for you, but you can't delay.

You must move now.

Now.

In fact, I wrote this to myself.

This is just me.

What Spirit taught me when I was going through this.

Convenient obedience is disobedience.

Hello.

I'll go to church when it's convenient.

I read my Bible when it's convenient.

I witness when it's convenient.

I will stand for, hey, in the marketplace when it's convenient.

Or here's a better way.

Or when it affects me.

Hello?

Hello.

Are you listening, church?

Convenient.

Here's what, all right?

I wrote this.

Here's another thing to me.

Convenient obedience is disobedience.

Secondly, delayed obedience is disobedience.

Oh, now his summer, I don't know if I agree with that.

Well, did uh the shepherds delay?

No.

When God got a hold of Isaiah, and Isaiah saw him for who he really was, did he delay?

Hear my Lord, send me now.

Right now.

I'm here.

Whoa, that's good.

Oh, that's convicting.

That eats my lunch.

Because I'll get around to it.

That's our excuse.

Oh, I'm going to do that, Lord.

I promise.

You don't have to tell me twice.

Well, it's sad that he has to tell you twice, but don't let him tell you thrice.

Hello.

Amen?

So, the urgency of salvation.

Behold, now's the time.

Hey, the urgency of sanctification.

Look at this, Psalms 119, verse 60 said, the psalmist David said, I made haste and I did not delay to keep thy commandments.

Psalms 119:60

Boy, isn't that good.

We don't delay in salvation.

We don't delay in sanctification.

And thirdly, we don't delay in soul winning.

That's why I wanted to say, go tell it on the mountain.

Go tell it.

And remember in John 14, 23, Jesus said, Hey, his house was in.

He said, Go out into the highways.

He said, Go get them right now.

He said, go right now.

I want my house filled.

He said, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.

He said, go now.

In John 14, 23.

Actually, John 14, 23, 23.

What an urgency.

When we leave here during the week, you ought to be, and I know you do, but you ought to be just, I'm reminding us, I'm giving us that extra exhortation and that charge that we ought to be going and telling it on the mountain.

We ought to be inviting everybody we come in contact with.

Do you go to church anywhere?

If they go to church, say hallelujah, just stay faithful to your church.

But if not, let me invite you to CCW.

Amen.

Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Man, that's good.

That's good.

Well, look at the second thing.

The shepherds accepted the findings.

They accepted the findings concerning Christ.

Look at verse 16.

They found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

Look at what these shepherds found.

Oh, this is so good.

Number one, they found the miracle of the Savior's birth.

The witness of Mary centered in on the miracle of the Savior's birth.

When they arrived, they found Mary, and they shared with Mary what the angels had said to them.

And Mary said, Oh, let me tell you.

Let me tell you what's happened to me.

What's happened to me is exactly what the angels said.

Listen to me, God's word will always confirm itself.

Amen.

It always will.

So the angels had told them, the shepherds, you're going to go find a babe lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, and he's going to be the son of God.

And Mary said, Oh, I was, hey, I was engaged to Joseph here.

And she went on to tell her testimony that we preached last week.

She said, I have never had sex with a man.

I knew no man.

But yet I was pregnant and the Holy Spirit and I didn't understand it.

And then the Holy Spirit, hey, the angel came to me and said that my child was what?

Part of God's plan for my life, but for the whole world, that I would conceive that of the Holy Spirit of God.

And it would be God Himself being born that day.

That's why you saw the Shekana glory of God.

That's why you saw the armies of God in the field that evening when the angel Gabriel showed up with the message from God, what Christmas was really all about.

Wow.

Wow.

The miracle.

The miracle of the Savior.

The miracle of the Savior.

The supernatural conception.

Listen, the reason that he had to be Jesus born with no seed of man is because it's through the seed of man that sin enters the human race.

Do you understand that?

Go to Romans 5, 12.

It says, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men.

Because of Adam's sin in the garden, and you and I are descendants of Adam, we are born in sin.

Hello.

Hello.

Psalms 51.5, David said, Behold, I am formed in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Okay?

That validates Romans 5.12.

And then look at what it Paul said in Romans 5.19.

For as by one's hey, for as by one man's disobedience, Adam in the garden, many were made sinners.

But so by the obedience of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, one shall, hey, of one shall many be made righteous.

The only way that you and I could be made righteous is that Jesus had to be born of a virgin.

It was the seed of God.

Does that make sense?

Now, really, it doesn't make sense.

You can't comprehend that.

I can't comprehend that, but I sure believe that.

If I was to sit here and tell you I believe that, I don't know if that ever happened except through technology of artificial insemination, stuff like that.

But I'm talking about this little baby was born of a mother.

That was his humanity.

But he was born, hey, the seed was of God.

That's his divinity.

Amen.

He was the God man.

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

And the government of this world shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called wonderful.

Counselor, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father.

Isaiah 9:6.

Isaiah 9:6

Folks, are you getting the I'm do you get it?

Without the virgin birth, there's no Christianity.

The virgin birth is the foundation of the church's history and of Christianity and of salvation.

That's what separates us from anything else.

It was supernatural.

Can I get an amen?

It was supernatural.

Can I say something?

Your salvation's supernatural.

Woo! Your salvation's supernatural.

Because, hey, you're fleshly.

We're born in the flesh.

We're born, we don't want to come to Christ, but when Christ says you're coming, you're coming.

He chooses you.

And then you better, hey, and when he chooses you, you better now haste.

Woo! Go! Amen.

I can remember when we used to play backyard football.

Hey, Phil.

Hey, sis, you did make it.

That's okay.

I don't get to get on her very often.

But uh, I know I'm not.

I shouldn't have said that, Julie.

All right, hey, hey, hey, hey, you remember in hey, you said, well, I'm leaving.

Well, at least get you a piece of pie.

No, you can't leave.

I got you a little caramel cake.

For Christmas.

All right, hey, watch this.

Watch this.

Hey, hey.

Hey, I can I can hook it up and unhook it anytime, any place.

Watch this.

Watch this.

You know why it's in here?

When it's in here, it'll come out one way or the other.

Because it's got to come out.

Now watch.

Hey, you back when we were choosing ball playing, choosing teams, I couldn't wait to be chosen because I was so eager to play.

And I was good.

I wasn't the last one chosen.

I promise.

I was, yeah, I was in one or two, I guarantee you.

Because I was fixing them.

Mm-hmm.

Get it on, baby.

But I couldn't wait for somebody to choose me so we could get it on.

Let's play.

Kick that sucker off.

I'm going to knock your block off.

Let's go.

Give me the ball.

I'm taking it to the hoop.

Give me the baseball.

I'm going to knock it out of the park.

Get it on.

I can't wait.

You said play, we play.

God calls you, you go.

You play.

You get in the game.

You don't hesitate.

Can I get a y'all?

Y'all looking at me like I'm crazy this morning.

I promise y'all, all I've had to drink is a cup of coffee.

I'm filled on the new wine.

I got the new wine this morning, folks.

You know why when God gets a hold of me like this?

I get so sick and tired of Satan winning so much.

I just feel like, okay, boy, you want to fight?

Bless God, we're going to give you one.

And if God be for us, who can be against us?

Amen.

Hey, he chose the wrong one to fight.

You don't fight God.

You, hey, surrender to God.

Amen.

And then you become a soldier in his army.

And when you're fighting for him, he's doing the fight.

And you just, hey, the instrument.

Can I get an amen?

They found the miracle.

Woo! Notice secondly, they found the message.

Look at them.

Now they talk to Joe.

Now, after Mary gets through, Joseph says, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Let me tell you what happened to me.

I was fixing take Mary.

I love her.

But I didn't understand what happened.

He said, I was having a hard time understanding how she could be pregnant without knowing a man.

Now, I think any one of us would be having a problem with that.

He said, but but but I didn't want to hurt her because I love her.

I don't want her to be real acute and possibly stone to death.

I don't want that to happen.

So I'm just going to take her and put her away silently.

That shows you the honor and integrity and the character of Joseph.

Next year I'm going to preach just on Joseph.

Oh yeah.

Man, after going, ooh, he's he's something.

But yet we hear very little about him.

He's something.

Joseph is a man of integrity and honor.

He was chosen to raise the Son of God.

That's special.

That's special.

But he said, let me tell you what happened to me.

I was going to do it.

I was figuring out how I was going to do it, and all of a sudden, this angel showed up again.

Isn't it amazing?

In this Christmas story.

That angel, oh Gabriel, he was working, wasn't he?

But we're glad it wasn't Michael.

Michael's the war angel.

When he shows up, he destroys.

Gabriel shows up, he talks.

He gives the message.

When Michael shows up, it's bad news.

He's fixing the and and take names.

Amen.

Hey, hey, hey.

He said, Wait, you're not gonna believe it.

You're not gonna believe this.

The angel said, Joseph.

It's okay to take Mary as your wife.

In fact, you need to take her now to give her honor.

And I know you love her because her son has been conceived by the Holy Spirit of God.

It is God's son.

And you not only, hey, he even goes on and said, He told me it's going to be a little boy.

And then he told me, well, we're going to name him.

We're going to name him Jesus.

Because Yeshua and Joshua, it means, hey, the deliverer.

It means God.

Hey, Jesus, the Savior.

Who's going to deliver his people from their sins?

Can you imagine what those shepherds were?

Here's what I want you to see.

Mary has witnessed to the shepherds, shared her heart, shared it all.

That's what scripture says.

They shared everything.

Joseph now witnesses to the shepherds and shares everything.

Are you ready?

They only have one thing to do.

And the Bible says they bowed.

They bowed.

And you know what happened?

They received Jesus as Messiah.

As the King of Kings.

And the Lord and Lords, they got saved.

I want you to see something right here.

After they got saved, they went and told it everywhere.

Go tell it on the mountain.

But I had never seen this before.

And I'd read it probably a thousand times.

When Jesus is brought to our attention when the facts are brought to our attention.

There were three responses here.

Number one, the response of the shepherd.

I know that's not any notes because God gave it to me after I'd done the outline.

Hey, hey, listen.

It's the response of the shepherd.

What did they do?

They responded immediately and found the facts and heard the testimony and heard the truth.

And you shall know the truth and what?

The truth shall set you free.

They got saved right then.

Now, immediately.

But now when it got to the rest of the people and the shepherds, the shepherds told it abroad.

Huh, I want you to see this.

This is unbelievable.

We see the second thing, verse 18.

Look at what it says.

This is uh and all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

Hmm.

They marveled, they were amazed at when they heard this exciting, entertaining thing.

But that was it.

They didn't seek him.

You don't see any long line waiting to get to the manger.

The only ones that showed up were the shepherds.

No one else went to see him until months later when the wise man arrived from the Far East.

But they were amazed, they were entertained in all these things.

And I thought to myself, how many people go to church for entertainment instead of seeking the facts and the real reason?

Oh my soul.

Oh, we got a great musical.

The living Christmas tree and all this other.

And I'm all for that.

Don't I'm not belittling any of that.

But if that's the only reason they come, is to be entertained.

My my.

My my.

We come to church to worship him.

Can I get an amen?

Not to be entertained.

And the third response was Mary.

Look at Mary.

Oh, this is beautiful.

Verse 19.

Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

She never got over it.

She never got over her encounter with the Messiah.

She never got over it.

She continuously pondered the truths of the word of the living God.

Wow, folks.

Study to show thyself to proved unto God a workman that need not be a shape, rightly divided in the word of truth, but growing the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

She couldn't get enough.

Let me ask you this morning.

Can you not get enough?

I can't get enough.

I want to know more.

That's what urged the shepherds.

They wanted to know more.

Wow.

Which are you?

Which is which one's me?

Hopefully the shepherds.

And by the way, the shepherds never got over it either.

They went and told it everywhere.

They weren't ashamed of the gospel.

Amen.

They went to the publics.

They went to the marketplace.

They went to their school.

God help us.

They're trying to take Christmas completely out of Christmas.

We must stand up and say no.

I'm tired of we well, we got to be nice and loving.

Absolutely.

But bless God, we can be bold.

Do you know what bold means?

It means in a loving way.

No, I'm not gonna do it.

I'm not taking my manger seed out of my yard, which you hadn't put it up yet.

I know, I knew what you were thinking.

No.

I'm not gonna pray, hey, say happy holidays.

I'm gonna say Merry Christmas.

No, I'm not gonna pray and not use Jesus Christ's name in my prayer.

No.

You say, well, you're just obnoxious.

No, I'm bold.

That's a better definition.

Amen.

I'm bold.

The righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28:1.

Proverbs 28:1

Amen.

That's good preaching, preacher.

Yeah, it is.

It's the truth.

Well, where am I?

Number three.

Number three.

What happens when you meet the real Jesus?

You come and you worship him.

Psalms 95 says, you bow at his feet.

Come now, let us worship and bow down before him in his presence.

You know, I found this little illustration.

When they talked about the swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

During a recent Christmas season, the Nashville banner in Nashville, Tennessee reported the story of a little girl discussing the birth of Jesus with her mother, and she said, You know, Mom, I'm glad the little girl exclaimed that Jesus was born in a manger.

Her mother paused for a minute with obvious curiosity.

And she asked her daughter, Why do you say such a thing?

She said, Because it makes for a better story.

When the wise men came, they didn't come to the manger, they came to the palace.

Because, see, everybody thought that he would be born an earthly king and be the earthly ruler.

That he would come to the kings.

Can you imagine the king of kings being born in a stinking mooing with the cows and the pooping of the sheep?

The smell, have you ever smelled sheep?

They stink.

All that right there.

And didn't even have those little baby nice gifts that we get, and I love to give them for showers, but it just had some cloth wrapped up.

In anybody's mind that had read that prophecy of the king gonna be born, no one was thinking that he would come in such a humble means like he did.

And especially that he would come to shepherds, the outcast.

The baby.

Changes everything.

Have y'all heard that song?

If you hadn't heard that song, go do whatever you do to pull it up by Faith Heel and listen to it.

It's one of the most powerful new songs.

It's not that new.

I think she wrote it a couple of Christmases ago, but to me, I just I just stop and I can't, I can't, it's so true.

The baby changes everything.

All right, last thing, and I'm through.

The shepherds, after they had ascertained the facts, after they had accepted, gotten saved, the findings, the shepherds announced the faith.

Verse 17, now when they had seen him, they made widely known the sayings which was told them concerning this child.

Verse 20, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things that they had heard and seen as it was told them.

A careful study of the language here of this narrative reveals that the shepherds had accepted the heavenly announcement as special watch word to their hearts.

They had accepted the word of God in their hearts.

And the results, look at verse 15.

Let us now go to Bethlehem.

Now watch and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord, here's the key phrase, made known to us in verse 15.

Let's say it again.

Made known to us.

They were, hey, they were literally saying, let us go and investigate the word of God.

That's our command today.

Let us investigate the word of God.

Because the word of God changes everything.

For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the biting of the soul and of the spirit and of the joints and the marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and in the tents of the heart.

Mary said, At thy word, I will.

Peter said, Master, at thy word, I will.

Danny Lovett should say, Master, at thy word, I will.

Faith cometh by hearing.

Quote it with me.

Faith cometh by hearing, and what?

Hearing.

That's why we love it.

We, hey, learn it.

Love it, learn it, live it.

Love it, learn it, live it.

It's one of our key foundations.

Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.

Well, here it was.

They did two things, and I'm through.

They publicly announced their faith.

Verses 17 through 18.

They publicly announced their faith.

One commentator put it this way: These men at the bottom of the social scale of Israel were chosen as the first preachers of the newborn king.

As they made known their story, the news spread, first of all, to Bethlehem, then to Jerusalem, then to Judea, and then to the undermost parts of the world.

Isn't that beautiful?

Let our message start here in Westover, Chelsea, Starrett, Amen.

Wilsonville, Harpersville, Children'sburg, and let it spread to Chelsea and Birmingham.

And then ultimately to the uttermost parts of the world.

What is Acts 1.8?

You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in all Jerusalem and in Jerusalem, in all Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

That's why with Deedra and the Lottie Moon offering today and all that we do with our missions program.

I've never been affiliated with a church, even a brand new church that gives almost 29% of their offerings to missions and at home and abroad.

That's why God's blessing this church, folks.

That's why people are saved.

That's why we have no financial problem.

We only owe$120,000 off a hundred uh half a million.

We've raised uh at least the$25,000 for the pavilion that's gonna start in two weeks now.

You know, we for another$12,000,$14,000, we could put the slab down, but gotta provide that too in his time.

And then we'll be out there with hundreds of people this spring under there like we were with the tent.

I can see five, six hundred people this spring.

And wouldn't it be nice if the weather permits we could be under that pavilion with five or six hundred people for Easter?

I believe it could happen.

And we could see 20 or 30, 40 people saved.

Amen.

You know how it's gonna happen?

You and I are gonna go tell it on the mountain.

We're gonna go and tell it.

We're gonna tell the old old story.

We're gonna tell the old old story.

I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard.

Acts 4.20.

I got the Cain Hepits.

The shepherds had the first Cain heppets.

They did.

First evangelists, first preachers, the shepherds.

Wow.

I was reading another illustration I found that stuck out in the daily guideposts a long time ago.

And I found this in 1983.

Listen to what it says.

Are we as vocal?

This young man was asked.

And here's the question, the article related to, are we as vocal as a shepherd's when it comes to sharing our faith?

Or do we just assume that people will know where we stand?

We need to learn the lesson that a TV viewer learned when he called to protest the cancellation of his favorite program.

You and I have had this happen.

Did you ever let us know you like that program?

The secretary asked.

No, he acknowledged with a sigh.

But I can see now I should have.

Listen, Satan's trying to take Christmas away from us, stealing our Christianity, stealing our biblical truths from our schools, from our government, from everywhere.

And we know it shouldn't be happening, but are we saying anything?

God help us.

The church has been silent long enough.

Somebody said, Well, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter.

The church is going to be taken out here pretty soon.

You know what?

I may believe that, but let me let's challenge.

Can I challenge CCW?

I hope, yeah, hopefully the rapture's coming, but can I challenge us when we leave this planet?

When we're, hey, when we're raptured, or whether we put in the ground six foot, can we go out shouting from the mountaintop?

Go tell it on the mountain.

That Jesus Christ is Lord.

Can we?

And then the last thing they did, they praisefully.

Verse 20, they were glorifying and praising God.

Oh, they got a little emotional.

People told me, I had people tell me, ah, man.

Somebody asked me the other day after they'd worshiped with us a couple times.

She said, they said, I've never been in a Baptist church like that.

I said, Well, first of all, what do you mean by Baptist?

She said, Well, everywhere I've been, it's been kind of quiet.

I said, Okay.

There's time for quietness.

Be still, know that I'm God.

But most of the worship that I study in the book of Psalms and in the New Testament, and when Jesus cried, there was silence and there was reverence when those shepherds knelt at that altar, knelt at that manger scene, and they prayed God under the baby Jesus to save them and to come in their hearts and life and save them.

There was a quietness, there was a hush, no doubt about it.

It was a beautiful, silent night at that time, right then and there.

But ladies and gentlemen, when they rose from their feet and they left, they hey, they went down sinners, they came up, new creations, and they couldn't wait to go shout it from the mountaintops and tell everybody.

Amen.

What they had heard.

Go tell it on the mountain.

That Jesus Christ is Lord.

Can we do that at CCW this year?

This Christmas?

Can we go tell everybody that Jesus Christ is born?

And not only that, he's coming again.

He's coming again.

The first time he died, he died as a little baby.

I mean, excuse me, the first time he came, he came as a little baby.

But listen to me.

The second time he comes, he will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Hey, the first time he came, no one attended his arrival.

But the next time he comes, every eye's gonna see him, every knee's gonna bow to him.

Ladies and gentlemen, go tell it on the mountain.

Listen to this.

When you find Jesus, three things happen to them.

Great joy, verse 10.

Great praise, verse 13, 14, 20, and great peace, verse 14.

Is that not good?

Great joy.

Great praise.

Great peace.

It's what happened when they found.

That was the results of finding baby Jesus.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

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Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.