# Why the Shepherds were Wise

Category: Obedience to God’s Will
Key Passage: Luke 2:8-20
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: December 18, 2022

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter number two. Luke chapter number two in God’s word. Last Sunday we started off with a couple of Christmas. Of course, we were speaking of Joseph and Mary. Today, the guest of Christmas. Next Sunday morning, the reason of Christmas. And then Sunday night, the gifts of Christmas. And next Sunday night, so I’m excited about that. And I hope your mind and your hearts are kind of getting steered towards Christmas. And when I say Christmas, I’m not talking about the commercialized. And I’m not saying all this bad, but I’m talking about Christ. Christ at Christmas. That’s what I hope our hearts and our minds get turned to at least somewhere, sometime during this time of the season.

Luke chapter number two. And we’re going to start in verse number eight, Luke 2 and verse number eight of God’s Word. And it is a blessing to see everyone out there. And we have two young ladies back from college for a little bit. Skyler and Emily. Glad to have them both back tonight. They’ll be singing a duet for us. And they’re like, we won’t be at church tonight if we are. But it’s good to see them back in others. We’re thrilled to see you. Kyle and Tina’s back today. That’s just great.

Luke chapter 2, verse number 8. Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together, Luke 2 and verse number 8 of God’s Word this morning? And the Bible says, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.”

“And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.” The glory of the Lord. I imagine it’s the brightest thing they’ve ever seen or you have ever seen. The glory of the Lord. Jesus comes back just as brightness will destroy the end of Christ. And it’s sharp two edges. Both. We miss the brightness of us coming off over there. Let’s take that as long as two.

“And they were sore afraid.”

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” By the way, 63 times the Bible says those exact words, “Fear not.” Fear not. Some give a lot larger number if it’s worded differently. Some 365, I’ve never found that in there, but they say that. Those two words, “fear not,” found 63 times in the Bible. And fear not.

“For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Luke 2:11, we’re at now. “For unto you, remember that ye, you, plural, thee thou singular. And unto you, actually to you this morning. Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

“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 praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.”

I think it was Gabriel making that announcement. The other angels said, man, we’ve got to get in there with this thing too. They just all started singing and praising God.

“And it came to pass as the angels were going away from them into heaven. The shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” They came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

“When they had seen it, they made abroad a saying which was told them concerning this child.” All who heard it wondered at those sayings which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings 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.”

Would you pray that God would do a work at our hearts in these next few minutes this morning? Would you do that? And sincerely ask that you work in your heart this morning. Lord, we need you. Thank you, Lord, for people that love you, they respect you enough to be in your house on a Sunday morning. Lord, now would you give them something when I cannot? Lord, would you speak to them specifically about their lives and their hearts? Father, help me to be sensitive. I want to say everything you want me to say, Lord, guide me. You know, I’ve changed even the last few minutes back and forth, so would you make it clear what you want? I’m going to follow you. Would you use you to speak to hearts? Lord, we’ll thank you, Bradley, and prays you for what you do. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask these things, Father. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Would you go back with me, please, to verse number eight. The first verse we read there. “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Now the question has been raised by so many, why were the shepherds in the field even at nighttime?

Many people try to kind of date or pick the time of the year that Jesus was born by this. I’m going to give a couple theories, and I won’t really draw any conclusion. Just trying to get our minds going that way. But why were the shepherds in the field? Some say it’s summertime. And often summertime, the shepherds would take their sheep out on a journey to new fields and green grass and all that, and that’s why it was, and this is actually summertime. Some will say that, and they’ll say, nah, it’s not December, it’s summertime and all that. It could be true.

Some will say it’s lambing season. That’s when they’re giving birth. Typically, that’s wintertime or early spring. I tend to believe it was lambing season myself. That does not give it as an exact date, but it does narrow it down. Typically, that’s winter or early spring when they give birth. And a lot of sheep are just giving birth at this time of the year. And it’s interesting. Israel really is the climate’s not far from where we’re at, maybe a touch south of wherever I had. If you just go across, kind of equal to the equator there. But it could be lambing season.

Some will say—now let me out—I’m just kidding. Try to get our minds going this way. Some will say that these were Levitical shepherds. You say, what is Levitical shepherd? What does that mean? That has to do with shepherds. Some will say there were special shepherds that were from the tribe of Levi, or they helped the Levites, and these sheep were going to be used in the temple sacrifice. Bethlehem is about six, seven miles south of Jerusalem, the temple course in Jerusalem. And so these sheep were going to be sacrificial sheep or lamb.

Now, help me out. You remember what were the things for sheep that was going to be offered in his sacrifice? Well, there had to be a male sheep, one-year-old, spotless. It couldn’t have spots. Without blemish, couldn’t have any blemish. It had a blemish on it. It had a blemish on it. It was disqualified, and that was some of the qualifications for these sheep.

And it’s interesting, if it was the Levitical shepherds, they would go typically to a place called Magdel-E-Dar. We have some pictures of this. Some of these are pretty small pictures. That’s my fault that they’re so small. Whenever you’re ready for that first one there. And I see it flying it. Did you all see it? Did you all catch it when you got to look quick for that right there? But there we go. We’re getting it up there. And I don’t know how well you can see this. It’s almost like a stone. Magdel has to do with the tower. And like a stone little tower, typically two stories. There’s the top. And of course the bottom you could go inside there. And it’s stone.

And these Levitical priests during the lambing season would go to this place. This is not the actual one, by the way. I really can’t find the actual one. We know the location of it between Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Genesis 35. We won’t get to that. But we’ve got another. Would you show us the next picture of it? And there’s another one. The next one a little bit taller, or bigger, the picture is bigger than this. But there we go. Good, good, good. That is brother in our church. No, I’m joking. I’m joking about that. You said, who’s that old? Well, they were old back then, so they’re really old now, you know. But this could be, it would be a structure kind of like this Magdel-E-Dar where they would have their lambs.

Would you go to the next one, please? And I think this one, here’s another one, be very similar to it. And, of course, these structures are very old. We don’t know that that’s the exact location of the exact one, but it would be something like that. And here’s the thing. They say the lead shepherd would go up here, and, of course, he’d be able to look out over the fields, and he would make sure that the sheep were safe, all those in the fields, and no wolves or whatever coming in, take it, and coyotes, whatever they might have over there. They just kind of watch over as they’re giving birth. And other shepherds would be down here inside where they’re giving birth.

It’s very interesting, and some will debate this, and I’m not saying this is gospel truth. But some will say they’d take those babies or those sheep, those ewes, mama sheep, and they go down there and they’re giving birth to the lambs. And they say those shepherds, that baby lamb would come out or sometimes have to pull them out. They would take them out. And very quickly, they would take swaddling clothes, and then wrap that lamb up, because it’s just coming out, it’s all fidgety and moving, fussing and all that, and wrap it up, and there’s—would you go to the next slide there, please?—in these, some of these, you go inside, sometime on the outside, some of the time on the inside, and they would have mangers there, and they would take that baby lamb, they just wrapped it in swaddling clothes, and then they would place it in a manger until it kind of calmed down and got peacefulness because they didn’t want it to get blemishes. Just a newborn running around, they could run up and scrape against something, it would have had a blemish. It could not be a sacrificial lamb.

Now, a wonderful correlation to Jesus Christ, of course the Lamb of God. I don’t think someone go to the extent that Jesus is born in Magdel-E-Dar. I don’t think that because, of course, we just read there. He was in the city of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, not real big. We think, the best we know, around a couple hundred people, the population of Bethlehem during that time. But the Bible says he was there in Bethlehem, and of course the shepherds, when they heard, they went to Bethlehem. And if it was the Levitical shepherds, they would know exactly where this were. In fact, they may have been there right now giving birth or the sheep’s giving birth at that time. But they said, we want to go see the true sacrifice in Bethlehem, you know.

But, of course, Jesus was there and he was born, the true sacrificial lamb, and he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and he was laid in the manger. We know those things are true for sure.

Thank you so much. You can turn that fun off, Brother Richard. I just kind of want to get our minds going there. Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies. And we didn’t have time to cover some of those over in Micah, not just Micah 5:2, but Micah 4 also, so many things he fulfilled in that. But of course, he wasn’t born in there in Magdel-E-Dar. He was born probably in a stable. There was no room in the inn. We know that. We didn’t read that. We know that. No room in the inn. And probably a stable and then wrapped in swaddling clothes laid in the manger.

But here’s the thing. After Jesus was born, the true sacrificial lamb was born. I mean, you’re talking about the greatest event there ever has been. Eternity past had looked forward to this moment. Eternity future for all eternity will look back to that point when God became man. It’s when eternity and time touched each other and just God, God Almighty comes and he becomes a man and he dwells among us, deity becomes flesh. This incredible moment, probably that on the cross, the two most significant moments of all eternity, boom, Jesus is born.

And you would think, you would think they would make the first announcement, maybe to the wise men. Now there was a star, but can I, can I just go? The wise men didn’t make it to Jesus when Jesus—he was a child actually. He wasn’t in his stable and the wise men. He was in a house. He was maybe a year, year and a half, somewhere probably under two. We talked about it in Sunday school last Sunday and I said, don’t take your chains all to the manger scenes. I still like manger scenes, amen. Cut out the wise men, don’t do that. All right, that’s all right, you know.

But no, the announcement and the first guests to see God in flesh were shepherds. That were the first one. You would think, well, this is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Maybe go get a king. That would be appropriate. A king is born, so let’s get a king to visit the king.

Shepherds. The first people to see guests—I’m talking about besides Joseph and Mary—the first guest that was invited and told about it and came were shepherds.

It’s really amazing. They would be the working class, if you will. Later on, later on, when they took into the temple, there was Simeon, that older man, just a dear old saint, and Anna, she was probably well over 100 years old, that dear old lady. And they worshipped him, but the first ones weren’t all that. There were people out there working in the field that night. Why shepherds?

Just, you know what this morning? We’re just, we’re kind of going a lot of different places to get where we’re going to land here in just a second, all right? We’re still, we’re not circling the airport. That’s when we land. We’re taking off and circling to lead to go somewhere, all right, you know, so don’t think we’re about done. Brother Chip turned around, look at the clock already. Don’t do that, Brother Chip. Come on. I’m joking with him, of course.

But why shepherds? Maybe, maybe a little bit because Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He’s the Chief Shepherd. He’s the Great Shepherd. Yes, yes. Maybe, maybe because the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, maybe because they were all shepherds and they were the ones the Messiah was promised to at the beginning. Maybe that’s part of it. Maybe because David, that great king, was a shepherd there in those same fields, by the way, when he was brought out in order to be king and Jesus is brought out to be—he is king. You know, maybe all that has something to do with the shepherds. Maybe because they were just humble workers out there in the fields by night.

But can I just pull our attention just a little bit to—I think maybe a lot of it has to do with their response, the response to the announcement. When the angels begin to speak, hey, let me, and then all the glory of God and all the shepherd, excuse me, all the angels, you know, a multitude of heavenly hosts. The response. Can you, can just for a little bit, let’s look at the response. Four different things I think that did so well, so right in the response to this announcement, the first announcement, Jesus first.

Look back if you go to verse number nine, and actually the response did not start off very good. They had to overcome something. Would you look in verse number nine, Luke two, and verse number nine. “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.” They were—what’s the next two words? Tennessee vernacular? They’re scared to death. I mean, their knees were knocking. Their teeth were falling if they had false teeth. I don’t think they had it back then, but they were just scared to death. Fear was their first response. Probably not the best at the beginning.

Now let’s look and see what happens. The angels help out with this response of fear. Verse number 10. “And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Can I paraphrase a little bit? Hey, my announcement is not an announcement of judgment, an announcement of, you’ve got to be afraid of, God’s coming to wipe you over the head. This is great and good and glad tidings, great joy. This is a good announcement the angels tell them. You know what I feel? I’m telling me, I got a good message to give you this morning. That’s what he said tonight.

Let’s keep going. What’s the message they say? Verse number 11 there. “For unto you, he’s talking to them particular. This baby is not just a baby for Mary and Joseph. No, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior.”

Now, it’s interesting. They do not give his proper name, if you will. I’m saying that lightly, name of Jesus. Mary and Joseph, the angel said, you’ll name him Jesus. The first name they used of Jesus, the angels to the shepherds, is Savior. The first way they knew his name, if we’ll, he’s a Savior. Man, when you see a manger scene and you see that babe down in there, first thing your mind ought to go to is Savior.

“Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” The first announcement, first people coming, the first way they knew about Him is he’s a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Now the Bible after that never mentions their fear. It just seems like the fear is dispelled. The first response I think is very good about the shepherds: they overcame their fear.

Now, several reasons the angels helped in that. They said, “Fear not.” And then they said, “Hey, this Messiah, this sacrificial lamb that’s come, he’s come to be a savior.” You know the Bible says in John 3:17? “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” Jesus did not come to condemn someone. He didn’t come to pronounce judgment. He came to save.

Wow, that’s what helped them overcome the fear. Now, can I say something about fear for a moment, especially when we’re dealing with the Savior? Fear is an awful bad thing. Would you look over in Revelation chapter number 21 for just a moment? And the Bible gives us a list of people that are going to go to hell. And they’re going to burn in this lake of fire. It’s a sad thing. We might think, and there are many things on this list that are horrible, but I think you’ll be surprised when you find the first thing listed on this list of people that go to hell. It’s pretty amazing, really. Revelation chapter 21. Are you all there this morning? Amen. Look in verse number eight, if you would, please. Verse number eight.

Would you drop down to the last part of the verse, just after the list? The last part of the verse? He says, “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Wow. This lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

Recently, I can’t remember the location. We had a large volcano that erupted and the lava was coming up and scorched the earth there. I think of that when I think about a lake of fire, maybe a lake of lava, like a mountain that’s erupting. And the Bible says, now these people here, they’re going to have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. So sad. I mean, just think about fire burning.

And I was a boy, my grandpa’s house in Florida. He had a flat roof. And my grandpa and my dad, they seemed like they did it quite often, but they would have to go up there and repair that roof sometimes. Flat roofs are hard to keep from leaking. And one time they had a little fireplace out back of the house, and it had some blocks around and whatnot. And they had made some special blocks, and they had put a five-gallon metal bucket of tar, and they were trying to heat it up over that fire. And I was a little rug rat running around getting in trouble, you know. And I was running around that fire playing. And it must be my brother or sister’s fault. I’m sure one of them pushed me. I’m joking about that. I tripped or something. I don’t know exactly how to that. But I fell in the side of my face hit that metal tin bucket. Praise Lord, my granny had some aloe vera plant, the real deal. She broke it off, put it on there, and maybe scarred. I don’t know. But man, alive, I tell you, boom, just that quick, hitting that metal bucket on the side. Woo! You talk about shouting, amen. I just screamed in pain. The Bible talks about a lake which burneth with fire. What a sad thing.

Now look at the list. I think you’ll be shocked when we read the list. I’m going to bypass the first person on this list, all right. Let’s start that verse number eight, but we’ll go back to that one. “And unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which is burned with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Wow.

This list, it does include what we think of in our society as horrible things: murderers, whoremongers, and all known. But I want you to notice the first word on the list. Would you do that, please? By the way, this is not what Pastor Paul says. This is what God says. Would you look at the first word there in verse number eight? But what’s the next word? Fearful. Now, really, it…

Sometimes I have to think why. I was here when I was younger, though, but why are we fearful when it comes to salvation when Jesus came to be a Savior? He did not come to condemn. He came to save. But there’s fear involved. I don’t always quite understand it. I’m not sure. I try to think it through preparing for this message. Why are people fearful to get saved? Maybe just the fear of the unknown. Well, what will happen if I get saved? If I accept this Savior as my sacrificial? Maybe I’ve heard this said many times: I’m afraid if I get saved, I can’t live up to it. My response is always, you can’t live up to it. Nobody can. Jesus already lived up to it. We believe on him. But there’s just fear involved.

Sometimes maybe, especially maybe in a church setting like this, there’s a fear, what would everybody think or say about me? Sometimes at invitation time there’s fear, well, I don’t want everybody looking at me. We try to have a deacon down front and a deacon in back. That way, maybe they’re just fearful. Come up front and they’ll go back and talk to a man in the back, if they want to go back and save. But there’s just fear involved. The devil, I think, is very much involved in this fear. There’s just fear. Should I, should I already see Jesus as my Savior or not? It’s a little bit, a little bit, that makes a whole lot of sense, but we’ve all been there before.

But it’s kind of like this. At Christmas time, someone buys you a present. You know you need that present. You need it. By the way, if you’re not saved, friend, you need salvation because we’re all sinners. And there is a lake of fire. And Jesus has already went out and purchased the gift of God, eternal life. He’s purchased salvation. We talked already about him in the sacrificial lamb. He did go to the cross. He was a sacrifice that satisfied the Father. That’s why three days later he rose again.

And here’s the thing, he offers the gift to everyone, but you have to receive it. And there is fear involved in that. I don’t quite understand it all, but there’s fear. If I said, Brother Gregory, I want you to take that gift. Would you take that gift? I don’t want—there’s fear involved in that or not. He knows passion is a little crazy. Maybe there’s a snake inside there, Brother Gregory. But you don’t have to worry about Jesus. There’s no snake involved. And he says, I want to give you this thing. It’s a gift. Yes, I have a choice to make, and I must receive the gift. But, oh, friend, can I say if you’re here this morning and you’ve never received that gift, oh, friend, you need to overcome the fear like the shepherds overcame the fear, receive that gift. It’s available for you. It’d be so tragic this time of year when we celebrate Christ coming down to earth and he came to live and to die and the sacrifice for us for someone not to receive that gift would be so sad because the Bible gives this list and he says the fearful and unbelieving and it goes on down shall have their part.

Oh, it’s a good day when somebody says, I’m going to overcome my fear, and I’m going to receive that gift. If you’ve not done that, today would be the best day you could do that. The Bible says, today is a day of salvation. Today is accepted time. A great time to accept that gift. I really think some of the reasons why it’s because they overcame their fear.

Let’s look at another reason why—just a response, how they responded right in four different ways. Number one, they overcame their fear.

Now, would you look back over there in Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2, and would you look in verse number 15? Luke 2 and verse number 15 of God’s Word. Once you find that, would you say amen? I’m going to take a drink of water here real quick. I don’t know if I’m getting old or what. I don’t think that’s it. But I need water more than I used to. I’ll say that for sure.

Verse number 15, “And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them, the shepherds, into heaven. The shepherds said one to another, Let us now—notice that—let us now. They didn’t say let us go three weeks, let us now. Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

“And they came with—what’s the next word?—haste.” Man, they took off. And found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

Now think with me, all right, y’all. Think with me just a moment here. They had a lot going on. Either they were traveling to new places in summertime. Maybe it was lambing season, regular shepherds just giving birth. And boy, you want to be there when those sheep, those ewes are giving birth. That’s a very important time because that’s kind of your crop for the next year, if you will. That’s your income. If it’s the Levitical shepherds, then you’ve got to be there when that baby’s born because you want to protect it. It must be without blemish. So they’ve got a lot going on. They have a busy time. It’s very crucial. It has to do with their economy, their money.

But, friend, they made—and listen to me—they made Jesus their priority. Can I be honest with just for a little bit here this morning? In America, we have a major epidemic of a problem. We are so busy doing everything else we give Jesus our leftovers. And it’s a shame in America, it’s honest truth. We’re so busy getting extra buck, our career, our relationships, everything we want to do. And we have no time left for Jesus. It’s a shame. I’m not trying to be mean, but I want to be honest with just for a little bit here this morning.

Friend, it’s high time we make Jesus a priority in our lives. I’m going to make him a priority. It’s not about my money, my career, what I can make, what I’m going to do in my life. It’s about Jesus. I will make him a priority. That’s what it’s about, friend. What the shepherds did. The shepherd says, yes, I’ve got a lot going on, but I’m going to lay that aside. I’m going to put Jesus first in my life. Praise the Lord for Him. It’s a shame how we’re so caught up in our world, and we’re going to spend our life on temporal things, and each hurdle will just pass it all by. And we’ll stand before him one day and say, “I wish I would have.”

These shepherds, they said, you know what, we’re going to make Jesus a priority. Praise your Lord for that.

Look if you go over in Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, just briefly here. Matthew chapter 6. I want to talk to just a minute about this point here, about making Jesus our priority. I think we’re so out of whack in that area in America. I say this so often, but Job, he took everything away and he passed the test. A lot of people, they gave him everything, and they failed the test. We’re pretty close to being able to see we’ve got everything in the world offered to us. It’s sad how we’re falling so many times for the test.

This is—would you, would you just think with this, think on this point here, would you do it God’s way? Here’s God’s way. Let’s look at it. Matthew 6, verse number 33. Matthew 6, verse number 33. Matthew 6:33. What does the Bible say there? “But seek ye—what’s the next word?—I really think that’s the most important word in this whole verse. There’s a whole lot of people that seek him, but it doesn’t say just seek him, but seek the kingdom of God.” Excuse me, I missed it, but “seek ye first.” I want to underline it. And it’s just in my notes, not my Bible. That’s the key word.

“Seek ye first.” Look at it. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” And all that, he’s been talking about temporal things, God’s going to take care of his—that last part of Matthew 6 is all about that. And he says, “And all these things shall be added unto you.” My dad is the life’s verse. It’s on his tombstone, Matthew 6:33. But seek ye first. The key, my friend, is seek ye first.

Now here’s the thing. Y’all with me this morning? You all look quiet. Y’all look quiet. You said, well, pastor just yelled at us. That’s why we’re quiet, you know. It’s trying to get you away, amen. We’ve got to get you back going on the right thing here at Christ’s time. But, but, but…

You say, here’s what we think. I’ve been there. Well, pastor, we’ve got to make money to have a living. We’ve got to pay the bills. So how do you do that? We look on now in that chapter, if you would, and he’s really addressing this subject a lot here. Would you look down—well, excuse me, look up a little bit—the verse number 24, verse number 24. And he says this, Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Now here’s the question. Here’s the question. All ready? Here’s the question about this thing and finances and all that. We’re going to do my life. Here’s the question: Who’s your master? Is finance how much you make or how much you got or how much you get? Is your job? Is that your master, or is the Lord your master? The key really is who’s your master? Friend, when Jesus is your master, I want to be dead off. Can you say amen one time? Amen. Y’all don’t say amen. I’m going to say amen. That’s good preaching person here.

When Jesus is your master, money’s way down there. That’s what he’s saying. You can’t have two masters. Either you’ll love the one or hate the other, despise one and hate the other. They’re not going to be side by side if Jesus is really your master. Finances are going to be way down there. It’s not that big of a deal. You’re not going to talk about it and dream about it and want it and love it all the time. It’s not that big of a deal because you have a Master here, and he’s the one that provides for you. By the way, if I don’t have a master big enough to provide for me, I don’t have a very big master.

Friend, if these shepherds, they had so much going on, they had their economy for the next year in some aspects of their birthing these lambs, and they laid it all aside. We are going to make Jesus a priority in our lives. And here’s the amazing thing: if you seek him first, and all these things, he can take care of this.

I was talking to my wife the other day, and I may be dead wrong. But I said, so-and-so, I think maybe they have a—they’re a little short on cash right now, but I really think they have made the Lord priority. God will take good care of them.

I mentioned my dad earlier. I’ve seen my dad walk away from jobs just because they got on to him for witnessing, trying to get people saved at work. And I watched Dad just walk away from jobs. He just—it takes so much lower pay. And I was like, Dad, what about my new cell phone I want to get? No, I—Dad get me if I said that, you know. But I watched him. But you know my dad died, I’m not sure how many years ago, but his house was paid for. They’re never rich, but they had all they needed. God always took care of it and still does, my mom.

Friend, I think about my wife and I, neither one of us went to college for money. I mean, we went to ministry. It wasn’t all about that. We haven’t did everything perfect. I’m not trying to act like that, but really, money’s never been a thing. I mean, if I don’t want for money, and you don’t always try to decide all that stuff, I thought about going a different route, but it sure wouldn’t have been to be a preacher.

The first job of the ministry was as a youth pastor making $125 a week. And when we moved down, I don’t even know if we knew how much we were going to make at that time. It just kind of like, you know, it felt like the Lord’s leading us, we’ll go. And we were out of the ministry for about four years and just the way our lives worked. And during that time, I thought, well, we’re out of the ministry. I might as well try to make a little money. And can I be honest with it, that was a disaster. I mean, that was a time of testing for us financially.

And then we came down and started the church. At first, we didn’t have any support. Probably should have went around like people trying to raise support. We said, we’re going to go to start a church. And someone said, hey, there’s this grant type thing through the church we’re at where a millionaire had given money and go put your name in the hat. I’m not going down there for that. I’m not going down there for that. You big dummy ought to put your name in the hat. Yeah, okay, we’re going. Might as well put our name in the hat. And we got some financing through that. We didn’t do it for that. We didn’t go around trying to raise money and all that, and I’m not saying I’m against that. We haven’t tried to make money a big thing.

One year, our church, maybe eight, nine years ago, I don’t know, maybe seven, who knows. But our church went to a financial crunch, and I don’t say this to brag on me because I fail all the time. But I do want to try to make a point at the end of this thing. But our church went to a financial tough time, seven, eight years ago. I don’t know. And one year, we did not get paid, or I didn’t get paid one time, one time. Sometimes it’s weeks later. We just didn’t have it. I didn’t tell anybody. Deacons didn’t know about it. The only guy who knew about it was our treasurer at the time. We’re not doing this for money is what I’m trying to say.

But here’s what I’m trying to get to. Here’s what I’m trying to get to, friend. Man, we are so spoiled rotten. We just went on vacation in the summertime to Montana, rode a Harley-Davidson, rode all over the Rockies on a motorcycle. We’re about to go and suffer. The day after Christmas, we’re going to be suffering. We’re going to see my wife’s folks in Florida at Christmas time. We have a nice house. It’s not big, but it’s plenty big enough for us, 1,200 square feet, and an acre of land, horses behind us, many of you’ve been there. It’s a beautiful place. I got a nice truck. My wife’s got a nice car. I mean, we’re not in debt up to our ears. Our bills are paid. I mean, God has been so good to us. And we’ve not been perfect. We’ve tried to do it God’s way, just put him first. He can take care of your finances. He’s a wonderful Master. Money and careers and what you’re going to have in your nest egg is a miserable master, friend. Praise the Lord for these shepherds that say, we’re going to lay that aside. We’re going to put Jesus a priority in our lives.

I see some people just working, working, working, working, work, working. Would you please do it God’s way? Because you’re working yourself into the grave, and you’re never getting ahead. And that’s not God’s plan, and God’s probably not going to let you get ahead because you’re love of money. And the Bible still says that’s the root of all evil. Not money, but the love of it. Y’all way out there this morning.

Man, these shepherds, they just flew on and all. Let’s go find Jesus. Praise the Lord, they did. For all eternity, they won’t regret it. They’ll be happy for it. They just said, we’re going to make Jesus a priority.

There’s a 22-year-old young man back in the 30s, you know, the 30s, the depression, all that, the beginning of it. Things were still bad. He worked in New York at an insurance office. Excuse me, New York. We have New Yorkers down here up front. I got to say it just right there. Well, one New Yorker down front there, you know. And things were still going downhill in America, economy-wise.

Rumors were going around the office that they were going to have pay cuts. But this young man, he had a great voice. Man, he could sing. And there was a radio station. Back in them, radio stations gave out contracts. It’s kind of like fame and fortune would be equivalent in our day and time. Typically, they had a good voice. And about that time, they were offering him a contract. I’m talking about, that was like mega bucks there today at the time. And you know, your voice is going to be all over. You got a good voice, fame and fortune kind of. And he had a great voice, a great voice.

And this 22-year-old man in his office, things were going bad. He had this offer. But he was a Christian. He went to church. Sunday, he was going to sing in church. So Sunday morning, he had gotten on the piano, I believe in his house. I’m not sure about that part there. And he…

And he sat down to practice. He was going to practice for the song he was going to sing that morning. And his mom—moms are sneaky. You’ve got to watch moms. His mom had posted a little poem on the piano that a pastor’s wife had wrote. See, Mom knew what was going on. He was having this battle. And he sat down to practice that song, and he read this little poem that his mom had put there. She knew where he’d be. And the poem said this. He said, “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I’d rather be His than have riches untold.”

They say, man, his eyes just popped on a couple lines of this poem. “I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause. I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I’d rather be true to His Holy Name.” That has set his fingers instead of playing the song he was going to sing a little bit later. His fingers—just the melody came out and he began to play the music, you know, when we sing that song, and millions sing it: “I’d rather have Jesus.”

A couple days later, he went to the radio station, or he told the radio station. He told them no. They were not used to people telling them no. They said, “What did you say?” Nobody turns this down. This is fame and fortune. He said, “No.” George Beverly Shea became, if you will, the song leader for many, the musician, the singer for many Billy Graham Crusades. In fact, because of that, around the world, he traveled Billy Graham and sang. Because of that, many say that he sang live to more people than anyone’s ever sang to in the history of the world. And he said, “I’d rather have Jesus.”

Friend, you make Jesus your priority. He can take care of these things. Would you please—and I’m going to move on. Well, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll just quit. I think maybe we’ll finish it tonight. We’ve got two other things. But can I say this? Would you please just do it God’s way? Seek ye first. You won’t regret it. Years later, for all—you won’t regret it. I wonder how many say born-again Christians are going to stand before him one day and they’re not going to have anything to give him because they not live for him. Friend, these shepherds were awesome, man. They just—they made him upright. They left whatever was going on and they came with haste.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Heads bowed, eyes closed. If you’re here this morning, you say, I feel a tug in my heart. I need to make him a priority. You’ll have to do it often, by the way, because Satan will always put things in front of Jesus. But you say, I need to just reset, or I need to just surrender. But this morning God spoke, he’s tugged in my heart. I need to make Jesus the priority in my life. God spoke to my heart about that this morning. If that’s you, would just lift your head and say, Preacher, I’m going to make Jesus the priority in my life. God bless you, many hands, many hands. That’s so key. Anybody else, I want to make Jesus the priority in my life. Anybody else?

Oh, friend, don’t get stuck in this society that everything else is priority and then we give Jesus our leftovers. Please don’t do that. You’ll regret it. We chase things down here that are so temporal, they’re going to be gone tomorrow. You’ve heard it said there’s no U-Hauls behind hearses, friend. Man, make him priority.

Maybe you hear this morning you say, Preacher, I’ve never settled this thing that I’m saved. I need to overcome my fears. I need to accept Jesus as my sacrificial lamb. I need to come to Jesus, the Savior. I have fear associated with it. What will people say? The unknown, I don’t know what it might be. But there’s some fear involved. You say, I’m going to be like the shepherds. I’m going to overcome that fear and I need to accept Jesus as my Savior, my way to heaven.

If that’s you this morning, right there where you said in your heart, would you call on him? Right there what you said right now. Would you call on him? Oh, Jesus, thank you that you came. You lived and you died. Thank you for being my sacrificial lamb. Right now I receive you as my way to heaven, my personal Savior. Come into my heart. Would you save me right now? Thank you, Jesus.

Heads bowed and eyes closed. You said, Preacher, I just prayed that. I just asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior. Would you slip your hand up? Just slip it up. I just asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior. Would you be anybody else? I just called on Jesus to be my Savior. Anybody else? Anybody else? Just slip it up. Oh, God loves you. Jesus came for you. “For unto you is born this day a Savior.”

Would there be anybody else? Preacher, I just asked Jesus to be my Savior. I’ve seen several hands. There’ll be a man down front and there’ll be a man in the back. Would you go to them? They’ll just help you out, give you some literature. We’ll be a help to you. We’ll rejoice with you. It’ll be a wonderful, wonderful thing if you did that.

The rest of us, let’s make him a priority. Oh, there’s so much pull in our day and time. Sometimes you’ve got to cut all the apron strings and say, nope. Jesus is my priority. He’s my everything. He makes my decisions. Would you please stand? Would you stand? We’ll have Lord’s prayer. And would you spend some time with the Lord Jesus Christ? Praise him for being your Savior, love on him, thank him. Make him your priority. Worship and adorn him. Let’s put it into practice. Would you do so? Would you do so?

Father, give us boldness to overcome the fear. Lord, those that raised their hand, they need to come. Let them come. Lord, help us all to make you a priority. Lord, help us to do it your way. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Lord, help us to do so this morning. We’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do. See, in Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

Would you come as we play? Would you come? Just make him a priority. Renew that priority. You are my priority. Tell him that.

You asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior. There’s men up front, men in the back. Maybe you go to your neighbor and say, hey, I just asked Jesus to be my Savior. He loves you. He came to save you. Who’s your master? Who’s your master? Who’s your master? Who’s your master? Think about it. Who’s your master?

Maybe we need to confess, Lord, you’ve not really been my master. I’ve let this and that take over. Take that office in my life. Would you just surrender to him today? Hey, you’re my Master, whatever you want, Lord. Whenever you want, however you want it, you’re my Master. Let him know that. Let all the other things become way of far, far second, third, fourth. Make him your Master. Can’t serve two masters. Let it be your Master today. He can handle all the rest. Sad to see people making money and career and temporal things their master, and they’re so empty and vain at the end of the day. Make him your Master. We’ll sing one more verse. If you need to come, would you come?

Original File: Why the Shepherd’s were wise - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 12182022