# Why the Shepherds

Category: Worship & Praise
Key Passage: Luke 2:8-20
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: January 22, 2023

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter number two. Luke chapter number two in your Bibles this morning. And we are going to start verse number eight. Jesus has already been born by this point.

The angel Gabriel, I believe it was, went and made the announcement, and then, of course, a multitude of heavenly hosts. And they’re talking to the shepherds, and we’re just going to look at this for a bit this morning.

Luke chapter number two, we’re going to start verse number eight. If you’re able to, would you please stand just to show the word of God respect? And he magnified his word above all his name. And so there’s a lot of value in the Bible.

Luke 2, verse number 18 of God’s word. And the Bible there 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. They were sore afraid. And the angel said to them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For 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. 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 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 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 all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them.

Now, just for a moment, let’s just ponder this, this moment in why the shepherds. This is really the moment when deity and humanity come together. Isn’t it wonderful? There in Isaiah 9:6—oh, I’m misquoting it. Isaiah 9:6, let’s go over there to look at it. I’m going to misquote that thing.

And I should know what I thought I did. Isaiah 9:6. Bible draw, you know, if you get it, Bible drew, if you get it before me. Here we go. Here we go. “For unto us, there it is. I’m just quoting. I was getting Luke 2:11 mixed up. For unto us, a child is born.” That’s the humanity of Christ. “Unto us, a son is given.” That’s deity.

And this mixture was happening in this moment. Heaven comes to earth, if you will. Eternity past pointed to it; eternity future looks back on it. It’s the special moment God becomes flesh. It’s an amazing moment here. And Christ was born. He was laid in that manger there.

Here’s the thing you just want to talk about for a minute here. Isn’t it interesting, the first guest that came after Christ was born was shepherds? You understand the wise men were a good way off, all for later on. Shepherds. Why wasn’t shepherds? I mean, it could have been a king. That would have been worthy because Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But it wasn’t a king in a palace.

It could have been the wise men first. They were the Magi; they were the counselors, the cabinet of the king in the East, Persian, and very known, very prominent men. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t prominent, popular people that would be on the 6 o’clock news or anybody would know about it. Nobody wants their autographs or anything like that. It’s just normal, lowly shepherds.

I’ve been studying a little bit about carpenters in Bible times. Joseph, of course, a carpenter. Jesus was a carpenter. They weren’t the poorest of people. They would probably be upper middle class. It was a skilled trade in that day and time. I’m not saying that’s bad; I’m just studying that up. But you compare that to shepherds. Shepherds were a lot lower.

Why was it that the first guest Jesus wanted to visit him when he became humanity were just shepherds? I’m not sure everything about it. Maybe it is because Jesus, of course, he is the Great Shepherd. He’s a Good Shepherd; he’s a Chief Shepherd. Maybe that had somewhat to do with it. I don’t know.

Maybe because the promise of the Messiah came through Abraham, and Jacob and some of those guys, Isaac, they were shepherds also. Maybe that’s part of it, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because these shepherds were a little bit outside of Bethlehem, the city of David. Maybe it’s because that’s where David was. Remember that’s where David was when Samuel wanted to anoint someone king and say, “Go get that boy.”

Maybe David was out in that very same field that these shepherds were when the angel came and spoke to him. I’m not sure. Interesting thoughts. I wouldn’t argue about it. I can’t prove it. Maybe that’s part of it. But why these shepherds? Let’s call it another little thought here. Why are the shepherds? Verse number eight right there.

What do you say? He said, “And they were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” That typically did not happen. Typically, the shepherds would bring their sheep into a fold. John 10 talks about that, and Jesus is the door, and so on and so on. But they didn’t do it. Why were they out there with the sheep?

Several different theories about that. Some will say, “Well, Christmas ought to be in the summertime,” and summertime is when they would move their sheep. And so as they’re moving them, they would sleep them in the overnight time. I don’t think so because I think they’ve been traveling a lot farther off. Typically, summertime, they go up into the mountain regions and look for green grass and whatnot. So I don’t think that. I wouldn’t approve that; I wouldn’t think that.

Some, and I tend to think this, think that it was the lambing season. It’s when the sheep—wintertime and spring—they’re having their baby lambs. And when they’re giving birth to lambs, the shepherds would stay out there with the sheep all night long because they’re giving birth. I tend to think that may be true. That would fall in line with the Lamb of God being born, you know. Maybe that’s part of it.

I know why they were there at nighttime. I’m not sure. I tend to think this also—I could not prove it—but some think these shepherds were a special type of shepherds. Are y’all with me out there? There’s just a regular old shepherd watching sheep. And then there were some sheep that they were trying to raise those sheep to be the sheep they would take to the tabernacle, the temple, and offer as sacrifices.

Now, I remember those sheep were special: a male, about a year old, without blemish. If that sheep had rubbed up against a thorn bush and it had bored into it, made it bleed, and left a scar, it had a blemish. It couldn’t be one of those used in the temple. And so they would have special shepherds, sometimes often called Levitical Shepherds, and they would watch their sheep very, very carefully that for young lambs, that first year.

And in fact, they say sometimes when those lambs were born and it was born and it looked like a perfect lamb, no flaw, no blemish in it, they would even, you know, they’re young, they’re just trying to get up and walk, you know, and they’re trying to learn their legs and they’re stumbling all over the place. They get a lot of scars. And so they say the Levitical shepherds, they would actually take their lambs often and wrap them in swaddling clothes. Isn’t that interesting, you know? Maybe these were, and they would stay with their lambs all night long because they would wrap them and they wanted to take care of them. And maybe that’s some of the reason why the shepherds were there at nighttime.

There’s even a rumor that Jesus was born out at one of these where the Levitical Shepherds were at. It’s very interesting. It would kind of fall in line. Typically, there are two stories to the one that Migdol Eder—well, I’ve got it wrote down, I can’t remember the name of this place. Some say Migdol Eder, Tower of the Flock. Some will really say that is the spot Jesus was born. We don’t know this is true. I tend not to think so, and I’ll tell you why. But you can find pictures of it, what it looked like. That’s some people that wrote about those sayings in that time. And it’s two stories.

The top story, the shepherds would go up there and sleep at nighttime. The bottom story is where the animals were birthed and stayed down there. And they said, “Well, that falls in line. There was no room for them, you know, up on the top floor was full, so they had to stay down there where the babies were. And that’s why he was laid in a manger.” The reason why I don’t think that—verse number 10 right there, excuse me, verse number 11 right there of Luke 2—verse number 11. He says, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David,” all right? So I don’t think that’s necessarily true, but it does bring a lot of meaning to this thing.

By the way, in the city of David—we won’t go anymore into all that—but just some interesting thoughts, and telling you all these thoughts to hopefully keep your attention for just a moment here, all right? Y’all still with me out there?

Let’s get a little bit more practical. All those are wonderful ideas and truths. It’s just wonderful to study the Bible, trying to make it real to us. But I want to just point out a couple things that the shepherds did when the angel made known to them. And I think it’s just great lessons that we can learn from the shepherds this morning.

How did they respond? Of course, God knew how they would respond. Let’s look at this thing when they heard the message. Would you look back at verse number 15 and 16? Luke 2:15 and 16. If y’all there, is there more? Would you say amen? Amen. Good.

Verse number 15, and it says, “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.” Notice this: “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, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

I love this thing about these shepherds. These shepherds, they said, “You know what? This may be birthing season. This may be our paycheck for a while here. This is a very important time. It requires some priority, but we’re laying all that aside, and we’re making Jesus a priority.” They said, “Let us go now.” We’re just leaving all our cares here, and we’re going to worship Jesus. In fact, they went with haste.

Can I be honest with you? If we’re not careful—me too—we’ll get so busy doing all these things down here that we really don’t have time to worship and serve the Savior Jesus Christ. I think the devil learned a lesson. He took everything away from Job, and Job said, “You know what? When I’m tried, I will come forth as gold.”

I mean, at the end, God kind of had purified him of his self-righteousness, and the Lord could bless him twice as much. Maybe the old devil, he is watching. He said, “Well, let me learn a lesson from that.” So a little later on, the Bible over there in Revelation, you get the Church of Laodicea. He’s not taking everything away from them; he’s giving them everything. And they have so much. They’re rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, is what they thought. And what did God say about them? God said, “You make me want to throw up.”

And if we’re not careful in America—I’m talking about me here, folks—I’ll be so wrapped up in all the things we have down here that I don’t have time to give my heart and my priority and my allegiance to Jesus Christ.

These shepherds, they did not fall into that trap. They left them all. They made haste. “Let’s get over to Jesus. Let’s serve him. Let’s adore him. Let’s worship him. We want to get to Jesus.”

D.L. Moody—how many have heard of D.L. Moody? Great preacher years gone by, you know, college from him, radio stations, all that, just God used him. They often would say about D.L. Moody, “He shook two continents for Christ.” But D.L. Moody used to say there sometimes if you’re too busy for God, you’re just too busy.

Can I confess? Can I confess for a moment here? If I’m not careful—and I’ve been guilty of this—I get so wrapped up in doing all these things that I believe God’s called me to do that I really don’t have time for God. Shame on me. And I’ll be a hollow preacher, a hollow pastor that kind of has all the outside, enough on the inside, usually that implodes pretty soon, friend. But you must, and we must make time for Jesus Christ.

You know, Satan will steal from that any bit he can. And you’ve got to say, “No, I’m going to make Jesus a priority in my life.” You know, I have to. I know it’s Christmas time. You said, “Man, preacher, why are you preaching this on Christmas time? We’re all out of sync a little bit in our schedules and whatnot.” But, friend, we just work at this thing of keeping Christ a priority.

Would you look over in Matthew 6 real quickly here? We won’t read the whole passage, but a wonderful passage about material things that are necessary. Hey, you got to have food to eat. Somebody say amen right there. I mean, my name is Jimmy, I’ll take what you give me, you know. I ate cookies this morning, breakfast this morning, you know, and not bad things. I’m not saying that. They’re necessary, but Satan would love to get me to just where that’s everything, right?

Look at this. We’re just starting verse number 30—oh, verse number 30, Matthew 6:30. Matthew 6, verse number 30: “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall ye eat? Or what shall ye drink? Or wherewithal shall ye be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first…”

Let me just stop for a second. That’s a key word, and I think the whole passage first. He talks about verse number 30, 31, that you need these things. God’s got to provide them for. It’s not wrong to even seek after these things, provision, and that’s not wrong; you got to get up and work, you know. But the key is that verse number 33: “But seek ye first…” That’s the key—“the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

You know, God’s plan is: all my cares, my burdens of this lifetime down here—we all have them. Then I take my burdens, my cares, and what I’m after, I take all those things, and I give them, “Lord, I’m going to place them in your hands. They’re yours to worry about, and I’m going to come over here, and I’m going to take on your yoke.” My job now is not to do all that. My job is to serve you. I’m making you my owner, my master, my boss. I’m working for you. If you tell me to work for GE, I work for GE. If you tell me to work for Exxon, I work for Exxon, whatever. I’m working for you. I’ll do whatever you want. And at the end, Lord, I’m not necessarily looking at them; I’m looking to you to provide for me. That’s God’s plan. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And God says in all these things, God can take care of those a whole lot better than you and I can take care of those anyway. By the economy goes down, hey, God’s economy never goes down. He’s got it.

And these shepherds were so good about it. They just—they just left everything. He said, “We’re going to find Jesus.”

Hey, let them ask. Look right this way. Just say, everybody look right here just for a second. Hey, let me ask you, who’s your master? I think about it. Well, say my wife is—come on now, you know. Who’s your master? You know, the Bible, it really clarifies that. He said, “You can’t serve two masters.” No. Who am I really working for?

These shepherds were so good. They were so good. They just said, “You know what? We’re leaving our occupation, whatever it may be, and we’re getting to Jesus.” What an example.

There’s an interesting story about a man. He was on a train years ago when trains were more popular rides, and he sat down there, and there was a table in between him and the fellows on the other side. And he had had his hands down, you know, and pretty soon one of the fellows got some cards out. And they began to bet and gamble on that and on some things with the cards. And one of the fellows said, “Hey, you want to play with us, you know, and put the money in? You can play with us.” And the guy said, “No, I don’t have any hands.” And they said, “Oh, we’re sorry. We did not know. You know, your hands are below the table there. We had no idea. Sorry. We didn’t mean to offend you. Sorry about that,” you know.

And so the other three men, they were gambling and all that stuff, you know. And pretty soon, a little later on, they brought some drinks but not for the man and put water or whatever it was there by the man. And the man that had just said, “I had no hands,” he took his hands up and he grabbed the glass and he began to drink.

And they said, “Wait a second, mister, you just said you don’t have any hands, and you got hands, we can see it right there.” And he said, “Oh, these hands here, they’re not mine. God, he purchased me with a sun shed blood. These are God’s hands. I used to gamble. I used to do all that. I can’t do it. These aren’t God’s hands; these aren’t my hands; they’re God’s hands.”

And friend, these men, these shepherds, they were just so good at leaving all the cares of the world, just saying, “We’ll get there in a haste.” I think that’s part of the reason why God chose them.

Look at something else here. Would you do this? Would you look at verse number 17, just about the shepherds here? Verse number 17. Y’all still with us out here? Y’all still with us? Look at verse number 17. Luke 2:17. “And when they had seen it, they went and they saw Jesus, they saw Mary and Joseph. They had seen it, what had been told. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.”

I think maybe God chose his shepherds because they made him a priority. And then they told everybody about Jesus. They made it known abroad. They heard about it; they went and saw it, and it was made known abroad. I don’t know. They think Jerusalem had a couple hundred people—excuse me, Bethlehem had a couple hundred people this time, population of it. They made known abroad. I wonder if they were able to let everybody in Bethlehem know what’s going on. They made known abroad.

You know, if we’re not careful, we’ll forget. And this—this is a preacher, this is an appropriate time. Well, I don’t know if there ever is an appropriate time. But, you know, I’ve been saved since I was a boy. I was raised in church. I was in church nine months before I was born, as honest truth, you know. And I just, just always—and so I grew up hearing and knowing about heaven and knowing and hearing about hell.

And if I’m not careful, I’ll just get a little bit—I believe there’s a hell, I know there’s a hell, but I don’t—it’s not really real to me. It’s kind of like Peter Pan, a fairy tale book, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it. And I know it’s true, but I just forget about the reality of hell. I’m not doing it like I should, but even here recently I’ve been trying to think a little bit along that line about hell. And praise the Lord, I was saved years ago. I know I’m saved. I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll never burn for one second in hell. Praise the Lord, I’ll never fear that, feel that fire for a split second. I’ll never hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth. I’ll never be a part of the utter darkness. I’ll never be a part. Praise the Lord for Jesus. I don’t have to worry about that, amen.

But I don’t want to lose my burden that God’s commissioned us to tell others how to miss hell.

The church’s job really isn’t to fill the auditorium, build bigger and all that. That’s God; he’s the one that builds the church. Our job is to keep people out of hell. And the way we do that is by telling them about Jesus Christ. It’s amazing how many people just need a clear—just a loving person, not to go over them and preach at them, yell at them, all that, and not up, but just a loving Christian come along and just very clear, very plain, and everyday language say, “Hey, are you going to heaven?”

Joe, I’ve been working with you for three years, and I’ve got to preach. I don’t know all the Bible things, but I do know how to be saved. They got saved years ago. Joe, I’m not trying to preach at you or whatnot. I love you, Joe, and I know that’s weird for two guys that I love you. I care about you, all right, Joe. And I don’t want you to go to hell. Can I ask you, Joe, have you ever been saved before? If you died, do you know for sure you go to heaven?

I meant to ask—and I hope Josie doesn’t mind me telling this—but Josie’s grandpa used to—he came to our church years ago, got saved. Lee Talkington sent me a video when he got baptized years and years ago recently. And Lee Talkington was a great man.

And Lee Talkington went through our discipleship class. One of those Sundays we talked about how you could witness for Jesus Christ. And Lee Talkington, one of the comments to the teacher at the time, Brother Cal, he said, “Hey, Brother Cal,” he said, “I didn’t know that we can lead people to the Lord. I thought the preachers were the ones that lead people to the Lord.” Now, a preacher ought to be doing that, not because he’s a preacher, but because he’s a Christian. If he’s a preacher worth his salt, he was doing that before he became a preacher. God probably wouldn’t call him a preacher if he wasn’t already doing that, typically, not always, but typically.

Anyway, so Lee Talkington said, “Wow, so we can do this thing. We can tell others about Jesus and how to be saved and whatnot.” And, of course, that’s what the class is all about. Yes, you can do that. I had to train a little bit in that class. And recently, Josie and her family has been coming to church, and Josie said, “I want to get baptized.” So I went to visit her a couple weeks ago and said, “Hey, Josie, you know the Bible? You always get saved before you get baptized.” And I said, “Josie, we went through—Sally, have you been saved before?” She said, “Yes. My grandpa led me to the Lord.” By the way, praise the Lord, Josie is going to get baptized today. Daniel, her boyfriend, got saved yesterday. They’re going to get baptized today.

Friend, I’m saying, it’s because Lee Talkington said, “Wow, I can do that.” You can. You don’t have to know Genesis or Revelation forwards and backwards, friend. The simplest thing is you just tell them what happened to you.

There’s gospel tracks. There’s a lot of different ways and helps. We have classes at training and all that. But, friend, these shepherds—I think one reason why God said, “I want the shepherds,” because they went everywhere telling people about, “Hey, Jesus is here, the Savior, the Messiah is here.” They made it known abroad.

How many of you use a Scofield Bible? Anybody use a Scofield Bible? I have a Scofield Bible. The text is King James, but the notes and whatnot is a man named Schofield. One of the most popular study Bibles out there. And there’s plenty of other good ones and whatnot. And I don’t agree with every one of the notes of Schofield. But it’s a good Bible. I just… You know, as you get old as I have been using so many years, you can’t change. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Amen, you know, that’s just where I’m at kind of on that. I use the Schofield.

And C.I. Schofield, you know, he was a lawyer. Actually, he was a functioning alcoholic. Worked every day, but he drank every day. And see, I Schofield, the Bible—I don’t know, I would imagine so many preachers use it today. He had a client, Tom McFedders. Tom McFedders had come to see him. He had seen him many times.

Tom McFedders, he was leaving his office, and his head—actually, his hand was on the door, and I’m about to leave. And he just stopped. And he told the lawyer, the attorney, C.I. Schofield, he said, “You know, I’m the biggest coward on the earth.” Mr. Schofield said, “Tom, I never thought you a coward.” He said, “Well, for a whole year, I wanted to ask you something, and out of fear, I haven’t asked you yet.”

See, I just go for the lawyer. He said, “Come sit down, ask me the question. Just ask away. You’re welcome. Ask me whatever.” And he asked him. He said, “Why aren’t you a Christian?” He said, “Well, Tom, doesn’t the Bible say something about no drunkards are allowed in heaven?” This is so wise.

He says, “Schofield, that isn’t the answer to the question I ask you. Now tell me why.” Watch this. This is interesting. See, C.I. Schofield said, “Well, the fact is, Tom, I don’t know how to go about it.”

And Tom and Peter opened the Bible to John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He explained we’re all sinners. He explained there’s a hell, and He explained Jesus came and shed His blood, His Son. If I believe in Him—not just about Him, but in Him—He’ll save my soul.

You see, C.I. Schofield bowed his head in that office that day and asked Jesus to be his Savior. I would think the preachers that I hang out with the most, I would say the vast majority of them use the Scofield Bible. But just one man said, “You know what? I’m going to let Jesus be known abroad.” Just telling you anywhere and everywhere it came.

Why the shepherds? I think because they made Jesus a priority. Number two, because they made telling Jesus their business.

And then let’s look one more thing. We’re done here. Look at verse number 20. Verse number 20. Luke 2, verse number 20, right here. They made it known abroad. They’re coming back. And look at this, verse number 20: “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them.”

They were praising Christians.

You know, if we’re not careful in our sin-cursed, messed-up world with all the bad news and all the problems and the earthquakes, everything around, we’ll be down-in-the-mouth Christians. You know what? These shepherds, they came home and glorified God and praised Him. Boy, it’s good. John R. Rice, a great Christian in heaven now, he used to say the best billboard Christ has is a smiling Christian.

Hey, you say, “Well, there’s so much bad in the world.” Hey, Jesus said, “If your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, rejoice in that right there.” If you’re born again, your sins are washed in His blood, you’re going to heaven, you have enough to praise the Lord for all eternity.

Friend, it’s a good day when God’s people are happy. People are not defeated and discouraged and depressed by the world and everything around us. Yes, we have our problems, but hey, we’re on the winning side. You heard about the little boy, he’d read those cowboy books, and, you know, towards the end, around halfway through, the guy in black is winning, you know, and he’s got the guy in white, you know, at the point of his gun, about to pull the trigger, and that little boy gets all nervous. He just—he wouldn’t even eat sometimes, fretting and all that, and just a nervous kind of little boy. And he’s reading one of those cowboy books, but he stayed calm. And he came in, and Mom and Dad—Dad said, “Well, you, Junior, usually when you read those books, you’re all nervous and fearful and frightful.” He said, “How are you doing this time?” And he said, “Mom and Dad, I cheated. I read the last chapter already.”

And praise the Lord, I read the last chapter of the book, amen. We’re on the winning side. These were praising Christians.

If I’m down in the mouth all the time, and I was a lost person watching on, I don’t think I want to get saved. All praising Christians are awesome. Go to the Lord and say, “You know, man, I had a good day. Three people got baptized, and the baptistery heater didn’t work. It was freezing. They still went and got baptized. That’s a good day, man.” Trying to encourage these folks here. Praising Christians.

They were busy praising Him. Hey, when’s the last time you just stopped at nighttime, looked up at the sky and seen the stars and praised Him a little bit? When’s the last time you went out in the woods somewhere and got alone and just said, “Man, your creation is beautiful”? Sometimes we’re almost like Romans—we’re worshiping creation instead of the Creator. Man, it magnifies the Lord, His creation. It’s His handiwork.

When’s the last time you just looked around your house and your wife and your kids and your truck and your car and your boat and your floors and your heater and your refrigerator and your stove and what’s inside the refrigerator and what’s inside the closet and your sheds packed full of junk everywhere and just stopped and said, “Lord, you’ve been so good. I want to praise you for a while”? Man, we live in a bad time, friend. We live in a wonderful time. It’s not falling apart; it’s falling into place. We sit here; we got heat, we got cushion chairs, we got carpet, we got lights. We got—show my nephew our auditorium for the first time he’s ever been in here, married in the family. He said, “Man, you got lights in here.” I said, “Man, we sure do, friend.” Man, lights everywhere. I mean, God’s been so good to us. We got—we got so much of everything, and woe be to us if we’re complaining and moaning and groaning Christians.

These were praising Christians. They went back and glorified and praised the Lord. If you’re saved, Jesus said, “Be careful. All these things change. Demons are subject to you.” But if your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that don’t change. You rejoice in that right there.

Let us bow our heads and close our eyes, please.

Just a couple questions, and we’re going to continue on with the baptism and whatnot. You hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, you know, I need to just put Jesus as my priority. I get my mind and my heart—just things pull from it. If I’m not careful, my heart’s not on Jesus. It’s not a priority. And I need to reset there a little bit, hit the reset button. I need to make Jesus a priority.”

“I need to make haste and get to Jesus.” And God spoke to my heart about that right there. “Preacher, that’s me. God spoke to my heart. I want to make Jesus a priority in my life.” You just slip your hand up, “That’s me, preacher. I want to make Jesus a priority in my life.” Just slip it up. That’s right. Me too. I have to. I need to be making Jesus a priority over and over again in my life. God bless you. God bless you. Many, many hands. That’s wonderful. These shepherds were a great example of that. Thank you so very much.

Maybe here this morning you say, “I need to be telling others about Jesus.” However God leads you in whatever way, maybe your neighbor, your coworker, however it may be, track. “I need to be busy making Jesus known abroad. God spoke to my heart. I need to remember there is a hell. I want to do my best, God, to use me to keep people out of there, and I want to make Jesus known.” God spoke to my heart about that this morning. That’s you this morning. You slip up your hand, “Preacher, that’s me. I want to make Jesus known.” God bless you. God bless you. All of us, myself included. We’ve got to be reminded of it. Let’s keep that just trying to win souls a priority. God bless you. Several, many hands. Anybody else? Anybody else? Maybe it’s a neighbor, someone. God’s convicted you about a specific person. “I need to talk to them.” God bless you. God bless you. That’s key. That’s key. God bless you. Thank you so much.

You can put your hands down. Maybe say this morning, “Preacher, I need to be a praising Christian. I want to spend my time praising the Lord, bragging on him, enjoying the life he has given, and life more abundantly he came to give, and more than conquerors through Christ, and I want to be a praise.” And God spoke to my heart about that. “I want to be a praising Christian.” That’s you this morning, just lift your hand up, “Preacher, that’s me. I want to be a praising Christian.”

God bless you. Me too, me too, me too. That’s so vital. That’s so vital. Thank you so very, very much. You can put your hands down.

Maybe say this morning, “Preacher, I can’t say I praise him because I’m saved, because I don’t know that I am saved. I like to know that my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You keep mentioning that this morning, but I don’t know that it is. And I like to have my name written there. I like to be born again. I like to be on my way to heaven and know that so I can praise him for my salvation.” “Preacher, honest truth is I don’t know. I need to get saved. I need to settle that this morning.”

If that’s you, with their heads bowed and eyes closed, no one looking, I’m not going to call your name. I’d love to pray for you. You hear this morning, say, “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m saved. I need to get saved.” If that’s you this morning, I need to get saved. If that’s you this morning, would you just lift your hand up, just lift it up? “I need to get saved.” Anybody like that? I need to settle. I need to get saved. Anybody like that? Just slip it up this morning. Oh, he loves you. He’d love to save you. It would be a wonderful time. I think the best time of the year to get saved is Christmas. That’s why he came to live and die so you can live forever. Wonderful.

Would you please stand? Would you please stand? All of us, would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer.

If you’re going to get baptized, as soon as we say amen, it’ll be time to come forward and get ready to get baptized. We’re so excited about that. But whatever the need, maybe you just need to make him a priority, tell others about Jesus. Maybe to be a prayer. You come as the Lord leads. You come. We’ll pray. As soon as I say amen, you want to come to the old-fashioned altar. Would you come? Or are you coming to get baptized? Would you come?

Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you, Lord. If you chose a king to see you first, I’d be left out. Thank you. You chose a common person with simple shepherds. Lord, we fit in that category. I do for sure. Thank you. You want us to come to you and worship. Help us be better at it from this morning. Bless these folks about to get baptized, growing in you. It’s wonderful. Thank you, Lord. Make it special for them and for those watching. Well, thank you, Lord for what you do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

If God spoke to your heart, would you come? Don’t wait for anybody else. God spoke to your heart. Would you come? You’re going to get baptized. Now be the time to come forward.

You know, most Christians, I don’t think we try to do these things, but just life kind of takes over and we’re not—don’t even know it—but Jesus is not our priority. So many things are demanding our attention. Someone said great things don’t demand your attention; little things do. If I’m not careful, I’ll be caught up on doing all the urgent things instead of important things.

And if Jesus is going to remain my priority, I’ve got to—I’ve got to work at it. I want Jesus to be my priority. I got to work at those things. If I’m going to be telling others about Jesus, the devil’s going to see to it that doesn’t happen by accident. I’m going to have to work at that thing. Here’s a little simple thing, they’re so practical, but it’s true. I heard a preacher say not too long ago, he said, “You can’t pass out a gospel track if you don’t have one.” It’s just a simple little thing, but if I’m not careful, I was out the other day, and I had two in my pocket, and I already gave them. I didn’t have any. It’s just a great opportunity I missed because I didn’t have any tracks. But just however you do it, but just if we’re not careful, we just get so caught up in everything going on, we’re not telling others about Jesus. And I thought about it, prepared for it. I thought about it. I wonder if there’s been someone I met in the last week that’s already died there in hell now and I didn’t witness to them. I don’t know, but I’m just saying we’ve got to work at this thing, keep telling people about Jesus by Jesus, just working it.

And then praising. There’s just so much negativity going on in this world. I don’t want to be a part of this world. I want to be on a higher plane. Be positive, praising the Lord. Amen. And let’s just be a praising Christian. Thank you so much.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Why the shepherds - Sunday AM 012242023