Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, December 26, 2021

Shepherds and Angels

Today Pastor Michael is teaching on the birth of our Savior from a neat perspective.  Not purely the neat perspective that this is the story almost everyone has seen Linus give on the Charlie Brown Christmas.  No, it’s that shepherds were selected to know of Jesus’ birth first…not a King, not a prophet, not a rabbi.  

Shepherds.

Shepherds in those days, well, frankly, smelled.  How could they not?  They slept on the ground next to the sheep and were not always highly regarded, especially in the days when there was so much “purification” done in religious ceremonies.  Pretty much the last thing a rabbi needed in his temple was a bunch of stinky shepherds!

So, for all of the wonder that is easily the most important event that ever occurred, shepherds were chosen for the visitation by angels.  

How cool is that?  Shepherds!

One would have to believe that they were just as startled as anyone, yet they showed spontaneous obedience (2:15) to what they had witnessed.  And therein lies the great lesson in this story: God sees in people what others don’t see, what even the person themselves don’t see.

And those shepherds knew to deliver the message to the world and they did!  God is with you, inside of you, just like the Shepherds!

What an ending to 2021!  See everyone in 2022!

Today’s verses can be found in Luke 2: 8-20.