R1407 The Shepherd’s Angel

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message about The Shepherd's Angel.

In just a moment, we'll be studying God's Word together, but we want you to know we're available for you. You can call anytime. 866-899-WORD. Jot the number down.

866-899-9673. We're here for you. And now, today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. Let's just pray together. Father, in all of these things, and I'm just scratching the surface, we do what we do because the Savior is born.

He is Christ the Lord. Thank you. Thank you for giving us the privilege of serving you. Thank you for our children, for our preschool, for our girls. Thank you for our special needs, friends.

P139 at the Sunshine Club. Lord, we need volunteers. Lord, I'm asking in your name that you would touch some people's hearts. In Sunshine Club, we need another 10, 15, 20 volunteers who would step up and say, you know something? I can do that. I can be there.

I can love on someone who will respond so well to the love that I give them. We need volunteers to hold our babies in their arms. We need prayer warriors. And Lord, our people are rising up. Thank you for giving us this privilege. Thank you for what you're doing for us. Thank you for the Spirit of Christ who lives in us. This is the spirit of Christmas. This is what makes us who we are, and today we bow before you. In Jesus' name we pray together. Amen. I want you to see this in your Bibles, so open your Bibles to Luke chapter 2 and verse 8.

Luke chapter 2 and verse 8. I want to show you something here. I want to speak to you for just a moment on the shepherd's angel, singular. By the way, if we were having a little test right now, if you were on Jeopardy or something like that, and I said to you, how many angels appeared to the shepherds?

What would your answer be? By the way, they came in two waves. Did you know that? They're the shepherds out in the middle of the night watching over their sheep, and the first wave was one. One angel came to them. And then after one angel came, here came the sanctuary choir.

They could hardly stand themselves. I think they were jostling their way across the heavens and saying, Lord, why are you leaving us out of all this great stuff? We're going down there. We want to join in with this, and here comes the heavenly chorus. I want to focus on this one angel, the shepherd's angel.

Read it to you. The Bible says in Luke chapter 2, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel, singular, one angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were filled with great fear.

They were sore afraid. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a heavenly host. I'm not going to get into the heavenly host right now. I want us to think about the shepherd's angel. I don't know how much study you've done on angels. I guess last time I preached on angels might be 15 or 20 years ago, and we still have hundreds of people requesting that series, and maybe it's time for me to do that again.

It's an incredible, amazing subject. Angels appear right throughout Scripture. Did you know that?

Everywhere. Some of the times that we know best of all are when Jesus died, when Jesus came out of the tomb, when he rose from the dead. But we also know, we know there are so many occasions right throughout Scripture you will encounter angels, and angels are very special beings. But the bottom line concerning angels is that they speak for God. Angels never speak for themselves. They do God's bidding. That's why I believe that parents ought to pray and ask the Lord to send his angels to stand watch over your children.

Do it. Angels are very real, folks. They're not figments of the imagination. Bible even says to us we need to be on our toes because sometimes we don't know it, and we're entertaining angels unaware. We need to be mindful of the fact that God has his legions of angels. Angels, by the way, feature very prominently in the doctrine of lost things. For example, in Revelation chapter 19, you begin Revelation chapter 19, and millions, trillions of angels make the announcement concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

This heavenly chorus. Angels are given authority and charge, but they are always the bottom line as they speak only for God. They speak what God once said. They are his messengers. They represent him 100%.

They never speak for themselves. They're God's ambassadors. God speaks through them. And here in the shepherd's field, something remarkable happened because an angel appears to these shepherds. And when the angel appears to the shepherds, we hear God speaking.

I want you to just dwell on that for a minute. Actually, this is God. Remember, it is God who loved the world. So much so that he sent his son, the Lord Jesus, to come and to die upon a cross for us.

That Jesus would come and be born in Bethlehem. God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world himself. That's why I want to invite you to give your heart to Jesus. When you give your heart to Jesus, you are accepting God. And Jesus made it very clear. He said, you want to come to God, you come through me because I am the son of God.

What distinguishes Christianity from all other religions and cults is that we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. He is God. He's not a God. He's not less than God. He doesn't walk alongside God.

He is God. And in fact, Jesus, time without number, looked at these disciples and to those around him and he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the father because I and the father are one. So for just a moment, if we can put our imagination and our understanding into gear, I want you to listen to what God was saying.

Because something happened here. God was doing something extraordinary. God actually in the shepherd's field was establishing the people to whom this Jesus was coming. God arrived in a shepherd's field and he said, I want you to know when I speak right now, I want you to understand who it is, who is my target audience. Why it is that Jesus is coming and is going to be born in swaddling clothes wrapped in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.

I want you to understand that. So who were these people? What was going on here and why did he do it the way he did it? The shepherd's angel. Well, the text tells us very simply, it's quite simple to see it, that when God spoke through the angel, he spoke first of all to the least of people. These were shepherds. Now I'm not going to get into a lot of detail with you about their priestly role, not today, maybe at some other time. But I am going to tell you, even in their priestly role, guarding, so to speak, the flock of the inevitable sacrifice of the lamb in the temple, making certain that they were able to be sacrificed without blemish. Even in their priestly role, these shepherds were the lowest of the low of the priests.

They were the least among them. Even in their day and age, back there in the temple, all the important priests were. They probably had common rooms up there, the priest did on the temple mound, probably had a few coffee shops, had places to sit to hang their hats, probably a television set to watch a ball game on a Sunday. Let alone the high priest, when you got to the high priest, he had all the fancy clothes on, people bowed and scraped around him. He was the important person on the block, but not these shepherds. Listen, to be a shepherd meant that you were actually pretty low on the totem pole.

You go sit out there, son. I mean, I want you to just think about the context of the shepherds. Back in those days, dangerous place, robbers, wild animals, extreme cold, not a lot of food, I'll guarantee you very few of their mommies packed them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when they went out there. They didn't have anything hot to drink, they didn't have hot chocolate.

They went and sat out there under the stars, freezing to death. These were the lowest of the lowest, but they were doing something that God looked at them and he said, let me tell you, when I speak, I want you to know that Jesus is about to be born. And I want to begin with those who sometimes are left out in the left field of life. It's one of the things that I love about ministry and missions, so grateful in our church.

I love the way you serve, even sometimes the least of these, my brethren. This coming Wednesday night, we will have Christmas party for our refuge friends. You do know that even as I speak, we've got a lot of our friends who have no homes. They don't have warm clothes to wear necessarily.

They live on virtually nothing. Many are outcast. Many have become victims. Many have suffered great abuse.

Many have made very bad choices in life. They roam the empty streets at night. Some of them sleep under a bridge.

They cover themselves with a cardboard box. And there's a church out there with a people out there who have said, you're welcome in here, because God spoke in Jesus Christ to the very least of these. I thank God on Wednesday night coming. There's another mass of volunteers. I'm exacerbated and exasperated with joy as I look out and I see one life group after another, showing up here one week after another, baking and making and serving and loving on the least of these, my brethren.

What was God saying through this angel? I mean, quite frankly, if I'd been God, are you kidding me? Why don't make the announcement to some of these lowly people in a dirty field covered in rocks? I'd rather go into the foyer of the Hilton Hotel.

I'd rather hang around with the bigwigs and those who are comfortable. But why go there to that shepherd's field? God spoke to the least, but he also spoke at the darkest of time. The Bible says right there in verse 8 that what it was they were doing was at nighttime. Did you notice that little phrase, by night? It just got new meaning to me. When I was there recently at this very spot, that little phrase, by night, became so more meaningful, I looked out across those fields from Bethlehem. I thought to myself, how dark it must have been. This darkness, the darkness of despair. I had a man who sent me an email through the encouraging word ministry that Canella Dillard passed on to me recently this week. And this man said, dear Dr. Wilton, my father is in the depths of depression. Can you give me something to say to him?

This was at the darkest of time Jesus was born. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But many have been asking about the 52-week devotional. Yes, the leather-bound book that makes such a great Christmas present is available right now on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. While you're grabbing the devotional for Christmas gifts and more, also be sure and sign up for the daily devotional from Dr. Wilton you receive via email.

It's right there on our website www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. By the way, just one angel caused a brilliant light. Just one.

That's what the text says here. We associate the brilliant light with the entire sanctuary choir. I think what God was saying is, I'm just going to send one. We've just had the privilege of hosting the shrine bowlers.

I'm telling you, I'm so grateful for the people that work so hard and the volunteers and the people that open their homes and their pocketbooks. And every time I saw the buses and watched the players, I thought about this in the darkest hour. Perhaps, perhaps just one. Because just one angel came and a brilliant light surrounded them. It's all it takes, you know.

Just one. God spoke to the least at the darkest time, but he spoke in the strangest of ways. I think what God was trying to tell us about Jesus is don't associate normality with the coming of the Prince of Peace. Spoke in the strangest of ways. He brought an angel.

And then followed it up with the team. That's strange. He just spoke to them in the strangest of ways. I think he was letting them know. Let me tell you, this Jesus, Jesus doesn't run according to the local pundit.

Jesus and the Poles don't go together. He's trying to tell us something about him. We're not talking about ordinary here.

We're talking about extraordinary. We're talking about the Son of Man. I want you to know God said to these angels, the least of them in the middle of the night. I want you to know, perhaps God was saying, is this Jesus? This Jesus is going to do what Jesus does and the world might find everything about him to be strange, but he alone is the Son of Man. What? Who in the world would want to put their faith and trust in someone who rides a donkey?

Give me a break. Kings come riding on magnificent animals with swords in their hands. With their cape flowing behind them and with a crown upon their heads, with armies in sight. Kings are great people who mingle with the greatest of people. And Jesus, no, strange, strange.

This is strange. Coming, this donkey business and in a manger, nobody around couldn't even get a spot at the Holiday Inn. What happened when God spoke to the shepherd's angel? I just got to put this in very quickly, lest we forget. He spoke to the least of the people and at the darkest time and in the strangest of ways.

But don't miss this. He also spoke among the dumbest of animals. By the way, now I didn't say this, I read this in a commentary. That's you and me. Do you know, by the way, when Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus, after he had gone through everything that he went through going to the cross, you know what Jesus called those people who were seeking after him? He said, you are just slow of heart to believe.

Doesn't that sound like you and me? That's dumb. All we like sheep have gone astray. I mean, I'm sure there's some of you, but I grew up in Africa and I used to work on sheep farms with over 40,000 sheep. I will tell you, sheep are dumb.

They taste jolly good, but they are dumb. I'm just telling you. Just look at us. Just think about us.

Just look at the world. But you know, when God spoke, he spoke with the greatest of announcements. The greatest of announcements. Boy, what an announcement.

God spoke through this angel. I mean, just mind boggling, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. Isn't that fantastic? Don't you just love Christmas?

Isn't that just fantastic? Would you bow your heads with me for a second? Every head bowed.

That wonderful Genesis service. Jared, you and the team come right now. And get ready. Get ready because God is doing something. He's doing something here. He's doing something with you. He's doing something with me. God is moving in a great and a wonderful way. Yeah, there's a lot of things that we can do together.

Do you know that? A lot of serving. In fact, in just a moment, I'm going to ask some of you to do something. We're going to take a retiring offering today for our janitorial staff and men and women who help us in this church behind the scenes, picking up and cleaning our toilet bowls for us. I'm going to ask each one of you to, as you leave today in Genesis and in our sanctuary, and we just take all of that and send it to the business office and they just divide it amongst all those who work in our janitorial service.

We give them a little love gift from our church. Now, why do I mention that with every head bowed and I closed? Yes, this is Christmas. When the angel appeared to the shepherds, what was he trying to tell us?

I think we know. It's about you and me knowing that Christ is Lord. He's our savior.

It's about us opening up our hearts, our pocketbooks, our lives, giving of our time, our talents to the Lord. Just give it away. Just give it away.

Just give it away because we can never out give the savior of the world. He came that we might know. Look at what he's done for us, that he would leave his throne and his kingly crown and to come to this earth for the likes of me.

And it all begins with me. Do I know Jesus? Do you know Jesus?

Have you given your life to Christ? Give your heart to Jesus today. Receive him into your life. Confess your sin to him. Trust him as your savior. Today, I'm going to invite you to come take someone by the hand and invite you to come in Genesis and invite you to come here in the sanctuary. I'm going to invite you to pick up the phone and call that number on the television screen. We got people waiting to talk to you and get alongside of you so that you too can hear what the angels have to say, because what the angels had to say had to do with me and had to do with you.

That's what this is all about. And we thank the Lord Jesus and Lord Jesus today, we thank you for Jesus, the Christ of Christmas. What a powerful time of teaching with Dr. Wilton. Now open your heart to what he wants to share as he steps into the studio next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God. This is exciting news. Perhaps moments ago you prayed along with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to Jesus.

If so, Dr. Wilton wants to rejoice with you and give you some free resources that will help you grow. You can receive them by calling 866-899-WORD. Jot the number down. It's available 24 hours a day. 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org.

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This beautiful hardback book will make a great gift. Please visit SaturdayswithBilly.com or call 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to order. Our time's gone for today but we're connecting online 24 hours a day at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. And remember this prayer line is answered 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.