Luke 2:8-20

[Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] hey hey welcome to coffee and devotions this thursday morning tuesday morning august 4th this where every weekday morning at 9 00 a.m and on the weekends before my kids wake up you and i we get together we have some coffee we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2020 we'll make it through all the gospels well this morning we are at luke chapter 2 verses 8 to 20. luke chapter 2 verses 8 to 20 and we will be asking why in the world are there sheep in this story anyways well let's go ahead and have some coffee pray and get to god's word let's pray lord we thank you so much for this day we thank you father for the rich blessing it is to get to come to your word to sit at your feet father we pray that we would treasure up your word in our hearts that we would trust them believe them and walk in them in jesus name amen well luke chapter two beginning at verse eight let's go ahead and jump into the word this morning now there were some of the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night and behold an angel of the lord stood before them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid then the angel said to them do not be afraid but for behold i bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people for there is born to you this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord and this will be the sign to you you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes laying in a manger and suddenly there was an angel with where was with an angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising god and saying o glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherd said to one another let us now go to bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the lord has made known to us and they came with haste and found mary and joseph and the babe lying in a manger now when they had seen him they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds but mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising god for all the things that they hurt had heard and seen as it was told them well we're going to go ahead and ask ourselves sorry you got a scratch of my eye there ask ourselves a what is this about a what is this about well we have two different stories both about the shepherd so i think they can go to hand to hand together just fine and i think what this is getting at is the heavenly host announcing the christ's birth so that's how i would put it in my little one sentence summary the heavenly host announces the christ's birth now maybe you would separate these out would you write one sentence or two sentence let me know down in the comments would you write one sentence or two sentence sentences and if you would write those sentences what would you put in your bible they're both about the shepherd they're both about the announcement there's little bits of difference there i'd love to hear your thoughts about that let's go ahead and just look at a few things as we kind of work through this passage together this morning so the first thing what do we see well we see there were some shepherds in the same country and they're lying out in the field right so this means it's warm enough outside for them to be out there at night with their flocks they're they're there they're sleeping with with their herds to make sure that they aren't harassed stolen attacked by animals and as they're there sitting underneath the stars which proclaim god's glory all of a sudden an angel appears to them and it's interesting this is the third time an angel has appeared in this story first to zacharias then to mary and now the angels are appearing to the shepherds and each time the reaction of the people who see the shepherds is fear and here again what does the angel say do not be afraid and then i bring you i bring you great tidings or good tidings of great joy which will be to all people not just to them not just to a group but to everyone good tidings and what does he tell them well he tells them that there is born this day in the city of david a savior now there's a little bit of hebrew understanding we need to under get to here right the idea of a savior and of a christ and of the city of david is this idea of a triumphant king this is hearkening us back to the promises that god had given to david that he would have a son who would sit upon his throne forever and so as he has given that promise so here he's fulfilling that covenant promise that david is indeed having a son and this son is the christ and the angels of heaven are now praising god worshiping the lord isn't it amazing what they say glory to god in the highest on earth peace good will towards men this is an astounding choir that is mighty and worships god why because the christ has come god has shown peace good will towards men in his son jesus christ but it's an unlikely place isn't it where do you find princes born where do you find heirs to the throne being born do you find them in mangers no no no you find them in palaces but here the angels tell them something unexpected no hold on go into the city of david go into the city of david and there you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and they make case they make a beeline they go straight to the to the city of bethlehem they want to go see this child and there they marvel right there they look at this child and they are amazed and they can't help but spreading this news throughout all the land it's interesting verse 19 though jesus's mother but mary kept all these things in her heart that mary ponders she's saying she treasures them in her heart how could this little child of mine he's the son of david this miracle birth this virgin birth says now the angels in heaven aren't just announcing it to her it's not just elizabeth con confirming it but now even the shepherds are coming out of nowhere to come and to see this babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and you can imagine mary's joy in the lord as she sits there and she is humble remembers that god is faithful to his people god is faithful to his promises so in my bible i'm going to go ahead and highlight or underline verse 20 and then i'm also going to highlight oh how do you do this uh i'm gonna i'm gonna go ahead and go for it i'm going to do it 11 and 12 but maybe you would highlight 14. maybe you would highlight something else what would you highlight in your bible as the best verses to summarize this section i this is this is a hard thing to do sometimes but what do you think is the verse that or verses that best get it to the heart of why luke wrote this passage why god gave us these words well lastly we need to ask ourselves seed calling what are we called to do in response to these words well i would say we are called to do like the shepherds to have good will to have joy to have peace because our messiah has come the true son of david we can have hope and we can run to him we can go to him here in his word and we can see him it's amazing what paul says in the book of galatians he says that when people are preaching a heretical gospel when people are preaching a wrong gospel message he says was not christ truly portrayed as crucified before you meaning in your very eyes when you heard the word of god preached did you not see jesus when you come to god's word do you not see jesus oh i pray this isn't making up vain imaginations in our heads but we come to the historical real jesus that even the angels in heaven have announced his birth that the king has come that god is declaring peace to men i pray that that is a hope that we can latch onto a truth that we can shackle our eternity to an anchor for our souls that can give us joy and peace for our entire lives how is this going to look out in your life how will it look for you are you going through a trial in your life in which you need to remember that your savior is greater than your trials maybe for some of you you have gotten stuck into this pattern of being satisfied or okay with the things of this world and you need to remember that you have a king who is greater than this world i don't know how this is going to look in your life i'd love for you to let me know down in the comments well why don't we go ahead i'm going to give you guys a question okay uh my wife and i have had been having this conversation i forgot shaving cream as we brought out as we came out here to visit and so olivia wants me to keep the beard i'm gonna i'm gonna leave it up to you guys just just write either one word or two words either write beard or shave go ahead and let me know i'm going to i need a little bit of ammunition for this do you want to do you like the beard if you do say beard if you want it shaved just say shave well okay let's go ahead and pray lord we thank you for this day we thank you for your word we thank you so much for jesus christ our righteous king who has come lord we pray that we would sing forth your praises that we would ponder these truths in our heart that you even announced your birth to the poor to lonely to the humble lord and we pray that we would come and we would kneel at your feet and we would marvel at your deeds in jesus name amen i pray that god blesses you today and gives you peace bye