We don't know their names....
Just a collective group of men doing a job....
A group of men outside the city on a hillside....
A group whose very lives reflected this truth of being "outside"...
They did not fit into the mold of being great men....
We don't even know their names.
Some may have had families......wives and children...
Others may have been single....
Being a shepherd was a lonely, hard job...
that usually gave birth to lonely, hard men...
We don't know their names....
Looking forward to the night....
they settled down for a meal and to share the warmth of
each others company and the fire in their midst.
Conversation of what might have been instead of what was....
We don't even know their names....
We do not know their names....
but God did!
He specifically sent angelic messenger to them to announce
the birth of His Son, Jesus.
TO reinforce this announcement, the host of heaven (other angels)
joined in a collective praise to God
We don't even know their names.
We don't even know their names.
The very first persons who knew of the culmination that would be the birth
of Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one...
Outside of Mary, Elizabeth and Zacharias and Joseph.....
were shepherds.
The very ones that were "outside" the city.
There was life in the city.
There was religion in the city.
There was culture in the city.
There was culture in the city.
There was commerce in the city.
But God was outside with the Shepherds.
But God was outside with the Shepherds.
We don't even know their names.
I guess if I could take anything away from this story,
it would be that being on the inside does not always tie
you to God.
Sometimes, it is being on the outside...
the fringe....
that is where you find God.....
We don't even know their names.....
But God knew them...
He knew that He could trust the message of the birth of Messiah
to these men.
Today, God knows you better than you know yourself
And He is willing to trust you with His Kingdom.
To and search for yourself the truth that was born into
that stable so many years ago.
That a Savior....
One who would break the power of sin over humanity...
One who would destroy the penalty of sin..
One who would overpower the presence of sin...
Had come into a world that was dark and hopeless.
That is the Christmas Message that we are to carry....
But God knew them...
He knew that He could trust the message of the birth of Messiah
to these men.
Today, God knows you better than you know yourself
And He is willing to trust you with His Kingdom.
To and search for yourself the truth that was born into
that stable so many years ago.
That a Savior....
One who would break the power of sin over humanity...
One who would destroy the penalty of sin..
One who would overpower the presence of sin...
Had come into a world that was dark and hopeless.
That is the Christmas Message that we are to carry....
Merry Christmas!
mb
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