WEBVTT 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.080 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:10.320 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:17.920 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.559 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:26.160 I want to welcome you in. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:27.679 If you're new with us, my name is Clayton. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.839 I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:31.280 I'm so glad that you joined us. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:33.840 We are in a journey through the Gospel of Luke. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:40.240 We're going line by line, verse by verse, passage by passage, and we're just allowing the text to speak to us. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.960 It has been uh an incredible journey so far. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.600 Uh last week we left off with Mary and Joseph coming to town. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:49.600 This is the story of Christmas. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:51.759 Last week we did Christmas in July. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:01:01.600 Uh, if you missed last Sunday, you just you need to go to YouTube.com slash metachurch because um odds are you think you know the Christmas story and you just don't. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:03.280 You don't actually know the story. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:10.079 Uh it is deeper, it is far more tragic, but it is far more applicable to your real life than you probably imagine. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:13.840 And so I'd encourage you to get caught up in that way by going to our YouTube channel. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.319 Uh, where we left off is Mary and Joseph. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:20.079 No one made room for them, and so they ended up in somebody's barn. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.079 This is not an ideal situation, but this is where Mary goes into labor. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:30.799 She gives birth to Jesus, who is Yahweh, the one true God in human flesh, and she lays him in a feeding trough. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:32.400 And that is where we left the story. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:34.319 Uh, we left it in a dark place. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.359 It is the brightest spot in human history for us. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:38.079 We know that. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:40.400 All of history is split into two at this moment. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:47.840 But for Mary and Joseph, this is a dark moment, a hard moment, a sad moment, a moment of loneliness and fear. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.840 And yet, we are about to walk in to the next part of the story. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:57.680 They didn't know that angels were already on their way to a hillside outside of Bethlehem to announce the good news. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:16.400 They didn't know that the shepherds would soon make their way down into town, and that this little infant that they just gave birth to and just laid in a feeding trough because they do not have appropriate accommodations, that soon shepherds will come and bow down at the feet of their infant and worship this infant as the one true chosen king. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.000 All of that is still coming. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:21.680 And we get to walk through that today and see what God has for us in it. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.919 We are going through this first section of Luke. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.080 We've called it the chosen king. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:39.759 And today we'll make uh clear once again that Jesus did not just come to be savior, he did not just come to be healer, he did not just come to be friend, that Jesus came first and foremost to be the last and final chosen king. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.759 Now it's interesting, this is the third angelic announcement. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:47.520 If you've been tracking through this series with us, this is the third time. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:56.400 Uh the first time was to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, the second time was to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and now the angels show up on the hillside to the shepherds. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.159 And these angelic announcements, uh, they have a template to them. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:03.360 They happen in a similar way every time. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.400 Uh, the angel shows up unexpectedly. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.719 Uh, the glory and greatness of God fills the area. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:16.400 The receiver of the message reacts in shock and fear. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:22.240 The angel then brings comfort to them, delivers a message, and gives a sign. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:26.479 The angel shows up, the glory of God surrounds and overwhelms. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:29.919 The angel comforts, gives a message, and then leaves them with a sign. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:31.199 This will be the sign. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:38.000 That is the template, and it is a broad template for almost any time an angel shows up in scripture. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:39.599 This is kind of how it goes. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:45.280 But in Luke's gospel, there's another part to this template that's easy to miss, but is very, very interesting. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:54.800 Because every time an angel has shown up in Luke's gospel, by worldly standards, the angel has shown up to the wrong people. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.520 By worldly standards, the angel keeps showing up to the wrong people. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.039 God keeps calling, by worldly standards, the wrong people. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.319 And so we look at Elizabeth and Zechariah. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:16.800 They are the ones who are called to give birth to John the Baptist, the forerunner of the chosen king, the one who will walk with the spirit and the power of Elijah, the great prophet. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:26.079 And yet, Zechariah and Elizabeth are very old, well past childbearing years, and even when they were young, they were proven to be barren. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:27.680 They just seem like the wrong people. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:29.600 The angel shows up to Mary. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:31.600 And we we went through this. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:36.319 And if you grew up Catholic and you haven't been in this series with this, you gotta go back and watch because you're probably gonna be offended. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:39.040 But what we learned in the text is Mary was a nobody. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.879 She was from nowhere, she was doing nothing significant with her life. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:44.879 She just seemed like the wrong person. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:53.360 We're gonna see in short order here that the shepherds, by far, out of everyone, were just the wrong people by worldly standards. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:05:03.040 It makes no sense that the shepherds are the first audience to receive this news, that the shepherds are the first audience to have a worship service for King Jesus. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:04.959 It just doesn't make sense. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:18.079 And in that way, it's kind of beautiful because when God really got a hold of my heart and I felt called to use who I was and what I had to help build God's kingdom, I absolutely felt like the wrong person. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.800 I had just come out of five or six years of deep rebellion. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.800 I had turned my back on God, I'd fully embraced all the things of this world. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:32.639 I was actively spitting in God's face day after day, month after month, year after year. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.079 And I didn't even know that God was gonna use me in full-time ministry. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.079 I just thought God had called me to build his kingdom with who I was and who I was becoming. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:52.879 And then eventually, even when God started calling me to use my gifts to preach and teach and pastor, I've got to be honest with you, I had a sense, and I I'm guessing you have felt this way as well. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:06:01.680 Whoever you are, wherever you're tuning in from, if you're if you're watching from Helotus, if you're online with us, that you have felt like God, you got the wrong person. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:15.279 Like I'm gonna try to behave, you know, and I'll like I'll give a little bit to the church sometimes, I'll show up when I can, but like really a big call, a big calling, a big plan, a big assignment? 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.800 No, no, no, God, you you got the wrong person. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:25.360 We've all felt like this at times, and maybe if you're honest, you feel like this right now. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:30.079 Odds are you have felt like this or you do feel like this, and so my question is why? 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:44.480 Like, what specifically about you, who you are, who you've been, what you have or do not have, what is it that has made you feel disqualified, or maybe makes you feel disqualified right now? 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:47.199 Is it your background? 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.000 Is it your lack of education? 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.480 Is it that you came from the wrong family? 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:54.399 Had you hurt too many people? 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:00.240 Too many stains on your record, not enough biblical knowledge. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:10.480 Maybe you just have some habits, maybe you have some character flaws, maybe you have some mistakes in your past that have had wide-ranging effects on many, many people. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.480 There are all kinds of things that convince us that we are disqualified. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:17.680 We have these things at Medichurch, we call them false narratives. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:24.000 We're gonna be talking in the coming weeks, letting you know about the next semester of the movement academy here at MetaCurch. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.279 And I'm just telling you, uh, everyone at MetaCurch needs to go through the academy. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.480 And I know I've said that for years. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:30.560 We've got like 150 people through it so far. 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:31.680 It's changing people's life. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:32.560 It's part of what we do. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:38.240 We help you identify these false narratives that keep you stuck and that make you feel like you are disqualified. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:45.759 You see, we we miss the pattern in scripture that God keeps sending his angels and giving assignments to the wrong people. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:56.800 It's like maybe if we trust God and we know who God is, and we see a pattern that God always seems to call the wrong people, and we can trust God with that, then maybe the wrong people are actually the right people. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:06.160 Maybe if you feel like you are the wrong person, it just means that you are in good company with some of the greatest people that God has called. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.800 Let's go into Luke chapter two. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:18.399 If you're becoming a Bible scholar and you've got the Word of God in front of you and you're taking notes, in Luke chapter 2, verse 8, we're just gonna stop short in the same region, shepherds. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:26.319 That's as far as we need to go because the same way we don't really know the story of Christmas, uh, we don't have a correct view of shepherds. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:36.080 I think in our minds, uh, the shepherds, we think of them through the lens of like beautiful, picturesque paintings. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:46.480 Like when we're stressed and we're in our nine to five and our boss is on us, and we've been staring at a computer all day, or we've been on the job side all day, we're out in the sun all day, we're sweating. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:51.200 We might even think, like, bro, just to be back in the day and be a shepherd. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:56.480 Oh man, so peaceful, you know, you're just out, you're like in the tall grass. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:02.879 You're with, we think the sheep are like these beautiful, you know, bleached white, like they're just perfect. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:05.519 And then you're out there, we think of ancient shepherds. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:11.919 They're in like a nice white tunic, they got a sash, like they just won a beauty contest or something. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:13.440 This is how we picture them. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.840 And we're like, bro, we'd just be out there like David. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:17.039 I'd probably be playing a harp. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:18.480 I bet I'd know how to play a harp, you know. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:19.279 I'd be out there. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:20.480 It would just be peaceful, man. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.159 It's like Lord of the Rings, that's how we think of it. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:24.960 Like I'm just out in the countryside, I'm kicking it. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:26.080 It's so cute, bro. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.840 The shepherds are so cute, you know. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.960 We think of them like they're just peaceful and kind and loving, and you're wrong. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.159 That is not the reputation of the shepherds. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:45.919 In the first century, here is how you were viewed as a shepherd, and to be honest, the reputation was for a reason. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:53.360 Shepherds were seen as uneducated, unclean, untrustworthy. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.320 Shepherds were lowlifes. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:09:59.120 That was their reputation. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.519 Shepherds were lowlifes, they were crass. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.200 You didn't want to be around shepherds. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.639 You were almost by definition uneducated. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.440 So this means that you didn't make it very far in school. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.120 You certainly didn't make it through Torah school. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:19.360 This is why you were out in the fields. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:24.720 They were seen as unclean, and this was a reputation they had. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:33.120 And in ancient Israel, there were the Torah, the Hebrew law, and you were either clean or unclean, and few were seen as unclean. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:39.759 There were all kinds of things you couldn't do in society, including go to the religious services in the synagogue or the temple. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.120 They were seen as unclean. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:50.960 They technically weren't unclean just because they were shepherds, but because of their proximity to animal blood, which was constant, because of their proximity to animal feces, which was constant, they were seen as unclean. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:59.120 They were not welcome in almost any synagogue in Israel, they were not welcome in the temple, which means the very center of social life they could not be a part of. 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:04.879 They were outcast, they were marginalized, they're uneducated, they're unclean, and they are untrustworthy, and we know this. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:21.600 So the Mishnah is the oral traditions of the law of Israel, which was eventually written down for us, and we can see in the Mishnah that over time and by the time of Jesus, the shepherds were not seen as trustworthy enough to give testimony in court. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:27.759 If you were wronged, and the only person who saw it was a shepherd, you were out of luck. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:29.679 They could not go to court and testify. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:32.240 They were seen as too untrustworthy. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:34.799 These were the shepherds. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:44.639 They were dirty, they were illiterate, they were liars, they were crass, they were lowlife, marginalized on the outside of society. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:50.879 This wasn't a beautiful little picture of little King David out in the field playing his harp, hugging the sheep. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:52.000 That's not it. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.879 That's the audience that the angels come to. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.039 Uneducated, unclean, untrustworthy. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:14.879 As I was studying the text, and I was getting the full picture of who the shepherds are, how they were seen, I realized Zechariah and Elizabeth seemed like the wrong people. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.360 But they were trustworthy. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:18.720 And they were educated. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.440 They were righteous in the sight of man and the sight of God. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.639 Mary seemed like the wrong person. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.480 But Mary was righteous. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:27.919 She was trustworthy. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:35.200 She was likely uneducated, and she was a woman, which means in the ancient world she didn't have much standing or much of a voice. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:37.919 And then we get to the shepherds. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:41.919 And I don't want you to miss this. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:54.320 Because what the shepherds seem to represent in the narrative is every possible excuse that you could have for why you are not qualified for what God has called you to. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:08.559 Every single area of disqualification that has kept you from embracing all that God has called you to be, that has held you back from dreaming dreams that are as big as God's kingdom that He has called you to build. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:34.639 Every single excuse you have made for why you cannot step into the purpose that God created you with and live a life on purpose and with purpose, every possible reason you could find to stay in the status quo, to stay stuck, to not find out in your lifetime all that God could do through your life, every single excuse falls under the categories of the shepherds. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:38.080 Uneducated. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:53.279 I don't have the education, I don't have the degrees, I don't come from the right family, I don't have the lineage, I don't have the intellect, I don't have the status, I don't have the network, I don't have the contacts. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:09.360 We have unclean, undisqualified, too much guilt, too much shame, too many skeletons in my closet, too many mistakes in my past, untrustworthy. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:20.879 I've broken too many promises, I've had too many chances, I've repeated the same mistakes too many times, I've let too many people down. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.000 These three categories become this broad umbrella. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:34.639 Underneath that broad umbrella is every excuse you could ever possibly make to disqualify yourself from what God has called you to. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:20.639 So congratulations, you're a shepherd, the exact kind of person that God chooses to play critical roles in his story. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:26.240 And so we look at this and we go, okay, why? 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.320 Why the shepherds? 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:30.879 What was it about them? 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:32.639 What can we draw from them? 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.200 Here's what I felt getting into this. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.440 It's like, okay, that's me. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:40.960 I'm the shepherd. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:45.759 This is how I have felt about myself for the majority of my life. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:53.039 These are the narratives that the devil puts in my mind over and over again to try and talk me out of what God has called me to. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:56.320 Okay, so I'm the shepherds. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:58.399 How does God use this? 00:15:58.480 --> 00:15:59.360 How does he redeem it? 00:15:59.519 --> 00:15:59.679 Why? 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:00.480 Why the shepherds? 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:01.840 Why is that who he chose? 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:11.360 I want us to notice in verse 8 it says, in the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and they were keeping watch at night over their flock. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.159 I want to kind of try to describe the job of the shepherd. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.399 Uh the shepherd's job in the daytime was kind of easy. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.399 In the daytime, they could see all of their sheep. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:21.600 They would know their sheep very, very personally. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.240 To me, uh every sheep I have ever seen looks the same. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:27.519 I don't mean to offend the sheep. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:29.600 All sheep to me look the same, bro. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:30.879 I could not tell them apart. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:35.840 Honestly, you could have a white sheep and a brown sheep, and I probably wouldn't even like I would forget who they were. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.120 They knew every sheep, they would name them, and they knew them, they could see them half a mile off. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:42.720 They know, oh, that's Fred, bro. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:43.600 Fred's a little crazy. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:44.559 Come on. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:49.840 And they would call them, and the sheep would know the voice of the shepherds and would come back to them. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.799 They have this like intimate connection with them. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.080 But daytime shepherding, that's easy money. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.159 Where the shepherd skill really came into play is at night. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:06.720 And so there would typically be a rotation of shepherds, and they would take turns at night watching over the flock. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:12.240 One or two of them would stay up, the others would get a little bit of sleep, and they would keep watch at night. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:14.000 Really significant. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.079 It was dark. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:22.480 And because we live in the modern world and because there is so much light pollution everywhere you have ever been, you don't really know what dark is. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:31.440 Maybe if you've been out to like Big Bend, there are some areas of Big Bend where they have purposefully cut out all light pollution, and you can actually experience dark. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.400 Almost anywhere you go in the modern world, you never see dark. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:35.920 There's always light pollution. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:37.680 This is dark, dark. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.599 This is like if the moon is not out, you can't see anything. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.480 Maybe they've got a fire going, and that is it. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.480 And so they had instincts that were honed over a lifetime. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:52.160 And they could pay careful attention. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:57.599 It's very interesting in the actual Greek where it says that they were keeping watch at night. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:03.039 Keeping watch at night, it literally means in the Greek, they were watching watches. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:05.519 That's what it means. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:15.920 We say keeping watch at night so that it makes sense to us in English, but the actual phrase is they were watching watches at night. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:20.640 This was a phrase that was used in the Hebrew world. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:33.200 And the redundancy, watching watches, the redundancy was intentional to show the intentionality of how the shepherds paid attention. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:39.039 It was like so, so honed in, locked in every second. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:41.920 They knew what was going on everywhere. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:43.119 They knew exactly. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:52.960 So look, they're not civilized, they're not really welcome in like public, they're ostracized, they can't go to the synagogue and worship alongside of you. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:58.400 They don't really have any skills, they're probably illiterate, they're not educated, they're not clean, you can't trust them. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:05.200 But boy, the one thing that the shepherds could do better than anybody else is pay attention. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:13.839 As a matter of fact, they had honed their skills so much, it was almost like shepherds could see in the dark. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:24.000 They knew if one of their sheep had gone astray just by listening or by smelling or even just by intuition. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:32.640 They knew if a predator was on the outskirts of their area just by listening or smell or intuition. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:34.880 It was like they could see in the dark. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:36.559 It was a superpower. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:41.359 All right, this is gonna be a weird illustration, so I just need you to like hang in there and trust that it's going. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:43.680 I don't even know if it's going somewhere, but I need you to trust. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:46.240 Because if you trust it's going somewhere, I might make it go somewhere. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:52.160 Maybe you remember, it's not the best in the trilogy, but the last movie in the Dark Knight trilogy is The Dark Knight Rises. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.039 And in the Dark Knight Rises, the bad guy is Bane. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:56.240 You guys remember Bane? 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:01.519 He was big, Tom Hardy, he got real big for this role, he's really scary, and he talked in a really funny voice. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:02.559 I don't know if y'all remember that. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:03.359 It's a bad choice. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.920 I don't know why he talked in that voice, it's really high-pitched and nasally. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.759 I've lost some of you, but I'll get you back. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:14.960 Bane uh is the bad guy, and probably like the most epic scene is a fight scene between him and Batman. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.440 And it's the scene where Batman loses. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.160 And they're fighting down in the sewers. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:28.880 And Bane kind of has gotten the best of Batman, and so Batman has all the technology, and so he uses his technology to kill the lights. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:36.000 You see, Batman is the dark knight, he fights at night, he uses the cover of darkness to his advantage. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:37.440 But there's a problem. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:45.359 You see, when they were kids, Batman was Bruce Wayne, a very privileged son of a billionaire. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:49.200 He lived in the light both metaphorically and literally. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:53.039 When Bain was a child, he was born in an underground prison. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:56.559 He lived in the darkness both metaphorically and literally. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:58.640 He was born in the darkness. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:05.039 And so Batman thinks by killing the lights, he's gonna have the advantage in the fight. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:10.960 And Bane, in his weird, high-pitched voice, has the coldest line in maybe any movie. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:16.480 He tells Batman, you think darkness is your ally, but you merely adopted the dark. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.000 I was born in it, molded by it. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:23.839 And as soon as Batman turns around, Bane's there. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.559 He wins the fight, actually breaks his back. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:33.279 Now it's a weird analogy, but some of you feel like Bane. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:39.119 You don't feel like suffering is something that you have encountered at certain parts in your life. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.920 You feel like suffering is something you were born into. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.839 You feel like rejection is something that has shaped you. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:48.799 You feel like pain is what has molded you. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:54.960 You have been depressed for so long that you can't remember a time when depression was not there. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.759 You have felt unloved from the moment that you remember becoming conscious. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.960 In the world. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:04.400 You have had a torn apart family from your earliest memory. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:10.400 Some of you have blocked out memories of your earliest childhood because there was so much trauma involved in it. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:15.839 Some of you, every relationship you've been in has ended in disaster, and now you just expect it. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:24.319 As a matter of fact, you start sabotaging relationships before they've even gone bad, so you can have some control because you just know that it will go bad eventually. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:29.039 You hear some testimonies about, like, man, you know, I had a really good life, but then I kind of fell. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.119 And you're like, I don't even know what that means. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:35.839 All I've known is pain, all I've known is darkness, all I have known is suffering. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.400 Congratulations, you're a shepherd. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:43.279 All they have known is being uneducated and looked down on. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:48.079 All they have known is being unclean and rejected from polite society. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:53.599 All they have known is being untrustworthy, and even when they have something to say, nobody wants to listen. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:59.839 They're not qualified to speak, they cannot testify in court, they're seen as liars even when they're telling the truth. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.559 You would not trust them with anything. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:04.960 This is their whole life. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:06.799 They're molded by it. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:13.759 And they are who God sends the angel armies to proclaim the good news. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:20.559 The first people who hear about the coming of the Savior of the world are the last people you would think. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:24.799 And what do the shepherds teach us? 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:45.680 No matter how hard your life has been, no matter how much pain you have endured or are enduring right now, no matter how many people have rejected you, no matter the shame that you're carrying, no matter your lack of qualifications, no matter the people who see you as unclean or uneducated or untrustworthy, that God has something for you. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.839 And what it actually shows us, and this is so important, and I hope you'll lean in. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:58.400 And if you can't believe me by the end of today, I hope you'll sign up for the academy so that we can spend three months just digging in to what God wants to do in your life and breaking you free from some of this. 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:02.880 Because what it tells us is God is not calling you in spite of those things. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:10.079 It's not like God sees your pain and sees your brokenness and sees your trauma and is going, look, I'm gonna work around that. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:10.640 All right? 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.359 I know that's there, but I can use you anyway. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:16.319 He doesn't want you in spite of it, he wants you because of it. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:21.279 He wants to take all of it and redeem it for the glory of God and for his own purposes. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:26.079 This is the goodness of God, this is the promise, this is what the shepherds show us. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:36.480 Here's the reality: God sends his herald into Bethlehem and he goes right past the palace. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.240 He slides right by the temple, goes outside the city limits. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:50.240 You know, one of the reasons the shepherds get the news right up front, right after Jesus is born, is very practical. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:58.720 They're the only people in Bethlehem awake, they're the only people who operate in the dark. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:03.039 Jesus is born in the dark of night, everyone else is asleep. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:04.880 God is like, Bo, this is too good. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:13.119 I'm telling someone comes out to the shepherds, chooses them intentionally. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:21.759 We're gonna see next week that it is implied by the angels that the shepherds should go find this king. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:25.839 And because he's king, they should bow down and worship this king. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:30.160 Here's what's interesting. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:46.480 If they went to anybody else and let them know that the king of the world had been born in a barn, no one else would know geographically where every barn in Bethlehem is but a shepherd will. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:05.279 Let me take it a step further. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:24.400 If the angels go to the palace, if the angels go to the temple, to the pious, corrupt religious establishment, and they announce that the Messiah has come, the Christ, and is in a barn in Bethlehem, how would they receive that news? 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:27.599 In a barn? 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:29.519 I have to go to a barn? 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:33.599 The priest, the scribe, the Pharisee, the Sadducee has to go to a barn. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:34.799 You know what happens in a barn? 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:36.400 You become unclean. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:43.440 You go to the palace and tell them that the king is in a manger. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.880 There's a chance in our human pride, the palace takes it as a threat to their own power. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:52.240 As a matter of fact, that's exactly what happens when Herod finds out from the Magi. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:27:05.119 The one group of people who would not bat an eye, who would not judge God for one second, for coming into the world in a barn and lying in a manger? 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:10.079 The uneducated, unclean, untrustworthy shepherds. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:14.880 Probably the only people who would think that was kind of cool. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.440 Wait, the kings in a feeding trough? 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:18.720 Say less. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:20.240 That's where we live, bro. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:21.759 That's our life. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:25.519 What does it communicate to the shepherds? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:32.960 A king, a messiah, who might have just actually come for them. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:35.839 Let's walk through it, verse eight. 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:40.480 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:45.279 And an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:54.720 But the angel said to them, Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:57.279 All of the people. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.839 Not the wealthy, not the influential. 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:24.799 This is good news for the religious people, this is good news for the righteous, this is good news for the educated, this is good news for the clean. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:26.880 This is good news for the trustworthy. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:28.640 All means all. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.720 Let me say it clearer, not to your mind, let me say it to your heart. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.640 All means you. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:40.160 You personally, you individually. 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:54.319 If anyone could have been exempt from the all, it's the shepherds. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:58.400 As a matter of fact, culturally, people would have thought that. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:00.559 Well, the Messiah is coming for like us, right? 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:05.599 I mean, the people who are like religious and pay our taxes, and people can trust us. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.839 I don't want you to miss the significance of who God chooses. 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:15.519 When God chooses the shepherds, he chooses me. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:19.599 When God chooses the shepherds, he chose you. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:26.160 He eliminated your excuses for hiding from his calling that he's placed on your life. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:29.440 Here's what he says. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:36.720 That's what the angel says. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:43.759 This is like a little nugget for the shepherds, because the shepherds have a terrible reputation. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:48.640 But in Israel's history, there is one really great shepherd. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:55.599 It's like if you were trying to encourage a basketball player, what do we say when we hit a nice fadeaway? 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:57.039 Kobe, right? 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:00.079 When we make a nice little lay, we MJ, right? 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:02.160 We look at the goats, you know. 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:05.440 David is the goat of all shepherds. 00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:08.000 And I know that's kind of ironic, the goat of the shepherds. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.599 That's that's King David. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:18.400 He's the one guy who went from shepherd boy, which by the way, when Samuel shows up, all of the brothers come to see who's gonna be the king, except for David. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:23.759 And yes, it's because he's the youngest, and yes, it's because he's the smallest, he's also the shepherd. 00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:27.200 No one cares about the shepherds. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.960 David goes from shepherd to king. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:33.359 He's like the one guy they got in their back pocket. 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:39.920 No one can stand us, no one believes us, everyone dismisses us, everyone marginalizes us, but we got David. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.200 We'll always have David, bro. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.559 We can always talk about David. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:47.039 He could have just said today in Bethlehem, but what does the angel say, today? 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:50.480 In the city of David, he's talking to shepherds today. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:31:03.119 God meets you where you are, God will meet you where you are, God will speak life into you, God will bring affirmation to you if you're paying attention, if you're watching watches, if you're locked in, if you're just seeing what God has for you. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:08.400 Says today in the city of David, a savior was born for you. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:10.400 Who is the Messiah? 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:12.319 Who is the Lord? 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:15.759 Savior, Messiah, Lord. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:26.160 Uh Savior is a Greek word so terror of the verb soteria, which means salvation. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:29.680 Savior and salvation is the noun and the verb. 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.599 The message is clear. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:36.160 This is the one who is coming to bring full and final redemption. 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:43.440 Not only is he the savior, the soter, he is the messiah, Christos, Christ. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:45.519 He is the Christ. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:51.279 The Messiah is the promised last and final chosen king. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:55.839 How is Jesus announced to Mary? 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:58.000 He is announced as king. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:02.880 How is Jesus announced for the first time publicly to the shepherds? 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:06.880 He is announced as king, savior, and king. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:10.880 Not only that, this is that that could be enough. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:16.960 Like the Messiah is coming, and he is going to save us, and they don't even fully know what that means yet. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:22.960 They don't even know this means like eternal salvation forever, to be in the presence of God after this life. 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:24.400 They don't know that yet. 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:28.799 But if that's not enough, he also calls him Lord. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:30.720 I want to show you this in context. 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:31.920 Verse 9. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:41.359 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:43.759 Lord is Kyrios in Greek. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:48.799 It is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Yahweh. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:52.240 Verse 9 could not be more clear. 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:54.799 This is the glory of Yahweh. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:58.559 This is the glory of the one and only true God. 00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:00.559 Don't miss it. 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:05.279 Verse 9, an angel of the Lord, the glory of the Lord, verse 10, the angel said, Don't be afraid. 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:09.119 I proclaim good news of great joy that will be for all the people today in the city of David. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:10.480 A Savior was born. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:12.799 That savior is the Messiah. 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:16.000