First Witnesses
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Have you ever been a witness to something? Sometimes it is a sobering experience. I once witnessed a pedestrian accident. Thankfully the pedestrian survived, but none the less I had to provide statements of what I saw to both the police and the insurance company. Other times it is something we enjoy talking about. Being a witness to the births of my children or watching them accomplish something new, these are stories I told over and over again.
How about you? What are some stories of amazing things you have seen that you have shared over and over again?
In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
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:
Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!
When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.
After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child,
and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
The shepherds encountered God
The shepherds responded to what they had learned - it changed their plans
The shepherds proclaimed the amazing things they had seen and heard.
Shepherds were lowest social strata-not even legal witnesses.
Our excitement about encountering Jesus.
Are we excited to come to church?
Are we excited for others to encounter Jesus?
“Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary.
But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.