This sermon emphasizes the unexpected and humble beginnings of Jesus' birth, where ordinary shepherds and Gentile wise men were the ones led by God to witness the Messiah's arrival, signifying the inclusivity of the new covenant for all people. It highlights the supernatural guidance given to these individuals through angels and a star, showcasing God's intentional revelation to those who seek Him. The narrative also draws parallels between the birth of Jesus and the establishment of the new covenant church, emphasizing the importance of believers surrendering to God, facing opposition, and following divine guidance even in the darkest times.

To worship Jesus, and to recognize him, were not the great Bible scholars. There was a man called Gamaliel, or other scholars like that, running a Bible school in Jerusalem, but none of them had a clue. They studied the Bible. If you asked them, where is the Messiah to be born, they'd say, yeah, yeah, he used to be born in Bethlehem. They knew that because they had studied Micah. In fact, King Herod asked the scribes, and they knew the answer. But the people who actually saw Jesus were some poor shepherds, and some Gentiles, that means non-Jewish people, who came from a far land in Matthew chapter 2, led by God, to see Jesus. So here were the shepherds, and here were the wise men from the east, signifying that in this new covenant, there's not going to be any distinction between Jews and Gentiles. There's not going to be any special group like in the old covenant. That's why right at the beginning, you see the shepherds coming in Luke chapter 2, and you see the wise men coming in Matthew chapter 2. Those are the ones whom God, to both of them, God supernaturally revealed. To the shepherds, by an angel coming and telling them, and to the wise men by a star. They couldn't have known otherwise. You know, who led them? And there were lots of babies born that day, even in Bethlehem there were lots of babies. But the Lord led them. And you see the, when you think of the way the shepherds were led, it's very wonderful to see this. It's not just, you know, poor shepherds and some wise men from another land, Jews and Gentiles being brought. I think it was prophetic that this is going to be a new age when all people, from far away and from near, can receive the Holy Spirit, can come and see Jesus and be a part of this salvation. And how they were led by the Holy Spirit to, you know, to minister to Jesus. The shepherds, for example, they had nothing to give, but it's very wonderful to see how, let's look at the shepherds first in Luke chapter 1. How were they led? All this has got many wonderful truths for this new covenant. You know, when we think of the body of Christ that was born through Mary. Remember, it's a picture of the new covenant church, which is called the body of Christ. So right from the beginning, you see truths about the church. How the church is born through the Holy Spirit coming upon. How the church is born by men and women who believe, who give their bodies to God, and become one body, who allow the Holy Spirit to come upon them, who face reproach, misunderstanding, backbiting, and who just keep their mouth shut. They will not reply. Mary wouldn't say anything to whatever people said about her. You know, if you really follow the Lord, I'll tell you this, you'll be misunderstood. If you're a popular type of person, well, I doubt whether God's leading you. How can you be a popular in a world that rejected and crucified Jesus? Not possible. And I'll tell you, most of Christendom today is also rejected and crucified Jesus. They're more interested in the world. They're more interested in money, and houses, and lands, and movies, and entertainment, and music, and everything the world can give. But these shepherds, it says here, the angel appeared in Luke chapter 2. To these shepherds, and it's very interesting that both these groups, you see an activity going on at night. The wise men, they were led at night. You can't see the stars during the daytime. I hope you know that. So when do you think the wise men traveled? Do you know the wise men couldn't travel during the day? Did you know that? They had to sleep during the day. I mean, if they were traveling from hundreds of miles, I think they must have taken a few months. To travel. And the only time they could travel was at night. They slept during the day, traveled again at night, slept during the day, traveled at night. And the shepherds are also like that. Here they were at night. There's something about that. I've seen through the years that God speaks to many people in the night season. When he called Abraham, as we read in Genesis 15, and said, look up and see the stars. Was it daytime or nighttime? It's not written there. What do you think? Sure. And when God told Abraham to offer up his son, he tested him. Was it daytime or nighttime? It was nighttime. Next morning he says he got up and went. And here were the shepherds at night. See, because I see it like this. It's at night when everybody's asleep and the world is quiet. Here and there, around, you know, it's not night all over the world, but wherever there is night in the world, God sees a few people crying out to him on their beds. God, I want you. Jesus spoke about that in Luke chapter 18 where he said, shall not God avenge his elect who cry out to him day and night? So that's just an interesting thought. People long for God in the night seasons. Anyway, the angels appeared to them at night and said to him that you're going to find a baby. And the way you're going to identify this baby. When they go to Bethlehem and they find all these babies there, how will they know which one it is? There's no halo around Jesus' head like you see in these pictures. Not at all. How to find which of these babies is Jesus? All the babies look exactly alike, especially when they are born. He said, this baby you'll find wrapped in swaddling, in cloths. Well, all babies are wrapped in cloths. So that is not the distinguishing feature. You'll find it lying in a cow shed, in the manger which is the trough in which the cows eat. You go to Bethlehem and search and you'll find only one baby in all of Bethlehem that is lying in a cow's eating trough. All the other babies are better off. But this one will be so poor that he'll be placed by his mother with the cows and the donkeys and the eating trough. Their mother just cleaned it out and he'll be there. You'll only find one baby like that. That's how they could find out. Otherwise, how would they know? So it was very easy for them. They had to go just looking around for cow sheds in Bethlehem. That's a house. It can't be there. That's a house. It can't be there. I hear a baby crying there, but that's a house. It can't be there. Oh, there's a cow shed. There's another cow shed. Let me look inside the cow sheds. Let me look inside the eating troughs. In all of Bethlehem there was only one baby. See, that's the mistake the wise men made. The wise men followed the star, followed the star, followed the star, finally landed up in Jerusalem. And they thought, well, the king of the Jews, where are kings born? The palace, of course. So they said, we don't need the star now. Goodbye. Let's go and ask in the palace, Herod, what about the king of the Jews? The king of the Jews? I haven't heard of it. That was the one place where those wise men were foolish. It's always foolish when we don't follow the star. You know, that star is a picture of God's word. God's word will always lead us to Jesus. But when you stop following God's word and use your reason and say, ah, now I know, that's where you'll go astray. That's where the wise men went astray, where they stopped following the star and used their own reason and said, ah, now we don't need the star. In this area, I don't need the star. Kings are born in palaces, of course.