The Shepherds

Luke 2:8-21

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Gospel of Luke. Luke loved Jesus and wanted others to know and love Jesus, too. And the word gospel means “good news!”

The true story of Christmas happened a long, long, loooong time ago when Jesus was born. Now, because Jesus is God’s Son, you would think that He was born in a very special place like a . . . 


. . . CASTLE! And there would be a big party with lots of confetti and lots and lots of people! But that’s not what happened.


Jesus was born in a stable where animals live. There wasn’t a party or a lot of people. It was just Mary, Joseph, and some animals. 


Do you think that is the end of the Christmas story? No, that is not the end of the Christmas story. You see, God wanted EVERYONE to know that His Son, Jesus, was born. So, on that very same night, God sent a special message to some shepherds out in a field. There’s our word! "S" is for SHEPHERDS!


What do you think a shepherd’s job is? They take care of a certain kind of animal. Do you think shepherds take care of giraffes? 


No, not giraffes. Do shepherds take care of frogs? 


No, not frogs. What animal do shepherds take care of? That’s right! Sheep! Shepherds take care of sheep.


Back to the Christmas story. While the shepherds took care of their sheep, an angel appeared in the sky and said to the shepherds, "I bring you GOOD NEWS of great JOY! Jesus is born!"


Then, the whole sky was full of angels who started praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest!"


When the shepherds heard this good news, they ran to find Baby Jesus. 


When they found Him, they were amazed! They wanted everyone to know that Jesus was born. So they ran and told everyone that God gave us Jesus, and that’s how we know God loves us.




Bible Paraphrase: God has given a son to us. —Isaiah 9:6, NCV

Text Truth: The angels tell about Jesus.



Family Devotional

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
—Luke 2:15-21

Our Bible story was about shepherds. "S" is for Shepherd. When the shepherds heard the good news that Jesus was born, they ran to see Baby Jesus. Then they ran to tell everyone that God gave us Jesus! God loves you and God loves me so much that He gave us Jesus!

God has given a son to us. —Isaiah 9:6, NCV

The shepherds told people that God gave us Jesus. So, with your family, make a list of people you can tell that God gave us Jesus.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, Thank You that we get to hear about how You gave us Jesus. Help us to tell (read the list your family made) how You gave everyone Jesus because You love everyone so much. Merry Christmas, God! We love You! In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Some story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported license.

Some story illustrations are in the Public Domain.
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