The Shepherds

Luke 2:8-22

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!”

We begin on the night Jesus was born. You see, Baby Jesus was born in a stable where animals live. After He was born, Mary wrapped Baby Jesus in cloth and laid Him in a manger. Mary and Joseph knew Jesus was special because Jesus is God’s Son.


Now on the night Jesus was born, there were shepherds taking care of their sheep in a field nearby. What sound do sheep make? “Baaa. Baaa. Baaa.”


The shepherds didn’t know it, but on that very night, while they were taking care of their sheep, Jesus, God’s Son, was born! Now, Jesus, God’s Son, was born and God was about to make a BIG announcement to the shepherds, right out in the field while they watched their sheep. The shepherds would be so surprised!


This is how the surprise happened. The shepherds were watching their sheep and an angel appeared in the sky!


The angel said to the shepherds that a special baby had been born and the baby was God’s Son! The angel told the shepherds to go find the baby in a manger. Then suddenly, the whole sky was filled with angels! The angels were praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest!” Now you can see why the shepherds were really surprised! The shepherds were excited about Jesus because Jesus is God’s Son.


When the angels left, the shepherds did what the angels told them to do. They ran as fast as they could to see Baby Jesus in the manger! When the shepherds saw Baby Jesus, they knew that He was special because Jesus is God’s Son.


They ran to tell everyone that Jesus had been born! Everyone who heard the good news that Jesus had been born was amazed. They knew Jesus is special because Jesus is God’s Son.
Son.






Bible Paraphrase: God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. —John 3:16, GNT

Text Truth: The shepherds run to 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

In our Bible story, we learned about when an angel told shepherds that Baby Jesus had been born. The shepherds knew Baby Jesus was special so they ran to see Him! Why is Jesus special? Jesus is God’s Son! And the Bible verse we’re learning tells us why God gave us His only Son, Jesus.

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. —John 3:16, GNT

The shepherds ran to tell everyone the good news that Jesus had been born. So, with your family, make a list of people who we can tell the good news about Jesus. Have each family member write down the name of a person they can tell about God’s Son, Jesus. And write down each family member’s name next to the name of the person they said.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, we want everyone to know that You love us so much that You gave us Your Son, Jesus. Help [family member’s name] go and tell [name they listed] about Jesus. Help [family member’s name] go and tell [name they listed] about Jesus. (Continue with each family member.) We love You, God. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

-
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.

All story illustrations are the property of their respective owners.
-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Early Christians Shared Everything

Image
Acts 4:32-37 Our story comes from a book of the Bible called Acts. That name is short for “the Acts of the Apostles.” The word "Apostle" is another word to describe a helper of Jesus. Our Bible story tells us about some people who loved Jesus. The people were gathered together in a room. Buzz, buzz, buzz. The room filled with talking and laughter. The people called themselves Christians because they did what Jesus Christ said to do (Christian means "follower of Christ"). The Christians knew that Jesus was God’s Son. They wanted others to know about Jesus, too. Grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, and children met together in homes. They would pray, sing, and learn about Jesus together. All these people loved Jesus. They were like one big, happy family. Because they loved Jesus, the Christians happily shared what they had more than others. Everything a person had was happily shared with the rest of the Bible-time Christians. They shared food so every...
Read more

Abraham and His Family Moved to a New Land

Image
Genesis 12:1-9 Our story comes from the book, or part, of the Bible called Genesis. Genesis means "the beginning." A man and woman lived in a land called Ur. The man was named Abram and the woman was named Sarai. Abram and Sarai were husband and wife. God called Abram and Sarai and gave them new names! Abram means “nobel father.” But God changed his name to “Abraham,” which means “father of many.” Sarai” means “princess.” But God changed her name to “Sarah,” which means “mother of nations.” Now they were Abraham and Sarah, "father of many" and "mother of nations!" Abraham grew up in the land called Ur. When he was grown, Abraham moved with his family to a new land called Haran. But then, in the land of Haran, God appeared to Abraham and told him to leave his country. God told Abraham to move to a new land. God promised to be with Abraham and show him where to go. God also promised to give Abraham children, grandchildren, and many g...
Read more

Jacob and Esau

Image
Genesis 27:41a; 32:9-21; 33:3-11 Our story comes from the book, or part, of the Bible called Genesis. Genesis means "the beginning." The Bible tells us about two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau were twin brothers. They were the sons of Isaac and the grandsons of Abraham. Jacob and Esau were born at the same time and were the same age. But Esau was a couple of minutes older than Jacob. Because Esau was the oldest son, he would someday receive a special blessing from their father. That was very important. One day, Jacob tricked his father Isaac into giving Jacob the important blessing instead of Esau. Esau was very mad. Esau was so angry that Jacob became afraid. Jacob decided to move away from Esau. So he packed up his things and traveled to another land. Even though God didn’t like what Jacob had done to Esau, God still blessed Jacob. God gave Jacob a large family and many animals. After many years, God told Jacob it was time to g...
Read more