God’s Word for Children
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 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.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Lesson: Sometimes things happen that surprise us. Maybe you find something that you thought was lost. Or maybe someone comes to visit who you didn’t expect to see. What does your face look like when you’re surprised? Can you show me?
In our Bible story today, we meet shepherds who were watching their sheep at night, outside in a field. They probably thought they would have a quiet night with all the sheep sleeping. But instead, the shepherds were surprised by a bright light in the sky. They were probably a little scared, too.
But what was the bright light? It was angels, sent by God to tell them good news about a baby. Again, the shepherd were probably surprised. A baby? That’s nothing new. Lots of people have babies. But the angels wanted the shepherd to know that this baby was different. His name is Jesus and He is God’s Son. He would grow up to do many wonderful and surprising things like healing sick people and telling the winds and waves of a storm to stop. But best of all, He would make a way for us to know God, His Father.
God sent baby Jesus because He loves us. He wants us to have hearts that are filled with love, but sometimes we do things that aren’t nice. Then our hearts are sad and mean. Jesus came to be our Savior and make our hearts clean again. He loves us very much. Does that surprise you? Then you are just like the shepherds. The shepherds left the fields and went to see the Baby Jesus, Who was born in a stable in Bethlehem. They worshiped Him, which means they loved Him and said good things about Him. They knew that God had sent Him to be our Savior. We can worship Jesus, too. We can love Him. We can talk about how good He is and how much He loves us.