What does First B Jackson teach about shepherds?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on shepherds keeps returning to the same observation: God split heaven open for the people least likely to receive such a message. Shepherds occupied the lowest rung of the social ladder, ordinary working people on a dark hillside with no status or influence. That God chose them to receive and carry the birth announcement is not incidental. As Pastor Matt put it, it confirms what the angel actually said, that this is good news of great joy for all people, not some people.
The word the Greek text uses for the shepherds keeping watch carries the sense of ongoing, careful guarding, as if the flock is something precious. Ray noted that this same word appears only twice in the New Testament in that exact form, and the second place is in Luke 11, where Jesus says blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. The posture the shepherds held toward their sheep is the same posture God invites toward His word.
The shepherds' response became a kind of pattern that the teaching at First B has returned to more than once. They heard the announcement, they went immediately to see it for themselves, and then they told everyone they could find. And then, after all of it, the angels and the manger and the confirmation that everything was exactly as they had been told, they went back to work. Back to the same fields, the same sheep, the same ordinary life. But they went back glorifying and praising God. Pastor Florian held that up as a picture of what renewed hope, faith, and joy look like in everyday life: not a dramatic departure from ordinary calling, but a return to it, changed.
Taught from Luke 2:8-20 · Luke 11:27-28 · Psalm 34:8 · Romans 10:17 · Isaiah 9:6
The passage taught · Ephesians 4:11-13
11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- December 21, 2025 The Message Came Toward Them Shepherds, Mary, and Joseph each heard a message from God and acted on it. A Christmas sermon on receiving what God says and responding in obedience.
- December 20, 2022 Good News of Great Joy for All People Luke 2 traces the shepherds from fear to faith to praise. Pastor Blake walks through what their response to the birth announcement means for us today.
- December 21, 2021 Good News of Great Joy for All People Luke 2 reminds us that God sent angels to ordinary shepherds first. Hear how that good news of great joy still reaches ordinary people today.
- December 17, 2017 Good News of Great Joy A Christmas sermon from Luke's Gospel on the shepherds, Mary, and what it means to receive God's message of good news and keep it faithfully.
- December 17, 2017 Good News of Great Joy Ray walks through the Christmas story, the shepherds' response, Mary's response, and what it means for anyone who receives the good news of a Savior born in Bethlehem.
Mentioned along the way
- December 24, 2017 Christmas Eve Candlelight Services (3) A Christmas Eve service from First Baptist Jackson featuring scripture readings, carols, and a message about Jesus as the light of the world that darkness cannot extinguish.