P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery.

LONNIE: And I'm Lonnie Melashenko.

CONNIE: Lonnie, have you gotten all that Christmas shopping done yet?

LONNIE: Well, Connie, I'm definitely thinking about it. Wow, life has just gotten so much more complicated than when I was just a kid growing up. I had four brothers and my two parents, but now there's all those sister-in-laws, nephews and nieces. There's Jannie's whole family. It's craziness at this time of year.

CONNIE: It is, It is, it's gotten hectic, it's…I mean, I don't know December has just become such a busy month for us.

LONNIE: But it's still so important--even in life's busiest times--to take time for a devotional life. To take time to listen for God's voice, to be humble and willing to listen.

CONNIE: As we look at the story of the angels' visit to the shepherds' field in today's program, that point comes across loud and clear. The Lord made the birth of His Son known to some of the humblest people on earth.

LONNIE: You know Connie, I was in Chicago recently, working with evangelist Kenneth Cox in the Midnight Cry evangelistic outreach, and I met someone there I feel really epitomizes that kind of humility even though he's been highly honored as a musician through the years. His name is Roy Drusky, and when I introduced him before he sang, I mentioned many of the worldly honors he's received as a performer at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

But you know, when he stood up to sing, what he said really moved me. He said, "I'm just a sinner like all the rest of you…"

And that made me think thoughts along the line of our message today, so I invited him to join us on the program--via telephone.

LONNIE: Roy Drusky it's an honor to have you on the line from Nashville. Welcome to the Voice of Prophecy.

ROY: Thank you Lonnie very much it's good to be here.

LONNIE: When we think of Nashville we think of Grand Ole Opry. We think of names like Roy Ackuff, Dolly Parton, Minnie Peral, Bill Monore, and I even remember as a kid growing up in the plains of Saskatchewan hearing from wheeling West Virginia, Grand Ole Opry. Those were big days for you weren't they.

ROY: Well they were. That was like another life. It seems like that was ages ago, but I'm still a member of the Opry. I'm just grateful for what the Opry has meant through the years to me and… uh…

LONNIE: Actually growing up Roy you didn't even know you had the gift of music.

ROY: Well, not really I wanted to play baseball.

LONNIE: In fact you tried out for the Cleveland Indians, didn't you.

ROY: I went down to one of those farm clubs and I decided I didn't want those dusty bus rides back then.

LONNIE: How about that.

ROY: That's how they traveled.

LONNIE: That was after getting out of the Navy. Then in the 50's you started your first band and suddenly some talent folks tapped into Columbia Records and boy, suddenly you were headlining.

ROY: Well you know it seems like a whirlwind type thing I just thought that's what I really wanted to do, and I guess I'm glad I did it. I realize now, what I actually did against the Lord, and by that I mean I didn't live for Him like I should, and I have seen that in recent years. I thank the Lord that he's turned my life around.

LONNIE: Well, you grew up a good Baptist and had good roots.

ROY: Very good roots.

LONNIE: The Lord kind of…

ROY: My grandmother was charter member of the Born Avenue Baptist Church. My mother played piano in the Church. I sang in the choir and I think I was fourteen and I fell in love with the choir teacher. And I thought, well I want to marry her. You know I wasn't thinking that much about music, but it's just kind of interesting how that worked out and as I got older, I really got interested in music when I was in the Navy. They had a little western band and I'd go and hear them play each night and that's where I became interested.

LONNIE: Well, Roy tell us about how you met the Lord because after toping the charts week on end in the Honky Tonk Ballads. Some of the big, big names of music that some of us remember. Suddenly Jesus sort of came in your life by the nape of your neck, but actually He got in there by your stomach and by your diet didn't He.

ROY: He sure did

LONNIE: How did that happen?

ROY: Well, I thought I knew the Lord before and I'm sure the Lord was taking care of me, but I didn't really know the Lord until 1980, approximently, when I accepted Him through a sweet little lady by the name of Lyla Lundquist, in Portland who I went to see. I had a health problem. I had a heart problem. I was very close to having a major heart attack, but she said "I'll tell you what I'll do. If you will do what I tell you, I will be glad to help you. If you're not going to do what I tell you, then don't waste your time and don't waste mine." So I decided that this was pretty serious and I thought that she knew what she was talking about. So it took a year and she loved me and literally feed me into the church and uh I'm just so grateful for that. Those were wonderful times that I spent with her. She's no longer alive. Because of the good Lord and her is the reason I'm here.

LONNIE: Well, praise the Lord for that. Now I've had the privilege of introducing you from time to time and I like to kind of get carried away and in fact your name is there in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

ROY: No, no.

LONNIE: But you're in the Grand Ole Opre and you're kind of a household word in the whole world of country music, but yet as you share your testimony about Christmas time, what does it really tell you.

ROY: You know its mind boggling the love God has for us. I remember years ago when I was in the Navy. A night the stars really impressed me. I had guard duty on the deck of the ship. We were on a heavy cruiser on the Pacific. It was out there when I was looking at the stars on a clear night in the Pacific Ocean. Of course you're probably familiar with that being in California. It was even more so. When I looked up in the heavens I thought, wow! God this has got to be created by you. The brightness and the darkness and the clarity of these stars just really got to me. Of course I was in the Navy and I was by myself there on the deck, but I really felt like God was holding my hand at that point in time and it kind of turned my thoughts more towards God on that night.

LONNIE: But, Roy, all of the fame all of the lights all of the glitter.

ROY: Well, Lonnie they don't really mean anything. I thought they did at the time, but they really don't. I'm just like everybody else. I'm just a sinner who's forgiven day by day, because I ask for forgiveness and I repent when I sin and I don't try to sin and I don't want to sin and I think that's the beauty of knowing God. When you don't want to sin and yet if you do you know He's standing there saying I forgive you son, keep going, don't give up, don't give up.

LONNIE: Which is the Christmas story right there from Roy Drusky. Thank you Roy.

ROY: Thank you

MUSIC 1: "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem", Roy Drusky

CONNIE: Country music great Roy Drusky singing "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. If you'd like to know how to get a copy of Roy's CD The Great Love Story, stop by our web page at vop.com. where you'll find information about all the music and musicians heard on our broadcast.

LONNIE: And if you'd like to know more about the place where the star of Bethlehem shone, I've got a great suggestion for you. Get yourself a copy of the video series called "The Story behind the Christmas Story."

CONNIE: Starring Lonnie Melashenko?

LONNIE: No, Connie, to steal a line from Roy's song, "Jesus is that star divine." The star of our Christmas video series is Jesus. I merely had the privilege of introducing Him to our viewers when we took a video crew to the Holy Land last year to produce the programs.

CONNIE: Now look who's being humble!

LONNIE: Well, it's really true. This series focuses on the places where Jesus walked and what He did. But it also peeks backstage a bit--and raises the curtain for our viewers. We went to a lot of places that most people never get a chance to visit, even if they take a Holy Land tour, and looked at fascinating sites that reveal the kind of little tidbits that open up the story and make it even more interesting.

CONNIE: I just recently got a chance to view the series myself, and I really enjoyed it, and learned a lot! So I highly recommend it. And even though we we we could give it away for free to our listeners, that just isn't possible. But we are making it available to anyone who asks for it and makes a donation of $20.00 or more with their request.

LONNIE: Let me just interject here Connie, that we went to tremendous expense to produce these programs--far beyond our usual budget for video production--but we're making them available to listeners who send a donation of $20.00 or more to our ministry during the month of December. That's four half-hour programs on two videotapes.

CONNIE: To get your copy of our video series focusing on the story behind the Christmas story, you can call our toll-free number at 1-800-872-0055, or write to us at Voice of Prophecy, Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053.

LONNIE: I know you'll enjoy this series. It's completely different from any other Christmas program, so stop by our online bookstore at vop.com or call toll-free 1-800-872-0055. We ask that you have a credit card ready when you call, or enclose a check when you write, and remember our ministry with a gift of $20.00 or more to receive the videos. Rest assured that your gift in any amount would be carefully used to produce Christ-centered materials: Bible study guides and radio and television programs to spread the gospel to all the world.

CONNIE: In today's message Lonnie takes us to the field near Bethlehem where shepherds were watching their flocks one night and considers the question "Why Shepherds?" Why did God choose to send the birth announcement to such humble men?

SERMON: Why Shepherds?

LONNIE: On July 4, 1952, Florence Chadwick went for a swim--a very long swim at that. She set out from Catalina Island to swim the 21 miles to Palos Verdes, California. Now that's a bit farther than I would want to swim, even in warm, calm water on a sunny day. But that year the 4^th of July was a blustery, cool, foggy day, even here in sunny Southern California.

But Florence was no stranger to rough, cold water and long swims. Two years earlier she had stepped out of the water in Dover, England after setting a new record by swimming across the English Channel, in 13 hours and 23 minutes. Once on shore she said, "I feel fine. I am quite prepared to swim back!"

She waited until the next year to do the swim from England to France. It took her almost 16 ½ hours, but she made it despite contrary winds and dense fog.

Now, a year later, she was ready to challenge the currents and cold of the blue Pacific. A little fog and rough water didn't dissuade her, so off she went.

Fifteen hours later she was still swimming, but the cold water and the disorienting effects of the fog were taking their toll. She couldn't tell where she was or how far she had to go, and finally, for the first time in her life, she threw in the towel. Those in her support boat urged her to keep on keeping on, but she stopped swimming and asked to be pulled on board.

Moments later she and her boat crew discovered that they had been only half a mile from shore. Florence had swum 20 ½ miles in 15 hours. At that rate another 22 minutes would have landed her safe on shore. But she didn't know that. She couldn't see land. Her vision, and that of her crew, was blocked by fog.

Say, what is fog anyhow? What makes it so hard to see through a fog? You can walk through it. You can hear through it. You can throw a ball through it. But you just can't see through it. Why?

Scientists tell us that the problem is that fog is made up of billions of tiny little droplets of water. Each drop by itself would be invisible. But put a few billion of them together in a small space, and there might as well be a solid wall blocking your vision. Each drop refracts just a little bit of light, sidetracking our vision ever so slightly. But a billion refraction's become a billion distractions, and in the end we can barely see our hand in front of our face.

Now, what in the world does that have to do with shepherds, Bethlehem, and Christmas you might wonder? Hold that question for just a moment. I think you'll understand after I share a couple of Bible stories with you.

Consider this text from the Christmas story as told in Luke 2:8-9:

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. (NKJV)

Can you picture those men out there in the fields, sitting quietly, perhaps gazing up at the stars, maybe talking idly, when suddenly an angel of the Lord appears. Literally the text reads "standing over them" implying that the angel was above their heads.

That's not a common occurrence. It would get my attention really quick! Even in Israel, in Bible times, angels didn't pop up in the scenery very often; They came by only when there was a special message to be delivered.

The patriarch Abraham--who was of course a shepherd himself--had met angels twice not far from Bethlehem.

A dozen miles away, down in Hebron, angels came by to visit one day when Abraham was sitting quietly under a shade tree, and they brought the wonderful promise of the birth of his son Isaac.

Then, a few years later, Abraham journeyed to Mt. Moriah to give Isaac in sacrifice. He was ready and willing to make that great gift to God, but once again an angel of the Lord came with a special message for him: "Don't harm the boy!"

And as Abraham looked up to see who was speaking, he suddenly saw a ram caught in a thicket: an offering--a sacrifice--a gift from God to him--God's special provision for him, and Abraham offered the ram as a sacrifice in place of his son.

Now, consider how closely these stories are related to the Christmas story: The story of Isaac's birth is much like the story of the birth of Jesus--it's a miracle gift of a son. And the story of the ram caught in the thicket on Mt. Moriah is actually a prophecy of Jesus who would come to earth and give His life in place of ours.

In the Christmas story, we all become like Abraham's son Isaac--the favorite sons and daughters of God, whose lives can only be spared if there is a substitute sacrifice. We can receive the gift of life through the death of the Lamb of God in our place. If only we'll look up and receive the gift God has given.

In the gospel story, the shepherds, are the ones who hear a voice speaking to them from heaven. When the angel called to Abraham from heaven, Abraham looked around and found a ram caught in a thicket--a substitute--a savior for his son. And now an angel returns to the same area, to a place where humble shepherds are caring for the flocks, and tells them to "look around."

When they do, they don't find a ram with his horns caught in a thicket. But they do find a child--the Lamb of God--wrapped up in swaddling clothes. The "angel with Abraham" story is a prophecy. Now the angel comes to the shepherds with the fulfillment of that prophecy! With an even better gift than the ram caught in a thicket.

And there's another shepherd story from the fields around Bethlehem. Remember when Samuel the prophet--God's messenger--journeyed down to Bethlehem in search of a king for Israel? Who was God's message addressed to that time?

God's messenger came to the house of Jesse, looking for a king among Jesse's sons. But it soon became apparent that there was no king to be found in the house. Samuel had to ask if Jesse didn't have another son somewhere.

Yes, of course he did. But he was just that little kid David--the one they sent out to the fields to watch the sheep!

But remember: it was the shepherd boy that God's messenger came looking for that day.

David, the humble lad who sat out in the fields, watching the sheep, was the man God was looking for. David, the boy who whiled away the lonely hours writing poetry about his friendship with God. David, who wrote that beloved psalm that begins "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

Do you see a pattern here? Do you notice how often these special messages from heaven come addressed to humble shepherds? What's so special about these people? There were a lot of people in Bethlehem that night. Why did only the shepherds get the message?

Remember the story of Abraham's first encounter with angels. He was sitting quietly under a shade tree when the angels came by. God found him and delivered His message under a shade tree. He sent His angels to shepherds sitting quietly out in the open fields.

As Christians we often hear about the importance of having a quiet time with God. Time out from the hurry and clutter of daily living to listen for God's message to us.

Could it be that's why the shepherds were the only ones who heard the angels sing? That they were the only ones sitting quietly, ready to listen? Could it be we'd all benefit from a bit more quiet time--time to listen for the angels?

Especially during the Christmas season our lives can become a busy clutter of tiny little distractions--each one distracting us just a little. But in the end, we lose sight of the real meaning of the season. The activities and responsibilities become like little drops of fog, distorting our vision and causing us to lose sight of the true goal of the season. We can become like a swimmer lost in a fog--like Florence Chadwick. So near the goal--so near to Jesus--but losing signt of Him in the Christmas clutter.

Friend, let's not get distracted or discouraged by the fog of activities this Christmas season. Let's not lose sight of our goal. Let's clear away the fog. Won't you take some time today to sit quietly and ponder God's great gift to the world?

Take time to listen for the angels' songs.