Go Tell It On The Mountain

The prerequisite for hearing good news is receiving bad news.

Let me give you an example… It is good news (probably even great) to a person who knows that he’s just fallen out of an airplane to be told that he has a parachute, right?

By contrast, if that person is not aware of what is happening to him and does not realize that he is plunging toward the earth at an alarming rate of speed, the news about a parachute really seems irrelevant at best.

Truth is, most of us live in a bad news world, so good news is a little bit easier to come by, right? Turn on the news today and you’ll see only things that seem doom and gloom. Political division and turmoil, social injustice, racial tension, stock market fluctuations, and so much more. It seems like news today stems from what’s bad.

Although that IS hard to watch at times, I guess it at least allows us to take in Good News easier, right? Or one would assume.

As a follower of Jesus, the notion of Good News though, means something entirely different. Regardless of what’s going on in the world, followers of Jesus carry with the Good News, ALL THE TIME!

And honestly, because of the world we live in, we should easily be able to share it more often than we do, right?

You see, the good news we carry is that of hope. love. sacrifice. a Savior. in this christmas season, it’s the coming and birth of Jesus.

No matter where you are today, whether a long-term follower of Jesus, or someone still processing your thoughts about Christianity, you could use some good news. SHOW OF HANDS HERE. And for those new to the bible, The Good News, quite literally, is what the Gospel is. When we see or hear the word Gospel, it means good news.

The original language was godspell, denoting good news.

It’s the story of Jesus’s life, ministry, death, and ultimate resurrection to allow us to have a right relationship with God.

It started, very literally, with the GOOD NEWS of great joy that we see in the announcement of Jesus’s birth in Luke chapter 2.

If you’re joining us today for the fist time, we’ve talked about this the last couple of weeks in our series we’re concluding today called, CAROLS. We’ve been looking at the biblical backing of songs like Joy to the World, O Holy Night, O Come all Ye Faithful, and today, Go Tell It On The Mountains.

In fact, if you’re following along in a bible, turn with me today to Isaiah 52:7-10. We’ll be looking at the passage today and what it meant for Go Tell it on the mountain. If you don’t own a bible, that’s okay, download our app, Journey Point Church, on any app store, and you can follow along in there as well. You can also binge watch our previous messages BINGE WATCH WHAT HAVE YOU BINGE WATCHED, take notes from today’s in the message notes, and for those that call Journey Point home, that’s where you can give back to God what’s his through the GIVE portion.

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So, we have some Good news, that we should GO AN TELL…, huh?

Something we should EASILY go and tell others, right? That we have HOPE on a dark day. That we have answers to problems. Especially in a world of doom and gloom.

Do you know that when we look at the bible, we see that:

You are God’s means to spread His message.

BUT… if we’re being honest and transparent with one another today, we’d probably admit that we’re not good at sharing this good news with others.

And the tension we have is that we don’t feel like we can be used to spread God’s message.

we’re not worthy

we don’t have all the answers

don’t have the right upbringing

we don’t know how.

I think today, you’ll see from Isaiah 52:7-10, we have a message to give and you’ll be encouraged and equipped to do so, no matter your upbringing, answers you possess, or worthiness you feel you have.

PRAY

Isaiah 52:7 CSB

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

We see here the notion of a “HERALD”

A herald is a messenger. Followers of Jesus are called to be herald’s for the news about Jesus. In fact, a man named Paul used this exact terminology in a letter he wrote to the Roman church.

Romans 10:15 CSB

15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

You see, the illustration we see is a city that is looking to the mountains. Think of a city back in the day, they had watchman that stood on the walls looking to the mountains to see if messengers were coming to bring news.

At times, the messengers would have flags or other identifiers so that the watchmen in the city could know from further out if the news was good or bad.

Today, your feet as a herald might look like a text. “Hey bro, need to come over and talk.”

THAT EQUALS, something’s up! :)

What Does the Herald Proclaim?

Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere… go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. And what does mean?

Isaiah 52:7 CSB

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Peace

Peace literally means an absence of hostility and conflict. The heralds here are bringing news that unity, cooperation, and righteous relationships among mankind is possible thanks to the birth of Jesus.

Goodness

This means that negative experiences of evil, hatred, sickness, and death will not be present any longer, but instead there will be positive and helpful relationships that will flourish for the benefit of all.

Salvation

Salvation means that God will deliver people from anything that might harm, oppress, or attempt to overpower them through this baby in a manger.

God’s Reign

God’s Reign means that the enemy will not be victorious even though Jesus would go to die on a cross, taking our place, he will and does reign. That God does and will rule as King over His Kingdom.

HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THE HERALD bringing the news of peace, goodness, salvation, and God’s reign.

You are God’s means to spread THIS message!

And look what happens when this message is proclaimed...

Isaiah 52:8 CSB

8 The voices of your watchmen— they lift up their voices, shouting for joy together; for every eye will see when the Lord returns to Zion.

During a battle in World War II in December 1944, the American forces in a Belgian city were surrounded by the German troops. The American situation seemed hopeless, but they refused to surrender. Everything depended on whether the American Third Army, some hundred miles south of the city, could force its way northward over snow-clogged roads and in the face of desperate German defenses. The Third Army commander, General George Patton, is said to have told his tank commanders, “Do whatever you have to, just keep going.” That is just what they did, in one case outflanking the Germans by taking a road the Germans considered impassable and had not fortified. When American defenders met the American attackers on the outskirts of Bastogne, there were shouts of excitement. The siege was broken, and the faith of those who refused to surrender was justified.

Those watchmen were shouting that a war was going in their direction, which is super important...

But heralds of the message of Jesus… here’s what they’re saying...

Isaiah 52:9–10 CSB

9 Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The Lord has displayed his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Your hurt. Your pain. Your momentary earthly affliction is just that. Momentary, earthly, and won’t last because our God has provided through this baby born in a manger.

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAINS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS BORN!

If you are watching today and you are a follower of Jesus, you are the means God desires to use to spread his message of hope and salvation. In spite of your past, in spite of your shortcomings, in spite of your lack of anything you don’t think you have.... HE WANTS AND DESIRES TO USE YOU.

Here’s what I want you to think about. Imagine a besieged city known as your neighbor’s house. They’re under attack and in despair. Marriage hurting, chasing purpose and prosperity. They’re waiting, anxiously for something good to happen in a world that seems broken and hurt beyond repair.

HOW BEAUTIFUL on the mountains are the feet of the herald of news that bring peace, goodness, salvation, and God’s reign on their life.

Friend, the gospel, the good news, it came to you as a follower of Jesus ON IT’S way to someone else.

What do I want them to DO?

What message are you heralding?

One of doom and gloom. One of worldly aspirations, or one of hope on a dark day.

Who in your life is in a besieged city, waiting on some good news?

God has people in your life that he desires you to herald his message.

Imagine if our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends and families in besieged cities, feeling like they’re on the brink of despair knew the message that God chose to use you to proclaim.

Imagine a neighborhood filled with hope.

A workplace where Good News reigned.

And if you’re watching today, and all else seems broken and in despair. You’re still processing what you believe. You don’t know what to think or what to do. This is the worst year of your life and this Jesus person seems too good to be true. I want you to know, HE. IS. TRUE. And he’s waiting, open arms. The message I have to herald to you today is that He loves you. So much that he gave his life on a cross in place of yours so that if you asked him to forgive you for living outside of the way he desires, if you say YES to believing his life, death, and resurrection, and ask him to reign and rule in your life, then you have a right relationship with God forever.

Text “ISAIDYES” to 720.780.6969

You are God’s means to spread his message of Peace, Goodness, Salvation, and His Reign.