Sunday Service | Mt. Zion Church | 2 December 2018 | Go, Tell It on The Mountain | Christmas Series | Luke 2:15-18

Everyone who already heard the birth of Jesus Christ honestly must do the same thing just like what the shepherds did at that night. After being awaked by the bright shine from the angels of the Lord, they went straightaway to Bethlehem, and then made that good news widely known to all people in that area. They just 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. The news is amazing by itself! The only thing that we need to do is spread it, share it, circulate it, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, that Jesus Christ is born!

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marvelled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Luke 2:15-18 NKJV

TASTE IT AND TESTIFY

Normally, a testimony must be validated before it can be published and then bring the impact toward everyone. Before the shepherd share the news, first they decided to go to Bethlehem. They wanted to see the things that has happened, which the Lord already told them before. They came with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in manger. A very simple and humble condition, no party, no celebration, no decoration. But because everything was the same with what the angel already said, so they just believed that He was the Baby Messiah! The shepherd could tell everyone a lot of things, from the first time when the glory of the Lord shone around them, how they were greatly afraid, about the message from the angel, the song and praise from multitude of angels, also how they finally found the Baby in that manger! Their testimony become alive because they were the first witness about everything happened at that majestic night! Their testimony become powerful because they not only knew about that information but also, they were there together with baby Jesus! Their testimony become bold because they got a direct experience, so they can tell everyone about everything!

Before we can declare something through our mouth, the process of testimony will involve our ear and our eyes! The information can come to our hearing by any method. In this modern days we are overloaded with so many news, promotions, information. Unless we have an encounter with it, our testimony will be weak and unpowered. Job said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You Job42:5.” Through the journey of our faith, God will lead us into various conditions, even problems and difficulties, with a purpose that at the end we can have more experience with God and our testimony will become alive, powerful, and bold! God would like to invite all believers to taste His goodness, His grace, His miracles, His blessings, not only once but in all the way of our journey, so that we can testify about Him continuously, even with fresh testimony!

Psalmist wrote: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him Ps.34:8!” God is good and He always good. Genesis wrote: God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good Gen1:31. The best way to taste His goodness more is through eat His words more! Not only read the Bible but we must live in it, obey it, do it, so we can taste and then testify how good is that! God wants us to be satisfied with His goodness, even He wants to fill our mouth with blessings Ps.81:10. Let’s submit our life more in His hands, so we can taste and see His love more and more, and then declare the works of the Lord Ps.118:17. We need to draw ourselves near to God, put our trust in Him, so that we may declare all His works Ps.73:28.

OVERCOME THE MUTE SPIRIT

¹⁷ Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸ And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” ¹⁹ He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰ Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Mark 9:17-22 NKJV

As a believer, we must be aware with the dangerous of the mute spirit! While some people may feel comfort with being mute for Jesus, the Bible DOES NOT! We must overcome and throw away the mute spirit. Somehow this spirit is very strong, very bad, and very dangerous! When the child was presented to Jesus, that mute spirit convulsed him. Even that spirit wanted to destroy and kill the child, thrown him into the fire and the water! Even the disciples could not cast it out. The disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And Jesus said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The mute spirit is the destroyer of Christianity! The mute spirit is our enemy! The devil wants to deceive the believers with mute spirit. Being mute seems normal, but that’s not the will of God indeed! We must declare His works, we must declare His goodness, we must not be mute for Jesus! Being silent is not always gold! Silence is gold as long as it is necessary. Being silent under the bondage of the mute spirit is definitely a sin! The same spirit that bring that child to be mute is still exist until now. The same deception still being used by the devil to destroy our faith. The mute spirit wants to throw us down, so we will not be able to declare the goodness of God. The mute spirit wants to stop all Christians to be the witness for Christ! The mute spirit will be very angry if other people may know about salvation.

To cast away this kind of spirit, Jesus teach us to pray and fasting more! Sometimes we may not realize about the attack of mute spirit. We may simply excuse ourselves with being busy, or even with a lot of reasons to justify our silence. But when we decide to have a good time with God through prayer and fasting, we may be able to examine our life and then we can diagnose ourselves for how far this mute spirit already infiltrate in our faith! Paul teach Timothy NOT TO BE ASHAMED of the testimony of our Lord 2Ti.1:8. Sometimes we may talk tons of words about everything, but we say nothing about our faith! Sometimes we may spend hours to write a good testimony about hobby, foods, products, places, but we spend nothing to give a testimony of Jesus. Sometimes we may feel too shame to bring Christ in our conversations, in our school, in our workplace. Sometimes we may afraid to be rejected whenever we mention Jesus with our mouth. Sometimes we may anxious to lose job if we are too religious. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven Mat.10:32-33.” We must overcome and cast out this mute spirit from time to time. Whenever he wants to come and deceive us, let’s rebuke it and defeat it!

WE ARE THE WATCHMEN

⁷ “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. ⁹ Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Ezekiel 33:7-9 NKJV

God call all believers to be the watchman! We are the watchman for people next to us, for those in the circle of our life, for those who God already put in our daily routine, for those we meet every single day. God knows exactly our capacity and in His sovereignty,  He allowed specific people to come and appear in our life, in the purpose to prepare a good future for us Jer.29:11. We may not realize about it but let’s believe that God already put them amazingly and wonderfully, so we can be a watchman for them! God emphasize the task of a watchman in the book of Ezekiel. A watchman is someone who need to open their mouth whenever he hears a word from the mouth of God! When God wants us to say something to someone, we must obey it and do it. In the moment of Christmas, we can easily and effectively pass out the invitation since this is the good time for reach out more people. As a watchman we must warn all people about the heavenly joy that ready to be given for everyone! As we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus about 2,000 years ago, we must warn all people about letting Jesus to birth in their life.

Even though sometimes our voice not be heard, do not lose heart! God knew exactly the condition of people at the days of Ezekiel, how stubborn, how rebellious, how bad they were, but God still send out His prophets to warn them, to bring the good news, to declare the promise of salvation. God said to Ezekiel, “The house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house Eze.3:7-9.” The same promise and encouragement also given to all believers: do not be afraid, do not dismayed, do not lose heart!

As the watchman we need to always open our mouth to declare Jesus. As we see blessing and joy ahead, we must let all people know, no matter if they will give a good response or not. God will be very angry if the watchmen don’t do their job properly. God said, “His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, everyone for his own gain, from his own territory Is.56:10-11.”

Let’s be a good watchman! Let’s do what we must do. This is our calling, this is our destiny, this is our life! We have the privilege to be God’s fellow workers 1Cor.3:9. We are appointed to be the watchman. Our spiritual eyes are opened so we can see the salvation, even we can understand about the eternity. Our heart is touch, our life is changed so we can understand how this world is passing away, but the Word of God abides forever 1Jn.2:17. Let’s cast away the mute spirit and let’s open our mouth to spread the good news about salvation in the name of Jesus. AMEN.