Go Tell It On the Mountain.

December 18, 2013 purposeunderheavenLeave a comment

Go Tell It On the Mountain, over the Hills and everywhere; Go tell it on the Mountain Jesus Christ is Born. (An old American Slave Spiritual)

I love this song. My second grade class worked on perfecting it for days so we could sing it for our parents in the Christmas program. I still start singing loud and strong when it comes on the radio.

The first people who went to tell others about Jesus was the Shepherds.

Luke 2

¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

Those Shepherds heard the words of the angel and they headed to Bethlehem to see for themselves. Once they found Jesus, they left the place and told others about the baby and about what the angles had said.

Can you imagine their story?

” We were out in the fields when we heard Angels praising God and saying the Messiah was born.”
And those listening were thinking, “so you heard angels–okay”
“And we ran into Bethlehem where they told us. There he was. He was wrapped in cloths and laying in a trough.”

The Messiah, the one coming to save Israel, is sleeping in an animal food trough. Born to a couple who were sleeping in a stable. I doubt many people believed them. Yet, the experience so excited the Shepherds, they told everyone what the angels had said. They could not be silent.

Prayer: Give me that level of excitement about all you have done.

Meditation: I love Jesus. So why am I silent so often. Jesus intervenes in my life and does so much for me. So why don’t I tell others what He has done.

Action: When God acts in my life, tell others rather than keeping it a secret.

Christian. · Ireland · March · March 17 · St. Patrick · St. Patrick's Confession · St. Patty's Day

What’s Your Excuse?

March 8, 2013 purposeunderheavenLeave a comment

Over 1500 years after he lived, Patrick’s name is famous for bringing Christianity to Ireland. But if you listen to him, he doesn’t believe he has any skills. He wishes he were better educated. The others have skills he never obtained.

A young man, almost a beardless boy, I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun. So, consequently, today I feel ashamed and I am mightily afraid to expose my ignorance, because, [I am not] eloquent, with a small vocabulary, I am unable to explain as the spirit is eager to do and as the soul and the mind indicate.   But had it been given to me as to others, in gratitude I should not have kept silent, and if it should appear that I put myself before others, with my ignorance and my slower speech, in truth, it is written: “The tongue of the stammerers shall speak rapidly and distinctly [Isaiah 32:4].”

How much harder must we try to attain it, we of whom it is said: “You are an epistle of Christ in greeting to the ends of the earth… written on your hearts, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God [2 Corinthians 3:3].”

And again, the Spirit witnessed that the rustic life was created by the Most High.   I am, then, first of all, countrified, an exile, evidently unlearned, one who is not able to see into the future, but I know for certain, that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from there I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for his great favours in this world and for ever, that the mind of man cannot measure.

Therefore be amazed, you great and small who fear God, and you men of God, eloquent speakers, listen and contemplate. Who was it summoned me, a fool, from the midst of those who appear wise and learned in the law and powerful in rhetoric and in all things? Me, truly wretched in this world, he inspired before others that I could be– if I would– such a one who, with fear and reverence, and faithfully, without complaint, would come to the people to whom the love of Christ brought me and gave me in my lifetime, if I should be worthy, to serve them truly and with humility.

According, therefore, to the measure of one’s faith in the Trinity, one should proceed without holding back from danger to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God’s name everywhere with confidence and without fear, in order to leave behind, after my death, foundations for my brethren and sons whom I baptized in the Lord in so many thousands.

God calls us. He uses our weaknesses and our past pains to touch others. We think we have to be great orators in order to preach, great writers to document our experiences or the ultimate charmer to share the gospel with others. It only takes someone willing to do what God asks them to do. We may never know how he uses what we do. The impact maybe years later. Maybe only one person accepts Christ and learns to follow the teaching.

What is your excuse for not spreading Christ’s message and love to others?

Christmas · Christmas Traditions

Go tell it on the Mountain

December 21, 2012 purposeunderheavenLeave a comment

Go Tell It On the Mountain, over the Hills and everywhere; Go tell it on the Mountain Jesus Christ is Born. (An old American Slave Spiritual)

Luke 2

¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

Journal Exercise

Do you tell others about Jesus?

Think of times you could have told people about Jesus in a way that was positive. Why didn’t you tell them?