Go Tell It!

Age moves. Yes, just a wee bit, sir. I love you. Hey, don’t forget thumb. I know you will.

Hey, that’s good. All right. All right. Well, the stage right now has kind of a mind of its own. It likes to slide side to side.

So if I happen to go, okay, just. Yeah, just let me go. I’ll bring joy to somebody’s heart today. I’ll go surfing. There you go.

Yeah. You ever seen a cowboy surf? That doesn’t look so well. So well, how you doing this morning? You guys look awesome.

Awesome. If we could just turn the house up so that house lights up just a hair, I’d appreciate it. I want to see these beautiful faces. Merry Christmas. Oh, come on, now.

Merry Christmas. Amen. Amen. I am so glad to be in the house of the Lord today. I am so glad to get to meet some new faces.

And you guys, you guys are absolutely awesome. I love you guys. Hey, we got one more Sunday after this, and we start a new year. Amen. Amen.

I know. Kind of coming in as a newbie for Salt Church, you guys, I understand you guys have had a trying year and a tested year, but you know what God says, You know, Friday he went on the cross and died for our sins. But guess what? Salt Sunday’s a comin. Sunday’s a comin’.

So I know 20, 26. God’s already written it that. You know what? There’s something different happening for Salt. I believe it.

I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. I cannot say it enough. God’s got his hand on Salt Church.

He’s got his hand on people that walk through that door. There’s going to be. 20, 26 is going to be a year of healing. It’s going to be a year of anointing. It’s going to be a year of seeing God move.

And you know what? Virginia beach isn’t going to know when hit it, because Salt Church is going to move in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Well, forgive me.

I may preach this morning, I don’t know. So you’ll have to bear with me because I. As of yesterday, we’ve been going through a series called the Greatest Gift Pastor Hans has been doing. How many are thankful for Pastor Hans? I tell you what, I’ve known the man for about four years, and I tell you what, he is just.

He’s phenomenal. He’s absolutely phenomenal as a leader, as a pastor, as a bishop. And I tell you, and I say this every Sunday, and I’m going to continue to say it as long as I am. We have an awesome assistant bishop, Pastor Leon. I mean, he is just.

He’s my brother from another mother. He’s great. I love him to death. And, you know, I got big shoes to fill, Very big shoes to fill. But I’m blessed.

I’m privileged. I tell people this all the time. You know, for those of you that are just new here, my wife and I have been sitting for the past 10 years, and God has absolutely blessed us with a family assault church. And we thank God every morning, every day that we get to do this and we get to be utilized by God and become vessels. Amen.

That we are vessels for him to pour his spirit into us in that gift. So today we’re going to continue the series in the Greatest Gift. But today’s title is going to be Go Tell it now. You’ll have to forgive me. I’m going to do my best, but I’ve already prayed and said, God, you got to give this message.

You got to utilize me as that vessel to give this. All right? And we believe that God’s going to do something today in today’s sermon. Amen and amen. All right, so let’s go ahead and get started as we’ve been talking about.

Bear with me a minute. Yes. I don’t do computers. I’m a paper guy. Okay.

I’m still old school. You have to forgive me. Okay. So over the past. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been going over the different gifts.

Pastor Hans has been leading us into that. And we’ve been talking about how many people can talk. You know, that we go back in the last week, we took that why Jesus came. That was the first week. And particularly we looked at Hebrews 2, 14, 15 that says Jesus came to destroy the devil, to take away the fear of death and the devil held over humanity.

And then last week, unfortunately, we were not here, but we understand that you guys had a shouting good time. I heard it. What is that again? Well, it sounded a lot better last week. But, I mean, if you guys want to try.

Wait a minute. Where’s JB2? JB, tell me, what did they tell? All right, all right. Jb, here’s my boy.

Okay. Last week we talk about the great joy, the birth of Jesus Christ. All right, so this week we’re going to talk about. Go tell it. And specifically, we’re going to be dealing with how the shepherds and how God used the shepherds.

Now, as I was going over the notes, this morning, something kind of hit me, and I was like, you know, the birth of Jesus, which we often don’t look at. We look at the four Gospels and the four Gospels basically kind of tell and walk us through the life of Jesus Christ. So as I’m reading in Luke, and I’m like, well, let me see what Matthew has to say or Mark has to say. And I’m like, wait a minute. They don’t really expound in on the birth of Jesus Christ.

And I’m like, well, wait a minute. Why is that? So, so we see that out of the four Gospels that Luke is the only one that goes into a greater detail about the birth of Jesus. Okay, now walk with me a little bit, because as I walk through this, we’re going to get to go tell it and you’re going to see how this is all going to kind of come together. Okay, In Matthew, we see that Matthew basically he mentions the birth, but it’s not as detailed, and it’s mostly framed around prophecy and kingship.

In Mark, Mark starts off with telling the ministry of Jesus, focusing on action and urgency. And then we get into John, which John begins with the theology the word became flesh. More of a profound meaning than a. Than a biography. Than a biography.

But in Luke, Luke explains the birth story in greater detail, partly because of his purpose and his audience and his sources in it shapes the matter in a more theological way. Okay, see, in Luke, we read in one, it’s chapter one, verse one through four. It says, basically, if we read that, it says he’s writing in an orderly and an investigative account. He’s trying to give more of a detailed account. See, his purpose is that the reader understands that they believe what they believe is more grounded in real events, real people in real places.

The significance is that, is that Jesus didn’t just appear, that God in flesh stepped into history, into poverty, into a messy and an ordinary world. Okay. In secondly, Luke, his audience was mainly Gentiles and outsiders, unlike Matthew, who writes primarily to Jews and focuses on mostly the prophetic fulfillment. The significance of Luke in this story tells it from the beginning as seen by. For a story for everyone.

So basically, as we go through this, you’re going to see where the shepherds more or less come into play. And then thirdly, that Luke may have had more of an eyewitness source. Many scholars believe that Luke had a direct access to Mary and possibly those that were close to her. This explains the intimate details regarding Mary’s thoughts, her songs, and her emotions. See, in Luke, Luke Makes mention twice that Mary treasured these things in her heart.

Luke 2 in verse 19 and 51. The significance is that Luke preserves the human, emotional and relational side of the birth of Jesus. Luke’s theology in this is also revealed in that it’s reversal and grace. Luke focused more on the humble being lifted up, the proud made low, and the last shall be first. The significance in this is it gives us a picture that God kingdom operates through grace, humility and mercy.

Okay, so when we look at that and we look at the gift that is given us, and we go through the last couple Sundays, we get into where Luke is coming in with the details and how he can be so detailed in his explanation and his account with the birth of Christ. So at this time, we’re gonna. We’re gonna focus on the shepherds. Why the shepherds? So if we read in Luke, in verse 17 at the script, at the chapters we’ve been following, it says now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told to them concerning this child, verse 18.

And all those who heard it marveled at the things which were told to them by the shepherds. See, the shepherds went out and they were telling everybody about it but Mary. Here’s that verse. But Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen and that was told to him.

The shepherds were the ones that made this widely known. So when we talk about telling people about the gifts, when we tell people about the gift of the birth of Jesus Christ, okay, it profoundly affects us and we’re going to get a little bit deeper into this. So we go over a couple facts. Fact number one is you can do it. If God has so changed your life, why would you not want to keep it to yourself?

So it says in verse eight. Now, they were in the same country, shepherds living out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. Why the shepherds? Why did he choose the shepherds? The shepherds were nothing more than a common people, possibly the very lowest of society.

They were looked down upon. They were considered uneducated and unrefined, and they were ritually unclean. They weren’t allowed anywhere near the temple. God chose them first to hear the gospel, as we read in Luke. And here’s some possible reasons.

One, the shepherds were humble and often overlooked. Do you ever feel that way sometimes? Do you often feel like you’re sometimes overlooked? It appears that God was making a point that the Messiah wasn’t just for the powerful and the educated, nor for the religious elites, but for all, even the ordinary. See, God values.

God values faithfulness over status. He doesn’t care about what you know, okay? He cares more about an open heart and humility rather than impressive credentials. He doesn’t care about your job title. He doesn’t care about your degrees that are hanging on the wall.

What he cares about is he cares about your heart and are you open to him. The gospel then begins. It begins with those on the margins, those on the fringe. That’s what God looks at. Those that had a life of sacrifice, hardship and a complete dependence on God.

See, that’s why he chose Mary. He looks at Joseph the carpenter. We also see in scripture, in Matthew 5, 3, Matthew talks about this. He says, blessed are the poor in the spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Thirdly, the message was meant to be spread, not controlled.

Okay, how many just in our own lifetime that you cannot go into certain nations and preach the gospel as it sits. Okay? Why? Even back then, when Jesus was born, Herod had told the wise men, he said, come back my way after you see the man child, the Christ child. Why?

Because he wanted to try to control it. And Satan and the enemy knew that what they didn’t, what the shepherds didn’t have in political aspirations or power they had in testimony. God knew they were simply just going to tell the story. The shepherds had nothing to lose. What are they going to lie about?

They’re going to simply just tell the story as they saw it. So what better way to have the shepherds come in? They see what’s going on and God goes about and tells the story. Number two, fact. It’s simple.

You tell what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard. See, in 15 verses 15 and 17 it says so it was when the angels had gone away from them unto heaven that the shepherds said, one to another, let us go into the Bethlehem, into Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and a baby lying in the manger. Now when they had seen them, they made widely known the saying which was told to them, the concerning of the child. Not only were they told about it, they witnessed it.

And they went about and they told, see, we witness not because we’re so impressive, but because God has spoken. God does something in your life very I’ve seen people that have been miraculously healed, miraculously, lives changed, addiction, peace, everything. They cannot keep it inside of him. They have to tell people about what God has done. Okay, it begins with revelation.

You tell what God has done. The shepherds did not merely have an experience with God, they had an encounter with God. Very big difference between experience, encounter. Okay, let’s look at that. An experience happens to you, it happens around you.

It’s informative and a lot of times it doesn’t leave a lasting impression. However, an encounter is a personal engagement and it requires a response. It is active and relational. You don’t just observe, you interact. It convicts, confronts and calls you into a decision.

It often is transformational and it demands a response. An experience informs you, but encounter transforms you. Okay, there are not many Christians out there that I know of where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has not so affected them that it literally transformed them to the point where they cannot keep their mouth shut. My brother Alex Rubio over here tells me, and I’ve only known him for several months and he, he always tells me, which is absolutely true. He’s never met a stranger.

And if you’re ever around him long enough, I can guarantee you within five seconds he’s going to tell you the good things that the Lord Jesus Christ has done in his life. But yet there are so many of us that when we get saved and when we give over to the Lord that somehow we forget, we lose our tongue. We get around friends or we get around family and we become inward drawn. It’s like we know that God did this, we know that God did something to us. We, we know this great gift that we received and yet we stay quiet about it.

But yet there are other religions that will literally fight to the death to transform you into their own way. As Christians and as a church that needs to. We need to flip the script. We need to stand instead of sitting. If God has so transfer transformed your life, that the very first thing that you get up in the morning as you think of him and what he’s done for you, that needs to be carried out in action as well.

See, Jesus has come, but he’s come for you. Thirdly, it’s powerful and this is what we were just talking about. It produces wonder and worship. In verse 18, it says all those who heard it and marveled at the things which were told to them by the shepherds. Telling it brings amazing results.

Jesus birth has power. As it announces hope, it reveals that God’s got a heart. It invites people into a new story. The announcement is not just about History. But it reflects, reflects that the message does something.

It shows that God is in tune with the human struggle. It shows that no one’s pain is beneath him. It shows that salvation comes by surrender and closeness, not by coercion or force. It produces faith, not fear. The power of his birth is spread through testimony and faith grows when truth is shared and and is a joy multiplier.

See, over 2,000 years ago there was in fact a child born in a manger to a virgin by all stances who should have been cast aside based on ritual. But God chose her and gave birth to a savior that would eventually wind up dying on a cross. See, God does some wonderful things. And see, he uses. We have to dig deeper into that.

What has God done for you? Have you been so low that you get to a point where you go, God, I can’t do this without you. See, when we talk about telling others of it, we’re not selling people on Christ. We’re proclaiming Christ and what he’s done in our life. See, Christ, we tell of a Savior.

He’s our rescuer, he’s our deliverer, he’s our restorer. We speak of Christ. He’s the Anointed One. In Greek it means Christos. Translated a Hebrew word as Messiah.

But. But both mean the Anointed One. He rules with justice and mediates between God and people. And he speaks truth. He tells of the Lord, Yahweh.

See, when the New Testament speaks of Jesus the Lord, it’s making a claim about his divinity. The one who has authority and rule or ownership and is worthy of obedience. Luke 2:11 says, A Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord. And all that equals one thing. Good news for you and I.

So the greatest gift that has ever been given to us was born of a virgin. He lived on this earth for 30 plus years. He proclaimed the gospel of his father. He was ridiculed, he was beaten, he was bruised, and he was crucified for our transgressions. He died on a Friday, went to hell, took the keys from Satan and said, no more.

And on the third day on Sunday, he rose again and he said, those people are mine. They’re mine. That means he has the power over sickness, he has the power over depression, he has the power over anxiety. Any, anything that you can come up with, anything that the enemy can throw at you. God says, I can do better because these are my people and I love them.

Islam doesn’t produce that. Buddhism doesn’t produce that. Hinduism doesn’t produce that. Catholicism stops at the cross. He is living and breathing in us.

And by his spirit we have the power. It is that gift that we can proclaim and step forward and tell people. Guess what God did for me today. See, there’s a lot of times I tell people this. My father in law used to tell me this.

He said, you know, people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care. See, too many of us, we sit down in front of people and our spiritual antennas have been tuned out. And we are more interested in talking about us or what we do or our kids or whatever, instead of hearing what somebody else has to say or, or hearing what the Holy Spirit has to say that we can pour into those people. My father in law used to tell me, he says, sometimes you need to just keep your mouth shut and listen to God, because God could be giving you a download to speak into that person’s life. That person doesn’t care about your bank account.

They don’t care about your house, especially if they’re hurting. They don’t care about what you know. They don’t care about your degrees. They don’t care about any of that. But I can guarantee you down deep down inside, that person that you may be sitting in front of is dying inside.

And you need to know that there’s hope. We’ve been given that hope. If you’re here today at some point in your life, and you said, God, I’m done messing around. I’m done playing church. I’m done playing Christian.

I want a relationship, not a religion. And you’ve accepted that and you’ve taken on to that. I’m going to encourage you. Don’t be quiet about it. Why should God do something good for you and you keep it to yourself and not share it to somebody else?

What did God do for you? Did he heal you? Did he provide for you? Did you get up and take a breath this morning? Did you get to take a hot shower?

Did you get to have breakfast? What is God doing for you? Because I can guarantee you, whatever he’s doing for you, you can let others know. This is what my God does. My God just doesn’t sit on a throne and look down on me and go, well, they’re gonna screw up again today.

Let’s see how could, what kind of foolishness they can get into today. Let’s see. Instead, what he does is, I believe God stands up in heaven. He looks through the portals of heaven and he goes, that’s my child right there. That’s My daughter, man, I’m proud of her.

Yeah, she’s made some mistakes, but you know what? She’s washed in the blood. She’s washed in the blood. She looks at his son and go, you know what? My son, he’s going through something.

He’s got some issues, he’s got some health issues, he’s got some mental issues. But you know what? I’m gonna use him. I’m gonna use him. You wait and see.

God’s not done with you. The greatest gift that God has given us over 2000 years ago was the birth of his son, Jesus Christ. And as we sit and we gather together on Christmas morning and we give out gifts, let’s not forget this one thing. The greatest gift that we have received is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, our personal Lord and Savior. And our main goal is not to share that gift.

We have to give that gift away. That’s the goal. The goal is to share the gospel. I don’t care if you’re 8 or 800, that’s always your goal. My father in law was 92, 93 years old.

And I guarantee if you walked in his living room, he couldn’t get up, he couldn’t serve you coffee, he couldn’t do anything. But I can guarantee you the first words out of his mouth is just, do you know Jesus? He didn’t know you. He didn’t care to know you. The only thing he did care about is he wanted to know if you were going to go to heaven and if you were going.

If he was going to meet you there. I watched my brother Alex, along with Greg and Martine and these guys go down and they walk the beach of north of Virginia beach and their antennas are up and they’re not afraid to pray for somebody. They’re not afraid to reach out and allow God to speak to them. You know why? Because they know that every person going down that concrete boardwalk is a person that potentially is going to hell.

You could be sitting in front of family this Christmas and allow God to open your heart and open your mind and say, God, what do you want me to say? How can I share this gift that you’ve given me, this joy? Do you have a hard life? Are things hard? Yes, they are.

Yes, they are. But I know God cares. I know God does things. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen God heal.

I’ve seen God do things. That’s that gift that was born in a manger at a lowly level that he told the shepherds, go tell it. And Now God’s telling us, go tell it. And we need to do it now more than ever. We need to do it more than ever.

Because there’s a battle at our doorstep. There’s a battle. We step outside these doors and there’s a battle. There’s a religion that’s coming for us. There’s an enemy that is real and is coming for us.

And we need to stand up. We need to have each other’s back. We’re not lone wolves. We’re not islands in and of ourselves. We live.

We stand behind it. I stand behind my brother Leon, and I’ll push his back forward. Because it’s to us that we go forward and we preach the gospel and we says, you’re not lost. I don’t care what the enemy says. I don’t care what lies he’s telling you.

You are loved. You don’t have to fall to this anxiety. You don’t have to fall to the depression. Cancer’s gotta go in the name of Jesus. Depression’s gotta go in the name of Jesus.

It’s because of that gift Jesus said, I’m sending my son. He. He’s gonna die. I’m willing to give him up because I love you. I love you.

Every day. You get up and you look outside and the sun rises. It’s God’s way of going, I love you, my son or daughter. You ready for another day? Let’s go have some fun.

Let’s go have some fun. When you walk into that job that you hate and you despise it, before you get out of your car, you go, God, let’s go have some fun. Let’s go have a blast. God. When you walk into the doctor’s office and you’re already expecting bad news, you go in and go, God, let’s go have some fun.

Let’s go blow their minds. God says he’s just looking for people that are available. He wants to do things. Stand with me. Every head, every eye closed, every head bowed.

If you’re here today and you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, you’re tired of walking through life feeling like you’re alone. I want you to say this prayer with us. It’s really simple. Let’s all say it together. Heavenly Father, I believe in my heart.

I confess with my mouth that you are the Lord Jesus Christ. And today I’m accepting you as my personal Lord and savior. Father God, I repent of all my sins. I ask that you would forgive me for hurting you. For being selfish.

And Father God, right now I’m claiming you as my Lord and Savior over my life. Now go with me, Lord, today and forevermore. Hold me in the palm of your hand. Give me strength when I have none. Give me provision when it doesn’t seem like I have enough.

I thank you. Thank you, Lord, for what you’re going to do in my life. Amen and amen. If you said that prayer today in your seat or the seat next to you, as my wife said, there’s a blue card, and it says next steps. What I’d like you to do is I want you to fill that out.

If you accepted Christ today as your first decision, I would like you to just put your information on that because we’d like to pray with you. We’d like to reach out to you, walk you through some next steps. If you have a prayer request, write it on there. My wife and I and Alex and the prayer team, we get together and we pray for you guys. We don’t just say we pray for you, we pray for you.

And we don’t just pray. We do what the Bible calls. We come forth in great groanings to pray for you because we want to see God move in your life. I just feel this in my spirit with every head bowed. There are some of you that are walking into this season right now in the next couple days, and it’s difficult for you for whatever reason.

You’re almost just at the point where it’s just God, I just want this to be over with. I want to get into the new year. I just want to get on with my life. We’re gonna pray together. Then I’m gonna pray that God gives you that gift of true joy.

Not happiness, joy. And we’re gonna pray that God will show you a side that you’ve never, never seen in walking with him. Heavenly Father, I pray for those that are represented here and even those that are online. Father, I pray that you would touch them. I pray, Lord God, where there’s no joy, that you would give them joy.

I pray right now where there are struggles, Lord God, that you would be. That there would be a release right now. In the name of Jesus, Holy Spirit, I pray that your soothing oil would flow, flow from the top of their head to the soles of their feet. Father, I pray that your oil of healing, Lord God, would flow over their heart. Cover every anguish, cover every hurt.

Walk with them, Lord God, today and into the next few days. Father, bless them. Keep them in the palm of your hand. Father, I pray even now. Lord, Lord God, you would wrap your loving arms around them and whisper in their ear, child, I love you and I’m right here beside you.

Touch them. Father God, I pray. Minister to them. I pray in your name. Amen and amen.

I love you guys. I love you guys. I count it. An absolute privilege God has. It’s such a blessing.

I want to just reiterate. Wednesday, 6 o’, clock, we’re going to be getting together for the Christmas Eve service. We have some yard signs. If you guys want to take them with you. Go ahead and take them.

The cards that are next to you, please give them out. Give them out. If you’re in a store, in a restaurant, invite, invite, invite. Tell people about what God is doing in your life. That’s what they want to hear.

I can only do so much. But what they love to hear is, what has God done for you? What is he doing in your life? You are the witness that God has to go forth. You are that shepherd.

But understand this. You are kings and queens in the kingdom of God. I love you guys. Go with God. He’ll go with you.

Bless you all. Sam.