Go Tell It From the Mountains | Billy Graham Classic Sermon

The birth of Christ was “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10)! As we approach Christmas, join Billy Graham and special guests for this 1983 message from snowy Colorado Springs and discover how you can embrace the truth that Jesus came to this earth to save you.

Good evening. This is Billy Graham.
Would you like to have the most beautiful and wonderful Christmas you’ve ever known to experience for yourself what true love is really all about.
Then join me and my special guest and discover for yourself.
What Christmas can mean for you and your family this year.
Uh.
This is just so fantastic, Larnell.
Beautiful.
It was a snow and everything. Yeah.
The spirit is here.
Christmas is always my favorite time of the year anyway, but, especially, since my children have come, you know.
That, I know. We were just blessed with the boy ourselves. Oh. And it does make a special dimension.
It does. Because it gives it gives us an opportunity at our to to talk about, you know, the tension on the trees and the presence and all that kind of stuff, but to to kind of bring that around to the fact that the the greatest gift of all was the gift that god gave us.
Jesus.
The important gift. Amen. The one none of us could live without.
Not me. I wouldn’t wanna try.
Oh, I’m not gonna either.
Oh, Klutz. Hello. Hi. Brother. Come on.
We just had a great time with a bunch of international students sharing what Christmas means to them in their
own country. And, of course, being away from their country now, if some of them are alone at this time, but,
uh, sharing you know, we do learn some of our best lessons
from our children. Don’t let you find it out as they grow in the lord.
I remember some Christmas ago, one of our daughters gave to, uh, her mother a sponge and an SOS pad.
And with it, a little note that said, Mommy, with these, I give you myself to help you in the kitchen.
Oh, great. And, uh, it reminded us that, uh, we don’t have to have a lot of things to make Christmas what it really ought to be.
And regardless of what we have or don’t have, we can give one of the best gifts of all,
and
that’s our self and love and service to others. Right.
By the way, have we said Merry Christmas to each other yet?
Come to think of it, Larnell. We haven’t
been into business yet. We wish you a Merry Christmas We wish you a Merry Christmas.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, and have a new year.
We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas.
And a happy new year.
Good tidings to you and all of your kids. Good tidings, merry Christmas and a happy new year.
We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas.
And
change the season to be charming.
See the blazing you’ll be forced
uh.
Why the hell of Christmas treasure?
Wish
Oh, holy night.
The stars are brightly shining. It is a night.
Of my dear Saint Feelsberg.
Long lay the world in sin, and there repoining till he appeared, and the soul fell it’s worth.
The weary world rejoices for yonder breaks.
On you and Clark, be Angel’s voice.
Oh, no. Oh, nice.
When price was born truly he
taught us to love one another. He’s long
is love, and his gospel is chains shall he break for the our brother, and in his name, sweet hands of in ever chorus race we let all live in us.
Raze his holy name.
Your join
the Uh,
Uh, I
Some months ago, I flew over a little town in the beautiful Austrian Alps as I looked down from 30000 feet I could not help but remember that scene a 160 years ago.
It was Christmas Eve. And in Orberdorf, the Reverend Joseph Moore, The twenty six year old assistant pastor of Saint Nicholas Church was troubled.
Mice had eaten into the bellas of the old church organ.
And there would be no music at the Christmas Eve service.
However, Joseph Moore sat down and quickly wrote a poem of six stances celebrating the glory of the birth of Jesus Christ.
He brought the poem to the church organist and requested that the musician set the words to music.
That night, Gruba and Moore sang their melody.
Little dreaming that this song would go around the world and become possibly the greatest Christmas Carol of them all.
Silent night, holy night seems like a romantic dream or even a false hope that vanishes in the face of the realities of life, but there can be peace in our hearts when we turn to the only true source of peace Jesus Christ.
Think back to that 1st Christmas almost 2000 years ago. You remember the story?
It was probably late at night on the plains just a few miles outside the little village of Bethlehem.
The stars shown like diamonds in the sky.
And the little band of weary shepherds had settled down to sleep on the cold rocky ground.
They had no reason to expect it would be different from any other night.
Just as you may think in your own life that nothing can change, but god had other plans.
For this was the night that would be the most important night in human history, the night when god himself would come to earth, Listen to Luke’s account of that remarkable night.
And lo, the angel of the lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid.
And the angels said unto them, fear not, For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the lord.
Can you imagine the fear that must have gripped their hearts.
One translation says, and they were terror stricken, but the first words of the angels to those shepherds were Fear not.
There’s good news. Fear not because Christ has come, and he makes all the difference.
Because Christ has come, You need not be bound by fear and despair.
You can know that all is calm and all is bright because of Christ.
You know, four times in the gospel accounts of Christmas, the angels use that expression. Fear not. Zachariah?
An old man was filled with fear when he was told that he would be the father of John the Baptist who would be the forerunner of the Messiah.
The angel told him, fear not.
Mary was told that she would have the awesome privilege of bearing the son of god.
Fear filled her at first, but the angel said, fear not Mary, Joseph, betrayal to the virgin Mary, was filled with fear and embarrassment when he discovered she was pregnant, but the angel declared fear not.
For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Then when the Holy Child was born, The angel came to those shepherds that we spoke about a moment ago and said, fear not.
For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.
Born to you as born a savior, which is Christ the lord.
And that is what god says to us today, no matter what our fears may be, It is what he says to you right now.
Fear not. Fear not because Christ has come because there’s no longer any reason to be gripped in slave by fear.
Think of the fears that so easily assault us. This fear of problems that we face.
And what we think they may do to us.
But no matter what problem you face, the Bible says, fear not. Why? Because Christ is with you.
Jesus declared, in the world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
He invites you today to bring your cares and your burdens to him. Come on to me.
All of you that lay up on a heavy laden, and I will give you rest, he said.
Or there’s the fear of loneliness. You’re never alone when you know of Christ. He has promised low.
I’m with you always, even under the end of the world. You were created for fellowship with god.
And when you come to Christ, he makes you a child of god. You have a special relationship with him.
And nothing can take that away because Christ made it possible through his death on the cross.
Then there’s the fear of death.
There was another time in the Bible when the angel came and said, fear not.
It was spoken to the women who came to the tomb of Jesus early on that first Christmas morning and discovered the tomb was empty.
Fear not Yee. He is not here for he has risen. Christ is the answer to death.
By his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, he took away the sting of death He took away our sins by dying on the cross in our place.
And by putting your faith in him as your lord and savior, You can know the joy of forgiveness and peace with god.
Christmas was just the beginning. A head was the cross.
And beyond the cross was the entitune, the cradle, the cross, and the crown, all go together.
If we’re to understand Christ and the difference he can make in our lives.
You see Christ has come to take away the source of our fears.
Fears are real, and Christ does not tell us that we should simply cheer up, and they’ll all go away.
It’s right to fear death if we do not know Christ.
It is right to fear loneliness, all the problems that seem to overwhelm us because those things are very real, but so is Christ.
And when we realized that he has dealt with sin and made it possible for us to be reconciled to god, then we do not need to be paralyzed by fear any longer.
Instead, we should do what the shepherds did. Come to Christ.
Come to him with our sins and cast them at his feet. Then we can know silent night, holy night.
Then we can know what the Bible calls, the peace of god, which passeth all understanding.
Jesus promised peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.
Not is the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Yet, there can be no doubt that in the midst of all the Christmas rush, The prince of peace has often been left out.
And we too often forget that it is actually his birthday that we’re celebrating.
The precise meaning of that 1st Christmas was clear.
God has come to earth in human form, and the impact was so great that calendars were torn up.
All prejudices were laid aside, and eventually millions of Earth’s people began to walk in an newness of life and talk about the possibility of peace on earth.
Nearly 2000 years ago, the angels revealed to the wondering and trembling shepherds, the glorious news, that there was born that varied day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the lord.
You see, these were not ordinary shepherds.
They watched the sheep that would be sacrifices on the altar of the temple for the sins of the people, and these shepherds were considered religious outcast because their job made it impossible to keep the rabbinic law.
How appropriate that the angels gave the most glorious message ever heard to them first?
These sheep under the sentence of death, as if the angel said, your time for dying is almost over, for the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world, is born tonight.
How appropriate he gave the announcement to these outcast shepherds?
For man had been spiritual outcast ever since the Garden of Eden, and Jesus had come to open the way home.
There are thousands of human schemes for social and political improvement, many of them are very good, but they will ultimately fail because they are not dealing with man’s basic disease.
They change the circumstances, but leave the man untouched.
They alter the surroundings, but have no power to change and transform character.
If mankind is to be saved at this tragic hour of history, if the world is to be transformed, if we’re to have peace, Then salvation must come from a source outside of man.
Christmas emphasizes the glorious truth that what man is unable to do for himself, Jesus Christ has done for him.
Man could not save himself because he could not deliver himself from the guilt, power, and the consequences of sin.
Man was in rebellion against god and had no terms of peace to offer. That could be acceptable by god.
Only god himself could make peace. And this he did through the atoning sacrifice of his son.
Through the merits of Christ’s life and death, we are offered full and free forgiveness.
Christmas tells us what it cost god to save the world.
For god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Christ is god’s great Christmas gift to the world. The scripture says, thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift.
However, the hope that was given to those shepherds on that 1st Christmas morning is available only to those who believe.
To know the pardon, joy, and peace and power, which comes through Christ man must personally receive him by faith.
Faith must be real if the heart is to be changed.
There are many of you watching at this moment.
Who long for peace in your own heart at this Christmas time?
You too can meet god at the foot of the cross.
And find the peace that you’ve searched for so long. You say, what do I have to do?
Well, you have to turn from your sins. Receive Christ as your lord and savior.
Commit your life to him. He will come into your heart.
And this Christmas, You can spend knowing the Christ of Christmas for the first time.
Whatever you need, Jesus can meet it.
Whatever the desires and longings of your heart, Christ can touch your life and transform you and make you a new person.
I’m going to ask you to make that commitment and that decision tonight.
What a wonderful time of the year to say yes to Jesus Christ.
And letting change your life and change many of the circumstances that you find yourself in now.
I’m going to ask you to follow along a little prayer with me that I would like to pray.
I want to pray for you right now and with you And while we are praying, you make that heart commitment to Jesus Christ, and he will receive you, and he can transform you from the inside out.
Shall we pray? Our father and our god, we thank thee for the glorious Christmas gift that you have given us in Jesus Christ.
We thank thee for the power that he has, to transform our lives, and to bring peace to our troubled hearts.
And I pray just now that those that are watching will pray this little prayer.
Oh god. I have sinned against you. I’m sorry for my sin.
I’m willing to turn for my sins, and I receive you as savior, and I confess Christ as lord.
From this moment on, I want to follow
the Oh,
If you would like to commit your life to Jesus Christ, please call us right now toll free at 1 877-772-4559.
That’s 1877-772-4559.
You can write to us at Billy Graham, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Apartment C, Charlotte, North Carolina 2820 1, or you can contact us on the web 247@peacewithgod.
Tv. We’ll get the same helps to you that we give to everyone who responds at the invitation.
On behalf of Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham of Angelistic Association, thank you for watching, and thank you
hear the sound of a brand new day witness the story there.
Come and
give your wife a private sleep attached.
Me to the