Celebrating the birth of Christ

Pastor Mike will be speaking on celebrating the birth of Christ. The passage will be Micah 5:1-5.

I love the song that was written, old little town of Bethlehem. How still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. This is Pastor Mike Sanders with Hope Worth Having Radio Broadcast. We wanna welcome you today to the radio broadcast, and we’re excited that you could be a part of it today.

Today we’re gonna be studying the book of Micah, chapter five, verses one through five. I want us to learn about celebrating the birth of Christ. One of the most amazing things is that hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born, the prophet Micah prophesied about the little town that he would be born in, Bethlehem.

And today I want us to look into that text and see these great prophecies that reaffirm our love for Jesus Christ, knowing that he is the true savior sent from God the Father. So let’s get our Bible and let’s get our pen and some note paper, and let’s start studying the word of God together.

When we come to Micah, chapter five, in verses one through five, in a real sense, the prophet Micah has told us of a Messiah who would be born in a little town called Bethlehem. And he made his prediction about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this little town of Bethlehem.

700 years in advance. What did Micah predict as we look at our text this morning? We note that he predicted that there would be a great ruler, that a great ruler that would be preceded by national distress and divine judgment.

Look at verse 1 of our text this morning. It says, now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops, he has laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. When you study this little book of the book of Micah, you see that Micah is a prophet who is warning the nation of Israel because they have drifted in their love for God.

They have begun to take steps backwards in their passion and their commitment. to God Almighty. And so in verse 1, He is letting them know that Jerusalem needs to mobilize her army and prepare for a battle, for the Israelites were going to be encompassed by their enemies.

And the enemies would strike their king and destroy their king. And that is what history tells us, precisely happened. And the people of Israel, unfortunately, they disregarded the prophet. They disobeyed the words of the Lord.

They would not respond in obedience to God. They would not hear what the Lord had to say to them. And as a result, the nation of Israel went through a series of weak and wicked kings that dragged their nation into immorality and a military abyss, and they fell to Babylon.

Later, Israel would experience a series of humiliations. They would have to endure the tyranny of Antichaeus, the political confusion of Hasmoneans and the defeat by the Romans and the deputism of Herod the Great.

And then Jesus came. Jesus came in the midst of the political chaos. Jesus came in the midst of the despair and the hopelessness that existed in the world. Jesus came, reminding us that no matter how hopeless it may seem in our world, in our life, that there is a Savior who loves us and cares for us.

As I often remind people that we have a savior, we have a God who has not forgotten us. He has not forsaken us, but you and I are blessed for we have a God who has not only come to this earth that He might suffer for us so that we would have eternal life, but we have a savior who suffers with us.

He does not allow us to walk through the sorrows and sinfulness and selfishness of this world by ourselves, but He continues to minister, and He is God with us, Emmanuel, reminding us that God will not forget us.

I was asked on the radio station, Pastor, how would you respond if someone said, I’ve given up on God? And my immediate response to them was, God has not given up on you. And you may be like the nation of Israel, and you may have drifted in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ this morning.

You may have grown up in church, but you’ve gotten out of church, and you may have just kind of put God on the back shelf of your life, and maybe one day you’ll include Him in your life, and you have pretty much been done with God for quite some time.

But I want you to know that God has never been done with you, and that God is always drawing us, and that He is always reaching out to us, even in the mess that we find ourselves in. Many people are frustrated with the messes they’re in, but sometimes our messes are simply the result of our own doings, aren’t they?

Our choices, our decisions. The Bible reminds us in Numbers 32, verse 23, be sure your sins will find you out. And whether it’s a nation or an individual, all of us must recognize that when we choose a path that dishonors God, when we choose a path that’s sowing towards the flesh, we are going to reap, as Hosea said, the whirlwind.

But do not be upset at those whirlwinds, because God is using the mess that you find yourself in to draw you to Him. I’ve learned in life that many times we will not look up to God until we are flat on our back, amen?

And God uses those things in our life to get our attention. And the response is for us to come to God with humility and saying, Lord, here is my life, I tried it on myself, and I tried to do it on my own, but now I realize what a mess I’ve made of my life, and I surrender completely to you this morning.

In this prophecy, we see that Micah predicts that there will be a ruler that would be born in Bethlehem. Look at verse two. Be thou Bethlehem, Ephrata, though thou belittle among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel.

There were two Bethlehems in Israel in those days, and one was in the area of Zebulun, and the other was near Jerusalem. And the ancient name of the one that was near Jerusalem was Ephrata. And so Micah was being quite specific.

Again, remember this is 700 years before the birth of Christ and he’s getting right down to the details and he is noting that this is a small town. One of the most remarkable things in the demographics of America is that we have watched a shift to urbanization.

The large cities have grown larger, and we’re seeing that a lot of people are moving to large cities. But large cities were nothing unusual, even in the times of Micah’s day, the first city to reach a million people, was Rome, 130 years before Christ.

And you would have thought that the Messiah would be born in Rome. That would have been the greatest impact, or maybe in the large Mecca city of Alexandria, or even Jerusalem. But God chose tiny little Bethlehem.

And Micah was a prophet that was chose to reveal this information to all of the world, that the Messiah would be born in a small town called Bethlehem. And that this prophet Micah, who was a small -town prophet, would be commissioned to minister to those small towns.

We as Americans, we think bigger is better, don’t we? Bigger is always better, but the Bible tells us that we’re not to despise the small things, the day of the small things. You remember that song, Little as Much, when God is in it.

Labor not for wealth or fame. There’s a crown, and you can win it when you go in Jesus’s name. I’m reminded of a story of a 19th -century preacher in Portland, Maine. He had one person show up to church on that stormy Sunday morning.

His name was Edward Payson. He was the pastor of that church, and he preached his sermon that morning with one person present. He preached it as though the building had been full that morning. And later, that one person who came wrote the pastor a letter and said these words, I was led to the Savior through that service.

For whenever you talked about sin and salvation, I looked around to see to whom you might be referring to. But since there was no one there but me, I had no alternative but to lay every word to my own heart and conscience.

whether your ministry is large and many folds of people or it is just one person that God is calling you to minister to, I want you to know, do not despise the small things that God has for us. We want to sometimes everything to be grand and we want it to be explosive and we want it to be dynamic and we want it to be large but I hear I’m here to tell you church that God speaks with a still small voice and that God makes the most powerful impacts upon people’s lives in some of the smallest settings and so in those small moments in your life do not reject what God is doing in you what he is doing through you and definitely what he’s doing around you.

The third prediction that Micah makes is that the ruler is eternal. Again we stick with verse 2 and the Bible says that his goings force have been from old, from everlasting. The miraculous conception of Jesus Christ, his birth in Bethlehem is not the beginning of his existence but rather it’s the continuance of his existence.

This is what is so amazing and what is so remarkable about this wonderful story that you and I are celebrating this morning is that Jesus Christ is God himself and yet he has come to this earth to reach out to each and every one of us this morning and that he is reaching out reminding us that he is God himself offering eternal life to everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Can God’s people say amen? Jesus told the religious leaders that before Abraham was I am. He is the everlasting God. John said these words, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

I know that in your analytical mind that it is hard for you to conceive and even perceive that God could be able to come into the world through a virgin and be born as a baby and that he would live a sinless life, offer himself up as the only one…

to die for our sins and then my friends bear the wrath of God on the cross so that you and I might have eternal life and then be buried and three days later rise again and ascend into heaven and sit at the right hand of the Father but I’m here to tell you that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I’m here to tell you that He is above time He is beyond time and He created time and before time was He is and when time is all done He always will be and if you want everlasting life this morning everlasting life will not come in all of the good works that you may try to do this Christmas season and do them my friends do them reach out to the helpless and the hopeless and the hungry and help all that you can this Christmas season but do not do it so that you might merit eternal life but do it because you have obtained eternal life and that you want to send the message of Jesus Christ in and out throughout the whole world into every home and into every heart that is present the Bible tells us that this ruler will be eternal the fourth and final thing that I want you to note is that Micah predicts that the Messiah will be a three -fold ruler he’ll be a three -fold ruler how will he lead us how will this Messiah lead us first he will lead us as a shepherd look at verse 4 and they shall stand and he shall stand and feed in the sky strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God Jesus is our Shepherd his coming to the earth is a reminder that you and I who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are not left here to fend for ourselves in our own strength but rather we have a shepherd who loves us and cares for us and he leads and guides us each and every day as we follow him he is tangible he is visible we are not asking you to believe in some mystical god who is distant and far from us but rather someone as the apostle said that we can touch and that we can hold and that we can see he is the visible manifestation of god himself on this earth he is jesus christ who has come and he is our shepherd jesus said i will never leave you nor forsake you i am cognizant of the truth that the holiday seasons and christmas time is not always for everybody joyous for some of you it is a difficult time because it is a time that you’re going to be reminded of how much you miss someone so special in your life for some of us it is a reminder of how divided your family is because you’re unable to get them to all come together in one house christmas can be tough christmas can be difficult christmas can be lonely church for many people in our community and even within our congregation but jesus as our great shepherd he offers each and every one of us the strength no matter what happens in your life we can depend upon jesus christ to help us to navigate through the storms of life and the trials of life we can trust him that if our life is characterized with failures and bitterness and missed opportunities that we have a savior that will help us to face whatever we encounter in this life There is no challenge that is bigger than your shepherd,

Jesus Christ. You might find yourself in a battle today. It may be external, it may be internal, it may be physical, it may be emotional, but Jesus offers you the strength to win, to face it, to move forward.

It is in the strength of this shepherd that you and I take one step each and every day. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Jesus has given his life.

He who went to the cross for you. Will he withhold anything that is good from those who believe in him? My friends, if He’s willing to give His own life for you, how much more will He care for you, and minister to you, and love on you, and guide you, and bless you with wisdom and encouragement and strength for the days that are before you?

We just need to call on this Good Shepherd who has given His life. He will rule as a shepherd, but He is not only our shepherd, He is our security. The Scripture says in verse 4, They shall abide, for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth.

The word abide could be translated dwelling securely. It’s the idea of being safe. And let’s face it, you and I are living in an insecure world. You and I are living in a world that can come crashing down at any moment.

And one simple word could change our lives forever. A word like divorce. A word like cancer. A word like downsizing. All those things overnight can change our life. But I want to let you know that you can live securely in Jesus Christ this morning.

You can abide in Him safely and securely this morning because your security is not wrapped up in your circumstances. And your security and identity is not wrapped up in your relationships of this world.

But your identity and security is wrapped up in Jesus Christ who will never leave you nor forsake you. And I want you to put your roots in Christ this morning. I want you to build your life on the foundation of Jesus.

I want to recommend to you that the center of your life not be the things of this world, but the Savior of this world. Jesus is our security. He is our serenity. The Scripture says in verse 5 of chapter 5 of Micah, and this man shall be the peace.

A recent study was conducted by the personnel journal. It was discovered that of 3 ,600 years of recorded history, there have been only 286 years of peace. That even though during this time there were an excess of 8 ,000 peace treaties that were made and every one of them was broken.

you and I will find that politicians will continue around this world make peace treaties but every one of them will be broken. Why? Because there is no peace in this world church. Verse 5 reminds us that Jesus is our peace.

Christ is our peace. It’s not that he’ll establish peace. The Bible doesn’t say he’s gonna make peace but the Bible says he is our peace. Everybody’s looking for peace. Trying to get along so we can go along.

The only true peace is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible reminds us in Ephesians 2 .14 that he is our peace. Who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us.

You see the church unity is not united based upon politics. It’s not united based upon economics. It’s not based upon education. The unity that is found in the body of Christ is Jesus himself. And the walls that might divide us.

The walls that the world wants to create between us are not the walls of God but my friends those walls are torn down and they are not what separate us but rather Jesus Christ in his peace that he gives us unites us together as the family of God.

Jesus has come to bring peace to each and every person who will follow him. The Bible tells us blessed are the peacemakers each and every one of you. every one of us should strive to be a people of peace because we have the Lord Jesus Christ within us.

We should strive to be in peace with one another, setting aside our differences and our disagreements, always uniting under the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ, always wanting to bring glory to God. But let me tell you, you cannot make peace with others until you have made peace with God.

And ultimately to understand Jesus as your peace is to understand that we at the very outset of our lives are enemies of God. We are at war with God in our sinful nature and our flesh, but Jesus Christ has come that we might have peace with God.

Jesus Christ has come and offered himself up as a peace offering unto God. For it is the holiness and the wrath of God that demands that our sins be paid for. And you and I in and of ourselves could not and cannot and will not pay for our sins.

Only Jesus can do that. And Jesus has paid the price for the wrath of God has been poured out upon him. He has paid the penalty. He has paid what is necessary for you to have peace with God. It is no wonder that the prophets said in Isaiah 9 .6, for unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of what church, peace. Seven hundred years before his birth, the little town of Bethlehem was chosen as the town of his Nativity.

And still today, two thousand years later, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, whose going forth has been of old and from everlasting and his greatness reaches to the ends of the earth. But let me ask you this, does this greatness reach to your heart?

Does this greatness of salvation reach to each and every one of our hearts? I love the song that was written, Old Little Town. Bethlehem. How still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Well, I hope that as we’ve been studying the book of Micah, that your confidence and assurance of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Savior prophesied by God through his prophets, that he is the one who would come and bring true salvation to all of us.

I hope that that has built your faith and strengthened your walk with Jesus Christ. We cannot forget that Jesus came to bring peace to all who follow him. and that peace is available to each and every one of us as we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

I wanna remind you before we go, make sure you check out our Facebook page. On our Facebook page, we have many pictures of Hope Worth Having Ministries, as well as messages that we’re putting out there and different events that are coming up.

You have the opportunity to learn more about Hope Worth Having, and I hope you’ll take advantage of that opportunity. Like us on Facebook and make sure that you take advantage of this great opportunity.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.