14th Dec 25 pm ~ Eternal Glory in Little Bethlehem

Micah comes with this message that says, judgment is coming and Jerusalem will fall and you're going into exile.And it's not the kind of preaching that will win Bethlehem's Got Talent.It's not the kind of preaching that wins popularity contests.But Micah doesn't just bring condemnation.Woven through these warnings, we see these breathtaking glimpses of hope, promises that even though God will judge sin, he doesn't abandon his covenant people.And he's still going to keep his words. [00:19:32] (30 seconds)  #JudgmentWithHope

``And that phrase everlasting, it's reserved for God himself in the scriptures.So Micah is telling these people, facing collapse, that God himself is coming.And the creator of the universe would come as a baby.It's something that we are probably familiar with, but it just strikes me again that the one who speaks galaxies into existence chose to lay in a manger.The one who sustains all things by his power let himself be sustained by a teenage girl.The one who is from everlasting, who is out with time itself, enter time for us. [00:25:32] (43 seconds)  #EverlastingBecameBaby

They're not the kind of people that you would choose to use to change the world, is it?But consistently, God uses the unlikely, the unqualified, the overlooked, so that nobody can say it was by human wisdom or human power that accomplished anything.But it was only by God's choice that he would choose Bethlehem.We can sometimes feel insignificant or too small or too broken, too ordinary for God to see us as significant. [00:29:09] (35 seconds)  #GodUsesTheUnlikely

You might think that you don't have a gifting or a background or a track record, but God's choice of Bethlehem and his consistency in his choice of David, his choice of disciples, it declares that he doesn't measure potential in the way that we might do, but he sees what he can do through those whose hearts are willing.So the question isn't am I significant enough?The question is am I willing to let God be great in my smallness? [00:29:44] (33 seconds)  #WillingnessOverWorthiness

He'll be the shepherd, hands on, personal, the kind of leadership, the personal kind of leadership imaginable.And this is what would have given those who listened to the first time words of hope.It says, in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.Human kings fail because they are human.Limited strength, limited wisdom, limited love.But the shepherd king operates with divine strength and wisdom and divine love.And the result is that they shall dwell secure.After generations of failed leadership, Micah promises a king is coming.Finally, truly, permanently, they'll be safe. [00:36:43] (51 seconds)  #ShepherdKingSecure

And it's deeply personal for us when we see that because if Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy and Matthew 2 confirms that he is, then everything Micah promised about the shepherd king is true about Jesus' relationship with you and I.We worship and we know a shepherd who knows you by name, who never sleeps on the job, whose omnipotent power is to protect and is to provide for you.A shepherd king who, when we are lost and gone astray, he comes looking for us.When we are wounded, he carries us through.When we are afraid, he stays close to us.And he does this not with human limitation, but in divine strength and power. [00:37:34] (58 seconds)  #ShepherdWhoKnowsYou

My question for you tonight is, are you trying to shepherd your own life?Do you try to live life like you're the shepherd and not the sheep?Jesus invites usto let him be the shepherd that he promises to be.And verse 5, the phrase that we see, he shall be their peace.Not, he will bring about peace or he will teach us about peace.It says, he shall betheir peace. [00:38:37] (32 seconds)  #LetJesusShepherdYou

Normal peace we can maybe describe as the absence of conflict or when life is well and good.Micah describes a completely different kind of peace.And it's a peace that doesn't depend on our conditions or external circumstances.It all rests on a person.He shall be their peace.Not might be or could be or he will try to be their peace.He shall be their peace.The peace that would come as Jesus was promised is certain and guaranteed because it's in his very nature to bring it. [00:39:58] (40 seconds)  #HeIsTheirPeace