Why Bethlehem

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to the book of Micah.

It's a little New Testament prophet.

Actually, it's right off the book of Jonah.

We preached through the series on Jonah.

Welcome.

That looks kind of like a candy cake.

Yes, could yes, please?

Oh look a hair.

Yes, you may.

Candy cake.

No, what is the significance of the legend of the candy cake?

Merry Christmas, candy cane.

You're the prettiest candy cane I've ever seen.

Look at the candy cane, and what do you see?

Stripes that are red, like the blood shed for me.

White for my Savior, who is sinless and pure.

J is for Jesus, my Lord, that's for sure.

Turning around and a staff you will see.

Jesus, my shepherd, is coming for me.

Is that not beautiful?

Rosemarie, you can come up with some of the fantastic.

Is that not gorgeous?

Is this not gorgeous?

Amen.

Micah.

If you said, where is Micah?

Well, go to Matthew and go back a few pages.

You'll find it.

That's where it is.

Right after the book of Jonah.

It's about five books back toward in the Old Testament from Matthew.

In Matthew chapter 5, verse 2, we have the great prophetic word by Micah about the place of the birth of Jesus.

Matthew 5:2

When we look at the, I love, you know what we do?

In fact, we watched a couple of last night.

I love Hallmark Christmas.

Does everybody, everybody, I'm locked in, baby.

We record them all.

I mean, they are awesome.

It's the only thing worth watching on TV, I can tell you.

And they always have Christmas trees, manger scenes, and uh it's always a great ending.

Amen?

Always a great ending.

And uh I'm terrible when I read a book.

I go to the last chapter and read, make sure it's got a good ending.

If it doesn't, I don't read the book.

You say, well, you miss a lot of stuff.

No, I don't, if I can't read it, can't have a happy ending, I ain't reading it.

That's just who I am.

I'm sorry.

But anyway, so I was thinking about Bethlehem and these three messages, I said, I'm gonna do something I've never done in almost 35 years of ministry.

I'm gonna preach three messages on three whys that nobody ever preaches on in Christmas.

Why the virgin birth?

I mean, I know we talk about it, and it's very important, but as we looked verse by verse and delve into the true meaning of the virgin birth and the difference between the virgin birth, the virgin conception, and the immaculate conception.

And man, y'all love that.

I know you are several of you told me.

And then last week, Joseph.

I mean, the man that's very seldom spoken about.

In fact, only mentioned very little in the New Testament.

But today, we talk about Bethlehem, and we're gonna sing Old Little Town of Bethlehem.

Remember that?

Oh, little town of Bethlehem.

Okay?

We every Christmas song usually has reference to Bethlehem.

So we know about Bethlehem, and we've heard that it was a prophetic prophecy that was preached about and talked about and told about.

Even in the very beginning, when the wise men came to Herod.

And Herod said, What?

A king that's gonna be born?

And he turned to his Sadducees, the religious group, the ones that knew the letter of the law.

And said, Do you know anything about this?

They said, Absolutely.

We know about it.

In fact, they ran and grabbed the scrolls and came back and wrote out Micah chapter 5, verse 2, and here's what it says, and they read it to the king.

Micah 5:2

But thou Bethlehem, Ephrath, he said, and by the way, Ephrath or Ephratha is another name for Bethlehem.

He said, But thou Bethlehem, Aphratha, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come, he being in reference to the Messiah.

Forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Millions of people.

Sing the beautiful hymn, O little town of Bethlehem, each Christmas, without the knowledge.

And we put up beautiful, like this manger scene, and we talk about these manger scenes in Bethlehem, but not knowing the true significance of Bethlehem and the importance of Bethlehem, the knowledge of its miraculous heritage in 722 BC, 722 B.C.

before Christ's birth, the prophet Micah, right here, identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of the coming Messiah.

And it happened just as he described it.

An episcopal preacher that I have read, he became a tremendous theologian in the early, well, in the mid-1800s.

His name was Philip Brooks.

Philip Brooks has written many books.

One was on preaching that I used as I taught homiletics in the seminary for years on the art of preaching.

But Philip Brooks attended a five-hour Christmas Eve service in 1865 in the place of Bethlehem at the church of the Nativity, supposedly where Jesus was born.

I have had the privilege of going there three times.

Been right there.

We have sung hymns down in the cave, supposedly where Jesus was born.

It's absolutely phenomenal.

It's something that if you ever get a chance to go, it's life-changing.

The Bible will literally come alive when you begin to read it after you've been to the Holy Land, geographically speaking.

It'll come alive.

But we see, here's what he said five-hour service.

And after attending that five-hour-long service, he left, and as he was back on the airplane, going back home, he wrote a song.

He pinned the song while flying back.

Well, I don't know if he was flying, but in 1865, I don't think he was because the plane wasn't even, uh Arville and them didn't even establish the plane until 1902.

So, excuse me, he was going across, and it wasn't on the Titanic, but he was going across on the ship as he was coming back home.

On the ship, which probably took, I don't know what, probably two weeks back then or close.

He wrote this song, and here was the name of the song.

Are you ready?

Three years later, uh he published it, and it became one of the greatest ever.

Guess what it was?

Oh, little town of Bethlehem.

How still we see the lie.

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the star, the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Wow.

Why did God choose Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Savior?

I want to give you three main reasons.

Number one, Bethlehem was a place that was prepared, yes, for the Lord Jesus' birth, but it was prepared historically.

I meant it was prepared historically.

It is a historical fact.

It's not a myth.

It's a fact, it's a real place.

Historically speaking, geographically speaking, it is a real place.

When Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census, there were likely no more than a thousand inhabitants at that time in the little town of Bethlehem.

It was a small village.

It was a little village.

Today there's between 30 and 40,000 people.

So still, it's a small town.

But we see it was the birthplace of the Prince of Peace and has been marked in modern times by all kinds of clashes between the Arabs and the Jews, fighting over the historical site of Bethlehem, that it's their property.

No, it's my property.

So it's always really, this little place is always in the news.

Even though you may not hear it said Bethlehem, but when they're talking about the Judea regions, that's what they're talking about.

The Arabs and the Jews have been fighting over that era ever since the birth of Christ.

And guess what?

They will still fight over it.

I don't care how many, hey, hey, peace conferences we have, there will not be peace in that region till Jesus comes back.

Till the Prince of Pea comes back and reigns.

So they can talk about it, they can sign covenants about it, but it's not gonna happen.

One would think that God might have chosen Jerusalem as the birthplace because it's the holy city.

Some would think that Bethlehem was really just a little community.

Why such a significant place?

Well, Micah 5.2.

To understand the significance of this city, Bethlehem, we've got to reach deep into the history of the Old Testament.

So today, I'm gonna give you, and we're gonna look.

Bethlehem occurs, are you ready?

41 times.

41 times in the Old Testament, in 11 different books over a period of some 1,300 years.

Wow.

Again, 41 times, 11 different books over a period of some 1,300 years.

It was a small but very significant city in Israel's history.

Bethlehem was a place, first of all, and we're gonna look at three things.

It was a place of three things.

Number one, it was a place of sorrow.

Bethlehem was a place of sorrow.

If you remember some of the old stories, and if you've not read the Old Testament, I love to preach, and I preach a lot out of the Old Testament.

In fact, I kind of have a series of ways that I preach, and I've been doing that ever since.

I don't know if you picked up on that.

I'll try to maybe preach out of the Old Testament, then I'll preach out of the New Testament, and then I'll come in and do a topic which covers Old and New.

Uh and these uh three messages we've looked at, the Old and New Testament.

Because I try to give an overview of the whole Word of God and show you how the Word of God supports itself and how it's so absolutely trustworthy.

It proves itself.

That's why it's a miraculous, miracle book.

Amen.

It proves itself.

So we see if you've never read the relationship of Jacob and his wife Rachel, you've missed probably one of the greatest love stories ever written in history.

I'm serious.

And so we see the first situation, the relationship, the first place where Bethlehem is really mentioned is when, and it was a sorrowful time because Rachel had delivered her first son.

And if you remember the story of Rachel, and I don't want to get off because I uh it's such a good story, and my wife's excellent.

She's done lineage, she loves to do the lineage stuff.

But anyway, Rachel, if you know, she felt like she was cursed because she was barren for many years.

She couldn't have children.

And so she rushed ahead of God and decided since she couldn't have children, she would send her maids into her husband, Jacob.

Legally, they married him.

She would, they got married, and long story short, I think he married two of the maids or uh concubines.

I was trying to make it sound a little better, maids, but concubines, whatever you want to call them.

Uh but anyway, he he and a maiden back then was a pretty high position, though, too.

I mean, it was to be a maiden servant in the house of those of authority was a very high position.

I'm telling you, it was it was very special.

So, anyway, she he married them and had sons by them, and then years later, in fact, he ended up with about, I think, 12 sons, but years later, guess what?

God answered Rachel's prayer and gave her a child, and their first child was Joseph, the deliverer of Egypt.

We know the story of Joseph.

What a tremendous son.

And then God promised her a second son.

And so she conceived the second son, and the problem with this second son was when this second son, who was named by Rachel Benoni, which means a place of sorrow, hey, she named him Benani because as she was delivering her son, she was what?

She died.

She died in the childbirth.

And she knew she was gonna die.

And so she named his son, her son, Benai.

Now, Jacob changes it to Benjamin, which means the son of my right arm.

But here we see the first mentioned of Bethlehem is in reference to a place of great sorrow.

Because Rachel died at birth.

And out of all the the times, Jacob was Christ.

He loved her so much.

Genesis 35, you got to read it.

It's the story, the whole story.

And and in 35, I got it there for you, 16 through 19, I just told you what happened there.

It was, hey, and it's it's phenomenal.

But here's the thing: it's there's more said about Rachel, one woman in the Bible, than any other woman.

Because she played such a key part in the lineage of Christ.

And you're gonna see this.

But I wanted you to see Bethlehem right there.

And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephraim.

And Rachel travailed and she had hard labor, and it came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou shalt have this son also.

And it came to pass as her soul was in departing, she's dying, for she died, that she called his name Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin.

Wow.

And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephraim, which is Bethlehem.

Wow.

First mention of the little town of Bethlehem.

It was a place of sorrow.

Unbelievable.

The first mention of the old uh Bethlehem and the Old Testament story involved the birth of Jacob's son.

And now watch this.

Now let's go over to the New Testament.

And the first mention in the New Testament story involved the birth of God's son.

Who we know ends up being what?

The man of what?

Sorrows.

Unbelievable parallelism here.

Unbelievable.

As Rachel was lying there and named her son Benini, son of my sorrow, is really what it meant.

A name which Jacob again changed to Benjamin, son of my right hand.

Century later, and I wrote, Oh, this is awesome.

Another son of sorrow would be born, the man of sorrows, Jesus, because he carried our sorrows on his own back.

He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Who his own self bearish sins in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness.

Woo! By whose stripes we are healed.

So, the man of sorrows, Jesus, was born in a place called Bethlehem, but he was born to die so that we might live.

Wow.

Is that not fantastic?

So we see the parallelism of Bethlehem, how important it was.

1100 years, 1100, listen, after Rachel's death, look at what the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 31, verse 15.

Jeremiah 31:15

The famous words of lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.

In other words, Jeremiah's words originally applied to the deportation of the, not of Jacob's son and of the nation Israel into captivity with Babylon.

For all those years.

She's crying out and just letting, you know, she's she's knowing this and knowing the prophetic thing that's going to happen because of Israel's disobedience.

1100 years later.

Unbelievable.

The Jeremiah writes.

And then this is awesome.

Notice in Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

Matthew notes now how Jeremiah's words were prophetic of the weeping in Bethlehem.

In other words, now we go to the New Testament and we see this same unbelievable sorrow of the weeping, not of the captivity of the nation Israel, but of the death of little babies, two years of age and under, that Herod kills, because the wise men do not come back and tell Herod where the little babies was born.

And so what he does, he issues a decree to go out into the whole region of Judah and kill every baby, male, child from two and under.

Massacred.

A place of sorrow.

And I thought to myself, oh, what a picture of today.

Well, I think it was in the 60s since we issued that it's legal to kill, hey, babies in women's wounds, how many babies we have massacred?

Abortion.

So when you think about children being aborted, children being abused, think about Bethlehem.

A place of sorrow.

Started a long time ago.

With the massacre of Herod, with a two-year-old and under the little baby male with children.

God help us.

A place of sorrow.

No wonder the man of sorrow had to come to the place of sorrow so that he could bring life to the hey world.

Can I get an amen?

Wow.

Unbelievable.

Secondly, Bethlehem was a place of place of selection.

1 Samuel 16.

You gotta go there.

What a story.

What a story.

It was a place of selection.

1 Samuel 16 gives us the story of David's selections by God.

It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

God tells Samuel, it's time to for him to pick the king.

Saul, if you remember, Saul had been disobedient.

Saul had not followed God.

He started out a good king, great king, godly king.

But then he's decided through some bad influences of really witches.

I bet wrong counsel, ungodly counsel.

He decides to do his own thing, and he doesn't follow what God does.

And God said, That's it, you're through.

You're no longer going to be my king.

And he tells Samuel, he says, okay, now you go to Jesse's house outside of Bethlehem.

I'm going to pick the king this time.

The people had chosen Saul because he was seven foot, he was handsome, he was big, he was strong, he was a good warrior.

So they had chosen him as king.

And Samuel loves Saul, there's no doubt about that, because he had a hard time getting over it.

And finally, God had to tell him right here, he said, That's it, that's enough.

I've told you, get over Saul.

He's no longer gonna be king.

In fact, he says that in verse 1.

And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long will thou mourn for Saul?

Seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel, fill thy horn with oil and go, and I will send thee to Jesse's house in Bethlehem, for I have provided me a king among his sons.

Now he had, hey, Jesse, Jesse had uh seven or eight sons, I think.

And anyway, I think it was eight or seven, it's in there.

And here's the thing, what's this?

And Samuel, look at verse 4.

And Samuel did that which the Lord spake and came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Comest thou peacefully?

And because when the when the main prophet came into town, it was either good or bad.

I mean, he was either gonna bring judgment or he's gonna bring blessings.

There was no in between.

So they see him coming and say, Oh, please, Samuel, prophet, Mr.

Prophet, are you coming peacefully?

In other words, are we okay or are you fixing away?

Let us have it.

He said, No, I've come in peace.

Get ready for a sacrifice.

I've come to pick the king.

God has sent me to pick the king, and he's told me that the my, that his king's gonna come from Jesse's house.

And I like what happens next.

Boy, this is good.

And it came to pass when they were come, he looked at Eliab.

Whoo! Eliab, guess what?

He's the oldest, he's the biggest, he's the strongest, he's the best-lookingest.

Woo! I just needed her hat and I could do that.

Really?

Oh, he goes on to be a captain of the army.

He's a coward, but he became a captain of the army.

That's another story with David and Goliath.

You'll hear that one.

Oh, it's a good one, too.

Hey, so, oh, he's great.

He's good looking.

And remember, hey, Samuel still got this thing going with Saul.

He thinks that's it.

The motto is big, strong, handsome, mighty, good looking.

But now what?

So he's already said this is it.

And look what happens next.

Verse 7, put a star by it.

It's the best, one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

But the Lord said, I like that.

But when you and I think we got it all figured out, don't, hey, look out because here it comes.

But God.

You better hope the butt, the conjunction's on your side.

Amen.

Because if it's not, we're in trouble.

But God.

And then notice what he said.

Look not on his countenance or on the height of his statue.

And then he said, here's what God said.

I love it.

I'm about to have a run spell.

Hey, here's what he said.

It has nothing to do about the lungs.

Nothing.

Nothing about the looks.

Nothing.

Man, you think you look good, you smell good, you think you're in it.

But God.

And then he goes and he says, Look not on the countenance on the hive, because I have refused him, for the Lord sees not as man sees, man looks on the out of the parents, but God looks on the heart.

It's not your looks, it's not your statue, it's your heart.

Isn't it so?

I'm telling you, every time I pick one self, that person's gonna be godly.

When I all those years I taught these preacher boys, these good-looking guys would come in there, hey, they'd come in there and they'd look good, they'd dress good, they speak good, they preach good, and then they were flops.

Didn't do squat for God.

Why?

Because, but God! Then you get the ones come in there, bless the hearts, they couldn't hardly use the King James English correctly, and man, they but God was all over them.

And man, they get the preaching, they'd say ain't and they'd say use wrong subject verbs agreement, but this God just goes and you're going, what in the world?

You say that guy doesn't have it.

Oh, oh, you forgot, but God! You don't have to have it externally if you got it inwardly.

Woohoo! Amen.

Now I'm not saying you don't need to learn to speak correctly.

I I try my best I can.

But every once in a while I go back to my South Georgia language.

Winter.

She'll say, honey, you're not in Sylvester.

Thank you, ma'am.

But listen to me, but God, he looks on the heart now.

Watch.

Woohoo! Watch what happens next.

Verse 10, and again, guess what?

Then he said, Okay, it's not him, so he turns to the next brother.

And notice what he says.

Oh, this gets good.

And he said, and then uh Jesse called Abanadab and made him pass before Samuel.

And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen them.

Anyway, then he he goes on, and again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass by.

Seven.

None of them.

They all look good, all smell good, all speak good, but none of them worked.

No, that's not who won't.

So Samuel's, I'm can you imagine Samuel?

He said that was that's who I he said.

Well, do you happen to have any other sons?

Oh yeah.

Jesse said, Well, I guess I do.

But but but but Samuel, Mr.

Prophet, he's out there pretending to sheep.

He's just a little lad.

Now he's kind of cute.

Ruddy looking.

That means cute.

Freckle face.

Red headed.

About five eight, my height.

Five seven and three-quarters.

He's out there.

But but but let me remind you again, Mr.

Prophet.

He's just a shepherd boy.

But God.

It doesn't matter if you're the sweet, the sweet cleaner, the potty cleaner.

It doesn't matter if you're the dishwasher.

I don't encourage you there.

It doesn't matter if God says, go woo! Fetch him! Fetch him! That's what he said.

Look at what he said.

Verse 11.

And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children?

He said, No.

There, I know I did have blib a little bit, but read it.

There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.

And Samuel said unto Jesse, Sin and set with me, church.

Fetch him! Fetch him! Woo! Lord, I want to be fetched! Lord, fetch me! Amen.

Fetch me.

I want to be fetched.

Boy, that's good.

And he went and sent and brought him in.

And he was ruddy.

And with all of a beautiful countenance.

That's why I've always been attracted to my redhead.

I did get it right that time.

And then he said godly to look to.

And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him.

For this is he.

So we see Bethlehem was a place of selection because David went on to become the king of Israel.

Bethlehem became known as what?

The city of David.

The city of David.

Luke chapter 2, verse 4.

Luke 2:4

Jesus was known, ready, as the son of David.

Matthew 12, 23.

So the lineage of Jesus Christ flowed through the town of Bethlehem even before Jesus was born there.

The king of Israel was selected there, and the king of kings was born there.

Bethlehem was a place of selection.

Number three, Bethlehem was a place of salvation.

Amen.

Bethlehem was a place of salvation.

From the time that Jacob spoke of Bethlehem in his dying words when he was dying in Genesis chapter 48.

Genesis 48 · chapter mention

Actually, the verse 7.

The little town is off the biblical radar in terms of important events until the book of Ruth.

But as he's reflecting, as he's dying on his whole tenure with God and route with God, he comes back up and he thinks about Ruth.

Want another love story?

Ladies, y'all love to read good love stories?

That's one of my wife's favorites.

Ruth and Boaz.

Ever read the story?

Now Ruth's not really mentioned much.

But the book of Ruth presents a beautiful picture of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ through the action of Boaz.

In fact, the whole beautiful book of Ruth, the whole main theme that runs through that little book is redemption.

Redemption.

And Ruth is a picture of us, Boaz of Christ, as Boaz redeems Ruth.

Her husband's died.

She's in the, she's there, no one to take care of, no children.

And Boaz is next in line, and he takes her to be his beautiful wife.

And they, so Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, Ruth 4 13, and the words redeemed and redemption occur throughout the book of Ruth, even to constitute the whole theme.

And Ruth is mentioned only once in the New Testament, that being in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, verse 5 and 6.

Matthew 1:5

But Ruth herself was saved by Boaz and Bethlehem, and the child she and Boaz had together.

Are you ready?

This gets exciting, was Obed.

And you know who Obed was?

Obed was the grandfather of David.

Ha ha! The ancestor of Jesus who was born in Bethlehem.

Woo! That's good.

Ha! You ought to hear, Susan, you need to teach.

You need to teach that Siraids.

The lineage of Jesus.

Five women.

Unbelievable.

She doesn't like my, she doesn't like my title of it.

She calls it the lineage of Jesus.

I call it from the prostitute to the virgin.

Rosemary.

That's true.

But let me tell you the picture of that.

It doesn't matter who you are when God redeems you.

It doesn't matter.

He can use you to the fullest extent.

Woo!

Amen.

Amen.

Powerful.

Powerful.

Woo! So Bethlehem was prepared historically, number two.

Bethlehem was prepared symbolically.

Micah 5, 2, as we go back there.

Is the prophetic verse that identified Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah.

In that verse, Bethlehem is a con pam word, and here's what it means.

Bethlehem.

It's the Hebrew word, Bethlehem.

Bethlehem.

And it means the house of bread.

It means Ethrth means the place of fruitfulness.

So you've got Bethlehem, the house of the bread, which stands for food, nourishment, and then you have Ethroth, which stands for fruitfulness.

Wow.

Powerful, powerful definitions here.

And then when you go to John chapter 6, he says that he is the bread of life.

John 6 · chapter mention

And I love that in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

Look at what he says about it, about it.

In John 6, verse 33, for the bread of God is he which came down from heaven and gives life unto the world.

John 6:33

Verse 35.

Then you jump over to chapter 7, verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come into me and drink.

He that believes on me, as the scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Oh, ladies and gentlemen, it is so appropriate for the, hey, the place, Bethlehem, the house of bread that is fruitful to be, hey, the birthplace of the bread of life and the living water.

It fits.

It has to fit.

Because that's who he was.

That's who he was.

Wow.

Wow.

Fruitfulness.

I love Psalms 1.3.

And it says that we should be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth our fruit in our season.

Oh, it's so beautiful.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season.

His leaves shall not wither.

Did you hear that?

When you and I are living on the substance of the living water, Jesus Christ, and the bread of life, Jesus Christ, whatsoever we do it will prosper.

If you get that, you got it.

Do you get it, church?

He says, You're not going to wither, you're not going to fail, you're not going to fall by the wayside.

You're going to hang in there.

You're going to be faithful.

And God's going to use you.

And now for us that are you that are thinking about retirement, I'm 62 years old now.

I can draw Social Security.

Not very much.

Well, I hadn't applied and may not draw it.

But I thought to myself, people at my age start thinking about retiring.

And then I found this verse.

For all you retirees.

You ready?

Psalms 92, 14.

Put it up there, Jason.

They shall still bring forth fruit in what?

Holy.

Say that again.

Only two or three said that.

Let's read that again.

They shall bring forth fruit in what?

Holy.

They shall be what?

I like that.

Fat.

Ha ha.

Woo! Hey! Bring on the cake.

Amen.

I know.

Hey, there'll be no dice in heaven.

Hallelujah.

Man, I'm so sick and tired of eating protein bars, I'm gonna turn into one.

Oh, is that what that means?

My wife says, that's gonna mean we're gonna be healthy and not sick.

Well, I'm gonna be healthy and fat.

In heaven.

No blood pressure medicine in heaven.

Can we get an amen?

Oh my soul.

No, no stress.

No stress in heaven.

Wow, is that not good?

Man.

That's awesome.

But now wait.

Look at the next elf.

You shall be fat and what?

That means in your old age, you ought to be doing your most greatest works for God.

Hello! Flourishing.

I looked at Gary and Elizabeth.

Man, they're drilling wells over there in Africa.

He ought to be retiring.

He's kind of like me.

Every once in a while, that although I said in for all our weightlifting days.

He can't hardly move.

Bless God, he's drilling a well.

Why?

Because he understands that.

Folks, listen, we don't have that long, really.

We don't.

So we ought to, hey, we ought to, we ought to go out, not by burning out, but by flourishing out.

Can I get an amen?

There's a difference.

You know why people burn out?

They don't be still to take time to refuel.

So you burn out when there's nothing else in the tank.

Ben.

You run, your car stops when there's nothing else in the tank.

You gotta go to the station and refill.

I oh God almost got me the other day.

I was, I looked up and my thing had hit on empty, and that truck went.

I said, boy, is Ben gonna eat my lunch.

I'm fixing to give out of gas.

And praise God, there was Jesse's right there.

I just went right in.

It's a 24-gallon tank.

I put in 24 gallons and eight tenths.

I was two tenths from running out of gas.

You say, what's that?

That means I'm out of gas.

And I said, thank you, Lord.

I never lived that down to the church or bed.

But we gotta flourish.

We gotta flourish, folks.

Bethlehem was a place of symbolic fruitfulness and flourishing.

White and hard.

And look at Jeremiah 17 8.

I want you to see this.

Oh, here's another one.

What's Jeremiah 17 8?

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters.

Now, watch this.

And that spreadeth out her roots by the river.

In other words, you're going deep into the things of God, the word of God, the church of God, you're very faithful.

You're just doing what God tells you to do.

And shall not see when he comes.

You know what he means there?

When it gets the heat's there, and hey, pressure's on you.

Everything's on you.

Hey, notice what he says.

You stand, I'm gonna be standing firm.

He said, but you don't know what I'm going through.

It doesn't matter.

I may not know, but Jesus does because he, Hebrews 4, is our high priest, and he's been touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

He knows exactly what you're going through, and he's there for you.

And then number three, Bethlehem was prepared prophetically.

In 1722 BC, Micah wrote that Bethlehem was one of the smallest and least of all the towns in Judah.

And that it would be the birthplace of the one to be the ruler of Israel.

Wow.

When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem seeking to worship the newborn king of the Jews in Matthew 2, 2.

When Herod called all the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, together to ask where his new king would be born, they responded that according to Micah 5.2, he would be born in Bethlehem.

Matthew 2, 4-6.

Later during Christ's ministry, some declared him not to be the Messiah.

Here's why.

Since he came from Galilee and Lazarus.

Everyone knew, though, that the Messiah must come from Bethlehem.

John 7.42.

The distractors were unaware that Jesus had actually been born in Bethlehem.

Luke says Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

The angel that appeared to the shepherds said Bethlehem was the birthplace.

In Luke chapter 2, the shepherd said it was Bethlehem, verse 15.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Herod sent the Magi to Bethlehem, Matthew 2, 8, and put the boy babies to death in Bethlehem.

Everyone involved in the nativity of Bethlehem on that first Christmas morning knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Wow.

Everyone who reads this Bible, as God's book, understands that it is a miracle book, a supernatural book.

But in this case, we see God guided the dart exactly where he was supposed to land it.

Hey, you know what I was thinking?

It's almost like a big map, a whole world map, or a whole United States map.

And you just take a dart and throw it.

And there it is.

Bethlehem.

There it is.

Bethlehem.

There's only one problem.

God guided the dart.

What truth?

One of the lines in Philip Brooks' hymn captures the importance of Bethlehem in the nativity story.

Listen to what it says.

You'll love this part.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee, Bethlehem, tonight.

Everyone in the human race lives with hopes, and we live with fears.

All of us.

Certainly the nation of Israel did.

But their remedy in the village of Bethlehem on the night of Christ's birth.

That was the village, hey, of Bethlehem, the culmination of God's plan to send the second person of the Trinity of the Trinity to redeem a lost world.

How still we see.

The prophetic words.

Philippians 2, 7 and 8.

We celebrate Bethlehem.

If we've been to Calvary.

Hello.

If you haven't been to Calvary, you can't celebrate the cradle.

You gotta come to the cradle through the cross.

Can I get an amen?

So on this Christmas service, on this Christmas time, the birth of Christ and the miracle Bethlehem is not just for December the 25th.

It is a message saying that God is accomplishing the redemption of his creation.

Wow, I love it.

So the question for every one of us here today is whether the story that began in the 18th century BC with the prophecy of right here, Micah 5.2, that was fulfilled in Bethlehem, culminating on the cross, is a story that has been received and believed in our hearts.

The Christ who was born in Bethlehem must be born in every heart.

Amen.

It's the old, old story.

The redemption story.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.