Small Beginnings

“Small Beginnings”

CCCAG December 8th, 2024

Scripture: Micah 5:2 (ESV)

Last week I received an invitation from the church where Tammie and I started following Jesus. They will be celebrating their 75th anniversary as a church and invited all of the previous members to celebrate with them.

That took me down memory lane for a minute.

I received my call to the ministry in the second row, center left pew of that church.

Just a small moment in time, but it permanently changed the direction of my life.

What if I had written it off as my imagination and never pursued ministerial studies?

I’d have a very different life right now.

Another thing I thought about- what if Tammie and I had decided to stay at that church? We would never have been ordained in the Assemblies of God, and would not be standing before you today?

Those are just two small decisions that actually turned out to be major decisions that changed the course of my life.

It’s been 31 years since I started to follow Jesus, and HE Has spoken this truth to me many times-

“Don’t despise the season of small things.”

Today we are going to be talking about the place of Jesus’ birth- the small little town of Bethlehem.

There is a prophecy given about 500 years before the birth of Jesus that this tiny village would be the place of his birth, and this prophesy was given by a man named Micah.

Micah was a prophet to the southern Kingdom of Judah at the same time as Isaiah. His focus was warning the kings of that period that God was going to allow the overthrow of their nation if they didn’t repent.

While giving these warnings, Micah gave a prophecy about the birthplace of the coming Messiah- indicating that while judgement was coming, God still had plans for Israel.

The Jewish leaders really held on to this prophecy. In fact, Micah’s prophesy was well known at the time of Jesus’ birth.

Remember when the Magi came to King Herod looking for Jesus, and Herod asked the Pharisee’s were the Messiah would be born, they immediately quoted this verse from Micah.

Micah 5:2 (ESV)

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah (Eff Ra Tha), who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days."

Prayer- small beginnings can mean big things

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Introduction

In this verse, we are reminded of two things-

God’s ability to bring greatness out of small beginnings

and His faithfulness to fulfill His promises.

God’s great at making small things huge.

Think about it- everyone here started as two cells, merging into one, that grew into 30 trillion cells.

God is not hindered by small beginnings.

This morning, we will be exploring this idea through our study of Bethlehem being chosen as the place of Jesus’ birth, and what is means for our lives today.

First we answer the question-

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I. Why Bethlehem?

The answer to that question is simple- that God keeps HIS promises.

This promise takes us back 800 years before Jesus was born, to the time of King David.

Long before David became famous for killing Goliath or became King of Israel, he was the youngest son of a shepherd named Jesse who lived in Bethlehem.

That is why Bethlehem is known as the city of David.

This is important because God made David a promise in 1 Kings 8:25 that David would always have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel.

Jeremiah echoed and expanded on this promise in

Jer 33:14-15

"'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15 "'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.

Jer 33:17-18

For this is what the Lord says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,

God further goes onto say that this WILL happen- the language used here is very emphatic.

God goes all out here saying that this Messiah will come, and HE WILL come from David’s family.

God then says that for this promise not to happen- you will need the power to make day into night, and vice versa.

God is saying, “This is how it will be because I’m God and I said so”

This is one of the reasons why those boring Genealogy’s are in the bible- to prove that God kept this promise to David-

In the Gospels, both Mary and Joseph’s lineage is recorded-