O Little Town of Bethlehem

I came across this sermon from 2010 on the Gateway website. It’s so relevant to celebrating Christmas and to our journey in believing for a miracle.

How do you picture a King arriving? When you think of royalty what do you imagine? The story of the birth of Jesus proves that God’s way of doing things are often much different from ours. 

1 – The Place of Bethlehem. Why did God choose Bethlehem for the birth of his son? Because God likes to choose the smallest and most inconsequential places to birth miracles. Just like we came from a small place, so did Jesus. God takes the smallest thing and shows himself the strongest. God can take anything small and birth something very significant. No matter how small of the place you came from, God will use you for big things.

2 – The People of Bethlehem. Joseph was a carpenter and Mary was an unwed teenager. Can you just picture Joseph with a hard hat and some tools? Can you imagine Mary and Joseph’s conversation about them getting pregnant? A teenager and a carpenter trying to tell others about their baby on the way. The baby who was conceived through the Holy Spirit. Don’t you think they were mocked and made fun of? It was a scandalous act and for many, very hard to believe. God chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

3 – The Problem of Bethlehem – Bethlehem was not a perfect place. The birth of Jesus was in a manger and although we have an image of what a manger looks like based on a nativity scene or a play we have watched, it wasn’t what we think of it to be. There was nothing glamorous about it. God doesn’t birth miracles out of perfect places, he births miracles out of problem places.

4 – The Promise of Bethlehem – Micah 5:4-5 says that His greatness will reach the end of the earth. He will be our peace. Peace isn’t the absence of problems. Peace is the presence of God in the midst of problems.

This is such a beautiful story filled with so much hope. This story of the birth of Jesus on Christmas day encourages us that when we feel weak, inadequate, insignificant, poor and undeserving, we’re in just the right place for the miracle of the Savior to be birthed in us.

In the midst of your current circumstances, how can you focus your heart and mind on the promise of God during this season? God wants to birth a miracle in you. God wants to birth a miracle in your Bethlehem.