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Miracles: The Little Town of Bethlehem
December 17, 2024 · 37 min
Pastor John Mark Caton explores the miraculous nature of fulfilled prophecy, focusing on the significance of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton December 17, 2024 · 37 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark Caton explores the miraculous nature of fulfilled prophecy, focusing on the significance of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark Caton explores the miraculous nature of fulfilled prophecy, focusing on the significance of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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The Miracle of Fulfilled Prophecy 0:00 A couple of weeks ago, if you're new here, we're glad that you're new, maybe in person or online. A couple of weeks ago, we started a new series entitled Miracles, where we've been looking at the miracles that took0:11 place, that first Christmas. And if you heard the message the first week, we looked at the fact that God sometimes does miracles through the natural. And we saw0:22 Zechariah and Elizabeth that they were old in age, they served God, they loved God, there was 1 problem in their life, that they didn't have a child. And all of a sudden the angel showed up and said,0:34 God's going to do a new work in you. And the angel says to Zechariah, your wife Elizabeth is pregnant. And you remember his response? Says, how can this be? Since I'm an old old0:46 man, in other words what he's saying is listen, there was a season and and days gone by that I could have conceived with my wife and had a shot. But we're well past child bearing0:58 age and we've never had a child up till this point, but that 1 miracle started the clock and John the Baptist was born, pointing to the ultimate messiah. So I want you to know, sometimes God will show up in1:10 your life and in my life and do a miracle through the natural. You say, where might we see this today? Well, sometimes perhaps in medicine. As a pastor, I've been1:22 through enough seasons over the years where someone will go in and get a difficult diagnosis. They will get a diagnosis of cancer that really there's no hope, it's staged this or it's staged that. And then all of a1:33 sudden God, through the chemo and through the doctors, will show up and perform a miracle in the natural. I've seen it happen where where people were not able to have a child or whatever and then all of a sudden it1:43 always seems, often times I've seen, they'll adopt a child and have 3. And God somehow someway involves the natural to do the supernatural. Not last week we looked at the idea1:55 that sometimes God shows up and he doesn't even need the natural and he doesn't use the natural, he just does the supernatural. And remember the angel showed up to that virgin, Mary,2:07 who was betrothed to her husband, Joseph and the the angel said Mary, you're with child. Do you remember her response? How can this be since I2:19 am a virgin and I've never been with a man? And the angel said, listen, with God all things are possible. So tell sometimes God will perform a miracle through the natural. Sometimes God2:31 will perform a miracle through the supernatural. And the third miracle I want to talk about today is the miracle of fulfilled prophecy. If you look in the Old Testament, all through the Old Testament, all the way2:43 from Genesis, early on in Genesis, even Genesis chapter 3, we talked about this last week, that God told the serpent, I will put enmity between your seed, the serpent, and her seed.2:55 Remember, pointing to and so all the way through the Old Testament, God is placing bread crumbs of prophecy pointing to the coming Messiah. And so today, I want to talk to you3:07 about the miracle of fulfilled prophecy that literally thousands of years before Jesus ever showed up, God began to give us the address of the Messiah, where He was gonna be born, where3:19 He was gonna show up, ultimately what He was going to do. So today I want to talk about fulfilled prophecy. I don't know how much of this you've studied, but theologians have looked at the Old Testament over and over3:30 again and if you look in the Old Testament, there are over 300 verses that have prophetic ideas in them. That yes I'm talking to a3:42 certain people, but I'm talking about a certain person. Yes I'm talking to this group in this time in this place, but I'm also talking about something different. There are over 300 verses in the Old Testament. Now,3:53 sometimes you'll just see it in 1 verse and it'll point to us the coming Messiah. Sometimes there'll be clumps of verses. In these clumps of verses, you take those 300 overall verses, you break them down into 61,4:05 what theologians call major Bible prophecies. What makes it a major Bible prophecy? Well, maybe in 1 verse or or 2 or 3 or 4 verses, there are a clump of ramifications4:18 about the coming Messiah. And so just from those 61 major prophecies, out of those flow 2 71 ramifications. That this is what the Messiah is4:30 going to do. Now here's what we know about the Old Testament prophecy. Many of them have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but some of the prophecies, yes they spoke of Jesus' day, but they also talk of the next day.4:42 So there are some prophecies about the new Heaven and the new earth that haven't yet happened. So even a casual observer can look at the Old Testament and as you begin4:53 to read verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, verse by verse and you glean these prophetic utterances, you can see that man, this person was talking about Jesus and5:05 that person was talking about Jesus and that person was talking about Jesus over and over again, and today I want to talk to you about the little town of Bethlehem. Do you know, that was not5:17 just a place for Jesus to be born. It was a very specific place, Bethlehem, which is also referred to as the house of bread. That God all5:29 through the Old Testament had left breadcrumbs saying the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. So let's take a journey, let's look at Luke chapter 2 and let's just read the story.5:42 It says in those days, Caesar Augustus, a pagan leader, a pagan ruler, a Roman leader, issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And5:54 everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea. So listen, Nazareth in the north, I'm gonna show you here in a second, and Judea is way down in the6:06 south. And so here you have a pagan ruler, a Roman leader who wants to take a census, not so Jesus, not so Mary and Joseph can get to Bethlehem because he wants to know how much he can tax6:17 everybody, right? So pagan leader creates the environment where Joseph and Mary have to go to the Old Testament where the bread crumbs of prophecy have said Bethlehem's the place. And so let's read on. It says they had6:29 to go to Bethlehem, the town of David. Now by the time Jesus showed up to Bethlehem, it had kind of lost its luster. If you look in the old testament, Bethlehem,6:41 besides Jerusalem, was a revered city, was an honored city, was a great city, but some things happened to cause that greatness to lose its shine. But God had already say it doesn't matter how6:53 great the city is, that's where the messiah would be born. He says, because, why did he have to go down? Because he belonged to the house and the line of David. I'm gonna show you that here in a second. He went there to7:04 register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and expecting a child. Now look at this, verse 6. While they were there, not just anywhere,7:16 there. While they were there, the time for the baby to be born had come. Then verse 7, and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him in clothes, placed him in a7:28 manger, pretty lowly, not that impressive. Why would she do that? Because Joseph, like most of us, forgot to make reservations. Right? Then can you7:39 imagine Mary on the donkey that now you've got us a place to stay. Of course I've got a place to stay. A little further down the line, you've got us a place to stay, right? What is the name of the place? Well, just it's7:49 a play, I want to surprise you. Well this was a surprise. We're in the barn. They placed him in a manger, not a good place for a messiah. Alright? And it says, because there8:01 was no guest room available for them. Now, when we think about this little town of Bethlehem and the fulfillment of prophecy, the first time Bethlehem shows up doesn't happen when Mary and8:13 Joseph go there and they have Jesus. You can walk all through the Old Testament and you can see breadcrumb of prophecy after breadcrumb of prophecy after breadcrumb of prophecy. Go back to Genesis chapter 38, how many of8:24 you remember a guy named Jacob? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remember? Jacob had a twin brother named Esau. If you look at the first part of Jacob's life, like many of us, he didn't look like he was gonna turn out much.8:36 He was a liar, he was a deceiver. As a matter of fact, he stole his brother, Esau, who was the older, stole his birthright. And Esau was going to kill him. It says Esau was a hunter, he was strong,8:48 he he he was a mean guy and Jacob was kind of a mama's boy, that's what it says. And so when Jacob stills the birthright, he goes back and says, hey mom, look what we've done and mom said, you're in trouble,9:00 you better leave. He goes, why am I going to leave? Because your brother's going to kill you. And Jacob said, wait I've lived here all my life, where should I go? He says well, she says well, go to your uncle Laban's9:11 house. Remember this story? So Jacob has to leave, he's fleeing, he's running, why? Because he's been a liar and deceiver all of his life. He goes up to his uncle Laban as he's spending time with his uncle Laban. Laban9:22 has 2 daughters. And the deceiver ultimately gets deceived. The liar gets lied to. And so what happens is Jacob falls in love with the younger daughter Rachel.9:34 And so he comes up to Laban and says Laban, hey listen, I really have fallen in love with your daughter. I'd love to take her hand in marriage, and what do I owe you? And Laban says you can have my daughter's hand in9:44 marriage, just work for me for 7 years. Jacob says done deal. He worked for 7 years, it comes to the marriage night, and Laban comes out and says oh, here's your wife, it's not Rachel, it's9:56 Leah, her older sister. And Jacob goes that was not the deal. And what happens? Laban said, you didn't read the fine print. I had my law lawyers draw this up, said yes you can have Rachel eventually,10:08 but it starts with the older daughter Leah, so Laban has to take the older daughter Leah and he's not that happy about it. So he goes back and says alright, if I have to take Leah to get to Rachel, can I have Rachel's10:19 hand? And he goes, yeah, give me 7 more years of labor. He goes, And he goes yeah, give me 7 more years of labor. He goes that's not fair. He says read the fine print. And so sure enough, he works 14 years to get Rachel,10:31 stays a little bit longer. He amasses great wealth and he goes back, but he's always read the scripture from chapter 38 on long, 1 of the longest parts of scripture in Genesis. He10:43 loves Rachel. There's always this antagonism. And it says when Rachel died, he buried her in Bethlehem. Up there's the city.10:55 Fast forward a little bit, remember the story of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz? You remember where Naomi and her family were from? They were from Bethlehem. There was a famine in the land, and11:07 so Naomi's husband said listen, let's go to Moab so we don't starve here to death. And they leave Bethlehem and they go to Moab. When they go to Moab, Ruth, Naomi11:19 and her husband have 2 sons and those sons married 2 Moabite women, 1 of those Moabite women's name was Ruth. Then through a tragedy, the dad and both sons die.11:31 And Naomi is bitter, and she actually renames herself. Don't call me Naomi. Call me bitterness. There's something going on in your life that you call yourself bitter. You're like, man, God doesn't love me. God doesn't,11:42 but God's always got a plan. Bethlehem teaches us that. Because here's what happened, Naomi says I'm gonna go back to Bethlehem to my people. And Ruth says, I'm going with you. And Naomi says, no you need to11:54 stay here, you're a Moabite. And Ruth in that great statement said, no no no, your God's going to be my God and your people are going to be my people and Ruth comes back to Bethlehem breadcrumb.12:07 She says, he comes back to Bethlehem. Well then you have 2 widows that come back to Bethlehem who can't care for themselves and Ruth is saying we're gonna starve to death, what do we do? And Naomi says you know, there's12:18 a thing in the law of God, the famine is over, that a landowner who harvests the field is supposed to leave the edges of the field free so people like us can come and glean in the field. And so Ruth, this Moabite12:30 who's just followed her, her, her, her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem, goes out and gleans in the field and Boaz is rolling into town. He's the wealthy landowner someday and12:41 he takes a double glance and says, cause this guy's over and said, guys who is that? So apparently Ruth was a looker. Because he took notice. They said, oh that that's the Moabite,12:53 Ruth, who came back from Moab with Naomi. And he goes, well, don't get her, I want to talk to her. So he has a conversation with her,13:05 ultimately takes her on as her kinsman redeemer. He marries her, he doesn't just marry her there back in Bethlehem where she's gleaning in the field. Guess what? Then they have a son named13:17 Obed, who has a son named Jesse, who has a son named David, right there in Bethlehem. See all the way through the Old Testament God is13:28 dropping breadcrumb after breadcrumb after breadcrumb. And then a couple of years later Saul has become the king in Israel. And ultimately God rejects Saul and so does Samuel the13:40 prophet. They reject God and they say man we need a different king. So God talks to Samuel as prophet, says I'm going to anoint a new king. And Samuel says where should I go find that king?13:52 God says, go to Bethlehem and find this guy named Jesse. And when you find Jesse, you are to anoint 1 of his sons as king. So breadcrumb, Samuel14:03 rolls down to Bethlehem, alright, and he finds this guy named Jesse and says, hey Jess, do you have any boys? Jesse says, actually I got 7 of them. He14:15 goes, great. He says, roll them in here. And so, son number 1 comes true, no no no no no, all the way the first 6 and some of them look pretty good. As a matter of14:27 fact, same with the prophet. When the first 1 rolled in said, this is him. He's tall and strong and handsome and this has got to be him. God said, that's not him. Why? Because God looks at the14:39 heart, man looks at outward appearances. So they roll through through the first 6, they're in Bethlehem to anoint the king and he finally in Sango the prophet looks at Jesse and says,14:51 is there any more? He goes, yeah I've got I said I had 7, I've got 1 more. He said, well bring him in here. He says, he's not much. It's kind of why we put him out in the field to tend the flock. So bring him in here.15:03 So rolls David in and Samuel says, this is the guy. Where is he from? Bethlehem. So God is constantly dropping bread crumbs over15:14 and over. Fast forward a little bit. In David's life, he always loved and always longed to be in Bethlehem. But in David's day, the Canaanites and the Philistines basically15:26 controlled Bethlehem. And David was always leading Saul's army out to fight against the Philistines. Great story, you can go read it yourself. So David is basically kind of up in a cave, the Philistines15:38 have control of Bethlehem, his hometown, and he's just reminiscing. Anybody ever from time to time, and I found sadly the older I get, we have more and more to reminisce about the good old days, how many of you15:50 know? Alright. And my wife has something called a childhood memory. Anybody ever have a childhood memory that she goes, oh I remember. And and she'll say something like, oh I remember my dad used to pull over on the side16:01 of the road and and eat can't and we would eat candy cane. How many of you remember that? Just over the real the real cane, sugar. So 1 day we're driving down the street, someone's selling on the side of the16:13 road. She's convinced our kids this is awesome. We pull over and we buy some of this, everybody gets a little 6 inch strip, they're back there gnawing on it going, this is16:25 horrible. And she was, yeah it wasn't quite as good as I remember it. Why? Because we didn't get ice cream when we were kids. We had cane, right? We ate spinach or grass or whatever. And so here all of a sudden,16:37 David is up, he's up in the cave. The Philistines control and he's got his mighty fighting men around him and he goes, what I wouldn't give for a16:49 childhood memory. What I wouldn't give for some water from the well just outside the gates of Bethlehem. Some of the17:01 studs in the room said the band wants some water, let's go get him some water. Remember this story? And so these 3 mighty warriors slip in, fight through the Philistine army, scoop up some17:13 water, bring it back to David. And they said we got a Christmas present for you. Here's water from the well that you've been longing for. Anybody remember the end of that story? Kind of anticlimactic.17:26 David says, so how did you get it? They said, well you said you wanted water. He said, but I didn't ask for water. I went through, we broke through the Philistine line, we scooped you up some water. Here's your water.17:37 Enjoy, master. Remember what David did? He took it and dumped it out. Can you imagine being 1 of those 3 guys, you mean we sacrificed our life for you to get some water and you just dumped it on the ground.17:48 He said far be it for me to drink if my man, if my men don't have the opportunity. God's leaving us breadcrumbs of how important that little town of Bethlehem is. Now18:01 go 700 years before Christ, Look at this prophecy in Micah chapter 5 verse 2. 700 years before Jesus is born in Bethlehem, here's 1 of the prophecies and remember I18:12 told you, sometimes 1 verse will have 1 implication or 1 ramification, Sometimes 1 verse might have 2 or 3 or 4. This is 1 that has 2 very clear implications, 700 years18:24 before the Messiah, Jesus is born. 2 very clear implications, what we can know about that Messiah. Micah chapter 5 verse 2, says but from you Bethlehem Ephrathah, if you have18:36 your notes open, underline that word Ephrathah, I'm gonna tell you about it here in a second. Though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come 1, listen to this, for me who will be18:48 ruler over all of Israel. So rule over Israel, whose origins are from old and from ancient times. Now, if you go back, in Micah's day, 700 years before Christ,19:00 there wasn't just 1 Bethlehem, there was 2. We've got an image we'll put up there on you, for you. 1 is in the northern kingdom, right outside of Nazareth, you know, because you could drive through all the states19:12 anyway, you ever you ever gone in and and you can go through state after state after state and you'll see some of the same names for towns and cities that you see. So they had a Bethlehem up by Nazareth. Remember where19:23 Jesus was from? Jesus of Nazareth? That would be a real short trip to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the north. But Micah, 700 years before19:34 Jesus was born, said Jesus, the Messiah, will be born in Bethlehem, but not the 1 in the north, the 1 in the south. Because it's the 1 in the south,19:46 the south of Jerusalem that was called Bethlehem Ephrathah. So I love what Micah does. Micah doesn't just throw out a general name, and prophecy doesn't just throw out a general name. It says a specific town19:58 with a specific name and that specific name is not any other town or any old town with that name. It is a very specific town in a very specific location.20:10 And you think, well that's intriguing. But notice what else it says. That Messiah will be born, will be born in Bethlehem, He will rule over Israel, ramification,20:23 but also he is from ancient times. What he's saying is this baby is gonna be unlike any other baby. He's gonna be from eternity20:35 past. That's the Hebrew idiom that you see in Micah chapter, so 700 years before Christ. And let me tell you what, let me just walk you through what took place in those 700 years between Micah's20:46 prophecy and when Christ showed up on the scene. And there were some times that my guess is when Micah's up in heaven and he's remembering his prophecy and he sees what's going on, it's not looking20:58 good for his prophecy. See because Micah prophesied, between 7 40 and 700 BC. In 7 22, remember after Solomon's kiss, the kingdom was divided21:10 into 2 different kingdoms, you had a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. In 7 22, BC, the Assyrian army came in and obliterated the north. Israel was gone.21:22 And in 5 86, a couple hundred years later, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came in and destroyed the south. They took over Bethlehem. So as you think about, this is21:34 not looking good. And not only did they just take over Jerusalem, they destroyed the temple, they then took Daniel and a bunch of his friends away to a different city and to a different place. And if you're thinking21:45 about Micah's prophets, you're gonna go, this is not looking good for us. But then God does something different with a different pagan king and a different pagan ruler, because in 5 39, the Persians came in and21:57 overthrew the Babylonians. And a pagan king named Cyrus and another 1 named Darius started allowing the exiles from a distant country in a distant place to begin to journey back22:09 to Israel. Then what did they do? They began to rebuild the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed, but when they rebuilt the temple, the second temple was nothing like the first temple.22:22 It was it was smaller. It was less glorious and less glamorous. Didn't have all the amenities. If you would have taken Solomon's original design and the second22:34 temple, you would think, ugh. Went from the palace to a mobile home. Not not nearly what you originally thought, but at least they have a temple, right? At least things are looking22:45 good. And then a few years later, Nehemiah comes back and Nehemiah rebuilds the wall and you're like, okay, everything you're starting to look up. And then all of a sudden the Greeks roll in and they overthrow the22:57 Persians. And let me tell you what, Greek, the Greeks, they owned it all. Alexander the Great showed up and they started Hellenizing the23:08 world. They said listen, everybody is going to begin to speak Greek, doesn't matter if you speak Aramaic or Hebrew or what language you speak, you're gonna speak Greek. If you're gonna learn it, you're gonna be here,23:20 you're gonna live it, and guess what? He says 1 language, which created a problem. Because you had all these second and third and fourth generation Jews living in Greece and23:32 and the countries controlled by Greece and they didn't grow up speaking Hebrew, they grew up speaking Greek. And so these children couldn't even open the Hebrew Bible and read it out of Hebrew.23:45 So guess what they did to solve it? In about 2 50 BC, they translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek Old Testament so the children could read23:57 it. Now here's the beautiful thing about God doing that. When we talk about fulfilled prophecies, 1 of the main things that people will say, but yeah, they went back and rewrote the Old Testament.24:10 Hang on. If you have the Old Testament finished, Genesis through Malachi, 400 years before Christ, then you have a Greek translation of it24:21 that is modeled from the original Hebrew, you know the Old Testament Testament wasn't changed. So when you look at these bread crumbs all the way through the Old Testament, it has been set in stone. So24:33 maybe things are looking better, and then Rome shows up in 63 and obliterates the Greeks. Now the Greeks did everybody a favor, they created 1 language that God would use to disseminate24:45 the gospel. So the Romans show up, they they show up from the west, they come across the Mediterranean, they now rule over Jerusalem and everything else, and here's what happened. You want to know something really cool?24:59 A pagan guy named King Herod rolled into Jerusalem and cared more about himself than he did God, he looked at the temple and goes, that's not that impressive.25:12 And so between 20 18 BC and 18 20 20 BC and 18 BC, King Herod rebuilt the temple that Jesus would come to, not for25:23 God's glory, but for His glory. And you know what specs he used? Solomon's original design. So all of a sudden, for centuries it hasn't looked good. And then all of a25:35 sudden God shows up, uses uses pagan governors and pagan kings and pagan places to set the stage. And not only did Herod come on come in and rebuild the temple to its former glory,25:47 then the Romans started building roads. Why? Because they wanted to be able to travel and have commerce and stuff like this. What did Christians use that 1 language Greek for? To be able to share25:59 the gospel with whatever city they went to. Where, how did they travel? On the roads that the Romans built. So when you think about God in a special way, in a powerful way, using26:11 prophecy to fulfill miracles, sometimes it doesn't look like it's good. My guess is there were times that Micah's looking from heaven going, this doesn't look good. Others would have read and said, this doesn't look26:22 good. And all of a sudden it'll look good. That's why Jesus in John chapter 5 said this, read it. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and he's always in debate with them and they're trying to26:34 complain about who he is. Notice what Jesus says, he says you study the scriptures diligently. What scriptures are he talking about? The Old Testament scripture that were written in Hebrew,26:46 that were already translated into Greek, and so here's what he says. He says you study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. So they were looking for26:58 eternal life in the scriptures. He says these are the very scriptures, what does Jesus say, that testify about me. What Jesus is saying is if you guys were27:10 really theological bloodhounds, you would follow the scent from Genesis 1 to me. You would show up and go, oh. 0.27:22 Yeah. We get it. And he says, you study the scriptures so you can pat yourself on the back. He says, but if you really studied the scriptures, you would see that they lead to me. Look at verse 40, yet you refuse27:34 to come to me and ultimately have life. Man, what an incredible thought. Jesus calls them out. He goes you study the scriptures. Ultimately I am the fulfillment of all of those scriptures.27:46 You know it, you see it, you experience. But notice also that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not any Bethlehem, the 1 in Ephrata, said27:58 He was from ancient times, eternity past. What did John say in his Gospel? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.28:10 Jesus is saying I'm the fulfillment. Hundreds of Old Testament prophecies point to Jesus Christ. Not just His birth, but his life, his death,28:22 his burial, and also his resurrection. So fulfillment of prophecy is an amazing miracle. So look at Proverbs chapter 19 verse 21. He says, many are the plans in a person's heart,28:33 but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. When we look at that little town of Bethlehem, a lot of men had plans for Bethlehem. The Assyrians28:45 had plans for Bethlehem. The Babylonians had plans for Bethlehem. The Persians had plans for Bethlehem. The Greeks had plans for Bethlehem. The Romans had28:57 plans for Bethlehem. But God ultimately has the bigger plans. So here are the closing 3 thoughts I want you to hear. When you look and you read in this Christmas season, and every time that word29:09 Bethlehem shows up, think of the miracle of fulfilled prophecy. That not just any Bethlehem, that Bethlehem. Not just any time, that29:21 time. Not just any person, but that person. And here let me give you 3 thoughts. When you think about the little town of Bethlehem, don't ever forget governments have plans.29:33 The Babylonians had a plan. The Greeks had a plan. The Persians had a plan. The Romans had a plan. How many of you know we just had an election here in our country? Anybody know that? The last administration29:45 had a plan. The next administration has a plan. We are all looking with anticipation what the next administration's plan is gonna look like. Is it gonna We're just wondering why. Everybody and every government has a29:57 plan. Now notice the plan that we took that we saw beginning in verse 1. Says in those days, Caesar Augustus, alright, when Rome overthrew the Greeks, Rome30:09 was set up as a bunch of states and principalities and they were always fighting each other. But then eventually, they said we really need 1 dude and that dude is Caesar Augustus. So here's the beauty of it,30:21 is that by the time Jesus shows up, they were in the midst of what was called the Peace of Rome. That everybody knew Caesar Augustus is our guy, there's a peace that we're not in fighting, so here's30:33 it here it is. In those days, Caesar Augustus has a plan. He issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world And everyone had to go to30:45 their own hometown to register. Why? Caesar Augustus didn't say go to your hometown to register because we need to fulfill Micah's plan or prophecy. Why did he30:57 want a census? Why does any government want a census? You go back to your hometown and you had to answer a couple of questions for Rome and they were going to send it all to Rome. You you had to state your name,31:09 you had to state your family, you had to tell them your occupation, you had to tell them how much land you had, you had to tell them how much money that you made. Why? Not because he wanted to31:21 fulfill Micah's prophecy, but because they wanted to tax you and they ultimately wanted to know how much military they had, Mike, they needed in this area or that area to protect their commas. So here's the31:32 beautiful thing, governments are always going to have a plan. Sometimes God will even use a pagan government31:44 and a pagan king to fulfill his plan. Here's thought number 2. People all have a plan. People have a plan.31:56 My guess is you've got a lot of plans this Christmas season. We're going to travel here, we're going to do this, we're going to eat here, we're going to buy these presents, we're going to open our presents here, we're32:05 going to go to Christmas Eve service Cottonwood Creek. You've got a lot of plan. Everybody had a plan. Remember Joseph had a plan? Let's read it. Notice what it says in verse 4. So Joseph also went up from the town32:17 of Nazareth in Galilee in Judea to Bethlehem, the town of David because he belonged to the house of the lion and lineage of David. I can tell you this, Joseph's plan wasn't to32:28 put Mary, his pregnant wife on a donkey and march her to the Bethlehem that was further away. But because the government had a plan, the pagan leader had a32:40 plan, Joseph had to follow along. And listen, not just Joseph didn't want to take his wife from Nazareth in the north all the way to Bethlehem in the south. My guess is Joseph,32:52 Joseph's plan was simply to marry, marry, and then have kids. And all of a sudden Joseph33:03 finds out that Mary, who you were going to marry, already has a kid. His plans were thwarted, but33:15 God used them for a greater good. My guess is Mary had a plan. What was Mary's plan? To save herself from the man she loved, a carpenter33:27 named Joseph. That carpenter Joseph, she was just going to marry and then someday they would have children and it would be so exciting. They would live in this big house because, this big mansion,33:38 because her husband is a carpenter. And those of you who are married to a carpenter, here's what I hear. Is that your house is always a mess33:50 because you always have these projects that your husband is going to do but they never finish. How many of you know? Right? Oh yeah, he's done 50 bathrooms, but we don't have tile. But that's my guess is34:02 Mary had a plan. I'm going to marry the man I love. Then we're going to have kids and live in this house and everything is going to be great and then God changed her34:14 plan for the greater good. So here's the final thought. Don't ever forget that even though governments may have a plan,34:26 you and I may have a plan, God always has the grave plan. Let's read it and notice what happens. Verse 5. He went there, Joseph, to register with Mary who was34:38 pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. Look at verse 6. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her first born, a34:50 son. She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger. Why? Because there was no guest room available for them. See God's plan35:02 for your salvation and mine didn't start Christmas 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. Started all the way back in Genesis where God began to talk about I love35:13 you regardless of your sin. And all the way through the Old Testament, God dropped bread crumbs called prophecy to lead us to Bethlehem, which is referred to as the35:25 House of Bread. That that Messiah would be born, live a perfect life in fulfillment of all of those prophecies. He would do exactly what the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said. He would be35:37 delivered into the hands of sinful men, sold for exact amount of money by 1 of His friends. He would be crucified on a cross, Isaiah said. And crucifixion wasn't even a thing35:49 at that time. He would be buried. He would rise again third day. So whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ can be saved.36:01 That's God. That's Jesus. And that's fulfilled prophecy. You say, why would God do all of that? Because God ultimately wants to36:13 leave you and me breadcrumbs for salvation. The question is, have you eaten? Let's pray. God, thank you so much for this day.36:25 God, I just can't imagine. As I look through the old testaments and the prophecies and the prophets, even in your guidance36:37 you saw fit that before Jesus ever showed up not would the old testament be finished but he'd be translated into Greek. All to give us greater assurance that what you say36:49 and your word will never return void. God, my prayer for every person in this room and even those who are watching online, if there's someone that's never experienced the sweetness of receiving37:00 Jesus as savior and lord, that it be in this moment, this season, this day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen and Amen.In this video 0:00 The Miracle of Fulfilled Prophecy
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