Take your Bibles and find the book of Micah in the Old Testament. It's right after Jonah. In Sunday school, for the previous three weeks, we've looked at a series called searching for the Messiah and it's really been Christmas adjacent it was using the Old Testament scriptures we never once got into the New Testament we looked at the Old Testament scriptures concerning Jesus Christ we started with the promise of the Messiah and the seed of the woman and just the biological miracle and impossibility that is then the last two weeks we've been in Isaiah talking about how a virgin shall conceive another impossibility in miracle and then unto us a son is born is what we looked at last week and this week we're going to change from the the person that they're talking about to the place and we're going to be looking at the place of Christ's birth, which is told to us by the prophet Micah. And before we get to chapter five, verse two, I kind of want to just lay out an understanding of the context of why Micah wrote what he wrote and how it related to Judah, the kingdom of Judah, and the time frame of this prophecy. And really, honestly, the key takeaway In my opinion, the key takeaway of today's Sunday School lesson is how awesome God is and how awesome the Word of God is. And if you've attended Sunday School before, yes, I get a little excited, but it's awesome. And it's just it's just so amazing how God works and how he Allows us to see in his word things. And so yeah, I get excited. I'm not ashamed So if you're in Micah, let me say this timeout starting next week All not all but a lot of through 2025. We're gonna start in the book of Deuteronomy And so just wanted to let you know, that's what we're doing starting next week. We'll we'll be in Deuteronomy I would like to be done with Deuteronomy before the Thanksgiving revival, but we'll see if that takes place That's that's 11 months from now, but I just want to let you know we have a plan That's what we're gonna be next week. Okay, Micah. Let's go to Micah chapter 1 and Because, let's just start, I want you to get a feel for who Micah is, because we've spent two weeks with Isaiah, and we kind of have a feel for who Isaiah was. In Micah chapter one, verse one, it says, the word of the Lord came to Micah, the Marashithite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Now, if you have been here for the last couple weeks, you recognize We've talked about Jotham and Ahaz. Ahaz was the man who received the prophecy from Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 7, talking about a virgin shall conceive. It was Ahaz. He was a wicked king, if you remember, who was the father of Hezekiah. So, we've kind of been familiar with these people. Now, where it says Micah was born here, that's 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem in a farming community, if you will. And and Micah his ministry if you mention these three Kings and you read his prophecies Micah was in the ministry for 55 years and so I mean this man Has seen a lot if you will and and has spoken to Kings and these Kings again His ministry was overlapping with those Kings now again a has for the last two weeks. We've looked at a has I think we kind of at a high level understand what was going on with a has and Syria and Samaria, which is Israel, they wanted to confederate together. Join against us Syria. So if you want to think of it in terms of cities You could say Samaria and Damascus are trying to be against Nineveh. You could put you could say it that way That's how the Bible refers to it in some places. So what they decide to do is they decide to join with Judah or Jerusalem and they say this join us as he's a wicked king join us and if we if he doesn't join us will kill him and replace him and We're the king who will join us. That's what it says in Isaiah chapter 7 which we looked at and If you if you remember that King's name who they wanted to replace him with his name basically meant good for nothing Because he was going to be a puppet so so Syria and Samaria we're going to do that. This is during Micah's Prophecy now a has he does this he says you know what no I'm gonna join with Nineveh And what he starts doing is he starts paying a yearly tribute to Nineveh. This is high level, by the way. There's a lot more politics going on. But he starts paying a yearly tribute to Assyria instead of linking up with Syria and Israel. So that's who he is. He was a wicked king. I think we understand that. He shocked them with his actions. You know, we read a couple of weeks ago how he sent his son through the fire. Hagan worshiper he according to 2nd Chronicles when we start talking about Hezekiah, he closed down the temple He just he just was not very he wasn't a good man The best thing about a has was that he was the father of Hezekiah. That's honestly all you can really say about him so then we get to Hezekiah because Hezekiah is mentioned right here and And Ahaz, so he was succeeded by Hezekiah. Now Hezekiah was alive for about nine years or so before Ahaz was king. So it's not like he just had him and then he became king. He was alive when he became king, but he was a righteous king in Judah. And when Hezekiah began to reign, he kind of embarked on this course of sweeping reforms, the political system of these kings. That's why I love Sunday nights when we talk about kings and prophets, because there's a lot of politics there where you have You know you have a righteous man sometimes and you have a not-so-righteous man and the people they reflect their leadership Because attitudes are contagious and beliefs are contagious And so we have this sweeping reform that goes through he's gonna reopen and he purifies the temple and and the doors were shut by his father I think we understand that and then so at that time at that time Sennacherib becomes leader in Assyria and Hezekiah says We're done paying you a yearly tribute And then Isaiah gets involved and says, don't worry about it. Sennacherib is going to be assassinated. But before he does that, he comes and he takes all the fenced cities from Hezekiah. So Hezekiah loses some land. Jerusalem gets under siege during this time, but Jerusalem never falls at that time. Micah is living so Isaiah. Let me say this Isaiah is prophesying about all this when you're reading the book of Isaiah and he's in Jerusalem doing this Micah is in the countryside Micah is a country preacher He's 25 miles outside the city. He's in an agricultural area. He identifies with more of the poor and oppressed people in Judea. And so Micah is prophesying at this exact same time, just like when you're reading in Isaiah. Isaiah, he's right. He's metropolitan. He's city. Micah, he's country. Just kind of keep that in mind, okay? your head of what's going on so let me give you some key points about Micah because this next verse one of my favorite in the whole books of Micah go to Micah chapter 3 verse number 8 because Micah claims that his message about sin and message about judgment and From the Spirit of God look at Micah 3 8 but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment of Might to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin I tell you that verse I just I just love that verse because he's saying listen, it's not me it's the Spirit of the Lord that's given me this message and That tells me a lot and helps me just knowing that that's how Micah's attitude was So we got to keep that in mind that kind of tells you a little bit about Micah But but I said that he identified with the people go back to chapter 2 the people that are kind of poor Look at verse number 8 of chapter 2 and I want you to notice this context here They're talking about poor people. They're talking about oppressed people and notice what he calls them. He calls them my people He calls them my people chapter 2 verse number 8. It says even of late My people is risen up as an enemy So he's saying even the poor and the oppressed has raised up as an enemy ye pull off the robe with the garment There's a lot of prophecy and a lot of things here that we don't have time to flesh out but just listen to the wording you pull off the robe with the garment from them and Passed by securely as men averse from war the women of my people Have you cast out from their pleasant houses from their children? Have you taken away my glory forever? So he's speaking obviously he's speaking as the man of God and the voice of God But he's calling them my people and he's saying the poor people are being hurt from the actions the behaviors and the sin of the leadership of politically and the leadership Religiously, he's saying the spiritual leaders of Judah and the real and the and the political leaders of the king and the priest They're doing everything wrong and the people are suffering That's what he's saying. We can relate to that. I mean, come on. This is very very real. I So now, go to chapter 3, because he's not done scolding these leaders. In fact, he calls them, in my own words, social cannibals. He's saying, because of how you're acting, you're a cannibal socially. And we always talk about social this and social that. That's a big buzzword in today's culture. Their government was social cannibals. Look at chapter 3, verse 1. He says, and I said, here I pray you, O heads of Jacob." Now a head of Jacob, that'd be a leader. So he's talking about the leadership. He says, and I said, here I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment? who hate the good and love the evil. Now, if you've been with us for the last couple of weeks, you know that that phrase is very popular in Israel, because we talked about that two weeks ago, about hating the good or loving the good and hating the evil. Here, Micah does a flip and he says that you hate the good and love the evil. Listen to this. He's talking about the leadership who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones who also eat the flesh of my people. He's not talking about this in a in a physical. He's saying that this is how you're socially you're cannibalizing. Your behavior is cannibalizing these people. You're robbing them of a chance to live righteously. You're influencing them where they could live this way. Instead, they're living this way. And it is because of your behavior. It's because of your influence. You eat the flesh of my people. and flay their skin from off them who says the Bible is boring and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron. You are social cannibals. You leaders with your influence and your policies and your paganism. It's no good. And the way the leadership goes in any organization is the way the people go. And so we have Ahaz as king. We see that he is doing bad. We see that his paganism is influencing the people the people are going away from the Lord and that's Micah's prophecy now all this is going on and let me let me go to go to chapter 5 because let me give you another example of this look at verse number 11 And again, we're, you know, when you read this whole chapter, the whole book sequentially, this probably, this will make more sense. Look at verse number 11. But I want you to get the idea of their paganism. I will cut off the cities from the land, verse number 11, chapter 5, and throw down all the strongholds. and I will cut off witchcraft out of thine hand and thou shall have no more soothsayers thy graven images also will I cut off and thy standing images out of the midst of thee and thou shall no more worship the work of thine hands so and then he goes on talks about groves so you understand without a doubt the the reign of Ahaz is wicked and his influence is wicked and the people are being influenced we we can confidently understand that so Micah has proclaimed that since a has has been unfaithful to God if you will and the laws of God and he's introduced sorceries and he's introduced witchcraft and the worship of pagan deities here's what he's going to say the Lord is going to raise up another ruler And we're going to read the verse, because it's verse number two of chapter five. And this is what he says. Now, this is why we had to get this context. He's saying that this other ruler is going to come from Bethlehem. Now, we get excited and we see the flannel graph in the manger and we sing songs and Christmas. But here's the deal. Kings come from Jerusalem. David conquered Jerusalem and David's offspring were the kings. And they're born in Jerusalem. Guess where Jotham was born? Jerusalem. Guess where Ahaz was born? Jerusalem. Guess where Hezekiah was born? Jerusalem. But here, Micah is saying, through God, we're going to start all over with a better ruler. This is high level. We're going to start with a better ruler, and it's going to go back to Bethlehem so let's read chapter 5 verse 2 it says but that and that's why this is here now again I'm picking verses but when you read the whole chap the whole book you understand this all fits together verse number 2 chapter 5 but thou Bethlehem Ephrata thou though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee he come forth he I'm sorry out of thee shall he come forth Unto that unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting So he's saying listen a new ruler a new king Jesus Christ Will be born in Bethlehem and he says not only just Bethlehem Bethlehem Ephratah and we'll talk about that here in a second But this is this is what this is Micah. This is this is the picture of hope this this verse Micah hopes for the future that there's going to be a coming of this new leader. Now, Micah is not going to see him. Micah is not going to see him. It's going to be 700 years later. But again, up into that point, all the kings come from Jerusalem. So if a prophet of God says there's going to be a new ruler, but he's not coming from Jerusalem, that got everyone's attention. Okay, so so so people know this verse like if you're if you're in the if you're in the kingdom of Judah And you start hearing the man of God talking about a new ruler, but he's not coming from Jerusalem They they understand this verse that means what's going on Jerusalem is God's gonna have to correct God's gonna have to fix so according to Micah the new king again would not be born in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem That's where the city where David was born. I So it ties back to David. But what Micah is proclaiming here is the judgment of the king, the king, your behavior, your reign, your rule, your influence and your type, your type. is going to be over. So we see that as the sign that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is going to be born in Bethlehem. And we've already looked at the fact that he's a son and a child. We've already looked at all those in the previous weeks. And we know, we know when it talks about the government and the kingdom, we looked at that in the past, but we know it's talking about Jesus Christ. And so Micah, he had high hopes for the future. Again, he didn't get to see it though. He did not get to see it. Unfortunately, he didn't see this vision come into reality the time of peace and prosperity which Micah foresaw Was in again 700 years later before Jesus Christ Was even born so the does beyond his human eye to see But he had the Word of God here and we know from chapter 3 verse 8 That he had the Spirit of God and the power of God. And so we know I mean this is the Word of God So now let's talk about this verse because there's so much here. It says right now. It says it says but thou Bethlehem Ephrata now, let's get this understanding here Because that's kind of a word that we don't hear a lot. Ephrata, Bethlehem, Ephrata. Well, let's just kind of take a little time to understand this. But really, think about it. Before the Jews moved into this land, this area of what we call Israel today on Google Maps was occupied by people. This was Canaan land, right? There were Canaanites living there. And so in Bethlehem, The name for Bethlehem was Ephrathah when it was a Canaan city. Now, this makes sense because in Joshua chapter 18, it talks about Luz and how it used to be called Luz, but now that the Jews lived there, it's called Bethel. So they renamed cities. So Bethlehem, Ephrathah is telling you that this was the city that used to be Ephrathah that is now Bethlehem. Let me give you an example. Go to Genesis chapter 35. Go to Genesis chapter 35, because there's some, and what I'm really hoping, if I sound a little fast, I'm hoping when I get done, preachers can come up here and talk to you about when you try to go to Bethlehem, when you're, if you've never, if you've been to Israel, because it's totally different. Because I want to talk about modern Bethlehem here in a second, but in Genesis chapter 35, Look down at verse number 19 here here. We see this this this very very sad scene of Rachel Passing away. So let me just jump into verse number 19 Genesis 35 it says and Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephratath which is Bethlehem now now Remember all our Bible study Bible courses Bible translation Remember the meaning of italicized words Is is italicized to help us understand that is talking about this Bethlehem Without question. That's what that's what they're saying. It was called Ephrata, but it is Bethlehem now now get this get this I This was way before Moses But it's telling us what it's going to be called to help us understand now go to Genesis chapter 45 Because I are 48. I love Genesis. I don't like Genesis 45, but I love Genesis 48. I Genesis 48, you know, you got you got Jacob he's laying there 48 49 50 some of my favorite chapters of Genesis, you know, and his sons are coming in and all that so here comes Joseph's sons in in Genesis chapter 48 and he's rehearsing to them what he's saying and he's saying and as for verse number 7 of Genesis 48 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, when yet there was a little way to come unto Ephrathah. And I buried her there in the way of Ephrathah, the same is Bethlehem." The whole point of this lesson is how awesome the Bible is. So it's telling us this. Today you can go see the Rachel's tomb if you can get into Bethlehem Rachel's tomb is there It's been remodeled a couple times due to some issues, but but you can go there Okay, so it's in fact, you know what you can do you not now but you can get on your phone and you go to Google Maps and you can type Rachel's tomb and it's just gonna zip it right down there to it and you're gonna see this wall around it It's on the north part of the city. It's just right there on Google Maps like everything's right there so you can see that so so right now what if you did do that and you zoomed out just a little bit you'd learn that Bethlehem is about six miles south five six miles south of Jerusalem it's kind of like Springfield Ozark they're kind of just growing together and you can't really can't really tell where one ends and one begins but that if you're there you know where one begins and one ends because one's own you know occupied by some people and one's occupied by some other people but but but you know and you know because when the buses have eggs on them and bulletproof glass you know where you're at okay let me just tell you that so you can go there right now today there's about 30,000 people that live in Bethlehem Now every time we're seeing this we're seeing Ephrata Bethlehem, so let's keep looking go to Ruth chapter 1 because I think this is amazing because remember this is this is David we're talking about in Micah the city of David go to Ruth chapter 1 in Ruth chapter 1 in verse number 2 it says And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name of the two sons was Malon and Chilion. They were, look at this, Ephrataphs of Bethlehem, Judah. So now, I mean, we're, now, you know, before The Jews weren't in the land. We were talking about Jacob, and we haven't even had Moses yet. We were years before that. But now the land's been divided up, and so we know who's got the land, and we know that where Bethlehem was was Judah. It used to be Ephrathah. Now it's Bethlehem. It's Bethlehem in Judah. You know what that tells me? And I'll show you in a minute. There was more than one Bethlehem. Did you know that? Bethlehem was just as common as Springfield. And I'll show you that I'll show you but that's why the Bible is so good because it's always telling us Which one he's talking about because God is just amazing. So it says this and so it says that Ephratite so so a lima lek and Malon and Chilean were aphrodite of Bethlehem Judah and they came down to the country of Moab and they continued there and we understand the story and we understand that Malon and Chilean they died in Moab and their mother returned to Bethlehem with Ruth and Ruth went Because of the story went from a Moabitess to a Bethlehem a knight or whatever Bethlehem Ian that's that's what Ruth did because look at chapter 4 of Ruth and chapter 4 of Ruth is It talks about in verse number 18, it says this, and if you're not familiar with Ruth, she marries Boaz, it says verse number 18, and these are the generations of Phares. Now, Phares is the son of Judah, okay? Phares begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amenadad, and Amenadad begot Nashon, Nashon begot Salmon, and Salmon, so again, Salmon, if you just math this out, that's Rahab married But get this, Rahab was in Jericho. I want to see the movie that brought Boaz from Jericho to Bethlehem. Because he moved. Because now he's in Bethlehem. But his dad was Salmon's dad, that's Rahab's wife. Okay, and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. So at one point, I don't know, if the Bible doesn't say, and I know I've read a lot of Jewish, what the rabbis say about how he got there, but I'm waiting for the movie, because they have a lot of stories. She was in Jericho, you know, that's where his mom was from, but he's now in Bethlehem, but he's in Bethlehem of Ephratah in Judah. We know that we're confident with that because that's what the Word of God says, but it says here that David was born here. So flip over two more pages or so to to Sam 1st Samuel chapter 17 and 1st Samuel chapter 17 again did the whole point of this is just to show you how awesome the Word of God is 1st Samuel chapter 17. look at verse number 12 now David was the son of that Ephratite of Bethlehem Judah whose name was Jesse and he had eight sons and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul so if you go back to chapter 16 it says that Samuel anointed David Bethlehem remember that was the story where where Samuel shows up and everyone's like, oh, what's he doing here? Remember that story? We've heard the preaching from that. So that's in chapter 16. So we know David is from Bethlehem Ephrata Judah, so this is all important again because it tells us a lot about what's going on. Let me just show you one more thing because I love this go to 2nd Samuel chapter 23 and It'd really help you guys to have page numbers. It's 434. You'd get there faster. In 2 Samuel chapter 23, I'm glad we all have the same Bible, but I'm glad we don't all have the same Bible You know, it's 434 on my Bible, but it might be a different page on yours But in 2nd Samuel chapter 23 look at verse number 13 because here's David again David's thinking about home it says and in 3 and 30 chief went down and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Dolom and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephraim and David was then in a hold and the garrison of the Philistines, which was in, and David was then in a hold and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. So Bethlehem was occupied by the Philistines. David was 13 miles away in a cave. Okay. So let's just keep that in mind and David Longed. You ever longed for something? Man, when I'm gone on the road, I'm like, mmm, I wish I had a Sancho enchilada style. And maybe tomorrow I could have some cashew chicken. You know, because you've been gone for a long time, right? You're thinking about home. And then on the way home, I'd get some Andy's ice cream. That's David. That's David. He's, I don't know, Andy's ice cream. That's a sin. Andy's frozen custard. There we go. OK, sorry about that. Now, David is longing for home. So it says, it says right here, look at, oh, I love this, that he longed for home and said, oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. So David is, David is from Bethlehem and it obviously had good water. You know, he's in a cave. You'd think the cave would have pretty good water, you know, but no, it's not as good as Bethlehem's water. And then it says, and three mighty men break through the host, and they came, and they got, they went 13 miles one way, and then 13 miles back. They went 26 miles. That's a marathon. They went 26 miles that night and brought David some water. But then, of course, David didn't drink it. That's a whole other story. But that's Bethlehem. That's what Micah's talking about. Now, Bethlehem also is the birthplace of Jesus Christ. We understand that, I hope, from Christmas songs, cards, and Bible verses. But it's also, and go to Matthew, because this is, it's also the site, and we don't think about this that much, it's also the site of the children's massacre. You know, we don't think about that. Go to Matthew chapter two. I mean, it's good that we talk about happy things at Christmas, but look at chapter two of Matthew, verse number one. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, now I think we all now should understand where that is, what that is. In the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Okay, now go down to verse number five. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet. Verse six, and thou Bethlehem and the land of Judea art not the least among the princes of Judah. From out of thee come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Now, so we understand that. We just read that. Go down to verse number 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, because remember, he's like, go down there and report to me, boys, because I want to go down there and worship this so-called king. Of course, they went another way because the Lord took care of that. But in verse number 16, he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coast thereof, From two years old and under according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men Then now listen because this you could go to the book of Jeremiah and you could read this and we're not going to for time's sake But then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet saying in Rama Was there a voice heard lamentation weeping and great mourning? Rachel, you know who was buried in Bethlehem Rachel weeping for her children. It would not be comforted because they are not The reason why the prophecy time about Rachel's because Rachel's buried in Bethlehem and we know that it's that Bethlehem now That's a lot Go to Joshua chapter number 19 because the Bible does talk about another Bethlehem Joshua 19 we gotta get are real fast we gotta get our geography hats on Jerusalem right now what we're gonna say for time's sake Jerusalem's in the middle of the country okay let's just say that 5 to 6 miles south of Jerusalem is this Bethlehem that we've been reading about all morning Joseph and Mary not from Jerusalem they're from Nazareth that is a hundred miles to the north of Jerusalem so to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem be a donkey a hundred miles let's just say for quick math okay that's a long ways and we understand why they did God God moved and there was that we understand all that we understand all that I hope Joshua chapter 19 look at verse number 10 Here we have Zebulun. This is the assigning of land to people, to the sons of Jacob, to the tribes. And the third lot, and they wanted to be fair, so they cast lots to get the order right. And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun, according to their families. And the border of their inheritance was unto Sared. And their border went up towards the sea. Merla and reach to Darbath Shesh and reach to the river that is before Jopnian and Turn from Sarda eastward toward the Sun rising into the border of Chisloth Tabor and then go without to Dabroth and goeth up to Japhia and from thence passes along the east to get a heaper and eat a case in and go without of Ramon Mathur to Nia and and the border compassed it on the north side of Hananathoth and outgoings thereof are in the valley of whatever that word is, Jifnathel. And Keta and Netha and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem, 12 cities with their villages. Okay, so here's where Zebulun. Zebulun is north of Jerusalem in this area that I'm not gonna read again. It has Bethlehem in it now you can get on your Google Maps on your little iPhone and you can type in Bethlehem comma Israel and it's going to bring up more than one Bethlehem now the Bethlehem that we've been talking about this whole time is Five to six miles south of Jerusalem with the town of about 30,000 people today this Bethlehem is about five miles from Nazareth and There's currently only about 1,000 people that live there, and it's purely agricultural community. It's almost like a hippie co-op, to be honest with you. It's very, very agricultural. There's only 1,000 people there. But guess what you can do? You can drop your little guy down on the road, and you can look at the houses in the town. Because, of course, I did that. And you can see when the farmer's market is. But that's what you can do. Now, that Bethlehem is like six miles from Nazareth. It's amazing if God wanted Jesus to be born in a Bethlehem could have had that one But that's not what the prophecy said that it had to be from the city of David Which is a hundred miles away and here's the kicker and then we're done there are Weirdos today God deniers Bible deniers Christ deniers That have written books They've given tours you can get on the internet. You could book a tour for Bethlehem. I But it's not Bethlehem, Judea. It's Bethlehem, Zebulun. And you can go see the place where Jesus was born. Five miles from Nazareth. Because it's just silly to think that they went 100 miles because God told them to go back. It's crazy. But we are Bible believers. And we study the word of God. And we know that just because, I mean, man, we can watch shows and be like, Springfield. Oh, not Springfield, Missouri. Never mind. We can do that. That's what we have to do here. The Bible, the whole point of this lesson is these words are important and exciting and they're true and they mean something. And what we have here, go to Luke chapter two and we'll be done. Luke chapter two, what we have here is some amazing prophecy of hope assurance and Luke chapter 2 I just we've spent four weeks on this I just want to read it because we haven't we've been I've said that we've been Christmas adjacent but I want you to just look at Luke chapter 2 verse 1 and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed and this taxing was first made when Serenus was governor over Syria All went to be taxed everyone into his own city and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth Into Judea, you know why it's into Judea Because he was out of Judea because that's where he lived He had to go into Judea because he lived in Nazareth now, so he had to go into Judea Unto the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was the house and lineage of David To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. This prophecy that we read in Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, again, it provides such a sense of hope, a sense of assurance. It highlights God's faithfulness to his promise. Prophecy fulfilled is an amazing thing. There's more than, and Brother Roberts was saying this on Wednesday night, but there's more prophecies being fulfilled than any one graph can really show. There's just thousands of connections between the Old Testament, Old Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, New Testament, New Testament. But we know, we sing about it, we flannel graph, we color, we write, we have Christmas ornaments and Christmas cards that have Bethlehem, and it's this Bethlehem, it's Bethlehem south of Jerusalem, It's so exciting because that's what God said 700 years earlier. Man, it's a sense of hope. It should strengthen our faith that no matter what the issue is, if God says it's going to happen, it's going to happen. That's exciting. All right, let's get ready for big people, Church.