Pastor’s Column 12/14/2025

PASTOR’S COLUMN

² “But you, O Bethlehem Ephratha, are only a small village among the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from  you on my behalf.”        Micah 5:2, NLT

¹⁰ “Do not despise the day of small beginnings. Zechariah 4:10, KJV

”3^rd Sunday in Advent - Purpose!”

The divine purposes of God are not delineated, nor determined, by size or quantity. God’s divine purposes will come to fulfillment in the exact manner He prescribes. Few people in ancient times imagined a king, nor less a Messiah exalted before them, who was an infant. For the people who believed in Yahweh, the great God, many awaited a Messiah who would come to earth in a dramatic appealing manner. They also perceived the place of the Messiah’s origin would be a major center of power and influence. This was not the case. Micah the prophet, accuratelypointed to the ancient town of Ephratah, later known as Bethlehem, as the place appointed by God to receive the Messiah. This “ruler of the people” world be born to a woman of humble circumstances, not in the opulence of a palatial setting, but in a cattle stall hewed from the lime rock of one of the caves prominent in that region. It was this rare setting that became sanctuary for our Savior and Lord. The mere presence of this small child, in a confined space in a little town would cause wondrous things to happen. No earthy king brough holy Angels down to sing praises to God for their birth. No other kings caused Shepherds to leap over roughlandscape, declaring the birth of a Savior. No intellectual scholars would travel 900 miles to bow before a King like Jesus. Never should we doubt what God can do in seemingly obscure and discreet places. God’s purposes  will always find their way to us, however long it may take – and whatever the circumstances. “A person has many plans, but it is God’s purpose that prevails” Oh, the joy of Christ!