Hope: The King Will Come

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Micah chapter 5

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I'm going to read verses 2 through 5 this is

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God's holy and infallible word but you

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Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah Yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel Whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting

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Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth

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Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the

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Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and They shall abide for now.

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He shall be great to the ends of the earth and this one shall be peace

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Please pray with me now Lord we thank you for Your inscripturated word

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We thank you for the prophets of old Who told of the coming of that day when

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Christ would come and O Lord as we enter into the history of our spiritual forefathers with a deep sense of longing trouble on the horizon trouble at our door

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Calamity even that we would have hope a Hope that the righteous

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King would come and O Lord today We we look to your second advent not knowing what will transpire between now and then but we have

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Great, hope that you will come again And in this we rejoice

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We ask your blessing now in the name of Jesus Christ Amen Please be seated

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The title of the message today is hope the King will

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Come I have supplied the five points in the outline on the slack channel

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I'm going to give those to you really quickly The first is the house of bread

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The first point today is the house of bread

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Second the coming King will be God himself in the flesh

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Thirdly we will consider The bread of life the bread of life

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Fourth we'll consider the proof of his coming The people of God are abiding in Christ even today

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The people of God are abiding in Christ and finally

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Christ himself is our peace the theme of today's

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Message is really the theme of Micah in some ways. It is who is a

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God like you and this is Really tight closely tied to Micah's name.

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This is what his name means and we we think about the significance of naming a child and Sometimes we attach great spiritual meaning to it and and Micah it seems took his name very

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Seriously, and it becomes even the theme of his prophetic book Who is a

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God like Yahweh? Jehovah who is a God like you today?

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It'll be important for me to give a little context for The book of Micah in order for us to consider this very familiar

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Passage that we study at this time of year. So let's take just a brief moment to get some of the background of Micah Micah is unique in that his prophecies speak both to both kingdoms both the northern and the southern kingdoms and He foretells the imminent fall of Israel to the

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Assyrians and their cap and their capital Samaria and He foretells and it seems his focus is on the horizon a bit further down more than a hundred years from then the future

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Babylonian captivity of Judah Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea and Like them he called

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God's people to repentance The message we should always be calling God's people to and God's people don't always like it.

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We need to repent from our sin He ministered and prophesied during the second half of the 8th century

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BC During the reigns of Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah.

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Those are the kings From Judah. He doesn't even mention the wicked kings of the north and during this time the the king of Assyria Shalmaneser will capture

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Samaria and conquer the northern tribes of Israel And and now there's a threat to Jerusalem and to Judah His Sharpest warnings it seems were against the leaders who use their power to oppress the poor

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Does that sound familiar? very relevant Thing politically and really every society the powerful and the wealthy

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Take advantage of those who don't have those things there was great injustice in the land and he seems to be really eager to To think of this and to call it out.

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It's interesting There's also almost a war of the country in the city afoot

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Micah is from the country about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem and much of the condemnation that he speaks of happens in the big cities

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Political corruption is rampant Israel and its capital Samaria are on the verge of falling as I've already mentioned the siege

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Itself is coming to Jerusalem and there's going to be a restoration We're not gonna talk much about that but this predates the

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Babylonian captivity and he speaks about things and in a very real and Present close sense, but there's also a dramatic eye to the future

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The Babylonian captivity as I said is over a hundred years away

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What will happen to the people when their leaders will be mocked and even smited on the face a powerful humiliation of the most powerful what will become of The weak ones will become of the little people if the rulers and the kings will be so shamefully treated what will come

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Of become of them In chapter 1 judgment is coming upon Israel Samaria will be plowed over and laid in ruins

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When we think about the story one of my favorite stories the woman at the well These people are going to be integrated into a

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Syria They're no longer going to be part of of Israel. They're gonna be part of a

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Syria in Chapter 2 Woe is pronounced against the evildoers a message of the

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Prophet always pronounces judgment It seems on the wicked the the evil one the wicked one in their midst should repent

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It's harshest language in chapter 3 of related to the wickedness of the rulers and Of the prophets themselves the so -called prophets of God and the rulers who are

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God's ministers they were wicked people and it seems that the judgment of God is coming because of the wickedness of the rulers and the wickedness of The prophets in Chapter 4 we have a great promise for the future

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The Lord shall reign in Zion. We've just sung about it But only after they have exiled in Babylon See if you remember this from the language of our book

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We studied in Zechariah in chapter 4 verse 4 it says but everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree and No one shall make them afraid

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In Chapter 4 verse 10. It says there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies then we skip over our section and go to Chapter 6 and we find a covenant lawsuit is initiated against Against the people

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God says to them. Oh my people. What have I done to you and How have

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I Wearied you an incredible thing for God to say to his people.

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What have I done to you? what kind of evil have I done to you and How have

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I wearied you and he says testify against me. I find this to be halting for us and our attitudes and our contentment

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We grumble and complain and we have this great salvation in Christ We've been integrated into the church we have fellowship with the people of God He's provided for our material needs.

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Look at how healthy everyone is. Everybody's been able to eat and Yet we grumble we complain

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God reminds them of his dealings with them in history says for I Brought you up from the land of Egypt.

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I redeemed you from the house of bondage Evokes the the imagery of the

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Exodus the formation of the people as a nation and what about all of the countless interventions that he has accomplished since and his prophetic dialogue that Micah offers the people

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Try to make a plea bargain of sorts verse 6 it says of chapter 6 with what shall

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I come before the Lord and And bow myself before the high

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God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves a year old

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Is it more sacrifice that he wants Is there some religious duties to perform?

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well, will this appease the just wrath of God if I conform more fully to the religion of my father's

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Will the Lord be pleased with children notice this Thousands of rams if we bring a thousands and thousands of rams will then the

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Lord be pleased with us Will he be pleased if we bring 10 ,000 rivers of oil squeezed from an individual olives 10 ,000 rivers of if we bring oil if we bring grain if we bring rams

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Will you be pleased and even Shockingly they said

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They don't believe this but they're they're grasping for a way to be right with God they say shall

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I give my firstborn for my transgression, of course that language is loaded because of Abraham and Isaac the judgment of God Favoring the

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Israelites and their blood covering over the Egyptians and the people cry out To God's accusation.

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They say do you want our firstborn children for our transgressions? If we exchange the fruit of our bodies for the sins of our soul, will you then be pleased with us?

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Oh God God says no and probably one of the most famous Quotations in Micah chapter 6 verse 8.

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He says He has shown you. Oh, man, what is good and what does the

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Lord require of you? but to do justly

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To love mercy and To walk humbly with your

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God No mere external performance of religion will do the

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Lord requires a heart circumcision a change a Dramatic profound individual personal familial covenantal national

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Doing of the right from a just heart to love mercy to do justly and to walk in humility with covenant with their

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God and after sorrow is expressed for the sins of the people

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In chapter 7 we land at the end of the chapter if you're able to turn there you can turn with me in Micah 7 verse 18 and Following it says who is a

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God like you Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage

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He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy

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He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities you will cast out our sins into the depths of the sea the hope and promise of Reconciliation a renewal of covenant redemption the forgiveness of sins

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You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham Which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old

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Oh God, you will keep your covenant and the question has to be asked

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And I hope we can answer today How does he do it? How does

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God Remember his promises. How does he keep? His word.

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How does he save his people? Oh God, how have you done it?

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I'll turn back to Micah Chapter 5 in Verse 2 and this is the first point

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The house of bread in Joshua 15 verses 20 to 63

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There is a listing of all of the notable cities of Judah and in those listings they would say and their villages and it's known to be true, but I went through the list again and Bethlehem is not mentioned in the notable cities of the land of Judah It's only six miles south of Jerusalem It's not really that far people though in those days walked that far

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Easily in a day they would travel six miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem or Jerusalem to Bethlehem But you it says

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Bethlehem Ephrathah and Bethlehem means the house of bread that's why we've titled our first point the house of bread and Ephrathah is

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Really the field of fruits or the fertile fields It's kind of a synonymous name for the region and the place known as Bethlehem The question of how

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God is going to keep covenant and how his promises are going to be realized

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Why the people should have hope is there's a king who's coming and it's the

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Lord Jesus Christ But he's not coming for 700 years

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What lays before them is trouble? They're going to be gathered in troops and they're going to be

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Surrounded and many people are going to lose their lives in the short term

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That they're eventually going to be brought back under Zedekiah But the coming and the promise of the

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Messiah is Laid before the people in their tumult as a reason and ground of their hope

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And he says you Bethlehem the house of bread The field of fruits

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Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah You're not even mentioned in the list

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Yet out of you shall come to me Come forth to me the one to be ruler of Israel Now the first thing that we should observe and it may be a room for application even at the outset is this

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We might think that the Messiah if you're thinking about a worldwide saving

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Messiah Maybe he would be born in Caesars house in Rome you almost imagine a literary work

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Cinematic production where the the one who's going to reclaim it

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The power and do right in the world is going to be born in a house of honor the place of military might would be the ultimate expression of military might be

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Rome up until the rise of America in Washington DC military power resides in These places, but that's not where Jesus is born

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Jesus himself is the divine wisdom the word made flesh. Maybe he would be born in Athens a great city of learning a place of education

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Maybe somewhere like Alexandria Be born somewhere like that That's not where he would be born.

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And in fact He's born in an insignificant place just like his forefather

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David was born in And the city of David the place we know is

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Bethlehem I Was surprised to know today and I know my wife's mom had been there

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I don't remember if you'd been there to Bethlehem. My wife's mom went there on Christmas Eve 25 years ago.

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Let's say And it's a very amazing experience for her to do that today the place where Jesus was born is largely a tourist trap and Only 25 ,000 people live there in the suburbs.

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It's only six miles from Jerusalem largely controlled by Palestinians In the region of the

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West Bank But Bethlehem is the birthplace of the

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Messiah And in fact, it is without exception acknowledged that Bethlehem would be the place of Messiah's birth.

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You may remember there was a dispute among the Jews about the teaching of Jesus there were some murmurings that maybe

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Jesus was the Messiah and they described him as being Jesus of Nazareth And that would immediately disqualify him as being a disciple you see

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People didn't stray very far from their homes and it would seem a wicked

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Kings worldwide census would cause Jesus to go back to the place where his family was from God working in Providence Quirinius orders a census of the world the

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Empire and Mary and Joseph have to go back to the place of their family and so Jesus Not surprisingly

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Should have been born in Nazareth in Galilee. He finds himself born in Bethlehem the city of David.

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Let's turn over to Matthew chapter 2 really quickly Give some evidence and proof to this.

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I hope this will Enliven our thoughts about this

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Matthew 2 verse 1 says this Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king

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Behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem Now the prophecy is the

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Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem the Jews Universally acknowledged this is where the

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Messiah is going to be born Wise men from the east come to Jerusalem verse 2 saying

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Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? We say that maybe

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Jesus and the Christ and the church are not very political in their effect in the world well

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Herod happens to be the king of Israel and So Herod is immediately at odds with this idea that there would be another king born

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In fact, he wants to snuff out this so -called king They say to him

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Where is he who has been born the king of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him when

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Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and Listen carefully children.

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And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together You see you must understand that scholarship in the religious world

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The Jews was really hinging on the coming of the Messiah so he could throw out the Romans They were searching the scriptures to find out who and where and from where the

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Christ would come He gathers all the priests and the scribes the scholars together.

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He inquired of them Where the Christ was to be born now once you look at verse 5, what does it say?

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They said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the

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Prophet Paraphrasing the language we just read but you

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Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

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Israel The Universal consensus is the Messiah is to be born at Bethlehem The Lord Jesus Christ had to be born there.

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Of course, you know how the story goes They deceive Herod he's not able to find for the child they go home another way

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They bring frankincense and gold and myrrh to him and were divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod and Then Jesus and this beautiful picture of redemption the only time he ever leaves his country is he flees to Egypt with his parents and Like Israel before him out of Egypt.

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I have called my son So Jesus like the people of God before is going to go down to Egypt in exile and he's going to come back and fulfill all that he does in Righteousness, these are beautiful themes wonderful things.

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We think about this time of year probably Exponentially more things happening than we realize on the surface now come back to Micah chapter 5, please

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God uses the ordinary the base the weak the little to confound the wise

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The Christian Church has not been filled with prominent celebrities

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But he's been pleased to use them use ordinary people like us

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Saul the first king that guy looked like the king He had all of the external appearances of the great king

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He was head and shoulders above everyone else in stature. He's very handsome.

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He just looks the part But God Looks at the heart and he sends his prophet jet to Jesse's house and and the family

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Brings out the oldest son and then the next down the line and so on and so forth and they never even considered little

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David the last one and who's a shepherd in the fields and Samuel inquires of him and they bring him and it's then that Samuel realized this is the king of Israel This is the man who will be a man after God's own heart the promise of Kingship and reign and ruler the the eternal kingdom of the

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Messiah is going to run through him all in this little

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Obscure unknown unappreciated place Out of you out of the house of bread

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There's going to be a ruler in Israel the second point is

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It's really unmistakable here in the language at the end of verse 2

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Who's going forth are from of old from? everlasting the

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Messiah Who's coming and and maybe the the dimness of faith was a cloud over them

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But they had to recognize that what God is promising is that God himself would be their king that God himself would be their ruler that he would be their

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God and they would be his people and I don't know that they could have Seen this but the reality is here in verse 2.

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We're speaking of nothing less than the eternally begotten Son of God The eternal generation of Jesus Christ in the beginning was the word and the word was with God before there was a

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Beginning there was a Lord Jesus Christ The second person of the Trinity and He whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting.

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He's going to appear in time and be born in Bethlehem in the interest of distraction,

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I'm not going to Have you turn there? Quote John 1 here.

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It's perfect. I Quote that a lot it seems I'm going to read you the opening verses of the epistle to the

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Hebrews And what you think about in light of this? prophecy

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God who at various times and in various ways spoke in the time past to the fathers by the prophets

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Has in these last days spoken to us by his son Whom he has appointed heir of all things now listen carefully children

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Through whom also he made the world's The baby that is conceived in the womb of the

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Virgin Mary is the creator of the world's Grasp that for just a moment while he's in the womb of the

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Virgin Mary He's holding the universe together by his own power Who being the brightness of his glory the express image of his person and Upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins

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Sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high

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Having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name

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Than they For to which of the angels did he ever say you are my son today

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I have begotten you and again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son

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Then again, he brings the firstborn Into the world he says

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But all the angels of God worship him And of the angels he says who makes his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire

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But what does he say about the Sun? Oh Let your hearts leap within you let us bow down and worship our

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God he says about Christ born in Bethlehem born of the

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Virgin Mary your throne Oh God is forever and ever a

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A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

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Therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness More than your companions

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How are Jesus's goings forth from of old from everlasting

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John tells us the author of the Hebrew epistle tells us you

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Lord Covenant name of God in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and The heavens are the work of your hands

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They will perish but you remain they will all grow old like a garment like a cloak

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You will fold them up and they will be changed but you are the same and your years will not fail

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But to which of the angels did he ever say Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies

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Your footstool the one who's going to be born and Bethlehem is going to be

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Of the seed of David his family line, but you know right now in history and Micah They are fading from the scene.

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How is he going to do it? How is he going to restore the kingdom and The kingship to David and the answer is in Jesus Christ That's how he does it and Who is

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Jesus Christ? He is the second person of the Trinity. He's the creator Whose goings forth are from of old from Everlasting you may remember the scene in John 8

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When Jesus is in the midst of a disagreement spirited with his opponents he says before Abraham was

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I Am Abraham's the great patriarch thousands of years before Christ and Christ says before Abraham was

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I Am that I am do you remember Moses's interaction with God in the burning bush same language

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Who shall I tell them has sent me Oh God Who will I say is sending me to deliver the people and God says

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I am that I am the Lord Jesus Christ says I am the great I am and This is all happening 700 years

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Before the birth of Christ Well, it takes us to our third point

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The ancient of days is going to find himself born in Bethlehem The promise of God in the midst of this turmoil and hardship the promises of God are yes

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And amen and Christ he will fulfill it. He will keep covenant. He will take away the sins of his people

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Righteousness will reign in the land and in every land verse 3 and following it says therefore he shall give them up Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth

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I Believe this is a direct reference to the birth of Christ Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children

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Israel and what we're gonna see happen with the arrival of Christ is

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Not only is Jesus the Messiah of Israel, but he is the

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Messiah of the nations The promise of the Gentile in gathering.

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How is that realized? It's realized in the person and work of Christ In verse 4 it says he shall stand and feed his flock

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Jesus is The bread of life, isn't it something

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That the one who would say I am the bread of life Would be born in the house of bread

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God these are not incidental things or accidental things

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He will feed his flock. How does man live? Does he live on bread alone?

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No, he lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and then

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God himself comes in the flesh and he speaks all the words of God and Man has life and nourishment

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The manna in the wilderness What a miraculous gift that God would feed his people from on high out of his own hand that they would survive in the wilderness wondering how much more so now when the bread of life comes and He feeds the people with the very words of God.

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He himself is the Word of God and Quite powerfully. He even gives us his body

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And his blood is real food and real drink that we might live Jesus is born in the house of bread

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The coming King promised in Micah is gonna be God himself in the flesh the ancient of days and the virgin birth foretold and The bread of life the

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Good Shepherd will feed his flock He'll do it in the strength of the

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Lord and the majesty of the name of the Lord his God And that takes us to our fourth point today

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What is the proof of this? It says and they shall abide

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Christianity has been banned all over the world and it thrives and flourishes

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We are at the end of the Sabbath day If we started the calendar day in the

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East with Japan or somewhere over there We are at the end the vast majority of God's people have come into his presence today

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We are at the end of the day Nearly all of the church has gathered in the name of the

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Lord on this day We're in the West. We're at the end of the day

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Martyrdom hasn't stopped it Communism Abolishing it some kind of legal

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Magisterial Declaration to ban Christianity. It doesn't stop it

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The coming of the Messiah has been efficacious Accomplished its desired effect

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We abide in him and he abides with us. He is the vine we are the branches and Now even now his name will be great to the ends of the earth.

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This is the ends of the earth From Micah and now his name is great here in Longwood in this place surely, this is a good proof of his

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Legitimacy the proof of his kingship the proof of his power and this one

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Will be our peace There's something very important today.

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I was thinking about this it comes to mind occasionally when we think about Salvation we think about things like we need forgiveness of sins.

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We need a mediator We need someone to atone for our sins.

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Those are all Good things to think about but but what we desperately need is not someone to give us an inner tranquility and peace

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We need to be united to peace himself. I need

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Christ And I get all its benefits What we think about his benefits, but we need to be united to Christ.

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We need to esteem and love and cherish Christ We need to long for Christ Not just the things he does for us

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We need to love him for who he is he is himself

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The Shalom the complete Wholeness and wellness of the person redeemed

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All of it is found in Christ So the question today for us is is

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Christ your Peace is he your

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God? Is he your Savior is he your king he must be

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And the other thing that we have to consider we must really ponder Are we willing to go through hardship and and labor for an end that we will never see

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The prophecy of Micah is there's a lot of doom and darkness but someday

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The Christ is going to come we're optimistic about the future, but what if our optimism is 700 years from now

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Does that change your perspective? Are you only optimistic if it can happen in five years that you could enjoy it?

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Are you willing to build and advance the kingdom that maybe it takes 800 years to see the fruit of It's a very different kind of faith that we're called to Micah is calling a people in the midst of darkness

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To look to an unforeseen an unknown date in the future After they go into captivity and 70 years after that they return home and when they return home, it's not that great there either

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And then they have to wait another 500 years But oh then

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Christ comes and for us we long for the return of Jesus in his second advent

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But what if it's 800 years away? Will you labor and break up hard rocky soil now

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For future generations to build their roads upon their lives of faith

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Are you laboring maybe more for your grandchildren your great -grandchildren than your own?

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Satisfaction it seems the people of God have been called to wait for something in the future

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And that passage when Jesus says I am Before Abraham was

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I am he says that Abraham longed to see his day and rejoiced

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Maybe that's why Abraham is the man of faith the promises aren't coming true at least for a thousands of years

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After him so this Advent season

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Today We wait Today, maybe we have hardship but Star is appearing over a little town and in 24 days.

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We'll celebrate the arrival of the bread of life in the house of bread

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We're going to know again and learn again that he is God in the flesh

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God with us and That his Incarnation his death burial and resurrection

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Has caused a worldwide movement that has passed through generations and ages

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Billions of people are abiding in Christ Because of what he has done surely

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Christ is our peace Give me Christ Not temporal peace,

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I want Christ that should be our hearts refrain. Do you have hope today?

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You should The King will come he has come once he will come again

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Let's pray together Oh Lord we thank you for your servant the

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Prophet pray that you give us an appropriate sense of Expectance that we would realize we have

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Need of like our spiritual forefathers. We have need of repentance We have to make straight and prepare a way for the

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Lord and Lord I pray that you would reveal to us the work that we have to do in our own hearts and lives the lives of our children our wives this church

48:49

Lord help us to be an expectant waiting hoping people Though now we lament our failings we look to you in faith and hope and and to Christ we say

49:02

Oh Lord, you are our God and We have no one in heaven, but you

49:08

Oh Lord, I pray that you would stir holy affections in us that we would love you as we ought

49:15

We need your help to properly. Love you. We need the infilling of your spirit to cause us to worship you and obey you as Is fitting of your kingship and your reign and rule and your love and your grace and your mercy

49:32

Lord, I pray that we'd be instructed in your word. We pray Holy Spirit that you would Pierce us deeper that we would learn more and more of these things in the coming weeks.