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In recent years, members of Redeemer Community Church from across north Jefferson County began praying and dreaming together about seeing a similar church planted in their community. This had already happened once before in Homewood when Grace Fellowship was planted in 2017 and they wondered whether it could happen where they lived. The more they prayed and discussed this with the leadership of these two churches, the more it became clear that God was leading them to partner together to plant Trinity Fellowship.
The long-term aim is for Trinity to be an independent church that continues to partner with the Redeemer family of churches in celebrating and declaring the gospel across the region.
Well, it is an absolute delight to welcome Alan Steele to preach, and for those of you
who have not met Alan yet, Alan is not just our preacher, he's also my father-in-law,
and so we look forward to hearing what the Lord has given him to share with us.
And I asked him, just as he walked in the door, if he would mind me asking him just
a few questions just about his own story and background, whichever you prefer.
There we go.
And when it comes to, not to build you up too much in front of everybody,
but when it comes to a picture of faithful gospel ministry, he is what comes to mind,
served the Lord over through many years and decades, serving as a pastor in England,
but someone who's not only walked faithfully in pastoral ministry, but also in the community
as well, making Christ known to those who don't know him, but I've been able to see him behind
the scenes as well, so someone who's walking with the Lord in the context of family too,
so really appreciate him.
And so Alan, could you tell us about where you are from and what that's like?
Presently, we live in Warwick, which is in the centre of England.
Prior to then, for the last, we've been there about 18 months. Prior to then, all my life,
I have lived in a place called Stoke-on-Trent. And if you drink coffee, I hope you are drinking
from cups and mugs that were made in Stoke-on-Trent. The potteries, I hope you are.
You always know it's made from Stoke because they've got tea stains down their front
because we're looking as to whether they've been made in Stoke-on-Trent and the coffee
and the tea comes down on us.
Absolutely. We will all be doing that now. Of course, it's all to-go cups here,
so we're looking at those. It'd be wonderful to hear about how you came to know the Lord.
We were just singing about the dear Christ entering in, and about once a month at church
here, we have somebody come up and share their story of how they came to faith.
Would you mind sharing that?
Very quickly. Grew up, mum and dad. Didn't go to church themselves regularly.
Encouraged us to go on one of four to go to Sunday school.
Went. For me, I've always believed in God, a creator. I've always believed in creation
of God as well. There's never been a doubt in my mind, but I didn't have a relationship
with the God who had made this world and made me. Until I was 15, I was going along to a voice school
and Billy Graham, we've come to UK, Ilse Court, and right across the whole of the UK,
there would be places that would be organised such that they'd have a big screen up and they'd
relay the meeting from London to those places. I was in Stoke in the town hall.
Friends from school invited me. I hadn't realised how organised they were by the Christian union
teacher, the Christian teacher in the school, and they'd been praying. Who could they invite?
I went along. I went along on the Friday night. Probably the first time I heard real preaching,
as it were, talking about the cross and my sin, but nothing happened that night. I saw what went
on, but I knew that Cliff Richard was going to give his testimony on the Tuesday night,
so I went again. And on that night, when it came to the end, and of course, get out of your seats,
come forward and ask Jesus Christ to be your saving Lord. I was already prepared for that.
I knew what was coming, so when it did come to that point, my stomach was churning around.
Dear me, I was up in the balcony, but along with many others, I went forward
and in a simple way, asked Christ to forgive me. I confessed my sin, asked Christ to forgive me
to come into my life as my Saviour, and He did. I was taken then next door to a place where
a person named Peter Kuhn counselled me and gave me assurance from God's word accordingly.
Would you mind sharing what happened afterwards? There's the receiving Christ and putting your
faith in Him, but you immediately had to take up your cross in that a family member was asking
in a not so kind way about what happened that night.
Okay, yeah. Some people, when they ask Christ to be their Saviour, the bells are ringing,
heaven's opened and whatever. That didn't happen to me at all. I was very
matter of fact. Let me just put this over my ear. I hope you can hear. So for me,
I read the verses, if you confess your sin, your faith went just to forgive your sin,
cleanse it from all unrighteousness, and I read that, and I knew it. I could see it there.
I'd been showing that the scripture is real, claimed the promises of the Bible,
but I didn't feel any different. The following morning, my dad had a shop, my auntie came
for a cup of tea across the house next door to talk, and she was chatting away and she was
asking me what I'd been doing. Oh, I went to a meeting in Stoke last night with Billy Graham
speaking, and then she just said to me, she said, you weren't one of those fools that asked Jesus
Christ to be your Saviour. You didn't go forward at the meeting, did you? I said, Auntie V, yes,
I did. Oh, you're a fool. You'll never get married. Well, you'll never have children.
You know, and you'll grow out of it. Well, I'm a few years older than 15,
and I haven't grown out of it, grown more into it, grown more into the Lord than he into me. So yes,
after that, I did feel, I felt inwardly confirmed, you know, that inner witness
that I was the Lord's and I'd confessed him before my auntie there. Thank you.
Thank you. Could you just speak into our church situation right now, if you don't mind?
We're a new church getting started a year in. I know that Emmanuel Church in Stoke, where you
pastored, was in a situation where there wasn't a building that, you know, there was the churches
and praying about where the Lord would have you long term and the Lord provided in that way. So,
would you mind sharing that? Yeah, I was invited along to a church to be their pastor. I was
working full time. They didn't have money to support me as well. And so I went as a
pastor in addition to my normal, I was a buyer from a small lubricants company. And
um, when I got there, there were four men in the church, a lot of ladies, quite vocal ladies,
but they were what they wanted more men as well. And so it was a small church, probably about
30, 35, I would think something like that. They'd come out of the Anglican Church, the
Church of England many years before. I used to preach on a from time to time, they would meet
in people's homes. And they met in a school. I can remember one Christmas time preaching earlier
on. And behind me was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the on the back wall. It was very
difficult to preach about the gospel with those on the back as it were. So it's a small church,
not many men, not a lot of money coming in, but a real heart for the Lord. People
loved the Lord. They really did live it out in their Christian lives. And so for us,
I guess like you as well, you've come from another church, you've come, smaller number
to begin with, and you're growing. And certainly for us that happened as well. We grew, we were
meeting in a Methodist church in the evening, and we had the use of the hall in the afternoon for
Sunday school. And we got bigger, little by little. Basically for us, I guess we were focusing on
men. So I would, if I visited, I tended to, of course I had to visit at night time. So I would
go to see a Christian wife who got converted, didn't marry a non-Christian as it were. They
got converted after they got married. And I used to visit, get to know the men there as well,
and try, in our case, I guess most people outside the church, the vast majority,
had no inkling of what the gospel was. So for us, and for me, basically trying to get into
to do Bible studies with twos, with a wife and a husband, an unconverted couple as it were. That's
my, that was my aim to get in amongst. And we saw different people saved along the way. We then
needed a building. We had land that had been offered to us by the council, but the price of
it was massive. Quarter of market value, but it was still a lot of money in our day. So we're
talking about 30 odd years ago now. And the land itself would have cost us 48,000 pounds. Now you
think, well, that's nothing. Don't forget that the dollar was worth probably $2 to the pound in those
days, but 30 odd years ago, it was a lot of money and certainly more like, oh, I don't know, that
would be 35 times a man's wage, something like that. You know, it's a hefty amount of money.
But this land had been offered and I negotiated with the council for this land. They wanted to
offer some to another company. Eventually we bought the whole lot because they didn't want it.
And we had a prayer time. We used to have two, twice a year, a gift day and a prayer time. So we had a,
we prayed all day, different hourly sessions. And on that day we had given over 20,000 pounds,
enough money to actually buy the land. And well, the end of the day we came home,
I had a phone call from somebody I knew from another part of the UK. And they said,
I understand that you're praying for, you're wanting money for a church building. Would
20,000 help you to build the building? I said, well, it would certainly help us to build it. But
she was saying, well, would you be able to start? I said, no, we couldn't start.
Our quotes from the various builders that we had were somewhere in the region about 170,000 pounds.
And well, there was no way could we start with 20. We wouldn't even got the footings in.
So she said, well, okay. How much do you need? I said, well, we need 178,000 pounds. I just gulped,
I thought, well, I'd say 178,000 as opposed to 100 or whatever it was. I'll loan you the money.
That was on the day we spent a day in prayer. Wow. And she says, there'll be no interest.
You pay me back when you can. So much so that when we actually did start building,
um, the building doesn't all, you don't have to pay for it upfront. You pay for it as it goes on.
We were earning interest in those days at about 10 to 12 percent interest in the bank. And she'd
given us the money right up front. And from then on, when we came, when we finished in the years
after we were, we said, we want to pay you back. Now, no, she said, hold on to the money and tell
me when your gift days are. We came to gift days. She sent us checks for big money to pay
herself back. I just couldn't believe it. And neither could the church. And we were so thankful
for God's provision to us. It wasn't a massive building, but certainly has been such a useful
building to us as they're in Stoke-on-Trent. So keep praying. I would say keep praying,
keep giving as well along the way. I didn't ask him to say that.
Let me, let me pray. Father, thank you so much for how you provide, um, for your people. And Lord,
if you are, since you gave up your only son, how shall you not also with him freely give us all
things? Lord, if you've given us Jesus, Lord, we can trust you, uh, for everything that we need.
And Lord, thank you for how you've provided, uh, in bringing us to, to yourself. Lord, thank
you for making us part of your church as well. I pray that you'd help us to trust you in the
days ahead. And Lord, thank you for your servant, Alan. I'm going to pray for him as he, uh, brings
your word to us now. Lord, I pray that we would be looking, uh, not to him, but to you to provide
what we need through your word this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.
Just before I want, before I read, I just want to say how glad we are that we were able to come
over to see Brandon and Julia and to be able to live with them in the basement in a
wonderful apartment, whatever you like to call it down there. Fantastic. And I just want to say
a big thank you to anyone that's helped in the work in that building. It's been wonderful to
be able to come. We're going to read from Matthew chapter two, verses one through to 12. Matthew two,
one through to 12. Certainly a very familiar passage at Christmas.
Matthew two, one to 12.
Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold,
wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews?
For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
The whole nation would be able to do that, come and worship him.
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the
Christ was to be born. They told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, the son of the king was born.
In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet,
and you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had
appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and search diligently for the child.
When you found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.
After listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen when
it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Going into the house, they saw the child with Mary as mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.
Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by
another way. I just praise we come to God's word together.
Father, we pray from this particular passage, very familiar, and all this time of Christmas,
oh, Father, we do pray. Teachers are fresh about the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Oh, we, Father, do pray. Speak to us, speak to me and through me, to each of our hearts, we pray,
and help us to act upon your word as well. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.
Well, it's Christmas. I don't know how many of you have got on holidays already. I'm sure you've
bought presents. I know there's some young people here who are very thankful that Christmas is
coming. Food. I gather you don't have turkey at Christmas, generally anyway. Back in England,
this is when we have our turkey. I know for you it's Thanksgiving. Maybe we have your leftovers.
I don't know. Maybe that's why they're so cheap. But, you know, food, holidays, family. I guess
that's one of the big things about Christmas, is family getting together. And certainly that's
a time when, well, we do have a little bit more time to be able to come aside as well.
Bear in mind, young people, if you were in the UK, you would be opening your presents
six hours earlier than if you were here in Birmingham, Alabama. But things do get busy,
don't they? I guess you're in that kind of track now, that last couple of days before Christmas
Day itself. I saw on the news where one lady had saved 51 hours in the run up to Christmas.
She got a company to write electronically all her cards, prepare the food, a company to suggest
and buy all her presents, and even getting a lady to make the angel costume for her daughter
in the school nativity. It wasn't cheap. I gather it was something like $1,700.
But, you know, for some increasingly they want to get away on holiday. Anybody going on holiday
Christmas? We are. We've come here. We've come away from the rain and there's bits of snow,
parts of Scotland, I think. We've come away from the rain and the cloudiness,
and I understand we're coming now to Birmingham, Alabama, where on Christmas Day
I should be wearing short sleeve shirts. Over 70, I understand, at this Christmas time.
You know, there are many places that Christ could have been born. If you think back to the time,
you think, well, Rome, centre of the empire, the Roman Empire, surely he should have been born
there. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, surely. Maybe Athens, certainly Jerusalem at the very
least. But why Bethlehem? Why Bethlehem? And that's what we're going to look at this morning. Why
Bethlehem? First and foremost, it was because God said it would be Bethlehem.
Micah chapter 5 and verse 2. But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the
clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days. 700 years before Christ was to be born
as a babe in Bethlehem, God said he would be born in Bethlehem. This King, this one from everlasting,
this one who would come for him, was actually said so there in the Bible.
Men and women have tried to undermine this book, the Bible. Time and again, though, it proves to
be true, however unlikely on occasions it seems it's going to be. And prophecy, if you want one of
evidence, if you want to show somebody from the scripture why you believe the Bible, what evidence
is this? It's the Old Testament, written hundreds of years before the New Testament. And yet there
are prophecies that come true to the letter. Remember the wise men? They came seeking Jesus.
They came to Jerusalem. I guess the obvious place, let's go to the King. Let's go to Herod and find
out where's this King that we've been looking forward to, that we're following that star.
And then Herod asks his wise men,
where do they look? Where do his wise men look? And of course they look to the Old Testament
that they had at the time, and they see the book of Micah chapter 5 and verse 2.
Why Bethlehem first and foremost? Because God said it would be Bethlehem. Secondly, though,
why Bethlehem? Because of the history of Bethlehem, because of the history of Bethlehem.
Can you think of the first mention of the word Bethlehem?
It's in Genesis chapter 35 and verse 19. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to
Ephrath, that is Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of
Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day, says the scripture there in Genesis. How did Rachel die?
She died giving birth to Jacob's son, his second son, through Rachel.
She died, but before she died, she called this child, this male child, Benoni, Benoni,
which means son of my sorrow, son of my sorrow. So yes, Bethlehem is linked to death.
Back home in Warwick, where we come from, the week that we traveled, we had three funerals,
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, three funerals. I know that you've had sadness as well. There's been at
least one funeral that I'm aware of in these recent days. Christmas can be a time of rejoicing,
but you know, deep down, for some, it's a reminder of sadness, the sadness of separation,
a death in the family, someone who's not there anymore.
Maybe it's a reminder this Christmas time, that as you meet together as families,
there's maybe somebody in this last 12 months, maybe someone recently, who's not there anymore.
Bethlehem's history reminds us that the Christ child himself would become a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. He shed tears, didn't he, even at his friend's tomb, Lazarus.
Christ was born to die. Bethlehem reminds us of that, but to die and to conquer death.
Bethlehem was also the place, the home of Naomi. You remember Naomi? What does Naomi mean?
It means pleasant, but when she left Jerusalem, when there was a famine in Bethlehem, she went
there to Moab, and her husband died, her two sons died. When she came back, people greeted her,
at the gate, as it were, they greeted her. Oh, it's Naomi. Don't call me Naomi anymore,
call me Mari. No longer pleasant, but bitter, bitterness. But the wonderful thing about
Christmas is this, is that Christ can take the bitterness out of death, take death as an enemy,
death as an enemy, death as an enemy that we will all face one day.
You know, but for the Christian, Christ has made it possible that we can even look forward to be on
death. So yes, why Bethlehem? Because of the history of Bethlehem, and thirdly, why Bethlehem?
Because it's a place of hope, it's a place of hope. Rachel called her son Benoni, my sorrow,
son of my sorrow. But Jacob called him Benjamin, chapter 35 and verse 8, son of my right hand.
What a transformation. Instead of sorrow, there was joy and there was pride. He loved his son
greatly. And if you read about Joseph and his brothers, you'll see it was a massive thing
for Jacob to allow Benjamin to go to Egypt. Christ can give hope out of sorrow. Remember,
for a Christian, life only gets better. Beyond this life, life can only get better.
One of the things I've noticed about as I've got older, and this has got, well, a little bit older,
you know, than she was, but as we've got older, when I'm talking to my compatriots of similar age,
that more of our conversation is about our aches and pains and how many pills we're taking and all
the things that, you know, what, what, what are you going to the hospital for then and what you
go for there? It becomes more like that. But I know this. One day, it will be absent from the body,
present with the Lord. And one day, a new body with no aches and pains, nothing, no pills to take.
I should be with the Lord. Is that something that you look forward to, to being with him? You do not
fear death, as you maybe once did. Remember Naomi, her daughter-in-law Ruth, was not only
married to Moaz, but as a result came to be a blessing to the whole world.
Naomi's great-great-grandson was none other than the kind King David himself. King David,
the reason why they went to Bethlehem that first Christmas day. And you know, friends,
there was a greater son to be born. What a blessing Naomi had. What a great blessing Ruth had.
Ruth was a Moabite, a foreigner, but she was brought in to the family of God.
Bethlehem reminds us of a great hope that there is to be found in Christ and in him alone.
Out of sorrow and death, he can bring joy and life. Out of bitterness and hopelessness,
he can bring pleasantness and purpose. Why Bethlehem? The hope he brings. Why Bethlehem
fourthly? Because it reminds us that God can satisfy our needs. God can satisfy our needs.
What does Bethlehem mean? It means house of bread. Afratha, the older name,
means fruitful or fertile land. I'm sure Christmas you'll be eating plenty of food,
more than just bread. Although the bread here is nice, a bit sweeter than England, but yes,
it's nice as well. I remember going to Levi's school two years ago and we had the Thanksgiving
meal that he had, it was just before the kind of Thanksgiving day and they had a school meal that
we could go and join him in. There it was, turkey, stuffing, green beans, sweet potato
with marshmallow on top. Can you imagine the bit that Levi went for first? Marshmallow.
Man shall not live by bread alone, says the Lord, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God. Christ who came to Bethlehem said, I am the bread of life. He satisfies our deepest longings
and he'll continue to do so beyond Christmas itself. I don't know about you, but what's it
like when you've put up all those decorations? I love those two trees at the back there,
certainly encouraging me about Christmas. What's it like when you take down those decorations?
When you take the rubbish or the trash, I've got trash in it, I'm in America,
when you take the trash to the bin and after Christmas,
the day before you go back to work maybe, does it feel a bit empty?
Does it feel maybe a little bit as if, well, what was it all over? Why did we spend so much
money this Christmas time? And you look at your credit bill afterwards, you think, well, wow, wow.
But you know, the wonderful thing, that when all the gifts have been opened,
when all the gifts have been, as it were, forgotten in some ways,
Christ, the greatest gift of Christmas, will never be forgotten.
And if you know him as your Saviour, my Lord, he's more dear to you every day. I can remember a
friend of Liz's who came to know Christ as her Saviour, and I can't remember who asked her,
but someone said, you know, what's it like now that you're a Christian?
And she said, it's like Christmas day every day. That's what it felt like for her.
Is that how it is for you? As you get God's Word out on a regular basis,
as you read about him, as you, as it were, speak of him to others,
does he become more precious to you each day? I pray that he will, and he does.
Christmas reminds us of the greatest gift that's ever been given. He satisfies every day
and on to eternity as well. Fifthly, why Bethlehem? There's six points, by the way,
if you're thinking there's about ten, there's six. Why Bethlehem? Because it was little.
It was little, but you, oh Bethlehem and Fratha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel. Bethlehem, little compared to the
cities of Judea, certainly of Jerusalem, compared to New York or Washington, Jerusalem itself.
Doesn't that remind you and I that the Lord looks at the insignificant ones,
the ones that many take for granted? Yes, that the wise men came, they came with their gifts to give.
The angels, though, didn't announce the birth to the wise men. They came to the shepherds,
to the shepherds on the hillside. We went to Annabelle and Levi's school production on Thursday
and in one of the readings I listened, I thought, oh yeah, that'll be good.
They described the shepherds as the riff-raff, the riff-raff. I've not heard that before
for the shepherds. He wasn't born in a palace but in a manger
and therefore blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
It's in humility that we come. We don't come with gifts, as it were, like the wise men to offer to
God, no. When we come to faith in Christ, we don't offer him anything of our good works.
There's nothing that we can do to make up for our past. We come to receive, we come to receive a
gift. It's by grace we're saved through faith, not of ourselves. It's the gift of God, the gift of
God. Grace, it's a lovely word. I'm sure you've heard God's riches at Christ's expense. Oh, it's
wonderful to see the gift of Christmas. We come as sinners needing a Savior
and Christ came for sinners riff-raff like me and like you. He came for us all, sinners
alike. And sixthly and lastly, why Bethlehem?
The question then is not why Bethlehem, why not a place where who came, who came.
Let me read you that verse again, but you are Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be
among the clans of Judah. From you shall come forth for me, one is to be the ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days. One is to be ruler in Israel. Yes, David was to be
a ruler. David's greatest son was to be the ruler, the king, whose coming forth is from old, from
ancient days or everlasting. And just think about that for a moment, the child born in Bethlehem,
that child that appears to be so helpless
was older than his mother. He created this world, just words.
It seems a puzzle, yes, but yes, the Christ who was born 2,000 years ago is none other than the
Almighty God come in the flesh and dwelling amongst us. Almighty God, sometimes we take that
for granted, we see the nativity scene, but his Almighty God compressed, as it were, into that babe.
When we went on Thursday, we had sung to us Handel's Hallelujah Chorus,
and I think Julia taught the children the actual song. I can remember singing the Hallelujah Chorus
when I was 12 or 13 as a soprano, but you know, they sang it, and those wonderful words,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. And at the end of the song,
we stood up. Well, one man over there stood up, and I stood up,
well, one man over there stood up, and I stood up, then everyone else stood up.
Why did we stand up for the Handel's Hallelujah Chorus? Well, many years ago, many years before,
when it had been presented before King George II, that's the one before the one,
if you know what I mean. King George II had Handel's Messiah performed. At the end,
he stood up, and as a result, everybody stood up. So now in England, whenever that's sung,
everybody stands up, because he realized, although he was a king, there was a King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. But friends, they're coming a day when we won't be standing.
Nobody will be standing. Every knee will bow. Every tongue confess that he is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Isn't that a wonderful time to look forward to? Maybe we will be within him in heaven already,
but there's coming a day, and my prayer is, I hope that you're praying for as many of your family
and your friends that they will willingly bow the knee before the Lord Jesus. Oh, and confess him
as Lord of all. Surely, God could show himself some other way, but you notice what it says,
you notice what it says. But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the
clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me. This is God speaking, Father speaking.
He will come forth for me. There's action here. Something has to happen for him to be King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. Out of Bethlehem came someone for God the Father. He came on a rescue
mission. And the same King of Kings, after 33 years, perfectly walking this world, men would take him
and put him on Calvary's cross. Why? The angels tell us in Luke chapter 2, 10 and 11.
And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy
that will be to all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior who is Christ the Lord. He was to pay the debt that you and I deserve to pay,
but he paid it there upon the cross that he might be our Lord and Savior. Why Bethlehem?
Some might well say, well, it was because Caesar Augustus told the world to be taxed and you go
back to your own family town, as it were. Not a bit. God was in charge. He said it would be
Bethlehem. What happened was what he wanted to happen. Nothing has changed. Today, it doesn't
matter whether it's the United States President or the Prime Minister of UK, they may say things and
do things, but it will be God who has the last word. He will have the last word,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So in all our planning, it would be easy to leave God out,
but my prayer is that he will have the rightful place in your home this Christmas time.
And there are those here this morning who are not yet Christ's. You're not yet a Christian. You
haven't bowed the knee, confessed your sin and asked Christ to be your Savior. I pray that he
might have his rightful place in your heart and life as well. If you want to talk about that,
I'd be happy to chat. I know Brandon and others here would be as well, but what a great
but what a great gift at Christmas, the best of all that you could receive
in knowing Christ as your Savior and your Lord. And then beyond Christmas or live each day
is if Christmas is there, the Christ of Christmas is with you on a daily basis.
May God bless you and make your blessing as well. Thank you.
you