O Little Town of Bethlehem

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O little town of Bethlehem Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, thou [art] little among the thousands of Judah...
How still we see Thee lie
Above Thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by For 400 years there had been silence, not only in Bethlehem, but in all of Israel. The skies were silent, not word or revelation from the Lord had been heard or seen for so long.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light John 1:4 In [Jesus] was life; and the life was the light of men. John 8:12 Then spoke Jesus saying, "I am the light of the world."
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in Thee tonight Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son...
For Christ is born of Mary Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son...
And, gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the Holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And peace to men on earth Luke 2:10-13 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given Isaiah 9:6 ... Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven 1 Corinthians 8:9 9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for [our] sakes he became poor, that [we] through his poverty might be rich.
No ear may hear His coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him
Still the dear Christ enters in Matthew 1:21 ...and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Where children, pure and happy
Pray to the Blessed Child Matthew 19:14 And Jesus said, Suffer little children to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Where misery cries out to Thee
Son of the Mother mild
Where charity stands watching
And faith holds wide the door
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks
And Christmas comes once more Luke 4:18 [And Jesus said] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives..., [and] to set at liberty them that are bruised...
O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today 1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel Matthew 1:23 ...which being interpreted is, God with us.
This beautiful Christmas carol is one whose words often get lost in the familiarity of the tune. In just a moment, we are going to sing it together right before we dismiss, but I want to point out a few things.
The last month and a half we have been going through a Bible study on Wednesday nights call Experiencing God. One of the first things that we saw was that God, more often than not, uses the simple, the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary.
O little town of Bethlehem, is a direct reference to Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah...
And yet, the rest of that passage describes a great promise.
...yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
The Messiah, the ruler of Israel, the eternal one would come from this little town, and that is precisely where Jesus was born. Jesus would then be raised in Nazareth, another common community that was often looked-down upon.
It was this little town of Bethlehem, this inconsequential place, that would be the birthplace of Emmanuel, God with man. In all Israel, it is probably the most well known town, second only to Jerusalem.
So what does that say to us today? That is is us, the ordinary, that God wants to use to accomplish the extraordinary. Just like God's gift to man in the form of Jesus came to an inconsequential stable, in a little town called Bethlehem, God's gift of Salvation and regeneration can come to Cedar Rapids through voices and actions of a little church called Good News.
And what a great name that is! We are the angels announcing the good news; we are the shepherds going throughout Bethlehem announcing the good news. We are a small church, we have no one that comes here of great power or influence, we have few connections with the community, but this little church of 70ish people can bring into this metropolitan area of over 275,000 people the most impactful news they will ever hear.
This little church, with our little people can be used of God to make a lasting impact on Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, and the surrounding communities, not because we are great, but because we have the greatness of the Lord with us. His name is Jesus. We are His body. He is called Emmanuel, which means "God with us."
As we sing this song, I hope that each of us will think on the words, and that we will pray that as God used the little town of Bethlehem, He would use this little church on the SW side of town to impact Cedar Rapids in the upcoming year.
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