New Online Media Archive

Miss a sermon?  Want to share a powerful message with a friend or family member?

Check out our brand new Online Media section. Browse our library of online media including sermons, bible studies, music, and more. Then listen and share!

UPDATE: Weekly Family Devotionals have been added as well.

Small and Insignificant: Micah 5:2

Ken Phillips

Stories have a way of moving people.  Whether it is a story that you are reading or a story that you are watching, stories can touch people's lives.  This is especially true of stories that are real.  True life stories have a way of impacting us at the heart level.

The story of the birth of Jesus Christ is such a true life story.  The Christmas story has brought comfort, peace, and joy to the hearts of millions of people throughout the centuries.  It is a story of innocence as Mary is presented, righteousness as Joseph is introduced, excitement as choirs of angels proclaim, inconvenience as a journey to Bethlehem in a late month of pregnancy occurs, and humbleness as a baby King is laid in a manger for a bed.

Yet one of the important events related to the birth of Jesus did not occur in a shepherd's field or in a stable, but occurred in the palace of a king.  I would like to review the events that unfolded in the palace of the King as recorded in Matthew 2.

In this story Magi arrived in Jerusalem asking where the new king of the Jews was located.  They saw a sign in the sky that he had been born, so they traveled to Jerusalem to worship Him.  Why did they go to Jerusalem?  Because Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, so that is where they reasoned a newborn King ought to be.

Word of their arrival and search made its way to Herod, and this news bothered him.  These Magi came to worship a king of the Jews, and that king was not him.  Herod recognized that this could be a reference to only one person:  the Messiah.  So he called together the ones who knew about theses religious things and asked them where the Messiah was supposed to be born. These religious teachers knew immediately.  They quoted from a prophecy that was given 700 years earlier through the prophet Micah about the birth of the Messiah (Micah 5.2). 

Their quotation of Micah is not complete.  When they spoke to Herod they quoted only a few phrases from the prophecy that would apply to Herod:  the promised ruler sent from God would be born in Bethlehem and that One would be king!

The Prophecy's Context

Micah 4 began by prophesying about the Kingdom that was to come.  This kingdom was God's kingdom which He would establish on the earth during which Israel would be the chief nation (4.1-5).  God's rule would be personal and characterized by pilgrimages to Jerusalem to learn from God, righteousness being executed by God, and peace being established by God.  However, before that day comes, Israel would suffer greatly.  They would suffer in Babylon at the hands of the Babylonians (4.9-10) and suffer greatly at the hands of the rest of the world as the nations assemble against Israel to destroy her (4.11-5.1). 

The Prophecy's Promise

The nation would suffer, but the good news is that God would deliver them from the assault of the nations, and He would do it through a specific person (5.3-6) who the Jews recognized as the Messiah.  This is where the promise quoted to King Herod fits in.  There would be One who would come forth in Israel who would accomplish this plan of God.  This One was the Messiah. 

The Lord revealed through Micah the location of the Messiah's entrance into the world.  The Messiah would come out of (be born in) Bethlehem.  Bethlehem means “House of Bread”.  Bethlehem was special not because of its size (it was small), but because of its history.  Bethlehem was an old city.  It was originally known as Ephrathah (Genesis 35.19).  This name was also used to refer to the district in Judah in which the city was located in order to distinguish it from other Bethlehems in the nation, such as the Bethlehem in Zebulun (Joshua 19.15).  Bethlehem's specialness in Israel was rooted in its relation to Israel's greatest king, King David.  Bethlehem was the city in which David was born (1 Samuel 16.1).

It was from this small town God chose:
To bring forth the One who would rule over His people.
To bring forth the One who would shepherd His people.
To bring forth the One who would deliver His people.

All this would come from this small, insignificant town.  God could have chosen the great capital of Israel for the job (Jerusalem), but He didn't.  God could have chosen a great sea port, but He didn't.  God could have chosen any number of places, but He didn't.  God chose this small, old town to be the place from which the One who would be the focal point of history would come.

God did not tell Bethlehem all the details of how the Messiah would be born there.  From the New Testament we know that God would use a decree by Caesar Augustus to get the Messiah's mother to the town so that He could be born at just the right time in the right place.  However, in Micah's prophecy God did not reveal these details.  He only stated that through this small town He would do something magnificent for the nation.

Point of Application

Throughout the Bible we see God using the small and insignificant things to do His incredible works and accomplish His wonderful purposes (1 Corinthians 1.26-29).  For example,
Noah - the one who no one wanted to listen to as he preached to an unbelieving generation.  God chose to use him to save human life.
Moses - the one who was on the backside of the desert tending sheep.  God chose to use him to deliver Israel from Egypt.
Joseph - the one who was disrespected, in slavery, in jail.  God chose to use him to save the world from starvation.
Jacob - the one who was deceitful and self-seeking.  God chose to use him to bring a special nation into existence.
David - the one who grew up as a young shepherd boy.  God chose to use him to lead His special nation.
John the Baptist - the one who ate locusts and wore camel skins in the desert.  God chose to use him to get Israel ready for the Messiah's appearance.
Peter - the one who caught fish for a living and suffered from foot-in-mouth syndrome.  God chose to use him to proclaim the glories of Christ.

God is still choosing the small and insignificant things to accomplish His purposes.  We need to remember that as believers in Christ, God has chosen us for a great many things.  One of those things is to be His instruments in this world for His purposes, plans, and desires.

You may look at your life and think that you are too small.  You may look at your life and think that you are insignificant.  You may look at your life and think that others are better suited for the Lord's work than you.  The truth of the matter is regardless of how your life may appear, God has chosen you in Christ to be an important part of what He is doing in this world.  You may seem small, but out of your smallness God can bring forth the amazing.  It is through your smallness that people will see good and great things and recognize that this must be the handiwork of God.

We need to trust in the Lord because He can do wonderful works with you and me.  Just as He chose this little town of Bethlehem to bring the Messiah into the world, just as He used an unbelieving emperor of an empire that did not even exist when this prophecy was made to get a pregnant young virgin girl to Bethlehem at just the right time, so too God can take you and accomplish through you what He has purposed to do with your life.  He can use all the pain, heartache, people, and circumstances and mix them together to use them in ways that you never would dream of.  You might not know how He will do this, but that is okay.  You simply need to walk with God and leave all the results to Him.  It is then that you will see what God can do through someone who seems so small and insignificant.  Great is our God!

ALL Wed Night Services Cancelled: Due to Winter Weather

Winter Weather Alert

All Wednesday night services have been cancelled tonight, Jan-7th 2015, due to the weather... Be safe!!

Sermon Series: Taking a Knee...

Ken Phillips

Taking a Knee Serving God in a Self-Serving World 

The world teaches us to look out for ourselves. Whether it involves education, commerce, politics, vocational pursuits, or relationships, we are driven to seek what we want above all else. Looking out for what we want tends to bring much pain to our lives as relationships are ruined, trust is destroyed, promises are not kept, and destruction lies in our wake.

 The Bible presents us with a different way to live. God invites us to live for something greater than ourselves. He invites us to live for Him.

 You are invited to join us on Sunday mornings as we explore what it takes to serve God in a self-serving world.

#GBCTakeAKnee

Church Picnic 2014

We had a great time on Saturday at the church picnic. We welcomed Pastor Combs and his family to Grace, had a great time in fellowship, and ate some great food.

Here are some pictures to prove it:
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MAHS (Moms At Home) Bible Study

If you are a mom or mom-to-be and you are looking for a connection then...

You're Invited!
Join us for a time of
fellowship, learning, prayer, & encouragement!

Lessons:
September:	Rags or Silk? (Discussion - Who God wants me to be)
October:	5 Love Languages of Children
FOR ANY LADY...
November-May:	Idols of the Heart (by Elyse Fitzpatrick)

New season beginning
Thursday, September 25th
at 9:15am

Child care provided.

Praying for Our Spiritual Health: Part 1

We can tell a great deal about a person by his/her prayer life.  One of the things that we can deduce from a person's prayers is the concerns that rest on his/her heart.  People tend to pray about those things that are a real concern to them.

• Pray about health problems.
• Pray about national issues.
• Pray about missionaries.
• Pray about financial dilemmas.
• Pray about various needs.
• Pray about family and friends.

There is nothing wrong with praying about any of these things.  After all, the Lord invites us to pray about anything that is weighing on our hearts.  He tells us to cast "all our anxiety upon Him because He cares for us" (1 Peter 5.7).  Peter is clear: "All anxiety" is to be brought to Him.  The size of the subject does not matter.  By using the word "All" the Lord is telling us that every issue and every concern is fair game for prayer.  As someone once said, "If it matters to you it matters to God, because you matter to God."

While we pray for the physical and emotional needs of life, we must be careful to not neglect praying for another very important area - our spiritual health.  There are those that take the spiritual issues of life for granted and do not give them much thought.  The result is that their prayers are filled with requests regarding the physical and emotional dimension, but they remain empty of things related to their fellowship with God.

What spiritual issues should we pray about?  We get a glimpse from the writings of Paul.  In his letters to the various churches, Paul would speak of spiritual issues that he would pray about.  By including these prayers in his letters, we find an example of what concerns to pray for regarding our fellowship with God.

Pray for our walk (2 Corinthians 13.7).

When Paul prayed for the Corinthian believers, he was concerned about what they would "do".  This refers to their daily activity.  Paul wanted them to do what was right.  In other words, as these believers walked through life, they needed to walk in righteousness.  They needed to make decisions and take actions that were in line with God's standard for living.

We too need to pray for our walk.  We cannot begin to think that we do not need God's help to live the Christian life.  The normal Christian life is a life empowered by the Spirit of God walking in the ways of God.  Without the empowerment of the Spirit (a.k.a. Spirit-filled; abiding in Christ; walking in the Spirit), we cannot walk in God's ways.  So, rather than attempting to simply survive life, we need to talk with God about daily living issues so that we can walk through life every day in line with God's standard for living.

Pray for our maturity (2 Corinthians 13.9).

Paul prayed that the Corinthians would be made complete.  He knew that God had a plan for every disciple of Jesus.  Part of this plan is that they would be mature in Christ.  This meant that they would have to grow up from spiritual infancy to the place of spiritual maturity.  The Corinthian Church had much growing to do.  In their church they had conflicts, selfishness, tolerance of sin, abuse of the things of God, lack of love, failure in giving, false teachers, and lawsuits with one another.  All of these point to a Church that had to grow up.  When Paul looked at all that was wrong with the Church, he understood that God could make it right.  Paul knew that God wanted them complete (mature, perfect), so He ministered with that goal (Colossians 1.28-29) and prayed that God would mature them to the point of genuine spiritual maturity.

We need to pray that God will grow us too.  Like the Corinthians, there is much wrong with us.  Sin has had its way in us and in our churches for so long.  It can be discouraging to look at all that is wrong, but when we look to the Lord we have hope because we know that He can take what is wrong and make it right.  He is able to take the most infantile Christian and grow him up in the faith.  Rather than remaining content with our current state of being, we ought to hunger to know Christ, to enjoy an unhindered fellowship with Him, to be strong in faith, to be obedient in all things, and to be all that God purposed us to be.  This is spiritual maturity.  Let's pray for the Lord to do whatever it takes grow us up in Jesus.

Men's Bible Study: How God Makes Men

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Beginning this Friday morning, September 5, at 6:15 AM, the Men of Grace will be starting a new study, going through the book "How God Makes Men" by Patrick Morley.  Mr. Morley is regarded as one of America's most respected authorities on the unique challenges and opportunities that men face in their struggle to live lives pleasing to God.

He is best known for his 1989 book "The Man in the Mirror," which we went through several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as being greatly challenged by it.

We will be investing the next several weeks looking at the lives of ten men of God from the Bible, and how their stories demonstrate timeless, proven principles for today's men.

We are finished by 7:00 AM each week, and breakfast is provided.

Please join us for a great time of fellowship with other men who are striving to be the husbands, fathers, and leaders in their homes that God has called us to be.  Don't worry if you miss a week here or there-we all do.  Whenever you can come, you will be encouraged and challenged, and you will proceed into your weekend better able to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and the people close to you in every area of your life.

New Associate Pastor

The Combs Family

Grace Baptist Church will have a new associate pastor. After an extensive search, Matthew Combs was called by the congregation and will begin his ministry at the church in September. 

Matt graduated from Liberty University (2007), and is currently pursuing his Masters of Divinity at The Expositors Seminary.  He and his wife Stephanie have two daughters (Grace - 6, Hannah - 2).

Matt comes to Grace Baptist after seven years of full-time ministry in various roles: Pastoral Intern (Timberlake Baptist Church), Youth Pastor, Worship Leader, High School Bible Teacher, Basketball Coach, Golf Coach,  and Discipleship Leader.  Matt feels his experience has given him a unique perspective, 

"I believe the circumstances of my life, growing up as a military child, and moving all over the country has given me a skill set that allows me to get to know and be comfortable with people of all ages and backgrounds. I love people, and I want everyone I meet to know who God is and what He has done and will continue to do in their lives as they choose to follow Him."

New Website

Thanks for checking out the new GraceBrockport.org!

We hope this new site will help us better reach our community, and serve our members.  There are many exciting things happening at Grace Baptist Church.

Please explore the site to learn more, and there will be many updates on the way in the coming months, so check back often!

Vacation Bible School: Jul 28 - Aug 1

VBS @ Grace Baptist Church
July 28th  - August 1st
6:15pm - 8:30pm

Ages: 2 Years through 6th Grade
Cost:  Free

Grace Life Groups

Grace Life Groups have begun!  Groups are meeting regularly, please contact any of the deacons listed in the bulletin for more information.