“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.” (Micah 5:2, NLT)
We live in a broken world. We know deep in our hearts that something about the world is off. All around us we see evil, greed, exploitation, oppression, and injustice, but, even worse, we can detect something is wrong within our own hearts. We know the world isn’t right, and as creatures created in the image of God we all have an innate longing for this upside-down world to be flipped around and made right.
These are not new ideas or longings. Ancient people, just like us, have always explored ideas of fairness, mercy, and goodness. These ideas frame the message that Micah was sent by God to deliver to the people of God in his day. But Micah speaks to our own world just as much as he spoke to his own world. Though written a very long time ago to a culture in many ways very different than our own, Micah speaks into the universal human experience.
This Advent season, we are going to explore these ancient ideas from the other side of human history. We will see how the hope, peace, joy, and love promised to the people of old have come to the world in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We will discover how all of Micah’s message ultimately points to him, the one in whom all the tragedies, tensions, hopes, and laments in Micah find their fulfillment and resolution. And our hearts will be comforted by the certainty that, though the world is broken and judgment for sin is inevitable, in the babe of the manger lies the hope of restoration. Come, Restorer, Come!
Series Playlist
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A Shepherd is Coming
Nov 28, 2021 • 31:33
Advent is a season for hope. Hope for the oppressed—that God’s kingdom will restore true justice and put an end to the brokenness of the world. But hope also for the oppressor—that God is working to strip our hearts of their sinful attachments and bring us to a place of…
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A Kingdom is Coming
Dec 5, 2021 • 35:28
To a people about to experience the suffering of judgment and exile, the promise of peace is coming in the form of God’s presence and rule, which you and I can experience today in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Come, Restorer, Come! Scripture: Micah 4:1-5
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Unexpected Blessing is Coming
Dec 12, 2021 • 40:00
In whatever adversity you face in this world, take comfort that Jesus is close and sympathetic, but he is also a powerful defender. He’s by your side, and he’s got your back. Maybe in the midst of your suffering and trials, God could surprise you with the unexpected blessing of…
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Unfailing Love is Coming
Dec 19, 2021 • 28:20
We don’t always know how God is going to bring hope, peace, or joy to our lives, but we know that he will. That’s because he has revealed his heart through his Son. Love has come, and his name is Jesus. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Come, Restorer, Come! Scripture: Micah 7:18-20
One of the most helpful ways of understanding the Christian life is by viewing it as a journey. From cover to cover, the Bible is filled with this sort of imagery: Abraham stepping out in faith by leaving the land of his fathers; his descendants wandering through the wilderness of Sinai; Israel experiencing captivity and exile. The New Testament builds off of these Old Testament themes and refers to Christians as pilgrims traveling through a foreign land. The Christian life as journey provides a tangible and relatable rubric for grasping the life of faith. 
“Worship” is a word that churchgoers know and use on a regular basis, yet it means and encompasses far more than how it is generally understood and expressed. We say things like, “we’ll pray after worship,” as if the sum total of worship is the collection of songs being sung to kick off a Sunday morning service.
You were not created for yourself. You were also not created to be by yourself. The purpose behind your existence, along with every other human being in history, is for you to know and be known by both God and others. Relationality forms the very essence of what it means to be created in the image of the Triune God. Indeed, to even truly be is to be in relationship.
In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years. While the players on the field and management of the team were the central heroes, the narrative around the event was nearly always captured within a narrative about the city itself: its the woes and disappointments, the 86 year drought, and the breaking of the “curse”. Yes, the players were lauded as heroes, but their stories were folded into the ongoing saga of the city itself.
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