Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Welcome to the weekday podcast of Sugar Hill Church, where we desire to help you know God and discover your purpose, whether you're exercising, driving, meditating, or just hanging out while you tune in with us today. Thanks. We hope these next five minutes help you feel encouraged and inspired for your day.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Hi everybody. Merry, Merry Christmas. This is Pastor Chuck Allen and what an awesome, awesome Christmas Day. Let's talk about the journey to Bethlehem on this Christmas day, because today I want to focus on Mary and Joseph and the journey to Bethlehem. Luke chapter 2, verses 1 through 5 says this the new living at that time, the Roman emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire, and this was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All returned to to their own ancestral towns to register for the census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now fully expecting a child. Sometimes God's plans unfold through the most ordinary circumstances. A Roman census, a routine government requirement, became the means by which prophecy was totally fulfilled. Micah had foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and here we see how God orchestrated those events. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 90 miles over very difficult terrain. I mean, having traveled there in the modern day, it's still difficult. For Mary in the final month of pregnancy, this journey must have been incredibly challenging. But the difficult journey was indeed part of God's perfect plan. Consider how God might be working through the challenging circumstances in your life today, through those times in which you must wonder, well, how in the world could God use this? How in the world will this end? What seems like an inconvenience, my friend, might be part of God's greater pur purpose. Let it be fulfilled so that you can look back and see how God's perfect plan brought you not around the challenges of life, but all the way through them. God bless you friend. Thanks so much for joining me on this Christmas edition of the Weekday podcast.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. Our prayer is that the encouragement you just heard would help you live more like Jesus today. We would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday, Sunday at 9, 15 and 11, and we're always streaming live at Live Sugarhill Church. Thanks again for joining us today. As always, if today's message encouraged you, share it with friends and family by tapping the share button. Have an awesome day.
