A Small Town: A Great King
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Messiah was laid in a manger in an unassuming town. Yet angelic hosts filled the skies to announce His arrival. Today, R.C. Sproul reflects on the overlap of humility and glory that characterized Jesus' birth.
Request R.C. Sproul's devotional book The Advent of Glory, plus lifetime digital access to his teaching series Coming of the Messiah, with your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/4514/offer
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Meet Today's Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You would think that the Messiah would have been destined to be born in Jerusalem. |
| 0:06.1 | At Mount Zion, in the Holy City, the place that David had established as the central sanctuary |
| 0:12.2 | and the capital of the whole nation. |
| 0:15.0 | Instead, it's Bethlehem. |
| 0:22.9 | It was a town of no consequence. |
| 0:26.1 | No one famous lived there, and no one famous was from there. |
| 0:30.3 | Yet Bethlehem was the small village that God chose to be the birthplace of the long |
| 0:35.8 | promised Messiah. |
| 0:38.1 | Welcome to Renewing Your Mind on this Friday. |
| 0:40.8 | I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I hope you had a joy-filled Christmas yesterday celebrating |
| 0:46.2 | the first coming of our Lord. |
| 0:49.5 | R.C. Sprawl has been taking us back to the Old Testament this week, looking at some of the |
| 0:54.8 | prophecies concerning our Lord and Savior. |
| 0:57.8 | The series is called Coming of the Messiah. |
| 1:01.4 | And if you would like lifetime digital access to this series, today is the final day to |
| 1:06.2 | request access when you give a year-end donation at renewing Your Mind.org or when you use the link in the |
| 1:13.2 | podcast show notes. In addition to the series, we also have a Christmas devotional for you. It's 24 |
| 1:19.9 | devotions based on Dr. Sproul's teaching and includes suggested daily prayers written by various |
| 1:26.5 | Christian teachers and leaders, including |
| 1:29.3 | Sinclair Ferguson. My family used it this year, so request your copy to use next December |
| 1:35.3 | or to give us a gift. But this offer does end tonight at midnight, so please respond now |
| 1:41.3 | while there's still time. Today we conclude this series, R.C. Sprold takes us on a guided tour through scripture |
... |
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