The Story of Christmas Begins in a Garden
Tribe
2024-12-25

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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For us. Okay. Should we sit here? We've got the words this year for you up on the screen. We're gonna sing some carols as long as my fingers don't fall off.

Sound good? Yeah. Somebody just pray for us as we get started, and then let's all stand up together. We can move around and move our toes. Get some blood flowing on.

Oh, Lord Jesus, we just remind ourselves that you are the reason that we are gathered here to celebrate you. We do that, that you are the joy to the world, the joy given to us In Jesus' name, let's worship him. These songs. Alright. Tribe wrote this.

Let's lift our voice all over this park. Let's sing for you alone our word. Let's just give him a praise. Lord. Really think about the words to this last song that we do.

He is Emmanuel, God with us. But he's here right now, meeting us right here. And he's coming again. Shall come again with us to dwell. Oh, Lord, we just thank you that these aren't just words to songs, but that these are truth, that you're the joy to the world, that we can come to you and that you're coming again.

We ask right now that you would open our hearts to this message, this real story of Christmas and all the busyness and all the hustle and bustle. Maybe you were just shopping and that the Lord just wants to meet you in this place right now tonight. So we just thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing and all that you're gonna do. We thank you. And everybody said, amen.

Have a seat. Fill up your hot chocolate, and we're gonna hear the story of Christmas. Thank you for joining us.

Hi, friends. It's so great to see all of you out here braving the cold. Is everybody staying warm enough this evening? Whoo. Whoo.

Oh, man. That sounds good. I did hear a few weak lift Californians out there. How many people do we have from the West Coast? Any well, I need to hear you.

See? Okay. Alright. West Coast. Alright.

Alright. How about the East Coast? And then I love to do this every year because we know that you're gonna trump everybody. How about anybody here from the great lone star state of Texas? Carrying the whole crowd.

I love it, Alex. How about this? How many dog parents do we have here? Well well, with your dog kids. Oh.

Oh, okay. Now I do I do wanna I do want to I don't wanna embarrass the the best dressed dog here tonight, but they were over here. And is a little is there a little dog with boots on? Where's where's the dog with boots? You do need to come up here so that we can all behold this incredible sight.

Coordinated outfit and everything. Did they did they scoot along? Oh, man. I I can't see because of the lights, but I gotta tell you, it was the best Christmas present I've gotten so far was seeing a dog with a jacket and matching boots. I know that you don't wanna hear me talk about dogs and jackets and matching boots, but what I do wanna talk to you about this evening for just a few moments is the story of Christmas.

Maybe you've heard it before, maybe you've never heard it, but you've probably never heard it told quite like this. Because the story of Christmas doesn't begin in the third century with Saint Nicholas. The story of Christmas doesn't begin in a barn in the little Judean village of Bethlehem. The story of Christmas actually begins all the way back in a garden. My name is Brian Hunter.

I'm the pastor of Tribe. Thank you so much for being here tonight as we talk about the story of Christmas. God of the universe created mankind for his enjoyment and for us to enjoy him. He placed man in a garden that was kind of like heaven and kind of like earth, an intermingling of two realms. When God created man, he took a great risk, and he gave mankind a priceless gift, the gift of free will.

Regrettably, man used that gift to eat from the tree of independence apart from a relationship with God, resulting in the human race being infected with sin. War, murder, theft, injustice, persecution, pollution, oppression, sickness, and disease. And if those things seem like afflictions that are far removed from you, you still cannot escape the lineage of your family. In your own hearts, lurk selfishness, pride, envy, jealousy, and rebellion to your creator. This condition of sin has infected all of us, and it's terminal resulting in death, which is separation forever from God's family.

But God already had the story of Christmas on his mind. In the garden, God told Adam that from him would come a present, a gift, one whose head would crush the head of evil. With his plan set in motion, God created a nation of people out of whom would come the present promised in the garden. The nation of people were sovereignly chosen by God to bring forth the promise. For generations, they cried out for the savior of their people, but their prophets only caught a glimpse of the coming savior.

Listen to the words of Isaiah from Isaiah chapter nine, crying out for the Messiah, for the savior of Israel.

Those who walked in darkness will see a radiant light shining upon them. They once lived in the shadows of death, but now a glorious light will dawn. Lord, you have multiplied the nation and given them overwhelming joy. They're ecstatic in your presence and rejoice like those who bring in a great harvest and those who divide up the spoils of victory. For you will break the chains that have bound your people and will lift off the heavy bar from across their shoulders, the rod of oppression used against them, and you will shatter all their bondage.

The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and we'll name him Emmanuel, God among us. A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The responsibility of complete dominion will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be the wonderful one, the extraordinary strategist, the mighty God, the father of eternity, the prince of peace.

Great and vast will be his dominion. He will bring immeasurable peace and prosperity. He will rule on David's throne and over David's kingdom to establish and uphold it by promoting justice and righteousness from this time forward and forevermore. The marvelous passion that the Lord, Yahweh, commander of angel armies, has for his people will ensure that it is finished.

Awesome question. Like a woman giving birth, the chosen people of Israel labored in travail for the arrival of their savior. And finally, after generations, as the Bible says, at just the right time, God fulfilled the promise made in the garden. Listen to Luke chapter two.

When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor, and there she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the newborn baby in strips of cloth, and Mary and Joseph laid him in a feeding trough since there was no available space in any upper room in the village. That night, in a field near Bethlehem, the shepherds were watching over their flocks. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared in radiant splendor before them, lighting up the fields with the blazing glory of God. And the shepherds were terrified, but the angel reassured them saying, don't be afraid, for I have come to bring you good news and the most joyous news the world has ever heard.

And it is for everyone everywhere. For today in Bethlehem, a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord, Yahweh, the Messiah. You will recognize him by this miraculous son. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in the feeding trough.

Then all at once in the night sky, a vast number of glorious angels appeared, the very armies of heaven. And they all praised God singing, glory to God in the highest realms of heaven, for there is peace and a good hope given to the sons of men. When the choirs of angels disappeared and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go. Let's hurry and find this word who was born in Bethlehem to see for ourselves what the Lord has revealed to us. So they hurried off and found their way to Mary and Joseph.

And there was the baby lying in the feeding trough. Upon seeing this miraculous sign, the shepherds recounted what they had what had just happened. Everyone who heard the shepherd's story was astonished by what they were told. The shepherds returned to their flock ecstatic over what had happened. They praised God and glorified him for all they had heard and seen for themselves, just like the angel had said.

The story of Christmas is about giving gifts, but not material gifts that run on batteries and are delivered by Amazon. The story of Christmas is about God giving the present of a savior to the nation of Israel. And if you don't know this, it's one of the wonderful things about God. He always goes one step further than what you expected. The gift of a savior wasn't given exclusively for Israel.

The gift of a savior was given for the whole world. Two thousand years ago, God sent his son to live as one of us. He lived without sin, but died a criminal's death. He paid the price of sin for Israel and for all of mankind by shedding his perfect blood on the cross. With his death and resurrection, he paid the price for our sin and destroyed the power of the curse, providing a way for God and man to be reunited as family again.

The gift is for anyone who will receive it. As the Bible says, for God so loved the world. You, that he gave his one and only son so that whomsoever should believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. Tonight, you can receive that gift. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin.

Invite him into your heart and make him the boss and the leader of your life, and the present gets even better. He came once to redeem us from sin and establish his kingdom in our hearts, and he will come again to establish his governmental leadership on planet Earth. He will renew this planet ravaged by violence and greed and destruction. The Bible tells us that the hallmarks of his soon coming kingdom are justice, righteousness, and peace. That's why we sing this song at Christmas because God has put the light of Jesus in our hearts and brought us back into his family.

You've sung the words to this famous Christmas carol so many times, but listen closely with fresh ears. Silent night, holy night, son of God loves pure light. Radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord at thy birth. Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

And that is the real story of Christmas.

We sing this together. Sing about these words.

As we could stay here and sing for a long time, I know we're getting a little bit cold, and we don't wanna lose our Christmas spirit. But before we go, I just wanted to tell you, first of all, thank you for coming truly. This is so wonderful to look out and see so many people celebrating Christmas together. But in case you didn't catch it or realize it, we are a church. Our name is Tribe, and we are here in Jackson.

You can go to our website, tribejh.com, and find out about us. But we meet every Sunday at the Virginian Saloon. You'll find out we do church a little bit different. We have another place that we own that we meet, but to accommodate more people, we meet at the Virginian Saloon every Sunday at 10:00. We'd love for you guys to come and join us sometime then, see what we're all about.

Also, before you go today, please, if there's any cookies or cocoa or cider left, grab that. Also, over here in this tent with some lights in it, we have Bibles to give away. We have people there to pray for you. At Tribe, we believe there is nothing too big and nothing too small for you to just partner in faith with somebody to pray about. You might be having a great Christmas.

You might be having a terrible Christmas, and it is okay. We have someone to pray with you right over here in this booth. And if you find yourself today in a need and you're short on something, we have a way to help you with that as well. So please talk to Mike in the booth. He has the red checkered hat.

He can help you out with that. Like I said, check us out at tribe j h dot com, and you can learn all about us there. And if you would like to leave a Christmas donation tonight, of course, it's not obligated. We are here to serve you and to serve Jesus, but we do have a box there for people who are asking in the same booth here where we're getting prayer. Pastor Brian, would you come pray us out, please?

My family, come on up. So really quickly, just before you scurry off to Christmas dinner or wherever your next destination is, I wanna give a a few quick thank yous. First of all, I wanna thank you. I want to say thank you to all of our tribe family volunteers that were here tonight, that were here early and setting up, and they'll be here late this evening tearing down. So tribe volunteers, thank you so much for all that you do to make the name of Jesus famous here tonight and also to the uttermost bounds of the earth.

I wanna say thank you to the town of Jackson for allowing us to meet here tonight, And I wanna say one more thank you to all of you. Thank you for coming out here. Even if you were just walking by and hadn't planned on staying for our short Christmas Eve service, thank you for being a part of our Christmas Eve service here. Is my where's my family? Okay.

And finally, from my family right here to your family, we wish you the very merriest of Christmases. Would that be alright if I pray for you really quick? Lord Jesus, thank you so much for allowing us to be in this amazing town. God, I command a blessing over each and every person that is here. In 2025, Lord, would you protect their health?

Would you protect their their their their finances? Would you protect their relationships, Lord? And reveal yourself to them in new and wonderful and amazing and powerful ways. And all people who agree said, amen. We love you so very much.

Just before you scurry out, turn around, hug somebody that you came with, maybe even hug a new friend here. Don't forget the prayer booth in the back. Have a great Christmas, and remember, you got this. Christmas.