The Virgin and The Village

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Good morning. Does it feel a little more like Christmas this morning? Yes. Oh, man. It's it's getting better.

Last night, there were a group of us on the town square and it was like bare grass on the town square and we thought, is this what we have for Christmas? Well, hopefully we'll have a little bit more snow if this sticks around. So, thank you guys for braving the weather, being out here. You know, you really can't use the weather as an excuse living here in Jackson. If we were, if we were somewhere else, then maybe you could but not here in Jackson because in school, they always teach the youngsters.

There's no such thing as bad weather, just.

Bad gear.

Just bad gear or tires in this case. So, Yay. I'm so glad that you made it. This is the week of Christmas. We get to see each other twice because we get to be together this morning and then we'll get to see each other for Christmas Eve service.

How many of you are in town for Christmas Eve, Jake? Mm-mm. No. Jake's not here. Everybody else is here.

I'm so glad that you're going to be here for Christmas Eve service. You'll see a little invite right there. We pay a lot of money to get those printed for you to use as an invite to your family and friends and coworkers and invite them to Christmas Eve service. Every year, I'm amazed at how many people are they come up to me and they say, guess what? Guess what?

My friend so and so is here from work or oh my friend so and so from over the hill is here or my ski buddy is here and you know that that Christmas and Easter are two kind of just natural, magical, open heart windows to invite somebody to church and so, they are highly likely to respond positively for an invitation from you to come to Christmas Eve service. We meet on the town square and the lights are pretty and the music is amazing and I don't preach long. I know. Merry Christmas miracle once a year. Joy's just like trying not to make eye contact, hooking around.

It it's a great time. I actually had you know how here at Tribe, we are developing a heart for Israel and for the Jews of this community and I had a guy text me from the Jewish community last night and he's like, would it be alright if my wife and I came to Christmas Eve service? Yes. This year? Should we let him?

Yes. Yes. Of course. Of course. Of course.

So, so that's my one exciting person that that is coming. Hopefully, you have somebody either from work or from some sphere of your life that you have invited and you're praying for them and you're really excited. So, when we see each other, wait, what night is it Wednesday? So, when we see each other Wednesday night, you can look at me and like point at your friend that you brought and I'll be like, yes, they're here. Yeah.

Yeah. If you do this behind their head like that means like add the fire. So, I'll just look right at at them. Oh, wow. You should have a little you should have a little stack.

And there's one right there. Well, guys, this is this is the end of a three week series. We have to tie a bow on it this week because next week's Christmas and and this week is Christmas and next Sunday, we'll be on to something else. Colin, can I get a little glass of water, please? Yep.

Next Sunday is one service. Next service. I mean, next Sunday is one service, 10AM. Let's all be together for that. So, we're just going to do one service next week but this week, thank you, Colin.

This maybe the shortest series that we've ever done at Tribe. I know that you are so sad that we can't camp out here longer but we must move on. We have spent the last three weeks talking about this idea that hope is here with the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus at his birth, he fulfilled several really valuable, important Old Testament prophecies and so we've taken the last three weeks to just look at and examine some of the three most, some of the most important prophecies that were spoken of about a future coming Messiah and how they are relevant to his birth and relevant for us today and so the first week by just quick review, we looked at how it is quite conceivable that Jesus was not born on a snowy winter's morning, December 25, but in all likelihood, he fulfilled the feast of Sukkot which is in the fall. In two main aspects of the feast or god's family tradition of Sukkot is for Israel and for anybody who is in god's family to participate in that family tradition that there are two main aspects. Number one, is that god as the in the same way that he was Israel's source of provision in the wilderness that today, he is our source of provision and number two, how he filled Sukkot is that a a significant portion of emphasis is placed on this idea of rest.

And in Jesus, the restless, wandering, rebellious soul can finally find what? Rest. So, we looked at how Jesus fill fulfills the feast of Sukkot. Then, last week, we looked at Isaiah nine that said, unto us, a child is born and the government will be on his shoulders and we talked about this idea of how is the government on the shoulders of a baby? Like, he's a baby.

You know, he cries and he gets hungry and he's fussy but how can he be born king of kings? And so we looked at that prophecy. We looked at some examples from the New Testament and then I believe I have this in the notes on the screen this week. What we said was Jesus was born with the intrinsic qualities that enabled him to develop these attributes. So, that's worth looking at and considering for a moment.

Now, he didn't need to develop righteousness that was already in there. He didn't need to develop his ability. This is this is interesting. He didn't need to develop his by practicing judging right from wrong. He knew it.

What he did need to develop was what? What is the like really obvious things? As a baby, what did he need to develop? His body which includes what? His, well, his mind, like, like, Yeah, to potty train.

To train. To be able to walk, to be able to form words like Ima and Abba. Those things had to be developed first in order for him to express the full attribute of what makes him god in human form and so, I, the reason why I want to stress that is so that you don't hear what I'm not saying that he had to according to, I believe it is Mormon theology. He had to develop into god. New, new, new, new, new.

That's not true nor is it what the Bible says nor is it what we believe nor is it what I'm saying here but he had to develop as a a person and as a human in order to express the attributes that were intrinsically already there at his birth. That is why we sing, lord, at thy birth. So this week, we're going to end with not just one but you're in luck for two more. Beautiful prophecies that Jesus fulfills. If you are taking notes, you can write the at the top of your notes, the title of the conversation that we're going to have this morning.

This is Hope Is Here week three, the Virgin and the Village. That's what we're going to look at today. The Virgin and the Village. We're going to examine two prophecies that we as Christians and especially at this time of year take for granted but it's very novel and unique. If you have a the Messiah does not yet have any stamps on his passport to planet Earth yet mindset in perspective.

So, we're going to look at two prophecies. Number one, that he was born of a virgin and number two, that he was born in a specific little backwards town called Bethlehem. So, let's look at the first one together. If you have your Bible with you, would you open to Isaiah chapter Does does mine say Isaiah chapter nine? Yes.

Nope. It is Isaiah eight seven. Isaiah seven Nope. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

Yes, it is. Yes, Isaiah seven fourteen. What's funny is I texted, I don't know how I have Isaiah nine because this week, I texted my friend Rabbi Zelman and I just said, I text him from time to time and I say, Bible question time and yes, I am trying to like. No, I'm, no, I I almost said that but I want to catch my, I, I, I want to catch myself and be accurate. I am genuinely asking his perspective on these things and I texted him Isaiah nine fourteen.

I said, is Isaiah nine fourteen like like do you think of that as a messianic prophecy? Something completely random. Therefore, in a single day, the lord will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch, and the lowly reed. I mean, man. So, all week, I've just been in Isaiah.

I mean, I've been studying Isaiah seven fourteen but I've been saying, I even printed nine fourteen. So, this morning, I actually had to correct my text to him. He hasn't responded. I'll let you know. What Rabbi Zelman has to say about Isaiah seven fourteen.

So, Isaiah seven fourteen, would somebody please read that out loud for me? Oh and we have the mic in the room so that our livestream families can hear you. Just raise your hand.

Therefore, the lord himself will give you the sign. Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel which means god is with us.

Okay. So, we need to put this verse in its proper contextual perspective and god is saying, I'm about to do this incredible thing and to prove to you that I'm going to do this incredible thing, ask me for a sign and then it's a little bit rhetorical and he's like, okay, you you're you're not thinking big enough. I'm going to give you an incredible sign that you couldn't have even thought of or or dreamt up like as big as you can think of me and all that I can do. It's not big enough. So, tell you what, I'm going to give you an impossible sign.

And then here's the prophecy. Therefore, the lord himself will give you the sign. What he means by that is you couldn't think of a sign. Similarly, if you go back to the book of Judges, think about Gideon. Lord, if this is really what you want us to do, I'm going to lay out a fleece and in the morning, have all the ground be full of dew but the fleece be dry.

God's like, alright, cool sign. Did it and then, Gideon's like, could I ask you for one more sign? This time, could the fleece be wet and the ground be dry? God's like, I got you. So, in this particular instance, god is asking people like, hey, in order for me to prove to you that I'm going to do this incredible thing, ask me for a sign too slow.

Let me give you an impossible sign and then, he says this, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel which means god is with us. And so we read that passage and think like, okay, yes, it's Christmas and we know about the story of Mary but imagine being somebody that has never heard the gospel or has been steeped in the the Old Testament and has never even thought of the arrival of Jesus. Would they connect this verse with the arrival of their Messiah or would it seem random? Would it seem out of place?

Let's look at this verse. Anything before we move on, anything of note stand out to you? Or pique your interest Sometimes, I'm fishing for something for you to pull out of the text. Other times, I like to just see what you see in the text. Yes.

I don't know that I've ever had well, maybe I've had this thought, but he so of all the signs he could choose and all the signs that we know that he's done, big, grandiose. There's no way it couldn't be god. Yes, a virgin conceiving a child is impossible apart from the lord but also hard to prove. Obviously, he did that on purpose to have Jesus come this way. Could have just think about it.

He could have had a baby appear in the sky, float down with a with a with a choir of angels around it. You know what I'm saying? Like, and the baby descend like, the the baby could have come many, many, many different ways that could that everyone who saw it was just like, that's God. But for a young girl to just become pregnant, I mean, like, come on. Joseph.

Even Joseph was like, like so it's I what I see already is God already saying like, do you believe or don't you?

So, even in this miracle, prophecy there is a generous margin of faith required.

Huge margin.

He's still like saying you have free will.

Yeah. You know?

Yeah. You can choose.

Because a woman

having a baby is impossible. That's my fault.

No. Yeah. And raise your hand if you're going to have a baby really soon. Really

soon. Really soon. I think it requires a lot of faith to call your son Emmanuel. How did she know? Yeah.

I mean, that would be people that don't understand. I mean, it as Lisa said, you don't you don't think about a young woman having a virgin birth and then, she will give birth to a son and call him Emmanuel. Yeah. God is with us. So, that's a statement of faith.

That is a statement of faith.

Hold on. Hold on.

Ah. Yes. And then and then let's let's examine that word. Look.

Go I I was just thinking when I was a child about 12 and I read these verses in the church or whatever. It just went right over me. The guy couldn't comprehend it. It was so foreign to me the idea of a virgin. You know, I was old enough to know what sex was, so I knew what a virgin was and children being born and all that.

But, not knowing very much about that, but then the whole thing with, and as you say, and he'll be called Emmanuel, I didn't even know what that meant. So, went completely over me as a, a kid. Yes. I had to learn that, you know, I had to see that.

Yes. Yes. Yes. So I wonder I wish that I wish that I had texted Rabbi Zelman the right address. But I can't wait to to share with you his thoughts on this.

Does he think of this as a as a messianic prophecy of a future coming Messiah or or does he think we're weird? I

just think it's interesting the word look.

Look.

So, are they're supposed to be looking for this sign. You know, it's not they're just not going to hear about it. They're supposed to be looking for it.

So, when you examine this word in Hebrew, it does mean to look to have an expectation of to be searching for but also to deeply consider and to ponder and to chew on. So, when it says, look, the virgin will conceive. The idea is this is a deep mystery that requires a lot of there's an invitation. Shouldn't say requires but there's an invitation to meditate deeply on the sign that god is going to give. Hundreds of years before little Mary was even born.

Joy and then we're going to go to the, I said, we're going to look at two of them today, Two Old Testament prophecies. The first one was in Isaiah about the virgin giving, conceiving, and giving birth and the second one is where this baby was to be born. We're gonna look at that next.

Two quick things. When you talk to Rabbi Zelman, unless you already know this, do I know they believe that Jesus was like a good teacher. Do they believe he was born of a virgin? Is a question I have. And then this feels silly to ask, but I genuinely don't know the answer.

She'll call him Emmanuel is but his name was Jesus. Like, was Emmanuel in there? Like, how did that become part of his name? I I don't think I've ever understood that.

Jesus, Emmanuel, Bar Joseph. His middle name. That's his middle name. That was a Bible joke. That I just made up just now.

And I'm quite proud of it. Great question. I is intended here in the text is this will be a title. We think of Emmanuel as like a a proper name, like on somebody's driver's license. In this context, the writer and the reader of that day would have understood this as a title.

Similar to Christ, Christos, anointed. Christ is not part of Jesus's name. It's one of his titles. So this would be a title for him. That's a really good question.

Jacob.

I kind of the virgin part is I think very important as Joy kind of said, was she a virgin? I heard a sermon once a long time ago. He made some very compelling points about how Mary had to be a virgin. And if she wasn't, think of all the the refute that could happen from her not being a virgin. And the importance of her being a virgin means that nobody can argue that God did this.

That this was straight from God, and that it was a miracle. And I think there's a lot of importance in that, in believing that she was actually a virgin. Yes. And I think that's a huge thing. He had a bunch of other points, but I couldn't remember what they are.

She she had to be she had to be a virgin because there's this theological term that's very academic called hyperstatic union. Touch the corner of your glasses.

No. Stop touching your glasses.

Just not the lenses. Hyperstatic union is this theological concept that Jesus was fully man coming from Mary but then fully god completely and totally divine which means that yes, Jesus came from Mary but she had to be a virgin because he was fully god at the same time. So prophecy number one is found here in Isaiah seven not nine fourteen for for the virgin will conceive a child. Now, let's look at another very interesting unique messianic prophecy found in the book of Micah chapter five verse two. And this one I did get correct.

Micah chapter five verse two. I'll read it and it says this, but you, oh Bethlehem, Epaphreth, 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. So if to to put this into geographical perspective if Rock Springs is like Nazareth of Wyoming. Jen's like, okay, I'm with you. Bethlehem would be like Worland or Moran.

Okay. There's so How we feel about it? How we feel about it? How we feel? The vibe that the town throws off.

Okay. Okay.

Rock Spring throws off some real like Galilee Nazareth vibes. In Little Bethlehem, if you were to go to the city of Bethlehem today, it is not far from Jerusalem and the sprawl of the the city has crept down and there's almost no distinction between the modern, really like metropolis city of Jerusalem has like like spilled into the city of Bethlehem and so, Bethlehem today, it looks very modern. It's crowded and busy. It's like a just it's a big urban city and if you were to see any old stuff, the old stuff, you're like, oh oh oh, it is that old Bethlehem? Even that is is hundreds of years after the fulfillment of the prophecy that happens here and any old stuff that you see would be what's called Byzantine.

That's Byzantine architecture. You have to you actually have to like dig and scratch and go to historical sites to see anything of Bethlehem that we think of that may be familiar to the arrival of Jesus and you'd have to dig even deeper to see the Bethlehem that was prophesied hundreds of year hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, this prophecy was given about the Messiah but you, oh Bethlehem, 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. Now, it's like watching an episode of Star Wars. We've all seen it time and time and time and time again.

It's so easy for us to just quote the lines and and check out but if we could allow these prophecies in the Old Testament to reverberate in our chest long enough that we can feel our hearts tremble at the notion that these two prophecies have been beautifully and wonderfully fulfilled. It causes our heart to thrill. Let's look at the fulfillment of this first prophecy that the virgin will conceive. Turn over to Matthew. Please, Matthew chapter one.

As you're turning there, I I saw this at something Charles Spurgeon said. So Bethlehem means the house of bread. You know, when Jesus is called the bread of life in John, and he and then Spurgeon says, now for that word Ephrath. That he said that was an old name of the place which the Jews retained and loved. The meaning is fruitfulness or abundance.

So he says, ah, well, Jesus was born in the house of fruitfulness for whence cometh my fruitfulness and thy fruitfulness, my brother from Bethlehem. And he said, finally, our poor barren hearts never produced one fruit or flower until they were watered with the savior's blood. I think there's a lot of meaning of Bethlehem being the house of bread. There's just so many treasures to find in scripture. The meaning of words, where Jesus was born, not just geographically or how we feel, but what it means.

And I just often wonder, like, did the prophets like, did Isaiah think about that? Did the priests think about that? Was when we just read over it so quickly, there's just miles and miles of treasures to dig into.

Yes. I love that. Who's Spurgeon? Thank you. Amanda Spurgeon.

Matthew chapter one, let's look at verses eighteen and nineteen. Would somebody please read that either from your Bible or off the screen? We'll do this together.

This

is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph to whom she was engaged was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So, he decided to break the engagement quietly.

We know how the story goes. If this is brand new to you, how exciting this must be for you. But an angel comes to Joseph and reassures him and so he he keeps his engagement with Mary. While she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. When you look at the Septuagint, which is the Old Testament, but in Greek, you see that what the Holy Spirit did with Mary is exactly what the Holy Spirit did to the chaos waters in Genesis chapter one and god was hovering over the face of the deep is what the Bible says in the book of Genesis.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit hovers over Mary and she conceives. Now, for just a second, pretend you've never heard anything about Jesus or the Christian faith and you're sitting here in this room, you'd be like, you guys are a bunch of weirdos. How strange is this? If you only have the New Testament, if you only hear this Christmas story once, you're like, I I don't quite get it that she had to be a friend. I don't get it but what Jacob said and what we just read, this is the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy.

It was a sign given to Israel and the rest of the world. And the point that you noted was look at that word look. Consider, be searching for. Here comes the fulfillment of it right here in Matthew. Born in Bethlehem.

Now, let's go over to Luke chapter two. Let's take a look at chapter two. I know you missed it, Christian. They probably don't do that at your church. I'm sorry.

Should tell him. Should really, you should really, you should really just like take him out to lunch. Yes, send an Email. Fill out a connect card at my church. My pastor does the best thing.

Luke chapter two verses one through seven. Would somebody please read a few of those verses and then hand it off or if you're feeling like really awesome, you can go for the whole thing. Luke chapter two verses one through seven.

I don't want to.

No fighting in the mic,

please. At

that time, the Roman emperor why is this so loud? At that time, the Roman emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. This was the first census taken when, mhmm, was governor of Syria. All returned 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 expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first born son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available for them.

It's really hard to read this passage and not slip into familiarity. But many people of that day who were familiar with messianic prophecies marveled at this moment Because this was the fulfillment of the long awaited prophecy that he was to be born in Bethlehem. 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 whom he was engaged to is now expecting a child, and while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.

She gave birth to her firstborn son. Did Jesus have brothers and sisters? Yes. James being one of them. So just as a as an interesting point of note, according to Catholic theology, Mary was a perpetual virgin and that she never had any other children.

Well, I is it besides my wife, Alyssa, is anybody else here a recovering Catholic? You come from like a I I don't know. Maybe very close. Did you did you know that about the theology of the teaching of the Catholic church that Mary stayed a virgin? No.

Yeah. Yes. Well. Oh and that Mary was sinless. Up until just last year, she was a coredemptress with Jesus.

She was a coredeemer and you, alright. Yeah, Midwestern American pope. Wow. I guess. Okay, guys.

Let's do this. Yeah, here we go. Here we. Let's look at this. Let's look at this together.

Okay. So, here's here's the ground that we've that we've covered the last couple of weeks. Is that Jesus was born likely on Sukkot. That Jesus arrived to planet Earth as a baby. That he was born of a virgin and that he was born in Bethlehem.

So, let let's put these up here on the screen again that he was born on Sukkot that he would arrive as a baby, that he was born of a virgin, and that he was to be born in Bethlehem. These four Old Testament prophecies are so common, commonly known to us that it's really easy for us to just just kind of skip off the top, glate, just glance right off the top. But I want us to consider the how preposterous this is. James, did you have something? Yeah.

Okay, what do you got?

For Jesus to just fill eight of the prophecies, it's one in a hundred.

Okay, hold. Okay, hold. Because what we're going to do is we're going to look at the mathematical odds, James.

Then let James read.

Of of fulfilling four of these. So, I myself cannot do the calculations but I know somebody who can try. So, I asked Chad, what are the mathematical odds of Jesus fulfilling all four of these and it gave me a formula. Go to that next slide. Okay, born on Sukkot.

Number two, comes as a baby. I treat this as not adding meaningful improbability but but look at this, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, combined odds multiplying the probabilities, you get this formula. P equals one, I can't even. But if you do the math, look at the very bottom here. The estimated odd range is one and fifty billion on the conservative side to one in 50.

500,000,000,000,000. A lot. The four, just four. Impossible. Just four.

Count it. Four. Four. I'm showing you in stereo. And for the VIP room in the back.

The the statistical odds that Jesus perfectly would fulfill just four of the prophecy surrounding his birth. We're not even including his life, his ministry, his death, and resurrection which is where James is going to go. The odds are so staggeringly impossible. It should cause the human heart to just bow in all in amazement. Now, I don't know how often you work with numbers this big but to try to put it in in in some context that we may have a frame of reference for I I didn't include this on the slide but I asked like, okay, give me some sort of frame of reference.

It would be easier for you to take a pair of dice and roll two sixes 20 times in a row. Than than for these odds to be fulfilled. Yes, right. Yeah. Zero.

It is impossible. It is impossible. Think of something that is impossible and that's your example. Do you have you have a person has a greater odds of being struck by lightning four times in their life than than fulfilling these prophecies that Jesus did. Sorry, Cory.

Cory's only. Cory's up to twice. What? Twice. Cory's up to two.

So, Cory's halfway to being a name in of the

Jesus.

We're midst storm. In going to find that one silver dollar in the entire state of of Wyoming. Buried two feet deep in other silver dollars. You stand better odds of getting that red marked coin than Jesus fulfilling all four of these. The bottom line is it's it's impossible.

Christian's every revelation. I

get the punch line.

Now, just

say what

she says. Is it? Jay, I am sorry. I normally can control These people better.

It's family today.

It doesn't feel like family. Jesus, we love you. We love you and we marvel at your arrival and we just want to take a moment and worship as the Messiah, the savior of the world and things that we take for granted in our everyday life. The fulfillment of these four prophecies, your goodness demonstrated to us each and every day. The peace that we have, the joy that we have, the community and fellowship that we have with one another.

Most of this town is void of all of those things. Help us. Help us, Holy Spirit. Hover over our hearts and help us to get a fresh, new encounter that Jesus, you are the hope and the light of the world and that hope is here. Help us, Jesus.

Will you just take a moment and talk to him from heart? Thank you lord. As we're singing this song and making room for the lord to just whisper to our hearts, I feel like maybe the lord I feel like the lord put it on my heart to let me know that either maybe somebody in the live stream or somebody in this room feels as though they are up against their own statistically impossible circumstance. And the Holy Spirit would so clearly want to tell you. My son baby girl Do you see what we just talked about?

Do you see the statistical not improbability but impossibility of just Jesus's arrival Now, hold that up against your circumstance. The lord would tell you, I'm not trying to diminish the impact of the circumstance that you find yourself in this morning but I'm trying to tell you, if I can send the savior of the world to defy those statistical odds, don't you think that I've got something special and wonderful in the circumstance that you find yourself up against today. The message and the theme of this entire short three week series. So, my prayer for anyone in this room or or watching the live stream or that will listen to the podcast that finds themselves in what they would consider this is this is it. There's no way out.

There's no possible rectification or solution for this thing that I'm up against. The Holy Spirit would tell you, hope is here. Hope is here. Would you receive the miracle of the arrival of Jesus in your heart?

One of the most beautiful things I think about the birth of Jesus and this is anatomical but that he came through a a woman. So, traveled through the birth canal which makes him a rightful citizen of the world and there's so many other spiritual beings that are that didn't come that way. He's the only one. He he, you know, what I mean? So, I just think that detail that he in god's brilliance, he had to come through a woman into the earth to make him a rightful citizen so that the things we read in the New Testament about him like that he was all man and all god is true that he knows our pain, that he understands it is true because it would be easy to just be like, oh, he's just this ethereal being.

Of course, he can handle it but he was a human. No other spiritual being when the enemy tries to pervert everything that god does like none of em can claim that they came through a woman and I just think that's beautiful. As we take, as we receive our tithe and offering, just no segway right into that. Every week, when we come together as a local church, we bring a portion of our finances. You guys know this and it's just a way for our hearts to stay calibrated with our heavenly fathers especially maybe at Christmas time, it feels tight.

I don't know about you but every bill that has ever wanted to be paid comes in December for my family. I don't know why or where. Everyone breaks something or has needs braces and all of so we say god we love you and trust you. We are just stewards of what you provide for us. Not only finances but the way that our bodies can move, the way that we have smart brains to do our job, the very breath on our lungs.

God, we just say it's all yours. So, as we bring our tithe and offering to him today, whether you're just bringing a tithe or Christmas time above and beyond, whatever it is, Lord, let's just, well, I was starting to pray. Let's pray together. Lord, we love you so much. Thank you for the way that you were born.

Thank you for the way that you lived. Thank you for what is to come. We adore you as the Christmas song says. We adore you. You alone are worthy.

We see that we say that now and always. And Father I thank you so much for everyone here who faithfully brings a tithe whether it feels easy or hard. Thank you that your faithfulness has nothing to do with our feeling. And has nothing to do with the difficulty or ease. You are faithful.

We thank you for that. Lord, I pray that every single penny that's brought into tribe always will just go to do the work of the ministry in the way that you see fit. Thank you that you lead and you guide this church and how we spend the money to do the work of the ministry. Thank you so much that we get to partner with you. We love you in Jesus name.

Amen. Two quick things. One, I'm even if you've been here every single week, please fill this out if on the back if you have something you want prayer for. We take those very seriously. We want to partner with you in that way and 05:00 Christmas Eve, this Wednesday.

Might not be, might be snowy, might be icy, bring a chair, might be raining, might be sunny. I don't know. It'll it'll be dark for sure because it's at five. Oh, okay. Yes.

Or both. I don't know. This is the way to give on your smartphone. Text the number to (833) 369-7847. And it'll give you instruction.

You can also, if you have something physical, cash or check, you, there's two places to drop that. Right here in our tribe box on the way out the door or in the black lock box downstairs or always on our website. But don't forget this Wednesday, 05:00, come to Town Square. We have invitations on the chair and we say, we never want to be like, well, what are you doing for Christmas Eve? You just say, where are you going?

Where are you attending? And then you can give em that. Come to Town Square. We have found over the years that that's such a low hanging fruit for people just to walk into Town Square. It doesn't feel intimidating and they will hear the gospel message.

It'll be wonderful. So, Brian, please come and pray us out. Yes.

Pass it around. Anyone who wants to bring something for the Christmas Eve service, either we'll have it the hot chocolate and the containers all for you. By Tuesday morning here at the TMC, you just have to heat the water and make the hot chocolate and bring it and if anybody wants to make goodies to bring and hand out, homemade people love that. I mean, they don't have to be homemade. They can just look nice and taste yummy.

That that clipboard will come around and if anybody wants to greet, I know the greens are going to be greeting and really honestly, that is how most of the people come to Christmas Eve service that aren't us. They're just walking around the square shopping. They go, oh, what's happening here? And our greeters invite them in and then half of the people that hear the gospel that night were just passing by on the town square. So, greeting is super important for Christmas Eve.

So, if that's your heart, come on and sign up and join us.

Would that be alright if I prayed for you this morning? Stand up. And I would like to pray a prayer blessing over you. Lord Jesus, thank you so much. For your arrival into humanity.

Thank you for your divinity. Thank you that you are Emmanuel. God with us. Not man having to try to earn his way to god but you came down to be with us. Thank you.

I command a blessing over each and every person here this morning. Lord, I pray that you would give us a great week. You would keep us safe on the roads and you would get two new babies into our tribe family arms. Three.

Not before Christmas.

Yeah. We

we don't like her. Not yet.

Alright. All the babies that are due, let them come so that we can hold them and love them. We pray for those moms. We pray for those husbands. Give us a great week.

We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of god and everybody said, amen. I love you guys so very much despite being rowdy this morning. Have a great week and remember you got this.