What does Tribe teach about gift of salvation?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on the gift of salvation starts where Brian Hunter insists the Christmas story itself starts: not in Bethlehem, but in a garden. God created humanity for relationship and gave mankind free will, but that gift was used to choose independence from God. The result was sin spreading through the whole human race, bringing with it war, sickness, death, and, as Brian puts it, "This condition of sin that has infected all of us is terminal, resulting in death, separation forever from God's family." No person can escape that condition on their own, but even in the moment it began, God already had a plan.
That plan unfolded through generations of waiting, through prophets who caught only glimpses, through the promises of Isaiah 9 that a child would be born carrying the names Wonderful One, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, and Prince of Peace, one who would rule on David's throne and bring immeasurable peace. Then, at just the right time, the promise arrived in Bethlehem: a rescuer born in a feeding trough, announced by angels to shepherds in a field. Brian points out that God did not stop with Israel. "God always goes one step further than what you expect." The savior promised to one nation was given to the whole world. Jesus lived without sin, died a criminal's death, and rose again, paying the price for sin and making it possible for God and humanity to be reunited as family.
The question Brian puts to everyone who hears this is whether the gift has actually been received. As he asked in 2022, "Is it really a present if somebody hands you a gift and you go and you set it down on a shelf never having opened it?" The salvation God offers through Jesus is not something a person earns or inherits; it is a gift that has to be taken hold of.
Taught from Isaiah 9 · Luke 2 · John 3:16
“The story of Christmas begins all the way back in a garden.”
From Tribe Christmas Eve Service - Town Square
The passage taught · Isaiah 9
1 But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder.
4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- December 25, 2025 Tribe Christmas Eve Service - Town Square A Christmas Eve message from Jackson Hole about why the story of Christmas begins not in Bethlehem but in a garden, and what the gift of the Messiah means for everyone.
- December 25, 2022 The Story of Christmas Begins in a Garden A Christmas Eve outdoor service in Jackson Hole where Pastor Brian Hunter traces the story of Christmas from the garden of Eden to a manger in Bethlehem.