Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I built my lesson this morning off of a topic that we discussed in our youth group this past Thursday

And I thought, “This would be a good message for all of us to hear.”

Its simple, not very long

I hope that it speaks to you as it has to me

The title of my message this morning is “The Plot Twist!”

How many of you like a good movie?

Something to inspire or pull at the heartstrings, or make you laugh?

Let me share you one of the most annoying things when trying to watch a good movie.

I’ll be honest I’m this person sometimes, I don’t mind doing it to others but I hate when it’s done to me

Person walks in on the movie halfway through the movie, and asks all sorts of questions.

Who’s that?

The main character

Did I miss anything good?

The first half of the movie

What just happened?

Let me pause this and explain everything to you

You could give you the best plot summary ever, but unless you just saw the whole movie yourself, it won’t make total sense.

Those triumphant moments won’t be as triumphant

Those emotional moments wont connect with you

Those crazy plot twists won’t awe you, because you missed the first half of the movie.

When you don’t see the whole context, then certain parts lack in power

Its like going to Youtube and watching a clip of a movie

You can youtube the funniest movie moments, the most emotional, the craziest plot twist scenes.

But it won’t move you like just seeing the whole movie

One of the most iconic movie plot twists has to be when Darth Vader, tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father

“Luke, I am your father!”

If you saw the movie leading up to this scene, it blows your mind!

You are like “what!!!!!”

But if you saw this scene in Youtube clip without any context, your attitude would be “so what?”

It wouldn’t have any meaning to you

Or if you’ve ever seen Captain Phillips

It’s this movie where where Richard Phillips (portrayed by Tom Hanks) vessel is taken over and Captain Philips is held hostage by Somali Pirates who are after ransom money.

There are Navy Seals who are sent to rescue him, and it just builds up to this moment when he is finally rescued, and the moments right after his rescue you can see the trauma, and the emotion as Captain Phillips starts to realize that its over, and he is safe again.

Tom Hanks does some incredible acting in that scene.

But if you were to try and watch that scene without the rest of the emotional tension and buildup of the movie, it would have very little impact on you.

When you know how the story begins, you can better understand and identify with the decisions, failures, plot twists, and victories and the emotions that come later.

Christmas Story

So where am I going with?

We are two and a half weeks away from Christmas

Our Christmas Around the World Production is next week

If you are like my wife, you have had your Christmas tree up since before Thanksgiving!

Some say it is the greatest story ever told

We are familiar with the shepherds

Wise men

Mary and joseph

Baby Jesus

And its this nice, cute story that we love to tell and retell every Christmas

My family and I had a tradition every year of reading on Christmas day.

Some may read Matthew 1.

It is a time of year where we reflect and remember the birth of our Saviour

As a matter of fact, let me read a part of Scripture for us, (Read)

Its easy to read this and be like, “ah thats nice!”

But here is what I want us to understand.

The coming of Christ, as a baby in a manger, and all the shepherds and wise men, and gifts and Mary and Joseph

That is not the story!

The coming of Christ is the plot twist in a much bigger story!

If the Christmas story is the only part of the story we are familiar with, it loses some of it’s awe and power.

It is liking watching one of the most powerful movie scenes, out of context of the broader story.

This Christmas story is the most glorious and climactic moments in history, and what I want to do this morning is to summarize the major moments leading up to this part in history.

We are going to watch the whole movie this morning!

Now me retelling it isn’t the same as just reading it ourselves from the Word of God, but I only have 30 minutes, and I’m sure most of you would probably walk out on me half way through Genesis.

So I’m just going to summarize some major points

And then we are going to read that passage again in light of the history, and narrative leading up to it.

Are you ready?

We are going to go through thousands of years of history in 10 minutes.

History

The Beginning

The beginning of the story tells us that God created everything from nothing

On the 6th day he creates something special.

something he called “very good”

he created mankind and breathed his breath of life into us

And man has a unique and special relationship with God

and he lived in paradise in the garden of Eden

Its the start of a wonderful, dreamy story!

But it doesn’t take long for things to change

Its the start of a wonderful, dreamy story!

In something happens

This serpent is introduced into the narrative

begins to call God’s word into question

Adam and Eve both disobey God as they eat of the one fruit they were commanded to leave alone

They listened to the lying voice of a serpent, rather than what God told them

And as a result, sin separates them from their creator, and they are kicked out of the garden of Eden.

and as a result of sin, death

A wonderful story cut way too short.

Then things start to go downhill very fast

Cain kills his brother Abel, and becomes the first murderer

Mankind becomes so evil that God destroys every thing on earth with a flood except for one righteous man, Noah and his family, and a few animals.

And through Noah, man begins to populate the earth again

o God created the world and everything in it.

Then you get to the tower of Babel where God confounds the language of the people who are aspiring to build a tower to heaven and be like God.

o He created the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) and set them up in paradise (The Garden of Eden).

Finally you get to Abraham, where the covenant of God starts

and he calls him to be separate from the rest of the nations, and promises that he is going to bless all the nations of the earth through his descendants.

o But then there’s a major mix-up involving a serpent and a piece of forbidden fruit.

But then his descendants over a period of time end up in slaver in Egypt

For over 400 years, they wait to be delivered, and finally God send a man named Moses who delivers his people

There are a bunch of miracles as God sends 10 plagues into Egypt and parts a Red Sea, and completely delivers his people to lead them to the promised land

But because of doubt and unbelief they don’t inherit this land right away.

After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, finally God brings his people into the promised land