Sermon Tone Analysis

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Friday night was a little exciting...

Every 30 minutes we were doing the live nativity at Christmas in the Village.

It was going so well.

The weather was great.

I was walking around in December in shorts.

The lights in the Village looked great, all the greenary was on point, The live nativity was fantastic with all the people dressed up and the live animals, affordable Christmas store was going well, free cookies, the flashlight candy cane hunt was a blast, the thrift store was hopping, and the craft room was a busy place.

I was there in the craft room helping a kid with a craft.

We had one more live nativity to go and it happened.

Kyle came in and whispered in my ear, “just so you know, we are under a tornado warning”

I told the family I was helping with the craft that I had to go since I was the one in charge for the whole night and we were under a tornado warning.

I went to find the microphone and Adam had it.

He said I figured we would do one more live nativity and then call it a night.

I said no it’s a warning and we have to move now.

My next move was a little bit of a mistake but I believe the Lord used it for His good as he does.

I said on the speaker as calmly as I could.

We are under a Tornado warning and you can either leave or move to the lodge restrooms.

(Why did I consider this a mistake) If I thought the kids were not listening then I was wrong.

The kids started running and some were screaming, some were crying, some were in full on panic mode.

This helped because when kids started running around crying everyone started to take it serious.

I worked quickly but stayed calm in order to help everyone.

Jackie came to the nativity scene and she said pastor are you all done and shutting everything down and I calmly said.

Yes, Jackie we are under a tornado warning and we getting everyone to shelter.

She said calmly back, oh… I guess I will just go back to the coffee shop then (lol).

well I beat her to the coffee shop to tell everyone in there that they need to move to shelter.

Animals were loaded quickly, Thrift store was shut down, affordable Christmas store was shut down and we moved those still here to shelter.

I felt like this was probably an accurate picture of what life can be like around Christmas time.

Every Commercial around this time of year paints the picture that if you have their product, then all is right with the world.

You get that box of chocolates then when it hits your mouth this Christmas season all will be well.

You get that apple product and the baby will sleep better because you can facetime their grandparents.

Apple products would fly off if this really worked!

The commercials actually reveal the darkness in our lives that exist.

Your life is broken

Make it complete by buying our product

One word that can really reveal this for me is the word contentment.

I will be content if I get everyone all the right gifts, I will be content if I have enough money for the month, I will be content if all my relationships are right and well, I will be content if I survive this week, I will be content if I get through the upcoming event...

God’s plan is not an after thought.

God had a plan.

God created man and women in his image

God places them in the garden.

They are to work it and steward the Garden.

You can eat from any tree in the garden you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for if you eat it you will surely die.

In the beginning was the Word.

As far back as man can think the Word always existed.

God is eternal.

John chose the word Word because this was familiar with his readers.

You can see as the chapter progresses he establishes that this is speaking of Jesus.

The Word was with God in the beginning

The word with here suggests in company with.

This is a special relationship of eternal fellowship in the trinity.

The Word was God

Jehovah’s witnesses translate this clause, “The word was a God”.

They actually bought a version of the Bible so that they could change this to fit their beliefs that Jesus was one of God’s sons and not actually the God in flesh.

Verse 1 here says, The Word is eternal; the Word is in relationship to God (the Father); and the Word is God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Jesus is not an after thought.

God knew what Adam and Eve would do.

He gave them the opportunity to obey and they did not choose this and so they sinned.

At this moment of sin, God did not say uh oh wait now what do we do and create Jesus.

It should bring us great peace that Jesus was not some after thought to our sin.

Jesus has always been in the beginning with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit making up the trinity.

Jesus is God and he has been there from the beginning.

The Virgin Birth

Genesis chapter 1 tells us the story of creation.

God loved his work and called it good.

He had created man and made him a help mate and called her woman.

He placed them in this perfect place in the garden with everything they needed.

He gave them one instruction not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

What happened next?

The serpent came along and enticed them to choose to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and they ate it.

God knew this would happen and God had a plan.

Again your sin that has been dealt with by Jesus on the cross was not some after thought or plan the Lord came up with.

He knew what he had created and he knew that man would disobey so he had a plan to send Jesus in the flesh to deal with this sin

Notice Genesis 3:15 says the seed of a woman and Jesus was born of a virgin.

God had a plan to deal with your sin.

700 Years before Jesus Isaiah prophesies

Jesus was not created.

Jesus was with God in the beginning

This is essential beliefs for the Christian faith that we believe in the virgin birth.

For if we don’t believe the virgin birth then we don’t believe that Jesus was with God in the beginning.

Belief in the Virgin birth says that Jesus is God and has always existed.

All things were created through Jesus

The purpose of creation is to draw us close to the Father.

The goal of the created is to draw us to the creator.

Contentment is key here.

Contentment says that the Father has provided everything we need.

Jesus came to reveal the work of the Father and the work of revelation began in Creation.

Creation reveals God.

Don’t let stuff or all that God has created draw you away from the Father, but allow all that God has created to bring you closer to Him.

Life was in Him that is Life was in Jesus and Jesus was the light of men.

Christmas village looks all set and everything is in place, Tornado warning.

Commercials reveal darkness.

Commercials reveal discontentment.

John 1:4 Life was in Him (Jesus) and that life was the light of men.

Yes indeed there is darkness but Christ the light of men came and brought life.

Life is man’s most important asset.

To lose life is tragic.

John affirmed that in the ultimate sense, life is in Christ.

Man’s spiritual and physical life come from Him.

Jesus is the light of men