Who Is This? The Champion from the Wilderness (transcript)

com. Alright. Good morning. Good morning. The holidays are upon us even if we barely even have a white strip of death, out at the village.

But have you noticed they’re trying to rebrand the white strip of death? What are they trying to call it this year? Slope. Yes. Yeah.

The slope Of Hope. Come on. It will If you’re from out of town, we’re talking about our beloved ski area out at the village. So they usually sometimes just depending on the weather, they can open up a variety of the mountain as the season kicks off. And, some years are better than others, but they always try by Thanksgiving weekend to at least have, like, AV open and, whatever that is coming down off of AV, Saint Noel, Warner, or something.

And so it usually if it’s a low snow year when you’re driving out to the village, you just see, like, this one little white ribbon coming down the mountain where they have been, aggressively feverishly trying to make snow. In the the snow making crew, I don’t know if we have any snow seasonal snow crew people this year. The the night crew, the night creatures, they call them, they always are, like, working really hard, and there’s a really fun rivalry between rain with the warmer temperatures. But it’s supposed to get colder this week. And so I think we’re gonna have a a white strip of death, which and the reason why it’s called the white strip of death is because everybody is excited to start the ski season.

And so everybody goes out and they ride Tewa Nade and they ride AV and it’s like everybody squeezed onto one run, the white strip of death. And it is chaos out there. Am I right? Jay? Yes.

From all the way back in the VIP room. But this year, they’re trying to call it the slope Of Hope. I know. It’s It’s cute. It’s cute.

Hey, Lissa, would you hand off my coffee so that it could make its way up here? I just I just saw it back there. I didn’t know where it went. I don’t know that you’ll make it all the way up. I know.

Yay. Thank you. We need a new home. It’s coming. If you are sitting next to somebody, a loved one that is home for the holidays, throughout today’s service, please feel free to give them lots of hugs and squeezes because that’s your little baby home from school.

If you’re here visiting, for the holidays, well, you found us, and I’m glad that you made your way back home to Jackson even if just for the holiday. So I’m glad that you’re here. There’s a little connect card in your seat. You can fill that out. We would love to have a record of your visit.

On the backside of the card, you can also, fill out a prayer request on Mondays at our staff meeting. We go over those prayer requests. We take them seriously. We love it. We consider it an honor to be able to lift up those prayer requests, and so we would love to be able to to pray for you.

You can either leave it in your seat, or just behind Lissa, there is a little wooden drop box. You can put it in that drop box. Today, as we get into this next part of worship, there’s a little bit of a preamble or an intro that I wanna give you for the conversation that we’re gonna have today. And I do say that word intentionally conversation because I want this to not just be a monologue from me up here, but I want it to be a dialogue that we together engage with. I would submit to you that for over two thousand years since Jesus established the church, the church has looked a lot more like this than it has looked like maybe the church that you’ve come from or your home church back home.

That’s not to poo poo the church that you have come from back home. But here at Tribe and where we meet at the TMC, all of us, like, squeezed in, like, Shay, you brought your friend to church today. Little did she know she was gonna be on the front row. Because Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, if you lean if you lean forward, you’re gonna be in the choir. And so this this environment, this venue lends itself to to discussion. And so I look forward for us engaging with the material together, not just me doing a bunch of talking. Alright? So that’s that’s unique thing, I guess, number two.

Number one is the venue. Number two is our format style. Number three, something that’s unique that we’re gonna do today. It’s a little bit different. As I was I’ve been chewing on this passage for some time and reading it, and meditating on it, and, writing about it.

And as I was crafting the conversation that we’re gonna have today, I kept asking, alright. So how does this apply to Ellie Monday morning? Like, where does the where does the rubber meet the road for for Ellie? And I think many pastors, well meaning, want to take a passage or the text, share it with you, break it down with we we do that, and then give you the takeaways of how it relates and applies to your life Monday morning. That’s good, helpful, and and true.

And and and great. It has its place. And for as many years as I have been in this seat, week in and week out, always try to connect the dots for how this impacts your life, how you can apply the principles in this book to your marriage, to your finances. How does this impact me? Is is what what do I get out of this?

Is what a lot of, people when they leave church, what they’re thinking about. Well, today I got today I end end It’s it’s valuable. You happen to be the most important person in the world. You are. You’re you are.

Today, I wanna do something, a little bit different. Instead of connecting all of the dots leading to how this impacts your a picture for you of Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit himself to just preach the message to your heart today. So I just wanna create a portrait or a picture that we see here in scripture and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Does that make any kind of sense at all? And if it doesn’t, it’s okay.

Let’s see what happens. Well, I I had, I used digital crayons for for the slides. But if you have your bible with you this morning, would you turn to Isaiah chapter 63? Isaiah chapter 63, and we’re gonna read just a few verses from the book of Isaiah. Why don’t I just go ahead and and read verses one through nine.

If you do have a question, comment, or connection, the way that it works is if you just raise your hand, we have a mic in the room, and you can you can make your contribution. We ask you to share into the mic so that all of the local families that are here that are gone, I’m so glad they are because it made room for all of y’all, but they get to tune in to the live stream. They get to participate in the conversation. And your your voice isn’t picked up by the mic in the room. But when you have the handheld mic, then they get to hear your voice.

And so that’s why we have the mic in the room. Let me go ahead and read a couple of verses to you. Brace yourself. Verse one. Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Basra, with his clothing stained red?

Who is this in royal robes marching in his great strength? Strength. It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation. It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save. Why are your clothes so red?

As if you’ve been treading out grapes. I have been treading the wine press alone. There was no one there to help me. In my anger, I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury, I have trampled my foes.

Their blood has stained my clothes. For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong-arm and my wrath sustained me. I crushed the nations in my anger Verse seven.

I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy And he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all of the years.

The Lord blessed the reading of his word this morning. If you’re taking notes, you can write at the top of your notes the title of the conversation that we’re going to have this morning. Who is this man? Who is this man? My goal today is simply to just have a discussion about with my little Crayola words, paint a portrait of the beauty and the power and the reality of this man.

And highlight in the book of Isaiah a picture that Isaiah saw that describes a facet of this man’s character that you probably did not get in Sunday school. Leaving us to ask the question that rings in our ears and resonates in our heart. Who is this man? And I wanna we’ll see how many verses we we we get through. But look at verse one.

Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Basra? Now if you’re familiar with geography, then you know the direction that he’s coming from. If you’re not familiar with geography, here’s a little a little basic sketch map. We have Israel, Mediterranean Sea, what is now modern day Jordan, and then also Saudi Arabia’s this region of Edom. It was a a big region.

And then he talks about the city of Basra. So if I say for you locals, who is this? Who comes from Rock Springs? What direction is that person traveling from? Oh, okay.

They’re coming from the South. They’re coming from the South. Who is this who comes from Rock Springs? Oh, I’m gonna I’m gonna look to the South. I’m gonna look through not Snake River Canyon, but Hoback Canyon.

That person. Who is this? Who comes from Moran? Where are they coming from? There we go.

Okay. So the idea behind this this region and this city is to draw the reader to looking to the East and to the South. Who is this who is coming up out of the desert? Who is this that comes from Eden? Now look at the words of Isaiah.

Do we know if he knows who this person is and he is in a way using hyperbolic language? You know, like when our son Kai comes home from school and he walks in the door and I go, who is that? I know who it is. It’s my Kai boy. But I’m speaking in in hyperbole, in exaggeration, extreme exaggeration.

Is Isaiah speaking in exaggeration? Or is it a genuine question? I’m not quite sure. However, if I were to say right now, hey, who is that? Look, you just looked.

Thank you, Bethany. Thank you, Bethany, for that falling right into my illustration. When that question is asked, it draws the reader’s attention and focus to consider, well, who is that? That’s the purpose that Isaiah is getting at. Who is this man?

Who is this man that comes from Edom? Who is this man that comes from the region in this ancient city of Basra? That comes from the region in this ancient city of Basra? Basra was a wealthy city. It was a city outside of the region of Israel.

Is he an outsider? Is he one of us? Who is this man? And in the same way that if you were in a group of people and someone said, who is that? And they pointed behind.

Everybody would look. Feel the same effect as Isaiah asks this question. Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Basra with his clothing stained red? We’ll talk more about that in a moment. Now, Isaiah, he sees a lot of pictures of this figure that for right now we will call the Messiah.

He’s seen many pictures of him before, and he writes down what he sees. So Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter seven, says that, Unto us a child is born. He’s seen this messiah as an infant. Isaiah chapter nine describes this figure as a divine royal child. Isaiah chapter 11, we see a picture of his sevenfold spirit.

God reveals this Messiah as a servant in Isaiah chapter 42. Yahweh’s chosen servant in Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 49 and Isaiah 50. Isaiah sees this figure as Yahweh’s suffering servant in Isaiah chapter 52 through 53. So we’ve seen him as a child.

We’ve seen him as a a prince. We’ve seen him as a servant, a chosen servant. Then we see him as a suffering servant. And every one of you are familiar with Isaiah fifty two and fifty three. But now, the prophet Isaiah sees a very different picture.

And I would suggest to you that the picture that Isaiah now sees that’s unfolding that we get to read about is a facet or a glimpse or an aspect that Isaiah was unexpecting and unprepared for. Who is this? Who is this man? Now I said I wasn’t gonna make it about you, but you grew up, if you grew up going to church, you grew up learning about Jesus. He feeds the 5,000.

He heals the sick. He’s tender, and lowly, and merciful. He comes riding on the donkey. But this picture of Jesus is very different, but has been in your Bible all along. I didn’t sneak in there last night by your bedside table where your Bible should be.

Phone plugged in in the living room, Bible by your bedside table, Brian. Who is this man? There’s a hyperlink that goes off my brain. This is worth turning to in Song of Solomon, chapter eight, verse five. This same phrase is used.

It’s worth looking at. It’s not up here on the screen. Song of Solomon chapter eight verse five. Who is this sweeping in from the desert, leaning on her lover? Now, you need a little bit bit of context to be able to get the most out of this connection.

So in the book of Song of Solomon, there are there are several different main characters. The the the women of the city or her her girlfriends. The young woman receives an invitation to go on the spice laden mountains of opposition, hardship, difficulty, discipleship ship by the young man. And at first, she says, I don’t know if I wanna go up there. That’s a place that’s lonely, and it’s foreboding.

It’s arduous. It’s difficult. In the mountains, people can die. I don’t know if I wanna go up there. And he says, arise, awaken my darling, come away with me.

She says, yes. Everybody sigh. She goes on the journey of love and discipleship onto the spice laden mountains with the young man. There, it’s a beautiful allegory of what Jesus does for the person who can hear his voice and follow his footsteps. And at the beginning, she says about herself, Dark in my, my skin is dark and tan, dark like the tins of Kandahar.

Meaning that she’s been out in the the sun, meaning that she has been a product of the world’s systems and been living the life of the world and experienced its ups and downs and heartaches and hardships. And she bears on her body the scars of living in this broken world. But yet the young man says, come away with me. Come away with me. She agrees to go on the journey of discipleship.

And then as she is coming back from this time alone of intimacy with the Lord where she’s transformed. And she comes to this place where she is she says, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. As she comes back down from the mountain, from the wilderness place, the young women exclaim in song of Solomon chapter eight verse five, who is this coming up out of the desert? And now she is leaning on her lover, fully trusting him, fully in union with him, fully in partnership with him. But once again, we have this language of who is this sweeping in out of the desert like Paul Atreides hopping off of his.

That was only for just one of you. Desert places are inhospitable. Desert places are haunts for jackals. Desert places, it was believed in in ancient Semitic cultures. That the desert was a wasteland.

You couldn’t cultivate it for crops. There was no water. It was a place to just skittle through as quick as you can on your way from one well to another. Desert dry places were inhospitable in places where disembodied spirits floated around and dwelled. And here is this figure, having survived that, I would say having conquered that, having mastered those dry wilderness places, now comes sweeping into view of Isaiah.

We’re still on verse one. Who is this in his royal robes marching in his great strength? Royal robes are for pomp and circumstance and palaces. Not desert battlefields. Are the the words in the language is intended to shock us.

Why is he why is he wearing a tuxedo? That’s the the most formal thing our western minds can think of. A tuxedo to battle. Why is she in a prom dress herding cattle? It’s supposed to shake us.

Who is this in his royal robes? I wrote this in my notes, my little crayon. Oh, how wonderful, how delightful, how beautiful. Jesus is the king of kings. His robes, his fine robes speak of his majesty.

But not just a prince of a man. He’s got dirt under his fingernails. His clothes are wrinkled in blood stained, and his hair is matted with sweat. What is he doing? He’s marching.

Now if any of you were in the military, you could say it might be aimless. But nobody marches in no particular direction. If you are marching, you have a singular focus. You’re you are restrained. You are disciplined.

You know exactly where you’re going. Like marching down to the fridge for a midnight bite of shredded cheese that you then fold up and put in a drawer. It’s midnight. You don’t know. Marching.

Now you’re thinking. I want you to think. He’s marching. He has purpose, focus. He’s not he’s not he doesn’t come dragging in from the desert, barely alive, dehydrated and chapped lips.

Lips. He’s marching. It’s almost as if victory over dry, dusty, barren places increases his strength. He’s conquered the desert. He’s conquered the wilderness.

And here he comes marching From other places in scripture, we can see, we can read that when he marches forth, he leads a train of captives that have been set free behind him. His enemies are also there, bound in chains. And with my crayon, I’ll add probably strip naked. No dignity left. We see in other places that as he he marches forward, innumerable angels accompany him.

He is the captain of heaven’s army. Resurrected saints with glorified bodies march with him. Who is this man? In places like Habakkuk, we can breed more about what’s happening as he marches forward in his royal robes with his strength. The earthquakes, dark storm clouds pouring down, like heavily laden with rain, crashes of thunder.

And I’ve never seen a spring crocus. It’s what the Bible says, but it’s like a flower, a wildflower. That in his wake, with torrents of rain, remember in dry places, that spring flowers erupt on the hillsides wherever he marches. Who is this man? We’re still in verse one.

We get an answer. It is I, the Lord. God has a an etymological description. What type of being is He? He is an Elohim among other little e Elohim that are described in the Bible.

There’s more than one Elohim, but there’s only one capital e Elohim. He is an eternal uncreated, that’s an additional separator from everything else in any realm that you could ever go to or travel to. He, Yahweh, is uncreated, and he has a proper name, and it is Yahweh. That is who is speaking. It is I, the Lord.

My translation, I’m reading from the NLT says, announcing your salvation. What does it say in somebody’s somebody else’s translation? I’m just curious if there’s some other richness there. Yeah, I the Lord We’re still in verse one. If the native language of the devil is lies, the native language of Yahweh is righteousness.

Announcing vindication, mighty to save. Finally, we have the question answered. It is the Lord. It is the Messiah. The Jews would recognize this as the Messiah.

When it says announcing, it means to declare, to speak, to promise, but also to command. Not suggesting, not hinting at, not speaking in veiled shrouded parables only for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. This is a command. And notice this. It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation.

It is I. It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation. It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save. Set foot on the scene where Isaiah is witnessing this unfolding vision before his eyes. Stand there with Isaiah the desert.

The desert and dry places have not beaten him. Who is this? Who is this? Stand there with Isaiah as your chest reverberates with the answer from this figure sweeping in. It is I, the Lord.

Can you feel it in your chest? Can you feel it as the ground shakes beneath your feet? Now, survey the scene. Look all around you. Who else difficult problem in the history of this or any other parallel galaxy.

And the critical the the crucial problem is this. God is holy. The Bible says that he’s too holy that his eyes can’t even look at sin. In him is pure light, and there’s no darkness that dwells within him, not even the tiniest sliver of darkness. He’s pure light.

His eyes are too holy too holy to look at sin. One. Number two, we are created in his image, and he loves us. He longs to have relationship with us. But number three, we’ve all fallen short.

There’s no one not righteous. No not one. For all have sinned. So how does a pure and righteous and holy God embrace, and holy God, God embrace sinful man? You can’t separate your sin from who you are.

It’s interwoven all the way down to your DNA. So how does he do it? Does he overlook it? Does he dismiss it? Does he maybe he just sweeps it under the carpet.

Well, then he would be less than just. He must punish sin. So how does he punish sin without obliterating the man? That requires brilliance that is far above and beyond Only this man. Only this man.

Because as Isaiah saw, he was divine from before birth. He was the suffering servant who died for man’s sin, was buried, went down to rob the grave of death, has been resurrected triumphantly, ascended into heaven, and will someday come again, sweeping in from the desert, causing all of human history to say, who is this man? And he will command salvation. All of the self help books that have ever been printed will turn to dust and be blown away like chaff. All of a person’s effort and energy and strength trying to earn right standing with God by being a good person will count for nothing.

I and I alone says this figure sweeping in from the desert. First two and three, why are your clothes so red as if you’ve been treading out grapes? I’ve been treading the wine press alone, for no one was there to help me. And in my anger, I’ve trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. And in my fury, I’ve trampled my foes.

Their blood has stained my clothes. That is not allegorical. Exactly what that means and looks like. I don’t know. For the time has come verse four.

For the time has come to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. We all love the idea of being oh, I’m making it about you. We all love the idea of being ransomed, of being rescued. We all like to be the damsel in distress in the tower. Here comes our prince charming.

Describing the Messiah as that Prince Charming. But before he kicks kicks open the locked door in the tower in which the human condition was held prisoner by sin, there has not been much discussion about the bloody battle that will be waged at a great cost to the Messiah that allows him to reach the door. In in I I talk about this from time to time, and I hope you never hear this as a a negative derogatory thing. But I talk about the difference between immaturity and maturity. In immaturity, people like the ransoming and the rescuing and and the the flowers springing up.

Maturity means realizing that it comes at a great cost and in the context of a epic, extremely lopsided, asymmetrical battle where there is a clear winner. And that in the midst of the chaos and confusion of war, it is in the midst of that, that the redeemer strides forward. Let’s let me just read these last couple verses from seven to nine. And then that’s as far as we’ll go. Your contributions have been great.

Try to draw up my crayons. I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. Love. Look at verse seven. What?

I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to who? Who who is it? You can answer.

Who is it? Israel. Israel. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love. He said, they are my very own people.

Surely they will not betray me again. This is, he’s not speaking sarcastically. This is this is this is a yet future to unfold image of Jesus. We’ve not seen this picture of the Messiah yet in in human history. It’s a still to unfold.

And when he says they will, surely they will not betray me again, he’s he’s not saying well, surely after I’ve cleaned up the living room, the kids won’t mess it up again. Yeah, right. He’s saying, he’s saying surely like you can take this to the bank. He’s saying definitively. That’s what he means.

They will not betray me again. And as that’s happening, He becomes their savior. In all their suffering, He also suffered, and He personally rescued them. In His love and mercy, Remember the description of the war kitted up, battled I I can’t say scarred. He’s already he got scarred on the cross.

He’s no more scars. He personally rescued them in his love and mercy. He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years. As Pontius Pilate said after the scourging of Jesus in the Roman Praetorium, before he was crucified, he paraded Jesus out.

And in Latin he said, eche homo. Look at the man. Behold the man. Today, behold the man. That’s the picture that Isaiah describes.

That’s what I got. What a powerful name it is. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ my One of the powerful name it is. Oh, nothing can stand against.

What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is.

The name of Jesus. You have no it is. The name of Jesus Christ my key. What a powerful name it is. Oh, nothing can stand against.

Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. While we’re singing that just with your eyes closed just for another minute, I just get this picture in my mind of when I was a little girl and my dad and I were super close, we still are. And my dad is really tender and never raised his voice my entire life.

I never heard him raise his voice. Maybe once at the cap on the counter, but that was it. And boy, but when my dad thought that we were in danger, a different side of my dad came out. It was in those moments I would notice how just so strong and big his hands were when he would have to handle something. And I just the fear of the Lord just comes over me when I sing this, And I just feel like maybe we could just take a minute and maybe even we need to repent of making Jesus fit into some kind of box that we want him to fit into.

But that he is almighty. That he is all powerful. And that reverence for his power and awe of him to return, that it would be in the fear of the Lord that we would be obedient. Even though he would love for it to be in just his loving kindness. Lord remind us of who you are.

Both the tender, intimate father and the warrior. The one who goes before us and fights for us and is coming back again. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ my king. What a powerful name it is.

Oh, nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus.

What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ my king. What a powerful name it is.

What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is.

The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus.

When we sing that song, like, with a full band, if I’m on keys, if you ever see me doing this, it’s because my body’s about to elevate. She’s trying to raise her hands like I’m in. Kind of worship. I think this is such a powerful song. But let the spirit of that song and the lyrics just be on our heart all the time.

Here at Tribe, we talk about how Sunday morning should not be the biggest slice of your Christianity pie. Right? It’s just a time where believers come together as a local family, as a local church. It definitely should not be how’s this? There we go.

So when we come together every Sunday, we worship the Lord in so many different ways. We’ve worshiped him today by honoring his word. We have worshiped him with our hands raised and our voices, to him, and we worship him again through bringing our tithe and our offering. And here at Tri, we just wanna emphasize, we don’t feel like that’s just something you do when you come to church so you can check the box. You know, I sang I gave and now I have a good week.

Like, it’s just one expression of worship to our heavenly father, and it’s a really important one because it keeps our hearts calibrated to him. It’s not in human nature, our sinful human nature just to give money away. And we, you know, we’re we do philanthropy, we give, we’re generous in every other area, but when we give to our local church, whether it’s tribe or somewhere else, practically speaking, you are giving to do the work of the ministry. We went to the mission last night, the Good Samaritan Mission, and actual money paid for the lasagnas we made and the things like that, you know, so it goes to do practical work, but also it keeps your heart calibrated because we say, God, I love you and I trust you. When I give a portion of my hard earned finances to you, when you’re just sending it through a text or giving, we’ll talk about how to give, like, when you put your check-in the box.

It’s money that is going away. And especially at holiday time, we feel like we need it, but it is supernatural. It’s a supernatural way to keep our hearts calibrated to our heavenly father. So that’s why we give when we’re at tribe or any any local church. We bring our tithe, and above and beyond that, our offering to him as an expression of worship.

So we’re gonna pray together. I just have a couple announcements, and then we’ll get you out of here. But practically speaking, before we pray, if you have a a cash or check, something physical, and you want to isn’t that weird that there’s other versions? For years and years, that was the only thing. The past buckets and that was a, digital currency.

But there’s a box right here with a little tribe logo, and then downstairs, there’s a black lockbox. You can always put cash or check-in there any time of the week. Tribe j h dot com. There’s a giving link, and then the easiest way, and you’ll see the instructions on the screen. If you have a smartphone, you just type in like, you have a new friend, you’re typing in their number, (833) 369-7847.

You just type the word give, the dollar sign, and the amount you’d like to give. It’s that simple. So let’s pray together. Where you whether you’re giving now or another time, or try it’s not your home and you’re not giving it all, let’s just pray. Because when you’re here, like Olive Garden, when you’re here, you’re family.

So close your eyes with me. Breadsticks will be passed out of the air. Heavenly father, we love you so, so, so much. Thank you, Lord, that we can not take ourselves seriously, but we take you and our faith very seriously. You are so worthy of our praise and our worship and our surrender.

Thank you so much for who you are and that you are your character and nature never changes. Father, as we bring a portion today or sometime this this week, whatever our rhythm is, of our hard earned finances to you, Lord, we just say thank you in advance. Whether we see the fruit of what we give or not, we trust you with it. We say thank you for putting your super on our natural act. We just love you so much.

Thank you that every penny brought in to this local church in this little old mountain town called Tribe will go to make your name famous, to bring people to you, to draw people to you, Jesus. You are what it is all about. We’re just a pile of sticks without your fire that you bring. We thank you so much for everybody in this room and our hearts. Thank you that you’ll help just individually meet it.

Thank you that you meet us where we’re all at when it comes to giving and other things, father. Just wrestling those things with us and how we can be calibrated to you. We love you. We trust you, and we say thank you for who you are and for what will come of these tithes and these offerings. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Real quick before you go, just like everyone’s home, anything that’s important is on your refrigerator, so please just take a look at that on your way out. It’s actually, it’s all on there. We let’s see. We have done the Good Samaritan Mission. That’s something we’re gonna do if you’re like, oh man, I missed it or what is that?

You can talk to us after service, but it’s just, where we go and we serve. Last night, we served food and we played music and we chatted with friends. It’s the lowest hanging fruit of mission work that we can do right here in Jackson. We also, with the holidays coming up, we have an angel tree gift for local families. Stay tuned for that.

We’ll have little tags you can take. And then just like every year, it’s become tribes tradition. And on Christmas Eve, we have our Christmas Eve service on Town Square. So this year, it’s no different. It’ll be at 5PM.

It’ll be pitch black by 5PM. But yeah, so you can and we and we’ll talk about this closer as we get to Christmas, but you never just say, what are you doing for Christmas? You say, where are you going? When you’re asking your friends, where are you going? And then you invite them.

Also, I would love for you to come to my house this Thursday for Thanksgiving if you need a place to go. It’s on the fridge right there too. We have a puppy. We need a bigger fry. We need a bigger fry.

Comfort Jesus and then the puppy. Yeah. The puppy needs lots of attention. Yes. Ladies Christmas luncheon, Friday, December 12, it’s always awesome at noon at the classical academy.

How about I just send all this out in a group text? So fill out the con connect card if you’re not on the list, and I’ll send out all the info. As we get close to the time for you to leave, we’re close to the year end, and I wanna remind you about our year end giving campaign. It is a great time to make that gift. Write it off on your taxes.

You can go to tribejh.com or you can text an amount for your year end giving. And in January, we’re gonna be talking more about a new initiative that we’re starting with, we’re calling our next campaign. We obviously need a new home, and we’re gonna be saving and giving and working towards that aggressively starting in the new year. And if you have questions on how to spell million, please come find me. I thought you were gonna say next.

And I will personally help you with that. Alright? Just before you leave, I need to poke at Amanda just really quick. In your prayer, you were like, Lord, we’re just a pile of, I was like, where’s she going? Sticks.

Sticks. Alright, Sticks. Stand up. Let me pray for you. Oh, Jesus, we love you.

We love you. We love you. We love love you. We love you. We love you.

We love you. Thank you for being our redeemer, our champion, our conquering king. Lord, as we go into the holidays this week, help us to be mindful that you are above and far beyond any desert or wilderness that we may find ourselves in. You’re the champion and king over that. I command a blessing over each and every person here today, Lord.

Give us a great week. Give us a great Thanksgiving time. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you so very much.

Have a great week. Eat lots of turkey. And remember, you got this.