Scripture referenced 1 passage
The passages read or referred to in this message.
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Isaiah 12:6 quoted to show the prophet predicted the birth of Jesus seven hundred years before it happened
6 Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The Sunday before Christmas 2011, Pastor Steve led First Baptist Jackson through a living nativity that brought the whole congregation into the story, with children and adults playing every part from donkeys to angels. After the pageant he stepped back to the pulpit and talked about what Christmas has become versus what it actually is. The through line was simple: God already gave the greatest gift ever, and that is what the season is supposed to be about.
What was said
The service opened as a kind of dramatic retelling of the nativity, with Pastor Steve playing the innkeeper welcoming a packed house to Bethlehem. Congregation members filled the stable, the shepherd's field, and the angelic choir. The whole scene, donkeys, cows, camels, shepherds, sheep, Mary and Joseph, and the baby, was assembled piece by piece until the story had been told from the manger to the shepherds running back through town praising God.
Once the children had taken their seats, Pastor Steve moved into the Christmas card he had received with the Grinch quotation. He read it straight: "What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas perhaps means a little bit more?" He used it as a bridge, not as the point itself, but as a mirror for what the culture has actually done to the holiday.
He was direct about what that looks like. Black Friday, he said, has become Bloody Friday. People have been hurt, even killed, over a single item. The whole drift of Christmas in our culture, he argued, has moved from the birth of Christ to the purchase of the gift, from who gave the greatest gift to what I can get for myself.
He put that drift against the angel's announcement to the shepherds. Those shepherds were terrified, and the message they heard was "don't be afraid," because the Savior had been born for them. That gift, he said, is what Christmas is actually pointing to, not the tinsel, not the packaging, not the bargain.
He drew a contrast with how Christians in other parts of the world celebrate. He described African believers singing and dancing in the streets from morning until the next morning, and Latin American communities where the whole focus stays on Jesus. His point was that much of the rest of the world has not gotten caught up in what he called "the junk" that American Christmas culture has drifted into.
He closed with a story about his own son, who told his young children, ages eight and five, that they would not open presents on Christmas morning because Christmas morning falls on Sunday and is about Jesus, not about them. The children received it. His granddaughter told him they were going to celebrate Jesus' birthday, and his grandson said that on Jesus' birthday you give presents, you don't receive them. Pastor Steve was clear he was not putting anyone under conviction, but he let the children's response speak for itself.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The innkeeper offered his stable to Mary and Joseph even though he had nothing better to give. When have you had to offer something imperfect or inconvenient to help someone else, and what did that cost you?
- The angels told the shepherds not to be afraid, and the reason they gave was the birth of the Savior. What fears in your own life does the message of Christmas speak directly to?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 2,730 words
0:01
Speaker 1Well, everybody to the little town of Bethlehem. I see the streets are crowded tonight. Normally, this is just a sleepy little town, but these days, it's hopping. In fact, I think I even hear a choir coming our way. You hear that?
0:20
Hey, since we're all here, would you stand with me and join the choir by singing, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. Let's stand and sing it together. You guys can have a seat. You know, I can't remember the last time the marketplace was this busy. So what's the occasion you ask?
3:20
Well, everybody from the lineage of David is here to register for the census. And I do hope you register because I'll warn you, if you didn't, those guards back there, they could get pretty touchy. Did you notice? Swords. Yeah.
3:38
Well, you wouldn't believe everything that's been happening here since Caesar Augustus ordered a census. The crowds, the travelers, the guards, and in the middle of all this, something unbelievable happens. This thing was so incredible that you've got to see it to believe it. You see, this couple came to my crowded in the other night. My little inn was packed to the roof.
4:02
There was literally no room for anyone, but they were such a nice couple. All I had was my stable down here into the house. See, in Bethlehem, animals usually stay on the Bottom Floor and people sleep upstairs. Well, I didn't want to send them away with no shelter for the night, and so I offered my stable to the couple for the evening. Yeah, here it is.
4:28
The old stable compliments of Steve Marsteller construction. Shameless plug. This thing gets pretty warm and cozy. Let me show you so you really get the picture. Let's start with a couple of donkeys.
4:45
Folks usually ride in on donkeys. Where are my donkeys anyway? I see a couple of donkeys right here. There we go. By the way, what what what noise does a a donkey make anyway?
5:09
That's right. Yeah. Wonderful. Let's see what else is missing. I thought I had a couple of cows too.
5:15
They're not very fast. I don't think they could have gone far. Ah, yes. A couple of cows. Come on up here, cows.
5:25
You're looking pretty nice to be cows, to be honest, but great. Hi, cow. Hi. I thought it was Moo. Let's see.
5:41
And yes, my adorable little camels. Where'd they go? You must have wandered away camels. Come on up camels. Yes, come on over here.
5:53
Know, camels have a tendency to spit when they're threatened. Are you planning on spitting? Yeah. Okay. Good.
6:05
Thank you. There we go. This is looking like a place where somebody could stay, even somebody with a baby. You see, while the couple was here, right here in my stable, the young woman had a baby, a very, very special baby. Let's see, I know they're here somewhere.
6:28
Yes, right over here. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce you to my new friends, Mary and Joseph, and their newborn baby Jesus. Let's give them a hand. Yes. You can have a seat right over here, Mary and Joseph, my comfortable little stable.
6:49
Well, would you help our choir sing baby Jesus to sleep by joining them in a way in a manger? You can stay seated, but these guys are gonna stand up. You may have noticed that, there aren't any sheep in my stable. Well, that's because there's a group of shepherds who keep all the sheep that we need just outside of town. So we need a couple of shepherds and some sheep so you can really get the picture.
9:29
Here, let's, here's a couple of shepherds right here. And, I need about four sheep as well. Let's see. One, two, three, four. There we go.
9:45
Yes. Hey, you're looking like a great sheep. What does a sheep say anyway? Yeah. Ba.
9:58
Well, that night, the shepherds were keeping watch over their flock, just like they always do. The sheep were softly buying and making sheep sounds. Baa. As they grazed in the pasture. As they grazed in the pasture.
10:20
When all of a sudden, angels appeared from heaven. Angels appeared from oh, get you out of hands. Some angels. Okay. Yeah.
10:35
Come on. There we go, yes. Angels appeared from heaven and the shepherds were very afraid. But the angel said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.
11:05
Don't be afraid. Pretty scary. The angels told the shepherds that the savior, the Messiah, had been born in Bethlehem. The Messiah has been born. Amen.
11:25
Well, they told the shepherds that they could even find the baby wrapped in strips of cloth lying in a manger. You can find the baby wrapped in cloth. That's right. In the manger? Yep.
11:41
Yep. That's right. With conviction. And if that wasn't great enough, the angels started singing and praising God. Let's join with our choir in praising God by singing Angels We Have Heard On High.
14:35
Well, the shepherds and the sheep were so excited that they ran to Bethlehem right into my inn. They saw the baby lying in the manger and they told everybody what they saw. The shepherds then went back to their flocks outside at Bethlehem. The shepherds took their sheep and their flocks and went outside of Bethlehem. And the sheep were following the shepherds rather than the other way around.
15:14
They were praising God the whole way. Well, speaking of praising God, would you join our choir in sharing the good news of the Messiah's birth by singing, go tell it on the mountain. Well, the savior was born in my little stable, and the only witnesses were a couple of donkeys, some cows, a couple of camels. I don't know what they say either. And a handful of humble shepherds and some sheep.
18:17
Great. Did you have to use these at all on them? What? Did you have to use these? One.
18:22
Okay. Just don't wanna hurt them. You know what I mean? Just one of them. Okay.
18:27
But what a celebration, the Messiah, the Savior was born. Seven hundred years before Jesus came, the prophet Isaiah predicted his birth. He says in Isaiah twelve six, shout aloud and sing for joy, for great is the holy one of Israel. I'm speaking of Jesus. As we close in one last song, keep in mind what a miracle it is that God came to us as Jesus so that we could have eternal life and joy in Him that begins right now and continues in eternity.
19:01
Would you stand with me in one last song expressing that joy that we have that Christ came to be the savior of the world. Let's give God a praise offering. That's tremendous. Great. Wow.
21:01
You guys did great.
21:05
Speaker 2Man, I'd love to use this on some of my sheep. Wow. That's cool. I'm sure they would love to use it on me. It's super.
21:13
Wow. Great job. Thank you, Christa and your team. I know that you, use your, spousal authority here and got Carl on this thing. Thank you for a great job.
21:24
And, I understand that Steve Marcello is going to start a new line of, of stables. So anybody who wants their own personal smoke tinted stable has a special deal going on today if you buy two. Actually, if you get one today, get them free. And, so you won't do that.
21:43
Speaker 1Anyway, a lot of
21:44
Speaker 2people went in and worked really hard in making this possible today. We want to thank you all, all these wonderful people that appear in cards and encouraging the kids all week long for weeks preparing. Again, would you give God a praise offering for what's happening today? Thank you. As we close this morning, I want to I get lots of Christmas cards and and there are so many different messages on Christmas cards.
22:10
But this one that came to me just hit me because I love the way it leads into it. We're gonna talk about in a few minutes. And the Grinch with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow stood puzzling and puzzling. How could it be so? It came without ribbons and it came without tags.
22:30
It came without packages, boxes, and bags. And he puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't thought of before. He said, what if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas perhaps seems a little bit more?
22:53
Now that's the gospel according to doctor Seuss but some of what you're looking is that found in scripture? Let me look. In reality there's a great message there because in our culture today that's what we think Christmas is. Fact it's very difficult to think Christmas outside of the of the tinsel and the glitter and the packages and the beginning. It's gotten to be so bad in fact that the Black Friday now has become Bloody Friday.
23:22
People get hurt. There have been people killed. There have been people amazed in their eyes and and, can't see for weeks because all for one little gift. But they have hundreds of those gifts, but that's the one gift they want and they spent the whole night waiting in the cold and the door opened boom they go in and they didn't get it and so they amazed the people. Because the focus now has become what you can get.
23:44
And and what's the best bargain I can get for getting what I want to get. And the whole idea of what Christmas really is all about has gone from the birth of the Christ child to the buying of the baby, to the buying of the gift, to the buying of the x box, to the buying of that thing that I've been waiting for all year long. The focus has changed. The idea of change. So Christmas for many many many people is about what I can get rather than who is the one who already gave the greatest gift ever.
24:13
God the father gave his gift Jesus. And so this morning we were reminded of that. What a what a great reminder to see and the message that the angels gave was so cool. They said, don't be afraid.
24:24
Speaker 1Well, who are they talking to? They're talking
24:25
Speaker 2to shepherds who are scared to death. Don't be afraid. What's going to happen? Why shouldn't I be afraid? Because today, the greatest gift ever, the savior is born for you.
24:36
And the message that they took, they had to go see it and they did. So this whole picture this morning brought it back to our mind. And so our prayer for you as a staff, as a church, as elders, and as a community of faith is that we go beyond the package and go beyond the box and go beyond the glitter and go beyond the tree and go to the real meaning of what Christmas is really all about. Jesus. What that means to us?
25:01
The good news that that really is. The joy that really does bring into people. The hope that that word means. When you go to other places in the world, you understand and you see how people really really look at Christmas in different ways. For Chinese, they'll spend, from about 05:00 in the afternoon to one or two in the morning celebrating.
25:23
For the Africans, they'll start about, 08:00 in the morning and they'll go until 08:00 the next morning. And they'll walk up and down the streets and they'll sing and they'll dance and the whole focus will be on the joy and celebration of Jesus. For Latin Americans the same. For the third world the majority of them haven't gotten caught up in the junk that we in our side have gotten caught up. And so for them Christmas means a whole lot different.
25:48
And so for us today what a great opportunity for us to join our children in understanding what the meaning is. And in fact to encourage our kids. One of the things that my son is doing and and and it's gonna be interesting to see if he can really do it. If he can really pull this thing off. My son is a radical like Carl.
26:06
This new generation that I'm just learning about, by the way, you talk to a new generation, you can't talk to them. You have to text them. So my son and I we text, and so, this generation is so different and and then when I wrote back to Carl this long email saying can you tell me how the service went? He just said yep. You know so he just he just speaks in one one syllables.
26:26
So it's hard to communicate. So my my son he told my grandkids he said you know we're not going to have Christmas morning the way we normally have Christmas morning. Because Christmas morning is falling on Sunday morning and so you're not gonna open up your presents. They looked at him, why daddy? Why?
26:43
Because it's not about you. It's about Jesus. We're gonna let you open them up a couple days later when it can be about you and you can enjoy it. You can but Christmas morning it's about Jesus. And and my little granddaughter, my little grandson, you know, as I'm talking to them, papa, you know what we're gonna do?
27:01
We're gonna we're gonna celebrate Jesus birthday on Christmas. I said what about your presents? We don't get presents on Jesus birthday, we give presents on Jesus birthday. So we're gonna go bless people. Here's this little eight year old and a little five year old understanding at a young age what it's really all about.
27:19
Now I'm not putting anybody under conviction. I'm just saying, isn't it interesting to see when we get back to what it's really all about? It's about giving to someone else. It's about letting Jesus know. So I wanna encourage you this Christmas to to really build into your kids and your family the real meaning of Christmas and the joy of being able to serve people.
27:36
So thank you kids for reminding us what it's all about. We praise God for you. We pray for you and so will you stand with me as we pray a blessing on these children today and all of us as we allow God to just remind us again what the real meaning is all about. And then, Renzi will come and lead us in one last song as we, go on today. Father God, we thank you for these beautiful children.
27:56
What a reminder they brought to us today. And the great message, the good news is that a savior is born. Lord, our world has forgotten that message. And so it's up to us who know the message to be able to remind people and to share them. As we go out tonight Christmas caroling and as we go out throughout this weekend, yesterday, as young people gave chocolate to the people who were cold on the square, it was a reminder again that that we love on people during these days and and we let them know that that Christmas is about giving to others because a gift was given to us, Jesus and so it's not about the package, not about the box, it's about our savior.
28:34
Would you help us this week to remember that? And lord, throughout this entire week and the next week as we go through Christmas together, we pray that that will be the message that we share with so many. Would you bless our dear people today? Would you encourage them as families? Would you allow them Lord today to to to enjoy life at its fullest?
28:52
And we we thank you for how you'll care for them and for the many who they will impact today with their lives. We give you praise. Again Lord, thank you and we give you praise in Jesus' powerful name. Amen. Let's sing together.
29:05
And that go ahead and be dismissed. Now,
32:17
Speaker 1we're
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