Sermon Tone Analysis

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Sean Booth Prayer retreat

BBQ after church at Greenhaven Neighborhood

Intro

We have been on a new series called More than forgiveness…And hopefully today that series title will begin making more sense

The past two weeks we have been looking at two foundational ideas

God is Holy: And we have to respond to that holiness

And last week we looked at this idea that God set apart time for us to enjoy Him.

God created the sabbath for us to aid us in our holiness…so that we can experience his holiness...

And so that He can shape us...

So before we get going I want to tell a story that I think will lay out the idea of holiness and where we are going today

The Powerless Life Story

So a number of years ago I was discipling a guy in the church and he had told me some of his hangups.

And every week we met he wanted forgiveness for the same thing.

The first couple of weeks we prayed for forgiveness...

Then it went away for a while…it seemed like this guy was living a victorious life…And then it would come back from time to time…this one hang up and we would pray together…and then he would do better…and then we would pray about it again

And finally one of these days he told me that he had fallen back into that same hangup that he was dealing with before and again…the song and dance...

I hate it when this happens…Oh why do I do these same old things over and over again

Pastor would you pray for me.

And I don’t know how to describe what was happening in me at that moment

But I was frustrated…angry…mad...

Thinking I have spent months with you going over the Bible and you really wanted a changed life and you keep going back to the same thing

What came up in my mind is this:

I had just read this in my bible

So either in stroke of pastoral brilliance or foolishness I am still not sure

I said…have you ever seen this proverb?

This is you…You keep returning to the vomit of your life and I don’t know why...

So No, I wont pray with you for forgiveness...

And he was shocked…Like your a pastor, that’ your job...what are you doing?

So then I explained to him…The last thing you need is another pardon from your sin

because do you know what you are going to do? You’re going to leave here and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders and then in two weeks your going to come back and say guess what happened again!

No the last thing you need is another pardon.

We are not going to pray for forgiveness

We are going to pray for a new heart

We are going to pray for the Holy Spirit to enter your life and for you to live by his power and not your own...

See, I hadn’t been able to articulate this before because that person in my mind was a good person they just had a little hangup

But what I came to realize in that moment was that ....All of victories depended on his effort…

He was only able to live a life of victory over sin and darkness so far as he remained strong

His victory depended on his strength....This is a precarious place to be in!

But I know the human condition, no one is that strong…Sin and temptation are constantly there

And when your victories depend on your effort then you are living in your own power and not in the power of the Holy Spirit...

So I start with this story today because some of you read Proverbs 26:11 as I was reading it

This proverb is a word picture of the defeated life.

A life where you are depending on your own willpower for transformation.

But no matter how disciplined or strong you might be.

You can not go it alone in following Jesus

So I want to start with this fill-in this morning

Holiness begins with a willful emptying of yourself and a filling with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20)

When the Apostle Paul talked about following Jesus this is how he spoke

He said it most clearly here:

Following Jesus means full surrender and full allegiance.

It means all who we are including our identity is his

To say that I have been crucified with Christ…This means that there is a death that happens…That you put off your old self...

That part of you that tries to live in its own power...

That part of you that keeps returning to its vomit...

And it is asking God to live in your life so that you can actually say...

Hey that dave you knew years ago…Yeah he’s dead its is not me any more…I have been remade by Jesus because Dave died years ago and its now Jesus that lives in my life!

This is the essence of holiness...

Its not about trying to look good for others or being exactly morally right...

It is about such a full surrender that you don’t matter any more and the work of Jesus in your life is magnified

A Holy God wants humanity to experience Holiness

So what Does God want for us?

what does he require?

So now we have this foundation that God is Holy and in his holiness, his set-apartness he sats things like this

The Leader of the Disciples Jesus after he confronted the resurrected Lord would write to the church

I just want to read you three verses:

Leviticus 11:44a (NIV)

I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.

The Bible is so clear.

God is Holy.

You be Holy

I mean without holiness no one will be able to see God…What does this mean?

Let’s take it back to Moses at the Burning Bush

Moses was in God’s holy presence and he couldn't go any further…He couldn’t yet see God

It wasn't until he spent a significant amount of time in prayer and fasting…actually 40 days before he could be holy enough to be in God’s presence

Literally without being set apart and removing all sin from his life…without Holiness, Moses couldn't see God....

You can’t get to holiness on your own power…I don’t care how hard you try or how many degrees you have…You just wont get there on your own

But what I hope to show you today is that God has provided a way for us to see him....Indeed God wants to be seen!

So I want to spend a few minutes in the Old Testament today

I want to give you this visual...

Its like the Old Testament Authors are building stairs...

The old testament always points us to Jesus

But it does it one stair at a time...

And as you read the old testament story it like keeps leveling up…They keep giving you a part of the story until Jesus comes and its like, OH this is what all the stairs were leading to, it makes perfect sense

So what I want to give you today is the key to the powerful life…and this sermon will end with an invitation to live not in your own power but in the power of the Holy Spirit…But please let me walk you up the stairs so to speak

What I want to do is to track the presence of God with you through the Bible…and you know what these verses are all going to be printed for you so I would recommend that you just take notes and look them up later

First and foremost, we are going to see that God’s presence is symbolized in the Bible by fire.

Notes:

-God is in this bush, that is on fire but doesn't burn up

-Moses Hid is face…Why?

He is contaminated by sin and can not stand to look at God who is pure holiness...

But if You were to ask Moses, where is God…He would say: right there in that bush!

So next the people of God are wondering around the dessert: and we see this little editorial note in Exodus…and this note appears over and over again:

So where is God?

He is in that pillar of fire that is traveling around the dessert follow Him!

And all of Israel at this point is organized around this pillar of fire

So then in our Journey we get to Exodus 19, and in this passage the people are all gathered around Sinai... Exodus 19 is one of the most impotrant chapters leading up to the 10 commandments

The people are preparing to receive the law from the Lord…I mean the next chapter is the 10 commandments

Ok!

So many Biblical steps are being laid here...