Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Tone of specific sentences
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Have you ever imagined what eternity will be like?
Let’s begin with the length of eternity.
Picture a beach where each pebble of sand represents 100 years.
Now imagine that beach having no end.
How does that image make you feel?
Excited?
Uneasy?
Ecclesiastes indicates that there is a watermark of eternity imprinted upon each of our hearts.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)
He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Did you catch that last part?
God has put eternity into each persons heart, but on our own, we cannot figure out what eternity will be like.
But this reality hasn’t stopped us from trying.
John Lennon imagined erasing eternity in his famous song, “Imagine”,
“Imagine there’s no heaven.
It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us.
Above us, only sky.
Imagine all the people.
Livin’ for today.”
He got one thing right in this song.
It is easy to imagine life without eternity.
Many people are living their lives on earth as if there is no eternal consequence.
But it is not leading to the result of unity and peace that John predicted.
People are hopeless and unhappy.
Life with no eternity is life without purpose.
The bad guys get away with it.
The poor are never restored.
The pleasures of this life never satisfied.
But why would he, or anyone, want to imagine existence with no eternity?
One of the reasons, is because we are woefully misguided on what eternity will be like.
I have heard eternity described as a continual worship session.
I like singing, but man, that’s a long Sunday service.
I have seen eternity painted as naked babies sitting on clouds.
Don’t get me wrong, I like relaxing, but at some point I want to be active.
What if eternity isn’t what we expect?
What if the reality of eternity is beyond anything our best songwriters could imagine?
We need God’s help to uncover the fullness of hope that awaits us, who belong to him.
In tonight’s passage, we will uncover four unexpected realities about eternity.
1. God will restore unity and purpose.
9 For I will then restore
pure speech to the peoples
so that all of them may call
on the name of the Lord
and serve him with a single purpose.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush
my supplicants, my dispersed people,
will bring an offering to me.
The title of this sermon series is “why have hope”?
Until this point in the book of Zephaniah, we find little reason for the people to have hope.
They felt like God didn’t care.
They were using their words to pray to false God’s and share false ideas.
They were broken and divided.
As a result of their rebellion, God made it clear that they were going to be disciplined by being taken into exile.
But in the vision of them returning, there seems to be a great reversal.
The people are using their words to build up.
They are all praying to the one true God.
They are unified in their mission and service to one leader- God himself.
They have purpose and unity.
How did this happen?
I believe the exile changed them.
Their challenges made them stronger.
Their pain purified their purpose.
Biblically, we cannot give you hope for any desire in this life.
We cannot promise that your life will be easy.
We cannot promise that America will be a good place to live 50 years from now, or 5 years from now.
We cannot promise that you will be rich and famous.
But if you belong to God, we can promise that you will never be alone.
We can promise you that you will find your purpose.
And you will enjoy these blessings forever.
Now you may think, how does that help me pass high school?
How does that help me enter into a healthy marriage?
If you know that your eternity is secure and satisfying, you will be free to have hope no matter what happens during your brief life knowing that something better is coming.
When your current friend group is plagued with drama and division, you can dream about the day when you will be fully supported by those around you.
When you are confused about what to do with your life, you can imagine the joy you will feel when all you have to worry about is enjoying God.
You will forever belong to a community that is unified and filled with meaning.
And you will discover that God doesn’t just care about the group, he cares about the individual.
2. God will replace shame with honor.
There are two types of shameless people in the world.
Those who are shameless because their conscience has become callous.
Simply put, they are shameless because they don’t care.
They have traded their dignity and honor for the cheap value of fleeting pleasures.
The second group of shameless people, have no shame because they know they are forgiven.
They are confident, not because they have no regrets, but because their regrets have been redeemed.
Through his love, God will turn the first group into the second.
11 On that day you will not be put to shame
because of everything you have done
in rebelling against me.
In the beginning of the book they had lost all dignity.
Now, God was going to restore their honor by forgiving them.
He can do the same for you.
If you believe the gospel, you can transfer from the first shameless group to the second shameless group.
Not because you haven’t rebelled against God, but because God has redeemed you!
For then I will remove
from among you your jubilant, arrogant people,
and you will never again be haughty
on my holy mountain.
12 I will leave
a meek and humble people among you,
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