Sermon Tone Analysis

New Year.

Same Gospel.

Alright church, we are continuing our journey thru Luke’s Gospel.

I’m very excited to get back into it.

We have 6 Chapters left.

We started this journey a year ago.

January 16 of 2022 to be exact.

Why?

Why have we spent a year, what will end up being a year a few months, going thru Luke’s Gospel?

Well, let me remind you of some words I shared when we began...

“I just believe we need some good news.

I just believe we need the Gospel.

I just believe we need Jesus.

So we are going to take some time to rediscover Jesus.

We are Christians.

We follow Jesus.

We follow the life and teaching and power of Jesus.

It seems that in our current cultural moment that we need more of Jesus not less.

In this age of discontent, deconstruction, and deconversion the only hope is Jesus.

We can find contentment in Jesus.

We can find a solid foundation in Jesus.

We can find transformation in Jesus.

We need to discover again the beauty and power and mystery and revelation and truth of Jesus.

We need to discover again the life and teachings and miracles and kingdom of Jesus.

We need to fall in love with Jesus again.

Thats the Gospel.

That’s the Good News.

Jesus is the Good News.

The life and death and resurrection of Jesus and all that entails is the Good News.

So we are going to spend some time rediscovering this Good News and coming closer to Jesus to begin this new year.”

So to make it plain, we’ve been journeying thru Luke’s Gospel because we need to refocus on Jesus.

We live in a time of mental health crisis, political upheaval, toxic worldviews, sexual confusion, injustices, inequities, the devaluing of human life, technological curiousity and transformation, dispare, the collapse of institutions - religious, education, political, media, a growing distrust of leaders of all spheres of society, war, refugee crisis, genocide, violence, fear, and a growing view that Christianity, specifically American Evangelicalism is part of the problem and not part of the solution.

So what is the Church to do?

What are Christians to do?

I think the answer is to get back to the Jesus of the Gospels.

That’s why we’ve journey through Luke for a year.

That’s why we’ve not gotten into a hurry.

That’s why we’ve not rushed thru the Scriptures.

I believe my job as your pastor is to equip you to live in the present evil age, not as warriors against the world but as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God and His Christ.

The posture is difference.

A warrior views everything thu the lens of war.

An ambassador views everything thru the lens of a representative.

Now, we are at war against the forces of darkness in this present evil age, but it’s not a war against flesh and blood.

An ambassador perspective is a perspective of discernment.

And ambassador perspective understands that flesh and blood, people, are the invitees into the kingdom that the forces of darkness are trying to kill.

An ambassador perspective lives from the place of Jesus’ victory over the principalities and powers and sees the lost as captives to be freed and not captors to be crushed.

The captor was crushed by Christ on the cross.

My job as your pastor is to help you see the difference between captor and captive, and to equip you to live as an ambassador of Christ- a Kingdom Representative that demonstrates and proclaims to better way of the new Kingdom.

And I believe that to help us be the ambassador that we are we need to know the King and His Kingdom Good News.

We need to see Jesus.

Because as we see Jesus we understand how this Good News changes not only the sinner but also the saint.

We see how the Kingdom challenges our hunger for power, and sex, and money.

We see how the Kingdom offers us a way of peace and hope and a better story that what we see around us.

We see how the Kingdom Way of Jesus offers us a wholeness this world cannot.

We see how the Kingdom Way of Jesus gives us strength even in our weakness.

We see how the Kingway Way of Jesus challenges our self-righteouness and gives us a path of humility.

We see how the Kingdom Way of Jesus shows us who to live in Truth and Grace.

We see how the Kingdom Way of Jesus make the weak strong, the least the greatest, the last the first.

We see how the Kingdom Way of Jesus reveals the fullness of the love of God.

We see how the Kingdom Way of Jesus lifts up the broken and who all are invited to the joy of this Kingdom.

So we journey through Luke because we need to see Jesus, meek and lowly and also high and lifted up.

Because thats the only way we can learn to better way.

So not only will we finish our Journey thru Luke’s Good News, we will also start the year in prayer and fasting and scripture reading.

21 days.

Wednesday evening will be prayer meetings.

Saturday mornings at 9 will be an hour of prayer.

There will be guided scripture readings, prayer guides, and fasting plans.

Why?

So we can see Jesus more clearly.

I believe this year is a year of presence For this church.

A year where we passionatly pursue the presence of God and passionately practice the presence of God.

We need a fresh vision of the Ancient of Days.

I Saw The LORD

We could talk about Uzziah.

We could talk about the uncertainty of the people because of his death.

We could talk about the LORD and the train, his robe filling the temple and His rule and reign being certain even though the earthly king had died the KING of KINGS still sat enthroned with all power and wisdom and glory.

We could talk about the presence of God shaking the house.

We could talk about the sinfulness of Israel and Isaiah, and fire of purification that cleanses our lips, our witness, our voice, our message, our life, our hearts, our spirit.

We could talk about the angelic messenger.

We could talk about the confession of Isaiah.

But what I want you to see this morning is that Kingdom message cannot be delivered until there is a messenger willing to go “Here I am.

Send me.”

Heat me this morning… It took Isaiah seeing the LORD high and lifted up for Isaiah to say here I am send me.

It took Isaiah seeing the LORD high and lifted up to be willing to confess his sins and the sins of his people.

It took Isaiah seeing the LORD high and lifted up to be willing to have the fire from the alter touch his lips and cleanse him of his sin.

It took Isaiah seeing the LORD high and lifted up to be willing to be the prophet he was called to be.

Until we allow ourselves to be in a position of seeing the LORD we won’t be willing to be cleansed, called, and commissioned.

Until we get a fresh vision of KING Jesus we will walk in fear and confusion and unsteadiness.

Isaiah had to get a fresh vision of the KING of Heaven and Earth to be the ambassador of the Kingdom.

We need a fresh vision of Jesus.

We’ve been distracted.

We’ve been confused.

We’ve been afraid.

We’ve been busy.

We’ve been uncertain.

We’ve been prideful.

We’ve been idolatrous.

We’ve been tempted.

We’ve been tried.

We’ve been hopeless.