Sermon Tone Analysis

Beam Me Up Lord, There’s No Intelligent Life Forms Down Here!

Daniel 2:44

44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.

The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”

I want to suggest to you today that as pastors there are two examples of discipleship that we can pattern our ministries after right here in the book of Daniel.

There is a right way and guess what a wrong way.

Which one we choose is up to us.

I pray to the Lord that we will all stick with the right way.   .

Despite the outlook we might face, see or believe is reality God is still in charge and His purposes will accomplished with us as individuals and as a church .

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my topic “Beam Me Up Lord, There’s No Intelligent Life Forms Down Here!  Let us pray .

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As a boy there was one show in particular that held special interest for me.

It was called “Star Trek” not the one that is on now, the old classic.

James Kirk the captain of the starship enterprise, Spock the Vulcan, 2nd in command, (McCoy) Bones the physician, Scottie the ship’s attendant and a host of others.

What especially got me going was the beginning of the show.

You can see the spaceship in the heavens and you would hear the voice of the captain of the starship enterprise.

Saying "Space, the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Sometimes in their explorations they would beam down on a particular terrain to find an uninhabited planet.

After a few moments of searching with their phasers the captain would take out his communication phaser and pronounce “Scotty beam us up there’s no intelligent life forms down here.”

Whatever the situation, the alien aggressors, plagues, seductive evil mistresses or maybe flight crew members on his own ship whose minds became maladjusted when overtaken by extraterrestrial forces and would battle him, whatever odds that were pitted against him whether on land, sea, space or on his own ship he would always find himself on the winning side.

But as in any action drama series the star of the show or in this case the captain always seemed in the end to get the girl.

And He always seemed to know, in each situation along with his crew, just exactly what to do.

Enter in the Seventh-day Adventist minister.

You know growing up in New York City as a boy I had my heroes.

Sure there were the regular fictional heroes, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, The Falcon .

.  .

But there were others.

One of my heroes as a young boy, not having the call myself as yet, but one of my real life heroes was the Seventh-day Adventist minister.

I was excited and ecstatic; I was inspired and thrilled watching that man on the altar on Sabbath morning in holy awe delivering the message with power that God gave him.

Or in the midst of battle during what they call an evangelistic crusade seeing him and his crew being used to wrest, by the grace of God, souls from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of safety and light.

As a young child I was thrilled to know that I was in the church of destiny the true church that believed and taught all of the word of God.

The actual church mentioned in Rev 12:17.

I was a member of it.

One thing that puzzled me as a child, it burned me.

It was the first time in my entire life that I had ever seen a grown man cry!

It was a Seventh-day Adventist minister on a Seventh-day Adventist pulpit in a Seventh-day Adventists church!

I remember as a family when we just came to the United States from England we worshipped at a church in Brooklyn.

They had a meeting and members would get up and point and yell each taking his~/her turn until the time came where the minister cried right in the meeting.

In my then youthful state of mind I said to myself if these people are Christians why do they act this way?

Those questions where not answered in my young mind, but the impression was made that the lot of the preacher was not an easy road.

With much anticipation and eagerness I set out by the help of God to follow my dream of ministry.

But even as a young minister I never really settled that battle within my brain the question of trouble in the church.

The discrepancy of lives inside the church bugged me among members, church leaders and even ministers.

Even before I ever had my first board meeting I began to see.

Finally I finished college and I received my BA.

I, who looked up to the SDA minister as one of my heroes, finally became one.

Super hero me steps on into the scene ready to do my thing ready to preach Jesus, ready to preach the three angels message to the world but guess what there wasn’t much fan fare when I arrived.

The elder with years of experience whose demeanor hits you like a balled up fist churned up between your nostrils and lips whose attitude says “you’re just a young buck, welcome back to school!”

 

Board meetings and business meetings where every idea you have, every process, every inspiration is met with an objection from the church manual by an antagonistic member.

And you’re sitting there discouraged, frustrated and angry fighting the temptation to go upside his head with that very same manual that he keeps quoting from.

Church Folk who seemingly pattern themselves after people in the Bible.

Trouble is some act more like the demoniacs than disciples.

Sisters who seek you through the throng like the woman with the issue of blood sought Jesus (hopefully not the other way around).

Multiple individuals all who receive a Word from the Lord but all are different words to direct the church and also you as pastor.

Members who question your authority, knowledge, competency and spirituality.

The church seem lifeless and dry.

You can literally skate down the isle.

Not interest in outreach or in-reach as matter of fact the only thing they reach for is each others necks and yours!

And you say to yourself, Hey WAIT A MINUTE!  WAIT ONE MINUTE!

I DIDN’T READ THIS STUFF IN THE SCRIPT!

WHERE’S THE TRUE CHURCH?

WHERE’S THE TRUE CHRISTIAN?

WHERE’S THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT?

WHERE’S JESUS?

And in all the chaos you may take out the phaser of prayer and call the Saviour up and say “Beam me up Lord (get me outta here!)

There’s no intelligent life forms down here”

 

This is not Christianity, this is not Adventism, this is confusion.

Dr.

Marshall Shelley

 

Describes in his book “Well-Intentioned Dragons” different kinds of individuals some merely nuisances others who pose serious threats to church life.

The Bird dog – Four legged bird dogs point where the hunter should shoot.

The two legged bird dog loves to be the pastor’s eyes, ears and nose, sniffing out items for attention.

“If I were you, I’d give Mrs Greenlee a call.

She has some marital problems you need to confront.”

Or, “We need more activities for the youth.”

Or why doesn’t the church do something about .

.  .”

Most pastors respond to Bird Dogs by saying, “The Lord hasn’t said anything to me about this, but it sounds like a good idea.

Obviously you’re concerned, and that’s usually a sign the Lord is telling you to do something about it.”

Those genuinely concerned will take up the challenge.

Genuine Bird Dogs, however, will grumble, “That’s your job, Pastor.

I’m just calling your attention to something important.”[1]

The Wet Blanket –If you’ve heard the phrase “It’s no use trying,” you’ve probably spotted the Wet Blanket.

These people have a negative disposition that’s contagious.

They spread gloom, erase excitement, and bog down the ministry.

Their motto: “Nothing ventured, nothing lost.”

The Entrepreneur.

Just the opposite of the Wet Blanket, the Entreprenuer is enthusiastic.

He’s the first to greet visitors at the church and invite them to his home.

Unfortnately, in addition to being enthusiastic about the church, he’s equally eager to sell them vitamins, bee pollen, or car wax.”

Captain Bluster

This is the person who comes from the union steward school of diplomacy and speaks with an exclamation point instead of a period.

He (or she) is right, and everyone else is wrong, and he doesn’t mind saying in the middle of a church business meeting, “I don’t like what you said.”

“All our salaries are out of line; pastors are paid too much these days!”

Said one such dragon in a business meeting with the pastor’s entire family present.

The Fickle Financier

This person uses money to register approval or disapproval of church decisions.

Sometimes he protest silently by merely withholding offerings.

The Busybody

Who enjoys telling others how to do their jobs