Sermon Tone Analysis

CALL TO WORSHIP

We come to worship

knowing that God wants us

to live up to his high standards.

May we learn to live as he asks,

treating everyone as Jesus would.

(StF 18) Be Still and know I am God.

A GATHERING PRAYER

Lord, help us to see others

as you see them.

To pay attention to how we act,

not to what others do.

Keep us always focused on you, Lord,

so that we cannot turn from you

because you are all around us.

Amen.

A PRAYER OF ADORATION

God of Integrity,

God of truth and wisdom,

we worship and adore you.

Jesus who lived without sin,

who lived life in all its fullness,

we worship and adore you.

Holy Spirit, who leads and guides us

to live with honesty and sincerity,

we worship and adore you.

Amen.

A PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Reconciling God,

forgive us when we make wrong choices,

when our decisions are not of honesty and integrity.

Forgive us when we hurt others by our words and actions.

Forgive us when we judge others and think ourselves better.

Forgive us when relationships break down and we do not want to repair them.

Forgive us when we don’t strive for peace.

Reconciling God, we choose life – life in all its fullness in you.

Amen.

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

Lord Jesus Christ,

thank you that in you we have new life,

We choose life today through the cross,

We are healed and restored,

We are reconciled with one another in you,

We thank you that we are forgiven

and can again live in love and peace with all.

Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

(Offering during Hymn)

(StF 409) Let us build a house where love can dwell.

READING

Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.

16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.

You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before your life and death, blessings, and curses.

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

(StF 610) Best of all God is with us.

Matthew 5: 21-37

21 ‘You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.”

22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[b][c] will be subject to judgment.

Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, “Raca,”[d] is answerable to the court.

And anyone who says, “You fool!” will be in danger of the fire of hell.

23 ‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

25 ‘Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.

Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.

26 Truly I tell you; you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Adultery

27 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.”[e]

28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Divorce

31 ‘It has been said, “Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.”[f]

32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

33 ‘Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not break your oath, but fulfil to the Lord the oaths you have made.”

34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

37 All you need to say is simply “Yes,” or “No”; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.[g]

(StF 242) A new commandment I give to you.

SERMON

We are asked this simple question from our reading from Deuteronomy and it is simply this…

Do we love God or not?

Do we make excuses why we don’t hear Him? Today God has given us the choice between life and death, blessings, and curses.

Heaven and earth it is our choice.

God’s hope is that we would choose life!

Leo Tolstoy told a story of a man in a boat: He was told to aim for the opposite shore, he has been given a pair of oars and then left alone.

He rows a short time but he found the current drove him away from the shore.

He saw other boats in the same stream.

Some were struggling against the current trying to reach the shore while others are just drifting along.

“Is this the way he asked those floating downstream?” the man asks.

“Of course, it is!

What do you think?

There is no other way.”

So, the man relaxes and allows the current to take him.