Sermon Tone Analysis

Assurance

Prayer

You are our steadfast and merciful Father

You make covenants and you keep them, for you cannot lie and you do not change

O Lord, remember your lovingkindness.

Hear our prayers.

You have said that your house shall be called a house of prayer, and you have said that where two or three are gathered in your name you are in our midst.

Hear our prayers, faithful and loving Father.

We pray that your would build up and strengthen your people here today.

Increase our faith, preserve us, let us never be confounded.

Keep our path steady and our footsteps firm.

May we live as a people of hope, that others might see us and know that we have a faithful God who keeps promises, that others might see that we have a father in heaven and bless your name.

So fill us with your spirit.

Shine the light of your word upon our hearts and cleanse us from hidden sin

Forgive us, father.

Wash us clean by the blood of the lamb.

In your mercy and in your justice, remove our sins from us.

We remember that you hear prayer.

You have given us our daily bread, as you have promised.

You have not forsaken us, as you have promised.

You have healed our diseases, as you have promised.

And you have opened the windows of heaven and filled our mouths with good things.

Your corn and your wine you have provided for us and we thank you.

Thank you for music and beauty; thank you for feast days and friends.

Thank you for families and shelter and home.

And Lord God, remember mercy.

We pray that you would comfort the lonely, strengthen the weak, establish the fearful and downhearted, and bring the wandering back home.

Forgive and restore those who are straying.

Deliver us from the cunning of the evil one.

And heal those who are sick.

Provide for our needs.

Guide our steps over the next few weeks and lead us to green pastures.

Thank you for our children and our children’s children.

Bless the young ones here today.

Give them wisdom while they are young.

Draw their hearts to you in their tender years.

Set their feet firmly on solid ground.

As your word is preached this morning, we pray that you would give boldness and faithfulness to your ministers and that you would tear down false shepherds and those who hate your word.

We pray that you would guard your sheep and not let them become prey to the wolves who prey upon them.

And that your word would comfort, reprove, encourage, strengthen your people today.

Apply it to the heart by your holy spirit and breathe upon us.

Make these dead bones live, dear Father.

We pray for our nation and our state.

We pray that you would not treat us as we deserve, but treat us according to your kindness.

Give wisdom to President Biden.

Give wisdom to our judges and senators and representatives.

Tear down those who seek their own, and who seek to subvert and destroy.

And in our own community, protect the foreigner and the stranger, for our fathers were strangers in the land of Egypt and you care for them.

Deliver the oppressed from the oppressor.

Free those in bondage to alcohol, pornography, drugs and be merciful to them.

And teach us to be merciful to all we come in contact with during our time on this earth.

Teach us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, for our community is full of violence and despair, anger and hopelessness – breathe your holy spirit upon us, and gather your sheep into the fold, wherever they might be.

We remember, Lord Jesus, your compassion – for you saw that the sheep had no shepherd.

Remember that compassion in our community and gather your sheep together.

We commit our way unto you.

Direct our steps.

Give us our portion, for you know what is best.

And when we are afraid, teach us to trust in you, that we might be faithful servants of our Lord Jesus.

And lets pray together:

Scripture

Text

Sermon

The person of Christ

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

The God that spoke to Moses from the burning bush

The God that thundered from Mt Sinai

The God that appeared to Isaiah, high and lifted up

THIS God became flesh and walked with us.

This one true eternal God is revealed in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But there is only one will in God.

The will of the Father and the will of the Son and the will of the Holy Spirit are one undivided will.

There can be no authority and submission in God for there are not multiple wills.

Only one will of God - F,S and HS

Only the second person became flesh, but this was the work of the undivided trinity.

In his flesh, Jesus submitted to the Father, but according to his divine nature, that will was one.

We will never fathom the Trinity, but it is important to get it right.

Otherwise, our salvation is based on divine child abuse.

It is NOT true that the Father punished the Son for man’s sin.

The truth is that God took upon himself the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race in the person of the Son.

When Jesus said, “Your will, and not mine be done” he is speaking according to his human nature, for he had both human will and divine will.

Justice and the law

The Lord God who revealed himself to the patriarchs and prophets is the God of all power, might and dominion.

He does as he pleases, he created the world out of nothing with simply his word.

God, by the Son through the Spirit created and upholds all things by his almighty power.

And this almighty power, according to Paul, is known by every human being born of Adam

In every religious system in the world, the salvation of the world will come from God - or the gods - exercising their power.

It makes sense to our natural sensibilities.

We are overcome by powerlessness and say to ourselves, If only we had a champion, a king to come over the hill, a powerful ally.

We long for the Millenial Falcon to arrive at the exact right moment and save the day.

We desire justice - and long for a king or ruler that will bring justice.

And that can only be done by power.

The king says, “Here is the law.

Here are the punishments if you break the law.

Here are the rewards if you keep the law.”

And this is the only kind of justice that the world knows.

A just king punishes evildoers and rewards righteousness.

But there is even more.

There is a power in society, in nature, in everything around us.

A person who is lawless, who steals, rapes, mistreats others or is just generally unpleasant to be around will generally find himself without friends and cast out, unless he has money.

A person who believes that gravity is a hoax will find himself with broken bones.