Sermon Tone Analysis

Record

In May of 1940 Germany advanced their armies into France essentially trapping allied forces

With Belgium, which had just suddenly and without warning surrendered unconditionally to Hitler, behind them and the English Channel in front of them

On the 26th of May Operation Dynamo began which was an effort to get the allied troops off the beach and back to England

At the outset of the plan, hopes were that 25% of the BEF, British Expeditionary Force could be saved before the rest were over-run by the Germans

That would be about 45,000 men

When the operation was completed, civilian and naval boats had been able to rescue 338,226 men from the BEF and Allied Forces

On June 4th at the conclusion of this operation, England’s newly elected Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who had only taken office less than a month before, on May 10th, made what is often considered one of his greatest speeches in front of the United Kingdom’s Parliament

In his speech he spoke of the overwhelming odds against them and how he had expected this speech to be an announcement of “the greatest military disaster in our long history.”

He spoke of the German tank regiments baring down on Dunkirk, of the German bombers flying overhead and how the channel itself was not only know for bad weather but was full of mines and torpedoes

He said, “It was in conditions such as these that our men carried on, with little or no rest, for days and nights on end, making trip after trip across the dangerous waters, bringing with them always men whom they had rescued.

The numbers they have brought back are the measure of their devotion and their courage.”

He also spoke of the more than 30,000 casualties that they suffered and how Hitler still had a plan to invade Britain itself to which he replied, “The whole question of home defense against invasion is, of course, powerfully affected by the fact that we have for the time being in this Island incomparably more powerful military forces than we have ever had at any moment in this war or the last.

But this will not continue.

We shall not be content with a defensive war.

We have our duty to our Ally.

We have to reconstitute and build up the British Expeditionary Force once again, under its gallant Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gort.

“

He concluded his speech with this well known quote, “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender”

So you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with my message today

Well it’s not just because there was a movie released recently about Operation Dynamo simply called Dunkirk, nor is it because I have developed a mild fascination with the life of Sir Winston Churchill

The reason I opened with this information today is because I believe that it is speaks directly to the us as Christians

The Bible speaks very clearly to the fact that the Christian life is not a simple stroll into eternity but that it is a constant battle with the forces of evil that would try and unravel God’s plans in our lives and in the lives of those we love and care for

Simply put people we are at war

Paul worked to remind the Colossian people of this when he wrote,

2 Corinthians 10:

And like any war, there are tough battles fought and there are casualties suffered, there are victories won and there are many ups and downs

And so as we face a new “season” with new battles lying just ahead and with some of us having just come through tough times and difficult battles, and with the loss of some whom used to call this their church home and we ask the question, ‘What’s next?’

Well let’s take a look at God’s Word and see what it says, open your Bible to Paul’s letter to the Galatians the 6th and final chapter and let’s begin reading at verse 7

Galatians 6:7-10

This morning as we consider this text asking the question “What’s Next?”

I want us to realize 3 things, There is a Plan, There is a Problem, and there is a Prognosis

First we need to realize that there is a plan

It is extremely important for us to realize that God is NOT a God of Chaos but is very much a God of order

From bringing order out of chaos at creation to the way that the universe works it is all a part of the plan of God and a part of the redemption of Christ is to restore order to the chaos introduced by sin

So why wouldn’t we expect the same from Him in regards to our lives individually and corporately?

But God does indeed have a plan and it is a simple plan, easy to understand and easy to implement, that plan is to sow and reap

Sow and reap, sow and Reap, over and over again, this is the way God ordered things to work and it’s His plan for us

But as you can tell by our text there is more than one option when it comes to sowing , forcing us to ask the question, ‘If God’s plan is that we sow and reap, what is it that we are supposed to sow?”

Fortunately that too has a simple answer

Well fortunately that also has a very simple answer

Ephesians 2:

Ephesians 2:8

Did you realize that God did not redeem you just to get you into Heaven?

We all know that there is nothing that we can do to bring about our salvation except to trust in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, in other words we can’t earn it,

It would seem to me that man a Christian thinks that way when the reality is God redeemed you and recreated you at the moment of salvation so that you could be used to fulfill a purpose that He already had in mind in advance for you to do

Listen to these verses again from the New Living Translation, “God saved you by his grace when you believed.

And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

For we are God’s masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”

Paul emphasized this in his letter to Titus saying in part,

Titus 2:11-

He continues telling the man of God to, “Remind the people…to be ready to do whatever is good”

That’s it, that’s God’s plan, He wants us to sow seeds of righteousness just by doing the good things that we were created in Christ to do!

But there’s a problem and the problem is that we get tired of sowing, we get tired of doing the good that we were created to do

We get physically tired of the toll that these good works have on our body

We get weary because we look back at all the work that we have done and we see little or no results

We get weary because we do our good works and then we see others come along and either take credit for what we have done or even sabotage our efforts

even reveals that sometimes we grow weary because there is sin in our life and it is dragging us down

The plan is simple, sow and reap but the problem is real and whether it be physically, emotionally, or spiritually we grow weary and it makes it hard to continue on with the plan

Am I right this morning or is it just me?

Well I know that it’s not just me because I can open up this book and see example after example of people that were working out the plan of God in their lives and for whatever reason grew weary

Can I let you in on a couple of secrets this morning?

The first is it is NOT a sin to grow weary.

Everyone eventually does and if you don’t I would question whether or not you have actually been doing anything

says

Everyone grows weary at some point but the second secret is that God made provision for that that’s read that verse from Isaiah again but let’s put it back into its proper context

Isaiah 40:28-

Jesus said,

God’s plan might be simple and straight forward but we cannot accomplish it in our own strength, we need to make time for God’s presence for He is our source of strength and rest

Why is it so important for us to bath everything that we do in prayer?

Is it so that God will see things from our perspective and will therefore bless whatever it is we are trying to do?

Absolutely not, we need to be in prayer so that we can derive strength from God’s presence and can continue on in His plan without growing weary and giving up

We cannot do this in our own strength but when we do it in His strength we cannot be stopped

And that brings us to the third point, the prognosis, “at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, it might not even be in our lifetime, but the scripture PROMISES that if we do not give up, there WILL be a harvest

There is absolutely nothing that can stop this from happening because it is a promise of God!

Winston Churchill knew that Britain had already faced many challenging battles and that many more were yet to come, he also understood that the people were growing weary in their resolve and so he spoke those famous words, “ we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender”

He knew the cost was too great to grow weary

We too have faced some great battles and, should Jesus tarry, there are many more to come, but we can’t afford to grow weary, we must, as Paul put it, “Press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me.”

The cost is just too great not to continue on, so let me finish with 2 other scriptures to tie all of this together and drive it home, first

Matthew 5:

1 Peter 2:12

We need to continue to sow, to do the good works that we were created in Christ to do in order that God’s plan might be fulfilled and there might be a great harvest

Lets pray