Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Nan was deeply loved by everyone who met her.

When we think of her, we think about her gentle and quiet spirit.

We think about her smile that filled the whole room.

The reason we could see that beautiful smile, and the reason for her gentle and quiet spirit, is because deep inside her burned a red hot fire of love for the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

From the first minute you met Nan you could just tell there was something different about her.

There was no doubt about it, when you look around to the majority of people in the world you don’t see the same thing.

But when you looked at Nan you saw that light in her eyes, and you saw that smile, you knew right away that there was something different about this woman.

Nan was always willing to help people, whether it was here at St. Luke’s, or Bethel or with the seniors, Nan just loved to help people.

In the first scripture reading from the Book of Proverbs chapter 31, the writer describes what a woman of noble character is like.

When we look at Nan’s life we see that she fits those words .

Pr 31.

Everyone who knew her knew that she worked tirelessly to help others.

Nan was always involved with the church in whatever way she could.

She helped with meals on wheels, and no matter what project she was involved in, she would seem to recruit the necessary volunteers from her pool volunteers, you may know them as her her family.

As I was talking with you I got the feeling that perhaps Nan recruited you a bit against your will.

Maybe you always didn’t necessarily want to volunteer all those times.

I get it and that’s ok.

But you know what?

That just shows us how much Nan loved the Lord Jesus.

It shows us how she wanted to serve him so much, that she couldn’t even do it all herself.

Her love for the Lord Jesus was so great that even when she gave all she had to give, she had to go out and recruit you guys just so she could give more.

Why was that?

What makes someone like Nan a proverbs 31 woman?

What makes some so filled with joy that you could see it on her face?

What makes someone so dedicated to helping others?

Is

Let me explain that to you.

As we were making the arrangements for today, Jim called me up, and he told me that he had Nan’s Bible, and she had highlighted a lot of verses.

There was

That was the joy that was always on Nancy’s face.

And

That was what sustained her and kept her going.

ANd Mattehw 4.4

There was the passage about loving your enemies, and the Lord’s prayer, Nan loved that.

And Jim also told me that she had highlighted all the salvation verses.

Salvation verses are those passages of scripture that talk about who Jesus is, and how to turn from your sins and follow the Lord Jesus.

Passages like those meant the most to Nan because Nan had placed her faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of her sins.

Nan knew that Jesus died on the cross in her place so that she could not only spend eternity in His presence, but also to live a life wholly and devoted to serving him.

The reason we were able to look and see so much love and joy in Nan was that when were looking at Nan we were seeing what Jesus was doing in Nan.

It was because Nancy Elsbecker knew the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

It was because Nancy Elsbecker placed her faith and her trust in death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is because Nancy Elsbecker turned from her sins, and gave her life to following Jesus.

What made Nan so special was she knew Jesus.

What made Nan so special was that she knew Jesus.

I twas by her knowing

Because of her love for Jesus all of us around her, wanted to know Jesus more.

The second scripture reading we had this morning.

When we sit here this morning, and we look back at her life, we are certainly heartbroken.

We have pain and we are going to miss her terribly.

And we try to comfort one another by saying things and doing thins to help the pain go away and it is hard, real hard.

But because Nan knew Jesus she also knew this about Jesus, She knew that Jesus cares about each one of you here, and Jesus knows exactly what you are going through, and he does care.

In this second scripture reading from .

John writes about a time when Jesus lost one of his dear friends Lazarus.

Jesus is told that the one he loves is sick.

We see how Jesus loved and cared so deeply for His friends.

Several times in the text John tells us that Jesus loved them

John 11

and in verse 5

Later on in this chapter, Jesus after seeing the pain in his friends was so deeply moved that he wept.

When we are in pain, we often wonder where God was when

While pain, and hurt and healing are a part this process, Jesus does not intend for us to stay there.

As we remember Nan we remember the smile on her face, the obvious joy that went down deep in her soul.

She had joy because she trusted in Jesus, and had the joy of knowing that she would one day be with Jesus.

The passage

John 11

Martha has some faith

This is very strange, Why did Jesus do that?

We ask the same question and we wonder?

I wonder that myself.

I know God hears our prayers.

And we were praying for Nancy.

We were praying for her here, and I am sure many of you were praying for her as well.

But this time Jesus didn’t heal her.

We can’t pretend to know all the reasons, we don’t know all the reasons why things happen the way they do, sometimes Jesus did heal people, some people did not get healed.

Even when people did get healed, eventually they still died.

I can’t tell you why God didn’t heal Nancy.

We don’t why God chooses when people people will leave us, those reasons belong to Him alone, but we do some things.

In the case of Lazarus we know that It was for God’s glory.

Twice in this passage Jesus tells us that the death of Lazarus is for God’s glory.

Once in verse 4.

Sometimes God heals, sometimes God does not, but always God is glorified.

And sometimes we jsut can’t see the reasons why.

Jesus knows your pain and your hurt, and Jesus came as a man and as God made flesh.

Jesus the came and lived as a man and experienced the same pain and hurt that we all experience.

In fact in a portion of story we didn’t read this moring, showsJesus does love you, and does care about you and your loss, and because Jesus is fully man He even understands the pain you are going through, but Jesus is also fully God which shows us so much more.

even more than

john 11.233-36

We do have some comfort

We do have some comfort in knowing that when we trust in Jesus, when we turn form our sins, and place our faith in Jesus, we will one day be with him too.

.

33-36

Jesus does love you, and does care about you and your loss, and because Jesus is fully man He even understands the pain you are going through, but Jesus is also fully God which shows us so much more.

even more than

John 11:23-

Let’s pick pick up the story when Jesus arrives at the home.

Jesus says I AM the resurrection and the life.

And whoever LIVES by believing in me will never die.

But we can also live now in the joy that is Nan knew about as she lived her life for Jesus.

Nan Lived by believing in Him.

She lived her life in touch with Jesus.

She lived her whole life for the glory of God.