Sermon Tone Analysis

The Fellowship of the Forgiven

I am sure this week in some aspects as messed you up.

You say what do you mean?

Some of you recieved the teaching from the Kerry Skinner and said I am not sure how I handle all this.

Good

I hope you will keep wrestling with the Word of God and how to live out His word in your daily life.

This morning we launch a new series titled The Fellowship of the Forgiven.

We spent several weeks talking about unforgiveness and how to forgive others.

After Kerry was here, I really began to zero in on walking in the Spirit.

I am ready for our congregation to move from constantly trying to stop living in a life style and for us to begin thinking about and constantly trying to start living a Christ like lifestyle.

So today we begin this transition from stop living in order to be a Christian to we want to start living to be a Christian.

May our thoughts be consumed by what brings Jesus Glory rather than us constantly thinking about how we disappoint him.

Jesus may I live a life that brings you Glory.

So we titled this series The Fellowship of the Forgiven.

We want you to know that you are forgiven of your sin but what does it mean to live a life of fellowship with Jesus.

The Fellowship of the Forgiven

For this series Cameron, Justin and myself began to discuss where we might go for this topic and we settled on 1 John so we will be preaching through the book of 1 John in order to look at what does it mean to live a life of fellowship with Jesus by the Forgiven.

1 John is a pastoral letter.

It is a letter that can be viewed as from a pastor to his flock.

The author consistently shows a tender, pastoral care for his readers.

You will hear this in terms like to make our joy complete, so that you will not sin and so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Joy, holiness, assurance: these are the Christian qualities the pastor desires to see in his flock.

1 John 1:1-4

I need a volunteer...

I need someone who does not mind talking in front of a group of people.

This person needs good eyes, good hearing and can follow directions.

Who do I have?

Alright come on up.

I want to take you back here where everyone can’t see and we are out of the way.

It will just be me and you.

Look at this object

(Illustration continues)

1 John

The author writes and says what was from the beginning.

He writes about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This continues to affirm the incarnation of Jesus Christ as in Gospel of John

That Jesus is God and that Jesus being fully God became man for us.

We know that the virgin birth testifies that Jesus has always existed and was not created.

So the writer establishes that he was from the beginning and then he begins to testify.

We have heard

We have seen with our eyes

We have observed

We have touched with our hands

He mentions 3 of the five senses.

He says we have heard with our ears from Jesus, we have seen with our eyes Jesus and we have touched with our hands Jesus.

This mornings illustration they came to tell you that they had seen what was in my hand they had touched what was in my hand and they had observed what was in my hand.

So it became believable for you that I had something in my hand.

So what was in my hand?

This marble from Black Diamond Glass Company.

Here you go because you volunteered you can have this marble.

In same way John writes and says We heard from Jesus, we seen with our eyes Jesus and we touched Jesus with our hands.

Jesus was fully God and became fully man and John’s testimony says we really did experience Jesus.

The Letters of John Commentary says this,

To have heard was not enough; people ‘heard’ God’s voice in the Old Testament.

To have seen was more compelling.

But to have touched was the conclusive proof of material reality, that the Word ‘became flesh, and lived for a while among us’.

Concerning the Word of Life.

Our desire is that in this fellowship as the Forgiven we will come to know what it truly means to live.

Jesus here is described as the Word of Life.

May we shift our thinking away from the things we should not do and embrace Jesus to know what it means to truly live in him.

Jesus is the Word of Life.

To truly live and know the Word of Life is only possible because God manifest himself through Jesus.

God made known to us this life through his son Jesus.

I am sure there were some who were saying that Jesus never existed and this in not truth but the author puts all that doubt away when he writes and says I heard, I saw and I touched Jesus.

I am telling that he did exist and he is real and I write to tell you that I observed it all.

The pastoral heart of John shines through here in verse two as he writes and says we testify and declare to you and John wants the readers to share the same experience that he himself had experienced.

He wants them to read this letter and say because John heard, saw and touched that we to share in his experience.

This morning some of you got to share in the experience of the marble and some of you in the room may have known exactly what was being described as they described it.

You knew what it was and it was like you had seen it yourself.

John wants this same experience for the readers that I declare and I testify that the eternal life that was with the Father was revealed to us.

For the Christian message is neither a philosophical speculation, nor a tentative suggestion, nor a modest contribution to religious thought, but a confident affirmation by those whose experience and commission have qualified them to make it.

Eternal life that was with the Father.

Eternal life that was with the Father.

Life is found in Jesus and Jesus is eternal life.

Our hope and security lies in Jesus alone.

What we have seen and heard we declare to you.

The author writes and says we have seen and we have heard and we declare to you.

They experienced Jesus first hand.

You ever try to tell a story that you heard from second hand?

What’s the difference between a second hand story and someone who was actually there and experienced it.

The person who experienced it can give you every detail.

John was there and experienced Jesus and he declares and desires that through his first hand experience that you might also know Jesus is alive and existed.

We declare this to you that you may have fellowship along with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a quick survey in our church.

In your opinion who is the biggest Patriots fan in our church?

Cameron

In your opinion who is the biggest Eagles fan in our church?

Carla?

no she loves the cowboys.

The biggest Eagles fan in our church is not everyone because they are playing the patriots but Larry.

Cameron Patriots and Larry Eagles.

Is this what causes Larry and Cameron to have friendship well maybe but what drew Larry and Cameron to this church was not what football team they like but they have fellowship because of Jesus.

We declare this that you too may have fellowship along with us and this fellowship might be rooted in the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

I observe that often times Churches create small groups based upon age, gender, common life stages, with kids, single, athletic and there is nothing wrong with this but it becomes a problem when we think this is what brings us together.

What brings us together is Jesus and what holds us together is Jesus.

Perhaps if you feel like you don’t fit in here than maybe we need to go back to why we are here and how we all fit in.

It’s Jesus that calls us all together and Jesus that holds us together.

We cannot be content with an evangelism which does not lead to the drawing of converts into the church, nor with a church life whose principle of cohesion is a superficial social camaraderie instead of a spiritual fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ

We move into a life of fellowship with Jesus.

We start to learn what it is to walk in Jesus, to live for Jesus, to follow after Jesus.