Sermon Tone Analysis

What’s In It For Me?

Often I have heard the small joke of knowing a message was good because you had to keep your feet under your chair for fear they would get stepped on.

Or we knew that God was talking to me because we really “felt the conviction.”

Often I have asked the question, shouldn’t good news make you feel good when you’ve heard it?

If so, why do I feel so bad.

Often I have heard the small joke of knowing a message was good because you had to keep your feet under your chair for fear they would get stepped on.

Or we knew that God was talking to me because we really “felt the conviction.”

Often I have asked the question, shouldn’t good news make you feel good when you’ve heard it?

If so, why do I feel so bad.

When I was little, my grandma would take me to church.

This particular church had a lot of different rituals.

There were certain things you did, signs you made, wafers you ate, a time to kneel, a time to stand, a time to sing, a time be silent, a time to speak, a time to listen, a time to stare out the window, a time to trace the design in the carpet with your mind..... etc etc etc.

However, after church was awesome.

We would go to this other building next door and our friends would be there.

And in great fashion there were small powdered doughnuts and red kool-aid.

So that what I often speak on… you are bad… behave yourself.... Eventually that leads to frustration and the feeling that we can’t have fun anymore.

Which begs the question, What’s in it for me?

Now, I’ll be honest.

With the exception of one sentence, I can’t remember anything that was beneficial.

But I would go for 2 reasons.

One, I liked my grandma enough that I wanted to make her happy.

Two, and probably the real reason, I like to play with my friends and eat doughnuts and drink kool-aid.

Explanation

Now, before someone gets mad at me, let me say this really is the way people think.

They might not say it that way out loud for fear that they might be judged for being too selfish, but people really don’t want to do things unless there might be some benefit to doing the thing.

I don’t have a very big living room.

If I stand up off my couch and take two steps I can turn the tv on, and adjust the volume.

However, that is not enjoyable to me.

What I prefer is to stay seated on the couch, reach over to my ottoman pick up one of my three remotes and change the channel, or the volume, or turn the tv on or off.

You know what that is..... POWER.

Getting up off the couch, taking two steps to push a button, you know what that is… WORK.

I will search for that remote for an hour to obtain power but I almost refuse to push the buttons on the TV.

Occasionally I can find a substitute for the remote conundrum… I tell my kids to push the button on the TV.. you know what that is?… POWER… or revenge for what my father put me through when I was little.

Here’s the point, We are willing to do work if we can see benefit, but if we don’t, it’s difficult to get and stay motivated.

As a preacher I get the amazing privilege of sitting up here and helping us behave correctly and have the right attitude.

However, sometimes that comes off wrong.

I’m sure sometimes a person might come and leave feeling judged.

Or maybe they feel like they are being asked to do one more thing that doesn’t seem all that important.

So that what I often speak on… you are bad… behave yourself.... Eventually that leads to frustration and the feeling that we can’t have fun anymore.

Which begs the question, What’s in it for me?

The first four chapters discuss who needs it and why.

Basically, we all need it because we are all pathetic horrible sinners.

Thankfully, God is kind and in His Word He tells us the benefits of following Him… not just eternally, which is hard to fathom, but also today.

Well today I want to tell you simply… Read your Bible.

Live it.

Breathe it.

It is the most important thing in your life even if you feel like it isn’t or have lost the passion to read it.

We have some revival meetings coming up and when I start studying the Bible to determine what precipitates a revival I find that it oftne finds its roots in a person or people crying out to God.

They start meditating on His words, they start praying, they deliberately work to live a life pleasing to Him.

So as the revival approaches I want su to begin doing those things.

But before I do, I want to answer a quick question - both for our sake, and the sake of those who do not know the Lord.

We are Justified

Why be Justifit

Justification: What is it?

Websters - to prove or show to be just, right, or reasonable

Greek - dikaioō -put right with, justify, vindicate, declare righteous, i.e., cause one to be in a right relation

Swanson, J. (1997).

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.).

Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Romans 3:24

Acts 13:38

We Have Peace

Who is God?

Peace defined - freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility:

Why we need it.

There Is Reason for Our Suffering

Why we Suffer

Since the fall there has been suffering

Job - man is born to trouble

With Him — even our suffering brings about goodness.

We Have Hope

Hope — to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true

to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true

To expect with confidence

To expect with confidence Hopeless hōpləs Hope hōp

Justification.

Peace, Hope: Why do we need it?

What happens when we have it.

Eternally - we go to Heaven

Today we are secure in the knowledge that in the end, everything turns out - not just ok - but awesome.

That makes us indestructible

What happens when we don’t have it.

Eternally - we go to the Lake of Fire

Today if we have security at all, it’s in the knowledge that in the end nothing turns out - not just bad - but horrible.

That makes us fragile.

Illustration

Justification, peace, hope: How we get it?

III.

How we get it

We are through faith

Websters

allegiance to duty or a person

allegiance to duty or a person

belief and trust in and loyalty to God

belief and trust in and loyalty to God

What do we have to do

Believe and confess.

Romans

Justification: How do we maintain it?

We all experience times when we feel hopeless.