Sermon Tone Analysis

New Life, New Potential

We becoming more and more dependent on electronics.

PHones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.

I am all wired in and everything communicates, most of the time, better than me and Sara sometimes.

Look at how I use these things: My Ipad.

I preach, study, read, email, books, news, FB, etc.

This is my second or third.

When an IPad dies, it dies.

You have to replace it.

Or, before it dies, it runs out of space.

The memory, storage, processor can’t keep up as all my apps automatically update.

Basically, it’s worthless if it won’t run my apps.

It won’t do what I need for it to do, nor will it do what I want it to do.

It’s supposed to make my life easier.

And, it does, when it works.

If you’re in the Mac world then when it is not longer making your life easier you just have to buy a new one.

If you’re in the PC world then you can crack most of them open and put new guts in and create more opportunities.

New, larger hard drive

New, faster processor

New, more memory

All more powerful but in the same box.

Aren’t you glad that when you come to Jesus, He treats you more like a PC than a Mac.

He has every right to throw us away b/c there’s no way we are capable of doing what He wants us to do.

We can’t get to heaven.

We can’t make spiritual impacts in lives of people.

We can’t do miracles.

We can’t be or do what He’s called us to be and do w/out Him doing what He needs to do to us.

But, b/c He treats us more like a PC, same box, just all new guts.

More powerful, able to store more applications, capable of doing everything He wants us to do.

What does this mean?

I look the same as when I did before I knew Jesus.

I didn’t lose weight, I didn’t grow taller, nothing about how I looked changed.

I was 17. I’ve aged just like every other former 17-year old has aged.

But, something was very different on the inside.

And, what God changed on my inside made it possible, gave me the potential to live differently.

Now, Paul says, b/c we’re different on the inside, we can live a new life.

The inside change is a done-deal.

The outside life is just potential.

It’s possible.

So, God upgrades us when we receive Jesus.

Same box, new guts.

Easter made this upgrade possible.

Then, it’s up to us to live a new life, to use our new innards to their full potential.

One problem too many of us

Too many of us live the Christian life like we’re new on the inside, w/ the biggest, baddest hew hard drive, processor, memory; the most powerful machine on the shelf; then all we do is use it to play solitaire and send email.

The power and applications that have been installed are capable of so much more.

But, it’s only potential if all we’re going to do w/ it is play solitaire.

What’s possible?

What’s our potential?

What can a new life by a new creature look like?

It’s Easter.

We celebrate the day Jesus walked out of his tomb and made it possible for us to live a new life.

What’s possible?

What can a new life look like?

For those who believe this and receive Jesus the changes on the inside are a done-deal.

The rest is just potential.

What are you going to do w/ it?

We’re going to begin w/ the done-deal.

This is the most significant change that we go thru when we come to faith.

The Holy Spirit, God Himself, takes up residence inside us.

We are Connected

The HS is like a combination of the most powerful processor and the strongest wi-fi connection you can get.

The Processor is the brain of the computer.

It evaluates the command you’ve given the computer and determines what needs to be done in order to fulfill the command.

“Open Solitaire”

Double-click on the card you want to move.

Click “Send”.

The email goes.

The processor gets what you want to have happen and makes it happen.

The more powerful the processor, the more info it can receive and evaluate, and then the faster it can perform.

The larger applications require more powerful processors.

We have God Himself living inside each one of us who believe.

And, He is available to process every command we are given in every situation we encounter and help us perform in it.

We have a wireless connection to God that will never fail.

John wrote that the Holy Spirit lives in us and will be with us forever.

We can ignore Him.

How many times to find myself working on my taxes, adding up long lists of numbers by hand when my IPad, w/ a calculator app is sitting on my desk right next to me.

We can choose to ignore the powerful processor we have inside of us and try to do life on our own.

But, that’s the old life.

The HS is the done-deal for believers.

But, taking advantage of what He can do is only potential, it’s possible.

And, it’s also possible for us to try everything on our own.

What’s possible?

What potential do we have?

So, what are some of the things that we have access to, that are possible b/c the HS lives inside us?

God would never put us in a round room and tell us to sit in the corner.

He would never command the impossible.

So, the place to begin is w/ what makes everything possible.

We have access to the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Power

“Timid” Fearful.

Lacking self-confidence.

We don’t have to be timid, at all.

Or afraid.

Sometimes fear can be debilitating.

We are afraid to do something, afraid to do the wrong thing, afraid we don’t know what to do.

Self-confidence in a Christian is not confidence that we can figure it out on our own.

But, self confidence in follower of Jesus is confidence in the HS who lives inside.

That comes from w/in.

Confident we’ve heard from God and know what to do, how to do it, and have the ability to follow thru.