Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This morning we are starting a new Series entitled ENGAGE - We live in a world where we There is always something grabbing for our attention…

engaged with technology… … we are engaged in raising families… we are engaged… in our work....

We are engaged in entertainment....

we are engaged in raising families… we are engaged… in our work....

We are engaged in entertainment....

Miriam Dictionary tell someone us that the word Engage means...

“to come into contact and interlock with <the teeth of one gear wheel engaging those of another”

It speaks of the things that we are connected too.... our commitments… we speak of engagement on terms of being betrothed or married too.

But there is call in the Bible to be engaged in God’s mission in the world..… When Jesus left his this world he left the church with the great commission in

The stakes might be higher than we think… When Jesus left his this world he left the church with the great commission in

Never before has the stakes been so high when it comes to the Great Commission… Just this past week met with our pastors Cohort and DS Neal Brower was telling us that the Free Church for the first time is in decline… For many years Free Church had bragging rights of being a growing Church in this nation.... but no longer... this should get our attention… we went from plato-ing to decline.

Jesus left his disciples and all believers with the great commision in

Never before has the stakes been so high when it comes to the Great Commission… Just this past week met with our pastors Cohort and DS Neal Brower was telling us that the Free Church for the first time is in decline… For many years Free Church had bragging rights of being a growing Church in this nation.... but no longer... this should get our attention… we went from platoing to decline.

for many years Free Church had bragging rights of being a growing Church.... this should get our attention...

and to be honest the stakes are high… I was reading a journal entitled…Christian Mission in Europe by Peter Kuzmic.... published in 1993… and he deals with the secularization of Europe… At one Europe was the center of Christendom.. it was Christian Europe.. but since the Reformation…there has been the seculazation of Europe… Partly due to the influence of the emergence of Age of Science in 17 th and 18th Century.. 19 and 20 th Century brought the industrial revolution… since the Enlightenment…

and to be honest the stakes are high…

I was reading a journal entitled…Christian Mission in Europe by Peter Kuzmic.... published in 1993… and he deals with the secularization of Europe… At one Europe was the center of Christendom.. it was Christian Europe.. since the Reformation… 17 th and 18th Century.. the age of science and reason.. 19th and 20 th Century brought the industrial revolution… since the Enlightenment…the church in Europe has been slowly dying… News Week published an Article in March 2018 entitled… CHRISTIANITY IS A DYING RELIGION FOR MILLENNIALS IN EUROPE — So why is this important..

The church in Europe has been slowly dying… News Week published an Article in March 2018 entitled… CHRISTIANITY IS A DYING RELIGION FOR MILLENNIALS IN EUROPE —

19 and 20 th Century brought the industrial revolution… since the Enlightenment…the church in Europe has been slowly dying… News Week published an Article in March 2018 entitled… CHRISTIANITY IS A DYING RELIGION FOR MILLENNIALS IN EUROPE — So why is this important..

In 1910, over 66 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe, according to the Pew Research Center.

In 2010, that percentage had shrunk to a little under 26 percent....

Why would looking at Europe… be of importance… first of all that Europe is the Epicenter of Christianity.... the apostle Paul.. stepped into Philippi… met with Lydia that was the moment that the Gospel came and began to spread through out Europe.

We an learn what the Process of secularization did to the impact of the church.. Problem is Christianity over time petrified… from a vibrant church of believers turned in to a church full of nominal Christians..Kuzmic says…

The process of secularization was the breeding ground of Christian nominalism, which was in turn followed by a marked shift from nominal Christianity to varying degrees of pragmatic atheism throughout Europe.

The biggest problem was when the church became Nominal… the word nominal means to take the same shape or form of something.. in other words there was no distinction!

At the Lausanne conference they broke down Christianity into four categories...

Ethnic Religious...

Second Generation nominal

Second Generation nominal

Ritualistic Nominal

Syncretistic Nominal.

The church itself in Europe is a complex mission field in itself!!

We as the Church (capital C) are facing challenging times… We faced with too crises.. 1.

We are facing the problem of reaching the unchurched… these are those in our neighborhoods and community that don’t see a need for Christ or for the church community… another front is that of avoid become a nation of nominal Christians…

There is this call in the scripture for the church to be Engaged in the mission of Christ mission in the world....

There is this call in the scripture for the church to be Engaged in the mission of Christ mission in the world....

Matt 28:18-

We live in a world where we are engaged with technology… … we are engaged…raising families… we are engaged… in our work ..

Life is about making priorities…

there are somethings that we need to disengage from and their other things that we need to be engaging in… There are two kingdoms that have gravitational pulls … The kingdom of this world is pulling us and and the kingdom of God is also beckoning us …One Kingdom is temporal and the other is eternal…

There are two kingdoms that opposed to each other… Both have gravitational pulls … The kingdom of this world is pulling us in one direction and and the kingdom of God is also beckoning us

Life is about making priorities…

there are somethings that we need to disengage from and their other things that we need to be engaging in… There are two kingdoms that have gravitational pulls … The kingdom of this world is pulling us and and the kingdom of God is also beckoning us …One Kingdom is temporal and the other is eternal…

There is the temptation to RE-treat…

History has been determined by people who unwilling to retreat… at the hight of the 2 War - Winston Churchill… inspired England with the words..“Never, Never Give up.”

There is the temptation in our world today to RE-treat…but God has a calling upon his Church and that instead retreating we need to be recharge and revived - Regain our sense of mission and purpose… orientation in the kingdom of God.

“Never, Never Give up.”

At the Battle of battle at Waterloo the French General Napoleon surveyed the battlefield....

The tough little general said to his drummer, “The English are standing firm.

The Old Guard is making no progress.

We are defeated; sound the retreat.”

Napoleon’s battle at Waterloo.

Surveying the battlefield, the tough little general said to his drummer, “The English are standing firm.

The Old Guard is making no progress.

We are defeated; sound the retreat.”

Surveyed the battlefield, the tough little general said to his drummer, “The English are standing firm.

The Old Guard is making no progress.

We are defeated; sound the retreat.”

Hesitantly, the lad looked at Napoleon and protested, “Master, in all our campaigns in Europe, I have never learned to sound the retreat.”

Deeply touched by the comment, Napoleon said, “All right, drummer boy, sound the advance.”

A Wesley arose, a Whitfield, a Wilberforce, and Robert Raikes who saw 300,000 coming to Sunday schools: virtually every child had a chance to hear about Jesus.

Napoleon’s battle at Waterloo.

Surveying the battlefield, the tough little general said to his drummer, “The English are standing firm.

The Old Guard is making no progress.

We are defeated; sound the retreat.”

Hesitantly, the lad looked at Napoleon and protested, “Master, in all our campaigns in Europe, I have never learned to sound the retreat.”

Deeply touched by the comment, Napoleon said, “All right, drummer boy, sound the advance.”

Jonathan says - we go up and show ourselves to the Philistines… if they they tell us to come up to them we will take it as a sign that the Lord has given them over to us..

Jonathan and this young armor bear begins to scale the outcrop of rocks toward the philistines…and one of the Philistines notices them climbing over the outcrop of rocks.… he says look at the Hebrews crawling out of the holes they have been hiding in.... come up to us and we will show you a thing.... Jonathan turns to His armor bearer… No Retreat… come after me for God has given them into our hands.. they took out 20 men in the first little field… it caused such a panic that it felt like an earthquake in the enemies camp...Jonathan knew the Lord could save, no matter who or how many were fighting the battle.

In fact, he knew that if God chose to save, nothing could hinder Him.

His faith in God's strength and determination was solid God could do anything .”

So Jonathan and this young armor bear begins to scale the outcrop of rocks toward the philistines…and one of the Philistines notices… he says look at the Hebrews crawling out of the holes they have been hiding in.... come up to us and we will show you a thing.... Jonathan turns to His armor bearer… No Retreat… come after me for God has given them into our hands.. they took out 20 men in the first little field… it caused such a panic that it felt like an earthquake hit the Philistine camp..

So Jonathan and this young armor bear begins to scale the outcrop of rocks toward the philistines…and one of the Philinstines notices… he says look at the Hebrews crawling out of the holes they have been hiding in.... come up to us and we will show you a thing.... Jonathan turns to His armor bearer… No Retreat… come after me for God has given them into our hands.. they took out 20 men in the first little field… it caused such a panic that it felt like an earthquake in the enemies camp..

We live in a world where we are engaged with technology… we are engaged in politics… we are engaged…raising families… we are engaged… in our work obligation… but there is this mission that beckons each of us to GO.

There is no such thing as retreat in the scriptures..

:9where it says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him."

The eyes of the Lord are roaming throughout the earth.

Do you believe this?

Do you take Scripture literally like I do?

Do you know what, right now God on his throne is literally looking around the earth and he's observing what's going on here?

God is looking for men and Woman --- who will… not retreat..

That right now God knows what's in my heart, what's in my

God calling upon the church is to be on mission… in the world… not retreating from culture but engaging the culture being MISSIONAL in our approach.. the early church as a comminity engaged the culture.. through supporting one another and encouraging one another.. they lived in such a way that their message was endorsed by the way they engaged and functioned in culture.

Christ left heavens glory and spend himself so utterly for mankind and the urges you and I to join in mission..

.It is missional, it is engaged, it is serving, it is reaching out, it is faithful, [and] it is bold.

And in that way, the church does the responsibility—or performs the responsibility—of meeting its missio

And so we see these house churches functioning in the culture.

We see the church engaged in the culture and with one another, supporting one another, encouraging one another, [and] living in such a way that their message is endorsed by how they engage and function in the culture.

And in doing that, they show who they are and show what the house church in the city looks like.

It is missional, it is engaged, it is serving, it is reaching out, it is faithful, [and] it is bold.

And in that way, the church does the responsibility—or performs the responsibility—of meeting its missio

Rooted in the Latin mitto (meaning “to send”), missions is the half-millennium-old term signifying the sending of Jesus’ followers into his global harvest of all peoples.

Rooted in the Latin mitto (meaning “to send”), missions is the half-millennium-old term signifying the sending of Jesus’ followers into his global harvest of all peoples

in , the epic-making summons called “the Great Commission.”

Here Jesus’ main command “disciple all nations” follows the charge to “go”—to be sent out.

Sending out and going are two sides of the same coin.

Jesus and his established church send out, and those who go are “the sent ones,” or “missionaries.”

So missions is the church’s sending out of missionaries (the sent ones) to pioneer the church among peoples who otherwise have no access to the gospel.

The call of God sends men and women to their neighbours and to the ends of the earth.