Sermon Tone Analysis

I think that it is safe to say that while the church is a spiritual entity it is also a business.

There are two sides to the church.

There is the organism, that is the spiritual reality of the church.

Then there is the organization, which is the infrastructure of the church.

Anything that is a business will tell you that one of the things that you must have in order for business to flourish and be successful, is that you must have a good business plan.

Apart and parcel of that business plan has to be a good marketing strategy.

Because, if you don’t market your product, it doesn’t say much about what you think about your product.

You must have a marketing strategy so that you know who it is that you want to target, who it is you want to draw, who it is that you think is drawn to you.

In many circles, now, when you read books about marketing in this new day, they call it ‘having your brand’.

What is your brand?

What do you stand for?

What do you specialize in?

What is unique about your business that will make people come to you and not other people.

Even Burger King, though it isn’t true, is you can ‘have it your way’.

Everybody has a brand.

The church should have a brand.

There is something different about every church.

Not every church looks the same.

Not every church has the same corporate makeup.

Not every church has the same gifts.

Not every church has the same kind of uniqueness.

Not every church has the same kind of angle.

Not every church is after reaching a certain kind of people.

Every church, as a business, ought to have a brand, your hook, that which draws people to you.

But one of the dangers in this new day of church competition, is that sometimes you can get so caught up in competing, that you substitute MARKETING FOR MINISTRY.

You can spend so much time in competition, that now you spend all of your time marketing your church, and not ministering to the masses.

It can now, because of entertainment and the challenge of competition, now we set up church to be an entertainment center and venue, where people are entertained and no longer enlightened; where people are touched but no longer transformed.

Where people are excited but there is insight or equipping.

So that we develop a group of people in the church who know how to sing and know how to shout, run, dance, hoop and holler, but they are miserable in managing life.

Because now we don’t teach people how to manage life in the church; we teach people how to feel good in that moment in the church.

But the problem with feeling good in the moment…is just like a Jacuzzi.

You get in a Jacuzzi because your muscles are tight.

And while you are in the Jacuzzi, you get the feel and sensation that the tightness of your muscles has gone away.

The problem is that when you get out of the Jacuzzi and the cold wind hits your body, you quickly discover that the looseness you felt in the Jacuzzi, has returned to tightness outside the Jacuzzi, because you weren’t doing anything outside the Jacuzzi to help your muscles feel better.

Casual church and Christendom can be a lot like a Jacuzzi.

- We teach people how to shout

- We run and dance

- We clap

- We sing

- We say hallelujah

And you feel like all of your problems have gone away.

But when you extract yourself from your seat and exit the sanctuary and the winds of life begin to hit, if you’re not doing anything outside the church, then the problem you thought was gone when you shouted comes right back to you.

Because, at the end of the day, what grows you is not how you shout; but what grows you is how you do outside the church with a prayer life, reading the word of God, how you treat your neighbor, with the development of your character and the strengthening of your integrity.

And too many churches today are now marketing entertainment instead of managing the lives of other people.

We have not what is called the seeker-friendly church, where we develop our church to be friendly for folk who are seeking a church.

But I never read anywhere in the Bible where the church is called to solely be a social club, where you come and socialize with your friend…like you’re eating popcorn at the movies with your row dog, like you’re at a movie, rating and critiquing everything from the praise team, choir, preacher and the deacon like you are Leonard Maltin or Roger Ebert.

I never read anywhere in the Word of God where the church was called to be an entertainment center, where you can simply come and get your dance on and yet leave without ever having dealt with your secret sins.

I never read anywhere in the Word of God where the church is called to be a country club, where you come and fake like you’re better than everybody else.

But the church is called to stand as a redemptive place where people can learn that no matter how bad your life has been, you can start over again.

The church should be a place that stands on the blood of Jesus and on the cross of Calvary that tells EVERY man, woman, boy and girl….WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS?

NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

And is there anybody in the room today who can declare, preacher, I didn’t come in here to socialize; I didn’t come to be entertained; I didn’t come to be critical.

But I came to thank God that He sent His Son Jesus to die for my sins.

And though I was a sinner, I’m saved BY GRACE!!!

Come with me to the text.

Because in the text I see the greatest marketing strategy for the church in the world.

The Bible says that Jesus has come back to Capernaum.

And the Word of the Lord says that it had been ‘noised abroad’.

‘Noised abroad’ in the Greek is the word AKOUO (acoustics).

NKJV says that ‘the people had heard that Jesus was in the house’.

May I suggest to you that the greatest PR you can do in the church is to noise everywhere the Jesus is in the house.

If you really want to market the church, what you ought to be telling people is that Jesus is in the house.

You don’t have to know my name; you don’t even have to like me; we don’t have to be best friends or go out on the date; if you can just remember that Jesus is in the house…you won’t be tripping over who’s preaching.

If we are going to change the world and change the spiritual landscape of the community, somebody who walks up in the church every week, must be excited about the fact that Jesus is in the house.

- This can’t be about David Johnson; but Jesus is in the house.

And I need somebody who can say, I didn’t come to see the preacher; I didn’t come to hear the choir; I really didn’t come to see anybody.

But I came today because I heard that Jesus was in the house!!!

I’M SO GLAD THAT JESUS IS IN THE HOUSE

And that’s what ought to be the word in your mouth.

It ought not be come hear our preacher/choir/building.

You need to learn to open your mouth and tell somebody, come see a man who can turn your life around.

Come see a man who can fix your life.

• One of the reasons why the church is not where it should be; and not doing what it could is because the church is noising everything but Jesus.

o We’re talking about how good the choir is

o We’re talking about how good or how jacked up the preacher is

o You’re talking about silly members

o You’re talking about who left or who’s here

o You’re talking about unverified gossip and lies

But what you need to be talking and running your mouth about is one day when I was lost, He died upon the cross and I know it was the blood for me.

What ought the fill the house is that Jesus is in the house.

The noise ought to be on Jesus.

How do you know when Jesus is in the house?

I.

You know when Jesus is in the house; because the house is filled with people who are in touch with their imperfections.

You know it’s a Jesus House when the people in the house aren’t walking around acting like they are perfect people.

Watch how the text starts off; it says that they came to Capernaum AGAIN.

Go back to chapter 1, when He first comes to Capernaum.

And when He goes to Capernaum the first time, He does nothing but heal.

And the Bible says at the end of chapter 1, that they just bring a bunch of people to Jesus.

And He starts healing everybody.

I just believe and I could be wrong, though I have some scholars to back me up, that the house is filled with the people who’ve been healed.

So the house is filled with people who had previous conditions.

So that nobody who is in that house could look at anybody else in that house and say anything about them in that house.

Because I’m in that house recognizing that if my condition had not of been dealt with, I would be right where they are now.

• Is there anybody who is honest enough to say, preacher, I don’t have time to talk about anybody else and condemn other people to hell; and talk about what’s going on with anybody else’s house, with anybody’s else’s child, with anybody else’s marriage, with anybody else’s money; because I’m showing up knowing that I had some conditions, flaws and imperfections that I knew Jesus had to touch.

And that the only reason I’m in the house today is because of the previous chapter.

The only reason that some of us are in church today is because Jesus touched you where you were and changed your life.

- You haven’t always been saved

- You haven’t always had your act together

- You haven’t always been in church on a Sunday morning