Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

“I’m sorry.

But this has to happen…I love you.”

Written on a piece of white copy paper, those are the last words Joseph and Patrice Bright received from their daughter.

Fourteen-year-old Anna Bright killed herself April 18, 2017.

Viewing records retrieved afterward revealed that unbeknownst to her parents and without their permission, Anna had binge-watched the first season of 13rw just two weeks prior to her death.

The show was popular among her peers and even filled the text messages sent back and forth between Anna and a friend during the days leading up to her suicide.

Joseph’s heart started pounding; his immediate thought was to text her; she always had her cell phone.

He tested her.

No Response.

They ran back to the house and rushed inside screaming her name.

No Answer.

“I went to he bathroom, and the door was about a foot open.

I pushed it open, and there she was,” Joseph said.

Assuming she had been murdered, he grabbed his phone and called 911.

In no time, neighbors, policemen, investigators, and first responders flooded the cul-de-sac of their quiet Alabama neighborhood.

Exactly an hour after Joseph had texted Anna, his wife Patrice, who had mistakenly left her cell phone at home that day, returned from work.

Not knowing what was going on, she drove into the chaos.

You would think this real event happened in a home where Satan was worshipped, or there was no love, instead, this event happened in the home of a former pastor.

Satan convinced this young lady that the only solution to a temporary problem was permanent and that her life was utterly hopeless.

It seems the powers of hell are thriving today in our turbulent culture.

Without a doubt there is an all out war on the horizon in our world and the precious lives of our little children hang precariously in the balance.

“About the time I was getting out of the car, I saw Joseph,” Patrice said, “He was coming across the lawn, and he had a police officer under each arm – almost carrying him, so I knew something had happened to the kids.

I got out of the car, and Joseph yelled across the lawn: ‘Anna’s dead.

Somebody killed her.’

It felt like somebody had taken a 2x4 and smacked it against my legs,” Patrice said.

She fell to the ground.

Their minds were flooded with questions, then fear that Anna’s killer was still out there somewhere.

“Who told you that somebody killed her?” a police officer asked.

Joseph had noticed spent bullet casing on the floor in front of the tub, so he concluded that his daughter had been murdered.

The lead detective said, “Mrs.

Bright, she did this.”

He also said she mimicked the suicide form the Netflix series 13 Reasons why.

You would think this real event happened in a home where Satan was worshipped, or there was no love, instead, this event happened in the home of a former pastor.

Satan convinced this young lady that the only solution to a temporary problem was permanent and life was utterly hopeless.

It seems the powers of hell are thriving today in our turbulent culture.

Without a doubt there is an all out war on the horizon in our world and the precious lives of our little children hang precariously in the balance.

But today, I am here to remind you that there is Hope!

For it is in the midst of crisis we realize our desperate need for an infinite Saviour!

Today, our Hope is not found on anything less than Jesus Blood and His righteousness! Christ is not only needed in the Church where we gather, He is not only needed the leaders of our nation, but we desperately need the hope that He offers in the hearts and lives of each of us today!

The only place of real enduring hope is found in Jesus Christ!

What is Hope?

Hope is the Expectation of good, while fear is the expectation of evil.

I. Hope is found in God alone

I. Hope is found in God alone

Romans 8:

A. Man Cannot provide Hope (v.20)

In verse 20, the word, “Vanity” points us to our quality of being worthless or futile.

We find there is a frailty, there is a deprivation of truth.

In Solomon's Lamentations, we read this truth

On our own, in our own power, there is no hope for man.

v. 20-vanity means our weaknesses,

Through the years, each of us have been influenced by men, both good and bad.

Yet, I am reminded that while God has used the influence of godly men to help shape and mold us, ultimately, our hope must come from God alone.

We are grateful that God has used the influence of godly men to help shape and mold us, ultimately, our hope must come from God alone.

If our belief is founded in the world’s philosophy, which has been developed by the reason and abilities of men, then we must recognize the limitations of our hope is the limitations of man himself.

Man has not discovered why we age.

Man does not know the end of the universe

Man has not discovered the depths of the sea

Man has not mapped the far regions of the world.

We can’t even get a cell signal on Stockton lake!

We are limited, and being limited, our hope in man must also be limited.

Modern philosophy (not science) has taught us today that:

We were a cosmic accident, which occured after an explosion that could never have happened, from matter that we do not even know how it arrived (which goes contrary to the laws of physics).

After billions of years, the earth was formed, then cooled by rain falling on the rocks for millions of years.

After the rain stopped, remaining goop that was left on planet earth held a mystical power to have the ability for life to spontaneously generate.

Through the process of time two of these mysterious creatures somehow crawled out of this soup, found each other, and were able to procreate something that looked nothing like themselves, which process happened over and again thousands of times getting better and better until at the end of this fairy tale, we find you and I standing here today.

If you can believe this system of thought, which requires more faith than , you are left hopeless and without a real purpose to live for.

The Greeks recognized that human beings expressed hope by nature; however, this kind of hope reflects both good and bad experiences.

The future was thus a projection of one’s own subjective possibilities (Bultmann, “ἐλπίς, elpis,” 2.517).

Biblical hope avoids this subjectivity by being founded on something that provides a sufficient basis for confidence in its fulfillment: God and His redemptive acts as they culminate in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

B. God alone delivers Hope (v.

21)

We learn that through the power of God’s Word, we have confidence and hope!

1 Peter

If you find yourself in despare Go to God’s Word!

II.

Hope is found in God’s promises

A. Hope of a Bright Eternity (v.

23-24)

The confidence that, by integrating God’s redemptive acts in the past with trusting human responses in the present, the faithful will experience the fullness of God’s goodness both in the present and in the future.

Biblical faith rests on the trustworthiness of God to keep His promises

In other words, because of the past faithfulness of God, we can trust in the future work of God.

B. Hope in Waiting (v.

25)

We are waiting on the coming of Christ.

When we wait on God, it does not mean we sit passively by.

Just as now, we do not passively wait for the Lord to work, instead we are actively serving Him out of a heart of expectation and hope that He is returning soon.

III.

Hope is found in Relationship

Romans 8:

A. Help for our weakness (v.

26-28)

While verse 20 depicts for us the problems we face, and the hopelessness of the human race without God, we noticed that the very beginning of gives us the solution to our inadequacies.

The incredible power of God is available to every Christian through the filling of the Spirit.

Notice, that we are not talking about you receiving all of the Holy Spirit, that happened at the moment of salvation when you were indwelt by the Spirit.

You received the Holy Spirit then, but what we are referring to is our willingness to submit ourselves completely to the work of God in our lives.

When we are willing to do so, we willingly put ourselves in a position that God can work in and through us.

Hope is found when we are willing to submit completely and totally to the will of god in our life.

- Evidence of the Spirit filling is power to witness (not sign gifts)

B. Assurance in our Position (v.

29-30)

Notice as well that God gives for us the incredible promise that, no matter how terrible of circumstances we find ourselves, God can take the most dire of situations and make the work out for our Good and His glory!

This requires faith that God is able to work in any situation.

Why is it that God commands us not to worry?