Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to welcome you tonight to the second week of our Wednesday night prayer focus, especially for those who maybe couldn’t make it last week.

Let me begin by saying thank you for taking the time to invest not only in your own spiritual development, but also in the spiritual growth and development of our church.

I really do believe the future of our church is dependent on our willingness to take time and pray, seek the Lord, and allow His Spirit to guide us.

As I said last week, the purpose of this meeting isn’t for us to just sit around, hold hands and sing kum by jah.

The truth is, this meeting represents hard spiritual work.

The hard work of dropping our guard, opening our hearts, and allowing the Lord to speak to us in ways we’ve never allowed Him to.

And that my friends is hard because often times when we open ourselves up like that, it’s not always pleasant.

It’s not always pleasant as the Lord identifies areas of our life that maybe aren’t in line with Him or His Word and need to change.

It’s not always pleasant as He challenges us to evaluate our commitment.

It’s not always easy when greater access may require an entire renovation and reconstruction of our heart.

And that’s not always fun, but to grow spiritually it’s necessary.

Because the truth is, it’s easy to allow things into our heart and life that work against our spiritual development.

It’s easy to open ourselves up to influences that lead us down the wrong path.

That’s why Paul says in that living for the Lord can often feel like a battle.

He writes:

Galatians 5

Paul says there’s a tug of war going on in your heart.

The Spirit is trying to pull you one way while the flesh is trying to pull you another.

What that means then is that there is constant tension in your heart.

A constant pull towards one or the other.

And sometimes the tension is greater towards one versus another.

In other words, sometimes it’s easy to give yourself to the Spirit, but sometimes its not.

Sometimes it’s easy to say no to the flesh, but sometimes it’s extremely difficult.

And some of you know exactly what I’m talking about.

And the truth is, as we’ve started the book of Acts you’ve felt that tension intensify.

You’ve felt the pull a greater pull of the Spirit as He’s pulled you towards greater commitment.

As He’s pulled you towards greater obedience, and as He’s identified areas of disobedience.

Areas of your life that need to change.

And in the process you’ve felt the tension of the pull.

That’s why I say it’s hard work.

Because as the Spirit has pulled and challenged you, the flesh has pulled back just as hard.

The flesh is trying to lure you back because the flesh doesn’t die well.

It kicks and screams all the way to the grave it deserves.

So, as we go into our time of focus tonight, I hate to tell you this, but it’s not going to get any easier.

Tonight we are going to continue to challenge our commitment and our hearts.

And to do that we’re going to go back to the four prerequisites of empowerment as we continue to evaluate our commitment as disciples.

Last week we took time to look at what it means to be a disciple.

And if you recall, we took a test as we examined our commitment to Jesus.

We also took time to evaluate areas of disobedience in our lives.

We asked the Lord to identify pet sin that is keeping us from moving forward.

We asked the Lord to identify areas of our lives that needed to change.

So, before we move to our next focus tonight, I want to take a few moments and see if 2-3 of you might want to share what the Spirit showed you last week or through the week, some of the changes you’ve made as a result, and the difference you’ve seen in your walk with the Lord in the past week.

And I know by asking some of you to do this, I’m putting you in a vulnerable situation.

But if you’d be willing to share, I think it could be an encouragement to those that are possibly struggling to fully give areas of their life over to the Lord.

In fact, I believe it’s what Paul had in mind in .

He writes:

What Paul is saying is, “Sometimes we have to put ourselves in a vulnerable situation in order to help those who are struggling.”

Why do we do it?

Paul says for the sake of the gospel, that we might share with them in its blessings.

In other words, by sharing in our weakness, we lead others to the source of strength.

So, if there are 1-2 who are willing, would you come up and share for a few moments how God used last Wednesday night to help you move forward spiritually.

Share Time: 10 mintues

Thank you for sharing.

I hope that encouraged some of you in your commitment.

I know it’s hard to make changes, but I can promise you this, by committing to obedience and making those changes, you’re going to see the Lord honor and work in your life in a way He couldn’t before.

Amen?

As we come back to the prerequisites tonight, I want to spend the majority of our time focusing on the third prerequisite for empowerment.

You may recall, it’s the prerequisite of being committed to unity.

It’s the idea of being unified in mission and unified against division.

So, tonight we have two goals:

First, I want to take a few moments and explain what it means to be committed to unity.

To talk about what steps you and I need to take in order for that kind of unity to be a reality at MCF.

Second, I want to give each of us an opportunity to practice that unity.

So, let’s start with what it means to have unity within the church.

And maybe a good place to start would be by stating what unity is not.

Because I think sometimes when we use that word, people tend to get the wrong idea of what unity in the church actually means.

First, unity is not you and I agreeing on everything.

The truth is, you and I are never going to have 100% agreement on everything.

To be honest, even among some of my pastor friends, we have areas of disagreement, but despite that, we are unified in our faith.

Second, unity doesn’t mean you can’t or don’t have an opinion.

The fact is, we each have viewpoints, ideas, and something to offer in any given situation.

Whether it’s a business or a church, a good leader or boss values the opinions and input of others.

Third, unity doesn’t mean you’re a robot that does everything you’re told no questions asked.

The last thing a leader or a church should want is a bunch of yes men or women.

To be honest, that’s how some churches and organizations go sideways.

So, when I say our church needs to have unity, I’m not saying you have to check your brain at the door.

So, what do we mean by unity then?

if that’s not unity, then what does it mean to have unity in the church?

Well, some might say because nobody is ever going to agree 100%, that unity in a church is a commitment to show respect to others, even when we don’t agree.

That unity is you and I being open to the ideas, viewpoints, and the opinions of others.

And maybe even be willing to concede and compromise at times.

And that to be unified means to work together as a team as we work alongside the leaders God has put in place.

And I would say that combined, those are great ways to achieve unity in any organization.

In addition to that, some might say unity is based on a commitment to avoid certain behaviors.

For example to avoid gossip.

To avoid unhealthy criticism.

To avoid backbiting.

To be willing to deal with problems Biblically instead of gossiping about them or sweeping them under the carpet.

And again, I would agree with that thinking.

I believe anytime we cut out negative or sinful behaviors like gossip, backbiting, and we commit to handling problems in a biblical way, that unity is strengthened in a church.

So, again, all of those combined are great ways to create unity in a church and keep people on mission.

But what if I told you tonight that it’s possible to do all of those things by being committed to one thing?

What if I told you that the key to unity in a church is really dependent on one commitment.

Would you be interested in knowing

So, what is the one thing?

Well, Jesus tells us what it is in .

In fact, I would say that represents the formula for unity.

A unity that will not only strengthen our church, but Jesus says will be a testimony to those outside the church.

So, what’s the formula?

Let’s let Jesus tell us as we read from .