Sermon Tone Analysis

Who is Jesus

"Are there more leaves in the world or blades of grass?"

Mum: "Hey, tell me about that castle you b

Daughter: "Mom, why's your tummy big?"

Mom: "That's because I'm expecting a baby."

Daughter: "Where's the baby?"

Mom: "Inside my tummy!"

Daughter: (Looking totally shocked) "OMG you ate the baby?"

Four-year-old: "Hey dad, when are you gonna die?"

5. Four-year-old: "Hey dad, when are you gonna die?"

Dad: "I don't know, hopefully not for a long time."

Four-year-old: "Oh...well when you and mom die I want new parents."

Dad: "You what?"

Four-year-old: "I love you guys, but I need parents.

I'm not old enough to use the stove."

Swimming lessons, 'When do we learn how to breathe underwater?'."

In the middle of dinner, with no context: "What did it feel like on your last day of being a child?"

While on a flight a little girl turned and said, "If the Care Bears live up here, then where does Jesus live?"

While cookies are baking, and my 3-year-old niece asks, "Are the cookies loading?" (like an app)

"What is the name of the space between the bits that stick out on a comb?"

"Since your eyes are blue, does that mean you see everything in blue?"

"In the olden days was everything black and white?"

13. "In the olden days was everything black and white?"

Simple Questions Can Be the Hardest to Answer

Simple questions can be the most difficult to answer.

There was an instance when Jesus asked his disciples, “what were you speaking about on the road?”

Simple question.

Unless the topic was which disciple would be the greatest.

A few pages back, Herod was under tremendous pressure.

He had to keep the peace.

He would use force if necessary.

The Jews were in an uproar, stirring crowds because of a teacher who performed miracles and taught in their synagogues, as one who had authority.

Herod called his people together and asked who this man was?

Who do men say that he is,

As much as that makes me feel good, I assured him I wasn’t.

Have you had a case of mistaken identity?

Have you had a case of mistaken identity?

I told you my Garth Brooks story.

I don’t pick faces out of a crowd very well.

A few pages back, Herod was under tremendous pressure.

He had to keep the peace.

He would use force if necessary.

The Jews were in an uproar, stirring crowds because of a teacher who performed miracles and taught in their synagogues as one who had authority.

Herod called his people together and asked who this man was?

Who do men say that he is,

Um, one of the prophets?

Elijah?

Herod said no, this is John the Baptist come back from the dead.

In his mind, and in the verses following, if you continued reading, Mark recounts the story of Herod lopping off John’s head to please Herodias’s daughter.

Herod was no doubt fearful of him if he was raised from the dead.

After all this, Jesus walking the road with His disciples asked them, “who do men say that I am?”

As you know there are no shortages of answers to this question.

Even today, people have an answer.

As you can imagine, an on the street interview or a library visit, or a query of the keenest minds in history would all give you a definitive answer.

Many theologians have also weighed in.

Karl Rahner described Jesus as “a perfect human person.”

John T Robinson claimed Jesus was “the human face of God.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw him as “the man for others.”

Some call him the great liberator, or the crucified God.

Bruce Barton, American businessman turned author said that Jesus was the greatest salesman who ever lived.

There are no lack of answers to the question, Who do men say that I am.”

Even the disciples had an answer.

Some say what Herod had stated, John the Baptist come back from the dead of Elijah, or one of the prophets.

The question Jesus asked was Who do people say that I am?

I listened to Ravi Zacharias debate a Muslim on this very point this week.

The Muslim knew the Bible very well.

He quoted scripture.

His real question was about original sin and the fact that Jesus never spoke of it.

Ravi knew the Koran just as well, and pointed him to his real question.

Who was Jesus?

“All in all there were a total of one hundred and twenty-three specific prophesys [sic] about his life all of which came true.

Crucifixion was unknown in these times, yet it was foretold that he would be nailed to a cross of wood.

And one of the predictions was that he would be born of a virgin.“Now

I know that is probably the hardest for you as a Dr. to accept.

The only answer that can be given is – a miracle,” Reagan wrote.

“… Either he was who he said he was or he was the greatest faker and charlatan who ever lived.

But would a liar and faker suffer the death he did when all he had to do to save himself was admit he’d been lying?”The

miracle, Reagan wrote, is “that a young man of 30 years without credentials as a scholar or priest began preaching on street corners” and changed the world.

“He owned nothing but the clothes on his back and he didn’t travel beyond a circle less than one hundred miles across.

He did this for only 3 years and then was executed as a common criminal.

But for two thousand years, he has … had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals and admirals who ever lived, all put together.

The apostle John said, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.’

“We have been promised that all we have to do is ask God in Jesus name to help when we have done all we can – when we’ve come to the end of our strength and abilities and we’ll have that help,” Reagan wrote.

“We only have to trust and have faith in his infinite goodness and mercy.”Reagan

then referenced the love Loyal and his wife, Edith, had for one another.

“We’ve been promised this is only a part of life and that a greater life, a greater glory awaits us.

It awaits you together one day, and all that is required is that you believe and tell God you put yourself in his hands.”He

signed it: “Love, Ronnie.”

Earlier in the letter, Reagan had referenced an example from his own life that he believed illustrated the power of prayer.

He had suffered from a painful ulcer as governor of California and was ordered by the doctor to take Maalox regularly.

“Then one morning I got up, went into the bathroom, reached for the bottle [of Maalox] as always and something happened.

I knew I didn’t need it.

I had gone to bed with the usual pain the night before but I knew that morning I was healed.”When

Reagan opened his mail at work that morning, he began reading letters from constituents.

The first letter was from a woman who said she met with a group each day and prayed for him.

The second letter was from a man who said he did the same.

Later that morning, a young staffer from the legal staff came into Reagan’s office to tell him something and on the way out added: “Gov., I think maybe you’d like to know – some of us on the staff come in early every morning and get together to pray for you.”

Later, when Reagan went to the doctor for his checkup, the doctor became “puzzled,” Reagan wrote.

Not only was the ulcer gone, Reagan said, but the doctor said there was no indication Reagan had ever had an ulcer in the first place.“Coincidence?

I don’t think so,” Reagan wrote in his letter to Loyal Davis.