Sermon Tone Analysis

A Basket

Some things are just meant to be put on display.

When I go into an arcade I’m, no matter where it is, I’m always going to the same game first.

The pop-a-shot.

I’m there to get the high score on that game.

We’ve taken the boys to Chuck E Cheese’s a couple times over the last several months and even there I go in and I’m there to put my high score on the front of that game.

And Chuck E Cheese’s is great, they have a football game too.

So I’m going to get my yards on that game too.

The last time we were there we went with the Estes’s and I went in and as soon as the boys let me I went over and got like 70 and I was feeling pretty good about it, then some guy broke it.

I went to Brandon, “who’s this guy think he is?”

I went back and set a mark that the other guy was not able to clear.

That high score is meant to be displayed.

Until the end of that day of business.

In a way that no one knows that I’m the one who set it.

But I know!

That high score is on display because it’s impressive (chuckle, “sure”).

The Gospel is impressive and God intends it to be on display.

We are the ones who are supposed to display it!

READ 21-25

The Gospel is meant to be put on a stand for the world to hear.

Israel was called to be a light to the nations, so this is not a new concept that Jesus is bringing forward.

God has always intended for his goodness, grace, love, glory to be on display for the world to see.

To see that everything they are looking for is in Him!

Jesus commanded us to spread the Gospel to the world.

Paul said we were saved so God would be praised.

Peter said we were saved to proclaim his excellencies

So we are called to share it.

What then?

That’s what the next two parables deal with.

Seeds

We are now making a transition from being lamps to being sowers… and seeds really!

READ 26-29

We got some landscaping put in shortly after we moved into our house.

There’s a small tree we put in right by the garage.

When it was planted it was maybe five feet tall.

In our second year in our house, Kristen would periodically make comments about needing to trim the tree up, I never really listened.

Then one day I looked at it as we were pulling out of the driveway and I thought, “Oh my gosh, it’s as tall as the house!”

The sower plants seed and God makes it grow.

The sower can only sit back and admire.

The sower, like the parable of the sower from the beginning of the chapter, is the one who shares the Gospel.

The seed are those who will come to a saving faith in Jesus.

The point of this parable is that it is God who brings salvation and growth.

And when the time is right, God will take his church.

God saves.

But we must fulfill our role.

“Go and make disciples”.

Not because God needs us, but because he chose to include us in it.

It’s a blessing for us!

We get to be a part of spreading the Gospel and spreading God’s Kingdom.

The mustard seed.

The Mustard Seed

God’s Kingdom is spreading.

It will grow to much more significant than it is now, when Jesus told this parable it was much less significant than it is now.

His Kingdom will grow.

That’s the point of this parable.

READ 30-32

I want to tell you that we don’t know when it will see a surge.

We don’t know which saint will spark the surge, we don’t know which converts will be enjoy the blessings.

We don’t know where to Gospel is going to catch like wildfire.

We don’t know these things so we just share the Gospel.

Here, there, everywhere, as Dr. Seuss would say.

All we know is that God’s Word promises that his Kingdom is on it’s way from tiny to huge… “It’s gonna be yuuuge!”

So we go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the Earth.

And we tell people the Good news of Jesus Christ providing their righteousness, paid penalty, forgiveness, and life.

Not people who look like us, not people who don’t look like us.

Not people who are near us, not people who aren’t near us…

We just tell people, because we don’t know which ones will respond, we just know that some will.

Closing

And we are all responsible to be involved in this, all called to be a part of missions.

Not in the same way, but all called.

I believe locally and internationally.

There were no caveats on Jesus’ commission.

He didn’t say while you’re young.

He didn’t say when it’s convenient.

He didn’t say unless you have practice.

He didn’t say as long as your job doesn’t keep you busy all the time.

He didn’t say squeeze it in where it works.

It seems like Scripture says quite the opposite, that there is nothing more important!

And so I’m excited to tell you about a great opportunity to be obedient to this call that we will have this summer!

Show “What Mobilization Looks Like” video

We will be going to Bercy, Haiti this summer on a mission trip.

How we got here...

I began praying about where we should go this summer last summer and looking at different agencies and locations...

I wasn’t really sure, I was paying a lot of attention to the prices of the different places, and honestly wasn’t thinking much about Haiti, then at camp last summer...

When we got back I really started asking God if that’s where He wanted us, and pretty quickly I felt like He was affirming it.

Then it was time to choose an agency.

I was at Ford Construction one day talking with Jamey Sanders and I told him I was working on a trip to Haiti and he knew one of his co-workers had made multiple trips to Haiti and Jamey called him in there and he began telling me about Mission of Hope...

MOH is...

Just over 20 years old

Have an orphanage, school, medical facility, and church

They work with local churches and pastors in Haiti, helping them minister to their villages.

They align closely with us doctrinally

They seek to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people of Haiti.

After some investigation I really felt like this was going to be the way to go!

The details

July 13-20

Staying at Mission of Hope’s main campus in Bercy, Haiti

The village we’ll actually be serving in will be decided on later...

Fly into Port-au-Prince and they will pick us up

We will not be the only church group staying at the campus