Sermon Tone Analysis

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Good morning!

Happy Easter.

:-)

A grain of wheat, says Jesus, remains simply a solitary grain, unless it falls to the ground and dies.

But if it dies, it becomes a rich harvest.

According to John, as Jesus entered jerusalem for the passover celebration, he was approached by his disciples who said that some Greeks wanted to see him.

In the cryptic way he sometimes answered questions, he said this:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… ( reference)

The fruit yet to be born had to do with those greeks, those gentiles.

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We’ve been studying in Matthew the past few months and following along as Matthew unwraps for us the true and full identity of Jesus.

In many ways he is shown to be the new Moses… a savior, redeemer, and deliverer… who is leading a new spiritual exodus from what Paul calls the law of sin and death.

Jesus initiates a new covenant, which Paul calls the law of the Spirit of Life.

Jesus expounds on this new Spirit-of-God-led life of aliveness in his Sermon on the mount, and calls us to repentance; to begin again at the beginning, leading a new life as a citizen of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven.

And in that kingdom call, we can see Jesus as the new David, our King.

He is The Son of Man, who’s been given all authority (over word, and sickness, and weather, even over sin), and whose kingdom will never end.

The next passage in our study is:

from above)

Matthew 9:10

I read that bit about Jesus approaching the hated tax collectors and the shunned public sinners and also his concern for those Greeks in and combine that with the specific worldwide celebration we have today of Christ’s resurrection following his crucifixtion, and an even broader and greater image of the true Jesus appears.

:!3

when the pharisees confronted his disciples about his dinner company, his he answered with this:

That passage is from Hosea.

Sacrifices were for Israel, and it was temporary… Law was meant to teach what was Sin.

The Law of Moses was and still is the great moral code of history.

Thou shall not murder, commit adultery, bear false witness, covet...

God’s love desires mercy for all of us: Israelite, Gentile, tax collector, Sinners.

The morality is still valid.

God is still God, unchanging.

But The old way of atonement by animal sacrifice for the nation of Israel was not sufficient for the fullness and greatness of God’s love.

The exclusivity of the religious leaders within Israel was not sufficient for the fullness and greatness of God’s love

The old way of atonement by animal sacrifice for the nation of Israel was not sufficient for the greatness of God’s love.

God’s love desires mercy for all of us: Israelite, Gentile, tax collector, Sinners.

God’s love desires mercy for all of us created in his image: Israelite, Gentile, tax collector, Sinner.

And into that desire steps Jesus to reveal himself also as the new Abraham; fulfilling the Promise God made to Abraham that, because of his Faith, he would be made a Great nation with sons and daughters as innumerable as grains of sand or stars in the sky.

Jesus does this By creating a new chosen people composed of Jews and gentiles:

a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession

who will be holy as God is Holy and who will serve as His light in the world of darkness.

YOU are a new creation.

Like Adam, but different from Adam; being fashioned into the spiritual image of Jesus.

YOU are a new creation.

Who can claim to create a new people, but the Creator God of the universe who hung the stars and knit each of us in our mother’s womb?

The same God of .. In the beginning God created.

And now, in Christ, we are a new creation:

Ultimately, then, we can say Matthew- first book in the new testament - is a book about creation, just as Genesis = first book in the old testament - is a book about creation.

not “these are the generations of”

The book of the genesis of Jesus Christ.

At least then we can consider a double meaning: Jesus, and also us, his creation.

---and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

I think this cannot be emphasized enough in Christianity.

Jesus is God with Us… God Above all Gods... Creator God with us.

That’s Not claimed by any founder of any major world religion: not mosaic judaism, buddhism, not islam, not hinduism.

If you believe in Jesus, you believe that Only HE is Yahweh in human flesh.

It is He who is uniquely Son of God, God with Us, and who brings glory to many through his suffering;

He who is uniquely Son of God, God with Us, brings glory to many through his suffering;

And his suffering unto his death,

[like a grain of wheat fallen to the ground;]

and his resurrection the firstfruits of a great harvest.

In himself alone he was the new Israel of God; the true vine.

, Paul gives an explaination about those being grafted into Christ:

This grafting includes Gentiles who believe and Jews who believe; It includes tax collectors and sinners who place faith in Christ to make them a new creation, Holy for God.

Romans 11:

Paul describes that through one man came death and also through one man Christ came grace that abounds for many.

Jesus is the new kind of man, and his creation is a new mankind.

Eph 2:2-

And with the risen Christ as the cornerstone and structure,

And with the risen Christ as the cornerstone and structure, we who are in Christ are are fashioned together by the Spirit as the dwelling place for God.

we who are in Christ (the Church) are are fashioned together by the Spirit as the dwelling place for God.

This is just as by the Spirit, God fashioned together all of creation

By the Spirit, God began a new creation:

By the Spirit, God began a new creation:

John 19:30

In death, Jesus yielded up his spirit; returning to God what was given.

Those present for this death exclaimed with awe the Divinity the witnessed.

This confession is verified, stamped, sealed as truth by the Ressurrection.

Death cannot hold power over the God of the Living.

And that same Spirit, once resurrected and seated with God in heaven, Christ poured out for us:

You are his new

In this passage Paul purposefully equates the Spirit of God = Spirit of Christ.

And in the next verse Paul defines that Spirit:

...the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

As also in Proverbs8:

And in V 11, The same power that raised Jesus to life from the dead gives new life in righteousness to you.

And so here we are, back at the beginning.

The point is not the death.

Death was the sacrifice.

The point is the miracle of life through death; life despite death; life in the face of death.

Life for us because of the righteousness of Jesus.

M 3:16 describes Jesus baptism.

Because of God’s Love for you he became flesh to redeem you, Because of God’s love for you he seeks you, he remains patient with you, never insistent, never irritable or resentful... full of compassion and mercy, enduring all things, suffering all things.

Matthew 3:16

Let’s stand and worship Jesus Christ.

All Hail the Power...

Genesis 8

Genesis 8:10

Sunshine in my soul today