Sermon Tone Analysis

!!!! Give God Another Chance \\ to Make It Right

/Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:/ (Philippians 1:6)

On occasions, I have been lead of the Lord to preach about a blind man who lived in a town know as Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-25).

I’ve used subjects such as “Look Again,” “Don’t Give Up On What God Can Do,” and “NEVER EVER GIVE UP.”

The truth that God is continually drawing His people into is that hope must never be lost, released, or abandoned.

Hope is the anchor of the soul that ensures our stability and minimizes our destruction during the storms, so that we are sustained to move on and arrive at our purpose after the storm.

The relevance of the story is not that the man was blind, but that he was human.

And he received like most believers receive, his victory was not instantaneous.

His victory came through a process.

The three steps process did more than make things better.

The process made things right.

Always believe that it is the will of God to bring WHOLENESS.

The first touch of Jesus made him BETTER, but the second touch made him WHOLE.

So I declare with confidence that the God of /“Much More in 2004”/ has not lost His ability to bring mighty things to fruition before this year is out.

Just release yourself to the process and trusting Him knowing that He is always acting and leading with our best interest in mind.

Jesus took him by the hand to lead him out of the town because his condition required it.

He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities (weaknesses or limitations).

The process for victory was (1) to get the man into the right place to receive, (2) to raise his level of expectation, and (3) to release or draw out of him his potential for receiving.

The end of the story for this blind man was more than just SEEING; it was SEEING CLEARLY.

Although the blind man’s First Look cancelled the darkness and drew in the light, he would have been left functionally crippled for the rest of his life.

Cripple because defeat and discouragement would have been given a license to freely operate in a man who was already looking down (which most blind men don’t do).

Like the blind man, are you delivered but damaged?

Are you dealing with the leftovers after deliverance?

Tears and grief are gone, but now there is resentment, hardness, habits, and cravings.

Never believe that the FIRST LOOK is the conclusion of the whole matter.

The first look is an OPPORTUNITY to Raise Your Level of Expectation.

The first look is the ASSURANCE that God never starts a job that He’s not committed to finishing.

It is God gift for every citizen of the kingdom to know that whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance (Matthew 13:11-12).

If God has done anything in your life, that’s your evidence that there is always much more in store.

God is not through blessing you!  Look Again!  Look up again!

Get ready for the NEXT move of God!  Get ready for the NEXT TOUCH of God!  Look into the Word again!

Believe God again!

Complete restoration is possible.

You can see clearly again.

Without a doubt, the best is yet to come.

And if you can say “he has begun a good work in me,”  SHOUT NOW—the best is yet to come!

Jonah was not dead, but he was still in the whale’s belly.

Then Jonah said, /I am cast out of thy sight; *yet I will look again* toward thy holy temple/ (Jonah 2:4).

The path of the just is never without a shining light, that shines more and more, [brighter and clearer until it reaches it’s full strength and glory] leading the way to a perfect day (Proverbs 4:18 AMP).

God is available to do whatever it takes from START to FINISH.

He will continue right up to the time of Jesus’ return, developing and perfecting and bringing His purpose to full completion in you (Philippians 1:6 AMP).

God is at Work in You for His GLORY.

It is God who works in us both a willingness and a doing of his good pleasure.

It is /… Not in your own strength, for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight/ (Philippians 2:13 AMP).

You Can COUNT on God!   Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

With the PEACE of God, With His RESURRECTION POWER, With His guidance as our SHEPHERD, And With His BLOOD that WASHES and CLEANSES us, the God of peace makes us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20-21).

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, *after that ye have suffered a while*, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you  (1 Peter 5:10).

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!!!! Give God Another Chance \\ to Make It Right

!!!! Repositioning Our Receiver

Hebrews 10:35-36 (KJV)  *Cast not away therefore* your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward./

36 For ye have need/ of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, *ye might receive the promise.*

Growing up as one of older children in the Scott’s house was not what I would call “typical” because almost everyone that I knew back in the late 1960’s had a television except us.

In fact, I often got in trouble for leaving “the yard” without permission to go to a neighbor’s house who had a television.

Saturday afternoon with Tarzan, Jane, Boy and the smart little monkey got me in more trouble than I care to think about.

My friends had a nice large black and white television with a good picture and sound.

They could pick up the best shows on the three Memphis channels.

We seldom watched the only Mississippi channel which was channel 6 from Greenwood.

When it was time for Tarzan, my friends would quickly switch the channel.

Then one of them would run outside to the back of the house and “turn the antenna” to the right position while someone hollered “that’s it!”

All 3 channels had a different position to be able to receive the broadcast.

It didn’t matter what worked for channels 3 and 5.

There was only one way to see what was showing on channel 13, the receiver had to be put in the position for channel 13.

If we wanted to watch Tarzan, we had to do whatever was required to RECEIVE!

Every human being deals with issues which are very much like the television of my childhood.

We have the potential of a picture perfect life.

We have the potential of walking and living in the Abundant Life that Jesus came to provide.

However, we are often discouraged by reflections with distortion, no clarity, and incompleteness.

Jesus is the channel that we should be tuned to, but we will always miss the best that he can provide if we fail to receive or inconsistently receive or partially receive.

What Jesus gives is always with maximum power and absolute clarity, but we fall short on the receiving end.

He is always sufficient.

And He is always exhorting us to make whatever adjustments are necessary to RECEIVE!

Satan has no capacity to stop or frustrate the purpose of God.

So, he works on us so that we will let our trust in the Lord die when things happens.

We give up on our reward!

We give up on what He has promised us.

If we want to receive from God, we need to keep on patiently doing God's will if you want him to do for us all that he has promised.

/His coming will not be delayed much longer.

And those whose faith has made them good in God's sight must live by faith, trusting him in everything.

Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them (Hebrews 10:35-38 TLB)./

If I was asked to rank words in the New Testament in the order of importance, “Jesus” would be first, and “love” would be second.

The third one would most likely be the word “RECEIVE.”

The God of this universe has set in motion the principals of receiving.

In fact, almost everything in life is affect by these principals.

The crop in field never grows except the ground receives the seed sown into the earth.

The farmer never stores or eats of the harvest without receiving it from the field.

Jesus makes it clear that prayer includes both asking in my name and *receiving *that our joy may be full or complete (John 16:24).

Again Jesus said, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, *believe that ye receive /them/**/,/*/ and ye shall have/ /them (/Mark 11:24)/.

/The heart that receives the seed of the word on good ground is one that hear the word, and *receive /it,/*/ and bring forth fruit,/ some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred (Mark 4:20).

Even the new birth is not just God giving to us; it is *receiving the adoption of sons *(Galatians 4:5).

Notice the blind man’s request of Mark 10:51-52.

Jesus asked, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”

The blind man said to him, *Lord, that I might receive my sight.*/

Jesus/ said, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Immediately, *he received his sight,* and followed Jesus.

When Jesus gave final directions to His disciples, he said “*Receive ye the Holy Ghost” **(*John 20:22) because it is through faith that we *receive the promise of the Spirit* (Galatians 3:14).

Let’s stop working on God for giving.

Let’s allow him to work on us for receiving.

When we don’t know how to /Repositioning Our Receiver, /the Lord of Glory is more than able to order our steps and direct our hearts in line with the flow of God.

Don’t abandon your confidence in God.

Don’t throw away your confidence in God.