Sermon Tone Analysis

God is Like Me or My Father

How do you think about God?

How does the world think about God?

How do we relate to God?

Father

Greek Myth (like Zeus)

Unknown or don’t relate

What is true about God?

Not like men - 1 Samuel 16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

He is above our understanding and cannot be brought down to it.

(Money Changers) He is not accountable to us.

2 I know, LORD, that you are all-powerful;

that you can do everything you want.

3 You ask how I dare question your wisdom

when I am so very ignorant.

I talked about things I did not understand,

about marvels too great for me to know.

4 You told me to listen while you spoke

and to try to answer your questions.

5 In the past I knew only what others had told me,

but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

6So I am ashamed of all I have said

and repent in dust and ashes.

The Presence of the Lord is more than our ego can stand.

5

3They were calling out to each other:

“Holy, holy, holy!

The LORD Almighty is holy!

His glory fills the world.”

4 The sound of their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake, and the Temple itself was filled with smoke.

5 I said, “There is no hope for me!

I am doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful.

And yet, with my own eyes, I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!”

What does our relationship to God set us up for?

What do we or the world expect out of ourselves?

Religion not focus for many

Media struggles to understandby Terry Mattingly On Religion | April 27, 2019 at 1:00 a.m.

But what about the statistic that became a mantra for journalists explaining the New York billionaire's rise -- that 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump?

"There has been a strong drive in the mainstream press to establish that white evangelicals don't actually have any greatly held morality," Carney said in an interview.

"The idea is that these evangelicals use religion as a cudgel to beat on other people.

Their support for Trump is supposed to show that their beliefs are political -- not religious."

Research into primary voting, he noted, revealed that the "more frequently a Republican reported going to church, the less likely he was to vote for Trump."

In fact, Trump was weakest among believers who went to church the most and did twice as well among those who never went to church.

"Each step down in church attendance brought a step up in Trump support," Carney noted.

God is not involved or cares about the details of my life

What does God’s love look like?

When we say God is good, what does that look like?

What does the world say God’s goodness should look like?

7 The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

7 The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

Does God care about us?

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not worth much more than they?

27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

28 “And why are you worried about clothing?

Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,

29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?

And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

4 “Abide in Me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.