Sermon Tone Analysis

2 Timothy 4:7-8

Matthew 24:15

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

The Word of God is clear that we are to:

Stay the course.

To persevere.

To fight the good fight.

Endure to the end.

Two questions come to my mind when reading these passages:

What are we to contend for?

What are the consequences?

What are we to contend for?

Doctrine

I do believe that even more essentially we are to contend for a specific aspect of doctrine

That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ

What is the most important doctrine in the church?

The Gospel…that Christ died for our sins and rose again.

This is the teaching, that in the Church Age takes priority

Matthew 5:

Matthew 5:17-

Jesus came not to do away with the Law but to bring it to it’s fullness

In the same way that just loving your neighbor wasn’t enough, you need to love your enemy

Just like not committing adultery wasn’t enough, you are not to lust

in your hearts

In the same respect, sacrificing an animal wasn’t enough, A man needed to die abut it also needed to be the death of an eternal being as well.

Jesus didn’t die to destroy or abolish the Law but to bring it to it’s fullness

The fulfillment of the Law is seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus

As I have said on wednesdays, just as is the first hint at the Gospel

is the first hint of the church (candlesticks & city on a hill) and the first hint of the Great Commission.

Jesus goes on the challenge us to not lose our distincness

In the same way that salt that cannot preserve its thrown away or a lampstand doesn’t belong under a bushel…those who fail in sharing the priority teaching of the church are no longer fulfilling their purpose and are not profitable

I believe here that this is the first hint at the Great Commission

I also believe that this is the first hint at the church

I believe that Jesus, speaking to a group of Jews, was speaking to what would constitute the first church and in “city on a hill” and “Lamp stand” Jesus is hinting at the first church

This leads us to the end of the New Testament

Revelation 2:

What is the first love?

The word for first here is the same as in

The first love is the Gospel

They were not chided for losing love for one another

They were not chided for losing love for Jesus

They were chided for losing their love for the Gospel

Now, if Jesus eludes to the church as a lampstand in …could there be a connection here between the message of Jesus in and ?

I believe there is a DIRECT connection

I do not believe that it is an accident that the term lampstand is used in both

Nor os it an accident that the word first appears here in and in .

What could be determined if a church loses its love and desire for evangelism?

Loss of its place in the community

What if we see thin in reverse?

What if a church is not growing, moving toward dying as a church…what could be the assumption?

They have left their first love

God forbid that this church ever get to that place

Let’s make God our focus and the Gospel what drives us

We are not Gospel centered…we are God (the Trinity) centered but we ought to be Gospel driven

The Gospel is to be that one thing that is always in the back of our minds and on the tip of our tongues

It is to be the driving force behind our lives

Our marriages

All of our other relationships

The Gospel needs to be more than fire insurance

It needs to be what fuels us.