Sermon Tone Analysis

Excerpt from special number by Sis Lerma

“Call Him in the morning, in the afternoon time

Late in the evening He'll be there

When your heart is broken,

And you feel discouraged,

You can just remember that He said

He'll be there”

“LET US PRAY” (AFTER SPECIAL NUMBER)

Happy Father’s day po sa lahat ng tatay at mga tatay natin.

May the LORD bless you and your family.

Our study today though not directly related to the event we are celebrating today, I believe the essence and truth that we are going to learn will be beneficial to you and even to everyone.

BIBLE READING

Let us open our bible to the book of

“May the LORD bless the reading of His word”

Introduction

News broke out these past few days about a religious group being accused of investment scams and estafa.

Many of his followers, thousands of people gathered and prayed together to show support to the accused founder.

These people are promised of a return of investment of 30% of what they gave as an offering.

There is another leader of a religious group claiming to be the Son of God.

This leader gives a blasphemous statement about his claim like being the owner of the universe and in control of everything.

Both of them have one in common, they are not Christ-centered.

Their religion is to serve their own appetite and the people who are longing for hope and changes in life are led to a disastrous path to hell.

In general, this is the way of the world.

Money, fame, position, possession, and power are what matters.

This is true when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

This is the way of the world.

Money, fame, position, possession, and alike are what matters.

Matthew 4:

Jesus

Satan offered Jesus “the kingdoms of the world and all [its] glory”, but that’s not the perspective of Jesus.

His perspective is that “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

Satan offered Jesus

What’s the point here?

There is more important than what the world can offer in this life.

Only when we know the right perspective.

The perspective of a transformed life, being transformed into His image.

“May the LORD bless the reading of His word”

After Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty (40) days and forty (40) nights, He began his ministry.

He choose his disciples, and preach about repentance and kingdom of heaven.

The book of Matthew mentioned “Kingdom” 55 times in the whole book.

Satan offered the Kingdoms of the world, Jesus offered the kingdom of heaven.

Beginning in chapter 5, Jesus preached to the multitudes with ‘one who had authority, and not as their scribes’, () the preaching known as ‘The sermon of the Mount’.

In this sermon, Jesus revealed the exact opposite the ways and perspective of the world and presented the offering of how the people can experience God, and the true happiness that can satisfy the emptiness of heart of every people.

The first perspective revealed is WHAT MATTERS.

What Matters: His Agenda

Anu nga ba ang mahalaga?

The world view of what matters is in our previous text.

Kingdoms of the world and its glory.

Fame, money, position, possession.

Matthew

But in , Jesus revealed what is really matter.

In verse 16, the bible says

What Matters: His Agenda

Lets take note this principle: In this life, What really Matters is the Agenda of God.

And His agenda is the Glory of the Father, our God.

Matthew 5:

Peter has something to say about this idea.

The word of God said:

1 Peter 4:10

Now, in this life, what is your agenda?

Is it aligned to the ultimate agenda of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Does it give glory to God in all aspect?

Go back to

Now, how can our light be shine before others?

That is when we experience the true blessedness in verses 3 to 12.

The true blessedness of Jesus is the exact opposite of the world’s blessedness.

In these verse we have seen the mandate and its purpose.

The mandate is that our ‘light should shine before others’.

But how can we do that?

This is what the world’s blessedness is:

Jesus

The answer is in previous verses, what we call- the beatitudes.

It is a pronouncement of blessings to whom are to be accounted truly happy, and what their characters are.

Christ begins his sermon with blessings

Blessed are they that are rich, and great, and honourable in the world; they spend their days in mirth, and their years in pleasure; they eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and carry all before them with a high hand, and have every sheaf bowing to their sheaf; happy the people that is in such a case; and their designs, aims, and purposes are accordingly; they bless the covetous (); they will be rich.

Henry, M. (1994).

Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p.

1628).

Peabody: Hendrickson.

But Christ in His sermon corrected this world’s perspective and gave us new perspective and values to follow.

He said:

What is Jesus’s blessedness?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted and reviled.

In His kingdom or reign, those who are considered fortunate include the poor, sorrowing, humble, righteous, merciful, pure, peacemakers, and persecuted.

These are precisely those categories of people too many of us tend to despise and ostracize.

What does this blessedness mean to us?

This principles reveals the heart of a blessed person.

A person who acknowledge the need of God.

A person who understands the will of God to the purpose of his praise and glory of God.

according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace

Whitney Donald said in his book ‘Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed’:

That genuine spirituality seeks the things of God, or more specifically, “things which are above, where Christ is.”

Any spirituality that does not seek things like the will and glory of God in everything, intimacy with and conformity to Christ, and love—and does not seek them above all other pursuits—is a false spirituality.

Our purpose is to do the will of God and to conform to His image

Whitney, D. S. (2003).

Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed (p.

25).

Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

In the beatitudes, Jesus revealed the image of God through the manifestation of His will for His people.

Church, are you being transformed into the image of Christ?

Then this is our new perspective.

What matters is the agenda of God alone.