Sermon Tone Analysis

Preacher Charles: South Dakota You don’t know as much as you think you do

Gallup Study: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- About eight in 10 Americans say they frequently (44%) or sometimes (35%) encounter stress in their daily lives.

Just 17% say they rarely feel stressed, while 4% say they never do.

New survey results show Americans' anxiety levels experienced a sharp increase in the past year, with almost 40 percent of respondents saying they felt more anxious than they did a year ago.

That's a pretty big spike – following on the heels of a 36 percent jump between 2016 and 2017 – and it means this year's national, averaged 'anxiety score' has tipped over halfway on a 100-point scale: it's now sitting at 51, with a five-point increase since 2017.

You Don’t Know God as well as you think you do!

"This poll shows US adults are increasingly anxious particularly about health, safety, and finances," says American Psychiatry Association president Anita Everett, whose organisation sponsored the survey.

Story: Four Wheeler

We all know suicide is on the rise, anxiety, depresssion.

People are getting busier and doing more, but we don’t have the foundation or the internal resources to deal.

I see this in highschoolers who though outwardly act strong and as if they have it togther, when life hits them with a storm of trial, they lose all hope.

Overwhelmed, worried, they strive and chase after the illusive prive the world promises, only to find themselves empty.

This has infiltrated the church as well, we can barely sit in church without the cares of life clawing back in.

We can’t enjoy God because our bills need to be paid, our family is messed up, our job is crazy..and we come to God, not even really seeking God himself, we don’t the presence of God, we want the presents from God. Something has to change, and in a world of our young people struggling, worrying, chasing after things which will leave them empty, the church is chasing the same things, and we are jsut as worried.

I think God has a word for us today.

​ ESVNow as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.

And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving.

And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Tell her then to help me.”

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

There are a few important things here that short story gives us insight into.

The problem we fall into within America..and how we must have a pretty drastic heart change.

Regain Your Sense of Wonder

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.

Mary takes the place at Jesus’ feet.

A disciples position.

Jesus comes in, and rather than trying to do something for Jesus like preparing the food, which would have been expected..she has a different approach.

She seems to be captivated by this man, and just sits at his feet and listens.

She isn’t talking, asking Jesus for stuff..just sitting and listening.

Its striking because this position of teacher disciple, sitting at Jesus’ feet, that usually wasn’t something women did.

She threw cultural norms out the window.

She saw Jesus and said I have to sit and just be with him.

She sat, listened, and just soaked in the presence of the Savior.

When is the last time you sat at someone’s feet?

Child.

This is why I love kids, because they are so easily captivated.

Peek a boo.

Dancing.

Kick a ball.

Snap my finger.

They look and see what you do, its like world changing.

Because to them, its so far from what they can do yet, or understand.

Why don’t we have that same awe by God.

Isn’t who he is and what he does so far from our understanding and capabilities?

​ ESVTruly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

​ ESVBut I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

When you are captivated by God, your soul quiets, your thoughts stop, and you just listen.When is the last time you were captivated by Jesus?

Hearts that are “fit to break” with love for the Godhead are those who have been in His presence and have looked with opened eye upon the majesty of the Deity.

Men of the breaking hearts had a quality about them not known to or understood by common men.

They habitually spoke with spiritual authority.

They had been in the presence of God and they reported what they saw there.

They were prophets, not scribes, for the scribe tells us what he has read, and the prophet tells us what he has seen.

The distinction is not an imaginary one.

Between the scribe who has read and the prophet who has seen, there is a difference as wide as the sea.