Sermon Tone Analysis

jsh 3:1-

I. Who is directing your steps?

A. God’s presence should lead every step we take.

Jsh 3:

Illus: We live our lives backwards.

This is what I mean, we live directing our own lives.

Our own wants and desires drive us.

In large part, our lives are not lived for God’s mission, but our own desires.

Now when I say that our desires drive us, that is not necessarily these deep wicked desires, but instead I mean that our lives are largely directed by ourselves.

God is simply an add on to our life.

We want to live our lives our way, for our selves, and then ask God to bless it.

Notice the specific order God builds in acomplishing His plan.

The ark goes first, everyone follows the ark.

This is not that hard to understand, God goes first, we follow God.

What does that look like…

1. God’s mission of reaching the world and the Miss Lou should shape the way we live, the way we spend, the way we talk, the way we interact online.

Every action of our lives should be gospel focused.

2. God’s Word should guide us.

You need to be regularly feasting on the riches of God’s revelation.

God has communicated in his Word who He is, what a God honoring life looks like, how he expects us to interact with the world, and so much more.

3. God’s people, the church, should be a priority.

You should be in relationships with others who will call you out when you are walking away from God. Hear me, you can attend church, have church friends, and even be involved in a small group, and not have this.

If you do not have people who will challenge you to live for Jesus around you, you need to find and friend those people.

mt 16

B. God’s presence should not be taken lightly.

Illus: Do you genuinely fear God?

I think for many of you here today, God is simply a cultural reference you add on… like Bless it, or God bless them.

We mix in God references because God is apart of being southern.

We love Jesus, Guns, and our politics.

If we are honest, we don’t really fear, revere, or live for God, or at least not in the completely sold out way scripture communicates.

There is little following the ark in our lives.

There is little taking up our cross and following Jesus.

What we genuinely need in our lives is a re awaking to the presence and grandeur of God.

If our eyes were opened again to who God is, our lives would be completely changed.

Don’t think that God does not see the lackadaisical way we follow him today.

II.

Do you take time to consecrate?

A. Holiness does not happen accidentally.

Illus: If you live life lackadaisically, going to church, sprinkling Jesus occasionally into our daily lives, but never really intentionally digging into the word, praying, and living for Christ, then you should not be surprised when you don’t grow in your relationship with him.

Holiness is the purposeful discipline of choosing to get in God’s word, get with God’s people, yield to the Holy Spirit, and intentionally seek to be more like Christ.

When was the last time you stopped to dwell on the sin in your life so that you might repent, turning away from your sin, and turning to God.

When was the last time you read God’s word slowly, alowing him to probe into the selfishness and wickedness of your life, so that you might turn to him.

Even now as the word of God is preached, it may sting here in the moment, but if you do not intentionally apply it when you leave, what good does the conviction do.

Joshua told the people to stop and get themselves right before following God’s mission.

Our issue, we so fill our lives with distractions.

Distractions that come from TV screens and smart phone screens.

We don’t ever have time that we stop to listen to God.

B. God works mightily among His holy people.

Illus: As we look to the condition and moral deterioration of our country, there is a temptation to think “how will God bless our country when sin runs so rampant”

I don’t think that the moral depravity of our country is what is keeping God from working in our country.

I believe that it is the moral depravity, lackadaisicalness, and general apathy of the church that is keeping God from working in our country.

If the church can’t live for God, why on earth should we expect the world to.

If you want to see our country live for God, if you want to see America blessed by God gain, it is time the church returned to God and stopped living for itself.

God does work among his holy people, but we must choose to consecrate ourselves, and follow God first.

phil 1:

III.

God still works miraculously today.

jsh 3:14-

A. Who are you actually following?

Illus: as you leave today, who will you live for?

Will go continue the apathetic walk with God fitting him into your life where you have time,

OR will you allow God to direct you, making his things the most important and purposely pursuing a life on mission for Him and His holiness?

Living for God is not accidental.

You must make a choice today.

mt 16