Sermon Tone Analysis

Start playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony to catch everyone’s attention from meet and greet

Today is an exciting day where we are celebrating:

V for Victory

Start playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony to catch everyone’s attention from meet and greet

Did you know that Beethoven’s 5th Symphony was the soundtrack of the allied army during WWII?

In 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched the “V for Victory” campaign, the most successful propaganda campaign in history.

Churchill was known for 2 things: Cigar and the “V” Sign.

John Lennon popularized it as the peace sign in the 1960’s.

It was during this campaign that an observation was made that the Morse telegraphic code for V was three dots and a dash (. . .

—) which was also the beat of the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

Which you just heard.

The suggestion took hold in Belgium and quickly spread to the Netherlands and northern France.

Eventually word reached England about the widespread use of V graffito, inspiring what The New York Times called “a unique nerve war against Germany.”

It began with a BBC radio show broadcast to the occupied countries hosted by Colonel V. Britton, the cover for individuals fluent in the native languages of the various audiences.

In his broadcasts, Britton reminded his listeners to use the V as a means to fight “for your country’s independence and honor and that of the other nations enslaved by the Nazi regime.”

Not long after the July broadcast, an observation was made that the Morse telegraphic code for V was three dots and a dash (. . .

—) which was also the beat of the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

That passage was promptly put to a variety of propaganda uses, including the theme song for Britton’s program.

Churchill began flashing the V sign with his index and middle finger, palm out, doing it so often that it essentially became his signature.

The campaign, to use modern terminology, soon went viral.

(https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-v-for-victory-campaign/)

Even though still neutral, it caught on in the United States.

As early as August 1941, envelopes appeared with “V for Victory” and the Morse code V printed on them.

Posters, stamps, and other ephemera followed.

The New York-based British American Ambulance Corps noted, “Never before in the world’s history has an inspiration like the ‘V for Victory’ idea been so universally accepted by freemen the world over.”

Initially American use expressed support for England.

After America entered the war, the campaign was officially made a part of the government’s efforts.

The campaign even lent its name to a new class of correspondence: V-mail, or “V . . .

— MAIL,” as it was printed on the stationery...

By April 1944, 63 million V-mail letters a month were being shipped to military personnel around the world.

(https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-v-for-victory-campaign/)

https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-v-for-victory-campaign/

This morning, I want to remind you of our sign of Victory.

As we close on our series of “Anchor of Hope” and EVEN BIGGER DEAL is that we’re closing on our two year journey through the book of Luke, we are going to be talking about the resurrection—our sign of Victory.

We are celebrating Easter in November.

As we go into this week of what we have historically called Thanksgiving, I want to remind that the ultimate reason we give thanks is because Jesus is risen!!!

As we end our Anchor of Hope series this morning, I want talk about the victory we can count on (The Resurrection: A Victory We Can Count On).

24

In there are three specific moments that provoke three specific questions.

Here are the three questions:

Can I trust that the resurrection happened?

(Jesus rises from the dead)

Why is the resurrection an anchor of hope?

(Jesus appears to many)

What are the implications of the resurrection on my life today?

(Jesus sends out)

READ

Can I trust that the resurrection happened?

Luke 24:

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

Let’s play a game together.

Let’s see who can guess the difference between things that are real and things that are “just a story”:

George Washington was the first president of the United States

Antioch Dallas is located in the city of Dallas

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Elsa built an ice castle with her special power of freezing thin air

Elsa built an ice castle with her special power of freezing thin air

Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

A man named Jesus was born to a virgin about 2000 years ago, claimed to be God, did miracles like walking on water and raising people from the dead, was crucified on a Roman cross, and then rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he now reigns as king of the universe.

Let me set the scene for you...

Imagine you and many others spent 3 years with Jesus where He demonstrated He was God, showed compassion like none other, loved like none other, forgave sins like none other and in the middle of it all told you He was going to be “killed and on the third day be raised to life” ().

ISure enough Jesus beaten and crucified where he experienced a gruesome death.

What would you be thinking?

Would you remember what he said or would you go into doubt and unbelief?

The women run into the place where you are sulking and tell you that Jesus had risen and the only thing you do is dismiss them as speaking nonsense.

How quickly we forget and doubt comes in.

You have every reason to believe Him.

Imagine that the day came when He was betrayed, beaten, crucified in front of your very eyes.

He dies and was buried.

You go home to prepare spices and perfumes to embalm his body.

You rest on the sabbath and you return on the third day only to find that He was no longer in the tomb.

Instead, you are told by two angelic beings that “he has risen!” and remind you of what He said in Galilee.

You, then, run back to the tell the others and instead of being met with belief and excitement you are met with unbelief and an accusation that you are speaking nonsense (i.e.

idle tale [ESV], making it up [The Message]).

Sound familiar?

The cultural climate of our day is one where the resurrection of Jesus is seen as an idle tale, nonsense and not a historical fact.

Not any different than Mary Poppins, The Lion King, The Chronicles of Narnia or The Hobbit.

Acknowledging it as a historical fact means we need to reckon with it and its implications for our life.

We’ve been in the book of Luke for almost two years now.

As we end it, I want to remind you of why Luke was written as an insight into the veracity of the resurrection.

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught

“Handed down”, “eyewitnesses”, “carefully investigated”, “write orderly account”, “know the certainty of the things”

Luke carefully uses language to document what he has come to conclude from his investigations into all that Jesus did.

So when he says that the Angels declared to the women at the tomb:

INSERT LANGUAGE ABOUT ANGELS HE IS RISEN

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

6 He is not here; he has risen!

This wasn’t so that he can write a compelling story.

It was to demonstrate He has carefully investigated to ensure certainty.

Luke also documents when Jesus appears to the disciples.

Beginning In verse 36, post-resurrection Jesus shows up and engages their doubts by having them look and touch his hands and feet and eating dinner with them confirming that He was not a ghost.

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?

39 Look at my hands and my feet.

It is I myself!