Sermon Tone Analysis

A New Year, A New Decade

Evaluation

How was last year?

How did I live?

Was I kind, caring, compassionate?

Did I look out for/help others?

Was I angry, hard to get along with?

Was I giving?

Selfish?

Who did I live for?

Family?

Kids?

Spouse?

Boss?

Friends?

Myself?

God?

What determined my actions?

Popularity, finances, promotion, ambition, good reputation, pleasure, pleasing others, helping others, honoring the Lord?

Visioning - What do I dream/hope for next year?

What goals do I have?

Buy a house?

Get in shape?

Lose weight?

Finish school (mine)?

Be a better spouse, parent, student, friend?

Where does God fit into my dreams/hopes/plans for next year?

No Longer Self - JESUS ()

For the Love of Christ Compels Us ()

The love of Christ

Paul’s love for his Lord certainly compelled him.

The phrase the love of Christ is best seen in this context as Christ’s love for Paul—a love most clearly seen in His sacrificial death, which is the subsequent theme.

Compels

Sunecho (GK.) - controls

Paul was so overwhelmed by the love of Christ that it was the controlling, deciding factor in his life.

It consumed him.

It had arrested him.

It preoccupied him.

It perplexed him.

It laid seige of him.

It motivated him.

It drove him.

It was almost as if Paul had no choice but to act and live for Christ.

Because of Christ’s overwhelming love for Paul, Paul had no choice but to now live a life devoted to the honor and worship of Christ.

The same love that CHANGED him, now CONTROLS him!

Convinced of the Gospel

To be convinced (NIV, NRSV)

Concluded (ESV, LEB)

A reasoned judgment (KJV)

Determine

Believe (NLT)

Reasons Paul was Convinced

1 - The Law and the Prophets ( - They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying.

He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus.)

2 - His personal experience with Christ ( - Damascus Rd conversion)

3 - Taught by Christ Himself ( - I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.)

It is important to remember, Paul’s powerful feelings and affection for His Lord is grounded in an understanding and knowledge of His Lord - Correct affection and action are directly tied to/and flow from correct knowledge and understanding.

Right Thinking ALWAYS precludes Right Feeling and Right Behavior!!

The Heart of the Gospel (Jesus died ‘in place of’ sinners)

The substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ is the heart of Christian theology…

BECAUSE… God’s justice demands the death penalty ().

Christ’s death fully satisfied God’s justice and propitiated His wrath (, ; ; ; ) for all those who put their faith in Him (, ; ; ; ; , , ).

Those Who Live

Christ’s death has secured the salvation of all who have believed in Him and have trusted in Him.

From this reality flows reconciliation, justification, forgiveness of sin, peace with God, and deliverance from wrath and judgment.

In Christ, we have passed from death to life (), slave to free, enemy to child.

Living for Christ

REALITY #1 - We live for ourselves - our desires, hopes, pleasures, dreams, ambitions, etc…

OR...

OR...

REALITY #2 - We live for the glory of the Lord

There is no other option!

- For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

- For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

6 Commitments to Living for Christ

1 - Commit to a Consistent Time with God

Prayer

- “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...”

In the ‘Lord’s Prayer’, Jesus is teaching us how to prayer in such a way that we humbly submit to God by asking that God’s will be done in our lives - that He would bring His kingdom to earth though us.

Bible Study

- All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Christian Standard Bible.

(2017).

().

Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Through prayer and Bible study, God has made communion with Him possible.

In prayer and Bible study we learn who God is in contrast to who we are.

We learn what He has done and is doing.

We learn how to live in Him and for Him.

2 - Commit to Preach the Gospel to Yourself

- His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Resource - The Gospel Primer (Milton Vincent)

3 - Commit to Repent Often

You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it;

you are not pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.

You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.

Christian Standard Bible.

(2017).

().

Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

- You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; you are not pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.