Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /20 //Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.

21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request.

“Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23 Jesus replied, “*The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.*

24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

*25 **The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life*.

26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.

My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “*Now my heart is troubled*, and what shall I say?

‘Father, save me from this hour’?

No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.

31* **Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

**[1]* (Jn.

12:20-31)/

 

I’d like to begin our service this morning with a personal recital of my ills.

They are not nearly as significant as many but even a little pain is pain and I am in third week of an itch.

It began with an ear infection and a trip to the after hours clinic in New Maryland.

I met four of our folks there that night and felt better because of that.

The doctor asked me if I was allergic to any medication and I quickly and pridefully answered “No”.

A person should never do that.

God hears every word that we say and they are amplified by pride and other wrong attitudes.

So I was given a prescription for amoxicillin three times daily until the bottle was empty.

I took them for a week and started to itch.

That was 16 days ago and I’m still scratching.

At Beulah Camp I fried fish in the canteen each evening and the hot fryers lit me up – they amplified my discomfort but not while I was busy.

As a matter of fact as long as I was out and about and doing something I was not bothered by my reaction.

When I stopped and had time to think about my plight then things got really uncomfortable.

I think that the same principle is true in life.

I am most happy when I am least conscious of myself.

When I am busy and engaged in kingdom work, I am at peace.

I find strength and vision and courage to continue.

It’s the times of inactivity when I have too much time for me.

When “me” becomes the focus then I begin to lose ground and sink to times of despair and discouragement.

The more self-conscious I am the more miserable I am.

The more conscious of yourself you are the less conscious of God you will be.

The more I think of me, the less I think of God and the more I think of God the less I think of Me.

I find that the more God-conscious I am the less vulnerable I am to hurts and slights.

I recover more quickly from criticism.

My temper is more controlled and I find it easier to put things in perspective when God is in the foreground of my thinking.

The scripture says:

 

/3//Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.

4Trust ye in Jehovah for ever; for in Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock.

*[2]* /

 

As I read the scripture that we consider today I was struck with the seeming ease with which Christ accepted the difficult task that was his.

Surely the days of acclaim were more appealing.

How could a person walk away from such an impacting ministry?

To hold the healing power of God in your hands and to be able to transform people’s lives physically, spiritually.

This would be hard to release.

And to accept such a horrific fate?

The challenge for us today is one that is a struggle for all and yet a place that every Christian must come to if they are to find spiritual victory and the joy of a relationship with Christ.

It is to die to one’s self.

It is the joy of a life fully surrendered.

It is to think more of God than you do of yourself.

Let me ask you today if your life is Christ centered or self-centered.

Do you think more of Him or less of Him.

There are people who want to know God deeply but are Satanically and seductively blocked from that experience because they fill their own consciousness.

They are consumed with their own opinions, their own likes and dislikes, their tastes, their preferences.

There is no room for personal awareness of God and intimacy with him because self-awareness creates a “NO Vacancy” sign for God.

It’s like the old Mac Davis song.

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble

When you're perfect in every way

I can't wait to look in the mirror

Cuz I get better lookin each day

 

To know me is to love me

I must be a h____ of a man

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble

But I'm doin the best that I can

 

We live in a world where we are told that we will be most happy when we look after ourselves first.

This is the path to spiritual madness and personal destruction.

The child of God who caters to himself~/herself first will soon be spoiled for eternity.

*/A self-centered focus brings:/*

 

ü      Frustration

ü      Lack of fulfillment

ü      Conflict with others

ü      Disappointment

ü      Disillusionment

ü      Cynicism

ü      Bitterness

ü      Spiritual Barrenness

ü      Estrangement from God

ü      Spiritual Shipwreck

 

You are most vulnerable to this when you are inactive.

When you have too much time for yourself to sit and sulk and think.

/In my conversations with younger brothers and sisters, one question comes up again and again.

It is:  How can I know that I am walking in the Spirit?

How do I distinguish which prompting within me is from the Holy Spirit and which is from myself?

It seems that all are alike in this; but some have gone further.

They are trying to look within, to discriminate, to differentiate, to analyze and in so doing are bringing themselves into deeper bondage.

Now this is a situation which is really dangerous to the Christian life for inward knowledge will never be reached along the barren path of self-analysis.

/

/ /

/We are never told in the Word of God to examine our inward condition.

That way leads only to uncertainty, vacillation and despair.

Of course we have to have self-knowledge.

We have to know what's going on within.

We do not want to live in a fool’s paradise; to have gone altogether wrong and yet not know we have gone wrong; to have a Spartan will and yet think we are pursuing the will of God.

But such self-knowledge does not come by our turning within; by analyzing our feelings and motives and everything that's going on inside and then trying to pronounce whether we are walking in the flesh or in the spirit. . . .

No turning within, no introspective self examination will ever bring us to that clear place.

No it is when there is light coming from God that we see.

I think it is so simple.