Sermon Tone Analysis

Did you ever have the feeling you were being watched?

You probably are.

Yesterday (May 31, 2008) The NY Times newspaper reported about a 

new plan by some companies to install cameras on billboards to get a

better feel for who their target audience is.

Cameras already are a

common tool in catching illegal activity and screening for terrorist

activity on metropolitan streets, but the billboard technology

analyzes facial structure to determine a viewer’s gender, age and

time spent viewing in hopes of more successfully targeting digital

ads to a passerby’s likely preferences, The New York Times reported.

The entrepreneurs say privacy should not be an issue since actual

images are not stored.

"Everything we do is completely anonymous,"

Paolo Prandoni, founder and chief scientific officer of Quividi, a

two-year-old company based in Paris, is quoted in The Times.

His

company is setting up small digital billboards in the United

States and other countries.

Surveillance is big business today.

Everybody from the military to the corporate world

launches satellites so sensitive they can read words on a golf ball sitting in your front yard.

Security cameras capture your every move in the mall, the grocery store, the school.

Law enforcement cameras pick up pictures of shoplifters, robbers, and even speeders on the highway.

You’d probably be shocked to discover how many people see what you do.

But nobody sees everything you do, do they?

As far as I know you are safe from satellite surveillance while you sit here in church (maybe they’re not interested in what goes on in here?)

For the most part a man’s home is still his castle---your home is safe from prying eyes.

Nobody sees everything----nobody but God.

The Bible says God is aware of everything that happens to everyone everywhere in the universe.

Theologians call this God’s omniscience= all knowing.

He sees not just what’s going on outside, but what’s going on in your heart and your head, the motives and attitudes and feelings nobody else sees.

God is watching you.

It tells us so in Ps. 33:13-15.

Tonight I want to talk about why it is important to know God is always watching you.

PRAYER

      What difference does it make to know God is always watching you?

First of all, knowing God is watching should make you think twice about doing wrong.

(v.

13)

     Behavioral science in recent years have expounded the simple truth that “behavior that is observed changes.”

Studies done in factories have proven that both quality and quantity of work increase when the employees know they are being observed.

If someone is keeping an eye on me, my behavior improves.—

[i]

    When you know somebody is watching you, you tend to think twice before doing something

you ought not to.

That’s just human nature, isn’t it?

If you’re on the interstate running 90 miles~/hour, you tend to slow down when you see a state patrolman.

Why?

Because you know if he sees you, he will pull you over and give you a ticket.

Knowing somebody is watching you makes you think twice about doing wrong.

The psalmist tells us in *vs.

13* /The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men /

            God see all the good things people do, but also all the evil things people do as well.

There is no way to hide our dirty deeds from the Lord.

But that doesn’t keep us from trying.

In the beginning when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, what did they do?

They hid.

Somehow they thought they could hide their disobedience from the Lord.

But God already knew where they were and what they had done.

He’d seen it all.

In the days of Noah and his famous ark, the Bible clearly says in

*Ge 6:5* /Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every /

/intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually./

/      //God’s vision hasn’t dimmed one iota since the days of Noah.

/God not only sees the evil

deeds we do, but also the evil thoughts in our minds, and the evil desires of our hearts.

He sees what we do behind closed doors, the things we do in the dark, the things we try to

hide from everybody else.

He sees the thoughts we try to cloak behind our smiling mask of hypocrisy, the thoughts we never share with another soul, the thoughts that would shock the people who closest to us, if they really know what we were thinking, how we are feeling.

He sees the secret desires of our heart: the covetousness, the envy, the jealousy.

If I truly believe God sees all that I do, say, and think, it will make a difference in how I live.

/            It will make a difference on that date with your boyfriend~/girlfriend, when you are tempted to go too far.

God sees what you do.

/

/            It will make a difference in your home, when you know Jesus sees how you treat your spouse, your kids, your family.

God sees what you do.

/

/            It will make a difference when you are tempted to cheat on your taxes, when you’re deciding whether to come to church or go to the lake, wherever and whenever you realize God is watching everything you do.

//Behavior that is observed changes what you do.

It will help you do what’s right, and not what’s wrong.

/

A baffling robbery took place in one of New York’s fashionable apartments.

No clue as to the identity of the thief was found until a detective noticed a statue of Christ turned to the wall.

It yielded the one fingerprint that apprehended the criminal.

The robber explained he just could not steal with the eyes of Christ looking at him.

/            You cannot hide what you do from the Lord.

You cannot escape the eyes of God.

He is watching you, when you do what’s wrong, and when you do what’s right.

/

*Pr 15:3* /The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good./

/            The next time you are tempted to cheat, or lie, or steal, or do anything that’s not right, remember: God is watching you.

Remembering this just might help you avoid making a bad decision you will come to regret.

Think twice about doing wrong when you remember God is watching.

/

    Secondly, knowing God is watching should bring you comfort.

(v.

14)

God doesn’t just watch us so He can punish us for doing wrong.

He also watches out for us

to protect us and over us to provide for us.

Look at vs. 18-19.

God is watching out for you (v.

18) Like a Good Shepherd, the Lord watches over His sheep to keep them safe.

Jesus clarifies what this means in

*Jn 10:28-29 */28//And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone /

/snatch them out of My hand.