Sermon Tone Analysis

*Introduction*

*Caretaker’s Pet Control*

A woman in California had to go to the hospital and was worried about what might happen to her pets while she was away.

So she hired a neighbor to take care of them.

After she had been in the hospital a while she went home to check up.

And this is what she found:

The neighbor she had hired to take care of her pets had killed her dog, because it ate too much.

He had sold her chickens.

He had given away all the canaries, because they wouldn’t sing.

He had made the rabbits into pot pies, and sold all the goats except those that ran too fast for him to catch.

With all this accomplished, he decided that the woman didn’t have any use for her barn.

So he tore it down and sold it for lumber.

While rummaging around the basement he found an iron box containing six hundred and thirty dollars of the woman’s savings.

That encouraged him to go treasure-hunting, and he dug all over her land until it looked as though dive bombers had been around.

But in one act he went too far.

The woman had a horse, an aged animal of thirty years.

Nevertheless, he got ten dollars for that horse.

What infuriated the horse’s owner most was that old Dobbin had been sold to be cut up for dog food.

Now, that was a bad mistake in the West, because, as the judge informed the man when he was brought into court, the stealing of a horse, even a thirty-year-old one, was a felony in California.

We have been entrusted with a ministry opportunity that a lot of Christians

[1]

Who is the Person the God Uses?

* *

*1.   **God uses the person that is faithful.*

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying: "Moses My servant is dead.

Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel.

(Joshua 1:1-2 NKJV)

a.    Joshua demonstrated his faith by serving as Moses assistant, God was training him up- How is God training you?

b.    Joshua believed in God’s promise and his capability when others failed to do so.

– How has your time here at Keswick increased your faith.

c.    Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

(1 Corinthians 4:2 NKJV)

 

 

 

d.

*Read* - But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be */serious/* (Word Wealth pg 1358) and watchful in your prayers.

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "LOVE WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS." /Be/ hospitable to one another without grumbling.

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good */stewards/* (Word Wealth pg 1768) of the manifold grace of God.

(1 Peter 4:7-10 NKJV)

e.    Jesus set the example in this by working in His fathers carpenter shop as a young man until it was time to begin His brief ministry.

He trained for thirty years for a ministry that would only last three years.

*2.

**God uses the person that is specifically called*

          No man shall /be able to/ stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, /so/ I will be with you.

I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

(Joshua 1:5-6 NKJV)

a.    if indeed you have heard of the dispensation (stewardship)of the grace of God which was given to me for you, (Ephesians 3:2 NKJV)

b.    that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through */the gospel, of which I became a minister/* according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

(Ephesians 3:6-7 NKJV)

c.    First, he *became a minister* of the gospel.

Wuest writes, “The word ‘minister’ is misleading, since it is the technical word used today to designate the pastor of a church.”

It never means that in the NT.

*/The basic meaning of the word is servant;/* Paul simply meant he served the Lord in connection with the mystery.

*3.

**God uses the person that is immersed in the Word of God*

          This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall    meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God /is/ with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:8-9 NKJV)

 

a.

If anyone speaks, /let him speak/ as the oracles of God.

If anyone ministers, /let him do it/ as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

(1 Peter 4:11 NKJV)

b.    Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted.

Stay wide-awake in prayer.

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it.

Love makes up for practically anything.

Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless--cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God's words; if help, let it be God's hearty help.

That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he'll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything--encores to the end of time.

Oh, yes! (1 Peter 4:7-11 MSG)

 

 

 

 

 

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[1]Tan, Paul Lee: /Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers/.

Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979