Sermon Tone Analysis

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1001 Illustrations that Connect (Illustration 752: Running across the Sahara)

RUNNING ACROSS THE SAHARA

For 111 days.

Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin ran across the Sahara Desert.

They touched the waters at Senegal and then made their way through Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt to touch the waters of the Red Sea.

Along the way, the trio faced blazing afternoons of 100-plus degrees; jarring, freezing nights; sandstorms; tendonitis; violent sickness; aches, pains, and blisters.

But the biggest challenge they faced was finding water.

Finding it in its purest, cleanest form gets to be a bit of a chore while in the middle of nowhere.

Running 4,000 miles across the Sahara Desert is an amazing accomplishment.

...—Anna Johnson, “3 Ultra-athletes Run across Sahara,” USA Today (February 20, 2007)

In much the same ways as a runner must endure:

Craig says:

The purpose of Hebrews is to strengthen, encourage, and exhort the tired and weary members of a house church to respond with courage and vitality to the prospect of renewed suffering in view of the gifts and resources God has lavished upon them.

[Lane, W. L. (1991).

Hebrews 1–8 (Vol.

47A, p. c).

Word, Incorporated.]

Prior to AD 70

Unknown penman

Some of the earliest Christians identified Paul while others identified Barnabas, Apollos, Silas, Jude, Priscilla, or others.

To professing Christians (ethnic Jew)

(1) heavy use of the Old Testament scriptures with a special emphasis on (2) the Jewish sacrificial system.

“Endure” - (Hebrews 12:2) remain, stay, hold out (Hebrews 10:32); persevere, to stay in a place beyond an expected point of time.

Subject:

Christians are people who endure to the end.

It is not just just the fact THAT they endure, but it is HOW they endure.

“Am I enduring as a Christ-centered Christian?”

Need:

There are two primary reasons why this kind of a book is so applicable today:

(1) The need to warn those who think they are in the race.

Josh Harris’ Deconstruction - “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”

[Hebrews 2:1, 4:11, 6:6 - Example Demas]

Much like the movie Sixth Sense, these individuals think that they are alive, but they eventually will realize that they were dead the entire time.

(2) The need to encourage with hope those who are tempted to quit.

[Christian parents, singles, young couples, teens, Sr. Saints, school teacher, business people…etc]

Hebrews will offer to you the mid-race refreshing water and electrolytes so that you can keep following Jesus faithfully.

(Hebrews 10:32-33, 12:25)

Consequently, I want you to know that...

Big Idea:

Professing Christians should take Christ-centered endurance more seriously because it warns the falsely assured and encourages the weary.

The letter of Hebrews will teach us that...

Preview:

Christ-Centered Endurance is characterized by a particular kind of:

Thinking (Hebrews 1:5-2:4)

Thought - What should I be thinking?

Experiencing (Hebrews 2:5-4:16)

Emotion - How should I be feeling?

Confiding (Hebrews 4:14-10:39)

Psyche - Where do I get my confidence?

Persevering (Hebrews 11:1-13:25)

Body - What does it look like to keep on keeping on?

Hebrews 1:1-4 Christ-Centered Endurance (series name)

Statement: The Son is the central message of endurance because He is God’s Speech in these last days.

Illustrate It:

5462 When Light Bulb Falls

The Rev. Earl Kelly, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Holly Springs, Mississippi, was preaching on the second coming of Christ.

He had just quoted Matthew 24:27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”

At this point, a large light bulb fell from its socket in the ceiling and shattered on the floor in front of the pulpit.

As reported by Baptist Press, Kelly was equal to the occasion.

He told the startled worshippers, “His coming will be just as sudden, and unexpected, and devastating to the dreams that are not Christ-centered.”

—Christianity Today

Would you say that your life, your hopes, your dreams, your plans are Christ-centered?

Prove It:

What the writer of Hebrews does is open up by making clear a few truths:

(1) God is the God who speaks.

Hebrews 1:1.

God has spoken in the past, and these speeches of God were communicated through the prophets.

These prophetic speeches are preserved in the scriptures.

The Person of God is unique and exclusive in a way that everyone else who has spoken in the past is not.

Deuteronomy 6:4

God’s speech important.

We learn as much by just considering how a Jew understood the speech of God.

A few examples are found in Genesis 1:3, Psalm 33:6.

(2) God is the God who speaks Cristo-centrically.

Hebrews 1:2.

If you want to know God, you must hear and see what He has said.

God has said, “the Son”.

Matthew 16:16, Psalm 2:7, 12.

The 2nd Person of the Godhead is the climactic speech of God.

God the Son as Prophet, Priest, & King fulfillment (Hebrews 1:2-3)

“Jesus, as God’s Son, fulfills the offices of prophet (speaking God’s word), priest (making purification for sins), and king (creating, and ruling at the right hand of the Majesty on high).”

- Graeme Goldsworthy (Short Studies in Biblical Theology: The Son of God and the New Creation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), p. 53))

Apply It:

Is Jesus the central figure of every aspect of your life?

A warning to the drifting - if you are uncontrollably addicted more to the words of social media comments than you are to the words of Christ, you may need to examine your faith.

A word to the suffering - if you feel like quitting, remember that God’s Christ is not an abstract idea.

God’s Speech entered into time and history.

He is just as real as the emotional, mental, or physical suffering you may be enduring.

Christ-centered endurance is the message of Hebrews, but what does this mean?

Hebrews 1:5-2:4 (a) Thinking: What should I be thinking?

Christ-centered endurance is characterized by a particular kind of thinking.

What should I be thinking?

Statement: Christ-centered endurance means living life with while thinking about what matters most.

In Hebrews (note in the introduction), the writer tells us Who Jesus Christ is, and then he supports his claims with scripture.

The writer is drawing the reader’s attention to the Person of Jesus.

See Hebrews 3:1 The writer is telling the readers to apprehend certain facts about Jesus and to calculate and sum these facts up.

The reality of who Jesus is SCRIPTURALLY, directs our thoughts about what matters most in life and beyond this life.

Illustrate It:

Choices