Sermon Tone Analysis

FUN CONTEXT

CURRENT CONTEXT

NCS Mission Statement [NCES=Northland Christian Education System]

NCES partners with Christian families and churches to provide a God-centered, discipleship-based school with academic excellence and a biblical worldview, equipping students to serve and influence our world for Christ.

PERSONAL CONTEXT

Dr. Bob R. Agee, past president of OBU!! (with no disrespect to Spurgeon College)

“Academic Excellence”

BIBLICAL EXAMPLE

Daniel

[Context of Daniel’s appeal to not eat the king’s food…]

[Context of the handwriting on the wall…]

[Context of the king appointing Daniel an overseer of all the satraps of the kingdom, and then as the overseer of the whole realm…]

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE

[1 Corinthians 10.31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”]

1 Thessalonians 4.10b-12 “But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.”

What if I could show you...

…who you are going to be?

[makes academic excellence engaging rather than tedious, drudgery, or boring!]

Imagine six-year-old Kevin, whose parents have enrolled him in music lessons.

After school every afternoon, he sits in the living room and reluctantly strums “Home on the Range” while watching his buddies play baseball in the park across the street.

That’s just drudgery.

Now suppose Kevin is visited by an angel one afternoon during guitar practice.

In a vision he’s taken to Carnegie Hall.

He’s shown a guitar virtuoso giving a concert.

Usually bored by classical music, Kevin is astonished by what he sees and hears.

The musician’s fingers dance excitedly on the strings with fluidity and grace.

Kevin thinks of how klunky his hands feel when they halt and stumble over the chords.

The virtuoso blends clean, soaring notes into a musical aroma that wafts from his guitar.

Kevin remembers the toneless, irritating discord that comes stumbling out of his.

But Kevin is enchanted.

His head tilts slightly to one side as he listens.

He drinks in everything.

He never imagined that anyone could play the guitar like this.

“What do you think, Kevin?” asks the angel.

The answer is a soft, slow, six-year-old’s “W-o-w!”

The vision vanishes, and the angel is again standing in front of Kevin in his living room.

“Kevin,” says the angel, “the wonderful musician you saw is you in a few years.”

Then pointing at the guitar, the angel declares, “But you must practice!”

Suddenly the angel disappears and Kevin finds himself alone with his guitar.

Do you think his attitude toward practice will be different now?

As long as he remembers what he’s going to become, Kevin’s discipline will have a direction, a goal that will pull him into the future.

Yes, effort will be involved, but you could hardly call it drudgery.