Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

Are there any announcements?

Please pray for Jason Warner’s family and friends

Fellowship and Food (Potluck) March 27 after service.

Revelation Bible Study Thursday March 10 at 6:30pm

Introduction

Good morning and welcome to FCC, where we worship God in Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time, one Book at a time.

Today, is communion Sunday and here at FCC it is our heart that this would not be a meaningless ritual, but that each time we take of the cup and eat of the bread we draw closer to Jesus and that we might understand the depths of the cross.

Everyone is welcome to the table who has confessed Jesus as Lord, so please come to the table.

I will pray us in and during our time of prayer church, I will pause so we can all allow the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts so we take communion in a worthy manner.

After this short pause, I will close us in prayer and then as the Spirit leads, please come to the table, pickup your elements and go back to your seat.

Here at FCC we like to take together as a family.

Let us pray.

Communion

Prayer

Lord Heavenly Father, we thank you!

We thanks you that when we are faithless, you are still faithful!

We thank you for sending your only begotten Son Jesus to die for our sins upon the Old Rugged Cross.

Lord God, we desire to understand the depths of the Cross in new light every time we partake of communion together.

So Lord, would you please search our hearts now, so that we can follow your command to take of the cup and bread in a worthy manner.

PAUSE

Lord, thanks you for conviction and correction and for you loving us the way you do! Thank you God that our realtionship with you is not based upon performance, because that is not love, but rather it is based upon the finished work upon the Cross and its implications.

Please help our communion services to never ever be meaningless, but rather may they draw us into a deeper relationship with you.

Thank you for your broken body and poured out love.

Help us O Lord, understand the depths of your love toward us.

Our hearts beat for more of your O God!

IJN We Love you, Amen.

COME TO THE TABLE

Here we see Jesus transforming the Passover of the Old Covenant, into the Lord’s Supper of the New Covenant, creating a new feast to remember God’s deliverance from sin.

It is important for us to remember that the shedding of blood in sacrifice was always God’s requirement in establishing a new covenant.

When Jesus said, I will no longer drink of the fruit vine he was declaring that this is the last Passover and meal with them.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for communion and the hope that only you can give.

Thank you for each person here today both in the sanctuary and online.

We have come with expectation Father desiring to hear from you, thank you for preparing our hearts with meekness so that we can receive your implanted Word that is able to save our souls.

Please God help us to behold wondrous nuggets from your Word today.

Please and always help us to exult Jesus and apply your Word each and everyday of our lives.

Lord, set the captives free, heal the broken hearted and sick, and encourage, correct, and rebuke if you must so that we can all be like Jesus more today, than yesterday.

Please God light a fire deep in our souls for you and make us a people of the Book!

IJN we love You, Amen

We have come as far as verse 13 in Matthew chapter 3

Read Matthew 3:13-17

Review

As we dive back in today, I wanted to remind you that Matthew is introduces us to the King of whom we know is Jesus.

We have talked about over the last few weeks that when a King was coming into aa city that he would always have aa forerunner, someone that we not only make the way clear and straight, but that would make a public proclamation or herald that the King is coming.

Jesus forerunner is John the Baptist of whom Jesus said was the greatest man that ever lived.

There had been 400 years of silence and then in due time, God sent John with a word to those who would listen:

The first words that the Lord spoke to the nation Israel and others who would listen was Repent.

This means a change of heart, a change of mind, and a change of direction.

It is a turning away from sin to holiness.

It literally could mean, “GET CONVERTED!”

As John was baptizing the multitudes, the religious leaders got wind and came.

And last week we learned that John was a truth teller to them and called them out .

John was bold and yet like God that none would perish, but that all would repent and come to ever lasting life.

John spoke hard truths to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they needed to hear.

And the truth is we all need to hear hard truth sometimes.

Do you have any truth tellers in your life?

Do you have people that will boldly speak the truth to you as the Spirit leads?

The bottom line is the ax is laid to the root of the trees and this is Israel.

Israel had been rebellious for years and yet God who is rich in mercy is reaching out to them saying, “Come Back, Come Back, Come Back my beloved!”

And he is saying this to us today!

Sadly the leaders of this nation did not repent and within 40 years of this moment the Temple would be destroyed in 70 AD in Jerusalem.

So after John deals with and speaks truth to the religious leaders at the revival meeting he was holding the Father sends the Son.

King Jesus shows up on the seen for his coronation which would be the beginning of his public ministry.

We all have private and public ministries church, just as we all have private and public behaviors and attitudes.

The question that I would pose would be, “Are we the same in private as we are in public?

All the great revivals that have happened in the church have happened because someone repented, thus the church repented.

So we see that Jesus got on a plane and he traveled down to the area around Jericho.

Oh, there was no planes, no cars, no busses, no Ubers, there was only his feet.

It is important for us to realize that Jesus traveled 60 miles to get to the revival at the the Jordan

Jesus traveled 60 miles to step into God’s perfect will for his life.

Jesus traveled 60 miles to be baptized by John in the Jordan church.

Jesus traveled 60 miles to hear the voice of His Heavenly Father say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!”

How far are you willing to travel?

Are you willing to travel 60 miles to be baptized?

Are you willing to travel 60 miles to hear the Word of God or the voice of the Father speak to you?

How far are you willing to be healed, to be made whole, to be set free , to be delivered?

Are we allowing our current circumstances to stop us?

Is our current situation in life holding us hostage?

Jesus allowed no distractions into his life church and he removed all the obstacles

Are we willing to remove the things in our lives that distract us or stop us form worshipping God whole heartedly like Jesus?

Lord, You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you! ~Augustine~

So, the Spirit prompted Jesus to leave Galilee where he was in seclusion for 30 years.

And we do not know much about these 30 years of family life and carpentry, but we do know that when Jesus was 12 and went to the Temple during Passover that he amazed the scholars in the synagogue with his wisdom.

And he got lost for three days in the crowd on his way home with his parents and when confronted by Joseph and Mary, Jesus responded:

Jesus comes on the seen church because he is about His Fathers business.

Are you about your Fathers business?

Or are you about your own agenda?

Jesus was not coming to join the social gathering or because he wanted to be like everyone else, he came because of His Father’s agenda and church we must be about our Father’s business...

So Jesus shows up to be baptized by John his cousin who attempts to prevent Him.

John in turn says that he needs to be baptized by Jesus because He know he is a sinner.

What are those things in our lives that are preventing us from being baptized and truly walking our faith out?

What are the things that stop us from worshipping God whole heartedly?

Baptized-baptizo-to be baptized (state) v. — to be or become momentarily immersed in water as a cleansing, ceremonial, and initiatory rite.

It means to plunge or drown.

There are a couple of points I wanted to make here church.

Biblical baptism means to immerse, not sprinkle

The Priest had to be 30 when they entered the ministry:

Church, Jesus was thirty here.

Not only did the Priest enter the ministry at 30, but there was an anointing ceremony when they were called and there was also a ritual cleansing church that they went through along with other things.