Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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“I do not write this for attention, so that I may become your ‘project’.”
On pastor tells about a message he received from a young man in his congregation whom he had only met a couple of times…
He was writing to share a part of his story…
He had grown up in and out of the church… He told the pastor about his profession… the cancer he had fought… and both love lost and love found…
Right in the middle of his message, hw wrote: “You seem like a pretty approachable guy, so I’m going to be brutally honest.
Throughout most of my life, I have been a self-proclaimed atheist.
I’ve not been shy about this, much to the dismay of my mom, my family, and my friends.
This does not necessarily mean I am a devil worshiper.
I do not write this for attention, so that I may become your ‘project’.”
That question caused him to pause…
“What on earth would possess a professed atheist to keep coming to a worship experience?”
Now — his girlfriend had gotten him there… BUT… “What kept him coming back?”
Simple… GRACE!
This young man had fallen prey to “Sneaky Grace.”
By his own confession, this was a man who — for the better part of his life — had been a self-professed atheist, yet he was now sitting in a worship service listening to the story of God…
He related in much of the message… stories about the Christians in his life… the epic moments that had gotten his attention… and even the miracle healing he had experienced....
“What he called the invitation of his girlfriend was really nothing more than a link in a long chain of grace moments throughout his life.”
says the pastor.
“What he didn’t yet realize was that all along his journey, grace was at work.”
Can I tell you — That’s my story!
I wasn’t an atheist, but my story was the same....
I didn’t realize until much later all the areas that God had been working… wooing me towards His Love and His Kingdom!
Grace is sneaky that way!
Grace provides twists and turns in our story that we never would imagine…
When we aren’t looking… or are unaware that we’re looking… or are not even sure what we should be looking for… Grace sneaks up on us!
Grace had been sneaking up on this young man… and on me… throughout our lives…
Grace had been drawing us… wooing us… inviting us… and showing up in some really awesome ways!
Grace has a purpose.
Grace sets the stage for the invitation to church… to the kingdom… to “come and see”…
Grace made it possible to say “Yes!”
Grace kept his attention… Grace had him coming back for more…
Grace filled him with compelling questions…
You see… Grace was working on, in, and through the message… especially at the point that he said, “I don’t want to be your project.”
That’s what Grace does!
Grace sneaks up on us, right where we are!
And before we know it, we are caught up in the Kingdom!
“I don’t want to be your project.”
When the pastor first read that, he confesses that he thought: “That’s all right, I don’t need another project.”
Then he realized… This young man was already under Grace’s allure… All he had to do was be there… all he had to do was show up as grace began pulling him closer and closer to Jesus!
That’s what Grace does!
Grace draws us closer to Jesus… even when we don’t know it!
That kind of grace — that sneaky grace — is life-changing!
We call it Prevenient Grace.
Prevenient Grace is that sneaky grace that keeps showing up in our lives when we least expect it… It “woos” us… It opens us up, and makes us receptive to God…
Prevenient Grace — “Sneaky” Grace — comes to us, before we even consider coming to God.
Look at Acts 10.
Acts 10 holds the story of Cornelius - the Roman Centurion - and Peter’s interaction with him.
Cornelius’s story happens in Caesarea…
Caesarea was the center of the Roman political world at the time…
Caesarea was the place where Roman authority “collided” with Jewish religious influence…
It was a crossroads… especially in Cornelius’s life.
Scripture tells us… Cornelius was both a Roman Centurion AND “a God-fearing man.”
But what does that mean to us?
Why is his story important?
Grace often sneaks up in the “crossroads” of life!
Acts 10:1–6 (NIV)
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.
2 He and all his family … were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision.
He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear.
“What is it, Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.
6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Cornelius was at a crossroads… somewhere in his past, God had begun to work… wooing him, drawing him, seeking him, even when he didn’t know it…
And now.. he was prepared to hear the message.
Sneaky Grace come to us before we come to God.
Have you ever noticed that Christians often begin their conversion story with a pronouncement that they “came to Christ” at a certain time and place… or at a certain age?
— We’re all guilty of it… They even ask about it when you interview for ordination…
Let me tell you — No one ever “comes” to Christ!
Now hear me out… don’t crucify me yet!
No one ever comes to Jesus… no one ever comes to Christ… because…
Christ comes to us!
In the Bible, there are three kinds of death: Physical, Spiritual, and Eternal (boy that one can open a can of worms!)…
Paul is talking about “spiritual death”…
We were living and breathing… going through the motions of life… BUT… we were spiritually dead because of sin.
You see… A person can be physically alive and walking around, but, on the inside, they cannot respond to spiritual things, because they have no spiritual sensation.
To a spiritually dead person spirituality is no more real than the sense of smell is to a dead person!
Dead people are non-responsive… disconnected… and unaware of the world around them.
No spiritually dead person can “come to Christ” by his or her own strength!
But they don’t have to!
That’s the beauty of the gospel!
God intervenes!
God intervenes in our desperate situation and does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves!
God comes to where we are!
… And He awakens our spiritual sensitivities!
Think about Sleeping Beauty…
In Sleeping Beauty, the princess is put under a sleeping spell by the evil queen… The spell is: She will remain in a state of perpetual sleep (a coma) until she is awakened by “true loves kiss”…
When the prince comes, and kisses her… that kiss awakens her from her “comatose state” and rescue her from her hopeless condition…
That’s how “Sneaky” grace works!
“God seeks us before we ever seek God.
The initiative of salvation is with God from the beginning.
Before we ever take a step, God is there.”
— Lovett Weems
Wesley states that “actual discipleship doesn’t begin until after conversion… but … God’s Grace works in advance… stirring in people the desire to begin seeking God…
We seek God only because God is first seeking us!
That’s what God does!
— God called Abraham in a place called Ur… Who went first?
God.
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