Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Church!

Announcements:

VBS starts tonight!!!

I am very excited to see what God does this year.

VBS starts at 6, so we will be here early to get everything started.

As always, we can use all the help we can get.

We have all of the classes filled as of now, but we always need helpers to float around and help with miscellaneous things, so we invite you all to come and be a part of what God is going to do this year.

This year we operating off of attendance.

IF we are able to get 60 kids here, Mrs. Keshia is going to get slimed on Friday night.

If we can get 75 kids here, I will get slimed on Friday night.

Also, we have some special visitors coming on Friday night, and I think it is going to be pretty cool!!!

We want to thank all of those who came out Saturday to help with decorating the classrooms, and putting some final touches on things.

We also want to thank each and every person who was able to donate to the school supply box.

That is something i am thrilled to do this year for the kids, and I hope it is something we can continue in the future.

Praise Reports:

Prayer Requests:

Tithes

Children’s Church

Doxology:

This is my Bible.

It is God’s Holy Word.

It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!

Open Bibles To: Psalm 51

Two weeks ago, we started speaking on the topic of “A Pattern For Prayer”.

We are looking into what God’s Word has to say about prayer, the importance of it, and how by doing it, our lives can be radically changed for the glory of God.

We discussed how that there are four stages of prayer that we should go through when praying unto God.

The first of those four was adoration.

We spoke about what adoration is, as well as the importance of making it the very first thing we do in our prayer life.

God deserves our adoration, and by giving it unto Him, it prepares our heart to move forward in prayer.

Today, we are moving to the second stage of prayer, which is confession.

The second thing that we should do in prayer is to confess our sins before an Almighty God.

The A.I.M. of the text today, is to teach how confessing our sins unto God sets us free from the bondage of this world and allows us to move deeper into our relationship with Christ.

I want to begin today, by giving a disclaimer.

I can tell you from experience, that it is messages such as this that truly stirs the heart.

I do not say this because of a misplaced confidence in my ability to preach, but because of the conviction that is divinely inspired within verses such as these.

I truly believe that by the time we are done today that many souls in this room will be convicted of their sin.

Some will be convicted of their lost state and their need for God’s mercy, while others will be convicted of certain sin within their lives that is hindering their walk with God.

With that conviction comes a choice.

We can choose to listen to it, obey it, and do something about it; Or we can choose to suppress the truth of that conviction, ignore it, and continue to live in a sinful state.

That choice is yours to make.

With that being said, eternity could very well be at stake for some of you here today.

For others, the spiritual condition of your heart is going to be challenged.

Knowing this ahead of time, I want to ask one thing from each of you before we even get started:

If God moves, like I know He is going to, and brings any level of conviction upon your heart today, will you boldly proclaim right now, that you will do whatever it takes before this service ends to satisfy that conviction?

That is to say:

If God convicts you today, that you are lost and undone, even if you have previously professed to be saved, will you be bold enough to make things right?

If God convicts you of a certain sin in your life, regardless of how long it has held you captive, will you be bold enough to confront it, confess it, and turn away from it?

If you agree to that statement, will you say amen?

I would never urge anyone to leave Church, because I truly believe that God can bring such conviction upon a person that it would bring them unto repentance, regardless of the condition of their heart.

But......I am telling you now: If you are dead-set on continuing to live in sin and are completely convinced that you are going to continue living the way you are right now, regardless of what is said and done here today, you would be better to leave now, than to be convicted by God and choose to ignore it.

Psalm 51

Context

Psalm 51 has so much to offer us today.

This chapter was written by King David.

As most of you know, God’s Word tells us that David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

He was the most influential king that Israel ever had, and is therefore the most recognized king to us today.

With that being said, David was not perfect.

One day, while his armies went to war, David stayed behind in the palace.

Back then, the king went to war with his men, but David decided not to go on this particular day.

At some point during the day, David went out onto the balcony of his palace and saw a woman by the name of Bathsheba bathing.

He fell completely in love with her and sent his servants to bring her unto him.

David forced himself upon her, but in the process she became pregnant.

When David found out about the baby, he tried everything in the world to cover it up, but he simply couldn’t.

Since he could not cover it up, he sent Uriah, which was Bathsheba’s husband and even David’s friend, to the front lines of the army, where he would surely die.

David had committed adultery and murder.

The worst part about it, is that he didn’t see the sinfulness of his actions.

God finally sent a prophet, by the name of Nathan, to bring his sin to light.

Once David realized the weight of his sin, he fell into mourning and was completely broken by his actions.

As a result, David stripped himself of his clothes, covered himself in sackcloth and ashes, and confessed his sin before God.

Psalm 51 is that prayer.

Like David, we live in a world today to where people do not feel the conviction of their sin.

It is not that they are unaware of their sin, they simply do not see or feel the weight of their sin.

It is not difficult to convince people that they are sinners, for not one in a thousand is going to say that they are perfect.

The common response is: “Sure, I’m a sinner.

Isn’t everyone?

Nobody’s perfect.”

The issue is not with acknowledging our sin, but rather acknowledging the intensity of our sin, the extreme godlessness of our actions.

Because we are all sinners and know that we share a common guilt, our confession tends to be superficial, often not characterized by earnestness or a sense of moral urgency.

(R.A. Torrey)

This mindset stems from an improper view of God and self.

If your sin does not seem like such a big deal, you either have an inflated opinion of yourself or a deflated view of God.

God loves us so much, that He made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

He sent His only Son to become the perfect sacrifice, so that our sin might be forgiven and we might become saints.

To say that our sin is not a big deal:

Is to undervalue the love that God has for us.

It is to undervalue the life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

It is to undervalue the Word of God.

It is to undervalue the Will of God.

It is to undervalue every sacrifice that has been made by every child of God, so that they might grow closer to God and lead others to Christ.

Some of you have been casting me off the past couple of weeks as we spoke on beginning our prayers with giving God adoration.

Hopefully, after today, you will see the true need for doing so.

It is only when I am able to see God for who He is, and then see myself for who I am, that I am able to confess my sins before Him.

I want to take a brief moment and define what we mean by confession:

Confession and repentance go hand in hand.

You cannot have one without the other.

To repent means to turn away from something, so that you may turn toward something else.

To confess our sins in true repentance, means that we have no intention of committing that sin again.

We are confessing that sin before God, as well as the desire to turn from that sin and never do it again.

When we speak of confession, we are speaking of honest confession.

God, because of who He is, already knows the secrets of our hearts.