Sermon Tone Analysis

Are You Ruptured or Raptured

We are all called to serve in the Kingdom of God.

No one gets to be in the Kingdom but not serve the King.

But before we are servants we are first sons and daughters.

Serving the Lord is less about what you do and more about the motives and attitudes in which you are doing it.

This is why it is important that you do all things as if you are doing them as unto the Lord.

When you live life in an attitude of gratitude and with the perspective of doing that which is pleasing to God in all things, then you understand His Lordship.

And in His Lord ship you will find refuge.

Dennis Peacock says, “A son or daughter of the Most High is who I am, and service and sacrifice is what I do.”

Unlike someone who merely serves with selfish motives, the son or daughter seeks to guard their relationship with the Father striving to avoid any other attitude, motivation or agenda to take preeminence.

They do not just do things for God.

They are just for Him and all they do flows from that without any concern for personal gain only His glory.

The truth be told, we all face pressures in this life that challenge our motives.

And as we go through life we either see them as opportunities to grow or we allow them to interrupt and distract our service to the Lord.

When this happens we lose our joy and the pressure builds.

Like steel being forged in the fire, if it is not properly tempered it will shatter.

You might think you are strong in Christ.

But if you are not tempered by the Lord you are still a broken mess.

If you do not know how to find refuge in the Lordship of Christ, the pressures of life can easily build to the point that you rupture instead rapture.

Rupture is where the pressure breaks apart the unity of a person or thing.

When you let anxieties build; when you let offenses build, when you let things go unresolved; when you take on more in life than you were meant to handle; when you refuse to ask for help, you let the pressure build until your either do something dumb or lash out.

You either withdraw from the church family or you just fall apart.

God never desired for you to rupture but to rapture.

Now I have often said that the word “rapture” is no where in the Scriptures.

But today I stand corrected.

Folks steadfast faith finds refuge in the Sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ.

But did you see the word “rapture”?

It’s in the Bible!

Let me show you.

According to Websters Dictionary it means “an expression or manifestation of ecstasy or passion”.

In other words, it means to be filled with an abundance of joy.

The definition most modern Christians understand did not come into use until the late 1500s A.D.

In fact, in the Greek it is χαρά (chara) meaning to experience great gladness.

And in Nehemiah 8:10:

Here the word for what we know as “rapture” is really “joy”.

In Hebrew it is חָדָה hada meaning to rejoice always.

You see, when you live by the Lord’s rapture you don’t rupture in life.

So as I rap this up, notice what the Apostle admonishes.

Be not anxious for anything.

While you serve the Lord, count it all joy and live a life that rejoices in Him regardless of anything else.

There you will find His peace that to others does not make sense.

There you will find refuge in the Lord.