Sermon Tone Analysis

10,000 Sermon Illustrations (The Heretic)

I was walking in San Francisco along the Golden Gate Bridge when I saw a man about to jump off.

I tried to dissuade him from committing suicide and told him simply that God loved him.

A tear came to his eye.

I then asked him, “Are you a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, or what?”He said, “I’m a Christian.”I

said, “Me, too, small world. .

.Protestant or Catholic?”He

said, “Protestant.”I

said, “Me, too, what denomination?”He

said, “Baptist.”I

said, “Me, too, Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”He said, “Northern Baptist.”I said, “Well, ME TOO, Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.”I said, “Well, that’s amazing!

Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reformed Baptist?”He said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist.”I said, “Remarkable!

Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Eastern Region?”He said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region.”I

said, “A miracle!

Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”He said, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”I said, “DIE HERETIC!’ and pushed him over the rail.

Since around the age of 7, I have always been in Independent Baptist Churches.

Independent churches are not in a “Denomination.”

I have friends and family who are: Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Apostolic, Charismatic, Wesleyan, Nazarene, Non-denominational, and Catholic.

I love and value each friendship.

All of us today a have some religious background, whether some of these groups or the “nones” which is a growing segment of society.

So individuals have no religious affiliation - “Nones.”

6,000 Plus Illustrations for Communicating Biblical Truths (Humor: Baptist Crossing)

When Sara was five, her mother decided it was time to teach her how to cross the street safely.

Hand in hand, they waited for a green light at the intersection.

Staring at the road, Sara asked, “Mommy, what are those white lines for?”“That marks where the pedestrians cross,” her mom replied.Confused, Sara asked, “Then where do us Baptists cross?”

READ PASSAGE: 13:31-35

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: New Testament ( 9) A Series of Parables on the Kingdom.

13:1-58.)

Consistently interpreted, in each the man symbolizes Christ, the field is the world, and the seed is the Word which tells of Christ and his kingdom.

These parables are pair.

THE FOOD PARABLES… A Side Order of Church History…

Nothing About Christianity Surprises Jesus.

There are Many Branches in Christianity....

There are Some Who “Use” Christianity.

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The Birds Come and Lodge in the branches of Christianity, living off the branch, taking from the branch, eating the “fruit” or bounty of the Tree.

But as this seed has a hot, fiery vigor, gives out its best virtues when bruised, and is grateful to the taste of birds, which are accordingly attracted to its branches both for shelter and food,

The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf.

BDAG 809 s.v.

πετεινόν).

Certainly “Christendom” has become a worldwide power with a complex organization of many branches.

What started in a humble manner today boasts of material possessions and political influences.

Some make this parable teach the worldwide success of the Gospel.

But that would contradict what Jesus taught in the first parable.

If anything, the New Testament teaches a growing decline in the ministry of the Gospel as the end of the age draws near.

God May Trim the Tree to Ruffle the Feathers and Purge the Tree Some.

Many denominational churches are having major issues.

The Lord speaks to Israel and because of their sin “cuts off some of their branches of their “Tree.”

Babylon, the Medes and Persians will invade and Rome too.

Religious Pride has to place in our faith, practices, past, or pedigree.

Ezekiel 17:23 (KJV 1900)

In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

God’s people went on to abandon clear OT teaching, trusting and adding works, tradition, and the teachings of men to their faith.

Babylon, Assyrians, Medes and Persian, Rome came in and carried them away or took over their nation as a form of judgement for abandoning the Lord.

If God trimmed their “Tree” He can do that same today.

God speaks directly to Nebuchadnezzar and says the same thing.

His tree would be cut.

Whether a Jew or Gentile; Religion is not a tool to make a living.

Using “Religion” for political, economic, or popularity is shameful.

Religious Pride has to place in our faith, practices, past, or pedigree.

There are many problems in “Denominational Churches” because many of them have abandoned the basic teachings of Scripture.

WE see more of that in the next parables of the Leaven in the bread.

Some “united Methodists” are becoming “global Methodists” this year.

This week, I traveled south and picked up some horse water troughs to use for a raised garden.

The man I bought them from owned a whole city block including a church that 80 years ago ran 2000 people every Sunday.

Somewhere along the way, they left their faith and the church dried up.

Nothing About Christianity Surprises Jesus.

There are Many Branches of Christianity.

There are Some Who Use Religion.

There is Some Corruption in Christianity.

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Some years ago I was scheduled to hold meetings in a church that I had every reason to believe was fundamental, Bible-believing, and sound in doctrine and practice.

However, I discovered that there were people in positions of authority in that church who believed and taught a doctrine that attacked the deity of Christ.

When I confronted the church leaders, they hedged as long as they could, and only when they were driven into a corner did they admit that their sympathies were with the false teaching.

Here was a branch of the professing church where one would have thought that no error could be found, yet the doctrine of demons had silently flown in and was now roosting comfortably in its new nest.

(I did not conduct the meetings!)

If false doctrine can penetrate a church always considered impeccably sound in the faith and true to the Word of God, how much more easily can evil spirits reside in branches of Christendom where the Bible was abandoned long ago as the sole authority and rule of belief and behavior?

The Kingdom of Heaven is PERFECT - In Heaven.

The Kingdom is growing NOW on EARTH through God’s Church.

The church is imperfect now.

Both of these parables are revealing “the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven that OT saints did not understand about the NT era.

The Parables Shift From the FIELD to a KITCHEN.

Since the Mustard Seed Represents External Growth.

The Leaven represents Internal Growth.

The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven are a pair.

The former deals with the outward development of error in the church; the latter deals with the secret and inward development of error.

As in the parable of the sower and the parable of the tares, something seems to have gone wrong, something foreseen and foretold by Christ.

Three measures of meal was used by Abraham and Sarah when the angel of the Lord visited them.

Three measures of meal was used for the “Meal/Meat Offering” in the OT.

The Oil is not measured representing the unending presence of the Holy Spirit.

We always have enough of the Holy Spirit.

HE is constantly dwelling in us.

All or nothing.

The meal offering was made of fine flour because it symbolized Christ in the purity and evenness of His life on earth.

He was always the same, never flustered, never in a hurry, never at a loss, never anxious, never afraid, always in control.

He stood apart from the greatest of His followers.

Peter was impetuous, John was known as a “son of thunder,” and Paul lost his temper on more than one occasion.

So the fine flour of the meal offering prefigured the matchless life of the Lord Jesus.

After Baking, they would add salt and some frankincense for flavoring.

In the mix the woman mixes, Leaven was added.

Yeast will make the bread rise even faster and larger.

“Leaven” is Biblical Symbolism for “Corruption.”

Jesus is pure and perfect and His teaching, the Bible is pure and perfect, but some within “Christianity” will start to spread false teachings and false doctrine.

Leaven of Pharisees and of Herod, the State - One reason we believe in the “Separation of Church and State” is because we do not want the state to be telling us what to believe.