Sermon Tone Analysis

Build a Bear Jesus

Over the recent years there have been several prominent pastors and worship artists that have interviewed on the Oprah show.

We would consider why in the world would they waste their time with an interview on her show.

Well, Oprah states she believes in Jesus too.

Across the board she has asked each one of these people whether they thought homosexuality was a sin or not.

Each has failed to answer the question properly with most taking a way out and stating “the gospel is not intended to be divisive and is intended to just love people.”

The Problem is that Oprah does not profess the Jesus of the bible, and is exploiting these prominent pastors and worship artists for not believing in the Jesus of the bible.

Instead this Jesus is like walking into a Build a Bear, picking out they type of bear, the clothes, maybe some shoes, then we pick out a heart and whisper into it, finally we stuff it and seal it… Build a bear Jesus cannot have full reign of our life we made him up.

Our worship testifies of who Jesus is, and for this reason it is important for us to know the Jesus of the Bible.

True Worship Tells the Story of God’s grace and Reveals the Redemptive Work of Christ In Us.

Our Praise Will Tell of who God is

Our Worship is our only reasonable response to what God has done

Our worship is born from a clear Vision of who Jesus is.

Col 3:16 it is through our stories in songs that are sung to God that we teach each other who God really is… therefore it is necessary to know who we are signing about.

Moving From Emotional Experience to A Full Encounter

Face to Face Encounter

Isaiah is Having a Real Encounter that he will have to tell about

The Seraphim are assigned to declare the wonders that they have seen.

Each time we see something like this in Scripture we see how the encounter causes us to respond to the Lord.

Paul radically is transformed moves from haughty arrogant to humble

He can’t help but tell of what has happened

Our Worship Response Tells of Who and What He Is

They walked with Jesus some worshipped some doubted.

Regardless they are prompted to Respond

The Great Commission is our worship Response…

we tell of all that we have learned in His Word

we tell of all that we have encountered in Him.

In this telling we are to teach all that He has commanded.

We may not find ourselves as ready or worthy

Our Worship Response Tells of How He Calls Us Worthy

In the transition from emotional experience to a full encounter we may find ourselves as not worthy

In this “liminal” space where the ground begins to shake beneath us in the encounter we may find ourselves unworthy

we tend to live in this space

in the encounter we come face to face with the divine

In the Encounter we are made worthy commissioned and sent to tell of what and who He is

We know our atonement is in Christ

The worship expressed then tells of God’s work in our lives… becomes our Heartsong

Our Heart Song Declares the Gospel with a Power the Enemy Cannot Overcome

Seven expressions of Sung Worship

Praise

Adoration

Thanksgiving

Confession

Petition

Intercession

Supplication

Not the only way we worship but tell of types of Expressions in which we both tell of what God is doing and where we place our confidence in Him

The Lord hears our song and responds…

Examine Psalm

Types of People

The Lost (4-9)

The Imprisoned (10-16)

The Foolish (11-22)

The Overwhelmed by the Storm (23-32)

We can be found in any of these and as we lift up the worship that tells a story we remind even our souls of what He is and who He is.

In these next few weeks we will continue to explore the value in our worship both in song and posture

We need to remember that worship is not coming and watching a performance it is the work of us responding to who He is and what He is… what He has done in our lives as we confess our hope and confidence in what He will continue to do....

Don’t tell of the build a bear Jesus… Lift up the fruit of your lips… tell your story in song and teach all those around you by telling your story about who He is, what He is