Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Charles Spurgeon spoke of a soldier who lay on his dying bed during the war, and they heard him say, ‘Here!’

The medics rushed to his side to ask him what he wanted, and he put up his hand, as if to shush them and said: ‘Hush!

they are calling the roll in heaven, and I am answering to my name’; and he whispered: ‘Here!’ once more and he was gone.

Roll call for us has not been called.

The Gospel got ahold of you long before we had a grasp on it.

We should be trying to get a hold of what has got a hold of us.

Paul stated here that he hasn’t attained.

What a statement for us sitting here to consider as we reflect on our own spiritual maturity.

Dwight Moody once told of when he saw what is called a sensitive plant.

He happened to breathe on it, and suddenly it drooped its head; he touched it, and it withered away.

He said humility is as sensitive as that; it cannot safely be brought out on exhibition.

A man who is flattering himself that he is humble and is walking close to the Master, is self-deceived.

It consists not in thinking meanly of ourselves, but in not thinking of ourselves at all.

Moses wist not that his face shone.

If humility speaks of itself, it is gone.

The mind of Christ is the goal of maturity.

Work is the process of maturity.

For better or worse looking back makes you unfit for today.

Looking bad inevitable leads off course, most often to a complete 180.

Looking back is costly

Forward is the only path in God’s economy.

God’s call is way over the head of our fleshly ability

The story is told of “Mr.

Edward Riddle, an aged Christian in Hull, remarked, a few days before his death, to one who was present, ‘Some may suppose that a person at my time of life, and after so long making a profession of religion, has nothing to do but to die and go to heaven; but I find that I have as much need to go to God through Christ, as a sinner, at the last hour as at the beginning.

The blood of Christ, the death of Christ, his victory and fulness, are my only ground of faith, hope, and confidence; there is the same need of him to be the Finisher of my faith as there was for him to be the Author of it.’

”

“He who thinks that he has attained everything, hath nothing” [Chrysostom]

Our calling is a “high calling” and a “heavenly calling”; and if we live for this world, we lose the prize that goes with our high calling.-Warren

W. Wiersbe

Our thought process needs to be onward and upward.

Being able to understand things is an evidence of maturity

Our actions and our attention should reflect our future maturity.

God is the judge and He has already tried me found me guilty, sentenced me to death, and executed me in Christ on the cross.

God sees me and knows me better than I will ever know Him here on earth.

Conclusion

The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.-Phillips

Brooks

There is no reason to be discouraged of where you are in your Christian maturity, but there is even less reason to be proud of where you are.

Wherever you find yourself on your spiritual journey lets determine to strive to grow more than we have and more than we think we can.