Sermon Tone Analysis

Background

If we havent had the pleasure of meeting my name John Colunga and I have the privilege to serve here as lead pastor

I also have the privilige of bringing todays message from God’s word

If you have your Bible, please turn to Matthew 7:24-29

Today, we will following up our message from last week that came from 1 Peter 3

It was in this message that our vision was cast for the New Year

The New Day Pasadena Vision - To pursue healthy growth through unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heartedness, humility; and will seek and pursue peace within the church and the world

We are to grow spiritually both individually as a church

And I will say this should be our goal every day until we die

But in todays world as there is so much going on, It is easy for the church to get caught up in various ministries, and other things that can take away from church health

This is why we will have our health at the forefront of all that we do

Before we add a ministry we will evaluate our health and ensure that it is in line with our vision

We will be sure that the ministry itself is cohesive and condusive to our vision

What we do want to impliment immediately are action steps to ensure that we grow spiritually

And so today, we start a new sermon series called “The New Day way”

For the next three weeks we will talk about three action steps that we can impliment immediately

And the sermon series isn’t to say that we are right and everyone else is wrong

All we are saying, is that as New Day Church, we will push and encourage these three action steps

So today, we start with the first one which is “Start your day with God”.

As New Day Church, we are going to encourage everyone to start your day with God.

Our scriptural text for today is Matthew 7:24-29

Please stand for the reading of God’s word

““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

This is the word of our Lord, you may now be seated

Sermon on the Mount

Our text today was written by the apostle Matthew

And the text we just read is the ending of what is called, the sermon on the mount

This sermon starts out with the beatitudes (Blesed are those)

He then talks about bein the salt of the earth and a light here on earth

He tells that He has come to fulfill the law, not aboloish it

He talks about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation

To love your enemies, give to the needy, how to pray, fast, and lay up treasures in heaven

Do not be anxious, judgemental,

To ask and it shall be given, to do as you would like to be done to you

And then he gives two warning - to beware of false prophets and then to be ware of your own heart

And to me, this is the scariest verse in scripture

Matthew 7:21-23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

We must remember to seek out God’s will and not our own

We must remember to seek to glorify God and not ourself

We must remember that our hearts should be in a relationship with Jesus and not dependant on our work

And so this scary passage is alieved, it is followed up, by our text today.

Being hearers and doers

““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

In life, this picture of having a firm foundation is applied to many different scenarious

I am not making this up, Marianne and I had a meeting with our financial advisor this week and used this analogy

That no one looks at a house and say, “Wow what a great foundation you have”

There is nothing flashy about foundation but it is essential

And so in his analogy he said that our insurance and savings is our foundation that protects us when hard times come

And that our action plan to achieve our financial goals is the flashy thing we like to talk about which makes up the rest of the house

Well here we find that we are to be doers of the word and not just listeners

Jesus knew what he was talking about - Jesus was a carpenter

Carpenters in those days didnt just build cabinets but they built houses

Jesus understood this from experience but he also knew that the people understood this

That the people would not buy a house that isnt built on firm ground

It’s not flashy but it is wise to buy or build a house with a firm foundation

Its not flashy but it is wise to do what Jesus teaches

It’s not flashy but it is wise to be in God’s word everyday to know what we are suppossed to do

In context, Jesus is speaking to a group of people and he is telling them, what you just heard, you would be wise to do

And in order for those people to hear they had to get up and walk to the mountaon side to hear Jesus

It is a beautiful thing that we do not have to walk 5 miles everyday to hear God’s word

God’s breath, God’s will, God’s design is found in the Bible

And in this country, in this city, in this church the Bible is accessible to us

We take it for granted our access and ease of availability of the Bible

I follow many global organizations and many of them are pleading for donations to make the bible accessible to those in other countries who do not have one, do not have access to one, and might even be persecuted for having one!

The Bible is currently restricted, heavily restricted, or outright illegal in 52 countries

I have the bible app on my phone, on my ipad, a bible in my backpack, 15 in my office, and who knows how many inside our church

And yet there can be times where outside of my sermon prep, or school studies, I hadnt made personal time to sit down and intentionally read on my own for my own spiritual growth.

I am guilty of this.

I am not perfect.

There is no excuse

More often than not, my own excuse is that I am too busy.

And many times, as believers, we talk about how busy we are and how that busieness affects our bible reading

My dafault response right now to “how are you doing” is “I’m staying busy”

We are blessed with school activities or sports activities (kids/parents/grandparents), jobs, second jobs,

We are blessed with good health to go out and volunteer and serve

Maybe you have a family memeber that you take care of, maybe you are in the process of major change in your life

All of this is good, please hear me, I do not think that it is bad to busy

But your business is not a valid or good excuse not be in the word of God

Because if you are not hearing then I gurantee you it is harder to be doing!

And in order to be doing we have to set aside time to be in the word of God, to let it fill us, teach us, rebuke us, to train us in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

God’s breath, God’s word is active and in order for it to be active in your life you must read it

How can the man of God be complete without the Bible?

How can he be equipped for every good work apart from the Bible?

But you see, scripture is vital to live in the fullness of which God calls us

Scripture is vital to the growth of our spiritual life

Scripture is vital to the health of our spiritual life

So we need to be in the word in order to be doers of the word

Morning Time

Now, I know the first thing some of you thought of when I said, “Start your day with God”

And that is that you have found it easier and it is better for you to do it at night

Maybe after you put the kids to bed, maybe as you unwind from the day, maybe you are a night owl

Great - keep doing it.