Sermon Tone Analysis

*Keeping the Faith*

*2Corinthians 11            January 11, 2004*

* *

*Scripture Reading:*

 

*Introduction:*

 

/ILLUS:/

/ /

/A few years ago a young girl by the name of Sofi was born in Siberia, a bitterly cold and desolate area of Russia.

A difficult place to be a child but Sofi's life was going to be even rougher than most.

She was an orphan.

Then suddenly at the age of 2 she was adopted, sight unseen, by Laurie Collis a single mother in Scottsdale, Arizona./

/ /

/She is now in the third grade and doing well.

So well that she entered an essay contest last year and out of 10,000 applicants, she won!

Toy maker “Lego” and “The Planetary Society” sponsored the event.

As a result of winning, her family received an all expense paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the lift off of the Mars Rover./

/ /

/While there she was asked to read an excerpt from her winning essay.

Here is part of it: "I used to live in an orphanage.

It was dark and cold and lonely.

At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better.

I dreamed I could fly there.

In America, I can make all my dreams come true.

Thank you for giving me the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity'."/

/ /

/Today on Mars a little robot named Spirit and next week another named Opportunity will be exploring opposite sides of that world.

By now you have figured out that the contest Sofi entered and won was to name these two Martian vehicles.

But what you don't know is that "Spirit" and "Opportunity" are not just the names of the rovers.

They are also the two feelings she said she experienced 6 years ago, in a cold Siberian orphanage, when she learned she was coming to America./

/ /

/Rev.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com,

Jan 2004./

/brett@clergy.net/

Do you want to be a winner?

I know you do.

Nobody likes to be a loser.

That’s what New Year’s resolutions are all about – Spirit and Opportunity.

We want to be winners over against all things about ourselves that personally hinder and constrain us.

We want to reach out and make a new landing – to adopt a new way of thinking and living – to have a new spirit and a new opportunity.

Actually, that is what the Bible is all about – that any time we want the victory of a new way of thinking and living that is ours by faith in Christ, it is ours.

Christ won the victory over sin and death and hell on the cross as proven by His resurrection from the dead three days later.

So that is why the Bible tells us in 2Cor.

5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.

The old has gone, the new has come.”

Our faith is rewarded by victory.

Last week we learned in 2Cor.

10:

 

/How can I apply God’s reward of Christ’s victory in my life and ministry?/

I can be just as confident in actual battle as I am in my resolve to do battle because Christ is in control of the victory.

I can have so much confidence in Christ’s victory in me that I can warn the opposition of Christ’s victory over them through me.

I have spiritual advantage in battle because my resources for victory in Christ are invincible beyond the understanding of this world.

I have enough spiritual and moral authority in victory through Christ to maintain the victory.

I have enough personal credibility in victory through Christ not to compromise it at the expense of myself or others.

I have experienced such victory in Christ that I will not be threatened by any challenge in carrying that victory as far as I can around the world.

These things are very brave to claim and say.

But we all know our human weakness – that it is one thing to know this victory, that is, to claim it, and yet quite another thing to keep it going – like New Year’s resolutions founded upon deep convictions of knowledge yet easily broken.

There are many threats to our resolve.

It is hard to pinpoint a landing on Mars, so to speak.

It is only possible through the divine “science” of faith in Christ.

And so Paul doesn’t let us down after the bravado.

He is writing to the Corinthian church and he knows the threats they face.

They are just like the ones we face; different time, different place, same scene.

We turn this morning to 2Cor.

11 to find the answers.

Paul ends chapter 10 by boasting of his victory in Christ.

He is so sure of Christ’s victory, and Christ’s victory in him, that he can boast freely of what has been accomplished.

It is not in his own flesh that he boasts, but in Christ and Christ alone.

Therefore he himself is not threatened.

But he is worried about the Corinthians in whom the victory of Christ is still immature because their faith is immature.

There are six things he warns against as threats to keeping our victory.

It’s about keeping faith.

*Big Question:*

 

/What are some threats to Christ’s victory in my life that I must guard against?/

I must guard against spiritual adultery.

I must guard against spiritual wastefulness.

I must guard against spiritual imposters.

I must guard against spiritual ignorance.

I must guard against spiritual disqualification.

I must guard against spiritual arrogance.

*I.

Cycle One*

 

*          A.

Narrative* (vv.

1-6)

 

(sex in the city) (secondary virginity)

 

(lost first love?

- super model)

 

(I have more going for you than you think)

 

*          B.

Implication*

 

I must guard against spiritual adultery.

*          C.

Illustration*