Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening

The LORD be with you.....

LORD, who Throughout these forty days, For us did fast and pray, Teach us with you to mourn our sins, And close by you to stay.

As you with Satan did contend, And did the victory win, O give us strength in you to fight, In you to conquer sin.

As you did hunger and did thirst, So teach us, gracious LORD, To die to self, and so to live, By your most holy word.

And through these days of penitence, And through your Passiontide, Forevermore, in life and death, O LORD, with us abide.

Abide with us, that when this life, Of suffering is past, An Easter of unending joy, We may attain at last.

It is not by coincidence or circumstances that we have all gathered here this night.

The LORD knew long before this night that all of us here would be gathering to share in His word and for the next 8 weeks to come closure to receiving His word.

Father, I thank you for allowing each one of us here this night to gather together in fellowship and to share your word.

Let us listen now to a Hymn “Break Dividing Walls” you may want to close your eyes to listen to the words of this hymn or if you wish the words are in the handout bulletin.

Prayers

Gracious GOD, as we begin this Lenten journey together with you, we pray that you will open our hearts and minds to the blessings of your cross.

Give us the courage and wisdom to withstand the tests that challenge our faith each day, just as your Beloved Son did in the wilderness.

I pray that we will be able to see the richness in the scriptures, clear our minds this night so that we can see the images that come from the scriptures.

Father please remove any distractions that may hinder us from receiving your message tonight.

Father take us by the cheeks and hold on to us until we squarely see your eyes and insure that we are listening to you.

All this we ask through your one and only Son, JESUS CHRIST .

Amen.

Slide 1

Welcome

I want to welcome each and everyone of you here this night.

Allow us to introduce ourselves to each other and a brief statement as to why you are you here.

A bit of housekeeping – the washroom is the third door on your right in the hall way.

We start at 7:05 and plan to finish at 9:35.

Circumstances that may keep you from arriving on time please just come in no need to knock and make yourself at home.

We will break around 8:10 for a 10-15 minutes.

If you are unable to attend please do give us a call and let us know.

Each week two people are needed to bring the treats please sign up the week that you plan on bringing a treat.

Also please fill in the sign up sheet with your name, address, phone number and email address.

This is required for the church.

At the end of the evening there is on this table a book, a devotional guide, a handout introducing the Lenten period and also a three page fold out “living lent” please take one of each.

The reading for each week will be from the student book and also the devotional guide “On the Way to Calvary” this book starts this Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) and each day for the forty days.

Please make notes as you read this book for discussion each week.

As we get closer to Passion Tide week, there will be another handout introducing you to Easter, Whitsun or aka Pentecost.

I have planned that during these eight weeks there will be a video showing of “Forgiveness of Sins” which will be held at the church either on a Saturday or Sunday evening.

It is highly recommended that you attend the showing of this video.

This will enhance your understanding of why JESUS came to bare all our sins.

More on this when the information becomes available.

Also during the Passiontide week I will be showing the Passion of CHRIST, for those who do not wish to view this as it is graphic and may not be suitable please let me know.

Are there any questions?

As our discussions may contain personal information it is imperative that these conversations be held in strict confidence.

What is said here stays here.

Show of hands who has experienced a Lenten journey ... how many understand the meaning of the Lenten period?

Let us now watch two short videos on the “True Meaning of Easter”

Lent is a season of the church year that begins solemnly on Ash Wednesday and ends as a new season begins with the joyous Easter celebration of JESUS’ resurrection.

Let encompasses forty-six days, but all Sundays are days on which we commemorate the LORD’s resurrection and so are not included in the observance of Lent.

During the forty days, Christians are called to mediate, repent, and make a spiritual journey with CHRIST to the cross.

As the season begins, we Christians are called to remember our mortality: We were created from dust and will return to dust.

During an Ash Wednesday service, the pastor makes the sign of the cross on the foreheads of those who choose to participate.

This sign is made with olive oil mixed with ashes, usually from the prior year’s palm branches that have been burned.

Oil was used to anoint people at death and also to anoint priests and kings.

Ashes symbolized mourning in the ancient world and so are fitting reminders of our mortality.

The purpose of Lent is to be a season of fasting, self-denial, Christian growth, penitence, conversion, and simplicity.

Lent, which comes from the Teutonic (Germanic) word for springtime, can be viewed as a spiritual spring cleaning: a time for taking spiritual inventory and then cleaning out those things which hinder our corporate and personal relationships with JESUS CHRIST and our service to him.

Thus it is fitting that the season of Lent begins with a symbol of repentance: placing ashes mixed with oil on one’s head or forehead.

However, we must remember that our Lenten disciplines are supposed to ultimately transform our entire person: body, soul, and spirit.

Our Lenten disciplines are supposed to help us become more like CHRIST.

There are a few basic tasks that traditionally have been associated with Lent.

Many of these have a long history.

These are fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.

In addition, reading the Scriptures and the Church’s Writings can help one grow during Lent.

While Lent is about giving something up such as fasting, it is also about putting something positive in its place.

The best way to remove vice is to cultivate virtue.

Lent has been a traditional time of helping the poor and doing acts of charity and mercy.

While as Christians this is a year round calling, Lent is a good time to examine ways to get involved and to make resolutions to actually do them.

Giving alms can be done in more ways than just giving out money to people on the street.

It can be done by helping your family, friends, and neighbours out of tight situations or being more generous to hired help.

However, one of the best ways to give alms is to get out of your comfort zone a little bit, maybe by volunteering for a charity or a shelter.

There are many lay religious orders, which devote much of their time to charity.

Lent is a perfect time to discern a call to these or any other ministry.

Some good charity organizations include Society of St. Vincent DePaul , Sister of Charity, Order of St. Andrew, Catholic Relief Service, Habitat for Humanity, The Hunger Site, Samaritan’s Purse.

‘Each day has enough trouble of its own,’ JESUS taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

He meant it.

He was realistic enough to recognize that this world is too often a place of suffering, for now still in the grasp of the World Hater, the prince of this world.

A day will come when sorrow will be no more and death itself be destroyed, but until then there will always be some poorer than other, some bereaved, mistreated, abused.

We must do all we can to protect and to heal, but even the miracles we see are only signs of the Kingdom.

That Kingdom is at the same time ‘already’ and ‘not yet’.

We are not exempt from trouble, injustice, violence and suffering, just because we are believers.

He will allow some of these things to touch us also, even though it is not Him that visits them upon us.

JESUS, who understood that it was necessary for Him to suffer, still questioned, Was there no other way?

Job wondered what was going on and in this life was never told what had happened in the courts of heaven over his story of trials.

We know that no test is beyond what we can endure, but why this random, faceless violence unleashed at times in our society?

The cross begins with an unanswered ‘Why?’ – and CHRIST also shouldered the cross.

Before we enter into GOD’s word let us stop for a moment to bring our own private intentions before GOD in the quiet of our hearts.

Slide 2

Session Outline

1.

To consider the theme of blessings in the cross

2. To explore a test of obedience - (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

3. To appreciate a gift of grace - (Romans 5:12-19)

4. To examine a test of faithfulness - (Matthew 4:1-11)

5.    To celebrate the blessing of tests

Slide 3

To Consider the theme of blessings in the cross

Consider The Meaning Of The Cross

    What words or images come to mind when you think of the cross?

(Record answers on the flip chart paper)

    Which words or images seem negative and which ones seem positive?

Note: This Lenten study we will be looking at the cross through the lens of the positive blessings it brings.

During today’s session we will consider “The Blessings of Tests.”