Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Mary Crowley is one of the richest women in America.

She is founder and president of the multi-million dollar empire of Home Interiors And Gifts Inc.

She was the first woman to sit on the board of directors of the Billy Graham Assoc.

In reading her book Think Mink, I discovered she has a retreat center in the mountains of Colorado.

She brings all her displayers there for training, because her business is helping people make their environment beautiful, and she knows no better way to get her sales people inspired with beauty than to spend some time in the mountains, where God has designed the beauty of the environment.

She has a full length window for them to gaze out on the golden sunrise from 9,000 feet up on the 14,197 foot Mt.

Princeton.

On the back of her calling card are these words: "Every morning lean thine arm a while upon the window sill of heaven and gaze upon thy God.

Then with that vision in thine heart, turn strong to meet the day."

She gets gold from the mountains, but she never digs an ounce.

Her gold comes from their inspiration.

Listen to the testimony of Dr. N. A. Woychok in his book Building Gold, Silver And Precious Stones.

He has always wanted to see the sunrise from Pike's Peak in Colorado.

"We arose at 2:00 A.M. Higher and higher we climbed until

the peak was reached, not without dizziness and "fear tremors."

Slowly dawn's rosy steps were advancing on the Eastern sky,

until the few broken clouds, hanging above the horizon as if

purposefully for effect, were gloriously lighted up into a fuchia

red against a background of brilliant blue.

And then "Old Sol"

tipped the horizon and presently came forth ablaze with divine

glory, adorned as "a bridegroom coming out of his chamber."

"Standing there on an elevation almost three miles above sea

level, we scanned the horizon some one hundred twenty-five

miles away and actually looked down upon the sun.

I gazed

upon this beauty with an indescribable inner exhilaration, as

if under the spell of some strange magic.

My mind, soul, and

spirit feasted sumptuously.

The vision inflamed my imagination

and became a permanent part of my life, just as much as if some

special "tabernacle" had been built to preserve it.

It became a

thing of beauty whose loveliness increases, and it shall never

pass into nothingness."

We only spent four days in the mountains of Colorado, and though we had been there before, they fill you with awe because of their massiveness and majesty.

It makes sense why God does so much of His business with men on the mountains.

They are a fitting environment for man to confront the majesty of their Creator.

God began the new world after the flood on Mount Ararat where the Ark landed.

The second half of Exodus all revolves around Mount Sinai where God gave His law to His people through Moses.

There are dozens of mountain scenes.

For example, where Abraham offers up Isaac on Mt.

Moriah; where Lot flees to the mountains; where Jacob offered sacrifice on the mountains.

Aaron died on Mt.

Hor and Moses on Mt.

Nebo, and Saul on Mt.

Gibbon.

Elijah won his great victory over idolatry on Mr. Carmel.

In the New Testament Jesus did so many special things on mountains.

His most famous sermon is the Sermon On The Mount.

On Mt.

Tabor He was transfigured.

On Mt.

Calvary He died for the sins of the world.

On the Mt. of Olives He ascended into heaven where He reigns on Mt.

Zion, the name of the New Jerusalem, or heaven.

We sing about marching upward to Zion the beautiful city of God.

There are hundreds of verses on mountains in the Bible, but we want to focus on the last mountain in the Bible.

It is a mountain so high that John could see heaven from it.

Rev. 21:10 says, "He carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." Seeing heaven from a mountain top was the unique experience of the Apostle John.

Millions have seen the glory of earth from the mountain, but only John saw the glory of heaven from the mountain.

Moses was allowed to see the Promise Land from Mt. Nebo, but only John saw the Eternal Paradise for all God's people from the mountain top.

This was the ultimate mountain top experience.

God is saying something to all His people by revealing so much of His will and truth from the mountain top.

What He is saying is that our perspective determines our perception, or, in other words, our stand point determines what we see.

Why do men and women climb mountains?

It is not just because they are there, but because of what they can see from there.

Why do men and women blast off into space?

It is because they can see the whole world from a unique perspective.

They can see how the laws of nature work differently in that weightless environment.

Everything looks different from the heights.

Little Zacheaus climbed up a sycamore tree because he could see Jesus from a new perspective, and that climb gave him a glimpse that changed his life forever.

Seeing Jesus from a more lofty height is a life-changing perspective.

Mountains give us two different perspectives that help us see life differently.

When you are high in them, you can look down and see the awesome scene below, and when you are below you can look up and see the awesome scene of their heights.

Either way you look, up or down, you can see what cannot be seen the same from any other perspective.

Now this is not entirely true, for if you fly you can get a perspective from the heights that changes everything.

I once flew over Pittsburgh in a small plane.

On the ground you can drive in that city and be convinced they just put a snake on a piece of paper and let it crawl to plan the roads.

But from the plane I could see a pattern and an order that could not be seen from the ground.

Everything was different.

Out over the country side too every plot of land was uniform and there was order that could never be detected from the ground.

You could see the parts in the context of the whole and get a view of reality that was only available from the heights.

The reason God wants His people to climb to greater heights is because they can see what is not visible in the low lands.

Isa.

40:31 says, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles..." The poet wrote:

"Rise and soar into the sunlit ways,

Using both the wings of prayer

and praise;

Mount like eagles-higher in the

sky,

And you'll find things look so

different when you fly."

This is why people fly and why they climb mountains.

They want to see things differently.

If you can just get high enough you can see from heaven's perspective, and from that viewpoint you can always be optimistic.

Poor John was in exile on the island of Patmos.