Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro....

In our day in and day out life, I believe we tend to take time to pay attention to what we do and say.

We are careful with how we live and act, Why?

Because we are concerned with doing right, we want to make sure we a way that is pleasing to God.

And that is a correct attitude in front of God.

Not arrogant or puffed up, but to ensure that we are humble and right in front of a righteous King.

So this evening I am going to draw from several sources to help explain this thought even more… so lets take our Bibles and lets go to the New Testament book of Luke and lets look at chapter 12, verses 16-21

Luke

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So here in this passage Jesus begins to tell them a parable.

A parable is a earthly story with a heavenly meaning...

And in this passage there is a man who decides to build bigger and better because he has experienced such a windfall of crop production in the year.

Harvest is wonderful…

Listen to what this man says right off the bat....

He asks the question, looking to self.. “....what shall I do...” in verse 17.

He has been so wonderfully blessed and his thought is, what shall I do… He doesn think how wonderful and he certainly doesn’t life his eyes to heaven and give thanks to God for all that has been given to him… No not at all....

There is no careful thought to his life or days… instead he is worried about what to do and his solution, self again.

I will store it all up and I will say to my soul, eat drink and be marry, for you have done well… there is no need to worry about tomorrow.

Wow… What do you think about His attitude?

Not a great one!

It is truly an example of what not to do.. correct?

Why?

His desire is to better serve self not those around Himself in need.

Think about the truth that we have the power and the means to bless those who are our neighbors, but often we stay to ourselves, we don’t want to say anything or get involved.

When perhaps the Lord has placed us there for that very reason....

So back to the parable, the man has a investment portfolio idea… build bigger and better so that I can enjoy and be blessed the rest of my life… I will live a long time and I have no need to worry now…

But listen to the word of God.

Luke 12:20

This very night your life will end, and who will end up enjoying, living off of all your hard work....

He is foolish, there was no time to amend His ways.

Wow, listen to this… how often do you say… ahh, I’ll do it tomorrow.

Talking to self here.

You get a little tired, a little to busy in something and then you put off… at times it cannot be helped.

But there are times we think we have all the time in the world so tomorrow will be ok...

There in is the foolish thought… We understand we will be found wanting in the balances..

Let me share what Paul says in

Paul reminds us that we must stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our lives before God.

Matthew 16

Because of this We must, then, pay attention to how we live.

One day we’ll give an account of ourselves to the Lord ().

We must, then, pay attention to how we live.

Think of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man made his choices concerning himself without any thought toward anyone else, even those in great need just beyond his own doorstep.

Turn there with me , verse 19-31

So think about this...

he made many mistakes as he lived in front of God and in front of His fellow men..

First, he invested everything for himself and nothing for the life to come.

He had everything he every wanted, find food, a place to live, and clothing,

When we are blinded by our own desires and personal satisfaction, it is easy to become lukewarm about spiritual matters.

We forget that this life is not all there is.

Scripture tells us to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth.

Where our treasure is reflects where our heart is

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The rich man in  made the tragic choice of living for himself without regard for the Lord.

He also made two other mistakes.

What are some treasures you can lay up in heaven?

Secondly…

First, he invested everything for himself and nothing for the life to come.

When we are blinded by our own desires and personal satisfaction, it is easy to become lukewarm about spiritual matters.

We forget that this life is not all there is.

Scripture tells us to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth.

Where our treasure is reflects where our heart is ().

The rich man’s other mistake was to prepare everything for himself and nothing for others.

The rich man’s other mistake was to prepare everything for himself and nothing for others.

Crumbs falling from his table (v.

21) were the only form of assistance he gave a poor man named Lazarus.

The one who had much wealth did not share it with the one who had little.

Jesus explained what our priorities should be to love the Lord wholeheartedly and to love our neighbor as ourselves ().

Crumbs falling from his table (v.

21) were the only form of assistance he gave a poor man named Lazarus.

The one who had much wealth did not share it with the one who had little.

Jesus explained what our priorities should be to love the Lord wholeheartedly and to love our neighbor as ourselves ().

We see the rich man’s mistakes repeated in another parable.

This time a wealthy man builds bigger barns to store crops so he will have plenty for the future.

We see the rich man’s mistakes repeated in another parable.

This time a wealthy man builds bigger barns to store crops so he will have plenty for the future.

God calls him a fool for such shortsightedness ().

God calls him a fool for such shortsightedness ().

The Bible repeatedly warns us to pay attention to spiritual matters—the Lord is to have first place in our lives and be the center of our affections.

He urges us to store up heavenly treasure by caring for the lost and hurting people around us.

On whom is your attention focused?