Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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There is not going to be a lot of introduction today.
As you know, we just finished with our Exodus study, but as I’ve been praying through where we go next, I keep feeling like we aren’t quite ready yet, to move on.
The last two Sundays we talked about Experiencing Freedom and then Giving Freedom.
God was really clear this week that we needed to stick with this theme again today.
We are going to look at a couple of passages today that I think most are familiar with.
To give you a road map for today, here is what to expect.
We are going to have two points, a group activity, a third point, and then the Lord’s supper.
Let’s Geaux tigers...
Standing for freedom is the result of who we are in Christ.
James 2:14-16
This passage is commonly used to convince people that they need to be doing stuff.
That is not my goal today.
Based on my past, I see this passage in a particular way.
It doesn’t feel like freedom, it feels like work.
However let’s look at this passage in light of .
We won’t read the whole passage, because we are very familiar with it, but I want to highlight a particular section.
John 15:4-
When you compare these two passages, we see a common theme.
James uses the “works” and John use the word “fruit”, but they are talking about the same thing.
The result of a true, growing, relationship with Jesus is the out pouring of His character, into your life.
Think about what that means.
What was Jesus’ one claim to fame?
What did he say that he did?
He only did what the father was doing.
So what does that mean for us?
If we are abiding, which is a never ending progression, we will be doing the things that God is doing.
Our call to join God to set people free, is not a specific call for this body or a few people in it.
It is the very purpose of God’s people.
This is the point of the church.
To spread the Gospel (the truth about Jesus), to be his hands and his feet in the world, and thereby bringing freedom to people.
In this passage in , Jesus is saying that works and faith are not separate.
We don’t get to choose between the two.
They are the direct results of one another.
Being in relationship with Christ is faith in action.
James is saying it and Jesus says it.
If we are who we say we are, if we are God’s people, if we are abiding, what is important to God will be what is important to us.
If we are abiding, we, like Jesus, will do what the father does.
Part of the reason I titled today’s message, Standing For Freedom, is because it is Stand Sunday.
I have a short video to explain the history behind this day.
https://vimeo.com/224756922
There are some areas of our lives, where God gives very specific callings.
leading a life group, pastoring, being an elder, being a deacon, etc.
There are other things that are simply part of who we are because of who God is.
They are
Orphan care is one of those things.
I understand that you guys already know how I feel about foster care and adoption.
Hear me out today though.
Don’t zone out, because what God is saying today is for all of us.
If we are followers of Christ, if we are about doing what the father does, this ministry is for all of us.
All of God’s people are called to care for Orphans.
James
Your call, my call, and the call of all that are in a relationship with Jesus, is to have the heart of the father, and to Stand for orphans.
is to stand for orphans.
Standing for Orphans can take many different forms.
God may be calling you to foster and adopt.
He may be calling you to support a family that is.
He may be calling you to pray for these children.
The point I want to make sure that everyone here understands today is, He is calling you...
don’t just take the easy way out though, pray through this with me.
Don’t just assume that you are already doing what God has called you to do in this area of your life.
Our tendency is to just assume that we are good, but as we have discussed before, we are being made into the likeness of Christ.
We are continually growing and God is changing us.
Scripture is full of references to our responsibility, as God’s people, to care for those that no one else cares for.
You and I are often referred to as orphans in scripture.
We were fatherless, separated from God by our sin, but because of Jesus’s life and death, we have been given the opportunity to be adopted into His family.
Through our relationship with God, we are now His sons and daughters.
We were hopeless, lost, wandering, and the father saw us, had compassion on us, loved us, cared for us, took us in, and made us His own.
We are now heirs to the kingdom.
He saved us.
He freed us.
He saw us where we were, loved us, and freed us from the bondage that we were living in.
So, what shall we do then, with this incredible gift we have been given?
There are children, right here in Alexandria, that are in need of what we have been given.
How will you choose to live?
Will you hoard and squander that freedom or will you share it?
Will you stand for freedom?
Will you stand for these children that no one else will stand for?
Let’s take a few moments and pray for these children.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3ultAMxuMWHAF6a5oOyWpo?si=QObMngt_T6u5B2fA5oJbPQ
Being like Christ means drinking from the cup.
Jesus was living in freedom.
He had the right and the ability to do literally anything.
He could have Thano’sed all of them.
He didn’t do that though.
He choose to fulfill His purpose.
He choose to drink from the cup.
He choose to die so that we might live.
He choose to suffer so that we didn’t have too.
The last few weeks I have been asking myself a question.
I want to preface it with this: I am always concerned with the language, tone, and the authenticity of what I say from this pulpit.
I was sharing with Glen this week that I feel like a lot of my messages have a negative tone.
I don’t want them to be that way, but as I allow the spirit to speak into my life and into yours, these are the messages I have been given.
There is nothing for me to gain from speaking this way.
If I had some ambition to be anything, I wouldn’t dress this way, I would preach uplifting, light hearted messages, and we would all leave here feeling really good about ourselves.
My desire for my life and yours is that we are daily made more like Christ.
I want less of me and more of Him.
This world is broken.
We are called to be a light in the darkness.
In order for us to be a light in the darkness, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to get the darkness out of our lives.
right?
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