Sermon Tone Analysis

It is reported that Moody’s farewell words to his sons as he lay upon his deathbed were, “If God be your partner, make your plans large.”

My goal today as we gather is to project a large plan - a future vision for our faith family here at Fellowship.

The Pennsylvania School Journal wrote:

The poorest man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream.

And although my bank account may not project it, friend, today I am rich with a dream for what God can do as we radically fulfill His will together.

Now, when we came five years ago, the Lord had already established a phenomenal church here.

The spirit of the congregation was welcoming and uplifting.

The honeymoon of this new journey was a lot of fun!

There were primarily two active families with children and there were Sundays with no infants in the nursery.

We had a single children’s church class at 10:30 AM, but no active teen group or midweek children’s discipleship plan.

The core of this church when we came stepped out in faith and extended an invitation to our family, and we by faith accepted and joined the partnership here.

I remember as we met with the leaders of the church that first night and I mentioned the importance of a website, and Elsie Lynch leaned over to Chuck Young and said, “I guess that means we need to get internet here at the church.”

Heidi and I paid for that first website out of our own savings because the church was in debt and I was scared to spend money on anything.

n fact, I bought a stapler for my office from the church funds that was on sale for 97 cents and I almost felt bad about it.

Five years ago, we came here with the hopes of under-shepherding a group of people to follow Jesus.

By God’s grace, He has allowed our family to invest in our community and our faith family here, and we are so thankful for what He has done.

We set out that first Sunday to be a church that was loving, learning, and living for God together.

And although we are far from perfect, the journey to this point has been a great blessing.

Now as we look forward to whatever the Lord may lead us through, we continue to pursue Him through His Word with a clarified vision to come.

If you would this morning, join me in Revelation 2.

This past month I have been finishing up a study through the NT this year in Revelation, and as I mentioned a few weeks ago, it’s been riveting.

As you look to the book of Revelation, it is primarily a prophetic book, written by the apostle John while in exile on the island of Patmos, just off the coast of present day Turkey.

This letter is addressed from Christ to 7 actual churches in present day turkey.

We will begin this morning looking briefly at these churches then transition into the application of that here at Fellowship.

Kevin DeYoung gives a great comparison of each church to today that we will highlight in a bit.

Beginning with the church at Ephesus, we see the loveless church.

Ephesus was your listless, loveless church.

They were orthodox, moral, and hard working.

But they weren’t concerned about the lost and may not have been too concerned about each other.

They were doctrinally sound, naval-gazers.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Love.”

- DeYoung

Then we see the persecuted church in Smyrna

Smyrna was your persecuted, 10-40 window church.

They were afflicted, slandered, and impoverished.

But they were spiritually rich.

They were vibrant, but fearful.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Be faithful.”

- DeYoung

We also learn of the compromising church in Pergamos

Pergamum was your ungrounded, youth-infused church.

They were faithful, passionate witnesses.

But they had compromised with the world and accommodated to their sexually immoral and idolatrous culture.

They were missional, but misguided.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Discern.”

- DeYoung

The fourth church written to was the corrupt Thyatiran church.

Jesus writes:

Thyatira was your warm-hearted, liberal church.

They were strong in compassion, service, and perseverance.

But they undervalued doctrinal fidelity and moral purity.

They were loving, but over-tolerant.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Think.”

Then in chapter 3 we learn of the dead church at Sardis

Sardis was your flashy and successful, but ultimately shallow megachurch.

They were like your big Bible-belt churches chocked full with nominal Christians.

They had a great reputation.

But in reality, they were spiritually dead.

They were the church of the white-washed tombs.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Wake up.” - DeYoung

We also find the refreshingly faithful church at Philadelphia

Philadelphia was your small, storefront, urban church.

They felt weak and unimpressive.

But they had kept the word of God and not denied his name.

They were a struggling, strong church.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Press on.”

And finally we find the Lukewarm church of Laodicea.

Laodicea was your ritzy, influential church out in the leafy part of town.

They thought they had it all together.

But they were as spiritually poor as they were materially rich.

The church was filled with affluence and apathy.

To them and to us, Jesus says, “Be earnest.” - DeYoung

As you hear from Jesus to these churches you find commendation, criticism, and comfort.

Can you imagine for a moment with me this morning if Christ wrote a letter to Fellowship.

Not as an overview of the highlight reel, but of the real, nitty-gritty issues from His perspective.

Friend, as I read through these chapters, if I am honest, I see a glimpse of each, good and bad, within our church too.

The apostle Paul, who wrote the majority of the NT, wrote a letter to Titus, another Pastor and said these words:

It is God’s design to raise up leaders within local congregations to help set in order what is vital for the health of that congregation.

And that is what we aim to renew and clarify today.

As our deacons pass out these vision statements we want everyone to have one.

As they pass these out, we will take a moment to walk through them and in the first 12 weeks of 2020, we will clarify each aspect of this vision so you will want to be here.

We have a new logo and will roll out our new website this week.

Our bus will be branded this same way too in the coming weeks.

And the purpose of all of this branding and emphasis is to constantly remind us of the vision forward of our faith family.

You will notice with me our vision statement as:

We exist to glorify God by making spiritually and relationally healthy disciples.

When Christ was asked what the greatest commandment in the Law of God was in Matthew 22, he replied

Friend, our very existence is for the purpose of glorifying God, by making spiritually and relationally healthy disciples.

We find that here from Christ himself - Love God, Love People

NEW SHIRTS!

sipritually, we desire that you would love God

relationally, we desire that you would love people.

You can’t completely have one, without the other.

These are directly corelated.

So we desire a church that glorify’s God through loving Him and loving His as healthy followers of Jesus.

Now, how we do this is through emphasizing some external manifestations of the gospel.

which are:

        1.

Gospel-centered Worship

        2.

Gospel-centered Transformation

        3.

Gospel-centered Relationships