Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Thank you for hospitality, and warm welcome.

Unfortunately I simply wasn’t prepared to meet so many of you so I want to quickly say, “If you approached annie and I last week and are interested in hearing more about the RH plant, or even prayefully considering joining us we’d like to connect with you.

So my email is amcclure@cbcsavannah.com and I’d love to connect.

Let’s get into our passage.

Image

Lived overseas for 7 of the last 10 years.

Happy in SA.

Abrupt dismissal.

The last 2 years, very aware we were to wait.

But God nworks in our waiting, and what I know ow that I didn’t know then is that He was preparing me.

Preparing our family.

Making me ready for an opportunity like this one.

So we said YES, but our close dates weren’t perfectly aligned, and we decided to let the kids finish school there.

My task was to get the house ready, and man there is a lot that goes into that process.

The closing documents were constant, and served as a constant reminder of how little know and for better or worse half way thru I stopped reading and just started signing.

Made good money off the sell and then immeditely threw that away.

Had to close.

Had to get it cleaned.

Fridge

Baseboards.

Yard.

Had to coordinate with our moving company.

Hire the movers.

Get it moved.

Which was awesome.

Had to build a ton of furniture, some of which served as a great sanctifiying experience for myself and many of the RH people.

Had to dig into the neverending boxes.

Had to get the Christmas tree up and stockings.

Had put sheets on.

Have dinner ready.

But then the reunion occurred.

And all the preparation, all that I had to get ready… was worth it.

Need

As I needed to get the house ready for the arrival of my family, we too must be a church that is ready for the arrival of Christ.

We have celebrated his advent, and what we will see from today’s passage is that as He comes, we need to be sure we are ready.

Are we ready?

Are we living as a people made ready?

So this morning, as we look at our text I hope to show How we can leave ready today.

Subject

Go ahead and turn with me to Matthew 3.

remember where we have been thus far in our series on Matthew.

Matthew is writing to a largely Jewish audience, and in each chapter has been consistently showing his audience/and us, that Jesus is thie promised Christ or annointed one and the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies.

In like fashion, what we will see today in Matthew 3 is that the ministry of John the Baptist also serves to show that All Authority belongs to Jesus the Christ, and we need to be prepared in order to live for him.

Let’s begin by looking at vs 1-5.

Repent (Matthew 3:1-5).

In those days…

John the Baptist Came

We have looked at the foretold, and miraculous birth of Christ.

here we have another character whose birth was surrounded by supernatural events as foretold in the OT.

His Birth (Luke 1)

Mother was Barren

Gabriel appeared to announce his birth.

Said he would be great before the Lord, Luke 1:16-17, “go before the Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Just as I went before Annie and the kids to make ready the house, John was to go before Christ to make ready a people.

His birth was also foretold:

400 years earlier

Malachi 4:5-6

​We see that same statement in vs 3 quoted from Isaiah 40...

“Prepare the way.”

Gabriel made it clear.

These OT prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah find their fulfillment in John.

But if you aren’t convinced yet, just look at his attire.

Not preachers and sneakers.

2 Kings 1:8.

John was to prepare people for Jesus, so how did he do that?

Preaching Repent

Preaching

That word is herald.

That word is before a King would travel a hearld would go before him to announce his arrival as well as fill pot holes and make the way ready.

John was the herald.

He was preaching.

He was announcing.

But what?

Repent

We don’t like this word.

By definition it means to “turn” to “change”.

More than changing one’s mind, it references changing the heart.

A MESSAGE WE ARE LOSING TODAY…

Training College Students

But this was John’s message, and repentance is essential for us to be a prepared people.

To be a ready people.

Now allow me a little grace to go on a tangent for a second.

***I had the luxury of living cross-culturally for most of the last decade , which means I only came in contact with the Western Church every few years.

I’m well aware that the global Church has its’ blemishes regardless of continent, nation, or region so I do not desire to be critical or judgmental, especially of something so beautiful, called, and anointed as the local church.

But when I look at the church of the West I sometimes wonder if prestige, presence, and power have been attained by time spent in the “cloud” (Moses), or the “fields” (David), or by simply having a good PR strategy, a recognizable brand, and a message that attracts the masses.

This type of message… repent may not attract the masses but it is the message we need in order to be a people prepared for Christ!

From prosperity theology, to pop-psychology, to using the pulpit to promote self-esteem.

This PR Preaching is everywhere.

Confess

The last thing I want us to see here is that their repentance was demonstrated in two actions.

Vs 6

Baptized

They were demonstrating their repentance by being baptized.

They were not being saved by baptism, only demonstrating desire to change.

Even though John says in vs 11 I baptize for repentance...

this is not a meritous act.

It is faith in action.

A symbolic act that is outwardly demonstrating what we are inwardly believing

THat I am dirty and need to be cleansed.