Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

I want to thank, Rev. Dottie Smith, Dr. Mark Arnold, Rev. Pam Gillyard, Min.

Matthew Borders, Min.

Marvin Venay, Min.

Cindy Blackwell, Min.Kenny Kelly, Min.

Cynthia Bell for preaching the gospel effectively.

To all the associate ministers for visiting the sick, attending funerals and supporting the congregation.

To all the deacons and deaconess for making sure ministry needs were addressed, the AV and Music and Arts for uplifting our spirits, ushers, nurses and everyone who loves and supports Morning Star.

Being home and recovering from knee surgery, I have regained perspective.

I have gone from seeing the ministry as work to worship.

I am not just a pastor but I am a son of God and a friend of Christ.

My concern is for this congregation and for the church of Jesus and its condition.

I have prayed for you and hoped you have prayed for me.

I’m glad to be here now.

I have missed being with you in person.

I’ve changed my desire for preaching.

My focus is to be original.

To bring the message in a way that is originally me.

I intend to speak from the place so deep within my heart that you must think deeply about God and Jesus Christ, and from there form, a better understanding, and a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and the world.

We begin with Abraham.

God directed Abraham to circumcise his household as a symbol of their common faith and covenant with God.

What every Christian has in common is baptism.

And yet, Baptism is not common.

Michael Heiser said, “Baptism is a controversial doctrine.”

Immersed in water, sprinkled.

In a pool, or in a lake or ocean,

In the name of Jesus, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

Baptizing children, Not baptizing children,

Some baptizing only once, baptizing again,

An ordained minister, verses a lay person,

Is it supernatural, or the symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Baptism is a church ordinance.

With all the possibilities for miracles within our corporate faith,

There are limits on what the church can do.

The church cannot shape your whole identity.

The church can tell what tree you are from, but it cannot bear fruit for you.

We are known as Saints, members, children of God, believers, disciples, Christians.

You are also you as an individual.

The church determines if you are in the body, but not what part of the body.

We can only love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.

Whenever the church tries to shape the whole identity, it becomes pharisaical.

You cannot find your whole identity here, and yet, our collective identity is different from any other congregation in the world.

The church cannot meet every need…

Not everyone is healed… not every prospers; not every question is answered; not every problem solved; some are depressed, People leave the ministry.

some are still searching for their purpose.

We learn how to survive.

The apostle Paul said, “I’ve learned how to abase and how to abound….”

But, We survive; then grow, then thrive, then build.

We build ourselves and we build up others.

The church is not made up of full grown believers- fully sanctified individuals.

Not everyone is on the same spiritual level.

All of us are at different stages of spiritual growth.

Leaders are not infallible: They go on vacation when you need them.

They fall and injure themselves; they struggle with issues, they get sick, others get weary.

We don’t always agree.

Everyone is vulnerable.

Our vulnerability is our power.

People are flawed.

Those flaws enrich our body.

Hearing someone sing, who sang in the club, following a leader who almost died by addiction and now they are intercessors, working with people who survived divorce, bankruptcy, or imprisonment, or losing a family member to gun violence and found their joy, or hearing a cancer survivor testify to the goodness of Jesus.

These make us more than conquerers.

What the church has is STABILITY.

The storms rise and the winds blow but the church is built upon a rock.

God provides stability.

God is faithful

Gen. 8:22, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Heb.

13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Jesus Christ said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

One thing we all have in common is our baptism.

I don’t mean immersion in water alone.

Jesus told James and John, ‘Can you drink from the cup I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” Jesus was not speaking of water baptism.

I am talking about something much greater.

THE MYSTICAL TRANSFORMATION

Paul reminded the church in Colossea, not to be brought under bondage by myths and folklore, false teachers and empty practices.

Something mystical happened.

Something supernatural and divine happened.

Jesus entered the world as the Son of God.

However, something supernatural happened when Jesus was baptized.

He had no sin to clean.

However, The Holy Spirit rested upon him in the form of a dove.

The Voice of God declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.””

We experienced a supernatural transformation in Jesus Christ.

With all our different backgrounds, experiences, gifts and understanding, There is...

Eph.

4:5-6 “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Jesus stripped way the old nature.

“You were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.”

The flesh, which is weak and subject to corruption, is overcome by The spirit of divine power.

Something powerful and divine happened.

John the apostle also saw it.

“To those who believe in Jesus’ name are born of God; not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Your whole self, not just one part of the body, once ruled by the flesh, has been crucified and resurrected by the mercy of God.

Michael Heiser said, “Circumcision was the constant reminder of the supernatural grace of God.”

Both male and female share in a spiritual circumcision.

We died the death he died that we might live the life he lives.

The wounds Jesus endured healed us.

They removed our transgressions and iniquities and caused us to walk in his ways.

We are dead to the world and the world to us.

God buried us with Christ.