Sermon Tone Analysis
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A 4-year-old was in church when the wine and wafers were passed out.
His mother leaned over and told him that he was not old enough to partake in Communion.
Later, when the collection plate came by, his mother again leaned over and tried to coax a nickel out of his clenched fist.
He held firm and shouted, "If I can't eat, I won't pay."
/submitted by J. R. Love, Rushton, Louisiana (preachingtoday.com)/
Some of you are worried tonight that we’ve brought you here to eat and we’re going to ask you to pay!
You need not worry about that this evening.
Tonight we’re going to celebrate our new facility and learn about a new stewardship emphasis.
But before we do that, let’s pray…
As I stand before you tonight in this new building, I am reminded of an illustration that explains why we’re here.
Perhaps you remember the illustration of the tanning bed and the light house.
Tanning beds exist solely for the benefit of the person desiring a healthy glow, and the light is focused inward so as to satisfy vanity.
Lighthouses exist for one purpose and one purpose only: to save others from perishing.
Light is focused outward into the black of night with the hope that someone, anyone, will be saved.
A lighthouse is also haven for those who have crashed upon the rocks.
Some churches – even some Christians individually – can be categorized as being like a lighthouse or a tanning bed.
Lighthouse churches know why they exist.
They will do whatever it takes, within the parameters of biblical principles, to “shine” the light of Christ out into the darkness of this world.
Whatever the cost, whatever time it takes, whatever sacrifices are necessary, whatever agendas must be put aside, whatever risks must be taken, the light must shine!
Eternal destinies depend upon it.
Tanning bed churches exist for themselves.
They want bask in the light of blessings of Christ but never consider for a moment that Jesus has called them to sacrifice, to seek the lost, to spare no expense or resource in building up the Kingdom.
/ /
What a blessing to be a LIGHTHOUSE church and NOT a church like that of Laodicea!
We have made sacrifices; we have endured inconveniences; we have taken chances; we have put our agendas aside to become the kind of church God wants us to be.
To understand where we are today it would do us well to take a look back at the past…
*I.
**A look back*
*A. **Adding another service*
I can still remember the Sunday morning I mounted the pulpit and realized we had to do something.
A family of five could not have sat together.
We began the process of adding another service, though it was hard for some and new territory for us all, Cedar Hill Baptist did the right thing and added an early service.
The early service is starting to look like it did back then!
* *
*B. **Hosting special events*
*1.) **Our first Easter Celebration*
*2.) **Our first Hallelujah Harvest*
*3.) **Our first Christmas presentation*
* *
*C. **Expanding our ministries*
*1.) **GROW*
*2.) **Sunday School*
Our avg in 1997 was 112; to date it’s 204.
*3.) **Men’s Ministry*
*4.) **Women’s Ministry*
*5.) **Children’s ministry*
* *
As we look back it’s clear why we were led to expand our facilities: we had to match the work God was doing in expanding our ministries!
Now let’s take a look around…
* *
*II.
**A look around*
What you see is an expansion of the lighthouse, an incredible tool for ministry.
It’s also the result of much prayer and contemplation.
Remember how all this started?
God worked in hearts and changed our plans from a sanctuary to a multi-purpose facility.
This 16,000 sq.
ft.
facility is…
* *
*A. **What we built*
*1.) **A gym*
*2.) **A fellowship hall*
*3.) **A sanctuary*
*4.) **Additional Sunday School space*
*5.) **New office and study space*
* *
Our building committee did a wonderful job of designing a family life center that will meet our needs for years to come.
But of course, this wasn’t free.
I wish it were, but it’s not.
It costs a lot of money to build a shed these days, let a lone what you see before you tonight.
Folks, sometimes its expensive to keep up with God.
Well, here’s what is costs us to be here enjoying our new family life center tonight…
*B.
**What it cost: $1.765 million dollars*
Now I know some of you need to catch your breath, in fact it looks like some of you need some oxygen tonight!
Yes, that’s much, much more than we anticipated four years ago.
There are three big reasons why…
* *
*1.) **Spike in steel prices*
*2.) **Costs associated with preparing foundation*
*3.) **Change in law requiring a very expensive sprinkler~/fire alarm system*
* *
Let’s put this into perspective.
Let’s say an avg.
home costs $150,000 in Robertson county.
The cost of our building equals to a little over eleven homes.
In other words, what we’ve built to minister to the entire community is the equivalent to what less than a dozen families would invest in their homes, and we are a church of about 150 active families.
* *
Thankfully, we don’t owe the total cost because of our Vision to Grow campaign.
This three year campaign which ended in December of last year took $410,000 off the final cost.
Thank you so much to all who contributed.
Because of your faithfulness, we owe…
* *
*C. **What we owe: $1.265 million dollars*
Fortunately, we were able to receive financing through a local bank.
Our monthly payment on a thirty-year note will be* *approximately* $8,800.*
No matter how you look at it, that’s still a lot of money.
And coming up with the needed funds each month to make our payment requires a…
* *
*III.
**A step of faith*
We just finished a study on Sunday nights called Experiencing God.
How providential it was!
In that study Henry Blackaby tells the following story…
Listen again to what he said: “Anytime God leads you to do something that has God-sized dimensions, you will face a crisis of belief.
When you face a crisis of belief, what you do next reveals what you really believe about God.”
From the time we split into two services, and had our first Easter Celebration, and hosted our first H Harvest, and so on, we’ve seen this principle played out.
This is the biggest test of it so far in the history of CHBC.
For a church our size to build and pay off such a building is a God-sized task.
You might even say the God-sized prospect before us is a mountain.
* *
You know, Jesus had something to say about mountains…
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