Sermon Tone Analysis

*Welcome:*

*Call to Worship: Psalm 115:1-3*

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us

but to your name be the glory,

because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in heaven;

he does whatever pleases him.

*Prayer:*

Father God, we come before you in humility and in thanks.

Thank you Lord that you have gathered us here this morning.

Thank you that you have given as the will to seek your presence in all that we do in our worship and in our day to day lives in this world.

Forgive us Lord when we believe we can deal with life without you.

As we now unite Lord to serve you, to worship you, let us reach out to you and to each other, and as we do, give us sincere hearts Father God.

– Amen!

Let’s continue our worship service now and sing with love filled hearts…

 

*Greeting:* Brothers and sisters, our help is in the name of the Lord _Amen

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit - Amen

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*Singing – Congregation, the Lord sees us and greets us - Let’s respond in song!*

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*Confession – Please turn with me to Romans 3 as we acknowledge our unworthiness before God – but for the saving grace of our Lord Jesus… *

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*Romans 3: 9-20*

What shall we conclude then?

Are we any better?

Not at all!

We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

11 there is no one who understands,

no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and

bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 ruin and misery mark their ways,

17 and the way of peace they do not know.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their

eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Let’s pray:

 

 

Father God, who dares stand in your presence?

We are like grass lord and should you even just blow on us we will wither and die and be blown away by the wind.

Our sins are many, Lord, and we harden our hearts against you at every turn.

Forgive us Lord, we plead.

Forgive us and strengthen us.

Not because we are deserving Lord, by our pitiful works

But because of Jesus, who has paid for our iniquities.

In His name we pray - Amen

 

*Assurance: Turn with me now to Romans 3: 21-31*

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,a through faith in his blood.

He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

27 Where, then, is boasting?

It is excluded.

On what principle?

On that of observing the law?

No, but on that of faith.

28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

29 Is God the God of Jews only?

Is he not the God of Gentiles too?

Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith?

Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

*Singing – Let’ sing and worship our Lord, RJS II - 286 (Amazing Grace)*

*We sing verses 1, 2, 3 and 5*

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*Children’s talk*

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*Offering:** *Let’s take a moment now to give for the offering this morning, which is for the Local Church and the CRC Youth Committee.

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*Pastoral Prayer and offertory prayer (Mr Reg Bouwer)*

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*Reading** (Romans **11:33** – 12:2  (Mr Bill Pathuis)*

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*Sermon*

*Our text is the first two verses of Romans 12…* \\  

 

*Brothers and sisters* in our Lord Jesus, I want to start by saying something that may be considered controversial: I want to say that there are times I find it really difficult to be a good Christian.

And sometimes I look around me, and think, I must be missing something about what it means to be a Christian, because it seems to me, many people take Christianity in their stride.

They don’t seem to find it difficult at all

            – they certainly don’t display any conflict in their lives, conflict between being a Christians and living in a secular world.

For example, some Christians will find it difficult to explain to their children that they don’t want them to participate in sport on Sundays, because Sundays has been put aside as a day of meeting with and encouraging and being encouraged by fellow Christians – a day celebrating the Lord’s resurrection from the dead for the sake of His people.

There is conflict for them in that.

Some might find it difficult to admit that they have not been seeking the Lord’s will in their daily business, but have gone ahead and made deals that would enrich them, even though they had to be …shall we say… in a rather tense relationship with honesty.

If they are Christians, and the Holy Spirit is acting in their lives …they will feel uncomfortable with this knowledge.

Do you find it difficult at times to be a Christian?

It is hard sometimes, isn’t it?

I’m not saying it will be difficult all the time – on the contrary, for the largest part it remains the most wonderful life there is

 

And let it be said now, when we choose right, when we choose the more difficult rute, but knowing that it is the right way, in spite of how difficult it is, it is not that we are so good, but it is by the grace of God that we choose for Jesus.

But the truth is, we don’t always choose for Him.

And when we don’t

…well, do you agree brothers and sisters, we have become really good at justifying our worldly choices.

And it is not surprising, really, that we’re so good at it

                                     *– after all, we practice it every day…*

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But how much do we practice at being good Christians?

We who claim to be Christians, set apart …by God for God’s glory?

And why is that?

Why don’t we practice at being good Christians even nearly as often as we practice being great at the worldly things?