Sermon Tone Analysis

Overview

Over the last 3 months I was in chaplain officer leadership course

It just so happens that this course is the hardest basic officer leadership course for the army.

Does anyone know why?

A chaplain is the name the army puts on a faith leader.

They can’t use pastor or rabbi because per the constitution, the US does not favor 1 religion over the other so they generalize faith leaders through the term chaplain to avoid that.

I sat in class with mostly Christians with a Rabbi sitting next to me.

They also get muslims and hindus from time to time

Be sure that your calling is for you

I say this because even pastors can get this wrong

For example, during one of the first days one of the pastors said to a few of us, I’m just here to get my five years so I can retire.

That individual struggled through the class and almost didn’t make it.

No wonder he had trouble waking up and was always late and in a military context, being late is a mortal sin.

I had a talk with him and told him that he’s struggling because he really doesn’t want to be here.

He asked what I meant and I explain to him that it took me 10 years to get to this point.

I had to remind him that out of the billions of people who’ve lived only 25,000 have been chaplain.

On the 2nd week i was there I got a call at 2 am in the morning from a reserve Col living here and she said that she needed me to go with here on a death notification.

She asked was my uniform ready and not being fully aware that I was still in SC I said lets go!

I said that because I could hear the horror in her voice.

But that’s what the people of God are they are ready.

Once I was aware that I wasn’t here and couldn’t help here I let her know this and her voice got more lonely as she said, you were the last one I called and the only one that picked up.

Go back to sleep son.

I said yes ma’am but I really wanted to be there.

Do what is right in the site of the Lord

Next, I learned that we should do what is right in the site of the lord no matter what.

reads: Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you.

On one of one of our saddest days of class, and I say sad because we discussed some things that I should n’t bring bring up our course leader told us the story of Jessica Lynch.

18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you.

How many of you all remember the story of Jessica Lynch

No matter what we must do what is right because one day we will all have to give an account.

and speaking of account, we must be ready.

Nobody’s gonna accomplish your mission here on the planet and if you don’t do it, then someone might not be saves.

So know your calling and step into it

Feel the fear and do it anyways

For example, watch and listen to this video

You think Joshua wasn’t afraid when he was up against Canninites?

Then why was Joshua told by several people including God to be strong and courageous.

Because he was scared however, he felt the fear and did what had to be done anyways and this was the theme of this training.

We had to feel it then come to our own truth.

For me it was the climbing a forty foot wall better known as victory tower.

This is where a lot of people discovered that being a Soldier wan’t their calling.

Lol.

However, when I got to the edge, I realized that I can either trust in God and the calling he’s given me or I can be comfortable like everyone else that failed.

That’s the first and last time I’ve ever felt that God was counting on me.

He doesn’t need me?

However, he let me feel the fear to see if I would move forward.

How many times have you let him down?

Or not spoken up?

Through the entire class, I was sitting next to a rabbi and since he’s also a chaplain, it is illegal for me to try to open his eyes to Christ and believe me he was ready to defend his faith because out of all the denominations we had, his was the only one that did not recognize Christ.

We even had a Messianic Jew who believes that Christ is the messiah.

So, he started to drop little seeds of non faith if you know what I mean.

He started to tell some of us why those who practice Judaism do not believe that Christ was the messiah.

Once he did that I was like game on!

Lol.

Lets go.

By the time it was over, my faith was fortified and his seemed like a burden and that played out so clearly when it was his time to preach.

How many ever went to a Jewish service?

Its simular to a catholic because of the readings but there is absolutely nothing spiritual about their service.

When he got up to deliver his message I couldn’t tell the difference between what he was talking about and what Tony Robbins speaks on.

It was just a self help type of sermon every time.

However, when the Christian pastor got up to preach, you would feel a change happening.

For example, one of pastors was terrible as a soldier but when he got up to preach, his whole oral changes.

He was filled with the spirit and he delivered some of the most spirit filled messages I’ve heard to date.

This is when I became clear to me that God has abandoned that way of worshiping and I really need to let him know this before it was too late.

By the time we finished working on him, he started to refer to his religion as a faith tradition.

It was no longer his religion or faith.

God had downloaded it to a family tradition.

We could not have done that in fear.

We wold have gotten ran over if we had approached him in fear of prostelgzing do you know what a rabbi has to go through to become a rabbi?

Its like 10 years of school and thats 10 years of studying scripture.

I don’t know if he’s found Jesus or not but I do know that because we were not fearful, i knew that something was different.

Towards the end of the class he seemed confused and challenged while those who were working on him became more hopeful that God will save him.