Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Are We a Christian Nation?
No.
Were we founded to be a Christian Nation?
No.
We are a nation founded on Biblical and Christian principles.
There is only 1 chosen Nation: Israel.
The OT is written to a Nation and it has individual implications.
The NT is written to individuals w/ group implications.
The more members of the group who are Christians, followers of Jesus, have believed and received Jesus’ gift of taking the punishment for our sins,
God treats Christians differently than He does those who don’t believe.
Christians are children of God and He disciplines us out of love.
Non-Christians face the wrath of God, His violent anger.
So, greater number of individual Christians in a group the more of God’s love saturates the group.
So, what about the group of men who founded the United States of America?
There were 204 Founding Fathers
What makes them a Founding Father?
They signed or participated in one or more of the following:
Signed the Declaration of Independence
Signed the Articles of Confederation
Signed the U.S. Constitution
Attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787
Served as Senators of the 1st Federal Congress
Served as U.S. Rep’s of the 1st Federal Congress
What about these men?
What did they believe?
How did they worship and practice their beliefs?
Faith Affiliation
88 Episcopalians/Anglicans
30 Presbyterians
25 Congregationalists
7 Quakers
6 Dutch/German Reformed
5 Luterans
3 Catholics
3 Huguenots
3 Unitarians
2 Methodists
2 Deists
1 Calvinist
Keep all of this in mind during the various debates regarding the separation of Church and State.
The Founding Fathers did not separate the two.
The phrase isn’t found anywhere in the founding docs.
They did establish that there would not be one state church.
They declared their independence from England where there was one church recognized by the state, the Church of England.
29 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were ordained pastors from the various denominations and faiths represented.
It’s safe to say that just because all of these men attended church, not all of them had a personal relationship with Jesus.
That said, a large majority DO.
These men, when confronted with the question, “Who is Jesus?”
Came to the conclusion that He is the Messiah and no one gets into Heaven except thru believing in Him.
It matters much less what church you attend, how you worship, and how you practice what you believe.
When given these options, is Jesus a Lunatic, Liar, or Lord; they accepted Him as the Lord of their life.
When confronted w/ these questions, there are only 2 possible options.
Either He is Who He says He is, or He isn’t.
There is no middle ground.
If He isn’t, He’s either a Lunatic, not knowing the difference between truth and error; or He’s lying, knowing He’s not the Messiah but saying so anyway.
Or, He is.
Either way, everyone either intentionally or passively has decided which side of these questions they land on.
You couldn’t hear Him speak and watch Him work, or read about it now, w/out having to make this decision about Him.
People were first confronted with these questions long before 1776.
It was a.d. 31 when a significant threshold was crossed.
After a very basic exorcism that very little was written about.
The reactions of the people were much more significant and served as the ultimate rejection of Jesus by the Jews as The Messiah opening the door for the inclusion of Non-Jews and the eventual establishment of the church.
The issue at hand?
Who is the source of the power and authority of Jesus?
Is He a Lunatic, Liar, or The Lord?
Miracle #12. . .
Context
Mary and Martha
Martha complained that Mary just sat at Jesus’ feet while she worked and served Him.
Why did Jesus say it was preferable to sit at His feet over working so hard?
The Lord’s Prayer
The disciples asked and He gave them this model to use in their prayer lives.
[Pray the Prayer]
Why pray?
Why pray this way?
Why pray to Jesus?
A Growing Following
Into His 2nd year of ministry.
Many sermons and miracles and the number of His followers was growing.
He was an effective recruiter.
What gives Jesus the right to form a group of followers?
The answer to the questions in all 3 situations is:
God is working through Jesus, Who in turn is bring the kingdom, victory and judgment.
So, as everyone here watches Him work and hears Him speak, it forces the question: Who do you think He is?
A Lunatic, Liar, or The Lord?
Some people got it, some completely missed it.
The Revelation of the Miracle
.
“Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute.
When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke,”
Matthew said he caused the man to be both mute and blind.
Matthew has a little different purpose in his writing in that he is going to use this miracle and Jesus’ subsequent teaching to illustrate that Israel is blind and couldn’t see what God wanted them to see.
Come to Jesus and you’ll be able to see things you haven’t been able to see before.
Beyond this, a pretty simple, basic exorcism.
Jesus has done this many times.
He spoke and the demon had to leave.
As soon as the demon left, the man could speak.
Not much to it.
So, if this was the point, then we’d be done.
But, as always, it isn’t.
There is much more going on here.
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