Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this, that he who begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.

I want to preach tonight on the subject:

Under Construction

Construction zones are not the places of peace and contentment.

They are chaotic and dangerous.

They are messed up places, dangerous places, and oftentimes unsightly places .

Construction zones have lots of bumps and lane changes, starts and stops, backed up delays, and falling hazards,

they are dirty, noisy, disorganized, confused, and hectic .

However, if you were to talk to the Architect;

he will say that the construction zone is a beautiful place,

despite of everything going on,

because of what the end product is going to be;

they know that when they are looking at something under construction:

it is the “process of progress”.

Contrary to how it may look to you right now.

In-spite of what it may appear like to you.

Regardless of the smile on my face, ,

no matter how compassionate I may be,

no matter how loving I try to be.

Beyond the suit and tie on Sunday mornings, beyond the smile, beyond what the public sees -

Beyond the suit and tie - I don’t have it all together.

I don’t have it all together.

You see me standing here and I pray that what you see is good.

However, what you don’t see and don’t understand is that what you are looking at standing here behind this sacred desk is a “work in progress”.

you are looking at a “construction zone”.

There are some hazardous areas

there is some hammering and drilling going on.

There is some stuff that is taking place in “this” construction zone that actually should cause me to wear a sign around my neck that says; “Danger”, Construction Zone, .

I am under construction;

I don’t have it all together, but please be patient with me,

God is not through with me yet.

Paul said it like this “I count not myself to have apprehended…”

in other words I’m not there yet,

yes I am better than what I was

but I am not yet what I shall be

and in some people’s eyes I may even seem like a chaotic mess.

says “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be:

but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”

I am in the “process of progress” - I am under construction.

I am better than what I was, but I am not yet what I will be.

Truth be known; we are all in the “process of progress”.

We are at different levels in the process and our progress is different,

however, we all are under construction!

Real quick; let me give you the definition of a few words we are talking about tonight

1: CONSTRUCTION:

- Ithe process of putting something together, building something for the purpose of something else.

- the process of putting something together, building something for the purpose of something else.

- Is the process of putting something together, building something for the purpose of something else.

People build:

“houses to live in”,

“stores to shop at”,

“stadiums to have sporting events”

We build our lives so that people can see the redemptive work of Jesus,

We put our lives together in Christ with the purpose of pointing others for Christ.

2: PROGRESS : - is a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage:

it is the growth or development; the continuous improvement of something:

the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial “than” and “superior” to the previous level,

What this is saying; is that there is:

good,

better,

best.

“good” is o.k.

but it is not as good as better,

and “better” although is greater than “good” fails in comparison to “best”.

If you have been sick

then one day you feel good,

and the next day you feel better than yesterday,

and the next day you are at your best

that is the “process of progress”.

The problem with progress; is that progress has the potential to be fatal until the process is completed or finished.

“Finished” always seems to be so far away.

In our laundry room, next to the washer and dryer, we have a table,

this table collects all the clothes as we pull them out of the dryer.

and Because we don’t always fold the clothes the moment they come out of the dryer

this table tends to builds up until the clothes are almost up to the ceiling.

Eventually we have to fold the clothes,

Sometimes I will fold some of the clothes (saying I am helping out cause I will do my part)

so I will fold the clothes to the point that they are not falling off of the table onto the floor any more then I will stop,

I didn’t finish the clothes,

but it is better than what it was a little while ago;

however, it’s not finished.

“finished” seems to be so far off.

What I have settled for is better than what it was;

but it’s not the best it could be.

Because I settled for incompleteness;

when I go and try to get dressed for work or church and I want to wear brown

but I can’t find the brown socks because I settled for better instead of striving for the best

and the brown socks are still scattered in that mess on the table,

but if I would have strived for best and finished folding the clothes the brown socks would have gotten folded and placed in the drawer where they should be

and I wouldn’t have to wear green socks with brown pants.

during the “process of progress” because we have moved from good to better we often times will become complacent and settle for better instead of reaching and striving for the best.

Because better is greater than good so we become comfortable with better;

compared to best better is mediocre.

however, compared to best, better is mediocre.

Sometimes in this spiritual walk people progress from a world of sin to coming to church and they settle because things are better than they were before,

but they are not striving for the best and seeking the kingdom of God and all His righteousness.

They have a form of godliness,

but the first time the wind blows contrary against them they end up right back out there in sin again