Sermon Tone Analysis

Letter from a Missionary

A letter from a missionary out in the jungles of New Guinea writing to his friends at home caught the nature of spiritual warfare:

“Man, it is great to be in the thick of the fight, to draw the old devil’s heaviest guns, to have him at you with depression and discouragement, slander, disease.

He doesn’t waste time on a lukewarm bunch.

He hits good and hard when a fellow is hitting him.

You can always measure the weight of your blow by the one you get back.

When you’re on your back with fever and at your last ounce of strength, when some of your converts backslide, when you learn that your most promising inquirers are only fooling, when your mail gets held up, and some don’t bother to answer your letters, is that the time to put on mourning?

No, sir.

That’s the time to pull out the stops and shout Hallelujah!

The old fellow’s getting it in the neck and hitting back.

Heaven is leaning over the battlements and watching.

‘Will he stick with it?’

And as they see who is with us, as they see the unlimited reserves, the boundless resources, as they see the impossibility of failure, how disgusted and sad they must be when we run away.

Glory to God! We’re not going to run away.

We’re going to stand.”

Prayer

Prayer

The unnatural position used in crucifixion made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries—especially at the head and stomach—became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst; and all these physical complications caused an internal excitement and anxiety, which made the prospect of death itself—of death, the unknown enemy, at whose approach man usually shudders most—bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release.

Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file.

(Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).

Prayer

Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed.

Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith.

May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

On it’s surface, this is a curious turn of events.

Most of us understand that we should at some level, “be witnesses of Christ.”

Yet here, Jesus actually tells His disciples to say … nothing about Him.

The Preacher of Ecclesiastes wrote in that

A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Sometimes, the Lord does need to restrain us from what, in other times and situations, He needs to push us into.

Our zeal and passion can lead us in a direction that is actually contrary to the will of God, and, if we aren’t careful, can lead us to do that which might interfere with God’s Mission instead of advancing it.

Jesus knew that He was beginning to move towards that confrontation in Jerusalem that He would enter against sin that would require the shedding of His pure blood for victory.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

32 And he said this plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

The work that we are doing in the LCMS Office of National Mission and in the LCMS Indiana District is work that smart guys would counsel against.

I know that the smart guys, like the ones who run Gary’s Roman Catholic Diocese, think that it’s time to shut things down, to cut God’s losses so to speak, and to look for greener pastures, where there is money, upwardly mobile families, and quiet communities free from the scourge of poverty and violence.

The work that we are doing in the LCMS Indiana District is work that smart guys would counsel against.

I know that the smart guys think that it’s time to shut things down, to cut God’s losses so to speak, and to look for greener pastures, where there is money, upwardly mobile families, and quiet communities free from the scourge of poverty and violence.

People tend to shy away from that which increases stress, pain, or hardship.

Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan, and difficulty is his brother.

Even in ministry, it’s easier to get support for “successful” ministries that are large, financially stable, and well-spoken of in the community.

Church plants, mission work, and small congregations, by contrast, need to show that they “deserve” support from those who believe that they are being good stewards by managing their giving to places that promise a good “return on investment.”

Sunshine Soldiers and Sunday Saints don’t like ministries and missions that involve lots of prayer, lots of serving, and little gratification.

Jesus began preaching the Gospel with 12 men.

Later He sent 72 others on a “short-term mission project.”

By the morning of the Day of Pentecost, there were 150 people in a little room, hiding in fear, but who had not completely lost all hope, and there was one who had, reacting to his sense of failure by extinguishing any chance for redemption.

Over 2000 years later, Christianity is a defining aspect of Western culture, a major contributor to cultural and ethical formation, and yes, a message of a Kingdom that will never pass away, even though churches may close, ministries may seem to fail, and ministers suffer from burn-out, crises of confidence, and seeming failures to launch.

We have a message that is bigger than our individual contributions to the Mission of God, a promise that transcends our ability to direct or redirect resources to meet temporal needs.

Jesus began preaching the Gospel with 12 men.

Later He sent 72 others on a “short-term mission project.”

By the morning of the Day of Pentecost, there were 150 people in a little room, hiding in fear, but who had not completely lost all hope, and there was one who had, reacting to his sense of failure by extinguishing any chance for redemption.

God is in control of this mission - we are the Church of Jesus Christ.

You don’t answer to me, or to your pastor, to your DP, or to President Harrison, when it comes to how well you have run your race and fulfilled your course.

Our churches are not in competition, either with each other or with other congregations that name the name of Christ.

We aren’t even in competition with the Devil, since he is already twice-defeated.

These are truths that are not apparent to the natural man, the Old Adam, who operates according to what the Bible calls the wisdom of this age, and what I think many people refer to as “common sense.”

When someone tells me, during a church meeting, or when we are making a decision regarding ministry, that “you need to use common sense,” I have a sense of how Jesus felt at Caesarea Philippi as Peter opened his mouth and let Satan use it.

Common sense doesn’t show you the things that are given to us by God - the Holy Spirit has to do that.

[Concerning the Office of Preaching] [1] To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel and the sacraments.

[2] Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel.

[3] It teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe.

[4] Condemned are the Anabaptists and others who teach that we obtain the Holy Spirit without the external word of the gospel through our own preparation, thoughts, and works.

[V.

Concerning the Office of Preaching]

[1] To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel and the sacraments.

[2] Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel.

[3] It teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe.

[4] Condemned are the Anabaptists and others who teach that we obtain the Holy Spirit without the external49 word of the gospel through our own preparation, thoughts, and works.

Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 40.

The reason why you cannot hope to revitalize a community without a revival of the Church is because otherwise you are only doing a half job.

We do Gary IN, Miami FL, Ferguson MO, Brownsville TX, and other places a disservice when we think that politics, economics, and education can solve the problems brought on by a dead, sin-enslaved soul.

They play a part, but like the dry bones of , without the Gospel, there is no breath, no life in a community that lacks the pure proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the announcement that God’s love for you is demonstrated in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Repent and believe the Gospel.

Please turn with me to p. 323 of the Lutheran Service Book, and let us read together from Part II, Article III of the Small Catechism:

[5] The Third Article: On Being Made Holy56

I believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy Christian church, the community of the saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life.

Amen.

[6] What is this?

Answer:

I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my LORD or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.

Daily in this Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins—mine and those of all believers.

On the Last Day the Holy Spirit will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in Christ eternal life.

This is most certainly true.

Mission Field: USA

Thank you for supporting the ministry that the Lord has given us to do in Gary and the Indiana District.

Your support in the form of time, talent, treasure and prayer is not only appreciated, it is received with thanksgiving as we pray for the continued fruitfulness of Faith Lutheran Church of Lake Forest, IL. and our other partners and friends in ministry.

In return, I am committed to preaching the pure Gospel, engaging in Witness - Mercy - Life Together with your brothers and sisters in Northwest Indiana, and speaking God’s message of the His Kingdom to those who only want to build up their own.

Here I stand, God help me.

Thank you, and God bless you, for standing with me.

And may the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.