Sermon Tone Analysis

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Anger
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Portrait Of A Fruitful Believer
*Text: Colossians 1:9-12*
*Introduction:*
Imagine if you will, two paintings.
Both are of apple trees, but they are drastically different.
One is scraggly, spindly apple tree with only a few small apples clinging to its drooping branches.
Its leaves are tinged with a sickly yellow hue, and its bark is chipped and missing in some places to show the grayed and weathered wood underneath.
The other tree bears a rich green canopy of dark earthy green leaves.
Bright red plump apples are scattered across the branches in abundance.
The tree looks vitally alive with the promise of a rich harvest.
Get both trees fixed in your mind.
Now answer these questions.
Which tree would you rather be?
Which tree do you think is fulfilling the purpose that it was created for?
God has a purpose in mind for every Christian.
Each Christian is called to be fruitful for the kingdom of God.
We can bring joy to both God and ourselves if we become fruitful believers.
Just as we imagined the fruitful apple tree, Paul speaks to us in this passage to paint a portrait of a fruitful believe.
First, he paints a picture of:
*I.
A Fruitful Believers Filling.*
(v.
9)
*A.
Real Knowledge*
- The more I know, the more I know I don’t know.
***Two men were in a hot-air balloon and were lost.
They spotted a man on the ground so they descended within shouting distance hoping he could give them some direction.
One man leaned over the edge of the basket and shouted: "Could you please tell us where we are?"
The man said "Yes, you are in a balloon about fifty feet in the air."
The man in the balloon said to his partner, "Let's ask someone who isn't a CPA."
His friend said, "How do you know he's a CPA?"
He said, "Because he gave us completely accurate information which was of absolutely no value to us!"
   --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 106.
***   Rossini was once presented with a watch by the King of France -- of which he was justly proud.
Several years after, showing it to a friend, he was told that though he had possessed it so long, he did not know its real value.
\\    "Impossible," said Rossini, whereupon the friend, taking the watch, touched a secret spring, at which an inner case flew open, disclosing a beautiful miniature painting of Rossini himself.
This is characteristic of a certain type of modern Christianity.
It values its ethics and is acquainted with and appreciates much of its teaching, but it has not discovered the inner secret which gives it its supreme value.
The portrait of Christ is still hidden.
When the secret spring is touched and the Face of Christ is recognized, the whole attitude of mind and theory of values is changed.
It is characteristic also of much avowed discipleship.
"Have I been so long a time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip?" said Christ to one who called himself a disciple and an intimate.
See:  John 14:9; Phil 3:10
 
*B.
Spiritual Wisdom*
***A missionary who was upset by a quarrel between two believers got down on his knees before God in prayer.
He pleaded with the Lord to intervene or to give him special wisdom to handle the situation.
As he interceded, he became aware of wrong feelings within his own heart and sensed that he was becoming bitter, almost hateful, toward the troublemakers.
Therefore he began confessing his sins and asked the Lord to change his own attitude.
The problem was still there when he rose from his knees, but he was a different man.
His anger and hostility were gone, and he felt a new love for his fellow believers.
See:  Gal 6:1; Eph 4:31; Phil 4:2-3; James 1:5
*C.
understanding *
***it has been suggested that the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the Kingdom like children through the market place, chattering about everything, but pausing to learn the true value of nothing?
-- The Divine Conquest 
See:  1 Kings 3:11-12; Prov 1:7; Rom 11:33
*D.
A reference to vv.3-8* (increase of the gospel)
* *
*II.
A Fruitful Believers Walk.*  (V.
10)
*A.
A worthy walk*
- We must live a life that is worthy of the one who purchased our life for us.
\\ ***A missionary in India was once teaching the Bible to a group of Hindu ladies.
Halfway through the lesson, one of the women got up and walked out.
A short time later, she came back and listened more intently than ever.
At the close of the hour the leader inquired, "Why did you leave the meeting?
Weren't you interested?" "O yes," the Hindu lady replied.
"I was so impressed with what you had to say about Christ that I went out to ask your driver whether you really lived the way you talked.
When he said you did, I hurried back so I wouldn't miss out on anything."
See:  Rom 2:21-23; Jam 3:1
*B.
A pleasing walk*
- Paul’s picture of a fruitful believer’s walk is one that pleases God.
What a peace and assurance we have when we know our lives are lived in such a way as to please God. 
- Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you may excel still more.
(1 Th 4:1 NASB)
- By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.    (Heb 11:5 NASB)
*C.
A productive walk*
***There are a lot of Christians who are doing nothing.
But there are no Christians who have nothing to do.
We will all be responsible for what we have and haven’t done for the kingdom.
- Parable of the talents
*D.
A growing walk*
- Unfortunately some believers try to get by with the status quo, or some keep going over the same ground again and again.
***In his book Folk Psalms of Faith, Ray Stedman tells a story of a woman who had been a school teacher for 25 years.
When she heard about a job that would mean a promotion, she applied for the position.
However, someone who had been teaching for only one year was hired instead.
She went to the principal and asked why.
The principal responded, "I'm sorry, but you haven't had 25 years of experience as you claim; you've had only one year's experience 25 times."
During that whole time the teacher had not improved.
See:  2 Pet 1:5-8
- If we are to be counted among the productive in God’s kingdom, we have to keep growing, to keep climbing in our faith.
\\ ***   High in the Alps is a monument raised in honor of a faithful guide who perished while ascending a peak to rescue a stranded tourist.
Inscribed on that memorial stone are these words: HE DIED CLIMBING.
A maturing, growing Christian should have the same kind of attitude, right up to the end of life.
See:  Eph 4:15; Phil 3:12-14; 2 Tim 4:6-7
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