Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray for Provision

We are to trust God with our physical sustenance daily.

How much should we ask for?

Two things I asked of You,

Do not refuse me before I die:

8 Keep deception and lies far from me,

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

Feed me with the food that is my portion,

9 That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”

Or that I not be in want and steal,

And profane the name of my God

Ask God for Physical Provision

Don’t ask for too much

We are not to ask God for too much.

How much is too much?

It is when we receive the blessing of the Lord and become dependent on it rather than the Lord.

When we have so much materially that we are not dependent on the Lord, but think we can sustain ourselves with what we have.

When we get to the point where we have so much that we forget who gave us what we have, we have too much.

Jesus gives an example in the following parable:

And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive.

17 And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’

18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 But God said to him, ‘You fool!

This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

This rich man had forgotten God and was going to take ease, drink, and be merry.

He had so much stuff that his stuff had him.

He did not realize that the Lord was going to take his life.

Friend, when we have too much that we shut God out of our life and pursue pleasure and materialism we have too much.

If your motto is “he who dies with the most toys wins” you have too much.

Don’t Ask to Be Impoverished

There is a poverty doctrine that makes poverty spiritual.

It says that we are to be poor so that we will remain humble.

Perhaps you have heard it said of the pastor search committee , “ You keep yourself humble and we will keep you poor!” God never calls us to a life of poverty.

He calls us to a life of contentment.

6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

We are to ask God to provide for our necessities.

When He provides, we are to be grateful.

If we ask God to be impoverished our temptation will be to steal and profane the name of God.

It is not wrong to ask God for an honest job with an honest wage.

When a person works hard, they should be compensated in a way that is honoring to the Lord.

18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.

19 Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.

20 For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

The balance in what provision should be is measured by what we are grateful for.

I have heard it said, “What if you could only keep tomorrow what you thank God for today?”

Ask God for Spiritual Provision

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the [m]saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Ask God for Spiritual Strength.

We are in a spiritual battle every day.

We are fighting a battle against a world system that rejects God.

We are fighting Satan that hates God.

We are fighting our own temptations that disgrace God.

We are in a spiritual battle.

Ask God for the Measure of Faith to Love Christ Daily

The greatest detriment to a christian is his waning love for Jesus.

There are a lot of things that are competing for our primary love.

They can be human relationships, our jobs, money, worldly success, ect… Christ should be our first love.

The Church at Ephesus lost its first love:

2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and [b]perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;3 and you have [c]perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

4 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the [d]deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Everything we do should run through the filter of our love for Christ.

Ask God for the fullness of God

Our fulfillment should come in the in knowing the Lord.

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Pray for Forgiveness.

Forgiveness starts with repentance.

Repentance is simply agreeing with God that your actions, or thoughts, or attitudes violated God’s Word and you want to change.

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

You turn from your sin and turn to Christ.

The first thing you do is to confess your sin.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

:9

The second thing you do is receive forgiveness.

15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

Many people believe that Jesus wants to condemn them for their sins, so they wont come to Him for forgiveness.

Christ died on the cross for sins.

He wants to forgive us and not condemn us.

The only way He will condemn us is if we reject His forgiveness.

Some may say, “If I confess my sins, then there will be hell to pay.”

There is nothing further from the truth.

Actually it is right the opposite, “If you don’t confess, there will be hell to pay.”

Forgiveness leads to forgiving others.

When we are forgiven so much by Jesus, it doesn’t make sense that we should not forgive others.

This is easier said than done.

However the Bible is clear that when we don’t forgive others, then God will not forgive us.

This is because when we fail to forgive we are sinning, so God will not forgive us.

SO how do we forgive someone that has hurt us so deeply that we find it hard to forgive.

There is only one thing you can do.

That is to ask the Lord to give you the forgiveness you need to give to the person that has hurt you.

Forgiveness is not forgetfulness.

Forgiveness is relinquishing any punitive actions that you have towards a person for an offense.

This means you no longer bring it up or use it against them.

Ask God for Guidance

Matthew 6

Specifically here Jesus is instructing us to seek ways to avoid sin and walk paths of righteousness.