Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What do my hearers NEED to know?

What is NICE for them to know?

Where CAN they go (if they would like to know more)?

Keep it at 45min which is 3000 words (Murder the Darlings)

What is the “Elevator Speech”?

Make sure you have a compelling hook!

Why should they listen to you?

Introduction

Greet everyone (be in front of the pulpit)

Attention (Why should they listen to you?)

“For Some Gang Members In El Salvador, The Evangelical Church Offers A Way Out”

There are three ways out of a gang in El Salvador...

Death

Leave El Salvador

Join an evangelical church - But if you don’t follow-thru with your commitment, your old gang will kill you.

So God uses ungodly gang members to make sure people are growing in Christ!

What is the hearer’s problem?

So many people think they need to be the Apostle Paul or Billy Graham or someone super spiritual to be used of God! NOPE!!

What is the biblical solution?

What do the hearers need to know -

Bridging Sentences

God can use whomever He wants, whenever He wants, However He want to accomplish His grand and glorious plans.

Subject:

And God wants to use you!!!

Main Textual Idea:

Modifier:

Main Textual Idea:

And I can prove it from the narrative found in John 19:16-27!

This is John’s perspective of the crucifixion.

As Jesus’ life comes to a close, John shows three important parts to the glorious narrative that prove conclusivly that God and and does use anyone to accomplish His will...

Yes, God can use you!

Main Sermon Idea: God Uses Unlikely People to Accomplish His Plan!

Do you want some examples?

Well, I have three...

Body (Satisfaction)

1. God Can Use a Pagan Governor to Witness to Thousands!

(vs.

16b-22)

John 19:16

Explanation -

The day has come.

The trials are done and the miscarriage of justice is well on it’s way to the death of an innocent man.

And so the soldiers came and took Jesus and forced Him, after the great scourging He endured, to carry His own cross.

They crucified him on the mount called “Skull” - Golgotha (Aramaic), Calvary (from Latin).

Explanation -

Now, what do you notice about this depiction of the crucifixion?

The surprising LACK of information!

Now, what do you notice about this depiction of the crucifixion?

The surprising LACK of information!

After all the time we have spent working up to the cross, we finally arrive in John’s account in what is one of the most significant events in human history.

All the way back to the first book of the Bible predicts it in .

The Pentateuch preached it.

The Psalms sang about it.

The Prophets predicted it!

The Old Testament Points to the Cross of the Christ!

And John only gives three verses to describe this pivotal point in Human history!

Why?

A couple of reasons.

First, it is because John is a supplemental gospel...

Second, it is because John has something else to focus on.

He is going to spend some time tying up loose ends in the crucifixion story and instead of Focusing on the Christ, He is choosing to focus on three types of unlikely people that God is choosing to use for His glorious plan!

And the first person is the very unlikely Roman Prefect (governor) Pontius Pilate...

And this vignette is absolutely beautiful because of it’s intrigue and sweet irony.

Take a look and the text with me...

16-

Pilate, if you remember from the last few weeks, was in a precarious position.

If there was one more significant uprising with the Jews under his leadership, Tiberius Caesar would likely fire him from his position and have him killed.

The Chief priests knew this very well and played it to their advantage so they could use Pilate to get Jesus killed.

And that is exactly what happened.

Pilate needed to perform any capital punishment and so, because of the tremendous pressure from the Sanhedrin along with the crowds shouting for the death of Jesus, he capitulated and performed the crucifixion against his own better judgment.

So the dastardly deed was now done.

Jesus was crucified.

Pilate gave them all that they asked for and I believe was tormented by the decision.

After all, he was convinced that Jesus was innocent.

He said it over and over again.

The practical lesson which all true Christians should gather from the fact before us, is one that should be kept in continual remembrance.

Like our Master, we must be content to go forth “without the camp,” bearing His reproach.

We must come out from the world and be separate, and be willing, if need be, to stand alone.

Like our Master, we must be willing to take up our cross daily, and to be persecuted both for our doctrine and our practice.

Well would it be for the Church if there was more of the true cross to be seen among Christians!

To wear material crosses as an ornament, to place material crosses on churches and tombs, all this is cheap and easy work, and entails no trouble.

But to have Christ’s cross in our hearts, to carry Christ’s cross in our daily walk, to know the fellowship of His sufferings, to be made conformable to His death, to have crucified affections, and live crucified lives,—all this needs self-denial; and Christians of this stamp are few and far between.

Yet, this, we may be sure, is the only cross-bearing and cross-carrying that does good in the world.

The times require less of the cross outwardly and more of the cross within.

And it was he that sentenced this innocent man to death.

Why?

To save himself.

To save his job and to save his own life...

And it was he that sentenced this innocent man to death.

Why?

To save himself.

To save his job and to save his own life...

And what I believe to be a jab at the chief priests and scribes that forced his hand to kill Jesus, he had a sign written that said, “Jesus of Nazareth, THE KING OF THE JEWS”.

Folks, this was out of spite

It a stinging poke in their eye!

The Jewish leadership was appalled at this public declaration!

In three separate languages, no less.

Aramaic - the language of the surrounding area

Latin - the language of the Romans (the occupying force) The legal language.

Greek - the language of the land thanks to Alexander the Great