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

After sermon is written, ask these three questions to edit

Greet everyone (be in front of the pulpit)

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? IntroductionGreet everyone (be in front of the pulpit)Attention (Why should they listen to you?)What is the Hearer’s problem?

What is the Biblical Solution?

What do the hearers need to know?

Main Textual Idea:Main Sermon Idea: Interrogative:Transition: Body (Satisfaction)Division 1 Statement: Explanation - Illustration - Argumentation - Application - Review - Division 2 Statement: Explanation - Illustration - Argumentation - Application - Review - Division 3 Statement: Explanation - Illustration - Argumentation - Application - Review - Division 4 Statement: Explanation - Illustration - Argumentation - Application - Review - Division 5 Statement: Explanation - Illustration - Argumentation - Application - Review - Conclusion (Visualization)ReiterationAction

Invitation

Connection Group Questions / Reflection Questions

Just before Angie and I had Alex, our firstborn daughter, some dear friends of ours went into the hospital to deliver their firstborn daughter...

Nine months of promise only to deliver forth death!

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Three years of promise after promise from this man called Jesus.

Was He truly the Messiah they had longed for?

Would He be the one to finally deliver them from the oppression of Rome?

They hung on his words.

They believed his promises.

They trusted that He was who he claimed to be.

Only to see him arrested, mocked, beaten beyond recognition, hung on a cruel, criminal, cross left to die like an animal.

Three years of promise only to deliver forth death!

Did Jesus fail?

Did he not keep his promises?

Sometimes we only hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see!

That was the disciples’ problem and that is our problem today!

There is an old saying that goes like this, “It is always darkest before the dawn.”

Sometimes the circumstances we face can seem so dark and so bleak that we begin to believe that God has forgotten us and abandoned us.

That everything we have been taught about our God is just a farce and a bunch of foolishness.

Life’s challenges, whatever they are, are simply too much for me to handle and that God doesn’t really care all that much.

You need to know that “It is always darkest before the dawn.”

You need to know that no matter what you are facing, if you are Christ’s, He WILL deliver on His promises.

He will deliver you!!!

In our text this morning we see a rather hopeless situation.

Jesus has been crucified and He is hanging, lifeless on a Roman cross.

The Sabbath is fast approaching and something needed to be done.

Most all the disciples ran away and are hiding for their own lives.

But God had a plan...

Driven by compassion, two fearful guys muster up the strength and courage to properly care for the dead body of Jesus.

This was not done in faith for their dreams had just died on a Roman cross.

And I can hear these two men say...

Main Idea: Our Dreams are Dead and Sealed in a Tomb!

Now What?

Interrogative: What do we do when our dreams die right in front of us?

Transition: There are three ways we see a dream die in this passage and the first is...

1.

Our Dreams of Strength are Reduced to Weakness (vs.

38)

Our story starts off with a man by the name of Joseph.

And Joseph, dreamed of the day when the Messiah would come and reestablish the Kingdom of David just like the Old Testament promised.

And if there was anyone who met the qualifications to be Messiah, Jesus was it!

He fed the hungry, healed the lame, gave sight to the blind, gave hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, and even raised people from the dead!

But now?

The dead raiser was dead as could be!

We really don’t know that much about Joseph other than a few things that the Scriptures tell us...

He was from Arimathea - “…Arimathea, perhaps twenty-five miles away in the hill country of Ephraim.”

(Pentecost pg.

491)

Explanation -

He was part of the Sanhedrin - “a respected member of the council” ()

“…Arimathea, perhaps twenty-five miles away in the hill country of Ephraim.”

(Pentecost pg.

491)

He was wealthy - “When it was evening, the came a rich man from Arimathea...” ()

I want you, as best you are able, to put yourself into this story and see if you might be able to feel, even on a small scale, the hopelessness of this man, Joseph of Arimathea.

He was a disciple of Jesus - “…named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.”

()

He feared the Jewish leadership - “...but secretly for fear of the Jews...” ()

Remember, Joseph had reason to fear.

They could and would cast him out of the synagogue!

Joseph’s courageous public action in going to Pilate and securing Jesus’ body for burial is therefore exemplary and indicates that he has moved out of the category of covert follower and is willing to put devotion to Jesus before consideration of human honour or prestige (cf.

12:43).

Andrew T. Lincoln, The Gospel according to Saint John, Black’s New Testament Commentary (London: Continuum, 2005), 484.

He didn’t consent to kill Jesus - “who had not consented to their decision and action...” ()

He was looking for the Kingdom of God - “and he was looking for the kingdom of God.” ()

He was becoming bold - “…took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.”

()

And while this doesn’t give us a complete picture of this man, there is something about Joseph of Arimathea that I believe we can all agree on.

He was broken hearted!

I want you to put yourself into this story and see if you might be able to feel, even on a small scale, the hopelessness of this man, Joseph of Arimathea.

John

He was a disciple of Jesus who was “waiting for the Kingdom of God”

He boldly went before Pilate, taking his life into his own hands and asked for the body of Jesus.

He risked his own reputation by procuring the body of Jesus no doubt alienating himself from His contemporaries.

After all, Jesus was crucified under the charge of sedition.

Why do you think Pilate gave in so easily to his request?

First, Joseph was a respected member of the council...

Because of His position on the council, Joseph of Arimathea was granted his request by Pilate.

He gave Him Jesus’ body!

Second, Pilate didn’t think Jesus was guilty in the first place...

Even though in the past he was a secret disciple of Jesus, He, unlike the rest of the Apostles, stepped up and stayed to care for the body of Jesus.

Think about this.

God providentially used Joseph to give Jesus’ body a proper burial.

What would they have done with the body of the Lord without Joesph’s intervention?

For the Romans the normal process with someone hanging on a cross was to be left to be eaten by birds and simply decompose.

They didn’t care...

The Jews on the other hand, would be concerned about following the Law which said...

Deut