Sermon Tone Analysis

I am going to start today message by telling you my goals…what I want for you.

And specifically for you depending on your relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is what I have prayed for you.

If you are saved.

If you are sitting here as one who lives for Christ because Chrsit lived and died and was raised and reigns for you…if you have given your life to the one who gave His....I want to give you a tool…I want to sharpen your sword.

My hope for you is that you would see the glory and awesomeness of this promise of God to you and to us the church.

And more specifically that you would begin to see how this verse is like a key that unlocks the perseverance power and the joy production…of many other other verses and because of that…I hope you memorize this verse and use it for your perseverance and for the increasing of your joy…in Christ…and it becomes a powerful part of your life…the life of our church.

If you are not saved.

If you have not repented of your sin and put your faith in Jesus as your Savior…if you are not following him and trusting him and obeying and glorifying Him with your life and him as your Lord.

I am literally praying that you see what you are missing out on.

That you see the greatest treasure of the universe is Jesus Christ and truly knowing Him and loving Him and living for Him is worth it…today…and will impact your eternity...and not only worth it and eternal...but glorious and that not living for Him is foolish.

I pray you see the gospel in this message, in the body of this church, and in the baptisms we will be doing after worship today.

That as those being baptised come out of the water…you see in them and for them...the hope of this promise…which is true for them…and guaranteed by the gospel…and therefore worthy of celebration and joy.

And if you are being baptised today…I hope this promise for you increases your joy in this day and from this day forward…

If today you see something or hear something that calls you to come to Jesus…to change…to repent and be saved…if you see your need for Christ and want to be saved…please talk to me immediately after this.

So with that let’s start.

On Easter we, the church, started worshiping here in the Fall Creek Public School auditorium.

The teaching plan was to start by celebrating Easter together by showing how all of the promises of God have found their yes in Jesus!

And then walk through a sermon series asking the question…acoording to God’s Word…What is the church…or more precisely....who is the church?

So we slowly studied the fundamentals of the church.

The clear and undeniable truths about who the Church is and how we are to live as the Body of Christ.

It is now the end of August and we have finished that series of sermons.

In our time together we have seen from God’s Word how the church is this people that are radically devoted....devoted to God...and fully and completely devoted to one another.

How God’s people as the local church are united...love…we are called to be as united as Jesus is with the Father…and when we are of one heart, one mind, united in love and faith and belief with one another…united because of the Love of Christ for us and the truth of His Word...that kind of love, Jesus says...is what will cause people to believe the gospel we speak…to truly believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

We then saw that the Church has been given a mission by Jesus…to make disciples of all nations, baptising them, and then teaching them and each other to obey everything Jesus commanded.

And we do this because Jesus is everything to us...the church...and it is the mission he has given us...

We live this way by the power of the Holy Spirit in us and because we live by and believe every word of God’s Word...the Bible.

We also talked about how the church prepares it's youth to live for Jesus and how the church is a people who have been saved by the Gospel and entrusted with the Gospel…the power of God for salvation...

We learned that the church sacrificially gives and serves...because we have a great passion for the salvation of souls.

And then over the last month we have looked at how the church worships God in spirit and truth and is a people that is dependent on prayer…we pray desperately and believe that our God answers our prayers and we pray big because our God is an awesome and powerful God.

And we do all of these things in our joy and for our joy…because true and everlasting joy…the happiness we all are searching for...can only be found in Jesus…the sourse of joy…the reason for joy.

The one who went to the cross…for joy.

So we, the church, give Jesus our whole lives and live for his glory.

Then over the last two weeks we ended the series by diving into church leadership and how the church is led by spirit filled followers of Christ…a plurality of elders...then last week we talked about the beauty and the power and the privileged and the mystery of baptism and communion.

This week will culminate that series of messages and in a way return to where we started…on Easter.

The hope and promise of the cross and resurrection.

Why?

Because of what I just said and all that we believe and everything I stand before you by the Spirit of God and preach…and all that we who love Jesus live for is not true and we are fools and liars...if Jesus is not alive.

If Christ is not raised the way we who live for him are foolish…and our faith is pointless.

Or as Paul said in 1 Cor 15.

and

If Christ is not resurrected.

If he is not right now reigning as the the living Lord of the universe in complete control of all things…then Revival Church is a bunch of weirdos who love one another and live life together and give and serve and pray and cry and laugh and dunk people in water who say they are living for Jesus…a dead man.

But I began by saying that one of my aims is to convince those who are not saved and living for Christ that their life is foolish…why can I say that?

How can I be so sure?

Because in FACT…in FACT...

God became a man…to live the perfect life we could not live…and then died the brutal death we all deserve…and in victory....the greatest and craziest and most miraculous news in the history of the universe…the very poin of the univesre…the gospel is this...

In power Christ was raised…resurrected…from death to life...

He was really dead…brutally dead…and then 3 days later He was alive…gloriously and powerfully and beautifully alive...

And therefore...He is alive.

Right now.

Therefore we who are saved…those of us that have repented of our sin…stopped living for self…and have put our faith in Jesus alone to save us...his church.

The born-again spirit filled believers and followers of Jesus…we will also one day be resurrected...

He has put sin to death…and empowered us by His Spirit to put sin to death.

He has put death to death…and the same Spirit that raised Chrsit from the dead…is in us…those whom He he came to save.

And in victory we will one day be part of him finally and decisively putting death to death by crushing the enemy...Satan.

The enemy.

And as His body the church we know...

And since this is true…since this is a fact…since this is not only true but the truth…the truth that is the foundation of all other truth...

On Easter we saw that this is also true.

All of the promises of God find their yes in Jesus.

He is the answer to everything because He is everything.

And therefore if you are in Christ…part of His church…the body of Christ…then

All of those promises are yes in Him for you…for us.

And if you are not…the promises are not for you.

And here is what is at stake...

Because Jesus is alive....because

He is the King of kings...

Church…Romans 8:28-32 is Yes for us...in Jesus!

This morning we are going to look the promise of all promises...

I believe this is the churches most victorious and most awesome promise.

Romans 8 32 is one you should memorize and preach to yourself daily…in all situations…good or bad…in celebration and in tears…this victorious and glorious promise…if true for you…will radically re-shape the way you see everything.

Open your Bibles to Romans 8.

I will be reading 8:28 to 32 this morning...then we will focus on...Romans 8:32.

The Word of God to us the church this morning...

If you are in Christ…let God’s Word powerfully renew and conform your heart and mind in Christ Jesus...

If you are not…or you are in a place where you have not been all in walking in faith…let these promises call you home back to the Father this morning...or for some…may God shine the light of the glory of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ in you your heart…even right now this morning...

Let me read Romans 8:32 again...

Romans 8:32 when it settles deeply into your heart…and implants it self deeply in your mind...is breathtaking.

It combines God’s most massive promises for his people with the reality of the gospel.

Paul takes God’s most far-reaching, hope-giving, life-changing, fear-crushing, joy-producing promises and grounds them...supports them…connects them...with the truth of all truths...central message…the truth that we often take for granted.

Here’s how it works…here is how it fuels and empowers the radical life we have been called to.

First, Paul says: “[God] did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all...”

God gave his Son for us who are saved…when we were rebels.

That is good news—the central truth of Christianity.

This is what we hear and believe to be saved, and this is what we keep believing to stay saved.

Then Paul explodes this truth of the gospel to empower us to believe all of God’s promises in all situations and to trust God for all things...

If God loves us enough to do the hard thing“...how will he not, also with him, graciously give us all things?”

It’s a rhetorical question—what Paul means is that God will definitely give us all things for our good.

No question or doubt...

Not only will he supply all our needs, but the same God who gave His Son for us...will also bring into our lives anything and everything that is for our deepest joy and most eternal good.

Let me ask you a question…what are peoples two biggest fears?

If you take all of the fears people have…which two rise to the top.

If you really in the bottom of your soul…especially those who are not saved or before you were saved…and ask what are humans two biggest fears?

Or the hardest things to deal with or talk about?

Your own death.

The death of a child.

Now think of what happened on the Cross…God did both for us.

If you truly beliieve that God as a man came and paid the penalty for your sin…if we truly believe the gospel?

Then we are also free to believe—truly believe—that God will work all things for our good.