Sermon Tone Analysis

Great is thy faithfulness.

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

“Great is Thy faithfulness!”

“Great is Thy faithfulness!”

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

2

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Illustration: What are our basic needs?

3

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

!Illustration: What are our basic needs?

Our most basic needs are food and water.

The human body can survive about three weeks without food but only three to four days without water.

Do you think God is concerned with this?

Of Course he is.

I love this part of the Lord’s prayer.

In fact, this part in the next portion is often why people suggest that this prayer be more aptly named The Disciples prayer.

What is interesting here ,is that the prayer take somewhat of a turn.

Think of what we have went through up unto this point.

So far there has been an acknowledgment of who God is, where he is, and what he deserves for who he is.

there has been a surrendering of our will to His will.

There has been an acknowledgement that what He has in store for us is infinitely better than what we currently are experiencing here and yet, we should be striving to live as faithful servants and stewards on this earth to be living in light of his kingship here on the earth.

Now, we turn to our most basic needs.

Give us this day our daily bread.

This portion of the prayer teaches us a few things.

We need God.

We can’t guarantee a thing in the world.

We think we can.

We even have things set in place for tragedies, but bear in mind, that apart from the gracious and providential hand of God, we are hopeless.

This mindset should permeate our prayer.

We think that because we have rarely or if ever missed a meal that we don’t need this part, but we are dependent upon God.

This humbles us and it causes us to rethink our mindset with regard to how we interact and engage God in prayer.

This should transform our prayer before meals.

At times it can be a passing notion, or a quick Thanks, but we need to realize that apart from God we don’t have it.

Illustration: Growing Up, I rarely thanked my earthly Father for the food that he and my mom worked for to put on my table.

it was expected.

Jesus reminds us here the necessity of acknowledging Him for all things.

God is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.

John Macarthur wrote this:

“It thrills me to know that God, the God who is the God of infinite celestial epochs, God who is the God of space, God who is the God beyond time, the God of eternity, God who is the infinitely holy God of the universe who holds all the whirling worlds, and the spinning stars in the palm of His hand.

That same God cares that my physical needs are met.

That same God is concerned with the fact that I have a meal to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to rest.

It thrills me that that God, that infinite eternal God, has come to earth in terms of His caring love, and is concerned that the needs of my life in a physical way, and your life, be met.

And He even sets certain conditions for them being met.”

What an amazing thing it is to be taken care of by the God who spoke everything into existence.

He is concerned about us.

He desires that we be fed.

We should desire this.

This isn’t asking God for riches.

We should be echoing the words of Solomon:

Lord give me what I need.

Lord, don’t give

and he desires to do just that.

We trust Him, but we also need to acknowledge who he is and that he provides everything we need and have.

1 timothy

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?

And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 “So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), .