Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

I love this time of the year… Christmas music… Christmas movies… the food at Christmas is even different.

I think the thing that seems to capture the emotions of the Christmas seas is the feeling of “Home for the Holidays.

People go to great lengths to get home for the holidays.

What is it about being home for the Holidays?

When home is working right ( granted, many did not grow in homes that worked right), it’s a place of warmth… security … acceptance … comfort … understanding … empathy … forgiveness … laughter and making of memories.

Home is where we belong.

Those same feelings… words can be used to describe the relationship we have with Jesus.

IOW, Jesus has been where we find hope, encouragement, forgiveness, acceptance, understanding, empathy, security… It is saying that with God is where we belong.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you know that to be true.

But then God takes it a step further.

He says, now that you are my follower, I have a purpose for you… I have a mission for you.

Once you have found YOUR home in Christ, you need to point the way for others who are still seeking it.

IOW, God is saying, that now that you are home, I need you to go out and point others who are still wandering around lost toward me.

Listen to Jeremiah…

There are people in our neighborhoods and in our offices and in our worksites and in our schools and even in our families who are wandering aimlessly through life without hope, without direction, without purpose, without meaning, without God, without His forgiveness, without His grace, without the security of knowing that they have an eternal home in heaven some day.

God is saying that he has a plan for you and I to fulfill and it’s this…

God wants you to live a maximum impact life by pointing people toward their home in Christ.

Nothing is more important… eternity is in the balance.

That’s why Jesus said...

Here’s what will happen.

First, a lot of people who are wandering around lost will find their home in Jesus Christ.

But another impact is this.

It will fan the flames of your spiritual growth because you are intentionally looking for opportunities to point people to Christ.

When we live life with this purpose, our prayer life will be rich, alive and fervent.

Why?

Because you are always asking God for the words to say to people you come into contact with throughout the day.

And guess what, he will give you the words.

This makes your worship more meaningful because you are worshipping the God of second chances.

And even though you have lost people – spiritually lost and confused and wandering people who you love, you know that God loves them more.

And He wants to bring them to heaven.

And your worship of that God takes on a new dimension.

Your personal bible Study takes on newness.

why?

Because you are not just looking for theological ideas, but for answers that might a friend on his journey home.

Your dependance on God will be at it’s greatest because you know that apart from the power of God, no life is ever changed.

We can’t force anyone into the kingdom, but God can and will use us if we are dependent on him.

So if you’ve been living sort of a dry Christian life – if it’s been boring, if it’s been plain vanilla.

It may be that you’ve found home in Christ but then you’ve locked the door and gotten into your La-Z-Boy chair and put it back and you’ve kind of lost sight of those people who are out wandering, out in the cold looking for home.

God says that’s not the way the Christian life is supposed to be lived.

That’s a formula for frustration and dying spiritually.

God says get out of the La-Z-boy and go out into the world of people you know and point them towards home.

You might say, Are you looking for home?

Are you looking for hope?

Are you looking for encouragement?

Are you looking for security?

Are you looking for eternal life?

There is a place where you can go.

There is God who you can know who can change your life and change your eternity.

God wants to see people come home to him, but he also wants you to experience the jubilation that you will experience when you help someone come to faith in Jesus… to find home.

How to Live God’s Extraordinary Plan

Bill was an average guy who worked as a financial consultant.

He wasn’t rich nor did he live in a fancy neighborhood.

He lived in a modest house with a fence, was married with a family… went to church, but he was grateful for what God had done in his life.

At Bills funeral, people lined up at the Mic’s to share how Bill helped them find their way Home to Christ.

It was a great example of how God uses ordinary people like Bill, ;like you or me, to do extraordinary things.

1. Have a tenacious love for people who are far from God.

One day in Chicago, Bill was walking to lunch and a homeless guy named Robert comes up asking for food.

Bill takes him to lunch and invites him out to his house for July 4th.

He’s a no-show so Bill goes looking for him and finds him in a mess.

Cleans him up and brings him home for a few days.

Robert accepts Jesus… timing was great because a few days later, Robert died.

He is in heaven because Bill had a tenacious love for people far from God.

Bill’s friend John went through a midlife crisis, quit his job and divorced his wife and moved away.

After a while, he moved back to Chicago where Bill got hold of him.

He would show up and ask him to attend church with him, and when he did, he asked him to go to a BS with him, and then because of that, he came to faith in Jesus.

Bill then connected with John’s kids and within 6 months they came to faith in Christ.

Their relationship with their dad… John was restored and they were all Baptized together.

God’s Love is like that.

It comes after us and pursues us.

God doesn’t give up.

Sometimes I feel like giving up… maybe you have felt that way too.

You look at someone and think, they are too far from Jesus and you quit trying… quit praying.

Application: Beware of developing an us vs. them mentality.

Listen, God has put you were you are… (work, school, playground, hobbies) for a reason.

There are people there who are wandering from God.

They are lost and they need someone (you) to point them home to Christ.

These people are not your enemy, they are your mission.

Satan is your enemy.

God has placed you where you can have maximum impact.

These folks are wandering from God and they need someone to point them home.

Who have you written off?

When we do that, we make the choice for them and that’s a wrong and dangerous thing to do.

I don’t mean we need to become obnoxious or pushy.

I am saying that we can pray for them, be kind to them and look for opportunities, especially around Christmas season to gently point them towards Jesus… home.

Maybe you can invite them to a family function, or to church or to a group… Be praying for them.

2. Meet People’s practical needs in the name of Jesus.

Mary was married for 18 years when one day her husband up and left her and the kids.,

She felt hopeless, depressed, alone and scared.

She needed money just to get by and worried she would not make it.

Bill and Millie invited her to church where she heard that God said he would be a husband to those who lost their husbands.

They took her to lunch and encouraged her.

Then he shook her hand and walked away.

Mary looked in her hand and there were two 100 dollar bills.

Words are great.

They can comfort and counsel, but when you back up those words with a tangible expression of that love, that’s powerful.

Jesus didn’t just say to the world that he loved them, he proved it.

He fed 5,000.

He healed the sick.

He raised the dead.