Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: I want the best.

If I go to a restaurant I want the best dish.

When I dress to go out I want to look my best.

When I do something I want to do my best.

None of us live to be our worst.

This attitude carries over into my walk with the Lord.

I want to have the best in my relationship with God.

I want God’s best blessings.

I want the my best life.

The problem is that despite what Oprah says about achieving your best life, my efforts are...well, my efforts.

I don’t have the wisdom and power that God has.

So the challenge is getting God to give me His best.

Here there is good news: Romans 8:28

This is not a promise that everything in my life will be the best from my point of view, that is obvious, because there are many things in my life that are not the best.

But it is a promise that everything will work toward the best as God uses it in my life.

But what do I need to do?

How do I get this “good” for my life?

Is it something that I, through my efforts, need to get?

Is it even something that I, through my own efforts, can get?

Romans 4:13-15 while not written to give us these answers specifically, does give us a clear answer.

The principle of location in faith:

(pictures of a great divide that can’t be jumped over no matter how hard you try & people with blind folds; a balloon that floats over the divide)

The principle applied to Abraham

The promise: “heir of the world”

Gen. 15:4-5 The promise of a nation from his own body

Gen. 12:2-3 The promise of a blessing to the nations of the world

Gen. 17:5-7 The promise of fatherhood over many nations

Gen. 17:8 The promise of possession of the land

The Law: “Law brings about wrath”

Romans 7:7-11

Romans 4:15 use of metonymy = A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power.

The Principle applied to Me

My efforts to make God’s blessing happen in my life are futile.

God has already promised this.

My efforts only lead to failure and discouragement.

My efforts are better spent in growing my ability to depend and trust God in all areas of my life.

[On a hiking trip at the trails end there were showers you could pay for, but they were on a timer - so if you took too long you would run out of water.

- taking a bath and spending all of your time trying to get wet instead of soaping up and rinsing]

Big objection: “If we don’t have to be good, then we won’t be good.”

[A fish who doesn’t have to swim in water, won’t swim in water.

Of course, a fish who doesn’t have to swim in water is not really a fish, because fish by nature live and swim in the water.]

Conclusion:

2 Corinthians 5:17 The Christian increasingly stops doing what they once did because they are no longer who they once were.

You and I are no longer bound to performing for God’s approval, but we are now living in God’s approval.

Gal.

2:19-21