Sermon Tone Analysis

*THE POWER TO CHANGED LIVES*

!!!! JOHN THE SON OF THUNDER

John 14:1-24 John 13:34

 

 

!! PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH

1.

To be conformed to the image of Christ, BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS.

2. Call people to Christ as Saviour.

3. Worship

4. Discipleship

5. Changed lives.

INTRO:

The aftermath of the massacre at Columbine High School followed a predictable pattern:

First came teams of police investigators.

Then came the grief counselors, more than 100 of them, ready to help the survivors deal with their anguish.

But as it turned out, the counselors had no one to counsel.

Not because the kids weren't grieving, but because they were turning to a more effective grief counselor:

 

!! THE CHURCH

Take the example, Patrick Simington.

Like his schoolmates at Columbine High.

Patrick was offered the services of professional grief counselors.

But instead of talking to the counselors, Simington joined his friends at a memorial service at the Light of the World Roman Catholic church.

Patrick's mother told the Washington Times that what is really helping him get through this crisis "is his faith."

Laurean Johnson was encouraged by her parents to seek out a professional counselor.

Instead she turned to the staff at West Bowles Community Church, the home church of shooting victim Cassie Barneall.

Johnson told reporters, "I just like it better this way.

And she added, "It seemed like most of the kids from the school were there."

As the Washington Times notes, "Many Columbine students are bypassing offers of secular therapy and turning instead to their churches."

Grief counselors wait in vain for kids to knock on their doors, while pastors and church youth leaders have been overwhelmed by kids, parents, and others coming for help.

Why? Secular grief counselors can give kids information, but as Christians we can give them guidance, and comfort.

The secular grief counselors can help people sort through their own feelings, but their model originated in SIGMUND FREUD, which offers no life after death, no hope, no explanation of why, no comforter to deal with the soul.

I want us to look at the life of the man who gave us hope, who has written words that give meaning to life.

A man who wrote the words of Jesus, such wonderful words as: 14:1- *"LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED; BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.

IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY DWELLING PLACES; IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU; FOR I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU; I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF; THAT WERE I AM, THERE YOU MAY BE ALSO;*

*11:25 I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE; HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME SHALL LIVE EVEN IF HE DIES; AND EVERYONE WHO LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE.*

The Apostle John gives us the words of Jesus, that gives meaning to this life

John Tells us that Jesus came to give us *ABUNDANT* life.

Enjoy life now.

John Tells us that Jesus came to give us ETERNAL life.

Enjoy life in the future.

John writes some of the greatest truths ever revealed about God.

14 Times John uses the Old Testament name for God to show that Jesus Christ is God.

Have you ever wondered, can God uses some people.

Can he use you or me?

There are people who have wrecked their lives with sin.

They were involved in drugs, or Alcohol, or immorality.

But Jesus Christ reached down when they were the lowest and changed them and used them in His kingdom to reach others.

Of the 12 apostles there were three who seemed to form an inner circle: Peter, James and John.

They were the closest to Jesus.

Jesus changed their lives.

! I. THE PASSION

Usually, when people think about John, they think of some meek, mild, pale-skinned, effeminate guy, lying around with his head on Jesus' shoulder, looking up at the Master with a dove-eyed stare.

If this is your image of John you've missed it!

1. James and John were brothers, John was the younger.

2. His name means "*WHOM JEHOVAH LOVES"*

3.

They came from a Godly family and were cousins of Christ.

(His wife and Jesus' mother were  sisters)

4. Their mother was Solome.

5. Their father Zebedee was in the fishing businesses.

6. James and John worked in the family business with Peter and Andrew.

7.

There is in the back streets of Jerusalem a dark little hovel now, an Arab coffeehouse, which contains stones and arches, that were once part of an early Christian Church.

The Franciscan tradition is that this Church was erected on the site of a house which had belonged to Zebedee, the father of St John.

This family, said the Franciscan, were fish merchants of Galilee, with a branch office in Jerusalem, from which they used to supply, among others, the family of the High Priest.

This would explain how John was known to the doorkeeper of the high priest's house, and it would also explain how Zebedee's fishing business was prosperous enough to enable him to employ hired servants in addition to his sons (Mark 1:20).

8.

He wrote the gospel of John, 3 Epistles bearing his name and the Book of Revelation.

9.

He died when he was almost one hundred years of age.

! II.

THE CHARACTER- THEIR NICK NAMES - SONS OF THUNDER

John is an example of how God can change a life.

If you had known James and John as boys and young men you would have said to yourself there is no way God can use those two hot tempered boys.

Both boys nick name was *SON OF THUNDER.*

Both had a very short fuse, To be around him was like being in a thunder storm.

You never knew when you would see Lighting and thunder.

There is an old Arabian Proverb, "Anger is a wind that blows out the lamp of the mind."

He who loses his head usually is the last one to miss it.

--Anonymous

  Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored then to anything on which its poured.

--Calendale,

Anger comes out of *FEAR, FRUSTRATION, AND HURT*.

Many people like John are struggling with anger, because of Fear, Frustration & Hurt.

!! THEY ARE HOT TEMPERED, THEY HAVE VERY SHORT FUSES

My guess is they came from a family where there was a lot of yelling and screaming.

!!!  MOOD MACHINE

Two kids were examining some bathroom scales.

"What's it for?"

one asked.

I don't know," the other answered.

"I think you stand on it and it makes you Angry

 The instructor of a company-sponsored first-aid workshop asked a participating employee, "What's the first thing you'd do if you learned you had rabies."

Replied the employee, without hesitation: "I'd bite my supervisor."

How can God use a man who is known for his hot temper?

James and John were brothers with Fire engine red hot tempters.

They both had such short fuses that they were known as

 

!! THE SONS OF THUNDER

~* John was not born with a loving heart, nor was he reborn with it.

Some find it easier to love than others, but all of us know that truly to love, someone else is something that must grow in life.

As God changed James & John so he can change you!

 

*1.

ANGER AT OUTSIDERS Mark 9:38*

It's interesting to note that the only time John's name appears alone in the Gospels,

*HE'S MAD AT SOMEBODY*.

In Mark 9, we find John mad at some guy who was casting out demons.

In verse 38, John said to Jesus,