Sermon Tone Analysis

*Odds and Sods*

* *

*Psa.

40*.

“I waited patiently for the Lord;

          And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

  2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,

          And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

  3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

          Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.

I delight to do Your will, O my God;

          Your Law is within my heart.”

*9*      I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;

          Behold, I will not restrain my lips,

          O Lord, You know.

10     I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;

          I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;

          I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

/“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”/ *2 Cor.

5:21**.*

/ /

*Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong /doing/, it is wrong /being, /deliberate and emphatic independence of God*.

The Christian religion bases everything on the positive, radical nature of sin.

Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin.

The first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the Gospel that the message of the Gospel has lost its sting and its blasting power.

!!!

"/To escape criticism -- do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."/

-- Elbert Hubbard.

\\ "Criticism [i.e.

constructive criticism] may not be agreeable, but it is necessary.

It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body.

It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

-- Winston Churchill.

/“That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see clearly.

They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory, but they are not.

The fault is in our weak judgment.

Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other.

If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other.

I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity.

They are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.”

/Spurgeon ???

 

/The love of God toward you is like the Amazon River flowing down to water a single daisy./

\\ -F.B.

Meyer

 

/“The real accent in the New Testament is not how human I am, but on how Christian I can be.”-/

Paul Rees.

 

Wilson Whineray, considered by many as being the finest All Black captain, said.

/“If you are a captain and you don’t think you’ve earned your place on merit, you lose a lot of confidence.

And as a result, the team gradually loses confidence in the captain.”/

*** I accepted Christ as my Saviour from the penalty of sin, but I needed to accept Him as Saviour from the power of sin.

I had found in the Lord Jesus a deliverer from the /guilt /of sin, but I wanted to find in Him a deliverer from the /power /of sin, and I did not know how to set about it.

I went therefore to a “spy” to find out.

He was a beloved Christian teacher who must know, I supposed, all about it.

But I will never forget my disappointment!

After I had told my need, saying that I knew it was because of my ignorance and because I had not taken in the fullness of the gospel that I was in so sad a case, my friend said, /“Oh no!

You are all right.

You cannot expect such a deliverance as you are seeking.

All of us are more or less under the power of sin all our lives, and we must not expect the early joy of conversion to last for ever.”/

I thought my friend knew, and I received his report as final and at once settled down to my condition as being inevitable and therefore to be endured with the best grace I could.

But my heart sank as I left the house, and, like the children of Israel, I could have lifted up my voice and cried, so great was my disappointment.

Many times in the years that followed would I recall with saddest longing the blessedness I had felt when first I knew the Lord.

So ignorant was I of God’s ways that I in turn became a spy, bringing a bad report of the land to the Christians who came to me for counsel, telling them it was indeed a good land but adding the fatal “nevertheless” of unbelief, that the people who lived in the land were too strong for them, and the cities were walled and very great.

Many a one did I thus turn back, causing them to wander with me in the wilderness for many years.

[1]

/"Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD' -- and you forgave the guilt of my sin."/ --Psalm 32:5 (NIV)

/"It was a master-stroke of the devil to get the church and the ministry to lay aside the mighty weapon of prayer.

He does not mind at all if the church expands it’s  organizations and her deftly contrived machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ, if it will only give up praying.

He laughs softly, as he looks at the church of today, and says under his breath: "you can have your Sunday schools, your social organizations, your grand choirs, and even your revival efforts, as long as you do not bring the power of Almighty God into them by earnest, persistent, and believing prayer."/

R. A. Torrey, How To Obtain Fullness of Power.

To me God’s commands are even more comforting than His promises; for if He commands me to do a thing, I am sure He will give me the power of His Spirit to do it.

His commands are not grievous, we are told, but surely they would be grievous if we were unable to obey them.[2]

*5709 Augustine’s Improving Prayer*

In the early days of his struggle toward the truth, Augustine made a prayer/, “Lord, save me from my sins, but not quite yet.”/

Then sometime after that he prayed, “Lord, save me from all my sins, except one.”

And then came the final prayer, /“Lord, save me from all my sins, and save me now!”/

It was when he made that final decision against evil that the victory was his.

There is no joy and strength and, for that matter, no peace, like that which visits the soul which has taken an unconquerable resolve against that which is evil.

[3]

From  A.W. Tozer/: "Anything God has ever done, He can do now.

Anything God has ever done anywhere, He can do here.

Anything God has ever done for anyone, He can do for you."/

Well, that certainly cleanses the air on a Monday morning.

ã 10.10.04

Are you experiencing spiritual power or spiritual poverty in your life?

\\ \\ Many people are experiencing poverty.

Dr. Billy Graham has said that according to his research, at least 90 percent of all Christians in America are living defeated lives.

Others who are in a position to know the spiritual pulse of America have made similar statements.

\\ \\ A life of spiritual poverty is completely unnecessary, and does not glorify God.

The many thousands of promises recorded in the Word of God apply to every Christian.

These promises include: assurance of God's love (John 3:16), eternal life (Romans 6:23), forgiveness of sin (1 John1:9), peace, comfort, provision, and many other promises.

Set your goal high.

You may not reach it, but you'll put on muscle climbing toward it!

*1.

**Give God what's right -- not what's left.

\\ 2. Man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an  endless hope.

\\ 3. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

\\ 4.

He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.

\\ 5.

In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma--but never let him be the fullstop.

\\ 6. Don't put a question mark where God puts a fullstop.

\\ 7. Are you wrinkled with burden?

Come to the church for a face-lift.

\\ 8.

When praying, don't give God instructions - just report for duty.

\\ 9. Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.

\\ 10.

We don't change God's message -- His message changes us.

\\ 11.

The church is prayer-conditioned.

\\ 12.

When God ordains, He sustains.

\\ 13.

WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.

\\ 14.

Plan ahead -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.