Sermon Tone Analysis

*Thy Will Be Done* \\ \\

Isaiah 55:8-13

March 30, 2008*  *

 

You may have heard this little story before – I may even have used it before.

Regardless, it relates well to what I am about to say about walking the walk, so keep it in mind as we work our way through today’s message.

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard.

Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him.

He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

\\ \\ The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn and screamed in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection,  dropping her cell phone and makeup.

Remind you of anyone yet?

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door.

She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake.

You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.

I noticed the 'What Would  Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' License plate holder, the  'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper Sticker, And the chrome-plated  Christian fish emblem on the trunk, Naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car."

When God speaks to you and you know you have been encountered with truth, it is important that you implement that truth into your life because it’s critical that there be a life change.

The Bible says that the truth sets you free (John 8:32).

How do you let the truth set you free?

It is needful that you take time to process an encounter with God and truth, otherwise you will never “walk the walk.”

You, like the woman in our  story, may be accused of stealing the car.

Let us look at an illustration of the way Jesus processed an encounter with God in contrast to the way the disciples failed to process it.

Jesus and the disciples had just experienced one of God’s greatest miracles, the feeding of the 5,000.

Immediately afterward, Jesus went into the mountains to pray.

The disciples got into a boat and hit a storm.

Mark 6:44-46 says, /"//And there were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away.

\\ And after bidding them farewell, He departed to the mountain to pray.”/

/ /When the Father did something through the life of the Lord Jesus, Jesus always went alone to process it.

Notice it says, /"Immediately…."

/How soon should you process an encounter with God?

There ought not to be anything that comes between you and the processing, when you ask God the significance of what He did.

God anticipates there will be changes in your life because of what He did.

Or perhaps God introduces you to some caution by what He did or said.

What happens when we do not acknowledge God’s hand in our life?

Or when we do not heed the warning He gives?

Our spiritual growth may get stuck.

According to Jesus, the miracles were all done by the Father; it was the Father living out His life in Him (John 14:10).

So when the Father chose to do this incredible miracle, I think the Father then summoned His Son.

Using my sanctified imagination, I think the Father said, "Son, I did this miracle so they would know who You are, but remember one of the temptations that Satan gave You.

It was that if You could feed the multitudes You would get a crowd.

/‘Command that these stones become bread’/ (Matt.

4:3), and they will want to follow You."

And I think the Father said, "Son, because of this miracle, they will want to make You king, not because You are king, but because You fed them."

I think the Father was helping Him process as to how He ought to prepare Himself for the consequences of that miracle.

And I think that is what we must constantly do: process the things God continually wants to teach us.

As you read on in the Gospels, that’s what happened.

In John’s Gospel we read that when Jesus went across the sea, the multitude found Him and followed Him and wanted to make Him king.

And it says it was not because He was king, but because He fed them/ /(John 6:26)./

/Then Jesus gave His strong message to those people that He was the bread that had come down from the Father.

When He finished telling them, many forsook Him and walked with Him no more (John 6:66).

The disciples should also have processed the great miracle which they had witnessed with Jesus.

They knew the Lord, and it didn’t matter what happened next, they ought to have been processing it and integrating what they had just experienced at the feeding of the 5,000.

They should have seen the magnitude of the One they were now following.

But they didn’t.

They ran into a storm.

Some of you may run into a storm.

You intended to process what you heard and to integrate into your life major changes as you let God tell you why He said what He did, why you heard what you did, why you responded the way you did.

He wants to tell you what He has in mind.

This was on the way to the next thing.

If you don’t process this one, you may miss the next encounter with God. Warren Wiersbe says if you don’t process what God wants to teach you, you don’t move on to the next lesson.

You get stuck.

Back to the drawing board.

In Mark, chapter 6 and verses 45-50, we read: /“Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away.

And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.

Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land.

Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.

Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.

\\ And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled.

But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer!

It is I; do not be afraid."

/

 Jesus saw them struggling with the storm, and He walked on the water to them, the first time He had ever done that.

He would have gone by them, but instead He got into their boat.

Then comes what happens when you don’t process an encounter with God: you may miss the next major encounter with God.

The disciples were absolutely astonished to see Jesus walking on the water and stilling the storm, and Scripture uses terminology meaning "astonished way beyond measure, way beyond what had ever happened."

They were missing the significance of this next miracle.

Why were they so surprised?

They had just experienced with Him the great miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, so why were they so astonished that He could walk on water and still the storm?/ /

Could I suggest that if you have an encounter with God and do not let God tell you what it means and move you to make changes in your life, your heart will harden?

You cannot have an encounter with God and ignore it without it affecting your heart.

A hardened heart has a great deal of difficulty with the next encounter with God.

Could He not say to you: "Why are you asking Me to come and make Myself real to you?

I am always with you.

It is just that you do not recognize that it is Me.

It is not that you have to ask Me to come and do something; you need to ask Me to open your eyes to see what I am doing."

In Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul prays that we be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge, that the eyes of our understanding be enlightened so we might know our calling, and the rich inheritance we have as saints of Christ Jesus.

It is amazing that much of our prayer is based on unbelief, because we are always asking God to do something He has already done.

"O Lord, be with us today."

"Why are you asking Me to do something I have already done?

I told you I would always be with you."

If you are Christ’s child, you have His Spirit living in you (Matt.

12:18).

You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise (Eph.

1:13).

Romans 8:9 says the Spirit of God dwells in you and if the Spirit of God does not dwell in You, you are not His (Romans 8:9-11) Do you not know you are the temple of God and that His Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor.

3:16)

Don’t say, "O Lord, would You bless us?" Say, "Lord, I thank You that You are in the midst of blessing me.

Help me to appropriate Your blessings – Your spiritual riches (Eph.

1:3).

Help me to see it and help me receive what I know You are doing."

Thank God that He is here and ask Him to help you to respond to His presence to process this vital truth.

Our prayer needs to be mostly focused on God enabling us to do something rather than trying to beg God to give something He has already given.