Sermon Tone Analysis

A Fresh Start

Opposition in building God’s church

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!!! Announcements

!!! Bible presented

!!! Doxology Hymn no 13:            /“Exalt the Lord, his praise proclaim”/

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Call to worship

!!!!!! Bible Verse

Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.

(Psalm 29:1-2)

!!!!!! Blessing

Grace to you from God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

!!! Hymn No 238:                            /“All hail the power of Jesus’ Name” (1)/

!!! Invocation and the Lord’s Prayer

!!!!!! Invocation

Our Father in heaven, let Your mighty outstretched arm, O Lord God, be our defence; Your mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, our salvation; Your true word our instruction; the grace of Your Holy Spirit our comfort and consolation, to the end and in the end, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

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The Lord’s Prayer

!!! Children’s Address

!!! Hymn No 467:                            /“O what can little hands do?”/

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Galatians 1:6-10/

!!! Prayer of Adoration and Confession

Gracious God, we worship you for your steadfast love and faithfulness to us, your redeemed people.

We are so thankful that you have loved us from eternity past, before time began.

We cannot begin to comprehend the length and breadth, the height and depth of the love you have for us that has been so wonderfully expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet we have believed in and have come to know something of the love you have for us.

Help us to remain in your love so that we may live in you and you in us.

Help us to love you whom we have not seen by loving our brother or sister whom we have seen.

Teach us to love as you first loved us.

Shed abroad your love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

May we never be reduced to the level of a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, and become as nothing, for lack of love.

Grant to us the patience and kindness of love in all our dealings with others.

Help us increasingly to reflect the likeness of him who gave his life in selfless love.

Grant that we may faithfully bear the image of our Creator, who is the very essence of love, so to love you with heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbour as our self.

Teach us today something more of your amazing love for us, unworthy as we are and increase our love for you through time and eternity.

Almighty and most merciful Father, look down on us, your unworthy servants through the mediation and merits of Jesus Christ, in whom alone you are well pleased.

It is because of your mercy that we are not consumed.

Your mercies endure forever and you compassions never fail.

Continue the wonder of your mercy toward us and wash away all our sins with the precious blood that Jesus shed for us.

Purify our hearts by your Holy Spirit and, as you add days to our lives, so Lord, add repentance to our days; that when we have passed through this mortal life, we may be partakers of your everlasting kingdom; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.

!!!!!! Thanksgiving

 Amen.

!!! Declaration of pardoning

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

(Isaiah 43:25)

!!! Hymn:                                            /“Psalm 38” (Tune 263, 5 verses)/

!!! Offering and Dedication

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

(Mark 12:30)

!!! Prayer for others

Almighty God, who has built your church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone: grant us to be so joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching that we may be made into a holy temple, acceptable to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Merciful Father, your kindness caused the light of the Gospel to shine among us.

Extend your mercy now, we pray, to all peoples of the world who do not have hope in Jesus Christ, that your salvation may be known to them also and that all hearts would turn unto you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Heavenly Father, we intercede for this poor sinful world in which we live.

We are often shocked and horrified by it.

We sometimes wish that we could rise on the wings of the dawn and make good our escape.

We know we are not of this world, but we confess we sometimes find it hard to live in this world.

We hear of oppression and exploitation, theft and murder, and the extent of man’s inhumanity to man seems to know no bounds.

All we can do is turn to you, cry out for mercy, and pray: “Deliver us from evil.”

We wonder what difference we can possibly make in the midst of such a large city, but then we remember that you call each one of your children simply to be faithful.

So help us to do our best, wherever you have planted us.

Prevent any of us from contributing to the spread of evil, either directly or indirectly, but may we contribute to the good that is in the world.

We feel we can pray for our city and our community, for we remember how your servant Abraham stood before you and prayed with earnest pleading for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We take heart that as you heard him, so you will hear us now.

We now follow the example of the great father of all who believe and we pray for the people and nations of this earth.

Let your kingdom come, and cause your will to be done.

Send forth your light and your truth.

May that day come quickly when the Son of Man shall rule the nations with a rod of iron, full of mercy, full of power, full of grace, yet irresistible.

We long for the triumphal return of Jesus, when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

But until then, strengthen us for the fight, and cause us to be among those who overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the Word of his testimony, in Jesus’ name.

Merciful Father, look with tender pity upon those who do not love you.

Redeemer, look upon them with those eyes which are as flames of fire.

Let them see how badly they treat you.

Help them to realise the dire consequences of ingratitude, indifference and neglect of our Saviour’s blood.

Bring those who are careless and godless to seek mercy, to seek the Lord while he may be found.

Let all who are resisting or postponing a response to the claims of Christ see that it is both treason and foolishness to do so.

Saviour, fire off your darts, to prick the consciences of many, that they may fall down before you and cry out for mercy.

We continue to be amazed by your grace in which the worst of sinners who were afar off have been brought in by your grace.

But Lord do more of this amongst us.

Let us see greater things than these.

Where we have seen one saved, let us see one hundred, to the praise and glory of your name, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Ezra 4:1-7/

!!! Sermon                                          /Opposition in building God’s church/

!!!!!! Introduction

With the return from captivity back to Judah, the Israelites had the task to rebuild not only the altar and the temple, but also the city.

We now understand from the Word of God according to the first few chapters of Ezra that God called the people He elected for the task to go back.

God also provided in all their needs.

God wanted his people, like in the case of the Israelites who left Egypt under the Pharaoh to worship Him.

He prescribed the worship, and upon their return they reformed their worship back to the ordinances of God , restoring the altar and the offerings.

Last week we heard about the amazing waning of their commitment to the Lord to rebuild the temple.

Instead, in forgetting their priorities, they were more concerned about their own business than about the business of God.

Haggai the prophet proclaimed the Word of God to them and they recommenced the work on the temple.

This week we come across the reaction of the nations surrounding them as soon as they commenced the work according to the word of the prophet and the command of the Lord.

!!!!!! Enemy number one: we serve the same God

This the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

In many case this enemy comes from within.

It speaks the language of the church and it is very knowledgeable as far as Bible texts are concerned.

Just a bit of background as far as Ezra 4:1-2 is concerned:  The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin mentioned in verse 1 were descendants of colonists from other countries who had been planted in the land when Assyria took the northern kingdom into captivity.

These colonists had intermarried with the Jews who remained in the land, and their offspring became known as Samaritans.

They came to Zerubbabel and pretended that they wanted to assist in the rebuilding of the temple.

They, too, worshiped Jehovah, but He was only one of many gods in their idolatrous system of religion.

So their offer was refused by Israel’s leaders.