Sermon Tone Analysis

Real Impact

 

*2 Timothy 3:1-5 \\ 1*But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

*2*People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, *3*without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, *4*treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— *5*having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Have nothing to do with them.(NIV)

How many of you, like me, when you turn on the news, you just begin to feel angry?

Doesn’t it just seem that things are going from bad to worse?

A debate is on the news and they have the group of people who are arguing for some wicked and corrupt agenda and then you have the Christian trying to stand for what is right being mocked and ganged up on.

It seems that every day you see a story that is so ghastly and cruel that it seems a new all-time low as been hit, until tomorrow comes.

I heard a story about some parents who were frustrated with their kids behavior.

As punishment they tied him to a tree overnight.

The next day they went out and his behavior didn’t improve, so they tied him back up for the day.

When they went back out that evening they found the boy dead.

What are we to do?

I heard about a man who had his daughters locked in the basement.

He never interacted with them or even spoke with them.

He would only throw them scraps from the table from time to time.

For years and years they lived like this.

When they were found they looked as if they had escaped from a concentration camp with hardly any ability to communicate, their lives destroyed.

I cannot help but wonder how many children are living in such environments today, or worse?

When will they be rescued?

Will they be rescued at all?

What are we to do?

You watch Dateline and they have their famous show “To Catch a Predator” where they catch grown men who try to seduce young children online.

The men they catch are seemingly ordinary men, truck drivers, teachers, doctors, military men, even religious leaders.

And you think of your children or grandchildren, knowing there are thousands, even millions of people who would jump at the chance to terrify them, mistreat them and take them away from you.

What can I do?

*1 John 5:19 \\ 19*We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.(NIV)

Isn’t that the truth?

Last week we talked about praying for God’s kingdom to come.

Look around you.  Isn’t it evident that the world is under control of the evil one and that the will of God for the most part is being opposed and neglected throughout the world?

And yet here we are.

What are we to do?

Our education system is bent on teaching children that they are the product of a cosmic burp and share the same purpose and meaning as that of an earthworm.

Did you know that only one out of four Christians will leave college with their faith?

We see on the news of kids gunning down their classmates and kids with no decency, respect, reverence or awe for anything that is good, holy, or pure.

Do you ever look at it all and just feel helpless?

What are we to do?

Some would suggest that there is nothing you can do.

A low self-image is comparatively common today.

Many people have crippling inferiority feelings.

Sometimes their origin is in a deprived childhood, sometimes in a more recent tragedy of being unwanted or unloved.

The pressures of a competitive society makes matters worse.

And other modern influences make them worse still.

Whenever people are politically or economically oppressed, they feel demeaned.

Racial and sexual prejudice, and the trauma of being declared ‘redundant’, can undermine anybody’s self-confidence.

Technology demotes persons, as Arnold Toynbee once put it, ‘into serial numbers punched on a card, designed to travel through the entrails of a computer.’

Meanwhile ethologists such as Desmond Morris tell us that we are nothing but animals, and behaviorists such as B.F. Skinner that we are nothing but machines, programmed to make automatic responses to external stimuli.

No wonder many people today feel worthless nonentities.”

What do we do?

Is there anything we can do?

It seems we are faced with overwhelming odds in an antagonistic world that is falling father and farther from the truth.

“Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”

Are we just to sit back and wait for the end?

 

 

|       “No Christian can be a *pessimist*, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.”

|

|  W.

R. Inge quotes |

 

How many of you serve a God that is a difference making God?

No matter how big the problem, our God is bigger.

He is a God that brings light out of darkness.

He is a God of justice and mercy.

He is a God that brings life from death and hope from despair.

His wisdom is unsearchable, his power is unfathomable, his glory unapproachable, and his love is unstoppable.

Amen?

How many of you believe that God can and will make a difference in this world?

Now, how many of you believe that God wants to use you?

Matthew 5:13-14

13 “You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14 “You are the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

C.S. Lewis - Satan and his imps planning their strategy for attacking the world that’s hearing the message of salvation.

One of the demons says, “I’ve got the plan, master.

When I get to earth and take charge of people’s thinking,  I’ll tell them there’s no Heaven.”

The devil responds, “Ah, they’ll never believe that.

This Book of Truth is full of messages about the hope of Heaven through sins forgiven.

They won’t believe that.

They know there’s a glory yet future.”

On the other side of the room another says, “I’ve got the plan.

I’ll tell ‘em there’s no hell.”

“No good,” he says.

“Jesus while He was on earth, talked more of hell than of Heaven.

They know in their hearts that their wrong will have to be taken care of in some way.

They deserve nothing more than hell.”

And one brilliant little imp in the back stood up and said, “Then I know the answer.

I’ll just tell them there’s no hurry.”

And he’s the one Satan chose.”

You may be saying, okay but realistically, what can I do?

I’m not a millionaire, I’m not a TV personality and I am not politician.

What can I do?

How can I be salt?

How can I be light?

 

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

*1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 \\ 1*Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.

*2*We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.

*3*We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

*4*For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, *5*because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.