Sermon Tone Analysis

My sermon is going to be different today.

If you are visiting, I’m so glad you are here, but I need to inform you that today’s sermon is nothing like every other sermon I preach from week to week.

And this is why:

According to Bob Smietana, from LifeWay Research, “more than half of Americans have read little or none of the Bible.”

The average Christian, much less the average American, … the average Christian does not read their Bible.

I know, because I used to never read mine.

Of those that said they read the Bible, how and why they read it differ as well:

“Twenty-two percent read a little bit each day, in a systematic approach.

A third (35 percent) never pick it up at all, while 30 percent look up things in the Bible when they need to.

Nineteen percent re-read their favorite parts, while 17 percent flip open the Bible and read a passage at random.

A quarter (27 percent) read sections suggested by others, while 16 percent say they look things up to help others.”

~~~~~~

Today, I’m going to let Jesus preach the sermon to you.

No, I’m not saying that I’m going to channel Jesus or anything mystical like that.

I’m going to read to you the Sermon on the Mount, and I want you to imagine that you are sitting down listening to Jesus preach the sermon and I want you to try to listen to His words as if they were the first time that you’ve ever heard them.

Jesus’ words are far more important than mine.

And I know that it’s important that you understand His words, and so it’s important for me to teach His words from week to week, but His sermon was spoken to a large crowd, and He made sure that it was clear enough for everyone to understand.

I also understand that if you had known that I was just going to read three chapters of the gospel of Matthew to you, that you could have easily just stayed home and read them yourself, but according to LifeWay Research, half of you wouldn’t have, even if I would have told you to.

:)

I will try to read it as if I were speaking it, it will be on the screens, but I really would like for you to try and listen to Jesus’ words as if you were hearing them for the first time.

These are the words of life.

Your eternity hangs on these words.

There is nothing more important in your life for the next twenty minutes than to carefully listen to these words with the intent to obey them.

What does the word Lord mean?

In today’s words, it’s most similar to master.

It means that you do what they tell you to do.

Jesus will finish this sermon by saying that only those who actually do what He says will be saved.

In other words, He says that only those who obey Him by turning from sin, (repenting) will be saved.

So it is extremely important that you actually pay attention to what He says.

--------------------

--------------------

--------------------

Like I said at the beginning, only those who actually obey His teachings to turn from sin will be saved.

Those who hear His words and call Him Lord, but don’t obey His commands to turn from sin are like those who built their house on the sand.

When death comes, their house will not stand.

But those who hear His words and obey them, are like those who built their house on THE Rock, not a rock, on THE Rock, Jesus, and even death will not be able to separate them.

It does you no good to call Jesus Lord, if you don’t do what He’s told you to do.

In Luke chapter 6, the same sermon, just Luke telling the account instead of Matthew, Jesus said:

--------------------

So now, what are you going to do? You’ve heard His words.

You know where to find them.

Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7, and Luke chapter 6.

Are you going to learn them?

Apply them to your lives?

Obey them?

Is Jesus your Lord?

Or do you just call Him, Lord?

Because He said it does you no good to call Him Lord, if you don’t do what He says.

After Jesus demanded everyone’s obedience to Him in order to be saved, He later went on to finish living out a completely obedient life to God, and then laid down His life for our salvation.

Jesus never sinned one time.

The same obedience He is asking from us, He lived out to God perfectly.

And then He proved His love for you and for me by dying on a cross in our place so that we can be saved.

Make no mistake about it.

He is not asking us to do something that He did not do Himself.

And if anyone is worth surrendering our whole life to, it’s the God of the universe who left His throne in heaven to come live as a man, and to die in our place so that He can bless us with a perfect and beautiful creation and eternal future with Him, with no pain, or sorrow, or sickness, or death.

If Jesus is not your Lord, please submit your self to Him as your Lord today.