Sermon Tone Analysis

SLIDE 2

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SLIDE 3

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SLIDE 4

2 COR 5.17

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SLIDE 5

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INTRO:

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I may have mentioned this before… but, I kind of like fishing.

I will enjoy any form of fishing… even the kind where you don’t catch fish.

I just love being out there on the water… I love the anticipation of it… I love the challenge...

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But my favorite kind of fishing… usually involves a small stream and a fly rod.

Generally, you are in a remote location, knee deep, slowly moving your way up stream… working the runs and the pools.

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When you come to one of those slow, deep pools, you start… from a distance… throwing your fly to the bottom of the pool… the part that is closest to you.

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And then, after you have presented your lure in that area a sufficient number of times… you slowly work your way… side to middle, to side… methodically and slowly working your way up to the top of the pool.

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And the whole time you do you… you realize, that you are literally… scratching the surface.

If those top water presentations don’t work… you might try something that sinks 2-3 feet.

If that doesn’t work… you might try something that goes all the way to the bottom.

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And then… hopefully you have caught a couple fish… and you move along… to the next run… and to the next pool.

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That… by far, is my favorite kind of fishing.

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In a way, I have often considered Bible study in a similar way.

The scriptures are like a stream… ever flowing… but some parts are flat and shallow and easy to discern.

Some parts are like a deep fast moving run… and some parts like those deep, slow moving pools.

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Today, we have approached one of those rich… deep… and mysterious pools.

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Before us… we have a doctrinally rich… and philosophically deep passage to throw our lures into.

These are the kinds of passages that we will come back to time and time again.

We will realize… that the last time we passed by here… we just barely scratched the surface…

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Again, we are fortunate to have a doctrinally rich… and philosophically deep passage to dive into today.

These are the kinds of passages that we will come back to time and time again, and discover

So we’ll slow down… and push a little deeper into the text.

And it will reveal something else to us.

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We have all heard these Bible verses.

They are familiar ones.

Maybe we have memorized some of them.

But, in spite of their familiarity, I believe this passage has something deeper and richer to show us today… and some time down the road… we’ll come back to it, and maybe we’ll discover something else that God wants us to see here.

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The first thing we need to be reminded of, as we look at this deep, rich and familiar passage… is that… it doesn’t stand alone.

This is not a lake or a pond.

It is part of the stream… and as part of that stream, it is connected to the flow and to the message that proceeds it and follows it.

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Paul is writing again to the Corinthians.

This is the second of two letters that we have, written by Paul to this church.

His first letter was rich in correction and instruction… but this letter is rich in encouragement and doctrine.

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His first letter carried a strong tone of rebuke… but this letter carries a tone of defense.

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In Paul’s absence, other speakers and teachers came to Corinth and tried to make a name for themselves.

They came with letters of recommendation… with resumes of qualification… and they displayed a great talent to move people with their powerful talents of oration.

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When they arrived in Corinth, they probably found a people who weren’t, initially… easily manipulated.

If they tried to coheres them one way or another, they probably heard… time and time again, “But the Apostle Paul told us… “

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People who are well taught, and well discipled… are not easily duped.

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But, there are always those present… who have refused the teaching and the discipleship offered to them.

There will always be some… who, though unwilling to lend their spirits to sound teaching… will lend their ears to something that itches them.

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There were some in Corinth… and - If these other teachers… these guys that Paul hyperbolically and sarcastically calls ‘super apostles’… wanted to get a foothold in with the people of Corinth… they needed to discredit Paul.

Some were listening… and reports of it had gotten back to Paul.

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Paul isn’t a fancy speaker… Paul doesn’t come with letters of recommendation… maybe we don’t need to listen to Paul.

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This problem… this issue… is what flows through the entire stream of this letter.

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And it’s not so much a matter of Paul verses the other teachers… Paul was not that prideful.

For Paul, it was all about the benefit of the Corinthian believers.

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So… in his defense against these other teachers… these super Apostles… Paul has been reminding them of how incredibly blessed they are, in their experience and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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He keeps telling them… that he won’t give them a letter of commendation… but rather… they, the people of that church… are his letter of commendation.

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They don’t need the fancy teachers who are probably seeking to take advantage of them.

They need only to recognize who they are in Jesus… and how rich they are because of it.

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This is the context that today’s… deep and rich doctrinal pool flows into and out of.

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He starts verse 11 by reminding us… that something flows into it… this topic doesn’t stand alone.

The word ‘therefore’ looks back to something that was previously established.

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Let’s look again:

SLIDE 5

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“THEREFORE… KNOWING THE FEAR OF THE LORD...”

… to know something, means that you perceive it… you realize it… you have observed, learned and made a concluding judgment.

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What have they concluded?

- “THE FEAR OF THE LORD”

.. This is a familiar term in the Bible..

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If you want to jot these down… here are a few examples:

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Ps

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pr 1

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There are several proverbs that link acts of wisdom and experiences of blessing… to the Fear of the Lord.

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But… even as the Bible has so much to say about this, in a positive light… -The fear of the Lord gets a bad wrap.

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Even as there are many verses that tell us to ‘fear the Lord’… there are 366 times where the Bible calls the reader to ‘not be afraid’.

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So, we have to conclude… that fearing the Lord… and being ‘afraid’… bear different context.

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In light of ‘fearing the Lord’… God is not telling us to be terrified of HIm.

God is not telling us obey Him out of terror and of fear of dire consequence.

Many religions do motivate their followers this way.

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But, when our God calls us to ‘fear Him’… it is a call to reverence and awe.

It is a call to recognize ourselves in the light of who God is.

A person who fears the Lord, will not speak out arrogantly and disrespectfully towards HIm.

A person who fears the Lord, will not behave carelessly towards HIm, or consider His presence in our lives a small and insignificant thing.

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To Fear The Lord… is the know… that the all powerful, ever present, all knowing and unchanging God, who created us and knows every cell and hair upon our being… has called us to be His child… and is present with us… and has given us direction for our life.

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When we recognize this… it will produce those things that Proverbs speaks of…

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We will gain wisdom and a knowledge of God.

We will experience a prolonged life

We will experience from God, a fountain of life.

and will avoid stares

We will sleep satisfied.

We will have strong confidence

We will have refuge

We will hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth.

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So… obviously, if we walk in the fear of the Lord… the outcome will be a good thing.

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In today’s passage.. the readers have come to a point where, if they have received the instruction that Paul has given them up until this point… they will know the fear of the Lord.

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Why? - Because… the previous verse… .. it tells us that our actions in this life… have eternal realities and eternal consequences.

.... - This is why those who fear the Lord follow the instruction of vs. 9… they ‘make it their aim… to please Him’.

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This verse also reminds us… that this knowledge compels us to do something…

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Folks… if you Fear The Lord… you will not be be inactive and complacent.

There will be a motivation and a drive in your life to do what God calls you to do .

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Verse 11 tells us what one of those things are… - If we know the fear of the Lord… we will persuade others.

- And again, to posses the context of what we are to persuade others to do… we need to look back a couple verses.