Sermon Tone Analysis

A couple of weeks ago now we talked about our tendency to build to allow for the worst case scenario’s in our lives.

Consequently we become like the foolish man who wanted to build a seaside condo, with sliding doors looking out on the beach and the tranquil seas.

It’s a beautiful thought if the seas stay calm and the storms pass you by.

We talked about the people in the city of New Orleans who actually built below sea-level.

In retrospect that seems like such a silly thing to do.

The Great Flood:

 

INGERSOLL 12:5-29

 

   5 In the forty second year of Bim's life on the twenty seventh day of the eleventh month - on that day all the springs of the great sump pump burst forth, and the floodgates of the drainage pit were opened.

6 And water seeped into the basement for twenty four.

7 On that very evening, after the twenty third hour, Bim returned from work.

And upon entering the place of his dwelling, he came upon his wife who was sore distressed.

8 And his wife said unto him, "I have been to the basement.

And I have seen the basement.

And the basement is flooded.

And it is not good."

9 So Bim went to the basement and looked upon the face of the waters and saw that it was so.

And Bim was sore distressed.  10 Bim wept.

11 There was a sound like unto the sound of many angry hornets.

And the sound thereof came from the dryer.

Bim said to himself, "I shall go to the fuse panel and I shall say to the dryer fuse in the midst of the other fuses .... "Come out from among them and be seperate!"

12 And a voice spake unto Bim asking, "What about the current?"

And Bim said, "But this is a basement.

The waters are not even flowing.

What current?"

And the voice said unto him, "The electrical current, you idiot!"  13 And when he came to his senses, he realized there might be electrical current upon the waters.

14 So Bim reached down and touched the waters and found that there was no current upon the face of the waters.

15 And another voice spake unto him saying, "Take off your sneakers ... for this is soggy ground."

And Bim removed his sneakers from his feet.

16 And it came to pass as he was about to step into the waters he thought, "If I had faith, I could walk upon the waters and would not touch the waters.

And then if the current should course through the waters, I would be safe."

17 And so, mustering up all of his faith, he stepped out believing he would not sink into the waters.

And he stepped out . . .

and sank into the waters.

18 Oh well . . . it was worth a try.

19 And it came to pass that as he made his way through the waters thereof, he beheld a pillar of smoke rising from the other part of the basement.

20 And there were, coming from within the smoke, a multitude of sparks and fire like unto . . .

a multitude of sparks and fire.

21 And at the bottom of the pillar of smoke a power bar lay in the water.

And the waters which lay between the plug contacts were boiling furiously and the arcing was sending forth the sparks and the fire.

22 And Bim reached up and unplugged the power bar so as not to become smitten.

23 And this was good.

24 And to make a long story less long than if it had been made to be longer, the landlord was called who, in turn, called the plumber who, in turn, came unto Bim's dwelling place and replaced the failing sump pump.  25 And by now it was the third hour of the morning of the following day.

26 Eventually, the waters upon the surface of the basement receded . . .

like unto a receding hairline.

27 And it came to pass in the days that followed that Bim and his wife had one steeenking mess to clean up.

28 And something told them that the whole thing would turn out for good.

29 And that would be good.

If you’ve ever had a flood in your home, you want to move to higher ground.

You want to remove any possibility that this might happen again.

And so the message this morning is a challenge to move to higher ground – spiritually speaking to build in a place that precludes the possibility of disaster.

Let’s read the scripture together from Psalm 24.

 

/" Of David.

A psalm.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?

Who may stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior.

Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

Selah Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is he, this King of glory?

The Lord Almighty— he is the King of glory.

Selah" (Psalm 24, NIV) *[1]* /

 

It is generally believed that the Psalm is written to commemorate David’s second attempt to return the Ark of the Covenant to the house of God in the city of Jerusalem.

The first attempt was aborted because God struck down a servant who attempted to steady the teetering ark as it rocked along on an ox-cart.

David with all good intentions did not fully respect this piece of furniture which symbolized the very presence of God among His people and transported it in his own manner.

So this morning I’d like to take a few minutes to try to challenge you to climb higher in your relationship with God, to aspire to something greater than you currently know.

To remove any flirtatious relationships that you may have with sin and to strive with all your heart to experience His heart, the heart of God.

From the scriptures, let’s look at some principles for moving up.

 

/1.

//Nothing runs uphill naturally.

Engaging the hill./

/“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?”/

 

David reminds us in this Psalm that God is the Creator, Owner, sustainer of the world that we live in.

I believe that there are principles that come from God that order our world.

Some of these are plain and irrefutable, such as “gravity” which governs the physical world.

I also believe that there are principles which govern our social lives, our emotional lives, our intellectual lives and of course our spiritual lives.

The more closely we are aligned with these principles, the better our experience will be in this life as well as the life to come.

I believe that God is as concerned that we live well, in full enjoyment of His presence and His creation, in this life as He is that we experience fullness in the life to come.

One of the principles that is present in most every area of life is that we have to reach toward what it is that we want.

We don’t gravitate toward excellence, it is a conscious and diligent pursuit.

/"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

(Hebrews 11:6, NKJV) *[2]* /

/ /

/"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:13-14, NIV) *[3]* /

/"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;" (2 Peter 1:5, NIV) *[4]* /

 

I would have to say that for many Christians today their lackluster presence is due to a lack of effort.

/  Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play and to play at their worship.

As a result, their meanings and values are distorted.

Their relationships disintegrate faster than they can keep them in repair, and their lifestyles resemble a cast of characters in search of a plot.

/

/ /

/-- Gordon Dahl/

 

Let me ask you this morning how much conscious effort you put into caring for your soul this past week.

I am not prescribing how that should be done.

The truth is that we are all different and there are things that stir my heart to a greater degree than others.

But the bottom line is that we need to make an effort if we are to climb higher in our spiritual lives.

I really don’t know of anything that takes care of itself and tends to become better on it’s own.