Sermon Tone Analysis

The Lord is God

Power belongs to Him

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The word of God in our midst

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Call to worship

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— the Lord, who remains faithful forever.

(Psalm 146:5-6)

!!! Blessing

Grace to you from God our Father, Jesus Christ our Lord and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

!!! Prayer of Confession of sin

!!! Forgiveness

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

(Isaiah 1:18-20)

!!! Doxology Hymn No 60:          /“To Him who chose us first” /

!!! /(Tune Rejoice 1 – 3 verses)/ 

!!! Prayer of Adoration, Invocation and Thanksgiving

!!! Hymn No 152:                            /“When morning gilds the skies”/

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Acts 7:17-36/

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

!!! Tithes, offering and dedication

!!! Prayer for others

!!! Scripture Reading                     /Deuteronomy 4:32-40/

!!! Sermon

2006 is just a few days old.

Ahead of us are 349 days of service in the Lord.

We have many plans, not only as individuals, but also as a church.

The danger of being occupied with our personal plans is that we might loose sight of our place within the Kingdom of God as part of the bigger landscape of God’s work for his church.

; It is probably not out of step to ask, “What is your vision for St Andrews?

Have you ever given consideration to things we should implement in this church to see the Kingdom of God come?

And of course, how do you see yourself involved in this work?”

No doubt there will be days ahead of us that will test our faith, determination and faithfulness in the Lord.

But what are the truths that will serve as an anchor we need to cling unto to see us through this journey, occupying our Promised Land, spiritually driving out the godless inhabitants of the land to plant the Kingdom of God under the Kingship of Jesus Christ?

That is, after all, the commission of the Church:  to disciple the nation under the headship of our Lord.

We find a few principles in Deuteronomy 4:32-40 to help us to be focussed in our task as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week Lord’s Day during the evening service we also took this paragraph from the Word of God for the sermon.

We established from the Word that God is God of the history.

Our salvation is anchored in history.

God performed historical acts of redemption by calling a nation of his own out of Egypt, and of course the church, which He purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The birth, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ are historically verified facts.

Our faith is not an idea, or a philosophy or a theory.

Our faith is firmly based in history, because God is the God of history.

We need to constantly read, study and digest the truths of what God did for his church in the past.

This will help us to face and overcome the obstacles of the future.

Today we will hear the message of God proclaiming to us the fact the power belongs to God.

On these principles and facts we stand upon to face 2006 as a church with a view to make a difference in the world God has placed us.

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The power belongs to God

Deuteronomy 4:37-38 reads:

Because He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, He brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

(Deuteronomy 4:37-38 (NIV)

The word “Presence” refers to the fact that God was always there present in their midst.

; We read of the column of cloud and the pillar of fire.

Another way this is expressed in the Bible is “the presence-of-God”.

Whenever God had a special revelation for the people He would appear to them.

It was this Presence who secured their victory at the Red See over the forces of the Pharaoh and the Amalekites.

He lived in their midst in the tabernacle which was located right in the centre of the camp of the Israelites.

; They could not move to their next stop in the desert unless the cloud would move.

The presence of the Presence was their security and hope.

His great strength referred to the omnipotence of God.

Nothing was too difficult for Him.

Out of the rock He would provide water.

But more than that, He provided victory over very strong kings and kingdoms.

There were Og and Sihon.

In the eyes of the sacred writers, this dual defeat is so significant that it can be ranked with the exodus as one of the singular manifestations of God’s saving intervention on behalf of his people, and as evidence of his everlasting love for them.

In Sihon’s refusal to grant Israel passage through his realm, displaying open hostility toward Israel, he was defeated and killed at Jahaz; his country was occupied by Israel.

Subsequently, it was distributed to the tribes of Gad and Reuben.

King Og was a giant of a man.

His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide.

(Deuteronomy 3:11).

Og had fortified his land with 60 walled cities and was probably overconfident before Moses’ army.

Moses completely destroyed the populace of those cities; he spared only the livestock and the spoils of war (Dt 3:5–6).

God drove out nations stronger that the Israelites before them, although they felt like grasshoppers compared to them.

My dear brother and sister, 2006 with its challenges lie ahead of us.

We have a Promised Land to conquer.

And how godless is the land; how powerful do the powers that control this world seem!

Think of the broken families, the street children, the alcohol and drug abuse, the lawlessness.

Let’s take a verse from the New Testament that describes our world: 

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

(Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)

Or:

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

Have nothing to do with them.

(2 Timothy 3:2-5)

It is into this world you and I are called to be bearers of light and shakers of salt.

How are we going to do it?

How are we going to have ultimate victory?

Remember the presence of God and remember his powerful acts with the Israelites.

Remember the powerful resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Remember his promise to be with us to the ends of the world.

Remember that God is omnipotent and that all power belongs to Him.

We pray:  “To You belong the Kingdom, the power and the glory.”

; How did a Martin Luther survive the attacks, or a John Calvin in the face of the mighty but godless Roman church?

They remembered the presence of God. 

; And William Tyndale and John Wycliffe?

; John Wycliffe knew the importance of the Word of God in the everyday language of the man on the street.

He translated the Bible in English and attacked the corruption in the ranks of the bishops and popes.