Sermon Tone Analysis

A Bright future

The law goes out from Zion

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!!! Doxology:     Hymn no 331:    /“Majesty”/

!!! Votum

 

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Call to worship

!!!!!! Bible Verse

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

(Psalm 95:1-3)

 

!!! Invocation and the Lord’s Prayer

!!!!!! Invocation

O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.

(1 Kings 8:23)

May You, LORD our God, be with us as You were with our fathers; may You never leave us nor forsake us.

\\ May You turn our hearts to You, to walk in all your ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations You gave our fathers.

(1 Kings 8:57-58)

Hear our prayer as we pray and unite as your gathered church under the Headship of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ who taught us to pray:

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The Lord’s Prayer

!!! Psalm 97:                       /“The Lord now Reigns” (Tune Rejoice 93)/

Sing as follows:          Verse 1:  All

                                        Verse 2:  Ladies

                                        Verse 3:  All

                                        Verse 4:  All

                                        Verse 5:  Men

                                        Verse 6:  All

!!! Children’s Address

!!! Hymn No 251:                            /“I heard the voice of Jesus say”/

!!! Scripture Reading:                    /Ephesians 3:1-13/

!!! Prayer of Adoration and Confession

Almighty God and Father,

We look upon the stars at night as they shimmer in the sky, \\ we see the planets dance among their light and praise the Lord most high.

For You are God Almighty who owns the heavens; yours are the planets, the stars, and sun.

You alone deserve our worship.

The sun arises, bringing light, it warms and cheers the land.

So every nation can see your might and the goodness of your hand.

We see the oceans full of waves that crash upon the shore, and echo in the great sea caves to praise God evermore.

We ask: Why don't people give You praise when You own everything?

Oh, Lord, teach us to honour You in all our ways because You are Lord and King.

!!!!!! Confession

 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

I wait for the LORD, and in his word I put my hope.

\\ Our soul wait for You, O Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Father, as we confess our sin and wrongdoing, please forgive us.

Teach us put our hope in You, our LORD, for with You, O LORD, is unfailing love and with You is full redemption.

Only You yourself will and redeem us from all our sins.

(Psalm 130)

Father, hear our plea for grace and forgiveness.

We pray this only on account of the righteousness in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

!!! Declaration of pardoning

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

(1 John 1:9)

!!! Hymn No 515:                            /“Search me O God” (Tune 362)/

!!! Announcements

!!! Offering and Dedication

!!! Prayer for others

!!! Scripture Reading

!!! Prayer opening of the Word

!!! Sermon

!!!!!! Introduction

Dear Brother and Sister in the Lord Jesus Christ,

*8* Is everything for the Christian doom and gloom?

Do we have a future?

We look around us and apparently it is the world which has the victory.

We even see the evil creep right into the church to destroy it from within.

Do we have a hope?  *8** *What is the anchor for our hope?

More:  is the hope we have so distant that we lose sight of the benefits of the victory in Jesus Christ for our everyday walk with the Lord and work in his service?

We as Christians agree we have a hope and a future, but we be honest and confess that we can at times be so pessimistic that we only think of our future as the time we will spend in eternity, after the return of Jesus Christ.

The Bible wants us to understand that we indeed have a bright future.

And more to the point, the bright future with Christ one day is shaped so that our waiting for that day does not become a meaningless groan and sigh.

No, the parables of Christ tell us to be busy until our Master returns.

It also promises growth of the investment of talents into the life of the church.

*8* Let’s say it loud and clear, without fear of contradiction: God promised us a bright future.

!!!!!! *8* Eschatology

The study of the last things as we deal with it in the theology is called eschatology.

The doctrine expressed as eschatology The Lord Jesus Christ declared that He has overcome the world, and that He will be with us till the very end of earthly history; He promised that He will return one day in majesty to judge the nations and to vindicate and rescue his elect to be with Him into all eternity.

*8* It is exceedingly sorrowful that this very promise of our Lord drives Christians in different camps and causes confusion to the point that they lose hope in the future!

As Presbyterians we have certain aspects of the return of Christ that we firmly believe.

The WCF states:

God has appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.

In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.

The righteous shall go into everlasting life, and receive that fullness of joy and refreshing, which shall come from the presence of the Lord; but the wicked who do not know God, and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

That day is unknown to men, that they may shake off all worldly security, and always be watchful, because they do not know at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, “Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen”.

That is what we believe about the return of Christ.

But that is not all what the Bible teaches about what is broadly referred to as the “last days”.

*8* This period is not only that final day or moment, but it includes what leads up to that glorious moment.

!!!!!! *8** *An important aspect to understand prophecy in the Scripture

8 Progressive development of the revelation

We need to understand that there is and was progression and development in the way God revealed Himself through the history of Israel and the church.

It starts with Adam and Eve.

After they fell into sin, God gave them a promise.

This promise shows development.

*8* There would eventually be someone who would finally crush the head of the serpent.

This promise is fulfilled in and through Noah, but not finally.

It unfolds in the life of Abraham, but not finally.

It progressed in the life of Moses, but not finally.

And so the development of the revelation continues through the prophets, the kings and the whole sacrificial system of the Old Covenant.

*8* But all along the way it pointed forward to the ultimate One, Jesus Christ, who bring and end to the waiting period to ultimately fulfil the promise completely.