Sermon Tone Analysis

! Monday, February 10, 2003

My name is George, which is a very unsuitable name for me.

My name means farmer.

It comes from the Greek - “geo,” from which we get “geography” and “ergos” from which we get “ergonomic.”

Thus we get earth worker or farmer.

Now I am anything but a farmer.

I do plant a garden, but do the minimum to keep it up and spend as little time in it as possible.

That is the way names are these days.

They do not mean much.

Although the other day we received an email from Carla’s niece who had difficulty conceiving and now is carrying triplets.

They know that they are going to get two girls and a boy.

They have already named the babies and wrote in their email that baby A is going to be Caroline Grace - Caroline - “after grandma” Grace - “The grace of God we were able to conceive.”

Baby B is Zachariah Robert - Zachariah - “God remembered” and Robert after the father.

Baby C is to be Hannah Lynne - Hannah - “after the woman in the Bible who couldn’t conceive, but God finally heard her and opened her womb and also I was involved for 3 years with Hannah’s Prayer, a support group for infertile women,” Lynne - my middle name.

That is a lot of meaning put into the name, but that kind of thing is somewhat unusual in our day.

There was a time, however, in Biblical days when a name meant a lot.

The name of a person would indicate much about the person.

For example, At one time, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and the change in name meant a great change for Abraham, it indicated that he was going to be the father of nations.

Jesus was given many different names.

One name was “Immanuel” which means God with us.

The name “Jesus” was specifically given to Jesus because it means saviour and Jesus, of course, came to be saviour.

Not only can names have great meaning as the means of identifying a person.

Sometimes we get to know people by their name and our relationship to them is defined by the name we give them.

For example, my wife had a teacher by the name of Mr. Dan Block when she was in high school.

At the time, she called him “Mr.

Block” as was appropriate for a student.

Later, when we were already in church ministry, Mr. Block represented a school and sometimes came out to visit churches.

When he came to visit us, he was now a peer and not a teacher anymore and so he told my wife to call him “Dan.”

A new relationship was defined by a new name.

With these thoughts in mind, please listen carefully to Psalm 9:10.

I will read verses 1-10.

The context of this passage is one of some of the work which God has done for David.

David mentions such things as

Vs. 3 - “My enemies turn back…”

Vs. 5 - “You have destroyed the wicked…”

Vs. 8 - “He will judge the world in righteousness…”

Vs. 9 - “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”

Take note particularly of verse 10 which says, “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Knowledge of the name of God is a powerful thing.

It isn’t about knowing a label for God, it is about knowing who God is.

God is given many names and each name tells us something about what God does and how he acts.

Different people have gotten to know different names for God by their experience.

For example, when Hagar was sent away by Sarah, she met God when he provided for her and in Genesis 16:13 it says, She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

By what name have you come to know God?

The other thing that is an encouragement in this verse is that when we come to know the name of God, in other words, to experience God and discover his character, we will come to trust Him.

My desire is to know more and more about God and to trust Him.

I am like the man who said to Jesus “I believe, help my unbelief.”

I desire to know more and more of God so that I can trust Him more and more deeply.

Is this your desire?

I invite you to experience God today and as you discover the name of God, I invite you to trust Him.

!

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

I read this story from God’s Vitamin C. It was written by Nancy Dorner.

A small congregation built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member.

Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building.

Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot they would be unable to use the new sanctuary.

Unfortunately, the church with its undersized parking lot had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built.

In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard.

Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with the members who had “mountain moving faith.”

They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.

At the appointed time, two dozen of the congregations 300 members assembled for prayer.

They prayed for nearly three hours.

At ten o’clock the pastor said the final “Amen.”

:We’ll open next Sunday as scheduled,” he assured everyone.

“God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too.”

The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door.

When he called “come in,” a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered.

Excuse me, Reverend, I’m from Acme Construction Company over in the next county.

We’re building a new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt.

Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church?

We’ll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, if we can have it right away.

We can’t do anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly.”

In Genesis 17:1-8.

God revealed himself to Abraham by saying “I am God Almighty.”

Let’s read this story.

Now the name “El Shaddai” means “God Almighty.”

It reveals God as the one who is able.

As we read this encounter between God and Abram, it is clear that God’s power and ability come to the front.

It is a story that happens when Abram is 99 years old.

Allowing for time for the baby to mature in the womb, Abraham later in the conversation asks, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old” Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”

Abraham finds it so unbelievable that this could happen that he suggests to God that Ishmael could be the proper heir.

But God promises that it will be Sarah.

Clearly this is something impossible, something only God Almighty could do.

In this story, we also notice that God changes the name of Abram from Abram to Abraham.

The passage indicates that the new name comes with a new meaning - “father of many nations.”

Abram who at 99 years old had one son would be the father of many nations.

Clearly another example of a work of God Almighty - something only God could do.

It is also interesting throughout this passage the number of times it says, “I will.”

Beginning in verse 6 we read, “I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you…I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant…I will give you (the whole land of Canaan) as an everlasting possession…” All of these things are in the hand of God and only He is able to do them.

What a powerful experience that must have been for Abraham, to meet God as God Almighty.

Have we met God as God almighty, the one who is able to do many things that are far beyond our ability?

Have we trusted that He is able?

!

Wednesday, February 12, 2003, morning

            There is a strange feeling I get when I wear good clothes.

I brought along several types of clothing to come on this trip.

I brought along some clothes that I wear when I am on the job site.

When I wear that clothes, I am not afraid to kneel down in the dirt, splash paint on myself or get dirty in any other way.

The clothes is not precious to me, it is easily cleaned and if it is wrecked, it just doesn’t matter.

I did not bring my Sunday suit, however.

I can’t imagine going to the job site in my Sunday suit.

It is clean, it is more expensive than any other clothes I have and when I wear it, I have a strong sense of making sure it doesn’t get dirty.