Sermon Tone Analysis

[SLIDE 1] Introduction

If you have your Bible, then I would invite you to turn to Acts 13:13-41.

Illustration

Let me begin by talking about promises.

I’m making the assumption that all of you have made promises in your life.

And I’m going to ask you three questions to reflect upon:

How many promises did you make in your lifetime?

How many of those promises did you keep?

How many of those promises did you break?

By reflecting upon those questions, let me proceed to have you consider these thoughts.

What about God? Did you know that God made promises in the Bible?

How many promises do you think God made as revealed in Scripture?

While we may not be able to determine the exact number, a scholar suggested that God made about 7,487 promises.

How many of those promises did God keep and break?

He kept 100% of them and broke none of them.

Biblical Theology

Here is what you need to know about God.

God is not like any of us.

He is unchanging.

He doesn’t vaccilate.

He doesn’t lie and break His promises.

When He makes His promises, He will fulfill them.

[SLIDE 2] Moses said this in Numbers 23:19

Numbers 23:19 (ESV)

19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

[SLIDE 3] King Solomon exclaimed in worship with these words found in 1 Kings 8:56.

1 Kings 8:56 (ESV)

56 “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised.

Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.

God made a big promise in which He fulfilled thousands of years and centuries later, and that is the sending of Jesus Christ, the Saviour.

What is so significant about this truth?

We will find out as we consider this passage that God is the Promise Keeper.

Context

Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the Antioch Church and the Holy Spirit on their missionary journey.

The first location was on the island of Cyprus.

We remember that Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, came to believe in the gospel while Elymas, the false prophet, was blinded by God for opposing the message of the missionaries.

[SLIDE 4] So, we pick up where we left off and we pay attention to the setting found in verses 13-14a.

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I want to briefly comment that there’s a subtle change in the mentioning of the characters.

Before, Luke indicated “Barnabas and Saul” in that order.

Here, it says, “Paul and his companions.”

Barnabas has so far been the leader while Paul has been in the background.

He’s an older and more experienced believer than Paul.

He had the characteristics of a godly Christian.

He’s the One who reached out to Paul when he became a Christian.

He’s the One who went to Antioch to encourage the Gentile believers to be faithful to the LORD, AND he recruited Paul to come alongside him to disciple these new believers in Antioch for at least one year.

Ever since Paul confronted Elymas in the previous passage, it seems that he has become the leader of this missionary trip and fulfill the calling in being Christ’s chosen instrument, and to carry the name of Jesus before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

And he’ll be the one who’ll preach the sermon in the Jewish synagogue.

And Barnabas didn’t seem to mind that at all.

If you remember the meaning of his name, it means “Son of Encouragement.”

He probably allowed and encouraged Paul to take ownership and leadership of this missionary trip.

[SLIDE 5] So, they’re in city of Paphos, located at the west coast of Cyprus.

And they’re going to sail to a port city called Perga in Pamphylia, which is the southern area of modern day Turkey.

[SLIDE 6] After they arrive, Luke notes that John (who’s also called Mark), who was assisting Paul and Barnabas, left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Why he left is unclear, but what is clear is that we find out at the end of Acts 15 that Paul wasn’t happy about that.

When Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them on their 2nd missionary journey, Paul said, “No,” because John Mark abandoned his responsibility and deserted his post, which was a serious breach in the mission work.

In ministry, you want a mature believer who is reliable and durable, not someone who leaves when things get tough.

[SLIDE 7] Luke doesn’t tell us exactly why John Mark withdrew from them.

One source suggests various possibilities:

First, John Mark was the cousin of Barnabas.

He might not have liked the idea of Paul leading this ministry instead of his cousin.

Since Paul was in charge, there may have been a change of plan.

We can assume that when they initially went to Cyprus, Barnabas was the one who chose that location.

Now, Paul has chosen to go to Perga.

Second, John Mark might have left because he didn’t want to face the many perils of travelling from Perga to Antioch.

This journey up the mountain was probably filled with notorious bands of robbers.

Third, since Perga was a port city and was near the water, it was filled with mosquitoes that carried malaria, a disease caused by a parasite, making people feel ill with high fever and chills.

Therefore, John Mark did not want to deal with malaria, so he went straight back to Jerusalem.

Now, I cannot be 100% sure why he left, but the 3rd suggestion might explain why Paul and his companions did not stay in Perga.

[SLIDE 8] Paul might have gotten sick and had to stay away from the sea level, and travel for 177km to Antioch in Pisidia because it was up on the hill at a higher altitude (This was a different Antioch, not the same Antioch where they were sent from.)

And Pisidia was part of the larger region called Galatia.

Paul wrote a letter to the Galatians, which was addressing to all the Christians living in that region.

[SLIDE 9] Paul says this in Galatians 4:13-14

Galatians 4:13–14 (ESV)

13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

So, you can imagine that this was an arduous or difficult journey.

Nonetheless, by God’s grace, they made it to Antioch.

[SLIDE 10] After however many days, in what became Paul’s pattern in his ministry, they went to the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath Day to worship God in Acts 13:14-16.

(READ)

The general order of service in the Jewish synagogue goes like this: There’s an opening Prayer.

There’s the Reading of the Torah, which means the Law in Hebrew that covers the first five books of the Old Testament.

And there’s the reading of the prophets.

After the reading, they invite guests to speak.

So, the rulers of the synagogues invites Paul and his companions to give a word of encouragement, probably because they recognized Paul as the teacher of the law.

Barnabas could have been the one to speak since he’s an encourager.

Ironically, Paul as the leader would be the one to do that.

So, Paul stood up to give a message, and motioning with his hands as a way to invite people to listen to him.

In Paul’s sermon, we’ll get a good understanding of how God is the Promise Keeper.

Just a disclaimer: while it may be spiritually beneficial to dissect each verse, I do not plan to do that because that’s not Paul’s point.

Paul’s point is found within the bigger picture of God’s sweeping history of salvation.

So, in his sermon founded in verses 17-41, I have four lessons for you to consider.

Exposition (Five Minutes For Each Point?)

[SLIDE 11-12] 1. God Was Actively Bringing His Promise To Fruition Throughout Redemptive History (vv.17-22) (READ)

Here, Paul is addressing two groups of people: Men of Israel and you who fear God.

In other words, he’s talking to the Jews and the Gentiles who converted to Judaism as God-fearers.

As you were following along in the reading, Paul gives a sweeping history of the Old Testament that covers about at least 450 years of Israel’s history.

By covering the Old Testament that his audience knew, Paul intends to point them to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah and the fulfillment of God’s promises.

However, some of you may have no clue what the Old Testament teaches, but that’s okay.