Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We have all seen, had told to us, or given speeches to encourage and fire up people to go into battle, a sporting event, or many other things in life.

We know they have great power to encourage and fire up people to go and do.

Let me give a couple from movies.

This speech from Aragorn in “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” right before they take on the evil Sauron’s forces:

This day we fight!

By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Sons of Gondor!

Of Rohan!

My brothers.

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.

A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.

An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!

Or this from William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in Braveheart right before they take on the English army in their first real battle.

Men were wanting to leave and live.

But Wallace tells them:

Aye, fight and you may die.

Run and you’ll live, at least a while.

And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!

A warriors call is what we see in these speeches.

As good and powerful as these may be, they are not nearly as powerful as the speech Christ gave in Acts 1:6-8

Being told you will receive power is one method to fire a man up to go and do something.

We have the power.

As one song says,

We have the power within us.

To move mountains if we try.

To change the course of rivers.

We have the power to give life.

Another band sings,

“Feel the fire, he's entering the ring,

His mindset only knows how to win,

This fighter will break you in two,

You will feel all his power!”

We have a power above all this.

These songs are singing about the power within a person from the person.

We have a power that is external to us until we believe in Christ.

This power is the Holy Spirit who is our guide, comforter, helper, and power to go and impact the world.

So our speech is to wait but serve because we are equipped to serve, we must witness of what we know, and we must go to as many places as possible.

The first thing to do is...

Trust God’s Timetable

The Disciples wanted to know since Jesus was resurrected if now would be the time for the kingdom to be established.

He said that it was not for them to know.

We need to realize from this that the kingdom will be future and that it will come when the Father says.

Also, we need to realize that we have work to do until the time is fulfilled and the Lord says now.

We are not in the kingdom now, but the kingdom will come when the Father says it will.

We are on a mission to reach as many as we can with the gospel of the grace of God.

We strive to get as many people to place their faith in Jesus as we can.

We are not to be so concerned with the redemption of our bodies and worried about the world that we fail to reach the lost with the gospel of salvation.

This is what Jesus was telling the disciples and what we can take from this too.

The disciples wanted to know Jesus’ timetable for the restoration of the kingdom.

Like other Jews, the disciples chafed under their Roman rulers.

They wanted Jesus to free Israel from Roman power and then become their king.

Jesus replied that God the Father sets the timetable for all events—worldwide, national, and personal.

If you want changes that God isn’t making immediately, don’t become impatient.

Instead, trust God’s timetable.

Remember that he is wise, good, and all-powerful.

Even when things seem chaotic, he is in control.

His perfect will ultimately will prevail.

(Bruce B. Barton and Grant R. Osborne, Acts, 8).

The times He has established are out of our hands and jurisdiction.

We have no power over when He will call it good and began to restore what He said He would restore.

We serve until that time as followers of Christ.

We serve our savior as good and faithful followers.

We sit patiently in the back seat and wait until the time is fulfilled.

Asking continually does not speed that time up, but makes it seem slower.

What does speed it up is serving the Lord as His followers are to do.

Which is what we see in verse 8.

Jesus told them, and us, that you will receive power from the Holy Spirit, you will be my witnesses, and that we are to take the message to all places and everyone everywhere.

We see that the first aspect of our witnessing aspect of discipleship is that...

We Are Equipped with Extreme Power

The Holy Spirit is the Power we all receive upon salvation.

He is the power that allows us to be bold and stand boldly for the Lord.

When we have this power in us, there is nothing that can stop us if what we are doing is in the will of God.

Think about some things that happened in the OT.

David had the Spirit of God upon him and he was a victorious king in all battles.

Joshua had the power of the Lord with Him and he only walked around Jericho and it fell.

Moses parted the sea.

There are many more but the point is, when we are serving God in His will and doing what He has for us to do, the power we have through the Holy Spirit in us will allow for us to do many things.

We are like the fighter entering the ring that everyone will feel our power.

We will be able to break the world in two.

We have this power inside us and we can be bold and powerful in a world of lost and dying people.

We can be bold and impact them like that fighter where they feel our power and their power falls and fails because their power is only from the world and the demonic.

We can serve until the Lord returns.

We are here to go and do until we die or he calls us home by snatching us out.

While we wait we use the power given to impact the world.

Think of Noah.

He was told to build an ark because the flood was coming.

He worked for many years and preached while working.

He was given a strong charge and specific orders.

He worked while time went by.

Then in his 600th year, the flood waters fell (Gen.

6:19).

Noah did not sit around and complain about the evil wicked people, he worked as he was told to do and preached while doing so (2 Pet.

2:5).

So while we wait on the Lord to pull us out and pour out wrath and then come again to set up His kingdom, we work and we speak boldly because we have the power to do this.

This work is...

All Believers are to be Witnesses

We all receive the power.

This means that each believer is called to go and witness for the Lord.

Just as Noah received instructions to build, we have received instructions to be witnesses.

Now, the witness the first disciples had was of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

They saw this first hand and knew that He was the savior for the world.