Sermon Tone Analysis

Greeting and Announcements

Josh Dickson will be preaching February 26th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service; he will also be teaching Discipleship Groups on March 8th, 2023.

Pastor Daniel and Natalie will be out of town February 24-25 and March 8-11.

In addition, Pastor Daniel will be out of town February-28-March 1 until the evening service.

In case of emergency, please contact a deacon.

Pastor Jordan Alturas of The Fellowship Church (State College, PA) will be preaching March 12th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service.

Starting March 1, 2023, our service times will be different—there will no longer be a 9am Discipleship Group hour on Sunday mornings and our AM Worship time will start at 10:45am.

Wednesdays will still start at 7pm (utilizing the Answers in Genesis curriculum) with a light dinner served at 6:45pm through the Bible Study hour—everything on Wednesdays will be moved into the Activity Room.

Giving Reminder

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 71:17-21.

Please stand and read it with me responsively—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Congregational Singing

My Worth is not in what I Own (98)

I Know Whom I Have Believed (356)

Scripture Reading

Our Scripture Reading this morning is Genesis 19:1-22, which records the rescue of Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom.

Natalie, can you read Genesis 19:1-22?

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 10:34-48)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Acts 10:34-48.

You’ll note that this is part two of two concerning the spread of the Gospel to Gentiles in the book of Acts, which means that I need to do a bit of a recap to reorient our minds and prepare us for the text for this morning.

And I think the best way to do that, is by re-reading two verses that we worked through last week, which will launch us into the sermon.

Prayer for Illumination

Recap of Last Week (34-35)

So last week, we ended with two verses that tie these passages together, Peter says in vv.

34-35, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

This statement is the overarching idea that ties these passages together.

And the proof for this is evident just by reminding ourselves of last week’s passage.

In vv.

1-33, we read about a man named Cornelius and a man named Peter.

Both men were in completely different places when they both get different visions.

Cornelius gets a vision about a man named Peter and Peter gets this rather unusual vision concerning animals floating down from the sky and a command telling him to eat these unclean animals, which he rejects multiple times.

It is only after Peter is gathered by Cornelius’ men to come and speak with him that he connects the meaning of the vision with the truth that God was teaching him and when he speaks with Cornelius, he makes the statement that “God has shown [him] that [he] should not call any person common or unclean.”

Both men getting visions of a differing nature but from the same God reminds us of some things concerning God and His ability.

That God is sovereign and He providentially moves in such a way is vitally important to remember.

That God’s ability supersedes any one location is also vitally important to remember.

It reminds us that God works in great and sometimes mysterious ways to accomplish his purpose and save His people.

Again, ultimately, the whole point of this passage is found in the last two verses that we looked at last week, which transition us into this week’s passage.

That “Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

Or in other words, though our usually sinful desire is to focus on socio-economic differences, God could care less about our socio-economic differences.

For example, in sin, we differentiate between those that are in different tax brackets or those with fancier cars or those with nicer houses.

In sin, we treat people differently depending on their wealth, status, or skin tone.

But God is no respecter of persons and God shows no partiality—He doesn’t care about your tax bracket, fancy, car, nice house (or lack thereof.

And He doesn’t care about your wealth, status, or skin tone.

And really, what we came to as we ended last week’s sermon was that the application in play is rather simple—you need to proclaim the Gospel to anyone regardless of their ethnicity, wealth, or really any socio-economic difference.

The question then is and here’s where we pick up today, what exactly ought we to proclaim?

What constitutes as the Gospel or the Good News?

The answer to this is found in vv.

36-43.

As this historical narrative continues.

Let’s read vv.

36-43.

The Proclamation of the Gospel (36-43)

Peter speaks to these Gentile people about a “word that [God] sent to Israel” or put differently, Peter refers to a message that has been given by God to Israel and the message is rather simple

He expounds on this message in vv.

36-43.

That Jesus in v. 38, “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.”

In v. 39, that “they [meaning the Israelites] put [Jesus] to death by hanging him on a tree,” but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear.”

That Jesus in v. 42, “commanded [them] to preach to the people and to testify that [Jesus] is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”

And it is this same Jesus, the one who lived, died, was buried, and resurrected that was prophesied by the prophets throughout the Old Testament (according to v. 43).

And it is through this Jesus that God grants the “Forgiveness of sins through his name” based (according to v. 43) on their genuine belief in Jesus.

Or put differently, what Peter claims is the Good News, what He preaches as the Gospel is actually rather simple and it’s based on a simple truth.

We, meaning you and I, are all sinners and there is nothing that either one of us can do to save ourselves from the consequences of our sins—we need a Savior.

We need a Savior that can atone for our sins and offer us salvation.

And Peter is pointing out and emphasizing the fact that it was and is Jesus—Jesus is the Savior that atones for our sins and offers us salvation.

It is through Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection that He grants us forgiveness of sins and offers us salvation.

How does Peter know this?

How does he know that Jesus is the Savior?

He gives us a few reasons:

In v. 37, he points to John the Baptist—in particular, he points at Jesus’ baptism in which God anoints Jesus in v. 38.

In v. 38, he continues by pointing out Jesus’ life and how he did good and healed and exorcized demons because “God was with him.”

But in v. 39, he really hits the reasoning hard, they know this, because they “are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.”

They saw the crucifixion, they experienced the resurrection, they ate and drank with Jesus after “he rose from the dead.”

What is the primary reason for them to know that Jesus is truly the Savior?

Because they saw Him and they touched Him and they ate with Him and they lived life with Him.

They witnessed the life, death, and burial of Jesus; they experienced His resurrection.

To them, there’s no question as to who Jesus was and is, they know it because they saw it happen.

And if it weren’t enough to simply experience these things and for the experience to compel them to proclaim Jesus, Peter says in v. 42, that Jesus commanded them to preach, to proclaim to the people and to testify that Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead.

So, again, what exactly is the Gospel?

It’s what Peter claims to be the Good News—and the news is rather simple.

We, meaning you and I, are all sinners and there is nothing that any one of us can do to save ourselves from the consequences of our sins—we need a Savior.

We need a Savior that can atone for our sins and offer us salvation.

And Peter is pointing out and emphasizing the fact that it was and is Jesus—Jesus is the Savior that atones for our sins and offers us salvation.

It is through Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection that He grants us forgiveness of sins and offers us salvation.

When you proclaim the Gospel, this is what you ought to proclaim.

There is power in telling testimonies about your life, there is power in explaining what Jesus accomplished in your life, there is purpose behind exhorting people to believe because of the amazing things that Jesus has done for you.

But if your presentation of the Gospel or your testimony never gets to the point that you realized that you were a sinner, that you understood that you couldn’t save yourself, and that you needed a Savior;

If you’re testimony never gets to the point in which you explain how you realized that Jesus is the Savior and that you needed to repent and believe, then your testimony isn’t as helpful as you think it is;

And you’re not actually proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ—you’re simply telling a story about your life.

Anytime you have an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel or give a testimony, you need to explain the whole Gospel—that sinners are in desperate need of a Savior and Jesus is that Savior.

When you proclaim the Gospel, this is what you ought to proclaim.

Now, in this instance as Peter proclaims the Gospel to the Gentiles that surround him, there’s something unique happening that had only happened twice before and hasn’t happened since.

In Acts 2, we read about the Holy Spirit being poured out amongst Jewish believers and it was a unique situation because the Holy Spirit then permanently indwelled those believers.

In Acts 8, we read about the Holy Spirit falling amongst Samaritan believers and it was a unique situation because the Holy Spirit then permenantly indwelled those believers.

Here, in Acts 10:44-48, we read about the Holy Spirit falling upon all those who heard the word, the Gentiles and it was a unique situation because the Holy Spirit then permenantly indwelled these believers.

Let’s look at the last five verses—vv 44-48.

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (44-48)

Now, some Christians believe that this new pouring out on the Gentiles involves what they call a second blessing in which they’re given gifts like spontaneous healing, speaking in tongues, and others but notice what the problem with that idea is: it’s three fold:

First, though they’re now given the Holy Spirit and they do speak in tongues in v. 46, that isn’t the main point, is it?

The speaking in tongues portion of the text is literally just part of one sentence that’s primarily about their response to the Holy Spirit indwelling them.

The speaking in tongues actually isn’t the gift that they’re celebrating—it’s the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that is the gift that they’re celebrating.