Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
When we are experiencing success in the Christian life, when we have a spiritual victory, we often refer to that as a “mountaintop experience”.
This term comes from the life of Elijah.
Specifically it comes from his time on Mt.
Carmel where God used Elijah in his defeat of the prophets of Baal.
Elijah was privileged to experience God’s great victory on that day.
However, what happened right after that?
Elijah wound up hungry and defeated in the wilderness.
Many times the spiritual mountaintops of victory are followed by the valleys of suffering.
Lightning strikes mountaintops.
In the book of Acts we have seen over and over again that after a great spreading of the gospel, trials and suffering come.
In ch.
11 the gospel begins to go out to the ends of the earth.
Gentiles are being saved!
Lives are being transformed!
On this spiritual mountaintop, lightning is about to strike.
God has Saul and Barnabas in place to encourage the church because they are about to need it desperately.
This is always God’s plan.
He knows the future.
He knows that the early church is going to face persecution.
He is putting people in place to get the church through this time.
What we are going to consider this morning is two actions we can take when trials come.
When we take these actions, trials will bring growth and opportunity.
Action #1…
1.
When Trials Come, Respond 11:27-30
How do people know we are Christians?
This is actually the final part of the message from May 27th.
In that message we saw Barnabas living up to his name as he encouraged believers in Antioch.
In the end of the chapter this church hears of a famine.
What we will consider is how they respond to that news.
How do people know we are Christians?
There are two options.
By what we say, and/or by what we do.
There is a saying that pretty much everyone knows, “actions speak louder than words”.
Therefore, A believer in Jesus Christ is primarily recognized by how they act.
I believe this explains why so much time is spent in the epistles detailing how we as believers are to act.
What we are about to see is how the teaching and lifestyle of Barnabas and Saul has impacted the believers in Antioch.
We get a look at how actions provide encouragement.
First we see…
a. Relief needed vv.
27-28
READ v. 27
Prophet in the technical sense.
People who can foretell the future.
Again, this is a temporary sign gift that passed off the scene with the completion of Scripture.
Prophets travel from Jerusalem to Antioch (S).
Not a short trip.
Why? Didn’t come to give this prophecy.
Most likely came to fellowship with and encourage this new church in Antioch.
READ v. 28
There is a key phrase here.
“By the Spirit”.
This is not Agabus discovering something or having this innate ability.
This is a Spiritual gift given and activated by the Holy Spirit.
Foretold a famine.
Will affect everyone.
Poss.
just Roman empire.
Not clear.
We are told that this famine actually happened.
They hear of this need prophetically through the Holy Spirit.
How do we hear today?
We have to tell each other!
I believe that we wound the heart of God when we deny our brothers and sisters the blessing of helping us in our need.
To bear burdens, we must share burdens.
How many people remember the Y2K scare?
The year 2,000 was supposed to crash all computer systems.
The world was going to be plunged back into the dark ages.
Power outages were predicted, food shortages, the availability of water.
Some people talked about it like it was going to be an apocalypse.
I personally knew people who started to stockpile supplies.
People bought generators and all kinds of survival gear.
Now, nothing happened.
Midnight on December 31, 1999 ticked over to January 1, 2000 and nothing changed.
The point is this.
What is a normal response to knowing there will be famine?
Hoard!
What happens here?
In the next few verses we see the…
b.
Relief supplied vv.
29-30
READ v. 29
This is incredible!
They send relief.
Here is the result of Barnabas and Saul’s teaching and lifestyle.
This local body of believers have so learned encouragement, they want to encourage others!
There are some important points here.
The disciples send relief according to their ability.
Ability – ὐπορέω (euporeō) prosper.
To be prosperous v. — to be or become marked by being in fortunate circumstances financially.
Ability – ὐπορέω (euporeō)
They are sending out of their surplus.
The idea is not to make yourself a beggar so you can give.
It is to live within your means so that you can give.
The word “determined” has the idea of intention.
They are examining their resources and ordering them in such a way that they are able to give.
We call this a budget.
One very strong argument for a budget is that it enables you to give to the Lord.
To be an encouragement and blessing to others!
Here are two very clear passages that deal with giving.
; (S).
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