Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Hook
Community, mission, giving - WINDSOR STORY
Introduce Subject
- Today I want to talk about God’s mission for God’s people
the greek word koinonia
It has purpose connoted with it
It’s done on purpose
We aren’t just a mere charity
We don’t meet for our own purpose; we meet for the purpose of God
Define Subject
Fallen Condition Focus
- Our lifestyle plus Jesus vs. a Jesus community lifestyle
Reason to Hear
My hope is that we would be challenged to allow the grace of Jesus to transform our lifestyles to reflect his
Transition to Text
Unpack the Text
v. 32
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind.
No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
This is the description of the New Testament church and what a beautiful description it is
I love the line “no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
Reminds me of a sermon that I will never forget that my wife and I still joke about - It was a sermon on giving from the Good Samaritan done by a Scottish preacher named Bill Stewart
What’s yours is mine
What’s mine is mine
What’s mine is yours but it will cost you something
What’s mine is yours and you can freely have it
One of the fears we have when we open ourselves to this radical kind of generosity is that people will take advantage of us and abuse our generosity.
But in order for us to receive the blessing from being generous we have to risk being burned.
Again, I love that line, No one claimed any of their possessions.
You have heard me preach on this before, but none of these believers felt entitled to their own things but released them freely to the Lordship of Jesus
This is a no-strings-attached kind of generosity.
Radical generosity that advances the mission of God.
All the believers were one in heart and mind.
What do you suppose they were one in heart and mind about?
Jesus and his mission.
And so when we think about people sharing their possessions they did so to advance God’s mission in the world.
It wasn’t just to give out for charities sake.
How might God be calling our church to express radical hospitality?
How might God be calling our church to express radical hospitality?
No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had...
Man, I want us to get there!! Man, I want to get there!!
Imagine using every possession you had for the kingdom of God whether that be your vehicles, your homes, your finances everything.
Imagine if we believed in the church to that degree that we expressed radical generosity.
Stephen and his shed for Jason’s rope
There is huge sacrifice involved but hasn’t God called us to sacrifice?
Doesn’t it bring God’s pleasure when we choose to honour him by sacrificing our resources, comfort and convenience for his namesake?
No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they share everything they had.
I know I am being a bit repetitious here but there is a a nugget of gold that I think people in our church at least partly model.
There is a huge blessing for people that get to this point in their relationship with God when we don’t claim any possessions as our own and sharing everything.
Is there anything in your heart that says, what I have is mine and I’m unwilling to share it.
I would challenge you with this.
That thing has become an idol and something you are unwilling to yield to Jesus control.
The reason I am not moving from this point is because I think there is something God wants to do in some of our hearts.
There is an incredible freedom that comes when we surrender ourselves to this radical kind of generosity.
And when we do we walk in the blessing of God.
If we are going to grow to become the church God wants us to be we need to mature to the point of expressing radical generosity.
To me this is a key mark of whether people are spiritually mature or not.
Do you share everything you have?
Or do you hold back some of the things you have?
We’ll come back to this again in a sec but I want to prime the pump so to speak.
33 With great power the apostles continued to testifyo to the resurrectionp of the Lord Jesus.
And God’s graceq was so powerfully at work in them all
So as time went on the apostles continued to testify or proclaim the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
In other words they continued to tell other people that Jesus had indeed been risen from the dead.
To them they didn’t merely tell people that this was a factual thing; though it was.
They continued to tell people that Jesus was risen from the dead and that there is tremendous meaning behind this act that God has done.\
Because Jesus is risen from the dead
God has proved that he is the Messiah we have been waiting for
We are all called to turn from our sin and put our faith in this Jesus
This Jesus has the power to forgive our sin
This Jesus has the ability to heal and restore
This Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God and now rules over the universe
That Jesus has conquered death and the grave and that by putting our faith in him we can have eternal life
So when the text says they proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus they proclaimed BOTH that it happened AND what it meant!!
It is interesting because the Bible says that they proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power.
What do you think that meant?
It meant that God worked supernaturally through the apostles and backed up there message with signs and wonders
But it also characterizes the way in which they declared the message.
Have you ever left a church service and say WOW, that was a powerful service?
I mean the worship and preaching was good but there was something underneath the surface that impacted you in a deep, profound way.
There was actually a power at work; a great power at work.
That same great power at work in the apostles is at work here today and has the power to literally change lives.
How many of you want to see lives transformed by the power of Jesus?
How many of you want your life transformed by the power of Jesus?
The substance that is the undercurrent of the people of God is the presence and power of God
And God’s graceq was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them.
For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them,r brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet,s and it was distributed to anyone who had need.t
I love this next section too
I love this next section too
And God’s Grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.
WOW! That’s the vision of the church that I want us to be, AMEN!!!
Imagine if that was true of us; there was no need among us.
I also love the emphasis on God’s grace being at work.
When I first became a Christian I wondered what grace meant.
When God’s grace is at work it is working in peoples lives to bring about change and transformation.
Before we accept Jesus God’s grace is at work in our lives to draw us into relationship with him.
Then, the moment we accept Jesus God’s grace brings us to the point of accepting Jesus.
Then God’s grace works in our lives to give us the strength to serve him, to help us surrender to him and to inspire us to bless one another.
When we as believers unite and allow the grace of Jesus to work in and through our lives people notice
Luke here is writing about how the grace of Jesus was tangibly and powerfully at work in the church.
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