Sermon Tone Analysis

The wonderful truths of Scripture teach us that God is the one who will build His church.

We Jesus Christ is the central portion of the preaching of the gospel God will grow his church.

The beautiful truth of this is, the hand of the Lord Grows His church, not the preachers hand or the congregations hand but God’s hand.

He is the One who saves and He is the One who adds members to His kingdom and we are His servants in His work.

The Hand of the Lord has been Growing His Church and even today He is growing His Church.

Something we need to keep in mind behind this reality that God’s hand is growing the church is the fact that He is the One working and we as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ need to respond to this work of the Lord through celebration and encouragement.

We will see how this works in our study this morning as we look at The hand of the Lord in Growing His Church.

The Hand of the Lord in Growing His Church

If your have your Bibles turn with me to Acts 11:19-30.

Now we are in the city of Antioch and we found last week that this is the third largest city in the Roman Empire.

The gospel is spreading out of Israel’s boarders and it is going to the Gentiles.

The church is growing by leaps and bounds and all of this is due to God’s Sovereign work.

The hand of the Lord was also with those who were to confirm this was God's work.

In verse 22, "The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch."

The church was not growing in a vacuum.

People were not just out doing their own thing.

Word of the gospel spreading through Antioch reached the hub of the Christian church, in Jerusalem.

When they heard about this they sent Barnabas out to Antioch to investigate and corroborate what was happening in the city of Antioch.

Barnabas was a likely candidate because he was from Cyprus.

He was more then likely familiar with the area seeing as how he was from the Island of Cyprus and when they would go to the main land Antioch would have been the port of choose since it was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.

It was pretty much a strait shot to Antioch from Cyprus so why wouldn't he have gone there when he came to the main land.

When Barnabas arrived and he witnessed or saw with his own eyes what God was doing in this city he rejoiced.

He was overjoyed to see these large numbers of people trusting in the Lord.

The Hand of the Lord at Work in a pagan city like Antioch sparked a celebration.

The Hand of Lord Sparks Celebration

Witnessing the Hand of the Lord at work in people being saved from Hell should be a time of rejoicing it should be a time to celebrate.

This is the proper attitude when God is at work.

In fact the Scripture teaches there should be rejoicing over those sinner who repent of their sin.

This is the Hand of the Lord at work, this is amazing grace.

There is nothing greater then knowing someone has been plucked out of the fiery pits of hell.

Especially those who have already experienced this same grace.

What is unique here is that Barnabas is rejoicing not just over sinners being saved by God's grace but the Gentiles were being saved from damnation.

Luke seems to have a deep understanding of the joy that is sparked by a sinner coming to repentance.

In his gospel he is the only one who records the parables of the lost things that we find in Luke 15.

Luke 15 is the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the prodigal son.

Each of these were told masterfully be The Master.

There are some similarities in each of the parables.

Each person in the parable lost something but it was something valuable to the owner.

The first parable, was a rhetorical question directed at the audience for the purpose of making them think about their own livelihood.

Jesus asks them in verse 4, "what man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing."

There is joy in finding what is lost.

Not only is their joy in finding what is lost but verse 6 Jesus says the one with the lost sheep celebrates and calls his neighbors to come celebrate with him.

The same goes for the coin the woman loses in verse 8-10.

She lights a lamp and searches thoroughly until she finds it.

Now this is not just loosing a penny here it is misplacing a weeks salary.

It hurts when it is missing.

What does she do when she finds it, celebrates and calls her friends and neighbors together to celebrate with her.

Verse 7 and 10 give us the comparison, verse 7 tells us, "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

And verse 10, "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Repentance leads to rejoicing, Salvation is reason to celebrate.

The Prodigal Son, the one who asked his father for his inheritance while his father was alive pretty much telling his father I wish you were dead.

Took the inheritance and blew it all on loose living, chasing after the decadence of this dark and cruel world following after the lusts of his heart until he hit rock bottom and found himself in the most foul of places for an Israelite, feeding pigs and starving to the point that he would have gladly eaten the pigs slop until he came to his senses and returned home to his father begging forgiveness and asking to be a hired hand.

What did his father do when he saw him coming.

Verse 20, "So he got up and came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him."

His father didn't even wait for the son to speak, he didn't wait on the speech the son had planned and the proposal the son had for the father.

The father through mercy and grace provide for the son what he didn't deserve, reinstatement in to the family again and he kicked it off with a celebration.

This is a beautiful picture of what God does for us and what happens when a sinner repents.

If this is how God reacts to a sinners repentance than so should we.

That is what Barnabas does when he enters the city of Antioch and witnesses with his own eyes how the hand of the Lord is bringing considerable numbers to the church.

This is an amazing event to witness.

We need to have this same mentality this same attitude when it comes to the salvation of the lost and even if those who are saved are people we don't like.

We should be encouraged by God’s work in and through these people.

Barnabas was encouraged by it that is why he rejoiced that is why he celebrated.

It was because he witnessed God at work in a people outside the boarders of Israel and to a people group that were at one point considered unclean by the Israelites.

I am always struck by the stories of people who's family members were murdered and the family members of the deceased go to the murderer and they forgive the person without the person even asking for it or demonstrating any remorse.

Their only intention is to see the murder saved.

They desire what God desires the repentance of sinners which is followed by a celebration.

It is truly self-righteous to think a person doesn't deserve to be saved, it is self-righteous to think you wouldn't give the gospel to someone because of their lifestyle.

Or to think after someone you have had issues with comes to you and says guess what, Jesus has changed my heart, I am no longer the sinner I once was now I am going to Heaven because He is my King and Savior.

You smile and walk away thinking why him or her.

That is not the attitude any believer should ever have when a sinner comes to repentance, the attitude we are to have is one of rejoicing and celebration.

This is what the hand of the Lord has done in the 1 century church and that is still what God is doing today in His Church.

He is growing His church bringing people to repentance and this should spark a celebration in our lives and in the lives of those who God has brought in to His family.

In a sense we do this when it comes to Baptism.

Baptism is a physical display of a persons trust in Christ.

The going underwater and coming back out is symbolic of the believer being buried and rising out of the water he or she is symbolically clean.

You identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and when you come up it is a sign of the hope you have in Christ that you have eternal life in Him.

It is a celebration.

The Hand of the Lord Sparks a Celebration in the growth of His Church His hand is also seen in Encouragement.

The Hand of the Lord seen in Encouragement

Once Barnabas noticed what God was doing in Antioch not only did he rejoice but he also went right into action and began to encourage these believers and it wasn’t just an add-a-boy and a slap on the back but a persuasion to stay the course they have just begun.

Now look these people are in Antioch, a big city with a lot that can sway them from trusting God.

As well as their family and friends ridiculing them for not continuing to go to the Daphnae temple or not being involved in all the horrific entertainment they are involved in.

Barnabas saw that these people came to know the Lord and with strong determination he told them to stick with the Lord.

Now look these people are new believers in Antioch.

This is new to them, all they have ever known is the sin and debauchery of the old ways and the ways of the heathens of the city.

Now all of a sudden they become a part of this new sect of Judaism that is sweeping their city which is different even for the Jews.

So they need to be encouraged not to fall back and not to be scared off by the persecution that can and probably has arisen from both non-believing Greeks as well as the Judaizers.

This is the key to encouragement, Barnabas is not just going to them and saying buck up things will get better, or don't listen to their negativity, think positive thoughts and positive things will happen to you and for you.

No, what he is doing is he is examining how they are living and he sees that they are living by faith and they are trusting in the Lord.

He is encouraging them in the realm of look you put that old life away for this new one continue living in it.

The Greek word here for encourage means, "to strongly support someone in their actions or in their response."

These people knowing the little that they do about the Scripture, know enough on what is godly and what isn't.

They have moved away from going to the brothels and the temple of Daphnae and put away the spectacles that are the gladiator fights and instead they began to meet for church services.

They began to worship God and Jesus Christ.

This is what Barnabas is seeing.

These Greeks who knew nothing of God and Jesus Christ trusting Him completely.

Paul provides the same kind of encouragement, he tells the Ephesian church;