Sermon Tone Analysis

Paul’s words of encouragement

Paul's words of encouragement

The Resurrection is not only the Good News; it is the best news imaginable.

If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said?

The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.

– Timothy Keller

In our passage this morning although this is the first recorded sermon Paul preaches in the Book of Acts it is hardly his first sermon.

Paul preached in Damascus immediately after his conversion in , again during his three years in Arabia in , also now while serving as a pastor in Antioch 13:1.

Paul could not help but preach,

, "For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.

For necessity is laid upon me.

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"

For Paul was called and set aside for such a purpose as this, God had saved this man originally named Saul and gave him a new name Paul and gave him a new purpose in life, because he was now a new creation.

, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

In Paul's letter to the Romans, he shares the importance that he placed on preaching and its effects.

, For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

[What does this mean pastor?

It means what it meant in , where Paul is quoting from, it means that Salvation is extended to everyone ask for it.

In it is extended beyond the devastation caused by the locusts.

In our time Salvation is extended beyond whatever trials and tribulations we are going through, and declares that we have the ability to call on the name of the Lord to recuse us.

This calling on the Lord implies an exclusive, covenantal worship of the only true and living God who is able to save.]

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

[With a series of rhetorical questions, Paul considers the chain of events necessary for a person to be saved.

Verse 14 is linked to v. 13 with the word call.

The logic of these verses is clear: (1) People will call on Jesus to save them only if they believe he can do so; (2) belief in Christ cannot exist without knowledge about him; (3) one hears about Christ only when someone proclaims the saving message; and (4) the message about Christ will not be proclaimed unless someone is sent by God to do so.

That is why Paul was so urgent about spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth, for he believed that the only way to be saved was to hear and believe in the gospel.

Hearing the gospel is necessary for salvation, but hearing is not enough: people must also respond with personal trust.

Isaiah prophesies that not all will believe.

Paul is thinking especially of the Jews who did not understand.]

In our passage, this morning Paul speaks to us about the gospel of Jesus Christ by giving us a holy history lesson and give us the good news of the gospel through the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Let us pray…

God of gods, Lord of lords, and Sovereign of sovereigns, You the ruler of all things!

Grant to us today a deeper depth of understanding of our great history in this Christian faith.

An account that shows us Your Son Jesus from the beginning and shows us the prophetic mission that You called Him to hidden in the Old Testament prophecies.

We pray that as You do this, you will also shine your light on the gospel which is being revealed.

It is in the precious name of your Son and our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ that we ask it all and all God's children said amen.

Let's quickly look at verse 13 which could have been included in last week's sermon, but I struggle with its placement there because I felt this verse also naturally drove its opening narrative of this weeks message.

"Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia."

Now Barnabas and Paul first visited Cyprus, which was Barnabas home base, the place he was from and knew well.

But now that are entering Paul's old stomping grounds, Asia Minor.

They had sailed over 200 miles across the Mediterranean Sea and landed at Attalia, with is the port of Perga.

At this point the text tells us that John left them, but does not give a reason.

Some find this odd, and other fleling around trying to explain his departure, which was really desertion.

But I see it merely as John Mark was never supposed to be there in the first place.

Look that , "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off."

So, show me in the text where God told them to take John Mark with them to do the work in which they had been called to do.

In verse 13:5 we see where they met John, "When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.

And they had John to assist them."

Still no word about him going on this first missionary trip.

I think this is the problem of making an assumption without asking God or authorized by God.

We see the same problem with Abraham and Lot,

, "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him.

Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran."

Again, where did it say to take Lot with him?

In fact, it said to ""Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you."

Lot was his nephew.

God told Abram he was going to make him great, not Lot, and in chapter 13 Lot starts to cause problems.

They both prospered to the point that the land could not support all that they had.

So to keep down the strife between them, Abram said to Lot, if you take the left hand I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand I will go to the left.

Lot look the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, so Lot choose for himself the Jordan Valley and Abram settled in the land of Canaan.

Even in this disruption, we see the sovereign hand of the Lord, who was still directing Abram if he had chosen the Jordan Valley he would not have met Melchezideck.

Was God's sovereign hand also moving in the issue of the desertion of John, we will not find that out until later on in Acts.

So here is our text we see that John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

The reasons are not clear, many believed he as afraid to the travel to the dangerous mountains of Pamphylia which were infested with robbers, many thought he was concerned about the persecution that awaits them.

Others believed it was because Paul was taking the leading over his cousin Barnabas.

But whatever the reason, it was tragic for the moment, but the sovereign hand of God made it all work out in the end.

Yet there is an excellent argument to be made that he should have never been there in the first place, this level of ministry would prove not to be his strong suit, but God has something special for him to do.

And they all are reconciled later in ministry.

After John left, Paul and Barnabas did not preach in Perga, although that did on their return journey.

Paul was ill, we see that in , possibly with malaria, and had to leave the coastal lowlands, New Orleans is 18 feet below sea level and New Orleans is incredibly hot and uncomfortable at times.

They when up to Antioch in Pisidia, it was 3,600 feet above sea level.

But, these Taurus Mountains were notorious for the robber hands who were there and were un-subdued.

Paul once wrote,

, "On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Who is weak, and I am not weak?

Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?"

After Paul's illness, they arrived on the Sabbath and went to the synagogue and sat down.

In the synagogues Paul found a ready audience of people interested in religious truth.

It was customary to grant visiting rabbis, such as Paul, the right to address the synagogue.

Both he and the synagogue audience shared the common ground of the Old Testament.

Paul could and did start there and made great use of their common pool of knowledge.

He used the Old Testament as a departure point in presenting the gospel.

The Greek word kerygma means "proclamation."