Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning, we are going to go a little old school and just work through the text verse by verse.

As I was reading through the chapter I was noticing so many different insights that I wanted to share and unpack and I thought the best way to do so was just work through the passage.

One of the things I love about the book of Acts is how much it teaches us about how the church ought to operate and function and how it shouldn’t.

So, this week we are going to skip over some of Stephen’s story but long story short they end up stoning Stephen and killing him.

And Saul, who will later be know as Paul, approved of their killing him.

So, this week we are going to skip over some of Stephen’s story but long story short they end up stoning Stephen and killing him.

And Saul, who will later be know as Paul, approved of their killing him.

It is interesting because on that day a great persecution broke out on the church in Jerusalem and everyone except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Now, the author Dr. Luke, who wrote Luke/Acts uses Judea and Samaria on purpose.

This geographical reference echoes , does it not?

So the problem here is this - the church was commanded to go out into Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and got comfortable with full-filling the first part of the mission.

A few thousand people came to faith in Jesus and ministry in Jerusalem was way more convenient and less sacrifice then going out to Judea and Samaria.

I mean in Jerusalem people came to you because of the temple and festivals and commerce.

With Judea and Samaria you had to travel out to these places and with Samaria you had to go interact with people that were culturally different.

They worshipped differently and they weren’t really that fond of the Samaritans.

Yet Jesus commanded in to go be witnesses in these geographical areas.

Listen, because the early church did not follow Jesus command and be led by the Spirit to these communities to be the witness of Jesus they had to be driven out by persecution.

Our mission statement is a parallel to

To Increase the witness of Jesus in Woods Harbour, Barrington and Pubnico by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

I think we are susceptible to a similar temptation the early church were.

We are experiencing some exciting things in our church and our church is growing.

The natural thing for us to do with just to be get cozy in our church here in Woods Harbour and just enjoy each other’s company and just keep investing in things right here.

Let me say this - Just investing in our church here in Woods Harbour would be a huge mistake

It might be the easiest thing to do but we would be missing God’s call on our church to increase the witness of Jesus in these other communities.

Listen, increasing the witness of Jesus in Barrington and Pubnico is going to be a whole lot more work, time, effort, energy, resources.

My dream is to one day see congregations in these communities and that may mean one day we send people from this congregation to help give leadership and contribute to those communities to increase the witness of Jesus.

Listen if we start averaging 130-150 people on a regular basis we are going to have to start a second service.

And what if instead of starting a second service here we started it in another community to help fulfill our mandate of increasing the witness of Jesus in Woods Harbour, Barrington and Pubnico.

But if you are trying to self-preserve giving and investing in other communities don’t make no sense.

lol

But if your goal and mandate is to increase the witness of Jesus in these communities it makes all kinds of sense.

The church is not supposed to be a movement of addition but a movement of multiplication.

What would it look like one day if we had a large congregation in Barrington and in Pubnico and we witnessed dozens and dozens of people coming to Christ.

We all are like that would be awesome.

Alright, well what if one day we have to send our very best people to see that happen?

And our self-preservation and control be like, nope.

MEME?

We are going to come to a moment where we as a church have to make a decision; do we increase the witness of Jesus in these other communities or do we self-preserve?

If we miss that moment we will miss the Spirit’s leading and miss out on God’s plan for us as a church.

(The question that is going to be on peoples hearts is what about Woods Harbour - which is the question I wrestle with Jesus).

There you see this sentiment again.

So God used a persecution to advance the Gospel where? in Judea and Samaria.

I would rather be sent than scattered.

But despite the fact that this persecution came God caused it to work for good.

So Phillip is one of these guys who was scattered and driven out by persecution.

He is also one of the first accounts of ministering cross-culturally.

So imagine Phillip is an evangelist Woods Harbour has raised up and we decided to send him to Pubnico; that’s kind of what is going on here.

And Phillip goes to Samaria and proclaims the Messiah.

God used Phillip to minister with GRACE and POWER and it the signs and wonders caused people to stand in awe and look at what Phillip was pointing at.

God was using Phillip to set people free.

I am so thankful that the good news of Jesus isn’t just something that makes us feel good inside.

The good news of Jesus has the power to set us free and liberate us.

Acts 8:

I love this; to me this gives me hope.

We can actually have an impact on entire communities and I believe God wants to use us to do that very thing.

So after they believed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were baptized, both men and women.

After we accept Jesus into our lives baptism is the moment where we make a public proclamation of what has happened in our hearts.

Jesus has nailed our sin to the cross and our sin goes down in that watery grave and we rise up with newness of life.

If you had made a decision to follow Jesus, baptism solidifies that decision in a physical experience.

And I would encourage you if you have made the decision to accept Jesus one of the next steps you can take is to be baptized.

If you are considering making that decision just go ahead and grab a connection card and fill out I would like to be baptized and drop it at the welcome centre on your way out.

We celebrate baptisms in our church because it solidifies someone’s decision to follow Jesus not just in word but with their lifestyle by the grace of God.

Good stuff eh?

I don’t know if any of you have made any New Years Resolutions.

A lot of us make them and they are so pie and the sky and we never complete them.

Here is an attainable New Years Resolution.

Read the book of Acts and when you do just send me a note and say, hey, I read it.

Now some of us maybe need to make the New Years resolution to read the whole bible but whatever step you need to take make sure its attainable.

Ok, so this is kind of cool.

So Jesus said to go be witnesses in Judea and Samaria but you have to understand something here.

There were all kinds of mental barriers and stigmas because they had a lot of offences and judgements towards other people.

Judgements, prejudice and bitterness can hinder the work of God and create barriers.

Listen, I don’t quite now how to describe this, but in prayer one morning at the church, I had this sense that there are some barriers we need Jesus to plow through, break down, run over so we can start stepping into the plan God has for us as a church.

And listen, a lot of those barriers are ones we create in our hearts and in our minds that we need to let go and humble ourselves.

Like the church here in Acts had all kinds of barriers to blast through and navigate.

They had the barriers of their own biases, comforts and preferences.

Then they had spiritual barriers.

As a believer in Jesus we believe in a real, literal devil and that he has power and resist the plans of God.

We need not be afraid of Satan but we also are supposed to be aware of how he tries to work so we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, defeat his schemes.

Then we have the barriers we are trying to tackle within the people who don’t know Jesus.

So as a Christian who wants to move and advance the mission of God we are constantly coming up against barriers and I say in the name of Jesus Christ, let the barriers be broken.

Are there any barriers in your heart towards what God might want to do?

If there is what is it?

What does God want you to do about that barrier?

Maybe you need to ask forgiveness.

Maybe you need to ask God to help you to change your mentality.

Whatever the case may be we need to address the barriers in our own lives and I would rather work them out without the fire being turned up.

Cause listen, Jesus allowed persecution, some pretty challenging circumstances, to happen in order to push the church beyond their own mental barriers.

Wouldn’t you prefer just changing before you go through challenging circumstances.

But for some of us that are stubborn it might take that.

Just don’t resist what God might want to do.

Listen I know alot of the things I am talking about might seem a bit ambiguous.

But the stuff I am talking about are two things.

I want to prepare your heart and mind for what God is going to do.

Once your heart and mind are ready then we are able to sound the charge and get er done.

Some of the biggest obstacle for us increasing the witness of Jesus in woods Harbour, Barrington and pubnico is not out “in the world” but its the barriers and obstacles in our own hearts and minds.

Here is the scary part for me - the barriers in our hearts and minds can actually hinder what God might want to do in and through us!!!!!!!

That means people who need to hear the message might not because of the barriers we are holding on to.

That means there might not be people in heaven with us.

That means we need to just get over ourselves and go all in for God’s mission and be willing to do whatever it takes to see as many people as possible come to faith in Jesus.