Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Opening story/Illustration: I remember when I was a kid and I turned about 12 or 13 and my parents, for the first time let me stay home alone while they went out.

Before they left they made sure I had special instructions so that I knew what to do.

Parents, anytime you leave your children with a baby sitter, before you leave you give instructions to the person who’s going to be watching them.

They go to bed at 7, they prefer this to eat, they’re allowed to do this, they aren’t allowed to do that.

When we leave, we often leave instructions.

Transition to text: 2,000 years ago, Jesus left some instructions to his disciples.

He had died on the cross and been resurrected.

After his resurrection he spent 40 days spending time with them and proving to them that he was alive.

During his last conversation with them, he gave them his last set of instructions.

Let’s read this account from the book of Acts.

Matthew 28:

Text:

Text:

Transition to points: It has been 2,000 years since Jesus stood on the mount of olives and gave this command to this commission to his disciples - They were to be his witnesses, to make disciples.

To tell everyone about him.

2,000 years and we have yet to reach the ends of the earth.

All over the world today, people will pass away - and many of them have never heard the good news about Jesus.

All over the world today, people will pass away - and many of them have never heard the good news about Jesus.

Why?

Why after 2,000 years, have we yet to reach the world?

Why?

Why after 2,000 years, have we yet to reach the world?

This is one of the greatest, if not the greatest atrocities of our time - that with all the time that has past, with all the technology we have, with all the modes of transportation we have - the greatest atrocity of our time is that there are men and women, boys and girls, whole people groups who will lay their head on their pillow tonight and they have never heard the name of Jesus.

While we sit comfortably in America with a church on every corner and the gospel blasting through our airways 24/7, there are people who have never heard the name of Jesus.

This is one of the greatest, if not the greatest atrocity of our time - that with all the time that has past, with all the technology we have, with all the modes of transportation we have - the greatest atrocity of our time is that there are men and women, boys and girls, whole people groups who will lay their head on their pillow tonight and they have never heard the name of Jesus.

While we sit comfortably in America with a church on every corner and the gospel blasting through our airways 24/7, there are people who have never heard the name of Jesus.

To be fair, people are being reached.

In fact, some studies show that more people are being reached for Jesus today than at any point in history.

But the sad truth still remains, there are people in the world who haven’t heard good news of Jesus.

The good news that Jesus came to die on the cross, that he rose again, and that he sets men and women boys and girls free from Sin and shame.

Why?

This morning I want to talk about some of the issues that slow us down in this mission.

I want to take a brief survey through a few places in the book of Acts and I hope to show that these are issues we have faced from the very beginning.

The mission is for us, empowered by Holy Spirit, to show the world that Jesus is still alive.

They should see this in the lives that we live and in the way that we talk.

What keeps us from fulfilling the mission God has for us?

Points

Distraction

The disciples had moments of distraction

Notice in our text this morning at two points the disciples seem to get distracted and have to be corrected.

In 6:1, the disciples beginning asking Jesus about specifics of the kingdom.

They were ready for Jesus to finish up his mission.

He had died and been resurrected, now they were ready for him to restore the kingdom to Israel - to finish what he started.

Some say their motives were impure here - That they were more concerned about a political kingdom.

That they wanted Jesus to come and kick Rome out and set up the kingdom of Israel.

I think we can give them a little more credit than that.

I think they were just ready for Jesus to finish what he had started and they were curious about the details of it all.

Jesus gently corrects them - and notice what he does - he puts them back on mission.

He says, “don’t worry about all the details, God’s got that taken care of - You go get power from the Holy Spirit and you be my witnesses.”

In 6:9-11, the disciples see Jesus go up into the clouds.

They see him go up into heaven.

They are amazed at this - as anyone would be.

Apparently they stare for a very long time.

They stare long enough that an angel has to come and say - Why are you standing here staring?

They were distracted by the miracle of Jesus being taken into heaven.

The angel gently reminds them - Stop staring, he’ll be back.

Go do what he asked you to do!

We often get distracted

I think many of our churches today need a fresh reminder of what really matters.

I think the Holy Spirit is trying to speak to many Christians, just like the angel to the disciples - “Why are standing here staring?”

There’s a mission - Go ask the Spirit to empower you and then get out there and be witnesses.

What are we distracted by?

We are too distracted by what’s happening in the news

We are too distracted by what’s happening in the news We are too distracted by social media We are too distracted trying to figure everything out We are too distracted trying to grow our churches for the wrong reasons

We are too distracted by social media

We are too distracted trying to figure everything out

We are too distracted trying to grow our churches for the wrong reasons

Distraction can lead to confusion and we forget why we are here!

Illustration: Sometimes my wife and I will be sitting in our bed and she’ll say, “Hey, if you get up can you get me glass of water?”

I’ll say “sure.”

But then I go into the kitchen and I remember - I should put that dish in the dishwasher or my stomach is growling and I want a snack - I get distracted - and I forget why I’m there.

What’s the solution?

When you’re distracted, go do the last thing Jesus told you to do - be witnesses, make disciples

When you’re distracted, go do the last thing Jesus told you to do - make disciples

Comfort

The disciples let comfort slow them down

Jesus’ command was that they go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

We get to Acts Chapter 8 and guess where they still are?

Jerusalem!

From what I can tell, it was about 18months to two years after the accession of Jesus, and they are still in Jerusalem!

In fact, the only thing that moves them out of Jerusalem is persecution!

We are afraid

Here the Holy Spirit uses their circumstances to PUSH them out to where he wants them to be.

God will use circumstances in our lives to PUSH us to where he wants us to be.

We let comfort slow us down

We have it easier than any other generation in history - and it’s killing us - literally

A recently read a Christianity Today article entitled, “Move over sex and drugs, Ease is the new vice”

Ease is the great vice of our time We have it easier than any other generation in history - and it’s killing us - literally Metal health is one of the top issues facing our culture and our church Proverbs says - a little sleep

The article talks about how drug use and premarital sex is going down among young people - and that’s a good thing.

But the article states that perhaps the reason for the decline in premarital sex and drug use is because people just want things easy and they don’t have time to be bothered with anything - including sex and drugs.

I recently read a book entitled, “The coddling of The American Mind.”

The book points out that kids are growing up slower than ever before.

Part of the reason is what the book called a culture of safetyism.

In other words, everyone wants to keep their kids safe and comfortable - but the problem is, kids need a certain amount of risk to grow up and develop into adults.

Our overprotection and over-concern about their safety and comfort is actually hindering their development.

The

Here’s the point - I think these attitudes have a way of slipping into the church.

The church, to grow and develop needs a certain amount of risk.

What if, as Christians, some of our developmental and discipleship issues come from the fact that we want a safe and comfortable Christianity void of risk?