Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are picking back up in our study of the book of Acts.

If you’re new to our church, it would be helpful for you to know that here at MCF, we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means is we believe the Bible is best taught be taking books of the Bible, and then breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

Our goal: To better understand what the Bible says and how it applies to our lives today.

With that said, we are currently doing that through the book of Acts.

A book written for two primary purposes:

First, to give us a history of how the church started.

Second, to show us how God intends the church to function in order to accomplish the mission of taking the Gospel to the entire world.

So, if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to mcf.life where you can listen to all of the messages leading up to today.

As we come back to our study today, we are actually beginning a new section in Acts.

You may recall we just finished .

A chapter that represented a turning point in the life of the early church as a man named Stephen became the first Christian martyr as he was killed because of his faith in Jesus.

You may recall it took place as Stephen was confronted by a group of religious leaders who felt threatened by the early church.

And it was through this confrontation that Stephen attempted to lead them to Jesus.

But, unfortunately, instead of putting their faith in Jesus, these men decided to kill Stephen instead.

Listen again to how Luke describes his death.

Acts 7:

Luke says Stephens faith cost him his life.

Something that Jesus said would happen.

Something that shouldn’t have surprised anybody, but for some, probably did.

And as a result, the honeymoon for the early church is over, and the early church is about to face its first round of persecution as their world is literally turned upside down.

But before we get to that, I want to begin by setting the stage and building some framework for what we are about to read.

And to do that, I want to begin by asking you a question about your life.

Question - Have you ever had a moment or a situation in your life where a person or an event turned your world upside down?

And when I say, “Turned your world upside down”, I’m talking about a moment where something happened that was unexpected, startling, disturbing, and left you feeling like your world was crashing down around you.

Have you ever had a moment like that?

For example, maybe you went to work one day, thinking it was just another day, but then the unexpected took place as the end of the day came, your boss called you in, and uttered the words, “We’re letting you go.”

And now your world has been turned upside down.

Or maybe you got up one day, thinking it was like any other day.

But then the phone rang, and the unthinkable moment came as the voice said, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but so and so has died.”

And now your world has been turned upside down.

Example #1

Maybe you went to the doctor, it was supposed to be a routine check up, but then the doctor came in, and he uttered the dreaded statement, “You have cancer, and in that moment, your world was turned upside down.

Or maybe you and your spouse went out for dinner.

You thought it was like any other date night.

But as the evening came to a close, your spouse looked at you, and without any warning said, “I want a divorce.”

And now your world has been turned upside down.

The truth is, if we all think about it, we’ve all had moments like that.

Moments when our lives were abruptly interrupted and taken off course.

Moments when the unthinkable or unexpected took place.

Moments when our world was turned upside down.

Those are hard moments aren’t they?

And if we’re honest, they’re moments that leave us with a lot of questions.

Questions like, “Why is this happening to me”, “Why didn’t I see this coming”, and maybe even questions like, “Why has God allowed this too happen?”

Why is this happening to me, and maybe even, “Why is God allowing this to happen?”

Let me ask you this, “In your moment, have you ever asked those questions?

Have you ever wondered why?

And maybe even wondered why God is allowing your world to be turned upside down?”

The reason I ask you to consider this question, is because as we begin today, the early church is facing such a moment.

Because with the death of Stephen, the early church is about to have its world turned upside down.

And at first it’s going to shake them.

At first, it’s going to raise all kinds of questions.

But believe it or not, in the end, it’s going to prove to be the catalyst that launches the early church into its greatest victories.

And so with the time we have this morning, I have three goals.

First, we’re going to read through the passage so we can get some context for their moment.

Second, we’re going to walk back through the passage and discover how and why their world was turned upside down.

Finally, we’re going to learn how this applies to our moments when our world gets turned upside down.

And my hope is, after studying this passage, that you and I will have a greater understanding of why God might allow such moments, and how these moments could actually lead to greater victory in our lives.

And so, to get us started, let’s pick back up in chapter 8 as the death of Stephen turns the early church upside down.

Beginning in verse 1 we read:

Doesn’t sound good, does it?

Sounds like life has gone from good too bad for the early church.

Which leads us to three important questions, “Why is this happening, who is behind it, and why would God allow it to happen to His church?”

Thankfully, Luke actually gives us quite a bit of information to answer these questions.

So, to get started, let’s start with the first question, “Why this is happening”.

Let me show you hSo, before we get to far, there are couple of things I want you to notice:

Well, Luke says, along with the hatred of the church, it’s happening as a result of Stephen’s death.

In other words, Stephen’s death is the catalyst for the persecution.

It’s what opens the doors.

Listen again to what Luke tells us:

“And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.”

(ESV)

Think of it like this.

Imagine you were to go to a Chiefs and Broncos game, and during the middle of the game, as tensions are running high because the Broncos are beating the Chiefs, one of the Chiefs players takes a cheap shot at the Bronco quarterback, which is what we would expect to happen, and in the process severely injures the quarterback.

Let me ask you this, “In a situation like that, what typically happens after the cheap shot?”

Well, it usually results in some sort of fight between the players as players go after one another.

You see, in that moment, because the tension was already there, the cheap shot is the catalyst for the greater conflict.

All it took was the cheap shot to trigger an all out brawl to take place.

Same thing here.

For weeks the tension between the religious leaders and the church has been building.

All it took for all out persecution to begin was for one person to deliver a cheap shot, and in this case a stone.

And from there, the bench is cleared as a great persecution erupts against the church.

d “megas”.

Bet you can’t guess what that implies.

It means an intense action that is considerably above average.

The word translated “great” here comes from the Greek word “megas”.

Bet you can’t guess what that implies.

It means an intense action that is considerably above average.

So, not only is it

So, that’s the why.

The persecution is the result of mounting tension and a stone being throne.

This leads us to the who.

Luke says there is a key individual involved in the persecution.

He says it’s a man named Saul.

Luke writes, “And Saul approved of his execution.”

(ESV)

So, to get us started, I want to begin by pointing out key individual in this moment of crisis.

An individual who at this particular point in church history is the churches greatest enemy, but in the end will become the churches greatest ally.

A man named Saul.

The word for “ravaging” here comes from the Greek word “lymaino”.