Sermon Tone Analysis

- Five kinds of people who demonstrate the magnificent grace and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

Celebrity endorsements are all the rage, paid endorsement

Trust in politicians, not so much

Simon was a celebrity

Five kinds of people who demonstrate the magnificent grace and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

The man from Ethiopia was a politician

In - Five kinds of people who demonstrate the magnificent grace and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

Five kinds of people who demonstrate the magnificent grace and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

(1) The zealous persecutor Saul

(2) The Spirit led preacher Philip

(3) The unshackled prisoners - the Samaritans

(4) The deceiving pretender - Simon

(5) The searching politician - no name - every man

Companies crave it, people love it:

Celebrity endorsements are all the rage, paid endorsement

For some reason, politicians rarely get asked to do an endorsement

We trust celebrities and athletes; trust in politicians, not so much

Simon was a celebrity

The man from Ethiopia was a politician

(4) The deceiving pretender ()

5 Ways Satan attacks the church:

Persecution - fear makes us passive

Purity - Ananias and Sapphira - sin makes us powerless

Problems - the widows of - grumbling makes us petty

Pride - success makes us prayerless

Phoniness - deceivers make us pathetic

The wheat and the tares of

Matthew 13:24-30

Tweetable thoughts:

Man looks at the outward appearance - .

Satan uses this to deceive us.

God wants us to go beyond the perceptions of our flesh and go deeper.

Man looks at the outward appearance

Satan is intentional - just as the tares imitate wheat, just as the sorcerers in Exodus could imitate the miracles of Moses, satan will produce counterfeit believers to disrupt the church

God is glorified when we embrace the entire word of God and demand that all believers measure themselves and evaluate themselves against the standard of God’s word, God’s character, and God’s fruit - the word of the Father, the conduct of the Son, the fruit of the Spirit

The apostles came to discern if this was a work of God, to thwart the attack of satan, and to show that the church is a universal body of believers under one head, the risen Lord Jesus

(5) The searching politician ( )

There are people who are searching for the Lord

Don’t be discouraged.

Don’t be reluctant.

Don’t be unChristlike and think that sharing your faith requires all the knowledge in the world or an aggressive, adversarial attitude.

6 Questions you need to ask:

1) Are you listening for the Lord?

2) Are you assuming that being religious is the same as truly knowing Christ?

3) Are you asking or are you telling?

Permission based ministry.

Allowing someone else to drive the bus, steer the ship, set the agenda.

4) Are you talking about the Jesus who saves or the Jesus who makes everyone happy?

Finding forgiveness for our shame and despair, finding joy and peace, is not the same as being told “everything is fine, you just need to look on the bright side” and is definitely not the same as what the culture around us means by “happy” - the removal of unsatisfactory emotions and feelings that are the result of our wilful disobedience and rebellion to the plans and purpose of God.

Maybe right now you are living in a way that displeases God (think Jonah when he was told to go to Nineveh), maybe you are doing something that you refuse to acknowledge as sin (think David when he tried to cover up his sin of adultery ith Bathsheba), maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention (think Jacob when he wrestled with Jesus all night long).

Maybe you’re trying to get God to do things your way instead of realizing that His way is the only way.

5) Are you a believer but not willing to take the next step of obedience?

6) Is there anything preventing you from being completely surrendered to the Lord?

Maybe that’s why you aren’t “going on your way rejoicing”?

Most Christians genuinely DESIRE for others to be saved, but not all Christians PRAY for others to be saved.