Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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

What that means is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible, and then studying them from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in order to understand what the Bible means in our lives today.

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

A book written by a disciple named Luke for two primary reasons.

First, to give us a history of the church.

How the church started, who was involved, and the circumstances that surrounded it.

Second, to give us a template for gospel expansion.

In other words, to show us how Jesus intends for us to accomplish the mission of taking the gospel to the entire world.

And to date, we have covered the first 8 chapters of our study.

So, if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to www.mcf.life,

where you can listen to all the messages leading up to today.

Today however, we are back in , where so far, Luke has spent the majority of the chapter introducing us to and telling us about a man named Saul.

A man, who in the beginning days of the church was an enemy of Christians, willing to go to extreme measures in order to destroy it.

Luke writes in the beginning of chapter 9:

Acts 9:1-

So, at great question would be, “What’s Saul’s problem?

Why does he hate the church so much?”

Well, in a nutshell, what the church was teaching about Jesus didn’t line up with Saul’s theology and worldview.

In fact, much like people who oppose Christians today, he didn’t believe Jesus was a savior that he needed.

Because for Saul, his eternal hope was in tradition, rituals, and religious living.

But the church was teaching its not about religion, ritual, and rules, but instead about a relationship and the need for a savior.

That savior being Jesus.

In addition to that, Saul was an intense personality.

He was the kind of person that when he was committed to something, he was ALL IN.

And initially, he was ALL IN and ALL ABOUT stopping the church.

But what Saul didn’t realize, is while he was committed to destroying the church, God was committed to accomplishing a great work in his life.

A work that started with with you might call a good old “Come To Jesus Meeting”.

A moment where Saul would come face to face with the very person he had been persecuting, the Lord Jesus himself.

Listen to how Luke describes the encounter:

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You may recall

Acts 9:

Luke says while on his way to arrest and kill Christians, Jesus paid Saul a visit.

And it’s in this come to Jesus moment, that the person who hated the church the most, begins a journey towards becoming the greatest advocate the church would ever see.

A journey that would begin as God would lead a man named Ananias, an unknown disciple living in Damascus, to minister to Saul and lead him to faith in Jesus.

Luke writes:

Luke continues:

Acts 9:

Acts 9:17

Luke says following the come to Jesus meeting, Jesus sends a man named Ananias to pray for Saul, restore is sight, and lead him to faith in Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happens.

Listen to how Luke describes it.

Luke says as Ananias minsters to Saul, his sight is restored and he puts his faith in Jesus as Saul is water baptized.

A NT pattern that symbolizes that a person has committed their life to Jesus.

And that’s where we left off last week.

Water baptism symbolizes that the old you has died and the new has come.

All that to say, Saul gets baptized because he is now fully committed to following Jesus, and his baptism symbolizes that.

Saul is now a Christian.

And so now here we have Saul, a former persecutor of the church, who has now given his life to Jesus.

The question now is, “What happens next?

Where does Saul go from here?”

And that’s a great question, because where does a person go after putting their faith in Jesus?

What comes after the come to Jesus meeting and baptism?

What’s the next step?

In a way, Saul models that for us, but before we get to the rest of the story and our passage for today, I want to begin by setting up where we are going for the next couple of weeks as we finish at the conversion story of Saul, and to do that, I want to begin by setting the stage with an illustration.

I’m going to call this illustration, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

How many of you remember as a little boy or girl being asked that question.

A moment where you began to dream and imagine what you were going to to be when you grew up.

It happens at an early age, as little Jimmy declares one day he’s going to be a fireman or a policeman.

Or little Susie dreams of being a teacher or a veterinarian.

And for a parent, these are adorable moments.

And then they say something like, “That’s so wonderful little Jimmy and Susie!

I’m so proud of you.”

And then to validate and encourage their dream, they say something like, “ But you know little Jimmy, if you want to be a policemen, you’re going to have to learn to follow the rules.

Because that’s what Policemen do, they follow and keep the rules.

And little Susie, if you want to be a teacher, you’re going to have to study hard and do well in school.

Because that’s what it takes to be a teacher.”

And then from there we wait and watch.

We wait to see if their dream continues to develop and we watch as they continue to grow and develop into their life calling.

And the truth is, more often than not, their dreams change as they grow and mature.

But by time they reach their teenage years and young adult life, their dreams are beginning to solidify into specific occupational callings and passions.

For instance, instead of being a policemen, 18 year old Jimmy wants to be an attorney.

And instead of being a teacher, 18 year old Susie wants to be a medical doctor.

In fact, they’re so serious about it that they begin to make statements like, “I’m going into law” or “I’m going into medicine”.

Statements that represent their intentions to actually become what they desire to be.

But for the dream or desire to become a reality, they have to take next steps.

So, what’s next for Susies and Jimmy?

Now that they’ve established what they want to be, where do they go from here?

To answer that, let me pose three questions for us to consider?

Well, If Susie is going to actually become a doctor, she needs to be willing to go to school, right?

That’s step #1.

A step that will begin to validate her intentions.

Well, they need to do what it takes to become that.

For example, if Susie wants to become a doctor and have the ability to bring healing into people’s lives, then she’s going to have to commit a portion of her life to her development.

Well, she needs to be willing to go to school.

That’s step #1, right?

A step that validates her intentions.

But the validation doesn’t stop there.

Because if she really wants to become a doctor, not only does she need to go to school, she needs to complete school, right?

Because Susie can’t just say she’s going to school in order to become a doctor.

She can’t just put on a white coat and stethoscope and say, “I’m Dr. Susie.”

It doesn’t work that way, right?