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 good 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 how the church started.

Second, to give us a template for how Jesus wants us to accomplish the mission of taking the gospel to the entire world.

To date, we have covered the first 8 chapters in this study, so if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to mcf.life where you can listen to messages leading up to today.

Today however, we are diving back into chapter 9, where for the last few weeks we have been focused on a man named Saul.

You may recall, Saul was a man, who in the beginning days of the church, was greatly opposed to the church and had persecuted and killed many Christians.

However, that all ended one day when Saul had what you might call a “come to Jesus meeting”.

A supernatural encounter with Jesus that would change his life forever.

An encounter that not only lead him to faith in Jesus, but would open the door for Saul to become one of the greatest proponents for Christianity in church history.

And as we’ve learned, Saul’s conversion to faith in Jesus, to some degree serves as a model.

A model of spiritual transformation: A transformation that literally turns Saul into a different person.

Luke writes:

Acts 9:

The Apostle Paul writes:

A model of reconciliation and restoration: Of how Jesus forgives and restores even the worst of sinners.

Paul again writes:

A model of reconciliation.

Of how Jesus forgives

A model spiritual growth & discipleship: Of how Jesus not only transforms us, but continues to grow and develop us for future ministry and impact.

We saw this especially with Saul.

Luke writes:

A model of evangelism: Of how through our growth, God begins to use us to reach more people.

Luke writes:

And finally a model of promised persecution: Of how Jesus’s warning that people will hate us because of him begins to play out.

Luke writes:

So, in many ways Saul demonstrates the process of Salvation.

Of how God can save anyone, even the person others have written off, and turn them into world changers for His kingdom and His purposes.

Acts 9:

And as a result, what we’ve learned is that what was true for Saul, should and will be true for anybody that puts their faith in Jesus.

The fact is, when you put your faith in Jesus, it should result in a spiritual transformation that produces a noticeable change in your life.

A change that causes people to say, “Is that even the same person?”

In addition to that, it should lead to a consistent pattern of spiritual growth in your life as the old you continues to die and the new is born.

Paul writes:

On top of that, your faith should begin to have an impact on those around you, as you being to share your faith and lead others to Jesus.

And finally, because of your impact and influence, you will begin to experience the reactions of others to your faith.

Because when you put your faith in Jesus, not everybody is going to be excited about it as you are.

Some will be indifferent, some angry, and some will be skeptical of the new you.

But you can be sure you’ll experience some sort of reaction.

So, that’s where we’ve been for the past few weeks.

But today Luke is going to navigate away from Saul to another individual.

An individual that was well known in the church.

An individual who

So, that’s where we’ve been for the past few weeks, and in the weeks to come, we will be talking more about Saul.

But today Luke is going to shift gears and navigate away from Saul to another important NT character.

An individual that was well known in the early church.

A man who new Jesus well and spent a lot of time with Him.

His name is Peter.

If you’re not familiar with the Apostle Peter, Peter was one of the original 12 disciples, and out of the 12 was one of the closest to Jesus.

We know this because often times when Jesus would break away to pray, he would take 2-3 other disciples with him, and Peter was typically a part of this smaller group.

In addition to that, it was Peter who Jesus said the church would be found

That being said, if anybody wanted to know WWJD, what would Jesus do, Peter would be a good one too ask.

Which means, anything that Peter might say or do would be significant and would more than likely set the standard for what the church would believe and how people would live out their faith.

For example, if you recall from last week, when Saul went to Jerusalem to join the church there, he was met with skepticism.

In fact, the church in Jerusalem didn’t want anything to do with him.

But over time, he earned their trust

That being the case, for the next four chapters, Luke is going to bring a lot of attention to Peter.

Because it will be through Peter and his ministry that Luke begins to highlight some key components for the Church and the Christian life, specifically when it comes to evangelism.

And when I say evangelism, I’m talking about the spreading of the gospel through public preaching or personal witness.

An act that Jesus called his disciples to in the .

Listen again to what Jesus told them:

Jesus says the mission is evangelism.

It’s to take the gospel to every person that lives on the planet.

And contrary to popular opinion, when Jesus told his disciples to do that, he wasn’t just talking to those 12 men.

He wasn’t just talking to 1st century Christians.

And he wasn’t just talking to pastors and church leaders.

When He gave that command, he was talking to anybody that would ever become one of his disciples.

He was talking to all Christians.

He was talking to you and me.

We’ve all been assigned to reach the entire world with the gospel.

And so for the next few chapters, Luke is going focus on what that looks like as he focuses on three separate stories surrounding Peter.

Three stories that emphasize evangelism.

The first story is about a man named Aeneas.

The Second story about a girl named Dorcas.

And the third story about a man named Cornelius.

And with each story Luke is going to give us greater insight into what it means and what is involved in reaching people with the gospel.

And so in order to set up where Luke is taking us, I want to begin by framing the next few messages around a central question.

A question that we need to be willing to ask and answer if we truly want to accomplish the mission Jesus has given us.

And the question is simply this: “What Would It Take?”

That’s a great question, and a question we tend to ask when it comes to a lot of things in life, right?

For example, when an NFL team begins its season, it’s a question they ask.

And the question goes like this, “What would it take for us to win the Super Bowl this year?”

In other words, what would we need to do in order for that to become a reality?

I know you Chiefs fans have often asked yourselves that question.

So, what do they need to do?

What would it take?

Well, it probably involves several components.

To begin with, it probably starts with getting the right players.

Players who are committed to the team.

Players who are committed to winning.

Players who are committed to their position.

Players who are committed to one another.

It would also take a commitment to continuous improvement.

Because you can’t win a Super Bowl if you’re not committed to getting better week to week.

In addition to that, it takes a degree of confidence.

Because you can’t win a Super Bowl if you don’t think you can win it.

And the list goes on.