Sermon Tone Analysis

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

Who Does God Save?

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 breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in order to understand what the Bible means in our lives today.

Currently we are doing that through the NT book of Acts.

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

What Does He Do To Save Them?

Who Does He use To Reach Them?

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

Who was involved and the circumstances surrounding it.

Second, to provide us a template for how Jesus intends for us 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 www.mcf.life

where you can listen to previous messages leading up to today.

Today however, we are picking back up in as Luke continues to focus on the Evangelistic ministry of the Apostle Peter.

I say evangelistic, because to a large degree, Luke’s focus on Peter gives us great insight into the process of evangelism.

And the reason Luke

And when I say Evangelism, I’m talking about the responsibility of every Christian to share their faith with people who don’t know or haven’t heard about Jesus.

A responsibility that goes back to something Jesus instructed his disciples to do right before he ascended into heaven.

Jesus puts it like this in :

Acts

Like the first disciples, Jesus has called us to be His witnesses.

Witnesses who share the gospel with people who haven’t heard about Jesus.

, listen to what Jesus says concerning Evangelism:

And as we’ve learned through this focus on Peter, there are some key components to evangelism and sharing our faith that we need to understand if we want to be affective witnesses.

We saw the first component of evangelism in through the healing of a crippled man named Aeneas who lived in the city of Lydda.

And from that story we learned Evangelism begins with three commitments: A Commitment to share our faith, A Commitment to reach broken people, and A Commitment to rely on the power of Jesus.

We then saw a second component of evangelism play out through the death and resuscitation to life of a woman named Tabitha.

You may recall from the story that a woman named Tabitha had died, and in an unwillingness to accept her death, her friends sent for Peter hoping he could help.

And so Peter showed up, and after praying and seeking direction from the Lord, he looked at her and told her to rise.

And rise she did.

An amazing miracle of a person coming from death to life.

And from that story we learned in order to lead people to Jesus we have to approach it much like Tabitha’s friends and Peter did.

First, we have to be willing to acknowledge that people who don’t know Jesus are spiritually dead.

In other words, regardless of how good they are or how religious they are, if they haven’t put their faith in Jesus, then physical death isn’t the only death they will experience.

Because the Bible says there is a second death.

A spiritual death that will result in eternal separation from God.

A death that can be avoided through the atoning work of Jesus, who died for our sins.

But that atonement can only come if a person is willing to put their faith in Jesus and make Him Lord of their life.

And so for us to reach spiritually dead people, we have to be willing to acknowledge that some of the people we care most about, are spiritually dead.

Second, we learned in order to reach spiritually dead people, it needs to bother us that they’re spiritually dead.

In other words, knowing what we know about sin and the second death, if somebody we care about doesn’t know Jesus, then it ought to keep us up at night.

It ought to eat at us to the point that we are unwilling to accept it and would be willing to go to great lengths to do something about it.

It should bother you and keep you up at night to know that if any of those people died today, they’d die in their sin, and they would be eternally separated from God.

That ought to eat at you to the point that your unwilling to accept it and willing to go to great lengths to do something about it.

And let me just say this, if it doesn’t bother you, then something is wrong with your faith.

Because either you don’t really believe Jesus is the only way or you’re not in tune with what’s important to God.

Because according to Jesus:

Third, we learned in order to reach spiritually dead people, we have to see Jesus as the only solution to the sin problem.

That only Jesus can bring this person from death to life.

Jesus puts it like this in :

Jesus says He is the path to salvation.

Meaning, He’s the one who raises people from spiritual death to life.

That it’s not our job, but His.

That we are simply the messengers and He is the spiritual healer.

Yes, we need to do our best to persuasively lead them to Jesus.

Peter writes:

1 Peter

So, we need to be ready.

However, at the end of the day, what we have to remember is that Jesus is the only one who has the power to raise dead people back to life.

That it’s not our job, but His.

That we are simply the messengers and He is the healer.

So, that’s where we’ve been so far on this evangelism focus with Peter.

And today Luke is going to continue this focus as he gives us one more story surrounding the evangelistic efforts of the Apostle Peter.

And unlike the previous two stories, this next story is an extensive story with a lot of moving parts, and so it’s going to require us to slow down and break it down into three parts, the first of which we will cover today.

And so, in order to set up this story and where we are going this morning, I want to begin by throwing out a question I’d like us all to consider for a moment.

A question I’m not sure we give much though to, but a question we need to know the answer to when it comes to sharing our faith, specifically when it comes to a person’s readiness and willingness to respond to our witness.

And the question is this:

Question: “When it comes to salvation, what does it take for a person to be open to the gospel and put their faith in Jesus?”

And when I ask that, I’m not talking about their need to pray a certain prayer, adopt a certain belief system, or attend a certain church.

What I’m asking is, what needs to happen or where does a person need to be spiritually, mentally, or emotionally in order to receive the message of the gospel?

“What opens that door?

What I’m asking is, what needs to happen or where does a person need to be spiritually, mentally, or emotionally in order to receive the message of the gospel?

What opens the door for a person to put their faith in Jesus?

And when I ask that, I’m not talking about a specific prayer they need to pray, a certain belief system they need to adopt, or a specific church they need to attend.

What I’m asking is, “What is it that flips the switch?

Where does

a person need to be What I’m talking about is their openness to the gospel and their willingness to listen to what you have to say.

What does it take for a person to be open to and receive the gospel message?

Think of it like this.

In sociology there’s a concept called the “Tipping Point”.

And the tipping point is a point in time when an individual or group rapidly and dramatically changes its behavior by widely adopting a previously rare practice.

So, when it comes to somebody putting their faith in Jesus, which is radical, what’s the tipping point?

What needs to happen or where does a person need to be open to the gospel message?

That’s a great question, and there’s two reasons we need to know the answer to this question:

Reason #1 - When you share your faith, there are going to be people who are open and people who aren’t open to the message of the gospel.

And understanding that is critical, because often that will determine how you share your faith with that person.

For example, if a person is closed to the gospel message, then trying to convince them or for force Jesus on them probably isn’t going to go well.

And in the end, you may push them further away from Jesus.

Unfortunately, over the years I’ve seen some eager Christians make that mistake.

For example, I saw a pastor make that mistake one time.

He was in the grocery store one night, and he noticed a man, who he knew wasn’t where he needed to be spiritually, buying a bottle of wine.

And so as he passed by the man he said, “That will bring you nothing but heartache and despair.”

And then he just kept walking.

I once had a friend who

To be honest, I’ve known a lot of well meaning Christians who are eager to share their faith, but often do it at inopportune times.

And as a result, instead of turning somebody towards Jesus, they end up turning them away.

Now, how do you think that man buying the bottle of wine reacted to that comment from that pastor?

I know for a fact, not well.

In fact, it pushed the man further away from his faith.

And please hear me, I’m not saying if you drink wine you’re not saved.