Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Welcome

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men,! they were astonished.

And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Pray

Illustration

What do Tom Brady, Kylie Jenner, the Rock, Steven Furtick, Jake Paul, Christine Caine, Donald Trump, Bill Nye, Lamborghini, and Fornite all have in common?

That highly coveted blue instagram checkmark!

Do you know about these?

If you use instagram you probably know but for those of you who don’t use instagram, well, the world is passing you by.

No, Im just kidding, but here is what the blue checkmark means.

It is a sign that someones account is verified by instagram to be the real person.

Now not everyone can get the blue checkmark because there are certain requirements that go along with it.

And it would be safe to say that anyone who is doing some sort of vocation where they regularly interact with the public or want to increase their platform, well, they really want that check mark…at least most do.

In fact if you go on instagram right now you will see that Myself and Nick Carey, because we are pastors, have made ourselves public figures on instagram.

That is just ONE thing that can lead to getting that highly sought after blue checkmark.

I know I want it!

• sidenote, if you dont follow me on instagram go ahead right now and follow brandonjstiffler (pause) and if you follow me and not Nick, keep it that way…he has 200 more followers than me and I want to close the gap.

Im gunning for you man haha Im just kidding!

Lighten up, im too humble for that…I got 99 problems but instagram checkmarks arent one...

But seriously, why does a stupid little blue checkmark on a social media platform matter anyway?

Well here is one reason, if you have that checkmark it means that, more than likely, you are an influencer in some way shape or form.

What are Instagram influencers?

Instagram Influencer.

noun.

Influencers are Instagram users who have an established credibility and audience; who can persuade others by virtue of their trustworthiness and authenticity.

Your brand's influencers are users that employ your brand hashtag who have the largest number of followers.

All the people and brands that I mentioned to you are definitely considered influencers and if you follow any of them I bet they have influenced you in some way shape of form.

Whether its the words they speak, the things they believe in, the ideals they champion, the jokes they tell, or the brand’s they represent or wear they have influenced millions of people and, more than likely, some of you in this room.

I know for a fact that some mentioned on that list have influenced me!

shout out to my girl Kylie! ummm, haha, just kidding

(covering the mic “Lamborghini if you are listening I am open to endorsement deals”)

On a real note though, we are all pretty easily influenced aren’t we?

Its just in our human nature to be I think.

From instagram, facebook, twitter, family, the news, youtube, fake news, politicians, friends, enemies, that last meme you just shared with your friend before I started to talk up here and yes pastors like Nick and I.

We have influences coming at us from all angles!

The question is, how is that effecting you and who or what are you letting drive your life?

What influences are forming you and shaping you to be who you are and, if I polled the people around you, who or what would they say influences you?

That is what I want to talk about today and so, if you are taking notes, you can write this down.

The title of my sermon today is.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Main Body

Backround on the book of Acts

This passage we started our reading today is found in the book of Acts.

Acts was written by Luke - Luke was a physician, historian, and fellow worker with the apostle Paul.

Acts is meant to show all that was going on in the early history of the church and Luke should probably be considered the first Christian historian.

This book was probably written in tandem with what we know as the gospel of Luke, perhaps in 1 single volume.

Luke addresses it to Theophilus, who was probably Luke’s Patron, and at the very beginning in Acts 1:1 acknowledging that this was a continuation of his first book, the gospel of Luke.

This is the only book in the entire New Testament, besides letters that were written by Paul, that is dedicated to a single person.

Acts was probably written in the early 60’s AD because if it were written afterward Luke would have more than likely not ommitted such major historical events as the great fire of Rome in 64 AD and the subsequent persecution of Christians in Rome by Nero and Acts ends with Paul still alive so he also did not include Paul’s execution which is thought to be around 66 - 68 AD.

Setting the scene

So let me set the background of the scene for you.

This is in Acts 4, in Acts 1 Luke records Jesus going back into heaven after the resurrection, In Acts 2 we find Pentecost which is when the Holy Spirit came down on all the disciples and they preached Jesus to crowds of people from all over that had descended on Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost.

On that day the church grew by thousands.

In Acts 3-4 we have one story, Peter and John healing a crippled man in the name of Jesus followed by them being thrown in prison for preaching the name of Jesus, and being brought before the Sanhedrin which is where we picked up in the passage.

We don’t know how long after the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus back into heaven, and Pentecost this is.

It could be days, weeks, months, but it seems to be relatively soon after - my guess is probably days or weeks Z.

So Peter and John are now before the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin was basically the governing council of the Jews in Jerusalem.

It consisted of 71 members and it had authority over religious matters but not over law because Israel was occupied by Rome and had a Roman ruler over it to deal with the enforcement of the laws of Rome.

This is the same group of people that took Jesus in front of Pontius Pilate to be crucified because they themselves could not enforce the death penalty on him only the ruling Roman authority could.

The Sanhedrin was set in a semi-circle so Peter and John would have been in the middle so that all the members could see them.

The chief priest would have more than likely had a prominent seat in the middle of the Sanhedrin and would have been presiding over the trial and interrogation of anyone brought before the council.

The main scripture

Peter and John were arrested the day before what we read took place so they were housed somewhere in the temple complex overnight and brought before the council in the morning which is when they began to question them about healing the lame man.

How did you do this?

In Whose name did you do this?

I picture them as pretty furious because a notable miracle has taken place at the hands of Peter and John.

And then it say that the Holy Spirit filled Peter and he began to testify to all who would hear him that Jesus, the one whom they had crucified by te way, had been raised from the dead and that it was through his name not only that the miracle was done but also through whom salvation itself is found!

And now I want to read Acts 4:13 for you again.

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men,! they were astonished.

And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

The council was taken aback, how could these men so BOLDLY speak up to the Sanhedrin like this?

How could they ever dare to do what they did and declare what they declared?

I mean who did they think they were?

They were nothing, uneducated, common, nobodies.

That word translated common is actually the greek word ἰδιώτης (idiōtēs) which of course is where we get our word idiot.

It can mean unskilled, a “non-expert” and an outsider.

You see Peter and John were Galileans, nobodies in the jewish world, outsiders to the religious elite.

They were mere fishermen.

In fact, when Jesus was on trial and Peter snuck in to see what was happening, he was detected as an outsider and a disciple of Jesus because of his Galilean accent.

They were essentially the hillbillies of Israel.

Far removed from the elite and educated and certainly of no caliber of man to stand up to the Sanhedrin!

Not only did they stand up to them but they quoted their own scriptures to them to prove that Jesus was the messiah and asserted they were the ones that crucified him!

22  The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

Now not only is the Sanhedrin stunned but it just does not make sense for what was going on at the time.

Their leader was just arrested and crucified as an enemy of the state of Rome and they could very well have been next.

In fact, just before Jesus rose from the dead, they were a leaderless bunch of rabble whose dreams of the messiah had been shattered before their very eyes at the crucifixion of Jesus and were huddled together, scared, alone, lost and depressed in an upper room somewhere wondering what to do next.

But now?

Now they were bold, now they were courageous, now they were healing the lame and defying the very authorities that had their leader delivered up to the Romans.

Why?

Well, the only reason the council could find was that THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS.

That was the only explanation as to why any of this was happening, they had been influenced and changed by Jesus, and things would never be the same.

How does this apply to our lives

I wonder, when people look at our lives, would they recognize that we have been with Jesus?

Would they recognize the tangible influence and effect that Jesus has on our lives?