Sermon Tone Analysis

Ac. 2:47b                              The Lord Himself Adds to the Church                                8~/10~/97

                                                                                               Crusade Baptist Church

I.    Introduction                                                                                                                      585

·        Jesus Christ has been crucified & arisen from the dead as the Mighty Conquering King

·        He instructed His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until He sent the Holy Spirit in power    (Lk.

24:49; Ac. 1:8)

·        Jesus Christ then ascended into heaven (Ac.

1:9-11)

·        The Holy Spirit fills the believers with mighty power for witnessing (Ac.

2:1-4)

We have then this amazing interaction between heaven & earth, God & man, the Creator & the created, the Giver of gifts & the recipients, the Master & His servants, Omnipotence & weakness, the Great Shepherd & His sheep

 

II.

The Believer’s Role in Adding to the Church

A.      Preaching (Ac.

2:14,22-36,38-40)

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached…” ( Mt. 24:14); “wherever this gospel is preached…” (Mt.

26:13); “And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations” (Mk.

13:10); “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mk.

16:15); “and were preaching the gospel to many villages” (Ac.

8:25); “and there they continued to preach the gospel (Ac.

14:7); “I am eager to preach the gospel to you” (Rom.

1:15-16)

B.      Witnessing (1Pe.

3:15; Rom.

1:16; Ac. 8:4)

Then we must wait for an obedient response to the gospel (Ac.

2:37,41; 16:30-31).

Unless a sinner repents & believes the gospel message, he~/she cannot be saved; no one can repent for another individual; no one can believe for another person.

But we can plant & water this gospel message & be like the farmer that patiently waits for the crop and God must give the increase (1Co.

3:6-8)

The Lord Himself Adds to the Church, pg.

2

 

III.

God’s Role in Adding to the Church

q      Conviction, faith & repentance, regeneration & conversion is all the work of God (Jn.

6:44,65; Ac. 16:14; Eph.

2:8)

q      Jesus Christ is the head of the church & He rules His Church from heaven          (Col.

1:13-18) – “And the Lord was adding to the /ekklesia/” = called out & called together.

The Church of Christ has been called out of the world & called together to serve Him and only the Lord can add to this called out body of believers – it requires a miraculous, internal, divine work in the soul of a sinner to be added (Jn.

3:3; 2Co.

5:17; 1Co.

1:30)!

People can join the visible church, but not the invisible or spiritual or true church because they must be added (1Co.

12:13,18).

No one can be added to the church who is not SAVED “…those who were being saved” and no one is saved without being added to the church!

Only Christ can say I will build My Church; these are My People, My Sheep; this is My Bride, My Kingdom.

So then, we can agree with the Psalmist “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it… (Ps.

127:1).

So my brother~/sister be encouraged because the Lord cannot fail – He has declared the end from the beginning.

Though we live in dark days when “professing Christians have gone out from us”, when people will not endure sound doctrine but want their ears tickled, when men’s hearts have grown cold & they have become lovers of self, money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, etc.  – yet we do not lose heart, because the Lord is still building His church & still adding to His church.

But we must remain faithful until He comes – faithful in preaching, witnessing, patient, giving & forgiving, praying & pleading with God for lost & dying souls.

Be faithful until the end – for we all look forward to that great day in glory when all the saints of all the ages will be gathered together and we will hear individually “Well done thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”