Sermon Tone Analysis
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INTRODUCTION
*Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to Acts 16
Today, we are taking a break from the Romans Road
For those visiting, welcome!
We are glad you are here with us today
we have been working through the book of Romans for some time now
If the Lord wills, we will return to Romans next week
But, today’s message is not one that could wait any longer
Today’s message is centered on obedience
As the people of God, you and I have been called to obedience.
Jesus says
This is a profound thought, because, if we are honest, we do this all the time
We say that Jesus is our “Lord and Savior,” that He is the King of everything
the word Lord means master, ruler, and or King
But if we call Jesus our King, and yet we do not do what He says, can we really call Him master?
As a church, we come back to this truth over and over again
It is all over the pages of Scripture
It is at the heart of the Gospel
It is in our vision statement as a church, that we will know Jesus and make Him Known.
Over and over again, we find that the heart of the Christian faith is that we would know Jesus more fully ourselves and that we would tell others about Him in all that we do.
Remember how many times we have heard that works will not save you, but if you are saved you will have works
WORKS COME OUT OF THOSE WHO ARE SAVED BECAUSE THE SAVED OBEY
As we discussed last week, those who are in Christ are transformed-you cannot be the same as you used to be
Obedience to Christ becomes everything in a believer’s life
Obedience to Christ is how we demonstrate our love for God
Obedience to Christ is an ear-mark of true disciple-making
Obedience is what separates those that merely hear and those that have true faith
As a follower of Jesus Christ...
Obedience is more important than my comfort
Obedience is more important than my happiness
Obedience is more important than my satisfaction
Obedience is more important than my desires
OBEYING Jesus in knowing Him and making Him known is at the very center of what it means to be a follower of Christ
And what we are going to see this morning is that as we obey, it is the Spirit that leads us in that obedience:
In Acts 16, Paul is on his second missionary journey:
PRAY
*LISTENING GUIDES OUT
As a man, and as a pastor, I have always tried to lead by example
I have never asked someone else to do something I was unwilling to do myself
I hold myself to a higher standard than I expect anyone else to live up to
I will not ask others to give a little if I am not already giving a lot
I will not ask others to sacrifice unless I am not willing to give up more than I am asking them to
You all have known me long enough to know that my heartbeat is for the lost
Missions and Evangelism should be a burning passion in the heart of every believer, since Jesus commands it
One of the greatest compliments I have ever received came at me in what was meant to be an insult, when I was accused of making our church a “missions church”
I say that this is a compliment because I believe that this is the very definition of what the church should be
You see, the lost are on the heart of God.
And when you worship God, when You worship the King, you begin to see things as He sees them, and His priorities become your priorities
reaching the lost
caring for those in need
raising up disciples
starting new churches
Raising up and sending out the best workers we can send into the harvest
These things are at the core of God’s purposes, and so they are the core of our purpose
And the way that we pursue these things must be God’s way, and not our way
As your leader, I have always strived to do, not what was comfortable or what I desired, but what God was calling us to, and I believe that this passage this morning gives us good reason to do things that way.
In fact there are three strong reasons for us to pursue God’s purposes and to do so in the way He leads
If you have your listening guide this morning, the first thing I would have you to write down is this, that
God’s plans are different than mine
Would Asia have been a good place to go? Would Bithynia have seen a response to the Gospel?
We don’t know how they would have responded.
We know churches were planted in the region known as Asia, so God sent missionaries there, just not these missionaries
What we do know is that these weren’t good places to go because God forbade it
God thinks differently than I do.
He keeps me from stepping into trouble I didn’t know was there
He focuses on the best things, not just good things
Since He is perfect and His purposes always work out, what He wants is always better than what I want
Following Jesus will mean doing things that are uncomfortable
Following Jesus will mean putting yourself at risk-what happens when He doesn’t show up?
But, ultimately, He knows better than I could ever know, and so trusting Him is the better idea Let’s look at the next section, verse 9:
The second thing that we need to write down this morning is this,
God’s plan comes with an open door
Paul’s crew tried to go to several places, but were thwarted by the Spirit
But when the Spirit spoke, when the Spirit led them, they found an open door
You and I might try to go places and do things, and in our own power, we will find frustration
I didn’t set the world into motion
I didn’t set the stars in the place
I can’t tell oceans how to rise and fall
But God can do all of these things
Sometimes, the call that God has placed in front of us seems impossible
The sacrifices seem too great to make
The risks carry too much uncertainty
And in my own path, this leads to frustration and despair...
But on God’s path, the door is open because He can do what no man can do
The door that God opens, no man can shut.
We may not understand the mission that He calls us to
We may not see the need
We may not see the way
We may feel hopeless in it, and yet, no man can close the door that God opens
I am always going to walk through God’s open door, and that means following His plan over my own
Look at verse 13:
The last thing that I would have you note this morning is this:
God’s plan will be fruitful
When I try to do things in my own strength, rarely does much come of it
I may get somewhere that on the outside looks good
But it usually is really an empty victory if it is a victory at all
Usually, not only do the results mean nothing, but I am left empty as well
But God’s plans always bring about fruit
In my life
In the lives of others
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