Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts Summary

I wonder how many of you have been taught through the book of Acts.

Many have characterized this book as a historical book, because it chronicles the life of the early church and the leadership that developed in those early days.

Some people have described it as the Acts of the Apostles.

After all, the book is divided up into the various events and stories that happen to the lives or actions of the Apostles as they began to expand and reach out with this new life in Christ.

When researching what to preach, I began to look over books that haven’t been preached through in the recent years here at this church and I landed on the book of Acts.

As Elders we discussed this option and many of us felt that this would be a good book to go through as we enter this new year.

The old year has brought many challenges and these past two years have been anything but smooth for us as a church and there is many similarities found in the book and what we have experienced.

As I began to look over the text and how to approach this marvelous book, I began to realize that this is not just a history book.

It’s not just about the Apostles and the leadership development of the local church.

It is not just a book about the early church and its various issues it went through in developing as a movement to a church.

It is a book about a movement, the movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people like you and me.

You see, Luke, the physician, sat down to detail the second part of the story that involves the whole scriptures.

Luke in his first volume, Part 1, was to outline the actions of the Messiah, the Christ and his role here on this earth.

Luke’s second volume, Part 2 was the book of acts and it’s focus changed from the action of the Messiah to the movement of the Spirit that pointed to the work of the Messiah.

The Messiah sent by God to bring about salvation to us through his life, death and Resurrection.

This was God’s plan from the beginning of Creation to establish a deep and intimate relationship with His creation.

Christ’s work on the cross, brought about a reconciliation to God for each one of us who give our lives to him.

Acts then is Part 2 of Luke’s story.

The Beginning of a Movement.

The Movement is that of the Holy Spirit, the 3rd part of the trinity coming to this world as a promise.

This movement of God outlined in the book of Acts shows us the movement from with us to God in us.

A promise from God the Father, re-affirmed from the Son and soon to be delivered to the followers of this Movement which we now call the church.

The central theological focus of Acts is the fulfillment of Jesus' declaration to his disciples: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8).

As Luke narrates the resulting growth of the NT church, several key themes come to light as we look at this movement:

First,

1. Acts highlights the preaching of Christ's death and resurrection, alternating between the ministry of the word of God and its effects on the church:

• 6:7: The word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied.

• 9:31: The church was being built up and thriving.

• 12:24: The word of God was growing and multiplying.

• 16:5: The church was growing stronger in its faith and adding members every day.

• 19:20: The word of the Lord was growing and expanding mightily.

Secondly

2. Acts emphasizes the movement of the Holy Spirit.

who is divine, in the salvation of sinners (another Acts emphasis) and the rise of the church, in fulfillment of OT promises.

From the instruction of the apostles and their empowerment for ministry (1:2, 5, 8), to the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (ch.

2), to Paul's application to his listeners of what the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah (28:25), Acts recounts how God by his Spirit impacts a needy world and in so doing rescues many from spiritual blindness and destruction.

Thirdly,

3. Acts makes clear that the disciple of Jesus can expect suffering­ not every disciple, and not every day, but many disciples much of the time.

In Jerusalem apostles are arrested and beaten (5:40).

Stephen is martyred (ch,.

7).

At his conversion Paul is told how he will suffer for Jesus' name (9:16).

Paul applies this to the church in general (14:22).

He realizes that being faithful to Jesus may bring prison and death, but he is ready (21:13).

Acts explains how and why this readiness arose-and still exists today among believers who preserve intact the full force of gospel proclamation.

Fourthly,

Christian Identity is about being Sent

4. Acts reminds us that the core of Christian identity, from the beginning, has been mission (a Latin-based word meaning "sending").

In the contemporary West, Acts has drawn attention from scholars as an important historical source.

Pentecostal movements have viewed portions of it as a blueprint for their own Christian experience.

Contemporary interests should not be allowed to obscure the call in Acts for all believers to be engaged in both living the gospel and spreading its benefits "to the end of the earth" (1:8), starting with the.

saving, transforming message of Christ crucified, risen, and reigning by his Spirit and word..

Finally,

It’s about the movement of the Trinity

5. Yet there is danger in overlooking that the language in Acts is not primarily about the church, people (not even God's people), or what they should do, in mission or otherwise.

It is about "God," "Lord," "Jesus," and "Spirit" (together over 400 occurrences; the word "Paul" occurs just 128 times).

A faithful theology of Acts will be first of all a· theology centering on the triune God.

So over the next few weeks leading up to the Easter Season we are going to be looking into the first few Chapters of the Book of Acts and discover the Beginning of the movement we now call the church.

Introduction

Before we begin, I would like to speak about the difference between what is described as a movement and that of the church.

Doctrine on the church is defined this way

The doctrine of the church can deliver us from individualism, from the idea that Christianity can all somehow be reduced or concentrated to fit into my experience, my personal relationship with God.

As important as that relationship is, God has something much larger in mind.

All of God’s ways move towards the end of establishing the people of God, who he has called out from the world to be set aside as his.

Folks the church is not the building.

We are sometimes defined as a meeting place, but we must realize that the building is not the church, the Called out ones are the church.

The people who have put their trust in the saving work of the Cross for their lives and have given themselves over to Christ.

Maybe you come week after week to this gathering and yet not embraced this truth.

You come to the gathering of the church in this building, but the church as we discover this movement is defined as those who have given their life over to Christ.

The Church is often refereed to in these terms.

Called out,

set aside,

His bride

the Chosen.

In the broader sense, it is all those who are believers form the Church, this gathering of people who call this gathering home are a part of a larger group called the church.

Although at times I scratch my head at what other gatherings of believers do, what they are willing to hold onto and live out their faith in Christ, I know it will amaze me who Christ calls His bride in the end.

We split ourselves over doctrinal issues, but in the end

Christ will decide His Church.

The Church is called out from Christ

The Church is sustained through the Holy Spirit.

The Church is reconciled to God the Father.

I want you to keep this in mind as we walk through the book of Acts and see how this Church starts with a movement and comes to be the Church as we know it today.

So to begin,

Let’s open our Bible to Acts chapter one

Before we read, let’s pray

let’s begin reading

The Promise

Luke begins this book with a short executive summary of his entire Gospel writing found in the book of Luke.

Can you image the disciples at this point in history.

Jesus was with them for the better part of 3 years.

Walking, talking, teaching, mentoring, training.

An in-depth study of what it meant to be a disciple of Christ.

A study on the Kingdom of God.

look at verse 4

Can you image the look on the disciples faces.

Wait,

We have done all this, learnt all this, sacrificed all this and you are leaving?

A promise?

What Promise?

When I was younger, my parents put me in the scouts program.