Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Earlier this week, we watched in anticipation to look at a rodent to tell us what the next six weeks are going to look like.

Are we going to have six more weeks of the cold or six more weeks of progressively better weather.

I over heard a few of the teachers this week discussing the pros and cons and what they liked, I posted this on my facebook page.

If the Pastor sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of his sermon series

so, as someone asked.

There was no shadow for me and we continue in our series looking at the beginning of a movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the early church.

Today’s glimpse into their world we will be looking at Chapter 3 and discover some fascinating actions.

When we started this series, I gave you an overview of the book.

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.

Let me give a short plug here for our district.

Coming in a few weeks is a

Theological Symposium that is being sponsored by our national office.

Let’s watch the clip

VIDEO

https://vimeo.com/664419795

For some of you, may I encourage you if you have the time, this is an online course that you can participate in if you want to discover more about the trinity.

If you would like more information, please drop me a line or check out the EFCC website for more information.

It’s coming in a few weeks on Feb 24 & 25

With that in mind, turn with me if you would to Acts Chapter 3 and I will begin reading in verse one

Let’s Pray

The Beggar is healed

I was reading over this passage earlier in the week and for a brief moment, I thought I would be creative and come dressed as a beggar to tell this portion of the sermon.

It’s a good thing that this town doesn’t have a costume shop as you may have had to endure a small amount of theatrical mishaps.

But I want you to think about this beggar for a few moments.

When you spend some time looking over scripture sometimes there are more questions than answers, so I have a few questions:

First of, Who is he… Why doesn’t scripture tell us his name or what happened to him after he was healed?

When we study the New Testament church, why isn’t there the reference of Fred Goatroper (That is the name I am going to give him), the beggar that was healed by Peter and John.

There is some debate to the actual time that Acts was written by Luke, but one thing is for sure that several years had passed since the event and Luke was doing research on the story and I can well imagine that this event on the early life of the church had been told time and time again.

I’m sure, Fred’s healing made the top story of their time.

People would be reminding each other as they reflected back to the time,

Remember that day Fred was healed.

So why wasn’t he mentioned other than this passage?

I have a second question

Who brought him to the gate?

As we learn in scripture, Fred was an adult and had been lame from birth.

Fred, not being able to walk would in those days be a, at the least, an inconvenience for the Family, and most likely society.

He was a burden to the people.

Do you know people in your life that may feel like Fred a burden to the people around them.

I wonder if the family lived in Jerusalem or did Fred grow up in a smaller town and had seen the gate as they would make their family pilgrimage to the temple.

As a lame man, he was not able to provide for himself, most men would have learned the trade of their father, maybe this trade required the ability to stand and he was unable to learn that trade.

Being unemployed in those days, Fred was most likely homeless and his only source of income would be to be at the temple gate and have to beg for money.

But he would have to get there.

He needed people in his life.

Who were those people?

Are we the people for those who feel a burden to others?

How do you respond to a beggar in today’s world?

A few years ago I was blessed to be able to attend a major Christian Event held yearly in Edmonton in January, called Breakforth Canada.

Around 8000 Christians would gather for a weekend to worship, listen to speakers, have seminars and worship with others.

This event was held at the large conference center in the heart of Edmonton and there were street beggars that were out in full force asking for money.

How would you respond to a beggar in today’s world?

How are we to show God’s love in compassion to those who are in need?

Fred was a beggar, he needed to be at the gate in order to survive in his world.

Fred had friends.

He wasn’t allowed to live at the gate, most likely the temple guards would have pushed him away at night.

We know that because scripture tells us that this coming to the gate was a daily event.

I wonder, did his friends have compassion on him, were they the same friends that did this day after day.

Have you every had to beg?

The closet I have ever come to beg was during an athletic event where we collected pins, or should I say, my children were used to collect pins.

I found out where that “Head office” of the event was and were all the big shots came and went and had the boys ask everyone,

“Do you have any pins”

Really, they were begging.

I could have bought some, but the ones given, even if a repeat, could be used to trade with others.

But Fred wasn’t begging for pins, he was begging for life essentials.

He was looking for Cash

As Fred sat there day in and day out, did he notice the same people coming and going.

Was he in on the local gossip of the day.