Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we talked about Aquila and Priscilla and their friendship to Paul and Apollos.

Apollos we learned was a smart man trained and educated.

He was able to debate the people confidently.

What Aquila and Priscilla observed was that Apollos was not preaching the full gospel.

They took him aside, explained to him the Gospel and the sacrifice of Jesus and sent him to Greece where he would continue to preach in Corinth.

While this was happening, Paul was beginning his third missionary journey.

Starting in Antioch, Paul traveled up and through Asia minor going to some of the places he had been before on Missionary journeys.

His travelings bring him back to Ephesus where our chapter today begins.

The Holy Spirit

What is the Baptism of John?

John’s baptism was a temporary one.

He preached repentance, that people would turn away from their sins.

His baptism marked a temporary moral change but did not result in a transformed heart.

What was the purpose of John’s baptism?

John baptized and preached as the one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Messiah.

His role was to prepare the people for Jesus to come.

Everything he did was rooted in the fact that Jesus would come after him and accomplish what he could never do.

Why is the Baptism of the Spirit so important?

The Baptism of Jesus leads to hearts being transformed or born again.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not when someone is put under water.

The physical baptism that we do on Sundays is symbolic of the inward transformation the Spirit does that happens the second we believe.

Think about our story.

Paul did not baptize the twelve men before they recieved the Spirit.

The second they put their faith in Jesus they were filled with the Spirit and were transformed forever.

What is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is not...

A force

An intuition

A genie in a lamp

God the Father fills the role of a father in the trinity.

He did not produce the Son since the Son has always been but He begot the Son in sending Jesus to earth and has raised Him from the dead.

He serves as our spiritual father in whom we can have a relationship with through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

God the Son pays the penalty of our sin through His death and resurrection.

Our salvation is by grace, through faith, in Him alone.

He is the creator of all things, He has all authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

The Holy Spirit is...

A member of the Trinity distinct in person but one in being.

He searches the heart of God and men.

He inspires and illuminates Scripture, He convicts and sanctifies the heart, He transforms death into life, He serves as the down payment of our eternal reward, and He guides us in the way we should live.

It is important to remember that these three persons of the Trinity, although they are unique in persons, are one in being.

God the Holy Spirit is not the Son and is not the Father, but the Holy Spirit is Yahweh, the Father is Yahweh, the Son is Yahweh.

Not pieces of the whole but fully God in being.

A comforter and counselor

Miracle worker

Living inside God’s people

How do I know I have the Holy Sprit?

I am producing fruit of the Spirit

What is the role of the Holy Spirit?

Inspiration

Illumination

Conviction

Transformation

Sealing of the Soul

Sanctification

Direction

The Spirit works throughout all of Asia

Think about your own personal mission field.

Paul was just a man, the people he was ministering to were just regular people, yet God used regular people to share the Gospel throughout all of Asia in just two years.

Think about the relationships you have.

How can the Holy Spirit use you in your mission field.

Sometimes we don’t accomplish great things for God because we are afraid to attempt great things for God.

What would it take for us to reach our entire community for Christ?

After reading this passage and hearing for twenty chapters about the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives, what are some goals we can set for ourselves as a student ministry and as individuals to reach the world around us?

The Spirit is victorious over demonic forces

Seven sons of Sceva

Look at the contrast between these two stories.

Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit was performing miracles before the people, not for his benefit, but for the sake of the Gospel.

The Spirit was using him so powerfully that even his clothes were casting out demons.

Why would the sons of Sceva not be able to cast out the demon?

God was using Paul for a specific purpose.

Paul was able to perform these signs because God was using them to open a door for Paul to share the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Paul was well known even to the demon but the Jewish exorcists were not.

The demon respected Paul because it knew that Paul was ministering under the authority and protection of Christ.

We may never cast out demons but we can be sure of this.

Christ has sent us out with His authority to preach His Gospel.

There is nothing that can stand against the message we proclaim.

Even the demons must take a knee to the Spirit of God that lives inside of us.

The people of Ephesus watched and observed these things and recognized that the name of Jesus that Paul proclaimed was to be regarded in high esteem.

The name of Jesus, once mocked and scorned, now offers salvation to all who call upon it.

The burning of the scrolls

What should be our response to the message of the Gospel?

The people of Ephesus heard the word and responded in obedience.

They were transformed by the Holy Spirit and were crucified with Christ, dying to their old way of living and being raised again with Christ.

The people of Ephesus realized they needed to burn the scrolls and books they had used to practice magic.

What is it in your life that God is calling you to get rid of?

The Spirit is victorious over opposition

Satan thought he owned the city and could uproot Paul’s work through a riot, but God was in control, working even through the city clerk

Realizing that his way of living was in jeopardy, Demetrius rallied the people to riot against Paul and his ministry, but the work of God continued.

The Spirit is victorious over death

The Sprit has the power over physical death, but Eutychus would eventually die again.

Our focus should not be on our physical life but on our spiritual life.

Have we been born again spiritually?

Have we been raised again with Christ?

The Spirit leads Paul to shackles

Paul knew the Spirit was leading him to his death.

Yet, he left with confidence.

He trusted that God was good and was willing to follow the Spirit wherever it led him.

Where is the Spirit of God leading you tonight?

To a relationship with Him?

To repentance?