Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

All right, is good to be back with you again?

And we are picking up on episode 33 of our sermon series.

We're in the home stretch as we're telling the entire story of the Bible.

We began in September with Genesis.

And we we talked about the Resurrection on Easter and now we're going into the book of Acts.

We have four servings left to wrap up the story of the Bible and I'm really excited because the further we get into the story, The the denser it becomes because individual moments will pull on a whole bunch of threads from the Old Testament, all in one place, and I'm excited to see that happen.

It also means that I have the further we get in the series, The More I have to summarize before we can start the service.

Let me summarize for us, where we've been as we get in the story of act 2 scene is that, the Bible is the story of God's plan, to establish a Place.

Full of people who live out their purpose in his presence.

God made the world, and he made people.

In order to rule the world rule over the world.

On his behalf, the we were the part of creation that would respond to God and to order things according to his will.

And then he came down to live with us on the seventh day and that was the goal.

And then we messed it up.

We were bailed against him.

We try to set up our own kingdoms instead of obeying him and we kept messing it up and kept messing up until finally got launched.

This plan to restore his design to the world through one group of people known as he has her lights.

So we chose Abraham and his family and he gave him a particular place, the land of Israel and he came down to live with them in the Tabernacle and later the temple, and he gave him a specific purpose.

And their purpose was to reveal to the world who got is and what he wants for his people.

So God gave him 613 rules in the law of Moses for how they were to live in this place so that the communities around them could look at Israel in the way they lived with each other, the way they worship the way they interact with their God and they could see who God is and what he wants for Humanity.

Unfortunately, the Israelites weren't any better than the rest of us at obeying God.

Instead.

They rebelled against him.

They tried to build their own kingdoms and it turned into a mess and it got so bad that it reached a point where God basically decided.

The only way I can reveal anything about who I am to the world through Israel is to say that that's not me, whatever, whatever my Kingdom looks like.

It's not that.

And so he called The Covenant broken, he sent them into exile to show the world.

That died is not what that was not his goal.

And the Israelites spend about 500 years in Exile, some of them got to come back to Jerusalem.

Most of them stayed, spread out all around the Known World.

The ones that came back to Jerusalem, started this new program to try and get back in relationship with God.

They built a new Temple and they they reaffirmed the old Covenant, but they did it in this different way of that was all focused on keeping the Gentiles away.

They wouldn't let them help with the temple.

They wouldn't let them go to the temple.

They wouldn't let them live in Jerusalem and, and they tried to keep as far away from Gentiles and lawbreakers as they could, and they just sat in their holy huddle and focused on meticulous.

Keeping the lot problem is, their whole design was that they were supposed to be sharing their supposed to be showing the world what God wants and now they're doing the opposite.

And so Along Comes Jesus and Jesus steps out into into Galilean.

Says, the kingdom of God is coming and what that means is that God is ready to get back to work with Israel.

He's ready to relaunch the plan.

He's ready to put everything.

Back together, and he tells him, you need to repent.

Meaning you need to change course, because the course it is.

Real is chosen as the wrong way to be God's people.

You need to follow this other way that we, we looked at in The Sermon, on the Mount about how we're supposed to be a light or supposed to show like the show, the Gentiles who got his, what he wants for his people and ultimately, after three years of Ministry, Jesus goes into the temple, which is kind of the Centerpoint, the symbol of this way of jewishness that the Jewish leaders were had been following for 500 years and he comes into the temple and he provokes a confrontation and he's basically calls the juice to make a choice.

Are you going to follow my way of being God? People?

Are you going to stick to your own way of being goth people?

And the people of Jerusalem chose to reject Jesus, as way of being the Messiah, his way of being God people.

And he was handed over to the Romans, and he was killed.

And the two weeks ago, we talked about how suddenly out of nowhere.

Jesus who's been executed in this humiliating way is alive again.

And it's not just that he's breathing.

Again.

It's a different kind of like this kind of life, that God had promised would happen when his plan was for Phil, this eternal life until suddenly out of nowhere.

We're surprised to find out that the whole plan has been fulfilled.

That Jesus was right about what it means to be God's people.

And is somehow his dying on the cross, dealt with their the fact that they broke the Covenant.

And somehow, he has has become the person who shows the world who God is and what he wants for his people, and everything has been resolved in Jesus, and that leaves us with the question.

What now?

Why wasn't that the last chapter of the story of Jesus, has fulfilled everything that Israel was called to do?

And that's what the book of Acts it's up for us, is, it shows us what happened to the followers of Jesus, and how God continue to work through them to, to build his kingdom and to build on what happened in the resurrection.

Do I see we are opening passenger who acts.

I want you to keep in mind, the coordinate system that we use to keep our bearings were going to look for who is the story about Where is their home?

How can they meet with God?

And what did God tell them to do?

And that'll help us figure out where we are and where the story is headed.

After suffering, Jesus presented himself to the disciples and get mini convincing proof that he was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of forty days.

And spoke about the kingdom of God, on one occasion while he was eating with them.

He gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift.

My father promised, which you have heard me speak about, for John, baptized with water.

But in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, then they gathered around him and ask him.

Lord.

Are you at this time?

Going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them.

It is not for you to know the times are dates.

The father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the Earth.

After he said that he was taken out before their very eyes and a cloud, hit him from their site.

I tell who's the story about.

At this stage, as Jesus has ascended into heaven.

The people who are left behind are the disciples.

So the story is focusing mainly on the disciples.

We also remember that throughout the story.

The Jews have been the people of God.

God said he was going to save the world through the Jews.

And so, the Jewish people are not out of the picture to say that the story specifically about the disciples, but with with the Jewish nation in mind, Where is there home?

Home is Galilee and Judea.

These are the Roman provinces that the promised land has been carved up into.

But notice the vast majority of Jews.

Do not live in these areas.

They live all over the Known World.

There.

It's called the diaspora, the scattering of Israel.

They live in from Babylon to Spain and from Turkey to Ethiopia.

Just everywhere that the Roman Empire knows of there are Jewish communities there.

And the presence of God, how can they meet with God? Here's the tricky one, because what we've been saying since the baptism is that the presence of God, it's not in the temple.

Never returned.

It was Temple.

It's in Jesus, but where is Jesus now?

Jesus is in heaven.