Sermon Tone Analysis

How many of you remember exactly where you were, who you were with, what you were doing when you saw that this had happened?

21 years ago today was the day that our country was forever changed.

I thought you might like to know a timeline of events on that day.

It’s 11:00am here, EST.

By this time, 11am on September 11, 2001, two planes had crashed into both the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

Both towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed — 100 floors of skyscraper now made up of piles of smoldering concrete, steel, and glass.

[9/11 SLIDE]

By this time on Sep.

11, 2001, one plane had crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, DC.

Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

By this time on that day, the White House and US Capitol building had been evacuated.

By this time, the FAA had forced every plane over US airspace — that’s over 4,500 planes in the sky — to land.

No planes over the US; no planes entering or leaving the US.

By this time on that day, in fact, between 8:45am and 10:28am — less than two hours — thousands of Americans were dead along with 19 terrorist hijackers.

Some around the world celebrated what happened.

Most of the world mourned along with us.

On that day, the entire world came to a standstill.

People in Berlin and Johannesburg and Istanbul paused in front of their TVs, hands over their mouths, stunned at what they were seeing.

One thing is certain: September 11, 2001 was a day that will never be forgotten, at least as long as people remain alive who saw it.

If you saw it, you could never forget.

I remember watching the news that day and just having this feeling that there was no going back.

Things were radically different now.

The world had changed in the blink of an eye.

The world did change on Sep.

11, 2001, and now, looking back from 2022, we can see that the world did change permanently.

That’s because September 11 was what we call a crisis.

A crisis is a defining event, an event that forces a decision upon us.

A crisis is an event that is so monumental that you must respond to it — you must go one way or the other way but you can never remain the same.

That’s sort of what conversion is like, isn’t it?

Previously dead in sins, now alive like never before.

Previously weighed down by sin and guilt; now forgiven and free.

Previously enslaved to destructive habits; now strong with new power to live a new kind of life.

Coming to Christ is a crisis — you can never remain the same once you have truly come to know Him.

Which is why it is so puzzling when we see how many people do make commitments to Christ but then seem to remain the same.

Many believers have received Jesus and Lord and Savior but have not really figured out how to live fully like a Christian in every area of life.

And because they did the first without the second, they’ve become weak, complacent, and self-satisfied.

In other words, many Christians become Christians but don’t really learn to live like a Christian and so they don’t act or look like a Christian.

Saul — who from here on out we will call him Paul — shows us an example of a Christian actually digging in and living like a Christian.

The Facts of Acts 9:19-31

Where?

Damascus & Jerusalem

Who? Paul, Barnabas, Jews, Christians

What? Paul becomes a missionary & is hated/feared/embraced/protected

Five things every believer should be doing:

Connecting

Studying

Growing

Enduring

Engaging

These things don’t save us, but they serve as evidence that we have been saved.

Five things every believer should be doing.

#1: Connecting - Connecting Consistently With A Church

One of the first things Paul does after his salvation experience is connect with a church.

Verse 19b picks up right after Luke tells us the story of Paul’s salvation experience on the road to Damascus.

And the next thing we read is this in verse 19b:

Saul connected immediately with the church in Damascus

“For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus...”

Acts 9:19b ESV

Now look down with me to verse 26.

This is after he’s left the city of Damascus and now has traveled back to Jerusalem.

New city?

Gotta find a church.

Verse 26:

Saul connected with the church in Jerusalem when he arrived there.

“And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples.”

Acts 9:26 ESV

Paul was going to Damascus as a Jewish official from Jerusalem and his goal once he got there was simple: hunt down Christians, round them up, arrest them, tie them up, and bring them back to Jerusalem where they would stand trial, for being Christians.

But Jesus had other plans for Paul.

He was going to take this man who at the time was the chief persecutor of the church and turn him into the chief missionary of the church.

Jesus reveals Himself to Paul on the road; Paul is stunned and traumatized by this; he’s blinded for three days.

He uses this time to think and pray.

He emerges as a changed man.

And the first thing he does, upon emerging from his seclusion, is: gathers with other believers in Damascus.

This is such a priority for Paul.

By contrast, we’ll let almost anything interfere with our church attendance.

Our kids and grandkids have Sunday morning ballgames?

No problem — we’ll just pick back up at church in a few months.

We’re having a tough time with something?

Things aren’t going well?

Can’t go to church if I don’t have it together.

I’ll just stay home until things get better for me.

Then I’ll go back.

COVID-19 pandemic is under control?

We’ve come to enjoy our family time on Sunday mornings, sitting on the couch drinking our coffee and eating our chocolate chip pancakes.

Church is a lot more fun with chocolate chip pancakes.

Let’s just keep doing this a little while longer; we’ll get back eventually.

Adults aged 18-57:

More than 66% do not attend church even once a month

These are people who say they made a commitment to Jesus in the past that is still important to them today

Source: The American Bible Society 2022 State of the Bible Survey

Every year, the American Bible Society conducts what they call the State of the Bible Survey.

This year they found something really remarkable.

What did they find?

They found that people — Christians, who call themselves strong Christians, practicing Christians — you ask them, are you a Christian and does it make a difference in how you live?

And they answer yes!

That group of adults in America, ages ranging from 18 to 57 years old — they aren’t likely to come to church even once a month.

But here’s the thing: they probably consider themselves active churchgoers.

They have a church where they’re a member.

They keep in touch with people from church on social media.

Their church where they’re members — that’s our church, they say.