Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts #10

Back to the Beginning:

When Church Was Church

 

*Church Growth Cycle*

*Acts 5:12-42*

 

Jesus Christ himself personally "planted" This church in Acts

 

He pulled together the leadership team, he trained them for 3 and ½ years.

He gathered a core group of followers and supporters

 

He left them instructions and empowered them with the Holy Spirit

 

Then things began to happen and the church Began to Grow

 

 

Well, when a church begins to grow there are plateaus, there are barriers that must be pushed past and there are cycles that seem to operate as the church grows, hits barriers, plateaus and then either continues in a new cycle of growth, maintains, or declines.

And as I read our text today I saw a picture of a Church Growth Cycle that I believe is common in churches today and now is visible here in the short life of the Young /First Baptist Church at Jerusalem/.

Read vv 12-42

 

Well … let me walk you quickly through the cycle and perhaps those who have been around church awhile will recognize the pattern.

Perhaps you'll even recognize it in the 2 years we've been together here

 

 

*1.

Wonders*

  A.

*Miracles* - they had prayed in Acts 4:29-30 for God to stretch out his hand and guess what … he did

 

  B.

*Manifestations* of God's Hand

    1.

sending workers into the fields

     2.

changing hearts and minds

    3.

reshaping and old hardened piece of clay into a new instrument for God's Table 

2 Timothy 2:20,21 /In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.

21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work/

 

    4.

Respected - I've heard about you … is God still at work in your church?

 

2 Kings 7:9 /then they said to each other "we're not doing right.

This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.

If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us.

Let's go at once and report this … /

 

  C.

*HERE*

    1.

God has done wonderful things in us,

    2.

God has done wonderful things in this world,

    3.

God has done wonderful things in History and

    4.

we not only need to recognize it we need to proclaim it

 

2nd stage in this growth cycle …

 

*2.

Crowds*

 

  *A.

More and More*

    1.

more  and more men and women believed and were added -

    2.

MORE + More = Much More

    3.

MORE x MORE = Multitudes More

   

  B.

*Crowds* came

    1.

Crowds are NOT necessarily GROWTH -

    2.

Adrian Rogers was preaching last Monday and he said, not all growth is good, he said, /"a Cemetery Grows and is Crowded too"/

 

    3.

they are NUMBERS but until they assimilate into the congregation you can't really see them as growth

    4.

But - Crowds, NUMBERS come when they hear that something is going on

    5.

When they hear that God is at work or that lives are being changed, crowds come

    6.

They want to see for themselves

    7.

Not all will STAY

    8.

Some aren't sure WHAT they are looking for

    9.

Some are just out for entertainment but crowds come, numbers come

 

Any time you get crowds, you are going to get more than you bargained for … leading to our 3rd stage …

 

*3.

Persecution*

 

  A.

*Jealousy* (v17)

is almost always a key component in persecution

    1.

accusation - "you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching" - v20 -

    2.

"Go stand in the temple and tell the people everything about this New Life" -

   

  B.

*Persecuted* for *preaching* the *Truth* *without* *shame* or reservation -

    1.

What was their Response to persecution?

Continued teaching - preach the truth in love

    2.

we don't have to be offensive when we preach the Truth, because the truth is offensive enough all by itself

- preach the truth in action

- preach the truth through music

- preach the truth through witnessing

- preach the truth through videos~/movies

- preach the truth in the open daylight

- preach the truth in the cover of night

- preach the truth in the church

- preach the truth at the Final Four Basketball tournament

- preach it one on one to a friend

- preach the truth to a stranger on the plane

- preach the truth through whatever means necessary -- but For the Sake of Christ - Preach the TRUTH

 

 But KNOW this - IF YOU DO - persecution is coming

 

*  C.

Truth brings Persecution*

    1.

People are crying out for the truth, in the streets and in the church and then when you tell them the truth they will call you close-minded, bigoted, hate-speaker, ignorant, and "behind the times"

 

    2.

A major problem that the Sadducees had with the Apostles is that they were changing everything

 

    3.

They didn't care if God was in it or not, they wanted to maintain control and the status quo

    4.

When the Spiritual winds of change come and God's Spirit begins to move there will be those within the church and outside the church who will resist that and seek to maintain the norm.

    5.

Those outside the church will overlook the wonderful things that have happened, the lives changed, the hearts changed, the society that is being changed, and seek to bring things back into "normalcy"

    6.

Also when those winds blow, there will be forces within the church that will resist the change.

Sometimes it is resisted simply because it is uncomfortable and sometimes because it brings a shift of power

 

Persecution naturally leads us to … 4th Stage

 

*4.

Sifting*

 

Make sure we understand what Sifting is - DEF - /to separate or sort out what is useful or valuable to scatter /

 

  *A.

Sifting*

    1.

whenever there is persecution - there is sifting

    2.

persecution sifts out those who are not serious about following

 

    3.

God uses things to sift and prune things from his people and sometimes things from his church.

4.

It is a tool to purify us as individuals and purify his church.

5.

It is a tool to see what we are made of

*  B.

Separating Wheat and Chaff *

Satan can be involved in the process but only with God's permission