Sermon Tone Analysis

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

The Book of Acts - Part 46

Acts 14:1-20

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - June 15, 2014

*Life changing words: Hearing your boyfriend ask, "Will you marry me?" Answering "Yes!" or "No."

Both of those answers are pretty life-changing.

How about hearing your wife say, "I'm pregnant."

That's life-changing!

*But the greatest life-changing words are the words of the gospel: God loves you.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins.

Jesus rose again from the dead.

Jesus will save you.

These are the most life-changing words anyone can ever hear.

And Christians, we must let people hear this good news from us! Tonight's Scripture helps us see why.

1. First: Let your voice be heard, because people will still believe in Jesus.

*Many people will believe and be saved.

Verse 1 reminds us of this wonderful truth.

There the Word of God says: "Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed."

Many believed.

They trusted in the Lord, and they were saved, because somebody let their voice be heard.

*What an infinite blessing: To be saved and forgiven!

To have eternal life!

To be part of the family of God!

To have a home in Heaven!

*Can you remember what it was like to be lost?

Think of life without Jesus Christ, a life that is really not alive.

A two-dimensional shell of a life in a three-dimensional world: That's what life is like without Jesus.

But Christians: We are truly alive!

We are saved, because somebody let their voice be heard.

And people all around us need to hear.

*Richard Pfeil challenges and encourages us with these words: "I wonder sometimes whether the myths in our heads are really true, the myths in our churches that people don’t really want to hear about Christianity, the myth that people are satisfied with their lives, that they have everything they need, and don’t need the Lord in their lives. .

."

*Then Richard said: "When I look at the early church, they always spoke out about Jesus Christ.

Throughout the history of the last 2,000 years, people have discovered that they do need Jesus.

People have listened, and they will listen.

People have responded, and they will respond. . .

And every time the church caught fire and talked about their faith, people began to listen."

(1)

*Bruce Larson gave this testimony about an unexpected salvation.

It was a neighbor of his in Sanibel Island, Florida.

And Bruce said, "I had a neighbor in his eighties who had been a vice-president for McGraw-Hill, one of the great publishing firms of our land.

He was a brilliant businessman.

He was a leader in his Episcopal church, and on the city council in Sanibel.

He was, respected, and loved by all.

*One weekend, he went off to a renewal conference with a bunch of lay people who began praying with him and talking about Jesus.

This beautiful man comes home transformed and says to his neighbors and friends, 'I met Jesus!' 'What happened to you?' they ask.

He says, 'I don't know.

I fell in love.'"

He fell in love with the Lord God Almighty.

He fell in love with Jesus Christ! "'He's always been a good man,' his neighbors said, 'but now he's a new man.'"

(2)

2. Let your voice be heard, because people will still believe in Jesus, and because people are still belligerent against Jesus.

*Many people are belligerent against our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And they are doing everything they can to poison other minds.

We can see the poison spread in vs. 2-7:

2. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.

3. Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

4. But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

5.

And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them,

6. they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.

7.

And they were preaching the gospel there.

*Those unbelieving Jews were hard-hearted and belligerent to the truth about Jesus.

They also tried their best to poison other people's minds in Iconium.

And the same kind of thing is going on today.

*You may remember the story from last Christmas about an atheist organization that put up 55 billboards around Sacramento, California to promote their unbelief.

It was the Sacramento chapter of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

This is the same group that has instigated so much anti-Christian bigotry in our military.

Those billboards last Christmas had a big picture of a typical Nativity scene, with the star overhead, and the three Wise Men headed toward the manger.

But the main caption said: "You KNOW it's a Myth."

(3)

*Church: We know it's NOT a myth!

That's why we must let our voices be heard.

But lost and belligerent people are doing all they can to poison other people’s minds.

*James Hewett gave another example of how God's determined enemies work.

This happened years ago, when James was serving the Lord in Miami.

And James said: "While working among Cuban Americans in Miami, I frequently heard the following story:

*Shortly after the Communist revolution in Cuba, there were strong attempts to turn the people away from God.

In elementary schools, Communist teachers would ask their students whether God could live up to His promises or not.

Of course, the students said 'Yes.'

*The teacher would then use a deceitful trick to make her case that God was weak.

The teacher would tell the students to pray very hard for some candy.

After ten minutes, the teacher would ask if anyone received any candy.

The students responded with a sad 'No.' Then the teacher would tell the students to ask the Communist state for candy.

And when the children did, the teacher would go around the room filling the students' hands with candy."

(4)

*What a monstrous thing to do!

And you may think, "Well, that could never happen here."

But it is happening here!

There are many people in our country today who are just as opposed to Jesus Christ.

Belligerent people are poisoning other peoples' minds.

What should we do?

The same thing Paul and Barnabas did here.

They kept speaking out for the Lord everywhere and every way they could.

*When the unbelieving Jews started poisoning the Gentiles' minds, vs. 3, says, "Therefore they (Paul and Barnabas) stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord."

In other words: The reason Paul and Barnabas "stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord" was because those unbelievers were poisoning people's minds against Jesus Christ.

*Then in vs. 5-6, under the leadership of the Lord:

5. . .

when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them,

6. they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.

*Yes, they had to move on, but in vs. 7, they kept speaking out for the Lord: "They were preaching the gospel there."

3. Let your voice be heard, because people are still belligerent about Jesus, and because God is still big.

*Our God is just as big today as He ever was!

Back in vs. 3, the Lord "was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands."

Then in vs. 8-10, something else special happened:

8. . .

a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked.