Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.59LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.36UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.29UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.78LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.61LIKELY
Extraversion
0.25UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.95LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.6LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
How to Tell Our Christian Story - Part 2
The Book of Acts - Part 85
Acts 26:1-23
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - May 31, 2015
BACKGROUND:
*Last week we began to focus on how to give our Christian testimonies, and tonight, in Acts 26, the Apostle Paul will give us some more help.
Remember that back in Acts 21, Paul had arrived in Jerusalem.
He went there to worship the Lord, and to deliver a generous love offering for the poor Christians in the city.
About a week later, Paul was almost killed by a mob of Christ-hating Jews.
He was rescued by Roman soldiers, but also put under arrest.
Then Paul was transferred to the governor's headquarters in Caesarea, mostly for his own safety.
By the end of Acts 24, Paul had been in custody for two whole years, even though he was totally innocent of any wrong doing.
*By that time, Paul had already gone through at least 3 trials.
And in tonight's Scripture, Paul went through the fourth trial for his life.
With this background in mind, let's read Paul's testimony from Acts 26:1-23.
MESSAGE:
*Tonight, I want you to think about five minutes that can change eternity.
Church: That's what our Christian testimony can do.
A few minutes, and a few sentences from us can change someone else's destiny forever.
That's why God wants us to learn how to give our Christian testimonies.
*In these verses Paul stood before King Agrippa and the new Roman governor Festus.
Paul was on trial for his life, but he gladly used this crisis as an opportunity to share his Christian testimony.
And Paul shows us what to do.
1. First: Tell a little about your life before you met the Lord.
*Tell a little of your life story before you got saved.
Paul began to share his story in vs. 4-5, when he said:
4. "My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.
5.
They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee."
*Then in vs. 9-11, Paul admitted how messed-up and misguided he had been.
There Paul said:
9. "I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10.
This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
11.
And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities."
*God reminds us here that it is important for us to admit that we are sinners.
We don't want to give off a holier-than-thou attitude.
We don't want people to think that somehow, we deserved our salvation.
That's why we need to admit that we are sinners.
*Now, we don't have to go into all the gory details.
And the best testimonies don't have a lot of gory details, because by the grace of God, you got saved before you got into all of that mess.
It's a lot better to get saved at 6 than 26.
*If you got saved as a kid in VBS, hopefully you avoided a lot of the junk some of us stumbled into.
But all of us are sinners.
We were all born with a sinful nature because of Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden.
And we need to admit that we are sinners who needed to be saved.
*Professor Carlyle Marney helps us understand.
One day a student asked: "Dr.
Marney, where was the Garden of Eden?"
The wise old professor put down his pen, turned to the college freshman and replied: "I can tell you exactly.
In Tennessee, 215 South Elm St. in Knoxville, Tennessee."
"Ah, c'mon, you're kidding me," said the student.
"It's supposed to be somewhere in the Middle East, isn't it?"
*"Well, you couldn't prove it by me," Dr. Marney replied.
"For it was there on Elm Street, when I was a boy, that I stole a quarter out of Mama's purse.
I ran to the store, and bought a bag of peanuts clusters, and ate it as fast as I could.
Afterward, I was so ashamed that I came back home to 215 Elm St. and hid in the closet.
Mama found me and asked, 'Why are you hiding?
What have you done?'"
*Commenting on that story, Pastor Wesley Tracy later asked, "Do you need any help locating your own Eden?
It's the place where you first betrayed the noble, the good and God.
Your Eden was that situation in which you discovered that you suffered from the deadly spiritual disease called sin." (1)
*Christians: We all have a story about our sin.
You may have been raised up in the most spiritual home in town.
But we are all sinners who needed to be saved by the amazing grace of God.
We must talk about life before we met the Lord.
2. Then mention how God got your attention.
*The Lord certainly got Paul's attention in an amazing way.
We see this truth in vs. 12-14, where Paul said:
12. "While thus occupied (i.e. while I was occupied going around to persecute and punish Christians), as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
13.
At midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.
14.
And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'"
*I used to wish something like that would have happened to me.
Maybe you have too.
But I've changed my mind on that wish.
The truth is that there are a lot less terrifying ways for the Lord to get our attention.
I hope I don't have to get knocked to the ground and struck blind for the Lord to get my attention!
*There are some easier ways: How about by an inspirational song I hear at church?
How about seeing someone else's life turned around by Jesus Christ?
Maybe the Lord could get our attention by bringing a special blessing into our life: A new job or some other financial blessing.
It might be meeting your future husband or wife.
It might be having a new baby or grandbaby.
It might be finding a new friend, being healed from sickness, or just seeing a beautiful day.
Many times, the Lord can use good things to get our attention.
*Sadly, sometimes it does take a train wreck for God to get our attention.
I would never have said this to my brother in 2008, when he was dying from his awful cancer.
But the Lord really did use that to get his attention, and Jon's life was changed forever.
*How did God get your attention?
That's an important part of our story, and God wants us to talk about it.
Mention how God got your attention.
3.
And share what the Lord has said to you.
*In vs. 14-16, Paul told those people what Jesus had said to him.
And through God's Word, the Lord speaks to us today.
[1] One of the main reasons why the Lord speaks is to bring us under conviction.
*We can see this happening in vs. 14-15, where Paul said:
14. . .
"When we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15.
So I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.'"
*The Lord spoke to Paul there to bring him under conviction for his sins.
Jesus was trying to help Paul see that he wasn't just hurting those poor, persecuted Christians.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9