Sermon Tone Analysis

We all need Times of Refreshing

Acts 3:19 (AMP)

So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day];

Acts 3:19 AMP

This verse gives us 3 steps to usher in Refreshin: Repentance - Change - Cleansing

Today we are going to talk about Repentance.

Let’s look setting in which these words were spoken:

Peter was preaching his second sermon.

His first one was on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

God had just poured out his Spirit on those who needed a refreshing.

They had walked with Jesus and seen Him do incredible miracles.

They themselves had gone out, sent by Jesus, and seen miracles done in His name as they went preaching the Kingdom of God.

They had seen and experienced the persecution that had risen against Christ, and had witnessed His arrest, mock trial, merciless beating and crucifixion.

They had seen his body taken down and placed in Joseph’s tomb.

They had been hiding themselves for fear of reprisal against them for following Jesus.

They had heard the testimony of the women and seen the empty tomb.

They had walked with Him on the Road to Emmaus and had fish with Him on the shore of Galilee where Jesus had reissued His call for them to forsake all to follow Him.

Peter, himself, had denied Jesus 3 times and had 3 times reaffirmed his love for and commitment to Jesus while eating fish on that shore.

He was so eager to see Him that he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore.

They had walked with Christ to the Mount of Olives and watched Him ascend into Heaven and heard the voice of the angel promising that He would come again.

The had gone back to the same Upper room where they had eaten the Passover seder with Jesus and tarried for a week waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

They were tired.

They were weary.

They were uncertain about what was going to happen next.

They didn’t know how the commision that Jesus had given them was going to be carried out.

They needed to be refreshed - like a cool wind on a hot day.

Then suddenly that wind of refreshing began to blow through that Upper Room and all 120 of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages so that people from 17 different all heard someone speaking in their own language the wonderful works of God.

Responding to the crowd’s accustation of public drunkeness, Peter stood up and delivered his first sermon.

And 3000 people became believers and were added to the number of the disciples that day.

My first sermon was as a 12 year old boy and was delivered to the kids in Children’s church entitled, “Receive Ye the Holy Ghost.”

Talk about knowing you audience!

I don’t remember 3000 people getting saved.

I think there were about 8 kids in the room.

And no one dedicated their life to Jesus.

I didn’t preach again until I had officially accepted the call at about 19 years old.

Talk about a refreshing!

Peter the denier, the loudmouth, the only disciple Jesus ever referred to as “Satan” got refreshed by the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3 begins with the healing of the paralytic at the Temple Gate.

Silver and Gold I do not have but I do have something I can share: “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk!”

That same refreshing wind of the Holy Spirit blew across that man’s crippled legs and his bones received supernatural strength.

It was that same refreshing wind that Ezekiel saw that blew into a valley of dry bones and turned the dead, defeated, soldiers that had been left to the elements in that valley into a powerful army ready for battle.

The man got up and began to leap about publically praising God.

While the man was still embracing Peter and John, an amazed crowd gathered to see what was going on.

So Peter, like most evagelistic preachers, took advantage of the opportunity and began to preach his second sermon.

He assured everyone there that it was the power of Jesus Christ who had healed him.

Peter went on to say that anyone can usher that refreshing, changing redeeming wind in their own life if they repent, be changed, and be cleansed.

These were people who were in the temple.

They obviously belived in God, yet they were surprised to see Him move.

That’s the same way it is in the American church today: We believe.

We show up at the place of worship from time to time.

But we are surprised when the One whose house we are in decides to visit His own sanctuary.

We desperately need refreshing, but we are not aware that we can usher it in ourselves if we meet the prerequisites.

It begins with repentence.

The word repentance involves three things: Humility, Confession and Turning Around

We see this principle introduced to the people of God in the Old Testament at the dedication of the first temple:

The humilty and confession can be seen in Isaiah’s encounter:

The turning around - taking a new direction - can be seen in the New Testament as well:

It’s not a popular word in the church at large today.

One popular way of thinking is that since God is omniscient, He knows everything, He knows everything I am going to do anyway so there’s no way I can disappoint Him.

God has forgiven me for all my sins, past, present & future, so there’s no need for me to repent once I am saved.

Yet scripture is clear on the subject of believers needed to keep repentance as a part of their Spiritual Formation:

Repentace for the believer is hitting the reset button.

Lets Look at it in the Amplified Version:

Confession without humility falls short of true repentance.

Confession without turning around falls short of true repentance.

“In English, the root of the word repentance is"penitence.”

However, repentance in Christ is not merely a sorrowful act of personal recognition – a matter of hanging our heads in grief.

Sorrow is only a first and minor part of the change….Let us not miss what is at stake in such repentance…In the original Greek, the word"repentance” appears as metanoia.

Literally, this word means"to change the …deep center of the heart.”

Repentance is thus to reform the inner core of ourselves.”

(Dynamis 10/11/2014)

“…the Lord wants more from us than merely being sorry for our sins…the Lord asks everyone who comes to Him to pass through the door of repentance – to go beyond the"worldly sorrow” of feeling badly about our actions.

He asks us to repent – to struggle against our sinful attitudes and actions.

He wants a true and godly repentance.”

(Dynamis 11/19/2014)

True repentance requires a new way of worship.

Sometimes you have to sacrifice your way of worship.

The preist of Zeus heard something big was happening.

He couldn’t compete with the true move of God, so he decided to join in - his way.

His intent was not to believe, to confess, or to repent.

His intent was to seem to be a part of what God was doing without losing his position.

He was going to worship - his way - and maintain his postion of control.

Much of our worship today is me-focused rather than God-focused.

I am not just talking about singing.

I am talking about everything we do in our Christian existence.

Our lives are to be lived as worship: for his glory.

Refreshing will only come after repentance.