Sermon Tone Analysis

*Luke 6:12-16*

 

v    *RQ: What are some of the big decisions you have made in your life?*

Ø     Buy house

Ø     Job change

Ø     Where to move

Ø     Who to marry

Ø     How many children to have

Ø     Whether to have one more

Ø     When to retire

Ø     Where to retire

 

v    *RQ: What goes into making those decisions?*

Ø     Intuitions

Ø     Inclinations

Ø     Own desires

Ø     Desire of others

Ø     Talk to friends, parents, spouse

Ø      Signs from God

Ø     Perhaps it is the little things,,,

§        Illustration regarding Salting food

 

*RQ: How do you make big decisions?*

* *

v    *READ 6:12-16*

 

v    In our text today, one of the biggest decisions in all of history is made…

Ø     The choosing of the 12 Apostles

v    *Why was this such a big decision?*

Ø     After all, aren’t we all apostles of Jesus?

v    Well, as with all great theological questions the answer is yes and no

Ø     There are two ways in which the NT uses the Greek word “apostolos”

 

*Apostle with a small “a”*

v    In the literal sense of the word which means “messenger, sent one”

Ø      That is how it is used in *Rom 16:7*

§        /Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me.

They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was/

Ø     In this sense, yes, we are all apostles

§        The Greek word means “sent ones” or “messenger”

·        If you are sitting here today and call yourself a Christian, then…

¨     You have not only felt the call of God on our lives, but…

¨     You have heard the commission Christ gives to you

Ø      *Mark 16:15*

§        Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation

·        One thing we must remember it is our duty…

¨     As apostles of Christ

¨     As “sent one”

¨     As “messengers”

Ø     To share the good news of Jesus Christ with others

 

The best evangelistic center in the greater Boston area is not a church.

It is a filling station in Arlington.

It is owned and operated by a man named Bob who caught the vision early in his life that his vocation and his calling were to be welded together.

As time passed, his sta­tion became known as the place to go for gas, new tires, or other car service.

I have seen a half-dozen cars lined up bumper to bumper near two pumps in front of that little station just waiting to be served by that man.

He has no ban­ners out, no "Jesus Saves" flags, no signs, no "ichthuses;' nothing plastered all over the station or in the windows, no sign, "Bring your car to Bob and take your soul to Jesus."

He simply /did his job! /He did it well and people knew he was in partnership with the Lord.

He led dozens of people to faith in Jesus Christ.

v    That is how we are to be as apostles

Ø     Sent to share Christ

Ø     Messengers of the Gospel

 

v    As you may know…

Ø     One of our focuses here at SWHCC over the next 5 years is…

§        To become a church that shares Christ with SWH

§        To become a church fulfilling our apostleship!

*Apostle with a capital “A”*

v    However, there is another stricter use of “Apostolos” in the NT

Ø     Used to describe the 12 mentioned here plus Matthias and Paul

§        You may ask…

·        RQ: What makes these apostles different from the rest?

Ø     The difference is…

§        These men were hand picked by Jesus for a very specific task…

·        To lay the foundation of the church!

¨     *Eph 2:19-20*

Ø      /Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone/

§        There are no more apostles like these!

 

v    You see…

Ø     To these apostles Christ gave special promises

§        To these men Christ gave special promises

·        John 14:26

§        To these men Christ gave special responsibility

·        to write the New Testament

·        Revelation

§        To these men Christ gave special Responsibility

·        Matt 19:28 ~~ Will sit on thrones

¨     To them is given the authority to judge 12 tribes Israel when Christ comes again

§        To these men Christ gave special Position

·        Rev 21:14 ~~ Jerusalem down out of heaven

¨     Their names written on 12 foundation of the new Jerusalem

 

*Decision Making and Prayer*

v    So when it came time to choose 12 out of the 100’s of disciples Jesus had

Ø     Was this a big decision?

§        You bet it was!

v    *The first thing*

v    And look at the first thing that Jesus does…

Ø     Prays

§        That should be our “knee-jerk” reaction to most of life…

·        But certainly in decision making

¨     If the Son of God needed to…how much each one of us!

 

Ø     But many of us go about making decisions in many other ways

§        Base decisions on intuition

·        Female intuition

§        Base decisions on logic

·        But sometimes God is not logical

¨     Gideon story (30K – 10K – 300 Lapping)

Ø      *Isa 55:9*