Sermon Tone Analysis

Decisions, Decisions

INTRO:

AG: A 32-year-old man was just appointed president of the bank he worked for.

He never dreamed of being president, and certainly not at such a young age, so he was a bit intimidated.

He sought the advice of his gray-haired predecessor: “Sir, what has been the secret of your success?”

The old man responded, “Two words: right decisions.”

“That’s really helpful, and I appreciate it,” the young man replied.

But he was hoping for a bit more help than that, so he ventured on.

“Can you be more specific?”

he asked.

“How do I make right decisions?”

The wise, old man simply responded – “One word: experience.”

Well, that thoroughly frustrated the young executive.

“That’s just the point of my being here,” he said.

“I don’t have the kind of experience I need.

How do I get it?”

The old man smiled.

“Two words,” he said: “wrong decisions.”1

TS: The Apostles, in obedience to the Lord’s directive had just returned to Jerusalem.

Luke records that they were full of joy and went into an upper room where they continued in prayer and making intercession.

It also says that they were united in this activity.

All of these characteristics are those that God wants to see replicated in all of His churches.

It is also apparent that these believers which numbered at this point about one hundred and twenty persons also spent time in the study of the Scripture.

Jesus stressed over and over its importance and that Scripture everywhere testifies of Him.

The DNA of a living church is one of a church which believes and studies the Scripture.

We know that they were studying the Scripture in that when the report came about Judas’ suicide.

Peter decided that they needed to find a replacement for him.

2

He sees a need and instantly launches into action.

He gets up and says, “Folks, we need to find a replacement for Judas.”

Judas' suicide after betraying Jesus, left them with 11 apostles.

Feeling there needed to be 12, he tells the disciples they need to choose a stand-in.

Now Bible scholars differ as to whether Peter did the right thing.

• Some believe PAUL was really the 12th apostle, so Peter jumped the gun on God here.

He had been told to wait, and instead took action.

God had already chosen Paul as the 12th.

• Others believe God was forming a new spiritual “people of God” called the church, and in order for Jews to accept a new entity not based on Jewish ethnicity, it needed to be patterned along the lines of God’s earthy people, the Jews, who had 12 tribal leaders.

Since the Scripture said he needed to be replaced, Peter acted on God's revealed plan.

I won’t argue over whether Peter was right or wrong; I just want us to observe what happened.

3

The first decision of the first church was a leadership decision, and it was a very important decision since leadership can make or break an organization, especially one that’s just getting started.

RS: When you have a decision to make, utilize the supernatural resources you have at your disposal as a child of God.

Utilize your spiritual assets of the Word of God and prayer.

4

1.

Be Unified (12-14)

EX: The Unified church Prayed

Jesus had put together the church

12 apostles, 11 at this point

70 Disciples He had sent out

In addition to that 82, the total number was 120

from the thousands who had followed briefly, 120 were still there after His arrest, execution, and resurrection.

This was the inner core of the most faithful

They were unified

all in one accord

gathered together with a common purpose: to wait for the Holy Spirit

Agreement with common beliefs: the person and work of Jesus

They prayed

They spent their time seeking God

Prayer- a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God 5

Supplication: the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.

This was a united body of believers

AP: We would do well to follow them

In context of this message, we as a church make decisions.

Starting from a place of unified prayer sounds great to me!

As humans, we can often start from much different areas

Pride

Our own glory

etc

If we as a group need to make a decision and we are already divided, that interferes in the decision making process.

We must work to preserve the unity of the body

Around Jesus- His person, teaching, and work

Around Core beliefs-

the trustworthiness of God's word, its Doctrine

If we are careful to walk in love with each other, unity around Jesus and the Word will be preserved.

2. Search the Scriptures (15-20)

EX: They turned to Scripture

Peter quotes 2 OT passages:

Pss 69:25 & 109:8

Notice he says The Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David

He is describing the inspiration of Scripture perfectly

The Bible is God's word recorded by human authors

Never loose sight of the fact that God is doing the talking

He was moved to act based on God's Word

The Bible said the betrayer would be replaced, so Peter said we need to replace Judas!

AP: We must live by the Scriptures

I know it is often mentioned, but 2 Tim 3:16-17 is important!

Peter recognized the Psalms as God speaking.

We must recognize the Bible as the Word of God

From cover to cover God has spoken to us and still speaks

Many decisions are made for us already:

Just put the Bible into practice!

Notice these verses again:

Profitable for:

doctrine- what we believe

Reproof- tell us when we have done wrong

Correcting- show us the right way to do what we were doing wrong

Instruction- laying out the path upon which we walk

This makes us complete and equipped for living a godly life

If we have studied and learned the Bible, we can't go wrong as we live it.

3. Spell out the Parameters (21-23)

EX: They set the requirements of the role of apostle:

There from Jesus' baptism forward through ascension

The new Apostle had to have followed Jesus His entire ministry