Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good evening church family, I love having the honor of preaching the Word of God to you all.

I want to thank all of you for allowing me the wonderful opportunity to serve you.

Also, I am very thankful that Bro.

Jimmie allows me to preach so frequently.

I am very honored to be part of such a wonderful church family.

I love you all so very much.

One of the most challenge statements I can remember reading was from Francis Chan in his book, Forgotten God.

In the first chapter, he tells of a interaction he had with some Jahovah’s Witnessess.

They came to his door and he took time to engage them.

He kindly told them that he found their teaching about Jesus offensive.

He then took them to to explain why Jesus is Michael or Michael Jesus.

They then informed Francis Chan that they hadn’t heard that before and as a result Francis Chan challenged them to not believe simply because it was spoon-feed to them from someone else; instead, they needed to take the time to read the Bible for themselves and discern the truth.

It is here that Francis Chan states,

I left that conversation feeling a bit proud of myself because I stumped them and got them to question their beliefs.

Yet I couldn’t help but wonder whether I was fair to them.

Had I ever sat down with the Bible and sought after its self-evident truth?

Or had I passively ingested what I heard from other people, much like my front-door visitors?

I left that conversation feeling a bit proud of myself because I stumped them and got them to question their beliefs.

Yet I couldn’t help but wonder whether I was fair to them.

Had I ever sat down with the Bible and sought after its self-evident truth?

Or had I passively ingested what I heard from other people, much like my front-door visitors?

It was then that I began reading the Scriptures as though I had never read them before.

I asked the Spirit to make them “living and active” to me, though I’d been reading them for years.

I asked God to “penetrate” the wrong and ill-conceived notions I’d collected along the way (Heb.

4:12 NIV).

It’s a great exercise for those of us who have been immersed in church culture for years.

What a moving powerful word from Francis Chan.

Have we ever truly sat down and sought after its self-evident truth?

A reminder that we cannot simply take the information we are given and regurgitate it; we must test it and see if it is truly what the Bible says.

Ultimately we need to answer the question, Am I searching for truth in scripture?

I need to ask this question of myself along with all of you as well.

Are we actively seeking truth?

Anyone who has spent much time around a child they have a wonderful question they like to ask, it is the question, why?

In our lives we have a natural tendency to desire to understand why something is the way it is.

We should have the same desires when it comes to scripture and our beliefs and convictions.

We cannot find ourselves in a situation where we are satisfied with just excepting statements from our favorite theologians, pastors, or leaders of the faith.

We must test the things they say and research the matters on our own.

We see this possibly best in which is where we will be tonight.

Leading up to this passage, Paul and Silas have been in jail and are freed while they are praying and singing hymns to the Lord ().

They then hit the road and go to Thessalonica where they are faced with strong opposition from the Jews as they became jealous of what God was doing amongst the God-fearing Greeks.

As a result, a riot breaks out.

Leading us to,

Please stand as I read God’s Word from the Christian Standard Bible.

Pray...

1. Paul and Silas were noble because of their obedience to teach the word.

Paul and Silas immediately began teaching the good news.

We must not forget they have been jailed, ran off, and beaten for the Gospel already.

Here they are yet again doing that which they received punishment for.

But because they had been called to teach the word, they proclaimed the word!

We too, must be faithful to proclaim the word and be faithful.

If we are going to be known as a noble christian we must be faithful to share our faith.

How many of you are familiar with the name Edward Kimball?

Do not be ashamed if you do not know the name of the individual many do not unless you are very familiar with D.L. Moody.

What about D.L. Moody?

GOSPEL, PEOPLE COMMUNICATE

See Edward Kimball sold shoes.

But on Sunday he taught Sunday school.

He was one of those meek and mild-mannered men who has a heart for sharing the gospel.

One day Edward shared the gospel with a young salesman by the name of D. L. Moody, and the rest of that story is history.

Edward, the shoe salesman, led to Christ a young man who became one of history’s greatest evangelists.

“God has chosen people to communicate the gospel to other people.

This is why when it comes to evangelism and missions, there must be purposeful intention.

Edward Kimball sold shoes.

But on Sunday he taught Sunday school.

He was one of those meek and mild-mannered men who has a heart for sharing the gospel.

One day Edward shared the gospel with a young salesman by the name of D. L. Moody, and the rest of that story is history.

Edward, the shoe salesman, led to Christ a young man who became one of history’s greatest evangelists.

Under the preaching of D. L. Moody, a young preacher by the name of Frederick Meyer was in the congregation.

God moved on his heart to start a nationwide preaching ministry.

One evening while Meyer was preaching a young man by the name of Wilbur Chapman prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Eventually Chapman felt called to evangelism.

While he was out preaching he came to the conclusion he needed help.

He knew a young man by the name of Billy Sunday who was looking for a job.

Chapman hired Billy and asked him if he would preach for him from time to time.

You know how that story turned out.

Sunday became a great revivalist and evangelist.

Billy Sunday was preaching in Charlotte, North Carolina, and God was moving in an unusual way.

Many people were saved.

Many were convicted and convinced that they needed to have another gospel meeting, so they called on a preacher by the name of Mordecai ham.

One night in that meeting a young man named Billy Graham came to faith in Jesus Christ.

All of that began not with a preacher, not with an evangelist, but with a shoe salesman who taught Sunday School—with a man who had a passion for sharing Christ.

There must be a purposeful intention to our evangelism.”

[Bryant & Brunson, The New Guidebook for Pastors, 123-24 taken from Greg Laurie, Upside Down Church, 65-66]

See Edward Kimball was simply faithful to share the gospel.

He knew his purpose.

It wasn’t to a full-time ministry position; it was to serve God faithful where he was.

He was willing to share the truth in all situations and because of his faithfulness, his impact on people’s lives was exponentially larger than one could ever had imagined.

Not only do we see that Paul and Silas were noble because of their obedience, we see that

2. The Bereans were nobel in their pursuit of God.

A. The Bereans were noble because of their eagerness to receive the Word.

The Bereans were hungry to hear the good news of the Gospel.

They heard the message and responded to it.

If we think back to when we first received Christ, I believe we would all agree we had a hunger for hearing more about the Lord.

Yet, as we distance ourselves from the life changing experience of salvation, we become hardened to the preached Word.

We have heard it before or we think about the pot roast in the stove, or what happened the night before.

Our mind strays as the Word is proclaimed leaving us with simply ignoring the truth of scripture.

This can happen all to easily in our daily lives as well.

In fact, it even happens to presidents.

The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House.