Sermon Tone Analysis

Our Church at Its Best

Acts 13:1-5

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - May 11, 2014

*I've often recalled something I heard Louis Bartet say 30 years ago: "If I searched and searched until I finally found the perfect church, then after I joined it, it wouldn't be perfect anymore."

There is no perfect church on this side of Heaven.

But God wants our church to be the best we can possibly be.

How can we get there?

1.

First, we must be saved by the Lord.

*We must be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am sure that the Lord is able to use lost people to advance His Kingdom.

But the men in vs. 1 took the good news of Jesus Christ all over the Roman Empire.

They were willing to go through incredible hardship.

They saw the Hand of God at work in amazing ways.

And all of that happened because they were saved.

*There is no way these men would have ever come together in the first place, except for one thing: They were saved!

They were radically transformed by the power of the cross.

They were radically changed by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

*Please take another look at these men in vs. 1: "Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul."

*Consider where these men had started in life.

They had nothing in common.

Niger was most probably a black man from Africa.

His name means "black."

Lucius was also from Africa.

*And Manaen?

-- He had been brought up as Herod the Tetrarch's foster brother.

His foster brother was the ruler of Galilee, so Manaen had lived in the lap of luxury, and in a flood of corruption.

Manaen's foster father was King Herod.

He was the horrible man who wanted to murder Jesus, when the Lord was just a toddler.

Of course, Jesus escaped, but Manaen's foster father murdered all the boys in Bethlehem up to age two.

And Manaen's foster brother was the man who had John the Baptist beheaded.

That was the atmosphere where Manaen was raised.

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*Then there was Saul or Paul.

He had been brought up as the strictest Pharisee.

The Pharisees hated Herodians like Manaen.

Plus remember how much Paul hated Christians.

He went out of his way to persecute believers, put them in prison, and even put them to death.

*These men had nothing in common.

-- until they met Jesus!

Jesus broke down all of the old barriers, and turned these men into spiritual brothers.

They were brothers in Christ!

-- ready to work together, growing stronger in the Lord, getting ready to go on mission for the Lord.

And all of this happened because they were saved.

They had trusted in the cross of Jesus Christ.

They had received the Risen Savior as their Lord.

They had received the forgiveness that only Jesus can give.

*When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved, and there is a real difference in our lives.

Not that we are all that we should be.

But thank God, we are not what we were!

There has been a change.

*Pastor Randy Smith was the church planter who started the Cross Brand Cowboy Church in Robert, Louisiana.

That is just east of Hammond.

Randy had gone from being a professional bull-rider to a bi-vocational pastor.

And he had a heart for people in the cowboy culture, people who seldom got to hear the gospel.

Randy said: "In the (rodeo circuit) world I was living in, I never heard the gospel.

There are people in that setting that need the Lord."

*What happened to Randy Smith?

He had a personal encounter with God one evening while he was on tour.

Then Randy went to a revival service back home.

And when the invitation was given, he "ran to the altar!"

He literally ran to the altar!

Don't you love that?

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*What happened to Randy Smith?

-- He got saved!

God wants us to be the best church we can possibly be.

How can we get there?

2. We must be saved.

-- And we must be seeking the Lord.

*We see these Christians seeking the Lord in vs. 2, which says: "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'''

[1] Notice that they were seeking the Lord through worship.

*Verse 2 says "they ministered to the Lord."

Many times the word "minister" comes from the Greek word "di-a-ko-ne'-o".

That's where we get our word "deacon."

But this word "minister" is "lei-tour-ge'-o."

The same word was used in the Greek Old Testament for the work of the priests who served in the Tabernacle.

So the "ministry" God's Word is talking about in vs. 2 is worship.

*This Greek word is where we get our English word "liturgy," which is the particular order for a worship service.

It's also why we call our time together in worship a worship "service."

*Church, we must seek the Lord in worship, focusing on His goodness, grace and love!

We must worship the Lord by bowing our hearts before Him in reverence.

We must worship the Lord, in love and gratitude, thankful for His grace, thankful for His death on the cross, thankful for the gift of eternal life and our home in Heaven.

[2] We should seek the Lord through our worship.

-- And through our fasting.

*In vs. 2, they ministered to the Lord and fasted.

Then in vs. 3, we see them fasting again.

Jeff Strite explained that "usually people fasted for one of several reasons.

People fasted when they were grieving over the death of a loved one.

People fasted when they were repenting of their sin or the sin of their nation.

People fasted when they sought protection from forces they couldn't contend with.

BUT MOST OFTEN people fasted when they were seeking insight."

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*I don't begin to fast as often as I should, but all believers should fast, as God leads and as our health allows.

Of course, fasting can be turned into a pointless exercise of spiritual pride.

This is one of the main points God's Word makes in Isaiah 58:1-10.

There the Lord spoke to His people about their sins.

*Please listen to this paraphrase from the Living Bible:

1. Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast; tell my people of their sins!

2. Yet they act so pious!

They come to the Temple every day and are so delighted to hear the reading of my laws--just as though they would obey them--just as though they don't despise the commandments of their God!

How anxious they are to worship correctly; oh, how they love the Temple services!

3. "We have fasted before you,'' they say.