Sermon Tone Analysis

More than ever...

More then ever…

“Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.

And they were all together in Solomon's Portico.

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

We have learned that the Spirit-filled church is a unified, magnified, and multiplied, living organism.

We also have seen in the last passage that Satan wants divide the church, disgrace the church, disrupt, and decrease the church; and he will do it if we are not definitely on our guard.

What does the Bible say about protection?"

There are many promises and examples of physical protection in the Word of God, both the Old Testament and New Testament.

God promised protection to the Israelites against the nations who would come against them as they entered the Promised Land.

“I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you” ().

Here we see God protecting those whose actions were in accordance to His foreordained plans and purpose.

The Psalms of David are filled with praise for God as He protected His chosen one against his enemies,

, “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

, “For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves.

Selah.”

No matter the amount of power or wrath that David’s enemies brought against him, they were no match for the protection of God.

God’s protection in Job’s life was evident as well.

Even though Job suffered through many trials as a result of the attacks of Satan, it was God who drew the line in the sand, over which Satan could not cross.

Satan was limited to doing exactly what God allowed him to do, and nothing more ().

Even through all the misery and afflictions Job endured, God was protecting him from greater harm.

God also protected Job’s faith, allowing Job to be tested only so far before He stepped in and spoke to Job ().

Even though Job could not see God working behind the scenes, he came to understand that God’s protection is sure and faithful because He promises to His people: “I will never leave you nor forsake you”

Understand, however, that although God has the ability to deliver us out of every physical calamity or trouble, it may not be His will to do so.

Sometimes He uses these trials to purify us.

At these times, we should “count it pure joy” because by allowing such trials, God tests our faith to develop more faith so that we persevere and grow to maturity and Christ-likeness,

, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Protecting us from such trials would not be beneficial to us.

God made Solomon extremely wealthy because his attitude toward wealth was much less than his desire for God’s wisdom and knowledge.

As Solomon walked in sin and adultery, his wealth was destroyed.

Ultimately, God uses wealth to lift up some and bring down others, all of which is part of His protection of His own.

Again we learn from the Psalms to “Praise the LORD.

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever” (, ).

“The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts” ().

The true essence of God’s protection is the eternal indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

We believers are sealed for the day of final glorification.

We are protected in all things.

We have the ability, though, by allowing our sin nature to rule us, to depart from the will of God.

A shield can only protect if it is picked up and used.

We cannot sit back and say, “God will protect me!” if we have not done the things we ought to be doing.

It is only through prayer and the study of God’s Word that we are assured of God’s protection in our lives.

Let us pray…

More than ever… signs and wonders we being done.

, “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.

And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.”

But the church we see here is is described as a church that has God’s hand of protection upon it and that has completely triumphed over the attacks of Satan!

The people were still unified, still magnifying the glory of their God, and still multiplying in their numbers.

In fact multitudes were being added to the Lord church daily.

Our text tells us that many “…signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.”

God gave the apostles power to perform great miracles.

While it is true that some of the ordinary members exercised miraculous powers,

, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.”

But the text emphasizes it was primarily the apostles who did the miracles.

These “signs and wonders” were God’s way of authenticating the ministry of the apostles.

, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.”

Here we see a reference to the work of the Spirit through Paul’s ministry as seen in the conversion and gifting of the Corinthians we see it Paul’s Christlike behavior, we see it in his utmost patience with the people, and we see it characterized by his endurance in adversity by the power of God.

Paul ministered through signs and wonders and mighty works given to him from God.

This threefold description of miraculous acts was to accompanied and accredited the ministry of an apostle.

This triad ties God’s saving work under the new covenant to the signs and wonders at the exodus, thus showing the continuity within God’s redemptive history

, “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.”

Paul summarizes his entire ministry up to this point by saying that Christ accomplished his work through him by word and deed, that is, both by Paul’s preaching about Christ and by Paul’s actions (lifestyle, with mighty works) that accompanied those words.

By the power of the signs and wonders refers to the miracles that accompanied Paul’s gospel proclamation throughout his entire ministry.

Such miracles gave a “sign” of (or pointed to) the power of God, the divine origin and truth of the gospel, and God’s mercy and love for people.

What were the “wonders”?

They were “wonders” were that the people were amazed by them that God could be so tangible in their every day lives, that God was only just a prayer away.

Paul has fulfilled his mandate to preach the gospel among the Gentile from Jerusalem to Illyricum (roughly comprising what is now Albania and also what was formerly Yugoslavia).

How can Paul say that his work has been complete when many still have not heard the gospel in this area?

It can be seen from the following verses that churches have been planted in key centers, and from there Paul’s coworkers will bring the gospel to outlying areas.

Just as there were special judgments at the beginning of a new era, so there were also special miracles.

In the Book of Genesis, we do not find God’s people performing miracles.

But at the beginning of the age of the law, Moses performed great signs and wonders.

Elijah and Elisha were miracle workers at the beginning of the great era of the prophets, and Jesus and the apostles performed signs and wonders when the Gospel age was inaugurated.

Each time God opened a new door, He called man’s attention to it.

It was His way of saying, “Follow these leaders, because I have sent them.”

The mighty wonders, performed by the apostles were the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise that they would do “greater works”, in answer to the prayers of believers.

, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

When Jesus performed miracles during His ministry on earth, He had three purposes in mind: (1) to show compassion and meet human need; (2) to present His credentials as the Son of God; and (3) to convey spiritual truth.

For example, when He fed 5,000, the miracle met their physical need, revealed Him as the Son of God, and gave Him opportunity to preach a sermon about being the Bread of Life.

The apostolic miracles followed a similar pattern.

Peter and John healed the crippled beggar and met his need, but Peter used the miracle to preach a salvation sermon and to prove to the people and the council that he and John were indeed the servants of the living Christ.

One of the qualifications for an apostle was that he had seen the risen Christ and, since nobody can make that claim today, there are no apostles in the church.

The apostles and prophets laid the foundation for the church.

, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Our pastors, teachers, and evangelists are still building upon that foundation.

If there are no apostles, there can be no “signs of an apostle” as are found in the Book of Acts today.

This certainly does not mean that God is limited and can no longer performed miracles for His people!

But it does mean that the need for confirming miracles has passed away.

We now have the completed Word of God and we test teachers by their message, not by their miracles.

, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.