Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Good morning Myrtle Springs Baptist Church, I am a guest speaker since Ben could not be here this morning.
Just kidding, its still me.
I might have lost a fight with a hair trimmer last night.
It was quite comical really.
I am trimming my hair and doing my beard and all of a sudden the cut from the guard changes dramatically.
When I get to the sides of my hair.
Only to see that my hair looks a mess from being gapped.
So, what do I do?
I try to fix it without showing Katherine.
Why?
Well, let’s just say she has seen me with no hair and she prefers me with hair.
I prefer me with a little hair myself.
But, alas, there was no saving my hair and hear I am the hairless one.
I have always found it interesting how much hair can change the appearance of a person.
Long hair, short hair, the style of the hair, all alter how we see a person.
Changes like mine can be dramatic causing people to do a double take wondering what happened or in some cases it is needed and people say to themselves, or others, wow doesn’t their hair look good!
I think one of the best examples of this is in the movie Princess Diaries.
You have this young girl who has big hair, big eyebrows, glasses.
Let me be clear that there is nothing wrong with any of those things.
Yet, for this movie, her appearance needs to be changed so she has her hair done and straitened, her eyebrows are plucked and shaped, she gets contacts and makeup on her face.
There is a drastic change.
When a person becomes a follower of Christ, a sudden transformation takes place in that persons life as well.
Much like my hair cut mess up, or a makeover can alter one’s appearance suddenly.
Salvation alters a person suddenly but instead of it being a temporary thing, it is permanent.
This morning we are going to be in .
The title of the sermon this morning is Life Transformation.
A couple of weeks ago we looked at specifically at the events of Philip with the Ethiopian.
We also talked very briefly concerning Stephan and how he was the first martyr of the faith we have recording in Scripture.
At that trial and execution, is a man named Saul of Tarsus.
In fact, he holds the coats of the men who did the stoning.
He would then begin to persecute the followers of Christ in Jerusalem.
His zeal became so strong that he here in Chapter 9 of Acts is seen asking for permission to extend his assault on the church.
It is on this road that we will see a man radically transformed.
The Road of Life Transformation.
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I would like for us to
There are three Aspects of Saul’s Salvation experience that need to be examined.
Saul Encounters Christ.
Acts 9:3-8
Saul is a man on a mission to eradicate what in his mind is the plague of Christianity, a blasphemy against the one true God.
He was zealous and desired to glorify God the best he could with his list of rules and do’s and don’ts.
Yet, his zeal is misplaced and the Lord appears before him in His perfect timing!
Saul’s encounter with Jesus is one that is different from the average person.
The resurrected Christ after ascension appears to Saul.
Saul’s experience would have to be disorienting and stressful.
He was persecuting the one’s who worshiped Jesus; yet, he now was faced with the truth that Jesus is both risen from the grave and reigning in glory!
2. Saul spends time praying.
After Saul experienced the appearance of Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul immediately was blinded but we also see that he went three days without food and drink which he remained in darkness.
This time to process what he just experienced is vitally important.
It allows him to seek the truth.
Saul desired to glorify the Lord.
Saul’s faithfulness to his religion was out of a genuine belief that he was correct.
Unfortunately for Saul, he had been deceived.
Jesus’ appearance to him revealed the truth that Christ was the Son of God but He needed time to process the information.
We are far to impatient with people when we share the gospel message.
We want people to immediately respond which is a great desire!
Yet, we forget that many of our own salvation experiences were over many times being exposed to the truth and in same cases years of hearing the message as children.
No one learns through a single instance.
Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, explains that according to his research, the infamous “10,000 hours to learn anything” is in fact, untrue.
It takes 10,000 hours to become an “expert in an ultra competitive field” but to go from “knowing nothing to being pretty good”, actually takes 20 hours.
The equivalent of 45 minutes a day for a month.
We aren’t expecting people to be experts in Christianity before conversion, we are asking them to respond to the truth and understand it which means committing to sharing Jesus regularly with them.
Also, this real world example is for people who are working on a skill.
But I believe this concept is very applicable to gospel conversions.
Thus, the impact the personal relationship has in gospel conversions is significant.
If we rely on the pulpit alone it would take approximately 20 Sunday mornings for the person to hear enough to understand based off the concept presented by Kaufman which means we are expecting a lost person to sit in a sermon fully engaged in something they do not believe or understand fully.
Obviously, this timing is different for each person, in many cases, this would be the lowest possible.
Ultimately, it means that it is unrealistic to expect individuals to be saved regularly through simply the pastor’s pulpit ministry.
It requires time and effort from all of us daily with the people we walk life with.
If
Leading us to the final step on the road to life transformation in Saul
3. Saul receives the Holy Spirit.
Acts 9:17-
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It is important to remember this is not the first time Saul has heard the Gospel.
In fact, Saul was present at Stephen’s stoning.
It was upon this event Saul would receive permission to persecute the Christians in the region.
I can’t help but believe that Stephen’s faithfulness proved foundational to the conversion of Saul.
Thus, when he saw the Lord on the road and encountered Him.
He responded in receiving the truth that Jesus was truly God.
Some have mistaken Saul’s receiving of salvation as the point on the road of Damascus; yet, this proves problematic because it is not until Ananias comes that he receives the Holy Spirit and is healed of his blind state.
Furthermore, it would be a misunderstanding of truth if we are to argue that Salvation is through osmosis or any other means than the presenting of the Word of the Lord to people.
Paul reminds us that people have to hear the truth in .
Therefore, we must be individuals who not only have received the truth from the Lord we are to go and share the truth as well which brings us to the second point which is...
The Fruit of Life Transformation.
Acts 9:19-25
1. Desire to Fellowship with Believers.
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As followers of Christ, we should long and even get excited to go to church.
Do you get pumped up when the doors open for worship?
Are you truly excited to get to fellowship with other believers?
If there is not a level of anticipation for corporate worship, then we have missed the mark.
Joy and genuine excitement should fill us.
The relationship we have with one another should push us to want to be together as often as possible.
If corporate worship, Sunday School, and other fellowships together are more chore than joy, our hearts are not right and our ideals have been missed placed.
2. Desire to Share the Gospel.
Not only is sharing the Gospel commanded to us, it should be our hearts desire to proclaim the saving truth of what Christ has done for us!
If we are not talking about Jesus, but are more concerned about a television show, current politics, or a sporting event then there is no true taste of grace on our tongues.
There is no amazement of what God has done.
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