Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning and welcome to The Bridge!

WOw what an exciting week we’ve had!

Absolutely loved baptizing all these individuals this morning!

It’s so exciting what God is doing in people’s lives here at The Bridge!

We often find ourselves afraid of moving forward because of past mistakes or current uncertainty.

STORY: Dad, where are you taking us?

We started out like we always did.

Walking through the tobacco fields.

Sometimes we’d head left at the big barn at the end of the field, cross a couple of roads, climb a fence, and head down a big hill to what we called The Cow Pond.

Other times, we’d head past the barn, down a dirt road take a left down an old logging trail and make our way to what we called The Row Boat Pond.

Still other times we’d take a right at the barn and walk about 2 miles down a long dirt road and then take a right just past the chicken farm and head down another long grassy road with big ruts on either side and make our way to what we called The Dillard Pond.

But one particular day…as we were scurrying ahead, and hurrying to our favorite fishing hole, my dad stops about 3/4 of the way through the tobacco field and hangs a right into the woods.

One of my brothers called out to the rest of us… What?

Where’s dad going?

We’ve never gone this way before!

He didn’t say anything, but it was clear.

We had assumed we were going one place, but he was taking us some place different.

Or at the very least, he was taking us on a different route to get to some place familiar...

After about a 20 minute trek over the hills, through the woods, and past Grandmas’s house, we started asking, Dad where are you taking us??

He turned to us, smile, and kinda dared us with his eyes to keep following him.

About 5 minutes later we stepped out of the woods and entered a clearing and sure enough a beautiful pond lay before us.

Being remote, this pond clearly didn’t see much action.

So we got our machetes out, cleared several nice fishing spots and threw our lines in the water.

We must have all caught at least 2 large mouth bass that day.

It became one of our favorite ponds affectionately known as: The Bass Pond.

The Christian life is like that.

God is walking with us, leading us from point A to point B. He knows where he’s going and it may not be to the same ‘ol places he’s always taken us.

He sees the big picture and he knows all the ways to get us to where he wants us to be.

The problem is, we don’t always see the Big Picture and God rarely passes out detailed road maps.

Life is full of choices and challenges and in order to navigate those with wisdom and joy we have to develop the ability to determine the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives.

Acts 16:

STORY: Dad, where are you taking us?

We started out like we always did.

Walking through the tobacco fields.

Sometimes we’d head left at the big barn at the end of the field, cross a couple of roads, climb a fence, and head down a big hill to what we called The Cow Pond.

Other times, we’d head past the barn, down a dirt road take a left down an old logging trail and make our way to what we called The Row Boat Pond.

Still other times we’d take a right at the barn and walk about 2 miles down a long dirt road and then take a right just past the chicken farm and head down another long grassy road with big ruts on either side and make our way to what we called The Dillard Pond.

But one particular day…as we were scurrying ahead, and hurrying to our favorite fishing hole, my dad stops about 3/4 of the way through the tobacco field and hangs a right into the woods.

One of my brothers called out to the rest of us… What?

Where’s dad going?

We’ve never gone this way before!

He didn’t say anything, but it was clear.

We had assumed we were going one place, but he was taking us some place different.

Or at the very least, he was taking us on a different route to get to some place familiar...

After about a 20 minute trek over the hills, through the woods, and past Grandmas’s house, we started asking, Dad where are you taking us??

He turned to us, smile, and kinda dared us with his eyes to keep following him.

About 5 minutes later we stepped out of the woods and entered a clearing and sure enough a beautiful pond lay before us.

Being remote, this pond clearly didn’t see much action.

So we got our machetes out, cleared several nice fishing spots and threw our lines in the water.

We must have all caught at least 2 large mouth bass that day.

It became one of our favorite ponds affectionately known as: The Bass Pond.

The Christian life is like that.

God is walking with us, leading us from point A to point B. He knows where he’s going and it may not be to the same ‘ol places he’s always taken us.

He sees the big picture and he knows all the ways to get us to where he wants us to be.

The problem is, we don’t always see the Big Picture and God rarely passes out detailed road maps.

Life is full of choices and challenges and in order to navigate those with wisdom and joy we have to develop the ability to determine the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives.

I want to show you a picture of a windmill:

Did you know windmills have been around for centuries?

They were first constructed in the region we call Iran today, and they date all the way back to 200 B.C. Recently, windmills have become a major source of energy throughout the world.

These windmills work to harness the invisible, weightless, formless, and powerful force of the wind.

Think about that for a moment.

You can’t see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind.

You can’t grab the wind but you can harness its power.

Jesus hinted at this and foreshadowed the work of the Holy Spirit.

Like the wind, God’s spirit is invisible, weightless, formless—and immeasurably powerful.

God created the world through the Spirit’s power.

Jesus performed miracles, endured the cross, and rose from the dead by the Spirit’s power.

And through that same power, God moves in the lives of people completely transforming their lives, helping them impact others, and ultimately glorifying God.

Jesus gave every believer this gift.

The Holy Spirit, God, living inside of us but we have put ourselves under the Spirit’s control.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Where is God leading me?” Today’s a good day to tune in…The reason we have been given the Holy Spirit is so He can guide us to discover and do the will of God.

Upon reading this passage of scripture, it’s impossible to overlook the direct influence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Paul, Silas, Timothy and the writer, Luke.

“We made efforts to set out...”

And this is the main point of this passage.

There’s not a step by step formula for you to follow to stay on course.

There’s a person who is invisible, weightless, formless, but immeasurably powerful and he has a name: Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit wants to be our closest friend, yet we have limited His involvement in our daily lives.

“God had called us...”

The Holy Spirit wants to be our closest friend, yet we often limit His involvement in our daily lives.

Can you point to any wasted portions of your life?

I can think of when I was in high school.

I wasted so much potential.

I wasted so much time.

I wasted so many opportunities to learn and to grow.

Can you recall moments in your life when you made unwise decisions?

Can you think of any periods of sleepiness and sluggishness in your life?

The Hoy Spirit wants to be your friend and He wants to be involved in your day-to-day!

But here’s what you need to understand from this passage we just read together.

The Holy Spirit is God living inside of you directing you to make choices and take actions that will change your life, impact others, and glorify God.

Paul & his team had a close friendship with the Holy Spirit and this passage we read together this morning shows how that friendship works to change us, direct us, and use us for God’s glory!

Paul & Silas were on the move.

Acts 15:

Acts 16:1

“You can’t be led by the Holy Spirit if your legs aren’t moving, if your hands aren’t serving, if your eyes aren’t seeing, if your heart isn’t giving...”

In other words you can’t be led by God if you refuse to be led by God.

God wants to lead you.

He wants to walk through life with you.

But some of you are standing still and it’s time to get going.

I’m in my mid-thirties now and when it comes to the big-picture of my life I have a pretty good idea of what God wants me to do.

He wants me to be a strong and faithful husband.