Sermon Tone Analysis

“The Church on the Move”

“A Biblical Formula For Success”

How many of you have ever known someone that you really enjoyed being around, but you couldn’t stand their spouse?

It’s a pretty miserable situation.

It leads to bickering, jealousy, and general uneasiness for all parties.

It is a whole lot nicer when Kristi and I find another couple that we enjoy spending time with and doing things together.

Even then it is more enjoyable for men to go do men stuff and women to go do women stuff, because there is mutual friendship…No one feels left out or alone.

I say all that to illustrate how important it is for the Church to be somewhere that believers, new converts, and even unbelievers feel comfortable.

As a reminder, when I am talking about the Church, I AM NOT talking about a building.

This building is just the place that we are blessed to ASSEMBLE.

The Church is the ASSEMBLY (ekklesia).

The Church is US!

Paul uses marriage language to describe the churches relationship to Jesus in Ephesians 5:25-27, and in the Book of Revelation, John says, Revelation 19:7

I say all of that to tell a far too common story.

The story about the “believer” that refuses to go to church because they can’t find anywhere they are comfortable, or a place where they feel welcome.

Now before I pick on the church or people in any given group of believers, let me say that a lot of the time, those people don’t feel comfortable because they feel conviction.

They don’t feel welcome because they don’t put themselves out there to be welcomed.

In those cases, they have their own issues they have to deal with, BUT the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ has an obligation to do our part.

Our part is to LOVE!

Our part is to do our best to make people feel welcomed.

Our part is to LOVINGLY help people encounter a Savior that will send His Holy Spirit to convict of sin.

As people choose to be a part of the Church our duties continue, and that is what I want to talk about this morning.

As we have been journeying through this series about the Church on the Move, the hopes are that we will all recognize ways that we can fulfill the plans and purposes of God to continually restore relationship between His creation and Himself.

As we spend time studying the MOVEMENT of the 1stfew decades of the life of the church we will see examples of how WE can and should move in the Power of the Holy Spirit to see our lives changed, to see spiritual growth in ourselves and our families, see our individual church (assembly) flourish, and see how people came to Jesus in those earliest days.

2 weeks ago we read Acts 2:1-4 and the actual outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We read about 120 Jesus Followers that were obedient to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power…until they received the promise from the Father.

Last week we saw the immediate results of the outpouring.

Peter was empowered to stand in front of looky-loos and mockers and proclaim, or preach, the first sermon of the newly established church.

Following that Sermon Acts 2:37 says the people that heard that sermon were cut to the heart and asked, “What must we do to be saved.”

Peter’s simple answer was, AND STILL IS, Acts 2:38

The GRAND Result… “there were added that day about 3000 souls”

REVIVAL!!!!

People that didn’t even know they were dead, were given NEW LIFE!

A church that had JUST BEEN BORN, GREW EXPONENTIALLY!!!

This morning we are going to look at what happened next.

We are going to look at “A Biblical Formula for Success”

Let’s Read that again...

When I read that passage I read Unity all over it.

Look at the 133rd Psalm

If I could sum up a Biblical Model (or any model) For Success, it would nearly always include one word…Unity!!!

Early in church history disunity existed.

one of the reasons Paul wrote the 1st letter to the Corinthians was to correct some wrong thinking that was causing division.

The concluding statements in Acts 2 show us that the human model for the churches success involved them being united in several things.

We know that at this point there had been a mass baptism (probably both water and Spirit) and the job of discipleship fell on those that had been with Jesus.

It was time for their 3 ½ with the Master to pay off in large dividends.

As we have already seen, the most important part for the New Church was the enduement with Power of the Holy Spirit.

If the Church has any hope of growth or any hope of experiencing the Blessings that come from Unity, WE HAVE TO BE CONSTANTLY SEEKING THE PRESENCE OF GOD THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

We understand that He is the one that enables us to take our different family, racial, religious, cultural, financial, social....what ever differences we have in our backgrounds, and through the Holy Spirit we can be unified.

So, the overall biblical formula for a successful church on the move REQUIRES UNITY!!!

I. Basics of Unity.

a. Unity played a Major role in the early church

i. Acts 1:14 “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”

ii.