Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts 17:10-14

April 26, 2009

Richard E. Powell

*Scripture Introduction*: Open your Bible to Acts 17:10-14.

(READ PASSAGE)

Sermon Introduction: “And, by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states and parts of states are, and henceforward shall be, free.”

President Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863.

When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, he set into motion a process that ultimately transformed America.

Lincoln’s carefully worded document declared free more than three million slaves in Confederate territory still in rebellion.

More than a symbolic gesture, as some have claimed, Lincoln’s proclamation authorized Union troops entering rebel territory to recognize and protect black freedom, thus turning northern soldiers into an army of liberation.

Furthermore, Lincoln’s decree authorized the enlistment of African Americans into the U.S. military, a key step toward granting them equal citizenship rights.

Citation: http:~/~/lincolnat200.org~/exhibits~/show~/thefierytrial~/emancipationproclamation

There were mixed reactions to Lincoln’s Proclamation.

Many whites in the South believed Lincoln was trying to incite a slave revolt in which blacks would rise up in violence against their slave owners.

On the other side of the equation, many slaves at first did not believe the Emancipation Proclamation was real.

They could not fathom freedom.

Still other slaves rejoiced when they first heard the news that they were now free!

The great educator and author *Booker T. Washington*, born into slavery, recalled the day from his childhood when he and his family heard the news and were set free: “Some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper--the Emancipation Proclamation, I think.

After the reading we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased.

My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks.

She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.” Citation: http:~/~/www.freerepublic.com~/focus~/f-bloggers~/2180711~/posts

Just as there were different responses to the Emancipation Proclamation, there will also be different responses to our Gospel Proclamation.

As Fort Caroline Baptist Church reaches out to our community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that Christ sets the sinner free when he repents of his sin and trusts Christ to save him, then we can expect three responses.

Some people will respond inquisitively, asking can it be true.

Others will respond positively, believing the Good News, while still others will respond negatively, even trying to stop us from spreading the Good News.

These three responses can be seen in the responses the Apostle Paul encountered when he preached in the city of Berea.

On his second missionary journey Paul traveled to this little, out-of-the-way place.

The town of Berea lay about 50 miles southwest of Thessalonica on the eastern slopes of Mt.

Vermion in the Olympian Mountain Range.

Paul had traveled the 50 miles on foot from Thessalonica to Berea.

As was his custom, he went to the Jewish synagogue and began proclaiming the Good News that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Savior.

There were three responses to his message.

We can expect the same three responses when we proclaim the Gospel.

/The first response is…/

*I.

The Gospel Will Be Considered When It Is Faithfully Preached (Acts **17:10**-11).*

10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Acts 17:10-11 (NKJV)

Perhaps you wonder why Paul’s Christian brothers in Thessalonica had to send him and Silas away in the dead of night.

It was because the preaching of the Gospel in Thessalonica for three weeks had stirred up a riot.

Jealous of Paul’s ability to win converts to Christ, some of the Jews gathered up a mob and sought to take Paul by force.

If Paul had stayed in Thessalonica he would have either ended up in jail or he would have been killed by the angry mob.

So, to avoid further trouble, the Thessalonian Christians sent Paul and Silas away to Berea by night.

You would think that Paul would have learned his lesson in Thessalonica.

You would think that having just escaped with his life that he would have lain low in Berea; that he would have kept his mouth shut.

But not Paul!

He had a message that burned in his heart.

It was a message that had to be shared no matter the cost.

He went straight into the synagogue and shared with the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah they had been looking for.

I wish we had more Christians like Paul who would boldly and unashamedly proclaim their faith in Christ.

Instead, when it comes to telling other people about Jesus Christ we suddenly get lock-jaw.

We are afraid that people might laugh at us or call us fanatics.

All the while, souls hang in the balance.

All the while, people are still lost in their sins, separated from God, without Christ and without hope in this world.

There is a contrast in the reception Paul received in Thessalonica and Berea.

/The Bible says…/

*A.

The Bereans Received the Word Readily (Acts 17:11a).*

11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

The Berean Jews are described as being “more fair-minded” than those in Thessalonica.

The King James Version translates it as “noble.”

The word in the Greek is /eugenesteros/, and originally meant to be “high-born, to be born of nobility.”

But the term had come to describe anyone who was “open-minded, tolerant, and having the qualities that go with good upbringing.”

Most of the Jews in Berea were not zealots.

They were reasonable people who were open to listening politely to different view-points.

Therefore, when Paul came to them preaching a Gospel they had never heard before, they gave him the chance to speak his mind.

In fact, the Bible says they, “received the word with all readiness.”

The word “readiness” means “with eagerness; with attention.”

Sometimes I tell my kids to take out the trash.

They hear what I am saying, but they do not welcome my words.

There is not an eagerness to obey.

On the other hand, when a young lady sees her boyfriend kneel before her on bended-knee while opening a black velvet box containing a shiny ring, she hears what he has to say with eagerness!

These Bereans were open to hearing the Word of God explained.

I pray that you have come to church today with a “readiness of mind.”

When you come to the House of God you should give all your attention to what God wants to say to you from His Word.

Paul preached and the Bereans were all ears!

What about you?

Are you all ears to hear what God wants to say to you today?

Jesus often said in his sermons, “He that hath an ear, let him hear…” In other words, Jesus said, if you really want to hear from God then listen!

How would you feel if you wanted to speak to someone and they would not give you the time of day?

How do you think God feels when He wants to talk to your through His Word the Bible and you refuse to listen?

/The Bible says the Bereans received the Word readily, but it also says…/

*B.

The Bereans Researched the Word Cautiously (Acts 17:11b).*

11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

The Bereans heard Paul gladly, but not uncritically.

They did not just take his word for it that Jesus was the Christ.

They searched their Scriptures daily to see if the message of Paul lined up with the message of the Bible.

Dr. John Phillips wrote in his commentary on the Book of Acts that Paul’s gospel, “could stand the test of any amount of critical examination.

The example of the Bereans should be followed by everyone.

All teaching, no matter how convincing it sounds, no matter how great the personal charisma of the teacher, ought to be subjected to the test of Scripture” (Exploring Acts, page 342).

Some of you do not believe the things I am saying this morning about Jesus Christ.

You do not believe that He is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ, the Savior.

You do not even believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

In your opinion the Bible is just man’s attempt to explain spiritual things.

If you do not believe what I am saying then you owe it to yourself to take the Bible and to study it on your own.

If you do not own a Bible then you can have one of the maroon ones under the seats around you.

Better yet, I will buy you a Bible.