Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

If you have your Bible, then I would invite you to turn to Acts 13:1-3.

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We started our journey in going through the book of Acts back in May 2021.

We took our summer break from this book, and addressed different topics for our Christian life.

Now, as we begin our school year, we will return to this wonderful book of the Bible.

A lot has happened ever since I last preached on Acts.

So, I thought it would be helpful to give you a general overview of this book, highlight key themes, and how we got to Acts 13.

This is for those of you who need a refresher or a reminder of this book.

OR this is for those of you who have recently been attending OBC.

If you have the time, then you could go to our church website to listen to the sermons on Acts.

To understand the story and plot of Acts, it is essential to understand the background of this book that we’ve been learning.

Illustration

Big Idea

Context

Who was the author of the book of Acts?

Now, we must remember that Acts did not randomly pop out of nowhere out of a vacuum.

Someone wrote this divinely inspired book.

And Luke was the author of this book.

He’s a historian and physician.

He’s same the author who wrote the gospel of Luke.

And we can know that it’s Luke because of the internal evidence.

In the gospel of Luke and Acts, both introduce the book by addressing this man by the name of Theophilus, who was the recipient of Luke’s writings and might have been a Roman Official.

So, Luke’s gospel was his 1st volume work and Acts was his 2nd volume.

Sometimes, Luke’s writings are referred to as “Luke-Acts.”

What is the book of Acts all about?

In a nutshell, the book of Acts is all about being a witness for Christ after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

Jesus summarized this idea from Acts 1:8 when He said this to His Apostles: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The book of Acts tells the epic story of the origin and growth of the Christian church from the time of Christ’s ascension to Paul’s final imprisonment.

By being a witness for Christ, the key theme in Acts is to demonstrate how the gospel - the message of salvation from sin and eternal damnation - spreads from Jerusalem to the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean Sea and eventually to the ends of the world.

It began with the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

These Jewish believers were proclaiming the gospel to the Jews, to the Samaritans (half-Jews and half-Gentiles), and to the Gentiles (non-Jews).

Sometimes, many of the listeners repented of their sins and placed their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Sometimes, many of the listeners - particularly the religious leaders and the Jewish authorities - opposed the Apostles and persecuted them for preaching Christ.

Despite the oppositions and persecutions, God’s people continually to boldly and unashamedly preached the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And God continued to grow His church in the midst of trials and hardships to strengthen and refine His church.

The Apostle Peter opened the doors to the Gentile world when he preached the gospel to Cornelius and his family in Acts 10.

So, another key theme in Acts is that the gospel is not only for the Jews, but is also for the Gentiles as well.

As Christians, we are part of the story of Acts.

While we do not have Acts 29, we are part of the continuation of Acts whereby we continue the Great Commission that Christ has given to the early church, which is to make disciples of all nations.

That’s one of the purposes and the mission of the church: to evangelize to the lost.

The overarching outline of Acts is rather simple.

In Acts 1-12, Luke generally focuses on the ministry of the Apostle Peter in the ancient Palestinian region (aka.

In the land of Israel).

Acts 13 is a good spot to pick ourselves back up because it is a turning point in Acts.

In Acts 13-28, Luke turns our focus from Peter to the ministry of the Apostle Paul as he becomes a missionary and preaches the gospel to those who have not heard wherever the Holy Spirit led him, and eventually stands on trial before the governing authorities from Acts 21 and onwards.

Now, the question that we should consider from this text is this: how did the Apostle Paul become a missionary?

Obviously, the Holy Spirit appointed him to proclaim the gospel to the Gentile world, but there are events and situations that led up to this point in Acts 13.

So, to begin thinking biblically through that question, I have four lessons we can learn from this passage alone of how Saul (and Barnabas) were sent out.

1. Active Local Church

When I say, “active,” what I mean is that there’s vibrance, health and energy in the local church.

Saul, who’s also called Paul, was part of an active and established church in Antioch.

a.

An Established Church

Luke described how the church in Antioch was established in Acts 11, and it was the 1st Christian Church.

Barnabas and Saul spent a whole year teaching the new believers in Antioch what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

It’s uncertain how long this church has been established, but it seems long enough for the church to be running healthily with godly leaders set in place and ready to send our missionaries into the mission field.

A church that is not well established and struggling with many internal problems should be careful of sending missionaries out in the field.

The next thing we see about the church at Antioch is that it’s a…