Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.61LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.53LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.65LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.85LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.83LIKELY
Extraversion
0.13UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.75LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.62LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Powerful Roots
It is about to start.
There are hints out there about whether he or she will or won’t.
Autobiographies are written.
Books about a vision for the future are being published.
What are you talking about pastor?
I’m so glad you asked.
It is about the presidential election of 2024.
There are whispers about who might throw their hat in the ring this election cycle.
Out of a crowded field of potential wanna be’s we listen and vote for the one in our political party who we think would make the best candidate.
We approach election day in 2023 hoping for the best.
We hope that things will be different.
We hope that promises will be kept.
We hope that it won’t be just talk but that there will be action behind those words.
We hope and wait to see what will happen.
Kind of a depressing thought to begin a message with.
Advent is a season of hope and anticipation.
So much of our world looks for hope in politics and power and wealth.
My hope this morning is in a shoot that grew from an old stump with powerful roots.
My hope is in Jesus.
This passage from Isaiah is a message of hope for a future that is radically different from what life was like for Isaiah and the people of Israel.
The people wanted a king and their first king turned out to be failure as he focused on himself.
We first read about that stump of Jesse in
The line of David continued down through both Judah and Israel until both were taken into captivity.
Through good and bad kings.
There were times of revival and times of wickedness and idolatry.
When you read the history of Judah and Israel it seems that hope slowly faded as the people continually turned away from God.
When Judah was finally captured and King Zedekiah was the last king, it seems that hope was lost.
The picture of a great tree cut down seems to be an appropriate picture.
Isaiah paints an unexpected picture.
He wrote
I don’t know about you, but when I see a stump, I see something that has been cut off and is dead.
It seemed that all hope was lost for Israel but God says through Isaiah that “A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse; a branch will sprout from his roots.”
Those roots run very deep and are very powerful.
Those roots run back through David, to Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah, to Adam and God Himself.
The people, God’s people continued to turn to idolatry.
They continued to turn their backs on God, the one who had saved them and brought them out of Egypt and brought them into the land of promise.
God had repeatedly called the people to repent.
Sometimes God has to use physical rebuke as he did with Israel.
God must use physical rebuke if His Word is ineffective in convincing us to turn from our sin.
He will have to extend His hand and judge us if we refuse to accept His correction.
We must not tempt God by being thoughtless or callous because He is patient.
The writer of Hebrews wrote
That is where Israel found itself.
It seems in our world today that evil is running rampant.
Sin is in the world and also in the Church.
What is God calling the Church to today?
Repentance.
Its easy to say that we are not like Israel and Judah.
This time of year demonstrates that we are idolaters.
The stores cater to our idolatress nature.
Look at people with their never ending Christmas lists.
If we don’t buy everything on someone’s list then we feel like we’ve failed them.
I’m not saying that we should exchange gifts on Christmas.
We should because it is a reminder of the greatest gift ever given.
What I’m saying is that when our gift giving creates stress and worry, robing Peter to pay Paul to have the perfect “Christmas.”
We have our priorities all wrong.
To prepare for Christmas involves several things.
The first way that we prepare for Christmas is through repentance.
In the Gospel reading we heard about the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry.
He came urging people to repent and return to God.
He was saying this to primarily a Jews audience.
He was saying this to people who claimed to be God’s people.
It is easier to deny that there is anything wrong than to repent.
When we repent we have to admit that we have been headed in the wrong direction and doing things our own way.
When you admit your sin, you are admitting that you have fallen short of God's ideal will for your life and that you have a spiritual illness that needs to be healed by a Master Healer.
The only place we may truly obtain forgiveness is in confession.
It is interesting to note what John had to say to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
These were the religious leaders of Israel.
God was at work in their lives as they were coming to be baptized by John.
We generally skip over that fact.
The religious leaders were being impacted by John’s preaching and they responded to the call to repent.
John said to them
Matthew 3:7–10 (CEB)
7 “You children of snakes!
Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon?
8 Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives.
9 And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father.
I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones.
10 The ax is already at the root of the trees.
Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.
The old saying the “proof is in the pudding” is true here.
That expression according to the dictionary means
“that the real worth, success, or effectiveness of something can only be determined by putting it to the test by trying or using it, appearances and promises aside.”
[1]
The proof of repentance is in our actions.
That is the second way to prepare for Christmas.
It is not in just producing fruit, it is producing good fruit.
If we don’t we’ll be chopped down and tossed in the fire and all that will be left is a stump.
God offered hope to Israel and to us.
That tiny branch sprouted and was named Jesus.
We know that the Lord’s spirit came to rest upon him.
That prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus came to John to be baptized.
As he was coming up out of the water, Matthew record what happened next.
Matthew 3:16-17 “16 When Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water.
Heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him.
17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.””
That even was the beginning of his public ministry.
The words about Him here is Isaiah are a model for us.
Preparing for Christmas means that we admit to our complete dependence on Jesus.
Isaiah wrote that He will delight in fearing the Lord.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9