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
0.08UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.06UNLIKELY
Fear
0.08UNLIKELY
Joy
0.66LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.62LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.39UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.86LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.88LIKELY
Extraversion
0.1UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.8LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.71LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introducing the Advent Candles
Merry Christmas!
Tonight is the culmination of the season of Advent.
The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming.”
Advent in the
4th and 5th centuries was a time of preparation for the baptism of new Christians.
Christians
would spend 40 days in prayer and fasting to prepare for the celebration that accompanied the
baptism of new believers.
Over time, advent was connected to the coming of Christ.
Originally Christians used this term to
reference Christ’s second coming, but by the Middle Ages, Advent was connected to Christ’s
first coming that we celebrate at Christmas.
Advent season traditionally is an invitation to get our minds off of the stresses of the year.
We
can take our focus off of the crazy hustle that can be associated with the Christmas season that
often threatens to produce more hassle than delight.
Advent is a chance to focus our thoughts
on the gift God has given us in his son Jesus who stepped down from Heaven and took the form
of a man so that we might believe.
Tonight as we wrap up the season of Advent, we will be reflecting on the candles of hope, faith,
joy, and peace.
Throughout the service, various people will come and share a reading that
corresponds with each candle.
Here in one night, we will look back on all that the season of Advent represents in the
expectation of the first coming of our Savior, while looking forward to his glorious return!
Let’s stand together and sing as we celebrate the coming of our Heavenly King!
The Candle of Hope
(Carl Adema)
As we light the first candle, the candle of hope, we look to our hope in Christ which gets us through the waiting.
The Advent season is all about waiting.
We wait with eager anticipation for Christmas to arrive each year.
Some people begin looking forward on December 26 – only 364 days until Christmas.
But it is not just the waiting FOR Christmas that we hope in, it is also waiting for the FULFILLMENT of Christmas.
Remember the long period of waiting that preceded the first coming of Christ.
It stretched all the way from Genesis to Matthew, from Adam and Eve to Joseph and Mary, from the Garden of Eden to the manger of Bethlehem.
We have also had a long season of waiting for the second coming of Christ.
God is a God who keeps His promises.
Our hope is not based on wishful thinking but on the confidence that God keeps his word.
That fact has been proven time and again as the Lord both blesses and disciplines His people, just as He promised.
We, God’s people, are hopefully awaiting the Messiah.
Our Savior will return and draw His children to Himself as He promised.
No matter what circumstances we face in our personal lives or how uncertain the world’s circumstances appear, we can look forward with confidence to the Lord’s return.
Hope in Christ does not disappoint.
As Romans 5:5 tells us: “Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
(Romans 5:5)
The Candle of Faith
Some people have said that faith is blind - that it causes us to take an unsubstantiated jump into some unknown action or realm of belief.
It can sometimes refer to a sense of hope or wishfulness.
RC Sproul has said:
“In Western countries today.
When we use the word hope, we usually are referring to an emotional state of desire in our hearts regarding what we would like to happen in the future but are not sure will come to pass” (Sproul)
We might hope for our favorite team to win or express faith that they will.
For some teams, that may be little more than a blind wish - and yet, as my high school baseball coach used to say “any team can be any other team on any given day.”
But we’re not here tonight to talk about sports.
We’re talking about faith and the object of our faith.
Sproul goes on to say that...
“When the Bible speaks of hope, it is not referring to a desire for a future outcome that is uncertain, but rather a desire for a future outcome that is absolutely sure.
Based on our trust in the promises of God, we can be fully confident about the outcome.
When God gives His people a promise for the future, and the church grasps it, this hope is said to be the “anchor of the soul” (Heb.
6:19).
An anchor is that which gives a ship protection against aimless drifting in the sea.
The promises of God for tomorrow are the anchor for believers today.”
This year, as we’ve studied the book of John we’ve learned that time and again John has called us to believe in Jesus, to have faith in him.
His call is not based on a whim, but on evidence.
In the years leading up to Jesus’ first advent, God’s people expressed faith in the coming of Messiah which was rooted in the character and the Word of God.
This side of Jesus first advent, his first coming, we express faith based on the character of God, his fulfilled promises, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and two thousand years of church history.
Our faith in who Jesus is and in his second advent is not wishful thinking, but stands on a firm foundation.
Do you have faith?
Born to Die
The birth of every child is filled with a great deal of hope and anticipation.
The future is full of blank pages of opportunity, waiting to be written by this child and the child’s parents.
Very few children have births that are surrounded by prophecy.
In fact, even throughout scripture, I can only think of 4 where the parents were given some instruction regarding the coming and the future of the child.
Samson - was born to aged and barren parents and was intended to be dedicated to the Lord.
He served as a judge in Israel.
Samuel - was the answered prayer of another barren woman.
He was dedicated to the Lord and served as Priest and judge.
John the Baptist - like Samson, he was the child of barren parents who were now well beyond child bearing years.
The Angel told his father Zechariah that he would live in the power of the prophet Elijah as a forerunner to God’s anointed one - the Messiah.
and then, we finally come to the reason we are here tonight - the birth of Jesus.
Prophets anticipated his birth for centuries.
The angel told his unwed, teenaged mother that he would be called the son of God.
His birth was foretold and miraculous.
With Jesus, the prophets began to write in advance some of what would fill the pages of his life.
He would...
suffer
heal
bring sight to the blind
raise the dead
release prisoners.
rule as an heir to the throne of David.
The Angel told Joseph (Jesus’ step-father) that he would “save his people from their sins.”
(Mt.
1:21).
Now that is quite a big feat - to save from their sins.
Now, I can imagine that Joseph and Mary would have wondered exactly how that would happen.
How will the son of God, this child to be born, save people?
The short answer - is by dying.
In other words, he was born to die.
But that is something that Mary wouldn’t learn about for another 30+ years.
In celebrating Christmas, it’s wonderful to retell the story, to reimagine the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of Jesus, but if we don’t keep his death in mind, then we don’t have the full picture.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9