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
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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Introduction (5m)
Distribute Choices/Events and consequences around congregation.
Ask people to read out A cards and invite congregation to decide which B card it is linked to.
Every action we do has a consequence.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
Ask: What other choices could have been made?
Ask A & B card holders to face each other across congregation.
Explanation (5m)
God or Idols?
In first reading, Moses is explaining to people of God that their decisions and actions would have consequences
God rescued them from slavery, given them freedom.
But now they would have to choose to stay free
Could worship God and choose to live the way he wanted them to, and they would stay free.
Or they could turn to the idols of stone or wood but they would be destroyed and lose the Promised Land.
They had a choice between life and death, blessings and curses
What would you choose?
Life and blessings, of course.
But the OT shows us that it wasn’t as simple as that.
Despite the choices laid out before them, times when they chose to be tempted by idols of their time and pray to gods who were not gods.
Why?
Because everyone else was doing it.
Life presents us with a series of choices
Easy to make the wrong choice and get lost in knotted mess of decisions and consequences.
People of Israel had been rescued from slavery in Egypt, but often made the wrong decision to follow false gods and found themselves in slavery to their idols instead.
When Jesus came to earth, he asked us to make a choice too
He offers us life, freedom, forgiveness for our past, a new beginning
All we have to do is choose to trust him.
To choose life.
Or we can reject him, refuse to love him, refuse to obey him and follow his purpose for our lives
Jesus died for us and took on himself the consequences of all our bad decisions
Cut the string between the A & B cards.
Gather up the B cards and lead B cardholders to the cross.
The cross means we are free to begin again and start living - really living.
It doesn’t mean mess magically disappears overnight
There may still be consequences to deal with - perhaps even over a lifetime.
But we do have someone who will help us find our way to freedom, healing and peace.
Cardholders back to their seats.
Paul told the Corinthians to grow up
They were choosing to get tied up in controversies and arguments
Does that sound familiar?
They were choosing between Apollos and Paul and fighting over who was best!
Paul reminded them that both he and Apollos were merely servants of God.
The Corinthian Christians shouldn’t be fighting over who was best, but seeking to be servants of God themselves:
Application (5m)
The challenge of decision-making is always with us
We sometimes have to choose between God and his will and making money, achieving success, being popular, having many possessions.
We are called to choose to follow Christ and to accept his forgiveness, freedom, healing and peace.
We are called to act as mature Christians, respecting differences and diversity, attempting to see things from God’s perspective rather than blindly following our own agenda.
Choices always have consequences
Jesus will face them with us and will be there even when we get it wrong.
We need to ask for his guidance and listen to other people we know to be wise.
We need to choose life and the love that comes from God.
Next Steps
Prayer Activity
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