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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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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*HIGHLY FAVORED BY GOD*
*Luke 1:26–38*
* *
I have a brother who is a medical doctor.
In fact, after finishing his training
and working in General Family medicine for a while
he went to the University of Heidelberg in Germany
to specialize as an orthopaedic surgeon.
I really look up to my brother!
He’s got more than 12 years of intense scientific training
and education under his belt.
I’ve been very privileged to watched him
perform some pretty amazing reconstructive surgeries
at the Leprosy colony Km 81 in Paraguay.
I am pretty certain from observing him at work,
and hearing testimonials from his patients and colleagues,
that he is one of the best in his field in Paraguay.
He knows his stuff!
He knows how to do some pretty in-depth prep-work and research
before he even touches any human skin with a scalpel.
My brother is a very logical thinker…
it has to make sense for him to be convinced of the facts.
Why am I telling you this?
I’m telling you this because my brother believes
that God can do the impossible.
In fact, I have to admit,
that he is more convinced of it than I have sometimes been.
And he very often challenges my faith
to go back to the “facts”, as he calls them,
the “facts” that have been recorded
by the prophets and the Gospel-writers
about God’s activity in the world.
Luke, the writer of the Gospel,
who describes the events of the story of Jesus’ birth
in the greatest detail, is also a Doctor...
a scientist, and physician…
he is a logical thinker who has done his homework.
For that reason,
as we hear the story of the Angel’s visit to Mary,
as described by Doctor Luke,
we do not have the luxury of dismissing it flippantly
as an old-wives tale,
or the jaw-flapping of someone with an active imagination.
Listen to the words of self-description in *Luke 1:1-4, *
in the opening verses of the Gospel of Luke (The Message):
/So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story /
/ of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history /
/that took place among us, /
/using reports handed down /
/by the original eyewitnesses /
/who served this Word with their very lives.
/
/Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, /
/starting from the story's beginning, /
/I decided to write it all out for you, /
/most honorable Theophilus, /
/so you can know *beyond the shadow of a doubt* /
/the reliability of what you were taught./
Luke is the only one of the Gospel writers
who did not physically walk in the presence of Jesus.
He was not present during our Lord’s three-year ministry
and did not witness His death and Resurrection.
He was probably at the University of Antioch
sweating over his micro-biology exam or something…
Since he has not seen any of these events first-hand,
he relies on the next best thing:
credible eyewitnesses,
people who have seen and heard,
and who are trustworthy…
/who served this Word with their very lives.
/
Luke visited the people who actually saw the physical Jesus:
His family, His disciples, His friends,
and probably also those who did not like Jesus very much.
Bruce Larson and Lloyd Ogilvie,
in /The Preacher's Commentary Series, Luke/,[1] suggest that,
“Perhaps the genius of Luke’s Gospel
is that it is written to one person, to Theophilus.
I am convinced that Luke
is the most universal of the four Gospels
because he is the most personal.”
This personal Gospel was written to a fellow Greek of high rank,
the “/Most excellent Theophilus.” /
Not much is known about Theophilus,
except that his name means “Friend of God,”
which may have been a nickname, or his actual name.
The first verses tell us why this account was written.
Luke says,
/so you can know *beyond the shadow of a doubt* /
/the reliability of what you were taught./
Lloyd Douglas tells about a man
who on a visit to his old violin teacher, asked,
“What’s new?”
“I’ll tell you what’s new,” said the teacher.
He grabbed his tuning fork and banged it.
The “A” came out loud and clear.
“Do you hear that?
That’s an ‘A’,” he proclaimed.
“Now, upstairs a soprano rehearses endlessly
and she’s always off key.
Next door I have a cello player
who plays his instrument very poorly.
There is an out-of-tune piano on the other side of me.
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