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
0.14UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.16UNLIKELY
Joy
0.48UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.46UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.32UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.88LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.7LIKELY
Extraversion
0.2UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.81LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.63LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
1 Peter 1:1-2
Stephen Caswell © 2000
Suffering Proves Christians To Be Trustworthy
On Sunday, believers arrived at a house church in the Soviet Union in small groups throughout the day so not to arouse the suspicion of KGB informers.
They began by singing a hymn quietly.
Suddenly, in walked two soldiers with loaded weapons at the ready.
One shouted, /If you wish to renounce your commitment to Jesus Christ, leave now!/ Two or three quickly left, then another.
After a few more seconds, two more.
/This is your last chance./
/Either turn against your faith in Christ,/ he ordered, /or stay and suffer the consequences./
Two more slipped out into the night.
No one else moved.
Parents with children trembling beside them looked down reassuringly, fully expecting to be gunned down or imprisoned.
The other soldier closed the door, looked back at those who stood against the wall and said, Keep your hands up, but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We, too, are Christians.
We were sent to another house church several weeks ago to arrest a group of believers.
The other soldier interrupted, But, instead, we were converted!
We have learned by experience, however, that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted.
In his first epistle, Peter wrote to encourage suffering saints to stand firm for Christ.
/While there’s life, there’s hope!/
That ancient Roman saying is still quoted today and, like most adages, it has an element of truth but no guarantee of certainty.
It is not the /fact/ of life that determines hope, but the /faith/ of life.
A Christian believer has a living hope because his faith and hope are in God.
This living hope is the major theme of Peter’s first letter.
He is saying to all believers, */Be hopeful!/*
Before we study the details of this fascinating letter, let’s get acquainted with some of the background details. */Let's take a look at:/*
I.
The Writer II.
The Recipients III.
The Reason
/Firstly /The Writer
/ /
*1 Peter 1:1a* /Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ/
/ /
/a.
Peter /
/ /
The writer identifies himself as Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
However his given name was Simon.
Jesus changed his name to Peter.
The name */Peter/* or Petro" in the Greek means stone.
Jesus Christ alone is the Rock.
It was Peter's testimony concerning Christ's identity as the Son of God that prompted the Lord to explain his new name.
This is what Jesus literally said to him at that time.
*Matthew 16:18* /I say unto you, you are/ Petro", /or small stone, and on this/ petra, /or// rock face I will build My Church/.
Jesus Christ is the rock that the church is built upon.
Peter was a stone cut from the rock.
The Aramaic equivalent of Peter is */Cephas/*.
Nearly fifty times in the New Testament, he is called*/ Simon/*; and often he is called */Simon Peter./*
Perhaps the two names suggest a Christian’s two natures: an old nature (Simon) that is prone to fail, and a new nature (Peter) that can have victory.
The Lord sometimes referred to Peter as Simon when he acted like his old nature.
In fact Peter denied His Lord three times after Christ's arrest.
However this failure did not mean he was disqualified for good, because he repented and Christ restored him to service again.
The same is true today, one failure, or even many doesn't mean that God can't use us again.
It's not our ability but our availability.
As Simon, he was only another human piece of clay; but Jesus Christ made a rock out of him!
After the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost Peter was a changed man.
He testified boldly for the Lord Jesus Christ and eventually died from Him.
/ /
/b.
An Apostle/
/ /
Peter is also called an Apostle.
Apostles were men sent with authority from God.
In fact Jesus Christ chose twelve apostles from amongst his disciples.
So apostles represented Jesus Christ and delivered the message that He had given to them.
They wrote much of the New Testament.
Peter and Paul were the two leading apostles in the early church.
Paul was assigned especially to minister to the Gentiles, and Peter to the Jews.
The Apostles and prophets worked together to lay the foundation of the church as stated in *Ephesians 2:20.*
Once that foundation was laid, they passed off the scene.
There are no apostles and prophets /in the New Testament sense/ in the church today.
Only one foundation is needed when you construct a building.
The same is true of the Church.
/ /
Application
/ /
/Do you feel that you aren't equipped to serve God? Do you struggle with your old nature?
Does failure in your past keep you from serving God now? /Don't worry you're not alone!
Millions of Christians have the same doubts and fears.
Even the great Apostle Peter struggled with these things.
Pastors and evangelists often struggle too.
Past failures can be overcome.
We need only confess them to the Lord and ask for His grace.
He can enable us to bear fruit.
Will you determine to leave the past behind you and serve God now with fresh vigor.
/ /
/Secondly/ The Recipients
*1 Peter 1:1* /Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,/
Peter wrote to believers in five regions.
This territory encompasses modern day Turkey.
The Churches that he wrote to were made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
Peter addressed believers with three different titles, /Strangers, the Scattered, and the Selected/.
/a.
Strangers/
/ /
*/Firstly/*/ he calls them *strangers* why? /The word */stranger /**parepidhmo"* means a */sojourner/*, */someone not residing in their own country, but staying a while in a strange place./*
This word describes how Christians aren't at home in this world.
We don't belong here, we are just passing through on our way to heaven./
Is this a good way of describing believers?/
Yes it is!
As Christians we shouldn't be storing up treasure here on earth but in heaven.
*Philippians 3:20* /For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
/Because Christians are strangers in the world, they are considered strange by the world.
*1 Peter 4:4* *says this:*/ In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
/The people of this world don't understand Christians.
They consider them to be strange and out of place on earth.
Because of this they speak evil of God's people.
Abraham & Lot
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9