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.
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*The Eternal EKG*
*The Heart of the Matter*
*Luke 8:4-15*
v Heart disease is #1 cause of death in America
Ø 1 out of every 3 deaths in US
Ø Every 34 seconds a person in the US dies from heart disease
§ Estimates for the year 2002 are that 70,100,000 Americans have one or more forms of cardiovascular disease
· That’s 1 in 5!!
v The heart is the organ that by far we are most concerned
Ø Through modern medicine, we are able to examine the heart in a number of ways
§ We can listen to the heart = stethoscope
§ We can look at the heart = echocardiogram
§ We can examine the workings of the heart = electrocardiogram
v *Show Overhead*
v EKG
Ø An electrocardiogram is an electrical recording of the heart and it shows us a lot regarding the health of the heart
§ If it is healthy, it looks something like the top chart
Ø But if you are sitting there after your EKG and the doctor comes in and tells you that they have found a problem
§ You would sit there and listen
· You would be all ears, totally focused…
¨ You would sit up and listen
v Today in our text, Jesus tells us a parable about the heart
Ø In a way, he gives the world an EKG
§ But not an EKG that tells us whether we will live several more years or decades in this world…
· It is an eternal EKG
¨ This EKG reveals where each person will live for eternity!
*READ 8:4-15*
* *
v In this parable, Jesus uses the analogy of a farmer planting his crop
Ø Well known to all the people of that time
§ He likens the sower to Anyone who shares the Gospel
§ He likens the seed to the Word of God
Ø But what Jesus is really getting at is to types of soils
§ He likens the soils to different types of hearts
· What kind of “heart reception” the Gospel gets
v The eternal EKG reveals that there are basically 4 types of hearts
*The Hard Heart*
v The first type of heart Jesus describes as a hard heart
Ø Like a hard earthen footpath
Ø *READ V. 12*
§ To understand this we have to understand Farming 2,000 years ago
· Broadcast seed
· Fields were long and narrow with well worn footpaths between them that the public could use as well
¨ Thus became rock hard
Ø At first glance this may seem like it is not their fault
§ Satan comes and takes it
· But we have to remember that Jesus is describing the reception that the Gospel receives
¨ And this one receives a hard-hearted reception
Ø The hard heart is symbolic of people that are resistant to the gospel
§ The shut mind…the mind which refuses to take it in
§ This could be for several reasons
· They were “burned” earlier in life
¨ Denomination
¨ Pastor
¨ Overly legalistic parents
· Their hearts have been hardened by the abuse of the Gospel
¨ For them the Gospel seed will never penetrate
§ There is another reason for hard heartedness
¨ *The Tempered heart*
Ø *Describe tempering*
· Hear Gospel many times
¨ Each time they hear and do not respond…
Ø Their heart hardens that much more
§ That is why the Bible states…
· Now is the appointed time
¨ Scripture talks about these people as being hardened
Ø The more you hear, the more you deny
Ø The more you see, the more you reject
§ The harder your heart becomes
· Ex 8-11 ~~ Pharaoh’s heart was tempered
Ø Tempering is something that we have to be careful about as believers as well
§ Come to church and turn off
· The Gospel does not penetrate your heart
¨ It bounces off
Ø If you allow your heart to become tempered…
§ You can bet that Satan is always there to take those precious seeds away!
The EKG Jesus gives reveals another type of heart…
*The Shallow Heart*
v Palestine is much like MDI
Ø Solid rock covered with a thin veneer of soil
§ In places it was only a few inches of soil
· And if a farmer scattered seed on that soil
¨ The warmth of the soil and the moisture would sprout a seed quickly
Ø But the roots could only go down so far
§ When dry season came, that plant would wither because of the shallowness of the soil
Ø This is the type of heart that Jesus describes in *v. 13 (READ)*
§ A Shallow heart
§ A shallow faith
· A faith that springs up quickly and blooms
¨ But has no root system for sustaining power
v This is the faith of Emotionalism
Ø We have all seen this
§ A person hears the Gospel and responds with great emotion
· They are at every church event
· They are sharing their experience with others
· They want to be on committees and boards
· They are at every potluck
· They are in the front row at church taking notes
· They are asking questions in Sunday School
Ø If we were honest, we would say that most new Christians are like this
v *RQ: So how do we know the soil is shallow?
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