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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Tentative
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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
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
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Text
Threats and plots against the church
Divine Intervention
Jesus halts Paul’s march
Jesus blinds Saul
Jesus instructs Ananias in a vision
Jesus instructed Paul in a vision
“he is a chosen instrument of mine” - The Lord chose Paul to be his witness to the Gentiles
“he must suffer for the sake of my name”
Introduction
Significant conversion
Impact - seen in all of Paul’s writings
Luther - “gone through open doors into paradise”
John & Charles Wesley - Luthers commentaries on Romans & Galatians
The Reformation & Europe - Paul was the pioneer
Repeated 3 times in Acts
What Saul Learned
Jesus is Gracious
Jesus has commissioned us
1. Jesus is Lord
Plots & threats against the church
ch 8 - continued spread of the gospel in Samaria
evangelism to masses and individuals
but dont forget: the persecution that started in ch 6 with martyrdom of Stephen is still ongoing
Saul - man on a mission
filled with hate & breathing murder (verse 1-2)
applies at the high court for letters authorizing the arrest of all Christians
Embarks on 300km journey from Jerusalem to Damascus on foot
But Saul doesn’t complete his misson
He has an encounter that changes his life forever
An encounter that, as a Pharisee, he would have immediately recognized as divine:
A light from heaven
A voice speaking to him
Saul is called by name twice
And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.
He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Its a light so bright that it blinds him
Paul encounters a light from heaven
Its a light so bright that it blinds him
Ps 2:1-8
“And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
“But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
“But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Recognizing that the voice is divine, because he responds “Who are you, Lord?”
If the voice replied that He is God, Saul might have been able to justify continuing his persecution of the church
But He responds “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
and in that moment, Saul realized that the Christians had been telling the truth
f
that Jesus who had been crucified had risen
that Jesus is Lord
that the Church is the people of God
The risen Saviour has ascended to his throne, but He is not absent from the world
He is sovereignly working out his plans & purposes on earth
His purpose is for His name and the news of what he has done to spread to the ends of the earth
the Jewish Sanhedrin is doing everything in their power to stop the spread of Jesus’ name
going to extreme lengths - murder
led by Saul
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
The Lord is never not in control
He stops the leader in his tracks
Jesus commands Paul to enter the city
Jesus blinds Saul
Jesus instructs Ananias in a vision
Jesus instructed Paul in a vision
“he is a chosen instrument of mine” - The Lord chose Paul to be his witness to the Gentiles
“he must suffer for the sake of my name”
Acts 9:
Ex
Gen
he did suffer
Paul did become his apostle to the Gentiles
The gospel spread throughout Rome, Greece, Spain...
All of Europe
The reformation
The majority of people in the world who call themselves religious, identify themselves as being Christian
This is the sovereign work of the Lord
2. Jesus is Gracious
Saul is fiercest persecutor of the Church
His defence to the angry Jewish mob outside the temple
Born a Jew
A student of Gamaliel
A leader of the Sanhedrin
Distinguished teacher of the Law
First to be honored with the title “Rabban” - Our Master
In rabbinic literature, referred to as The Elder
Indoctrinated
Zealous - just as much as the murderous mob that just beat him
He persecuted Christians to death, arresting both men and women
lived as a Pharisee, according to the strictest party of the Jews
He was convinced that he had to do whatever it took to oppose the Christian faith
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