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
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Emotion
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Anger
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Who Needs This?
What I hate about Christmas
Bringing up the decorations
But, I love what Sara does w/ them and how the house looks when she’s done.
I hate bringing them up, but I love how it looks.
Stressors
Decorations
Family
Money/debt
Parties/business
Extra sugar
Regrets
I don’t mean to go all Scrooge here, but...
Who needs this?!
For all the trouble, battles, hassles, expense
Is it worth all this?
Who in their right mind would subject themselves to this?
We all do.
The entire world does.
B/C we all need Christmas.
I don’t mean the Christmas season, I mean, the original Christmas.
For all the trouble that God went to, for all the trouble the world was in, God orchestrated the details to bring about the events that we celebrate now.
Who needs Christmas?
The world did.
All those details over all those years.
It’s a remarkable story.
It’s a Remarkable Story
The virgin birth
A young virgin is pregnant.
Let’s back up for a minute.
A virgin birth is not necessary for our salvation.
The resurrection is.
No resurrection, no Christianity.
Whatever gets us there is important, but not necessarily vital to the story.
But, what does get us there is worth taking note.
The virgin birth is a sign.
It was predicted, prophecied.
So, when a young virgin shows up pregnant we should take notice and find out what the story is.
It’s only happened once in history.
So, what’s the story?
The simple, obvious assumption is it all began here.
It didn’t.
It began 2 thousand years before Mary met Gabriel.
Where it began
We assume the Christmas story began w/ a young couple wondering how they got pregnant.
But it doesn’t.
The Christmas story began w/ an old couple wondering if they would ever get pregnant.
That’s the beginning of the back story.
It’s a miracle that a woman who had never been intimate w/ a man in that day and age could conceive.
Almost unbelievable that this promise made to Mary could come true.
Certainly remarkable.
But, going back 2 thousand years, an even more unbelievable, incoherent, impossible promise was made to an old couple.
In its cultural context it made no sense.
In 2090 B.C God made Abram and Sarai this promise.
It is also the beginning of the Jewish nation.
This is the back story to the Christmas season we celebrate today.
How Christmas Began
No security, no sense
Why Abram?
Just b/c God wanted to.
God saw something in him.
Father was a Pagan priest.
Leave.
Why? Physical security and financial security.
Exposed out on their own.
Where?
I’ll tell you when you get there.
Maybe just a hint?
Who sets out on a journey like this w/out an itinerary?
Reservations.
Destinations.
Fame?
A great nation?
That requires having kids.
They had none.
And, you’re asking me to leave what family I do have.
Famous?
I’ll be forgotten.
One nephew.
That’s it.
I won’t be famous, I’ll be forgotten.
Bless other nations?
Nations didn’t bless other nations.
They conquered them, enslaved them, plundered them.
Why family proximity was so important.
This was just the way of life.
It was normal.
Nations didn’t bless nations.
They did their best to bless themselves and that was it.
Yet, he obeyed
Abram chose to believe this unbelievable promise.
He loaded up what family he had and they left.
And, God began the process of fulfilling the promise, at least it seemed so to a degree.
Some things were happening that could seem to contribute to the fulfillment of the promise.
His family grew.
And so did the dysfunction.
A Nation
Abram lied about Sara being his wife.
Isaac.
After Ishmael w/ Hagar.
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