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
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Anger
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Abraham was told to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering
1.
It was a surprise
a. God told Abraham the end result
i.
Mighty nation
ii.
More descendants than the stars in the sky
iii.
Lots and lots of grand kids and great grand kids
b.
Since God only told Abraham the end result
i.
Abraham filled in all the steps on how to get there
ii.
Using the habits, patterns, cultural norms and personal strength that he had known for years
1. Remember that Abraham had a large movable village
2. He had an army able to beat five kings at once
3.
He had herds and servants and slaves
4. And he was rich beyond our wildest imagination
iii.
Remember, Abraham was getting on in years.
He was seventy-five when God first spoke to him
1.
Ten years later, there were still no kids
2. God promised millions of descendants, and Abraham could not even father one son
3. So, at the age of eighty-six, Ishmael is born
4. Ishmael was Abraham’s fulfillment of God’s promise
a.
I don’t know about you, but for me, when God promises something, I’ll let Him fulfill His own promises
b.
But we try to speed up God’s providence
c.
We try to fulfill God’s promises our way, in our timing in ways that please us
d.
And it never works
e.
We end up with all these little Ishmaels in our lives
i.
And they just get in the way of God’s promises
5. Consider this
a.
Abraham saw God as all powerful
b. Abraham had an irrevocable covenant with God
c. Abraham probably thought that little Ishmael was good enough for an all powerful, eternal, creator God to build a nation
d.
But *Good Enough* is the enemy of *BEST*
e.
You and I can only work in the realm of good enough
i.
No matter how good we are at something, it will only be good enough
ii.
We are Good Enough factories
iii.
We excel at Good Enough
f. God works in the realm of *The BEST*
i.
We think that our Good Enough somehow helps God or speeds God up or makes God better
ii.
Our *good enough* always causes problems with God’s *BEST*
2. Kill Isaac
a. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born
i.
Isaac was God’s best
ii.
Isaac was God’s promise
iii.
Isaac, the best, had conflicts with Ishmael, good enough
iv.
Abraham sent Ishmael away into the Arabian desert
b. Fast forward thirty years
i.
Ishmael is in Mecca recruiting for Al-Qaida
ii.
God comes to Abraham and tells him to kill Isaac
1.
Not only kill him, but sacrifice him as burnt offering
2. Two questions need to be answered here
a. Human sacrifice
i.
Very common through the known world at that time
ii.
Parents would sacrifice their sons as burnt offerings
iii.
To atone for family sins
iv.
Human sacrifice is still practiced today
v.
Muslims who blow themselves up do that to atone for their own sins
vi.
It is considered an act of utmost holiness and great piety in the Muslim countries to blow yourself up
b.
How old was Isaac?
i.
He was born when Sarah was 90
ii.
He was taken up the mountain around the time Sarah died at 127
iii.
The earliest estimates put him at 25 years old.
The Talmud, the Jewish holy books, says he was 33.
The oldest he could be is probably 37.
iii.
According to Scripture, Abraham basically said, ok, got up early in the morning and went to kill Isaac, the promised /best/ of God
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