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
0.17UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.18UNLIKELY
Fear
0.16UNLIKELY
Joy
0.13UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.59LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.55LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.81LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.61LIKELY
Extraversion
0.18UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.83LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.54LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Change Your World*
*Change Your World…through Suffering*
* *
*1.
Pray through your suffering*
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25 NIV
(see illustrations from prayer sermon)
*2.
Sing through your suffering*
* *
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25 NIV
(see David’s example from the Psalms)
* *
* *
*3.
Share through your suffering*
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.
27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself!
We are all here!”
Acts 16:26-28 NIV
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.
33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
Acts 16:29-34 NIV
*Changing Your World*
You can change your world through your suffering!
\\ Intro:
Welcome…
I’ve been going through a Series of messages called *Change Your World*…the book of Acts…turning points in the early church…
We’ve discovered so far *You can Change Your World…*
…*Through prayer*: 30 day prayer challenge…
…*Through encouragement*…
…*Through the gospel…*
Last week…
*You can change your world…with courage*
Today…
*You can change your world…through suffering*
Have you ever had "one of those days?"
One of those days when there was a hint that things were not going to go well, and then it got worse?
One of those days when one bad thing after another seemed to hit you before you could recover?
One of those days when you’ve just told someone/, "Well, at lease things can’t get any worse."
/
And then it does?
The movie */Fiddler on the Roof/* follows the life of a poor Jewish dairy farmer named Tevye.
With his wife and five daughters, Tevye lives in a small Jewish village in the Ukraine during the days of the Bolshevik revolution.
His faith in God helps him sort through the cultural changes challenging the traditions that have provided his life with a sense of balance.
In one scene, Tevye pulls both the horse and milk wagon as he hurries to make it home before the start of the Sabbath.
His only horse, old and broken down, has just injured his foot.
In Job-like fashion, Tevye looks up to heaven and complains.
Watch this…
[Tevye…Fiddler on the Roof…22:10…]
Tevye questions God about his suffering…
Tevye expresses a similar attitude later in the movie when, feeling the load of life's injustices, he says to God: /"I know, I know, we are the chosen people.
But once in a while can't you choose somebody else?"/
Have you ever questioned God when you are suffering?
Have you ever questioned God/…”Can't you choose somebody else?"/
All of us have…
One of the questions we rarely ask in suffering is the most important one…*/God, how can my suffering be used to honor you?/*
In Acts 16 we find the Apostle Paul and Silas suffering…
Our Scripture text shows us that the Apostle Paul and Silas were having "one of those days."
They were on a missionary journey in the area of Philippi and initially things seemed to be going all right….they
were given a warm reception in Philippi.
Paul and Silas soon experience flogging and imprisonment for disrupting the profitable soothsaying business in Philippi….
Look at Acts 16:22-24…
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.
23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Acts 16:22-24 NIV
After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
(16:23-24)
Not only were they sentenced and beaten, but they were also secluded and bound.
It was not enough to beat them without a fair trial.
Nor was it enough to throw them in jail without determining their guilt.
They were thrust into what the Scripture calls the inner prison.
This was the most secure dungeon in the prison complex.
It was a horrible place…It was a cell, dug deep into the earth, located in the center of the prison.
There were no windows, therefore, no light…The floor was dirt…It was damp.
It smelled with the odor of human refuse.
This is a bleak picture indeed…But the picture isn’t complete.
Not only were they thrown into this horrible place, but the jailer fastened their feet in the stocks.
Even within this inner prison, they were bound with chains.
It would be difficult to describe a much more depressing situation than that which befell Paul and Silas…and if that is not enough v. 25 says…it is the midnight hour…a difficult and dark time!!!!
I am sure they could have easily asked the question, "Why?"
There is a truth here which we must understand.
The truth is that bad things do happen to good people.
That is an important truth to understand.
If we do not understand that truth, we will be forever asking, "Why?"
The answer is that all of us, saved and unsaved, good and bad, have to deal with bad situations.
The Bible teaches that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.
We all live in a fallen world, and because of sin in the world, bad things happen, even to good people, even to the best of us.
It’s how we react to the bad things that count.
The Devil comes along, much like Job’s wife did, and says, "Curse God and die."
In other words, blame it on God and give up.
That’s what the Devil wants us to do.
He wants us to quit.
He would like for us to become convinced that God is not really on our side after all, that it’s no use to continue to trust in Him.
If we would become discouraged, begin feeling sorry for ourselves, blame God for all our troubles, and throw in the towel, that would suit the devil well.
But rather than doing that, we need to do what Paul and Silas did.
What did they do????
God would use them in the midst of their suffering to change their world!!
It is from their example we find that we can change our world even in the midst of suffering…
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9