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
0.59LIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.09UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.52LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.44UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.4UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.65LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.81LIKELY
Extraversion
0.15UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.87LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.59LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
A Little About Me
Frame It Up
Bring up Colby or Noah
The Text
The Illustration
The Final Point
The Foreshadowing
A Little About Me
Well, good morning CCA, how are we doing this fine Monday morning?
I said, how are we doing?
I am so excited to be here, and quite honestly I just want to jump into the book of Mark and get going, but I figured I should introduce myself:
As Mr. Thompson said, my name is Derek Wheeler, and I have the extreme privilege of serving Jesus at Cornerstone as their youth and college age pastor.
I’ve been there two years, but the journey that took me there started right where you guys are sitting this morning…and I’m going to talk a little about that here in a minute
I am married to my beautiful wife Savannah, and let’s be honest, without her by my side, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to the person I am today.
God knows what He’s doing, trust me.
I’ve got three kids: Jaxton who is 9, Cheyenne who is 7, and Karington Rae, who is four.
Some of you may remember my dad, Geoff Wheeler…who was a teacher, soccer coach, bowling coach, athletic director, and administrator here at CCA for several years.
Which means, I grew up here.
I spent all 13 years at Calvary…anyone else been here their entire schooling lives?
But that’s why I’m so excited to be here.
But let’s be real…I also remember sitting in chapels being bored out of my mind....so I’ve put a whole lot of pressure on myself to not bore you
And I don’t think I will…because we’re gonna look directly into God’s Word, and I’m 100% convinced that if we see what He wants us to see this morning....and if you try to do it, it will absolutely be bore-free.
Deal?
Stick with me.
If it’s boring at the end, tell me…and I’ll come with a list of jokes next week.
One thing I hate to do is not give this book it’s proper due, so let’s jump into it in Mark chapter 8, specifically looking at verse 34-38
But as you’re turning there, I wanted to frame up the story for you so you know what’s going on
Frame It Up
I have such good memories of Calvary, too many to list and not enough time.
Jesus and his disciples are travelling from Bethsaida to Caesarea Philippi
My closest friends to this day are friendships I made here.
And as they’re traveling, Jesus asks them this question: “Who do people say that I am?”
And the disciples respond: “John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet, etc”
And then Jesus asks them such an awesome question.
He then says, “Who do you say that I am?”
As I picture it in my head, the disciples probably stop like a deer in the headlights, but then Peter, you all know Peter, the leader, the rash one yells, “You are the Christ!”
And Jesus for the first time reveals without any doubt to the disciples that He is Jesus, He is the Messiah
So if you were one of the disciples, this was the guy you’ve been waiting for.
The one who, they thought, was going to wipe out the oppressors of Israel and set up an earthly kingdom!
This.
Was.
Everything.
Okay?
You with me?
And immediately after he has blown the minds of the disciples, and as their minds are processing the news and as they are looking forward to Jesus finally wiping out the Romans and making Israel the top dog…Jesus says this:
“I’m going to be killed, murdered, and I’m going to rise again.”
Still picturing it with me?
Wait....the Messiah is going to die?
How does that make any sense at all.
And here comes Peter again....and the text says that He rebuked Jesus!
Can you imagine the arrogance of someone to rebuke whom they just claimed was God himself?
And Jesus responds to Peter saying, “Get behind me Satan!
For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Whoa.
So that’s where we are in the narrative.
Jesus is Messiah, the Savior.
Jesus claims He is going to die.
Jesus tells Peter to quit focusing on the things of man, but focus on God.
All right....you guys ready?
The Text
Read :
This is Jesus preaching okay?
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
What we just read is absolutely 100% of the most important texts to Christianity, and to the discipleship of believers, which is what we are doing right now.
You know how people sometimes say, “I just wish God would tell me what He wanted me to do.”
Well, here’s the answer....like it’s not that hard, yet at the same time, to do what is written is the hardest thing in the world
Jesus says “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”
If you want to follow Jesus, Jesus says deny yourself and take up your cross
Deny yourself
Stop focusing on yourself.
Like he said to Peter, quit focusing on the things of this world
Take your mind off of what you want and put it on what God wants
Alright then, that’s not super easy is it?
This is so contrary to what the world teaches, this is so contrary to the very apps you have on your phones, this is just not normal.
It’s all about me, me, me!
Take up your cross
Then Jesus says take up your cross
Today, the cross is often no more to us than something we wear on a necklace, or get a tattoo of, or put on top of a building
But to the disciples, in Jesus’ day, they knew all too well what Jesus meant by this.
They may not have known Jesus was going to die on a cross yet, but they knew that to this point in time around 30,000 Jews had.
The Romans had invented and perfected crucifixion, and were all too eager to practice on those who they deemed worthy
30,000 Jews.
Let that sink in.
So they knew what Jesus was saying
Which is why verse 35 follows verse 34, and this is the verse I want to hone in on with you guys:
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Jesus says to them, who are panicking at this point…a confusing statement:
If you try to save your life you’ll lose it
But if you lose your life you’ll save it
That doesn’t even make sense, does it?
That’s like instead of saying lost and found, you call it the found and lost
Or your in a huddle before a game and your coach says to you, “Now go out there and lose so we can win”
But what Jesus is really saying is this:
If you want to keep your earthly life, if you’re so concerned about your wants, your desires, your comforts, your reputation, your lifestyle, if that’s your priority, in the end, you’re going to lose it all.
BUT
If you are willing to lose it all, let go of it all, let all of it fall to the wayside, again, deny it all, then, and only then, will you find it.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9