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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The question that I want to ask you tonight is simple: Can you hear the angels singing?
The answer is equally simple.
Either you can or you can’t.
You do or you don’t.
The question that I want to ask you tonight is simple: Can you hear the angels singing?
The answer is equally simple.
Either you can or you can’t.
You do or you don’t.The shepherds heard the angels—and it scared them to death.
The shepherds heard the angels—and it scared them to death.
That’s the thing about whenever angels appear on earth, they always seem be be frightening people.
The angel told Joseph, “Fear not.”
Gabriel said to Mary, “Fear not.”
And the angel told the shepherds, “Fear not.”
The question before the house is simple: Can you hear the angels singing?
The answer is equally simple.
Either you can or you can’t.
You do or you don’t.The shepherds heard the angels—and it scared them to death.
That’s one thing that angels do—they frighten people.
The angel told Joseph, “Fear not.”
Gabriel said to Mary, “Fear not.”
And the angel told the shepherds, “Fear not.”
By definition angels are truly “out of this world.”
They come from another place, from another realm of reality, from another dimension.
One moment the shepherds are minding their own business in the fields outside Bethlehem, the next moment an angel is talking to them.
Then out of nowhere the sky is filled with a multitude of angels.
The word “multitude” means just what it implies—an uncountable number, a vast array of bright, shining beings, filling the night sky, praising God (loudly, I’m sure), and saying “Glory to God in the highest!”
By definition angels are truly “out of this world.”
They come from another place, from another realm of reality, from another dimension.
One moment the shepherds are minding their own business in the fields outside Bethlehem, the next moment an angel is talking to them.
Suddenly!
Perhaps the most striking word in this text comes in verse 13: Suddenly!
It means without warning, without prior announcement, it means that the angels weren’t there, and then they were everywhere.
They were nowhere to be seen, and all at once they filled the sky.
Some questions come to mind at this point.
If we had been there, would we have seen the angels?
Could the people in Bethlehem see the angels?
They were right outside of town.
Could they be seen in Jerusalem?
It was only 8 miles away?
I read about a guy this week who was able to see the fireworks display at Disneyland more than 24 miles away.
I am sure Disneyland has an awesome display, but would it be more powerful than a “Multitude of the Heavenly Hosts”.
Could other people see or hear them or did the angels reveal themselves only to the shepherds?
We don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but what we do know is that the angels were really there, and they had a message for the shepherds.
They delivered their message and the Shepherds heard them.
Can you hear the angels singing?
Either you do or you don’t.
The shepherds heard them.
Mary heard them.
Joseph heard them.
I don’t think Herod heard a thing.
That’s a very important point because the great divide in the world comes right here—some people see the angels, others don’t.
Some people hear them, others don’t.
Some people believe in and expect the supernatural, others don’t have room for it in their thinking.
There is a story in the Old Testament of the prophet Elisha when the kingdom of Syria was making war against the Kingdom of Israel.
The King of Syria made plans to ambush the Israelite army in a particular place and Elisha heard from the Lord on it and the King of Israel never took the bait.
This frustrated the Syrian King, so much so that he suspected that they had a traitor in their midst.
When he asked on it one of his servants told him about Elisha, the prophet who tells Israel “the words that you speak in your bedroom”.
So the Syrian King send his army to capture Elisha.
This massive army has this little town of Dothan surrounded in order to capture Elisha.
This is what happened:
Well Elisha had a servant who woke up that morning and saw the army completely surrounding them and and his servant when the Aramean army surrounded them in the city of Dothan.
Seeing the enemy on every side, the servant cried out, “What shall we do?” Elisha responded by declaring, “‘Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’
Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.’
So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (
).
The angels were always there; the servant simply did not see them.
When his eyes were opened, he saw what had been there all along.
The angels were always there; the servant simply did not see them.
When his eyes were opened, he saw what had been there all along.
The late Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the United States Senate, was fond of saying that “spiritual reality is a matter of perception, not proof.”
There are some things that can never be proved.
He would make an argument like this:
But some people do not see because they cannot see.
Richard Dawkins is perhaps the most famous evolutionist in the world.
He is a noted scientist, a gifted writer, an avowed atheist, and a fierce opponent of religion.
He says that those who do not believe in evolution are “ignorant or brainwashed.”
He believes the world would be better off without religion because it is based on superstition.
In a recent Beliefnet interview he declared, “You won’t find any intelligent person who feels the need for the supernatural.”
He goes on to say that a world without religion would be paradise on earth.
How should we respond to someone who talks like that?
The late Peter Marshall, chaplain of the United States Senate, was fond of saying that “spiritual reality is a matter of perception, not proof.”
There are some things that can never be proved.
He would make an argument like this:
“How can you prove that something is beautiful?
Can you demonstrate to me by logic or by reason or by intellect that the Fifth Symphony or the Moonlight Sonata was sheer beauty?
Can you prove by any method of intellect why a sunset is beautiful?
Explain to me scientifically the haunting, wistful fragrance of a bunch of violets.
…There are mysteries all around us, beautiful, stirring, unexplainable.
Take, for example, the strange phenomenon of falling in love.
Have you ever asked the question, “How will I know when I fall in love?”
I have.
I’ve asked it of blondes and brunettes, of redheads and of bald heads, of people everywhere.
The strange thing is, I always received the same answer; namely, “Don’t worry, brother.
You’ll know.”
Love, like beauty, like the haunting, wistful fragrance of a bunch of violets, is a matter of perception and experience, not of proof.
The great things by which we really live are not proven by logic, but by life.
As it is true of love and beauty, so it is true of finding God and learning how close He stands to us.” (From the movie A Man Called Peter, cited at the “Wild Evangelists”
Some people visit the Grand Canyon and all they see is a big ditch.
And so they hurry on their way, having missed one of the great wonders of God’s creation.
The same thing happens in the spiritual realm.
People see what they want to see and they don’t see what they choose to ignore.
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