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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Anger
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WHEN DAVID FIRST appeared in the story that was to become his, he was a shepherd boy.
His life was far from those of the romanticized shepherds of modern stories.
In David’s day, the shepherd in the family was the runt, the youngest, and often the most despised by his elders, who was made a shepherd because he was not capable of much else.
David had seven older brothers, grown men who were strong warriors.
They endured their younger brother— barely.
Jesse’s seven older sons thought David was strange, to say the least, and a bragging little liar, to say the worst.
From his earliest days, David’s life had a touch of the miraculous.
Consider the fact that David was a master musician at a prodigious age.
Prodigies are often hated by their less-talented elders.
Then there were his accounts of supernatural victories in the wilderness.
Imagine an evening meal in David’s family home: He has returned with his sheep, cleaned up, and joined his older, larger brothers at the kitchen table.
Challenged by their mother to be nicer to David, they fire off questions between bites.
“What did you do today, little brother?” one asks before immediately turning to his mother to make sure she noticed his “effort.”
Guileless as the child he is, David answers without hesitation.
“Today I killed a lion.”
THE PROPHET ARRIVES
One day, the prophet Samuel arrived in town.
This was a big deal, especially in a village like Bethlehem.
No paparazzi follow him, but Samuel was the most famous religious leader of his day.
Samuel walking into Bethlehem would be something like a rock star today suddenly appearing in a small town or Billy Graham showing up at a country church.
Since anointing Saul as the first king of Israel, Samuel had nearly retired and taken a back seat in the kingdom.
His return to the scene, his arrival in Bethlehem, was something of a scary moment.
There was serious apprehension.
What did this mean?
The Scriptures even say that the elders of the town were afraid upon seeing Samuel, and they hadn’t even learned the reason he was there ().
They would have been shocked to learn that the reason for Samuel’s appearance was treason— anointing a new king when a perfectly healthy king sat on the throne.
Samuel doesn’t waste any time upon entering Bethlehem.
Samuel was hardly a folksy chap on his sunniest day.
He is there on serious business.
He tells the elders of the town, “Gather at Jesse’s house for a sacrifice to the Lord.”
“
Jesse’s house?
What for?” “I’m going there to anoint a new king,” Samuel answers.
The elders are shocked— probably horrified.
“Look, uh . . .
listen, we don’t want to argue with a prophet.
Please don’t strike us dead or anything, OK? We’re with you, alright?
But, well, we do have just one tiny, maybe important, maybe not, question: What about Saul?” Without hesitation, Samuel responds bluntly, “What about him?
I have nothing to do with Saul anymore.
The next king is in Jesse’s house.”
Rutland, Mark.
David The Great (Kindle Locations 239-244).
Charisma House.
Kindle Edition.
That said, everyone gathers at Jesse’s house.
The torches are lit, the elders are assembled, there’s a fearful mysteriousness in the room.
Samuel goes straight to Jesse’s oldest, strongest son, Eliab.
He is a perfect specimen of a man.
“He looks kingly,” Samuel thinks to himself.
“He’s not Saul exactly, but he’s impressive enough.”
Samuel holds out the oil, ready to anoint Eliab, when he feels a spiritual check.
“This isn’t the one.”
He looks to the next biggest one, Abinadab.
Again, “This isn’t the one.”
The same story with Shimea and all the other brothers present.
“This isn’t the one . . .
This isn’t the one . . .
This isn’t the one . . .
”
After going through all seven brothers, Samuel’s next words to Jesse prompt one of the funniest exchanges in the Bible: “Are you sure these are all your sons?”
“Am I sure these are all my sons?” Jesse asks in disgust.
“What are you accusing me of?
What’s wrong with my boys here?
What do you mean, are these all my sons?” “Well, are they?”
Silence.
“Are they?
I count seven sons.
Is this right, Jesse?” Jesse becomes quiet and looks away before answering.
“There, well, there is another . . .
out in the fields somewhere.
The youngest.
He is . . .
well . . .
What can I say?” Samuel responds, “Let’s see what God sees in him.
Go find him now.
We will not sit down or eat one bite until he is here.”
When David eventually arrives and sees everyone staring at him, he must have been thinking to himself, “What did I do now?”
Rutland, Mark.
David The Great (Kindle Locations 250-256).
Charisma House.
Kindle Edition.
He has absolutely no idea what’s happening, but as the youngest he’s used to being left out of the loop.
Samuel walks over to this skinny child, smelling like sheep.
Perhaps Samuel himself argued with God.
“Oh, Lord, no.
Not this one, surely not this one.”
Samuel listens for the only opinion that matters.
The words come.
“This is the one.”
Immediately, Samuel tilts the horn, pours oil on David, and anoints him as the next king of Israel.
Rutland, Mark.
David The Great (Kindle Locations 256-262).
Charisma House.
Kindle Edition.
Rutland, Mark.
David The Great (Kindle Location 262).
Charisma House.
Kindle Edition.
There will be moments in your life when God does something that resonates deeply with you.
They ping on your sonar screen, and you just know that something big is going to happen.
Then years go by, and nothing happens.
The lost years don’t erase God’s mark on you though.
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