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.
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Ripley’s believe it or not
Did you know that in a deck of playing cards, the King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache?
But he carries a sword.
You can believe it or not.
Did you know that a snail has over 14,000 very hard microscopic teeth?
You can believe it or not.
Did you know that an average cumulus cloud weighs approximately 1.1 million pounds and an average storm cloud weighs over 105 million pounds?
You can believe it or not
Did you know that in 1859, an English settler in Australia released 24 rabbits onto his property and by 1920 the rabbit population reached approximately 10 billion?
That one might not be so hard to believe.
Belief.
There are all kinds of things to believe or not believe.
When I was in flight school, I had a classmate who believed that the United States never put a man on the moon.
He thought it was all a big hoax.
As information becomes more and more readily accessible, I think we are having more and more trouble knowing exactly what to believe.
There is such an overload of information out there.
Much of it partially true, some of it blatantly false.
We don’t know what sources to trust and and what sources to discount.
And fortunately, there are things that we can choose to believe or not believe that don’t have a serious bearing on your relationship with God.
They may make people look at you funny, but in the light of eternity, they might not be that important.
But on a serious note, there is a belief which is absolutely crucial to being in right standing with God
We are still in .
And I hope as we study this chapter, we are getting a better understanding of what is going on here.
I want to emphasize again that the key to understanding this exchange between Jesus and Nic is to realize that Jesus is addressing the need of Nic’s heart.
Nic wants to be close to God.
To enter the Kingdom of God
First, we looked at Nic’s need for a work of the Spirit
For rebirth
For cleansing
And now Jesus addresses the second part of entering the Kingdom of God.
Belief.
Because for the work of the Spirit to take place, it
After Jesus told him all that He did about the work of the Spirit, Nic still doesn’t quite get it.
“How can these things be?”, he asks.
Jesus kind of scolds him gently: “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand?”
I’m talking to you about things that you can’t possibly hope to explain: heavenly things.
What I’m asking of you is to believe.
As John is about to wrap up his story of Jesus, he discloses his reason for telling the story.
John 20:30-31
So we know that what we believe must be a major concern of John’s
Belief: A major theme in the book of John
His aim is that by the time you get done with this book, you will believe.
Believe: occurs 54 times
Believes: 15 times
=70+ times
Believe, Believe, Believe
Here is the question: Do you agree, or do you believe?
AGREE : to accept or concede something (such as the views or wishes of another)agree to a plan
BELIEVE : to accept something as true, genuine, or real
to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or
ability of something
Agreement: it’s a mental process.
It’s something that we work out ourselves.
It’s something that we do in order to reduce tension between us.
AGREE
There are a lot of things that we can agree on:
Which is better, Chevy, Ford, or Dodge?
Who is better?
The Buckeyes or the Hawkeyes?
What is better?
Meat and potatoes or Italian food?
We can come to an agreement on these things.
Basically agreeing to disagree.
But when the rubber hits the road, what are we going to do?
I like Dodge, but If I get a great deal on a Ford or a Chevy, I might just get one of those.
See, maybe I don’t really BELEIVE that Dodge is the only way.
I have two vans, an old one with lots of rust and faded paint.
and a newer one with no rust and all working components.
The old rattletrap still runs great.
I think that it even might get me safely to the east coast if I was to take it.
The engine is still solid—doesn’t use oil.
And the radio still works.
But when it comes down to it, I’m going to take the newer one.
See, maybe I don’t really BELIEVE that the old van will get me there.
Because BELIEF goes a lot deeper than agreement.
Belief requires action.
Do you agree that God gave His Son?
Belief requires that I change something either in my thoughts or my actions.
Or both.
Because our thoughts often dictate how we will act.
Believe what?
These things: all found in this passage
Believe in the Son of God.
That is, believe that Jesus really is the Son of God
That He came as God in the flesh
Believe that He loves the world.
Not just me, but the whole world
That includes my brother, my sister with whom I have had my differences
That includes the unreached people in the 10/40 window
Believe that His death brings eternal life
Believe that eternal life comes simply and only through believing
Believe that this is for “whoever”.
It is for the world
And here’s the question that the Holy Spirit was asking me and convicting me with as I studied:
Do you agree, or do you believe?
Because I just agree, then I can go on with my life.
If I BELIEVE, then that demands something from me.
Now most of us would say that yes, I believe.
I believe that I have eternal life and that it only comes through Jesus.
Anybody want to argue with that?
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