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
0.14UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.21UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.46UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.18UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.27UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.91LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.67LIKELY
Extraversion
0.13UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.68LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.7LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
MEN LIKE TREES
SERMON OF THE WEEK #200804 - January 27, 2008
Mark tells us that one day, Jesus and the Apostles came unto Bethsaida, and
they bring to Him a blind man, and beseeched Him to touch him.
Now Jesus had
been in Bethsaida many times, although no other visit to the city was
mentioned until this one.
We know He had been there many times, and done
many miracles because in Matthew 11:20 Jesus said, "Woe unto thee,
Bethsaida, for if the mighty works that were done in thee had been done in
Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
It
shall be more tolerable for them in the Day of Judgment than for thee."
With all their advantages of learning from Jesus, Bethsaida was the worst
town in the world to go to Hell from, and the best town in the world to go
to Heaven from.
America today stands in the same judgment as Bethsaida.
We have been blessed
by God with greater opportunities to evangelize the world than any nation in
history, and what a heavy judgment will fall upon this land in the judgment
as we see the efforts of a people gone mad in their efforts to remove every
reminder of the grace of God.
It shall be more tolerable in the Day of
Judgment for some of the cities in the Middle East than for sports-crazed,
idol-worshipping America.
So they brought this blind man to Jesus with the request, "Touch him, Lord."
They were confident that Jesus could restore his sight by a touch.
They had
no doubt heard how Jesus had gone into a house at nearby Capernaum, and
healed Peter's mother-in-law by touching her hand.
And it was at Capernaum
that He had healed a leper with the touch of His hand.
And even more
inspiring in the same area He had restored the sight of two blind men with
the touch of His hand.
So there was no question with these people that Jesus
could heal this blind man with the touch of His hand.
They had faith in the
Lord to heal, but they had to do something about it.
They had an active
faith, and brought him to Jesus.
Many of us have faith the Lord can save from the uttermost members of our
family, or other friends, but is it an active faith?
We pray about it, but
what have we done to bring it to pass?
So the Lord first took him by the hand, and led the blind man out of the
city.
At Bethsaida they had not responded and, rather than work one more
miracle, and have them sneer, and say, "...any rabbi could have done as
well," He led him out of their city to heal him.
When He led him out of the
city, He was leading him away from unbelief in the virgin birth, and He was
leading him away from those who denied the authority of His Word.
Jesus still leads us today, but He does not take us by the hand, as He did
the blind man of Bethsaida.
While we may rejoice, and enjoy the sentimental
feeling about Jesus, as we sing "Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on,
help me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn."
But after we sing about
it, let us come back to reality.
The Lord is no longer here in a physical
body taking us by the hand, and leading us.
However, He still leads us just
as much as He led the blind man of Bethsaida.
While He was here on earth He
could lead only one person at a time, but now through His divinely inspired
Word, He can lead us all as we sing "Lead me on through the night, lead me
on to the light: Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on."
So they came to Bethsaida; Bethsaida means, "The House of Fishers."
House of
Fishers is an appropriate name for that village because it was the hometown
of at least six of the Apostles.
In John 1:43, John tells us that Philip was
of Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter, and it was there the Lord
called Philip when he said, "Follow Me," and Philip brought Nathanael to the
Lord.
And since Luke tells us James and John were partners with Simon, which
would have been their hometown, it seems that six of the Apostles would
become fishers of men in the great ocean of humanity, when they received the
Great Commission.
It would also be appropriate if every congregation could be known as the
House of Fishers, because of the great number of preachers sent out to be
what Jesus called fishers of men.
The crying need for the world today is for
more preachers of the Word.
Remember, it was Jesus Himself who said, "Pray
the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest."
The
reason we have been on the radio for all these years is because we are
fishers of men, and radio seems to be a real good fishing hole.
And so it seems a strange coincidence that in the city known as the House of
Fishers, there were a great number of people who were spiritually blind, but
it was here some compassionate people had brought a blind man to Jesus with
the request that He touch him.
Jesus took the blind man by the hand, and led
him out of the town.
Then Jesus spit on his eyes, and put His hands upon his eyes, and said,
"Seest thou ought?"
He looked up and said that he saw men as trees walking.
After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9