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
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.15UNLIKELY
Joy
0.58LIKELY
Sadness
0.45UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.54LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.83LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.69LIKELY
Extraversion
0.19UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.68LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.68LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
ATTN
Series: On the Move: Overcoming the Obstacles to Growth
Title: Back on Track
Text:
ATTN
If you take the wrong path you’ll never get to the right place.
PLAY VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFS9qiqhJU.
It doesn’t matter how far you drive, if you take the wrong path, you’ll never get to the right place.
BACKGROUND
The early church was definitely on the right path.
They had obeyed the instructions Jesus had given them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit.
After many days of prayer, the Spirit came and the miracle of the church began.
Peter preached a Spirit-filled sermon, 3000 people came to faith in Christ.
Then those 3000 people started to follow the habits of a disciple that led to an outpouring of power and an internalizing of biblical Christianity that brought thousands more into the fold.
Even though there was persecution the church prayed for boldness and power and the Holy Spirit was doing an amazing work through these disciples.
But, of course, Satan wasn’t about to take all of this sitting down.
So, in chapter five of Acts, we read about his attempts to stop the growth of the church in its tracks.
He wants to compromise it’s witness and rob it’s power so he inspires a couple in the church to become his comrades in arms.
Though they probably didn’t realize the extent of what they were doing, if their sabotage was not arrested quickly, Satan would have gotten the church off of it’s path of growth and taken it down the wrong road.
Read about this with me.
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
4 While it remained, was it not your own?
And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?
Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?
You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last.
So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?”
She said, “Yes, for so much.”
9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.
11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.
And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.
13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.
14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
Now I have to admit to you that these verse can be troubling.
The death of two people simply because they misrepresented their gift to the church may seem a little harsh to you.
In God’s providence, however, I believe that the action was absolutely necessary.
You see, the church was at a crossroads.
They had seen an amazing work of God and it needed to continue if they were to achieve the mission they had been given.
But Satan had another path in mind.
He wanted this kind of deceit to grow until distrust and dishonesty sabotaged the church’s witness.
That’s why I believe the Holy Spirit revealed the sin of Ananias and Sapphira to Peter and gave him the courage to deal with it.
And the Spirit didn’t just give him the courage to deal with it, he also gave him the wisdom to deal with it.
In fact, in this account, you can see some actions that Peter and the church took that thwarted Satan’s attempted sabotage.
NEED
And I really want you to listen this morning because Satan also wants to thwart your own progress spiritually and our progress as a church.
Staying on the right path will never be politically correct.
If we are going to stay where we need to be, we will have to be a church that exercises church discipline.
That is not politically correct.
Just tell some people that you practice church discipline and they will be the first to issue you a “cult card.”
Staying on the right path will never be politically correct . . .
And it will always be socially challenging.
It is not easy to confront sin and deal with problems in the church.
It is so much easier not to confront wrong doing.
It is easier to do the “southern gentleman” thing and just go along to get along.
Staying on the right path is socially challenging, but that’s why you should listen today.
Listen because staying on the right path is politically incorrect and socially challenging and then it is
Spiritually necessary.
I fully believe that the only reason the church was able to do what it did in it’s earlier days was because it stayed on the right path.
If you are going to make real Spiritual progress as a body of believers, you have to be in the place where God can fully bless you.
So just how does the church stay on the right path so that God can bless it?
Well, right here from these verses let me give you three actions that keep a church on target.
In the first place, a church stays on target when:
D1
A church stays on target when sin is confronted.
A church stays on target when sin is confronted.
EXP
EXP
This account of the instant death of two church members shocks us.
At first glance, we might be tempted to ask, “Well, what was so wrong with what Ananias and Sapphira did?
I mean they sold a piece of property and brought part of it to give to God.
Does that mean that, whatever I sell, i have to give it all or I will be struck dead?
That’s worse than severe.
That’s just ridiculous!”
What was the sin here?
Well I think the text tells us that there sin occurred in three areas.
What was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira?
Dishonesty.
First, there was the sin of DISHONESTY.
V1 says 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it.
Now, when that verse says that they “kept back” part of it, that is an interesting word.
It implies that there was something akin to embezzlement going on.
The funds—all of the proceeds from the sell—had been pledged by this couple.
The same word “kept back” is used in the Old Testament when we are told that Achan “kept back” part of the spoil from Jericho.
God had told the people that everything in that town was to be destroyed and actually belonged to Him, but Achan “kept back” part for himself.
It seems that Ananias and Sapphira had pledged all of the proceeds from this land to God, then withheld part, all while letting everyone think that they had given it all.
They wanted to be seen as being more generous than they actually were.
And that leads to the second sin they committed.
What was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira?
Hypocrisy.
They also sinned through HYPOCRISY.
One commentator said that they wanted the credit and the prestige of sacrificial generosity without the inconvenience of it, so, in order to gain a reputation to which they had no right, they told a ball-faced lie.
They did not care about relieving the poor as much as fattening their own ego.
But, as bad as that wasn’t, it was not the worst sin.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9