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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Introduction
Week 1 — Zecharaiah — Fear wants to rob you of the potential God wants to do through you.
Week 2 — Mary’s fear: hopelessness — The birth of Jesus brings hope and WILL BRING hope.
Week 3 — Joseph: fear of the cost of walking with Jesus — When we walk with Jesus by faith, we become a part of (God’s) the mission of Christmas.
This week: Shepherds turn to be told not to fear.
(ESV)
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Stop here.
Most of us know what happens next, but understanding what is happening here will make the next part that much more amazing.
Focus of the story is on the Shepherds
Bible talks alot about shepherds and typically what comes to our mind is a handsome young lad with a fluffy white lamb on his shoulders.
Shepherds were generally considered by the religious to be dishonest and unclean according to the standards of the Law.
More than just spiritually, the shepherds were unclean — they likely smelled like sheep and . .
sheep stuff.
Besides being outcasts socially, they were cast out physically — we find them in a field this night — doing the ordinary, the usual thing that shepherds do.
Interestingly, it is likely that these shepherds may have been pasturing flocks destined to become temple sacrifices.
According to a rabbinic rule, any animal found between Jerusalem and a certain spot near Bethlehem should be presumed to be for available for a sacrifice.
(Mishnah, Shekalim 7:4).
(Mishnah, Shekalim 7:4).
v
I would suggest (and we’ll see why in a just a bit) that:
The shepherds big fear was FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out.
They were already seen as insignificant and feared they would always be — outside, in the dark, dirty, forgotten.
They were the unseen part of daily life
The opposite of gloom is JOY
Big Idea: Jesus enters your life to make a joyful difference
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
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