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
0.13UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.63LIKELY
Joy
0.54LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.53LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.21UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.72LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.88LIKELY
Extraversion
0.1UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.49UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Our Theme is “Rebuilding the House of God”
It has been a difficult year.
Our freedoms are under attack.
Some have suffered and died.
We have been quarantined.
Our travel is restricted.
Our movement is restricted.
Our economy is damaged.
And we are divided over solutions and what to do.
It feels like Exile.
Exile is when a group of people are either forcibly held captive for a long period of time or scattered.
Exile, in theological terms, is the experience of pain and suffering that results from the knowledge that there is a home where one belongs, yet for the present one is unable to return there.
It is difficult to hold a large group of people captive, so in ancient times they would be moved and resettled into smaller communities throughout the kingdom.
By being separated they would lose the strength of their numbers.
They would lose the power of sharing their common identity.
They would lose the ability to communicate, plan and strategize.
Ideally, they would assimilate into the culture of the conquering kingdom and disappear.
But Israel did not disappear in Exile.
It was while they were in exile that the Old Testament scriptures where compiled, edited and made available to the people.
It was while they were in exile that they formed into synagogues to study the scriptures - a model after which our churches were formed.
It was while they were in exile that Israel’s national identity not only survived, but they emerged even stronger and more unified.
It was during the exile, while studying the scriptures that the Jews began to actively anticipate the coming of a Messiah who would save God’s people.
It was during exile that people like Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah were raised up to demonstrate the wisdom and the power of God in a corrupt system and to stand for truth, justice and freedom.
The exile which was meant by the enemy to destroy the people of God brought them together and prepared the way for Messiah to save them, not from exile but from sin.
We are returning from exile.
Our lives are starting to go back to normal, but people are still afraid.
During the pandemic people got used to being alone and to looking out for themselves and their families.
But in US we have also seen people suffer more from mental health problems.
Alcoholism is up.
Abuse is up.
Beatings are up.
Murder is up.
Church attendance is down.
How do we go back to being a community - the people of God?
How will the body of Christ survive if we are independent of each other?
We need to rebuild the House of God!
We are returning from exile, but what has exile accomplished?
Are we stronger, wiser and closer to God than we were before?
When God restores us, will we go back to the way things were or will we move forward?
Has our wandering changed us?
Ezra was a priest and a scholar who served the king in exile.
Tradition says that he was very much involved in editing and compiling the Old Testament.
Because of Daniel and Esther, the kings of Babylon and of Persia had acquired a certain respect for the God of Israel.
Cyrus, possibly also Darius, commissioned Ezra to oversee the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
We are rebuilding the house of the Lord, but how shall we rebuild?
We do not want to simply go back to the way things were.
We want to build back better!
In order to do that we need to remember who we are, let our hearts be stirred and allow God to restore.
Remember who you are.
Remember whose you are.
You are God’s people - a people who belong to God.
When Moses received the ten commandments at Sinai the people also entered into covenant with God.
Moses made a blood covenant with Israel and they belonged to God.
Jesus’ blood is our covenant.
When we receive Christ as our savior we are in covenant with God through His blood.
The blood of Abel cried out to God for justice because sin had come into the world.
The blood of Jesus makes us righteous before God and removes sin.
I think you understand covenant better in Africa than we do in America.
The point is that you are joined to the one that you are in covenant with.
You belong to God!
Remember where you come from.
For Israel in exile, they were removed from their homeland.
Land is important - we are connected to the land.
For Israel, they had a home where they worshipped God.
God’s presence had a physical location -it’s called the temple in Jerusalem.
God had already told the people that he was not bound to a physical location,
but in their minds, everyone has to have a home, including God.
Where does God live now?
Where is his temple?
You, yes you all are the Temple of God!
So rebuilding the House of God means coming together as the collective “temple” and becoming what God intended for us to be.
God has a physical location on earth.
Yes, in Jerusalem.
But also here - because we are gathered as His temple!
So what does God intend for us to be?
Remember where you are going.
The temple was designed to remind people of Eden where mankind and God walked together in harmony.
The artwork on the inside of the temple was of plants and angelic creatures
So if the temple is the place of presence of God
And it is designed to look like the place where God had relationship with mankind before sin.
Think of it - such elaborate artwork for a place that is only visited by very few people.
When the priest would go in to the Holy Place it would look like Eden, only dark and abandoned.
The presence of God alone, waiting for the restoration of mankind.
Then it should tell us what God’s intention is to restore.
He wants relationship with His people!
not a place where we come for just a few moments to pay our respects.
But to walk with God, commune with God and live with God!
Let your heart be stirred.
Are your hearts being stirred by the presence of God?
Embrace your God-given destiny.
So when King Cyrus gave the command, people began to get excited about going back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple.
Now keep in mind these are not the same people who left Israel.
This is happening 70 years later.
So these are the children and the grand-children of those who were taken into Israel.
They had never been there, they had only heard the stories.
But they still had their identity passed down to them.
Their parents and grand-parents had instilled identity into them.
“You are a Levite!
We are destined to serve in God’s house.”
Even though they are in Babylon and the temple has been destroyed, they still know who they are.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9