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
0.03UNLIKELY
Fear
0.09UNLIKELY
Joy
0.69LIKELY
Sadness
0.59LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.68LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.08UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.42UNLIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.95LIKELY
Extraversion
0.29UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.81LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction
*Open Your Bibles to Philippians 3
As you find your place, you will remember that I’m not big on resolutions
Making a promise in the sand without a plan to accomplish that plan is a worthless endeavor
As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail
This is what resolutions tend to be
We know things that we need to change about ourselves
better diets
better exercise habits
better financial plans
We just don’t really do anything about it
Planning takes a lot of work and effort
Success takes diligence, hard work, and sacrifice
We also have to follow the plan that we make to be successful
My concern, as we start this New Year, though is that we might dump becoming better followers of Jesus in with our resolutions
I’m afraid that for most of us, we know
It’s something that I should do
It will benefit me more than anything else
I really do need it because I am a follower of Jesus
AND, if we’re honest
I’m not really going to do it
This morning, it is my prayer that today we’re going to change that starting today
In Philippians 3, we find a game plan for growth in Christ.
We’re going to pick up in verse 13:
Pray, invited the church to sit
*LISTENING GUIDES OUT
As we pick up in today’s text, Paul is encouraging the believers not to become complacent
The Jew can’t sit back and rest in the fact that he is among the circumcised-because true circumcision is of the heart
Your family won’t get you into heaven
That you walked an aisle and said a prayer won’t get you into heaven
The only thing that can save you is faith in Jesus Christ
Faith, our belief put into the action of following Jesus is the only door to salvation
You works can’t save you, though if you are saved you will have works
We don’t do works to earn our salvation, we do them because we are saved
The good you do doesn’t undo the sins you have committed: only the blood of Christ can cleanse you of sins
But, the center of what Paul is getting at in chapter 13 comes in verse 8, just before our passage
Nothing that we have or give up, nothing that we have done or earned, nothing compares to the greatness of knowing Jesus
And if we believe that nothing is more valuable in all of the world than our relationship with Jesus Christ, then our pursuit of that relationship needs to be the most important thing in our lives
Simply put, we cannot afford to get lazy in knowing Jesus and making Him known
Knowing Jesus and making Him known isn’t a priority: it is the priority
And with that in mind, we find four things in our passage today that can help us to do exactly that.
Let’s look at them one by one:
The first key for us to be successful in our growth in Christ is this:
Let go of the past to chase after the future
I don’t want you to miss-hear me when I say this:
I am not saying that you need to forget the past
we learn from our past and gain wisdom through it
In our past we’ve seen God move, which helps us to grow in faithful following today
But, we have to remember that we haven’t arrived yet!
You are not yet the finished product that God is making you to be
That means that you still have a journey ahead of you
things to learn
ways to change and to be grown
challenges that will call you to faithful obedience
opportunities to serve others and to see His hand move
All of these things are good things and important for your growth
but all of them are in front of you
FACT: You can’t look backward & forward at the same time
When I was a kid, my sister and I were riding our bikes in town.
She was behind me, and we had just crossed an intersection
All of a sudden, I heard screeching car tires
I looked backward to make sure she was ok
When I looked forward, I was 6 inches away from hitting my face into a telephone pole
I didn’t get hurt that day, but I did learn something important
Looking backwards while moving forwards is dangerous- We have to let go of what’s behind us
Let go of the bad
All of us face loss, grief, pain, injury, anger, suffering, and frustration
All of us have bad things that happen in our lives
We have bad things that happen to us as a church
We have people do bad things to us in the church
All of us have failures
Choices we would change if given an opportunity
Mistakes that ended up costing us time, money, and opportunities
Shortfalls AND Shortcomings that ended up hurting others\
NO GOOD HAS EVER COME TO ANYONE FROM HOLDING ONTO THESE THINGS
Instead they fill you with bitterness
Instead, they freeze you in the place where you are
Instead, they blind you to the wonderful things God has for you now
YES, you need to work through your problems-but work through them
travel through the valley of grief, but don’t build your house there
Apologize and mend relationships you have broken
Find new sources of joy that will take the place of your sorrows
We also need to let go of the good
College Football Champions celebrate a week or two:
THEN THEY START ON NEXT SEASON
FOCUSING ON THE GLORY DAYS AND PAST ACHIEVEMENTS BLINDS US TO NEW DANGERS
The calling to be different than we are
The challenges and opportunities in front of us
The need to grow
We can’t let the good of yesterday make us complacent
If you live like you’ve arrived, you never will
As a people and as individuals, our eyes must stay fixed on what lies ahead of us.
With that in mind, let’s continue
The second key for us to be successful in our growth in Christ is this:
Focus on knowing Jesus and Making Him known
A friend recently shared with me an incident with his daughter
He was teaching her to ride her bike
She was worried about running into the tree on the side of the road
In and empty street, with one tree, she ran smack into it as soon as he let go
WHY?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9