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Each start of the new year gives us cause to pause and reflect on the year we that is behind us, and to look to the year we have in front of us.
One particular area that I have been reflecting on is the area of relationships.
Relationships are a vital part of our lives.
No matter how independent we are, we all have relationships and all should be in some sort of healthy relationship.
That is how God has designed us.
God created us for relationship.
We only need to look to the creation story to see this.
Our design is rooted in God’s creation.
This point is reiterated in Gen 5 when Adams descendants to Noah are listed.
All creation displays God’s design, power, and goodness, but only human beings are said to be made in God’s image.
A result of being created in God’s image is that we work in relationship with Him and with one another.
So as images of a relational God, we are inherently relational.
The second part of Genesis 1:27 makes the point again, for it speaks of us not individually but in twos, “Male and female he created them.”
We are in relationship with our creator and with our fellow creatures.
These relationships are not left as philosophical abstractions in Genesis.
We see God talking and working with Adam in naming the animals (Gen.
2:19).
We see God visiting Adam and Eve “in the garden at the time of the evening breeze” (Gen.
3:8).
Relationships are an essential part of our lives and they take work.
They take rejoicing with one another in the joys of life.
They also however take admitting when we are wrong, apologizing when needed, confessing when we have sinned.
For the rest of our time together this morning, we will look at two aspects of relationships.
Our individual relationship with God, and our relationships with one another.
Building our relationships with God.
Ask yourself these questions.
Think about them for a moment, perhaps think on them some more this week.
How is my relationship with God?
Do I have an intimate relationship with God?
Does intimacy with Christ seem like a distant reality?
I use the word intimate for a purpose.
It can make us feel uncomfortable.
I have an intimate relationship with my spouse.
But intimate doesn’t mean physical.
Intimate has to do with
b: belonging to or characterizing one’s deepest nature
2: marked by very close association, contact, or familiarity 〈intimate knowledge of the law〉
3 a: marked by a warm friendship developing through long association 〈intimate friends〉
b: suggesting informal warmth or privacy 〈intimate clubs〉
4: of a very personal or private nature
There are a few reasons why our relationship with Christ might seem distant.
For starters it may be non-existent.
We cannot have an intimate relationship with Christ if we have not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
A couple of other reasons that God may feel distant are
(1) You do not have God's Word in your heart
(2) You are not obeying the Word of God.
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we find Jesus telling the parable of the sower.
There parable is quite clear and Jesus description that follows makes it even more so.
A natural question is how did plants grow and increase?
Jesus does not explain that here, but He does allude to it in His description of the "plant" that withers and the person who falls away.
(Mk 4:6, 17)
Why do they "wither" and fall away?
He says they have no root.
No root means there can be no growth.
So the root is the key to growth.
No growth means no fruit and no fruit and no fruit means the person is not a genuine believer.
Psalm 1 describes the "root system" of a fruitful believer and the root is intimately linked with the Word of God, for we read
Notice first that in order to delight in the Word, one needs to dismiss the wooing of the world -
don't walk, stand or sit under its evil influence.
If you do, you can hardly expect your heart will delight in the Word,
but more probably will run from the Word, for it is like a mirror which shows us what kind of man we are!
But if we pursuing holiness, we will desire to pursue the Holy Word and thereby we develop our "root system" and supernaturally produce fruit to the glory of God.
The person who delights in God’s Word send roots down deep to the river of life.
As those roots form and grow deep, we will have an intimate relationship with the Lord.
One that will withstand trial and tempest.
In knowing God’s word though we are also implored to obey God’s word.
God calls us to simple, unequivocal obedience of His Word.
Often, however in our ignorance or rebellion we:
• Don't know what the Word of God says:
God to Adam: " from the tree… you shall not eat , for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die."
(Genesis 2:17)
Satan in Gen 3 asked the question
Did God actually say
Eve to Satan: " God has said, ' You shall not eat from it or touch it… " (Genesis 3:3)
Eve, after adding to God's Word, soon succumbs to Satan's seduction.
In ignorance or rebellion we may also
• Challenge the authority of the Word of God:
Look at What Satan did in his response to Eve
Satan also twisted God’s word in this statement,
Peter also records for us in writing what false teachers were doing with some of Paul’s writings.
We are also tempted to Water down the Word of God:
Paul writes of men peddling the word of God 2 Cor 2:17 and
This is what the progressive Christianity movement is doing today.
Michael Kruger writes in his book the ten commandments of progressive Christianity
“The fundamental problem with the progressive approach to judging is that it undercuts the very goal it is trying to achieve, namely human reconciliation.
Such reconciliation can only happen when wrongs are acknowledged, owned, and repented of.
And in order for that to happen, judgments must be made about people’s behavior.
And that behavior must really be wrong—not just wrong in someone’s opinion.
Otherwise, reconciliation is a mirage”
When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit he said.
The intimacy with Christ we long for is based on a childlike understanding and response to the Word of God.
Do we have the courage, faith and will to seek out, discover and obey the Word in this manner?
Thes second part is building our relationships with one another.
Building relationships with one another.
I read a story in one of the devotionals I receive about a a woman who always went to a certain post office in her town because the postal employees there were just so friendly.
One year just before Christmas, she walked in to buy a book of stamps, and the lines were particularly long.
Another customer waiting next to her in line pointed out that there was no need to wait because the post office had installed a stamp machine in the lobby.
“I know,” said the woman, “but that machine won’t ask me about my arthritis.”
It’s easy to miss the human connection that’s so badly needed in our lives.
And sadly, this has even become the case in many of our churches, where people get in and get out as quickly as they can in order to jump back into their busy schedules.
Are we guilty of this?
I know I am at times.
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