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.
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Tone of specific sentences
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Churches, and their people, are not perfect.
If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying.
I have now had 37 years of pulpit ministry as the pastor of local churches.
I’ve loved it.
I’ve seen a lot.
I’ve preached a lot of sermons, and one thing I’ve learned is that you are either holding your listener’s attention or holding your listener’s hostage- and though I’ve done both, I’d much prefer to hold their attention.
Admittedly, I’ve done both, unfortunately.
If you are a 15 year old whose parents tell you that you MUST go to church on Sunday, well, chances are you feel like you are being held captive.
At the same time, if you are a hungry follower of Jesus and you are seeking to learn from a sermon that is preached well- likely the worship experience will hold your attention.
In the scripture this morning, there are actually both types of listeners in the audience.
There are those who are being held captive by Jesus’ message- and at least one who is a captive audience of Jesus by circumstance- that Jesus put him into.... let’s dive in together.
Jesus is standing by the Sea of Galilee.
Fishermen naturally have the right stuff for serving Jesus.
Courage.
Patience.
Determination.
Faith.
Fishermen must work together… and they need to help each other.
They need to be quick and efficient.
Most of us, if we had fished all night and caught nothing would not be cleaning their nets to go out that night- we’d be selling them.
True fishermen don’t quit.
Peter took the nets back out with Jesus, and likely worked while Jesus preached.. .
but he was listening.
But Peter was a captive audience.
Peter is a fisherman listening to a carpenter who knows nothing about fishing and is doing nothing that makes sense.
In the seas of Galilee, you catch fish at night in shallow water.... not in the daytime in deep water.
But peter listened by faith (Luke 5.5)
Captive audience.
My son, Nate, called this week and asked Janice if we could take Emma a few hours yesterday.
Janice took the call, and looked at me and I nodded.
My nod was go ahead- I learned Friday night that the look was actually the question, “Can we go there?”
I had no intention of going there as I had plenty to do at home.
So, I told her Friday night that she could go withiout me and I’d stay home.
Saturday, she told me that she thought Emma would come to our house.
I am now a captive audience.
I must listen to baby shark for a full day.
I must videotape and photograph endless photos… I must.
And then Nate calls, and asks if it would be okay if they went to dinner before they came to get her.
I told Janice, they want to use us for another 2-3 hours.
You are a captive audience.
In a short time Peter had to exercise faith… Jesus first said, “Thrust out a little”… but then he said, “Launch out into the deep.”
If Peter had not obeyed the first seemingly insignificant command (verse 3), he would have never participated in the miracle.
What experience did Peter have with “Jesus word” to motivate him to let down the net in the wrong place at the wrong time.?
Remember.
It’s time to not fish.
It was daytime, not night time.
Remember.
It’s the deep water.
Not the shallows.
But at your word.
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between blind faith and blind hope?
We usually all have a taste of blind hope.
It’s what we want.
It’s what we hope for.
We want the best.
It’s things like I hope the stock market doesn’t crash or I hope I don’t slip on the ice.
You always want- or hope- for the best.
No one says, Gee, I hope I get cancer.
You hope you never do.
But there is no basis for that.
You just blindly hope, as we all do- that it works out that way.
Blind faith, on the other hand, is a little (not different) but the same.
Blind faith also has no basis- it has no history.
It simply believes.
Remember Doubting Thomas?
In John 20 he wouldn’t believe except he saw Jesus written.
And Jesus appears to him.
?
A single verse reveals the difference between blind hope and blind faith.
Look at John 20.29
Thomas believed because he saw Jesus alive.
That’s not blind hope or blind faith.
But Jesus speaks of another group.
Blessed are those who have never seen and yet have believed.
Blind faith.
They believe but have absolutely no experience with Jesus whatsoever.
We will come back to this.
Peter was neither blind hope or blind faith.
Peter had experience with Jesus- the capernaum miracles.
The earlier ministry of Jesus in Capernaum where Peter watched Jesus cast out an unclean spirit, healed Peter’s own mother in law in Peter’s house, and he healed tens if not hundreds of people.
We often read our bibles with the belief that if Jesus is healing and the disciples are present, well, they were believers.
Hold that thought.
Because it is not right.
Jesus was using these moments and healings and miracles to lay the groundwork for Peter’s faith.
Peter was not yet a full, faithful follower of Jesus Christ.
You see Peter had experience with Jesus in Capernaum.
If Jesus had healed his mother in law and done all of those other miracles, if he says to put out a little further and drop the nets (getting clean nets dirty and effectively re-starting the work day instead of ending it)
He had a basis for at least listrning to Jesus.
And so, what I really want you to see is that Peter had some kind of hope- but it wasn’t blind hope.
He had experience with Jesus.
And if Jesus could cast out demons, and heal my mother in law, and heal a hundred other people- if he says put out in the deep in the daylight or into the dust in the desert- I might want to think about that.
And do it.
In the 1950’s a study was done at Harvard by a DR.
Curt Richter.
In essence, he took rats and placed them in a jar of water.
They died within 2-3 minutes of being placed in the jar of water.
Then he took rats, dropped them in the water- and took them out a few moments before they drowned.
After a few minutes, he placed them in the water again.
And they didn’t last moments, but hours and days.... swimming and trying to survive.
What was the difference?
They had hope.
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