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
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
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If one’s creed does not control one’s conduct, his creed is worthless!
In his book, In The Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado tells the story of Chippie the Parakeet…
Chippie never saw it coming… one minute he is perched peacefully in his cage… and other next he is sucked in, washed up, and blown over!
It all began when his owner decided to clean his cage… with a vacuum cleaner.
She put the end of the hose into Chippie’s cage… and everything was going fine… but… Then the phone rang…
She turned to answer the phone and… SHOOPPPP!!!
Chippie was sucked into the vacuum!
She gasped… put down the phone… and quickly opened the bag…
There was Chippie… still alive… but stunned and covered in grime!
Since he had dust and dirt all over him, she took him to the bathroom and rinsed him off in the sink…
Realizing that poor Chippie was now in shock… soaked… and shivering… She did what any responsible bird owner would do for the bird she loved…
She grabbed the hair drier…
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, a reporter who had originally written about the event… called Chippie’s owner to see how he was doing.
“Well,” said his owner, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore… he just sits and stares.”
M. Scott Peck in his book, The Road Less Traveled, begins with these three words: “Life is difficult.”
There’s no doubt… amen?!
James says “Whenever you face trials...” (James 1:2)
Jesus said “In this life you will have trouble, but take heart.
I have overcome the world.”
(Jn 16:33)
Nowhere in this book does it say that life as a Christian is going to be easy… simple… safe…
But… It does say that if we have Faith, God will give us victory!
That is a “Faith That Works”.
Notice that the very first topic James tackles is … trials.
And he wastes no time getting to it!
Why?
Because of who he is writing to: “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”
The recipients of this letter knew trials… they knew suffering…
They were facing them… They had been forced to leave their homes do to the severe persecution of Christians in Jerusalem.
They were now living in strange lands… among total strangers… and had to adjust to entirely new situations…
But… Over and over… in the Bible… we find the stories of how God’s faithful people turn defeat… turn trials … into victory!
— Daniel in the Lion’s den…
— Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace…
— Job…
Look at Joseph:
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt…
Potiphar’s wife betrayed him (Gen.
39:1–20), and Pharaoh’s cupbearer forgot him (Gen.
40:23)…
Still, in God’s plan he became the second most powerful leader in Egypt.
After their father Jacob died in Egypt, Joseph’s brothers asked for mercy and forgiveness for their past wrongs to him.
Joseph’s inspiring response was, “Don’t be afraid.
Am I in the place of God?
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen.
50:19–20).
Enduring affliction had produced in Joseph an ability to see God’s greater hand in the malicious intentions of his brothers.
God had used trials to make Joseph mature and complete.
No matter the trials we face… through our faith in God… we CAN experience victory!
(I want you to hear that!)
The world may seem… at times… to be coming to an end… It may seem hopeless now… but this is temporary!
God Promises:
James is confronts us with the reality of the trials we face… because he wants us to see the victory they bring!
You see… Troubles are certain… they are a guaranteed in this world… How we respond to them is what matters!
There is no denying that!
— We are a broken people living in a broken world… Trials and tribulation are guaranteed!
The world has been suffering under a “pandemic”…
Christians are being severely persecuted in Afghanistan after the fiasco of the US withdrawal there....
Now… we have the craziness of the war in the Ukraine…
Everyday… for the past several years… we have heard news about “mass shootings”… hate motivated violence… internet hacking and crimes… war…
And worse… sin seems to be being promoted and celebrated more and more…
We live in a fallen world… nothing works the way it is supposed to!
— sin has stained every part of the physical universe
— it has deeply infected the human heart
— because of that things break, our bodies wear out, and we grow old and die…
— People hurt people every day… marriages come apart…
— People get hooked on drugs… alcohol… gambling… sex…
— Our leaders disappoint us… friends become enemies…
— employers “downsize” and jobs get lost… sometimes for reasons we don’t even understand…
We know that trials WILL come… there is no doubt of that… HBut we do not have to be beat down and broken by them… We know the savior of the world!
How we respond to the trials is what matters!
Ray Prichard tells what a friend once said to him:
“Ray, when hard times come, be a student, not a victim.”
Be a student, not a victim.
That is great advice!
You see… A victim says “Why did this happen to me?”
But… a student says, “What can I learn from this?”
Turning trials into triumphs means learning from them, not avoiding them…
James says, “WHEN you face trials… ”…
No matter who we are… no matter where we live… trouble is always just a phone call away…
— that diagnosis of cancer
— that call that your child has just been arrested… or in an accident…
— that spouse who no longer wants to be married…
— being fired unexpectedly…
— the list is endless… and varied…
How are we supposed to respond when these times come?!
Well… James says, “Consider it pure Joy!”
What?!
Are you kidding me?!
How are we supposed to consider job loss… cancer… the loss of a loved one… “Pure Joy”?
Does James even know what he is saying?!
It sounds idealistic and impossible… right?!
But… James doesn’t stutter… He lays it out plainly:
The Message says:
The J.B. Phillips translation (the New Test. in Modern English):
“When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”
That seems crazy doesn’t it?!
We must not see trials as intruders, but as friends?
That goes against our natural inclination…
We naturally respond to trials and troubles with anger… despair… complaining… or running away and trying to escape them!
It is not a natural response to find JOY in hardship…
James isn’t talking about a “natural” reaction… he’s talking about a “supernatural” reaction… through Faith.
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