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
0.17UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.58LIKELY
Sadness
0.51LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.38UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.64LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.45UNLIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.6LIKELY
Extraversion
0.09UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.75LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.61LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
In The Middle of Nowhere
The title of the message today is “In the Middle of Nowhere”.
It makes me think about a story about a guy who went on a hiking trip in the mountains on his vacation…
Before heading into the wilderness, he stops at a small town general store to get some supplies.
After picking out provisions, he approaches old guy behind the counter.
“I’m going hiking up in the mountains, and was wondering–do you have any bears around here?”
“Yup,” replies the store owner.
“What kind?” asks the hiker.
“Well, we got black bears and we got grizzlies,” he replies.
“I see,” says the hiker.
“Do you have any of those bear bells?”
“Say what?”
“You know,” explains the hiker, “those little tinkle-bells that hikers wear in bear country to warn the bears that they are coming, so the bears aren’t surprised and attack them.”
“Oh, yeah.
Back there,” he says, pointing to a dusty shelf on the other side of the store.
The hiker selects some bells and returns to the counter to pay for them.
“Another thing,” the hiker inquires, “how can I tell when I’m hiking in bear country anyway?”
“By the scat,” the old fellow replies, ringing up the hiker’s purchases.
“Well, uh, how can I tell if it’s grizzly country or black bear country?” the hiker asks.
“By the scat,” the store owner replies.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asks the hiker.
“I mean, what’s difference between grizzly scat and black bear scat?”
“The stuff that’s in it.”
Frustrated, the hiker persists, “Okay, so what’s in grizzly bear scat that isn’t in black bear scat?” he asks, an impatient tone in his voice.
“Bear bells,” replies the old man as he hands the hiker his purchases.
When I was a kid, I went on a couple of hiking trips.
The last one was about 24 years ago with several other people to New Mexico.
That year we decided to go to a different mountain than the one we hiked the year before.
It was a beautiful day as the sun shined through the thick canopy of trees lighting up the trail as it climbed the mountain side.
It would just be a quick 5 mile hike to base camp where we would set up our gear and relax as we prepared for the next few days of day hikes and relaxing splash baths in 35 degree river water.
At least, that’s what we thought.
After hiking about 8 miles I encountered a few of the leaders of our group coming back down the trail who had hiked about 10 miles and failed to find the base camp.
“We’re going back to the vehicles!”
they said as they jogged by.
If you have even hiked at higher altitudes, like those in New Mexico or Colorado, then you know some of the frustrations you have to adapt to.
First off is the air.
It is thinner, making breathing a little more difficult.
I wouldn’t say that it is HARD to breathe, but your heart rate will ramp up quickly.
Second is the mountain weather.
In a 15 minute span you may see warm weather, then cold weather, then rain, then snow and sleet, then warm weather again.
Especially the further up you go.
We saw all of this today.
By the time we started coming back down it was getting later in the afternoon and the air was beginning to get cooler.
Even though coming back down the mountain is easier and faster, you aren’t working as hard so your body is already staying a little cooler to begin with.
While we were hiking I managed to find the perfect hiking stick to carry up the mountain.
Coming back down I started getting so cold that the only hand I could even use was the one holding the walking stick.
I couldn’t even switch hands because my left hand wouldn’t hold on to it.
When you are tired and cold like that, a simple thought such as, “I wonder if we got lost.”
becomes “Oh my goodness, WE’RE LOST!
I can’t believe we got lost!”
You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.
Today we are continuing the Identity series where we are following the life of Jacob.
We kicked off this series by getting a general idea about who Jacob is, he is a heel grabber, a wrestler, a bit crafty.
We saw how Jacob had a bit of an identity problem.
Wrestling with who he is, who he wants to be and who God want’s him to be.
Last week we saw his brother Esau sacrifice his own identity for a bowl of beans.
This week we are going to see what God teaches Jacob as he is traveling in the middle of nowhere.
Have you ever gotten lost when you were on a trip?
Maybe you were going on vacation and you were in an unfamiliar place?
Or you were just on your way home from work and weren’t paying attention and ended up on a new road?
Before smart phones were a thing, this was a much bigger deal.
Today you can just pull out your phone and see exactly where you are and how to get back to where you want to be.
10-15 years ago you had to have a GPS.
15-20 years ago you had to have an Atlas or road map!
What about in your spiritual life?
have you ever felt like you were in the middle of nowhere?
Like something was super important to you so you started running towards it.
Then one day you pause and realize that you have been so focused on your job, your house, your debt, your family, that you have no idea how you have ended up so far away from God.
Maybe instead of running towards something you have been running away from something.
Or maybe you have just been distracted or busy, and you have found yourself just going through the motions.
“We bless the food, we go to church, but there is just no real substance.”
If you have your bibles and want to follow along, today we are going start off in Genesis 28.
While you turn there let me refresh your memories about what has already happened to this point.
Isaac and Rebekah get married, but she was unable to have children.
So Isaac pleaded with God for her and He answered Isaac’s prayer with not one, but 2 children.
She was going to have twins, Jacob and Esau.
Speaking from experience, 2 boys in one house equals lots of fights!
Unfortunately for her, these 2 fought a lot before they were even born.
One day, after they are a little older, Jacob tricks Esau into selling his birthright to him.
The birthright belonged to Esau as a result of technically being the first one to be born.
It gave him the right to a double share of his father’s inheritance.
Later, Isaac was losing his eyesight and concerned that he would die soon so he wanted to go ahead and pronounce the blessing over his firstborn son, Esau.
So Jacob tricks his father by dressing up like Esau and bringing him his favorite food.
Thinking that he was blessing Esau, Isaac blesses actually blesses Jacob.
You can imagine, at this point Esau is angry.
Last week we talked about his nick-name, “Red”.
Now he has another red to add to the list, “Red-hot”.
He is angry.
His blood is boiling.
So Esau starts planning kill Jacob.
Their mom, Rebekah, hears him plotting so she makes a plan of her own.
She has to get Jacob out of here.
So she goes to Isaac and says, “Listen.
We can’t have Jacob marrying any of this local riff-raff.
We need to keep it in the family!
So send him to my brother’s house to find a wife.”
So they send him off to find a wife.
How far did you travel to find your spouse?
Jacob is going to travel well over 600 miles to find someone to bring home to mom and dad.
Here is a map of the trip he took.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9