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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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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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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Anger
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An elderly couple was on a road trip.
The wife, who couldn’t hear very well, was doing the driving.
They stopped for gas, and a man at another gas pump said, “That is the nicest car I’ve ever seen.
What kind is it?”
The husband told him it was a Mercedes.
His wife couldn’t hear the conversation so she yelled, “What did he say?”
The husband told her that the man just wanted to know what kind of car they drove.
The man at the pump asked, “Where are you folks from?”
The husband told him they were from Dallas, Texas.
“What did he say?” asked the wife.
“He wanted to know where we are from,” said the husband, who was getting a little annoyed.
The man at the pump said, “That’s where I met a woman a few years back.
She was the meanest woman I have ever met!”
“What did he say?” hollered the wife.
“He said he thinks he knows your sister,” the husband said.
We’ve all met mean people.
Today, I want to start by asking you to write a list of the meanest people you’ve ever met, and then I want you to rank on a meanest scale from 1-10.
I’m just kidding.
I don’t want you to do that today.
But, I bet you could do it if you tried!
It might not be all that difficult.
Reputation refers to the beliefs or opinions that are held about someone or something.
For good or bad, we all have a reputation.
It’s what people think about us.
I want to talk about the reputation of God.
Philippians 4:8 tells those who belong to Christ can have peace when they think thoughts that are of good report.
What are thoughts of good report?
How can they produce peace in your life?
Why does God want you to think on things that are of good report?
The greek word for good report is euphemous which could be translated as admirable, commendable, proper, excellent, morally right, or speaking well of something or someone.
All of which, in the context of this scripture, are referring to reputation or character.
Paul is telling us that we can have peace when we think on things of good reputation.
Especially when we focus our thoughts on God’s reputation.
All of us have certain beliefs and opinions about the character and nature of God.
It seems to me that we can be right or wrong about a reputation.
We can be right or wrong about who we think God is based on our beliefs of opinions.
My goal is to get your thoughts on things that are of GOOD report.
To get you to see that God has a good reputation.
Specifically, I want you to understand God’s gracious, providential control of all things.
God’s character doesn’t change.
He has a good reputation.
How we understand Him affects what we think about Him.
I want to make sure we have a correct understanding of His reputation.
To think thoughts that are of good report means that we think about the true reputation of God which is good.
God is good.
He is gracious.
He is in control.
To develop the correct beliefs and opinions regarding God we can look to the Bible as the foundation of truth.
There’s a verse in the old testament which I hope you will commit to your memory and your heart.
Genesis 50:20 (CEV)
20 You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best, so that he could save all these people, as he is now doing.
These words were spoken by a person named Joseph.
His life gives us an example of God’s gracious, providential control of all things.
His story can help us develop healthy beliefs and opinions about God.
Thinking about his story is an example of what Paul is talking about when he says to think on things that are of “good report” because in Jospehs story we can clearly see the character of God.
This story can shape our view of God’s reputation.
When we have the correct beliefs or opinions about God, the result will be peace in our lives.
When you have peace your faith will grow.
Faith knowing that the same God who was in control of Josephs life is also in control of your life!
So, who was Joseph?
Joseph was a boy who was pampered by his father, Jacob, and hated by his ten older brothers, who sold him into slavery when he was seventeen years old.
In Egypt, his master’s wife tried to seduce him and he was put into prison.
But when he was thirty years old, Joseph was set free from both prison and slavery and Pharaoh appointed him second ruler of Egypt!
Twice Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt for food, and Joseph used their visits to work on their hearts and bring them to repentance.
He revealed himself to them, forgave them, and told them to bring Jacob and all their families to Egypt where he would care for them.
When Jacob died seventeen years later, the brothers feared that Joseph might punish them, but Joseph assured them that all that had happened was from the Lord.
In the years that followed, God used Joseph to rescue the Hebrew people from extinction.
If you were Joseph, how you you describe God when everything was going wrong?
Put yourself in his situation.
You’ve been sold as a slave by your own family, you’ve been accused of a crime you didn’t commit, you’ve been in prison for years; How would you describe God?
What is Gods reputation in that situation?
What are your beliefs and opinions about God?
Joseph had every reason to have a bad opinion about God.
It would be very tempting to blame God for all the bad things that happened to him.
You and I have gone through difficult situations in life.
No person is exempt from hardship.
You may have been tempted to blame God because your reputation of Him was not clear.
When life is at it’s worst, when you’re at the rock bottom place of despair where you can’t see the light because of the great darkness that surrounds you, that is where you find out what you really believe about God.
I have three things I want to say to you that I hope will help you to think on things of good report.
Things to believe and know about God that will give you peace in the trying times of life.
Things you can hold onto when it seems as though God is not on your side.
This first thing you need to know is that...
God is not Against You
I want you to say something out loud with me.
You may not believe it to be true, but I can tell you from everything I’ve ever read in the Bible I know this to be one hundred percent factual.
I want you to say, “God is not mad at me”.
GOD IS NOT MAD AT ME.
You do believe that to be true?
From our point of view, people, circumstances, and even the Lord may seem to be against us; but as children of God, we need to know that our heavenly Father is in control.
He’s not punishing you for something you’ve done.
Now, there may be consequences that you have to work through, but God is not punishing you for being a bad person.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Think about Jesus, what was His reputation?
What’s the good report about Jesus?
Jesus, who was Holy, could have judged people very harshly.
Instead, He was loving, tender, and patient.
He never expected us to live perfectly.
He knew that we just couldn’t because sin had made us unholy.
He came to make us holy!
All He asks is that we acknowledge we are not right, then He will do the rest.
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