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
0.16UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.58LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.76LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.15UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.72LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.5UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.41UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.47UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.67LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction
This morning we are beginning a new study in the book of Jonah.
Our children that were at Summer Safari heard four lessons on this book.
Now, don’t get too excited because there are a lot of things to look at in this book, so I doubt that we’ll be finished in four lessons.
This morning we want to lay the foundation for our understanding.
So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Jonah chapter 1.
We are going to begin with verse 1.
The Man
From the book, we really only know three things about Jonah.
His name is Jonah.
His name means “Dove.”
He is the son of Amittai.
And that the Word of the Lord came to him.
However, we know some other things about him from other texts.
He was a servant of the Lord from Gath Hepher.
Look at 2 Kings 14:25.
The town Gath Hepher was a town in the tribe of Zebulun (Josh.
19:10, 13).
And Jonah’s ministry is one of four Old Testament prophets who ministries were referred to by Jesus:
Let’s begin looking at this book that has a great story and a wonderful message.
The Message
He was told to go to the great city Nineveh and preach against it.
Their wickedness had come to the attention of God.
Jonah’s Response
Jonah decides to go in the opposite direction.
Nineveh is in present day Iraq.
Tarshish is believed to be in present day Spain.
Now if you are like me, it is easy to judge Jonah.
But how many times do you and I run in the opposite direction from where God tells us to go?
God told Jonah to go to a city filled with people that the Jews hated.
Jonah doesn’t want to warn the Ninevites about God’s impending judgment—He wants God to carry out His judgment on Nineveh.
In his mind, there is NO way he is going to help those nasty Ninevites!
So he does what a lot of us do when God tells us to do something that we don’t want to do—RUN AWAY.
You Can Run, But Can’t Hide
So he goes to Joppa.
And finds a ship that is headed to Tarshish—to him the farthest
He paid the fare.
And went aboard—the Hebrew is more than simply going aboard—it is going down into the ship.
Jonah went down into the deepest part of the ship.
Then he sailed toward Tarshish.
But God
The Lord “sent a great wind on the sea. .
.”
The Hebrew actually says “God hurled a great wind on the sea. .
.”
Such a violent storm arose that the ship was about to break up!
The Fear of the Sailors
All the sailors were afraid.
These were seasoned sailors who knew the sea, these guys are scared!
They were so scared that they were each praying to their own gods.
It got so bad that the sailors began throwing the cargo overboard—this is how we know the storm was bad!
Jonah Doesn’t Care
I love the last part of this verse—“But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep?”
The captain wants every person on the ship to pray to their gods—hoping come god will listen to them and rescue them.
So he wakes Jonah up and tells him to pray to his god!
So far, Jonah didn’t want the Ninevites to live!
Now Jonah doesn’t care if the sailors live.
And the reality is Jonah doesn’t care if he lives!
Jonah doesn’t care!
The Search to Understand
The sailors want to understand why they are having such bad fortune.
Look at verse 7.
The cast lots—and Jonah was identified as the cause of the storm.
Who is responsible for the storm?
What do we do to make is stop?
Where do you come from?
What is your country?
From what people are you?
So Jonah answers their questions.
Look at verse 9.
Jonah is a Hebrew.
He worships Yahweh.
Who is the God—Elohim—who made both the sea and land.
Telling them where he came from scared them even more.
It is assumed in the story that they knew the power of the God of the Hebrew.
And they knew Jonah was running from Yahweh.
And Jonah knows EXACTLY why the God sent the storm!
The Problem Continues
The wind God hurled down continued to grow and grow!
And the sailors want to know how to make the storm stop!
Remember they have already thrown their cargo overboard.
The ship was struggling to stay together.
Their circumstances were looking really bad!
Jonah’s Answer
The answer is simple!
Throw—hurl—the same word used back in verse 3—Jonah into the sea.
And for the first time he takes responsibility for the situation—it is his fault!
The Men Don’t Like the Answer
The men try to row back to shore.
But the sea continues to get worse.
They even cry out to Yahweh.
Pleading with God to not to hold them responsible for killing Jonah!
The took Jonah and hurled him into the sea—same Hebrew word as in verse 3, and 12.
As soon as they did, the sea became calm.
And the men were amazed.
These pagan sailors responded in awe of Yahweh!
Offering sacrifices to Him and making vows to Him.
But what about Jonah?
Well, chapter 1 ends by telling us:
So What?
Let me ask you a question:
Do you care about the things God cares about?
Are you running from God this morning?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9