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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Introduction
Good morning!
How is everyone doing this morning?
I have some very close friends in town today.
Some of you may have heard about my little encounter a few Sundays ago.
I was downstairs with the kids prepping for our Kids service when one of the little girls ran up to the doors.
She looked at me, and started waving her hand for me to follow her.
Then she said “snake!
Theres a snake!”
For anyone who doesn't know, I love snakes!
So, I ran out and followed her to the side of the church where a small group and children and adults stood looking down at a little crevice by the building.
There, backed up against the building, terrified for its little life sat this little creature.
(Show picture of snake)
That, my friends, is a baby Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
Now, as a reptile enthusiast who has worked with snakes ever since I was a wee little lad.
I had been considering getting involved with venomous snakes for a while.
Dave and Carrie were kind enough to grab me a plastic box and some tools to move him.
And thanks to Arizona law, and some bargaining with my wife, I have given this little buddy a new home with me.
(Show picture of snake)
I know that a lot of people are deathly afraid of snakes.
But as cliche’ as it is, I promise you, they are more afraid of you.
Think about it for a moment.
Every part of this creatures body is vulnerable.
The only defense they have against a threat are their teeth, and using those immediately puts their head in harms way.
A snake cant outrun you if you chase it.
A snake cant pick up weapons to keep you at bay.
Most snakes cant over power you with their size.
They don't want to kill you, they just want to not be killed by you!
So all I could think about while I was collecting this little guy was how terrified he must be!
Seven giant monsters looming over him.
Monsters that could crush him entirely just for the fun of it.
“How could this happen?” he thinks to himself
“I was just trying to get warm, maybe if I stay really still, they wont see me”
Then suddenly the fat one grows a long appendage and starts touching him with it.
“Ahhh” he yells panicking about the situation he tries to get away, but he is completely surrounded by the monsters and everywhere he goes he is being blocked in!
So he does the only thing he can, he lashes out biting at the broomstick, but its of no use.
His attack was useless against the fat monster
In an instant he is scooped up and placed in an unfamiliar semi-translucent force field awaiting his final doom.
Its kind of funny describing that situation from the snakes point of view.
But the more I thought about it, the more familiar it felt.
How many times had I looked up to see giant monsters towering over me?
Work issues, money issues, marital issues, family issues, and on the list goes.
Everything stacks up and we feel terrified.
Afraid to even move.
There they are, the monsters looming in the distance, better not do anything.
Assume defensive posture and remain perfectly still, otherwise they'll get ya!
Oh no!
It sees me, its coming.
The monsters differ for all of us, but the response remains the same.
First frozen in fear, then once something gets a little too close we lash out with deadly venom.
Usually to no avail.
The key word for our series is reflections.
Something to reflect on, when you’re experiencing anxiety.
So lets reflect on a story detailed in Matthew 14.
God In The Storm
Our story begins a few hours after Jesus feeds the multitude using only 5 loaves of bread, 2 fish, and a prayer.
They call it “the feeding of the 5,000” but in reality 5,000 is only the recorded number of men there.
Accounting for the women and children also present, it was somewhere between 15-20 thousand people.
A truly spectacular miracle.
After the feast, Jesus instructs His disciples to return to the boat while He disperses the crowd.
After everyone had left Jesus found a mountain where he would spend several hours in prayer, then He returned to the boat.
24 Meanwhile the boat, already far from land, was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it.
25 As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage!
It is I. Do not be afraid.”
There is a fantasy book that I really like called “The Wise Mans Fear”.
In it, the Author makes the statement that a wise man fears 3 things.
A moonless night.
The anger of a gentle man.
And the sea at storm.
The disciples were far at sea, in the middle of a storm.
To make things worse, “as the night was ending” translated literally from the Greek it reads “in the 4th watch of the night”
Which is somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 AM.
The sun doesn't begin to rise in this region until around 6:10 AM
And with the cloud cover from a storm stopping star and moonlight from reaching them, its safe to say their situation was looking pretty dark.
Both literally and figuratively.
Naval navigation was done using the stars, so they were lost.
And I'm willing to bet that they had been fighting this storm most of the night.
So on top of being lost at sea with only a small fishing boat in pitch black whilst fighting off a raging storm
They are also sleep deprived.
Then they see it.
A figure gliding across the water.
Now, Id like to think that I would react to this situation differently than they did.
But in reality, I don't think any of us could blame them for being a little on edge.
This is quite possibly the most terrifying experience they have ever had.
Look, I don't know what makes you anxious, or fearful.
I don't know what giant monsters lay before you.
I don't know how intense the storm you are sailing in is.
What I do know is that...
In the midst of the Disciples panic Jesus makes a very interesting statement.
“It is I.”
This is another instance where the English language fails us a little.
In the Greek, those words are “Ego Eimi”.
Now, those words have plenty of instances where they are completely ordinary.
Several people say them, with absolutely no weight behind them.
But when they are associated with a miraculous event, they become something very far from ordinary.
The words are the Greek equivalent to the response Moses got at the burning bush when he asked for the name of God.
It means “I AM.”
“Have Courage!
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