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.
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WHAT? What are we talking about today?
ACTIVITY | Life-Sized Word Search With Friends
Welcome back to Rad, where we're flashing back to the 90s — an era when everything was pretty "rad."
In the last two weeks, we've talked about 90s fashion trends, slang, music, and more.
Now let's see if you can identify some 90s key words.
INSTRUCTIONS: Before your program, create a 90s-themed word search using a word search generator and then duplicate it using several pieces of poster board and jumbo permanent markers.
Tape it securely to a wall.
To play, bring two teams of students to the front and have them stand as far away from the puzzle as you'd like.
Give both teams a supply of highlighters or crayons in a color unique to their team.
Start a countdown of five minutes and challenge each team to circle as many 90s-themed words as possible during that time.
But here's the catch — each team can only have one player circling words at a time.
All other team members must stand on the sidelines and shout instructions.
If you'd like, create a word bank and display it on screen.
Here are some words you may want to include . . .
NSYNC DESTINYSCHILD NICKELODEON FURBY POKEMON SPICEGIRLS BOYZIIMEN JELLYSHOES NIRVANA POGS SEGA NAPSTER LLCOOLJ TITANIC SISTERSISTER RUGRATS JAYZ SPACEJAM JURASSICPARK HANSON FULLHOUSE FAMILYMATTERS URKEL
VIDEO | Family Matters, "Did I Do That?" Compilation
There are a lot of words that scream "90s" to me, but especially these next four.
INSTRUCTIONS: As a teaching tool, play a 30-second clip from a video like this or this where Steve Urkel repeatedly says "Did I do that?"
For more information on how to legally use copyrighted material for educational purposes, read this!
If you're not familiar with Family Matters, let me fill you in.
This 90s sit-com was all about the Winslow family and their nerdy neighbor, Steve Urkel.
Urkel was an odd guy.
He was brilliant and lovable, but also goofy, unpopular, and clumsy.
Since his clumsiness often resulted in some kind of destruction, we heard Steve say this catchphrase constantly.
VIDEO | Family Matters, Urkel vs. Fuffner
But there's another thing we saw in many of the early episodes — Urkel and Fuffner (the school bully) exchanging words.
INSTRUCTIONS: As a teaching tool, play a short clip from the episode "Requiem for an Urkel (Season 2, Episode 11)" (7:41-8:41)
It's pretty obvious Fuffner is a jerk.
He bullies everyone, so it's no surprise why the audience loves it when Steve lands a comeback.
POLL | What About You?
We've all been in situations where we've exchanged insults with someone, right?
Whether it's in fun or in anger, sometimes we use words like weapons, like when we gossip, start rumors, criticize, mock, tease, or insult.
INSTRUCTIONS: Have students reply to the following questions by raising their hands.
So what about you?
Have you gotten angry because of someone's words recently?
Have you been hurt or embarrassed by someone's words recently?
Have you said anything to anger, hurt, or embarrass someone else recently?
We've all been hurt by others' words, and we've all used our words like weapons.
So today, we're going to talk about our words.
SO WHAT?
Why does it matter to God and to us?
It's probably not difficult for you to remember some of the hurtful things that have been said to you.
Whether it was a family member, friend, bully, or person on the internet, hurtful words stay with us.
Words have a lot of power.
So what do we do when someone's words hurt us deeply?
And what do we do when we really want to use our words like weapons?
THAT'S RAD
Like we mentioned last week, there were a lot of people who thought Jesus was too "radical."
In the 90s, "rad" meant "cool."
But it's real meaning has to do with being different, revolutionary, and counter-cultural.
What Jesus said about loving God and others was radical, and what He teaches us about our words is pretty radical too.
SCRIPTURE | James 3:1-12
Throughout this series, we're looking to the Bible for practical advice on how to change the world with God's radical love, and that search has led us to the book of James.
This "book" is a letter written by a guy named James, Jesus' brother.
I don't know if James and Jesus ever got into fights when they were kids, but I would be pretty terrified to go verbally toe-to-toe with Jesus, and not just because He's God.
When you read the stories of Jesus in the New Testament, it's clear that Jesus was pretty clever.
Whenever someone tried to fight, trick, or debate with Him, Jesus always had a comeback that made people stop and think.
James was around Jesus his entire life, so he probably lost a few debates to Him.
Because he knew Jesus so well, the letter he wrote is packed with summaries of Jesus' teachings, retold in James' own words.
James is known for its straightforward instructions for how to follow Jesus.
These teachings might seem simple, but they have the power to create radical change.
Let's see what radical things James has to say about our words.
IMAGES | Bits, Rudders, and Sparks
James uses a lot of word pictures to help us understand the power of our words.
INSTRUCTIONS: As you talk about each example, show an image on screen like this horse and bit, this airplane rudder, and this spark.
THE BIT:
This small piece of metal lets humans guide huge animals with very little effort.
In the hands of any rider, the bit is a helpful tool that keeps both human and horse on the right track.
THE RUDDER:
James writes about the rudder of a boat, but maybe you're more familiar with airplanes.
Can you spot the rudder on an airplane?
It's that tiny flap on the very back of the tail.
Isn't it amazing that such an enormous machine is steered by such a small thing?
THE SPARK:
We use small controlled sparks to light candles, campfires, fireplaces, and stoves.
But an uncontrolled spark (like our uncontrolled words) can cause a significant amount of damage.
The words we say might seem small, but they have the potential to make a significant impact.
And when the words we say are harmful, the harm they cause can be significant too.
You can see James lamenting in this passage about how difficult it is for us to control our tongues.
We say hurtful things one minute and then turn around to pray or sing a worship song the next.
He's frustrated and fed up — probably with himself as well as with others.
SCRIPTURE | Mark 7:6-8, 20-23
Remember when we said James often retold the teachings of Jesus in his own words?
Let's take a look at one time when Jesus said something that sounds familiar.
In this passage, some religious leaders showed up to exchange words with Jesus.
They didn't like the radical things Jesus had to say, so they often picked fights with Him.
This time, they tried to debate Jesus about the way His followers were eating.
According to these leaders, Jesus' friends weren't following the right religious rules around food.
Let's see how much Jesus actually cared about His disciples' eating habits.
INSTRUCTIONS: Read Mark 7:6-8
Here, we can make some important observations about words.
Jesus' words might sound harsh.
He isn't cruel, but He calls the religious leaders hypocrites and doesn't hold back from telling them the truth.
God doesn't want our hypocritical words.
No matter how many words we use to pray or worship, God isn't impressed with the holy things we say when we're also using our words to hurt others.
Our words reflect our hearts.
Jesus reminds us to look at what's in our hearts, because what's in our hearts determines what comes out of our mouths.
If we're filled with greed, pride, or jealousy, it's not just our words we need to address — it's our hearts.
Both Jesus and James knew this was true: the words we say matter because they're a reflection of who we really are.
So we need to watch what we say and watch what's in our hearts.
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