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
0.08UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.07UNLIKELY
Fear
0.08UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.5LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.64LIKELY
Confident
0.67LIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.74LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.92LIKELY
Extraversion
0.39UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.73LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.72LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
In Proverbs 20:6 the Bible asks a rhetorical question: /"Who can find a faithful man?"/
The Psalmist would probably respond, /“It’s not impossible, but by golly, it’s getting harder and harder.
They’re scarcer then hen’s teeth!”/
It is difficult to find a person who is consistently faithful.
The Good News Bible translates Proverbs 20:6 this way, /"Everyone talks about how loyal and faithful he is, but just try to find someone who really is."/
Faithfulness hinges upon what we value as important combined with commitment.
Humans have a powerful tendency to be faithful to what they think is truly important, be it a family name, spouse, friendship, employer, school, athletic team or even certain things like a make of automobile.
Here in Galatians 5:22, every modern translation renders the word that the KJV translates into "faith" as "faithfulness," "fidelity" or "good faith."
In his commentary on Galatians, William Barclay writes, /"This word (pistis) is common in secular Greek for trustworthiness.
It is the characteristic of the man who is reliable"/
This evening I want to us to look at the seventh characteristic, or fruit, of God's Spirit in our life.
This is the virtue of faithfulness.
As believers, we need to be cultivating the fruit of faithfulness in our lives.
Many times at a retirement party a person will receive a gold watch for their 25, 30, or 35 years of faithful service.
We may look with fondness at that clunker of a car that gets us where we want to go.
It may be ugly, but it is faithful.
It does the job.
We may pat our seven-year-old dog on his head and praise him for being such a faithful dog.
In each of those instances we are referring to the person or object’s reliability—their trustworthiness to be committed to a person or task for the long-haul.
God desires that we would grow in faithfulness.
It is an important characteristic of the Christian faith, and one of the Scriptural indicators that we are genuinely a Christian.
Like all of the Spirit’s virtues, faithfulness is not unique to the Christian faith.
It does, however, find its greatest fulfillment among those who profess Christ as Savior.
!
I. FAITHFULNESS IS ONE OF THE CORE VIRTUES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
#. why is faithfulness so important?
#. for the Christian, being faithful is important for four reasons:
#. we need to be faithful because God is faithful
#. we need to be faithful because God wants us to be like Him
#. we need to be faithful because faithfulness makes life a whole lot easier
#. we need to be faithful because God is going to judge us according to our faithfulness
!! A. WE SHOULD BE FAITHFUL BECAUSE GOD IS FAITHFUL
* /“For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.”/
(Psalm 33:4, NIV84)
#. this is King David speaking of God
#.
David knew from personal experience that God is faithful
#. aren't you glad that God is faithful in all that he does?
#. there are many things I appreciate about God
#.
I am thankful for his salvific attributes:
#.
His love
#.
His grace
#.
His mercy
#.
I am thankful that God is not a capricious God
#. you know, the kind of God who is constantly changing His mind?
#. you’ll never hear God saying, “I love him, I love him not.
I love him, I love him not.”
#.
I am thankful that God is not a procrastinating God
#.
He does say, "Well, I am going to get around to that some day."
#.
I am thankful that God is not an impulsive God
#. you know, the kind of God who finally acts when he feels like doing something and if doesn’t feel like it, forget it
#.
I am thankful that God is not a forgetful God
#.
He is not the kind of God who says, "Wow.
That completely slipped my mind"
#.
I’m obviously trying to make a point here—what I most appreciate about God is his faithfulness
#.
God is faithful to his Word, which means God is always consistent in my life
#.
He doesn't waiver
#. even when I am faithless, God remains faithful to me because that is who God is
* /"if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."/
(2 Timothy 2:13, NIV84)
#.
God is faithful which means ...
#. ...
He is consistent
#. ...
He is dependable
#. ...
He is reliable at all times
!! B WE SHOULD BE FAITHFUL BECAUSE IT EMULATES THE GODHEAD
#. the job of the Holy Spirit is to conform us into the image of the Son of God, Jesus Christ
#. our job as believers is to cooperate with that process
#. as we’ve just seen, one of the character traits of the Godhead is faithfulness
#.
God wants His children to grow in their faithfulness
#. of all the people on this earth, God's people should be the people who are most dependable
#. of all the people at your place of work, it should be the Christian that is most trustworthy, consistent and reliable
#. of all the children and teens in our church, it should be the Christian ones who are never in trouble, who never run with the wrong crowd and who always set an example of leadership
#. we should be faithful because it emulates the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
!! C. WE SHOULD BE FAITHFUL BECAUSE FAITHFULNESS MAKES LIFE SO MUCH EASIER
#. life is so much easier when one is faithful
#.
I believe that many of the problems in today’s society, and maybe in your life, are the result of faithlessness
#. maybe it’s because of faithlessness on your part or on somebody else's part
* /“Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.”\
(Proverbs 25:19, NIV84)
#. what the writer is trying to say it that an unfaithful person is a useless person
#. when you live or work with an unfaithful person, you never know when they are going to let you down, or disappoint you, or do something they should not do
#.
unreliable people can not be trusted
#. we all depend on faithfulness in our lives
#. we enjoy people who are faithful to their commitments and responsibilities
* ILLUS.
We look to the mailman to be faithful in delivering our mail.
We become disappointed or frustrated if he doesn't come on time.
We depend on the paperboy to get the newspaper to us and in the right place.
We depend on the waitress to be faithful in taking our order and giving good service.
We depend upon the repairman to be faithful in taking care of the car when it’s not running right.
#. life just works so much better when people are faithful and when we are consistent and reliable in our own lives
#. let me ask you, a question this evening: /“Do you have people you can count on?”/
#. a more important question: /“Can people count on you?”/
#. do you have the kind of reputation among your friends, and the people you work with and the people you live with that—more times than not—you are reliable, consistent, worthy of trust, and dependable?
#. there are few things in life that are more important than faithfulness
#. you may be very talented ...
#. you may have incredible creativity ...
#. you may have all kinds of education ...
#. ... but without faithfulness, without dependability and consistency in your life, those things really amount to a whole lot
!! D. WE SHOULD BE FAITHFUL BECAUSE GOD REWARDS FAITHFULNESS
#. we will be judged according to our faithfulness
* 2 Corinthians 5:10 /“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”/
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9