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
0.15UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.17UNLIKELY
Fear
0.16UNLIKELY
Joy
0.47UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.75LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.68LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.92LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.38UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.2UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.22UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.69LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Seed of the Kingdom
Mark 4:1-20
*1*Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.
The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.
*2*He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: *3*"Listen!
A farmer went out to sow his seed.
*4*As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
*5*Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.
It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
*6*But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
*7*Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
*8*Still other seed fell on good soil.
It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
*9*Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
*10*When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
*11*He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.
But to those on the outside everything is said in parables *12*so that,
" 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!
*13*Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable?
How then will you understand any parable?
*14*The farmer sows the word.
*15*Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
*16*Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
*17*But since they have no root, they last only a short time.
When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
*18*Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; *19*but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
*20*Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
How does the power of the seed released?
It is released by going in deep.
Verse *5*Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.
It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow
It is depth problem.
The first soil does not product life because it does not go in at all
The second soil does not product life because it does not go deep enough
The third soil interestingly enough the seed goes in deep but only at the level of the weeds.
Other concerns are just as important.
In every case the gospel does not go deep enough.
Verse *9*Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
What is Jesus saying, the way this incredible this power is release in life is by taking the information the word of God by listening thinking and discussing and working it in over and over.
The deeper it goes the more of life it produces
But its not the kind of power many of us think.
When we think of Power we think of dynamite explosive strong power.
But it is not that at all.
In fact this power in its paradoxical form
*The power is found in its weakness*
Just think about the image Jesus uses for the word of God.
He does not choose, by the way he could because these were symbols used for word in the old testament.
He does not choose an image of word of God as hammer, fire, sword.
A seed, and seed is weak.
A little thing like seed.
You don’t drop a seed and say bombs away because you drop a seed you cannot even find the seed.
Because hammer cruses its opposition and fire blast sword slash through resistance.
Why would Jesus characterize the gospel as weak as a seed.
*Illustration*: In an acorn, a single acorn has a power to produce one tree who can produce a forest that cover the whole earth.
Power of evangelism.
*First I would like to look at PARABLES IN GENERAL*
Parables were not just story to illustrate a moralistic point but were in fact, *disturbing* stories that often threatened and shattered their worldview.
In fact, many times after hearing the story they were angry and wanted to arrest Jesus
Matthew 21:45
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.
46They wanted to arrest him,
This leads me to wonder as we look at this parable, "What was Jesus seeking to threaten and shake the hearer's worldview?"
* *
How did this story threaten their life and ours (our perceptions and our worldviews)?
The answer I'm toying with now is "effectiveness".
*I cannot help notice the WASTE OF SEED.*
In the parable, there were a lot of wasted seed.
Especially during Jesus’ time when seed were expensive to simply waste.
How could such farmer throw these seeds in the ground?
How many farmers today would sow seed as the sower did in the parable?
None that I know of.
It's just not practical or effective.
Too much is wasted.
Verse 3-7
3"A farmer went out to sow his seed.
4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5Some fell on rocky places, 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
This farmer wastefully scatters seeds on the roadside and upon rocks and don’t even clear the thorns before scattering it.
All these wasted seeds seem to go against our ideas of effective ministry.
Maybe that’s the problem.
With all our static and calculated church planting could we have missed it?
Maybe evangelism wasn’t meant to be about being calculated
Maybe it’s about scattering.
Maybe that’s why we have so many specialized churches like ours targeting certain groups.
Why is it we don’t have homeless, sick and people unlike ourselves at this church?
Maybe evangelism was meant to be uncalculated and even wasteful scattering wherever possible even among the roadside, upon rocky soil and even among the thorns.
Power and weakness.
*Illustration*: Old grave of a king or wealthy man where there was thick marble.
Acorn got in the grave.
Cracked the marble slab.
A acorn if dropped on a marble it will not do anything but if you let it grow it has more power than 100s of horses can do.
The real meaning of the seed.
Upto this point one commenter pointed out that every soil is a way people have response to Jesus.
The first soil is the pharases and religious leaders they have rejected him
Second soil is the crowd, they are happy with him as long as he is doing miracles.
Third soil is his family who is upset that jesus is bring shame to the family.
The parable of the soil is not just a parable about how people respond to the word but how people responded to Jesus.
And Jesus did not come as a hammer, fire or sword.
He came not to judge but to be judged.
He came not to be strong but weak and to die
Because seed only releases its power if it falls to the grown and die.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9