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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Joy
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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
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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*Persevering in Times of Trouble*
*Text*:  Revelation 3:1-6
*Big Idea*:  Wake up to enjoy vibrant life in Christ.
*Purpose*:  To cause people to reassess the vitality of their walk with Go, and to move them to
            greater commitment if vibrancy is lacking.
*Introduction*:
      A United Press release in a Midwestern city told of a hospital where officials discovered that the fire-fighting equipment had never been connected.
For 35 years it had been relied upon for the safety of the patients in case of emergency.
But it had never been attached to the city’s water main.
The pipe that led from the building extended 4 feet underground—and there it stopped!
The medical staff and the patients had felt complete confidence in the system.
They thought that if a blaze broke out, they could depend on a nearby hose to extinguish it.
But theirs was a false security.
Although the costly equipment with its polished valves and well-placed outlets was adequate for the building, it lacked the most important thing—WATER!
This hospital felt very secure
                        -because it had all the accoutrements
                                    -valves, hoses, training
                        -but they were plugged into the water 
            Have you ever seen someone just going through the motions of faith?
-yet had little connection to Christ?
                        -maybe even sincerely believing that they were giving their best
                        -that they had the assurance of where they stood
            They may have had the accoutrements of faith
                        -church, memory, knowledge
                        -but connection to Christ had been severed
            In their false security
                        -they may have been missing what they needed most.
This morning,
            We are going to consider what Christ had to say to a church in Sardis
            -a church that seemed to have the right stuff
                        -no heresies, no giving in to the world
            But Jesus tells this church – you are dead
                        -Your accoutrements do not connect you to the source of life
Perhaps, in this church
            -we run the risk of seeing a reflection
            -lives that have some of the marks of faith
                        -maybe even a monument to faith in earlier days
How do we come to Christ
            When our faith lacks vitality?
What do we do
            -when our lives are not connected to the giver of life?
            -despite the appearance of faith?
*Sermon Body*:
~*Sardis was a city known for falling asleep.
-cite impregnable fortress that was a monument
            -at one time, Sardis had been a great city on a hill
                        -which was a great location
                        -only one way to enter
                        -steep drop off
                        -almost impossible to attack
            -Years before Christ was born, this city suffered
                        -not once, but twice
            -because the citizens fell into the illusion that their location
                        -made it impossible for anyone to attack them
 
~*The Church at Sardis is accused of being incomplete in their faith.
-first letter with no commendations nor heresies
                        -In other words, Christ had no encouragement for this church
                        -nothing that He wanted to say “well done” about
                        -they had deeds – but incomplete – not fully done
            Illustration:
                        -have you ever seen this?
                        -people who do the deed they are asked to do, but incomplete
            Paul – compares ministry to a race
            I Corinthians 9:24
                        /- Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?
/
/                        Run in such a way as to get the prize./
-you can run a race – merely to finish
                        -walk, jog, leisurely pace
                        -and then you see people who push  
                                    -but Paul says run to win
            The Church at Sardis
                        -had forgotten again, the urgency of this Gospel ministry
                        -and they were running, doing the deeds
                                    -but not running to win
            If you and I were to meet the people in the church at Sardis
                        -we might have a favorable opinion
                                    -nice group of people
                                    -a little lackluster in ministry   
It’s not necessarily true that they had always been lackluster
            -they were also the first letter with no warning of heresy
            -they had probably had a glory day of ministry
                        -but people started going in cruise control
A Word about heresy
            -while we want people to know the truth
            -when you see heresy arising – at least people are thinking about their faith
                        -taking God seriously
                        -It’s sad if someone never asks tough questions about faith
                                    -and this church – stopped asking tough questions
 
~*It is very easy to rest on our reputations.
-man becomes movement becomes machine becomes monument
                        -most churches start – with passion
                        -around of group of people who are enthused
                                    -and they create a contagious energy for Christ
                                    -and others are drawn to it
                                    -they create programs, ministries
                                                -and many times – maintaining the ministries becomes focus
                                                -rather than that contagious enthusiasm for serving Christ
                        -At that point, church becomes a monument, rather than a ministry
                                    -that is what had happened at Sardis
                                                -a testimony to what had once been a great church
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