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
0.18UNLIKELY
Fear
0.57LIKELY
Joy
0.16UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.52LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.37UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.29UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.83LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.76LIKELY
Extraversion
0.13UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.46UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.63LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Amazed and Confused*
Acts 2:1-21
*Intro*
Is this not an amazing story?
This demonstration of the power of the Spirit is something we long for desperately, and yet are a bit afraid of.
We want to see this kind of power manifested in us, yet we still have our reservations.
After all, the church recorded in Acts has some almighty power, but it also went through some almighty crap.
Peter, preaching with the power of the Spirit adds three thousand people to the church in one day, but in a couple days he gets into major trouble and is dragged before the Sanhedrin.
We want this kind of power, do we not?
We want to hear our fellow Christians witnessing powerfully in other languages.
We want to be able to go up to a person of some other nationality and tell them the great acts of God in their language.
We want to have the Spirit come into our lives with a roaring wind and flames of fire, or so we say.
Remember, however, the dangerous combination of fire and wind.
Tell the story of the wheat field fire.
We want the power of the Spirit, the power of fire and wind, but we are a bit nervous about where it might take us.
Who might come to join us?
What might change in our church, in our worship, in us?
*Reversal of Babel*
The thing about this story that we most often focus on, and which splits churches and denominations, is this issue of speaking in other tongues, in other languages.
The first thing we have to notice about this speaking in other languages is that it reverses a well know story in the Old Testament, the story of the tower of Babel.
Turn with me to Gen 11. (Read Gen 11:1-9)
The people of Babel decided to ignore the command of God in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
They thought it would be better to be in one place, to build a city, to make a tower that reaches to the heavens, to make a name for themselves, so that they might not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
(Ge 11:4).
So, God comes down to see what they are doing, and this is what he says.
Read Gen 11:5-7.
The people did not want to do what God wanted them to, so he forced them to.
He scattered them over the face of the earth by confusing their speech.
The story of Pentecost is a reversal of this problem.
Here in Jerusalem there are people gathered from all over the earth, people “from every nation under heaven.”
And now, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, every single one of them is hearing the disciples in their own language.
There is no longer any language barrier.
The message of God is told in all languages, to people from all over the world.
*Disciples all together in one place, waiting.*
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.”
(Acts 2:1) They were all gathered together.
They were waiting.
They were waiting for the prophecy given by John the Baptist to be fulfilled.
“I baptize you with water for repentance.
But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
(Mt 3:11).
They were waiting for the promises of Jesus to be fulfilled.
He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.
... I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (Jn 14:15-18) and he said, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
(Lk 24:49).
He also said, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”
(Jn 15:26-27).
The disciples were waiting.
Note, they do not seem to be afraid, as they were before.
In Jn 20:19 the disciples are fearful people who have locked themselves behind closed doors.
John writes, “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews.”
Now, however, they are not frightened, they are not locked in a room together.
Now that Jesus has arisen, they seem to have more confidence, but they are still waiting.
They are unsure about what they are to do.
They look around at each other and wonder what the next step could, or should be.
Then something really crazy happens.
Suddenly, out of the blue clear sky, there is this strange sound.
It sounds like a strong wind is filling the house.
They were all sitting there around the table, talking about what Jesus had said, what he had taught them, what the weather was supposed to be like today, whether the wife of the owner of the local hardware store had really run off with another man, home much time their neighbour spent sunning herself in the back yard, whether that lady driver could really win the Formula 500, whether the Pistons were going to win tonight, or whether the Ottawa Senators would bring the Stanley cup back home.
Then, suddenly, the sound of a mighty wind fills the house.
It sounds like a tornado has entered their living room, like a 747 had parked on their dining room table.
Then, if that were not strange enough, fire appears in mid-air.
It separates into individual pieces and comes to rest on each of them.
I wonder if anyone ducked, not wanting their hair to get scorched.
On top of all of this, they turn to one another, and begin speaking in foreign languages!
Imagine that!
All of these local boys, who have never travelled very far from the loving arms of their mothers were speaking in all the languages of the known world.
In my high school there were a couple of guys who have never travelled outside of the province.
The scene in that room would be like going to my high school reunion and having those guys, speak to me in perfect German, or Polish, or Russian, or Mandarin, or Japanese.
Could you imagine how weird that would be?
Imagine the people beside you right now suddenly turning to you and addressing you in Arabic!
How weird would that be!
*Background to pentecost; festival of weeks *
This ability to speak in all kinds of languages comes in rather handy.
There just happens to be people from all over the know world in Jerusalem that day.
What were all these people doing in Jerusalem anyway?
It says they were there for pentecost, but I thought pentecost was the celebration of the outpouring of the spirit, this very event reported in acts.
Yet, the author says that “there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.”
(Ac 2:5) What were these people doing in Jerusalem?
*            harvest*
Well, it turns out that originally Pentecost had a different meaning.
This is one of the three major festivals given in the torah.
This is one of the three times in which all Israelite males were required to be in Jerusalem.
(Le 23:16-21) “Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.
From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.
... On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”
So, all Israel was expected to come to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival.
Think of the commotion that this kind of festival would cause.
Every Israelite was supposed to be there.
Think of the amount of food that would take.
All the hotels would be full.
All the restaurants packed to overflowing every evening.
There would barely be room to move around the city.
*            torah*
By the time of Christ, however, this festival had taken on another meaning in the popular mind of the Israelites.
Tradition had it that fifty days after the Israelites ate the first passover and were liberated from the land of Egypt, they were encamped at the base of Mt Sinai as Moses received the torah from God.
The celebration of pentecost, then, was a time to commemorate this giving of the torah, the law, the teaching, the instruction of God.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9