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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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
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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Me
Go ahead and turn to if you could this morning and keep listening while you look
So finish this sentence for me, and the youth can tell you that I expect participation back to move on, “like a good neighbor...”
This was a great marketing move by Statefarm, because it helped all of us associate the idea of a good neighbor with them, but I think this idea of what it means to be a good neighbor has been around a little longer than an insurance company
We
What’s going on?
So I assumed I’m not the only one who has been upset by the division going on in our world
There is so much hate filled rhetoric going on on both sides
instead of conversations we have facebook posts
instead of presentations we have rallies
instead of civil debates we have protests
Think about it, when is the last time you had a calm conversation (not a facebook debate) with someone who thinks differently than you?
When is the last time you honestly tried to have a completely open mind while listening to an opposing idea?
not saying you have to accept it, but just that you listened to understand, rather than to respond
When is the last time you feel like someone listened to you in that manner?
God
Neighbors
I think that the Bible has a lot to say about how we should approach these questions as Christians, and it comes from a story most of y’all probably heard in Sunday School growing up
25
This is not as much about the lawyer (likely pharisee) actually wanting to learn as is it about him wanting to see how “this Galilean Teacher” holds up
26
Jesus, as always, answers a question with a question, and makes it about the law since he is talking to an expert in the law
27-28
The guy knows the law
29
The lawyer asked this to try and get himself out of difficulty, for the original Jewish definition excluded Samaritans and Gentiles
This question is what this whole sermon is about, who is our neighbor?
Let’s see how Jesus replies
31
A priest just walked on by
This was the height of their religious personnel!
He was the religious expert
but he had no mercy
32
A Levite just walked on by as well
The Levites were the tribe selected by God to run the temple
This wasn’t just a random guy, this was another religious leader for the Jews
Both of these men were those that everyone listening would have automatically assumed was there neighbor
33-35
Jews HATED Samaritans
The crazy thing is, Samaritans actually worshipped the same God!
This Samaritan went out of his way to help, he didn’t just call the police or whatever their equivalent was
He used his own money, he used his own supplies, all to help a man who most likely would have been extremely racist toward him in other circumstances
36-37
The lawyer does figure it out
Then Jesus gives the call “go, and do likewise”
You
So now that we’ve looked at what the Bible says, what should we do about it?
First lets look again at how Jesus handles the question
he replies with a question that is within the lawyers field of expertise
When we are reaching out to someone, we should meet them where they are!
Not demand that they come over to our side first
God will do the changing that he needs done, our job isn’t to change, it is to share
Next, let’s look at the central question the lawyer asks, “and who is my neighbor?”
How often do we ask God that with the way that we live?
How often do we avoid certain conversations or even just people completely because they make us uncomfortable?
God calls us to be a neighbor to those who are in trouble, to those who are in pain, to those who are lost, no matter how they may feel about us or treat us in return
We don’t know how this story ends, but there’s a chance that even after all that the Samaritan did for the beat up Jew, the Jew would still hate him when he woke up simply because they were different
However, that doesn’t change the fact that the Samaritan was a good neighbor
If we start writing people off because we assume they won’t change, we are belittling the power of God, and that is unacceptable
God never says that being a good neighbor is going to make everyone like you (although it will probably help with most people), but he does call us to be one, without other conditions
Finally, we must remember that we can’t be like the Levite or the Priest in this story
On the surface, everything they were doing was great
If they had lived in today’s world, they would’ve been the deacons, the members who showed up to church every single Sunday, all of the other Christians would look up to them as leaders
I’m not saying that being any of those people is a bad thing, I love seeing all of y’all here every Sunday, I love talking with our deacons and other leaders, what I am saying is that if you focus on performing in front of us here at church and ignore the pain of others outside of these doors, you’re missing the heart of the gospel, just like those two men did
So focus on those three areas of application this week
remember that your neighbor is everyone you come in contact with (in person or online), regardless of how much you agree or disagree with them on any issue
remember that Jesus calls us to meet them where they are and share his love, not demand change from them upfront and worry about the gospel after that
and remember that our call as Christians is not to perform in front of other Christians, it is to go out and be a neighbor to everyone inside and outside of our door
We
Now imagine with me for a second what would happen to our community if our church actually did that?
Imagine what would happen to the world if the whole church did that?
Do you think people on the outside would still view the church as a place of judgement?
Do you think our world would still be so dramatically polarized?
I’m not saying those are even close to accurate all of the time, but lets focus on being good neighbors to all of those who God has put in our lives, so that they might see Jesus in us and have no reason to view Christians in a negative light
I don’t know exactly what God would do if we all started acting a little more like this good samaritan to those who have been beaten down around us, but I do know that he would do something, and he would do something big
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