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
0.13UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.07UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.61LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.44UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.57LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.72LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.48UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.13UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.71LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.61LIKELY

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
Introduction
Berlin wall.
Walls separate and walls unify.
With the unity of Israel in place, and protection from their enemies, they now had the freedom to turn wholeheartedly to what was before them
Nehemiah 12:45-
Pray
Act of worship 1: Thanksgiving
Neh 12:27
I read a story once about Naval captain Eddie Rickenbacker...
It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida.
Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp.
The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket.
Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea.
But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life.
Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio.
Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean...For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun.
They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts.
The largest raft was nine by five.
The biggest shark...ten feet long.
But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation.
Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water.
It would take a miracle to sustain them.
And a miracle occurred.
In Captain Eddie's own words, "Cherry," that was the B- 17 pilot, Captain William Cherry, "read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise.
There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat.
With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off."
Now this is still Captian Rickenbacker talking..."Something landed on my head.
I knew that it was a sea gull.
I don't know how I knew, I just knew.
Everyone else knew too.
No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces.
They were staring at that gull.
The gull meant food...if I could catch it."
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Captain Eddie caught the gull.
Its flesh was eaten.
Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish.
The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice.
You know that Captain Eddie made it.
And now you also know...that he never forgot.
Because every Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast...you could see an old man walking...white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent.
His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls...to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle...like manna in the wilderness.
luke 17:
Why did only one cleansed leper return to thank Jesus?
The following are nine suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One waited to see if the cure was real.
One waited to see if it would last.
One said he would see Jesus later.
One decided that he had never had leprosy.
One said he would have gotten well anyway.
One gave the glory to the priests.
One said, "O, well, Jesus didn't really do anything."
One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
One said, "I was already much improved."
We can be experts at avoiding gratitude.
For God, for one another.
I pray you use this Thanksgiving as an excuse, a motivation to seek it out.
Find gratitude and invest in it.
prayer of thanks
Act of worship 2: Dedication and Purification
Neh 12:28-
I think of David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary to Africa, who walked over 29,000 miles.
His wife died early in their ministry and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethern.
He ministered half blind.
His kind of perseverance spurs me on.
As I run, I remember the words in his diary: Send me anywhere, only go with me.
Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.
Sever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.
Livingstone understood what Jesus meant when he said...
matthew 10:
Given the numerous calls to love one another, to care for ones family, we recognize we are talking about degrees, not one or the other.
And oh what degrees!
The people of Jerusalem were dedicating their city, representing their commerce, families, religion, their very identity as a people was being surrendered to, purified for, and committed to Yahweh.
prayer of dedication
Act of worship 3: Celebrate
Neh 12:31-
J.S. Bach said, "All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hub-bub."
He headed his compositions: "J.J." "Jesus Juva" which means "Jesus help me."
He ended them "S.D.G." "Soli Dei gratia" which means "To God alone the praise."
3 stories told by Jesus we will come back to next spring:
:
prayer of celebration
Act of worship 4: Sacrifice
Neh 12:44-
Those who thanked, committed, and celebrated respond by giving.
And that giving itself is then a cause for joy.
2 corinthians 8:1-
Giving begins in our heart.
It begins when we give ourselves over to Jesus as a matter or first things and then we are able to give of our time, talent, treasure, and testimony with joy and freedom.
prayer of sacrifice
Conclusion
Neh 12:
This is the high point.
This is the moment of triumph for Nehemiah in his journey.
In some ways, I wish we could stop here.
We have one more week.
One more chapter in this tale.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9