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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Anger
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Introduction
ILLUST - Ex of distortion - distortion glasses.
In science class we used glasses that flipped vision upside down.
Kids were asked to walk and catch a ball.
The reality of the world around them didn’t change, they just had a distorted view.
Life is not always easy
Sometimes following God doesn’t seem to pay off
Secret: Following Jesus doesn’t guarantee a pain-free life.
We look around the world and the scales seem off - the good seem to have trouble and the wicked seem to have an easy life in a big house.
Ever felt this way??
Sometimes our experience fails to line up with our understanding of the truth.
Thsee questions can raise doubt.
Doubt is not wrong - It’s what we do with our doubt that will either hurt our help our faith.
Doubt is not wr
Doubt is part of a thinking life.
Doubt will the thing which either solidifies your faith or causes it to dissolve.
Others in the Bible have doubted
Satan attacks us when we are weak in order to use our experience that we might question the truth.
He would have us question:
God is not
the goodness of God - “If God really loved me he would . .
.”
the power of God - “If God is all-powerful why would he have allowed this to happen?”
the existence of God - “If there is a God, then where is he now?’
ps 73:1-16 NL
Ps 73
Ps
Sometimes the truth of God’s goodness is in conflict with our experience of God’s goodness.
(1-16)
Asaph the Levite (1 Ch. 24:30–25:1)
Sometimes the truth of God’s goodness is in conflict with our experience of God’s goodness.
(1-16)
The Psalm said it was written by Asaph.
Who was Asaph?
Asaph the Levite (1 Ch. 24:30–25:1)
Asaph was a Levi, a priest, a worship leader.
He had devoted his life to God.
He had no inheritance, no wealth - it was all for God.
Something happened to cause him to doubt and struggle with the goodness of God:
Perhaps, while his entire life and belongings were devoted to God, he saw those who wanted nothing to do with God growing wealthy, happy.
Perhaps Asaph is struggling with a physical disease (“My flesh and my heart may fail. .
.”) and sees the wicked living a long life.
Whatever the case, Asaph feels like his walk with God has not done him any good - he would have been just as well off, or even better off had he lived his life apart from God.
We doubt the truth of God because of the pain we feel.
(1-3)
Pain
Ps
Sometimes the pain we feel causes is to distort the truth we know.
Asaph starts with a solid truth about God
But then pain hits the pure in heart.
One of Satan’s greatest ploys is to use our feelings to raise questions that cause suspicion about the goodness of God.
Satan won’t challenge the truth, he raises a question.
Envy is the method Satan uses to raise the questions.
Asaph is honest and confesses how the pain he felt caused him to envy.
.
This is often the case.
The pain we feel often will lead us to become envious - envious for what we wish we had and envious about what others have.
Satan plants seeds of doubt amidst the truth of God.
(1-3) And he usually waters it with pain.
And he usually waters it with pain.
Envy is found in the depths of every human heart.
ILLUST - my kids are never better on measurements and proportions than when we are cutting a cake and splitting it between them.
Envy caused Adam and Eve to see the Garden of Eden as not enough.
(Envy is not based on the circumstances- it’s based on the heart)
Satan raises questions to build a case against the goodness of God.
Does God know all you’ve given up for him?
And this is the thanks you get?
Would it really make a cosmic difference for God to give you what you want?
Why would God say that if you delight in him that he will give you the desires of your heart?
What or who are you envious of?
When you think of your pain, to whom or what do your eyes turn for comparison?
Could it be that Satan could be using envy to cause you to question God’s goodness in your life?
Satan plants seeds of doubt amidst the truth of God.
(1-3) And he usually waters it with pain.
discomfort > doubt > distortion > despair
Trust the character of God when you can’t trust the feelings of your circumstances
Satan starts with a truth we cannot deny, and using our feelings as support, offers us a distortion of the truth we cannot see past.
Don’t forget in the darkness what you learned in the light.
- Joseph Bayly
Our suspicion of the goodness of God can lead to a distortion of our view of the world.
(4-12)
Psalm 73:
Satan starts with a truth we cannot deny, and using our feelings as support, offers us a distortion of the truth we cannot see past.
Asaph begins to have an outward and exaggerated view of the world around him.
Look at how many time the words “they” and “their” are used.
v4 - live ‘painless lives’ (NLT) until they die
v4 - they are healthy without disease
v5 - they have ‘trouble-free’ lives
They always get bumped up to first class, they live in the biggest houses,
What makes it sting even more for Asaph is the ones he sees getting the most are the ones who deserve it the least:
v6 - they are proud and are cruel seemingly without any punishment
v7 - they are self-indulgent and have everything they could ever want
v8, 9 - their words show how evil they are - they’ll step on anyone to try to get to the top - perhaps even stepping on you.
v10, 11 - they get others to join them and even make fun of God (and making fun of those who follow him)
They are obviously wicked and obviously flourishing.
Obviously not every person who doesn’t follow Jesus is flourishing.
That’s part of the case that Satan builds - He causes us to exaggerate the situation.
Not only are bad things happening to the good people, but the good things are happening to the bad people.
Prolonged pain with the wrong perspective can lead us to despair.
(13-16)
13 Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long;
every morning brings me pain.
Is trusting God even worth it?
Is a Jesus-first life paying off?
I tithe and can barely make ends meet
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