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
0.06UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.06UNLIKELY
Fear
0.09UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.66LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.09UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.86LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.9LIKELY
Extraversion
0.25UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.94LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.68LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction:
Introduction:
As the news of the passing of the Rev. Billy Graham hit the social media outlets and airwaves this past Wednesday, there were a few thoughts that went through my mind.
I wonder how big his funeral will be and what place will be able to hold it?
His spiritual legacy will continue to live on even though he has gone to his eternal reward in heaven.
What kind of spiritual legacy are we leaving behind?
This morning I would like to briefly talk about how we can affect future generations for Christ.
(Our) Legacy: Outliving Your life.
All of us have a life story that will continue on once we are gone from the world.
Whether you have a will or not, the things that you leave behind will be divided and handed down to others when you die.
We all will leave a material legacy behind-no matter how big or small.
But there is something of even greater importance that we leave behind.
A spiritual will.
A spiritual legacy.
This kind of legacy is the most priceless gift you can pass on to the generations to follow.
Material possessions, even if they are taken care of very well, will eventually fade to nothing.
That house you owned will eventually rot or be taken by fire; the valuables will be sold or lost.
But a spiritual legacy is one that is passed down through the hearts of those who have been impacted it.
It is not easily destroyed, and the gift of this legacy is more precious than any material possession that we could ever give.
Have you ever considered your legacy?
Whether you realize it or not, you are writing one with your life.
Have you ever considered how you will be remembered when you die?
Because you will be remembered.
How will you influence others?
Because you are an influence.
Body:
Today I want us to look at God’s Word in .
Here we will find out how the legacy we leave behind can have lasting value.
We are going to find out how we should live out our lives so that our legacy will out-live our lives.
1Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
(NIV)
In the first verse, we find that the Apostle Paul is writing to the church of the Thessalonians.
The Thessalonians were citizens of the city of Thessalonica, which was the capital and largest city of the Roman province of Macedonia with a population of about 200,000.
The Egnatian Way, the most important Roman Highway, went through Thessalonica.
The city also had a thriving sea port which made it another popular traveling destination for many.
The city was host to people from all of the Mediterranean world and contributed to it becoming extremely diverse both culturally and religiously.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy arrived in Thessalonica around 50 A.D. This was Paul’s second missionary journey.
Acts Chapter 17 provides the account of Paul going directly to the temple and attempting to persuade the Jews for three days to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
A small group of Jews believed and turned to Christ, but others became outraged and eventually started a riot, and Paul and his companions had to leave due to the intense persecution.
They were chased out in a hurry.
So this group of believers were left without their founding pastor in an culturally diverse and religiously pagan environment that clashed with their new-found faith.
Can you imagine being maybe 5 or 10 out 200,000 that believe in Jesus?
Not only that, but to have very close friends and fellow Jews hating you because you believed that Jesus was in fact the fulfillment of the Old Testament, that He was the Messiah.
With those pressures, they must have been confronted daily with the temptation to recant, to say that they do not actually believe.
Some time after Paul left, he sent Timothy back to see how the new believers were doing.
I don’t think anyone would blame Paul if he were doubtful that the believers remained strong in their faith.
He only had a limited amount of time to invest in them, teaching them the truth about Jesus.
But When Timothy reported back to Paul what he witnessed while visiting the believers in Thessalonica, Paul wrote this letter to those believers.
And Listen to verse 2.
2We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.
(NIV)
It is clear that Paul received word that the church was still holding onto the truths that were first taught to them.
They were still thriving!
When he says here “We always thank God for all of you.”
The word “all” shows that a significant number if not all of the believers had stood firm.
They did not falter.
And for this Paul says that he continually mentioned them in his prayers.
What was he so thankful for?
What could he have heard about that when praying, he would continuously thank God for them and mention them in his prayers so often?
It is in the next verse that we find out 3 things that those new believers were displaying that brought so much joy to Paul.
I believe that if we display these characteristics, the people that we know, love, and have built relationships with, will be thankful, grateful, and joyful when they remember us.
These three characteristics are the foundation to leaving a lasting spiritual legacy.
(Read verse 2 and 3)
2We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.
3We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
(NIV)
Now before we consider these three characteristics, we need to understand something about the structure of this sentence.
It would be very easy to read the words “in our Lord Jesus Christ” and interpret that Paul is saying that only the endurance inspired by hope happens in our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we would be wrong.
When I say the words to you, “I love, honor, and cherish my wife,” you do not think that I am only speaking of my wife as the object of the verb cherish.
You understand that my wife is the object of all three words.
This sentence here in the text is similar.
The words “in our Lord Jesus Christ” is applied to all three actions.
Paul remembers their works produced by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, their labor prompted by love in our Lord Jesus Christ, and endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Keep this in mind because it is very important as we discover that these three qualities are useless apart from Christ.
We see here in verse 3 that the first characteristic upon which a lasting spiritual legacy is built is faith.
I. Faith (v.
3a)
1Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
(NIV)
In addition to this verse, Paul says in
So when coupled with , you could then say that we are saved by grace through being sure of what we hope for in Jesus Christ and certain of what we do not see of Jesus Christ.
Though we do not see Jesus, we are certain that he is the one true God and the only means for salvation.
It is through this faith that we are saved by his grace.
You cannot leave a Godly legacy without first having faith in Jesus.
It starts right there.
But the legacy you leave does not just end with saying that you have faith in Jesus, or believing in Christ without any sort of change.
Rather, it says here that your faith will produce works.
Characteristics of a Lasting Legacy:
I. Faith(v.
3a)
1. Produces Works
The book of James supports this truth.
Chapter 2 verse 14 says,
14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?
(NIV)
When you look at this scripture in context, you will see that Paul is not specifically meaning manual work or labor, but instead, he is speaking of good works, good deeds that are produced by faith.
We know this by looking further down in verse 8-9, where he says,
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9