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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How do you not lose heart, when nothing seems to go right?
It’s the middle of the 1600’s, and we are in England.
You may not realize this, but England didn’t have freedom of worship.
The official church of the time was the Church of England.
And it was illegal to practice religion outside of the Church of England.
You couldn’t preach without a license.
And you couldn’t have a religious gathering of more than 5 people.
If you did, you could be sentenced to jail.
And if you continued, you could even face execution.
One of the men of this time was John Bunyan.
He had a young wife, 4 children, and one of them was blind.
He was also a rather poor man.
Bunyan was not ashamed of the Gospel, and knew that it was better to obey Christ than man.
Therefore, he refused to stop preaching, even though it was against the Law.
You can probably see where this is headed.
He was arrested for holding religious services and preaching outside of the Church of England.
He’s brought before the judge, Judge Wingate.
He’s found guilty, and the judge gives his sentence.
Judge: The evidence I hold in my hand, even apart from your own admission of guilt, is sufficient to convict you, and the Court is within its rights to have you committed to prison for a considerably long time.
I do not wish to send you to prison, Mr. Bunyan.
I am aware of the poverty of your family, and I believe you have a little daughter who, unfortunately, was born blind.
Is this not so?
Bunyan: It is, M’Lord.
Judge: Very well.
The decision of the Court is this: In as much as the accused has confessed his guilt, we shall follow a merciful and compassionate course of action.
We shall release him on the condition that he swear solemnly to discontinue the convening of religious meetings, and that he affix his signature to such an oath prior to quitting the Courtroom..
That will be all, Mr. Bunyan.
I hope not to see you here again.
May we hear the next case?
But John Bunyan wasn’t looking to be silenced.
“M’lord, if I may have another moment of the Court’s time?”
Judge: Yes, but you must be quick about it.
We have other matters to attend.
What is it?
Bunyan: I cannot do what you ask of me, M’lord.
I cannot place my signature upon any document in which I promise henceforth not to preach.
My calling to preach the Gospel is from God, and He alone can make me discontinue what He has appointed me to do.
As I have had no word from him to that effect, I must continue to preach, and I shall continue to preach.
Judge: I warn you, sir, the Court has gone the second mile to be lenient with you, out of concern for your family’s difficult straits.
Truth to tell, it would appear that the Court’s concern for your family far exceeds your own.
Do you wish to go to prison?
Bunyan: No, M’lord.
Few things there are that I would wish less.
Judge: …Can you comply with this condition, Mr. Bunyan?
Before you answer, mark you this: should you refuse, the Court will have no alternative but to sentence you to a prison term.
Think, sir, of your poor wife.
Think of your children, and particularly of your pitiful, sightless little girl.
Think on these things, and give us your answer, sir!
Bunyan: M’lord, I appreciate the Court’s efforts to be as you have put it - accommodating.
But again, I must refuse your terms.
I must repeat that it is God who constrains me to preach and no man or company of men may grant or deny me leave to preach.
Judge: Very well, Mr. Bunyan.
Since you persist in your intractability, and since you reject this Court’s honest effort at compromise, you leave us no choice but to commit you to Bedford jail for a period of six years.
The goal of the court was to silence John Bunyan.
He was illegally preaching.
He was illegally teaching.
He was illegally proclaiming the Gospel.
The goal was to silence him.
Do you know what the result of that imprisonment was?
He did spend 6 years in jail.
And that 6 year term, turned into a 12 year term.
And while in prison, he became even more serious about preaching … the very thing they didn’t want.
He wrote the classic allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress.
He would go into the jail courtyard and preach.
His fellow prisoners heard the Gospel.
In fact, citizens of Bedford, the town the jail was in, would come to hear him preach from inside the walls.
And when his time in jail was through, he even became the pastor of the church in Bedford.
Never was John Bunyan asking, “Why me?”
He knew exactly why what was happening was happening.
He was in prison for the progress of the Gospel.
And he took every opportunity to see the Gospel spread.
He put it into print.
He put it to story.
He preached it.
Those within the jail walls and those outside the jail walls heard it.
How do you not lose heart, when nothing seems to go right?
Have you ever seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?
It’s about Clark Griswold and his family, and their escapades at Christmas time.
If you ask the casual Christian it’s:
Having a clever bumper sticker on your car.
And poor Clark, nothing goes right him.
Maybe it says, “Jesus is my co-pilot”, or “In case of rapture, vehicle will be unattended.”
His inlaws are crazy.
There are squirrels in the Christmas tree.
It’s playing Christian music when others are around you.
Christmas lights don’t work.
It’s wearing a cool Christian T-shirt with some kind of pun on it.
The cat gets electrocuted chewing through an electrical cord.
The turkey deflates.
Maybe instead of a shirt that says, “Gold’s Gym” it says, “Lord’s Gym”.
And then to top it all off, the Christmas bonus doesn’t come through, the one that he receives every year.
And so, the big climax of the movie is him losing it.
Instead of saying someone’s an idiot, it’s saying, “Bless her heart.”
He’s at his breaking point.
And yet, the casual Christian easily loses his joy.
Because nothing goes right.
When he faces disappointment and dissatisfaction, he becomes bitter, fearful, and negative.
And he loses it.
This morning we are going to be in Philippians 1:12-20.
And here in this text, we meet Paul, who it seems like nothing goes right for.
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