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
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.07UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.69LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.41UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.19UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.69LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.82LIKELY
Extraversion
0.42UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.92LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Preamble
Happy Mother’s Day.
As I say that, I realize the idea of “mom” can look very different - birth moms, adoptive moms, foster moms, grand-moms, Lisa reference.
Moms of all kinds make our lives richer.
For each of you, we thank God.
Mother’s Day is fantastic but it can be be one of the most difficult days of the year as well.
I think our own road has made me especially sensitive to this fact.
The difficulty of Mothers Day:
Infertility
Loss of mother
Mother’s who are beat and considering throwing in the towel.
The loss of a child
Strained relationships with children
Rebellion by children
Those with a spiritually absent spouse
Those whose lives have been marked by abortion
Frankly, some didn’t have a good mom
I’ve been praying for each of you this week.
And I’m thankful that Jesus is the source of:
Hope and future
Healing
Restoration and reconciliation
Compassion
Grace and strength
Christ is sufficient!
And he loves you.
The ways we have inadvertently made Mother’s Day more difficult.
The different
And to complicate matters more, families often don’t look the way we planned.
All that to say, Mother’s Day is the scariest sermon of the year!
We believe that every good gift comes from God. Moms sure fit that bill.
Today I would like to encourage moms and those who invest spiritually in the next generation.
I want to encourage and challenge those who are laboring to leave a legacy of love and faith.
Transition
In the text Sheryl read, Paul is writing to a young man who has been placed in the difficult position of parenting a young church.
Like all churches and families, there are difficulties.
While the text isn’t specifically about moms or Mother’s Day, there are important truths that Jesus wants us to hear.
Text
Discipleship and investing in the next generation simply drips from this text.
We need to understand that there is a universal call to discipleship investment.
I’m not sure there is a biblical model ever for a Christian not investing in someone else.
In these verses there are four people that we need to meet.
Timothy
He’s young, he’s inexperienced, he feels ill-equipped, and yet he’s called to be a spiritual parent to the young church in Ephesus.
Paul remember his tears.
Tears that flow from conflict—tears that probably flow from taking one step forward and sixteen backward—tears that flow from feeling inadequate to the task.
Ever feel that way?
Paul
Paul (this is his last letter)
Acted as a spiritual parent to Timothy.
He is working to leave a legacy of faith and love.
He is not his biological parent but he has become Timothy’s spiritual parent.
He even calls Tim his, true son in the faith.
God has designed a system where....home and church
Moms, you aren’t alone.
Church
Holy Spirit - the source of everything you need.
Strength, patience, wisdom, persistence...
This leads us to our next group.
Timothy
Lois (grandma) and Eunice (Mom).
We don’t know much about them, except that they poured their faith into Timothy.
They left a legacy of love and faith.
Mothers, and spiritual mothers, have the unique ability to mold the next generation in a special way.
As God’s chosen agent:
Your response functions as the response of God
Your hands function as the touch of God
Your face offers the smile of God
I cannot emphasis enough
Study after study demonstrate the great influence a parent has on a child.
Two points of caution:
First, your kids need a savior and you’re not it.
Its easy
Young people in our lives will go through trials, doubt, failure, and moms can short-circuit Jesus’ work by protecting kids from any and every pain.
Sometimes you fall down so you can learn to stand up.
But they also don’t need us to be their practical savior either
You’re identity isn’t bound up in your kids.
Young people will struggle because they need a Savior - In order to come to faith in Christ, we must come face to face with our depravity, as painful as that can be.
If that drives our kids to Christ, we must let them go thru it.
Our kids need Jesus because we need Jesus.
Second, when your kids act out in sin, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
You all work so hard to…let yourself off the hook.
(gently) When your identity and joy is bound up in someone else’s behavior or success; you place them and yourself in a dangerous position.
2 Timothy 1:
Fan into flame the gift of God.
So often we go through life with just a flicker of faith when God desires for us to have a bonfire.
Paul reminds Timothy of the gifts provided by the Holy Spirit.
For Tim it was:
Power - not timidity (cowardice) but power to exercise the authority God has provided.
Love - Agape - difficult!
Self-discipline - sound judgment
Paul isn’t providing a comprehensive list of what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit.
He’s telling Tim that the Holy Spirit will give him what he is not.
Tim is weak and timid, the word is translated literally as coward.
Paul says, “God didn’t call you to be a coward!
He called you to be full of power, love, and sound judgment.”
In other words; your weakness isn’t a problem.
Lean into God, fan the fame of your faith, he’ll make you what you aren’t.
Strength, wisdom, and perseverance aren’t a problem for him.
I wonder how many moms or those who invest in the next generation that feel overwhelmed or ill-equipped for the task?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9