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
0.14UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.57LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.55LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.44UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.77LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.85LIKELY
Extraversion
0.2UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.96LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.56LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Who is Jesus?
John the Baptist- John had been such a powerful presence he had a lot of moral authority with the people.
People were shocked by what he would say to powerful men who ignored the ways of God.
But after hearing him say it with such conviction, I think they were equally shocked when a king being accused of terrible behavior had him put to death.
It was rumored that he would return to bring judgement.
People heard even more authority in Jesus’ voice.
He was also willing to speak truth to people in power.
So many people made the connection.
Maybe this is John returned to take on the authorities with truth from God’s Word.
It was all based on this Old Testament Prophecy:
So this was saying John had fulfilled the prophecies concerning an Elijah like figure who would appear in the time of the Messiah inaugerating the end times.
But others were saying that the literal Elijah for ancient times would come and walk the earth again.
John was quick to say that wasn’t him.
So some people said Jesus must be him...
Elijah- Elijah had left this world in a whirlwind surrounded by chariots of fire.
So there was a ton of mystery based around him.
It wasn’t a prophecy that the historical Elijah himself would walk the earth again, but the common people speculated about it.
One of the prophets- Almost everyone recognized that Jesus was a prophet of some kind.
He spoke with authority unlike others in his generation.
There are always a ton of people claiming special authority to speak for God.
A lot of them are crazy.
If you try hard enough I think you can tell the difference.
Jesus was definitely different.
So people had lots of opinions.
Some of these were pretty informed opinions.
Unlike a lot of people today, people were interested in religious tradition.
They listened and tried to learn all they could.
That connection to the past is being lost.
Morality is being rewritten in sand.
It’s not going to hold up.
I think the church needs to be patient during these days rather than fearful.
Eventually people will begin to realize what’s missing and what’s not working.
Who is Jesus?
Well, he’s unique.
There’s a quality to his life and teaching that really can’t be matched.
You would do well to get to the bottom of that question, who is Jesus?
Who do you follow?
We all follow someone.
It’s how humans are wired.
So the question isn’t do you follow, it’s who do you follow.
There’s more and more research that humans learn from what they see acted out over and over again.
You are following those you look at and listen to most often.
This is I think the greatest challenge for humans today.
We are bombarded with imagery, much of it completely unhelpful.
If you’re not consciously choosing who to follow then it’s being decided for you by the people you work with, hang out with, watch on TV/Netflix.
A lot of us bingewatch shows on Netflix and such.
Nothing necessarily wrong with it.
But if the world presented is completely at odds with the Kingdom of God, we will begin to be drawn away by repetitive viewing.
Some things should only be viewed occasionally.
Some really shouldn’t ever be viewed.
But just as it’s easy to fall into old patterns, we can establish new ones with God’s help and help from our church family.
Political news can turn us into a worldly pundit for a political party.
Limit how much you take in.
How do you follow?
If we say we want to follow Jesus it’s important to consider how we follow.
Like I just pointed out we can follow lots of things by accident.
But we really can’t follow Jesus by accident.
It requires a choice.
It requires intention.
It requires discipline.
It requires help from the grace of God.
It requires deep connection to the community of faith.
Every choice we make takes us closer or further away.
If you’ve found yourself far away and needing to reconnect, you can.
That’s the other thing about human beings.
We can change our ways with help.
Jesus is the Messiah
What is a Messiah?
Good question.
A Prophet who tells the whole truth about God.
A true King who starts a new kingdom.
A Savior who forgives our sins and helps us change.
Israel had kings who always fell short.
Just like our modern leaders often do.
But they knew they needed leadership.
The time of the Judges reminded them of this.
So they longed for a true king who would come and set things up as God intended from the start.
Jesus fulfills all those longings.
Today, we too are looking for a worthy leader.
Jesus is truly worthy.
Jesus resolves the problem of evil as he took upon himself the sins of the world and made a way for us to live in new ways.
God is Good!
Jesus is worthy.
He’s worth following.
How to Follow Jesus
We deny ourselves
We take up our cross- it’s upside down to how this world thinks.
We embrace suffering (I’ll have more to say on that…) Peter wanted to correct Jesus.
Look, Jesus this message will never get you elected.
You gotta put a little pizazz into this.
Help people get what they want.
He’s going to advise Jesus.
Isn’t that cute?
We try the same thing all the time… Jesus is pretty firm.
Don’t try to get out in front of me, Satan—tempter.
Don’t try to lure me away from my mission.
Get behind me.
From there you can follow a whole lot better!
We follow Him— by reading and listening to the good news in the Bible.
This is important because we get to see people in action seeking to live out their faith.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9