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
0.11UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.61LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.07UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.8LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.78LIKELY
Extraversion
0.33UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.83LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.62LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction
We’ve covered a lot of Bible over the last 7 weeks; from the beginning of creation through the Teachings, Writings, & Prophets.
Then when crossed from the Old Covenant/Testament into the New Covenant/Testament, where God-in-skin shows up to teach the truth, touch the sick, offer Himself for sinners, raise from the dead, and ascend to heaven.
Just as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit indwells the lives of believers and empowers them to walk in purity, love one another, & take the Gospel to the planet in the power of the Spirit.
And while Jesus loves you right where you are, His love won't let you stay where you are.
He loves you with all of your sin, but Jesus didn’t die to leave you in it.
Those who KNOW Jesus are expected and empowered to GROW in Him, and GO to those who need to know Him.
And that’s what our last stop in the New Testament - the epistles or letters -are all about - Growing Christ-like Character. .
VIDEO: Christy’s Story [Let’s watch a video where we see the whole process of developing Christ-like character]
KNOW.
The first step of Growing Christ-like character is making sure you KNOW the One true God.
The Scriptures were given to us so that we could KNOW who God is and what God says.
Without the Scriptures we would be blindly following a god we have made instead of boldly following the God who made us.
The God of "The Good Book” wants you to KNOW Him!
One of the most asked questions I hear from folks goes something like this: “How can I know that I know Jesus?”
One of the best ways is to answer 2 questions:
What do you believe [about Jesus]?
That is, do you follow the Jesus of Scripture or your "Build-a-bear” version where you build a version of Jesus that makes you happy?
How do you behave?
If Jesus is King of your life, there should be some spiritual fruit in your life.
Do you have a desire to walk in purity & share your faith?
Or are you just resting on your ‘blessed assurance’ of some decision you made years ago because you felt guilty?
Biblical belief in Jesus is more than an intellectual ascent of knowing Jesus existed.
Biblical belief, as we have said many times before, is total trust.
Biblical Belief = Total Trust
Sadly, much of ‘Christian culture’ within America has swallowed an unbiblical lie from the enemy that says, “Just believe in Jesus.
You don’t have to live holy.
In fact, you CAN’T live holy, so why even try.”
And yet that’s the opposite of what the writers of the New Testament epistles/letters say.
Here are a couple of examples:
James/Jacob, the half-brother of Jesus didn’t say it was enough to believe.
He taught that real faith/belief led to good works.
James/Jacob says blows up the myth that all that it’s just about ‘having faith’.
Real faith or total trust LEADS to works, actions that show what you believe.
People don’t do good works to BE made right with God; they do good works because they ARE right with God.
As we often say here, you have to put feet to faith.
Paul agrees.
Look what he writes to Titus, his young apprentice.
It’s one thing to claim to know God, but our works demonstrate whether we really do or not.
This week you will read from Romans, a letter where Paul writes these words:
Here is Simon Peter’s take, one of 3 closest of disciples of Jesus.
One of the evidences to make sure we KNOW Jesus is a desire and pursuit to live HOLY lives.
No desire nor pursuit of holy lives?
John, one of the 3 closest disciples of Jesus, addresses that with these heavy words.
Wow! That’s super-clear, huh?
QUESTION What is the evidence how we know that we know Him? Answer: Simply, obedience to Jesus.
To know Jesus means we trust Jesus.
To trust Jesus means that we obey Him.
Lack of obedience indicates lack of trust.
QUESTION So, based on these New Testament letters from the first followers of Jesus, would you say, “Just believe in Jesus.
You don’t have to live holy.
In fact, you CAN’T live holy, so why even try”?
Of course not.
BIG TRUTH: Christians are empowered & expected to be growing in and going in Christ-like character.
We must first KNOW Jesus, having turned from our sins and having putting total trust in what HE has done for us.
He finds us right where we are, but He doesn’t leave us there.
He loves us too much.
Now it’s time to GROW in Christ-like character.
GROW.
The 2nd step in Growing Christ-like character is making daily decisions to develop spiritual disciplines.
So, how in the world can we grow Christ-like character?
You ask great questions!
Today I want us to focus in on 2 last passages for this series.
One is Peter’s version of Paul’s “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22).
Let’s read the passage and then dig deeper.
In other words, God empowers & expects us to live different than our Christ-less culture does.
And here’s how that happens and what that looks like.
Each characteristic in the passage is perfectly demonstrated by Jesus Himself.
Consequently, followers of Jesus are to make every effort to supplement your faith, that is, give your best to grow in these additional Christ-like characteristics.
First believers are commanded to supplement their faith (trust) in Jesus with goodness [NET excellence, NAS moral excellence, ESV virtue].
Our faith must be lived out.
We must convert what we believe into how we behave.
And the behavior of the believer is to be moral excellence - PURITY.
90 Day Fiancé and Sexual Purity I’ve been watching a show called “90 Day Fiancé” where people from overseas travel to United States with a “K-1 Visa” and must get married within 90 days to stay and get a green card.
Sadly, it seems that every couple, even those who claim to be Christians, are sleeping together; that is EXCEPT for the Mormons.
They are EXPECTED to walk in moral purity and wait for marriage.
Thankfully, 2 Christians on the show made the commitment to walk in moral purity, what Peter calls goodness.
Then we must add knowledge to our goodness.
God wants you to grow to know WHY you believe WHAT you believe.
You must READ and LEARN from the Scriptures and from OTHERS.
Ask your questions.
Dig deeper.
Become a student who grows in knowledge.
Don’t stay in spiritual infancy.
Don’t give God your leftovers!
Pursue knowledge of who God is and what God says!
We must also grow in self-control & endurance.
These 2 attributes are essential parts of growing to maturity.
When we are tempted to sin or strike back when treated poorly, we step back and do what’s right…over and over again.
The more you respond with self-control, the more endurance is developed.
Rather than failing over and over again, we learn from our poor decisions and get back up to conquer the mountain that once conquered us.
Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide were the first humans to successfully ascend Mount Everest.
Hillary, having failed to reach the summit on a previous attempt, addressed the mountain in the presence of a crowd.
He reportedly said, “Mount Everest, you beat me the first time, but I’ll beat you the next time because you’ve grown all you are going to grow … but I’m still growing!”
A year later, Hillary proved himself larger than the mountain.
Spoo, Deron.
The Good Book: 40 Chapters That Reveal the Bible's Biggest Ideas (Kindle Locations 4482-4486).
David C. Cook.
Kindle Edition.
Don’t wallow in your past.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9