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.
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Fear
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Introduction
Chuck Swindoll tells the story about an unforgettable evening when a friend of his ate dog food.
Contrary to what we might expect, he was not starving, nor was he being initiated into a fraternity.
Rather, it happened at an elegant physician’s home near Miami.
The dog food was served on delicate little crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, and an olive, topped with a sliver of pimento.
Hors d’oeuvres a la Alpo!
The deed was not perpetrated by an enemy but by a friend.
(With friends like that, who needs enemies!)
She had just graduated from a gourmet cooking course and decided she would put her skills to the ultimate test—and did she ever.
After doctoring up those miserable morsels, she placed them on a silver tray.
With a sly grin she watched them disappear.
Swindoll’s friend could not get enough.
He kept coming back for more.
Evidently the woman’s friends were a pretty laid-back group because everyone had a good laugh when she told them what they had been eating.
To each their own.
Chuck Swindoll
Pastor Chuck Swindoll tells the story about an unforgettable evening when a friend of his ate dog food.
Fruit vs Fruits - When one uses "fruit", it means a single fruit like mango, orange, and so on.
But when we use "fruits" it refers to different kinds of fruit; for example "there are fruits in the basket" means that there is more than one type of fruit in the basket.
[https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/25147/is-using-fruits-as-the-plural-of-fruit-acceptable]
Contrary to what we might expect, he was not starving, nor was he being initiated into a fraternity.
Rather, it happened at an elegant physician’s home near Miami.
The dog food was served on delicate little crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, and an olive, topped with a sliver of pimento.
...
The dog food was served on delicate little crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, and an olive, topped with a sliver of pimento.
...
The deed was not perpetrated by an enemy but by a friend.
(With friends like that, who needs enemies!)
She had just graduated from a gourmet cooking course and decided she would put her skills to the ultimate test—and did she ever.
After doctoring up those miserable morsels, she placed them on a silver tray.
With a sly grin she watched them disappear.
After doctoring up those miserable morsels, she placed them on a silver tray.
With a sly grin she watched them disappear.
So, a true grammar nazi should know this.
But I wanted to head any pretenders off at the pass.
Swindoll’s friend could not get enough.
He kept coming back for more.
Evidently the woman’s friends were a pretty laid-back group because everyone had a good laugh when she told them what they had been eating.
[Hughes, R. K. (2001).
The sermon on the mount: the message of the kingdom (p.
247).
Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.]
Now this cruel practical joke is a good example of something awful posing as something desirable, delightful, even delectable.
After all, these little hors d’oeuvres ala Alpo, looked good, they smelled good, they were presented by a trained chef as being the best of the best.
Who would suspect that anything might go wrong with such a presentation?
This is sometimes what it can be like when false prophets infiltrate the church.
They look good.
They smell good.
They say all the right things… well, most of the right things, anyway.
But there’s just something about them that’s off...
Jesus addresses this in the next section of the Sermon on the Mount as we continue in our series titled “The Sermons of Jesus.”
We’re in and following today.
Jesus says...
Matthew
See even the Bible knows when to use fruits rather than fruit!
[pray]
Father God we come to today praising your Holy Name on high.
We worship you and lift your name up before all.
God we ask that you would forgive our sins and help us root out any falseness in our midst.
Lord we ask you to settle our minds to hear your message today.
Bless us with your words and help us to do your work and impact Los Fresnos for the name of Jesus Christ.
God I ask you to give me clarity of mind, precision of speech, and a heart for your people as I bring your message to your people today.
Amen
I. Watch Out! -
The first thing Jesus tells us to do in verse 15 is “Beware of the false prophets!”
Watch out! is the message here.
Jesus knows and warns us that the church has faced and will face multiple False Prophets, False Apostles, False Christs, and False Brothers as we go about His business.
False Prophets, False Apostles, False Christs, False Brethren, The False Prophet
Beware - this word beware means “pay attention,” “take care,” “be on guard,” “be cautious / wary,” “be alert.”
It means WATCH OUT!
Not just that the false prophet could show up, but Jesus KNOWS that the false prophet WILL show up and challenge your faith.
We’re not just talking about THE False Prophet at the end of time, but the false teachers that show up in every age of the church.
Peter understood this when he wrote:
Peter calls our enemy, Satan, like a roaring lion.
Jesus calls him a ravenous wolf.
The imagery here that Jesus is using is when a wolf gets into a feeding frenzy.
But Jesus also tells us that the enemy is disguised in the clothing of a sheep.
This reminds me of one time when we began raising some ducks so we could harvest their eggs (best eggs ever).
My wife was holding one of the ducks in her arms and one of the little legs was hanging down loose.
Our dog Peter got up on Olga’s leg to sniff at the ducks.
Olga thought it was so cute that Peter wanted to say hello to the ducks.
But she didn’t see the little duck’s leg hanging down.
Nor did she see Peter’s teeth showing as he tried to reach the little leg that was dangling.
Peter had the look of a ravenous wolf in the duck house.
The Apostle Paul tells us:
Yes, beloved saints, it is quite possible (even likely) that we have people sitting right here in this very room who are not what they claim to be.
There could be false brothers in our midst.
Quite likely they look good and they smell good, but they don’t quite believe what we believe.
Maybe they are quite close to believing the same, but they undermine what we teach.
Maybe they add something to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or maybe they take something away.
Paul and Peter and Jesus knew that we always have to be on the lookout...
We, being disciples of Jesus Christ, are to always be on the lookout for these imposters who would lead us astray from the pure Gospel.
ALL of us, as members of this body of believers, have the responsibility of understanding and guarding the message that is given in scripture.
In fact, I submit that each of you who has a working knowledge of scripture has an accountability to God in Heaven to call me out and challenge me if you ever hear anything unscriptural coming from this pulpit.
But this message is not just for pastors and deacons...
ALL of us, as members of this body of believers, have the responsibility of understanding and guarding the message that is given from this pulpit.
In fact, I submit that each of you who has a working knowledge of scripture has an accountability to God in Heaven to call me out and challenge me if you ever hear anything unscriptural coming from this pulpit.
We have a Christ commanded duty to be on the alert for false teachers… This requires that we ...
II.
Be Able To Recognize Them -
Jesus tells us that we “will know them by their fruits.”
That means we must be able to discern their teaching and judge whether or not is scriptural.
And THAT requires that we know what scripture says.
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