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.
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Tone of specific sentences

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Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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The Grass is greener on the other side...
Never throw stones in glass houses...
The glass is half full...
These sayings speak of - Green grass…glass houses, and a half full glass of water...
NOW - are THOSE things intended to be a part of the MEANING of those sayings?
NO -
“The grass is greener on the other side” : refers to - things always being better outside of your own life
“Never throw stones in glass houses”: refers to - check YOURSELF before you start judging others
“The glass is half-full”: refers to - The situation is looking up…let’s be optomistic
These sayings are extremely common today - and so when someone uses one of these sayings...
…we actually see THROUGH what they’re LITERALLY saying - and we UNDERSTAND what their words actually MEAN...
NOW - walk up to any 5 year old and say - “Did you know that the grass is greener on the other side?”
What are they going to think?
Today - we’re going to hear an OVERTLY common phrase that is tied to Christianity...
But back when these words were spoken...
They were COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTOOD....and we’ll see that as we move along...
As we can see early on in this passage, those who were in ear-shot of anything that Christ said or did - those people were paying attention...
Here we see a man named Nicodemus - come to Jesus
And this man Nicodemus wasn’t your typical 1st Century man...
He was a ruler of the Jews…a member of the Sanhedrin...
A man of knowledge...
And yet he comes to Jesus and says...
What we’re going to see here - starting in verse 2 is this...
SLIDE: The New Birth: A New Life Not a New Religion
The New Birth
Back to verse 2:
Notice what Nicodemus says to Jesus -
He addresses Him as - Rabbi…(teacher)
… “WE KNOW…that you are a teacher from God…”
What’s Nicodemus doing here?
What he’s doing is he’s placing himself - along with the other members of the Sanhedrin...
…and he’s placing them on the side of - GOD...
And he’s saying - WE KNOW - teacher - we KNOW that you are from God...
… because we have KNOWLEDGE…and we are on God’s side...
…and we can recognize those on God’s side when we see them...
But how does Christ respond?
Does He respond by saying - Rabbi…let Me tell you what’s true...
AGAIN - Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin…a RULER of the Jews...
A man of authority...
Nicodemus EPITOMIZED all that was - RELIGION...
One of the MOST religious men - A teacher of ISRAEL...
AND he comes to Jesus and says - Teacher - WE KNOW…we know!!
And Jesus DOES NOT reply by saying - YES!
You are correct, you know - if everyone BELIEVED like you, they would have eternal life and live in heaven forever!
NO - Jesus says - UNLESS - THIS is true about you, you CANNOT see the Kingdom of God!
Jesus LOOKED the Most religious man of his day - in his eyes and said - UNLESS you are BORN again..you CANNOT see the Kingdom of God...
YES - I AM from God - i AM God - and you DON’T KNOW what you’re talking about!
You MUST be born again!
Now think about this - WHAT did Nicodemus have going for him?
He was EXTREMELY well versed in Scripture...
A Jew
Fanatical about the law...
A member of the ruling body of the Jews
It’s as if he was the DEFINITION of - RELIGION!
By today’s standards...
Nicodemus probably would have been:
a Pastor/Elder
Had a Master of Divinity Degree
a PhD
A Lifetime in the Ministry
And yet Jesus looks at him and declares - You LACK something Nicodemus!
No - you don’t lack another DEGREE
No - you don’t lack more EXPERIENCE in ministry
No - you don’t lack a Publication
a #1 best seller
No - you don’t EVEN lack MORE willingness to GIVE...
- You LACK - LIFE!
The New Birth is a call to new life, not more religion
Jesus is saying - YOU MUST be born again if you want to see the Kingdom of God...
This is an ABSOLUTE condition placed on SALVATION!
WHICH means - this CONDITION that Jesus lays out to Nicodemus...
Is the SAME condition that applies to us today!
If a JEWISH rabbi in the 1st Century, who was actually conversing with God in the flesh...
If HE needed to be born again…we ALL need to be Born Again!
This SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT you and I...
Something EXTREMELY relevant for you and your family
and your co-workers, and your friends, your neighbors...
your kids teacher
the mailman
the school bus driver
your boss
your students
your loved ones
your spouse
the cashier at the store
your yoga instructor
your teammates
ALL people
When Jesus Christ said - YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN...
He was pointing to the reality of - BY IMPLICATION, the deadness of mankind!
AND YET - people believe what?
People believe that they themselves can HANDLE getting to heaven!
What are some things that people believe will HELP them get to heaven?
Doing good works
giving money to charity
giving time to help a charity
giving money to the church
Going to church
going to bible study
teaching a bible study
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