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
0.17UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.64LIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.3UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.42UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.84LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.67LIKELY
Extraversion
0.29UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.44UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.6LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*"DISCOURAGEMENT:SYMPTOM AND ANTIDOTE"*
(A Series on Hebrews)
 
Westgate Chapel 3~/4~/90 a.m.
Hebrews 12:12-17
 
PROPOSITION:  The discouragement that can come on the believer as a result of the discipline of God is identified in this passage of Hebrews as withdrawal, waivering, dissension, unholy living, failing to live in God's grace, bitterness, sexual immorality and godlessness, but all these symptoms can be overcome by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
!
i. introduction
!! -     DISCOURAGEMENT is one of satan's principle weapons against you, Christian, that he will try to use to keep you from God's best for your life and God's eternal purposes being fulfilled in you.
!! -     HOW many of you here this morning know what discouragement feels like?
!!! ~*     Life's lost its appeal.
Living color has been exchanged for shades of grey.
!!! ~*     Joy is gone.
You are just existing.
!!! ~*     Hope has been squeezed out of you by overwhelming circumstances.
!!! ~*     You used to feel like you could tackle anything.
Now you are convinced that you are good for nothing.
!!! ~*     Everything you touch seems to turn to dust and run through your fingers.
!! -     DISCOURAGEMENT! It is a terrible thing to live with.
!! -     WEBSTER'S Dictionary says that it is the loss of courage or confidence.
Something inside of you gets stolen, and you are left with this big hole.
!! -     DISCOURAGEMENT!
!! -     A RECENT pole taken by Lyle Schaller, a prominent church consultant, discovered that 85% of American churches are led by pastors who are discouraged and would quit it all if they had the courage to do it.
!! -     THE loss of courage and confidence.
No wonder our churches are so full of discouraged people.
85% of the pastors are discouraged.
!! -     SATAN has stolen something very significant from the follower of Jesus Christ when he steals our courage and confidence.
!! -     IT had happened to the Christians in the book of Hebrews.
!! -     THE hardships and the discipline of God in their lives had flattened them.
It felt like more than  they could bare.
!! -     ANYONE here ever been there?
!! -     INSTEAD of being in the race, many had given up.....discouraged.
!! -     AND in Hebrews 12:12-17 the writer identifies several of the symptoms of discouragement and gives us an antidote for each one.
!! -     I PRAY that the Holy Spirit brings them into powerful focus in your heart this morning, and breaks that bondage of discouragement in you, for His glory.
!
ii.
discouragement: symptom and antidote
!! -     TURN with me to Hebrews 12:12 and let's identify the symptoms and antidote for discouragement.
!!  
!! 1.   Feeble Arms and Weak Knees
!!  
!! -     THE first one is in verse 12.
!!!       *"Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees."*
!! -     ONE of the first things that happens to you when discouragement hits you is that you get that tired feeling and quit what your hands were doing and where your legs were taking you.......and you withdraw.
!! -     THAT is a symptom of discouragement.
!! -     IT happened to Elijah after his great victory against Ahab and Jezebel on Mount Carmel.
The fire of God had fallen and consumed the sacrifice.
He had killed the false prophets of Baal.
The people had returned to Jehovah.
The drought had been broken......and then came Jezebel's scandalous attack and threats.
!! -     AND the next time we see this great man of God and prophet, his arms have grown weak and his knees have turned to water, and he is lying under a broom tree asking God to just let him die because he is convinced that he is the only one left that is true to Jehovah.
!! -     DOES any of that have a familiar ring to it?
!! -     FEEBLE arms and weak knees......a symptom of discouragement.
The problems hit.
Your schedule gets tight.
There is pressure at work and at home.
You can't see your way out.
!!! ~*     So you have quit the choir.
!!! ~*     You don't have the strength to read God's Word.
!!! ~*     You are in church only when you drag yourself here reluctantly.
!!! ~*     You sing the words, but there is no song in your heart.
!!! ~*     You dropped out of Precepts and you don't go to Sunday School any more.
!!! ~*     You haven't witnessed to anyone in years about the love of Jesus.
!! -     YOU have feeble arms and weak knees.
Discouragement has robbed you of your place of productivity in the kingdom of God.
!! -     ANTIDOTE?
!! -     STRENGTHEN those feeble arms and weak knees.
!! -     WHAT does that mean?
Well, it is a quotation from Isaiah that gives the antidote for discouragement.
!! -     ISAIAH 35:3 and 4 says,
!!!       *"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.'"*
!! -     YOUR arms and knees are strengthened by renewing your trust in God's love and His power at work in your life.
!! -     THEN put that faith into action and get back into the trenches and on the firing line.
This is not a time to be retreating.
!!  
!! 2.   Waivering Walk
!!  
!! -     HERE is the next symptom of discouragement.
It is found in verse 13.
!!!       *"'Make level paths for your feet,' so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."*
!! -     THESE are the feet that are straying from the race.
!! -     THE discouragement has taken its toll, and the believer is like a drunk man staggering on and off the pathway of life.......and this turning aside from the path of righteousness is potentially dangerous and is sometimes irremediable.
!! -     THE initial motivation to stay in the race has been dissipated by the trials, and now you are in and out of the race constantly.
!! -     PROVERBS 4:26&27 put it this way,
!!!       *"Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." *
!! -     THE antidote is just to keep in the race and on the path, whether you feel like it or not.
!! -     THE risks are too great getting off the course like you do from time to time.
!! -     YOU better get another look at the prize that waits for you at the finish line.....and at Jesus, the Author and finisher of your race.....and get back onto the track this morning by His grace and power.
!!  
!! 3.   Dissension
!!  
!! -     VERSE  14a  says,
!!!       *"Make every effort to live in peace with all men...."*
!! -     THE man or woman who is giving in to discouragement in their life is not going to be a peace maker or builder.......their unsettled condition and their lack of confidence will make them a breeder for dissension.
!! -     WHEN you are unhappy you think unhappy thoughts, you speak unhappy words, you attract unhappy people and the results are not very pretty.
!! -     DISCORD, strife, gossip, disunity is the handiwork of discouraged people.
!! -     WHEN you are discouraged yourself, you couldn't see a positive, hopeful, encouraging moment if it stung you by landing on your nose.
!! -     IT is a symptom of discouragement, and the devil just loves it because if he can get you negative about yourself, negative about your brothers and sisters, negative about your family, negative about the church of Jesus.........you become his best resource to kill the church from the inside and he can give his demons a rest because we do all the work for him.
(Story from Piercing the Darkness)
!! -     NOW, the antidote!
!! -     WE are not talking about some nice sentimental kind of peace that sure would be nice to have in the congregation of believers.
!! -     WE are talking about the command of Jesus.
!! -     HE died on the cross, gave His blood, so that we might have all hostility removed between us and His Father....and be at peace with Jehovah Shalom.
!! -     AND since our peace is the free gift of His grace to us.....then who are we to disrupt the peace between us and another that He died to save also.
!! -     IN Mark 9:50 Jesus Himself says,
!!! *      "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?
Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."*
!! -     BE AT PEACE......is a divine imperative command.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9