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
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.06UNLIKELY
Fear
0.47UNLIKELY
Joy
0.54LIKELY
Sadness
0.54LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.68LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.48UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.64LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.93LIKELY
Extraversion
0.08UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.8LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction: Learning how to pray
Why don’t we pray more?
Problem: We don’t know how to pray effectively.
Life is busy.
Lots of distractions.
Lack of discipline.
We don’t pray more because we aren’t effective in our praying.
We want to pray for the right things.
See God answer our prayer.
Hear from God.
Obstacles: Ignorance, pride
These are universal problems.
In Luke 11 we read this:
Jesus gave the disciples a model prayer.
It’s included in Luke and in Matthew.
The two versions are different.
That tells us that what Jesus told His disciples wasn’t something to be repeated exactly each time.
It’s a pattern for praying that will make us effective in praying.
We’re going to look at the version of this prayer that Jesus taught in Matthew 6.
Is independent of style.
It does not depend upon place or posture.
Matthew 6:5
Is personal not public.
Matthew 6:5b-6
It is focused on God alone.
It does not call attention to the one praying.
It is concise.
It does not require lots of words.
Matthew 6:7
Plan:
Jesus sets for 5 elements we need to pray about.
1. Focus on the Father.
Matthew 6:9
The foundation of our prayer life is our relationship with God our Father.
Prayer is a conversation with the Father.
Think about His greatness and holiness and lose yourself as you are in awe of His majesty.
Delight that you are talking with God the Father.
His character is impeccable.
He is in a category above all others.
He is our Father.
You have the same rights and privileges as all God’s children.
We pray with others.
We pray for others.
The only caveat here is you have to be in His family.
We become part of God’s family by faith in Jesus death, burial and resurrection for us, by which he took away all our sin that separates us from God.
2. Humble your heart.
Matthew 6:10
Being a child of God has responsibilities.
Our responsibilities include honoring God by seeking His will in our life and in the world.
We do this by humbling ourselves and submitting to His will.
Do you want God’s will for your life?
Can you say like the Psalmist,
Acknowledge His will is always best and seek it for the word and for yourself today.
The world is broken.
We’re so used to living in a broken world that we sometimes forget that.
We are used to seeing sexual images, hearing people lie, watching violence in movies and games and the general acceptance of all kinds of behaviors the Bible condemns.
This is so common we forget these are contrary to God’s will.
For the proper of order of things to be restored, God to reign as acknowledge King.
We need to pray for God’s will to be done on earth and that has to begin with me, with us.
The question, “What is God’s will?” is often on our lips.
The answer can be stated in general terms.
It is any activity in which God is glorified, which reflects well upon God, shows Him in a good light.
Praying “your will be done” means in the world, our country, our state, our county, our city, our job, our neighborhood, our home, our family, our relationships, our words, our actions and our thought life.
Is it possible for God’s will to be done in all those places?
Yes, and one day it will.
For today, we can only do what we can control.
3. Pray for provision.
Matthew 6:11
Prayer involves requests.
It is right and proper to ask God for everything we need.
Ask God for what you need for today.
Don’t panic if you’re trying to live gluten-free, bread represents our needs.
Needs include the basics of food, clothing, shelter, safety and health.
But it includes much more than that.
There are many intangible things we need such as wisdom in making decisions, grace in dealing with difficult people, discipline to carry on a task.
Jesus tells us to ask for whatever we need.
There are two errors we when it comes to requesting things of God.
First there are those who view God as a Genie in a bottle and ask for anything and everything.
James condemns selfish requests when he says,
The other error is to think we shouldn’t ask God for anything we can do for ourselves.
In the same chapter James condemns those who act independently of God.
This person doesn’t think he or she needs God.
We pray the way Jesus taught us when we depend upon God for what we need.
In the previous verse we decided we want our will to be aligned with God’s will.
The result is that our request are aligned with God’s desires.
It’s for this reason that Jesus says,
It’s also noteworthy that Jesus says our “daily” bread, it’s what we need for today.
Much of what we worry about is in the future.
4. Confess and concede.
Matthew 6:12
Prayer involves repentance.
This is the acknowledgement that we are sinners continually in need for God’s grace and forgiveness.
We become a child of God by acknowledging our sinfulness and seeking God’s forgiveness by trusting that Jesus paid for our sin on the cross.
Why is it we think we are so good now that we are a Christian?
I am a sinner.
The evil inclination to sin that resides within me has the potential to tempt me to every wicked thing ever done.
It is only with God’s help that I have managed any victory over sin.
And often I don’t have victory.
I get angry, I say things I shouldn’t say.
I get lazy and don’t do things I should do.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9