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
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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We finally cleaned up from winter and in a few months we’ll be getting out shovels and salt and boots again.
We just got that bill paid and here comes another unplanned bill.
Didn’t we buy our children clothes to fit them last fall?
Here I am buying larger clothes again.
You mean I need to prepare another sermon?
I just did that for last Sunday.
People look at weather events such as droughts, blizzards, tornadoes, etc., as increasingly unique phenomena.
However, if you talk to any farmer, rancher, or any observer who doesn’t get caught up in hype, you will learn that this too has a cyclical pattern.
In fact, some of the storms from the past are actually just as terrible as now.
The difference is that it is known about all over the world much more quickly.
When we were born, we were dependent upon our parents.
Then we became more independent, developing into adults who began to take care of our own children and others.
Even as we age, we become more dependent upon our children and others.
Some have suggested that this is the cycle where the children become the caretakers, thus, beginning anew a never-ending circle.
The Lion King even has a song dealing with the circle of life.
This chapter appears to be Solomon’s skewed perspective on life.
He see it as just a vicious circle; a never-ending cycle.
That seems to be what started Solomon off in the first 3 verses as he was about to introduce this first section.
In today’s section, dealing with chapter 1, we see a very cynical view of this world’s cycle.
It all seemed to circle back to exactly as it started.
So what’s the use? as we discussed last time.
Life doesn’t have to be a vicious circle if your life belongs to Jesus.
All the Same - 1:4-7
In these verses, Solomon seems to be on a quest regarding nature.
As you see in the opening of verse 4, he notices that people are born and die and generations keep passing, but the circle of nature keeps going.
It all seems to stay the same.
One can almost get the sense that Solomon saw this earth as totally monotonous.
To prove his point, he deals with four aspects of this natural world.
He discusses the sameness of the earth, the sun, the wind, and the water.
Verse 4 begins the discussion on the earth.
There was and still is, the assumption that this earth will continue on its course and there will be no change.
Land that was farmed by our great-grandparents is still being farmed by my father.
Drought, rain, wind, hailstorm, migration of birds, etc. continue happening with every generation.
Yet this also has some very positive effects.
Much of what has been discovered through scientific research has taken place as a result of the uniformity and continuity of this earth.
For example, gravity has and always will be working.
We see a weather forecasting rock that we found to be quite humorous, yet seems to illustrate the sameness and predictability of our planet.
On a sign beside this weather forecasting rock, it reads, in reference to the rock: if it’s hot, it’s sunny; if it’s wet, it’s rainy; if it’s covered in white, it’s snowing; if it’s moving, there’s a tornado.
For all practical purposes, our time on this earth is a mere blip on the radar of what is going on in nature.
Death comes to all who live.
This earth will continue to spin and go through its various cycles.
Nations fall and rise.
Certain heroes disappear from our minds and are replaced by new ones.
Trends and fads come and go.
In all of this, the earth continues its circle.
One commentator suggested that the acting and script to this world are pretty much the same.
The difference is that sometimes the costumes and sets are a bit different.
In verse 5, Solomon talks about the continual circling back and forth of day and night.
The word picture he presents is almost cartoon-like.
As he speaks of the sun rising and setting, he uses the phrase and hastening to it place it rises there again.
The NIV and NLT word it like this: hurries back to where it rises or hurries around to rise again.
The Hebrew word is literally translated panting.
Solomon makes it appear almost like a frantic pattern that has to be continually repeated.
Yet what is gained?
It sounds as if he could have used the optimism of Annie as she sang her song Tomorrow—the sun’ll come up tomorrow.
Verse 6 introduces the wind.
The sun was visibly obvious, whereas, the wind is not visible.
We need to understand that Solomon is not giving a science lecture, but is rather speaking to what he has observed in what he considered a vicious circle.
The reality is that the wind is ever-moving and ever-changing.
Meteorologists have spent lifetimes trying to predict accurately what the weather will be like.
We see on the weather maps the diagrams trying to show their best analysis and prediction, but it often falls short.
I sometimes chuckle as I hear them trying to predict the path of a hurricane or a rain system or a blizzard.
There is usually 2-4 different weather models that they look at and try to figure out which is the most accurate.
Yet, Jesus explained to Nicodemus about the predictability of wind: The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going . . .
Finally, in verse 7, Solomon speaks about the water.
Most of us have seen the incredible science shows as they explain about the water cycle.
I have read that the ocean contains about 97% of all the earth’s water.
There is a miniscule amount of moisture in the air that is potential rain.
How does this circle of life continue, except for the fact of nature keeping up with what it has done for thousands of years.
The sun, wind, and all that is needed for evaporation and condensation keep the whole cycle going.
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going
Well, so much for the observation of this world from a semi-scientific perspective.
In the next few verses, Solomon looks at things in a somewhat historical perspective.
Nothing New - 1:8-11
When I read Solomon’s take in verse 9, there is nothing new under the sun, I find myself arguing with Him.
After all, just consider what we have observed in our short lives.
I remember when we were in the early years of our marriage bemoaning the fact that we were hundreds of miles from family.
We mused about how amazing, and potentially embarrassing, it would be if we could make a phone call and actually be able to see the people on the other end of the phone and see what was going on around them.
Then we would shrug and say that type of thing can only happen on The Jetsons.
Now we have FaceTime and Skype.
I remember as a little boy going to visit some relatives on a Sunday afternoon.
I was in absolute amazement as my uncle took us for a drive and had an air conditioner in his car.
What would they think of next?
Or consider communicating with missionaries.
We might write a letter and hope they received it in a couple of weeks.
It might be a month before we’d hear back from them.
Or we could spend a small fortune making an international call.
Today, we have email potential where the communication is close to immediate.
In verse 8, Solomon points out man’s quest for something new, since everything else is wearisome.
Our culture is so similar to that way of thinking in that people would rather play mindless games on their electronic devices instead of engaging in meaningful conversation.
We have a whole advertising industry that is designed to point out to us how bored we are with what we have and try to convince us to get the next and newest thing, promising us peace and satisfaction.
Unfortunately, that proves unsatisfactory, so on to the hunt for the next thing which is supposedly new and improved.
We might wonder why humanity is so restless and why there is always the search for something new.
Chapter 3:11 provides some insight: He has also set eternity in their heart . . .
We could be like Solomon observed, as those who will become discouraged by the mundaneness and repetitiveness of life, until we listen to God’s voice and trust in Him.
The reality is that there truly is nothing new because only God can create.
Edison commented about his inventions, stating that he was only bringing out the secrets of nature and applying them for the happiness of mankind.
Even a person being born again is because God, through Jesus, made us new creations.
So why do people think they have come up with something new?
Very simply, 1:11 states that there is no remembrance . . .
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