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
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.67LIKELY
Confident
0.42UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.77LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.95LIKELY
Extraversion
0.51LIKELY
Agreeableness
0.92LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.79LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Red rag = good luck
Steve Waugh red rag
Carried on him at all times when batting.
He believed it bought him good luck.
Deeply held belief that drove his actions.
This red rag brings me good form.
Therefore I must preserve it and take it with me out into the middle everytime I bat.
Convictions
All of us have convictions.
All of us have beliefs and principles that we know to be true and we strive to let those convictions drive our actions.
But it’s easier said than done sometimes I think.
Often in fact when we feel regret or remorse, it’s usually because our behaviour has gone against one of our deeply held convictions.
And even more interestingly often times we don’t spend much time deeply thinking about what our convictions are.
And it’s only after the fact when we do something or don’t do something and our conscience rears its head that perhaps we start to think about what exactly are our deeply held beliefs.
If we want to be people of integrity.
We need to be people of conviction.
And if we want to live out our convictions.
We need to think about what they are.
And as Christians, we want our convictions to be shaped not by tradition, or culture, or our own thoughts (reason) about what we like.
No we want them to be shaped by God.
And he shapes them by His Spirit working through the Bible to reveal to us what are the deep theological truths upon which we should live.
Our Convictions
As a Diocese, and as a local church we have 5 stated convictions.
When Bishop Richard Condie launched the vision back at Synod in 2017 he said:
“Convictions… are settled beliefs and principles that we know to be true and that ought to drive our actions.
Convictions are corrective.
Challenging our wrong behaviour and taking us on the right path.
They are inspirational.
The truths we know about God and his mission inspire us to turn towards him.”
Our five convictions are:
1. Jesus Christ is head of the Church
2. And he has sent us to make disciples
3.
By word, prayer and service
4. Supported by fruitful godly leaders
5. God being our provider, and us stewards of his gifts.
Why do a series on our convictions?
We’re heading into our Annual Meeting and so it’s a chance for us to corporately think about what ought to be driving our decision making as a church.
We heard last week about unity.
If we align ourselves with these convictions as a whole, we will find greater unity as we get on with being a church for Lindisfarne, making disciples of Jesus.
There’s a chance that at this point in time, our convictions are 5 points on a page that no one remembers.
I hope that these are more than just 5 points on page, but actually are an accurate reflection of our deeply held beliefs as a church.
I hope you’ll feel a greater sense of belonging when you realise you’re on about the same things we’re on about as a church as we work through them.
Conviction 1: Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church
What does this mean?
We’re confident of what we do in this church because we know God is working out his soverign purposes.
Everything we do is done in humble and obedient service to his lordship.
But is this idea true?
Absolutely.
We saw it in our first reading in Ephesians
And if we kept reading Paul’s letters in the NT, we would see this idea come up again and again in places like:
Eph 4:15
Eph 5:23
1 Cor 11:3
Col 1:18
But it’s not just Paul.
Jesus himself speaks of his authority and power over and for the church.
In places like John 20:21, Matthew 10:1 and Matthew 28:19 - as Jesus is sending out the disciples on mission he does so with his authority as head of the church which he recieves from the Father.
Likewise we see Jesus’ attitude and leadership/lordship of the church clearly in Matthew 16:18.
As Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus says,
Jesus is going to build his church and protect his church for all eternity based on the foundation of those who profess Christ as lord.
And so we could dig deeper into any number of passages to get a better understanding of this conviction of ours, that Jesus Christ is head of the church.
But I thought today we’d take a look at Colossians, our second reading, where Paul outlines the supremancy of Jesus.
His lordship over not just the church, but all the world.
Let’s take a look, Paul makes 3 big points and outlines one response.
He says Jesus, the Son:
1. Shows us who God is
You want to worship God, you have to worship Jesus.
You want to know what God is like?
You look at Jesus.
If you don’t like saying the name Jesus or worshipping Jesus in all you say and do, then you don’t like God.
You take away Jesus and you lose God.
Jesus is God.
2. Creator and sustainer and therefore boss of the world
Because Jesus made everything and sustains everything he is the boss of all things.
We worship Jesus because he made us and he sustains us.
And if that’s true, if nothing happens outside his creating and sustaining power, then he is indeed fully trustworthy as he is able to deliever on his promises to grow the church and save his people.
(So Jesus is God.
He made everything and sustains everything… and…)
3. Head of the church
Jesus is head of the church because of what he’s done for the church.
Dying on the cross and rising to new life and reconciling the world to God through the cross.
The church stands out from the rest of the world because as his body we are the ones who stand out from the world in acknowledging who is really running the show.
It isn’t us.
It is Jesus.
So if Jesus is God, is the creator and sustainer, and the head of everything including the church.
What should our response as the church be?
Our response?
Hold onto the gospel and serve it’s proclomation.
Do you realise what Jesus has done for you?
You were God’s enemy.
But now you have been reconciled.
We know the immense difficulty of bringing about true reconcilliation in this country.
But God has done the impossible.
He has made peace where there was none.
He has bought life where there was death.
He has bought purity where there was only filth and shame.
How did God do this?
Jesus died on the cross for you.
This is the heart of our faith.
This is the gospel, the good news.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9