Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
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What’s the Big Idea?
Don’t fall for the scam; live for the Truth!
What’s the Big Idea?
Intro:
Good morning.
If you have your Bible/app, turn to .
Hey, if you need a Bible, raise your hand and we will bring one to you.
And if you don’t already have one, you can keep that as our gift to you.
As always, you can follow along on the screen behind me.
If you haven’t noticed before, we are a church with a lot of kids!
This is a good thing - a really good thing!
Additionally, we have decided as a leadership team that it is good for all of us (including kids) to routinely be together, as a family, in the main service.
Which is one reason we don’t do River Kids every week.
But having, what I’ll call, family worship services, can also be challenging.
I’m sure you’ve noticed times where there’s a little extra noise during worship and the sermons.
Maybe it’s a beyblade flying across the floor.
Or, the sound of tiny voices talking or laughing.
Here at The River Church, we are okay with that.
Don’t get me wrong.
I do think it’s an opportunity to for kids to learn discipline and focus, but kids are kids.
And here’s the lesson for us adults - the sound of active kids means life is happening.
We like that!
If you haven’t noticed before, one our church motto is, “Where LIFE happens!”
But there’s another challenging thing - at least for me.
As the pastor of this church, I’m not just pastoring adults, but all ages.
And so when River Kids are in service, it’s my responsibility to try my best to make the message applicable to their lives too.
You’ve probably noticed that I don’t use a lot of big theological terms and many times I use newer illustrations.
My hope is both the five-year-old and the fifty-year-old will leave service each week with a greater understanding of Jesus, the Bible, and the gospel.
Speaking of the Bible, we teach the Bible here.
Its one of our core values.
And for those of us who are familiar with the Bible, you know it has a lot of adult content - just read the book of Judges and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Therefore, teaching the Bible and having kids in service can be challenging.
This morning, in & 18, we have a lot of adult content.
It’s not inappropriate but John uses adult language to symbolically represent what he sees in his vision.
And so here’s the deal...
This morning, with River Kids in service, I’m not going to go verse-by-verse through any sections.
Even if it’s symbolic, I don’t think it’s language our kids are ready for.
However, I will do my best to summarize both chapters, break down the content, and hopefully make applications to our lives from the Scriptures.
Deal?
Alright… let’s go!
Exegesis:
Last week, we finished with chapter 16 which discussed 7 angels pouring out the final 7 bowl judgments on Earth.
These are the final judgments before the return of Jesus.
Chapter 17 begins with one of those angels explaining to John a little bit more of what just happened - specifically expanding on the 7th bowl.
And so John sees a symbolic vision of a woman riding on top of a beast that stood over many waters.
The attraction of the woman and beast:
You know, Imma be real.
I know that I’m not the manliest-man.
I mean - I like man stuff.
I like sports.
I like things like UFC and cars or trucks with big powerful motors...
Some of you know that I used to be a street racer in my younger days (not that I’m advocating that!).
I recently got an F-150.
I love driving a truck.
It makes me feel like a man.
My dream truck is an F-150 Raptor.
I love the thought of driving a twin-turbo, 450 HP, 550 lbs of torque truck.
[Back to Revelation slide]
But… I also like nice stuff to...
Look - again, Imma be real.
I like things that look and smell nice.
For example:
One of the reasons Janelle has a Michael Kors purse is because I think purses look nice.
And so a couple of weeks ago, when we took a little trip, there was a Michael Kors outlet store, and “I” wanted to go in.
Judge me if you want.
Now, I don’t want a purse for myself, I just appreciate the design.
It’s pretty.
Also, I really like nice smelling candles.
The other week we went to the Big E - and again - I wanted to go into the onsite Yankee Candle store because I like smelling nice things.
Actually, part of my routine for writing my sermon involves lighting a scented candle so my office smells nice.
Hey, you better believe if we ever get a building or an office, it’s gonna smell nice in there!
But for realz - God gave us senses for a reason, right?
I think it’s okay for me as a man to appreciate nice things.
I think God created us to use our senses to be attracted to GOOD things.
If you read the Bible’s descriptions of both Eden and Heaven, they are nice!
You read the description and you’re like: I want to go there!
The problem is, sin entered the world and corrupted our senses.
Simply put, it made us sense things, be attracted to them, BUT THEN, desire and worship them!
That’s where we went astray.
Only God belongs on the throne of our heart.
So, we have to be careful with our senses and desires because it can lead to deception...
That’s what John sees in the vision of the woman and the beast:
The woman is described as attractive.
Many people want to be in relationship with her.
She’s also rich!
She’s got the best clothes on and the fanciest jewelry.
She’s also an influencer of culture.
She’s powerful and successful.
People listen and follow her.
They want to do what she does and be just like her.
She’s the ultimate VSCO girl.
[Back to Revelation slide]
Furthermore, the beast she is riding is powerful and intimidating.
The Bible says the beast is “full of blasphemous names” meaning it’s talking trash.
It’s very similar to the way Goliath talked trash against God and Israel in .
It caused people to bow down in intimidation.
To the natural senses, the woman and the beast are attractive.
They have qualities the world tells us we need in order to “be somebody.”
But… something just ain’t right...
The gross reality of the woman and beast:
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