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
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Emotion
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Social Tendencies
Anger
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ME:
Superficial conversations - How are you?
Fine! Good.
Okay.
I try to answer honestly.
But sometimes it feels easier to tell a simple lie.
There are some moments, some days, some seasons where when someone asks me how I’m doing I should say, I’m Not okay.
I may look fine, talk/act normal.
But if I’m honest I’m not always okay.
I’m struggling.
You know what, I’m not alone.
WE:
I know that I’m not the only one who is NOT OKAY.
Cow image
back to Not Okay image
Today and the next few opportunities I have to preach, I want us to look at our emotional health.
This is a deeply personal topic.
I want to do my best to address this carefully.
We’ll be wading into mental health issues a bit too.
I want to start off by saying I hope my sermons don’t come across as a shallow call to try harder or pray more.
That’s not what I’m trying to say today.
I deeply believe that it’s really dangerous for us to avoid talking about this subject.
I hope that if you are in the middle of a struggle with some of these issues, that today will be the start of releasing your pressure valve.
That something I say is helpful for you.
I also want to say that I’m going to be sharing somethings today that I have noticed from many different people.
So don’t sit there thinking I’m spilling the beans on your secret.
If that’s you thinking I’m telling everyone about YOUR life, I want you to hear that this is the story of many of us in here today.
As your youth minister let me tell you something.
Many of our young people are hurting.
There are many students (not just here, but at school, in our community) who wrestle with anxiety, depression, and even suicidal ideations.
This is troubling!
Students I’m here for you, this church is here for you.
This series, I hope, will be helpful for you.
You know what I’ve found.
Adults wrestle with the same problems teenagers do.
The difference is as adults it seems to be harder for us to confess our problems.
We don’t want to admit it when we struggle.
Check out these GIFs that describe what this is like for us:
briefly show both the Office GIF and the Thumbs UP GIF.
As human beings, we struggle with our emotions.
We struggle to remain/become healthy.
In every aspect of the word.
Truth bomb: No one has it together, completely.
I struggle with anxiety.
That was probably less confessional than I was hoping for, because you probably already know that about me.
Although there is a wide range of what each of us struggle with.
There’s a side of this battle that is emotional in nature.
There is a side of this that is brain chemistry.
To be clear - depression is not feeling sad, and clinical anxiety is not just being worried about something.
If I say those words, I don’t use them lightly.
I’m not a therapist, I’m not here to give anyone therapy today.
Here’s what I’m trying to do today: I want you to know: I see you in your struggle.
I don’t have all the answers.
I love you.
Today I want to help us become more aware of the burdens each of has, I want us to develop empathy for each other.
I want to give you hope in your journey, and I want you to see the support you have during the struggle.
So sometimes we are unhealthy mentally or emotionally.
What do you think is the relationship between mental health and spiritual health?
Here’s what I know:
You can be spiritual healthy and struggling mentally.
You can be poor in both, you can be healthy in both.
You can be spiritually struggling and mentally healthy.
I do think it's possible that a spiritual struggle can lead to mental illness.
Not every mental illness has a spiritual component.
Don’t hear me say/oversimplify - If you’re depressed you’re a bad Christian.
Our spiritual health provides another facet of the health of our whole self.
Healthy spirituality contributes to wholeness.
Just like trainers and psychologists tell you your physical health has a bearing on your mental health.
Complex issues!
I’m not a therapist, I’m a bible student, I’m a preacher.
I want to try and address what could be the spiritual elements within these emotional and mental health issues.
GOD:
If we’re going to talk about the spiritual side of emotional health, let’s go to God’s word.
Just like our lives are often raw, we’re gonna see some pretty raw emotions here.
I want to show you a glimpse into how common the darker, honest, raw range of human emotions are common in the Bible.
Note: While Jesus is our counselor, he’s not our therapist.
The same clinical terms that we have today are not going to appear in the Bible.
Medicine/Psychology have changed a lot since then!
We have to do some digging, some empathizing sometimes to fill-in-the-blanks.
So many in the Bible: Saul, Jeremiah, Elijah, Moses, David, Jonah Judas, Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, etc.
All show us conflicted emotions!
Do you resonate with any of these?
<Psalms>
Of David
Can you believe David, KING DAVID wrestled with emotions like this?
This was a man after God’s own heart!
David wasn’t perfect.
Many of his laments and psalms of despair appear as a result of his own mistakes.
David is a good example of when spiritual illness can lead to emotional/mental illness.
Maybe David’s words catch your attention.
A habit I’m developing is “praying the scripture” using a portion of scripture, usually a psalm, and reading it as a source material for your prayers.
You make the Bible’s words your own.
Recently, I’ve found praying David’s words to be especially helpful.
Next, let me show you what is perhaps the darkest psalm/song/prayer in the Bible.
This is EXTREMELY raw.
I share this with you to show you that if you are in this struggle with your emotions/life, the Bible speaks your language.
Note, I don’t think this Psalm has good theology.
I don’t think his view of God is correct.
However, it’s in our Bible because it shows that we demonstrate FAITH in God even when we direct our rawest, most honest prayers at God, trusting that he hears them.
I hope you see that the Bible speaks your language.
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