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
0.19UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.47UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.56LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.54LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.85LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.69LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.41UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.06UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.49UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.25UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
§ Read Jeremiah 13:23.
A. Consider one of life's most fundamental and troublesome questions.
§ The Old Testament prophet phrased it like this: Can a leopard change its spots?
§ We might ask it differently: can people change?
Can I change?
§ Can you--not even will you, but can you ever be any different that you are right now?
B. For lots of people, maybe all of us, this is no academic question.
§ *John* is an alcoholic.
He has finally admitted it after years of failure.
But can he change or is he doomed to die a drunk?
§ *Jane* started her marriage on the right track, but somewhere something went wrong.
She had an affair, left her husband and broke her parent's heart.
Now her new life has fallen apart and she wants to go back.
Can she change?
Can a leopard change its spots?
§ *Bobby* is a troubled teen.
He was messed up before that, always in trouble.
He has dropped out of school and is running with the wrong crowd.
His step dad has given up.
Mom is at her wits end.
The neighbors say he is no good.
Can he change?
§ *Warren* is the pillar of the church.
He has held it together for years - so most people say.
Others say he has held it back for years.
He is a worker, no one can dispute.
But he is also angry, bitter man.
On the outside he is deeply religious, but inside he is a mess.
His memories are full of hurts, doubts, and secret sin.
Can next year be any different?
Can a leopard change its spots?
C. On and on the stories could go.
§ We could all tell them.
We all know them.
If not our own, then those of people we know and love.
§ Can life ever be different?
Can next year be better than last?
§ Can I get out of debt and on top of my finances and stay there?
§ Can I be a better parent or husband or wife?
Can a leopard change its spots?
§ Can I overcome anger or an enslaving habit that I can't break despite years of N.Y.'s resolutions?
§ Can we ever become the kind of bold, disciplined Christians preachers talk about?
Or will this year be like last - a flurry of good intentions in January, limping into disappointment in February?
D. What do you think?
Can people really change?
Can a leopard change its spots?
§ As church-going types we know what we are supposed to say.
§ But do we really believe that people can fundamentally change?
E. Some people say yes.
§ Of course, people can change, we are told.
§ It is simply a matter of education or training or re-training or rehabilitation.
§ Many of our best social programs are based on this.
From welfare reform, to counseling and 12-step groups, to psychological therapy - all presume the ability of people to change or be changed.
§ Most of these efforts are well intended.
Some seem to accomplish a little bit for a little while.
F. On the other hand, there are many cynics in our world.
§ Some have concluded that people simply don't change, period.
§ More than that, people can't change.
§ Some point to one's surroundings and say that a person can never rise above their upbringing.
§ More and more folk are looking for genetic explanations for why people are the way they are.
§ Bad seed produces bad fruit and there is nothing that can be done about it, is the principle.
§ We live in an age that doesn't like to place blame, or hold people responsible for bad actions.
§ The popular view is to explain behavior as conditioned responses or genetically determined actions.
§ The issue is not whether upbringing or heredity has some role in behavior.
They certainly do.
§ Popular view goes way beyond to insist that some behavior is pre-determined & can’t be changed.
§ The truth is the scientific evidence for such conclusions is very weak, despite everything you hear.
G. Some of us are cynics about ourselves.
§ You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
I am just too set in my ways.
§ I am just not a religious person.
My parents weren't church goers so I guess I never will be either.
§ If I ever came to church, the roof would probably fall in.
H. Some of us are cynics about others.
§ He will never change.
§ You know his kind.
You know what they are like.
§ She's from the wrong side of the tracks.
She will never amount to anything.
§ You can't trust her.
You remember what she did.
§ There is no use talking to him about Christ.
He will never change.
§ Some are overly optimistic, thinking that people can be changed if you use the right techniques.
§ Other see things just the opposite.
People can't change, we are told by many.
§ The Bible has a third view.
It is very important to understand this.
§ Without this perspective, the Bible will always be a frustrating book of rules and laws for you.
§ It will never be a source of hope and transforming power.
§ Put simply, the Bible teaches that we humans are sinners.
A. Our behavior is messed up because our heads and our hearts are messed up.
§ We are bent and broken and not at all what God intended us to be.
§ You can philosophize about the whys but the result is clear.
§ Something is wrong and until it is fixed we are forever failing to do what we know we should.
B. But God didn't leave things there.
§ From the beginning, he set in motion a plan that could result in the restoration of human kind.
§ Jesus Christ came into the world to bring that plan about.
§ The result: personal, spiritual, and moral change is hard.
It is rare.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9