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
0.5LIKELY
Disgust
0.14UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.57LIKELY
Sadness
0.48UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.66LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.61LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.81LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.77LIKELY
Extraversion
0.15UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.75LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Slides
*1*
*2*
* *
*The Most Important Thing in the Entire World*
Prayer:
*Introduction:*
Importance, that’s what I want to talk to you about today.
What's important.
If you watch T.V. or read magazines the world tells you what’s important.
Beauty is important.
That’s what’s important in the world we live in, the great make-over either your body or the house.
What’s important to our lives differs depending on our ages.
For my 13 year old daughter, Carla, her mobile phone is very important.
She would like to txt 24 hours a day if we let her.
If we take her phone off her she feels like a part of her is missing.
That’s a good disciplinary tool by the way, taking the phone of the kids for bad behaviour.
For my 5 year old different things are important, he wants to play and have fun but he also wants to be loved and to feel important.
James wants to play on the computer.
When we look around us we see how other people live.
How they live tells us a little about what they think is important.
For some, power is important, for others money or maybe both.
But that’s not what is necessarily important for all people.
For many people the *Great Australian Dream* is important.
Owning your own home and finally paying it off.
What about living a quiet life peacefully getting along with your neighbours?
So what I want you to do today is to think about,
what is important to *YOU*
and to *YOUR* life.
What I want to do today is examine something that should be important to us all no matter our age.
It’s not important because I said so but because the Bible says it’s important.
*3*
*4*
* *
*5*
* *
* *
*6*
Today I want to talk to you about the *Kingdom** of Heaven *and how valuable it is: and, how valuable the Kingdom of Heaven should be to us.
Bible Reading:
Read: *Matt 13:44-46*
This is one of the parables Jesus spoke among a group of parables.
In this parable Jesus outlines the importance of the Kingdom of Heaven for us.
First I would like to give some indication of what the Kingdom of God or Heaven is.
*Graeme Goldsworthy *an Australian defined the Kingdom of God as *God’s People in God’s Place under God’s Rule*.
We have people in a relationship with God in the place where God would have them live as they live according to God’s standards.
*God’s People in God’s Place under God’s Rule.*
With this understanding in mind we shall examine this parable.
What we want to examine here is three things that happened to both of these men.
First there was the *discovery*, second the *response* and the *motivation* for their response.
*Discovery:*
The first man was simply working, going about his daily life, minding his own business.
He wasn’t looking for anything when suddenly he found it, a treasure.
*Recount Israelite practices if needed.*
The second man had been seeking pearls.
He knew there was something to seek.
He found a treasure, the pearl of great price.
He wasn’t satisfied with the ordinary or the mundane.
There are many people in the world, some just getting on with life and others seeking something.
Most people I know are not seeking the Kingdom of God.
They are seeking other things, things that are important to them.
Houses, cars, boats an education and so on, almost anything but religion and certainly not faith in Christ.
One guy at my work is seeking a spiritual life, but it’s a spiritual life of his own creation.
It’s a bit of a mix of all the things he finds appealing in Buddhism and other New Age practices.
But of Christianity, he’s really not interested at all.
Nor was I seeking the Kingdom of Heaven when I was younger.
Someone was telling me about salvation and faith in Jesus and what I heard that’s what I wanted.
I hadn’t been seeking God he sought me.
In a way the Kingdom of Heaven was something I stumbled upon.
The second man was seeking something.
Some people have explored other religions to find them false.
The may have heard of the God of the Bible and are seeking to find and know Him.
Think of the *Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-38* (Phillip) or *Cornelius in Acts 10 *(Peter).
They had heard of God, were seeking to follow God but needed to be shown the truth of what they sought so they could come to salvation.
Likewise the second man was seeking pearls and he found the pearl of great price.
One of the things that occurs in our lives is that we know the value of things.
We wouldn’t pay $50 to see a movie when we know it should only be around $12.
We know how much a loaf of bread is, we know the value of a car or even a house.
What is the value of the Kingdom of Heaven?
What was it for these men and what is it for us?
*7*
*8*
*9*
The bible here tells us that these two men both found something, a treasure.
I don’t know if you have ever thought about a treasure.
Does anyone have a treasure?
If you do just give me your address and I’ll be back soon (just kidding).
I’m afraid I don’t have a treasure.
If you imagine a treasure, it’s something of great value.
I think of the Crown Jewels of England Fort Knox and the gold and bullion.
Of course the obvious question is: What do you do if you find a treasure?
You try to get it for yourself.
That’s what these men did.
*Response:*
Both of these men went and sold all that they had for the treasure.
This tells us something about how valuable they considered the treasure.
To sell all that you have for something you must think it is of great value.
That is the primary purpose of theses two parables that Jesus tells.
The Kingdom of Heaven is Valuable.
The Kingdom of Heaven is valuable beyond measure.
We see in the lives of these two men *total commitment* in seeking to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.
They were not half hearted but gave everything to possess the kingdom.
*Excursus: Caution*: Now I don’t want you to think they were earning their salvation.
No this parable only teaches about the value of the kingdom not how we gain admittance to the kingdom.
When we examine parables we can see that they teach truth and doctrine, and that truth must match up with other portions of scripture.
Jesus teaches about admittance or receiving the kingdom in the *parable of the sower* whereby you receive the message of the kingdom and by doing so receive what Christ has done for you.
That’s how we are saved, by receiving Christ.
This parable teaches about the importance of the kingdom.
*10*
* *
*11*
The kingdom of God was important to both of these men.
So much so that they forsook all to gain the kingdom.
What about you?
What about me?
Do we think the Kingdom of God is valuable?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9