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
0.54LIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.15UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.51LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.58LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.57LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.61LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.94LIKELY
Extraversion
0.23UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.8LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.76LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
TITLE:    Preparing for the BEST!     SCRIPTURE:    Matthew 25:1-13  \\ \\ You have heard people talk about preparing for the worst.
Whenever there is an earthquake or hurricane, people start talking about preparing for the worst.
\\ \\ What can we do to prepare for the worst?
The list goes on and on.
Perhaps that's why so few of us prepare for the worst.
Who has room to store all the things they say we need.
\\ \\ If disaster struck, we would be happy to have a house full of supplies.
It would be nice to have food for a week -- and coffee, oh please let there be coffee -- and a camp stove -- and propane -- and a tent -- and blankets -- and a first-aid kit -- the list just goes on and on.
Perhaps that is why so few of us are prepared for the worst.
\\ \\ But it is better to be a little prepared than not prepared at all.
One of the lessons from recent disasters is that drinking water is the most precious commodity.
We can live a long time without food.
I'm told that we can even live quite a while without coffee.
But we really need water.
To prepare for the worst, buy twenty or thirty gallons of water.
Mark the month and year on each jug.
Replace the jugs every three or four years.
It won't cost much, and it might save your life.
\\ \\ But so much for preparing for the WORST!
What about preparing for the BEST!  Has anyone ever told you to prepare for the best?
Probably not!
I never hear anyone say, "Prepare for the best, because you never know."
But why prepare only for the worst?
Why not be ready for the BEST as well?
\\ \\ How can we prepare for the best?
As one example, we might prepare ourselves to get a good job.
We know people who have jobs that we would love to have, but they got there first.
How did they get those jobs?
Maybe they were just lucky -- but more likely they were ready when the good jobs came around.
Perhaps they prepared by going to college.
Perhaps they learned a special skill.
Or maybe they just did a good job at their ordinary job -- and someone noticed.
In any event, when the window of opportunity opened, they were ready.
They were prepared for the best.
\\ \\ In our scripture today, Jesus talks about being prepared -- not for the worst, but for the best.
He told about a wedding.
People always enjoy weddings, but they enjoyed them even more in Jesus' day.
Life was hard.
People worked from sunup to sundown.
Weddings provided a much needed break from the routine -- a time to get together -- to celebrate -- to have fun.
The bride and groom would throw a party that would last almost a week.
There was food -- and wine -- and dancing.
\\ \\ Unlike our weddings that start at the church, their weddings started in the evening when the bridegroom came to the bride's house to escort her to their new home.
Friends would line the route, lighting their way with burning torches.
It was a grand and festive display.
\\ \\ It was a great honor to be invited to be a torchbearer for that procession -- like being invited to be a bridesmaid today.
The young women who agreed to serve as torchbearers were expected to be ready for the big day.
\\ \\ In Jesus' story, there were five wise and five foolish bridesmaids.
As they waited for the bridegroom, they grew weary and fell asleep.
All ten fell asleep -- not just the foolish five.
But the wise ones checked before going to sleep to insure that they had oil.
The foolish ones didn't bother.
\\ \\ When the bridegroom came, the bridesmaids woke.
The wise ones lit their torches, but the foolish ones had no oil.
They tried to borrow from the wise ones, but the wise ones refused.
They knew that if they gave away half their oil, the bridal procession would be brightly lighted for half the way but plunged into darkness the last half.
So they told the foolish bridesmaids to go and buy oil.
\\ \\ The foolish bridesmaids went to buy oil, but when they returned the procession was over.
The party had started without them.
The door was locked.
They knocked, but the bridegroom -- miffed that the foolish bridesmaids had nearly ruined the wedding -- refused to let them in.
They found themselves out in the cold.
\\ \\ So the wise bridesmaids enjoyed the fruits of being prepared for the BEST -- but the foolish bridesmaids were never able to join the party.
\\ \\ This wasn't really a story about weddings, of course.
Jesus told it to encourage us to prepare for the BEST.
We need to be ready for the great day when Jesus will come again -- when he will usher us into a kingdom where we will need no locks on the door -- or police -- or armies -- or security systems -- or hurricane warnings -- or cancer doctors -- or morticians.
Jesus told this story to encourage us to prepare for the BEST.
He told it to warn us that the unprepared will find themselves out in the cold.
He told it to encourage us to prepare for his Second Coming.
\\ \\ We have trouble getting excited about the Second Coming of Christ, because it seems remote.
Are we likely to see Jesus coming down from the sky today?
Probably not!
But maybe!
You never know!
I hope so!
That will be a wonderful day!
The BEST day! \\ \\ But we need to be prepared to meet Jesus in any event, because you never know.
I'm aware that I will die someday, and my death will end my time of preparation.
Whether I will die sooner or later, I don't know.
We associate death with older people, but it doesn't always work out that way.
In any event, I want to prepare for Jesus NOW so that I will be ready to meet him THEN.
\\ \\ So we need to be prepared to meet Jesus when he comes again.
\\ \\ And we need to be prepared for death.
\\ \\ But we also need to be prepared for life.
I fully expect to spend eternity in heaven, but even if that never happened Christ has already blessed my life.
He has given me a sense of purpose.
He has made me a better person.
He has helped me to experience blessings that I would otherwise have missed.
Christ has made it possible for me to experience the BEST in this life, and I believe that he will also make it possible for me to experience the BEST through eternity.
\\ \\ In Jesus' story about a wedding, the wise bridesmaids prepared for the coming of the bridegroom by making sure that they had oil for their torches.
In that story, of course, Christ is the bridegroom and his delayed coming is the Second Coming.
But what is the oil?
What do we need to be ready to see Jesus?
How can we prepare?
\\ \\ Scholars have debated this question, because it is important -- a matter of life and death.
I am sure that emergency medical technicians debate what kind of equipment they should carry in the ambulance, because someone's life might depend on it.
I know that they spend lots of time in training, because people's lives depend on it.
\\ \\ In like manner, Christians have asked how to prepare to meet Jesus.
What is the oil?
What is it that we need?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9