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
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.07UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.61LIKELY
Sadness
0.52LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.71LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.91LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.79LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.85LIKELY
Extraversion
0.08UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.91LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.61LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Today is the final week of our series, Hope Is Here.
It has been so encouraging to gather as a church and uncover all the ways that we find home in our relationship with Jesus Christ and our relationships with one another.
The first week we learned that there is hope for the weary because we don’t have to carry our burdens on our own.
The second week, we discovered that there is hope for the broken because forgiveness is offered to us in love.
This final week we deal with one of the hardest places to find hope.
Is there hope for the doubter?
Have you ever heard a piece of information that you had a hard time believing was true?
Maybe it seemed so outlandish that it made you doubt.
Maybe it was too good to be true and so it made you skeptical.
I want to pose some questions to you, and I need you to decide if you trust it or doubt it.
If you trust it, put your hand in the air.
If you doubt it, keep your hand down.
Did you know that every day, on average, 11 banks are robbed in the U.S.? Trust it or doubt it?
It’s true!
Did you know you are more likely to be stung by a bee in windy weather?
Trust it or doubt it?
It’s false.
Did you know they have square watermelons in Japan because they stack better?
Trust it or doubt it?
It’s true.
Did you know penguins can smell toothpaste from a mile away?
Trust it or doubt it?
It’s false.
It’s hard to tell what to trust and what to doubt.
Doubt has become a common occurrence for many of us within our culture today.
There are people that we know well who have failed us, and it causes us to doubt.
There is so much false information shared on social media that it may cause us to doubt everything.
You can even trust the news because of political bias!
This past season of Covid-19 has caused many to doubt because we wonder where God is in the middle of it.
Seeing a world that is full of hurt and pain makes us doubt whether God is indeed good.
If God were really good, would He stop bad things from happening?
People doubt for all kinds of reasons.
I would argue that the problem is not the doubt itself, but rather, how we handle our doubt.
Mishandled skepticism often results in a lack of hope.
We certainly are not alone in this struggle.
After Jesus’ crucifixion, his friends were heartbroken because their hopes and dreams of a new and better world under the rule of God’s kingdom had seemingly ended.
It was not until Jesus miraculously began to show up in his resurrected form that word started to spread among the disciples that perhaps Jesus was alive!
There was one disciple, named Thomas, who refused to believe.
Thomas gets a bad rap in the Church as some kind of stuffy skeptic.
He is too often viewed as a grumpy old cynic.
However, if we are truthful, Thomas comes to this place of skepticism and doubt honestly.
He just watched his mentor of three years be brutally killed on a cross.
The thought of getting his hopes up about a resurrection that would defy all logic may have been just too hard to wrap his mind around.
He was more than likely looking to protect himself from further pain.
Thomas says that he will not believe unless he sees evidence in front of his eyes that he can see and touch.
WE DOUBT TO PROTECT OURSELVES
Truthfully, we are a lot like Thomas.
We want to avoid disappointment.
The doubt that we often express is a way of keeping ourselves from getting our hopes up
that things in our life can improve,
that God can answer our prayers,
or that God loves us.
Thomas did not want to believe that Jesus was alive because he did not want to be let down.
We often do not want to believe and hope because we are afraid that God will not come through.
Think about it: What is the first thing we say when we are given good news?
We respond with, “No way,” or, “You have got to be kidding me.”
We respond first with doubt because we want to protect ourselves.
Occasionally, it takes time to let hope rise.
We want to avoid being wrong.
OK, so it’s not just disappointment that we are afraid of, we don’t want to be wrong.
We want to get our facts straight.
We would rather be correct, than be corrected.
More than wanting to believe, we want to be believable.
The problem is that you don’t know what you don’t know.
The fact is, what we know or what we can know is limited.
A week after Thomas tells the others that he refuses to believe their reports, he and the disciples find themselves together in a locked room, when suddenly the source of hope arrives.
Without much explanation, Jesus, in the flesh, shows up in this locked room with the disciples.
They must have been shocked to the core.
In fact, the first words Jesus speaks to them are “peace be with you,” perhaps to calm their fears.
Whom does he speak to first?
Thomas.
The doubter.
The one who refused to believe that he was alive.
Notice how he addresses him.
Jesus does not reprimand him for his doubt.
He does not belittle him for his skepticism.
He does not ridicule him for needing proof.
No, he invites Thomas to see for himself.
He says, “Put your fingers in the scars in my hands and side.”
JESUS IS NOT AFRAID OF OUR DOUBT
There are many in the church today who are struggling with their faith.
Be honest about your doubts.
They have lost hope that Jesus is who they thought he was.
The usual response to those in the church who doubt is to shame them or to shun them.
I believe Jesus’ response would be much different.
I believe he would welcome the questions.
He would welcome the conversation.
He would welcome the wrestle.
I think this is because he knows that honest doubt will find honest answers.
So how should the Church respond to those who have doubts in a way that would be on par with Jesus’ response to Thomas?
Understand the reasons for your doubts.
First, the Church should listen to those who doubt for what they are not saying as much as what they are saying.
Where does the doubt come from?
Where is the hurt?
Where is the pain?
Where is the struggle?
You show me a congregation who is willing to listen, and I will show you a church that is providing hope to the hopeless.
Second, the Church should empathize and express compassion.
When people let themselves feel others’ hurt, pain, and struggle, then they are better equipped to meet that need and build a bridge back to faith and hope.
Move through your doubts.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9