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.
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Anger
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Fear
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
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Judging People is a Popular Sport
God uses surprising people
Everyone is welcome to pursue God
EVERYONE.
All races.
Men, Women, Children, whatever pronouns they use, however they identify, God loves them so we will love them.
You don’t have to give approval to everyone’s lifestyle to love them.
But you do have to care about more than just their lifestyle.
You don’t have to understand everything about someone’s ethnic culture to be able to love them.
But you do have care about their culture, their language, their family.
You can’t just expect people to always make it easy for you.
Does someone have to fully adopt your exact language, dress, and habits for you to see them as a whole person?
Do you have respect for people who are different than you?
General Colin Powell recently passed away.
He served his country for 33 years.
He had to overcome a lot of prejudice along the way.
But he was that special kind of person who learned how to rise above and eventually how to bring people together.
But his experience isn’t typical.
Many people of color are discounted no matter how well they perform.
I’m not talking about political ideology here.
I’m talking about what I’ve observed with my own two eyes and heard with my ears.
Whatever you think of his politics or all of his actions, we all eventually saw the level of achievement Powell was capable of, but many early people he encountered didn’t see that potential.
All some could see was a large young black man.
For many people a large young black man is a threat.
If he steps onto an elevator people get nervous.
If his complexion had been darker he might have had an even more difficult time.
A good man.
A hard working man come from good hard working people.
But Powell had to break down the stereotypes through actions that met such a high standard he could not be denied.
Let’s go back to Cornelius.
He’s risen to the rank of a Roman centurion.
A proven leader of 100 men or more.
And he’s a good man.
He gives to the poor.
He’s seeking the one true God despite being surrounded by a pagan culture that values power and riches.
But all of that would only get him so far in most synagogues of the time.
Even Peter who had just stood up at Pentecost and seen the gospel go out in many languages to all kinds of people, wasn’t prepared to fully accept someone like Cornelius.
He’s a Roman.
He’s not Jewish by birth.
He’s a Roman centurion.
The list goes on.
Peter might not bother to find out if he gives to the poor or prays and tries to follow God.
Just by looking at him he knows he’s unclean.
Or he thinks he does.
This is going to limit how the message of Jesus goes around the world.
So many seekers won’t be found under this prejudice.
God was up to something big.
Peter had been trained to look at the world one way.
God did not waste anytime totally changing his outlook.
Everyone is welcome to follow Jesus
We tend to line people up in categories:
Jew/Gentile Male/Female Slave/Free Here’s what God says about that:
Could we add: Black/White?
Could we add Hispanic or LantinX and white?
Some are conditioned to hate on sight anyone who looks different.
But in the church it’s becoming clear by this point in the story that God is having none of this.
We can’t denigrate anyone because of their background.
We can’t treat someone less because of their color.
Even if we don’t agree with their lifestyle we are called to love people.
Anyone who is willing to follow Jesus and his guidelines is welcome to join the journey.
Peter has the vision.
A sheet comes down full of unclean animals.
Take Peter, kill and eat.
No Lord, I’ll never do it.
He thinks it’s a test of his morality.
In a way it is.
Will you cling to an idea that you have applied wrongly?
Or will you hear God say, clean?
Peter wakes up as there’s a knock at the door.
God didn’t give him too much time to overthink it.
He goes with these men.
They also are good men.
Peter arrives to a houseful of people Cornelius had found and loved and guided toward God.
This man who wasn’t supposed to count because of his race.
This good man God saw.
Don’t call anything unclean that I have called clean.
More importantly, don’t call anyONE unclean that I have called clean.
A house full of people ready to hear what Peter has to say.
God is really trusting Peter that he has learned this lesson very quickly.
Cornelius is trusting that God has sent the right man to the right moment.
Peter nails it.
He explains the grace and forgiveness of God.
He settles it once and for all that the gospel is for everyone.
God settles it once and for all that as Christians we are called to let go of prejudice and embrace others.
Everyone is challenged to live God’s way
So God accepts people of any background.
But in stepping forward in faith people step away from old ways of life and into a new reality.
Anyone who confesses Jesus as Lord, makes a commitment to do what is right.
Nobody is perfect.
But God gives us the power to change.
We may not achieve perfect performance but we can be filled with perfect love.
And let’s put a few things in perspective.
You are probably all from gentile descent.
So you had no chance to know Jesus apart from this moment.
Here’s another fact: Christianity has existed continuously on other continents much longer than ours.
Africa, for example.
We are all outsiders so how dare we exclude anyone from the good news.
But don’t worry: God has the same expectations, nobody is getting a discount.
But chances are you naturally focus on problems other people have but miss or overlook a few of your own.
It’s best to focus on your own obedience rather than what you think others should do
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