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Illus: My plans fell apart when I took Jonah to the Cardinals game and the Arch.
(Because of construction we could not park anywhere within reason.)
What about Topeka?
We are under construction everywhere it seems like anymore.
We're waiting, maybe confused, and trying to figure out where the heck our exit is to get to what's next.
Maybe you can be confused by our plans here in the church.
You have seen a lot of changes the past couple of years, and many are waiting to see what the Lord does here in the future.
Fortunately, there's a great book that would talk about this.
It's Proverbs.
Let's go there right now.
Proverbs, chapter 16.
It's a great book about plans.
The focus of the proverbs, the upshot, the takeaway of the proverbs is that you need wisdom.
You absolutely need wisdom.
It's more profitable than gold.
It's more precious than a jewel.
Wisdom can be properly translated as skill.
If we're looking for wisdom, we're looking for skill, namely skill in the art of godly living.
I think the proverbs have a lot to say to us, because we all know we have plans.
What I hope is we know we need wisdom just as importantly.
Let's go to Proverbs 16 and see what the Lord would have us say.
Read: Proverbs 16:1-3
There are three questions I believe are driven out of this text we need to answer dealing with plans.
This is what we are going to spend the rest of our time with this morning.
1. _Who do your plans belong to?_
Okay, verse 1.
Who do our plans belong to?
Let's read it again.
"The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord."
Okay, so there are two answers to this question.
It's not a trick question.
There are your plans, and there are His plans.
Okay?
The word “plans” means preparation.
This doesn't mean impulses.
This isn't you driving down Topeka Blvd and you see Wendy’s.
Before you know it, you're in front of the drive-thru order, going, "What am I doing here?
Can I get a number five with a Dr. Pepper?" We're not talking impulses; we're talking plans.
This is preparation.
It would be used of an army being prepared for battle in their battle gear.
These are plans.
They're thought out.
For many of our plans, it doesn't get deeper than our hearts.
It says this is the plan of your heart.
Your heart constitutionally is a very basic identity word.
It's what you're determined to have, what you're motivated to have more than anything else.
These are your plans.
All of us are different in this room when it comes to our plans.
You have over-planners, and you have under-planners.
Right?
You have your guy who is going, "Hey, by the time I'm 29, I'm going to be the executive vice president here.
I'm going to live in this neighborhood.
I'm going to have this many kids."
Then you have 29-year-olds here who are like, "Man, I should really start thinking about getting a job."
We have folks who, when they envision what marriage would look like, it's five kids on a farm somewhere.
Then you have guys who look well into their thirties and forties and go, "You know, I'm more than okay with being a bachelor for the rest of my life."
All different kinds of plans in this room, all kinds of hopeful preparations underway here at The CPCC.
They're wonderful plans.
They're our plans.
They're the plans God has given us.
There's a second part to this verse.
The plans are ours.
They're our heart plans, but the answer to our plans comes from…whom?
Comes from the Lord.
Illus: When I take Addy on dates.
She likes IHOP followed with dessert.
It never fails, she mentions we need to have a date followed with dessert.
I oblige most of the time, and we go get dessert.
She is offers up this plan just about every couple of weeks, but it's ultimately my call as her grandfather if I want to give her that or not.
There's this kind of thing going on between the two that we must see that our plans are uniquely ours, but He has final rights.
One commentator says it's important for us to see the necessity and the limitations of planning, that the created or us in other words, gets the first word, but He gets the last.
Then you notice to whom the plans belong.
They belong to the Lord.
When you see Lord, when you see that word capital L-O-R-D, that's not just a lord.
That's Yahweh.
That's His personal name.
That's the same word that's used in Genesis in the creation story.
We're saying the God who hung Orion's Belt has intimately claimed a stake in the details of your life.
He has very much involved Himself into the minutia of your life.
In fact, I would go so far to say He is proud of that.
What makes the Hebrew story of creation so distinct is Yahweh/Elohim/God takes pride in getting his Hands dirty and being in the details.
He has claimed an intimate stake in the details of your life because in your plans, the answer ultimately comes from Him.
The second question to ponder on plans in this text is…
2. _What does God see in your plans?_
What does He see in our plans?
Well, I'd say two things.
He sees underneath your plans, and then He sees beyond your plans.
Let's read verse 2. Read Proverbs 16:2
2. What does God see in your plans?
If you looked at me in the face when I was 18 years old, I would have told you legitimately I would be playing football or writing funny commercials the rest of my life.
I'm telling you guys, I really, really, really thought I knew 30 years ago.
I thought I knew!
You think you know!
The Bible says you think you know!
The proverbs say we have this natural tendency, right?
Many see those under 35 expect rapid advancement, over-confident, and thinks they can have whatever they want to have.
There are some good qualities that come from that, but it also makes people think that everything they have in their hearts is within arm's length.
Then there are those of us north of 35.
We have plans, right?
What our family is going to look like.
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