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
0.14UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.65LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.52LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.75LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.71LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.49UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.07UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.79LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.45UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Hope for the Defeated
"God recycles."
He transforms lives.
He restores.
The messenger of this hope is Zephaniah.
We don’t know much about him, but we do know his ancestry:
Zeph, you see was an aristocrat… he was the grandson of King Hezekiah.
But instead of investing himself in the political side of life, he chose to pursue the things of God.
As we will see, Zeph took a passionate stand against religious and moral depravity in his society.
While he had a strong message for the people, he was entirely hopeful as to what God was going to do.
Zeph ministered, like Habakkuk, during the reign of Josiah, so I think it’s important to take a moment and remind us of who this is because he is an important figure in the story of the OT.
You’ve probably heard of King David, the greatest King of Israel, he had many sons, but one of his youngest, Solomon, would follow him on the throne.
Following his death, in the rule of his son Rehoboam, Israel divided… over taxes.
The North would become known as Israel, the South Judah.
Scripture says that the North had no good kings… meaning, Godly men as kings.
They all led the people to worship foreign Gods.
In the south, there were a few really good ones… and a bunch not so good.
One of the most Godly was King Hezekiah.
His son and Grandson were terrible, ungodly men.
But then came Josiah.
King Josiah: The Last Good King
2 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell us his story.
Became King when he was 8… Leading one of the most powerful nations in the world....
You and I were in 3rd grade excited about recess.
16 years old… Seeking the Lord
20 years old… Driving out idolatry
26 years old… Reopen and purify the temple
Convicted of God’s word
God’s Messenger: Zephaniah
This is the environment where Zephaniah comes into ministry.
There are great things happening in the life of Judah… but just like any where else, not everything is great.
Have you ever found that to be true in your life.
When things are going great, just under the surface, there are real problems brewing.
Often times we don’t appreciate it until we can look back and see how it affected us, but that’s what makes prophetic leaders so helpful to the people of God.
Prophetic leaders don’t overlook problems… they see things as they truly are… and then they shine a light on them.
Reality #1: Sin of Idolatry
Baal - Canaanites
Molek - Ammonites
Idolatry is a heart condition: craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything more than God
Do I love or treasure anything or anyone more than God?
Do I prioritize anything or anyone before God?
Does anything bring me more pleasure than the things of God?
Do I place my identity in anything over my status as a child of God?
Do I look to anything or anyone to meet my needs instead of God?
Do I seek fulfillment or satisfaction from anything outside of God?
Do I seek comfort outside of God?
True freedom is found under God’s authority.
Money
Am I drawing a sense of stability from God, or from a fat savings account?
Nice things
Do I love the things money can buy more than I love God? Do they bring me more joy than the things of the Lord?
Careers
does my career bring me more satisfaction than my relationship with God? Do I identify more as a #girlboss than a child of God? Do I trust my employer to provide for my needs, more than I trust God?
Hobbies
Maybe the toughest question of all, do I invest time and energy into my hobby, that I should be investing into time with God?
Appearance
More concerned with how I look to the world rather than to God?
Love interest
Am I looking to my spouse/etc to “complete me”?
Children
Do we give ourselves to our kids more than to God?
Family/Relationships
But we have to ask ourselves, am I seeking fulfillment from this relationship?
Am I looking to them for things that I’m supposed to be drawing from God?
Problem #2: Complacency
"God's not doing anything about anything, so why should we?
Why should we care about communing with God?
Why should we care about honoring Him?
Why should we care about worshiping Him?
Why live for Him?"
Usually we wait until the last minute… keeping God on the shelf like the elf
25 years ahead… God sent Zeph
True freedom is found under God’s authority.
Our hope: The Day of the Lord
Day of the Lord… day when God exercises his authority…
All throughout the first 2 chapters this coming Day of the Lord is to be feared… It’s God’s warning, years in advance that you better get right with God because destruction is coming on the Day of the Lord…
But God’s desire isn’t destruction… God’s desire is the love of his people… he tells them in chapter 2:
True Freedom is found under God’s Authority
God singing.
Have you ever thought of that?
Normally we think of us singing in heaven, us worshiping, angels singing - but God, singing?
When you approach God with humility, broken, and submit your life to Jesus Christ, He rejoices over you with gladness; He quiets you with His love; He rejoices over you with loud singing.
And I want to stress this, He's not singing because of what we've done or accomplished.
He's singing because of what Jesus Christ has done in giving His life for us, that in Him we might once again be in God's presence, as it was intended, and this is why God sings.
While our God is a just God, a jealous, and a righteous God.
While God has wrath, and we see it in Scripture - He's also a God of mercy, a God of grace, a God of love.
Don't let the enemy tell you that God could never love you.
Don't let him tell you that "this is the time you've messed up too much.
You could never come back from that."
Don't let him tell you that "Because of all these things you've done, God's never going to forgive you," "You're broken.
You're just trash."
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9