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
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
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Anger
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* *
*We usually start a sermon with something funny,*
*so:*
* *
*A psychologist told a friend of mine, *
*that if he wanted to feel better about himself, *
*he should finish whatever he started.*
* *
*He told me that he finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake.*
* *
*And he feels better.
*Aren't you glad that God finished what He started.*
* *
*Tonight, I’d liked to give my interpretation of what happened in the life of Mary and Joseph.*
The town of Nazareth
Some people think that the name *Nazareth *
*comes from the hill* that is located right behind it.
You can see for a long way from the top of that hill.
The name *Nazareth comes from the Hebrew /notserah/ *
which means one guarding or one watching,
referring to the hill which overlooks and guards.
The city of Nazareth is *not mentioned in the Old Testament.*
* *
Nazareth is *the town that Jesus grew up in* and
where he began his ministry (Matt.
13:54).
*It was here that the people were so offended that they tried to throw him over edge of the cliff* where their city was built
(Luke 4:29).
*Modern day Nazareth *
is *located on the steep slope of a hill,*
about 14 miles from the Sea of Galilee and
about 6 miles west of Mount Tabor.
Today It is *called en-Nazirah,*
which probably means ‘*a watch tower*
and has about *six or ten thousand people* living there.
It lies “as *in a hollow cup”*
farther down the hill from where the ancient city was.
*The main road* between Egypt and the interior of Asia
passes by Nazareth
near the foot of Mount Tabor,
and then on to the north, to Damascus.
*The population* in the time of Christ was probably
*15,000 or 20,000 people*.
THE STORY OF MARY AND JOSEPH
(MY INERTPRETATION)
1.
Somehow or other *a marriage was arranged* between Joseph and Mary.
In those times a marriage had *two stages*.
*The first stage* was similar to the engagement period that we know today,
except that this period was taken far more seriously
and was in fact a binding contract.
2.
During this engagement period between Joseph and Mary
*the angel Gabriel* appeared to Mary
telling her that she was going to become pregnant
by the Holy Spirit.
And that her relative Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant.
3.
Soon after the angel left Mary,
*she went to visit* her relative Elizabeth
who was already six months pregnant.
*4.
**Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months *
until Elizabeth delivered John.
/(The Baptist)/
/ /
5.
After this three-month stay with Elizabeth, *Mary went*
*back to Nazareth* and by now she was three months pregnant and showing.
6.
*When Joseph found out* that Mary was pregnant, he was very upset.
But he had a good heart and so he decided to quietly divorce her, not wanting to make a spectacle of her pregnancy.
7.
Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in *a dream* and convinced him that Mary’s pregnancy was no ordinary thing.
It was the fulfillment of *the prophecy* that a virgin would conceive and bare a son.
(*Isaiah 7:14)*
*8.
*So Joseph believed God, changed his mind and *didn’t divorce Mary.
*
In fact he took her home with him but didn’t have relations with her until after the baby was born.
9.
Now that Joseph and Mary are on the same page, the story continues.
They spend the next six months *making plans for the baby* to be born there in their home town of Nazareth
with all their families present.
BABY SHOWERS
10.
But the problem was that *God had prophesied*
His son would be born in Bethlehem
so *God had Caesar Augustus declare a census*
so that Joseph and Mary had to go to the city
of their ancestors.
The city of David or Jerusalem.
*11.
*So now Joseph and Mary’s *plans have gone out the window.*
12.
They probably thought *God, what are you doing?*
We don’t understand.
13.
But, this was a trip that they had to make
so they packed what they had
and *put nine month pregnant Mary on the back of a donkey*.
Now I gotta believe that a donkey is not an easy animal to ride on even when you’re not pregnant.
There’s that backbone sticking up right where you have to sit.
14.
Well *Mary rode on this donkey* all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem
while carrying a fully developed baby in her womb.
15.
The trip must have taken *several days*.
16.
I think that *this trip* may have been
what *initiated her delivery*.
17.
She could have been *having contractions* while Joseph was trying to find a room for them in Bethlehem.
18.
Once again they may have been saying,
*God, where are you?
*
*Everything’s going wrong.
*
*Why aren’t you helping us here?*
19.
When they did find accommodations,
it was *a smelly old stable located out back* behind the inn.
20.
It was here that Mary’s contractions became closer and closer until she delivered her baby.
There *in an unsanitary corner* of a place meant for animals; there *on a pile of straw,*
*she delivered; the Son of God.*
* *
21.
After her baby was born,
all she had to wrap him in was *some rags* that she had.
22.
The *only place she had to lay him was in a trough* a place where the animals ate their food.
23.
*Talk about being in poverty*.
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