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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Keys are very handy if you know how to use them.
Did you hear about the lady standing beside a car in the parking lot, pushing her remote unlock on her car?
A guy asks her what the problem is, and she tells him she can’t get the car unlocked.
How in the world will she get home?
He asks for her keys, slides the key into the door lock, and says with a smile, /why don’t you just drive?
/
I keep a set of keys with me every time I leave my house.
They are known as THE keys: a key to the front door, a key to the van, a couple of keys to the church, and a couple of mystery keys to what I really don’t know.
Each keys is unique because it unlocks only certain doors.
My house key won’t start the car, my car key won’t fit your vehicle’s ignition.
Even my mystery keys must fit a lock somewhere, if only I could jump start my feeble memory.
In many ways, the key to success is unique.
It only opens one door, but what a door: the door to life lived to the fullest, the door to deep satisfaction and happiness that lasts.
Many people stand at the door of success, trying to unlock it.
Some try the key of wealth, or the key of fame; others the key of power, or the key of pleasure.
But none of these keys fit, and they get so close to success but never get past the door.
I’m here to tell you there is only one key that unlocks the door of success.
Here’s the really great news: this key is available to every person here.
It doesn’t matter how young or old, rich or poor, introvert or extrovert—this key is available to you if you’ll reach out and take it.
What is the key to true success?
It’s found in many places in the Bible, but I want to focus on how it shows up in *1 Samuel 18*, in the life of a man named David.
(*v.
1-5*)
*PRAYER*
The history of David is one of the Bible’s biggest success stories.
He steps on stage in *1 Sam.
16* as the son of Jesse, youngest of 8 brothers, forgotten shepherd boy who’s never elected /most likely to succeed.
/God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint him as king, and suddenly he steps through the door of success.
He becomes David the giant slayer, David the mighty warrior, David the man who will be king.
4 times in *1 Sam.
18* the NKJV says /David behaved wisely /(*v.
5, 14, 15, 30*)= / was successful.
/David discovers the key that unlocks the door of success.
Which key is it?
Perhaps it’s *the key of friendship*.
Heroes have a way of drawing fans, sometimes even worshippers.
I imagine everybody wants to be David’s friend after his big victory over Goliath.
But *vs.
1-5* tells us one young man is drawn to David as a friend: Jonathan, King Saul’s son.
In some ways it’s natural for these two to bond.
Jonathan’s a brave warrior in his own right.
He and his armor bearer took on the whole Philistine army back in *1 Sam.
14*.
Perhaps Jonathan is impressed by David’s courage and faith.
Whatever the reason, *vs.
1* tells us Prince Jonathan /loved him as his own soul/.
Jonathan makes a covenant with David, a solemn pledge of eternal love and loyalty.
He seals this covenant by giving David his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt—all symbols of his position as prince and future king of Israel.
Jonathan’s friendship will be very important for David in days to come.
It’s good to have friends in high places, but this friendship is not primarily political.
It’s straight from the heart.
These two men love each other, echoing the wisdom of
* Proverbs 18:24* …there is a friend /who/ sticks closer than a brother.
These two buddies will stick together until the very end.
Jonathan often seems more interested in David’s success than in his own.
This is how true friends are, isn’t it?
*Proverbs 17:17* /A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity./
Your friends can make you or break you.
It’s important to choose your friends wisely, because they influence you.
They contribute to either your success or your failure.
You’ve seen it happen.
Someone starts hanging out with the wrong crowd, and soon they are in all kinds of trouble.
I wonder how many people sit in prison today not for what they did, but just because of who they were with?
But then there are friends like Jonathan who think more of your success than their own.
Many years ago two struggling young art students, Albrecht Durer and Franz Knigstein, worked to earn money for their art studies.
The work left them little time to study art so they agreed to draw lots and let the loser support them both while the winner continued to study.
Albrecht won, and after becoming successful, he sought out Franz to keep his bargain.
But he discovered that from his hard labor, Franz’s fingers had become twisted and stiff.
He could no longer manage the delicate brush strokes necessary for fine paintings.
Yet Franz was happy his friend Albrecht had attained success.
One day Albrecht saw his loyal friend kneeling, his rough hands entwined in silent prayer.
Albrecht quickly sketched the hands, later using them to create his masterpiece /The Praying Hands/.
There’s no doubt friendship is a beautiful, powerful force in life.
But is it the key to success?
I don’t think so.
I know people who do their best to lift their friends up, and yet the friend still fails.
Maybe you have a friend on the road to ruin, and you do your best to help them straighten things out, but their wrong choices and bad attitudes keep leading them down the road to failure.
Friendship can open many doors, but friendship alone is not a guaranteed key to success.
Well, let’s/ /try the next key mentioned in *vs.
6-16*: *the key of enmity*.
We usually underestimate the value of our enemies.
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill.
Our antagonist is our helper.
-Edmund Burke
An enemy is often the resistance that strengthens us, the challenge that stretches us, the person who help makes us (for better or worse) who we are.
David’s enemy is born of envy.
Soon after David’s triumph over Goliath, King Saul and David ride into town to celebrate victory.
They’re met by adoring subjects, including women singing and dancing and shaking their tambourines, celebrating their heroes.
/Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens thousands.
/
Whoever wrote these lyrics had no idea how much trouble they would bring.
The line is a classic case of Hebrew poetry, built on parallelism.
It isn’t comparing Saul and David, it is complimenting Saul and David.
If anything, Saul’s name first gives him the place of honor.
It’s an innocent song sung to rejoice over /Israel’s /victory over their enemies.
But this isn’t what Saul hears.
He takes these words as a personal insult, an invitation for David to steal his throne.
He’s glad David kills the giant, but now he wonders if maybe this shepherd boy isn’t getting a little too popular.
King Saul begins to /eye David=view him with suspicion /from then on.
This suspicion becomes violent when Saul has one of his fits and David comes to make music to soothe his troubled mind.
Not once but /twice /Saul hurls a spear at the young musician, and twice David dodges death.
Finally, Saul sends David away to fight in his army, hoping he will die on the battlefield.
*Vs.
29* says …./Saul became David’s enemy continually…./
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