Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Tone of specific sentences
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SERMON~/PREDIGT WORKSHEET
Date: Dec 10, 2006 Where: SHMC
Sermon Title: */Love invites Repentance/*
Text: Malachi 3:1-5
W. L: Dietrich Klassen
Sharing: Max Kehler
* *
The topic of repentance makes me uneasy…
How many times have you looked at
An undesirable behaviour in your life
And you said to yourself,
“I really want to change… but…
*But What if I fail again?”*
o */Ill./**/:/*/
A farmer owned a very beautiful horse of which he was very proud.
One day he drove him into town and carefully tied the animal to the hitching post in front of the General Store.
Two thieves, passing through the town, spied the handsome horse and decided to steal it.
They also decided on a clever strategy to carry out their plan.
One of them untied the horse and rode swiftly away.
The other remained by the post.
When the farmer emerged from the store and saw that his horse was gone, he was about to shout for help when the conspirator walked up to him.
In a soft, low tone he said, "Sir, I am your horse.
Years ago I sinned and for my sins I was punished.
In order to atone for my guilt I was changed into a horse.
Today my sentence is over, and I can be released if you will be so kind."
The farmer was dumbfounded, yet touched by the story.
So he sent the man away wishing him luck in his new life.
Several weeks later the farmer went to a fair in a neighboring town.
Great was his surprise to see his own horse for sale there.
After gazing long at the animal to make sure that his eyes did not deceive him, he walked over and whispered in the horse's ear, *"So -- you've sinned again!"*/
/ /
*And sometimes we wonder “What if I repent of repenting *
*in the middle of repenting?”*
o */Ill./**/:/*/
Two men were adrift in an open boat and it looked bad for them.
Finally one of them, frightened, began to pray: "O Lord, I've broken most of the commandments.
I've got some pretty bad habits -- I drink a lot, I curse most of the time, I steal things from work, I treat people like dirt.
But if my life is spared now I promise you that I will change, that I will never again curse, that I will never again steal, that I . .
."
Suddenly his friend cried out to him: "Wait a second, Jack.
Don't go too far.
I think I see land."/
/ /
*And What if we are so set in our ways *
*that no matter how serious we are about repentance *
*our old life just follows us around?*
o */Ill./**/:
/*/There was a man with a problem that he couldn't keep to himself anymore.
So he went to the priest to confess that for years he had been stealing building supplies from the lumberyard where he worked.
His pastor asked him to explain the kinds of things he had taken.
He laid it all out, "Enough to build my own house and enough for my son's house.
And houses for our two daughters.
And our cottage at the lake."
The priest frowned and thought about this, finally commented, "This is very serious, I shall have to think of a far-reaching penance.
*Have you ever done a retreat?*"
The man quickly replied, *"No, Father, I haven't, but if you can get the plans, I can get the lumber."*
/
You know how you sometimes lay awake at night
And you feel something strange…
The other night I was trying to sleep
and I couldn’t fall asleep.
And as I lay there I suddenly felt
a rush of guilt flooding over me.
I was trying to remember if I had offended anyone
Or said something that wasn’t nice…
And after a long search within myself,
I realized that,
“Hey, I’m a Mennonite!
I’m supposed to feel guilty…
Now I’m feeling guilty for not feeling guilty…”
o */Ill./**/:
/*/An honest letter was sent to the Internal Revenue Service.
It stated: "To whom it may concern: I cannot sleep at night.
Last year, when I filed my income tax return, I deliberately misrepresented my income.
Now I cannot sleep.
Enclosed is a check for $150.00 for taxes.
If I still cannot sleep, I will send you the rest!"/
*/ /*
*And, Sometimes when we really have something that we should repent off, it seems just too hard…*
o */Ill./**/:
/*/Many of us are like the little boy who had broken the glass of a street lamp.
Greatly disturbed, he asked his father, "What shall I do?" "Do?" exclaimed his father, "Why we must report it and ask what you must pay, then go and settle it."
This practical way of dealing with the matter was not what the boy was looking for, and he whimpered, "I -- I -- thought all I had to do was ask God to forgive me." /
* *
As we chuckle about these silly jokes,
we ask ourselves:
“Seriously, is there still a need today for *true repentance?”*
*Or *can we already explain all our sin away
By some reasonable explanation?
Do people still experience a deep conviction
that what they have done,
or thought or said is really wrong in God’s eyes?
Do people still turn around?
Repent?
Confess their sins?
And start over?
For sure!
Human as we are,
We are at our very best
a band of stumbling fool,
who are in desperate need of the grace of God
to transform our lives
and to make us new.
The Prophet Malachi is a good book to read during Advent.
It is the last book of the Old Testament…
Malachi describes a time of restless waiting
in the history of the people of Judah.
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