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
0.52LIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.06UNLIKELY
Joy
0.63LIKELY
Sadness
0.13UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.48UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.75LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.77LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.42UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.35UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.83LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.67LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Discover the Wonder of Christmas - The wonder of a star!*
Her name is Lori Jones, but most people call her Lolo Jones.
Lolo is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 60 and 100 meter hurdles when she was a student athlete at LSU and now for the US Olympic Team.
During the winter months Jones also competes as a brakeman for the U.S. National Bobsled Team.[i]
Well, she has taken her bobsled skills to a whole new level making the US Olympic Bobsled Team.
She also survived her first crash this past week in Winterberg, Germany!
The average speed of a bobsled is between 60 and 90 miles per hour.
After the crash she joked with track officials asking them to bring her a mirror.
She wanted to see her face.
She said, /"Forget my legs and arms.
I'm still single!/”
It was serious though because later on she tweeted, /“God is real.
I saw him today and he said come back later.//”*[ii]*
/
*She’s not the only one who’s seen God.
Open up your Bibles today to Matthew chapter 2! Do you need a Bible?*
Today we begin a Christmas series called “Discover the Wonder of Christmas!”
Make sure you pick up a few invite cards and ask your friends to come with you to one of our Christmas Eve Services.
Before we read I would like us to pray! /“Almighty God, help us to understand we are not reading just any book.
This is your book of books.
These are your words.
God, may we not take them lightly.
May we realize that you have spoken and you are speaking to us right now! May we have ears to hear what you are saying.
God, do a miracle among us – may marriages be healed, may angry hearts be calmed, may hopeless people become hope-filled – all because we read and obeyed your word.
In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen!” /
/ /The story of Jesus’ birth is found in both Matthew and Luke.
Luke helps us see Jesus through the eyes of Mary while Matthew helps us see Jesus through the eyes of Joseph.
In Matthew 1 Mary is about to give birth to Jesus.
In Matthew 2 Mary has already given birth to Jesus.
Jesus is probably anywhere between 6 months and 2 years of age! How do we know?
The Bible tells us.
*Look at Matthew 2:1.
/After Jesus was born…” /Now find verse 11.* Mary & Joseph have moved.
No longer living in a guest house or the front entrance to someone’s cave where the animals were kept but now living in their own place.
Why stay in Bethlehem?
Well, it’s calmer than Nazareth.
Mary’s relatives believe she is an adulteress and Joseph’s family thinks he’s stupid.
If your Christmas is full of drama – you can relate with Mary & Joseph.
Staying in Bethlehem is better for now!
*However, the most convincing verse is verse 16.* Herod is so much like the Grinch! /“You’re a mean one, Mr. Herod!
You really are a heel!
You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Herod.
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!”*[iii]*/ Herod was a bad banana.
He was described as GREAT.
But great people do not kill babies or toddlers.
But paranoid people do! Jesus is a threat to his throne whether he’s a toddler or not.
*Go back to Matthew 2:1! (Read 1-2)*
My Mom lives in Akron, Ohio.
She still lives in the house I grew up in on Terrell Drive.
I remember when I was maybe 9 or 10; I’d go out at night into our backyard and look up into the sky.
I think stars are fascinating.
This is a Star Cluster.
Makes me think of what God said to Abraham.
Your descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky.
I am amazed by the stars and I’m not the only one.
*Now help me here, just what is a star?* *Pumba seems to know.
(Video here)*
Timon always thinks he’s the smart one, but it’s Pumba that has the brains, the brawn and the gas! Stars are not lodged fireflies.
Pumba is right.
*A star is a mass of gas in space.
*www.Britannica.com
states /“This gaseous mass generates energy by thermonuclear reactions.
When it comes to //mass, size, and brightness, the Sun is a typical star.
Most people compare other stars with the sun! Did you know the approximate radius of the sun is some 430,000 miles which means it’s around 330,000 times the mass of the earth!
*[iv]*/ *Now some **stars have names.
This is Sirius.
*Sirius is the brightest star.
It’s 8.6 light years from the earth and it’s hotter than the sun.
Other stars include Canopus, Arcturus, Alpha Centauri, Vega and Betelguese.
Betelguese is 500 light years away from the earth.[v]
*Did you know that Jesus had a star?* *Go back to Matthew 2:2.*
* The “We” here are the Magi.
The Magi saw something.
It may have been a star.
It may have been the glory of God.
It may have been the lining of the planets – Jupiter and Saturn*[vi]* It certainly was an astral phenomenon.
*I’m not the only stargazer here.
Magi were gentile scholars.
Wise men from Persia.[vii]
They studied math, medicine and science, but especially astronomy and astrology.[viii]
They were fascinated by the night sky and Jewish prophecy.
They know something is up.
They have come to pay homage to a king!
There’s a problem though – Herod thought he was that king! *Go to verse 3 in Matthew 2. (Read 3-8, (liar, liar pants on fire) (Read 9-10)*
* Stars are amazing.
*A shooting star is like, “Did you see that?”
That was so crazy cool.
But what overjoyed the Magi?
It wasn’t the star.
It was what was below the star.
* Read deep verse 11.* Mary may have been cradling Jesus like this.
Or she may have knelt down next to Jesus with her arm around his shoulders.
What overjoyed the Magi was not the star but the child king sitting inside the house.
This Christmas I’m praying that you also will be overjoyed!
That is, you will experience a deep abiding gladness of heart that no circumstance can take away!
And here’s why! *A star is a mass of gas in space.
But a star is also a point of light at night! *The darker the night, the brighter the star.
Do you remember when I told you I used to go out in my backyard in Akron, Ohio and I’d stare at the stars?
But here’s what I didn’t tell you.
I would look up into the sky and ask two questions.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9