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
0.16UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.48UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.54LIKELY
Sadness
0.5LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.74LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.4UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.9LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.88LIKELY
Extraversion
0.39UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.72LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.74LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Pastor spoke to us last week about knowledge, wisdom & understanding.
She used the example of the Woman at the Well to illustrate how we can transition from one to another.
And how we need all three.
That got me to thinking about the knowledge the Samaritan woman had.
You will remember that she was able to tell Jesus about the coming Messiah.
Did you ever wonder how she knew that?
When we think of Samaritans we think of non-Jews, foreigners so to speak.
But in fact Samaritans can trace their lineage back to the tribe of Ephraim.
History tells us that most of their people were led off into captivity and that those who remained to tend the fields intermarried with locals.
Some grew to worship local gods and others remained faithful.
After the exile Samaritans were not allowed to help rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem; their fellow Jews referred them as half-breeds and not true Jews.
You will remember too that when the Exiles returned, Ezra told the Jews who had stayed behind to work the land that they had to divorce their foreign wives and abandon their children.
Many would not do this.
So in desperation they constructed their own place of worship at Shechem and called it Bethel, or the house of the Lord.
So it should come as no surprise to us that the woman at the well had understanding of the coming Messiah.
The cool part about that for me is that all she had was the Torah, or the first 5 books of the Bible to get that knowledge from.
But as Pastor said last week, it took an encounter with Jesus to turn that knowledge & understanding into Wisdom.
If you were to study the writing styles in the Bible you would discover that the individual books fall into categories.
I mentioned one earlier – the Torah or the Pentateuch is the name for the first five books of the bible.
Another classification we’ve looked at quite a bit this year is Minor Prophets – small books written by prophets.
Major Prophets would be large books written by prophets.
This morning we’ll be looking into a new class Wisdom Literature.
The wisdom literature of the Old Testament consists of 3 books - Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and a few of the psalms (Psalm 1; 19; 37; 49; 104; 107; 112; 119; 127; 128; 133; 147; 148).
Wisdom Literature was a very common in the ancient world.
Wisdom Literature takes 2 forms: practical and speculative.
· Practical wisdom consists mainly of wise sayings, mostly commonsense insights and observation that lead to a successful and happy life.
o The Book of Proverbs is a good example of practical wisdom;
§ it encourages the pursuit of wisdom and the practices of strict discipline, hard work,
and high moral standards as the way to happiness and success.
· Speculative wisdom goes beyond commonsense to the philosophical looking for deeper meaning.
It asks questions like what is my purpose?
why is there evil in the world?
o The Book of Job seeks to explain the ways of God to humankind.
o And although the Book of Ecclesiastes also contains rules for living, it has a skeptical and pessimistic tone, - “All is meaningless”
o The wisdom psalms struggle with the problem of evil and sin in the world.
This morning we’ll be looking at the Book of Proverbs
What do we know about proverbs?
Most of them are written by Solomon
· 22:17–24:34 predate Solomon
· Chapter 30 are the words of Agur
· Chapter 31 the words of Lemuel
· The book as we know it was complied by Hezekiah (about 200 years later)
1 Kings 4:32 tells us that Solomon wrote 3000 proverbs.
· The Book of Proverbs contains 513 of them in 31 chapters one for each day of the month
Before I go any further, let me challenge you starting May 1st to read 1 proverb a day.
Why? Turn to Proverbs 1
2 for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; 3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—
Proverbs may be divided into 3 categories
· Man’s relationship to God
Drop down to verse 7
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
· Man’s relationship to Himself
Back up to verse 7
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
· Man’s relationship to Others
Flip over to Proverbs 3
My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
Wow, in 9 verses we have seen that we can prosper if we apply the wisdom found in Proverbs to our lives.
I think that’s worth 31 days of study, don’t you?
The average length of a proverb is 30 lines.
You can read 30 lines a day, can’t you?
Sure you can, but I want us to do more than read, I want us to gain knowledge and understanding so we can apply wisdom.
How do we do that?
By looking with expectation.
Remember when you were in school and the teacher would say, The test will be on Chapter 9. You’d go home and read Chapter 9 looking for things that would probably be on the test.
It’s the same way with our May reading program.
When you read a Proverb each day, look for answers for the areas of testing you or your loved ones are facing.
Let me give you some insight on what you may find.
Proverbs 1-7 all begin with what words?
My son
These are the words of a parent to his child.
Anyone here have children or grandchildren?
Have you ever given them advice?
Have you ever been in a situation where you wish you had just the right words to say to them?
Your answer may be in one of these Psalms.
Proverbs 1
10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.
Sinners are people who don’t have a relationship with God.
Are all your children’s friends saved?
11 If they say, “Come along with us;
They here is peer pressure.
Are any of your kids or grandkids dealing with peer pressure?
Proverbs 3
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
We all know someone who thinks they know it all, who has an opinion about everything, who doesn’t need to read the Bible…
Read the next verse,
8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Fear of the Lord brings health to your body.
Just a thought… Think about Mr. Know-it-all is he physically, emotionally, psychologically healthy?
We know spiritually he is sick.
What other treasures can you gain by fearing the Lord?
Anyone have trouble sleeping?
Proverbs 3:24
24 when you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
How can that be?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9