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
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Anger
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Intro
a) Do you have any irrational, and entirely ridiculous fears?
i) I do… I have an irrational and entirely ridiculous fear of
moths.
• If a moth comes anywhere near me I’m like a caffeinated
rave dancer, on ice.
• It’s irrational.
• It’s an insect!
• I’m 38.75 times bigger than it!
• It’s ridiculous.
• What can that moth do to me?
• BBC news has never reported any death resulting
from the inhalation of that powdery dust from their
hairy backs.
• So why do I let it shape my behaviour?
ii) That’s what fears do.
• Fears have a controlling effect on our lives.
• What’s yours?
b) Christians have their own irrational and entirely ridiculous
fear.
i) It’s called the Fear of Man.
• The Fear of Man is when a person is so influenced by
what other people MAY think about them, say about
them, or do to them, that it shapes their behaviour.
• That’s a problem!
For 2 reasons.
ii) The first, because it’s sin.
• Control of our lives is God’s exclusive right.
• Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is
the duty of all mankind, says Ecclesiastes 12:13.
iii) The second, because it frustrates the spread of the
gospel.
• It stops disciples doing what disciples do.
• If you fear man, more than you fear God, you’ll not
share the gospel.
• And if you don’t share the gospel, the great
commission grinds to a halt.
• This is Jesus’ big concern in Luke 12.
• This is what this teaching protects against.
c) Let me fill you in on the background.
i) Jesus has drawn the Pharisee’s fire.
• The fierce opposition of the Pharisees was aroused.
(Chapter 11:53-54)
• That opposition probably surprised or even worried
Jesus’ followers.
ii) So, Jesus draws his disciples aside to teach them a vital
lesson that will ensure the furtherance of his mission.
• Fear God, Not man.
• and I’ve got 3 things I want to say about that.
1) Fear God - v1-7
a) In v1-5, Jesus gives us 2 reasons why.
Firstly, Fear God because of What God can say about you.
i) Our behaviour is often shaped by the fear of what
PEOPLE might say about us.
• As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle demonstrated.
• In one of his playful moods, he sent a telegram to 12
friends, all men of power and influence.
• The message read: “Flee at once.
All is discovered!”
• Within 24 hours, all 12 had left the country.
• That’s what people who fear partial disclosure will
do.
• Imagine then the impact of the open disclosure of
EVERYTHING you’ve ever said or done.
• That’s what v2-3 promise.
• The things we’ve done behind closed doors and
the things we’ve said behind whispering
hands… are fully disclosed by God on
judgement day.
• Nothing’s off the record.
ii) Compared to what people can say about us, what does
the prospect of what God can say about us say about the
FEAR OF MAN?
• It’s one of those irrational and entirely ridiculous fears.
• It doesn’t feel that way; I know that, you know that.
• But compare the two, we know what’s worse.
b) The second reason why we should fear God is because of
What God can do to you.
i) Our behaviour is controlled, not only by the fear of what
people might say to us, but DO to us as well.
• What can man do to us?
• The threat looks different from place to place.
• But Jesus’s words in v4 tell that physical opposition
can’t be ruled out.
• v4 - do not be afraid of those who kill the body.
• Death!!!
• Everyone’s afraid of death.
• Woody Allen famously quipped, “I’m not scared
of death.
I just don’t want to be there when it
happens.”
• But even his joke smacks of fear.
• The threat of death might well control your behaviour
and cause you to sin and hinder the spread of the
gospel.
ii) BUT Jesus counters THAT fear, by inviting us to compare
what man can do with what God can do.
• v4 - Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and
after that can do no more.
• 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: fear him
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