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
0.08UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.07UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.64LIKELY
Sadness
0.51LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.69LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.76LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.88LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.91LIKELY
Extraversion
0.4UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.95LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.63LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Hebrew word “Pele” meaning “extraordinary” or “miraculous”
So, the prophecy about Jesus name him as an extraordinary, miraculous, in his counsel.
So, today, I will use the word miraculous in place of the word wonderful.
In our culture we assign “wonderful” to a lot of things and it loses a bit of weight in understanding the magnitude behind the word “pele.”
We say: this cake is wonderful, or this Dr.
Pepper is wonderful, or these shoes are wonderful.
To us, it just sounds pleasant, but to those who speak Hebrew, it would hold more weight.
So, miraculous is interchangeable with wonderful and is closer to the original meaning for us than “wonderful.”
So, please don’t freak out.
Just helping us to all understand the magnitude of the word!
And the word for “counselor is “yo-es” which can mean advise or counselor, or wise counselor.
It is frequently referring to a ruler or king who is wise in nature.
So, Jesus is literally the extraordinary, miraculously wise counselor or ruler.
This would be a sense of hope to the Israelites as the were threatened with being under Assyrian rule at the time.
Which, according to Isaiah 8:7 was brought on by God as His judgement because His people had rejected Him!
At this time of great despair and hopelessness, God would send a beacon of hope to His people.
They would not be lost forever, even though it seems they may deserve it, but God would, once again, rescue His people.
He would provide for them an extraordinary and miraculous leader.
Who provides great counsel!
This is a sign of hope for us as well.
Even though we too are often worthy of God’s judgement on us, He provides for us a beacon of light!
He comes in the miraculous form of a counselor to guide and direct us, if we so allow Him to!
1.
The Need for a Miraculous Counselor
What is the importance of having wise counsel?
F.W. Boreham said “We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us” - F.W. Boreham
As the quote implies, our decisions are important.
And, what we decide to do is a reflection of the character within us!
If we constantly make bad decisions, but hope for a good life, we are crazy!
It doesn’t make any sense!
Mark Batterson says “You are only one defining decision away from a totally different life!” - Mark Batterson
This quote has been on my mind frequently as I think about the decisions that I make on a daily basis.
Or even an hourly or minutely basis.
Are the decisions that I am making leading me in a direction towards Christ and His message or away from Him?
I think about how difficult it would be to make good decisions without wise counsel in my life.
I personally do my best to surround myself with people who are:
Smarter than me
Are loving and genuinely care about me
Are willing to challenge the things that I say and do
The reason that we need this kind of wise counsel in our life is because....
And similarly,
Without having wise counsel, it it likely that we will not succeed!
We can be well intentioned, but still make the wrong decisions.
We always think that we are right.
It’s literally, as Brant Hansen so wonderfully titled his book “the truth about us.”
We think we are right, and we will go to great lengths to defend it.
But the problem is.....we aren’t always right!
I wonder if this is why Paul says:
Because we are not always right, we need to think about the things that are beyond our capacity to think.
We need to think about things that come from above!
More than just thinking about things that we can see, feel, touch, hear, smell, and taste.
And how do we know the things above are?
We learn.
Through wise counsel.
There is a joke about:
A young lawyer, named Taylor, he was desperate for business, and was happy to be appointed by the court to defend an indigent defendant.
The judge ordered Taylor, "You are to confer with the defendant in the hallway, and give him the best legal advice you can."
After a time, Taylor re-entered the courtroom alone.
When the judge asked where the defendant had gone, Taylor replied, "You asked me to give him good advice.
I found out that he was guilty, so I told him to leave."
It is important that we have wise counsel in our lives.
And we know that it is done by thinking and learning about the things from above!
Sometimes it seems like good counsel is hard to find.
And, I agree that it probably is.
Which leads me to point number 2.
2. Jesus as the Miraculous Counselor
We need someone that knows who we are.
And that knows who God is.
And someone that can lead us to thinking about the things that are above!
Jesus is the person that knows each one of us!
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
And, according to:
So Jesus is the person who knows us better than we know ourselves.
And, He knows the things about God and makes them known to us!
He is our miraculous counselor!
So, then we take this a step further: how do we get to know Jesus?
Scripture - if you want to read about Jesus, this is your “go-to!”
This is likely the beginning of your journey into a relationship with Him! Read about what He did and what He said.
Read about who He is.
The Holy Spirit - Jesus sends His Spirit to live in us.
He guides us and helps us understand who He is!
He helps us understand the scripture that we are reading.
When you marry these two: Scripture and the Holy Spirit, you develop and understanding of who God and more specifically, Jesus is!
And, this allows Jesus to be our miraculous counselor!
He becomes our guide!
Jesus isn’t just another one of our friends, though!
He is the miraculous counselor.
His wisdom is far greater than mere human’s!
Jesus was born special.
In fact, Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 11 just how special!
Jesus, before He was born, already had the understand, the spirit of counsel, and the knowledge of the Lord upon Him!
And again in Psalm 92:5
And remember, Jesus is the one who reveals the Lord Almighty’s wisdom to us!
Jesus is the miraculous counselor!
He is perfect in wisdom and knowledge!
And He perfectly understands who we are!
We will wrap up point 2 with this passage:
So, we need a miraculous counselor, and Jesus is the miraculous counselor and finally, let’s talk about:
3. The Hope Found in Jesus as the Miraculous Counselor
God desires that we grow in grace and knowledge of Him!
He doesn’t want us to be uneducated about Him....
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9