Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
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INTRODUCTION
ONE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGWRITERS PENNED A SONG THE VERY YEAR OF OUR CHURCH’S BIRTH, 1968
AND IT’S OPENING LYRICS CAPTURE THE ESSENCE OF HOW OUR THOUGHTS CAN SOMETIMES TEASE US, HOW OUR
THOUGHTS CAN SOMETIMES SEIZE US AND GET US SO WRAPPED UP IN THEM WE DON’T EVEN NOTICE WHAT’S
GOING ON AROUND US.
MULTI-GRAMMY AWARD WINNER HARRY NILSON WROTE:
Everybody's talking at me
I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind
THE MASTER MOTIVATOR AND INSPIRATION GURU MR.
LES BROWN REMINDS US TO LISTEN THIS WAY THOUGH WE
ARE TEMPTED EVERY DAY TO LISTEN TO
THESE THOUGHTS THAT ROLL AROUND IN OUR HEADS, THAT TROUBLE US, OR CHALLENGE US OR EVEN
SOMETIMES SEEK TO MAKE US FEEL UNWORTHY....HE
SAID:
“Listen to yourself the voice that’s in your Heart not your head, it will lead you to your Goal.”
IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE BROTHER LES BROWN FOUND A WAY TO ENCOURAGE FOLKS TO REPLACE THE THOUGHTS
IN OUR HEADS WITH THE VOICE AND YEARNINGS THAT EMANATE FROM OUR HEARTS......
AND IT WAS THE INTERNET POWER OF POSITIVITY MODERN DAY SHERO KRISTEN BUTLER WHO ENCOURAGES US
WITH THIS POWERFUL WAY OF SHIFTING OUR
THOUGHTS INSTEAD OF ACCEPTING UNHAPPINESS AS OUR ONGOING PLIGHT.......SHE WRITES:
REMEMBER IF DON’T LIKE A SITUATION, YOU CAN EITHER TAKE ACTION TO CHANGE IT OR CHANGE THE WAY
YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
EITHER WAY,
CHOOSING UNHAPPINESS IS NO WAY TO LIVE
PAUL’S POWERFUL POINT TO THE PHILIPPIANS
FOR THE APOSTLE PAUL AND THE PHILIPPIANS THIS IS MORE THAN A PUSH FOR THEM TO CHOOSE HAPPINESS AS
MUCH AS IT’S A PUSH TO CRAFT A LIFE AROUND THE HIGHEST AND MOST HIGHLY REGARDED GRECO-ROMAN
MORAL VIRTUES.....SURELY PAUL UNDERSTOOD THESE VALUES WITH THE EXCELLENT PHILOSOPHICAL AND
ACADEMIC TRAINING HE RECEIVED......ONE COMMENTARY RECORDED THIS ABOUT OUR VERSE OF SCRIPTURE THAT
CLOSES OUT OUR SERIES THIS MORNING:
Each of these virtues and the sum total of them are what Greco-Romans prized as the best virtues a person
could display.
This sentence could easily have been found in Epictetus’s Discourses or Seneca’s Moral Essays,
in the context of extolling the best of moral virtues.
MORE THAN JUST THE BEST OF MORAL VIRTUES THIS PARTICULAR SCRIPTURAL INJUNCTION IS A WAY TO LIVE OUT
OUR FAITH AS CHRISTIANS.....FOR OUR LIVES ARE NOT JUST LIVED OUT FOR OUR OWN BENEFIT BUT AS
CHRISTIANS WE LIVE, AS THEOLOGIAN, 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURY PASTOR ANDREW MURRAY ENCOURAGED....
FOR YOUR TRUE JOY AS A CHRISTIAN CAN MOVE FROM YOUR HEART INTO THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF OTHERS WITH
YOUR WORDS AND THE FRUITS OF YOUR THOUGHTS......FOR YOU KNOW THE POWER OF GOD FLOWING THROUGH
YOUR LIFE AND JUST AS YOU KNOW IT, OTHERS NEED THAT SAME POWER AND THIS IS THE WORK OF TRUE
CHRISTIANS AS MURRAY SAID.......WHEN YOU PURSUE AND SHARE, WHATEVER IS TRUE, WHATEVER IS HONORABLE,
WHATEVER IS JUST, WHATEVER IS PLEASING.....IT IS THOSE THINGS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BLESS YOU
FIRST BUT WE DON’T WANT TO KEEP OUR BLESSINGS TO OURSELVES AND ONLY OURSELVES ONLY.....AMEN?
AND IT IS THESE THINGS THAT HAVE A GENESIS, A STARTING PLACE, A PLACE TO BEGIN AND RUMINATE....AND THAT
PLACE IS IN THE MIND OF THE CHRISTIAN BELOVED....IN THE MIND.....
ANOTHER COMMENTATOR ON OUR TEXT FOR THIS MORNING REMINDS US:
Undoubtedly you've heard the little saying "Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character reap a destiny!"
As you think about the thoughts that have
dominated your mind this past week, what do they say about your destiny?
Paul now gives us a virtue list
which we can use for a "virtual mind purge" so to speak, replacing the negativity (and evil) that pervades
the world's thoughts with the positivity (and goodness) of godly thoughts.
This is not some psychological
ploy, some "mind over matter trick," but is the living and active Word of God which effectively and
powerfully counters the words of the world.
IT IS HERE THAT WE TURN TO THE ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE LETTER TO HEBREWS.....THE ENCOURAGEMENT
THAT WE’VE GOT TO LET THE WORD OF GOD PREVAIL AND HAVE ITS WAY.....WE’VE GOT TO TURN TO IT WHEN
THINGS GO WELL, TURN TO IT WHEN WE’RE UP, TURN TO IT WHEN WE’RE DOWN, TURN TO IT FOR THE
REPLACEMENT THOUGHTS WE ALL NEED EVERY NOW AND THEN.....MAYBE THAT’S WHAT THE MAMAS AND THE
PAPAS MEANT WHEN THEY CALLED OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST A “MIND REGULATOR”......FOR THE
ENCOURAGEMENT OF HEBREWS 4:12 ABIDES ALWAYS FOR THE CHRISTIAN MIND, HEART AND SOUL.....
Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
APPLYING REPLACEMENT THOUGHTS IN OUR WORLD TODAY
IN HER OPINION PIECE FOR THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER THE OUTSTANDING WRITER AND REPORTER DERECKA
PURNELL PULLED OUT ALL THE STOPS IN HER WEDNESDAY, MAY 18th ARTICLE TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF LAST
SATURDAYS SHOOTINGS IN BUFFALO......SHE IS THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK BECOMING ABOLITIONISTS: POLICE,
PROTESTS, AND THE PURSUIT OF FREEDOM.
SHE IS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT LAWYER BASED IN WASHINGTON D.C.
SHE PAUSED, BELOVEDS, TO PONDER THE THOUGHTS OF OUR ANCESTORS, THOSE OF US WHO WOULD STAND
AGAINST INJUSTICE, PAIN, KILLINGS, LYNCHINGS AND OTHER SUCH THINGS....SHE NAMEED THE REPLACEMENTS
FOR THE UGLINESS, INSOLENCE AND WRONGMINDEDNESS SO WELL I COULD NOT GET HER ARTICLE OFF MY
MIND......SISTER DERECKA WROTE:
LAST WEEK AN 18 YEAR OLD WHITE SUPREMACIST DROVE TO A GROCERY STORE IN BUFFALO, NEW YORK AND
MURDERED 10 BLACK PEOPLE.
HE PUBLISHED A MANIFESTO ESPOUSING HIS HORRIFIC VIEWS AND
PENCILED A RACIAL SLUR ON HIS GUN.
MAYBE HE HADN’T HEARD ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES LISTED IN
PRESIDENT BIDEN’S RECENTLY SIGNED BILL, THE EMMETT TILL ANTI-LYNCHING ACT.
OR, MAYBE HE WAS
WILLING TO ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES IN EXCHANGE FOR THE LIVES HE TOOK.
COPS ARRESTED HIM
LIKE THEY ARRESTED WHITE SUPREMACIST SHOOTER DYLAN ROOF - ALIVE AND WITH CARE.
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE POWER AND AFFIRMATION THAT ELDERS AND ANCESTORS WOULD FEEL TO
WITNESS A FEDERAL ANTI-LYNCHING ACT FINALLY BECOMING LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, AND THEN A
COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER, ANOTHER MASS LYNCHING HAPPENS.
IT PAINS ME TO PICTURE WHAT THEY
ENDURED: THE BODIES THAT BLACK PEOPLE PULLED DOWN FROM ROPES, THE ASHES THEY SWEPT INTO
SACRED CANISTERS, THE SWOLLEN BABIES THEY RECOVERED FROM RIVERBANKS.
IT BLESSES ME, SHE
WROTE, TO THINK......TO THINK OF THEIR RESISTANCE TOO.
BLACK ACTIVISTS FORMED ANTI-LYNCHING
ORGANIZATIONS, CREATED SELF DEFENSE TEAMS, WROTE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, BOYCOTTED WHITE
ESTABLISHMENTS, RAN FOR OFFICE, SUED IN COURTS, DEMANDED LEGISLATION, AND MUCH MORE.
THEY
FOUGHT WHITE MOBS, ESCAPED AND TURNED POTENTIAL VICTIMS INTO SURVIVORS.........
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