... those who need it, there is no substitute for being a part of Alcoholics Anonymous, or any other appropriate 12-step group. These sermons are not primarily focusing on substance abuse. What I will do in these 12 sermons is look at the scriptural basis for the 12 steps. What do you need to know is these 12 steps, which were originated by Alcoholics Anonymous, are now used by close to 200 other 12-step groups. The same basic principles apply to whatever it is that makes your life unmanageable. A.A. literature ...
... closest apostles. Later, he would choose 70 more. And yet still, in the end, few of them were brave enough to stay with him at the cross, to declare they were his disciples in the midst of persecution. The bravest of his followers was not even one of the 12, but a Pharisee named Joseph of Arimathea, who would dare to request Jesus’ body, and place it in his own gravesite. Even at the moment of the cross, when his closest apostles were in hiding, in fear, when several had betrayed him in one way or another ...
... well. The tribes of Israel were once 12. Jesus will call 12 disciples, one to represent each of the tribes that he will seek to reunite. When Jesus dies for the sins of all people, all people will from there onward be united with God, those of the 12 tribes, and all gentiles (foreigners) as well for whom Israel was to be a light for them to find God. One of the most famous parables of Jesus ministry is a parable about a lost sheep. It is one that echoes throughout Jesus’ mission. Wherever God’s people ...
... amounting to $12,000. She had already replied correctly to questions which I wouldn't even know to ask, much less how to answer. Art, literature, opera, theater, science - one by one she fended them like so much child's play. Then came the chance for the $12,000 grab. All she had to do was correctly answer five questions in succession. The first four, of which I have not the foggiest notion, were snaps for this young lady whose broad sweep of knowledge appeared unfathomable. Only one to go for the big money ...
... of the temple. The church has seen the office of the faithful high priest fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus, our great High Priest, who by his death and resurrection fulfilled this promise. It is appropriate that on this Sunday the gospel lesson is the story of the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple. Samuel is a type of Christ in his obedience and faithful service as priest. So Luke is correct when he takes the description of Samuel and applies it to Jesus: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in ...
... . All gospel witnesses tell us that as soon as Jesus reached Capernaum and began healing, crowds began assembling and following him around. We also know that during this time, he began to call disciples, 12 of which he named future apostles (echoing the 12 tribes of Israel), and he began drawing the attention of the Pharisees, his peers, and the Temple authorities. Some of those Pharisees, such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, were certainly those of the Hillel school. The majority (and those who would ...
... , the sun was low in the sky and it was time to think of physical provisions. The disciples are to be commended for approaching Jesus on behalf of the faithful who had stayed for the duration, rather than referring to their own fatigue and hunger, "And the 12 came and said to him, 'Send the crowd away, to go into the villages and country round about, to lodge and get provision, for we are here in a lonely place.' " They were considerate. We will give them that. But as the conversation progressed, there was ...
... city, 1500 hundred miles on every side. It has perfect symmetry and it is large enough for all who would to enter. It has a wall 216 feet high and 12 gates. The city rests on 12 foundations and on those 12 foundations are carved the names of the 12 apostles. This is the New Jerusalem. Within its walls is the new Israel. Its walls are of jasper and the city itself is pure gold. Its foundations are adorned with every known jewel. There is no temple in the center because God himself and the Lamb are the ...
... to eliminate storms from our lives. On the other hand, God does promise that we can get through life's valleys and storms if we trust that Jesus is in control. That's the message of both stories in John 1:1-21. In the first story, the feeding of the 12,000 people, Phillip was faced with what appears to be an unsolvable problem. Seeing the large crowd, Jesus asks him, "Where do we buy bread for these people to eat?" Jesus, the apostles and at least 5,000 people[1] were out in the hill country just north of ...
... and names you as an imitator of Christ. The next word for movers is this: spread the word! From the beginning of his ministry, through the dark night at Gethsemane to the darkness of Calvary and into the light of the resurrection and the ascension, Jesus admonished the 12 to be faithful in sharing the good news. This word was too good to be kept secret: God’s redeeming, liberating grace is not for our ears only. It is not to be hoarded and protected in the safe environs of a building. Spread the word! It ...
... and gives us that glow and we radiate the Joy of Christmas. And it's usually when we least expect it. But we need to look forward to it. We need to clean up the spiritual clutter in your life. Our lives this time of year are so much like the 12 Crazy Days of Christmas. Somehow, in the midst of all the craziness we have to stay focused because we don't miss it. Let me tell you a story. II. Story A. Tom and Linda had moved into their new house three months ago. They didn't have it completely ...
... your home and your kin to a place I will show you. Trust me for your future." God often calls us: out of the comfortable and the convenient into the risky and the untried out of the security of the past into the uncertainty of the "not yet" out of the 12-year stability of a well-loved pastor to the unknown of a new guy, from of all places…Ann Arbor! out of the tried and true rituals of the known into the spontaneous dance of the spirit And in simple faith, the Abrahams and Sarahs of every generation have ...
Luke 4:14-30, Matthew 4:12-17, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 4:23-25
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... of God’s kingdom not in Jerusalem, the city that boasted to be the mercy seat of God, but in Galilee of the Gentiles, those who had “waited” for 7 centuries for their apostle, their messiah, their restoration. Jesus would establish 12 apostles representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And he would not stop until he had called out to all of God’s forgotten children. The Via Maris is the “Way” Jesus chose, not just a “way” that followed a certain code of living (a halakah), not just the ...
In New England, there is the grave of an old Yankee skinflint. While he was alive, he offered his future heirs their legacy in advance if they would give him 12 ½% interest on it. When he died, they put this epitapth on his tombstone: Here lies old 12 percent The more he saved, the less he spent The less he spent, the more he saved Oh Lord, can Ichabod be saved? Now that’s a good question, and we could preach a sermon on that. You remember Jesus said on one occasion that it was as difficult for a rich man ...
You probably heard about this – it was in all the papers; it was in radio and television news reports; it was a “hot topic” on the call-in-talk shows. A minister in North Carolina had members of his church voted out of the church because they had voted for a Presidential Candidate different from the one he voted for and supported. In October last year (2004) he preached a sermon in which he told the congregation who he was supporting for President of the United States… and he said that if any of them were ...
... to turn into bread while fasting. There's the stone that sealed the tomb which was rolled away so we could see inside and see that no mere grave could hold the Son of God. There are the rocks and stones used to build the Temple. There are the 12 stones (one for each tribe) from the Jordan River that adorn the Ephod or ceremonial vestment worn by the Temple's High Priest. And then there are the various stones used to build cairns or ebenezers or pillars or piles or altars of remembrance at those places where ...
... as you actually are. In a particular rendering, he exposed our poisonous indecision. He depicted a man lying in a prone position with no physical activity save the moving of his jaw as he spoke in a kind of slow fashion. The captions accompanying the 12 frames become a kind of soliloquy against our indecisiveness. Our shiftless and undirected lives. As he lies flat on his back, unmoving, the character says, ‘pretty soon I’ll have to get up. It is not healthy to lie here. Got to rouse myself. Got ...
... a checkered past. Later in life he made a commitment to Christ and was baptized in a river. The preacher said, “Sam, your sins are washed away.” Houston replied, “God help the fish.” God accepts us as we are. He would prefer that we be like Jeremy, the 12-year-old boy who vowed his intent to make the people who were responsible for his baptism proud by trying to live his life the way Jesus wants. God would prefer that we would be like the 55-year-old man who is now serving Christ by volunteering ...
... on his face and he said, say it again. And the old woman repeated it. Johnny, God made you, God loves you. God sent his son to save you. And a big smile came on Johnny’s face and he said, tell God, Thank you. The old woman knew it, the 12-year old learned it, man shall not live by bread alone, but by the words of God – more than that – by the word of God, Christ himself. And that brings us to our focus today. The bread that will be brought to the alter in a moment, is symbolic of ...
... required is to receive this blessing: "He who does these things shall never be moved." Life is a long journey, and on a long journey we get tired. We need to be fed and renewed. For those who seek to be faithful in the journey, whether they follow the 12 steps of AA, the 10 listed in the psalm, or another particular journey of faith, is what kept the faithful people going for 40 years through the desert with Moses, what kept Paul going through his trials, is what can help us gain strength, the place where ...
... signs and signals that foretell and forewarn about what lies ahead on the highway. Reading the signs — those written on walls and windows, and those written upon the winds of a changing world is a hard-earned skill to some and a gift to others. One of the 12 tribes of Israel, the Tribe of Issachar, was known as the tribe that “knows the signs and knows what to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Jesus also instructed his disciples to learn how to “read the signs.” Or in his words, “You know how to read ...
... endeavors, "There was no voice, no answer, no response." Then the wild commotion turns to holy calm. The sun is sinking behind the peak of Mount Carmel, and Elijah, with his own hands, repairs the ruined altar of Jehovah. He rebuilds it with 12 stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. He then places the sacrifice upon the altar. Next he calls for four barrels of water to be poured on the sacrifice to soak it, and then four more barrels, and then four more: 12 in all. The water 36drenches the sacrifice ...
... our brain cells at least a part of whatever it was we had to recite. (Here is a time for an interactive with the congregation. Ask them to remember their first public recitation and what it was. My first public recitation in elementary school was the 12 lines of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha": "By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea Waters, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis . . ." I only made it through the first eight lines before needing a prompter.) Whether it was a Bible verse ...
Psalm 118:1-29, Isaiah 18:1-7, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, 1 Peter 2:4-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... transportable “ladder.” At Gilgal, the metaphors of rocks plucked from the “living waters” that they crossed to come into the promised land are metaphors of covenant, a commemoration of God’s presence and power in fulfilling that promise to the 12 tribes of Israel. By celebrating the Passover and erecting that 12-stone memorial, the memory is inscribed “in stone” (similar to the commandments inscribed in stone) to make sure memory (fossilized livingness) remains alive in the minds and hearts ...
... of John, in which Jesus describes himself as the Son of Man, and again the Bread of life. And no one can come to him unless it is granted by the Father. While most refuse to recognize him as the rightful “king,”Jesus’ inner 12 remain steadfast. Jesus asks the 12 if they too will fall away from following him. Simon Peter replies, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:67-68). Jesus has the words of ...