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Surrender: Why We All Need Step One

As we start this new year, many of you are thinking about resolutions and goals. Maybe last year you resolved to lose 10 pounds and now you’re thinking, “Great, only 18 to go.” Whatever is on your mind today, I hope you’ll join us for this new series on the 12 Steps.

Why the 12 Steps?

Some of you might be wondering why we’re going through the 12 steps from Alcoholics Anonymous and similar recovery programs. “I’m not an addict,” you’re thinking. “Why do I need this?”

Here’s the truth: more of us are addicted to things than we realize. Almost everyone has something in their life they do without thinking that affects them negatively. Something you want to stop but just can’t.

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The Missing Piece

I’m going to lose ten pounds.
I’m going to run a 10k.
I’m going to work to earn a promotion.
I’m going to go back to school for a higher degree.
I’m going to quit drinking / smoking / overeating.
I’m going to work out 3 days a week.

Sound familiar?

There’s a story I came across while researching for a new sermon series beginning this January. Three frogs were sitting on a log on the shore of the lake one hot summer day. One frog decides to jump in the lake. How many frogs are on the log?

Three. Deciding and doing are not the same thing.

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The Lord Delivers: Finding Meaning Beyond the Manger

from the Christmas Candlelight Service, December 21, 2025

For the past month, we’ve explored miracle births in Scripture: Abraham and Sarah’s Isaac, Manoah’s Samson, Hannah’s Samuel, and Zechariah and Elizabeth’s John the Baptist. Tonight, we arrive at the culmination of them all: Jesus.

What’s in a Name?

Names carry profound meaning. The name we know as “Jesus” comes from the Hebrew Yehoshua, or Joshua, meaning “the Lord delivers.” Just as Joshua brought Israel into the promised land, Jesus would fulfill an even greater mission, delivering all of God’s people into eternal life.

Jesus is the fulfillment of every story we’ve studied. Through Isaac, God turned sorrow into laughter. Through Samson (“little light”), God sent light into Israel’s darkest times. Through Samuel, God showed He hears individual prayers. Through John, God demonstrated His grace. And now, through Jesus, God delivers His people.

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God Is Gracious: The Miraculous Birth of John the Baptist

Every baby is a miracle, a gift from God. But some stories make it undeniable that God had His hand directly involved. Today, we’re looking at one of those stories, a reminder that the same God responsible for all the miracle births in Scripture is still at work in our lives today.

What’s in a Name?

His name was John, which means “God is gracious.” Every time someone called his name, they were reminded of the God they served. Every time they yelled at him (because let’s be honest, kids will be kids), they had to remember to be gracious too.

But this baby boy was a long time in coming, about 400 years, to be exact.

The final book of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible is Malachi, where God promises: “See, I’m going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me” (Malachi 3:1). God said He would send someone to prepare the way, someone in the spirit of Elijah, before the great day of the Lord.

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God Has Heard: Hannah’s Story of Faith in the Depths

From our Miracle Babies series exploring God’s promises wrapped in blankets

The Five Finger Game

Let’s start with a game. Put a finger down if:

  • You’ve ever felt ignored by everyone, including God
  • You’ve been hurt by dysfunctional family relationships
  • You’ve desperately wanted something that never worked out
  • You’ve tried making a deal with God
  • You’ve had to give up something precious to you

If you have no fingers left, you’re in good company. That’s exactly what Hannah experienced.

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A New Light: The Miraculous Birth of Samson

Part of the “Miracle Babies” series

We’re continuing our journey through miraculous births in the Bible, and today we’re looking at a baby born to a woman who wasn’t supposed to have children. Unlike Sarah from last week, this woman isn’t even named in Scripture—but I think there’s a powerful reason for that beyond simple oversight.

The Cycle of Darkness

The story of Samson’s birth takes place during one of Israel’s darkest periods. The book of Judges records a repeating cycle: the people rebel against God, God allows them to be conquered, they cry out for help, and God raises up a deliverer called a judge. For hundreds of years, this pattern continues.

But when we get to Samson’s story, something’s different. The text tells us that “the Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years.” Notice what’s missing? There’s no mention of the people crying out to God. It’s as if they’d given up.

But God hadn’t given up on them.

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Laughter Is Born: The Ridiculous Promise of God

When God’s Plans Sound Absolutely Absurd

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard of an elderly person accomplishing? Running a marathon at 100? Climbing Mount Everest at 80? Going skydiving at 103?

Now imagine this: having your first baby at 90.

That’s the story of Abraham and Sarah – and it’s so absurd that their son’s name literally means “laughter.” Because when God told them the news, they laughed. Not the joyful kind of laughter, but the incredulous kind. The “you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me” kind.

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Do Not Fear Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

We are hardwired to seek comfort. For most of human history, this instinct kept us alive. Being uncomfortable from hunger meant you were starving. Your body demanded rest or it would break down from overuse. You sought acceptance from your tribe because being an outcast meant death—whether from enemy tribes, predators, or the psychological toll of isolation.

But here’s the problem: we don’t live in that world anymore. When was the last time you were chased by a saber-toothed tiger? Yet we still operate as if we are. We still avoid discomfort at all costs, and ironically, this instinct that once saved us is now killing us—physically, mentally, and spiritually.

The philosopher Voltaire once said, “History is filled with the sounds of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.” Hard circumstances create great figures, nations, and empires. Overindulgence in comfort leads to their demise.

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Do Not Fear Impossible Situations

When You’re Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

There’s a legendary story from the Korean War about General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller. His battalion of Marines found themselves completely surrounded by enemy forces—outnumbered 29 to 1, outgunned, and out of options.

Instead of panicking, Chesty declared: “They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29 to one. They can’t get away from us now.”

He and his men fought their way out while losing very few soldiers.

Most of us would panic in impossible situations like that. When we feel surrounded and pressed in on every side, when every path seems like the wrong choice, we tend to panic, retreat, or give up.

But the apostle Paul had a different perspective: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not abandoned. We are struck down, but not destroyed.”

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