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
0.16UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.69LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.06UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.76LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.92LIKELY
Extraversion
0.17UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.84LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.68LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
*Twelve Steps to Success*
*Topical October 20, 2002*
* *
*Scripture Reading:*
*Introduction:*
We discussed last Sunday morning about how we might find power for success in our lives, and that it is all found in Christ.
/How does God's power give me success in Christ?
/
God's power gives me success by protecting me through faith in Christ.
God's power gives me success by placing all other power under Christ.
God's power gives me success by working through me to bring praise to Christ.
God's power gives me success by bringing me to glory in Christ.
God's power gives me success by giving me all I need for life in Christ.
God's power gives me success by revealing Christ to me.
This sounds real good to know that the path to success over whatever besets us is all found in Christ.
He is our one-step program to success.
Belief in Christ gives us freedom from all sin.
But we have a problem here.
And that is that many people, even though they know Christ, still suffer the effects of besetting sin in their lives.
No matter how hard they try, they still can't seem to overcome.
I believe the reason is that many people have not taken seriously the teachings of Christ.
They have taken him personally, but they have not taken him practically.
They bought the car but have not yet learned how to drive it – so they don't go anywhere.
Perhaps they need to get over their fear of driving, or take driver's training.
And they need to know the rules of the road to drive safely and successfully.
In some ways too it is like reading a passage of Scripture and not understanding it.
If you can't understand it you can't apply it.
And so you come to church and go to Bible study and listen to sermons so you can understand it and apply it.
The message that Bill and I are doing together this morning will take last week's message about success in Christ and show you how to apply it to your life.
It will take the one-step program in Christ and expand it to twelve steps as sub-points of his teaching in order to ensure your success.
Many of you may be familiar with the Twelve-Step Program used by Alcoholic's Anonymous.
Maybe you attended meetings at one time in your life and found victory.
Maybe you attend meetings now and are working on victory.
I attended some AA meetings myself at one time as I struggled with alcohol.
I have complete victory today.
I am not a "recovering" alcoholic.
By the power of God I am a "recovered" alcoholic.
In other words, I am no longer an alcoholic.
God has done this in my life by the power of his Word – his teaching – that he gave me the faith and the will to apply.
When I am confronted by alcohol, I don't go there.
I know from experiencing the consequences what it does to me.
I know from experiencing God's power what is available to me.
I know from God's teaching how to apply that power.
I imagine that Bill can say the same.
These twelve steps are not only for the alcoholic, however.
Take any problem in your life that hinders your holiness and insert it.
Alcoholics are not the only sinners among us.
God can take any one of you who struggles with any problem, turn you around, and use you as a missionary to others.
On our Missionary Emphasis Sunday today, I wanted to have Bill Udrow up here with me to help explain the Twelve Step Program.
We will go over each of the steps and explain their spiritual significance according to the teachings of Jesus.
Q: "Bill, what work are you presently doing?"
Q: "How can you see this work as a missionary calling?"
Q: "What has taken place in your life to qualify you for this?"
Q: "What place has the Twelve Step Program had in preparing you for this?"
Q: "What is your understanding of this program in how it relates to Scripture?
In other words, how Christian is it?"
Q: "How do Scriptural teachings contribute to the success of this program?"
A: They are a bridge to true Christian faith.
Q: One of the questions Christians always ask about the AA Twelve Step Program is the statement about /'God as we understand Him'/.
"What is your understanding of this and how it fits into what AA is trying to accomplish?"
A: It allows the non-Christian to experience the power of Christian principle without coercion and perhaps come to faith in the One who first taught it.
Q: "Do you think that long-term victory can be achieved without believing that our 'higher power' is Jesus – that he is the God we must understand?
In other words, how well do you think the Twelve Step Program can work without Christ as your God?"
A: This would be applying Scriptural principle without Scriptural authority.
The principles work but they cannot save.
Without the God of our salvation, there can be no lasting success.
The Twelve Step Program is not salvation in itself, but it can draw addicts to the One who saves because they are his principles.
*Big Question:*
/What steps must I take to successfully apply God's power in my life?/
We will be taking our information from:
/The Twelve Steps for Christians/, published by RPI Publishing, Inc., P.O.
Box 44, Curtis, WA 98538, (360) 245-3386, 1994 by Friends in Recovery
/NIV Recovery Devotional Bible/, gen.
ed.
Verne Becker, Zondervan, 1993.
* *
* *
* *
*I.
Step One*
* A.
Narrative*
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
* B.
Implication*
Step one is about recognizing our brokenness.
* C.
Illustration*
“ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
(Matthew 9:36 NIVUS)
“ Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
(Luke 5:31 NIVUS)
“ I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
*I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do— this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”*
(Romans 7:15-20 NIVUS)
“ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9