Celebrate Recovery

December Schedule
Celebrate Recovery will be meeting each week in December, except Dec 26.  We are currently finishing up Step 12 and Principle 8 and will be starting again with Step 1 and Principle 1 on Friday, January 2, 2015.  So if you are making any New Year’s resolutions, help them actually stick this year by joining us at CR.

What is Celebrate Recovery and why would I go to a meeting?
I’m glad you asked, or at least came to this page to check it out.  We all struggle with hurts and habits.  I spend a lot of time talking to people in all kinds of settings, from church to the street corners of New Brighton and Beaver Falls, and I know that many people are hurting.  I myself have struggled and still do at times, with hurts and habits.
This life often hurts and we usually try to cope with those hurts in ways that lead to poor and even hurtful habits.  We soon find that what stared out as something that seemed to help, or at least dull some of the pain is now a problem in itself.  The anger we feel or express that is really caused by trying cover some resentment, the relief we once sought and found in alcohol, drugs, immorality, cigarettes, gossip, codependency, or isolation has turned into a self-made prison that no longer provides the relief we want.  Now those things have created more hurts and hardships that compound the problems of life.

At Celebrate Recovery, you learn how to stop dealing with life’s hurts and habits in your own power and understanding, and start dealing with hurts and habits in God’s power and wisdom.  Recovery is about learning how to give ourselves over to God and letting Him bring us out of the prison we are in, to the freedom of knowing and loving Him.


When and where does Celebrate Recovery meet?
We meet every Friday at 7pm, the address is listed on the right.  We start with a lesson based on the 12 Steps and 8 Biblical Principles of Recovery and then we have a small group discussion time, one group for ladies and one for men.

We also have a CR Bible Study on Tuesday at 1pm and Wednesday at 7pm, both cover the same topic so you can pick the one that best fits your schedule.

Life is full of all kinds of hurts and habits; I hope to see you Friday night as you join us to Celebrate Recovery.

Celebrate Recovery

December Schedule
Celebrate Recovery will be meeting each week in December, except Dec 26.  We are currently finishing up Step 12 and Principle 8 and will be starting again with Step 1 and Principle 1 on Friday, January 2, 2015.  So if you are making any New Year’s resolutions, help them actually stick this year by joining us at CR.

What is Celebrate Recovery and why would I go to a meeting?
I’m glad you asked, or at least came to this page to check it out.  We all struggle with hurts and habits.  I spend a lot of time talking to people in all kinds of settings, from church to the street corners of New Brighton and Beaver Falls
, and I know that many people are hurting.  I myself have struggled and still do at times, with hurts and habits.
This life often hurts and we usually try to cope with those hurts in ways that lead to poor and even hurtful habits.  We soon find that what stared out as something that seemed to help, or at least dull some of the pain is now a problem in itself.  The anger we feel or express that is really caused by trying cover some resentment, the relief we once sought and found in alcohol, drugs, immorality, cigarettes, gossip, codependency, or isolation has turned into a self-made prison that no longer provides the relief we want.  Now those things have created more hurts and hardships that compound the problems of life.

At Celebrate Recovery, you learn how to stop dealing with life’s hurts and habits in your own power and understanding, and start dealing with hurts and habits in God’s power and wisdom.  Recovery is about learning how to give ourselves over to God and letting Him bring us out of the prison we are in, to the freedom of knowing and loving Him.


When and where does Celebrate Recovery meet?
We meet every Friday at 7pm, the address is listed on the right.  We start with a lesson based on the 12 Steps and 8 Biblical Principles of Recovery and then we have a small group discussion time, one group for ladies and one for men.

We also have a CR Bible Study on Tuesday at 1pm and Wednesday at 7pm, both cover the same topic so you can pick the one that best fits your schedule.

Life is full of all kinds of hurts and habits; I hope to see you Friday night as you join us to Celebrate Recovery.

Crossroad

Introduction
The descent into addiction begins as idolatry which is simply, worshipping something, anything, other than God. An idol is anything we love more than Him or think about more than Him. It’s anything we spend our time and resources on more than Him. We eventually feel the pain of those addictions. The alcohol, drugs, lust, codependency, resentment, endless business, pleasure… We know, or will find out, that these things actually hurt us and hate us. We also know pursing them is wrong. So we try to eliminate those things from our lives only to find we cannot. That’s because we are battling a spiritual war against an idol (Eph 6:10-12). Celebrate Recovery is for anyone who wants out…who wants to break the chains of hurt, addiction, and idolatry.

Crossroads
Principle 7: Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.
Step 10: We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

If you’ve been following the steps to this point, you’ve gotten off to a great start. Here’s what you’ve done so far, you have: faced your denial and admitted that you cannot fight this spiritual battle alone, submitted to God and surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, sought the Holy Spirit in taking an honest look at your life in the Inventory. You listed, confessed, and admitted your wrongdoings, and offered your forgiveness to those that have hurt you. You made amends for the harm that you have caused to others. Overall: you’ve submitted to all the changes God wanted to make in you so far.

WOW! That’s quite a journey! At the start most of us would have said that it was an impossible journey. We could never have changed or grown so much, and we could never have done the work that the first 9 steps ask of us on our own, nd we would be right.

Yet perhaps some of you have not made that entire journey. Maybe it loomed so large at the start, you never really started. Maybe you did start, but you really only wanted one thing fixed so you payed no attention to anything else God was trying to do in you. Maybe you started but then relapsed, feeling as defeated as ever. If you didn’t really follow the steps you didn’t turn ALL your life and will over to Christ. You did not do or finish the spiritual inventory, and didn’t admit your wrongs to God, yourself, or anyone you trust. You didn’t forgive or make amends and thus didn’t submit to the changes God wants to make in you. That means you are still in the cycle. It’s not because the Steps don’t work, but because you didn’t submit to God through the Steps.

Step 10 is not a place to stop great progress and rest on recent victories. The verse is right on: “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12). Relapse is looming as soon as I start to drop my guard…as soon is I decide to “take a rest for a couple minutes.”

Nor can you expect to move through Steps 10-12 if you haven’t done 1-9! You cannot skip Steps, doing so means you think you’re above it, or that you know better than God…(by the way, that’s called idolatry – making a god of your own design). Most recovery material refers to Steps 10 through 12 as the “maintenance steps.” That doesn’t mean auto-pilot! God is just beginning to make the necessary changes…it’s a life-long process. remember Step 3? (We made a decision to turn our life and will over to Christ).

Now starts the rest of your life, making choices over what god you will worship. The gods of your fathers and mothers, gods of your past, gods of our culture, or God Himself. We’ll talk more about these in the weeks ahead.

You will follow and worship something. What will it be? A god that leads you to addiction because deep down, it hates you, or the God that leads you to life because He loves you? He loves you enough to send His Son, Jesus Christ to die in your place for the sins you’ve committed. "Who will you follow" is the question God was asking the nation of Judah through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 1:18-20, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword’; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

That is the Crossroad where you stand, faced with the question of which way to go.

GRACE

Principle 6: Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.

“Blessed are the merciful; Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:7,9)

Step 8 & 9 (combined): We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all (8), and we did so (9).

GRACE

God’s grace meets you where you are, but does not leave you where it found you.  In 1 Peter 5:5, we are told, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  It is the same message given in Proverbs 3:34.  The context of 1 Peter 5 is about submitting to each other and humbling yourself before God that He may lift you up.  But Proverbs 3 and 1 Peter 5 are not the only places you find this teaching in Scripture; it is also found in James 4:6, but let’s with James 4:1-3…

“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Fights and wars…ever have any of those?  We wouldn’t have to talk about forgiveness and making amends if we didn’t have fights and wars, right?  We fight with our parents, authorities, our spouse, kids, friends, strangers.  Even church people fight, which is disgraceful.  After all, WHY do we fight and war?  Well as James 4:1-3 says, it’s because of the desires for pleasure that war in our minds and bodies.  You insist and firmly believe that your way is right, mine is wrong.  You choose to live your life to suit yourself, right?  “It’s all about me!”  Well, when your life is all about you, and my life is all about me, eventually we are going to have a problem!

If your life is all about getting that next drink, next fix, that release, that money, that “me time”… but your spouse has different expectations of you, if your spouse wants you to do something else, you’re going to have conflict.  James goes on to say, “you murder and covet and cannot obtain.”  Well, maybe you don’t literally murder, but in your heart you murder.  In Matthew 5:22 Jesus said that anyone who is angry at someone without cause is in danger of the same judgment as a murderer.  We are really good at character assassination and degrading others.  We covet selfish pleasure and ambitions, or we covet revenge or humiliation of anyone who offends us.  These verses go on to say that if you do ask, you ask amiss, or wrongly, wanting only to fulfill your own personal satisfaction and gratification.  The worst part is that when you go on living for your own desires, pleasures, and ambitions you find yourself empty, lonely, and exhausted.

Now, does any of that sound like humility?  Of course not, it is prideful and self-centered.  Pride and self-centeredness lead to conflict, hurts, addictions and resentments.  So again, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  James 4:4-6 puts it very bluntly. 

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?”  

Why does it call you out as an adulterer or adulteress?  Because if you’ve come to faith in Christ…you belong to Him.  Yet you chase after the old lusts…your way which leads to conflict hurts, addictions, and resentments.  Demanding your way causes you to fight and war because such demands and desires are friendship with the world…friendship with those old things you used to chase after.  James says that you make yourself an enemy of God by doing this.  If you do this as someone who claims to follow Christ, you really have put yourself in conflict with God.  You are His Temple because you have received the Holy Spirit.  Can we be the Temple of God and the temple of an idol too?  Certainly not, there is no room for your will, your addiction, or your resentment.

So what do we do?  Well, read James 4:6-10.

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

None of us deserve God’s grace, it is His undeserved favor toward us.  When you humble yourself before Him, trust in His Son, commit yourself to Him…and continue to do so…

He pours His grace upon you.

G.R.A.C.E.

Guilty

Grace is not earned or deserved…otherwise it would be wages.  You have earned wages: Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.”  we have all pursued, even demanded “my will be done” which is worshipping yourself instead of worshipping God. 

     

Redeemed (purchased)

Yet God offers forgiveness to you.  Not just forgiveness, but freedom from selfishness, sinful pride, and rebellion, freedom from the penalty of sin because Jesus paid the penalty it for you.

Accepted

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin on the Cross, you can be redeemed and God will apply Jesus’ payment to your sin (a price you cannot pay).  He will then accept you as His adopted child, but only when you accept Jesus as your Saviour.

Child

Redeemed, accepted, now you belong to Him.  He continues to give grace to the humble…  grace for victory over hurts and habits, grace for accepting forgiveness when someone does you wrong, grace for offering forgiveness when you do wrong to someone else, and grace for getting through the trials and difficulties of this life.

Everlasting

As a Child of God, He promises you eternal life, free from the fear of judgment because the required payment has been paid.

That’s what Step 6 is about…grace.

Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.

You can try to do that on your own, but like any addiction, it’ll return or shift to something else.  Your best attempt at forgiveness or making amends will come to some self-serving action that is not heart-felt (except to get yourself out of trouble or appease your guilt).  You will eventually take back your forgiveness or create new resentments because you are doing it without grace.  God is the only source of true grace and He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  As a recipient of His grace you are expected to grant that grace to others.

Forgiveness

Principle 6: Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.  “Blessed are the merciful…Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Mt 5:7, 9)

Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31)

Before we can do these critical steps, we must first understand & embrace 1-4.

step 1 is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.
step 2 is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me recover.
step 3 is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
step 4 is following the Holy Spirit as He leads me through a spiritual inventory.

All of your desire for recovery, and all the hard work will be worthless if you decide you are unable to forgive or be forgiven.  No matter how great the offenses we’ve endured or committed…the road to recovery goes thru forgiveness.  There are NO detours!  The #1 principle of Forgiveness is that it feels nothing like fairness.

God’s Forgiveness of us

Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”  While 1 John 1:9 says, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  If you repent (turn from sin) and put your faith in Jesus Christ, He forgives you.  Why and how can He forgive me and you?  Because Jesus was the sacrifice for our sin, He did it because He loves you.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  That’s not fair – that Jesus died for our sin, but God lavishes mercy on us and provides forgiveness to those who believe.  John 20:31 says, “But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have eternal life in His name.”  If you have trusted in Christ, you can know that you’ve been forgiven, that you have eternal life.”  So, God will forgive you if you accept in faith, His Son’s sacrificial death and resurrection.  But, know that He will also require that you forgive those who sin against you…

Our forgiveness of others

It’s all about letting go.  Unforgiveness is like tug-of-war with a train…you can’t win.  Even if you moved it a foot, so what!  What would that have accomplished?  You strive, and fight, and exhaust yourself, refusing to give in.  The war will last until you die or decide to let go of the rope!  The Bible has much to say about forgiveness because it’s a BIG DEAL!  Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”    Matthew 6:14-15  says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  Wow, read that one again.  Now I suggest you read Matthew 18:21-35.  How can we accept God’s forgiveness of our unpayable sin dept, and then refuse to forgive someone else’s sin against us?  God says you cannot.  How often do we want and need God to forgive us?  Once, or every time?  Yeah, every time!  How often does He expect us to forgive those who sin against us?  Once, no, it’s every time.

Our forgiveness of ourselves
Ever feel that your sin and guilt were too great, that you couldn’t be forgiven?  That, my friend is a lie from the pit of Hell.  God forgives lying, cheating, adulterous murderers – and that was King David.  God’s forgiveness is not based upon what evil you’ve done…its based upon the perfect blood of Christ, the sinless Lamb of God.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  When God forgives you, the burden of guilt is lifted.  This is not some irresponsible “letting yourself off the hook…”  Rather, that sin was paid for, the debt is settled when we accept Jesus’ payment on our behalf! 

Principle 6: Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others. 

Step 8 - Amends

INTRODUCTION
Principle 6: Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.  “Blessed are the merciful…Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:7, 9)

Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31)

Before we can do these critical steps, we must first understand & embrace steps 1-4
step 1 is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.
step 2 is understanding that God has the power and desire to help me recover.
step 3 is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
step 4 is beginning to let God have control through a spiritual inventory of your life.

AMENDS

As with most other weeks, there is an acrostic for A.M.E.N.D.S.  Also like last week, we’ll talk about that acrostic, but we’re not spending all our time there.  First of all, what does it mean to make amends?  It means compensating for insult or injury, making restitution.  It’s something we seldom talk about unless we’re in court.  We don’t even hear much about it in Church.  We tend to not care how we hurt others, or if we do, we figure asking God to forgive us all that’s necessary.  No need to make restitution, right?  Wrong.  

Let’s start with that acrostic…

Admit the hurt and the harm that you’ve caused to others.  We’ve been dealing with our own hurts, now it’s time to consider how we have hurt or harmed other people.  You see, self-centeredness is a big part of our descent into addiction.  As an addict of anything I don’t really care what I do to anyone else as long as my addiction is satisfied for today.  As one holding resentment toward someone for the harm they’ve done to me, I want to hurt them back and take any opportunity to do so, even if I hurt another person in the process.  Shifting our focus off of us, that is forsaking our addictions and resentments and taking interest in doing what is right for someone else is a BIG part of recovery!

Make a List of people you to whom you need to make amends.  Column 5 on your Spiritual Inventory is a great place to start and add or subtract to it as the Lord leads.  Remember that we do this unless doing so would further hurt them or others.  You need to lean on the Lord’s wisdom for this, not your own.  Also, don’t worry about how you’ll make amends right now, you’re just making the list.

Encourage one another to make the list, prepare to make amends, and actually follow through.  Meet with your sponsor or accountability partner, let them look over the list, give you some feedback, and sign it to keep you accountable.

Not for them to apologize or make amends to you.  Do not try to pass blame on anyone else, especially them!  Don’t expect anything back.  Don’t make excuses or justify the hurtful actions or words you are making amends for.  Instead, go honestly, openly, humbly, and willingly.  Know that they may even get mad at you.

Do this at the best time for them.  It’s not about when you feel like making amends; this is about what’s best for them.  You go out of your way to make things right.

Start living the promises of recovery.  If you do all this just because you have to, if you do it begrudgingly, don’t even bother.  The person you go to will surly recognize your hypocrisy, and even if they don’t, God will.  BUT, if you are truly seeking victory over your hurts and habits, this will make perfect sense.  It will be something you want to do, even if you are apprehensive about it.  The best part is that as you honestly begin to make amends for the harm you have done, you begin to truly care about others again and you are on your way to recovery.

That’s the CR acrostic.  So is it Biblical?  Let’s find out…

What the Bible says about making AMENDS.

Numbers 5:5-8 (NIV) says, “When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord, that person is guilty.”  Not only is our sin against the other person, it is also sin against the Lord.  God told them to confess, and then make restitution in full + 20% and if the person they had wronged was dead or not around, they were to make restitution to their next-of-kin.

Proverbs 14:9 says, “Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.”  God said that if you sin against another person, then confess and make restitution and if you didn’t obey that, you were a fool.

In 2 Samuel 12:6, the prophet Nathan confronts King David with a problem: some rich guy has stolen some poor guy’s stuff!  David is furious and orders fourfold restitution saying, “he (the thief) shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”  Then the prophet reveals that David is the thief!  Only instead of a lamb, it was a guy’s wife David stole (of course David also made sure the guy was killed in battle, which God rightfully called murder).  Because David did not of himself make confession, and was such a hypocrite on top of that, God makes the recompense, meaning He pays back David for his sin.  God said that “the sword shall never leave your house” (12:10).  Truly there was murder among David’s children after that.  This even though God did forgive David, “the Lord also had put away your sin (12:13b).  In the Old Testament, you either willingly made restitution along with your confession, or God made recompense.  It was better to do it willingly.

Luke 18:31 says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Most of us have heard that, even if we’ve never been to church or read the Bible.  If someone does you wrong, you appreciate a confession and restitution, right?  We usually demand it, don’t we?  If someone hits your car, or even just cuts you off in traffic, we want to make them pay!  Our courts are beyond capacity with all the lawsuits as we demand restitution for wrongs done to us.  Lawyers get rich off of us all convincing us that we have a case and that they can get us money.  But when it comes to our making restitution for the wrongs we’ve done…forget it! Yet, it is exactly what we need to be willing to do, as the Lord leads. Being unwilling to make amends, will delay or derail our recovery.

Street Picnic

Will will be having our regular Celebrate Recovery meeting this week. A special thanks to the Lamb's House for hosting us for a great fireworks show last week! On Sunday, July 20th between 5pm and 7pm we will be having a picnic right here on 4th avenue (between 7th and 8th streets). There is no charge and offerings will not be accepted; it's just a relaxed time of fellowship. Come down and visit us and have a burger or hot dog.

Inventory Follow-up

We've been working through the Step 4 Inventory for several weeks. Perhaps you have been doing so, or maybe you haven't quite got started yet. Whatever the case, seek the leading of the Holy Spirit by spending daily time with the Lord in Bible study, prayer, and fellowship with others who are faithfully following Jesus Christ as you start and/or continue making progress through Step 4.

We will be moving onto Step 5 this week, but to help remind you that Inventory is not a one-time deal, here is a preview of Step 10...

Step 10: We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Principle 7: Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.

Theme of step 10 “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

(1 Corinthians 10:12)

Tonight we will focus on the “how-to’s”of Step 10.

In Step 10 / Principle 7 we begin applying what we have discovered in the first 9 steps. We humbly live daily—in reality, not denial. We make amends for our mistakes and poor decisions. We offer forgiveness when others hurt or offend us. We start to take positive action – instead of constant reaction. We grow daily in our new relationship with Jesus Christ and others. Instead of attempting to be in control of every situation and every person…we start to exhibit self-control. Yet it isn’t even self-control that I want…that will eventually fail me…what I really need is to be under God’s control. How on earth do I do that? How so I live under God’s control?

The answer is what we have been doing all through the Steps. I live under God’s control by letting Him lead me through the Steps. The Steps and Principles basically teach us to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).

The success of the 12 steps, of Celebrate Recovery, and of victory over your hurts and habits is to reject the message of the world, which says you just have to love yourself, love yourself, love yourself…that’s exactly how we end up hurt and addicted in the first place! What you really need is to learn to love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul; then love others. Loving yourself must be a result of God's love of you; you don't have to manufacture it for yourself. Getting your full attention on God and learning to trust and love Him is what the steps are all about. That’s were the victory is. Just so we all understand what God means by love, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Maybe you’re not sure that the 12 Steps give you victory becuase God used them to being you to Himself. Well let’s see. You know that you cannot keep those two commands on my own (love God, love others). You know that submitting to God is the only way you can. Thus, you must decide to submit to God if there is going to be any change. The first step in actually submitting to Him is through inventory as He begins to guide you into all truth about you and your life. Along the way you need to admit it when you fall short and you have to continue to humble yourself, asking God to remove all shortcomings and failures You need to make a list of people you’ve hurt and make amends to those people. You also need to forgive those who have hurt you so that the resentment and anger can end. You continue to do this through prayer, reading the Bible, and involvement with God’s people in order to improve your reliance and relationship with God. You also need to tell others about what God has done in your life. I need to do all of this too. This is the process of recovery; it’s also how God draws you and I close to Himself. It’s nothing new, the Bible has said this all along.

Step 10 Daily Action Plan

1. Continue to take a daily inventory, and when you are wrong, promptly make your amends.
2. Summarize the events of your day in your journal.
3. Submit to God through the 7 principles and 12 steps

Step 4: Moral Inventory

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
      “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
      (Lamentations 3:40)
Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
      “Blessed (favored by God) are the pure in heart.” (Matthew 5:8)

Since January, we’ve been moving through the first 3 Steps and Principles. 

1.   step one is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own
2.  step two is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me deal with them – really: to change me
3.   step three is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control

I recently did some spelunking in some nearby caverns; ever been on one of those guided tours through a cavern?  At some point they make you stand around and they turn off the lights.  It is so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.  But after 15 seconds or so, you mind fills in the image of your hand so you think you can see it; you can’t see anyone else’s hand inches from your face but you can “see” your own!  Our guide told us that after several minutes your mind begins to fill in white spots for you to “see.”  She also said that after 3 hours in complete silence, your mind begins to fill in voices for you to “hear.”  Our mind tries to compensate for the darkness and actually deceives us into thinking we can see or that there are things to hear!  Weird, right?

In 1 John 2:9-11 we read, “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”  Spiritual darkness blinds us too…and we think we can see!  Se say we have fellowship with God, but our fellowship is more often with darkness: resentment, anger, selfish desires, addictions, indifference toward the God of the Universe, etc.  “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie,” according to 1 John 1:6.  We deceive ourselves into thinking we have fellowship with God.  Here is a clue: if we do have fellowship with God, we will also desire true fellowship with His people.  We will love and obey Him, and love each other…with Godly love, based on Truth.

The spiritual inventory is the tool the Holy Spirit can use to help remove the deception, but only if we have committed all of our life and will to Christ and are yielded to the Spirit.  Our hurts deceive us into thinking our resentment is justified.  Our habits deceive us into thinking our actions aren’t harmful to us or others.  Our addictions deceive us into thinking we are in control of things.  Our idols deceive us into thinking they are better than God.  We deceive ourselves into thinking we don’t need God, or our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We deceive ourselves into thinking that whatever I believe about God and my relationship with Him is good enough.

Inventory helps us recognize the deception and it is the first test of our decision in Step 3 to commit all my life and will to Christ.

Some more thoughts before we begin Inventory…

Maybe you’ve never been through step 4 before and you’re thinking, “why on earth would I want to do an inventory on myself?”  Maybe you have been through step 4 and you’re thinking, “why on earth would I want to do an inventory on myself?”  Why is Inventory necessary?  Well, it’s necessary because God tells us over and over to do this exact thing; Holy Spirit-led, self-examination is in the Bible, over and over.

Frankly, we will not recover until we’ve learned to recognize and forsake the deceit and deal with the Truth.  We can’t just wipe away the scars of the past, can’t just ignore the deep, hidden troubles, can’t just forget the hurts, and we can’t just pretend the habits don’t exist.

What we ARE going to do, first and foremost, is seek the help of the Holy Spirit; He leads us into all truth.  We do that by reading the Bible daily, I’d recommend 1 John, John, and James.  Also by praying without ceasing and memorizing some Bible verses.  We also need to secure the help of a Godly sponsor, or at least an accountability partner.  Finally, we need to seek as much time as possible with Godly people, at Celebrate Recovery meetings, church, etc.

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:40)
\This is the first test of your decision in step 3.  This is the next step of your recovery; you cannot skip it and expect to continue.

Seven Common Reasons for Relapse

Before we jump back into Step 4 and the Personal Inventory, I want to share with you some very helpful insights from the Celebrate Recovery manual. This is certainly something to think about all the time. Below are 7 common reasons people relapse and some ways to aviod it...

You have not completely done or even bought into the previous step. We want instant success, immediate results, and recovery yesterday, but it doesn’t work that way. We have built our addictions and idols over years but recovery takes time, effort, and most of all, cooperation with God. What we can do right now is choose to do what it takes, and daily make that same choice. You can’t skip or rush ahead on the steps and think you’ll just the bare minimum to get you through. You especially cannot skip steps 1-4! Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

You have not truly surrendered your life and will to Christ’s care and control (step 3). You want God to fix your problem, but then you want Him to leave you alone. You are not willing to give yourself to Him, to love and to serve. That means you are choosing to be on your own. In Joshua 23-24, there is a review of all God had done for Israel when He led them out of Egypt through Moses (and by the way, 1 Cor 10 says these things happened as an example to us). God won their battles, drove out their enemies who were given over to idolatry, false gods, and all kinds of evil according to God. ThenJoshua 23:11 says, “Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.” In verse 12 and beyond it says that if you don’t love and serve God, but go back to the idols and false gods, God will not fight for you anymore. The reality is that God will fight your battles, but only if you love and give yourself to Him.

You have not accepted God’s forgiveness, possible only through Jesus. You think your sin is too big to be forgiven; that lie keeps you defeated and keeps you from trusting God. 1 John 1:9 says,“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

You have not truly forgiven others who have harmed you. Until you decide to forgive them, you will be a prisoner to anger, resentment, frustration, and hate. Proverbs 10:18 says, “He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.” 1 John 2:9 says, “anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” 1 John 3:15 says, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.” Galatians 5:5 says, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out! Or you will be destroyed by one another.

You are afraid of the risk in making necessary changes. You are paralyzed by fear of failure – which guarantees it. Resisting God and the changes He wants to make for fear of the unknown. So you choose the hurt and habit which is what you do know. Maybe you stopped for fear of rejection or being hurt again. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Psalm 118:6 says, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

You are not willing to own your responsibility. You shift blame instead of taking responsibility which means you’ll never deal with truth. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me , O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

You have not developed an effective support team. You have no accountability partners, no sponsor, maybe a church family but that’s only an hour or so a week, maybe CR a couple hours a week. Yet you have lots of time with those old places, people who lead you into temptation, and time alone. That is a sure recipe for relapse and failure. Galatians 6:2-3 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Sponsor

Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.

“Happy are the pure in heart.” (Matthew 5:8)

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:40)

 

Before we begin Step 4, we must review Steps 1-3.  Step 1 is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.  Step 2 is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me recover.  Step 3 is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.  We must understand these 1^st 3 steps and choose to commit.  Trying to move onto Steps 4-12 without fully understanding Steps 1-2 and especially without the decision to give your life to Christ’s care in Step 3, will only lead to more frustration and failure.

Tonight we continue to recognize our need for help and reach out for it.  Tonight, those who have been through the 12 steps and have been living for Christ need to make themselves available to be part of that help to someone else.  Tonight we talk about sponsors.

The Biblical precedence for sponsors.  Let me start by saying that “sponsors” are not mentioned in Scripture, but the role of sponsors in CR is modeled after Biblical instruction and examples.  So, while the people we will discuss from the Bible are not called “sponsors,” they served the same kind of role as a sponsor for CR.

There are many statements in the Bible that tell us we need other people to not only hold us accountable for doing the right thing, but also for people who help us grow in our relationship with the Lord.  One example is Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, “    Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.  For if they fall, one will lift up his companion, but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up…Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

This teaching supports the idea of an accountability partner, someone who is working toward recovery with you, at roughly the same step as you.  Some other examples are Proverbs 27:17 and of course James 5:16 (which is the key verse for Step 5).

As for sponsors, Proverbs 19:20 is a good example, “Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days.”

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Apostle Paul?  God used him in writing about half of the New Testament.  Paul started off named “Saul” and he persecuted followers of Christ, had Stephen stoned to death, killed and sent many others to jail.  But then he gets saved on the road to Damascus and begins to follow Christ.  When he arrives back at Jerusalem, the church did not trust him and would have turned him away.  That’s when Barnabas (whose name means “son of encouragement”) began to intercede for Saul.  You can read about it in Acts 9:26-30.  Later, Barnabas was sent to help the new church in Antioch and he goes and gets Saul to help him.  During that time, he mentored and instructed Saul as they served Christ together (Acts 11:19-26).  After a couple years, the Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Saul to go on a mission, preaching the Gospel and during that first trip, Saul’s name is changed to Paul and he takes the lead of the group Acts 13:1-2).  Barnabas was greatly used by God in the life of Paul, equipping, encouraging, and instructing him.

Paul soon begins to do the same for some others including Luke, Timothy, Silas…and Onesimus.
We learn of Onesimus in the New Testament book of Philemon, which is a “God-breathed” letter from Paul to his friend Philemon.  Philemon owned a slave named Onesimus.  Onesimus had betrayed Philemon and run away, along his way he runs into Paul who leads Onesimus to faith in Christ.  So Paul sends this letter in Onesimus’ hand back to Philemon, asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus and tells Philemon to charge any amount owed to “Paul’s account.”  He also encourages Philemon to recognize Onesimus as a brother of Paul, and himself…  Paul asks that Philemon send Onesimus back to him as he was a great help to Paul.  Paul was investing in the life of Onesimus, equipping, encouraging, and instructing him.

That is what being a sponsor is about: investing in the life of another.

SPONSOR – the 5 common questions
1.  Why do I need a sponsor and/or accountability partner?
Because I need someone who speaks truth…
Not someone to fight your battles, but to help, support, encourage, and be an advocate.  Paul wrote to Timothy in preparing him to begin mentoring others as well, “use the Word of God for ‘doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work’” (2 Tim 3:16-17).  A sponsor is not proud or feeding you his/her opinions…a sponsor speaks God’s Truth into your life from God’s Word.

Because a sponsor or accountability partner hold me accountable for my actions…
Helping you maintain an honest view of reality at each Step; many people fail to recover bc they are not honest with themselves.  See that you make fellowship with the Body of Christ (CR, church, etc) a priority in your schedule; hurts and habits don’t take time off of pursuing you!  Holding you accountable for prayer, feasting on the Word of God, and loving/obeying God; if you omit this, you’re done.  Encouraging you to serve within the Body of Christ – at church and CR; getting your focus off of you!

Because a sponsor / accountability partner help guard against relapse…
Their feedback rebukes dysfunctional & self-defeating patterns that you might not even recognize in yourself.  They confront in love without placing blame or guilt as Ecclesiastes 7:5 says, “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.”

2.  What is the difference between a sponsor and an accountability partner?
Sponsor = someone who has completed the 12 steps, is living a victorious life, and who is themselves dependant upon the Word of God, and loves the Lord with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength.  A sponsor is someone to help guide you through the program & keep you focused, share Truth from the Word of God, especially with step 4 coming!

Accountability partner = someone who may be at the same point in recovery as you.  The goal is mutual accountability for certain areas of your life.  This can be more than one person.

Seriously, many people give up on their recovery in step 4, you need a sponsor and accountability partners!  If you meet the qualifications of a sponsor, others need you as a sponsor!

3.  What are the qualifications of a sponsor?
No one is going to be perfect and no sponsor is your “saviour.”  But here are some basic things you should look for in a sponsor.  First and foremost, a sponsor is growing spiritually in Christ and submitted to the Holy Spirit.  They are living the 8 principles and “practicing what they preach.”  They desire to help others in their recovery and spiritual growth, loving, encouraging, helping, confronting, and speaking the Word of God.  They show compassion, care, and hope (not pity).  They are a good listener but are willing to confront your denial or procrastination.   They are willing to share his/her own struggles with you.  And last, but very importantly, they offering Godly wisdom, not human wisdom or their own opinions.

4.  What is the role of a sponsor?
A sponsor is to talk about issues in detail that are too personal or to involved for a CR meeting.  They should be available in times of crisis or potential relapse.  They serve as a sounding board and give wisdom from God’s Word.  They encourage you to work the 8 Principles and 12 Steps.  They model a Christ-like lifestyle.  Again, no one is perfect, but these are basically what a sponsor is supposed to do.

5.   How do I find a sponsor / accountability partner?
Here are some helpful hints.  Most of all, tirelessly seek God’s leading (pray) – no rash decisions!  Second, it must be men sponsoring men, and women sponsoring women.  Third, invest some time in fellowship with the Body of Christ so you can get to know potential sponsors (at CR and church).  Besides all that, keep in mind that sponsorship is not a lifetime commitment, you cannot put that kind of responsibility on anyone.  Also, don’t take a “no” as rejection (good sponsors are few and far between and they could very well be overloaded.

Conclusion
True recovery is a process.  It is the process of learning to trust God and love Him.  Trusting Him to enough to let Him lead you to the person He wants as your sponsor and over time, leading you to be a help and sponsor to other people.

TURN

Step 3 We made a decision to TURN our lives and wills over to the care of God.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God: this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3 Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

Blessed are the meek (Matthew 5:5)

TURN
We’ve been talking about a group of people that had been freed from their slavery.  Theirs had been physical and spiritual slavery, our hurts and habits often are physical too, as well as relational, financial, emotional, but always spiritual.  The Bible says, “for we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against…spiritual hosts of evil” (Ephesians 6:12).

In the testimony we’ve been following, the people have been freed from the physical battle.  God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt by His mighty hand.  God had fought the battle; the Israelites just had to be obedient, giving their lives and wills over to God.  So they walked away from the Red Sea, and life from then on was all good…right?  Well, the work was only half done.  God had done the hard part in freeing them, now He was leading them to Mt Sinai where He was going to meet with them.  Now came the part where they just had to follow Him.  They had gladly TURNed from their slavery in Egypt and now they just had to TURN to God.

Sounds easy enough, right?  After all, who would ever want to go back to the thing that had enslaved them?  We would certainly never think of going back to the alcohol, the codependency, the drugs, the anger, the resentment, the gambling, the immorality, or any of that stuff.  Yeah, well even after all Israel had witnessed God doing for them in freeing them, they still wanted to go back any, and virtually every, time things didn’t go as they expected.  Check out Exodus 16:2-3, “Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.  And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!  For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”  Why did they want to go back?  Because they weren’t happy with the food they had!  God provided them with food that they didn’t have to work for, it just arrived like a free pizza delivery every day.  Then later on in Numbers 11:4-5 they again complain about the food God was providing, “Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?  We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”  Imagine complaining about what God was providing for you!  Then in Numbers 14:2-4, God had taken them to the border of the Promised Land, the Land God had promised Abraham that his descendants would occupy (Genesis 12:1-7), and this is what they said, “And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!  Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”  So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”  It was right there, all they had to do was follow Him, and again He would do all the hard work; they just had to obediently follow, but they refused.  Then again in Numbers 20:3-5, now that they are just wandering around the dessert because THEY refused to enter the Promised Land, “And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!  Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here?  And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”  Even in their rebellion, God was still providing all they needed, but they weren’t happy with that.

What a bunch of ungrateful people, huh?  Sure glad you and me are not like that!  We never refuse to do what God wants, complain about God’s provision, and get upset with Him because things are not going our way.  We never TURN from our hurts and habits, only to go back when things get hard; we never have to worry about relapse.  Is that right?

Let’s go back to just after they had crossed through the Red Sea, and God was leading them to Mt Sinai (this is where God would give them the 10 Commandments).  But before those commands were given, there was something they had to do.  Check out Exodus 19:4-8…

(God said) “‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”  So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him.  Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do.’”

They had to agree to the covenant (the agreement / promise), that God would be their God and they would be His people.  Having just been freed from their slavery in impressive fashion, they quickly agreed.  They were happy to TURN from their slavery.  The problem is that they very soon forgot about their covenant, rebelled, and thereby broke the covenant.  They didn’t really want to TURN to God, they just wanted rid of their problem and then to go on living for themselves, however they wanted.  There was no lasting gratitude or love for God.

After 40 years of wandering in the desert, God renewed that covenant with the now grown children of that rebellious generation.  All the rebels had died in the desert and the “next generation” (not Star Trek) was just about to follow God into the Promised Land.  So in Deuteronomy 6:5, God tells them, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”  That is most important command in the entire Bible, Jesus said so (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).

How about you, do you love yourself, your old habit, your will, or do you love God with all of your heart, soul, and strength?

Freedom from our hurts, habits, addictions, and slavery is only have accomplished when we TRUN from those things.  To TURN from them, we must TURN to something else.  If it isn’t God that we TURN to, it will be something that becomes a new hurt, habit, addiction, and enslavement, AND it will most surely lead to relapsing as well.

So, what does it mean to T.U.R.N.?

Trust – We have to take a step of faith and trust God.  Some of us say we can’t trust, “I’ve never heard God speak to me, how can I trust Him?”  But we trust the waitress not to steal the info off our credit card when she takes it.  We trust total strangers to stop at a red light as we go through the green.  We trust people we don’t really know with our kids at school all day, every day.  Yet we wonder if we can trust God?  If we don’t decide to trust God, we’ll keep doing things our way – like the Israelites, and doing life our way is what got us into the hurts and habits!  Remember our definition of “insanity”…”doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.”  How about we stop trusting in ourselves, and make a decision to start trusting God.  By the way, it’s hard to trust someone you don’t know, so get to know more about Him by reading His Word, the Bible.  I recommend starting in the Gospel of John.

Understand – We, like the Israelites, should understood that we can trust God.  They had seen His power and intervention for them, but in moments of trial and temptation they chose to understand they were missing out on some old “fun”…back in their slavery.  God has been intervening for you too, though you might not have been paying attention or giving Him any credit for what He’s done.  You are still alive after all and being given this opportunity to give your life over to Him.  He could have just taken you out a long time ago, right?  We need to understand that God is our only HOPE.  You can TRUST Him, BUT things won’t always go like you expect them too!  And that’s okay because His ways are better than our ways!

Repent – The Israelites understanding of themselves and their slavery kept them from repenting.  Oh, they often admitted they had sinned, when God called them out.  They expressed sorrow, because they were afraid of God punishing them.  But they always went right back to their old rebellious behaviors.  Repentance is more than just sorrow.  Sorrow is necessary, but sorrow alone isn’t enough.  Repentance is TURNing away from our pride and self-reliance, TURNing away from our hurts & habits.  It’s all that AND, TURNing all of our life and will over to God in Jesus Christ.

That’s what step 3 is all about.  Step 1 is understanding that you are powerless over your hurts & habits.  Step 2 is acknowledging that Jesus is your only Hope and Help.  Step 3 is turning our life and will over to Christ.  STEP 3 “We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.”

New Life – That rebellious generation of Israelites never got new life in the Promised Land.  Oh, they had a different life (not enslaved in Egypt but wondering in the desert).  We can give up some addiction and have a different life, without getting a new life.  New life is not about getting a fresh start, God does not just make every problem disappear.  It doesn’t mean your life from now on will be pain/worry free.  It doesn’t mean you wont still need to work through past hurts and habits…

New Life is about being an all new Creation in Christ and loving Him.  Like getting married – life is radically different, but old problems don’t go away.  Guys, you can’t keep your old girlfriends.  You’ve got to take their numbers out of your cell phone, their pictures out of your wallet, and thoughts of them out of your head!  Can you still run into them at Walmart?  Yes, but you better RUN the other direction if you do!

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  Romans 6:11 tells us that new life means “dead to sin and alive to God.”  It means He will present us faultless, meaning not guilty (Jude 24). It means we now have Jesus Christ as our intercessor (Hebrews 7:25).

It means we can now face and defeat our hurts and habits through the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).

Conclusion
New Life only comes only by trusting what God says, understanding who I am – and TURNing from it, understanding who Jesus is – and TURNing all my life and will over to Him, and repenting of my rebellion.  Finally, do you know Jesus?  Do you love Jesus?