post update

Due to the passing of Pastor Mark's Dad there will be no new message posted this week. The next post will be during the week of July 19, 2020.

Thank You

Step 4: Love does not envy

Introduction

In this post we continue to look at the roll of love in recovery. What does love have to do with recovery? Everything. If you are to believe Step 2 when it says that God cares about you and will help you recover, you must understand that is true because God loves you. If you are to forgive others and make amends in Step 9, it must be motivated by love for them, not just trying to get some burden off your own back. If you are going to tell someone else about what God is doing in your life in Step 12, it will be because you love them.

The word love is greatly misused, misunderstood and abused in our language and culture. We “love” all kinds of things and romantic “love” is mostly associated with sex and little else. God, however, provides a description of true love in 1 Corinthians 13. That is what we have been discussing for a couple weeks and will continue with this post.

We began our Step 4 spiritual inventory with a discussion of love and the first descriptive words in 1 Corinthians 13:4 which are “patient” and “kind.” This post begins with a quick review of those two important pieces.

Love Does Not Envy:

God’s description of love begins with this, “Love suffers long” (1 Corinthians 13:4). The Greek word translated “suffers long” or “is patient” means to withstand aggravation without complaint. The second descriptive word in 1 Corinthians 13:4 is “kind.” The Greek verb “kind” means to take merciful and gracious action toward someone. So then, in our spiritual inventory, do you show love that is patient and kind? As addicts, that is highly unlikely. Addiction makes us very selfish, so patience and kindness like that just don’t happen. We can do some “nice” things but there will be some type of selfish motivation. Godly love moves to demonstrate compassion with no selfish motivation.

Moving on, 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.” Let’s start with “love does not envy.” Love is not jealous of what someone has, does or receives. Envy is a negative feeling due to someone else’s achievement, success, or benefit. We can’t be jealous of another’s lifestyle, fortune, appearance or popularity. The problem is that often we are envious of others. That envy creates division between you and the person you envy. It creates a bad attitude in your heart and mind toward them and even if you try to hide it, the monster of envy will cause you to have a hardness toward them.

Next 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, “love does not parade itself.” Love doesn’t brag or boast. Bragging means heaping praise on oneself, elevating and promoting your self-glory. Ever been around a braggart who can’t stop telling you how great they are? It gets old, right? Love does not do that. Bragging exalts self and diminishes others which creates disunity, only this time it hardens the hearts of others toward you. If you’re good at bragging, it may even cause others to envy; and love doesn’t lead others to sin.

Next, 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, “love is not puffed up.” Love isn’t proud. Pride is an exaggerated self-concept. In our culture, pride is considered a virtue, but God says it is sin. Pride is based upon biased opinions and information leading to self-deception and a corrupted view of reality. It leads you to believe that if you’re that good, you don’t need help and don’t need anyone else including God. That is a broad pathway to addiction. Now, pride can also work another way. If you think very lowly of yourself, pride can drive you to escape those self-beliefs through some artificial means which can easily turn into an addiction.

Conclusion

Envy, bragging, and pride destroy relationships and keep us deceived. Addiction (even codependency) is an entirely selfish thing and envy, bragging and pride are always involved, maybe in a subtle way, maybe not. Envy is itself an addiction and leads to more addiction by seeking escape. Bragging creates envy in others and divides us. Pride keeps me from seeking help and leads me to resist necessary changes. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what kind of love you have been showing:

How envious are you of close family?

How much do you elevate yourself before extended family and friends?

How prideful are you around acquaintances and strangers?

Do you think you’re better than those who hate you?

How do these affect your relationship with God?

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 4: Love is Kind

Introduction

In this post we continue the process of the Step 4 Spiritual Inventory. Over the past weeks we have prepared for this Holy Spirit led examination because we don’t need a bunch of opinions or misunderstandings or deceptions about ourselves or our situation; we need the truth. I cannot get from point A to point B with a GPS unless I have accurate information about where I am and where I’m going. It’s the same thing with recovery; I need the truth about where I am and how to get where I need to go. Our understanding of ourselves is most often based on biased and faulty information, but God knows the truth and the Truth will set you free. That is why we submit, as Step 4 says, to a Spirit-led inventory.

Last week we opened our hearts and minds to what love truly is. The world gives us a very twisted and self-centered view of love; that is not God’s design. Now you may be asking what Godly love has to do with recovery. The answer is everything. In recovery we know that worldly “love” most often hinders recovery which is why we’ve all heard it said countless times not to get into a romantic relationship while in recovery. The reason we need Godly love is that God designed us as social beings; we were made to commune with Him and other people. Addiction is very selfish and tends to drive us away from people and from God. Addiction is destructive because it makes us isolate, hide, lie and deceive. Godly love is a huge part of recovery as it beings us back into the kind of healthy relationships we need.

The Holy Spirit describes Godly love in 1 Corinthians 13. We began our spiritual inventory with a discussion of love with the first descriptive word (patient) in 1 Corinthians 13:4. This post begins with a quick review and then onto the second descriptive word which is “kind.”

Love Is Kind:

God’s description of love begins with this, “Love suffers long” (1 Corinthians 13:4). The Greek word translated “suffers long” or “is patient” means to withstand aggravation without complaint. Thus, in your Spirit-led self-examination, ask the Spirit to reveal to you the truth with the following questions:

How patient are you with close family?

How patient are you with extended family and friends?

How patient are you with acquaintances and strangers?

How patient are you with those who hate you?

These questions are best answered in light of God’s patience with you.

Now let’s move onto the second descriptive word in 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love suffers long and is kind.” Kind is a rare Greek verb used only once in the New Testament, though other forms of the root word are used often. The Greek verb “kind” means to take merciful and gracious action toward someone. It is illustrated in a well-known parable Jesus told. Before we jump into the parable let me give you a little background information, some context if you will. The account of Jesus telling this story is found in Luke 10:25-37. Jesus is being challenged by a lawyer who seeks to discredit Him. The lawyer’s purpose is to divide the crowd so he asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. In Jewish society at the time, there was much debate about the reality of eternal life. Some, known as the Sadducees, did not believe in such a thing, many others, however, did. Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question was, “What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?” Jesus is talking about the Old Testament Law. The lawyer responded by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus replied, “You have answered rightly; do this and you shall live.” As a sidebar let me say that loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength includes trusting Him. Thus, when He tells you that the only way to be forgiven and have union with Him is through believing that Jesus died in your place, taking your punishment, and rising again so that you can have new life now and eternal life to come, you believe Him because you know He loves you and that you can trust Him (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 16:31). You cannot say you love God in the way described above if you deny what He says.

Back to Luke 10 and the parable. The lawyer, upon hearing Jesus tell him his answer was correct, realized he hadn’t gotten the answer he wanted; there was nothing there to accuse Jesus or divide the crowd. So, he pressed onward asking, “and who is my neighbor?” Now again, let me give you some background information. Jesus is about to answer the lawyer using a story about a Samaritan. The Jews hated the Samaritans; they considered them defiled. The Samaritans descended from the Jews who were left behind when Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the people Assyria transplanted into that territory. Thus, they were not fully Jewish and the Jews hated them because of that. Jesus had several interactions with Samaritans (see John 4 for example) as He showed them love and compassion and tried to teach His disciples to do the same. Now, lets read the parable in Luke 10:30-35:

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’”

Jesus then asked the lawyer, “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” Jesus has presented an interesting case to the lawyer who must now admit that the despised Samaritan is the one who showed love, not the priest or Levite who were Jews. The lawyer replied, “The one who showed mercy on him.” Jesus then said, “Go and do likewise.” Go and do what the Samaritan did, show mercy and love, even to those who hate you.

The Samaritan didn’t walk over to the bleeding, dying man lying along the road and say, “Oh man, you look terrible. Well, I hope you get feeling better; I’ll pray for you. See you later.” No, he stopped, kneeled down and dressed the wounds, took him to safe shelter and cared for him. He demonstrated love. Specifically, he showed the kindness of 1 Corinthians 13:4 by taking merciful and gracious action toward someone who would have otherwise hated him.

So then, in our spiritual inventory, do you show that kind of love? As addicts, that is highly unlikely. Again, addiction makes us very selfish, so selfless kindness like that just doesn’t happen. We can do some “nice” things but there will be some type of selfish motivation. Godly, loving kindness moves to demonstrate compassion with no selfish motivation. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what kind of love you have been showing:

How kind are you with close family?

How kind are you with extended family and friends?

How kind are you with acquaintances and strangers?

How kind are you with those who hate you?

These are best answer in light of how kind God is with you. His example is the requirement of Godly love.

Conclusion

Patience and kindness are the necessary passive and active responses of Godly love toward others. Patience allows us to be mistreated and still be compassionate instead of being bitter or vengeful. Kindness means taking compassionate action toward others. Addiction, even codependency, is an entirely selfish thing. To love with patience and kindness makes addiction difficult if not impossible because it removes the selfishness. This type of love is only possible through submission to the Spirit. As Step 1 says, I do not have the power to love like this on my own. Step 2 adds, only God has the power to produce that kind of love in me. Step 3 then tells us that we must give ourselves over to God, yielding to His will for us. Step 4 is where God shows us what needs to change about us so that we can be more like our perfect example and Saviour, Jesus.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 4: Love is patient

Introduction
Last week in our Step 4 spiritual inventory study we talked about what it means to commune with God and other people, to know and to be known on a deep, meaningful level. We were made to commune with God and people around us. Our lifelong fulfillment, satisfaction and joy comes from that communion. Our eternal destiny in Christ is to commune with God and all who are united to Him through faith in Christ.

Tonight we are going to begin a discussion of the healing and uniting power of Godly love. What does love have to do with communion and recovery? God’s love for us is the reason communing with Him is possible. True love incorporates what is needed for communion. We are going to take an extended look at 1 Corinthians 13 which provides God’s description of love. The world tells us a very different story about what love is and as usual, the world has it all wrong. Tonight we start with two pillars of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4a.

I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 right now.

Two Pillars of Love:

God’s detailed definition of love begins with this, “Love suffers long and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4a). The Greek word translated “suffers long” or “is patient” means to withstand aggravation without complaint. Jesus spoke to this with Peter and the disciples, giving an accompanying illustration in Matthew 18:22-27:

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

In our spiritual examination, how patient are you with close family? How patient are you with extended family and friends? How patient are you with acquaintances and strangers? How patient are you with those who hate you? Perhaps these are better answered in light of God’s patience with you.

On the drive down here tonight for CR to talk about loving patience, I found myself frustrated when the car in front of me on a narrow, twisting road stopped to pick someone up, blocking the road for what seemed a long time. I’m sure it was actually less than a minute, but come on, pull over and let me pass! I wasn’t very patient. Now I didn’t lay on the horn, didn’t shout obscenities out the window and I didn’t make any gestures. From all appearances I was calm. In my mind, however, I was offended at the audacity of this person to needlessly hold up traffic. I have no idea who the person was so I cannot confess to them, but I am confessing it now. It happens so easily, especially when not face-to-face with the other person; that is a real problem with social media by the way. You and I can get caught up in what we need or want to do and if someone hinders that in anyway, any patience we may have had goes out the window. When you add difficult circumstances to the mix like health issues, the loss of a family member or friend, financial stress, your addiction or dealing with someone else’s addiction it is all the more difficult to love with a patient and long-suffering type of love. It is impossible, in fact, to be patient in those situations unless you and I are clinging to Christ and yielded to the Holy Spirit.

The second pillar is to be kind and we’ll get into what that means next week.

Conclusion

How much do we really know about Godly love? Moreover, knowing about love is far different than knowing love. Communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit is recovery. Our level of loving patience and kindness toward others is an indicator of the kind of communion with have with God. Perhaps spiritual inventory reveals there is room for improvement. It’s time to let God renew your mind and heart. Spend some time with Him this week in that endeavor by reading and meditating upon 1 Corinthians 13:1-8.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 4: Communing with God

Introduction
When it comes to selfishness, isolation is the best breading ground because you are the only one around. Being self-less takes more than being around other people, however. Being self-less like Jesus requires communion with Him. When you hear the word communion you may think about the bread and cup, and that’s good, but the bread and cup are meant to represent the communion (closeness) we have with God and through Him each other. It’s one thing to be friendly; it’s another thing to have a best friend, someone with whom you have a really meaningful relationship. Tonight we continue with Step 4, a process that needs to be characteristic of our daily lives, called spiritual inventory.  Let the Truth of the Word sink into your minds and see what changes need to be made in your life…

Communion  with God

What does is mean to commune?
The word “commune / communion” only appears once in the Old Testament and then only in Ecclesiastes 1:16 of the KJV and NKJV Bibles, but the idea of communing with God is everywhere in the Bible. In that verse Solomon is “communing” with his own heart about how great he is, “I communed with my heart, saying, ‘Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.’” That’s not the type of communion we are striving for here. The English word “commune” has a range of meanings including “communicate, connect, be one with.” Think of a set of gears: interconnected, moving/working together, engineered and assembled with great precision, meshing w/o grinding; they are totally comfortable fully engaged and interlocked even at very high speed. I once swapped out the rear differential in my ’68 Dodge Coronet convertible. It had .273 highway gears and I wanted .410 tire burning gears. I installed the part, but they didn’t mesh right and every tooth caught just a little creating a terrible jerking. I couldn’t go 5 mph as I backed it out of the garage stall and back then back in. The gears were not communing with the rear axles and with my limited knowledge, I could only reinstall the old gears.

Thinking back to Solomon in Ecclesiastes, perhaps he should have communed with his heart on the words of Jeremiah 9:23-24 (but then Jeremiah hadn’t been written yet), but still it says, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight,’ says the LORD.” God said for us to glory in knowing Him. It’s knowing God, not knowing about God.

So, what does it mean to commune? It means to know someone deeply, intimately and to be known deeply and intimately. Knowing God is the remedy of sin and addiction. Knowing God and each other is therapy for lingering and new sinful habits. Knowing God begins only through His Son, Jesus Christ. It continues through His Holy Spirit who teaches us about God, ourselves and each other.

Knowing and being known

In our creation/birth we were made to know God like Adam & Eve in the Garden before they sinned and broke that communion. They were created for communion with God and they walked and talked with Him. We were also born for communion with God.

In our life, our satisfaction and joy doesn’t come from selfish pursuits, like Solomon found out in Ecclesiastes, but from knowing / communing with God. Let’s look at some New Testament uses of the word “commune/communion.” We often mention 1 Corinthians  10:12-13, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” But that isn’t the end of the point. It continues, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” It mentions the bread and cup, the symbols of our communion with Christ, but the real point is the actual communion we have with Christ and thus each other…knowing and being known. That communion with Christ is why we flee from idolatry and the worship of what is vain, which is often self.

We also know 2 Corinthians 6:14-17, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’” Look, you can’t have a wife and a girlfriend and treat them both right. In the same way, you can’t have communion with God and with idols/demons too (1 Corinthians 10:23+)

One you may not know as well is 2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” The love of God sent Jesus to save us and calls us to know Him. The grace of Jesus paid our sin debt and granted us access to Father. Communion with Spirit keeps us from sin by drawing us close to Christ.

Our future in Christ is knowing God in completeness as we behold Him. Jesus explains eternal life in John 17:1-3, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal life means knowing the Father and Jesus.

Conclusion

When trials some, when addictions hunt you, when resentment overwhelms you, the peace to endure, the strength to stand, and the power to be healed is not found in reading the 12 Steps or phoning a friend…it’s in communing with God. So, spend some time in prayer, meditating on Scripture and interacting with the Church.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 4 Worship

Introduction

When it comes to addictions and resentments, something that is typically in short supply is worship of Almighty God. There is plenty of worship of other things, but not Him. Many times in Scripture God warns us about worshipping things and/or people because it is self-destructive as it drives us down the slippery slope of addiction. By contrast, worshipping God with a pure heart brings joy, peace, stability and contentment. Tonight we return to the process of Step 4: Spiritual Inventory. Let the Truth of the Word sink into your minds tonight and see what changes need to be made in your life.

Now that we are back to in-person gatherings, small groups in large spaces as we call it, the Tuesday Celebrate Recovery and Sunday worship services are being linked. On Tuesday we will concentrate more on individual inventory while on Sunday the focus will be group (church) inventory.

Worship:

I say often that worship is a huge part of recovery. Actually, it is the shifting of worship from our addictions and onto the One True God. There is no recovery without that.

What does is mean to worship? We call all kinds of things “worshipping” God including going to church and singing Christian songs. The word worship occurs like 197 times in Bible, but Church gatherings and music not mentioned as part of it. Lets consider some things the Bible does tell us about worship. Isaiah 46:6 says.  “They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; they prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.” Obviously that verse talks about perverted worship, that of worshipping an idol, but notice carefully what the people who worship do. In Exodud 4:31 we find, “So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.” Exodus 34:8 agrees, “So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.” Joshus 5:14 also states, “And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped.” Then there is 2 Chronicles 29:30, “Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.” Job 1:20 says Job, “fell to the ground and worshiped.” Psalm 95:6 is almost a definition of worship when it says, “come, let us worship & bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” The New Testament is no different with Matthew 2:11, “And when they had come into the house, they saw the child Jesus with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.” Then in Rev 4:10-11, “the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” See the pattern? Worship involves humbling yourself before God physically & attitudinally. It’s not about singing, it’s about humbling yourself and giving God reverence, glory and honor.

Why should I humble myself and bow in worship to God? If you have to ask that question, you don’t understand who God is. You are denying His power and authority and elevating yourself falsely. Here are some reminders of who God is. Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” Hebrews 4:13 adds, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Then Ephesians 2:4-6 tells us, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” God is all powerful, all knowing, everywhere present, holy, perfect, and your Creator and Judge. He alone has provided a way for your sinful soul to be reconciled to His holiness, through the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

An example of worship comes in the account of a particular wealthy landowner and rancher. One day, a messenger arrived with terrible news: a hoard of barbarians came, killed the servants and taken all of the livestock. Soon after, a second messenger arrives saying a fire claimed all of the sheep. Then a third messenger arrives saying an enemy killed the servants and taken all the camels. All of this man’s wealth was gone in a moment. Then a fourth messenger arrived; a storm took the lives of all of his sons and daughters who had been trapped in the oldest son’s house. The man’s name is Job. He lost everything, literally in a matter of moments, as one messenger after another arrived with terrible news. What was Job’s response to these sudden and overwhelming tragedies? He fell to the ground and worshipped (see Job 1:20-22). So, Job worshiped and quickly everything got better, right? Hardly, after this, Job suffered even further as he was stricken with sore boils and his wife told him to just “curse God and die” (see Job 2:10). Things didn’t get better, but Job didn’t accuse God of wrongdoing or hate God. You see, worship is not about appeasing God or trying to get Him to do something for you. Worship is about acknowledging who God is. Worship is about humbling ourselves before God our Creator. Worship is all about Him. In loosing ourselves in Him, we find conscious contact with Him. We find peace, strength, and healing.

Conclusion

When trials come, when addictions hunt you, when resentment overwhelms you find the strength to stand, the power to be healed, and the peace to endure. That victory is not found in reading the 12 Steps or phoning a friend; it’s in getting our eyes off of ourselves and our situation and consciously focusing on worshipping God. Psalm 46:1-3, 10 says, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling…Be still and know that I am God.”

Have you ever actually worshipped God by humbling yourself and bowing before His majesty? Worship is a huge part of recovery because it connects your heart to God’s. Review the verses mentioned in this post, bow and worship…telling God how great He is.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 4 Exam Prep 3

Introduction

The past two months have been particularly challenging since everyone knows the worst thing that someone struggling with any addiction can do is isolate themselves. Isolation fuels anxiety, selfishness and fear; it also tempts and enables us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. I will admit that there have been a few times in my life when short periods of isolation were helpful, but only if I purposefully sought rest and only for a short time at most. Many doctors are now saying that two months of stay-at-home orders have proven dangerous. Stress and anxiety increased significantly while access to supportive people and coping resources were restricted. The Washington Post released an article saying, “three months into the coronavirus pandemic, the country is on the verge of another health crisis, with daily doses of death, isolation and fear generating widespread psychological trauma.” The current research will reveal much over the coming weeks and months, but it is safe to say that an increase in suicides, substance abuse, physical abuse, depression, and overdose deaths have increased due to the months of isolation.

Due to this second crisis, our Celebrate Recovery meetings are once again open. We will meet every Tuesday at 7pm as before. That said, let’s get some recovery and encouragement going.

Exam Prep 3

We’ve moved through the first 3 Recovery Steps.

Step one is basically understanding that you cannot deal with your hurt or habit on your own. Isolation is the worst thing you can do.

Step two is basically understanding that God cares about you and He has the power and desire to help you deal with your issues. God does that by changing you with the Truth, truth about Himself, about yourself, and about your situation.

Step three is choosing to commit all of your life and will to Christ’s care and control. He loves you, not with the superficial, come-and-go kind of love so common today, but with a deep and lasting love.

I’ve recently challenged you to start doing a couple things as Step 4 inventory preparation: 1) read 1 John, Deuteronomy and Romans, 2) pray often as 1 Thessalonians says, “pray without ceasing,” and 3) spend as much time as possible interacting with other members of the Body of Christ, the Church, especially those who understand Biblical addiction recovery.

I’ve talked about God leading Israel through spiritual inventory as He led them from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. The Book of Deuteronomy is that spiritual inventory. For starters, God reminds them of how He freed them from their slavery. Along the way they sometimes wanted to go back, especially if things got hard. It was familiar, terrible but familiar. By contrast, their recovery was uncharted territory for them. Also, in Deuteronomy God reminded them of the ups and downs of the recovery journey and all they had learned so far. Sometimes they assumed that once committed to their recovery and with God in control, they would experience no more pain and suffering, only joy and happiness. That is not the case. We still live in a fallen world were mankind creates much hostility, hatred, resentment, abuse, neglect, etc against itself. Besides that, there are consequences to our past addictions. For instance, if I nearly destroy my body with drugs, alcohol, violence and/or sex, my recovery may very well not include physical restoration to my pre-addiction condition. Another example is that if in my addiction I have hurt other people around me, addiction does that, they may not find healing. My recovery may have on-going consequences for someone else, even if I make amends. God will work through such consequences in my life and the lives of those around me as part of the process of recovering our minds and desires.

As I pointed out last week, In Deuteronomy 9:1-2 God said through Moses, “Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’” In recovery, troubles, temptations and trials will come, consequences of the addiction may also, but all of those help us learn to trust God all the more. In trusting Him, God breaks the power of addiction and does the hardest work, but you have to cooperate with Him. You have to yield to His will and to do that you need to have some understanding of what His will is. That only comes by studying the Bible and interacting with His people, the Church.

However, it you keep trying to recover on your own you will be doing so with an addicted mind, twisted desires, faulty information and the kind of wisdom that led you into addiction in the first place. That is why so many addicts move from one addiction to another. If alcohol becomes an undeniable problem, the addict works hard to stop but simply switches to some other addictive substance or practice, leading to two or more primary addictions. Think ahead to Joshua and the Conquest, which came just after the inventory of Deuteronomy. Jericho was the first city Israel came upon and it had a huge double wall and was well fortified. How did Israel take it?  By marching around once per day for 6 days, then seven times on the seventh day. They then shouted and the walls fell. Totally a God thing! He did the hard work and He supplied the victory. All Israel had to do was follow His instructions, as strange as they seemed. Ai was the next city. Do you remember what happened there?  Read Joshua 7:1-12.

They sent a very small company to take Ai and got their butts kicked! Frankly, they’d have been defeated if they’d taken the whole army. Why? Because before all of this, God told Israel to take nothing from Jericho once it fell, calling it “accursed” (see Joshua 6:18). But one guy disobeyed and took some of the accursed stuff and buried it in his tent. They didn’t obey and so when the next battle came (Ai), they were trying to take it in their own strength. They utterly failed. God then addressed the problem and the accursed things were destroyed. God will do all the hard work…like taking Jericho. We just need to diligently follow His instructions, be faithful and don’t hold onto any of the “accursed” things.

Deuteronomy 9:4 goes on to tell Israel not to get prideful in their recovery. This is also good instruction for you and me; don’t take credit for what God has done, is doing, or will do. Don’t be so arrogant to think you deserve the credit that belongs to God. Don’t enjoy some success against your enemy, your addiction, hurt, habit, and assume or convince yourself that you’ve got it licked. Doing so only hardens your heart against God and sets you up for serious relapse because you are again trusting yourself instead of Him. Give God the praise which further unites your mind and heart to Him.

Conclusion

Is God leading you into spiritual inventory? Remember where you were so that you can appreciate how He leads you out. It builds your trust in Him and love for Him. The Spiritual Inventory is a not a divine beat-down. It is a healthy reminder not to repeat past rebellion and to be thankful for His rescue. Along the way, God is changing your mind and desires for your good and His glory.

Hope to see you on Tuesday.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 4 Inventory Prep II

Introduction
When I was in high school, I hated tests. I usually didn’t study, or I didn’t study much, so I was always unprepared. The exams simply reminded me of what I didn’t know which made me feel guilty and a little dumb for not studying. You’d think that would eventually motivate me to study for the next exam, but it didn’t. The night before the next test I would do the same old thing: come up with every excuse not to study, make some pathetic attempt to study, or just refuse to even try. I actually graduated from high school somehow and went to the Navy submarine service. Before being assigned to a ship, however, I had to successfully complete two years of Navy schooling. Failure became unacceptable and if I had any hope of getting the job I really wanted, I needed to do well. I soon learned that studying (with effective study methods), practice, and hard work pays off. Oh, there were a couple of non-studying relapses…but I got up and moved on and eventually got my Navy “dream job.”

My desire to study grew and carried over to college and eventually seminary. Now I don’t want to bore you with my story any longer, but let me just say that I now love to study and learn, and that includes almost any topic. Some of my favorites are history, language, math, geology, and biology. Along the way, I’ve actually come to enjoy taking exams, because I enjoy studying. My favorite area of study is the Bible. That God recorded all of that information about Himself and what He has done, or will do, through human history amazes me. Studying the Bible is not about learning facts, however. Studying the Bible is about getting to know, trust and love God and allowing Him to change who I am.

We’ve recently been moving through the first 3 Recovery Steps.

Step one is basically understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.
Step two is basically understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me deal with them by changing me with the Truth.
Step three is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

Exam Prep 2

Studying God’s Word is kind of like an exam in itself. When we read we are looking into the perfection of God and our character defects and sins become blatantly obvious. That is the very reason so many people don’t like to read the Bible. When we read Scripture, the Holy Spirit examines us, but He also encourages and comforts us. After all, even though we were dead in trespasses and sin, God loved you and me so much that He sent Jesus to take our place on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus rose again three days later to give us new life now and eternal life to come. So, even if/when our sin is rebuked when we read the Bible, there is also the encouragement of His grace.

If you and I learn to love studying the Scriptures, we’ll find that through them God teaches us truth about Himself, ourselves and our life situations. In the process He shows us what needs to change about us and gives the wisdom, strength and stamina necessary to accomplish those changes. If we ignore or refuse Him because we don’t like the truth or believe it is easier to ignore the truth, we will continue bumbling around life like the person who refused to study for the big test. We will remain addicted to something. If I deny or ignore the symptoms of a heart attack…I’m going to die. If I deny or ignore anger, resentment, pride, relationship problems, lust, codependency, or any other addictive problems…I’m headed for disaster. If I learn to trust God through reading His Word, He will guide me into truth and begin making the necessary changes.

In last week’s post I challenged you to start doing a couple things as Exam prep: 1) read 1 John, 2) pray often as 1 Thessalonians says, “pray without ceasing,” and 3) spend as much time as possible interacting with other members of the Body of Christ, the Church.

That post also talked about God leading Israel through spiritual inventory as He led them from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. That journey lasted forty years because they had some setbacks; they rebelled many times and even wanted to return to their slavery on a few occasions! Eventually the time arrived to enter the Promised Land and they again stood at the border. Through Moses, God led them through a spiritual inventory we call Deuteronomy. God reminded them of the ups and downs of the journey and all they had learned, all the ways that God provided for them, cared for them and loved them. They had been enslaved, but God freed them and entered into a Covenant with them. The Covenant was that He would be their God and they would be His people (Lev 26:12). He instructed them to keep His Word, reading, memorizing, posting it over their house, teaching their kids, and speaking it to those around them. He reminded them of their hard-heartedness, not as a guilt-ridden beat-down, but so they would not continue to harden their hearts against Him.

Then He told them of the trials to come. In Deuteronomy 9:1-2 He said, “Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’” I don’t know what giants you’ve faced, are facing, or will face. Maybe they include alcohol, lust, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, emotional hurts, lying, codependency, grumbling, etc. They seem impossible to overcome, and they are in your own strength, but they are like dust to God. Deuteronomy 9:3 says, “Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you.”

In overcoming your giants, God will do the hard work but you have to cooperate with Him; you have to yield to His will and to do that you need to have some understanding of what His will is. That only comes by studying the Bible and interacting with His people, the Church.

Conclusion

The Holy Spirit leads us through spiritual inventory, particularly as we study the Bible. In Deuteronomy God reminded Israel of past failures as a warning about future ones. I understand not wanting to be reminded of past hurts and wrong-doing, not wanting to face the Truth that where you came from got you where you are now. But remember this, it’s not about heaping up guilt, it’s about understanding God’s grace and remembering that God has rescued us. Then we learn to trust Him our recovery and for whatever lays ahead.

Be thankful for His intervention. Learn to love studying His Word. This week I challenge you to read through Deuteronomy. It is the fifth Book in the Bible and understanding it is important for understanding much about the rest of the Old Testament and about God’s grace and leading as He takes us from slavery to the promised land.

Grace & Peace
Pastor Mark

Step 4 Inventory Prep

Introduction
I have had some addictions and some idols that I’ve worshipped. My desire is to tear them down, forsake the worship of them, and worship God alone. When you consider the Bible’s teaching you’ve got to understand that victory over hurts, habits, addictions, and idols is completely dependent upon a relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is only through His grace, mercy, power, wisdom and endurance that lasting victory comes. Also understand that your relationship with God is inseparably connected to your relationship with others who also have a relationship with God; through faith in Him we are placed into the Body of Christ, the Church, with a particular role and part in that Body. We need each other. It is commonly said in any recovery that we cannot do this alone. That is what Step one clearly states. More importantly, God’s Word says the same thing.

That is the biggest reason we have Celebrate Recovery here at First Baptist. Your relationship with God and my relationship with Him moves us to follow His leading out of the hurts and habits, compels us to forsake the addictions, resentments, and idols and replaces those worthless and destructive things with a deep desire to know, love and serve Him as part of the Body.

I’m glad you’re here reading this post and hope you’ll continue, finding peace and hope along the way. Recovery is not a switch that can be turned on and off, it is a process of learning to yield to the loving God who wants something far better for you than the pain and isolation of addiction; He wants you to know Him and the blessings He lavishes upon His faithful children.

Tonight we begin working toward the start of Step 4, spiritual inventory. If you’ve been with us before during this Step you know that I believe this Step is one to look forward to doing. I encourage you to put away any difficulties you’ve ever had or heard of relating to Step 4 and consider for a moment that it may be the most freeing thing you’ve ever done.

Spiritual Inventory Prep

Have you ever crammed for a test? I’ve done that on several occasions but I learned something be doing so. What I learned was not the material I studied for the exam, but I learned how to get a good grade without learning anything about the subject! If you just want a passing grade just to move on with no more understanding about the subject, then cram. However, if you want to really learn something, you need to study so that you remember, understand and incorporate what you are learning into your way of thinking.

You cannot cram for Step 4’s Spiritual Inventory. Well, you can but nothing will change about how you think or what you do; you’re addictive patterns will continue. If you take Step 4 lightly or you ignore it completely, you will continue down the path of addiction with greater commitment to it believing that Step 4 doesn’t work. In actuality, you failed Inventory it didn’t fail you. If you don’t take your recovery seriously and commit to cooperating with the Lord, you are blinding yourself to truth and binding yourself to slavery.

Consider Isaiah 29:13-16

“The Lord said, ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; they say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?” Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding?”’”

As we head into Step 4, I will remind you often of Steps 1-3. Step one is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own. Step two is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me deal with my hurts and habits, to change me. Step three is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control. Only with this understanding and decision can we head into Step 4 and expect something good to happen. Step 4 is a searching and fearless examination of myself, led by the Holy Spirit. The leading of the Spirit is critical because as an addict, no, as a human being, I tend to greatly exaggerate myself and shift blame for my character and situations to anyone and anything else. The Holy Spirit gives us truth and if there’s one thing I need about myself it is truth.

Think of Step 4 as a road map, or GPS. In order to get to your destination you have to first know where you are starting and then you follow the necessary path. If you don’t know where you are to start or anywhere along the way, you are lost! It’s the same with recovery, you have to first know where you are. You need the truth about yourself and your situation. I assure you that without the guidance of all-knowing God, you do not have a true understanding of yourself. You either falsely elevate your self-understanding (called pride) or you falsely diminish yourself (called abasement). You can become so prideful that you destroy yourself, believing you are invincible, and destroying your relationships also. Conversely, self-abasement can lead to self-destruction also, believing you are worthless and hopeless; this will destroy your relationships too. What you and I need is truth, and only God knows the totally and absolute Truth about you, your situation and everyone else also. He knows everything you and others do, say and think.

That’s why you need to do Step 4’s Inventory as a Spirit-led inventory, a Spiritual Inventory. So how do we start? First, you need know the truth about your relationship with the Holy Spirit. The only way to have that relationship is through faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, Redeemer and Lord. Jesus died on the Cross to pay the penalty for the sin you and I commit. That payment is made in our behalf only when you and I believe that we cannot pay it ourselves (Step 1), that God loved us enough to make Redemption available (Step 2), and when you and I commit ourselves to loving Jesus and living for Him (Step 3). With that understanding and commitment, God gives us His Holy Spirit who immediately begins to give us truth about ourselves and situations. Now, He doesn’t change everything at once, it is a process.

Thus, in preparing for Step 4, I urge you to read First John (not the Gospel of John but the short letter between 2 Peter and 2 John). Read it several times over the coming week. I also encourage you to do as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing.” Pray often, asking God to help you and reveal truth to you. If you don’t know how to pray, there is no “magic” prayer. Just talk to Him; you can use Matthew 6:9-13 as a pattern. The pattern in that prayer is Adoration of God, Confession of sin to God, giving Thanks to God, making requests/Supplications (ACTS). One other thing, spend as much time as possible with other members of the Body of Christ; I know that is challenging right now with the covid19 shutdowns, but at least use your phone and reach out to other believers. May the Lord watch over you and reveal truth to you.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 3: Trust

If you’ve been in recovery for more than a week you’ve probably heard a common definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. There is no shortage of insanity these days; the news is full of it. Conspiracy theories are flying from all sides and who knows, some of them may have some truth. That’s just the thing, who really knows the truth about any of this jumbled up mess interwoven with major political, social, and economic implications. Everyone’s got an agenda, an angle, and is trying to get their way because everyone is convinced their way is best.

It seems that the entire world is in need of Step 1, “We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.” I’ve learned just enough in this life to know that if everything ran my way, things would still be messed up because I do not know what is best and I don’t always do the right thing. That’s why I make every attempt to yield to God’s way because He actually does know what is best and He always does the right thing. God’s Word says in 1 Corinthians 3:19, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’” That the wisdom of mankind is foolishness is unquestionably on display right now. Who do you believe and who do you trust when every expert has “evidence” contradicting some other expert? You trust God.

The Bible has been studied, examined, critically cross-examined, mocked, ridiculed, and proven able to withstand the onslaught of attacks while giving life, peace and hope to those who believe. Trusting God is where Step 2 begins, “We came to believe that God could restore us to sanity.” We face situations and battles that are out of our control. Many of them are actually spiritual battles that involve misplaced worship. Worship is something we will do in one way or another. Some people worship alcohol, drugs, and/or sex. Many others worship gambling, sports, leisure, codependency and/or work. Many people, however, worship self. A characteristic of self-worship is constantly trying to find self-satisfaction, even when it is destructive or hurtful to self and others. Let’s consider an easy example: if someone is a workaholic, work and things related to it take priority in the person’s mind. Relationships with family and friends become minor by comparison, to the point of neglect. Oh, there are times of moderation, but thoughts remain constant and bingeing occurs often also. If God is ever even thought of, He is usually treated as a good luck charm or last hope if things go bad. That does not qualify as trusting God.

Trusting God means giving Him full control of your life. Step 3 says, “We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.” In Step 3 you don’t really know how to turn your life and will over to God and quite frankly, whatever it is you worship will fight hard against that process. It will take time to learn to trust Him, not because He is in any way insufficient, but because our old habits and desires get in the way. Step 3 is a decision to turn our life and will over to God. Learning to let go of our will and follow His is a life-long endeavor that needs to happen every day.

In our church’s Bible reading plan we’ve recently been reading Old Testament passages about God working in the life of David. Back in mid-March we came to the account of David’s home being attacked in 1 Samuel 30. David and his men returned home only to find everything burned with fire and their wives and children gone. Imagine everything and everyone in your home destroyed and/or missing. Did David fall into destructive practices, take his own life, loose faith in God, or even accuse God?  He did not. The first thing he did was weep bitterly, “until he had no more power to weep” (1 Samuel 30:4). Then, according to 30:6, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” Then David sought from the Lord what to do next. David knew the situation was beyond his power to do anything, so he yielded his life and will to God’s care and control as he usually did. David then sought to know what the Lord wanted him to do

Let me ask you a question at this point: if you’ve been ignoring God all along or even just for a while, how will you know if your answer is from Him? People talk themselves into all kinds of foolishness, especially when they still have an ear tuned to some addictive habit or some resentment. Here is the first clue, what God tells you will never contradict what the Bible says…His word to you cannot contradict His written Word! Of course you need to be reading His Word to know what it says. David trusted in God alone, and the vast majority of the time, his life and actions proved it. David did exactly what God said, and God restored everything.

The enemy is after you too. Your enemy’s weapons include alcohol, drugs, lust, resentment, anger, materialism, greed, and a variety of others. His arsenal is full and he knows exactly which ones are most effective on you because he has used them before and they work. By the way, if you do manage to avoid attacks in one area, the attacks will come in other areas. The enemy is relentless, filled with lies, deceit, hate and murder. Your spiritual enemy not only attacks you, but attacks your family also (sometimes through you) and he may even take some of them captive. Your addiction, your worship of anything other than God, will damage and even destroy your life and your relationships. By the way, the enemy’s weapons are much more effective when you are isolated.

But like Step 3 tells us, you and I can decide to trust God and turn our lives over to Him. One of the hardest parts is deciding to do so (we really like worshipping ourselves and we deny how destructive it becomes). In Jesus Christ you are never alone…although you can isolated yourself from Him too. I would encourage you to take a moment and read Ephesians 1 just to remind yourself of how much God has lavished you with His grace, mercy, kindness, patience, provision and love.

Trust God. Turn your life and will over to Him. You’ll be glad you did because He will start to bring peace, joy, and sanity to your life and the lives of those around you.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery step 3: Brakes

We actually had some sunshine that particular morning and I was finally able to tackle a job I needed to do. It’s not that I was putting it off, but the recent plethora of cold and rainy days provided a good excuse to delay the inevitable. I am no mechanic and I have great respect for those who work on cars, especially here in PA where our roads get flooded with that metal-eating brine all winter, but I needed to do some basic car maintenance. Sometimes, however, there is a large gap between knowing what to do and making it happen. It’s almost as big a gap as the one between what should be simple and what actually is simple.

Let me give an example from a couple years ago. I’ve changed the oil in my vehicles for many years, way back to when I was sixteen. One thing I like about the cars we have now is that all of them sit high enough that I don’t even have to jack them off the ground to change the oil and filter. Being OCD like everyone says I am, I even have a chart that lists all the parts and tools I need for each of our vehicles. Anyway, I was changing the oil in all of them a couple years ago and our Jeep Wrangler was the last to be done. So far everything had gone smoothly and I was set to complete the work in record time (I often time myself to see how fast I can do it). I removed the drain plug and let the oil run out. I then reinstalled the plug. So far so good. I then removed the old filter and installed the new one. Hey, this was fantastic! All that was left was putting the new oil into the engine. That’s all I had to do and the job was done. It’s simple. My dad used to let me do that much when I was three. Come on, you just remove the filler cap on the valve cover and dump in the necessary amount of oil. This part’s as easy as getting yourself a drink of milk. At least it should be. You see, this particular oil change is a big reason I have utmost respect for anyone who works on cars for a living. Anything can and will go wrong.

I started to remove the filler cap on the valve cover and something snapped. You know that sinking feeling you get when your perfect day suddenly turns into a pile of poo? It’s an oil cap, a simple piece of round plastic with a grippy side on top and treads on the bottom. All you have to do is turn it and it comes out, right? Not today. Something inside the cap snapped and now the top turned but not the part threaded into the valve cover! Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but this was beyond comprehension. So I fiddled with the thing for about five minutes, which doesn’t seem like a long time unless you are unable to do some incredibly easy task in that period. Imagine how long five minutes would feel if you were unable to remove the cap from the milk jug as you sat at the breakfast table. All you want to do is eat your cereal, but for some inexplicable reason you are unable to manipulate the little plastic cap and remove it from the milk jug. Your five-year old is enjoying his fruity-flavored loops of sugar, but you sit dumbfounded. Needless to say my record-breaking pace was shot. That’s when I had to just step back for a moment. I literally moved away, about two feet from the fender and just stared at the stupid thing, flabbergasted and in disbelief that I couldn’t remove the cap. I really became concerned that my incompetence had been revealed in other ways I was as yet unaware of, so I checked to make sure I didn’t have my pants on upside-down or something, but they were okay.

In my pause for sanity, I had an idea. There’s more than one opening in the valve cover; I could just pull the PCV valve and dump the oil in through that opening! Hah! I’ll show you, ya crazy cap! Renewed by my brilliant problem-solving, I grabbed the PCV valve and pulled up. It broke off in my hand. The piece with the hose connection just busted right off. Worse than that, the PCV valve was still in the valve cover! My son, who had been observing this entire evolution, started to back away from the vehicle not sure if he would bust out laughing or just run. “That’s it!” I announced to the neighborhood, “it’s time for lunch!”

As we sat before the lovely lunch my wonderful wife prepared that day, we prayed as always. That day prayers were offered for me and the Jeep. I appreciated both.

After the respite of lunch, my son and I headed back to do battle. On my way through the garage I grabbed two of the most important things from my toolbox; duct tape and “the persuader.” We all know duct tape; it fixes almost anything. The other item is a big honkin’ screw driver; that cap was coming off. With the application of a few feet of tape, the PCV valve was fixed. My full attention then turned to the oil cap. I pried and I pried, and suddenly everything went into slow motion, like when you find yourself falling down the stairs. The oil cap flipped up into the air and rolled over eight times before it disappeared (it happened so slowly I counted the rotations). Then something shinny popped up and dropped right back down in the hole. NOOOOO!

I gave no thought to the cap. My immediate concern was the strange metal object plummeting down into the valve cover opening. By this time I was practically in the engine compartment, having leaped upon the motor in my attempt to catch the metal piece, whatever it was. Luckily the huge bulge of duct tape around the PVC valve softened my landing. So, with my face very near the opening in the cover I realized it wasn’t an opening at all and the shinny metal thing I saw flipping in the air was a small spring; it was laying right there in the bottom part of the oil cap. I breathed a sigh of relief. My mind then began to ponder the peculiar ways of engineers. Why would some very intelligent person so complicate a simple cap as to make it two separate pieces with a spring in the middle? My milk jug doesn’t require such a completely over-engineered device. Well, I removed the spring and I must admit I was more than a little tempted to see how far I could throw it, but I refrained from such foolishness. Then I got a pair of needle-nose pliers, and fitting the ends into the teeth of the piece of the cap remaining in the cover, I unscrewed the oil cap. Moments later the oil was in, the bottom half of the cap reinstalled and the engine was running. I set the spring and top part of the cap back in place but let’s face it; they’re really only decoration at this point.

That’s not what I wanted to talk about today. I started, intending to tell you about my most recent episode of working on this “family fun car.” It needed front brakes and I’ve been putting off the job because of the lingering cold, the incessant rain and the fact we don’t really NEED to drive it. Disk brakes are more complex than an oil change, but I’ve done them before on several different vehicles. I’ve even done drum brakes in my life and those were like a puzzle. Fresh oil and good brakes are pretty important. If you don’t change your oil you’ll eventually do some real harm to the engine. If you don’t replace your brakes periodically, you’ll eventually do some real damage to your vehicle, and probably someone else’s too. My son and I started on the driver’s side and it went pretty smoothly. I only had to take the new pads off twice to reposition or correct something I messed up, but soon it was back together and the wheel reinstalled. I know by now that I should never feel very confident when it comes to car maintenance, but I kinda did. After all, I knew how the brakes on this particular make and model went together now. Nathaniel jacked it up and took the wheel off. I then removed the bolts holding the caliper and very soon the old, worn-out pads were laying on the driveway. They had worn evenly and weren’t quite to the rivets, so I was happy. I put the new pads in the caliper but then realized there was an issue. I couldn’t get the caliper back into position. There are two pins that have to be able to slide inside these rubber sleeves and the pins were not sliding at all. I spent the next hour or so trying to free them. After failing at every attempt I started trying to remove them without mangling the rubber sleeves. I preserved the sleeves but the ends of the pins got mangled by my big pliers. So, it was back to the parts store for new pins. With a little brake grease and the new pins, the passenger side brakes were soon done and the wheel back on, job complete except for the long clean-up process.

I was an absolute mess. I was covered in grease, brake dust and grime. I mean it was on my head, my face, halfway up my arms. My work shirt and pants looked like my oil-change rags. My hands were black; I think one of my nostrils was plugged and I could only see out of one eye. Besides that, I had two broken knuckles, sore knees, a large contusion on my left thigh and a pinched nerve in my hand. But you know what, I saved a couple bucks.

So why am I telling you all of this? It’s not because I’m advertising a new series of automotive how-to videos I’m hosting on-line. It’s because I’m telling you that we need to depend fully upon Christ and the Holy Spirit for recovery. There are some minor things I can do in the area of car maintenance, but even for those I often need to look something up on-line or seek some assistance, if not just for another set of hands. Almost all the time I need parts and supplies. But for more difficult things, I take our cars to a real mechanic who knows what he is doing.

People who struggle with any kind of issues, be it anger, resentment, codependency, gossip, materialism, lust, drugs, alcohol, relationships, health, etc often attempt to take matters into their own hands. My father, who worked as an EMT and paramedic for most of his life, says that many times people ignored or hesitated calling about chest pain, assuming it was indigestion or something that would just go away. In many cases, that delay cost their life. There are some things you can do in recovery, but that is only the minor stuff. You cannot recover on your own in a way that is lasting and anything more than cross-over addiction.

If you’ve been in recovery for even a short time you know that Step 1 basically says you’ve made a mess of things and are powerless to make it any better. Life has gotten out of control, at least in some areas, and it is adversely affecting you and the people around you. You’ve tried to hide the problem(s), but that is getting harder and harder or maybe impossible. Look, not being able to hide it is actually a good thing. As long as you can hide it, it will continue and nothing will improve. People are still getting hurt, or you’re setting them up for a more severe hurt, and you are increasingly burdened with guilt and anxiety. You know you’ll eventually get caught and/or do irreparable harm to yourself or someone else. Once it is out in the open, however, you have to deal with it and other people who care can come along beside you and help. God makes clear in His Word that admitting and confessing your troubles, struggles, addictions, hurts, resentments and sins is the starting point of healing. Consider 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Psalm 32:5 adds, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden, I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

Step 2 basically reminds us that only God can bring restoration and recovery. God alone has the wisdom and power necessary for your recovery, or the recovery of someone you care about who is struggling. There are some very smart people who have plenty of ideas of how you can recover. None of those people are able to be with you all the time, to be there in the middle of the night when the urge comes and you are faced with either reaching out to someone for help or hiding and indulging yourself. None of them have the power to change your desires and thought process. Oh they can reason with you and give you every good reason to change, but they cannot get inside your head were the addiction torments you and change you, only God can bring relief like that. And God cares enough about you to do it if you yield to His Spirit and His Truth.

Step 3 is different in that the first two steps simply remind you of some facts: who you are and who God is. In Step 3 you face a decision based upon those facts. The decision is whether to actually begin to yield to God’s perfect will for you or continue to fight against Him. In fighting against Him you are technically fighting against yourself as well. Think about it, we all know the songs and had the urges to be out there on our own, the me-against-the-world mentality. Doing that brings us to the place of addiction because it is a very self-centered ideology. We pursue anything and everything we want and eventually find ourselves enslaved. Enslaved to some practice or substance like alcohol or leisure, or whatever, but more so addicted to the selfishness. That’s why we can do a little maintenance on our own, like me doing a brake job on the car. We can shift away from our practice or substance of choice, at least for awhile, but we will just shift over to something else that will also become an addiction. And, like changing the oil in the car, when we try to do recovery any way except God’s way, we’ll have to keep doing it over and over in an endless cycle of ups and downs. Thus, the addiction of living-for-self is actually a fight against ourselves as well as a fight against God’s will for us.

For victory over whatever you are struggling against, you need the professional, the Great Physician who is God. You don’t just need a simple brake job so you can stop whatever it is that’s hurting you and/or others. You need a complete inspection by your loving Heavenly Father who designed you and formed you in the womb; Psalm 139:13 says, “for You formed my inward parts, You covered me in my mother’s womb.” You need the people “Engineer and Mechanic” who knows everything there is to know about you and your situation because there is nothing hidden from Him; Hebrews 4:13 says, “there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” You need the One who has all power and authority to hold back the enemy; Ephesians 6:10-11 says, “my brethren, be strong it the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” You need the Saviour who gives you a way of escape when temptation comes; 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” You need a “mind electrician” who can rewire your thoughts and desires; Romans 12:2 says, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

These are fundamental steps in true recovery because they teach you to trust God and depend upon Him and His Word. I can change the oil in a car, but I can’t rebuild the engine. I can change brakes on our Jeep, but I can’t manufacture the parts. You and I may change some things about ourselves, but we can’t heal ourselves or those we’ve really hurt.

God can.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mark

Recovery Step 2: Masks

Going to the store is a strange thing these days. One-way aisles and anyone NOT wearing a mask is taken into custody. I’m just going to say it, I hate the stupid masks. I understand the theory behind them so I’ll wear it, but I hate every second of it. You can’t shake hands, try to hug somebody and you’ll get turned in to the authorities, and now you can’t even share a smile.

Ever since we started our Celebrate Recovery ministry at First Baptist, we’ve tried to help people take the “masks” off, to stop hiding behind false outward appearances. Isolation and hiding who we really are is an addiction’s playground. So today I’m going to talk about taking the masks off, not the anti-covid19 gear, but the masks of false appearances.

When I think about someone who used false appearances in Scripture, several people come to mind like Eli’s two sons, or Ananias and Sapphira. First in my mind, however, were the devil and Judas. Let’s start with Judas Iscariot.

He was, of course, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. We know little about his background though some suggest “Iscariot” connect him with his presumed home town of Kerioth in southern Judea. If it’s not clearly identified in Scripture, however, then it doesn’t really matter. What we do know is that Judas participated as one of the disciples, just like Peter, John and the others. He went along when Jesus sent out the Twelve in Mark 6:7-12 (see also Matthew 10 and Luke 9:1-11). Thus Judas was given power to cast out demons and heal the sick while he preached repentance, just like the other eleven disciples. Judas was there when Jesus performed all the miracles. He was there when Jesus spoke in ways that amazed the masses and confounded the religious experts. Judas witnessed first hand Jesus’ compassion, mercy, power, authority, truth and Godly wisdom. Judas was still with Jesus the night of the betrayal, and Jesus washed Judas’ feet! The other disciples trusted Judas and had no concerns about him carrying the money bag, from which he stole on a regular basis, according to John 12:6.

This brings up an interesting point. I have heard/read theologians say that Jesus saw some promise in Judas and thus chose him as a disciple. However, the Bible clearly states that Jesus knew the heart, the inner motives, desires and thoughts of people. Luke 6:8 tells of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, saying, “but He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Arise and stand here.’ And he arose and stood.” Jesus knew the thoughts and intents of the scribes and Pharisees who sought a reason to bring an accusation against Him. Then again in Matthew 12:22-30 Jesus heals a man who was demon-possessed and the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing so by the power of Beelzebub. It says in 12:25, “but Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.’” Jesus didn’t just know their thoughts because of what they said, He knew their motives and intents from before the foundation of the world. Oh, and how about this one in John 2:23-24 which says, “Now when He (Jesus) was in Jerusalem for the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men.” Jesus knows the heart. He knew Judas’ motives, intentions, desires and thoughts. Jesus knows your heart as well.

Judas was hiding nothing. Jesus knew beforehand that Judas would steal from the money bag and that Judas would betray Him. After all, Jesus Christ is the Word of God made into flesh (John 1:14) and when Jesus was praying with the disciples in John 17 He says, “While I was with them (the disciples) in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Jesus, the Word, knew all about the son of perdition prophesied in Psalm 41:9 which says, “Even My own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” But Jesus’ prayer in John 17, which is after Judas left to go betray Him, is not the first time Jesus mentioned His betrayer. Long before that, in John 6:60-71, when many other disciples, not the Twelve, were turning away from Jesus because they did not like what He was saying, records Jesus saying, “but there are some of you (the Twelve) who do not believe.” The next verse says, “for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.” Then in John 6:70 Jesus said, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” John 6:71 adds, “He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”

Judas had the other eleven disciples fooled, but not Jesus. Even at the Passover on the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him. Jesus plainly reveals his betrayer and yet, when Judas gets up to go do the deed, the other disciples assume he is leaving to buy things needed for the feast (see John 13:1-30). Judas’ decision to betray Jesus probably didn’t come too long before that night. Even though he was a thief and deceiver all along, it wasn’t until just before that night that he set out to betray Jesus, for John 13:2 says, “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.” Luke 22:1-6 states that it was only in the days leading up to the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread that, “Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.”

So here’s the thing, Judas was indwelt by Satan just days prior to the Passover in order to betray Jesus and hand Him over to the Jewish leaders who wanted Him dead. Keep in mind that Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross, His burial, and His glorious resurrection are the reason Jesus came in the first place, so you and I could have our sins forgiven and be given new life in Jesus Christ. Judas was susceptible to Satan’s attack and control because he had been playing the deceiver all along. Judas was “wearing a mask” so no one would see that while he did and said all the right things, on the inside he remained corrupt. That corruption made Judas an easy target for Satan’s lies and deceit. After all, Satan doesn’t come as some hideous, horrifying messenger of death, even though that is what he is. Instead, “Satan transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Just as the many false teachers and false apostles and deceitful workers try to transform themselves into Christ’s apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13). First John 2:15-18 adds, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”

There are many who wear masks, again not the breathing protection kind of masks, but false outward appearance masks. Some are so subtle the individual doesn’t even realize it, many more have been deceived by addiction(s) that their fairly clean outward appearance is consistent with all the corruption inside. Some know full well there is great dichotomy between what’s inside and outside and they don’t care. All of those scenarios are dangerous and open us to further deception; both the deceptions that fool us and that we use to fool others.

There is only one way to know if we are deceived and/or deceivers. It is not a matter of evaluating yourself because how can that which is deceived know what the Truth is? Any truth I decide to use to help myself may actually be nothing but more deception! Look, if you were exposed to covid 19, heaven forbid, and you didn’t realize it yet, but you wear that mask over your face trusting that it would keep you safe, are you safe? Is that mask going to do anything to help you? (It may help prevent you from spreading it to someone else, maybe.) But that mask will do nothing to keep you from developing symptoms or to help you recover if you’ve already got the virus. Moreover, that mask will be an infected virus-breading ground. (So seriously, wash the thing after each use and never share them with someone else.) Likewise, if you’ve been deceived and/or are a deceiver who portrays a “good” appearance in what you say and do when someone else is around, but inside you are corrupt in your thoughts, words, and actions, the only way you will come to understand truth is not by trying to decide for yourself what is true and what isn’t. Cleaning up the outside by your own wisdom and efforts will not help cure the corruption already inside True recovery only comes by trusting everything God says in His Book of Truth, the Bible.

The Word of God, as revealed to you by the Holy Spirit of God is the only way you are going to know what Truth is, truth about yourself, your situation, and the people / world around you. Don’t’ be one of those people who believe parts of the Bible but not some other sections that don’t make sense to them. Listen, the entire Bible, every word, is inspired like the Spirit says it is in many places including 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration (God-breathed) and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” You need to decide if you are going to trust the Word of God as absolute Truth or if you will ignore it or believe it is only partially true, and if only partially true, how will you decide what parts are right and which aren’t? Do you not see that Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, did that very thing? He heard and saw what Jesus did, yet he determined for himself which parts he would believe and which parts he didn’t like, and that allowed him to be further deceived by Satan.

You cannot recover on your own, or by human philosophy which is foolishness to God. Recovery is only found in the Truth and Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Trust Jesus, trust the Father, trust the Holy Spirit, and trust the Bible; cling to them as the source of Truth and they will set you free. Father, Son and Spirit love you and have the power and authority to help you remove the mask and be pure inside, in your thoughts, desires, words, and actions.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mark