Road To Recovery - Making Changes

Road To Recovery - Making Changes
Acts 9
Romans 12:1-2

Principle #1 – Reality
Principle #2 – Hope
Principle #3 – Choice
Principle #4 – Action
Principle #5 – Transformation

• Principle 1 - Realize I'm NOT God!
• I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.
• Matthew 6:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
  • "Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor"

The Second Step to R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y

• Principle 2 – Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that he has the power to help me recover.
• Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
• Matthew 5:4 “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted

The Third Step to R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y

• Principle 3 – Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
• Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
• Matthew 5:5 “Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

The Fourth Step to R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y

• Principle 4 – Openly examine and confess my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust.
• Psalm 32:1-2 “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
• Matthew 5:5 “Happy are the pure in heart.”

The Fifth Step to R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y

• Principle 5 – Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.
• Romans 12:1-2 GNB “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him … and let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.”
• Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Three Questions

1. Where do my character defects come from?
2. Why is it so hard to get rid of them?
3. How do I cooperate with God’s change process in this step and see God change the hurts, the habits, and the hang-ups that have been messing up my life?

Where do the defects come from!

• Nature ~ Nurture ~ Need
  • A biological source
  • A sociological source
  • A theological source
• My chromosomes
• My circumstances
• My choices

Habits

• Character is simply long habit continued. -- Plutarch
• Habits are cobwebs at first, then become cables.
• The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. --- Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
• The second half of a man's life is made up of the habits he acquired during the first half. --- Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevski (1821–1881)
• The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts. --- Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)

Why Is It So Hard To Change The Defects In My Life?

1. Because I’ve had them so long.

• You didn’t get them overnight.
  • We are creatures of habit. Old cranks have practiced all their lives, just as old saints have likewise practiced all their lives. --- John Powell
  • We first make our habits, and then our habits make us. --- John Dryden
• Many of the habits, the patterns, you have you developed in childhood, and they may not be comfortable and they may even be self-defeating, but at least they are familiar.

2. Identity

• 
  We confuse our identity with the defects.
  • We say, “That’s just the way I am.”
• Complete this sentence (in your mind) “It’s just like me to be ___________________”
• Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. --- Samuel Smiles (1812–1904)
• Becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

3. Payoff

• It may mask my pain.
• It may give me an excuse to fail.
• It may allow me to compensate for guilt in my life.
• It may get me attention.
• My defect may allow me to control other people.
• Any time a negative behavior is repeated in you, yourself, your kids, anybody, even though it’s self-destructive, there’s always a payoff.

4. Satan discourages me

• I Peter 5:8-9 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
  • The Accuser
  • John 8:44 “…When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
• John 8:31-32 “…“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

How Do I Cooperate With God’s Change Process In My Life?

• Romans 12:2 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
  • Your thoughts are your auto-pilot in life.
  • If you want to change your life you’ve got to change the way you think.
• Your thoughts determine your feelings, your feelings determine your actions.
  • James 1:13-15
• A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time! --- Mark Twain
  • I Timothy 4:7-8 “On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

God who began the good work with you will keep right on helping you grow in His grace until His task within you is finally finished.
- Philippians 1:6

How Do I Cooperate With God?

1. Focus on changing one thing at a time.

• Proverbs 17:24 “An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions.”
• You must be specific.
• II Peter 1:5-8 = process

2. Focus on victory one day at a time.

• Matthew 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread”
• Matthew 6:34 “Don’t worry about tomorrow, each day has enough troubles of its own.”

3. Focus on God’s power not willpower

• Jeremiah 12:23 TLB “Can a leopard take away his spots? Nor can you who are used to doing evil now start being good.”
• Philippians 4:13 JB “I can master anything with the help of Christ who gives me strength.”

4. Focus on what I want, not what I don’t want.

• Philippians 4:8 TLB “Fix your thought on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure … Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about …”
  • Whatever you focus on is what you move toward.
  • Whatever you focus on is what dominates your life.
• You don’t resist temptation. Resist the tempter!
• Just turn the mental channel of your mind.
  • This is the power of affirming the Word of God.
  • There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible.

5. Focus on doing good, not feeling good.

• Galatians 5:16 JB “If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence.”
• If you do the right thing, your feelings will eventually catch up with you.
• If you wait until you feel like changing, you’ll never change.
  • The devil will make sure you’ll never feel like it.
  • It’s always easier to act your way into a feeling than to feel your way into an action.
  • AA uses the phrase “Fake it until you make it.”

6. Focus on people who help me, not hinder me in making the positive changes I want to make in my life.

• Proverbs 27:1 NCV “As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.”
• I Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
  • If you don’t want to get stung, you stay away from the bees.
• Ecclesiastes 4:7 “Two are better than one and a threefold cord is not easily broken.”
  • You can’t recover on your own. You must be in a group, in a relationship.
• Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.”

7. Focus on progress, not perfection.

• Philippians 1:6 “God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task with you is finally finished.”

“I have seen how they acted but I will heal them, I will lead them and help them and I will comfort those who mourn. I offer peace to all near and far.”
Isaiah 57:18