Road To Recovery - Step 1

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Luke 19:10

O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me.
Psalm 30:2

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 57:18-19

God’s Great Promises
5 parts to recovery that God wants to do in your life.

1. If you have been hurt, God says “I want to heal you.”
2. If you’re confused, “I want to lead you.”
3. If you’ve ever felt you were helpless to change anything, “I want to help you change that.”
4. If you’ve ever felt no one understands your problem, “I want to comfort you.”
5. If you feel anxious and worried and afraid, “I want to offer peace to you.”

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13

“… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23

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

• 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 Cause of My Problem: Sin

• I don’t understand myself at all. For I really want to do what’s right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to do but what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I’m doing is wrong, but I can’t help myself. It’s sin inside me that’s stronger than I am, that makes me do those evil things. Romans 7:15-17
• There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12
• For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:5

How we “play” God:

• By denying our humanity
• By trying to control everything for selfish reasons.
  • Perception
  • People
  • Problems
  • Pain

How do we play God?

• 1. We try to control our image. Perception
• We want to control what other people think of us
• We play games, we wear masks, we pretend, we fake it – “Stained Glass Masquerade”
• We deny our weaknesses
• We deny our feelings “I’m not angry, I’m not upset, I’m not worried, I’m not afraid.”
• We don’t want people to see the real us.
• Misperceptions!
  

• 2. We try to control other people.
  • Parents try to control kids
  • Kids try to control parents
  • Wives try to control husbands
  • Husbands try to control wives.
  • There are office politics in your office.
  • Countries try to control other countries.
• We use a lot of tools to manipulate each other.
  • We use guilt to control, we use fear, we use praise, some of you use the silent treatment to control, anger, rage.
• 3. We try to control problems, our problems.
  • We’re good at this. We use phrases like: “I can handle it, it’s not really a problem.”
  • I don’t need any help and I certainly don’t need counseling.
  • I can quit any time, I’ll work it out on my own.
  • The more you try to fix your problem yourself, the worse the problem gets.
• 4. We try to control our pain.
  • Have you ever thought how much time you spend running from pain?
  • Trying to avoid it, deny it, escape it, reduce it, postpone it.
  • Sometimes we try to postpone our pain by eating or not eating.
  • We try to postpone our pain by getting drunk or by smoking or by taking drugs or by getting in and out of relationships.
  • Or you develop some kind of compulsive habit.
  • Or you become abusive and you get angry with other people or critical and judgmental to hide your pain.
  • Or you get depressed.
• Pain comes when we realize in our quiet moments we’re not God and we can’t control everything and that’s scary.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
--C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain

Pain removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.
--C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain

The Consequences of playing God

• Four Problems
  1. Fear
  • Genesis 3:10 (Adam) “I was afraid because I was naked so I hid.”
  • We are afraid somebody’s going to find out who we really are, that we’re fakes, we’re phony, we really don’t have it all together, we’re not perfect.
  • “Stained Glass Masquerade”
• 2. Frustration
  • Romans 7:21, 23 TLB “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong … something else deep within me … is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me slave to the sin …”
  • Psalm 32:3 TLB “My dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration.”
  • Dave & Buster’s mallet game!
• 3. Fatigue
  • Psalm 32:4–5 TLB “My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them.”
  • It’s tiring playing God.
  • Most people try to hide their pain and run from the pain by keeping busy.
• 4. Failure
  • Proverbs 28:13 GNB “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.”
  • When you try to play God that’s one job description you’re guaranteed to fail at.

CCC Vision
At CCC our vision is stated in one word – Blessing!

It is the dream of a place once seen as cursed become a blessing!“ A place where the hurting and hopeless can find healing and the Living Hope. A place that is small in men's eyes used of God to touch the whole Kansas City metro area.
A safe place to grow and go!

The Cure:

• Admit your powerlessness
  • 1. I admit that I am powerless to change my past.
  • 2. I admit that I am powerless to control other people.
  • 3. I admit that I am powerless to cope with my harmful habits, behaviors, actions. Good intentions are not enough.
• Will power is not enough!
  • You need HIS WILL, HIS POWER!

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. - James 4:6
Grace is the power to change!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:13

“ 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

Our God is a Father
Ephesians 4:1-6

• Jesus referred to God as Abba, an Aramaic word for “father,” to speak of His own intimate relationship with God. (Mark 14:36) “Daddy”
• This is a relationship that we can enter through faith.
• The idea of God’s intimate relationship to humanity is a distinct feature of Jesus’ teaching.
• God relates to believers as a father relates to his children.
• Luke 11:1-2 - Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God as Father.

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Romans 8:15-17

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:6-7

Building Families
The family is the place to:

1. Establish identity and security.
2. Teach and transmit values.
3. Make and store lifetime memories.
4. Develop hidden talents and potentials.
5. Learn how to love and forgive.
6. Grow in a safe environment.
7. Learn honesty and transparency.
8. Fail without criticism or condemnation.
9. Hide during the storms of life.
10. Experience the kingdom of God in action.
11. Translate Scripture into living realities.
12. Establish a command center for safety to bring the Kingdom of God to a lost world.

The family is the foundation for Godly seed, the demonstration of Divine agreement, and is sealed by blood covenant!

7 things you can do

1. Maintain Divine Order in your home
   • God is a God of order!
   • I Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”
2. Always walk in forgiveness
   • Matthew 18:34-35
   • Hebrews 12:14-15
   • Ephesians 4:26-27
   • II Corinthians 2:10-11
3. Permit nothing unclean in your home.
   • Ephesians 4:27 “do not give the devil an opportunity.”
   • Remove addictions and obsessions
4. Fill your home with praise
   • Psalm 8:1-2 “O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.”
   • Psalm 118:15 “The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
5. Always operate according to faith!
   • I Peter 5:8-9
   • Ephesians 6:10
   • Never use the word divorce!
6. Bind the devil
   • When you sense strife – Matthew 18:18
   • Do not bind the person, but the demonic interference!
7. Pray always!
   • Ephesians 6:10-18
     1. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
     2. Put on the whole armor of God
     3. Remember, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, etc.
     4. Having done all, to stand. Stand therefore
     5. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit
     6. Be watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the saint

A father of the fatherless,
a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
God sets the solitary in families
Psalm 68:5

The family is the foundation for Godly seed, the demonstration of Divine agreement, and is sealed by blood covenant!

One Thing: Revelations
Psalm 27:4

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4

Key Words

• Dwell – Live – Abide
  • Defined = To live as a resident; reside; to exist in a given place or state
  • Abide = An old English word signifying progressively to “await,” “remain,” “lodge,” “sojourn,” “dwell,” “continue,” “endure”
• Acts 17:28
  • “for in Him we live and move and have our being”
• John 15:1-11; I John 3:23-24
  • Abide = Obeying

Face the Problems

• Isaiah 57:18-21 (GNB)
  • “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!”
• Our Hurts – Habits – Hang ups inhibit our dwelling in Him
  • Celebrate Recovery
  • New Series beginning Sunday June 24
  • (6 Sunday’s and 2 Wednesday’s)

Key Words

• Dwell = Live
  • John 15 – Acts 17:28
• Behold = Seek
  • Hebrews 1:1ff
  • John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
  • Colossians 1:9-14; 2:1-3
  • Hosea 6:3 – Isaiah 11:9b
  • II Peter 3:18

Revelation Escalation

1. The Voice - Adam
2. Covenant - Adam - Noah - Abraham
3. Miracles - Moses
4. Kingdom - David
5. Wilderness Mercies - Israelites
6. Promised Land Provision - Joshua
7. Jesus – the “better” revelation!
8. 2nd Coming

Key Words

• Dwell = Live
  • John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
  • Acts 17:28 “in Him we live and move and have our being”
• Behold = Seek
  • John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
  • Hosea 6:3 “Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
• Meditate = Ask or Inquire
  • Access to unveiled Mystery
  • Daniel 2:47 – The Revealer of mysteries

Means

• Church
  • Ephesians 3 = mystery unveiled
  • Hebrews 10:24-25 – Gather together
• Word
  • Romans 10:17 – Faith comes
  • John 17:17 – Thy Word is truth!
  • II Peter 1 – The more sure Word of prophecy.
• Witness
  • Acts 1:8 – For this purpose
  • Matthew 28:18 – His last command
  • Co-workers with God in His kingdom creation

One Thing: Living - Looking - Longing
Psalm 27:4

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4

There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.
- Blaise Pascal

Get and stay connected...

• Dwell – Live – Abide
  • Defined = To live as a resident; reside; to exist in a given place or state
• Acts 17:28
  • “for in Him we live and move and have our being”
• John 15:1-11; I John 3:23-24
  • Abide = Dwell = Live
• Abide
  • An old English word signifying progressively to “await,” “remain,” “lodge,” “sojourn,” “dwell,” “continue,” “endure”
• Abide in me
  • Hold fast faith and a good conscience
  • Let no trials turn you aside from the truth
• John 15 = Abide = Dwell = Live
• These two things are absolutely necessary to our salvation:
  1. That we continue closely united to Christ by faith and love, and live in and to him.
  2. That we continually receive from him the power to do good = grace.

Problems

• Hurts – Habits – Hang ups
  • “Stained Glass Masquerade” – Casting Crowns
• Isaiah 57:18-21 (GNB)
  • 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!
• First of the 8 “R’s” – the Road to Recovery
  • Realize – That there is a God and it is NOT you!
  • The Cause – Consequences – Cure of your problems lie in this realization