GRATITUDE (A TOPICAL STUDY) CELEBRATE RECOVERY PRINCIPLE 7, STEP 11 SUNDAY, 6 JULY 2008 2 ND STREET COMMUNITY CHURCH GREGG LAMM pastor-teacher.ppt 1 PRAYER.PPT 2 PRINCIPLE 7 Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will. Why daily? Why with God? Why self-examination? Because we live life daily. The Manna Principle from EXODUS 16 (v. 33 an omer is 1/3 of an ephah. Thanks a lot!) Because God is our source and power. Because without honesty there is is no new growth and without new growth there is stagnation and with stagnation comes death. No new growth = stagnation Stagnation = death Growth = fresh move of God Maturity = fresh vision from God Why Bible reading? Why prayer? Because it s God s primary way of speaking to us. If we don t believe this we re deluding ourselves. Because prayer is conversation and without conversation our life with God grows distant and cold. Sue Johnson prayer is just journaling with your mouth to God. Why know God s will? Because this is the path we re to walk as His followers. And if we re not taking on the character of Jesus Christ, we won t be equipped to live into the will of God with consistency and power.
God s power? Related to us being in the WORD, becoming people of prayer, surrender and learning to stop depending on ourselves. JOHN 5:15 and PHILIPPIANS 4:13 Jesus Christ says, Apart from Me you can do nothing, and the Apostle Paul says, Through Christ Jesus I can do all things. To follow God s will? There s a very big difference between KNOWING GOD S WILL and KNOWING AND FOLLOWING GOD S WILL. Let s learn to do God s will, God s way. Without listening there is no true surrender. Without surrender there is no true sacrifice. Without sacrifice there is no true worship. Without true worship there is no true vision. Without true vision there is no true power..ppt 3 STEP 11 We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and the power to carry that out. We sought Prayer and meditation Improve We re all seeking something. Let s make sure we re seeking the right things. We need to improve our discernment wish increased discernment comes increased wisdom and with increased wisdom comes increased courage. Talking with God and listening to God. Learning to wait and listen versus the usual thing of pray and then going into action right away. Pray. Wait. Listen. Pray. Follow God s nudges and leadings. We can improve. We can change. We can move past the pettiness of all that we ve been. We can both listen and learn AND wait and receive. The Apostle Paul newborns, babies, children, young adults, adults, full-grown adults. 2
Praying specifically Praying for the knowledge of God s will. Why pray any other way? Pray specifically and receive specific answers. Pray generally and only get general answers. ILLUSTRATION Knowledge of God s will If this is available to us as followers of Jesus Christ, why would we not do whatever it takes to receive it and walk in it?.ppt 4 COLOSSIANS 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let It s a choice each of us can make. What are the obstacles to making this choice? Isolating the lie what s the lie? The word of Christ God s WORD, the Bible, the written revelation of God s heart and God s will for our lives without it we are like a hiker without a map, a ship without a rudder, and a kite without wind. This morning we re going to focus our attention OUTWARD rather than INWARD. We ve taken many steps on the road of growth and maturity with Jesus Christ. Our FIRST STEP is to admit that we were (and are) powerless. Do you need to remind yourself of this first step this morning? Our SECOND STEP let s us choose, once and for all, a power by which to live. Are you still relying on other powers or people or plans to build your life on? What are your old standbys the ones that have failed you over and over again, but that you keep going back to like an old, familiar pillow on a tired night? Our THIRD STEP (most important step) is when we chose to turn our lives and wills over to the only true Higher Power, Jesus Christ. Are you feeling close to Jesus Christ this morning? If not, what s in the way? And what steps can you take to move back into closer proximity with Jesus Christ? As we continue our journey, we grow in our conscious contact with God and He begins to unfold in our lives. And, as we begin to grow in our understanding of Him, we begin to live out the decision we made in PRINCIPLE 3 CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE TO COMMIT ALL MY LIFE AND WILL TO CHRIST S CARE AND CONTROL. We keep walking now, in peace, as WE MAINTAIN INVENTORIES ON A REGULAR BASIS and as WE CONTINUE TO DEEPEN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST. 3
The way we do this according to PRINCIPLE 7, is to reserve a daily time with God. During this time we focus on Him through PRAYER and MEDITATION..PPT 5 Real PRAYER happens, not as we grit our teeth, but as we fall in love. Richard Foster (Prayer) Real MEDITATION happens, not as we invite everything to empty out of us, but as invite the fullness of God to enter into us and fill us up. PRAYER is talking to God. MEDITATION is listening to God on a daily basis. When I meditate I don t get into some yoga-type position or murmur, om, om, om. I simply focus on and think about God, or a certain Scripture verse or passage, or maybe even just one or two words. On Thursday morning this past week I spent ten or fifteen minutes just trying to focus on one word the word gratitude. I need to meditate every morning, but I don t. Some mornings my mind wanders and I find it very difficult to concentrate. Those old familiar friends will come back. You know, that old familiar committee of past dysfunction. The committee will try to do every thing it can to interrupt my quiet time with God. But through daily working the PRINCIPLES to the best of my ability, however, I m learning to shut them up much of the time. I m learning to listen to God, who tells me that I HAVE GREAT WORTH. And He will say the same to you if you will listen. Oh my friends, what happens, truly happen inside of us, and then through us, when we begin to get an honest glimpse of God s Father-Heart for us. The truth of the matter is that He s crazy for us. And understanding that helps us live lives of gratitude before Him, before one another, and before the world. It reminds me of a story that author Brennan Manning shares about a priest from Michigan going to Ireland to visit his uncle. As they were walking along the beach, the priest noticed a grin come across the face of his uncle and said Uncle Seamus, you seem happy. And uncle Seamus replies Ah, yes, I am happy. You see my Abba is so very fond of me. So very fond of me. Dear ones, let me assure you this morning that your Abba is SO VERY FOND OF YOU. When we start our day with PRINCIPLE 7 and end it by doing a DAILY INVENTORY, we ll have a pretty good day a reasonably happy day. This is one of the ways I m learning to choose to live one day at a time and one way I can keep from slipping back into my old ways of thinking, which then which lead, of course, to my old ways of doing. For the rest of our time together this morning I want us to focus our gratitude onto four areas of our lives.ppt 6 1. BE GRATEFUL TOWARD GOD 2. BE GRATEFUL TOWARD THE PEOPLE GOD HAS PUT IN OUR LIVES 4
3. BE GRATEFUL FOR OUR REDEMPTION 4. BE GRATEFUL TOWARD OUR CHURCH And I m going to ask you to write them down on your GRATITUDE LIST. This is an interactive lesson. And so now we re going to take some time for us to build our GRATITUDE LIST something we can begin this morning and add onto in the days, weeks, and months ahead..ppt 7 FIRST, FOR WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL TO GOD? Offer prayers of gratitude to your Creator..PPT 8 In PHILIPPIANS 4:6, the Apostle Paul writes, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God..PPT 9 In PSALM 107:15 David encourages us to give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and wonderful deeds toward all people. What wonderful deeds they are! What are at least two areas of your life in which you can see God s work and that you are thankful for tonight? Maybe reflect back onto the last three months of 2008, or on the number of days since you re sobriety began, or maybe even just this week, or today. What has God done for you to remind you of His voice, His presence, His provision, His action, His counsel, His help, His shepherding in your life? Then take a moment to list just a few of the special things for which you are thankful to your Abba Father. So FIRST, WE NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT WE RE GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR..PPT 10 THE SECOND AREA OF GRATITUDE IS TO LIST THE INDIVIDUALS GOD HAS PLACED IN YOUR LIFE to walk alongside you on your road of redemption. We need to be grateful for others. Wow, how easy it is to be the least thankful for the people for whom we should be most grateful..ppt 11 Here s what the Apostle Paul writes in COLOSSIANS 3:15-16 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the word of Christ the message have the run of the house. (THE MESSAGE). Who are you thankful for? Why? Take a moment to list them..ppt 12 The THIRD AREA WE CAN BE GRATEFUL FOR IS OUR REDEMPTION itself. 5
.PPT 13 HEBREWS 12:1 As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. What are two recent growth areas of your redemption for which you re grateful? Maybe it s a specific STEP or PRINCIPLE you re going through, or going through again and learning at a deeper level. Again, take the time to list them now..ppt 14 The FOURTH AND FINAL AREA TO BE GRATEFUL FOR IS OUR CHURCH..PPT 15 Again, David writes, this time in PSALM 100:4 Enter the Temple gates with thanksgiving. (GOOD NEWS BIBLE). What are two things about your church that you re grateful for? And if you don t have a regular church home, I d like to invite you to 2 nd Street, or to check out one of the many other good churches here in Newberg. Maybe you have a close friend who attends one where people worship God, study God s Word, and have a heart of love and service toward one another and the world. You know they ve been praying for you freak them out, call them up and tell them that you re going to go to church with them next Sunday. And now take your GRATITUDE LIST home with you this morning and put it in a place where you will see it often. It will remind you that you have made progress in your recovery, that you are not alone, that Jesus Christ is always with you, that God is using 2 nd Street, and maybe your Community Group, or Celebrate Recovery, or some other mentor or avenue of instruction in your life, and that God wants to use His Church in your life to help you move toward greater healing, greater discipleship, greater surrender, greater service, and greater joy. Using your GRATITUDE LIST, going to your Celebrate Recovery and making them a priority, and getting involved in service in your church are the best ways I know to prevent relapse..ppt 16 ILLUSTRATION I want to share with you some of the things I wrote onto my GRATITUDE LIST recently Let s close in prayer. Dear God, help me set aside all the hassles and noise of the world to focus and listen just to You for the next few minutes. Help me get to know You better. Help me to better understand Your plans and purposes for my life. Father, help me live within today, seeking Your will and living this day as You would have me. 6
Tonight it s my prayer to have others see me as Yours; not just in my words but more importantly, in my actions. Thank You for Your love, Your grace, and Your perfect forgiveness. Thank You for all the people You ve placed in my life, for my involvement here in Celebrate Recovery, for my recovery, and for my church family. Your will be done, not mine. In the name of Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen..PPT 17 NEXT SUNDAY LESSONS LEARNED IN CUBA 7