12 Steps: Step 3&4
Part of App Notes: 12 Steps
January 21, 2024

12 Steps: Step 3&4

The 12 Steps are for you – not for someone you know

This series is just a starting point

The Twelve Steps of Recovery (and Transformation)
Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over our sin – that our lives had become unmanageable
Step 2 – We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves (God) could restore us to sanity
Step 3 – We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him

The danger of “The 12 Step Waltz” – 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3

Step 4 can only work if you know your life is unmanageable and you’re powerless, if you believe something can make it better, and if you give the controls to God

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

The story of David & Bathsheba

2nd Samuel 11:26-27
When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD was displeased with what David had done.

2 Samuel 12:1-12 New Living Translation
So the LORD sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter.
One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
David was furious. “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man!
The LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
“This is what the LORD says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”

David couldn’t hide his sin; he had to own it.

Daniel Vargas’ story

“We need more Jesus in AA, and we need more AA in church”

Step 5 – We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs

1 John 1:8-9 New Living Translation
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

James 5:16 New International Version

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

We need a sponsor, a mentor, a meeting, a Life Group; *You can’t do it on your own
*

David’s prayer

Psalm 51:1-12, 16-17
Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion,* blot out the stain of my sins**. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
*For I was born a sinner*—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.*
 

SERMON BASED QUESTIONS:

  1. We’re almost halfway through the 12 Steps; are you finding the Steps interesting? Convicting? Irrelevant? Something else?
  2. Share a time in your life when sharing something that had been hidden in your life came out, and whether it was humiliating or felt like a burden was lifted. How has that experience shaped your willingness to talk about secret or embarrassing sin in your life?
  3. Why is it so difficult to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves?
  4. What do you think Daniel meant when he said, “We need more Jesus in AA, and more AA in church”?
  5. What is keeping you from finding or having a sponsor/mentor/accountability partner? Or, if you have a sponsor/mentor/accountability partner, what qualities drew you to that person?
  6. What is one thing that you want (or need) to do that was revealed in the message?