Steps 10-12
Can an addict ever fully recover?
James 4:7 New International Version
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our sin – that our lives had become
unmanageable
Step 2 – came to believe that a power greater than ourselves (God) could restore us to sanity
Step 3 – made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him
Step 4 – made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Step 5 – admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
Step 6 – were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
Step 7 – humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings
Step 8 – made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
Step 9 – made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
Steps 10-12 are the keys to making the 12 Steps a way of life
Steps 10-12 describe the journey of discipleship – following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, living out the mission of Jesus
Step 10 – continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it
There are three different kinds of inventory
A spot-check inventory
A daily inventory
A thorough inventory
James 5:16 (NIV)
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.
Step 11 – 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
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
“praying only for knowledge of His will”
“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them… Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God’s Word.” ― Charles Spurgeon
Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs
2 Timothy 2:2 (NLT)
You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.
Titus 2:3-5 (NIV)
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Mark 5:19 (NIV)
Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
Celebrate Recovery in Lansing
Trinity Church, 3355 Dunkel Road, Lansing – Sunday nights at
6:30 pm
https://www.wearetrinity.com/celebrate-recovery/
Crossroads Church, 102 W. Caesar Chavez, Lansing – Tuesday nights
at 7:00 pm
https://www.lansingcrossroads.com/celebrate-recovery
1 John 1:7 (NIV)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Sermon Based Questions
- What is one thing that has challenged you in this series of messages?
- Does it take longer, shorter, or about the same amount of time for you to recognize and admit when you’re wrong when compared to five years ago? Why?
- When you hear the word meditation, what comes to mind? Why?
- What is your biggest obstacle to meditation and prayer as it is described in Step 11?
- What is the hardest of the 12 Steps to implement in your life? Who might help you live the Steps as an accountability partner? Who could be your sponsor or mentor? 6.