Our Higher Power: The God of Hate and Love

At Celebrate Recovery, we work out our hurts, habits and hang-ups by taking the hand of the one true and only Higher Power, Jesus Christ – who is one with the Father and among us through His Holy Spirit. Our recognition of this Lord and Savior separates Celebrate Recovery from other 12-step programs, which allow for any manner of personally defined “higher power.”

At C.R., our Higher Power is truly amazing. He knows all. He sees all. He was, is, and ever will be. And He is capable of anything – including the most intense hate imaginable. Yes, for all of His positive press, our God hates like nobody else. And He focuses His hate on our most vulnerable trait: our sin nature.

God hates sin so much, He demands blood for it. His penalty is death. Zero tolerance. “But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.’” (Genesis 2:16–17)

God’s penalty for eating a forbidden fruit is equal to His penalty for not believing is equal to His penalty for murder is equal to His penalty for lying.

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

God hates all sin.

As sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are naturally born sinners. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Sin is what separates us from God. And without God, we are condemned to our hurts, habits and hang-ups indefinitely.

However, at Celebrate Recovery, we step out of denial and confront our sin nature. We bring our sins to God and address them in real, practical ways, often for the first time – with God’s help.

Sadly, many people in church – including those at First Baptist Dallas – are afraid to address their sin problems and avoid talking about it. They dress up, go to church, smile and shake a few hands, then duck back into the shadows never expressing their need for help.

Sadly, many of us worry more about what others think than what God thinks. And, needless to say, God not only hates sin more than our fellow pew-sitters, He will ultimately do more about it than just turn up His nose at us. He will throw us into His lake of fire! We need to get serious about our sin problems! We need our Higher Power!

The good news is, although our God hates sin so much, He is even more passionate about His love for us. God is so wildly in love with us, He will do anything to rescue us from our fate. In fact, He took His one and only, blameless, perfect Son, Jesus, and spilled Jesus’s blood to pay for our offenses. He put His own Son to death on a cross, so we could spend eternity in heaven with Him. That is some kind of crazy love – Hallelujah!

Why would you not want to live your life in a way that pleases God? Why would you duck your sin problems and turn away from them altogether? Why would you not want to heal your hurts, habits and hang-ups?

1 John 1:8-9 says, “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.”

The God of the universe wants you with Him forever. He wants to talk to you about it. He wants to make you “white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18-19) “Come now, let us settle the matter.” Let us bring our sin to the footstool of the Lord.

If you believe that Jesus died for you, and are ready to confront your hurts, habits and hang-ups in a safe place, where the one true and only Higher Power is recognized, join us at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays downtown. Celebrate the recovery of your relationship with Jesus. It will please Him, literally, to no end!

Joe

Is your recovery ever finished? Principle 8 & Step 12

Principle 8:  “YIELD myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.”  Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.  Matthew 5:10

Step 12:  “Having had a spiritual experience as a result of these steps, we try to CARRY this message to others and to PRACTICE these principles in all our affairs.”  Brother, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.  Galatians 6:1

—-

It’s not difficult to catch the theme for the last principle and step – the idea of giving back to others the hope in recovery that you have experienced.  What a wonderful privilege! We all know what it means to “give back” – I don’t think I have to go through any further explanation so that you understand what it means.  Basically this principle can be summed up in one verse from Matthew 10:8:  “Freely you have received, freely give.”   

All of our steps and principles are very important in recovery – and these last ones keep recovery on-going… because these last ones are faith in action.   Many may have said they have completed all the step and principles, but not really… because these last two are never complete.  Three important words:  yield, practice and carry.  These are present tense verbs and are never completed.  I can tell you – my recovery will be on-going until the day Jesus takes me home.  You are never fully recovered – so in the process of this journey, why not give others the hope you’ve now found?

Personally, one of the greatest joys in my life is spending time with my CR family.  My sponsor has said before, “CR is as the church ought to be.”  We are real with one another, sharing those things in which to be kept accountable, but the greatest help to me is the reminder that I can’t do anything without Christ!  I get to live out my step 12 and principle 8 every time I pay it forward or “give back” – and this principle and step clearly show that I am never done.  I am to share the Good News to others carrying this message and practicing these principles in everything that I do!

If you are nearing the end of your steps and principles – it’s such an accomplishment!  Well done!  Now… live out the last principle and step.  Your recovery is never fully finished – and you have a splendid opportunity to show Christ’s love to others who are beginning the process!  The hope is that you will demonstrate principle 8 and step 12 through Celebrate Recovery… but if not, get involved in “giving back” to another worthwhile ministry.

Claire
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Greg Coplen – coming December 7th!

Greg Coplen is returning on December 7th!

Greg has performed at First Baptist’s Celebrate Recovery several times in the past – he’s got an amazing testimony of hope and triumph over addiction.  Please mark your calendar to join us at 6:30 on December 7th in room 802 of the Spurgeon Harris building.  If you need directions, please email us at fbdcelebraterecovery@gmail.com.

Greg’s web link is www.gregcoplen.squarespace.com.

This is gonna make you stronger…

Heard the analogy of the pearl?  Diamond?  There are countless illustrations that I can give you about what happens during pressure…

The Bible has a lot to say about trials and pressure – Romans 5:3-5 is one of my personal favorites!  If there was someone who knew about trials and pressure, it was Paul – he even had a “thorn in the flesh” from 2 Corinthians that kept him focused on Christ – in his weakness, he was strong.  “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”  Philippians 4:13

The Christian artist, Mandisa, covered a great song from her album released in April 2011 called “Stronger.”  Enjoy the music video, but pay attention to the lyrics below:

Hey, heard you were up all night 
Thinking about how your world ain’t right
And you wonder if things will ever get better
And you’re asking why is it always raining on you
When all you want is just a little good news

Instead of standing there stuck out in the weather
Oh, don’t hang your head
It’s gonna end God’s right there
Even if it’s hard to see Him I promise you that He still cares

When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain’t gonna last forever
And things can only get better
Believe me
This is gonna make you stronger
Gonna make you stronger, stronger, stronger
Believe me, this is gonna make you Stronger

Try and do the best you can
Hold on and let Him hold your hand
And go on and fall into the arms of Jesus
Oh, lift your head it’s gonna end God’s right there
Even when you just can’t feel Him
I promise you that He still cares

‘Cause if He started this work in your life
He will be faithful to complete it
If only you believe it
He knows how much it hurts
And I’m sure that He’s gonna help you get through this

Is my Addiction too Difficult for God?

I dare say we have all been there: completely frustrated over our failure to conquer our demons. I don’t know how many times I went on a diet, promising God I would never eat candy or some other tempting food again, and then failed a few days later. Over and over and over again! I can’t count the times I swore I had truly forgiven the ones who abused me, only to have that rage swell up again and again. Time after time I decided to stand up for myself only to fall victim again to the need to sacrifice what was good for me in order to please someone else.

So many times I tried to solve the problem of addiction myself, whether it was addiction to food or to rage or to people-pleasing. I was so sure I could do it if I wanted to badly enough. Problem was, I thought, I just didn’t want to badly enough. I gave up. Then I tried again…gave up…tried again…gave up. I made vows to God. I made myself accountable. Over and over again. Nothing worked long-term.

It wasn’t until I learned the lesson Abraham learned that I found one of the keys to victory.

God promised Abraham He would give him a son through whom His blessing would be carried on to the next generations and finally to us through Christ. After waiting ten years, Sarah still hadn’t become pregnant. She had been barren all her life and it was hard for them to believe she would really become pregnant at this late date. She was 80 years old! So they proceeded with a culturally acceptable alternative. Sarah gave her handmaid to Abraham and she gave birth to a son that Sarah would call her own. When Ishmael was 13 years old God appeared to Abraham again and reminded him that he would have a son by Sarah. Both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the absurdity of the idea. By this time Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 89. How could this be? When Abraham questioned God about it, His response was “Is anything too difficult for God?” (Genesis 18:14) By this time Abraham had a habit of trusting God. (Genesis 15:6) He believed Him when He made a promise. And even though he did look at his and Sarah’s bodies and wonder how God would do it, the Apostle Paul says he never wavered in his trust. (Romans 4:18-21) And sure enough, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, she gave birth to their son Isaac, the son of promise, ancestor of Jesus Christ, through whom God blessed all the nations of the earth just as He had promised Abraham.

Indeed. NOTHING is too difficult for God.

Of course I had to come out of denial and admit that I was helpless against my addictions. Then, when I turned my struggles over to God, believing that it was only He who could bring me the victory for which I longed, and that He did indeed want to give me that victory, I finally found myself truly experiencing recovery. My food addiction wasn’t too difficult for Him. My hatred and rage weren’t too difficult for Him. My codependency wasn’t too difficult for Him. Since that day when I staked my life on the belief that God could set me free from my addictions, I have seen steady progress in recovery.

Giving God His rightful place in our lives as Lord and putting ourselves in the rightful place of trusting Him is the key to overcoming our Hurst, Hangups, and Habits.

Karen