12 Steps Series - Steps 8 & 9 - Sunday, September 17, 9 a.m. Service

In one paragraph

This message was the eighth installment in a series walking through the twelve steps of recovery alongside Scripture. The focus landed on step eight: making a list of all persons we have harmed and becoming willing to make amends to them all. The preacher described it as the hardest step in the series to preach, not because it lacks biblical grounding, but because it asks something genuinely...

Read together

1. Colossians 1:16 quoted at the opening to call the congregation to worship, describing Christ as creator of all things visible and invisible
2. Psalm 147:1 cited as summing up the reason the family of God sings praises together
3. John 8:12 quoted as a favorite verse, Jesus declaring himself the light of the world and promising his followers will not walk in darkness
4. Psalm 51:10-12 read as a congregational prayer before the offering, asking God for a pure heart and restored joy of salvation
5. 1 John 1:9 quoted to explain confession as agreeing with God about sin, with the promise of forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness
6. James 5:16 referenced as the call to confess to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed, with the prayer of a righteous person described as powerful and effective
7. Romans 12:18 paraphrased as the basis for peacemaking, pursue peace with all and as much as it depends on you be at peace with all

Talk about it

1. The preacher said that step one, admitting powerlessness, leads to despair unless you get to step two. Where have you seen that play out, either in your own life or in someone you know?
2. Step four calls for a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, not of other people. What makes it so tempting to turn that lens outward instead of inward, and what has helped you resist that?
3. The preacher described step five, admitting the exact nature of our wrongs to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, as confession. How has having another person in that process made a difference compared to keeping it only between you and God?
4. The preacher drew a distinction between peacekeeping and peacemaking, saying peacekeeping just keeps people separated while peacemaking means stepping toward people you are in conflict with. Which one do you find yourself defaulting to, and why?
5. Step eight is about becoming willing to make amends, even before you actually do it. The preacher said that willingness and humility are what God is looking for. What is the hardest part of getting to that willingness, and what has moved you toward it in the past?