Hurt People Hurt People, But Forgiven People Forgive

In one paragraph

This message brought a ten-week series on the 12 steps to a close, moving quickly through all twelve steps before handing the floor to a guest speaker whose own story put flesh on everything that had been taught. The two voices together made the case that the path of recovery and the path of Christian discipleship are, at their root, the same path. The preacher opened by acknowledging that the...

Read together

1. Galatians (vice list) read aloud as part of a compiled New Testament list of vices used for step four moral inventory
2. 1 Timothy (vice list) read aloud as part of a compiled New Testament list of vices used for step four moral inventory
3. 1 Peter (vice list) read aloud as part of a compiled New Testament list of vices used for step four moral inventory
4. James (vice list) read aloud as part of a compiled New Testament list of vices used for step four moral inventory
5. 1 John 1:9 cited as the promise that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive and purify us
6. James 5:16 referenced as the basis for confessing sins to one another
7. Numbers 21 (bronze serpent) cited as the Old Testament background Jesus gave Nicodemus about being lifted up so that those who look will be saved
8. John 3 (Nicodemus) used to introduce the bronze serpent analogy in connection with step seven and humility
9. Acts 1:8 quoted to connect the spiritual awakening of step twelve with receiving power from the Holy Spirit and being sent as witnesses
10. Acts 4:31-33 quoted to illustrate boldness in witness and great power in testifying to the resurrection
11. Romans 12:1-2 quoted to connect step twelve service with presenting bodies as living sacrifices and renewing the mind
12. 2 Corinthians 5:17 quoted as the scriptural picture of spiritual awakening: if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation
13. Ephesians 3:20-21 quoted to show that God is able to do far more than we ask or think by the power working within us
14. James 2:20 quoted to argue that faith without works is useless, applied to the call to share one's spiritual awakening
15. 2 Corinthians 5:20 quoted to describe believers as ambassadors for Christ through whom God makes his appeal for reconciliation
16. Matthew 4:19 (fishers of men) referenced as Jesus calling disciples to follow him and become fishers of people, applied to carrying the message
17. 1 Corinthians 13 mentioned as a source for the principles of love underlying the twelve steps
18. Psalm 51:17 quoted by Stoney Vance as the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and contrite heart which God will not despise
19. Colossians 3:17 quoted as the benediction: whatever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father

Talk about it

1. The preacher said that admitting powerlessness over a besetting sin is the necessary first step, but that many people resist it by thinking 'I've got this.' What makes that admission so hard, and what finally moves a person to get there?
2. The vice list read aloud covered a lot of ground beyond the obvious big sins, including rivalries, empty words, morbid craving for controversy, and gossip. Which items on that list surprised you or hit closer to home than you expected?
3. The preacher described the temptation to tell God, 'I don't want you to remove this one,' using gossip as an example. What might make a person genuinely unwilling to let go of a defect of character even after naming it?
4. Stoney described his family letting him go as 'the best thing that ever happened to me, dropping me out of their hands and into God's.' How do you think about the tension between supporting someone who is struggling and enabling them to keep struggling?
5. Both the preacher and Stoney talked about living daily in steps 10, 11, and 12, keeping short accounts and starting each day with God. What does that kind of daily discipline actually look like in a practical, ordinary week for you?