the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, connected to confessing sins to one another
16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
let your gentleness be known, pray with thanksgiving, meditate on whatever is true and honorable and pure
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
9 The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness, tempted by the devil, answered with scripture
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.
3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.
9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.
Peter asks about John's path and Jesus tells him to follow and not worry about others
20 Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray You?”
21 Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
22 Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
arm yourselves with Christ's purpose in suffering, live for the will of God, be sober for prayer, love covers a multitude of sins
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
2 that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
4 They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming:
5 who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.
7 But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
8 And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
walking in the light, blood of Jesus cleanses sin, confessing sins brings forgiveness and cleansing
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
wisdom from above is pure, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and bears fruit of righteousness
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
do not worry about life's needs, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
27 “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?
28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,
29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was the eleventh installment in a series Pastor Ray has been preaching through the twelve steps of recovery. Step eleven calls believers to "seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for the knowledge of his will and the power to carry that out." Pastor Ray walked that phrase through four themes: prayer, guidance, growth, and power.
What was said
The series has built toward this point deliberately. Steps one through three establish that we cannot manage life on our own and that we are turning our will over to God. Steps four through nine deal with honest self-examination, confession, and making things right with people we have harmed. Step ten introduced the practice of daily corrective action. Pastor Ray noted that a friend six and a half years sober put it plainly: steps one, two, and three will get you there, but ten, eleven, and twelve will keep you there.
Under prayer, Pastor Ray drew on First John 5:14-15 to make the point that praying for God's will is the one prayer God is certain to hear, because it is exactly what he wants from us. He tied this to Philippians 4, where Paul links anxiety and thanksgiving directly together. You cannot be grateful and anxious at the same time, Pastor Ray said, which is why meditating on whatever is true, honorable, pure, and lovely is not a nice idea but a practical discipline for keeping conscious contact with God.
On guidance, Pastor Ray walked through the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, not away from difficulty, and God's will for our lives may do the same. What Jesus modeled there was answering every temptation with scripture, rightly handled. Pastor Ray pressed the contrast between Jesus using scripture accurately and the devil using it to mislead, and said that same ability to tell the difference grows as we stay in the word.
Growth came from John 15 and the image of the vine and the branches. The whole point of prayer and meditation, Pastor Ray said, is to stay consciously connected to the vine. Apart from that connection, nothing lasting gets produced. He also noted that the joy described in those verses is not a distant reward. It shows up in recovery groups too, in the life that comes out of people getting honest and staying close to each other, and it should not surprise anyone who has read what Jesus promised.
For power, Pastor Ray brought in the moment in John's gospel where the risen Jesus tells Peter to stop worrying about what path John is on and simply follow him. That exchange, Pastor Ray said, captures something essential about step eleven: praying for the knowledge of God's will for me, not for everyone else. He then moved into First Peter 4, where Peter connects Christ's suffering in the flesh with the believer's own hard walk away from sin, and closes with the call to be of sound judgment and "sober in spirit" for the purpose of prayer, and above all to keep fervent in love for one another.
Pastor Ray closed with practical shape. In the evening, examine the day and confess what needs confessing, leaning on First John 1:9. In the morning, bring prayer before anything else, as Psalm 5:3 describes. At set times through the day, whether behind the wheel or in a fifteen-minute break, take time to contemplate God and his goodness. And in moments of stress, Philippians 4 and Matthew 6 both point the same direction: cast the care, seek the kingdom first, and receive the peace that surpasses understanding. He closed with Isaiah 26:3, that God keeps in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in him.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Ray described step 11 as the step he comes back to 'over and over and over again.' What is it about the idea of improving your conscious contact with God that you find either compelling or difficult in your own life?
Pastor Ray walked through Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, and said that following God's will 'may take you into places where you're tempted.' Has following what you believed was God's leading ever brought you into a harder situation rather than an easier one? What happened?
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? Everybody, we're gonna sing in a few more from the back of the vestibule back there maybe. If you'll stand up with me, I'd appreciate it. Since Jesus came into my heart, what a joyful, joyful song this is.
We can sing a joyful song. What
Speaker 2a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart. I have light in my soul for which long I have sought since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Bloods of joy or my soul like the sea billows roar.
Since Jesus came into my heart. I have seized from my wandering and going astray since Jesus came into my heart. And my sins, which were many, are all washed away. Since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came into my heart.
Since Jesus came into my heart. Bloods of joy o'er my soul like the seed billows rose. Since Jesus came in, came into my heart, Since Jesus came in, came into my heart. Bloods of joy o'er my soul like the sea billows rub. Since Jesus
Speaker 1Amen. Unintentional yodeling is free. Yep. Would you sing with me another one? How about, oh Jesus, I have promise.
Speaker 2If you know the melody for this one, sing
Speaker 1it loud and I'll catch up with you. Okay. I'll lead from up here, but if you know it, sing it loud.
Speaker 2Oh Jesus, I have promised I shall not fear the battle if thou art by my side nor wander from the pathway if of
Speaker 1I caught up with you towards the end. Thank you. Judy does the job of picking out the songs every week and she sends them a month ahead of time and if I don't sing them right, it is it is not her fault. She does such a great job. The song selection for today lines up so well with the sermon and it does every week because the truth is the truth is the truth.
Y'all can have a seat. Thank you for waiting on me to tell you that. You don't have to wait on me. I wanna see you at Awana. That's the kids club on Monday night And here in this room, we start off with all the kids from the little ones, the cubbies and the sparks and the truth and training.
Tomorrow night is truth and training parents night. So when I first got here, the truth and training class was the smallest class in Owana, and it wasn't close. So it's the third through fifth graders are the TNT crowd, and they used to meet in my office with the teacher and the students all around the round table with just four chairs, and now they're close to 50 of them. Yeah. It's great.
It's really nice. And so, scripture is being kinda poured into the kids' minds to reach their hearts. It's a fantastic thing. So if you are a parent of one of the TNTers or grandparent of one of TNTers and you want to come see what's going on, tomorrow night 05:45 is the place. If you're a volunteer, there'll be supper ready for you at 05:15.
Discovery class happens on the third Sunday of the month and as needed in between if you let us know. Okay? So Discovery class, third Sunday of the month in my office whether I'm in there or not. Usually, Gary Geek or Steve Baldock or one of the elders does that little class. If you wanted to be a member of the church and you wanna know more about it, it's time where you can ask your questions and we can ask you a few questions too.
So, there's the discovery class. Would you y'all are of the of the era that likes a good directory. We like to know who people are and so we do a pretty good job of putting together a directory of all the people who will give us their information. So you don't have to be a church member. If you're a regular attender and you'd like to be recognized by anybody, it'd be helpful for you to send us a good picture.
A good one is horizontal, not vertical, just for the format. You can see the good picture up top and then the bad one is where we can't even see your face or who you are, you're with multiple people. One shot of you. If you want it to be you and your spouse by all means, send us a horizontal picture of that. Name, phone, email address, whatever information you will give, we'll include that so people can contact you.
Connect hour happens between services. So if you come to the 11:00 service and you get here at ten, you'll have a little breakfast waiting for you, a little brunch type food, and you get to hang out with some of those first service folks. Connect hour. And then Monday nights, we prepare a meal for the Awana volunteers, and we can always use volunteers for both of those. Addy did a great job this morning.
There might have been help that I don't know about, but it was fantastic down there. And I think that might be the last announcement. It took a miracle for the announcements to be that short. Would you all stand up? Would you stand?
And we're gonna sing, It Took A Miracle. And this is a very, very is it Broadway? Is it Western? It's operatic. But it is a beautiful song.
Take this in. It took a miracle.
Speaker 2My father is omnipotent see the wonders of his might. His throne will take eternity. It It took a miracle of love and grace.
Speaker 1Amen. Pretty. How about his eye is on the sparrow and I know why
Speaker 2should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is he. His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free for his eye is on the pharaoh, and I know he watches me. Let not your heart be troubled. His tender words I hear and resting on his goodness. I lose my doubt and fear, though by the path he leadeth.
But one step by mercy, his eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow.
And I know he watches me on last. Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to him. From care he sets me free. His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. His eyes on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.
I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free for his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches
Speaker 1me. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Would you pray with me? As the ushers come forward, this is kind of the offering time of worth worship through giving.
Lord God, there are so many things to be thankful for. There are so many things to be thankful for. For the things lord that you have placed in our life that we recognize that as blessings. And Lord, for the things that we don't yet recognize as blessings. I pray, Lord, that we would become so trusting of you and so recognize that your eye is on the sparrow.
That we know that you're seeing us. We know that you know what our issues are. We know that you know every flood on this big celestial ball. We know that you know every flame that is flickering. Lord, we trust you but in our human, feeble, faint, and finite understanding, we don't understand it all, lord.
May we just trust in the midst of it. And Lord, may we pray for you to do what only you can do. We ask that you'd be with all those firefighters that are up at the Pac Trail Fire. We pray that their efforts would be helpful in protecting people, lives, property. Lord, I pray that you would impress upon each of them who you are that they come to know you closer in Jesus name.
Lord, I pray that we would allow you to be God and that we would allow you to lead as the sermon this morning is gonna go, Lord. We wanna improve our conscious contact with you. In Jesus name, Lord, may we be about doing your will and your way. Would you advance your good gospel through the humble efforts of your obedient servants. In Jesus name, amen.
Amen. Amen. Wow. Thank you, Judy.
Speaker 2I've just seen Jesus.
Speaker 1If you didn't recognize that, that's the song. I've just seen Jesus. Wow. So good. Well, here we are.
I am back up here this week without a missionary speaking, without a missionary taking the full sermon time or even a little bit of it and we are at step 11. For those of you who just here visiting and haven't heard, this is sort of an unusual thing. We normally do expository preaching through passages of scripture and we'll see a lot of scripture today. But we've been going through a series on the 12 steps of recovery, specifically started way back in 1939 in Alcoholics Anonymous. A couple of different groups that kind of codified these steps.
Started out with just six steps, that's interesting. Wonder which six, right? But it's now the 12 steps recovery and it's really helpful. And it's been really repetitive. Right?
You all know this. So we're going to go through the first few. Excuse me. Excuse me. I've got a few more in there.
Step one. Step one. We admitted that we were powerless over our problem, that our lives had become unmanageable. Step two. We came to believe that a power, capital p power, greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity or wholeness.
Now, the power is Jesus. It is. I'm not denying that, but it really helps when you're coming into the program. If you know, I can't and you don't know who God is yet. It helps to recognize that there is a power that's greater than ourselves.
For some people, it really is just the group that's in the room but you know what? Church, we're the body of Christ. We're the body of Christ and we can help. That that is what the world sees of Christ and there's been a lot of damage and so we start off with there's a power greater than ourselves that could restore us to sanity. Step three is we made a decision, it's volitional, to turn our will, volitional, and our lives over to the care of God, and then there's a statement of what?
Humility after that, as we understood him. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. That statement of humility is really helpful. Thank you. That's a gracious act by a loving friend.
Thank you. As we understood him, it's recognizing we are finite and we don't understand him completely. We could always know him better. So since I know I can't, I know that he can, I'm going to let him step three. Step four, we made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
It helps that it is of ourselves. It's natural for us to look around and do a fearless and searching moral inventory of everyone else. In step five, we admitted to God. There he is. We admitted it to God and to ourselves and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
I just wanna say, praise God that people are doing this. There are people that are coming to me and saying, hey, I never told anybody this, but this is my struggle. God's forgiven me. I believe that. And I have hard time saying it but I'm a sinner and I'm wrong.
In this way, the exact nature of our wrongs, you're my other human being and it's not just me. It's happening with y'all too. Confessing your sins to each other and praying for each other so that you may be healed, brought into wholeness, sanity. Step six, we were entirely ready when Jesus asked that fellow next to the Pool Of Bethesda. Do you want to be made well?
He put it in his court to to say, you know what I do? I do want for this to be the case. We were entirely ready to have God remove all of these defects of character. In step seven, humility and rebirth. We humbly asked him, God, to remove our shortcomings.
That is so huge. Recognizing what they are in step four, admitting them to God in step five, knowing that you're ready to change in step six, and then say, and take them away from me. I don't wanna keep doing the things I've been doing. Step seven. Step eight, just as love must have an object, our sin does have consequences, and step eight is making a list of all the people that we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Making amends is not just saying I'm sorry. I had somebody come to me a few weeks ago when I hit this one and said, step eight is not just being willing to say you're sorry, they know you're sorry. They were the ones affected by your sorriness. We had a list of all persons that we harmed and became willing to make amends to them all because in step nine, we're gonna make direct amends where it's possible. We made direct amends to such people wherever it's possible except when to do so would injure them or others.
So that's step nine and then the last time I preached two weeks ago was step 10. Teddy Rebinald spoke last week and what a what a what a wonderful ministry God has given him. Step 10 is we continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it. That's really good. I had somebody come forward after the service today and he said, this is touching my life in so many ways.
One of them is, when I say something instead of doubling down, I realized that I don't really mean that. That was hurtful. I could tell by the look on your face. I didn't realize it when it came out, was just being me. But he says, when I was being me, I was really just being mean.
I'm sorry. We continue to take personal inventory because it's a way of life. And when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it. So that's daily corrective action. And step ten, eleven, and 12 are so closely tied together and so closely related that I started to do step 11 when I hit daily corrective action because it's kind of the the process by which you can live this out.
My friend that I've mentioned several times since I've been going through this series, who's been sober for six and a half years. He said, step one, two, and three will get you there, but step ten, eleven, and 12 will keep you there. Daily corrective action is important. Step 10, promptly admitting it is important. Step 11, here we are together collectively, we sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God.
As we understood and still that statement of humility is in there, realizing he may have some things going on that we don't understand. Praying only for the knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out. So, church, we are praying together for his will for us as a body and the power to carry that and he has given that. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available. The same spirit that directed him and he was in complete submission to at all times is available to us too.
So what we're praying for is knowledge of his will and the power to carry that out. Of all of the steps, of all the steps, this one is the one that I just come back to over and over and over again because waking up in the morning, well, I mean, first of all, this is my job, right? I I do have to admit that. I know this is my job. It is the job of every believer too.
Wake up in the morning and oh Lord, I long to do your will. Show me your way and I'll walk in it. It's exactly this. That's what David prayed. That's what we can pray.
Praying only for the knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out. There are some things that collectively we can do that individually can't but I like to individualize this step because it helps it helps us. Like I said, it's natural, not supernatural. It's natural for us to look around and see other people's flaws. But if we look around and see their flaws and we are humble before God, we see our flaws too.
It helps us. So, individually, I sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understood him and if you are praying and meditating and attempting to improve that conscious contact, you will know him better. You will understand him better as you go. Praying only for knowledge of his will, for me, and the power to carry that out. So, this one, if you look at the early literature, they call this prayer, guidance, growth, and power and I think that's a good way to look at them this morning.
There are myriad examples from the scriptures of how good this step is but considering his will for me and the power to carry that out. I wanna walk through them and realize this. Oh, yeah. Step three is we made a decision to turn our will in our lives over to him. If you look back and say, I'm praying for his will for me and the power to carry that out.
It's not a presumptuous thing. It's not a presumptuous thing. Oh, yeah. God this is what God wants for me. We're asking him to show us what it is that he wants from us and from us individually.
We made a decision to turn our will in our lives over to him. Step 11 is saying, this is a continual thing I'm gonna do daily. So here we are. Prayer, first of all. First John five.
Oh, first John comes up a lot in recovery. First John five fourteen and fifteen says this, this is the confidence which we have before him believers, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. What are we praying for? His will for our lives and the power to carry that out. He hears that prayer because that's what he wants.
And if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. He will show you. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. This is James. I've already hit this one once today.
Confession. Yeah. To each other. Yeah. So that you may be healed, brought closer to sanity, and wholeness.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Consider that when you wake up in the morning and you're praying for God's will for your life and the power to carry it out. That though you were not righteous, you have had the righteousness of Christ imputed to you and your prayers are powerful and effective because God says they are. Philippians four, we'll cover five through nine. Let your gentleness be known to all people.
Spirit, there you see is an italics, that's a new American standards way of saying we added this, make it make sense in English or give it a certain sense in English. Let your gentle spirit be known to all people or let your gentleness be known to all people. For the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer. This is why I've included it under prayer.
In by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's anything that is excellent, if there's anything that's worthy of praise, be thinking about these things or maybe we should just say meditate on these things. A grateful moment, they do it at the end of the school day in some schools. Hey, give us all the things you're grateful for.
Give us a grateful moment, you know. That's really good because you can't be grateful and anxious at the same time. So, if there's anything that's excellent, anything worthy of praise, be meditating on these things. This will bring you into more conscious contact with God. I'm so thankful for the way that you're working in this situation, God, and I see it.
It's good, pure, noble, true, worthy of good report. Meditate on these things and as for the things that you have learned and you've received and you've heard, Paul says, and seen in me walking it out, I'm a little further down the road than you all are, Paul says. Be practicing these things and the God of peace will be with you. How did he know that? Because he knows that.
He's acting as a sponsor to these people. He's a little further down the road than they are. And he's saying, this is what you do. Concentrate on those things. Guidance.
For his will, for my life, and the power to carry it out is a daily walking close to the situation and we see in Matthew four, it says, then Jesus was led by the capital s, spirit, Holy Spirit. He was led by the spirit. Where did he get led? Into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now, God's will for our lives.
It was absolutely God's will for Jesus' life that he go into the wilderness and be tempted. It's not necessarily gonna be easy. It's not gonna be easy to get sober. It's not gonna be easy to walk away from the coping mechanism that you've held on to for so long to feel right and good about yourself and align the world. But if you're following after the spirits leading, you might find yourself in the wilderness and you might find yourself in the place of temptation.
I think Jesus' example is good. After he had fasted for forty days and forty nights. Now, didn't have any sin to walk away from like we do, but if we have walked away from our sin and we are without it, we are without the thing that we've been trying to cope with life through. After he fasted for forty days and forty nights, he became hungry and the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God trying to cast doubt, command that these stones become bread. Now, he was hungry, so it's significant that he's trying to get him to eat.
But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Fasting, the reason for praying, the reason for meditating is to hear more clearly from God, and that's what Jesus was doing in this example. That's what we're doing if we are praying and meditating in order to improve our conscious contact with God to know what is his will. Now Jesus answered by scripture, that's great for us to see the guidance that he is offering us. We have in propositional truth.
We have it in a book. We have it in the Bible. The devil tries to use that against him in the second temptation here and then the devil took him along to the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and he said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written. Oh, he's gonna use the Bible. He will give his angels orders concerning you and on their hands, they will lift you up so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
And Jesus said to him, it is also written or on the other hand, is also written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. So, Jesus answered him with scripture rightly dividing the word of truth. He can recognize when the devil's temptation is using God's word wrongly. Again, the devil said, he took him up to a very high mountain. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all of their glory, kingdoms of the earth and he said to him, all these things I will give to you if you fall down and worship me.
And then Jesus said to him, get on away from here. Get on away from here. Go away, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Now Jesus was worshiping God in the fasting.
He was worshiping him in the wilderness. He was worshiping him. He was also God. He actually is God and so the devil should have been worshiping him and blasphemy is when you reverse good and bad and you turn things upside down. You should worship the Lord your God and serve him only and then the devil left him and behold, angels came and began to serve him.
So, for guidance, it's not always gonna be an easy path. When you're praying for God's will for your life, it may take you into places where you're tempted but he is with you in those places. His word is valid and good and you can resist the devil's temptations. Growth. How many of y'all can testify and say that you have had in your life, in your Christian experience, you've had a time where you had an inclination that the spirit of God was speaking in a still small voice and said, do this and you did it.
How many of y'all could say that? Yeah. Did you grow? Absolutely. You grow in faith by putting it into action.
You grow in faith by listening to the still small voice, it becomes easier and easier to recognize this voice of God as you are obedient to that voice. So for growth, John 15. John 15, the upper room discourse on the same night that he was betrayed before he instituted the Lord's Supper. He had a long discourse. John includes four full chapters of what he said and this is central.
Remain in me or abide in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches, the one who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.
What are we trying to improve by prayer and meditation? Our conscious contact with God. We wanna consciously be available of his his his, vineship and our branch ship. We wanna be connected to him closer. If anyone does not remain in me, he's thrown away like a branch, he dries up, and they gather them, and they throw them in the fire to be burned.
But if you remain in me, if you stick close and my words remain in you, be asking whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this. God receives glory, God Almighty receives glory when we are walking in obedience and we receive growth and fruit. My father is glorified by this that you bear much fruit and you sow in this way prove to be my disciples. Just as the father has loved me, I also have loved you.
Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you'll remain in my love. That's the will for my life and the power to carry it out. He's given you the power to carry it out. You can walk in victory.
That might seem daunting especially if we just consider, well, I'm just a sinner. I'm just a sinner. No, you're not just a sinner. You're a sinner that's been saved by grace. Been empowered by the Holy Spirit is guided by him and empowered to do the will of God the father.
If you keep my commandments, you'll remain in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and I remain in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. In the end of the big book, so the big book is a big book. The big book of Alcoholic Anonymous is a pretty good sized text. And in the front part of it, it's like a little bit of history of how this went, and then the 12 steps, and maybe 12 traditions show up here and there.
But at the end, there's a lot of testimonials. And so, there's some of them that are hanging around from thirty nine, there's some from the mid fifties, there are some from the early seventies, and there are some from the nineties. So the back part of the big book is a lot of testimonials. And a lot of those testimonials say this, well, I mean, most of us are experienced with 12 step meetings, I'd say most, not maybe maybe not most, a lot of us. All we know of an AA meeting is TV, what they've shown.
Right? I'm Joe, I'm an alcoholic. That's that's all we see. We don't know much more about it than that. What people are surprised by a lot of times is how much joy there is in a group of people that gets together in a church basement that is getting sober together.
There's so much joy there and there's so much life there and then after that, there an after party at the Mexican restaurant. There's plenty of coffee drinking and getting together on the weekends and birthday meetings and all that sort of stuff that there's joy there and that might be surprising but Jesus, it shouldn't be surprising. This is what he says. Walking it out is a joyful place to be. It's making my joy in you and your joy is full.
So, growth, finding joy as your dwelling place is good. Power is next. I have one more thing. This one this one might seem out of place, one more little thing. You all know how fond I am of using the you worry about yourself video from the internet.
The little girl in her car seat, she's like, you worry about yourself. You know, your dad's trying to help her get into the car seat. She's like, you worry about yourself. Step 11 is praying only for the knowledge of his will for me and the power to carry it out. Do you remember in John's gospel?
In John's gospel, restoration of Peter and Peter is walking with Jesus and John is kind of following close behind him. Peter's restored. He's going to be the guy that is very very prominent in the first part of Acts and the growth of the of the movement, you know, and the movement of the way. This is Peter turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. Isn't that great?
John refers to himself that way. Peter turned around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, following them. The one who had also leaned back on Jesus' bosom at supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? So Peter seeing John says to Jesus, Lord, what about this guy? And Jesus said to him, sounds kind of sassy, honestly.
Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain until I come back, what's that to you, Peter? You follow me. Don't that sound sassy? It's you worry about yourself. That's exactly what it is.
He's saying, John's path is John's path. He and Jesus knew he's gonna grow old, exiled, you know. He knew how Peter would go. It follows this little hint of how Peter would meet his death. Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain until I come, what's that to you, Peter?
You just follow me. I I think that the individual response is really important. So this praying only for knowledge of his will for me and the power to carry that out. I don't have to worry about everybody else and this is from Peter. That's why I put it right there.
First Peter, and you can look at the first three chapters of first Peter to see what the therefore is therefore. Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, y'all be arming yourselves with the same purpose. He had a redemptive purpose for his suffering in the flesh. Y'all be arming yourselves with the same purpose because the one who suffered in the flesh and it is suffering to come off of something that you've been relying on. It is some kind of suffering to step away from your own sin.
It is some suffer. There's some suffer. There are DTs. There's withdrawals. There are other things that we can see very readily in alcohol or poison.
The one who has suffered from the flesh has ceased from sin and I can hear people going, I don't understand that. Theologically, that doesn't make any sense. Just because you suffer doesn't mean you quit, sin it. No, it doesn't but can you see that Jesus suffering was redemptive and our suffering when we're coming away from it and we're going towards what God wants for us is gonna cause us sometimes to suffer. The one who has suffered in the flesh has made an end to that sin.
So as to live for the rest of time in the flesh, no longer for human lust, but for the will of God. What are we praying for? We're praying for God's will and the power to carry that out. For the time already past is sufficient for all of y'all to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of indecent behavior and lusts and drunkenness and carousing and drinking parties and wanton idolatries. In all of this, those folks you used to run with are surprised that you don't run with them anymore.
In the same excesses of debauchery and they may even say ugly stuff about you and is that suffering? It is. To hear your friends say, I don't know. I don't know about that guy anymore. But they will all give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
We all will. For the good news, the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are and I added the word now. Okay. Now, in italics, dead. I don't want you to get confused.
There's a lot of heresy around this verse that says that he preached to the spirits that were in hell and different religion, different cults use that a lot. But considering that the good news of God's gospel has been presented from old. The gospel has been for this purpose has been preached even to those who are now dead that though they are judged in the flesh as people, they may live according to the spirit, according to the will of God. Oops, sorry. The end of all things is near.
Therefore, be of sound judgment and be sober. Spirit was added. Be of sober spirit. It's a good translation, I guess, but it's spirit's not there in the Greek. The end of all things is near.
Therefore, be of sound judgment and be sober for the purpose of prayer and above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. There is power in being together and being humble before God together. So, that's prayer, guidance, growth, and power. So, practically speaking, what does it look like, Ray? You've shared four different sermons in this sermon.
Four different very distinct passages from different places but practically speaking, application, I need to know some application. I'm still gonna go to scripture for it, but what does it look like? The eleventh step for recovery often really emphasizes self examination and then good time to do that, excuse me, is at the end of the day. At the end of the day, in the evening, before you retire, examine your day. Practically speaking, this is what it looks like.
Look back and see, is there anything that I I don't know that I need to confess? And the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he's committed sins, they will be forgiven him. The forgiveness of sins is really really important. When we look back and we see first John one nine is also coming right here. When we look back and we see and then we recognize, oh yeah, I shouldn't have said that.
I felt very confident at the time that what I was saying was the truth but it really had no love in it at all. It was mean, mean spirited, and hurtful and God says, yep, and you're forgiven for it. Here it is. If we walk in the light, you might look back on your day and say, God, I saw some victory today and I give that glory and that credit to you. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another.
Nothing is tearing down our unity. And the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all of our sin. And if we say that we don't have sin, we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we're confessing our sins, he's faithful and he's righteous, just so that he will forgive us of our sins, he'll cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a promise that is.
If we're humbly examining self and agreeing with God, he is cleansing us. Now, that's the evening time which is a recommendation that is made in almost all recovery situations, and then in the morning, in the morning, there were probably 70 different scriptures I thought of especially from the Psalms where David wakes up in the morning or somebody wakes up in the morning and says, as my lungs fill with air, I'll breathe out praises to you. In the morning, upon awakening, begin it with prayer and meditation. It helps prayer and meditation on scripture. I remember being sent to a Christian camp when I was little, you know, summer camp.
It's a week long. We were told there are probably a 150 of us there. We were told, alright, you need to go out into the woods at 07:00 in the morning and you need to get out there until you can't see anybody else. Is that crazy? A 150 people.
Go out into the woods as far as you can till you can't see anybody else. It was near Dothan, Alabama. That's where this was. And get out there and you're gonna have the next hour to be alone with God with your Bible. Like, oh my goodness.
It's okay. It's quiet time. It it's really is a good time. I can't overemphasize. That need to be legalistic but it if you awake with the thought, let's let's just go to scripture.
Psalm five three, in the morning, you will hear my voice. In the morning, I'll present my prayer to you and I will be on the watch. That helps to speak to God first thing in the morning. It recognizes he's there with you. It recognizes that you're there with him.
You'll hear my voice. I'm praying for you to show me what your will is for my life and you're gonna give me the power to carry it out. You say that you will. In the morning, I'm gonna be present with my prayer and you will be on the watch. James, if you wake up in the morning and you think, golly, I don't know how I'm gonna handle this situation.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Who gives to all generously and without reproaching, it will be given to him. So, if you wake up and say, I just feel stupid, lord. Show me the answer to this problem. I need wisdom in this.
He will give it to you. If you wake up in the morning and said, feel so wise about this. I am wonderful. I'm the man for this job. No doubt about it.
I've got this covered. I can say, probably is not gonna be given a whole lot of wisdom. Just let you fall flat on your face. I don't know. If you if any of you lacks wisdom, you recognize it.
Let him ask God who gives it all generously without approach, reproach and it'll be given to him. And this is the kind of wisdom he gives. James comes up a lot in AA and in recovery circles because there's so much practical wisdom there. It is the gospel, but it's wearing work clothes everyday, work clothes. James three seventeen eighteen says this, but the wisdom that is from above, the wisdom that God gives is first pure.
It is peace loving, it is gentle. What Philippians say, let your gentleness be known to all. It is reasonable, it's full of mercy, it's full of good fruits, it's impartial, it's free of hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make for peace. What is it we're gonna pray and meditate on? Well, second Timothy three sixteen is a good place to start with that.
All scripture, it's inspired by God. It's beneficial for teaching and for rebuke and for correction and for training in righteousness. If you want to be righteous, you've already had them righteousness imputed but if you wanna walk in righteousness, go to scripture with humility so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable and equipped for every good work. Proverbs three, five and six says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Don't lean just on your understanding or don't lean on your own understanding but in all of your ways, be acknowledging him and he will make your path straight.
Okay. The next one, so in the evening before you retire, in the morning when you wake up and then at certain times during the day, it says read helpful books, maybe scripture, maybe other helpful books and take the time to contemplate God. Now, it says times and this is a recommendation. It's not mine. This is not original to me but this the in the evening, in the morning, and at certain times.
For me, y'all know that I like to drive. You know that I like to get behind the windshield of a car because it gives me concentrated time. I don't read books, I do listen to books. It's kind of hard texting while driving. I'm not going to read the lexicon in front of me, but I I will listen to books that are helpful and I'll contemplate the glory of God as I'm riding down the interstate.
If you see a beautiful sunset, oh, that's great. Day after day, creation's pouring forth speech. There's no language where it can't be understood. Take a time, whatever it is and it might be different for y'all. You might have an afternoon break of fifteen minutes on the work that you could do it then.
It might be behind when when you get behind the wheel of a car. It might be some other time but take any regularly occurring time and take time to contemplate God and his goodness and if you do that, you recognize that your God is good and that he's given these gifts and you're thankful, it will improve your conscious contact with God. That's what the goal is. Read helpful books, take time to concentrate on him. Second Timothy two fifteen says, be diligent to present yourself as approved to God as a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed.
You accurately are handling the word of truth. That's what Jesus did when he was tempted by the devil. He was accurately handling it instead of the devil's mishandling it intentionally to throw him off. John eight thirty two and you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ and if the devil is trying to condemn you and you're reading the word and you're feeling condemned by it, Don't let the devil use scripture against you.
You'll know the truth, the truth will set you free. You can answer him mishandling the truth with the actual truth. Humility before God is what it's all about. And then in the times of stress throughout the day, I don't think I have to say this but we're going to have stressful times of day. There are times, there are people, there are places, there are events that get to be stressful for us.
So, in times of stress throughout the day, this is a time for you to practically be looking for prayer meditation, looking for more conscious contact with God. Now, Philippians four in times of stress, everything in prayer and in pleading with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. You're looking for the peace of God. I've already shared this once in the sermon. The peace of God descends when we pray and we cast our cares on him.
Matthew six twenty five and then thirty two thirty three says this, for this reason I say to you, I know you're stressed but don't be worried about your life as to what you'll eat or what you'll drink nor for your body as to what you'll put on. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? We sang about this. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me. Verses thirty two and thirty three say, everybody, all of those outsiders, those even, the Gentiles, eagerly seek all of these things but your heavenly father knows that you need all of these things.
Your job is to seek his will for your life and the power to carry it out. That's what it says. Seek first his kingdom. His kingdom, he's the king. You want to be a willing, humble, and obedient servant.
So seek first the kingdom of God. You want to be subject to what the king says. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these other things will be provided to you. I'm gonna close with this one. Isaiah twenty six three.
Oh, what a great promise this is. In times of stress throughout the day. Now, I know I know I mentioned times of stress. In the first service, I told a quick little a little story. When I was working in seminary as a carpenter on a painting crew, I'd go in and fix the patch the stuff up that was rotten, you know, and there's another fellow that worked with me.
It was also a carpenter and he had he was in seminary too and he had undertaken to memorize a bunch of the imprecatory Psalms. You know what those are? The imprecatory Psalms are the ones David's going, dash their heads against the rocks, oh you Hittite, heathen. You know, it was the it was the kind of the curses for the outsiders, the impregatory Psalms and this fellow, my friend, who was a carpenter and I said, I don't think I've ever heard of anybody memorizing the impregatory Psalms. He said, I had a hard time not cussing when I hit myself with a hammer.
He said, if David said it and it made it in the Bible, I figured I could say, dash your heads against the rocks. So, he would be praying and increasing his conscious contact with God. I like this and I want I want to let this one rest with you for a little while. The steadfast of mind, you get steadfast of mind by prayer and meditation, okay? The steadfast of mind, you will keep, Lord, in perfect peace because he trusts in you.
Lord God, we are saying together collectively that we don't know it all and we want your wisdom. Lord, I am saying, I don't know what to say. Week to week, I don't know what to say. I don't have anything if you don't show up. So, God, would you show up for us daily?
Would you show up in the next step that we're supposed to take? For the things that we can change, lord, would you give us the courage to change and for the things that we can't change, lord, would you give us the serenity to be alright knowing that you can make a difference and you will and lord, would you give us the wisdom to know the difference between those two? May we, lord, seek to be understanding others more than we seek to be understood. May we be an instrument of your peace. May our hearts and minds be stayed on you in prayer and meditation so that we'd be able to see what it is that you want for us to do.
We'd be able to recognize that you are the power by which we carried out and may we, lord, come together to praise, honor, glorify you, and help one another. In Jesus name, amen. Would you stand with me? Thank you, Connor. Praise God.
Would you stand with me and we're gonna sing Cleanse Me. The progression of this song is really helpful. I think it's really helpful in the series. Judy picking the song, she always comes up with good ones. Search me, oh God, and know my heart today.
Amen.
Speaker 2Search me, oh God, and know my heart today. Try me, oh, savior. Know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me. Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.
I praise you, Lord, for cleansing me from sin. Fulfill thy word and make me pure within. Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame. Grant my desire to magnify your name. Lord, take my life and make it holy, thine.
Fill my poor heart with thy great love, divine. Take all my will, the need for blessings now, oh Lord, I humbly
Speaker 1plead. Amen. And as a benediction, let's go back to that from first from Philippians four. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's anything that's excellent and there is. If there's anything that's worthy of praise, be meditating on these things and as for the things that you've learned and you've received and you've heard and seen in Paul, in Peter, in Jesus, in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.
We have that confidence. In Jesus name, may we be carriers of that peace. Amen. Amen.
