Search Me and Know My Heart

July 21, 2024 · 12 Steps

Series · 12 Steps · Week 1 of 4

Scripture referenced 11 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Psalm 16 quoted as 'you make known to me the path of life' and 'you fill me with joy in your presence'

1 Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.
2 My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.
5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.
7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.
8 I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

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Ephesians 2:10

referenced as 'Ephesians 10' describing we are God's workmanship created in Christ for good works prepared beforehand

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

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Psalm 86

quoted as 'you, Lord, you are forgiving and you are good, you're abounding in steadfast love to all who would call on you'

1 Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.

3 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.

6 Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me.

8 There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your deeds.

9 All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.

10 For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.

11 Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.

12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forever more.

13 For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14 God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.

15 But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your servant.

17 Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.

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John 16

upper room discourse describing the Holy Spirit's role to convict of sin, convince of God's righteousness, and illumine his word

1 “I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

4 But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

6 But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

9 about sin, because they don’t believe in me;

10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;

11 about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12 “I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

13 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

14 He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

15 All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.

16 A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”

17 Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’ and, ‘Because I go to the Father’?”

18 They said therefore, “What is this that he says, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what he is saying.”

19 Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

20 Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

21 A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.

22 Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23 “In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

24 Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you,

27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

28 I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

29 His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figures of speech.

30 Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”

31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

32 Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33 I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

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Galatians 5

fruit of the Spirit listed as the way we were designed to run, followed by works of the flesh vice list

1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2 Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.

3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

7 You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

9 A little yeast grows through the whole lump.

10 I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

11 But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.

12 I wish that those who disturb you would cut themselves off.

13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,

20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,

21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,

23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.

26 Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

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Romans 1

referenced as saying persistent sin leads to being turned over to it, searing the conscience

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

2 which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

3 concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh,

4 who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

5 through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name’s sake;

6 among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;

7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

10 requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.

11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;

12 that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13 Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

14 I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

15 So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

17 For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.

21 Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves;

25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

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Psalm 51

cited as one of David's psalms written after recognizing his sin

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.

4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

5 Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

11 Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.

16 For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

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Psalm 139

cited as one of David's psalms written after recognizing his sin, and closing hymn based on verse 23

1 Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.

2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.

6 This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night”;

12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

15 My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!

18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.

21 Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

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Psalm 139:23

quoted directly as 'search me, oh God, and know my heart' in the closing song

23 Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

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James 4:17

quoted as 'to know to do right and not do it is sin'

17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

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Ephesians 1:19-20

quoted as describing the incredible greatness of God's power that raised Christ from the dead living in believers

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This message was the third in a summer series on the 12 Steps, working through steps one through four. Pastor Carl used a roadside breakdown in Wyoming to frame the idea that some problems genuinely cannot be fixed by sheer determination, and that honest diagnosis has to come before any real repair. The bulk of the sermon focused on step four: making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

What was said

Pastor Carl opened by recapping the ground already covered. Step one is admitting that a problem exists and that life has become unmanageable. Step two is coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves, God, could restore us to sanity. Step three is making the decision to turn our will and our lives over to God's care. He tied all three steps to John 16, where Jesus describes the Holy Spirit's role as convicting of sin, convincing of God's righteousness, and illuminating His word.

The roadside story ran through this section as a sustained illustration. A man had thrown the serpentine belt on a 2000 Cherokee, had a replacement ready, and was determined to drive on to Casper. Pastor Carl stopped to help, and they discovered the water pump shaft was broken, meaning the new belt would be shredded within a mile and could have destroyed the engine block. The point was plain: you can have good tools, a good replacement part, and a reasonable diagnosis, and still have a problem that is genuinely beyond you. Admitting that is step one, and skipping it makes everything worse.

On step three, Pastor Carl was direct about what turning your will over to God sounds like. He said it sounds a great deal like salvation itself, the moment when a person stops trusting their own resources and hands the thing over. He acknowledged that the phrase "as we understood him" is a statement of humility, not a loophole, because claiming to know exactly how God will act is its own kind of pride.

Step four is where the pace slows. A searching and fearless moral inventory is pointed inward, not outward. Pastor Carl used the story of David and Nathan to show how easily a person can identify sin in a story and miss it entirely in their own life. Nathan's parable about the sheep forced David to name what he had done, and David's response, recorded across several Psalms, moves quickly from recognition to confession to trust. Pastor Carl said David essentially does steps four and five inside two verses, which he finds remarkable.

The bulk of the remaining time was spent reading through the vice lists from the New Testament, drawn from Galatians, Corinthians, and several other letters. Pastor Carl read them slowly and without commentary on most entries, letting the list do the work. He noted that some entries cluster together, that some appear more than once across different lists, and that repetition in scripture is a signal to take something seriously. He was careful to say the lists are representative, not exhaustive, and that the Holy Spirit may convict a person of things beyond what appears there.

He closed by framing step four not as an ending but as preparation. The reason to stack up an honest inventory is so that it can be handed over. Step five is confession to God and to at least one other person, and Pastor Carl said the people he talks with in recovery almost always find step four the hardest, precisely because they are not yet sure God can handle what they are about to show Him. The hymn "Search Me, O God" and the closing song "Same Power" were both chosen to hold that tension, the willingness to be seen and the confidence that what is found can be healed.

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 Carl used the broken-down Jeep Cherokee as a picture of what it looks like when life becomes unmanageable. What does it feel like when multiple things in your life start falling apart at once, and what is your first instinct in those moments?
Pastor Carl said that a seared conscience can develop when we keep persisting in sin until the Holy Spirit's still small voice gets drowned out. Have you ever noticed that happening in your own life, and what brought you back to paying attention?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Speaker 2Good morning, everybody. Very good to see you this morning. Would you stand? I would love to sing together. I'd love to sing the Lord's Prayer together.

You've heard it in scripture, but I'd love to sing it. Father, let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven right here in our hearts. Lord, we make it our prayer and our song. Amen.

Speaker 1Alright. Let's see what the announcements are together. The doo dad's not working at the moment. Y'all can still hear me though. Right?

There it goes. Here we go. One, first announcement. Their church camp out was going on this weekend, last night. And it was great to just be sitting around the campfire and eating, you know, junk together.

They had great stuff, I'm sure. I just got there for the junk. But that was a lot of fun. It's happening again. They've they've found a great spot on Palisades, and I think it's the same spot they plan on going to next time.

Nice and flat and open and lots and lots and lots of people can be together. So if you wanna go down next time, Brian McCooey, Mike Demetrius are still the guys to talk to, but there are a lot of other people who were on the trip that can give you a little more information. That was a lot of fun. So first b b q is happening. August 18 is the next one.

That is when we get together out here on the green space between services, and that's a fun time. Food game, games fun fellowship, and it's great. Sunday school classes, third through fifth grade Sunday school class. We're giving a break to the teachers and allowing the kids to just kinda hang out up here. So third through fifth grade is not meeting throughout the summer.

But if they want to go downstairs, miss Crystal said, they can come down with the first and second graders, kindergarten first and second graders, but that's that. Middle school and high school Sunday school does still meet during this service down in the library. And next week, this is a big one. So next week, we are doing church under the big top at the Teton County Fair. It is that way, but you're welcome to park here.

Parking is limited in both places, but if you wanna park here and walk over, it's down there. And you can look for the big top. That's where we're gonna be. The Lions Club does a breakfast immediately beforehand, and then we just kinda come in while they're still going really. And we get kinda set up, and we'll eventually get the music going.

It's a fun time. I think we've done this for, what, eight seven or eight, nine years, something like that. It's a good time, but church will not meet here that day. We'll meet one service only. It'll be at 10:00 under the big top at the Teton County Fair.

Is there anything else, Jeff? Alright. Well, I stand amazed. Why don't y'all stand with me?

Speaker 3Into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can.

Speaker 2So from Psalm 16, right in line with this song, it's you make known to me the path of life. Consider that for a moment. Right? Life is messy. It's complex.

It can be complicated. But yet, God makes known to us the path of life. But even more so, it's you fill me with joy in your presence. And we can be filled with God's joy. We can recognize his grace.

That's what joy is. It's the recognition of God's grace to us. We can experience joy even in suffering and pain and through sorrow. We can. It's available to us in Christ.

So you fill me with joy in your presence and the pleasure of living with you forever. It's not just it's not just life eternal with with Christ. It is life now abundant in full. Amen? Amen.

Amen. And then another another verse. It is, how about Ephesians 10 for this song? It's we are God's workmanship. We're his workmanship, and we're created in Christ for good works.

And even more than that, it's the works that God prepared beforehand. Beforehand, He knew the works that he would want to accomplish through us. The work that's most important is the work of Christ. We know that. Yes, church?

Speaker 1Yes.

Speaker 2But once we are in Christ, there is work to be done. There's work to be done. And God is preparing in advance that work that we should walk in it. You can have a seat here for a moment. And I'd like the ushers to come on forward, and we're gonna sing a a song, another song.

And there's a song that I feel like goes along with it. Psalm 86, it says, you, Lord, you are forgiving and you are good. You're abounding in steadfast love to all who would call on you. God, that we would call on you. Before we sing, Ray, may ask you to pray?

Speaker 1Yep. Lord, thank you. Stand before you amazed as the song says, so grateful, Lord, for all that you have given. Thankful for the blessings of the week. I thank you for the way that you are moving in the midst of the difficulty of the week.

Lord, that you are ever present with us, ever present help in time of trouble, Lord, that we can pray and just be right with you, listening to hear for your direction. Lord, I pray that you would show who we are. I started to say show who you are, Lord, but you are showing who you are. Day after day, creation pours forth speech. Night after night, there's no language where you can't be heard, Lord.

I pray that we would humble ourselves before that, listen to what it is you're saying, and that we would just like Carl said, that we'd walk in the steps that you've prepared for us. Lord, would you take this which were given back that you've already given to us. We recognize you as the giver of every good and perfect gift. Lord, you we trust you. We trust you to do what you will with it.

May your gospel advance because of what's happening here and not in spite of it, Lord. You are the supreme mover, but you've chosen to use us. This is plan a. Would you use these humble and obedient servants? Would you use these these offerings placed in these plates to do what you want to have done here, your will, Lord, in your way, starting from this place and going to the very uttermost parts.

It's in Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this operatory. Amen. Amen. And it's time for children's church downstairs, k through second grade for sure. Middle school and high school.

Oh, how are y'all? Everybody alright? Yeah. Are there any groggy ones that made it up from the campfire? Actually, the sound booth got it.

Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty good. He was here when I got here. Well, here we are.

I have this week gotten up to what what we're going over these past few weeks, past three this is the third. Past two weeks is the 12 steps. And it's a little odd if you've been in here before a summer or two ago and you've visited and you thought, wow, he sticks exactly with what it says. I love this. I'm coming back because he's right in there.

I promise you this is all biblical. Okay? I promise you that it is. There's an underpinning for this that's absolutely biblical. But these steps, if they're taken seriously, really work.

And so we have made it through steps one, two, and three, and today we're up to step four. Before we get going, got a story. On the way back from a funeral on Friday, I was riding in my truck and enjoying windshield time because I love it. You know, I've got all my tools with me because I have always driven junk. So I've got my tools with me and I see a guy pulled over on the side of the road.

He's got a 2000 Cherokee. I've had one of those before, worked on one of those a lot actually. And we're riding along, and I'm and I see he's pulled over and he's in a safe spot. And I see he's got a toolbox behind him, so he knows kinda what he's doing. Got a toolbox in front of him, so he's had problems before.

And I thought, well, I'll stop and encourage him if I don't do anything else. So pulled over off the road just before rain. And when I stopped, he said I said, you alright? You need any help? I I he had a dog, so I'm standing back.

You know? It's Wyoming. I have my hands up because I don't wanna get shot. Hey. I'm here.

I come in peace. I've got tools and a little bit of know how. You need any help? And he said, well, it threw the belt, but it didn't shred it. And from mechanic to a mechanic, like, oh, okay.

Alright. Threw the belt, didn't shred it. I'm going through my checklist before I even come around to the front of the car. He's already been through his. He said, I had an extra belt in the car since it threw that one.

I just decided to use the new one to see if it throw that one too. And so he's trying to put it back on. He says, I don't have a diagram anywhere. Well, I actually just put a head on one of these things, what, two months ago, month and a half ago. And so I said, oh, probably have a picture on my phone.

We're out in the middle of somewhere with no service. I found it. By the time I got back to him, he had gotten it home pretty close to right, and he was trying to get it in there. He had little hands and he can reach places I can't reach. And he was trying to put the belt on and he got it on there.

And as he said, well, I'll just drive back to I'll just drive over to Casper. We're only forty five minutes from Casper, you know. And I thought, it threw the belt for a reason. Right? You don't just throw belts.

That's that doesn't just happen. You you have a problem, and you put the new one on and just feel like, okay, let's go. Well, Mikey, what would it be, man? Didn't shred it. Oh, it's power steering pump.

Could lock that up. Oh, it's the air condition. I look around and see all the mechanics in the room, and they're all nod they wanna say amen. I so we go to put it back on, and he's reached down there. He's not a real strong guy.

So he said, I can't get this last little bit over the water pump pulley. And when I put it on the water pump pulley, I felt the water pump pulley was like this. I'm like, oh, it's a broken shaft on the inside of the water pump. So it's not pumping water, and it's not ever gonna do anything because it's in Spanish, we

Speaker 3call it Flojo. Lazy.

Speaker 1It won't hold it. I said, if it does go, it's gonna chew that water pump up and might even eat into the block by the time you get to Casper if you could get it to go. And he couldn't. He'd started it up through the belt immediately. So you gotta you gotta consider that things do break.

Right? They can be actually broken. And you can have some pretty good tools, and you can have some pretty good a pretty good idea of what's wrong and even have a replacement part in this case, and it's still something that you can't fix. The design of the thing, when you lose that belt, you lose the ability to cool the car, you lose the ability to charge the battery, you lose the ability to steer the car comfortably, you lose the ability to do everything. The lights all come on at once and it feels like, woah, this is a catastrophe.

And you have to end up somebody get somebody to pull you back in. You go with the designer of the car, they know the car, right, inside and out. And you replacement part was necessary in this case. Now all analogies break down at some point. But when we have gone through our life and we hit a place where it's just plain difficult and it's touching on everything else in our life.

Right? It's all of our ability to self regulate. Everything becomes unmanageable. We can't keep on going down the road the normal way we go down the road. We gotta consider step one.

I mean, if that guy just said, I'm going anyway, he wouldn't have made it two miles, probably wouldn't made it one mile, and he would have obliterated a whole lot more components and, you know, warped ahead, caused all kinds of problems. Could have been an even he was in a safe space where he was when he admitted he had a problem. But that's good. We admitted we were powerless over a problem that our lives have become unmanageable. This one I talked about two weeks ago.

I talked about this one and the second step. It's important for us to realize it. And if you ask anybody in the building and y'all say it to me all the time, you're asking me, how are you? And the answer is almost busy but good. You know, busy but good.

We're busy. We're busy. I'm too busy. I'm very busy busy busy. There's a lot going on and we're trying to maintain a lot and we're trying to keep up with a lot.

And there might be something that is a nagging like light, a little light on the dashboard that says, you're off here. Oil pressure dangerously low. That's gonna cause a problem if we don't do something about it. We admitted we're powerless over our problem. And I stack this up against Galatians five.

What we are operated, the way we were designed is to run-in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Did you see that picture in early Genesis when Adam and Eve were in the garden together and they had not yet sinned? Was this a picture of Eden? It is. Love, joy, peace, patience, walking with God in the cool of the day.

That's what we were designed to do now. Sin enters in and then the works of the flesh are evident, it says over here. And we've been over those for the past couple weeks. I'm gonna add to that list this week. So I'm gonna add from the vice lists in the New Testament.

Step two, after you know that you have a problem that is a part of you, And it is usually the cause of sin and it can be yours or someone else's that gets it going. But there is a we came to believe that there is a power greater than ourselves. There's a higher power. Greater than ourselves that could restore us to sanity. We admitted the possibility that we don't know everything about this.

That guy on the side the road the other day, he didn't know me. But after I walked up and we did a little bit of the mechanical measuring, you know, where we decide who is who is the better mechanic, suddenly, he he said it's it's this is beyond me. I don't know what's causing it. I wasn't sure. I was pretty sure, but I couldn't do anything to fix it.

I'm not the higher power. I might have been a help for him for a while, but like I said a few weeks ago, we make pitiful saviors. As quickly as we can, we introduce the higher power to the person for for who he is. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. That's good.

I wanna say in that first sermon, the way I started it off was from John 16 from the upper room discourse when Jesus is describing the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. So the well, the role of the Holy Spirit anyway, but the role of the Holy Spirit. And he says that it is to convict of sin, to convince of God's righteousness, and to illumine his word. Those are three of the roles that convict us of our sin, to convince us of his righteousness, and convicting us of our sin. Very likely in the 12 steps, it's usually about addiction recovery.

There's a sin in there. And admitting that that sin is our problem that we can't do anything about is it. Right? Doing that. And then there is a higher power that can restore us to sanity.

God's righteousness. He is almighty and he's able. So if you get step one and step two, that's goes a long way, a long way into these 12 steps of recovery. Step three is, I know I can't do it, is step one. There is a higher power God who can.

So we made a decision to turn our will in our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. And as we understood him, I said last week, is a statement of humility. The humility of just knowing that we are powerless, he is able, and I don't know how he's gonna do it. That's not my business. If I take on myself the prerogative of God and how he would do it, that's actually blasphemy for me to say, I know better than God.

Does that make sense to you? Alright. Y'all are with me up to step three. That's good. We made a decision.

Where do you get saved? This is I had this question last week. Where in this these 12 steps do you get saved? You know what? Admitting you have a problem is a good place.

That goes a long way into getting saved because that's a humbling step to recognize that I can't do this on my own. I reached down for my bootstraps, and I have no bootstraps. Right? Realizing that there is a God, that that's a big step in getting saved. There is a higher power that could restore me to sanity.

If you don't know him or you've got an errant view of him, then that that's that's a hard thing. Because getting to know who God is and how God is, I've said a couple weeks ago, you can do that by reading the gospel of John, get to see Jesus. He is exactly what God looks like in human form, and we understand human form. Think about that. That's why he did it that way, so we can see it.

That's great. But then recognizing that even the disciples were constantly confused by the way Jesus acted, by the way that the things that he said, by the way he underwent things. Step three is the making the decision to turn our will. My will is what got me into this issue and my life to turn it over to him. That sounds like salvation to me.

If it's true, that sounds a lot like salvation to me. In the New Testament, I've said this before for a few of you have heard me say this before. I had a long doctrinal statement I was supposed to write. It's a 240 doctrinal statement. And it was everything you believe about all of these issues and scriptural support for what's why you believe what you believe, all the scriptural support you a 204, not 240.

204 And I got to point number 186. And I have been writing furiously for days. It's time to turn it in soon. And point one eighty six is what is the ordo salutis? What is the order of salvation?

And from the New Testament, I see it go down in several different ways. And I see it happen differently to different people. Now God's the one that's doing it. You know? And you say, well, he doesn't ever act on us.

He knocked Paul off of that horse, didn't he? Paul was going against him when he leaned on him pretty heavy and said, why are you persecuting me? We have others that are investigating like the Ethiopian eunuch in that chariot. Right? We have a lot of different forms.

So on my test, I put musterion. Just being a smart aleck, I wrote it in Greek. Mystery. It's a mystery. I don't know.

Exactly. I see this here. I see this there. I see this here. These are the five different ways I see it in the New Testament.

Any of those are fine. Outside of that, I'm not sure. If you have to take the points, take the points. I was angry. It was point number 186, and it's not clear from scripture what is the order of salvation.

And I got back the paper and I had I would have had a 100 except for that question. He took the points because I didn't answer with any great conviction. And I said it was a mystery. And so I held on to that, and I let it fester in my heart for quite some time. And I ran into that professor the next next semester.

And I said, doctor Hodges, I just gotta say something to you. I said, I wouldn't and plus I had lost when I got to when I got to point like 186 wherever I was. Right before that, I lost a computer file. It went poof, and it was gone, and I had to redo that whole thing. And so by the time I got there, musterion's what came out, and it was probably rage.

And and I said, doctor Hodges, I said, it bothers me. It's been bothering me, and I've held on to it, and I and I don't wanna hold on to it. I wanna be living as much as I can at peace with all, but I've been holding something against you, man. And you took those points, and I wanna know why. He goes, it must have been my grader.

He didn't even read it. And he took the points because I said to. That was a good lesson for me. We made a decision. Let me get back to the sermon.

We made a decision to turn our will in our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. God, we don't know you as intimately as we want to. Lord, I think there are some of us in the room that are scared to get you to get to know you any better than we do. But collectively, as a group of your followers, as plan a for how you're gonna reach the world with your love, and your grace, and your forgiveness, and your mercy, and your kingdom and your service. Lord God almighty, I pray that we would not be afraid, that we would not be afraid, that we would together encourage one another to get to know you better, to be more refined about how we understand you, to be more willing to walk those steps that you have ahead of time, Lord.

I pray that you would show us how we might be used. Amen. So step four is this, we made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. It's right here. So I start with me.

If I start to just leave off the up ourselves, we made a searching and fearless moral inventory, and we're looking pretty good. Right? I think that that's our attitude a lot of times, but this is huge. I've talked to a lot of people in the program and they said, whoo, that fourth step, man, is tough. The fourth step is really really hard because I only wanna see a little bit of what's wrong with me at a time.

Now the other thing is seared consciences. We do eventually, if we persist in sin, it might be that the Holy Spirit's been urging us to stop, but the still small voice is drowned out when we keep on and keep on and keep on and keep on persisting in our sin. And in Romans it says that it eventually gets to a place where we just get turned over to that, and that's a that's a hard place to be. But it's a persistence on our part that gets us there that sears the conscience. I don't wanna be guilty of that.

So making a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself, if I am the relative starting point, then that's difficult because I don't think my sin's all that bad. Yours, that's bad. Oh, that's terrible. I'm glad that I'm not in that position. No.

It starts with us. It has to be it has to be right here. We made a searching. I wanna know Lord. Do you all remember the story of David and Bathsheba?

David's up on a high rooftop, Bathsheba's up on a lower rooftop, and she's bathing and David is watching. And that was wrong. Maybe it was wrong for Bathsheba to be bathing on the rooftop where he could see her. Maybe that was wrong too. But David has to deal with David.

Bathsheba has to deal with Bathsheba. I don't know if you all have heard this. You all ever heard every tub sits on its own bottom? There are like three southerners in here. Every tub sits on its own bottom.

It's like a washtub. Like a washtub, you don't take a washtub that's got a hole in it and put it in another washtub. That washtub with a hole in it does either gotta be fixed or it's useless. Every tub sits on its own bottom. Right?

So we have to deal with our own stuff. We have to hand over our stuff, should say. That's the next step. But we have to recognize our own issues, and that's where this is really important. The pace kind of slows down right here to me because making a searching and fearless moral inventory.

First of all, going back to the other three, I've got a problem that I'm causing my self if I keep on doing what I've been doing, I'm gonna keep on getting what I've been getting. It doesn't change. Definition of insanity. Right? Do the same thing, expect different results.

There is a higher power who can restore me to sanity. God can do this. Now my question at that point is, does he want to? From all I've read in the Old Testament and New Testament, God has a plan and he is a loving and merciful God who resist the proud and gives grace to the humble. And so if we can keep ourselves in a humble place, and it says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

It is a possibility even a command. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. If we can maintain the humility of realizing that we are not right and believe that God can, it says that he will restore us. I'm gonna let him. Step three hits this.

Now where do we go from there? I need to know I'm convinced of my sin at this point and convicted that God could do it. At this the point of turning it over to him, I believe that he will, but he asked me to start right here. Now he's gonna help me by his spirit. The whole process is aided by the spirit of God.

But I like it we can break things down sequentially and the fourth step is a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. It's pointed back to me. David Bathsheba, back to that. After David sins with Bathsheba and covers it up with a murder and a bunch of lies. There is a guy.

There's a we up here. It helps to do this in community. It helps to have accountability. David and Nathan are having a conversation, and Nathan's like, oh,

Speaker 3he's the king.

Speaker 1I know he's my friend, but he's the king. He is not gonna like this message. David was just rocking right on along until Nathan helped him see it. Okay? And David helped him see it.

I mean, Nathan helped him see it. Hey, there's this guy. He has a bunch of sheep and then this other guy, only had one little sheep. What what should happen to this guy since this guy with one little sheep kinda got taken over by the guy's a bunch of sheep. Oh, let's just kill that man.

It's alright. David's really, he knows righteousness. He just wasn't able to see it in his own case. Imagine Nathan saying, hey, man. You're that man.

And when that happened, he went into a mode of having recognized his sin and openly so and fallen on his face before God and we've got several Psalms, right? Psalm 51 is one. Psalm one thirty nine, we've got a lot of places where David hid it and was immediately he saw that in himself and he had to do something with it. Hand it over to God. He he does step four and five in this in the turnaround of two verses, which I love.

He recognizes and he trusts God. You might not feel that you're in a place where you yet are trusting God with all of your stuff because you feel like there's too much and you feel like he can't do this. He can, and he's asking you to. Now one of the things I say in the program a lot is first things first. If one of your sins is causing you to sin in a lot of other different ways, and I'll use one that they use often in the big book, is if drinking to excess drunkenness leads you to a place where you are lascivious and you start to chase after other people that are not your wife or your husband.

If it starts causing you to say things that you wouldn't normally say because the inhibition is gone, Then there are several sins that stem from it. But first things first, if you can handle the booze first, then you can clarify. Making a searching and fearless moral inventory in some ways is a prioritization of the things. It's a it's a triage situation where we're we're gonna find out where the worst bleeding is and we're stopping that bleeding first. And then we check the airway.

We do everything else. Right? I've got lots of crazy metaphors in this. Are they making sense? Is this making sense?

Okay. These are from the vice lists in the New Testament. I know they're small. I'm gonna read them slowly. We've got seven minutes left.

Aided by the Holy Spirit, like I said, we all like David might have sin in our life that we are conscious of and trying to cover up, but not yet willing to give over to God. That's mine. He made me this way. I'm gonna hold on to that. Okay?

That's that's one that we we might want to hold on to. I'll send you the slides if you want them, these pictures from right here. So I'm gonna just read them slowly and they are in English. I think they're easy to understand. If there's one that I hit that think Greek would help, I'd change over and do that whole thing.

But I think I think it's pretty I think they're pretty easy to understand. First list is right there. I've used it for the last couple of weeks. It's in Galatians. Sexual impurity, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, and an overwhelming focus on the things that we can taste, see, feel, touch, smell, sensuality, idolatry, putting anything in the place of God, sorcery, trying to get what we want out of manipulating the spiritual or astronomical realm.

Enmity, being at odds with other human beings, having enemies is enmity. Strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions. Do you notice how close together some of these are in their theme like like the rivalries and dissensions and divisions all kinda go together there. Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Starting another list from Corinthians, sexual immorality, adultery, homosexual activity.

That's what it says. That one is one that is very difficult in our time, and it's very difficult for the person experiencing it under the conviction of Christ. It is very difficult, yet it is on the list. Idolatry, putting anything before God. Thievery, stealing.

Greed, drunkenness, reviling, reviling. That we see examples when Jesus was on the middle cross and it says those two thieves, bandits, whatever you want to call them, the insurrectionist, rowdy guys. It says, while they were on the ground and he's being nailed to the cross, it says both of them were reviling him. Reviling, taunting, mocking, hating, reviling. Swindling.

Oh, watch out for swindling. Scams are another way of swim swindling, phishing scams and that sort of thing. So many have lost so much by not recognizing it. And then again, swindling is something that is a possibility that we also might do. We might not just be the victim of, we might actually get ourselves into the position where we have begun to swindle other people.

God forgive us if that's the case. Right? Since we're looking at it moral fearless and searching moral inventories, not just that they might do it, it's that I might do it. Lying. Oh, an ever present help in time of trouble.

Nobody got that. Lying, just not telling the truth. God is the ever present help in time of trouble. Lying is not. Evil talking, fornication, vulgar talk, empty words, disobedience.

Oh my goodness. If God urges upon you, this is the next step. James says, to know to do right and not do it is sin. Right? So wow.

God help me. Disobedience, anger. It is possible to be angry and sin not. Stewing and festering anger, feeding your own anger is a problem though. Wrath, malice, slander, speaking evil of other people, malice, wishing them ill, abusive language, quenching the spirit, despising the words of the prophets, self indulgence, being double tongued, out of both sides of your mouth, conceited.

Oh, here's one for the times, filled with a morbid craving for controversy. To be filled with a morbid craving for controversy. An eagerness to be rich, overtaken with stupid and senseless controversies. Those are two different lists, it said twice, you gotta take it seriously. Right?

If it said once, we ought to take it seriously. Quarrelsome, wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness. I had a buddy that I worked as a handyman with. I worked as a handyman with him because he had formerly been working as a salesman and his boss had a huge Christian fish on the side of his business. And this guy worked for him for a while and his boss came in and said, you're not doing very well, Chip.

And Chip said, well, I'm trying to do the best I can by the customer. He said, yeah, that's the problem. You work for me. If you're gonna keep on doing this job, you need to be more crafty. And he said, crafty?

Crafty. So he went home and he literally looked it up in his concordance on his Bible and was like, looking crafty doesn't sound good to me. And it was in this list and he said, I gotta quit this job. Right. Yeah.

You wanna help build such and such? Yeah. Craftiness. Figuring out how you can get in there and do that. Gossip.

It's on the same list with all those other bad ones that those other people do. Slander, God haters, insolent, haughty, there's pride, boastful, there's pride, Inventors of new ways to do evil. Rebellious toward parents. Foolish. Foolish is on the list.

It's a vice. I think that there's an difference between ignorance and foolishness. Right? Not knowing is kind of ignorant, but being foolish is just knowing and still doing it anyway. Being faithless, being heartless, being ruthless, lovers of themselves, putting themselves first.

Lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parent shows up again, ungrateful. I said last week, studies are proven now and you're hearing it a lot more now in brain science studies, but you've been seated in the page of scripture for thousands of years that you cannot be grateful and anxious at the same time. To step back and look and count your blessings and think about how can I be grateful in the midst of this situation is very helpful? To be unholy, to be inhuman, to be implacable. I need an English dictionary for that one.

Slander, profligates, brutes, haters of the good, to be treacherous, to be reckless, to be swollen up with conceit, pride keeps on showing up, To be lovers of pleasure or to be hypocritical. So I figured that we would just go through the New Testament list. These are representative list. I don't think they're exhaustive. There might be other things that the spirit of God convicts you about, but he most often begins in the pages of his word.

And if you didn't know where these were or you weren't really sure where to look for them, these are the list from the New Testament of vices. And this is a good place as a grid when you start your fearless and searching moral inventory. Literally, you might take that list and go, God, thank you that that's not my issue. I cannot imagine that being my issue. Instead of saying to them, look at yourself and go, God, thank you that that that you've placed a strong conviction on my heart to be truthful and not lie.

That line, it would be a terrible thing if I were a liar. God, how can I help somebody that's struggling in that area? Right? Do you see what I'm saying? So think this is a good place to start.

I don't have any more slides that I remember. Let's see. No more slides? Okay. I'm gonna go back now, and we'll sing a song at the end.

I'm gonna check my paper notes. The next step is to turn over whatever you find in your fearless and searching moral inventory to turn it over to God, to confess it to God and the steps say, and one other person because it really helps. It really helps to have at least one other person. Accountability groups help tremendously because if you're struggling with the same thing, you probably are having the same experiences and you can help each other to get out of it in a similar way. Told you about the Jeep.

James. Yep. Would you all mind if I sing a song if it's in the hymn book? We'll sing same power together, but I want you to track with and if you would if you know the song, you can sing along. It's called search me or cleanse me depending on your hymnal.

Actually, maybe we'll just close with this. Is that alright, Carl? Okay. You don't have to stand. You can just sit if you'd like.

I realized that this one's been heavy. This is with people that are going through the program. Usually where I get the most visits is right here where they go, I can't stand to look at myself. And I said, but step 5 is right around the corner. You're gonna hand all this over to God.

Every bit the whole reason for stacking this stuff up in this little pile is so that you can give it to him. And with that said, this song kinda says that really well. So here we go. Psalm one thirty nine twenty three, David says, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Search

Speaker 3me, 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

Speaker 1set me free. That's steps four and five. Search me and know my heart. Let me know what it is. See if there's any wickedness in me.

You've given me a good grid Lord. I want to be clean. Cleanse me from every sin and set me free. That's the

Speaker 3first verse. After that, I praise the 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 thy name.

That is possible when you turn it over to God. He will do the work. He is the higher power. Lord, take my life and make it holy thine. Fill my poor heart with thy great love divine.

Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride. I now surrender lord in me. Abide. And on the last verse it says this, oh holy ghost revival comes from thee. Send a revival, start the work in me.

Thy word declares, Thou will supply our need for blessings now, oh Lord, I humbly plead. Amen.

Speaker 1I changed my mind again, Carl. Will the band come up? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is what gets this to happen. Would you stand with us and we'll sing together?

Speaker 3To wait lives in us, lives in us. The same power that moves mountains when he speaks. Same power that can conquer agency lives in us.

Speaker 1Amen. And from Ephesians one nineteen and twenty, I also pray that you'll understand the incredible greatness of God's power for those who believe. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. And think about this, as you consider, he died for your sins and you're looking for them. You want to see them.

He is interceding for you right now. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to search. In Jesus name, I pray Lord that you would bring it up so that you can take it and heal us. Amen.

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12 Steps Addiction Recovery Confession Moral Inventory Self-Examination Sin Awareness

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