Turn Over Your Will

In one paragraph

Pastor Carl walked the congregation through Step Three of the 12 Steps alongside 1 Thessalonians 5, showing how the decision to surrender your will to God's will sits at the heart of both recovery and the Christian life. He connected this to a week of extraordinary pastoral weight, including five deaths, three weddings, a premature birth, and the news of the attempted assassination, all of which...

Read together

1. Psalm 72 Opening worship reading: 'blessed be his glorious name forever, let the whole earth be filled with his glory'
2. 1 Thessalonians 5 Main text for the sermon, covering the will of God, alertness, encouragement, rejoicing, and prayer
3. 1 Thessalonians 4 Mentioned briefly as additional context in Thessalonians, not preached directly
4. 1 Peter 5:6-11 Referenced in connection with humbling yourself under God's hand and resisting the devil; also noted as the current men's Bible study passage
5. Galatians 5:19 The works of the flesh listed as a vice list alongside the fruit of the Spirit
6. Romans 8 Referenced briefly as 'you are more than conquerors through Christ,' noted as from last week's reading
7. Hebrews 13:17 Quoted in context of recognizing leaders: 'obey your leaders and submit to those in authority because they give account for your souls'
8. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 The first Bible verse Pastor Carl's daughter learned: 'encourage one another and build each other up'
9. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 Used as the benediction: 'may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely'
10. Acts 1 Referenced to show God's people using lots to replace Judas, before the Holy Spirit came
11. Acts 2 The coming of the Holy Spirit, after which random chance was no longer used

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl talked about step one being the admission that our lives have become unmanageable, and said 'before you get somebody saved, you gotta get them lost.' Where in your own life have you had to reach that point of admitting you were powerless before anything changed?
2. Step three is described as a decision to turn your will over to God's care, and Pastor Carl said the phrase 'as we understood him' is a statement of humility, meaning 'I don't know God as well as I thought I did.' In what ways has your understanding of who God is shifted or grown over time, and how has that affected how you live?
3. Pastor Carl read from 1 Thessalonians 5 that in everything we are to give thanks, and he shared the story of a young woman who received devastating news at a wedding and said she was thankful she heard it there rather than somewhere else. What is the difference, in your experience, between giving thanks for everything and giving thanks in everything?
4. The sermon touched on the list of works of the flesh in Galatians, and Pastor Carl said it is easy to spot these things in other people but harder to own them ourselves. Which item on that list do you find easiest to excuse in yourself, and why?
5. Pastor Carl described his own men's Bible study and the church community as places where people encourage one another and build each other up, and he said doing the 12 steps in community made all the difference. What has it looked like in your own life when someone came alongside you at a hard moment, and how did that change things?