Sunday July 6, 2008

WHERE TO GET HELP WHEN YOU HURT
The Road to Recovery – Part 2
Hebrews 11:1-6

Original message by Rick Warren/modified by Kelly Cohoe

I. Introduction

Recently we have heard a lot about flooding. The great floods in the Midwest and this last year in Vernonia caused untold damage and heartache. Well, one year there was a major flood that occurred in Orange County, California. There was a gentleman named Glenn whose home was severely impacted by the floods. The Orange County Register sent a reporter
out there and he found Joann, Glenn’s wife, sitting on the roof as things were floating by. He climbed up on the roof and
the first thing he saw was a chicken coop floating by. Then he saw a horse followed by VW bug floating by. After a few minutes he saw a hat float by, but after it got about twenty feet past the house the hat started floating back upstream. Then when it got about twenty feet on the other side of the house it started floating back down again. He watched this seven or eight times and finally he said to Glenn’s wife, “Do you have any idea why the hat is doing that?” Joann answered, “That’s just my husband, Glenn. He said he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water.”

This may sound crazy, but many of us are doing the same thing – we are focusing on the lawn, while the home is
floating downstream.

Last week we discussed that all of us need recovery because none of us are perfect. The world is imperfect, we all have been hurt, we all have hang-ups, and we all have habits we’d like to change. Everybody needs recovery.

I also mentioned that the root cause of all this is our desire is to be God. We want to control things. The more insecure we are, the more we want to control: our life, other people’s lives, our environment—we want to be God.

But when we try to control everything it leads to fatigue, frustration, and failure.

How do you break out of this?

We have to get past denial. Denial is what keeps us from moving into recovery. We excuse ourselves: “It’s no problem,
I can handle it.” We excuse ourselves and we accuse others: “If my wife would just get her act together then our marriage would be just fine.”

What’s the antidote to denial? What makes us finally face up to our problems?

God’s antidote for denial is pain. We rarely change when we see the light. We change when we feel the heat. We don’t change until our fear of change is exceeded by the pain.

Most people never really move into recovery until they’re forced to move into it, because there is no other option.

God uses crises, I changed this to crises (plural) to fit with the next two words – I mention it here just to make sure you
say it the way it shows up on the power point confrontations, and catastrophes to get your attention, to force you to move into recovery from things that have messed up your life.

I wish it was not necessary for God to allow these painful experiences into your life, but He loves you so much that He
will if that is what takes to get you past your denial and to deal honestly with your pain.

Last week I spoke about the first step in recovery: Realize I am not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my
tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

That is the first step, the reality step.

II. The Second Step – Earnestly Believe

The second step is the hope step. Step 1 says, “I admit it. I’m helpless. I’m powerless.” Step 2 says, “There is power
you can plug into to handle things that you can’t handle on your own.”

The Second step in Recovery begins with the letter “E” – Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and
that He has the power to help me recover.

This step is based on Hebrews 11:6—“Anyone who comes to God, must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

There are three parts to taking Step 2 in this road to recovery.

A. Acknowledge God’s Existence

Most of you have no problem with this. There aren’t that many atheists left anymore. George Gallup did a survey that said 96% of the people in America say, “I believe in God”; less than 2% of the people say, “I’m an atheist.”

It seems that the more scientific discoveries we make and the more we find out about this universe, the fewer people there are who are willing to stick their neck out and say, “I believe it all just happened by random accident.”

In fact, today it takes more faith not to believe in a Creator than it does to believe in one.

I could take a watch completely apart, put it in a paper bag and shake it up, and if it all just came out exactly as a watch,
the odds would be pretty incredible. But the world is full of watches. And if you multiply that a zillion times – you get the odds of it all just happening by accident.

Where there is a Creation there should be a Creator.

“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20, NIV)

The point is: we need to acknowledge that God exists and that He changes lives today.

The real issue for most is not whether God exists or not. That’s a given for most people.

The real issue is: What kind of God is He? What is He really like? Does it matter? The problem is that we have some very strange ideas about what God is like.

We often take what are parents were like and place their characteristics on God. If our parents were aloof then we think
of God as being aloof. If they were abusive, then we are afraid that God will also take advantage of us.

As we grow up we tend to recreate God into someone we are comfortable with. What is wrong with this? Instead of
God making us in His image, we make God in our image.

B. Understand God’s Character

The second step in this recovery is not just to acknowledge His existence, but to understand His character. What is
He really like?

Until I know what God is really like, I can’t trust Him.

Fortunately, God wants us to know about what He’s like. So He came to earth in human form as Jesus Christ. And
Jesus said, “This is what God is like.”

Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining
all things by his powerful word.” (NIV)

If you want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus, because He’s the visible expression of the invisible God.

We also learn what God is like as we read and study the Scriptures.

In the Bible we learn a whole lot about God and there are three things (among thousands) we can learn about God that
will help us get over our habits, hurts, and hang-ups:

1. God knows all about your situation.

Psalms 56:8 says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (NLT)

Isn’t that incredible? The Bible says that God knows you up-close and personal. He’s kept a record of your tears.

“Nobody knows the hell I’m going through in this marriage.” You’re wrong – God does. “Nobody knows how I’m
struggling to break this habit, but I can’t get it out of my mind.” God does. “Nobody knows the depression and the fear
that I’m going through.” God does. And He’s kept a record of your tears. He knows it all. Nothing escapes His notice.

2. God cares about your situation.

“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how
weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” (Psalms 103:13-14, NLT)

God knows what we’re made of—dirt—we’re frail, we’re not super human. Tender and compassionate – that’s the
kind of God you serve.

God wants to be the Father many of you never had. Tender and compassionate.

God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” How can God love me and His love never quits? How does He keep on loving in spite of all my hurts, habits and hang-ups?

It is because His love is unconditional. It’s not based on your performance. It’s based on God’s character. The Bible
says God is love. And He says, “I’ve loved you with an everlasting love.” He not only knows about your situation, He
cares about it.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
(Romans 5:8, NLT)

God knows about your situation and He cares. But there is more – God has the power to change you and your situation.

3. God can change you and your situation.

That’s good news. God can change us and our situation. Sometimes He changes me, sometimes He changes the situation. Sometimes He changes both.

Paul prayed that we would “understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him.”
(Ephesians 1:19, NLT)

Whatever your hurts, habits, or hang-ups God says, “I’ve got the power – the power to heal your hurts, deliver you from your addictions or to put the past behind you.”

You may say, “You don’t understand my situation. I’ve tried to change but I can’t.” Nothing is impossible with God!

There are people sitting here that others thought would never change in a million years, but they did, because of the
power of God.

Celebrate Recovery is really about spiritual growth.

How can you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ? You acknowledge that God exists and you realize what
He’s like: that He cares, understands, loves and wants to help you.

III. Application – Accept God’s Offer To Help Me

It’s not enough just to believe in God. Most of you believe in God. But that hasn’t wiped away the hurt. You need to
fully surrender to God and receive His power.

Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is at work within you, giving the will and the power to achieve his purpose.”

Will power on your own is not enough. Good intentions are not enough. What you need is God’s will and power to
help you change.

What happens when I open up my life to God’s power? When I ask God to put the Spirit of Jesus Christ in my life? Does God turn me into some kind of religious nut?

The Bible tells us exactly what happens when we invite God’s Spirit into our lives – the Spirit that God gives us fills
us with power, love, self-control and so much more.

I need God’s power in my life. I need power to break habits I can’t break. I need power to do the things that I know are right to do but I can’t seem to do them on my own. I need power to break free from the past and let those memories go. I need power to get on with the kind of life God wants me to live.

Then I need love – real love. I need to be able to love people and have them love me and let go of hurts so I don’t
build up all these walls and have fake intimacy, but have genuine intimacy.

I also need self-control. As I surrender all control to God through Jesus Christ, I will find the power to control myself.

Power, love and self-control.

There is a profoundly simple principle that I would like to share with you today.

Things work best when plugged in. Toasters, blenders, televisions, and radios work best when they’re plugged in – and
God meant for you and me to be plugged in to Him.

How do I plug into God’s power?

First, I believe that God exists and that He does know, care and have the power to help me. Then I receive Him
fully into my life.

The Road to Recovery is not easy. It means facing up to some real problems you haven’t wanted to deal with. It means taking some risks. It means being honest, trusting God. But God says, “I will be with you.”

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not
drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God…” (Isaiah 43:2-3, NLT)

God says, “I will be with you this next week, month, year as you face those issues you’ve been afraid to face in your life.”

Where are you hurting today? Are you going through some deep waters? Do you feel like you’re going under for the last time? Are you going through the fire right now and the heat is on in your life?

Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut and say, “I just can’t get the power to change; I feel powerless”? There is a higher power you can plug in to. His name is Jesus Christ – the name above all names. I invite you to open your heart and life to Him today. Take this second step.