Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Lesson 04 - Sanity

 Sanity

Principle 2: Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.

Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

Step 2: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”. (Philippians 2:13)

Introduction

We spent our first month on Principles 1 and 2. Denial, Powerless and Hope.

The Denial and Powerless lessons showed us the futile nature of either ignoring the issues in our lives, or trying to do something about them ourselves without God.

Tit 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

Hope showed us that we are not alone in our recovery. There is a Great God who through His Holy Spirit seeks to bring us to wholeness and health.

(4) But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, (5) he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, (6) whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Paul speaks of contemporary day to day salvation here. We are “saved” from the lies of the devil, becoming wise instead of foolish, knowing truth instead of being deceived, becoming free instead of enslaved.

This transformation happens through “the washing of rebirth” and “renewal by the Holy Spirit”. This “washing” and “renewal” occurs when we accept that we are not able to bring change, but God is and we allow Him to do that.

The additional benefit of rebirth is that in addition to the benefits of recovery in this life, we also become heirs of eternal life.

(7) so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

The following acrostic, using the word sanity, shows some of the gifts we receive when we believe that the Holy Spirit will illuminate our steps and we begin to accept a behavior change by His power and our cooperation.

Strength

Acceptance

New Life

Integrity

Trust

Your Higher Power

The first letter is S, which stands for STRENGTH.

Psa 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

So how to we realize strength in our lives? Paul, talking about his thorn in the flesh, said it this way:

2Co 12:9-10 But he [the Lord] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (10) That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul is teaching us that we are strongest in our weakness, because when we are the weakest He is strongest in our life. This speaks of walking in an attitude of humility before God as we accept reality. When we are humble and accept Christ's strength then we can do things we could never have done in our own strength.

Think of a teeter totter where both our natural weakness and God's supernatural strength are at work in us. The weaker we recognize that we are, the greater His strength is in us is able to be, and vice versa.

The next letter, A, stands for ACCEPTANCE.

Romans 15:7 (GNB) says, “Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted you.”

We have always been accepted by God. He extends His salvation to all who call on Him.

It is not consistent when we reject those God has accepted.

One of the benefits of coming to experience God's transformative work in us is that we become more accepting of people, and this leads to a greater relational peace in our life. Families come back together and friendships are restored.

The next letter, N, stands for NEW life.

When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, TLB).

This passage speaks of the transformed nature that happens in our hearts, from which behavior change comes. As we turn control of our lives over to Christ, our very character undergoes a transformation. Who we are as people changes.

2Co 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

The next benefit is the I in sanity: INTEGRITY.

Nothing gives me greater joy than to hear that my children are following the way of truth” (3 John 4, NCV).

As the Lord transforms our character from an old person to a new person, one of the things that changes is our integrity. We say what we mean and mean what we say. God's values become our values.

Our integrity is a guide to us.

Pro 10:9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

Pro 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

Pro 13:6 Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

Integrity is defined as “a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility”.

The T in sanity stands for TRUST.

It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the Lord, you are safe” (Proverbs 29:25, GNB).

Another benefit that we experience is an increase of trust for God and others.

We can make real friends in recovery, here at CR in our fellowship time at 5PM, in 12 Step and Open Share groups, and in church. We can make solid friendships that can last a lifetime here built on a foundation of trust.

The last letter is Y: YOUR Higher Power

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus Christ, loves you just the way you are! I have a question for you. Do you know him? Let's take a look at this video of Dr. S. M. Lockridge asking that question. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE).

Wrap-up

If you do not know Him, here is how you can get to know Him.

      1. First, we must know that we are a sinners.
        Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

      1. We must know that the wages of sin is death.
        Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

      1. We must know that Christ the Savior died for us and for our sins while we were in our sinful state.
        Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

      1. Salvation is a free gift from God, through Christ.
        Rom 3:24-25 ... all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood--to be received by faith.





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