Sermon: The Need for Recovery
This week we started a new series based on our Recovery program. Michael Bailey led us through a sermon about our need for Recovery from 1 John 1:5-9 and Romans 7:14-8:1. Here is a quick recap of this week’s Gathering:
In Roman 7:14-8:1 Paul is looking at his life and is bothered by what he sees. He has this desire to follow God and be about what God is about - a desire to be righteous - but an inability to actually do it. He sees that God’s commands are good and righteous and true but all he can see in himself is his failure to do them. Paul is conveying something very important about sin. Sin is enslaving. For Paul, the magnitude of his sinfulness feels insurmountable and it leads him to the conclusion that he is a wretched man → unable to be who God desires him to be… a “failure” of sorts.
Have you ever felt Paul's frustration over your inability to change certain things about yourself? Especially the things that you know aren’t good? What we generally do is we learn to cope with these things. In our context, most of us have had to learn how to manage this brokenness we sense in ourselves with the rest of life. Life is too short to pretend we’re okay. We all need Recovery.
And this is what this whole journey through Recovery is going to be about. We want to press into these things. To help us take an honest assessment of our need for healing and hope… and press towards it together.
Your sins and struggles feel unbeatable, feel like they own you, and they feel like they define you… because they are and they do! But they don’t have to! Jesus says he’s come to bring freedom. And if he sets you free, you will in fact be free. His body was broken to heal your brokenness. He was raised and made whole so that in Him, you would be, too.
So Recovery is going to take three things:
1. Recovery takes honesty
2. Recovery takes repentance
3. Recovery takes time
Songs:
Come Ye Sinners by Sojourn Music
Man of Sorrows by Hillsong
We Sing As One by Young Oceans
Father You are All We Need by Citizens and Saints