Finding Strength Through Powerlessness and Community

"Out of desperation, she does what a lot of teenagers who have no other choice do. She calls her mom. She gets up the courage to call her mom. And the unthinkable happens. The unexpected happens. She did not get what she expected. She expected a lecture. She expected indifference. She expected basically her mom to say, well, it's nice to hear from you, but I got somebody else new in my life. But instead, she got a mom in tears who had been searching for her daughter for months. A mother who had realized that her daughter was so much more important than the boyfriend." [00:06:01] (44 seconds)


"She found herself with no education, no family support, and she began to feel hopeless, even though, you know, again, there was a community coming around her. And she began to feel hopeless about her future because she was stuck. And even though she was getting encouragement from the other teenagers on the street with her, the truth is the blind have a hard time leading the blind. They can commiserate and that's encouraging. But someone who's also estranged from whatever their connections, whether for good reasons or bad reasons, can't really tell you how to move forward because they're really in the same place that you are." [00:05:05] (38 seconds)


"Now, this is the only step that really kind of, if you would, kind of tilts its head towards whatever issue that you're wrestling with. Because the interesting thing is, you know what you don't find in 12 steps? There's not a single step that says stop drinking, stop using drugs, stop yelling at your spouse, right? Stop putting yourself, it, it, it, there's not a step that says, do this, this is the closest thing. And all it does is, is, is that if you, if you've got to begin at a point first that you admit, right, that you can see that something is true or valid." [00:18:24] (36 seconds)


"Paul writes this. He says, I can anticipate the response that is coming. I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but he says, I'm not. Isn't this also your experience? Yes, Paul says, I'm full of myself. After all, I spent a long time in sin's prison. When you see that word in this context, sin's prison, it's the prison of your own appetite. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing the things I absolutely despise." [00:14:23] (37 seconds)


"Jesus says this, I tell you her sins. And notice this, and they are many. He's not saying that, you know, she's better than you. No, he's saying, you know what, you're right. All the terrible things that you think about this woman are true, but he doesn't stop there. They have been forgiven. So because of all these things she's been forgiven, she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love." [00:28:48] (33 seconds)


"Once we omit our powerlessness, a door opens to the solution, to our problems. As long as we deny our powerlessness, however, our problem cannot be solved. Here's the challenge. Denial. Denial is the whole, is the challenge. It's the challenge of denial. The refusal to omit the truth or the reality of something. Because to omit it is to basically say, there's a part of your life that is extremely ugly. That's why we work so hard to cover it up." [00:32:02] (34 seconds)


"Now, I just want to remind those of you who maybe grew up in a church, have been attending, especially this church for a while, that when the church becomes about people who have it all together, we no longer reflect the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. As soon as you begin to think, man, I got it together. As soon as we begin to come together and we start putting on a mask, and let's just be honest, it's a mask. Right? I'm a Christian now. And now I say the right things. I do the right things. My life is blessed. I have no problems because I have Jesus." [00:12:52] (40 seconds)


"Quite frankly, church, I'm talking to you, if you're satisfied with good enough, you'll never experience the abundant life that Jesus came to bring you. You'll be satisfied with religion, and you'll never know Jesus. And by the way, it's knowing Jesus that's eternal life. Not the religious activity. There is strength. For the powerless. Again, the book 12 Step Sponsorship, which helps people who are sponsoring and coaching somebody else in the program. It says this. It says, Step one is an omission of the central problem we face as addicts. Our powerlessness over an addictive substance or compulsive behavior, could be pride, and the unmanageable life that has resulted, putting myself above others." [00:31:46] (48 seconds)