Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV)

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Importance of daily bread.

3 types of Bread we are going to discuss today

Lower case bread/bread of earth/sustains our body/physical

Upper case Bread/bread of heaven/sustains our soul/spiritual

evil bread/drugs/alcohol/porn/fill in the blank/sustains your bondage/physical and spiritual

illustration of the downfall of drugs and porn and sex in my life

Principle 7:

Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.

Step 10:

We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

1 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV)

The importance of one day at a time.

Inventory of mana in the wilderness.

Just enough for the day except on the sixth day double.

God has a way of emphasizing one day at a time.

Trust in Him and not in ourselves.

Step 10 does not say how often to take an inventory, but I would like to offer three suggestions that can help us keep on the right road, God’s road to recovery.

Do an Ongoing Inventory

We can keep an ongoing inventory throughout the day.

The best time to admit we are wrong is the exact time that we are made aware of it.

Why wait?

Let me give you an example.

Yesterday afternoon, I snapped at my son.

I was immediately faced with a choice.

I could admit that I was wrong (“I shouldn’t have snapped at Johnny; all he wanted to do was play catch”) and make amends with him (“Johnny, I’m sorry for speaking so sharply; I was wrong”), or I could wait until later and risk rationalizing it away (“He saw I was busy; he had no right to ask me to play at that time”).

You don’t have to wait until you go home, cook dinner, watch TV, and then start your journal.

If you do an ongoing inventory during the day, you can keep your amends list very short!

Do a Daily Inventory

At the end of each day, we look over our daily activities, the good and the bad.

We need to search where we might have harmed someone or where we acted out of anger or fear.

But once again, remember to keep your daily inventory balanced.

Be sure to include the things that you did right throughout the day.

The best way to do this is to journal.

I spend about fifteen minutes just before I go to sleep, journaling my day’s events, asking God to show me the wrongs that I have committed.

Then, as promptly as I can the next morning, I admit them and make my amends.

Do a Periodic Inventory

I take a periodic inventory about every three months.

I get away on a “mini retreat”!

I would encourage you to try it.

Bring your daily journal with you, and pray as you read through the last ninety days of your journal entries.

Ask God to show you areas in your life that you can improve on in the next ninety days and celebrate the victories that you have made.

By taking an ongoing, a daily, and a periodic inventory we can work Step 10 to the best of our abilities.

With God’s help we can keep our side of the street clean.

Here are a few key verses to learn and follow for Step 10.

“Intelligent people think before they speak; what they say is then more persuasive” (Proverbs 16:23, GNT).

“Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others” (Ephesians 4:29, AB).

“A wise, mature person is known for his understanding.

The more pleasant his words, the more persuasive he is” (Proverbs 16:21, GNT).

“A word of encouragement does wonders!”

(Proverbs 12:25, TLB)

“If I had the gift of being able to speak in other languages without learning them, and could speak in every language there is in all of heaven and earth, but didn’t love others, I would only be making noise” (1 Corinthians 13:1, TLB).

Step 10 Daily Action Plan

1. Continue to take a daily inventory, and when you are wrong, promptly make your amends.

2. Summarize the events of your day in your journal.

3. Read and memorize one of the Principle 7 verses on page 33 of Participant's Guide 4.

4. Work all steps and principles to the best of your ability.

New BREAD

illustration of living bread of Jesus

Who’s hungry

who’s thirty

invitation