Fear of exposure.
Recovery at the Rock • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Step Five: admitted to God, myself, and another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Introduction:
Many of us are in prison. we do not even realize that we are in prison. Some of you are offended that I would even suggest that your are in prison, I do not want to offend you, however you may be. We have reached the fifth step on our journey of recovery. This is the point that some people turn around. Tonight we are going to talk about our reservations. We will learn that there are 12 promises That AA tells us is for us if we will engage in this new way to live. Finally, we will learn that we only have to admit these wrongs to three: 1. God. 2. Myself. 3. Another person. If We will do these things the Lord will heal us. lets launch out into the deep of healing the soul.
Before we experience freedom, we must understand what keeps us bound. One of the strongest chains holding us back is fear. Let's explore specifically how fear of exposure impacts our recovery.
1. One of the biggest fears in doing the 5th Step is exposure.
1. One of the biggest fears in doing the 5th Step is exposure.
These are our deepest darkest secretes.. these are our wrongs.. these are the things that make us feel that we are damaged beyond repair.
We don’t want to be exposed. In fact most of us came here for the opposite reason to fix ourselves, to avoid this emotional exposure, we have come here to work the program because we have tried everything else. I don’t want to be judged.
That is why both of the secular programs are centered around anonymity. we do our dead level best to make sure that you are anonymous. This is at the core of this and any recovery.
To experience the healing promised in step five, we must clearly identify what we're afraid of losing when we expose our wrongs. Let’s briefly consider the specific emotional fears connected to exposure.
2. What are the emotions associated with the fear of exposure.
2. What are the emotions associated with the fear of exposure.
Loss of control.
Loss of control.
Loss of relationship.
Loss of relationship.
Loss of status.
Loss of status.
The fear of rejection.
The fear of rejection.
The desire to blame shift.
The desire to blame shift.
The need for vengeance.
The need for vengeance.
What have you thought of that I missed?
What have you thought of that I missed?
These emotional fears form the bars of our own self-made prison. But there's good news! When we courageously face these fears through recovery, we discover extraordinary promises waiting on the other side.
The 12 Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous:
The 12 Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous:
(1) We Are going to know a new freedom and happiness.
(1) We Are going to know a new freedom and happiness.
(2) We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
(2) We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
(3) We will comprehend the word serenity.
(3) We will comprehend the word serenity.
(4) We will know peace.
(4) We will know peace.
(5) No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see that our experience can benefit others.
(5) No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see that our experience can benefit others.
(6) That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
(6) That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
(7) We will loose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
(7) We will loose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
(8) Self-seeking will slip away.
(8) Self-seeking will slip away.
(9) Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change.
(9) Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change.
(10) Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us.
(10) Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us.
(11) We will intuitively know how to handle things that used to baffle us.
(11) We will intuitively know how to handle things that used to baffle us.
(12) We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
(12) We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
All of these things are promised to us if we will adopt a new way to live.
The Promises of AA are given to us as a hope for walking through this program.
If you’re wondering why these promises still feel out of reach, consider carefully if you're holding back reservations—hidden secrets or lingering fears you haven't yet admitted. Let's clearly understand what a reservation really means for our recovery. A reservation is keeping a secrete from your sponsor either about your past or a concern or fear about the program that you cannot fulfill.
Understanding the importance of admitting our reservations naturally leads us deeper into a closer look at step five itself. To grasp the fullness of this step, let's first clarify what it truly means to "admit."
3. A few things I noticed about the 5th step.
3. A few things I noticed about the 5th step.
■ verb (admits, admitting, admitted)
1 confess that something is true or the case.
▶ confess to or acknowledge (a crime, fault, or failure).
2 allow to enter.
▶ receive (someone) into a hospital for treatment.
3 accept as valid.
4 (admit of) allow the possibility of.
—DERIVATIVES admitted adjective admittedly adverb
—ORIGIN Middle English: from Latin admittere, from ad- ‘to’ + mittere ‘send’.
This definition profoundly illuminates step five. When we admit our wrongs, we’re not just listing them—we're genuinely accepting our past as valid, no matter how painful. Let's now clearly outline how we practice this step.
This definition profoundly illuminates step five. When we admit our wrongs, we’re not just listing them—we're genuinely accepting our past as valid, no matter how painful. Let's now clearly outline how we practice this step.
3 accept as valid.
One of the hardest things that we do in discipleship is admit that we have engaged in things that we ourselves don’t agree with.
The truth of the matter is that all believers are in a process; that process is called growth in plain English or sanctification in theological terms. Is the process not an instance of becoming Christ-like.
Step Five: admitted to God, myself, and another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
We accept our past as valid.
Admit to God what he already knows that our past is valid.
Next I admit it to myself. Allow myself to know to be true. so that the Lord, (most of the time,) will not touch what we will not confront. So, after we have told God, we need to take a look at myself.
Finally I admit to another person the exact nature of our wrongs.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
With each step of admission, we tear down prison walls built by fear, shame, and secrecy. Now let’s summarize clearly what we've discovered tonight and why it's crucial for lasting freedom.
Conclusion:
Tonight we have learned that the fear of exposure keeps us in bondage. We learn that the Lord has 12 specific promises for us if we fallow this new way of living. Before we learned about the promises, we learned the fear and bitterness that make a prison for us. at last, we learn the purpose of all of this hard work is healing and freedom, not fear guilt and condemnation!
