If you want freedom from life's hurts, hang-ups, and habits we encourage you to check out Celebrate Recovery on Thursday nights here at Sequoia. This ministry seeks to celebrate God's healing and redemptive power in our lives through the "8 Recovery Principles." The purpose of Sequoia Heights Baptist church’s Celebrate Recovery is to fellowship and celebrate God’s healing power in our lives through the 12 steps and 8 Recovery Principles.  This experience allows us to “be changed”.  By working and applying these Biblical principles, we begin to grow spiritually.  We become free from our addictive, compulsive and dysfunctional behaviors.  This freedom creates peace, serenity, joy and most importantly, a stronger personal relationship with God and others.  As we progress through the programs, we discover our personal, loving and forgiving Higher Power-Jesus Christ, the one and only true Higher Power.

Celebrate Recovery meets Thursday nights

6:30-7:30pm       Large Group Session

                        Teaching and Personal Testimonies

7:30-8:30pm       Open Share Small Groups

                        Men’s and Women’s Groups, Issue Specific

• Men’s Substance Abuse (Drugs & Alcohol)
• Men’s Issues (Anger, Sex/Porn, Etc.)
• Women’s Issues (Co-dependency, Anger, Eating Disorders and Childhood Issues)
• Women’s Substance Abuse (Drugs & Alcohol)

8:30-9:00pm Solid Rock Café

Great Fellowship, Coffee and Snacks

Prayer For Serenity

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.  Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to Your Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next.  AMEN. (Author: Reinhold Neibur)

The 8 Principles

1)    Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

“Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.”  Matt 5:3

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.”  Matt 5:4

3)   Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

“Happy are the meek.”  Matt 5:5

4)   Openly examine and confess all my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust.

“Happy are the pure in heart.”  Matt 5:8

5)   Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.

“Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.”  Matt 5:6

6)   Evaluate all my relationships; Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others except when to do so would harm them or others.

“Happy are the merciful” “Happy are the peacemakers.”  Matt 5:9

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

8)   Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good New to others, both by my example and by my words.

“Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.”  Matt 5:10

The 12 Steps and their Biblical comparisons

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors.  That our lives had become unmanageable.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  (Romans 7:18)

2. 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.  (Phil. 2:13)

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, hold and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. (Rom 12:1)

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. (Lam. 3:40)

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  (Jam. 5:16)

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humble  yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  (Jam 4:10)

7. Humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

8. Made a list of all persons we have harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)

9. Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matt. 5:23-24)

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

So, if you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  (1 Cor. 10:12)

11.  Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out.

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.  (Col. 3:16a)

12.  Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and practice these principles in all our affairs.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.  (Gal. 6:1)

Open Share Group Guidelines

1. Keep your sharing focused on your own thoughts and feelings.  Limit your sharing to 3-5 minutes.

2. There will be no cross talk please.  Cross talk is when 2 individuals engage in dialogue, excluding all others.  Each person is free to express feelings without interruption.

3. We are here to support one another.  We will not attempt to “fix” another.

4. Anonymity and confidentiality are basic requirements.  What is shared in the group stays in the group unless doing so would result in harm or injury to self or others.  Violation may result in you being asked to leave the Celebrate Recovery program.

5. Offensive language has no place in a Christ-centered recovery group.  We avoid graphic descriptions of our behaviors and experiences.