John Baker - Getting Right with God, Yourself, and Others Participants Guide 3: A Recovery Program Based on Eight Principles from the Beatitudes

John Baker is the founder of Celebrate Recovery, a ministry started at Saddleback Church. It is estimated that over the last 25 years more than 1.5 million people have gone through this Christ-centered recovery program. There are currently over 27,000 churches that have weekly Celebrate Recovery meetings.

John has been on staff since Celebrate Recovery started. He has served as the Pastor of Membership, the Pastor of Ministries, and is currently the Pastor of Saddleback Churchs Signature Ministries. He is also serving as one of the nine Elder Pastors at Saddleback. John is a nationally known speaker and trainer in helping churches start Celebrate Recovery ministries.

Johns writing accomplishments include Celebrate Recoverys The Journey Begins Curriculum, Lifes Healing Choices, the Celebrate Recovery Study Bible (general editor), and The Landing and Celebration Place (coauthor). Johns newest books are Your First Step to Celebrate Recovery and The Celebrate Recovery Devotional (coauthor).

John and his wife Cheryl, the cofounder of Celebrate Recovery, have been married for more than four decades and have served together in Celebrate Recovery since the beginning. They have two adult children, Laura and Johnny, and five grandchildren.

Johnny Baker has been on staff at Celebrate Recovery since 2004 and has been the Pastor of Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church since 2012. As an adult child of an alcoholic who chose to become an alcoholic himself, Johnny is passionate about breaking the cycle of dysfunction in his family and helping other families find the tools that will lead to healing and openness. He knows that because of Jesus Christ, and by continuing to stay active in Celebrate Recovery, Maggie, Chloe, and Jimmy his three children will never see him drink. Johnny is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer, and teacher of Celebrate Recovery. He is a coauthor of the Celebrate Recovery Daily Devotional, Celebration Place, and The Landing, and is an associate editor of the Celebrate Recovery Study Bible. He has been married since 2000 to his wife Jeni, who serves alongside him in Celebrate Recovery.

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Getting Right with God, Yourself, and Others

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by Rick Warren

Youve undoubtedly heard the expression Time heals all wounds. Unfortunately, it isnt true. As a pastor I frequently talk with people who are still carrying hurts from thirty or forty years ago. The truth is, time often makes things worse. Wounds that are left untended fester and spread infection throughout your entire body. Time only extends the pain if the problem isnt dealt with.

Celebrate Recovery is a biblical and balanced program that can help you overcome your hurts, habits, and hang-ups. Based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory, this recovery program is more effective in helping people change than anything else Ive seen or heard of. Over the years Ive witnessed how the Holy Spirit has used this program to transform literally thousands of lives at Saddleback Church and help people grow toward full Christlike maturity.

Perhaps you are familiar with the classic 12-Step program of AA and other groups. While undoubtedly many lives have been helped through the 12 Steps, Ive always been uncomfortable with that programs vagueness about the nature of God, the saving power of Jesus Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So I began an intense study of the Scriptures to discover what God had to say about recovery. To my amazement, I found the principles of recovery in their logical order given by Christ in His most famous message, the Sermon on the Mount.

My study resulted in a ten-week series of messages called The Road to Recovery. During that series my associate pastor John Baker developed the four participants guides, which became the heart of our Celebrate Recovery program.

As you work through these participants guides, I trust that you will come to realize many benefits from this program. Most of all, however, my prayer for you is that, through Celebrate Recovery, you will find deep peace and lasting freedom in Jesus Christ as you walk your own road to recovery.

Dr. Rick Warren
Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church

Congratulations! You are well on your way on your road to recovery. You began by Stepping Out of Denial into Gods Grace. Next you made the major commitment to your continued growth in recovery by completing your spiritual inventory. That took a lot of effort and courage, but you will see some of the rewards of all your hard work as you finish Principle 4. The truth found in James 5:16 will take on new meaning in your life: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (italics added).

After you CONFESS your sins, you will receive Gods complete and perfect forgiveness. When you ADMIT your wrongs and share your inventory with another, you will experience further healing. As you become entirely READY to work through Principle 5, you will experience Gods VICTORY in removing your defects of character that may have plagued you all your life.

Principle 6 will show you how to make your AMENDS and offer FORGIVENESS, so that you can be a model of Gods GRACE as you get right with others.

In His steps,
John Baker