John Baker - Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory Participants Guide 2: 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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Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory

Copyright 1998, 2012 by John Baker

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ePub Edition May 2016: ISBN 978-0-310-08236-1

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CONTENTS

by Rick Warren

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

The purpose of Celebrate Recovery is to allow us to become free from lifes hurts, hang-ups, and habits. By working through the eight principles of recovery based on the Beatitudes, with Jesus Christ as our Higher Power, we can and will change! We will begin to experience the true peace and serenity that we have been seeking. We will no longer need to rely on our dysfunctional, compulsive, and addictive behaviors as a temporary fix for our pain.

By applying the biblical principles of conviction, conversion, surrender, confession, restitution, prayer, quiet time, witnessing, and helping one another found within the eight principles, we will restore or develop stronger relationships with others and God.

You have completed the first three principles to the best of your ability: you have gotten right with God. Now as you prepare to work Principle 4, you begin the journey of getting right with yourself (Principles 4 5).

After each lesson, there is an exercise for you to complete. Answer each question to the best of your ability. Dont worry about what you think the answer should be. Pray and then write down the answer from your heart. Remember John 8:32: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.