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LEADER GUIDE Receive God’s Grace Book 3, Steps 4-6
Index Timeline................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Step Four, Week One ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Step Four, Week Two ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Step Four, Week Three ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Step Four, Week Four ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Step Four, Week Five ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Step Four, Week Six ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Step Five, Week One ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Step Five, Week Two ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Step Six, Week One ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Step Six, Week Two .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Step Six, Week Three ....................................................................................................................................... 19
Appendix Shepherding people with abuse - to be added
Timeline
Step 6, Repent 2 Timothy 2:22 Step 5, Confess 1 John 1:7-9 Step 4, Inventory Psalm 51:6 Step 3, Trust Ephesians 2:4-5 Step 2, Believe Psalm 103:2-5 Step 1, Admit Romans 7:18
Groundwork: Building a Foundation for Recovery
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
Book 5 (9 Weeks) Book 4 (6 Weeks) Book 3 (11 Weeks)
Step 7, Follow Galatians 5:22-25
Book 2 (6 Weeks)
Step 8, Forgive Ephesians 4:32-5:1
Book 1 (6 Weeks)
Step 9, Amends Romans 12:17-18
You Are Here
Respond to God’s Grace
Step 10, Continue Proverbs 28:13
Receive God’s Grace
Step 11, Intimacy John 17:3-4
Realize Your Need for God’s Grace
Step 12, Regenerate 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Regeneration By God’s Grace
12-Steps Progression
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Step Four, Week One General Principle: INVENTORY We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Foundation Verse: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:6) Key Theme: Receive God’s truth. The Holy Spirit changes you from the inside out, and teaches truth from the Word of God. Identify what stands in the way of a fully-devoted heart: idols and their patterns. Identify what Christ did for you. Identify what Christ wants to heal in you through the Holy Spirit. NOTE: Inventory Training is typically the 4th Monday of the month. Instead of meeting as a group in your classroom, leaders and participants will attend a large group meeting together.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio You can access the training video/audio from the Watermark Mobile App or via the Watermark website media page at www.watermark.org/media/
Go to the Channel menu and select Recovery. Then select: re:generation Leader Training.
Things to Remember
Welcome to Book 3, Steps 4-6! In this book, you will be focusing on: o Identifying your sinful nature (Step 4 – INVENTORY) that gets in the way with intimacy with God and loving others. o Confessing your sinful nature (Steps 5 – CONFESS). o Turning from your sinful nature towards Christ (Step 6 – REPENT). Email all the mentors telling them you finished Steps 1-3 and are beginning Step 4. Invite them to attend Inventory Training with the group. Ask them to pray and walk closely alongside the participant during this step. It’s human nature to fear and resist inventory – sin dies when it is exposed to God’s light. With God’s strength they can face anything and God will use it bring freedom in many areas of life. Encourage them that this is just another step of healing. It’s another step where God wants to love and transform them. The Holy Spirit is critical for inventory. He opens our eyes. Pray for openness in participants’ hearts for His work. Some participants aren’t ready for inventory; they haven’t completed Steps 1-3.
Key Questions As you review the lesson, ask God which questions to focus on for the lesson. Some possibilities are: Day 6 Questions, especially “how to” questions about inventory. Day 1, Question 4: What immediate changes did the Holy Spirit make within you? What changes has he made since?
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Encouragement for Participants
Work through your questions about Christ and salvation before Step 4. You are a new creation. Take off the old nature and live by the new nature in Christ. God is giving you a new heart by the power of his Spirit. He has set you free you from the power sin in all areas of life so that you can experience the life he created you to have. Because of Christ, you don’t have to be afraid of inventory. There is nothing you have done that Jesus did not joyfully pay for and hasn’t forgiven – you are not condemned! This process is here to help you. Inventory will reveal what has captured your heart and help you to see God’s love more clearly through Christ. It is a picture of the price that Christ paid for your soul! Step 4 takes longer than other steps. While you will need to continue to work on it daily, you should also schedule time away to focus on it, such as an extended time on a weekend. Set deadlines for yourself. Don’t prolong it by procrastinating. Work with your family and mentor to create this time. There are 6 inventories. Think of each inventory as a different window into the same house. Read over the overviews before beginning inventories. Don’t get hung-up on which events fit perfectly into each inventory. Getting it out on paper is more important that fitting everything in the perfect place. You don’t have to record an event in multiple inventories, but you can if it helps you to see it from different perspectives. Read the Inventory Overviews before starting! Inventory is an in-depth look at your sinful nature – it is not a balanced inventory of both strengths and weaknesses! Don’t list all the good with all the bad. In Christ, we are fully-accepted and loved by God. He has given us gifts and worked through our lives. But the purpose of this step is to have greater awareness of what Christ died for and what God desire to change through his Spirit. Group time over next 4 weeks will include workshop and discussion. Encourage the participants to come with as much done as they can, and with questions. Based on the need, share items on your inventory, answer questions and give some time for personal work. o Week 2: Resentments and Fears o Week 3: Harms to Me and Harms By Me o Week 4: Sexual Inventory and Recovery Issue o Week 5: Wrap Up and Complete All Inventories Encourage them to fill out what they can rather than an “all or nothing” or perfectionistic attitude! Not all blanks on the chart have to be filled out if they get stuck. They can always go back and fill these in as more understanding comes. Memory Verse: Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Encouragement for Leaders
Downplay this as just another step. Participants will need a lot of encouragement. Present it as an opportunity to better understand God’s love for them through Christ Encourage those that haven’t accepted Christ to work through those questions first. Pray that the Holy Spirit would carry the group through this step and remaining steps. Do your best to not extend Step 4. They will tend to procrastinate revisiting the past. Help them by setting deadlines, communicating with mentors and by checking progress/answering questions in workshops. Be an example to your group. 1 Timothy 1:16-17: “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor, and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Inventory your own current struggle and talk about it with your group.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Four, Week Two General Principle: INVENTORY We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Foundation Verse: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:6) Key Theme: Receive God’s truth. The Holy Spirit changes you from the inside out. Identify what stands in the way of a fully-devoted heart: idols and their patterns. Identify what Christ did for you. Identify what Christ wants to heal in you through the Holy Spirit.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
This is first week of working on inventory. This week’s focus is the Resentments and Fears Inventories. This workshop time is to answer questions, check on progress, get started, and give encouragement. This step takes courage. Keep your eye open for those struggling to start. Spend the first 10 minutes of the group answering questions or struggles with the inventory. Then, use the rest of the group time working on inventory.
Encouragement for Participants
Don’t be afraid – you are a child of God. Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Work on inventory daily. Set aside extended time during the week or on the weekend. Stay in touch with your mentor to talk through areas you may feel stuck. If stuck, let us know. We want to help you keep moving through Step 4. Be thorough. The more you reveal, the deeper the healing.
Encouragement for Leaders
Be ready for logistical questions: “Am I doing this right?” “Should this go in another inventory?” “Do I need to inventory something I’ve dealt with in the past?” Inventory Process: o Don’t get hung up on which inventory an event belongs in. These inventories are different windows into the same house. Different inventories give different perspectives of events. You can inventory the same event in multiple inventories if beneficial, but may not be necessary. o This is a time of discovery. Be thorough as you try to identify your sinful nature patterns. o These sins don’t define you anymore. Christ defines who you are: a child of God. o The Recovery Issue Inventory is a catchall. Hopefully, by the recovery issue inventory, they will have covered most things and realized the issue that brought them to recovery was a symptom of deeper spiritual problem. Give a personal example from your inventory.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Check if participants have set aside extended time to work on inventory. Perhaps longer chunks of time will help. Set a goal for the week on when you will spend your time. For those struggling to start, have them meet with you when the group breaks up to work on inventory. Answer questions and help them work through an example. Encourage them to fill out what they can rather than an “all or nothing” or perfectionistic attitude! Not all blanks on the chart have to be filled out if they get stuck. They can always go back and fill these in as more understanding comes. Who are the no-shows? Make sure you follow-up them this week (and their mentor). This is a time when it is easy for people to drop out: revisit the pain and failures of the past. God can redeem the past. Romans 8:28-29: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Four, Week Three General Principle: INVENTORY We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Foundation Verse: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:6) Key Theme: Receive God’s truth. The Holy Spirit changes you from the inside out. Identify what stands in the way of a fully-devoted heart: idols and their patterns. Identify what Christ did for you. Identify what Christ wants to heal in you through the Holy Spirit.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
This week have a discussion around what people are discovering. Participants have now had two weeks to work on inventory. They should be progressing through their Harms To Me and Harms Done by Me Inventories.
Encouragement for Participants
Encourage participants to follow-up with each other. Encourage participants to meet with mentor to discuss inventory. Healing is occurring: Psalm 147:3 “[God] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Pray for them that God would provide insight, healing and redeem the past and that he would use it to show us his love and draw us near to him.
Encouragement for Leaders
Share Personal Examples: From those who are willing, have them share an example from their inventory. Share an example from your own inventory. This will help those who are still wresting through logistics, bond the group and provide further insight into struggles. See if anyone is struggling. Give opportunity to confess sin, temptation, fears, etc.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Four, Week Four General Principle: INVENTORY We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Foundation: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:6) Key Theme: Receive God’s truth. The Holy Spirit changes you from the inside out. Identify what stands in the way of a fully-devoted heart: idols and their patterns. Identify what Christ did for you. Identify what Christ wants to heal in you through the Holy Spirit.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
The focus this week is discussing the past weeks work on the Sexual Inventory and the Recovery Issue Inventory. The Recovery Issue may have already been covered in past weeks. Or this inventory may be used to simply include other things that have come up that didn’t fit on the other inventories. Gather briefly. Don’t spend much time in discussion today. You want to allow time for participants to work on inventory. Tell people you are here to help with any questions and that you will be checking their progress. Open in prayer. Then, dismiss to work on inventory. Note progress of participants. Wander around and see how they are progressing. This will give you opportunity to see who needs follow-up. Briefly encourage those you visit with. Note absent participants. Follow-up with missing participants and their mentors to see how they are doing. Tell them they are missed and you are there to help. Pray. Quietly say a prayer for each person you visit. Spend time praying for those not present. Keep working through your own inventory. o 1 Thessalonians 4:1, “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.” o God is not finished with you. Ask that he would use this inventory to draw you closer to him and to make you more like Jesus.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Four, Week Five General Principle: INVENTORY We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Foundation Verse: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:6) Key Theme: Receive God’s truth. The Holy Spirit changes you from the inside out. Identify what stands in the way of a fully-devoted heart: idols and their patterns. Identify what Christ did for you. Identify what Christ wants to heal in you through the Holy Spirit.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
This is a discussion week. Participants should be wrapping up inventory. Try not to extend the inventory process. Check participants’ progress. Encourage thoroughness and set deadline, if they are not close to finishing. Share personal examples. For those who are willing have them share an example from their inventory. Share an example from your own inventory. This will help those who are still wresting through logistics, bond the group and provide further insight into struggles. See if anyone is struggling. Give opportunity to confess sin, temptation, fears, etc. Encourage participants to complete inventory. Don’t prolong. Show patience with participants, but set deadlines and encourage extended times away to finish inventory. Encourage participants to meet with mentor to discuss inventory. Assign Week Six. Participants will begin to go through daily curriculum again. They will begin to bring into focus the idols of the heart and patterns of sin. Note progress and pray: Be sure to encourage the progress that you see in participants and encourage faithfulness. Pray that God would the inventory insights to transform everyone to be more like Christ. Ask people to share the memory verse. Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Four, Week Six General Principle: INVENTORY We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Foundation Verse: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:6) Key Theme: Receive God’s truth. The Holy Spirit changes you from the inside out. Identify what stands in the way of a fully-devoted heart: idols and their patterns. Identify what Christ did for you. Identify what Christ wants to heal in you through the Holy Spirit.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
Participants spent the week surveying inventory. This may be the first time they have thoroughly looked at the breadth and depth of their rebellion from God. A thorough inventory is a picture the price Christ paid to redeem you. Remind them that they don’t need wallow in shame and guilt. But praise God for revealing God’s goodness and love for them through Christ and uncovering key idols and sin patterns that drove rebellion. Encourage them to fully embrace their new identity in Christ.
Key Questions
Day 1, Question 4: In light of your inventory, have you gained a different understanding of how much God loves you? If so, how has your understanding changed? Day 2, Question 3: Which response shows up most often in each of the inventories? Day 3, Question 2: What things of value show up most often within each inventory?
Encouragement for Participants You have a new identity. Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” While inventory provides a clearer picture of your sinful nature, it also provides a beautiful picture of what Christ did for you. You are not defined by your inventory, but by Christ. Recognize the disease of your sinful nature. Now that you can recognize your idol/sinful patterns in daily life, ask for help from God and others. Consider baptism, Day 5: Romans 6:3-4, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Complete inventory if you haven’t. Finish strong. Start to consider ways to serve, as a group at re:generation, and personally (those in your home, church, etc).
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Encouragement for Leaders
THANK YOU for faithfully walking with your group members through a difficult step. Be patient to work with participants who are straggling. Set deadlines. Don’t get discouraged if they drop. God heals; they may not yet be ready. Follow-up with those who want to be baptized. Groups can celebrate this together! Regeneration is happening with your group! Ezekiel 36:26-27, “And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” How are YOU doing? Remember that good leaders continue to live out the principles of recovery in your own life.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Five, Week One General Principle: CONFESS We confess to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our sins. Foundation Verse: 1 John 1:7-9, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” Key Theme: Receive God’s cleansing. Confession is agreeing with God about your rebellion, need for God’s mercy and grace through Christ. We all have a problem of pride verses accepting God’s grace. Live in the light of God’s truth: with self, God and others.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
Confession means to agree with God. This week is really about accepting your need for God’s grace, Christ as your means of grace and stepping into the light of God to embrace his grace – this is a profession of the gospel. Many participants have inventoried things they swore to never tell, even incriminating things. Confession may be the first time for someone to truly face fears of rejection and consequences to trust God with the consequences of sin.
Key Questions
Start with questions on Day 6, particularly Question 3 and Question 4. Day 3, Question 3: “How has pride or your love of sin kept you from honesty with yourself? Day 5 Questions: Focus on accepting God’s judgments as true and just; and accepting God’s forgiveness as your own versus “forgiving yourself”.
Encouragement for Participants
God is for you. Romans 8:31, “ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” You can trust God through any circumstance. There are consequences to sin. God doesn’t always remove those consequences, but he will see you through them. Embrace his path of freedom even when it’s difficult. Reject pride, embrace humility. Don’t let pride or fear get in the way of embracing God’s grace and his path for healing. Live in the light and agree with God about your sin, need for grace, and that God’s provision for your sin cleanses you. Embrace God’s grace. Set up a time to meet and share your inventory with others. Along with your mentor, you may wish to include recovery partners or members of community group. See Take Note on Day 5 as a guideline and talk with your mentor/leader if you have questions about whom you should include.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Encouragement for Leaders
Pray for the participants to look to Jesus for the courage and humility needed to confess. Look to the Spirit of God to lead and open the participants’ hearts - not you. Check on those who are having trouble finishing inventory. See if they are following through on their own deadlines. Be ready to share a story of how a confession brought healing in your own life. Group Guideline change: Share that the guidelines are now shifting to allow some time at the end of the group for participants to encourage each other with scripture. o During the last 5 minutes of the group time, include time for participants to encourage one other with scripture. This can be sharing a scripture of encouragement to the entire group or a person in the group. Ephesians 5:18-20, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father…” Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” o If an individual has a specific encouragement from scripture for another person in the group, let them ask a question to better understand first and pray about what to share with another. Sometimes we can do more harm than good by giving a scripture without understanding one’s situation, heart or journey with God. Ask the group to offer encouragement or scripture to an individual only after they have taken time to understand. To gain understanding, this can include asking another a question at the end of the group or after the group time. Proverbs 18:30, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” Proverbs 25:11, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Proverbs 25:5, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Proverbs 29:20, “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
DRAFT VERSION 1.0
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Step Five, Week Two General Principle: CONFESS We confess to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our sins. Foundation Verse: 1 John 1:7-9, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” Key Theme: Receive God’s healing. Confession is a gift of God commanded for the benefit of your healing (relationship with God, others and personal healing). Confess the exact nature of your sin: H-E-A-L: Honestly confess, Examine your sinful nature, Accept Christ’s offering for sin, Leave your sin with Christ. Celebrate a clean heart – praise God!
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
A humble confession is the beginning of healing. Grieve the damage of sin. Celebrate the grace of God through Christ. Participants should all have dates/times set to confess inventory with their mentor.
Key Questions
Start with questions on Day 6. Day 3, Question 2: What is your biggest fear about admitting your sin to others?
Encouragement for Participants
See if anyone can quote James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” If not, review the memory verse. Remind them that God has put confession in place as a means for healing. Give courage for confession: Psalm 56:3, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Make sure a date/time is set to share inventory. Have participants let you know when. This week begins a Group Guidelines change: Include time at the end of each meeting to encourage others with scripture. Remember confession is a blessing: Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
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Encouragement for Leaders
Be ready to share ways confession of inventory was beneficial for you. Answers questions about to whom they need to confess. Refer to the Take Note on Day 5. Answer questions about when they should confess to those they’ve hurt. o Sometimes immediate confession may be appropriate. o Sometimes waiting for more prayer and planning may be best. Step 9 – AMENDS, will help them create a plan. When do you consider asking a participant to step back from a group? o When you determine that they are not ready, unwilling or unable to take a step (not setting deadlines, missing deadlines, unwillingness to follow direction to get questions answered, not doing homework or attending). o When they begin to impact the group (and hold others back). o It’s ok if they are not ready. God prepares hearts in season. Some people aren’t finished with sin. Some people really do need time to process specific questions in Groundwork. o It is loving to move someone out of a group when it’s clear they aren’t progressing. It is not loving to let them skip hard steps and graduate them from recovery. Leave them believing that God’s word is ineffective, untrue, they are unique and there is no hope. o Recovery is the participant’s responsibility. Their role is to take the steps. Your job is to help them be honest about whether they are truly on God’s path of recovery, pray for them and redirect them to the truth. Only the Spirit of God can lead the participants’ hearts – not you. Pray for the participants to look to Jesus for the courage and humility needed to confess, and to receive healing from pain. o John 14:26-27, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Thank you for leading through this important step. We pray for you to have courage to speak the truth in love and help participants be honest about their past and their present.
RE:GENERATION STEPS 4, 5, 6 LEADER GUIDE
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Step Six, Week One General Principle: REPENT We become entirely ready to turn away from our patterns of sin and turn to God. Foundation Verse: 2 Timothy 2:22, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Key theme: Receive redirection from God. Repentance means to turn from sin and turn to God. Confession and Repentance work together for healing and freedom. Godly sorrow vs. worldly sorrow. God’s way is good.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
Participants can feel well after confession, but lasting freedom comes from turning from sin to follow Christ. Repentance is costly. It’s dying to your old way of life and demands real change. God’s way is the best and leads to life. Step 6 is 3 weeks. Leave some group time to prepare your group for repentance plans in the coming weeks.
Key Questions
Start with Day 6, Questions 3 and 4. Day 1, Question 4: In what ways do you struggle to believe that God’s plan offers the best life for you? What are some ways you’ve accepted this belief? Day 3, Question 4: What fears do you have about where God’s path will lead? Day 4, Question 4: What areas of life do you not want God to interfere with? Why?
Encouragement for Participants
Take some time to share victories. Also allow some time to share struggles. Confession and repentance go hand in hand. They work together to bring healing and freedom. Healing from confession is short-lived without repentance. Repentance without confession (agreeing with God) is a myth. It’s not enough to turn from sin, we must also turn towards God’s way. See Step 6 Foundation Verse, 2 Timothy 2:22. God loves you and wants to bless you, but he wants your heart and participation in change. The next two weeks will be developing repentance plans. You will need your inventory workbook. o Study a sin pattern. Look over who, what, when, where, why, how. o Identify patterns, triggers, and enablement of the struggle. o Plan to guard you from these pitfalls: making changes, setting boundaries, etc. o Plan to turn towards God’s provision and support. o Be thorough. But don’t get hung up on having every column filled perfectly. o Discuss questions next week and have time to work on it during the group time.
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Encouragement for Leaders
Check to see who has completed Step 5. For those who haven’t, make sure a date is set. Plan for discussion/workshop time next week. Praise God for the blessings of confession and repentance in your life! Praise God that he is using your weaknesses to encourage and strengthen others! Don’t settle for less than God’s best! Psalm 13:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
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Step Six, Week Two General Principle: REPENT We become entirely ready to turn away from our patterns of sin and turn to God. Foundation Verse: 2 Timothy 2:22, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Key theme: Receive redirection from God. To experience God’s freedom: God must change you inside and you must be willing to take steps of obedience. Your natural response to temptation and stress is sinful. How does God want you to respond? Plan a godly response to temptation and stress. Rely upon God’s direction and provision to walk in his ways.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
Our natural response to temptation and stress is sin. In this lesson, we make a plan to follow God’s direction, and rely upon his strength and provision to respond differently through the help of the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of group time, plan for answering “how-to” questions about the repentance charts. Then, use the remainder for workshop time for participants to work on their own repentance charts so you can help with questions.
Key Questions
Answer any questions regarding the repentance chart plan.
Encouragement for Participants
The Repentance Plan is developmental work, so it feels different than other weeks. This includes studying sinful nature, God’s will, setting up boundaries and a plan of action for when you are tempted. This is only a tool to help make changes in life. Don’t stress if you can’t fill out every box. Share your plan with others. Discuss your plan with your mentor, recovery partners, and leaders. Encourage them to ask for help as needed in finding Scripture for God’s plan and will for their life. Don’t sign-off on a plan in isolation. Plan for godliness and rely upon God when called to respond to temptation and stress. Continue to work on your plans this week. Ask if anyone can share the memory verse. Acts 3:19, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
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Encouragement for Leaders
Your group members are planning real steps of life change! Praise God! The Repentance Plan chart is a tool to help people identify what needs to change in their life and to help them take real steps of obedience. o This exercise is to get them to look at sinful patterns, to understand God’s direction, set boundaries and plan a godly response – to take real steps of dying to their sinful patterns and turning to Christ. Go over a personal example of a repentance plan in your own life for participants’ understanding. Reserve some group time for participants to work on plans so you can help with questions. Heart change is infinitely more important that behavior modification. Though this lesson includes changing behaviors, participants won’t be able to follow their own plan under their own strength. It’s only by the Holy Spirit that they will be able to follow God’s plan. This plan helps people take real steps of change, but also show them that they need God’s strength to do God’s will. Remember how you responded to temptation and sin before coming to recovery. Praise God for the freedom he has given you!
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Step Six, Week Three General Principle: REPENT We become entirely ready to turn away from our patterns of sin and turn to God. Foundation Verse: 2 Timothy 2:22, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Key theme: Receive redirection from God. To experience God’s freedom: God must change you inside and you must be willing to take steps of obedience. Your natural response to temptation and stress is sinful. How does God want you to respond? Plan a godly response to temptation and stress. Rely upon God’s direction and provision to walk in his ways.
Watch or Listen to this Week’s Training Video/Audio Things to Remember
Confession and repentance go hand in hand. Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Dying to your old life isn’t pleasant or easy. Participants with need God’s Spirit, strength, comfort, word and people for this transformation to occur.
Key Questions
There is only one day of questions for this step. Question 5 is a good one for discussion.
Encouragement for Participants
You are taking real steps of life change! Jesus said in Luke 9:23-24, “…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Encourage participants with the changes they are making in life. Remind them to share the plan with others who can help. Like inventory, this tool can be used for any struggle at any time. This is a tool they can use the rest of their lives. You are halfway through the steps! Take time to pray and thank God as a group for the changes he is making in the group!
Encouragement for Leaders
Remind participants to keep taking one step at time. Finish strong. Talk with your co-leader about how each group member is doing and how to encourage them. Plan a group celebration for completing this book! Relational time outside of group time helps build friendship bonds. Consider ways your group can serve at re:gen (12 steps, greeting, parking, etc.). It’s important to encourage people to focus on others instead of only focusing on themselves. It is not just volunteering, but it is being part of others’ recovery journey. Remind participants pick up Book 4 and assign next lesson. Email the mentors to let them know the group has finished this step and will be beginning a new book.
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Praise God for the work he is doing! Remember why we are serving and who we are serving: 1 Timothy 4:10-11, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things.”
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