We would like to send out a very special THANK YOU to everyone who helps wiith childcare on Tuesday and Friday nights !!! If it wasn't for your hardwork and dedication, then those of us who attend this ministry would not experience the healing it provides, nor would we be becoming a more passionate follower of Jesus. Remember, you have a big part in the improvement of many people's lives. Everyone of you do a terrific job. The children have a lot of fun, and when they love to come like they do, it makes it easier on us parents! We want to extend a thank you to the following people:
Jennifer Devine, BJ Reinhart, Wes and Ashley Lackey, Belinda Martin, Susan Sanders, Patricia Prather, Brenda Boston, Rhonda Robinson, Shannon Green, Cathlene Green, Claudia Brooks, Lauries Stone, Pam Osborn, Lori Matney, Patrick Donaldson, Tabbatha Donaldson, Jeanna Johnson, and Julie Heaffner !!!
We also want to say THANK YOU to the unsung hero of the ministry; Heath Payseur. Heath does anything and everything we need done, whenever we need it done. From setting up tables and chairs several times a week to helping out with childcare. THANKS HEATH. We couldn't do it without you.
I want to appologize in advance if anyone was unintentionally left off of this list! Please let Paula Witherspoon know or email your name to
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, and this will be corrected immediently.
Thought for Today - March 5th, 2009
The Christian life is not an imitation, but a participation in Christ ("For we have become partakers of Christ..." Hebrews 3:14). The great dilemma... resolves itself into most simple terms when we grasp the distinction between imitation and participation. For, what is impossible to me as an imitator of Christ becomes perfectly natural as a participant of Christ. F.J. Huegel
Our Vision is to celebrate the Peace, Power, and Presence of Jesus Christ through Passion, Prayer, and Publicity, and to tear down the walls in your life so you can build bridges to Jesus during one of life's storms, after one of life's storms, or as you are about to enter one of life's storms.
"You've undoubtedly heard the expression 'time heals all wounds'. Unfortunately, it isn't true! The truth is, time often makes things worse. Wounds that are left untended fester and spread infection throughout the entire body. Time only extends the pain if the problem isn't dealt with." -Pastor Rick Warren
Celebrate Recovery (CR for short) is a life-changing Christian lay-ministry, based on the 12-Step process of Alcoholics Anonymous and the 8 Principles of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. In essence, it is a Christ centered 12-step program. This biblical program began at Saddleback Baptist Church by Pastors Rick Warren and John Baker, and is designed to help people recover from life's many hurts, habits, hang-ups, and addictions.
In short, CR is for everyone! We have all been hurt by people, have hurt people, and/or have witnessed hurt. In order to get closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we have to deal with those hurts, and bury them in the past so that we can have a more peaceful future. "The Bible clearly states, 'all have sinned.' It is my nature to sin and it is yours too. None of us is untainted. Because we sin, we've all hurt ourselves, we've all hurt other people, and others have hurt us. This means each of us need repentance and recovery in order to live our lives the way God intended." -Pastor Rick Warren
Celebrate Recovery here at Anthony Grove !
We kicked off the Celebrate Recovery Big Meeting at Anthony Grove on June 20th, 2008 @ 6:00 pm. This is now a weekly meeting. We thank all of you that have come out to join us, and look forward to seeing more of you as we celebrate the awesome healing power of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The schedule of the Big Meeting is as follows:
6:00 - 7:00 pm Fellowship Meal
7:00 - 8:00 pm Celebration Service
8:00 - 9:00 pm Open Share Groups
9:00 - Until Solid Rock Café
We also have small, 12-Step study groups that meet on Tuesdays and Saturdays (this is where the miraculous change hapens). These meetings are gender based and are currently closed to new members, but we will be adding more and more groups in the near future. See you there!!!
1. Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing, and that my life is unmanageable.
"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor." (Matthew 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." (Matthew 5:4)
3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ's care and control.
"Happy are the meek." (Matthew 5:5)
4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
"Happy are the pure in heart." (Matthew 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." (Matthew 5:6)
6. Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me, and make amends for harm I've done to to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.
"Happy are the merciful." (Matthew 5:7) "Happy are the peacemakers." (Matthew 5:9)
7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, 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 News to others, both by my example and by my words.
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. We 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". (Philippians :12)
3. We 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 a living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship". (Romans 12:1)
4. We 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. We 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". (James 5:16a)
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up". (James 4:10)
7. We 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. We made a list of all persons we had 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. We 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 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. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall"! (1Cor. 10:12)
11. We 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". (Colossian 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". (Galatians 6:1)
IMPORTANT!!! Due to a wedding and the Easter Drama, there will be three dates during 2009 that we will be unable to have the CR Big Meeting. This meeting takes place on Fridays, and these events will have no effect on our Tuesday meetings! These dates are April 3rd, April 10th, andMay 8th. However, on May 8th the members of Anthony Grove's Celebrate Recovery will be traveling to another Celebrate Recovery in the area. The location will be added to the site in the near future.
WATCH, LOOK, and LISTEN! A Celebration is coming .....................
There will be a men's twelve-step study group beginning the first Saturday after Easter. The date is Saturday April 18th. The exact time has yet to be decided, but it will be sometime in the morning. Anyone interested in taking the class please see Mark Watson, Paula Witherspoon, or any other member of Celebrate Recovery.
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts. —Ezekiel 14:3
When my husband and I first went out as missionaries, I recall being concerned about the growth of materialism in our society. It never crossed my mind that I myself could be materialistic. After all, hadn’t we gone overseas with almost nothing? Weren’t we choosing to live in a shabbily furnished, rundown apartment? I thought materialism couldn’t touch us.
Nonetheless, feelings of discontent gradually began to take root in my heart. Before long I was craving hungrily after nice things and secretly feeling resentful over not having them.
Then one day God’s Spirit opened my eyes with a disturbing insight: Materialism isn’t necessarily having things; it can also be craving them. There I stood—guilty of materialism! God had exposed my discontent for what it was—an idol in my heart! That day as I repented of this subtle sin, God recaptured my heart as His rightful throne. Needless to say, a deep contentment followed, based not on things but on Him.
In Ezekiel’s day, God dealt thoroughly with this kind of secret idolatry. His throne on earth has always been in the hearts of His people. That’s why we must rid our heart of anything that destroys our contentment with Him. — Joanie Yoder
The dearest idol I have known, Whate’er that idol be, Help me to tear it from Thy throne And worship only Thee. —Cowper
An idol is anything that takes the place of God in our lives.
