GRACE | Katie Hauck

Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone to Celebrate Recovery. Welcome everyone. My name is Joshua Seale. Hey, how are you all doing out there? You know what? I'd like to welcome all our online guys and gals that are watching. Everyone that are in correctional facilities, I would like to speak to you for just a moment. Whenever I was doing a time in the federal system, you'd say, I went from system to system. I went to three different federal prisons and just couldn't get it right. I'd get out and I'd violate. I urge you right now, if you are watching from a cell, do not harden your heart to the environment around you. Know that there is a place in your heart that is peace if you'll welcome in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll welcome in the Lord Jesus Christ, look up in your scriptures, Ezekiel 36, 26, and know that that hard heart can be removed. He can take that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh and a new spirit. Well, thank you, sir. What a kind young man. I would also like to tell everybody we are a 12-step faith-based recovery program here in Maryville, Tennessee at Real Revolution Broadcast Campus. I do, I suffer, well, I suffered. I suffered from a lot of things, but I do celebrate recovery right now from a massive drug addiction, incarceration, and just basic loneliness. After you've been incarcerated for so long, you come out and you think you're alone. I'll tell you what, my relationship with Jesus Christ has grown these past four years where I'll never turn around. Never turn around. I see all y'all smiling faces in here tonight, and I'd like to give a shout-out to some of the programs here like Life Changers, True Purpose Ministries, Fountain of Hope.

This is how it's done. You come to Jesus Christ and let him rule your life, you know? Oh, yeah, Beauty for Ashes in the house as well. Let's go, ladies, let's go. We do have a confidentiality here. If you want to come to the altars and pray tonight, please don't be shy. This is where the breakthrough is made. This is where you can come to Jesus Christ and you can lay it down. And sometimes you need to know that laying it down here is some place where you can have some support. I urge every man and woman here to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, one on one. That's where you're going to find him, in that broken place, just you and him. But here at Celebrate Recovery, we will support you. We will corporately pray over you, and these cameras are not going to see you. Come to the Lord and lay it down tonight. And let's see, tonight's agenda, I guess we're going to have some prayer. And you know what, I'd like to pray over us real quick before we even start, because that's what I do. Okay? Father God, in the name of Jesus Christ, I speak over every mind and heart that hears my voice. Tonight I speak peace over everyone. This peace of our Lord and his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ that never fails or forsakes. Heavenly Father, I thank you for redemption. I thank you for recovery here with the Holy Spirit of God that mends the broken pieces of broken hearts to make them stronger than ever, so that they lack for nothing. Heavenly Father, I ask that you go before us tonight, and you make a way, you make a way over the hurdles, over the walls, over those chains that have been shackled on us.

Please break these things down tonight. Open our hearts and our minds. Fill our cups with the Word of God and your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, amen. Well, if you guys would like to join me and stand, and we will speak to our Father. And the Honorable Jesus Christ is presiding. Thank you for standing. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who would trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Alright. Now, also, we're going to have an Awaken the Spirit. I think it's going to be... Coming up in Morristown Thanks, oh yes, it's gonna be a concert. I think they're gonna be held in Morristown for 936 p.m. And if y'all would like to come out, I know it's gonna be fire. Holy ghost fire. So come check us out Then there's gonna be a fun in the Sun car show I think that's gonna be right here at real revolution if you ain't come out yet Well you business some of the drip out here in the parking lot on some of these cars. Okay, come check them out But also there's a blood brothers tour that's gonna be coming through as well Right here in Maryville come check us out if you want to worship the Lord and It's free But there is no child care now leave you kids at home and If I can get Abby and Liz up to come and do the eight principles

Thank you, thank you ladies All right, how's everybody doing tonight come on I know y'all are louder than that, how are we doing tonight? Okay, well, my name is Abby Try it again, I'm Liz All right, we're gonna the eight principles based on the Beatitudes Matthew 5 3 through 10 so and give us a little grace Hi, Jared, give us a little grace because the screens are back there now So we might the squint so I'm gonna read it first and then you guys are gonna follow along with Liz Okay, our realize I'm not God I admit that I'm powerless to control my tendencies to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable So before Matthew 5 3 II earnestly believe that God exists that I matter to him and that he has a power to help me recover For See consciously choose to commit my all my life and Christ towards Steven my life and my will to Christ care and control Oh Openly examine and confess my faults to myself to God and to someone I trust Happy are the pure in heart Matthew 5 8 V Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask him to remove all of my character defects Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires Matthew 5 6 Evaluate all my relationships Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I've done to others except one to do so would harm them or others Happy are the merciful Matthew 5 7 happy are the peacemakers Matthew 5 9 our 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 and Why you myself to God to be used To bring the good news to others both my of my example and by my words

Happier those who are persecuted because they do what God requires Matthew 5 10 good job So Listen, I know that we don't do birthdays every week at celebrate recovery but There's a very important birthday today And so I cannot continue until we sing my friend Melissa a happy birthday Melissa Where did she go? Oh I'm Sorry, do we have any other birthdays this week? Okay, Alejandro come up here Who else who else? birthdays We need we need to sing happy birthday. Come on. Come on. You thought you're gonna get away with it, didn't you? I Write any other birthdays last chance All right. Tell me Your name and the date of your birthday, but you don't have to tell me the year. Okay Okay, absolutely Brenda September 22nd Melissa September 22nd Alex September 22nd Awesome. All right, which you guys Would you guys sing happy birthday to them? We're just going to sing happy birthday to everybody, so we don't have to remember all their names, OK? Would you guys just help me and sing happy birthday? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Everyone. Happy birthday to you.

All right. Happy birthday, you guys. OK, sorry. Could not start my message without calling out some friends. OK. So let's start over. Welcome to Celebrate Recovery. My name's Katie. Hi, I'm excited to be here with you tonight. As you all know, I am a mom. How many parents do we have in the house? How many of you have children? OK. Have you ever, in parenting, felt like a broken record when talking to your kids? Like, you tell your kids the same things over and over and over again. Like, pick up your shoes. Be nice to your brother. Do your homework. Right? I had this one son. And for whatever reason, he refused to pick up his wet towel and hang it up after he showered. OK. And that, I don't know what, it really irritated me. I don't want that moldy smell, right? And so I would tell him every single time, pick up your towel, pick up your towel.

So one day, I told him, dude, pick up your towel. And he's like, oh, I didn't know I was supposed to. And I'm like, seriously? So being who I am, I went and I got out my phone and my calculator, and I estimated his age and how long he'd been showering on his own and how often he showered. And it was something like 1,258 times that I had told him to pick up his towel, right? And so I let him know just how many times I had told him to pick up his towel, right? But sometimes, kids just don't get things right away, right? And they needed to be reminded of some of the same things over and over, right? But what's kind of funny is I feel like sometimes we are the same way, especially when it comes to God's word, right? He repeats his truths to us again and again and again and again, yet they just don't sink in. And I wonder why do we struggle so hard to get God's truths? But sometimes, God's truths are a little hard to believe, especially when it comes to who we are in Christ or how much God loves us, right? That's where grace comes in, because grace means he doesn't give up on us. Grace means he doesn't get irritated and figure out and do the calculations to remind us of how many times he's had to tell us that over and over. Grace is when he patiently repeats himself, reminding us over and over that we are his beloved children.

So in case you forgot or in case it just hasn't sunk in yet, I'm gonna tell you again who he says you are. In 2 Corinthians 5.17, he says, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. In 1 Peter 2.9, he says, you are chosen. You are royal priesthood. You are God's special possession. In 1 John 3.1, he says, you are a child of God. In Ephesians 1.7, he says, you are forgiven. In Ephesians 2.10, he says, you are a masterpiece. In Romans 8.37, he says, you are more than a conqueror. In Matthew 28.20, he says, you are never alone. In John 8.36, he said, you are set free. In Matthew 5.14, he says, you are light. And a whole bunch of verses over and over throughout scripture say, you are loved. Grace is God saying, you are not what you did. You are who I say you are. And he repeats those truths to us again and again and again because he knows we need to hear them sometimes 1,258 times until they finally sink in. So here's my first big question. Why? Why would God love us and show us so much grace? Right, we're broken, we fail, we run, we make bad choices, we don't listen, yet Romans 5.8 says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Not after we clean up our act, not once we prove ourselves worthy. While we were still a mess, Jesus gave his life for us.

Why? Well, God tells us in his word. He tells us first it's because it's his nature. Right, the Bible says God is. Love. Love isn't just something God does, it's who He is. Everything He does flows out of His perfect love. He says it's because we are His creation. God made us in His image like an artist treasures their masterpiece. He delights in us because we bear His imprint. Psalm 139 tells us that we were fearfully and wonderfully made. He tells us it's because He chooses to love us. God's love is not based on what we do or how good we are. His love is a decision and a covenant, not a reaction. He tells us it's because He is a Father. Over and over scripture describes God as a Father and Jesus taught us to pray our Father who are in Heaven. A good Father loves His children no matter what. It tells us He loves us because He wants and desires relationship with us. From Genesis through Revelation, if you look at scripture, God's heart is to be with His people. That's why He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. It's why He rescued Israel. It's why He sent Jesus to live among us and why He promises eternal life together with Him. In short, God loves us because it's who He is, because we belong to Him and because His greatest desire is for us to know Him and experience that love. So God doesn't love us because we're good. He loves us because He's good. And that's grace.

That is undeserved, unearned, unreasonable love. So the second big question, what exactly does God's love look like? Well, God's love looks like mercy and grace. Ephesians 2 says we're made alive by His grace. Lamentations 3 says His mercies are new every morning. Hebrews 4.16 says we can approach His throne of mercy and grace with confidence. So mercy is not getting what we deserve, which is hell, but grace is getting what we don't deserve, which is eternity in heaven with Him. But grace is also forgiveness when we've messed up 1,258 times. It's compassion when we've run out of chances. It's God saying, come closer, child, I'm not done with you. It's beautiful and it's undeserved and it's amazing. So here's the third big question. What does God ask of us in return? Well, Jesus sums that up with two things. The first, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This means to love Him with every part of who you are, with your actions, with your emotions, with your thoughts. No part of your life is not centered on Him. To recognize it's not a feeling. It's devotion to Him and His ways and His plans. It's surrender, full, total surrender because it's about relationship. His grace invites us to love Him back, not out of fear, not out of duty, but because we've experienced His goodness. And it seems like if we fully grasp that deep love, then this would be pretty easy. But it's not because we're selfish and surrender is hard.

But how many of us at least try to love God back, right? Yeah. But there's some bad news because the second thing Jesus calls us to do, it's even harder. And I think a lot of us don't even want to try. He said, love my other kids the same way I love you. You see the same grace that God poured out on you, He also poured out on them. The ones who hurt you, the one who abandoned you, the one that you believe doesn't deserve it. God doesn't say love them when they're kind to you. Love them when they're good. Love them when they treat you right. He said love them anyway. And while boundaries are healthy, bitterness is not. Bitterness keeps us chained where grace sets us free. I want to tell you about a hard week I had recently. I was deeply, deeply saddened for someone that I dearly love who was hurting. And if you know me at all, I hate emotions. I hate feeling emotional, right? And sadness, like that's the worst. Like I hate feeling sadness. So I didn't want to feel sadness. So what I did was I just stuffed it. Right? But the more I stuffed it, the more that it began to leak out. But it started to manifest instead of sadness as anger. Yeah. Because anger is a love. Little bit of an easier emotion to deal with than grief, right? Right, so I thought, I'm gonna blame somebody for this situation, right?

So I would find someone, and I decided that's the person I'm gonna blame, and I would be mad at them. And then the Lord would shine a light on them, and he would reveal to me their brokenness. And he would show me the way that he shows them. And suddenly, I had compassion instead of anger. And I'm like, okay, well, that's not fair. But you know what, it must be this person's fault then. So then I would be mad at this person. And then the Lord would shine a light on them. And he would show me their brokenness. And he would give me compassion for them. So I'm like, okay, well, now I'm gonna be mad at this person. And it happened over and over, and I was frustrated. Because every time I tried to be mad at somebody, I ended up having compassion on them. And I was so irritated that eventually I ran out of people to be angry at, except Satan, the enemy himself. And that's when Ephesians 6, 12 came to mind that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, right? Our struggle is against rulers and authorities and powers of the dark world. It's against spiritual forces of evil, right? My fight was not physical. My fight was spiritual. But sometimes fighting in the physical is a little bit easier. And sometimes fighting in the flesh feels a little bit more satisfying. So I wanted someone that I could lash out at. I wanted someone to call names. I wanted someone that I could punch in the face, right? But I had to realize that is not how I was going to win this battle.

It's actually not how we win any battle. But how many of us try? Yeah. You see, how do we win the battle? The answer is simple. It's grace. The same grace that Jesus poured on us. Because the enemy thrives on anger and bitterness and unforgiveness and division. And he hates when we love people the way that God loves us. He hates when we forgive. He hates when we show mercy. And that week, grace had to be my weapon. I had to choose compassion instead of blame. And I had to choose prayer instead of payback. And I had to choose forgiveness, even though my emotions were not there yet. And that's the hard part, because it's not easy when your emotions aren't there. But we have to remember grace is not weakness. Grace is spiritual warfare, even when we don't feel like it. I want to read you a passage out of Acts chapter 12, verses 5 through 16. It says, so Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone into the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals, and Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea what the angel was doing or what was really happening, he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city.

It opened for them by itself and they went through it. When they walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen. When this dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked on the outer entrance and a servant named Rhoda came to the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, Peter is at the door. You're out of your mind, they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, it must be his angel. But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. You see, Peter was in prison. He was locked up and bound by the enemy. But verse five tells us the church was earnestly praying to God for them. That word earnestly is a Greek word, ektenos. It paints a picture of someone stretching their muscle to its limits. Luke, who wrote this passage, used the same word ektenos in his gospel when he was describing how Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. This is a stretched to the limit, desperate kind of prayer. And it says the church prayed that way for Peter because they recognized that they were not going to win. this battle physically. They were not going to rescue Peter with swords or mean words or punches in the face or gossip or refusing to forgive Herod. Their battle was spiritual and their prayer and their weapon was prayer. And what happened? God sent an angel and Peter's chains fell off

and the enemy lost all power and the doors were open and Peter walked free. It is incredible. The power we have when we pray earnest, passionate prayers in the name of Jesus. But here's the part that confused me. When Peter showed up at the door of the people who were praying so desperately and so powerfully, so earnestly for him, they couldn't believe it was actually Peter at the door. They had been praying but they were surprised when God answered. And I think, man, that's just like me sometimes, right? I pray for a miracle but deep down inside I'm not so sure it's going to happen. And here's where grace ties in. Sometimes the hardest prayers and the biggest miracles relate to us loving people and showing grace to others. Maybe you don't want to love someone and show them grace. Maybe you don't want to forgive someone. Maybe you don't want to imagine that person the way that God sees them. Maybe you don't want that person who hurt you with no chains walking free. Maybe you want them punished and jailed, facing consequences for their actions. I get it. Maybe you don't believe that they can be better, that they can change, that they are worthy of it, right? Well, the church didn't believe that Peter would be set free

but they prayed it anyway. So my answer is pray it anyway. Pray for that person no matter how you feel. Pray actenos prayers. Stretch yourself to do it. Because you see, you are battling an enemy but the enemy is not the person who hurt you. You may want this to be a physical fight but it is not. The person, the one that you are trying so hard to fight in the flesh is like Peter. They are locked up, controlled and bound by the real enemy. They are being tortured and they are in bondage and they are suffering even if you can't see it. But God can see it and he doesn't want to see his children like that. Just like he didn't want to see you like that. And you might say, Katie, you have no idea what this one person did to me. You don't know how much they hurt me. I don't. But I do know that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. So I'm gonna repeat what I said earlier because remember sometimes it takes us a few times to get it right. Ephesians 2 says you were made alive by his grace. It's the same for them. Lamentations 3 says his mercies for you are new every morning. It's the same for them.

Hebrews 4.16 says you can approach his throne of mercy and grace with confidence. It's the same for them. God's love for you is forgiveness when you don't deserve it. It's the same for them. God's love for you is compassion when you've run out of chances. It's the same for them. God's love for you says come closer, child. I'm not done with you and it's the same for them. God's love for you is beautiful and undeserved and amazing and it's the same for them. God's love for you showed up in mercy and grace and it's the same for them. Grace is often a choice long before it's a feeling but if you keep praying and keep stretching eventually your emotions will catch up so don't give up, keep knocking because grace is the victory. So the last big question is how exactly do I do that especially when I don't want to? Well, Celebrate Recovery gives us practical steps to live this out. Principle six says evaluate all my relationships, offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me, make amends for the harm I've done to others when possible except when to do so would hurt them or others, right? What's the verse that goes with that?

Matthew 5, seven, happy are the merciful and Celebrate Recovery gives us step nine, make direct amends to people whenever possible except when to do so would injure them or others and Luke 6, 31 tells us do to others as you would have them do to you. What is that? The golden rule, that's right. Forgiveness and amends are where grace becomes real. They're not just nice ideas. have to actually live them out in our relationships. So when you forgive someone, you're extending the same grace God gave you. When you make amends for your own wrongs, you are humbling yourself and asking someone else to experience God's grace through you. This is what it looks like to fight the enemy with grace. It looks like refusing to hold on to bitterness, seeking peace whenever possible, forgiving the people who hurt you and walking in freedom. Now, I wanna give you seven steps that you can start taking today that will help you do this. And if you don't have a piece of paper and can't write them down, I printed off like 50 sermon notes. They're out on the counter. You can grab one and take it with you if you want it when you leave, okay? Step number one, acknowledge the hurt before God. Okay, 1 Peter 5, 7 says, cast your cares on him.

He cares about you. He loves you. Tell him what's hurting you. Be honest in prayer. Pour out your pain and your anger and your resentment. Name it before him because then it prevents you from festering in silence. David modeled this throughout the Psalms. He vented his hurts, but then he always turned back to God and trusted him. Step two is remember God's forgiveness for you, right? Colossians 3, 13 tells us, forgive as the Lord forgave. Reflect on how much Christ has forgiven you fully and freely. And when you realize the debt he canceled on your behalf, it softens your grip of bitterness on others. Step three, pray for the people who hurt you the same way the church prayed for Peter. Matthew 5, 44, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Prayer shifts your heart. At first, it may feel forced, okay? But consistent prayer for the people who hurt you gradually begins to release resentment. It's okay to say, God, I'm going to pray for this person because you told me to. But I know that you know that I don't actually mean it and that I don't actually even want this, okay? But I'm gonna be obedient. And I promise you, God will honor that obedience for you

just like he did for the church in Acts who didn't believe what they were praying for. Step four, replace bitter thoughts with the word of God, right? Second Corinthians 10, five tells us we can take every thought captive to obey Christ. Bitterness often replays on a loop in our head, right? But each time it surfaces, grab it, kick it out of your mind and replace it with a different verse. Step five, actively pursue peace, right? Romans 12, 18 tells us if it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Forgiveness does not always mean reconciliation, okay? But when it's safe and when it's possible, you can take small steps towards peace, an act of kindness, a nice word, choosing not to retaliate or punch someone in the face. Step number six, release judgment to God, right? Romans 12, 19, it's his job to avenge, not ours. God said he will repay, right? When you let go of bitterness, it means trusting God with justice, whatever that looks like in his way, in his time. And number seven, walk in love daily. First Peter 4, eight tells us above all else, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sin. Love is not a feeling, love is a daily choice to treat others with grace and kindness and patience,

even when they don't deserve it. This active love loosens our bitterness and it makes space for peace. I want you to think about this. God rescued Israel, parted the Red Sea, and then gave them the law. Jesus rescued you and then gave you these two commands. Both times, grace came first. Grace is unearned favor, kindness, love, and blessings, not based on our works but his heart. It's giving us what we don't deserve and then once we receive it, it's asking us to give it out to others. Grace repeats God's truth over and over and over until we believe it. Grace defines our identity. Grace is God's undeserved love and action. Grace calls us to love him and others. It empowers us to forgive and make amends. Grace is not just God's kindness, it is his power at work in us. It saves us and it changes us and then it sends us. So when you feel weak and you feel like you can't forgive, remember in 2 Corinthians 12, nine, my grace is sufficient for you. So choose grace first and everything else will catch up. So I want you to just close your eyes for a second and ask yourself these couple of questions. What truth about your identity in Christ do you need to hear again and again until it sinks in?

Who do you need to forgive even if they don't deserve it? Is there someone you've hurt that God may be leading you to make amends with? What would it look like to pray those ectenos prayers, stretching yourself for someone even when you don't believe it? How does choosing grace in these areas fight the enemy's plan of division and bitterness and unforgiveness? And the last question, am I ready to accept that God's grace saved me and changed me and if so, am I ready for it to send me? And just in case, you need to hear this one more time. You are a new creation, you are chosen, you are a royal priesthood, you are a special possession, you are a child of God, you are forgiven, you are a masterpiece, you are more than a conqueror, you are never alone, you are set free, you are a light and you are loved more than you could possibly imagine. Lord, thank you so much for this day and thank you for every person who's here today. Lord, I pray that those truths begin to sink in. I pray that they begin to accept those truths, Lord, and they see themselves the way that you see them, Lord, and I pray that it gives them the power and the strength to do the things that you have called them to do, to love the people that you have called them to love, to forgive the people that you have called them to forgive, to make amends with the people that you have called them

to make amends with, Lord, because we know that prayer and grace are weapons that we will use to fight the real enemy, Lord God, so don't let us be confused about who the real enemy is, Lord, let us recognize that it is Satan, but that you have conquered him, that through you we are more than conquerors, that he is under our foot and that we don't have to allow bitterness and unforgiveness in. Lord, bless everyone here abundantly, exceedingly, more than they could ever ask or imagine, and let them feel your deep love tonight more than they've ever felt it before. God, we love you, we praise you, and it's in the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.