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Celebrate Recovery provides a safe confidential environment to break free from the hurts, habits, and hang ups that hinder us from experiencing the True Joy found in Christ. Those who currently find themselves in the battle or have been there and want to support others can benefit from the experience. Also, if you have been in other 12-step programs and have had a desire to give back this could be the place to serve.

A Word From Our Pastor

Each week people come to the church on Thursday night from every walk of life. A common thread that is woven in each of these people is a hurt, habit or hang-up in their life and a desire to break free from it through the grace and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through this ministry God has drawn men and women from the valleys of their life and given them a glimpse of what community looks like when we let down our guard and enter the battle for each other’s soul. I pray that as you are in the midst of the valley and struggling to see God, you reach out to fellow believers and invite them into the battle with you. Celebrate Recovery is a place where this can begin. Do not let pride stand in the way of experiencing what God has to offer or the call to help others.

For His glory,

Pastor Gregg

What is Celebrate Recovery?

Celebrate Recovery (CR) is a biblical and balanced recovery program that helps us overcome our hurts, hang-ups, and habits. The ministry is based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory.

CR is a program to help those struggling with hurts, habits and hang-ups by showing them the loving power of Jesus Christ through a recovery process. CR is a ministry of Houston’s First Baptist Church and is part of a ministry that is now in over 20,000 churches worldwide!

CR is based on 12 Steps with accompanying Scriptures and 8 Principles based on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. CR offers participants a clear path of bringing hope, freedom, sobriety, healing, and the opportunity to give back one day at a time through our one and only true Higher Power, Jesus Christ. The 12 Steps and the 8 Principles work seamlessly together, tying historical recovery to timeless Biblical teaching.

If you are hurt, God says. “I will heal you.”
If you’re confused, God says, “I will lead you.”
If you feel helpless, God says, “I will help you.”
If you feel alone, God says, “I will comfort you.”
If you feel anxious and afraid, God says, “I will offer peace to you.”

CR provides a “safe place” for you to experience God’s healing power, regardless of the emotional, financial, relational, sexual, substance or other issue you may struggle with, issues such as anxiety, worthlessness, chemical dependency, food and weight issues, cutting, anger, childhood abuse, codependency, worry, financial issues, gambling, stress, pornography, perfectionism, divorce, gossip, a need to control others, etc.

Is Celebrate Recovery for me?

You’re probably just like many others who struggle with a hurt, habit or hang-up. Perhaps there’s something that’s controlling your life, a fear, a habit, or an addiction. Maybe it’s a hurt or a betrayal you’ve suffered that you cannot get beyond. You’re not alone. The most frequent thought expressed by newcomers to Celebrate Recovery (CR) is “I thought I was the only one.”

CR program is a place for you to find lasting healing and recovery.

The Bible tells us that “all have sinned.” It is our nature to sin. Because of sin, we’ve all hurt ourselves, we’ve all hurt other people, and others have hurt us. This means we need repentance and recovery in order to live our lives the way God intended.

We need a biblical and balanced program to overcome our hurts, habits and hang-ups, and grow toward full Christlike maturity and live the life God intended for us. CR is that program. It is based on the actual words of Jesus.

There are seven features that make CR unique:

1. CR is based on God’s Word, the Bible. When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, he began by stating “Eight Ways to Be Happy.” Today we call them the Beatitudes. From a conventional viewpoint, many of these don’t make sense, and sound like contradictions. But when we fully understand what Jesus is saying, we realize that these principles are God’s road to recovery, wholeness, spiritual maturity, and an abundant life.
2. CR is forward-looking. Regardless of what has already happened, the solution is to start making wise choices now and depend on Christ’s power to help me make those changes.
3. CR emphasizes personal responsibility. When we stop wasting time fixing the blame, we have more energy to fix the problem. This program helps us face up to our own poor choices and deal with those we can do something about. We cannot control all that happens to us. But we can control how we respond. That is a secret of happiness. When we stop hiding our own faults and stop hurling accusations at others, then the healing power of Christ can begin working in our mind, will, and emotions.
4. CR emphasizes spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ. The third principle calls for us to make a total surrender of our lives to Christ. Lasting recovery cannot happen without this step. Everybody needs Jesus. Celebrate Recovery is thoroughly evangelistic in nature.
5. CR emphasizes the biblical truth that we need each other in order to grow spiritually and emotionally. It is built around small group interaction and the fellowship of a caring community. Celebrate Recovery is built on the New Testament principle that we don’t get well by ourselves. Fellowship and accountability are two important components of recovery and growth.
6. CR is for all types of habits, hurts and hang-ups. Some recovery programs deal only with alcohol or drugs or some singular problem. But Celebrate Recovery is a large umbrella program under which a limitless number of issues can be dealt with.
7. Finally, CR produces servant leaders. Because Celebrate Recovery is biblical, we learn the joy of serving for Christ, and the added strength we gain for our own recovery by serving others.

In CR, lives are restored and people are set free from all kinds of sinful habits, hang-ups, and hurts as they allow Jesus to be Lord in every area of their lives.

If you have any questions about the program, contact CRHFBCLOOP@HoustonsFirst.org.

Meeting Times at Houston's First

Every Thursday Night — The Loop (Rm 401)

• 6:30–7p – Pizza & Fellowship
• 7–8p – Large group meeting (all) — Each week alternates between a recovery testimony and a recovery lesson
• 8–9p – Small, Open Share Groups (gender-specific)

If Thursdays do not fit your schedule, there are Celebrate Recovery meetings at an area church almost every night of the week. To find a meeting near you, click here.

Step Study Small Groups

In addition to regular weekly Thursday night Celebrate Recovery meeting, you can opt for a more intense recovery effort by joining a small group for a 9-12 month recovery study. These “Step Study” groups are gender specific and meet once a week, covering 25 lessons in the Celebrate Recovery program. The day of the meeting varies by group, but are most often on Wednesday evenings or Sunday afternoons. This is a more personal and intensive extension of the Thursday night meeting and provides a forum for more concentrated personal recovery work and opportunities to grow in relationships.

For information on Step Study groups, contact the HFBC counseling center at CRHFBCLOOP@HoustonsFirst.org or 713.335.6462, or inquire at the welcome table at the Thursday evening meetings.

Celebrate Recovery 12 Steps and Biblical Comparisons

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 2:1
3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
   Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as 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. Lamentations 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 5:16
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 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 there 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. Matthew 5:23-24
10. We continue 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! 1 Corinthians 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. Colossians 3:16
12. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try 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 them gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1

Celebrate Recovery’s Eight Recovery Principles

The Road To Recovery Based On The Beatitudes

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 that they are spiritually poor.”

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.”

Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control. “Happy are the meek.”

Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. “Happy are the pure in heart.”

Voluntarily submit to any and all changes 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”

Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. “Happy are the merciful.” “Happy are the peacemakers”

Reserve a 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.

Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and my words. “Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.”

For More Information On Celebrate Recovery:

Call: HFBC’s Julianna Poor Memorial Counseling Center at 713.335.6462
Email: CRHFBCLOOP@HoustonsFirst.org

Resources

• CelebrateRecovery.com