WEBVTT
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00:00:12.720Welcome back to Just Your Average Joel Podcast.
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00:00:18.399This week we're going to uh recap step three and move into step four.
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00:00:29.359We're going to talk to Joel, average guy who had an extraordinary experience, an experience you don't want to miss, and a lot of people are missing it, and we're trying to get to the bottom of it.
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00:00:30.879I give you Joel.
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00:00:32.479Hey everybody, welcome back.
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00:00:34.240Glad to see you again this week.
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00:00:43.520Yes, we I I I we're gonna probably run through one, two, three, just like a real quick recap into three, and we're gonna talk about step four this week.
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00:00:48.079Um, you know, like Jen just opened up, it's like a lot of people are missing.
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00:00:52.159It's there is there's a lot more going on here than what's going on.
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00:00:52.799You know what I mean?
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00:00:58.960It's like they're taking the God out of everything, it's become very mundane, it's become very flat, it's not really that supernatural.
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00:01:02.159There's not really, it's not it's not the juice and the excitement.
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00:01:03.679It seemed, you know, a little bit.
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00:01:11.439Uh I guess I guess her son was talking about heaps out of place, and they were like, I got my car and I got money, and you know, and he's like, Well, you know, that's nice.
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00:01:13.040You know, these are temporal things, though.
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00:01:17.359Even relationships and fellowship and alcoholics anonymous is a very temporal thing.
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00:01:18.799We're talking something deeper than that.
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00:01:26.319And I like when I when he said that to me, I was like, Yeah, because when the storm happens and things happen, you want to be rooted in something concrete.
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00:01:29.760It says, build your house on the rock, you know, where it's rooted into the ground.
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00:01:43.519And Christ goes through the, you know, the seeds, you know, a seed that's on top, the seed, and then he talks about the seed that's rooted and deep and gets the proper fertilizer and proper water and how it grabs roots and it's tough.
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00:01:49.120And it, and and when things happen and later on, you're into something that's real, something that's eternal.
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00:01:50.319And that's the difference.
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00:01:52.159In we were talking about this last week.
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00:02:00.319We're talking about getting on the, you know, say, say uh the spiritual awakening is our goal is a spiritual awakening, being in a relationship with God.
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00:02:04.400God is in Indiana, and I'm getting on the train or the bus going to California.
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00:02:08.319Okay, they they there's a route that's that goes a different way.
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00:02:19.120And there's two things here: this AA, the and the program of AA, the program as they lay it out nowadays, fellowship, groups, meetings, this is AA.
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00:02:27.840That's not what they're talking about in the 12 steps, a relationship and a transformation and something supernatural and enlightenment.
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00:02:33.120That's that's what's what they're really offering with a lot of people, and hey, I get it.
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00:02:35.439If you don't have to go down that road, why go down that road?
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00:02:40.800So, people, it's only that's why a lot of the guys that were real hopeless in the beginning, we went through that last week too.
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00:02:51.680You're hopeless, you're unmanageable, that you need something, and he talks about it a lot and going through this real quick, uh, that you're talking, it says probably no human power could relieve our alcoholism.
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00:02:53.199God could and would if we were sought.
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00:02:55.199And it and it many different places.
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00:03:00.400It says if you were alcoholic as we were, seriously alcoholic as we were, there's no middle of the road solution.
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00:03:03.759You've entered into a region which there is no return through human aid.
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00:03:05.280They they go through it over and over and over.
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00:03:06.639They say it many different ways.
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00:03:11.039So if you decide that it's that is what you need to turn your will in your life.
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00:03:13.520Okay, so this is it's a different concept.
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00:03:18.719It's a more hopeless situation than somebody who feels like, hey, I'm having a drinking problem.
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00:03:24.879You know, if I go to this group, you know, a couple buddies and we'll hang out, and it's it's a very superficial way of looking at it.
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00:03:35.280The other way of what Bill, Bob, a lot of the guys that were um uh more of the hopeless variety that laid out the 12 steps alcoholic synonymous were hopeless.
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00:03:38.800So when they're hopeless, they're like, We're I'm beyond human aid.
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00:03:39.759That's what that means.
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00:03:51.759That means no human power can relieve my alcoholism and the God couldn't if I he was so the manager, the manageability and the unmanageability, I can't manage my life, so therefore I start moving away from self.
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00:03:55.840So now second step, I come to believe that the power created myself could restore my sanity.
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00:04:00.639Obviously, I made the assumption that I'm insane, that I'm insane, right?
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00:04:03.840That I need something that's and and it talks a lot in the book.
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00:04:08.000It talks about uh there is one who has all power, that one is God.
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00:04:12.879When you get into the tenth step, it says a lot has already been said about the one who has all knowledge, all power.
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00:04:18.639So we're talking pretty definitive, like all, you know, all means none of you guys, all.
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00:04:23.759So when we go into that, then we go into the step three, and uh there's a lot.
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00:04:28.720I'm gonna talk a little bit, I'm gonna recap step three a little bit and and and why it's so important.
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00:04:30.000You won't hear it a lot.
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00:04:39.759You go to meetings after meetings after meetings, so you won't hear page 63, you won't hear about the reborn, you won't hear about the shift in consciousness, you don't hear about any of that stuff.
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00:04:44.000You hear a lot of other stuff, three flogs and a log, all that kind of stuff.
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00:04:48.000But you do you want to read, Jen, about what uh alcoholic?
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00:04:48.480What was it?
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00:04:50.480In the in the beginning, in the beginning.
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00:04:54.800No, but in the beginning times and alcoholic synonymous success rates were a lot higher.
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00:04:56.000They did it a lot different.
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00:04:58.639So oh, do you want me to read the Cleveland Way?
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00:05:08.079Yeah, the Cleveland Way, and this was what one of the first alcoholics in the first groups were in Cleveland, Ohio.
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00:05:11.519They were mostly um Oxford groupers.
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00:05:21.920Okay, and so you've got um Clarence Schneider was one of the the you know, one of the original AAs, right?
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00:05:22.959Yes, yeah, Dr.
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00:05:24.560Bob was his sponsor.
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00:05:26.879So, okay, we'll read a little bit.
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00:05:28.800So AA the Cleveland Way.
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00:05:33.920Clarence Schneider was one of AA's first members to recover from alcoholism.
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00:05:37.680Clarence lived in Cleveland, Ohio, about an hour drive from Dr.
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00:05:38.560Bob's home.
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00:05:42.000Clarence became the leading promoter of hands-on AA.
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00:05:46.720In fact, the first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous was started by Clarence in Cleveland.
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00:05:50.720He already begun taking steps with others in the same fashion that Dr.
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00:05:52.240Bob had done with him.
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00:06:00.160Um they were using the four absolutes and and group fo focused mainly on the big book and the 12 steps.
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00:06:07.040Newcomers attracted by AA's success, publicity and aggressive activities poured into the society.
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00:06:09.680They started baseball teams and newsletters.
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00:06:13.120There, there was real growth and vitality in the community.
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00:06:22.240In fact, as numbers grew, it became impossible for sponsors to take newcomers through the steps individually, and they began doing it in groups and in classes.
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00:06:27.680And um, Clarence said they documented a 93% success rate.
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00:06:28.560Oh, that's crazy.
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00:06:30.160So today's like, what do they say?
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00:06:30.959Under ten.
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00:06:39.040So, okay, so the third step from AA the Cleveland Way, Clarence Snyder's third step prayer.
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00:06:42.560Dear God, I come to you in the name of Jesus.
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00:06:48.000Please take over the manager management of my life, my affairs, and everything about me.
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00:06:56.480I'm making this conscious decision to turn my will and my life over to your care, and I'm asking you to take over all parts of my life.
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00:07:05.040I surrender my will to you and ask you to take over the decision making for me because I haven't done so well on my own.
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00:07:10.319Thank you, Jesus, for understanding how hard it is for me to give myself up.
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00:07:18.079Please, God, move into my heart through Jesus, your son, the one who died for me and whom you raised from the dead.
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00:07:20.639How you do it is your business.
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00:07:26.160You make yourself real inside of me and fill this awful emptiness.
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00:07:31.519Fill me with your love and Holy Spirit and make me know your will for me.
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00:07:35.199And now, Lord, help yourself to me and keep doing it.
00:07:35.360 -->
00:07:39.839I'm not sure I want you to, but do it anyway.
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00:07:45.600I rejoice that I am now part of your people and that my uncertainty is gone forever.
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00:07:48.240That you have control over my will and my life.
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00:07:54.560Thank you for saying for saying in your word that you'll never leave me or forsake me.
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00:07:55.839Praise your name.
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00:07:56.639Amen.
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00:07:58.160That's pretty heavy.
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00:08:04.240I mean, they you do that today in AA, they'll the they'll light torches and run you out of the building.
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00:08:06.160I mean, that it's that definitely not.
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00:08:14.160I mean that's well, I guess that's what I was asking you on the way over, because they they love to say AA is not a religious program, it's a spiritual program.
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00:08:18.639So what do they mean when they say it's spiritual, not religious, which I can understand.
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00:08:19.839Either is this.
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00:08:23.759This is was more about a relationship than a religion.
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00:08:25.680But I don't think they mean it that way.
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00:08:29.040When they say it's spiritual, not religious, they mean it is religion.
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00:08:30.959Well, who's the god at the center?
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00:08:31.680Absolutely.
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00:08:32.639Absolutely the AA program.
00:08:33.039 -->
00:08:34.799Alcoholics synonymous has become a religion.
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00:08:38.159It's it's going to meanings, going it's an outward thing.
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00:08:46.000If you look up what religion is, it's an outward thing about change of behavior, check in boxing, checking dogma, rituals.
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00:08:46.799All that.
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00:08:50.799What the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous in the program was was about relationship.
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00:08:57.519People take Christianity, and that once you say I'm a Christian, they say they they attach religion to it.
00:08:57.759 -->
00:09:00.000See, Christianity was never meant to be a religion.
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00:09:01.039It was a way of life.
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00:09:03.600It was a relationship with the Creator.
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00:09:08.240He came here, so He I'd walk in this world with him, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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00:09:09.840I'm walking with God.
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00:09:11.440That is what this whole thing is about.
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00:09:13.120This is what the whole thing is about that.
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00:09:14.879That's what 10, 11, and 12.
00:09:14.960 -->
00:09:16.720There's nobody doing 10, 11, and 12.
00:09:17.039 -->
00:09:21.039But if you limit it to that, then what about, like the guy said at the meeting the other night?
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00:09:24.080What about the Muslims and the Jews, the Catholics?
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00:09:27.120I'm just saying, so everybody's welcome in AA.
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00:09:30.559There's a God at the center, the one true God.
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00:09:33.200Okay, so there's no discrepancy really.
00:09:33.600 -->
00:09:37.919Well, they can call him whatever they want, but what's going to be happening is God's going to reveal who he is to you.
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00:09:42.000So anybody who's had a conversion like I've had, they they all say the same God.
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00:09:48.000I haven't met anybody who's had a conversion like me who doesn't believe kind of how I believe, because the truth is the truth.
00:09:48.159 -->
00:09:57.919So however you're going to call out the God, your cry, sincerity, you're going to come up with a God which is going to line up with the listen, this program came out of the Bible.
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00:10:02.399This was a Christian, because a guy will say to me, This isn't a Christian organization.
00:10:02.720 -->
00:10:09.519Well, it listen, man, it's just like when you to when when I had that tape about Charlie Kirk saying about this being a Christian nation.
00:10:09.679 -->
00:10:10.960Yes, Judeo-Christian.
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00:10:13.440It came from Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Moses.
00:10:13.679 -->
00:10:24.000That's why they want to put Moses in the courtrooms, because that's where our, that was God's end to Moses was how to set up a government in the new land that they're walking in.
00:10:24.080 -->
00:10:25.679And that's what God told Moses.
00:10:26.000 -->
00:10:27.919This is how you should set up your government.
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00:10:29.840That's where our government comes from.
00:10:30.000 -->
00:10:40.320Uh blind justice, all that's Deuteronomy, all that, uh neither rich nor poor, all that stuff comes from that, which also is we're a Judeo-Christian.
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00:10:46.320Anybody who says that we're not Christian, uh, that our our values, Western values, are not Christian.
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00:10:50.399They're certainly not uh a Muslim, as other people say.
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00:10:53.039Muslim, Muslim says convert or die.
00:10:53.120 -->
00:10:56.399Uh pay the money, look at where how things are in Muslim places.
00:10:56.720 -->
00:10:58.639So our thing was a choice.
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00:11:04.879The God that I serve and know and love is a God of you can come if you want.
00:11:04.960 -->
00:11:06.639If you don't want to come, don't come.
00:11:06.879 -->
00:11:07.679It's not a force.
00:11:07.759 -->
00:11:09.919We're not forcing anybody to go down this path either.
00:11:10.080 -->
00:11:21.200But if your life is wrecked, ruined, and and how it is, then you're gonna have to throw away some ideas, concepts of your what it we just saw that uh that that movie, The Great Awakening.
00:11:21.759 -->
00:11:24.559And and what he say to what'd he say to Ben Franklin?
00:11:24.639 -->
00:11:27.120He said, Listen, this was Charles Whitford.
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00:11:29.200George, George, George Whitfield.
00:11:29.440 -->
00:11:29.840Whitfield.
00:11:30.000 -->
00:11:38.320And George Whitfield said, Don't my failings as a man, don't make that your reason, your excuse for not having faith in Christ.
00:11:38.480 -->
00:11:40.320He said, or your father's religion.
00:11:40.639 -->
00:11:42.879Your father's cold dead religion.
00:11:43.759 -->
00:11:45.279Your father's cold dead religion.
00:11:45.440 -->
00:11:47.759Don't let that be an excuse for you.
00:11:48.000 -->
00:11:51.200And what we've done is a lot of made the excuse.
00:11:51.440 -->
00:11:54.720Oh, listen, you know, and a lot of AA is like that.
00:11:54.799 -->
00:12:02.399So 10, 11, and 12, I mean, if you're gonna be really in 10, 11, and 12, which is jumping ahead a little bit, it you're gonna have to be an enlightened human being.
00:12:02.559 -->
00:12:02.639Right.
00:12:02.720 -->
00:12:04.879You're gonna have to be walking and talking with God.
00:12:05.039 -->
00:12:06.320We're gonna have to have a relationship.
00:12:06.399 -->
00:12:08.559When they say 42 stories in the back, right?
00:12:09.039 -->
00:12:13.200How from their own point of view, how they establish their relationship with God.
00:12:13.360 -->
00:12:14.720So this is about relationship.
00:12:14.879 -->
00:12:16.159We're not talking about religion.
00:12:16.399 -->
00:12:16.879We're not.
00:12:17.120 -->
00:12:17.360Yeah.
00:12:17.440 -->
00:12:21.840And so one more, I'll just read AA the Cleveland Way.
00:12:21.919 -->
00:12:24.480It said, do not depend on feelings.
00:12:24.639 -->
00:12:29.039Having completed step three, we're no longer what we think and feel.
00:12:29.279 -->
00:12:31.440We are what God tells us we are.
00:12:31.600 -->
00:12:35.600The promise of God's word, the Bible, which is where the program came from.
00:12:36.080 -->
00:12:39.039This program, because when Bill had his experience, he said so.
00:12:39.200 -->
00:12:40.960This is the God of the preachers.
00:12:41.519 -->
00:12:46.799Okay, so so it says the promise of God's word, the Bible, not our feelings, is our authority.
00:12:47.120 -->
00:12:54.399A Christian life, a Christian lives by faith, the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word.
00:12:54.799 -->
00:13:04.240And there's a train diagram here, and it has the the front of the train is the fact, and then it has two carts, faith and feelings are the caboose.
00:13:04.399 -->
00:13:09.360And what it says is the train will run with or without the caboose, the feelings.
00:13:09.600 -->
00:13:14.000However, it would be useless to attempt to pull the train by the caboose.
00:13:14.320 -->
00:13:26.720In the same way, we are we as Christians do not depend on feelings or emotions, but we place our faith in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word.
00:13:27.039 -->
00:13:37.440This illustration sh sh this illustration helps us understand that the day we pray, the third step prayer, God has taken over our lives, whether we feel like it or not.
00:13:37.600 -->
00:13:40.080It's kind of like um what what Father Martin said.
00:13:40.240 -->
00:13:46.799Alcoholics are very much E over I, and you're working the steps, you're getting flipped around I over E.
00:13:46.960 -->
00:13:50.000He says he will be the one that will help us change.
00:13:50.480 -->
00:13:53.759It is as if we have made a legal commitment.
00:13:54.080 -->
00:13:55.840Emotions are not an issue.
00:13:56.159 -->
00:14:02.000We sign this to confirm in our own mind that we have a new manager, and Clarence would have them sign this.
00:14:02.480 -->
00:14:07.360I have taken step three, I now belong to and have been made new by God.
00:14:07.679 -->
00:14:08.240Big time.
00:14:08.320 -->
00:14:10.159And that's what when we were reading last week.
00:14:10.240 -->
00:14:21.519Well, I don't know if we got into too much, but on page 63, well, it's actually 62, after we read How It Works Whole Time, and it goes into the how and why of it, and then it says, we decided in the year after the drama life.
00:14:21.679 -->
00:14:23.279God was going to be our director.
00:14:23.440 -->
00:14:27.600He was the principal, we were his agents, he was the father, we were his children.
00:14:27.759 -->
00:14:29.360Most good ideas are simple.
00:14:29.440 -->
00:14:35.759Uh the concept, uh keystone of a new triumphant arch through which we have passed through freedom.
00:14:35.840 -->
00:14:42.799And now it goes into the page 63, and it says, when we sincerely took such a uh remarkable, the remarkable things followed.
00:14:42.879 -->
00:14:44.639We we had a new employer.
00:14:44.720 -->
00:14:48.320So it's a whole shift in how I'm gonna listen, my life's spent.
00:14:48.480 -->
00:14:49.120I'm over.
00:14:49.200 -->
00:14:51.039I'm not I'm not gonna be running my life anymore.
00:14:51.120 -->
00:14:51.919I'm turning my well.
00:14:52.240 -->
00:14:53.519It's it's drastic.
00:14:53.600 -->
00:14:55.200Yeah, it's a drastic idea.
00:14:55.840 -->
00:14:59.759Me watering that down to you, all you're gonna do is gonna wind up in a listen, man.
00:14:59.840 -->
00:15:01.600I've been so over 30 years now, right?
00:15:01.759 -->
00:15:03.519How many people do I know are still here?
00:15:03.600 -->
00:15:05.519They've gone out all different increments.
00:15:05.679 -->
00:15:07.759How many people have had a real spiritual awakening?
00:15:07.919 -->
00:15:11.440How many people are completely transformed where it would when they talk about him?
00:15:11.519 -->
00:15:14.399We agnostic, the guy in the bottom there, couldn't drink if I would.
00:15:14.559 -->
00:15:25.360He'd have to like for it'd be almost it's almost not an impossibility, but how they talk about it, much more concrete, much more conquer, a spiritual experience to conquer this.
00:15:25.519 -->
00:15:31.440So there's a little bit difference in when you have a real shift in your psyche transformation and a relationship with God.
00:15:31.679 -->
00:15:34.480And Bill says, I have recovered.
00:15:34.799 -->
00:15:38.559And if you say that in AA, their heads will explode.
00:15:38.799 -->
00:15:40.480I tried it in a meeting one time.
00:15:42.240 -->
00:15:45.679Sometimes they, you know, some people do it, some you know, not as much.
00:15:45.840 -->
00:15:47.360They don't like the idea of recovery.
00:15:47.440 -->
00:15:50.080They certainly don't get the Bill used the word cured.
00:15:50.320 -->
00:15:52.159Yeah, cured cured on page 191.
00:15:52.320 -->
00:15:54.960Thank you for the Lord curing me of this terrible disease.
00:15:55.120 -->
00:15:56.320They their heads definitely explode.
00:15:56.639 -->
00:15:59.360And why do you think they have a uh fear of saying those words?
00:15:59.440 -->
00:16:03.679I think they think that the recovery is like grounded in them, not a power greater than themselves.
00:16:03.759 -->
00:16:05.919Because if it's grounded in God, I am cured.
00:16:06.000 -->
00:16:06.799I have recovered.
00:16:07.120 -->
00:16:07.919The only one that can give up.
00:16:09.039 -->
00:16:10.000There's a confidence.
00:16:10.240 -->
00:16:11.279There's a confidence, right?
00:16:11.360 -->
00:16:13.039The only one that can give this up is who?
00:16:13.200 -->
00:16:13.519Me.
00:16:13.759 -->
00:16:14.240Exactly.
00:16:14.399 -->
00:16:23.759So they so if you're taking responsibility, it's not like I'm gonna go out the door and God's gonna, a loving God's gonna say, Oh, let's get let Joel get drunk today, and and so he can teach.
00:16:23.840 -->
00:16:26.159I mean, there's no loving God that wants Joel drunk.
00:16:26.320 -->
00:16:32.000I can I can I'm sure you of that, that God's will, and we're gonna get into some of the stuff too, because I was talking about God's will.
00:16:32.159 -->
00:16:34.720We find out what God's will is by finding out what it isn't.
00:16:34.879 -->
00:16:37.600So so it goes into this page 63.
00:16:37.759 -->
00:16:46.799We kept close to him, we established such a footing, we became less and less interested in ourselves, the little plans and designs, more and more interested in what we could do contribute to life.
00:16:46.879 -->
00:16:56.240So we're already having that shift, that shift it's talking about a shift in consciousness, going from uh taker to a giver, uh, predatorial to altruistic.
00:16:56.559 -->
00:17:14.000That says, uh, it says, as we felt a new power flow in, we enjoyed peace of mind, we be discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of his presence, we became to we we began to lose fear of today, tomorrow, and the hereafter we were reborn.
00:17:14.079 -->
00:17:15.039This is step three.
00:17:15.119 -->
00:17:17.519This is huge, exactly what she read too.
00:17:17.599 -->
00:17:20.240Of course, it says, Do with me, build with me as thou wilt.
00:17:20.319 -->
00:17:24.559That talks about into the third step prayer, but it's huge that says we were reborn.
00:17:24.640 -->
00:17:26.480Well, where else does it say we were born?
00:17:26.720 -->
00:17:34.640Okay, first of all, um reborn, okay, and and it's funny, you know, what did John, okay, what did Christ say to uh Nicodemus?
00:17:34.799 -->
00:17:36.799He said, You must be reborn.
00:17:36.880 -->
00:17:48.000I shared about it when uh the um uh a part of repentance was what uh what uh Billy Graham said about the uh about you won't be able to see the kingdom of God.
00:17:48.160 -->
00:17:58.480There's a surrender involved, there's a true surrender, and if you don't have this surrender, I'm just telling you, you're not entering into the gateway where you're gonna pop out when we say uh God was in Indiana or wherever.
00:17:58.640 -->
00:18:01.359So you're not gonna pop out there, you're gonna pop out somewhere else.
00:18:01.519 -->
00:18:02.799And that's where the people are popping out.
00:18:02.880 -->
00:18:06.559They're popping out all the other places that are not on the track.
00:18:06.720 -->
00:18:07.839The track is this.
00:18:08.000 -->
00:18:08.960Yes, it's hard.
00:18:09.359 -->
00:18:12.960The guy said, Well, uh, you're saying stuff to them before they ever get started.
00:18:13.039 -->
00:18:14.079What are they getting started on?
00:18:14.240 -->
00:18:15.279What are they getting started on?
00:18:15.359 -->
00:18:18.400If they're not getting started on a relationship with God, they're not getting started on anything.
00:18:18.559 -->
00:18:22.720All they're doing, I mean, listen, they'll come to it eventually, maybe, I don't know.
00:18:22.880 -->
00:18:26.480Those people probably could get sober in a rotary club or somewhere else, right?
00:18:26.720 -->
00:18:26.880Right.
00:18:27.119 -->
00:18:27.519Anywhere.
00:18:27.839 -->
00:18:29.119They could probably get sober anywhere.
00:18:29.279 -->
00:18:39.119The people we're I'm talking to and who I'm addressing are the people like myself and like Jen, that have to have a spiritual awakening, have to have a transformation, or they're not gonna make it, right?
00:18:39.279 -->
00:18:39.519Yeah.
00:18:39.680 -->
00:18:40.720That's who we're talking to.
00:18:40.799 -->
00:18:42.799So, you know, the looks who the book's talking to.
00:18:42.960 -->
00:18:44.559And that's who the big book alcoholics anonymous.
00:18:44.720 -->
00:18:52.400And then you got a lot of people running around about the big book saying, Oh, you know, I got sober on the steps of the big book, and then you hear them talk and they don't they don't line up.
00:18:53.920 -->
00:18:55.839That don't jive with what they're saying.
00:18:55.920 -->
00:19:06.880So, I mean, I don't know if that's even worse telling people that that's how you got sober and that's what, and then when you hear them, I know the difference because God gives me eyes to see, He's given me discernment, He's given me the gift of the Holy Spirit.
00:19:07.039 -->
00:19:13.279So I can listen, and I, you know, I don't have to be, I'm not a blind, oh, this one can teach me, or a man teaches me this.
00:19:13.359 -->
00:19:13.920I can listen.
00:19:14.000 -->
00:19:17.519We were in the in the in church today, and the guy went a little off track.
00:19:17.680 -->
00:19:21.920I mean, in my opinion, the guy we have is a regular guy, that guy's pretty on.
00:19:22.160 -->
00:19:24.160He's he's on, he stays on.
00:19:24.319 -->
00:19:27.200Uh, this guy went off into the weeds a little bit, I thought.
00:19:27.279 -->
00:19:32.480You know, I for he's talking about the Holy Spirit leads you off, and I was like, it doesn't sound right, you know, but whatever.
00:19:32.559 -->
00:19:34.559I know that through my own relationship with God.
00:19:35.440 -->
00:19:41.200What that the Holy Spirit leads you into trouble to refine you or to work things out of you.
00:19:41.519 -->
00:19:47.519No, you led yourself into trouble, but the Holy Spirit can work exactly, work the trouble out of you.
00:19:47.839 -->
00:19:48.240Exactly.
00:19:48.400 -->
00:19:49.599Yeah, I'm responsible.
00:19:49.759 -->
00:19:52.880Responsibility is huge, and in this decision it's huge.
00:19:53.039 -->
00:20:03.279So it what what okay, so John 3, 3 is is uh where he says, no one can see or enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
00:20:03.359 -->
00:20:05.599And that's what he was talking about to Nicodemus.
00:20:05.680 -->
00:20:07.839And when he talked to him in those terms, he's like, What do you mean?
00:20:08.000 -->
00:20:09.359Go back into my mother's womb.
00:20:09.519 -->
00:20:12.559He he couldn't wrap his mind around it because it was a spiritual thing.
00:20:12.640 -->
00:20:14.160It's like you have to be born again.
00:20:14.319 -->
00:20:15.440Well, how is that born again?
00:20:15.519 -->
00:20:16.480We were just setting that up.
00:20:16.559 -->
00:20:20.720It's like when we were talking here that he's the father, we're the children.
00:20:20.880 -->
00:20:23.759See, we're gonna we're gonna have a different approach in how we're even looking at this.
00:20:23.839 -->
00:20:26.960We're gonna have an open mind in what God's gonna do for us in our life.
00:20:27.039 -->
00:20:29.519We are gonna be subservient to this God, right?
00:20:29.599 -->
00:20:30.720And that's what you just read.
00:20:30.880 -->
00:20:31.279Yeah.
00:20:31.440 -->
00:20:33.599Like, I've messed up my life, man.
00:20:33.680 -->
00:20:35.680You're gonna take over my life, you're gonna run my life.
00:20:36.160 -->
00:20:39.599I've come I'm not gonna really think long and hard before you take this.
00:20:39.920 -->
00:20:49.279And I remember seeing God like with a wrecking ball, like waiting for me to get on my knees and turn it over to him, so you could say, good, there's nothing to work with here.
00:20:49.359 -->
00:20:50.559We gotta start over.
00:20:50.880 -->
00:21:00.400And this is that's the thing about being uh of this persuasion, which I'd say is Christian, is it's not God is never, God's a gentleman, he's never gone where he's not ass.
00:21:00.559 -->
00:21:04.640So if you want to live however you want to live, man, it's not I'm not about making anybody want to.
00:21:05.039 -->
00:21:05.200Absolutely.
00:21:05.359 -->
00:21:06.480I was just sick of living that way.
00:21:06.559 -->
00:21:08.160I mean, I was ready for him to come in.
00:21:08.400 -->
00:21:10.240My relationship with God is in a dictatorship.
00:21:10.319 -->
00:21:10.559Yeah.
00:21:10.720 -->
00:21:10.960Right?
00:21:11.200 -->
00:21:16.640So, you know, I'm not being forced to, or you know, he wants me to come to him and say, hey, I need your help.
00:21:16.799 -->
00:21:19.839Um, and then we're gonna go into pass this.
00:21:19.920 -->
00:21:29.279Um, then we're gonna go into some of the uh fourth step of um oh, one thing I want to say is on page 72, which I don't know if I have it right here, but let me see if I have it.
00:21:29.440 -->
00:21:31.279Uh page 72.
00:21:31.759 -->
00:21:36.079Um and he says, having because we're getting into the third step.
00:21:36.240 -->
00:21:42.480Now it's telling you until you're reborn, and you you're not really gonna see yourself, you're not really gonna be able to see yourself.
00:21:42.640 -->
00:21:50.000And and a lot of the fourth step, and what we're gonna be seeing, is it says we turn our will and like our life over the care of God as we understand.
00:21:50.400 -->
00:21:53.119So we're trying to find out what God's will in our life is, okay?
00:21:53.279 -->
00:21:55.759How do we find out what God's will in our our life is?
00:21:55.920 -->
00:21:57.279We find out what it isn't.
00:21:57.440 -->
00:22:04.240So we go in and start moving, it's almost like Like this too, and I I share this quite a bit, but it's excuse me.
00:22:04.480 -->
00:22:08.400Um, that I am created in God's image and likeness.
00:22:08.480 -->
00:22:08.799Okay.
00:22:09.039 -->
00:22:12.559Now I've lived my whole life piling on top of that image and likeness.
00:22:12.720 -->
00:22:13.680I'm not even the same person.
00:22:13.759 -->
00:22:19.680By the time I get here, I've become an actor, I've acted this way, I've acted that way, I've become this other thing.
00:22:19.839 -->
00:22:20.160Okay.
00:22:20.319 -->
00:22:25.039So what we're trying to do is get back to who we really are and uncover who we really are.
00:22:25.200 -->
00:22:28.160Who we really are is created in God's image and his likeness.
00:22:28.240 -->
00:22:30.480It's underneath all this crap we've become.
00:22:30.720 -->
00:22:36.480Acting out of fear, acting out of our ego, acting out of our twisted, uh, out of our twisted mind.
00:22:36.559 -->
00:22:39.519So it says, having, and and this is super important.
00:22:39.759 -->
00:22:46.160If if you're doing the fourth step and we're doing the steps, the reason why we're doing it, it says, having had made it personal inventory.
00:22:46.319 -->
00:22:47.759What shall we do about it?
00:22:48.000 -->
00:22:52.400And we're getting into the fifth step here, but it's it's it it clarifies on the fourth step.
00:22:52.640 -->
00:22:59.680We have been trying to get a new attitude and a new relationship with our creator and discover the obstacles in our path.
00:22:59.839 -->
00:23:00.960So these are the obstacles.
00:23:01.039 -->
00:23:05.839The fourth step is the obstacles in our path that separate us from God.
00:23:06.000 -->
00:23:09.279Now, if you truly make that decision, right, Jen?
00:23:09.599 -->
00:23:14.799If you truly make a decision from your heart and your sincere, you don't think God answers that?
00:23:15.039 -->
00:23:16.880You don't think God's like, so God, right?
00:23:17.039 -->
00:23:23.279The loving God, creator of the earth and of everything, the universe, and you cry out to God sincerely.
00:23:23.440 -->
00:23:25.680That I think the sincerity is more than anything.
00:23:25.839 -->
00:23:29.920You don't think God's like, okay, well, Joel, okay, let me start showing you here.
00:23:30.000 -->
00:23:30.960Here you go, Joel.
00:23:31.039 -->
00:23:32.319You want to get close to me?
00:23:32.480 -->
00:23:35.039Well, here's what's blocking you from me.
00:23:35.279 -->
00:23:36.880These are the obstacles in my path.
00:23:37.039 -->
00:23:38.079So then God starts.
00:23:38.240 -->
00:23:39.839So now I do a four-step.
00:23:39.920 -->
00:23:43.039That's a lot bigger, different of a four-step than you'll hear a lot of people.
00:23:43.119 -->
00:23:44.880Well, my sponsor told me this.
00:23:44.960 -->
00:23:47.680And you'll hear a lot about sponsorship in four steps.
00:23:47.759 -->
00:23:49.920You'll hear a lot about in that in a fifth step too.
00:23:50.000 -->
00:23:50.880You'll hear a lot about that.
00:23:51.039 -->
00:23:52.799But guess what you won't hear a lot about?
00:23:53.039 -->
00:23:53.759About God.
00:23:53.920 -->
00:23:57.680And if you're doing your four step without God, you ain't doing a four-step.
00:23:57.759 -->
00:24:00.079I mean, really, the whole thing sets you up for that.
00:24:00.319 -->
00:24:04.000And it's funny how in the in the fourth step it goes back over it.
00:24:04.160 -->
00:24:08.480It says uh that different basis of tr this is in the four step.
00:24:08.559 -->
00:24:19.839So you get into the four step and it goes and it's and it re-goes on to the third step again because it says you're on a different basis, trusting and reply, reply relying upon God.
00:24:20.000 -->
00:24:24.000And that says we trust our infinite God rather than our finite self.
00:24:24.640 -->
00:24:27.359And because the truth of the matter is we didn't act in faith.
00:24:27.440 -->
00:24:28.400We weren't trusting God.
00:24:28.480 -->
00:24:30.559So when I don't trust, right.
00:24:30.720 -->
00:24:35.039When I don't trust God, is the first thing I do is I go, okay, how am I going to get what I want?
00:24:35.200 -->
00:24:35.359Yeah.
00:24:35.519 -->
00:24:37.279So now how am I going to get what I want?
00:24:37.359 -->
00:24:38.960That comes into my character defects.
00:24:39.200 -->
00:24:39.680Like cheating.
00:24:39.759 -->
00:24:43.440So then I like to manipulate omission.
00:24:43.680 -->
00:24:44.079Exactly.
00:24:44.160 -->
00:24:48.319So then I start maneuvering and act this way and I act that way.
00:24:48.720 -->
00:24:49.279That's what it says.
00:24:49.359 -->
00:24:49.440Yeah.
00:24:49.680 -->
00:24:49.839Right.
00:24:49.920 -->
00:24:52.720It says something like some people do this because they get what they want.
00:24:56.000 -->
00:25:00.480Be wary of the nice kind people too, you know.
00:25:00.720 -->
00:25:00.960Yeah.
00:25:01.119 -->
00:25:03.039And some people Right.
00:25:03.119 -->
00:25:04.400It's all to get what I want.
00:25:04.559 -->
00:25:04.720Yes.
00:25:05.119 -->
00:25:07.759It's all it's all circumventing God's will.
00:25:07.920 -->
00:25:08.079Yes.
00:25:08.240 -->
00:25:11.039It's all me trying to get Joel's will, not God's will.
00:25:11.279 -->
00:25:16.559So if the other steps are in line and they're kind of really in cement, you realize you've screwed up.
00:25:16.640 -->
00:25:17.440You can't, right?
00:25:17.599 -->
00:25:21.200When we went through that, he's the father, we're the age, he's going to run our life.
00:25:21.519 -->
00:25:22.720We've turned our life over.
00:25:23.200 -->
00:25:29.440Now we got to see why our life is such a damn mess and why it is so impossible and why it is the way it is.
00:25:29.599 -->
00:25:30.880So it goes, what's that?
00:25:31.119 -->
00:25:41.759Well, I was gonna say, and the truth of the matter is, God's been telling me for a long time stop drinking, stop do I mean that but I've I lived the I've done what I want to do.
00:25:42.079 -->
00:25:50.559You know, yeah, it's not it's not this isn't this isn't the first time God's told me, you know, about my my drinking in my life, but I was not willing to listen.
00:25:50.880 -->
00:25:53.119Right, and that's what they talk about the proper use of the will.
00:25:53.279 -->
00:25:53.440Yeah.
00:25:54.000 -->
00:25:56.559It's not that I was uh you know, I have no willpower.
00:25:56.720 -->
00:25:58.880My will was aligned with nothing but bad.
00:25:59.200 -->
00:26:00.079So what was gonna happen?
00:26:00.160 -->
00:26:01.440It was never in line with God.
00:26:01.759 -->
00:26:04.160It was never aligned with what God wanted for me in my life.
00:26:04.319 -->
00:26:08.640So all I'm doing is finding out and uh it's in my life today.
00:26:08.799 -->
00:26:13.599I mean, I live in crazy land until I decide, hey, crazy land is not working for me.
00:26:13.680 -->
00:26:16.000Let me get back into God, the flow and stream of God.
00:26:16.079 -->
00:26:21.920So it's all about getting back into that stream that works, that's eternal, that goes somewhere, that means something.
00:26:22.079 -->
00:26:25.119So, and we get into that with says men of faith have courage.
00:26:25.279 -->
00:26:28.400So the fourth step, the the principle behind the fourth step is courage.
00:26:28.559 -->
00:26:36.880So when you have faith, when that faith is activated, it gives you the courage, which is I begin to lose the fear today, tomorrow, the hereafter.
00:26:36.960 -->
00:26:42.799We were reborn, it gives me that jump, it gives me that look at myself that I've never seen before.
00:26:42.960 -->
00:26:45.279And I you can point it out, you could tell people.
00:26:45.440 -->
00:26:53.200I'm talking the the um the absolute um the absolute truth without all the bullshit behind it, right?
00:26:53.279 -->
00:26:54.319Without all the stories.
00:26:54.400 -->
00:26:56.160It's like we always say story time.
00:26:56.240 -->
00:27:00.480It's like you come to Alcoholics Navas, people they call them, they say newcomers are full of shit.
00:27:00.559 -->
00:27:03.680Well, the reason why we say full of shit, it's all these stories.
00:27:04.000 -->
00:27:08.400We got all these stories about why I did this and why I'm that.
00:27:08.720 -->
00:27:13.279God really can helps you cut cut that out, cuts through the stories.
00:27:13.440 -->
00:27:22.240And you know, and listen, if you're sincere, of course there'll be people put in your life that might be a sponsor or whatever, but I was never thinking my sponsor was the end all of everything.
00:27:22.319 -->
00:27:33.119I figured God was working through my sponsor that God had sent me that the student was ready, the teacher was appearing, and that person that was in front of me was helping me discover whatever I needed to to get to God.
00:27:33.519 -->
00:27:35.839The whole plan is to get closer to God, correct?
00:27:36.000 -->
00:27:37.200Correct, correct, all right.
00:27:37.279 -->
00:27:39.039And then it says infinite God rather than a fire.
00:27:39.200 -->
00:27:44.000It says, go, God, then it's funny how many times I, you know, listen, I've been sober a long time.
00:27:44.160 -->
00:27:50.880We were just going through the fourth step, and I was actually very surprised because people talk about relationship with God.
00:27:51.039 -->
00:27:55.759Listen, we already talked about in 63 a shift of consciousness, we're feeling his presence, right?
00:27:56.000 -->
00:27:58.000We were already feeling that in three, right?
00:27:58.160 -->
00:27:59.039We're already feeling that.
00:27:59.519 -->
00:28:03.920A lot of people talk about like uh you're gonna get to step 12, and all of a sudden God's gonna pop out your ass.
00:28:04.000 -->
00:28:07.119I mean, that that's basically what is the message for Alcoholics Anonymous.
00:28:07.200 -->
00:28:12.000You do all 12 steps, and then all of a sudden you're gonna have an awakening because of the whole thing clicks at some.
00:28:12.400 -->
00:28:14.160Listen, that's not how any of it works.
00:28:14.319 -->
00:28:19.119You're as you go, it's ego deflation, and depth, you're having a relationship as you go.
00:28:19.200 -->
00:28:23.039This, even the four-step, how many times does it say the four-step prayer?
00:28:23.200 -->
00:28:32.079Uh, the four-step prayer is uh, you know, give me, give me the strength to get over, uh, to be, to, to not to oh, it is pray uh to save me from being angry.
00:28:32.160 -->
00:28:34.160So you have the list of the names, you're praying to God.
00:28:34.240 -->
00:28:35.440So there is a four-step prayer.
00:28:35.519 -->
00:28:37.759You're praying to God, hey, save me from being angry.
00:28:37.920 -->
00:28:40.720It goes over and over into God molds your ideas.
00:28:40.799 -->
00:28:44.480When we get into sex, it's like uh they're they're they're God given.
00:28:44.559 -->
00:28:46.640Uh the sex power should not be used lightly.
00:28:46.720 -->
00:28:55.359That you know, it goes into that and it says, um, and then it says, hope by now you're convinced that God can remove whatever self-will is blocking you from him.
00:28:55.839 -->
00:28:56.720God can do that.
00:28:56.799 -->
00:29:00.799And and it's constantly, consistently going to God, going to God, going to God in the fourth step.
00:29:00.880 -->
00:29:05.599I was surprised how many times it talks about he will mold your ideas, he will help you with these things.
00:29:05.759 -->
00:29:08.000God alone can be the judge of your sex life.
00:29:08.079 -->
00:29:14.400Um, it's not up to a man, it's not up to it's your personal inventory of for you, not for anybody else, right?
00:29:15.119 -->
00:29:15.680Exactly.
00:29:16.000 -->
00:29:17.359And anything else on that, Jen?
00:29:17.599 -->
00:29:22.240No, no, I just the you know, the other prayer, God help me, this is a sick, the sick man's prayer.
00:29:22.720 -->
00:29:30.640It sounds a little egotistical when they, you know, this is a sick man, help save me from being angry, but you know, the I it's true.
00:29:30.720 -->
00:29:46.559It's like a lot of what I saw in the four step is when other people are afraid and they think they're not gonna get their needs met, they just like me lie, manipulate, they're either nice or they're they you know, they're they're actors just like I am.
00:29:47.839 -->
00:29:48.160Yeah.
00:29:48.559 -->
00:29:51.200So it's it kind of levels that playing in the way.
00:29:51.519 -->
00:29:52.559And don't take it personally.
00:29:53.039 -->
00:30:03.440You know, you you you know, four steps starts separating you from and one thing I'd like to say about the fourth step of my life and the fourth and fifth step, it's separate see, I was a piece of shit when I got here.
00:30:03.599 -->
00:30:07.200And then I realized when I started doing four step, I I did shitty things.
00:30:07.440 -->
00:30:10.160So it starts separating you, the ego self.
00:30:10.319 -->
00:30:15.599This is where you start, you start walking away from the self in step one to two.
00:30:15.839 -->
00:30:21.839You start walking away from self, but this is where you really get into splitting the self, splitting the atom, however you want to say it.
00:30:21.920 -->
00:30:25.680You start peeling away what isn't you and what is you.
00:30:25.839 -->
00:30:29.039The true you is a God loving child of God.
00:30:29.200 -->
00:30:42.319The the fake you, or the ego self or the actor self, however you want to say, the guy who acted in fear, uh uh uh out of out of uh uh lack of courage, you know, of lack of faith, that person.
00:30:42.400 -->
00:30:45.279So you start splitting that apart, it becomes into moments.
00:30:45.519 -->
00:30:46.720Well, that and that's the problem.
00:30:46.880 -->
00:30:58.720If you don't start splitting and you don't start walking away from that, like when I thought the ABCs, like the guy said at the meeting that Eric was at last night, was apartment, boyfriend, and car, I'd get those things.
00:30:58.880 -->
00:31:05.440And then what was wrong with me internally, because I so you know, what was I walking towards?
00:31:05.680 -->
00:31:08.079Was I ever walking away from that ego self?
00:31:08.160 -->
00:31:17.519It says you sobriety just for sobriety, husband or no husband, job or no job, sobriety just for sobriety, that I was turning my life over to God, that I was going this way.
00:31:18.160 -->
00:31:33.440If I haven't done that, I'm if I'm still walking towards an ego self in AA, what you know, it's like you pull back the curtain, it's like the wizard of Oz, and you pull back the curtain, and the truth of the matter is, you know, my God was still me.
00:31:33.680 -->
00:31:34.160Right.
00:31:34.400 -->
00:31:34.720Right.
00:31:35.279 -->
00:31:37.200And all these things are the boogeyman, too.
00:31:37.279 -->
00:31:42.079These are when we start facing our fears, as uh mystics say, he who faces his fears is delivered from him.
00:31:42.559 -->
00:31:45.440It's like in AA, it's he who faces himself is delivered from it.
00:31:46.319 -->
00:31:57.680You get the apartment, boyfriend, and car, and then like you said, you know, if I haven't changed, as soon as something starts going wrong, I'm still operating my MO, my modus operandis hasn't changed.
00:31:57.920 -->
00:32:04.480So, you know, they say the the alcohol can get a job but they can't have a career, they can get a guy, but they can't have the marriage.
00:32:04.559 -->
00:32:14.079You know, a lot of what was wrong with me wasn't my inability of getting these things, it was the character, you know, to live my life a certain way.
00:32:14.160 -->
00:32:42.640And if I don't, that's why I say step one, one step, not two parts, because if I don't get a new manager, the truth is, you know, it's not if but when I'm gonna drink again, because I can get everything on the outside, and if my inner man hasn't changed, it's it's still gonna be so so for me that whole thing with the the splitting of the selves too, it's like there is the actor self and and and now even Bill says and and this is why the Christian kind of thing runs through it.
00:32:42.799 -->
00:32:48.880Now he was obviously the co-founders were both Christians, but it he says uh or sins as you will.
00:32:49.119 -->
00:32:50.160So what does sin do?
00:32:50.319 -->
00:32:51.599Sin separates me from God.
00:32:51.839 -->
00:32:52.559That's what sin does.
00:32:52.640 -->
00:32:56.799It's very simple, it's something I do because I want to live apart from God.
00:32:57.200 -->
00:33:07.839So the reason, and that's my great obsession, I hate to say it all even to this day, is I act out in self because there's this overwhelming obsession to be God.
00:33:08.000 -->
00:33:11.200Okay, it goes all the way back to the original sin of Adam and Eve.
00:33:11.279 -->
00:33:17.440The original sin was, okay, oh, we can have all knowledge, we can have all power, we can live apart from God.
00:33:17.599 -->
00:33:25.200And the truth of the matter is if your third step is right and your trajectory is right, then you're gonna say, Well, I can't live apart from God.
00:33:25.440 -->
00:33:26.400Okay, I can't.
00:33:26.480 -->
00:33:29.039So these are the things that keep me separated from God.
00:33:29.119 -->
00:33:32.480And I I do my fourth step always now as pride.
00:33:32.559 -->
00:33:36.160I do it the seven deadlies, and you'll hear people say all kinds of things.
00:33:36.400 -->
00:33:37.920Seven deadly sins is not enough.
00:33:38.000 -->
00:33:40.160They gotta have 55 character defects.
00:33:40.480 -->
00:33:42.160They'll all fit, they'll all fit in there.
00:33:42.240 -->
00:33:42.880I promise you.
00:33:43.200 -->
00:33:44.160Pride, gluttony.
00:33:44.319 -->
00:33:47.039The book talks about where chronic malcontents.
00:33:47.359 -->
00:33:48.559What is a chronic malcontent?
00:33:48.640 -->
00:33:49.920Well, that means I am gluttonous.
00:33:50.559 -->
00:33:54.240When I'm malcontent, it means I'm not satisfied with whatever I have.
00:33:54.400 -->
00:33:58.240So if I get sober and I'm happy, I gotta get a little more happy.
00:33:58.400 -->
00:33:59.599Okay, because I'm never happy enough.
00:33:59.759 -->
00:34:00.400See what I'm saying?
00:34:00.559 -->
00:34:03.680So you'll never have sobriety if you're full of gluttony.
00:34:03.759 -->
00:34:05.759So this is something that's gonna have to be removed.
00:34:05.920 -->
00:34:09.199So if I want sobriety, these things have to be taken away from me.
00:34:09.360 -->
00:34:19.840And I have to realize that these things, not only do they set me the and and listen, it they talk about what what keeps me sober, and they talk about resentments when they're in the fourth step.
00:34:19.920 -->
00:34:24.559They say these resentments are are block you from the sunlight of the spirit.
00:34:24.719 -->
00:34:29.840I had a good friend of mine years ago said you can't hate God, you can't love God and hate your brother.
00:34:30.079 -->
00:34:31.519So there's got to be a decision made.
00:34:31.599 -->
00:34:34.719It's got to decide, am I gonna be moving away from this?
00:34:34.880 -->
00:34:36.719And you know, so you're really doubling down on that.
00:34:36.800 -->
00:34:38.400And in the fourth step, it goes over to God.
00:34:38.480 -->
00:34:39.519You're constantly turning to God.
00:34:39.840 -->
00:34:41.760And that feel that goes with the feelings too.
00:34:41.920 -->
00:34:43.519It doesn't matter how I feel about it.
00:34:43.599 -->
00:34:47.280I made a decision, you know, to live the way God wants me to live.
00:34:47.440 -->
00:34:51.039I have a responsibility to, you know, I've got to submit my flesh to God.
00:34:51.199 -->
00:34:52.400That's an act of my own will.
00:34:52.480 -->
00:34:53.199That's a third step.
00:34:53.440 -->
00:34:54.800That what we read that last week.
00:34:54.960 -->
00:34:59.440And on what level you make that decision will be on what how well that holds.
00:34:59.840 -->
00:35:04.079So if you you've made a decision on a super deep level, whatever, there's nothing going to shape.
00:35:04.559 -->
00:35:09.679That's where being low bottom helps you, hopeless helps you, because what choice do I have?
00:35:09.760 -->
00:35:15.119Like you say, I get out there where the buses don't, I get so spiritually sick, I've got to submit to God.
00:35:15.280 -->
00:35:22.880I've got to find a way to get right with this and be with God, or or my, like Chuck C says, sobriety will be tenable.
00:35:22.960 -->
00:35:24.079I'll have to untenable.
00:35:24.239 -->
00:35:24.559Yeah, right.
00:35:24.639 -->
00:35:25.039Untenable.
00:35:25.519 -->
00:35:29.119Well, and it and it's in sobriety that some of these people realize this.
00:35:29.599 -->
00:35:34.880They get sober, they stop drinking, then all of a sudden they join groups, da da da, and then all of a sudden they want to hang themselves.
00:35:35.039 -->
00:35:39.039And it's like seven years, five years, they got a wife, they got kids, and they're like, what's going on?
00:35:39.199 -->
00:35:39.760What's the matter?
00:35:39.920 -->
00:35:45.679Well, because you haven't transformed, you've really operated under your own will over this whole time.
00:35:45.920 -->
00:35:48.880You've built a whole thing back into the prison thing, right?
00:35:48.960 -->
00:35:49.920We never really got out.
00:35:50.000 -->
00:35:51.280You're still inside that realm.
00:35:51.440 -->
00:35:53.679You're not broken out into the spiritual realm.
00:35:53.920 -->
00:35:56.079So God helps you with this and that decision.
00:35:56.239 -->
00:35:56.800Absolutely.
00:35:56.880 -->
00:36:02.719When you start seeing yourself, if you truly see yourself truly the way you are, you're not gonna want to be this.
00:36:02.800 -->
00:36:03.119Okay.
00:36:03.360 -->
00:36:07.599So that's gonna put you into a place where you're gonna say, I want to walk away from this.
00:36:07.760 -->
00:36:09.039Okay, that's repentance.
00:36:09.119 -->
00:36:13.920That's where you can see in your in your heart of hearts, it's like, wow, this is who I am.
00:36:14.320 -->
00:36:17.280If you really see yourself for who you are, you're not gonna want to be it.
00:36:17.440 -->
00:36:19.760You know, it's only through the story that you're able to do that.
00:36:19.920 -->
00:36:20.159Right.
00:36:20.320 -->
00:36:22.639It's like, oh, I'm not that bad.
00:36:22.880 -->
00:36:25.119I wouldn't have done this if they didn't do that.
00:36:25.519 -->
00:36:28.400Yeah, well, you know, yeah, if you had my fault.
00:36:28.639 -->
00:36:35.679If you had my life or my wife, whatever they say, you being a certain way, well, it's all, and that's all that four step is taking all that away from you.
00:36:35.920 -->
00:36:40.000Taking all that uh in the it's making you responsible.
00:36:40.239 -->
00:36:48.800I'm responsible for everything I've done and how I've done it, why I've done it, and and the what you're saying there too, the groundwork of why, and it was this guy, Dave.
00:36:48.880 -->
00:36:49.840I'll tell you a little bit of the story.
00:36:49.920 -->
00:37:00.480He said, So he said to his sponsor, he said, Oh yeah, she went and did this, she burned all my clothes, and then he got the sponsor started thinking about it, and he goes, Well, what would make a woman do something like that to you?
00:37:00.559 -->
00:37:14.079And he then he got thinking years earlier, she was moving, and she instead of they were in a fight, whatever, and she was moving, he put all the stuff in a movie truck and went down to like one of these mission places and gave all her stuff away.
00:37:14.320 -->
00:37:19.039And then he's like, uh, you know, he started seeing why people were so mean to him.
00:37:19.199 -->
00:37:23.440Yeah, because you were mad, because you were a certain way, you weren't blameless.
00:37:23.599 -->
00:37:26.960You set a lot of this stuff up, you set a lot of these balls and acts.
00:37:30.719 -->
00:37:34.480And you can never let go of anything if you don't take some part of responsibility.
00:37:34.559 -->
00:37:36.719And I even mean if you're seeing it wrong.
00:37:36.880 -->
00:37:38.639Maybe you're just even seeing it wrong.
00:37:38.800 -->
00:37:39.679Yeah, you know what I mean?
00:37:39.760 -->
00:37:42.079Because you can get, and then this is the other thing a lot of people do.
00:37:42.159 -->
00:37:47.920Instead of taking a four-step, they'll still have other people agree why they're so great, yeah.
00:37:48.159 -->
00:37:49.840Why they why why it's not their fault.
00:37:50.079 -->
00:37:51.840So, and you can, I mean, there's some things that happen.
00:37:51.920 -->
00:37:58.960It's like you can get a bunch of people to agree, yeah, but that's not gonna get you into that's not gonna bring you to a place of spirituality, that's not gonna bring you on this path.
00:37:59.039 -->
00:38:03.039This I ask somebody call, I I need to do a four-step, and she started talking, everything.
00:38:03.119 -->
00:38:06.239She's I was like, Well, four step is your inventory.
00:38:06.400 -->
00:38:12.000You just took his inventory, which is fine, but I'm just that's not a four step, you know, because she was getting that out.
00:38:12.159 -->
00:38:13.599Yeah, she was just getting that out.
00:38:13.679 -->
00:38:16.320That's that's fine, but that's not that's not a good idea.
00:38:16.559 -->
00:38:17.360That's your inventory.
00:38:17.519 -->
00:38:20.000You're probably you're the reason why you're feeling this way.
00:38:20.480 -->
00:38:21.280You're the reason why.
00:38:21.920 -->
00:38:27.039We used to do, we'd get in a fight, and I'd call my sponsor, I'd say, Joel did this, this, this, and this.
00:38:27.119 -->
00:38:32.800And I'd get off, and Joel's like, you know, you forgot to tell her when you did this, right before I did this, this, and this.
00:38:32.880 -->
00:38:34.639And I was like, Oh, what details?
00:38:34.719 -->
00:38:36.719Was that really that important?
00:38:36.880 -->
00:38:38.079You know, I mean, exactly.
00:38:38.320 -->
00:38:39.360I wasn't being dishonest.
00:38:39.599 -->
00:38:43.280I honestly, uh the whole thing started for me when you did this.
00:38:43.599 -->
00:38:45.519Well, you're just there to convince her to agree with you.
00:38:45.760 -->
00:38:46.639Oh, yeah, and she did.
00:38:46.719 -->
00:38:51.599She was like, You want it, you want a buddy, you want a friend, you want, but you don't want the truth.
00:38:51.679 -->
00:38:52.960Yeah, and the truth is the whole story.
00:38:53.679 -->
00:38:54.320Well, the whole story.
00:38:54.400 -->
00:38:55.440You gotta tell the whole story.
00:38:55.840 -->
00:38:59.920When you said that, I looked at it and it's like, yeah, you know, so exactly.
00:39:00.239 -->
00:39:03.280You're not half the story, the story that makes you look good.
00:39:03.679 -->
00:39:13.039Well, yeah, it's this the story started when my when I my emotion, when I got, you know, I forgot about that little Yeah, the other stuff, which, you know, I mean, that's normal.
00:39:13.199 -->
00:39:21.440So we're taking a real inventory, God's helping us with this, unless we've made a real true decision within our heart, you're not gonna be seeing that.
00:39:21.519 -->
00:39:25.599And I like what he said there about uh and back to John 3, 3.
00:39:25.760 -->
00:39:30.000No one can see or enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
00:39:30.159 -->
00:39:33.679God Jesus talked a lot of times, like in stuff that people didn't really get.
00:39:33.840 -->
00:39:37.920When he said, I'll rebuild this temple, I will put this temple back up in three days.
00:39:38.159 -->
00:39:40.239And they're looking at them like, what are you talking about?
00:39:40.320 -->
00:39:42.719It's like it took them 46 years to build the temple.
00:39:42.880 -->
00:39:44.639But he was talking about the death and resurrection.
00:39:44.960 -->
00:39:45.599Same thing here.
00:39:45.679 -->
00:39:57.599He's like, listen, unless you're reborn, and I can talk to people all day long, and unless they realize that they need this and had make this decision and are willing to go down this path, even if it was to turn your will.
00:39:57.679 -->
00:40:01.679They used to have guys get on their knees and take Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
00:40:01.840 -->
00:40:02.239But listen.
00:40:02.559 -->
00:40:05.920Now today they want to get rid of the Lord's Prayer because it's too Christian.
00:40:06.079 -->
00:40:11.119They don't want the Lord, they took it out of the um the world conference.
00:40:11.599 -->
00:40:12.960The whole thing came from a Bible.
00:40:13.039 -->
00:40:14.880Now they want to kick Jesus out of AA.
00:40:14.960 -->
00:40:15.840Basically is what happened.
00:40:16.400 -->
00:40:20.480Michael Cocini, they've hijacked his program and then kicked him out of that.
00:40:20.800 -->
00:40:21.440Kick Christ out.
00:40:21.679 -->
00:40:23.760It's like, hey, because he's offensive.
00:40:23.840 -->
00:40:29.920And it's and I always say when I say stuff, when you turn your will in your life, it's like, listen, man, I'm not talking about that Jesus.
00:40:30.079 -->
00:40:33.920If it's the one that's making you weird in your seat, man, it's not that one.
00:40:34.159 -->
00:40:40.159It's this one that we're talking about that's all powerful, all loving, all forgiving, never, never turn you down.
00:40:40.480 -->
00:40:42.320That's the God of the traditions of A.F.
00:40:42.719 -->
00:40:44.159That is the God we're talking about.
00:40:44.400 -->
00:40:47.840Loves you unconditionally, wants the very, very best for you.
00:40:47.920 -->
00:40:49.199That's the God we're talking about.
00:40:49.599 -->
00:40:56.400And you don't have to say, gee, I don't believe you have to say any of that, but I do believe you have to be sincere, sincere, and cry out to God.
00:40:56.559 -->
00:41:00.880God will reveal exactly who and what and how he wants you to see things.
00:41:01.039 -->
00:41:07.760Uh and and when Bill, obviously, Bill, when he did have his spiritual bright light experience, he says, so this is the God of the preachers.
00:41:07.920 -->
00:41:09.199That's what he said also.
00:41:09.440 -->
00:41:11.360So this is about surrender.
00:41:11.440 -->
00:41:18.639Um and I just want to say one more thing about the language of the heart, because you know, even I I had a one of the girls I was sponsoring.
00:41:18.800 -->
00:41:31.840It's funny when I'm sponsoring women and and you try to explain to them like a lot of times they're either in jail or halfway house and they're living with a bunch of other women, and they'll call and why do I have to be the one that always has to work a program?
00:41:32.000 -->
00:41:33.440They did this, this, and this.
00:41:33.599 -->
00:41:40.480And, you know, you start trying to move them away from from all that ego and towards God and how God wants it.
00:41:40.719 -->
00:41:44.400And basically, what they hear me saying is basically you have to eat a shit sandwich.
00:41:44.480 -->
00:41:48.480Like you just gotta lay down, let everyone wipe their feet on you, and you're gonna be a doormat.
00:41:48.719 -->
00:41:50.239And that's not what I'm saying.
00:41:50.400 -->
00:41:59.199It is the language of the heart because until you have that transformation, sometimes some of these things that we're saying, it it that's what it sounds like, you know.
00:41:59.599 -->
00:42:01.280And that's not it at all.
00:42:01.440 -->
00:42:08.719You're just not seeing it from and and once they have that, it's almost like a hologram when they say, Do you see the little girl or the flower?
00:42:08.880 -->
00:42:15.760And all you see is the flower, and you keep looking and try to see the little girl, but you just see the flower, and then all of a sudden you see the little girl.
00:42:16.000 -->
00:42:17.119And and that's this too.
00:42:17.199 -->
00:42:24.800It's like you're just gonna have to have faith and trust God and and start walking towards the way He wants you to live.
00:42:24.960 -->
00:42:36.559And and then after the fact, faith is before the fact info, you're gonna have to trust God, start working, walking that way, and then everything's gonna shift and you're gonna go, oh, this is what you meant.
00:42:36.719 -->
00:42:37.599Now I'm free.
00:42:37.679 -->
00:42:42.639I don't have to take offense, I don't have to get pissed off, I don't have to fight with these crazy people.
00:42:42.800 -->
00:42:46.639It's not that I'm a doormat, I'm laying down, everybody's wiping their feet on me.
00:42:46.800 -->
00:42:48.639It's so much bigger than that.
00:42:48.880 -->
00:42:52.000Well, and what you're saying there, once you see the girl, then you can't unsee the girl.
00:42:52.159 -->
00:42:53.119You ever see those things?
00:42:53.519 -->
00:43:01.679It's almost like Byron Katie, I think it was, said she said, you're seeing it on the corner of your eye, it looks like a snake, but once you see it's a rope, you can't make it a snake again.
00:43:02.000 -->
00:43:04.159So that's a lot about these truths about yourself.
00:43:04.400 -->
00:43:09.119And this is another thing about a four step and why it's so they say, Oh, it's for you the rest of your life.
00:43:09.199 -->
00:43:16.960It it's it listen, it gives you okay, the it gives you the the ability to not, it's not out there in the ether anymore.
00:43:17.280 -->
00:43:17.840Do you understand?
00:43:18.000 -->
00:43:18.719You're not a victim.
00:43:19.039 -->
00:43:22.400You're not victim of yourself, you're responsible for what's going on in your life.
00:43:22.559 -->
00:43:31.599You're the one that can say, okay, I must be seeing this wrong, which jumps to the 10-step axiom, which the 10 to the four are a lot of like when they say it's another inventory step.
00:43:31.760 -->
00:43:36.880But when they say when something's wrong with you inside, it has to do with you and nobody else.
00:43:37.199 -->
00:43:40.079That spiritual axiom is coming from this four-step.
00:43:40.239 -->
00:43:42.239When I start taking responsibility, guess what?
00:43:42.320 -->
00:43:42.960I'm free now.
00:43:43.039 -->
00:43:43.599I'm not a victim.
00:43:43.679 -->
00:43:47.199It's not out there in the ether, it's not anything that's outside, it's within me.
00:43:47.360 -->
00:43:49.119So now I have power in my life.
00:43:49.280 -->
00:43:53.840The power in my life is that it's me and not everything just floating by.
00:43:54.079 -->
00:43:54.960Thank God it's me.
00:43:55.119 -->
00:43:55.280Yep.
00:43:55.360 -->
00:43:58.719So no circumstance has to change, the person has to change.
00:43:58.960 -->
00:44:00.159Tell the girls in the jail.
00:44:00.239 -->
00:44:00.400Yeah.
00:44:00.559 -->
00:44:04.000You know, you have a window of opportunity while you're in here and you're in pain.
00:44:04.079 -->
00:44:10.079You can start working this program and start transforming, and you can be freer in here than half the people are out there.
00:44:10.320 -->
00:44:10.719Absolutely.
00:44:10.880 -->
00:44:11.199Absolutely.
00:44:11.280 -->
00:44:14.320Except it's I never had power like this in my life either.
00:44:14.480 -->
00:44:16.159You said this, I had to do this.
00:44:16.320 -->
00:44:17.840You did that, I had to do that.
00:44:18.000 -->
00:44:18.960I was like a monkey.
00:44:19.039 -->
00:44:21.119I was reactive, emotional.
00:44:21.280 -->
00:44:23.679I mean, I still can be.
00:44:25.840 -->
00:44:28.000But but but it's a lot better.
00:44:28.400 -->
00:44:28.639Monkey.
00:44:29.440 -->
00:44:29.840What do they say?
00:44:29.920 -->
00:44:30.880Monkey see, monkey do.
00:44:31.039 -->
00:44:32.239Well, I think it was Tomello.
00:44:32.480 -->
00:44:32.639Dr.
00:44:32.719 -->
00:44:34.960Tomello said, You do this, I do that.
00:44:35.119 -->
00:44:35.920You do this, I do.
00:44:36.159 -->
00:44:37.599So how what power do you have in your life?
00:44:37.920 -->
00:44:39.840This way now that takes a lot of that away, man.
00:44:39.920 -->
00:44:44.400You can't you're starting to really kind of cut those ties in in in that it's the world's fault.
00:44:44.480 -->
00:44:45.920I'm a victim to be in response.
00:44:46.239 -->
00:44:46.719And and love.
00:44:46.880 -->
00:44:47.519Love is the power.
00:44:47.599 -->
00:44:48.559I never knew love was a power.
00:44:48.639 -->
00:44:51.280I'm like, I got a lot of powers, and love ain't one of them.
00:44:52.000 -->
00:44:55.760But but really love is love is love is the power.
00:44:56.000 -->
00:44:57.760Well, and it's truth, and truth will set you free.
00:44:58.000 -->
00:45:03.920It is love, and God is wanting to tell you the truth about yourself, but you gotta have the desire to see that.
00:45:04.159 -->
00:45:08.400What you think God's sitting over there, let me let Joel fumble and bumble around for 10 years.
00:45:08.480 -->
00:45:13.679And that's one mismooner that I'll get to the end of this, is in Alcoholics Anonymous or whatever.
00:45:14.000 -->
00:45:14.639Time takes, time.
00:45:14.960 -->
00:45:16.960Yeah, because you guys are all holding up God.
00:45:17.119 -->
00:45:21.119Listen, God wants you to be with him immediately, as close as possible.
00:45:21.280 -->
00:45:25.360The only one holding up the show here, here we go back to responsibility, is me.
00:45:25.599 -->
00:45:26.880I don't want to be that close to God.
00:45:27.119 -->
00:45:31.440You gotta be honest and be full, fully grown up and say, listen, I'm not that close to God.
00:45:31.519 -->
00:45:33.119Not because of God, because of me.
00:45:33.360 -->
00:45:38.239There's things I want to hold on to, there's things I want to do, there's things I want to be apart from God.
00:45:38.400 -->
00:45:40.400So it's not God's fault you're not close to God.
00:45:40.559 -->
00:45:48.719And it doesn't take time, which it does take time because it just seems to happen that we don't have time for you to get on board with God, ego is edging God out.
00:45:49.039 -->
00:45:51.920Because we want to do what we so it takes a little time and pain.
00:45:52.000 -->
00:45:59.599But the truth, the real truth is God wants you, and God's willing, as soon as you're sincere and come from your heart, God wants here, here's the things that are blocking you from me.
00:45:59.760 -->
00:45:59.920Come on.
00:46:00.800 -->
00:46:01.039Exactly.
00:46:01.360 -->
00:46:02.079Takes off the ring.
00:46:02.400 -->
00:46:03.199Yeah, exactly.
00:46:03.440 -->
00:46:03.920Welcome home.
00:46:04.400 -->
00:46:04.960Welcome home.
00:46:05.119 -->
00:46:06.639So, okay, we're at the end.
00:46:06.800 -->
00:46:09.119Uh, we're gonna get into five, we're going through all the stuff.
00:46:09.280 -->
00:46:14.159So we're gonna we're gonna go through five, four, recap a little bit four, five uh uh next week.
00:46:14.239 -->
00:46:16.960So I want you to share, like, subscribe.
00:46:17.119 -->
00:46:26.480Listen, if you have any comments, listen, you want to talk it out, whatever, something you're seeing different, or something you think I'm not seeing right, or however, let's talk it out.
00:46:26.559 -->
00:46:30.960I want to hear you from you, and uh, I want us all to be close to God.
00:46:31.039 -->
00:46:32.400I want us all moving towards God.
00:46:32.480 -->
00:46:39.440I want everybody to have what what what Bill talks about that I want that I can't stop telling people about because the miracles happen in my life.
00:46:39.679 -->
00:46:41.679Thank you, and see you next week.
