Step 5: Come Clean

Selected Scripture

Connect:

• Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.

Prayer:

Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.

Review:

We are in a series looking at the 12 steps from AA through a Biblical lens as we look at the pathway of freedom in Christ and following Him whole heartedly. A phrase we are going to hear over and over is, “If you want to change your life, take it one step at a time (in other words, foundations matter!). This week we looked at the 5th step of confessing hidden things that keep us back from all God intends…

The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…

o What did you learn about God?

o What did you learn about people?

o What did you learn about yourself?

o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?

Reflection:

Personal Experience:

• Share a time when you got away with something minor as a kid… and then felt so bad you ended up admitting it to someone. Reflect on that— why did it make sense to confess something you were getting away with?

  • Group Discussion:

    1. Confession makes us vulnerable, and vulnerability is often exploited… so we hesitate to be vulnerable! Discuss some of the conditions that are necessary for confession to lead to a positive end in relationship to Ourselves, God, and Others.

    2. Discuss the relationship between confession and growth/intimacy as you see it in the following passages (2 Cor 6:11-13, Gal 6:1-2, Matt 5:23-24, Luke 17:3-4, Romans 12:1-5, Rom 15:7, Eph 4:32, 1 Thes 5:14, Ps 139:23-24, Ps 103:10-12, Col 3:9-10, Prov 27:17)

    3. They say “Confession is good for the soul” when it is actually good for our whole being. Why does confession lead to health? Discuss that question with reference to the following scriptures. (Ps 38:18, Ps 32:3-4, Matt 11:28-30, Is 57:15, John 8:36, Luke 18:34)

    4. Ben said, “Confession is an act of trust”. What does that mean? Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

    5. Read Luke 7:36-50. Jesus said, “Those who have been forgiven little, love little. Those who have been forgiven much, love much.” discuss why that is so.

    6. Confession requires humility… so, then what? Discuss the question of where humility can lead us.

Application: 

Is there anything in my life that, right here and now, I love more than the freedom and purpose found only by coming clean about something before God and others?

Prayer:

Spend some time in prayer asking God to search and know us, to lead us beyond the things that are holding us back from the abundant life and power that are ours in this new life in Jesus by the power of His Spirit.

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