We all had help at some point to get clean and sober from our addiction. What roles do the people around us play in our lives in recovery now?
We are taking a dive into two stories from Exodus about two different roles people played in the life of Moses that made it possible for him to succeed, and without whom, Moses may never have been able to lead his people to the promised land.
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Read The Transcript Below
good morning everybody Welcome to the recovered on purpose show bring in the word Wednesday super excited about this lesson today we’re diving into Exodus to see some different roles that people played in the life of Moses that made him able to lead his people to the promised land super excited about this enjoy the show and keep living recovered on purpose the black represents the darkness from which we came
the white represents the light in which we now live and the red represents the passion it takes to live recovered on purpose
good morning good morning good morning everybody I’m super excited you are here I was just opening up my coffee I got my coffee I got my Bible we’re about to uh dive into a couple stories that you know talk about the roles that different people played in Moses’s life while he was leading the Israelites to the promised land and what’s interesting about these stories is that even though he was a prophet even though he had God on his side he spoke directly to God and had him standing right next to him when he was talking to him Moses still needed other people and the the question is would he have ever been able to actually succeed without these people and we’re going to take a look at that let me know where you’re coming in from let me know clean and sober dates we love to celebrate on the recovered on purpose show clean time what’s up Eugene good to see you brother good to see you Kendall good to see you check this channel out when you can this guy is great you’re great Kendall thank you for uh thank you for hopping in so we’re going to dive right into it again on Mondays and Wednesdays we have a little bit of a shorter show so let’s get right into it so this is coming from Exodus chapter 17. and starts at verse 8. so while the people of Israel were still at rephidim the Warriors of amalek attacked them Moses commanded Joshua choose some men to go out and fight the army of amalek for us tomorrow I will stand at the top of the hill holding the staff of God in my hand so Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of amalek meanwhile Moses Aaron and her climbed to the top of a nearby Hill as long as Moses held up the staff in his hand the Israelites had the advantage but whenever he dropped his hand the amalekites gained the advantage Moses’s arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up and who’s had that in their life who’s had that in their life in recovery or an addiction when you just couldn’t hold up your life anymore I want you to imagine holding a staff over your head like this and holding it over your head for you know hours and hours and hours there’s literally a war going down going on at the bottom of this mountain so imagine that and so there was something to it about holding his staff up that made it so that whenever as long as he had it up the Israelites were winning Moses’s arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold him up so Aaron and her found a stone for him to sit on then they stood on each side of Moses holding up his hands so His Hands Held steady until sunset as a result Joshua overwhelmed the army of amalek in battle now who is it in your life that would hold your arms up for you in this situation what friends do you have in recovery what friends you know family members people that you can call people that you can reach out to that when you can’t hold your arms up anymore when you’re when you’re struggling when you have something going on when your emotions are running High who is it that you can reach out to and I want you to think about who is it that you that could reach out to you are you someone that somebody can reach out to and you’ll hold their arms up for them none of us none of us got clean and sober on our own I know that uh I got to a point where I was completely alone I was going to the meetings every day I was going to Bible study and church and everything and I thought that the Cavalry was coming to save me right I thought someone would be end up doing this for me what I learned was that I had to do the own my own steps I had to do the work myself but in that process of doing the work I learned that there are also people there as long as I’m doing the work that will help me and that’s the same as Moses he didn’t he had to go up there he had to climb up there and he had to hold his arms up over his head hold his staff up over his head but when he was doing that himself Aaron and her were able to help him in their own way right they brought they brought a stone over for him to sit on so he wasn’t he wasn’t dying standing up and holding it over his head and then they actually went to his sides and held up his arms for him while they got so dead that he couldn’t even hold him up and be that person for other people and recognize those people that are in your life now and if you’re ever struggling don’t struggle alone don’t hold your arms up alone thinking that you’re going to be able to you know hold him forever because what happens when they break what happens when you break does that mean that we’re going to relapse does that mean that you know we’re going to there’s there’s so many ways we can go in recovery that none of us want to go ever again so don’t be afraid to reach out to the people that you need to reach out to people that possibly even need you to reach out to them to help right so the next story is just right in the next chapter so Moses’s father-in-law Jethro the priest of Midian heard about everything God had done for Moses and his people the Israelites he heard especially about how the Lord had rescued them from Egypt earlier Moses had sent his wife Zapora and his two sons back to Jethro who had taken them in Moses first son was named jersham for Moses had said when the boy was born I have been a foreigner in a foreign land his second son was named elizaire for Moses had said the god of my ancestors was my helper he rescued me from The Sword of pharaoh Jethro Moses father-in-law now came to visit Moses in the wilderness he brought Moses his wife and two sons with him and they arrived while Moses and the people were camped near the Mountain of God Jethro had sent a message to Moses saying I Jethro your father-in-law am coming to see you with your wife and your two sons and imagine you are you’re out in battle you are you are leading people uh across a whole bunch of wasteland right a whole bunch of land and you’re leading a lot of people everybody that was stuck in Egypt and you’re probably getting lonely you probably you know the the Israelites are complaining to them all the time about needing food and eating water and why did you take us out of Egypt and and he’s probably getting tired of this right so Jethro brought his family to him which is nice so Moses went out to meet his father-in-law he bowed low and kissed him they asked about each other’s welfare and then went into Moses tent Moses told his father-in-law everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh in Egypt on behalf of Israel he also told about all the hardships they had experienced along the way and how the Lord had rescued his people from all their troubles Jethro was delighted when he heard about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel as he rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians praise the Lord Jethro said for he has rescued you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh yes he has rescued Israel from the powerful hand of Egypt I know now that the Lord is greater than all other gods because he rescued his people from the oppression of The Proud Egyptians then Jethro Moses father-in-law brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God Aaron and all the Elders of Israel came out and joined him in a in a sacrificial meal in God’s presence now this is where it is Jethro’s wise advice the next day Moses took his seat to hear the people’s disputes against each other they waited before him from morning until evening when Moses father-in-law saw that Moses was doing for the people he asked what are what are you really accomplishing here why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening Moses replied because the people come to me to get a ruling from God when a dispute arises they come to me and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions this is not good Moses father-in-law exclaimed you’re getting you’re going to wear yourself out and the people too this job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself now listen to me and let me give you a word of advice and may God be with you you should continue to be the people’s Representatives before God bringing their disputes to him teach them God’s decrees and give them his instructions show them how to conduct their lives but select from all the people some capable honest men who fear God and hate bribes appoint them as Leaders over groups of one thousand one hundred fifty and ten they should always be available to solve the people’s common disputes but have them bring the major cases to you let the leaders decide the smaller matters themselves they will help you carry the load making the task easier for you if you follow this advice and if God commands you to do so then you will be able to endure the pressures and all these people will go home in peace now these are the roles that we’re talking about this Jethro just came and gave advice to Moses who’s literally being led by God this is someone who the people are coming to him to go to God and get answers God is standing right next to him and he’s having a conversation with him this same man Moses needed advice from someone else that was able to make it so that he wouldn’t get worn out not only that but it would make it so that the whole the whole group of people all the Israelites would be governed in a way that worked and what this did was it made it so that Moses could focus on other things he could start getting deeper with God about the other things that they needed to do the other purposes for his life and his ministry and so the two different the two different uh roles that we’re talking about today who are the people that are there to help you your friends the errands and hers the people that are going to hold your arms up in in battle the people that you know when you’re struggling with your emotions when you’re struggling with your thoughts when you need when your car’s in the shop and you just need a ride home and you don’t want to do Uber you want someone to talk to there’s there’s those roles your friends then who are you allowing in your life to give you advice what mentors are you allowing in your life to help you get to where you want to go and these roles are so important for us to have in order to have a successful life a joyful life in our recovery and here’s the thing when we are talking about mentors and about allowing mentors into your life you always want to judge the tree by the fruit it bears not by the fruit it talks about so when you are allowing someone to speak into your life when you’re allowing someone to give you advice you always want to make sure to test their life by by witnessing it you know I remember one time in my very very early recovery before this time when I was when I was still trying to get clean and I was so excited about this guy that had like 26 years to be my sponsor I was talking to him I heard him speak in a meeting it was just amazed by it and everything and he offered to take me out to lunch we go out to lunch and the way he treated the waitress was so disrespectful and just rude to this random person that I I knew that I couldn’t I couldn’t follow this person I knew I couldn’t listen to him about anything because if he’s willing to treat someone like that then how could I possibly listen to him and then another time one of my mentors right now actually I was on a call with him and we were talking and he was kind of coaching me and stuff and then for lack of a better term his his kids came up and interrupted him and the way that he interacted with his kids the way that he he didn’t get a rise of emotion he didn’t get angry um he quickly you know dealt not dealt with but but catered to them helped them with the issue that they had right there they’re really young like six seven eight and then he said you know and I’m on a call so give me 30 minutes or so and then they didn’t interrupt again and while I while I watched his interaction with his kids I was completely just in awe of it honestly because the way that he parented was something that I would want to be like that’s something that that’s how I would want to parent my kids and so that made it and the way that he lived his life made it so that I was willing to listen to him and when he gives me advice I listen when he tells me to do something I do it because I trust where he’s leading me so who in your life right now is giving you advice and if you don’t have someone in your life right now that is giving you advice it’s time to look for a mentor a coach a new sponsor someone that is somewhere that you want to be that you can listen to on how to get there because here’s the thing we can all go at we can all go at life and we have a goal in it right we have a goal in life and if we do it alone we will get there eventually it might take us five years ten years something like that to get to the goal that we have with a mentor with a coach with someone that gives you advice that has already done this that five years can get cut all the way down to one year because what that does is you’re able to learn from that person’s lessons instead of having to learn your own lessons from your own failures on your path to success there’s books to read there’s videos to watch and then there’s also people that are looking for people just like you to advise to coach to Mentor because the circle of the circle and knowledge the way it works is you got to be learning from someone where where the relationship is they teach you they teach you the whole time you have nothing to teach them you listen you you ask questions things like that and then you have the errands and the hers the friends around you the peer group that hold each other’s arms up that you can reach out to when you need help with something specific in the moment when you can interact with each other about the things that you’re learning and grow together and then a third of your time also needs to be as a mentor wherever you’re at right now you have knowledge you have you have a way that you have gotten clean and sober to this point you have some
