today at RCC West

Want to c ya face in da place 2day at 5pm! So excited about worship today at Recovery Christian Center West, 4110 Haverford Ave in West Philly! Every Saturday at 5pm! Come get ya praise on and get a dynamic 3rd Step Message!

This Friday @ RCC Kensington!

So much to praise God for this week! Co Pastor Paula Burnett-Kimmenez is out of the hospital and this week is the WCNA in Philly! Also this Friday at 7pm at Recovery Christian Center Kensington at SKA 2418 Kensington Avenue, Philly, PA, will be a welcome home service for our own Phillip Eno-sense Bermudez and the reunion of Redemption Redeemed! We will also have a special Word Bearer, my friend Pastor Raymond Ramos from Recovery House of Worship who will bring the message from the 3rd Step as a part of our ongoing series on the 12 Steps and the Word entitled, "Y R U Lookin 4 A Natural Solution 2 A Spiritual Problem?" We gonna get it in!

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/21/13 - Step 4 - Taking Responsibility

***Join us this week at the Recovery Christian Centers! As we continue our series on the 12 Steps for Christian Recovery entitled, "Why Are You Looking For A Natural Solution To A Spiritual Problem?" This week we're on the 2nd Step! Every Friday @ 7pm @ RCC Kensington @ SKA, 2418 Kensington Ave & every Saturday @ 5pm @ 4110 Haverford Ave both in Philly, PA!***

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/21/13 - Step 4 - Taking Responsibility

"On October 31 the people assembled again, and this time they fasted and dressed in burlap and sprinkled dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. They remained standing in place for three hours while the Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them. Then for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord their God." Nehemiah 9:1-3

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

One of the things that makes the 4th Step so significant to ongoing recovery is that in many ways since coming to Christ and into recovery this is the first time that we begin to really take responsibility for our actions in the past. Up until this point we have had something someone to blame it on. Even once we came out of what was destroying us we blamed it on our sin nature or the disease or the enemy or our flesh. Even in looking at it as flesh it was more like we were seeing the flesh across the street somewhere rather than as a part of us. It's time in the inventory process to begin examining ourselves on a deep enough level to start seeing the exact nature of not just what we did but why we did it. However we can't get to the why unless we accept total responsibility for the what.

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/15/13 - Step 3: Understanding Commitment

***Don't miss this week at the Recovery Christian Centers! We are beginning a new series on the 12 Steps for Christian Recovery entitled, "Why Are You Looking For A Natural Solution To A Spiritual Problem?" We're beginning this week with the 1st Step! Every Friday @ 7pm @ RCC Kensington @ SKA, 2418 Kensington Ave & every Saturday @ 5pm @ 4110 Haverford Ave both in Philly, PA!***

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/15/13 - Step 3: Understanding Commitment

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." Proverbs 3:5-8 NLT

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God through Jesus Christ.

One of the biggest principle in the 3rd Step is commitment. It's also the one we struggle with the most. We do feel the pull in our spirit to surrender ourselves to God but many times we become tempted to take our will back. If we think God is taking too long or if we think we can do it better we will many times stick our hands in it again only to find ourselves jammed up again and having to return to God in repentance.

We have the surrender part down, albeit temporarily but the commitment required to leave it there still eludes us. We try to justify it by saying that all recovering people and many new Christians have commitment issues, but let's be real. We were whole an deeply committed to the behaviors, relationships, lifestyles or situations that were destroying us prior to coming to Christ. We were committed regardless of the circumstances or consequences so it's now time to put that same level of trust, belief, faith and commitment into the same God that has brought us out from what was killing us. It's time to completely surrender our will and our lives to Him and to be committed to leaving them there. He surely hasn't brought us this far to drop us off, leave us or say sike.

Starting This Weekend @ Recovery Christian Centers!!!!

Starting this Weekend at RCC............

A Powerful New Series!!!!!!!!!

"Why R U Looking 4 A Natural Solution 2 A Spiritual Problem!"

Every Friday @ 7pm @ RCC Kensington Recovery Gospel Open Mic Nite!
2418 Kensington Ave in Philly

Every Saturday @ 5pm @ RCC West Recovery & Deliverance Worship!
4110 Haverford Ave in West Philly

IT WILL CHANGE UR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!        We Are Radical Ministry For Radical Brokenness!

Tonite @ RCC Kensington!

Getting excited about our Open Mic Nite Worship this evening at Recovery Christian Center Kensington @ SKA! We gonna get it in! I gotta WORD that will CHANGE UR LIFE! 2418 Kensington Ave @ 7pm!

We bout ta blow up!

I am so excited about what God is doing at the Recovery Christian Centers. Over the next few weeks we will be getting ready for the Ordination and Installation of CoPastor Paula Burnett-Kimmenez and we are beginning to consecrate ourselves and allowing God to strip things out of us in this season. We will soon be kicking offOvercomer's University at RCC Kensington @ SKA and also getting ready for PRO-ACT Recovery Walks 2013 and our part in Philadelphia Stand Down. We are also exploring the possibility of our own radio show and hosting and planning the first (that we know of) Recovery Ministry Conference in Philadelphia. I am also asking for prayer as I begin school in September at Open House @ Master's Commission Bible Institute. I am overwhelmed that God is doing all this through an an old ex junkie, ex con, and formerly messed up combat vet like me. Now I understand what the songwriter meant when he said, "He saw the best in me when everyone else around could only see the worst in me!"

Event for Philadelphia Area Homeless Vets begins in 29 days!

The Philadelphia Stand Down event for homeless and disadvantaged veterans begins in 29 days and set up begins in 26 days. We are still looking for volunteers. Please in box me or the PSD FB page for more info or if you are interested in volunteering or donating. 

https://www.facebook.com/philadelphiastanddown?ref=hl

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/7/13 - Step 2: Filling the Void

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/7/13 - Step 2: Filling the Void

"How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear. Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one! You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace." Job 14:1-6 NLT

Step 2: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

The reality of surrendering control in Step 1 is that we are left with a void. One of the common mistakes made is the attempt to fill the void, not necessarily with whatever brought us to powerlessness, but with some new thing, even positive things in order not to feel empty. The problem with that approach is that we are still looking for something on the outside of us to fix what's wrong on the inside of us. We are looking for a natural solution to a spiritual problem.

The reason that we never feel full from this approach is because the void is the empty place in our soul that is designed only to be filled with a relationship with God. The void is the absence of the Divine in our lives. The reason we can't fill it is because the void so immense that it can only contain the immensity of God. Us filling it is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a toy shovel. The only way to fill it is by beginning to surrender ourselves to Him in the Person of Jesus Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us.

Sometimes the only way we come to that awareness is not by trying to fill the void, but by feeling the void and being honest with ourselves about how big it is in order to truly come to the realization the there is nothing we can fill it with but God.

https://www.facebook.com/recoverychristiancenter

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/4/13 - Step One - Giving Up Control

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 8/4/13 - Step One - Giving Up Control

"The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy. At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.” So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.” But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.” So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.” But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed! Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused. Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord. However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too.” “Go in peace,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again." 2 Kings 5:1-19 NLT

Step 1: We admitted that we were powerless over our problems - that our lives had become unmanageable. (12 Steps for Christian Recovery)

The problem with admitting powerlessness for many of us means that we must give up control of our lives. It's something we hold dear even tho what has brought to our knees was long since out of our control. The very thing that is actually controlling us and slowly destroying us has us actually believing we are in control. Even when we admit we need help we want to try and figure out a way to control how we are helped. In short we want to tell help how to help us. The Aramean general Naaman was very much one of these individuals. He was a powerful military and political figure who was very used to having his own way, but he was slowly dying of leprosy. The medical knowledge back then had no idea how to cure it and since it was highly contagious, it was considered a curse and most victims were sent to leper colonies to keep it from spreading. But Namaan's servant knew there was a prophet in Israel that could cure him.

The problem was that once Namaam got to Elisha he tried to dictate the process of how he would be helped. Rather than simply following the instructions without question, he tried to manipulate and adjust those to fit him. The reality was he also struggled with the simplicity of the instructions. He was looking for some drawn out,complicated process that would be taxing and expensive. When it turned out to be simple he bucked the instructions out of disbelief. But when he finally broke down and followed them, he was cured.

A lot of us struggle with those same concepts in the first step. We are so used to getting what we think is our own way and being in the illusion of control that when confronted with something we can't control we fight to the last breath to bring it under control before surrendering. We also struggle with the idea that the solution is too simple. It should be harder. It should be taxing. It should be expensive. God, however, is making it very simple. All He wants us to do do is come to the realization that we no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to control what it is that is controlling. All we have to do is admit we are powerless and that the struggle for control is making us unmanageable. If we simply let go and let God we will begin to recover and begin a path to a relationship with Christ. It may seem like it can't be that simple but it is.

This Weekend @ RCC!

Ur Personal Invitation to RCC This Weekend:

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We are Radical Ministry For Radical Brokenness!