Addiction and recovery

“but sin has come in and it doesn't just enslave us, it twists our minds to think that if we run towards or run deeper into sin, that somehow that will bring us or break us from the slavery, break us from bondage. If we just get deeper into it, if we just go dive further into these things, to drugs or alcohol or relationships or money, if we just dive deeper and dive deeper, they'll just satisfy and they never do.”

“reality is many times it's nothing more than love being lived out as a parent I there's no way I could watch a child that I love or a grandchild in my life begin to abuse alcohol and drugs and become an addict and that not provoke me to do everything that I could to try to deliver them and to get them out of that because they're living a lie it's going to destroy everything in their lives”

“The more I drink. Fill in your drug of choice. The more I drink, what? The more I drink. And it will never satisfy the deepest longings of your soul. and it will take you to places you never thought you would go. I was seated with a pastor in a counseling session. He looked at me and said,"Tim, I'm the last person you would have ever thought”

“Your liver's just so damaged. You drink anymore, you're going to die. And those who could not drink alcohol or couldn't stop now all of a sudden can stop. Now, to be honest with you, some can't even stop then. But but a lot can uh cigarettes smoking. I can't stop. Go to the doctor, you got lung cancer, you smoke again, you're going to die. And many are able to stop. Some again aren't able to, but many are able to stop. Now, let me tell”

“and globally. and I'm thankful for that. He's the author of over 30 books. He can be heard on radio and television. He has a broadcast, a television broadcast that he's a part of uh every week in his life. He is a professor ameritus of Liberty University of the Global Center of Mental Health Addiction Recovery and uh this man's name is synonymous with being a counselor, a mental health”

“in a really good place if if you struggle and you're like, I do not want to be there because your heart has been changed by Jesus and it is bothered and it can't stay there. But the encouragement to you tonight and from Proverbs is that you'd forsake it. You confess it and you would forsake it and you would feel the freedom of that weight that goes away. you say, "I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to drink that." Whatever it is in your life that maybe you feel like you have bondage and confessing brings freedom. So, I just”

“they act the way that they do. Trials can be a part of the deformation of our character. It can cause us to give ourselves to alcoholism, escapism, drug use, pornography, adultery, and all the more. But it is those same pressures and problems and pains that we go through that God can use and does use to shape character in us. Listen to this scripture, Romans chapter 5. Therefore, since we have been made right with God in his sight by faith, we have peace with God”

“Because I've heard a lot of people say, especially in the South, I've been a Christian all my life, so when I don't have this great testimony, I was a drug addict or whatever craziness that happened in my life, like I was just born in a Christian home. I was born in a Christian home. But guess what? If you know Jesus today, You were a wretched sinner before, that your life was horrible, and then, praise the Lord, by his grace, by his mercy, you have accepted Jesus, and he forgave you of your sins, and guess what? Your life is different now. If your life was the same before, before Jesus and after Jesus,”

“lives. It can disrupt our peace and loneliness can come. But loneliness in and of itself is not a sin. However, loneliness very quickly gives way to sinful behaviors. When we are lonely, when we are isolated, in those moments, if we are not careful, feelings of loneliness can prompt us to indulge behaviors. Alcohol, drug abuse, obsession with pornography, all sorts of social and antisocial disorders.”

“and loneliness can invite all kinds of sins in our lives. And the reality is that for many people, loneliness, feelings of loneliness have led to all sorts of sinful behaviors. The use and abuse of alcohol and drugs, the indulgence of pornography, The realization of all sorts of antisocial behaviors that can come into us and through us,”

“the indulgence of sinful behaviors in our lives. Many people abuse alcohol and drugs and indulge pornography and other forms of antisocial and destructive behaviors because loneliness opens the door to allow us to begin to enter into sin. Something else that we understand is that loneliness is a consequence of living in a”

“People indulge in the abuse of alcohol, the use of drugs, the distraction, and ultimately the enslavement of pornography. They become antisocial in their behavior, using the veil of social media as a means of just critiquing and criticizing, when in reality, what's really wrong is there's a loneliness in them. And so while loneliness is not a sin, loneliness can quickly invite sinful behaviors.”

“to the Gentiles or to the Pharisees. He gave that to his disciples. So, if you have not volunteered, would you please do that? You can do it at the kids desk out there, or you could tap one of those little circles on front. That leader training is Wednesday, the 20th. And then lastly, we launched a Freedom Recovery Substance Abuse Support Group in January. They're having a guest speaker on the 18th, our very own Bill Sack. Uh come and be a part of that, even if you're not a part of the group. You can come hear his story and see how the group is run. You guys”

“flapjack Fridays. And so, we would um make flapjacks for anybody like when the bars would close, people would come to our house. And our only rule was like, "No alcohol, no drugs, anybody's welcome." And so, we would get all these people a flooding from the bars after the bars would close at 2:00 a.m. and stuff coming into our house. And we would just make people pancakes. And God used these conversations to really reach some people for the Lord. But Sarah came that Friday and we'd already she'd already journeyed and done the flight and then landed and then the 3 and 1/2”

“Because it is a part of God's work to shape humility and to forge dependency in our lives towards him. Peter tells us this in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 6 and following. He says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. Casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls like a”

“let's jump in and read Colossians chapter 2 16 through chapter 3 verse 4. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify”

“Some people need Christ because maybe they are good business, good in finances and the physical, you know, they look strong but but during the night they have to go to alcohol, drugs and they cannot sleep.”

“idolatry in the Bible. Uh 1 John 5:21 says, "Little children, keep yourself from idols." God hates it when we give our hearts to something or someone else. What happens is it never quote calms the storm within and then I quote get caught up in the throws of an addiction where I become dependent on something that I believe is the only thing that calms or soothes the cry of my soul.”

“heart look like? A place of fresh faith to a place of utter brokenness or addiction to a place of the recovery of the heart. Would you guys pray with me? Lord, I pray this morning that you would use our time together to speak to the hearts of people here. And God, I know that there is a lot of pain and sorrow. There's a lot of”

“three. I want to talk to you this morning briefly about how people can go from a place of fresh faith, kind of that zippity dooah faith, you know, where they just fell in love with the Lord and then for whatever reason, whatever the circumstances were or what have you, to go to a place of utter brokenness, maybe even addiction. And then what does the recovery of the”

“confess sin that you wouldn't just be bothered by sin. You'd forsake it. You would take active steps to cut it off, to get rid of it." So, so there are addicts or or alcoholics that go to aa they know they need help. They kn know that they need community and people in their life to help them cut that off because they're miserable in their sin. That's what David uh was when he was in the sin as well. Psalm 32, he says, "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, in whose spirit”

“especially in trouble. And so, it's likely that the psalmist has in the midst of his trouble declared a fast as he seeks and pursues the presence of God. What is fasting? Well, there's a lot of modified versions. People can fast from media or social media or caffeine or those sorts of things. But biblically, fasting is the act of abstaining from food or drink for a certain period of time to give attention, to receive direction, or to deepen our affection and dependence on”

“to break and the Holy Spirit will begin to work renewing your heart and mind in accordance to God's will. But we have to practice these habits help shift our dependence from gifts to the giver of gifts. I was reading a Bible story like I often do with my girls Friday night, right”

“which what a beautiful thing that your grace has even offered a plan to freedom from habits, patterns, lifestyles, addictions. s to wrong and evil and sin and offensiveness in your sight.”

“And now every time someone sees this person, they have in their minds, who in the world is this man and what drug is he taking? Right? He's not dignified. To be dignified means to be put together. Now, it doesn't mean that you have to wear like a suit and tie, but it means that the way that you carry yourself is honorable. It's respectable. So these older men should be sober-minded, dignified, and self-controlled.”