9th Annual Freedom from Addiction and Life Controlling Habits
Pastor Joe Fuiten, March 19,
2006
This has become an annual
event. For those who have gotten free,
it is a time to celebrate and give thanks.
For those who once were free but have fallen back into old habits, it is
a chance to get back on track. For those
who have never truly been free, it is a day of hope and faith to consider what
God can do in a person’s life. Today we
are going to consider Jesus and we are going to consider the people of God in
our programs to help those caught in various traps.
There is tremendous power in Christ.
Americans have a lot of excesses.
The Romans were considerably worse.
Our Scripture reading is from what Paul said in Romans 8:5-18 Those who live according to the sinful nature
have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the
mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those
controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are
controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,
your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of
righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is
living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers, we
have an obligation-- but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to
it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because
those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not
receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the
Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The
Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17
Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with
the glory that will be revealed in us.
First: The problem
Drugs,
alcohol, tobacco are the obvious. Directly or indirectly, addiction to drugs,
cigarettes and alcohol is thought to account for a third of all hospital
admissions, a quarter of all deaths and a majority of serious crimes. In the
There are others that are less thought of in this
regard. There is compulsive gambling. They
say that playing the lottery is the tax on those who are poor at math. Gambling addictions are increasing rapidly in
There are the problems of the internet. For all the
tremendous good on the internet, there is also a darker side, chief of which is
pornography. There are tens of thousands
of pornographic websites. Many find
their lives in disarry because of pornography.
But for some people, it is not the content of the internet. They are consumed by the medium. They spend hours a day to the neglect of the
rest of their lives.
There are video
and computer games. Both young
people and adults spend their lives there.
Instead of advancing in their career or at school, they play life
away.
There are eating
problems. Some eat too much, or
uncontrollably. Others eat too
little. Some eat to satisfy the craving
of the soul, rather than the body.
There is the problem of sexual twistedness in its 101 forms. Homosexual thoughts. Thoughts of sex with those who are not your
spouse.
There is shopping. Some cannot help themselves. They buy what they do not need. They shop compulsively.
Television and
movies has
become the drug of choice for others. As
they watch, they cry, or become joyful.
They slip into despair or laugh with abandon. They become sexually aroused or terribly
angry. They shout, or they cower in
fear. All this, is in response to what
does not exist. How different is that
from the hallucinating drugger who swats or cries out at imaginary images?
Phil Witty’s Outline of Presentation on Addiction (6 minutes). Nature of addiction in general. Classic signs of addiction. Sex addiction specifically. Scriptures: 2 Peter 2:19, “. . . a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” Colossians 3:5, “Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires . . . which is idolatry.” Psalm 32:1-5, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said: ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Mary Brandenburg—also six minutes.
We are spending our time with Jesus
in the wilderness during this Lenten season.
Just like Jesus, our problem is the devil, weakness or vulnerability,
and the flesh. We should take note of
the fact that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.
Lukemakes
that clear: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led
by the Spirit into the desert....”[1] Again, later in the chapter, Luke indicates
that Jesus “returned to Galilee in the
power of the Spirit....”[2]
Luke also lets us hear Jesus giving his own understanding of what had happened
when Jesus read in the synagogue “Jesus
said, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed…,[3]
The success that Jesus had was
related to the power of the Spirit in his life. I
think the same can be said of his ability to overcome temptation in the
Victory comes to us as well when we
pray. As you pray God’s Spirit flows
into your life. When you pray say
this: “Jesus, forgive me and deliver me
from my bondage. Set my affections on
you and the things of the Spirit.” Pray
that kind of prayer every day, particularly as you struggle with the addictions
and bondages.
When Jesus was in the wilderness,
he made no provision for the flesh. The
devil wanted him to turn stones to bread but he declined. When he went into Gethsemne to pray, he didn’t
bring a sleeping bag and tent just in case his flesh got tired.
You need to do the same. Don’t make provision for failure. In your issue, find people to help hold you
accountable. If the computer is a problem
for you, let someone monitor all your activities. Your spouse should know your password. There are programs that allow other people to
see every keystroke. If you have a
problem with cable, get rid of it. Take
up golf in the day and bowling at night.
Find a prayer partner. Get
connected with Celebrate Recovery or one of our counselors or groups.
In this
time of prayer, we are going to ask you to fill out the prayer card that is
located in your pew. Bring it up and pin
it to this cross. Then go to the altar
and ask for the grace of God to be free from your life-controlling habit. I hope you will take the next step and get
involved in one of our groups or in similar groups that exist around the
community. But at least give it to God.