SPEAKER_00: We're continuing talking about clashing kingdoms, and of course, uh the goal here is not just to just to uh uh talk about what's going on in the world, but to help us as Christians sort of address some of these major issues where our culture clashes with biblical Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it is interesting that we have to say biblical Christianity nowadays because some Christianity is just whatever I think is good, Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: It's more humanistic.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but to just look at these things for a few moments and give the biblical instructions and help us to learn how to approach our culture and our world.
SPEAKER_00: And so I am I'm grateful for this opportunity and this time to to talk to you and hopefully you will be equipped a little bit to stand, a little bit this morning, a little more to stand for the kingdom of God with courage and commitment and let his light shine through you.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough just to be at war with the world.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We want our light to shine, we want to be a strength to others, and we want to be uh uh a light to what God can do in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people really just need some point of reference in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh I, as a pastor and talking to other ministers with the ministers that I associate with and and the the denominational body and teaching uh some of those now that they call me elder, which I keep trying to deny, but it doesn't work anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, you know, to talk and to teach us one of the things that we need to do is to kind of provide that boundary for people.
SPEAKER_00: People need a boundary they can trust in.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you're the only one they see to say, hey, that's what Christianity looks like, or that's how we apply the Word of God to our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's important not only for you and not only to just uh defeat the uh sort of ideas of the world, but to exemplify what God would have us do.
SPEAKER_00: So today I'm talking to you about some addictive temptations.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I said it that way on purpose, uh, addictive temptations because all of these are things that may be tempting to us, uh, but also result in or often result in some sort of addiction that holds us in the grips of whatever that activity or action is.
SPEAKER_00: So our culture uh commonly promotes these activities and these consumptions, I might say, to not just activities, but the consumption of these things that are by their nature addictive.
SPEAKER_00: And so today, for example, we're gonna talk about alcohol, drugs, gambling.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about these things a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: They're normalized, commercialized, and and even celebrated in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: So, and advertisers in particular always glamorize and whitewash the activities to make them look as wonderful and and and attractive as they can possibly make them look.
SPEAKER_00: And we've all seen those advertisements, right?
SPEAKER_00: You've seen them advertising alcohol, it's advertised using uh beautiful people, whatever that definition is, beautiful people in fun surroundings.
SPEAKER_00: It's always advertised that way.
SPEAKER_00: Someone that's intelligent, someone that's beautiful, someone that's in this fun and exciting atmosphere, that's the illustration to insinuate that if you consume alcohol, this is what your life will result in.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be beautiful, you'll be interesting, you'll be funny, and you will have a crowd of people like that around you, and uh it's all fun and exciting.
SPEAKER_00: Just think about the advertisements.
SPEAKER_00: They're always that way.
SPEAKER_00: They're always like sophistication, they're always like fun, they're always smart, intelligent, they're always those kinds of things that that would be attractive uh to people.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the truth is that when you drink, you will think you're more beautiful, you will think you're funny, and you will think all of those things because that's what's put in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: So, and you are inebriated, so you can't distinguish reality, and so you will think that way.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, some people that drink they go the opposite direction and they get depressed, you know.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know uh why that but but you may think that, but actually, none of those things are true.
SPEAKER_00: It's a complete facade.
SPEAKER_00: How does how does people's lives look that are consistently consuming alcohol?
SPEAKER_00: How do their bodies look?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, alcohol doesn't tend, doesn't help you have uh beauty.
SPEAKER_00: We even have terminology that's attached to the way people look based on alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just letting you think of some so I don't need to say them out.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reality of it.
SPEAKER_00: The reality of it is it's destructive, it destroys people's lives, and there may be some temporary fun in it, but what it does, that addiction takes over people's lives and ruins their lives, ruins their relationships, ruins their body, soul, and spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The other is drugs.
SPEAKER_00: Now, uh drugs do get do get advertised, some usually in the sense of vaping or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: But but illicit drugs and drugs that are are used for not for medications but abused in some way for recreation, they're often portrayed in a again, an entertainment and an exciting or empowering or very similar to alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: That's how it's displayed.
SPEAKER_00: There was a day when none of this was displayed in our media, in our movies.
SPEAKER_00: You get a you get a R rating if it's Christian, but not if it's showing people consuming drugs, or at least inferring that they're consuming drugs.
SPEAKER_00: So we we we live in this strange world.
SPEAKER_00: Well, now it's acceptable to see these things even portrayed on the media and portrayed mostly in the light of positive, powerful, fun, mostly in that kind of display.
SPEAKER_00: I I have a curious, to me, it's curious because Coca-Cola will pay tens of thousands of dollars for product placement so that the characters in the movie are drinking Coca-Cola because you just see them drink it or you just see it in the stand.
SPEAKER_00: Alcohol companies will pay thousands, tens of thousands of dollars to see their brand of alcohol showing up in that movie to subliminally or indirectly advertise their product.
SPEAKER_00: I have to ask who's benefiting from showing drugs.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it's more than just selling a product, it's also selling an idea.
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, when we talk about illegal drugs, we're talking about some kind of uh criminal activity associated with that.
SPEAKER_00: But have you noticed the shift in our culture about the belief system about those things?
SPEAKER_00: So the idea is being sold even if a product isn't.
SPEAKER_00: So we have this massive shift about the approach to illicit drugs today.
SPEAKER_00: And it is interesting how much advertisement we see around for vaping and how these vaping shops are everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: They have taken over around.
SPEAKER_00: Vaping is just another vehicle to intake something, whatever it is, but oftentimes it's nicotine.
SPEAKER_00: So it's portrayed as cool and fun because this big puff of smoke is following you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what makes cool and fun about that, but apparently that's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: And then uh, but but in taking the same drugs, taking in the same drugs that cigarettes traditionally was the tool to take it in.
SPEAKER_00: About 8% of Americans overall participate in vaping, but 15% of teenagers are vaping.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, when you look at the trends, it's the cool thing, and it's become much more common with teenagers.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at young adults in particular, it's more like 20% are vaping because it's become the sort of cool thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: Versus traditional cigarettes, about 12% of adults are still, at least sometimes, smoking traditional cigarettes.
SPEAKER_00: It's a drug delivery system is what it is.
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, another thing that I mentioned is gambling.
SPEAKER_00: With the internet and organized gambling has uh organized gambling has become a hundreds of billions of dollars industry.
SPEAKER_00: In 2025, 78, almost 79 billion dollars in revenues from to companies for uh gambling.
SPEAKER_00: 50 million in casinos, 16 million in uh sports betting, 10 million and other kinds of online betting.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's not the total amount gambled, that's the revenue to the business.
SPEAKER_00: The total amount gambled is estimated to be$166 billion in America.
SPEAKER_00: If you include all the business surrounding that, casinos themselves, not just the gambling part, but the whole of casino casinos themselves in America have$329 billion worth of income.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying that to you not to say how big it is, in the sense of that, but to help you realize what a huge industry it is.
SPEAKER_00: What a huge industry it is in America.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, just like all these others, just like these other addictive behaviors, it's always dressed up in the advertising.
SPEAKER_00: It's dressed up to be beautiful, it's dressed up to be wonderful, it's dressed up to be fun, it's dressed up uh to be uh you're gonna get rich, to help you use your imagination about what you can do with all this money you're gonna win.
SPEAKER_00: It should be a clue how unlikely you are to win by looking at what they're building with the money.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you go to the casino and you see how beautiful it is and you know how much money they're making, and you understand how it should be a pretty good clue that you're not the winner, they are.
SPEAKER_00: They're making the money.
SPEAKER_00: And to be sure today, there's a lot of other things we could talk about in these categories, and I'll mention a few things as we go along that are commonly promoted in our culture, but are addictive or harmful or even destructive to our lives, to our bodies, our minds, our spirits.
SPEAKER_00: And I will say that our culture often even recognizes the dangers and the harms of these behaviors.
SPEAKER_00: They do.
SPEAKER_00: We see that, we hear that, so they recognize the harms of it.
SPEAKER_00: And the answer to that, the solution to that, the way to resolve that is at the end of the advertisement, put a short disclaimer that says, call this number if you have a problem.
SPEAKER_00: That's the answer.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now we're absolved, even though we know this is gonna hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: So now we're absolved, we can wash our hands of it, we're done with it.
SPEAKER_00: We fixed it.
SPEAKER_00: Call a 1-800 number.
SPEAKER_00: Or go to this website.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical Christianity approaches these ideas in all of our lives through a different lens, through a different perspective, one that's centered on holiness, one that's centered on self-control, on stewardship, on loving our neighbor as ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: That's the basis of the biblical approach.
SPEAKER_00: That's the basis of what the Bible tells us to do.
SPEAKER_00: And we put that side by side with the world, it's clear there's a clash here.
SPEAKER_00: There's a clash here.
SPEAKER_00: And our job as Christians is not to sort of resolve and bond and somehow build bridges to make the clash not so bad.
SPEAKER_00: But it's to stand for truth, it's to stand for the word of God, and to stand with honesty and integrity, knowing what the word of God teaches.
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's examine some of those things.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so, first, I want to say that there are there are things that are addictive that aren't sin unto themselves.
SPEAKER_00: The activity itself may not be sinful, but there are things that the activity itself is sinful, addictive or not.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to assume today for the sake of this time, for the sake of my narrow time.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like every time I teach these lessons, like I need about three more hours, you know, to cover this topic.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I would take three more hours of your time, you would go home way before that.
SPEAKER_00: But but, you know, it just feels like the topic's too big.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna narrow the topic down today by saying that if the activity itself is sinful all alone, then that should be straightforward enough for us as Christians, whether it's addictive or not.
SPEAKER_00: So I think I think we can all agree on that, and I'm not gonna really spend a lot of time sort of covering that part of it per se.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna cover these topics, but but I do I do want you to understand that at all altogether.
SPEAKER_00: If something is is is sinful, then it's sinful.
SPEAKER_00: And addictive or not, it's still sinful.
SPEAKER_00: Some activities, some of these things put you in an environment that is sinful.
SPEAKER_00: So by putting you in an environment that is sinful or that is prone to sin, that is filled with sinful approaches and activities and secular ideas that are contrary to the word of God, by putting you in that place, what it's doing is magnifying the power of the temptation.
SPEAKER_00: You then give space for stronger temptations.
SPEAKER_00: You then make opportunities for stronger temptations, and that alone is contrary to what the word of God tells us to do.
SPEAKER_00: It says, flee fornication.
SPEAKER_00: Flee those things, get away.
SPEAKER_00: Some things you just get away from, you extract yourself from.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes these activities bring you in that kind of environment.
SPEAKER_00: It is opposite of the Lord's Prayer that says, lead us not into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, it leads us into temptation, not because God did it, because we put ourselves in that place.
SPEAKER_00: Some things may not be sinful of themselves, but they can become addictive and harmful and offensive in some way, especially as the consumption of those things increase.
SPEAKER_00: So let me start here today by just mentioning those things, sinful activities.
SPEAKER_00: If the activity is sinful, it's always sinful.
SPEAKER_00: And then let's talk about a couple, let me mention a couple of uh principles in the Bible as we go forward.
SPEAKER_00: And the first of those, which is number two, because I already said sinful activities, is that addictions have power.
SPEAKER_00: They have power over you, that there's a controlling nature of addictions, and that control over you is enough to avoid the activity.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the addiction, whatever the activity is, is leading you away from God and controlling you.
SPEAKER_00: That alone is enough to say, hey, I have to break the hold on that.
SPEAKER_00: I have to I have to break the hold that that has over my life.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things like that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Bitterness is one of those things, right?
SPEAKER_00: Bitterness is one of those things.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, someone legitimately wronged you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just assume, legitimately wronged you in some way.
SPEAKER_00: So, how long you hold on to that before it starts growing into bitterness in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Because then you're damaging yourself, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so then it's damaging to you.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that they did something, that alone is bad, and you, whatever, you need to get to the place where you can get beyond that and let that go because the bitterness damages you.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, sometimes just the control is enough to step away from that.
SPEAKER_00: And the third principle that we see in the Bible, that I'm gonna talk about a little more as we go go along, but that it's offensive or it's weakening to others, especially others, other Christians that you're supposed to help and support and encourage, but this activity is harmful to them or hurtful to them or confusing to them.
SPEAKER_00: And number two, that it devalues your testimony with the world, with those around you.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's talk about those in a little more detail.
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about these biblical principles a little more detail.
SPEAKER_00: In Romans chapter 6, the Bible tells us that we become servants to whomever we obey.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 6, verse 15 through 18 says, What then?
SPEAKER_00: Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?
SPEAKER_00: God forbid.
SPEAKER_00: Know ye not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants, you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: But God be thanked that we, you were servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine was delivered to you, being then made free from sin, you became servants to righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you obey is what you conform to.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you obey is what controls your life.
SPEAKER_00: What directs your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now that seems obvious in sort of a broad thought, right?
SPEAKER_00: That whatever you follow, whatever you obey tends to take your life in that direction.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a stronger bond than even that.
SPEAKER_00: In that whatever is controlling us, whatever we are following, whatever we are obeying, leads us down the path.
SPEAKER_00: And the path can lead us to righteousness, godliness, drawing closer to God, or it can lead us away from God.
SPEAKER_00: And if it leads us away from God, again, that's enough to say, I don't want any part of that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the direction I'm going in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And that is from top to bottom with our lives, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It's the music that we listen to.
SPEAKER_00: Not all music is bad.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be Christian to be good.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to quote scriptures to be good.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, some scripture quoting scripture songs need some help.
SPEAKER_00: Not all music is bad, but music that we could persistently listen to that leads us away from God is not the direction we're going.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm talking to you about, I'm teaching about this today, and this requires some judgment on your part.
SPEAKER_00: I can't, I can't and I don't, and neither does the scriptures give you a list of all the do's and don'ts.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God.
SPEAKER_00: Because cultures are different, the world changes.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if if God had that comprehensive list of everything we could do and couldn't do, then he would have to come in and revise it every now and then based on the culture and the technologies.
SPEAKER_00: But we do have the principles and we do have the plan that God has for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So I think if we if we can adopt this as part of our lives, then not only does it help us and strengthen us, but it Also strengthens those around us.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I already mentioned a point of reference.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's important for people.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes someone hasn't even thought of it in that context, whatever it is they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: They haven't even thought of it in the context of where is this leading me?
SPEAKER_00: This person I'm following on YouTube, where is this leading me?
SPEAKER_00: How is this changing my thoughts?
SPEAKER_00: Is this changing me to a secular non-biblical perspective?
SPEAKER_00: Or is this leading me closer to God?
SPEAKER_00: Is this in uh compliance, in connection, in agreement with the word of God?
SPEAKER_00: Or is this contrary to the word of God?
SPEAKER_00: So if I hear that one time, is that suddenly gonna, you know, you know, I'm gonna backslide?
SPEAKER_00: No, but whatever we continue to obey will lead us down that path.
SPEAKER_00: So it's important for us to understand that biblical principle.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever we yield ourselves servants to is whose servants we become.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's using that biblical language that we, again, we don't really use in modern context.
SPEAKER_00: We don't consider ourselves servants of anyone.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're like the Israelites who said to Jesus, we've never been in bondage to anyone.
SPEAKER_00: We're children of Abraham while they're in bondage to the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: You know.
SPEAKER_00: It's like we don't see sometimes our own our own selves and our own where we are.
SPEAKER_00: Second is that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice that it's your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just your soul, your spirit, your body.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 6.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna do something interesting.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read verse 20 first, and I'm gonna jump back up to verse 13 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: I want to I want to read the conclusion of the sort of thought here to start with, and that's in verse number 20.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 20 says, You were bought with a price.
SPEAKER_00: Who bought you?
SPEAKER_00: What price did he pay?
SPEAKER_00: You are bought with a price.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
SPEAKER_00: Apostrophe S.
SPEAKER_00: They belong to him because he purchased them.
SPEAKER_00: That's the conclusion of the matter.
SPEAKER_00: And so the apostle Paul says in verse 12 and 13, all things are lawful to me, but not all things are expedient.
SPEAKER_00: All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any meats for the belly, belly for the meats, but God shall destroy them both.
SPEAKER_00: Both it and them.
SPEAKER_00: Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying that to read, to kind of get you some context, because sometimes you hear people say, Well, Paul said all things are lawful to me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul wasn't saying that every I can do anything.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what he was saying at all.
SPEAKER_00: He's dealing with specifically here meats and things, which was common to the Jewish people, but he's also uh writing this letter to Corinth, a pagan place.
SPEAKER_00: So he's got an audience that is Jewish and he's got an race Jewish, they understand the Jewish culture, they understand sort of the lifestyle of Judaism, uh, even in the broadest sense as Jews, and then he's talking to these people that are just completely pagan background.
SPEAKER_00: So he's talking to both in this conversation, and he's saying, even though I can do some things, I don't do them, and here's the reason because I'm not gonna be brought under subjection to them, that I'm not gonna let them control me, I'm not gonna let them manipulate me, I'm gonna hold on to what God has given me.
SPEAKER_00: So that's important for us to understand.
SPEAKER_00: The third thing is that, again, in 1 Corinthians, I love it that a lot of these in Romans and Corinthians, and a lot of these topics, uh Paul is writing, he is writing to Jewish people in these churches, but he's also writing to the church at large, not just the Jewish portion of these churches.
SPEAKER_00: And I like it because these cultures are much more like ours than the culture in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They were much more like ours, free and open with all kind of with all kinds of things going on in their culture that are similar to what's going on in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, in these discussions about kind of applying these things to our lives, these principles to our life, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8 13, wherefore if meat my brother make me offend my brother, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother to offend.
SPEAKER_00: And his point here is that if other people are struggling with something, why am I participating with it?
SPEAKER_00: If it's bothersome to them, why do I feel compelled to do something that's bothersome to them?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't I just respect them enough to say, you know, I'm gonna honor that commitment even if it's not completely necessary?
SPEAKER_00: And we see that sometimes in Christianity, modern American Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Well, those people, they do this and that's not necessary, and they shouldn't be doing that, and they're just a bunch of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: They don't even know these people.
SPEAKER_00: They're all self-righteous, and they don't.
SPEAKER_00: Well, just a moment, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: If they made a commitment to God to do or not do something, especially when they're not trying to force that on you, they made a personal commitment to God.
SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't we as Christians support that?
SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't we support that?
SPEAKER_00: Now, we may not agree with it, but it's not evil, it's bad, it's their commitment to God.
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we support that?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need to go tear that down?
SPEAKER_00: What makes us feel compelled to tear down that?
SPEAKER_00: What's in our hearts that wants us to tear down something?
SPEAKER_00: Does that make us feel like we're less?
SPEAKER_00: Now, I realize that some people can have this very sort of Phariseeal, self-righteous attitude about it.
SPEAKER_00: I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: But you wouldn't ascribe that to yourself, right?
SPEAKER_00: And don't you have some personal convictions?
SPEAKER_00: Some things that you just don't do because, well, I just don't feel comfortable doing that, and that's enough.
SPEAKER_00: I have some stories spinning through my brain I want to tell, but I don't have time.
SPEAKER_00: I'll go back to that thing we uh often talk about here at Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: It's sort of like a marriage because you love your spouse, you don't mistreat and abuse them.
SPEAKER_00: You don't break the trust that you have.
SPEAKER_00: You have a relationship where you obey, serve, and love each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's not based on the contract.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to occasionally go back.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody sent me the other day, uh just just yesterday, day before, some bylaws for a church.
SPEAKER_00: They were asking, what's your view of these bylaws?
SPEAKER_00: He sent me, said, Can you look this over?
SPEAKER_00: I have a meeting at 11, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: It's like to go over this, you know, and it's like it's 42 pages.
SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to look at this thinking I don't have time for this.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at it, it's like they're trying to cover every little thing that happened, would happen, could possibly happen.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, oh man, man, I don't even know how to how to approach this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like, oh, uh, don't you have some policies and procedures?
SPEAKER_00: You got to put everything in your bylaws, I don't really get it, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But what I'm saying is, if you have the attitude that I always got to go back and look at the contract, then your relationship is not what it's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is based on the love commitment that you have of one another.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to pull out your marriage license to be sure you're in compliance, and well, it doesn't say that, so I don't have to do that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it doesn't say I have to share finances, so hey, you know, I'm not doesn't say I have to be honest, no, it just says I'm not unfaithful.
SPEAKER_00: And unfaithful, what does that really mean?
SPEAKER_00: You start parsing the words, you start saying, Well, you know, you know how that is, and and people are trying to get out of a contract.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to get everything they can from it.
SPEAKER_00: If you start asking, God, what's the minimum requirements for me to get to heaven, you're asking the wrong question.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand we need to come to the point where we have met the point of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But if your attitude about serving God is what's the minimum requirements, then something's wrong with your relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: It's not based on love.
SPEAKER_00: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
SPEAKER_00: Old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new.
SPEAKER_00: We are new creatures, and we are serving God out of love and honor to him.
SPEAKER_00: I need to get your notes so I kind of know where I'm at on my notes.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to cover briefly a few things that I mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about alcohol for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Um, the instructions in the Bible regarding alcohol are almost entirely about drunkenness or the inebriation effect of alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: And drunkenness is persistently taught through the Bible as not only harmful but sinful.
SPEAKER_00: It's harmful to people's lives, it's destructive to their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And even in these verses I've been reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, in this segment of scriptures, it lists some things, and one of the things it lists in verse number 10 it says, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: So drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty straightforward.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, well, what's a drunkard?
SPEAKER_00: How many times do I have to get drunk to be a drunkard?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many times you have to lie to be a liar.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, when I'm examining myself, it's as long as I don't just take advantage of everybody.
SPEAKER_00: But if it's being done to me once is enough.
SPEAKER_00: So what is the definition?
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just throwing it out.
SPEAKER_00: You can sort of think about it, and I don't really want to debate you about it.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Is that what we're measuring?
SPEAKER_00: I know you can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you can't be forgiven, but I'm just saying we get that all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't get drunk very often, whatever drunk means.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of other scriptures there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to go through all those scriptures, but the Bible calls for sobriety, it's self-control, avoiding behaviors that lead us to temptation or lead to harming others.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is replete with all of those descriptions about how we're supposed to approach life, which all violate this idea of alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: Biblical Christianity continues to emphasize moderation, wisdom, and avoiding stumbling blocks over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And why would we intentionally do something that's going to lead us down that path?
SPEAKER_00: And why do we why do we avoid alcohol entirely?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because it's that dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's that deceptive.
SPEAKER_00: Because it leads us into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: It puts us in an environment of temptation.
SPEAKER_00: It breaks down walls that prevents us from the temptation of becoming drunkards.
SPEAKER_00: And that should be enough reason.
SPEAKER_00: That should be enough reason.
SPEAKER_00: I know, I know, I know.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard it just like you have.
SPEAKER_00: Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for the stomach's sake and thine often infirmities, 1 Timothy 5 and 23.
SPEAKER_00: It's got scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, we all understand, it doesn't take a theologian to understand that it's talking about alcohol for medicinal purposes.
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, we don't need alcohol for medicinal purposes in 2026.
SPEAKER_00: We got plenty of medicines.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need alcohol.
SPEAKER_00: If that's all you had, that might be a legitimate claim.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not all we have.
SPEAKER_00: We've got plenty of other things.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not coming to your house to check your medicine cabinet.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just saying be careful, kind of it's being used for medicinal purposes clearly in this scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And some medications actually do have alcohol in them.
SPEAKER_00: So don't drink your mouthwash or your knockwill or whatever it is to get drunk.
SPEAKER_00: You you you use it for the intended purpose, the medicinal purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And I would just say, please, I've said it before, it got lots of jokes before.
SPEAKER_00: Don't tell me you're using alcohol for medicine when you're going to McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you do a bunch of other unhealthy things, but you drink alcohol to cover it up, that's not what the scripture is talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's medicinal.
SPEAKER_00: But I eat unhealthy and I don't take care of my body any other way.
SPEAKER_00: And I use McDonald's because I detest McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00: It's 1040.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to talk about that topic.
SPEAKER_00: You may as well get a vending machine.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I'll just go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: So let me talk a little bit about drugs.
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about recreational drugs, not things for medical use.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's largely the same logic and the same biblical uh instructions, but I do want you to notice how our world is changing as this becomes so uh common and so many subcultures that celebrate drug use as part of their identity and creativity.
SPEAKER_00: I never forget my uh my first bee at the University of Texas in a class was in my art history class, and I was always asking questions in that class.
SPEAKER_00: You would think art history would be a pretty simple class.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't because I didn't do well on the test, it was because the teacher had a 10% grade curve at her discretion.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so this beautiful art, you love it, it's wonderful, it's colorful, all those things, but there's also often a drug culture underneath it that you need to be careful about.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's 1041, I'm gonna keep going because I need to stop.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about gambling for a few moments.
SPEAKER_00: Again, in our culture, it's promoted as something wonderful, something great, get rich, think of all the things you could have, all the fun you could have.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible has clear principles that our life is not to pursue material wealth.
SPEAKER_00: And it all stimulates that.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which some coveted after, and they erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many arrows.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I I don't know exactly who he was pointing to and who Timothy might have known that he was referencing here, but when I read that scripture, it sounds like people that are gambling.
SPEAKER_00: For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they pursued, they sought after, they wanted to have, not just with a desire to make good money on their job, but with this sort of jealous pursuit that they erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 6, verse 24, Jesus said, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he else he will hold to the one and despise the others.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve God and mammon.
SPEAKER_00: Money.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just money, it's material wealth.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve God and mammon.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture warns against greed, covetousness, desire for quick wealth, but it emphasizes stewardship, commitment, trusting God, walking in God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: So there's always going to be a conflict.
SPEAKER_00: And quite frankly, gambling exploits the poor most of the time.
SPEAKER_00: It takes advantage of those who have the least.
SPEAKER_00: That's not biblical.
SPEAKER_00: The pursuit of happiness is defined by our founding documents.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about you being happy, laughing, and smiling.
SPEAKER_00: It's about the pursuit of benefiting your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's the suit of making your life productive.
SPEAKER_00: It's the pursuit of doing something important and significant with your life, something fulfilling with your life.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible emphasizes discipline.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lived a disciplined life.
SPEAKER_00: That's not very exciting.
SPEAKER_00: But it is productive.
SPEAKER_00: And he encourages us to avoid things that would harm ourselves, harm others.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I don't have time to cover all of these things, but let me say to you, please, whatever, wherever you are, if you're a Christian and you're struggling with some of these things, I want to tell you that it is true that sometimes God removes all desire for these things when you come to Him, and sometimes even afterwards, that God will remove all the desire for smoking or drinking or something else.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that happens, that's miraculous, just like miraculous healings.
SPEAKER_00: But not all healings work that way, and neither does all deliverance work that way.
SPEAKER_00: Some you have to address, you have to change some things, you have to adapt some things, you have to do some things yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And so there may be some changes, there may be some things that you can work through, some things that prompted you to do these things or participate in these things that are addictive to your life that you can resolve in your life, that God will help you resolve.
SPEAKER_00: I think God is concerned about not just our physical healing, but our mental emotional healing.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes repairing those areas is enough to get you past these things.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people have a propensity for addictions stronger than others.
SPEAKER_00: Notice I didn't say you were born addicted, but people do have propensity.
SPEAKER_00: Some people have a stronger draw to things that are addictive than others, and some areas than others.
SPEAKER_00: I think we can all admit that we're all tempted by a little bit different things because we're all different, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so accountability is absolutely necessary if you're struggling with addiction.
SPEAKER_00: You need somebody to be accountable to.
SPEAKER_00: You need somebody to be accountable to, or you will never break that hold.
SPEAKER_00: I know you've said you can do it yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I know you thought if I pray enough, I can break the hold.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we need somebody else to help us too.
SPEAKER_00: And you may or may not need like long-term counseling or something else, but you need accountability.
SPEAKER_00: We all really need it, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: We all really need accountability.
SPEAKER_00: We don't always like it, but we need it.
SPEAKER_00: And as Christians, when we look at the world, we're gonna stand firm on what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: We're not really gonna waver on that, we're not gonna give in on that at all, but we're still gonna love like Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna still understand.
SPEAKER_00: And how many times have I said, I don't know how people get through this without God?
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand?
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, I know how many people get through it without God.
SPEAKER_00: They drink, they do drugs, they escape through those means.
SPEAKER_00: But God will be with us and we can trust in Him.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you to just help me pray together, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your word, for your blessings, for your grace.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord, that you call us to a place of holiness and righteousness where we can live following after you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray, God, that you would help each one of us, not only with ourselves, but you would help us with those around us.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, God, to be a strength to them.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, God, not to fall for the for the for the false image of these addictive things in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, help us to embrace your word and to follow after you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this time together.
SPEAKER_00: We pray your grace and strength would be with us in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say in Jesus' name.