"Whom the Son Sets Free is Free Indeed"

Physical Effects of Addictions Pt 2 | Lusts For Other Things

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THE LORD WANTS TO WORK IN OUR WHOLE BODY, NOT JUST OUR SPIRITS

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Body – Soul – This physical body that God gave us to take care of
    • If we are sick in the body
    • We may not be able to care for our spirits
  • Spirit- is that part of us the grows and matures as we feed it

WE CAN LOOK AT ADDICTIONS AS LIKE WEEDS THAT ARE ROOTED IN OUR GARDEN
• Addictions are the ROOT of many Christians problems in
o physical (health) and spiritual health
• Addictions cause the weeds or seeds of sin in our lives
o Pull those weeds early before they get rooted in (elaborate)
o Stir up the soil of your heart with the Word of God

JESUS SAID IN THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER:

Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
• Cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and lusts for other things
• Lead to addictions, AND CHOKE THE WORD
• The Word WILL NOT have the proper effect on your life

AND THE PERSON BECOMES ENSLAVED TO THAT ADDICTION
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
• We see again reasons why addictions can have a dramatic effects
o In a person’s physical lives
o As well as their spiritual lives
Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
SOME REASONS FOR ADDICTIONS
Could be:
• Low self esteem
o -may think they are useless
• Could be genetic:
o Come through the family line
• Pier Pressure
THAT OLD MAN OR FLESH HAS TO BE CRUCIFIED SO THAT WE CAN RISE IN THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:24: And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
• Affections and lusts can represent addictions in our lives

JESUS CAN HELP US DO THIS THROUGH PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE

BUT MOSTLY THROUGH INCORPORATING THE WORD OF GOD IN OUR DAILY LIVES

AND NOT ALLOW THOSE THINGS THAT  “BESET US” CHOKE THE WORD IN OUR LIVES

THE ULTIMATE ANSWER TO OUR ADDICTIONS IS JESUS CHRIST

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:


Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen. 

 

 

Physical Effects of Addictions | Be Made Whole

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Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

ADDICTIONS CAN BE BROKEN THROUGH PROPER HELP:
Knowledge, (going to share today), and by Determination and Spiritual Transformation
I WANT TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF ADDICTIONS
In the general public, people have addictions and know it:
• But Christians may try to cover these things
• “I am a Christian I shouldn’t have this problem.”
• We have to know we have a problem
• Before we can seek to do something about it
IF WE CAME INTO CHRISTIANITY LATER IN LIFE, WE HAVE A PAST
• Some issues never get sorted because of shame, fear, or pride
• They remain secrets, and our Christian walk is affected in a negative way
• These secrets can cause a Christian to live a double life
• There’s only one remedy to a double life, and that’s the heart of REPENTANT SURRENDER.
o Or the bondage may grow and consume us
o Or we lose hope
THE LORD WILL PERFECT US. WE CAN NOT PERFECT OURSELVES.
Psalms 138:8: “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”
Denial: First thing to deal with. A person may not realize how bad the addiction is.
The Lord already knows our hearts:
Jeremiah 17:10: I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

DENIAL GETS IN THE WAY
When you break the word Denial Down in individual terms, you get:
Don’t Even Know I am Lying.
• In denial, people may say: “I can help myself.”
• I don’t need to go into any treatment
• Some people lose years of their lives struggling to ADMIT THE PROBLEM
DENIAL IS THE DISTORTION OF THE TRUTH THAT ALLOWS FOR THE PROTECTION AND CONTINUATION OF THE DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR.
• Denial is dishonesty

THE LORD DESIGNED THE BRAIN TO FUNCTION PRECISELY THE WAY HE DESIGNED

1 Corinthians 6:19 – What? Know ye not that your Body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

  • When we take care of our Brain, we function correctly (like any other part of our Body)

Dopamine is responsible for the term dope
• and is the chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) that affects addiction Dopamine is the feel-good chemical messenger that triggers the pleasure in the Brain

THE NATURAL LEVELS OF DOPAMINE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE ARE AFFECTED WHEN WE HAVE ADDICTIONS.

• This happens : Because of all the dopamine surges that have been dumped into the Brain
• By the various addictions that we mentioned

JESUS CHRIST CAN FREE OF ANY ADDICTION
Acts 10:38: How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Isa 53:3-5: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Luke 1:37 – For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Mark 9:23 – Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things [are] possible to him that believeth.
Matthew 17:20 – And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

Naaman’s Rescue from Blind Pride | God’s Ways Higher Than Ours

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Isaiah 55:8-9: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
• He is a God that is above all of our thoughts and wildest imaginations
• We are foolish when we try to fit God into our little mold
• To make his plans and purposes conform to ours
• We must seek to fit into his plans

Proverbs 14:12: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
• Most times in our minds, our way seems to be the right way
• The way of human reasoning
• But God may have a different way
• A way that we may not be used to
Proverbs 21:2: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
• The Lord has to give us spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear
• Then we can understand the ways of God
• And recognize the ways of God
o Which are above our ways
o What we are used to doing
o How we have always reacted

WE CAN LOOK AT THE STORY OF NAAMAN
AND SEE AN EXAMPLE OF MAN’S WAY IS NOT BETTER THAN GODS WAY
God is merciful and kind even to people don’t belong to him yet

Naaman – was General in the Syrian Army (He was not a believer) (He followed the cult Rimmon or we know as Baal)
• He had climbed to the highest level in his profession
• But he had an issue, “he was a leper.”
• Leprosy was considered a curse that was caused by sin. (in that day)
Lev. 13:44-46: 44 He is a leprous man; he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
• This scripture was Naaman’s Destiny
• He had climbed to the height of his profession
• His position, power, or Money could save him
• His false gods could not save him
• His worldly authority was not his hope
• Only God was His only hope
o Unless God could touch Him and Heal him

Kings 5: 1- 5 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. (about $20,000 in silver, $60,000 in gold in today’s money)
• The Little servant maid that loved Jehovah God tried to tell Naaman
• But he had too much pride to listen to a little maid
o Status in the world is not status with God
o This little maid was in better shape spiritually than Naaman was

 IN 2 KINGS 5: 13
13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
• Naaman almost missed his blessing
• Naaman listened to “wise counsel” and was HEALED

2 Kings 5:15: Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel:


NAAMAN EVEN EARNED A PLACE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Luke 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

THERE IS NO OTHER GOD THAT CAN HELP US
WE NEED TO LET HIM BE GOD IN OUR LIVES:
NOT OUR WAY BUT GOD’S WAY
WHEN WE DO IT OUR WAY, WE MAY MISS GOD’S BLESS (LIKE NAAMAN ALMOST DID)
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
GET PRIDE OUT OF THE WAY!
• Often the proud don’t know they are prideful
• and they won’t listen because their arrogance blinds them.
PRIDE STOPS YOU FROM HEARING THE TRUTH EVEN IF THERE IS CLEAR EVIDENCE.
• Naaman couldn’t hear the servant girl

THE BIBLE DESCRIBES HUMILITY AS MEEKNESS, LOWLINESS, AND ABSENCE OF SELF.
Colossians 3:12-13: Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

DON’T GET MAD AT GOD OR PEOPLE: HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE THE LORD
HE HAS THE ANSWERS TO YOUR LIFE
JESUS IS THE ONE THAT CAN FIX IT.

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:


Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

Arise Faint in Heart | He Gives Power to the Faint

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WE KEEP PRESSING FORWARD AND NOT FAINT.
FAINT: TO QUIT, LOSE HEART, GROW WEARY AND TIRED WITH WEARINESS AND EXHAUSTION.
DON’T QUIT! DON’T Give up.
THOUGH WE MAY THINK WE ARE AT THE END OF OUR ROPE, WE ARE NEVER AT THE END OF HOPE.
JESUS ENCOURAGED THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS TO “FAINT NOT”
Rev 2:2-3: I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Ecclesiasticus 24:24: Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him, there is no other Saviour.”

WE WILL NOT FAINT WHEN OUR CONFIDENCE AND TRUST IS IN GOD AND NOT OURSELVES OR ANYONE ELSE
2 Samuel 22: 7 David said In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.


DAVID WAS A MAN THAT PUT HIS CONFIDENCE IN THE LORD:

DAVID wrote PSALM 36:
WHICH SPEAKS OF THE FAITHFULNESS AND MERCY OF GOD
Psalm 36: 5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
• In contrast to our weakness and frailty
o God’s mercy and Faithfulness is limitless and unchanging
o The Lord never forgets, never fails, and never falters
o He is stable, steadfast, unwavering, and dependable
6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man, and beast.7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore, the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

Give your heart to Jesus today by saying this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Please, help me to live for you the rest of this life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.