August 9, 2025 • 61 mins
Today's episode of Sunday Service by Pray.com features Dr. Abidan Shah
In this powerful message, Pastor Abidan Shah exposes the devastating effects of alcohol through Scripture, personal stories, and real-world statistics. He challenges believers to choose the lasting joy and peace of the Holy Spirit over anything that can cause others to stumble.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost
Romans fourteen seventeen. Dear Father, thank you for your grace
and forgiveness. Help me to remember that your mercies allow
me to look beyond past troubles and find comfort in
(00:20):
the present moment. Remind me that your forgiveness is what
helps me to move forward and start over. Father, remind
me that peace and joy in my heart begin with
forgiving myself. If you have so graciously forgiven me, then
I will do the same so that I can move
forward on the marvelous path you have set for my life. Amen.
(00:47):
Thank you for listening to to day's daily prayer. For
more inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor,
stay tuned to Pray Dot COB's Sunday service.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Hi. I'm doctor Aberdonshaw and I'm the pastor of Clear
Recharch and this is our Sermons podcast. I hope these
sermons are a blessing to you and you offend. Thank
you for listening.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Now let's hear God's work together well.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
As many of you know, Andy Griffith Show is one
of my favorites I've watched each of those episodes countless times,
and Otis Campbell, the town drunk, is one of the
favorite characters. Even though he did not come on the
show as many times, he was one that people always
enjoyed look forward to it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
He would stagger.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Into Sheriff Taylor's jail and then sleep off the moonshine.
That's what he did, and he was lovable, he was funny,
always got on Barney's nerves, who tried to sober him up,
but it was to no avail. If only, if only
(02:00):
town drunks were that lovable and funny, if only they
were all like Otis Campbell.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
The town I.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Grew up in, there were many such and we would
joke about them the next day at school and friends
would talk about them. But we had one in our
own immediate community, literally five minutes walking distance from our home,
which was right next to the church. And this guy,
his wife and children would come to the church, but
(02:35):
he never did, and he was the drunk. And every
Friday night, especially if it was Payday Friday, everybody knew
in the community that there would be a show, and
as hard as it is to believe, people would pull
out their lawn chairs. They would pull out their plastic
(02:58):
chairs and sit out in the front yard to watch
the show.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And it would begin, and.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Usually it was funny in the beginning, as he would
make fun of his neighbors and talk about them and
all of that. And then he began to drink more
and more, and then it went from just being funny
to being rude and crude, and then it would get violent,
and it would get violent towards his children, who.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Were little at the time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We were young at the time, and then it would
get violent towards his own wife. Now his wife was
still there, even though the kids after a while knew
if it's Friday night, just leave, just get away because
Dad's going to be in a rare form. But the
wife would never leave. She was always there for him,
(03:48):
and he would start beating on her. And sometimes the
neighbors intervened, but many times they didn't want to get involved.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
It was going to turn on them.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
My dad often tried, but it was to no avail,
because once somebody is drunk to that level, it's very
hard to calm them down or to talk reason to
them because they're past that point. Many times, Dad and
others in the church in the community had to buy
(04:19):
groceries for them because the man he had a good job,
his wife had a good job, but he would take
both their moneyes and he would spend that money on alcohol.
What's even more tragic is that his wife came from
a non Christian background. He came from a Christian background.
(04:42):
Somehow they got married because you know, over there Christians
marry Christians.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
But here in this situation, this.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Man came from a Christian background, the wife didn't, and
she would often come to church and just look.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You could see the look of of.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Course, she is bad, she is bruised, she is broken down.
But there was also this look like, how does this work?
How does this whole Christianity thing work? Because it's not
working in my home with your Christian man.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Praise me to God.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
She gave her life to Jesus Christ and she did
get saved, and that's.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
The grace of God.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I share all this because that story is all too common.
I have been in this town, in this church coming
up close to about thirty years, not quite, and I
have heard similar accounts. Some of you have grown up
in situations like that. Some of you have endured a
(05:50):
lot of pain and affliction. And I know this kind
of a message is difficult to hear. Maybe you agree
with me, but it's still difficult to hear. There are
people I know who have gone through not just physical emotional,
but also sexual.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Abuse, all because of alcohol.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
This morning is part two of our message called Influence.
We are still in our series through Romans. We are
still learning the role of the Holy Spirit in a
believer's life. But we are going to Romans thirteen and fourteen,
but we're going to come back to Romans nine. Okay,
Romans thirteen to fourteen are going there because we're looking
(06:29):
at a common substitute for the Holy Spirit. So we're
going ahead and doing this. We're going to come back
to Romans chapter nine. So this morning, in your Bibles,
turned to Romans chapter fourteen and verse seventeen in your
Pew Bibles, that would be page seventeen fifty one seven
five zero, if you would go ahead and find it
(06:50):
in your bibles in the Pew Bibles, page one, seven
five zero. It's very important keep your bibles open. Look
at the word of God. Look at the word of God.
There's something when you're seeing the speech of God. It
begins to transform your hearts. Romans chapter fourteen, Verse seventeen.
(07:11):
For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,
but righteousness.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable
to God and approved by men.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Therefore, let us pursue.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Let us pursue the things which make for peace and
the things by which one may edify one another. Do
not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
All things indeed are pure. Let me repeat that again,
all things indeed are pure. But it is evil for
(07:54):
the man who eats with offense.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Verse it is good neither to.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything by which
your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
As you heard me say again and again in this
series that Paul wrote this letter to the church in
Rome in the first century, the church that was divided
(08:23):
between Jewish background and gentile background believers. Paul wrote this
letter to bring them together, to bring them together in Christ,
that whether you are Jewish background gentile background, salvation is
through Christ. At the same time, there is a distinction,
and that's what we're going to come back to.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Romans nine through eleven, the.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Distinction where God will fulfill his promises to ethnic Israel.
But Paul also describes two groups in the church, and
he calls them strong and weak. Let me read for
you a couple of passages, and one we already read.
But here's Romans chapter fourteen, verse one. Receive one who
(09:06):
is weak in the faith. Receive one who is weak
in the faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
For one believes he may eat all things, but he
who is weak eats only vegetables.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You're strong, you can eat whatever, you can drink whatever.
But the week they have certain limitations, Receive them as well.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Romans fourteen twenty one. We just read it a few
moments ago.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It is good neither to eat meat, nor drink wine,
nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is
offended or.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Is made weak.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And then Romans fifteen, verse one, it says, we, then,
who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of
the week. Now, in a later message, I'm going to
go deeper into the identity of who these strong.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And weak believers were.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Were the strong the gentile background, and the weak the
Jewish background. We're going to get into all those things.
This is not the message for that. But I want
us to look at the words for weak that Paul uses.
He uses two different words in the Greek. The first
word is the word as tenea, and the second is
(10:29):
the word ah do not.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Toss as tenea. The first word it describes someone who.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Is weak, someone who is sick, someone who is failing,
someone who is powerless as tenea. The second word are
douna toss. Just right there, it is powerless, do not toss, powerful,
(11:00):
do not toss. It negates that word is powerless or impotent.
They're not able to do the things that maybe you
are able to do.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
One of their points of contention was over drinking.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
The strong felt like, well, listen, we're gonna drink because
we're no longer under the law.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
They would quote Versus like first tivty four to four.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving.
So as long as I thank God for it, I
can eat pork as long as I thank God for it.
I can eat shrimp and shell fish as long as
I thank God for it.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I can drink wine the week.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
On the other hand, where no, in some ways we
are still under the law, and they would quote probably
First Corinthians ten twenty three, which is, all things are
lawful to me, but not all things are helpful.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yes, I can, but it does not help me.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So then you had these two groups of people. One said,
you can do this.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
As long as you praise God and give God thanksgiving,
you can do this, And the other group said, no,
all things are lawful, but they're not good. All things
are lawful, but they don't edify. What is Paul's suggestion
for this church? What is his recommendation? Listen to Romans
(12:34):
fourteen twenty one. This is the third time I'm reading
this verse, but it's for a reason. Listen to what
it says here. It is good neither to eat meat,
nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles,
is offended or is made weak. Now, in some translations
(12:55):
you only have one of those words, but in my translation,
there are three, three descriptions of the weak brother, and
I think all three should be there. And they are
three different Greek words. The first one is the word proskopto.
Proscopto means to strike.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Or to beat against.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
They keep striking and beating against and they can't seem
to move forward. Proscopto also has the idea of offending
or being stumbled. They can seem to stride, they keep stumbling.
(13:39):
The other Greek word is the word scondoliso, which means this,
this weak brother is also turning away from God. And
the third word is astenea, which I just described earlier,
which is weak, sick, falling, failing, or even powerless. What
is the suggestion Paul is saying to the stronger one
(14:00):
and say, I know, I know, I know you feel
like you can eat whatever and drink whatever, but please
bear with the week. It is no different than if
you have multiple children. What do you tell the older
one when the younger one is fussing about something?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
What do you do? Parents? Are your parents? Anybody parents here?
It's all just sitting here, eunuchs? What are you so?
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
When you have multiple kids? You say, let him have it?
How many older siblings are here in this place? Who
can identify with that? Some hands are going up? You
remember your parents saying just let let her have it,
And you're like, but mom, look at he spoiled?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Look look at her she gets away with everything. But
I couldn't do this, Ma, and so same thing Paul
is saying, let him have it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Why because in this situation, not in your sibling rivalry situation.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
In this situation, what Paul is saying is they cannot
handle it. Let them do it.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
You know, last weekend we learned a lot about alcohol,
especially in the context of the Bible. One of the
things I explained is that the alcohol content of wind
back then was negligible compared to our modern day alcohol.
So modern day we do this one more time after this,
(15:32):
I don't have to touch these things again. We had
something like this. This is distilled alcohol. I mean, this
is something that the Arabs invented.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
By the way, the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Word alcohol, it's an Arabic word. This did not come
about until eighth century AD. That doesn't mean that they
didn't have distilled alcohol in certain forms, but nothing so
pure that you drink and forty percent. I mean, it's
it's unheard of until the past twelve hundred some years.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
This still alcohol. Why do people drink this?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Sometimes it's you know, it's a man's man. This is
what daddy drank or granddaddy had it on the shelf
and this is man, this is what I do after
a hard days work. I may just take a little bit.
This is just my my tonic. Others are a little
bit more sophisticated type and it's something more like this,
(16:29):
and you know, you feel really refined when you have wine.
Everybody has their own idea and their own style when
it comes to drinking. Some people are more like this.
It would be this is me and my friends. Some
people had to teach me how to hold this. They said, well,
(16:51):
you know, you hold it like this, and they just
don't hold it like that. Now some do that, some
don't care.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
But this is like you're with the boys, you're hanging out.
This is this is thing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
When the preacher comes, you just kind of hold it
like this and it works out too. You'd be surprised
how people react when they see me coming.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
It's like I'm blind. I don't drink, but I'm not blind.
Just like Sunday morning, I can see everything you're doing.
You do know that, right? The lights are not that bright.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
So this is the this is the one for after
a hot days work.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Man.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
What had the temperature has been lately like ninety five
ninety six? I mean, just just one, you know, it
just cool things off. Well, if you want is good,
might as well have two to cool things off. And
if you're right there here grab one, you know, because
you're such a great, fun loving, down to earth guy
(17:51):
or gal for that matter. So people have their reasons
for choosing different alcohols. But when we look at the Bible,
if you remember last weekend, wine had to be diluted.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Even among the ancients they.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Talked about this, Does that mean that all of them diluted. No,
many times they got drunk. Many times they turned the
city upside down, and the leaders of the city had
to say, we're gonna have to put some laws against this.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
This was especially the case among God's people.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
In the Old Testament, there was a difference between yayin,
which is wine, and shakar, which is a strong drink.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Don't do that now.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Recently, some scholars have done some research and they have
argued that shakar was actually beer and not a strong drink.
So there is wine coming from grapes and then there
is shakar, which is coming from grain. So they said, well,
you know it's allowed. No, that's not necessarily the case.
I mean, think about it. Scholars also found that not
(18:57):
only did adults drink, but also children, and I can
assure you that they didn't want their children to get drunk,
which means that this beer or the beer in ancient
times was not as alcoholic because kids were drinking it.
And big reason for people to drink wine or beer
was because water was so contaminated.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Big reason.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But even then there were certain limits. We read about
this in Proverbs twenty three. They were told to avoid
yayen wine and mim sok, mim sock. It's the translators again.
They must be they must love to drink. They called
it the mixed drink. It's not mixed drink, it's the
mixing vessel. Means, don't even get near the kraft toss.
(19:47):
Remember the big jars, and he poured it into this
big bowl, the kraft toss, and then you would pour
it into the cup.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
The proverb writer is saying.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Don't look at the beautiful red color of the wine
and how it sparkles, and how it swirls around in
the cup, because at the last it bites like a
serpent and it stings like a viper. Don't don't do it.
Don't even get near the mixing bowl. In other words,
(20:21):
you can, but you definitely don't want to because the
consequences are just too much. People say, but but you can,
the right you can. You can't say you can't.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The warning against drinking alcohol was not mentioned for the
first time in Proverbs twenty three. That's what people often think,
Proverbs twenty three. Man, that came, like, you know, at
least you know thousand and eighty. Maybe Solomon put it
all together the proverbs. No, the warning against wine came
(20:59):
in the first book in the Bible. What is the
first book of the Bible Genesis? Genesis first book of
the Bible burushit, which means the book of beginnings. Now
we think it is no different than the next book
Exodus and Leviticus and numbers.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The book has been placed there canonically for a reason,
which means, if you want to understand life, begin in
the Book of Genesis. It will tell you how everything
was created. It will tell you what went wrong. It
will tell you God's solution. It will tell you how
to organize your society and how to avoid the.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Ills of society.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
The Book of Genesis has been placed as the first
book for a reason. By the way, the first book
written was the Book of Job, not Genesis.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
How do you know that?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
When you compare the Hebrew of Genesis versus the Hebrew
of Job, it is more primitive. Genesis is the first
book placed there for a reason.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
And do you know it talks about wine? It does.
It gives us two examples, and I want us to
find that.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Go and open your bibles. I'm not going to give
you a page number because it's the first book of
the Bible. Come on, you can find it. But go
to Genesis chapter nine.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Genesis chapter nine, in verse twenty. There are two.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Shocking, horrendous warnings given, not just in statements but in
descriptions about alcohol. The first one is in Genesis chapter
nine and verse twenty. Now keep in mind Noah's flood.
Remember the world was so bad that God said, I'm
going to destroy everything. But He's saved one man and
(22:50):
his family, three sons, their wives, his wife. They were
in an arc two of every kind, almost a whole year.
The heavens burst open with water, the ground bursts open
with the fountains of the deep. The entire globe is
covered and buried in water. And then they finally come out,
(23:13):
there's a rainbow. No longer God will never will God
do this in the future. They sacrifice animals, and the
commandment is be fruitful and multiply fill the earth, the
same thing God told Adam, and even now he tells
Noah and his sons be.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Fruitful, multiply fill the earth.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Let's pick it up in Genesis nine twenty and Noah farmer,
it doesn't say in the Hebrew began to be. It
was simply Noah farmer. And he planted a vineyard. Then
(23:51):
he drank of the wine and was shakar, which was drunk.
That's why when some of the scholars are saying this
is beer, he drank of the wine and beer, I
don't know. I think it's more like strong drink. He
got drunk, So listen again verse twenty one. Then he
(24:15):
drank of the wine and was drunk and became uncovered
in his tent. Uncovered in his tent. What was it
too hot a day that he just threw off the covers. No,
it's a euphemism. Euphemism is a way to say something
without saying something. So uncovered means he became sexually active.
(24:38):
Now at this point you will say, Wow, that's kind
of crazy. This is the same man who led the arc.
This is the same person, the same person who was
righteous before God. Yes, the same person, but now he's
under the influence of wine.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
And definitely it was not.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Mixed or diluted like Homer said, or like some of
the ancient Greeks in the Latin said. And the Bible
talks about yayen versus no. No, no, he is drinking, is straight,
and often people think that he just passed out.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
He didn't pass out. He is very aware, and yet
he is not.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Now I want you to go home and read the
rest of the account, but I'm going to tell you why,
because as hard as it is for us to talk
about it, the Bible has placed it there for a reason.
And when we try to to feel like we are
too civilized to read that, something is wrong with us.
(25:42):
In that moment of being drunk and sexually active, one
of his sons sodomized him.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, had sex with his own dad. Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
The next morning he wakes up and realizes what was
done to him, and he is angry. You know, some people,
some scholars, have found that very unsettling, so they say
oh no, no, no, that's not.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
His son mocked him.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
This is not really if you read the curse that
Noah pronounces on his son and his descendants there, it
is not because the son just laughed at him.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Because his dad was lying there uncovered.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
You see, this situation was so bad that he was
not passed out. He was very aware, and yet he
did not know what was going on.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I know some of y'all was saying, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
I've heard preachers and I've read here and there that
it was just mocking.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
This is too much.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Okay, Well, gonia bibles to Genesis chapter nineteen and verse
thirty one, because now we have another incident, very similar,
and then we have to deal with this one Genesis
chapter nineteen, verse thirty one. Here we have another father.
(27:11):
This time it is Lot. Remember Abraham's nephew Lot. And
Lot and his family had moved into Sodom and Gomorrah.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
They were living there, and then.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
The city was so evil, so horrible that God was
going to destroy it, and he sent angels and they
pull Lot, his wife and his two daughters out of
the city. But his wife turned back and she turned
into a pillar of Saul. Now, it is Lot and
his two daughters, and they head to the hills.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
They should have.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Gone to Abraham and said, can we come to you? No, no, no,
They didn't want to leave too far away from Sodom
and gomor.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
So listen to what happens here.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
The girls Lot's daughters embark on a plan Genesis nineteen
thirty one. The first born said to the younger, our
father is old, and there is no man on the
earth to come into us, as is the custom of
all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine,
(28:18):
and we will lie with him, that we may.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Preserve the lineage of our father.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
So they made their father drink wine that night, and
the first born went in and lay.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
With their father.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
People often think that both Noah and lad they just
kind of passed out. No, they could not have done
what they did by passing out. They were aware, and
they were not aware.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
They were aware what was happening.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
They just did not realize in their drunken stupor that
that was their own child, their son. And then with
Lot his daughter, which means they raped him. Listen to
this right here, and he did not know when she
lay down or when she arose The next day, the
(29:05):
younger daughter repeated the same act with the father.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
People have a problem with the first.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
One, Oh no, no, that didn't happen to Noah. They
have no problem with the second one. Both of them
are the sins of the worst kind. Now in our
world today, there are people who get drunk, and in
their drunkenness, they go and abuse their children. Some of
the people who work in that line, you know, you
know you have dealt with that. I have heard, I
(29:32):
have seen people who have been victims of that horrible deed.
What is happening here in Genesis is God is giving
two instances.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
That they are so awkward to talk about it? Are
you ready with them? Are you okay with it? Isn't
that awkward to even talk about this? Why do you
think God did that?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Because He wants you to know this is how terrible
that thing is in these situations. In both cases, it
is what happened to the person who was drunk, not
the drunk person doing it to somebody else.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It happened to.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
The person who was drunk, and the person who was
drunk in both situations was the Father.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
The Book of Beginnings.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Is therefore a reason to give you a sense of
wake up call that just know this is what these
things do. And by the way, again, I want to
remind you last week in sermon go back and listen
to it if you haven't. What we have here is
not the same as what is mentioned here. The concentration
(30:37):
here is much much much lower. It's negligible compared to
the alcoholic content of any of these things, even a beer.
Some may say, well, I hear what you're saying, but
(30:59):
I know when to stop. You know when I drink
you know, it's something like this. This is only my
second time opening these things and not crazy, and I
hope it's my last time. So some even try to
give me training on how to hold it. I'm like, no,
I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Let it fizz. I don't care.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I have no desire to make it look more appealing
than it is. And maybe this is appealing to you.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
People say, you know, I can do this, I can
drink that and I can stop. Okay, that's great, Pastor Shaw,
I can drink this and not come back to it
for another six months. What would Paul say to someone
like you? He was said that, but there is someone
(31:51):
there who cannot stop there.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
They have to keep going. They cannot stop. Remember those words,
those Greek words.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I give them for a reason, because they're weak, they're powerless,
they're stumbling, they're walking away from God. As I mentioned
to you, people drink for all kinds of reasons. They
as I'm you know, some feel being a man's man,
or they feel refined, or if you feel like one
of the boys, or they feel like man. I'm a
(32:21):
hard working guy. I owe this to myself. I am
not a drunkard. I just I just have ones in
a while.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
I have a little bits. It's not that bad.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And yet there are people who cannot do that, and
there are many reasons for that.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Sometimes the reason is as simple as some mirror. I
just don't like the way I look.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Just to clarify, it's more women than men in that category.
Most men think they are God's gift to humanity, but
there are many who say, I just don't like the
way I look. I just don't like the way.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
I don't like my nose, I don't like my ears,
I don't like my figure.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I don't like something, and drinking temporarily helps me to forget,
to forget what I'm insecure about now you over here, like,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
What their problem is.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
They should get over that and not stop me from drinking,
because I can drink this, and I mean there's still
some left in there. I don't have to and I
don't know why they need to keep drinking because they
don't like the way they look. There are other people
who drink because they have a certain portrait of life.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Somebody gave them a portrait.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Maybe it was a father, maybe it's a grandfather, mother, teacher, coach,
someone in their life told them it's just what you
should look like. And when they look at that portrait,
that go, I'll never look like that, I'll never be
that person. How can I temporarily forget what that looks like?
(34:17):
What do I need to do to temporarily not have
to think about this?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Then there are people who have.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Something like this, a photo album of life. You know,
we all have this, and in that photo album we
have memories, memories of our past, memories of growing up,
where things were done, things were said, sometimes done and
(34:51):
said by our loved ones that hurt, they're painful. And
so I'm going to have this a little bit because
when I have this, I.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Don't remember this.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
The only problem is you can have this today and
the photo album doesn't go away.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
It's still there.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Sometimes it is not what someone said or did to you.
Sometimes it is your own bad choices, your own bad decisions,
and Satan comes and whispers in your ear. By the way, recently,
people have told me that, how did you know I
was hearing that voice? That was like, because Satan is
constantly talking, and that voice says to you.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
You are a horrible person. You are unlovable.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
If people only knew what you are like, no one
will ever love you.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
No one likes you. You know, they're nice to you
to your face, but no one likes you. If I
just have this, then I don't have to worry about
this for a while. You see, these are just some
(36:12):
of the reasons.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Sometimes it is something like the tragedies of life. You know.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
If I drink this, then it keeps.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Me from crying. People have talked to me about this.
I just can't stop crying. I cry over this and
I cry over that, and so if I do, the
only problem is this does not keep you from crying.
The tears will keep coming. In fact, they only get worse.
For men, this especially true, and it is.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
A ship, he said, What does that have to do
with anything like a drunken sailor.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
No, we all feel like our ship will come in
one day. I don't know what I'm talking about. One day,
my ship will come in.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
One day, all.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
The things that I hope for will come in. And
now I'm thirty, but the ship is still not insight.
I'm forty, I'm fifty, I'm sixty. So I'm going to
turn to this. And here's the most interesting thing. When
you don't see your ship coming in and you turn
to this, you look for somebody else whose ship is
not coming in, and then you have this evil, diabolical
(37:22):
straight from the hell fellowship, because your ship didn't come in.
My ship didn't come in. Let's drown our sorrows together.
Sometimes those people are in your family, Sometimes those uncles
or aunts who get with their nieces and nephews.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Hey, listen, I'm telling you. I've seen things.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
What the Bible talking about in Genesis.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Those are the extremes.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
But I've seen things that I would I'm like, wow,
you would do that with your own family member. It
means you feel like your ship hasn't come in. So
you're going to ruin their life and tell them that
they're is not coming in. You see, these are some
(38:10):
of the reasons why the weak cannot stop.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
And you're saying, get over it.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Forget about the ship, or forget about the portrait or
the sorrow or that accident, that accident happens, so what,
And they're saying, no, that accident happened, and.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
It is my fault. It is my fault. You see.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
I hope you begin to understand. He said, where do
you understand all this? Where did you get all this information?
Of course, as a pastor, having talked to hundreds of people,
and my wife as well, who's a counselor, and seeing
some of the things and hearing some of the stories,
you begin to piece things together why people do what
they do.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
And after a while it's no longer.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Just because I have these issues, is because I am addicted,
because I am an alcoholic, and now you can stop. Unfortunately,
none of the reasons people drink are ever truly satisfied.
(39:11):
In fact, there's an opposite effect that happens when people
go down this road, and the opposite effects. Wayne Grudem
talks about this in Christian Ethics he talks about this.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
He says that there.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Are eleven million children in the United States under the
age of eighteen living with at least one alcoholic parent.
And I know this may be difficult for some of
you who had to endure that of married couples.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Marriage as hard as it is. Imenm in July.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Its okay, marriage is hard. This is some reason why
people turn to these things, who get into physical altercation.
Some sixty percent of seventy percent abuse alcohol. Roughly percent
of individuals with severe mental disorders are affected.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
By substance abuse.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Some thirty seven percent of alcohol abusers and fifty three
percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious
mental illness. In the past couple of years, we've heard
a mental illness, mental ills. We all the biggest problem
in America's mental illness. Nobody's talking about alcohol.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
He said, well, now this is the drugs. Listen, this
is the gateway.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
This is the legalized gateway, and the rest follows. Grutam
gives a couple more statistics. He says, of all people
diagnosed as mentally ill, twenty nine percent abuse.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Of alcohol or drugs. Passa.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Shaw doesn't Paul doesn't. Paul tell Timothy to use a
little wine for his stomach. Again, don't forget last week
in sermon that wine was much diluted. You cannot compare
modern day alcoholic beverages to ancient biblical wine. Having said that,
(41:12):
you need to also read the studies that the results
are inconclusive. Why do it because the doctor said, you
know you can do this and help me. Most of
the time what you find out is liver disease, pneumonia,
cancer of the esophagus, internal bleeding.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
And the list goes on.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
My goal here is not to keep you from drinking this.
I could preach a great sermon, go out, get some
good food.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Go home.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
It's because when you see the consequences and you see
the lies, pray for me right now, because every time
we're preaching this, the enemy is being exposed. He does
not like it. You see the impact the whole that
this thing has, and it's destroying lives. We're not even
talking about traffic. So I called my good friend Greg Hughes,
(42:01):
and I said, listen, help me out.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Because I'm not an expert.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
On law enforcement statistics, I said, can you help me
some He said, oh absolutely. In a few hours he
sent me some Here are the numbers from the North
Carolina DMV war twenty twenty three, and we have law
enforcement here this morning, and they see this on a
regular basis. In twenty twenty three, fatal alcohol related crashes
(42:25):
in just that year, we're three hundred and forty five,
three hundred and forty five. And again, I don't know
individual situations. Maybe kids who will never graduate, maybe young
people who will never finish college, never marry, never do
the things they want to do. Their life was taken
(42:47):
away just in twenty twenty three in North Carolina non
fatal injury crashes five four hundred property damage only crashes,
six thousand total alcohol related crashes, twelve thousand total injuries, eight.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Thousand, four hundred. Sum.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
He sent me some more figures. Here's one coming from
the twenty twenty one MAD MAD is Mother's Against Drink
Drunk Driving Court Monitoring Report. The age is sixty percent
of defendants where ages twenty one.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
To thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Dad, we all awake here this morning, Dad's you can
put this down, your son, your daughter?
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Can't? They keep going? I don't know if anything is
worth losing my son's life or my daughter's life.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
How amazing it is that we justify these things knowing
the risks.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
How interesting.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
According to the report here, seventy three percent of defendants
were male, thirty two percent where men ages twenty one
to thirty nine repeat offenses, seventy eight percent first time
twenty two involved in multiple offenses. Blood alcohol content forty
five percent registered point zero eight, two point one four
(44:26):
forty eight percent registered point fifteen or higher.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
And the numbers keep going.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Here's another one from the National highbad Traffic Safety Administration,
and they found that every day about thirty four people
in the United States die in drunk diving crash driving crashes,
one person every forty two minutes. Means by the time
this sermons over, somebody will die somewhere. In twenty twenty two,
(45:00):
driving debts represented thirty percent of all traffic fatalities. In
twenty twenty three, twelvey four to twenty nine drunk driving
debts are up twenty two percent since twenty nineteen. In
twenty twenty three and estimated three hundred and sixty thousand
people were injured. And here's a very important stat two
(45:24):
out of three people will be impacted by drunk driving
in their lifetime.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
You say that you're just trying to scare us. I
hope so.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
I sure hope so, because if the stats are correct,
some of you may not finish this year. If the
statistics are correct, it tells us that one in ten
drinkers will become alcoholics. Imagine if I were to tell you, hey,
(45:57):
hop in my truck with me. We're gonna run to
a restaurant down the street and pick up some food.
And as you're getting in, I tell you, by the way,
just to let you know, one out of ten times
I drive, we have a fatal crash.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
Just want to let you know that. What would you do?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
At that point, You'd be like, WHOA hold on one second.
He'll get out of my truck and say, why don't
I meet you there? One in ten will become alcoholic
because it is a gateway to alcoholism. I know our
(46:35):
time is so short with fash show. Jesus made water
into wine.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
How in the.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
World can you say that these things are terrible bad?
I get the diluting part, but Jesus turned water into wine.
And I've even heard preachers preach on this man. And
you know, Jesus was a man's man, and he enjoyed life,
and he laughed, and he and he had a great
Have you have you read John chapter two?
Speaker 3 (47:09):
Have you read that? Maybe you need to read it.
I'm gonna read a couple of verses John chapter two,
Verse six.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Now there were there six water pots of stone, according
to the number of Say it loud if you can,
purification of the Jesus did not say when a time
came for him to turn water into wine, he did
not take wine jars. He took six water pots filled
(47:40):
with water for the purification. You know, during the time
of Jesus, many of these traditions were at an all
time high. These rituals were an all time high. And
so Jesus at this wedding celebration, wine runs out, his
mother comes to him, you know, all that that goes on.
But then when he actually decides that he will do
(48:04):
this miracle, he tells them to go ahead and top
it off those six water pots, not wine jars. That's
a lot of water, by the way, turnd fifty gallons
of water turned fifty gallons. To give you an idea,
imagine a fish tank which is six feet long and
two feet wide and.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
Two feet tall.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
It's a lot of water, and then of course he
turns that water into wine. But listen to what Jesus
said in verse seven, filled the water pots with water,
and then he does the miracle, and the master of
the feast comes and says to the bridegroom, every man
(48:51):
at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when
the guests have well drunk, then the inferior you have
kept the That does not mean it is more alcoholic.
It just means this tastes so much better. Typically, you
will give the better one first, and then as their
people are buzzed, because the weddings will last like a
(49:12):
week or so, then he would bring the inferior.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
You are bringing the better one.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Now did y'all get that you are bringing the better wine? Now,
when you read it in the context, what did John
the Baptist say? He says, something better is coming. I
can't even touch his sandal strap. Something better is coming.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
You've had all these purification customs and laws and traditions.
Something better. And who is the something better? It's Jesus.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
And then it says here in John chapter two and
verse eleven, this beginning of what we all sound like
a bunch of snakes, signs, this beginning of signs. You know,
when our team went for like a couple of days
to the beach, he was a rapid trip to the
beach and rapid back. He saw he saw a sign
(50:12):
to Atlantic Beach, big old sign to Atlantic Beach. Now
what if I had said, hey, guys, fall over, we
are at Atlantic Beach, and I would have told him,
you know, come, let's get out here right at the
exit ramp and let's sit right here.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Guys. Hey boy, don't you enjoy the water? Look at
the water, play with the sand. Well there's no sand here,
just broken glass.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
And and and you know, trash and whatever. No, no, no,
we are at Atlantic Beach. Read the sign to Atlantic Beach.
To Atlantic Beach.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
He said, no, that's just a sign.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
When Jesus turned water into wine, it was a sign,
sign of what, sign of who he was.
Speaker 3 (50:55):
That now he has.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Come, Now the real party can begin. What we've done
is we said, Oh, I love the sign. Though right
here it says Jesus turned water into wine.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
This beginning of science.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
The passage is about Jesus being the good wine who
brings true joy and celebration. Everything prior to him was inferior.
When Jesus comes into your life, then the real wedding
feast begin. He is the bridegroom. How interesting We just
forgot the reason and we stopped at the sign. You know,
(51:41):
there is even a deeper reason. The reason is Christ.
When he comes into your life, he begins to fill
you with true joy and peace. And not only does
(52:03):
Jesus come into your life, but the Holy Spirit also
comes into your life.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Now life is to be lived full of the spirit.
Speaker 2 (52:16):
What does Ephesians say, Do not be drunk with wine,
which is which is debauchery, which is dissipation, but be
filled with the spirit.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
We forgot that.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
We just said, just don't get drunk with wine. How interesting,
isn't it. We just took the first part of it,
and he said, forget the second one. Just don't get drunk.
Jesus said, here's I'm turning. I'm turning water into wine.
Now come to me when you drink upon me. I
am the living water. I am the water of life.
Remember he said that to the Samaritan woman, you come
(52:52):
here to drink, get this water, But the water I
will give you will.
Speaker 3 (52:56):
Burst forth as rivers of living water. Forget about that.
We're just talking about Jesus having a drinking party.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
Carl Jung, if you know anything about analytical philosophy, Carl
Jung was a psychologist, a brilliant man, but he didn't
believe in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (53:19):
Of course, he.
Speaker 2 (53:22):
Didn't claim to be an atheist, but he was not
really a Christian. There's a story about a man named
Roland h And this appears and pass it On, which
is a publication of Alcoholic Anonymous, and some.
Speaker 3 (53:37):
Of you may have read it.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
But a Roland age came from a very wealthy family,
but he had a drinking problem. And he went to
Jung all the way up in Switzerland and said, can
you please help me? And Jung said, okay, I'll definitely can.
I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to help
you and guide you. And he did that for a
whole year and it seemed like the man was cured,
(53:59):
and so he left. And the moment he left, this
man Roland started drinking again, and so he reached back
to Young and he said, look, I'm drinking again. Can
you help me? And Jung said, look, I really try
to help you the last time. I don't think I
(54:20):
can help you and Jung told him that the only
thing that would help him would be a spiritual awakening.
Keep in mind, Young was not a Christian. Jung did
not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God.
And yet he is telling this man, you need a
spiritual awakening. And Roland replied that he believed in God
(54:43):
and that he just needed, you know, just some help
with his drinking. No, Jung said, you need more than
just some casual belief. Some of you believe in God,
but it's just casual, Jung told him, and I'm paraphrasing,
he said, you need to make a rock solid commitment
(55:04):
in your faith to Christ. In the end, Roland came
to faith in Christ and he was set free, which
means even a non Christian psychologist known.
Speaker 3 (55:17):
For a view which took a very different route.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
If you know anything about his psychosists and all that
believe that you and I are spiritual beings, did.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
You know that's why they call these spirits.
Speaker 2 (55:34):
These things are substitute for what only the Holy Spirit
can do for you and me. As believers, we are
to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. When
you are filled with these things, they only temporarily take
(55:59):
the edge off off, relax you, make you a fun person,
make you someone that people love.
Speaker 3 (56:08):
When He fills you.
Speaker 2 (56:11):
In those moments when the enemy tells you, when you
hear that voice that says you cannot be loved, the
Holy Spirit reminds you nothing can separate you from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
So now when I feel unloved, I just need to
(56:34):
have a little bit of this.
Speaker 3 (56:37):
And I feel good.
Speaker 2 (56:41):
When that voice tells you, and it's a real voice,
a voice says to you, you will never reach your
ideal portrait.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
You have a portrait of life. The Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Reminds you that he who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
When that voice says your ship has not come in
and will not come in, the Holy Spirit reminds you
that you are already seated in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. When that voice reminds you of all the
(57:16):
bad and painful memories, by the way, those memories come,
and sometimes they come in the middle of the night
and they wake you up. And sometimes people go, I
just need to get just a quick drink, just to
put me to sleep. In those moments, the Holy Spirit
(57:38):
reminds you that you died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. Folks, what you and I are
doing when we turn to these things instead of turning
to the Holy Spirit to fill us. And by the way,
this cup does not leak, but we leak.
Speaker 3 (57:56):
Daily.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
You and I leak and daily we need to be
filled with the Holy Spirit of God, which means every
moment when that voice comes, when that accuser comes to
you and says, this is who you are, pick up
that mirror, pick up that portrait, pick up that album
you are to remind yourself that you are in Christ,
and the Holy Spirit intercedes for you with groanings that
(58:18):
cannot be uttered. You know, I don't know what that
man's problem was. Our hometown are community drunk?
Speaker 3 (58:29):
I don't know. I never talked to him.
Speaker 2 (58:31):
I always, as a little boy, just would go around him,
and every time I saw him he was sober. But
something in his life kept him going back to those
things until his wife, you know, she saw that there
(58:53):
is something real in Christianity and not to look at
her husband. Some of there are people here who have
I've had loved ones in their lives, who claim to
be all Christian and sang and danced in church in
front of everybody, and yet they lived a life that
was in slavery.
Speaker 3 (59:10):
To these things, I do want to tell you.
Speaker 2 (59:11):
That there is there is the real life where people
are truly filled with the Holy Spirit of God, when
they truly have the joy of Jesus Christ. Don't let
one hypocrite keep you from trying the real deal. I
don't know where you are this morning. If you've never
given your heart to Jesus Christ. Don't let one hypocrite,
(59:34):
one father who Sunday morning acted one way and then
Saturday night was something else. Don't let one person, one aunt,
one uncle, want somebody, one deacon, one Sunday school teacher
keep you from having what God has for us, which
is the Holy Spirit of God.
Speaker 3 (59:53):
This morning, we're gonna pray.
Speaker 2 (59:57):
If this is your vice, If this message was hard
to listen to, God can set you free.
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Sometimes that freedom is just like that immediate. Sometimes it's
a program. Sometimes it's a fellowship of believers that helps
you and encourages you to get over this addiction. But
whatever it is, don't walk out the same way you
walked in the Enemy does not have anything good for you.
(01:00:34):
What many of us are doing is I want a
little bit of Jesus and a little bit of the Enemy.
I'm good with that. I need Jesus to get me
into Heaven. I need the Enemy to get me through life.
Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
And he says, here's a can, here's a bottle. Choose Jesus,
Choose the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
You will be like God.
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Human unity.
Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
God was severed and through it all God's promise remain true.
Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Follow me.
Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
And I would make a great This is the Chosen People.
Listen to the Chosen People at the Chosen people dot com.
That's the Chosen People dot com.
For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost
Romans fourteen seventeen. Dear Father, thank you for your grace
and forgiveness. Help me to remember that your mercies allow
me to look beyond past troubles and find comfort in
(00:20):
the present moment. Remind me that your forgiveness is what
helps me to move forward and start over. Father, remind
me that peace and joy in my heart begin with
forgiving myself. If you have so graciously forgiven me, then
I will do the same so that I can move
forward on the marvelous path you have set for my life. Amen.
(00:47):
Thank you for listening to to day's daily prayer. For
more inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor,
stay tuned to Pray Dot COB's Sunday service.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Hi. I'm doctor Aberdonshaw and I'm the pastor of Clear
Recharch and this is our Sermons podcast. I hope these
sermons are a blessing to you and you offend. Thank
you for listening.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Now let's hear God's work together well.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
As many of you know, Andy Griffith Show is one
of my favorites I've watched each of those episodes countless times,
and Otis Campbell, the town drunk, is one of the
favorite characters. Even though he did not come on the
show as many times, he was one that people always
enjoyed look forward to it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
He would stagger.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Into Sheriff Taylor's jail and then sleep off the moonshine.
That's what he did, and he was lovable, he was funny,
always got on Barney's nerves, who tried to sober him up,
but it was to no avail. If only, if only
(02:00):
town drunks were that lovable and funny, if only they
were all like Otis Campbell.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
The town I.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Grew up in, there were many such and we would
joke about them the next day at school and friends
would talk about them. But we had one in our
own immediate community, literally five minutes walking distance from our home,
which was right next to the church. And this guy,
his wife and children would come to the church, but
(02:35):
he never did, and he was the drunk. And every
Friday night, especially if it was Payday Friday, everybody knew
in the community that there would be a show, and
as hard as it is to believe, people would pull
out their lawn chairs. They would pull out their plastic
(02:58):
chairs and sit out in the front yard to watch
the show.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And it would begin, and.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Usually it was funny in the beginning, as he would
make fun of his neighbors and talk about them and
all of that. And then he began to drink more
and more, and then it went from just being funny
to being rude and crude, and then it would get violent,
and it would get violent towards his children, who.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Were little at the time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We were young at the time, and then it would
get violent towards his own wife. Now his wife was
still there, even though the kids after a while knew
if it's Friday night, just leave, just get away because
Dad's going to be in a rare form. But the
wife would never leave. She was always there for him,
(03:48):
and he would start beating on her. And sometimes the
neighbors intervened, but many times they didn't want to get involved.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
It was going to turn on them.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
My dad often tried, but it was to no avail,
because once somebody is drunk to that level, it's very
hard to calm them down or to talk reason to
them because they're past that point. Many times, Dad and
others in the church in the community had to buy
(04:19):
groceries for them because the man he had a good job,
his wife had a good job, but he would take
both their moneyes and he would spend that money on alcohol.
What's even more tragic is that his wife came from
a non Christian background. He came from a Christian background.
(04:42):
Somehow they got married because you know, over there Christians
marry Christians.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
But here in this situation, this.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Man came from a Christian background, the wife didn't, and
she would often come to church and just look.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You could see the look of of.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Course, she is bad, she is bruised, she is broken down.
But there was also this look like, how does this work?
How does this whole Christianity thing work? Because it's not
working in my home with your Christian man.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Praise me to God.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
She gave her life to Jesus Christ and she did
get saved, and that's.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
The grace of God.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I share all this because that story is all too common.
I have been in this town, in this church coming
up close to about thirty years, not quite, and I
have heard similar accounts. Some of you have grown up
in situations like that. Some of you have endured a
(05:50):
lot of pain and affliction. And I know this kind
of a message is difficult to hear. Maybe you agree
with me, but it's still difficult to hear. There are
people I know who have gone through not just physical emotional,
but also sexual.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Abuse, all because of alcohol.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
This morning is part two of our message called Influence.
We are still in our series through Romans. We are
still learning the role of the Holy Spirit in a
believer's life. But we are going to Romans thirteen and fourteen,
but we're going to come back to Romans nine. Okay,
Romans thirteen to fourteen are going there because we're looking
(06:29):
at a common substitute for the Holy Spirit. So we're
going ahead and doing this. We're going to come back
to Romans chapter nine. So this morning, in your Bibles,
turned to Romans chapter fourteen and verse seventeen in your
Pew Bibles, that would be page seventeen fifty one seven
five zero, if you would go ahead and find it
(06:50):
in your bibles in the Pew Bibles, page one, seven
five zero. It's very important keep your bibles open. Look
at the word of God. Look at the word of God.
There's something when you're seeing the speech of God. It
begins to transform your hearts. Romans chapter fourteen, Verse seventeen.
(07:11):
For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,
but righteousness.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable
to God and approved by men.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Therefore, let us pursue.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Let us pursue the things which make for peace and
the things by which one may edify one another. Do
not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.
All things indeed are pure. Let me repeat that again,
all things indeed are pure. But it is evil for
(07:54):
the man who eats with offense.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Verse it is good neither to.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything by which
your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
As you heard me say again and again in this
series that Paul wrote this letter to the church in
Rome in the first century, the church that was divided
(08:23):
between Jewish background and gentile background believers. Paul wrote this
letter to bring them together, to bring them together in Christ,
that whether you are Jewish background gentile background, salvation is
through Christ. At the same time, there is a distinction,
and that's what we're going to come back to.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Romans nine through eleven, the.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Distinction where God will fulfill his promises to ethnic Israel.
But Paul also describes two groups in the church, and
he calls them strong and weak. Let me read for
you a couple of passages, and one we already read.
But here's Romans chapter fourteen, verse one. Receive one who
(09:06):
is weak in the faith. Receive one who is weak
in the faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
For one believes he may eat all things, but he
who is weak eats only vegetables.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You're strong, you can eat whatever, you can drink whatever.
But the week they have certain limitations, Receive them as well.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Romans fourteen twenty one. We just read it a few
moments ago.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It is good neither to eat meat, nor drink wine,
nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is
offended or.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Is made weak.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And then Romans fifteen, verse one, it says, we, then,
who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of
the week. Now, in a later message, I'm going to
go deeper into the identity of who these strong.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And weak believers were.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Were the strong the gentile background, and the weak the
Jewish background. We're going to get into all those things.
This is not the message for that. But I want
us to look at the words for weak that Paul uses.
He uses two different words in the Greek. The first
word is the word as tenea, and the second is
(10:29):
the word ah do not.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Toss as tenea. The first word it describes someone who.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Is weak, someone who is sick, someone who is failing,
someone who is powerless as tenea. The second word are
douna toss. Just right there, it is powerless, do not toss, powerful,
(11:00):
do not toss. It negates that word is powerless or impotent.
They're not able to do the things that maybe you
are able to do.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
One of their points of contention was over drinking.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
The strong felt like, well, listen, we're gonna drink because
we're no longer under the law.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
They would quote Versus like first tivty four to four.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving.
So as long as I thank God for it, I
can eat pork as long as I thank God for it.
I can eat shrimp and shell fish as long as
I thank God for it.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I can drink wine the week.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
On the other hand, where no, in some ways we
are still under the law, and they would quote probably
First Corinthians ten twenty three, which is, all things are
lawful to me, but not all things are helpful.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yes, I can, but it does not help me.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So then you had these two groups of people. One said,
you can do this.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
As long as you praise God and give God thanksgiving,
you can do this, And the other group said, no,
all things are lawful, but they're not good. All things
are lawful, but they don't edify. What is Paul's suggestion
for this church? What is his recommendation? Listen to Romans
(12:34):
fourteen twenty one. This is the third time I'm reading
this verse, but it's for a reason. Listen to what
it says here. It is good neither to eat meat,
nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles,
is offended or is made weak. Now, in some translations
(12:55):
you only have one of those words, but in my translation,
there are three, three descriptions of the weak brother, and
I think all three should be there. And they are
three different Greek words. The first one is the word proskopto.
Proscopto means to strike.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Or to beat against.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
They keep striking and beating against and they can't seem
to move forward. Proscopto also has the idea of offending
or being stumbled. They can seem to stride, they keep stumbling.
(13:39):
The other Greek word is the word scondoliso, which means this,
this weak brother is also turning away from God. And
the third word is astenea, which I just described earlier,
which is weak, sick, falling, failing, or even powerless. What
is the suggestion Paul is saying to the stronger one
(14:00):
and say, I know, I know, I know you feel
like you can eat whatever and drink whatever, but please
bear with the week. It is no different than if
you have multiple children. What do you tell the older
one when the younger one is fussing about something?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
What do you do? Parents? Are your parents? Anybody parents here?
It's all just sitting here, eunuchs? What are you so?
What do you do?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
When you have multiple kids? You say, let him have it?
How many older siblings are here in this place? Who
can identify with that? Some hands are going up? You
remember your parents saying just let let her have it,
And you're like, but mom, look at he spoiled?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Look look at her she gets away with everything. But
I couldn't do this, Ma, and so same thing Paul
is saying, let him have it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Why because in this situation, not in your sibling rivalry situation.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
In this situation, what Paul is saying is they cannot
handle it. Let them do it.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
You know, last weekend we learned a lot about alcohol,
especially in the context of the Bible. One of the
things I explained is that the alcohol content of wind
back then was negligible compared to our modern day alcohol.
So modern day we do this one more time after this,
(15:32):
I don't have to touch these things again. We had
something like this. This is distilled alcohol. I mean, this
is something that the Arabs invented.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
By the way, the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Word alcohol, it's an Arabic word. This did not come
about until eighth century AD. That doesn't mean that they
didn't have distilled alcohol in certain forms, but nothing so
pure that you drink and forty percent. I mean, it's
it's unheard of until the past twelve hundred some years.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
This still alcohol. Why do people drink this?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Sometimes it's you know, it's a man's man. This is
what daddy drank or granddaddy had it on the shelf
and this is man, this is what I do after
a hard days work. I may just take a little bit.
This is just my my tonic. Others are a little
bit more sophisticated type and it's something more like this,
(16:29):
and you know, you feel really refined when you have wine.
Everybody has their own idea and their own style when
it comes to drinking. Some people are more like this.
It would be this is me and my friends. Some
people had to teach me how to hold this. They said, well,
(16:51):
you know, you hold it like this, and they just
don't hold it like that. Now some do that, some
don't care.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
But this is like you're with the boys, you're hanging out.
This is this is thing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
When the preacher comes, you just kind of hold it
like this and it works out too. You'd be surprised
how people react when they see me coming.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
It's like I'm blind. I don't drink, but I'm not blind.
Just like Sunday morning, I can see everything you're doing.
You do know that, right? The lights are not that bright.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
So this is the this is the one for after
a hot days work.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Man.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
What had the temperature has been lately like ninety five
ninety six? I mean, just just one, you know, it
just cool things off. Well, if you want is good,
might as well have two to cool things off. And
if you're right there here grab one, you know, because
you're such a great, fun loving, down to earth guy
(17:51):
or gal for that matter. So people have their reasons
for choosing different alcohols. But when we look at the Bible,
if you remember last weekend, wine had to be diluted.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Even among the ancients they.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Talked about this, Does that mean that all of them diluted. No,
many times they got drunk. Many times they turned the
city upside down, and the leaders of the city had
to say, we're gonna have to put some laws against this.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
This was especially the case among God's people.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
In the Old Testament, there was a difference between yayin,
which is wine, and shakar, which is a strong drink.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Don't do that now.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Recently, some scholars have done some research and they have
argued that shakar was actually beer and not a strong drink.
So there is wine coming from grapes and then there
is shakar, which is coming from grain. So they said, well,
you know it's allowed. No, that's not necessarily the case.
I mean, think about it. Scholars also found that not
(18:57):
only did adults drink, but also children, and I can
assure you that they didn't want their children to get drunk,
which means that this beer or the beer in ancient
times was not as alcoholic because kids were drinking it.
And big reason for people to drink wine or beer
was because water was so contaminated.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Big reason.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But even then there were certain limits. We read about
this in Proverbs twenty three. They were told to avoid
yayen wine and mim sok, mim sock. It's the translators again.
They must be they must love to drink. They called
it the mixed drink. It's not mixed drink, it's the
mixing vessel. Means, don't even get near the kraft toss.
(19:47):
Remember the big jars, and he poured it into this
big bowl, the kraft toss, and then you would pour
it into the cup.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
The proverb writer is saying.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Don't look at the beautiful red color of the wine
and how it sparkles, and how it swirls around in
the cup, because at the last it bites like a
serpent and it stings like a viper. Don't don't do it.
Don't even get near the mixing bowl. In other words,
(20:21):
you can, but you definitely don't want to because the
consequences are just too much. People say, but but you can,
the right you can. You can't say you can't.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
The warning against drinking alcohol was not mentioned for the
first time in Proverbs twenty three. That's what people often think,
Proverbs twenty three. Man, that came, like, you know, at
least you know thousand and eighty. Maybe Solomon put it
all together the proverbs. No, the warning against wine came
(20:59):
in the first book in the Bible. What is the
first book of the Bible Genesis? Genesis first book of
the Bible burushit, which means the book of beginnings. Now
we think it is no different than the next book
Exodus and Leviticus and numbers.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The book has been placed there canonically for a reason,
which means, if you want to understand life, begin in
the Book of Genesis. It will tell you how everything
was created. It will tell you what went wrong. It
will tell you God's solution. It will tell you how
to organize your society and how to avoid the.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Ills of society.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
The Book of Genesis has been placed as the first
book for a reason. By the way, the first book
written was the Book of Job, not Genesis.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
How do you know that?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
When you compare the Hebrew of Genesis versus the Hebrew
of Job, it is more primitive. Genesis is the first
book placed there for a reason.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
And do you know it talks about wine? It does.
It gives us two examples, and I want us to
find that.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Go and open your bibles. I'm not going to give
you a page number because it's the first book of
the Bible. Come on, you can find it. But go
to Genesis chapter nine.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Genesis chapter nine, in verse twenty. There are two.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Shocking, horrendous warnings given, not just in statements but in
descriptions about alcohol. The first one is in Genesis chapter
nine and verse twenty. Now keep in mind Noah's flood.
Remember the world was so bad that God said, I'm
going to destroy everything. But He's saved one man and
(22:50):
his family, three sons, their wives, his wife. They were
in an arc two of every kind, almost a whole year.
The heavens burst open with water, the ground bursts open
with the fountains of the deep. The entire globe is
covered and buried in water. And then they finally come out,
(23:13):
there's a rainbow. No longer God will never will God
do this in the future. They sacrifice animals, and the
commandment is be fruitful and multiply fill the earth, the
same thing God told Adam, and even now he tells
Noah and his sons be.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Fruitful, multiply fill the earth.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Let's pick it up in Genesis nine twenty and Noah farmer,
it doesn't say in the Hebrew began to be. It
was simply Noah farmer. And he planted a vineyard. Then
(23:51):
he drank of the wine and was shakar, which was drunk.
That's why when some of the scholars are saying this
is beer, he drank of the wine and beer, I
don't know. I think it's more like strong drink. He
got drunk, So listen again verse twenty one. Then he
(24:15):
drank of the wine and was drunk and became uncovered
in his tent. Uncovered in his tent. What was it
too hot a day that he just threw off the covers. No,
it's a euphemism. Euphemism is a way to say something
without saying something. So uncovered means he became sexually active.
(24:38):
Now at this point you will say, Wow, that's kind
of crazy. This is the same man who led the arc.
This is the same person, the same person who was
righteous before God. Yes, the same person, but now he's
under the influence of wine.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
And definitely it was not.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Mixed or diluted like Homer said, or like some of
the ancient Greeks in the Latin said. And the Bible
talks about yayen versus no. No, no, he is drinking, is straight,
and often people think that he just passed out.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
He didn't pass out. He is very aware, and yet
he is not.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Now I want you to go home and read the
rest of the account, but I'm going to tell you why,
because as hard as it is for us to talk
about it, the Bible has placed it there for a reason.
And when we try to to feel like we are
too civilized to read that, something is wrong with us.
(25:42):
In that moment of being drunk and sexually active, one
of his sons sodomized him.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, had sex with his own dad. Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
The next morning he wakes up and realizes what was
done to him, and he is angry. You know, some people,
some scholars, have found that very unsettling, so they say
oh no, no, no, that's not.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
His son mocked him.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
This is not really if you read the curse that
Noah pronounces on his son and his descendants there, it
is not because the son just laughed at him.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Because his dad was lying there uncovered.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
You see, this situation was so bad that he was
not passed out. He was very aware, and yet he
did not know what was going on.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I know some of y'all was saying, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
I've heard preachers and I've read here and there that
it was just mocking.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
This is too much.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Okay, Well, gonia bibles to Genesis chapter nineteen and verse
thirty one, because now we have another incident, very similar,
and then we have to deal with this one Genesis
chapter nineteen, verse thirty one. Here we have another father.
(27:11):
This time it is Lot. Remember Abraham's nephew Lot. And
Lot and his family had moved into Sodom and Gomorrah.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
They were living there, and then.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
The city was so evil, so horrible that God was
going to destroy it, and he sent angels and they
pull Lot, his wife and his two daughters out of
the city. But his wife turned back and she turned
into a pillar of Saul. Now, it is Lot and
his two daughters, and they head to the hills.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
They should have.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Gone to Abraham and said, can we come to you? No, no, no,
They didn't want to leave too far away from Sodom
and gomor.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
So listen to what happens here.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
The girls Lot's daughters embark on a plan Genesis nineteen
thirty one. The first born said to the younger, our
father is old, and there is no man on the
earth to come into us, as is the custom of
all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine,
(28:18):
and we will lie with him, that we may.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Preserve the lineage of our father.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
So they made their father drink wine that night, and
the first born went in and lay.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
With their father.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
People often think that both Noah and lad they just
kind of passed out. No, they could not have done
what they did by passing out. They were aware, and
they were not aware.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
They were aware what was happening.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
They just did not realize in their drunken stupor that
that was their own child, their son. And then with
Lot his daughter, which means they raped him. Listen to
this right here, and he did not know when she
lay down or when she arose The next day, the
(29:05):
younger daughter repeated the same act with the father.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
People have a problem with the first.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
One, Oh no, no, that didn't happen to Noah. They
have no problem with the second one. Both of them
are the sins of the worst kind. Now in our
world today, there are people who get drunk, and in
their drunkenness, they go and abuse their children. Some of
the people who work in that line, you know, you
know you have dealt with that. I have heard, I
(29:32):
have seen people who have been victims of that horrible deed.
What is happening here in Genesis is God is giving
two instances.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
That they are so awkward to talk about it? Are
you ready with them? Are you okay with it? Isn't
that awkward to even talk about this? Why do you
think God did that?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Because He wants you to know this is how terrible
that thing is in these situations. In both cases, it
is what happened to the person who was drunk, not
the drunk person doing it to somebody else.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It happened to.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
The person who was drunk, and the person who was
drunk in both situations was the Father.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
The Book of Beginnings.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Is therefore a reason to give you a sense of
wake up call that just know this is what these
things do. And by the way, again, I want to
remind you last week in sermon go back and listen
to it if you haven't. What we have here is
not the same as what is mentioned here. The concentration
(30:37):
here is much much much lower. It's negligible compared to
the alcoholic content of any of these things, even a beer.
Some may say, well, I hear what you're saying, but
(30:59):
I know when to stop. You know when I drink
you know, it's something like this. This is only my
second time opening these things and not crazy, and I
hope it's my last time. So some even try to
give me training on how to hold it. I'm like, no,
I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Let it fizz. I don't care.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I have no desire to make it look more appealing
than it is. And maybe this is appealing to you.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
People say, you know, I can do this, I can
drink that and I can stop. Okay, that's great, Pastor Shaw,
I can drink this and not come back to it
for another six months. What would Paul say to someone
like you? He was said that, but there is someone
(31:51):
there who cannot stop there.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
They have to keep going. They cannot stop. Remember those words,
those Greek words.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I give them for a reason, because they're weak, they're powerless,
they're stumbling, they're walking away from God. As I mentioned
to you, people drink for all kinds of reasons. They
as I'm you know, some feel being a man's man,
or they feel refined, or if you feel like one
of the boys, or they feel like man. I'm a
(32:21):
hard working guy. I owe this to myself. I am
not a drunkard. I just I just have ones in
a while.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
I have a little bits. It's not that bad.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And yet there are people who cannot do that, and
there are many reasons for that.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Sometimes the reason is as simple as some mirror. I
just don't like the way I look.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Just to clarify, it's more women than men in that category.
Most men think they are God's gift to humanity, but
there are many who say, I just don't like the
way I look. I just don't like the way.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
I don't like my nose, I don't like my ears,
I don't like my figure.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I don't like something, and drinking temporarily helps me to forget,
to forget what I'm insecure about now you over here, like,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
What their problem is.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
They should get over that and not stop me from drinking,
because I can drink this, and I mean there's still
some left in there. I don't have to and I
don't know why they need to keep drinking because they
don't like the way they look. There are other people
who drink because they have a certain portrait of life.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Somebody gave them a portrait.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Maybe it was a father, maybe it's a grandfather, mother, teacher, coach,
someone in their life told them it's just what you
should look like. And when they look at that portrait,
that go, I'll never look like that, I'll never be
that person. How can I temporarily forget what that looks like?
(34:17):
What do I need to do to temporarily not have
to think about this?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Then there are people who have.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Something like this, a photo album of life. You know,
we all have this, and in that photo album we
have memories, memories of our past, memories of growing up,
where things were done, things were said, sometimes done and
(34:51):
said by our loved ones that hurt, they're painful. And
so I'm going to have this a little bit because
when I have this, I.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Don't remember this.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
The only problem is you can have this today and
the photo album doesn't go away.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
It's still there.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Sometimes it is not what someone said or did to you.
Sometimes it is your own bad choices, your own bad decisions,
and Satan comes and whispers in your ear. By the way, recently,
people have told me that, how did you know I
was hearing that voice? That was like, because Satan is
constantly talking, and that voice says to you.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
You are a horrible person. You are unlovable.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
If people only knew what you are like, no one
will ever love you.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
No one likes you. You know, they're nice to you
to your face, but no one likes you. If I
just have this, then I don't have to worry about
this for a while. You see, these are just some
(36:12):
of the reasons.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Sometimes it is something like the tragedies of life. You know.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
If I drink this, then it keeps.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Me from crying. People have talked to me about this.
I just can't stop crying. I cry over this and
I cry over that, and so if I do, the
only problem is this does not keep you from crying.
The tears will keep coming. In fact, they only get worse.
For men, this especially true, and it is.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
A ship, he said, What does that have to do
with anything like a drunken sailor.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
No, we all feel like our ship will come in
one day. I don't know what I'm talking about. One day,
my ship will come in.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
One day, all.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
The things that I hope for will come in. And
now I'm thirty, but the ship is still not insight.
I'm forty, I'm fifty, I'm sixty. So I'm going to
turn to this. And here's the most interesting thing. When
you don't see your ship coming in and you turn
to this, you look for somebody else whose ship is
not coming in, and then you have this evil, diabolical
(37:22):
straight from the hell fellowship, because your ship didn't come in.
My ship didn't come in. Let's drown our sorrows together.
Sometimes those people are in your family, Sometimes those uncles
or aunts who get with their nieces and nephews.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Hey, listen, I'm telling you. I've seen things.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
What the Bible talking about in Genesis.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Those are the extremes.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
But I've seen things that I would I'm like, wow,
you would do that with your own family member. It
means you feel like your ship hasn't come in. So
you're going to ruin their life and tell them that
they're is not coming in. You see, these are some
(38:10):
of the reasons why the weak cannot stop.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
And you're saying, get over it.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Forget about the ship, or forget about the portrait or
the sorrow or that accident, that accident happens, so what,
And they're saying, no, that accident happened, and.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
It is my fault. It is my fault. You see.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
I hope you begin to understand. He said, where do
you understand all this? Where did you get all this information?
Of course, as a pastor, having talked to hundreds of people,
and my wife as well, who's a counselor, and seeing
some of the things and hearing some of the stories,
you begin to piece things together why people do what
they do.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
And after a while it's no longer.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Just because I have these issues, is because I am addicted,
because I am an alcoholic, and now you can stop. Unfortunately,
none of the reasons people drink are ever truly satisfied.
(39:11):
In fact, there's an opposite effect that happens when people
go down this road, and the opposite effects. Wayne Grudem
talks about this in Christian Ethics he talks about this.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
He says that there.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Are eleven million children in the United States under the
age of eighteen living with at least one alcoholic parent.
And I know this may be difficult for some of
you who had to endure that of married couples.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Marriage as hard as it is. Imenm in July.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Its okay, marriage is hard. This is some reason why
people turn to these things, who get into physical altercation.
Some sixty percent of seventy percent abuse alcohol. Roughly percent
of individuals with severe mental disorders are affected.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
By substance abuse.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Some thirty seven percent of alcohol abusers and fifty three
percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious
mental illness. In the past couple of years, we've heard
a mental illness, mental ills. We all the biggest problem
in America's mental illness. Nobody's talking about alcohol.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
He said, well, now this is the drugs. Listen, this
is the gateway.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
This is the legalized gateway, and the rest follows. Grutam
gives a couple more statistics. He says, of all people
diagnosed as mentally ill, twenty nine percent abuse.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Of alcohol or drugs. Passa.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Shaw doesn't Paul doesn't. Paul tell Timothy to use a
little wine for his stomach. Again, don't forget last week
in sermon that wine was much diluted. You cannot compare
modern day alcoholic beverages to ancient biblical wine. Having said that,
(41:12):
you need to also read the studies that the results
are inconclusive. Why do it because the doctor said, you
know you can do this and help me. Most of
the time what you find out is liver disease, pneumonia,
cancer of the esophagus, internal bleeding.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
And the list goes on.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
My goal here is not to keep you from drinking this.
I could preach a great sermon, go out, get some
good food.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Go home.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
It's because when you see the consequences and you see
the lies, pray for me right now, because every time
we're preaching this, the enemy is being exposed. He does
not like it. You see the impact the whole that
this thing has, and it's destroying lives. We're not even
talking about traffic. So I called my good friend Greg Hughes,
(42:01):
and I said, listen, help me out.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
Because I'm not an expert.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
On law enforcement statistics, I said, can you help me
some He said, oh absolutely. In a few hours he
sent me some Here are the numbers from the North
Carolina DMV war twenty twenty three, and we have law
enforcement here this morning, and they see this on a
regular basis. In twenty twenty three, fatal alcohol related crashes
(42:25):
in just that year, we're three hundred and forty five,
three hundred and forty five. And again, I don't know
individual situations. Maybe kids who will never graduate, maybe young
people who will never finish college, never marry, never do
the things they want to do. Their life was taken
(42:47):
away just in twenty twenty three in North Carolina non
fatal injury crashes five four hundred property damage only crashes,
six thousand total alcohol related crashes, twelve thousand total injuries, eight.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Thousand, four hundred. Sum.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
He sent me some more figures. Here's one coming from
the twenty twenty one MAD MAD is Mother's Against Drink
Drunk Driving Court Monitoring Report. The age is sixty percent
of defendants where ages twenty one.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
To thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Dad, we all awake here this morning, Dad's you can
put this down, your son, your daughter?
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Can't? They keep going? I don't know if anything is
worth losing my son's life or my daughter's life.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
How amazing it is that we justify these things knowing
the risks.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
How interesting.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
According to the report here, seventy three percent of defendants
were male, thirty two percent where men ages twenty one
to thirty nine repeat offenses, seventy eight percent first time
twenty two involved in multiple offenses. Blood alcohol content forty
five percent registered point zero eight, two point one four
(44:26):
forty eight percent registered point fifteen or higher.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
And the numbers keep going.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Here's another one from the National highbad Traffic Safety Administration,
and they found that every day about thirty four people
in the United States die in drunk diving crash driving crashes,
one person every forty two minutes. Means by the time
this sermons over, somebody will die somewhere. In twenty twenty two,
(45:00):
driving debts represented thirty percent of all traffic fatalities. In
twenty twenty three, twelvey four to twenty nine drunk driving
debts are up twenty two percent since twenty nineteen. In
twenty twenty three and estimated three hundred and sixty thousand
people were injured. And here's a very important stat two
(45:24):
out of three people will be impacted by drunk driving
in their lifetime.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
You say that you're just trying to scare us. I
hope so.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
I sure hope so, because if the stats are correct,
some of you may not finish this year. If the
statistics are correct, it tells us that one in ten
drinkers will become alcoholics. Imagine if I were to tell you, hey,
(45:57):
hop in my truck with me. We're gonna run to
a restaurant down the street and pick up some food.
And as you're getting in, I tell you, by the way,
just to let you know, one out of ten times
I drive, we have a fatal crash.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
Just want to let you know that. What would you do?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
At that point, You'd be like, WHOA hold on one second.
He'll get out of my truck and say, why don't
I meet you there? One in ten will become alcoholic
because it is a gateway to alcoholism. I know our
(46:35):
time is so short with fash show. Jesus made water
into wine.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
How in the.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
World can you say that these things are terrible bad?
I get the diluting part, but Jesus turned water into wine.
And I've even heard preachers preach on this man. And
you know, Jesus was a man's man, and he enjoyed life,
and he laughed, and he and he had a great
Have you have you read John chapter two?
Speaker 3 (47:09):
Have you read that? Maybe you need to read it.
I'm gonna read a couple of verses John chapter two,
Verse six.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Now there were there six water pots of stone, according
to the number of Say it loud if you can,
purification of the Jesus did not say when a time
came for him to turn water into wine, he did
not take wine jars. He took six water pots filled
(47:40):
with water for the purification. You know, during the time
of Jesus, many of these traditions were at an all
time high. These rituals were an all time high. And
so Jesus at this wedding celebration, wine runs out, his
mother comes to him, you know, all that that goes on.
But then when he actually decides that he will do
(48:04):
this miracle, he tells them to go ahead and top
it off those six water pots, not wine jars. That's
a lot of water, by the way, turnd fifty gallons
of water turned fifty gallons. To give you an idea,
imagine a fish tank which is six feet long and
two feet wide and.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
Two feet tall.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
It's a lot of water, and then of course he
turns that water into wine. But listen to what Jesus
said in verse seven, filled the water pots with water,
and then he does the miracle, and the master of
the feast comes and says to the bridegroom, every man
(48:51):
at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when
the guests have well drunk, then the inferior you have
kept the That does not mean it is more alcoholic.
It just means this tastes so much better. Typically, you
will give the better one first, and then as their
people are buzzed, because the weddings will last like a
(49:12):
week or so, then he would bring the inferior.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
You are bringing the better one.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
Now did y'all get that you are bringing the better wine? Now,
when you read it in the context, what did John
the Baptist say? He says, something better is coming. I
can't even touch his sandal strap. Something better is coming.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
You've had all these purification customs and laws and traditions.
Something better. And who is the something better? It's Jesus.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
And then it says here in John chapter two and
verse eleven, this beginning of what we all sound like
a bunch of snakes, signs, this beginning of signs. You know,
when our team went for like a couple of days
to the beach, he was a rapid trip to the
beach and rapid back. He saw he saw a sign
(50:12):
to Atlantic Beach, big old sign to Atlantic Beach. Now
what if I had said, hey, guys, fall over, we
are at Atlantic Beach, and I would have told him,
you know, come, let's get out here right at the
exit ramp and let's sit right here.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Guys. Hey boy, don't you enjoy the water? Look at
the water, play with the sand. Well there's no sand here,
just broken glass.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
And and and you know, trash and whatever. No, no, no,
we are at Atlantic Beach. Read the sign to Atlantic Beach.
To Atlantic Beach.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
He said, no, that's just a sign.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
When Jesus turned water into wine, it was a sign,
sign of what, sign of who he was.
Speaker 3 (50:55):
That now he has.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Come, Now the real party can begin. What we've done
is we said, Oh, I love the sign. Though right
here it says Jesus turned water into wine.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
This beginning of science.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
The passage is about Jesus being the good wine who
brings true joy and celebration. Everything prior to him was inferior.
When Jesus comes into your life, then the real wedding
feast begin. He is the bridegroom. How interesting We just
forgot the reason and we stopped at the sign. You know,
(51:41):
there is even a deeper reason. The reason is Christ.
When he comes into your life, he begins to fill
you with true joy and peace. And not only does
(52:03):
Jesus come into your life, but the Holy Spirit also
comes into your life.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Now life is to be lived full of the spirit.
Speaker 2 (52:16):
What does Ephesians say, Do not be drunk with wine,
which is which is debauchery, which is dissipation, but be
filled with the spirit.
Speaker 3 (52:26):
We forgot that.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
We just said, just don't get drunk with wine. How interesting,
isn't it. We just took the first part of it,
and he said, forget the second one. Just don't get drunk.
Jesus said, here's I'm turning. I'm turning water into wine.
Now come to me when you drink upon me. I
am the living water. I am the water of life.
Remember he said that to the Samaritan woman, you come
(52:52):
here to drink, get this water, But the water I
will give you will.
Speaker 3 (52:56):
Burst forth as rivers of living water. Forget about that.
We're just talking about Jesus having a drinking party.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
Carl Jung, if you know anything about analytical philosophy, Carl
Jung was a psychologist, a brilliant man, but he didn't
believe in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 (53:19):
Of course, he.
Speaker 2 (53:22):
Didn't claim to be an atheist, but he was not
really a Christian. There's a story about a man named
Roland h And this appears and pass it On, which
is a publication of Alcoholic Anonymous, and some.
Speaker 3 (53:37):
Of you may have read it.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
But a Roland age came from a very wealthy family,
but he had a drinking problem. And he went to
Jung all the way up in Switzerland and said, can
you please help me? And Jung said, okay, I'll definitely can.
I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to help
you and guide you. And he did that for a
whole year and it seemed like the man was cured,
(53:59):
and so he left. And the moment he left, this
man Roland started drinking again, and so he reached back
to Young and he said, look, I'm drinking again. Can
you help me? And Jung said, look, I really try
to help you the last time. I don't think I
(54:20):
can help you and Jung told him that the only
thing that would help him would be a spiritual awakening.
Keep in mind, Young was not a Christian. Jung did
not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God.
And yet he is telling this man, you need a
spiritual awakening. And Roland replied that he believed in God
(54:43):
and that he just needed, you know, just some help
with his drinking. No, Jung said, you need more than
just some casual belief. Some of you believe in God,
but it's just casual, Jung told him, and I'm paraphrasing,
he said, you need to make a rock solid commitment
(55:04):
in your faith to Christ. In the end, Roland came
to faith in Christ and he was set free, which
means even a non Christian psychologist known.
Speaker 3 (55:17):
For a view which took a very different route.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
If you know anything about his psychosists and all that
believe that you and I are spiritual beings, did.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
You know that's why they call these spirits.
Speaker 2 (55:34):
These things are substitute for what only the Holy Spirit
can do for you and me. As believers, we are
to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. When
you are filled with these things, they only temporarily take
(55:59):
the edge off off, relax you, make you a fun person,
make you someone that people love.
Speaker 3 (56:08):
When He fills you.
Speaker 2 (56:11):
In those moments when the enemy tells you, when you
hear that voice that says you cannot be loved, the
Holy Spirit reminds you nothing can separate you from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
So now when I feel unloved, I just need to
(56:34):
have a little bit of this.
Speaker 3 (56:37):
And I feel good.
Speaker 2 (56:41):
When that voice tells you, and it's a real voice,
a voice says to you, you will never reach your
ideal portrait.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
You have a portrait of life. The Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
Reminds you that he who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
When that voice says your ship has not come in
and will not come in, the Holy Spirit reminds you
that you are already seated in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. When that voice reminds you of all the
(57:16):
bad and painful memories, by the way, those memories come,
and sometimes they come in the middle of the night
and they wake you up. And sometimes people go, I
just need to get just a quick drink, just to
put me to sleep. In those moments, the Holy Spirit
(57:38):
reminds you that you died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. Folks, what you and I are
doing when we turn to these things instead of turning
to the Holy Spirit to fill us. And by the way,
this cup does not leak, but we leak.
Speaker 3 (57:56):
Daily.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
You and I leak and daily we need to be
filled with the Holy Spirit of God, which means every
moment when that voice comes, when that accuser comes to
you and says, this is who you are, pick up
that mirror, pick up that portrait, pick up that album
you are to remind yourself that you are in Christ,
and the Holy Spirit intercedes for you with groanings that
(58:18):
cannot be uttered. You know, I don't know what that
man's problem was. Our hometown are community drunk?
Speaker 3 (58:29):
I don't know. I never talked to him.
Speaker 2 (58:31):
I always, as a little boy, just would go around him,
and every time I saw him he was sober. But
something in his life kept him going back to those
things until his wife, you know, she saw that there
(58:53):
is something real in Christianity and not to look at
her husband. Some of there are people here who have
I've had loved ones in their lives, who claim to
be all Christian and sang and danced in church in
front of everybody, and yet they lived a life that
was in slavery.
Speaker 3 (59:10):
To these things, I do want to tell you.
Speaker 2 (59:11):
That there is there is the real life where people
are truly filled with the Holy Spirit of God, when
they truly have the joy of Jesus Christ. Don't let
one hypocrite keep you from trying the real deal. I
don't know where you are this morning. If you've never
given your heart to Jesus Christ. Don't let one hypocrite,
(59:34):
one father who Sunday morning acted one way and then
Saturday night was something else. Don't let one person, one aunt,
one uncle, want somebody, one deacon, one Sunday school teacher
keep you from having what God has for us, which
is the Holy Spirit of God.
Speaker 3 (59:53):
This morning, we're gonna pray.
Speaker 2 (59:57):
If this is your vice, If this message was hard
to listen to, God can set you free.
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Sometimes that freedom is just like that immediate. Sometimes it's
a program. Sometimes it's a fellowship of believers that helps
you and encourages you to get over this addiction. But
whatever it is, don't walk out the same way you
walked in the Enemy does not have anything good for you.
(01:00:34):
What many of us are doing is I want a
little bit of Jesus and a little bit of the Enemy.
I'm good with that. I need Jesus to get me
into Heaven. I need the Enemy to get me through life.
Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
And he says, here's a can, here's a bottle. Choose Jesus,
Choose the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
You will be like God.
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Human unity.
Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
God was severed and through it all God's promise remain true.
Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Follow me.
Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
And I would make a great This is the Chosen People.
Listen to the Chosen People at the Chosen people dot com.
That's the Chosen People dot com.
Host
Matthew Potter
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