How to Become an Addict | Week 2 | Bad Advice

 Welcome to The Greater Guild Loading Screen podcast, where Pastor Brandon combines faith and geek culture to deliver life-changing messages. In this episode, titled "How to Become an Addict," explore the spiritual truths needed to break free from addiction and embrace the freedom found in Christ. 

Episode Transcript

Greater Guild Announcer (00:03):
Welcome to the Greater Guild Loading
Screen, the podcast where faithmeets geek culture. In today's
episode, Pastor Brandon takes uson an epic journey into the
battle against addiction withhis sermon, How to Become an
Addict, part of the Bad Adviceseries. Together, we'll explore
how to uncover the truth behinddestructive habits and equip

(00:24):
ourselves with God's word tofind true freedom. Whether
you're a gamer, geek, or justseeking hope, this message is
for you. Let's level uptogether.

Pastor Brandon Holm (00:40):
Greetings, adventurers, and welcome to our
next chapter in the bad advicesaga. And today, we're going to
be venturing into the shadowycorridors of human behavior,
guided by the strange yet oddlycompelling voice of bad advice.
Okay. Enough kidding aside, butour mission is to expose these
lies and arm ourselves with thetruth. The title of this

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expedition is going to be how tobecome an addict.
Okay. Now I'm not talking abouta spiritual addict to God. We're
talking about addict in otheraspects. You know? And one thing
that really has the mequestioning a lot of things is,
you know, we don't wake upthinking, oh, today's the day

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I'm going to sabotage my life.
Yeah. That sounds weird, doesn'tit? And no one plans to be
dominated by destructive habits.And yet as the apostle Paul, you
know, he tells us in 1stCorinthians 6 12. All things are
lawful for me, but not allthings are helpful.
All things are lawful for me,but I will not be dominated by

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anything. And that's the key,being mastered. We're uncovering
bad advice on how to let thingsmaster you. And then what we'll
do is we're going to counterthose lies with strategies from
God's word, which happens to bethe far superior Dungeon Master
Guide you could ever have. Nowstep 1 to becoming an addict is

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very simple.
Deny, deny, and deny. Soundslike most politicians now,
doesn't it? And I mean, bothsides of the aisle. I'm not just
saying just one side. But ifanyone suggests you have an
issue, you know, you just brushthem off.
In Jeremiah 313, he tells us,only acknowledge your guilt that
you rebelled against the Lord,your God, and scattered your

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favors among foreigners underevery green tree, and that you
have not obeyed my voicedeclares the Lord. But if you're
following bad advice, you know,that's the last thing you want
to do. Instead, embrace pride.Tell yourself, I can stop at any
time. Even if your past attemptshave failed, cling to the

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illusion of control.
Say things like, big deal oranyone else does it, you know,
so it's fine. Minimize theimpact your actions have on
yourself and those around you.When guilt begins to service,
quickly justify your behavior.I'm under too much stress or I

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deserve this because life ishard. You know, alienate the
voices of love and truth in yourlife.
Avoid friends, family, ormentors who challenge you. Bad
advice thrives in isolationbecause when you're alone, the
lies can echo unchallenged.Without accountability, the
addictive patterns deepen. Sohow do we counter this? Well,

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James 516 reminds us, therefore,confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another thatyou may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous personhas great power as it's working.
True power from admitting youneed help your need for help and
letting the light of God's truthshine into our darkest corners.

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Acknowledge the problem isn't asign of weakness, really it
isn't. It's a declaration of waragainst the very thing you're
trying, you know, that you'retrying not to be enslaved into.
K.
When we confess to God and totrusted individuals, we begin to
dismantle the stronghold andinvite healing into ourselves.

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Next bit of that bad advice inthis whole thing is the flesh
always has an opt you know, anopinion. And bad advice says, if
it feels good, just do it.Galatians 516 does warn us
though. But I say, walk by thespirit and you will not gratify

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the desires of the flesh.
Well, you know what? With badadvice, just ignore that.
Instead, indulge every craving.Hunger, overeat. Anger, lash
out.
Lust, beat it without restraint.And definitely, I did do the
hunger thing. The more youindulge, the deeper the hooks of

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addiction sink in. Give yourfleshly desires free rein and
convincing yourself that theseindulgences are harmless or you
didn't deserve. But temporarysatisfaction dictate your
choices, even as the long termconsequences do multiply.
You need to feed the cycle byrationalizing your actions. Tell

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yourself, it's just this once,or I'll stop tomorrow. Avoid
considering how these habitserode your spiritual health and
enslave your heart. Focus solelyon fleeting pleasure, not the
tames it tightens. So to counterthis, you know, the spirit of
God empowers us to livedifferently.

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As we said in Galatians 524,those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the flesh withits passions and desires.
Crucifying the flesh meanssaying no to its demands and
saying yes to the spiritleading. This is not merely
resisting temptation butactively seeking God's strength
to overcome. Daily reliance onthe spirit transforms your

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desires, aligning them withGod's will and granting true
freedom from the pull of theflesh. Now number 3 in our bad
advice list here is don't tellanyone.
Keep it a secret. In Proverbs2813, it exposes this law.

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Whoever conceals his transtransgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses andforsakes them will obey will
obtain mercy. But here's thething. Bad advice will whisper,
hide it.
No one will understand. You'lllose their respect. This
isolation creates fertile groundfor sin to grow unchecked. When

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struggles remain hidden, theyfester and gain more power over
you. Darkness is the breedingground for shame, guilt, and
fear.
All tools the enemy will use,and I do mean will use to keep
you bound. The lie of secrecyconvinces you that vulnerability
equals weakness. It tells youthat no one can be trusted and

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that you must fight alone. Butisolation is a trap. It cuts you
off from the very relationshipand support systems God has
placed in your life to help youheal.
So how do we counter attackthis? Well, we need to bring it
into the light. And Ephesians51113 urges us, take no part in
the unfruitful works ofdarkness, but instead expose

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them. Or it is shameful even tospeak of the things that they do
in secret. But when anything isexposed by the light, it becomes
visible.
It's almost like, when you shinea light on cockroaches, they
scatter like crazy. Confessionis the antidote to secrecy. When
you open up to true believers,you bring your struggles into

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the light where God's grace canshine. And here's the thing,
many of the people you willconfess to, probably you've gone
down the same road you have, andare there to help you out and
meet you accountable.Vulnerability invites
accountability and fostersgenuine healing.
Remember, sin loses its powerwhen it is exposed. The path to
freedom begins when you chooseto step out of the shadows and

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into God's truth. Now, our 4thbit of bad advice is depend only
on your own strength. You know,it's funny. Sometimes you have
for many, you know, wives outthere, you've probably, you
know, thought about this.
You know, why ask for help whenyou can do it yourself? Any man

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has said that and I'll tell you,I have to. And sometimes, I've
lived to regret it. But in 2ndCorinthians 104, it reminds us
for the weapons of our warfareare not of the flesh, but have
divine power to destroystrongholds. So that advice
says, you've got to do this onyour own.

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This approach thrives on prideand self reliance. Convincing
you that seeking help is a signof weakness. You might tell
yourself, I just try harder. Ican fix this. Oh, man.
The enemy loves to see youbattling in your own limited
strength because it keeps youfrom accessing God's unlimited
power. Self reliance isolatesyou from the community God

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designed to support you. Itbinds you to the resource
resources of prayer scriptexcuse me. It blinds you to the
resources of prayer, scripture,and the Holy Spirit. Instead of
tearing down strongholds, you'llfind yourself worn out and
defeated, caught in an endlesscycle of trying and failing.
So here's what you're gonna do.You're gonna rely on god's

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power. Philippians 413 declares,I can do all things through him
who strengthen me. True freedomcomes when we lean on God's
strength rather than our own.God equips us with spiritual
weapons, prayer, scripture, andthe power of the Holy Spirit
that are far more effective thananything the world offers.

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Surrending surrendering to hisstrength doesn't mean giving up,
not in the least. It meansstepping into a power far
greater than your own. ThroughGod, we can we can accomplish
anything. We can demolishstronghold and experience the
victory that comes from hisgrace. So many people have

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asked, you know, where's where'sthe what's the true root of this
addiction?
And I'm gonna give you just oneword, idolatry. In the same
light that, you know, the, bullin our great exit Exodus story
in the old testament, idolatryis where we find the root of

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addiction. So at its core, it'sbasically placing something else
where God belongs. In Isaiah4414 through 17, it illustrates
this vividly describing acarpenter who uses wood to both
warm himself and create an idol.He cuts down cedars or he

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chooses a cypress tree or an oakand lets it grow strong among
the trees of the forest.
He plants the cedar and the rainnourishes it, then it becomes
fuel for a man. He takes a partof it and warms himself. He
kindles the fire and bakesbread. He also makes a god and
worships it. He makes it an idoland falls down before it.

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Half of it, he burns in thefire. Over the half, he eats me
he eats meat. He roast it andsaddest and is satisfied. Also,
he warms himself and says, I amwarm. I have seen the fire.
And the rest of it, he makesinto a god, his idol, and falls
down to it, and he worships it.He prays to it and says, deliver

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me for you are my God. Thispassage highlights the tragic
irony of idolatry. Somethingcreated by human hands is given
divine step. The addiction maystart small, seemingly useful or
harmless, but it graduallyconsumes more space in your life
until it becomes an object ofworship.

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Addiction replaces reliance onGod with dependence on a
creative thing, whether it's asubstance or a behavior or even
a thought pattern. Addictiondeceives us into thinking it
can't provide what only God can,peace, purpose, identity, and
joy. It whispers that thetemporary relief it brings us

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worth that sacrifice of ourspiritual well-being. Yet, this
relief is a mirage, a fleetingand hollow type of relief. True
freedom comes only when werecognize the utility of idols
and return to worshiping the onetrue god.
So the good news is that God'sgrace is always greater than our

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idols. And Ezekiel 20 excuse me,3626 offers this promise. And I
will give you a new heart and anew spirit I will put within
you, and I will remove the heartof stone from your flesh and
give you a heart of flesh. So nomatter how deep the addiction,

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God's transformative power canbreak its grip and replacing it
with his life giving presence.And freedom starts by
recognizing the giant in yourlife and remember that God is
bigger.
Now David, facing Goliathdeclared in 1st Samuel 1745, you
come to me with a sword and awith and with a spear and with a

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javelin. But I come to you inthe name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel,whom you have defied. So
whatever your whatever theaddiction is that you are facing
is no match to the power of God.So let's go through a few
practical steps to get yougoing. 1st step is just confess

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the problem.
Start by acknowledging your needfor him. The first step requires
humility and courage. Admit toGod and yourself that you are
struggling. Speak the truth outloud even if it feels painful or
crazy. Confession is the gatewayto heal.
It starts breaking the power ofdenial and opens the door for

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God's grace to work in yourlife. 2nd is, you need to seek
accountability. You know,surround yourself with trusted
believers who will pray for andsupport you. Accountability
isn't just about being watched.Okay?
It's about being encouraged.Yes. Your accountability partner
or partners are going to watchyou, but they're not going to

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just, you know, denounce you.They're gonna encourage you to
do better. So you screwed up.
What can we do to help you tonot screw up again? You need to
share your struggles with asmall group, a mentor, or even
close friends who will walk withyou through your journey. Let
their prayers and wisdomstrengthen you when you feel

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weak. And 3rd, immerse yourselfin God's word. Use scripture as
your weapon against lies.
The Bible is filled withpromises and truths that counter
the deceptions of addiction.Meditate on verses like John
832, and you will know thetruth, and the truth will set
you free. Like, doesn't the CIAhave that on a wall? But this is

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a biblical passage about it did,you know, about knowing the
truth about God. So let God'sword renew your mind and
transform your heart, providingstrength and guidance daily.
And finally, depend on God'spower. You pray daily for
strength and rely on his spiritto guide you. Remember, victory

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over addiction is not achievedthrough willpower, but through
God's power. Invite the HolySpirit to lead you moment by
moment. Lean into prayer, askingGod to fill the void that
addiction once occupied with hispresence and peace.
And as we close here, rememberthe promise of Galatians 5:1,

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for freedom, Christ has set usfree. Stand firm therefore, and
do not submit again to a yoke ofslavery. This is your moment. To
take hold of the freedom Christoffers. The chains of addiction,
no matter how heavy and longstanding, are no match for the
power of God.

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Picture those chains breaking asyou place your trust in him.
Reflect on David's courage as hefaced Goliath. The giant seemed
invincible, but David knew hisGod was greater. Whatever giant
you face today, whether it'saddiction, fear, or guilt, know
that God stands ready to fightfor you. Take a step of faith,

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trusting in his strength andwatch him work.
The road to freedom may notalways be easy and not always
is, but it is so worth it. Witheach step, God will walk with
you, guiding and empowering youto live the abundant life he
promises. Let today be the dayyou declare victory over the

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giants in your life, steppinginto the freedom Christ has
already won for you.

Greater Guild Announcer (17:43):
Thank you for joining us on the
Greater Guild loading screen. Wehope today's message, how to
become an addict, from pastorBrandon's bad advice series, has
inspired you to take stepstowards spiritual freedom.
Remember, no addiction isgreater than the power of God.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, share it with

(18:03):
your friends, and leave us areview. Let's continue to build
a community where geeks, gamers,and seekers find faith and hope
together.
Until next time, stay strong,stay inspired, and remember,
freedom is yours in Christ.