I want to talk to you about something that might be hitting close to home: the struggle with alcohol. It can lead us down some pretty rough paths, hurting ourselves and those around us. It's important to really think about the ripple effect our choices have, you know? We have to own our actions.
If you're finding yourself in situations where alcohol is taking control, please know there's support out there. Don't hesitate to reach out and get the help you need to stay safe and healthy.
From my perspective, alcoholism, like any addiction, is a form of idolatry. Anything we turn to instead of God to fill that deep need in our hearts becomes an idol, and ultimately, a spiritual chain.
I want to share something that can truly set you free from this struggle. It's the power of Christ's blood. I believe it's strong enough to cleanse you, detoxify you, and make you a new person. There's real freedom waiting for you.
nor covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor abusive people, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And do not get drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Awake, you drunkards, from your wine, and weep: mourn, all you that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy and gladness are removed from your mouth.
for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor, and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
Be sober, be watchful; your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking someone he may devour.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,nor covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor abusive people, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor to do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or becomes weak.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.
Let them grope in darkness, and let there be no light, and let them wander as a drunken man.
Wine is a mocker, and strong drink full of violence; but every fool is entangled with them.
And the servant of Eli said to her, How long will you be drunken? Put away your wine from you, and go out from the presence of the Lord.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are: adultery, fornication, immorality, lewdness,idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions,envies, murders, drinking bouts, revelries, and the like; which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Woe to them that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till evening; for the wine shall inflame them.For they drink wine with harp, and psaltery, and drums, and pipes; but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of His hands.
Be not a winebibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh;for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor, and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
Who has woe? Who has trouble? Who has quarrels? And who complains and disputes? Who has bruises without a cause? Whose eyes are livid?Are not those of them that stay long at wine? Are not those of them that haunt the places where banquets are? Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, and converse with them openly.For if you should set your eyes on bowls and cups, you shall afterwards go more naked than a pestle.But at last such a one stretches himself out as one smitten by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.Whenever your eyes shall behold a strange woman, then your mouth shall speak perverse things.And you shall lie as in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm.And you shall say, They struck me, and I was not pained; and they mocked me, and I knew it not: when will it be morning, that I may go and seek those with whom I may go in company?
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime to accomplish the will of the Gentiles--having walked in wantonness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not being given to much wine, not greedy for money,
Princes are prone to anger: let them then not drink wine:lest they drink, and forget wisdom, and not be able to judge the poor rightly.
For there is a cup in the hand of the Lord, full of unmingled wine; and He has turned it from side to side, but its dregs have not been wholly poured out; all the sinners of the earth shall drink them.
"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and worries of life, and that Day come upon you unexpectedly.
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelries and drinking bouts, not in orgies and debaucheries, not in strife and jealousy.But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
But now I write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, who is a fornicator, or covetous person, or an idolater, or abusive person, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a person.
Give strong drink to those that are in sorrow, and the wine to drink to those in pain,that they may forget their poverty, and may not remember their troubles anymore.
envies, murders, drinking bouts, revelries, and the like; which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those getting drunk, are drunk at night.
Blessed are you, O land, whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes shall eat seasonably, for strength, and shall not be ashamed.
You have prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; and Your cup cheers me like the best wine.
"and should begin to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,the master of that servant will come on a day which he does not expect, and at an hour which he does not know, and he will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
For when you eat, each one takes first his own supper, and one goes hungry and another is drunk!
And I examined whether my heart would excite my flesh as with wine, (though my heart guided me in wisdom,) and I desired to lay hold of mirth, until I should see of what kind is the good to the sons of men, which they should do under the sun all the days of their life.
Beloved, I implore you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from the lusts of the flesh which war against the soul;
Woe to the crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without wine.Behold, the anger of the Lord is strong and severe, as descending hail where there is no shelter, violently descending; as a great body of water sweeping away the soil, He shall make rest for the land.The crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, shall be beaten down with the hands and with the feet.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.
They were scattered at the anger of His countenance, and his heart drew near to them. His words were smoother than oil, yet they are darts.
And do not fashion yourselves after this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and well pleasing and perfect will of God.
No longer drink water only, but use a little wine on account of your stomach, and your frequent illnesses.
Do you not know that those running in a stadium all run, but one receives the prize? So run, in order that you may win.And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things. Now they compete in order that they may receive a perishable crown, but we compete for an imperishable crown.Therefore I run thus: not as without a goal, thus I box: not as one beating the air.But I treat my body roughly, and I bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
For he shall be great before the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, while still in his mother's womb.
A wise man is better than a strong man, and a man who has prudence than a large estate.
Also, every man who shall eat and drink, and see good in all his labor, this is a gift of God.
Therefore put to death your members on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
Brothers, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness, looking out for yourself lest you also be tempted.
A man slow to anger is better than a strong man, and he that governs his temper better than he that takes a city.
Incline not my heart to evil things, to employ pretexts for sins, with men who work iniquity: and let me not unite with their choice ones.
But I say to you, that I will by no means drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
Therefore, brothers, I exhort you through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your intelligent service.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
The vows of Your praise, O God, which I will pay, are upon me.For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from sliding, that I should be well-pleasing before God in the land of the living.
"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' And so wisdom is justified by her children."
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
If you sit to eat at the table of a prince, consider attentively the things set before you;and apply your hand, knowing that it behooves you to prepare such meats; but if you are very insatiable,desire not his provisions; for these belong to a false life.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these things oppose each other, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
But he who doubts, if he eats, has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and everything which is not of faith is sin.
Yet I certainly did not mean with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world!
When a man loves wisdom, his father rejoices, but he that keeps harlots will waste wealth.
We then who are strong are obligated to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; bloody and crafty men shall not live out half their days; but I will hope in You, O Lord.
Having found honey, eat only what is enough, lest haply you be filled, and vomit it up.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are: adultery, fornication, immorality, lewdness,
He that stops his ears from hearing the poor, himself also shall cry, and there shall be none to hear him.
as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves after the former lusts, as you did in your ignorance;
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
For these have trespassed through wine; they have erred through strong drink; the priest and the prophet are mad through strong drink, they are swallowed up by reason of wine, they have staggered through drunkenness; they have erred; this is their vision.
But I treat my body roughly, and I bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Yea, he put on cursing as a garment, and it has come as water into his bowels, and as oil into his bones.
They are ashamed, they have not drunk wine; strong drink has become bitter to them that drink it.
Hear, my son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of your heart.Be not a winebibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh;for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor, and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.
Let them be confounded and ashamed together that rejoice at my afflictions; let them be clothed with shame and confusion that speak great swelling words against me.
So the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and as a mighty man who has been heated with wine.
And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid away for many years; relax; eat, drink, and be merry." '