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 the effeminate, nor males who sleep with males, nor thieves, nor the avaricious, nor the inebriated, nor slanderers, nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God.
And do not choose to be inebriated by wine, for this is self-indulgence. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
Rouse yourselves, you drunkards, and weep and wail, all you who delight in drinking wine; for it has been cut off from your mouth.
For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
Be sober and vigilant. For your adversary, the devil, is like a roaring lion, traveling around and seeking those whom he might devour.
It is good to refrain from eating meat and from drinking wine, and from anything by which your brother is offended, or led astray, or weakened.
If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.
Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
They will grope as in the darkness, not the light, and he will make them stagger like drunkards.
Not to kings, O Lamuel, not to kings give wine. For there are no secrets where drunkenness reigns.
It is a luxurious thing, wine, and inebriation is tumultuous. Anyone who is delighted by this will not be wise.
and so he said to her: "How long will you be inebriated? You should take only a little wine, but instead you are drenched."
Now the works of the flesh are manifest; they are: fornication, lust, homosexuality, self-indulgence,Behold, I, Paul, say to you, that if you have been circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.the serving of idols, drug use, hostility, contentiousness, jealousy, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, divisions,envy, murder, inebriation, carousing, and similar things. About these things, I continue to preach to you, as I have preached to you: that those who act in this way shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
Woe to you who rise up in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and to drink even until evening, so as to be inflamed with wine.Harp and lyre and timbrel and pipe, as well as wine, are at your feasts. But you do not respect the work of the Lord, nor do you consider the works of his hands.
Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.And you will say: "They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?"
For the time that has passed is sufficient to have fulfilled the will of the Gentiles, those who have walked in luxuries, lusts, intoxication, feasting, drinking, and the illicit worship of idols.
Similarly, deacons must be chaste, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not pursuing tainted profit,
Not to kings, O Lamuel, not to kings give wine. For there are no secrets where drunkenness reigns.And perhaps they may drink and forget judgments, and alter the case of the sons of the poor.
But be attentive to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts may be weighed down by self-indulgence and inebriation and the cares of this life. And then that day may overwhelm you suddenly.
Let us walk honestly, as in the daylight, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and sexual immorality, not in contention and envy.Instead, be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its desires.
But now I have written to you: do not associate with anyone who is called a brother and yet is a fornicator, or greedy, or a servant of idolatry, or a slanderer, or inebriated, or a robber. With such a one as this, do not even take food.
Give strong drink to the grieving, and wine to those who are bitter in soul.Let them drink, and forget their needs, and remember their sorrow no more.
envy, murder, inebriation, carousing, and similar things. About these things, I continue to preach to you, as I have preached to you: that those who act in this way shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are inebriated, are inebriated in the night.
Blessed is the land whose king is noble, and whose princes eat at the proper time, for refreshment and not for self-indulgence.
and so, he begins to strike his fellow servants, and he eats and drinks with the inebriated:
But if that servant will have said in his heart, 'My Lord has made a delay in his return,' and if he has begun to strike the men and women servants, and to eat and drink, and to be inebriated,then the Lord of that servant will return on a day which he hoped not, and at an hour which he knew not. And he will separate him, and he will place his portion with that of the unfaithful.
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but rather justice and peace and joy, in the Holy Spirit.
For each one first takes his own supper to eat. And as a result, one person is hungry, while another is inebriated.
The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
I decided in my heart to withdraw my flesh from wine, so that I might bring my mind to wisdom, and turn away from foolishness, until I see what is useful for the sons of men, and what they ought to do under the sun, during the number of the days of their life.
Most beloved, I beg you, as new arrivals and sojourners, to abstain from carnal desires, which battle against the soul.
Woe to the crown of arrogance, to the inebriated of Ephraim, and to the falling flower, the glory of his exultation, to those who were at the top of the very fat valley, staggering from wine.So then: command, and command again; command, and command again; expect, and expect again; a little here, and a little there.For with the speech of lips and with a different language, he will speak to this people.He said to them: "This is my rest. Refresh the weary," and, "This is my refreshment." And yet they were unwilling to listen.And so, the word of the Lord to them will be: "Command, and command again; command, and command again; expect, and expect again; a little here, and a little there," so that they may go forward and fall backward, and so that they may be broken and ensnared and captured.Because of this, listen to the word of the Lord, you mocking men, who lord it over my people who are at Jerusalem.For you have said: "We struck a deal with death, and we formed a pact with Hell. When the inundating scourge passes through, it will not overwhelm us. For we have placed our hope in lies, and we are protected by what is false."For this reason, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will set a stone within the foundations of Zion, a tested stone, a cornerstone, a precious stone, which has been established in the foundation: whoever trusts in him need not hurry.And I will establish judgment in weights, and justice in measures. And a hailstorm will overturn hope in what is false; and waters will inundate its protection.And your deal with death will be abolished, and your pact with Hell will not stand. When the inundating scourge passes through, you will be trampled down by it.Whenever it passes through, it will take you away. For, at first light of morning, it will pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone will make you understand what you hear.Behold, the Lord is powerful and steadfast, like a storm of hail, like a crushing whirlwind, like the force of many waters, inundating, sent forth over a spacious land.For the bed has been narrowed, so much so that one alone would fall out, and the short blanket is not able to cover two.For the Lord will stand, just as at the mountain of divisions. He will be angry, just as in the valley which is in Gibeon, so that he may accomplish his work, his strange work, so that he may complete his work, his work which is foreign even to him.And now, do not be willing to mock, lest your chains be tightened. For I have heard, from the Lord, the God of hosts, about the consummation and the abridgement concerning the entire earth.Pay close attention, and listen to my voice! Attend and hear my eloquence!Would the plowman, after plowing all day so that he may sow, instead cut open and hoe his soil?Will he not, when he has made the surface level, sow coriander, and scatter cumin, and plant wheat in rows, and barley, and millet, and vetch in their places?For he will be instructed in judgment; his God will teach him.For coriander cannot be threshed with a saw, and a cartwheel cannot revolve over cumin. Instead, coriander is shaken out with a stick, and cumin with a staff.But grain for bread must be crushed. Truly, the thresher cannot thresh it unceasingly, and the cartwheel can neither disrupt it, nor break it with its surface.And this has gone forth from the Lord, the God of hosts, so that he may accomplish his miraculous plan and magnify justice.The arrogant crown of the inebriated of Ephraim will be trampled under foot.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you may do, do everything for the glory of God.
Whoever keeps the law is a wise son. But whoever feeds gluttons brings shame to his father.
And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.
Do not continue to drink only water, but make use of a little wine, for the sake of your stomach and your frequent infirmities.
Whoever loves a feast will be in deprivation. Whoever loves wine and fatness will not be enriched.
Do you not know that, of those who run in a race, all of them, certainly, are runners, but only one achieves the prize. Similarly, you must run, so that you may achieve.And one who competes in a contest abstains from all things. And they do this, of course, so that they may achieve a corruptible crown. But we do this, so that we may achieve what is incorruptible.And so I run, but not with uncertainty. And so I fight, but not by flailing in the air.Instead, I chastise my body, so as to redirect it into servitude. Otherwise, I might preach to others, but become myself an outcast.
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
For this is a gift from God: when each man eats and drinks, and sees the good results of his labor.
Therefore, mortify your body, while it is upon the earth. For because of fornication, impurity, lust, evil desires, and avarice, which are a kind of service to idols,
The way of the foolish is right in his own eyes. But whoever is wise listens to counsels.
And, brothers, if a man has been overtaken by any offense, you who are spiritual should instruct someone like this with a spirit of leniency, considering that you yourselves might also be tempted.
Son, do not cease listening to doctrine, and do not be ignorant of the sermons of knowledge.
A patient man is better than a strong one. And whoever rules his soul is better than one who assaults cities.
Though my spirit may become faint within me, even then, you have known my paths. Along this way, which I have been walking, they have hidden a snare for me.
But I say to you, I will not drink again from this fruit of the vine, until that day when I will drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father."
Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is the supporter of my head. Judah is my king.
And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind.
Do you not know that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives within you?
The innocent trust every word. The astute one considers his own steps. Nothing good will be for the deceitful son. But the wise servant shall act prosperously and his way will be set in order.
The Son of man came eating and drinking; and they say, 'Behold, a man who eats voraciously and who drinks wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is justified by her sons."
The Son of man came, eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a voracious man and a drinker of wine, a friend of tax collectors and of sinners.'
When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And since these are against one another, you may not do whatever you want.
"Come, let us take wine, and be filled by inebriation. And as it is today, so shall it be tomorrow and for a long time."
But he who discerns, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not of faith. For all that is not of faith is sin.
certainly not with the fornicators of this world, nor with the greedy, nor with robbers, nor with the servants of idolatry. Otherwise, you ought to depart from this world.
The man who loves wisdom rejoices his father. But whoever nurtures promiscuous women will lose his substance.
But we who are stronger must bear with the feebleness of the weak, and not so as to please ourselves.And again, he says: "Rejoice, O Gentiles, along with his people."And again: "All Gentiles, praise the Lord; and all peoples, magnify him."And again, Isaiah says: "There shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, and in him the Gentiles shall hope."So may the God of hope fill you with every joy and with peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope and in the virtue of the Holy Spirit.But I am also certain about you, my brothers, that you also have been filled with love, completed with all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish one another.But I have written to you, brothers, more boldly than to the others, as if calling you to mind again, because of the grace which has been given to me from God,so that I may be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, sanctifying the Gospel of God, in order that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and may be sanctified in the Holy Spirit.Therefore, I have glory in Christ Jesus before God.So I dare not speak of any of those things which Christ does not effect through me, unto the obedience of the Gentiles, in word and deed,with the power of signs and wonders, by power of the Holy Spirit. For in this way, from Jerusalem, throughout its surroundings, as far as Illyricum, I have replenished the Gospel of Christ.Each one of you should please his neighbor unto good, for edification.
You have discovered honey; eat what is sufficient for you, lest perhaps, being filled up, you may vomit it.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest; they are: fornication, lust, homosexuality, self-indulgence,
Whoever blocks his ears to the outcry of the poor shall also cry out himself, and he will not be heeded.
Yet truly, these also have been ignorant due to wine, and they have gone astray due to inebriation. The priest and the prophet have been ignorant because of inebriation. They have been absorbed by wine. They have staggered in drunkenness. They have not known the One who sees. They have been ignorant of judgment.
Instead, I chastise my body, so as to redirect it into servitude. Otherwise, I might preach to others, but become myself an outcast.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods, stored up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be cheerful.'