Paths To Addiction Part 2

Looking to Jesus and addictive behavior. It always starts with small steps lead to bigger storms. If you find yourself into substances or destructive habits stay with us because today you will hear about the steps you can take to break free from addiction. Your life back on track from the Moody Church in Chicago.

This is going to serve teaching helps us make it across. Estimates are getting addicted takes time is breaking free.

Something that also requires a long time to achieve the answers yes sometimes there are people who are almost instantly delivered.

You know, there are those who been alcoholics and once they're saved, they take the alcohol and they pour it into this thinking is the end of their problem, but many other people struggle and so what we need to do is to come alongside of people and help them in their journey. You know I believe that this message is so important and there are many of you were listening right now who want to get on your phone and call some of your friends and invite them to listen to running to win because of these very important messages and you know what I would like to do is also suggested you might want to get these messages so that you can listen to them again and again for a gift of any amount they can be yours. Here is what you do go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 now I'm going to be giving you that contact information after this message. For now I want you to listen carefully, because what we're doing in this message were taking human experience in all of its depravity, so to speak, but we are applying God's holy word. Listen carefully you know there are people who actually have learned that it's possible to help someone to reach the bottom more quickly with family members gathering around and simply simply telling that person what his lifestyle is doing to each of them so that reality somehow sinks in your sale what about Alcoholics Anonymous gamblers anonymous sex addicts anonymous all of those different groups I want you to know today that if you're attending one of them and you're finding it helpful. I encourage you to continue.

I would not be critical of those groups. In that sense, Alcoholics Anonymous is helped hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people we can be grateful.

But I do want to tell you this this summer I was in whiting New Jersey where there is the house of mercy over 100 years old committed to helping addicts. They have primarily alcohol addicts and and drug addicts and they put them through a program that lasts about five or six months and then they have a graduation ceremony and then they follow up on these and and they're receiving a trim in this amount of percentage a great percentage of permanent permanent deliverance.

I said to Bill as the Bible based program where the men have Bible studies. They prayed together they call on God, they're required to read the Scriptures to memorize the Scriptures. I said to Bill, what's the difference between your group and these other groups out there. A civil first of all, we receive many from these other groups.

And that's not a criticism of them. It's just simply a reality, because all have their failures, including even the house of mercy.

But then he said this after doing this for years and years and years having hundreds of graduates, hundreds of graduates throughout the country permanently delivered.

He said the difference is that when you are in a program that only believes in God is a higher power. Your desires do not change when people come to Christ and are converted their actual desire for that substance. Whatever it is, eventually leads them. I thought to myself.

Of course that's right. That's biblical a new heart, I will give you. I will take out the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh says the Scripture. He that is in Christ, if any man be in Christ. He's a new creation.

There is something within us. If you're a born again Christian and I hope you are in the you may not be the end of so I want you to know that you can come to Christ, so that you are born again Christian, there is a part of you that hate sin. There is a part of you that loves righteousness. There's a part of you that wants to please God. I seen this over and over again people falling into sin, but their genuine Christians when they repent that first thing they say is all God, you know how much I love you and I'm sorry that I highly offended you and that I grieved you and that's the first thing they think of that's Christian because the desires change now as I was thinking about this message. It was difficult to to make because I thought of so many passages right now but I wanted to get the congregation, so I outlined one set of passages. Nice that all use those and I said now here's another set of passages and use these and I said there's another set of passages out here and those so, aren't you glad not to use the mall today, but I do want to tell you this. I'm going to give you some principles and we will turn to some passages but at the end of the day. I want to exalt Jesus as the deliver the very time that he came. It says he has come to save his people from their sins. I talk to those of you today who are in despair.

You've tried a thousand times would you listen carefully couple of principles with some Scripture. First of all, everything that God expects us to do everything that God expects us to do is based on what he has already done. It's based on what he is already done. Does he want us to crush Satan who is a part of our battle yes has he crush Satan. Yes, he disarmed old principalities, and all powers and made a show of them openly.

Does he want us to be able to say no to sin. Yes, he put us into Jesus Christ. It says later in the book of Romans that we are one with him united with him and therefore we can be free. It's this it's this awesome work that Jesus did for us, that becomes the basis of all deliverance from sin and I'm not just talking about attic talking about all of us in our struggles with sin you take for example it says this in the book of Corinthians.

It talks about those who were caught in various sins it speaks about the sex offenders, the immoral, the idolaters, the thieves, the greedy, the drunkards and then Paul says, and that is what some of you were but you were washed, you were sanctified, you've been justified in the name of Jesus. What a marvelous passage. That's one of the ones I wanted to camp on for about 15 minutes, but we don't have the time and it's not necessary because the essence of it is clear that Jesus came in.

He washed them and he he sanctified them. He set them apart and he he justified the notice that what happened in their lives was based on what Jesus did nearly 20 years ago in the lobby of this church. And isn't it amazing that I can talk like that.

Nearly 20 years ago and here I'm so young. I met a woman who said on living with a man, and she said I know it's wrong were not married, and she says that I just need to break up this relationship and I said will just move out. She said it's not that simple.

I own the apartment and I civil asking to leave he walked. I said go to the police get an order that he has to vacate the premises because these premises belong to you. She did that and later on she said that when she presented him with this piece of paper. Whatever it was, he packed up and left. Now I have a question for you.

How does a 125 pound woman get a 200 pound man to leave an apartment. She doesn't do it by power. She does it by authority, how to speak to those of you today who say I have no power to speak to women who have told me that they have no ability to say no to sexual solicitations that they were brought up in such an atmosphere maybe because of molestation or whatever, that they want to say yes to every man, no matter what. He asks them to do and they lack willpower to say to you today dear people who are listening, there is such a thing as exercising authority as a believer you do not have to say yes because Jesus died to set you free. He crush the enemy and he broke the power of sin, except that and live by it. First of all, everything God expects us to do is based on what he's done. Secondly, the transformation occurs when our passion for Christ is greater than our passion for sin, our love for Christ is greater then our love of sin now to talk to you very candidly, I think I've been doing. I'm going to continue.

Here's why I think many people are never delivered from their addictions. They come to God and they still got I got this problem with alcoholism. Deliver me deliberately deliver me and God isn't up in heaven getting out little packages of victory over your an alcoholic. There's a little bit of victory in this package only got a problem with gambling. There's a little bit of this and you have a problem with pornography.

Here's a little bit of the reason I'm giving up what God wants to do is to see that our problem is even deeper. Our fundamental problem is that we are not wildly in love with Jesus and therefore he wants to deliver us, but she wants us to make a commitment in all areas of our life to make Christ the Lord of our lives no matter what the cost in every area. Not just because we want to victory in this little area important though it is and it's fine to call upon him on that.

But needless to do something more coal. I had two briefcases. When I bring to the church every day and then there's one that I just used for traveling because there are some things that I like to just keep in it and I always know that they're there for. So this one is the traveling case.

This one is the one that I you so was on a plane this past summer actually was in the spring and I was served a sandwich, but I wasn't hungry and yet I hate to throw food away.

I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm always told that there are a billion people in some big country that would give anything for this sandwich but I didn't want to throw it away so I think I'll put it in my briefcase couple of weeks later, I noticed I noticed that in in a part of my study at home. There was this smell now it wasn't overpowering because the sandwich was wrapped it wasn't overpowering but it was kind of a dead smell. Well, about a month later I was going somewhere so I reached in and here was this soggy mess that had turned white and I took it and threw it away and knew the source of the stanch. Sometimes we have things like that in our lives, hidden sins that we've talked away that we've said nobody's gonna know about the problem is you can't just come away because the stanch permeates everything you do. It affects your marriage. It affects your vocation. It affects the way in which you see life.

It affects your ability to minister at church. It affects the way in which you see other believers. It's amazing how one little package of sin do so much damage and then we come before the Lord was his Lord. This stanch is unbelievable. Please send me some perfume that I might be able to manage it. Got since I wanted to be perfume to manage it. Want you to deal with it. I want you to deal with it and I want to tell you something my dear friend. We exist as a church to help you deal with it.

We really do. And there's nothing that has to be shameful about the fact that you got things you have to deal with, you know, when I was out in the farm many many many years ago we once had a horse that got stuck in a slew. He went into a Soluna. Some of you maybe don't even notice Liz city Heights but it's this messy body of water and mud.

We had to take a tractor put a rope around this horse to help him out and notice this carefully. He got into the slew alone, but he couldn't get out of it along and there are many of you who have gotten into things alone but you can't get out of it alone and that's okay. That's why we exist is to come alongside of you to say were to pray and fast to seek God until he brings deliverance to your life and we learn all the lessons in between. In the deliverance process so that's what we want to do to see God set us free, and to give us a new you know what God sometimes does to get her attention. He's turns up the stanch of our sin until it becomes on parable and we say I can't take it anymore and because I Now God do anything, everything, regardless of the cost set free from bearable. We try to put up with a number three. The path to freedom.

Therefore, is to pursue the Christian graces, and we shall turn very briefly to the book of James. This was one of the passages I wanted to use and then change my mind but decided in the end I would use it James for very quickly. If you have a pen or pencil and you're in the habit of underlining your Bible just want you to grasp some words here that are going to give us the direction that we need first of all, he says why are these fights and quarrels among you, your desires that battle within you. James talks about her desires as he denies from what we get hedonism. While these desires. These hedonistic desires you want something but you don't get it. You kill and covet, you can't have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. And when you ask, you do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives. Number one is prayer with a pure motive and what is a pure motive pure motive is Jesus glorify your name in my life, no matter the cost, not just deliver me from one sin, but do a cleansing, it may help me to make you Lord of my life over everything. Point out everything everything I'm going for broke. So the first is prayer. The second is humble yourself. It says in verse six but he gives more grace. That's why the Scripture says God opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble. You realize why that is the case every one of the sins that we listed the addictions you remember from the book of Romans. Every one has self in the center instead of God, and God sometimes humbles us we can humble ourselves. I was called to preach one time and before I stood on the platform. I had the sense of pride thinking you know just to think that I'm the one who speaks and just like that the spirit of God said that sin deal with it and right there silently.

I dealt with it and said God I humble myself in your presence and I can ask as sin. Those feelings of pride. You see, we need to deal with that and the pride that keeps me hidden and keeps my sin hidden. Then of course there submitting very quickly.

Verse seven submit yourselves then to God and here we do that through submission. We've talked about that then it talks about purifying yourself.

Wash your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, what's in my heart. It is displeasing to God show it to me all the areas not just my sin.

One sin that I'm concerned about and then it talks about grieving and morning. This is repentance.

Sometimes people say when a man falls into a particular sin, man or woman and they redo it they said we you know I thought that he repented. I guess he wasn't sincere when he repented of course he was sincere. She was sincere. I've been people of repented with tears in their eyes and their tears run down their cheeks, you can't manufacture tears. Can you think so I think they were sincere, but they miss understood repentance. Repentance isn't something that I do it a point in time because of what I've done.

Repentance is a lifestyle. Repentance is me confessing my sins yesterday as I ask God to search my heart repentance is asking God to search my heart this morning as I did. Repentance is continual submission to the will and purposes of got it doesn't matter what you did five years ago 10 years ago. But my question is did you repent yesterday. Did you repent this morning through submission to God.

That's the issue. I don't know why God delivers some people from addictions instantly and others have a tremendous struggle but I do know that the struggle often teaches them things about themselves and God. The joy of the Lord that maybe they could learn another way. Remember what I said at the beginning of this message. When these sins call. They have a voice and if you're bound to them.

You must answer but it came to saving faith in Christ and God delivered him and he worked at a rescue mission, helping hundreds of others through the process of deliverance.

I like the hymns of Charles Wesley. All of us to one of the hymns has this stanza, think, think of how wise Wesley was to write this. He breaks the power of canceled sin there.

Some of you who are listening here today. Your sin is canceled because you been to the foot of the cross you confessed it, but that's power is not broken this week you will commit it again if God doesn't intervene because he breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free his blood can make the vilest clean. His blood available for me.

We all know the blinding absorption of sin, but he breaks its power. Don't give up.

Don't give up theirs yielded nesters fighting there spraying varies believers helping you because we seek the deliverance that is promised will you join me as we pray and father we ask in the name of Jesus, the strong and powerful name of Jesus that you might reach down into hearts that have been so so hurt hearts there so empty hearts that are so defeated.

We pray that you will generate faith in those hearts we pray today that your people your people that are called by your name would walk in victory over the sins that got so easily beset us for I close this prayer of God has talk to you. I'd like to include you in this prayer you say pastor Luther, please in the closing moments.

I want you to know that I need help I want you to pray, would you raise your hand wherever you are across the audience are many who are raising their hands more numerous than I can count. Maybe also here in the front and back in the balcony. Some of you over there difficult for us to see that those of you in the balcony is God talk to you some of you, thank you for those hands. Father we ask in Jesus name that every raised hand and they receive your hand sent down from heaven, that there may be deliverance and freedom from those sins, oh father, help us to be able to pray and come alongside of them to to intercede for them to fast for that we might see your glorious deliverance Jesus name, amen. You know my friend is a pastor, I want to emphasize that the battle oftentimes is very fierce and if you lose. Don't give up what we need to do is to continue to pursue God and also I want to emphasize at the end of the message.

I pointed out that other believers oftentimes play a very vital role in our deliverance honesty with one another small groups.

Many churches think about these things and they make available to people help in the midst of addictions and brokenness.

We here at the ministry of running to win are so thankful that God has given us the opportunity to preach messages like this in more than 20 different countries we are in Arabic.

All throughout the Middle East. Also in the Spanish over 100 stations in Central and South America. How is this possible.

It's because of people like you people who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. We call them endurance partners. Now many of you already contribute to this ministry and I encourage you also to sign up as an endurance partner so that your gifts can be sent regularly. Here's what you do you go to RTW offer.com. While you're there, click on the endurance partner, but that's RTW offer.com or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337 let me thank you in advance for helping us as I sit behind this microphone I visualize in my mind. Thousands of our partners up lifting us with prayers and gifts together. We are helping people make it all the way to the finish line. RTW offer.com. Click on the endurance partner, but, or if you prefer. 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your recent life. Some people seek to control the lives of those around them. Such behavior is disruptive, ruining the race of life for the rest as well as the oppressor. Next time I'm going to win, we turn the light of Scripture on the lives of so-called control freaks by examining the life of King Saul of Israel, this is Dave McAllister going to win is sponsored by the Moody Church