Addictions and Authorities Part I

Additions and Authorities Part I

Synopsis of Bible Study 11/10/11

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Classes of Additions

1. Chemical
2. Process (behavioral)

Addiction is a pleasure based behavior that is out of control and causes harm to you

What does addiction do?

1. Excitement and stimulation
2. Brings about tension reduction and comfort- In other words we feel it takes the edge off for us
3. It is about control. Satan wants you to lose control. – When you are not in control, something else will be in control (of you).

What are the side effects of addiction?

Psychological cycle of addition

1. There is something that we desire that we know we shouldn’t. Think about a thing you have a desire for that you know you should not? Now that thing that you named needs a stimulus. It is there (inside of you), but it takes something to stimulate it (or open it up).
2. There is a pleasure that desires stimulus.
3. Once stimulus takes place, sadness kicks in. The sad thing is we start making preparations on how we can do it again. This creates temporary relief. This will weaken our will to resist it. To top it off, we have thoughts of doing it again. – This is how addition works. It is not in a bottle or a joint. In fact, it could be sitting on your pew, on your job, or in your phone right now!

People who study addiction say its causes are:

1. Genetic
2. Personality
3. Parental teaching and example- This refers to what people taught you as you grew up. Ex- Instead of asking our little sons if they have a girlfriend, we ask them how many girlfriends  they have.
4. Social Pressure
5. Pain
6. Spiritual poverty

Eph 5:18- The bible says don’t say we that we can’t drink wine, but it does say don’t let it control your mind. Why is this? It is because anything that controls your mind convinces you that it is greater than the God in you.

Paul says some things such as what is found in 1 Cor 6:12- Paul is saying that most everything is permissible, but not beneficial.

There is this sense. We have to know ourselves. There is not anything in the bible that says you can’t drink wine. Some things are permissible, but not beneficial. Ex- Bishop Walker explains that he recognized early on in life that he had an addictive personality. Therefore, he reframed from involving himself in alcohol or drugs. You got to know yourself and refuse to open your spirit to that which could be addictive.

How do we get to this?

1. Faith- In AAA, they make you believe in step one. You have to admit that you are powerless and that you can be delivered by a power greater than you. This is process.  Eph 2:8- We are saved by grace. We are in process.
2. Grace to me- John 3:36-We are saved, but it doesn’t mean we don’t struggle with stuff. How do we get through our struggles? It is by grace. Phil 4:13, Gal 5:13-Don’t boast about it, but through grace, love one another. Don’t make it and then look down on another who is struggling. The church is a place where addicted people ought to be able to come and get well. Some of us in church get self righteous like we never struggled.
3. Repentance: is a change of the mind which leads to a change of behavior. R Kelly said when a woman’s mind is made up; there is nothing you can do about it. In other words, the only thing that can change some people’s mind is God.

Elements of Repentance

Confession, Commitment, and Contrition

1. Confession- I changed mind about my behavior; when I admit what I am doing is wrong. If the devil has convinced me that what I am doing is not wrong, I never come to repentance. There is a song that said the bible is right and somebody is wrong.
2. When we confess it is godly. Read Titus 3:3 when you get a chance. – We have to get a place that we resolve to change and leave that bad behavior by replacing it with something good. Ex- Bishop said as a child he was real hype and his parents replaced this negative energy with drums. What do you do with a person that comes into the church that has faced addiction? You give them something to do. An Idle mind is the devils work shop.
3. Commitment- Is to say, we are making ourselves accountable to somebody. Write down 3 people in your life that you are accountable to. These should people who are genially in your life that will call you and make sure you are holding it together. One of our biggest problems is that we don’t want to be accountable to anybody.
4. Contrition- This is Godly sorrow. When we do a thing, we come to a place where we feel terrible about how it made God feel. God says he woke you up this morning, he gave you this and that, and the devil keeps coming trying to mess you up. Then he has to watch us break his heart. It is only until you realize how it makes God feel that this type of repentance comes. Ex- A boy was in trouble with his life. He could not get his life right. The boy was taken to the holding room and made to look at his mom cry. That is all it took for him to straighten out. It is this kind of realization that we have to come to. We have to realize how our participation to addiction grieves God.

Idolatry is the same as addiction. Anything that we love more than God points to an addiction. 1 Cor 10:7, 2Tim 3:4- What is it that you love more than God. What is it? What will get you up at 2 in the morning and keep you up all night long, yet we can’t stay in church for 2 hrs? What will make you drop 20 dollars and yet you give 5 dollars in church. What will make you go in the snow and yet just the chance of snow will keep you from coming to church. What will keep you on the computer all night and yet you don’t talk to God whom you say you love?

There is hope. Deliverance is available:

1. When we defend ourselves from the devil by the prayer of faith, we believe what we pray when we pray. Matt 6:13 – It is God’s power that will help us through this. We have to learn to thank God for deliverance no matter how you get it.
2. When we resist the devil by speaking the word of faith out of our mouths. James 4:7- Jesus said it is written.
3. When we seek the prayers of other believers. The prayers of other believers, especially those with spiritual authority, are powerful enough to deliver- We need those that will take it to grave and then the cross.
4. God has to be your greatest pleasure. Psalms 16:11-If we can just fall back in love with God, everything would be alright. Remember when you first got saved. You wanted to be involved in everything. You had your button and you wanted to change your license plate that read scriptures. You even had notes falling out your bible, but what happened? It was life and addiction. Now you have a lukewarm relationship.

It’s your choice

1. a.      God won’t mess with your free will.  Romans 6:16-18- You got the power to control yourself. There is a difference between addiction and habit.
2. Addiction is loss of control and freedom, while habit is something that is active, but can be removed if desired.
3. If you must have coffee to function, it is an addiction. If you choose to drink it every day, it is a habit. How do you know if it is a must? If you choose you talk to it. If you must it talks to you.
4. Addiction- It has a word in it called diction (words) meaning it talks to you. People strung out say it all the time, “it was calling me   !” Ex – Samson was addicted to strange women so Delilah laid in his lap and talked to him.
5. Addiction loves entitlement. Addiction will make you believe that you are entitled to it.Ex – “ I just need this for me.“
6. All addictions are sinful. Illegal drugs and prescription both are sinful. You might not be strung out, but it is still sin. Nobody ends up being in this crazy stuff.
7. You got to stay away from sinful behaviors- 1 Thess 5:22-Be sure you check everything out. Is you going an hotel because you went to the party? The answer is no. but can you handle it. For others, the party changes you. Anything that changes you from being who you are is an addiction. You were cool till you met this person, now we don’t know who you are.
8. Exercise self control- Bad company corrupts good morals. It doesn’t mean you ain’t cool with a person, but some people will get you caught up in stuff you shouldn’t be caught up in. Matt 16:24-You got to get yourself out the way.
9. Walk by the spirit. – Gal 5:22-When we walk by the spirit, we crucify our flesh. Every day, we have to make a conscious decision to die in the flesh.

The power of God in our lives

1. Rom 1:16, 1 Thess 2:13-When we think of all the possibilities of addiction, alcohol, illegal drugs, and painkillers. It is all about cycle. This means we start using cocaine, meth, snort Freon from the air conditioner.
2. Overeating and eating disorders, gambling, sexual contact, risky behavior, arson, vandalism, the need for attention, codependency, sports, ego, power, work, greed, excessive exercise, electronic games, television, internet, shopping, hoarding, lying, kleptomania, a masochism( which is gratification from being abused), and sadism (abusing people in sexual activity) are all addictions.
3. God’s frees us from our addictions- Luke 4:18, Gal 5:1- If you been set free, act free. Who would get free and want go back to slavery? God gives us endurance through our temptation. 1 cor 10:13-God says he will give us an escape plan. Ex- Codes makes it so your pathway is illuminated should an emergency come up in a building. In other words, when darkness comes, the exit signs will come light up. God says he will do just like this. He will light the way in our dark situations. When our way is dark, he gives us an exit strategy.
4. God gives us strength. 2 Cor 12:9, God will give you victory. 1 John 5:3-4-5, Roman 8:37- We opened up by saying think of thing you were drawn to. It was that thing that you desired that you shouldn’t (addiction). Remember all you have to do is ask God to deliver you.

The power of a changed mind Part II, “Power to change bad habits” Sermon 10/11/09

The power of a changed mind Pt II
The power to change bad habits
Synopsis of sermon 10/11/09
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

Text:
Romans 6:12-13: 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
The great equalizer in this place is our bad habits. 1 John 8-9 – says if you say you have no sins, you are a lie and truth is not in you. We all have areas in our life that are called bad habits. Ex- Moses had a habit of murder, Solomon had a habit of having concubines, and Peter had a habit to talking too much and not talking enough when he should have. Paul was saved on Damascus Road. After his conversion experience, he became sold out for the experience of Christ. In Romans 7, Paul vacillates between what he should do and what he shouldn’t do. 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh. He asked God to remove it and the Lord said no because his grace was sufficient enough to sustain him.
All of us have struggles or bad habits. We have to realize that we don’t have to struggle with our bad habits by ourselves. God is able to help us overcome every bad habit in our life. The devil wants to taint our witness, through our bad habits. No matter how deep our habits are in our blood line, if we want to overcome it, we can overcome it. It will be hard to identify who has bad habits just by just looking at them, because we have all become masters of covering our habits up. In fact someone sitting next to you right now is thinking about their bad habit as we speak. There is someone reading this right now that thinking about their bad habits.
Paul says whatever you yield yourself to, is what you will be a slave to. Romans 6:16: 16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?- This scripture simply asks what you are going to be a slave to. If you have bad habits, you have to ask yourself what is the source of your struggle?
I. Acknowledge the source of the struggle
1. What are we dealing with? Habits manifest in the flesh. Ephesians 6:12: 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. -We have to recognize where the battle really is. There is a war going on between the spirit and the flesh. The Devil wants to make you a slave to your flesh.
2. Steps that make you a slave to your flesh:
a. Words produce your thinking.
b. Thinking drives your emotions.
c. Your emotions dictate your decisions.
d. Your decisions determine your action.
e. Your actions shape your habits.
f. Your habits form your character.
g. Your character determines your destiny.
3. Whatever you speak is often what you thinking. Ex-Some people will tell you they didn’t mean to say what they said, but truthfully, they had been thinking it for a long time. They just didn’t mean for you to hear them say it. What you think affects your decisions, your decisions prompt your actions, your actions change your habits, and habits form your character. The thing you do consistently forms who we are. Ex-We like alcohol, don’t know when to say no, then we become an alcoholic.
4. The habit you are struggling with is a window the devil needs to bring a curse into your family. This is the avenue the devil uses to bring curses into your life. Habit has little to do with you and a lot to do with generations behind you. The habits you deal with now are about the demons passed down through your blood line. Ex-When we are entering relationships, we should ask how did this person’s mother and father act towards each other. If you go to the doctor, most of questions they ask on the questionnaire have nothing to do with you, but a lot to do with your family. The point is that you can look at the family and see what habits or flaws a person may have a potential to have. Exodus 34:7: 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. – This scripture tells how sin can be passed from one generation to the other which is often referred to as a curse. The devil wants the habit to shape your character to form your destiny. One little thing can affect our whole future. This is why the bible says the Devil comes to seek steal and destroy.
5. We have to know the source of our curse. The devil has used our habit to come in and affect our destiny. Many say they love the Lord but do not know what it really takes. Galatians 3:13: 13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: -Jesus took the curse off of you and put in himself. Christ means anointed one. This is the day we have to declare that Satan is defeated. We are no longer going to let the curse affect our life. Go to the source of how your habit began? Satan feeds our habits. Ex-You don’t just wake up addicted to drugs. Your habits are made up of years of stuff. Until you go to the source of your habit, you will never overcome it.
II. Amenable to specific sacrifices
1. You got to be willing to obey. James 1:22: 22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. – Don’t just be a hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. Remember in Psalm 1:1: 1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. – Whomever you walk with, you will end in the same situation, because you get comfortable hanging there. Remember birds of a feather flock together. In other words, if you hang around mess, you will eventually end up in mess, because you get comfortable in the mess.
2. What brings about discomfort of your habit is the word. James 1:2: 2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; – If you still have a habit and you are still comfortable in it, then it suggests that you are not getting enough word. The word is what makes you uncomfortable with your habit. You got to get to a point that you lose your desire for your habit. You have to get the word so embedded in you, you will want to stop. This is why the Devil doesn’t want you to get the word. Ex-When the word is embedded in you, when you try to go back and revisit your habit, you no longer feel comfortable anymore, because you no longer fit in.
3. The word will stalk you. Paul says when you obey this word, you stop being comfortable. We have to say that whatever it takes, we are willing to deal with this habit.
4. It will take crucifixion. 1 Corinthians 15:31: 31I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. -stuff be rising up in us every day, but we have to crucify it. 1 Peter 4:1-2: 1Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. –Having crucified the habit, we no longer suffer in your flesh any longer. Galatians 5:24-25: 24And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. – live and walk in the spirit. .
5. Crucifixion is always public. Galatians 2:20: 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. -When they crucified Christ, they did so publicly. Part of crucifixion is humiliation. Crucifixion is not designed d to be comfortable. It is suppose to stretch you. Everyone wants the blessing, but no one wants to die. Ex-Bishop explains he tried to kill some roaches one day. He recalls his Dad saying until you get something to kill all the roaches, they are going to keep coming. This is the formula for removing all bad habits. You got to kill it all when it comes to habits. We have to kill everything by saying “Lord we subject ourselves to the cross”. If you are going to be what God wants you to be, you have to be willing to go through crucifixion.
III. Available to surrender to the savior
1. If you could handle your habit, we wouldn’t have the habit. This must mean that there must be something deeper that we must do aside from coming to church when it comes to handling our habits. After all, many of us come to church, yet still struggle with habits. Dealing with our habits involves surrender. Paul opens up by saying whatever you surrender yourself to, you will be a slave to. Ex- The problem with commitment is not commitment. Our problem with commitment is focus. Your issue is not commitment; it is what you are committed to that is the problem.
2. We got saved growing up and a word was used that got lost along the way. Converted is the word. Conversion experiences are powerful, because they are deeper than church. The whole idea of being in church is the encounter with Christ. When a thing is converted, you are really changing the use of the same thing you were using. Romans 6:17-We were one thing, but now we are not. – If you really want to break your bad habit, ask the Lord to covert you. You have to say, “Lord, work on my heart and my attitude.’ We need a total re-haul. Ex- Bishop tells of a story of a friend of his having a store. He explains the store is junky, because it is cluttered. He has stuff unrelated to what he supposed to be selling laying all around the store. There is an accumulation of insignificant items throughout the store. One day Bishop goes to the store and sees a sign that says pardon the mess. (Kind of how God does when he remodels our life. He says to others, pardon the mess). Bishop asks for his friend and the new Manager says he bought his friend out. The new Manager purchased the store and was cleaning the clutter out and remodeling the store. Just like this, Jesus came and bought us out. If you let Jesus buy you out, he will put you under new management and remove the trash out of your life. He we remodel you so you can get a fresh start. God can handle your bad habits!