Direct And Protect Series

disclosure, okay? I don’t drink—at all, nothing, ever. And the reason I don’t isn’t because I think

it’s a sin. The reason I don’t is two reasons. Number one, I was brought up in a home where

there was just no alcohol. It just was not an issue. My parents didn’t drink socially. It just was

not a part of the culture I grew up in. And then as I got old enough to decide for myself, my

experience with alcohol through other people was 100% negative. I began working with

teenagers while I was in college, and from that point on in my life I’ve been in some sort of

ministry, and 100% of my interaction with alcohol has been negative. It’s been wives that got

beat up, alcoholic husbands, alcoholic moms, kids crashing cars, fights, date rape. You name it, I can sit here all afternoon and talk to you about my interaction with people who drank, and it’s all

been 100% negative. Now I know that’s not true for everybody, but that’s my experience, so I

just—the alcohol thing—it’s just not a part of my life.

In other words, I’ve never heard this story: “You know, Andy, we were having so much

trouble in our marriage, and then we started drinking.” Or, you know, “My son was just running

from family and God and he was just like a prodigal, and I said, ‘Son, maybe we should start

drinking.’ And so we started drinking, and I mean, God just brought us back together.” See, now

maybe that’s your story, but in my life, I’ve never heard, “And once we introduced alcohol, we

all lived happily ever after,” okay? Maybe I just live in a bubble, but my experience . . . so this is

a very easy illustration for me, because it’s just a non-issue for me. I’ve got my issues. We’re

going to talk about some more things.

But Paul, as he’s introducing this idea of okay, okay, okay, let’s all wake up and be

honest. That’s what he’s saying. Let’s be honest. We all know on the other side of the guardrail

is something nobody wants, so let’s be honest about that and let’s set up some guardrails so that if we have some crashes, we have some conscience crashes; we don’t destroy our lives. And the

first illustration he uses is alcohol. So he says this:

Ephesians 5:18 (TNIV)

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.

That clears it up completely, doesn’t it? How many of you would say in the last three

weekends you were debauched? Any debauchers here? Yeah, right. We don’t even know what

that word means. It’s like, Oh, I love the Bible, because when I think I’m going to be convicted,

there’s some word I don’t understand, and I can just move on and don’t feel anything. Now,

here’s what he’s about to—I’m going to give you the definition for debauchery in a minute, but

here’s what I want you to—I don’t want you to miss this. For those of you, you’re like, It’s about