How to be addicted, Part 1
Good Morning
Stand with me and put a hand up
Close Your eyes and repeat after me.
Lord you are welcome in this place.
Now say it like you mean it.
Let's put the bad things from our week at the door to His house
Stand with me and lift up your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
How to be addicted.
Many of you know someone who suffers from an addiction.
Drugs
Alcohol
Gambling
Video games
And many others.
Today I am going to share a message about a different kind of addiction.
But first let me share this story.
THE HOMELESS MAN
It was a cold winter's day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car that fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked to the church.
As I got closer, I saw a man leaning up against the wall outside the church.
He was almost laying down as if he was asleep. He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face.
He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet with holes all over them as well as his toes sticking out of one shoe. I assumed this man was homeless, and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church.
We all gathered for fellowship for a few minutes, and someone mentioned the man laying outside. People snickered and gossiped but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me.
A few moments later church began. We all waited for the Pastor to take his place and give us the Word, when the doors to the church opened. In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down.
People gasped and whispered and made faces. He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit and took off his coat and hat.
My heart sank. There stood our Pastor...he was the "homeless man".
No one said a word. The pastor took his Bible and laid it on the stand and said, "Folks, I don't think I have to tell you what I am preaching about today."
Sometimes we see things that are right in our faces and we don’t see them.
We concentrate on details that happen every day during our lives but, we don’t see everything.
They say if you look at a series of 10 pictures and then are asked to tell someone what you have seen 5 minutes later you will not remember 4 or 5 of them on average.
We have such busy lives that we don’t see everything going on in it and we miss things that are really important.
Our lives are so addicted to everyday worldly life and with all that happens daily, we are overwhelmed.
Do you ever feel that way?
Just so overwhelmed by everything in life?
I have.
Have you ever thought that things we have gone through in our lives are making us miss out on things that are important?
Turn with me to the book of Hebrews.
Let us go to chapter 13 and say, “Amen” when you are there.
Let us read starting at verse 1 and continue to verse 8.
1. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
2. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
3. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
5. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”[a]
6. So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
7. Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and intimidate their faith.
8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Things have changed in the world we live in and in our lives over the years and we may not be following any or all of the things that we have just read.
Why?
We become addicted to things of the world.
From the moment we’re born, popular culture surrounds us and influences us. It’s the beliefs and practices that groups of us have in common. You see pop culture play out in the movies and the tv shows we watch, the art, comics, and books we read, the toys and video games we play with, and the clothes we wear.
Each day we are given thousands of choices, if not more. They are small and subtle, but we make them just the same. If you don’t think so, just stop and think about this for a minute with me.
What time did you wake up?
Did you set an alarm?
Did you get right up or push the snooze button?
What clothes did you pull out of your closet?
Did you speed on the way to work?
Did you make time for any self-improvement?
Did you simply do what you do every day?
Did you call a family member or friend just to reach out and say hello?
What did you do today?
What did you NOT do today? These are all choices we make and we do so on a daily basis.
There was a time when I felt like I didn’t have any choices. I had to get up and I had to go to work, where they told me everything I had to and should do. My day was just doing what I had to do without trying to do other things.
It was overwhelming.
I would leave early for work and get home late and go to sleep and just get up and do the same thing the next day.
Let me just tell you, it’s not a happy way to live.
I am ever so grateful that my life came crashing down around me while living in that state. When everything disappeared, life stood still.
God created a roadblock in my life and it worked.
I had nothing and as a result had no direction to move. Time did not stand still, not a chance. It was my life that did.
It was my life that just didn’t have a direction to go anywhere. For once, with everything in my life gone, I didn’t have to simply react to the commands of another. I had to choose where to go and what to build in my life.
Then I did something that people hate to do. I made a change.
I submitted my life fully to Him and it changed my life forever.
I allowed someone to make me who I am today.
It has not been easy and I am far from perfect.
But that change has caused me to become addicted to something that I never wanted.
Something I never thought I needed.
Something that I never thought I was good enough to be or have in my life.
I became an addicted to Jesus Christ.
I have seen the Lord change my life dramatically.
I am not addicted to me.
I am addicted to Him.
How do you become addicted to Jesus Christ and what happens when you do?
Becoming addicted to something that you cannot see is hard. It is easy to become addicted to alcohol, drugs, and other physical attachments in life.
However, it is harder in life to become addicted something you cannot see because as human beings, seeing is believing.
You have probably heard that saying but it may be hard to see God in your life unless you are exposed to it like what happens when you are exposed to something of a physical nature.
An example would be such as asparagus. I was exposed to it as a child and I did not like it and still do not.
Bread is a different story. I enjoy eating breads of all kinds always.
Corn bread, rye bread, challah, dinner rolls, whole wheat bread. Any kind. Any time. My wife is a great cook and she makes breads of all different kinds for us and she chooses to do it because she knows what I enjoy and she loves me just as I am.
So does Jesus.
Addiction is a choice.
There are bad types of addiction.
And there are good ones.
Jesus Christ is a good addiction.
He never changes.
He does not have bad side effects.
He can help get you high on life.
What do you want to be addicted to?
The world?
Or Jesus?
It is your choice to make.
You don’t have to but, you can if you want to.
Do you want to be addicted to the way, the truth, and the life?
Stand with me now and let’s get things started by going to Him in prayer.
Amen?
