No Retreat

The Bible doesn’t say a lot about taking drugs but it does give us a number of warnings about excessive drinking, warning about continuing to act out on our addictions and compulsions even though we know there is a better way to live – Gods Way

Proverbs 23:19-21  Listen, dear child—become wise; point your life in the right direction.  Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk; don’t eat too much food and get fat. Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.

WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE YOU ARE GOING TO END UP ON SKID ROW.

Luke 21:34  “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware.”

WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE YOUR HEART WILL DULLED BY THE WORRIES OF YOUR LIFE

John 8:34  Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave.

WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE YOUR LIFE WILL BE A DEAD-END. YOU WILL BECOME A SLAVE TO YOUR ADDICTIONS AND COMPULSIONS.

Galatians 5:19-21 When you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group—and there will be wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE USING YOU WILL NEVER GET IN ON GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE.

Proverbs 20:1  Wine gives false courage; hard liquor leads to brawls; what fools men are to let it master them, making them reel drunkenly down the street!

WARNING: TRUE COURAGE ISN’T FOUND IN A DRINK OR A DRUG

THROUGH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S SUPREME POWER I HUMBLY ASK HIM TO HELP ME CHANGE MY SINFUL HABITS AND ATTITUDES

2 Corinthians 13:5  Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ’s presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren’t at all?

THINK! THINK! THINK!

Proverbs 31:9  Speak up for the poor and helpless and see that they get justice.

LOVE OTHERS

Romans 13:13  Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.

CHANGE WHAT YOU DO

1 Corinthians 6:19  Didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR RIGHT LIVING

Ephesians 5:18  Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.

LIVE DAILY IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

• TEST YOURSELF AND GIVE YOURSELF DAILY CHECK-UPS
  1 Thessalonians 5:21  Don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good.
  
• IF YOU FAIL THE TEST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
  Psalms 119:1-2  You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. You’re blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.
  
• GET ON WITH IT, STOP REPRIMANDING YOURSELF
  – Don’t become a recovery casualty.
  – Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.
  
  

Proverbs 3:5  Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.