GYC 2014: At The Cross

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

Taurus Montgomery

1. Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

This message was presented at the GYC 2014 conference at the Cross in Phoenix, Arizona.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

I am a pastor, a pastor of the Harbor of Hope 7 Day Adventist Church located in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

And I am privileged to have you sitting in this seminar with me this morning.

I want to first of all say I congratulate you rather on being here because a lot of times when you begin to talk about addictions there's a lot of shame attached to it.

And so people don't like to be associated with addiction.

So the very fact that you came here today says that you are interested in learning how to overcome addictions, whether that is yourself or whether that is someone that you love, someone you care about, you want to see them set free from addiction.

And so I want to thank you for coming this morning.

What I want to do as we begin, of course we'll pray, but just before we do that, I want to just kind of give you an overview of these seminars, kind of show you where we are, where we'll start rather, and where we'll finish, and how each section builds upon the next 1.

So I want to turn your attention to the screen.

I'll be sharing a lot from PowerPoint this morning.

In fact, my whole presentation is on PowerPoint.

So just so that you will know, the first presentation we're talking about the problem of addictions, all right?

We're going to get into, you know, what is an addiction, examples, signs of addictions, how do I know if I have an addiction or if someone that I love have an addiction, all right?

And then part 2, we're gonna deal with the struggles of addiction, okay?

And that comes immediately after this 1 at 10 o'clock.

We'll deal with the struggles of addiction, the fact that when I give my life to Jesus, does that mean that I will never struggle with the addiction again?

What, you know, what are the implications of me surrendering my heart to Jesus and my addiction?

And then, part 3, we're going to look at the cross and addictions, all right?

How the cross impacts the addictions that I may struggle with.

Okay, and then, and then part 4, part 5 and part 6 is a repeat, all right?

And so I wanna encourage you, if you wanna get the full, you wanna get the full experience of this seminar presentation, I want to encourage you to stick with me today at 9 o'clock and then today at 2 o'clock.

And then we'll kind of start over at 3 p.m.

And I struggle with this because, you know, it's a lot of information that you want to give, that I want to give and I want to share with you, but there are a lot of great seminars.

In fact, there are so many great seminars, I wish I could go to the seminars, right?

And so I want you to be able to walk away with some tangible and good resources from this seminar.

And if you stick all the way through to part 3, then you're free to go into any other.

You're free to go wherever you want to go, period.

But I just wanted to try to condense it as best as possible to give you a full experience, as opposed to you being locked in on 1 particular presentation if there's others that you want to explore.

So I also want to let you know that this is kind of a teaser, if you will.

I am someone who was addicted, struggled with addiction for 7 years of my life, and even sometimes after that I struggled with various addictions.

But I'll go more into detail in our second presentation.

This is a picture of my life before I gave my life to Jesus.

And that is kind of where a lot of those addictions were rooted in.

But we'll, you can still see the image, right?

Okay, maybe I should not just touch it at all, all right?

So, that'll take place in our second presentation.

I'll tell you how this person died and became the person that is standing before you today.

So let's jump right into our presentation.

I'm gonna invite you to pray with me bow your head and close your eyes Father in heaven We are grateful today that because of Jesus we are in your presence and we can be here to learn To explore what the scriptures have to say Lord about overcoming Addictions Lord And God, I know that there are some people in this room right now who are here because they want to be set free.

And I pray God that that the enemy will no longer hold them in bondage when you have already set them free.

So bless us now, Father, as we open your word.

Bless us now as we go through this presentation.

May Jesus be lifted up is my prayer in his name, amen.

All right, as I was preparing for this, I came across this show on TLC called My Strange Addiction.

Or you seen a preview of it or a video of it or whatever, right?

Now when we say strange addictions, we're talking about some strange stuff.

So strange, for example, so strange, You have people who were addicted to gasoline, drinking gasoline.

Not only being addicted to gasoline, but there was 1 individual, she was addicted to grooming her cat with her tongue.

Then this gentleman had an addiction to his car.

Couldn't put all the pictures up there, but let me show you some of the other things that people were addicted to.

This lady was addicted to eating drywall.

There was a gentleman who was addicted to eating glass.

This young lady addicted to eating makeup.

Whenever she would go out to purchase makeup, she said that she had to taste it to make sure that it was the right kind.

That was a lady, that someone who was addicted to eating rubber tires, addicted to eating plastic bags.

And addiction to looking like Justin Bieber.

No, seriously, that was a guy, He saw Justin Bieber the first time and he said, wow, that is an amazing look, and I'm going to get plastic surgery after plastic surgery after plastic surgery after plastic surgery after plastic surgery.

This guy had over 56 of plastic surgeries trying to look like Justin Bieber.

In addition to sniffing and chewing dirty diapers.

It was a gentleman who was, he had a crib, a baby crib built for him, 20, 30 years old.

He had on a bib, he had a pacifier, he had baby clothes on.

An addiction to stinging herself with bees.

Now, we look at these addictions and we say indeed that, man, this is some crazy people.

But the reality is every addiction is strange to God.

Because when God first created humanity, God never intended for us to be addicted to anything but himself.

If you're going to be addicted to anything, be addicted to Jesus.

So While we may look at these addictions, these strange addictions and laugh and just be kind of like blown away by it, the reality is there are some addictions that we don't see as strange, that our society don't see as strange, that oftentimes even Christians find themselves addicted to these things, such as alcohol.

2. Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

That sounded like more people than it is in here.

I serve as the pastor of Harbor of Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church located in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

And I am delighted that you have come to this place.

I believe God led you here and I pray that something that I share will be of an encouragement to you and your walk with the Lord, particularly as it deals with victory over sin and how to overcome addictions.

For those of you who are joining us for the very first time, just a very quick recap.

We looked at addiction, and we kind of dealt with some signs of addiction.

We gave a definition of addiction, and concluded that, you know, ultimately addiction is anything that it could be a substance, it could be an activity, or it can be a state of mind that becomes a person's, the center of their life, right?

You focus on it, it's all you do, it's all you think about, it consumes you so much so that even when this particular thing has bad consequences, we keep on doing it, which leads us to further estrangement from God.

It can be a variety of things, any substance, activity, or state of mind that replaces Christ as the Lord and center of our lives.

And so we want to avoid those things at all costs.

All right, now I'm going to share with you in this presentation more of a personal, on a personal level, how, how addictions, let me see here.

So I'm going to share with you on a more personal level about addictions and overcoming addictions and the power that sets us free.

So I want to invite you to bow your heads and pray with me as we begin.

Father in heaven, we're grateful again for the opportunity to open up your word.

We're gonna be looking at some scriptures today Lord that deals with overcoming addiction Lord and God I pray and I ask that as you have set me free in my own personal life and as I share from that experience, that it will encourage and inspire and motivate someone else, Lord, to more fully surrender their hearts to you.

And Lord, I know that nothing that I say in and of itself will bring about any change or transformation in the life of your people without the presence and power of your Holy Spirit.

I have a video here of 2 individuals that demonstrate or illustrate that statement.

It's a young girl for 10 years, addicted to heroin.

If it was up to the devil, if it was left up to him, that would happen to every person in this room.

This is a picture of me when I was number 33, the really big, bulky, strong guy on there in the picture.

I was a senior in high school in this picture and I didn't grow up a 7-day Adventist, I didn't grow up Christian, anything like that.

And when I was here, I was dedicated to the game of basketball, I loved the game of basketball so much, it was my pride and joy, it was my, I really had an addiction to it, if you wanna, just to be honest about it.

But I remember when I was in the 12th grade, I was in 12th grade, and I had this problem.

And it was a problem that I struggled with for about 7 years.

I started smoking marijuana when I was 12 years old.

And from 12 to 19, smoking, drinking, partying, robbing, stealing, you know, 1 thing leads to another.

And this was the lifestyle that I was living.

I didn't grow up in a Christian home, and my environment wasn't conducive to moral principles, okay?

And this was a lifestyle that I was living.

And so in order to kind of escape my reality, I turned to the game of basketball, and I'll show you why just in a second.

But I turned to the game of basketball, and I'll show you why just in a second.

But I turned to the game of basketball, turned to sports, not just basketball but football.

I saw it as my ticket or my way out of my living environment, my living situation, my environment.

It was what I needed in order to survive.

I had to make it to the NBA, I had to make it professional sports, because professional sports, they make a whole lot of money, and they don't have to live in the type of neighborhood that I grew up in.

So, basketball, however, became something more than just a sport.

1 of the reasons why people get addicted to certain things is because they're looking for a way to cope with their present problems and circumstances and situations.

So I turned to the game of basketball, so I found myself sad.

You could find me 10 o'clock at night, 11 o'clock at night, at the basketball court down the street from my house because I'm mad at my father for what he hasn't done and said he was going to do, or I'm mad at somebody for anything.

I'm looking for a way to cope and so I turn to the game of basketball and some of you sitting here right now you may know someone or you yourself may be struggling with a particular addiction and you find yourself going to it especially when you are trying to cope with something.

Now, I recall 1 day, talking about the power of addiction, I recall 1 day, my brother and I making a pact, if you will, You know, you do the little pack, the little pinky ring thing, I promise, pinky promise.

Well, we made this decision that I wasn't going to, we weren't going to party, we weren't going to smoke, we weren't going to drink during the basketball season because we wanted to be an optimal, we wanted to have peak performance.

All right, if I'm smoking then it's gonna slow me down when I'm running in the game, if I'm drinking it's gonna make me all lackadaisical and I'll be sweating alcohol when I'm out on the court playing and I don't wanna do that.

We made this pact, we made this decision that, hey, I'm not going to do this, I'm going to stop.

Now, my brother, he was very successful at that.

Very strong-willed person, younger brother, very strong-willed person.

Now, me on the other hand, 1 day we were, 1 day we were sitting outside of the house and my brother, he left to go to the grocery, the little corner store, he's gonna pick up a little juice and some chips or something like that.

And I'm sitting down outside on the lawn and I'm on the grass, on a bucket, and I'm reading about...

I was reading a basketball magazine, right?

Me and my brother, 2 different opposite people.

And so he says, look, I'm getting ready to run to the store really quick to buy something.

Yeah, bring me some chips, bring me a juice or what have you." So he goes off.

The store is about 10 minutes away, 10 minute walk.

I'm sitting there and a friend of mine comes by.

And This friend of mine, he has this little brown stick in his hand and I can smell it from a hundred feet away.

And when I see him and when he see me and I see him pulling this up to his mouth and he's blowing the smoke, I know immediately what it is and something within me says ask him for a hit.

Now my brother comes to my mind because we've made this little pinky swear kind of thing.

We made this decision And I'm going to show you why we made this decision.

We made this decision that we're not going to smoke, we're not going to drink, we're not going to party, we're not going to do these things because the basketball season is important and we have to make it to the next level.

3. Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

Father in heaven, again God we are thankful that you've allowed us to be here in this place at this time.

We ask that your spirit will come and illuminate our minds with understanding and help us to apply these things to our lives.

I pray that the words that come from my mouth will edify, uplift, and strengthen your people.

And I know, God, that that is impossible in and of myself.

And so I'm asking, God, we're asking for the presence and power of your Holy Spirit even now.

So, victory over sin, how to overcome addictions.

All right, now, I want to do just a small little recap of the first 2 presentations.

I'm not gonna go into much detail about them, but there's 1 thing in particular that I want to share with you, especially those of us who are here for the very first time and those of us who could use a little reminder.

All right, We began by talking about addictions and what addictions are, and we gave this definition of addiction that I want to share with you to start our presentation.

And we said that addiction is bondage to the rule of a substance, activity, or a state of mind which then becomes the center of life.

Which then becomes the center of life defending itself from the truth so that even bad consequences don't bring repentance and leading to further estrangement from God.

That is the most comprehensive definition for addiction that I have ever come across and that's why I'm sharing it with you right now.

So when it says a substance that could be anything such as food, it could be alcohol, it could be heroin, it could be crack cocaine, it could be chocolate, it could be sugar, it could be anything, any substance, anything.

That activity could be playing soccer, it could be basketball, it could be video games, it could be a variety of things.

Any activity or any substance or any state of mind.

It could be a mindset of negativity, a mindset of doubt, of insecurity.

It could be anything that becomes the center of a person's life.

Defending itself from the truth so that even bad consequences, be it your health or depletion of finances, don't bring repentance and leading 1 to further estrangement from God.

The good news is that there is freedom from addiction.

Now, now, now, now, as we continue now, as we, and this presentation gets into, I want to share with you some practical things as it relates to dealing with addictions, or rather overcoming addictions, okay?

We'll get into that, But before we get into that, I want to warn you of some strongholds that can prevent us from actually having the victory that Christ has promised, okay?

And 1 of those strongholds is a stronghold of hopelessness.

Well, there's a story in John chapter 5, verse 1 through 7.

In John chapter 5, verses 1 through 7, this idea, this stronghold of hopelessness, is played out in this particular passage of scripture.

All right, John chapter 5, verse 1 through 7.

This is the story of a man who was sitting down by what we know as the pool of Bethesda.

And what I find to be amazing about this story is that here you are, here you have a great number of disabled people, verse 3, a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, they're laying around the pool.

And 1 who was there had been an invalid for how long?

Here's a man who's been invalid, who's been lame, who hasn't been able to do for himself, who has been handicapped for 38 years.

This man has been handicapped longer than most of us have been alive.

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him a question, do you want to get well?

This is an amazing story because this story, this story illustrates this mentality of hopelessness that 1 can have when they've been struggling with something for so long.

For this man, it is a physical condition.

He's an invalid, the Bible says, and for some of us, it could be an addiction that we've been struggling with for a very long time.

And Jesus comes to him and Jesus says, sir, do you want to get well?

He says, sir, I have no 1 to help me into the pool when the water is stirred while I'm trying to get in someone else goes down ahead of me What's the problem with that?

But listen, this is really just plain old common sense stuff, right?

This man has been accustomed to being in this position, and he's been accustomed to people not helping him.

When Jesus shows up and asks the question, do you want to get well?

Just like this man, too often we start making excuses about what has been.

We're making excuses about, well, I've been struggling with this thing for all this time.

And we start making excuses after excuse.

Maybe it's you or someone that you know, you know that they need help or you know that you need help, But when someone comes along with the Word of God, when someone comes along to try to help you, excuses start coming out.

Because it's been there for such a long time.

This man had developed or had been bound by the stronghold of hopelessness.

Now, what I find to be amazing is that there are several people, there are several people who are laying around the pool of Bethesda.

And Jesus comes to this 1 man, now you have to get this picture because in this picture, in this picture, Jesus is actually stepping through people.

He's going to this 1 man who's been there for so long.

And I find it amazing that Jesus comes to each 1 of us personally, individually, and he's asking that same question about our addictions.

Series

Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

3. Victory Over Sin: How To Overcome Addictions

Transcript

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