Overcoming Addiction

Adam and Eve hid from God, human beings have alway hidden from God.

The light is our Friend. Those who walk in the light.

Those who are children of God have nothing to fear from the light. We are children of light.

Mushroom illustration.

Conversation about exposing to the light.

What sort of things might we do that would demonstrate we arent walking in the light.

Why might we sometimes be afraid of the light? Guilt, Shame,

Why might we sometimes be afraid of the light?

Mushroom Illustration.

Shame is a product of our secrets. Keeping my struggle a secret only made me feel isolated and, at times, inhuman. The longer I kept my secret, the more I believed I could never share it. The longer I kept silent, the darker and stronger my sin grew. The longer I kept silent, the more convinced I became that I would just have to live the rest of my life with this. With confession came light, hope, and freedom. With confession came the death of my overly high opinion of myself. No, I did not have it all together. Yes, I had fallen. Yes, I desperately needed help. That night, I acknowledged that I desperately needed his grace.

With confession came light, hope, and freedom. With confession came the death of my overly high opinion of myself. No, I did not have it all together. Yes, I had fallen. Yes, I desperately needed help. That night, I acknowledged that I desperately needed his grace.

The Woman at the well

Living Water

Things that don’t give lasting satisfaction.

Overcoming Addiction

Desperation

Death

Disclosure.

John likes Cats

Overcome Addiction with Desperation ()

Jesus came upon a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. He found him by a pool that was thought to have healing powers. Jesus asked the man a strange question. “Do you want to get well?” (5:6). Anyone who is chronically sick wants to get well, right? Actually, no. The reality is, most of us–especially addicts–are more comfortable with a familiar sickness than an unfamiliar solution.

Jesus was really asking the man, “Are you desperate? Are you willing to do whatever I’m about to ask? Are you willing to do whatever it takes? If you are the only one to get well today, are you still all in? Do you really want it?”

The man found recovery in his focus on his Higher Power. He said to Jesus, “I have no one to help me” (5:7). He was saying, “I’ve tried everything else. This pool I’m laying by didn’t work. The finest doctors couldn’t help. I’ve played my last card. I’m out of options. Now I turn to you.”

Jesus told the crippled man to do the last thing he could have imagined doing. “Pick up your mat and walk” (5:8). But when he did the improbable, he experienced the impossible. When he became willing to look the part of the fool, in front of all his friends, he found healing. We only find healing when we are truly desperate. When the pain of adiction and shame associciated with it are painful enough, when they cripple us, only then are we ready. We must be desperate.

Discussion

Why does it sometimes take the point of desperation to get us on the Road to Recovery.

In what ways might can we demonstrate that we are not desperate enough?

Overcome Addiction through Death (; )

If you want to live, you have to die. The Cross is a symbol of Death,Yet ironically it is also the path to Life and fulfilment that lasts.

We can live for the bottle/or drugs that is a functional God, We can give ourselves to the bottle when we think it has something we need but it will eventually take our lives and leave us with nothing.

The Bottle/Drugs will never give us lasting life, we are on the road to recovery because it left us shipwreked and wreaked havoc in our lives, The bottle/Drugs will never give up its life for us. But Jesus did, He was willing to go through hell for us so that we might live, which gives us great confidence in our struggles. Jesus is willing us on, its why he came, to set the captive free.

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.k 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.l 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Manm will be ashamed of themn when he comeso in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.k 35 For whoever wants to save their lifeb will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.l 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Manm will be ashamed of themn when he comeso in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Come and Die

The story of Lazarus is a template for recovery and the definition of hope. His friends came to Jesus with sad news: “The one you love is sick” (11:3). That’s good news for each of us who suffer. Jesus loves sick people. He does not just love us after our addiction, but in it.

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believesp in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believingq in me will never Do you believe this?”

If the Son Sets you free you are free indeed, you are no longer defined by your addictions. For some of us on the Road to recovery, our cravings are gone, for others the cravings are still there but know this “This sickness will not end in death” (11:4). With one statement, he put his entire reputation on the line. Why? Because the man died. Jesus said so himself: “Lazarus is dead” (11:14). Four days later, he was still dead (11:17). But hear Jesus’ words carefully. “This sickness will not end in death” (11:4). He never said Lazarus wouldn’t die. He said it wouldn’t end there. God gets the final word.

Then Jesus promised, “This sickness will not end in death” (11:4). With one statement, he put his entire reputation on the line. Why? Because the man died. Jesus said so himself: “Lazarus is dead” (11:14). Four days later, he was still dead (11:17). But hear Jesus’ words carefully. “This sickness will not end in death” (11:4). He never said Lazarus wouldn’t die. He said it wouldn’t end there. God gets the final word.

For the person who is an addict, they must die to themself and surrender to God. Take encouragemtn that even through the struggle, If the Son Sets you free you are free indeed, you are no longer defined by your addictions.

Discussion

In What ways might we die to self?

Overcome Addiction with Disclosure (, )

Jesus met a woman who had been married five times. It was time for disclosure. Her secret had to come out. Jesus said to the woman, “The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband” (4:18).

Jesus met the woman at a well, where she had gone to draw water. He promised her a “living water” that would quench the thirst of her soul (4:14). But first, she had to come clean. Jesus called her out for multiple marriages and fornication. The woman, like many of us, was out of control, Her lifestyle had relegated her to an existence of shame and secrecy.

That’s what addiction does. It takes us further than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, and costs us more than we want to pay. At the root of addiction is secrecy. And the only answer is a full disclosure. Only by being known can we be well.

In order to bring restoration to this woman, Jesus shed light on the sins of her past and the isolation of her present. Disclosure changed everything. So profound and unexpected was the change that within days, “Many of the Sadducees from the town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony” (4:39). When the addict comes clean, it affects others.

How does Discolosure Help is in our fight?

Conclusion

Remeber the three Ds

Desperation

Death

Disclosure.