to the book of Habakkuk. And if you have your book, please pull it out. It will be on lesson number 6, page 25. If you don't have a book, let me know and we'll get you one. But probably everybody in here has a book or you've been given a book. But Habakkuk chapter number 2. Habakkuk chapter number 2. All right? Habakkuk chapter 2. So somebody help me find Habakkuk, because it's not in my Bible. Yeah. It's in there. All right, Habakkuk. And then we'll be looking, of course, at other places, and Proverbs, and different places like that as we go forward. But we'll be in Habakkuk first of all. And this is a subject we can't possibly cover all in just this short period of time tonight. but I will do my best to cover this. And I spoke on it earlier this year on a Sunday night. What does the Lord say about liquor? What does God say about alcohol? What does the Lord have to say? And in the second chapter of Habakkuk in verse number 15 it says, Habakkuk 2.15, Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their Thou art filled with shame for glory. Drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. That spewing is the idea of vomiting. The very idea of alcohol, an alcoholic, a drunk that vomits in the street. Have you ever seen that? I'm not saying it's a wonderful sight. I've stepped over it right here in Custer. Years ago going to an apartment building in Custer I've had to step over vomit in the middle of the sidewalk to get to the apartment building. Of course I've seen it in big cities as well and it's just disgusting. And yet somehow it's supposed to be fun and this is supposed to be a good thing. And the Bible says woe unto him. You know that word woe is the idea of judgment? When you see the word woe it's the judgment of God. When you get to Revelation, three woes and the woes of God. So we see this judgment given to these people in Babylon. There were Jews that were living in Babylon and they also were participating in this as well. But notice it says, one to him that giveth his neighbor drink. I just don't think that anyone can excuse themselves from giving someone else alcohol. We know from our own American history what alcohol did to the Native American. And we don't blame just the white man for it, but we know that some of them did it on purpose. We know what an awful thing. But you know what? It's not just the Native American. There's plenty of white Americans that are just as hooked and just as messed up with it as anybody. There are more wineries in our area than I care to count. And I'm always glad when one shuts down, but there seems to be more growing. And there's certainly definitely a lot of people to a drink. I was just asked today by my employer, I drive a school bus as you know, and I was asked today, who wants to drive Saturday for a wedding? You're just going to pick up people, 350 people, and just make a circle and just go around, around, taking them from a local establishment downtown out to the house and back. Well, no, I don't want anything to do with that. I'll tell you why. Because most weddings are just an excuse to go drink. It's just an excuse. We're going to have a wedding and there's going to be free alcohol. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and maketh him drunken also. In the world in which we live, standing for the Lord means going against the grain. And as we consider what the Lord says about liquor, we realize that God's opinion is not the popular view of society. Well, that's always the case. What God wants is not going to be what man wants, but it's getting worse. and worse and worse. You know, young people, once upon a time, about 100 years ago, it was illegal to drink alcohol, to sell alcohol in America. For a short period of time, they had what was called the prohibition. So obviously, there were enough people in America back then that thought it was a bad thing. We just voted no on marijuana yesterday, which is a good thing. I applaud that. But you know, alcohol has done as much harm as anything else. You say, no, no, it has. I mean, DUI, drunken drivers. You know what's the saddest part about drunken drivers? Typically, the drunken driver is more relaxed than the innocent party. I was just reading today about a family that was hit by two people who were so drunk they had taken all their clothes off and were driving naked and drunk. And they had an innocent family coming the other way. The dad was instantly killed. The mother had her leg crushed. Another child was killed. Another child had their ankle crushed. And another child had their leg severed. And they were the innocent ones. By the way, and that thou mayest look on their nakedness, alcohol makes your clothes come off. In fact, there's a country song that was They plagiarized the Bible to come up with this country song. And it's, I don't know the song, but the title is Tequila Makes Their Clothes Come Off. All right? So the world knows that this is what it does. Well, the Bible said it way before anybody wrote a country song about it. The world knows it. It's wrong. It's garbage. It doesn't need to be. Alcohol is not a natural product. Fermentation happens. But in order to get alcohol, you have to have a human alter it and make it so, and to have it come about at a certain temperature in a certain way. Otherwise it just turns to vinegar. God declared that he would judge the Babylonians for their use of alcohol. Think of those who, and here in this passage it talks about the Babylonians, but again his people were there too, the Jews. But think of those among the athletes and the models and the actors who have given their talents and beauty to advertise for the liquor industry and have offered it to the world And what's so goofy about that is that no athlete can really drink and be a good athlete at the same time. So of all people. And no model or good looking person can continue to drink and not have it affect their brain cells and their body cells. And so these people who have these nice looking physiques and bodies or whatever are really lying when they prance around and pretend like they're having a good time. But that is how they have to sell it. Think about this. Someone said years ago, the bartender is one businessman who is ashamed of his best customer. I think that's true. According to God's word, People who give alcohol to someone else or sell it to someone else are under a certain judgment from God. It says, woe unto them that give his neighbor drink. All right? This is a serious matter because of what the Bible declares and because of what we have seen alcohol do in the lives of others. I dare say right now, sitting in this room, every one of us has been affected negatively by someone because of alcohol. I dare say that, and probably you don't need to raise your hand, but I'll raise mine. How many of you have ever been hit by a drunk driver? I've been hit by a drunk driver. I wasn't drunk. I was the innocent driver and a drunk driver, a drunk woman hit me. T-boned me. Now I was driving a school bus, so I didn't hardly feel it because I was a lot bigger than her. But that poor lady never saw me because she never looked my way. And she was drunk. Listen, alcohol is a mess. And it's an industry. Listen to this. This is from 2005. So this is a little bit old. This is about 17 years ago. But alcohol is about a $50 billion business. You know, they spend, what is it, $1 million for 30 seconds on the Super Bowl commercials? Alcohol is a 50 billion dollar business, but as of 17 years ago, it cost the US taxpayer 68.6 billion. When you factor in job loss, limb loss, life loss, when you factor in all the things that actually are a detriment to society, the jailing and the prison sensing and all that goes on with that, The cost to us is greater than the profit. Jobs lost, man hours lost, physical problems, automobile accidents. How about infant syndrome, that alcohol, what do they call that? The syndrome that babies are born with because their mothers were drunk and drink a lot. Of course, there are murders. There's a huge amount of murders because of alcohol. I'm going to read you the statistics here. Drinking alcohol causes suffering. Drinking alcohol causes suffering in the lives of those who drink it and in the lives of others. Consider these statistics. With every drink, one shortens his life 20 minutes. More than 25,000 people are killed and 750,000 are injured on American highways each year because of alcohol. 86% of all murders and 65% of all child abuse is alcohol-related. Over 200,000 Americans die each year because of their own consumption of alcohol or because of someone else's consumption of alcohol. And even if you have never taken a drink, you should still be concerned because one out of every two Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related accident in his lifetime. I'm one of them. The world is suffering for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is beverage alcohol. Now, I do think that alcohol does have a legitimate purpose, you know, like rubbing alcohol or some, you know, maybe as a medicine, but it's not a beverage. God is against it because it causes suffering. It destroys lives. Look at Isaiah chapter 5, verse 11. Isaiah 5. Today we have a lot of people who claim to be Christians, and maybe they are, and now they're saying it's okay to drink. This is amazing to me. Isaiah 5 verse 11 says, again, what's the first word? It's just like our other verse. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them. It talks about wine in verse 12. Verse 14 says, therefore hell hath enlarged herself. There are lots of people who refuse to come to their senses and be sober about anything because alcohol keeps them from doing that. And they'd rather drink and they drink even in the morning. They even get up early and start to drink. It's abusive, it's wicked, it's ungodly. Now, I said a minute ago, how many of you have ever been involved in an accident? And it says it's about two to one now. In other words, 50%, one out of every two people are involved in some kind of an accident. We're talking about taking a trip at Christmas time. I'll tell you what I always think about whenever I drive at Christmas. The statistics are higher. Christmas, New Year's. What's the, I mean, the chances of someone being drunk on the road is much higher, just because. I remember coming home from, we had gone to a watch night service on a New Year's Eve at a different church. We were coming home, and I remember there were checkpoint stations in some of our, I think it was Hill City. And I remember thinking about the risk of just being on the road and having nothing to do with alcohol, but just being on the road with someone else who was. It's awful. It's a terrible thing. It's an awful tragedy that ruins lives and destroys people. But, you know, I'm just talking about the vehicles and the danger with vehicles or guns or whatever it might be. But there's people in here, younger people in here. They won't raise their hand and I don't want them to. But alcohol has damaged them in a different way that wasn't a car. Alcohol has destroyed their mom and dad and destroyed the marriage their mom and dad had or destroyed the potential of what their mom or dad could be. In fact, probably the young people in here who have had that hurt in their life are much more saying amen right now than anybody. And oh, by the way, It flows through our local public school. I don't mean in class, but from the employees who work there. I mean, we've had recent heads of departments had to get either fired or forced to resign because of alcohol. I remember years ago, There was a school trip somewhere, I think it was Mexico, I don't remember exactly where it was, but young people, the students snuck around and were drinking. Get this, alcohol is a disease, they say. Alcohol is a disease. If liquor is a disease, It's the only disease that requires a license to propagate it. It's the only disease that's bottled and sold. It's the only disease that requires outlets to spread it. It's the only disease that is spread by advertising. You call it a disease? How is it that someone can say, well, I can control it and that's fine with me, and the other person, no, it's a disease. What is it? It ought to be illegal. It's a shame that it's not, but of course there's a lot of other sins that are illegal as well. Look at the box at the bottom of the page that says drunkenness. This is, it doesn't give the name, so let me give you the name. The prime minister of England, William Gladstone, said this. Drunkenness expels reason, drowns the memory, distempers the body, diminishes strength, inflames the blood, causes internal and external wounds. It is a witch to the senses, a devil to the soul, a thief to the purse, a beggar's companion, a wife's woe, and children's sorrow. Yeah, that's exactly right. There is no doubt in our minds, alcohol causes suffering. And even if someone says, well, I can control it, and I never let it get out of hand, listen, You're actually helping it, though, to control, to destroy someone else when you sponsor it, when you buy it, when you help the company who makes it to make more of it. And if you. Well, honestly, I mean, if you voted against the marijuana thing this week. Then why would you think alcohol is OK? It's a drug. Alcohol is just a legal drug. Remember what we said just last week or the week before? Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. Just because it happens to be legal in the country you live in doesn't mean it's right. Alcohol causes suffering. And some of your best leaders and even famous leaders have decided not to drink at all, to be teetotallers. And I think they're correct to do so. It doesn't help your brain cells. It hurts. And it's not a good thing. It's a bad thing. Alcohol also causes shame. We read in Habakkuk about the spewing, the spewing, the vomiting. Not too long ago, someone who I know, a young person who I have had dealings with for years, who was at Star Academy at one time, posted a video. I can't show you the video because it's just too lewd, but posted a video of these people all dressed up to go out on the town. And they show these people, you know, like a selfie and they're all decked out or whatever for a night on the town. And then they showed the, there was two pictures. That one and then a couple hours, three or four hours later, after a night on the town and lots of liquor. And they were just a disaster. Horrible. Just spewing and just tripping over themselves and just passed out and out of their mind. And how embarrassing. and shameful. God relates drinking to immorality. Remember what we said when we read Habakkuk, the nakedness is mentioned. This is why liquor advertisements also promote an immoral lifestyle. The two are inseparably linked. That's why the country song was written. Tequila makes their clothes come off. By the way, I'm going to stop here because I think this is the time to say it. There's always the argument, well, Jesus made alcohol. Is that what the Bible says? Does the Bible say Jesus made alcohol? No, it doesn't. Just because our word today for wine means alcohol doesn't mean that's what the word was way back when the Bible was translated into English. If you've heard this before back in, I think it was January or whenever we talked about this before, the word wine in the Bible is a very generic term. It just means a fruit-based beverage. And you have to read the context to understand what kind of wine they're talking about. The Bible does not say Jesus made wine. On top of that, if you look at John chapter 2, it says that after men had well drunk, then that which is worse, in other words, they were surprised that the good stuff was kept till last. But if you remember how that whole thing came about, Jesus told the servants to fill up these water pots, and I think it was six water pots, and they contained two or three firkins a piece. And that comes out, six times two or three firkins comes out to about 150 to 180,000 gallons of water. Excuse me, 180 gallons of water, not thousand. 180 gallons of water is quite a bit of water. and then he turned it into wine but of course we understand from the Word of God that wine can mean just grape juice the Bible sometimes refers to the wine in the grape in other words it says in Isaiah that the wine is still in the grape well hello that can't be alcohol that's grape juice And Jesus turned 180 gallons of water into fresh grape juice. Otherwise, what we have to say is that Jesus turned water into 150 or 180 gallons of alcohol. So Jesus made 180 gallons of alcohol at a wedding feast. When you read all the verses we're gonna read in a minute about alcohol, and we know that it's God's word, how in the world can anyone say that Jesus made 180 gallons of alcohol to be drank at a wedding in which, if possible, the bride herself could get sloshed and possibly get pregnant that evening and then have a alcohol syndrome baby? Does that really fit? I mean, you talk about slandering my Jesus. Maybe your Jesus does, but mine doesn't. There's a new Jesus out there, and he's all about beer drinking. I get it. But the Bible talks about lots of other Jesuses. The Bible says there's another Jesus, and there's another gospel. In spite of what you see on some latest Jesus movie, the Bible's still the Bible. Have you ever seen a drunken woman? How come the beer commercials never show a drunken woman? Someone said a drunken woman's one of the most disgusting things you can ever see. Because a woman is very dignified. But a drunken woman is very shameful. Sadly, we just had our election I'm just frustrated that back in the primary we couldn't do a better job because, to be honest with you, there was a few of them that I just kind of went like this and voted. Our lieutenant governor is known to be an alcoholic. Back in June at the Republican State Convention, not many people know this, But it was put to a vote as to whether or not he should be reelected as lieutenant governor. And our friend Steve Hougard that was here got 44% to 56%. I mean, it almost swung to the point where you had Noam Hougard on the ticket because of the reputation that the lieutenant governor has. The Buffalo Roundup happened just six, seven weeks ago. And, of course, some of the state officials are here for the Buffalo Roundup. And even our commissioners, of course, are part of that. And there was a commissioner of our county and others who broke into the Game Lodge liquor area and got themselves drunk during the Roundup. Alcohol destroys good judgment. I don't know if you remember this, but years and years ago, when Bill Clinton was in office, they said that when they were trying to talk with Boris Yeltsin, they made sure they had alcohol in the room, because they could get Boris drunk. You're not going to tell me that Jesus made it. I'm not going to believe that. And we all know TV is full of lies. And TV commercials lie. And young people, when you see a commercial on TV about alcohol. You need to turn away. Shut off the volume. Turn off the mute. And don't look at it. Because the Bible says not to look at it. The Bible says not to look at it. Let's go with me to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs 23 verse 19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe the man with rags. Hearken unto thy father the begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and sell it not. Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding, The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begeth a wise child shall have joy of him. The father and the mother shall be glad, and she that beareth thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways, for a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increases the transgressors among men, who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes, they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, that's altered wine, wine that's been altered on purpose by human beings. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. Did you know that liquor salesmen and alcohol people and wine people. Do you know that they purposely take that glass and kind of move it around in a special way? It says, look not on it. So whatever commercial or billboard there is, don't look at it. Don't watch it being poured. Verse 32 says, at the last it biteth like a serpent. and stingeth like an adder." I think it's amazing that Jesus made 180 gallons of alcohol, and he never looked at it one time. I'm being sarcastic. I mean, because we know Jesus didn't violate the Bible. So he announced after he made 150 or 180 gallons of alcohol, hey, everybody, take a drink, but don't be looking at it. Because that would violate our Old Testament. At the last it bitheth like a serpent, and stinketh like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. And there are plenty of times that adultery has been committed because of alcohol. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast." Which back then was one of the most dangerous, horrible jobs you could have, was riding on the top of a mast of a ship during a storm. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. And when you wake up, they tell you, you know you killed someone with your car while you were out of your mind? You know you just destroyed your family and your children's hearts are broken while you're out of your mind? Listen to wisdom. Don't do this. Look at Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs chapter 31 and verse 4 and 5, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Strong drink is for those people who are dying, kind of like, you know, they're on their deathbed and they give them some kind of a sedation. Strong drink is not to be for people who are using it as a beverage. It is not for kings. The Bible tells us that you and I as believers are to be priests and kings. It's not for us. In fact, speaking of priests, the book of Leviticus said that the priests were not to drink wine at all. Let me show you that. Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10, you and I are the priests of our home. You and I are the priesthood of the believer, the individual priesthood. Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 says, Lord speaking to Aaron saying, do not drink wine or strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when they go into the tabernacle of congregation lest you die. It shall be a statue forever throughout your generations that you may put the difference between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean. Years ago, someone who is in here, their spouse was telling me, their spouse is in heaven now, their spouse was telling me about a time they were invited to some just social event with different, I think it was business people in the community. And there happened to be, I think it was the community minister of Custer there. And the community minister of the community church in Custer was drunk. Remember when I was in Belarus, of course, they have weird things over there with the Orthodox Church, which is like the Catholic Church. And the Orthodox Church religion and things, they have this Day of the Dead where they go to the cemetery and everybody weeps over their dead loved one's grave, and they put flowers in the grave, and there's always gonna be a priest there. And the priest was supposed to go around and have communion over every one of the graves with these people. But of course, they used alcohol in their communion. By the end of the day, this priest is absolutely staggering drunk. You're talking about mockery. And you and I, the Bible says in Revelation chapter one, we are priests and kings. And if we're supposed to behave like a priest or a king based on the two passages I just looked at, we ought not have anything to do with it. I'm a priest in my home 24-7. I'm a child of the king 24-7. And if someone tries to argue, well, I have the right. Well, even if you have the right, do you remember what we talked about last week and even Sunday night? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. You can't possibly tell me that alcohol is expedient. It's just not expedient. It is not necessary. You can't tell me that alcohol is a necessary part of a daily routine for anyone. If it is, guess what you are? An alcoholic. If you need alcohol, you're an alcoholic. Anybody gonna argue that? Because you don't need it. You can live your whole life and never drink it. I'm pushing 50 and I've never drank it as a beverage. Notice. what God says concerning, and in some other places, in Hosea chapter four, verse six, and then also Isaiah 28, Hosea four, and verse six. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. What's sad to me is there's so many people, including the young people that were just here in our church a little bit ago, who don't even know that alcohol's wrong. They just think that alcohol is only for adults. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. So what happens to a child when they're 16 and they're told they have to wait until they're 18? But because they're old enough to drive a car and because they're considering, they consider themselves to be a little more responsible than average, what does the average 16 and 17-year-old do as soon as they get the chance? Do 16, 17, and 18-year-olds sneak around and drink alcohol? Yeah. Because they think, well, it's just illegal. I mean, come on, we break the law once in a while as long as we don't hurt anybody. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. One thing I feared growing up was what if I'm an alcoholic, I just don't know it, and the first drink lights my fire? What if I'm an alcoholic and I just don't even know it, and the first drink I take That hooks me big time. Why even go there? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children, as they were increased, so they sinned against me. Therefore will I change their glory to shame. They did the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity, and there shall be like people, like priests, and I will punish them for their ways. and reward them for their doings. For they shall eat and not have enough and they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase because they have left off to take heed to the Lord. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. It destroys them. And Isaiah chapter 28 and verse seven says, but they also have erred through wine and through strong drink are they out of the way. The priests and prophet have erred through strong drink, and they are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. They err in vision, and they stumble in judgment. The prophet and the priest, the religious leaders, are leading the people in the wrong way. God promised that their glory would be turned to shame. because of strong drink. Many a man has started out handsome and strong, and many a young woman has started out beautiful, but now their lives are full of shame because of alcohol. And Proverbs chapter 20 and verse one says, wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Strong drink, wine. We have a term for it nowadays, we call it a wino. A wino, someone who drank all this cheap alcohol long enough that it's just gonna burn out their brain and all they want is another one. Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 7 says, excuse me, Proverbs 21 verse 17 says, he that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man and he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. It's a shame that so many people out there never have what they could have had because they literally drank it or smoked it or shot it away. That's why we're having something called a hope ministry soon. Not just for alcohol but for any addiction. By the way, I'm not sure how many other churches in Custer County but I don't know that there is any. who have a pastor who speaks against alcohol 100%. I think there are some churches who kind of give the idea, well, as long as you can handle it, it's kind of a social drinking thing, like a beverage. It's okay for a beverage as long as you don't abuse it, as they'll say. Do you think, if that is the case, do you think that the same churches are going to have a hope addictions program? If they okay it on one hand, they're going to turn around and try to teach how to get a victory over it on the other hand? It destroys brain cells. It destroys lives. It causes shame. But you know what the Bible says, the best way to get over something is to replace it. Look at Ephesians chapter five, verse 18. This is what I think is what we need to learn as we go into an addictions type program where we're trying to help people with the word of God. You can't just say, You gotta stop it. You just gotta turn from it. Well, of course, you can say that, and people can try that, and people have gone cold turkey for 30 days or 90 days or whatever it might be. But here's the real key to it. In Ephesians chapter five, verse 18, it says, and be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Instead of being filled with something you don't need, be filled with something you really do need, something that will replace the void and will take the place and fill up the emptiness there. So drinking alcohol can be stopped, but it's only through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if, of course, you don't know Christ, you're not going to be able to tap into the power of Christ to turn from it. But the key is not just turning from it, but turning to the Lord. And I've thought this as I've noticed some people that I've worked with and some younger people and younger adults. And I'm starting to learn this myself and that is because we've even tried to help someone go to like an addictions program or go to a special house where they can be away from it and they're not allowed to have it. And they spend months and months away from it. But here's what I've learned. that that person's gonna go right back to it as soon as they can if they don't really give their whole life to Jesus Christ. Present their bodies a living sacrifice. In other words, if they just think, I've only got one problem, I only do really one thing really bad, and that's I drink too much, they'll never, ever get victory. But instead, we'll realize, oh, wretched man that I am. God be merciful to me a sinner. I don't deserve anything Paul said I'm the chiefest of sinners Well, no wonder Paul got victory over his sin because he saw himself as being the worst And until we see our sin is really wrong. We're not gonna get over it if we just think well I I'm pretty much a good person. I just have this particular issue. Here's what I've noticed some people with this particular issue just jump from one addiction to another addiction and I think there are people right now that used to smoke cigarettes. Now they're sucking on vaping things. Oh, good for you. You don't smoke anymore. Now you just have vapors going in your lungs instead of smoke. But you're not really getting anywhere. Only Jesus can fix it and give victory. And it's being conscious about who I am and where I am. I go back to this simple place in Proverbs 1, verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. See, the fear of the Lord helps me to understand that God sees everything. God doesn't just see what people see. God sees all things. He sees it when I'm thinking about it and I'm tempted about it. He sees that. He sees the craving that I have for it. He sees that. And He knows my heart. And the Bible says in 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So why not replace what the devil has put in your life with something else? My father got saved, and when he got saved, it was not a church. It was a group of Christians. They gave the gospel, but they didn't really point him to a good church, so he just kind of wandered around, what do I do now? When he found a good church to go to, he said to his wife, my mother, he said, hey, let's come back on Sunday night, see what we're missing. So they came back on Sunday night, and the preacher preached on the stewardship of your life. We just talked about stewardship recently. Not just of your money, but everything, and every 100% of your whole life, that's the key. See, if you try to just say, well, I'm gonna keep about 50% of me for me and let God have the other part, that isn't gonna work. That's not a living sacrifice. But the preacher was talking about 100%, and my dad was always 110% kind of guy. Man, if you're gonna do something, do it all the way. He played football, man, he played it all the way. He'd go into the business world, he did it all the way. Whatever he did, man, do it all the way. And the preacher was just preaching about the different things that we need to recognize that God doesn't want in our life, and one of them happened to be alcohol. One of the things the preacher touched on was your body belonging to the Lord, a temple of the Holy Spirit. Should we be allowing alcohol in our body? Is that what we should be doing with our body? And my dad was a businessman in Chicago, and it was Schomburg. We were in Bethel Baptist Church in Schomburg, and he's hearing the preacher, Pastor Bumpus preach, and he's like, I just bought a complete bar, a complete liquor collection and bar to entertain my business clients and my buddies and stuff. And he wasn't an alcoholic, but he just blew a bunch of money on it. And he went home that night, stewardship 100%. And he went up, found the cabinet, opened it up, took out all the bottles, the storage box full of bottles, went to the bathroom and just started pouring it down the toilet, flushing, pour some more, flush, pour some more, and just drained it all. I said, that's it, we're done. And because he wasn't an alcoholic, he was able to say that and walk away from it without a lot of strings attached. And that was a blessing that he didn't have that alcoholic drunkenness where he couldn't, where he was attached. That's a blessing. But let me tell you something. Even if he had never become a drunk, I think I probably would have. I think if alcohol had been allowed to stay at our home, I think I would have dabbled in it, Aaliyah. I think I would have started playing around with it. Oh, I guarantee you I had one of the boys that were, well, yeah, I know I was supposed to be an adult, but I'm pretty smart. I'm only 12, but I'm pretty smart. I think I would have messed with it. When I get to heaven, I'm not sure this is the case, but when we get to heaven, I wonder if, kind of like It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart, I wonder if God can show us what was and what could have been. I wonder if God will show us those crossroad decisions that we made and how that This is what, and this is what it could have been. Because in my life, I really think that had Tom Furze not made that decision that night when I was just a little guy, that I'm getting this out of my home, I wonder what I would have been like 10 years later, 12 years later, had he allowed it to stay. But on a Sunday night service, God said, you don't need that, and that's what I want you to give up, and he gave it up, and he just flushed it. Today, we got Christians arguing about why we need to keep it. And of course, they never go on Sunday night service. But folks, I just know that this is true. I know what I just told you is true. In fact, years later, my dad was a youth leader in a church in Michigan, years later. And he was working with this young man. He was a nice young man, but he had a problem. He was about 16, 17 years old, and he was already an alcoholic. and my dad was working with him and trying to understand, and then he found out that the young man's dad was the Michigan State liquor license guy. And my dad went to this man and said, your son has an alcohol problem, and your job is alcohol related. Don't you think there's a connection? I've never been drunk, I don't know. My dad said, don't you think there's a connection? We reap what we sow. And this is one thing that has, it's infiltrating Christians now. It's infiltrating churches now. And now we have ministers who are drinking socially. We have people who are, of course, having alcohol in their business life that used to never. I mentioned wedding. Well, you know, wedding venues. Two main things in wedding venues today. Are you going to put up with a gay wedding? Are you going to put up with alcohol a part of the wedding? Christians, if you take the high road, you're not going to be popular. And let's just say, I don't believe it for one minute, let's just say we get to heaven and we find out that God actually was okay if you drank once in a while. Honestly, I'm gonna be like, I didn't miss anything. I didn't miss anything. And as little money as I have to work with, why waste it on that? Don't need it. I just, again, if you need it, you're an alcoholic. If it's not expedient, who cares if it's lawful? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for reminders. There's so many things in the word of God that's so clearly negative about alcohol. And one or two little times that someone might be able to pull something and say, but see, And yet we know the effects. We know how Lot's daughters got him drunk and then ended up pregnant by their own father. Noah was drunk and what a mess that was. We've seen so many stories in our own lives and illustrations that how could it be wrong to just avoid it altogether? Lord, help us to be sober, not just physically sober, but spiritually sober. and aware of how dangerous this thing is. You said don't even look at it, touch it. Help us to recognize the potency of it. And help us to see the broken hearts of young people whose lives are forever scarred because alcohol destroyed their parents or destroyed their family. And help us to hate sin and love people, love you, and hate evil. Thank you, God, for your word. In Jesus' name, amen.