Dr. C.

Tommy Wood
PASTOR

I CAN'T STOP (ADDICTION)

2 Peter 2:19

2 Peter 2:19. "They are slaves of destructive habits. For a man is a slave of anything
that has conquered him."
I read this week in the LA Times: "Americans seem hooked on the idea of having
addictions. These days almost anyone might have an addiction, if not to drugs or
alcohol, then to food, cigarettes, exercise, relationships, sex, shopping, work, video
games. Habits that were once called compulsions or just plain weaknesses are now
described as addictions. A new monthly magazine Lifeline America deals with
addictions. More than 200 different kinds of addictions now are dealt with by groups in
America." How do you deal with addictions? A couple of our favorite addictions are
drinking and eating. Eighteen million have a drinking problem and eating, slimming
down. This article says that Americans are 2.3 billion pounds overweight.
I want us to look at how to break free from a habit. I don't care what your habit is.
Everybody has got a bad habit. I want to give you nine Biblical steps. When you break
a habit there is a spiritual part, a physical part and an emotional part. I want to deal
with the emotional and spiritual today. Nine steps from God's word on How Do You
Break a Bad Habit?
B.R.E.A.K. F.R.E.E.
B - BEGIN TODAY
Not tomorrow, next week, next month. Have you noticed there are more people going
on a diet tomorrow than today? Prov. 27:1 "Never boast about tomorrow. You don't
know what will happen between now and then." Quit telling yourself "one of these
days". Stop procrastinating. Stop postponing. It's going to be harder to change
tomorrow than it is today, because delay always makes a problem worse.
Eccl. 11:4 "If you wait for perfect conditions, you'll never get anything done!" So what's
your excuse, why aren't you working on that problem? The person who really wants to
change finds a way; the person who doesn't want to change finds an excuse. Begin
today.
R - REFUSE TO BLAME OTHERS
This problem is as old as Adam and Eve. Adam sinned, took it like a man and blamed
his wife. "Eve made me do it!" I'll never get better until I accept personal
responsibility. I've got to admit it's my problem. Proverbs 19:3 "Some people ruin
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themselves by their own stupid actions and then blame the Lord." Who are you
blaming for your bad problems? Your parents? Your husband? Wife? Teachers?
Children? Boss? The devil made me do it? God? To break free I've got to assume
responsibility for my life. When you blame you're being lame. B-lame. You're backing
off. In order to break a habit you've got to quit excusing yourself and accusing other
people. You don't "pass the buck".
E - EXAMINE MY LIFE
I take personal inventory, I do an internal audit, a frank evaluation. I ask myself
questions like "What are my weaknesses? How long have I had this problem? Where
am I tempted most? What are my fears? What are my frustrations?" You need to do
a frank evaluation of your life. Lamentations 3:40 "Let us examine our ways and test
them, and return to the Lord." Circle "examine" and "test".
To change I've got to stop pretending. I can't cover up my faults. I've got to come face
to face with my faults. The fact is hiding a hurt only intensifies it and makes it worse.
Denial prevents healing. Psalm 32:4-5 "My dishonesty made me miserable and filled
my days with frustration until I finally admitted my sins and stopped trying to hide them.
And God forgave me! All my guilt is gone!" Circle "miserable" and "frustration". God
says just admit that you've got a problem and I will forgive and wipe out the guilt in your
life!
You need to do an evaluation. This needs to be continual. Healthy people are always
evaluating themselves: Am I slipping? Am I making it? Where am I getting off course?
Keep short accounts with God. Be honest with God and be honest with yourself.
A - ASK CHRIST TO TAKE OVER MY LIFE
He's waiting to help. You need a power greater than yourself to help you change. You
can't change on your own power. Why not go straight to the source?
Romans 6:12-13 (Living Bible) "Don't let sin control your body any longer. Don't give in
to its sinful desires but give yourself completely to God -- every part of you -- to be
used for His good purposes." He's saying that the solution to your addiction is choose
the right master. Every day you're controlled by something: other people, other time
schedules, drugs, alcohol, and food. You're going to have to serve somebody, why not
choose the right master? That's where freedom comes. Instead of having somebody
else control my life, you say, "I'm going to have God control my life." That's where
freedom takes place. You don't let these other things control you, you let God control
you. Circle the word "completely". Often we only want to give God the problem. "God,
I'll give you this problem, but let me take the rest of my life." God says, "If you want Me
to work on the problem you've got to give Me every area of your life. You've got to give
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it all to Me, not just a part." You turn the management of your life over to God and that
produces incredible power to change.
Why don't most people do it? Because we're afraid we'll become fanatics. If I give
over every area of my life I'll lose my fun and my freedom and I'll become a fanatic.
The Good News is Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it
abundantly." The good news is that you matter to God. God has a purpose for your
life and a plan and His plans for your life are good. So you relax and let God take
control of your life and He gives you that power. The Bible says that God is for you,
not against you. So I ask Christ to take over my life. Instead of being controlled by
something else, I'm going to be controlled by God. And that produces freedom. You're
going to serve somebody or something.
K - KEEP AWAY FROM THE TEMPTATION
This is just plain sense. If you don't want to get stung by the bees you stay away from
them. You need to avoid the situations where you are tempted.
Romans 13:14 (Phillips translation) "Don't give any chances for the flesh to have it's
fling." Don't put yourself in tempting situations. If I have a problem with drinking, I
don't stock a bar in my house. If I have a problem with lust, I don't go to those news
stands that carry that kind of stuff. If I have a problem with overeating, I don't move
next to a fast food place. I don't stock pile my home with junk food. I stay away from
the things that cause me problems.
I thought of an invention the other day for dieters: A refrigerator that every time you
opened it, it weighed you.
You don't put yourself in situations where you know you're going to be tempted.
Proverbs 24:27 "Plan carefully what you do. Avoid evil." Plan to avoid temptation.
The key to overcoming temptations is to decide in advance. You don't wait, teenagers,
until you're in the back seat of a parked car to say, "Do I want to stay pure?" You don't
wait until you're sitting in a bar until you say, "Do I want to drink?" You plan in
advance. You decide to avoid it in advance. Predetermine, is what he's saying here.
I always tell teenagers, if you don't want to get involved sexually before you get
married, plan your dates. You'll either go by your plans or your glands. One of them is
going to win out!
I asked a guy how he quit smoking. He said, "I wet my matches." He planned in
advance.

Ephesians 4:27 "Don't give the devil a foothold." Don't put yourself in those situations.
It may mean you have to choose some new friends. If your friends bring you down,
you need new friends. Maybe you need to change jobs. Maybe you need to move.
The Bible says, "Flee temptation." Run from it, avoid it!
Most of us, when we flee temptation, we leave a forwarding address. Keep away from
it! Burn your bridges! Do the smart thing and stay away from situations that tempt
you.
That's the negative part: Stay away from situations that cause your downfall. The
positive part is this:
F - FOCUS ON SOMETHING BETTER
Proverbs 4:23 "Be careful how you think, your life is shaped by your thoughts." Circle
"thoughts". The Bible says that the spiritual battle for sin is fought in the mind. If you
want to change your life, it starts right here. Whatever captures my attention, captures
me.
The key to resisting temptation is not to resist it. You simply refocus your attention.
You mentally change channels. The only way you have victory over temptation is to
refocus your attention on something else.
Whatever you concentrate on gets you. Have you ever concentrated on a diet? The
right portions, the right times. The more you concentrate on the diet all you can think
about is food. I think about food much more when I'm on a diet than when I'm not on a
diet. It's like I'm consumed with the thought of food when I concentrate on it. That's
not the way to break a habit. The key is to turn your mind and focus on something
better.
The moment you're tempted you turn your mind to something else. Switch channels.
What do you focus on?
Philippians 4:8 "Fill your mind with things that are good and deserve praise; things that
are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable." This is the principle of replacement.
You replace the bad with the good. Vacuums do not exist in the world. They are
artificially created. If you create a vacuum, something fills it. My gas tank is never
empty: it's always either filled with gas or with air. Gas replaces the air, air replaces
the gas. One thing is going to fill it.
You may think your mind is empty. You say you're going to get rid of a thought. But it
will come right back unless you replace something else with it. The principle of
replacement. The power of a positive affection -- when you want to get rid of a bad
thought, fill it with a good thought. That's the way you push it out. You push it in the
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front door and it goes out the back door. You replace old thoughts with new ones.
That's why Romans 12:2 says "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
This sixth step is to focus on the positive. Focus on something better. The Bible says
you fill your mind with positive things and when you know the truth, "The truth will set
you free." You fill your mind with the word of God.
R - RESTORE BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS
Why is this important? Anything that is out of control in your life is hurting somebody
else. When we have addictions we manipulate other people to fulfill those addictions.
We end up causing grief to ourselves, grief to others and guilt to ourselves. You need
to make those things right. Go to those people you've hurt and restore those
relationships.
Romans 12:18 (Phillips translation) "As far as your responsibility goes, [Circle this] live
at peace with everyone." That may take some time. But you take the initiative. You
make a list of people that your habit has harmed and you go to those people and you
ask forgiveness and you offer restitution and as much as your responsibility, you try to
make things right.
Why? A clear conscious is essential for change. For permanent, lasting change you
must maintain a clear conscious. If you maintain a clear conscious, I don't give you
much hope for lasting change. Go back and make things right.
This is the hardest step -- to go back and admit to people that my problem caused you
a problem, my guilt caused you grief. The Bible says as much as it's your
responsibility go and live at peace with everybody. Get that clear conscious so you've
got God's power in your life to keep on keeping on.
E - ENLIST A SUPPORT GROUP
The eighth Biblical principle in breaking free is to enlist a support group. We all need
reinforcement. We all need support. Eccl. 4:9-10 "Two are better off than one,
because together if one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone
is alone and falls there is no one to help him." That makes sense. He's talking about
the law of diminishing intent. It goes like this: As time passes, best intentions fade.
You start out great in January. Two weeks later you're back in your old habits.
Why? It's a cycle. You start out in humility: "God, I'm not making it. I need your help."
God gives grace to the humble. He gives us the power to change when we're humble.
So He gives you the power to make it. After about six months you start thinking, "I'm
making it!" And you get full of pride. The Bible says in Proverbs 16 that pride leads to
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a fall. And you fall again. Then in humility you say again, "God, I'm not making it. I
need your help." And you get God's power. If you'd live in that humility you'd stay
there. But then you get full of pride again.
The moment you think, "I've got this thing licked!" you're in dangerous water. The
moment you think this is no longer a problem you're in dangerous water.
How do you break the cycle? You need support. You need friends who will pray for
you, care for you, encourage you, keep you on track. When that law of diminishing
intent takes effect those people are there to spur you on. Two are better than one
because they help each other up.
"Confess your sins to each other..." Not to God, or to a priest! This says I've got to
confess my sins to you and you've got to confess your sins to me. I don't like that
verse at all! "... and pray for each other so that you may be healed." I like the healing
part of this verse. I want to be emotionally healed. I want to be physically healed,
spiritually healed. I want to break the grasp of this habit on my life. How? By
confessing to each other and praying for each other. Not just to God, but to each other.
This is one of the keys. This is the price for freedom.
Some of you have a habit and you want to break it. But you don't want anybody to
know about your problem. I say "Good luck!" I don't give you any hope of lasting
change. I really don't. This is the very attitude we talked about last week that says, "I
can do it on my own and I don't want other people to know that I'm a human being with
normal problems and weaknesses and faults and failures. I want them to think I'm
perfect!" That is the very attitude that will keep you in bondage. It is essential that you
learn to live a transparent life before people. I've got strengths and I've got
weaknesses. Here they are. This is the purpose of the church! The church is to be a
support group, to encourage each other and lift each other up. This is the value of
small groups. Every Christian needs to be in a small group. There is no such thing as
Lone Ranger Christians. You need to be in a small group where people pray for you,
care for you, encourage you. There's a feeling of freedom to know that everybody's in
the same boat. We all have the same problems. When you find somebody who says,
"I've been there! We've made it through and I'm on the other side now. Let me give
you some encouragement." That gives you the motivation to break out of the cycle of
starting and stopping and hiding your hurt. Revealing your feeling is the beginning of
healing. That's where it starts. If you can't admit it to somebody you can't work on it.
Some of you are thinking, "I'm going to quit, but I'm not going to tell anybody that I'm
quitting." And I say, that's a cop out. You're making provision for the flesh. You're
providing an escape hatch. What you're thinking is, "I'm going to try but if it doesn't
work out nobody knows that I even tried and it's no big deal. Nobody knows so it's all
right." You are guaranteeing failure. You're providing an escape hatch by which you
can get out. You need a support group.
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I wish I had time to bring people to give testimonies about support groups here in our
church. That's why we have small groups. We have specialty groups that deal with
specific problems but we have a lot of basic share groups of Bible study and prayer
and have a good time. Even in those there is tremendous emotional healing taking
place and encouragement and people given the lift that they need to make the
changes God wants to make in their lives. We need a support group. We need each
other.
When we've done these first eight steps then comes the ninth step.
E - I EXTEND MYSELF TO OTHERS
2 Cor. 1:4 (Good News) "Christ helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help
others in trouble, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God."
God allows us to go through problems, even the ones I've brought on myself, and then
He helps us through those problems so that we can turn around and help other people
with the same comfort we've been given. God wants to take your greatest weakness,
the area you're ashamed of and you don't want anybody to know about and make it
your ministry. He wants to help you through this problem and help you overcome it,
and get victory in it and then give you a ministry of helping other people with the exact
same problems. God never wastes a hurt.
My prayer is that some of you are going to start putting into practice these nine steps
and you're going to get involved in a group and give all areas of your life to Christ and
you're going to start seeing these changes and you're going to get victory over that
area you've been ashamed of and has been a habit and problem in your life and two
years you're going to have a ministry at church to those very people that have the
problem that you have right now. That is the ultimate high! Being used of God to help
other people. There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that God is using you to
help people. And what does He use in your life? Not your strengths. He uses your
weaknesses! The very area that I don't want anybody to know about, God uses in your
life.
I am scared to death to speak in front of other people. You can't believe that but I am.
I've spoken in front of 10,000 people at a time and yet God has used this in my life to
bless you. He does. God wants to take your life, your habits, your hang ups, your
hurts -- and they're not there by accident -- and He wants to turn them around in your
life and give you a ministry.
Galatians 6:1-2 "If a person is trapped in some sin, you who are spiritual should restore
him gently. But watch yourself; you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens,
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and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ." If you want to be like Christ, if you want to
be loving and have the law of Christ in your life, carry each other's burdens.

When you share a burden, it's halved -- only half as heavy when somebody else is
carrying it with you. That's what I think God wants a church to be, where we carry
each other's burdens. My prayer is that our church will be a place where people say,
"That's for fellow strugglers. Nobody thinks they've got it together there. Everybody
thinks they have hang-ups there but they're all working on it. That church is just a
bunch of saved sinners." That's exactly what we are. No better and no worse. So we
extend ourselves to other people.
When you take these nine steps look at God's promise. I Cor. 10:13 (Good News)
"God keeps His promise; He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to
resist; at the time you are tempted He will give you the strength to endure it, and so
provide you with a way out." God says I will give you the power to overcome that
temptation, that habit and provide a way out. This promise is not for everybody. You
cannot go out and say, "I've got a problem with overeating, set down to several orders
of ice cream and then say, `God, provide a way out!' ... God, I have a problem with lust
but I'm going to keep subscribing to those magazines...." You need to do these other
steps. You can only claim the promise when you're following the principles. It starts by
making Jesus Christ the master of your life.
2 Peter 2:19 talks about people who are slaves of destructive habits, "For a man is a
slave of anything that has conquered him." What's in control in your life? Whatever is
in control is your master. If you say, "I'm in control of my life" then look where it got
you. A self made man worships his maker. The fact is you need something bigger
than yourself to pull you out of yourself to pull you out of the problems that you're
causing on yourself. The Bible says you're going to serve somebody. You're going to
serve money or power or sex or food or drugs or drink or gambling or shopping...
something. Real freedom comes when you chose the right master. These steps work
but it starts with a decision.
If you have someone in your family who's messing up their life with a habit, an
addiction, whatever, you must care enough to confront. You cannot let them get away
with it. You must confront them and say, "I'm not going to stand for it! You will get
your act together! You will get help! But I'm not going to support you and bail you out!"
You must have tough love, you must care enough to confront.
We've only talked about the spiritual and the emotional this morning. There is a
physical part. I'm a firm believer in hospitalization -- things like the CARE unit program
for detoxification or withdrawal -- but you need the spiritual basis for lasting, permanent
change.
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Prayer:
I don't know what's out of control in your life. And maybe you don't even know.
Maybe you're too afraid to face it. The fact is, God knows. If you want to live a life
of freedom I urge you to take these steps this morning. Would you, in your own
heart, pray to God and say, "God, I want to begin today. I'm going to quit
postponing and procrastinating. Everyday I put it off the problem gets worse. It
gets harder to change because it's another day that the habit is ingrained. I'm not
going to make any more excuses or wait for the perfect time. I'm going to quit
excusing myself and I'm going to quit accusing others. I'm not going to blame my
parents or my environment or my husband or wife or my bad marriage or my boss
or the bad breaks I got in life. I'm going to accept responsibility for my own
problems. Lord, I want to do some examination on my own life. i want to do an
internal audit. I want to quit pretending and stop covering up my faults, hiding the
hurt that only makes it worse. I realize that I will never get well until I quit denying
it. Thank You that you are a loving and gracious God and a forgiving God. Help
me to be continual in my evaluation of my life." Then would you take this next
important step and ask Jesus Christ to take over all your life. What does that
involve? You say, "I admit, God, that I've been trying to play God. I admit that I
cannot change on my own. I humbly ask You, God, to help me to change. I invite
You to take total ownership of my life. Every part. I want You to be in control
because You are a loving God and You have a good plan for my life." Jesus Christ
does not want to make you a fanatic. He wants to give you freedom, not take it
away. You're just existing until you learn to really live, until you're in tune with the
one who made you. Would you say, "Father, help me to keep away from the
temptations, to avoid those situations where I'm tempted, to not make any provision
for the flesh but to decide in advance. I want to plan ahead and I don't want the
devil to get a foothold in my life." If that means changing friends, tell Him, "Lord, I'm
willing to change the friends that are dragging me down. I'm willing to change jobs.
Whatever it takes." "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
loses his soul?" Would you say, "Lord, help me to focus on something better, to not
fight the temptation but to just turn my thoughts to You and to rebuild the thought
patterns of my mind by reading the Bible every day and replacing the bad with the
good. Lord, I want to know the truth, so that it can set me free. Father, help me to
restore those broken or damaged relationships where I've caused grief to others
and guilt to myself. Give me the courage to take the initiative to ask forgiveness
and make restitution and gain that clear conscious." Would you commit yourself
this morning and say, "I'm going to join a small group." You were not meant to live
the Christian life on your own. "Lord, in faith, I want to ask You to heal my life and
use me to help other people. God, help me in this area that's a weakness, that's a
problem, that I'm ashamed of, that I hide. Help me to be open to You and to others
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and find healing and help and hope so that then You might use me to encourage
others. I claim Your promise that You'll make a way out and Your power in my life."
Father, as I've looked out on these folks today and I see in their faces what You
want to do, I pray that You would raise up out of this church an army of people who
You have healed emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally and give them all
ministries a year, two years from now that they might be helping the very people
who have problems that they've struggled with. Help us to realize that You never
waste a hurt, but that You have a plan and a hope behind it. We thank You in
Jesus' name. Amen.

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