Clue #4 -- Freedom: 052511

Tonight we finished our series called Clue. During this series we looked at four ways that the Holy Spirit can affect our lives if we allow him to be part of it. Week 1 taught us that the Holy Spirit can change us from bad to good. Week 2 taught us that the Holy Spirit can use us to change the world. Week 3 taught us that the Holy Spirit can give us direction and guidence. And tonight we learned from a man named Onesimus that we can have freedom because of the Holy Spirit. In the Bible we learn of a man named Onisemus who was a runaway slave that is sent back to his master by the apostle Paul after he has converted Onesimus. Later we find out in christian tradition that he was released by his master and ended up as the Bishop of the Ephesus, a town of about 250,000 people. He was freed from the role of slave but more importantly he was freed from slavery to sin when he was saved and allowed the Holy Spirit to have reign in his life. 2nd Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Many of us are slaves to sin because we have never gained forgiveness from our sins through Christ (what we call salvation). Many of us are slaves to addictions, things that have latched on and we can't seem to stop doing (drugs, alcohol, sex, porn, tobacco, etc...). And some of us are also slaves to depression. People have hurt us and we are on the brink of life, thining we want to die because we can't take it any longer. But Christ is ready to set you free through the Spirit! You can have freedom, you just have to turn to him!

I give tonight: B
Favorite Moment: The revealing of the prankster

Mousetrap #1 -- Addictions -- 020211

Tonight we started a new series called mousetrap. Over the next four weeks we are going to explore different traps that stop us from being able to pursue God and the destiny he has for us. The first of the mousetraps is addictions. An addiction is compulsive need for and use of a habit forming substance charactrized by tolerance and by well defined physicolgical symptoms upon withdrawal. There are many bad things we can get addicted to: cutting, porn, sex outside of marriage, texting, facebook, video games, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, popularity, etc...

When thinking about addiction I tend to think of fly paper traps. I was always grossed otu by them, but they appealed to the flys. Fly paper is a strip of paper that has some phermones to draw the flys to it, then it has a long lasting sticky substance on it so that when a fly touches it, it becomes stuck, then a poison so that the fly will eat it and die. Addictions act the same way. at frist the thing seems unattractive. But then we get closer and we become strangely drawn to it (through friends, looks fun, family, famous people, etc...). When we get too close and actually experience that thing we suddenly become struck and no matter how hard we struggle, on our own we can't escape. Finally our relationship with God, with others, and our destiny are swallowed up by this thing instead until we are utterly spiritual and emotionally dead because of it. The big question becomes how do we find freedom when we are trapped so that we can pursue God and our destiny again. Titus 3:3-7 tells us that it starts with turning to God for forgiveness and renewal by the Holy Spirit. So to break through an addiction we need to Look Up (to God for help and forgiveness), Look Over (to others to encourage us and become accountable to), and Run (stay away from people and places that encourage us to go back to that addiction).

I give tonight: A

Favorite Moment: The many who walked into the fly paper