STUDIES FROM BRETHREN IN CHRIST

10/14/2018 ~ Drinking

☕   DrinkingAM.mp3 (35m 35s)   Drinking.pptx Darkness is numb to light. Drinking alcohol is the main reason for selfishness and destroyed relationships. Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. ~ Proverbs 20:1 Verbal looseness and cruel outbursts are inflamed by drunken arrogant stupors. Strong drink does not add to one’s peace of mind. Depression follows intoxication. To be wise is to pay attention to how God teaches us concerning drinking and its uses and or consequences. Wisdom does not search for an escape as much as a solution and wise are those who have learned to control infantile outbursts. Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat; For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, ... ~ Proverbs 23:20-21 Blurred vision shuts down the sensible nature one must have to be responsible. What a bleak outcome to only remain in a dizzy. ... Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. ~ Proverbs 23:29-30 Desire for alcohol as a pain numbing agent is the most common reason for drinking. People want to escape from the toils of living. Drinking actually perpetuates the cycle of afflictions in supporting continuing woes. ... wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, ... ~ Proverbs 23:31-33 The imagination of covering suffering with the magical powers of swirling wine deceptively lures one to the curse it delivers. "... They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?" ~ Proverbs 23:34-35 Drinkers seek to not feel the life they dread as deathfulness is the wish that leads to that next drink. I just want to disappear or go away; many suicides have high intoxication levels and it is common among the famous; lonely overdose - Without relying on God tragedies ensue. ... It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink; Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all the afflicted. ... ~ Proverbs 31:4-7 The Word of God is clear that wine is to be used for medicinal purposes and as a sympathetic anesthetic for the terminally impoverished as the end knocks. Its’ excessive intake is not meant for those healthy filled with life, and certainly not for ones in leadership positions. Why or how could a poison killing substance be condoned by any rational sentient creatures? To escape the pains of living? Better anesthetics have been developed in our times so alcohol has become superfluous from its original ancient intent. We are controlled by what we desire. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. ~ 1st Timothy 5:23 Fruit of the vine comes in various forms. The fruit of olive trees pressed in winepresses have long been known for healing powers. Everything created by God is evidence for the benefit of man and not intended to advance his demise. One does not jump into a fire to get warm. The Bible does not advocate casual and habitual social drinking as a form of spiritual and or physical healing for the healthy. What has been created for moderate use as medicine has too often transferred to that of vices for those escapists from reality. Today, psychotic drugs abound. God’s call is not one to escape from living, but to endure through its’ becoming, while acknowledging His glory for the greater good of all. ... And your princes feast at the proper time - For strength and not for drunkenness! ~ Ecclesiastes 10:17 Blessings come through strength of sobriety and the lack of drunkenness. Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them! ... ~ Isaiah 5:11-13 Drinking alcohol is a dead thirst. To break the cycle of woe, love for the Lord must be found and maintained. Love for family and others helps remove one from the isolation drinking produces. Steadfast saints are among those thirsting His living water where it rises from the heart. Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, ... ~ Isaiah 5:22 There is nothing to be proud of in “out drinking” fools in the pool. ... to err in all her work, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit. ~ Isaiah 19:14 As a drunken man staggers where is the glory, for God or self? All can testify that vomit is a wrenching experience best left as a memory. For the boozer, it is a recycling event. ... Eating meat and drinking wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" ~ Isaiah 22:12-13 God has always instructed mankind to repent of, or turn from, wrong doings. More often man, head over heels, jumps into the very thing he should be repenting of. Revelry without regard is carelessness. Seeing only the temporary is a limited experience. To see God is to extend one’s heart to touch His eternal Love. Woe to the crown of pride, ... To those who are overcome with wine!... ~ Isaiah 28:1 With all the symptoms of drunkenness, and being overcome by it, it reduces to a vegetative state of despicable sloths; dreary existence. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, Will be trampled underfoot; ~ Isaiah 28:3 There is no saving grace for the dazed. ... But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; ... ~ Isaiah 28:7 No good results come from the effects of one in a drunken stupor. ... they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. ... ~ Isaiah 56:11-12 Many drinkers see no end to the pleasures they indulge in condemning those that would prefer to remain sober. Unbeknownst is what the Bible makes clear, in that drinkers are inherently self centered and selfish, along with being purposely oblivious; denial. There are those that while the day is the day, they desire to drink with no end. Often drinks are used to loose passions of lust. "Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart." ~ Hosea 4:11 We are prisoners to the desires of our heart. To unlock the window to true love one must soar past those afflictions that keep that window closed. External desires cannot surpass the upwelling inspirations love delivers to those who possess it. Inward peace cannot be obtained by outward vices. Those enslaved are not free but weighted down with woes. The Bible makes a clear distinction between wine and new wine as separate. ... says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,' ... ~ Isaiah 65:8 Clearly new wine is the sweetness found in freshly squeezed fruit of the vine. Both unfermented and fermented wine was available in the first century, as it is also today. Todays production methods, and alcohol content, is certainly higher than in previous times. There is an avalanche of sinful mind bending juice. For myself, I love grape juice, but I know if I drink too much at one setting it will make me ill and or nauseous. Even water can kill you if taken in excessive amounts. Moderation in all things is the balance God calls out for in the wise. "... But new wine must be put into new wineskins." ~ Mark 2:22 Again, unfermented new wine has yet to be fermented into fully intoxicating wine. Jesus came to save sinners, not to extricate those vices of sin where man had errored from understanding the will, and or intent, of God. Indulgence often dismisses wisdom. Knowledge, or lost knowledge is what destroys a people. There is a way that seems right to man but its end is in death. Excuses for irresponsibility have never revealed truth. "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, ... ~ Habakkuk 2:15-16 As they say, misery loves company. If one does not drink, when forcibly offered, rejection and or scorn is part of the return offering from the arrogant defensive soul’s - who contain deeper masked insecurities. Sober people are, I believe, envied, and therefore attacked and or just ignored and trivialized. Alcoholics find it easy to throw people away. ... beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, ... ~ Luke 12:45-46 To ignore the warnings and consequences of drinking given to us through His Word, angry souls mired in their own grief will have no excuse as God casts them off. Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time? ~ Ecclesiastes 7:17 One has to gain the courage to overcome weaknesses to enjoy the powers God offers to those who embrace His ways, over that of mans. One must rise to desire life over death to overcome that deadly disease, called by any vice, a fools escape. The power of God reinvigorates a soul. "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, ..." ~ Luke 21:34 Many have become self absorbed couch game playing drinking fools stumbling from one stupor to the next. Potato chips help grease the channel changer to the station of no where. His warning stands in the face of mans foibles. Dangerous are the times in they attempt to deceive with false pleasures. Any physical habitual vice pulls from peace with God. In God is the highest one can obtain. Excessive drinking invites lawlessness ● Alcohol is a mocker, brawler, & not wise ● Don’t mix with alcoholics led to poverty/drowsiness ● Bingers wallow in woes, contentions, false injuries ● Drunks will see strange things & utter perversities ● Alcoholics don’t feel physical pain - waking for more ● Give strong drink to those perishing abating misery ● Use a little wine for frequent infirmities ● Blessed are you when the leaders are not drunkards ● Drinkers do not regard the work of the LORD ● Alcohol swallows one in err both vision & judgment ● Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart ● Giving alcohol to a neighbor is to one’s shame ● Beware and avoid revelries causing harsh judgment Only the sober can fully realize His truths. Darkness's anthem is silence.   DrinkingAM2.mp3 (35m 13s) Drinking is glamorized by venture capitalists as guaranteed to lighten hearts in the unity of joy. A lie always remains a lie no matter how many believe it. ... those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, ... ~ 1st Thessalonians 5:5-8 To remain in darkness can only define those spiritually blind. Elements of God’s word instruct us how to live soberly in the hope of His eventual coming. How can one be watchful if darkness commands? Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, ... ~ Romans 13:12-14 We are told to remain in the light of spiritual adeptness, not in the quagmire of passion’s desperation where sin flourishes. Lust is the curse of a heart and the thief of peace. Many if not most have been deterred from decency when the heated heart of passion’s moment is loosed. To live life to one's fullest potential, one must be a master over lust, and the evils it inspires. ... no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. ~ 1st Peter 4:1-2 God commands us to put on those qualities He reflects in the goodness that He is. What fills a heart declares the character one sings. He wants us to shed desires and lusts to honestly and humbly love one another without expectations - pure love’s road widens. Lust is unrestrained desire which all of us have battled if we choose to climb that challenging ladder of righteousness. ... when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. ... ~ 1st Peter 4:3-4 Is your lust in the bottle of despair? If you have been a drinker, now emancipated from its’ control, those who remain ensnarled in its’ domination will belittle you. The pattern most lustful souls have is to change those that they ‘possess’ - unaware God’s will is for us to just accept one another, for who we are, and wish for the greatest we can be, in His truth. In evaluating self, over condemning others, this allows love to rise. We were created to encourage one another in our climb back to Him. To beat the demons from within, one must find a way to shine the light of love on that deepest darkness, which holds one under, in the shackles of hopelessness. The greatest light comes not from ourselves, but from He who gave life life. The greatest blessings from within come from Him. Thankfulness joins with His given gifts. ... For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but of the world. ... ~ 1st John 2:15-17 How high can one get before realizing God is above all? His will is for us to be as we are, humbly, without portentousness. To artificially induce a high will never achieve the heights He intended for those that love Him where simplicity rides upon the clouds. The stars shine below heavens glory. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ~ Romans 6:12 If one has no control over the vice that stimulates them, who would be the master? Fleshly weakness is not where the spiritually strong reside. A life with purpose has an agenda to climb over that of descending. To overcome death, one must learn to live, and in Him is the life of all men. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ... ~ 1st Peter 2:11 Sin is the wickedness that lies underneath all that is decent. It invades where it can craving to stumble those who hope for more. Sin is a tortuous ladder rising out of the bowels of despair. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, ... envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; ... those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ~ Galatians 5:19-21 For all hearts in His light, no sinful flame is to cold that it will not burn the coals of regret. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, ... nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, ... will inherit the kingdom of God. ~ 1st Corinthians 6:9-10 To be condemned under sin will tear one in half. Enough said. ... And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, ... ~ Ephesians 5:17-21 The Bible tells us not to be drunk. I agree with one drink is to much and not enough. For that matter, any pain numbing vice detracts from certain sober appreciation. That measureless inner light can only ignite in His limitless truth. The collision of drunkenness and God’s word are not compatible. ... I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, ... or a drunkard, ... ~ 1st Corinthians 5:11 People that excessively drink are not regarding the will of God, - who says not to fall into its stupor. For those that struggle in desires of quitting, fill yourself with the Spirit and help will come; pray; → associate with the spiritually minded. I was an excessive drinker and it was His Word and a growing desire to please Him that led to my sobriety. His Word is the ladder that lifts one out of the hole of no return. No one can deny or reject that the Bible is the best spiritual healing “medical” book ever written, offering salvation from social collapse to all those that apply it, under the obedience it commands. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. ~ Romans 14:21 God wants us to consider others before ourselves. Empathy is a very high and lofty godly quality. God looks for us to become stronger, not weaker. ... drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church ... ~ 1st Corinthians 10:31-32 If it is one’s desire to do all to the glory of God, this is the epitome of one’s faith, and declares friendship with God. ... speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, ... ~ Titus 2:1-2 God expects the wealth of wisdom to shine forth from older men. A lifetime spent, from one stupor to another, shortens the value, one could bestow, upon others as a legacy. Juice can flow uphill in reaching out for that living water. A bishop then must be blameless, ... sober-minded, ... not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, ... ~ 1st Timothy 3:2-3 There is no doubt God calls for responsibility and compassion for others. He astoundingly calls for our leaders to be sober-minded. Recklessness is held in the bosom of fools. Fools bring what is great down. Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, ... ~ 1st Timothy 3:8 Greed and the desire for more consumes a soul in darkness. ... the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things - ~ Titus 2:3 Women are included in God’s call for goodness in sober mindedness and speech; whereas feminine arrogance demands respect, grace of heart is found where the humble earn it. Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ... ~ 1st Peter 1:13 If God calls us to be sober, in His word, there can be no excuse, for when using alcohol or any non-medical mind altering substance, as one drink or escapist pill, will impair one away from His steadfast call. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ~ 1st Peter 5:8 Without employing all of one’s senses, one runs the risk of falling and or catering to the lustful desires of the flesh. Satan’s desire is for our demise into the darkness turning away from the light of God’s healing truths. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. ~ 1st Thessalonians 5:21-22 A choice is at the crossroads everyday, and we must choose correctly if we wish to honor His will. To His glory He has given us this ability of choice. In putting alcohol to the test, it shows that it kills everything that lives, and preserves everything that is dead. It is something that should not be ingested unless subjected to an injurious medical condition. Our social neurosis is to ignore the truth. The courageous abstain from what offends God ● Walk properly not in revelry and drunkenness/lusts ● Do not love the world or the things in the world ● Do not let sin reign in you or obey it in its lusts ● Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against / soul ● Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God ● Do not be drunk but be filled with the Spirit ● Do not to keep company or dine with drunkards ● Curtail anything causing 1 to stumble or made weak ● Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God ● Speak things which are proper for sound doctrine ● Leaders and all wise should not be given to wine ● Be sober/vigilant resting hope fully on grace in God ● Test everything holding good abstaining from all sin     His will is for us to rise to Him. Darkness has no promise.