This is the sixth podcast in a nine part series entitled “Overcoming Addiction.” For the various counseling options available from this material visit www.summitrdu.com/counseling.
- The “Overcoming Addiction” seminar is also available in video format.
NOTE: Many people have asked how they can get a copy of the seminar notebook referenced in this verbal presentation. Summit members can pick up a copy of the notebook in the church office. For those outside the Summit family, you can request a copy from Summit’s admin over counseling at counseling@summitrdu.com (please note this is an administrative account; no individual or family counsel is provided through e-mail).
“Exploring a Satisfying Sober Life”
RESTRUCTURE MY LIFE to rely on God’s grace and Word to transform my life.
“I have learned a great deal about my self [list with examples], my sin [list examples], and my Savior [list with examples]. Because of these truths I want and need to make the following changes [list]. My temptation is to see these changes as ‘what I do’ rather than merely cooperating with and celebrating God’s grace in my life.”
Memorize: Titus 2:11-14 (ESV), “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” As you memorize this passage reflect upon these key points:
- “To renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” – You should be able to put your addictive behaviors in this category.
- “To live self-controlled” – Your goal is not to live a “super hero life” but a “self-controlled life.” It is possible.
- “Waiting” – Waiting means being self-controlled, is not easy, and it is always a work-in-progress.
- “Gave himself” – The sacrifice you’re making is more than matched by Christ; he is for you and with you in this battle.
- “Zealous” –God wants you to pour the passion you poured into addiction into something good and satisfying.
Teaching Notes
“Addiction is not something we can simply take care of by applying the proper remedy, for it is in the very nature of addiction to feed on our attempts to master it… Understanding will not deliver us from addiction, but it will, I hope, help us appreciate grace (p. 4).” Gerald May in Addiction & Grace
“We too are in danger of using Scripture as a practical ‘how to’ manual, relying on useful principles rather than focusing on the crux of the gospel message (p. 142).” Ed Welch in Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave
“Paradoxically, urges often strengthen when the individual concentrates so strongly on resistance to a present cue. Refusing to engage in the behavior helps break the conditioned connection with the cue, but it is not necessarily the most efficient way to do so (p. 178)… Individuals who have not found alternative activities that can provide some measure of relief, pleasure, or satisfaction are at significant risk for returning to the addictive behavior (p. 179).” Carlo DiClemente in Addictions and Change
“The life of recovery requires the development of new habits, but an addicted person may engage in the external acts necessary to the development of such habits without also undertaking the ‘internal’ work necessary to the development of such habits (p. 78).” Kent Dunnington in Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice
“Meditation forces us to reflect on the stories that we tell ourselves about our lives, and it therefore represents a very real threat to any addiction since it threatens to reveal the insufficiencies of those stories (p. 176)… Thus Christian worship graciously displaces us from being the center of our story and instead incorporates us into the story of God (p. 178).” Kent Dunnington in Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice
“Freedom and security have always been uneasy together; the things that secure us tend to bind us down, and those that free us often feel like risks (p. 32).” Gerald May in Addiction & Grace
“Recovering addicts should keep in mind that addiction is not just a way of interacting with a specific object or event; it’s a way of interacting with one’s self and the world (p. 63).” Craig Nakken in The Addictive Personality
Other podcasts in the G4-addiction series are available at:
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