The Former Alcoholic Comment

Intro

I love when people at trekking with my sermons... when they're thinking and engaging and wrestling with the text and feasting on the Word. This past Sunday (12/16/07) we were thinking about Haggai and the promise of God's presence with His people. I relayed a story of one of my old friends who was rescued out of a life of drunkenness and carousing. The point of my story was to illustrate God's eternal presence with us... when we are obeying and when we are sinning. I think the main point was evident.

One of my guys came up afterwards and asked why I wouldn't just say that going into a bar was a sin. I had said in the message that I wasn't going to get into that question. Again, my point was to highlight God's omnipresence. Well, I thought about it a little and replied to my friend "The Bible never says going into a bar is a sin." We went back and forth for a bit and I said I'd have to pull the tape to find out exactly what I said. Below is what I said in it's entirety. You can listen to the sermon in its entirety here.


Pulling the Tape

So here is what I said on Sunday about having the sealing and indwelling of the Spirit this past Sunday (December 16, 2007).

I remember a friend who used to be an alcoholic and when he got saved he changed his life and he said "you know I'm not going to go to bars anymore." I'm not going to make any comments on going to bars but what I'm simply saying is here's a guy who was an alcoholic, he got saved, and now God's Spirit dwells in him. And he said "I'm not going to go to bars anymore." He wasn't saying bars are wrong but what he was saying is "I just can't take Jesus into a bar. I remember what going to bars was when I was a young, unsaved guy. I just don't want to take Jesus there." Do you believe you take Jesus with you where ever you go?

So let me know what you all think about God's omnipresence, going to bars, and/or the indwelling Spirit.