As we’re bringing the gospel to people, let’s not emphasize to them—many of us, in presenting the gospel, pick pet sins.  Man, there are a lot of people that just love preaching to drunks.  You would think getting drunk was the unpardonable sin.  Getting drunk is not the unpardonable sin.  It is sin, and the Bible says it marks you as a fool.  So, if you get drunk, you’re a fool.  And many of us can attest to that; amen?  I come from a family of alcoholics.  I know what it’s like to embrace the porcelain god as you’re throwing your guts up, holding on to the grass roots to keep from falling off the earth as you’re crawling.

“Well, do you think it’s okay?  What does the Bible say about drinking?  Is it okay to drink?”  The Bible says, “Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging, and those that are deceived thereby are fools” (Proverbs 20:1).  The Bible says, “Be not drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).  Amen?  I guarantee you, of all those years that I did drink, and as drunk as I got, I’ve never had a good time like in the Holy Ghost (hallelujah!), being drunk in the Holy Spirit, singing and making melody in my heart with God, hallelujah!

“Well, you didn’t answer the question.  Is it okay to take a drink?”  Paul said, “Take a little wine for your stomach’s sake.”  "My stomach’s not doing great this morning.  Somebody, bring me a shot."  Those of us that have traveled around the world, those of us that have been through Africa and through Asia, been in India, been—you don’t want to drink the water.  Thank God for Coca-Cola!  I’ve traveled this world on Coke.  But one thing I have discovered: I’ve never, ever seen a drunk person who didn’t take a drink.  “Well, can I take a drink?  Would that be okay?”  I’m not going to belabor that point.  If you want to take a drink, a little wine for your stomach’s sake.  “I like having a little wine with my dinner.”  Don’t you think it would be a good idea to first get drunk in the Spirit before you take the drink of wine?  I’d encourage you to always be drunk in the Spirit if you’re going to take a sip, a drink of wine, and you’ll be safe.  We’re commanded to be drunk in the Spirit.  It’s amazing how many of us will fight tooth and nail to defend that drink of wine and put no energy into being drunk in the Spirit.  

Father, thank You for Your Word this morning.  Help us to come to that place where we would have an insatiable love for the Word of God, where we would lust after the commandments of God and be doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving our own selves.  Let this Word of God dwell in us richly.  Help us to find Your Word and partake of it, and let it become the joy and the rejoicing of our hearts.  I found Your Word, and I ate it.  Your Word is a lamp unto my feet.  As a young man, I hide it in my heart that I wouldn’t sin against You.  It’s a lamp to my feet.  It directs every decision, every path.  Are our relationships in the body being lived by the commandments of God’s Word?  Are our marriages being conducted by the order of God’s Word?  Are our children being sanctified by our obedience, as we train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Word?  Help us to stand up and reverence every jot and tittle, for heaven and earth will pass away, but Your Word will not pass away.  What, in Your Word, do I know is required of me that I’m not doing?  Bring us to godly sorrow!  Bring us to biblical repentance, that we might walk in the light, that men would see these good works and glorify our Father in heaven.