Six Reasons I Don't Drink Alcohol - Pastor Steve Gaines

I want to say that I'm not a fan of alcoholic beverages being consumed by anyone but especially followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and I believe that a Christian is wise to stay away from all beverage alcohol and drinking alcohol is not so much a matter of religious or Christian Liberty it's a matter of wisdom and all of us I think would agree that the Bible prohibits drunkenness but I also believe that our wisest choice in our day is to totally refrain from the consumption of alcoholic beverages and let me just take a moment now I want you to write these down this is not in your notes this is all free not in your notes I want to give you six reasons write these down if you would and at least you'll know where I stand on it and I don't want to I just want to talk to you about it for a second and then we'll get back to the sermon and six reasons why Don and I do not drink alcoholic beverages number one it doesn't take much alcohol to become intoxicated for many people just a small amount of consumed alcohol impairs their senses that's why trying to define what getting drunk is is really difficult because a lot of people after just a little bit of alcohol they are intoxicated and you know studies show that just a small amount can really skew a person's capability to be able to respond mentally and even physically it just dramatically impairs you just a little of alcohol does and that's why you don't have to have much alcohol in your blood to get arrested if you're pulled over and they test you so it doesn't take much alcohol for someone to become intoxicated so Don and I do not drink alcoholic beverages and then another reason we don't do this we have plenty of other choices plenty of other choices nowadays I'm justify their drinking saying well Jesus and the disciples drank wine and Jesus even turned water into wine those are New Testament facts and I don't try to deny any of that but on the other hand there's another fact the choices for drink in the first century were very limited sometimes you had the choice between rancid water and wine and I believe that's one of the reasons that Jesus and His disciples drink wine we also know that they drank water if you read John 4 when Jesus went to the well he didn't say give me some wine he said give me some water and the lady gave him some water and he gave her living water by the way and that when it comes to quenching our thirst now in the 21st century we have plenty of other viable less dangerous choices besides alcohol so we have plenty of other choices the third reason Don and I do not drink alcoholic beverages because alcoholic beverages are no longer necessary for medicinal purposes in the first century many times they would use alcoholic beverages for medicinal purposes they did not have the medications like we do for instance we read in proverbs 31 verse 6 give strong drink to him who is perishing and wine to him whose life is bitter this is a person who is depressed yet some Christians will I believe foolishly use that verse to try to justify their consumption of alcoholic beverages well you know why in the world would you drink alcohol in our day when you're depressed and bitter in life I mean that's what the verse says with all the antidepressant medications that are available there's no need for the consumption of alcohol for that type of thing I mean nobody it would be cruel to go up to a depressed person so I'll tell you what what you need to do is just drink good you just get absolutely drunk just drink and you'll forget your depression nobody would do that nowadays and yet that's what the verse was alluding to there in Proverbs and another verse that is unwisely used to justify drinking alcoholic beverages in our day is first Timothy 5:23 where Timothy said or Paul said to Timothy no longer Timothy drink water exclusively but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments again why would anybody use wine like that nowadays when there are so many available medications that will give you with precision the exact reaction that you need nobody I don't think would be able to say that today they take medicine instead and then some people say well you know the the the proverb the parable that Jesus told in Luke 10 where the Good Samaritan used the wine and the oil to treat the wounds of the man who had fallen among thieves ah there's a reason to drink wine because he used that for medicinal purposes now you know that's getting pretty far-fetched if you ask me I mean if you're a little child or your grandchild skins his knee I don't think anybody will hold their jr. let me get the whiskey and pour it on your knee I just don't think that's going to happen okay and just so you know again it was used for medicinal purposes in the first century no longer the case now with the plethora and the abundance of medications that are available to us it's really out of date to even consider that irrelevant and I think absurd fourthly alcoholic beverages are addictive this is not me speaking these are tests that show that it's addictive and drinking is like smoking once you start it's really hard to stop you might say I can stop whenever I want to then do it right now just stop see if it's not hard it's hard because your body has become chemically dependent upon it and I just encourage you to try and stopping you say you can't do it you said well I don't want to why don't you want to well I just don't want to well it's because you're addicted possibly and the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 6:12 all things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable all things are lawful for me but I will not be mastered by anything I will not be addicted in other words so I don't drink Donna doesn't drink because we don't want to be addicted to alcoholic beverages fifthly I don't want I don't drink and Donna doesn't drink because we don't want to set a bad example to other people you know what I do in moderation and there's a relative term a really relative term what does it mean admit moderation for one might be access to another what I do in moderation my children or someone else might do in excess what if your child or your grant child saw you drinking alcoholic beverages they knew that you drank and they did it and became and your grandchild became an alcoholic wouldn't you at least be partly to blame for them becoming that of course you would of course you would and what if they got into your stash at home and they went out and they were driving drunk and don't tell me look don't tell me this doesn't happen I have done funerals for children that were killed by drunk drivers don't tell me this I've had to deal with the aftermath of drunk drivers all right don't tell me it doesn't happen I was taken out of my theological German class and I had to go to the emergency room for a two-year-old little twin boy that had been thrown out of the back windshield because a drunk driver ran over his daddy's car don't tell and then he died later that night and I had to do it if you know don't tell me it doesn't happen now if you had the stash and they took it from you and they went out and either killed somebody or killed cement wouldn't that person who died wouldn't their blood be partially on your hand of course it would of course it would you said well that will never happen how do you know how do you know you say now preacher now wait a minute and I can hear you out there thinking you're thinking loudly bible also says that we need to be moderate in our eating you're exactly right frankly you know I don't know that I've always been the best example in that area and I've been taking steroids a long time but it makes you hungry and it makes you keep weight on but I will tell you I've already lost 13 pounds since January the first planning on losing 2530 more amen and hey why don't you join me all right one preacher say there's a big crowd here today and there's a lot of us too some of you didn't bit more know what I meant you just really do it's time to laugh Marth I don't know what they're laughing at but let's laugh mark I'll explain it to you later by the way doesn't he look good man he's lost weight too Bible says in 1st Corinthians 10:31 whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God so I'm going to be a better example in that but I want to say this to you I don't believe over eating or over drinking I don't believe drinking at all alcoholic beverages I don't think it glorifies God and so I don't want to set a bad example to other people I don't want somebody drinking because I drink and I'll tell you this having said all that I would still on a rainy cold night if I'm on a two lane country road I'd rather have a fat driver coming at me than a drunk driver any day of the week can I have an amen in the house of God I'm just telling you I'll take fat Bubba rather than drunk Bubba any day of the week amen and then I thought it's time for some humor alright it was a little tense in here the last reason Don and I don't drink is it hinders your witness for Christ in our culture I believe you can be a more effective soul winner which I talked about last week if you don't drink than if you do and let's take a little poll how many of you would be personally offended if you went to a restaurant you saw me and Donna sitting at a bar drinking beer wine or liquor raise your hand and raise it high alright the reason there's an all-hands may not be up I understand that some of you it may not bother you at all but there are enough hands that went up that's exactly why I'm not going to do it now there's no double standard for Treacher's and Christians and believers so there are enough people that would be offended so I'm not going to do it I'm just not going to do it and it's not worth tarnishing your witness and the Bible says that all things are lawful not all things are profitable all things are lawful not all things edify when it comes to drinking alcohol I don't believe they edify I don't believe they're profitable its profitable and it can master you so I just stay away from

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 127,425

Rating: 4.6864281 out of 5

Keywords: Why I Don't Drink, Six Reasons I Don't Drink Alcohol, Beer, Wine, Whisky, Bellevue Baptist Church (Religious Organization), Memphis, TN, Steve Gaines, Church, Controversy, Pastor Steve Gaines, Steve Gains, Should Christians Drink, What does the Bible say about drinking

Id: ahyPwQy6WcM

Length: 10min 56sec (656 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 28 2014