I shared this message at Generations Church in 2020. Sharing my story in a small Celebrate Recovery group on a Friday night is one thing — standing up on a Sunday morning in front of hundreds of people and saying it out loud is something else entirely — and every time I revisit it, part of me still wants to hit delete. In it, I talk openly about my struggle with sexual addiction, what recovery looks like, and why I believe the most important step any of us can take is the one where we stop pretending we’ve got it all together.
It’s scary to put this stuff out there. But that’s kind of the whole point.
You can watch/listen to the full talk on Generations Church’s website, or if you’d rather read it, the transcript is below.
Before I spoke, the service opened with a powerful video of three people from our Celebrate Recovery community — Angie, Jimmy, and Robert — sharing glimpses of their recovery stories. By the time I gave this message, Jimmy had already passed away. The video was dedicated to him, and you’ll hear me reference all three of them throughout the talk.
Here’s some of what Jimmy shared in that video:
My name is Jimmy and this is my rescue story.
Let me tell you a little bit about Celebrate Recovery.
When I first started going, my son actually kind of made it a condition for me to see his family, that I had wrecked that relationship so bad. He told me I had to come to Celebrate Recovery and wasn’t really sure I wanted to go. The leader Justin is a great friend of mine now. I didn’t really like him then. He was too tall, too good looking, had weird hair. And so I didn’t really want to go.But I went and the first night I heard people get up and say they struggled with anxiety and all these different things, anger, approval addiction—I never even heard of such a thing; being a workaholic—I thought that was a good thing, not a bad thing. And the difference between that and other programs I had been in where you go in and say, you self-identify, hey, I’m Jimmy and I’m an alcoholic. It just felt so different.
These people were getting up and saying, hi, I’m so-and-so and I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. However, I struggle. And that honesty in Celebrate Recovery is the thing that breaks down all the walls, all the barriers, all the rules and it’s a relationship with each other that I’ve never found anywhere before. I love Generations Church. Celebrate Recovery is my church within that church. I kid around with the folks in there and tell them they’re my tribe.
They’re my people and I would love to see more people come to Celebrate Recovery and just taste how that feels because I gotta tell you I’ve never met a perfect person And every one of us has one or two things that are keeping us from experiencing the perfect joy of Christ. And once you find those things and work on them, Jesus becomes a more real relationship person for you. And he becomes, he represents the invisible God with us. He leads us to where we need to go.
In memory of Jimmy Perry, who passed in to the arms of Jesus, September 24th, 2020.
Good morning, Generations Church. Woo!
My name is Justin Sternberg. I’m part of the worship team here. I…what else do I do? The primary thing I want to tell you about today is I’m the ministry leader for Celebrate Recovery. That guy, he was talking about, that Justin character, that’s me. But before that, I just want to say, I just want to thank Robert and Angie for sharing their story, for having that courage and the honesty to share their story.
While Jimmy took the spotlight, their stories and their courage cannot be undermined or diminished or overlooked. You don’t know how hard it is to talk about that stuff. And that’s when you realize you’re starting to gain some freedom when you can talk about those things. But I also want to thank Jimmy for sharing his story from the grave. And that’s just how he would have wanted it. I’m not sure who he was talking about with the funny hair, but we can’t all have flowing white manes like he did.
I’m honored to be part of Jimmy’s tribe. I’m honored to have walked with him and to learn from Jimmy. And I’m blessed to know he’s achieved that final and perfect freedom. His recovery is complete. Woo!
So just like those characters who shared their story this morning, one of the very clear purposes of my life and my journey is to be used to speak clearly, openly, and honestly about my struggles. Lucky me. Right? So I am going to read a verse to you that has meant a lot in my life.
In Romans 8:26-28 it says,
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:26-28 NIV)
Last time I was up here, coincidentally, was the last live service before COVID. And I’m praying that that was a coincidence. (audience laughing) But last time I was up here, I spoke about identity, okay? And I spoke about my struggle with approval addiction, which admittedly is a mild addiction, especially when it comes to the consequences in life. And I also spoke on the story of Joseph. And with the culmination of his story being this quote to his brothers.
He said this:
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20 NIV)
See, I didn’t talk about this last time, but I dealt with real addiction, sexual addiction, specifically addiction to pornography, self-gratification. This is not something that ever gets easier to talk about or admit, especially in front of hundreds of people here in a room or online.
Truth is there are many days that I would have preferred being a recovering alcoholic or drug addict. And therein lies the power of this particular addiction, that shame and that hiding. See, I grew up in church and I knew not to smoke or chew or go with girls that do. Like, I grew up in a good church, they taught all those good things. I knew what to do. But no one in my church bubble was talking about this particular issue. And on top of that, I was the first generation to have the internet in the home.
Along with the internet came internet pornography. As you can imagine, this made things a lot easier for someone, an addict like me, because I didn’t have to get in my car and drive or walk to the town nearby and go into a shady store and go to that section of the magazines and buy one of those things, shamefully paying for that. I didn’t have to do any of that. It was all right there, free to access, easy to hide, easy to access. So as you can imagine, I became hooked early in my teen years.
I knew this was wrong. Despite never hearing them talk about this particular issue in church, I knew it was wrong. And I became convinced that since nobody was talking about it, I must be the only one with this dirty secret. Talk about shame and isolation. Earlier I read some verses in Romans 8, finishing with verse 28. This is my life verse.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
See, God gave me this verse when I was very young, when my grandfather died, and I was struggling to understand it. And I don’t remember how it came to me, but God gave me that verse and it gave me comfort in that time. And as I began to get older and I started to struggle with this particular thing, I wondered, “But this?” Can you?
All things God?
even this thing?
So here I am, I’m standing as proof that…
Recovery is possible.
Okay? That God can use that thing, the thing maybe you’re thinking about right now. Can he use that thing? Yes, he can. Now as a result of my life recovery journey and the culmination of one of my primary life purposes and ultimately God’s plan to use it for good to—like Joseph said—accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives — I am the ministry leader for Celebrate Recovery at Generation’s Church and I’m up here talking to you. And that is my prayer. You guys mind if I pray real quick?
God I just thank you for this opportunity. I thank you that you planned these events long ago and without my knowledge. But you had this day planned. You had Jimmy’s story planned. You knew exactly what you were doing. And God, I pray that you would use my journey and my story and the story of those who are on the screen earlier Lord, that you would use them to accomplish the saving of many lives. That freedom would begin today for many people. We thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So you might be wondering, but is this particular thing like a real addiction? I mean we talked, the screen they talked about drugs, they talked about alcohol, they talked about relationship stuff, but is this thing a real addiction?
Let’s talk about it.
These are some facts that I found about sexual addiction. In an article titled “Pornography, the New Narcotic,” it says this,
Cocaine is considered a stimulant that increases dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter that most addictive substances release, as it causes a “high” and a subsequent craving for a repetition of the high, rather than a subsequent feeling of satisfaction by way of endorphins.
Heroin, on the other hand, is an opiate, which has a relaxing effect. Both drugs trigger chemical tolerance (habituation), which requires higher quantities of the drug to be used each time to achieve the same intensity of effect.
Pornography, by both arousing (the “high” effect via dopamine) and causing an orgasm (the “release” effect via opiates), is a type of polydrug that triggers both types of addictive brain chemicals in one punch, enhancing its addictive propensity as well as its power to instigate a pattern of increasing tolerance.
So what that’s telling you is there’s something about this particular struggle that is very powerful and addictive. Now Paul knew this way back in the days when he was writing his letters.
This isn’t new information that we just discovered and it’s like, “Oh yeah, that makes sense.” They’ve known this for centuries. Paul talked about it. And he says this when he wrote to the Corinthians, the city of Corinth, who at that time was known as the Sin City of Rome. They were in it. They were all about sexual sin and many other things, and they were known for that. And Paul wrote this. He said:
Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body.
(1 Corinthians 6:18 NLT)
Even in biblical days, again, they knew what power sexual sin had on the body.
So as I continued to study and I found some other facts, I came across some statistics about addiction. These are some facts from the Addiction Center website from the year 2017.
In 2017, there were 494,000 regular users of heroin. That is a big deal. There were 774,000, or 0.8 million regular users of meth, methamphetamine.
There was 4.7 million people between 12 and 25 who had their first drink. Now of course that doesn’t mean they all became alcoholics, of course, but we know this represents a significant number. So in comparison, I found this on the Fight the New Drug website in 2017.
81 million users of pornography in 2017.
on one site.
on one day.
So this is your chart, okay? These are the numbers I was talking about. Five million regular cocaine users. This is users pornography on one site in one day. This is a big deal.
This is an epidemic. So I thought that I was alone in my issue. Turns out there’s more than a few of us. So I’m glad to be up here to be talking about it so that maybe hopefully others can achieve the same freedom. But hey, maybe this isn’t your struggle, the thing with sexual addiction. One thing that we have found out as I’ve gone through recovery for over a decade now, and I’ve worked with other people who have come through similar struggles and different struggles is this.
We all share the same common roots of our addiction. Things like self-medication, self-gratification, or that growing insanity, cyclone, that results from that pattern. Insanity in recovery terms is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. And then we all struggle with the same hopelessness that comes from that insanity. If you don’t have an addiction, you wouldn’t identify as someone who has an addiction, the chances are based on that chart, you know somebody who does.
This is a very real thing. So by this point, you might be thinking, is this just a big celebrate recovery commercial? Yes, it is. It really is. I love celebrate recovery. But one thing I need you to know for sure, CR cannot fix anybody. Jesus is our healer. Jesus does not need celebrate recovery to do his work. He doesn’t need me to do his work. So you don’t need celebrate recovery. This is in direct contrast to our message at celebrate recovery, which is, everyone needs celebrate recovery. We can’t help it, okay?
When you find something this good and you find a place that’s this supportive and a place that you can find freedom from any hurt habit or hang up, guess what, you’re gonna talk about it. You’re gonna want people to come. But if you feel slightly turned off because this is a big commercial for celebrate recovery, Well, I can give you any number of resources to something else. This is not what this is about. This is about freedom. So once again, recovery is possible, but it’s not easy. It takes work.
I want to talk to you about a few things.
What does rescue from addiction look like?
In recovery programs, we have 12 steps. So we’re gonna go over 12 steps today. No, I’m not really gonna do that. I compressed some thoughts into four steps for you today, okay? So…
Step 1, Jesus calling
Earlier we say, are you hurting and broken within? overwhelmed by the weight of your sin, Jesus is calling. Have you come to the end of yourself? Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Jesus is calling.
That pain, that longing, that struggle, that is a perfect indication that Jesus is calling you. And Isaiah says this, Isaiah 41, 9 through 10, it says:
9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
and will not throw you away.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand
(Isaiah 41:9-10 NLT)
Ultimately, we need Jesus to call us to him, to freedom.
And until he does, well, we’re not ready for change. We found that out in Celebrate Recovery. We try and offer a place that’s safe, that’s inviting, it’s a place you want to come, it’s a place that’s enjoyable because we found out pressuring people to come to celebrate recovery, to do it out of obligation or to get fixed or whatever, it doesn’t work. You have to want to change, to find change. And that is when you know Jesus is calling you.
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Right? A horse won’t drink unless he’s thirsty. Another phrase you may not have heard, but it’s equally appropriate, is the gate of change can only be opened from the inside. So right now I can talk about this stuff until I’m blue in the face, you know, I can go over my time, I might anyway, I’m sorry everyone. And it won’t matter unless Jesus is there right now knocking, He’s calling you.
I just want you to know that there is absolutely hope. If you are feeling that weight of shame and guilt, if you’re feeling tired of it all, this is Jesus calling you. It has begun. This is exciting news. In Celebrate Recovery, we say almost every Friday night:
You are not here by accident.
We believe that by simply showing up, It represents God calling you. And we believe that at Generation’s Church as well. You are not here by accident. If you’re watching online, you are not watching by accident.
Jesus is calling.
Step 2, Surrender
Once Jesus is calling you, what’s the next thing? Well, it’s, you know, get up and do some work. No. Step two, you have to surrender. Last week, Jesus, uh, excuse me, Troy, Troy is not Jesus. He’s pretty great, but Troy was teaching about Jesus. And he talked about the Pharisees, right? These people who are uber religious. Last week, you talked about rescue from religion. And he talked about the Pharisees and how they had everything perfect.
And they memorized the first five books of the Bible. so they really knew their stuff and then they added rules on top of rules and expected you to obey them as well. Well, Jesus was teaching out in the open and some Pharisees walked up trying to trap him. See, they didn’t like Jesus’ fast and loose interpretation of all their rules that they had developed. So they’re always trying to trap him and go, “See, you’re wrong.”
So in John 8, 3-8, it says this:
3 As he was speaking (Jesus), the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
(John 8:3-5 NLT)
Again, they’re trying to trap him. Are you going to argue? Are you going to say something different than what your own Bible says? That’s your word that you quote from? Are you going to say something different than that?
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. (John 8:6 NLT)
He’s just like, “Whatever. I don’t know, whatever. I don’t have time for you.”
7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
(John 8:7-8 NLT)
Boom, mic drop!
Earlier, a few chapters earlier in John 3, Jesus was talking to Nicodemus. Again, you should recognize that name. Troy talked about him last week. He was one of the Pharisees, but he was a curious Pharisee. He had a thirst for knowledge. And so he went to Jesus, as Troy talked about, and he was asking him some questions. and as Jesus was having this conversation, that’s when we get the famous John 3.16.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 NIV)
Now the next verse doesn’t get quoted as often, but it’s just as important. It says this:
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:17 NIV)
So let’s go back, go back to the story with the woman.
Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.
So he’s essentially saying, I’m not gonna condemn her, you guys go ahead, as long as your pure have at it.
8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
(John 8:8-11 NLT)
And you might be like me, you might be thinking, that’s really easy for you to say, you’re Jesus. You don’t sin. How am I supposed to walk away from this and sin no more? But here’s the thing, Jesus didn’t mean perfection. That’s not what he was meaning that day. What he was meaning is surrender.
Not perfection. Surrender.
Walk away from this moment in surrender. The fact is every single recovery journey has a single common first step. It’s the stopping step. It’s the day I commit to surrender and stop the behavior.
There is no recovery without this step, right? In this last Friday, we had what we call the chips ceremony. And it’s the very first one we’ve done at our Celebratory Recovery. And it’s where we pass out chips honoring people’s accumulation of days of sobriety. It’s an opportunity that we have to celebrate our recovery.
Different color chips are given out signifying the number of days, months, or years since our surrender date, or the date that marks the beginning of our journeys and the number of one day at a times we have accumulated. The first chip is blue, and it is the most important. Looks like this. It represents our surrender. On that day in Jerusalem, for this adulterous woman, who Jesus didn’t condemn, but rather called to repentance, if there were blue chips, I think she would have picked one up.
So the third step:
Step 3, Jesus walking with us
He doesn’t ask us to go and sin no more and then leave. Jesus is with us every step of the way. Recovery is a journey. Some steps are harder than others. And we need our higher power. Even secular recovery acknowledges this aspect. We need something beyond ourselves. Because he’s with us, the journey becomes doable one day at a time, one step at a time. In Matthew 11, 28 through 30, it says this:
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30 NIV)
Now, you might not know what a yoke is. Admittedly, it is kind of an antiquated concept. But in that time, they knew exactly what he was talking about. This analogy rang true for them. So I just want to show you what a yoke looks like.
These are two oxen. And this is a yoke right here, this wooden thing.
And what Jesus is saying– and this is something they would do back in those days– is they would take a weaker oxen, and they would pair it with a stronger one. And the reason is they wanted to help that weaker oxen to get stronger and understand the pattern and how they should plow and all those things. So you can see here, there’s a slight decline ’cause this guy’s a little bit smaller, he’s still learning, whatever.
And Jesus is saying, if you walk with me, my yoke is easy, I’m the strong one, I will carry you, we will walk in stride, and as long as you stay right next to me and you don’t fight it, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. You don’t have to do all the carrying. And that’s absolutely mandatory in recovery to understand that concept.
And step four is repeat.
Step 4, Repeat.
Recovery is not a journey that starts and ends. It is an ongoing process through the course of our entire life.
This last Friday, Laurie gave an awesome teaching and she said this, “When I first came to recovery, “I wondered how long the program lasts. “There are 12 steps, eight principles, “six to eight months maybe, Maybe a year, she said, “I learned that the program lasts exactly one day at a time.” That is all God gave us. Thank you, Laurie. I love that. See, Celebrate Recovery, we continue working on our struggles. We call it layers of the onion. Addiction is often that outermost course layer, right?
But it’s hiding the inner layers. For me, sexual addiction was the thing that was my struggle, and I thought, if I just fix this thing, I’m better. I’m a perfect Christian. I got it all on lockdown. If that thing would go away, it turns out that wasn’t true. And that’s why last time I spoke, I talked about approval addiction. That was the next layer of the onion. When I realized I care more about what people think than what God thinks. And then we go from there. There’s more layers. We don’t ever become perfect.
And that’s why you might have heard the term “dry drunk”. That’s someone who got rid of that outer layer of addiction. Everything else is still left. They haven’t continued that walk. So my encouragement is don’t stop. Don’t get lazy. Be vigilant as you walk on this journey. Jesus also warned about this in Matthew 12, 43 through 45. He said:
43 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. 45 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
(Matthew 12:43-45 NLT)
And that is the experience when we give up on that journey. At Celebrate Recovery, we often say, “It works if you work it, and it doesn’t if you don’t.” I’ve had people struggle and fall out the wagon and relapse.
And often what I hear from those that are close to them is, “See, CR doesn’t work.” And I say, “You’re right. It doesn’t. It’s up to us. It’s our work that needs to be done.” So I just want to move forward and close here. And I want to tell you that Jesus’ best work is redemption. That’s why I’m up here. So I want to get back to my story. He has redeemed my story. Heck, he’s even redeeming the internet right now.
There’s people watching online, and I’m praying and hoping that someone out there, at least one, as a result of today watching this online on the internet where I struggle with my addiction pornography, they’re able to start their journey of freedom. God’s best work is the work of redemption. And I want to repeat, you are not here by accident. There is a redemption story in the works. If you’re fighting doubt or discouragement, your story up until now is only the beginning.
If you’re buried in shame, he wants to turn it to rejoicing and freedom. If you’ve lost your way, he wants you to find it one day at a time. Like I said, I’m standing here now, not perfect, but as we say in Celebrate Recovery, struggling well. I don’t live in shame. I can proclaim God’s glory through my weakness, and I stand here as proof of God’s redemption. Earlier we sang, “Bear your cross as you wait for the crown. Tell the world of the treasure you found.” That’s my mission.
Philippians 1-6 says this:
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6 NLT)
In Celebrate Recovery we say no perfect people are allowed, but I’m so thankful for this promise because someday I’ll get that crown and his work in me will be complete, just like my good friend Jimmy. So as Jesus is calling you right now, if so, that’s your promise.
He’s already begun the good work within in you, he will continue his work. And his, are you ready for what’s next? Don’t ignore this call. Don’t let shame push it away. Today, you have an opportunity to surrender.
If God can take my life of shame and twist it into his glory, Imagine the good things he could plan long ago for this entire gathering of believers and those online The good things he planned for us to be doing unchained Earlier Melanie read Ephesians 2:8-10 I’m gonna read it as well:
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
(Ephesians 2:8-10)
It doesn’t matter what level of shame you’re struggling with right now It doesn’t change this truth We are a masterpiece He has created us anew and Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago If freedom is available for me, you can be sure it is available to you Today Jesus is standing here saying, “I’m not here to condemn you, but to save you.”
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he’s your higher power, you have the opportunity right now to look down and see your chains of shame are not attached. You can take them off today, right now, by surrendering. If you don’t know Jesus as your save here, the Lord of your life. Well what an amazing opportunity you have right now to surrender completely to the God of the universe, the highest of higher powers who created and died for you. The gate of change is locked from the inside.
Today you have the opportunity to open that gate And the key is that first step of surrender. Every journey of recovery starts with that step. You cannot escape it. So my challenge to you is to find someone to talk about this, legitimize the struggle. Don’t leave it in your head. Don’t let shame hide it. Get it out. Visit us at Celebrate Recovery on Friday night. We love to talk about our humanity. You’ll find a place where you’re not alone. People are talking about this stuff.
You will not feel like you are alone in this world with your struggle. It’s relaxed, there’s no commitment, you can come and go as you please, you can just check it out. We have what we call CR 101 every Friday night, it’s where we sit down with you and we just say, “Hey, this is how this thing works.” You know, maybe you like it, maybe you don’t, but we’d love to have you back. It’s very chill. And we have what we call open share groups every Friday night.
That’s where we sit in a circle and we each have our chance to share three to five minutes what my struggle is about. Maybe it’s this week, maybe it’s a long arc that I’ve been struggling with. And if you’re interested in Celebrate Covering, you want more information or any more information about Generation Church at all, you can text GC Connect to 9400. I’m not going to put that on the screen. I hope by now you guys can get that 9400 GC Connect. 84,000. See, you guys knew it. That’s amazing.
And what I would encourage you today, I might not have enough of these, I pray I don’t, but I brought a basket of blue chips. Okay, so I’m not going to do, we don’t do altar calls at Generation Church, but as you walk out, maybe that’s your moment of surrender. You’re going to come up, you’re going to grab those blue chips and you say, “This is the symbol of my surrender today.” So I’m going to leave those here.
If you’re maybe not comfortable about taking whatever, you can come see us at Celebrate Recovery and you can get one. We do a chip night every month now. Isaiah 1.18 says this:
Come, let’s talk this over, says the Lord; no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!
(Isaiah 1:18 TLB)
I love how the new living translation puts it. It says:
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
(Isaiah 1:18 NLT)
So let me reread those verses from John before Meagan starts her song. Jesus said:
“Where are your accusers?” Didn’t even one of them condemn you? No, Lord, she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I.” So go and sin no more.
This is a transcript of the talk “Rescue Story: Rescued from Addiction” given at Generations Church. Minor edits have been made for readability.