Perry Noble Shares Proverbs 24:16 for People Struggling With Addiction: 'God's Not Done'
Former NewSpring Church Pastor Perry Noble is assuring people who've made serious mistakes in life, such as having affairs or succumbing to drug and alcohol abuse, that "God's not done" with them and they still have an opportunity to transform their lives.
Noble said in a Facebook video on Tuesday that he has recently been finding inspiration in the Bible verse Proverbs 24:16, which states in part that "for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again."
Noble, who has admitted in statements this past year that he was "deceived by sin, alcohol, and myself," which led to his firing from NewSpring, clarified that people are not righteous because of anything they have done, but "because of what Christ has done for us. "
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"The Bible says that although the righteous, those who are in Christ, fall seven times, they get back up."
He offered encouragement to "those of us who have done something that we regret, or have fallen," and said that "if you abused drugs or alcohol for a season — I know something about that — get back up," referring to some of his own struggles.
"What defeated us, does not have to define us, if we are in Christ. If you fail, get back up. If you had an affair, and just moved past it — get back up. Don't go back there, get back out of where you had fallen. If you stole money, if you embezzled money and it defeated you for so long, get back up," he continued.
Perry reminded people that they have a "limited number of heartbeats," and it is no use spending that time regretting about the past.
"We have to focus on what Christ wants us to do," he urged.
"No matter what people are saying about you, you have the strength, the ability to get back up and move froward. If you're not dead, God's not done, and the best is yet to come."
Perry opened up in October about the mistakes he made leading up to his firing, admitting that he preached to his congregation that they can't do life alone, yet he went out and did the opposite of what he advised.
"I chose isolation over community. ... Isolation is where self-doubt dominated my emotions, causing me to believe I just could not carry the weight anymore, and alcohol was necessary for me to make it through another day," the pastor wrote.
"I hated myself, literally HATED myself for doing what I was doing, but believed the lie that this was just the way things were and there was no way it could ever get better."
He further explained that the mistake he made that "hurts so bad" was choosing alcohol over his wife, Lucretia, and daughter, Charisse.
