Since our 2018 preaching theme is “Relevant Issues,” we cannot ignore one of the most relevant health issues of our day. It is the issue of smoking—nicotine addiction. The following statistics reveal just how relevant this issue truly is. Currently 15.5% of U.S. adults are smokers. That is a total of 37.8 million people! Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans per year. That means that almost one out of five US deaths are smoking related deaths. More than 41,000 of these deaths are due to exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion per year. Based on these statistics, I am forced to conclude that helping people achieve lasting freedom from nicotine addiction is indeed a relevant issue! So that’s what this sermon is designed to do. The foundational premise of today’s sermon is that Jesus can set you free from any kind of enslavement—including nicotine enslavement! That’s why John wrote, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, NIV).