Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), C A Murray
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR00057B
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00:12 Hi! and we are back!
00:13 This has been a very revealing 00:18 dare I say, show for me. 00:19 One, because there are so many people here, 00:22 who I never knew had these histories. 00:25 I like the idea that they felt comfortable enough, 00:29 in the Lord, and with you, and with the show format, 00:34 to be so revealing because I know there are people 00:36 who are going to be helped by this stuff. 00:38 It is incredible. 00:39 What is interesting too is if we all come to God, 00:43 and what this whole program is about this season, 00:46 is if we all come to God tweaked in some way. 00:49 I have met people who says I don't even think 00:53 I have any issues. 00:54 That scares me. 00:55 As soon as you talk with them and get history, you think man, 00:59 if you dealt with this, you could be freed up. 01:03 I think that is what God must say to us. 01:06 So this whole season is about coming to Him with all the 01:08 stuff and trust in the fact that He has got your back, 01:12 or He's got the next move for you. 01:14 Every single one in the program has gotten a sense of God. 01:20 Even if it is not, some of the people we have set their 01:24 testimonies, they are not alcoholics, and like Dwight, 01:28 peeing on window sills. 01:31 I do not know if you know what I mean? 01:32 Because he was way out there in his addiction. 01:35 So if they are not that far out there, they are dealing 01:39 with physical issues like the guy on the Cliff thing. 01:42 Or Deliah Brown with her car accident. 01:46 You are still coming to God completely broken and what 01:51 do I do now, what is the next step? 01:52 You know it is interesting because every year we get one 01:56 or two, it really is just one or two of people that say, 01:59 who is say to us, why are you talking about that stuff? 02:03 Why are you giving the Devil so much credit? 02:05 Why, that stuff doesn't touch us, it doesn't bother us? 02:08 Why are you bringing that stuff up? 02:10 We're Christians! 02:11 As if when you come to Lord to come pristine and perfect. 02:14 You don't come with any history, you just sort of drop 02:16 out of the sky. 02:17 But all of us I said, in my preaching, I got stuff, 02:20 you got stuff, all God's children got stuff. 02:24 We need to talk about this because there is certainly 02:30 healing in discussing it and then we find that there are 02:34 tens, thousands, hundreds of millions of people who have 02:38 the same stuff who simply don't know how to get out. 02:40 This program says there is a way out and Jesus is the way. 02:44 I love that, I absolutely love that. 02:48 God said Cheri, I don't even want you to be embarrassed 02:52 anymore about your stuff. 02:54 I just want you to say, you know what, allow Me, through 02:57 the Holy Spirit, to just live with you, abide in you, 03:02 be with you and allow all the victories I have won 03:05 personally, and Christ has won all the victories. 03:08 All the victories I have won personally, 03:09 I want to just give to you. 03:11 You don't even have to fight anymore. 03:12 You do not have to prove you are going to do it, 03:14 I've done it so just relax in that. 03:17 Now that we have that settled, and that is what this 03:20 stuff is about, now that we have got that settled, 03:22 let Me show you how to laugh. 03:26 We think it is, let Me show you how to tithe. 03:30 Let Me show you how to do the Sabbath. 03:32 Let me show you how to do... and we have all these 03:34 things that we think He wants to show us behaviorally. 03:37 I think He wants to show us how to live, laugh, 03:40 love people. 03:42 It is such an incredible, it is the coolest part of 03:46 recovery because I don't know, I don't how. 03:49 We are going to do one more roll-in, 03:50 well actually two more. 03:52 This next roll-in we are going to show is three 03:56 testimonies all really different of people that not 04:00 only came into healing, really got it themselves, 04:05 and are going out now and teaching somebody else. 04:07 One is Mike Stone and Barry Steed, they have these 04:11 incredible testimonies, incredible histories, and now 04:14 they are going out to the NASCAR race stuff, 04:17 or motor-cross racing and talking to people 04:20 that are out there. 04:21 They were partying and drinking and they say, 04:23 that was the guy was and I was miserable. 04:25 Not to cut you off but what really is cool about this 04:29 This is a niche thing, you have tailgaters at football games, 04:33 you have all these people who seemed to have a great time 04:36 partying and under that is all this pain, this hurt. 04:39 Some people who saw that, used to be that, now they are 04:44 back they are bringing Christ into that situation. 04:46 Their kids are miserable, they are strung out. 04:47 So they are going to go back and do that. 04:49 The other one, a gang member, and then a 04:54 recreational addict that was a physical therapist 04:59 doing all that kind of stuff getting more and more 05:01 lost in his addictions and God called him back. 05:03 In such a loving way and so there is their stories. 05:06 Rhonda Burnett who has alcoholism, 05:10 and has just done just amazing in her own recovery. 05:13 Not only in her own recovery but the fact that she 05:16 now has God for the first time for her, and she is 05:20 making it real for someone else. 05:21 So enjoy these. 05:24 I was sitting there in church service, and they was 05:27 up singing and giving their testimonies and everything. 05:30 I thought to myself, I thought if there is a God and 05:36 He saved all these people from drugs and all that, 05:40 because I was hardheaded and said let one of them 05:45 guys on the stage come down here and talk to me. 05:50 Because I did not have no clue of anybody in the church. 05:54 I thought, that way I knew God did it. 05:59 I have to know there is a God. 06:02 So I know more got the thought out of my mind and the 06:08 two guys on the stage started talking. 06:10 I thought that is strange, they are in the middle 06:12 of singing and these two guys start talking. 06:15 It wasn't 5 minutes and the one guy put his 06:19 microphone down and walked off the platform and 06:23 started walking down the aisle. 06:24 I thought I don't know where he is going but, I know 06:28 he ain't coming down to sit by me. 06:30 He walked right back and sat down right beside me. 06:34 No way, how cool is that? 06:36 He told me, I know you are having a drug problem and your 06:42 wife, you are having trouble with your family and all that. 06:46 At that moment, God took it all away. 06:52 I also robbed people and when they saw that they 06:56 decided this is the man we need to hang out with 06:59 this man to be like him. 07:00 Which is what I wanted, I want them to be like me. 07:02 I liked that, I don't like that, that happened 07:06 but I use that today, because I say well they wanted 07:09 to be like me when I was reflecting the 07:11 character of the Devil back then. 07:13 But now that I have Christ, I want them to not only 07:17 see me but see Christ in me, and follow me now, 07:20 the way am now. 07:22 I did not let my parents run say my life, and I didn't 07:24 let no man run my life, and I sure am not going to let 07:26 God run my life. 07:27 And the spiritual mentor down there, she just reached 07:29 over and patted me on the knee and said, that's right 07:32 Honey you have done such a good job all by yourself. 07:34 I went, awwh, that was it, that was a light bulb. 07:38 That was an epiphany for me. 07:39 I could see right there it was like all my very best. 07:43 I tried so hard Cheri, I wanted to be a good person. 07:46 I wanted to be a good wife and to be good mother. 07:48 I wanted to be a good daughter, a good sister, 07:50 a good employee, I just wanted to be so good. 07:53 I had no power to do that. 07:57 Some of these lifestyles I can't even imagine. 07:59 Do you know what I mean? 08:00 Because God gets us all from such different places. 08:04 You know your background is way different than mine. 08:06 I'm definitely way different than these gangsters 08:08 that are coming out. 08:09 What they had seen, what they have done, their life 08:13 experiences are so twisted and God says, 08:18 you know what, I adore them. 08:20 Yeah, yeah - I adore them. 08:22 He is not phased in any sense by where 08:26 they have come from. 08:28 I said this years ago, maybe 4 years ago when we first 08:31 began, and this is something I appreciate about you. 08:34 No matter what rolls in here you handle it. 08:41 It's like your jaw doesn't drop, or you are not "like 08:44 you did that"! 08:46 You have to be kidding me! 08:47 Because we all got some "you did that" in our lives. 08:51 And God is not phased by this stuff. 08:55 He has seen it all, He has not perplexed, He is not 08:58 shocked, He's not horrified, because He knows it. 09:02 He knows He has a cure for it. 09:03 You know when you can handle even death, when you know 09:06 you can cure death, death is no big deal. 09:08 Exactly, don't be afraid of that. 09:11 So the gang banging, and what is great about this is that 09:14 there are people that are gang bangers who are 09:17 looking for a way out, just don't know how to get out. 09:19 These programs speak to the basic needs of the Christian. 09:23 We talked about the forgotten step you know. 09:26 Okay I have made restitution, now I just want to be whole. 09:29 What does it feel like to be normal? 09:32 What is it like a normal, Yeah! I just want to be normal. 09:34 To the normal now in Christ. 09:36 What I think is amazing to me, is that's what I think 09:39 horrifies God, is that we don't know who we are. 09:43 We are the children of God, created by a God that spoke 09:46 the universe into existence. 09:47 He said you guys think you are gang bangers. 09:50 You don't even know, that is not who you are. 09:53 I love the fact, one time we had a stripper on named 09:56 Harmony and I love her. 09:58 She said she was turning around to dance for somebody 10:00 and God shows her who she is and she said I could never 10:03 go back to that lifestyle. 10:04 Because He showed me how incredible I am. 10:06 I think that is what this step is about. 10:08 Got everything you have done, you have said you are sorry, 10:12 you've turn it over to somebody and asked for forgiveness. 10:15 Now, man, let's sit down and let Me show you what 10:19 life is about. 10:20 It absolutely is my favorite step to look at. 10:24 Even the righteousness of Christ, the fact that He 10:27 knows all this stuff. 10:29 He says I want to pour it into you. 10:30 I want to show you what life is about. 10:33 Is He going figure out, is He going to 10:36 help me wrap my mind around it? 10:37 Because I know your mind is twisted, you know what I mean? 10:41 Let's use my mind right now. 10:43 And I love that. 10:45 That is incredible. 10:46 The text that pops into my mind is Roman 8:1. 10:51 "There is therefore now no condemnation. " 10:54 So when you are look over your shoulder, God is not 10:56 going He's not doing that, 10:59 He is saying come to Me, do you want to be free? 11:01 Come on let's be free, let's be whole now, we can do this. 11:05 We can do it together. 11:06 You asked me, or you just made a statement that 11:09 my jaw doesn't drop. 11:11 I just got back from a Ministry and came over here 11:15 from that Ministry. 11:16 We did Kenya, we did another state here in the 11:19 United States, and then came over. 11:21 A kid was talking to me from a rehab center and he started 11:24 to cry, and he was like 15 and he's adorable. 11:27 Just a cute little model looking kid. 11:30 He says, you know I jumped into the gang and part of what 11:35 I was supposed to do is kill somebody. 11:37 Went to another state with a number of 13, 14-year-olds 11:41 and through a hatchet at a guy I coming out of his house. 11:45 I hit him in the head. 11:47 Nobody knows about that one. 11:50 I just thought, are you kidding me? 11:53 So for me I want to say that is twisted, that is wrong. 11:59 How are you ever going to be whole from that? 12:00 We talk about these gang members, and these druggies, 12:04 and people that have come from lifestyles where they are 12:07 beating their wives and molesting their kids, or are 12:09 strung out on this or that. 12:11 God says, I can offer healing. 12:15 I can literally untwist, that person will come back on 12:18 the other side of this healthy and forgiven. 12:23 They are definitely going to have to make amends for 12:24 all those things, just trust Me on that. 12:27 This whole season is about trust beyond that. 12:30 This next roll-in were going to do just cracked me up 12:33 because we have horrible weather during the time we 12:36 were shooting all these. 12:37 Horrible cancellations, we had to grab people off the 12:40 street to interview sometimes, and that kind of thing. 12:43 Finally I had 5 cancellations, I know that it costs 12:48 to have the camera people here and the studio available. 12:51 I'm thinking, we have to get somebody and I went go over to 12:56 the Thompsonville church right here. 12:57 Ken Cox is there and I and thinking man, and for a 13:01 druggie in recovery, that is like having God here. 13:04 I'm thinking Kenneth Cox, how fun is that? 13:08 I'm sitting in the front row and awe struck because 13:11 there are some people that I loved. 13:15 Doug Bachelor I think is amazing. 13:16 Kenneth Cox are people who have, I think you are amazing. 13:20 First book, I don't know if it was your first book. 13:23 Second. 13:24 Second book that you wrote, See No Evil, 13:27 it changed me. 13:28 I Will Fear No Evil, yeah! 13:29 Incredible stuff. 13:30 What was the name of it again, - I Will Fear No Evil. 13:32 I Will Fear No Evil 13:33 It was incredible stuff to me, so there are people 13:36 that you just put out there and Ken is one of 13:38 those guys for me. 13:39 So I'm sitting there thinking, you are awesome. 13:42 I didn't hear the first 15 minutes that he spoke. 13:44 I didn't hear a thing, I just like, man, I love you. 13:46 Hey, Cheri right here, front row. 13:49 I am just beside myself. 13:51 Then all of a sudden I thought wait, he is preaching 13:53 exactly what the season is about. 13:55 He is talking about feed the baby, or take care of 13:59 the new part of you, the part that is coming to Christ 14:02 and understanding about who God is. 14:03 I'm thinking, cancellations, he is talking about the very 14:07 thing, so the program is over for him and he is standing 14:10 up on stage and I went up and of course he doesn't know who I am. 14:14 I said Ken, my name is Cheri Peters and I love you. 14:19 He said I could tell. 14:23 But he is very polite and I said, would you, 14:26 I have a show Celebrating Life In Recovery. 14:28 He said, yeah I've seen it which I was thrilled about it. 14:32 I said, would you ever be on it, because I had some 14:34 cancellations and we are speaking on this? 14:36 He said yeah, I'm like no way? 14:40 I'm thinking Ken Cox is going be on the show? 14:42 I turned around and all of a sudden I realized that 14:45 our show is if about gang members, and addicts, 14:48 people in recovery, and eating disorders, and cutting. 14:52 I'm looking at Ken Cox and he looks like Moses when he 14:56 came down from the mountain. 14:57 Do you know I mean? 14:59 He was all lit up and I turn around and say can would you 15:02 mind getting a Mohawk, ear rings, tattoos so you would 15:08 fit in and he started laughing, but he came on the program and 15:10 we are going to show the roll-in but he came on 15:12 the program and talked about 15:13 what is righteousness by faith mean? 15:15 What is it mean to be new in Christ? 15:20 To literally make that transition from this addictive 15:24 self to self that allows God to walk you 15:28 through all that. 15:29 So enjoy this roll-in and then we are going to come 15:31 back and talk a little bit about what he presents. 15:37 Just like with yourself, you have sat here and said, well I 15:41 am an addict and all this and that, but Christ also says 15:45 that you are a pearl of great price. 15:46 It said, He would have come and died, 15:50 if it had only been you. 15:52 The first time I heard you say that, I was just coming 15:56 out of homelessness and drug addiction and you were 15:59 talking to a church and you said those things, and I wept. 16:04 Are you talking about me and what I hear you saying, 16:09 is absolutely. 16:10 Because you see you are totally unique, there is not 16:12 another person like you anywhere in all of God's universe. 16:16 There's not another person like each one of us. 16:19 God does not clone, God creates. 16:23 The only people that clone are people who can't create. 16:27 But God creates and God makes each one of us distinctly 16:31 different, so there is not another person 16:34 like us anywhere. 16:35 So I do not care what a person's background is. 16:37 I do not care where they have been and I don't care what 16:39 they have done, they are still unique. 16:42 They are still special, there is not another individual 16:46 like them and that is why it is so important that they 16:49 are not lost. Right! 16:53 Cheri I appreciate so much what Ken Cox had to offer. 16:57 I'm looking forward to seeing the whole program. 17:00 When I saw his name there, I got a little scared. 17:01 Because I saw Dwight and Debbie Hall with a very revealing 17:06 testimony and I said oh no not Ken Cox too because I 17:09 interviewed him once and got his whole life story. 17:11 He didn't reveal anything as far as a shaky past to me. 17:16 So I said well here we go, but he talked about 17:19 righteousness by faith and that kind of thing 17:23 does give us hope. 17:24 It is about surrendering to the Lord. 17:27 It's about giving it to Him. 17:28 Romans 12:1 says, we present our bodies. 17:32 You make yourself available to the working of God 17:35 and they God begins His work in you. 17:38 When I was growing up, when I went into the Ministry 17:40 I was living alone for a while. 17:42 My mother is this kind of antiseptic, worked in a hospital 17:46 emergency room, ex-ray room all of her life. 17:49 So I would clean my house whenever 17:51 she was going to visit. 17:52 When she got there invariability she would take off 17:55 her coat, sit down a little while and then she's in 17:57 the kitchen cleaning and it would aggravate me because 17:58 I had already cleaned. 18:00 I just cleaned that! 18:01 She would find stuff, she would find dirt. 18:02 I told her, your like the Holy Spirit. 18:05 You are always cleaning, you never stop cleaning, 18:08 no matter how clean I think I have gotten this place, 18:10 you find dirt. 18:11 And that is what the Holy Spirit does, always cleaning. 18:13 What I hope what is going to happen during this season, 18:16 is, does the Holy Spirit, does God just find dirt for 18:20 finding dirt's sake? 18:22 Just He just do it for His own sake? 18:25 I think all of heaven says, absolutely not! 18:28 I know that as you, like for me I lie and manipulate and 18:33 was homeless for 10 years and good and all that stuff. 18:36 Every time He teaches me to be more honest, to be more 18:39 to have more integrity, to be able to walk in that place, 18:43 I have better relationships. 18:45 I trust myself more, you know what I mean? 18:47 I trust other people more and all that stuff gets well, 18:50 when God says He is going to step into your life, 18:54 do the baptism of the Holy Spirit, 18:55 through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to 18:57 mentor and model for you what it feels like to be healthy. 19:03 Not because I have a checklist, because I want so badly 19:09 for you to be all that. 19:11 I think that we think, I don't know what we think. 19:15 I think the devil has lied to us and said that God wants 19:18 you to not have any fun at all. 19:21 I'm like, that is so not it. 19:23 It is so not it! 19:25 You know this idea that God calls you righteous, 19:29 while He is making you righteous, 19:32 is very, very powerful. 19:33 He says, Cheri, I love you and in my sight, 19:37 since you have given your heart to Christ, 19:39 I don't see that stuff anymore. 19:40 I'm calling you righteous, by the way I am making you, 19:43 what I am calling you. 19:44 At the same time. - At the same time. 19:46 So you get credit for being what He already says you are. 19:50 It is a wonderful thing and it gives you hope and you 19:53 do not have to fight it by yourself. 19:55 He's saying you're beautiful to Me, 19:58 and I am making you beautiful. 20:00 I'm your plastic surgeon, I am making you what I see you as. 20:04 I am also your reality, and that is a great thing. 20:10 I love the way you have said it, because that makes it real 20:12 clear, but I think some people present that righteousness 20:15 by faith in such a way as it is convoluted. 20:19 We do not know exactly what it means. 20:20 But it just means that God is doing it all. 20:22 Precisely, He's doing it all. 20:24 And it's like you can just trust in that, walk in that. 20:27 I'm thinking sometimes I will start to exaggerate or to 20:30 lie or do something like get back in my old stuff. 20:33 I hear the Holy Spirit say, Hon, it never worked. 20:36 Right, right! 20:37 I'm thinking, it is very gentle, like if you start to 20:40 smoke again where you start to drink again or you go 20:42 online with the porn stuff again and you hear the 20:45 Holy Spirit say, it never worked! 20:47 It robbed you of everything. 20:49 That's God's way of moving in and saying I'm going to 20:54 come in and teach you what is not good. 20:57 What's going to kill you. 20:59 Something that pops into my mind, my goodness it is 21:02 Hebrews 13: 5 and 6, where it says to be content. 21:05 One of the things I see with this missing steps in 21:08 recovery is wherever you find yourself just relax. 21:11 Relax and be content. 21:12 Here is where I am God, now You have to get me out of this. 21:16 He says also in that text, I'm not going to leave you. 21:19 I'm not going to forsake you, so chill. 21:21 Be calm, relax we are going to go through this together. 21:24 I am not going to duck out halfway through, 21:26 I will take you all the way to the end. 21:27 Then he says, you can boldly say, and I like this. 21:31 You can boldly say God is my helper. 21:33 So if there's anything I can thump my chest about, 21:36 is that God is on my side because I'm on His side. 21:39 I don't have to do this by myself. 21:41 I can recover and go through this stuff because I have 21:43 the big guy behind me. 21:45 I have got somebody help me out here. 21:46 That is the Lord! 21:47 Never leave me, never forsake me and the last part of 21:50 that text, which is really cool. 21:52 What can Man do to me? 21:54 You know? It says that God is my helper and man 21:57 cannot touch me. 21:58 There is nothing he can do. 21:59 He cannot help me, he cannot hurt me because I am 22:01 in the Lord's hands now and my recovery is not of 22:03 my own making, it is me and God. 22:06 God and me, us together and it is a beautiful combination. 22:13 I love that because I used to think, what if I mess up? 22:16 What if I fall again? 22:17 It is really interesting because I have. 22:20 I've been in recovery almost 30 years now. 22:23 When I think about it, it was 1979. 22:25 There are times that I would just fall flat on my face 22:28 and I know it. 22:29 I wanted to do something and to act out in this way, 22:33 and the Holy Spirit is like nah, man Cheri don't do that. 22:36 You have done that before. 22:37 I would literally have to turn things off, 22:39 to stop hearing them and to be able to act out that way. 22:42 I still fall and act out and then I realize, 22:45 what did I do that for? 22:46 Not only did I act out, but I literally had to shut down 22:50 the voice of God in order to do this sin. 22:53 God says, you know what at the end of it, I am ready for 22:56 Him to say that is enough. 22:58 I have had enough and He doesn't, 22:59 He says did it work for you? 23:01 And I have to say again, absolutely it did not again. 23:04 Over the years some of those sins have dropped off 23:07 completely because they never have worked. 23:09 God was faithful every time I crashed and burned. 23:11 He stood me up every time again. 23:13 I am not saying go ahead and do it anyway. 23:16 I'm just saying I am amazed that God does not get tired 23:19 of doing this stuff. 23:21 That is really, really powerful. 23:22 God will say, OK Cheri, let's debrief. 23:24 Okay, how did it feel? 23:26 It felt good, OK how do you feel now? 23:28 Guilty! 23:29 Guilty, right. 23:31 Shame, guilty all that stuff again. 23:32 So now we had to start building you back up again, 23:33 rather than okay you are on your own now. 23:35 He builds you back up and that is why these programs, 23:39 I say again, are so meaningful because they are part of that 23:42 process, part of that debrief. 23:43 There is somebody else, hey, I did that, and it didn't work 23:46 for them and it sure is not working for me. 23:48 We both need Jesus and Jesus is the answer. 23:51 And He is faithful. 23:52 Precisely! 23:53 And He is cool and He is fun and He loves you. 23:55 When the Bible talks about He delights in our recovery, 23:58 I am thinking, what does it mean? 24:00 Like the first time I saw Isaiah 57:18 where He says, 24:04 I actually delight in your recovery. 24:06 I know all about you. 24:08 I know all your garbage and all your junk. 24:10 I want to stand you up. 24:11 I'm thinking, all of my junk? 24:13 He is like, all of it. 24:16 When I get to the point where all of a sudden, I think 24:19 all these gangsters, you heard it in their voice. 24:21 The people in the ministry, that have been on this season. 24:24 You can hear it in their voice when they get to the 24:26 point where they finally see the magnitude and love 24:29 of God, then you can't help but tell somebody. 24:32 It is not that I learned a Scripture and I want to share 24:34 the Scripture, I saw God and I know that He saw me, 24:38 and He is crazy about me. 24:41 Yeah, you are sharing your experience as opposed to 24:44 something written on a page because you have internalized 24:46 the words on that page are a part of your body now, 24:50 a part of your soul. 24:51 It is you, not just something you read. 24:53 That is absolutely huge. 24:55 We are going to go ahead and take a break and come 24:56 back and bring this whole thing to a close. 24:59 But as we take a break I want you to know that this 25:02 was the hardest season for me because the concept is 25:05 that people do not even stop on a 12 step group 25:09 because this step is just too big. 25:12 Did you turn it over, completely turn it over. 25:14 There is no other way around it. 25:16 You get into recovery at this point you turn it over. 25:18 We are going to be right back, stay with us. 25:20 I have already been blessed, but stay with us will be back. |
Revised 2014-12-17