Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Michael Kontes
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR000027
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00:11 Welcome to Celebrating Life In Recovery.
00:12 I'm Cheri your host and today we are going to look at all 00:16 the incredible promises God has given to us, His kids. 00:19 It is absolutely amazing, come join us in the café. 00:50 In another show we talked about the process of healing. 00:52 I found those in the book 'Search for Significance' by 00:55 Robert S. McGee, so we're going to cover some of that. 00:58 I first want to introduce you to everybody at the café. 01:00 Especially our guest, Pastor Mike you are our special 01:04 guest for the day. 01:06 I'm glad to be here Cheri. 01:07 We try to do this a thousand times. - 2000 times. 01:11 I know how and what happened each time? 01:13 Each time there are technical difficulties. 01:16 - the devil steps in and says you are not doing this. 01:19 Murphy is doing his job. - that's right, exactly! 01:22 I want to introduce you, there are a number people at the 01:24 Café visiting and we are going to meet a lot of you and 01:29 hear your testimony, so when we get to that point it will 01:32 be amazing and you will be blessed, absolutely blessed. 01:35 Mike I want to go through a little bit of what we have 01:39 covered in previous shows. 01:41 We are coming to the into this season, right. - yes. 01:44 So you as a Pastor, not only as a Pastor the man of God and 01:47 the things I know you have been through, 01:49 you can help us to understand this. 01:52 The first part of recovery, that we found, is to honestly 01:56 look at your stuff, to honestly say, exactly where I am at, 02:00 what do I need to know about God, and to the point where 02:03 sometimes I look at myself and think oh man! 02:06 I'm in such trouble because I am a mess, absolutely a mess. 02:10 I hear the Holy Spirit saying, Cheri that's okay, I know 02:14 that and I will help you in recovery. 02:16 So to be able to honestly look at that. 02:19 We are going to go through some of those things. 02:21 First of all I want to know, I know but I want the viewers 02:25 and the people at the café to get an idea of who you are, 02:28 And why I chose you to do the show with us. 02:33 To really make a long story short, basically my daughter, 02:38 my 3 and 1/2-year-old daughter, came down with 02:40 brain cancer in 1999. 02:42 I was two weeks away from going to India to do an 02:45 evangelistic series, I have been an Adventist 02:46 for a 1 and 1/2 years. 02:48 And being an Adventist for a 1 and 1/2, you had not only been 02:52 running from God, but kind of a bad guy? 02:55 When I look at you and I think who's going to believe that? 02:58 But it is true. 03:00 You know I was very disrespectful to my wife. 03:02 I thought my wife and my son, at the time, before my 03:05 daughter came around, a chain and ball to me. 03:07 They are ruining my life, I had things to do and you 03:10 are getting in the way? 03:11 I had an 'I' problem, I couldn't see past myself. 03:13 Here God had given me a beautiful wife, a beautiful son, 03:17 and my daughter came along and I saw that my dreams 03:20 couldn't be accomplished and I was chafing 03:22 under my responsibilities. 03:24 You know when Satan is the puppet master in your life, 03:28 and you are the puppet, you move, that's it, as he moves 03:33 his finger tips, so to speak, you follow his lead. 03:35 That's what I did, I followed his lead until finally my 03:38 wife began to really pray for me. 03:41 After a six-month period, I know it takes some people 03:45 a lot longer, I didn't do anything of myself, but the 03:48 Holy Spirit began to woo me and show me things in the 03:50 world and I gave my heart to Jesus. 03:52 You know what cracks me up? Is that I just got this 03:54 impression, I think, from the Holy Spirit. 03:56 The Holy Spirit is like six months eke, eke, I've been 04:00 following you forever, from the womb I've been working 04:03 with you and you think it took Me six months. 04:05 It took me a lifetime to even get you to look at God. 04:07 Some of us think, oh, it is just when we start sensing it. 04:11 But the Holy Spirit has been wooing us forever, 04:14 and when we start sensing it, He's kicked up the fire. 04:18 That is a great point, He has been there my whole life, 04:23 and most of the time we do not acknowledge, or know that 04:25 He is working in our lives until we have the opportunity 04:27 to look back in hindsight. 04:29 That 6-month period was especially unique for the mere 04:32 fact that I began to see spiritual things that are 04:36 spiritually discerned. 04:37 - Explain that for somebody that doesn't know. 04:40 We have people watching this show that has never been 04:42 baptized, they don't know what you are saying by that. 04:45 Okay that is a good point. 04:46 A lot times what takes place is people have a hard time 04:49 struggling with the word of God, concepts or principles. 04:52 They are really struggling, as they struggle they don't, 04:58 how can I say this, God says that you will know what 05:01 My will is, and you will know of Him when you submit 05:04 your self to Him. - actually know His voice. 05:08 You will intimately be able to understand what He is 05:12 calling for you to be able to do when your heart is 05:15 emptied out of all the garbage that literally you have 05:18 put in there, and others have affected in your life. 05:21 You can empty that out and all of your broken dreams, 05:24 all of the issues that - all the addictions, 05:27 - all the addictions and the bondage that comes with the 05:30 addictions, the physical bondage, the mental bondage, the 05:33 spiritual bondage, when you take these to Christ and 05:36 you just open the door per se, 05:38 He stands there knocking, when you take it to Him and 05:42 you say okay I can't do this anymore. 05:44 Then what you have done, because I believe the way of the 05:49 great controversy is structured per se, you will allow 05:54 Him to do things that otherwise would be, because of the 05:59 structure, very difficult to do. 06:00 When you say the great controversy, that's the battle 06:04 with the lies that the devil has said to us, 06:07 the things that we struggle with, and what God is saying 06:11 about who He is. 06:13 For this show particular, I would say, because we are 06:15 dealing with overcoming addiction, the great controversy 06:18 We are talking about addiction from my perspective is here 06:23 you have Satan telling people you will find happiness 06:27 in this area, be it competition, be it drugs. 06:30 - The area of competition. 06:32 - and everybody else is weighing you down, everybody 06:38 else is getting in your way, I cannot get my dreams met 06:40 with you a my way. 06:41 In the other side is of the great controversy is? 06:44 The great controversy is that you have this perspective 06:47 where Satan is trying to get this field in your life, 06:50 and the other side is Mike come to Me, Cheri come to Me. 06:53 I'll know the desires of your heart and I will give you them. 06:56 - I love you, do you know how much I have given. 06:59 I have poured out the treasury of heaven for you and 07:02 you are searching in a bass tournament, in a bass boat 07:06 try to find out who you are Mike? - exactly! 07:09 I have traveled the world and I was a homeless kid. 07:11 I have traveled the world because God wants to fill us up. 07:15 The devil says He doesn't, He wants to rob you, 07:17 it's like stop, He wants to pour out heaven. 07:20 So as your wife is praying for you, you're having this 07:23 struggle, this great controversy is so in your life. 07:27 She starts committing herself to prayer. 07:29 She commits to prayer, at the time I did not know it, 07:33 and another lady was praying at her job. 07:35 She wanted to leave her job, she was a massage therapist 07:38 at a gym and two people are praying for me that I have no 07:42 idea they are praying for me. 07:44 All I can say, prayer, I can't underscore the point, 07:47 when we pray the windows of heaven open up. 07:52 Because of my wife and her prayers with this other ladies, 07:55 the windows of heaven opened up. 07:57 After watching a couple things on TV, they blew me away, 08:00 I watched a girl in high school who went to her high school 08:03 dance pregnant, and gave birth to her baby, and put it in 08:06 the trash bin and went and finished her dance. 08:08 I saw that and the Holy Spirit said to me, Mike this world 08:12 is coming to an end, it's winding down. 08:15 I had never, I had seen it before and thought like every 08:18 one else, these things happen. 08:20 Yes they do happen, but look at the intensity of how these 08:24 things are happening daily, every 12 hours, every 3 hours, 08:27 as I saw that I came to a place where I watched 08:31 a prophecy show one evening. 08:32 An individual basically said, the preacher basically said, 08:35 if you die, do you know where you would go? 08:37 You know what? I knew exactly where I was going. 08:40 You know what? I realized I stood under the black banner 08:44 of the powers of darkness and basically gave my heart that 08:48 night to Jesus. - Amen, Amen! 08:51 What is your wife just shocked? Did she believe you even? 08:54 She thought I was crazy. 08:55 The next day I woke up, now you have to remember for 29 08:58 years at that time I had been claiming to be a Christian. 09:02 So when you profess and don't possess the Holy Spirit, 09:06 you can understand why sometimes people look at you. 09:10 - they don't believe you anymore! 09:12 They don't believe you so the next day I woke up, 09:13 the shame and the guilt I had been carrying my whole life 09:17 was lifted up and I cannot explain, everyone knows 09:20 the born-again experience, we do not understand how it 09:22 takes place, we can only see the affects. 09:24 I woke up that morning and went into the kitchen where 09:28 my wife was feeding the kids and I said, honey. 09:30 I said it exactly, I go honey I gave my heart to Jesus. 09:34 She looks at me and goes, that's nice. 09:40 It was like someone just poured the lemon juice in an 09:45 open wound, you know what? 09:47 As I walked away the Holy Spirit said to me, Mike what do 09:51 you expect her to think, you have treated her terribly. 09:55 You watch terrible things, you speak terrible things, 09:59 what she is basically telling you is, show me. 10:03 What is amazing to me, even with the Holy Spirit with you, 10:06 is that He is that nice and gentle to us. 10:09 He will not lie to us, when He says it, 10:12 you so know it is the truth, alright. 10:15 - so gentle. - exactly! 10:17 You know what? He says even the rebuke as Christ said in 10:21 His ministry with tears in His voice, I think we cannot 10:25 understand that concept because we carry so much baggage, 10:28 when we deal with people we think we are going to go to 10:31 our brother or sister and say a rebuke, and think we are 10:33 doing it in a very humble way. We have our fingers pointed out. 10:36 We're just exploding, what we need is more of Christ. 10:41 That is hard, even when I talk to addicts, when I tell somebody 10:46 I have put the worst of the worst words on the table and 10:50 I have never felt shamed by God. 10:52 I have never felt like He looked at me in disgust, 10:55 or He looked at me and was angry, I have never felt that. 10:59 I've always felt that He looked at me in truth and said, 11:03 think this way, walk this Way. 11:05 That, I think, is the beauty of God, is that He is able 11:10 to see Mike, or Cheri at a distance and to see that they 11:14 are coming back and they are marred. 11:17 Instead of running, instead of allowing us coming onto 11:21 the property and making justification of what we did, 11:25 He meets us there, the same way He came to Adam and Eve. 11:29 The same way He went out to Cain, He comes to us and says, 11:33 I love you, because He knows before we are even at the edge 11:38 of His property, He says I know why you're back. 11:40 He is not going to condemn us because right there, 11:43 the condemner is right next was saying, don't go back 11:46 because He doesn't want you. 11:47 God is sitting back and is saying, I've been searching 11:50 for you for years. 11:52 I want to pour into you, I want to kiss you on the face 11:56 every morning when you wake up. 11:58 I want to show you a life where you will laugh out loud 12:00 and be filled with joy. - Amen! 12:03 Out of bondage, how cool is that? 12:04 So in your walk, you said now you are turning around, 12:09 being the father that your wife has always knew you were. 12:14 being the husband, being the father, and things are 12:18 beginning to turn around for us. 12:20 We are baptized soon after, husband-and-wife together. 12:24 - got into the Ministry right away? 12:27 Not too long after, I was only a four-year Adventist and 12:31 I was pastoring, I was pastoring for Adventist. 12:35 A big responsibility and sometimes people come to me and 12:39 say, Mike you don't look worried, what is going on here? 12:42 I know God's going to do it. 12:45 I have come to the place where I realize you can be 1 year, 12:48 you can be 50 years knowing God, but bottom-line is that 12:52 if you become comfortable with how long for or become to 12:55 insecure on how short, you are limiting God, 12:57 and I don't want to limit God. 12:59 The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, 13:02 whether you have known God for 1 day or 100 days, 13:05 it is the same thing that is poured into you. 13:07 He will lead us in all truth - exactly. 13:11 Not myself, not you, not others, He will lead us. 13:13 If He is leading me in truth at the speed that He desires, 13:17 Jesus is walking before me like a shepherd. 13:20 He is taking me at the pace that I need to go, 13:23 I don't have to worry about where I am at. 13:26 How cool is that? How cool is that! 13:28 So now as that is turning, you said earlier that you are 13:31 going to India and find out your daughter has brain cancer. 13:35 I can't imagine that. 13:36 The first time I heard you say that, it was on a show and 13:39 we were dealing with something else and I remember it felt 13:42 like somebody had hit me in the chest because I thought 13:45 how do you accept and deal with that? 13:48 We were devastated for the first three days, there was 13:51 a lot of sadness, and friends and family and church members 13:54 came to the hospital. 13:56 The doctors began to notice that my daughter was 13:58 withdrawing because of the atmosphere in the room. 14:01 So I went to her and said honey, we are going to take 14:03 you for your birthday to Disneyland. 14:06 Her birthday was coming up in April, 14:08 and this was in January. 14:09 She looked at me with this real despairing look and said, 14:12 daddy I don't want to go to Disneyland. 14:15 That night my wife and I got on our hands and knees and 14:18 realize that we needed God in a special portion to be 14:22 able to walk through this trial. 14:25 We got on hands and knees and prayed for God to give us 14:28 the strength, and you know what? 14:29 He answered that prayer, the following week when we were 14:32 getting ready to be released to start her therapy. 14:34 - she had a brain cancer that was very rare? 14:40 Pontine Glioma, it's a cancer on the brainstem, 14:45 a brain tip tumor that was pushing on her ex-cranial nerve 14:48 and her eyes crossed. 14:50 They had put her on steroids to reduce the swelling in the 14:52 brain, from my understanding there are no children, 14:57 no known survivors from this specific cancer. 15:00 They usually, children who get this cancer, usually have 15:05 a lifespan after diagnosis of about 1 year. 15:10 Being a sports person I call it, the Michael Jordan 15:12 of brain cancers. 15:15 As you are getting this information to you, you are also 15:20 asking God to give us strength, we don't even know, 15:23 give us strength. 15:25 I was very fortunate to be able to be a born again 15:29 Christian for a year and a half, a born again Seventh-day 15:31 Adventist at this time. 15:33 I understood God's character, and as I was studying the 15:36 word of God when, I know some people have issues when they 15:39 study the Bible, and a look at the doctrines, and people 15:42 say I don't want to know about doctrines or these issues. 15:45 As I begin studying and I looked at the stories of the 15:48 Bible, I began to look at the teachings of what God has 15:51 shown through His church. 15:52 Again I see that Christ is the center of all these things, 15:56 did it help me to understand His character. 15:58 The more I can understand of His character, 16:00 not that I would raise my hand and say, yeah take all of 16:02 my kids to brain cancer, but that I would sit back and be 16:04 able to say, you know what, I trust You. 16:06 I trust You because I know Your true. 16:08 That does not mean that you don't cry. 16:09 That doesn't mean you're not sad, at times you might not 16:13 have a little anger, but you can say, 16:14 I can't understand these things. 16:16 I think a lot of times what takes place in addictions, 16:19 in grieving and healing, and a lot of times we try to 16:23 find cute answers of why these things are taking place. 16:27 To me ultimately, I had to come to a place, as I was 16:31 sharing with my brother earlier, that God formed this 16:35 earth, I wasn't even around the foundations 16:39 of this world when they were created. 16:41 How can I distrust the God who knows all and can do all? 16:46 I have to place my trust in Him and be able to say, 16:48 you know I know what You have done for me in the past. 16:51 I know Your love for me for the past. 16:52 I know that my daughter, who is really Your daughter, 16:56 You love her more than I love her, and because You love 16:59 her more than I love her, I need to be able to let go. 17:03 When I first gave my heart, I came to a place where 17:06 I said God I give you my children. 17:08 I said that in a prayer, I give You my children. 17:10 You know what, I thought I did. 17:12 Until you begin to have your children being pulled 17:14 from you, you realize the percentage you have given. 17:17 I had maybe given 70%, God was teaching me, 17:20 Mike, she is My daughter, My daughter. 17:23 A lot of people they think as Christians we escape all 17:28 the damage in this world, the genetic damage. 17:31 The cancers that hit us and all that, we don't. 17:34 We just have a hope that this isn't it and that 17:37 I have a God that is coming back for me. 17:40 We have that hope and we have to figure out, 17:44 when something like this happens, how much do we actually 17:46 believe of all that stuff. 17:48 Isaiah 41:13 says, "for I am the Lord thy God who said 17:52 "unto thee fear not for I am with thee. " 17:54 I think what needs to take place, regardless if it's at 17:58 work, in the home life, where ever we need to realize 18:02 that we do not serve a God who is just up on His throne. 18:05 When you read the stories in the Bible of how many times 18:09 God has come, and who was in the fiery furnace with 18:13 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? 18:15 When you look at all the stories, who wept outside of 18:19 Lazarus tomb, you begin to see that our God is such an intimate 18:24 loving God, at times though He may not be with us tangibly 18:28 were we can touch Him, He has left His Spirit, which 18:32 I know I have tangibly felt in my heart and in my mind. 18:37 And saw in your child, tell me again what her favorite 18:42 story in the Bible was during this time? 18:44 When I heard that, I just wanted to weep. 18:47 I may weep if I tell it to you again. 18:49 What took place is when they let us go from a hospital 18:53 to begin and start her therapy, she looked at my wife, 18:56 Reagan and said, mommy, I think I'm going to die. 19:00 What do you do when a 3 and 1/2-year-old says that? 19:05 She was really shocked, she said, honey Jesus is there 19:09 for you, Jesus is going to be good and be here with us. 19:14 So that night my wife, the Holy Spirit spoke to her Cheri, 19:18 not only for my conversion, can I say praise God for 19:22 great wives, praise God for great wives. 19:25 You can say that a number of times. 19:27 Hallelujah, praise God, praise God for good wives. 19:30 She went on her hands and knees that night and said, 19:34 Father, Mike and I don't have the strength to get 19:38 our daughter through this. 19:39 She needs an adult sized portion of Your Holy Spirit. 19:41 Now watch the miracles that take place now. 19:44 Here is the domino effect, God says because you have 19:47 asked, I'm flicking over the dominoes and as she asked, 19:50 a couple days later my daughter out of nowhere said, 19:54 mommy, why did Jesus have to die for us? 19:57 Reagan opened up the Bible and began to read Matthew 26, 20:01 27, and 28 and explaining the closing scenes of Jesus' 20:06 life, and as she heard it, it was as if the Holy Spirit 20:11 would comfort and blanket her and she would be okay. 20:14 As you could tell us, because some people don't know, 20:18 do you know what I mean? 20:19 We are assuming that everybody watching this knows the, 20:22 closing scenes, so I know. 20:25 As Reagan began to share how God came to earth clothed 20:29 Himself with humanity was improperly taken in the trial 20:34 that never should have been at that time it was. 20:36 Was beaten, was spit on, thorns were stuck in His head, 20:40 finally taken out and put in the most horrible type of 20:44 torture, being pinned on the cross. 20:47 He did it while I was yet the most vilest of people, and as 20:53 He died and took upon the sins, the grief's, 20:57 the addictions, the pains of the world, 21:01 the whole time of Earth's history, sometimes we think 21:05 He died at that time, He took the addictions, 21:07 the pains of everything that humanity has gone through 21:11 upon the cross and His heart just bursted for humanity. 21:15 What took place was after, when you see that kind of love, 21:19 the love that streams through the cross of Calvary, 21:22 you are drawn to Him. 21:23 Then you realize that not only was He dying on the cross, 21:26 but He resurrected, He resurrected and made Himself 21:29 available to His disciples for a period of time afterwards. 21:33 Now He's in the heavenly sanctuary interceding and giving 21:37 His power for us, that is a type of, that is an assurance 21:41 to me that I don't server a dead God. 21:43 I serve a living God. 21:44 So now, with your daughter, she is listening to the story 21:49 in her response to the story is what? 21:51 What takes place is that as my wife tells her the story, 21:54 my daughter goes, okay, thank you mommy. 21:58 After that time, about three or four days a week, Arianna 22:03 would turn to mommy and say, will you read to me 22:05 Jesus on the cross? 22:07 What took place is a 3 and 1/2 year-old daughter found 22:13 comfort in a crucified King. - Amen! 22:17 Here she realized that, here is a King that will give 22:22 a free gift to a 3 and 1/2 year old, and here I was struggling 22:26 as a 29-year-old man, searching this pitiful world, 22:29 to fill the holes. 22:31 She found the whole as a 3 and 1/2-year-old. 22:33 And comfort in the resurrection, 22:36 God is going to raise you. 22:38 God is with you always, low I will be with you until the 22:42 end of this age, she found comfort 22:44 in it was very important. 22:46 As we put her in her treatments she began losing her hair. 22:49 She began putting an extraordinary amount of weight 22:52 - on because of the medication it was called the Cushing. 22:56 - Her eyes are crossing. - eyes are crossing. 22:58 People began looking at my daughter a little differently. 23:01 The medical term is called Cushing look that she had. 23:03 When we would go to church she began to notice that people 23:07 were looking at her differently. 23:08 They were saddened for her, she would no longer go up for 23:11 the children's story, she would watch her brother 23:13 and her friends go up. 23:14 I would say Arlie do you want to go up to children's story? 23:16 She would say no daddy, and to sit and watch her in the pew, 23:18 I would look over at her and she would be giggling as 23:22 she watched her brother and friends, it was like to some 23:26 degree she was weaning us as a family, just saying you 23:31 know what, I'm okay with Jesus. 23:34 What took place is really profound, two things that are 23:38 really huge, after Sabbath we went to a church potluck. 23:43 As we went to potluck, we were all eating, and at the park 23:47 you would have a play area in a place where you can eat. 23:50 The adults were sitting and eating, one of my friends was 23:54 watching the kids, and a child from a local neighborhood 23:56 had came with her father, and she was sitting at the bottom 23:59 and of the slide in the sandy area watching the kids play. 24:02 She couldn't run anymore because your equilibrium 24:04 was off because the cancer. 24:06 So she was sitting at the slide, her eyes are crossed, 24:10 she is heavy, and the child came in and went and saw my 24:13 daughter and goes, daddy what is wrong with her? 24:17 He didn't say this to be mean, she looks like an anomaly, 24:20 looked very different, and the father 24:24 didn't know how to respond. 24:25 The friend that was there didn't know how to respond. 24:29 Then my daughter looked at this boy and said, I'm in love 24:36 with God and that story was not told to me until later on. 24:42 When she said I'm in love with God, God did give her an 24:47 adult sized portion of the Holy Spirit because she had 24:52 fallen in love with Him. 24:54 - It comforted her. - her comfort came from her God. 24:58 So many times we have issues in our lives and we can't 25:02 find comfort and I look and say, you know what? 25:04 This three-year-old found comfort in her Savior. 25:08 Sometimes when I reflect on that it warms my heart, 25:12 it gives me strength. 25:14 I love your testimony, I can't wait to meet your daughter. 25:21 After you get done holding her, and kissing her face, 25:26 looking at her and knowing that she no longer is going to 25:29 be swollen, no longer going to have her eyes crossed, 25:32 not be able to stand up and play, but she's going to run 25:35 and be doing back flips so glad that you are there. 25:39 That she will actually get to sit with Jesus for the first 25:43 time in a physical way, because she has set with Him 25:46 during that time, I just can't wait. 25:49 We are going to go ahead and take a break. 25:51 I want to say we are going to come back and meet some of 25:55 the folks here, and then we will have you back up to tell 25:58 us how God has even blessed you, and you comforting 26:03 the parents that are going through this. 26:05 It is amazing that He says not only will I get you 26:07 through this, I love your family and will raise your 26:11 daughter because she died shortly after that. - yeah! 26:15 We are going to come back and talk about that. 26:16 Please stay with us, and if you are struggling with any 26:21 of this, I know that it is tough. 26:23 We are not making light of this, but we have a Savior 26:26 that says, I will help you through it. 26:28 I will get you through it and I will pour into you, 26:31 I don't care what age, whether you are 3 or 300, 26:34 God says I will pour My Spirit into you and I will get 26:37 you through this and I will give you joy. 26:40 Joy comes in the morning and that is something believable 26:43 to me, but I have felt that and I know that 26:44 Pastor Mike has felt it. 26:46 We will be right back, stay with us! 26:54 Think you've seen it all? Think again. 26:57 Cheri Peters is back for a second season of 27:00 Celebrating Life In Recovery, with more lives 27:04 more stories and more miracles. 27:07 Watch the shocking, the inspiring, and the incredible. 27:11 Check your local listings to find out when 27:13 Celebrating Life In Recovery comes to you, and get 27:17 ready for another dose of reality, Cheri style. 27:35 Ending the last segment was tough for me because hearing 27:39 this story before from Pastor Mike about your daughter, 27:45 I have never, I still can't get over my sense of that 27:50 must've been the hardest thing you have ever, 27:53 ever went through. 27:55 I can't believe that God could take that and turn it 27:58 around, but you had told me a story about your daughter 28:02 when she couldn't even make it to church. 28:05 Can you share that with us? 28:06 What happened is, we lived about 40 minutes from the 28:10 church and so one Sabbath morning we were all in the car 28:13 getting ready to go down, and this time 28:14 the doctors had told us the cancer had been reduced 28:17 by 30% and we were excited. 28:19 The same God that created the heavens and the earth can 28:22 take away cancer, we just don't know what takes place. 28:26 So getting on the freeway she vomited on herself. 28:29 That is not a good sign when someone has brain cancer. 28:32 So we turn the car around and took her back to the house. 28:35 As we set her up in bed, my wife looked over and said, 28:38 Mike you need to take Luke to church. 28:40 Then Arianna goes daddy, daddy and stuck out her hand. 28:45 She said, daddy, daddy and I go what is it honey? 28:47 She says, daddy, daddy, daddy and I said what is it honey? 28:50 She opened up her hand and goes, she had her Sabbath school 28:54 money, daddy would you take this and give this to Jesus? 28:59 I sat there and took the quarter and said, yes honey. 29:03 I put the quarter in my pocket, I'm driving 29:06 down to the church weeping. 29:07 The reason I'm weeping is here is this girl dying and 29:10 the only thing on her mind is Jesus. 29:13 Here's sometimes I struggle to pray for an extra five 29:18 minutes, I struggle to read an extra line in the Bible. 29:22 Not a chapter, only a line. - exactly! 29:25 And here's this girl pouring out everything. 29:27 When you stand in the presence of God, you really see 29:30 yourself. - who you are! 29:33 You see exactly who you are. 29:36 I realize that, though I had given my heart to Jesus and 29:40 knew He was working in a very powerful way of my life, 29:43 I have not arrived. 29:45 Sometimes we need to realize that. 29:48 I think sometimes when we come into these situations, 29:52 when we come in contact with people that we see going 29:55 through these things it brings us to a place of humility 29:58 to realize not only is this place, the earth is not our 30:01 home, but it also gives us to refocus on our own lines. 30:06 I know that God has used you since your daughter's death. 30:10 God has used you a number of times working with people 30:14 that have children that are terminal, have to go 30:19 through that, and you have sat there and loved on them. 30:22 A story that you don't know, this is probably a God thing 30:25 for today, as you like to say, God thing. - I love those. 30:28 The church that voted me in after I graduated from 30:32 Pacific Union College, two churches. 30:35 There was the Shingle Spring and Rancho Cordova Seventh-day 30:38 Adventist churches and they voted me in April of that year. 30:42 Unknown to one of the churches, the Shingle Spring churches 30:45 one of their elders daughter would will come 30:47 down with brain cancer the next month. 30:49 God was already orchestrating me to go into this family, 30:53 into this district and to walk them through what 30:57 we have walked through, and literally my wife and I 31:01 really helped Tony and Linda Walker and prepped them with 31:05 everything we did. 31:07 People would say, was that hard on you going through this 31:09 and seeing it again? 31:11 To some degree, but when you are, you can't transfer grief 31:16 and pain, so to speak. 31:18 - and comfort, the comfort that you had, they so needed. 31:24 The assurance that God has not forgotten that. 31:27 I told them to call me up, when ever he called me at 31:29 3 o'clock in the morning, 4 o'clock in the morning, 31:31 we would be on our knees with my wife. 31:33 God took us to a place where people, what they were going 31:36 through, we were going through different type of cancer 31:40 with their daughter and she ended up, I ended up burying 31:43 her in West Virginia, Huntington West Virginia. 31:46 But I was there and had the opportunity to be able to be 31:50 God's servant to this family through the situation. 31:53 Each situation is different, a lot of people think a death 31:57 of a child is the death of a child, No! 31:59 Each one is completely different, so I cannot stand 32:02 here today and fully tell you I understood everything 32:06 they went through, that I felt everything. 32:08 But to some degree there were some commonalities that I was 32:11 able to help them through. - Amen! 32:13 What's interesting to me as a Christian, the more I get to 32:17 know God, the more I look around, the more I deal with 32:20 addictions, I realize that this is not our home. 32:23 If we make our home here we will always be faced with 32:26 death and struggling and all that stuff. 32:28 God said I really am coming back to get you. 32:31 This is not it, the devil himself is going to attack you 32:35 on every end, you have got cancerous stuff that is going 32:38 to be in your body, we don't eat right, we don't think right, 32:40 we don't do all this kind of stuff and it's going to affect 32:43 who you are. 32:44 But I promise you to the extent that you allow Me, 32:47 I will bring healing and comfort, and it may not be life, 32:52 but it will be healing and comfort. 32:55 We have a hole in our hearts when a loved one passes away, 32:58 I believe that that hole in our heart will be there until 33:02 this side of the grave, until that great day comes. 33:05 I believe the reason God allows that hole in our heart 33:08 is to realize that this is not our home, there is going to 33:12 be a better place, because there is going to be, you know 33:15 there is things here about this world that are nice. 33:18 I'd love to be here with you, spend time with my 3ABN 33:22 family when I come here, but I got kids in the family. 33:25 - that fantastic wife. - and no one wants to say, 33:28 I want to go, but sometimes we can become so comforted and 33:33 in all rut of what is going on, that we lose the eternal 33:38 perspective that someday there is going to be no more pain, 33:42 no more scars, no more hospitals Cheri. Hallelujah! 33:46 What I would like for you to do for us if you could? 33:50 I'm going to introduce, bring some other people from the 33:53 café up, but I would like for you to pray with us before 33:57 you sit down and then come back and rejoin us before the 34:00 end of the show. Okay so let's pray! 34:02 Father we come to Thee now and thank Thee for the 34:05 opportunity of being sons and daughters of God. 34:08 It is through the merits of Thy Son, that we can even 34:11 stand here and share what we are able to share. 34:15 We thank You for working in our lives in such a way that 34:18 we can take the pains and the scars and the baggage of our 34:22 lives and You can transform those experiences to Your 34:25 territory, to Your kingdom. 34:27 We asked that each person out there will be able to take 34:31 the pain and experience of their feelings and lay them 34:34 down at the foot of the cross and have their experience 34:38 transform, so they can go out as a missionary to 34:41 someone else and use that experience to bring 34:45 more into thy kingdom. 34:47 - I want to add that You fill them with Your Holy Spirit, 34:50 that You fill them with a sense of who You are, 34:54 the incredibleness of God, that You give us truth about 34:58 who You are, the truth about who we are, and the fact that 35:02 You are so close to us in our struggles that You fill us 35:05 with joy and let that be our strength. 35:07 Even through trials, through illnesses that hit us, that we 35:11 stand with those illnesses in the presence of God knowing 35:15 that this is not our home. 35:17 I pray that we have covered the Holy Spirit in a number 35:20 of shows this time. 35:21 I pray, don't let us forget every day to seek after the 35:24 baptism of the Holy Spirit so that we are filled up, 35:28 so that we are changed, and so that we walk 35:30 out in this world and see Your face and hear Your voice 35:33 everywhere, in Jesus name. Amen! 35:35 Okay I'm going to have you back up in a few moments, 35:37 so don't get too comfortable. 35:39 Okay, I want to bring up Lisa, come on up. 35:44 As bring up Lisa, I want you to really get a sense of, 35:48 is that we all have things that we deal with. 35:51 We all have struggles that we deal with and it's the same 35:54 God that works for somebody with grief and someone else 35:58 with a whole other issue. 36:00 Lisa, we just met, and already I feel like you're 36:03 definitely my sister. - I do too. - cool, cool! 36:07 So tell me a little bit about yourself. 36:08 What do you struggle with? 36:09 What do you think of what Michael was saying? 36:11 Oh wow, what an incredible story. 36:14 He is so strong in the Lord really took him from a real 36:18 hard time in his life and his work in his life and brought 36:22 into where he is now, it is just a wonderful thing. 36:25 I know he is going to be able to help other people that 36:27 are struggling with this, sadness and grief. 36:29 I'm sorry that he had to go through such a terrible time. 36:32 My heart was just wrenched to hear the story. 36:37 My heart was just crying. 36:39 It breaks my heart, but I know that the Lord is going to 36:42 carry him and his family through this and they will be 36:45 able to help others that are dealing with this pain. 36:48 So your struggle is way different? 36:51 - way different, but yet it's an addiction. 36:53 I have come to grips with that, actually fear is an 36:58 addiction in my life and I am still dealing with it now. 37:03 Ever since I was 13 years old I've had fear, Satan has 37:07 attacked me with fear, fear of everything. 37:11 Not even knowing where that came from, start having panic 37:14 attacks, being afraid. 37:15 Yes panic attacks, being afraid, afraid to leave my home, 37:18 afraid to drive, I became enclosed in my house. 37:22 Satan has basically taken my life away for me, the joy that 37:27 Jesus wants me to have has left because it has just been, 37:31 I feel like a cup that has been poured in with fear. 37:34 Your husband said that there were many times were you 37:37 couldn't even go to the mailbox and get your mail. 37:39 Right, right, You were so afraid yes. - the phone rings. 37:43 - you couldn't answer it. 37:44 Well I might answer it but if they wanted me to go 37:47 somewhere I had excuses and reasons why I couldn't go. 37:51 I believe that God has a tremendous plan for my life, 37:55 and Satan knows that, so he is trying to put me in bondage 38:01 of fear so that I cannot be what God wants me to be. 38:05 Fully, and so to be here at 3ABN has been an incredible 38:10 miracle in my life. 38:11 For you to leave your house, 38:12 your 8 hours away from your house. 38:13 Not only am I 8 hours from my house, but I drove through 38:17 St. Louis. - is that not scary? 38:25 It's a beautiful place and I love the arches, or the arch, 38:28 it was so pretty to see. 38:29 I just want to say that, I almost could feel the Lord 38:33 carrying me through as I was driving along and thinking, 38:37 don't think about this, how far you are from home, 38:41 because whenever God is with me, it is my home. 38:44 Whew, I love that. - I am home. 38:48 I know there are so many people that are struggling with 38:51 this, that will not come out in the open and they will not 38:54 say, this is what I'm experiencing. 38:57 We're ashamed to say that, because there is nothing I can 39:00 put my finger on, it is not that I was stabbed or robbed 39:03 or some horrible thing, I just feel afraid. 39:06 It's like all of a sudden, one day it happened. 39:09 I just felt this horrible fear run through me. 39:12 And how do I make it go away? I prayed and I prayed, 39:15 and I prayed more and read my Bible more and I don't feel 39:19 anything, I don't feel like anything is happening. 39:21 You know what my favorite story in the Bible is this. 39:25 I'm Peter in the boat, and God is out here and saying, 39:29 Lisa just put your toes in the water and 39:31 get out of the boat. 39:32 - and your like I can't, there's water all around me and 39:35 is raging. - it's like I'm praying and praying for Lord 39:39 to do all this for me, but you know what? 39:41 He's waiting for me to take the step. - yes! 39:43 He is waiting for me to get out of the boat and actually 39:46 step out on the water so He can show me that He will 39:48 carry me, as long as I stay in the boat 39:50 and I'm like Ahhhh! I can't do it, can't do it. 39:53 He's like, it's because you haven't gotten out of the boat 39:56 and I can't show you what I'm going to do for you. 39:58 What is interesting to me about this whole thing is I know 40:03 that this is a reach for you to be away from home. 40:05 To step out, but what I meant you I was so blessed that 40:08 I would have never met you had you not stepped out of the 40:11 boat, do you know what I mean? 40:12 I am grateful to meet you. 40:14 You know what I would love to say, on our show I love 40:18 doing interventions, if you ever want to do an 40:21 intervention, let's you and I hang out in a treatment 40:25 program looking at fear. 40:27 - I want to do that. - okay. - I do! 40:28 Won't that be fun, because I would do that with you. 40:32 That would be wonderful, so I'm going to pray for your 40:35 fear and I'm going to meet your mom, right? - yes. 40:38 Dear Father in Jesus name, I rebuke this spirit and 40:41 anybody that is listening that is stuck with this fear, 40:45 this lie that nothing is safe, I rebuke that and just 40:48 ask you Father to let us feel safe in Your presence. 40:51 Let us be so filled with the Holy Spirit, that fear just 40:55 starts fading away, and I know You are not going to make 40:58 us ashamed that we felt it, but You are going to make us 41:00 feel joy that it is gone in Jesus name Amen. 41:03 You know what? I so love meeting you, 41:06 so love meeting you. 41:08 Okay Gerri come on up. 41:10 Gerri Craddige, right? - Craddick - Craddick! 41:15 What is really fun about hearing Lisa's story, 41:20 yours is way different. -Yes! 41:22 Go ahead and tell us about your story. 41:25 And bless us with God's intervention. 41:28 Okay, well let's see it was probably a year ago March. 41:34 I completely lost my voice. - completely! 41:38 Completely. - unable to speak? - No speech! 41:41 Why is that? A breathless whisper. 41:43 I had an upper respiratory viral infection and it 41:49 affected my vocal chords. 41:51 I went to the Doctor and he said you're left vocal cord 41:55 is partially paralyzed. 41:57 I was in a breathless whisper like this. 42:01 You know I so want to make a joke because my husband 42:04 would be celebrating, Cheri can't speak, Yahoo. 42:11 No, my husband Jim was very understanding here 42:13 I went to the Doctor and he told me there was hope. 42:18 This particular Doctor I wasn't really comfortable with, 42:24 so I went to another ENT and he said I can do something to 42:28 help you, and he said this is my favorite kind of surgery 42:33 because the results are so cool. 42:35 How fun is that? 42:37 So he told me that they would give me 42:38 a Montgomery Thyroplasty. 42:41 And that is? I mean what is that? 42:43 I have never heard of it. 42:45 I had never heard of it either, but it is made out of 42:49 silicone and what they do is they make an incision. 42:54 They go in and you are awake, you know you are sedated 42:59 but you are awake. 43:01 They put the implant in and they have you speak. 43:04 You are awake and they are in your throat? - yes! 43:07 Could you just imagine that? 43:10 To me sometimes some of those things just crack me up 43:12 because I think I want to see a video of that. 43:15 So you were speaking while you were still open? - yes. 43:18 And you spoke for the first time? 43:20 He asked me to count to 10 and so I did. 43:23 He said well that is not quite perfect, 43:27 but he had never heard me speak. 43:29 So this is me, so he put a little larger implant in. 43:33 Then he is sad can you count to 10? 43:36 I did, if they can you count to 20? And I did. 43:41 Everyone in the room almost started applauding and the 43:46 little nurse that had wheeled me down to surgery, 43:49 she started crying, she was so happy for me. 43:53 So the implant works with the other vocal cord to actually 43:58 give you back speech? - that's right, that's right. 44:01 When we talk about recovery, during that 15 months were 44:04 you praying? Were you saying God what's up? 44:08 I was anointed, I was anointed in January. 44:11 Some people say that healing is, that all of a sudden 44:15 it is just gone how and sometimes that's it. 44:17 Or God directs us to where we are supposed to be in order 44:20 to get the intervention we need. 44:22 That's exactly right, and I believe God gives the doctors 44:26 wisdom to help us. - exactly, exactly! 44:29 I just got my hip replaced, by a guy, I live in Idaho and 44:33 got it replaced by a guy in Philadelphia. 44:35 I remember that I called him up and said, I need a new hip 44:39 and I've had a disease since a little girl. 44:41 I was having pain every time I walked, and he said fly up 44:44 and I will give it to you. 44:45 From the phone call to flying home with a new hip was two 44:48 weeks. - wow, amazing, praise God. 44:51 It was so fun, I flew up there on my own and my husband 44:55 says, are you going on your own? I said it's only a hip. 44:58 On the way back from the hospital, what was I thinking, 45:02 what was I thinking? 45:05 I can tell you this, I felt like it was in a little box. 45:09 I would go to church potluck and I couldn't speak. 45:14 I would whisper, I'd have to get up to your ear and talk 45:18 like this, and if I was at a church fellowship dinner, 45:22 I would just sit there. 45:24 Because everybody is talking and I can't be heard. 45:27 So I know God uses doctors, God and this Doctor brought 45:33 me back, gave me back my life. 45:36 Amen, give me a kiss. How fun is all this! 45:42 Go ahead, thank you so much Gerri. 45:44 So we're going to have Pastor might come back up. 45:47 Pastor Mike, can you bring my Bible with you? 45:55 What did you think about the two testimonies, 45:58 that were very different? - incredible! 46:00 The two testimonies, but one thing I really noticed that 46:03 in the Bible Satan is called the prince of this world. 46:07 He is running havoc, it shows the pain that people 46:11 are going through. 46:12 There is a war going on, but there is also a reason why 46:15 Jesus is called the King, and Satan is called the prince. 46:17 You know when we started off with the show, honestly 46:21 looking at our stuff. 46:22 I want to go through some of the stages. 46:25 I want you to first, not wrap up your story, because you 46:30 are still breathing, so your story is still going on. 46:36 Who you are as a Christian, who you are as God lead you 46:41 burying your daughter, I know that all of that was so 46:45 difficult, but I also know that God has so anointed 46:49 you as a man of God. 46:50 You are spending your life bringing the truth of 46:54 who God is to those of us in recovery. 46:57 On August 2 of 1999 we buried my daughter, and a part 47:01 of me, a part of my wife, and a part of my son was 47:05 buried with her, but a miracle took place. 47:08 A couple of them, but I want to share one in particular. 47:11 This shows the goodness of God. 47:13 When I went back to school my senior year, 47:15 my wife became pregnant, it was not planned. 47:18 But when you do husband-and-wife activities you have to 47:20 expect husband and wife results. 47:22 So what happened was she became pregnant and her due 47:26 date was July 9, but doctors due date was July 16. 47:29 God's due date was a completely different date. 47:33 God's due date was July 28 of 2001. 47:37 Our son Micah Emmanuel Luke Kontes was born 47:41 July 28, 2001 at 5 p. m.. 47:45 You're supposed to ask why is that significant. 47:47 Why is that significant, because I'm thinking, 47:49 what happened to August. 47:50 The reason that is so significant is because July 28 47:53 of 1999 at 12 p. m. my daughter passed away. 47:58 So two years to the day our son was born. 48:01 A day that should have been a day of grief. 48:05 And it still is, but what God was saying, 48:08 is I can never replace your daughter, 48:11 Mike if I was to give you 12 daughters 48:14 I could never replace Arianna. 48:16 So through that I look and realize that God, 48:21 His faithfulness, His goodness to me in just being able to 48:26 see what He has done and continues to do that gives me 48:30 the strength needed because I can test. 48:33 God says let us reason together, come, come with Me 48:38 Mike and I will help you, I can heal you in this situation. 48:41 But when we go back to what we started the show with, 48:43 even coming up to being honest with God with all our stuff, 48:49 with our grief, with our fear. 48:51 And with Arianna when you said, I don't even know how 48:54 to do this, God said, turn it over to Me. 48:56 The fact that He gave you, at that point, even your wife 49:00 the ability to pray for an adult portion of the Holy Spirit 49:03 during this time of her life. 49:05 I'm going to go from your story right now, to recap some 49:10 of the things about our recovery. 49:12 I want you from your perspective to speak on them for us. 49:15 So let me find them here, one of them was honesty. 49:20 Honestly looking at the situation 49:22 without lying to ourselves. 49:24 You're talking Lisa about panic disorders. 49:26 And when you lost your voice. 49:28 When I come in and have any social skills and am afraid 49:31 of everything in coming to God and honestly saying, God 49:35 please, please step in with your Holy Spirit and teach me. 49:39 The next one is affirming relationships, 49:42 surrounding yourself with folks. 49:43 My comment on the honesty is that we have to be honest, 49:46 the reason why is that when we come to that place of being 49:50 honest, opening up and allowing access for God to come in 49:54 and say, okay, I am going to do this. 49:55 When we are not being honest, what we are basically 49:58 doing is shutting the door down and saying, 50:00 I can handle this myself. 50:01 When you're being honest, the doors fly open and you're 50:04 basically saying, like Peter, I can't do this. 50:07 I need to keep my eyes on You. 50:09 If I step out of this boat, You are going to have to be 50:13 there and keep me, keep me safe. 50:15 Affirming relationships, does it matter when we surround 50:18 ourselves with people? 50:19 The prayers that I have learned through this grief 50:22 situation, I pray for people that are going through 50:24 any kind of addiction it is a very simple prayer, 50:27 but I believe it with all my heart. 50:29 Lord I pray that You bring the right people into this 50:32 persons life that will surround them, and give been the 50:35 encouragement, give them the happiness, give them the 50:38 atmosphere that is needed. 50:40 So many times in these situations, when you are already 50:43 despaired, Satan will bring a worker of iniquity into 50:47 your life that will say something to destroy you. 50:50 Now other times there are also good people, people who 50:53 have good intentions, that have not come into the 50:57 situation, did not know how to respond, and sometimes, 50:59 I don't know about you Cheri, but I can share this myself. 51:02 Sometimes I don't engage my brain, before I engage my 51:04 tongue and I had good intentions. 51:07 Sometimes by not thinking I say something. 51:11 So having people who are wise, people who are mature, 51:14 having people who are willing to be there by 51:17 the Ministry of presents. 51:19 When I talk about people surrounding themselves with 51:22 affirming relationships, find a Pastor like Pastor Mike. 51:25 One that has been there and is not going to come up to 51:28 you and do anything but give you comfort and try to 51:31 understand where you are from, coming from. 51:33 Whatever their addiction is, find the right Pastor, 51:36 find the right people, put yourself in a situation, 51:39 prayer groups and all kinds of stuff to 51:41 have people around you. 51:42 Right-thinking, I want to go to Hebrews 4:12 and 51:45 read this, because it is amazing, right-thinking. 51:47 "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than 51:50 "any two edge sword and piercing as far as division of soul 51:54 "from bone marrow, both joints and morrow and able to judge 51:58 "our thoughts and the intentions of our heart. " 52:01 So get in the word of God and figure how to think right. 52:04 In all situations you must be able to be in the word of 52:08 God because even when, once again Isaiah 41:13, "for I am 52:12 "the Lord thy God that says into the fear not, 52:14 "I will help thee. " 52:15 When you read it, you have to take it and apply it to 52:18 your life, like for me what we were going through these 52:21 addictions, people were going through something we know 52:24 that there is coming a time that were not going to have 52:26 addictions, there's eternity. 52:29 Wipe every tear away. - no more pain, no more sorrow, 52:32 no more death. - and even with Arianna before she left. 52:36 To understand the resurrection, for a 3 and 1/2-year-old to 52:40 understand the resurrection. 52:41 Getting to the word of God, but then we go to our 52:43 next point, and the next point is what you said, 52:45 spiritual things are spiritually discerned and the 52:47 presence of the Holy Spirit. 52:49 Let the Holy Spirit be your counselor. 52:52 I'm not saying don't get a counselor, don't talk to 52:55 a Pastor, but the Holy Spirit is the best counselor. 52:58 He knows me and knows God more importantly and 53:00 can reflect that to me. 53:02 You know what? As much as people come to pastors, 53:04 I would want to shared that not to rely on your 53:07 Pastor because your Pastor is an individual, 53:10 and the Pastor can make mistakes. 53:12 When you go to the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter, 53:16 the Comforter, He will never take you or say anything 53:20 that is contradictory, or not bring you comfort. 53:23 And again the Holy Spirit, somebody says how to get 53:26 the Holy Spirit? How do I get the Holy Spirit? 53:29 Let's say you're watching these shows and you say, 53:32 how do I get it? You pray, it's that simple. 53:34 God I want the Holy Spirit to fill me up. 53:37 God says I long to give you the Holy Spirit 53:40 more then a parent longs to give good 53:42 gifts to their children. 53:43 I know that in this struggle, in this pain, 53:46 in these panic attacks, in these addictions, 53:48 you don't have it within you. 53:50 I'd know that the Holy Spirit will give you all power to 53:54 walk away from all this bondage and I will take up, 53:57 the Bible says, I will take up the yoke of this and 54:00 carry it for you. 54:01 I'm thinking, I'm so tired, carry it. 54:05 Carry it and carry me, that is the Holy Spirit. 54:08 The next one I know that you know all about, time. 54:12 Time is crucial, the reason why time is crucial is 54:15 because we have people, good people who do not understand 54:18 when you are going through an addiction, going through 54:22 grief, going through a recovery process, it takes time. 54:26 Sometimes what we do, is we feel Cheri, I know that 54:30 your brother passed away last week but I think you need 54:33 to get past it right now. 54:35 We have people who do not understand that you can't make 54:37 these kind of statements, we can't put a time on grief 54:40 because basically what you are doing, actually when 54:43 someone makes that statement, they are basically are 54:45 usurping the authority of the Holy Spirit. - exactly! 54:48 I know you have panic attacks, but I want you to stand up 54:50 anyway and get out of the house. 54:52 Lisa is like what? What did you just say? 54:55 Even saying Lisa, you don't trust enough in God to get up 54:58 and out of the house, that's not our place to go there. 55:01 That is not our place to say, we have to basically 55:04 realize, what does God want us to do? 55:07 We are out of time, I love you, I love you. 55:10 You know what, I was blessed, I was blessed. 55:13 We are going to be right back but I want you to know, 55:15 just get this show and watch it a billion times. 55:20 Because God wants you to get the fact that you can't do 55:23 it on your own, He has already done it, He wants to pour 55:27 into you and He wants to bring all that junk and give 55:30 you release, freedom from bondage. 55:32 Then He wants you to stand up full of joy, so sure that 55:36 God is God and that you are okay. 55:39 Your loved ones are okay. 55:40 We'll be right back, stayed tuned! 55:47 Cheri Peters uses the book, 'Coming Of The Comforter' 55:50 as a guide for the second season of Celebrating Life In 55:53 Recovery, written by LeeRoy E. Froom is a 320 page book 55:56 that offers every sinner the knowledge that the 55:58 Holy Spirit is available to all. 56:00 3ABN now offers this book to you for a suggested donation 56:04 of only $13 postpaid within the US. 56:07 Call 3ABN at 618-627-4651 or go online to 3ABN.org. 56:29 If we were computers, 56:30 we could solve problems in microseconds. 56:33 When I read that I can laugh because you know what? 56:37 I'd long to be a computer. 56:39 We all have to do it in time, but instead of focusing 56:42 on the garbage, learn how to trust God. 56:46 Learn about God, learn about Jesus, learn about the 56:49 Holy Spirit, make your commitments unto this search and 56:52 let the focus be on your recovery. 56:55 Not only on your recovery, but you know what? 56:57 Stop even looking at your junk, look to God, 57:00 look to Jesus Christ and let Him worry about your junk, 57:03 because He promised us that He will go ahead 57:05 and change everything. 57:07 God promises us that He who drew us from the very 57:11 beginning, who longs to heal us and knows us from the womb. 57:15 He will finish the work in us, so go ahead and just turn 57:19 it over, absolutely turn it over. 57:21 God has promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide 57:23 us into recovery, more than that, into all truth. 57:26 The Holy Spirit will give you such a view of God, 57:29 that your Father you will learn how to behave, 57:33 you will learn how to walk away from stuff. 57:36 When Satan tells you lies, you'll see it from a mile off. 57:40 You absolutely will not be stuck, you absolutely will not 57:44 go back to your junk, you will not return to your stuff, 57:47 and the more and more you start focusing on God instead of 57:51 your junk, the more and more and more you will feel 57:54 the joy of the Lord. 57:55 I don't care what the junk is, I don't care if it's 57:57 health, and I don't care if it's grief, 57:59 I don't care if it's addiction, 58:01 I don't care if it's porn stuff, I don't care if it's 58:03 perfectionism, I don't care if it's a religious addiction, 58:06 and that is a tough one. 58:07 I don't care if it's workaholism, I don't care if you 58:10 have never learned to love in your life, God says turn 58:14 it over to me, focus on who I am and I will so teach you 58:18 how to live your life in a way that you will be 58:20 just blessed, blessed. 58:22 We have got to go, always remember that 58:24 God is crazy about you and me too! |
Revised 2014-12-17