Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Kenneth Cox
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR00070B
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00:14 Welcome back, this is my favorite part of the program
00:16 because I get to meet friends of mine, 00:18 different people that come on 00:19 the program to share 00:20 their testimony. 00:21 Most of them I walk away from here just wanting to 00:26 kiss God on the face. 00:27 What an incredible God we have that says it doesn't 00:29 matter where you come from, what you have, 00:31 He delights in our healing. 00:34 That is just amazing to me. 00:36 Today we are going to meet somebody with an incredible 00:39 testimony, and also is an incredible teacher. 00:42 So Ken I just want to say, 00:43 I was going to say the reason I asked you on the program, 00:48 but actually I just cornered you. 00:51 Well I didn't feel that way 00:53 at all because I thought you 00:54 were just inviting me to set 00:56 down here on the set and to 00:58 watch the program, I didn't know I was going to be 01:01 in this position. 01:02 That's funny, because when I was at that meeting of yours, 01:05 I was sitting there and you were teaching this very thing. 01:08 I was most the time full of tears. 01:11 Another time I was laughing, I thought you taught 01:14 it with so much grace and so much compassion that I thought 01:18 he's got to be on the program. 01:19 When I asked you, and you said yes, I was just thrilled. 01:23 Then I realized that you thought you were going to sit 01:26 there, I thought I cannot have Ken Cox on the show just 01:30 sitting in the café. 01:31 So I said no, no I want you to speak. 01:35 You are so humble, it was funny because you said, 01:38 well I don't know. 01:39 I look at you and thought you look pretty normal, 01:42 can you get a Mohawk and some ear rings first? 01:49 So for people that know you there is no introduction 01:51 needed, but for people that don't can you tell us a 01:54 little bit about Who you are? and How God lead you? 01:57 Then we will talk about what you taught the other night. 02:00 Well to begin with I'm a addict. 02:05 No way! Yeah! I'm like shut up! 02:09 I'm an addict, I'm an addict of Jesus Christ. 02:12 And that I am, and that is my whole life. 02:15 It has been that for years. 02:18 I started working in evangelism winning souls full-time 02:27 in 1970, I've done it full-time ever since then. 02:31 I've been on the road 10 months out of the year 02:35 since that time. 02:38 With such a desire to teach someone how to get free? 02:41 That's right! That's huge! 02:44 Teach people about what Christ has to offer. 02:47 He is absolutely so wonderful in all, and all that He does. 02:54 Just like with yourself, you sit here and said I'm an 02:57 addict and all this and that, but Christ also said, 03:01 you are a Pearl of great price. 03:03 It says that He would have come and died 03:07 if it had only been you. 03:08 The first time I heard you say that, 03:10 I was just coming out of homelessness and drug addiction 03:14 and you were talking to a church and you said 03:18 those things and I wept. 03:22 I was 100 pounds and strung out on heroine. 03:24 If I would have came up to you, 03:26 I would have scared you, I think. 03:28 You know those truths are so amazing, 03:32 are you talking about me? 03:34 What I hear you saying is absolutely. 03:38 You see you are totally unique, there is not another person 03:41 like you anywhere in all of God's universe. 03:44 There is not any other person like each one of us. 03:47 God does not clone, God creates. 03:51 The only people that clone are people who can't create. 03:56 But God creates and God makes each one of us distinctly 03:59 different, so there's not another person like us anywhere. 04:03 So I do not care what a person's background is. 04:05 I do not care where they have been. 04:07 I do not care what they have done, they are still unique. 04:10 They are still special, there is not another 04:13 individual like them. 04:15 That is why it is so important that they are not lost. 04:18 That they are in God's kingdom, because if they are lost 04:22 throughout eternity there will never be another 04:25 person like them. 04:26 It is so important that they understand. 04:29 So when you heard that at the beginning of the program 04:32 talking about righteousness by faith and what does all that 04:36 means, imputed righteousness, imparted righteousness, 04:39 and sanctification, words that for a lot of us coming 04:42 into a relationship with God. 04:45 Those are huge, I was literate when I first came to 04:48 church and somebody would say, we are going to study 04:51 Revelation and I would have a Bible because I knew that 04:53 I had to have one. 04:54 I would go like this and say go ahead. 04:58 They would look at me and say no Revelation. 05:00 I couldn't read anything so I'm thinking okay I'm smart 05:03 enough to realize I must be in the wrong place so I 05:06 go like okay now I am ready. 05:08 For some of us, we come in not only illiterate as far as 05:12 our own ability to read, but illiterate definitely as far 05:16 as Christian terms and concepts. 05:18 So the other night you took this very truth that could be 05:22 very complicated and made it so assessable, so simple. 05:26 So unfold that for us. 05:28 You talked a little bit about it here and referred to it 05:33 in the sense that when we come to Christ and we reach out 05:38 in faith and accept Him, except what He did for us. 05:42 Accept His death, His perfect life in our behalf, 05:47 and we accept that, we become a new person. 05:50 Right! So when you say accept that, all the sins I ever 05:53 committed, all the things that have been done to me, 05:56 or that I have done. 05:57 Christ said I'm going to take that guilt for you. 06:01 I'm going to take that sin upon Myself for you. 06:05 So you are saying when I accept that truth, 06:08 that Christ not only took it but died and paid 06:12 the penalty for all that. 06:13 Well there is a scripture that says exactly that. 06:16 It is found here in 2 Corinthians 5:21. 06:20 I know where that is at now. Okay! 06:24 It just simply says, "for he made him," 06:28 that's Jesus Christ, "made him who knew no sin. " 06:32 He didn't know any sin. 06:34 He never sinned, He knew no sin to be sin for us. 06:38 That means He took our sins and then it says, 06:42 "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. " 06:45 That in essence is exactly what you talked about. 06:49 That is what He does, when I come to Christ, 06:52 and I accept Him, then He paid the debt for my sins, 06:58 all my sins. 07:00 I do not care what they are, from the day I was born 07:03 to the day I accept Christ are paid for by His death. 07:06 That's all paid for. 07:08 It's already done, it's a done deal. 07:09 That is a gift for me, freely given by God, saying I want to 07:13 give you this and you haven't done a thing, and cannot 07:17 do a thing for this incredible gift. 07:20 I want someone to think about it as a gift which really 07:24 it's interesting, is no matter how big the gift is, 07:27 no matter how incredible it is, when somebody gives you 07:30 that from the moment it is in your hands, 07:33 Who does it belong to? 07:35 Completely it is mine. 07:37 So it is like being able to say that it is then for ever 07:42 my property and God says it is completely yours. 07:46 It's not a gift with strings. 07:48 It is not a gift that has anything attached to it, 07:52 because you do not have the ability to pay. 07:54 As an heroine addict that is illiterate and strung out, 07:57 when I understood that I was thinking, 07:59 Why did You do that? 08:00 I don't understand that? 08:01 I don't understand it either, why would God take His name 08:06 who is righteous, who is holy and all that, excuse me. 08:11 I don't mean this in the wrong way. 08:12 But why in the world would He take all that and give it to 08:16 you, a drug addict and say I'm not just giving it to you, 08:19 I'm giving you My name? 08:21 Why? I'm giving you My life! 08:24 You can call Me, Father and say, I'm your child. 08:28 I'll take that responsibility, why? Love! 08:34 That is huge, it really is. 08:36 Nothing like you or I understand, but that is love. 08:41 That is what God does with His grace and so there 08:46 is nothing about it, in any way, in which I earn it. 08:51 Or I deserve it, never throughout eternity, 08:56 I will never deserve it. 08:57 When I was trying to kill myself in the drug house, 09:01 I was illiterate and strung out and my parents were 09:06 strung out, I remember Him giving me that impression 09:10 that sense that God so loves me. 09:13 I couldn't even receive it, but it changed everything. 09:19 Then somebody showed me Jeremiah 29:11, 09:23 "I have a plan for you, a future. " 09:25 Not even my parents had a plan for me. 09:28 No one on this planet has a plan for me and God said, 09:30 don't ever think that I don't have a plan for you. 09:34 So He just takes us, as it says we are born again. 09:41 He gives you a new life. 09:44 He gives you a spiritual nature which you do not have 09:49 before then, it is a spiritual nature that is given to you 09:52 and that spiritual nature is handed to you and me. 09:56 It is given to us totally and completely as a babe. 10:00 It is not given to us full grown, it is given to us 10:03 just as a babe and God hands that to us, that's a gift. 10:08 Like you said it is mine, now I need to do something 10:12 with the gift. 10:13 A little baby, yet just a little baby. 10:15 So what do I need to do? 10:17 Well I've got to feed it, because it has got to eat. 10:22 If it doesn't it will die, so I have to feed the baby. 10:27 That's were it comes in, it doesn't mean that I gave birth 10:32 to the baby, I didn't, God gave that to us. 10:35 But I must feed it, I must let it breathe, I must let it 10:39 grow, those are things that I have to do to the 10:43 new nature and that is why it says in Hebrews 5:13, 10:47 "it is as a babe. " 10:49 It is given to us as a babe. 10:52 I love what you, what I have heard you say is that baby 10:57 is so much there and so thrilled and happy like any baby. 11:02 It is waiting to be fed and cared for, 11:06 but the nature that I told you about in my dream 11:08 that wants to manipulate and go out and do that stuff, 11:11 that nature is still there too. 11:14 That's what the Scripture calls the "old nature". 11:18 That's the old man of sin and unfortunately too many 11:22 people think that they have to dress up the old man. 11:25 I think that! Not that I do anymore, but I thought that. 11:30 Somehow as soon as I got in church, 11:32 I looked around and thought, I don't fit with anybody. 11:34 I don't belong here. 11:35 I looked at every one of these women and thought, 11:37 if I dress like that I'll fit. 11:40 So I just dressed it up. 11:41 Dress up the old man, it is like saying, it's like me going 11:49 and setting in the garage, that's what it's like. 11:54 I think if I sit in the garage that will make me 11:59 an automobile, it just doesn't do that you see. 12:03 I thought if I set the garage and to make me a mechanic. 12:07 It doesn't do that so we get the idea if I act like a 12:10 Christian, and I speak like Christian, I do this it 12:13 makes me a Christian. 12:14 No! That does not make you a Christian. 12:17 You know why I know that is true? 12:18 I'm sitting in church and I have the right clothes on, 12:21 every single time the offering plate went by, 12:23 I wanted to rip it off. 12:25 I kept thinking why do people keep putting money in that. 12:28 I need that money, you know I am a thief so to me that was 12:32 my first instinct, and I literally had to fight that 12:35 because I kept thinking I could probably do it, 12:37 as it goes by, I can figure out a way. 12:39 That old nature is still very much there, unless what? 12:44 Unless I take the old nature and I crucify it. 12:49 That is what Paul said, he said I am crucified with Christ. 12:53 It says that we have to put the old man to death and 12:58 unless I do then he is going to, how should I say it? 13:02 Take the baby and rule over it. 13:05 He doesn't like the baby and is opposed to it. 13:08 He will fight it and do anything he can so I had this 13:12 tremendous conflict going on in my soul because the 13:15 baby is crying to be fed, and the old man of sin is 13:19 trying to kick it and so I have this conflict 13:22 that is taking place. 13:23 That is where you and I must learn that when it comes to 13:28 the old nature, sinful nature, I have to crucify it. 13:33 I have to put it to death, and I have to do that everyday. 13:36 What is really interesting to me is that 13:39 I've known addicts, sexual addicts, drug addicts, 13:44 and rage-aholics, work-aholics, and we can behave for a 13:47 short period of time, but we can't change this nature. 13:51 God has finally convinced me this nature is not 13:55 changeable, I can't put a Band-Aid on it. 13:57 I'm not going to come and fix it. 13:58 I actually am going to come and make all things new. 14:02 You were in Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5. 14:05 If you go back to 17, 17 says you are a new creature. 14:09 New heart and a new mind and all those kind of things. 14:12 I think we have to wrap our minds around that. 14:14 I'm not going to be an addict that learns not to lie. 14:19 I'm going to be a Christian that is new and in Christ. 14:22 He is going to show me how it feels not to be a liar. 14:26 I'm not a liar anymore. 14:27 In other words I've got to take this new nature He has 14:34 given me, as I take day by day I surrender myself. 14:40 I surrender myself to the Lord. 14:42 You know that addicts hate to do anything day by day. 14:45 Yeah! Right! 14:47 But you are saying day by day, that I can't let up 14:52 because this old man is still trying to kill the baby off. 14:55 That is right, and the old man is going to be there 14:57 until the resurrection, I'm sorry. 15:00 The old man is there, he may not be in very good shape 15:03 I may have crucified him enough that he has had it, 15:07 but nevertheless the old sinful nature is there and I 15:11 have to day by day surrender myself to the Lord. 15:16 I have to surrender and then the Holy Spirit can come 15:20 into my life and begin to change me and make me different. 15:26 How do you feed the baby? 15:28 What do you mean by that? 15:29 Well it says we feed it by the word, 15:31 the milk of the word is what Scripture says. 15:33 So this is food for the baby, that is what it is. 15:38 I may not understand it very well. 15:41 I may say, okay I'm ready, like you did. 15:44 I may not understand this but what it is, 15:48 is I take it and it says that some of us, 15:51 to start off with, have to drink milk. 15:53 So we start with milk, but later on I pick it up 15:58 and begin to get more into it and you will find it happens 16:01 as you understand one part of it, it opens that up 16:06 for another part and it just keeps expanding and expanding. 16:09 Sometimes when people can't read or if they have trouble 16:12 with understanding, find somebody they can read to you, 16:16 or speak to you. Absolutely! 16:17 The first time I read in Zephaniah, where it says, 16:20 God sings over us, I thought no way. 16:24 Then I just imagined myself, because I never had a mother 16:27 that sang to me or even wanted me to sit next to her. 16:30 But God of the universe sings over us to comfort us. 16:34 I thought if I would have never learned that by the word, 16:38 this baby would never have been comforted by the 16:41 thought of God singing. 16:42 Once you have faith in the word that it is true, 16:45 you can almost hear His voice, 16:47 which is an incredible thing. 16:49 Absolutely, it is marvelous. 16:52 So this is what begins to change the life. 16:56 Each one of us are different. 16:59 Each one of us have weaknesses and each one has strengths. 17:06 That is in all of us, but those weaknesses, 17:10 those begin to change as the Holy Spirit works in our life. 17:16 That's where fruits of the Spirit come in. 17:18 That is where love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 17:21 all those fruits come into my life and begin to work. 17:27 As you were saying, as they happen I see things that I 17:33 said, was I doing that? 17:36 Was I really acting that way and doing that? 17:40 Because that is the work of the Holy Spirit. 17:45 You begin to see it, like it says, oh that God would give 17:49 us the gift to see ourselves as others see us. 17:52 Old God give us the gift to see ourselves as You see us. 17:55 As God sees us. 17:56 With a lot of addicts it is really funny that somebody 18:00 will, and I work with primarily with addicts in recovery. 18:03 Someone will say how can you tell it if an addict is lying? 18:06 Well is their mouth moving? 18:08 We have learned to lie to so much that we do not even know 18:12 when not to, or what is the truth. 18:14 So with the nature like that and the automatic instincts 18:19 like that, don't trust yourself. 18:21 Ask God through the Holy Spirit, show me what it feels like 18:25 to live a victorious life. 18:27 Show me what it feels like not to lie and 18:29 to live in integrity. 18:30 Once He starts doing that, 18:31 you start to be able to recognize the lies. 18:34 It is so much fun to say, you know what, 18:36 Today, I don't have to lie. 18:38 Some people may have to say, this five minutes... 18:42 I haven't lied! It may not be a whole day. 18:46 It is amazing that God said, people may get frustrated 18:50 with your daily walk, or with your stage at feeding the 18:54 baby, or nurturing this baby, but God never does. 18:59 Never does, God is proud of you and 19:01 wants to be right there. 19:02 I want to teach you to stand up. 19:04 I want to teach you to walk. 19:06 I want to teach you to get over requiring milk. 19:10 I want to teach you to do all that. 19:12 I think all of heaven delights, and I want to say 19:15 one more thing, because I read the Desire of Ages, 19:18 no Ministry of Healing, it is a book that I love 19:20 by a woman named Ellen White. 19:22 There is a chapter called, Saved To Serve. 19:25 There is a scene where there is Angels around God. 19:30 I'm not sure what they were doing, 19:32 because I was new in recovery, 19:33 and the Angels were saying, 19:35 Can I have that one? 19:38 Because that one is going to fall a billion times. 19:41 I want to be there to comfort them and stand them back up. 19:45 I thought no way, that Angel is pleading with God 19:49 to have this addict, this one that nobody wants, 19:52 but the angels of heaven want us and God Himself 19:56 wants our victory. 19:57 It is amazing to say that as a child stands up and falls 20:00 down and stands up and falls down that God says, 20:03 I'm so proud of you. 20:05 The marvelous thing that you have to understand is as 20:09 I grow, I get this five minutes that we were just 20:13 talking about, in which I didn't lie. 20:15 I didn't lie for five minutes, that five minutes as far 20:20 as righteousness is concerned, in making you acceptable 20:24 before God does not count. 20:27 In what sense? Because we want to celebrate. 20:31 We want to say to all of heaven, did you see that? 20:34 Yeah and that is wonderful, but it doesn't count. 20:37 It is the righteousness of Christ that is given to you 20:41 that counts. 20:42 So He is not looking for us to get it, He saying you 20:45 have already got the gift. 20:46 This is just icing on the cake that you get to feel 20:49 what it feels like to be free of all that junk. 20:52 He is saying that I am here to help you and to lead you 20:56 and to guide you and help you to grow and all this, 20:59 but this doesn't make you worthy of heaven. 21:04 This is My righteousness that makes you worthy of heaven. 21:08 That is the marvelous thing about it that I don't have 21:12 to say, I just lost it all. 21:16 No! You are not gaining it all or losing it all, 21:20 it is already done. 21:21 I said the other night, you can't win God's grace, 21:25 it has already been given. 21:27 Since you cannot win God's grace you can't lose it. 21:33 It is given to you. Because He so loves us. 21:36 That's right! And delights in our recovery. 21:38 He wants us to succeed. 21:42 You are so lucky I didn't get up from my chair 21:44 and kiss you on the face when you were speaking, 21:46 because there are things that you said. 21:48 One of the things was about the guy that was smoking. 21:51 I can't come to God because I'm smoking. 21:53 Right! You said. 21:55 I simply said, you come to Christ. 22:00 He said you mean I can come to Christ while I smoke? 22:04 That's what I I'm telling you. 22:06 Go ahead and smoke if you want to. 22:07 That's right! I think eventually he said to him? 22:10 Well he eventually said, what am I going to do about these? 22:14 I said if you want to give them up, give them up. 22:16 He gave them up because he wanted to. 22:20 For me that whole pressure that comes off of us, 22:25 when we realize we are truly saved by the grace of God. 22:29 The righteousness of God and everything else is His love 22:33 that allows us to get out of bondage to all this junk. 22:37 My lies are bondage. 22:39 I'm manipulative, my lying behaviors keeps me disconnected 22:43 from, not only God, but everybody around me. 22:45 I never get a sense of what it feels like to laugh 22:48 in my own skin. 22:49 God says as your Father, I can't wait to show you what 22:53 it feels like to be okay, just to feel at rest. 22:57 When He comes to you and says, neither do I condemn you. 23:01 How cool is that? 23:03 I mean, He is not condemning you, He is just saying 23:07 I'm here, I'm here for you and will give you this 23:10 and you can accept it. 23:12 That is what He is simply asking us to do, 23:14 is just come to Him as we are, 23:17 and accept what He has done. 23:21 Then it says that He will do these things in our lives. 23:25 He says... not that He will encourage you to do them? 23:30 He even says, I'll put them there. 23:33 I'll make you, I'll do this. 23:35 He uses those words, I'll put it there, I'll make you. 23:39 My part over and over again is to keep Kenneth Cox 23:44 surrendered to His will because you do, even though you 23:49 may have abused it, even though you may have done 23:52 a lot of things to it, you do have a will. 23:55 That is your choice and all He is saying is all 24:00 I'm asking you to do is to choose. 24:02 Choose me, choose me. Every day! 24:04 Choose to walk away from the old stuff everyday. 24:07 So this baby, the word of God is what this baby 24:10 gets fed by? 24:11 So how does it breath? Talk about breathing. 24:14 It breathes through prayer. Alright! 24:16 Prayer is the breath of the soul. 24:18 Can I say, preach it brother? 24:19 That is the way it breathes and sometimes folks get so 24:26 wrapped up in the fact that you don't have to say 24:29 special words to pray. 24:31 Most addicts I work with, hard-core addicts that they 24:35 are a mess and had never done any kind of nothing 24:40 for anybody and all of a sudden they get spiritual and 24:43 they get on their knees the first time they'll say, 24:46 God bestow on me, I'm thinking where did you learn that word? 24:51 Isn't that funny because we do think there is a way 24:53 to do it, and if we don't know how to do it then we 24:56 shy away from prayer. 24:58 You're saying right now, no! 25:00 Just talked to Him. 25:01 Don't let the Devil lie to you. 25:02 Don't let the old self lie to you. 25:04 You can say it however you want to say it 25:06 and God will hear you. 25:08 God will hear you. 25:09 The thing that we must do though is, I mustn't, since I'm 25:14 here, as God comes into my life and works in me, 25:21 I must continue to grow. 25:23 That is what He wants to do. 25:26 He's not saying you got to grow to here to get to heaven. 25:30 He is not saying that. 25:31 He is just saying I want you to grow, 25:32 I want your life to change and so He wants to come in. 25:37 That is why I have to surrender. 25:39 Today there are so many people that want to come to the 25:43 Lord but they don't want to grow. 25:44 They just want to stay where they are. 25:46 They want some body to feed them? 25:48 Well yeah, they want somebody to feed them, 25:50 and there is no such thing. 25:55 There is no such thing as repentance in my life 26:00 without Reformation, it just doesn't exist. 26:04 So the words again are going to trip us up. 26:07 What are you talking about? 26:08 Repentance is when I come to the Lord and I see, 26:11 it just becomes 26:12 crystal clear what I am. 26:14 I'm a liar. 26:16 I'm on Internet porn, I'm doing all that. 26:18 I see myself for what I am and I don't like it. 26:22 That is required or you will never change. 26:27 So I see myself as I am. 26:30 Don't protect yourself from that, don't shy away from that. 26:33 I need to come to the Lord just as I am and see myself. 26:36 But as in confession, confession comes in here, 26:40 what confession is what lance's the boil and let's all the 26:46 sin and all the infection and everything out because 26:51 that permits it to heal. 26:53 So that has to take place, but when that happens then 26:57 naturally there should be a change take place. 27:03 In other words I don't like what I was. 27:06 But some people want to stay there, you can't stay there. 27:10 C. S. Lewis wrote a thing that was amazing. 27:12 He said you can't take all luggage with you on every trip. 27:16 Even the smallest souvenir from hell will keep you out of 27:19 heaven, so what you are saying is you can't have things in 27:22 your pocket because those things will eventually 27:25 strengthen the old man and kill off the baby. 27:29 That's right, and as he said you can't take all 27:32 the luggage with you at one time. 27:35 In other words I might get rid of one thing at a ways down 27:39 the road I had to get rid of another. 27:40 As you continue to walk with Christ you'll find there are 27:44 things you have got to get rid of as you go along. 27:46 Not to earn heaven, I want to stress that. 27:50 So we have people at the Café who are going to want to ask 27:55 you questions, so I am going to open that up. 27:56 But we also have a third point, 27:58 the baby needs to eat, breath, and? 28:01 Exercise! Exercise. 28:03 Oh Man, okay so we are going to open it up for questions. 28:07 First Cassidy, you wanted to ask Ken a question. 28:11 Hi my name is Cassidy Bates and I am from Minnesota. 28:16 I'm in eighth grade, so friends are really important to me. 28:21 You said that the Bible is our food and I was wondering 28:26 what friends had to do your spiritual growth? 28:29 I mean because good friends pull you up and could bad 28:34 friends bring you down or could they help you? 28:37 I'm just kind of curious. 28:40 That of course is a very, very important question. 28:43 Friends are something that you have all your life, 28:47 or should have all your life. 28:48 To start out with Christ says He is our friend, 28:53 in fact it says that He is a friend that sticketh closer 28:57 then a brother, so first thing you need to do is to make 29:01 Him your friend, make sure that He is your friend. 29:06 Once you have done that, then you begin to take your 29:11 friends from those that you feel will be helpful in their 29:17 growth, and in their Christian life. 29:19 That doesn't mean Cassidy, that I need to limit my 29:22 friendship to only people that are Christian. 29:26 That is not what I am saying, but it means that I have to 29:31 be very, very close with my friendship with Jesus so that 29:36 my friendship with Him keeps me okay with friendship with others 29:42 who are not. 29:43 I have to jump in and say one thing about that. 29:46 Because of the analogy that Pastor Ken Cox had said, 29:50 about the baby or the old guy. 29:52 The old man! 29:54 Well how can you have an old man inside of you? 29:59 How about the flesh in you, or the baby, so your friends 30:04 are going to like the one or the other, 30:05 do you know what I mean? 30:06 So let's say my friends like the person inside me that is 30:10 conniving and manipulating. 30:12 I have a good sense of humor but it is a little bit on 30:15 the edge, they are going to like that friend or they are 30:18 going to like the baby. 30:20 Do you know what I mean? 30:21 So it depends on who they are coming to visit. 30:23 If they are coming to visit a part of you that is a 30:26 Christian, then that friend is always going to be 30:28 incredible to you. 30:29 If they're going to come to visit the old guy, 30:31 or the old man or the flesh than those friends are always 30:34 going to be looking for you to do something edgy. 30:37 So what will grow is what they are attracted to. 30:43 If I have bad friends or non-Christian friends will I be 30:49 able to bring them closer to God or will they lead me away? 30:55 Well you should lead them closer to God. 31:02 In other words you should share with them the good things 31:07 and right things and I should not permit the things that are 31:13 bad to pull me their direction, but remember God has called you. 31:18 We are going to be talking about exercise. 31:20 The way you exercise, in a Christian life, 31:23 is by witnessing. 31:25 So you are to be a witness to them. 31:28 You are to show them what a life in Christ is like. 31:32 So you need to help them. 31:36 Let me put it this way. 31:39 You know exercise was the third thing you were talking 31:42 about, the baby needs exercise. 31:44 The baby needs exercise, there has got to be exercise. 31:46 Remember that the Lord calls each of us to serve. 31:52 I must minister to you, or a must minister to the people 31:57 that are around me. 31:58 If I don't minister to you, or to other people, 32:03 then I manipulate, you see? 32:07 That is where that comes in, if I am not serving then I 32:11 have a tendency to manipulate. 32:13 When you start manipulating other people, 32:16 you are in trouble. 32:19 So what is interesting to me is that, 32:21 like any 12 step program. 32:22 In a 12 step programs, or the last part of the journey, 32:27 on your 12 step program, or the step 12, is to take what 32:32 you learn and go teach someone else. 32:34 So that is the part of the exercise. 32:36 Most people in recovery understand that. 32:39 If I don't give back, if I don't live out what I have 32:42 learned, if I don't share it is going to die within me. 32:46 It is really tough, and I love your question Cassidy, 32:49 it is really tough to have friends that if the part of my 32:53 growth is that I have to share what I learned. 32:55 I have to share my new life. 32:57 I have to share the fact that it is so exciting 32:59 not to have to lie. 33:00 To fill up and being taught by God who I am creatively. 33:04 If I can't share that with you because you are not that 33:07 kind of friend, then that part of me is 33:09 going to slowly die away. 33:11 So either I'm going to continue to grow with the people 33:13 in my life, or I'm going to have a part of me die with 33:16 the people in my life. 33:18 So I think that I love her question that friendships 33:20 are important. 33:21 When I stopped doing heroine, it was really interesting, 33:24 I was a good heroine addict. 33:26 I'm telling you, I was good on the streets. 33:29 I survived for 10 years, from 13 years old on. 33:33 So I learned to actually do all that, 33:35 but when I became a Christian, none of the friends 33:38 I had really enjoyed that part of me. 33:41 What do you mean you're trying to be honest? 33:43 What's up with that? 33:45 How can you manipulate with that? 33:47 Then they learn how to do that, that's a good gig. 33:49 I'm not doing it to manipulate, I'm doing it because 33:52 I think it's the right thing. 33:53 Or I'm not going to steal anymore. 33:55 I do not want to manipulate anymore. 33:56 I don't want to do that stuff. 33:58 Some friends will back away just because of your choices. 34:01 Just simply if a friend brings you flowers, 34:04 are they bringing you flowers because they are being nice? 34:11 Because they want to be nice to you? 34:14 Or are they bringing flowers to you so they can get 34:17 some thing from you? 34:18 It makes a great, great difference why they are bringing 34:21 you flowers you see. 34:24 Or why you are bringing flowers to them. 34:26 So friends are important. 34:27 I know we had other questions in the room. 34:30 Daphne I know you had a question. 34:31 Yes sir first I want to introduce myself. 34:34 My name is Daphne Brown and I'm from Fort Lauderdale 34:37 in Florida. We met in Florida? Yes! 34:40 It was a cruise last year, however I like the way 34:44 Pastor Cox put on the subject about growing in the word. 34:50 You know from a child I know about that. 34:53 But it says as a newborn babe is they are sincere 34:57 in the milk of the word. 34:58 No, it was reference to people who are just 35:01 converted to the church. 35:03 As adults, people who are in the church for a long time, 35:07 do they really need the word to grow by? 35:12 Absolutely! It is required of all of us. 35:17 I must spend time in the word. 35:20 It says Faith cometh by hearing 35:23 and hearing by the word of God. 35:25 In the Christian life everything operates by faith, 35:30 everything and therefore I read as an adult I read the 35:34 word of God because that builds faith, in my experience 35:38 it helps me grow. 35:41 So I have to spend time in God's Word. 35:44 I don't know how it is with other people but I am always 35:48 seeing and finding something I didn't know before. 35:52 I am reading it and I may have read that text a half 35:56 a dozen times before and all of a sudden I read it and 36:00 say, oh that's what that's talking about. 36:03 That wasn't because I just got smart all of a sudden, 36:06 that is because the Holy Spirit opened it up 36:08 and revealed to me. 36:10 You have to talk about going back to the newborn baby. 36:14 I have this baby that is growing and the bones are 36:17 developing, the nerves are developing, the brain is 36:19 developing, but there is not a point that I think, 36:22 okay you are 12 now, you never have to eat again. 36:24 It's like you can stop eating now, so that is a huge thing. 36:29 We have time for one more question. 36:32 I'm sorry. 36:33 As he said about faith, I remember the Baptist say if you 36:37 have the faith of a mustard seed you can say to the mountain 36:41 many of us have mountains in our lives. 36:43 I can draw from that faith when my daughter met the accident 36:48 because that is why I am here today. 36:50 I was going down to the hospital and my church sister, 36:54 Sister Maurice was sitting beside me. 36:56 I looked across at her and said, you know Sister Maurice 37:00 if I go to the hospital and my daughter is still alive 37:04 she is not going to die. 37:05 Amen! Amen! and that's the faith that brought her through. 37:09 So we also have to have faith and exercise, 37:13 not just to love it but exercised it. 37:15 I love that because what you are saying is that if 37:19 I didn't know that was in the word of God. 37:21 If I didn't know what God encouraged me to do that, 37:24 would I have known to hold on to that at that time? 37:27 Because during the time of an accident, 37:28 when you are looking at somebody's life or death, 37:31 if it is not in there, How can I hold on to it? 37:34 How can I pull any strength from it? 37:35 It comes by the word. 37:38 Joe you had a question. 37:41 Pastor Cox, Cheri had said that she was in the bathroom 37:46 about to kill herself, 37:47 and when she received that baby, that gift, 37:53 you said that we can't birth that baby our self. 37:58 How does someone who is about to kill them self even 38:03 desire it, or ask for it, What is it? 38:08 There are two factors to come to play here. 38:10 It says that Christ is the light that lighteth every man 38:13 that cometh into the world. 38:14 So Christ is continually working with every person. 38:17 Secondly, the Holy Spirit is also there as it convicts 38:21 the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, 38:24 and so God wanted to save her. 38:26 He's going to do everything He can to her to try to get 38:32 that to take place. 38:33 I love that because at the moment, I'm in a drug house 38:36 trying to kill myself, I meet God and I get all that. 38:40 As I walked in my new life, and as I understand who God is, 38:45 I start seeing Him even when I was a little girl. 38:49 Throughout my life I get the sense of, He was always there. 38:53 When I ask Him that sometimes in devotions, 38:55 Were you always there? He said absolutely, 38:57 I'm always there. 38:59 For each one of us that's true. 39:00 So the new life, the gift that He gives us is waiting 39:04 for us, individually, Eh? 39:06 Absolutely, the new life, totally and completely from that 39:11 point on, like you never known 39:13 or ever dreamed of 39:14 begins to take place. 39:16 If I stumble all of heaven says stand up. 39:19 Like the angel who stands around says that person is 39:21 going to fall a lot and I need to be there and encourage 39:24 them to stand back up. 39:25 Just like a baby you do not learn to walk right away. 39:28 You do not learn how to run right away 39:30 or any of that stuff. 39:31 You are just like a baby, pick them up, pick them up, 39:33 pick them up, that is the same thing you need to do to 39:36 someone who is a new babe in Christ. 39:38 If they fall you need to pick them up. 39:39 Anybody in recovery. Absolutely! 39:42 I wanted to say Ken I am delighted that you have 39:45 been on the program with us. 39:47 Well it has been a pleasure. 39:48 I love what you have to share and I have to say as we say 39:52 goodbye, to you a have to say if anybody is interested 39:55 in this teaching you have a whole series on this. 39:58 Yes! What is the name of that series? 40:00 It's called "Salvation". 40:02 It's amazing. 40:03 We are going to be right back so stay with us. 40:06 I'm hoping you are hearing the whole feel of this is that 40:10 we are saying out loud that there is a part of you that 40:14 will fill still very much alive. 40:15 You turn yourself over to Christ, you turn yourself over 40:18 to recovery and everything is new you will be excited. 40:21 That is all amazing, and there is a part of you that is 40:24 going to try to kick the baby, don't let it happen. 40:27 Okay we will be right back. 40:28 Stay with us! |
Revised 2014-12-17