Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Paul Coneff
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000470A
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00:01 In 1 Corinthians 15:57, Paul wrote saying,
00:05 "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus." 00:09 Have you accepted Christ as your Savior 00:12 and sincerely believe you've been saved, 00:14 yet you are not experiencing complete healing in your life? 00:19 Please join us today on Issues and Answers 00:22 as we discuss how to get beyond the past, 00:27 let God do the healing so that you can walk 00:30 in complete victory. 01:02 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and we welcome you once again 01:05 to Issues and Answers. 01:07 I am so excited that we have a special guest today 01:11 that we've invited to come back, 01:13 he's done it today program here on 3ABN, 01:16 but his ministry is incredible 01:19 and we wanted you to have the opportunity 01:22 to hear a little more from him without further adieu, 01:25 let me introduce Paul Coneff who is a pastor, 01:29 licensed family counselor. 01:31 But more importantly you are the founder 01:34 of Straight 2 the Heart Ministries 01:37 and you're an author of a book 01:39 called, The Hidden Half of the Gospel. 01:43 You can see Paul by the way this book is, 01:46 is fanning out that I have devoured your book. 01:50 This is an excellent book and it is all about 01:54 how Christ sufferings help heal our wounds. 01:59 If you were to give me 02:02 a 20 word definition 02:06 of The Hidden Half of the Gospel, 02:08 what would it be? 02:11 Christ suffered. 02:13 That's what he said as part of his gospel 02:15 so he could dentify with us, relate to us, 02:18 so we can know that he's gone through 02:19 what we've gone through as part of the gospel 02:21 that will heal us and set us free. 02:23 Amen. 02:24 And it's so true, when I was reading your book, 02:27 the first thought that I, you know, 02:28 when we think of the gospel, 02:30 we think of the idea that God sent His Son 02:32 to die for us while we were yet sinners, 02:34 that through His death, burial and resurrection 02:38 that we, as we accept Him as our Savior can be saved. 02:42 We're redeemed, we are forgiven, we're cleansed 02:46 and all the things that go with that. 02:48 So when I first saw your book laying on someone's desk, 02:51 The Hidden Half of the Gospel, 02:53 I thought well, what more is there to the gospel. 02:57 As I read it these are things we know 03:00 but we don't really like, like the disciples. 03:05 When Christ kept telling them over and over again, 03:07 He would have to suffer and die 03:09 and somehow the message it was kind of like. 03:13 That's what we do with this idea 03:16 of we don't understand 03:17 that Christ suffered to fulfill prophecy. 03:20 He became like us in all ways, 03:24 so that He could be our faithful high priest 03:27 and that His suffering is part of His ministry, 03:31 it's part of the gospel. 03:33 It's amazing, I love your book. Thank you. 03:36 So, let's... 03:38 I'm just going to throw it to you. 03:39 Let's get started because you have us 03:42 an amazing story to tell us about someone who was baptized, 03:47 sincerely accepted Christ 03:49 but came up with the same problems 03:52 that she went into the water with. 03:54 Diana is one of the first story in my book. 03:56 We kind of laid the foundation for Jesus suffered 03:59 to identify with us. 04:00 To forgive us and to heal us and set us free. 04:03 And Diana as a child had been sexually abused 04:06 by a family friend. 04:08 I wouldn't call him a friend 04:09 but that's his position in the family. 04:11 Yes. 04:13 And so out of that she ended up learning 04:15 to believe a negative thought, I have to keep myself safe 04:18 and if you're four and five years old 04:20 and you've been abused, you've been hurt, 04:22 that would be an easy thought to have. 04:24 It's my responsibility to keep myself safe 04:26 because no one is here to protect me. 04:28 So eventually as she tried to protect herself 04:31 and worry about how to protect herself, 04:32 it grew into fear, panic attacks, 04:34 she became an adult, she got married, she had kids, 04:37 but she ended up with agoraphobia, claustrophobia. 04:40 She's scared of open places and close spaces. 04:42 So the fear went to panic attacks to these, 04:45 to being afraid of open or close spaces 04:47 and then she ended up with irritable bowel 04:49 which is basically a situation where for some people 04:53 your stomach is tied not to end up having diarrhea. 04:56 Well, the more she worries 04:57 about having to keep herself safe 04:59 and she's trying to be on guard to protect herself, 05:02 her mind and her body is working, working, working 05:04 and it's getting worse. 05:05 So she ends up accepting Christ sincerely. 05:08 She ends up getting Bible studies from a pastor. 05:10 He's a friend of mine Pastor Greg Sheller. 05:12 He's a very good pastor, they did Bible study. 05:14 She sincerely believed 05:16 what he was teaching her in a word. 05:18 She sincerely got baptized. 05:20 But when she got baptized all of her fear, 05:22 her panic attacks, her claustrophobia, 05:24 agoraphobia and there were about came up 05:26 out of the baptistery with her. 05:28 So she's giving her testimony 05:29 but she's talking about the panic attacks. 05:31 So Pastor Greg and I talked to her and said, 05:33 "Hey, we'd like to share with you my ministry 05:36 and we'd like to pray with you." 05:37 About a year later she says, "I'm willing to accept prayer." 05:39 And we asked her why did you take a year? 05:42 She said, "Because I wasn't worth your time." 05:44 See her belief system became a negative identity 05:47 and if she's not worth our time, 05:48 why would she accept the offer. 05:49 Oh, that's so sad. 05:51 It is, and the power of Satan's lies 05:54 because Jesus said, "He's the father of lies." 05:56 So we want to deal with those lies, 05:58 the roots behind her negative feelings and behaviors. 06:00 We're not going to minimize negative feelings. 06:02 We're not going to minimize negative or sinful behaviors, 06:04 but we want to deal with those root issues, 06:06 those root lies because one Jesus did say, 06:09 "Satan is the father of lies." 06:10 So that's the root issue. 06:12 The other reason is those lives become my identity 06:16 and it's my filter 06:17 through which I see the word, the world. 06:20 How I see God in others. 06:21 So my belief system is, I have to keep myself safe. 06:26 My mind will be working overtime all the time 06:29 trying to keep myself safe. 06:31 And she's driving and not letting her husband drive 06:33 not because she's trying to be a control freak, 06:35 but she doesn't feel safe unless she's at the wheel. 06:37 It's not just she doesn't believe her husband can drive. 06:40 It's that I have to be in control. 06:43 I have to be on guard because otherwise I can be hurt. 06:46 And, you know, this is something 06:47 that when you said that Satan is trying to rob us 06:49 of our identity. 06:50 I have said in a previous book that I wrote, 06:53 I mentioned that the greatest crisis in the church today 06:58 in my personal opinion 07:00 is that we do not know who we are in Christ. 07:04 We don't know the freedom. 07:06 We don't know that haven't experienced the healing, 07:08 so we have this identity crisis. 07:12 Much like when the 12 spies went out 07:15 and, you know, when Moses said, "Okay, you can go out." 07:18 God says, "Yep, you can send them." 07:20 When they came back, 07:22 ten of them had this identity crisis. 07:24 They saw themselves as grasshoppers 07:27 compared to the giants in the land. 07:29 Well, that's pretty much what's going on in the church, 07:31 we come, we've got the verbal camouflage, 07:34 we can come to church and there are so many people 07:37 who happy Sabbath, happy Sabbath. 07:40 But inside they may really be wounded 07:43 and they don't know who, to whom they can speak. 07:47 They don't know how to even articulate their problem. 07:50 So here you've got a woman who's been baptized, 07:55 joined the church, accepted Christ as her Savior, 07:58 yet the fruit, 08:02 the behavior of her problem is still very apparent, 08:07 it's still blossoming 08:08 because you haven't got into the root issue. 08:10 So Diana has a lot of sincerity and she doesn't have victory. 08:15 But the disciples were sincere when they said we wouldn't, 08:17 they wouldn't deny Christ 08:18 and they were only sincerely publicly, 08:20 spectacularly wrong 08:21 because again they had a belief system, 08:22 militant Messiah. 08:25 And so Jesus is telling them, 08:26 "I'm going to come and suffer, die and rise again, 08:28 I'm the suffer Messiah." 08:29 And they couldn't accept it because their belief systems 08:32 kept them from receiving truth from a perfect teacher 08:35 with perfect truth and perfect doctrine. 08:37 So if that lie is sitting there and it runs into truth, 08:41 it tends to reject the truth. 08:43 It can't receive it. 08:44 So we want Diana to not only receive baptism, 08:46 receive Jesus, we want her to receive victory. 08:48 And now we connect her story with Jesus story, 08:51 because you mentioned it earlier, 08:53 He was tempted like us, made like us in all ways, 08:56 yet without sin. 08:57 So she's been physically, verbally abused, 08:59 sexual abused. 09:01 Jesus is betrayed by a kiss, 09:03 somebody close to Him betrays Him. 09:05 He's stripped naked and physically violated, 09:07 shamed and humiliated. 09:09 Was He tempted with the belief system, 09:12 I'm not safe. I have to protect myself. 09:14 I have to take control. 09:15 According to scripture, He was tempted to believe 09:18 when He was being mistreated and physically violated. 09:21 I'm not safe and physically He wasn't safe. 09:23 But His identity was secured in Jesus, 09:26 in the Father, 09:27 so instead of trying to take control, 09:29 He was able to stay surrendered to the father. 09:32 You know, I had to just interject this thought. 09:35 Since He was tempted in all ways as we are, 09:37 surely He was tempted to protect Himself to stop, 09:42 you know, no one likes physical pain 09:44 and so His humanity, in His humanity 09:47 surely He was tempted as we are 09:50 as Diana was to try to protect herself. 09:53 Yet I think of it, 09:54 His temptation was a thousand times more 09:57 because Diana as a young child 09:59 she couldn't protect herself. 10:01 Christ could have called a legion of angels, 10:04 He could have just pointed His finger and zapped them 10:07 so, His temptation was so much stronger 10:10 than our temptation when you think about it. 10:13 It was, He told His disciples, 10:14 "I could call twelve legions of angels, I don't need you, 10:16 I can replace you with a legion of angels." 10:19 And often I'll ask people how many angels did He need 10:21 and they'll say one, 10:22 and I will say how about one less than one 10:24 because He made the angels. 10:25 Yeah. 10:27 So like you said, He could have zapped them. 10:28 So He's tempted, 10:29 He stays connected to His Father 10:31 because His identity is secure in being the Son of God 10:35 with His Father loving Him. 10:36 The difference is, I go through negative experiences, 10:38 Diana goes through negative experiences. 10:40 We believe these lies without even realizing it, 10:43 because the devil is not coming up 10:44 and saying you're stupid, you're no good, 10:46 you have to be in control, you're not safe. 10:48 I get a thought I am not safe. 10:51 I am bad, I am rejected. First person. 10:53 First person, and I think it's my thought 10:55 so now He's got His seeds as it turn into a root system 10:58 and then I read God's word and I want to believe it. 11:02 And in my head, I want to believe it 11:04 but my heart says something else. 11:05 So we were able to pray with her, 11:07 connect her to Jesus who was betrayed by a kiss. 11:10 Stripped naked, physically violated. 11:13 Mentally and verbally abused to identify with her 11:16 to take all of her panic attack, 11:18 all of her phobias, her fears. Her irritable bowel, 11:22 we prayed that Jesus took that into His death, 11:24 His suffering, His death and His resurrection. 11:26 We prayed day after day 11:27 during a series of meetings when I was there, 11:29 and she ended up with an awful lot of freedom, 11:31 and then I had to go on a trip. 11:33 I continued praying with her because it's not a quick fix. 11:36 It's not a 30 second prayer. 11:37 We all wish we had that, 11:39 but I have a discipleship process. 11:41 And so what happened was the pastor asked her 11:43 to help her with the depression way out seminar 11:45 that he was doing at the church. 11:47 And so after she gets a lot of healing, 11:48 she formed a small group in her home. 11:51 They started studying the Bible together. 11:52 So she moved into ministry as a testimony. 11:55 But this one night she's there at the depression seminar 11:57 and she's starting to get thoughts, 12:00 "Whom am I to be giving a testimony." 12:01 Yes. I'm not worthy. 12:04 And she thinks... 12:05 Satan is whispering into her ear once again. 12:07 And then she gets a thought, well, I should leave. 12:10 They weren't her thoughts. 12:11 And then she thought wait a minute, 12:14 I can take every thought captive 12:15 to the obedience of Christ. 12:16 I can talk to God, share these thoughts 12:18 and receive His truth in His place. 12:21 So she's praying about it. 12:22 She got peace, she gave her testimony, 12:24 she ended up being actively involved in that ministry 12:26 and other ministries in the church, 12:27 so she's moving into ministry with a testimony 12:29 with a Jesus who was tempted not only to believe lies, 12:34 but to doubt His identity 12:35 because every attack against Him 12:37 in the wilderness began with the words, 12:38 "If you're the Son of God." 12:41 Through his trials the priest say, 12:42 "If you're the Son of God tell us," 12:45 then they blindfold him and spit in his face 12:48 and they say, "If you're the Son of God tell us who." 12:52 And then on the cross, what do they say to Him 12:53 when He's hanging on the cross? 12:55 If you're the Son of God... 12:56 Come down and prove it. Come down and prove it. 12:57 So all these attacks 12:59 are attacks against His truest deepest identity. 13:02 So it wasn't as bad as the physical, verbal, 13:04 sexual abuses and I don't want to minimize that 13:06 because I work with that kind of trauma lot 13:08 as a marriage family therapist. 13:10 I would say that the real attack 13:13 is to take her through these negative experiences 13:15 to set her up with a negative identity. 13:17 Because if she doesn't get healing, 13:19 if she doesn't get freedom, if she doesn't get victory, 13:22 then she begin to doubt 13:23 whether she really has the assurance of salvation, 13:25 whether she's really a Christian. 13:26 Does the devil leave her just struggling 13:29 or does he begin to whisper? 13:30 "Hey, maybe I really didn't commit to Jesus. 13:32 Maybe salvation really doesn't have power." 13:35 So it opens a door for more lies. 13:36 So we were able to pray with her, 13:38 disciple her over time. 13:40 Have her get into a small group that she started on her own, 13:43 start sharing her testimony and move into ministry 13:46 because Jesus had been making a difference in our life 13:48 because part of our prayer we close with 13:51 would be, dear, heavenly Father, 13:53 thank you that Jesus fulfilled prophecy suffering like I did, 13:57 being violated verbally, mentally, physically, 14:00 taking all of the way I was violated, 14:02 all my negative thoughts that I'm alone. 14:04 I'm not safe. I have to be in control. 14:07 She has to look at her patterns of self-protection. 14:09 And all the ways that cause fear and anxiety 14:12 and panic in my life 14:14 and then rising again to heal me and set me free, 14:16 so I can receive my truest deepest identity 14:20 as your daughter. 14:21 So we're always praying that identity issue 14:23 so she's beginning to let God renew her mind 14:25 and she's seeing herself 14:26 not based on what was done to her. 14:29 Not in her attempts to try and protect herself, 14:32 but through everything God has done for her. 14:34 Amen. Amen. 14:36 I want to back up for just a second 14:38 because I understand everything you're saying 14:42 since I have, as I said devoured your book. 14:44 You were quoting while ago, 2 Corinthians 10 14:49 and I'm going to begin with verse 4. 14:52 What Paul writes, "For the weapons of our warfare 14:54 are not carnal but mighty in God 14:57 for pulling down strongholds." 15:00 Where is the devil's stronghold? 15:02 It's right here. 15:04 The stronghold is what we believe 15:07 if we have negative beliefs, 15:09 anything that contradicts the word of God 15:11 about who you are, about who God says you are. 15:14 Anything that contradicts that 15:17 is it becomes a stronghold in your mind 15:19 and he's the one that sets them up. 15:21 So Paul is saying, "We've got all these weapons." 15:24 And he says, "Pulling down the strongholds, 15:26 casting down arguments and every high thing 15:29 that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, 15:32 bringing every thought into captivity 15:36 to the obedience of Christ." 15:38 I think the only way that as human beings 15:43 we can take her thoughts captive 15:46 is we have to replace them with another thought. 15:49 We have to replace them with the truth of God. 15:52 How did... 15:54 Let's just kind of rewind for a second. 15:56 You were a pastor for many years. 15:59 Tell us how you got to this place 16:04 of understanding the hidden half of the gospel, 16:07 that part of the gospel 16:09 is that Christ suffered in all ways as we did, 16:13 I mean the word says it, 16:15 but to really put the emphasis on it say, 16:17 hey, this is where healing comes from 16:19 is when you understand Christ can identify with you, 16:23 you're not alone. 16:24 He's been through everything you've gone through. 16:26 How did this come into being 16:29 where you realize there had to be something more. 16:32 Out of my own brokenness. 16:34 I came out of the world bitter, angry, drinking, 16:36 doing drugs pornography. 16:38 I had a Ph D. in self-pity. 16:40 No academic credit but I had a lot of poor me. 16:43 And God brought me out of that, 16:44 I went to, ended up at a college, 16:46 I ended up becoming a pastor, 16:48 and then I had kids and adults who were broken, 16:51 and I could move them into ministry very effectively. 16:56 But I didn't know how to get them healing, 16:58 get them healing in freedom and so I started praying, 17:00 and I said, God, how do I bring healing and freedom to them. 17:02 I know Your cross makes a difference 17:04 for the forgiveness of our sins. 17:06 How does it deal with the brokenness? 17:07 And God said, "Let me start with you first." 17:09 And I said, "No, I just want to help my church members. 17:12 I don't need to deal with my past." 17:14 It's too painful to go back and deal with your own past... 17:16 I thought I went to four years of pastoral ministry, 17:18 I got it together. My past is in my past. 17:20 I'm not drinking or doing drugs and he said, 17:22 "No, there's more." 17:23 So we have a little bit of arm wrestling match 17:24 and God won. 17:26 And now I hear people all the time 17:27 tell me my past is in the past. 17:29 So it came out and God started dealing with me 17:31 to deeper level with some of those negative thoughts 17:34 that I grew up with that I'm bad, 17:35 that I'm rejected, I'm not good enough. 17:37 I have to be on guard. 17:39 And so as He started dealing with me 17:41 and I started getting some healing and freedom, 17:43 I was now able to offer to others 17:45 and I started my whiteboard in my office 17:47 writing down across. 17:49 And I would write sins down on the left hand corner 17:51 struggles, addictions, brokenness, 17:52 whatever the person was sharing and on the right hand side 17:55 I started writing Jesus' journey 17:56 from Gethsemane to Calvary but it wasn't all at once. 17:59 I'm kind of a slow learner. 18:01 So it kind of happened and grew over time 18:03 and all of a sudden I started noticing 18:04 when I connected their suffering, 18:06 their struggles, their addictions, 18:08 their brokenness 18:09 with Jesus' journey from Gethsemane to Calvary. 18:11 Now He suffered more than that 18:12 but in a short time period in one session 18:15 I go basically focus on Gethsemane to Calvary 18:18 where He's alone, He's abandoned, 18:20 He's betrayed, He's abused physically verbally, mentally. 18:23 He's experiencing racial prejudice, 18:25 political prejudice, religious prejudice. 18:28 And then He's tempted to numb His pain on the cross, 18:30 with wine vinegar mix. 18:32 And then He cries out, why have You forsaken Me. 18:34 And I found that an awful lot of our experiences fit in that. 18:37 And as I connected people story to Jesus' story 18:40 and started praying that, turning that into prayers, 18:42 because like you said, we can't just say, 18:44 okay, I know negative thought, 18:46 I'm not going to think it anymore. 18:47 We have to pray to God, thank Him for taking it 18:50 and then receive His truth in its place. 18:52 Paul says, "Put off and put on." 18:54 So we want to bring these negative thoughts to God 18:57 and say, "God, these are negative thoughts I have. 18:59 Thank you that Jesus was tempted like me in these ways 19:01 and then begin receiving His truth, His peace, 19:04 His righteousness in its place." 19:06 Yes. 19:08 You know when the Bible talks about God 19:13 rewards those who have that faith in Him 19:17 that He is a rewarder of those with faith. 19:20 I don't think that we understand often 19:23 our own thought process 19:25 that has been initiated by Satan 19:28 that we actually create barriers for God's blessings, 19:33 because we won't except by faith. 19:37 As long as we've got this negative belief system 19:41 and I think that, you know, 19:42 I also grew up in a very dysfunctional environment, 19:47 had a great fear of abandonment 19:50 and comes from my parents divorcing 19:51 when I was four, my father got custody of me, took me off, 19:55 you know a couple of thousand miles away 19:57 from where my mother brand new baby sister were, 20:01 then he left me with my grandparents. 20:03 He went somewhere else working and then he was killed 20:07 and so I had, you know, there was all of this stuff 20:12 that I've always had this issue of abandonment, 20:15 believing I had to be perfect to be loved. 20:18 So it was an issue that I felt 20:20 like I was a pretty balanced person. 20:26 I'm sure my husband thought I was a balanced person 20:29 when we married, 20:30 but I found that all of my abandonment issues 20:34 were strong still in my heart, there was a root there. 20:37 And so it wasn't something I was going to verbalize to him 20:41 but it caused me a lot of pain and suffering 20:43 until I got really into the word of God and God, 20:47 it took some time to take away that fear of abandonment. 20:51 But why is it? 20:54 Why do you think it's so important 20:57 that I wished I'd known then that, 21:01 you know, Christ felt abandoned, 21:02 He experienced that abandonment He had. 21:06 Everybody that was closest to Him fled 21:09 and even Peter was, 21:11 was denying Him and cursing with his denial. 21:14 He felt abandoned by the Father. 21:16 And I think that would have helped 21:18 if I had known that earlier, 21:20 but why do you believe that helps so much, Paul. 21:23 Why does it help for people to see that Christ 21:27 their high priest, their savior can identify with them? 21:31 What is that emotional connection 21:34 or what makes it click for people? 21:37 I would say the most important thing 21:38 is a lot of people know 21:41 that other people have gone through experiences 21:43 like them, like Diana. 21:44 If you asked Diana today, 21:46 does she know other people have been abused? 21:47 She would say yes. 21:49 If somebody asked you, "Do you know other people 21:50 have been abandoned in different, 21:52 maybe not the same way but in different ways. 21:53 Yes. Yes. 21:54 But something in our heart goes 21:56 "Ah, now I know I'm really not alone. 21:58 I think the number one response 21:59 to seeing a slide where's Jesus' suffering. 22:01 We have a picture of Jesus on the cross 22:03 and then we start going through Him being alone, 22:05 abandoned, betrayed, abused, rejected. 22:08 All of a sudden the Holy Spirit's 22:09 able to speak to the heart and say, 22:10 "You are not alone. 22:12 You have someone that understands." 22:14 And when that happens, 22:15 there's something in them psychologically, emotionally, 22:18 mentally every one says it, 22:19 there's something in their heart that says, 22:21 "I can relax. 22:23 They understand." 22:25 I'm in the presence of somebody 22:26 who knows what I've gone through. 22:27 I don't have to be on guard. 22:30 I can be relaxed more 22:31 and I begin receiving with that relationship with him 22:35 and what that does is it creates intimacy 22:37 with a more stronger relationship. 22:40 It's like the woman at the well. 22:43 Don't you know that when Jesus is looking her 22:45 in the eyes and saying, 22:47 "If only you knew the gift of God." 22:49 And who it was that's offering you a drink. 22:51 He sat there and told her everything about it. 22:54 She probably felt understood 22:56 for the first time in her life, and there is power. 22:59 We all want to be understood. Yeah. 23:02 You know and there's very few people, 23:05 even you, people can be married for 50 years 23:07 and somebody would not feel 23:09 maybe that their spouse truly understood them 23:11 but God knows. 23:13 So tell us what happened with Diana? 23:18 Well, Diana as we were praying every day 23:20 while I was doing a series of meetings, 23:22 and so she got prayer, 23:24 so we had to deal with a lot of hard work, 23:25 there were a lot of fears, there was negative thoughts, 23:27 there was issues of forgiveness. 23:28 I mean, this isn't an easy process. 23:31 But as we kept connecting her story to Jesus story, 23:34 she was able to restart receiving healing. 23:37 And I think the fourth day in a row I was there, 23:39 she came back and she said for the first time in years 23:42 I've been able to get some sleep. 23:43 Praise God. 23:45 Because when she goes to sleep, guess what happens? 23:46 Her body is still on guard, it's still wired. 23:49 So if my mind's going, going, going 23:51 and I have to be on guard, I have to be in control, 23:53 I have to make sure I'm self safe 23:55 not to be controlling over others, 23:57 but to protect myself. 23:58 I can lay down a bit 24:00 but does that mean my body is ready to rest? 24:02 No, my body system is going zing, zing, zing, zing, zing. 24:05 And so she was able to start getting some sleep, 24:08 so she noticed that. 24:09 And then she shared a time later 24:13 where there was a police story that hit the national news 24:15 because somebody in their neighborhood 24:17 had drugs and were selling 24:18 and they busted him at two in the morning. 24:20 So she hears this foghorn and she goes 24:22 and instead of being going into panic mode 24:24 she goes, oh, it's there, 24:25 so she goes out to find out what happened. 24:27 The next day people are interviewing people, 24:28 they ask people in neighborhood if they would be interviewed. 24:31 They all said no. 24:32 She ended up saying yes without thinking 24:33 and then said, "Wait a minute I can't do it. 24:35 I have panic attacks." 24:36 But then she said, "No, I can pray through it." 24:38 And then she ended up being interviewed 24:39 and it was a national interview. 24:43 And she was actually excited 24:44 that she was able to pray through those negative thoughts 24:46 so the devil didn't stop attacking her 24:48 but they didn't stick. 24:50 She was able to take those thought she was, 24:52 she knew what the weapons of her warfare were, 24:54 she was exploring them 24:56 and she could take the thoughts... 24:57 And that's, that's a critical verse 24:58 to section to our ministry 25:00 that we're not trying to do it on our own strength. 25:03 We're taking those thoughts to Jesus 25:04 and trusting in power. 25:05 And later on about nine months later, 25:07 somebody was trying to kill himself drunk driving 25:10 and ran into her husband and hit him 25:12 and so he wasn't able to work because he lived but the brain, 25:17 his brain was hit hard. 25:19 And so during that was she concerned about her spouse? 25:21 Absolutely. 25:23 But she didn't have any panic attacks. 25:25 Now we wouldn't deliberately set up a test like that. 25:27 No. 25:28 But Jesus says, "When the son sets you free, 25:30 you're free indeed." 25:31 So we're not saying she never got any more negative thoughts. 25:33 What we're saying is when the devil hit her, 25:36 she recognized the source. 25:37 She took it to God 25:39 and it didn't become part of her identity. 25:40 So she was able to pray through that and like I said, 25:42 she had a small group. 25:43 She moved into ministry 25:45 in the church being very active. 25:46 See now that's a part I don't want to just slide past. 25:49 She moved into ministry because that's the beauty 25:54 of Straight 2 the Heart Ministries and that's 25:56 straight2theheartministries .com. 26:00 That healing comes and then people you, 26:06 you focus on moving people into ministry. 26:10 We're all called to fulfill the great commission. 26:13 We're all part of the body. 26:14 But I think that, you know, you often heard it said, 26:19 I say it often that, we teach to learn or excuse me 26:23 we, we learn to teach, we teach to learn. 26:27 And it's one thing as you are receiving healing, 26:32 I think that God intents for you to turn around 26:35 and as He said that He's the God of all comfort 26:37 who, who comforts you 26:39 so that you can go out and comfort others 26:41 with the same comfort that you've received from Him. 26:43 I think that as people receive healing 26:47 then go and say, "Hey, I can show you the way. 26:49 I can show you the gospel." 26:51 This is where even more complete healing comes in. 26:55 I think it's exciting what you're doing. 26:57 It is, and like you mentioned the woman at the well, 26:59 Jesus speaks into her pattern of brokenness. 27:01 Yes. 27:03 It wasn't comfortable for her and she tried to avoid it, 27:04 but she hung in there with Him. 27:06 He speaks into her pattern of brokenness 27:07 and what does she do? 27:09 She leaves her water pot, 27:10 you don't leave your water pot anywhere in the Middle East 27:12 in those days or today. 27:14 And she goes in 27:15 and she witnesses to whole town. 27:16 So to me I want God to speak into our brokenness, 27:19 bring His healing and freedom. 27:20 And like you said, move people into ministry, 27:22 but it's not like we're telling them 27:24 they have to, they want to, 27:25 they start doing it naturally from the inside out. 27:28 Well, I cannot believe how fast our time's gone. 27:31 Talking with you, it always goes fast. 27:33 I just wanted to say once again 27:35 that Paul's book is called The Hidden Half of the Gospel, 27:40 and what is the website for this? 27:43 www.hiddenhalf.org. 27:46 Hiddenhalf.org. 27:48 And it's the Hidden Half of the Gospel, 27:49 how His suffering can heal yours. 27:51 All right. 27:52 Hiddenhalf.org 27:54 is where you go to get this book. 27:58 My husband, I bought this for my husband. 28:01 I bought one for everyone in the pastoral department 28:04 'cause it is such an excellent book. 28:06 Paul, thank you so much for being with us, 28:08 and you want to be sure and tune in next week 28:12 because Paul's going to return, and we will cover some more 28:16 about the Hidden Half of the Gospel. 28:18 Thanks for joining us. |
Revised 2016-11-17