Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Paul Coneff
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000471A
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00:01 Let me ask you a question.
00:02 Have you ever confessed a sin 00:04 and know that in your mind God has forgiven you, 00:07 and yet you find that you're still swallowed up in sorrow, 00:11 that is Satan's strategy 00:13 and today we want you to join us, 00:16 so that you will learn how to overcome 00:19 that strategy on Issues and Answers, 00:22 that's our discussion today. 00:55 Hello, I'm Shelly Quinn, 00:56 and we are so thankful that you're joining us today 00:59 on Issues and Answers. 01:00 You're going to be thankful as well 01:02 because we'll be discussing something 01:04 that is rather common to our human condition. 01:08 And that is the fact that 01:09 we can confess our sins and believe 01:14 we've received forgiveness from God, 01:16 and yet in our belief systems, 01:20 Satan is trying to tell us 01:22 we are something that really we no longer are. 01:26 So we don't get the freedom from the guilt 01:30 and the shame of the past. 01:32 Well, help me introduce 01:34 or welcome that is our special guest Paul Coneff. 01:37 And Paul is an author, he is a pastor. 01:41 And, Paul, you are the director 01:43 of Straight 2 the Heart Ministries. 01:45 Tell us little about your ministry? 01:47 Well, our ministry comes out of working with broken people 01:50 and helping them get healing and freedom in Christ. 01:53 And so the two main themes are 01:54 that Christ suffering is part of his gospel, 01:57 because He said I came to suffer, 01:59 die and rise again over and over again. 02:01 So we break that suffering down into how He was alone, 02:04 abandoned, physically, verbally, mentally abused, 02:07 experienced racism, pull politics, 02:10 He's tempted in numbness pain 02:11 and cried out why have you forsaken me. 02:14 So we talk about how His suffering 02:17 with a fulfillment of prophecy to identify with us. 02:20 He went through negative experiences 02:21 because we do 02:23 and then that's the root of our healing 02:24 to really identify with Him, 02:26 to realize we're not alone, He understands. 02:28 The other main thing is that 02:30 Satan's called the father of lies, 02:31 not the father of sin. 02:33 So we want to ask 02:34 what are those negative thoughts or lies 02:36 we get about ourselves 02:37 when we go through these negative experiences 02:40 to keep us stuck in these patterns in our lives. 02:42 Amen. 02:43 So now, if somebody was to go to your website and that is, 02:49 that's straight and then the number two. 02:51 Yes. 02:52 Straight and then a numeral two, 02:54 Straight 2 the Heart Ministries... 02:56 Straight2theheart.com. 02:58 Straight2theheart.com. 03:00 What would they find on your website? 03:03 They would find testimonies of people 03:04 that have got healing in freedom. 03:06 They would find a calendar for training events 03:08 and then resources that they can purchase. 03:10 All right. 03:12 Now, if however they want to purchase your book and this... 03:16 The Hidden Half of the Gospel is a book 03:18 that Paul wrote and essentially it's this. 03:21 The gospel you and I most frequently think of is 03:24 Christ died for our sins, He redeemed us, 03:27 halleluiah, by grace we are saved. 03:30 But the Hidden Half of the Gospel is what 03:33 Christ kept trying to share with His disciples 03:36 and they couldn't quite understand it 03:38 that He came to be our suffering Messiah. 03:42 He came to experience everything 03:46 that we do in our humanity, 03:48 yet to overcome it, be without sin, 03:51 He was tempted in every way but yet was without sin. 03:55 And I can highly recommend this book, 03:57 the Hidden Half of the Gospel and that is at hiddenhalf... 04:02 www. You don't have to have the W's 04:04 but Hidden Half, H-I-D-D-E-N, 04:07 hiddenhalf.org. 04:10 All right, now, let's get into Sheri's story, 04:15 because Sheri is someone that 04:18 you've ministered with who has found herself 04:24 as we talked about in the T's swallowed in sorrow. 04:29 When she first came to me, 04:31 she was living in the community 04:33 and I knew her and some of her friends, 04:34 and she came in one day and said 04:36 I'm just overwhelmed by shame. 04:38 And I said, okay, well, 04:39 what's causing you shame? 04:41 She said, well, I know, but I can't tell you. 04:42 It's too overwhelming. 04:44 She felt too bad about it. 04:45 So I had a choice, 04:46 I could try and get to tell me 04:48 what she said she didn't want to tell me. 04:50 But I felt like I'd rather connect her to Jesus story 04:53 and so she's struggling to go where God wants her to go. 04:55 She knows what the core issue is. 04:57 So I said what would you... 04:59 Would you be willing to identify with Christ. 05:01 Struggling to surrender His will to His father in a garden 05:04 to go where God was calling Him to go. 05:07 Or we can close and you can leave. 05:09 But if we do that, 05:10 then you carry the shame with you, 05:11 so I gave her a choice. 05:13 She chose to identify with Christ 05:14 so we said a prayer, 05:15 thank you Father that You had Jesus fulfill prophecy. 05:19 Struggling to surrender his will to your will to go 05:21 where you were calling him to go. 05:23 So you could take my struggle to go to place of shame 05:26 and to his death 05:28 and then through his resurrection power, 05:29 I'm receiving Jesus spirit to surrender, 05:32 where you are making me willing to be willing to go there. 05:35 And so then she gave me part of the story, 05:37 her daughter had a miscarriage. 05:39 But if she had a miscarriage, should she be having shame, 05:41 or grief and loss? 05:43 Grief and loss. 05:44 So we know there is something more to the story, 05:46 but she couldn't tell me. 05:48 So I said the same thing, 05:49 we can either end the session 05:51 our time to get it but that means 05:53 you live with the shame 05:54 or we identify with Christ again. 05:55 So we pray that prayer again 05:58 and after two or three prayer times 05:59 the whole story came out. 06:01 When her daughter had the miscarriage 06:02 it triggered something that happened four years ago. 06:05 She had an abortion 40 years ago, 06:07 and was so overwhelmed 06:09 by when her daughter had a miscarriage 06:11 believing that her miscarriage, 06:14 her abortion had caused her daughter's miscarriage. 06:17 In other words she knew... 06:21 And at some level she realized 06:24 or could acknowledge that God had forgiven her sin 06:27 but at another level somehow 06:29 she felt like maybe God was paying back, 06:33 because she had had the abortion that 06:35 it was like in his will that 06:38 the daughter should lose a child. 06:40 Yeah, a lot of times Christians have a phrase 06:42 that I hear a lot when I am doing trainings, 06:44 I just need to forgive myself. 06:46 The problem is there is nothing in Genesis from Revelation 06:50 where anybody ever says that. 06:51 Moses was a murderer, he didn't say forgave himself. 06:53 David had Uriah murdered, 06:55 he didn't say I forgive myself for having Uriah murdered, 06:57 they receive forgiveness from God. 06:59 And so what I find Sheri is like many Christians 07:01 who confessed their sinful behavior, 07:03 they're sincerely wrong, they don't even return to it. 07:06 But they don't realize that Satan is a father of lies, 07:08 so he doesn't put lies in me just before I sin, 07:11 but after my sin. 07:12 So as we pray to God to reveal 07:14 what was holding the shame in place, 07:16 'cause shame is a feeling, it's a strong feeling, 07:18 it's an overwhelming feeling, it's a negative feeling. 07:20 But it's a feeling, it's fruit not root. 07:23 So we wanted to know who God... 07:24 Explain, don't just pass by that. 07:26 Explain fruit root? 07:29 If I have a negative thought, 07:32 and that's my root system 07:33 where that negative thought create negative 07:35 feelings and behaviors 07:36 or positive feelings and behaviors? 07:38 Negative feelings and behaviors. 07:39 So she confessed her behavior of being lonely, 07:42 ending up in sex outside of marriage, 07:44 being a scared teenager and having an abortion. 07:46 We're not justifying it. 07:48 Okay, so the root is the unbiblical 07:52 negative thought... 07:55 The belief system that doesn't line up with the Bible. 07:58 That's the root, 07:59 the behavior of is the fruit of the root. 08:04 That's where we got the fruit and the root. 08:05 Yes. 08:07 And that's Old Testament 08:08 where it pictures New Testament. 08:10 And so, we're not ignoring the fruit, 08:12 but she confessed her behavior of the abortion, 08:14 she was truly sorry. 08:16 It sits there in the background like on a burner 08:19 carrying low level of guilt and shame. 08:21 But then her daughter has a miscarriage 08:22 and that belief system, 08:24 it's my fault, I'm a murderer, 08:27 was never brought to the cross. 08:29 So many times we confess her behaviors 08:32 but we carry the guilt and shame 08:34 not because we want to 08:35 but because we have a negative belief 08:37 about ourselves from Satan, 08:38 the father of lies. 08:40 Wow, I'm trying to catch this so, 08:41 so essentially you're saying it's not... 08:45 When we say not biblical to say I'm gonna forgive my... 08:47 I need to forgive myself. 08:49 It's not in the Bible is what you're saying. 08:50 It's not in the Bible... 08:52 So rather than focusing on 08:53 what you need to forgive yourself for this, 08:55 you know, accept God's forgiveness 08:57 and you forgive yourself. 08:58 What you need to do is be able to surrender 09:01 those negative thoughts to God 09:07 and let Him go through... 09:09 So it's just basically 09:10 we haven't really confessed in God 09:13 and everything out, did I say right? 09:15 Yes and it's not that she is not insincere. 09:17 She sincerely... 09:19 she hasn't any more abortions, it's not that she sincere... 09:21 And God's forgiven her. And God's forgiven her. 09:23 It's just that... 09:24 Okay. 09:26 Even in 1 John it says, 09:27 even if our own heart condemns us, 09:28 God's greater than our hearts. 09:30 But why should I have her live in condemnation 09:33 when I can have ever live in freedom. 09:35 So what we want to do is say, okay God, 09:37 what did she learned to believe about herself 09:39 because of that abortion 09:40 that's causing this intent shame. 09:42 And a belief system she had, everybody is different 09:44 but her belief system is it's my fault, I'm a murderer. 09:48 And she said to me, 09:50 I know in my head that God is not like that. 09:52 He wouldn't punish my daughter for my decision 40 years ago. 09:57 So up here, from the head up, 09:59 straight A in a theological exam, 10:01 but she said in my heart, 10:04 and I hope our viewers are getting this, 10:06 in my heart that's where I believe 10:08 that I'm a murderer and it's my fault 10:10 that I caused my daughter's miscarriage. 10:12 That God's making her pay, 10:14 her daughter pay for what she did. 10:16 So she knows intellectually, mentally, thou God is like, 10:20 but her heart has this belief system, 10:22 and so what we're able to do is say, 10:23 where was Jesus tempted to believe, 10:26 He wasn't accepted with God. 10:29 So we always move into Jesus story. 10:31 And Jesus said in the cross, Father forgive them, 10:34 I either sin for they know not what they do. 10:38 So Jesus forgiveness not only covers what she did 10:41 but all the unknown, 10:42 unintended consequences from it. 10:44 Now, does that minimize sin 10:46 or is that maximize God's grace? 10:47 It maximizes God's grace. 10:49 The isn't cheap grace, 10:50 was it easy for her to face 10:53 not only the abortion but that overwhelming shame 10:56 and that belief system, I'm a murderer, 10:58 I've caused my daughter to have a miscarriage. 11:00 Was that easy? No. 11:01 No, it wasn't but by faith... 11:03 He's confessing it obviously if it took her that long to, 11:05 if she was so overwhelmed 11:07 she couldn't even articulate it. 11:09 She couldn't voice it. 11:10 It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy at all. 11:12 But I had the privilege of walking her into Jesus story, 11:15 that Jesus took her sin to death on the cross. 11:17 She already dealt with that, 11:18 but also the negative belief systems 11:21 and negative identity creating the shame. 11:23 So Jesus was a sin offering, a guilt offering. 11:26 So did He take all of her guilt 11:27 and all of her shame into death on the cross 2000 years ago? 11:30 Yes. 11:32 So we prayed and brought in her belief system about herself, 11:36 it's my fault, I'm a murderer 11:38 so we brought the belief system 11:39 into her behavior with the feeling, 11:42 so we got the belief system, we got the negative thoughts, 11:46 we got the negative feelings 11:47 connected to that negative behavior. 11:49 And as we did and we kept praying that way, 11:51 she was able to get freedom from that 11:53 and six months later 11:55 she was walking in her neighborhood, 11:56 she saw one of my church members 11:57 and she said, hey, tell Paul, 11:59 I'm still doing well. 12:00 And before I left that church, 12:02 she came by when I was leaving to say goodbye, 12:03 and I said, 12:05 you have a beautiful story of God's grace. 12:08 Ministering to you, 12:09 with a sin you confess 12:11 but the belief system was still there 12:12 and you didn't even fully realize it. 12:15 Could I have permission to share that 12:16 and she gave me permission to share, 12:17 so wherever I go in the world I tell her story 12:19 about how God forgave her of what she did 12:21 and did not know 12:23 and Jesus took into His death 12:25 all the negative thoughts leading up to the abortion. 12:27 All the loneliness and looking for love outside a marriage. 12:31 Everything connected to abortion 12:32 and those negative thoughts of belief system about herself 12:36 because of the decision she made. 12:38 Now let me ask you a question. 12:42 How we discussed last time that you had when we... 12:48 With this last week 12:50 that you grew up with a lot of dysfunction, 12:53 some true negative beliefs about yourself. 12:56 You acted out the fruit of your negative beliefs 12:59 you got involved in quite a few different things... 13:03 Alcohol and drugs or in self pity. 13:05 So, okay. 13:08 We also discussed that you have been a pastor 13:12 or you became a pastor 13:13 and you felt like your past was in the past, 13:16 you didn't want to deal with it. 13:18 Explain again because I know we didn't... 13:22 We touched on this last time 13:23 but I think it's important the T, 13:27 the model T. 13:28 Not an old car model T, 13:30 but the T model that you use which is a cross, 13:34 it's a model of a cross 13:36 and how you write on the left 13:39 and what you write on the right side of that cross 13:42 and why it is important that people see this? 13:46 So what I do is when people come in like Sheri. 13:49 I have a cross on my white board 13:51 and on left side I write down what they're bringing in, 13:54 for her it was shame. 13:55 As we pray and God unfolded that it was the abortion 13:58 and then the belief I'm a murderer, 14:00 it's my fault. 14:01 So that's on the left side which she is dealing with. 14:04 On the right hand I will start writing down Jesus' journey 14:07 from Gethsemane to Calvary. 14:08 He is alone, He is abandoned, 14:11 He is betrayed. 14:12 When He is alone, 14:13 is He tempted to look for love in a wrong places? 14:15 Sure, He's tempted like us in all points, 14:17 He's betrayed. 14:18 Is He tempted to trust in his own strength 14:19 and protect himself? 14:21 Sure, He strip naked, 14:22 He's physically, verbally, mentally abused. 14:25 On the cross He's tempted with the wine vinegar 14:27 mix to numb His pain. 14:28 We're all tempted to numb our pain. 14:30 Does He know what it's like to suffer being tempted 14:33 to numb His pain? 14:34 He didn't, He trusted in His father 14:36 but does He know like scripture says 14:38 that He actually suffered with that temptation, 14:40 it was actually attractive to human nature. 14:43 And then He cries out, "Why you've forsaken Me,'' 14:46 where He is not sure He is being tempted 14:48 to believe His Father has not accepted Him 14:51 that He has rejected Him forever. 14:53 So there is other places where He suffered 14:55 so I connect Sheri's story with Jesus' story, 14:58 and He happened to become the sin bearer 15:00 to guilt offering, 15:01 and He died not only for her sinful behavior 15:04 but her sinful nature. 15:06 He who knew no sin was actually made to be sin. 15:10 So how far did He go to identify with her? 15:12 He was made to be everything in her life, the loneliness, 15:15 to looking for love outside of marriage, 15:17 to getting pregnant and having the abortion. 15:20 We're not justifying it but we're saying she's scared, 15:22 she doesn't know what to do, 15:23 Jesus took everything connected to her story 15:26 to death on the cross 15:27 and the intense overwhelming shame 15:30 that were sitting there 15:32 in the background for 40 years, 15:33 and then her daughter has a miscarriage, 15:36 and the devil goes boom, this is who you are. 15:38 And she doesn't know 15:40 it's the devil talking to her in first person language, 15:42 and then here is the problem 15:43 and she doesn't get healing and freedom, 15:45 can she be there for her daughter. 15:47 She looks at her daughter, she goes I did this, 15:49 she can't be there, 15:50 so what's the devil gonna say to her daughter? 15:52 Where is my mom, 15:53 how come my mom's not with me in my time of grief and loss? 15:55 So the devil is getting this domino effect... 15:58 He always does, doesn't he? 16:00 But the good news is 16:02 when she gets healing and freedom, 16:03 God gets the domino effect, she can share her story, 16:06 she can be present with her daughter in the grief and loss 16:09 because she has got healing and freedom. 16:11 Amen. Amen. 16:12 The behavior was confessed and forgiven 2000 years ago, 16:15 I mean, 40 years ago. 16:17 Jesus took care of that 2000 years ago. 16:20 But now we're dealing with that belief system, 16:22 that negative thought about herself 16:24 that's gotten triggered, 16:25 it was there in the background. 16:27 The miscarriage happened the trigger, 16:29 something else could have triggered 16:30 but that's what triggered, 16:31 and I was able to watch God 16:33 bring this precious daughter of his, 16:35 not only into forgiveness 16:37 but forgiveness in freedom 16:38 where she is receiving the fullness of forgiveness 16:40 and she is using her testimony for God's glory. 16:43 When did you begin this ministry? 16:44 What year? 16:47 I started ministry in 1987, 16:50 and I started dealing with people seeing teenagers, 16:53 adult broken in churches, 16:55 and then I went to another church 16:56 and still more brokenness, 16:57 and so I started looking at brokenness, 16:59 and how does God want to minister to it in '87, '88. 17:03 But it was in 1990 that I said God, 17:06 I know your cross has power in Christ to forgive my sins. 17:12 And I know healing is possible. 17:16 How does the cross answered the brokenness in our life 17:19 and the suffering 17:20 and that's when I started writing 17:21 the cross on that board, 17:23 that model T you've talked about, 17:25 that here is this T in my white board 17:27 with their story on one side 17:28 and Jesus' story on the other. 17:30 And as that happened people like Sheri, 17:33 I started noticing that we're getting, 17:34 they were sharing more, 17:35 they were sharing at a deeper level, 17:37 and we were praying more 17:39 and they were getting deeper healing 17:40 and moving into ministry. 17:41 So it was kind of slowly catching on to me 17:43 that there is something in Christ suffering 17:46 and being alone, 17:47 abandoned and betrayed, abused, 17:49 tempted to numb His pain and saying, 17:51 why have You forsaken Me. 17:52 There was something that was more powerful than 17:54 what I could offer them. 17:55 Human counseling can't set her free. 17:58 It could help, it can listen 18:00 but Jesus in His suffering, 18:02 death and resurrection, being a sin bearer, 18:04 the guilt bearer can take everything 18:06 connected to her story. 18:08 All of her negative thoughts 18:09 and that negative identity about herself to the cross 18:11 and then through His resurrection power, 18:14 she gets freedom. 18:15 She moves into ministry 18:17 and her story gives hope to other people. 18:18 You know this is when they are really appreciates 18:21 and you broke that you make it very clear, 18:23 if you ever have to use, 18:25 you are a licensed family counselor 18:28 but you make it very clear, 18:29 if you ever have to draw on your counseling training 18:34 then you've missed the boat that this is all about prayer, 18:36 it's all about God. 18:39 It's really fascinating 18:40 because when I read this I'm thinking 18:43 of course I know this, I mean, I was just, 18:45 it's interesting when your book came into my life, 18:48 I've been writing sermon on Gethsemane 18:51 so all of these things were just fresh on my mind. 18:54 I mean, it was just 18:55 the going through this whole struggle of Christ 19:00 and how He was... 19:02 I mean Hebrews 2:17, 18, 19:03 it's really coming alive to me that 19:05 you know, yes, 19:07 He was made like us in everyway He does understand. 19:09 But I still didn't see it as part of the gospel 19:12 till I read your book. 19:13 And so, you know, there is sometimes, 19:17 I think I actually asked myself 19:19 why did He have to suffer like this, 19:21 I mean, the cross was bad enough 19:24 but to receive the beating 19:27 that He received to where His muscles were torn 19:30 and He lost so much blood before He went to the cross. 19:33 We think of His blood loss at the cross 19:37 but the Bible says 19:38 in both Isaiah and Peter wrote that by his stripes, 19:44 we will be healed by his stripes, 19:46 we are healed. 19:48 With the stripes we're received as His child. 19:50 So it's a fascinating your book 19:54 what I appreciate about it is... 19:58 It's so simple because it's in story format 20:01 that a sixth grader could sit down and read it 20:03 and yet the theology is so deep, 20:05 if you really want to get off into it, 20:07 it's incredible. 20:08 So did God as you were seeing this, 20:13 did God sit you down first 20:15 and work through your issues from the past, 20:18 did you fill resistant to it, 20:20 do you have people, you've seen so many, 20:23 you've an incredible testimony, 20:25 so lot of people that are moving into ministry, 20:28 but what kind of resistance 20:31 did you have to this yourself in the beginning. 20:34 So God started talking to me 20:36 and said I want to deal with some of the stuff in your past. 20:38 And I said no, 20:39 I got my pastoral ministry major, 20:40 I'm in full pastoral ministry, it's in the past. 20:43 God said no. 20:44 He disagreed with me, 20:46 so we had an arm wrestling match and He won. 20:47 And so now, you know, 20:51 so I'm sharing this out of grown, 20:52 my own growth experience and I find it, 20:55 if I teach what I've been living, 20:57 what I'm learning, 20:58 it makes more of an impact than 20:59 if I'm just teaching from my head, 21:01 but God wanted me to deal 21:02 with some of the stuff from my past 21:03 go to the deeper levels of forgiveness 21:06 and freedom in dealing with some of the negative thoughts 21:08 I had so that I'm like 2 Corinthians says 21:11 we comfort others with the comfort we received. 21:13 But is this where you learned, I mean, 21:16 how did God show you to connect Christ story. 21:19 Is that when He was dealing with you, 21:21 is this when you kind of were going 21:22 through the last hours of Christ life and saying, 21:26 hey, this really makes a difference 21:28 to understand that He identified with me this way. 21:30 Well, I started ministering in '87, 21:32 started working in '88, started working with people, 21:34 saw lot of brokenness and then in 1999 21:36 I was seeing God do some more, 21:38 but I was saying okay, 21:40 another cross deals with forgiveness. 21:42 And I know there is some healing, 21:44 but how do we really, 21:45 how does the cross address brokenness in a way 21:47 we get healing and freedom. 21:48 And that's where I started 21:49 drawing the cross on the white board 21:51 where I put their story of anger pain, 21:53 Sheri's it would be abortion, loneliness 21:57 and you know it's my fault, I'm a murderer. 21:59 So we put her story on the left hand side, 22:01 on the right hand side we're saying Jesus was alone, 22:03 abandoned, betrayed, abused, tempted to numb His pain, 22:07 took all of her sin in suffering 22:08 to death on the cross, 22:10 cried out why have You forsaken Me. 22:11 So he took everything in her story into His death. 22:14 So that's when I started doing probably in 1990 22:17 but what I noticed was as I shared their story 22:19 and connected with Jesus' story 22:21 and it happened overtime, 22:22 it wasn't like some big uh-huh moment. 22:24 But as it happened, 22:26 I found people shared it at a deeper level, 22:27 so they were sharing more, 22:29 we were praying more and they were getting more 22:30 healing and freedom. 22:32 Amen. 22:33 You know, I think that at least for me 22:38 something that I have felt is that I'm almost... 22:43 I don't want, 22:44 I was ashamed as a Christian to talk about my past. 22:48 You know, Isaiah says God said in Isaiah, you know, 22:52 forget the past, don't dwell on the past, 22:54 I'm doing a new thing in you, 22:55 it was spring forth, suddenly we not perceive it. 22:59 Paul talks about not, you know, looking ahead, 23:02 not behind for getting what is behind 23:04 and pressing on toward the goal 23:06 for which he is called heaven work in Christ Jesus. 23:09 So I think that 23:13 it was not just that I was afraid of the pain 23:16 but I was ashamed to say that there was anything in the past 23:18 that still bothered me, 23:20 and then when I went into full time ministry, 23:23 it was interesting because the Lord told me, 23:26 I mean, I had been in the corporate world 23:28 and you know I had done a lot of training 23:30 but the Lord told me, 23:32 hands off you don't get to do, 23:34 you don't get to use an employee, 23:36 those same things you did there. 23:38 You gonna speak from your heart 23:40 and suddenly I started sharing about my past. 23:43 I mean, I never even admitted to anyone 23:45 that my mother was bipolar 23:47 or that she had a drinking problem. 23:49 I never admitted to anyone the things 23:51 that I had gone through, 23:53 and it was so interesting that as you share 23:58 there is something cathartic about sharing 24:00 because there is... 24:02 And part of it was pride, 24:04 like I didn't want to talk about my sister 24:05 being a drug addict. 24:07 And I finally recognize this is pride, 24:10 but when God told me you have to be open, 24:13 you have to share from that place of brokenness 24:16 because that's how what I share it whether 24:19 it was exalting His word or pressing into His presence, 24:21 the grace pipeline, 24:23 any of these teachings that I predominantly put forward. 24:26 It's all things that God taught me 24:28 as He was leading me out of darkness 24:31 and into His marvelous light. 24:32 Even though I was a Christian, you know, 24:34 you're still in this darkness. 24:36 So could you talk about that, do you think people are, 24:39 and I still think that there are some things 24:41 that I probably need to like go up from the past that 24:44 maybe I have it yet but 24:47 do you find that Christians are sometimes 24:50 it's too painful or too prideful 24:52 to deal with the past. 24:54 I mean it could be pain and pride. 24:56 And we carry a lot of shame 24:57 because if you tell people your mom was bipolar, 24:59 what are they gonna think of you. 25:00 So in the church we need to have more safety 25:03 where we can share our story and not be fixed, 25:06 not be judged and have people listen to us 25:08 and pray with us. 25:10 And so, you know, 25:11 the quote Paul that says put the past in the past 25:13 but when he does that, 25:14 if you look in the chapter where he does that, 25:16 he is listing everything you put in the past. 25:18 When he gives the testimony, does he talk about his past? 25:21 He does but it's in the context of telling 25:23 where God brought him out of darkness into light. 25:25 So I think God wants to use our past 25:27 as our story because it's part of our story 25:30 to share with other people to connect 25:32 but we've all heard testimonies 25:34 that focus more in the dark side 25:35 then the light of truth. 25:37 Those are not good 25:38 because it end up glorifying sin, it's... 25:40 Look at all the fun God saved me from, 25:41 look at all the bad things I was doing. 25:44 I think we need to tell enough about our past, 25:46 I don't need to go into details about 25:47 my bitterness, anger, porn, 25:50 all the drugs and stuff, 25:52 I don't need to tell all those details. 25:53 I need to know tell enough to share, 25:55 hey, these are some of the things 25:56 I was using to cope and try to medicate my pain 25:58 and survive in life. 26:01 But then I want to talk more about 26:02 what are those negative thoughts 26:03 and what does God done for me, 26:05 and now I travel around this country 26:07 and other countries helping people with abused, 26:09 trauma and addictions 26:10 because God used my story 26:12 to open up a door for ministry and share with other people. 26:17 And so our story, when you hear someone else 26:19 share about their mom being bipolar 26:21 or they're struggling with something similar you do, 26:23 there is this aha-aha moment, 26:24 uh, they understand if I told them, 26:27 did I struggle with anger. 26:28 If I told them I struggled with porn, pornography, 26:30 whatever it is, 26:31 if I told them they are not gonna judge me, 26:33 because I've just heard him share 26:34 in a way that I know they've been broken 26:36 and God has done something in my life. 26:38 My co-writer Lindsey, 26:39 you know came out of a lot of brokenness and abandonment, 26:41 you know, and it led to depression 26:43 and a suicide attempt. 26:44 Well, now, God's given her a lot of healing and freedom, 26:46 she was my co-writer, she's written her own book, 26:48 so God's now using her story to bless other people, 26:51 so I think using our past in a way 26:53 that it bring glory of God, 26:54 showing what He's done for us is very power... 26:57 I mean, I think of Sheri story. 27:00 She gave me permission to share her story. 27:02 How many women are sitting in our churches 27:04 that had an abortion would never tell anybody 27:06 because of shame. 27:07 Now, Sheri's story gives them 27:09 permission to seek healing and freedom. 27:10 Yes. 27:11 Well, it's just amazing to me 27:14 how the Lord works to heal 27:17 and how He's using a ministry 27:18 and we just want to thank you once again 27:20 Paul for being here today. 27:22 For those of you at home, 27:24 if you're interested in inviting Paul 27:27 maybe to come to your church and do a training, 27:29 you can go to his website straight2theheart.com 27:36 and that's a number two, straight2theheart.com. 27:40 And if you're interested in getting his book, 27:42 The Hidden Half of the Gospel, 27:44 this is something I highly recommend 27:47 and you can go to hiddenhalf.org 27:53 to order the book. 27:55 And as I said, 27:56 we've already supplied all of our pastors 27:58 here with this book because it is a prayer ministry 28:02 but there is healing in the stories 28:05 and healing in understanding 28:07 how Christ identifies with us in everyway. 28:10 He was tempted in everyway as we are yet without sin. 28:15 Well, our prayer for you is that the grace of our Lord 28:17 and Savior Jesus Christ, 28:18 the love of the Father 28:20 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 28:22 would be with you always. |
Revised 2016-11-17