Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Octavian Poenaru
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000476A
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00:01 What is the solution to combat Satan's strategy
00:04 of using media in the battle for your mind? 00:08 Stay tuned to Issues & Answers to learn. 00:43 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and we welcome you once again 00:46 to Issues & Answers. 00:47 Today we have returning with us Pastor Octavian Poenaru, 00:53 he's also has a doctorate of ministry in family life. 00:58 He is the pastor for the Colville, 01:00 Washington Seventh-day Adventist Church and... 01:03 Ione. Ione. 01:05 I don't know why I can't remember Ione. 01:06 Yeah. 01:08 Thank you so much for returning, Octavian. 01:10 Thank you for inviting me. 01:11 It has been wonderful. 01:13 We've been talking about the battle 01:15 for our minds in the house. 01:16 Yeah. 01:17 Media affects us spiritually, how it affects us, 01:21 our marriage, our family life, 01:25 how it affects our mental health, 01:28 but today we're going to be talking about solutions 01:31 for these problems. 01:33 Yeah. 01:34 Hopefully, there is a solution. Okay. 01:37 You're the man. 01:38 Well, I'd like to begin reading 01:40 a well-known passage in the Bible, 01:42 it's in the book of Philippians 4:13. 01:46 It's a short passage, 01:47 "I can do all things 01:50 through Christ which strengthens me." 01:52 Amen. This would be enough. 01:54 That should be enough 01:55 and we can close the discussion here 01:57 but maybe we need to expand on this, 01:59 but keep in mind this passage, Philippians 4:13. 02:06 Probably we can begin by asking the questions 02:08 how do we know, how do I know? 02:11 You know, there are these aspects 02:14 of practical Christianity. 02:17 In the end Christianity if not... 02:19 If Christianity is not practical, 02:21 I would question the value of Christianity at all. 02:26 Then, the question is how do I know? 02:29 You know, how do I know right and wrong 02:32 and there are so many areas of life 02:33 where we ask these questions, how do I know? 02:36 And when it comes to media experience, 02:40 definitely we can ask the same question. 02:42 Can I see this? Can I watch this? 02:44 Can I listen to this? Can I play this? 02:45 Can I do this or not? 02:47 And then the first question is how do I know. 02:49 And now I will suggest for this morning, 02:52 one fundamental criteria or maybe two. 02:56 The second one is going to be a Bible passage 02:58 but it's a very simple question, 03:00 and let me illustrate that with a story 03:03 because I love stories. 03:04 I remember being in the military, 03:07 in back home in Romania, it's in 1979. 03:13 I was 18 years old, taken to the military. 03:16 I was, I would say, I was a young man 03:20 who wanted to do God's will and be faithful to God 03:23 and the main question was in communism, 03:26 would I be able to be faithful to God 03:28 and keep the Sabbath and keep myself clean 03:30 for the unclean foods and the moral pollution 03:35 that existed in that environment. 03:37 And you were conscripted if you were... 03:40 Yeah. Drafted. 03:41 Drafted, okay. Yeah. 03:43 And I was 18, again. 03:45 Years before, 03:47 I already made my decision not to watch movies. 03:52 It was, it was at one point in my life, 03:55 I mean, watching movie is a big thing for me, 03:59 along with a few other issues. 04:01 And but here it's already past a few years 04:04 I'm a very committed Christian. 04:07 The life is very hard in the military system. 04:10 Persecution, but I'm just at the beginning. 04:13 Probably the second month in the service, 04:16 a lot of stress, a lot of stress of all kinds. 04:20 Once in a while, they will show a movie to the soldiers. 04:23 And I remember it was a Saturday night. 04:25 And they told us, "Well, there's a movie, 04:27 it's going to be in the clubhouse, 04:29 everybody is welcome." 04:31 It was a movie tonight, it was the Sabbath, 04:36 usually Sabbaths were hard days 04:38 because, because of all the pressure 04:41 of trying to keep the Sabbath 04:43 and saying no to a lot of things 04:46 and getting in trouble for that anyway. 04:49 That Saturday night 04:51 a soft voice in my mind told me, 04:55 "Octavian, you better stay in the dorm, let them go." 05:00 But, you know, curiosity, the old curiosity 05:03 and the desire to experience something new 05:07 made me decide to go. 05:10 And this is the movie, I remember the movie, 05:11 the movie it's called Black Bird's Ghost, 05:16 that is the title of a movie, that's a comedy, 05:19 and I decided to go. 05:24 I remember the day, it was November 1st. 05:27 And I went there and I enjoy watching this movies, 05:33 I mean, immersed myself 05:35 in what was happening in the movie. 05:36 Suddenly and this is a clubhouse 05:38 of about 300, 400 soldiers 05:41 and suddenly in the middle of that thing, 05:44 I hear my name called, Octavian and my, 05:48 calling me by family name. 05:50 "Soldier Poenaru, come out, come out." 05:56 Like woke up from a dream, 05:57 I real, someone is calling my name, 06:00 and I got out and I went to the guy 06:04 who was calling my name 06:05 in the middle of the whole thing 06:06 and says, "Well, someone is waiting for you. 06:11 Someone is waiting for you." 06:12 Usually or from time to time, 06:14 you were allowed to receive visits 06:16 from the family members. 06:18 And I did my military service in my home town. 06:20 What happened, I got out of that room again, 06:24 like being woke up from a dream, got out, 06:27 everything was white, in that short hour, 06:30 the weather changed and it snowed. 06:33 And got out from this thing, 06:35 got out, it was white, snowing peacefully. 06:39 It was like in another world and got to the... 06:43 Basically they met us, 06:44 there was a small office at the gate, 06:46 at the entrance in this military unit. 06:50 My family and friends from church, 06:52 they came to visit me, 06:54 and they were waiting there for me. 06:55 That, is this during Sabbath hours? 06:57 It was... 06:58 After the Sabbath. 06:59 After the Sabbath hours, it was probably in the evening, 07:01 but maybe 6 or 7pm. 07:02 After the Sabbath, okay, okay, okay. 07:03 Winter time, it was already dark. 07:05 Well, to me, it was like 07:08 the second coming of Christ in a sense 07:10 because I was completely unprepared for this experience. 07:16 And what I'm saying with this is 07:19 there's a Bible passage in 2 Peter 3:14, and it says, 07:23 "Therefore, beloved, 07:25 looking forward to these things, 07:27 be diligent to be found by him in peace, 07:31 without spot and blameless." 07:34 What I'm saying is the principle is think of, 07:39 if Jesus Christ will come 07:42 while I'm, while I'm watching, listening, 07:45 playing this whatever thing it is, 07:49 if my answer is I'm happy 07:50 if Jesus Christ comes and finds me there, 07:53 you keep doing it, it's okay. 07:56 But if the answer is no, probably you better... 08:00 If you would feel guilty for Christ to come... 08:02 Right. 08:03 And you know this, may I add this? 08:04 Sure. 08:06 It's not, we think that as in the second coming 08:09 but what we have to remember as Christians, 08:11 is that, He is with us at all times. 08:13 Yes. 08:14 So, it's not if, just if He was coming 08:16 but He's there with you right then 08:19 and so if you don't think, 08:21 if you recognize His presence in your life 08:24 and you're watching something that's displeasing to him, 08:26 you're not going to have any peace. 08:29 Again, as we begin this discussion, 08:31 sometimes we say well, how do I know? 08:32 Is this good or this is bad. 08:35 If we, if I don't know, I can ask myself the question. 08:40 If Christ will come now and find me watching this, 08:44 doing this, playing this, 08:46 if I think that I will be found in peace, 08:51 I can continue with whatever I'm doing. 08:55 But if there is a question on that 08:57 and I probably shouldn't do it. 08:58 That's good. 08:59 Also sometime traveling by plane. 09:03 What do people do when they, 09:04 when, what do we do when we're in a plane? 09:07 Well, some people sleep, some people read something, 09:09 and a lot of people watch a movie 09:12 or you watch something. 09:14 And I thought of, one time I thought, 09:16 what if this plane crashes right now? 09:19 It happened, a few planes crashed, 09:21 we know that. 09:24 How would I be found or how someone would be found 09:29 watching a movie, if the plane crashes? 09:31 You know, obviously this, you may say, "Well, 09:33 these are theoretical questions, 09:34 almost impossible." 09:36 Well, that's true but the question remains. 09:38 If Christ will come and find me there in front of the screen, 09:43 would I be happy? 09:44 If the answer is yes, keep watching, keep doing it. 09:47 If the answer is no, we should probably think twice. 09:51 The second principle it's in Philippians 4:8, 09:55 it's a known Bible passage. 09:57 "Finally, Brethren, whatever things are true, 10:00 whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, 10:03 whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, 10:08 whatever things are of good report, 10:10 if there is any virtue, 10:11 if there is anything praiseworthy, 10:14 meditate on these things." 10:15 Yes. 10:17 If we take this passage and apply it to media, 10:22 I think it will help us to come to a very close 10:24 to an answer in helping me discern and say, 10:28 "Well, if this is good and true and beautiful and worthy, 10:33 I'm going to do it." 10:35 If the answer, well, it is not. 10:37 And this leads me to the second section 10:41 of our discussion, 10:43 what can I do because I'm struggling 10:46 and honestly, we have to say, some of us, 10:48 for one reason or another, 10:49 we're struggling with media. 10:51 And again remember, music, movies, computer games, 10:55 gambling, pornography, sports, entertainment, 10:57 and then some of us are struggling, 11:00 some of us are struggling with one aspect, 11:02 others more with others, what am I, 11:05 how am I going to solve this? 11:07 Is there a solution? 11:08 And the first step I would say is, we have to be, 11:14 to be honest, 11:15 and ask God to help me honestly recognize my own... 11:21 Yeah. 11:23 Where I am in this. 11:24 Some people live in denial, 11:26 and they say, "Well, this is not an issue for me. 11:28 Oh, well, I can. 11:29 Well, I'm fine. It doesn't affect me." 11:32 I remember talking to someone and he would say, 11:34 "Well, I can watch any movie 11:35 and those don't affect me at all." 11:38 I would say, "Well, if they don't affect you at all, 11:40 why do you watch them after all?" 11:43 I don't believe, I mean, not only that I don't believe, 11:47 there are again plenty of scientific research 11:50 that proves that every life experience 11:54 has an effect on our brain and changes us. 11:58 Then the first, the first thing they need to do 12:01 is to take an honest look at ourselves and say, 12:03 "Well, I think I have a problem. 12:06 Honestly, to say God, 12:07 do I have a problem with this or I don't?" 12:10 And be very honest, 12:12 do an honest assessment of where we are, 12:14 in the relationship with this aspect of our lives 12:17 which is media. 12:18 If we realize that we have a problem, 12:20 the next step is to confess and repent. 12:22 Mm-hm. 12:23 And be very practical in confessing, 12:25 and I have to say, 12:26 "God, I'm so sorry I watched this movie." 12:28 Or "I'm so sorry I play this game." 12:29 Or "I'm so sorry I spend so much time 12:31 in watching this baseball game or basketball 12:34 or soccer or whatever it is." 12:36 I have to be honest and make the confession very pointedly 12:40 and say, "I'm sorry for this, please help me, 12:43 I don't want to do it in the future. 12:45 Repentance is, 12:47 one of the definitions of repentance would be, 12:50 "If I'll be there again, I'm not going to do it." 12:52 Right. 12:53 "If the circumstances bring me to the same point, next time, 12:57 I'm not going to do it again." 12:59 That means I believe repentance. 13:01 Amen. 13:02 But that takes an honest assessment 13:04 of who we are and in our relationship with God. 13:06 And it takes the power of God, I mean, the Bible... 13:08 Absolutely. 13:10 Speaks to, refers to repentance as a gift from God, 13:12 so one thing that I really believe is that 13:16 when you are praying and asking God 13:18 to forgive us of our sins, 13:20 cleanse us of all unrighteousness, 13:22 that's the part where you're saying, 13:23 "Lord, grant me repentance, help me to turn away, 13:25 to change my heart, 13:27 work in me to will and to do your good pleasure." 13:29 Another story, I was 15, I was just baptized, 13:34 probably a few months before that 13:36 and my life was taking a very serious change, turn. 13:40 I was deciding that I'm not going to watch movies, 13:43 not going to listen to bad music, 13:45 and change my way of relating to girls 13:48 and stop telling all kinds of jokes. 13:50 Those were four years of my life 13:51 where, which I, there were weak points in my life, 13:54 and I was very seriously committed. 13:57 Again, 15 and I remember, I remember this, my friends, 14:01 I still had my friends, friends was another issue, 14:06 but I was trying to live a godly life 14:09 with my un-Godly friends. 14:11 And one, I remember finishing the high school classes, 14:15 I think it was 1 o'clock, and my friends said, "Octavian, 14:18 there is a movie, you need to see that movie. 14:21 It's at 3 o'clock." 14:22 And I said "No, I'm not going, I'm not interested." 14:23 And he said, "No Octavian, 14:25 you need to come and see the movie." 14:26 So I said, "No, no, I'm not interested, 14:28 I'm not coming." 14:29 "Octavian, see you at 3 o'clock." 14:31 I say "I'm not coming." 14:32 They waved to me and said, "We'll see you at 3:00." 14:35 See, the Devil is very persistent. 14:37 Mm-hm. Very persistent. 14:41 And I told them that "No, I'm not coming." 14:43 I went home, my mother was home, 14:46 and I remember telling my mother, I said, "Mum, 14:48 my colleagues invited me to a watch a movie with them. 14:51 Should I go or should I not?" 14:53 Even though we watch movies at home, 14:55 but my mother didn't agree 14:56 that I should go and watch movie at the cinema. 14:59 She says "No, you don't have to go." 15:02 Guess what? I said, "I think I'm going." 15:06 She says "No, I think you don't have to go, 15:09 it's not a good thing to go, plus you have homework to do." 15:12 I said, "But I'd like to go." 15:14 Now it's kind of like a forbidden fruit, right? 15:15 Yes, yes, yes, it's this interesting change of mind, 15:19 you just wonder what happens with our minds. 15:23 And my mother said, "If you go, you'll be sorry." 15:26 And I said, "I don't know about that. 15:27 I'd like to go." 15:29 And my mother says "Well, if you like to go, okay. 15:31 Go. But you will be sorry, said I go." 15:34 But I went to this movie. 15:37 These friends of mine, the Bible says "Evil company... 15:41 Corrupts. 15:42 ... Good habits." 15:44 These friends of mine, 15:45 actually they saw this movies three times in a row, 15:48 the same movie, three times. 15:50 They went to watch that movie 15:52 for one single scene in that movie. 15:55 It was a sexy scene, 15:57 not as explicit as so many are today but still. 16:02 And the friends wanted to get me there 16:04 to watch that single scene. 16:08 To see your reaction to that, yeah. 16:09 Two minutes. 16:10 I don't know what was in their minds 16:12 but they wanted to go with them and watch that. 16:14 And I went and I was truly, I was sorry. 16:18 And I decided in my mind, I said, 16:19 "This is not going to happen again." 16:22 Then true repentance means, 16:23 if we are brought back to the same circumstances, 16:27 we have to be committed that we won't do it again. 16:28 Yeah. 16:30 We will react in a different way. 16:31 Number three is to look to a wonderful promise 16:35 in the Bible, it's in 1 John 1:9, which says, 16:39 "If we confess our sins, 16:41 he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 16:45 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 16:49 Then, I think this is a very precious, 16:51 very, very precious promise in the Bible 16:53 that it doesn't matter what we have done, 16:55 it doesn't matter what we have seen, watched, 16:57 God is willing to clean, to erase everything. 17:02 He says, "Well, you did it, 17:05 as I see you're honestly coming back. 17:07 I'm willing to forgive everything, 17:08 and I'm also willing to give you power 17:10 to overcome in the future." 17:14 Step number four, I read a book, 17:17 the wonderful, wonderful book 17:19 which I would recommend to everybody, 17:20 it's called Steps to Christ, Steps to Christ. 17:26 It's a wonderful book. 17:28 In the book, there is a passage 17:30 which speaks about ourselves and I think, 17:35 I would like to read, 17:36 actually there are two passages. 17:38 Certainly. 17:39 Because, I think, it describes very well what happens with us. 17:43 It says, "You desire to give yourself to God 17:46 but you are weak in moral power, 17:49 in slavery to doubt and controlled 17:52 by habits of your life of sin. 17:55 Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. 17:59 You cannot control your thoughts, 18:01 your impulses, your affections. 18:03 The knowledge of your broken promises 18:05 and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence 18:08 in your own sincerity and causes you to feel 18:11 that God cannot accept you but you need not to despair. 18:18 What you need to understand is the true force of the will. 18:23 This is the governing power in the nature of men, 18:27 the power of decision or of choice. 18:30 Everything depends on the right action of the will, 18:34 the power of choice God has given to men, 18:39 it is theirs to exercise. 18:42 You cannot change your heart, 18:44 you cannot of yourself give to God its affections, 18:48 but you can choose to serve him. 18:50 You can give him your will." 18:55 I found this, this steps 18:57 described in this wonderful book 18:59 is being very real 19:00 because sometime we found ourselves weak 19:03 and we promised ourselves, "I'm not going to do it again." 19:06 And then we do it again. 19:08 And you feel guilty and you feel weak 19:11 and you think, I'm not going to manage, 19:13 it's a waste of time, I just can't. 19:19 But in this beautiful passage, a very profound concept, 19:26 it acknowledges the fact that we human beings 19:27 in ourselves we cannot, 19:30 but we can do one thing, 19:31 we can ask God for help and say, "God, I know who I am, 19:34 I know that I am weak but I want to give you my will. 19:37 You help me to do this." 19:39 It's one of those things 19:41 Lord even I can't always be willing 19:45 but I just tell the Lord, I'm willing to be made willing, 19:48 and then He works in you to will 19:50 and to do His good pleasure. 19:52 I think it's the Holy Spirit that, 19:55 how can you explain that a young boy, 19:58 as I was, 14, 15, I came up, you may say, 20:03 by myself to the realization 20:05 that all these media exposure that I have, 20:08 which is in a sense, innocent compared with today. 20:11 But I understood that, 20:12 that was taking me away from God. 20:14 It was not my parents 20:16 because my parents at that time, 20:17 they were still watching movies. 20:19 Somehow I think, 20:21 the Holy Spirit can speak to anybody, 20:23 to anybody that's willing. 20:25 If honestly and sincerely we say, "Well, Lord, 20:29 I'm struggling with this, 20:31 I know that I have this problem, 20:32 please help me. 20:33 I am willing, I give you my will, 20:36 I'm willing to change, please help me." 20:38 I think God will honor that, 20:39 He has promised that He will honor that. 20:42 Step number five comes to a commitment. 20:47 There is a wonderful passage in the Book of Job 20:49 in 31:1 which says, 20:53 "I've made a covenant with my eyes." 20:58 In the end, 80% of any information 21:00 we receive in our brains is through the eyes. 21:03 80%? 80%. 21:05 That's my understanding. 21:06 80% of the information comes through the visual. 21:09 And it's, we have to in the end, 21:15 we have to come to a point 21:17 where we make a covenant with our eyes 21:19 and to say to ourselves, 21:21 "I'm going to keep my eyes clean, 21:23 I'm going to keep my eyes focused on Jesus, on God, 21:28 on what's true, pure, and Godly. 21:31 If there is something of a different nature, 21:33 I'm going to turn my eyes from that." 21:35 And Octavian, don't you think that, this is, 21:38 that's an incredible percentage 21:40 because I'm thinking how deceitful, 21:43 now there's things in what we see visually 21:46 is not always true. 21:48 Things can be doctored, pictures can be doctored, 21:51 I mean, you can see a movie 21:53 where somebody has no legs and they actually do, 21:55 because it's computer generated 21:57 and we know Satan's gonna come back and do some things, 22:00 masquerading as the Angel of Light 22:02 as they do. 22:03 But the point that I'm making is, 22:06 our eyes need a filter 22:07 if we need to have the Word of God to even, 22:11 if we're making a covenant with our eyes, to do what? 22:15 To do the things that God is asking us to do here, 22:19 not to look upon certain things and to understand what's good, 22:22 what's noble. 22:25 You see, this doesn't happen as an isolated experience. 22:29 In the end is the whole life that changes. 22:31 Yes, yes. 22:32 And I think God, 22:34 when God begins the restoration process 22:36 in someone's life, 22:37 the restoration process 22:39 actually affects the whole being. 22:42 But it begins with our minds. 22:44 Yes. 22:45 Maybe the third question for today 22:47 is what can I do to prevent relapsing. 22:52 Number one, to stay close to God, 22:54 have a devotional life, have a regular devotional life. 22:58 I don't know about other people, 23:00 as far as I'm concerned about my life, 23:03 I know that when I'm not intentional 23:06 about my commitment, my relationship with God, 23:10 I need to spend time with God everyday. 23:14 In the morning, in the evening, 23:16 I know that when that doesn't happen 23:20 or, is like Samson, I become like every other man. 23:23 Yes. 23:25 We are just exposed, we are just weak. 23:27 Without God's, 23:28 without God's presence and strength in our life, 23:31 we just become like exposed to Devil's influences. 23:35 Then the commitment of having a devotional life. 23:37 Number two. 23:39 What I call the proximity factor. 23:41 If you know people that have been addicted to tobacco, 23:45 then in my experience in public health, 23:47 when at one point I had to do 23:51 an evaluation of a stop smoking program. 23:55 And my role in that experience was to call these people 24:00 that have attended a stop smoking clinic 24:03 and program and to evaluate the success of the program 24:07 because you look, there are certain progression, 24:09 you see people quitting 24:11 and they stay quit for one month 24:14 and they relapse or you see people quitting 24:16 and stay quit for three months and they relapse, and so on. 24:19 Then I call these people 24:20 and this happened maybe a year or so or more. 24:23 And I call this, I don't remember exactly 24:24 how many people, about 50 people 24:25 and I asked them, 24:28 "Have you been successful and you quit during the clinic, 24:32 have you been successful?" 24:33 Some would say yes, some would say no, 24:34 and then I explore that, 24:36 I have an interview with them and see what are the factors 24:38 that led you to success, 24:39 what are the factors that led you to fall, 24:41 to relapse. 24:42 The one factor, just one of them 24:44 is the availability of the tobacco in this case. 24:51 Make no provision for the flesh policy, yeah. 24:52 Yes. 24:54 Then if we know that we struggled 24:56 with media and addiction, 24:57 then I have to basically avoid as much as I can. 25:01 I know people that are professionals, 25:02 they have to work everyday with computers 25:05 and have access to internet. 25:07 Well, there are ways of controlling 25:08 that area of life. 25:10 The point is the proximity factor, 25:14 then if I know that I have a problem with it, 25:16 I have to stay away as much as I can. 25:18 You know this is, I'm going to put it in a little plug. 25:21 Moses Primo, our director of engineering here 25:24 has created something called "My SDA Box", 25:28 and it's similar to the Roku but it only has 25:31 Seventh-day Adventist channels on it, 25:33 and for $99 or from $69 to $99. 25:36 Someone can buy one of those and just eliminate, you know, 25:41 we always tell people this is what you ought 25:43 to be giving as a gift rather than a Roku, 25:46 where they can be tempted with hundreds of channels 25:49 that are not Christian, give them something that, 25:51 it only has Christian viewing. 25:54 Yeah, then again the proximity factor 25:55 and the accessibility, 25:57 it's a huge thing in the addiction world. 25:59 Than how addictive the drug of abuse, 26:02 how available the drug of abuse is, 26:05 and we know it's just a click away. 26:07 It's just a click away. Mm-hm. 26:08 Then you have all kinds of advertisement 26:11 and sites and everything, and it's just a click away. 26:13 Then staying away knowing that 26:16 also having an accountability partner. 26:18 Having someone that is with you, 26:21 someone that you can trust, someone that you can talk to, 26:24 someone that you give full control of your life. 26:28 It can be your spouse, 26:30 it can be your very good friend, 26:31 it can be your pastor, it can, 26:32 someone that you can at anytime he can, 26:35 you can talk honestly 26:37 and he can ask you, "Well, how is it? 26:40 Have you been relapsing or not?" 26:42 Being accountable to someone else it's, it helps. 26:45 Amen. Also, decide ahead of time. 26:48 The temptation and the battle over the temptation 26:52 is not won in the moment of their patience. 26:56 Amen. It's won ahead of time. 26:59 Then prepare yourself, 27:01 if I know that I have to travel, in my case, 27:04 I know that I have to travel, sometime, 27:05 you have to be in a hotel. 27:07 What's in a hotel room? 27:08 Television and much more. Television. 27:10 Yeah, television is there with all kinds of whatever. 27:13 We know our past experiences, 27:16 learn from the past experiences, 27:19 because with every addiction you can see a pattern. 27:23 Then you learn from those patterns 27:25 and decide ahead of time. 27:28 And in the end, I would say, if tempted, resist. 27:31 The Bible says... 27:32 Yeah. 27:34 Therefore submit to God, resist the Devil, 27:36 and he would flee from you. 27:37 That's a wonderful promise. Amen. 27:38 Thank you so much Octavian for giving us these principles. 27:42 They are a wonderful solution in the battle for our mind, 27:45 and that is to recognize and that you have a problem, 27:50 and what's the difference between right and wrong, 27:53 if you're comfortable before the Lord 27:55 to make certain that this is something 27:58 that you are giving it to God 28:00 and that you can know that God said, 28:04 "That my grace is sufficient for you 28:06 for my power is made perfect in your weakness." 28:10 So if you are struggling, just call on God 28:13 because Christ, with Christ's strength, 28:15 you can do all things. 28:17 Thank you so much for joining us, 28:19 we'll see you next time. 28:20 Thank you. |
Revised 2016-12-31