Latest / Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast / How to Find Hope Beyond Addiction

Transcript

How to Find Hope Beyond Addiction · Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: What happens when God takes a man from a life
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: of drugs? violence and crime and turns him into a
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: vessel of hope and healing. On this episode of Your
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Hope-Filled Perspective, I talk with Pastor Larry Huck, author and
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: former drug addict whose story is told in his powerful book,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: From Junkie to Jerusalem. Once a cocaine dealer working with
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Colombian cartels, Larry's life spiraled into brokenness, anger, and destruction. Yet,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: God intervened, rescuing him from the pit of addiction and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: setting him on a path to freedom, restoration, and ministry.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: If you've ever doubted the transformation is possible for your
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: life or someone you love, this story will give you
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: renewed hope in God's power to break generational curses and
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: bring lasting freedom. Welcome to your Hope-Filled Perspective, where it's
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: always our goal... to restore hope, renew minds, and empower
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: listeners to live in your God-given identity. I'm delighted you've
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: chosen to spend a few minutes of your week with us. Today,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: we're going to be talking about how to find hope
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: beyond addiction. We'll dive into that right after this brief
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: word from our sponsor. What happens when God takes a
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: man from a life of drugs, violence, and crime and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: turns him into a vessel of hope and healing? Today,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: we're going to be talking with Pastor Larry Huck, a
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: former drug addict whose story is told in his powerful book,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: From Junkie to Jerusalem. Once a cocaine dealer working with
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Colombian cartels, he has found himself in a brand new
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: path because God intervened, rescuing him from the pit of
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: addiction and setting him on a path to freedom. I'm
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: so excited to share this episode with you as we
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: talk about how to find hope beyond addiction. Scripture tells us,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: In Psalm 40, verse 2, he lifted me out of
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, and
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: he set my feet on a rock and gave me
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a firm place to stand. Larry and Tiz Huck are
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: the founding and senior pastors of New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: 10 minutes down the road from me. It's a non-denominational
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: multi-ethnic congregation. They pioneered seven different churches in America and
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Australia and their program, New Beginnings, is watched and followed
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: by thousands and thousands of people whose lives have dramatically
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: impacted and changed. As a former drug addict and dealer,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Pastor Larry has compassion for those caught in the web
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of addiction. Now we've talked about addiction on this podcast before,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: but it's one that is so prevalent. Whether we're talking
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: about drug addiction, addiction to work, addiction to approval, addiction
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: affects either ourselves or so many that we know and love.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: So it's an important conversation that we're having today. Welcome
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: to the program, Pastor Larry.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Doc, it's sure good to be with you. And You know,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: when you're saying addictions, I've never heard anybody. And boy,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: sermons just jumped into my heart. Addiction to approval. That
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: is that's powerful. But anyway, it's really great to be
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: with you today.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I would love for you to share with my audience.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: How did you go from being a talented football player
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to professional? snorting coke, drinking and doing other drugs?
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: A lot of it has to do, and I hate
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: to say this, but a lot of it has to
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: do with generational curses, written books on that about what's
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: in the father passes on to the son, passes on
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: generation after generation. So a lot of it is that my,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: there was a lot of addictions in my family. Really
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: a big part of this, and I hope this doesn't
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Sound bad, but we were raised very, very poor. We
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: were raised inner city, South St. Louis, and I got
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: a scholarship to go play football. And when I was
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: playing football, it was back in the hippie era, and
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: we started doing drugs.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: And I started realizing... I could.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: Cut out the middleman and start making money by selling drugs.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: And then we got a bright idea. Well, why don't
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: we just cut out everybody? And I headed down to Columbia,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: South America and ended up.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: With when he.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: First started Pablo Escobar, sitting with Pablo Escobar and smuggling
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: cocaine in the United States. But unfortunately, because I had
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: cocaine piles of it right there in my lap, I
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: started using it continually and I became fully addicted. And
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: from the cocaine, I started mixing cocaine and heroin together
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: and became addicted to the very stuff that I was selling.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: You went from taking drugs. to selling drugs and setting
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: up pipelines into the U.S. But were there times, Larry,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: where you felt your life was in jeopardy?
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Well, down there, yes.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: We were too young and dumb to really realize how
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: dangerous it was.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: But what really turned.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: It around, Doctor, is that there was a time that
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: we were living in, if you've ever seen, if the
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: viewers have ever seen the movie Narco, And talking about
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Pablo Westmoreland, a lot of that story is me. I
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: remember when it first came out, my wife and I,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Tiz and I were sitting there watching it.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: And it starts off, it shows an American.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Meeting one of Pablo's guys setting up a drop in
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: a high rise in Miami, a garage.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: And he's driving a yellow Mach 1, 1969 yellow Mach 1.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: And that was me. And so I found out that
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: I had been selling to.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: An undercover agent, a NARC, while I was living down
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: there for about two and a half years. And so
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: when I got back to the United States, I found
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: out there were seven federal warrants out for my arrest.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: And that's when I ran. But there was a couple
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: times down there that We thought for sure we were
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: going to get killed. We almost killed somebody because we
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: thought they were going.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: To kill us.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: And it was just, it was a life, it was
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: a life that spun totally out of control.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: It was totally out of control.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: And what was the final tipping point was, this sounds crazy,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: but I really believe that if I did enough drugs,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: this sounds really crazy, but in all that I was doing,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I was looking for God. And we really believed, and
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: there was a lot of these books being written that cocaine, see,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: cocaine doesn't make you feel like heroin and others. Cocaine
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: makes you feel superior. It makes you feel very aware.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: And so I really knew God was missing from my life.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: I knew it. When I was a kid, I grew
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: up in inner city, South St. Louis in the hood.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: And when we were little kids, we'd stay out all
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: night and just run the streets. And then come dawn,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: say Saturday or Sunday morning to get out of the cold, we.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: Go into the Catholic church.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: And of course it was just beautiful in there, but
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: we were just coming in there to get out of
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: the cold. But I thought, man, I'd like to know
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: who God is. And so my whole life I've thought of,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: I've thought of the reality.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: That there was a God.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: I just never looked at Christianity because I knew a
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: lot of people that were quote unquote Christians and they were.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: No different than I was.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: And so one day down there, I had been mainlining
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: using the needle and there was a guy and a
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: gal living with me down there. And she kept saying, Larry,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: you're going to kill yourself.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: You're doing too much. They were gone. They went into town.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: We lived up in the ranches of Medellin and I
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: took the cocaine and I hit it up and I
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: was already stoned and I didn't realize I went through
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: my vein. So I doubled it again and hit up
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: again and went through the vein. And so I doubled
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: it again, which is insane. And I hit it, I
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: hit the vein and immediately I collapsed and I knew
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: I'm dying.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: But doc, here's what came out of my voice.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: I said, don't let me die until I know what
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: happiness is. Because in the sports and in the sin
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: and in the drugs and all that, I was looking
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: for happiness. And in the dealing of drugs, I really thought, well,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: money's going to.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Make me happy.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: Nothing, you know, it works for a little bit. It
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: works for a little bit. And then you're empty again.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: And so I said, God, don't let me die. until
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: I find what happiness is. And then the story goes on.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: I got back and found out there were warrants for my.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Arrest, et cetera, et cetera.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: And I love to tell people I ran from Missouri
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: out to Flagstaff, Arizona. I ran from the long arms
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: of the law to the strong arms of the Lord.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: And I I was sitting out there. I was with
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: two girls that were my friends and setting up some
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: drug deals out there. And I'm sitting on my porch
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: and I got long hair and earrings in my ears
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: and needle.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: Marks up and down my arms.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: And this little Mexican kid, his name was Bill Trujillo.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: And I'm sitting on my porch smoking dope and he
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: keeps walking back and forth. He kind of glanced at
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: me and I'm thinking, But he's wanting to get Nerv
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: up to see if he can buy some drugs. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: he does this five or six times. And he turned
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: around and walked back again. And I'm thinking, just come over.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, he turns around and he
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: comes straight to me. And he walks right up to me.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: And I'm thinking, he says, hey, man, you got anything
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: to sell? He says, I've never done this before. But
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Jesus is who you're looking for.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: And I went, what?
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: And he had been a drug addict five days before
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: the church does outreach down in the neighborhood. I was
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: kind of in the red light area and we're, you know,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: the bar area we're living. And they dragged him in
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: the back of a van and he gave his life
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: to the Lord. And so five days later, he sees
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: me and he goes, well, if God did that for me,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: he could do it for him.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: And that's how it began.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: You know, I read in your book that you experienced
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: tremendous abuse growing up. And I think it's difficult situations
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: like that that is often a contributing factor to addiction,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: whether it's addiction to work or it's addiction to gambling
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: or it's addiction to food or drugs or approval. Can
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: you give us some idea what that abuse was and
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: how it truly influenced your life?
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: I almost said that when we first started talking and
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: I thought, well, maybe that won't fit in right here.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: But without a doubt, my dad, my dad passed away
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: several years ago and he gave his life to the
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Lord right before he passed away.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: And so he was at peace.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: But my dad was a very violent guy, very brutal
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: guy and beat us a lot, beat my mother a lot.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: And I know that that That experience is, everybody talks
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: about being delivered from drugs, but I'll tell you the
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: greatest thing that I got delivered from was anger. I
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: was an extremely angry person. I was an extremely violent person.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: And until I learned how to break those generational curses,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: you know, when I, Doc, when I first gave my
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: life to the Lord, it didn't take hardly anything to
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: deliver me from drug addiction. I got filled with the
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: spirit of God and God set me free. It's an
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: amazing story in itself. But I brought that generational curse
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: of anger into my Christianity, into my marriage, into into
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: my raising a family. And even as a pastor, I
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: still had it out. I could control it more, but
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: I still had it. And we were actually, Tiz and
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: I were actually pioneering a church in Australia. And my son,
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: who's now a pastor on staff with us here, he
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: was probably probably three, four years old.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: And I'm a pastor. I'm a Christian.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: I've been a Christian now for eight, nine years. And
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: he does something and I grab it and I shoved him.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: And when I shoved him, he bounced off the wall.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: And I said these words to myself, I'm just like
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: my dad. I'm just like my dad. And The difference was,
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: is I'm a Christian. My dad wasn't a Christian. Why
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: am I still like this? And so when I said,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: I'm just like my dad, I thought, is there something
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: in the Bible that teaches what's in a father passes
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: on to the son?
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: And I began to study that.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: And I found out that not only is that in
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: the Bible, it's in there over 325 times. And so
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: I began to study this, and this is where I
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: realized that if all Jesus ever did was forgive me
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: of my sin, I couldn't worship and praise him and
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: serve him enough. but he got to the cross, not
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: just to die for our sin, but cursed is he
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: who hangs on a tree. And so he died on
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: that cross to forgive us, yes, but also to break
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: every curse that's come into our lives, where we overcome
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: the enemy by the blood of the lamb, the word
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: of the testimony, and Jesus shed his blood seven different times,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: which is which is so biblical, it's amazing. But the
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: last place he shed his blood was he stomped on
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: the devil's forehead and bruised his heel. And just for
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: your viewers, he's wounded for our transgression. A wound is
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: bleeding on the outside. That wound covers what we did,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: but a bruise is bleeding on the inside. The word
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: iniquity in Hebrew is what's inside of us that makes.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Us do what we do on the outside of us.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: And so when I realized that Jesus didn't just come
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: to forgive me, he came to break that generational, that
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: family curse. And that can be anger. It could be addiction.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: It could be failure. It could be divorce. It could
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: be children, family going to prison. It could be the,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: it's anything, anything that the enemy uses to attack us.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: The blood of Jesus has already covered that. And when we,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: when I found that out, It broke it. And so
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: it's been in my family, in all my members of
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: my family, as long as I know. But all my kids,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: they're in the ministry. They're all serving God. So it
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: didn't just break it on me. And I tell people,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: you ever go to the doctor and they have you
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: fill something out? Is there any family history of? this
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: or any family history of that. Everything God does is
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: in the physical and the spiritual. So when we're looking
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: at the physical, let's look at the spiritual because they
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: told my mom and dad, your son's a junkie. Once
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: a junkie, always a junkie. The world says you never change,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: but the word says who the son sets free shall
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: be free indeed. Amen. Amen.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: And I was so glad to read in your book
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: when you were speaking about generational curses, because I too
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: have had to deal with them. I had a long
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: family history of depression. I finally got to the point
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: in my life, even as a neuropsychologist, where I had
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: to say, no, this stops with me. This is not
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: going to affect future generations. That is something so important
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: that we need to understand as believers. Friends, we're going
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: to take a real short break, but we've got so
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: much more goodness to talk about with Pastor Larry right
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: after this brief word from our sponsor.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Pastor Larry, I'm loving.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: This conversation because I can relate on so many different levels.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Before the break, you were talking about the generational curses
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: in your own family history. But explain for a moment
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: for our listeners and our viewers where that may be
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: a new term or it may seem a little different.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: out there because it's not discussed in so many congregations.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Why do you believe that understanding generational curses is critical
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: for Christians?
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's funny that you say that because
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: in America, we really don't understand curses. It's just not, Doc,
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: it's not part of our lingo. For some great Christian people,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: I was doing a telethon in Europe. We were actually
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: in Italy, but it went all over Europe, and they
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: had me teach on breaking family curses. We say it
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: like this in America, like father, like son. You're just
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: like your grandmother. You're just like, and we say it
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: without realizing that how true that is. And so when
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: I taught on breaking generational curses, breaking, let's put it
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: this way, because we don't like the word curse, breaking
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: negative generational patterns, they said the phones lit up 50
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: times more than the phones ever lit up before. Because
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: people over there, it's more in their background, it's more
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: in their history. And unless we understand This is why I'm.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: The way I am.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: If you read the Bible, there's three ways a curse
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: comes on you. One is somebody puts a curse on you.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: They speak a curse on you. Number two, something that
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: was done to you. And I hate to use this illustration,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: but it's so bizarre that someone who was an abused
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: child has a great tendency to become a child abuser
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: when they're older.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: Why? You would think just the opposite.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: My dad was, when I was a little kid and
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: my dad beat me one time, broke all my ribs,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: and I.
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Said, I'll never be like my dad.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: And I ended up being just like my dad with
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: that same anger, that same violence. And so, and then it's,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Another way a curse comes on is the things we.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Say, the power of our words.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: I teach Doc on the power of our words all
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: the time, and it just baffles me that people don't
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: realize there is life and death in the power of
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: your words. And so you can't say something negative about
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: and not understand that something negative is going to happen.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, you can't let people say
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: something negative. And before we got on, we were talking,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: you asked how Tiz was, and Tiz has been fighting cancer. Scott,
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: your husband, God has defeated cancer with him 25 years.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: And Both of us said we never allow negative words.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: To be said. Never, never. In fact, we don't ever.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: You brought something very powerful up. Somebody, you never said
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: scotch cancer. And somebody came to me one time and said, well,
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: how's Tiz's cancer doing? I said, it's not hers. It's
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: not hers. It's trespassing on blood-bought property. And so those
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: three ways, we've got to be aware that curses are real.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Nobody wants to be a drug addict. Nobody wants to
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: be an alcoholic. Nobody wants to be full of anger
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: or depression. Nobody wants to be in a family that
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: constantly fails. These are generational or family curses that pass
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: from generation to generation.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: But Jesus broke that.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: When we say We're redeemed by the blood. And I'll
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: say in a pastor's conference, where did Jesus shed his blood?
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: And people go, at Calvary. And I said, well, you
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: got part of it. Jesus shed his blood in the garden,
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: brought back our willpower. Not my will, but thy will
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: be done. Adam lost our willpower in the garden of
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Eden when God said, don't touch that tree. And he said,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: not your will, but, and then Satan became the God
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: of this world. Jesus shed his blood. Crown of thorns
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: were cursed by the sweat of Adam's brow. we're redeemed
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: by the blood on Jesus' brow, and we can go
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: on and on. But most people don't understand that being
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: redeemed to the power of God, these curses being broken
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: and the blessings being released is not just the phrase
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: we're redeemed by the blood. We've got to understand what
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: that blood has done. And the last place Jesus shed
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: his blood as we were talking, he stomped on the
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: devil's forehead. He took the keys from life of life
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: and death. He took the keys. When he said to Peter,
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: who do you say that I am? He said, you're
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: the Christ. And he said, now I give you the keys.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: And now we need to understand. I taught something in
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: the church of last Sunday of a breakthrough. It's your
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: time for a breakthrough. And I said, we are not
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: God's beggars. We're joint heirs. Whatever you bind on earth. Now, poof.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: Turn to your neighbor and pray with them. Bind that thing.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: What are you facing? Well, I'm facing my kids are
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: all out on drugs. All right, bind that thing. Take
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: authority over that. And so anyway, when I learned that
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: I could take authority and break these generational curses in
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: my life, the most wonderful thing is, It not only
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: broke it.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: Let me give you one more example.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: When we were sitting with Tiz in the doctor's office
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: and the doctor said, well, I think I can give
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: you four months.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: And I'm sitting there with my daughter's And he said.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: And you have a gene in you that will pass
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: this on to your grandchildren, your granddaughters, your sons. And
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: of course, we didn't say anything to him. We walked
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: out and we said, this will not happen. We have
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: the power to break down.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: Generational curses, whether they're physical or spiritual.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: He calls us back in six weeks later. His nurse
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: comes in before him and she looks, she goes, only
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: he could do this. And the doctor goes, and he said, well,
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: did she tell you? And she said, I didn't say anything.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: And he said, there's no explanation. But that gene that
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: I knew you had, that would pass this cancer on
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: to your sons, your daughters, your grandparents.
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: It's not there.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: At the same time, my grandson, Doc, was going through leukemia,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: rare form. No child has ever survived this kind of leukemia.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: He was seven months old. This was right before Tiz
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: got sick. And they said, you won't survive. There's no,
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: no one's ever survived it. They called us in. They said,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: we can't understand this. God put a gene. We called
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: the heads of children's hospitals of cancer around the world. Lion,
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: that's my grandson's name, Lion has a gene in him
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: that there's no medical history anywhere in the world of
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: a child his age having this gene. So God put
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: a gene in Lion, took a gene out of Tiz.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: And so one of the reasons I wrote this book
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: is to let people know, if God does this.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: For me, he can do it for you.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: But also to show people Listen, we're in spiritual warfare.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: This is a battle. Don't give up. Don't say, well,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: once a junkie, always a junkie. That's what the doctor said.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: I thank God for every single doctor. And I say
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: this with all due respect. Doctors are practicing medicine. Jesus
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: perfected medicine. And so the world says we're without hope.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: But God tells us that through the blood of Jesus,
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: the power, I just taught this, the power of his
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: resurrection is in every one of you who are listening.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: The power that raised Jesus from the dead, that same
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: power is in you or in your children. So whatever
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: you're facing, we can be and we will be more
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: than conquerors. Amen.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, I want to get into more of your story
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: and how you came through this to encourage our listeners
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: because we have so many listeners and viewers who either
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: are struggling with some form of addiction themselves or they
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: have a spouse or a child or a grandchild. And
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I want them to see that if God could turn
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: you from a junkie into a minister who's ministering around
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: the world, there is hope for them. So we're going
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: to continue this discussion right after this word from our sponsor.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Pastor Larry, how did you go from being a junkie
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: who knew nothing about the Bible to becoming a pastor
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: serving others who are down and out?
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the reason, Doc, I wrote, I really felt God
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: tell me to write this book and to tell your
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: viewers that it really reads more like a novel than
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: it does like a Christian book.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: One of the things is I had my aunt.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Who never gave up on me. She knew I was
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: a drug addict. She's a wonderful, wonderful Christian woman. She
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: never gave up on me. She prayed continually. She always would,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: in her prayers, see me in her mind's eye, that
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: she would tell us, not as a drug addict, not
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: as somebody in trouble with the police, but as a
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: man serving God. And so when I got back to
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: the US to meet a shipment of drugs, found out
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: there were several federal.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: Warrants out for my arrest.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: I actually had some drug dealers staying at my home
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: out in the country. And I get a note that
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: from my aunt. And she said, I was praying for
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: you today, and I really feel like God is getting
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: ready to do something. And long story short, I'm high
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: on drugs. I can't sleep. This is back in the
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: days when there's nothing on television. Everything goes off at
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: midnight or something. But I got up and there was
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: one show on there. And I couldn't tell you, Dr. Michelle,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: I couldn't tell you if it was Billy Graham or
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Oral Roberts. I couldn't tell you who it was. I
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: knew nothing about church. And he said, you're sick and
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: tired of being sick and tired. The answer is Jesus.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: just pray with me right now. So I'm in the
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: middle of several drug deals, and somebody on television said,
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: just pray.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: And so I prayed. I didn't know what it meant.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: But I look at that right after that, and I
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: look at how God began to orchestrate me getting out
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: of town, getting to Flagstaff, running into this young man,
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: witnessing to me. And so the power of a mother's
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: prayer The power of, and my mom was praying for
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: me too. My mom's the sweetest person in the world.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: In fact, next week we're doing her memorial service. She's
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: gone on to be with the Lord, 96 years old.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: They never gave up. They never gave up. But here's
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: a key. Somebody like me, you've got to get them
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: in the right church. You've got to get them in
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: the church. The key way is I came, Bill Trejo
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: kept coming over. You got to come to church, got
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: to come to church. So I finally went to church
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: with him and saw the movie by Johnny Cash. I said, okay,
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: we got a movie. It's Johnny Cash and Chris Christopherson,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: and it's called The Gospel Road. I don't know if
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: you've ever seen it. It's It's so old.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: The end of that, it shows Jesus dying on the cross.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: And like I said, I knew nothing about Christianity, nothing
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: about the Bible, but it showed him dying on the
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: cross at Calvary. And it hit me that this was true.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: But then it showed him dying on the cross, Doc.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: But the cross this time was in the streets of
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: East L.A. amongst gangbangers. And then it showed him dying
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: on the cross, but it was in Times Square or
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: drug addicts and prostitutes.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: And somehow I knew that was for me. I knew it.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: It was just the presence of God. It was a
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: little church of about 50 people. The pastor has the
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: altar call, but there's no way I'm going to go
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: up the altar call. And to this day, I don't
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: remember getting out of my seat. I don't remember walking down.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: And next thing I know, I'm kneeling there praying. And Donna,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: one of the girls I was living with, she came down.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: I have no shoes on, no shirt on. I got
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: a poncho, earrings hanging in, needle marks up and down
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: my arms. And the people in the church all walked
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: around me. Nobody prayed. Now, that became my church. And
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: it was a great lesson for everybody. But everybody looked
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: at me and said, they'll never make it. And they
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: all walked around. And so nobody, we didn't know how
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: to pray. So I just kneel in there and I just,
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: I could feel the presence of God. And I just said, God,
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: if you're real, be real to me. And it felt
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: like a million pounds lifted off of me. And I
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: don't know nothing about being born again, receiving Jesus.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: But here's a great lesson.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: You've got to get people like me into the right
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: church where people don't look on the outside.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Man looks on the outside, God looks on the inside.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Now that became my church and they learned a great lesson,
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: but they looked at me and they said, somebody like
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: him would never make it. The second thing that was
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: important is they believed once you got saved, you need
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: to be part of changing the world.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: And so they taught us to pray. They taught us
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: to witness.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: They taught us to share wherever we went, share the
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: love of Jesus Christ. And that sharing Jesus is what
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: kept that stream flowing. Just being religious and going to
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: church and singing Kumbaya would have never helped me. It
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: would have never done it. They discipled us and they
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: taught us. that we went out in the streets and
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: shared Jesus with other people. We went to Mexico and
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: shared Jesus wherever we went. And I believe the key
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: to anybody, but the key to me especially or somebody
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: like me that's got an addictive tendency is you've got
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: to keep that stream flowing. You'll never hold on. You'll
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: never hold on to, and even just the younger generation,
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: you've got to be.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Involved with changing the world.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: And when I realized what Jesus had done for me,
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: God had called me to take so it could happen
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: for somebody else. And that was the key that somebody
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: asked me just the other day, have you ever thought
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: about retiring? How can you retire from changing the world
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: and telling people about Jesus?
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: It's an amazing story.
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: And the whole key is that wherever I go, I
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: tell people what God's done.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: For me, he can do for you.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: And there's nobody that doesn't need God to do a
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: miracle for them.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: I think that's so true. And I think it's key.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I want our listeners and viewers to key in on
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: the fact that you talked about your mother and your
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: aunt continually praying for you. And scripture says that the
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much, but it can
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: be so hard when you're not seeing the change, but
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: you're not responsible for the change. You're responsible to be obedient,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: to keep bringing that loved one before the throne. And
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: you might be the one that God calls and says,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: I know you've never approached a stranger before, but just
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: like that young man who could look at you and say,
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: I've been there. What you need is Jesus. When you
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: feel that nudge, go, talk, speak, encourage, provide hope. You're
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: not responsible for the outcome. But when God is nudging you,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: he's ready to do a work.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: That's so important that you say that because Bill came
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: up to me that day, walked across the street and said,
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: and we get away. And he just kept coming. He
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: ended up living right next to us, him and his
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: mom in a little shack, Mexican mother, little shack, very poor.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: Nobody's witnessed to me since then. I travel around the world.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: I'm in airports. I'm everywhere. Nobody since Bill came up
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: and said, I couldn't walk away until I told you
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: Jesus is who you're looking for. And I think about
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: that all the time. What if Bill hadn't done it?
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: What if Bill would have looked at me and said,
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: this guy's a junkie. This guy's a drug addict. This
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: guy looks scary. This guy doesn't look like somebody that
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: would go to church. What if he had said no?
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: Maybe God would have said somebody else.
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: But nobody, and Tiz talks about this all the time,
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: nobody has witnessed to me or come up to me
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: and said, in all these years, and said, Jesus is
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: who you're looking for. If Bill hadn't do it. So please,
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: when you feel that nudge, oh, can I tell you
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: about that nudge? Tiz is out in LA in the hospital.
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: She has to be very careful. because of germs and stuff.
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: And so she stays, you know, when she's in the
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: hospital for treatment, she pretty much stays to herself, her
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: and my daughter.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: But she saw this gal.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: Maybe a little bit younger than Tiz, and tattooed up and,
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: you know, dressed real old hippie style and stuff. She
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: just felt drawn to her. Anyway, they become best friends.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: And they became friends. And so she called, said, I'm
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: going to be out there. Can I meet with you?
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: Kids grabbed my book to bring to her.
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: This is just a couple of weeks ago.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: And it ends up her dad was one of the
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: pilots that we were.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: All using, flying the cocaine in and out.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: And so her and her dad had been estranged and
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: everything and all this. And she brings the book and
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: this gal's reading or looking at the book. She goes,
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: you've got to be kidding me. And I won't say
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: the name, but I know who her dad was. And
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: so here it is.
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: Kids looking at this gal feels drawn to this.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: And so people aren't just going to believe just because
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: they believe. God can do anything. But when you're drawn
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: to somebody, don't look on the outside. Don't look at
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: the way the world looks at them. Look at the
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: way God, and that's true. That's true for your children
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: or your grandchildren.
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: Don't see them away from God. Don't see them doing drugs.
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: Don't see them in rebellion. See them when you're praying.
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: See them. lifting their hands and worshiping God. See them.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: My two grand boys, I have two grand boys, twins,
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: Asher and Yehuda, and they went through a few years
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: of rebellion, and now they're back in. One of them
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: real soon, the other one next semester is getting ready
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: to go to Bible school, Christ for the Nations. You've
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: got to see your children as the way God sees them.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: Don't see them, anyway.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: I think that's so important.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: And I want to continue that thought because there are
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: parents who have children who are lost to drugs or
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: an alternate lifestyle or some other kind of spiritual or
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: moral bondage. Pastor Larry, what kind of hope can you
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: give them today?
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you something that most of your viewers
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: don't know. The Bible says, remember the Sabbath and keep
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: it holy. A lot of my teaching I do, I
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: do Jewish roots of our faith. What did a Jewish
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Jesus mean? And so everything I read, I go to
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: the original Hebrew. One of the things God says is
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: remember the Sabbath.
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: And keep it holy. So there's a way to do that.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: And so when the Sabbath begins, there's a way that
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: God teaches the welcome in the Sabbath.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: And one of the things you do is you.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: Pray a certain prayer over your sons and over your daughters,
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: your grandsons and your granddaughters. And for the sons, we pray, Lord,
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: we thank you that all of our sons are like
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh were the two brothers
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: that while Israel was surrounded by paganism and heathenism and
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: false gods, Ephraim and Manasseh stayed faithful to the God
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: And so the Bible, once.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: Again, Doc, you know this, we were talking about this,
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: the power of our words, calling things that are not
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: as though they were.
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: Our words create.
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: As truly as I live, God says, as there's not
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: a more true statement in the world than God lives.
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and none before him,
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: none after him. He says, as truly as I live,
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: that which you have spoken in my ears, so shall
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: I do to you. So when we would pray over
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: our sons and our grandchildren, we would say, God, we
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: thank you that you've made Asher and Yehudah like Ephraim
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: and Manasseh. We're not looking at their problems. We're not
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: looking at the drugs. We're not looking at any of that.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: We're speaking that into existence. The same thing with our daughters.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, they'd be like Rebecca, Sarah, Rachel, and Leah.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: And so for years, we do that. And now they're
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: like Ephraim and Manasseh. And so speaking positive things over
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: your children, over your grandchildren, and When the Bible says
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: we're made in the image of God, what does that mean?
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: God spoke the world into existence. That's why God says
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: there's life and death in the power.
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: Of your tongue. So we never talk, say, no, man,
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: they'll never come to God. They're on drugs. No, we
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: would say what God says.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: We thank you that they're already like Ephraim and Manasseh,
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: and it works.
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: The power of The power of our words.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: And that's the same thing that my mother did with
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: me and my aunt did with me. My mom came
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: to visit us years and years ago and she told Tiz,
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: she said, when Larry first left St. Louis, I was
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: glad to see him go because I knew he was
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: a drug addict. And I knew he was dealing with
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: very bad people. And she said, I figured I'd never
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: see him alive again. He'd either overdose or someone would
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: kill him and his body would be out in the desert.
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: And she said, but I'd never stopped believing that God
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: would keep his hands on him. And so we have
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: to look at it that way. And we have to
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: understand that sometimes we need to share. Listen, Jesus is
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: who you're looking for. But sometimes we need to just
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: speak it over their lives. calling those things which are
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: not as though they were. The Bible says, meditate on
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: my word. That word meditate in Hebrew means to see
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: it and say it. So you say it, Lord, I
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: thank you that our kids are gonna be serving God.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: I thank you that you're gonna salvage our home, our marriage.
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: I thank you.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: And then you see it in your mind's eye. You
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: meditate on it. The devil wants you to meditate. I'm
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: doing a message this Sunday in church. Remember when Abraham
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: came to God and he said, God, you promised.
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: Where's the promise?
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: And God said, all right, bring me the sacrifice, split
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: them in half and stand and I'll come through the
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: sacrifice and answer your prayer. But what showed up first?
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: The buzzards, the buzzards of doubt, the buzzards of logic,
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: the buzzards of reality. And Abraham had to drive the
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: buzzards off. And that's what you've got to do. My aunt,
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: my mom never gave up. The world says once a junkie,
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: always a junkie. I remember standing in court and the
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: judge saying, your kid's.
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: A drug addict. He'll always be a drug addict.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: I just did a message. And why do we call
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: it Good Friday? Because, yeah, it looks terrible. They're arresting Jesus.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: They're betraying Jesus. They're beating Jesus. Why do we call
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: it Good Friday? Because Sunday's coming. And I want to
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: say to every one of your viewers, in ancient Hebrew,
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: there's no word for coincidence. If you're listening to Doc's
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: broadcast right now, it's for a reason. It may feel
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: like Friday, but the power of his resurrection is in you.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: It may feel like Friday, but I guarantee you, through
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: Jesus Christ, Sunday's coming. Amen.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: Amen. I think it's a matter of where we keep
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: our focus.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: My listeners and viewers know that all the time I
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: tell them that as far as our brain functioning goes,
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: what we focus on grows. So if we focus on
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: those negative thoughts, if we focus on those doubts, if
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: we focus on the.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Discouragement, our brain is going to search for more of that.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: But if we focus on God's word and his promises
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: and believe even before we see it, We will see
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: more of that. And that, friends, is so crucial when
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: you're dealing with a loved one who's dealing with addiction
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: or generational curses. You've got to focus on what God
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: has already declared to be true.
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Pastor Larry, as we.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: Wrap up this episode, if a listener or viewer is
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: resonating with our conversation today, what hope-filled perspective do you
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: want to leave them with?
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: If God can do it for me, our God has
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: no respect for persons. If he can do it for one,
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: He can do it for everyone. You know, when you're
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: talking about focusing, Doc, let me give people an example.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: Cast down imaginations, reasonings, and logic that exalt themselves above
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: the Word of God. Reasonings and logics are, yeah, they're
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: doing drugs, or yeah, this is happening or that happening.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: But the Word of God says... you and your family
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: shall be saved. And you got to see it. You
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: got to say it.
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: You got to claim it. You got to speak it
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: out and.
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: Create it because the power of your faith, the power
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: of your thoughts, the power of your words will change
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: a person's world.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: Our God is almighty.
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: The God we serve, remember when the women were coming
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: to the tomb, they were walking, their disciples were hiding
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: and they were going to do what they're supposed to do.
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: But they said, Who will remove the stone for us?
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: And then they looked up.
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: You got to keep looking up because the miracle God
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: wants to give you is bigger than any stone that's
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: blocking the power of his resurrection. God is the biggest
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: between Friday and Sunday and Sunday's coming.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Pastor Larry, thank you for sharing of
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: your testimony.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: We will put all the information about Pastor Larry and
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: his ministry in the show notes that you can find
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: at drmichelleb.com.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Listener, viewer, I want to leave you.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: With Joel 2 verse 25 that says, I will restore
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: to you the years that the swarming locusts have eaten.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: It's not over, my friends. It's not over.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: God is in the restoration business. So you keep praying.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: You keep speaking. You keep declaring truth. Your miracle is coming. Friends,
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: it was a delight to be with you for another.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Episode of Your Hope-Filled Perspective. I look forward to.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Being with you for another engaging, biblically-based, hope-filled perspective next week.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: But until then, you know it's my prayer for you
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: that you will have a hope-filled week.
• 42:43
  Speaker 5: Your ragged and torn past may be the key to
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: God's future for you. We all endure trials, pain, and
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: hardship in this life. Too often, we believe these experiences
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: disqualify us from being useful to God. But the truth is,
• 43:03
  Speaker 5: your past pain and brokenness serve as preparation for what
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: God wants to do in and through you, if you
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: will surrender to and trust Him. In Sacred Scars, neuropsychologist
• 43:19
  Speaker 5: and fellow sufferer, Dr. Michelle Bankson helps you understand the
• 43:25
  Speaker 5: suffering from a biblical perspective, discover how the trials of
• 43:29
  Speaker 5: your life serve a purpose, reflect on the healing that
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: God has accomplished, and comfort others with the comfort God
• 43:38
  Speaker 5: has given you. Just as Jesus' scars didn't disappear after
• 43:43
  Speaker 5: his resurrection and confirmed that he.
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: Was who he said he was.
• 43:48
  Speaker 5: And that he did what he said he'd do, Our
• 43:52
  Speaker 5: emotional or physical scars tell our story and lend credence
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: to our testimony of God's love and power. If you
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: are ready to turn your past pain into present comfort
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: and future hope, let Dr. Bankston be your compassionate guide.
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: Jill Savage, host of the No More Perfect podcast and
• 44:16
  Speaker 5: author of No More Perfect Marriages, had this to say
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: about sacred scars. While we wish for a pain-free life,
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: the dark seasons are where God invites us into the
• 44:29
  Speaker 5: most growth. In the pages of this book, you will
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: come to understand how God uses pain in powerful ways.
• 44:37
  Speaker 5: If you're human, you need this book. Pick up a
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: copy of Sacred Scars wherever books are sold and watch
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: God turn your pain into purpose.
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: Thank you for joining Dr.
• 44:53
  Speaker 5: Bankston for your hope-filled perspective. We hope you were encouraged
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: by her authenticity, vulnerability, and biblical truths. If you enjoyed
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: today's conversation, why don't you take a moment right now,
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: open up your podcast app and look for the subscribe
• 45:08
  Speaker 5: button right next to our podcast profile image. We think
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: this podcast is best enjoyed with friends. So tell a
• 45:14
  Speaker 5: friend and click share in your podcast app and send
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: a friend or link to share hope with them. If
• 45:20
  Speaker 5: you have a comment, question, or suggest a topic for
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: a future show, reach out to our staff at info
• 45:27
  Speaker 5: at hopeprevails.org. For additional resources, information about Dr. Bankson's books
• 45:32
  Speaker 5: or free downloads, or to contact her to speak at
• 45:35
  Speaker 5: your next event, please visit drmichelleb.com. Until next time, may
• 45:41
  Speaker 5: you have a hope-filled week.
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: I'd like to take just a second to thank the
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.