Celebrating Life in Recovery

Power Of The Holy Spirit

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Mark Thornton

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Series Code: CLR

Program Code: CLR00033A


00:10 Welcome to Celebrating Life In Recovery,
00:12 I am Cheri your host.
00:13 It's not often that I get to introduce you to people
00:15 that have blessed and changed my life,
00:17 but today with joy.
00:18 I want to introduce you to a friend and join us
00:20 because my prayer is that he will bless and change
00:23 your life too.
00:51 Welcome back, you know, last season we were
00:53 talking about healing and the baptism of the
00:55 Holy Spirit.
00:56 Trying to do recovery without the Holy Spirit is
00:59 just, I can't even say impossible,
01:01 because I tried for fifteen years,
01:03 twenty years.
01:04 But as soon as I got the Holy Spirit,
01:06 as soon as I realized that Christ died,
01:09 and sent this gift for me to heal with.
01:11 And I ask the Holy Spirit into my life.
01:14 My recovery became easy, God yoked up with me.
01:17 The Holy Spirit gave me wisdom to know where to
01:20 start as far as my healing.
01:21 I no longer looked at the drugs, or the lying,
01:26 or the manipulation as a symptom.
01:27 He took me back to the core issue,
01:29 which is I never learn to love,
01:30 or trust as a little kid.
01:32 And the healing has been amazing,
01:34 but the friend that I'm going to introduce you to,
01:37 I told you about last season.
01:38 So after I show you who's at the Café,
01:40 I'm going to remind you of that story,
01:42 and then I will introduce you to him.
01:43 So at the café, we have Joni, a friend of mine,
01:45 actually one of my best friends from California.
01:48 And I'm thrilled to have you here.
01:49 And Curly's back.
01:51 Hoo Hoo, How can we recognize you,
01:53 you have nothing on your face.
01:55 It's amazing, and you know what,
01:57 we're going to bring you back for an interview
01:58 because I've to find out what happened,
02:00 and how you are doing with all this kind of stuff.
02:02 We have Nyse Collins, our resident health nut.
02:06 And I just want to say, I am learning about health
02:08 through this guy.
02:10 I'm having fun.
02:11 Robby D, and Robby D, I want to just say that you
02:14 are a friend to me, and also one of the artists
02:17 that help put this set together,
02:19 which is amazing.
02:20 Irma, I'm going to Haiti with you this month.
02:24 How fun doing ministry.
02:25 And Mark Thornton, I love you,
02:28 I just got to say that I love your wife,
02:30 your family, and you have blessed me.
02:32 And so now we are going back to the story right.
02:34 Last season, I told you that I realized,
02:39 during my recovery, that I was just fighting so hard.
02:42 I was white-knuckling it so much,
02:44 trying to figure it out.
02:46 God shouldn't it get easy?
02:48 Should I be less of a manipulating, lying,
02:52 struggling addict and recovery,
02:55 shouldn't it get easy?
02:56 And I remember thinking, should I go to another
02:58 twelve-step group?
02:59 Should I get another book?
03:00 Should I, what should I do, because I'm tired,
03:03 And I'm tired and I don't want to fight so hard.
03:06 And I hear God constantly saying,
03:08 this battle is not even yours.
03:10 It's not even yours, and I tried to figure out what
03:13 does that mean? What does that mean?
03:14 So little by little, God starts directing me to
03:19 looking at the gift of the Holy Spirit.
03:22 And I don't know why I read all the text,
03:24 I know what it says.
03:25 I know we are supposed to pray for
03:26 that, and all that kind of stuff.
03:28 But you know what I didn't know, every day,
03:30 every day ask Him, baptize me today with your Holy
03:35 Spirit, fill me up today.
03:36 Abide in me today, that I start looking at the
03:39 fruit of the Spirit, and I know that He pours into
03:43 us to love and peace, long-suffering,
03:45 self-control, kindness, patience,
03:48 I don't have any of that.
03:50 I just want to say that out loud,
03:51 Not that I don't have any of it.
03:53 I have some of it, some time,
03:54 especially if I want something from you,
03:56 you know what I mean?
03:57 But I don't know if I have any of it all the time
04:00 and so God says I want to pour into you so it
04:02 becomes a part of who you are.
04:03 But since you don't know what it is,
04:06 the first thing, Love, agape love.
04:08 I'm not even capable of loving that way,
04:10 and God says let Me love through you until you
04:12 figure it out.
04:13 And I'm thinking how cool, so then I had decided I
04:16 wanted to be anointed with the baptism
04:18 of the Holy Spirit.
04:19 But I couldn't find, and I know I've told the story
04:21 before, but I got to say it again,
04:22 because there are people watching for the first time.
04:24 But I couldn't find anyone to anoint me.
04:26 I'm like a heroine addict in recovery,
04:28 so I know they thought I was a nut.
04:30 I was like, can you anoint me for the baptism of
04:33 Holy Spirit?, and then I would ask anybody walking by,
04:35 I don't care if it's the janitor, excuse me,
04:36 Would you anoint me because.
04:39 And so it now, I'm in a Christian bookstore.
04:41 I look and I'm in Christian bookstore,
04:43 family Christian bookstore by my house,
04:45 and I looked up from looking at some CDs,
04:48 and there's anointing oil right on the shelf.
04:50 OH my goodness, I had to have that,
04:54 and so I bought it for $4.95.
04:57 I had it with me in case I found somebody that would
04:59 anoint me, I'd say poof, I have some oil.
05:01 And so I couldn't find anyone,
05:04 and I'm telling you months.
05:05 I finally went into the bathroom,
05:07 before trip to Thailand to work with kids
05:09 sold into the sex industry.
05:10 I went into the bathroom and I said God,
05:14 if I could find anyone else,
05:15 I would have them anoint me,
05:17 but I can't so I'm going to anoint myself.
05:19 And I just start crying and put the oil on my
05:22 head, and on my hands.
05:24 I asked God to honor that, and I know He did.
05:26 But for a sanguine personality like me,
05:29 you know, I'm kind of, I want someone else to do it.
05:31 So, I remembered my friend, Mark,
05:35 and I know that he has this incredible worship
05:38 band, and he's a singer.
05:39 He's an incredible man of God,
05:41 and so I went into his church,
05:43 and I said Mark after the service,
05:45 would you pray for me, for the Holy Spirit.
05:47 He teared up and he said yeah,
05:49 and he got other people.
05:51 And they prayed, and I prayed for a long time.
05:54 Marks a singer, and I am going to have him
05:57 sing something, because he's just amazing.
05:58 And he is just sort of quietly singing.
06:01 I started weeping because I felt like this was God
06:04 just kissing me on the face,
06:06 and it was so incredible.
06:08 But my life has changed drastically since then,
06:12 with the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
06:14 with the realization that God never meant
06:16 for us to work so hard.
06:17 God never meant for us to battle through our
06:19 addictions and fight through this kind of stuff.
06:21 God says, let me pour into you,
06:23 I don't want you to fight, its my fight,
06:25 I'll do it for you.
06:26 I want you to live a life full of joy,
06:28 a joy, in grace, figuring out who you are in Christ
06:31 standing up in what ever ministry I call you to and
06:35 what ever thing I call you to I want so pour
06:38 health into you, not that you fight your addictions
06:40 for ever, so life has changed.
06:42 And I got to say the other day,
06:44 I know Mark is coming.
06:45 And I'm planning on him coming and doing his
06:48 testimony, because his testimony is amazing,
06:52 where God lead him from.
06:53 And so I'm going to the store,
06:55 because I want to get one little book at the store
06:57 before I on my trip here.
06:59 And I go to the store and they don't have the book.
07:01 I driving right past Marks Church.
07:04 I'm thinking Mark is like this Pastor,
07:06 incredible guy, you know,
07:08 If I want a special prayer,
07:09 I can get it from him.
07:10 So I call on the phone, to the church.
07:13 I'm right front in the building,
07:14 But there's cars there, and I'm thinking, if there's cars there,
07:17 he's probably there.
07:18 So I call the cell phone, get his wife,
07:20 and his wife is like, you know we are starting the
07:23 service in like five minutes, Marks busy, in oh five minutes.
07:27 I'm right in front of the church.
07:29 How cool is that, so I go to the service right.
07:33 And I was blessed.
07:35 I'm telling you, the service was amazing,
07:38 worship was Amazing, and I'm going have him sing
07:41 the song that I weep through the entire time.
07:44 But then I get done with that, get home pack,
07:48 get in the plane.
07:49 I mean get to the airport the next morning.
07:52 And I've told you the story about my laptop.
07:55 If you haven't heard it.
07:56 You have to get the CD.
07:57 But anyhow, I have this laptop,
08:00 and I go to the airport.
08:02 And I get my stuff on the conveyor belt.
08:04 I do all the right things.
08:06 Take my shoes off and going through all that
08:08 kind of Stuff, and I'm almost missing my flight.
08:10 I'm in a hurry, so it goes on the conveyor belt,
08:12 goes through the x- ray machine.
08:14 I go through the x-ray machine, and I beep.
08:17 Security has to come, I'm going to get checked now,
08:20 patted down right, because I have a new hip,
08:22 that's whole other story.
08:23 They're patting me down, the person is patting me
08:26 down, is a trainee.
08:27 So she has somebody with her, patting me down,
08:30 so she's does it right, so it takes longer.
08:34 I'm missing my flight.
08:35 I'm trying to be polite.
08:37 She's going through everything.
08:39 She did it wrong so she has to do it again.
08:40 And I'm like okay, and I'm not watching my stuff
08:43 right, because, you know, she's new.
08:46 She's taking time, and I'm trying to be Christian.
08:50 Not strangle her, you know like, so I get my stuff.
08:53 And I go to the gate, then I go to put my computer
08:57 bag on my shoulder, and I'm thinking poof.
09:01 Pretty light, I open it up, no computer.
09:04 Hummmm! I left it right?
09:07 So I run back, and I'm saying to the TSA guys,
09:10 I left my computer, but my plane is leaving.
09:13 So they even said, let my suitcase and stuff
09:15 lay right by the door, because I don't want to
09:17 miss my flight.
09:18 just run back, come back and so we do this quick kind
09:21 of report and it wasn't there.
09:23 Something is wrong.
09:24 So I'm thinking, OH you're kidding me.
09:27 Does anybody have a laptop?
09:29 Does anybody have empathy for me right now?
09:30 Do you have everything you own on this laptop?
09:32 I do, pictures, notes, all the 15 shows that we are
09:38 doing right now, all the outlines,
09:39 all that kind of stuff.
09:40 I was so bummed, and I'm like Oh,
09:41 man it's stolen and the flight is leaving,
09:43 and I can't even sit there and whine,
09:46 because my flight is leaving.
09:47 You know, so I get on the plane and I get to Denver
09:50 and I call TSA again, and they still haven't gone
09:53 through the tapes, because
09:54 everything is video taped at the airports,
09:56 so they can check out what happened to the computer.
09:58 And so they haven't done it yet.
10:00 I get to St. Louis and they have done it.
10:02 A cop gets on the phone and says,
10:04 we watched the guy steal your computer,
10:07 and I'm thinking you did.
10:08 How funny is that.
10:09 The guy literally came up, saw the computer,
10:12 in the bin, looked around, and had to kind of case
10:15 it out a little bit.
10:16 Looked around, made sure nobody was looking,
10:18 looked at the TSA, A guys,
10:20 waited for everybody to be distracted a little bit,
10:23 picks up the computer and leaves.
10:24 He said, we saw him.
10:25 Who knows where, he could be anywhere.
10:28 I'm thinking, really.
10:30 He said you will never get this computer again.
10:33 I'm thinking Okay, and then I gotta tell you,
10:35 this part is amazing to me.
10:37 So I get here, and I'm bummed, right?
10:41 But you know God is God and I'm to the point in
10:44 my walk with God, that I know God is God.
10:46 Something is going to happen.
10:48 I just have to pay attention.
10:49 I get here and I get housed in a room that the
10:52 heater breaks, so the room is 55 degrees.
10:56 I'm cold, it's night.
10:59 I don't have my computer and I'm bummed.
11:01 So now I'm cold and I'm bummed and it's you know!
11:04 So I look around this room,
11:06 it's beautiful apartment.
11:08 Kitchen, bedroom, living room, no TV, no computer,
11:11 no TV, my video I-pod needs to be plugged into
11:15 my computer to get batteries.
11:16 I have no sound at all.
11:18 I have nothing.
11:19 I am like looking around saying you know what,
11:22 there's no noise, just me.
11:23 I'm thinking this is just, I have noise all the time.
11:26 I don't know if you can tell I like to talk,
11:28 and I like noise.
11:30 I listen to my video I- pod for the last
11:35 second of it's life.
11:36 Then all of a sudden it's gone.
11:38 I'm like quiet.
11:39 And then I got cold, 55 degrees.
11:42 I put my gloves on, I realize it's too cold.
11:44 I'm planning to get into bed with a blanket on,
11:46 and my head is cold.
11:48 Cause it's cold.
11:49 So I put the blanket over my head,
11:51 and I have it over my head so my breathing
11:54 can keep me warm.
11:55 God said, finally I have you by Myself,
11:57 You're quiet, without anything plugged in.
12:00 We had the best time all night with the Holy
12:04 Spirit, I was blest, blest, blest.
12:05 But the good part of this story,
12:07 which I want to kiss God on the face.
12:09 I want, I wish that I know He is so present in our
12:12 lives, and I feel Him so loving me,
12:14 but I just want to grab Him and kiss Him on the
12:16 face sometimes, because I get a call the next
12:18 day from the police.
12:20 They said, the guy called us,
12:23 and I'm like, oh shut up.
12:25 The guy that stole my computer, and they said,
12:27 we don't know if it's yours.
12:29 It's a Mac that he stole from the airport yesterday.
12:32 I said, this kid called you,
12:34 and when they saw it on the film.
12:35 It's this young white kid, tall.
12:36 So they know exactly who it is.
12:38 It's, so they said he called, and said that,
12:40 he accidentally picked up somebody Mac,
12:43 somebody's laptop, and they said accidentally
12:45 they saw the film.
12:46 They saw him, like so looking around and making
12:49 sure that nobody was looking, and stuff,
12:50 but he calls and wants to return it.
12:52 So he wants to return it, wants to get back to whoever
12:57 he's stole from and who knows why.
12:59 His friends probably said, you stole a
13:01 laptop from the airport.
13:02 Are you an idiot, do you know they filmed that whole thing?
13:05 you know, it could be that some friend
13:07 told him that or
13:09 He opened it up and saw about the Holy Spirit and
13:12 recovery and God and he said, like man
13:14 I just like stole, a Pastor's computer.
13:17 You know, maybe he got convicted, you know,
13:19 you can steal something from everybody,
13:21 not from God, so who knows why,
13:22 and he wants to give it back.
13:24 Then he's must call back, gets nervous, hangs up on them.
13:27 They're going to call him back to tell to say we have
13:30 your number, because even though you didn't give us
13:32 your number, we have caller ID,
13:33 now we have your cell number.
13:34 So have his cell number,
13:35 they know that he's in New Mexico.
13:37 If you're out there Hi, they know he's in New Mexico.
13:41 They know he's stole my computer.
13:42 They know that for some reason
13:43 he wants to give it back.
13:44 So, police are going to go and arrest him right.
13:45 And so I said, do you have to arrested him?
13:49 This is a grand theft, is a federal offense because
13:54 he stole it from the airport, right,
13:56 so it's a huge deal.
13:57 Well, you don't have to press charges.
13:59 I said, tell him if I can do an intervention with
14:03 him, I won't press charges.
14:04 I want the computer back and I want to speak to him.
14:06 I just stopped and laughed,
14:10 the cop laughed and said, really,
14:11 are you kidding me, who are you.
14:13 I said, I think if God did all this to get this guy to
14:18 turn it over to Him.
14:19 How cool is that.
14:21 So pray for us, that we are going to do this
14:24 intervention, and that I might get my
14:25 computer back, and right now.
14:26 because of how cool God has been with us.
14:29 I don't even really care about the computer,
14:31 this guy needs to find God and
14:33 stop ripping people off.
14:34 So we are going to come back,
14:36 I want to introduce you to my friend,
14:37 who kind of brought this Holy Spirit thing into my
14:42 life in a cooler way.
14:43 Like I said, you will be blessed by him,
14:46 and definitely, definitely I hope this
14:48 changes your life.
14:49 I so hope it changes your life.
14:51 We'll be right back.
14:52 Stay with us.


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Revised 2014-12-17