MTYC 2011: Able to Stand

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Montana Youth Conference

The Overcoming Seminar

Chad Kreuzer

Fadia Kreuzer

Freedom and the Frontal Lobe

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your Word.

We thank you for the call that you have for us to be overcomers.

And Father, we pray that we would experience victory in Christ, that we would have total transformation in our lives, and that we would be changed from within.

Not just changing the outward acts but literally that we would have the born-again experience in Christ.

That the old would pass away, that all things would become new.

So we pray for these things in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Bible says in Revelation chapter 21 verse 6 and 7, And He said unto me, it is done.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely.

It says he who overcomes will inherit all things and I will be his God and He will be my Son." Now in this passage in Revelation chapter 21 we look at God's last day people and it specifically refers to them as those that overcome.

The ones who overcome they're going to be the ones who inherit all things.

But notice that there is kind of a prerequisite to overcoming, something that must take place in an individual in order to become an overcomer.

1 of the very important aspects of overcoming is that we have to have a desire.

We have to actually have a thirst to be transformed, to be changed.

I know that when I first began to smoke, I had no desire to change.

I remember sitting down on a park bench at, you know, it was called Jaycees Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and some guy walked by me and a friend of myself and myself were sitting down on a bench and some guy walked by and he said, Hey guys, quit while you can.

And I thought, whatever, you know, I'll never get stuck doing this.

And to me, I didn't have any desire to quit at that time, so there was no chance I was going to quit, at least at the present point.

But those who are going to overcome, first of all must have that desire to overcome.

And we're talking about, first of all, some of the necessities, the prerequisites to overcoming.

Number 1, some of the things to specifically overcome are chronic stress.

We're going to be talking about the fact that there are different kinds of stress.

There is a beneficial kind of stress that actually helps your immune system, but then there's a form of stress that actually deteriorates or breaks down the processes of your body.

Number 2, we want to overcome anger, lack of forgiveness, or judgmental thoughts.

We're going to devote almost the entirety of 1 message to how to overcome in the area of forgiveness, how to be able to forgive.

And for some, how to actually even ask for forgiveness maybe.

But for many of us, it's learning how to give true forgiveness and to overcome the judgmental thoughts.

Number 3, things to overcome are things like eating disorders or repetitively eating unhealthy food.

Many people, even within the church, struggle with things like eating disorders.

No 1 around you may know, you're very good at hiding it, but sometimes people to try to gain strength in their life, struggle with eating disorders, things like this, we want to learn to overcome these things.

Things to overcome also are things like addiction, smoking, drinking, drugs, pornography and lust, television, gambling, or fill in the blank.

So these are just some for the fill in the blank you may say I don't see anything I mean all of us probably struggle with stress at certain times but there may be something that may not be on this list but you may struggle with something and for you that's what you are struggling with.

Now I'm gonna tell you, you do not need to in this seminar, we tell people who come to the seminar, we're not asking everybody to confess their sins in front of everybody.

We're told in, well specifically in the spirit of prophecy, that secret sins are to be confessed secretly to God and public sins are to, meaning if I yell at you, I get angry with all of you, then I should publicly confess on them.

So Secret sins are to be confessed secretly.

Sometimes people get confused about these things and they want to just blurt out all their sins.

Some people just kind of think of it as a noble thing to just let out all your sins in front of the public or in church or these things.

Now there are times where we're giving a testimony, but it is not necessary to, you know, divulge all the sinful thoughts that go on in the human mind.

Actually, it can bring things down to a common level and so we're not called to do that.

But so this is for you, this is a personal thing.

Now, this is the basic tenor of the entire seminar that we share.

We many times do this before non, you know, folks who are not of our church so we don't necessarily just read the quote, but this is a quote from Spirit of Prophecy, many of you have probably heard it already.

It says, never forget that thoughts work out what?

Actions, repeated actions form habits and habits form what?

It's so simple and yet it's 1 simple sentence that never forget.

Your thoughts work out your actions, your repeated actions form your habits, and your habits form your character.

The essence of who you are is your character, and so many times people try to change their bad habits, or they try to change a bad characteristic of who they are, and while they're trying to change it they seem to stumble back into their bad habits or into the bad actions and they think why can't I change?

The reality is if you try to change your character and you try to change your habits you're finding your actions aren't changing because something hasn't changed, your thoughts have not been changed.

So our thoughts, if we're gonna be changed, and the Bible kinda talks about this.

Jesus said in John chapter 3, verses 6 and 7, he said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

He said marvel not that I said unto you you must be born again.

Jesus said you have to be born again and to be born again see listen then John or rather Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 he tells us there in verse 6, 7, and 8, he tells us that that which is after the flesh, those who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.

And they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

So naturally, by nature, you are born and your thoughts are of things of the flesh of the body.

But we are told by Jesus that you need to be born again so that your thoughts are totally changed.

Instead of being about things of the flesh that your thoughts become things of the spirit.

I'm being a little more spiritual than I would be to the general public but the same principles are brought up across to these folks also.

We need to be born again so that we are totally changed by the Word of God.

We are transformed in our lifestyle so that now we have new thoughts and those new thoughts will cause new actions, new habits, and we will have a new character and as you may know that character determines destiny.

David Burns from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shares this validating scientific discovery.

Your feelings are created by your thoughts and not the actual events.

Many times we feel that that I have feelings because of what happens around me.

I have feelings because I'm in a stressful situation, I have feelings because my dad is this way, or my mom is this way, or my sister, or somebody is this way, my boss, and so I have feelings because of these things, but that's not true.

You actually have feelings because of the thoughts you choose to think about that situation.

So all experience must be processed through your brain and given a conscious meaning before you experience an emotional response.

It says the moment you have a certain thought and believe it, you will experience an immediate emotional response.

Your thoughts actually create the emotion.

A lot of times we just think, oh I can't help it, these are the emotions that I have, there's nothing I can do about it, but the reality is it's the thoughts that you have that you allow to go through your mind that create the emotional response that takes place inside of you.

So the negative feelings that you have are created based upon the thoughts you choose or allow to think.

Now every time you have an angry thought, an unkind thought, a sad thought, or a cranky thought, your brain releases chemicals that make your body feel bad.

Every time you have a good thought, a happy thought, a hopeful thought, or a kind thought, your brain releases chemicals that make your body feel good.

So that's why we are to guard the avenues to the soul and 1 of the greatest avenues, Obviously we have our eyes, we have our ears, we have our skin and so forth.

But we have to choose, we have to think about, we have to decide what we will allow to go through our minds and what we will choose to think about.

We're going to talk more about this as we go on.

Now Eldon Chalmers in his book Healing the Broken Brain seconds this awesome reality.

He says in his book, speaking about overcoming depression, anxiety, panic disorders and so forth, means developing a new set of healing habits.

So if we're going to be changed we have to have new habits and what do the habits come from?

They come from actions and the actions come from what?

So we need to have new thoughts that will change our habits, they will change our life.

That's right, the Bible talks about the renewing of the mind.

Good Stress, Bad Stress, and Overcoming

Heavenly Father, we just pray that your Holy Spirit would be here.

We pray that you would guide us and that you would teach us, instruct us in the way which we should go.

Obviously this is just kind of normally we do this, you know, for the public.

So you haven't been here for a day but obviously you've already seen those things.

We talked about some quick things to overcome cravings.

Obviously you can't walk away from every situation, but if you're at work and you have a 15 minute break, you could take a quick break with your water bottle, go for a walk and just kind of relieve a bit of the stress on the back and so forth.

Deep breathing, very important to get adequate oxygen to the bodily organs.

Now a woman came to our seminar and she said, this was in Arkansas, and she said that we were in a small town in Arkansas and she lived out in the country and so to walk to her mailbox was a little bit of a walk and so as she was walking out to her mailbox she noticed that she had some back pain and so as she was going to it she thought, you know, maybe I ought to just try this deep breathing.

So she began to deep breathe, and the back pain soon went away.

Sometimes we're just not getting adequate amounts of oxygen to our muscles.

So we feel awkward, we don't feel right, or maybe it could be even water, like we read from Dr.

And so getting our body to be in tune with the way God made it to be.

He designed us to have adequate amounts of water, adequate amounts of oxygen.

Just deep breathing can sometimes help with muscle pain and adequate water can do the very same thing.

But the most important out of these particular 4 things that we're looking at are Bible promises in prayer.

And I can't explain how important those are just from personal experience.

Many times, and I know I've done it, when I first learned about Bible promises and you know maybe that in for instance for any Temptation you have that there is a promise There's a Bible promise for you, and then there's some general ones that could apply to any virtually any situation but there are some very specific promises in the Bible, then there are some general promises that could be applied to those other situations.

But in those situations, when let's say you're tempted, you know, you're tempted and you say, okay, you said Father in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

Yours may be a little different than mine but it's still common in the sense that other people struggle with the same thing and some may be to different levels.

Yours may be this temptation, mine may be another, but it's common to humanity, temptation in general.

And so there is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful.

You will not suffer to meet me to be tempted above that I am able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it." Now, giving a Bible promise in a time of temptation is not like a magic trick.

Not like, haha, I said it and boom, it just, you know, temptation now disappears, right?

In Hebrews chapter 4 verse 2 the Bible talks about that the gospel was preached unto them.

Chapter 3 goes on the history of the Israelites coming out of temptation.

And in chapter 4, verse 2, it says, the gospel was preached unto them, unto the Israelites, as well as unto us.

But it says, the word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith and those that heard it.

Meaning, listen, it's not like the Word of God is a magic trick.

Although there's divine power in it, there is, absolutely, but in that Word it has to be mixed with something in order for it to profit you and that thing that has to be mixed with is what?

So if you're gonna be changed you have to have faith in that promise and say, Father, you said this, and because you said it, Father, you said you're going to make a way to escape.

Father, I'm looking for it now because I know you've made it.

We have to cling to God and find the victory in Him.

Now, this is our main text here, our main quote here.

It happens to be, I think it's letter 85, March 16, 1896.

So, you know, we don't necessarily say that with the general public.

Never forget that thoughts work out actions.

Repeated actions form habits and habits form what?

So if we want to be changed, what has to be changed initially?

See what happens is sometimes, and we can even do it as Adventists, now a legalist, a legalist wants to just change his actions and his habits and he is happy with that and he thinks he is holy by that.

But the reality is God, the loving God of the Bible, doesn't just want to change your outward self.

The Pharisees and the scribes had changed their outward life and Jesus described them as whitewashed sepulchers, right?

They were basically full of dead bones but they look pretty on the outside, right?

He wants to change you from the very inside.

Now, the frontal lobe, here it is, the blue portion of the brain, right?

You've got your red portion, you've got your yellow portion, and you've got your green portion, and your blue portion, right?

But the blue portion in the picture here, this is from Grey's Anatomy, from Grey's Anatomy isn't it cool they made it blue?

I mean you know they had tassels that they would remember the law and so blue just by chance they made it the frontal lobe blue and obviously it's not literally blue but God wants to write his law in our minds and in our hearts right so just kind of interesting obviously this is you know pure chance but nevertheless it's powerful.

Now the brain of a cat 3.5% of the brain of a cat is the frontal lobe.

What do you think has a larger frontal lobe, a cat or a dog?

Cat lovers think it's cats, dog lovers think it's dogs.

Twice as much of the brain of a dog is the frontal lobe, right?

That's why they're man's best friend, and cats are their own best friend, right?

Now, don't get me wrong, you can have fun with a cat, you can love your cat, but the cat wants to do its own thing, right?

It's like a wild animal that lives in your house, right?

And it seeks after things like it's still wild, right?

You know, where a dog, it's your friend, it just wants you to love it, right?

And I hope I didn't offend anybody with that, but you understand.

Okay, now, A chimpanzee has 17% of its brain as the frontal lobe.

And you can see, obviously, what is a more intelligent creature?

They can learn several forms of even sign language.

But a human brain, 33%, nearly a third of the human brain is the frontal lobe.

It is what separates you from the animals, of you know, the creatures of the earth.

That you have an intellect that can not only think about those objects and things around you and interrelations with other creatures but also that you have the possibility of thinking about a divine relationship with God and thinking about others rather than your own needs and that's what the frontal lobe has to do with.

Now My wife is going to come up and she's going to talk to us about a nurse by the name of Patricia.

Okay, this is Another study with the frontal lobe, you know, like the earlier 1 was Phineas Gage and this 1 is Nurse Patricia.

Nurse Patricia struggled with depression and she thought that a frontal lobotomy would help her with her guilt.

Eating, the Brain, and Nutrition

Alright, well once again this is day 3, for us obviously it's day 1, but in general the way we do this with the public is this is day 3.

It's kind of a, we do a non-stop 5 or 6 day program, whatever the area, whatever works out in that particular area.

But for us, basically, I think we're going to have them all done tomorrow, right?

Well our general, the tenor, the main theme of the message is never forget that thoughts work out actions, repeated actions form habits and habits form what?

Very simple and the reality is is that the main reason people cannot change things in their life is that they try to change the behavior rather than the cause and the cause is the what?

So the thoughts are the cause of everything that basically transpires from us, right?

He talked about the fact that things don't, it's not necessarily what goes into the body, it's what comes out of the body because it springs from the heart, Jesus talked about.

We discovered that the frontal lobe is the seat of spirituality, morality, and the will.

And we've looked at some scientific case studies that testify that they prove these things.

Another 1 that we're going to look at now is a baby.

A baby named Baby GK who had frontal lobe damage as a newborn and the results, I mean we've had, I mean I can think about, Tom, I have at least 1 person who came to our seminars and he had frontal lobe damage.

This baby was, I don't know if the child was dropped, what happened, but baby GK had frontal lobe damage.

Baby GK suffered bilateral frontal lobe damage in the first 7 days of his life.

From childhood to age 31 he had the typical characteristics of someone who had experienced frontal lobe damage.

Now what are the typical characteristics?

Well, that child did not respond well to parental discipline.

Baby GK always sought gratification of his immediate needs.

He was irresponsible and tended to wander.

Was influenced by other deviant children and was sexually promiscuous.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I look at the typical young person in America today, now this may be a different group than a typical American young person, but when I look at a typical American young person, this list would fit about perfectly your average young American, right?

Not just, you know, a child in the first 7 days of life that has bilateral frontal lobe damage.

The reality is young people are walking around with impaired frontal lobes, much of it from their upbringing and from the things around them in life, whether it's the things they're taking into their bodies through what they're eating, like I did just eating junk food continually, whether what they're watching on television, several different things, music, whatever it may be.

But this is the typical picture of a young person today which means they have impaired frontal lobes.

We see it here that the effects of a compromised frontal lobe are the impairment of moral principle, social impairment or loss of love for family, lack of foresight, abstract reasoning is impaired, mathematical understanding is diminished, you have a loss of empathy and a lack of restraint.

Now these are some of the effects of having a compromised frontal lobe.

And the reality is the purpose, as Christians We want to have as strong as possible frontal lobes.

I talked about the fact that anyone under the age of 25, your frontal lobe is still developing.

Up until age 25-30, your frontal lobe is still developing.

There is good news for those of us who are older than that, who our frontal lobes may not be growing and I'm going to talk more about that on how brain plasticity that the brain can actually change at any area in life for the better if you are willing to make the effort of strengthening your brain.

You don't have to give up just because you're over 25 and you didn't live the best, you know, below that age.

But nevertheless, these are some of the effects of a compromised frontal lobe.

We've talked about several different things.

We asked the question, you know, what do we do with traps?

We talked about some quick, simple things.

We talked about deep breathing, how important it is to get adequate amounts of oxygen to the organs of the body, especially to the brain.

We talked about the importance of drinking water, adequate amounts of water.

Does anybody remember how much water we're supposed to drink a day?

Once again, like Fadi said, would it make sense for a four-year-old child, you know, who's this big, I don't know how big they are, that big, to drink the same amount as a 300-pound man?

Each of them need their 8 glasses of water, right?

And so obviously it should be more in line with how big your body is and you know half your body weight in ounces.

If you weigh a hundred pounds, you're kind of a little lady, you drink, what?

So then also, the most important thing out of these things is to claim Bible promises, but not just claim them like a magic trick, but actually to, not like abracadabra, but rather to claim them and then speak to God, talk with God in prayer, engaging the frontal lobe.

In that process, when you are praying with God as to a friend, you are actually engaging your frontal lobe and strengthening your frontal lobe.

Amazing scientific things are being discovered through these very things.

I'm going to share more with you as we go on with these meetings.

Now, we talked about having a goal list, 10 things, at least 10 things you want to do, some short term, some long term.

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Series

The Overcoming Seminar

The Mind-Body Connection

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Freedom and the Frontal Lobe

1h

Good Stress, Bad Stress, and Overcoming

1h

Eating, the Brain, and Nutrition

56m

Forgiveness, Victory and More

1h 15m

The Mind-Body Connection

1h 16m

Sound Doctrine