iShare 2014: Light

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Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Seminar: From Darkness to Light: Overcoming Sin and Addictions

Adam Patel

Rescuing “P.O.W’s” (Reaching People with Addictions)- Part 1

Taariq Patel

Rescuing “P.O.W’s” (Reaching People with Addictions)- Part 2

Virna Santos

Loving as Jesus Would

Today, my brother and I are going to be speaking about a very important topic.

Before I begin, I want to see the hands of those who know somebody, maybe yourself, or a loved 1 or a friend that is struggling with addiction.

Yeah, I think that everybody in this room could probably raise their hands to that.

Today, we are gonna be discussing What are some ways you can rescue POWs?

What are some ways, what are some things that you can do to reach out to help these individuals?

After that, my brother is going to take over and he's going to speak about how to overcome addictions.

Before I go any further, I would like each and every 1 of you to join me in a word of prayer.

And as we pray, I ask that you all pray for yourselves and ask for the Holy Spirit to come into your hearts and mind to give you understanding.

And while you're praying for yourself, please say a word of prayer for me.

So I'll pray out loud and you all just pray in your minds.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful, Lord, to be assembled here, your people, awaiting to hear some truth from your spirit.

And Lord, we pray that you would forgive us for our sins, Lord, and clear our minds from distractions, Father.

And as we focus on this most important topic on how to reach and save those in bondage, I pray, God, that your spirit would enlighten us to think along trains of thought that we never thought before.

And that whatever I say, Lord, your spirit will magnify it to the hundredth power and give people understanding that they can understand according to your spirit Lord.

And so Father I am grateful that you care about us, you've bled for us, and you've bled for these prisoners out there who are bound by chains of addiction.

I thank you Lord for your power in Jesus name, Amen.

Turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4.

And when you have it, please let me know by saying amen.

Ecclesiastes chapter 4, amen, here we go.

Look with me if you will, starting at verse 1.

So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun.

And behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter.

And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.

Wherefore, I praise the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

Yea, better is he than both they which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

I mean, you walk outside of where we live, my front door, and you can see the night star is so clear.

However, we were in San Francisco on Sunday, this past Sunday, and it's total opposite from where we live.

Compact, filled with people, back in the city, the dirty streets of San Francisco.

And we were walking down this street on this past Sunday, and I was pretty much assaulted, being that I come from Angwin now, and I'm not used to coming to the city as often as I was back in the day.

As I'm walking down San Francisco, I'm seeing hundreds of people all over the street with care-worn faces, leather-beaten faces, faces that been through some rough stuff.

I can look at these people and I can tell that they're held by chains of alcohol addiction, amphetamines, heroin, you name it, I could see it on their faces.

I was walking down that street and it struck me profoundly, because I said, Lord, there's a lot of people living here with no hope.

1 brother was sleeping on the side of the street with no shirt on and he was sleeping like it was no big deal and everybody was walking by him.

He smelled as if he hadn't taken a shower all year.

Another guy was there on the side and he had his hoodie all over his head so he could catch some Z's.

But what struck me the most was there in the middle of this sidewalk was this woman.

And she was on her knees with her head between her knees and her arms were out and her mouth was open and she had this cup of change right there in front of her.

And I looked at her and I said, Lord, she looks broken mentally, physically, emotionally, on all levels.

And it struck me that day on Sunday, I said, this is the testament of Satan's kingdom.

This is what he wants to do to all humanity.

And I felt like Solomon on the way back home.

I returned and I considered all the evil works that were done under the sun.

And on the side of the oppressed, their tears, they had no comforter.

But on the side of the oppressors there was power.

Recently we heard the tragic news of Robin Williams, who killed himself on Monday.

What struck me profoundly about that was here was a man that dedicated his life to make others laugh.

Every time I thought about that guy, I saw him smiling.

And here, we find out that in his heart was something total opposite.

It's a testament of Satan's kingdom, what he has to offer you in this world.

And he also struggled with addictions in his life.

And as Taj mentioned today, you think about all the artists and musicians and all them who have struggled with addictions in their lives.

The Bible says, speaking about Lucifer, Satan, and Isaiah 14, is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms, that made the world into a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners.

Today we're gonna be talking about how to reach into that house of prisoners and how to rescue these prisoners of war.

It is the over conditioning of your brain's reward system.

Everything you see, everything you hear, you're listening to me right now, it's a chemical reaction going on.

We're like a bunch of chemistry machines out here.

But you have certain chemicals in your mind, such as, in your brain, such as dopamine, and when you do things that make you feel good, dopamine goes off, and it's a chemical reaction.

When you overcondition your brain's reward system, that's addiction.

The question is, why do people get addicted?

To understand how to help someone, you gotta know why.

I've been to a lot of NA meetings, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and I have yet to meet a addict, a recovering addict, someone who's struggling with addiction, who does not have a past filled with pain.

Everyone, the Bible says we are born into trouble, the book of Job.

Now there are different ways that people deal or cope with pain.

There are many people who grew up in divorced homes, parents split up.

It has a profound traumatic effect on a child.

There are many adults walking around this world that are affected from their childhood from a divorce and they don't even really realize it yet.

Sexual abuse, physical abuse, death in the family, a sense of unsatisfaction, an unhappiness in your life.

I used to work at this job, warehouse job, for 8, 9 years.

First thing I wanted to do when I come home from work, my back's hurting, didn't like what I was doing, first thing I wanted to do, go to the bar, get some beer.

I had a hard day at work, so I wanted to just escape.

Let me talk with the fellas, let me watch the game, let me drink some beer, let me just escape.

As I'm drinking that beer, what's going on?

Because when you drink this alcohol, dopamine, and feel good stuff, chemical reaction is occurring.

So on the weekend, guess what I would do?

I'll go to the club, listen to the music, do some more drugs, get on cocaine and alcohol and weed, and I will escape away from my pain, from my unsatisfaction, from my unhappiness in my life.

Series

Seminar: From Darkness to Light: Overcoming Sin and Addictions

Rescuing “P.O.W’s” (Reaching People with Addictions)- Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Forgive: The Power of Letting Go

38m

Pandemic at the Door

Pandemic of Addiction

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Last Day Events

Mainstream Spiritualism

1h 1m

The Day of Atonement

02 The Cleansing of the Sanctuary

55m

Go and Do: New England Conference Youth Week of Prayer

04 Test of Purity

44m

Plenary Sessions

Sabbath School: By His Spirit

1h 27m

When God Fights Your Battles

1h 2m

The Pygmalion Effect and How to Transform Lives

45m

Habits that Last

05 Habits that Last

54m

Weimar - COVID-19

Dealing with the Demon of COVID-19

1h

How to Know God

1h 6m

Mind Cure- Part 1

1h 12m

Sound Doctrine