WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.080 Jesus sets the captives free and I have proof. 2 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:15.200 My name is Leanne Friesman and this is Restoring Words Ministries and I want to talk to you 3 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:20.360 today about restoration and addiction. 4 00:00:20.360 --> 00:00:26.920 I have living proof that Jesus came to set the captives free because of an amazing man 5 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:36.680 in our lives, Robert Friesman, my father-in-law, and he was a very violent, very abusive alcoholic. 6 00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:43.460 It was really, really bad for many, many years and the people that were in his life suffered 7 00:00:43.460 --> 00:00:49.720 greatly, horrifically because of his addiction. 8 00:00:49.720 --> 00:00:55.480 He might have had a good reason to be addicted and we didn't find that out until years later. 9 00:00:55.480 --> 00:01:02.120 Whatever it is that you're using in your mind to somehow justify your addiction, I've got 10 00:01:02.120 --> 00:01:03.520 good news for you today. 11 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:15.400 Jesus came to set you free and I know he will set you free if you will humble yourself and 12 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:21.400 say, help me, I need help. 13 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:28.760 It takes humility and it really takes the will for somebody to decide that it's time 14 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:29.760 to get sober. 15 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:35.400 Now, I don't necessarily want to get into talking about alcohol itself because sobriety 16 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:40.600 really it has to do with a certain level of self-control and maybe you're addicted to 17 00:01:40.600 --> 00:01:49.280 gambling or you're addicted to porn or meth or food or gambling. 18 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:55.760 We are to live a life in Christ that's free from addiction. 19 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:03.960 He came to set the captives free and I have proof that it can happen because I've watched 20 00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:06.680 it in the life of my father-in-law. 21 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:14.360 On the other side, I have other family members I love dearly and they are hopelessly addicted. 22 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.600 They've been caught driving drunk three times. 23 00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:19.480 They should have gone to jail. 24 00:02:19.480 --> 00:02:23.600 They've done and said horrifically hurtful things. 25 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:27.320 You never know if you're talking to the person or to the alcohol. 26 00:02:27.320 --> 00:02:32.800 It's why they call alcohol spirits because when someone comes under the influence of 27 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.240 something you're not talking to them anymore. 28 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:41.440 You're talking to the substance that is controlling them. 29 00:02:41.440 --> 00:02:44.240 Somebody has to really want to get free. 30 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.120 My father-in-law had more common sense than a lot of other believers that are out there. 31 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:55.500 He was going to Alcoholics Anonymous and he was sitting around looking at all these alcoholics 32 00:02:55.500 --> 00:03:00.720 and he knew they were still drinking and you know what he had wisdom to get out of there 33 00:03:00.720 --> 00:03:07.980 and no longer affiliate with even the people at AA that were still drinking. 34 00:03:07.980 --> 00:03:10.040 They were lying about what they were doing. 35 00:03:10.040 --> 00:03:12.880 They were deceived. 36 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:17.800 If you want to get free of whatever it is that you're into or whatever is holding you 37 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:24.360 captive, you have to surround yourself with people that will help you and who will hold 38 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:32.080 you accountable. 39 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.700 Bondage will ruin your relationships. 40 00:03:34.700 --> 00:03:37.400 Bondage will destroy your family. 41 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:43.080 Bondage will destroy your finances. 42 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:50.480 Any kind of addiction that you might be walking in ultimately will destroy your body. 43 00:03:50.480 --> 00:03:56.100 My father had a wonderful secretary who worked for him for years and she was drinking vodka 44 00:03:56.100 --> 00:04:02.340 and destroying her liver and my dad had to take her to a doctor and get her on medication 45 00:04:02.340 --> 00:04:06.200 to help her get free. 46 00:04:06.440 --> 00:04:12.160 If you know someone who's addicted to something, we as believers are to try to help and to 47 00:04:12.160 --> 00:04:15.640 restore in love. 48 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:18.680 But being loving doesn't say, Oh, I love you so much. 49 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:22.200 I'm just going to go buy you a bottle of brandy. 50 00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:28.800 No, restoring somebody in love is saying, I love you enough to tell you the truth and 51 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.640 hold you accountable and say, this is killing you. 52 00:04:33.640 --> 00:04:35.640 You've got to get sober. 53 00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:41.200 And I'm not going to enable your addiction anymore. 54 00:04:41.200 --> 00:04:48.000 You know, bless my husband, it got really, really bad and at 22 years of age, he had 55 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.240 to basically kick his dad out of the house and out of the family and he said to his dad, 56 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.480 we don't want you anymore. 57 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:58.420 We don't want you in this house anymore. 58 00:04:58.420 --> 00:04:59.760 We don't need you. 59 00:04:59.760 --> 00:05:00.040 Get out. 60 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:09.440 now that sounds very unloving but in reality that was the most loving thing 61 00:05:09.440 --> 00:05:14.960 he could have said because it was that unloving thing and that unloving action 62 00:05:14.960 --> 00:05:22.880 that in reality was the moment that caused my father-in-law to admit he had 63 00:05:22.880 --> 00:05:29.000 an issue and to go into treatment and the process began and because of the 64 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:36.280 confrontation he was able to go into treatment and get counseling and get 65 00:05:36.280 --> 00:05:47.240 help but somebody had to confront in love and it wasn't fun who do you love 66 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:52.200 today that's addicted what's going on in your life today where you know somebody 67 00:05:52.200 --> 00:06:00.840 needs help it's it's really not helpful to enable somebody if you enable a 68 00:06:00.840 --> 00:06:09.040 person or you enable a person's sin or you cover up for someone I got news for 69 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:15.160 you they're just gonna do it again see an alcoholic or it doesn't matter what 70 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:24.360 you're addicted to coke meth gambling porn you know if somebody's addicted to 71 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:28.360 pornography you don't buy him a playboy somebody's an alcoholic you don't buy 72 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:36.840 him brandy okay you have to find a way in love to establish boundaries so that 73 00:06:36.840 --> 00:06:41.160 you don't get in trouble and those but those boundaries for the person who's 74 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:49.400 trying to walk in but that's not legalism that's wisdom okay oh yeah 75 00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:57.120 you're just so legal no this is wisdom okay if you're an alcoholic don't hang 76 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:04.760 around with people that are still drinking if if you're a gambler I went on 77 00:07:04.760 --> 00:07:09.000 vacation with my family and I I had to walk through the casino to get to 78 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:12.960 another part of the ship and I'm just amazed there's all these people and 79 00:07:12.960 --> 00:07:18.840 they're just and they just gonna spin those wheels one more time just one more 80 00:07:18.840 --> 00:07:24.280 time I'm gonna get my payday and guess what payday never comes how much money 81 00:07:24.280 --> 00:07:34.080 do you lose again it's so sad Jesus came to set the captives free you have to be 82 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:38.520 sober-minded you have to walk I put together these scriptures today on 83 00:07:38.520 --> 00:07:45.360 sobriety I've got seven pages of scriptures here I could just sit down 84 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:50.760 and read you a bunch of boring scriptures in the Bible and tell you all 85 00:07:50.760 --> 00:07:56.680 these promises trying to warn you that guess what the thief comes to steal kill 86 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:00.520 and destroy but God came that you may have life and you may have life more 87 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:05.920 abundantly but you're gonna have to walk in it you're gonna have to establish 88 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:10.560 some boundaries you're gonna have to put some people in your life that will not 89 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:17.800 enable your sin and you're gonna have to just with humility acknowledge that 90 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:21.280 you've got a problem see that that's really one of the issues it's really 91 00:08:21.280 --> 00:08:28.880 humility you have to be humble enough to acknowledge I need help you have to be 92 00:08:28.880 --> 00:08:36.280 humble enough to say this isn't working and I need help no I can I can I can do 93 00:08:36.280 --> 00:08:39.159 this really 94 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:52.240 you're just gonna continue to walk in addiction and and all of these people 95 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:58.960 that you love are gonna be damaged because of your addiction it's not it's 96 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:03.080 not healthy you've got to get honest with yourself and you know what nobody 97 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:07.560 can help you nobody can the best therapists in the world cannot help you 98 00:09:07.560 --> 00:09:14.880 the most compassionate family member cannot help you and even Jesus cannot 99 00:09:15.160 --> 00:09:23.960 you unless you get honest and when you get honest and you humble yourself and 100 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:31.800 you admit that there's an issue and you get tired of it then you there's 101 00:09:31.800 --> 00:09:37.160 something that God can work with in the meantime the other family members like 102 00:09:37.160 --> 00:09:40.560 a God I'm praying I'm praying I'm praying why isn't God answering my 103 00:09:40.560 --> 00:09:49.120 prayer because the human will is powerful and a person can will to stay 104 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:54.680 addicted because they will not humble themselves and acknowledge the fact that 105 00:09:54.680 --> 00:10:02.000 they need Jesus and they need the Holy Spirit and they can't do it 106 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:01.440 Do it without him. 107 00:10:03.160 --> 00:10:04.940 Some people can't go to God 108 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:06.960 because they have other God issues 109 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.540 or they have other issues in their life 110 00:10:09.540 --> 00:10:10.480 that they're medicating. 111 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.160 Whatever you have to deal with, 112 00:10:13.160 --> 00:10:17.000 whatever issue you have to dig up and confront, 113 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:22.160 whatever is buried or that you've put underground 114 00:10:22.160 --> 00:10:23.640 so you won't have to deal with it 115 00:10:23.640 --> 00:10:25.440 and it's in your subconscious memory, 116 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:27.440 whatever is in your closet 117 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:29.620 and you just don't want to open the door to 118 00:10:29.660 --> 00:10:31.700 and deal with the issue, 119 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:34.500 whatever is causing the addiction, 120 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:39.500 I beg you in Jesus' name, 121 00:10:39.500 --> 00:10:41.260 have the humility. 122 00:10:43.620 --> 00:10:45.540 People love you. 123 00:10:45.540 --> 00:10:47.820 People care about you. 124 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.980 People need you. 125 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:55.740 And you are deceiving yourself into thinking 126 00:10:55.740 --> 00:10:59.440 that you can just continue to go on the way you are. 127 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:04.660 You think the addiction's just about you and your pain? 128 00:11:04.660 --> 00:11:09.660 No, your addiction is destroying other people 129 00:11:09.780 --> 00:11:11.140 and you won't deal with it. 130 00:11:12.820 --> 00:11:13.860 And then what do you do? 131 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:15.980 You put other people around you 132 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:18.080 to accommodate your addiction. 133 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.340 They enable your addiction. 134 00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:25.120 I'm not an enabler, you know? 135 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.460 If somebody's addicted, I'm gonna get rid of it. 136 00:11:27.460 --> 00:11:29.020 If you have an alcoholic in your life, 137 00:11:29.020 --> 00:11:29.860 you know what you need to do? 138 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:31.000 You need to go through the house 139 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.300 and find every single bottle and throw it out. 140 00:11:34.400 --> 00:11:35.380 Pour it down the drain. 141 00:11:35.380 --> 00:11:36.460 Oh, they'll be mad. 142 00:11:37.500 --> 00:11:39.100 It's what you need to do. 143 00:11:39.100 --> 00:11:44.100 An enabler will cover up what someone's doing, 144 00:11:44.760 --> 00:11:45.980 make excuses. 145 00:11:47.020 --> 00:11:48.780 I mean, my husband can tell you stories 146 00:11:48.780 --> 00:11:50.060 of Christmas after Christmas, 147 00:11:50.060 --> 00:11:51.180 holiday after holiday, 148 00:11:51.180 --> 00:11:54.260 moment after moment where excuses were made 149 00:11:54.260 --> 00:11:56.900 and nobody really wanted to deal with the real issue. 150 00:11:57.900 --> 00:11:59.600 It's not gonna be helpful. 151 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:02.260 Humble yourself. 152 00:12:02.260 --> 00:12:04.180 Invite Jesus into your life. 153 00:12:04.180 --> 00:12:08.700 Ask him to come into your heart and into your life. 154 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:11.180 Put yourself in a place 155 00:12:11.180 --> 00:12:13.940 and surround yourself with believers that will help you. 156 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:16.640 That's my prayer for you today. 157 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:19.700 There are people that will help you, 158 00:12:19.700 --> 00:12:22.060 but you have to humble yourself. 159 00:12:22.060 --> 00:12:24.540 You have to ask him into your heart. 160 00:12:24.540 --> 00:12:26.640 In fact, I'm gonna pray for you right now. 161 00:12:27.660 --> 00:12:28.500 Father, in the name of Jesus, 162 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:29.820 I pray for every listener 163 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:32.180 within the sound of my voice right now, 164 00:12:32.180 --> 00:12:33.660 whether it's a family member 165 00:12:33.660 --> 00:12:35.900 or whether it's someone who is addicted 166 00:12:35.900 --> 00:12:40.120 or a loved one who knows and loves someone who is addicted. 167 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:42.140 God, give them wisdom and strength 168 00:12:42.140 --> 00:12:45.480 and direction to deal with the addiction. 169 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.880 God, I ask that by the spirit of God now, 170 00:12:50.160 --> 00:12:52.380 my listeners would be set free. 171 00:12:52.380 --> 00:12:56.420 Lead them into paths of righteousness for your name's sake. 172 00:12:56.420 --> 00:12:58.080 Bring them people in their lives 173 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.840 that will help them and set them free in Jesus' name. 174 00:13:03.180 --> 00:13:04.380 Thank you for listening.