Jim Berg at the Love Lived Out Banquet

The full video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYA0DF0M1VY&t
For more information about BJU Seminary: https://linktr.ee/bjuseminary
Transcript below:

Anthony Hugh: In 2005 I converted to Christianity, and I stayed clean for ten years. I relapsed at the end of 2014, and I knew I needed to do something about my addiction once again. So, I went to Miracle Hill.

Dr. Jim Berg: Anthony started coming to our church, and that’s where I met him. He started coming to our Friday night addiction recovery program, and we got to be really good friends. We just hit it right off immediately. And I remember early, early on, he came up to me and said: ‘God laid on my heart to sing for you tonight.’ And so, I said, ‘Come on up and sing!’ He sang a song about God, and how Jesus is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to him. There was so much heart in it, and it was obvious that God was working deeply in him.

Hugh: Dr. Berg shows me that he cares about me; he’s consistent; he shows up. But the biggest thing for me is that all of the information that he has, and that he’s learned, he’s ready to really pass it on to me and help me to understand that information. It has been instrumental in my growing, along with my Bible reading and prayer, and really understanding what it is to be a Christian.

Berg: There’s not a problem of human life that can’t be solved with the Bible if it’s taken in big enough doses. So, we spend a lot of time getting big doses of the Word, and that’s the transforming power. God’s Spirit uses that. So, love lived out means taking people to Jesus. He’s the one that transforms people.

David Henna: Good Evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is David Henna. I have the privilege of serving as Director at Miracle Hill Greenville Rescue Mission. And with me tonight is Dr. Berg, author and professor at Bob Jones Seminary. Sadly, Anthony Hugh, who you saw in the video, cannot be with us tonight as he is relocated to Asheville North Carolina to serve a ministry up there. I know that he’s thinking about us and praying for us as we speak. Jim, can you tell me how you and Anthony clicked?

Berg: Well, I think it was the eagerness to learn, and for his life to be transformed in the Word. He was like a sponge. And as I mentioned in the video, coming and wanting to sing, and what he sang had such a heart. As we talked later, we made our connection for mentorship. I think he asked me at that time, and I was ready to do that. I thought, here is a man who loves God and wants to know God more. And it was just a wonderful relationship from the very beginning.

Henna: Fantastic! What impact has this experience had on you?

Berg: Well, I think the more you mentor and the more you counsel and disciple, the more you realize every person is different. Every person’s struggle is different. And, I think the thing that has enhanced in me a greater compassion for people who come from backgrounds that I didn’t come from, like Trudy just mentioned. You realize they have struggles you’ve never been through. And it does make you more patient, and it builds a lot more compassion in your heart.

Henna: Amen! And I know you’re a very busy man, but somehow you manage to make time for this. How come you can do this?

Berg: Well, if you read leadership books or go to seminars, they tell you that basically you find time for whatever is a priority for you. And ministry is a priority. And people are a priority. What that means if you’re going to minister to people—there a lot of movies you’ll never see, a lot of ball games you’ll never go to, a lot of window shopping you’ll never get to do. And you don’t have to watch movies for adventure because you have a lot of adventure in the lives of the people you’re ministering to. It’s just thrilling to watch God work in another person’s life and in your life, as iron sharpens iron. I’ve learned much from Anthony. There was often a zeal in him for the Lord, an immediate obedience to the Lord, that was a challenge to me. And I was thinking, I need to be as sensitive to the Lord as Anthony is right now. So, it benefitted me in a lot of ways.

Henna: You know, that’s great insight, that you’ve learned as much from Anthony as he may have learned from you. That’s great. Have there been any surprises for you, or any “aha’s” in this experience?

Berg: I think the biggest surprise was how refreshing the relationship with Anthony was. I didn’t have any big traumatic surprises; what I had was a great deal of delight. It was surprising to find out how much of a delight it was to mentor him because of his humility and his teachable-ness, and his willingness to live a life of repentance and dependence on the Lord. It was very refreshing.

Henna: Very refreshing, that’s wonderful. Would you...

For full transcript: https://seminary.bju.edu/viewpoint/jim-berg-freedom-that-lasts/

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