Luke 19 Part 2

Luke 19 Part 2

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? Bishop Lance Johnson uses Luke 19 and the image of an untamed donkey to talk honestly about being bound, broken, and then used by God.

Drawing from a life marked by alcohol and drug addiction, he speaks to anyone who feels stuck in resentment, unforgiveness, abuse, pornography, sexual perversion, alcoholism, pills, or other drugs, and says plainly: "God uses people that used to be bound." You'll hear him describe how God doesn’t wait for people to get cleaned up first. Instead, God meets them tied up and troubled, then "looses" them for a purpose.

Lance challenges religious systems that leave people attending church for decades yet still chained to the same addictions and hurts, urging them to accept that "he who the Son sets free is free indeed." Using vivid farm stories of stubborn donkeys and highly trained horses, he compares unhealthy religious training to being taught to be a spectator rather than a participator.

He calls for "untamed, unbroken donkeys" who haven’t been shaped by ineffective systems but are willing to be shaped directly by Jesus and the Holy Ghost. There’s a strong emphasis on humility: knowing where you came from, remembering who pulled you out of addiction or despair, and refusing to boast in personal ministry or success.

Lance insists that genuine ministry flows from lived experience with Jesus, not just book knowledge, and that the power to break addiction comes from Christ rather than any human programme. For anyone wrestling with addiction, shame, or a sense of disqualification, this message frames their past bondage as the very place where God’s calling begins. It’s a passionate reminder that "the Lord has need of" those who once were bound and now are being set free. Could that be you?