Sermon
Practical Forgiveness | Pr Daniel Chong
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You're listening to a message to go from acts church.
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We hope this message will light up your day.
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Today. We are going to be talking about practical forgiveness. Okay,
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turn your neighbor and say that your neighbor practical forgiveness.
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A lot of times we speak of the term forgiveness,
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and more often than not, more often than not, sometimes
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when the speaker speaks about this, I tend to just
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shut off because I will think to myself, Oh, here
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he goes again. You know it's talking about forgiveness again.
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You're trying to tell me. You're telling me to forgive.
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You don't even know exactly what I went through, and
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yet you are out there quoting Bible versus Bible scripture
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telling me to forgive. Who are you? That's me? Whenever
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someone preaches someone, I would think that in my heart,
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you don't know me. You don't know the things that
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I went through. You don't know the situations that I
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have underwent. You don't know the persecution that I went through. No,
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you don't know, So don't go and quote some random
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Bible scripture and tell me that you must forgive. Well,
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the roles have reversed, and today I am the person
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and trusted with the profit to do the same thing.
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But hopefully I acted the word practical over there, because
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I want to give some pointers or at least something,
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some things that I've learned through my life and even
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through the Lord just ministering to me in this especially
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in this hard week. You know, I would label this
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a very very challenging week. Right, so this week was
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really challenging. Now I was just contemplating should I should
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I speak about this or should I just change the topic.
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And as I was with Elder Bankho and Elder Banho
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was running the funeral service funeral burial, and as they
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lowered free as that body into the ground, I tell
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you what the feeling, or rather I I cried. You know,
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it's not even my family, but I cried because I
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looked at them and it was in that final moment
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where they just started to say goodbye Daddy, and as
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one by one uttered the phrase goodbye Daddy, I just
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can't help but feel for them. But then the sadness
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then turned very quickly into joy because I know, as
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they're saying goodbye Daddy, our father in heaven is also
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saying welcome back home, son. So what the privilege, what
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joy it is to be a believer because death is
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not the end, and even death is not the end.
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I hope that all of us here today we would
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want to live a life to it's you know, here
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on earth that no matter what we do when we go,
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when we go, we will be remembered as one who
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followed after Christ to the very end. Amen. So, uh,
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practical forgiveness, Let's let's just go through some challenges first
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before we open the Word of God today. Forgiveness is
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one of the hardest yet most necessary act as a believer. Agree. Agree,
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Many of us struggle with forgiving others, especially when wounds
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are very deep. Now, let me share your story before
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I go on. I come from a family that are
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not believers, They're not Christians. I come from a little
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town or I'd rather my mom come from a little
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town in your caboon Barle all right, it is between
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your Monta and Sagamat, these two towns enveloped a small
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little town called Baro, and everybody knew everybody, now, uh,
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the one older generations will know that back in the day,
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there are a lot of children right my on, my family,
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I had seven aunties and three uncles. Uh And as
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I was at home the other day, you know, I
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just felt like because they were just sharing a family
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and just told myself, wow, I was so because I'm
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already preparing to share about this. Uh and So for you,
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some of you you have heard the story, just bear me,
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but I'm going to share a little bit. So I
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have an auntie uh and Uh. This auntie is who
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we commonly call as Bury, right, and she is the
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youngest auntie of my mother's family, my sister, my mother's sister.
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And her name is uh maybe I should not real name. Okay,
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she has a name, okay, uh and and and she's
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very dear to me. She's read dear to me. Her
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family is readier than me, all eight of them, you know,
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some of them. I still no for weeks to go
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for their weddings. They get married with them. But she
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passed on. She passed on at a very young age.
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Maybe not so young because she had eight children before
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she passed on, but she was young. She was the
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youngest in the family and first to go.
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Uh.
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And it was such a tragic situation because we come
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from a family of Christians. They are Christians, we are Christians.
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My mom, my dad, and the rest of us are
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not Christians, do not believe us. In fact, they dislike Christianity.
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Dislike is a word that I'm using very kindly. Okay,
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just imagine what it is if I can actually use
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words that would describe the situation. They they dislike, they
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dislike Christians. They when Christians come near them, they just
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shiver because they can't stand the sight of Christians. So
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my family, for the longest time, we were trying to
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reach out right to my grandfather, my grandma, my grandfather
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also passed on. My late grandfather by at that time
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was so difficult, so difficult to share the love of
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Jesus Christ. I myself, I was a brad, I had
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no resemblance of Christ whatsoever, you know, And it was
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just on my mom and my dad, mostly my mom
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to share the good news. And when this happened, when
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my when my youngest auntie passed on, it was so
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tragic because there are certain things that were done in
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the family that my grandpa didn't agree with, didn't agree with,
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and he helped such a resentment towards this auntie's husband,
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which is my uncle, and it was such a torrid time.
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You know, it's different when you want to share the gospel,
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but it's different when there's something that is holding that back.
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You know, it's a really difficult enough to share the
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gospel to people who hate like or just dislike Christians
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or grew up as a you know, a different religion.
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It's it's really difficult. But imagine when the additional layers added.
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It's like, oh, because of you, I lost my daughter,
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my youngest daughter, and it was so tragic. Uh. And
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there were certain Christian values that were even shown, like celibacy,
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like uh, like cannot go to see doctor only must
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just must rely on prayer, you know, cannot go hospital
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or like you know, cannot cannot cannot use protection if
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you understand what I mean, right, because children come from
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the Lord, we shouldn't stop God's blessing. Sometimes, you know,
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it gets a bit too much. And and my my
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grandpad didn't understood the Christian jargons. He don't understand the
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Bible at that time, and he was just so affected
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when my youngest ant went away, So you can understand.
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So there was a resentment, uh. And there was such
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a barrier between us and having that being part of
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my life as I was growing up was difficult because
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I was just a young kid. But yet I had
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to sit on different tables during Chinese New Year just
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because I'm a Christian. Right, Christians cannot be part of
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the family. Christians cannot get unbound. Can you imagine being
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a young boy growing up that way? But my mom
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never gave up. And today I'm going to share with
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you a little bit on this journey on how there
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was actually a reconciliation, on how things actually turned for
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good for the glory of God. And then that time,
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you know, I was young, but I didn't know. But
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what I did know was God was already orchestrating such
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a reconciliation between my family. Right, So at least now
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I know that my grandfather is in heaven with Jesus
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and rejoicing. But it only came because my mom was
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strong enough to forgive, to forgive despite all the dusty
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things that came away. He was strong enough to forgive.
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And I learned that from her. And it's important to forgive. Amen.
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So that's the challenge of forgiveness. And today, if you
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have your Bibles, I would like to turn you to
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Matthew chapter eighteen, and we're going to read a story
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of Jesus telling Peter and the disciples about this unforgiving servant.
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I'm not sure you are have read this before, but
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we're going to read this together. So we're gonna start
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from verse twenty one of chapter eighteen of the Gospel
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of Matthew. Here we go. Then Peter came to him
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and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me?
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And I forgive him up to seven times? Now, if
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you're not aware, this was after Jesus had already taught
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the disciples that you should forgive your brother and sister
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seven times. Even if they come to you and sin
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against you seven times a day, you should forgive them
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seven times. So Peter was just trying to show that
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he's listening, his listening, you know, he's seven times. Because
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in Jewish custom, you know, there is a saying, you know,
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not sure how accurate, but there is a saying that
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you know, if a brother comes to you one time,
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forgive him, two times, forgive him, three times, forgive him,
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but fourth time, nah, don't forgive him. But that was
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in the Book of amos Is. Sometimes it's misled, you know,
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sometimes it gets easily misunderstood. But in the Book of Amos,
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chapter two, verse four, God just says that he would judge.
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He would judge at the fourth time. Now we'll go
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to that verse later. But it's so sometimes we grew up.
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You know, we have certain idea about forgiveness. You know,
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if the world is just us, if someone sins against you, right,
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you slap him back. That's what the world is just us.
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Do not give room for people to bully you, do
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not give room for people to step on you. Right,
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That's what the world just. So that's what the world
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says us. But let's see what Jesus had to say.
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Verse ty, do Jesus say to him? I do not
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say to you up to seven times, but up till
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seventy times seven. Now, I don't know how many of
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you know how to mathia, but that is four hundred
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and ninety right, right. So when I was younger, when
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I read this verse, I thought, oh, that means I
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just had to forgive people four hundred nineteen times. Then
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the fundred ninety one time, I don't forgive anymore. Right,
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that's publical, right, scripture, right, that's what Jesus said. Now,
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as you study the world of God. You know further,
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you will notice that. I'll tell you what you try
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to forgive someone, don't even try to focus someone try
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to count to four hundred nineteen. Now, some of you
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while someone else is talking, try to count. I tell
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you you'll lose count by the time you get to
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even maybe ten. Some of you with more focused, maybe twenty,
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some of you one hundred. By time you count to
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one hundred and five, you will fall asleepery day. It's
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like counting sheep. You know, one sheep, two sheep. You
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know that's not always try to count. I never reached
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more than one hundred and sure, Diane, I mean sleep. Ah,
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you know the Bible do Let's talk about death. The
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Bible says we fall asleep, right, so up to seventy
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times seven. Essentially, it's just as you forgive that much, right,
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you will lose count. You lose count. That's what Jesus
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trying to say. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like
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a southern king who wanted to settle accounts if we servant.
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When he began the certain accounts, one was brought to him,
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who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was
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not able to pay, his master commanded that he be
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sole with his wife and children and all that he had,
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and the payment be made. The servant therefore fell before him, saying, Master,
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have patience with me, and I will pay you all.
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Then the master of the servant was more the compassion
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released him and forgave him the debt. Wow. I wish
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I was that servant sometimes when I have debts with
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the bank and my housing loan. All right, so verse
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twenty eight. But then servant went up and found one
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of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari,
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and he laid his hands on him and took it
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by the trope, saying, pay me what you owe. So
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his fellow servant fell down at his feet and bagged him, saying,
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have patience with me and I'll pay you all. Wow.
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Sounds familiar. And he would not, but went and threw
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him into the prison. To you, he should pay the
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debt to stop here for now. And if you are
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not falling or have not been following me, we are
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talking about the parable of the unforgiving servant. You know,
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if I can. I'm not sure that TV is not
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supposed to work, right, Okay, So can we go to
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the next slide that I have about the talent? So
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one talent is approximately around six thousand days of wages. Now,
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I don't know whether you can count how many years
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that is. And the servant old his master ten thousand talents.
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So if you used math and maph it up, that
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is about sixty million days of wages. One year has
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three hundred and sixty five days. If you live one
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hundred years, Now you get a math, right, how many years?
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Even the longest you know, aged, the oldest person in
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the Bible, would not have sixty million days of breath
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in his lungs. And if you calculate that, it's approximately
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I can't even count and say this word anymore. I
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think it's six billion, six billion USD in two day's calculation. Okay,
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only Elon mus kenner, Okay, but six billion USD. Now
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this is approximate. Hey, before audio audio Bible scholars can
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me now that that was at there and it's four billion, yes, okay,
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I get it. Yes, for the sake of it, six
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billion USDED. And this was the debt that was owed
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to the master. I don't know how in the world
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he accumulated that debt, but he accommodated the debt. Okay,
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ten thousand talents. It is a lifetime and a lifetime
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and a lifetime. And if you and if some of
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them back then believe in reincarnation, they have to reincarnate
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I think ten million times in order to fulfill this debt.
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But the Master forgive him because he fell down to
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his knees back for mercy. The Master said, all right,
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you're free to go. You are free to go. Wow.
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If I have ever experienced that freedom, I would think
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that I would be the most generous person in this world. Right,
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But you know that our hearts are so deceitful, you know,
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and all its reflecting on this. There are many times
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I feel in my life that I have been forgiven
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of a certain thing, But then I forget. So easy
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to forget how much grace has been given to us,
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And it's so easy to just be cruel and to
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just be unkind to people around us. So this servant
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not he went and find his fellow servant. If you
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read scripture, you'll know that this is his or summer
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summer think God Sama daja right, same rank fellow servant.
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It's not even his serven fellow servn that owed him
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one hundred to marry. If you, if you'll translate to
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today's currency, is not ten thousand USD Now ten thousand
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USD is payable, right is payable. So the king was
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moved with such compassion you forgive the death. And the
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story was Jesus about Jesus sharing about this parable where
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even such grace has been given, even after such mercy
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has been given, He went on and he went to
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put this fellow servant in jail. Wow, such contrasting elements
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at play over here. So let's dive a little bit deeper.
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My next light says, which will give you the first
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point of how we can actually apply forgiveness in our
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lives and how we can make it practical. The first
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point I have for you for you today is to
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acknowledge instead of avoiding. All right, So if we backtracked
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in the Book of Matthew, verse eighteen back to verse fifteen,
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Jesus teaches us that when someone sins against us, the
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first thing we should do is to address it, all right.
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The first step to forgiving someone is actually to address
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the problem. Do not avoid the problem. A lot of
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us like to play you know, false peace maker, That's
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what I will call it, right Ahea, don't you know
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I have too much hasla when I come young Gella,
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you know he's the seasider one cannot be saved, no
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matter what I say, no matter what I do. He
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has that face and the face that he has. He won't.
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He wont he wont he won't, he won't. So what
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for I go and approach him? How many of you
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have said this before? What's the point? What's the point
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of me approaching this person when all he's going to
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do is fit in my face? Or some of you
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may be in a stitution where I've tried. I've tried
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so many times, so many angles I've tried. You know,
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like I used, I used to like to use this analogy.
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When you are vacuuming on the floor. You know, some
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of you, you know Malaysians are you're vacuating the floor.
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You go, they come across this one object, he go,
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Can I go in? Okay? Try here again again? Put
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the vacuous side. Many Now what do you do? Woo?
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How many you guilty of that? Huh? You're picking up
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throwing a rubbish? Were not throw it back on the
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floor and trying to vacuum again, y'all did that before?
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I don't don't say you did that. You're trying it
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from all angels. Buster. We tried, we tried, We tried
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to forgive. But did you first acknowledge the problem? Do
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you first acknowledge the sin verse? Fifteen more? If your
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brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault
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between you and him alone. First step, first step, catch this.
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Don't go and convoy Albert, come, Evelyn, come, let's go
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and find him right now, this guy, I tell you,
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are take my money a man. The whole story right already, Noah,
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even before the person, the person, maybe he didn't even
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know that he sinned against you, but yet a whole
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group of people, your family or cat, your dot or noady. No,
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Jesus said, if your brother scenes against you, you feel
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that he wronged you, you go to the first person first.
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Maybe maybe that's why it's so difficult to forgive, because
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when you don't go to that person first and clarify
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that problem, man to man, woman to woman, child to child.
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Maybe because you didn't do that, you didn't give a
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chance for the person to actually explain it. Actually, I
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didn't need it. Maybe if you hurt that right that
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that days you forgive your day. But because you went
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here and you talk, talk unto the talk. You talk
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so much and you cannot be can to form it. Oh,
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this person from a small offense suddenly become like your
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cat died because this person didn't feed him when you
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went for Cny holiday. Jesus said, go between you and
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your brother and him alone. And if he hears you,
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what did you just say? You have gained You have
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gained a brother? Wow? Still beautiful. Right, this is the
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word of God. And if he refuses to hear them,
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tell you to the church. So there's steps to this,
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you know, if you tried be accountable, tell your mentor
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tell you how the leader, Tell someone who you trust
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the steps to this. And Jesus said, assurely, I said
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to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound
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in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be
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loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if
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two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask,
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it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
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For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
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I am in the midst of them. Some of you
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like to quote this scripture for when two tree a getted.
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I am in amazed on that. Wow, such a beautiful prayer.
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Right did you know that it come from Jesus teaching
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us how to forgive? Will you ever callte that scripture again?
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This scripture, this word that came out from the mouth
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of our Lord Jesus, is to guide us in forgiving.
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When two a tree are gethered, you cant shit when
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two or tree are getted. When you and the person
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that's sin against you are gethered, the Lord is in omens.
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The Lord will be there to facilitate the rare conciliation
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between you and the person. When I saw this, I
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went whoa, I went, oh, no, I have been quoting
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this scripture. Well, we're not wrong, but in his essence,
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in its actual context, it's for two brothers that have
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not seen eye to eye, and the Lord says, I
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will be there to facilitate the healing, to facilitate the
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rect consolidation. And that's why sometimes we struggle. We struggle
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so much to forgive because maybe you have not even
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done the first you jump straight away into forgiveness. How
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that crime cannot forgive one can don't forgive, can not forgive.
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Jesus said, first acknowledge instead of avoiding. Do not avoid
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the problem. Friends, I don't know how many of you
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today I'm speaking to you. And if there's someone in
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your midst, a family member that you have not get,
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forgive or maybe maybe you know you wronged him. Because
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the scripture does also say that if the brother that
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sins against you comes to you, you shall forgive him
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how many times master seven times no, up to seventy
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times seven. The first step is to acknowledge the offense. Acknowledge,
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don't avoid it, don't forget it. Acknowledge it because ignoring
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the wound will lead to bigterness. Go directly to the
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person in love, in love aiming for reconciliation. Don't go
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to that person aiming to get that person down. No,
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I'm gonna I'm gonna confront him, and I'm gonna make
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sure he dies. The Bible say, pray for enemy. Okay,
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I pray die. I pray it the next day the
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next time he gets out, he gets his by a car.
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No brob say praimer. Bible as will say that if
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someone slapped me on the left cheek, you should offer
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you a right cheeck. Okay, okay. But the Bible didn't
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say anything after that. So after he lent me both,
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I guess say better. No, no, no, the Bible is saying,
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thank God, then God. It just didn't end there. It
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didn't end there. The Bible is entire voote. The Bible say,
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forgive fucking second point I have for you today is
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recount instead of keeping count. Recount instead of keeping count.
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Now what does that mean? Matthew, Chapter eighteen, verse twenty one.
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I'm going to repeat this verse again. And Peter said,
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came to him and asked, Lord, how often shall my
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brother sin against me? And I forgive him up to
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seven times? You know, Jesus said up to seven times
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seven times. Fast forward verse twenty six. Then the servant
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therefore fell down before him, saying, Master, have patience with me,
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and I will pay you all. And the master of
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the servant, was more of a compassion, released him and
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forgave him that death. So see one of the two.
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To take note of what Jesus said, we just say
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it to Peter. I do not say to you up
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to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. The
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second point is stop keeping count, stop keeping count, stop
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keeping count of how many times this person has sinned
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against you? Because I tell you what, if you continue
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to keep count and you want something that's fair, how
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many of you in this world keep on saying I
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want fairness, I want justice to be served. Now let
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me tell you what if God was a fair God.
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Because you know this God is not a fair god.
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This God is not always fair. God is always just.
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God is a fair God, then you have it all
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coming your way. Man, You have it all coming your way,
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the same fairness that you want your fellow brother that
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sin against you to receive, you will also get in return.
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Because you, my friend, and aren't any better, You, my friend,
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have ran the rat light whoa touching some sensitive stuff? Here? You,
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my friend, you, my friend, have cursed someone who overtakes
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you in front of the road in your own personal time.
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You have done that. You know why? You know why
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I can say this so confidently because nobody taught me
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how to lie when I was younger. Nobody taught me
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how to lie. But yet the lie just came off
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from my mouth like as if it was just naterally born.
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And I have it there all the time and it's
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true because sin was with us from the get go,
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from the moment in which mankind decided to sin against God.
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That sin was there and that's why only Jesus could
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come and take away that sin. So instead of keeping cown,
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how we can actually forgive someone prettic is to recount
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how much you have been forgiven, how much you have
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been forgiven in your life, how many times you have
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been forgiven. Remember, don't even talk about God yet. Okay,
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talk about your parents, talk about people, your friends. How
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many times have you heard this term? It's Okayla, have
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you heard it before? It's okay, don't worry about it now.
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Some of you here may go and think like, oh, yeah,
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maybe I only done a small little thing and a
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small thing small thing. Wrong. Wrong is wrong. White lie
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is white lie. White light is not no liar. White
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light is still live. And you have told a white
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life before, and to you it may be so no,
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so harmless, But you know that maybe to the other
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person is so harmful. You never know, You never know
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the impact that your white life can have over the
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other person. Maybe you just after one day and they
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say you just stole a white light. You know what yeah,
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I'm going to come. I'm gonna come for your party.
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And because you didn't want to reject that person, and
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you say I'm going to come for your party, and
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then the next day you lazy and then you didn't come.
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But what you didn't know is the other person on
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the other end, and this you've been really went out
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and go to the market and buy your entire portion
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of pock or beef ready to cook back with there
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for you, and you didn't show up. What happened to
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the back day? The money? How and if she didn't
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come and like confront me personally, then she's going to
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think study until the whole idea. And that's how things
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can develop, right, that's how things can develop. So instead
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of remembering offenses, remember how much God has given you grace.
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Remember of the grace of the Lord that has been
-
all evident in your life. Instead of thinking how many times,
-
remember until you cannot count anymore, how much grace that
-
God has given to you. And when you do that,
-
I tell you what, when you face your brother, When
-
you face your brother, you will get a tad bit
-
easier because you know that you yourself don't deserve it.
-
Can you imagine two siness to me to one another. Yeah,
-
you know what, I look at that woman last fully.
-
Oh yeah, so I also look before. Okay, okay, yeah
-
I feel so, I feel so the tea. Yeah, I'm
-
the tea too. Be both in the grace of God.
-
Oh I liked before. Oh I stole before. You know
-
once there was once I'm gonna ad meet in a livestream,
-
and there was once I was in Giant. And I
-
have this habit when I was younger to steal sweets,
-
so I would go to Giant. You oppositely, j Wan litterally,
-
I know that you are a bustard at the church
-
opposite something. Now, look that Giant had two tears and
-
back before they had two years. They were at the back.
-
I don't know if you remember this, the Giinals at
-
the back. The pucking was so big and then we're back.
-
So I was there, and I like to go and
-
open their drinks. Open, take a sip, put it back,
-
close it chocolate opened, eat WMBA close back, pull back it.
-
It was me right, and I did it over and
-
over and over and over again until the day that
-
I got caught. And when I got caught, I thought
-
Oh my goodness, my life is gonna and because the
-
security got so fierce a boy, you know, you continue
-
to do it and I'm gonna put you in jailor
-
I put a gack. How are you going to give
-
you back? You died? Just say you're ready. I'm like, okay, okay,
-
I see too. I stole things too. Sometimes we forget.
-
Sometimes we forget what the little mischievous little things that
-
we've done when we're younger. Now that we are, when
-
we're all old and when we all have time and
-
jackets and whatnot, you go like, I tell you what, boy,
-
at your and when I was your age, when I
-
was your age, hats you listen to me. Guys, remember
-
when you were younger, the mischievous things that you have done.
-
Remember how much grace that security guard has given to you.
-
You must have put him through hell too. Every time
-
I do cleaner after you? Are you poor cleaner? In SMKA?
-
Poor cleaner? Are you? Especially the male toilet? Oh my goodness,
-
the things that we do in the male toilet. Don't
-
get me started with the female because all the female
-
things that they are, you know, so innocent, But the
-
moment you enter in your female toilet. You take a
-
utah again, you take a uten because the smell that
-
comes from that place. Oh my good nurse. That's why
-
today today smks you female toilet got no got wall there,
-
but the guy know wall, you know, because we are
-
transparent with what we're doing. The female inside you know not.
-
It's so smelly. Hey, let's all get there. So war
-
the genders again. Yeah, it's bad, it's bad. Good walk
-
in the toilet is bad. I don't know what they
-
do inside there, at least my time, at least my time. Yeah,
-
you know what we do. We put everywhere except the toilet,
-
that's what we do. It was so bad that one
-
day the discipline teacher decided to chase me in the
-
toilet to cut my hair. The more she enters, she
-
went out because he was too smelly. He said, I'm
-
gonna wait for you out here. You're not gonna go anywhere.
-
So remember recount what was done for us, our teachers,
-
our parents, the most importantly, God Firse when he sick.
-
The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, Master, have
-
patience with me, the same phrase that was uttered. But
-
yet the servant took him by the neck. Took him
-
by the neck collosures treat. The team says this my
-
next light says, we must remember what God has done
-
for us. Next light says this the grace of God
-
magnified true, his son, that he gave to the grave
-
for us. You know this is true right in our life.
-
Witness this, Witness the grace of God that was magnified
-
so large through the Son, his son, that he gave
-
to the grave for us. He forgave us. Amen, he
-
forgave us. Next light says this for though trust, and
-
this is the lingo of the generation ze nowadays. F
-
R means for real, okay, for real, for real, which
-
in other terms says for for for trust. Now what
-
is for us means colo the street that he says this,
-
bury with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone
-
has complained against another, even as Christ forgave you, so
-
you must also do remember God's forgive nurse he has
-
forgiven you. Paul instructs bear with one another, Bear with
-
one another. He didn't say it's gonna be easy. That's
-
why he says, you got to bear with another. It's
-
not gonna be easy. That's why you gotta bear. Next
-
like says this in Luke chapter six, verse thirty seven.
-
Judge not and you shall not be judged. Condemned not
-
and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will
-
be forgiven. Wow. Next light says, release the depth to God.
-
How to forgive? You may ask how to forgive? Let
-
it go and release the debt to God. Release the
-
debt to God. Jesus said, forgive and you will be forgiven.
-
Amos two vers. Four, I alluded to this earlier says,
-
Thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Judah, and
-
for four I will not turn away its punishment. Because
-
they have despised the law of the Lord, and they
-
have not kept his commandments. Their lies lead them astray,
-
lives which your father's followed. Now the book of Amos,
-
the prophet Amos speaks of God's judgment upon those who
-
refuse to obey His ways. Where we struggle with forgiving.
-
You know, friends, this is one thing that I want
-
you to catch when we struggle with forgiving. Because the Bible,
-
because the Word of God teaches us to forgive, we
-
are to forgive and to trust in God. Trust that
-
God will execute the right judgment over this particular person
-
trusts trust in him because there are certain things that
-
in this world you find it very difficult. Let's let's
-
name a few. Let's say someone came and murdered your child.
-
How can you forgive such a Oh? How how when
-
my auntie died? I didn't want to go into the details.
-
But let's just put it this whaler, Okay, it's to
-
my grandfather, right, It's as good as you took the
-
life of my daughter. Let's just put it this way.
-
I should not die in the details. If you don't know,
-
come and find me later and I should share some
-
with you. It's as good as that. How to forgive?
-
How to ever for give? But I tell you what,
-
when my grandfather experienced the love of Jesus Christ true,
-
my mom that constantly spake spoke to him and shared
-
the Gospel with him and shared love with him. To him,
-
he forgive. And today we can come together. We can
-
come together and we can call each other family if
-
we are at that point. So I'm thinking to sount
-
of your friends, if you are that point today, trust
-
in God's judgment. Trust that God will execute the right
-
judgment that is just. But only him and him alone.
-
Will know because you are not God. So trust in
-
God's judgment. See s. Lewis once said this, to be
-
a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has
-
forgiven the inexcusable in you. Right, I want to catch this.
-
You may think that you are in a higher place
-
as come back to your brother that sin against you. No,
-
when God forgave you, it was also inexcusable. It was
-
also warranting of death, and God had to send his
-
one and only begun in Son to change that around.
-
My final point that I'll give to you today is
-
healthy instead of hardened heart. Heaven healthy, have a healthy
-
instead of a hardened heart. You know, when you harden
-
your heart, there's very little that God can do. It's
-
very little that God can do. I repeat myself to
-
a person with a hardened heart when you have already
-
decided not to forgive, even before approaching that person. There's
-
very little that God can do. God can change your mind.
-
He can. It's all powerful. But that's not the nature
-
of our God. He has given us a free will
-
and a free choice to make decisions that are pleasing
-
to Him. But unfortunately, most of the time, as men
-
we do not do that. We do not make decisions
-
that are pleasing to our God. So have a healthy heart.
-
In other words, check your heart when when you have
-
this offense, someone has caused you to feel so angry,
-
Check your heart. Why am I actually angry? Ask that question,
-
because sometimes you may find the answer in your own
-
heart that perhaps it's not even the other brother that's
-
sinned against you, Perhaps it's your own heart that is
-
deceiving you. What do I mean by that? Men? Til
-
eighteen twenty eight or thirty four is the story of
-
their with the other seven? All right? But that seven
-
went out and found his fellow servant, who owe him
-
very little, less one hundred denary, And immediately, immediately he
-
laid hands on him and began to strangle him, and said,
-
pay me what you owe. Can you imagine this? No chance,
-
no chance to actually defend himself. Can you see the
-
contrast between what the master did to him and his
-
fellow Seven fell out to his feet and backed him, saying,
-
have patience with me. I will pay you all. Just
-
a little patience, please, just a little patience. All I'm
-
asking is a little bit of grace. I'm not even
-
saying that I won't pay you back. I will pay
-
you back. Just give me a little bit of time, please.
-
I need to feed my family. I need to work
-
to earn this money. I know I owe you. I'm
-
not saying I don't owe you. I'm not saying I
-
don't want to pay you back. I won't pay you back.
-
Just give me a little bit time. And he would
-
not true in the prison until he should pay the debt.
-
And why I say, check your heart, because notice this,
-
how in the world it's the servant, the fellow servant
-
going to pay him back to debt if he is
-
unable to work. If I am after my fellow brother
-
for what he owed me, shouldn't I give him the
-
opportunity to work for it. Even the aurlongs will come
-
to your house and give you time to get it back.
-
They will hand you down wherever you go, but they
-
will still give you time. They will still give you
-
an opportunity to at least earn the money back. How
-
is he going to get his money back if you
-
can't even go and get the money. Think about it.
-
What was the hundred thenari? Really? What he was really after?
-
He was just set free from ten thousand talons and
-
yet one hundred Denari's the money. Really what he was
-
after was the sin that was against him? Really what
-
he was after? Or was it something else? Was it
-
something else in your heart that you wanted to show
-
that you are the bigger person. Not in a good way,
-
but you want to show that you are the king
-
over this person's life. You want to be worshiped. You
-
want to be lord over this person. You want to
-
be that much o man. Because if you really really
-
want that hundred narried back, you will not throw him
-
into the jail. It will be ineffective and inefficient to
-
get your money back. So, friends, I want to encourage you,
-
check your heart first, check why why is it that
-
you are really really upset and angry with this person?
-
It's the matter of the heart. It's the matter of
-
the heart. This ParaBody just that forgiveness is about more
-
than just the depth that was owed. It's just it's
-
more about that. It's more than that. It's more than
-
a depth. It's about letting go of the control and
-
power that we think that we have over the situation.
-
Some of us think that the reason why I don't
-
want to forgive is because I want to continue to
-
control this person. I want to continue to control lord
-
over this person. The next time I need a favor
-
you need, you owe me. The next time you need
-
you need this, you owe me A Remember the last
-
time you did this to me? A don't forget her.
-
And you hold that person like a dog by the
-
lish and all the persons old use ten, one, hundreds
-
of narries. But yet you are hoping to extart more
-
from this person. Every time I have something that I need,
-
you come, woof, Come be my slave. The irony is
-
that you have just been set free. You have just
-
been set free in the name of Jesus. Let go
-
of bitterness. Let go of bidterness, says the next light.
-
Let go of bitterness. My friends, efficients for that he
-
wanted that he do says this. Let all bitterness, rough, anger, clamor,
-
and evil speaking be put away from you, Be put
-
away from you with all malice, and be kind to
-
one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God
-
in Christ forgive you. I came across this courte I
-
want to share with you today. Eric Waterinson says this.
-
By forgiving the hurt and the disappointments of your past,
-
you release it from holding onto you in your future
-
and hindering your progress. By forgiving the hurt, you're releasing.
-
You're releasing that hurt from holding onto you in your future,
-
and it may hind your progress. And when you are hurt,
-
you wire hurt people. And what you don't know is
-
that people around you will also get hurt and affected
-
by it because you live such a hurtful life. Rather
-
than just you being the one affected, now your entire
-
household is affected. Now, your entire household cannot go back
-
for a Chinese year because you're going to sit see
-
well with the auntie. But your son and daughter who
-
grew up with that auntie and uncle all this one
-
now cannot see the Indian uncle because of your fault,
-
because of your disagreements, you now affect another person's life
-
when you do not let go. Unforgiveness keeps us tight.
-
The past, says the next light. But forgiveness allows us
-
to move forward in God's plan. Amen forgiveness allows us
-
is it's not about that person, It's about you, the
-
condition of your heart. And as you forgive, you more
-
forward in God's plan. When to end with this the
-
blessings of forgiveness says, the next light very quickly. Now,
-
next light, blessings of forgiveness, give you another throd for
-
real freedom from bondage. You'll be set free in the
-
name of Jesus. Relationships will be restored like how my
-
family was restored in the name of Jesus. Wow, such
-
a beautiful picture. Now I can finally have a family
-
picture again, and no longer a Christian family picture and
-
another religion family picture. No, it is together again. It's
-
together again and more importantly, a heart that is aligned
-
with God. And we like to quote the scripture another
-
scripture that we like to quote, the peace of the
-
Lord that surpasses all understanding will be with you, the
-
peace of God, something that you can't forgive, naturally, supernaturally,
-
the peace of the Lord will be with you, even
-
though the world says that this is an unforgivable sin.
-
But yet the peace of the Lord, which suppasses all understanding,
-
will be with you. Amen, go the end with this.
-
Lewis b ss is my favorite courte and I'm going
-
to give it to you today. He says, to forgive
-
is to set a prisoner free and discover that prisoner
-
was you. All this while you were living in that jail,
-
and as you step out in faith, you take that key,
-
you unlock that door, you fling the door wide open.
-
And like when the gods came and checked where Jesus
-
was in their grave, he looked in and noticed that
-
it was empty, the forgive is like coming out of
-
that grave. It's like coming out from that tone realizing that, hey,
-
I am no longer a captive here in the name
-
of Jesus. Now I am free. That's what forgiveness does
-
to you. I'm going to give you an illustration. You know.
-
The word forgiveness is so wonderful because if you look
-
at the center of the word of forgiveness, you'll see
-
three letters over there. IV. In short, that means I
-
have right. So the next time you see the word forgiveness,
-
you remember this. As much as you have been given forgiveness.
-
Forgiveness also means that you are responsible forgiving forgiveness. I
-
have given forgiveness. When I receive forgiveness freely, I receive freely,
-
I shall also give in the name of Jesus. Amen.
-
When you look at the word forgiveness, it's not just
-
about you receiving, is about you giving. It's about the
-
love of God that flows through you and true you. Amen. So, friends,
-
I'm gonna take this time, I know a little bit
-
earlier than normal, but I'm gonna take this time to
-
just pray some of you here. You know, even after today,
-
you may be feeling a little bit conflicted. Maybe you
-
oh that brother, that sister, that one person, that one
-
person in my family that I have not spoken to
-
in years, years and years, spoken to this person. I'm
-
gonna pray that today will be the day that you
-
are set free. Now, I'm not gonna I'm not saying
-
it it's easy. It's never easy to forgive. It's never easy.
-
By your own strength, it is not possible. But when
-
you surrender it to God, When you surrender it to God,
-
God will lead you. God will guide you. And I
-
pray that God will show you the way. He will
-
show you the way. He will give you the keys
-
of forgiveness. He'll give you the keys. Now, friends, I
-
want you to invite to stand and I want you
-
to just recall and recollect right now in this moment.
-
Is there a person in your life? Is there an
-
individual in your life? Is there someone that you have
-
not forgiven in a long time, or is there someone
-
that have recently hurt you. Maybe it's a pastor, maybe
-
it's me right now sharing the word to you forgive me.
-
Maybe it's something that has been binding you for a
-
long time. I want to encourage you right now to
-
just surrender that meat before our Lord Jesus Christ. And
-
today we're gonna pray and change be set free in
-
the name of Jesus. Let forgiveness flow, Let forgiveness flow.
-
Let the Gospel of Jesus Christ flow. Right now. The
-
Gospel of Jesus Christ is also a reminder of his
-
forgiveness for us. As we have once freely received the gospel.
-
Now it also flows. It also flows through our feet. No,
-
Jesus at the Last Supper he bent down and he
-
washed the feed of his disciples. And if you know
-
the spiritual armor of God, the feet the sandals represent
-
the Gospel of peace. The reason why he washes the
-
feet of disciples is because as you go out there,
-
you get your feet dirty, and as you come back home,
-
you need His loving touch and his grace to develop you.
-
To wash your feet, To wash your feet, Allow God
-
to come into your life right now and wash that
-
means of transport in your life, your feet that goes
-
out there into this world, bringing the Gospel everywhere you go.
-
Let it be cleaning and they or just let no
-
unforgiveness hinder the work of God in your life. Let
-
no unforgiveness cause the other brother do not experience the
-
love of Jesus Christ, because Oh God desires, Oh Man,
-
to come to the saving grades of the knowledge of
-
Jesus Christ. So right now, friends, that's you. I want
-
you to symbolically lift up your hands right now in worship.
-
And as we worship God with all that we have,
-
and as we acknowledge God's presence in our lives, and
-
we acknowledge that we can't forgive, we can't forgive by
-
our own strength. Lord, we need you to come into
-
our lives right now. We need your peace and suppose
-
all understanding to come. Then we need your boness to come.
-
I need boness in order to come and approach my brother.
-
And if I have not approached him yet, Lord, I
-
pray that I will stop avoiding the issue and acknowledge,
-
Lord God that my brother has sinned against me, and
-
I shall go man to man. I shall go and
-
go without causing a disrupt without gossiping our goal, and
-
I will acknowledge and I will try to settle it
-
man to man and in Lord. If that does not work, God,
-
I pray that I will remember how much you have
-
forgiven me. I will not keep count of how many
-
times this person have followed me, but I shall remember,
-
and I shall forgive. And Lord, I pray that if
-
there is any one of you right now here that
-
is struggling because it is just too much for you,
-
I pray that you will begin to trust God with
-
all that you have. Trust that God will come true
-
for you. And God will come true in his timing
-
and his timing. Only that boss that have said very
-
mean things to you, that clique that is just not
-
approachable right now, I pray that all of you will
-
begin to surrendering right now to our King of Kings,
-
Lord and Lord, and he will give you the strength.
-
He will give you the wisdom that is needed in
-
order to forgive. So finding the name of Jesus. You
-
see these hands, we often like to pray, Give us
-
clean hands, give us your hearts. Purify our heart of
-
any unforgiveness, Purify our heart of any thoughts that are
-
just there to sick, kill and destroyed as planted by
-
the enemy. Release it in the name of Jesus. Cause
-
your sons and daughters in this house again right now
-
to be able to breathe. Some of them are in
-
a place where it's so difficult to breathe spiritually, and
-
sometimes the spiritual affects the physical. Right now, release, release, forgiveness.
-
Flow in the name of Jesus. Right now, forgive in
-
the name of Jesus.
-
Forgive us our depths, as we forgive those that are
-
in depth against us. As much as you want to
-
be forgiven, you forgive, as much as you want to
-
be forgiven. You forgive in the name of Jesus. Change
-
be set free in the neighbor Jesus. Flow, flow your
-
grace You're anointing. Right now, Flow in the name of Jesus.
-
Families come together once again.
-
Families reconcile and begin to see pictures of sisters looking
-
at sisters smiling once again, cousins coming together. The work
-
play is getting more envelope with joy because forgiveness now flow.
-
Forgive this flow in the name of Jesus. Some of us.
-
Right now, I pray bonders to come o you to confront,
-
to acknowledge, and to go in love with reconciliation at
-
the back of your mind. That is the main goal,
-
not to go in head, not to go to seek
-
you and destroy, but the goal in love, to go
-
in love. Let love be your guiding light. Let God's
-
love be your guiding light. That God's peace around you.
-
Right now, We're not gonna rush this moment because I
-
feel that God is gonna move in the nail. Jesus,
-
the change are beginning to set free. Right now, you
-
are finding the key. You're finding the key to set
-
yourself free. To set yourself free in the name of Jesus.
-
Not by my not by power, but by the Spirit,
-
says the lead Holy Spirit. Dissent right now, like a
-
death upon our lives. We acknowledge you, God, we acknowledge you.
-
Give us the strength to forgive before it's too late,
-
before that person goes away and we are at the
-
person funeral and now we don't have a chance anymore.
-
Forgive before it's too late. Anything can happen at any
-
given time. Forgive before it's too late. Do not bring
-
unforgiveness to the grave. Let go of any bitterness, Let
-
go of any bitter thoughts. In the name of Jesus,
-
let kindness envelop you and I prayed, and in the
-
coming days we will act. We will act on what
-
we are receiving from you today. And the joy of
-
the Lord continue to be your strength. Let the Joy
-
of the Lord continue to be your strength. Be set free,
-
Be set free in the name of Jeez.
-
In the name of Jeez, we hope you've been blessed
-
by this message. For more information on our church, please
-
visit as church org. We are also active on Facebook
-
and Instagram. We're believing that this week is going to
-
be a good week, a hit for you. God bless