|
SUNDAY SERVICE August 12, 2007
MERCY AND FORGIVING—LOVE AND GRACE
“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1John 4:11 "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7, KJV
"Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love
covereth all sins." Proverbs 10:12, KJV
At the beginning of last week, I watched a Joyce Meyer show on which John and Lisa Bevere were the guests. I really felt like God was telling me to speak about this topic on Sunday: MERCY AND FORGIVING, LOVE AND GRACE.
Every single one of us has received mercy, forgiveness, and love from God. We’ve been redeemed and pardoned and we did nothing to deserve it. There is none righteous…no not one. God loved us so much that, even while we were still sinners, He forgave and saved us—NOT BECAUSE WE WERE WORTHY OR SEEKING HIM FIRST. HE SOUGHT US WHILE WE WERE STILL RUNNING FROM HIM! ROMANS 5:7-9 (AMP) 7Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. 8But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. We can never, never pay back this debt that we owe Him because we have nothing to pay it back with. That’s okay. God doesn’t expect us to. But there is something that God absolutely wants from us:
He wants us to give (humanly speaking) what we have received from him. We have received love, and He wants us to give love. We’ve received forgiveness and, now, He wants us to turn around and forgive others. We’ve received mercy and God wants us to BE merciful to others. How often? Always. To what degree? Infinity. Are there any limits? No.
NO LIMITS! But, I want to be very careful here to balance this. While we are to forgive and love (even our enemies) without limits, we are not to allow people to manipulate us or to harm us or others. That has nothing to do with forgiving and mercy. Many times, the reason it’s hard for us to be merciful is because we think that having mercy means to be wimpy and allow others continued access to our lives. We stay in the situation and they keep messing with us and we get more and more resentful. We are to forgive, to love, but sometimes, we need to also put some distance between ourselves and persons who would sabotage our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
We are also not to be people pleasers as Kim has so aptly taught us. We are people servers—not people pleasers. I highly recommend reading Kim’s last message at: http://www.hopeontheinside.org/MIDWEEKSTUDYkim8.htm
As John defines God in I John, he says, “God is love.” As the sons and daughters of God, having received the riches of heaven, should we not be defined by love, forgiveness, mercy, generosity? Having received God’s grace, should we not become grace to the world of people surrounding us?
WE ARE THE RECIPIENTS OF GOD’S GRACE!
What is Grace? Unmerited favor. No matter how good any of us think we are, when we are compared to God’s standard of perfection, we fall totally short. That’s why we need Grace. So, not only did God forgive us and save us, but He continually gives us FAVOR…not because we have earned it or deserve it, but because He loves us. That should actually take a huge burden off of us because we tend to think we have to earn God’s favor. Yes, we need to obey Him and serve Him, but we can never earn His favor because the price is too great. Thank God, He chooses to GIVE His Favor…unmerited favor…GRACE!
AND GOD WANTS US TO GIVE WHAT WE’VE RECEIVED.
Have others hurt you? I know the answer is yes. I’ve been hurt by people countless times and I know that I have hurt others. That’s why God tells us to forgive and forgiving implies that someone has done us wrong. It’s really strange that we have come to think that we can only forgive those who haven’t really done wrong. Why would they need to be forgiven if they hadn’t done wrong? No, we can only use forgiveness when we have been wronged and hurt.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses." Matthew 6:14-15, KJV
Because forgiving, mercy, love and Grace are so important to God, that is the area that Satan will target in our lives. It may seem like other things are going on, but the “other things” are really a smoke screen and bait to get us to be unmerciful, unforgiving, unloving. That way, He can not only mess us up completely but He can mar the image of God in us.
In His book, “THE BAIT OF SATAN”, John Bevere exposes Satan’s main bait and trap.
The description of his book at http://www.strangdirect.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16534 is:
“Escape the enemy's deadly trap! The Bait of Satan exposes one of the most deceptive snares Satan uses to get believers out of the will of God-offense. Most people who are ensnared by the bait of Satan don't even realize it. Don't be fooled! You will encounter offense, and it's up to you how it will affect your relationship with God. Your response will determine your future. If offense is handled correctly, you will become stronger rather than bitter. In this tenth anniversary edition of his best-selling book, John Bevere shows you how to stay free from offense and escape the victim mentality. With more than 400,000 copies in print, this book includes testimonials of transformed people who have read copies in print, this book includes testimonials of transformed people who have read the original book and a devotional supplement, featuring discussion questions, scriptures, and prayers. You will find answers to tough questions like these: · Why am I compelled to tell "my side" of the story? · How can I fight thoughts of suspicion or distrust? · What can I do to stop rehearsing past hurts? · How can I regain trust after someone deeply offends me? This book will help you escape the enemy's "offensive trap" as well as empower you to stay free of offense, enabling you to have an unhindered relationship with God.”
If you want to read more about this, I suggest Joyce Meyer’s site at http://www.joycemeyer.org/OurMinistries/Magazine/0612/The+Bait+of+Satan.htm
Here is a quote from there:
“The Greek word for offend in Luke 17:1 comes from the word skandalon. This word originally referred to the part of a trap to which the bait was attached. In the New Testament it often describes an entrapment by the enemy. A trap needs one of two things in order to be successful. Either it must be hidden, in the hope that an animal will stumble upon it, or it must be baited to lure the animal into the trap’s deadly jaws. Satan incorporates both of these strategies as he lays out his traps. They’re hidden and baited. If we’re not trained by the Word of God to rightly divide between good and evil, we won’t recognize his traps for what they are.”
Skandalon always denotes the enticement or occasion leading to conduct which brings with it the ruin of the person in question.
“The enemy uses offense to bring people into captivity.
I really had a tough time getting this message done and now recorded. The enemy tried every way to stop me---including sickness, and even as I’ve been recording, my throat is closing up, but I will not let the enemy stop me.
Joyce Meyers goes on to say:
“The truth of offense is this: Those you care about the most can offend or hurt you the most. You expect more of those you care about, and the higher the expectations, the greater the opportunity to be offended and fall into the devil’s trap. In Psalm 55:12-14 David laments, For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. …But it was you, a man my equal, my companion, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng (NKJV). Most often it is a fellow believer who has hurt you, and this causes the offense to go deeper; it feels like a betrayal.
And what does hatred do? We know what Jesus said about that:
1 John 2:10-12Amplified Bible (AMP) But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [ in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
10Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.
Joyce continues:
Jesus taught that if we didn't forgive others, God would not forgive us. He taught us to forgive others as we ourselves obtained forgiveness from God. He also spoke highly of those who are merciful.
We will continue this message next time but, for now, I challenge you to take these scriptures and admonitions to heart. Let God reveal the areas in each of our lives that we have been hiding from.
Some times there are layers and layers in our lives and we need to get through them. I pray that God will help us to do that today and this week. It might be painful but it will be so worth it! |
|
|
