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Forgiveness is the hallmark of Christianity. We have an understanding of the importance of forgiving those who wrong us. The Roman soldiers and the priests crucified Jesus for no legitimate reason, but He still forgave them.
Mark 11:26 If you do not forgive, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses. What will happen to us if we are not forgiven? Isn't forgiveness the prerequisite to becoming a Christian? I was a very accomplished sinner and after my conversion to Christ, my conscience hounded me for a couple of years. But when I forgave those who wronged me and forgave myself, my conscience no longer convicted me. Unforgiveness is a portal into our lives the devil uses to gain access. Repentance closes the door. One day Jesus spoke a parable to Peter. A man owed another man twenty million dollars and he couldn't pay his bill. The debtor begged for mercy and it was granted him. Then the forgiven man found a man that owed him twenty dollars and he would not in turn forgive that small debt. When the rich man found out what the forgiven man had done, he had him thrown in prison. (Mathew 18:21-35) Mathew 18: 34-35 The rich man turned the one who he had forgiven over to the tormentor, until he paid his debt. So likewise shall My Father do to you if you will not forgive your brothers. What does it mean to us to be turned over to the tormentor? A beautiful sweet lady at our church came to me years ago with a problem that had plagued her for years. She had been abused physically, mentally and sexually by her father and uncles. She was in tears as she told me that she could not forgive them no matter how hard she tried. I felt pity for her because her abuse was coming into her marriage and her husband couldn't understand. I read the chapter in Mathew's Gospel to her to help her understand her family didn't deserve to be forgiven but she must find a way. According to Jesus , the debt we owe Him for forgiving us is a twenty million dollar debt. As ugly and disgusting as it was, her family's debt to her amounted to twenty dollars. She began to understand she would not find justice, she would find peace despite what they had done to her. She needed to forget what they had done and focus on what Jesus did. I would like to tell you she got free, but they moved away so I don't know. What happens to a man that God will not forgive? 1Corinthians 11:31-32 If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. God judges us so that we should not be condemned with the world. The people in the world are under the influence of the devil, they are weak and sickly and many of them are dying prematurely. If we refuse to forgive, our Father won't forgive us and we will suffer the fate of the people in the world. God wants a better life for us than we want for ourselves! Most people who are forgiven don't even know about it, but the one who forgave knows because they maintain their peace with God. Most people who need to be forgiven don't deserve it but we cannot use that as an excuse. It is always far better to forgive than be turned over to the tormentor. The devil encourages unforgiveness because then he gets a free shot at us. That's why he's called a tormenting spirit. So, no matter who you must forgive, it's only a twenty dollar debt.
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Years and years ago I attended a ministers conference in another state and was gone for a week. When I came back I found that a clique of disgruntled church members tried to hold a coup. Seven people wanted my church but they didn't want me or my doctrines, which is the Word of Faith. As I sat in my chair praying, the Lord said this to me: If you let Me handle this I will separate these seven people and there will be no split. I quickly agreed and that night the ring leader called me and wanted to talk. He came to my house and told me they didn't agree with my teaching; they had a Baptist background. The seven left peaceably but then they started telling lies about me. I went back to the Lord to find out what I should do, He gave me a Scripture.
Mathew 5:44 I say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. I knew God was right as usual but my flesh was crying for vengeance. I knew a lot about their personal life and I wanted to stand before the people and expose all the silly things they did but the Lord said no. I submitted to the Lord and then I asked Him what He wanted me to pray for them. He said pray for whatever you would want people to give you, pray blessings over them. It felt weird at first but I knew I was doing what I was instructed to do. It became easy to pray for them because the Holy Spirit led me in those prayers. A year later we began to build this church and about two thirds into the project, we ran out of money for material. I prayed and asked the Lord what to do and He didn't tell me, but the next offering was so big it paid our bills and had enough to buy the material we needed. I thanked our Lord and then I asked Him why He did it that way, usually He would have me sow a seed into a pastor's building project. Here's what He told me: when you prayed for your enemies you prayed they would have building materials, they would not receive your prayers so I gave their blessings to you! Mathew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. When you pray blessings, those are things that you yourself would want and if your enemies refuse them they will come to you. This is a spiritual law established by the prophets. Take care now, if you pray a curse on your enemies, it could come back on you. Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth was not revenge, it was punishment for bad behavior. Jesus said the law was established by the prophet. Leviticus 19:18 You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. If you read the Ten Commandments and obey them, you will be demonstrating a love for people. If you love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, you will have kept all the commandments. You cannot hate anyone you pray for because prayer is the release of love. Praying for your enemies is not a weakness, it takes a measure of strength and a considerate amount of faith. Bless your enemies. The world is in total confusion concerning our chaotic world, they blame bad people and mother nature. They don't realize it but they are putting all this upheaval square on God's shoulders. No one is safe, even the babies and children are victims of this evil world. Did God leave a space in the world for evil when He created it? No way! Every good and perfect thing comes from above. The Christians are well aware of the spiritual outlaw, the devil who hates all of mankind. The world knows there is a devil out and about and they believe he is on the level of God. They think God and the devil are at war and man is caught in the middle.
We need to be honest in order to deal with all the bad things in our world. Genesis 3:17 God said to Adam, because you disobeyed Me the earth is under a curse because of you. In sorrow and toil you will live all the days of your life. God gave Adam dominion and he chose to obey the serpent (the devil) and he became satan's servant. Adam had a nature that did not come from God and so the curse came out of him and evil covered the whole planet. How did Adam's treason change creation? Now we must contend with draughts, floods, fires, tornados, hurricanes, pestilence, poverty, deceit, hatred, murder, etc. Bad things happen to good people because one man chose to disobey God, the father of all living souls. Insurance companies refer to climate tragedies as acts of God, but they are acts of sin. Man refuses to accept sin as the reason for chaos in our world, they want to blame anything but themselves. 1 Corinthians 11:31 If we would judge ourselves, we will not be judged. What is our judgement that we are spared from when we judge ourselves? It's the curse that Adam brought on himself and the world. God cannot help until we become honest with Him, but most folks are either afraid or are in denial. Some of our most accomplished sinners don't believe they have done anything wrong. There are few who are willing to take responsibility for their life, they always play the victim card and excuse themselves. Do we live with the curse until death do us part or is there a way around it? Romans 10:9 If you will openly confess the Lordship of Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Saved from what? Our sins, hell, and in this life the curse Adam released on mankind. The curse will be here until the devil is locked away in hell, but we don't have to yield to it. Christ bore our curse on His body on the cross. Bad things happen because a spiritual outlaw has been loosed into our world and sin gives him strength. If we have no sin, the devil has no power over us, he is left with temptations. Our dominion has been restored, Jesus defeated the devil and then gave us the power to use His Name. Romans 12:21Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. The devil uses his evil ways to pull us in to evil ways in order to deal with him, but God has a better plan. When the devil tempts us he is hoping he can draw us into the flesh where we are powerless against him. If we do good, that is to walk in the spirit, he must surrender to our commands. He has no choice. We are God's people and all things work together to them that keep His commandments. Some Christians are laser focused on the Ten Commandments, the Commandments when adhered to, cause us to love. Remember the words of Jesus. If you love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, you will keep all the commandments and the devil has no law in which to accuse you. There is a group of people in the earth that God refers to as the elect. Who are the elect and why are they important to God?
Mathew 24:24 False Christs and false prophets will show great signs and wonders; if it were possible, they could deceive the very elect. By definition the elect are God's favorites, His chosen. They are people who dedicated themselves to His calling. Many are called but few are chosen. Very few can be called the elect. So, in simple terms, who are the elect? They are the people who respond to God's call and they remain dedicated all their lives. Paul was one of the elect. He said "I have fought the good fight, I finished my course, I have kept the faith". Paul had a close, personal relationship with Jesus. They communed regularly so God was not a mystery to him. A person who has a casual relationship with the Lord would not be called the elect. False Christs and false prophets cannot deceive the true elect because the true elect are in touch with the Holy Spirit. I have watched a lot of good people get seduced away by false doctrine, they never let God's Word be settled in their hearts. They were not exactly sure what they believed. When the deceiver came along they were taken out of the security of the true Word. God's Word is alive and well in the earth today because there are dedicated men and women who could not be deceived. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for the catching up will not come unless the apostacy (denying one's faith) comes first(that's is, the great rebellion, the abandonment of the faith by professed Christians) and the man of lawlessness is revealed. We are living in the day of this prophecy, church membership has dropped by over fifty percent worldwide. We are living in the time of the great apostacy. In 1939 Smith Wigglesworth was shown four things that would happen. Three of those things have come to pass and the last one is about to manifest. He said the last day revival would be the greatest the world has ever seen. You cannot revive something that has never been alive. I believe this great last days revival will draw all those people who fell away from the faith. God is not going to allow the devil to have the last word. He has never given up on anyone. Some how or another the Holy Ghost and His nine gifts will play a major role in this last great revival. Smith said he saw hospitals emptied out as the sick were taken to places where the Holy Ghost was allowed to move. John 15:16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth, and whatsoever you ask of My Father in My Name, He may give it you. God has chosen vessels even to this day, people who will do whatsoever He says. The Father knows who these people are because Jesus has confessed them before the Father. These are the elect that God has called, He does not love them more than anyone else but He can use these folks. All the elect have one thing in common, they are faithful and dedicated to the service of the Lord. The church of our Lord Jesus does not have as many members as it once did but the remnant are the elect. God will use the elect to draw the backslider, whom He loves so much, back to His presence. That day will be the devil's third greatest defeat. His first was getting kicked out of Heaven, the second was at the cross and the fourth will be eternity in hell. Goodbye devil. Over the years I have seen a lot of good kids in our church but now most are gone, few remain. From time to time I hear about some of those kids, where they are and what they are doing. I miss them. Just recently the Lord spoke to me of a Scripture that pertains to our kids.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The Lord pointed out to me where I was misusing this Scripture. I was reading it this way: Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from his church! Our kids may move around and experience a few things but if we did our part, they will hold fast to what we taught them. I don't see our kids and I don't know what they are up to but I am obliged to believe they have not turned from the truth. We must put our faith and trust in the Lord and His Word, it's better than worrying over them. 2 Timothy 1:5 My son Timothy, I think of your strong faith that was passed down through your family line. It began with your grandmother Lois, who passed it on to your dear mother, Eunice. And it's clear that you too are following in the footsteps of their godly example. Faith is hereditary, it can be passed down to our kids and it stays with them for as long as they want it. According to the Scriptures, I am the Spiritual father to all of those kids who grew up in our church. Our kids had a double dose of faith they left here with, we must believe they will not depart from the truth. I had twelve years of Catholic doctrine drilled into my young skull full of mush. Catholicism doesn't follow the Bible but it will lead you to have faith in God. At the age of seventeen I departed from God and was joined to a stranger named Uncle Sam. For about eight years I ignored what truth was departed into me and I lived with and for the devil. No matter how naughty I became I could not shake the voice of truth I heard about God. I was trained to go the way of the Catholics so I returned to my roots and began to search for God. I did not find Him in my Catholic church , but I did find Him while I attended my Catholic church. Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. When a prodigal embraces truth, he will also be given mercy. He will be restored to perhaps better than before. God does not penalize His kids when they return to Him after a long absence. As a church we must welcome all prodigals with open arms and thank God for drawing them back. Do they need to be in the church they grew up in or is it more important that they be in the truth they grew up in? When we were kids, the adults were appalled at our behavior and physical appearance. When I was a kid, the adults had a problem with our long hair. As adults we are shocked with all the tattoos the kids are getting. Every generation expresses themselves with something out of the ordinary. We must accept them as the way they want to present themselves. We must not allow differences of expression to be a wedge between us. The adult children are coming home and they are weird just like we were, but they know the right way. Don't let anything about the kids shock you, God loves them and He receives their praise. |
TEXT FOJCHURCH
TO 84576 OFFERING DECLARATION
I gave God His tithe and He has opened Heaven over me. Now I sow the seed He gives me, the devil cannot eat my seed. The curse cannot stop my harvest and God will never forget my seed. I am truly blessed like Abraham and I give God all the glory. PRAYER FOCUS “Declarations Continued”
JOB 22:28 You will declare a thing, and it will be established for you Declarations over our children: I declare my child(ren) shall be taught of the Lord I declare great is the peace of my child(ren) I declare my child(ren) hear God’s voice and walk in truth I declare my child(ren) serve God all the days of their lives. Declarations over America: We declare that the power of Christ’s redemption is greater than the power of sin and death in America We declare that America will be saved We declare that truth will win in America. Lord send revival We declare that life and decency will prevail in the United States We declare that the Supreme Court will honor truth and justice, not their own ideals and desires Declarations over our church: We declare that FOJ will have a platform for the Holy Spirit to work from We declare we are making room for the gifts of the Spirit to flow We declare the spirit of boldness is replacing the spirit of fear We declare we are putting every distraction, anything that would entangle us and we run with endurance in our vision. We declare and believe revival is coming |
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