Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Here you'll find practical, relevant, biblical
information. The Bible will be broken down verse by verse so that you get the full context of the
scripture to better grow in your relationship with Jesus. Lord we thank you for the blessing
this day, the blessings it's going to contain. We thank you for gathering us all here to praise
and worship in your name and fellowship. We ask that you open our hearts and open our minds to
what you have to speak to us today and show us how to apply it in our daily lives. Amen. All right
well again good morning everybody. Welcome to Sanctuary. Welcome to everybody who's joining
us online. Those who follow on the podcast as well. It's great to have everyone with us.
Returning faces. It's been a while. It's good to see you sister. So you know right now you know
with the that last song that we did during praise and worship you know talks about gift of Christ.
And right now there's a lot of people that are out there they're trying to find those perfect
gifts. You know they're hitting the stores or online or whatever you know you got kids doing
their little crafts in school and all that kind of stuff trying to make that that little
card or whatever that handprint thing that's just you know perfect. You know those are those those
are always gold right there I think. You know get those little pieces from your kid when they're like
that big right. But you know still there's a lot of stuff out there you know matter of fact
as it worked this week and people just sitting there on their phones just.
It's like what are you doing I'm on Amazon. It's like oh my goodness.
You know so there's there's a lot there's a lot going on out there.
However have you ever stopped to think that no matter what you've done.
What you're shopping for the greatest gift that can be given has already been given.
In fact two of the greatest gifts that we can possibly get have already been given.
Forgiveness and faith right. That's what we're going to be talking about today. Two great gifts.
So you know with that though we had to stop we had to ask ourselves
with this in mind how do you how do you share this gift with a non-believer.
And then for the believers in your life.
Well how do you get them. How do you what do you get for somebody who already has the perfect gift.
The person who already has it all right because we already have it all in Jesus.
So again that's what we're going to be taking a look at today. So and we're going to start
specifically with forgiveness. So with that said let's go ahead let's open up our Bibles. Let's
open up our Bible apps and we're going to be going to Luke chapter 17. So Luke 17.
I'm going to start right there at the beginning verses one through three.
So Luke 17 verses one through three. Jesus teaches. Then he said to the disciples.
It is impossible that no offenses should come but what is the purpose of the word
it's impossible that no offenses should come but woe to him through whom they do come.
It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the
sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed yourselves. So I know
that's not all of verse three but that's where we're going to stop because we're going to come
back to it and here as we're going into forgiveness at the very beginning here Jesus is actually
giving us a warning and this is a warning that is basically saying God exacts a very high toll
for anyone who would tempt you know or lead astray any of God's children. Now this part here is
twofold because most often when this verse is read it's done so with thinking of just small kids
right and it's not wrong in that respect that is a big part of it. It really is
you know the way it's often read and applied leaves it only there though and there is you know
there's a special punishment for those who would hurt children in any way and with parents you know
with parents this is why it's so important for us to be engaged with our children even if you're not
parent if you're in a position where you engage with youth you really need to be engaged because
especially in this day and age of technology social media video games you know all these
different things and apps that kids use to to plug in and talk to each other and all that kind of
stuff there is a huge influence here and you know a huge influence by the enemy. So we really need
to know what's going on with them and in their lives we need to actually talk to them we can't
be afraid to talk to them right it's like people like to throw things out there oh you can't do
that that's abuse oh hogwash you know CYFD the police and all that if they did come out they
will tell you no that's nonsense go be a parent you know just the other day you know I was talking
with somebody who was upset because they're they're having trouble with behavioral issues with one of
their kids so they called the police the police came out and told them just be a parent discipline
them but that's the the spirit of fear that's built up in so many people now they're afraid
to engage with their parent with their kids you know so we need to we need to take a look here
and there's some questions that we need to be asking who are they with what are they doing
how are they doing it where are they doing things how are they doing things
sounds familiar doesn't it who what when where why all the same questions that we had to answer
even in class if you were writing a paper these are the same things teacher would call you over
hey why didn't you do this what is this who is this where is that how right who what when where why
why all that same stuff we should be asking our kids the exact same things
you know we need to be very mindful
that we live in a very worldly world not a godly world so we need to know what the influences are
what's going on there and we need to be teaching our kids exactly what the worldly falsehoods are
and there are a lot of them there are a lot of traps that out there by the enemy
to snare our kids to pull them away right everybody in this room is falling for some sort of trap at
some point or another every single one of us right because every one of us is a center
so in guarding with this when we when we're asking our kids these questions and we're
we're pointing out the falsehoods we also need to come back and we need to show them
what the biblical standards are what the word of god says that they need to be doing and how they
should be living and how to apply it to their life you know like i said there's another group here
that this passage also belongs to and this passage is also talking about new believers
right some people like to use the term baby christians those people who are new in their walk
with the lord right you can apply a hundred different terms here you can phrase it up however
you want it's all the same though people who are young and are still learning or just coming in
you know and these are people that are easily hooked and pulled away unfortunately you know
for it because i mean as much as it's like yes jesus is my lord and savior
just as easy as it is to say that it's easy for them to get pulled away too because there's
a delicate stage where yes you know jesus is reaching out and they're but and they're just
starting to grab that hand they don't have a firm grip yet and the enemy is over here on the back
side he's pulling them back it's like no don't go that way don't do it so there's a war on right
a little bit of a tug of war you know and unfortunately as believers
we're the worst enemy when it comes to this we have the biggest misstep
when it comes to this it's because of indifference impatience
ignorance on our part sometimes arrogance you know somebody comes in and you know they're
professing you know oh yeah no i believe and then we're just expecting them to know everything
all the the lingo and the traditions you know every parable every comment every
parable every commandment exactly where it's at you know john this mark that genesis revelation
and so on and so forth but we don't even stop to think even we don't know all that right
and there's some people out there like dennis cole
dennis cole is amazing if you haven't seen him he goes up and he does a thing and he goes up
and verbatim he has a couple books of the bible that he goes through boom boom boom boom and he
can recite the whole thing it's amazing and have him up there you'd be watching him you think oh
this guy he knows but he knows the bible from the very first word to the very last one from genesis
one one to revelation you know it was 22 i'm going to say it's 21 22 something like that
um but you know what i can guarantee you he doesn't there's not a single person in life
not one human being that knows every part of the bible even he has parts that he has to go back to
and refer to there's not a pastor out there who doesn't have to go back that's why we all have
all these tools at our disposal but as believers we get so caught up it's like what do you mean
it's like what do you mean you don't know what the great commission is right we like to use all these
big words and we sound so smart we have it all together and we put all this weight on somebody
who hasn't been equipped or exercised enough to be able to carry that weight arnold's fortune
nader right early in his career he did the the konan movies and part of the konan movies is he
went out and he actually got with somebody and learned how to use a sword how to swing it and
all that kind of stuff and he made a comment to his trainer like man this thing is heavy
the trainer said get stronger get stronger
and what are we doing with the word we're doing the same thing we're putting it in somebody's hand
but we're not telling them to get strong we're just saying use it apply it know it
instead of teaching them so we lose people
you know all those commands all those locations all those maps
everybody has different strengths everybody has different things in the bible that they cling to
and then they know and is embedded in their heart that serves their life
you know and unfortunately we get some people who come in and we turn our nose up at them
because they're ignorant they don't know they're not a believer it's like really
we need to be teaching them we need to be lifting them up we need to be nurturing them praying over
them right instead of turning our backs and pushing them right back out the door into the
darkness that they came from back into that lonely place you know essentially when we do this
when we have this misstep we have this in our life we're taking somebody
instead of being like yes hey this is jesus this is what he's done for me this is what he can do for you
when we get caught up in this mindset and unfortunately a lot of places have it
we're handing them back over to the enemy on a silver platter
they say yeah hey take them satan and it's not right it's not the way we're supposed to do things
that's not what the gift is about
all right going on continuing on in our our reading here we're going to go back into luke 17
verses three through four we're actually going to finish three this time
jesus continues says take heed to yourselves if your brother sins against you rebuke him
and if he repents forgive him and if he sins against you seven times in a day
and seven times and a day returns to you saying i repent you shall forgive him now this is important
because as much as it pertains to the church it should be applied to all of our relationships
whether we're working with a believer or not every person that we come in contact with
you know um
every person that we come in contact with you know um and when we rebuke it's basically you know it
says the word rebuke here it's saying hey you're wrong i don't approve of this the word doesn't
approve of this you need to make a change that's what a rebuke is right somebody missteps and you
confront them about it okay messed up but when we do this we shouldn't be going up to somebody
with a laundry list you did this this this this this and this and you need to change this this
this and this and because people put up walls real quick right all of us have been in a relationship
you know it very quickly turns into that whole you did this at 12 36 p.m 36 seconds saturday
december 3rd uh at phoenix arizona at the plaza there was a crow flying overhead that caught it
made a dog start barking three doors down right ladies taking a take note of that one you know
that one happens a lot so guys we get caught up in that too come on let's be honest
let's be honest but that's where arguments start going right you call out every little
thing down to the detail it's like what really and then what's worse is we like to take that
spent shell that's already been fired right pick it up off the ground dust it off stick it in our
pocket so we can take it home clean it up and refill that bullet right press our own shell
use it again so i i got that out this time it worked pretty good i'm gonna pocket that one for later
that's what we do and but we shouldn't you know we we're not we shouldn't be using that kind of a
bullet in the first place but even when you know if we do we shouldn't be picking it up to try to
use it again you know it's it's it's important for us we need to especially when we're angry
when something upsets us we need to take a look at our attitude
right our attitude it's a it's a it's a big thing
and we need to examine whether or not we should even open our mouth at that time because let's
face it there's times our attitude is not in the right place our temper is not in the right place
and we say stuff we really shouldn't we really shouldn't especially with our loved ones because
we feel like we get away with more sometimes strangers but really with our loved ones right
oops looks like i didn't put this next verse in there that's okay
okay
Ephesians 4 verse 32 puts it like this
be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another as god in christ forgave you
i said when we rebuke somebody we have to look inside ourselves and we have to ask a couple of
questions one do i love this person two am i willing to forgive them
because if the answer to either one of those questions is no
then even going to engage with them to have a conversation with them is a moot point
because you yourself are already falling into sin and you can't confront sin with sin
you just can't we're not supposed to you know telling someone that you disapprove of their
actions if you can't do so lovingly if you don't love them enough if you're if you're just speaking
out of a place of hate and discontent stop back off don't engage
because you're more likely to say or do the wrong thing yourself
you know anything that you had to say at this point it has no weight it has no worth
it's empty it's hollow
you need to be you know when you engage with somebody
you have to be willing to forgive them how do you forgive somebody if you don't even love them
right love it's an action
love is also something that we feel right
do you care about somebody is what this is saying because love itself is the action but do you care
enough about somebody to let them know hey you've messed up and you have to be willing to do so in a
tender loving way not cussing at them not throwing things across the room slamming doors punching
holes in walls using your your status as a supervisor or a manager or a manager
or team leader or whatever people like to throw that one out too right no i've i i've been here
for 10 years and three days and i've done this and i've done that and they start touting their
accomplishments and everything six what's that have to do with the price of tea in china
has nothing to do with this right here shut up and sit down
that's that's where most of us start thinking right away right
it's like get out of here with that nonsense like i said those words they come from a place of hate
discontent and self-importance and pride and entitlement and as soon as they open their
mouths we have no interest in what they have to say so do you love them do you care enough that
you actually want to help them correct this action and not only that but do you care about somebody
enough that you actually want to help them correct this action and not only that are you willing to
forgive them because christ has already forgiven us it's not about you at that point it's about
your relationship with christ and what he's done for you he went to the cross for each and every one of us
no wrong against us has killed us right we're not dead but he died and rose again
with the weight of the world upon him
so if you can't forgive you need to work on yourself and forgiveness is a great gift
it really is not just for other people but for yourself so forgiveness being the first gift
the second one faith which we already talked about a little bit we alluded to it
so with faith if we go back into uh luke chapter 17 we're gonna go specifically to verse five
so luke 17 verse five
word says and the apostle said to the lord increase our faith
increase our faith what a great thing to ask for right just looking at it increase our faith
right about now a lot of people are asking people hey what do you want for christmas
what is on your christmas lift what do you want what do you need what can i get you
some people are like i don't know another people are making a list that even santa claus has to
triple check right no there's no santa claus you know what i'm saying though he's like oh my goodness
i need a rolodex to get through this how do we section this off so it makes sense to me and i
could go from one department to the next and not be going back and forth like a tennis ball
and i'm like oh my goodness i need a rolodex to get through this how do we section this off so it
not be going back and forth like a tennis ball all day right it's ridiculous instead it's very
short sincere and to the point all i want for christmas is faith increased
that's something if we think about it a lot of us
if we if we put ourselves in the shoes of the apostles and where we're at in our walk
right now based on a lot of the things that we hear this is a good ask increase my faith lord
and it's not a lighthearted request either you know this is something
that all of us find harder at times we're put in situations where this right here becomes a genuine
request because forgiving others is not always easy having the faith to know that everything's
going to turn out and everything's going to be good
that's tough
we all have doubts
one thing or another we all have doubts
so the disciples here they're asking you know they're like hey you had this in front of us you're
asking us to do this that is a big ask i'm willing to do it but i need i need something for i need
you to help me out here i need my faith to just boom i need it to grow i need more faith
because i'm doubting whether things are going to go the way i think they're going to go here
i'm doubting things are going to work out the way that they should here so i need you to work on my
heart i need the help right here you know for forgiveness like i say it's hard in fact it is
so hard that sometimes people are wronged to that point that they are stone hard they refuse to
forgive sometimes an act was so horrific to them that they refuse and relationships are permanently
damaged it's not to say that the aggressor was in the right
obviously they weren't but the forgiveness is still there like i said it's not just for the other
person it's for us as well you can't move on when you hold on to something when you're holding a
grudge you can't love as we're commanded when you're holding a grudge you can't love as we're
commanded when you're holding on to hate
it's all about that relationship with god now unfortunately a lot of times we're put in these
places where we have to forgive even if the other person isn't asking for it but we know we need to
forgive them because we're upset and this is a place where god is actually working on our inner
character to see what we're going to do to try to guide us to the right decision not force us
because we need to do so with a glad heart we need to be wanting to do this we need to be willing to
do this but he's testing us and he's testing us in a way that we can see what's going on
and we know what's right we know what's wrong we know what we need to change in our life
in the very next verse luke 17 verse 6 jesus says
so the lord said if you have faith as a mustard seed you can say this say to this mulberry tree
be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea and it would obey you
kind of had this old-time cartoon in my head this tree just kind of pulling itself up it's roots
like legs and it's like and then plant itself in the sea his way is crashing over it you know
those cartoons from like a hundred years ago i don't know it's goofy i know
you know uh jesus though you know like you know he grants the gift
he grants his gift that we've all asked for but he doesn't do it in a way that we expect you know
instead of being this big emotional swelling inside where we get this warm and fuzzy you know
and here's jesus you know in the back of our head you know the holy spirit going you can do it
that's not the way he goes he doesn't go the way we want him to go most of the time he didn't come
in this world and he didn't you know establish things the way everybody thought he would he's
definitely you know he's a rebel he goes against the norm doesn't he you know instead you know he
explains what the the true power of faith is and where it comes from because faith real faith
is so much more than the superficial
and a lot of people have a very superficial faith right you know the faith in the unseen
as opposed to believing because of what you've already seen what you already know of god right
herews 11 verse 1 if we turn to herews 11 the word puts it this way now faith is the substance of
things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen that's the key right there
not seen kind of wish i'd underline those when i put those up there happy i have this little laser
pointer but no the faith of substance faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of
things not seen meaning we have complete trust in god not just putting on this horse and pony show
but being able to move when he says move being willing to move and not just putting on this
but being able to move when he says move being willing to do when he says do right acting in
complete obedience to what he's telling us to do and it's that faith that changes us from the inside
out remember healing starts on the inside not the outside and it takes time
you know we want this instant gratification
it's mine and i want it now no it's his and he will give it to you in his time and he will work
in his way to his will there's lessons to be learned there's growing pains to be had
that's the way of life that's the way of a believer
but when this change occurs it empowers us and it empowers us to do things
that we never would have considered being able to do or it would have even considered even being a
part of our path and years ago i never would consider i'd have even been here
in a pulpit anywhere preaching anywhere doing any kind of ministry anywhere matter of fact if you'd
ask me at one point bless you sister if you'd ask me at one point i told you i'd have been dead by
30 yeah my mom's smiling over here because she knows she's heard it a long time ago man things
change right the holy spirit does change things you know and the mustard seed you know it talks
about you know we're just looking at the mustard seed this is one of the smallest seeds out there
i'm not going to say the smallest because i don't know if it's the smallest or not some some things
say yes some things say no some say it's a certain type of mustard seed doesn't matter you think
of any seed you could think of an apple seed right the word uses a mustard seed though seeds
are tiny they're small right you drop one you're like oh and you're looking for it like you drop
the contact and you take this seed and you plant it in the ground now it's completely unseen
but culture right cultivated it's at work it's growing it's flopping over it's growing roots
finally that plant starting to grow up it's moving it's growing it's inside it's inside the earth
eventually it gets to a point where it breaks through the ground and it is small but starting
to be seen and then it grows and grows and grows until it becomes a full plant
and at this point it's something recognizable it's bearing fruit that is recognized and used
the world over and our faith is like that our faith is like that it starts very small that
mustard seed of faith right right here when we welcome the holy spirit in
and now we might not have all the outward signs right away most people don't
but he's at work he's growing he's healing things he's growing things and eventually it starts to
come out and people start to see a change in you and then eventually they see a big change
a big change huge change right so this guy went from being a total dirtbag to being an awesome
i'm not going to say perfect because jesus is the only perfect human ever walked the earth right
but still awesome people can change people do change and it's because of the holy spirit
that faith coming through them you know that's why the word talks about you know shedding you know
getting rid of the old and being born new right so it grows to the surface go from a humble start
that eventually leads to a major change and that major change in you can lead to a major change
in the world that you don't know about think of inventions things that have been built up in the
world different forms of light bulb were tested and tried over and over and over again
how many of us use candles to light a room anymore or lanterns
you really don't camping maybe right if you're out in the elements sure but even then we use
light bulbs of sorts typically right what powers our phones you come into a room anywhere it's dark
hit a light switch our lovely christmas tree over here you'd be pretty hard pressed to find trees
very often other than in a grocery store on demonstration that don't have lights everybody
likes putting lights on their trees and their houses those initial concepts trying to make that
light did a lot of people see it right away no those inventors did sure but even then it was
pricey it was time consuming it came at a cost it came with a lot of work and now you look at where
it's gone so many stories out there science fiction for example right is it philip k dick
is responsible for a lot of stories that have been converted to very high grossing movies very
popular right when he was alive though he never saw the benefit of it he wrote because he loved
to write he liked to entertain his fortune didn't come until after he died
so the major change that can come because of the change in you
may not even occur until after the lord's called you home
doesn't mean you shouldn't though we all should we come to christ christ has asked us to do certain
things we should do it no matter how hard it may seem because when we go to philippians 4 13
we're pretty familiar with this a lot of us have heard this before matter of fact one of my favorite
rings that i wear quite often has this very verse inscribed on it i can do all things to christ who
strengthens me does it mean you shouldn't do it we all should we come to christ christ has asked
doesn't mean you can lift up a mountain like superman or fly or have x-ray vision or any of
that nonsense get that out people like to toot that stuff a lot of prosperity good nonsense it
goes into that no that's not what it means but while we might feel that we need more faith
within us to do the great things the reality of it is we don't the seeds already been planted we
have the faith we need whether we recognize it or not whether it's come through the ground or not
and the lord will provide the means for us to do what we need to do he will give us the strength
to do what we need to do he will walk us through it because when we cultivate what the lord's placed
in us when we take that gift of faith that's already been placed in us and we water it right
we tend to it we nurture it it grows to something great going back into luke 17
luke 17 verses seven through ten
jesus says and which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep will say to him when
he has come in from the field come at once and sit down to eat but will he will he not rather
say to him prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till i have eaten and
drunk and afterward you will eat and drink does he think that servant because he did the things
that were commanded him i think not so likewise you when you have done all the things which you
are commanded say we are unprofitable servants we have done what was our duty to do
think of it this way the world that we live in is a very entitled world we live in a world where
everybody gets a trophy just for participating right you get to put a star at your desk because
you know he manages like you know what this guy has good customer service skills let's recognize
that you know nothing out of the normal just doing what they're supposed to do
when lose or draw they don't deserve a trophy when you do the things that you're supposed to
should you be committed like oh that's awesome no you're doing where you're supposed to say
you're breathing today you get a trophy
hey you put on clothes today let me get you a ribbon
right it's crazy that's what this is saying you know it's like somebody coming they do the things
that they're supposed to they're gonna be that hey good job right on sweet no that's not how it
should be when we live a life that obeys god when we're doing the things that god wants us to do
god when we're doing the things that god wants us to do then we're doing what we're supposed to do
when we live a life of faith when we forgive people the way that we're supposed to give
we share those same gifts that have already been given to us these are the things we're supposed
to do it's not one of those things where he comes up and pats you on that good job buddy a little
noogie there no we nor should we expect that so you know what i'm doing what i'm supposed to cool
so i'm just happy to be here doing my job we're good carry on you know when we live that life of
faith when we go out and we forgive people when we love people and we're doing the things that we
should we don't get extra credit for these things it's not about our works we're doing the things
that we want to because we love christ we're doing the things that we're supposed to do
because he's given us that chance that second opportunity to do it to be rejoined with the
father and to come to the table in heaven right it's not about us when we do these things it's
because the rep we're representing what christ has done for us in our lives we're doing it to show
people what a relationship with god is we cannot have that prideful life where we're grabbing out
and we're latching on to that little ribbon for showing up to work you know like oh look i got a
gold star today it's not about that oh you went the whole month and didn't miss a single day of
work good for you buddy here's your trophy no get out of here with that nonsense
nobody should be looking for that kind of comfort that is the wrong comfort that's your pride and
guess what happens when you when you have that pride and you take over and you give in you let
your ego up you fall into sin you fall into sin instead we need to recognize that when we're
faithful and we align ourselves with god's will we've done what we're supposed to do and we should
have enough comfort in knowing that we've done that you know any any reward of value it's not
going to come from man there's not a single thing that any man on this earth can give to any single
one of us that's truly of any value the rewards that matter are rewards that we're not going to
see until we're reunited with the father in heaven who knows what those are going to be
nobody here but it shouldn't matter because we're not doing it for those we're not doing it to
reserve our space right no works our works get us nowhere our deeds get us nowhere
which is why it's more important that we use our deeds to show the way to christ to point the way
to him to light the darkness you know we should be living in a way where we can reach our hand out
and we can lift somebody up remember i've talked about this before the difference between a hand
out and a hand up a hand up does so much more
and when you can give that hand out or the excuse me the hand up you're showing the light of christ
and while faith and forgiveness are great gifts the greatest gift any of us can or will ever receive
is that of knowing jesus
and we're going to be able to do that in the next few days
now before we pray i'd like to remind everybody if you have a prayer request come get up with
anybody anybody on staff any of our volunteers we'd love to pray with you after service okay
so let us pray lord we thank you for this time and learning this time of understanding this time
you and each other please guide us as we apply these lessons that you've spoken to us to our lives
we thank you for the reminders that each one of them contain you know and
help us to ensure that as we go through and we're doing the things that we're supposed to
that we're doing it properly and within your will and to reflect your light and your glory
not ours we ask you that you continue to remind us that you're with us each step of the way
especially those times when we're filled with doubts help us to get that doubt out and fill it
replace it with you you know help us to proclaim your greatness for everyone to hear
and we ask for your protection as the enemy or excuse me protection from the enemy as we go out
because we know the enemy is going to attack us and do everything he can to try to pull us away
from your light and to block the light that reflects from us from others being able to see
so we ask for protection as we do that as we take your light into those dark places
so that those who need to see it can see it you know we love you we thank you
for all this and so much more and all of these people said amen and amen
thank you all for joining us here today at healing scars with pastor Burton please like subscribe and
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bless