1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,760 Welcome to Logan City Christian Church Podcast, where we bring God's Word to you weekly. 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:12,520 We pray what you hear will bring clarity to your situation and open doors in your life. 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:13,520 Enjoy the message. 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,520 God is just so good. 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:21,400 And I really appreciate the praise and worship team so much and everybody. 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:22,400 Yeah. 7 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:28,440 And everybody who puts their hand to the plow, does everything in this church. 8 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:30,760 It wouldn't happen without you guys. 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:31,960 And we're just so grateful. 10 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,320 We really, really are. 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:42,000 I just very excited about what God is doing in our lives and the awesome testimonies that 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,920 we've been hearing and seeing what God's doing, just what He does so well. 13 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:50,400 And He is a good God. 14 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,280 He is such a good God. 15 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,960 You know, this morning, I'm just going to get straight into it because this message 16 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:03,320 has you probably think He says this every Sunday, but this message has been, G'day, 17 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,720 Dale, has been stirring in my spirit for quite some time now. 18 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:13,480 And this is kind of like, if you were here with the message I did on racism, this is 19 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,360 like part two of that message. 20 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:22,920 And racism doesn't have a place in the body of Christ. 21 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:29,960 Jesus, He pulled down that middle wall of division and when we come into the body of 22 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,560 Christ, we are all equal. 23 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:33,560 We are all the same. 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,880 We've been washed by the same blood. 25 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,800 We've been saved by the same grace. 26 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,440 We have come into the same family as God. 27 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:48,040 And sometimes it doesn't always work out as simply as that though. 28 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:55,200 And that's where I want to pick up today as to why this can happen. 29 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:06,320 And sometimes we can come into the family of God and still carry some sentiments, some 30 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,040 pains from our past. 31 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:21,600 And especially when it comes to coming out from a particular, say, religion or a culture 32 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:27,880 and having other religions and cultures, whether there's been a religious war or a cultural 33 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:37,960 war or disagreement or just that angst between different nations, different nationalities. 34 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:46,760 And when we came into the body of Christ, that was actually dealt with. 35 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:53,140 And so I believe this morning the message will be an awareness of what happened when 36 00:02:53,140 --> 00:02:59,800 we came into the body of Christ and not only what happened but how it happened and then 37 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:07,160 our fresh outlook in life from this new life we have in Christ Jesus. 38 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:13,560 And I'm going to pick up from Ephesians chapter 2 from verse 14. 39 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:21,800 And the Word of God reads, for He, that's Jesus, for He Himself is our peace, who has 40 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:27,480 made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. 41 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:34,080 Now where it says that Jesus is our peace, it's not speaking of Shalom peace, it's speaking 42 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:35,760 of Iron Age peace. 43 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:43,840 I shared this a few weeks ago how the peace of God, it brings all fractured pieces together 44 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:48,900 back to an original order or back to an original condition. 45 00:03:48,900 --> 00:03:55,240 And it's only Jesus who can bring together nations that are so fractured and against 46 00:03:55,240 --> 00:04:02,120 each other, it's only Him with His peace within a nation or within a person of that nation 47 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,040 to come together. 48 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:10,120 And you know we are so blessed in this congregation to have so many different nationalities, I 49 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:17,080 think it's 37 at the last count, that each nationality gets along with each other. 50 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:22,720 That you know I know some of you guys are sitting here in the same room where the other 51 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:27,480 person from their nation had actually been at war with your nation. 52 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:32,980 But you came to Christ and you realized that that was what happened then, that it's different 53 00:04:32,980 --> 00:04:34,960 now. 54 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:40,680 Everyone had come out of that culture and have been placed firmly into the kingdom culture 55 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,520 of God where everything is different. 56 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:52,280 And so Jesus is our peace who has made both one, what's He speaking about both one? 57 00:04:52,280 --> 00:05:00,280 In here it's a direct connection relating to the Jews and the Gentiles. 58 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:04,720 How bad could they think that that could ever be done? 59 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,400 And it did happen. 60 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:16,440 Now I do not believe in replacement theology that the church replaced, you know the Jewish 61 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:26,220 tradition and culture on that, but I do believe in dispensational theology. 62 00:05:26,220 --> 00:05:32,640 What I'm sharing today is dispensational, dispensational means that there was a time 63 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:37,640 coming where things were going to change whether we like it or not. 64 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:46,080 And the dispensation of the New Testament, it's a time that has come that God had foreordained 65 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:53,440 right from back in Genesis chapter 3 where God had made a promise, it was prophesied 66 00:05:53,440 --> 00:06:00,160 that there would come a Savior and this Savior is going to dominate over the works of evil. 67 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:07,200 And then throughout Scripture this dispensation that we live in today of grace, the kingdom 68 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:13,780 of God, kingdom dynamics, kingdom culture was coming and we are in it today. 69 00:06:13,780 --> 00:06:21,120 And so Jesus had made one out of two. 70 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:30,520 So the key here is that we've got to see that Jesus Himself, the work that He did, no matter 71 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:40,760 what nationality we, our birth nationality is, whatever our religion has been, that if 72 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:51,480 we truly come to Christ we step out of that entirely, everything, and then we are placed 73 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:59,680 into the new birth that we now become a new creature that never existed before. 74 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:04,680 And that is the new birth, that is the new you, that is the born again you, fully and 75 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:13,900 wholly accepted by God and there we don't bring our cultures into the kingdom culture, 76 00:07:13,900 --> 00:07:17,800 we then learn the kingdom culture. 77 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:26,080 And where it goes wrong is when I would want to bring my previous culture or beliefs into 78 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:33,280 this new kingdom culture that we're in and then that's where things start, is that well 79 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:37,800 I'm a Christian now but we should be keeping this and we should be doing that and we should 80 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,120 be, no. 81 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:45,040 It's there where strife starts and can do. 82 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:52,160 And verse 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, and this is the word today that 83 00:07:52,160 --> 00:08:02,280 I will be focusing on and the title of this message is enmity crucified. 84 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:04,660 Enmity crucified. 85 00:08:04,660 --> 00:08:08,320 This enmity is a big problem. 86 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:14,620 I'm going to explain in a minute what it is, but it is a huge problem, but that has already 87 00:08:14,620 --> 00:08:17,980 been dealt with at the cross of Calvary. 88 00:08:17,980 --> 00:08:25,960 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances 89 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:32,480 so as to create in himself one new man from the two. 90 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:41,600 We got this, one new from the two into one. 91 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,760 Let me just find where I was. 92 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,760 I'll start verse 15 again. 93 00:08:49,760 --> 00:09:00,160 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances 94 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:07,680 so as to create in himself one new man from the two thus making peace. 95 00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:11,040 Can I mention something here? 96 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:21,040 If there are two individuals trying to be one, holding on to their old, there will not 97 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:23,680 be peace. 98 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:27,400 It's impossible. 99 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:34,620 He says here that he himself, one new man from the two thus making peace. 100 00:09:34,620 --> 00:09:42,240 That means that each person coming into the kingdom of God accepts the culture and the 101 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:49,600 kingdom dynamics and the constitution of that kingdom, the rules and its powers and the 102 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:54,160 way that we live and the way we operate. 103 00:09:54,160 --> 00:10:01,820 And verse 16, and that he might reconcile them both, whose them, the them are the Jews 104 00:10:01,820 --> 00:10:11,760 and the Gentiles, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body, not individuals. 105 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:20,360 That is one body through the cross, listen to this, through the cross thereby putting 106 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,840 to death enmity. 107 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:29,560 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near for 108 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:37,280 through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. 109 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:46,200 Now it's abundantly clear here that the two become one. 110 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,360 It's not a melting pot. 111 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:54,240 Christianity is not a melting pot of different cultures. 112 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:59,560 Christianity is not a melting pot of all different religions. 113 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:06,560 You see, for me, when I got saved, an unsaved person therefore falling in the category of 114 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:15,200 a Gentile, I did not bring my Gentile beliefs and ways into the kingdom of God. 115 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,320 That had to be left outside. 116 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,760 Now please hear me right here. 117 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:26,160 The same happened with the Jews. 118 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:27,320 It's one new man. 119 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,320 It's one new position in God. 120 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:38,600 And this is what can go wrong is that when these things are not left outside and our 121 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:46,280 traditions and our ways want to come in and to try and help God to do what he wants to 122 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,480 do, there will never be peace. 123 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:56,400 There will always be conflict because one person's opinion and the other person's opinion 124 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,400 or their belief will be in conflict. 125 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:04,700 And that's why God in his kingdom has one constitution. 126 00:12:04,700 --> 00:12:06,120 He has one word. 127 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,120 He has one way. 128 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:13,800 And he only made one way for humanity to come into his kingdom and to be forgiven for all 129 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,200 their sins. 130 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,920 And that was through his son Jesus Christ. 131 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:22,320 There is only one way to God and that is Jesus. 132 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:24,680 There's only one way. 133 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:29,440 So this enmity, what does it mean? 134 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:37,360 It means hostility, hatred, opposition, resentment. 135 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:42,800 It also can mean racism and revenge. 136 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,680 Let me read them again. 137 00:12:45,680 --> 00:12:55,320 Hostility, it means hostility, hatred, opposition, resentment, racism and revenge. 138 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:01,040 Now if I can put this in context with this scripture, in verse 16, and that he might 139 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:07,400 reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death hostility 140 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:17,040 between each other, putting to death hatred between each other, to eliminating opposition, 141 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:23,480 to eliminate and put to death resentment between nations and between people, to eliminate the 142 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:30,320 very thing of racism it has been dealt with at the cross at Calvary. 143 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:35,400 And revenge, there is no revenge in the kingdom of God. 144 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:41,080 And this is the very work of the cross that it says here that through the cross, thereby 145 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:49,200 putting to death, I don't know if you realise, but when something is dead, it's dead, finished, 146 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,600 kaput, no more, it's dead. 147 00:13:53,600 --> 00:14:02,680 And so in the kingdom of God, enmity that was working outside nation against nation, 148 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:08,760 against religion, and this angst against each other, the hostility and the wars and the 149 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:14,560 revenge and we're seeing this happening today, a hatred and all of these things happening 150 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:20,000 and the Word of God is saying, however, when you come into the kingdom of God, the cross 151 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,580 has put a line through that. 152 00:14:23,580 --> 00:14:29,520 And what happens is, is like for me, I'm sure with you as well, that when I got saved, it's 153 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:36,440 like we start to realise that there's a different way of living. 154 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:43,960 And we see that when we experience this amazing grace of God, by the way, Reinhardt, that 155 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,560 communion was sensational. 156 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,560 It was excellent. 157 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:53,360 So all of our sins were forgiven. 158 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:59,560 We were clear that debts were paid in full and this inner knowing as a newborn Christian 159 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:08,500 that I really have no right or no place considering all of the benefits we've just received, forgiveness 160 00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:15,100 of sin, that I should now start judge another or hold, you know, wrong attitude to another 161 00:15:15,100 --> 00:15:19,960 race or religion or another people movement. 162 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:25,520 Because something changed within our hearts and that was the cross at Calvary that did 163 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,640 that, the work of the cross. 164 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:35,220 You know, this hostility is a horrible thing and we're seeing this hostility, you know, 165 00:15:35,220 --> 00:15:39,400 in the Middle East that's happening right at this very moment. 166 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:47,720 There are, you know, it's just one, a hair, you know, between another war, some major 167 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:55,360 scale war is right there and, you know, people try with peace talks and they try with cease 168 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:57,440 fires and all this sort of thing. 169 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:02,600 But I want to tell you that I know as well, I'm sure you know this too, that the only 170 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,160 way there can be an end to war is Jesus. 171 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:10,960 Because if people come out of their ways of thinking that are not working and we all come 172 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:17,960 into one place, one kingdom, one rule, one Lord, that everybody is equal, that we suddenly 173 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:22,440 realize we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we don't fight each other. 174 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:27,780 And so, the cross of Calvary has a major effect on enmity. 175 00:16:27,780 --> 00:16:33,360 The cross of Christ that if there was any hostility in our hearts toward anybody, that 176 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:39,520 the Spirit of God would desire and will arrest that in Jesus' name and hatred and opposition 177 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:45,960 and resentment and racism and revenge, that we become a much better person when we are 178 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,080 freed from all of those things. 179 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:50,080 Amen? 180 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:55,920 Now, if you are a missionary, which there are quite a few here this morning, you would 181 00:16:55,920 --> 00:17:00,040 know that God had placed a nation on your heart. 182 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:05,640 I was speaking to a missionary just weeks ago and he said, I couldn't believe it that 183 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:12,240 God sent me to a nation that I did not want to go because this is what he said, I have 184 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,640 a problem with those people. 185 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,840 I have a problem with them. 186 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,680 And he said, this really can't be God that's sending me there. 187 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,720 I said, oh no, that sounds like God to me. 188 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:39,160 Because obviously you have some hostility or some revenge or maybe there's some resentment 189 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:46,040 there between you and the nation that God is sending you to. 190 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:52,180 And so, what he decided to do was to pray and seek God. 191 00:17:52,180 --> 00:18:01,480 And God revealed to him that you have to deal with your own insecurities and fears of this 192 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:06,480 nation and when you do, I am going to use you. 193 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:14,660 And he ended up using this guy in an amazing way and now he has such a love for these people, 194 00:18:14,660 --> 00:18:21,080 he realized that they weren't the problem, he was. 195 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:26,640 And so, enmity can do this to us. 196 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:36,520 I recall the story that I heard, I watched it on TV, an American preacher that I follow 197 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:44,160 quite a lot, he was saying that there were people in his church that some were from Russia 198 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,740 and some from Ukraine. 199 00:18:46,740 --> 00:18:55,200 And when this war in Ukraine started, he was keeping an eye on how this was going to flow 200 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,840 in the Christian church. 201 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:05,800 And he said in his church, it was fine because everyone understood, it's not my Ukrainian 202 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:12,520 brother sitting next to a Russian brother that's causing the problem, it's not them. 203 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:20,720 They also had the revelation that we are a family now. 204 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,240 We had come out of that. 205 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,880 And yes, that's their heritage, being Russian or Ukrainian, it's their heritage where they 206 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,040 come from. 207 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:37,200 But we're in a new body now and it's the body of Christ. 208 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:46,160 And enmity can cause a person to argue or to oppose a person or step away from them 209 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:49,740 because of what happens in a homeland. 210 00:19:49,740 --> 00:19:57,160 And there it is a trap, for one to say the least, that they need to question where they 211 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:05,260 are really at in the body of Christ because it's not them that is doing it to you. 212 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:15,400 And so we have heard of stories where Russian and Ukrainian Christians have had disagreements. 213 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:21,920 And in some cases, not here, in some cases, some had decided to leave to go to a different 214 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,740 church to avoid the problem. 215 00:20:24,740 --> 00:20:29,440 And can I say that that is a problem? 216 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:37,000 Because the realization has not yet hit home that they have come out of all of that and 217 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:45,200 into a new family, that enmity needs to be crucified. 218 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:47,680 It needs to be dealt with. 219 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,080 And there's only one way it can be dealt with and that is the cross of Calvary. 220 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,280 It's the only way. 221 00:20:54,280 --> 00:21:01,360 I remember my mum, oh my mum's here today, hi mum, I promise I won't tell any secrets 222 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,160 out of school today. 223 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:08,280 I got in trouble the last time I was sharing about how I used to forge my mum's signature 224 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,120 so I could wag school. 225 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:13,840 That was a big mistake. 226 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:19,520 The second mistake was inviting mum and dad around the next day for lunch so it was still 227 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,720 fresh. 228 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:29,680 You know, we're always learning, but not fast enough. 229 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:37,000 When my mum and her family migrated from Germany to Australia, and now I speak on behalf of 230 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:43,560 other migrants that came on the back of the Second World War, that if you came to Australia 231 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:48,320 and you had an accent, you were pushed away. 232 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:50,880 You were regarded as the enemy. 233 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,240 In many cases there was hostility. 234 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:59,760 But what they didn't realise was by the mercy of God, God had opened passage for these people 235 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,320 to come to a peaceful country, to start life again. 236 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,360 They didn't start the war. 237 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,160 They didn't cause the trouble. 238 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,720 They're casualties of war. 239 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:18,440 And we thank God that they came to this nation of Australia so they could get started again. 240 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:27,960 But there were a bunch of Aussies, most of which are probably first generation Aussies, 241 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:34,240 their parents immigrants themselves, took it upon themselves to exercise this enmity 242 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,120 against the new arrivals. 243 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:42,560 And instead of their being a welcoming to say, hey, our home is your home. 244 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,040 You are welcome here. 245 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:45,520 Let us help you. 246 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,160 Let us give you some of our food. 247 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,240 Let us, it didn't always happen. 248 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:55,120 There was not a great big welcoming that rolled out for many. 249 00:22:55,120 --> 00:23:04,040 And they had to experience the hard way, racism and hostility that to some this day still 250 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:05,760 think about. 251 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,240 And it can damage a person for life. 252 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:14,680 So let me take that into today. 253 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:20,200 We see the rainbow politics. 254 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,480 It's going to get really quiet in here. 255 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:31,560 That there was a time when, and it still hasn't happened for a while, but when I wear my church 256 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,840 shirt during the week, it's got the church name on there and that. 257 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,280 And in public, it's not always accepted. 258 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:47,320 And I went through a season where there were a number of people who are from the gay community 259 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:48,560 that would chip me. 260 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:50,860 They would have a go at me. 261 00:23:50,860 --> 00:23:53,080 They would try and rile me up. 262 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,880 And at one point I was considering not wearing the shirt anymore. 263 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:01,140 And I just thought, no, I need to keep wearing the shirt. 264 00:24:01,140 --> 00:24:03,100 And you know what happened? 265 00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:08,000 And if it wasn't for the Lord, I would still be in this position today. 266 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:15,480 But I started developing this resentment toward these people, toward this people group. 267 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,760 This resentment and this opposition. 268 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:25,080 And it wasn't a hatred, but I do believe that if it wasn't addressed early in the part, 269 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,920 it could have easily led there. 270 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:33,760 And the Lord is saying to me, He says, the answer to this is not you being resentful 271 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,320 to them, it's loving them. 272 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:41,760 And I realized that I had to deal with this enmity that was in me that I didn't know was 273 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:46,600 there and would never have known it was there until the button was pressed. 274 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,820 Is there anyone here today that knows what I'm speaking about? 275 00:24:50,820 --> 00:24:56,960 And so this enmity, they are real people just like you and I. 276 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,540 They are real people whom God loves. 277 00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:05,320 They are real people who are yet to find the saving grace of God. 278 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:11,880 And it is us, free of that enmity and judgment toward that people group, to do our best to 279 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:17,680 be that light in the darkness, to at least pave a way for them that one day they may 280 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,060 follow. 281 00:25:20,060 --> 00:25:26,780 Because why is it that we can judge different levels of sin or lifestyles? 282 00:25:26,780 --> 00:25:32,420 You know, we were once in darkness before we came to Christ. 283 00:25:32,420 --> 00:25:38,400 And so God wants to use us to be that witness for Him. 284 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:43,840 Now I'm not saying that I agree with the lifestyle, that's a different thing altogether. 285 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,760 And I don't, I do not. 286 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:53,560 But what the Lord was dealing with me was this resentment inside toward that people 287 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,140 group. 288 00:25:55,140 --> 00:26:02,400 And as we look inside of our hearts this morning, the question needs to be asked within ourselves 289 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:08,940 do I carry some kind of resentment toward these people because if we do, we are never 290 00:26:08,940 --> 00:26:14,140 ever going to be an effective witness for Christ for them. 291 00:26:14,140 --> 00:26:17,460 Now let's go a bit deeper. 292 00:26:17,460 --> 00:26:22,520 Let's talk about our government of this nation of Australia. 293 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:27,880 Now it's going to get even quieter again. 294 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:33,560 There are things, let's go back a little bit more and let's go to COVID when the lockdown 295 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,360 was on. 296 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:36,840 Wow. 297 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:46,800 I could tell you that there was opposition in my heart toward the government and you 298 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:51,720 know we could say it was not without reason. 299 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:57,860 But it doesn't cut the mustard with God, regardless if there's a reason or not. 300 00:26:57,860 --> 00:27:05,960 And hear me out on this, that there were many times that within my small little mind that 301 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:15,160 I would devise ways and plans and things as to how I can resist and rebel against this 302 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,080 for the good of the kingdom of God. 303 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:24,620 Now I know that many of us struggled the same as I did. 304 00:27:24,620 --> 00:27:26,940 How many of us struggled through that time? 305 00:27:26,940 --> 00:27:32,440 It was a horrible time and it came to pass. 306 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,640 But the Lord was dealing with me through that as well saying, Rob I've never asked you to 307 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,000 criticize the government. 308 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,160 I've asked you to pray for them. 309 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:51,920 And I had this revelation that if the nation of Australia, if we could weigh in the scales, 310 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:58,080 the criticism against the government and the prayer for our government, I wonder where 311 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:02,520 the scales would have tipped. 312 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:09,920 Amnesty would have tipped the scales down in the area of criticism. 313 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:15,820 But spirit people, it would have been pray for the government. 314 00:28:15,820 --> 00:28:22,080 The most powerful thing we can do is to pray and to lift our government up even though 315 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,200 we do not agree with what is going on. 316 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:34,240 But resentment and criticism from our mouth is negative intercession. 317 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,600 It incites the wrong spirit. 318 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:49,360 I'm going to say that again, criticism is a wrong intercession and it incites the power 319 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,700 of darkness when we are critical. 320 00:28:53,700 --> 00:29:02,000 As Christians we are not to be critical but we are to be constructive in advancing through 321 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,920 whatever situation our nation may be going through. 322 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:14,040 And even though we may not know entirely what is going on, we know one thing is for sure, 323 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:19,020 especially through the lockdown, is that God is still God. 324 00:29:19,020 --> 00:29:21,640 That heaven was not locked down. 325 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,760 That heaven was not broke. 326 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:29,520 That God did not abdicate His throne and give it over to a government group. 327 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:35,800 God was still ruling and reigning throughout this land of Australia, throughout this world. 328 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,080 Did we agree with a lot what was happening? 329 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:39,080 No. 330 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,400 But did we criticize? 331 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:48,820 And if there was that criticism and that sentiment to oppose and to, you know, this hostility 332 00:29:48,820 --> 00:29:55,280 that we saw that was happening in Australia, that means that it's magnifying this problem 333 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,320 of enmity. 334 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:04,760 And so there's enmity between two groups, between the people and the government, the 335 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:06,840 Christians and the gay community. 336 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,360 Are you hearing me today? 337 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:10,920 Are you still with me? 338 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,520 It's going to get even better. 339 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:24,440 God wants to deal with this in the Christian church, that enmity He wants crucified so 340 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:33,200 that when we go out in the highways and byways throughout life, we're not carrying any resentment 341 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:42,080 or hatred or hostility or racism toward any people group, any government group or any 342 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:48,600 religion that we are free from or that we've stepped out of it as a born-again believer. 343 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:54,840 And there we are embracing the kingdom of God, its culture, our mandate, everything 344 00:30:54,840 --> 00:31:02,880 that Christ, and you will see that when we fit into that criteria and that condition, 345 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:09,040 it's there that the Holy Spirit finds a vessel that He can move through. 346 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:15,680 And you will find that your level of power in evangelism will start escalating and you 347 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:21,400 begin to see that the people will be saved, that people will listen, because I tell you 348 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:27,920 now that I don't know about you, but me as an unsaved man, when people used to, you know, 349 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:33,680 drink a fair bit and people witness to me and they condemn me for the drinking and you 350 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,560 know, that doesn't do a lot for a person. 351 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,760 And this sentiment, this resentment, you feel it. 352 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:44,160 You see, people were drawn to Jesus. 353 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,520 He didn't have to go looking for a congregation. 354 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,520 The congregation found Him. 355 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:56,360 And one of the things, if you study the life of Jesus, there was no enmity between Him 356 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,200 and any single person, any single government. 357 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,260 Oh, what about the religious leaders? 358 00:32:03,260 --> 00:32:05,040 There was no enmity there. 359 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:10,080 Oh yes, He pulled up some things. 360 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,880 But there was no hostility, there was no hatred. 361 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:18,400 And there was certainly no revenge. 362 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:28,800 And when we speak about racism, we really need to understand that we as Christians certainly 363 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:36,720 do not have the right or the mandate to act in this in a racial way. 364 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:42,400 I'd just like to spare a thought for Jonah at this present time. 365 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,680 Jonah and the whale, that's usually what we think of, right? 366 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:51,480 Now that is part of the story. 367 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:58,880 But why is the story of Jonah so, so important? 368 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:02,960 Jonah himself was a prophet. 369 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:09,240 And God said to him one day, Jonah, I want you to pack up all your gear and I want you 370 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:16,080 to go to that great city Nineveh and preach a message for them to repent because judgment 371 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:21,880 is pending on those people, the Assyrians. 372 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,960 Now why did Jonah say, I ain't doing that? 373 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:32,560 Nineveh, it was about 500 miles east, northeast from where he was. 374 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:37,840 So he headed to Tarshish, which is two and a half thousand miles to the west. 375 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:44,080 He couldn't get any further away from the call. 376 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:50,120 Now that tells me that there was something within Jonah that was not right. 377 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:56,400 And when you study the story and find out what was happening, the Ninevites, the Assyrians, 378 00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:01,720 they were known as the terrorists as that exist today. 379 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:08,880 They would show up unannounced in their droves and slaughter men, women, children, take all 380 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:14,340 their crops, take their livestock, take everything. 381 00:34:14,340 --> 00:34:22,120 And so the people of God year after year were being raped and pillaged, threatened, murdered 382 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,440 by these Assyrians. 383 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:34,280 And then God says to Jonah, Jonah, I'm sending you to these very people who are destroying 384 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,540 your people. 385 00:34:36,540 --> 00:34:43,040 And I have a message of repentance for them because I love them. 386 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:48,680 And Jonah's thinking, well, you can count me out. 387 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,360 I'm out of here. 388 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:59,400 You see, there was enmity between Jonah and the Ninevites. 389 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:05,320 God had given Jonah an incredible message to preach. 390 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:13,980 But what Jonah did not understand, his obedience to the call was the very thing that was going 391 00:35:13,980 --> 00:35:18,300 to stop the Ninevites attacking their people. 392 00:35:18,300 --> 00:35:20,840 He didn't see it. 393 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:25,640 And so God had given Jonah the message. 394 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:29,760 God saw what was happening to his own people. 395 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:35,080 And God's answer was, okay, Jonah, you, now you're going to go to the Ninevites and you're 396 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,000 going to proclaim judgment is coming. 397 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,000 You need to repent. 398 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:44,820 And Jonah is saying, well, God, you are a great and merciful God. 399 00:35:44,820 --> 00:35:48,920 And if they do repent, I'm not going to be happy about it. 400 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:55,440 You see, Jonah's attitude, he had a wrong attitude even to the last day when God dealt 401 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,760 with a nation of Nineveh or those people at Nineveh. 402 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:05,200 And if you were to describe his wrong attitude, it was enmity. 403 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:12,040 Jonah had hostility toward those people and rightly so in the natural. 404 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:13,560 Did he have hatred to them? 405 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:14,560 Possibly. 406 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:15,560 Was he opposed to them? 407 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:16,560 Absolutely. 408 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,120 Did he have resentment toward them? 409 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:20,120 100%. 410 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:21,120 Was he racist in that regard? 411 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:22,120 Yes, he was. 412 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:23,920 And was there revenge in his heart? 413 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,160 Yes, there was. 414 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:30,360 And so God picks a person and says, guess what? 415 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:36,160 You've got all of that in your heart and you're the perfect person. 416 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:37,160 Praise the Lord. 417 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:44,080 And I'm going to use you and you're going to go over there and say, Jonah goes west. 418 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,840 And then he gets thrown out of the boat and God prepared a big fish to swallow him up. 419 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:53,400 I tell you what, Jonah had an interesting prayer meeting in the belly of a fish. 420 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,320 Is that an attitude adjustment or what? 421 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:03,360 And then he gets vomited out onto dry land and he gets out, I could just imagine seaweed 422 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:10,240 and stuff hanging over him and smelling like whatever. 423 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:14,680 I just had this picture of him standing on the shore, all these weeds hanging off and 424 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:21,280 all this vomit from the fish and he's walking along going, repent. 425 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,680 No wonder they turned so quickly. 426 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,160 But when he was vomited out onto the land, God said, right, we're going to try this the 427 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:31,160 second time. 428 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:38,460 I told you before, Jonah, I'm telling you again, go to Nineveh and preach this message 429 00:37:38,460 --> 00:37:40,480 of repentance. 430 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:42,360 It was more than a message of repentance. 431 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:48,920 It was more a message of God's love for these people. 432 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:55,780 And he carried that enmity right through and he never enjoyed his ministry. 433 00:37:55,780 --> 00:37:57,000 It was hard for him. 434 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:02,900 Oh, it would have been so much easier for him to just surrender. 435 00:38:02,900 --> 00:38:05,160 And that goes, I think, for each and every one of us. 436 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:12,960 But can you see the story of Jonah with enmity going to a people group that has been murdering 437 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,880 and killing his own people? 438 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:21,440 But God's master plan was, this is my way of finishing the problem that you guys are 439 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:23,560 complaining about. 440 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:28,600 And it took one person, just one. 441 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:39,040 And so today, Nineveh is the modern day Mosul, I think that's how you say it, in Iraq. 442 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:44,600 And that place today is still one of the headquarters of terrorism. 443 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:50,440 Thousands of years later, Nineveh repented, but it wasn't long before they got back in 444 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,320 their game again. 445 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:59,020 But it was long enough for a relief for the people of God. 446 00:38:59,020 --> 00:39:06,920 And now I want to shift as I close to a totally different realm here that I believe that the 447 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:14,120 foundation as it's been laid now is going to really go deep in our hearts this morning. 448 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,680 And I want to turn to Mark 11. 449 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:26,080 And there's a very powerful passage of Scripture here that I believe is going to minister to 450 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:30,560 the depths of our hearts this morning. 451 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:37,080 Mark 11, I'm going to read from verse 22. 452 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:41,280 Here we go. 453 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:48,960 This is just after Jesus cursed the fig tree, it withered up from the roots. 454 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:53,320 And so Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God, because they said, Lord, that 455 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,720 tree that you cursed, it's withered from the roots up. 456 00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:02,680 And he says, Jesus said, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be 457 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:07,600 removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes those 458 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:12,160 things that he says will be done and he will have whatever he says, therefore I say to 459 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:16,560 you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will 460 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:17,720 have them. 461 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:23,720 You know, unfortunately, many times that's where this passage of teaching stops. 462 00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:30,840 In the original Scriptures, there are no chapters and verses, it's one continuous writing. 463 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:37,540 But we just saw there, verse 22 to 24, let's say as a typical church life. 464 00:40:37,540 --> 00:40:42,920 People of God, people of faith, believing God and moving ahead with the things of God. 465 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:48,080 But Jesus actually says and, now and is a connecting word. 466 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:52,520 So all these wonderful things and whenever you stand praying. 467 00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:54,200 So what is the position here? 468 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:55,200 What's it about? 469 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:59,000 About our prayer, when we're praying. 470 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,560 If you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive 471 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,460 you your trespasses. 472 00:41:08,460 --> 00:41:17,040 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses. 473 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:26,240 Now what has enmity got to do with forgiveness, unforgiveness? 474 00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:29,560 I'm glad you asked. 475 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:34,000 It has everything to do with it. 476 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:40,960 There is so much taught on forgiveness in the Bible, in the Scriptures, so much. 477 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:45,360 So much so that it cannot be ignored. 478 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:54,640 Teaching here, Jesus speaking, that if there is unforgiveness in our hearts toward others, 479 00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,720 your prayer ain't going to work. 480 00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:04,960 It's going to be a very dry old argument if you like. 481 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:13,680 But many have said over the years and I've said it myself, how do I know if I've forgiven? 482 00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:16,000 Has anyone ever asked that question? 483 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:20,040 I want to forgive, I don't know how to forgive. 484 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:25,680 Sometimes some people say, well you know this thing about you need to forgive yourself. 485 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:28,000 How does that work? 486 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:33,280 How does somebody forgive themselves? 487 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:37,360 And there's no biblical answer for that. 488 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:42,340 The only biblical answer to that is that we receive forgiveness. 489 00:42:42,340 --> 00:42:49,240 That if we have done something that we've regretted, we don't have the authority to 490 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:58,160 forgive ourselves, but we do have the right to stand before God and say, God I made a 491 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:03,260 mistake, I'm asking that you would forgive me. 492 00:43:03,260 --> 00:43:05,680 That is the difference. 493 00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:13,960 But forgiveness, if ever we are struggling with forgiveness, the mistake that can be 494 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:22,280 made so many times is that we focus on this end result of forgiveness. 495 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,160 And that's not where we start. 496 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:32,140 You see, forgiveness or unforgiveness involves enmity. 497 00:43:32,140 --> 00:43:40,200 If we are struggling to forgive, that means there may be hostility between you and that 498 00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:42,800 person or those people. 499 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:49,760 There may be just a little bit of hatred there or an opposition toward them. 500 00:43:49,760 --> 00:44:00,820 And if we're struggling to forgive, maybe there's a bit of resentment from me to them. 501 00:44:00,820 --> 00:44:06,080 Maybe even a little bit of revenge. 502 00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:12,840 Forgiveness it's, Lord I'll forgive them when I see your judgment come upon them, and Lord 503 00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:17,000 on that you strike them for what they did to me. 504 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:22,280 That's revenge. 505 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:24,880 I'll never see or speak to them ever again. 506 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:25,880 That's opposition. 507 00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,520 It's enmity. 508 00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:37,280 I never want to see them again. 509 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,480 Hatred. 510 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:46,920 Why is it that we spend so much time trying to get to the end result of forgiveness when 511 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:51,280 we really need to be looking at enmity? 512 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:58,320 And to deal with enmity, to deal with our emotions toward a person. 513 00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:06,240 And if our emotions toward a person or people, that we are healed from that, then the end 514 00:45:06,240 --> 00:45:10,360 result is we have forgiven. 515 00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:13,520 Is that making sense this morning? 516 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:18,600 This church, this is a big revelation on forgiveness. 517 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:25,640 See forgiveness really has little or anything to do with the person that may have offended 518 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,960 you or wronged you. 519 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:36,640 Forgiveness has everything to do with you and your life and your future and your freedom 520 00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:39,680 and your success in Christ. 521 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:41,880 That's what forgiveness is about. 522 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:48,280 But you know it's, but you don't know what they say about me and you don't know what 523 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,320 they think about me. 524 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:55,640 I remember saying that to the Lord one time and the Lord told me, He said, what people 525 00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:59,800 think about you is none of your business. 526 00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:03,760 And what people say about you is none of your business. 527 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:10,880 But if you make it your business, and many of us have done that, but if you make it your 528 00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:17,720 business, you'll go down a road that you'll never come back from. 529 00:46:17,720 --> 00:46:22,760 But being assured to know this, it's none of your business what people say or think 530 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,560 about you. 531 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:28,800 It's none of your concern and it's none of mine what they say about me. 532 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:36,160 And if we could capture this just today, just this one thing, then there'll be no more of 533 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:41,400 this fueling hostility and hatred and opposition, resentment, racism and revenge. 534 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,560 It just, it stops all that. 535 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,680 So here, here is the deal. 536 00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:59,280 How do I then deal with enmity where two parties are fractured, where there is disagreement, 537 00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:03,080 discord in between two parties? 538 00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:12,520 Exactly the same way that Jesus brought Jew and Gentile together and it is the cross of 539 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:24,080 Calvary that I know for me, forgiveness was never a request from God. 540 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,440 It's a command. 541 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,920 It wasn't a suggestion. 542 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:37,980 But when we understand that forgiveness is my duty as a believer to forgive, that means 543 00:47:37,980 --> 00:47:45,160 then if I'm experiencing enmity toward another, then I'm starting to learn something about 544 00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:49,400 me. 545 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:55,440 Just in the same way, when the two, the Jew and the Gentile came into one body and there 546 00:47:55,440 --> 00:48:04,600 was peace, that we take that same principle and if the person that you may be, you know, 547 00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:13,720 set against is a Christian, whether they apologize or not is totally irrelevant. 548 00:48:13,720 --> 00:48:15,560 They may never forgive you ever. 549 00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:19,680 You may never hear the words sorry. 550 00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:25,880 And if we are depending upon hearing those words to move on in life, we have got the 551 00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:31,420 wrong, we're on the wrong path. 552 00:48:31,420 --> 00:48:42,840 It is so important to know that forgiveness has everything to do about you, not them. 553 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:49,600 When you forgive them and I forgive them and I realize that because of what Jesus did on 554 00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:57,800 the cross, I'm at peace with God and I am to be at peace with my brother or sister, 555 00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:09,640 and that by choice, I choose as an act of my free will to release them, to no longer 556 00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:13,160 carry resentment toward them. 557 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:21,620 You see, the agape love, which was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that's Romans 558 00:49:21,620 --> 00:49:30,440 chapter 5 and verse 5, that you and I, when we came into the family of God with all different 559 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:38,040 nations and all the different people types coming in, that we all received something 560 00:49:38,040 --> 00:49:43,240 that is so important and that is agape love. 561 00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:47,760 Agape love holds no wrongs against others. 562 00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:59,120 Agape love holds them in high esteem, regardless what they have done to you. 563 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:09,000 The agape love that hung on the cross at Calvary for you and I forgave us of all of our sin. 564 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:15,080 And the same person Jesus, when He said, Lord forgive them, for they don't know what they 565 00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:24,120 do, how valuable that is for us to echo those same words from our hearts, Lord forgive them. 566 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:31,320 They obviously don't know what they've said or they're doing is wrong, but I forgive them 567 00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:35,400 and I choose to not be resentful. 568 00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:42,240 Holy Spirit would you help me to deal with this enmity that is in there somewhere that 569 00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:48,400 there's a bit of a hostility raging inside of me against them, Lord that you would quell 570 00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:56,920 that in my spirit, that I yield my life entirely to you, that you would by your Spirit come 571 00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,320 and extinguish that in my life. 572 00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:06,300 As the scripture says, how that enmity was crucified, Lord let that be crucified, let 573 00:51:06,300 --> 00:51:08,120 it be killed in my life. 574 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:11,040 I don't want that to change me. 575 00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:17,280 I don't want what people are doing against me to change who I am in you. 576 00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:22,280 Now that's a good prayer to pray. 577 00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:28,360 There are difficult times that we face with certain situations with people and there are 578 00:51:28,360 --> 00:51:36,560 times that maybe you and I have to set a standard and that sort of thing, but we don't ever, 579 00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:43,880 ever allow enmity to rise up in us toward people because there I believe it hinders 580 00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:46,160 God from moving. 581 00:51:46,160 --> 00:51:49,680 I really do. 582 00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:51,600 God is a good God. 583 00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:54,200 He is a good God. 584 00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:56,000 Amen. 585 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:05,340 He is so good and today we all came into the family of God through what Jesus did for us. 586 00:52:05,340 --> 00:52:14,280 On the cross of Calvary where Jesus was nailed, He willingly went to the cross for you and 587 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,640 for me. 588 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:24,620 It was love that nailed Him to the cross. 589 00:52:24,620 --> 00:52:32,120 He gave His life as a ransom for ours. 590 00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:38,760 There are so many different religions on the face of this earth, so many. 591 00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:44,040 Like my dad said to me one day, he said, well, how do you know which one's right? 592 00:52:44,040 --> 00:52:47,200 It's a good question, isn't it? 593 00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:55,920 I like to look at the fruit as a result of that religion as to what it does, how it treats 594 00:52:55,920 --> 00:53:05,560 people, how it treats women, how it treats children, how it treats a family unit. 595 00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:11,640 Is it a religion of war or is it a religion of peace? 596 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:17,880 But it's always important to go back to the founder of that religion and find out about 597 00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,640 that person. 598 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:29,560 And when we look at this with Christianity, Christianity is the only religion, it's not 599 00:53:29,560 --> 00:53:33,440 a religion, it's a way of life. 600 00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:42,360 Christianity is the only way of life of which its founder is still alive. 601 00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:51,360 Jesus was raised from the dead around 2000 years ago and He is alive forevermore. 602 00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:59,560 We are seeing all the time around the world that Christianity is the strongest growing 603 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:05,080 religion, if you like, in the entire world. 604 00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:08,040 Nothing has ever come close. 605 00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:11,800 Other religions are growing by birth rate. 606 00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:17,640 Christianity is growing through evangelism, you must remember that. 607 00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:23,440 Some nations that are, you know, their birth rate is exploding and their religion explodes, 608 00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:27,920 but it's not through evangelism, it's not personal choice that people were born into 609 00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:28,920 it. 610 00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:32,200 Christianity is something that I can choose. 611 00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:37,920 And I tell you, when I came to Christ, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. 612 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:43,720 When the Scripture says about the peace, that Jesus is our peace, that was the first thing 613 00:54:43,720 --> 00:54:51,160 that I experienced was this incredible peace that literally overwhelmed me. 614 00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:54,440 Amen. 615 00:54:54,440 --> 00:55:02,840 This morning as I close, yes that was my second close. 616 00:55:02,840 --> 00:55:09,240 If you have never received Christ as your Lord and Savior, what does that mean? 617 00:55:09,240 --> 00:55:14,800 That simply means Jesus, I want you. 618 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:18,120 I want you in my life. 619 00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:20,040 I need you in my life. 620 00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:27,640 Because if you do that today, you'll experience such a blessing. 621 00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:33,080 You'll experience a peace and a knowing who the real God is. 622 00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:38,560 There's good God, a graceful God, a merciful God. 623 00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:46,600 God that will always hold your needs up before Himself and honor you and love you. 624 00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:52,040 Treating all people equal. 625 00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:58,160 And there's only one way that we can receive this and that is through Jesus Christ. 626 00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:06,200 The Bible says, Jesus said, I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life. 627 00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:10,480 That no man comes to the Father but by me. 628 00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:13,280 There's no other way. 629 00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:15,880 There's no other way to God. 630 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:21,440 It has always been this way and through Jesus. 631 00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:28,200 And yet people in so many different religions and philosophies work so hard to please God. 632 00:56:28,200 --> 00:56:34,360 But man's efforts will never ever appease God in that way. 633 00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:41,040 And no matter how good we try to be, our own righteousness will never satisfy the righteous 634 00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:43,360 requirement of God. 635 00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:49,680 And when we receive Christ into our life, it's His righteousness in us and that's the 636 00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:55,160 only way to appease that level of righteousness that God requires. 637 00:56:55,160 --> 00:56:57,160 It's the only way. 638 00:56:57,160 --> 00:56:58,160 No other way. 639 00:56:58,160 --> 00:56:59,280 It cannot be done any other way. 640 00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:02,840 So you're here today or you're watching online. 641 00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:09,240 If you want to receive Christ into your life today, it is very simple. 642 00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:14,400 It's a heart issue that we would say, Jesus, I need you. 643 00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:17,480 I want you in my life. 644 00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:18,800 I accept you into my life. 645 00:57:18,800 --> 00:57:24,360 Forgive me of the things that I've done and I receive you as my Lord and Savior. 646 00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:29,400 And do you know at that point, Jesus will forgive you of all things you have done wrong 647 00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:32,200 or possibly done wrong in your life. 648 00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:41,880 And as we heard in communion, totally everything acquitted, freed, totally accepted by God. 649 00:57:41,880 --> 00:57:44,580 How good is that? 650 00:57:44,580 --> 00:57:51,200 Is there anyone here this morning that you desire to receive this most precious gift 651 00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:55,400 of salvation freely given to you? 652 00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:58,320 What I'd like to do is to pray a short prayer. 653 00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:04,080 And if you would repeat this prayer after me and follow me in this prayer, it will lead 654 00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:07,120 you in to this blessing. 655 00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:13,520 But once you're in that blessing, it is so important that we be discipled and to hang 656 00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:19,000 around people who can teach us more and cause us to grow in the ways of God. 657 00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:23,840 But I'm going to pray this prayer and I do encourage you to pray with me this morning. 658 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:24,840 Is that okay? 659 00:58:24,840 --> 00:58:29,000 And those watching online, would you follow me in prayer? 660 00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:30,000 You ready? 661 00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:38,360 Father God, I come to you in the name of Jesus. 662 00:58:38,360 --> 00:58:48,640 I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth that you, Jesus, are the Son of God 663 00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:52,080 and you died for me. 664 00:58:52,080 --> 00:58:59,020 God, you raised him from the dead for me. 665 00:58:59,020 --> 00:59:08,760 This day, I'm sorry for all the things I've done wrong and I ask you to forgive me. 666 00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:13,160 And this day, I give my life to you, Jesus. 667 00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:14,160 Amen. 668 00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:15,160 Amen. 669 00:59:15,160 --> 00:59:20,120 Now, if you prayed that prayer this morning, I just need you to do one of three things. 670 00:59:20,120 --> 00:59:22,000 First, could you just raise your hand? 671 00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:23,600 Would you just raise your hand quickly? 672 00:59:23,600 --> 00:59:24,960 Just let me see that hand. 673 00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:26,280 I see the hand there. 674 00:59:26,280 --> 00:59:27,960 I see some hands there. 675 00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:28,960 Just raise your hand. 676 00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:33,560 Is there anyone else here this morning that you have made a commitment to Jesus, to follow 677 00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:34,560 Jesus? 678 00:59:34,560 --> 00:59:35,560 Don't be shy. 679 00:59:35,560 --> 00:59:38,080 If you've prayed that prayer, would you just raise your hand? 680 00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:39,880 Last time, would you just raise your hand? 681 00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:40,880 I see those hands. 682 00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:41,880 Praise the Lord. 683 00:59:41,880 --> 00:59:47,160 Now, what I'd like to do, those of you who have raised your hand, would you like to come 684 00:59:47,160 --> 00:59:48,160 forward? 685 00:59:48,160 --> 00:59:49,160 We want to pray for you. 686 00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:54,160 We want to bless you and pray that the Spirit of God will just do a incredible work in your 687 00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:55,160 life. 688 00:59:55,160 --> 00:59:56,160 You can lower your hand. 689 00:59:56,160 --> 00:59:57,160 Thank you. 690 00:59:57,160 --> 00:59:58,160 Praise be to God. 691 00:59:58,160 --> 01:00:01,240 Okay, can we do that this morning? 692 01:00:01,240 --> 01:00:02,240 Praise God. 693 01:00:02,240 --> 01:00:10,080 Now remember, enmity was crucified at the cross of Calvary. 694 01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:14,120 Has that helped you understand forgiveness a bit more now? 695 01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:20,800 Our enmity and forgiveness, unforgiveness are so related to forgive. 696 01:00:20,800 --> 01:00:24,280 It's very important. 697 01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:28,840 Anyway. 698 01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:30,340 Thank you for joining us. 699 01:00:30,340 --> 01:00:33,080 We pray God's richest blessing on your life. 700 01:00:33,080 --> 01:00:37,680 If you haven't already, make sure to join us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 701 01:00:37,680 --> 01:00:41,340 You can also find us at LoganCityChristianChurch.com. 702 01:00:41,340 --> 01:00:54,840 See you next week.