Sermon Central
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Part 2 - Un-Forgiveness Series
Contributed by Pastor Bruce A. Shields on Mar 24, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Part 2 of our "They must be GIANTS!" series focuses on un-forgiveness as our giant that we must face, as David faced Goliath.
They Must be Giants
2 – Un-forgiveness
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Ministries
www.PS127.org
WELCOME
INTRODUCTION
Most of us are all familiar with the story of David & Goliath.
We are continuing our series entitled “They Must be Giants!”
Topics over the next few weeks;
† Fear
† Loneliness
† Anger
† Addiction
Today we are talking about Un-forgiveness and how it can be the giant we face in our lives.
Un-forgiveness can hold us captive to ourselves.
Un-forgiveness can literally make us a slave to it.
Remember these points from David & Goliath over the next few sermons;
† The battle between the Palestinians and the Israelites was a spiritual one. Today it continues between the Jews and the Arabs, who are descendants of Isaac and Ishmael.
God told Abraham He would give him a son, not waiting on the promise of God, Abraham and his wife Sarah decided since she was barren, God must have meant for Abraham to have a child with someone else, so he did with Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian slave.
Ishmael was the first born from that encounter, and traditionally the inheritance belonged to him, but he was NOT the promise of God, and eventually, just as God said, it was, and Sarah and Abraham had a child, Isaac, who was the one God promised.
This is the problem which continues today; the descendants of Isaac (Jews) and the descendants of Ishmael (Arabs) are still at odds, and there will never be peace in the Middle East, because Abraham and Sarah did not wait on God’s promise, but tried to FULFILL it themselves.
How often we do the same thing today…
† David had the Holy Spirit just as all of those who belong to God have access to.
† David recognized the battle was spiritual even though everyone around him could not. He was walking in the spirit, not by sight, but by faith.
† When David faced the giant, he knew the battle was not a man against a giant, but a giant against a man of God.
† The battle was the Lord’s!
We must remember these points in our lives as well when we face things.
1. It’s a spiritual battle
2. We have the Holy Spirit
3. The battle is the Lord’s
We speak so often on forgiveness, but fail to realize our battle with un-forgiveness.
SCRIPTURE READING
“5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”
PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT AND UNDERSTANDING
THE GIANTS NAME IS UN-FORGIVENESS
Un-forgiveness causes;
† Bitterness
† Anger
† Resentment
† Dissention
† And it causes us to sin against God as well as un-forgiveness against ourselves
The root to most problems in our lives, and relationships with others can be un-forgiveness.
Forgiveness is an important part of our faith, and MUST be exercised!
Un-forgiveness is a slow poison to our systems.
Over time, it destroys us.
Why do we find it so hard to forgive?
Is it because we feel we are controlling the person who hurt us, by not forgiving them in some way we are punishing them for what they did to us?
We try to hurt them as much as they are hurting us.
To show them how they’ve hurt us.
To try and make them understand how we hurt.
That doesn’t work though. When we try to punish others through un-forgiveness, they almost always rebel.
Those we do not forgive, never suffer as much as we do from our un-forgiveness.
Nothing compares to the damage we do to ourselves.
Yet, we do it.
“1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
