2020-07-11 Sozo; Deep Healing [Healing: Restoring the Broken #1 ] - Pastor Jason Canfield

Cuz I'm going to be starting a series now. I don't know exactly how many it will be just yet. But I want to do a series on healing and restoring the broken all of us to experience. So many things in life. We have broken us. We have hurt and pain that affects how we operate how we function and with so many lives being lost at covid-19 and so many trials in the world. I think this is an important topic that we can look at. So today's message. We're going to be starting the series with Sozo is the title of this first message deep healing will look at Sozo since that sounds like a strange Greek word. It is Greek. I'm a little later in the sermon, but that we're going to look at that. But before we dive into that, would you bow your heads with me for prayer? I love you Heavenly Father. We just want to thank you so much for just the ability to come to you. You tell us in Hebrews that we can come boldly to the throne of grace and receive help in time of need and you are always there for us you desire to heal us to restore us into your image and to make us more like you you don't want the hurt and the pain that this world is suffering and that's why you're coming someday soon to remove it all once and for all and to Lord in the meantime, we have to live in this world. And so Lord, we ask that you would help us to know how to discover and not just fine but to experience that deep healing and love that you want to have in our lives. And so I pray Lord as we open the word this morning that we we claimed that promise where where two or more Gather in your name. You are there in the midst we pray that you're holy. Spirit would interpret and let people hear what they need to hear as you speak to us from your word because it is the Living Word and you are that word so Lord, we come to seek you now and you promised anyone who seeks you with all their heart will find you so Lord. May we find you and we may we find the Hope healing and peace that is in you alone today. As we enter this time in your word bless me and hide me behind your cross that you would be glorified and not I in Jesus name I pray amen.

All right. Like I said our message this morning is going into deep healing and I've started this with Matthew 1:21. You've probably familiar with this verse we often preached about it at Christmas time. It's at the birth of Jesus Christ and it talks about and she talking to Mary will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. It is fascinating to me that the very word the name of Jesus means healing means savior. The one who came to save us he is god with us Emmanuel and so right in the very name and you can see this throughout scripture when a name was given some time that name was changed so that from Abram to Abraham, for example, you have many different occasions where a name was very representative of the character of the person. And so Jesus is the healing balm that we all need Jesus is the ultimate healer the ultimate Redeemer. The one that came to save us and save us in an entire Tiano holistic Way Beyond what sometimes we go through? Let me put it this way. The message of Jesus is deeper than the Forgiveness of sins often. That's where we stopped but it goes much more the gospel affects all of life Jesus desires for the kingdom to come present. Now the gold wasn't simply to get people to heaven. The goal is also to get Heaven into people you might recall if you've read through the gospels. Jesus had a way of saying the kingdom is now the kingdom is here and he wanted the kingdom to be in us. We become the temples of the holy spirit that hold the presence of God in our lives in that the Holy Spirit comes into Jesus message of Salvation. The good news is so much more than hey. Here's a free ticket to Heaven. God wants to save us from the challenges we face now the challenges in the hearts that have been caused in this world. And Jesus is in a unique place as someone not just anyone but God who has come lived on this Earth. He's experienced the challenges we face and knows what we go through until he wants you to experience at complete Joy at complete salvation a complete hole and sometimes that I will admit. As pastors and that includes myself we preach sermons and it is gay people a false. Hope for a short. Of time and they feel like they can they can do this and they can overcome and they go home and somehow they fall into the same habits and they get discouraged and I want to go into word the word a little bit deeper and recognize that God can help us or whatever we're going through. I truly believe that because I've seen it in my own life. I want to go into the deeper levels of what salvation Jesus really wanted to bring. It kind of like would I love would my wife will tell you anywhere I go on vacation at 10 to bring back wooden trinkets. I find wood beautiful. And is you look at a cut out of a log such as the one on the screen it has rings and these rings are not so different than us. They they represent the ages in the stages and the things of the trees life. They've actually if you get someone that knows how to do it. Here's a picture of a a ring in a tree a very large tree and it will go back to showing when as text before beginning Construction in Mexico and 1325. This tree was alive when Columbus sailed to America and you can see a story of a tree's life. If someone knows how to read and you can see when that tree had a year of drought when that tree was nearly burned by fire whatever was going on around that affected that tree is recorded in the ring. Inside of it and in some ways We're Not So Different we have layers. I used a tree cuz I don't like onions if you know me, but this tree with the layers we get into these different things that are live is filled of layers and experiences things we go through summer good good great. Memories others are painful. They're challenging they're trying and they affect who we are how we view life how we view God how we view others how we view ourselves and so many of those things that's it's like the crust on the outside of a tree that bark is a protective layer, but for us just a few thin layers beneath are predicted protective bark. The concealing protective masks we wear you could say are the recorded rings of our lives these Rings rebuild the scars of our past the painful hurt their remain alive with an Ascend directly affect our Concepts feelings and relationships just like that tree that tree is still alive and those layers inside still have life going up and down through them and like us our lives are deep. Our experiences are deep in their very varied if we talked to everybody that is a member of this congregation you'd find we all have a different story every Human Experience two things different and sometimes we have very painful scars inside scars that sometimes we find a hard to heal from and I think that's where it gets deeper. You've heard. I'm in Matthew 7:20. Jesus said you have heard you Shout by their fruits. You shall know them yet. I'm going to say it's also true that by their Roots You Will And and not judge them and so this is the idea that sometimes we have known we've looked at this verse and said yes by their fruit. We've seen things that are happening in live and I'm not negating that at all that is still a true statement. But sometimes it is given us license to at least we feel we've been given license to judge others. And what I find is are the longer. I'm in Ministry. The more people I talked to many times people are doing what they're doing because of the deep-rooted pain in their life the struggle that they've gone through the things that they've experienced make them the way they are and so if we could truly understand the roots what's underneath the surface if you will we would understand why people are doing what they're doing when someone is very defensive and maybe stand off a short or perfectionistic or whatever. It may be that is usually related to something they've gone through in life. That's made them that way. It's Harden them or made I feel they have to put on a tough exterior many of us have talked about the we've heard you've heard it said in sermons the idea that we put on a mask when we go to church we smile we say happy Sabbath and we cloak everything that went on that week that we wish we could just scream about and life's not always easy but underneath that mask that mask it's interesting. The word Pharisee is actually a root word that kind of comes with mask. And so we become Pharisees. It's a fakeness and what I find it there's two extreme views that I often run into and they're they're Christians at see anything that Wiggles as a devil. You've met them. I've met them and it's one of these things where we start to begin to see everything as scary and it's true is the devil. Is there something the Devil's Knot into well as he wants to get a Christians he's in as many parts as he possibly can he wants to poison Humanity in any way shape and form you can What happens sometimes as when we see anyting The Wiggles of the devil, we become fear-based Christians were scared. We're not empowered by Christ and is he who is in US is greater than he that is in the world. We're so worried about what's in the world that we can't function any longer and so it can handicap us that can cripple us, but then there's the Christians that can oversimplify with Pat answers and do a great deal of damage that way and I think most pastors have been guilty of this it sometime so I say this up myself as well where we say. All I got to do is read your Bible pray everyday. We sing a song that goes through that. Well, there's an element of Truth to that but what about the person that is continually struggled in a petson and they have struggled and if they want to make change they want to have Victory but when they pray everyday like they're supposed to they read their Bibles everyday like they're supposed to and they don't find victory. It feels like it was just a pat answer and I believe God wants to work deeper within us and go past Pat simple answers and allow conversation to happen with the awesome with God and sometimes with others that we trust to allow us to go to a deeper level of healing. Benny D's unresolved inner turmoil that we go through leads to a deep sense of unworthiness a continuous feeling of anxiety and adequacy inferiority and fear that we are not good enough and will never amount to anything or ever be worthy of love. And like I said this often comes from experience, we we've been told imagine a child that was told they were worthless that they were no good by teachers by parents and it was they continue in life that goes with them. They struggle with this idea that they can never be good enough that they can never do it. And what happens is we carry for example, if it was that idea of a parent the told you you weren't good enough and you were always trying to be good enough for them you get to where you come to an adulthood, maybe your pastor a pastor. It's now all the sudden you look at all your parishioners and you have to be good enough for a whole new set of parents lots of them. And so we can carry these things in this anxiety this fear and it can come from so many different things someone that has been molested or something. We'll have deep-rooted struggles and fears and they don't feel they can trust anyone. Frankly, we don't really talk about it. It's uncomfortable. It's not an easy thing until we wonder how we can do it since it what often happens out of sheer a default in this is just Humanity looking at it. There's to extreme reactions that we get we get Christians with this Perfection is too complex to give you a latke. I don't have a better way to put up with this idea that it always is never good enough. We always have to get better and it's not that we're talking about natural human Christian growth and allowing the spirit to work in it, but it's it's taking it to a different level where all of a sudden nobody's good enough. Nothing's good enough. You become hypercritical you become a hater rather than a lover. If you were watching Ty Gibson and his sermon last night this idea where you're always judging someone because you always need everything to be perfect in this comes out of that fear that anxiety the other is someone that not live that of a superiority or perfectionist. Kind of look they will take it from a super sensitive complex at least people are interesting. They're so sensitive and I met people like this extra special attention. They been wounded so badly in life that they need to hear that you care about them much more frequently than someone that has an experience that pain and that's not their fault. It's not like they want that they wish it wasn't that way but it's simple in a way that you know, it's just life. If you if they've been told they're not good enough and they have this sensitivity. If you don't tell them if you don't acknowledge them on a regular basis, they feel you don't care. And this extra sensitivity can make you defensive I can make you mean angry all kinds of different things. It just different extremes that we often pop into and it's it's nothing personal. It's not about that and sometimes we look at these people and maybe we're one or the other or I don't know maybe you don't see yourself in any of these two categories, but when you fall into these ideas where we see that we become judgmental we become critical. We become over-sensitive. We can't handle any criticism. We can't have an open dialogue and conversation that would allow us to experience the true growth and healing God wants in our lives. Let me put it this way. So I'm Matthew 8 16 and 17. It's a paraphrase here in the second verse of Isaiah. It says when eating had come they brought to him speaking of Jesus many who were demon possessed. Annie cast out the spirits with a word noticed his word cast out the spirit and healed all who were sick and it says that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying he himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness. What we see in this picture is we see that Jesus was coming and it was coming not just to make sure you get a place in heaven. He was coming to take our infirmities to Bear our sickness and often our sickness can be guilt. It can be anxiety. It can be fear. It can be anger. It can be many emotions that we experience on a day-to-day basis and don't seem to be able to control. Hear God's wanting to come in and take those from us. You see the gospel is much bigger than just a simple. He wants to save you. It wants to go much more and this is most simply put in one word that most of you maybe maybe some of you of her before but it's so so so so or diso's I was the acting verb of this is a Greek word meaning saved sealed and delivered simply put and this is an idea if you were to read through the gospels in the New Testament, which is the portion in Greek, you would find this word is used very very very often and it has a very holistic deeper meaning than we often allow God to heal us it's kind of like there's a poem and maybe some of your Reddit. It's too long to quote in a sermon, but it's a long poem where a man describes. Letting God in the front door and he lets God in the front door kind of like we read in Revelation 3 with the laodicean message. Jesus stands at the door knocks. He lets him in but he wants Jesus wants to go all around the house and this man starts to take him around to some of the rooms but then there's other rooms that have giant padlocks all over them. It says, nope. No entry can't go in here and it's like we have areas where we don't let God's healing in because we're too scared to be honest often. It's kind of the last Safeguard if you allow God to heal that area, then you have no more self-justification to be angry to be bitter to be defiant to label that person to do this or to do that because if he heals that that's gone. It's removed its read erased from the picture. So so so just to give you a quick version of this and I could have done a whole Sermon Just on this one slide probably. But this idea so so if you want to snap a picture this or go back in you might want to do that. I'm just going to give 5 references here right in Luke and I have one from Matthew there just to give you the whole picture of what God's salvation really is cuz that's what this word is. Its to save most often is translated as saved but it comes in other forms as well. So for example, if we turn to Luke 7 Amber's 50, we see the woman caught in adultery who is thrown at Jesus feet and he tells her that her faith has saved those owed her faith was giving her forgiveness of her sin and Soph her faith had saved her but that's forgiveness physical protection. This is the story of the same just a very next chapter of physical protection. If you look in Matthew's gospel uses the word Sozo and this is where the disciples are out on the boat that huge storm comes they're freaking out that Like we're going to die. This is terrible. Why is Jesus sleeping and sometimes life feels that way it's like the world is going crazy that everybody's dying where Jesus is he sleeping and here they cry out that they want Jesus to save them to Sozo them to protect them until that's exactly what Jesus says he comes into the storm hushes the storms of life around us and he provides physical protection Sozo but it goes beyond that didn't Luke 836 Legion the man that was living in a cave and not living a he was full of demons a legion of demons. He was freed from hundreds of demons and when Jesus tells him he was so so. That's the action it's talking about. He frees us from the demons in our lives. Raising the dead Jerry Lewis's daughter the. 13 year old daughter that had passed away. He comes to Jesus and Jesus saves her brings her back to life because of Jarius has faith. And so it's raising from the dead physical healing. This is the woman that had a flow of blood for 13 years. She comes to Jesus. She only touches the Hem of His Garment the Ziti the little tassels at the bottom representing the Loft and she is healed instantly. This is the physical healing. So when you look at Sozo God is wanting to forgive us to physically protect us to deliver us to even raise us from dead lies of sin to have physical healing in our lives God's salvation. His good news is so much bigger than we often give it credit to be salvation is the best news ever literally. Did you catch that who doesn't want that list of things you see there? There's other words that are uses. There's three words that often get used Greek words and you can see them their Sozo is used a hundred and one times the most common therapy oath, which is the use for tea time's the next moment next highest uses. This is kind of like therapy. It's where we get it from. It means you need continuously the healing you need someone to attend to you to heal you this is like a nurse or physical therapist. Will I'm just spoke last week. He provides therapy in this way in this can come in at a mental therapist that needs to help you heal from pains in your past as well. There's many different ways in the first one Ionia I owe May comes as an instant heal a spontaneous in the moment now, that's the one we all wish we could get. That's just not the most common just look at the use Number of times these words are used in Sozo this complete salvation of every area of life is the most common used instant healing isn't there's times when God does instant healing and we don't want to wait for it. But in reality God works through a process of healing of healing and restoring us back into him in his image. So the question we get is it this is God's healing it. This is what he wants to give us. How come we have all these inner pains these inner turmoil like those layers and rings in a tree that we've never dealt with those past pains that make us feel. We're not good enough the ones that make us look at God different because quite frankly when were told that by say a father figure often we look at God as our Father in heaven and we reflect our image of our Earthly father and so God wanting to heal all of these things so that we can treat each other and in the church in Marriages in our workplace wherever it may be because when we take these things into US it really affects everything often. It's reflective of that inner pain. So to give you an example, I heard a story. I read the story of a pastor not in the Avenue church, but a pastor of a denomination and he had be been betrothed before he went to war and when he was betrothed he she said she was going to be waiting for him. He went into war he may got a little too lonely and made some bad choices if you know what I mean, and so he made some bad moral choices and when he got back his fiance was waiting for him. He got married you would seem he would live happy but he's internal guilt for what he done made him feel he wasn't worthy to be with his wife. He wasn't worthy to have her affection because of a sin from way back that he never felt he could address never felt he Confessed that he never experienced healing for and so is affecting his marriage Not only was it affecting his marriage that guilt and knowing his family life was broken was affecting his preaching. It was affecting the entire congregation. And so you have this ripple effect of Sin from a single choice. And so we want healing in the things one of the first things we need to ask ourselves as you'll see on the screen as we need to ask if we want to and are willing to be healed now, what do I mean by that the most people if you ask him if they want to be healed they would say yes, you would think that would be the logical normal answer but like that poem there's some areas of our life. We want to feel like it's okay to be angry people. It's it's okay to have this frustration is okay to make someone bad to make us feel better. If it's kind of neat. Jerk Humanity thing that we do where we want. I have someone to blame because we don't want the blame to fall on us if it has anything to do with us and many times. It feels like it couldn't have anything to do with us because someone else did it to me until we feel self justified in the danger is when you feel self Justified you're off and not divinely justified you pick one justification over the other so we have to ask are we willing to be healed? Do we want to be healed and it might surprise you that even in the gospels we find people that do this that's looking one. John chapter 5 verse 1 through 4. Let's start with John 5 1 through 4. This is after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep gate a pool which is called and Hebrew Bethesda having five porches verse 3 in these late a great multitude of sick people blind Lane paralyzed waiting for the moving of the water. So you can pause here and say did these people want to be healed it would seem superficially. Yes. They wanted to be healed. They were there waiting for a miracle instantaneous healing at this pool believing as the next verse tells us that an angel it sometime head at went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water than you ever stepped in first after the stern of the water was Madewell of whatever disease he had. It sounds like a pretty hokey story to me the idea that the water move once and whoever steps in first. And so we had this race we were fighting against each other cuz we want to be the first ones. We want to be healed until they're all they're waiting to be made well. That's what the stories telling us. If you were to go into ancient Israel to look where was I'm you can see on the screen here. You have the there's a pool of Israel. That was right near the Temple Mount you had all these different as you can see where the crucifixion where the eastern wall is and Bethesda where these two pool areas. You can see off to the side now. It's back in the day if you were to go there right now. This is what it would look like. This is the archaeological site doesn't look that exciting doesn't look like that's where you go to get healed. It just looks like a bunch of old rocks, but in Jesus day it would have looked quite beautiful with pools. Now. This is a story where I find pretty amazing in verse 5 and verse 6 is now a certain man was there who had an infirmity remember Jesus wants to take our infirmities as we read that reference for referring back to Isaiah 38 years. 38 years is a very long time to have an infirmity. It doesn't say specifically here, but I just want you to think about imagine you've had a pain you've had an suffering and it could be 38 years or even longer. We've been going through turmoil over something in our lives this man had it for 38 years when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time. It was obvious. Apparently he said to him. Do you want to be made well, Do you want to be made well, and this is quite a fascinating story. So I want you to picture for a second whatever infirmity you have. If you have something that came to your mind as I've been talkin this far in the Holy Spirit impressed upon you that I have an infirmity. I have a pain. I have an injustice that was done to me. Someone told me I wasn't good enough or I wasn't this or I wasn't that or you were assaulted or abused or whatever. Maybe I want you to recognize Jesus sees you. Any knows about that and he's asking you do you want to be made? Well, that's the question here. Do you want to be made? Well, Jesus is coming up to this man. This is an artistic rendering of it. There is a pool. He's stuck there. He's crippled. He's helpless to heal himself just like we are he can't do it. He's been waiting. He's had this problem for a long time and then reality is many Christians that we come to church. We do all the right things, but we have deep things that we still need Jesus to heal just like this man. And we've been waiting and we've been longing and we can't seem to figure out how to get it to healed. But Jesus season, he says do you want to be made? Well, do you want to be healed known as the sick man answered him sir? I have no mat. No man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. The first thing he says when Jesus says do you want to be made? Well as he makes an excuse how many of his make excuses to why God can't help us with something. We have a pets in an area of our life were trying to change our diet. We're trying to change this. We're trying to change that we have whatever is going on and we say oh but God hears my excuse on why can't I don't like it as much it makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to talk about it. It makes me too emotional we come up with excuses and we don't really allow God to do the deep healing. We really need hands. We don't experience the full effects of Sozo that deep complete complex healing saving mechanism that Jesus came to give because we stop he says but while I am coming another step down before me so not only does he make an excuse. He said that's their fault. You think we do this as well? Sometimes it's something that happened to us. Sometimes it's our spouse. Sometimes it's someone else in our lives and we say we can't do that and then we take it. It's because of them. And we want to make excuses. We want to blame somebody else for why we aren't doing what we know we have to be doing. We have to know what we should be doing. The holy spirit is convicted. This is what we ought to do, but we will feel much more comfortable doing what we're already comfortable doing. Therefore. It's easier to give a scapegoat answer if you will where we blame someone else or make an excuse on why hence we can keep going on filling sell Justified, it's fine. I can do this. It's okay. I don't need God to heal glad I'm okay. The reality is is if you have these undermine underlining issues deep within you like those Rings. It is truly affecting everybody and everything around you as I mentioned that Pastor that made us in way back in the past when he was overseas. It was affecting his family life his ministry life. It affects everything when we have these sins that we don't allow God to truly heal. We need to let him into the places. We don't want him in. Does that make sense we have areas in our life where we build these barriers where we don't want him in but Jesus even though he makes excuses. Jesus said to him rise take up your bed and walk. He says you can do this. I'm going to empower you to do this, even though you can't do it on your own I can do it. All he'll you would you make the effort now imagine this man. I'm assuming he was lame or crippled in some way laying there and he that's why he couldn't get into the water. He's crippled because of what ailment he has just like our ailments our sins crippled us and he's literally lame can't get up and Do you know how hard it would be to what kind of faith it would be to say? Okay. I'm just going to get up and walk then 38 years. He hasn't been able to and he just says okay because you said so Jesus. That's face. That's the kind of face. The God is asking us to having him to say yeah that thing you don't want to give up that thing you do what you want to keep hitting that that pain inside of you that you would struggle to find hole from that you prayed about that. You learned over that you struggle over that whatever is going on in your life or when your loved one's life that you're just wrestling with. God says, let me take it. Would you allow me to take it and do what you can't do for yourself take up your bed and walk and noticed immediately. In this case. The man was Madewell took a piss bed and walked in that day was the Sabbath Balsa Sabbath anybody want to Healing Today's a good day. Matthew John chapter 5 7 through 9. So I found there's at least five steps and we're going to go through these five steps briefly here today. But like I said, this is a series because I don't think I can go through all of it in the amount of time. It's going to take but at least five steps to experiencing God's deep healing complete salvation and love if you really want all of that and you want that internal pain anxiety and turmoil and fear and perfectionism or whatever it is. It's inside of you that you wish you could just get free of here's how I think the first problem is you have to face your problem squarely in other words, you have to actually admit. This is a problem. If you don't admit this is a problem. If you don't recognize your need of saving in this area of your life, you're not opening that part of your life up to God salvation because you're denying that it's even a problem. So you have to recognize that you have a problem. Whatever it maybe and I don't know what your struggle is. I know what some of mine are cuz we all have areas in our lives and need them our weaknesses and we need to face our problem squarely we need to recognize. Yes. We have a problem. Sometimes it even requires saying this to someone else to recognize it out loud James 5:16 says confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much to give you to refer back to this example of that Pastor. He was about to lose his ministry and his family and everything until he finally went to a pastor went to someone another Pastor. He felt he could trust and he explained for the first time to the first person. He'd ever told about what he did and in the act of getting it off his chest. He wept like a baby experience God's salvation and healing for the first time even the pastor had dinner broken. They needed healing in that came for this person through saying telling the story of what happened what was going on can bring healing for many people now, maybe you're listening to this and going well. Well, well, I've tried that it didn't work. Sorry Pastor. That's all nonsense. I'm not going to tell anybody because I told somebody they told somebody they told somebody I became a big problem. I hear you. I understand. I recognize that when you confess your trespasses to another person you're taking a risk. You're taking a risk because yes humans are frail humans are broken. We are all broken people but God can use our Brokenness to help others, but we have to acknowledge it. And the first thing you need to do is to confess it to God let God know the one that will never let you down. The one will always listen to it always listens to our prayers and answers our prayers. He may tell you you need to tell someone else but you need to seek the Lord in guidance for that it is you do that. This is a way of getting it out so that it is a real thing if you have a problem and I don't know what it may be that you're still struggling with let your spouse know let someone you can know someone that's confident. They can keep the confidence of what you're saying and then ask some may it be someone not just Not just maybe a counselor that secular someone that can pray for you because the second part of this verse says the effect in fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much or righteous person. You could say go to someone you can trust share it if that's what he leads you to do, but we need to confess it to recognize it to say it with our mouths. This word confess is another way of speaking. It's kind of like saying I believe but I have never going to tell anybody. I believe it's not really confession until it's made public. And so sometimes I'm not saying to make your Sims public but to make to be able to work in fast out loud to God or two in private what it is you're dealing with this is a way of acknowledging it acknowledged. Yep. Step one. I got a problem. Here's my problem God and I need help and it may not be the first time you've gone to God with it. The second part is accepting your responsibility in the matter. Now this one can get a little tricky. This one can feel difficult. So take for example someone that was abused as a child very sensitive. Very painful very scary. We know it actually does physical damage to the brain. Although that can be healed. I Believe In Christ, it has deep-seated things and it's deep pain that we have a very difficult time dealing with because it just hurts too much and you might be thinking well, what am I supposed to accept my responsibility? I was a child. I had nothing to do with that that person was wrong. And you're right. It may have been the other person's fault. But how you respond to it here. And now is your responsibility how you a let it how you allow that thing that happened to Define you is something you do have control over. It is something you can give to God if you feel it haunting you something that's always behind you like the boogeyman that's making you a different person then you want to be so a failure someone else even close to you can haunt you through your life and it can feel like something you can't get rid of and our responsibility is today here and now in our lives and what we choose and it makes a difference. Again 1st John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We confess it to him. We acknowledge. We have a fault in its you know, why anyone you do marriage counseling you could just say there's no argument where there's not two parties and sometimes we have people that passive aggressive behaviors. You might say never know someone that does that it seems like they're not really doing anything. They never really say anything and it's just a little microaggression. You might say those micro aggressions. Add up they affect us. And so maybe it's how we respond to others because of the damage that's been done done to us and many times. They know through studies that many people that have been abused for example in one wish it way shape or form weather that verbally or physically often end up becoming abusers themselves, they end up passing that on and they hate themselves for it when you hate yourself because of something that's happened or something that's done or that you see yourself doing something. No, you shouldn't you begin to feel you're not good enough. I'm not good enough to Be Loved These back pains are too much too bad and you won't even go to God for help. The one place you need to go to the most is the place. You don't want to go when you're feeling like this when you feel self-loathing because of your sin when you recognize what you've done you admitted. You acknowledge it you say you've done it. That's the time when you need to go to God the most yet sometime. As we get this idea that I'm not good enough to go to Jesus. That is the devil's greatest trick for us because then we don't get the healing and help we need God wants us to come boldly to the throne of grace and receive help in time of need again is Hebrews 4 says the next thing we need to do is forgive everyone who is involved in your problem. And this isn't easy. I'm never said this was easy. I never said this was going to be something that oh, you just walked through five steps and you're done. Jesus had to forgive the Pharisees the people that were killing him forgive them for they know not what they do. Sometimes you have to forgive them because hurting people hurt other people and you often don't know the stories. This is where we begin to judge in. There are truly evil people out there that have allowed the enemy to take over completely and often these people are not good people you don't I will not saying to go hang out with them but to recognize that but at least say God forgive them and heal them as well because they need healing as well. They may not accept that healing but you can pray that and you can recognize that someone is being used by the enemy to hurt other people and ask to forgive them.

Mark 11:26, Jesus makes this passage very clear and he makes it clear other where in scripture says if you do not forgive neither, will your father in Heaven forgive your trespasses? He makes a very strong point that to receive forgiveness. You have to Grant forgiveness. And this is why this becomes an integral part according to scripture that we need to go through and it's not an easy one to love those who hate you to love those who persecute you despitefully use you to count it all joy, when you come into various trials, I mean all of these verses shouted but it's what we're called to do. It is not an easy thing and quite frankly I would say this is impossible without Jesus if you're going to forgive someone that is really truly hurt Lee you too deep profound level you're going to need God's grace to do that. You're not going to naturally be able to do that. And when you do that, you will recognize it as God doing it in you and through you and that's when we become like Jesus we become able to forgive others in such a profound way that we no longer hold grudges that we no longer have Tustin differences. Separate us in divide us this brings healing and unity. In fact, the word Sozo is used to even in the New Testament to describe the racial issues big topic today the racial differences between Jew and Gentile when they're needed to be healing there. It was so so that was needed the difference is we have between members in a church or in our workplace or in our family or whoever it is any relationship you have that is broken or damaged or needs help that you're holding resentment towards needs to be you need to forgive the other person and invite God Sozo in his complete healing and I will tell you from experience. This is the most unimaginable most glorious feeling you've ever experienced to have held something so deep so hurtful. So painful like a ball of fire within your soul that's eating you alive to finally have that extinguished. 2 habits move away will bring tears to your eyes. You will experience a flood of joy and the moving of the spirit in a way you've never felt before because that's what God wants to do. That's what God's desire is to renew and to heal us in a complete Way Beyond that we have to forgive ourselves. Now one of the biggest problems we know we're supposed to forgive others and we we know we're supposed to do that. But sometimes our greatest enemy is our self. I used to have a member that was in Wenatchee and he used to always say he was his own greatest enemy. And that is very true. For most of us. We we will say we are forgiven we will pray and we will give it to God and then it's like we took it right back. It's as though we didn't believe God really casted into the depths of the sea. It's like we didn't believe that he really forgave us until we hold on to it and we don't forgive ourselves at this was the example of that Pastor. He wouldn't forget himself so he couldn't forgive others and it affected everywhere. When God forgives he buries your sins in the sea of his forgiveness, then he puts a sign on the bank, which says no fishing allowed. This is Corrie Ten Boom a survivor of the Holocaust who had to forgive the guards that were torturing and killing her family in the Holocaust. This is the Deep seeded pain that we struggle with. She went through horrifics tragedies few of us could even begin to imagine and yet she chose God's Sozo and healing and forgiveness and forgave and in the same way. She had to forgive herself for the hatred. She had towards them and like I says here you put a sign on the bank to says no fishing because we often want to go fish it back out. So we feel guilty again so that we can do it again often Micah 7:19 is where we get this idea of casting it into the CSS. He will again again notice again and again and again will have compassion on us and we'll do our iniquities. Do you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea God wants to forgive us to cast our sins into where no one can When he wants it completely forgiven and we want he wants us to forgive ourselves. Yes, you've sent if you're human you send and that's not necessarily. Okay, but it is okay when you give it to God when you give your sin to God come to him and ask him to change you so that you will stop being in this vicious cycle of Shame and guilt and blame and hate and everything that goes on within the human mind and you give it to God so he can heal you The last thing we need to do is it takes prayer and it often takes time. We need to ask the Holy Spirit what the core of your problem is and how you need to pray something I found often is we think we know what the problem is, but often it's something much bigger. Sometimes we're seeing reflective pain. Have you ever been to I've had pain in my body and I had a chiropractor adjust something and all the sudden the pain went away. My pain wasn't where He adjusted it was reflective pain. And so sometimes we can have pain inside emotionally from something we've experienced and where we're seeing its effects in different way. So we try and put out all the fires and we're not really dealing with the court issue that's in the center until we need the Holy Spirit to ask us and help us see where the core of our problem is why we're doing this if we're struggling with this and we can't get past it if we're hung. Upon something that we know God says you should do and quite frankly. We all have something there. We can always do something different. If you ask anyone could they be a better person tomorrow than they are today? The answer is yes because there's something you could do to be more like Jesus. We're not translated yet so we can always become more like Jesus. So we need something and we need to ask the Holy Spirit to truly humbly examine our hearts like David did David was a man after God's Own Heart because he said search me. See if there's anything Wicked within me. Let me know where my sins are and when he was called out because of his sin. He did everything he could to make restitution for it. So we need to know how to pray for these things in the reality is we don't know how to pray for these things. That's what scripture tells us. That's what we see right in Romans chapter 8, it says likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. It's okay that you don't know says scripture God say in here. Yes the spirit you need the spirits help to help you realize what the issue is and how you ought to pray but it says but the spirit himself the spirit of God makes intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered God will intercede for us you can sit in Sleep and God knows what your tears are saying. He knows where they're coming from and he knows what to do, but we have to be willing to bend the knee to get down to Humble ourselves. That's what it means to bend the knee get down humble ourselves before God and say, Here I am a broken mess God I messed up I continue to mess up. I don't know how to fix it all but what I do know is I want to be healed and I don't want to make excuses and I don't want to blame others like that man at the pool of Bethesda. I want healing I don't want to cast my anxieties in my fears upon everybody. I don't want to I don't want to keep judging everybody and seeing everything is the devil to where I can't even function in society anymore. I want your healing. I want your peace. I want your discernment. I want to experience the hope and healing and peace that comes through Jesus Christ. Like our mission statement says I want that and if we will do that God can and will help us. It says he who searches the heart knows that the knows the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the saint according to the will of God so he can interpret what it is and speak it for us. Like I said, A couple verses that I think kind of sum this up as we come to a conclusion before we move on to what we'll discuss and expand on next week. It says the righteous and this doesn't mean you're a good person. This means you're willing to come to God the person that it will act rightly by making themselves available to God's healing forgiveness, especially the end of time when we needed the most the righteous cry out. There's that crying out for God to help and the Lord hears. God will hear you and he delivers them out of all their troubles God sees the trouble you're facing and he can deliver you now Deliverance may not come in the way or shape or way. You think it's going to come sometimes we project what God supposed to do and tell him what he's supposed to do. God has often different ways. And we need to be open to what that is. Sometimes people are put the rest because that was the best alternative and we have to accept that but whatever it maybe he will hear us help us out of all our troubles. Psalm 34 Verse 18 says the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. If you're broken hearted over your sin and the things you've struggled and the things you facing those inner rings of your life. It says he is near to you any saves Sozo such as have a contrite spirit. If you look at the Septuagint the Greek Old Testament, they use the word Sozo here for says he's going to completely restore you if you have that contrite heart seeking the Lord if you'll let him do it first 19 says many are the afflictions of the righteous. Yep many we got problems, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones not one of them is broken this idea that God is going to protect us. Remember the disciples in the boat yelled at Lord save us meaning protect us God protects us. He guards us. He gives us some at what are the words that used in Greek is a pen Apria a protection. He guards us and it's like a canopy if you will a protection over as you get a safety bubble will need a safety bubble with coronavirus. Right God's protection is our safety bubble. That doesn't mean go out and just act like viruses don't exist cuz that's not a smart thing to do. But recognize that God can protect you from many things, but we have to be wise about how we go about it last first will close with and Romans 12:2 says and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, you know, it's pretty fascinating this idea that we need to renew our mind. We we need to change how we think and feel based on our brain if that's what it's saying. He says I don't want you to just go with whatever is natural. Whatever the world says is. Okay, whatever people think is okay. I want you to Lyle God. I want the Holy Spirit to speak to your mind and change the way your thinking because this is genuine conversion genuine conversion is not just oh I'm saved. It's saved Sozo healing changing of the Mind changing the way you think changing the way you act because it's God working in you and through you to do his will and good pleasure. God can heal us at a very deep level these areas that we struggle with so often God wants to heal you will you let him will you not just desire it but allow him to do the healing you desire in your life. I guarantee you'll never regret it. If you open that door, let him into every door in the openness of your heart and your mind let him in everywhere and you will experience that love. Joy that piece and I can't lie that's close with brown. Loving father in Heaven. Thank you so much for Jesus. The one who came to save his people and you came to save us and a much more profound ways. And we've often acknowledged we we we turn salvation into a lucky draw of a coin or something. I I don't even know but we've gotten so much of it wrong and I missed so much of what you have in store for us and we have carried for way too long burdens and pains and scars that are affecting who we are and we want to give it all to you. We want to surrender all to you. We want to allow you to make us new like The Potters Clay shaping and forming our lives in ways that we could never do Lord help us as we struggle through the steps as we struggle through surrender really to you and what that looks like a knowledge in our problems and confessing our problems and Forgiving everyone involved including ourselves and praying for the Holy Spirit to helles. And I just want to thank you right now because I know there are people listening or they will listen to this message that will follow that and I want to thank you right now for the healing you're going to give in their lives because that is the work of God. That is a Miracles we long for and I know what happens. I know you listen, and I thank you, and I praise you for being that kind of God. Thank you that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. Thank you for forgiving us and loving us despite us. We love you Jesus in your name. We pray. Amen. Happy Sabbath.