The Prayer Of Release 2-14-2021

CONNECTING WITH GOD THE PRAYER OF RELEASE Sunday March 14, 2021 Scripture Reference: Matthew 6:9-13, Matthew 18:21-36 "Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don't let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one." Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT2) Intro. A. The Misery Twins. 1. Last week I began to talk about what I want to call the misery twins the first of which is Guilt. There are probably some of you here today who are struggling with this first twin. You live so much of your life feeling guilt, guilt for things you didn't do guilt for things you did do, guilt for things you can't undo and the list goes on. But Guilt has a twin and we will talk about that evil twin today. 2. The evil twin of guilt is resentment. These two things may well be the biggest barriers you and I face when it comes to discovering a life of peace and joy and fulfillment. The fact is guilt and resentment effect every relationship in our lives and remember when we began this series we talked about how vital relationships are for us. God has built into us the need to be in relationship with people, but the fact is guilt and resentment are keeping us either from having relationships themselves or from having healthy relationships. You see guilt normally has to do with what I have done whereas resentment has to do with what others have done to me. 3. Now it is one thing to forgive someone who has hurt me once, but what about the person who has done this several times or who seems to be a repeat offender? [] For most us this is where the three strike law comes into play. Three strikes and now we are throwing away the key. What does the bible say about the repeat offender? Let's look and see. D. Matthew 18:21-35 "Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" 22 "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven! 23 "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold-along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned-to pay the debt. 26 "But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. 28 "But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 "His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it,' he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. 31 "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart." Matthew 18:21-35 (NLT2) 1. V. 21 says "Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?". You have to know that Peter is feeling pretty good about himself right about now. You see the Jewish law at this time said that you had to forgive a person who offended you three times and after that you were done. So, Peter is not only doubling the number of times he is willing to forgive but then he even throws in this one extra. You probably recall that the number seven in the Bible usually refers to completion. Maybe Peter thought that this would really impress Jesus. 2. Notice Jesus' response V.22 "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven! What was Jesus was telling Peter and more importantly what is Jesus tell us? He is telling us that counting doesn't count! If I am keeping track of the number of times I have forgiven someone then the reality is I have not forgiven them the first time. It means I haven't done what this part of the Lord's Prayer is all about and I have not released them. 3. Notice in V.21 the word in the NLT that is translated "someone". In the Greek this word is "brother". Here is one of the toughest things about forgiveness, it is forgiving those who are closet to us. After all my family should love me enough not to hurt me, right? Of course, this is why being hurt by the family is so painful; because we think the intimacy of the relationship disqualifies us from being hurt. 4. Now let's just go ahead and deal with another painful reality. When you come to Jesus as your savior you become a part of the church family. If you are going to fulfill what the bible says, then you are not only a part of the universal church, but you must also be a part of the local church. If you are new to the church, you need to know something very important. This family is not perfect, and neither is Calvary Chapel, Valley Christian Church, First Baptist, or any other church in this community. The reason we and all these other churches are not perfect is because they are filled with people like you and me. Unfortunately, I can guarantee you that at some point in time someone in this church, someone will do something that will hurt you in some way. Sadly that person could even be me. I wish it weren't so but it is, but we are still family and even though we get hurt sometimes in our families we don't disown them. We find a way to work through those problems because we are family. Trans. Now last week I told you about how we need to seek and find forgiveness for ourselves, for the sin in our own lives. Today I want to talk to you about what I think is more difficult and that is forgiving others and releasing them from the supposed bondage we put them in. What I mean is that someone hurts you and you get angry with them and refuse to forgive them for what they have done. What we do is we keep them in this little prison in our minds and every once in a while we let them out so we kick them around a little. You see for a time we hadn't thought about what they did, but maybe we see them, or something jars our memory, and we start reliving how much they hurt us and how angry we are with them. Of course, here is the bummer, while we keep reliving what they did and we keep thinking we are punishing them the fact is we are the only ones being punished. Most of the time that other person has no clue that they did anything to hurt us in the first place. OK so what can we do to get past this and really forgive that person and release them so that we can live a full and enjoyable life ourselves? Here are three reasons we must forgive those who hurt us and release them. I. WE MUST FORGIVE THEM BECAUSE GOD HAS FORGIVE US. I know this may sound very basic to us but it is also essential. You see we have to forgive others the debt that may be owed to us because our debt has been paid. A. Your Debt Has Been Paid. 1. You see we are ALL in debt. The bible is clear on this, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." Romans 2:23 (NLT2) I don't care how good we have tried to be I don't care how religious we might think we are I don't care how many years we have attended church. We have ALL sinned and fallen short of God's standard. In the parable we read about the unforgiving servant he had an enormous debt. In today's economy that debt would have been around 12 million dollars. It was an Impossible debt to repay. We owe a great debt we have sin in our lives and no amount of church attendance or good deeds or money will pay off that debt. We need what happened for this servant. 2. The King had pity on him. God had pity on us. God saw the condition of our lives and instead of wiping us out which is what we deserved He sent Jesus to die for us so that through him this great debt could be paid, and we could have the relationship with God that He has designed for us since creation. 3. Now there is something very significant that happens in this parable that also happen for us. What did the King do when this guy asked for more time to pay the debt? One option we might have considered is some debt reduction right? Loan restructuring. I know you can't repay 12 million so I will reduce the debt to 6 million. That would be pretty good, but you still have to pay be back right? Is that what this king did? NO! He CANCELLED the debt! He completely released this guy form his debt! It is amazing here and it is even more amazing when it comes to us and what God did for us! Trans. Now consider with me the other side of this story, the side we might be personally familiar with. This servant is forgiven this massive debt but his response to what has just happened is totally wrong. B. The Wrong Response. 1. I wonder how you would feel if you were in this guys shoes? [] Let's say B of A owns the loan on your home and you are 2 million dollars upside down but they choose to totally forgive your debt. How would you feel? 2. Look at what this guy did, V.28 "But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment." [] Did you know that Roman law at this time allowed this to happen? This guy was completely within his "legal" rights to chock this guy to death because of the debt he owed. [] Anyone here today glad this law is not in effect in America? But let me add this while there is no law allowing this it is still happening. How many times when you see that person who has hurt you in some way do you take them out of that prison I talked about earlier and you chock them? I saw something in this passage that I never really noticed before. Notice what is says, "he went to a fellow servant". Here is what I never noticed before. When I have read this passage I have always seen it as this guy leaves the kings presence and accidentally runs into this guy, but that is not what it says. It says he left the kings presence after receiving this forgiveness and goes to the guy who owes him money. What this passage should have shown us was a guy who goes to find the person who owes him money so that he can express his gratitude for what just happened to him and release him for his debt. 3. Now here is a good question, "Why did this guy who has just been forgiven a huge unpayable debt see this guy who owed him a few bucks and then to kill him for it?" Let me share with a possible answer. a) When we feel unforgiven we are unlikely to forgive. You know even if we ask Jesus to forgive us and come into our hearts sometimes we still have trouble believing that we are forgiven and it is that unforgiveness in us that keeps us from being able to forgive others. We still feel, maybe subconsciously that we are not worthy to be forgiven and that feeling gets transferred to others. Are you still trying to repay the debt you feel you owe to God for what He did for you? It could be a sign that you do not really feel forgiven and that unforgiveness will hinder your ability to forgive others. Trans. OK here is reason number two why we must forgive others. II. WE MUST FORGIVE OTHERS BECAUSE RESENTMENT IS A FORM OF SELF-TORURE. A. Resentment Is A Self-Inflicted Wound. 1. I said something about this early but the fact is when we hold on to unforgiveness and resentment it is hurting us far more than it is hurting the person we are upset with. [] My We Print story. * Listen, the Past is Past it cannot hurt you anymore unless you allow it to. Now I know some might feel this is the talk of motivational speakers in fact I heard this at a seminar a called "Get Motivated", but let me tell you something. These great motivational speakers Christian or not got their good news from the bible. It was the bible that says, "Forget the past" read what Paul said in Philippians 3. 2. Here is what the Bible says in Job 5:2 "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do." Job 5:2 (NLT2) Trans. Now I know you know this but I am going to say it anyway. B. Resentment Doesn't Work. 1. Let's look at V.31-34 "When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt." I wonder what this guy was thinking when he found out the king wanted to see him again. I bet he just went skipping and singing into the king's presence then he gets a look at the king's face. 2. Notice what it says in V.34 "Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.". He wasn't just thrown back into prison it says he was turned over to the torturers. You see this is what resentment does to us, it tortures us and again I will say that it tortures US and not the person we think we are torturing. They are moving on while we are still stuck in this prison of resentment. 3. Listen friends, no one makes us miserable but US. Do you know what resentment means? It means you are allowing someone else to control your life! That is incredible that we would allow this to happen to ourselves. Listen I can prove this, have you ever said this "You make me so angry"? Do you realize that you are saying someone else is in control of your emotions? You are letting that other person dictate your life. 4. Did you know it is proven scientifically that resentment is harmful to us physically? Did you also know that even the bible addresses this fact? Here It is, Job 21:23-25 "Some people stay healthy till the day they die; they die happy and at ease, their bodies well-nourished. 25 Others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts." Job21:23-25 (NLT2) Trans. Here is reason number 3. III. WE MUST FORGIVE BECAUSE WE NEED FORGIVENESS. Here is what the Bible tells us, Colossians 3:13 "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13 (NLT2) Do you really want to be forgiven by God the way we often try to forgive others? A. Forgiveness Is A Lifestyle. 1. This is not just a onetime thing. We saw this in what Jesus said to Peter before he told this parable. Forgiveness has to become a lifestyle to us because we are living in a world where we will always be hurt. Now most times that will be unknowingly but we are going to be hurt and if we can't learn to forgive then we are going to be for a life of torture. 2. Forgiveness has to be both consistent and continual. I can't forgive others just when it suits me or works for me and I must always be forgiving, why? Look at what the bible says again Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Anyone here Ok with God only forgiving us once in a while or when it suits Him? I sure am not. Our forgiveness has to be consistent and continual because this is exactly what I am in need of. 3. One time the great preacher of the 1700s and found of Methodism John Wesley was approached by someone who said to him about another person, "You know that person? I will never forgive them." John Wesley's response was, "Well I hope you never sin then." We are all familiar with the expression "Don't burn your bridges" well you need the bridge of forgiveness to get to heaven but the bible say if we refuse to forgive then we are burning the very bridge we need to enter heaven. B. A Spiritual Test. We are going to do a quick test to help you see if there are people in your life you might need to forgive and release. Take out the card I put in your bulletin. There are three questions and you need to write down the name or names of the person that comes to mind in each of these questions. 1. The Blame Test. Who are you blaming for the problems in your life right now? The bank, your boss, your husband or wife? Who is that person or persons? 2. The Rehearsal test. Who is the person or persons that come to your mind when you think about the biggest hurt you have experienced? 3. The Scoreboard test. Is there someone you are keeping score with? You know you are saying things like "They did it to me again." When you find yourself in an argument do you say, "You did this" or "But you did that to me." This is sign you might be keeping score on someone. The bible says, "Love keeps no record of wrongs." Are you keeping a record? CONCLUSION Let me leave you with three steps for releasing the hurt we all experience. 1. Leave It With God. Romans 12:19 says, "Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, "I will take revenge; I will pay them back," says the Lord." Romans 12:19 (NLT2) Friends who is better at taking care of the business of those who do us wrong, you or God? Let me answer the questions that you might be asking in your minds. What Forgiveness is not. Forgiveness is not instant restoration. Just because I forgive someone it does not instantly restore the broken relationship. That may still take time. Forgiveness is also not trust. [] Let me say right here that it makes me angry as a pastor to see the damage done to people in their adult life because they were abused as children. For you who have experienced this I want to know that forgiveness can happen instantly but trust also requires time. You might forgive that parent or relative who abused you but that doesn't mean you let them get up close with you at least not right away. 2. Heal It With Grace. Bitterness is contagious. Bitterness is generational. Someone needs to break the cycle and it might as well be you. Now let me also say that forgiveness isn't fair. Forgiving a parent or whomever might have abused you isn't fair, but neither is the forgivness God offers to us. We don't want fairness what we want, and need is mercy. 3. Nail It To The Cross. Only the cross has the power to free you. The cross can free you from guilt, from resentment, from anger, from bitterness, from regrets, from addictions or anything else you can think of. **The cross is not a sin manager it is a sin destroyer. Here's the big question: How badly do you want to be released from the hurt and pain in your life? Here is what Romans 6:6-8 says in The Message "Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life-no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: 7 8 If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection." Romans 6:6-8 MG PRAYER 8