Faith is Faithfulness Series #3
Pastor David T. Elms Preached on 1/28/2025
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38:23
Summary
Pastor David T. Elms continues the 'Faith is Faithfulness' series by exploring the difficult command of forgiveness, highlighting that faith requires the action of releasing offenses even when they occur repeatedly.
Key points
- •Faith is not a theoretical concept or just a mental agreement; it requires action and faithfulness to be valid.
- •In the Christian life, offenses are inevitable ('it is impossible but that offenses will come'), and believers must learn to navigate them scripturally.
- •Forgiveness is a command linked directly to our own redemption, yet the biblical model for interpersonal reconciliation includes the requirement of repentance from the offender.
- •To practice radical forgiveness - such as forgiving someone seven times in a day - one must stop trying to judge the offender's motives and trust God's justice instead.
- •The 'fruit of the Spirit' provides the necessary tools (love, patience, self-control) that make the difficult act of forgiveness possible.
Scripture
Forgiveness
Faithfulness
Relationships
Repentance
Life application
Identify one person who has offended you and, rather than assuming their motives or holding a grudge, pray for a 'tender heart' and be ready to offer forgiveness the moment they seek reconciliation.
Reflection questions
- Why does Pastor Elms argue that agreement and attitude are not enough for true faith?
- What does it mean to you that God's forgiveness for us is tied to our willingness to forgive others?
- How does 'charm' or social politeness differ from the internal work of having a 'tender heart' toward those who annoy or offend us?
- In what situations do you find it hardest to stop judging someone's motives?
- How can we support 'little ones' (those young in their faith) when they encounter offenses in the church?
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Full transcript
0:00Amen. Well, I have to continue our study on faith is faithfulness. And we are
0:04marching through this. And it is so exciting to me. This has been maybe more
0:09dreaded. This lesson has been maybe more dreaded than the next one. These next two
0:15are lessons that need to be unpacked. Well, actually, there's three more. But this one
0:20is the one that has to do with forgiveness. And so we're going to look
0:25at it because it is... You know, forgiveness, it sounds easy, but there's some
0:31anticipation scripturally that are very important for us to get a hold
0:37of, to be honest with ourselves. You know, I've been around fake
0:43enough in my life. And by the way, fake is in every
0:49denomination. Faith is in the, there's fake Satanists, okay? There's hypocrite Satanists.
0:56So don't, don't be surprised if you happen to see somebody or know someone who's
1:02going through processes where it seems like there's a lot of hypocrisy going on. That
1:08is just as old as humanity. So what we do is we position ourselves in
1:13a manner that we diminish quackery. Big word. It's great for fake. Luke 17, then
1:19said he under the disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come. In other
1:25words, you're going to get offended. It's going to come. You're going to have reasons
1:31to get offended, but woe unto him through whom they come. It were better for
1:36him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he cast and he
1:41cast into the sea. Then he should offend one of these. Everybody say little ones.
1:46Now, many times you've thought that meant small children. It could mean that, but it
1:51also means young in the Lord because he was talking about the sinners and And
1:56those that were around him that were Herodians in this moment. He was talking to
2:00his grown disciples about these grown sinners around him. He said, if you are the
2:05one to offend these little ones on their journey to me, woe be unto you.
2:09It's better for you if you had a millstone tied about your neck. Some people
2:13think they're purging the church by clipping the wings of somebody on their journey to
2:17the Lord. Well, that's not a culture we're going to ever... Build no, so you
2:22don't offend the young in the Lord, but also now we've got the old in
2:28the Lord That's me old in the Lord And so it says take heed to
2:33yourselves those of us that are mature in the Lord if if thy brother Trespass
2:39against thee everybody say rebuke him you've been waiting to quote that y'all have been
2:44so ready I can tell you have been leaning up on your tiptoes to say
2:50that part and There's some people who get offended at a brother,
2:56but they don't obey that part. All they do is get their
3:01feelings hurt and go their way and talk bad about the one
3:07who offended them. And the scripture says, if a brother offend thee,
3:13none of you sisters qualify. All of y'all are sweet as beautiful.
3:18Lord, if that brother trespass against the rebuke him, and if he
3:24repents, everybody say if. He repents. All right. This is a, there's
3:30some people think you're supposed to forgive them and they haven't repented. Not even God
3:36does that. I know people say what he said on the cross for the father,
3:42forgive them for they know out what they do. That was a request from a
3:48dying lamb. But the first message at Pentecost was every one of you repent. You
3:53can't go to heaven without repentance. He won't forgive your sins without repentance. I can't
3:59repent for my wife. She cannot repent for me. I got to take
4:05care of all of my stuff and lay it before the Lord. If he
4:11repents, are y'all Bible people? If he repents, forgive him. And if he trespass
4:17against thee seven times in a day. Okay, now this is where it starts
4:23getting squirrely. If he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven
4:29times in a day, turn again to thee saying, I repent. After six times,
4:35I'll think about it. the
4:41scripture says thou shalt forgive him and i love me some
4:46apostles the apostles said unto the lord increase our faith that's
4:52what i would say after you tell me i've got to
4:58forgive somebody seven times in one day who's committed an offense
5:03against me okay so that's what we got to deal with
5:09we've been talking about how faith is faithfulness And I laid
5:15down how the construct of the theoretical, abstract idea of faith just being
5:21a mental structure, a mental approach to things, was never in the economy
5:26of Israel's ideal when they referred to faith. Faith to them always came
5:32with action. And this is why James, the first book written in your
5:37New Testament, starts out with the definition that faith without works is nothing.
5:44dead and so it is good that we believe but
5:49to put confidence in that belief is good but it's
5:55still not faith you have to act on your thought
6:00and your confidence before it becomes faith agreement plus attitude
6:06plus action is is true Bible faith. It's not agreement plus attitude. No, you've got
6:12to put on the component of action. When you read the 11th chapter of the
6:18book of Hebrews, there we have all these names. We call it the hall of
6:24fame of faith. And when you go through them, it is action, action, action. That's
6:29definitive with regard to the people mentioned Abel, Presented a pleasing
6:35sacrifice. Enoch walked with God and was not
6:41For God took him Noah preached and prepared and in so doing he defied
6:46doubt and saved his family was action Noah Abraham pioneered the promise the first
6:52promise to leave your homeland and I'll give you a land that I will
6:58show thee and through you and your children thy seed shall all the earth
7:04be blessed Sarah on the promise now I'm trying to keep this a little bit
7:09above even though the children in the back but I want to tell you something
7:13people know about Sarah laughing Okay, because she was 90 years old and she
7:19heard that Abraham who was a hundred was going to father a child
7:25with her. She laughed and in so doing she doubt, I mean, in
7:31so doing, uh, she got a little bit in trouble, but she also
7:37cooperated with the call because it was not an immaculate conception at 90.
7:42So Sarah acted On the call of God at
7:4890 hear ye the word of the Lord Isaac passed promises
7:54from generation to generation Jacob had his name changed to Israel
8:00and then he blessed his sons with prophetic precision Joseph knew
8:05that deliverance was unstoppable, but he still told them take my
8:11bones and To Canaan land, Moses rejected royal privilege for divine prerogative, but he still
8:17walked in front of Pharaoh and said after he was out of the palace and
8:23in the wilderness and called back by God, he said, let my people go. And
8:28time would fail us, like Paul said, to tell of Gideon, who started timidly, but
8:34he brought triumph. Or Barak, who was a warrior who won despite his weakness. He
8:39understood the precept, let the weak say, I am strong. Or Samson, who squandered his
8:44strength and turned a failure into a final act. faith or Jephthah who trusted God
8:50despite personal tragedy or David who slayed giants and sang songs no one
8:56could shut down or Samuel the prophet who said speak Lord for thy
9:02servant Heareth these were not musings people. They were not make-believe people
9:08They did not build their life on concepts or conjectures. No ruminations
9:13or reasonings No ponderings or pretenses no schemes or speculations No notions
9:19or nebulous thoughts. It was always action action Action and if you
9:24want to say you have faith then you've got to have faithfulness
9:30because faith is faithfulness and so we are each one of us fellow
9:36travelers on this journey of life and in the journey of life offenses shall come
9:42you don't have them I'd like to meet you at the church but I've got
9:47to tell you hold on they're gonna come fences are gonna come sometimes I'm gonna
9:53offend you and you can get better about it get mad and I don't intend
9:59to offend you sometimes you're gonna fit me I'm not gonna quit because you offend
10:05me Sometimes it's going to be the one you're married to that offends you. You
10:11could hold it bitter in your heart for a little while and sleep on those
10:16outside two inches of the bed like I've done once or twice. But you know,
10:21the bottom line is that it's not, the Bible says you shouldn't be surprised when
10:26offenses come. What you've got to do is learn how to respond to From a
10:31scriptural perspective it was if it was easy it wouldn't be in the Bible if
10:37it was natural the Bible doesn't deal with things that you were going to naturally
10:42do it readjusts and realigns us into a place where we will learn and so
10:47forgiveness is both personal. Oh, yes, it is and it's sacred because it is a
10:53command forgiveness is also a pathway to healing, to redemption and peace. And so as
10:59we walk through life's road, you know, they say if you have a handful of
11:04friends at the end, you're a wealthy man. And of course, you know, you start
11:09at school, you've got like 20 friends. And then when you get to college, sometimes
11:15that swells and sometimes that goes down. But the truth is, even though that's just
11:20an adage, there's a lot of truth to that. Because in my 58 brief years
11:25of life, there's people I'm stunned that have worked to a place that I'm seeking
11:30for forgiveness for them. And let us not act like forgiveness is a one and
11:35done event. Because when you study the daily prayer, the Lord told us to pray.
11:40He anticipates that forgiveness is going to be a struggle. In fact, what you conquered
11:45yesterday may not be conquered this morning. That's the reason when you wake up, you
11:50say our father, which are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy
11:55will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
11:59daily sustenance and forgive us our debts. our trespasses as we forgive
12:05those. I don't like that he made that the determinant factor, but
12:11he said, this is what you need to pray every day. Why
12:17did he say that? Because he knows the things you had all
12:23figured out yesterday may not be so figured out today. Your mood
12:29can change. And I pastor the nobody here has moods. And I thank you
12:35for that. I appreciate that. All of you hide your hills and valleys from me.
12:40And I love that about you. It's called charm. Something that is trained to the
12:46elite. They call it charm school. Every great mother trains her children to have charm.
12:52And so you can be, I've done it. I've done it once, once, once been
12:57in a major fuss with my wife on the way to church. And as soon
13:01as the car door opens, somebody greets me in the name of Jesus Christ. And
13:06I don't feel like saying anything, but spitting at you, but you know what I'm
13:10going to do? I'm going to just stand up there and say, praise the Lord.
13:15And I put my hand in the small of my wife's back and we faith
13:19it till we make it. Why? Because that's charm. When people don't have good training,
13:24they sit in the foyer and They want everybody
13:29to know it's been a tough day and they're just begging you to ask.
13:35And then when you ask, they might say, it's a lie. They're liars. Nothing.
13:41You ever been, had somebody, you know, they're mad at you. You say, is
13:47there anything? Can we talk? No, it's nothing. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Or
13:52you women, skirts on fire. Here's the thing. We've got to understand personal forgiveness
13:58is a demand of the Lord. Am I preaching good? Yes, you are, Elms.
14:04You're preaching real good. Matthew 6:14 says in the
14:10Lord Jesus Christ himself instructs us for if you forgive others their
14:15trespass their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you but if
14:21you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your father forgive
14:26your trespasses do we believe the word I know we all say
14:32a man but think about it forgiveness is intertwined with our own
14:38Redemption how do we forgive though because it's tough. Well, it's nice
14:43that the scripture says they first have got to repent. I've seen people
14:49show up and walk around. You know why I moved over? So I
14:55had to keep faith awake up back there. If they haven't repented, but
15:01here's what you got to understand. You've got to rebuke them. Now, I'm
15:07not trying to raise the level of fussing in this church. And I
15:12know there's fusses going on in this church. I'm thankful there is. That
15:18means you're healthy. But y'all figure it out because I don't need to know about
15:24it. This is what the scripture says. The Bible gives us a good roadmap to
15:29how to do it. Go to the brother, go to the, it's only brothers to
15:34do this, go to the brother. And if they don't hear you, then take witnesses.
15:39If they don't hear you with witnesses, then take it to the church. And that's
15:43me right here. Okay. If they don't hear you with witnesses, then come tell the
15:48pastor. I represent the church. And so this is the roadmap God has given to
15:54us. And I hate trouble. I don't like trouble, but I know it's going to
15:59come. And so how do you respond to it? Our justice series is very, very
16:03powerful in instructing a way to categorize these kind of challenges. But I can't tell
16:08you that I've got all this forgiveness stuff figured out because what does forgiveness look
16:13like? What does repentance look like? I mean, I've had some people that done things
16:18to me that I think repentance involves kissing my foot.
16:24I've tried it on my wife. Kiss the hand. She hasn't repented yet. You know,
16:30this is the thing. Did the Lord demand you to do that? Did he demand
16:36you to hop three times, do a backspin and roll on the floor four ways
16:42before he forgave you? No. He said, all you got to do is ask. So
16:47this is the model that we've got to place in our life. Ephesians
16:53432. Oh, I memorized this verse. I love looking like I really know my Bible
16:59when I quote this verse. So next time you hear me quote it, just act
17:04like you're really impressed. He knows that verse so good. But the only reason I
17:09know it so good is because every time I got in a fuss with either
17:14my brother or my sister, my mother made me quote it. Be ye
17:20kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has
17:26forgiven you You the way the way I spit that out I could say it
17:3190 miles an hour and my spirit would still be wrong But I quoted but
17:37the older I get the more I realize that is one of the power tools
17:42of the Bible Be kind one to another tender hearted. Oh Lord, that's not natural
17:48for me. I Tender heart is something I got to work on. If you haven't
17:53seen my hard heart yet, thank God for it. I mean, I was on the
17:57way to the church today. I wasn't going to tell this. I don't know why
18:02I feel compelled to tell this. But I was on the way to the church
18:06today and I was pulling over to get a bahia bowl. I was wanting to
18:10get a guacamole toast. I'm very healthy now. And so I pulled in and when
18:15I pulled in, there were three guys that were jaywalking, in my opinion. They were
18:19walking through... the through point, getting in there. And so I kind of come through
18:25kind of fast, and I had to get on the break kind of quick. And
18:30they stared at me and said some words that are dirty wordy, making back a
18:36buck of wild birds. And so I just rolled down my window and said, could
18:41you say that again? So they were braving in front of their three friends. Now,
18:47this is an admission of the hardness of my heart. Y'all keep praying, okay? And
18:53so... He said, get your stinking battery car
18:58off this road. I got my Mustang back there. I'll
19:04blast you out of the water. He crossed the line.
19:09He put in some color. It was mostly psychedelic color
19:15in the words. I found a parking spot. And they
19:20turned around and said, what? Like, what are you doing?
19:26They didn't say it quite that clear. I said, I'm
19:32coming to introduce myself to you boys. Boy, I mean,
19:37I walked. I was ready to say, you better
19:43go get five more of you. I'm not saying I was wise,
19:48nor am I saying I was pastoral. I'm just telling you I'm
19:54working on tenderness of heart. Some of you never were paying attention
20:00to any of my preaching until I got on this story. So
20:06now I got your full unadulterated attention. And I walked up. And
20:12while I was walking, the Holy Ghost helped a brother out because
20:18I walked right up to them. I said, hi, I'm David. And
20:23I got all three of their names. Every
20:29one of them. I mean, it was a nice little story. I
20:35was ready to be in the flesh, but I wasn't. I mean,
20:41I started to let them know I have Jimmy Suppie. Listen, mafia.
20:47You haven't heard of the Suppie cartel. Don't mess. They kind of
20:53looked not knowing what to do. I said, fellas, there's a lot
20:59of testosterone going in all four of us. And I respect
21:04that y'all were a little wrong and I was a little wrong. I said,
21:10so let's have an awesome day, okay? I said, be men. And fist bumped
21:16them all and walked away. They're messed up the whole rest of that day.
21:22You know that messed them up. I was a little messed up for a
21:28little while longer. But the Lord helped me out. This is an admission moment,
21:34okay? So don't try to mess with me before 8 a.m., okay?
21:40i'm i'm still seeking the lord at that point i hadn't got to the forgive
21:46me my trespasses as i forgive that one comes around 9 15 that part of
21:52the prayer be kind one to another that scripture's got to work on me like
21:58a jackhammer because i am yes i'm david tatum elms's son okay but i got
22:04the bad part he had all the good he raised me to be a man
22:10which means sometimes you get in a fight i literally he told me one day
22:16Why am I saying all this stuff? But I'm honoring my daddy. I was on
22:21bus 161. I would read on my way home. There was one boy picking on
22:26me, picking on me, picking on me. So I told dad, I said, dad, this
22:31guy just keeps busting on me and pushing me around. He said, tomorrow, if he
22:36does it again, hit him as hard as you can on the nose. So the
22:41next day, he pushed me again on the bus 161. I'll never forget it. I
22:46had dad's backing. Mom noticed mom was not in this discussion. When he did it,
22:51I stood up and hit him as hard as I could. And dad trained me.
22:55I learned at the funeral from my uncle Bernard that dad always had a pair
23:00of boxing gloves. Now I know why he trained me. He trained me. I'm going
23:04to give you a little secret. Okay. If you get in a fight, should I
23:08tell this winter? I know I taught you girls this in the middle of your
23:12head hangs a ball from the middle of your head. It's a little tiny red
23:17ball and it hangs down between your ears. And when you have to hit somebody,
23:22you're not trying to hit their nose. You're trying to hit that little red ball
23:28that's hanging between their ears. So if you can get to that ball, then they'll
23:34remember you. Okay, I know we got a bunch of soft, tender-hearted folks in this
23:40place. But I got to the ball that day on that guy. And you know
23:45what? He and I became best friends the rest of the year. He and
23:51I would pair on the soccer field and take everyone else down. All he needed
23:57to know was whatever he needed to know. And I'm never wanting people to get
24:03in fights. But if you've got to get in one, finish it. And I'm not
24:09talking about killing people. You know I'm not talking about killing people. I'm talking about
24:15just letting people know you're sanctified, saved, and filled with the Holy Ghost. There's fire
24:21that came on Pentecost. And they called it dunamis. Meet Mr. Dunamis. Oh, Lord, help
24:27me. You know what's so crazy? My brother got in jiu-jitsu and he was afraid
24:31to tell his church because who in the world has pastored that as a jiu-jitsu?
24:36And the reason my brother got into Jitsu is because he even said at the
24:40funeral, I was the athletic one and he was always trying to catch up, which
24:45I don't contend. I was the athletic one. I was just older than him by
24:50five years, but he won the silver. He won the silver place in the Atlanta
24:54open and they invited him because of winning that he went and fought in worlds.
24:59So if my brother happens to come to church, And somebody wants to mess with
25:04me. We got a tough security team. But I promise you, my brother's the
25:10most dangerous man. He won't kill him, but they will cry uncle. They will
25:16cry uncle when Nathan Joel is done defending his big bubba. But I'm way
25:22off track and it's 8.32. Be kind one to another. This was not in
25:28my notes. Sister Adams, how come you got this pulled out of me? Be
25:34kind one to another. Who? Who to? Who to? Who to? Y'all
25:40are not helping me enough. I need some folks listening in this house.
25:46To who? One to another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. Even as God for
25:51Christ's sake has forgiven you. To forgive one must acknowledge first that there's
25:57hurt. But choose to let go of the bitterness. I'm tired of pastoring
26:03people who say they got hurt and they're not healed yet.
26:09There's a time it ought to take to get healed. But after a while, if
26:15you're not healed, it's because you're picking at the wound because it's natural to heal.
26:21So you can only use it so long and then it's on you. You can't
26:27say, well, you just don't understand. Oh, you can say it. I've had people say
26:32that to me before. You just don't understand how much it hurt. Well, there's hurt.
26:38The scale is from one to 10. Some people say it's 11. But you
26:44will heal if you let God use the natural process of healing. And you
26:50don't get to use that card against everybody you think you can pull it
26:56out on. Oh, you triggered something in me. You don't know the hurt that
27:01I've been through. Here's what you need to do. You need to understand that
27:07hurt is real, but healing is always coming. Healing happens in every healthy house.
27:13Healing happens in every great relationship. Healing happens. Colossians
27:193:13 says, "Bear with each other and forgive one
27:24another. If any of you has a grievance against
27:30someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you." So there's
27:35an acknowledgement of grievance, but demands the highest standard.
27:41This is not excusing the wrong, but releasing the
27:46wrongdoer from the fixtures of retribution. Matthew 18, 21,
27:52when Peter asked how many times he should forgive his brother, expecting perhaps
27:58a figure like seven, because seven was the perfect number. Jesus doubles down
28:04on him. He said, how many times you should forgive? 70 times seven.
28:10He doubles and triples and quadruples down. The parable of the unforgiving
28:15servant, unforgiving servant in Matthew 18 illustrates the magnitude of this forgiveness. So sister almost
28:21come. So they'll think I'm closing. That's getting old. I need to get a new
28:27line. I'm not talking about hocus pocus forgiving. I'm not talking about willy nilly smoke
28:33and mirrors. Forgiveness has steel and concrete in it. Doesn't mean we have a sea
28:39of forgetfulness. I do not have a sea of forgetfulness. All of those who pretend
28:45they do God bless them. That's not me right now. I remember But
28:51that doesn't mean I put them in a penalty box. Doesn't mean I
28:57continue to hold bitterness against them. Now, I may not be in sweet
29:03communion with them because there's there's the first step is rebuke. And how
29:08do they respond if they repent? If they do it again, rebuke it.
29:14How do they respond? And then the thing about it is there's a
29:20structure of how to do it if they don't receive you. In other words, they
29:26say, no, here's the toughest part of this. Notice the fruit of the spirit. This
29:32was a revelation to me today in my preparation. The fruit of the spirit does
29:37not include forgiveness. Isn't that something? I mean, I couldn't believe it. I had to
29:43look it back up. Say forgiveness is not a
29:49fruit of the Spirit. No forgiveness is an action that continually
29:55needs to be worked with love joy peace patience kindness goodness
30:01faithfulness gentleness self-control all of those are the picks and shovels
30:07of Forgiveness if you have the fruit of the Spirit you
30:13have the ingredients whereby forgiveness can be attained 1948 to 1955
30:19Gold was first discovered in California. They called it the California Gold
30:25Rush. And the approximate total of the value of the gold extracted
30:31in today's dollars was worth about $2 billion. But the greatest amount
30:37of wealth was not made in the gold bullions that they found.
30:43The greatest amount of money made in the California Bull Rush was
30:48made by the people who sold Levi Strauss picks and shovels.
30:56Entire industries were made out of a California gold rush. Chasing
31:02gold, but getting the tools. I want the Holy Ghost, but
31:08with the Holy Ghost comes the fruit of the Spirit. It's
31:14not a one-time act, forgiveness. It's a continuous practice. It's a
31:20lifestyle of grace. It's forgive us our debts as we, that's
31:26present active, as we forgive. Forgiveness on our part is the
31:32divine narrative of redemption. So as we continue
31:38to grow, Romans 12 tells us so much about how good the Lord has been.
31:43Romans chapters 1 through 12, and this is a whole Bible study. I probably shouldn't
31:49even throw this in. But Romans 12 is all from 1 to 11 of Romans
31:55is the amazing grace of God. It says for grace, by grace are we saved
32:01through faith. That's Romans 5. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God,
32:06Romans 1. If God is for us, who can be against us? That's
32:12Romans 8. And I can pull a bunch of others. Romans 8 is loaded
32:18with. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. In Christ Jesus, our
32:24Lord. Nothing. That's Romans 8. But Romans 12, there's a shift. And it starts
32:30with, now therefore, in some translations. In the King James, the New King James
32:35and ESV, it starts with this shift of, I beseech you therefore,
32:41brethren, by everything I've been talking to you, that ye present
32:47your bodies a living sacrifice. And the rest of that chapter,
32:53he moves from right belief to right behavior. And it
32:58says, let your love be genuine. Abhor that which is evil. Hold fast
33:04to that which is good. Love one another. Outdo one another in showing
33:10affection. Be patient in tribulation. Make a financial commitment to the church and
33:15keep it. The Bible says there, be watchful over your zeal. It has
33:21monetary connotations. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you.
33:27Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in
33:32harmony. Don't be conceited. Then when it gets down to the bottom,
33:38it says, if it be possible, as far as it depends on
33:44you, live peaceable with all. As long as... I like the King
33:50James Version much better because it says, as much as lieth in
33:56you. That's a little less pressure there. than the version
34:01I just read as far as it depends on you feel
34:07that little little nuance there but there's a little more pressure
34:13if it depends on me then I got some will in
34:19this process as much as lieth in me I've looked all
34:24over can't find but if it's as much as depends on
34:30then I got to make a choice I bring way too
34:36not too much notes shall we stand how does the Lord
34:42expect us to repent and if the person does it
34:48seven times in one day and say, I repent,
34:53then we are not suggested. We are commanded to
34:59forgive them. How do you do that? I have
35:04only one solution to give you. It is utterly
35:10impossible to not think you know their motives. It's
35:15impossible. If you're a thinking person, fool me once,
35:21that's on you. Fool me twice, that's on me.
35:26Third time, you're out, baby. Not Jesus. Jesus said
35:32it. If they do it seven times in one day. Ooh,
35:38this is hard medicine. How do you do it? You have to turn
35:43off judging their motive. Have to turn it off. You may think you
35:49know their motive. You may want to let them know so you think
35:55I'm stupid. You think, who do you think you're fooling? All those words
36:00come to mind. But the Lord said, you've got to stop assessing their
36:06motive. The only way you can do that is if you know
36:12The Lord has your back. Have you ever been judged that
36:18you're going to hell by somebody? Have you ever had someone
36:24assess you that you had a vile spirit? They have no
36:29clue what you've been dealing with, but they have a full
36:35knowledge of whatever you are. And when that happens, some of
36:40the worst mistakes I've ever made pastoring is when I judge
36:46someone too early. Now I have people thinking I judge them
36:52too late. Guess what? I'm not called to judge them at
36:57all. I'm called to assume that they want forgiveness. and
37:03know that be not deceived the preacher is mocked be not
37:09deceived the preacher is mocked none of y'all do it i
37:15know but be not deceived god is not whatsoever man soweth
37:21that shall he also reap so faithfulness in forgiving not a
37:27theory of forgiving seven times in one day let's be in
37:33his presence for a few minutes if you want to come
37:39to the front stand to let your spirit soak in his
37:45presence Let's apply this to some
37:50circumstances and situations that we're going through
37:56right now. He wants to do a
38:01work in us tonight. He's still working
38:06on me. I thank you, Lord. I
38:12thank you for working the words of
38:17peace. It's acceptable in silence. The meditation