March 30, 2008

• The Resurrection of the Dead Part 2 by Pastor Don

  This is a continuation of the previous study found here.

  Pastor Don went on to look at

  Hebrews 2:14-15 AMP Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death–that is, the devil– And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.

  Pastor Don wanted us to use the Amplified translation for this because of the words the “haunting fear” of death. Many people fear death on all levels.

  A person in the Bible study talked about how salvation is a process that we walk out individually. She wondered if people, when they are adults and meet God, do they let the Holy Spirit into their hearts and receive the deliverance of the Holy Spirit? Do they learn to trust the Lord when so much of their life is past and many conflicting words have been spoken into them?

  Pastor Don told us that fear has a root cause when there is hurt of children, and it can emit a reaction of mistrust. Pastor Don reminded us of when Jesus cast out the demons from a person, Luke 11:24-26 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

  When it comes to heart stuff there may still be residual from parents. When we start looking at the heart issues, we have to see where our parents were. Perhaps they never conquered alcoholism or their mouth, perhaps they were very messy. Even though you are grown and in your own space, you have to deal with the success or failure of your parent in some context. They were a tremendous influence on everything that you are.  The hardest thing to admit was that this was their failing. Remember, you didn’t grow up in a vacuum, and all that you experienced has an influence on you.

  When we begin to see what influenced us, we have the opportunity to overcome mistakes or overlook mistakes. Pastor Don talked about how some children in elementary school are the fastest runners in their schools, then they go on to high school and they are only 3rd fastest, then off to college where they are 14th fastest. If their ego is tied up in their ranking, then all their relationships are reduced to comparisons.

  What we need to know is that we have the great opportunity in Christ Jesus to be recreated in His image, and we can only do that if we get our earthly comparisons right. If Jesus has not come into your heart, you will just reproduce failure or the opinions of people. When you get born again and you see yourself as Jesus sees you, you can get beyond the past. The Holy Spirit reviews our mortal stuff, and we can be so changed, that people will note a difference.

  Every tree that is not planted by Jesus is uprooted. We don’t always accept that that’s who we really are (changed by our salvation), but when we do we begin to get free of things. In order to change we need to identify ourselves with who Christ says we are. There is real liberty in that. Pastor Don mentioned the “Who am I in Christ” list that he gave us, I have looked up the verses, if you go to the link you will find them. It is good to review who we are in Christ, for that is life changing to begin to believe who Christ says we are.

  We have to forgive. Forgiveness is so necessary to start healing. It creates restitution on a far deeper level than earthly restitution for wrongs done, but that is not what conventional worldly wisdom says. To forgive when you have been hurt is so foreign to our flesh. We have to forgo repeating what others did wrong to us, and then there is restitution(true healing). The human condition is to hold onto the memories of the abuse and hurts and try and get back at the person.

  But Jesus says, Mark 11:24-26 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

  Jesus did not put a condition on that instruction – He did not say forgive if they ask for your forgiveness, or if they even care that they hurt you, or if they restore what they did. We forgive because we want our Father in Heaven to forgive us for our sins.

  Jesus loved mankind so much that He gave Himself to save as many as He could, people try to call that altruism (the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others),  To attach His sacrifice only to altruism is to try and separate the reality that altruism is the ultimate selfishness. People say that we don’t want anything but God, but God built a system of being good and nice to people no matter what comes your way. Forgiveness is the ultimate gift from God. If you forgive others He forgives you. He forgives you because God is all that and more.  He blesses us abundantly.

  If you are holding onto anger and saying, “I hate your guts for what you did to me in 1973, I hate you and you should pay big.” Yet, God lets us know that we should forgive the person, before we go to the altar. We do not always need to let the people know that you are forgiving them, although if you can that is also good. If you don’t know where the person is or the died, still let God know that you are forgiving them. We know that when we forgive we free up God’s blessing, and we are complying with God who gave us the commandment to forgive. Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments. We are to love the brethren the same way that Jesus loves us.

  When that command was given, the brethren were also the Jews. There will be no antisemites in Heaven.

  Forgiveness of another person is not attached to receiving restitution from them. Forgiveness is a gift of God greater than any thing owed to you. Forgive and YOU will be forgiven. Jesus hung on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them,” and He said that about people who hurt Him far more than anything that we have ever experienced in our lives.

  If we forgive those who do evil to us, we give it to God and He will judge and repay them. God can take care of what is necessary.

  The next step, Jesus says, for the mature believer is to pray for those who hurt you. There is a problem in this because,sometimes your flesh cannot get to the point of wanting to pray for the person who hurt you so much. So you have to do the mechanics of forgiveness. You say, “I love you Lord and obey by forgiving them because YOU said so. But I need supernatural help.” Only God can reach into a heart and help. The carnal flesh will never be able to do it in its own strength, it will just keep rehearsing the pain.

  Pastor Don told us that we need to rehearse forgiveness, and not rehearse the pain. Say to God, “Please give me the gift of forgiveness.” Only when you do that can you be healed.

  Pastor Don said that he prays, and we can also pray, “I want to know in my heart what Your (God’s) heart is for her/him, and give me compassion for her/him.”

  That is Grace in action. God wants to see all His children restored. If Christ was not raised from the dead, then this would be foolishness to man. But we serve a Risen Lord.

  We ran out of time for Friday’s Bible study. I really think that if we could we would spend all day in Bible study.

  Have a blessed day,
  Heather

  • 7:03 pm
  • 5 Comments