Participants: John Lomacang (Host), Cheri Peters
Series Code: 12HC
Program Code: 12HC000004
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00:48 Hello friends and welcome to Fall Camp Meeting here at 3ABN
00:51 in Thompsonville, Illinois, also in West Frankfort, Illinois. 00:55 We're thanking you for tuning in so early. 00:57 It is early in the morning but the Spirit of God 01:00 is flowing and ready to bless your life. 01:03 For the next hour you are going to be blessed by our 01:05 presenter. I'll tell you who she's going to be in a moment. 01:07 But thank you for your prayers and all that you do 01:10 for the continued advancement of the gospel of Christ. 01:13 We'd also like to invite you to come down if you're in 01:15 driving distance. Come to Thompsonville/West Frankfort 01:18 where we can enjoy the Camp Meeting that's started already 01:21 and is going to go through Saturday evening. 01:24 Our presenter today is Cherie Peters. 01:26 She is the... I would say... the founder of the ministry 01:30 Celebrating Life and Recovery. 01:32 And today her message is Celebrating Life for Jesus. 01:35 She's talking about forgiveness, 01:37 the topic that every one of us can learning something about. 01:41 And so stay tuned for the next hour. 01:43 God does have a blessing in store for every one of us. 01:46 If you're watching or listening, 01:48 keep the channel right where it is 01:50 because God is going to speak to your heart today. 01:52 Before we do anything, though, we always like to invite 01:54 the presence of the Lord to be here. 01:55 So bow your heads with me as we go before the Lord 01:58 in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, 02:01 each one of us has received forgiveness 02:04 and strength as we have followed You. 02:07 Today, Lord, we pray that You will anoint our ears 02:10 to listen, our hearts to receive. 02:13 We pray a blessing, Lord, today on the speaker of the hour: 02:16 Cherie Peters. 02:17 And we ask that You will strengthen her words, 02:20 You will use her as a conduit of blessing. 02:23 And in the process also, Lord, You will bless her. 02:26 So we give this message to You and this time. 02:29 In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 02:32 You know this song is a song that kind of fits along 02:35 the theme of forgiveness. 02:37 In 2005-2006 when I was going through a particularly difficult 02:41 time in my life, the Lord gave me this song which says: 02:44 "When we wake up sometimes our nights are so difficult 02:47 that we welcome the morning. " 02:49 And the simple theme of this song is: "Lord, 02:51 wherever You find us whatever You want to do 02:54 Lord lead me home. " 03:15 I welcome the sunrise as night turns to day. 03:22 Should I try again 03:25 or turn and walk away? 03:30 The journey to this falling seems so very hard 03:37 yet I'm standing, praying, 03:41 right here in my yard. 03:45 The tears that I shed don't seem like it's worth it 03:53 yet I know You're on Your way. 04:01 Lord, lead me home. 04:07 There's no place to run and hide... 04:12 You know what I keep inside. 04:16 Lord, lead me home. 04:22 I need to find a place to rest 04:26 where life in You is best. 04:29 Lead me home. 04:39 I know I can trust You... 04:41 You never let me down. 04:45 I know that I need You... 04:49 You keep me off the ground. 04:54 Through disappointments You say 04:58 "It's OK. My child I really love you, 05:04 there'll be a brighter day. " 05:08 So I made up my mind to keep on walkin' 05:15 yes, pressing on 05:19 the higher way. 05:24 Lord, lead me home. 05:31 For there's no place to run and hide... 05:35 You know what I keep inside. 05:40 Lord, lead me home. 05:46 I need to find a place to rest 05:50 where life in You is best. 05:53 Lead me home. 05:57 I'm going to trust You ever more 06:01 each day. 06:05 And I'm climbing higher 06:08 as I pray. 06:16 Lord, lead me home. 06:23 There's no place to run and hide... 06:27 You know what I keep inside. 06:31 Lord, lead me home. 06:37 For I need to find a place to rest 06:41 where life in You is best. 06:44 Lead me home. 06:49 I need to find a place to rest 06:53 where life in You is best. 06:58 Lead me home. 07:04 Lord, lead me home. 07:19 Amen. 07:28 Good morning. Good morning. 07:30 You know to me I think that was a perfect song. 07:33 We're going to talk about forgiveness, 07:34 but before we get to forgiveness 07:36 I just have to say that I have never felt 07:39 at home until I joined 3ABN and you guys. 07:44 You know, I just felt like I was welcomed into the family. 07:47 I have been loved ever since. 07:49 So before we talk about what we need to forgive in our lives 07:52 I want to remind you to make sure you thank the people 07:55 that have blessed you, and you guys have blessed me. 07:59 I don't know if I would have survived 08:02 all of the stuff that I had to come through 08:04 had I not been loved by this family. 08:07 Does anybody understand what I'm saying? 08:09 You know, there are people in your life that really really do 08:12 love you and they are powerful. 08:14 So we're going to talk about forgiveness. 08:16 I want to show you a couple things that I learned 08:21 about forgiveness. I have in my family 08:24 I... for some of you you know my history. 08:27 In my family I was born to 14- and 16-year-old addicts. 08:32 My mom tried to self-abort a number of times. 08:34 And when I was born through all of that kind of stuff 08:38 in her mind she was so young that all she could think about 08:42 is I ruined her life. 08:44 "If it wasn't for you, my life would have been fine. 08:47 I would have finished school. 08:48 I would have had a regular thing. 08:50 My goals would have been met. " All that kind of stuff. 08:52 But my mom had five kids before she was 21. 08:55 She continuously had kids. 08:57 My dad was an alcoholic. Even in high school 09:01 he drank too much. By the time I came around 09:04 he was inappropriate in every kind of way. 09:06 Interfered with me physically and all that kind of stuff. 09:10 And so when I was little I remember just kind of 09:13 getting into a place where survival was the only thing 09:17 I could think of, you know? 09:18 And I did that well. I ended up homeless by 12. 09:21 Thirteen years old after a pregnancy of my own, 09:24 after starting drugs on my own, 09:26 I was on the streets of Los Angeles for ten years. 09:29 And then I met God. 09:32 You know, how crazy is that? 09:34 You know what? When I say that... that I met God... 09:37 I met God and I'm in a drug house trying to kill myself. 09:41 "I am done; I don't want to be here. 09:43 I don't like it here... I don't like you guys. 09:46 I don't like... " You know, nobody was safe. 09:48 When you're on the streets as a kid, can you imagine 09:51 who picks you up? 09:53 Do you know what I mean? Nobody was safe. 09:55 The things that I saw... And I've said this before, 09:58 I told someone I wish that I was like 10:01 the homeless people you see in the movies where they have 10:03 a shopping cart and they live under cardboard boxes 10:06 because they looked like they were safer than what I was. 10:09 I was picked up and used and moved around 10:11 and all that kind of stuff. 10:12 I saw the worst of the worst addictions. 10:14 So when I finally wanted to kill myself I am done. 10:17 I don't want to take the next breath. 10:20 If could have stopped myself from breathing, 10:22 I would have stopped. 10:24 So I'm in the drug house trying to kill myself. 10:26 I meet God and I am weeping 'cause somehow I know it's God. 10:31 Has anybody met God 10:32 where just somehow you know it's Him? 10:34 Nobody shared it with you; no- body told you what God is like. 10:37 But I feel like God showed up and I feel loved and safe 10:40 for the first time in my life. 10:42 And I just start crying because I am a heroin addict 10:46 by this time. I have teeth missing. 10:48 I don't know how to read hardly. 10:50 I'm a mess and I'm sitting there trying to kill myself. 10:52 And so what are you going to do now? 10:54 I mean, "Why show up now? " is what I was thinking. 10:57 And so I get this sense that He loves me 11:01 and I just stop. "Look at me. 11:03 Look at me. You know, how can You love me? " 11:06 And He said: "I love you. You are My beloved. " 11:10 And I just wept. And then He showed me a picture 11:13 of who I am in His eyes. 11:17 Right? 11:19 And you know, I believe... 11:20 And I can't say I fully saw the picture. I didn't, 11:23 but I felt like I saw everything. 11:25 And you know what I believe He did? 11:27 Showed me a picture the day after resurrection. 11:30 Anybody hear what I'm saying? 11:32 The day after when all of this junk is gone. 11:36 All of our diseases are gone. Agings are gone. 11:39 All our molest and anger and bitterness, 11:42 all of our hatred, all of our damage, all of our hurt. 11:46 All of our addictions are gone the day after 11:49 and we are created in the image of God 11:52 exactly like they were supposed to be: 11:54 just healthy and innocent. 11:57 I cried so hard because I thought I've never been 12:01 innocent... not one day in my life. 12:03 My dad started molesting me when I was 3 months old. 12:06 I don't know what it feels like to be innocent 12:08 but in that place I was innocent and loved. 12:12 And I cried. I thought: "You know what? 12:14 I've never been that. " And you know what God said? 12:18 Not an audible voice but He said clearly 12:20 "I've never seen you any other way. " 12:24 Somebody's got to hear me on that one. 12:26 "I've never seen you any other way. 12:28 You are My child and I KNOW this is you. 12:31 You don't. You've been lied to, you've been hurt 12:34 and I'm going to try to re-establish this in your life 12:37 so that on the other side of this you will know 12:40 that you are a man of God 12:41 and you have the right to stand here and you are created 12:43 in My image and I adore you. " 12:46 And I'm just like... I would do anything. 12:49 And you've got to imagine this: 100 pounds, 12:52 struggling on heroin. I got beat up by some bikers 12:55 and I had a tooth knocked out and all that kind of stuff. 12:57 I'm living in a drug house. I don't have any skills at all. 13:00 I've been on the streets for 10 years... and I believed Him! 13:04 I believed Him. I thought: "If that's who I am 13:08 I will do whatever You ask to get there... just tell me. " 13:14 And man, I had no idea how hard this was going to be. 13:18 When you say to God: "Just tell me... " Whoa-ho! 13:21 So we're going to go on and we're going to look at this 13:23 journey on forgiveness 13:25 'cause that's what He stayed with me a lot on. 13:28 And the first thing He wanted me to know is the level 13:32 of forgiveness that He has towards me. Right? 13:36 And this is going to be a review for a lot of you guys, right? 13:39 And so we're going to go there. 13:41 So I'm going to ask somebody to put one of the slides on... 13:43 the next slide on. 13:45 So the level of forgiveness that God has for us. 13:48 And one of the clearest ways to understand forgiveness 13:51 is to look at how He forgives us. 13:53 I'm just going to read this. 13:54 God chooses to forgive us, right? 13:56 So He chooses to forgive us. Our sins stand in the way 14:00 of our relationship with God and without His forgiveness 14:03 we would be eternally condemned. 14:06 But God verbally shares His desire to forgive us. 14:10 "I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember 14:13 no more. " Right? How cool is that? 14:17 'Cause you know what? In my family 14:20 my grandmother is an addict. 14:22 My uncles are addicts. 14:24 My cousins are addicts. 14:26 My sister is a meth addict that she looks psychotic 14:30 and she looks like a concentration camp victim 14:32 with her... how thin she is. 14:34 My dad died in a crack house molesting young kids. 14:37 He never came out of that. 14:39 My mom is incredible but she hides behind books 14:42 and prescription drugs. 14:44 My other sister has had a porn site on the Internet, 14:47 is a dancer, and sells coke for a living. 14:50 And I come out of that and I'm asking God 14:53 "Can You forgive me? " Can He? Yes. Yes! 14:58 Why does He do that? I don't know! 15:00 I didn't deserve one thing... one thing... 15:03 yet I felt like He lavished me with forgiveness and love. 15:07 I want you to feel safe. I want you to get that. 15:09 The next one I want to talk to you about is God chooses 15:11 to focus on - and this is HUGE - 15:15 God chooses to focus on His desire to forgive us 15:18 rather than on our sins. Amen! 15:21 How... That is incredible! 15:24 He delights in forgiving us so He's going to focus on that. 15:28 He's not going to look out... I used to believe that... 15:31 that every time I did something wrong God checked off 15:34 this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. 15:37 And I thought: "By the end of the day 15:39 I'm overwhelmed. " Not by the end of the year! 15:43 By the end of the day I'm overwhelmed. 15:46 And God just stopped me one time and I don't know how He gives 15:49 these concepts so clearly, but the concept He gave me is: 15:52 "Cherie, I don't have enough pencils in heaven to do that! " 15:55 Amen! "I can't do that! 15:57 If I checked every time someone did wrong on this planet, 16:02 we would run out of people to check with - angels to check 16:05 with - and pencils. 16:07 The only thing we look for 16:09 is whenever you fully understand My love for you 16:12 then we check it. 16:14 I think they got it. 16:16 I think for a minute... for a minute... she actually 16:20 felt loved. She actually saw My heart. " 16:24 And all of heaven waits for that moment. 16:27 They know that we're dust. 16:29 They know that we're made out of sin. 16:30 They know that we're living in this great controversy. 16:33 They know this is difficult... 16:34 especially since Christ came down here and walked it Himself. 16:38 So what they're checking for is when we get it. 16:40 When we can actually by faith step into the fact 16:44 that God loves us with a love that's so huge 16:47 that we could actually change 16:49 our desires, our selves, what we want to do in life. 16:53 All that kind of stuff changes because we feel and experience 16:57 the love of God. That's what they wait for. 16:59 God chooses to focus on His desire to forgive us 17:01 rather than focus on our failures. 17:03 "I, even I, " God says, "am the One who wipes away 17:08 your transgressions for My own sake. " 17:10 "For My own sake. " I love that! 17:15 Nobody's ever done something that cool to me for their own 17:19 sake. Not even my parents. They were just a mess. 17:23 But God says: "For My own sake I'm going to do that for you. " 17:26 "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed 17:29 our transgressions from us. " 17:33 And so we know that, right? 17:35 I mean, everybody is kind of... we've looked at that. 17:38 On the next slide it says: "God also chooses to love us 17:43 in spite of our failures. " 17:47 Anybody want to say "Amen" to that? Amen! 17:50 In spite of our failures. He provides redemption for us 17:52 through His Son when we have a bitter attitude towards Him. 17:57 I can be in the midst... I have heard 18:00 some druggies... And druggies are just weird. 18:03 And I know them. I know a lot of druggies 18:06 and prostitutes and all that kind of stuff 18:08 'cause that's the streets that I came from. 18:10 So I've heard some look at normal people and say 18:14 "Look how lame they are. " 18:15 Are you kidding me? 18:17 You don't have a house to go back to. 18:20 You have track marks all up and down your arm. 18:24 You just ripped off your grandmother's bank account 18:28 and you're looking at this normal couple laughing together 18:31 holding hands like: "Look how lame that is. " 18:33 You know? And that's how we do to God sometimes. 18:36 You know what I mean? 18:38 The God of heaven tries to love us through some stuff 18:41 and we're just like: "You know, I don't need God. 18:43 That's just stupid. I don't need a crutch. " 18:46 And could you imagine God just saying 18:49 "You SO need a crutch! " 18:51 You know what I mean? "You need a crutch, body cast, 18:53 and all that kind of stuff 'cause you're a mess. " 18:56 But you know, we do that with God. 18:58 And God says: "In spite of that I love you. " 19:01 "In spite of that, I am going to step into your life 19:06 and continuously step in front of you until you see Me... 19:10 until you know that My intentions toward you 19:13 are good... are good. " 19:15 I want to look at forgiveness in a different way now 19:20 because this is what got me the most. 19:23 God says... "Do you understand that? 19:25 That that's how much I forgive you? " 19:27 And I'm like: "OK, I get it. That's incredible! " 19:31 And not only that... 19:34 One of my first speaking engagements I'm at 19:37 So. Cal. Camp Meeting, right? 19:39 And I'm scared to death. I'm new and I'm going to So. Cal. 19:44 And there's a few thousand people there. 19:46 And Mark Finley is the other speaker. 19:49 How ridiculous is that? I'm going to follow him. 19:52 You know? And I'm thinking: "I'd better look good. 19:56 I'd better get a cute outfit, you know. " 19:57 So I got this outfit and I'm still scared. 20:02 I look cute as anything. It matches my eyes even! 20:05 But I'm just scared and I'm thinking: "God, who am I 20:08 to follow anybody? " And so all of a sudden it's my turn 20:10 and I'm scared. And I walk up and all of a sudden 20:14 the Holy Spirit just comes and you don't think about 20:16 being scared any more. 20:17 So I'm just saying what I felt like God asked me to say. 20:21 And I get down and this little gay guy comes up 20:23 and he says: "Come here for a minute. " 20:25 And I'm thinking: "What? " 20:27 "No, no, come here for a minute. " 20:29 And I walked over and I said: "What? " 20:31 And he said: "Do you realize 20:33 that your outfit is totally see through? " 20:37 "No I did not! " 20:39 I so did not, 'cause I got out there... 20:41 So I'm like na, na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na 20:43 and I'm doing all this kind of stuff and not feeling nervous 20:47 but I didn't realize it was see-through. 20:49 I knew that God got me that outfit 'cause I got it on sale! 20:51 And I said: "God, You could have told me I needed a slip. 20:54 You just could have told me that. " 20:56 I'm now mad at God. 20:57 So I called the Women's' Ministries leader 21:00 and I said to her: "Excuse me but I have to go up in a minute. 21:04 Can you get me a slip? " And she's like: "Absolutely! 21:07 You so need a slip. " 21:09 And so she's running around trying to find a slip now. 21:12 And I go in my room and I'm praying, but the prayer 21:15 is like this: "God, You knew that it was see-through. 21:18 You could have told me na-na-na-na. " 21:19 And all I heard is: "Aren't you glad that the robe of 21:23 righteousness is not see-through? " Amen. 21:25 And I got it! 21:27 Not only does He forgive us but Christ Himself 21:31 died to cover us with the robe of righteousness. 21:34 Cover us! When God looks at me 21:36 even through this whole sanctification process 21:39 where I'm trying to figure out how not to lie 21:41 and manipulate and do all the stuff I learned so well. 21:45 On the streets if you lie well and you could play someone well 21:48 somebody's going to high-five you. 21:50 "Wow that was good. You got like $1000 bucks from that guy. " 21:53 You know what I mean? And now they say: "Oh don't lie 21:56 and don't steal. " But if you have $1000 21:59 our ministry needs it, you know. 22:01 No I'm kidding. 22:03 So anyway we end up... 22:05 Well you know you have to learn all this kind of stuff 22:07 but in the meantime God says "I will totally put the robe 22:11 of righteousness around you. I will totally cover you. 22:14 You will never have to worry about standing in your own skin 22:18 in your filthy rags any more. 22:21 And I will invite you in front of My Father 22:23 in the Holy of Holies. And you have the right 22:25 to walk in the door because you are My child. " 22:28 Wow! 22:31 I just have to say "wow" to that! 22:33 You know if somebody says "Is that a big deal? " 22:36 you know what? For somebody on the streets 22:38 it's not only a big deal but I cannot shut up. 22:40 I can't stop saying "How cool is that! " 22:43 So anyhow I go back to the thing that God is trying to teach me. 22:47 So then He said... and I couldn't believe He said this. 22:50 Now He says: "I want you to forgive them 22:52 as much as I forgave you. " 22:54 "Oh shut up... there's no way! 22:57 No! No, no, no! That's not fair. 23:02 God, You don't understand. 23:05 You don't understand what it's like to be molested 23:08 since you're a baby. 23:10 I don't know what it's like to be loved by anybody. 23:13 You know, You don't understand: You are the only place 23:16 that I feel safe. 23:17 Right? I mean, how crazy is that? 23:20 If they come up and say 'please forgive me, ' 23:23 I'll say 'yes. ' " 23:25 And He said: "No, no, no... that's not what I'm 23:27 asking you. I'm asking you to forgive them 23:30 at the same level I forgave you. " Amen. 23:35 I just turned my worship music up as loud as I can 23:38 so I didn't have to listen to that silliness. 23:41 I'm just like: "How can I listen to that? " 23:44 So it takes me so long to get it and I finally get it. 23:48 And I hope... God - through the death of Christ - 23:53 forgives us, right? 23:54 So here's God. Here's the death of Christ. 23:59 And here's me... free on the other side. 24:02 Not only free, but totally without my stuff. 24:06 I can walk away from every lie that's ever been told me. 24:10 "I'm worthless. " "I'm the problem. " 24:12 "I'm not loveable. " "I'm somehow defective. " 24:14 All of that kind of stuff. 24:16 "No one will ever really like you 24:18 if they knew who you were. " All of those lies 24:20 that have been told to me all my life. 24:22 "You ruined my life. Your mother doesn't even love you. " 24:25 "Your dad's a molester. " I mean, all of those things. 24:28 I can walk away because of the death of Christ. 24:30 It's just incredible! 24:32 So now He says: "I want you to be right here 24:35 In the forgiveness thing for you I want you to be right here 24:38 and the person that damaged you is right here. 24:44 And I want you to choose to be behind them 24:48 on your own cross and die yourself 24:51 and set them free. " 24:54 Amen. 24:55 I didn't say "Amen. " 24:58 I said: "That's not fair! " 25:00 You know, when He says "carry your cross" 25:02 what does that mean? 25:04 "I don't want them free. 25:06 Can we just have them suffer a bit first? 25:10 You know, can we just do a little bit? 25:13 You know, remove a leg or something? I don't know 25:17 what You would do? " 25:19 I'm not sure and so I'm thinking 25:22 so now that's the reality of our human condition. 25:26 I really can't and don't want to 25:29 let them off the hook. 25:32 And God says to the extent that I can't do that 25:35 I'm actually damaged and He can't get through that damage. 25:40 Right? And I'm thinking: "Yeah but but but but but... 25:44 And you know, I just don't get it. " 25:47 So one time what He did which I thought was incredible 25:50 is He... I was in Australia. 25:53 And I'm with a girlfriend. 25:56 And man, she's watching right now so I want to say 26:00 "Hi Dani. " But I'm with a girlfriend 26:03 and I just had met her. She's depressed and suicidal 26:08 and she's having all these problems. 26:10 Incredible woman of God. 26:11 Incredible ministry, but she just got slammed with a lot 26:14 of things. But I go over to her house 26:16 and has anybody heard the thing about feral children? 26:20 Have you ever heard that term? 26:23 Her children are feral... wild. 26:26 Um, out of control. 26:28 I'm sitting there talking to her. 26:30 She's talking to me full attention 26:33 and her two-year-old has got a bag of cheese 26:36 and he's... shredded cheese... and he's going like this 26:39 and it's flying all over the house 26:43 and she doesn't blink an eye. 26:45 She's just talking to me. 26:47 And I realize she's got probably a dissociative disorder 26:50 'cause she does not even see what he's doing. 26:52 Her other son is a little bit older. 26:54 Sticks a metal piece of toy with some dough on it 26:58 in the microwave. 27:00 And now there's fire, smoke coming from the microwave. 27:04 And everybody is screaming. 27:06 Her daughter comes over. She wants something from her mom. 27:08 Grabs her face and says: "Mom, Mom, Mom " 27:11 and tries to turn her face. 27:13 Well her face does turn but her eyes are still looking at me 27:16 and she's talking. 27:17 And I'm thinking "This is just crazy! " 27:20 And I'm trying to just say... How do you say to someone 27:23 "I think your kids need a little attention. 27:25 You know, I'll be good. Just go deal with that and come back. " 27:29 And I'd just met her so I didn't want to say anything yet. 27:33 And then she looks at me real serious 27:35 and she says: "Cherie, I'd like you to pray for me 27:39 for an anointing. I'd like to go into ministry. " 27:44 And I'm thinking: "Really? 27:48 'Cause this is your ministry and you're not... 27:52 Let's pray for this. " 27:54 And so I go in the room just trying to escape. 27:56 They're rebuilding their house or it's a fixer-upper house. 27:59 There's no doorknobs on any room. 28:01 So now I'm in my room with no doorknob 28:04 and her kids come over and jump over me on the bed. 28:07 Jump on the floor. Run around, jump over me 28:08 on the bed. On the floor, run around. 28:10 They do that about five times. 28:11 I'm really good. 28:13 I pretended I was asleep the whole time 28:16 'cause I think eventually they're going to get tired 28:18 of jumping over me, right? 28:19 So they did that about five times. 28:21 Thought maybe I'm dead so they left. 28:23 And so then a little while later she talked about being anointed 28:27 for ministry again. And then God told me: 28:29 "Are you going to tell her the truth? 28:30 Are you going to talk to her about all this? " 28:33 And so I went out and I said: "This breaks my heart 28:36 but you need to be anointed as a mother. 28:39 You need to be prayed for as a mother. 28:41 This triggers every single thing I've ever had to go through 28:44 in my life and nobody saw me. And you're not seeing your kids 28:47 and this is really damaging to you and them. " 28:49 And at one point... Do you know that for a lot of people 28:51 they would kick you out of their house if you said that to them. 28:54 You know what I mean? She could have kicked me out 28:56 of her house. She could have got angry. All that kind of stuff. 28:58 But what she did instead: started crying and said 29:01 "Please, let's pray about that. " 29:03 And so we prayed about that. 29:04 And it was really intense, it was really sad. 29:07 We cried together. And now I have to get ready 29:09 because I have a speaking appointment. 29:10 So I go into the shower, get ready. 29:13 I'm coming out and all of a sudden God says: 29:15 "Do you know that was your mom but she had five kids? " 29:19 And all of a sudden I saw my mom 29:22 in a totally different way. 29:24 She was trying to survive with a man that was alcoholic 29:28 and not there for her. She had one child after another 29:30 from the time she was in her early teens. 29:32 She was molested before then and had all that issue. 29:36 And I thought: "God, I forgive her. 29:38 I am so sorry for what she went through. " 29:41 And when I got home I got to tell her that. 29:43 I got to tell her "I want you to know 29:45 that I choose to forgive you. " 29:49 Right? And everything in me 29:52 started to heal in a different way. 29:54 Amen. So it's really interesting when God says 29:57 "I have to get to the point where you could forgive 30:00 the people around you. " Now He goes from... 30:03 And now my mom is free, right? 30:05 To the extent that she's free. I mean she's got her own 30:07 stuff that she's got to work out with God 30:09 but she doesn't have ties to me. 30:11 I'm not demanding her to be anything other than she is. 30:14 I'm not demanding any more that she love me 30:16 even though I would love for her to love me. 30:18 But I don't think she's capable. I think her wounding is intense 30:21 and unless God brings some big changes I don't know if we'll 30:24 ever have that in this lifetime. 30:26 But she's free from that. 30:27 The alternative to doing that with my mom 30:30 is I could sit with the anger, 30:33 the bitterness, the hatred, 30:35 the unfairness - all that stuff, 30:37 I could carry that the rest of my life 30:39 or I could forgive her. 30:40 So then He goes to my dad. 30:42 "I want you to forgive your dad. " 30:45 Are you kidding me? My dad died in a crack house. 30:49 I was actually at 3ABN when my dad died 30:51 and John Lomacang and Angie came over to minister to me. 30:54 I was a wreck. 30:56 I was a wreck because I believed somewhere in my life 30:58 my dad would get well and would come and ask me to 31:00 forgive him and be a father. 31:03 But he died in his disease and that will never happen 31:05 and I was just a wreck. 31:06 And so God says: "I want you to forgive your dad. " 31:09 And I'm like: "I can't! I can't. " 31:14 And finally He said: "Think of your dad as a baby, 31:19 a little baby, before anybody damaged him 31:23 to the point he can molest his own children 31:26 and say out loud 'I forgive you as a baby 31:30 for whatever will happen to you in your life 31:32 that you will do this to all of your children. ' " 31:35 And I turned that over to God. 31:38 You know? I'm not saying I have to reconcile... 31:40 any of that kind of stuff. 31:42 I'm just saying that I'm turning that over to God. 31:44 God died for me. He's asking me to forgive my dad 31:48 and He's asking me to turn over that stuff to Him. 31:50 So I did that. The next slide I want you to see 31:53 is a really powerful slide. 31:56 And it's going to give you an example of an event. 32:01 And I made the example of the event by just putting 32:04 a block of color, right? So the block of color 32:07 is... and you see it on the left hand side of your screen. 32:10 The block of color is the event. And we're going to say 32:13 the block of color is one of the times that my dad 32:17 interfered with me in a sexual way. 32:20 Right? It could be anything. 32:24 Like for you it could be abandonment, sexual abuse, 32:26 physical abuse, divorce. 32:28 It could be that you got ripped off out of work thing. 32:30 It could be that... whatever it is for you. 32:32 But the event is considered that block. 32:35 Most people when they think about forgiveness 32:38 they will think about going to the event 32:41 and saying: "I forgive my dad for this. " 32:45 And then a week later all of it comes back up, right? 32:50 And they say again: "I forgive my dad for this. " 32:53 And about a week later or a day later it comes back up 32:56 or I'm believing the same thing. 32:58 And I think that that's where we get forgiveness mixed up. 33:01 What I believe God taught me through a lot of processes 33:04 is that when the devil strategically does something 33:07 in your life that trashes you... 33:09 And I think it is... You know, we've got the great controversy: 33:14 either it's God or the devil. 33:15 And I think for all of our abuses, all of our junk, 33:18 when we act out with our addictions, when we get lost 33:20 in sexual sin and all that kind of stuff, the devil 33:23 tragically or strategically comes against you. 33:26 So when the devil does that 33:28 he sets up schemes in your life. 33:30 The Bible talks about to fight against the schemes 33:32 of the devil. Don't fight against the devil... 33:34 that's God's job. 33:36 The scheme that he set up in my life when I was molested 33:39 is that I didn't feel worth anything. 33:41 I didn't feel protected. 33:42 I didn't feel like anybody could be trusted. 33:45 And all of those are schemes. 33:46 So each of the things that came off that event 33:48 are all various schemes in my life. 33:50 The next event sets up those same schemes usually. 33:53 I get in a relationship that falls apart. 33:56 I don't feel like I'm loved. 33:58 I don't feel like anybody can be trusted. 34:00 I feel worthless. All that kind of stuff. 34:02 So the schemes are set up. Whose fault is the event? 34:08 Whose fault do you think the event is? 34:11 Satan originally... but it's my dad's fault. 34:14 My dad molested me. 34:16 But whose fault are all the schemes? 34:20 Mine. I choose to believe lies 34:24 that interfere with my life. 34:26 And God says: "When you bring all of that to Me 34:30 I will heal you... not only of the event 34:33 but all the schemes that you live with every day - 34:36 all the lies that the devil has told you every day - 34:38 all the lies that you tell yourself because you become 34:41 your own perpetrator... and I'm done. " Amen! 34:44 Christ died to set me free. 34:47 Literally. I am free. 34:50 So what I want to do with this is I want to say 34:52 "You know what, God? I forgive my father 34:54 for all of the abuse in my life. 34:56 I forgive him from the sexual abuse. 34:58 I forgive him that he was so messed up. 35:01 Something happened to him where he could not even be 35:03 around children. He was just a mess. 35:06 I forgive him for that... AND 35:08 I want You to forgive me for my insecurity, 35:12 my sense of worthlessness, 35:14 my bitterness, my anger. " 35:16 I mean all of that kind of stuff. So I'm really taking 35:18 a number of things to God with the forgiveness process... 35:21 I'm not just taking one. 35:23 Does that make sense? 35:24 And if I don't... If I don't take the schemes, 35:28 the Bible calls them "schemes or strongholds, " 35:30 right? And does anybody know what a stronghold is? 35:36 So a stronghold a lot of times people look at it as a fortress. 35:40 Right? So it's this fortress. 35:42 It's this building; it's this castle, right? 35:45 And the one that taught me this stuff is an attorney 35:49 and a pastor. And he said: "The devil 35:53 can be in your life on the ground that you give him. " 35:57 He just wanted to get an analogy. 36:00 "On the ground that you give him. " 36:01 So if you give him anger either God's going to stand 36:06 on that ground or the devil. 36:07 Who's going to be more comfortable? " 36:09 The devil. Anger, hatred, all that kind of stuff. 36:13 So you give him that ground. 36:15 Is that ground light or dark? 36:17 Dark. Dark. 36:18 So now let's imagine that you have that fortress. 36:22 The fortress creates shadows 36:25 and the devil gets to hide behind the shadows. 36:28 And the fortress is made up of the lies that you believe. 36:33 So the devil can hide behind the lies I believe 36:38 and I build them myself. 36:41 He can't build them. 36:43 He doesn't have the power to build them. 36:45 God never gave him that. 36:46 I have the power to say "yes" or "no" to truth or lies. 36:50 And God says: "When you say 'yes' to lies 36:52 you give the devil access. You give him a foothold. 36:55 You give him the ability to come into your life. 36:58 If you feel you're worthless and you're a creation of God, 37:00 you're beloved by God, then the devil has lied to you. 37:04 And there's something here that you need to bring to God. 37:06 And I started to look at God: "OK... what is it? 37:09 I'm just going to bring everything... 37:11 I'm going to bring everything. " 37:12 And I want to give another demonstration to make it easy. 37:18 Lemuel, if I wrecked your car outside... if I just ran into it 37:24 accidentally today... And so I ran into your car 37:28 and you came in and said: "Did you just run into my car? " 37:32 And I'm like: "Well yeah, sorry. " 37:34 "Well do you have insurance? " 37:36 And I'm like: "Oh yeah yeah. " And then I leave. 37:40 And I go back home and you call me. 37:42 "Were you going to like show me the insurance card? " 37:45 And I'm like: "Yeah, yeah, sometime you know. " 37:47 And then a week or two passes. I really need... 37:50 I need to file a full report. I need that number 37:52 and all that kind of stuff. 37:54 Then you find out that not only do I not have insurance 37:56 my name's not Cherie. 37:59 I lied about everything. 38:01 I don't have insurance; I have no money. 38:03 I'm never going to fix his car. 38:05 So five years... Let's say he takes me to court. 38:09 Five years he's tried to get some money to pay for his car. 38:13 After five years what do you think he should do? 38:20 Fix his car and go on, right? 38:24 And it's not fair that he has to do that. 38:26 But just fix your car. He's been angry for five years. 38:29 He's been trying to get at me for five years. 38:31 He's been trying to make it right for five years. 38:34 He's called Danny. 38:35 "Danny, you've got to make her pay me. " 38:39 He's called everybody but nobody can do anything 38:42 and he's just been keyed up trying to get this. 38:44 And finally if he's going to have a life at all, 38:47 if he's going to get back to himself at all, 38:50 he's going to have to say: "I am going to take that 38:53 responsibility myself. I'm going to pay for the debt 38:56 that she owes me and then I'm going to surrender that 38:59 to God and I'm going to get on with my life. " 39:02 So nobody's saying this is fair. 39:04 Nobody's saying that God Himself is even going to forget this. 39:07 He's going to deal with it His way, 39:09 but I can no longer carry this debt. 39:12 If I had to imagine my father's debt to me in money 39:15 it would be trillions of dollars. 39:17 But I'm going to forgive him for the pain that he has 39:20 caused me. And I'm going to turn that over to God 39:23 and say: "Forgive me for my bitterness and my anger 39:26 and that root that has taken a part of my life 39:29 and destroyed me almost. 39:31 And I'm going to ask You to pull that root 39:33 and give me peace. " 39:36 And the Bible says: "A peace that passes all understanding. " 39:39 And when we get that - not only peace but joy... 39:42 When all of a sudden I get that and some of you may feel that 39:45 today even as we talk about this concept you feel lighter. 39:48 All of a sudden it's like "You know what? 39:50 I am going to get out from underneath that for the first 39:53 time in my life. " Whether it's an ex or whether it's parents... 39:56 You know, raise your hand if you have anybody that 39:59 that's out to lunch in your family. 40:02 You know, I could say that around the world... 40:04 just about every hand goes up. 40:06 There's always somebody. 40:07 Raise your hand if you have anybody obnoxious that you 40:09 work with... unless you work here. 40:12 No. So it's like everybody has that. 40:16 And so God says: "You know you've got to keep doing this. 40:20 You've got to forgive. " 40:21 There's something that Satan does that he is really good at: 40:24 he lays traps for us. 40:29 In the Bible there's a word called scandalon. 40:32 And it's like scandalous, you know, offense. 40:36 You get all these kind of root words from that. 40:38 But you just imagine like a big trap... a bear trap. 40:42 Do you put a bear trap in the middle of the room? 40:46 No, you hide it, right? 40:48 And so he hides it. 40:49 And let's say he hides it where you won't necessarily 40:53 think it's going to come from, where it's going to be. 40:56 And somebody says something to you 40:59 that's offensive or hurts your feelings 41:01 and you get offended, all you've done is put 41:03 your hand in that trap. 41:05 And until you deal with the offense you are caught. 41:10 Does that make sense? 41:11 You are caught. And then you end up going to the next person 41:15 with your anger. You may be only talking about what they did 41:19 but now everybody's got their hand in this 41:22 and the offense gets bigger. 41:24 And it's being able to say "Is there any way 41:26 that as a woman of God as a man of God 41:28 that I can actually believe God when He says the devil 41:32 has this strategic plan to keep us offended. 41:35 To keep us off kilter. 41:38 To keep us attacking and hurting each other 41:41 with all of these offenses that build up. 41:43 Is God true when He says that's his plan? 41:46 And the only way to be free from that is accept 41:48 the blood of Christ and walk away from that. 41:51 I am free and I choose to forgive you. Amen. 41:55 I choose to... 41:57 and I know that you're never going to ask me. 41:59 My mom has never said: "I'm sorry that I don't love you. " 42:03 Ever... and she may never. 42:05 But I choose to forgive her. 42:07 What's really interesting about all of that whole kind 42:12 of process is that once you get on the other side of that, 42:15 once you get to a place where you say 42:18 "You know, I get it and I'm not going to walk around with that" 42:22 is I can have somebody come right up to me 42:24 and say something - right up to me and say something... 42:28 Like there's a girl in this church I went to 42:31 a while ago. How do you tell stories when people know you? 42:35 It's like she's saying: "Oh she's going to tell that story 42:38 again. " But there's a girl that... 42:40 And she would come up and I don't know why 42:43 but she would love to say stuff like: "You know I saw you 42:45 on 3ABN last night. Boy that shirt looked awful on you. " 42:50 And I'm thinking: "What shirt? " 42:52 And I'm trying to think of what shirt, and she said: 42:54 "And you know when you said this 42:57 that didn't go with anything. " 42:59 You know what I mean? 43:00 And ask she is talking I just want to punch her. 43:06 And I don't know if you're allowed to do that as an 43:08 evangelist, you know, but I wanted to. 43:10 And I'm thinking: "You're in recovery. 43:13 Put your hands down. " And so I'm trying to be nice 43:16 and so I do the Biblically right thing: 43:19 I pray about it. She keeps doing it. 43:23 And then I decide to talk to her privately. 43:26 "Do you know every time you see me you kind of put me down? 43:30 And you know I've got all these issues 43:32 and it just triggers that. Can we when we see each other 43:36 just talk about what's happening right now? " 43:38 And we'll pause a bit. 43:40 "Like why? Are you insecure? " 43:45 I'm like: "No, just stop. " 43:48 And so then the next time the Bible says you go to 43:51 the pastor and her, and I did that. 43:53 And then I prayed about it and prayed about it. 43:55 And God... He's so fun! I love Him. 43:58 He said: "Just tell her never to talk to you again. " 44:01 Like really? 44:04 So I told her that: "Just don't ever talk to me again 44:06 because we just can't work this out and I don't know 44:08 what's going on but it is just hurtful. " 44:10 And you know, I think sometimes God does that. 44:12 Work on forgiveness but you don't have to have relationship. 44:15 But now when she does talk to me and she does approach me 44:18 and it is hurtful - 'cause I found out she does that 44:20 with a lot of people and it is hurtful - 44:22 as she's talking do you know what I say? 44:26 "Dear Father, I choose to forgive 44:31 for hurting me in the way she does... 44:34 for her talking negative about me. 44:36 I triggers my insecurity and it makes me feel like 44:39 I'm worthless. And what if I am a fraud and what if 44:42 I really don't deserve to be standing here. 44:44 What if I'm not good enough? 44:46 And I choose to pay for the pain and the consequences 44:49 that she is causing me right now. " 44:51 And she's still talking. 44:53 "I choose. I ask You to break any stronghold 44:56 or any scheme that the devil's trying to set up 44:58 right now. Forgive me for my bitterness and my anger 45:02 towards her right now 45:07 and bless her. " 45:09 She stops talking... I feel like gold. 45:13 Do you know what I mean? 45:15 I walk away just feeling like I have never felt better. 45:19 And she just nailed me again but I don't have to carry that 45:22 any more 'cause I choose to do what God says, 45:26 I choose to forgive her. 45:28 Men: raise your hand if you've ever thought about doing that 45:31 with a spouse. 45:35 You know what I mean. In the middle of their craziness... 45:38 Poor Brad. You know, he's married to me. 45:40 I'm ADD; I'm flaky; it's all that kind of stuff. 45:45 But in the middle of them saying something crazy, 45:50 in the middle of them telling you what else you did wrong 45:54 or whatever, I choose to forgive Brad. 46:00 You know, for saying this. Causing me to feel like 46:03 somehow I'm not good enough and I choose to... 46:06 And Satan uses the same strategies with you. 46:08 Once you figure out what the strategy is in your life... 46:11 He doesn't do a lot of different things 46:13 'cause this works with you. 46:15 When somebody does that worthlessness with me 46:19 that works... and so he tends to go with those things. 46:22 But I choose to forgive him 46:24 and I choose to turn that over to You. 46:27 Any root of bitterness that's starting right now, 46:29 anything that's starting in my life right now 46:31 because of what was said I choose to give it back. 46:33 And if it's appropriate I'll talk with Brad about it 46:35 or he'll talk with me about it. 46:37 But it's an incredible place to be that I know 46:40 that if I don't do that - even leaving it for a day or two - 46:44 those roots... Does anybody garden? 46:47 How long does a weed take to grow? 46:49 I mean, man, plants take forever 46:52 but weeds are up the next day. 46:54 Do you know what I mean? So you just start pulling them up. 46:56 You know if you go around and walk around the parking lot here 46:59 you will see weeds that have taken asphalt up. 47:03 Do you know what I mean? 47:04 You've got to deal with it right away. 47:07 And you've got to choose to forgive... even if the other 47:09 person never even gets it. 47:11 It's not about this. We're at the end of the great controversy 47:13 and it's about connecting with God 47:15 and connecting with each other on a real sense. 47:19 I love the fact that we are in a place where God says 47:23 "I want to teach you this more than I want to teach you 47:27 anything else. " We have incredible stuff to learn. 47:30 We have incredible revelation stuff. 47:32 We have incredible things about end times. 47:35 We have incredible health message stuff. 47:38 We have incredible stuff but do you know what? 47:40 If we don't forgive, does any of that matter? 47:44 Any of it? 47:46 And please hear me. "Without love you are... " 47:50 nothing. You know what I mean?- 47:52 If I don't receive the love of God, I can't fully understand 47:55 the gospel. And if I don't give the love of God, 47:58 I can't fully understand what it means to connect 48:00 with my brothers and sisters. 48:02 And so God says: "You know what? 48:03 The core of our spiritual growth, the core of our 48:06 recovery, the core of healing, 48:07 is that I get this forgiveness thing. " 48:09 And what I really love and you're going to see this 48:12 on the graphic, but what I really love about this 48:16 next thing is I could have put a billion scriptures up. 48:19 I literally could have went one after another. 48:21 But what I'm going to do is I put twelve 48:24 because I just like the fact that the Bible uses all these 48:28 numbers that mean something. 48:30 But if I decide to live in a way that forgiveness 48:35 is who I am, that I'm going to walk in forgiveness 48:38 and I'm going to do that as much as I can 48:41 'cause sometimes we do it really well and sometimes we don't, 48:43 but that's my goal... the Bible says there's some promises 48:47 that go with that. And I love the first one. 48:50 The first promise is I will experience peace. 48:54 How cool is that? 48:56 And I don't know if anybody... Does anybody want peace? 49:01 I'll experience peace... and that's in Psalms. 49:05 I'll experience joy. 49:07 When we get unburdened, 49:10 when we get that stuff lifted from us, 49:13 when I'm not demanding that someone make it right with me 49:17 or I'm not looking at trying to get someone else to see 49:20 how wrong they were and all that kind of stuff, 49:22 when I get out from underneath some of that kind of stuff 49:25 I find peace. 49:26 When I forgive people for the abuses 49:28 and the molest and not loving me 49:30 I find peace 'cause I'm not demanding that they know 49:33 anything. I'm now asking God to bless them. 49:36 'Cause what's really weird with forgiveness 49:38 and I guess it's the same with God 49:39 is when you forgive somebody love wakens up for them 49:43 sometimes. And not with somebody that's really unsafe 49:46 so don't hear that, but with people in your life 49:48 that sometimes it's just that love wakens up. 49:50 And I think that that happened with Christ and God and with us 49:54 and with - you know - us and Him. 49:55 The third one is I will have guidance in making my decisions. 50:01 You know, if I'm making my decisions 50:03 through anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, 50:06 who's guiding me? 50:08 You know, I'm being guided actually by the devil himself. 50:12 You know, or it's demonic. 50:13 If I'm making my decisions spiritually with forgiveness, 50:17 God is guiding me. And the Bible's real clear about that. 50:20 It's that He can't guide our revenge 50:22 but "turn to Me in this area and I will guide you. " 50:26 Has anybody forgiven somebody 50:28 and then all of a sudden you run into them 50:29 and God gives you exactly what to say 50:31 and it's like this anointed meeting? 50:33 You just think: "How did that happen? 50:35 It was better than I could have expected it to be. 50:38 How could? " All of a sudden you walk away and you feel 50:41 that reconciliation has happened and it's not because 50:43 of something that you said. God just made that happen 50:47 because your choice to forgive them 50:48 and to approach them differently. 50:50 He says: "I will give you guidance. " 50:54 "I will prosper you. " 50:58 Does that mean money? 51:01 Not necessarily... 'cause people really get that 51:04 mistaken view of prosperity. 51:07 Doesn't mean money. 51:08 But you know what? I went from being unhappy 51:10 and wanting to kill myself most days 51:13 to celebrating my life. 51:15 Do you know what I mean? 51:17 And if you asked me: "Do I feel like my life is prosperous? " 51:20 I would say "absolutely! " 51:23 And I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. 51:26 And so just being able to say is that God says: 51:28 "I will prosper you... " what- ever that means for His glory. 51:32 The next one is I will experience security. 51:37 I love that. 51:38 I've been insecure my whole life. 51:41 One time I was in the middle of doing a presentation. 51:45 Everybody else had Ph.D.'s and all kinds of stuff. 51:48 I don't have anything. 51:50 I'm honored that you even let me come up and teach 51:53 'cause that's an incredible thing. 51:55 But I don't have anything, and I was being insecure 51:57 about that. And I asked God. I said: "Where do I go 51:59 when I'm in the midst of this insecurity? 52:03 Where do I keep going? " 52:04 And He showed me a time when my dad 52:09 was going to molest us kids he would put us all together 52:13 and go get drunk and then come back. 52:14 We would just have to wait for him. 52:16 And everybody knew what was going to happen 52:17 and we would wait. 52:19 And sometimes we would just wait in the tub and just wait. 52:21 And I just felt at one point 52:24 that Jesus said: "Can I take you out of the tub? " 52:29 You know, I just felt a sense that His hand came down 52:32 and He said: "It's time to get out of the tub. 52:34 You don't have to go back there any more. 52:36 You're not going to be injured any more. 52:39 I AM protecting you. 52:41 You are walking in this. It's not the same any more. " 52:44 And I think that as we get the gospel 52:47 and some people haven't gone through that much damage 52:49 but some of us have, and God says: 52:51 "You're not there any more. Grab My hand 52:54 and stay with this. Forgive them. " 52:58 And I got out of the tub. I remember just in my mind 53:01 that I never went back there again. 53:04 Like if you talk to me now I just feel... 53:07 I don't feel like that I'm all that or whatever but 53:10 I just don't crash and burn as much as I used to 53:13 just because I think that God's got my hand in His hand. 53:19 Just an amazing thing. 53:21 Six says: "I will give you wisdom. " 53:25 I love that. 53:27 You'll gain favor from others. 53:30 If I'm in a relationship with you and you know 53:33 if I mess up I'm going to come back and say: 53:35 "Forgive me. " If you mess up, I'm not going to 53:38 make it this huge deal. I'm going to forgive you. 53:41 Do you know what I mean? You just gain favor from each other 53:44 because people start to be able to trust who you are. 53:48 I will experience God's provision for my needs. 53:51 Seven, I love that: My children will experience 53:54 God's blessings. I love that. 53:58 I will never be forgotten. 54:01 Through this whole thing you know? Eternity comes... 54:05 all of that kind of stuff. 54:06 God says: "I think of you more than the grains of sand 54:10 on the planet. " 54:12 I'm in the heart of God; I'm in the thoughts of God. 54:15 I'm in the thoughts of people around me that love me. 54:17 All of that kind of stuff. There's something about 54:20 someone walking in the light of God and the Spirit of God 54:23 is they won't be forgotten. It's not the same. 54:26 And it's just like the Bible just promises that. 54:29 And "You'll have a sure reward. " 54:31 There's really some incredible blessing 54:34 when we get the forgiveness thing. 54:35 But what the Bible says: "If you can't forgive them 54:38 I can't forgive you. " 54:41 It's really the core of this whole thing. 54:45 I have a friend of mine that wrote a book called 54:47 Every Heart's Cry. 54:48 And she says in the Garden of Eden 54:52 we were disconnected. We were disconnected from God. 54:54 Right? And then we were disconnected from each other. 54:59 And the only way to change that is for us to 55:02 receive the forgiveness that God gives us 55:04 and reconnect with God 55:06 and then forgive each other and reconnect with each other 55:10 and the whole great controversy is dealt with. 55:14 Disconnect trashed us 55:16 and reconnection is going to heal us. 55:19 And not superficially. I can't do this 55:23 with just a mask on. I can't do this and just pretend. 55:26 I have to ask God with everything in me 55:29 "Teach me how to forgive. " 55:31 "Teach me not to hold a grudge. " 55:33 "Teach me not to be walking around with offense 55:37 and bitterness. " Because I want to be an incredible woman of God 55:41 filled with love... and safe 55:43 and I know that you want that for yourself. 55:46 I want to just say again it was incredible to be here. 55:48 I love 3ABN. Homecoming is great. 55:52 You guys have saved my life. 55:55 When I talk about the family of God and the fact that 56:00 ever since I walked into this ministry 56:03 that I have been loved by you guys all over the world. 56:06 I just got back from Australia and Kenya and Moscow 56:11 and Thailand and all that kind of stuff 56:13 and everywhere I go there's 3ABN family 56:15 that love and support this ministry. 56:17 And when you love and support this ministry 56:19 you love flaky people like me that stand up for the first time 56:23 and say: "What can I do for God? " 56:25 And so I just want to say thank you for that. 56:27 And I want to ask you today as you go through the day 56:32 at Camp Meeting and you see these incredible speakers 56:35 that are here and you hear the music that is here 56:37 is that think to yourself: "Is there anybody 56:40 that I need to forgive? " 56:41 "Is there anybody I need to let go of 56:43 and finally surrender that to God? " 56:45 And if someone comes to your mind, 56:48 do it. OK? 56:52 Amen. Thank you so much. 56:55 And always remember that God is crazy about you. 56:59 Me too. And I just want to say one more thing. 57:05 I really wouldn't be here without you... 57:07 so thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17