Hello and
welcome to "Heart Lift."
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I'm Jill
Morikone and I'm so glad
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that you've joined us today.
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We're on a journey toward hope,
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toward healing,
toward the transformation,
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that the Lord
Jesus wants to work
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in your heart
and mine, as women,
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as daughters of God.
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If you're just joining us,
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last week we took a
look at forgiveness,
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we examined 1 John
1:9 were the Bible says,
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"If we confess our sins,
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the Lord Jesus is
faithful and just to forgive us,
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and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness."
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Now that
doesn't mean necessarily
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that we will feel
forgiven at that movement.
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But God's word is true.
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He stands back of
every promise He has made.
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And as we choose
to bring our minds,
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our thoughts interline
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with what the word of God says,
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"God would change our
feelings to match our faith."
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That's a beautiful promise.
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Today, we're
discussing forgiving others.
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Our scripture
is Colossians 3:13.
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If you have your Bible,
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I encourage you to
open up and to follow along.
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If not, you can
always jot down the reference
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and look it up later.
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Colossians 3:13,
"Bearing with one another,
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and forgiving one another,
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if anyone has a
complaint against another,
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even as Christ forgave
you, so you also must do."
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Let's pray.
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Father, we come before You,
thank You for Your forgiveness.
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Thank You that we
can stand in assurance
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knowing that You
have forgiven us.
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And right now, Lord,
we open up our hearts,
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because we want to
learn how to forgive
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our brothers and sisters.
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We pray that you would teach us,
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and that we could
listen and we thank You
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for the anointing
of your Holy Spirit,
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in Jesus' name, amen.
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It was a Monday night.
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On Monday night, we
go to our local jail
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and we visit
with the woman there
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in the jail.
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This particular
Monday was a crowded night.
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We never know
who's gonna be in there.
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So we never know how
many girls we will have.
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This Monday night
in our little room,
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we were packed in,
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they sat four across on the desk
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that line the walls,
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they sit cross
legged on the floor.
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And I was squeezed in the corner
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along with one of my sisters.
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My friend from church
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was leading the
study that night,
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and she was talking on
the topic of forgiveness.
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As she began to talk,
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I looked around the
circle at the girls.
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And a lot of them
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were not really
into the studying.
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It wasn't a fault of
my friend who is leading,
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it was just-- I don't know why.
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It was the work of Satan,
I'm, sure that was why, but I--
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Some of them I think come
out just because they want to
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get out of their
jail cell and they say
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"I just want to get out."
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And so they come
for that purpose.
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Some come to hang and
to talk with their friends,
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and so they
come for that purpose
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and they were writing notes,
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and passing
them, and whispering.
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And then some are eager,
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want to read the word
of God and they're just
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riveted and focused.
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As my friend
was doing the study,
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the girls were in
various stages of interests,
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some focused, some not.
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About halfway through the study,
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she began to share
a personal testimony,
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how her father had molested
her when she was a child.
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He was currently
serving prison time.
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Instantly the
atmosphere in that room changed.
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Every eye of those girls
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all around the
circle was focused,
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because they might not have been
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molested as children, but
they all experienced pain.
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They all experienced hurt.
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They all
experienced some sort of sadness
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and they could
identify in someway
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with what my friend was saying.
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I think no matter what
pain we've gone through,
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no matter what hurt, it
still hurts and God says,
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"I want to show you,
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I want to pour
my love into you."
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So that in turn, you
can forgive someone else.
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I have some seeds
over here by my chair,
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right here by my chair.
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They are
different types of seeds.
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We have an acorn that
my husband Greg went out
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and pulled some of these acorns.
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There're some, I
don't know if you identify
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what this seed is,
it's a green bean seed,
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that we planted in
last year's garden.
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This over here is some
corn that we pulled off
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of a dried corn cob,
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and at the end is some
squash or some pumpkin seeds.
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Now, if I want to
plant, let say corn.
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If I were to plant the
corn, what would I harvest?
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What would I get?
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Now, I hope your gonna
say, I'm going to get corn.
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Because if you
plant corn, you should,
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you should receive corn.
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If I plant corn, am I
gonna harvest green beans?
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No, at least it
shouldn't work that way,
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unless someone
went into the garden
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when I was sleeping at night,
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and dug up the corn
seeds and plant a green beans.
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If you plant an acorn,
are you gonna get corn?
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No, you should get an oak tree.
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The potential of the harvest
is wrapped up in the seed.
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The potential of the harvest
is wrapped up in the seed.
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The word of God is the same way.
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When God wants to plant
His word into our hearts,
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He says, "I know the
potential of the harvest
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is inherit in the seed
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I'm planting in
your heart and I know
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that it's gonna bring
forth an abundant fruit."
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I want you to turn
with me to Luke Chapter 8,
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Luke Chapter 8,
we're gonna look at
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the Parable of the Sower.
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And this happens
in several gospels,
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so you don't have
to look at in Luke
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but I like the
way Luke describes it.
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We're gonna look at Luke 8:4, 5.
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The Bible says,
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"When a great
multitude had gathered,
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and they had come
to him from every city,
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he spoke by a parable.
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A sower went out
to sow his seed."
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Now in the Bible times,
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they sowed a little different
than you and I might so.
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We sow different,
we have our machines
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that are
mechanicals devices today.
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In the Bible times,
the sower would have
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some sort of sling, I
don't know around him,
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and he would reach in
and he would grab the seeds
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and he would toss them,
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and then he would reach
in and grab some more seeds
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and he would toss them.
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Now he wasn't planting
probably corn or green beans,
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or squash or acorns.
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Probably he was
planting, what did they plant?
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They had barley, they had wheat,
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they might have had some corn,
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they had
different types of crops.
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He went out and planted.
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It said "As he sowed,
some fell by the way side,
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and it was trampled down,
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and the birds of
the air devoured it."
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Now I know in this parable,
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in this story that
Jesus told about the sower,
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there's more types of ground,
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there's a ground
where that it was
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chocked out by the thorns,
some fell on the stony ground,
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some fell on good ground
and it had a 100 fold harvest.
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We're only going to
look at one type right now.
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We're only looking at one type.
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This is the seed
that fell by the wayside.
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And I want to look
at the three hindrances
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to planting the word
of God in our hearts.
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Remember the
potential of the harvest
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is wrapped in the
seed, and God says,
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"I want to plant my
word deep into your hearts."
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He wants to plant
it into our hearts.
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There are three
different hindrances
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to the word of God
being planted in our hearts.
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First, do you
notice some of the seed
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fell by the wayside.
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Now, I like
digging in and finding out
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what is the origin or
the root of that word.
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The New Testament, excuse me,
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the New Testament
was written in Greek.
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And if you look
at the Greek word
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for "Wayside" some of
the seed feel by the wayside,
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the word is
"Hodos," it means a road.
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Now I don't know
about you but all the roads
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I have seen are pretty hard,
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it might be an
asphalt road or pavement,
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those are hard,
gravels, pretty hard,
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even if it's a dirt road.
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If you drive down it long enough
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and you get some rain, it
hardens once it dries out.
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Most roads are hard.
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I think the
first hindrance to God
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planting His seed,
His word into our hearts
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is if we're
resistant, if we're hard,
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if we resist the
work of the Holy Spirit.
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My husband Greg and I--
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this was probably the first year
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we were married,
we had a disagreement.
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Now, we've had more
than one disagreement,
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but this particular one,
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at this point I can't tell
you what we disagreed about.
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I didn't even know
what the argument was about.
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All I know is I was right,
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and he was not
right, he was wrong.
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And I knew that and so, I said,
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"I'm not going to him
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and I'm not going to apologize",
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because I was right
and my husband was not.
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And so I went about the
day and all of a sudden Greg
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came to me he
said, "Jilly, let's pray"
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and I said, "I
don't want to pray"
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'cause if I
pray, God's gonna say,
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"Jill you were wrong
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or at least your
attitude was wrong"
00:10:21.55\00:10:25.02
And I didn't want to face
that, but I knew I should pray,
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and so Greg and I knelt
down at the couch to pray.
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I'll never
forget he prayed first
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and I was very
thankful for that,
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because I thought
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if I pray first, it
looks like I was wrong,
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so I didn't want to pray first,
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but my husband Greg prayed first
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and I'll never
forget what he said.
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He said, "God forgive me,
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for not being
the husband to Jill
00:10:49.71\00:10:52.11
that I should be."
00:10:52.15\00:10:53.95
Now, he did not pray that prayer
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to manipulate my heart,
it was what was in his heart.
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And as soon as he said that,
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the Holy Spirit
used that prayer to break
00:11:01.66\00:11:06.49
down my hard heart,
my resistance to the work
00:11:06.53\00:11:12.10
that he wanted
to do in my heart.
00:11:12.13\00:11:14.64
Sometimes we're resistant.
00:11:14.67\00:11:16.81
We resist the work
that the Holy Spirit
00:11:16.87\00:11:19.14
wants to do in our heart,
00:11:19.17\00:11:20.68
we become like the
wayside, we become hard.
00:11:20.74\00:11:25.38
Turn with me to
Hosea, Hosea 10:12
00:11:25.41\00:11:30.69
it talks about
this hardness, it says,
00:11:30.75\00:11:32.89
"Sow to
yourselves righteousness,
00:11:32.92\00:11:35.69
reap in mercy,
breakup your fallow ground,
00:11:35.72\00:11:40.00
it's time to seek
the Lord, till he come
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and rain
righteousness upon you."
00:11:42.00\00:11:45.93
Sow to
yourselves in righteousness.
00:11:45.97\00:11:48.94
How do you
break up a hard field?
00:11:48.97\00:11:51.67
How do you break
up something that's,
00:11:51.71\00:11:53.07
that's hard?
00:11:53.11\00:11:54.44
You know, I think
one of the best ways
00:11:54.48\00:11:55.81
is a gentle rain.
00:11:55.84\00:11:57.48
Have you ever seen that work?
00:11:57.51\00:11:58.98
If you have a
hard pounding rain,
00:11:59.01\00:12:01.38
what's gonna happen?
00:12:01.42\00:12:02.75
If the soil is
hard, it's gonna run off.
00:12:02.78\00:12:05.92
None of it will
penetrate or absorb
00:12:05.95\00:12:07.99
into the hard soil,
but if you have a gentle
00:12:08.02\00:12:11.53
soaking rain, it
opens up the soil.
00:12:11.56\00:12:15.43
Another way you can
break up a hard ground,
00:12:15.46\00:12:18.43
possibly is by
using a rototiller.
00:12:18.47\00:12:20.64
We do that every spring,
breaking up all those clods,
00:12:20.70\00:12:23.20
and getting the garden
ready for planting again,
00:12:23.24\00:12:26.47
making it soft so that
those seeds can go in the soil.
00:12:26.51\00:12:31.65
Now when you do a rototiller,
00:12:31.68\00:12:33.01
if it's too
dry, that doest work,
00:12:33.05\00:12:35.28
and if it's too
wet when you do it,
00:12:35.32\00:12:37.69
eventually
you're gonna get clods
00:12:37.72\00:12:39.19
and you have soil compaction.
00:12:39.22\00:12:41.06
So you need the right balance,
00:12:41.09\00:12:42.89
the right mix when
you're using your rototiller.
00:12:42.92\00:12:46.66
And I just think God
says, "I want to break up,
00:12:46.70\00:12:49.86
Jill, I want to
break up your hard heart.
00:12:49.90\00:12:51.87
I want to break
up that resistance
00:12:51.90\00:12:54.17
to the work of my Holy Spirit."
00:12:54.20\00:12:56.17
God breaks it up by
00:12:56.20\00:12:57.54
the gentle rain
of His Holy Spirit.
00:12:57.57\00:12:59.77
He breaks it up by the washing
of the water of His word.
00:12:59.81\00:13:04.98
Turn with me to Jeremiah 29,
00:13:05.01\00:13:07.52
Jeremiah 29:11, the first way
00:13:07.55\00:13:11.42
that we can be resistant,
00:13:11.45\00:13:14.06
the first
hindrance I should say,
00:13:14.09\00:13:16.09
the first hindrance
that we have in our lives
00:13:16.12\00:13:19.03
till God planting His
seed in is to be resistant.
00:13:19.06\00:13:22.73
The second hindrance
is when it's trampled.
00:13:22.76\00:13:25.93
Remember in Luke 8 it said,
00:13:25.97\00:13:28.24
"Some seed fell
on the roadside",
00:13:28.27\00:13:30.17
the wayside that
was the resistant soil,
00:13:30.21\00:13:33.11
and it said,
"And it was trampled."
00:13:33.14\00:13:37.81
God says in Jeremiah 29:11,
00:13:37.85\00:13:40.08
"I know the
plans, I have for you",
00:13:40.12\00:13:41.65
says the Lord,
plans to prosper you
00:13:41.68\00:13:43.65
and not to harm you.
00:13:43.69\00:13:45.12
Plans to give you
a future and a hope.
00:13:45.15\00:13:47.89
God has a
beautiful plan for our lives,
00:13:47.92\00:13:51.23
for your life,
but so many times,
00:13:51.26\00:13:54.30
the enemy tramples on our heart.
00:13:54.30\00:13:58.33
What are the ways that
00:13:58.37\00:13:59.70
Satan has
trampled on your heart?
00:13:59.73\00:14:01.37
What are the ways that
he has trampled on that
00:14:01.40\00:14:04.21
soil in your heart?
00:14:04.24\00:14:06.34
I think one of the
ways he tramples is by
00:14:06.37\00:14:08.41
confusing the character of God.
00:14:08.44\00:14:12.15
It was another Monday night
00:14:12.18\00:14:13.82
and we were there
in jail with the girls.
00:14:13.85\00:14:18.22
We stood to pray
and then after prayer,
00:14:18.25\00:14:21.69
we were doing our prayer request
00:14:21.72\00:14:23.96
and I was not
really paying attention
00:14:24.03\00:14:26.53
as much as I should, I'm
just being honest with you.
00:14:26.56\00:14:28.90
Someone else was
doing the prayer request
00:14:28.93\00:14:30.63
and my mind was
wondering a little bit.
00:14:30.67\00:14:32.83
And all of a sudden
I heard a woman say,
00:14:32.87\00:14:35.37
"My name is Crystal."
00:14:35.40\00:14:36.77
And I looked over
her and I thought,
00:14:36.81\00:14:38.44
"I haven't seen her before."
00:14:38.47\00:14:39.94
And I said, "Hey,
Crystal, I'm glad you're here.
00:14:39.97\00:14:43.31
Have you been here before?"
00:14:43.35\00:14:44.75
And she said, "No",
and she folded her arms
00:14:44.78\00:14:47.28
across her chest, she said,
00:14:47.32\00:14:49.02
"No, I've never
been to church before.
00:14:49.05\00:14:51.35
I have no use for God."
00:14:51.39\00:14:54.72
Her vehement
startled me and I said,
00:14:54.76\00:14:57.59
"It's okay, we're just so glad
00:14:57.63\00:14:59.73
that you're here
Crystal, it's okay."
00:14:59.76\00:15:02.70
And then, later as
we got into our study,
00:15:02.73\00:15:07.44
I prayed silently and I said,
00:15:07.47\00:15:09.40
"God show us the
key to her heart.
00:15:09.44\00:15:12.14
What's causing the bitterness?
What's causing the anger?
00:15:12.17\00:15:16.31
What's going on in her heart?
What is the key to her heart?"
00:15:16.34\00:15:20.02
'Cause I didn't know, but I know
00:15:20.05\00:15:22.05
that the Lord Jesus Christ did.
00:15:22.08\00:15:24.19
And so, we were
discussing bitterness,
00:15:24.22\00:15:26.35
we were
discussing the un-forgiveness
00:15:26.39\00:15:28.29
that we hold on to.
00:15:28.32\00:15:30.03
And all of a sudden
halfway through the study,
00:15:30.06\00:15:32.76
a significant shift occurred.
00:15:32.79\00:15:35.16
A woman raised
her hand and she said,
00:15:35.20\00:15:36.83
"You all know I have cancer.
00:15:36.87\00:15:39.50
However, I'm here to tell
you that I believe I got cancer,
00:15:39.53\00:15:43.67
because I held on to
a resentment for years."
00:15:43.71\00:15:48.11
As soon as she said that,
I kind of crunched inside.
00:15:48.14\00:15:51.95
Not that our
emotions don't affect
00:15:51.98\00:15:55.52
our physical
health, I agree with that
00:15:55.55\00:15:57.45
and I believe
that, but I didn't want
00:15:57.49\00:15:59.55
any of our girls there in
jail to feel like something
00:15:59.59\00:16:03.29
that happened to
them was their own fault.
00:16:03.32\00:16:05.63
And before I could even speak,
00:16:05.66\00:16:07.23
I took a breath and I thought
what am I supposed to say.
00:16:07.30\00:16:09.93
Before I could even
speak, Crystal spoke,
00:16:09.96\00:16:14.97
she said, "What
kind of resentment
00:16:15.00\00:16:16.54
does a kid have?
00:16:16.57\00:16:17.91
Does a kid hold on to
that would cause cancer?"
00:16:17.94\00:16:22.14
And I took a deep
breath and started to speak
00:16:22.18\00:16:25.55
and then she lashed out again,
00:16:25.58\00:16:27.32
she said, "My eight year old son
00:16:27.35\00:16:30.72
died of cancer, six months ago."
00:16:30.79\00:16:35.19
She said, "You cannot tell me,
00:16:35.22\00:16:38.86
that because of his resentment
00:16:38.89\00:16:40.90
or because of something
he did that he got cancer."
00:16:40.93\00:16:44.47
Instantly
understanding flooded my mind.
00:16:44.50\00:16:47.94
Here was the source
of her pain with God,
00:16:47.97\00:16:51.64
and I said,
"Crystal, tell me something,
00:16:51.67\00:16:54.34
of course it was
not your son's fault
00:16:54.38\00:16:57.15
that he got cancer.
00:16:57.21\00:16:59.21
Tell me do you believe
that God caused his cancer?"
00:16:59.25\00:17:04.49
And she said, "No."
00:17:04.52\00:17:06.69
She said, "But he could
have stopped it and he didn't."
00:17:06.72\00:17:10.89
And so we began to talk about
00:17:10.96\00:17:13.16
Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden.
00:17:13.19\00:17:16.13
How God created
them with free choice
00:17:16.16\00:17:18.90
and how they
made the choice to sin
00:17:18.93\00:17:20.84
and the results of sin
and suffering and misery,
00:17:20.87\00:17:25.17
that we see on this
planet we call earth,
00:17:25.21\00:17:28.44
we call home.
00:17:28.48\00:17:30.85
We talked about how God
has to allow sin to ripe in
00:17:30.88\00:17:34.75
and bear fruit
in order that we all
00:17:34.78\00:17:37.39
can see the result of
following Satan's way,
00:17:37.42\00:17:40.16
the result of rebellion.
00:17:40.19\00:17:42.49
I think one of the
ways Satan tramples on us,
00:17:42.52\00:17:45.06
this woman is by
confusing the character of God.
00:17:45.09\00:17:49.80
Maybe you've
heard some of his lies.
00:17:49.83\00:17:52.43
He says, "God causes
pain, misery and suffering."
00:17:52.47\00:17:58.01
We know that's a
lie from the enemy.
00:17:58.04\00:18:00.41
Jesus says in John 10:10,
00:18:00.44\00:18:02.81
"Satan comes to
steal, kill and to destroy,
00:18:02.84\00:18:05.18
I have come that
you would have life,
00:18:05.21\00:18:08.08
and have it more abundantly."
00:18:08.12\00:18:11.65
Maybe you've heard
another one of his lies.
00:18:11.69\00:18:14.29
"God can't love
you, God can't love you."
00:18:14.32\00:18:17.89
The Bible says in 1 John 3:1,
00:18:17.93\00:18:19.66
"Behold, what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on us,
00:18:19.69\00:18:23.37
that we should be called
the sons and daughters of God."
00:18:23.40\00:18:27.37
Also in John 16:27, he says,
"The Father himself loves you."
00:18:27.44\00:18:34.11
Many times we think of
the God in the Old Testament
00:18:34.18\00:18:37.88
as being harsh, as being stern,
00:18:37.91\00:18:40.92
has being unforgiving,
yet at the same time,
00:18:40.95\00:18:44.82
we see the God
of the New Testament
00:18:44.85\00:18:46.52
as being loving.
00:18:46.55\00:18:47.96
Jesus says there
in John 16, he says,
00:18:47.99\00:18:50.46
"The Father himself loves you."
That means, God the Father.
00:18:50.53\00:18:56.13
The God of the Old
Testament loves us.
00:18:56.16\00:18:59.53
What about one of these lies?
00:18:59.57\00:19:01.27
God wants to
keep you in bondage.
00:19:01.30\00:19:04.51
Jesus says in John 10:10 again,
00:19:04.54\00:19:06.34
"I am come that
you would have life,
00:19:06.37\00:19:08.88
and have it more abundantly."
00:19:08.91\00:19:12.78
Also John 8:36,
"Whoever the Son sets free,
00:19:12.81\00:19:18.42
is free indeed."
00:19:18.45\00:19:20.79
Satan is the one who
wants to keep us in bondage.
00:19:20.82\00:19:24.09
God is the one who
wants to set us free.
00:19:24.16\00:19:28.46
Isn't it
interesting how Satan so twists
00:19:28.50\00:19:30.97
our
understanding that we attribute
00:19:31.00\00:19:33.54
the character
traits of Satan to God.
00:19:33.57\00:19:36.50
He so twisted that up.
00:19:36.54\00:19:39.27
The first way, the
enemy tramples on us
00:19:39.31\00:19:41.58
is by confusing
the character of God.
00:19:41.61\00:19:44.45
The second way he does
is through abuse or neglect,
00:19:44.48\00:19:49.28
through pain in your life.
00:19:49.32\00:19:52.02
I was at a women's conference,
00:19:52.05\00:19:53.46
I was not
conducting the conference,
00:19:53.49\00:19:55.29
I was attending.
00:19:55.32\00:19:56.73
And they had us break up
into groups of two or three
00:19:56.76\00:20:00.10
and a woman came and said,
00:20:00.13\00:20:01.43
"Jill, I would
like to pray with you."
00:20:01.46\00:20:02.86
And I said, "Absolutely."
00:20:02.90\00:20:05.17
And we went into the
another room to pray,
00:20:05.20\00:20:08.14
and she began to weep, she said,
00:20:08.17\00:20:11.81
"Her dad went to prison
for molesting her daughter."
00:20:11.84\00:20:17.55
Now I can't even
begin to fathom the pain
00:20:17.61\00:20:19.98
that, that entails.
00:20:20.02\00:20:21.95
The hurt that is in
that precious woman's heart,
00:20:21.98\00:20:25.12
the anger, the
bitterness, abuse.
00:20:25.15\00:20:29.79
Satan does a pretty good job
00:20:29.82\00:20:31.16
of trampling on
us with that abuse.
00:20:31.19\00:20:35.36
Think of Joseph,
remember the story of Joseph.
00:20:35.40\00:20:39.67
His brother sold him as a slave.
00:20:39.70\00:20:43.14
Now, maybe some of it was
a result of his own choices.
00:20:43.17\00:20:46.61
He told them about his dreams.
00:20:46.64\00:20:48.31
He might have
been a little cocky,
00:20:48.34\00:20:49.98
I don't know, but some of it was
00:20:50.01\00:20:51.98
through no choice of his own.
00:20:52.01\00:20:54.28
His father is
the one who made him
00:20:54.32\00:20:56.48
the code of color, many colors.
00:20:56.52\00:20:58.75
His father is the
one who especially
00:20:58.79\00:21:01.76
showed favoritism to him
and created that jealousy
00:21:01.79\00:21:05.29
with the brothers against him.
00:21:05.33\00:21:07.30
Whatever the reason,
00:21:07.30\00:21:08.63
Joseph was sold as
a slave into Egypt.
00:21:08.66\00:21:10.97
And remembers at the
very end of their life,
00:21:11.00\00:21:14.30
after Jacob had
already passed away,
00:21:14.34\00:21:16.77
the brothers were in Egypt.
00:21:16.81\00:21:18.47
The brothers
began to get worried
00:21:18.51\00:21:20.34
and they said, "I don't know,
00:21:20.38\00:21:22.21
maybe Joseph has
just been nice to us
00:21:22.24\00:21:24.28
'cause daddy's been alive,
00:21:24.31\00:21:25.85
but now I don't
know if he's gonna be
00:21:25.88\00:21:27.48
nice to us anymore."
00:21:27.52\00:21:29.32
Genesis 50:20,
Joseph says, "As for you,
00:21:29.35\00:21:35.06
you men evil against me,
but God meant it for good,
00:21:35.09\00:21:40.66
in order to bring about this day
00:21:40.70\00:21:42.16
to save many people alive."
00:21:42.20\00:21:44.10
God meant it for good.
00:21:44.13\00:21:48.84
God will bring justice.
00:21:48.87\00:21:50.24
God will even the
scores of justice.
00:21:50.27\00:21:52.74
It doesn't mean that,
00:21:52.77\00:21:54.11
what was done to you was
right, it doesn't mean that.
00:21:54.14\00:21:58.78
It felt good.
00:21:58.81\00:22:00.42
All I'm saying is
that God can bring justice,
00:22:00.45\00:22:04.49
and that in the
midst of the pain,
00:22:04.52\00:22:06.32
in the midst of the hurt,
00:22:06.35\00:22:08.49
God can pour in His
healing into your life,
00:22:08.52\00:22:13.26
into your heart.
00:22:13.29\00:22:14.63
Satan tramples on by
confusing the character of God.
00:22:14.66\00:22:17.93
He tramples on us through abuse
00:22:17.97\00:22:20.50
and he tramples on
us through offences.
00:22:20.54\00:22:23.57
Maybe someone at church,
00:22:23.61\00:22:25.27
someone at homes,
someone in your jobs,
00:22:25.31\00:22:27.81
someone at
school, maybe a stranger.
00:22:27.84\00:22:31.18
Maybe they're giving
you the cold shoulder.
00:22:31.21\00:22:33.42
Maybe they're
gossiping about you
00:22:33.48\00:22:35.72
or telling lies
about you or your family.
00:22:35.75\00:22:38.79
Maybe you've been betrayed.
00:22:38.82\00:22:41.29
Maybe someone is
broken into your home
00:22:41.32\00:22:42.92
and stolen something.
00:22:42.96\00:22:45.19
Maybe someone
has murdered someone
00:22:45.23\00:22:47.36
that you love
dearly, whatever the pain,
00:22:47.40\00:22:51.00
whatever the hurt,
God asks us to forgive.
00:22:51.03\00:22:55.40
Now, I know it seems impossible.
00:22:55.44\00:22:57.04
Next program
we're gonna talk about
00:22:57.07\00:22:58.97
how we actually can forgive.
00:22:59.01\00:23:01.01
But turn very
quickly with me to Matthew,
00:23:01.04\00:23:03.95
Matthew Chapter 6,
00:23:03.98\00:23:07.02
"Forgiveness is not
optional for the Christian."
00:23:07.05\00:23:09.58
Matthew 6:14, 15,
"If you forgive men
00:23:09.62\00:23:13.66
their trespasses..."
00:23:13.69\00:23:15.02
my Bible says, we could say sin.
00:23:15.06\00:23:17.13
"If we forgive men
their sin against us,
00:23:17.16\00:23:19.59
our Heavenly father
will also forgive us.
00:23:19.63\00:23:23.00
However if we do not
forgive men their sins,
00:23:23.03\00:23:27.14
neither will our
Father in Heaven forgive us."
00:23:27.20\00:23:30.97
God is not being
mean or harsh here,
00:23:31.01\00:23:33.34
it's simply a kingdom principle.
00:23:33.38\00:23:36.54
How can He work in our
lives if we won't let Him in?
00:23:36.58\00:23:39.71
If we don't give Him
access to our hearts?
00:23:39.75\00:23:43.55
If we hold on to feelings
of revenge or bitterness?
00:23:43.59\00:23:48.16
I don't know what
pain you have experienced.
00:23:48.19\00:23:50.79
I don't know what
hurt there has been
00:23:50.83\00:23:52.29
in your past or maybe
right now in the present.
00:23:52.33\00:23:55.73
The Lord Jesus sees and He knows
00:23:55.76\00:23:58.20
and He wants to
pour His forgiveness
00:23:58.23\00:24:01.17
into your hearts,
00:24:01.20\00:24:02.54
so you
constantly don't have to be
00:24:02.57\00:24:04.11
damaged by the person.
00:24:04.14\00:24:06.68
Next program, we will
look at how God does that,
00:24:06.71\00:24:10.05
the steps and the
keys for experiencing
00:24:10.08\00:24:12.11
that forgiveness.
00:24:12.15\00:24:13.52
But first, we
need to take a break.
00:24:13.55\00:24:14.88
We're gonna give you
some practical application,
00:24:14.92\00:24:17.42
something
practical you can tape,
00:24:17.49\00:24:19.45
you can work this
week on this principle,
00:24:19.49\00:24:22.69
this topic of forgiveness.
00:24:22.72\00:24:24.83