Restoring Our Hearts Women’s Conference

Tags

Bethel Bible Fellowship, Chains or Christ, conference, Conviction vs Condemnation, Forgiveness, Getting Past Guilt, Jail Ministry, Jesus Christ, Live It Out, restoring our hearts, Walk Worthy, women's retreat

I have been “heads  down” preparing for a women’s conference hosted by my home church, Bethel Bible Fellowship in Las Cruces, NM.  The conference was this past weekend, and what a joy it was to see God moving and working in the lives of the women who attended.  Once again, God had me outside my “box”, learning to lean into Him even more.

The audio for the event is available, along with PDF versions of the workbook at this link:  restoringourhearts.com/conference-audio/

 

Forgiving the Unforgiveable – Part 5

Tags

Forgiveness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Repentance, Sin

Jesus taught all who follow Him to specifically pray that God would forgive us based on our forgiveness of those who hurt us.  That means if we are unforgiving, we are praying that God be unforgiving to us!  That is a very scary thought!

Forgiving The Unforgiveable – Part 4

Tags

Forgiveness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Repentance, Sin

We may believe that we can’t forgive someone who harmed us until we “feel” like forgiving them.  But there is one big problem with that… because of our sin nature, we will never FEEL like forgiving.

Forgiving the Unforgiveable – Part 3

Tags

Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Sacrifice, Worship

We may have the idea that if we forgive, we are somehow saying that what the person did was not hurtful.  We may think that offering forgiveness is making light of the damage that the person did, implying that the pain we went through is not significant.  The problem is… this belief leads to a very significant problem, because it will prevent us from ever forgiving.

Forgiving the Unforgiveable – Part 2

Tags

Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Sin

Our forgiveness does not change the world’s justice, and it does not change God’s justice.  Forgiveness is laying down the right we think we have to judge the offender, and turning it over to God, letting Him be the Judge and letting Him deal with the other person.

Forgiving the Unforgivable – Part 1

Tags

Conscience, Forgiveness, Guilt, Justice, Sin

The last two studies on forgiveness focused on Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness, and His living example of forgiveness.  In this study, we are going to look at some common misconceptions, deceptions and lies about forgiveness, and counter them with God’s Truth, using a “case study” from the Chardon Ohio school shooting in 2012.

Forgiveness – Following Jesus Part 6

What is the ONE THING that we better make sure we get right if we want to be following Jesus Christ?  That was the question an expert in the religious law of the Jewish people asked Jesus during His ministry.  What a great question!

Forgiveness – Following Jesus Part 5

Tags

Conscience, Fear of God, Forgiveness, Jesus Christ, Obedience, Sin, Spiritual growth, Spiritual Warfare

Do you know any older people that are consumed with bitterness and self-pity?  Stop and look at how it has damaged their life, their relationships, their joy, their peace and their happiness.  Take a hard look at the consequences.  It is NOT worth it.

It takes a lot of emotional and mental energy to keep a wound open and feed a grudge.  Anger and self-pity are a poison to our heart, spirit and soul that will eventually consume us.  Unforgiveness gives bitterness a chance to take hold, and makes us a slave to the person we refuse to forgive.  They occupy a room in our mind and consume our thoughts.  They steal our energy, our joy and our peace.

Forgiveness is ultimately a SPIRITUAL BATTLE.

Forgiveness – Following Jesus Part 4

The more we understand the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, and his forgiveness of our sin, we will be filled with a holy fear (awe) of Him.  Amazement mixed with fear – of His power, His holiness, His righteousness, His absolute perfection, and His unbelievable sacrifice.

Forgiveness – Following Jesus Part 3

Tags

Forgiveness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, Justice, Obedience

So why is it so hard to forgive when others hurt us?  So what are the barriers we face when it comes to granting forgiveness to others?  Our unwillingness to let go of the hurt and pain the person caused in our life seems to be a big stumbling block for many of us.  And our desire for justice – to see the person punished for what they did.  Or maybe we actually go beyond justice, and have a desire to seek revenge or vengeance.

All of these things have something in common – our desire to stand in judgment over the wrongs of others.  Our desire to be “like God”, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Our desire to seat ourselves squarely on the throne of God.