Forgive When You Stand Praying (Mark 11:25)

record pin myself and pin. And there we go. And we're up and running. All right. So, we started yesterday talking about forgiveness and I I threatened all of you that we might talk about it all week long and certainly it's going to continue to today. And uh I think it's a very uh I think it's an excellent topic and I think it's probably something that most people would struggle with, right? uh forgiving someone something that they did to you or about you or whatever it might be. So, that's what we're going to continue on today. And today's verse, and my uh my wife got a little a little cheat sheet this morning.

She asked me what I was going to cover, so I shared it with her. So, I thought for sure she would she'd be on and then hopefully she'll pop in. But any rate, because I I I didn't cover with her what I'm going to cover with you guys. And so, we're going to be in Mark. We're going to be in Mark chapter 11. And there's a lot of good stuff that happens in Markap 11. So when the call's over, go read it. I promise it's good stuff. But we're going to be in Mark 11 and verse 25. And this is Jesus speaking. And he says, uh, "And so he's in reference to something else he spoke about earlier, the verse before, but we're not going to cover that one." Verse 25 says, ' And when you stand praying if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

So I'm going to repeat it. This is Jesus. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your father in heaven may forgive you your sins. And so there's three points that I want to bring up and I'll fly through these real quick. The first point is that I believe the inverse of this verse is also accurate and true. And what do I mean by that, Dwayne? What do you mean by the inverse? I mean when you need forgiveness for someone, you should do the same thing. You should call and ask for forgiveness because it's affecting your heart.

So I think the inverse is true. Not only should we be forgiving others, but I don't know that there's anybody on this call who hasn't done something that they probably don't need to ask for forgiveness for. And so I think the process and the condition of your heart is the same. It works both ways. So whether you need to ask for forgiveness or whether you need to offer forgiveness, I think that that binds and affects your heart in the same way. That's coming from me. That's not what the text says. The second point that I want to make out make out not make out.

I'm not making out with the words um is that this verse is not teaching us that uh if we are saved by grace. The our ability to forgive somebody is not going to determine whether we have a seat in heaven. We did that when we accepted Jesus Christ into our heart. when we when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, that he died on the cross, that he rose again, that he was resurrected, that he died for our sins, that we've repented and we've accepted him into our lives, we're we're our forgiveness from Christ is not dependent on me forgiving Aggie because she did this terrible thing to me.

But what it does, and what I believe this verse is saying, is that it affects your relationship. I think it keeps you growing in your faith and and it's the the very reason for the verse above this one. Christ puts these two things together. He talks about moving mountains with your faith and forgiving somebody in the same breath. Those are they're right next to each other. They're together. I think Christ does that for a reason because they're it's that important. And I think it affects our relationship and affects our maturity and it affects our ability to be able to grow.

And whether that is that you needed to give someone else forgiveness or you've done something and you've not swallowed your pride to be able to go ask that person for forgiveness for what you've done. And I think the moment that you do that and I and I won't even say think. I'm going to but the re but the freedom that that gave me was immeasurable. And what that allowed me to do in my walk and where I was able to grow, I can't I couldn't put accurately into words. And so I believe it works in both directions. The third point that I'm going to bring up is that forgiveness, we talked a little bit about this yesterday.

Forgiveness is not the same as trust. Don't confuse the two. No one should leave this call thinking that I should just be a doormat because I'm a Christian. That I should just allow people to walk all over me and forgive them every time they do it and allow them to continue to keep doing it to me. You need to you need to forgive every time. I'm gonna come back to the the scripture because Christ leaves no room for gray area. What does he say? He says when you stand praying, if you hold anything, anything, I don't know where there's any exception to that.

If you hold anything against anyone, there's no exception in that either. believer, unbeliever, father, mother, brother, co-orker, boss, guy on the corner, guy at the Starbucks who didn't give you your whipped cream, whatever it might be. Anything and anyone, he leaves no room for interpretation. But we're supposed we're supposed to forgive that, but we're not supposed to be doormats. Forgiveness is not the same as trust. It doesn't eliminate what they did. It doesn't make it go away. It's there. It happened. It doesn't eliminate consequence. There's consequences when you hurt people.

And sometimes people have to wi live those out. Those don't just go away. But it So, you don't have to be a doormat. Don't confuse forgiveness with trust. But we are commanded right here in this verse to forgive anything to anyone. That's what Christ wants us to do. All right. So, thoughts, comments, suggestions? Um, D, where do you draw the line? Like, cuz I've been helping this one guy and he keeps breaking the rules that I've set for him that we both agreed to. And I don't know, I keep wanting to give him chances because I care about him and I want to help him.

But where do you draw the line? Like, when do you say, "Okay, enough's enough." Yeah. So I don't know whether you're talking about reconciliation or you're talking about forgiveness because those are two separate items. You always you always forgive because that's what the message just told us to do. That's what Jesus commands us in Mark 25 in Mark uh 11:25. Reconciliation and that trust is a different issue. If they're continuing to walk on you then there's other scripture that says don't be unequally yolked with non-believers. Walk away. Christ when he told the disciples when he sent them off on their first missionary journey.

If they won't accept you, shake the dust off your sandals and walk away. And and that goes to a family member. That goes to your good friend that you grew up with that that goes to lots of people. I I had I had a I was a best man at a wedding. I don't talk to him. We don't speak. Why? Be because I I continually tried to speak life into him. He continually denied it and continually did the things that I didn't want to be associated with. And so I left this. I still love him. I still forgive him for what he's done. But I don't I don't want that around me.

That's not that's not healthy for me or for anyone in my family. And so I've stepped away from that relationship. That's not easy to do. That's super hard to do. Yeah. But but that's but that's on you. And that's where you have to pray. You ask the Holy Spirit, give me wisdom. Give me discernment. Is is this the last time? Is this when I'm done? I'll continue to love from a distance. I don't know. I don't know who it was that said it yesterday, but they said uh and I don't remember the exact word, but it was from from a distance. It was keep your distance.

It was a an acceptable distance. And that's what you that's what we should that to me that's what we should do. Anybody else? Anybody else? Forgiven is I just don't know when to draw the line and say, "Okay, it's gone too far. I can't I can't do this anymore." Yeah. You got you got to pray about that, Dustin. And that again that's that's not forgiveness. Forgiveness is always that's reconciliation. That's that's when is when is he now uh you're not to be a doormat. That's not what Christ is asking us to do. Okay. Anybody else? Can I add Go ahead.

I'm sorry. Um to kind of just piggyback. Um so as Christians, we're called to be the light of the world. Jesus says the light of the world is not hidden under a basket or put under a table. So with any relationship you had you have with any person, you're supposed to be bearing that light cuz the light of Christ is never dimmed, right? Even in uh a little bit of darkness doesn't affect light. A whole lot of darkness doesn't affect light either. A little bit of light in the in darkness lights it up. The Bible says that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness is not overcome it.

So, if you're in any relationship with somebody and you have to lower yourself or they're trying to get you to lower yourself, the dynamic is off. So, that's an indicator right there that that has to change. Whether you have to walk away completely or things in the relationship have to change because as a Christian, you're supposed to bear that light. So if something is trying to pull that like again put a a basket over the light, put you under the table, then the relationship isn't godly and that's from the enemy. So you have to attack that and in the godly way which is as uh I'm sorry who just spoke but pointed out and often times uh the way to do that is through deliverance and uh that can be spiritual and that can be through like spiritual authority with the demonic but like fighting against the demonic I'm saying we have full authority to cast it out.

So it's not really a fight. It's more of a matter of just walking in it. But secondly, deliverance is also largely a renewing of your mind as uh whoever just spoke was just saying like it says in Romans 12:1. So it's not such like a scary thing that like you need these like demons cast out of you all the time. You just need your mind renewed. You need to you need to switch things around. Jesus came to reconcile the whole world to himself. So there's this unwinding of the ungodly into the world back to holiness. So awesome, Connor. Connor, thank you.

That that that was awesome. And you bring up another topic that maybe we'll we'll tackle next week, which is the deliverance side. And I think Richard brought it up as well, too. All right. So, we're out of time for today. So, thanks those that contributed. Thanks, Connor, for for popping in. I guess Connor's new. Uh those are good words. Same from Richard and Dustin. I hope that that uh helped or at least gave you some direction where to go, where you need to go in that process. All right. Well, let's bow our heads. Father, thank you so much for today.

Uh, thank you that I say this a thousand times, Lord. I'm just so grateful and thankful that your that your word is true from cover to cover. That that we don't have to wonder or guess that that it it it spells it out. Any one, anything, anyone. And and so we don't we don't have to go, "Well, but but what about this or but what about that?" Your word covers it. It tells us exactly who we need to be in you. And so Lord, I just the thing that we that we need is the discernment. The thing that we need is the is the wisdom. The thing that we need is the faith and the love, Father.

And so we just pray for that in increasing measure. That fruit of the spirit that only comes from you. And so Lord, I just pray that we would continue to pray for that. That that would guide us, that would guide our actions, guide our directions, guide our steps, allow us, as Connor said, that your word says for us to be the light of the world. That's what we have to be. You take a completely black auditorium 10,000 square feet and you strike one little match, it lights up the whole place. And that's what Jesus does if we if we allow him to work in us to do that.

And so, Father, I pray that we would each do that, that we would take today's lesson on forgiveness uh and asking for forgiveness uh and that we would take that forward, that we wouldn't allow our prayer time to be hindered because we're holding something against someone else. Father, thank you for today and for this technology for us to be able to come together. I pray that it continues. I pray that it grows. Uh not for me, Lord, but for that everyone on this call can get what they need to today as they walk forward. Father, we love you. We praise you.

And as always, in your son, Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, all see you guys tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks. Bye y'all. Peace.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.