Dr Eric Walsh // The Power of Letting Go [Wednesday Prayer Meeting]

[Music] it's good to be here in beautiful and warm South Africa tonight when I left my house in Connecticut it was an ice storm and I didn't even think I was gonna get to the airport because the roads were covered with ice so it's very nice to get here and it's nice and toasty warm so I praise God for the warmth and for the hospitality appreciate you brother for all he's doing for us taking us around today and we just wanna share with you tonight there's so much I want to share I might in ireri I'll be in Johannesburg only really tonight and tomorrow and then um I'll be in Cape Town for the weekend and then to Botswana for the week there's a conference happening in Botswana know if anybody's going anybody going today conference maybe you know okay all right well so there's a couple things I wanted to share tonight I preached last weekend in New Jersey and a brother came up to me from South Africa and and told me you know to make sure that I bring my testimony and a couple other messages when I come to South Africa my testimony I won't have time to get into tonight but I'll give you a synopsis while he sets this up I'm of two doctoral degrees one in medicine one in public health I was an advisor for the George W Bush as well as for Barack Obama on HIV and AIDS and I will used to be on one of the committees that determined how much money was actually sent to sub-saharan Africa initially through the Bush administration actually Obama the people that were coming in when I left they really wanted to cut the money coming to Africa and spend the money in America so I've worked in those fields I became pretty prestigious public health official in the States and then really became persecuted because of my Christian beliefs and again I wish I had the time to really go into the testimony if you want if you have if you if you ever go on audio verse you can find it under the title tribulation song I'll definitely give it in Cape Town and in Botswana in full my wife was too tired after flight we just landed at 4:00 four-thirty so she's sleeping she said uh good luck and push me out of doing but uh but III counted a privilege to be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to me there are no big eyes or little-used at the foot of the cross the foot of the cross we're all even and so sometimes I'm gonna be in a town and fortunately I have friends here who were in a group in organization amen and I reached out to grant and a couple of others and said listen I'll be there if there's a church that wants a speaker I'll happily come and speak and that's really how we got here tonight so thank you all for being here and I'm there working on this did you email come through for you okay so let me grab mine I can grab this laptop in probably huh so in thinking of what to talk about tonight one of the things last weekend when I was in Jersey one of my presentations was on forgiveness and um I can tell you there's a lot that I've had to ask God to give me the strength to forgive others over and nothing is quite as liberating as forgiving that's one thing that I've learned and so my father my first of all some of you may when last time I was here in Cape Town a lot of the folk knew who my brother was I have a brother who was the captain of the West Indian cricket team when the West Indies actually dominated the sport of cricket a brother by the name of Courtney Walsh in fact I have pictures we just he just got married just got married at his age in October and so we went down to the beautiful island of Antigua in the Caribbean for his wedding but um yeah so but I'd say I tell you that to tell you that the problem with that is our father he was not always the best guy and we have different mothers we have the same father and my father left my mother when I was 2 years old and he actually married my mother's second cousin and that crazy so he so here's the funny thing so the kids he had with the woman he left my mother for are not only my brother not only my brother and sister they're also my cousins yeah very twisted and so there was a lot of anger and resentment towards my father because of how things played out and so their sermon in many ways is for me right the other thing that I experienced in the States that this sermon will speak to while he gets that set up is that when I was in about the 10th grade so two years before I finished high school to go to college oh sure well you got it this brothers talented I got a poor guy sweating man we've put this all over the last minute God is gonna bless you man look for a check something Goods gonna happen man some guys will send some money away something blessings are coming brother and when I got to school I found that there were many neo-nazis young men and some girls I'm sure of course too who were very racist and any or not you I'm sure you're aware of the history of racism in the United States it is a unique history nowhere in the world has a history quite like America's some would argue South Africa does I would argue it's different because we don't have tribes in America we don't know our roots we have been disconnected from our heritage and culture in many ways as african-americans you just say you're african-american you there's you know and many of us don't even say that we just they were black but I like coming here cuz I like to ask what tribe are you from and they say I'm Zulu Xhosa when I was in Ghana they say I'm Ashanti and then they took me to the Ashanti Kingdom I just sound good man I like being out there I said well I'm in a kingdom but I want you to get that that disconnect causes some problems and when he young men day in and day out matter fact the first day I went to class the bat when I went to the bathroom the ceilings are super high like this in the bathrooms and the high schools in the states and someone had climbed up and drawn they drew a image of an ape and black marker with a noose around his neck and in America do we have the tradition of the lynchings so there was a noose around its neck and then underneath they wrote n-word in America we can't no I said then wear it anymore black people say it to each other but basically don't say it to anybody else so I will say it here cuz my wife would get mad n words go back to Africa the first day of class that's what I was greeted with and I was called the n-word I'd say this when I give this that when I talked about this I was call that word so much going to school that if I had five dollars for every time somebody call me that I could have paid for college cash it was horrible but I had to learn even that needs forgiveness so what we're going to talk about today for some is gonna be very liberating and imma have to go quick cuz I know it's late because I'm because I have those scary of the day but if you'd be patient with me what I present tonight is powerful in what it does for yourself and for those who you interact with Luke chapter 23 and verse 34 says it like this then said Jesus Father forgive them for they know not what they do and they parted his raiment and they cast lots jesus said Father forgive them for they know not what they do our talk tonight briefly is entitled the power of letting go forgiveness as an agent for healing so I'll jump into this I will go from the book of Genesis you know the story of Joseph I don't have time to get into it away I like to but Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers and that's because Joseph was crazy enough one night he had a dream and he came downstairs and while the family's you know in America we cereal for breakfast they were making this cereal the brothers were gonna eat breakfast he said I had a dream and basically the dream means one day all of you are gonna bow to me probably not the kind thing you want to tell your brothers especially since they all like my family like my father did they had different mothers and he was the son of the favorite wife and so he was favored that's where he got the coat of many colors and that's why he wasn't in the field when they were the brothers were irate at this and they couldn't stand the favoritism and they were worried that he being the youngest and and Benjamin after him would actually get the inheritance that belonged to the oldest are you understand what I'm saying so then started getting worried because the father was wealthy and it's a lot of them the first son gets extra portion and then it splits up evenly they were worried that he would get extra and there would be less for them and that's one of the reasons they hated him so much so one day they're out in field you know the story his father sends him out to find him they take him they were gonna kill him and stand they beat him throw him in a pit and if it wasn't for Judah and Reuben they would have probably killed him instead they sell him to Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt can you imagine as Joseph is on the back of that that that container and as he's been pulled away can you imagine as Joseph is crying out please I'm your brother don't do this I love you imagine the pain Joseph felt on a bumpy ride all the way to Egypt then he was sold into slavery in Potiphar's house then Potiphar's wife found him attractive and made a move I like what Joseph did the Bible said Joseph came out of his coat that brother took off like Usain Bolt's he was running but of course that made her only the more angry she accused him over sexual inappropriateness as we'd say now and he went from slave to prisoner the reason you know Potiphar kind of understood that Joseph was probably innocent is he didn't kill him right he owned the slave he could have killed him if he was really if he really thought that what happened happened so he sent him to prison long story short and a butler and Baker show up one day it is Joseph's don't miss this it is Joseph's kindness that actually saves him he's kind in part of his house he's kind in the prison to everybody he sees to the butler and a baker and he it is his kindness that allows Joseph to one day have an audience with Pharaoh and that audience he's able to interpret Pharaoh's dream and Joseph goes from hated brother to pit dweller to slave to prisoner to vice president let me tell you some young people if you're going through something and you're in the pit to prison or in Potiphar's house understand you are never but one of god moves away from elevation into the palace that's the God we serve he can be trusted in the prison so God was comfortable elevating him into the palace now oh of course he goes and gets his father eventually a needed a whole story and he brings his brothers down but at some point his father dies Jacob dies now watch this this is what the Bible says Genesis 15 15 and when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead they said Joseph will peradventure hate us and will certainly require us all the evil which we did unto him and they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying thy father didn't command before he died saying verse 17 so shall ye say unto Joseph forgive I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin for they did unto the evil and now we pray thee forgive the trespass of the servants of the god of their father and look at what the last line here says and Joseph did what wept bitterly there's a few reasons OSA Felipe's bitterly here don't miss this number one joseph is weeping because his brothers even before his father died had already spoke to Jacob and said listen we're worried Joseph's gonna kill us when you die and then he's worried because he has done nothing but been kind to his brothers all these years after they reunited and yet they still don't trust him Joseph weeps because Joseph don't Joseph has let this thing go he's okay with what happened he's okay with having been a slave okay would haven't been a prisoner okay what having false accused he was okay with the suffering the betrayal he had settled it in his heart in mind and so he treated his brothers as if they had never done him anything wrong what hurt Joseph is that his brothers were still there they were still selling him into slavery are you getting what I'm saying they'd never moved on the Bible says Joseph wept look at what he tells his brothers verse 18 and his brethren also went and fell down before his face and they said Behold we are your servants look at this Joseph said unto them fear not for EM I in the place of God I got a stick in this story I was working in Pasadena this was the job I had when all of the persecution came upon me I was the director of the health department a health officer for one of the cities one of the most prominent cities in the United States Pasadena California and I one of the things we did is we rehabilitated gang members the last time I was here in South Africa in Cape Town they actually took me to a place where they rehabilitate gang members I was able to do some talking to them down in Cape Town which is really good because this is one of things I really enjoyed in the public health work the two gangs in LA that were our most prominent and famous up until recently there's some new game but they're the Bloods and the Crips II look at that you know all right unfortunately America exports some of this stuff that's not good but the Bloods and the Crips and so the town where I was associate pastor was Altadena that was a town the town where I worked Pasadena was Bloods and let me tell you something the hatred or such so deep that if you were speaking to a 40 year old crib about a 12 year old blood the would say if he comes my way I will kill him that's the kind of vitriol hatred that they have we had begun to have basketball games in our church and it was a neutral territory the gang members are complete basketball together and they couldn't fight right it was a church and our youth pastor was good with them one of the other church is a first-date Church began to bring them in as deacons and elders in Bible study had baptized them and so these guys were coming out of mess and I got a call one day to come to one of the centers where we took care where we were we worked with these these young men they said doctor was like 6 o'clock at night dr. Walsh you need to get here we need help something's happened I get in my car late to go home drive straight to the center I'm getting there in all of these men former gang members are sitting there weeping I said what happened and they say one of the guys that we were also working with he and his girlfriend and their child is so his girl child together they'd gone into Los Angeles and when they got there somebody shot up the car hit the young man that was not at the table now six times with bullets the girlfriend was hitting once and the baby fortunately never got hit at all I want you to get this the girlfriend got hit one bullet died instantly he got hit six times it was taken to the critical condition I see you at the hospital the baby was fine the young men sitting there now some of you know a little bit about the gang culture what has to happen you've got to go and you gotta make imagine you can't let your and let me say just like we say it in LA you can't let homeboy we shot up like that by somebody and you don't go and get revenge are you kidding me there's a literal code of conduct a way that they function in the streets you can't let this ride and I sat there and I remember the guy telling me dr. Wallace we need you to do something because if you don't people are gonna die I'm saying what am I supposed to do I said what God brought to my memory is that these men had been going through Bible study but they had become at the beginning to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and I sat there and I bowed my head and I prayed silently Lord what do I tell them and as I went to answer them my mouth opened and what came out was simply vengeance is mine saith the Lord I shall repay and then I said this to them I said if any of you goes to get revenge for what has happened to your friend you are saying that you sit in the place of God Almighty and they broke down and they just began to weep and I want you to see I want to tell you this not one of them ever went to go get revenge the young man made a full physical recovery I got him into a mental health program he made a full mental health recovery because you had some post-traumatic stuff going on he was able to go back and work and raise his child with dignity had they gotten revenge what would have happened blood would only beget blood so weird that's the way it works in the streets that's what Joseph says what he says here I am I in the police of God when you want revenge when you want to get them back for what they did literally what you're saying is I stand in the place of God and I can tell you for me this was one of the most difficult things for me because I grew to really hate white people I did can you imagine for two-and-a-half years every day I go to school and they call me names they say stuff like black people Africans are I mean I remember I sit in class and people say black people are are less human than than whites I mean it's the kind of stuff I sat through in America in the 80s and 90s are you getting what I'm saying it was an anger that developed in me but what I had to learn later on and hopefully I get to tell that story too but later on I had to learn is God fixes that stuff if I try and fix it I'm gonna make a mess well come back there's a little nother piece to that story but let me get through the slides first when he says but as for you look at what Joseph says he says you thought evil against me but God meant it unto what to good to bring it to pass as it is this day to save what much people alive verse 21 now therefore Fairey not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spake what Wow Joseph says in fact I'm not gonna go after revenge I'm not gonna try and harm you I don't want to do you anything wrong in fact I'm gonna feed your children I'm gonna make sure your children live well and the Bible says he comforted them and he spoke kindly to him he didn't even get mad at them for saying you mean to tell me all this time I've been taking care of you guys I've been thinking you your wives everybody in Egypt I've been completely footing the bill for all of you you got the nerve to come in here and tell me you talked to daddy to make sure I don't get revenge Joseph forgave them even for that mess that's the power of the story of Joseph they meant it for evil but God meant it for good I can tell you one of the most powerful things that happen in United States was something we fondly call the civil rights movement and I one of the things I'm most proud of as an American is the civil rights movement for a few reasons one of them is it was born out of the black churches in the south where segregation our version of apartheid existed for decades longer than I believe apartheid even existed here Jim Crow we called it but these people decided Christians and other Christians joined in in fact I have excellent stories of whites who join in and actually some lost their lives helping blacks get their freedom now the civil rights movement was powerful because there's footage of little black boys walking up to the sheriff's as they call them names and tell them to go go worship in their bleepity bleep Church and a little boy just saying listen I just want to pray with you the civil rights movement like Joseph says reminded America of what Christianity actually is that's what it did the whole country pivoted after that unfortunately we're losing that again but the civil rights movement literally is like what Joseph says here and in fact let me let me quote one of the great leaders of the civil rights movement dr. King he said this we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive he who is devoid of the power to forgive is the void of the power to love there is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us when we discover this we are less prone to hate our enemies and it's very true so a few lessons on forgiveness and then we're done number one forgiveness takes strength when I was raised it was if you didn't get revenge you were weak you don't have learned the ability to forgive and let go that is the true test of strength that is the true test of strength in fact Mahatma Gandhi who I believe spent some time here in South Africa he said this he said the we can never forgive forgiveness is the attribute of the strong the weak can never forgive forgiveness is the attribute of the strong now it's funny I had a had a patient once come into me when she was so angry she said dr. Walsh I want out of them I don't know if you guys know what that is it's a it's a tranquilizer basically it's a it's an anxiety anti-anxiety medicine so she said that's what I want I want ativan that's why I'm here I see what do you want that for some strong stuff is addicting she said I'm mad and I'm angry and I want to get him back she said my ex-husband I want to get him I said what does a pill gonna do to get him are you taking a pill not him she said I got to get him back she said I got to get him I said what did he do she said right now he's in the Caribbean on a cruise with his new woman really that's terrible I said how long have you been divorced 12 years 12 years and you want me to give you medicine for that when they asked me stuff like that what I do is I get out a prescription pad and I wrote I write on it second Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 I'll put their name on it the date and I sign it here take this lady said what is this I said the 2nd Timothy 1:7 for God has given us for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind he's not giving you a spirit of fear you don't need anxiety medicine she said what are you crazy then she started messing with me so what am I supposed to do how many times a day should I take it I said take it three times a day then she really started messing with it should I take food with it I said no it works better if you're fasting sometimes you can allow your past to hold you captive well I like what establish this is from one year ago to Sabbath School lesson from a year but as the teachers notes if you ever get established you study the Sabbath School lesson let me tell you something don't don't tell the General Conference I told you this you're being cheated if you don't get the teachers Edition all the good stuff is them two teachers Edition I hate to tell you that because you probably don't get it and in cyber school class nobody ever gets to the teachers discussion most the time they've wasted time talking about stuff being irrelevant but get the teachers Edition because here's what it says forgiveness involves a conscious choice to give up feelings of resentment to what another person and consequently it also removes any right to seek revenge for what he or she has done watch this forgiveness does not require you to be the guilty party or imply that the other person deserves forgiveness rather forgiveness routes out anger number one and bitterness from where from our own lives helps heal wounds and builds a basis for restoring relationships powerful that's not all the Sabbath School lesson says it says this to forgiveness does not mean excusing wrong behavior or removing any consequences that might result from the behavior true forgiveness recognizes the seriousness of the offense but choose their path of healing God forgave humans even though we were undeserving of his forgiveness but divine forgiveness did not undermine the seriousness of sin or remove all the consequence of sin how do we know that divine forgiveness did not remove the consequence of sin last line indeed Jesus took the ultimate consequence of sin suffering death on our behalf just because you figure them doesn't mean it shouldn't be consequences but it does mean that you need to be like Jesus in our openings verse father do what forgive them for they know not what they do you know what's deep about this story to cross as he was walking the Via Dolorosa as he's walking the way to the cross do you know isn't it interesting as they sinned spitting and beating on beating on him all the things they did to him the sins they committed we're even piling on him at the time he had to carry their sin that they were committing that day to the cross that's why this is such a powerful statement forgive them because they could only be forgiven by his brother otherwise says they like this I love this quote were the real greatness and nobility of the man is measured by the power of the feelings that he subdues not by the power of the feelings that subdue him the strongest man is he who will while sensitive to abuse what will will yet restrain passion and forgive his enemies such men are what that's a true hero and that's men and women you have got to be able to forgive one of the great lines about forgiveness is this one Peter James comes to Jesus says Lord how often shall I tell my brother sin against me and I forgive him and then Peter Peter you know Peters always trying to get a promotion he's always working to get the next big spot that's not like Peter he's a hustler you know he's he's working hard behind the scenes thinking how do I get in good with Jesus because Peter wants to be vice president he wants the neck he wants me right underneath Jesus question how many times should I forgive somebody I think seven times is enough you know why because in the Jewish economy you had to figure three times and then I was enough Sophie to said look I'm a double it and make it a perfect number I'm gonna forgive seven times Peter was Rita's happy proud Oh Lord look at this see it's a Peter he missed the mark do you said unto him I say not unto you unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven now as a physician I got to tell you why that's so beneficial because the next section number two is forgiveness is good for your health you have better relationships improve mental health less anxiety and stress and hostility lowers your blood blood pressure fewer symptoms of depression a stronger immune system improve heart health improve self-esteem let me tell you something if you don't forgive somebody you stay at the level of worth that they gave you if I didn't learn to forgive those neo-nazis I went to high school with I would have forever stayed at the level they thought of me are you getting this I had to forgive them because if I don't forgive them I will forever be what they called me at some point I have to forgive them because I've got to move on look at his study so this is a study not a Christian Journal health psychology in a new study in the Journal of health psychology researchers analyzed the mental and physical health of 148 young adults as one might expect a correlation was found between high stress levels and more health problems but the study also indicated that in cases where people showed forgiveness look at this where people showed forgiveness of both themselves and others the connection between stress and mental illness practically did what it disappeared you know why some people can't sleep at night they still worried about the ex-husband on the ship some of y'all got that somebody can get that you kind of young so you still mad at what somebody did you and it's giving you anxiety you are literally existing in a state of fight-or-flight the rest of your life because of what he did you years ago or like what my daddy did me years ago are you getting what I'm saying and so you stay revved up all the time which is stress hormones I and high stress hormones all the time cause disease proven medical fact this physician dr. Schwartz says there's an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed she says it is it is believed that chronic anger puts an individual into a mode of fight-or-flight resulting in numerous changes to heart rate blood pressure and the immune system it actually lowers your immune system when you don't forgive and your immune system is what destroys cancer cells before they can get you so the thing about the consequences of that blood pressure if you had high blood pressure all the time you get strokes and heart attacks those changes in turn increase the risk of conditions like depression heart disease and diabetes why because when you're under stress you become insulin insensitive the liver it goes into a something we call gluconeogenesis such making sugar all the time and your insulin levels go up till your body becomes resistant to insulin so there are a whole lot of diabetics walking around who are diabetic because they have emotional issues some of which are tied to the fact they can't forgive somebody forgiveness can help mitigate all our stress Matthew 6 forgive us our debts the third lesson is this one forgiveness is key to experiencing God's love forgiveness is key to experiencing God loves Matthew 6:12 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you look at this but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses did you get that so if I hold on to what those those neo-nazis did to me I would never really fully be able to experience God's forgiveness let me ask you this are they worth it absolutely not and I'll tell you this funny story I don't know how much time but I will give you this funny story so how many of you heard of a guy named Louis Farrakhan farken I was pretty famous the Nation of Islam black militant nationalists in the United States goes all the way back he's very old now he goes all the way back to the 40s and 50s I think he's around with Malcolm X and I started because of the anger I had over what happened to me in high school I started to study with the nation in fact there's a mosque in Huntsville Alabama where our black Adventist school Oakwood University is because myself and my roommate invited one of those ministers from the Nation of Islam to Huntsville that's not I got a mosque there but I have to own it and so they gave me special privileges at Farrakhan was speaking I got special seating I'd go into the mosque they'd give me free bean pies and stuff I don't know what they give up bean pies and fish sandwiches that's what they like to do and so I had all this privilege and I was in medical school still wrestling with this race issue it really bothered me for a long time and I went to go here in Lewis fire I can't speak at the Miami arena in Miami Florida this is where the Miami Heat played basketball at the time so it fit lots of people there were 8000 people there to hear him speak and I was sitting with two very intelligent young ladies and they weren't Adventist and I was sitting I was actually it was actually Sabbath afternoon I left instead of going to a Y in the afternoon I left to go hear Farrakhan speak don't tell my mama that's cute she can't know but when I when I when I when I got there is a crowd of people I sat down he started into his normal cell it'll qui but he got so far he said the black man is the original man and I heard that so many times in America that's a common saying black man's original man and then they go to Ethiopia and they tell you about all the the archaeological finds and the anthropological finds that says that life started in Africa and then we use that to say look we're superior basically as black people because we're the original people I'm not sure how that works but okay is that the black man is everyone they say I can prove it I said this I gotta hear so I sat up in my seat he said 66 trillion years ago evolution to stop at a beef a billion like trillion years like that's a long time ago he's at 66 trillion years ago he said the black man blew the moon off of the earth with dynamite what in the world kind of stories yes so everybody knows the Chinese people invented dynamite 3,000 years ago are they haven't 66 trillion years ago he said and I can prove it at this point I'm just I'm flabbergasted I'm just like this is this is like Alice in Wonderland uh please keep going down the rabbit hole I said he said I can prove it he said he said when the astronauts the US astronauts went to the moon he said they could still smell the dynamite ah what it's 8,000 people stood up this is fifth-grade science the only thing you smell on the moon is what you take with you from Houston kid Canaveral you smelling moon air you're dead eight thousand people applauded Church i sat in my seat and I repented you laugh that wasn't up there that that part wasn't a joke I repented because in that moment I realized that demonic doctrine had allowed because I had not let go of what happened to me I had allowed demonic doctrine to come in close and I watched as 8,000 people were being deceived on multiple levels I said Lord what am I doing here let me tell you something Church if you can't forgive other folk you disconnect from God there's an interruption in your relationship with him because your anger your resentment and your desire for revenge that becomes your God look at Jesus says this enter Beatitudes I mean in the Lord's Prayer he says and forgive us our debts as we quit I'm skip this this is then from an amplified version the same verse same verses and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors letting go look at well look at what the amplified bible says letting go of both the wrong and the resentment for if you forgive others their trespasses look at this their reckless and willful sins your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God then your father will not forgive your trespasses you get that if you don't forgive other people you're stuck and you can't experience God's love and this is one of the verses that really makes that clear Mary Magdalene they were upset with her because of what she had done coming in and taking care of Jesus oil on his on his feet they were mad jesus said to them wherefore I say unto you her sins which are many are what forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same what loveth little if you don't forgive other people you don't receive God's forgiveness if you don't receive God's forgiveness you can never really experience his love Mary Magdalene is the first one to reach Jesus at the resurrection after the resurrection think about that for a second she loved him a lot because he forgave her a lot you don't forgive other people you'll get stuck in a trap that you can't get out of otherwise says we are not forgiven because we forgive but as we forgive the ground of all forgiveness is found and the unmerited love of God but by our attitude toward others we show whether we have made that love our own wherefore Christ says with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged with what measure ye mete it shall be measured again unto you Matthew 7 verse 2 alright I almost skipped these because he gave me a handsome lemma but I tell the story other of the servants the one who was forgiven equivalent of millions of dollars the other was can it was not you know didn't have the money to give the guy like 50 US dollars one was forgiven like millions and at the end he's throwing in to the tormentors the first guy he says Sola just what Jesus says so like what shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if you from your hearts forgive not every one of his brother their trespasses now let me get real I don't have a lot of times let me get real right here I don't get real because a lot of times the person that hurt you isn't some global group like the neo-nazis it's usually people that you actually had a relationship with it's your family your brother's your sisters the church in fact I hate to say this but sometimes the most emotionally traumatizing force in a person's life can literally be their family or their church and many people leave the church because they come to church there's something bad happens at him and then unable to forgive and there's a vicious cycle that starts and they leave the church I've seen churches do some horrible things to people he was a kid when I was growing up his father was an alcoholic my family's from the island of Jamaica and he liked this stuff called white rum and so this guy's father was always in a bar drinking rum he was a teenager at our church and he had to go in the bar to get something from his father from his mother told him and one of the church members was driving by as this 16 year old or 17 year old boy was walking out at a bar after he had going in deal with his father she went and reported it to the church to the butcher's board and they were ready to take the boy out of church when he turned 18 do you think we ever saw him again but if you can't forgive let me tell you what I've learned about church and if you hear my full testimony it's relevant one thing you learn about church is the church will fail you because people will fail you human nature is the reason religion fails that's why even in communist secular countries like China and with Pol Pot and in Laos and Cambodia now even in a place where in Cuba you remove God from the equation you don't utopia it's human nature that fails people so you've got to be willing to forgive people or as you will be trapped by the fact that other people have failure but one other thing I want to one other thing I want to give you is this one I'll skip that other one I want you to remember this it's not just about forgiving other people it's going and asking for forgiveness if you've wronged someone you have to ask for forgiveness James 5:16 says confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that she may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much if you are not willing to go and say listen I messed up forgive me you won't get the benefits of prayer like you're supposed to Ellen White breaks it down like this she says one of Christ's last commands to the disciples was love one another as I have loved you John 13:34 do we obey this command or are we indulging sharp on christ-like traits of character if we have in any way grieved or wounded others it is our duty to confess our fault and seek for reconciliation this is a look at this this is an essential preparation that we may come before God in faith to ask his blessing there are people who don't know why they can't be blessed why God nothing seems to work why they pray and they don't Magne pray don't get heard it is because you did somebody wrong and you've never been humble enough to go back and say listen forgive me I'm sorry block your ability to get blessing but the last thing I want to tell you is this you got to forgive yourself Philippians 3:13 says but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before Satan means the accuser he will have you constantly reminded of all the foolishness you've done in your life every time you failed every night you spent in the no-tell motel he will bring it back to your memory every curse word you ever spoke every cruel thing you've ever done every time you've ever failed God Satan will bring it back to your memory I'm telling you that if you accept the blood of Jesus Christ in your life and it washes you clean my Bible tells me that wouldn't God forgives your sins he doesn't you're forgiven he forgets it that's why when he talks of David he says David was upright and perfect wait a minute David did a whole Bathsheba thing he forgot it let me tell you something do not hold on to what God has forgotten forgive yourself and I don't mean you can't forgive yourself gonna feel a logical way but you got to do it in an emotional psychological way you've got to say listen I'm not gonna carry this I've made my mistakes but it's upward and onward now I've got to do better going forward because if you continually beat yourself up for all the mistakes you made when you didn't go to school when you could have or you didn't get the job you should have gotten or when you lost a girl you should have married mercy or you ruined the relationship you had with a really good guy you could sit there and beat yourself up but you gotta let it go she'll live there the rest of your life and never know peace the last slide is this one Lewis B Smith says to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you to forgive is the set of prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you let me say something there's a lot of folk that I've had to forgive and there's a lot of folk have had to go to and ask for forgiveness forgiveness is one of the currencies of salvation it is one of the ways that we exchanged and Beale somebody tonight has been trapped because of what was done to you and let me let me let me get let me get even more as a physician let me give him I take care of young ladies who've been sexually assaulted in emergency room and when I see them make up an emergency room I take care of young men who have been beaten and abused I think air people who've been robbed their own children robbed their estate stole the money out of their bank accounts I've seen these things practicing as a physician as long as I have but let me tell you something even as terrible of things people can do and I've had family members murdered multiple family members murdered I'm off the time I had three of my cousins that have been murdered in Miami well let me tell that if you're gonna live you've got to forgive oh and with this story I have some personal story but I'll end with this one recently in the United States you've probably heard about this hasn't made international news in Texas a young man from one of the islands a black young man from one of the Caribbean islands was in his apartment eating ice cream watching television a white female police officer who had just pulled the 14-hour shift walked into the apartment complex where she lived one apartment below him she says she was tired from such a long shift she went to the wrong floor and and went into the apartment that she thought was hers now the problem is there was a red piece of carpet or mat in front of his door that she did not have in front of us but clearly she's saying that she didn't see it she kicked in the door pushed in the door the apartment and saw him sitting there the black kid black guy 21 years old or something sitting there and opened fire with her police weapon shot him and killed him dead on his own couch true story you can google it look it up what makes the story incredible is that when his family comes up from the islands and I forget which island they were from one of the small islands in the Caribbean when his family comes up his brother is sitting on the witness stand when it's time for this a young white police officer to be sentenced you know the brother says I love you got a police officer I forgive you and then he says and I hope you come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior and I'm paraphrasing you can look up to see what exactly you can watch the video of what he said actually powerful the judge an african-american woman a black woman gave the young lady a Bible and hugged her you know what was interesting two things are interesting one black America much of black America was angry that he forgave her that's the slide that's happened from the civil rights movement til today number one that was crazy backlash at the fact that he forgave her but here's the more powerful thing what he said played on the news over and over and over again and you know what he was it was an example to America of what Christianity is actually all about in a secular we're secularizing so fast in America for that man to say I forgive you and I hope you come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior blew the minds of even some of the secular pundits when you're watching CNN and some of the other channels let me tell you something like Joseph they may have meant it for evil but God God can take evil and make good out of it he can less challenging for us because we're this bent towards revenge and retaliation and resentment I don't know who hurt you but I'm challenging you to take the stance Joseph took or that Jesus took on the cross that young man took in Texas just of just earlier this year I challenge you to take the road of forgiveness and watch how God blesses you amen if you want to take that road just stand with me I'm a closer prayer father God we thank you Lord for Wednesday night prayer meeting thank you for this faithful group that came out tonight Lord many of us have been hurt I've been hurt by loved ones church members spouses of girlfriends boyfriends some of us Lord have been hurt by friends there's a thousand ways you can be heard on this planet and Lord some of us have done the hurting some of us are not without fault ourselves I pray tonight Lord that one everyone under the sound of my voice would do an audit and an assessment of their life and lord I ask that you showed him if there's someone that needs to be forgiven even if they can't go find them and ask and deal with them in person that Lord they would pray and let go so that they might grow spiritually and emotionally but then father God the other part of it is some of us have done other people wrong well give us the courage to be humble and safe friend brother sister parent forgive me I was wrong because Lord we don't want to block the blessings you have for us bless us Lord bless the rest of this week is our prayer in Jesus is precious and Holy Name let the church say Amen and amen you may be seated you

Channel: Sandton Adventist Church

Views: 2,251

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Sandton, Seventh-day Adventist, Church, 2019, Adventist, Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr Eric Walsh, The Power of Letting Go, Forgiveness, Forgive

Id: VOBVfrUtSe4

Length: 53min 43sec (3223 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 27 2019