The Danger of a Transactional Faith: A Review of ‘Forgiveness and Prayer’

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:06] Well, good morning. Good to be with you this morning. I hope you're all staying warm in your houses and got your heat going. Angela's got a fire, so she's in a good mood. I already had her breakfast. It doesn't look like it was too bad last night up here. I did talk to Tommy Chester briefly this morning, and he said that y'all fared pretty good last night, but of course we're going to get some more throughout the day today.
[00:00:40] i got up this morning was pleasantly surprised that uh we didn't have a lot more ice than what we did that's always a blessing take it easy on the power lines and all that i'll give everybody a few more minutes to to join with us and let angela tell me when to go
[00:01:02] and get started but we'll give everybody just a few minutes to join with us this morning she's in there at the table probably working on legos no she's actually not there she must have got up
[00:01:15] but uh she was putting a little light fixture on her um one of her lego sets that came with it that they got her at work so um but we'll give everybody just a few more minutes uh to to join
[00:01:28] with us i will go ahead and apologize up front uh we do have three dogs uh a dachshund a dachshund gnocchi mix in a lab and if they hear the slightest movement outside of the house they're
[00:01:42] going to start barking like somebody's trying to break in the house uh so my apologies uh when they start that it will probably happen uh then also you'll hear i have a bird so you'll hear my bird
[00:01:53] in the other room chirping a little bit but i will also say uh we if you would in the comment section below put your prayer request and i'll make sure i put those on the prayer list for this
[00:02:07] week i'm working on the newsletter edition right now i hope to get it out today or first thing in the morning so go ahead and put your your prayer request down in the comment sections and i will
[00:02:20] put them on the prayer list as well well we'll go ahead and uh start as we typically do in our worship service with just a few announcements uh we did have two meetings scheduled for today
[00:02:33] we're going to reschedule those for next week so you'll have a missions meeting if you're on the mission team especially those uh that are coming in new this year on the 2026 class 27 and
[00:02:44] 28 uh the mission meeting will be next sunday at 2 30 next sunday at 2 30 and then we'll also have an administrative council meeting next sunday at 3 30 so uh 2 30 for the mission meeting
[00:02:59] administrative council meeting at 3 30 and uh angela and i will not be there we are actually going on my birthday cruise uh this will be our third annual one that we've done i enjoy being
[00:03:12] out on that water for my birthday and so we'll be leaving this coming saturday and i'll miss i'll miss next sunday i do have a guest speaker that's going to be coming and preaching for us
[00:03:23] broad street his name is steve ashby uh steve actually works with the uh you hear my dog coughing steve actually works at mount pleasant high school uh he athletic directors or sports medicine uh something in that line uh but he's been there ever since my my children were in
[00:03:44] high school but he's also a elder in the gold methodist church excuse me he uh attends mount pleasant methodist church up there with uh uh earl bradshaw so he does speak uh he is actually
[00:04:00] ordained and steve will come uh deliver our message next week the following week february 8th excuse me we'll have uh our boy scout sunday so february 8th we'll have boy scout sunday all the boys and girls and the scout programs will participate in that service and so they'll
[00:04:20] take up the offering do the prayers all those good things uh that we usually have other people do but we'll have the scouts in attendance we'll also have a guest speaker that sunday and the chris weaver excuse me chris weaver he's been with the scout program uh with brian blackwater
[00:04:38] for many many years uh you've probably seen him around the church here there he's actually the gentleman that uh did the work around the little storage building on the back side of our lot So Chris Wax will be bringing the message
[00:04:52] On February 8th for Scout Sunday So I think that's all the announcements I've got We do have our Wednesday night dinners Remember those this week Unless something changes Again with the weather We do plan to have a Wednesday night dinner
[00:05:07] This coming Wednesday at 530 And then in the newsletter and the bulletin We'll have the February schedule For the Wednesday night dinners as well Alright well I think that's all It's been a busy week trying to get everything done before we start.
[00:05:23] Got the ice coming in.
[00:05:25] It'll be another busy week trying to get all the work done before we leave.
[00:05:29] There'll be a couple bulletins for the February 8th service because we have one for our worship service and one for the scouts.
[00:05:38] And so it'll be a busy week this week as well.
[00:05:40] I want to start out and say a prayer.
[00:05:43] And again, as I mentioned earlier, please put your prayer request in the comment section and we'll put those on our prayer list.
[00:05:49] Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning.
[00:05:51] Lord, again, we thank you for keeping us safe and watching over us.
[00:05:55] We were expecting this big storm to hit, and it did, but it hasn't been as bad as we thought.
[00:06:03] But we're reminded that we live in a big, big country, and there are a lot of other people that were affected in more adverse ways.
[00:06:11] So we ask for your protection for those people that are in this storm's path.
[00:06:17] keep people safe and warm again let everyone be mindful of those that may need our help or looking after someone elderly nearby to keep them safe as well so we ask for you to be with us now as we do
[00:06:33] a worship service again with this technology allow your Holy Spirit to be with me those that are listening the Holy Spirit is not confined to just one area so bring us together and our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit this morning as we go into your Word.
[00:06:50] We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.
[00:06:53] Well, y'all bear with me.
[00:06:55] As I've often said, I'm not a social media guru, so it's hard for me to kind of get into a vibe looking at a camera and trying to get a message.
[00:07:07] It's also been an interesting week.
[00:07:10] not to go into too much detail but this sermon kind of tailored around a little bit of forgiveness even on my part and some things that happened earlier this week with our pastors meeting and
[00:07:26] things and so this is kind of where I went with it talking about just you know being mindful of those things that affect us in our life and sometimes we tend to hold some tension and
[00:07:38] some things in our heart and we got to be careful that those things don't actually hinder us from being able to speak and talk to the Lord. I think those types of unforgiveness and bitterness do
[00:07:50] affect us in our spiritual life. And we have to rid ourselves of those things in order to be able to communicate with the Lord. And of course, this week you heard a lot of people talking about the
[00:07:59] storm that was coming. And the common phrase is, you know, that they were praying for the Lord to watch over them and watch over people and keep people safe uh you hear those things when these
[00:08:11] type of events come up i was also reminded earlier in the week about the all the stuff taking place uh up in minneapolis and the riots and uh unrest that's up there uh in last week
[00:08:24] the protesters have actually uh in my opinion crossed the line going into a church uh and and interfering with the worship service um just some of those tumultuous times that we have uh and and that worship is a sacred time and and and again you do catch yourself you know praying
[00:08:45] for those people uh you know on both sides of it you know uh the ones that um we agree with the ones we don't agree with again we're told to love our neighbors uh but one of the things that caught
[00:08:58] my my attention uh this past week or so was the uh fellowship of christian athletes uh that we had over at moreville high school uh we get there about 6 15 6 30 and the kids are you know starting
[00:09:12] their days and they had a hundred and i counted uh 145 to 150 students at that they run the whole worship production that morning and the young lady singing and a young man got up and he he delivered
[00:09:27] a message about a 15 or 20 minute message i talked about that last sunday and i caught myself you know praying for that young man a few times you know in the world they live in and they see all
[00:09:39] this stuff taking place uh you know those young people they need our prayers um and and and which we should be you know quick to offer them uh and remember those kids uh that were that are you know
[00:09:53] trying to go about the lord's work and uh and and be faithful to him at such a young age and and as i mentioned to you prayer is one of those areas that in my life that i constantly work on and
[00:10:04] it's a conscious effort to uh to stop what i'm doing and being in a hurry and and make those moments to pray uh you know to to kind of start your day out with it uh sometimes earlier sometimes
[00:10:16] you know a little bit later but i do make it a purpose uh to also study about prayer and and And it's one of those subjects that's personal to me.
[00:10:25] And I think the more I figure prayer out, according to the Bible, the more I realize I don't understand about it.
[00:10:33] It's kind of a complex issue and it can be overwhelming.
[00:10:37] The simplest form of it is just us sitting down and talking to God, you know, having a relationship with him and being able to communicate with him.
[00:10:45] But to also, you know, offer up our prayer requests and our prayers to him, anticipating that he will answer those prayers.
[00:10:55] And then I often thought, you know, is there a certain way to pray?
[00:11:00] You know, we said every Sunday, you know, as we do the Lord's Prayer, he taught us how to do those things.
[00:11:08] There's also, I think, a way that we should go about, you know, offering those prayers to him.
[00:11:16] uh the other option the other thing about prayer is does god require certain things to be in place in our life uh when we pray and we come to him and i believe that he does it i believe that it's
[00:11:29] prayers is much as important in our life uh is reading the bible is is uh you know loving one another as you know even taking the sacraments baptism and communion uh it it holds that status
[00:11:44] of importance in our life but yet when you sit down and read the bible you often are you know you see kind of a different i guess you say view when some of the people in the bible are praying
[00:11:57] and you see these miraculous answers uh by god and you want to see those things actually take place in your life as well um that we actually see those things and we want them to happen in
[00:12:09] our life uh the bible tells us that when we come to god we should come to him and pray without ceasing continuous prayer uh and and then the lord will answer and and and move uh with those
[00:12:21] prayers and and how he you know answers in each one in our life uh particularly i think one of the things that may affect our prayer life is is when i started out talking about is is unforgiveness
[00:12:35] um you know to have a heart of christ uh we have to be able to offer forgiveness and and not allow bitterness and things to come into our heart willingly or unknowingly sometimes and be quick to catch those things as I did this past week and ask for forgiveness.
[00:12:57] You know, other people ask me for forgiveness and those things allow us to, again, be able to communicate with the Lord, but we have to get rid of those things in our life.
[00:13:11] The Bible actually says that if we fail to forgive people, if we fail to forgive, it literally brings sorrow to God's Holy Spirit.
[00:13:22] I'll let that sink in for just a second.
[00:13:24] If we fail to forgive, it literally brings sorrow to God's Holy Spirit.
[00:13:31] I think in our life, sometimes we do have to do things in order to have our prayers be activated, if that's the word, by God.
[00:13:43] Answer to our prayers start with us being, you know, in a place of forgiveness to others.
[00:13:49] Our forgiveness to others, I think, sometimes prompts God to move.
[00:13:54] He wants to see that action in our life.
[00:13:57] He hears our prayers, and he wants to answer them.
[00:14:01] And again, it's part of a complex, you know, system of how our prayers are answered, and it affects other people, but God hears our prayers of those that are righteous people and have a faithful heart. Prayers are a direct communication with the Lord through the Holy
[00:14:17] Spirit, but we have to also understand that it's kind of like, I guess you'd say, the power lines that we have outside we're worrying about right now. There's things sometimes that can interrupt those prayers between us and God. And we have to be careful that those things don't break those
[00:14:35] lines of communication. Our prayers can be hindered through those things and it can sometimes never get much past our lips or the ceiling, I guess you'd say, to the actual presence of God for him
[00:14:48] to answer them. We're charged by God to guard our lips and to watch over our tongue, to not produce or utter words or things that would cause God not to hear us or hear our petitions in prayer
[00:15:02] would not, you know, hold animosity or harbor bad feelings towards one another.
[00:15:10] Regardless of who did the wrong or what the wrong was, those things don't glorify our Lord.
[00:15:17] They'll hinder our faith and they'll hinder our prayers.
[00:15:20] and i think you know it's a strong way to put it but those things will fall on deaf ears to the lord so if we wonder uh sometimes why our prayers may not be answered i think you have to kind of
[00:15:33] go back to the basics of of understanding how prayer works uh and again we talked about it just a second ago uh and we said each week you know jesus taught us how to pray that but when
[00:15:50] you read the lord's prayer and we say it every week there's two verses and i think i've shared this with you before but there's two verses after that prayer that that just are very impactful in
[00:16:01] your prayer life and look at matthew 6 14 to 15 it says for if you forgive other people when they sin against you your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others
[00:16:15] their sins your father will not forgive your sins that's directly after the lord's prayer that's the key i think that's the difference uh that that's what activates and prompt i think god to move and and as christians we're charged uh to be different and that's the aspect of how
[00:16:37] we are different uh we're called to walk in a different way uh to live by faith uh the bible tells us that our that even our faith without works is dead and i believe that can be also
[00:16:49] applied uh to our prayer life that you know we have to offer that forgiveness we have to have that right heart uh with all people in order for for our fate to move in order for our prayers to
[00:17:03] move forward um our faith requires us uh to forgive and and and and forgiveness i think it sometimes is a work in progress. It's difficult to go to someone and tell them that you forgive
[00:17:17] them for what may have happened in with you and them in their life. Some great travesties in some cases, but others just simple miscommunication. But to be able to go to those people and make
[00:17:30] those things right, if they've done you wrong, point that out and allow them the opportunity to forgive but if you don't forgive others their sins he says your father will not forgive you when people say well pastor you know they did this to me they they did that they hurt me they
[00:17:49] hurt my family they they hurt my children uh and all those things may be true but i think we have to look at it from the context of our sins being forgiven and those things that we put on christ
[00:18:01] when he was on the cross uh and he in that moment almost it's i mean he was going to certain death uh he prayed father forgive them for they know not what they do uh so he's he's been in that
[00:18:15] same position uh that we have it's not possible for us to to look past forgiveness and believe that we can um somehow have communication with god if that if if unforgiveness is in our heart
[00:18:29] um forgiveness takes work uh it's i think a constant uh effort on our part uh things about i think about you know god forgiving us it took a you know a great price uh there's no greater act
[00:18:46] i think than than god given us forgiveness uh through jesus christ uh but he did it and and And it was this great offering to each and every one of us.
[00:19:00] If we offer forgiveness, I think we're imitating the Almighty by offering that forgiveness to other people.
[00:19:07] The Bible says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[00:19:15] That's a beautiful picture when you take it and you apply that to other people.
[00:19:20] just as God forgave us we have the opportunity to also forgive others I think that's a life-changing power when you offer forgiveness to other people if you look at what forgiveness by God has done
[00:19:36] for us in our life it at the minimum has allowed us to go back and have a relationship with him but even in our forgiveness it also allows us to look forward to great things in our personal
[00:19:49] our lives now here on earth, and then also what will come one day when we're all together in heaven. You and I, through our forgiveness, can literally help change our community, help change our world. We can offer the same mercy to others that God offers to us, and we kind of talked about
[00:20:09] that a little bit last week, that mercy triumphs over all. The flesh that we live in often wants to hold those things in our heart and hold those wrongs uh that have affected us towards other
[00:20:25] people uh and and it does great harm to them but it also does great harm to us and so jesus uh by going to the cross allows us to live in that freedom uh to take away that pain to take away
[00:20:38] that hurt uh and not allow it to continue to affect us in our own personal lives forgiveness allows us to take back power and control of our lives. There's not one person who's ever done me
[00:20:52] wrong or possibly done you wrong that doesn't need that forgiveness. You and I sometimes will carry those things that affect us in our lives from other people and they'll come up in certain parts of our day or something takes place and we'll regress back to what happened. That's a
[00:21:13] tough life to live and I think that's why we have to be willing to to extend that forgiveness and that mercy to other people so that you and I can live at peace in our life with one another
[00:21:24] forgiveness and this was one of the things that always catches me forgiveness is a commandment from God it's mandated by Christ it's the center of our faith it's essential and if it's not done It will guarantee that God will not move and will not work in your life.
[00:21:46] The Holy Spirit can't move and those prayers can't be answered if we're harboring unforgiveness.
[00:21:53] Our unforgiveness can be the reason why we don't see more answers to our prayers over the years or maybe that we don't receive the healings that we're asking for in our life.
[00:22:04] It can also affect our church.
[00:22:07] I don't think, and by church, I mean not just Broad Street, I mean the whole church, the universal church.
[00:22:12] I don't think it's a stretch that we should look and see where we do have to approach one another and make things right with one another so that our churches can move forward.
[00:22:25] I'll do respect.
[00:22:26] I see that in issues and things that happen even within the Global Methodist Church over the last couple of years.
[00:22:34] And I think sometimes that can hinder us if we're not careful and allow that unforgiveness to build up in our local church and in our denomination and in the universal church as well.
[00:22:47] All God's people.
[00:22:50] The Bible gives us a beautiful story about forgiveness and what happens when God's mercy and forgiveness are applied.
[00:22:58] And it comes from Matthew 18, 21 through 35.
[00:23:01] I want to take a second and read it to you.
[00:23:03] matthew 18 21 through 35 then peter came to jesus and asked lord how many times shall i forgive my brother or sister who sins against me up to seven times jesus answers and said i tell you not seven
[00:23:19] times but 70 times seven well excuse me 77 times therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000
[00:23:34] bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay the master, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this, the servant
[00:23:45] fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything.
[00:23:52] The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go. That's the picture of Christ with us. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a
[00:24:03] hundred silver coins. He grabbed him again to choke him. Pay back what you owe to me, he demanded.
[00:24:10] His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient with me and I will pay it back.
[00:24:16] But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
[00:24:22] When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened then the master called the servant in you wicked servant he said i canceled all the debt of yours because you begged me to shouldn't you have had mercy on
[00:24:39] your fellow servant just as i had on you and anger his man and that's key and anger his master handing him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all that he owed this
[00:24:51] is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or your sister from your heart he was offered forgiveness and then he turned around and didn't offer that forgiveness back to one of his i say fellow servants under him that verse in verse 35 said
[00:25:12] this is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister it didn't say from your lips or your mind he said from your heart in the new testament everything
[00:25:24] shame comes from the heart. It's not about the law anymore. The difficulty in reading scriptures like that is when you hear those things and you find out, now you know we don't have any excuses. The word of God is not sometimes for the faint of heart. When you hear those
[00:25:44] stories and it tells you exactly what happens and you can put those stories in relationship to how Christ forgave us and how we should forgive others, the word of God actually pierces your heart, pierces your soul, and it implores us to be more and more like Christ, to be able to
[00:26:02] carry a cross that may be uncomfortable and go to people and make those things right.
[00:26:11] I've often said there's no such thing as a comfortable cross, and forgiveness is not easy as well, but it is commanded for us to do so by those who have wronged us and those that we have
[00:26:23] wrong. The Bible tells us we're to walk in obedience to the best of our ability, the best we can so that we can be in a relationship and a communication with God, to be restored back to
[00:26:38] that communication and that relationship. And that's the same thing that happens when we offer it to others. Each one of us has to be where there's nothing hindering us with our communication with God. If we're not
[00:26:52] in that place in our heart or in that place in our state of mind, we're not right spiritually. All of our efforts of spiritualness fall short.
[00:27:06] Even planning this sermon, you know, one of the things I often do is to say a prayer before I write or say a prayer when I'm doing one to try to make those things right
[00:27:18] in my heart uh we love our music uh at broad street uh but when you're standing there and you're singing and if you have harbor and you harbor uh ill will bad feelings or something in
[00:27:29] your heart uh those that type of worship falls short um i think it applies also to your tithes and offers uh when you come to church and you you you tithe and you offer the lord back a you know
[00:27:44] attend to what you what you have but if you do it with animosity or have unforgiveness in your heart there's no blessing in that we're to come to God with a pure and clean heart just as God does with
[00:27:58] us each and every morning that we wake up God forgives us each and every day countless billions of times around the world and one day God will forgive people that's the great love that he has
[00:28:11] for each one of us and we're charged to do that for for other people for prayers to be answered in our life we have to i think dig deep and search deep in our lives to remove bitterness and
[00:28:25] hurtfulness and resentfulness to let go of the things that have happened in our life of betrayal and trust to go and reconcile with people if we can sometimes we can't life moves forward and we may not see those people again uh but but the holy spirit can allow uh allow for that forgiveness
[00:28:44] as well uh so as you sit home today and and we're waiting out the rest of the storm um take a minute to examine yourself um think about those things that may be there that uh can stop us from drawing
[00:28:58] as close to god as we possibly can uh we are blessed and that we can um purify our hearts by asking god to remove those things in our heart that remove that unforgiveness unforgiveness uh
[00:29:11] through the holy spirit uh so as i mentioned uh you know put your prayer request uh in the in the comment sections um allow your your church family to to go back and and and look at those
[00:29:24] and and we can uh lift each of each one other each one of us up in prayer together uh as as brothers and sisters in christ so i hope you again stay warm today uh and and and like i said if you
[00:29:38] need anything uh let us know i did reach out to uh quite a few of our church members yesterday just to remind them uh especially our elderly to uh take care of themselves i know family members
[00:29:52] picked up several of them uh we're not out of the woods yet with this we may still have some power outages, but we've got some great men in our church that can help out. If I can help you,
[00:30:03] let me know. Let's go ahead and close in prayer. Gracious and almighty God, again, we thank you for your goodness and your mercy, your grace. We thank you, Lord, that you gave us a perfect picture
[00:30:14] of what forgiveness looks like. Lord, we don't want anything to hinder us in our prayers to you and our communication with you.
[00:30:22] So, Lord, I ask that you give us a humble heart, give us a willingness to love others, to forgive others that may have hurt us so that we can live peacefully with them and also have the best relationship
[00:30:39] that we can have with you.
[00:30:42] We give you praise and glory for each and everything.
[00:30:44] We ask this in Christ's name.
[00:30:46] Amen.
[00:30:47] Well, God bless y'all.
[00:30:48] Again, thank you for being with me And thank you for praying for me With this technology stuff And this social media stuff And I hope you enjoyed the message God bless you, we'll talk to you soon
[00:31:01] Bye-bye