Live Free! Part 2 (cont'd)

You can hold someone in unforgiveness and be blessed.

Your feelings want you to, your flesh wants you to, but Jesus said it doesn't work that way. See, we have to learn you can't grab a promise out of the scripture and leave off the condition. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.

It's Matthew chapter 6 verse 15, and this is Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Hello, and thanks for spending part of your day here with us. Are you struggling with sin or addiction today? Do you want to be set free?

The good news is you can be, but there's something you have to do first. Today, Pastor Paul reminds us that if we want to experience a new freedom, we'll have to let go of old wounds. Stay with us now or visit PastorPaul.net to listen on demand.

You can also download the podcast at Google Podcast or wherever you get yours. Now, here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, Live Free. Mark 11 beginning at verse 22. So Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass. He will have whatever he says.

Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. I know a whole bunch of folks. That's one of their favorite passages. That's right.

That's right. Tell them not to get in the sea. Speak it. Don't believe it. Don't doubt in your heart, but believe it and speak it and declare it.

And I've got a whole lot of friends who are excellent at naming and claiming and blabbing and grabbing. That's good, but don't drop it off just cause that passage is there. The passage has some more to it.

Watch this next sentence. And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your father may also forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. Do you see most faith walking people don't go that far.

They busy still telling the mountains where to go. But Jesus said, and while you're speaking over your mountain, if somebody did something and you're offended, you're bothered, you're hurt, and you've been holding a grudge, holding the offense, he said, release it. In other words, the offense need to go in that same sea you're sending your mountain to.

I want my mountains in the sea and let me take my unforgiveness and throw it in there too. Jesus said cause they go together. You can hold someone in unforgiveness and be blessed.

Your feelings want you to your flesh wants you to, but Jesus said it doesn't work that way. See we have to learn you can't grab a promise out the scripture and leave off the condition. We got folk who loved grabbing promises and when you look at the passage, they're trying to quote. They only quote and half the verse or half the passage. We got folk who love saying, well, you know, the Bible says he'll give me the desires of my heart.

Wait, back up. Delight yourself in him. Then he'll give you the desires of your heart. If you haven't delighted yourself in him, you haven't saturated yourself with wanting only what he wants for you. The reason he'll give you the desires of your heart is cause you first saturated yourself in him and delighted yourself in him. People say you shall have what you want.

Ah, back up. Abide in me and my word abide in you. Then you can ask what you will. Don't grab the promise.

Leave off the condition. The condition goes with the promise. If I can't meet the condition, I can't receive the promise.

Amen. And so you got to learn that forgiveness is a condition to your being free. Don't try to get free when you want to stay in on forgiveness and we have to teach ourselves that cause you know, we feel entitled to hold grudges. We feel perfectly entitled.

Well see, but the pastor, you don't understand. They ruined the last 15 years of my life. Well until you release them, they going to ruin the next 15. I don't know about you, I don't have enough time left to be holding on to stuff. The time you have left in your life, you ought to make that count. The best way to make that count is to leave the past in the past. Leave your hurts in the past.

Leave your offenses in the past. Well pastor, they need to be held accountable and they will if you release it to God. To forgive, the Greek word translated forgive in your New Testament means to send.

So when I'm being told by God I got to forgive, it means I send the offense to him. Lord, that's what they did. That's what they said. That's what they didn't do.

That's what they didn't say. You know how they abused me. You know how they molested me.

You know how they did whatever they did. And God, I can't hold on to this cause you got plans and purposes for my life. There's stuff you want to do in my life. You have miracles for me. You have blessings for me.

You have increase for me. You have promotion for me. I'm not going to miss it fooling around with them. You are not so important that I'm going to let you ruin my future with the stuff you did in the past. You are not that important. I got to release you to God. Now be clear. You don't have to walk up to people who have wronged you and haven't repented and tell them I forgive you.

That's not what you're required to do. In fact, I never express forgiveness to individuals who have shown me they are not penitent. When somebody hasn't repented, when somebody isn't sorry then you don't have to express forgiveness cause the Greek word means send it away.

I send it to God. I give all the folk who did me wrong and didn't apologize, don't care. In fact, some of them are glad they did you wrong and if they had a chance they'd do you wronger.

You know any of them? There are some people who they got you but they didn't get you as well as they wanted to. If they had half a chance they'd get you better. So you can't wait for some folk to apologize. There are some people who have offended you. They will never ever say they're sorry.

Why? Cause they're not sorry. And if you spend your life waiting for them, alright, it's two years now. The third anniversary is coming up. Fifth anniversary of them getting you is coming up.

Tenth anniversary coming up. You can't afford to wait for people to get right, for you to get free. Some people will never get right in this world. But remember what Jesus said. He said nobody messes with my little ones and doesn't have to come by me. If somebody offends one of his little ones, they got to answer to him. God is the ultimate parent. You don't fool with his kids and get away with it. I need somebody to know your enemies, their day is coming, but you might not be there.

But don't worry about it. They got an answer to God for how they messed over you. Meanwhile, when he tells you to forgive, he's given you a gift so you can free yourself. God wants you to fly to the heights and if you have unforgiveness, you can't fly high cause unforgiveness is like mud in your wings. An eagle that is full of mud in their wings, they cannot fly to the heights. The mud weighs them down.

The mud takes away the aerodynamics that would allow them to fly. So you've got to understand when I express forgiveness and release it to God, say, Lord, take care of these people for me. Then I can fly anywhere he wants me to go and I'm a witness.

God will do it. Not only that, but if you forgive, God will heal you of the pain and the hurt they caused because some people did really, you know, I've heard people say, pastor, I can't forgive them. They messed over my life. They brought such trouble into my life.

That's true and we need to validate your trouble. Yes, they did mess over your life. Yes, it was wrong, but now if you forgive them, you can say, Lord, restore the years that the enemies destroyed in my life. See, our God is a God of restoration. He can restore what the enemy tried to take away from you. He can restore that which was you were robbed of. Don't let your past dictate your future is brighter than your past.

Declare that over your life. The rear view mirror is a small mirror. The front windshield is a large one because there's more in front of you than there is behind you. Don't spend the rest of your life driving the car of your life looking at the rear view mirror. That's not the way to drive. You're going to crash. Hey, I remember what they did.

I remember what they had on when they did it. That's not how you get somewhere in your life. You got to decide. I don't care what they did.

It was wrong. I'm giving them to God and in the meantime, I'm going to move on with my life. Number four, resolve to live in obedience to the word. Resolve to live in obedience to the word. John 8 31, to the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Notice what Jesus said. If you hold to my teaching, not if you hear my teaching. A whole lot of folk hear it.

The question is who's holding on to it. Coming up next, the rest of today's message Live Free with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you've never stopped by our website, pastorpaul.net, I invite you to do so today. You'll find all of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand, plus a host of great resources at our online store, including books and DVD messages from Pastor Paul. It's a great place to learn more about the ministry and about all the things friends are helping us to accomplish through your prayers and financial support. That's pastorpaul.net. And be sure to watch selected video clips by subscribing to Pastor Paul on YouTube.

For more details and links to all of his social media, be sure to visit pastorpaul.net. Today we're talking about the five keys to breaking free from bondage. Number four comes your way next in the rest of today's message Live Free. Once again, here's Pastor Paul Shepherd.

See, some folk love to say, oh, I heard that. That was a good message. All right, but are you going to hold to it? Holding to it means I'm going to apply it and build it in to the way I live moving forward. If you hold to my teaching, he said, you're really my disciples. Or he said this in John 14, 15, if you love me, you will obey what I command. And then here's one of my favorite passages that makes this point of resolving to live in obedience to the word. In James Epistle chapter one, James one verses 22 through 25, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, watch this, and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does.

That's just as plain as it can be. James said, don't just hear the word. Oh, I enjoyed that message.

Yeah, now what you going to do about it? Whole lot of folk come to me. I've been preaching for a long time all over the country. Oh, I was blessed by that message. And I want to say, okay, what you going to do? That you were blessed.

Good. But this passage said, if you hear it, it's like walking away from the mirror for getting what you saw. He said, you got to stay in the mirror of the word and let the word make the appropriate changes.

What do you mean? James said, look in the mirror and let the mirror not only show you what's wrong, let the mirror show you how to make it right. Y'all know what you look like first thing this morning. You know exactly what you look like first thing this morning. You stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the light, look in the mirror. Some of you shocked yourself. Woo.

Why? The mirror is there to show you what the real picture is. And you can stand there all you want to say. I don't care what that mirror say. I'm fine. The mirror didn't say you weren't fine. The mirror is just showing you what went wrong in the night. Come on, man.

The mirror, that's all is there to do. Show you what went wrong in the night. Some of y'all, you either slept well or you slept poorly.

Both things can Jack up your face and your hair and your body. Sometimes you sleep well. That sleep gets so good and you moving around and all that. Sometimes, you know, your hair goes every which way. Sometimes you get wrinkles on your face.

Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. And you say, oh man, I must've been sleeping good. All wrinkled up. Sometimes you droolers, you got a little leftover. Come on, see that?

Y'all don't want to tell the truth. Some of you droolers, you just had a little something you had to take care of this morning. The mirror is not there to condemn you.

It's just there to say, you know, you got a little situation that you got to take care of. And you can be mad all you want. I don't care what that mirror say. I'm beautiful. Alright, but stay there and beautify yourself a little more. Stay there and get your hair together. Stay there and get your face together. Stay there and deal with those wrinkles.

Stay there and do whatever. Some of y'all got crust in the corner of your eye. See that?

There you go tripping, trying to act like you never experienced it. You got all this stuff you got to wipe off and wash off and get yourself clean. See you sitting up here now, you look real good now, but you didn't look that way this morning. That's what the mirror's for.

And then James said, continue in it. Don't just let it show you what's wrong. It's not there to condemn you. Stay in it so you can wipe off what needs to be wiped off. Stay there so you can clean what needs to be cleaned. Stay there so you can get your hair together. Stay there so you can get your face together.

So when you come out, we're impressed. But you got to stay in the mirror. And James said that has to be our approach to live in obedience. Don't just hear the word, obey the word. And then the last point is number five, remain accountable to others in the body of Christ.

Here's what James said later on in his letter, James 5 16 confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. If you want to be free, overcome bondage. You've got to bring others into your life. You've got to be committed to living what I call the power of we. You've got to have somebody who is in your life to tell you the truth. Do not ask people to lie to you. Don't let the people in your life be liars.

Don't let your inner circle be characterized by flatterers. You haven't met people everybody close to them think they can do no wrong. You haven't met people they fiercely defend. They got people around them like Bulldogs always defending any old mess they do.

They got people around them who will spin it and act like it's it's right. You can't afford to have that kind of person in your inner circle. The people in your life need to be people who they might not tell your weaknesses to others they shouldn't, but they tell them to you so that you can deal with your stuff. You need friends not flatterers or friends not fans. Some of y'all have your fans around you.

Your fan club is always with you. Those are the people who lie to you. You need friends a friend loves at all times. A brother is born for adversity. A friend a true friend won't tell others your weaknesses, but they sure will point them out to you in love.

They will speak the truth in love. Why? Because that's the only way you're going to get to the place where you are getting better. Invest in people who will hold you accountable. You need people who once y'all prayed about something when they talk to you the next time they're going to say, how's that area of your life doing?

When we talked about that change you need to make, have you done it yet? You need people in your life who know whatever you do, never lied to me. Your job is to keep me straight. It's amazing how people know you need an accountant to keep your money sound and straight.

Make sure that you don't owe the IRS money you haven't paid them. So we trust accountants to keep us financially straight. We trust lawyers to keep us legal. We trust various people in our lives, but you need somebody to keep you doing the will of God. You need friends who will tell you the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. They love you enough to hurt you sometimes. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. The Bible says that faithful are the wounds of a friend. You know what that tells you? Not everybody who wounds you hates you and watch this.

Not everybody who flatters you loves you. Sometimes a friend has to love you enough to cut you, but when they cut you, they're cutting you to heal. When a doctor cuts you, they're not cutting you because they hate you. Doctors cut you because they want you better and the surgery is going to get you better. Now you know it's not an enemy stabbing you to kill you. It's a doctor who has a scalpel and they're trying to cut you to make you better.

You need to know the difference. Let somebody cut you with the truth in love. And if you do it right, they'll always put a little anesthesia. So you should have friends who, first thing they say, you know you're getting ready to get told about something. They say, you know I love you, right?

That's the anesthesia right there. You know I love you, right? Get ready.

They get ready to go in. But thank them for loving you enough to tell you the truth. Because at the end of the day, we want you to be free because whom the son sets free is free indeed. Thanks so much for being here for today's Destin for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. To hear any recent message on demand, including today's teaching, live free, visit pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. And stop by anytime to find out more about the Destin for Victory ministry, to shop for resources at our online store or to make a safe and secure donation.

As you give generously here at year end, we have a special resource to share with you, one I encourage you to make part of your home library. It's Pastor Paul Shepherd's new book, Lessons from the Vineyard. You know, even though not every Christian is blessed with the same gifts and callings, all of us can bear the same fruit of the Spirit. But God will not work to develop character in us without our active consent.

Nor will he answer prayers to make us better people if we're not proactive in tending the soil of our hearts, creating a nurturing environment for great character to develop. In Lessons from the Vineyard, Pastor Paul inspires believers to become attractive as we bear godly fruit that glorifies Jesus Christ. That's Lessons from the Vineyard, a book from Pastor Paul and our gift to you by request for your generous donation of $25 or more to Destin for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538.

Again, the address is Destin for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. And don't forget, if you need prayer today, the Destin for Victory Ministry team would like to join you in prayer. From the homepage at pastorpaul.net, use the contact us feature and let us know how we can pray for you. And while you're there, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement at no cost or obligation. And so I want you to understand Jesus came to give us favor. I'm entitling this part of the series divine hookups. Divine hookups.

You know why? Because not only does God want to bless you with the gift of salvation, but there are other hookups he wants to give you just because he loves you like that. That's tomorrow when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, divine hookups. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.