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City Light Church Las Vegas | Jabin Chavez
Closing The Door Of Unforgiveness | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church
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Closing The Door Of Unforgiveness | Jabin Chavez …
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So let's go to Second Corinthians, chapter two. We are in week four of winning the war within. The scripture tells us that we are in a battle, but that battle is happening in our mind. It's happening in our soul. That the battlefield is truly in the mind, that. That we are in this war of strongholds and thoughts. Romans 12 tells us, don't be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And I believe that today is going to be very helpful to you. Second Corinthians, chapter two. Everybody say, my heart's open. Speak, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. Second Corinthians, chapter two. The apostle Paul is calling the church to forgive a man in the church who had sinned greatly in the church and had caused much pain. And the Apostle Paul says that it's time to restore this man and it is time to bring him back into fellowship. Because at this point in the text, they had actually kicked him out of the church. They had to do that. The Bible talks about handing someone over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh, but the saving of their soul. It's called church discipline. And this man had caused so much pain in the church for a season, they actually had to move him out of the church. But now it's time to restore it. How many know our God restores? Amen. That's the. The goal is always restoration. The goal is always reconciliation. And so Paul says we must restore him back to fellowship. But. But that's on the outward, on the inward, we need to forgive the man. And Paul tells us why. Look at this. Anyone you forgive, I will also forgive. So he's saying, you're going to forgive him, I'm going to forgive him. Watch. In order. Why should I forgive somebody? Watch this. In order that Satan may not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes, Paul tells us forgive so that Satan does not get involved in our life. Hallelujah. I want to talk today about closing the door of unforgiveness. Closing the door of unforgiveness. Speak to us, Lord, I thank you, Jesus, for these moments we share. And I thank you. No one is here by accident. I thank you for everyone who's come out today. They've gone through traffic and they've parked and taken shuttles and walked. It's just. It's crazy what's happening. I pray that you would honor their faith for being here today and speak to our hearts. Set us free in Jesus name. Amen. So In Second Corinthians, chapter two, the church has faced great pain, great betrayal, great sin. And many in the church here in Corinth are very hurt by this man's actions. And now Paul begins to call them to restoration and to forgiveness. And why does Paul call them to forgive? He calls them to forgive for their own protection. For their own protection because he knows that every unsurrendered area of our life is an open door to the voice and influence of the enemy. Every unsurrendered area of our life becomes an open door to the voice and influence of the enemy. So many people in churches today are arguing about, can a Christian be positioned. Possessed? Can a Christian be demon? Possessed? Can a Christian be. There's all this argument about that. I think it's the wrong argument. I think the question that we should be asking and that should actually scare us is can a Christian live in willful disobedience? The answer is yes. And the answer is if you do that, we end up opening our life up to the schemes of the enemy. Luke, chapter 22. Simon. Simon. Satan has asked to have you. Just. Just catch this child of God. Satan wants to have you. Why? This is what the devil wants to do with your life. He wants to sift you like weak. He wants to separate you. He wants to tear you apart. He, the devil wants to separate you from God and from each other. But Jesus said. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. See, let me. Let me make this very clear. The devil wants your faith. He doesn't want your stuff. He wants your faith. Your car breaks down. Oh, man. The devil's after my car. He don't need your car. He wants your faith, man. It's warming up outside. We tried to turn on the ac. The AC broke. Oh, man, the devil's after my air conditioner. He don't want your air conditioner. He likes it hot. Come on, somebody. Oh, so bad. But you know what? I'm 42. I'm gonna start telling some cheesy jokes. He wants your faith, by the way, God wants your faith. Faith. Because whoever gets your faith gets your life. And if God gets your life, man, you're going to live an abundant life. If the devil gets your life, he's going to take your life out. But I've come to pray for you today. I've come to plead with you today. And I've come to declare your faith will not fail. In the name of Jesus. Come on. We going to win the war within. Somebody say, let's win. Come on, let's win. Let's win. So God's will for your life is wholeness. Satan wants to separate. Satan wants to tear apart. God wants to bring you together. What's another word for wholeness? It's peace. It's the Hebrew word. Shalom. Peace. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Nothing separated. Wholeness. This is what God wants for you. So Satan is trying to separate. He's trying to separate you from your walk with God. He's trying to separate you from your marriage. He's trying to separate you from your friendships. He's trying to separate you from Christian communities. The devil is trying to separate you because he knows an isolated Christian will be a defeated Christian. But what God's trying to do is trying to bring wholeness, wholeness in your marriage, wholeness in your relationships, wholeness in your walk with God and your walk with other people. God's trying to bring you together. God's trying to give you peace. The feeling and the emotion of God is peace. Romans 15. He is the God of peace. What does God feel like? He feels like peace. If they don't feel like peace, it's not God. All right, that wasn't in my notes. That was for free. Why does Paul call us to forgive? Number one? Because unforgiveness is an invitation for unnecessary spiritual warfare. That's heat right there. That's heat. That's heat. Unforgiveness is an invitation, an invitation for unnecessary spiritual warfare. Paul's like, you need to forgive so the devil doesn't come in and wreak havoc in your life. Like, let me just say it like this. Life is hard enough. Life has enough drama. Don't invite the devil in. You're. You're already going to go through enough in life. Don't, don't. Don't invite unnecessary spiritual warfare into your life. See, here's what. Here's what Satan loves to do. He loves to take natural moments, turn them into spiritual attacks. He takes a natural moment that you're already in, and then he tries to creep into that moment. Let me show it to you in a scripture, Ephesians 4:16. Be angry and do not sin. Which. Which lets me know. You can be angry and not sin. You can be. You can feel the emotion of anger. It is not a sin. How does it become a sin? You let your son go down on your wrath. You don't deal with it. The anger happens. Now you have an opportunity to invite the Holy Spirit in to the anger. Or the enemy is going to come in and Lie in the anger. Anger is not a problem. Ten years of anger is a problem. Three years of anger is a problem. Haven't talked to your spouse in six months. That's a problem. Y' all know what I'm saying? It's when the anger turns into wrath that is undealt with and you start living in denial. And Paul said, go back to it real quick. Verse 27. And he says, here's what happens if you do that. You're going to give place to the devil. You're going to give him place that he does not belong in and that he normally would not have a legal right to invade. But in anger, you've opened a door to let the devil in. Devil, Hebrew word diablos, which means the accuser. So you're now inviting the speaking form of Satan into your life. Jesus called Satan the father of lies. He only knows how to lie. The devil only lies. If you walk outside and the devil says the sky's blue, he's lying. Even when the devil tells the truth, he's lying. That's why he can quote scripture and it comes from a lying spirit. He quotes scripture to Jesus and he's still lying, that dog. Because his end goal is deception. We okay? Don't worry. I only got 25 more minutes. Everybody relax. So unresolved conflicts give. Conflict gives place to the devil. Okay, so now let's think about this. The man sins, the man hurts the church. The church is hurt. There's disunity, there's disruption. There's all this pain happening in the corner of the church because of this man. And I would think to myself, man, that's the devil, right? Does that make sense? You're like, oh, man, the devil be moving and he's not yet. But Paul says, but if we don't forgive next. Now Satan is going to come in because we know his schemes and we know he's trying to outwit us. So here's the deal. It is our response to the moment of pain, disappointment and betrayal that determines our future. It's what I do after the moment happens where I decide, am I going to allow the Holy Spirit to heal me or am I going to allow Satan to deceive me? Will I prolong this or will I allow God to heal this? And Paul says he wants to outwit us, which means to deceive. And the Apostle Paul says he has schemes, which means a systematic plan. Think about that. The enemy has a systematic plan to destroy your life. Here's what that lets me know if the devil has a plan. You better have a plan. Give me a better amen than that. Come on. If he's got a plan. See, your plan cannot be. I'm going to be perfect and people are going to be perfect. And so we're never going to have conflict. That's not a plan. That's denial. Oh, my God. He's perfect. That's not a plan. Oh, my God. We're going to get married. He's perfect. How long have you known each other? Three weeks. He's perfect. Everybody can be perfect for three weeks. That's denial. Oh, my God. This church is perfect. No, we're not. Stick around long enough, I will offend you. Maybe by the end of service. I don't know. I mean, I'm feeling good today. If not today, in the next year. I'll say something dumb. I'll do something dumb you won't like something I post. Nobody's perfect, including you. So we need to have a plan for healthy relationships. Because the enemy has a systematic plan trying to separate and destroy. We need a plan for forgiveness. We need a plan for the move of God. We need a plan for mercy. We need a plan for restoration. We need a plan for humility. Come on. Okay, so if unforgiveness invites unnecessary spiritual warfare into our life, number two. Forgiveness releases healing. Forgiveness releases healing. Here's what the word forgive means. It means to let go. Let go. Everybody say let go. Let go. That's all it means. Let go. I'm just going to let go. Forgiveness is not justifying what they did. Forgiveness is not justifying the pain that I've experienced. Forgiveness is not saying that what you did is okay. Forgiveness is saying I can't carry what you did to me into my future because what you did to me is too heavy a burden to carry for the rest of my life. See, these moments of pain and trauma come into our life and they're just. They're thrown on our lap and we couldn't do anything about it. But now we can do something about what we do with it next. Does it fall on our lap and we just pick it up and carry it the rest of our life? Or do we give it back to God? See, and that feels very. When you've experienced pain, everything in you wants to control. There's whole personality types for this. I am one of them. I am by trauma, a controller. Because. Because I felt out of control as a child. As an adult, I'm trying to hyper control. Don't make me expose my whole Life to you right now. Be gracious to me. So everything in me is control from fear, from trauma. But as a believer in Jesus, with a new creation, I have to open my hands and actually let go of control and forgive and let go of fear and let go of worry and let go of anxiety and let go of bitterness. To forgive is to let go. It's not to justify what they did, it's to let go of it. Because where God is taking me is more important than where I've been. Anybody believe you still got a great future? Come on, give God a praise right there. Come on. I know where God's taking me, and it's better than where I've been. And I can't take where I've been where God's taking me next. Okay? To withhold forgiveness is to hold on. That's all it means. It just means to hold on again when you're in it. To hold on feels like justice, but it's not really justice. To let go feels like injustice, but it's not injustice. It's trust. Forgiveness ultimately comes down to trust. Holding on always extends the pain. Letting go always begins a healing process. I said a process. A process. A process. Not overnight, not in a second, not in a minute. A process. Process. Hebrews 12:15. Look after each other. Now, this is powerful right there. That's why you got to be in a small group. That's why you should probably be on a serve team. That's why you should be in church. Every time you're home on the weekend, you should be in church. Probably need to start double dipping. Maybe coming to two services. Not on Sunday, on Saturday. Amen. Because Sundays are okay. Okay, what am I saying? I don't need our attendance to be bigger. You got to get around some each other's. Who's looking after you? Paul's talking about bitterness. And he goes, we need to look after each other. When it comes to bitterness, someone needs to be able to look at you and go, you know what? When so and so gets brought up, your whole face contorts. Come on, somebody. We start talking about steroids. What is that? Who can look after you? I've got a board of directors that looks after me. I have best friends that look after me. I've got men of God in my life who look after. I had some painful conversations this week with friends about not only my life, about their life, because we look after each other. I don't know if anybody can do that for you, but you better find somebody who can. Cause if you don't. You'll actually fail to receive the grace of God. You'll lose grace. I'm not talking about saving grace. I'm not talking about you go to hell. I'm talking about everything gets hard when you do it alone. I don't know how much they charge you to get in today. I'm telling you should pay double. This is awesome. Today. Go back, go back, go back, go back. Watch out. That no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Okay, I want you to see what bitterness does. It does two things. It troubles you and it corrupts many. Two things. The lie of hell is that bitterness just troubles you, but it actually corrupts many. Meaning that bitterness will eventually affect every relationship in my life. Every relationship. Right. So you're looking for the next. But you haven't forgiven your existence. Ah, where's that? Yeah, I feel the holding on. Need an organ up here. And then. And then here's what happens. You'll treat your necks like your ex. And Bill's looking at you going, girl, I ain't Steve. Well, you treat Bill like Steve because you haven't forgiven Steve. Because it corrupts many. Hey, I'm not your last pastor. I ain't him, so don't judge me. That's why you got to forget. Wherever you came from, you better forgive. You got to forgive that guy I encourage. Send him a letter, send him an email, bless him. No, I'm serious. And let that season go, or you'll just bring that pain here. And you'll come here for three, six months. You'll go, I just never really connected. You never connected because you still haven't forgiven where you were at. It'll corrupt many. It will end up affecting every relationship in my life. So I have to forgive whoever hurt me, or I will find myself continually in relational drama. And the root of it actually has nothing to do with everyone currently in my life. It has something to do with a person that is no longer even in my life anymore. But I haven't forgiven them all. Right, so then, last amen, the worship team come. We got to get moving now. The Holy Spirit reveals only to heal. So forgiveness will begin a process of healing. And the Holy Spirit wants to partner with you to heal you. Let me say that one more time. The Holy Spirit wants to partner with you to heal you. Let me show it to you in a scripture. Matthew, chapter 5, verse 23. Therefore, these are the words of Jesus. Therefore, if you are offering a gift at the altar, here's what he's saying, you're in church. You're worshiping, oh, hell, King Jesus. Ben, you've come with an offering, you've come with praise. You've come to serve, you've come to give. You've come to give. Give your tithe or your offering. You're in church mode. You're in God mode. You're in spirit mode. You're in anointing mode. You're in God. You're in the God zone. And while you're there, you remember that you got issues with people who reminded you. The Holy Ghost. You're in worship. You're going, well attached. And all of a sudden you start thinking about some person. Your blood pressure starts rising. You're going, in the name of Jesus, get out of my mouth. Get out of my mind. I'm in spiritual warfare. No, you're not. It's actually the spirit of God going, fix it. Boy, I love this church. I could come every week. I love this church so much. I'm going to make this my church home. I'm going to become a member of this church. I've got to go through next steps. Amen. I gotta join the kids. Team Listen, watch, watch, watch. The spirit of God only reveals to heal, never to kill. Condemnation kills. Romans 8:1. Condemnation kills. Condemnation says, you're guilty and you're hopeless. Conviction says, fix it. I'm gonna help you. Conviction says, I'm gonna give you power to change. Now watch this. Leave your gift at the front of the altar. Now, you know that had to be God because no preacher would say that. Every preacher would be like, sow your best seed. Amen. Give and then go fix it. God goes, I don't want your money. Some of you give to appease a guilty conscience. And I'm just telling you, God doesn't want your money and neither do we. You throwing a 20 on your way out will not save your soul. Some of you know what you really need to deal with? God goes, I don't want your money. Go reconcile. Because if I'm really healthy vertically, it has to manifest horizontally. I know I'm healthy when my life looks like the cross. How do I know? I've picked up my cross and I'm following Jesus. I'm vertically healthy and I'm horizontally healthy. Jesus says, keep your money. Can we go back to that verse? Keep your money. Go to the altar first. Go and be reconciled to them. And now he has so much confidence in this, he goes, and you'll come back and you'll offer your gift. Cause here's what Jesus knows. Jesus knows that if you will obey that still small voice of the Holy Spirit, your heart will get tender to that and you'll end up coming back to the altar. If you resist it eventually, not only will you not be reconciled horizontally, you'll lose your relationship vertically. So every time you obey God, your heart gets softer. Every time you disobey God, your heart gets harder. So God said it like this. Come now, let us settle the matter, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be white like wool. Now watch what God's about to say. If you're willing and obedient, willingness is the inside, obedience is the outside. Willingness is your heart, obedience is your hands. You will eat the good things of the land. But if you resist and rebel, resistance is on the inside, rebellion's on the outside, resistance is in the heart, rebellion's on in the in the hands, you'll be devoured by the sword. This is why every time we come before the Lord, we need to come with a willing heart. Never come to God with your plans, Ever. Lord, here's my plan. Bless it. I always come to God with willingness. And go, God, what's your plan? Because if I'm in your plan, you're already blessing it because you're blessing your thing, not my thing. And I'm just trying to get my thing under your thing. And that's true for every area of our life. And the quicker I give into that, the softer my heart gets to the voice and the flow of the Holy Ghost. Close the door on unforgiveness. Push out that because the enemy is scheming, plotting for you. But I just want you to know I told you that the devil has a plan. But I just want to remind you, God has a plan. And God will protect, and God will save, and God will restore, and God will move in if you will invite him in to that area of your life. Amen.