Hi everyone,
Here is a scripture that I have never heard ministered on, either in my
church, or any other.  Let's see what you all think.  From Luke 17-3.
Take Heed to thyselves; if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him:
and if he repent, forgive him;
In that scripture, it does seem that there has to be some acknowlegement of
sin.  Now the Lord has taken away our sin, but it does me no good if I have
never acknoledged the sin in my life.
For example.  I came to the Lord, or should I really say, the Lord revealed
himself to me at a point when I was planning the end of my life.   at that
time, I never acknoledged my sin nature, however, about three months later,
the Lord showed me the dispicableness of my heart, and the terrible things I
had done, and then I deeply repented and I knew I was forgiven.  So,
bretheren, there is a fine line between knowing in your head that you are
forgiven, and having that ben an actual experiential act that you have
experienced personally.
If you ever read stories about the revivals in the past, you will see the
unmistakable pattern, that without repentance on our part, and the Lord
coming to the person, there is no change.
I think the church has sometimes gotten into a wrong concept when they talk
about accepting Jesus into our hearts.  God always makes the first move, for
the word says that no man can come to him except the father draws him.  Then
when we see the Lord, we must repent and be willing to have God do a
changing work in our hearts as we come to the Lord, asking for forgiveness.
Anything else becomes an intellectual exercise.  Remember, our encounter
with Jesus needs to be a life exchange--that is, our old life for His new
life.
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: Something I discovered-forgiveness


> Kathy,
>
> I don't think we can forget.  We can, on the other hand, forgive, and if
> there is genuine repentence for the lack of forgiveness on our behalf, the
> the forgiveness works.  Forgetting is God's job, not ours, because I don't
> think we can forget.
>
> I have at least two times, in the last couple of years, found myself in a
> situation that I needed to forgive.  In one case, it was multipled, that
is,
> there were too many places to try and isolate.  I prayed, asking the Lord
> what to do, and He said, Forgive them collecti vely and then live as
though
> they were forgiven.  Never use those situations against them again.  I
> prayed and did what He said.
>
> In the other case, it was a source of definite eructation.  Money was also
> involved.  The Lord said, forgive him and never bring it up to him again.
I
> did so but in both cases, I haven't forgotten but I did forgive.
>
> Phil.
>