Prevailing Prayer and Forgiveness Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Prevailing Prayer and Forgiveness Part 2. He will be reading out of Philemon 1:22.

Forgiveness is not based on what the offender does or deserves, but rather on giving the gift of grace and forgiveness to your offender. The real question is, do you want to be like Jesus? Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church, and I want to welcome you to Hope Worth Having radio broadcast. Thank you for dialing in, and we’re looking forward to what God has for us today.

We’re still studying in the book of Philemon, and we’re still learning about prayer and forgiveness. So I want you to join me as we open our Bibles and begin this study today. The reason people hop to different churches all the time is because they can’t win this battle.

They just run. The reason people get married six, seven, eight times or in one relationship after another is because they can’t overcome this battle. And that is forgiving others.

And I’ll tell you why they can’t forgive, because they’re trying to do it in their own strength. They’re trying to do it in the flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit. And they’re not using the tool of prayer coming boldly before the throne of grace, seeking God to help them to be able to forgive others.

The second thing I want you to see is the expectancy of prevailing prayer. You see, the Apostle Paul fully expected God to release him from his chains. He believed two things about prayer, and I want you to remember this, is that prayer moves the heart of God.

Prayer moves the heart of God, and maybe you doubt that. But you remember that Hannah prevailed in prayer in asking God for a son. It was Moses who prevailed in prayer, asking God to not destroy the nation of Israel.

It was Esther who prevailed in prayer, seeking God to protect Israel from Haman. It was Jonah, in his own mess, in his own choices and decisions that he had made, found himself in a great fish. And his life was out of sync and out of the will of God.

But it was Jonah who learned to pray in this desperate moment that preserved his life. It’s the Apostle Paul who prevailed in prayer, getting Philemon to be able to come to that point where he would forgive Onesimus. And what I’m saying to you is prayer moves the heart of God.

Prayer moves the heart of God. And God has chosen, he doesn’t have to, but he has chosen to work through the prayers of his people. All the great spiritual awakenings, all the great revivals in America, and yes, even in this world, have always been because of a group of people, whether small or large, have gotten together and they have prayed for God’s heart to be moved.

But I also want you to know this, that prayer maneuvers the hand of God. Prayer maneuvers the hand of God. Heavenly prayer allows us to move God’s hand in human affairs.

There are all kinds of things happening, not just on a world level, on a national level, but things that are happening in your life. And the antidote to your problems is not for you to always come in and micromanage it and fix it. And there are people with different things going on in their life.

And the answer is not for you to micromanage those people. But the answer is for you and I to pray, to pray for that person. And I know you want to fix that person.

And I would say great advice for your marriage is to quit spending your life trying to fix your spouse. And to spend your time praying for your spouse and with your spouse. Asking God to work in both of your hearts.

And asking God to shape both of you in such a way that his hand would move so powerfully in your life that you could honor Christ. That your marriage could be a picture of the love of God that he has for all of humanity. That’s what’s important.

The prayers that Paul had asked for the people of God to give on his behalf was that God’s hand would move the Roman government and release him from prison. So that he could go get this matter settled at the church at Colossae between Philemon and Onesimus. And so it was important.

So when Paul prayed, he expected God’s heart to be moved and his hand to maneuver the circumstances to make things a reality. But I also want you to see the extent of prevailing prayer. The extent.

It seems that the Roman government had full control of the apostle’s life. And that he was going to soon face death. But as the apostle began to mobilize people to pray, he appealed to a higher authority than the Roman government.

Did you know there’s a higher authority than the president of the United States? There’s a higher authority than the governor of Pennsylvania. There is a higher authority than any political person on this planet. And there’s a higher authority than any government on this planet.

And that higher authority is the Lord Jesus Christ. Can God’s people say amen? And I want you to remember that there is no government that can tell the church what to do. The head of the church is not a governor.

It is not a president. It is not some bureaucrat in the government. But the head of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And friends, don’t forget that. Because all that was tested several years ago. It was all put on the line.

And were we going to follow the head of the church and his commands? Or were we going to follow our fears and the edicts that came from the government? Friends, there’s no more important agenda than the agenda of a prayer warrior who is on their knees seeking God. For God to move in a powerful way. And that’s exactly what the apostle wanted.

He wanted Philemon, who was a leader in the church of Colossae. And he wanted him to be a man of prayer. And he knew that if Philemon would start praying for Paul, guess who else he had to pray for? Onesimus.

And guess what? If Philemon would pray that Paul would come back, he knew who he was bringing back with him. Onesimus. And that they were going to have to deal with this matter.

And that they were going to have to move forward in this matter. And they were going to have to resolve this matter for the glory of God. And that’s what the apostle understood about prevailing prayer.

That even in those hard cases, even in those difficult cases, in those extreme cases, that God can use prayer to change our hearts. And let me say something about that to you. Is this.

The key to you understanding about prayer and praying for others. Is that in prayer, God is not always interested in changing your circumstances. And he’s not always interested in changing people in your life.

As much as he is interested in changing you and me. And you see, prayer gets you to that moment of vulnerability before God. The reason some people don’t pray is because they’re too prideful to be vulnerable before God.

They haven’t got to that point where they could trust. They say, I can’t trust God. I can’t believe in God.

But friends, when you get to that moment where you by faith step out and say, Lord, I’m going to pray. And I’m going to pray for this person. But Lord, more than anything, while I’m praying, would you change my heart? That’s why prayer is important.

I mean, God is sovereign. You’re not informing him of anything he doesn’t already know. You’re not like, hey, God, I got a story to tell you that you may not have heard.

There’s no breaking news with God. There’s no surprises in heaven. There’s nothing that’s stunning to God.

He is all knowing. So you might ask, why do we pray? Well, because God has chose to work through prayer. But also God uses prayer to change me.

To change you. To bring us to that moment where our heart is aligning to the will of God. To the will of God.

And sometimes part of the will of God. I know this is going to be hard for you. And you may not agree with it.

But I’ve had to learn this over 30 some years of pastoring. Sometimes it’s God’s will that you adjust. And learn how to handle and respond to difficult people.

Are you with me? There’s difficult people. I call them sandpaper people. They rub you the wrong way.

Amen? But every time God keeps bringing those people in my life. And I try to run from them and hide from them. But everywhere I turn, they keep showing up.

I thought when I left Indiana and come to Pennsylvania. There’d be no difficult people in Pennsylvania. Little did I know.

That central Pennsylvania, there’s a lot of stubborn people. You guys are struggling, aren’t you? It’s okay, hang in there. But let me tell you.

I learned that there’s some stubbornness in Mike. There were things Mike needed to change and do better. And so it was through prayer that God changed me.

And will change you. Now, I want to finish out our sermon on the example of prevailing prayer. Jesus taught us how to pray.

And you read some of that earlier. But I want you to note in Matthew 6.12. That Jesus gave us the template or the model as part of what we pray for. He put an example before us.

And he said, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Can I just take a moment, if you will. Because I think it’s critical to just help you understand how important it is for you to pray.

Forgive us our debts. I’m reminded of a story of an unusual epitaph on a large headstone in a cemetery just outside of New York City. The name of the person in the grave is not on the headstone.

There is no mention of when the person was born or when the person died. Nor does it indicate anything about the person being a beloved mother, father, husband, wife, brother, sister, son or even daughter. There is just one word on the headstone.

Across the headstone stretches this word. Forgiven. Forgiven.

Clearly the most significant fact of anyone’s life is the truth of knowing that you are forgiven by God Almighty. For that person, that’s all they wanted. That’s all they wanted on their headstone was forgiven.

And that’s why I try to say to you, church, that you’ll never achieve forgiving others if you’re not right there back at the center. And making sure that A, you have experienced the forgiveness of God. In that you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior.

That there has been a time and a moment in your life where you were honest and humble before God. And you asked Him to forgive you of your sins. That you came to God and you recognized that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior.

And you reached out to God to save your soul. But I also want to tell you that if you have experienced that moment and you say, I am a believer, Pastor, and I have been saved. I want to ask you, are you continuing to experience His grace and forgiveness in your life? I know you’re forgiven.

I know that when you leave this world, you’ll be in heaven. I believe that 100%. But I’m telling you, you can’t function in this world effectively for God in any of your relationships.

And all that God is calling you to do unless you are consistently under the fountain of God’s grace and forgiveness daily in your life. Asking God to forgive you. Because guess what? There is flesh on these bones.

And we are not perfect people. We are flawed people. We have insecurities.

We have issues. We have weaknesses. We have things coming in at us at many different directions.

And friends, sometimes we don’t handle things the way they ought to be handled. And sometimes we don’t deal with things as they ought to be done. So what’s the antidote? Let all that build up? Let all that crush you? Let all that become rooted in your heart that you’re bitter and angry at every person? Or come to God daily and ask him to cleanse you.

And ask him to forgive you. And to even in those times that you recognize exactly what you did was wrong. A thought, a deed, a motive that violated the word of God.

That you are honest enough with God to say, Lord, forgive me of my debt to you. Because that’s what sin is. It’s a debt to God.

A person with an unforgiving heart towards others is simply showing that they are not taking their own sin seriously. Are you with me? I’m trying to tell you, church, that it is in prayer. That while you’re seeking and dealing with your own sin.

And my sin, I’m not pointing a finger. There’s three coming right at me if I am. I want you to know, I’m right there with you.

That the only way Mike can forgive others is because he’s dealing with his own sin in his own heart. And I know you thought you had a perfect pastor. I throw these things out there.

I think you guys will wake up. But I’m not perfect. And so it is.

I got to live under the fountain of his grace and forgiveness. But if you’re a person, hear me, who won’t forgive others, it means you’re not taking your own sin seriously. You have put yourself on a pedestal that somehow your sins are less than the sins of others.

That somehow your failures and weaknesses are not as bad as everybody else’s. And that God has put you in a position. And I’m speaking sarcastically, please.

But you think that God has put you in a position to judge and measure everybody according to your standard. To who you are. When the truth is, Jesus taught us, take care of the beam in your own eye.

Before you take care of the speck in someone else’s eye. So what does it mean to forgive others? The verb that Jesus uses here means literally to hurl away. When Jesus says that we’re to forgive others of their debts.

It means to hurl it away. Throw it away. Get it out.

Get it out. And really that’s what you want to do. You don’t want it to be something that implants upon your heart.

You don’t want it to be something that stays with you and beats you down emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But you want to hurl it away. You want to give it to God.

You want to give that person to God. You want to pray for that person. You see, it’s hard to be upset with someone while you’re praying for them.

And what has helped me is that if I’m mad at you, that I start praying for you. And God softens me. And God works in me.

And I’m kind of just throwing it out there, away from me, onto God. And giving it all to Him. So, the Bible says, bear with one another.

Forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. And the point is this.

God has forgiven you. And so your complaint against everybody in this church, or everybody in your family, or everybody in this society. Your complaint must lead you to forgive them.

Because of the cross of Jesus Christ. We forgive even when the individual does not deserve our forgiveness. You see, friends, here’s what you’re doing.

God forgave you. And He forgave me. And none of us deserved it.

We didn’t get to walk into the presence of God and say, Lord, I deserve to be forgiven. You’re lucky to have me. It was just the opposite.

Despite us, God reached out to us. He called us. He drew us.

He saved us. And He has forgiven us. And you say, well, they didn’t do A, B, or C. Or they don’t deserve my forgiveness.

Well, do you think you deserve God’s forgiveness? And are you the arbiter of who deserves forgiveness and who doesn’t? And you’re right. No one deserves forgiveness. You see, forgiveness, look at the word.

It’s a gift. It’s given. It’s not something earned.

It’s not something deserved. So the question is, how can I forgive someone who’s not apologized to me, Pastor, or they have not shown any repentance in their life? Forgiveness is not based on what the offender does or deserves, but rather on giving the gift of grace and forgiveness to your offender. A gift, again, that is not deserved.

The real question is, do you want to be like Jesus? Do you want to glorify God? Do you want the world to see a community of believers that forgives one another? Or do you want the world to see a church that fights with each other and tears one another down and attacks one another and devours one another? What is the picture that you want the world to see of the church? And let me go deeper. You say, well, my spouse doesn’t deserve. I want to ask you, what is the picture that you want your children to see of your marriage? A forgiving relationship that glorifies God or a relationship that is always attacking each other, destroying each other? Do you know why so many young people don’t want to get married? I’ll tell you why.

Because they saw a picture of a broken marriage. And they’re like, we don’t want that. Church, we’re to send a different message to our children and grandchildren.

We, as a collective body of family of God, are to send a different message to the onlookers. And we must remember that when Jesus was crucified on the cross, his enemies neither apologized nor repented. And yet he extended his heart of forgiveness by praying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

We are forgiven to forgive. Jesus said, if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive you of your trespasses. What a powerful message.

It’s not that you’re not saved. It’s just that you’re going to live in this state of where all your offenses and all your hurts and all your sins and all your weaknesses are going to build up in your heart. And you’re going to be so messed up because you came at a crossroads.

And that crossroad was, would I choose to forgive or hold on to the anger and the hate and the disappointment? There should be no limit to your forgiveness. There should be no end to your willingness to forgive. Because when I think about how many times I’ve had to get back on my knees and say, God, I messed up again.

I need your grace and forgiveness. It’s hard for me when others come to me and say, would you forgive me, Mike? Or even if they don’t, to withhold that forgiveness. Because I desire to send the right picture out there and to my children and to my family, I desire and choose to be forgiving.

Now, someone says, and I’ll close with this question. If I forgive those who offend me, will I be an enabler of their sin or their behavior or their issues? Forgiveness is not enablement. If a man borrows money from you and he refuses to repay you.

And I’ve told you this story before. Should you forgive him? Yes. Release him.

Give the offense to God. Let God settle it. Don’t become bitter.

But you don’t have to trust. There’s a lot of people that we can’t trust in certain areas. Because they haven’t shown themselves to be trustworthy.

We think about 2 Corinthians 4. It tells us that a steward should be found what? Faithful. But when you study the Greek, it actually means that a steward or a manager should be found trustworthy. Are you worthy of God entrusting you with ministry? Are you worthy of God entrusting you with riches? Are you worthy of God entrusting you with responsibility? A good steward is trustworthy.

When you go through the journey of life, you will find that there are times that you’re called to forgive someone. But you may not particularly trust that person in a particular area. Early in our marriage, Terry and I learned that there were things that she should not trust me in.

And I know that’s shocking to you. But when we first got married, we bought our first house, I should say. The bathroom sink was leaking water.

I said, Terry, don’t worry, I got it. So I went in there with tools that I didn’t even know what they were called. They were given to me by her father.

The first Christmas we had together, her dad bought me a toolbox for Christmas. And I asked him, what should I do with this? But when I began to work on this sink, I failed the number one rule. I did not turn the water off.

I began to take this sink apart and try to fix these problems. The next thing you know, water is flying everywhere. It’s all over the bathroom.

I’m screaming and hollering. My wife comes in. And the first thing she does is what? Turn the water off.

And she learned, do not ever trust Mike with a tool or plumbing. Now, I say that hilariously. It’s true.

She’s never asked me to do any plumbing since then. You wouldn’t want to trust Pastor Mike with electricity, amen? It would get bad. So what I’m trying to help you understand is that emotionally and spiritually, there are things in reality that, yes, I forgive you, but I can’t trust you because I don’t want to, A, enable you because maybe you’ve got a bad behavior.

But I forgive you. I’m not holding on to it and let it fester in me and destroy my life. But I may not be able to trust you in a particular area.

And so it is that the key for you in understanding forgiveness is to make sure that you grab onto that tool of prayer and that you understand that God’s not asking you to trust that person, especially if you’ve been abused, especially if you have been physically harmed or emotionally damaged. I’m not asking you to go back into that mess. But I am asking you for the sake of Christ and the gospel and what the world sees and what your children see, that you would choose a path of forgiveness and that you would go down that path seeking to glorify God in your choices, in how you handle and respond to others.

Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Prayer plays a vital role in us being able to forgive one another.

And I think the apostle makes that clear in this letter. And the key that Jesus taught us is one of the evidences that we truly are forgiven is that we can pray for our enemies. And there might be somebody in your life that has mistreated you, been mean to you, or disappointed you.

And here’s the kicker is that God wants you to put them on your prayer list. And as hard as that is, Jesus says we are to pray for our enemies. So I hope today in this difficult moment that you could surrender your heart to God’s will and take that step of faith and start praying and forgiving as God works in your heart.

I want to remind you that Hope Worth Having has a YouTube channel and you can hear the full entire sermon on prayer and forgiveness. In addition, you can check out other programs. We’ve been putting together playlists of different books of the Bible.

So if there’s a Bible book that you’re studying and you’d like to hear what we’re saying about that and kind of an exegesis on that text, then pull up those playlists and you can begin to study them together as we learn God’s Word together. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is Hope Worth Having. Thank you.