Prisoners
Held in prison as prisoners all because we refuse to forgive another. Is there someone in my life that I need to forgive? To forgive does not mean you have forgotten.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, and profane talk. Be gentle with one another, and sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Is there someone I have wronged and need to ask for forgiveness?
Have I forgiven myself for my past mistakes?
All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God! Thank him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter.
Have I embraced my need of the forgiveness God offers me?
So also the psalmist’s prayer: ‘You’ll never let your Holy One see death’s rot and decay.’ Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, Is a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to lose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will always guide you; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land andstrengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise the age-old foundations; you will be called…
Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Amnesty…forgiveness…mercy for all prisoners you and me.
Justice and Mercy Held In Prison As Prisoners
God is true to his own principles. God isn’t a sinner.
God’s solution for us was Jesus Christ to take the sin upon Himself and He died in our place. Our Father is just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus Rom 3:26
Prisoners Of Good Works
- God isn’t easily impressed by us doing good works.
- Too often we go through the emotions.
- Our good works will not earn the Lord’s favor.
In the end, it’s God’s justice and mercy that we would be able to be reunited with Him.
Prisoners of: sin, addiction, past mistakes, computers and social media, work, school, schedules, anger, revenge, hurt, fear, sexual immorality, crimes against others, parental cruelty, loneliness,
Most common is forgiveness: especially ourselves
Practical steps to take; admit wrong, hurt, acknowledge the need to:, confess the sinful responses, release all my hurt to Jesus, bless the one(s) who have hurt you
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Release the hurt and let God replace it with healing
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
A Prisoners Restoration
The idea of a restoration of the world had its origin in the preaching of the old testament prophets.
There faith in the unique position and mission of Israel as the chosen people of God inspired in them the conviction that the destruction of the nation would eventually be followed by a restoration under conditions that would insure the realization of the original divine purpose.
When the restoration came and passed without fulfillment of this hope, the Messianic era was projected into the future.
By the time of Jesus the conception became more or less spiritualized, and the anticipation of a new order in which the consequences of sin would no longer appear was a prominent feature of the Messianic conception. in the teaching of Jesus and the apostles such a restoration is taken for granted as a matter of course.
Restoration, leadership, priorities, prayer, repentance, hope. God will redeem your relationships.
Your past gets a hold of you if you don’t know where you will spend eternity.
- Fear – you can’t have (lie)
- Faith – life our mess equals our message, our test is our testimony
- Time – our time is a gift from God don’t let it get away from you!
Meet a Need
Speak word of truth. Show how scripture speaks into that need. Equip them with Salvation. Give them a mission to seek and to put into action.
Pearl
Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
A cold heart can only be warmed by our living God, so why not ask God to rekindle the flame by bringing you a friend to pray with daily?
What is the temperature of your heart?
Is it icy, cold, lukewarm, burning with zeal or is it hot because you are so excited about God?
Three ways God works to move us in a new direction are:
- Disruption of our plans
- Dissipation of resources
- Dissolution of relationships
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