Much Love & Respect, Pastor Dan

  

Proverbs 28:13 CJB - He who conceals his sins will not succeed; he who confesses and abandons them will gain mercy.

 

Sin diminishes.

 

Sin pollutes.

 

Sin warps.

 

Sin collects.

 

Sin lies.

 

Sin hurts.

 

Sin distorts.

 

Sin deceives.

 

Sin hypnotizes.

 

Sin over time can become entrenched and fortified.

 

Sin sometimes parades; sometimes hides.

 

Sin says it's not.

 

Sin promises a thrill, but aims to kill.

 

Sin promises to thrill, but leaves a chill.

 

Sin leads to another.

 

Sin is like a snowball; it grows as it rolls downhill.

 

Sin is first like a begging puppy, only later becomes a monster.

 

Sin is our numero uno problem; not Satan.

 

Sin says there is no way out.

 

Sin devastates.

 

Sin is a major disruption to God's order.

 

Sin damages the sinner and the surrounding sinnees.

 

Sin has a voracious appetite.

 

Sin can be subtle.

 

Sin can be obvious.

 

Sin is sinister and clever.

 

Sin impacts heaven as well as earth.

 

Sin is the sting of death.

 

Sin is a hard taskmaster.

 

Sin is slavery.

 

Sin crushes the heart of God.

 

Sin is no match for grace.

 

Sin only exits one way: by confession to God.

 

Sin is no match for The Cross.

 

Sin is no match for God's Word.

 

Sin is no match for the Holy Spirit.

 

Sin melts under the applied Blood of Jesus.

 

Sin desires to sift you as wheat.

 

Sin desires to have you, but you must master it by the Blood of the Lamb.

 

Sin is no game.

 

Sin is no friend to anyone.

 

Sin has more consequences than we realize.

 

Sin is under the feet of the believer who dares take his or her place in the Lord.

 

Sin can be pardoned and sin can be overpowered!

 

Sin is not as fun as it says or pictures itself.

 

Sin alienates.

 

Sin frustrates.

 

Sin is actually defeated by the finished work of The Cross.

 

Sin will no longer exist in an eternity to come.

 

God anticipated sin ahead of time and made a way out of it!

 

Sin is no match for the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 

Sin divides.

 

There are different levels and measures of sin - some are called abominations by God.

 

All sin can be forgiven if repented of, but some sins have long lasting consequences and impacts on earth that are hard to reverse.

 

Sin is a tragedy.

 

Sin is not a laughing matter.  (That's why I hate SITCOMS and refuse to watch them!)

 

Sin is a defeated foe to the believer, but a formidable foe that must be guarded against for the rest of one's life.

 

Forgiveness of sin did not come cheap.

 

Forgiveness is free to the "forgivee" but wasn't free to "The Forgiver."

 

Sin is no match for the Love of God.

 

Sin depresses.

 

Sin oppresses.

 

Sin invites demons along to help make it worse.

 

Sin and demons are bedfellows.

 

Sin is what God says it is, NOT what men think it is or isn't.

 

Sin hoodwinks nobodies and presidents alike.

 

Sin fools the rich and poor alike.

 

Everyone has a sin problem.

 

Sin slays no-names and household-names alike.

 

Sin is no respecter of persons.

 

Sin is THE problem of the human race.

 

Jesus is THE solution of the human race.

 

One sin leads to another.

 

Sin unchallenged quickly grows into a rabid monster.

 

Any temptation to sin resisted twice quickly loses its power.

 

Sin is NOT alright. It is NOT OK.

 

God does NOT wink at any sin.

 

Sin disgraces - God graces.

 

Sin embarrasses.

 

Sin has to be forcefully and powerfully expelled by Someone more powerful than itself. Man is helpless of his own power to expel it. Only THE PRECIOUS BLOOD can expose it, erase it, expunge it, and give victory over it.

 

Sin is deep-rooted in all of us. There is only one cure and His name is Jesus!

 

Sin can manifest in either ACTIVE REBELLION or even worse... in passive indifference!

 

Sin has two components: 1) INIQUITIES and 2) TRANSGRESSIONS.

 

Iniquity is the evil attitudes and rebellion lurking WITHIN. Transgression only occurs when iniquity is ACTED UPON. One is an evil attitude that may not yet have been acted out. The other is the outward action.

 

King David asked God to forgive not only his horrible transgressions but to get the dirty iniquity out of heart too. It is the UGLY INIQUITY that sooner or later causes the HORRENDOUS TRANSGRESSION.

 

David asked God to keep him back from presumptuous sins and hidden errors in his heart for which he himself was unaware or might be lurking inside him.

 

God DOES indeed forgive and forget sin freely, but not flippantly or automatically. Sin has to be confessed to God, taken responsibility for, and faith has to be exercised at a specific moment to receive what God offers at the price of the Blood of Jesus.

 

When it comes to forgiveness between humans, I have learned this: I have to specifically forgive any person's sins against me in prayer, whether they ever ask for my forgiveness or NOT. JESUS DEMANDS I FORGIVE... not an option!   Even if some offenses are hard to work through in my heart, I MUST spend the quality time with God to get them out of my own belly lest they eat me up.   However, if a relationship is to be restored and fellowship renewed with an offender in the future, that person may need to take responsibility by asking my forgiveness. In that case, I CAN and SHOULD hold them accountable FOR THEIR OWN GOOD even though I have LONG TIME AGO forgiven them in prayer and gotten it out of my heart. And if in the process of restoration my own mistakes come to light, then I must take responsibility and confess to the other as well.

 

I have also learned NOT to take one's request for forgiveness LIGHTLY. If one so humbles themselves as to ask my forgiveness for their behavior it is only fitting that I respond in like measure to their gesture and courage to ask for such. I should not respond by making light of it and saying something like, "No problem, I forgave that a long time ago" or "No sweat, it wasn't that big of a deal." NOT! I must love the other doing the apologizing with the same depth of their repentance by celebrating, capturing, and defining the MOMENT of such humility and courage. I must respond in LIKE KIND by listening to them in detail, looking at them with love, telling them how special it is that they would say these things, and STATE MY FORGIVENESS TO THEM SPECIFICALLY AND HOW IMPORTANT THIS MOMENT IS TO ME AS WELL. This is a HEAVY THING, a MIRACLE THING, a GOD-MOMENT not to be taken lightly or proudly. It is a MILESTONE EVENT in that person's heart that was difficult to do, so it must be a MILESTONE event to me that releases and expunges that person of all guilt and fear. FORGIVENESS on earth and heaven is an EXPENSIVE THING, a PRECIOUS THING at all levels and in all relationships. All transactions of forgiveness must be CELEBRATED and LAND-MARKED.