★ MY SERMON NOTES
@ Family Worship Centre (FWC)
Wuye, Abuja
First Sunday Service
19th March, 2017
☆ SERMON:
* Speaker: Pastor Sarah Omakwu
* Theme: The Just shall live by Faith.
* Topic: Forgiveness: A Sure Sign of Faith
* Text: Mark 11:25 →"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
* Faith is connected to forgiveness
★ Hebrews 10:38 → "Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
★ Hebrews 11:6 → "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
* "There can be no spiritual progress without faith" - Derek Price
* If you are not willing to step out in faith, you have come to the end of your spiritual progress
* The spiritual life is a series of plateaus and at every step, you need to take a step of faith at every level
* Whenever you get to the point where you feel as if you are not making a headway, just know that you have take a step of faith
* The Holy Spirit stirs your heart to take a step of faith
* Unforgiveness and bitterness can block your faith
* Unforgiveness will make your faith to be rubbished
* When there is genuine forgiveness there will be:
⇒ Reconciliation
⇒ Peace
⇒ Harmony
⇒ Fellowship
⇒ Joy
⇒ Restoration
* Where there is NO genuine forgiveness, there will be:
⇒ Alienation
⇒ Discord
⇒ Fights
⇒ Sadness
⇒ Disharmony
⇒ War
* NOTE: Lot got blessed by his association with Abram
* The Spirit of Christ is not a spirit of fighting, wrangling and strife
* Brethren are not supposed to fight
* You must eschew anything that will truncate your journey of faith
* NOTE: Abram did allow himself to be cheated by Lot (who took the best part of the land) Genesis 13:9-10
* When you let go of that person who hurt you, then God will take over
* NOTE: Choosing the best part of the land was not the worse mistake that Lot made, but that He left Abram.
→ There are people in this life that you should never leave
→ NOTE: On the other hand, there are people that you should separate from if you must make progress in life.
* The people you must never abandon: your parents & your spouse.
→ You MUST never leave anywhere, any business or association without a blessing!
* NOTE: Ruth held on to Naomi even when there was no reason to do so. She perceived that Naomi was a carrier of God's blessings. (Ruth 1:16-18)
* There are certain things and people you need to let go so that God can give you forever blessings
* Live your life in such a way that generations that come after you can live off your legacy
* People who let go (forgive) go back to God
* Lot fell into trouble because the left the covering of the anointing (of Abraham)
* Any thing outside the God of Israel has no blessing
* When you hand over a matter to God, He takes over
* Before you claim Abraham's blessings, ask yourself if you can do what he did.
* Many people are vindictive because they place priority on money and material things
* Abraham forgave Lot a lot!
* Believers should be able to settle their matters among themselves without resorting to legal action.
* Have the Abraham's kind of life
⇒ It is better to allow yourself to be cheated than gain undue advantage over others.
→ NOTE: You bring a curse on yourself when you cheat others
* Faith And unforgiveness cannot work together
* Forgiveness is a sign that you are wise and that you trust God to vindicate you
* Do not chain yourself to a person who has hurt you
* That person you are fighting with has something from God that you can be blessed with!
* Recommended Book:
→ Unbroken Curses (by Rebecca Brown)
