SERMON BY
EKOW E. COBBINAH
16th
August, 2015.
I thank God for
speaking through me. I pray this becomes a blessing and I'm seen just as a
vessel of Christ.
“How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?” – Hebrews 9-14 KJV
“Therefore I
urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and
holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
– Romans 12:1 KJV
We all make mistakes, when the mistake is
done, the aftermath is more important, it is vital to learn from them and apply
them in our lives for a brighter tomorrow.It’s hard to approach people we have
wronged to seek forgiveness. Personally, I believe it is harder forgiving
ourselves. If we are to give our best to God, then we have to do everything
with a clean heart and that includes a heart that holds no grudges.
If you haven’t accepted Him yet, it is prudent
to do so, repent from your sins and accept Him into your heart. If you are
already a believer, you still have to ask forgiveness and guidance so you don’t
repeat your err. “1st
John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (KJV).” Regardless of how hard
we try to move on, our minds can revisit our past, now it is our decision to
make what to think when that happens. We can choose to let the devil win by always
feeling guilty or by learning from it and feeling assured that God has forgiven
us. When we forgive ourselves, it gets easier to forgive others. You may
forgive, but not forget, it is a process, one step at a time.
Some of those past errors were to
humble us and make us more careful, that notwithstanding, we should be careful
and strive to please God always. Sometimes too we have to share our past, so
that it does not become the tomorrow of others.
As humans we are sometimes consumed
with guilt over our past errors. What we should bear in mind is that the way we
see ourselves is not the same way God sees us. We often label ourselves based
on the particular sin we committed in the past, whiles God still sees us as His
children, just as the prodigal son. He loves us no matter what, that is why He
forgave us and gave us a second chance. It is our duty not to continue in our
wrong ways but to learn from them and be better. We must not allow our past to cloud
our today nor tomorrow. If we do not forgive ourselves;
1. We sin because we deny the sacrifice
his son made for us on the cross.When
the recipient of a gift receives it gladly and with joy, the giver is
glorified. But when the receiver shows no appreciation, the giver feels his
gift has been unappreciated. God gave us the gift of salvation for free, which
has cleansed us from our sins. So next time you hold on to your past and refuse
to forgive yourself, bear in mind you are not appreciating God’s gift of
salvation to you.
2. It gets difficult to approach God,
because you feel too guilty. You then gradually pray less.
3. You feel unworthy and do not offer
yourself for work on God’s field.
These are exactly what the devil
wants, once you feel unworthy, you cannot give your best to God because you
hardly offer anything nor do any work for Him. Instead you wallow in self pity
and never get to move on in life. This defeats your purpose in Christ as you do
not live your full life in Christ, this hands Satan the victory.
Those of us around should also not remind people struggling
to forgive themselves about the past, as this makes the situation worse. For
instance, if someone lied to you in the past, we should not be making
statements to them such as “You have a good record of hiding the truth”
Bear in mind that God has already forgiven you and you
should forgive yourself. Satan will remind you, but when he does, remind
yourself that God has forgiven you and you are a vital worker on God’s mission
field.
Have you lived an unchaste life, don’t worry;
you can still give your best to God. Remember Rahab.
Have you lost a gift God gave you? Don’t
worry, change, pray and if it’s His will, He’ll give it back. Remember Samson.
Did you tell a lie? God has forgiven you, so forgive
yourself and move on, Remember Abraham. Gen 20:2
Did you misuse your authority? Forgive
yourself, Remember David
Did you murder? Murder is not only slitting
someone’s throat, you can say words that can kill a person’s spirit. Forgive
yourself, remember Moses. All these instances exist in the Bible to serve as
lessons we can learn from.
Deliverance is necessary, but you have to
forgive yourself after that, else you will still focus on the mistake and miss
the blessings that come along. After you forgive yourself, focus on giving your
best to God, because this pleases God. John 14:15
“If ye love me, keep my commandments”. In other words, pleasing God means
submitting to God’s will. When we submit to God’s will, we enjoy a close relationship
with Him because we can hear and feel His prompts. So we have to trust and obey
God always, through reading His word and obeying His prompts.
This will not be easy, so we have to be prepared to hold on
to God no matter what. He never said we will not walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, but He said he will be with us always. The temptations and
trials will come but with God we will overcome.
TEMPTATION is
not from God, it is from Satan, it comes from our own weakness, some things we
did in the past and also fleshly desires. It may not necessarily be sin but may
lead us to sin. For instance, your favourite TV show, sports game preventing
you from attending church. James 1:13-15 further explains: “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being
tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no
one.14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed
by his own desire.15 Then desire when it has conceived gives
birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” English
Standard Version.
Trials are from God, they come to test your
faith and draw you closer to God. “That the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” 1st
Peter 1:7 - KJV
Some trials may be tough; they will hit you so hard that you
will feel like giving up because there is no sign of hope. We will all have
different experiences. Some of us may be rescued like Peter was from prison,
Acts 12:1-17. We will have a miracle that will change things, some of us will
have Stephen’s experience Acts 6 – 8, and we will have to be faithful till
death. This shows others that even in our bad times, we were faithful to God. It
can even be as complicated as being sent to share the message with people who
know your past. Whether you have Peter or Stephen’s experience, the best part
is, we have a crown waiting for us in heaven.
If you are going through an Abraham or Job sized trial, put
on your Abraham or Job sized faith and expect an Abraham or Job sized
blessing/breakthrough.
Sometimes too our own acts make things hard for us, for
instance, we may be seeking promotion at work but always report to work late.
You certainly cannot be promoted when you are a late comer. You may want
promotion but never willing to work over time, the post you are dying for may
be one that demands a lot of sacrifice, so let’s work on ourselves too.
My parents said two things to me, Dad said, “being faithful
is not easy, but it is worth it. Mama also said, “Your test of faithfulness to
God comes when no one is watching, the things you do that no one knows”
Finally, our past is dead, we can visit it to learn from it
but not to be held back nor tortured by it. God loves us and has forgiven our
sins, so let us forgive others and ourselves, learn from our past, help others
in similar situations and strive to always trust and obey God with a thankful
heart. AMEN, GOD BLESS US ALL.
