(July 4, 2011)

Prayer House News!

Pastor Kevin did an excellent job Sunday challenging us to love one another as Christians – and to watch over our kids. It was very moving and powerful.

This is Family Week for us which means we do not have any mid-week services.

Funeral service for Ralph Markese will take place at Prayer House on Tuesday. The showing will take place at 12;00pm with the funeral starting at 1:30pm.

On Saturday evening Pam Anderson’s brother Gary Schaller passed away in Canada. Please be in prayer for the family.

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Devotional

Cover Me!

Acts 20:9-10 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. (10) Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!"

Typically, I stay quite close to the context of the scripture verses we are reading from, but today I’m going to divert from them somewhat. Rather than dealing with all the particulars of Eutychus sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on and on and on, I am going to simply look at Paul’s action when he threw himself on the young man, put his arms around him and then proclaimed that he was alive. Plus I’m a little fearful of some of you identifying with Eutychus. Fortunately for you, the most that could happen to you is that you would fall out of your chair.

It said that they picked up Eutychus dead then, Paul literally laid on him and covered him and brought life back to him. Spiritually speaking we all go through the same scenario. Before any of us knew Christ we were spiritually dead. We were dead in trespasses and sins. Then after God forgives us, we come into life. I want us to understand both the meaning of forgiveness and the spirit of forgiveness.

The meaning of forgiveness is pretty basic. The Greek word for forgiveness is “charizomai,” which means to do something pleasant or agreeable, to do a favor, or to gratify. The prefix of the word is “charis” which is the word for grace. So immediately we begin to see the nature or spirit of the word in it’s meaning. Forgiveness is grace based. When a person is forgiven, something pleasant or agreeable has been done to them. Of course we know that when God forgives us of our sin – that is most agreeable to us, don’t you think. But it’s the spirit of forgiveness I want us to catch. I think we all understand what forgiveness means.

To look at this we are going all the way back to the beginning of the history of man. We all know the account of God putting Adam and Eve in the garden and telling them not to eat the forbidden fruit. And we all know about the incident when they ate the fruit and committed the original sin.

Genesis 3:17-19 "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. (18) It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. (19) By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

What’s most interesting about this portion of scripture is that we get the full picture of the spirit of forgiveness from it. Immediately after pronouncing the curse upon Adam, God provides with them the skin of an animal to cover their nakedness. In Genesis 3:21 we read, The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Of course all the typology of Christ, the lamb of God, dying for our sins is there in how the animal had to shed its blood in order to provide the skin or the covering for Adam and Eve. The word “cover” describes the spirit of forgiveness.

Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

This verse uses both the word forgive and covering. Basically it says that when we are forgiven our sins are covered.

Last Monday night up in Waupaca, in the middle of the night, we had a huge thunder storm. The cracks of the thunder were so close the walls of the cabin would shake. Then the rain came, shortly after that the winds whipped up, and just to top it off, it hailed. I got up and looked out the window of my sturdy cabin and I got to thinking about the people camping in tents. I said to myself, “This storm is really intense,” and it was, it was in tents all over the campground. Suddenly I was thankful for my covering. Because when you are covered you are not exposed to the elements.

Family camp was really good this year. We heard some excellent teaching. One of our teachers was Dr. Del Tarr. Dr Tarr was very deep and had excellent insight into the scriptures. He served many years as a missionary to Africa. While there, he learned the Mori language of West Africa. I was talking with him at lunch on one of the days when we got on the subject of forgiveness. Our conversation is really the impetus behind this message. God just gripped my heart as we talked about this because he began to use illustrations from Africa as the backdrop for our discussion. Having been to Africa a number of times myself I could easily relate to what he was saying.

In the Mori language they have a concept of forgiveness that is quite unique. They relate forgiveness to a hat. A hat is a head covering. You have to know a little about the African sun to appreciate the value of a conical hat. A concial hat is one that is pointed at the top and then it tapers out and some of them are large enough to cover even your shoulders. Dr. Tarr told me that in West Africa the word for such a hat is “zugu sugri” The word “sugri” is the same word for roof. So this type of a hat is a head roof.

Their definition for forgiveness is close to the idea of a head covering or the roof of a house. In either case forgiveness means covering. A roof is a covering whether it relates to a hat or a house. For the purposes of this message I want us to think of a roof on a house as a symbol of the spirit of forgiveness.

We understand that forgiveness is the removal of our sins but the question still needs to be asked, “Why?” Why does God forgive and what are we learn from it? Why did God provide a covering for Adam and Eve’s nakedness. He certainly was not obligated to do so. They certainly did not deserve to be covered. I think the answer to this question will help a lot of us in our concept of who God is. If we can get ahold of the spirit behind forgiveness it might mean a whole new revelation of our God. Forgiveness is one thing but the spirit behind it is what I want us to focus in on.

Some of the spirit of it is seen in the account we just read about in the book of Acts. Why did Paul lay himself on top of the dead boy and bring him back to life? The answer to that is found in Acts 20:12, The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. Could it be that Paul did what he did for no other reason than to comfort the boy’s parents? When Paul covered the boy and prayed him back to life the people were greatly comforted. When God provided a covering for Adam and Eve’s nakedness – don’t you think that comforted them? Isn’t it nice to have a covering on here in church? The reason it’s nice to have clothes on is because we are not innocent anymore. The toddlers in our nursery could be running around naked and not think much about it because they are innocent, they don’t see each other’s faults. The thing that would embarrass us about not having clothes on is that everybody would see our faults because we are not innocent. One of the most important things in our lives is the covering we receive from God. To be forgiven means that God has covered your faults – never to be revealed to anyone again, ever. We are covered.

I recently read a true story of an artist who was commissioned to paint a portrait of Alexander the Great. He was not only a great artist, he also loved and revered this young genius of a general. All artist’ know that everybody has a best angle. But when this artist would put Alexander in that position, an ugly battle scar would show up on his cheek. He said, “I don’t’ want to paint the scar, yet that is his best angle.” So he would turn him to another angle, but he would always come back to the one “best” position. But the scar would show. He didn’t want to be hypocritical and not put in the scar, because then people would say, “But Alexander has a scar there!” So he ended up painting him from his chosen position, but with his hand to his cheek in a relaxed, contemplative mood, with a finger covering the scar. That is the spirit of forgiveness. It’s covering another person’s faults. The scriptures admonish us to depict our brothers and sisters in the best possible light.

Un-forgiveness

The spirit of forgiveness, is covering another’s faults in an effort to comfort them. But to best understand that, we must understand what it is to not forgive. The opposite of forgiveness is un-forgiveness. Un-forgiveness is the exposure of another person’s faults. Un-forgiveness is uncovering everything you know about someone. Have you ever dealt with a person who has un-forgiveness in their hearts? Don’t you find that they continually reveal the sins of the person they won’t forgive? They continually bring out into the open all of their faults.

Forgiveness verses un-forgiveness is the same as grace verses the law. Legalistic mindsets have a very difficult time with mercy. When Eutychus fell out of the window, if Paul had been a legalist he would have approached the dead boy and said something like, “Eutychus, you got what you deserved. That’ll teach you to sit in window sills on the third floor. If you weren’t dead, maybe next time you’d pay attention to my preaching and not fall asleep.” The legalist relishes in the practice of uncovering weakness. This is the idea of the verse that says the letter of the law kills but the spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:6) Instead of Paul pointing out all that the young boy did wrong, in an act of mercy and grace, he completely covered him and begged God for his life.

The legalist mind would say, “Isn’t it right for people to pay a price for what they have done?” In one sense it is. In fact the bible says that we reap what we sow. We really cannot get away from that principle. Eutychus did fall out of the window. What I want us to see is the spirit behind forgiveness or mercy. The price people pay for their sins is really God’s business. Our business is to forgive them.

Do you remember the story of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18? A man who owed the king an amount of money that he could never have paid back asked the king for mercy. The king said, “OK” and forgave his debt. Then the forgiven man went out and found someone who owed him a rather small amount of money. However, he would not forgive the man’s debt and had him thrown into prison. When the King heard about this he had the formerly forgiven man arrested and threw him into prison saying to him,

Matthew 18:32 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. (33) Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' (34) In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

Don’t try to convince me you cannot lose your salvation. That is the gist behind this whole parable. The man who was formerly forgiven ends up in hell because he refused to do to others, that which God did to him. He refused to live in the same spirit which covered his own faults.

The problem with legalistic people is that they forget the fact that they were forgiven even though they were completely unworthy of it. They don’t understand the spirit of forgiveness. They believe that others should pay a price for their actions, even though they were forgiven.

Tolerance, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness, and love are all fruits of the spirit that are included in “making a covering.” Criticism and gossip are attitudes that expose or “pull back” the covering. Just think of what it is we are doing when we gossip. We are exposing all the faults of another person. Un-forgiveness could also be called un-mercy, or unloving. Rather than covering up the faults of another it’s revealing them to as many as you can. The spirit of Christ is that of making the covering. He came to cover us.

Just think of the words of Christ when he says, “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you,” John 14:2. He starts off by saying, “In my Father’s house.” A house has a covering. Jesus has prepared for us a place under the roof of the Father’s house. That is the spirit of forgiveness. Are you seeing it yet? I’ll never see a roof the same anymore. The roof of this building is symbolic of being forgiven. The roof of your own home is a sign of the mercy of God on you. God has provided a covering for you. Homeless people are exposed to the elements – they have no covering. That is why providing a roof over the head of a homeless person is considered a godly action.

Just consider how often, when there is un-forgiveness in a marriage, a husband or wife will lose the roof over their heads. It is not my intention to get into all the different reasons for a spouse to be kicked out of their home but generally it’s because of un-forgiveness that a person no longer has a covering. That is what un-forgiveness does. It’s exposes. I’m not trying to put all the blame on the offended person. Sometimes the offender is suffering what he is because he is unwilling to ask for forgiveness.

The un-forgiven person is like one who lives in a house without a roof. What is going to happen to a person who lives in a house without a roof? Can you picture that, especially up here in the north. I remember when this building was under construction. During the winter it would snow, in the spring it would rain. Prior to the roof going on, all of the elements would come in. We have had snow banks in our church before.

Lou and I spent some time after one of the services last week praying with a girl named Sherri. She is 21 years old, suicidal, depressed, and mad at God for everything that has gone wrong in her life. Her mom abandoned her and her brother, never nurtured them, eventually gave them up for adoption, after some time in foster care her natural father came and began to care for them, shortly after that he died and Sherri was the one to find him dead on the floor of their home. She had to go back into foster care.

She was sexually active with a young man who decided to leave her after giving her many promises of love and support. Golly, who’d have thought that once a young ungodly man got everything he wanted from her he would leave her. Everything had gone wrong in her life and she was mad at God. I’m very happy to report that two nights later she completely committed her life to Christ and was set free in a big way. Her countenance completely changed.

This whole revelation of forgiveness being a covering has opened my heart to something I had never seen before. Have you ever wondered why everything seems to go wrong for some people but not for others? I believe it relates directly to this issue of being covered.

John 20:23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Every commentary I read on this verse said the same thing. They all said that this verse does not give any individual the power to actually removed the stain of sin. Only God can remit sin. In the context of these verses, it’s referring to the apostles establishing the boundaries of the new believers by stating what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t. However, if we were to replace the word “forgive” with the word “cover” in this verse it would read like this. If you cover anyone of his sins, they are covered; if you do not cover them, they are not covered (forgiven)."

Here is the spirit behind this verse. God is asking us to be merciful towards people. One of the ways to do that is to cover the errors that we know are in the lives of others. Christian parents do this for their children all the time. How many of your parents have ever prayed for God to forgive your child of their action? In doing so you are covering for them. You are providing a cover through forgiveness that protects them for all that the enemy wants to do in their life. That cover is what allows the Lord to work in their lives to bring them to a place where they will one day they will cry out to the Lord themselves and say, “Lord forgive me, Lord, cover me.” I wonder if we error in prayer from time to time by merely praying for God to change them. I wonder if we would be more effective by praying for God to forgive them.

When we forgive men of their sins we provide a covering for them. That covering is what I believe is missing in the lives of those whose life seems to never improve. Sheri, the girl from family camp, is only 21 years old and she has experienced some of the most horrendous things life has to offer her including several attempts at suicide. My son is 21 years old also. He has never experienced the things she has. His life has been relatively blessed. What is the major difference in their lives? It’s a covering. My son has grown up with a covering because we were always quick to forgive our son whenever it was necessary. Do you know what might have happened to our son if one day we would have said, “We are tired of asking God to forgive you. We are no longer going to ask Him to do that. In fact we are going to just pray that God will change you because we are tired of asking Him to forgive you.” We would have opened him up to every attack the enemy could throw at him.

Some of you grew up that way. You grew up in a situation where no one prayed for God to forgive you, to cover you. You have been subject to some of the most vial attacks of the enemy. However, there is great hope for you. Even if no one in the world will go to God for you, you, through Jesus, can go to God yourself. You can look to the Lord and say the most powerful two words you could ever say, “forgive me.” You can ask God to provide a covering for you. The cover is related specifically to those two words; “forgive me.” “Cover me Jesus, have mercy on me” might just be one of the most important prayers you can pray.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Funny Lists

You Know You're Too Stressed If...

...relatives that have been dead for years come visit you and suggest that you should get some rest.

...you can achieve a "Runners High" by sitting up.

...you say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing that you have said it before.

...the Sun is too loud.

...trees begin chasing you.

...you can see individual air molecules vibrating.

...you begin to explore the possibility of setting up an I.V. drip solution of espresso.

...you wonder if brewing is really a necessary step in the consumption of coffee.

...you can hear mimes.

...you believe that if you think hard enough, you can fly.

...things become "Very Clear."

...you ask the drive-thru attendant if you can get your order to go.

...you say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing that you have said it before.

...you keep yelling "STOP TOUCHING ME!" even though you are the only one in the room.

...your heart beats in 7/8 time.

...you and Reality file for divorce.

...you can skip without a rope.

...it appears that people are speaking to you in binary code.

...you have great revelations concerning: Life, the Universe, and Everything else, but can't quite find the words for them before the white glow disappears, leaving you more confused than before.

...you can travel without moving.

...antacid tablets become your sole source of nutrition.

...you discover the aesthetic beauty of office supplies.

...you begin to talk to yourself, then disagree about the subject, get into a nasty row over it, lose, and refuse to speak to yourself for the rest of the night.

...teddy bears begin to bully you for milk and cookies.

...you have an irresistible urge to bite the noses of the people you are talking to.

...you say the same sentence over and over again, not realizing that you have said it before.