¶ Revival and the Power of Perspective
Hello and welcome back , dars . diamonds in the rough . I was getting real talk . I was getting ready to say welcome to learning and living through . I got it mixed up just now . This for a moment , but I got it together , thank you man Alright , i hope all is well . You don't know who we are . My name is Catherine And I am Michael .
A man that we are here and ready to do it again . A man Did I push that ? I didn't . We got a million different technology things y'all going on around us . I'm just being a little honest , a little bit transparent . A man We hope all is well , hope , all is well . Yes , a man .
When we're reporting this on Sunday , we've been to service And now we're ready to serve A man once more . A man , how are you honey ?
I'm very good , i'm very relaxed and just super excited to do another podcast for God's diamonds in the rough . You know , because we got to always get the reminder saying , hey , look , just because I'm not perfect In my sight , i know I'm always perfect in the sight of God , amen .
The thing is primarily , you know , the background of God's diamonds in the rough is letting us know hey , god always sees us perfect Even if we don't see . We don't That's right .
Amen . So you know for me , you know it is what it is . I'm rolling right along doing what God has called me to do . Amen , unashamedly and unapologetically , unapologetically , just doing it , amen . So , y'all , before we get into our lesson on tonight , we are going to pray , Amen .
Amen , let us pray . Do you have any ? follow our Lord and our Savior Jesus . Christ for this country right now , saying thank you , thank you for just allowing us to be willing and able vessels to just spread the word of you , what you have us understand and know .
We pray in the name of Jesus , we go into your word and you'll continue to abide in us as we are abiding you , and even if we abide into your word , even when we close our eyes and sleep , wherever we are , that your spirit will still be with us . We pray in the name of Jesus .
Counsel any other enemy that will be sent back into the picture where it came from . We pray in the name of Jesus for even the ones that this has no desire to learn of you . We ask you to touch them anyway That something might change their mind and their attitude towards you . We ask these things and all things .
We ask also as your forgiveness for anything we might have said , done or thought that's not pleasing your sight . If you are a great forgiveness and cashback in the picture where it came from , jesus Christ , may we do pray , amen , amen .
Amen , amen . So to God be the glory . Thank you so much , honey , for that prayer . Amen . We hope that y'all are ready And to get into the word amen . Just , really just listen to us , for our heart out , amen . And we hope that you know you're getting what you need in order to see the diamond that is in you , Amen .
So on last week we just kind of we really are kind of just picking up , i guess you would say Not really from where we left off , but on last week you all got a glimpse , a reminder of what we were doing and why we're doing it Amen , a little bit more refined than we first started three seasons ago , two seasons ago , and you know , god just drew us to
reflect and remind everyone of what we are doing and why we're doing it , amen . And so with that we were teaching about the fact that we are all diamonds , going through the rough parts of life , you know , parts that we don't want to go through , and really just reminding us all that even in the ashes there's beauty , amen .
And so kind of picking up where we left off . Before that we've been talking about revival and we promised that this whole season would be about revival And the way that God is bringing us through thus far is that it's just kind of starting from the top And you know , it's like a , it's like flowing water . It's coming down off of the rock .
Amen , showing us , you know , piece by piece , areas in our lives where we may need reviving . Amen , and where we left off was our language . Amen In regard to this topic , our language and our perspective , and how it affects our language , how it is attached to that Amen .
So I asked the week before how the subject pertained to your week , that particular week . So I'll ask you now , honey , how did that subject pertain to that ? in the last two weeks ? Has anything happened ? or you know you got a testimony or whatever , of how your perspective had a whole lot to do with your language or attitude ?
I would just say yes , because you know and I think I mentioned about last week , about you know things we go through in life , whether it be your home life or your work life or even your church life If you have your arms folded , you're not allowing the spirit of God to move in you , but it's almost like you have your head be at a neutral position .
You know you can't . you can't go backwards and you can't go forward because you're stuck in that mode like I don't even want to hear old thing . you say type of attitude And you know you don't even have to say a word about it . All you got to do is your body language speaks volumes .
And just for you know , with that , with what we was going to talk about last week and even the week before , that , you know it made me realize you know how is my posture looked in the eyes of somebody else And it gave me a , i would say an eye opener .
If I'm looking like this and I got that attitude or that body language , i mean I'm just going to be blind about it . Move the hell out of my way . type of spirit , type of spirit and feeling . How can I allow God to move in me because he can very well use that person to speak life to me .
But if I got my attitude like I don't even give a , i'm trying to keep it PG because you know you really don't have to .
you know I say that it's because you know this is how this is an opportunity to just simply be real .
You know I mean vulgar is not good , but you know it is I mean okay , i mean , i'm going to be straight , blunt with it . If you got the attitude of I don't give a damn what you say , and but we expect God to move , he can use that person to to speak life to us . But we have the attitude I don't , i don't even give a crap of what you say .
How can we let God move ? It's like we put up a wall or a barrier with our body language .
Yeah , so did you have a personal experience ?
Yeah , i did . I mean , you know , and it's , it seems , it seems to me like a lot of my personal I open is come come to me at work . You know it's , it's the body language .
If you , if you Don't want to let somebody express their views or Their suggestions of how things could work better , they very well have a perfect Solution to a problem that you might have been having All this time .
But if you , if you don't allow them to do it or say it , how can you know if it's gonna work or not , if you don't give it an opportunity ?
Hey man .
And that happened to me a couple days ago at work . You know I'll let you know . I'll let somebody you know you speak their mind of how things won't can work , and it actually did And got a better result from it .
Hmm , well , um , for me , i was , as I asked you question , i was sitting here thinking I have a personal Experience where my perspective I know a shared one When we first mentioned the topical got on the topic and that was in regard to our daughter .
Um , i'm trying to think of one now , um , and as far as a personal experience , um , i think really , uh , we all have moments On a daily basis where , if our perspective is not Following in alignment with Jesus , then It's like , it's like an automatic flesh Uh issue .
You know what I mean , because You know we're constantly at war , the , the spirit , and and the flesh is constantly at war with one another . And so when we are not intentional about , uh , moving in our spirit , then automatically we're gonna move in that flesh .
And so you know , uh , that's why I say I can't think off the top of my head anything in particular Outside of saying that when I wasn't intentional about moving in the spirit , then my flesh took over In regard to my perspective , which is attached to my attitude , which is attached to my language . Amen , we got to get beyond . Um , really moving
¶ Letting Go and Forgiveness in Relationships
. I guess the key , the key thing to say is moving Based on how we feel . Mm-hmm , you know what I mean , because I , how we feel , is Nine times out of ten , a momentary feeling . You know what I mean . It's a temporary feeling that it'll pass . But if we move in the midst of a feeling , then that feeling that you have , that is right now temporary .
It can become Permanent if we're not careful . Mm-hmm , you know what I mean , what you think about that .
You know , and the way I , the way I see it , is like you said . You know , if you allow those temporary things To outweigh The long-term things , how can you grow ?
right .
I mean , it's like it's like you know , take , and just speaking about the growth . If you take a flower and you plant it , but you cover it up , how can that Flower get the nutrients that it needs , whether it be the rain Or even the sunlight ? and that's speaking about our life .
How can we grow if we continue to cover up the temporary things And leaving it like that ?
That's right , amen , you know , and you know . Yeah , here's another one . How about marriage ? those of you that don't know we are married , and if we always allow Temporary things and different temporary And we allowed our moves and then to determine , um , the outcome of our marriage on a daily basis , it would be in ruins . You know what I mean .
Your relationships would be in ruins if we allow temporary Feelings and you know , whatever have you , because somebody can say something , not Directing it toward you , but it could pertain to you and it can , if you're not looking at it in the right perspective , it can destroy that relationship . You know what I mean .
So you know , we got to be willing , and this is kind of more . This was the direction we were trying to get to and we're finally here , but we got to be willing to let things go . Amen , we have to be willing to let things go in order for , especially , relationships to survive . And that's even .
That goes even down , deep down into , like , uh , where you work , um , um , i'll say , uh , how , uh , how you might have if you're trying to um , exercise and you know , and stew it over your body , you know one day that you , you know you cheat on your diet or whatever you have you . You got to be willing to let go of That thing .
That is temporary , you know what I mean . You want to add anything ?
Yeah , and you know , as , as we was , you know , just discussing before we on , we started , you know , with this broadcast today , you know we was talking about the . The second part of that of letting it go is the forgiveness .
And it is crazy and ironic and I was just thinking about this earlier , a few minutes ago that it's so crazy and ironic how we sit day after day and this is Christians , okay we sit day after day , time after time , asking God to forgive things that we said , done and thought , but we have a hard time forgiving other folks .
I mean , how can we , how can we sit there opening and ask God to forgive us but we don't want to forgive other people ? and his word plainly tells us in Matthew 6 , 14 for if you forgive me and their trespasses , you'll have me . Father will forgive you also . That means it has to get a two-way street .
You have to forgive them so your father can forgive you . Right , i mean , it's , it's , it's right there . I mean can't say no , planer , you have to be willing to forgive .
And even speaking about , you know , marriages and relationships , if you can't forgive somebody that might have done you wrong , how can God bless you with the one that he wants and desire for you to be with , because I know for me if I would never have forgave my wife , my ex-wife .
You know , i know that the door might not be open when it did with me and you absolutely true because you know we can , we can . It's easier said than done to forgive somebody you know , especially depending on the magnitude of the offense . But his word tells us that we should forgive that person in seven times seven . That's 49 times .
Okay , but this is a kicker . What people refer to realize is it's per offense 70 , 70 times seven . Per offense , that's 490 times that you supposed to forgive that person . For that one offense , okay . Where that person does it three or four times , that means you got to forget them for each one . It doesn't matter how many times that offense repeats itself .
You supposed to forget them 70 times seven . If a person smacking in a face , you supposed to forgive them . And I'm breaking down simpler if a person smacking in your face , you supposed to forget them 70 times 7 . Okay , what if that person smack you again ? that means you got to forgive them 700 , 740 , no , 700 , 490 times . Was he 70 times seven ?
Her data sense ? I mean you . You would . It's crazy because you never forgive that person as that much as long as you live . But you're supposed to forgive them anyway .
Mm-hmm , that's right . I mean , we got to be willing , you , you got to be willing . You have to be willing to do it the way , the way the Lord asks you to do it . A man Got to be willing to let things go , a man . And so , you know , let's kind of speak to ourselves . Amen . We make mistakes , you know . We go in the wrong direction .
Sometime We influence those to make the same mistakes that we make . You know , i mean , we do things in this life And if we are unwilling to let go of the baggage , that baggage will follow us . Do you understand what I'm saying ? Hey man , i wish the might was on the other line to Confirm what I'm saying . Michael , you understand . I'm saying yeah .
So you know , if you don't let go of baggage , then that baggage will follow you . And when that baggage follows you , it follows you on into the next relationship , it follows you on into the next opportunity . It affects your attitude , it affects how you treat people , it affects how you see people .
It Look , if you can't have grace on yourself , how can you grant it to anybody else ? If you can't forgive yourself , how can you forgive anybody else ? You understand , if you can't let go of stuff in regard to yourself . How can you let go of the things that people do to you ?
And you know , when I look at that , when about the mistakes and and go the further than mistakes , and just hit me on when I say this And just follow along . Okay , everything that we go through in life , it's given by the inspiration of God .
And I say that because if we do not go through things in life , if we did not go through the trials and tribulations , the people hating us , the people that causes grief and and Distort the things that God wants to go through , would you really turn to God ?
Hmm , and that's the question I mean would you really turn to God if you , if everything was peaches and cream , that the grass did not look no different than other side of the defense ? Because and and I'm gonna be real , the answers No , we would not turn to God . If everything was looking good , why would we need to Amen ?
Amen . You know , thinking about all of that and keeping all of this in perspective , everything we've heard , that's why you think about the story of Jonah , amen and the whole it .
You know , i read this particular book in about 15 minutes and so , and of course I've studied it several other times before now , but I just kind of glanced over it and it is is a typical Common story we hear about in Sunday school Jonah in the well , how he was swallowed up and he was there for three days and three nights , and what I think is it is
significant . What I believe is significant about Jonah is Jonah couldn't let it go . Jonah couldn't let go of what the people was doing , even though God had sent him on a mission .
And because he couldn't let go of what the people was doing This is how we ended up in this well , because he tried to run from his call , he tried to run from what he was told to do . What am I saying ? I'm saying he was unwilling to do what God had told him to do and because he was unwilling , what he was doing was a it affected .
It affected the environment that was around him . He got on that boat . He tried to , you know , sleep himself away and The fury and the anger that was going on inside of him and even around him , it affected everybody else that was on that ship and he told them . He said cat , he said , basically , he said it's me .
Cast me over into the sea because it's me , i'm the reason why this storm is doing what it's doing . A man show enough .
He goes overboard and there was a calm on the boat , but when Jonah thought , jonah thought that the easy way out of that was going to be to die , because he we're always looking for the easy way out of Whatever we're going through or out of whatever we don't want to do . We look for the easy way . Well , jonah goes overboard and what captures him ?
But a whale in that whales mouth . Jonah had to pray . A man in the midst of Whatever's going on in your life God , he won't force you to serve him , but he will back you into a corner until you realize that you need him . Did you have to come to him ? you're gonna have to cry out to him Amen .
Look , this is how we get beauty out of ashes a man when we come to him and we cry to him . This is what Jonah did . He cried to him to do , to let him out of where he was a man . Hallelujah . When he let him out , he went to go do what he was told .
He still didn't want to do it though , hey man , he still didn't want to do it and he ended up at the end of the story . He ended up asking the Lord to let him die underneath the tree . Mm-hmm , amen . And he did , and you know the whole chapter .
It wrapped up with a question , which was The question was in verse 11 , he said it should not and should not I spare Nivea , that great city where in are more than six , score , a thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand , and also much cattle . I think it's interesting how God .
He spared them anyhow , because they was doing things they had no business . No business doing , but Jonah , because he was unwilling to do it the way God wanted him to do it . He ended up I'm sure I'm not fulfilling and doing everything that God desired for him to do .
A Man , honey , you got thought and you know , and , and we can relate that because you know The Jonah the whale , the Jonah Jonah the whale , you know the fact that he , you know , seen everything that he was doing , that everything was because of him , and And he went overboard and got swallowed by the whale . We gotta understand that .
It doesn't even have to necessarily be a physical whale . Yeah , yeah , it can be a jail cell , it could be a loan in your house , it can be a loan in a room or anywhere . Yet You are alone and there's nowhere for you to run . See , we always look for the easy way out , but sometimes God has to put us in a place where we cannot run .
You know , and I know for myself , because I was out , been locked away in jail for a long time , that I had no other choice But to listen and hear the voice of God .
Sometimes you have to be in that place , a solitude , for you , to get the constant , the understanding of what God wants us to , because we're so busy Going back and forth , back and forth , back and forth , that we're too much going back and forth that we came in here The voice of God .
So , see , he sometimes has to sit us down by force to sit us down because we're so hard-headed That it's always Our way or no way . Yeah , yeah , but God has to sit us down to say look , no , no , no , no . This is what needs to happen , and sometimes God has to force us into that predicament . Amen .
Absolutely Well said . Y'all know that noise is , y'all know what the music is . It's our time , so we're gonna go ahead and pray and just leave you with that thought amen . So , father , we thank you so much for your word on today . Thank you so much for just speaking into us to speak to everyone that has an ear to hear . Draw your people here .
We pray in the name of Jesus , even for the one , pray for everyone , god , but we just pray for that one that is truly growing and blossoming from This whole entire podcast . Well , we thank you so much for showing us and drawing us into the place where we are helping people To see the diamond that you have created .
¶ Discussion on Forgiveness and Unforgiveness
Father , we bless your name and we bless your people . We pray this prayer in the mighty and mattress name of Jesus Christ . We do pray . Amen , amen , and Man , that was a powerful word honey , all right now . Amen . So y'all , make sure y'all join us next week , amen , as we dive in a little bit deeper on forgiveness and versus Unforgiveness .
Amen , remember that's next week . Okay , we gonna be talking about forgiveness and unforgiveness . Amen . So Y'all be blessed . And courage , make sure you come back . Amen . Know that we're praying for you and we want to ask you to . Amen .