Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the
Hopeful Perspective podcast.
I am your host, jason Hopkins.
To this point on the show, wehave traversed through my
personal story of suffering andhealing pain and purpose, as
well as our last time togetherexamined the biblical
perspective on suffering.
To summarize our journey so far, we have learned how my life
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story illustrates God's glorythrough my own experiences
moving from survivor to thriver,victim to victor.
The extent of my trauma wasindeed painful, yet God's
redemption and restoration in mylife was profound.
Having looked at the biblicalperspective on suffering and
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discussing the imperative thatJesus gave his followers to pick
up our cross and follow him, wewill explore today a second
command we were given asChrist's followers.
So I encourage you to grab yourfavorite snack, hot or cold
beverage.
Get comfortable and come onthis journey with me today as we
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explore the power and thefreedom found in forgiveness.
As a person who has overcomesignificant adversity, as well
as a biblical counselor whoworked with overcomers of their
own trials and tribulations, Ihave experienced some of the
most ugly and disgustingatrocities against fellow humans
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one can imagine of the mostugly and disgusting atrocities
against fellow humans one canimagine.
If you are current on thepodcast to this point, you can
attest that my life is packedwith opportunities to harbor
resentment and pain for the actsthat were committed against me.
However, as we sit togethertoday, I can, and with full
integrity, commit to you that Iexperience my day-to-day walk in
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full-fledged freedom, harboringno resentment towards those who
have harmed me.
The key that unlocked the doors, causing me to be free of anger
, hatred, resentment, etc.
Resentment, etc.
Is the same key that was usedto unlock the power of the cross
, the pain, the power of Calvary, as our innocent Savior was
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condemned to death.
This key is found in theprofound paradox of Matthew 6
and Matthew 18, the command thatJesus gave us to forgive other
people as he has forgiven us.
We should take a step back anddefine our terms a bit when
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discussing the power offorgiveness, since there are few
elements in our Christian walkthat are as significant and
sometimes as difficult to committo as forgiveness is.
We should seek to clearlyunderstand this command by our
Savior.
What does it mean to forgive?
We know in finance, forgivenessis the process where a creditor
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pardons a debtor from part orall of their outstanding debt.
In the same way, when weforgive another party, we are,
in essence, saying the debt theyincurred by harming us has been
pardoned and that they are nolonger required to pay us back.
In addition, by forgiving theother person, we are letting go
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of resentment and giving up anyclaim to be compensated for the
hurt or loss we have suffered.
Two crucial actions happen inthis.
We grant freedom to the otherperson as well as we receive
freedom from the resentment andthe pain that we experience.
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Jesus modeled and commanded thatwe follow his example to pick
up his cross and follow him.
He also modeled and commandedthat we follow his example to
pick up his cross and follow him.
He also modeled and commandedwe forgive as he has forgiven us
.
The power of Jesus' sacrificeon the cross was found in his
purchasing the debt that we oweddue to our sin and depravity
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depravity Jesus canceled ourdebt by forgiving us and, more
so, he paid the price whilerecognizing and even feeling the
weight and enormity of our sin.
In the passage of Luke 23, verse34, while Jesus is in the
process of being crucified, heuttered these words Father,
forgive them.
They know not what they do.
He was simultaneously cancelingthe debt of the very soldiers
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who were mutilating him andcasting lots for his garments,
as well as forgiving all ofmankind forever, who would be
guilty of sin, yet hopefullyrepenting, to the one who placed
their inequities on his ownbloody back.
To the one who placed theirinequities on his own bloody
back, the worst decisions ofyours and my own selfish
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depravity were forgiven at thatvery moment, whereas I deserve
to pay the full penalty of mysin and forever be separated
from God.
Jesus loved me enough to becomethe sacrifice that I needed to
make in order to forever besecure within God's presence.
I can barely utter these wordswithout becoming emotional.
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With God, the Father, being thecreditor and ourselves as the
debtor.
Our debts were paid for in full.
Colossians 2 puts it this way,in verses 13-15.
When you were dead in your sinsand in the uncircumcision of
your flesh, god made you alivewith Christ.
He forgave us all our sins.
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Having canceled the charge ofour legal indebtedness, which
stood against us and condemnedus, he has taken it away,
nailing it to the cross, andhaving disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a publicspectacle of them triumphing
over them by the cross.
Jesus purchased us, and thensome.
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He also disarmed the verylenders of our debt and, it says
he made a spectacle of them.
So we can see that the standardto which we are held to when it
comes to forgiving the debtothers owe us within their
personal transgressions.
If we are honest with ourselves, I can venture to say that we
have wondered about the variouslevels or depths of
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transgression.
And if we are called to forgiveanything and or everything Like
, what about the worst of theworst, the Hitlers, the Stalins,
the Mussolinis, the murderers,the rapists, the child abusers?
In other words, aren't therelimits to his forgiveness?
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And so then, should we placelimits on our own cancellation
of others' debts according totheir action?
I'll tell you what.
If you think there areexceptions, limits or other
conditions on God's forgivenessand His grace, I'd encourage you
to find the biblical basis forit.
I'll give you a freebie.
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The one unpardonable sin ortransgression is listed, and I
can hear some of you alreadysaying it now is blaspheming the
Holy Spirit.
So none of the things I listedabove are found in the limits to
God's grace and forgiveness.
I can tell you that, underneathmy own hesitation and even
unwillingness to forgive anotherperson, is the spirit of
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control and that of pride, thatis, of giving up control and
trusting God in His sovereigntyand His perfect justice.
We all have God's moral codewritten on our hearts and due to
this, we believe that equaljustice ought to be doled out
for equal crime.
This is an appropriate time toexplain what forgiveness isn't.
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Forgiveness does not mean thatyou condone the actions of the
perpetrator.
Forgiveness does not meanyou're required to be in
relationship with the offendingparty.
Canceling the debt does noteven mean that the person will
escape facing account for his orher actions, as we know that we
all will stand before a holyGod on judgment day, and we can
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agree that those who have notmade Jesus their Lord will
indeed face the full weight oftheir transgressions.
Forgiveness does not mean weare guaranteed to forget the
pain of our past.
Sometimes we have to forgive aperson for their actions again
and again and again, for oursake as much as theirs.
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Peter asked Jesus in Matthew 18how many times we are to forgive
someone, and then offers up hissuggestion that more than
doubled the requirement thatrabbis taught from the Old
Testament that one is to forgivethree times before
administering punishment.
So therefore, peter suggestedseven times.
What was Jesus' reply?
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He answered in a metaphoricalmanner 70 times, 7.
Essentially 490 times.
For you math geniuses, what wecan deduce is that we are to
forgive as many times as we needto.
As we read in Colossiansearlier, we can be reassured
that when we truly forgive ourtransgressor, that the power the
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enemy had over us is released.
We are relieved from the debt,the bind and, essentially, the
spiritual vow.
Most anyone who has walkedthrough this process of true
forgiveness can attest to thefreedom they experienced that
they wouldn't have perceivedbind and, essentially, the
spiritual vow.
Most anyone who has walkedthrough this process of true
forgiveness can attest to thefreedom they experienced that
they wouldn't have perceivedotherwise.
In my own life, there arecountless examples, experiences
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and opportunities that I havewith the power of Christ's
forgiveness.
As a result, I have deeplyexamined the subject of
forgiveness, as well asrestoration and even
reconciliation.
I consider these three conceptsto be key and related, yet they
are distinctly separate.
I find we often utilize theseterms interchangeably, thus
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being disappointed when ourexpectations are unmet.
This is why I am devoting thenext three episodes, starting
with this one, to unwrapping thetruth of each of these biblical
breakthroughs forgiveness,restoration and reconciliation.
That's right.
When we experience any of these, we see God's breakthrough in
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our life.
Forgiveness is the one that isa command, though, and I
personally find this is thestarting point before we can
experience the power found inrestoration, which is the
rebuilding and remaking of thatwhich has been affected, and
reconciliation, the reconnectionof a bond that has been broken
Again.
Forgiveness does notautomatically accomplish nor
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even lead to the other two, yetI have to trust the Holy Spirit
and His promptings as to what hewants to do in my relationships
that have been altered due tosin and brokenness.
As I have mentioned before, Iwas granted the divine
opportunity to sit down with mymother before her death and
fulfill this command to forgiveher.
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That was given to me literallythe day before.
If you remember, this wasbordering on the miraculous, as
I hadn't talked to her in over15 years, and so the thought of
this being able to take place inthe physical appeared
impossible.
Yet God showed off, and we wereon the phone with each other
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the next day and scheduling atime to get together.
My mother was an addict andstruggled with mental illness,
and so I didn't have unrealisticexpectations of my forgiving
her.
I didn't expect that we wouldall of a sudden operate in a
fully functional relationshipafter 20 years being separated.
I just knew I was to forgiveher for her part in my broken
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childhood, and so it happened assuch.
I'm not sure what it did in herexactly, but I know that for me
, my compassion for hersituation was increased tenfold.
I know it led to me praying forher more than I ever had, and
up to the day that I learned ofher tragic passing for her more
than I ever had.
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And up to the day that Ilearned of her tragic passing, I
knew that I was moved with thedeep, even healthy, grief that I
wouldn't have expected before.
God moved in my heart.
Forgiveness isn't just about thefreedom in the other person, as
it is also about the freedom inyour own spirit.
If you experienced abuse at thehands or the neglect of your
own family or parents, those whowere called to protect you,
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then you can probably empathizewith the pain and confusion, the
grief and the loss of yourrelationship with the
transgressing party.
My own life was marred withmother wounds the entire time I
was away from my mother, as itaffected each relationship that
I sensed was mothering me in anymanner.
As it affected eachrelationship that I sensed was
mothering me in any manner.
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I didn't understand the complexemotions I dealt with in the
multiple foster homes of my past, or the one-time complicated
relationship I had with myloving mother-in-law in my
present.
Yet the Holy Spirit was keen onleading me to the next steps in
the process of forgiving andbeing forgiven, and I've had to
undergo this process again,again and again.
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And you know something else Anyperson who has undergone
childhood trauma will tell youthat their only goal in
parenting kids of their ownsomeday is to shield them from
the similar experiences theyunderwent.
I just know that, as I haveparented three kids, all upper
teens now, I have been grantedwith multiple opportunities of
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asking for their forgiveness.
I have been gratefully capableof providing a safe home, for
the most part for my kids, yetthey have endured their own pain
of living with a father who hashis own PTSD as well as DID or
dissociative identity disorder.
I had to repent for my owntrusting myself over trusting
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Jesus as well, as I have had toopenly ask forgiveness of my
wife, their mother, of the areasthat she had to experience her
own pain due to mytransgressions.
I will go into more detail ofthis situation when I discuss
reconciliation in a coupleepisodes, but for today's sake
it is appropriate to state thatmy wife, following the heart of
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the father for my adulterousactions committed while I was
yet to be restored in my DID,was paramount in the restoration
of our marriage.
My shame and worthlessness, thepain of wounding her, were so
great because she not onlycanceled the debt I owed her and
chose to stand by me, eventhough she would have been fully
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justified in walking away.
Our marriage was made strongerbecause Christ was restored to
the center.
Through her humble grace for me, she showed me Christ Again.
The rest of that story will besaved for a later day, but I
believe this is a powerfulpicture of Christ's call to
forgive, as he is forgiven withno conditions.
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Now I want to share with you astory that is renowned the world
over for bringing God glorythrough this power of
forgiveness.
Some of you may have heard ofCorrie Ten Boom.
She was a woman well known forhiding Jews in her home during
World War II.
She was eventually caught andsent off to a concentration camp
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where she was forced to watchher father and sister die.
This is an excerpt from herbook the Hiding Place, which I
encourage all of you to read.
It was at a church service inMunich that I saw him, the
former SS man who had stoodguard at the shower door in the
processing center at Ravensbrück.
He was the first of our actualjailers that I had seen since
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that time.
And suddenly it was all therethe room full of mocking men,
the heaps of clothing, betsy'splain blanched face.
He came up to me as the churchwas emptying, beaming and bowing
.
How grateful I am for yourmessage, fraulein.
He said to think that, as yousay, he has washed my sins away.
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His hand was thrust out toshake mine, and I, who preach so
often to the people andBlomendahl the need to forgive,
kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengefulthoughts boiled through me, I
saw the sin of them.
Jesus Christ had died for thisman.
Was I going to ask for more?
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Lord Jesus, I prayed forgive meand help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggledto raise my hand.
I could not.
I felt nothing, not theslightest spark of warmth, nor
charity.
And so again I prayed, a silentprayer Jesus, I cannot forgive
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him.
Give me your forgiveness.
As I took his hand, the mostincredible thing happened From
my shoulder, along my arm andthrough my hand, a current
seemed to pass through me to him, while into my heart sprang a
love for this stranger thatalmost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it isnot on our forgiveness, any more
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than on our goodness, that theworld's healing hinges, but on
His.
When he tells us to love ourenemies, he gives, along with
the command, the love itself.
That's just a wow story.
Jesus does not compel us torely on our own capacity to love
our enemies.
He grants us his capacity tolove.
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This leads me to one of the mostdifficult people to forgive in
our life.
I have found it to be true thatthe perpetrators and offenders
in my life were not the hardestto forgive.
Surprisingly, no, the one thatI have the hardest time
canceling the debt of is theperson in the mirror.
The shame, the self-loathingand the lack of worth I had
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regarding myself for so manyyears has made it difficult to
forgive myself for personaldepravity.
Here is the core issue I havefound within this double bind.
When I forgive everyone aroundme but the person in the mirror,
I minimize and undermine thegrace and mercy granted in His
sacrifice on the cross, I givethe enemy power to utilize the
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lies I believe about myselfagainst myself.
And remember there are zeroconditions to forgiveness,
including that we are to receiveforgiveness for ourselves,
anything less than we are beingdisobedient to his command to
forgive.
So if you are having a difficulttime today in this area of your
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faith, I want to encourage youto spend time in an intentional
space where you converse withyour Savior.
Ask Him the root of these liesabout your worth.
Boldly inquire about what youhave been holding on to that
it's time to let go of, to giveHim control and permission to
restore.
I have found he is faithful toanswer the sincere impurity of
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our heart.
Then spend time not onlyforgiving others, but truly
forgiving yourself.
1 John says this if we confessour sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins andto cleanse us from all
unrighteousness, point blank.
We have spent some time lookingat a few of the spaces in the
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Word where we have beencommanded to forgive Matthew 6
and 18 and just now in 1 John.
Let's examine more of what Jesushad commanded in this area.
In Luke 6.37, he said Judge notand you will not be judged.
Condemn not and you will not becondemned.
Forgive and you will beforgiven Mark 11.25,.
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And whenever you stand praying,forgive if you have anything
against anyone, so that yourFather also, who is in heaven,
may forgive you your trespasses.
Luke 17.3-4.
Pay attention to yourselves.
If your brother sins, rebukehim, and if he repents, forgive
him.
And if he sins against youseven times in the day and turns
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to you seven times saying Irepent, you must forgive him.
Matthew 26, 28.
For this is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out
for many for the forgiveness ofsins.
Psalm 103, 10-14.
As far as the east is from thewest, so far does he remove our
transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion tohis children, so the Lord shows
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compassion to those who fearHim, for he knows our frame.
He remembers that we are dust.
Isaiah 1.18.
Come now, let us reasontogether, says the Lord.
Though your sins are likescarlet, they shall be as white
as snow.
Though they are red likecrimson, they shall become like
wool.
Ephesians 1.7.
In him we have redemptionthrough his blood, the
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forgiveness of our trespassesaccording to the riches of his
grace.
James 5.16.
Therefore, confess your sins toone another and pray for one
another that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteousperson has great power.
As it is working.
And Psalm 32, 5,.
I acknowledge my sin to you andI did not cover my iniquity.
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I said I will confess mytransgressions to the Lord and
you forgave the iniquity of mysin.
These are but a few of theverses in his love letters to us
, compelling us to forgive oneanother in our faith.
You may wonder how often thisoccurs in the scriptures.
The word forgiveness actuallyappears 15 times.
Forgive shows up 121 times andforgiven makes an appearance a
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total of 55 times.
And this is just a word studyon the word forgive.
As transliterated into English,the concept is far more
voluminous.
Do you think our Lord wasserious in his command to
forgive as he has forgiven?
I have been up front in mydiscussing the mission and
vision of this podcast as tohelp direct listeners, inquirers
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, the faithful alike and thoseinterested in learning about the
love of Jesus to develop yourperspective to be one of hope
that we cannot live a full lifeand fulfill all we are called to
be if we lack the hopefulperspective.
And there are fewer, morepowerful expressions of hope
than hearing that our lives wereaudited as being valuable and
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worthy enough for our Lord todie for.
We have all heard the gospelmessage in John 3.16 that God so
loved the world that he gavehis one and only son, that
whomever shall believe in himshall have eternal life.
God so loved us.
But how many of you know 1 John3.16?
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We know love by this, that helaid down his life for us and we
ought to lay down our lives forone another.
Uh, wait a minute.
Our sins being forgiven, ourlives being ransomed, that is
one thing, but we are to do thesame for others.
You see, what makes followingChrist different than most other
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religious faiths, if you will,is this call to forgive our
enemies, to lay our lives downand to serve one another.
Scripture says that being kindto our friends is one thing, but
turning the other cheek andshowing love to our enemies,
that is radical love.
That is crazy hope.
We demonstrate His love andwalk in this power when we are
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faithful to forgive one another.
And the reverse of this is true.
We nullify His power andundermine His plan when we hold
on to our burdens and takecontrol of our grievances.
So where are you today?
Are you still holding on tocontrol and allowing the enemy
to occupy space in your mind andyour life where Jesus wants you
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to free and display his gloryto others.
Have you said yes to Jesus andasked forgiveness for your sins
that have separated you fromknowing God's love?
For those of you that have notyet taken this step, I want to
give an assist by suggestingthat you pray from your heart
something similar as this LordJesus, I repent of my sins and
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surrender my life.
Wash me clean.
I believe that Jesus Christ isthe Son of God, that he died on
the cross for the forgiveness ofmy sins and rose again on the
third day for my victory.
I believe that in my heart andmake confession with my mouth
that Jesus is my Savior and myLord, and I will follow Him all
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the days of my life, and it's inHis name I pray, amen.
If you have today agreed withthis prayer from the depths of
your heart, I welcome you to theeternal family of God.
I encourage you to find anorthodox, biblical-based faith
family who worships the Lordpassionately.
Also, devote yourself to thereading of the scriptures.
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As you can tell, there is somuch to gain from living this
new life, and his guidance isfound in his love letters, the
Bible, to us.
I'm not sure about you, but Ifor one choose love and
self-sacrifice to forgive and beforgiven.
I make errors and fall short onthe daily, yet I commit to
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making sure my side of thestreet is cleansed and that I
seek forgiveness and showhumility where it is merited,
and I am freely willing toforgive those who have.
Next time on the HopefulPerspective podcast, we will
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discuss the concept ofrestoration.
What does it mean when we readthat we are to be transformed by
the renewing of our mind?
Is there even a biblical basisor mandate to have our life
changed or renewed or restoredonce we find Jesus?
How has this been true in mylife and how does it compare or
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contrast with secular therapythat leads to change?
These are but some of thequestions and principles I will
address next time on the HopefulPerspective.
Until then, I want to thank youfor joining me along this
journey and, if you would be sokind to follow, subscribe and,
most importantly, to rate andwrite a review for others who
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may need the hopeful perspective.
I really appreciate that.
Now you can contributemonetarily by pressing our
support the show link that isembedded on your platform in the
episode descriptions.
All of your contributions areutilized to grow the podcast, to
broaden our reach and to sharethe hope of Christ.
For example, you may have heardthat our next step would be to
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purchase a second mic,headphones and necessary
equipment so as to haveinterviews with others who have
experienced hope amidst theirtrials.
I want to shout out mygratitude to the multiple new
donors who already have madethis commitment to support the
podcast financially.
Without you, it would not bepossible to reach as many people
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with the message of hope thathave lived lives as difficult
and dark as I have, or anyonewho needs to be reminded that
hope is indeed real.
So thank you so much in advanceand until next time, remember
you are loved.