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S1: Today on Moody Presents with Mark Jobe, a strong caution for anyone unwilling to forgive. Here's Mark Jobe.

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S2: Forgiveness is acknowledging that what's been done to you is wrong. But just as your Heavenly Father has forgiven you, then you find the grace and the power to no longer hold that person in debt to their wrong.

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S1: Welcome to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. You know, here at Moody Presents, we have a growing number of Mark's messages, all archived online, along with a variety of other resources designed to help you find the passion and calling that God has placed in your life. So we'd love for you to go online and explore today. Visit Moody Presents dot Moody Presents. All right, now let's move forward with our series called Help My unbelief. Speaking to the Heart of Doubt, Mark explains why unforgiveness is more harmful to you than any harm caused you by the person you're unwilling to forgive. Our message starts now.

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S2: Some of you are here today and you cannot experience God, and you have not experienced his presence or felt his power. Not because God is not present, not because God doesn't love you, not because God is not reaching out to you, but because the channel through which the grace of God and the presence of God flows has been clogged up, bottlenecked. And although God is pouring it towards you, you cannot receive it because there's bitterness, unforgiveness, or anger that does not allow you to experience the fullness of God. You speak to God and he seems like he does not answer. You see other people that seem to be experiencing the presence of God, and you look at them and say, I wish I could feel God like they feel God. But your heart is numb. You don't feel the power. You don't hear his voice. You don't experience his presence. And you live with doubt in your heart wanting to believe. But still. Yet there's your challenge to believe, to, to really experience the presence of God. It's like. Well, it's like someone behind a thick dark glass. You think they're there, but you're not really sure. It's like that car that drives down the street and they have the tinted windows and you see the car driving and you figure, well, I guess there's someone in there, but I can't see them, I can't hear them. And many of us approach God that way. Why? Because the glass of communication has been fogged by hurt and bitterness and unforgiveness. And so although we want to experience God, we are unable to experience God because our heart has been clogged. The funnel Has been blocked by the power of unforgiveness. You say, well, pastor, how do I know if I have unforgiveness in my heart blocking me from trusting God? Well, I've discovered over the years that there's two main symptoms of people that are allowing unforgiveness to block their heart. One is shame and the other is bitterness. Shame is a refusal to receive forgiveness from others and from God to live under that cloud of our own sins, debt, and stigma. Shame is that sense that you're never worthy before God. That how could God ever love you, embrace you because you have so much garbage upon you? Uh, some people walk into an auditorium like this and they walk in and they're ashamed already before God. They feel the the stench of their past failures, and they view themselves full of guilt and trespasses. And it's hard for them to look to the heavens and believe that God would even want to talk to them, that God would even want to reach out. That God, the God of the universe, is so holy and pure, would ever want to touch you because you've never been able to fully receive the forgiveness of God, and you have shame upon you. You see, the only thing that disarms shame is repentance. Repentance is the acknowledgement of I have done wrong. I know I am stained, I know I'm flawed, I know I've made mistakes, and I acknowledge those. And what I need is forgiveness. The other symptom of people that are blocked because unforgiveness in their life is bitterness. Bitterness is the refusal to offer forgiveness to others, to expect and desire for people to live under the shame of their own sin and debt. And what disarms bitterness. Your forgiveness in community. You see, some people think that they're not angry anymore because you don't feel that volcano of anger. I was speaking to a young man recently and I said, I believe that you have anger in your heart. He said, no, I used to have a lot of anger, but I don't have it anymore. I said, no, you see, anger can take on two forms. It can take on rage, which is explosive. Um, that that flares up uncontrollable like a volcano. But often times if if unforgiveness and pain is not dealt with it. We don't live forever with this rage and it turns into something that's more sinister and its bitterness. Bitterness doesn't make you feel this rage, but it flows deep. It simmers inside of you. Bitterness is this. This simmering feeling of whoever has done wrong to me. I want them to pay for what they've done wrong. I want them to experience the pain and the shame, and I will never let them go. And I will never forget what they've done to me. And I will try to make them pay as much as I can. That's bitterness. Bitterness will consume you. Bitterness will take away your joy. Bitterness will cause you not to experience and feel the power of God. Bitterness will isolate you from everything. The. Every outreach that God tries to reach out to you, you will shun him, not hear him, not feel him because bitterness will shield you from the presence of God. That's why Jesus said, if you want to have faith to move mountains before you pray, to move mountains, before you believe that God can do the incredible. If you have anything against anybody and you know it in your heart, then first of all, go make things right and then come back and pray. Because if you have stuff in your heart and you go to pray, you won't pray with faith. You'll pray without. Forgiveness has the power to unplug the channel for God's grace and create an atmosphere of faith.

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S1: You're listening to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe. Our message is called Faith and forgiveness, and we're studying Mark chapter 11. If you'd like to hear this message again, or maybe you'd like to send a link to a friend who might need to hear this message series, you can do that easily online at Moody Presents. For our series is called Help My Unbelief. Speaking to the Heart of Doubt. And if you're looking for a resource to help you with the struggle against stubborn habits and who doesn't have a few of those, we have got the book for you by Doctor Erwin Lutzer. You've prayed. You've surrendered your sin to God, that nasty habit. But what do you do when you still can't shake those bad habits? Erwin Lutzer offers biblical, time tested guidance in how to say no to a stubborn habit. As you read, you'll encounter the three ground rules you must accept to truly change. The secret to doing away with tempting thoughts rather than rehearsing them. The roles of God, Satan, and even your loved ones in your success or failure. Best of all, as you read, you'll discover the grace, the courage and wisdom to step out of the past and into a more hope filled future. We're happy to send you a copy of How to Say No to a stubborn habit as our thanks for your gift of any amount in support of Moody Presents, you can give online at Moody Presents dot Moody presents.com, or you can phone in your gift at (800) 400-7022. Again, (800) 400-7022. You know, we love hearing from listeners like you. Learning how moody presents is impacting your life. And we occasionally share some of those emails, those letters on air. Martha from Bloomington, Indiana, writes, I'm giving to Moody Radio because you have given to me so much. I listened to Moody every day while working at my workshop, and I don't miss a day. I just felt led to give from my weekly allowance and wanted to do that now. So thank you so much for blessing many hearts, especially mine. Here's another from Redlands, California. Your messages help me tremendously. They're easy to understand and I could relate to them. Well, we give God the praise for all of that, including those lovely comments. And we're so thankful that you are listening that you're learning from the Bible here on Moody presents a reminder again to check out our monthly resource, How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit at Moody Presents. All right, now let's get back into the second half of Moody Presents. And here's Mark Jobe.

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S2: Mark 1125 and says, when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your father in heaven may forgive you. And what it doesn't state in this passage, but implied in this passage is when God forgives you. God also fills you with faith. You can't be filled with unforgiveness and be filled with faith. They are counterproductive. Your faith, your unforgiveness will will not leave room for faith. Now what is forgiveness? Well, forgiveness is this choice that we make a repeated choice to tear up debt incurred by being sinned against? Whether it's real, intentional, or unintentional. Do you understand that forgiveness is my choice to say, I will repeatedly release this person from the damage that they've done to me? The hurt that they've caused me. Forgiveness is not just one choice. You don't just forgive. You get an attitude of forgiveness because how many of you know people will continue to hurt you? How many of you know it's just not one time? Some people say, well, I forgave him last month. I don't know what happened to me. Let me tell you how it works. You forgive them, but you have to take the position of forgiveness towards that person because every time you think of what they did, it's easy to get offended again. And every time you see the consequences of what's been done, it's easy to get offended again. You come to the altar, you have a major prayer. You finally say, okay, I forgive my ex-spouse. There's still a jerk, but I forgive him. And then the next time the alimony payment doesn't come to you, all of that weight hits you again and you get re-offended again, and you come and you say, well, I thought I forgave them, but you know what I it's it's all back here again. You see, forgiveness is this ongoing attitude of I'm going to maintain an attitude of forgiveness towards those people that are hurting me or offending me. Why? Because they deserve to be forgiven. No. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is not minimizing what they've done. Forgiveness is not excusing what has been done to you. Forgiveness is not ignoring what's been done to you. Forgiveness is not forgetting what's been done to you. Forgiveness is acknowledging that what's been done to you is wrong. But just as your Heavenly Father. Has forgiven you, then you find the grace and the power to no longer hold that person in debt to their wrong. And you release them not because they deserve to be released, but because God has released you. And so you release those who have hurt you. Because if not, you keep yourself in debtor's prison. You see. What does forgiveness require? It requires faith. Let me tell you, you can't forgive someone on your own. You have to have faith. Why? Because it's an impossible task, a huge task. I love what commentator Wright says, he says. Perhaps not surprisingly, the disciples realize in verse five that all this will require more faith than they think they have. Jesus is quick to respond. It's not great faith you need. It's faith in God. And that's Luke chapter 17, verses five through seven. Listen to what it says. The apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted into the sea, and it would obey you. I have a lot of people that misunderstand this passage because they think they need to increase their faith. But you see, Jesus is not saying that your faith needs to be bigger. Jesus is saying all it requires is a little faith. Maybe this image is easier for you to see. You see, faith is seeing into the unseen world that which we cannot see. I like to think of it this way. Faith is like a hole, a peep hole into the unseen world. Now, if you look at those glass doors in the back, when the curtains are open, it's easy to walk by. And there's a big glass door and you can see what's in the foyer. But let's just say that it was all blocked off and all there was was a little door with a keyhole in it. Let me ask you, you may not be able to see clearly, but if you get down to the keyhole, all you need is a little hole to see into the unseen world. Isn't that true? Faith is that way. All you need is the keyhole the size of a mustard seed. And you can begin to see into the unseen world. That's all you need. Most people think I don't have enough faith in what God is saying is it doesn't require a lot of faith. It just requires a little faith to be a window into the unseen world. I will wrap it up with this. Listen to me today, because I've been thinking a lot about faith and why we believe and don't believe. I believe if you're here today and you don't know if God exists and you're an agnostic. An agnostic is a person that believes in a supreme being, but doesn't believe they can define or know who that is. An atheist is someone that doesn't believe in a supreme being. I just had a conversation with a very smart young lady this past week that looked at me and sat down and said, I want to talk to you. She said, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God. I believe that God is a crutch for weak people. I've been to Bible study classes. I've been around Christians, and I just have to say I. I don't need God to give me a purpose. I have my own purpose in life. I looked at this smart young lady and I said, can I ask you what you do believe in? She said, I believe in me. I said, do you believe in you? She said, I don't mean that in a bad way or egotistical way, but I believe in me. I, I said, I, I, I prayed in my mind, Holy Spirit, give me insight because I know it's a spiritual battle. I said to this young lady, and what happens when you disappoint you? Because when you fail, you and you will when you don't get into that college that maybe you applied for, when your grades aren't as high as you wanted it to be. When you make a mistake and you disappoint you, what will you do with that failure? Because I know a lot of people that believe in themselves, and when they fail themselves, they jump out of buildings. And I said, I believe that deep inside, every human being is a God shaped vacuum, as Plato said, and the Bible says that God has put eternity in our hearts, so that within every human being is this sense that God is there and somewhere, a deep voice inside of every human being says, God is real. You need him. 99% of the world believes in a Supreme Being and some God. If you go to the jungles of the Amazon, they believe in a supreme Being and a God. If you go to Africa, they believe in a God. If you go to Europe, they believe in a God. If you go to Asia, they believe in a God. They may worship other gods. But deep inside the heart of every man, of every woman, people that have not talked to each other, different cultures not communicated to each other deep within their being. All of humanity knows that eternity has been placed in our heart, and we know that there's something bigger, that there's something greater, that there is a Supreme Being, and our heart longs to know him. And I said to this young, intelligent girl, she just looked at me. I said to her, I believe that inside of your spirit, you know that there's a God and you want to know him. And your brain may say no, but your heart longs to know him. As she looked at me, tears just started pouring down her face, streaming down her face. And I said, can I pray with you? She said yes. And I prayed, oh God, this girl who in her head does not believe but in her heart knows that there is a God. I pray that you would somehow break through to her in such a way that you would reveal yourself to her, and I know that God is. Oh, she didn't give her life to Christ, but I believe she's on her way. So maybe you've listened to this message and you say, pastor, that's where I'm at. I'm on the margins of Christianity. I'm wrestling intellectually with, can I embrace the God of Scripture. And I want to just remind you that if God has been after you, I don't have to convince you. He has, because there's something in your soul that is, um, that hears the voice of the divine being called out to you. Something, a longing inside of you. It's a spiritual longing. It's something that we can't describe but that God has put there. You know it. If God has been after you because there's a vacuum in your heart, like Pascal said, and a calling to him that can only be described as the call of God. And I believe that God may be calling some of you that have never given your life to God, because maybe you've had intellectual arguments around evolution or the existence of God or the plurality of beliefs, but in your heart, you know, God is calling me, and I'm here to tell you that Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, came, died, and that the Spirit of God is calling you unto himself. And maybe you've been running and resisting, but I think the time is now. So if you're that person and you've struggled with doubts, but you know that God is calling you, it's time to cross the line of belief and say, Lord, I struggle with unbelief, but I cannot deny that your call upon my life. And so I'd like to pray with you. I believe that some of you need to surrender your life finally to God today and admit, yes, God, you are real. And I struggle with my doubts, but I'm ready to surrender my life to you. And if that's you, I want to pray with you right now. Father, I pray for that man, that woman that has struggled with unbelief. But today they are saying, God, in spite of my doubt, I know deep inside I can't explain it with my mind, but I know spiritually in my heart that you are real and that you're calling me. And today I believe in Jesus, the one who came, who died on that cross, the one who paid away so that I could have a relationship with my designer and creator. So I surrender to you. I cast my unbelief at your feet. I cast my intellectual resistance at your feet, and I say, I'm ready to come to you. Finally, I surrender to you today. Jesus, be the Savior and Lord of my life. I begin my journey as a follower of Jesus. Listen, if you've prayed that prayer, it's a prayer of repentance and belief. I want to encourage you to find a church, get into a Bible study, and even go to our website. I have a link of how to get started in your walk with God. I believe that some of you. This will be a life changing prayer for some of you that are finally crossing the line of saying, yes, I believe.

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S1: Thank you, pastor Mark. this is Moody Presents Trust. You've enjoyed today's message with our teacher, Mark Jobe. Discouragement. Defeat. Disappointment. These are common feelings when you and I struggle with stubborn habits. But there is hope. Doctor Erwin Lutzer, his book, How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit, will help you discover the biblical principles you need to break free for good with reflection questions in every chapter. This resource will guide you toward a more hope filled future, I guarantee it. You know, sometimes our biggest battles aren't with the world around us. They're with the habits that we just can't seem to break, right? And if you've ever felt trapped by patterns you know aren't good for you, then I want to send you a copy of How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit by Doctor Erwin Lutzer. The book offers genuine hope and time tested biblical guidance, and again, it's called How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit. Learn how to move beyond behavioral change and experience a lasting transformation of your heart and your attitudes. We're happy to send you a copy of this book, How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit, as our thanks for your gift of any amount. In support of Moody Presents, you can give online at Moody presents.org. That's Moody presents.org or phone in your gift to (800) 400-7022. That's (800) 400-7022. You know, our Moody Presents messages are all made possible due to the generous financial support of listeners just like you. And here's an idea maybe you'd like to consider becoming a part of our advanced team. That's the group that supports us every month. And today we're looking for more people across the country to join our team. If you'd like to help us spread the good news of Jesus, we would love to talk with you. Call us at (800) 400-7022 again to talk with us about becoming an advanced team member. Call 022. If you'd like to just send a one time gift in the mail, it's easy. Address that envelope to Moody Presents, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60,006 ten. That's Moody Presents. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60,006 ten. And again, you'll find us online at Moody presents.au. Well, that's about all the time we have today. I'm John Geiger inviting you to join us again next time. When Mark discusses faith and failure, we'll discover what Jesus had to say about both after his encounter with the woman at the well. We'll continue our series called Help My Unbelief. Speaking to the Heart of Doubt. Moody presents is a production of Moody Radio and a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.