Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220060A
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00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn. 01:09 I'm J.D. Quinn. 01:10 And we are so glad that you are joining us today for 3ABN Today 01:14 and I'm just going to start off reading something before we 01:19 introduce our guest. Is your journey through life blocked by 01:24 unresolved pain, abuse, or scars from the past, that won't heal. 01:29 Perhaps you long to be free and you're urgently asking God to 01:34 heal your brokenness. Well if that's you or if you know anyone 01:41 to whom that would apply give them a call now because we've 01:47 got our good friend here with us today and we're excited that 01:51 he's back at 3ABN and he's written a beautiful book, a book 01:56 of healing called Forever Free. Let me introduce our special 02:00 guest. Pastor Steve Nelson from the Rocky Mountain Conference 02:04 Hallelujah. 02:06 It's amazing to be back. You know it just seems like time 02:08 just went from years to we're here now It's like we never left 02:14 You worked here at 02:16 3ABN for a number of years. How long have you been gone? 02:20 So we were here about four years maybe a little more. Then we 02:24 started a ministry here in Illinois and we've been gone 02:30 almost 14 years now. 02:31 God is just so wonderful that when you're good friends and I 02:37 saw Samantha, your precious wife and you and it's like there's 02:41 been no time elapsed. It's so interesting. But we do stay in 02:46 touch so...We're glad to have you back. 02:48 Steve and I used to have some great great conversations. Some 02:52 of the better times in my life you know. We'd sit and we'd talk 02:56 and go to deep places you know. 02:59 I miss those days too J.D. 03:01 I certainly do. 03:03 So now in the Rocky Mountain Conference you have how many 03:06 churches? 03:08 Three or four churches. We're in the northern part of Wyoming. So 03:12 we're near the Montana border actually. That's where Samantha 03:15 and I live. We live at the foot of the Rockies there. We have 03:19 two dogs and a horse and pasture land and we're living as close 03:24 to paradise as you're going to get if you love the mountains. 03:27 Well we're just glad that you're with us today and we just want 03:32 to welcome every one of you at home that are watching. We're 03:36 going to get into the story of this book. It's a Bible story 03:42 and we will find out where is God when bad things happen, why 03:49 me and find out how you can be cut free from the bonds of the 03:56 past. But first we're going to have some music. 03:58 We're going to have some music and this group really blesses I 04:03 think all of us. This is the Message of Mercy, is their 04:08 name, Message of Mercy and they're going to be singing 04:09 Total Praise. 04:13 ♪ Lord I will lift mine eyes to the hills ♪ 04:26 ♪ Knowing my help is coming from You ♪ 04:40 ♪ Your peace you give me in time of the storm ♪ 04:54 ♪ You are the source of my strength ♪ 05:00 ♪ You are the strength of my life ♪ 05:09 ♪ I lift my hands in total praise to you ♪ 05:21 ♪ Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen ♪ 05:59 All right such beautiful harmony We love to hear them. And I like 06:07 A capella singing. It's just beautiful. We thank Message of 06:10 Mercy and I think most of those gals are from Tennessee. But 06:14 Thank you so much joining us today. Today we are looking at 06:19 how God transforms lives. How He heals broken people and sets 06:27 them forever free. And if you have your Bible you may want to 06:31 get it and open to John chapter 8 because our special guest 06:36 today is Pastor Steve Nelson from the Rocky Mountain 06:39 Conference and Steve, from his own brokeness and experience of 06:45 some problems he and his wife went through has written a book 06:49 titled Forever Free. And this is based on John chapter 8 the 06:54 woman caught in adultery. So let me just start with the obvious 07:00 question. What prompted you to write the book? 07:04 That's a really good question. This kind of a topic doesn't get 07:09 preached about a lot. We have a lot of good sermons we can 07:14 preach on Jesus' life and prophecy, but getting down into 07:17 the reason why people get abused or you know the traumas we face 07:22 in life doesn't really get talked about as much as it 07:27 should. So Samantha and I went through our own path of...well 07:31 the devil tried to hurt us in many ways, and we'll talk about 07:35 that in a moment but out of that came sermons that I started 07:39 preaching. And we hear people say I really needed to hear that 07:43 because they questioned where is God? Why wasn't He there? Why 07:47 didn't He stop this? Those kind of questions. I asked those 07:50 questions. And so it came out of that experience and wanting 07:53 other people to know, this is what God did for us, this is 07:56 what He did for me. And I think He can help you through this as 08:00 He has helped us. So this story is a perfect example of 08:05 someone caught in abuse, can't get out of it and then what does 08:10 God do through that whole process. What does Jesus do? 08:13 And if you can see Him there in this story, through His eyes 08:16 these experiences it gives you hope, gives you faith. 08:20 Yes, Yeah. So I know that...and we will get into it. Don't mean 08:24 to just be teasing your here but you and your wife Samantha, I 08:28 want to call her Sam because that's what I call her, you went 08:34 through a very difficult time. She was groomed, she was abused 08:36 it was certainly an upset in your relationship. But let's 08:46 speak to, because there are people out there right now that 08:50 I know you're going through things and sometimes when people 08:52 are going through when someone else has...You've been 08:57 vulnerable to an attack from someone, you wonder where is 09:02 God? Why didn't God intervene? Can you just touch on that Steve? 09:07 So you look at that first verse in John chapter 8. (Okay) It 09:12 says everyone went home but Jesus went to the Mount of 09:15 Olives. See this is the segue into a story that's going to be 09:20 very dramatic. And the question that came out of this as I was 09:23 reading this passage and studying is like wait a minute. 09:27 This woman is going to be in serious trouble and Jesus seems 09:31 to be off in the other corner of the city. He's not even in the 09:35 city actually. He's away and that's how God seems to people 09:39 when they are going through crisis, like He is a million 09:42 miles away across the universe and He doesn't care. Is that 09:47 really what's going on? Of course we know if you follow 09:50 through the story, the book will start to go into that, that 09:54 experience...Jesus is being persecuted Himself through most 09:57 of His ministry. He understands the heart of someone who's being 10:01 persecuted. He understands abuse because He was abused. We know 10:04 that. And so He goes to the Mount of Olives. What is he 10:07 doing in the Mount of Olives? 10:08 Praying I'm sure. 10:10 He's praying. We know He spent many nights in prayer. And so 10:14 being God and know that God knows what's going to happen 10:17 tomorrow I would put it to you that I believe He is going to 10:21 pray for not only what He needs to do but for this woman that's 10:25 going to be brought before Him. He knows what He's going to have 10:29 to deal with. Praying for wisdom from His Father because as our 10:33 example and substitute He depended on His Father. He's 10:36 placed Himself in that place. And so that's what He's going 10:40 through. Preparing for the trial that you're going to face. So it 10:45 doesn't take Him by surprise. It may seem to in the story but He 10:48 is aware of what's going to happen. So we're beginning to 10:53 recognize that God knows what you're going through. God 10:56 understands the experiences you're facing and God is getting 11:01 ready to help you through whatever you're going through. 11:02 You know to me I think about this because I've been through 11:07 a number of things in my life as well but God created us with 11:12 free will. And He created us with free will because He knew 11:17 that love cannot be forced, that He wanted us to choose Him, but 11:24 He put a protective boundary. He kind of, well not kind of, He 11:31 limited Himself when He said I'm not going to not going to 11:34 cross over this boundary of free will. And so some of this free will 11:40 comes into this when we end up in situations. But what...Did 11:49 you ever ask Why me? Did Samantha ask why me? That's what 11:54 I hear so many people say is not only where is God but why me God 12:00 That's another good question, Shelley. It's another chapter in 12:05 the book. They kind of meld together in some respects 12:10 because when you wonder why God doesn't stop something bad from 12:14 happening to you you're also wondering why you were picked 12:17 for something bad to happen to you. If you walk through the 12:20 story of the woman caught in adultery we know that they 12:23 caught her. We know that that whole experience we could take 12:29 a lot of time unraveling that how they knew where she was, how 12:33 they figured out what they wanted to do, how they knew to 12:36 bring her to Christ and all that whole experience. She's a victim 12:40 It was well orchestrated, well planned. 12:42 It was set up. 12:44 Total meticulously figured out how do we get this person, how 12:49 do we bring her to Jesus. You know. So there was a lot of 12:52 barriers crossed in that. 12:53 It was not just a setup for her I mean they were using her as a 12:58 pawn to set Him up weren't they? Do we want to read a scripture 13:02 So if you go to the next chapter we can begin and you look at 13:06 John chapter 8 verse 2. It talks about it's early in the morning, 13:10 Jesus goes to the temple. The people are gathered around. He 13:13 begins to teach them. And that talks about where Christ is when 13:18 He is going to face this trial. And then we see in chapter 3... 13:24 Verse 3. 13:25 Verse 3 chapter 3 says the teachers of the law... 13:26 Oh you're talking about the book chapter 3. We're in 13:29 John chapter 8. 13:30 That's correct. So the chapters pretty well parallel the...(OK) 13:34 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees they bring this woman 13:38 they brought this woman who had been caught committing adultery 13:40 and they made her stand before them all. You see that the whole 13:46 scene is a setup. He's in the temple. She's in a place where 13:51 she shouldn't be. Why she's there that question is not 13:59 answered but a lot of people were caught in similar 14:01 circumstances. (Yeah) And He's not...How Jesus deals with her 14:05 is something that we as Christians need to grapple with 14:10 when we see people who are not faithful to God. How do we 14:15 relate to people who come from extreme circumstances? This is a 14:18 very delicate subject for the church then and it still is 14:21 today. You know adultery is not something you are proud of, well 14:25 at least not in the church and we should not be really, but 14:29 it's reality, it's what happens to people, it's what's going on 14:32 in our world. Our world propagates that in many respects 14:35 And so here she is. She's caught and what's going to take place 14:39 to her? If you wanted to read some of the book the chapter 14:46 begins talking about that experience when she's brought 14:48 into, in chapter 3, into the temple. And it begins there if 14:54 you look at chapter 3, it's on page 25 and it begins by talking 14:59 about her experience and Jesus' experience. 15:03 You want to read a little? 15:05 So suddenly the solemnity of the reverent temple atmosphere is 15:09 interrupted. Picture that. Jesus is speaking and it's all going 15:14 to change instantly. Loud voices break through the peaceful and 15:18 stillness. A riotous commotion is heard as a boisterous and 15:23 abusive or abrasive men, leaders in the church move quickly 15:27 toward Jesus parading their helpless victim. Heartlessly 15:30 they bring the terror stricken woman into the sacred presence 15:33 of God. With undeniable disgust, contempt and disdain clearly 15:39 seen in their eyes they march boldly before Him. 15:43 Hit the pause button for just a second because we want to set 15:47 this up. This woman when they said caught in adultery, this 15:51 was a setup. When they went in and yanked her out of bed 15:56 and they probably didn't let her have more than a robe to throw 16:00 around her or something, but she could...The penalty for adultery 16:07 was to be stoned to death. So this woman must have been 16:16 frightened beyond belief and suddenly to be brought 16:22 disheveled just with you know whatever she threw on to cover 16:27 herself. To be brought into the temple, wow! I mean to be 16:34 brought out in the courtyard of the temple that's something. 16:38 They wanted to shame her and they wanted to manipulate Jesus 16:41 in a way that they think that they can basically take him out 16:45 of ministry. We have heard experiences over the years in 16:50 ministry where similar type situations have happened sadly 16:54 in some churches someone has committed adultery and the 16:57 church says stand up in front of the church and tell everyone 17:01 your sin and you're sorry. Those things still happen today. As 17:06 I'm speaking I know that there have been victims who've had 17:08 that experience. And the devil doesn't change his mode or 17:13 operation if he can get away with it. The reality is though 17:15 this terror-stricken woman her experience is something that she 17:22 really doesn't have an answer for. The victims who stand up in 17:25 the church they don't really have an answer for it. (Of 17:27 course not) But God has a way to deal with that and this book 17:32 helps us navigate through that situation because what Jesus 17:37 does is a model for us and how she is going to go through it 17:41 how other victims have gone through abuse. 17:43 So how do you answer when somebody says why me? 17:50 Well if you follow the narrative what you find out is that there 17:57 are things that are happening in her life that parallel many 18:01 victims of abuse. So if we went into our own personal story you 18:06 know...My wife as a young girl was abused emotionally, 18:12 physically, sexually and you know coming out of a non 18:16 Christian home, having those experiences there's really no 18:22 simple easy way to navigate and say well it's just because x,y,z 18:26 We live in a sinful world. We know that. We know that bad 18:29 people are going to always do evil things. And we know that 18:33 even though all this is taking place around us, I mean, 18:36 human trafficking is a horrendous crime today that 18:40 seems to be taking place in front of everyone's eyes. The 18:42 victims are in the hundreds of thousands in the United States 18:45 alone every year and people there are asking 18:48 the same question, why me? Well 18:50 if we could put an answer to why evil happens then we could 18:54 eliminate the problem of evil, right? But evil happens because 18:58 the author of evil continues to do evil. So the simple answer is 19:02 God is allowing something to take place but is that His will 19:06 for you? (Yeah) We know that's not true. This story will unfold 19:11 that His will is different than that. But every victim has to 19:15 come to the realization that is I live in a planet that's evil, 19:21 run by evil people in many respects and being on this place 19:26 things can happen. If I stay focused on that only I'll never 19:31 get healing, I'll never get beyond the experiences. 19:34 And so the next step is to realize this is why it happened 19:38 because of evil but what's going to happen to me or what do I get 19:42 to do because of the choices that I'm going to make. 19:46 Amen. Now we are walking through the story of John chapter 8 19:51 which is the woman caught in adultery as we discuss Steve 19:57 Nelson's book. Pastor Nelson has written this titled Forever Free 20:03 And it is all about the story of the woman caught in adultery and 20:10 it has...You know you've had a ministry for a long time to help 20:14 people who've been abused who've been groomed even to end up in 20:23 an adulterous situation. But I just praise God that you've put 20:30 this down in a book that comes highly recommended for this. So 20:34 let's just kind of continue. You've hit on the first couple 20:40 of chapters but let's look at John chapter 8 and verse 4 says: 20:47 After these scribes and Pharisees who've set this up 20:52 and they bring the woman and throw her down at His feet, then 20:58 verse 4 says Teacher, this is what they're saying to Jesus 21:01 This woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 21:11 Chapter 4 of your book is called Right Place, Wrong Time. Tell us 21:17 about that title. 21:19 So about 24 years ago Samantha and I had been out of the church 21:26 for a period of several years. There had been a pastor that 21:31 we had um been very fond of. He had rebaptized me. He had moved 21:39 because he was actually a fallen minister. And at the time we 21:45 didn't understand the whole circumstances. He told us he 21:47 didn't so what they had accused him of. So we were worshiping at 21:54 another location with him. Then he moved across country and so 21:57 we were without a shepherd as it were. So we just kind of went 22:02 through the motions Sabbath. We would go to the beach and things 22:06 like that. And so we came back to church and in that whole 22:09 process we started to realize some things that we didn't know 22:17 before. Samantha had an experience where her stepfather 22:20 had a birthday party. He had touched her inappropriately and 22:24 it triggered something from the past and so she's like what do I 22:27 do with this. And we talked about it and said well I need to 22:31 get some counseling to kind of try to navigate through this. 22:33 What does the Bible say? So we went to our Pastor for that 22:38 spiritual counsel. We didn't know that this was actually a 22:41 wolf in sheep's clothing. 22:44 The pastor was a wolf in sheep's clothing? 22:46 Yeah. Another wolf I should say. So that was a process, a 22:51 grooming process that took place the counseling that (He grooms 22:56 her) He groomed her. It was prior to this, we started going 23:00 to church and we started having Bible studies with him at 23:02 his house and friendship develops. 23:05 You know he was about a father's distance in 23:09 age from her, 27 years older, so they were...that relationship 23:15 was developing for her and for me as well. And so through that 23:19 whole grooming process once this experience happened with her 23:23 stepfather, he was the one that we naturally went to and didn't 23:28 know that...what we found out later because he told her from 23:33 the very first day that we stepped in the church he said I 23:35 set my sights on you. So he had this planned, used her 23:41 vulnerability used all of that emotional pain from the past 23:45 drew that all out of her and at the most vulnerable moment when 23:50 you're dealing with that does something that's horrendous. It 23:55 fits well with the woman in the experience of the woman in the 23:57 story. She doesn't get into that situation without them knowing 24:02 that she's there. Probably very likely if she's been serially 24:06 abused which the story seems to allude that they know a lot of 24:10 information. If you look at that community how close they are 24:13 and how things operate in the Jewish community back then, the 24:17 Jewish church she very likely has had other abusers. And so 24:24 she understands this, Jesus understands this. Our situation 24:29 started to open our eyes to see what was going on, how someone 24:34 could use their sacred calling in a way to take advantage of 24:38 someone's trust. That's how she's here. That's why they're 24:43 bringing her to Jesus. The book goes into stories in the Old 24:48 Testament, one is Tamar and Tamar's experience is another 24:53 victim. Her brother Amnon has lustful thoughts toward her and 24:57 he sets up a situation, manipulates her. She's 25:00 trusting. She believes he's a brother that cares for her. In 25:05 fact David kind of orchestrates the whole thing, her father and 25:08 he doesn't have a clue what's going on. She comes into his 25:12 house, makes the cake for him, he kicks everybody out and he 25:14 abuses her and her life is destroyed and she's asking that 25:19 why me question and yet how does God orchestrate through that? 25:22 The chapter ends with a very interesting side note to that 25:28 In the book of Chronicles God is listing all of David's 25:33 children and right at the end he throws Tamar into the equation 25:36 telling this because He notices, He knows, He cares. So that's 25:40 how it all opens up for what's going on here. Jesus is dealing 25:45 with this. She's in the right place at the church, but at the 25:48 wrong time because of what's happening to her. And they're 25:52 destroying her whole church experience really. 25:55 Really, absolutely. Let's look at verse 5 of chapter 8. Now 26:03 these are the scribes and the Pharisees who are still speaking 26:06 to Jesus and I really, you know, they've set her up to try to 26:12 trap, entrap, Jesus. So what they say is...Okay she's been 26:16 caught in the act. In verse 5, Now Moses in the law commanded 26:22 us that such should be stoned. What do you say? So they're 26:31 going to pit him. They know how compassionate and loving Jesus 26:34 is and they're trying to prove that He's not going to keep... 26:40 I don't think they expected Him to do anything. But they're 26:43 trying to set up evidence against Him. So here we've got 26:47 they are your chapter 5 of the book Forever Free. I love this 26:54 title for the chapter. Judge, Jury and Executioner. So they've 27:01 made that judgment, they've pronounced her guilty and 27:05 they're ready for Jesus to call on her to be stoned. 27:09 So how does this all fit with this chapter? 27:12 If we left a little bit out the chapter before this talks about 27:18 David's experience. Because you know what he did. He was the 27:22 ultimate abuser himself. He takes a man's wife and he abuses 27:27 her. A lot of people have called it romance but the scripture 27:30 here with the experience that we're going to see doesn't 27:32 reveal that. So Nathan comes to David right here in this chapter 27:36 So we're talking about judge, jury, executioner. He tells 27:40 David you know God knows what you did and he's displeased with 27:43 what you did. Of course... 27:44 Abuse of power. This is the king Called the woman to his... 27:49 Yeah, okay. 27:51 Exactly. And so he uses the beautiful story of the man who 27:55 has everything and his neighbor's got nothing. He takes 27:58 the lamb from the guy and kills it and eats it and of course 28:01 David the shepherd his heart is awakened to this whole poor 28:04 victim lamb. And of course then Nathan turns to David, 28:09 That's you. And his heart's broken. It tells us that you 28:14 know you did this evil thing and God was displeased with what you 28:18 did. And David all of a sudden realizes I'm guilty of what I've 28:25 done, God saw it, God knew it, God is telling me what I did 28:28 that was wrong and he has instantly a conversion 28:32 experience or the beginning of the conversion experience that 28:34 puts David in the place of serious repentance. Now J.D. 28:40 you've had many conversations. You and I talked over the years 28:43 of people going through that and you get that. It's something 28:46 that has to be experienced at a heart level. 28:51 And sometimes you know all you can do is listen because the way 28:57 that the Lord loves us, it's the enemy's beating us up but the 29:03 Lord is always right there you know to counteract that and the 29:07 way we're programmed it seems like the guilt itself can beat 29:11 you up. And so it's a tough situation and sometimes the best 29:18 thing you can do is just to listen with your compassion and 29:23 don't be pointing fingers at them yourself. 29:26 Yeah, very true. So the chapter kind of ties in Bathsheba's 29:32 experience with the woman caught in the temple. She was a victim 29:36 too. You know people said why didn't she say no? All of those 29:40 questions come into play but that's easy to say when you're 29:43 not in that position, when you're not the victim. 29:46 You know I was talking with someone just the other day and 29:50 they said...It was a situation where a pastor of another 29:55 denomination had an affair with the woman and they said well she 30:00 was equally responsible. And we're not trying to point 30:06 fingers and be judge, jury and executioner here. Here's the 30:09 point that people sometimes don't realize. When you go to 30:14 counseling. If I'm a woman and I come to J.D. Quinn for 30:19 counseling and I'm saying oh my husband never listens to me, he 30:21 pays no attention to me, I've got these issues from my past 30:25 dah, dah, dah and you've got someone who's sitting there and 30:28 their being very attentive and they know what buttons to push 30:34 and if someone has an evil intent and they're grooming 30:40 someone who is vulnerable and going through counseling it's 30:46 like you're being set up and I don't see it as equal. To me 30:53 there's nothing worse than a pastor having an affair with 30:57 someone he's counseling. 31:00 No, I agree. Equality doesn't exist on those levels. In fact, 31:03 in the story the Bible tells us the thing that David did 31:08 displeased the Lord. So it didn't say the thing that David 31:12 and Bathsheba did. It said the thing that David did. So God 31:15 understood the power imbalance. God understood the 31:18 responsibility was in David's court. God understood that 31:21 Bathsheba was a victim of what David did. And so we have to 31:26 keep that in mind for victims of abuse especially. They need to 31:30 hold onto the reality that you know yes we do have choices 31:36 going forward but what's happened to us we didn't always 31:39 have a choice. And so the woman in the temple had that 31:43 experience she was dragged before Jesus. Bathsheba had that 31:45 experience. She was manipulated into committing adultery in 31:50 whatever way we don't know. David was...He had many wives so 31:53 he knows how to finesse women, he knows how to seduce. He's a 31:57 king, he knows how to execute power and he knows how to put 32:00 pressure so he's got all of those skills that she doesn't 32:03 have and this is what brought her to that victimhood. This is 32:07 what's happened to a lot of people who have been abused, 32:09 same experience. 32:11 And we see how it made God feel there. Let's look at how it 32:14 makes God feel. In John chapter 8 and we're going to your 32:18 chapter 6 of Forever Free, the title of your book. Chapter 6 is 32:25 How Does God Feel, So I'm going to read verses 6 and 7. So 32:31 here they've thrown the woman down in front of Him and said 32:34 hey Moses said she should be stoned, what do you say? And 32:38 then this is what Jesus said: This they said testing Him that 32:44 they might have something with which to accuse Him. But Jesus 32:51 stooped down and He takes his finger and He writes on the 32:58 ground as though He did not hear So when they continued asking 33:03 Him He raised Himself up and said to them. He who is without 33:09 sin among you let him cast the first stone. So tell us what 33:14 He's doing when he hears... They're throwing this at him. 33:19 They're trying to catch Him. Here's this terrified woman at 33:22 His feet. What's He doing when He writes in the dust? 33:27 So this is a beautiful picture of Jesus. We know this from the 33:33 Biblical narrative. There's only a few times that God actually 33:35 writes. The 10 commandments we know is one time. Up there high 33:40 in that mountain, powerful creator of heaven and earth is 33:43 portraying His justice system and His will for humanity. And 33:48 then here we see that a woman is brought accused of breaking that 33:52 law that He wrote in stone. And somehow now He's writing again. 33:57 You know, in the ground here. This story give us an insight 34:02 into how God deals with us when we fall short of His perfect 34:06 plan. It tells us He's a God of mercy. He's given an 34:13 opportunity for those who are accusing her to start to think 34:15 about what they're doing here. We don't know what He wrote in 34:19 that ground so. He didn't write I don't think you know 2 p.m., 34:24 Motel 6, room 3, you know. He wrote something that they knew 34:27 that that was them by the story narrative anyway. And so... 34:31 Well I thought maybe He was writing down some list of sins 34:35 and they're looking and going oops I'm guilty of that, oops 34:38 I'm guilty of that one. 34:40 The oldest leave, then the younger go so they probably had 34:43 more things that He could write about for one and He put the 34:46 responsibility on those who probably orchestrated this 34:50 entire event. 34:52 So He says to them...This is such a great sentence in verse 7 34:56 He who is without sin among you let him throw a stone at her 35:03 first and then He stoops down and writes on the ground. So 35:10 through His eyes, He doesn't see one sin worse than others. He's 35:18 looking at all of them and knows they all need compassion and 35:22 mercy and forgiveness doesn't He 35:24 Yeah. This chapter for me brought back an experience that 35:31 I went through. Because you asked the question how does God 35:33 feel about all this stuff that's going on. How does He feel about 35:36 the pain that I'm suffering because if God doesn't identify 35:39 with your pain J.D. you know it's kind of hard to identify 35:42 with Him. You kind of see Him off as the one who's watching 35:46 right, but you don't see Him as being personally connected to 35:50 you. And we went through this experience that unfolds in this 35:54 chapter of course that as we were coming out of the abusive 35:58 situation and our marriage is on the rocks it doesn't seem like 36:01 it's never going to end. The pastor's just continually... 36:06 He's stalking Samantha and all kinds of crazy things he's doing 36:10 and she's confused with... 36:13 You got betrayed on two levels too. You felt betrayed by him. 36:17 You probably didn't understand even with Samantha as well as 36:20 you understand this now, right? 36:22 Yeah, I mean, we've all grown in our experiences since then and 36:25 years later you can look back and it's very clear going 36:29 through it, the emotional trauma and pain. Imagine you going to 36:32 church and you sit there and you look at the pastor who's abusing 36:35 your wife. You know it's just a dynamic she's got to listen to 36:39 the guy who's manipulating her from the pulpit. But we came to 36:42 a breaking point and the story starts to go allude to that 36:46 experience of us. I thought it was over. It was a very heart 36:52 wrenching experience. Pleading with God Stop This you know. 36:57 And He doesn't seem to be stopping it. Years later God 37:02 me a better insight into this experience. We were now here at 37:06 3ABN. In fact, a little while ago I went back to my old office 37:11 there and I went to the bathroom there where I used to go and 37:16 pray personally with God. Kind of my prayer closet up there in 37:19 the corner. And our dog we had for many years we brought with 37:23 us. Well she had a stroke when we were out here. She's 13 years 37:27 old and she was like our baby. You guys understand that with 37:29 your two babies. And she was our child. We didn't have children 37:35 ourselves. She was getting very sick and I remember going up 37:38 there and saying God do I have more time? Is this it? And He 37:42 impressed upon my mind you still have some more time. So the 37:46 chapter walks through her final experience with us. How we had 37:49 to take her and at 16 years old she had multiple strokes. She 37:55 was dying, and take her and put her to her final rest. And 37:59 looking at her on that table and realizing you know this is... 38:04 we're going to lose everything and I'm sitting there at that 38:07 time thinking God you know... people may look at this and go 38:10 this is crazy but for a pet lover you get it. God if I could 38:13 take her place I'll do it. You know because the doctor's going 38:18 to put that final injection in her. Now I can hear him still 38:21 saying you know I'm going to count to three and it's all over 38:24 And he says those words, one, two, three, and she's gone. The 38:30 next day I was driving back to work here, over the weekend so 38:34 it's Monday, that was a Friday. And God spoke to me very clearly 38:38 to my heart. He says, Steve you remember that experience that 38:41 you were going through back then Because what I had done is I'd 38:45 asked God to give me a greater insight into His character, His 38:48 love for me. I think was all need that. It's a good question 38:51 to ask but it's a dangerous one to ask. And He says how do you 38:54 think I felt when my Son was on that cross? And then all of a 38:59 sudden it came clear. You know it'd been easier for me to be on 39:02 that cross than for Him to be on that cross. God watches you, His 39:06 child going through the most painful, horrific experiences in 39:09 your life and He says it would be easier for me to go through 39:13 it but I'm with you through the trial. I'll never let you go, 39:17 never will leave you, I'll never forsake you. And that's the God 39:19 we know, the God we love. 39:23 Ooo okay. Forgiving the Guilty, Chapter 8 and with this is John 39:30 8 and verse 9. So once Jesus said to them whoever is not 39:36 guilty of sin throw the first stone. When they heard this they 39:40 all left one by one, the older one's first. This is John 8 verse 39:45 9. Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there. So 39:55 here now she has a private audience, she's feeling guilty, 40:01 she has no idea how God is going to heal her. 40:06 Talk about that. 40:08 So she's got to get to the place of that healing for her but in 40:13 order to get there the chapter doesn't give us the insight but 40:18 here's the experience that victims go through. Because 40:22 there's that perpetrator out there that's hurt you. There's 40:25 that person that you may run into in the grocery store or it 40:28 could be an uncle or a family member or neighbor whatever 40:31 that's abused you. How do you deal with that? I mean there's a 40:36 process we know they're going to go through when they have to 40:38 address the anger and have to address the pain but ultimately 40:42 there's a place of somewhere that forgiveness has to come 40:45 into the equation. Now forgiveness does not mean that 40:49 you're friends again. Let's just get that off the table right 40:52 now. It doesn't mean that you guys hang out and all goes back 40:55 to the way it was when supposedly it was better. 40:58 It definitely doesn't excuse their behavior. 40:59 No not at all. So I went through this experience because as we 41:04 were going through the abuse um I was so angry at that preacher. 41:09 I just wanted to pound him. You know. And there was a time I was 41:15 driving one day and I was thinking about what he was doing 41:19 J.D. and you can get this because I was so angry and the 41:22 man inside of you wants justice. You want to stop it. You want to 41:26 end it now, you know. And so I remember driving and I was so 41:30 angry I hit my hand on my fist and I hit it so hard my hand 41:35 ached for about a half hour. I'm like Steve you're not under 41:38 control of situation you know. What would you do if you could 41:42 actually do that and it shows your own heart I mean. While you 41:46 may think it's a righteous indignation and it may be to 41:49 some degree, the truth of the matter is I'm not letting God 41:53 handle this situation. I want to forcefully stop it. God spoke to 42:01 me through that circumstance. Because I realized that in my 42:05 own unforgiveness I was becoming bitter. And you and I, I know we 42:08 talked about this many times. People have been bitter. People 42:13 who are hanging onto your resentment and anger and pain 42:16 and they're becoming like what they hate what's happened to 42:19 them. So that's what happened to me. And one day I was praying 42:23 about this and God said you need to forgive him. Like, No! You 42:29 know. I'm not going to do this. You know. He's a pastor, come on 42:33 really. God, you can't ask me to do this you know. He's supposed 42:36 to be the one who does right. How can you ask me to forgive 42:40 him when he hasn't even asked for forgiveness, is where I went 42:44 first. Why should I do that? And so I struggled with this Shelley 42:49 for a long time and then finally I came to the place okay you're 42:52 asking me to do this, I got to do it. And I don't remember the 42:56 prayer but you know I said you know, Father please forgive him. 42:58 And you know God took it another step. You know you need to pray 43:05 for him. Again I wanted to pray like David, smite my enemy you 43:07 know. That's where you want to go with it. Let's be honest. And 43:12 finally, I came to the place where okay God you know he's a 43:15 lost man without you and I don't remember the entire prayer but 43:18 he's in your hands. Please help me to forgive and what that 43:22 prayer did was released me. 43:24 Ah I went through the exact same experience and God kept telling 43:29 me I needed to pray for me because I just didn't think I 43:32 could forgive. They'd been threatening my life and all and 43:35 finally, I told the Lord, Okay Lord, I'll pray for their 43:42 forgiveness but you know I don't mean it. I mean, God knows what 43:44 your heart is. But He kept telling me pray. So I would pray 43:48 for his forgiveness and somehow over a period of a week or two 43:53 weeks every night I was praying for this guy's forgiveness and 43:58 you know what happened? God helped me to see him as the lost 44:03 and suffering person that he was and God poured forgiveness into 44:09 my heart. But did it matter to this man that I'd forgiven him? 44:13 Not in the least bit. Who it mattered to was me because it 44:19 frees you when you forgive. You get free of any bitterness or 44:24 resentment. It frees you doesn't it? So we've only got about 44:31 seven more minutes and I want to get to the punch line here. When 44:37 Jesus...all of these men now have walked away, all of this 44:43 woman's accusers. The ones who have tried to trick Jesus. They 44:51 were testing Him trying to get something against Him. She was 44:56 just a pawn. Probably some of these men themselves had laid in 44:59 her arms before. And she probably trusted them until such 45:04 a time. But after they leave Jesus straightens up and He says 45:09 to her, Woman where are your accusers? Is there no one left 45:15 to condemn you. Now we get to a love that heals. 45:22 So she gets to the place where she realizes you know the 45:27 accusers are gone and now it's her and God alone. She's got to 45:32 go to that place with Him. Um it's a beautiful picture because 45:37 what we see in Jesus is He is letting her understand who He is 45:43 He's giving her an insight. Your accusers aren't here. It's just 45:47 me. Who's accusing you? And she begins to see a God whose love 45:53 she probably has never really known. All her picture's been 45:57 through these abusive spiritual leaders and now she has God 46:02 Himself speaking to her and saying where is your accusers? 46:05 Her whole world's going to take a paradigm shift at this moment 46:09 because she's going to now be able to walk in that freedom 46:12 that He's just about going to proclaim to her in a moment. 46:16 It's a freedom that she's never known until this moment I 46:20 believe and it's going to change her life forever because she's 46:25 going to now realize it doesn't matter what happened to you in 46:30 that respect. This is what I would say to victims who are 46:33 holding on to the past. Because as long as you continue to hold 46:36 on you're still a captive. Every time you think about what that 46:39 abuser did to you and it makes you angry you're a captive. 46:43 God wants you to be able to walk with that behind you. It doesn't 46:48 mean the devil won't throw it back to once in a while. You 46:51 have to continually say God give me grace to forgive. But He 46:54 doesn't want that to be your focus. If that's your reality 46:58 and I say that to anyone who's watching today, if that's your 47:01 reality the truth is God wants that to be your past. (Amen) 47:06 Isaiah 43:19 and He says, Forget the past, don't dwell on it. I'm 47:12 doing a new thing, will you not recognize it. Now we get to 47:17 chapter 10 of this beautiful book called Forever Free and it 47:21 shows...the book shows how God transforms lives, heals the 47:27 broken-hearted and sets people forever free. So that is the 47:32 title of chapter 10. And it's just her response when she looks 47:39 around. He says where's your accusers, is there anyone left 47:42 to condemn you and she says No one, Sir. And Jesus says to her 47:48 Well then I do not condemn you either. Go and sin no more. Do 47:57 not sin again. So tell us about, we've got three minutes, tell us 48:03 how the idea of forgiving others but receiving forgiveness from 48:12 God, how does that set our hearts free? 48:16 So she's been given what some people think is an impossibility 48:20 Don't sin, stop sinning. You know you're free now don't get 48:23 caught in what just brought you back into this whole situation. 48:28 I think God is first telling her I want to protect you from these 48:33 people who have bad designs for you, you know. You realize what 48:36 their intents were. You realize what happened to you. Be careful 48:40 that you don't fall back into the life and the trap and all 48:43 that. And victims seem to do that because sometimes they fall 48:46 back into that. And He uses the words sin no more. Of course 48:49 the chapter will go into that in greater detail but we realize 48:54 you know we can't in our own self-stop doing...the Ethiopian 48:58 can't change his spots. You know the leopard...I mean the 49:01 Ethiopian can't change his skin and the leopard his spots. So ah 49:05 I can't change the color of my skin. I can't change myself only 49:09 God can. When we take the focus off of ourselves and we put it 49:13 into Jesus, we realize a relationship is how we get 49:17 beyond all this. As long as I stay connected to Him there's 49:21 power in that. The moment I stop that relationship, I focus in 49:24 another direction I'm going to lose that power and everyone who 49:30 will leave this planet by God's grace someday soon is going to 49:35 know the experience, especially if you're alive when Jesus comes 49:37 You're going to realize you didn't make yourself good enough 49:40 to get into eternity. God forgave you, His grace 49:43 transformed you and it's because He loves you and He lives in 49:47 your heart that anything you do is good at all. So it takes the 49:51 pressure off having to try and live a perfect life because you 49:55 just stay focused on the one who's perfect. 49:58 You know I think for somehow, to me anyway, when you know that it 50:03 doesn't matter what other people think of you. When there's no 50:07 one there and Jesus can get rid of your condemners but when you 50:11 come to the Lord and usually we have heavy hearts, Satan's 50:16 favorite trick is condemnation. But what does Romans 8:1 say? 50:23 There is therefore no condemnation for those who are 50:26 in Christ Jesus. So as we come to the Lord and realize He 50:32 doesn't condemn us. In fact, He's the one that paid the 50:36 penalty for our sin. There is something about being free of 50:41 that burden of sin and being accepted and being loved that 50:47 helps you make that U-turn by God's power, His grace, that 50:53 helps you to repent and start... what He's saying is go start 50:58 life over. 50:59 Amen exactly what He's saying. If you trust Me I will take you 51:04 through this. If you give your heart to me every day I'll 51:07 cleanse it. That's as difficult as it gets. You don't have to 51:10 try to make yourself perfect, you just got to come to the one 51:12 who is perfect and let Him live His life in you. Let Him love 51:15 you, let Him change you. 51:16 Amen let Him do the work and He promises in Philippians 2:13: He 51:21 works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. Well our time 51:25 is nearly up and what we want to do is give you the opportunity 51:29 we're going to put up an address roll and you can go to Steve 51:33 Nelson's website choosewisely.site 51:41 Here is Steve's contact information. He's a preacher, 51:44 he's a teacher, he comes and visits other churches but here's 51:49 how you can get the book. 51:51 If you would like to contact or know more ChooseWisely you can 51:56 do so in the following ways. You can write to them at 51:58 74 Shining Mountain Rd. Clark, WY 82435. You can visit their 52:04 website and ChooseWisely.site You can also send them an email 52:13 at Info@ChooseWisely.site 52:21 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2023-07-12