I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. How do those words cut to our core when we our young when we hear it from our parents? Because the punishment we receive is a fuller understanding than the simple equation of “I did A, so I get punished with B”. That punishment resonates on an internal level that cause a visceral reaction.

Bitterness also causes a strong internal torment. As a believer, God recreates us to want to throw away the hot coal of bitterness by instilling this type of reaction. Pastor John Samuel Barnett explains what the struggle is and why God directs that response.

https://youtu.be/KkKIfXF1Jv8
(From 2015DEC06 – SWS-04 – Are We Enjoying The Kind, Tender, Forgiving Life That God Gave To Us Believers)

Sometimes our perceived ailment is not our sickness. The itch, the swell, the pain, the nausea are just indications of the larger problem of the rash, the poison, the break. Just so are the results of bitterness.

As we began last week, Pastor John Samuel Barnett started his discussion on bitterness. Today, he covers the things we experience because of the choice to feed and maintain bitterness in our lives as Christians.

https://youtu.be/HlXR06arKY0
(From 2015DEC06 – SWS-04 – Are We Enjoying The Kind, Tender, Forgiving Life That God Gave To Us Believers)

Have you ever put a pen through the washing machine? It’s probably a fact of life that we’ve all had that or something like that happen. What happens? That little bit of ink in that little plastic piece of that little orifice gets over everything – and it usually involves at least one really nice shirt.

So is the way of bitterness in a Christian’s life. Bitterness corrupts those who God has changed to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. It completely reverses the polarity of all those characteristics.

Pastor John Samuel Barnett discusses the implications of bitterness in a believer’s life.

https://youtu.be/jbRJyes7htc
(From 2015DEC06 – SWS-04 – Are We Enjoying The Kind, Tender, Forgiving Life That God Gave To Us Believers)

The Christian life is one of balance and the balance of one’s theology is included in that.

We are not to exist with a mindset of hyper grace where we can do anything without regret because we are completely forgiven of all our sins. We are not to exist with a mindset that since God has ordained all things that we are suppose to sit idly by since what will happen will happen.

God has entered into a relationship with us. While we are forgiven in Christ, we are also to do His Will. While God has ordained all things before the creation of the world, we are still able to use prayer, evangelism, and good works to carry out His decrees.

Christians are to be secure in their salvation by a life evidenced by increasing good works and an increasing understanding of God’s work. Pastor John Samuel Barnett teaches on that very subject.

https://youtu.be/-mR5QEt0QVA
(From From 2015DEC06 – SWS-04 – Are We Enjoying The Kind, Tender, Forgiving Life That God Gave To Us Believers)

A short Q&A video that may answer a lingering question from this week’s videos on forgiveness. Does the parable of the unforgiving servant teach that we can lose our salvation? Pastor John Samuel Barnett answers very succinctly.

https://youtu.be/7vkwEt3Cwk8
(From 2014DEC28 – Q&A-83)

Complete forgiveness is a major and unique characteristic of biblical Christianity. Being born sinners and hating God we are dramatically and drastically changed. We turn from darkness to light and see our need for forgiveness before the throne of the Perfect and Holy God.

Pastor John Samuel Barnett challenges each Christian to be forgiving. Because no matter what someone has done to us, it pales in comparison to what we have done to God. Just as He is willing to forgive us, we should be wanting to emulate our Lord to others. Failure to do so results in negative living for the Christian disciple.

https://youtu.be/OGiRwbfB9qk
(From 2015NOV29 – SWS-03 – Daily Cleansing – The Abundant Life Vs. The Tormented Life)

A major part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6 involves forgiveness. Pastor John Samuel Barnett gives the context of forgiveness in the prayer and stresses the importance it plays in the prayer and how important Jesus viewed it.

https://youtu.be/JrtXaX4mOWw
(From 2015NOV29 – SWS-03 – Daily Cleansing – The Abundant Life Vs. The Tormented Life)

Last week, Pastor John Samuel Barnett started teaching about forgiveness in the Christian life. Today, he provides a contrast that Jesus teaches on the act of forgiveness versus not forgiving. One leads to a life of abundance. The act of not forgiving brings about a life of torment. We should always be seeking to forgive – just as we are forgiven.

https://youtu.be/3KZ3lsOWITk
(From 2015NOV29 – SWS-03 – Daily Cleansing – The Abundant Life Vs. The Tormented Life)