God s mercy outweighs his judgement.

Transcription

1 God s mercy outweighs his judgement. Brendan Mc Crossan

2 God s mercy outweighs his judgement. Brendan Mc Crossan

3 God s mercy outweighs his judgement Brendan Mc Crossan Copyright@ One The woman healed at her father in laws funeral James 2-8-The Voice- (VOICE) 8 Remember His call, and live by the royal law found in Scripture: love others as you love yourself. You ll be doing very well if you can get this down. 9 But if you show favouritism paying attention to those who can help you in some way, while ignoring those who seem to need all the help you ll be sinning and condemned by the law. 10 For if a person could keep all of the laws and yet break just one; it would be like breaking them all. 11 The same God who said, Do not commit adultery, also says, Do not murder. If you break either of these commands, you re a lawbreaker, no matter how you look at it. 12 So live your life in such a way that acknowledges that one day you will be judged. But the law that judges also gives freedom, 13 although you can t expect to be shown mercy if you refuse to show mercy. But hear this: mercy always wins against judgment! Thank God! Recently I was drawn to a situation where two born again Christians were not living right before the lord; they were sleeping together, and their pastor came to them and challenged them to end their relationship, he was in the right to do so as one had signed up as a member of his church, and he was asking that they revoke their membership of his church, if they were not prepared to change; but he said things that were not in line with the word of the lord; he literally placed a curse upon them by some of the things he said. They were convicted of their offence and after the Pastor and his wife left they were devastated, naturally; they knew they had sinned but not in the way the pastor had expressed his view to them, he placed condemnation on both of them. I am not justifying their deliberate sin in any way, nor am I condemning them either. But because of the things he and his wife also a pastor said, these two people felt like dirt and on the verge of turning away from God, both were in love, one had a marriage break up, and lived in a literal loveless marriage, and the

4 husband left her and the kids and went back to his own country and sent her a text saying he wasn t coming back, his restaurant was the only thing he wanted now, so he dumped her for a restaurant, not even for another woman. She had divorce papers sent to him and he signed them within minutes of receiving them, he had no hesitating in ending the marriage. Now this woman met a Christian man on the internet and they got together after a while and began falling in love, the man fell totally in love; the woman because of her situation was more cautious and held back her heart from him at this time; but she still confessed loving feelings for him; and her two children loved him very much and he was being a good father figure to them. But no matter which way you look at it, they still sinned, there is no getting away from that and I do not approve of them or anyone else living together as man and wife. They broke the law of God and were guilty of breaking the law, there is absolutely no doubt of that in my mind, but as they shared their story of what the pastor said and what his wife said they felt like the worst sinners on the planet and were devastated, now they had no church to go to, and no relationship with God either. As they talked I remembered a similar situation with a woman in England who come back home to her town because her father died, and I had prayed with her father and entire family and they all come to Jesus and were saved and the wife expressed to me how glad she was when her husband finally received Christ Jesus and got saved and began living a more loving life with her and the family; apparently he was not a very good man before he got saved. He died and I went up to his town to attend his funeral. After his funeral I went over to the family to give my condolences and the wife said to me please come to the house for tea, so I agreed. {I do not believe in using peoples real names} Later as I was having a cup of tea, the wife said to me, would you please pray with my daughter in law, she is a nurse and she is in terrible pain; I was shocked, and said, what about your husband you just buried him and she surprised me by saying, I don t worry about him now, I know where he has gone to heaven, I was totally surprised by how happy she looked and she said, my daughter in law is my greatest concern she does not know Jesus and needs healing, she is very bad with pain and doubled over with it. I agreed to pray with her if she wanted it herself, and she came into the room and her mother in law asked her

5 would she like to be healed, and she said, I know this doesn t work, I need months of traction and pain killers, pain does not go away with this back problem, but I will try anything now the pain is so severe. I asked the wife where she would like me to pray with her daughter in law. The house was packed with people and the majority were not believers, just neighbours. She said here in the living room, and I said sure the room is packed with people and she replied, don t worry about them they need to see God heal also. I sat the daughter in law down on a chair in front of everyone and got her to forgive anyone she needed to forgive and explained forgiveness is a decision not a feeling, so she did and I prayed with her and the lord healed her instantly; all pain disappeared from her body, then I said to her about her salvation and I spoke loud enough for all to hear as everyone was standing quietly listening to me, looking on in amazement at her instant healing by God; about Jesus coming to take her sins away and everyone else s and he paid for them so she could go to heaven and I explained that she needed to ask Jesus into her heart as her lord and saviour, and she did. I prayed also that those listening and seeing God heal this nurse who believed it was impossible to be just healed instantly because of her medical background, would also open their hearts and ask Jesus in to them The woman living in adultery Two After I prayed with this nurse the wife again said to me that I must have a cup of tea as I was saying I must go and let her and her family grieve in peace, but she insisted in me staying for another cup of tea, and she chatted to me about how wonderful God was healing her daughter in law and saving her; then she looked up and said, excuse me for a moment, and got up and left the room, a few minutes later she returned and sat down and said to me she had a daughter who needed prayer could I pray with her, she had just arrived back from the graveside and the mother was waiting on her to return so she kept me waiting by having tea.lol.

6 I agreed and asked did this daughter want prayer, as sometimes people force prayer on others thinking they need it, not asking do they want it. She said she does indeed, and she needs it, she is in a terrible way. I asked her where she wanted me to pray with this one, and she replied, upstairs, as this was a private situation not like the nurse. So she led me upstairs into a room that her husband had been laid out in, and left to get her daughter. I sat looking around me in bewilderment, I was never asked to pray with anyone before in the room where someone was laid out in. There was a knock at the door and she returned with her daughter and introduced me to her, and she sat down and I turned to the lord and asked his help to pray the right way. She began talking; explaining that she was condemned to hell, the priest where she now lived condemned her, and refused to give her communion in front of everyone in the chapel and told her she was condemned to hell because she was living with a man who was not her husband. She explained that the man she had been married to had been a very cruel man and beat her and tortured her mentally and physically and emotionally for years, and she eventually could not take anymore and left him and went to England to live, and there, a long time later, she met this very kind and gentle man, and she began to go out with him, being very cautious with him at first as her husband showed her love like he cared about her, but ended up beating and torturing her because he was in fact a control freak. She explained that she eventually decided to move in with this man and they began living like man and wife and having a sexual relationship, but every time they had sex she was torn apart with guilt. She loved this man and he loved her and her two children from her previous marriage. She went to confession and the priest began shouting at her that she was living in sin and would go to hell unless she gave this man up and get rid of him; she was terrified of going to hell and she was torn with her love of this gentle kind man who treated her like a queen and her two children like his own, loving them with great love. She had been miserable for a long time and now no longer could go to chapel or confession, she cried her heart out to me tears falling from her eyes as she shared with me her problems, and all the time she spoke the thoughts kept

7 coming into my mind she was committing adultery, the scriptures say what she is doing is wrong and these thought wouldn t leave me and I didn t know what I was going to say when she finished as she was living in an adulterous situation according to what I knew of scripture and my Catholic upbringing. I desperately sought the lord and asked him what should I say to this poor broken creature, and he shocked me with his answer, he said; ask her would she like to be saved? And I thought I heard him wrong and asked him again and still got the same reply, I was in confusion all my Catholic knowledge and my recent knowledge of scripture told me she is sinning. But I obeyed and asked her if she would like to be saved? She said, I can t be saved because I am living in sin, and I felt the lord say to me tell her, I didn t say that, so would she like to be saved; so I said what the lord told me and she again replied she can t be saved as she is sinning. I told her I didn t ask her that and again asked her would she like to be saved, and asked also did she know what being saved meant, and she replied, yes her sister Carol explained last night to her about it, so I again asked her, would you like to be saved, and she again said, she would love to, but, - and I stopped her at that and said,,i just asked would you like to be saved, nothing else, would you like to be saved and she said, yes I would. So I told her to ask Jesus into her heart as her lord and saviour and led her in the sinner s prayer, which she repeated after me. Then I asked the lord what does he want me to do now? And he said, ask her if she would like to be baptised in the Holy Spirit? I again sat there confused; all this was too much for me and my religious beliefs, my mind was in confusion but I asked her if she would like to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and I explained about the baptism, and she said she knew what it meant, as her sister Carol had explained last night and I told her does she know what the gift of tongues are, she replied no. So I explained that tongues are the gift of personal private prayer between her spirit and God, as the Spirit pleads for her in harmony with the perfect will of God. And he knows what every word is, that is said; Romans 8-26*1 I asked her if she would like all the gifts especially the gift of tongues, and she replied, yes, but and began to explain her circumstances where not good, she was in sin, and again the lord stopped me and said to, ask her again if she would like to be baptised in his Holy Spirit, and so I asked, stopping her when she went to go on, and she said, yes I would love to. I went to lay my hands on her head still thinking this is all contrary to all my religious beliefs, and

8 before I even laid my hands on her head to receive, she burst out into tongues, they flowed like a river out of her for ages, she cried deeply as she prayed in them, I sat there bewildered this was against everything I knew and believed. About the Baptism in the spirit and the gift of tongues, *1 Romans 8-Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 26 Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don t know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groaning too deep for words; 27 and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God s people accord with God s will. 28 Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; 29 because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; Then came the most difficult question she had, she asked me what is she to do now concerning her common law husband, so I asked the lord expecting him to say split up, but he didn t, he said, tell her to go back and give herself to that man. She was as shocked as I was by his answer, and I said this means sex and all, no more condemnation for her. We got up she hugged me thanking me, and we went downstairs, and she told her mum what happened and this time I needed that cup of tea I was offered. The woman at the wells story John 4-15New International Version (NIV) 15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I won t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. 16 He told her, Go, call your husband and come back. 17 I have no husband, she replied.

9 Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. 19 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. 21 Woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. 25 The woman said, I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. 26 Then Jesus declared, I, the one speaking to you I am he. I left after my tea and on the way home I had a good row with God saying all this was contrary to what I believed about him, then eventually God spoke to me and said, go home and read, James *2 which I did and received the shock of my life when I read it, first of all asking God to help me understand it. James 2-10-The Voice- (VOICE)*2 10 For if a person could keep all of the laws and yet break just one; it would be like breaking them all. 11 The same God who said, Do not commit adultery, also says, Do not murder. If you break either of these commands, you re a lawbreaker, no matter how you look at it. 12 So live your life in such a way that acknowledges that one day you will be judged. But the law that judges also gives freedom, 13 although you can t expect to be shown mercy if you refuse to show mercy. But hear this: mercy always wins against judgment! Thank God! When I read this scripture I realised that God s mercy is far bigger than his judgment, and I also was made aware that God knows all of our circumstances, he knew this man she was married to was a bad person to his wife, and he knew that she had found someone to love who would love her with true love even though he didn t believe in God at all. He is fully aware with all of our circumstances, and knows the inns and outs of our lives and knows the wrong decisions we make and he knows our suffering because of wrong decisions.

10 A few weeks later I got a phone call from Carol saying that when her sister went home, her common law husband followed her about the place asking, what happened to her in Ireland; she didn t tell him for a while and then told him. And he said, I want to get saved also. He knew now there was a God from just observing her, and went to get introduced into the Christian religion. God knows the complete picture of everyone s lives, and knows what they would do given the chance to do so. His mercy outweighs his judgments against us, now I never judge anyone and I never did condemn anyone anyway by the grace of God, I always treat everyone the exact same no matter who or what they are. I realised that many people living in sin with someone else would come to God if given the chance, because many people lived in horror from what the other partner did to them, and I would love to share this with all who live together and are staying away from God because they think God condemns them, and that includes Christians who are saved; they stay away from getting close to God because of their sin. But God s mercy outweighs his judgment against them. They don t know the love of God is immeasurable, no one knows the height the length the breadth, though God wants you to understand, that his love does not condemn, like human love. Ephesians-3:17-19-Complete-Jewish-Bible so that you, with all God s people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah s love, God s love does not condemn, he knows everything that causes us to do what we do. Romans 8-1-The Voice (VOICE) Therefore, now no condemnation awaits those who are living in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, 2 because when you live in the Anointed One, Jesus, a new law takes effect. The law of the Spirit of life breathes into you and liberates you from the law of sin and death.

11 Romans-8-1- tells us that God does not condemn us. For Jesus died for us, to remove our sins by taking the punishment for our sins upon himself; and the Holy Spirit fills us with his power from above The man living with his father s wife Three God is more interested in you than he is in your sin; God done something about sin in all his creation; he sent Jesus to take your punishment for your sins, and all you have to do I believe that, and accept Jesus into your heart as lord and saviour; and a lord is responsible for his people under him James 2-8-The Voice- (VOICE) 10 For if a person could keep all of the laws and yet break just one; it would be like breaking them all. 11 The same God who said, Do not commit adultery, also says, Do not murder. If you break either of these commands, you re a lawbreaker, no matter how you look at it. 12 So live your life in such a way that acknowledges that one day you will be judged. But the law that judges also gives freedom, 13 although you can t expect to be shown mercy if you refuse to show mercy. But hear this: mercy always wins against judgment! Thank God! You may say that scripture is for the unbeliever the sinner who seeks repentance; but what about the Christian who sins in these ways, are they forgiven by God also? What about the man who was sinning by living with his father s wife, wasn t he thrown out of the church under Pauls instructions? 1 Corinthians 5-1-Living Bible (TLB) 5 Everyone is talking about the terrible thing that has happened there among you, something so evil that even the heathen don t do it: you have a man in your church who is living in sin with his father s wife. 2 And are you still so conceited, so spiritual? Why aren t you mourning in sorrow and shame and seeing to it that this man is removed from your membership?

12 3-4 Although I am not there with you, I have been thinking a lot about this, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I have already decided what to do, just as though I were there. You are to call a meeting of the church and the power of the Lord Jesus will be with you as you meet, and I will be there in spirit 5 and cast out this man from the fellowship of the church and into Satan s hands, to punish him, in the hope that his soul will be saved when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 6 What a terrible thing it is that you are boasting about your purity and yet you let this sort of thing go on. Don t you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected? 7 Remove this evil cancer, this wicked person from among you, so that you can stay pure. Christ, God s Lamb, has been slain for us. 8 So let us feast upon him and grow strong in the Christian life, leaving entirely behind us the cancerous old life with all its hatreds and wickedness. Let us feast instead upon the pure bread of honour and sincerity and truth. Paul s concern for the church, the body of Christ, had him tell them to have this man thrown out of the church; just like the first couple I wrote about, their circumstance was similar, not as bad looking as this man, who was living with his father s wife. We see what this world would have us see and have us judge but we are not to judge as this world judges we are to let God be the judge, and in judging these people we have no right to condemn them, for our God knows all about them; he knows their reasons for their behaving in a sinful way. We must judge others in a sense, for instance if our children were involved with bad people what would we do; we first of all judge them as bad people, then we try and separate our children from them and this is right, but we are not to judge as we know judging. The word judge means moderator, referee, evaluator, and reviewer. Only God has the right to judge people to condemn them or to set them free, so we are to judge as an reviewer; we are never to condemn anyone but we must make sure our children are playing with good people, so we judge their company making sure they are good kids, and if we understand that they are not, then we separate our kids from their company, and we do this even with little children who behaviour is bad; we don t judge them as the word judge means we make sure that we discern the company of our kids. The gift of discernment is given to all God s children and is to be used in situations we or our children or family get involved in, it is not a gift of judgement. Paul told the people in this church in Corinth to judge this man and

13 to throw him out of the church and into Satan s hands to punish him in his flesh, but not in his spirit. Then surprise, surprise, Paul a little while later changes his mind; in other words he grew up more in the Spirit and saw that doing this thing to the man who was living with his father s wife was not the best idea he had, but yet he said the power of Jesus would be there; he presumed that Jesus would be there as a judge! and the power of the Lord Jesus will be with you as you meet, and I will be there in spirit 5 and cast out this man from the fellowship of the church and into Satan s hands, to punish him, in the hope that his soul will be saved when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. Something happened to Paul regarding this man and his sinning in such a terrible way later on. Maybe it was the lord showing him his mercy for this awful sinner, in the same way he showed me his mercy for the lady whom he saved and baptised in the spirit, I don t know and I will never know. Then Paul wrote to the church another letter which must have surprised even them, he seemed to retract all he had said previously to them. 2 Corinthians 2-3-New King James Version (NKJV) Forgive the Offender 3 And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. 5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one [a] for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

14 Paul retracted everything he told them to do to this man, to throw him out of the church and into Satan s hands, this man was born again and a child of God even though he was sinning in such a way, but we forget sin is sin to God and he does not judge it by its size for he lets criminals go free, who have sinned in even worse ways. Somewhere God touched Paul with the knowledge of his mercy outweighing his judgement from the last time he spoke to the church in Corinth. He showed Paul, that forgiveness even for this man who was showing himself and the church up by living with his father s wife; I wonder how the father felt about this. A changed Paul said we ought to forgive others their sin just as he now forgives this man, and he asks the church to forgive him and I expect that the father whom the wrong was done to was still there also. Paul said so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. {so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.} This seems to me to be a complete backtracking by Paul. Forgiveness is the most amazing thing given to man, that ability to forgive one another, to forgive someone who has deliberately sinned against you, for Jesus forgave you the terrible wrong you done against him. I wonder what caused Paul to change his thinking; was it that he now understood to a greater degree the mercy of God to the sinner. God knows there is a dirty rotten stinking evil devil that has hoards of evil spirits and demons working for him against mankind, including working against the children of God God forgives us all, even the most depraved, or the most murderous of us or the worst paedophile. He makes no distinction between the sizes of sin, for sin is sin to God, for if you broke the least part of the law you broke the whole law as far as God is concerned. Hitler may have received salvation because no one knows if he repented before he died, and even he could get into heaven, if he repented before killing himself, for heaven is keeping no one out except those who don t want to get there. James 2-10-New International Version (NIV)

15 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not murder. If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. I have heard Christians say this is terrible, you mean to tell me that if I stole a I am just as guilty as a man who has murdered little children and abused them sexually first; yes according to God s word there is no size given by God to us to limit God s forgiveness. God did not put a perimeter on the size of sin; the Catholic church set a size on sin, mortal and venial, but that was originally to teach children about sin and it is wrong; for God did not give them the right to set the size of sin, only he judges sin, and it is sin that separates you from him not the size of it, that is an expression of love in an extreme form, there are no limits on God s forgiveness. I have had Christians argue with me that it is ridiculous to believe that their little sin of stealing a penny is just as bad as someone raping and abusing children and murdering them and I say yes this is true, there is no size to sin, for sin in its minuets form is still sin; sin in its highest value is still the same sin. Instead of complaining about God s decisions about sin, they should be grateful that he does not set limits on the size of sin, for many and in fact all have sinned in some way or other, and thank God he does not weigh up the amount of sins I acquired over my lifetime, and I still sin and will still sin, even though I don t want to, till the end of my life. Romans the Way Bible But isn t it unfair for God to let criminals go free; and say that they are innocent? No for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins. Criminals are set free by God; Barabbas a criminal was set free so that Jesus could be condemned to death; the criminal on the cross on Calvary admitted he was a criminal, and asked for forgiveness, believing that Jesus was the messiah; and Jesus told him he would be in paradise this day; Jesus was hanging on a cross dying a terrible death by slow suffocation and pain, and he forgave the criminal who asked for forgiveness; he could have said, shut the frig up, can t you see I am dying here a painful death just like you, but no, he forgave this man, by telling him, - a man who admitted to him and his other sufferer on the

16 cross beside him, that he was deserving of death, because of his criminal activities, and Jesus comforted him and said he will be in paradise today. Jesus was on that cross for people like him, a thief, and many times we Christians are thieves even though we don t actually steal from anyone money or something of value; but we steal the happiness of others by slandering them or telling our kids to, shut the flip up, I m tired; and don t want to listen to you going on and on. We rob our very children of happiness every day of our lives some of us; so we all sin in different ways, for God says in his word; anything done outside of love is sinful; do you do anything outside of love? This is another translation of the same scripture, a fuller translation. Romans But now God has made another way to make men right with Himself. It is not by the Law. The Law and the early preachers tell about it. 22 Men become right with God by putting their trust in Jesus Christ. God will accept men if they come this way. All men are the same to God. 23 For all men have sinned and have missed the shining-greatness of God. 24 Anyone can be made right with God by the free gift of His loving-favour. It is Jesus Christ Who bought them with His blood and made them free from their sins. 25 God gave Jesus Christ to the world. Men s sins can be forgiven through the blood of Christ when they put their trust in Him. God gave His Son Jesus Christ to show how right He is. Before this, God did not look on the sins that were done. 26 But now God proves that He is right in saving men from sin. He shows that He is the One who has no sin. God makes anyone right with Himself who puts his trust in Jesus. 27 What then do we have to be proud of? Nothing at all! Why? Is it because men obey the Law? No! It is because men put their trust in Christ. 28 This is what we have come to know. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Christ. It is not by his doing what the Law says. 29 Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the people who are not Jews also? He is for sure. 30 He is one God. He will make Jews and the people who are not Jews right with Himself if they put their trust in Christ. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Christ Jesus to forgive him and give him or her salvation; it is not by his doing what the Law says. It is trusting Jesus to get us off our rightful condemnation for the terrible sins we commit over our lifetime; this is mercy shown us the sinner who needs Jesus; and the born again child of God, who still needs him also. For to be a born again righteous child of God does not mean that you will not sin no more, in fact you will become more sin aware when you are a born again child of God, but repentance places us back into God s favour and mercy.

17 Four I do not justify anyone sinning any more that I justify myself sinning, and I do not condemn or judge anyone either nor do I judge myself as St Paul said, concerning himself. I leave all judging to God and no one else; I will not allow anyone to judge me as I do not judge them either. Woman at the well who had five husbands John 4-7--Living Bible (TLB) 7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink. 8 He was alone at the time as his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 9 The woman was surprised that a Jew would ask a despised Samaritan for anything usually they wouldn t even speak to them! and she remarked about this to Jesus. 10 He replied, If you only knew what a wonderful gift God has for you, and who I am, you would ask me for some living water! 11 But you don t have a rope or a bucket, she said, and this is a very deep well! Where would you get this living water? 12 And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob? How can you offer better water than this which he and his sons and cattle enjoyed? 13 Jesus replied that people soon became thirsty again after drinking this water. 14 But the water I give them, he said, Becomes a perpetual spring within them, watering them forever with eternal life. 15 Please, sir, the woman said, give me some of that water! Then I ll never be thirsty again and won t have to make this long trip out here every day. 16 Go and get your husband, Jesus told her But I m not married, the woman replied. All too true! Jesus said. For you have had five husbands, and you aren t even married to the man you re living with now. 19 Sir, the woman said, you must be a prophet. 20 But say, tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped? Jesus replied, The time is coming, ma am, when we will no longer be concerned about whether to worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. For it s not where we worship that counts, but how we

18 worship is our worship spiritual and real? Do we have the Holy Spirit s help? For God is Spirit, and we must have his help to worship as we should. The Father wants this kind of worship from us. But you Samaritans know so little about him, worshiping blindly, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes to the world through the Jews. 25 The woman said, Well, at least I know that the Messiah will come the one they call Christ and when he does, he will explain everything to us. 26 Then Jesus told her, I am the Messiah! Jesus revealed who he was to this woman who had five husbands and to a woman who was living in sin with another man, that he was the Messiah the coming promised saviour of the world. And he did not condemn her for living with a man nor did he tell her to get rid of him either, he told her how one day she could worship the father in spirit and in truth thereby giving her the right to the baptism in the spirit even before the apostles even knew about it. John 4-28-Living Bible (TLB) 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. This woman became a minister of the Gospel of those called by Jesus; she went into her village and told everyone there about Jesus who said he was the expected Messiah, and they all came out to hear him and see him and many were saved. Many Samaritans Believe 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman s testimony, He told me everything I ever did. 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world. This woman who was living in sin with a man was the beginning of her town s salvation; Jesus never condemned her or told her to get rid of the man she was

19 living with; he understood her emotions and feelings and loved her sins and all, and we fail to see Jesus loves us sins and all. We will never be able to comprehend the size of the love of God never mind the size of our sins, his love far outweighs his judgement his mercy is forever to all who need him. ================================ Five The woman caught committing adultery, it seems like the man wasn t involved in this act with her as they didn t drag him out to be stoned. John 8-Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The Torah-teachers, {bible teachers} and the P rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the centre of the group. 4 Then they said to him, Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in our Torah, {Bible} Moshe {Moses} commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it? 6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. 7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. 8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. 9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. 10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, Where are they? Has no one condemned you? 11 She said, No one, sir. Yeshua said, Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don t sin anymore. This woman was caught having sex with a man who was married and was condemned to death by stoning; and sad to say the Muslims still stone to death a woman caught having an affair with a married man, in certain countries; but note something here; none of these hypocrites said a word about the married man; he got off Scott free. Man made these rules and man spared himself as if the woman was solely to blame for him having sexual relations with him; men

20 are hypocrites in the highest order, they condemn a woman to death and forget about themselves. These people walked into this man s house while he was having sex with her, she was humiliated enough being caught by so many men looking at her; and these perverts who caught her, they knew she was having sex and so went into that house with the intentions of catching her in the act; of course that married man was not involved in this act; so they dragged her out in front of the whole village, and leaving him not condemned; while everyone looked on at her in disgust; { as long as no one caught them out sinning they were disgusted by this poor woman. } We all can be disgusted by someone s else s sins but what if ours were televised like they do now on TV programmes, how would we feel, - thoroughly ashamed! Funny we sin and enjoy it, until were caught out, then it become a horrible guilty act; it s ok when no one knows our little perversions or kinky acts behind closed doors, only God sees them, and he still loves us kinky sins and all. But when others see us in our nakedness how awful that is for us. But Jesus never condemned this woman and he challenged those hypocrites who brought her deliberately before him, {probably some of them had sex with her at some time previous, who knows, she was after all a prostitute living in a small village. Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don t sin anymore. This woman whose name was Mary Magdalene became a follower of Jesus along with other women who looked after him and his apostles, and she did not have any condemnation from her believing sisters who followed the way, Jesus. But Jesus told her to go and sin no more; he was showing her a new way to begin living; she did not need to be a prostitute, so he said Go and don t sin no more, in this way. He didn t want her suffering the abuse of dirty old men and stinking men either; remember in those days there was no soap or deodorants, so most people stank to the highest heavens; that is why brides in England in the olden days wore a flower bouquet, it was to hide their stinky bodies, that s how the bridal bouquet came into being. And Jesus being love which we forget so often, that not only is he love, but he is pure love. Love does not condemn according to the scriptures, and God will never change from being what he is, and we Christians forget his love for us is immeasurable, it far outweighs our sins. ================================

21 Six The homosexual Romans 8:39-niv bible Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We Christians look at a homosexual and think they are an abomination; after all, he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for homosexuality he destroyed this place, it was because everyone in it was sinning terrible; they even wanted to have sex with the two angels who came to take Abraham and his wife and children out of the city before destroying it. But God does not hate anyone or turn anyone away from him; he loves the homosexual, but hates the sin just as he hates our sins. He does not differentiate between sin and sin, there is no difference in the size of it, sin is still sin and it is breaking the law of God! A homosexual can still enter heaven if he asks Jesus into his heart; you know I can hear you saying this, that is unless he repents and turns away from his sin; did you repent and turn away when you first met Jesus or do you still return to your sins after you met Jesus. You leave the judgement up to Jesus and the loving up to him as well; Jesus does not condemn the homosexual any more than he condemns those two people who were thrown out of the church and condemned awfully. Jesus knows what made a homosexual what they are, and most homosexuals I have met, almost all of them say they were abused by a father or by someone, a family member whilst they were young children. I watched a young man being sexually abused by a group of builders almost every day; they would catch him and hold him and one of them would sexually abuse him in front of his workmates; thinking this was great fun. At first this young fifteen year old screamed the place down when they done this to him, then after a while he didn t scream anymore. This was in the days before these acts were considered abuse by society, or I would have reported these men, as they did it in front of me and other young bricklayers.

22 This turned this young man gay as I found out later on in life. Jesus knows all the facts in our lives, he knows what turned some into homosexuals or murderers or paedophiles, or thieves, scripture tells us that God did not make a specific list of the top sins or those at the bottom of the list, sin is just that, sin, no different in size, man does this, he condemns as he sees, not as God sees, he has no knowledge of a person s background or history to give him the right to judge anyone. In a foreign Muslim country, Rose and I were asked by an active homosexual man could we pray with him; he was feeling so low and hurting inside, and was in physical pain also, and asked us, much to our surprise would we pray with him. The first thing we did was to approach the Lord and ask what way should we pray; should we pray for him to be set free from his homosexuality, and we got the word salvation, so we prayed with him, and he first of all received healing from his pain much to his surprise. Then he asked Jesus into his heart as his lord and saviour, and was saved, he was easier to get saved by seeing God love him and heal him first; afterward the lord offered him the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and he said, yes please, and he began praying in beautiful tongues as we laid hands on him, and the spirit gave him utterance. We prayed with him for emotional healing and mental healing, afterwards, as he revealed he had been abused by his father as a child, every time his father bathed him, {and I believe this turned him into a homosexual.} He forgave his father, we did not pray with him to be changed from his homosexuality as the lord gave us a different message through Rose. Rose was instructed to pray with him for resting in the spirit, and when we stood him up Rose touched him on the forehead and he fell to the floor like a ton of bricks. He rested in the spirit for a very long time before he came round again, and the first words he uttered were; oh my God look at the colours, he stared around him, and out the windows looking everywhere; {we were beside the beautiful blue sea} all he kept saying was, look at the colours. This man s world was a dull gray world, with no true colour, now he was seeing life as Jesus gave him life. Not once did God say to pray for him to change and become heterosexual, no he loved him the way he was, and God knew that this man would love him, and

23 he did. Everywhere he went he told people about Jesus. And his world was the gay men in the village; so he proclaimed to everyone, gay and non gay, Jesus love for him and them. Even when he got drunk,- his regular habit,- he told everyone, Everywhere we went in this village we heard, did you know that this man got saved, the whole village heard of his testifying about Jesus, and saving him, he told Muslims and unbelievers, how to get saved, urging them to get saved. God did not condemn him and neither did we; we loved him like Jesus loves us. One night he was at a disco bar and a man approached him asking for sex and he refused him, and the man turned around angrily and cut his throat from ear to ear; he almost severed his head off, he fell to the floor and people called an ambulance. While he was in the ambulance he was dying and the crew were trying to save him; he had an amazing experience; he was taken up to heaven and saw the lord; he was told to go back as the lord had work for him; I thought that he sort of imagined it until he told me things that were in scripture describing heaven, and he didn t own a bible or ever owned one, so I know he was genuinely taken up to heaven. Much later on this man left the country where this happened, and where he had lived for about twenty five years or more, I can t remember exactly how long he lived there, and returned to his native country, and the last I heard from him was he was working in a church serving God. God could have changed this man from a homosexual to a heterosexual in the blink of an eye if he wanted to, but God knew that this man could go to his homosexual friends and acquaintances and be accepted by them, and he could share Jesus with them, and they knew him through and through and some intimately. They listened to him, and God alone knows who may have got saved through him. Let God be God and stop thinking that a homosexual or a sinner needs to be changed by you; God knows better than you what he can do with someone. Share Jesus, not condemnation or judgement. Love is what brings a person to the lord, not condemnation, or our judgement, learn to listen to God better and do what he tells you to do.

24 Only God knows why people sin and he knows also that mankind has a very cunning enemy whose only goal in life is to destroy God s creation. And because God told him to minister to his new creation, he rebelled and sinned. He committed the sin of pride and tried to destroy God s creation in heaven at the beginning because of his instructions. God has angels ministering to his new creation still, obedient angels, who don t do as the devil done, get jealous. Don t you tell me to throw someone out of your church for that is what it is; your church not God s because you judge them by human standards, and not by God s love. Sin is wrong and none of us should be doing it. I do not condone sin and neither do I condemn anyone who sins, I have no room in my life to throw stones, and I do enough to fall easily. Correction is a wonderful gift from God condemnation is not from God, it is a tool of the devil. That pastor was right in correcting those two who were members of his church, but he did not have the right to condemn them making them feel like turning away from God, because they were doing wrong but were in love with each other. John-5:14-Living-Bible But afterwards Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, Now you are well; don t sin as you did before, or something even worse may happen to you. Jesus told people not to sin anymore or something else bad may happen to them but he did not tell everyone not to sin, each case is different and only he can decide what to do and we should seek him before we go and condemn anyone or judge them. You know just because I write this, I personally don t believe that we can just go ahead and deliberately sin when we don t have to. Sinning deliberately is so wrong and carries with it a terrible punishment. God wants us to change our ways and his mercy far outweighs his judgment, but to keep on deliberately sinning when you don t have to, is very wrong and carries with it great

25 punishment as I said. It is like saying God forgives me when I sin, so I will go ahead and sin and then ask for forgiveness. Someone unsaved does not carry with them the knowledge of the truth, and neither do most young Christians who sin in ways that are displeasing to God. He told the prostitute that was brought before him so he would condemn her, he told her to go and sin no more, others he didn t. If you lived in a bad situation and God found you; he does not remove you from your present partner. Scripture says to remain where you are when God has found you for he is able to sort you out later. Christian believers stop sinning or something worse may fall upon you. When someone accepts Jesus into their heart as the saviour, they have put their trust in him, and he honours your trusting him, and will through time change things for you, for as scripture says we are being changed from one glory to another. God is very patient with us and even when we sin and sometimes it is deliberate as we know; he still forgives us; for most sin is deliberate, {we think about it first} unless it was spontaneous, this does not stop him loving us; his love is immeasurable, it has no height nor does it have a depth, it does not have a length, it is God himself, and God is love, and he has no limit. If you are unsaved and are living with someone who makes you very happy and you lived with someone who destroyed you as a human being; then ask God into your life through asking Jesus, not only will he help you in this life you are guaranteed to get into heaven when you die with no account of sin in your life. 1 John 4:16 NIV Bible And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them?