The Way of Total Forgiveness | "The Way" Week 9

[Applause] Okay, thank you, standing ovation and they haven't even heard me, so you trained them well, don't you? I did, I did, they do what they're told. Okay, do you? [Laughter] I'm still in the chair, the birdie goes, not gone, and sometimes it's worse, sometimes it's better, and so in my old age, God has humbled me to sit, and I just hope that it doesn't detract at all. In fact, John, he thinks, he thinks that if I didn't have birdie go, I should sit. But you know one thing, I'm being like Jesus, I wish I were like him in other ways, but he sat when he spoke. Did you know this, in the ancient days, a rabbi always sat, a rabbi never stood when he taught, he sat. And so Jesus sat during the Sermon on the Mount, he sat in a boat and talked to parables, that was just the way it was done. So I'm being like Jesus, but I pray that I would be like him in more ways than this. But thank you for having me back and honored to be here and trust that I will be a blessing. Well today I want to speak to you from Genesis chapter 45, the book of Genesis, first book in the Bible, turned to chapter 45, and in a minute I'll start reading. What I want to do is give a little background for those who may not know about Joseph. He's the son of Jacob, Jacob had 12 sons, and he was not a good dad, not a good father. He showed favoritism, and Joseph was his favorite. He gave him this coat of many colors, made the other brothers very jealous, so much so that they decided to kill Joseph. Joseph was an arrogant teenager, he had dreams, he had dreams that said one day his brothers would bow down to him. He told that to the brothers, not a good idea, they couldn't take it anymore, they were going to kill him. But instead of killing him, Israelites were coming a certain way, they thought, "Well let's not kill Joseph, let's sell him to the Israelites." And they did, never expecting to see him again. Yanked a coat of many colors off his back, that's what Jacob had given him. The only thing worse than giving it was wearing it, Joseph wore it. You would have thought he'd be too embarrassed to wear it in front of his brothers, but he did, and they were going to kill him. But instead they'd take the coat of many colors off his back, dipped it in blood, showed it to old Jacob who took the bait, and said, "A wild beast has devoured my son, I'll blow to my grave in mourning." He never expected to see Joseph again, the brothers never expected to see him again. Well, 22 years later, I don't have time to get into all the details, Joseph is now Prime Minister of Egypt, it's an amazing story.

He was accused of raping a Polyphers wife, what happened, the Israelites sold Joseph to an Egyptian officer, but then him a Polyphers wife began to flirt with Joseph, and said, "Go to bed with me," and he kept saying, "No." And most people I know who have an affair or don't have one, don't because they think they might get caught. In other words, most people I know avoid having an affair because they think they might get caught, and that's what keeps them. Now Joseph had a chance to have an affair, and nobody would ever know. She's not going to tell her husband, nobody back in Canada would ever know, and he could have said to himself, "Well, at last I can have some pleasure." But you know why he said no? He says, "God knows." You know what? The angels rejoiced. What Joseph could not have known, that down the road God had a plan for him. He couldn't have known then, but one day he would be prime minister of Egypt. He had no way of knowing that, but you see, he was being tested. I wonder if anybody here is being tested right now. I just wonder, if there's anyone here, you are in the middle of an affair right now, are you? Or there may be someone here thinking about it, you're thinking about it. I have a word for you from God. I don't say that every day to say, "I've got a word from God." And the older I get, the less talk like that I give. But in this case, I can tell you it's from God. Are you thinking of having an affair? Are you in one? Stop it! Now! Or it's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time. He would give a thousand worlds to turn the clock back to now. And maybe the reason I've come back to Oklahoma City, for all I know, is just for one person

here. You know who you are, and I've saved you. Well, anyway, here's what happened. Instead of God rewarding Joseph for this, part of his wife accuses him of raping her. Her husband comes home, says that Hebrew slave tried to rape me. It was a terrible lie, but now Joseph is in prison because of false accusation. How do you suppose Joseph felt now? Hey, thanks a lot, God, I do the right thing, and here's what happens to me. Is there someone here? Because you did the right thing, things got worse. If you are in a person like that, you did the right thing and things got worse, do you know what? That's a good sign that you are a sovereign vessel. God's got a plan for you and just be patient. One of the cases with Joseph, he had two years in prison. I don't have the time to give the details. For those who may want to know, I've written a book called God, a Minute for Good, give you all the details. But here's what we know. The Pharaoh had a dream. Could not be interpreted by anybody. He had paid members to interpret dreams. He called them in. All of his paid steps, they could not interpret his dream. Somehow the word got to the Pharaoh, there's a Hebrew slave that interprets dreams. Well, Hebrew slave, well, that is not going to be very interesting for the Pharaoh, but he didn't care who he was. He said, "If he can interpret my dream, I want to meet him." So he had nothing to lose. Now, Joseph told suddenly to shave, "Get ready, you're going to meet the king."

So the Pharaoh gives the dream, Joseph not only interprets it, but he gives a plan. He says, "You're going to have seven years of lean and adding plenty of food, then it's going to be followed by seven years of famine, and you need for those first seven years to store up so that you'd be ready for the second seven years." If Pharaoh is so impressed that on the spot he makes Joseph, governor of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh, prime minister, listen to this, yesterday he's in prison today, now he's prime minister. That's how fast God can work. And not only that, listen, who's here today? He's somebody. Because you have a past, you think God can never use me. Listen, when you're ready for the job, you're true to God, God can overlook that past. What worse past could you have than to be a rapist? That didn't matter to Pharaoh, he wanted to get the job done, and God will use you one day. Don't give up. But in the meantime, I need to say some things that will make a difference in your life. Now what I'm going to read is when Joseph makes him known to his brothers. You see, he hasn't seen them for 22 years. He always knew this would happen because when he said the brothers who would bow down to me, it was true, but he shouldn't have told them. That was a mistake, but he told them. He always knew even so that one day they would become bowied down to him. And this is where it happens, but he thought that when this happens, God's going to let me say to them, "Gotcha," and throw them into prison. By the time it was fulfilled, it's a new Joseph, a broken Joseph, and maybe you have to wait until you are broken and ready. As Joseph was now, he's a different man. And so instead of saying, "Gotcha," and pointing the finger and putting them in prison, here's what we read.

He starts to cry in front of these brothers, in front of them. He says, "Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants." So he called out, "Stand everyone away from me, no one who's with him when it revealed his identity to his brothers, but he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it. And also Pharaoh's household heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, he's now speaking through an interpreter, "I'm Joseph. Is my father still living?" But they could not answer him because they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near me, come close to me." And they came near. "I am your brother, Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt and now don't be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. May God be pleased to bless the reading and the preaching of this his most holy and infallible word." Brief word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray now for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus by your spirit to rest upon every mind in this place that they will see what you want them to see, that they will not misinterpret anything I've said, but they will hear what you want them to hear every word, cleanse my tongue that I will be your transparent vehicle to say what needs to be said. Nothing and doesn't need to be said. I ask that I will be very, very clear, very, very simple, and I pray that this will be a life-changing word, a word by which no one here will ever be the same again. May this word bring great honor and glory to your name. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

The message that I want to bring to you today was born in what was at the time the greatest trial of my life. What we went through, I was the senior minister of Westminster Chapel in London for 25 years. They were the worst of times, and what happened was so wrong, unjust, unfair. I was angry. I was finished. In the providence of God, how I thank God for this, a man by the name of Joseph Sohn spelled T-O-N, pronounced T-S-O-N, from Romania, happened to be in London, and he came to see me. And I knew Joseph wouldn't tell anybody, and I thought it would be good for me to get it off my chest. So I told Joseph Sohn what happened, every word that I could think of. If I could narrow 25 years in London down to 15 minutes, little did I know they would be my finest hour of my whole life. I would still say it. I'm 71 years old. I've been preaching 71 years. I would still say these 15 minutes. When Joseph Sohn looked at me expecting that he would just put his arm around me and say, "Get it out of your system." He looked at me and said, "RT, you must totally forgive them. For until you totally forgive them, you will be in chains. Release them and you will be released." Nobody had ever talked to me like that in my life. But then I suddenly said, "Joseph, I haven't told you everything. There's more." I started then and interrupted me. And he died by the way a year ago. But before he died, I chatted with him on the phone. And I told him, I said, "I mimic your accent, Joseph, would you tell me what you said that day?" I don't think he did it. He thought I did a very good job, and any Romanian would laugh at me. But here's what it sounded to me like. He said, "Aren't he? You must totally forgive them. For until you totally forgive them, you will be in chains. Release them and you will be released." I said, "Joseph, I can't." He said, "You can and you must." I'm going to tell you right now, it was the hardest they have ever had to do. Almost certainly, the hardest they you will ever have to do. Because you're going to go right against nature. You see, it's when you let your enemy off the hook, and not only do you let them off the hook, you pray for them. Now when you pray for them, you don't just say, "Well, Heavenly Father, I just commit them to you." Because you just hope and God will kill them. That's not what Jesus had in mind. He said, "Bless your enemy and pray for them." So you come to the place that you actually pray that God would bless them and you mean it. He said, "Arty, I can

never do that." I understand. We're going right against nature. It's the hardest thing you ever, ever have to do. What hope do you suppose I have in getting you to do that? You know what? I don't have much hope. Except maybe. I don't know you that well. So whether you qualify, you tell me. If maybe there's somebody in this room that you would rather have a greater anointing of the Holy Spirit than anything in the world, then you're going to love the next 20 minutes. If you don't want that, you're going to be bored for the next 20 minutes. Because you're not going to like anything I say. But I can tell you right now, I'm going to tell you what will change your life if you want a greater anointing. By the way, I guarantee this. You see, that's when you reach the place that you actually pray for them and bless them. Well, you may say, "Well, Arty, you don't know what I've been through." In my case, God understands. He wouldn't expect me to forgive. For example, my spouse was unfaithful to me. I was raped. I was abused as a child by an authority figure. my best friend I could go on and on. And suppose we would agree that nobody has suffered in Oklahoma like you have. We all agree. But you know what? This is not the worst thing in the world. I'm going to tell you a story. You will not be able to match this. I guarantee you. I'm going to tell you a story right now. You could not even come close. Ten years ago, I was famous in South Africa for one day. And here I will tell you exactly what happened. I began to get newspaper clippings. All over South Africa, people were writing me. What happened was that a story was out of newspapers. And I got clippings from Cape Town, Johannesburg,

Pretoria, Durban, same article because of a black lady who had gone to prison to meet somebody. Who was that? Well, this black lady is a horrible story. I can hardly tell it without coming to tears. She watched a white supremacist murder her mom and dad before her eyes butchered them. She watched it. And then he got away with it and was on the run. But they found him. And he's in prison right now as I speak. This same black woman went to the prison and got permission to meet the man. And news people heard about it. And so when she comes out having been there, they all wonder, what on earth would you do here? Well, why would you want to meet this horrible man? And here is what she said verbatim. I read a book by R.T. Kendall called Total Forgiveness. And it changed my life. And I wanted him to know I forgave him. Match that story. You won't. And if she could do that, I don't care what you've been saying, it won't be anything like that. And she could forgive. And so whatever you've been through today, if I can get this over, you will never be the same again. Now, you see, we've all got a story to tell. But whatever it is, remember this principle,

the greater the suffering, the greater the anointing. And so whatever it is you have to forgive, take it with both hands. The angels would say to you, congratulations, because you've got an opportunity to do what not many people do. We're talking about a very rare number. They can do this. Issues of how much do you want the anointing? All right. The question is, how do I know I've done it? I suppose I could ask right now how many people here have forgiven people that hurt you? Hands and go up. I believe you. But I want to make a deal. And here's the deal. If I were able to show in the next 20 minutes that you have not totally forgiven, then at the end of the service, we'll give an invitation to see if you want to do it. So now, here we go. How do you know you've totally forgiven? What I'm going to say now comes right out of the text. The reason I read all those verses, I want you to know that everything I say today comes right out of Genesis 45. I am what they call an expository preacher. What that means is I let what the text says call for the point. I don't take a point to the text.

I let the text tell me. And so what we learned from this, the proof that you've totally forgiven starts with this, you don't tell anybody what they did to you. Look at it. Joseph could no longer control himself before his attendance. And he says, send everyone away from me. So no one was with him. Now, here's the story. Joseph, dressed. And all of a sudden, Joseph says, "Everybody out, out, interpreter out." So nobody's there, but 11 brothers and Joseph. Why did he make everybody leave? The answer is, he is going to persuade those 11 brothers that they need to live in Egypt. He's going to tell them, "There's going to be five more years of famine." You go back to Canaan, you're in trouble, you're not going to have food. You stay here, I'll look after you, but he wanted to make sure nobody in Egypt would ever know what those brothers were going to do to him one day. If they found out that they were getting ready to kill him, you know what? Those Egyptians would hate those men. Joseph knew that, and Joseph knew that he was admired in Egypt. They loved him. Behind closed doors, he lets Joseph, he lets them know who he is, but makes sure nobody in Egypt would ever find out. He knows if the word leaks out, the Egyptians would hate those men, and Joseph is making sure nobody would ever know. Proof number one, that you've totally forgiven them, you don't tell anybody what they did to you. You see, the great temptation, we're all this way, when we've been hurt, let down, we're on the phone to tell what they did, especially if it's a person of sub-profile, somebody

that they admired, you say, "I want everybody to know what they did to me," and you're on the phone, you're on the phone, telling what they did. And you see, you might tell two, ten, twenty, thirty people, and then you tell Jesus. And now he's the last to know. You see, he doesn't like that. He wants to be the only one to know. You know the old spiritual? Sometimes out of Alabama, in the cotton fields in the nineteenth century, some of the great spirituals come out from those black people. Nobody knows the troubles I've seen, nobody knows but Jesus, and that's the way Jesus wants it. He wants to be the only one who knows. That's where you develop an intimacy with Jesus. You tell him and nobody else. The trouble is, we want everybody to know and you blow it. You don't realize, when God has forgiven you, would you like it if he told everybody? Would you like it if on this screen your name and what God knows about you? Would you like that? I don't think so. But you know what? Nobody will ever know, because as far as the east is from the west, so far our transgressions removed from us, he's not going to tell. God knows, and that's the wonderful thing. You can be like God. Nobody knows. You keep it. You tell nobody, proof number two. You don't let them be afraid of you. Now, these brothers, when they realize that's Joseph, they're scared to death. They're terrified.

They realize this man could put him in prison right now. He could have them executed. They know they're scared to death, and it's the opposite Joseph has forgiven them. He wants them to come close to him. He wants to love on them. That's the way he feels now, instead of putting them in prison, he just wants to love on them. You see, total forgiveness, you don't want anybody to be afraid of you. Nervous around you, whoever they were, you just put them at ease. Merry Christmas, 13 verse 5, "Love keeps no record of wrongs." Why do we keep records to prove we've paid? Why do we keep a record of wrongs so we can throw it up? She says to him, "I'll tell you, I won't forget what you just said." This message could heal any marriage in this room. Is there a marriage in trouble in this room? Any marriage on the rocks? Do you know how I have preached this sermon where people were getting ready to divorce the next day, and that stopped him. Any marriage can be healed by sundown today if both of you will stop pointing the finger. You say, "Well, I'll do it when he does it." He says, "I'll do it when she does it. Stop it. You do it. Don't wait for the other to get it right. Here's the proof of what you want, the anointing. You don't wait for them to get it right. You do it. You stop pointing the finger. This is where the anointing comes. Don't wait for the other to get it right. So proof number one, you don't tell what they did.

Proof number two, you don't let the other person be nervous around you. Put them at ease. Proof number three, you help them to forgive themselves. Do you know what Joseph says to them? You actually don't be angry with yourselves. He wants to make it easy for them. You see, here's the key point about forgiving. What we cannot bear, I have this problem, you see, what gets our goat is that they don't know how hurt we are, and we want them to know, "Well, you really hurt me." Oh, by the way, when this sermon is over, don't walk across the auditor and go up to somebody and say, "Because of our tea sermon, I forgive you." They're going to say, "For what?" You will say, "Well, you know what?" "Well, I don't know. Oh, you do." "Well, I don't. Well, you should. Now you've got to fight." That's what you wanted. You see, you can't bear the thought that they don't know that you're hurt and you want them to know you're hurt. Listen, this is where the anointing kicks in. The people that I have to pray for every day, honestly, I'm not making this up, the family, they're still alive. They have no idea that I pray for them. Am I tempted to tell them maybe a little bit, that they'll never know, they'll never know. I pray for them anyway. And that's the thing. You pray for them, nobody knows that. That's where the anointing comes.

You're sure that you're wanting to please only God. I'm going to tell you something, the anointing, it will cost you. Not in money, but in your pride, your willingness just for God to know. And so, you don't tell what they did, you don't let them be afraid of you. You put them at ease. Number four, you let them save face. Do you know that expression? And the minute you cover for them, instead of rubbing their noses at it, you give them an excuse, make it easy for them. You cover for them in Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. You know what he says? Let the other person save face. The trouble is we want to stick the knife in. Yeah, let him save face. How did Joseph do it? If you hadn't noticed this, this is a measure. You know what he says to the 11 brothers? God did it all. This is not you. You didn't do this. You're not the one that sent me here. You're not the one who tried to kill me. This is God. God did it. That's what he says. God did it. They can't believe their luck. The very man that they were going to kill is now saying God is at the bottom of the law. He let him save face. How did he do it?

Well, he said, look, it shouldn't surprise you 400 years ago, God said to Abraham that one day his seed would be coming out of Egypt. Well, however could that happen? He's taken to Abraham, your seed's going to come back. the brothers, "Joseph, you go first." Joseph said, "God just set me ahead of you." These brothers, they can't believe their luck. I'm going to tell you something. This was too good to be true. It was too good to be true. And by the way, you want me to tell you how to know that you've really heard the gospel? It's when it was too good to be true. When you're found out what it takes, you think, "Well, Becky, it's got to be more than that. By the way, let me ask you a question. I'm going to take five minutes out now. I did yesterday, in Dallas, I did not do it this morning because of time. Pastor said I should have taken the time. So I'm going to... Five minutes will come back to the sermon in a minute. I'm going to ask all of you a question. You need to answer it. Don't apply it to the person sitting next to you. I'm going to ask you a question. Do you know for sure you said if you were to die today, would you go to heaven, do you? And if you were to stand before God, you will, and he were to ask you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" What would you say? "By the way, you're going to stand before God one day, and I have to tell you something. You will stand alone. You won't have anybody next to you to comfort you. Your best friend, your mom, your dad, your girlfriend, brother, to whisper, "Here's what you're supposed to say." Now you're standing for God. He says, "Why should I let you in?" I want to know right now what comes to your mind. God says, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" There's only one answer, and give the wrong answer. You have to go someplace else. The Bible calls it hell, and you don't want to go to hell. And now you've got to keep safe while he should let you in. If by now, it has not already come to you to say, "Because Jesus died from me on the cross." If you didn't think that now, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes for anything in the world. So what came to your mind, anything other than trusting the blood of Jesus? You say, "RT, it's got to be more than that." That's why it says, "It's too good to be true." You just trust in the blood of Jesus. Alright, if you did not have that thought right now, that could all change before I leave. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Pray it if you need to. If you don't need to, you don't

need to. But if you did not, in your mind, say, "Because Jesus died from me," you need to pray this prayer right now. You don't need to say it out loud. Just say it to the Lord. You ready? Lord Jesus, I need you. I want you. I know I'm a sinner. I'm sorry for my sins. Wash my sins away by your blood. I invite your Holy Spirit to come into my heart. As best as I know how I give you my life. That's it. Did you pray that prayer? Are you ashamed that you prayed that prayer? Why do you ask RT? Because Jesus said, "If you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you." Jesus said, "If you confess me before men, I'll confess you to my Father." I'm going to do something now, and the sermon is not over yet. You've got about ten minutes to go before I finish it. But I'm putting this in. I just feel that I'm supposed to do this. If you prayed that prayer, and only God knows at the moment you prayed it, I'm going to ask you in the next ten seconds if you prayed that prayer to stand up. You mean in front of all these people? Yes! Five, four, three, Okay, stop clapping, stop clapping, remain standing. Now a lot of you people are standing. I want to make it easy. It's possible that some of you standing were saved before today. It's possible. And you stood, it was right to do. But there are some of you, probably, you've never prayed a prayer like that before or confessed Christ openly like He just did. Would you like to know what just happened to you? You just got born again, happy birthday. Now you can sit down. I'll leave it between you and the pastor, what you've just done. Now we go back to the sermon. How do you know you've totally forgiven? You don't tell what they did. You protect them from their darkest secret. You don't let them be nervous around you and you let them save face. But I'm going to tell you one other thing about protecting from their darkest secret.

Do you know what the dark secret was of these eleven brothers? Do you know what it was? They took that coat of many colors off Joseph's pack, dipped it in blood, and took it to Old Jacob, who both, he says, "Well, I'll never see Joseph again." They would rather die than have to tell their dad what they did. It was their dark secret. You know what? Joseph, Prime Minister, sends them back to get their dad, but will not let them tell the dad what they did. It's so beautiful. You read the story. It's in the rest of the chapter. He let them not only save face, but won't even let them tell their dad the truth. Joseph tells a word for word what to say. He won't let them tell that. And so God is like that. He lets his save face. And chances are, you know something about somebody that if you were to tell it, could ruin them. My advice, assure that person nobody will ever know. That's the way God is. All right, I'm now going to close the sermon by bringing my last two points. They go together, you're not only going to pray for them and forgive them and bless them, but your prayer life will be that from now on you pray for them every day. It's a life sentence. It's like if your doctor gives you a pill, says you'll have to take this the rest of your life. I take one. I take one for stomach reflex every day. I've done it for 20 years and just every day I live with it.

And so life sentence, that means every day you're going to have to pray for that person. You don't do it just a day and what if tomorrow your husband says, "I thought you forgave me." You say, "Well, that was yesterday." No, none of that. You're going to pray for them every day. Don't expect them to change. You see, you're doing it to bless them and you want more anointing. So there's a little bit of selfish reason because you want more anointing and you're going to pray for them from now on. They don't know. They don't know. Don't expect them to change or one out of a hundred might, but you don't count on that. It's your free ticket to a greater anointing and you promise to bless them. You see, here's where I got out in chapter 50, 17 years later, old Jacob dies and the brothers panic and they say, "Oh, no." They make up a store. They come running to Joseph. They say, "Joseph, before Dad died, he told us, "Please forgive us for what we did." Joseph starts to cry. He says, "What's the matter with you, man? I told you 17 years ago, I forgave you, I forgave you then, I forgave you now. Don't worry. I'll look after you." You see, it's something at last, it's not temporary. This shows the genius of Joseph. You want to know that genius of Joseph was not his IQ? It wasn't his ability to learn foreign languages. He wasn't his personality. You want to know?

pretense for a moment. This is the real thing. You're never to be the same again. All right. If I got, well, you're going to say yes going on. I won't ask you now. I've got one more little story to tell you. Where are you, John? Did you leave the velocity? Keep on. Tell the Lord a story about the lady. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, he had to say yes, don't you? Not going to have me back now, are you? No, he's already invited me back. He's, you know what I know about your pastor, John? Now this will take an extra minute. I shouldn't have started this. I've got a sermon that came out of, when I preached on the life of David 30, 40 years ago, called Finding Your Friends. It's about when David dances before the ark and his wife, Michael or Michelle, made fun of him and says, "You're just dancing with these ordinary women and rebuking him." And David said, "I'll become even more undignified than this because these are my friends." And T.R. and I know about this. We know what it is to have a friend and they drop you. I've been, I've been dropped under the bus more times than you can imagine. But what I thought were my friends? Who are your real friends? Not the people that give you prestige by saying, "Oh, I know somebody that knows the president." Now, who are your real friends? Those who love the Lord and John's my friend. Okay. Here's the story. When I was Minister of Westminster Chapel, the way we did it in those days, the minister leads the worship. And we were singing, it was the first hymn of the morning. And I was just enjoying the hymn, my praise, my soul, the king of heaven. And in comes a woman. And she sits on the fourth row from the back right in the middle. That woman has done irreparable, emotional damage to one of our children. And I saw her come in. And I got angry at the what she's doing here, a horrible woman. And I couldn't sing. I just had to mouth the words. Then I had to read the scripture. This is the way we did it in those days. Another hymn, the pastoral prayer. I don't know how I got through it. Then I sit down and I have about five minutes before I have to preach because the deacon comes up, welcomes the visitors, makes the announcements and then says, "The morning offering will now be received." So I got five minutes to collect my thoughts. And I thought, "How am I going to preach today?" Oh, dear. All of a sudden, listen to me, folks. This has never happened before or since, but it happened once. I'm sitting here and it's like the Lord was right here and it enters into a conversation. So, RT, you want to see revival in Westminster Chapel. Is that right? Well, yes, Lord. Good. How much do you want to see revival? Oh, a lot.

Which would you rather have revival? Or for me to send judgment on that woman back there? Mm. Revival. Good. I want you to pray for that woman. I said, I pray for her. He said, that's not good enough. Ask me to bless her. Bless her. Say it again. Bless her. Say it again. Bless her. Do you mean that? Yup. So, if you really meant it, what if I take your word seriously and I bless her? (sighs) That's the point. I had to start saying, "Bless her, bless her, who's killing me?" To prove I meant it, I had to put her on my prayer list the next day to pray for her every day. Now, let me taste something. You might like to know there's more to the story. God did answer my prayer. That woman is in London today, T.R. Rosa, she thrives. She's doing fine. What I don't know is if in heaven I go up to her and say, "Well, I know why God blessed you." All I know is, let me tell you why I told you the story. There's a reason you need to know this. The result of that moment resulted in more anointing than I've ever had in my life. You know I've written what, 92 books, that's true, I'm doing 93 now. People say, "How come you've done that?" They think it's my education. They think it's my brain. It's not at all. I'm telling you, the thoughts that come to me, I can't write them fast enough. The book publishes "Come to Me Wanting a Book," the thoughts I get, they're not from me. God will do it for you.

It doesn't mean you'll be an author, but you have an anointing that nobody else has. You could be a doctor, you could be a lawyer, you could be a waitress, you might be a nurse, you could work in a filling station. You have an anointing. You have no idea how God will use you, but he won't let anybody off the hook. You have to take this seriously all I preach today. All right. Now I have finished, but don't start clapping because there's a little bit more. I made a deal with you, whether you took the deal, I don't know. The deal was this, if I were to show that you haven't totally forgiven after all, would you then do it? Okay. Now, now it's decision time, opportunity for you to show. If you are ready, totally to forgive, what that means, you won't tell what they did, you won't let them be nervous around you. You will make it easy for them, you won't make them feel guilty, you let them save face, you protect them from their darkest secret and you're going to pray for them and bless them and it's a life sentence. If you're ready, in the next 20 seconds, I'm going to ask you to stand up. Don't stand unless you're prepared to accept this. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. If you're prepared to forgive them, totally, stand your feet. Instanding, I'll wait just a moment. The Lord is here. This moment may not come around like this every day. As the verse in Isaiah, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." He's come near. This may never happen again. Seize the moment.

Don't leave, but it will cost you. All right. You ready? Now, you that are standing, I'm going to ask you to leave your seat and come down to the front. Come down. Come quickly. You sit back down if you don't want to do it. You that are, if you really mean it, I want you to come and I'll just wait for a moment. Let me just say this. What you're doing now is the easy part. You see, the hard part will be an hour from now. You say, "What came over me? Why on earth did I do that?" Tomorrow morning after a cup of coffee. See, look now, look, we haven't prayed yet, so there's the good news. You can still get out of it. We're going to pray. I am not going to look and see who's praying. This is not between you and me. This is between you and him. So, the easy part is what you've just done, the hard part now. Why have I called you up here? Why did I do this? So you won't forget it. Also, we're going to pray it becomes a very, very serious prayer because we're going to go under a covenant. A covenant, in case you didn't know, is so serious in the Bible, every time they had a covenant, they shed blood. This is a no-joke thing.

All right, we're going to enter into a covenant right now, but it's under the blood of Jesus shed 2,000 years ago. I'm going to ask you to pray. Don't say it unless you mean it. If you mean it, say it, and I do want you to say it out loud. You ready? Out loud. God, Lord Jesus, I need you. I want you. I'm sorry for my unforgiveness. Worsch my sin away by your blood. I forgive them. You forgive them. I set them free. You set them free. I set them free indeed. I set them free indeed. Come Holy Spirit, thank you for your patience with me. As best as I know how I'll give you my life, in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, one last PS. You don't need to say that, but here it is. When you mess up because you will, we're not perfect. You say something you shouldn't say. You talk about somebody. You point the finger. The devil will come along and say, "See there? You broke the covenant, so forget about it now." Well, let the devil do that to you. As soon as you make a mistake, there's good old, one John, one nine. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse

us from all unrighteousness. That's for Christians. So as soon as you mess up, confess it right then. That way, there'll be no unbroken relationship with the Holy Spirit. And if I ever see you again, you could say, "I've kept that up." And that way, the anointing begins to increase. And I promise you, you will never be sorry. You will never be sorry. I'm finished. Pastor, come. We're so grateful that you joined us today. At Victory, we pray big prayers to a big God and we expect big results. If you would like to receive prayer, you can submit a prayer request by visiting victory.church/pray. If this message or any of our messages have impacted your life and you would like to partner with us through giving, you can do so at victory.church/give. Thank you again for joining us. At Victory Church, we live life to the full. Thank you. for joining us. for more information on the Holy Spirit. Thank you. For more information on the Holy Spirit, visit www.thea.gov/thea. [BLANK_AUDIO]