By Michael Berg

1
Answer these questions

• How did you view your father at about age 12?
  (What did you think about him?)
• How did your father view you at that age? (What
  did he think about you?)

2
The Father Heart of God

• Psalm 685
• A father of the fatherless and a judge for the
  widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

3
The Father Heart of God

• Psalm 10313
• Just as a father has compassion on his
  children, So the LORD has compassion on those who
  fear Him.

4
The Father Heart of God

• Jeremiah 319
• "Then I said, 'How I would set you among My sons
  And give you a pleasant land, The most beautiful
  inheritance of the nations!' And I said, 'You
  shall call Me, My Father, And not turn away from
  following Me.'

5
The Father Heart of God

• John 148-10
• Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father,
  and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him,
  "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have
  not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me
  has seen the Father how can you say, Show us
  the Father'?...

6
The Father Heart of God

• Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and
  the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you
  I do not speak on My own initiative, but the
  Father abiding in Me does His works.

7
A. God is full of goodness

• In Luke 1111-13, Jesus asks, Which of you
  fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give
  him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg,
  will give him a scorpion? If you then, though
  you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
  children, how much more will your Father in
  heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

8
B. God is a perfect provider

• Matt. 631-33 So do not worry, saying What
  shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What
  shall we wear? For the pagans run after all
  these things, and your heavenly Father knows that
  you need them. But seek first His kingdom and
  righteousness and all these things will be given
  to you as well.

9

• Phil. 419 And my God will meet all your needs
  according to his glorious riches in Christ
  Jesus.

10
B. God is our protector

• John 1029 My Father, who has given them to me,
  is greater than all no one can snatch them out
  of my Father's hand.
• Story of John Dawsons son
• Joshua 2417 It was the Lord our God himself
  who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt,
  from that land of slavery, and performed those
  great signs before our eyes. He protected us on
  our entire journey and among all the nations
  through which we traveled.

11

• Under His Wings
• Psalm 914 He will cover you with his feathers,
  and under his wings you will find refuge his
  faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
• Psalm 367 How priceless is your unfailing
  love! Both high and low among men find refuge in
  the shadow of your wings.

12
C. God is the perfect Authority

• 1. God is not a disciplinarian or brutal type of
  father

13
C. God is the perfect Authority

• 2. God is not a non-existent authority

14
C. God is the perfect Authority

• Hebrews 127-8
• It is for discipline that you endure God deals
  with you as with sons for what son is there whom
  his father does not discipline? But if you are
  without discipline, of which all have become
  partakers, then you are illegitimate children and
  not sons.

15
C. God is the perfect Authority

• 3. God is not an inconsistent authority

16
C. God is the perfect Authority

• Hebrews 1210
• For they disciplined us for a short time as
  seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for
  our good, so that we may share His holiness.

17
C. God is the perfect Authority

• Proverbs 311-12
• My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD
  or loathe His reproof,
• For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even
  as a father corrects the son in whom he
  delights.

18
C. God is the perfect Authority

• Isaiah 648
• But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the
  clay, and You our potter And all of us are the
  work of Your hand.

19
E. God is trustworthy

• 2 Timothy 213
• Even when we are too weak to have any faith
  left, he remains faithful to usand he will
  always carry out his promises to us.

20
F. God values you

• Matthew 1030
• "But the very hairs of your head are all
  numbered.

21
F. God values you

• Deuteronomy 76
• "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God
  the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people
  for His own possession out of all the peoples who
  are on the face of the earth.

22
G. God is our Comforter

• 2 Corinthians 13-4
• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
  Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all
  comfort

23
G. God is our Comforter

• who comforts us in all our affliction so that we
  will be able to comfort those who are in any
  affliction with the comfort with which we
  ourselves are comforted by God.

24
H. God loves you perfectly has great affection
for you

• Hosea 114
• I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of
  love, And I became to them as one who lifts the
  yoke from their jaws And I bent down and fed
  them.

25
H. God has love affection for you

• John 316
• "For God so loved the world, that He gave His
  only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
  shall not perish, but have eternal life.

26
H. God has love affection for you

• 1 John 419
• We love, because He first loved us.
• Romans 58
• But God demonstrates His own love for us in this
  while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

27
H. God has love affection for you

• John 1513
• Greater love has no one than this, that one lay
  down his life for his friends.

28
H. God has love affection for you

• Romans 837-39
• But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer
  through Him who loved us

29
H. God has love affection for you

• For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
  nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
  present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
  height, nor depth, nor any other created thing,
  will be able to separate us from the love of God,
  which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

30
I. God is always present

• 1 Peter 57
• Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He
  is always thinking about you, and watching
  everything that concerns you.

31
J. God accepts you

• Romans 831
• What then shall we say to these things? If God is
  for us, who is against us?

32
J. God accepts you

• Mark 316-17 and a
  voice came out of the heavens "You are My
  beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

33
J. God accepts you

• John 81-11 Woman caught in adultery
• Eph. 2 4-7 But because of his great love for
  us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
  Christ even when we were dead in
  transgressionsit is by grace you have been
  saved. And God raised us up with Christ and
  seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
  Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he
  might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
  expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

34
The Father Heart of God

• Ephesians 1 3-5 Praise be to the God and
  Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
  us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual
  blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before
  the creation of the world to be holy and
  blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us
  to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ,
  in accordance with his pleasure and will

35
The Father Heart of God

• Galatians 44-7
• But when the fullness of the time came, God sent
  forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the
  Law,
• so that He might redeem those who were under the
  Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons

36
The Father Heart of God

• Because you are sons, God has sent forth the
  Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba!
  Father!"
• Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son
  and if a son, then an heir through God.

37
The Father Heart of God

• Romans 815
• For you have not received a spirit of slavery
  leading to fear again, but you have received a
  spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,
  "Abba! Father!"

38
Your Past

• God, our Father, desires to restore you so that
  your past hurts and wounds no longer negatively
  affect your present and future!
• Joel 225 Then I will make up for you the years
  that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping
  locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing
  locust

39
Your Past

• Psalm 233 a he restores my soul
• Gods plan restoration!
• Restoration means to make you brand new.
• 2 Corinthians 517 Therefore if anyone is in
  Christ, he is a new creature the old things
  passed away behold, new things have come.

40
Your Past The source of our wounds

• In the womb
• Birth to 6 months
• 6 months to 3 years
• 3 to 7 years

41
Your Past The source of our wounds

• False Prophets in our lives
• Dad Mom
• Brothers Sisters
• Extended Family
• Kids in school
• Romantic Partners

42
Your Past The source of our wounds

• More false prophets in our lives
• School teachers
• Christian leaders
• Trying to meet our needs our own way
• Our responses to hurt

43
Your Past The source of our wounds

• Our aggressive response to our hurts
• Aggressiveness
• Touchiness
• Critical attitude
• Judgmental attitude
• Pride

44
Your Past The source of our wounds

• More aggressive responses to hurt
• Sophistication
• Superiority
• Conceit
• Hostility Violence
• Murder

45
Your Past The source of our wounds

• Passive Responses to hurt
• Self-pity
• Self-hatred
• Depression
• Apathy
• Inferiority
• Insecurity

46
Your Past The source of our wounds

• More passive responses to hurt
• Discouragement
• Despair
• Loneliness
• Fearfulness
• Bitterness
• Suicide

47
Your Past The source of our wounds

• Unresolved Guilt
• Is guilt good or bad?
• Guilt is very GOOD!

48
Your Past The source of our wounds

• What we do with unresolved guilt
• Suppress it - it comes out somewhere
• Rationalize it I had a headache
• Project it you made me mad!

49
No one can make you feel inferior without your
consent.

• Eleanor Roosevelt

50
Why Deal With Your Past?

• Giving ground to the enemy
• Ephesians 426, 27 Be angry but do not sin do
  not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not
  make room for the devil.
• A Stronghold is established in your life

51
Past Sin and Wounds Build Strongholds in our Lives

• What is a stronghold?
• A mind-set and conclusions contrary to Scripture
  believing Satans lies and living them out in
  thought, attitude, word, and deed!

52
Past Sin and Wounds Build Strongholds in our Lives

• What is a stronghold?
• 2 Corinthians 1045 for the weapons of our
  warfare are not merely human, but they have
  divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy
  arguments and every proud obstacle raised up
  against the knowledge of God, and we take every
  thought captive to obey Christ. RSV

53
Understand Strongholds

• How a stronghold is built
• Injustice, sin and/or generational issue
• Thought or belief of the lie
• Behavior follows

54
Examples of Stronghold Development

• Rejection occurs (Injustice)
• Our response if Fear (Lie/stronghold)
• God cant really take care of me, Ill have to
  protect myself!
• Behavior to protect ourselves Control
• This behavior further strengthens and develops
  the stronghold in our life.

55
Ingredients of a Stronghold

• Bondage

Lifestyle
Values
Actions
Decisions
Thoughts
56
The Path to Freedom is to Tearing Down the
Stronghold

• Tear Down Stronghold Replace with A Tower of
  Truth!
• Repent
• Receive
• Renounce
• Replace

57
The Path to Freedom is to Tear Down the
Stronghold

• How do we get free restored?
• Deal with our guilt through REPENTANCE!
• Receive Gods healing restoration
  FORGIVENESS!
• Tear down the strongholds REBUKE RENOUNCE
  SATAN
• REPLACE lie with Tower of Truth

58
How can we deal with our guilt?

• By dealing with the cause our sin

59
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin

• Confession and Repentance
• Numbers 1418 The Lord is slow to anger and
  abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity
  and transgression but He will by no means clear
  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
  on the children to the third and the fourth
  generations.

60
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• An Old Israeli Proverb
• The parents ate the sour grapes and the children
  had the bitter taste.

61
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Ezekiel 182-4
• What do you mean by using this proverb
  concerning the land of Israel, saying the
  fathers eat the sour grapes, but the childrens
  teeth are set on edge? As I live, declares
  the Lord God, you are surely not going to use
  this proverb in Israel anymore. Behold, all
  souls are Mine the soul of he father and the
  soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will
  die.

62
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Be brutally honest about ourselves
• Repent of any sin you have committed
• Luke 157 Jesus says I tell you that in the
  same way, there will be more joy in heaven over
  one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
  righteous persons who need no repentance.

63
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Repent of the sin
• Acts 319 (NIV) Repent, then, and turn to God,
  so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of
  refreshing may come from the Lord.

64
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• 2 Peter 39 The Lord is not slow about His
  promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
  toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for
  all to come to repentance.
• Other scriptures Matt. 32 Mark 115 Mark
  612 Luke 133 Acts 238, Acts 2620

65
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Repentance
• It literally means to change your mind.
• It is taking responsibility for your own life and
  making a deliberate choice to turn from
  self-destructive practices, to good, wholesome,
  godly ones.
• It is walking out of darkness into light through
  a complete turn around.

66
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Who should we repent to?
• God
• Anyone weve sinned against.
• Ourselves

67
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• PRINCIPLE Our Circle of repentance should equal
  our circle of sin

Repentance
Sin

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The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Restitution
• Matthew 523,24 Therefore if you are presenting
  your offering at the altar, and there remember
  that your brother has something against you,
  leave your offering there before the altar and
  go first be reconciled to your brother, and then
  come and present your offering.

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The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Restitution
• Proverbs 2813 He who conceals his
  transgressions will not prosper, but he who
  confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

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The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Restitution
• Numbers 55-7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses,
  saying, speak to the sons of Israel, When a man
  or woman commits any of the sins of mankind,
  acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that
  person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins
  which he has committed, and he shall make
  restitution in full for his wrong and add to it
  one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has
  wronged.

72
The Path to Freedom Gods solution for our sin
cont.

• Restitution
• Luke 198 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord,
  Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give
  o the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of
  anything, I will give back four times as much.

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Where to I begin?

• Ask God to reveal whats in your heart.
• Ps 13923, 24 Search me, O God, and know my
  heart try me and know my anxious thoughts and
  see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead
  me in the everlasting way.

74
The 10 Commandments

• Gods Plum line
• A plum line is a tool used by carpenters to make
  sure a wall is perfectly straight, or completely
  lined up.
• Gods plum line can make sure that we are lined
  up with Gods truth or standards
• Its like a spiritual checkup

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• Have no other Gods before Me Ex. 203
• Make no idol Ex. 204
• Dont take Gods name in vain Ex. 207
• Keep the Sabbath Ex 208
• Honor parents Ex. 2012
• Dont murder Ex. 2013
• Dont commit adultery Ex. 2014
• Dont steal Ex 2015
• Dont lie Ex 2016
• Dont covet Ex. 2017

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The Path to Freedom Tearing Down Strongholds
cont.

• Receive Gods Forgiveness and Cleansing
• I John 19 (NASB) If we confess our sins, He is
  faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and
  to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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The Path to Freedom Tearing Down Strongholds
cont.

• Rebuke the enemys hold on you because of this
  sin
• James 47 (NASB) Submit therefore to God.
  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

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Tearing Down Strongholds

• Replace all lies with Gods Truth
• Galatians 220 (NASB) I have been crucified with
  Christ and it is no longer I who live, but
  Christ in me and the life which I now live in
  the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
  loved me and delivered Himself up for me.

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Tearing Down Strongholds

• Replace all lies with Gods Truth
• Philippians 48 (NASB) Finally

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Tearing Down Strongholds

• Replace all lies with Gods Truth
• One of the major strongholds results from
  Rejection and Injustice, in other words, wounds
  of the past!
• To deal with this stronghold we must Replace
  bitterness and resentment with forgiveness

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Next ask God to forgive cleanse

• I John 19 If we confess our sins, He is
  faithful and righteous (just) to forgive us our
  sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• What is the condition to receive forgiveness?
• Holy Spirit Comet Cleanser on the inside

82
Next ask God to forgive cleanse Cont.

• Psalm 512 cleanse me from my sin
• Psalm 517 wash me, and I shall be whiter than
  snow.
• Psalm 5110 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
  and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (read
  all of Ps 51)

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Then Receive Gods Forgiveness

• Psalm 1033 Who pardons some of your iniquities,
  who heals all your diseases
• Psalm 1033 Who pardons ALL your iniquities, who
  heals all your diseases

84
Receive Gods forgiveness cont.

• Psalm 1034 Who redeems your life from the
  pit,
• How did we get into the pit?
• Can we get out on our own?
• He is the only one that can redeem your life from
  the pit!

85
Receive Gods forgiveness cont.

• How many would like to get what you deserve?
• Psalm 10310 He has not dealt with us according
  to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our
  iniquities.

86
Receive Gods forgiveness cont.

• John 1321-30 The Last Supper
• Verses .

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Receive Gods forgiveness cont.

• Psalm 10312 As far as the east is from the
  west, so far has He removed our transgressions
  from us.
• Why east west and not north south?
• The point its beyond our reach
• Its GONE!!!

88
Receive Gods forgiveness cont.

• Micah 718 Who is a God like You, who pardons
  iniquity
• Micah 719 He will have compassion on us He
  will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You
  will cast all their sins into the depths of the
  sea.
• How deep could the people of Micahs day swim?

89
Receive Gods Restoration

• Through forgiveness
• What forgiveness is not!
• What forgiveness is!

90
What forgiveness is not

• It is not a feeling
• It is not saying they werent wrong
• It is not pretending that the offense didnt
  happen
• It is not necessarily being able to trust that
  person again
• It is not alleviating them of their responsibility

91
What forgiveness is!

• Webster says Forgiveness is regard without ill
  will despite an offense.
• Oxford Dictionary says Cease to feel angry or
  resentful toward, pardon.

92
What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is a decision I make to obey God and
  to walk as a lifestyle in a higher realm. By not
  allowing someone elses actions or attitudes to
  dictate my actions or attitudes, releasing them
  to God by not requiring them to be accountable to
  me to make it right, with a willingness to walk
  in the opposite spirit. by Doug Easterday

93
What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is a decision
• A choice
• Cant say I just cant forgive him!
• More honest to say I wont forgive him!

94
What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is to obey God
• Not optional
• An act of obedience

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What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is to walk as a lifestyle in a
  higher realm.
• Matthew 1821-22 Then Peter came and said to
  Him, Lord, how often shall my brother against me
  and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus
  said to him, I do not say to you, up to seven
  times, but up to seventy times seven. (NASB)

96
What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is not allowing someone elses
  actions or attitudes to dictate my actions or
  attitudes,
• Deut 2813 And the Lord will make you the head
  and not the tail, and you only will be above, and
  you will not be underneath, if you will listen to
  the commandments of the Lord your God, which I
  charge you today, to observe them carefully,
  (NASB)
• If we dont forgive we are controlled
• How are we controlled by others?

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What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is releasing them to God
• Matthew 1818-20 Truly I say to you, whatever
  you bind on earth shall have been bound in
  heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall
  have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you,
  that if two of you agree on earth about anything
  that they may ask, it shall be done for them by
  My Father who is in heaven. For where two or
  three have gathered together in My name, I am
  there in their midst.

99
What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is not requiring them to be
  accountable to me to make it right,
• The person is still accountable to God Deut.
  3235 a Vengeance is Mine,
• The person may still need to be accountable to
  government

100
What forgiveness is!

• Forgiveness is a with a willingness to walk in
  the opposite spirit.
• Respond in the opposite spirit

101
Why is forgiveness important?

• It removes the spiritual infection so that
  healing can begin
• It frees us from the bondage of bitterness so
  that we can go on with our life in the fullness
  of Gods destiny for us.

102
Restoration cont.

• Admit that I need to be restored
• Ask the Father to restore you
• Receive Gods restoration anyway, any time and
  through anyone He wants to

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Film Clip From Antwone Fisher