It was Sunday and I was going to bring the message of Jesus Christ to some more gangs. As I was driving by one of the many churchs in Denver, my King said, “Sonny , I want you to stop and go to church here.”
I began arguing with God and said, “I need to see the gangs you told me about this week and I know they are at the park right now.”
My King said, “Just do it.”
So I pulled immediately into the church’s parking. As I got ready to park, I could hear this couple arguing. They were arguing very loud so everyone could hear them. The husband did not want to wear his shoes in church. His wife was wanting him to put them on. So the battle was on. I approached them and said, “My brother Blue Mustang does not wear shoes either. He just cannot stand to wear them and goes barefoot everywhere too.”
The husband feeling vindicated said, “He is my kind of man.”
The wife rolled here eyes and said, “It is hard to believe there is another one of those out there like my husband.”
I said, “It is not what you wear but what is important is what is in your heart when you come to worship our King.”
She said, “You are right. It is more important what’s in our hearts than what we wear.”
So they stopped arguing. I prayed with them and we went into the church together. I sat down next to them in the middle of the church. We sang worship songs at the beginning which was very inspirational. After we finished worshiping God in song, the Pastor came up and congratulated the worship team on there great performance. He then immediately began talking about his neighbor.
He said, “Do you ever got one of those neighbors that drive you crazy.”
He shared more things with the congregation that he cannot stand about his neighbor. It was like I was listening to those late night TV shows where they find some guy to disgrace to get ratings. I found out later that this has been an ongoing thing. He ended his rave with, “I just hate my neighbor.” Some people started laughing when he said that. I also heard some people murmur that they had one of those kind of neighbors too.
I said to myself that this is not right, so I stood up. The pastor asked, “How can I help you?”
I held my Bible towards him and said, “The scripture says love thy neighbor as you love yourself. If you hate your neighbor, what is there in your life that you hate about yourself.”
The pastor stopped and look down and paused to think. He then said, “You know; you are right.”
While this was all going on, everyone in the church was staring at me. But I did not care because I value what the Bible says and my King revealed to me this church is being held back because of unforgiveness. What was about to happen is really amazing.
The neighbor that he was talking about attended church today for the first time in his life. He was sitting about three rows behind me and to my left. The pastor did not notice that he was there listening to every word he spoke.
He then got up and said, “I am the neighbor that he is talking about. Many times I have been a jerk. If the wind blows my trash on to his yard, I just let it go.” He paused for a moment and continued, “This man has been a light in my life. When I had tragedies in my life he would come and support me. He would tell me about Jesus Christ. I just ignored him but he was interested in my salvation.”
He then came forward where the pastor stood and he asked for forgiveness and to accept Jesus Christ. They both publicly asked for forgiveness for what they’ve done. The healing in this church has begun. After this happened, the whole congregation started praying for each other. They all too had neighbors that either drove them crazy and/or other people in their lives that they had unforgiveness for. There was no message given that day. The whole service was given to prayer. People began coming together and asking for forgiveness of past grievances. Now the Holy Spirit can bless this church because they are removing their bondage of unforgiveness that has been keeping him away.
My King sent me here strictly because this church was being bound because of unforgiveness. A 90 year old lady in the back of the church said, “If he talked about his neighbor one more time, I’m not sure what I would do. I thank you very much for making him accountable for what he was saying.”
If you do not think that unforgiveness is deadly, I would like to remind you of the lead singer of the band MercyMe. When he had unforgiveness for his father, the music that he wrote was just not that great. Even one of his managers said you have something in your life that’s holding you back. His dad was not that great growing up and he had great bitterness towards him. The day he forgave his father and created a relationship with him, it all changed. He was sitting down in the bus and the words to this song “If You Could Only Imagine” came to light. He intentionally wrote it for Amy Grant but Amy knew that it was his song so she had him sing it on the day of her concert. That song became the number one song of every Christian song out there. They are still creating awesome music for God just because he forgave his father. Do not allow unforgiveness to hold you back.