Unforgiveness denies the victim the possibility of parole and leaves them stuck in the prison of what was, incarcerating them in their trauma and relinquishing the chance to escape beyond the pain.
We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.
And another thing is that I think as a church whenever we become politically driven, we alienate at least 50 percent of the people that God called us to reach with our political orientations.
I think the amazing thing about gospel music is that not only does it lift up the death and resurrection of our Lord, which is consistent with the Gospel, but it is uniquely communicated depending upon the generation.
Here is the amazing thing about Easter; the Resurrection Sunday for Christians is this, that Christ in the dying moments on the cross gives us the greatest illustration of forgiveness possible.
My father was a Methodist and my mother was a Baptist.
I was raised in the Baptist church... but I didn't really have a real committed experience with Christ until my father died.
I think that my preaching style and many of my ideas and ideals about faith are based in both Pentecostal and Baptist background.
If you learn how to forgive others for not being strong, then people can learn how to forgive you for your own issues.
One of the things about my ministry is that I have never branded myself as being above the people or superior to people.
I like to see myself as a bridge builder, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.
I think it is important that we rebuild an atmosphere of forgiveness and civility in every aspect of our lives.
We cannot embrace God's forgiveness if we are so busy clinging to past wounds and nursing old grudges.
I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers.
When my father died, I had a real experience with Christ, a real conversion with Christ and I had it in a Oneness church.
I don't think that you can let the storms of life overwhelm you. When you do that, you are no better than the craziness that caused you to be under attack.
I'm not particularly political. I'm not particularly denominational. I'm not worried about any of that.
I raised five children. They all have different personalities. All of them have different issues, different levels of success. That was a learning experience for me.
There are no college courses to build up self-esteem or high school or elementary school. If you don't get those values at a early age, nurtured in your home, you don't get them.
It is your passion that empowers you to be able to do that thing you were created to do.
